Another installment of "if I could do it all over again..."

If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't make my veil, I would buy a gorgeous headpiece from Twigs & Honey. I've coveted the site for a while, and have read about Myra on a ton of blogs, but I discovered her own blog this morning and it's renewed my love affair.

You know something, I actually wanted a birdcage for my wedding, but my mom was kinda indifferent and my husband was kinda nasty. Grrrr.




I think I could get away with one of these for a special occasion, right? I wouldn't have to be the bride again?

Look! My colors!!

All I can say is YUMM

Good morning, world. Saturday morning here. Bright and early thanks to a very awake pup! Can I confess that I actually like waking up first with the sun, hunkering down on the couch as the sun begins to stream in the windows - chocolate raspberry coffee in hand? And...more importantly ... freshly and fully charged laptop plopped right on my lap. I think it's becoming one of my favorite things to do.

It's a good thing I'm not entirely awake and hungry yet, because if I were this site would drive me batty. I discovered via KIRTSY today, and I'm sure it will provide hours and hours of distraction. From what I can tell, Tastespotting is a site where you can post photograph of food from your favorite blogs. The photos link directly to the food entries when clicked. But, the homepage is just a collage of beautiful food. So far, I've written down recipes for buttermilk cake with blueberries and rhubarb, spaghetti pie (which I know my husband will *love*), and I'm getting up the nerve for crepes filled with corn and nutmeg!

Anyone can contribute to the site by clicking the fork in the upper left hand corner. Check it out!

Design on a Dime

Real Simple's fourth annual Design on a Dime in NYC featured 30 top interior designers who were given a white box to design, and as you can imagine the results were amazing. All of the items in those rooms were sold (at up to 80% off) to benefit Housing Works, the nation's largest grassroots AIDS service organization.

One of my favorite rooms happened to be the Real Simple room, created by assistant home editor Katie Parker.

Once Wed

I fully intend to wear my wedding dress again (on every anniversary while I sit on my couch and eat chocolate and drink champagne), but I have toyed with the idea of selling it. Every time I want new furniture for the house I think, "Ok. Now realistically, am I ever going to fit in this thing again?" I keep it as motivation to stay at my wedding weight (though it's nine months later and clearly that logic didn't work). I don't have any grandiose ideas of one day having a daughter who wears my dress. If I have a daughter and if she chooses to get hitched one day, I want her to have the thrilling experience of picking out her own dream dress. This is where Once Wed comes into play. It's a beautifully-designed site for brides to sell their previously - and new! - worn wedding dresses.

Hint: Once Wed is also a great way to find out what designer gowns really cost. Look for the details on what the brides originally paid for their gowns.

The site also features photographs from real weddings. Thryn and Gabe's wedding from just a week ago is my FAVORITE!! Sigh...

UPDATE: Do you love these photos too? Well then, check out Thryn and Gabe's Flickr set for images of the entire wedding. There are a ton! Also, visit Thryn's blog for fantastic eco-friendly finds.

Springtime bouquet

Last year, I was the DOC (day-of-coordinator) for a good friend's wedding. I just discovered these pics and was reminded of how much I adored her bouquet, which was filled with full and lush tulips. Forgive my silliness. After a 12 hour day, I'm usually a little delirious!



(PS - this is my Martha Stewart pose, otherwise known as the "head tilt". I'm famous for it, and I swear that it reduces the number of my chins. You should try it sometime!)

Kitchen...a work in progress

A while back, a loyal reader asked me to post additional pictures of my kitchen. I was flattered (extremely), but since it's usually a mess with dishes piled every which way, I haven't had the opportunity. We don't have a dish washer, nor do we have a garbage disposal. Very green we are. {Note: This is sarcastic. Anyone who knows me would, unfortunately, laugh at that. I try. I do. I'm just VERY late to the game, and I'm catching up!} It's usually spotless when we have guests coming though, and I managed to snap a few shots recently with my husband's camera. Ta da! A work in progress...




Believe it or not, this tiny little kitchen sold us on the house. Actually, it was the checkered floors, to be exact. They go PERFECTLY with all of my red accents ... uhm, he he, actually the kitchen aid mixer.


The door to the basement is painted with chalk paint ... perfect for writing the nightly menu! The X's and O's are from pottery barn.

Hidden Treasures

I hijacked my husband's computer tonight, and I've discovered a treasure trove of pictures that I'd forgotten I'd taken. This batch is from some of my DIY projects for the wedding.

Me looking like a goof while embossing all of our envelopes.

I had a stamp made from Impress Rubber Stamps. Embossing all mailing and return envelopes was tedious, but totally worth it. They turned out great!


Little purses that were filled with tissues (color-coordinated, of course ) and other goodies for the girls.

Thank you notes for my showers. "Merci" is embossed, of course. I was seriously obsessed.


Pretty handkerchiefs that we had made for the mothers and grandmothers. I thought this was a nice, old-fashioned gift.

Oh God, I'm greedy

Hubs, are you listening? I can't help it! I want, want, want. And, I just took a look at the calendar and my birthday is coming up!

I'm in love with Whitney Smith's pottery. Any of these would make me quite happy. Just a little trinket to make me smile?

I love being inspired

I love the energy and burst I get from finding a new inspiration. Mostly it comes from things around me, and from the blogs I read on a regular basis, but today it came from old faithful: Martha. It's been a while since I have just perused the site, with no original goal. I was amazed to find a plethora of photographs this morning that I will use to influence a few parties that I am throwing this summer ... the summer of wedding and baby showers. Aren't these fantastic?

I think you can either cut out tissue flowers for these branches or use a deconstructed silk flower. We all know my love of the tissue, so I think I'll try that route:

This will be my color inspiration for a friend's shower. Clearly I'm still loving the teal and red, but this just makes me think of an upscale Mexican fiesta, and I love that idea.

I have a lot of colorful fabric scraps left over from various projects, and I just can never bring myself to throw them out. I love this hodgepodge of textiles, and I'm thinking truffles or spiced nuts would be perfect fillers.

And, of course, more tissue! What beautiful wrapping inspiration, no?

Cutest Cupcake Winners

Martha recently held a contest to select her viewer's cutest cupcakes. The finalists and the winners are posted online now, and the slideshow is so much fun to poke through!

If you have some time, why don't you take a look?

That's right everyone...

We're raising our Sk*rt to KIRTSY!!


Change is good, and I'm thrilled to announce today a HUGE change! Sk*rt is now kirtsy. And we all need your help to get the word out, so that no one gets lost and no one gets left behind. So spread it!

Also, Kirtsy is having another fabulous, incredible contest to celebrate. This, according to the site:

"That's right, kirtsy is having a giant contest with over $1,000 in prizes just for spreading the word and leaving a comment. Easy. Peasy. And one lucky kirtsy champion will win all of these cool things:

14 Books from Hachette Book Group.The fantastic Hachette Book Group has published a kabillion great books. And you could win 14 of them.

A $100 Gift Certificate for a swimsuit from Lands' End.Lands' End is known as the long-time go-to spot for the quality and variety (and the best-made swimsuits around). Seriously, a ton of super cute options. How will you choose?

A Sony DVDirect.Wow. This is incredible. A high-def way to get your video off your camera and straight on to a DVD without a PC. Very nice. And it can playbackon Blu-ray Discs too. For extreme high definition detail of your oh so professional shots.

An Affirmagy blanket. We think the Peace blanket is our mantra right now.3 cool techy items from Spoon Sisters.

A Driinn, the Take Charge, and the ID Pilot Labels. How useful are these products? How cool is this site?

8 rolls of super cute giftwrap from Hallmark. And now they have adhesive wrap. Brilliant!! If you can operate a sticky note, you can wrap like a professional wrapper of wrappings. You'll be fancy like that.

10 cases of water from Primo WaterPrimo is the first nationally available bottled water whose bottle is made from plants, not crude oil! A bottle that's friendly to the environment. What a concept! We love them.

And finally, a registration to the July BlogHer Conference in San Francisco OR a Blogher Reach conference of the winner's choice. From YouData... a new company that is so freaking smart and fantastic, and you'll hear much more about them sooner than later. Watch for it. That's right, this means one lucky winner will be attending a Blogher Conference for FREE. Thanks, YouData!!!"

So, visit the site now, poke around, let us know what you think of the new name, and spread the word!

Paloma Blanca

My wedding dress was a Paloma Blanca, and I thought the fabric was exquisite and the dress was beautifully made. I lucked out and purchased the store's dress. It had just come in and hadn't been tried on by anyone else, and it fit like a glove. I was torn though between a bridesmaids dress in white (there are some fabulous ones out there for very little $$$), and this dress ... but when the boutique owner told me I could have it for $1,000 (almost HALF the price of the dress), I was thrilled. I think my crying father sold them! (He really couldn't stop crying when he saw me in it. He kept saying, "It's the veil, it's the veil. Take the veil off." Hilarious!)

I can't help now - nine months later - looking at the latest line of Paloma dresses. There are some beauties!

A few of my favorite things...

From Wrapables!

The Butter Boy/Girl (and they are on sale now for $5.99)


Rosebud Paper Lanterns (these would look beautiful hanging from the trees at an outdoor wedding)


Lightseed candle holder (I'm buying these in red today ... on sale for $9.99 a piece)

Magazine Rack (check it out for multiple colors!)

Quattro insulated wine tote

Iron Circles Wall SconceOk. Clearly, I could keep going. Bottom line is that this is an awesome site to check out. I leave you now with two fabulous ideas for weddings:

Bud vase placecard holders...

and these Victoriana vases ... which oddly I covet. I'm seeing black, red and these white vases. Uhm, did anyone see Devine Design last night? Maybe that's where my inspiration is coming from today.

Outdoor entertaining

Love this picture from Epicurious: lilacs in jars, handkerchiefs as napkins and all that bright red! I'm feeling inspired for a bridal shower I'm throwing this summer!!

More teal and red!

I'm seriously gushing today over Nishka and Carl's wedding that Lisa Lefkowitz photographed. This color combination is just to-die-for, and I love circling back to something. Hubs dictated (har har) last night that he still prefers the green and brown color scheme (with hints of ice blue mixed in), but I'm not completely sold yet. Luckily, the project is entirely hypothetical at this point!