Lippy Stuff

This is my favorite picture of our entire wedding because, even though we're looking right at the camera, neither of us have any memory of it being taken and it completely captures us in this moment. We're married! I can honestly say I am just as happy to be married to this man as I was in that moment. Maybe even more so.

Happy Anniversary, Husband. I love you!

This is where we kissed, shortly after one of the groomsmen paused the ceremony and pulled out that stool for me to stand on. I have to confess the stool was designed to serve two purposes: 1) to add a little bit of humor, something very 'us' to the ceremony, and 2) to prevent our wedding kiss pictures from looking like something resembling a giraffe bending down to consume its dinner. Clearly, by the look on the pastor's face, we achieved #1, and no giraffes here, so mission accomplished!

The pictures I posted yesterday were taken about 1.5 hours before the ceremony started. We did not do the preview meeting before the ceremony. Under no circumstances was Matt to see me before the wedding. Period. So, after we took our bridal party pictures (separately, of course) I went back to the bridal sweet and changed back out of my dress for the long, LONG wait until the ceremony started.

That's when I started to freak out, because I realized that I was going to have to walk out there in front of all those people. And all of those people were going to stand up, turn around and look at me. ALL AT ONCE. The more I thought about this the more freaked out I became, which apparently became pretty evident on my face because at one point my mom looked at me, very concerned, and asked if I needed a glass of wine.

YES.

Finally the terrifying moment came, the doors opened and I stared down what seemed like a mile long walk to the altar, filled with the curious eyes of friends, family and strangers. Whoa. Like, Keanu Reeves WHOA. It was just a bit overwhelming. But as soon as I got to the front and stood there with Matt, everyone else faded away. I knew it was all going to be OK, and not just the ceremony, but everything. This is that moment:

The pictures I posted yesterday were taken about 1.5 hours before the ceremony started. We did not do the preview meeting before the ceremony. Under no circumstances was Matt to see me before the wedding. Period. So, after we took our bridal party pictures (separately, of course) I went back to the bridal sweet and changed back out of my dress for the long, LONG wait until the ceremony started.

That's when I started to freak out, because I realized that I was going to have to walk out there in front of all those people. And all of those people were going to stand up, turn around and look at me. ALL AT ONCE. The more I thought about this the more freaked out I became, which apparently became pretty evident on my face because at one point my mom looked at me, very concerned, and asked if I needed a glass of wine.

YES.

Finally the terrifying moment came, the doors opened and I stared down what seemed like a mile long walk to the altar, filled with the curious eyes of friends, family and strangers. Whoa. It was just a bit overwhelming. But as soon as I got to the front and stood there with Matt, everyone else faded away. I knew it was all going to be OK, and not just the ceremony, but everything. This is that moment:

Friday marks 5 years of marriage to that tall dude mentioned to the right. I love him. Oh, do I love him. To mark this impending milestone I'm posting a picture a day leading up to us being married and my favorite of all our wedding pics. Today it will actually be two pictures...one of each of us looking our best, waiting for the ceremony to start so we can be married already!

Before you read this story it's important to note that my friend, Elana, is completely responsible for all of it. It is all her fault. She recently introduced me to Sass Calamata Feta salad dressing. It was so delicious I immediately ran to the store and bought myself a bottle. I have since been unable to stop eating it. I think I've eaten a salad every day since then, not so much because I'm trying to be healthy but more because it serves as a conduit through which to consume copious amounts of this dressing. I may or may not have considered drinking it.

Last week, through a series of events that are too ridiculous to bother explaining, I left my bottle of salad dressing at her house. I stopped by to pick it up a couple of days later, happy to be reunited with my precious, er, the salad dressing. Last night Elana and her husband came over for dinner, and for part of that dinner we served salad. Except when I opened the refrigerator to pull out the dressing, it wasn't there. Both Elana and I scoured the fridge for the bottle, but it was nowhere to be found. And it is still missing. I have turned the kitchen upside down looking for it, but alas it has disappeared.

I finally gave up the search and decided to buy a new bottle so I could resume my salad binge. I happily trotted over to the produce section to grab my bottle of deliciousness only to find that they were out. Completely out. Oh sure, they had plenty of Blue Cheese and Creamy Ceasar, but no Calamata Feta. GAAAAAHHHHH!!!

I pretty much felt like this guy:

Excuse me for a minute, but may I just say I am SO OVER design blogs, specifically design blogs from California where all they do is whine about how HARD it was for them to go pick up this amazing AND cheap furniture from LA, blah blah blah. So sad. I'm so sorry you have such a plethora of EFFING AWESOME furniture at rock bottom prices that you just don't know what to do with it all. The pretentiousness is like, totally gagging me with a spoon.

UGH.

But also, I feel like design blogs are just getting ridiculous. For example:



Did you catch that? "Simply glue to a wall and arrange your things!" Let's just hope those "things" aren't too heavy. Or that you ever plan on moving out and getting your security deposit back. Seriously...NEVER glue anything to your walls. The one thing I've learned about home decor is it is an ever evolving thing, and today those Scrabble racks might be cute, but one day you're going to wake up and realize you glued Scrabble racks to your wall. Permanently. Right where you wanted to hang that new three wolf moon poster you picked up at the thrift store.


Also, I just noticed this on the PoppyTalk header (via Design Sponge):



The decayed? I don't think I want to buy anything that can be described as "decayed". Bleck.

I leave you with the one design blog feature that makes me want to gouge my eyes out every time I see it. It's just so...Stepford. Who says things like this?




That's great for you. And so kind to the environment! Well, except for those heating and cooling bills you must have since you have so many windows in your house. HA! Living in a cave has its payoffs!

Here's another gem, and my personal favorite:



Ah yes, the calm haven of my home. Wait...the laundry needs to be done? Oh, and the kitchen is a wreck? And the dog has tracked mud across the freshly mopped floor? I'd consider crawling into a closet to find calm but they're all filled to the brim with things we actually need because we have about 5 sq ft of closet space. All I can figure is this person must have a contractor to do their remodeling, a maid to do their cleaning and a decorator to pick up those awesome furnishings, because I have no idea how anyone works a full time job and manages to have such a fabulously decorated AND clean home that also isn't in disarray from the latest remodeling project.

I think I might need a vacation. (Also, I give up on figuring out these formatting issues tonight. Another day).

One of my favorite ways to cook is to gather whatever I have in the fridge and pantry I think I might be able to make a decent meal out of and give it a shot. I'm pretty sure I  like this method because I am either lazy or I hate grocery shopping. Or both. Either way, it sometimes ends in a pretty fantastic creation that becomes a part of my regular meal rotation. I think tonight's concoction is just that.

Last night we had some friends over for giant salads with grilled chicken and a variety of veggies (squash, zucchini, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, etc). We ended up having a lot of leftover cut up veggies, so tonight in my post 10k hunger, I decided to make a warm pasta salad.

First, I cooked the pasta to almost al dente, then drained and rinsed (it was gluten-free pasta...gf pasta should always be rinsed after cooking). I let that sit while I sauteed up the veggies in some olive oil, along with some sea salt, fresh ground pepper and freshly pressed garlic. When the veggies were about half way cooked I added in the pasta to finish cooking along with the veggies. I used the squash/zucchini to determine when the veggies were done...when they start to look more clear than white you know they are done. I added the tomatoes in at the very end, since you really don't want them to get over cooked an mushy, just warm. Finally, I poured everything into a bowl and sprinkled feta cheese on top. So yummy! Also very light but filling. This will definitely become a part of our summer menu.

My friend, E, created a Polyvore for our bedroom makeover.

We're making over our bedroom, furniture, bedding, decor and all. I've been planning this makeover for quite a while and I'm very excited to finally see it come together. We'll be painting the walls Behr Dark Granite (sorry, I can't link to the color because their entire site is flash - annoying) and the trim Behr Ultra White.

I purchased this duvet cover from West Elm after picking the pieces of my design soul off the floor when CB2 discontinued their Djerba line without notice and I had to revamp my entire design plan.


Currently our furniture consists of a mish-mash of cheap Ikea items, some my parents bought me when I moved to Austin ages ago and some we bought after we got married and realized that one dresser wouldn't cut it. We are replacing all of our furniture as part of this makeover, and I have challenged myself to find both a chest and 6-9 drawer mid century dresser for under $500. It's proving to be much harder than I thought, mostly because all the cheap awesome pieces are taken by people who apparently have nothing better to do but sit around all day and snipe beautiful furniture off Craigslist. There is a special place in hell for those people. Also, I might be a little bitter.

Any-who, I did find a sweet Danish mid century chest thanks to my friend, E, who graciously sacrificed her own desires to own this piece so I could have it. I am eternally grateful. It has so much storage capacity I was able to fit all of my non-work clothes into it so Matt could move his hanging clothes from the office/guest closet to the closet in our room. We are really learning how to live in a house with tiny closets, and high storage capacity furniture is the key. I promise to post a picture of it when our bedroom isn't in shambles.

We will be replacing our current bed with this Ikea Mandal bed and painting it entirely white:

This will add even more storage to the room. Yay! Matt will also be building a box (I'm pretty sure I told him this) like the one in this picture to go over the bed since we can't do bedside tables with the storage bed, also painted white.


And the sunburst beauty pictured at the top will be above the bed. I'm really stoked to get all of this going, and I'll post pictures as changes start happening. In the mean time, what would your dream bedroom makeover consist of?

I'm not going to lie...I'm glad 2010 is over. Could it have been worse? Yes. Could it have been better? Definitely.

The most significant challenge of 2010 was Abi. First, dealing with her illness; then having to decide her departure; and finally, mourning the loss of one of my best friends and the close of a season of my life. I hope to not have to endure one of those challenges again for a very long time.

2010 definitely had its highlights. Notably 1) Muse at ACL Fest:



2) our trip to New England in the fall:



and finally, 3) we welcomed Bosco into our lives:



I'm looking forward to 2011 with a few goals:

1. Get involved with Urban Roots.

2. Start & finish our bedroom remodel, the only room in our house that hasn't been touched since we moved in over 2 years ago.

3. Visit a continent and/or country neither Matt nor myself have visited (likely South America or Costa Rica).

4. Travel with friends (I think I'm going to need more vacation time).

5. Complete a 50 mile ride on my bike.

6. Run a half marathon.

7. A super secret goal that can't be shared here ;)

I hope to look back on this year with a sense of accomplishment. Happy New Year to you and yours, and may you achieve more than you ever imagined this year.