Oh...hello there {aka: it's been two years, is there anyone listening?}

Ummmmmmm Hi.

I don't think anyone reads this anymore, and if you do 2016 must have been quite a disappointing year (just 1 post?!?! jeez I really fell off the blogwagon).  So much has happened in our life over the past 2 years: we got engaged, moved to Portland, got married and most recently we bought a house. 

All of these are events I had dreamed of writing posts about when I first started this blog.  I remember 6 or so years ago I got really into weddings, I followed all of the hip wedding blogs, Style Me Pretty was my favorite website and I would sit at work at watch stranger's wedding videos and quietly happy-cry in my cubicle.  I couldn't wait to have a wedding of my own to prepare for so I could post all the DIYs and trails and tribulations of finding each vendor and then finally be able to reveal my wedding photos, or maybe even have my wedding featured on one of the sites that I loved.  But planning a wedding is stressful (especially when you're paying for it yourself), and time consuming and when we were in the thick of it the idea of sitting down to document my experience sounded exhausting, and TV and snacks were such a better option.

After a while even doing the nail posts became a thing of the past, I started posting the photos on Instagram and the immediate gratification of likes was so much more satisfying than writing up a blog post for my parents to read (because let's face it, they were the only followers I ever really had).

But recently we bought a house, (and it turned out to be in worse shape than we originally thought when we made our offer) so for the past two months we've been tearing it apart and making it our own.  It's been terrible and wonderful and all the emotions at once, and lately I've been thinking about how I want to remember this experience in the future.  We're already starting to forget some of the crazy stories that began this process, the details are starting to fade and our re-telling and re-telling and re-telling of the whole debacle keeps getting shorter and shorter. 

So here we are, an old platform and a new story, and if anything, this will just serve as a little journal for me to go back to when it's time to buy a new house and I think "it wasn't that hard, let's do it again!"

...

nautical nails

A few weeks back The Man and I went to a fancy Connecticut wedding, it was at a Yacht Club and everything

So as a nod to the little boating town we were staying in I went with nautical themed nails

It was rainy and windy the whole time we were there so I only got a few pictures (you can actually see the raindrops on the nails if you look close!).

We got back home and things got busy, but I managed to take a few more pictures before they chipped.  I was actually quite surprised how long they lasted, it was about 2 weeks!!

kalie's bride kit

It's been almost a month since Kalie's wedding, and, unfortunately, with all it's craziness I was unable to take any photos, so there's not much to show you until her photographer sends over the real-deal photos.  But in the mean time I can show you Kalie's Bride Kit.

A year ago when my friend Maria got married I found this cute idea and ran with it.  So when my best friend in the whole wide world got married I knew I had to make one for her too.

Kalie's wedding "colors" were navy blue, burlap, and white lace, so I decided to paint the box Navy and for the writing I used a white paint pen.

Just like before I used the ol' graphite transfer method to get an outline of the design and lettering on the top of the box (otherwise it would look like a gift from a child...my handwriting is terrible!).

This time I decided not to wrap all the items in the kit individually.  I think it's more fun to open the box and be instantly presented with all your little gifts. I attached the "descriptions" with navy blue washi tape and a ribbon for the bobby pins, and lined the box with white tissue paper so everything didn't roll around when the box was closed (and going through airport security).

So here is what was inside Kalie's Bride Kit:

"Emergency Bun Repair" - Bobby Pins
"For Minty-Fresh Smooches" - Mini Box of Altoids
"To Calm Your Wedding Day Jitters" - A Tiny Bottle of Wild Turkey Bourbon
"To Dry Your Tears...Or Mine...Or Your Moms" - Polka Dot Tissues
"To Get You In The Mood" - Green M&M's
"No Babies!" - Trojan Condoms
"For the Morning After" - Advil

It was so much fun to put together, and the best part is that you can make it unique to any bride you know.

Have a Great Weekend!!!

mani monday

Long time no post!

Well, The Man and I got back from our Portland vacation on Wednesday night, and since then we've just been cleaning up the messes that are inevitably created when we leave (both work and home).  It's amazing how much happens when you leave home for a few days!

The wedding was on Saturday and it went off, although I wouldn't say without a hitch!
I painted my nails to go with the wedding "colors," Navy, Burlap and Lace:

 My best friend got married to a wonderful English Man and I cried like a baby.

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

we're baaack {our mexico trip}

It's been one week since The Man and I got back from Mexico and I'm (finally) ready to tell you all about it! 
Get ready for a photo heavy post!

We went to Mexico because my life long family friend Nicole and her now hubby Mike decided to have a destination wedding in Playa Del Carmen.  It was such a wonderful trip and I am so thankful to Nicole and Mike for giving me a reason to go on a week-long vacation.

Our first day there we went straight from the check-in desk to a pontoon! The Bride and Groom were really awesome and organized a few excursions for anyone who wanted to join.  It made it so much easier to see things outside of the resort.

So, with barely any sleep and almost no food in our stomachs we went out into the Caribbean Sea to go snorkeling.  Besides the sea-sickness it was fantastic!!!  I've never been snorkeling before, and at first it was a little uncomfortable but once I got used to it I didn't want to get out.

We saw so many schools of fish and a giant stingray and a big adorable turtle!!

The next day we all went to Tulum and Coba.

Tulum was beautiful...and scorching hot.  Most of our party wore swimsuits under their clothes and jumped in the ocean as soon as we got there.  My parents and I weren't that prepared and decided to find a shady spot to sit and enjoy our surroundings.

My favorite part of that day was when we were all let off the bus to go find something for lunch. The Man, my parents, and I all decided to break away from the crowd and wander down the road a bit.  We stopped at La Bisteca where my parents ordered steak tacos and The Man and I had choripan (an Argentinian sausage sandwich). It. Was. Delicious.  So amazingly delicious!!

The resort we stayed at was "all-inclusive" so the all-you-can-eat buffets and restaurants weren't really trying that hard, if you know what I mean.  All we wanted all week long was authentic Mexican food and we got it at La Bisteca.

After lunch was Coba.  The great thing about Coba is they're not as determined to preserve the ruins so you can climb all over them! Unlike Tulum, Coba is surrounded by jungle so it was really nice and cool while we were walking around.  However, Coba is large, and very spread out, and, like most places in Mexico, there are no maps. So when The Man and I got back to the bus we soon found out what we had missed.

Apparently the reason to go to Coba is the giant ruin that towers over the trees, which you can climb all the way to the top of.  Most people in our group took bicycle taxis around the ruins so they could see all of it, but The Man and I lost the group and my parents (holding all the money) within the first 5 minutes of entering the park.  It was kind of a bummer once we saw how beautiful everyone's pictures were, but maybe now we have a reason to go back one day :)!

The fam and I aren't really resort people so we tried to get out a little bit everyday.  Friday there was nothing pre-planned so we took a taxi into town.  It was pretty and fun to see more of Mexico, but we got tired of being attacked by all the store owners trying to sell us tchotchkes and decided we'd have more fun in the pool.

For the most part we all hung out and ate together, but that night The Man and I decided to have a little date night.  We went to the Japanese restaurant at the resort and sat at the grill, like you would at a Benihana.  I’ve never been to a place like that so it was really fun.

Saturday was the wedding.  It was beautiful.

Surprise, surprise, I was a blubbering mess.  Nicole was beyond gorgeous in her wedding dress and the hotel did a beautiful job with the flowers.  The ceremony was on the beach and the reception was held in the Italian restaurant (which was the best restaurant at the resort).  The food was delicious and everyone had a blast dancing the night away.

The last day was my Mom's birthday.  She got a sneak attack saxophone serenade for breakfast, complete with a napkin hat.

And in the afternoon we decided to go to Cozumel for lunch... that's when I realized I don't like big boats! I got super sea-sick, like shaky, sweaty, up-chucky, about to pass-out sea-sick!

Apart from the dock workers recognizing me as that sick crying girl on the way back, Cozumel was beautiful and I wish we could have stayed longer.  We went to our friend's hotel restaurant for lunch and I'm glad we did!  It was the second delicious Mexican meal we had in Mexico, with juicy steak, seafood, and enchiladas!  The ferry back to Playa Del Carmen was at 5, so we headed to the resort for one last dinner together.

Mom got her birthday full moon and in the morning we said our goodbyes.

It really was a wonderful trip, I'm so happy we went!

p.s....I caught the Bouquet!!

mexico mani

Hello All!
We're back from sunny Mexico, and trying to get back on track after a whole 4 days off work.  I have so many things to show you but it's going to continue to be slow goings while I play catch up with the rest of my life.

I know I could wait until Monday to post my Mexico nails but I'm just too excited!
Palm trees are very common for tropical vacation nails so I wanted to add a little something extra... 

Enter a little surfing guy and a mini landscape!

 It was so much fun to paint these, and bit by bit I'm getting more comfortable using the tiny brushes.

We had a fantastic time in Mexico and I have many pictures to show you once I get them all loaded onto my computer, but for now you can just bask in this beachy sunset panorama.

flocky flocky

Want to see my nails?! I know you do!
I recently purchased this nail kit from Sephora:

It's called ciaté and it's a velvet manicure.  I wanted to try it out for the wedding in September but it did not work at all.  It just looked like my nails were strangely dirty.  So last week I decided to give it another go and it turned out really cool:

In the kit they give you nail polish, a bottle of "crushed velvet powder" (so basically flocking) and a little brush.  The directions tell you to paint one coat let it dry and then, one nail at a time, paint another coat and sprinkle on the velvet.  That's what I tried the first time when I got the dirty mange look, so the second time instead of sprinkling it I poured a bunch out into the plastic tray they give you and smashed my wet-nail-polished-finger straight into the velvet so it was totally covered.  

The powder comes out of the bottle so slow that your nail dries to quickly for it to stick, and you need a little pressure so the powder really gets in the polish, so the smashing method works really well.

The flocked nail look was fun for a while but it starts to feel weird after a bit, like when you run your fingers through your hair, or when you eat french fries like a slob and get ketchup all over your finger tips (licking ketchup off velvet just feels unnatural).  So try it out for an event . . . but maybe take it off before you start cooking :)

maria's bride kit

Hello readers! That is, if there's anyone left still reading after a month and a half without any posts.  I am finally able to get pictures off my camera, and there are tons of things I can't wait to show you.  So here is a post I started writing a few months ago, before our friends' wedding.  Now their honeymoon has come and gone so I changed the tense, added the pictures and here you go! ...

I'm at that age, where everyone I know is suddenly getting engaged.  There are many weddings on the horizon, but there is one in particular The Man and I are were looking forward to (don't worry daddy, I'm not talking about ours!).  Ours friends Maria and Daily got married on September 9th and a few months ago her bridesmaids threw her a bachelorette party.

As for the party itself I'll just say, we had a good time, and leave it at that.  What I'm really here to tell you about is what I gave as a bachelorette gift.

 (bride kit from Oh Happy Day!)

I saw this DIY bride kit on Oh Happy Day! and thought it was a wonderful gift. She made a sweet box and included lotion, mints, bobby pins, nail polish, and other practical helpful bits and bobs. I loved the idea but wanted to make a tad more personal, so I kept the color scheme and added a few details:

I didn't have tattoo paper or a fancy color printer, so I used the old stand-by transfer method from grade school: I printed out the designs I wanted to use, scribbled all over the back of the paper with a pencil so that graphite was covering the paper, then placed my image on the box where I wanted it (drawing side up) and drew back over the lines of the image so when I lifted the paper my drawing was on the box in graphite. Easy-peasy-mac-and-cheesy!

Then I took a regular blue pen from work and filled in the lines on the box by hand. The box itself is from JoAnn's (the same one used in the Oh Happy Day! tutorial), and I just grabbed some cheap-o acrylic paint to paint it blue.

My favorite part of the kit was what I put inside.  I wanted it to be a little practical but also personal and funny, so I started thinking of various wedding traditions and superstitions, like "cold-feet" and shoving cake in each others faces.  I got together a few trinkets and printed little clues for each one on simple gift tags.
This is what I came up with:

 Once I got everything wrapped they barely fit in the box, but with a little smushing it closed right up!

This project was so much fun to do, I highly suggest it for a lovely bride-to-be in your life.  I recently found out my best friend in the whole wide world is engaged and I can't wait to think up some fun personal treats for her bride kit!

p.s. Fun Story: The clue for the condoms (though obvious) was my favorite.  When Maria and Daily got engaged, Andrew (aka The Man) and I were waiting with bated breath to hear the news.  We knew it was going to happen because Daily had called us the day before to ask if we could tell Maria that the party we invited her to was cancelled because it was getting in the way of his proposal plans.  The Man was pacing the whole day, one of his best friends was getting engaged, he couldn't handle it!  When the call finally came later that night one of the first things The Man said to Maria was "You're not allowed to have any babies for at least 2 years!"  This was of course after "congratulations" and "I'm so happy for you" but it was hilarious, the engagement was too much change for him and so he made Maria promise "no babies for 2 years." She's kept her promise so far . . . just one year to go :)!