Here's to 2010

"Do what you love. And do it well. And with those you love. Here's to 2010."

-As seen on Twitter this evening.

Amen to that. Have a glorious New Year's, all!

Target Women

Sean gave me this link to watch these videos by the glorious Sarah Haskins of Target Women. I wish I could sum it all up as eloquently as Miss Haskins, but...you just have to watch.

Back2School!

Broadview Security!

Disney Princesses!

Birth Control!

I will post more later, but here's a final one, dedicated to my soon to be husband (by his request):

DOOFY HUSBANDS!

"So what are you going to do...

...after the wedding?"

Yeah, I get that a lot. Well, first, I'm going to continue to be awesome. Next, I'm going to keep working 40 hours a week and doing pretty much everything I have been doing! In short, that's what I'm going to do after the wedding. I would love to stay home and drink cocktails and wear pearls, but that's what the weekends are for! Seriously though, there are some things that we have been holding off on until "after the wedding", and once they happen, I'll be pretty stoked.

We have talked about adopting a dog. We got very close at certain points. We saw a little cutie pie face or visited a shelter and our hearts just yearn to take a little pup home to love and feed and play with. This requires time and money and a lot of work, though, which meant "after the wedding". So hopefully sometime in the near future I'll have a little bundle of joy to share with you!

Also, I have been researching and fawning over DSLR cameras and will be rewarding myself for all my hard work to get where I am today by taking my glorious United States tax return to put towards a shiny, beautiful piece of joy. There are quite a few events coming up in the next year, including a trip to Greece, that I yearn to capture and learn and share with you! But again, "after the wedding".

I will probably go through a bit of wedding planning withdrawal, like many brides do, depending on their level of immersion in the planning process. But I have a 12-Step Recovery Manual ready for the day I come back from the honeymoon. Just kidding.....kind of....

There are more weddings to attend, time to spend with family and friends, and of course, enjoying time with my new hubby (once I can call him "hubby", of course). So in case you're wondering, that's what I'm going to do after the wedding.

New Header!

So, I find that as a designer, I am never happy with my own header designs. I think I love something, and a few days, weeks, or months later, I look at it and think, "Really? That's the best I can come up with? Let's try this again..."

Combine that with the fact that my entire life, I have redecorated and rearranged various rooms every 6 months or so, and since we have moved in a year and a half ago, I haven't moved anything around (with the exception of the temporary living room adjustments to fit our Christmas tree). So I guess this is the place that I can redecorate and rearrange without Sean coming home and going "What did you do?!"

Which leads me to this afternoon, posting my previous post, and really looking at my blog for what felt like the first time in the past few months....It was so boring. So plain. So....blech. So here's a new look. And be prepared to see some new stuff in the coming months because Santa Sean gifted me with a pen tablet, so I will be mastering that in the next few months. I can't wait to draw all over the interwebs!

Also, tomorrow we're in the teens in our wedding countdown and I just might puke with excitement!

DIY - Pearl & Ribbon Necklaces

I haven't posted much in the way of wedding details and projects because I know some readers are coming to the wedding, and I want some overall "look" things to be a surprise. I do want to post this project however, for any bride or awesome lady looking for an easy gift to make for bridesmaids, friends, or herself! The picture to the left is the inspiration of what I wanted to create...

Some details of note...My bridesmaids range in age by nearly 10 years, so I wanted something classic-looking and elegant, but not your typical wedding jewelry; something they could hopefully wear again with an LBD; and something that I could make especially for them by myself.

Materials:

Beadalon Satin Silver .012 in jewelry string

10mm white pearls - 18 pearls per necklace

Accent finishing beads

18mm ribbon clamp (gold)

Champagne ribbon - 2 1ft. pieces per necklace

Tools: Scissors and pliers

Step 1. Cut an 12-14 inch piece of thread. Tie off one end of the thread to one ribbon clamp. I used a simple square knot, leaving about 2 inches of thread loose with the knot to tuck into the beads. String on a seed bead and a finishing bead, if you choose to use them.

Step 2. Feed the shorter, loose end of thread through the beads, and string pearls on, feeding thread through each pearl until it's completely hidden. Once done stringing pearls and finishing beads, tie the other ribbon clamp as closely to the beads as possible.

Step 3. Fold the edge of the ribbon so the unfinished edge is tucked into the clamp. The clamps have little "teeth" so you don't have to worry about the ribbon sliding out. Give the clamps a good squeeze with the pliers until they can't clamp anymore.

Step 4. You're done!

Merry Christmas!

I wish you and your loved ones, wherever you may be, a very merry Christmas! This has been quite a year. Some wonderful new friends, some oldies but goodies, some who I have never met but I keep close in my heart....You make my life rich in treasures that can't be measured here on earth. You bring me such joy, such laughter, and am blessed to know you, even if it's just glimpses through the interwebs. You all make me want to better myself with each day. Keep on writing, blogging, tweeting, sharing, and loving. I love you all and wish you a joyous holiday season and a peace-filled new year!

Cheers!

Hear Me Roar

I feel like I am conquering the world.

After a surprisingly pleasant week at work that involved some good things, I was ready to tackle this weekend with projects. And tackle it, I did! I managed to get a lot done yesterday before the snowpocalypse, including a Christmas shopping trip, and like most years, ended up buying myself a few new things. Nothing too exciting, but I love hitting Kohl's and Old Navy this time of year and refreshing my sweater collection. I wear sweaters every day in the winter, and I wear them to pieces, so I'm always happy to get some new ones.

My friend Jenn came over yesterday and we cut menu cards together and had a bit of an estrogenfest. She is such a good person and I love her dearly. I'm so happy that she came into my life. I know I don't always love my job, but at the core, it has connected me with some really amazing people. I also gave my unity candle a makeover (the one I originally did looked like an 8th grader art project), and made necklaces for my bridesmaids. That was a fun project, I haven't made jewelry in a long time. The hardest part was finding all the materials!

I am excited for so many things. I finished Sean's Christmas present and can't wait to give it to him. I hope he loves it! I have also been working on restoring my grandparents' and my parents wedding photos, and they look wonderful!

Besides being crazy busy, I've just been trying to pause and take everything in around me. I am a very lucky person, lucky to have the friends and family in my life that I do. Everyone is so supportive and loving, and I'm so grateful to know them. I don't know how I would have gotten through this year without everyone in my life.

This Christmas will be very different. It's my first year not going home. It makes me sad, but also hopeful for the future. Now is the time for Sean and I to begin our life together and make our own traditions. It means letting go of some of our traditions we grew up with, which is hard, but we have very fond memories. We're entering a new phase of our lives, as a new family. He is my person. It's so exciting!

1 month to go!

Christmas: 10 days

Wedding: 1 month

This week has been an interesting one already. For starters, my boss quit, after 3 months of maternity leave. I'll be interested to see how things develop over the next few months at work. The only guarantee is that it will be busy. I have a lot to do in the next 3 weeks to prep for Christmas 2010 sales meetings to be able to leave for the wedding confident that things won't fall apart. I guess it's a strange blessing in disguise that I won't be traveling home for the holiday and will have the opportunity to get a lot of work done while most people take year-end vacation days.

We had an adventure last week applying for our marriage license. We thought we were screwed at one point because the town clerk's office we went to on Tuesday was closed for the special election for the MA Senate seat. Luckily the next town over was not closed - that was after standing in the town selectman's office bawling my eyes out thinking we were screwed. I had taken my last 2 vacation days and Sean's limited days off to travel for this marriage license. The next time we'll both be up is 2 days before the wedding. But we were successful in the end, and that's all that matters.

We had a whole weekend of partying and socializing, and I am looking forward to a peaceful next 10 days.

Just checking in!

I created a badge for World Aids Day 2009 for anyone who'd like to add it to their sidebar, Facebook page, Twitter, etc. Share the message, Respect & Protect!

Life has been bustling along, so I apologize for the sparseness of posts. We had an absolutely lovely Thanksgiving, I had a very nice visit at home with family and friends, and holiday happenings are starting up as of tonight. I am looking forward to this month. We're in a good place with the wedding planning, just waiting for the rest of the RSVPs to come in, and then it's just finalizing and paying up! So I am looking forward to Advent celebrations at church, our Tacky Sweater Christmas Party, watching lots of corny Christmas specials with a mug of hot cocoa, and spending Christmas for the first time away from my family. Since Sean has to work we will both stay down here and have the holiday together. As much as it makes me a bit sad to not be going home and waking up Christmas morning at my parents house, we're moving into a new phase of our life together and he is my family now. It's important to start our own traditions together now!

We got rained out of getting our Christmas tree last night, so we'll be getting it next week instead. I can't wait to have that beautiful glowing, divine smelling thing hanging out in the corner of my living room. It makes the house seem so warm in the coldest of cold months.

I wish you all a blessed December. Stay warm, stay cheerful, and keep in mind those who go without many of life's necessities, those who are ill, those seeking jobs...It's a tough time for many. Let's not take our blessings for granted.