Ice cream and cake!

I talked the fiancee--let's call him Mr. McAwesome (because he is, duh)--into going to the big bridal show at the convention center. Promises of ice cream and cake (and food) won him over, and the show certainly didn't disappoint in that regard. Buzzing on sugar, we came to several important conclusions:

1) There are a heck of a lot of photographers, which is going to make choosing hard.
2) We both like the idea of rustic but pretty, like branches with candles and such, for decor. And we want to be as green as possible, natch.
3) Pink is out. Seriously, there was this huge pink booth and it scared both of us.
4) We like cake. A lot.
5) I'm not kidding about #4. We're talking about mini cupcakes now, and other desserts too. Who needs food when you have sweets?
6) I am going to have a hard time finding a dress that isn't strapless.
7) MORE CAKE!!

We finished the day by going to the bridal fashion show. After having some ridiculous DJ try to get us to dance to "We are family" in the rows, we got to see some pretty dresses. All that Project Runway I make Mr. McAwesome watch has paid off, as he has good opinions about fashion. Towards the end of the fashion show, the models were tossing their bouquets. One model aimed for the woman right behind me but her toss was a bit off. As I saw the bouquet flying towards my head, I did what I do at most weddings--I ducked! Mr. McAwesome, however, just opened his hand, with his arm still around me, and caught me this:



Pretty!

After the fashion show they had some raffle giveaways. They called five grooms onstage and asked them one question in order to win one a prize. Mr. McAwesome was one of these guys and the first to be asked:
"When is your wedding date?"

His answer? "We don't have one!"

The place erupted in laughter. But since that is technically true, he won a $25 Lowe's gift card. Hurrah, Mr. McAwesome! After taking in account our tickets and parking, we still came out ahead $1...plus some flowers and a belly full of cake. I could get used to this wedding planning business!

And so it begins...

Within a week of the engagement I could be found under a large pile of bridal magazines, courtesy of my mother. While a grand princess-day was never a consideration for me, we have plenty of mother-daughter bonding time over those silly magazines. Like looking at couture fashion or million-dollar homes, we dreamed about what could be done if money was no object (and what we would do with the money OTHER than blow it on centerpieces!).

On the coldest, iciest, nastiest night in Nashville so far this weekend, mother and daughter braved the elements to go to...our first bridal show! Yes it may have been crazy, but it was so much fun. We hung out at a posh new hotel in town, munched on delish food, had a few too many cake samples, and even took a turn in the photobooth:



As much giggly, girlie fun we had looking at all the nice things, we both knew what would be our favorite part of the wedding--CRAFTS! I can't wait to get my creative juices flowing, and I'll be sure to share my results, good or bad. Get your glue guns, kids, it's going to be a wild ride...

Once upon a time...

Boy meets Girl.
Girl meets Boy.

Boy and Girl talk - a lot - on the phone and email. Boy and girl go to lunch. And then they go to lunch.

Boy thinks Girl is super cool and pretty--and that he probably blew it when his car broke down on the way back from lunch number 2. Girl thinks Boy is intriguing and remarkably cool under pressure. Girl calls Boy for date number three.

That one date turns into two weeks, then three months, then almost four years. Boy buys a house, Girl moves in. Boy and Girl talk a lot, eat a lot, have fun a lot, and dance in the living room.

Boy and Girl spend celebrate the first Christmas that they haven't gone their separate ways by inviting the families to their home...and ordering BBQ. There is much food and wine and laughing.

"A wonderful Christmas," Boy says. "I think we should have a few more..."

And then, a question.




(Girl said yes!)

That's a nice seat, ma'am

This fall I was on a quest for new chairs for our dining table. They needed to be small, lightweight...and not $100+ per chair. I search high and low and finally stumbled upon some great chairs at the local flea market. Thanks to my mad negotiating skill (or more likely, the fact that it was 1 hour before the close of the market for the month), I scored these chairs for about $8 each:



I got them home, cleaned off the dirt, and decided they needed a little TLC. The finish was less than perfect, the seats an icky blue vinyl.

The before:


But I had become convinced that I had scored some awesome vintage chairs and needed to clean them up right. Strip the varnish, sand down the stain, restain and refinish.

I tried several different methods to get these chairs shaped up. I exposed myself to no less than 3 different toxic strippers, effectively shortening my life by at least 2 months. I sanded until my hand went numb. Then I got out the power sander and sanded some more. Choice words were said and I still was no closer to completion.

Then more choice words were said when I was sitting in a local bar with my honey and realized my tuckas was parked on the EXACT SAME chair I had been working on refinishing!


Yes, my priceless antiques were actually old restaurant chairs. Ha!

The good news? Now I had no guilt about whipping out the spray paint. I had those chairs painted in no time, sans choice words. Add some new fabric to the seats and you have my new and improved chairs for Le Cafe du Moi.

The after:



Just in time to be filled with bottoms for holiday dinners!