Moblogomy

Wise man wisdom

2010-04-07T09:39:00.000-07:00

Chris:
"take a couple shots of whiskey, get some good sleep, and keep thinking "I'm NOT sick!" works for me every time"

My new plan of illness attack.

Ill.

2010-04-07T09:27:00.000-07:00

Q: What's more stressful than the wedding week?

A: The wedding week whilst sick!

That's right, folks. Not only am I sick, but so is Josiah. Currently I sound like a choking man -- it's going to make for some fun dramatic readings of vows. Eff me.

I have been totally swamped lately, so I know I've been slacking with the blog posts. I'll try to make it up to you with some crappy iPhone pictures.

All in all, I am totally excited. I just now came to the realization that everyone I love will be in the same place at the same time. (Well, almost everyone -- I'll be missing Mia Mitchell, a dear friend who's becoming Argentinian hah.) How amazing is that?

Plus, I guess it'll be pretty nice to be married. I guess.

Here's to three more days of hellish, crazy times. And let's hope that my illness vanishes in the next 30 seconds.

RSVP decor

2010-03-25T20:54:00.000-07:00

For awhile now, I have been trying to come up with a way to display the RSVPs. I think I finally found something. I love this concrete wall in TCA -- it's the first thing you see walking up to the reception room. Also, the brunch buffet will be located on this landing, just to the right of the wall. I'm planning on draping four or five rows of RSVPs across, giving guests something to giggle at while waiting in the dreadful food line. Aren't I a nice hostess?

RSVPs

+

Twine and clips

+

Concrete wall

=

Pure joy, as exhibited by Noah

So much matching in our bridal party

2010-03-24T19:56:00.000-07:00

Girls:

Boys:

Girls and Boys:

Almost there

2010-03-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

The chalkboard project is almost complete! Now I just need to paint the easel the reddish orange of our wedding colors.

My final (hopefully) dress fitting is tomorrow. Wish me luck!

It's Friday night!

2010-03-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

Instead of listening to funk rock and dancing around my living room, I have been Gchatting with Bethany and toiling over a time line for photos for the wedding. Hopefully you are having more fun than me! (Just kidding, talking to Bethany and watching Stella on Youtube is my dream Friday night.)

Writing while sitting on the ground is hard

2010-03-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

A taste of the reception

2010-03-16T17:04:00.000-07:00

Today we received 16 pounds of candy. Get ready for Sugar Rush 2010. Who doesn't like candy at 10 a.m.?

Myspace wedding hair

2010-03-15T13:39:00.001-07:00

Last year, Kristen from Llena de Moras blogged about her new hairstylist, Darci, here. I decided to give Darci and Hair Pollution a shot considering I had been going to the beauty school for five years. I figured it was time to abandon $12 haircuts and become a grown up. Well, I seriously love Darci. I am SO happy with everything she does. My haircuts have been fantastic and fresh.

Last week I went to her for my wedding trial make up and hair appointment. Both looked good, but I think the curls were just a bit too perfectly curly.

Today I went in for a haircut, and Darci told me she learned a new curling technique she thought I'd like. So, she spent an extra 25 minutes doing this really fun wave style, wrapping the hair like figure eights around the curling iron barrel. It turned out awesome. It was the perfect amount of curl and wasn't very prim and proper feeling. She said it was her first time doing it on a real person (haha instead of a mannequin), so I know it'll look even better for the wedding. I think once we mess with some product to keep it piecy looking, it'll be perfect.

A dramatic reading of a real break up letter

2010-03-12T21:16:00.000-08:00

Dear friends and family,

Please RSVP to my wedding. As of right now, only 89 people will be attending. While my parents will appreciate the budget cut, my heart may break at the sight of so many empty chairs.

People who apparently aren't coming to the gala:
-Josiah's best man and his wife
-The photographer
-The officiant
-One of my bridesmaids
-An entire half of Josiah's family

Do me a favor and fill out those precious postcards. They have polar bear stamps on them! Who could resist dropping a madlibbed polar bear postcard in the mail? Not me. I might mail myself one to make up for the unexpectedly small stack I've received.

The deadline is March 15. I can only hope you all are procrastinators.

Love always,
Celeste

P.S. - Obviously I can assume the above listed VIPs are coming (I'm only kidding about you!), but I'm using the RSVPs in the reception decor. I'd love some additional postcards to work with!

Our current count:
89 YES
36 ADDITIONAL EXPECTED
--
125 TOTAL

Bearded.

2010-03-11T21:37:00.000-08:00

Josiah: "Do you want me bearded or not bearded for the wedding?"
Celeste: "Did you really just ask me that?"
Josiah: "Just making sure."

Mini tour of TCA

2010-03-11T21:16:00.000-08:00

In January, my mom and I met with the event coordinator at the Tempe Center for the Arts. We went through the building and answered some general questions.

Just yesterday we had our final walkthrough. The whole family tagged along as we met with the coordinator and our caterer contact, Melissan from Santa Barbara. It was a great meeting and we hashed out some details I hadn't thought of. I felt really great coming out of the walkthrough and was honestly really excited. You may have figured out that I tend to swing from hating the wedding to being stoked for it. Yesterday was one of the few occassions I felt truly confident about this crazy ass event. I know it'll be great.

Anyway, here are some pictures from when I went in January.

This is one of the dressing rooms. They're pretty sweet ... TCA is an art gallery/theatre, so they have actually dressing rooms. It's pretty convenient.

Welcome to the Lakeside Room ... The buffet will actually be in this area, just right of where the picture was taken. That way the food won't take up the reception room's space.

Here are some pictures of the reception room. The floor is obnoxiously hideous, but once linens are on and the chairs are surrounding tables, you don't really notice it.

Half DIY

2010-03-09T18:58:00.000-08:00

When I envisioned my ultimate wedding of the century, I figured some crafting would be involved. I have an innate desire to make things, but it's not exactly my forte. I've bounced from craft to craft, whether it's knitting or painting or beading. Nothing's ever stuck. Probably because I'm not good. But I want to be a DIYer so badly.

So, when the time came to think about a guest book, I immediately decided to do some sort of cards instead of the traditional bound book. That way, I could display them in a cool frame or installation piece later on. I contacted Invited Ink to see if they could design some fun cards for us. Success! I printed them out at Kinko's, sliced 'em up and pasted them to some thick, sparkly cardstock. I'm pretty stoked about them.

Our baker, SLiCE, is making key lime shortbread cookies shaped like bikes for our favors. She's going to glaze and decorate them in our colors. Each one will be individually wrapped and placed on every placesetting. I wanted to have some sort of cute tag to accompany the bags. Here's what Invited Ink came up with. They are so darling, and I love how the "Celeste & Josiah" is being incorporated into various aspects of the wedding.

Crizzlin shiznit

2010-03-08T20:21:00.000-08:00

I think my favorite part of the wedding has been our invitations. I am obsessed with them.

I am equally infatuated with the RSVP cards. When Invited Ink created the design, I instantly fell in love with this mad lib style response postcard. Josiah is a high school English teacher (and English graduate student), and I'm a journalist ... so the grammar game fits our nerdy personalities.

The RSVPs are addressed to my parents' house, so every day I bother them with a phone call around 3:30. It's been a blast to read everyone's answers. These are some of the early RSVPers (God bless your souls) that have been anxiously awaiting their Internet debut. Enjoy!

From the good people over at Llena de Moras.

From our boss haha.

This is why I have been absent.

2010-03-07T21:57:00.000-08:00

My current to-do list:

Create wedding playlist
Meet with Kenny, our officiant
Call Morgan to brainstorm photos
Write vows
Nail down groomsmen outfits
Buy Vans for wedding party
Book hotel for mini-honeymoon
Find jewelry
Create day-of timeline
E-mail caterer
Have Jo's pants tailored
Buy more thank you notes
Start writing wedding TY notes
Create program easel
Schedule haircut
Finish creating guest book cards
Call Todd to discuss performing during ceremony

This past week's to-do list (all of which we accomplished):

Buy wedding rings
Mail back Jo's ill-fitting suit
Pick up hair piece/comb thing
Schedule/go to trial hair and makeup appointment
Print and cut guest book cards
Buy twine for wedding favors
Buy bulk candy for centerpieces
Buy ties for groomsmen
Buy glasses for centerpieces

Now stop your moaning! I'm doing enough of that for you all haha.

Accessories

2010-03-07T21:48:00.001-08:00

So, I have these shoes...

Gwen Heels from Kate Spade

Now I need to figure out some jewelry...

Deck-The-Halls Necklace from Anthropologie

Crystal Wave Earrings from Anthrpologie

What else do I need on my wedding day?

P.S. - I am back by popular demand. :) Just kidding. But not about being back.

Finally!

2010-01-06T08:44:00.000-08:00

Holy crap Amanda is amazing.

We just had a 30-minute brainstorming session on Gchat and came up some seriously amazing ideas for decorations!!!

I am legitimately excited.

More explanation to follow sometime ... as for now, wait in anticipation for our crafty genius.

Suiting

2010-01-05T13:17:00.000-08:00

One of the benefits of having a really attractive future spouse is that I don't have to worry about him looking good at our wedding.

Girls have to worry about lots of BS:

"This color washes me out."

"You can see my cellulite dimples through this ill-fitting satin."

"My boobs are falling out."

Josiah, on the other hand, could wear anything and look hotttt (middle-school throwback).

The day after Christmas, I made Jo join me to register for presents at the mall. We decided to have him measured at J. Crew, then stop next door at Banana Republic to try on some suiting.

And holy shit. I felt sinful, he looked so good. I am now worried about being one-upped by his handsomeness at the wedding. I don't think that's allowed.

Anyway, the only concern for Jo is that since he's so slender, he needs a slim-fitting suit. Luckily for him, every hip brand in the world these days make clothes for men like Jo. I like it.

We're thinking of doing a charcoal suit with a white shirt and green tie.

The J. Crew Ludlow suit:

Banana Republic Monogram:

Some randoms:

Decorations

2010-01-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

I am about to decorate my foot up TCA's butt. This is such a pain! I thought it'd be easy to think of some fun touches full of personality. Not true. I can't come up with anything good!

I spent most of Sunday afternoon crying because I have no idea what I'm doing with this wedding nonsense. Surprise surprise.

However, in the past couple of days I have:

Finalized the bridal shower invite list/addresses
Addressed 49/80 envelopes
Received the wedding photographer contract
Contacted the caterer to set up a testing
Contacted the coordinator at TCA to set up a meeting/viewing of the reception room
Forced Josiah to contact the officiant to set up a meeting

Other than addressing invitations, it's not much to write home about. But at least I am trying to do something. Anything!

Dessert party

2009-12-30T08:41:00.000-08:00

In early November, I was having a particularly crappy day and decided to listen to Christmas music. Over the past years I have grown to really love Christmas ... mostly because of the decorations, I admit. Anyway, while listening to the Rat Pack Does Christmas, I decided Josiah and I would hold a holiday dessert party. The month leading up to the event was a pain in the ass, but it ended up being a blast. My mom and I ended up making at least 15 desserts, and tons of guests brought stuff to share as well. It couldn't have gone better. Somehow Josiah and I fit around 45 people in our sub-800 square foot house. It was a ton of fun! It was exciting for Josiah and I to host our first event at our new downtown home. I can't wait to play hostess again!

Adriane and Stefanie

Erica, the photographer!

On the cheap

2009-12-29T13:12:00.000-08:00

Our registries are finally solidified. Well they are more gelatinous, but they are in the process of getting there. So far we have dishes, silverware, towels, a down comforter and pillows, some kitchen electrics and random crap. That is an accomplishment to me. We picked out some glasses, but I didn't actually like them. I later read their terrible reviews on Crate and Barrel's site, so I deleted them. I guess glassware is TBA haha.

As for now, here are some of the things we enjoyed. Josiah went crazy on coffee and wine accessories and consequently they make up half of our registry.

Direct quote: "I could spend all day here [in C&B]. I want everything."

Our Crate and Barrel wedding registry and our Macy's wedding registry

Anyway, here are a couple things I am particularly stoked about. Some thoughts: 1. It would be nice to get rid of my elementary school TV stand. 2. Martha Stewart's collection is too cute to handle. I had to refrain from scanning every blue and red cooking accessory on the planet. 3. Someone please buy me the Sonicare. I want it. In my mouth.

Sloane Leaning Media Stand/Bookcase

Shesham Wall Mount-Stacking Wine Rack

Brushed Silver Wall Frames

Ona Pitcher

Sonicare FlexCare Toothbrush

Martha Stewart Silicone Trivet

The great compromise of 2009

2009-12-27T17:10:00.000-08:00

Oh boy, I've been absent. Good thing is, Josiah and I have spent the past two days at the mall, registering. Finally! I've only been waiting for this for what seems like a century ... waiting and dreading ha.

To be honest, the process went way, way better than I could have expected. Josiah and I had a little mishap earlier in the week that made me really not look forward to finding stuff we both like. Turns out Jo hated every dish set I liked. And he wanted white. And then I cried. (Not really.)

But, after talking to Amanda (aka best maid of honor/friend/woman/educator in the world), I realized that I could get over my hatred for white. So I did. At least, I did when I found these:

Mikasa Swirl from Macy's

It's white, but it's a combo of glossy/matte and the ribbing is really fantastic. Plus, I think the shapes of the pieces really makes them stand out. I'm glad that we found something we both love.

Tomorrow I'll post some of my favorite registry items ...

Frustrated

2009-12-18T13:13:00.001-08:00

I used to be really excited about thinking of cool things for the wedding. I think I'm out of ideas. I don't like looking at wedding blogs anymore because it's kind of depressing. I don't know how these people have the time, money, imagination, etc. to come up with such beautiful weddings.

Tomorrow I go pick up my wedding dress. Hopefully that will spark my excitement about the wedding again. At this point I just want it to pass.

People aren't always rude.

2009-12-15T19:14:00.000-08:00

No matter how stressed and worried and pissed and upset I can be, I can really appreciate a day like today. I may have exclaimed, "I HATE EVERYONE. PEOPLE ARE RUDE!!!" about 58 times on my drive home to my mom, but things can get better. I just have to let them.

A field in Buckeye

2009-12-14T17:30:00.001-08:00

I wish I could be excited for the wedding, but times like these just stress me out. I'm not sure how I'm going to get it together in less than four months. I wish the wedding was actually about Josiah and I getting married. It's sad that people tend to lose sight of what our wedding is about. Myself included.

I want to be excited. I want to not worry. I want to not worry about everyone else. This wedding is about Josiah and I. Call me selfish, but that's what it comes down to.

I'm tired of worrying about other people. About money. About appearances. About feelings. You can only spend so much time on other people and things before you start suffering yourself. I've had to remind myself of this too many times.

Times like these also make me really thankful. Thankful for Josiah, who will be an amazing husband. Thankful for my mom who puts up with my crap every minute of every day. Thankful for Amanda who is a world away but is still there for me no matter what. Thankful for Sara who is the best cousin and friend I could ever ask for. Thankful for Bethany who keeps me sane and grounded despite my impractical reasoning. And thankful, maybe most of all, for Noah who loves me no matter what, and always will.

Five years

2009-12-04T09:53:00.001-08:00

Well, five years ago today, Josiah told me he loved me. It's been a great five years and I couldn't be more excited for the future.

For your entertainment, here are some glorious pictures of Josiah and I over the years.

Early spring 2005?

Summer 2005

Spring 2006

December 2007

May 2008

October 2008

May 2009

June 2009

Never thought I would get tired of cake

2009-11-30T12:55:00.000-08:00

So, a couple weeks ago we decided to go with Slice Cake Designs for our wedding cake. Meeting Chris was a huge relief -- she was so personable and ready to take on anything. Plus, the cakes were delightful.

We're trying to decide between key lime with a cream cheese frosting filling or an orange essence cake with strawberry mousse and sliced strawberries. Both were so tasty and very spring brunch appropriate. I didn't want anything heavy and rich. The citrus flavors were perfect and I am super excited.

We are doing a modified version of this cake, which I blogged about in one of my first entries here.

Cake surgery:

Chopping that top layer in half.
Injecting some white into the stripes to brighten it up.
Using a more springy green, as opposed to these wintry shades.
No flowers.

My mom and I had some pretty god awful experiences at the first few cake places we went to. Fleur de Lis was afraid to use fondant. Classic Cakes was a tad full of itself and quoted us $10/slice. Tammie Coe was good but the flavors were just kind of boring.

Chris from Slice came to my house, brought us two cakes (while other places charged us for tasting), was fabulous to work with and open to my ideas. Plus, she was excited! She was definitely the baker version of our florist, Jeanne from White Poppy. I'm really excited to work with them both.

And the real reason I opened up the blog browser (believe it or not, I had intended to write a super quick entry)...

Chris mentioned that she can do favors too -- cookies, cupcakes, truffles, candies, whatever. My mom and I loved the idea. In fact, my mom came up with the idea of a bike-shaped cookie glazed with a fun color on top. I love it! We are planning on doing some sort of cute and easy packaging. I just came across this post at Once Wed. I love the little tags with the favors. Such a great idea. I think I may steal it.

Photograph by Kyle Hale

Grazie mille

2009-11-30T09:48:00.000-08:00

In the search for cute stationery, I came across a multitude of bike cards! I’d love to incorporate bikes into the wedding’s thank you cards.

The bridal shower is coming up and I am super excited. Amanda is an entertaining genius, so I know her and my mom are going to throw a good one. With the shower come presents, and with presents come thank you cards.

I really like these. I was thinking we could change the color and add a simple “Thanks!” centered at the top. Amanda had mentioned that she was looking for some bike-themed invitations, so these would tie in well. I think they’d be cute regardless though.

Spokes from Volta Press on Etsy

Are you supposed to use the same thank you cards for the bridal shower and the wedding? Who knows! Target would be a cheaper choice for 100 wedding thank yous … but not nearly as cute!

Looks like I have more Etsy searching to do.

Please sir, may I have some more?

2009-11-29T19:51:00.000-08:00

So, this weekend my family and I hit the mall. My parents were on a mission to buy a new kitchen table from Crate and Barrel. I took the opportunity to scope out some dishes (for the second weekend in a row). Guess what ... I felt:

overwhelmed
frustrated
angry
underwhelmed
confused
annoyed
other bad words

I didn't see much I liked. There are two sets I love from Crate and Barrel, but one is only at the outlet. Of course, that's the one Josiah and I really like (the Paolo set below). So basically, it won't be there by the time we get married. Bummer.

It seems like there are tons of dishes but a lot of them are either boring or ugly. I don't want plain white dishes. I also don't want something with a frilly edge. Who knew it would be so hard to find something simple and ... hip? I don't know.

So, where do I look for dishes? Mom says C&B and department stores. I forgot that department stores have stuff like that. So, we headed to Macy's and Dillard's to check stuff out. For the most part, I was underwhelmed. But I found out Calvin Klein makes dishes that have our aesthetic down to a T.

Also, thank God for online reviews. According to the whole two reviews, the Vera Wang dishes chip a lot and look worn quickly. Good to know.

Paolo Dinnerware from Crate and Barrel

Nilsson Dinnerware from Crate and Barrel

Calvin Klein Cargo Dinnerware from Macy's

Vera Wang Naturals Dinnerware from Macy's

Calvin Klein Basso Dinnerware from Macy's

Anyone have good dinnerware buying advice? I just want some cute dishes, dammit.

A glimpse into married life

2009-11-21T18:30:00.000-08:00

I have been blessed to have some pretty amazing ladies in my life. It's been wonderful to hear the advice from women who have been recently married (Erica, Beki, Sara, etc.). It makes me feel like I'm not actually crazy.

One woman in particular that I am really thankful for is Sara, Josiah's cousin. Her husband and Josiah are BFFs, and I consider Sara one of my closest friends. I'm incredibly thankful to be joining the Kilduff family -- I love them all so much.

Sara came down to visit this weekend and I couldn't have been more excited. I absolutely love hanging out with her, and I feel like we are always on the same page. We all have those friends who just ... understand. Sara is one of them and I love her for it (and other things).

In any case, Sara and I had a lot of good wedding conversation this weekend. She's super supportive and has always given me great advice. She's especially wonderful at making me feel like what I'm going through is totally normal. I really appreciate that.

Today we hit the mall with my mom and Sara gave me tons of good registry tips that I wouldn't have thought of. Thanks lady! I think I have a better grasp on what to expect when I register in the next couple of weeks.

There was also a lot of baby talk ... not for me, though! Haha. Sara is pregnant and due the same week that we get married! It's been fun because we are both counting down the months until the big days. I've been super excited about the wedding, of course, but knowing that Sara and Jared's baby boy will be born that same week makes the countdown even more special. Especially because ... Josiah and I are going to be the godparents! I am just too excited. I love their family and their little boy is going to be a badass. Josiah and I are really bummed that they will be moving to the Bay Area at the start of the new year, but we can't wait to visit.

Sara, Jared, Josiah and I drinking non-alcoholic beverages (not lying).

Not really about weddings

2009-11-20T09:34:00.000-08:00

OK, so you all know my love for crepes. I told this weird guy I know, Eric, that our wedding cake was s tack of 500 crepes with 499 different fillings. I decided this was actually a good idea and googled "crepe cake."

Here's what I found.

From the Cream Puffs in Venice blog

Eric and I decided to tackle this recipe. Which means, I'll tackle it and Eric will put it in his mouth. That's how it usually goes.

Here are some past (crappy pictures) from my baking adventures. Last night I stayed up until 1 a.m. baking this Pear Pie with Streusel Topping and Caramel Sauce for my office's Thanksgiving potluck. In the process Noah stole a stick of butter and I burned myself. This is typical of my baking adventures.

A couple weeks ago, I had some friends over for a dinner party. I made Seafood Arrabbiata Pasta for dinner, and Chocolate Stout Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting for dessert. They all drank chocolate stout with ice cream too! I really love cooking and entertaining. I wish I could bake all day!

Don't mind the crappy cell phone pictures. I just bought a new charger and battery for my real camera, so I'm going to try to make more use of that instead of my terrible iPhone.

I am the ultimate delegator.

2009-11-19T12:26:00.000-08:00

OK, so Josiah is a busy person. I am a busy person too ... but not as busy, so I tend to get more done than Josiah. Anyway, he is a high school English teacher and is going to graduate school at ASU for his Master's in English literature. Consequently, his contributions to wedding planning have been less than amazing, but it hasn't been his fault (mostly).

But. Being a teacher and a student, he is one of those lucky assholes who gets a winter break. What kind of 24-year-old still gets winter break? So jealous.

Any time I have asked him to do anything ("Let's go register!" "Can you try on suits?" "When are you going to create a wedding playlist?"), he pushes it off until winter break.

Now that winter break is quickly approaching, I am hereby creating Josiah's Winter Break Wedding To-Do List.

Search the Internet for men's wedding fashion.
Go to Banana Republic and J. Crew to try on suiting.
Develop plan for groomsmen's outfits.
Come with me to Target and Crate and Barrel to register for gifts.
Gather songs and create a preliminary playlist for the wedding.
Find someone to man the iPod/laptop music situation.
Order wedding rings.
Find birth certificate and apply for passport.
Make a decision on the honeymoon location so we can book a flight.

Hopefully we can cross at least half of those things off the last by January 2.

Rehearsing

2009-11-19T12:02:00.000-08:00

The rehearsal dinner has been one of the easiest decisions so far with the wedding. A couple months ago Josiah and I brainstormed where we'd like to go. We came up with Delux, La Grande Orange and Fez. We ended up deciding Delux was too small and wouldn't be able to fit 25 or 30 people in there. I'm not sure whatever happened to the LGO idea, but for whatever reason that fell to the background. Eventually, we decided to go with Fez, one of our favorite restaurants. I won't lie -- I am easily swayed by its cinnamon-sugar sweet potato fries. They are too good for words. Fez has a fun atmosphere, and is nice without being snooty. All of their dishes use an eclectic mix of ingredients that is always perfectly matched. I wish I could go there more often to try the other menu items but, in all honesty, I have ordered the Fez burger probably 5+ times. It's amazing. So, our rehearsal dinner is booked for Thursday, April 8. I can't believe the wedding is only four-and-half months away. I seriously have had to recount that like six times.

Four-and-a-half months?!?!?

Anyway, check out some of the other menu items at Fez:

fez burger

1/2-pound grilled angus burger with spicy honey molases bbq, feta, lemon garlic aioli, crispy onions and cilantro on ciabatta

crisp pomegranate chicken

herb-crusted, pan-seared breasts with tangy pomegranate dressed organic spinach, roasted peppers, artichokes, chickpeas, dried apricots and toasted croutons

strawberry/blueberry cashew salad

field greens with champagne honey vinaigrette, minced red onion, cashes, strawberries, dried blueberries and manchego cheese

Penguin swimming trunks

2009-11-18T07:15:00.000-08:00

So, I've always been a vivid dreamer. When I get stressed, it tends to follow me into my sleep in the form of nightmares. I've had my fair share of bad wedding dreams already, so I figured I'd catalog them here ... mostly because they are hilarious.

Last night's:

I am surrounded by a dozen other brides, and we are all wearing green wedding dresses. All in the shade of green that I like. We seem to be in a salon attached to a wedding venue. I am sitting in a chair getting my hair done ... except the stylist is a retard. My hair is wet, but she is trying desperately to use a curling iron. As my hair sizzles, she proceeds to tell me that my hair holds the worst curl she's ever seen. I am frantic and take to doing my own hair after the dumbass stylist refuses to blow dry it.

The rest of the dream is a blur, but I remember all of the green-dressed brides are ALL getting married at the venue. One right after another. I wonder why I chose such a popular, in-and-out kind of place. Finally, it's my "turn" to get married, and I am helicoptered out of the salon over what seems to be a delta (Amanda - remember the area where we went to the beach with Eric and Jo? Where we had to walk really far from the car? It looked exactly like that ... when he had to go under the overpass and the ocean spilled into the smaller rivers through the coast. So random.) The helicopter was low enough that I could pick out my guests, who were all making this terrible trek across the sand. I picked out the two Zacharys ... Markey and Horne, and called out to them. Zac Markey was wearing penguin swim trunks, a bucket hat and flip flops.

And then I woke up? What an odd dream.

I have been freaking out about finding a salon to work with. I haven't gone to a real hair stylist ever, basically. For the past five years I've just been going to Carsten, Tempe's hair school. I need to find one I can trust, but I don't know where to start.

Apparently I have some issues with being the "same" as everyone else. A dozen green wedding dresses? Wedding factory? Jeez.

Real updates to come about being thankful for life, holiday to-do lists, bakeries!, rehearsal dinner, fitness, etc. Stay tuned.

I want this coconut in my mouth.

2009-11-11T08:31:00.000-08:00

I honestly just want this to be my wedding cake:

Six-Layer Coconut Cake with Passion Fruit Filling

I've wanted to make this for more than a year now, but haven't found a reason to tackle this six-layer monster of deliciousness. Amanda suggested we make it for my bridal shower ... best idea ever!

Cake redesign

2009-11-10T19:35:00.000-08:00

So, wedding cakes have turned out to be a disaster. I still have a ton of appointments left, but I'm already getting the feeling that my original ideas are outrageous. The woman today quotes us ... are you ready ...

10 DOLLARS PER SLICE.

I nearly crapped my pants. Needless to say, if this keeps up, I'm going to Plan B.

Remember these?

I randomly got the idea to line the tiers with candy sticks. I have yet to find a picture of it, but basically, the candy sticks would be making vertical stripes around the base of every tier. Does that make sense?

Concerns/thoughts:

Candy sticks seem to be about 5.5 inches tall. Would the cakes have to be the same height, or would it be good to have some white space above them?
Is this going to look cheap? I don't just want to slap some candy on a cake and call it a day.
Another thought I had was to break them in half, or maybe use two-thirds and line them up, so it'd be a jagged edge of varying heights. Who knows.
What I really like is that the candy would make the cake pop. They are bright, textured, glossy and kind of translucent, so I think it would really add some depth to an otherwise white cake.
What about rock candy? Those come in bright colors too...

Edit: Here's a really terrible, quick drawing I did to try and illustrate the idea. I'm thinking of doing mostly green and white with the occasional red and green added. Also, I drew the jagged edges because I have a feeling no one knew what I was talking about haha.

Edit 2: I drew the straight-edged cake too. I don't know if the baker could make it where the candy sticks come all the way up to the top, so I'm assuming there'd be some white space above it.

I get these stupid ideas in my head ... and I never know if they're actually cool or if I'm just humoring myself.

Thoughts?

From Russell:

2009-11-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

"I thought you should know that my office is now suspicious of me once it was noticed that I read a wedding blog during the day."

I love cute pens

2009-11-10T11:33:00.000-08:00

For some reason, I am really excited to address the invitations. I think I am going to start this week. I have always loved handwriting things (mostly because I think I have great handwriting, haha), so this should be really enjoyable.

My mission is to find the perfect pen to use. I am very particular about pens, as some may know. It's funny because my sister Annelise always makes fun of me for getting excited about certain writing utensils. But I can't help it! Some pens just write so well ...

Another question: do I have to use black ink? So boring! But our invites are a light reddish-orange salmon color, so I don't know what else would go. Nothing really.

This week I have three bakery appointments. I had one last week, and another tonight. The first one was really disappointing, so hopefully these three turn out a bit better. That seems to be the way it's gone though ... with the dresses and florists at least. We'll see. I'll post a roundup at the end of the week with my findings.

My next post will be a serious take on glasses. As in seeing eye glasses. I know you're going to be anxiously awaiting until then...

Spoke card guest book

2009-11-05T10:01:00.000-08:00

So, yesterday I came across this really cute postcard idea yesterday at The Knot’s blog.

They suggested using vintage postcards for the guest book. I thought, “Damn, I need a cool idea for a guest book.” I voiced my concerns to Amanda and, like a good Maid of Honor, she pulled through: spoke cards.

In the fixed gear culture, many people have spoke cards in their rear wheel. You receive them at every alleycat, basically representing your attendance. Some people have them for other random reasons too like if you’re in a bike club. Some people proudly display their cards in their spokes, some choose to hang them up on their refrigerator. Either way, spoke cards are all over the place.

I had wanted to use spoke cards in our engagement photo shoot, spelling out our wedding date in our back wheels. I definitely still want to do that. Plus, we could tie it into the wedding too.

Basically, I’m thinking that we need to have some spoke cards printed up, maybe tying in our name “logo” from our invites. If we printed that lightly along the side, everyone could take one and write a memento on it. After the wedding I could get them all laminated. Then, we could collect them all and frame or install them somehow … or we could put them in a pair of wheels and hang them in our house! I think it’s super cute.

Sizing up the reception room

2009-11-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

I need to scope out the inside of the Tempe Center for the Arts. I'm coming up with ideas, but not sure how to implement them in our space. Here's what I know about the reception area:

Approximately three walls are glass.
It has very tall ceilings.
It overlooks the negative edge pool/Tempe Town Lake.

As you can see, I don't know very much. Here's an architect's rendition of the room, found on AIArchitect.

I've been scouring Flickr for more TCA wedding pictures, and I'm happy to have found another set by David Maddox. Additional wedding pictures at TCA can be found here.

The ceremony area.

Inside the reception.

I mentioned a long time ago that I was originally very anti the indoors. This reception room is different though. I think the windows really give it an amazing feel. Plus, I think it'll go well with this idea I came up with (aka stole) yesterday while looking at CB2 for my registry.

I've been looking at these hanging bud vases/candleholders for probably a year now. For whatever reason, I've refrained from buying 30 of them and suspending them from every surface possible.

BUT. I was reading comments on one of the vases, and a gal said that she collected a bunch and hung them at her reception. This would be absolutely perfect for TCA. Here are some pictures from CB2, showing you you can mix/match the vases.

I could either hang these with fishing wire or with colored ribbon or yarn. Either way it would be super cute.

The only problem is I'm not quite sure where to hang them from. That's why I need to scout out the room and see how I can dress it up. Maybe I can do that this weekend.

Five years

2009-11-03T12:35:00.000-08:00

So, five years ago today Josiah and I met at Barnes and Noble for our first "date." We chatted over Italian sodas and I fell in love. Not kidding.

Here's an e-mail I wrote a friend, dated Nov. 19, 2004:

a few weeks ago i started hanging out with this kid josiah. but alas,
josiah is a special one. when i switched to my present high school
the second semester of freshman year, i think i fell in love with this
kid. amazingly gorgeous. i was so interested in him, in general, but
the whole two years he went there (graduated two years ago) i never
said a word to him. and even the past year and a half--i see him
everywhere. maybe you've noticed about half of my lj update's
subjects as "OMG I SAW JOSIAH TODAY OMG OMG OMG!!!# !v 3."

luckily he's still around and we have mutual friends. somehow things
got around and he found out about my everlasting crush. and what do
you know, it was the same for him.

needless to say, we've been hanging out more and more. he is one of
the most amazing and gorgeous (can i not find two better words or
something?) people i've met so far.

sadly, he's been pretty sick the past week and we haven't gotten to hang out.

i thnk something great is going to happen though.

Pre-registration

2009-11-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

Registries are overwhelming! Especially right now ... all I want to register for is cute Christmas stuff from Crate and Barrel.

Like these sparkly mixing bowls.

And this cake platter.

And these ice skating polar bear plates!!

And these adorable striped spreaders!!!!

OK, so I have a problem with Christmas stuff. I already hung up some lights on the mantle...

I'm not quite sure how to do this registry thang. Josiah and I already have so. Much. Crap.

I was talking with Erica a while ago, and I think we came to the conclusion that registries are especially helpful for newlyweds who moved straight from their parents' homes. But that's not the case with Josiah and I, seeing as how we have accumulated a lot of things since we moved out five years ago. We have everything we need (other than a Kitchen Aid mixer!), for the most part. We could use some uniform table settings, but we have like 54 mismatched sets, so it'll be a challenge finding places to put everything. But I mean, we don't need bedding. Or furniture. Or silverware. Or pots and pans.

So what do I register for? Knick knacks? Decorative stuff? Random kitchen gadgets? Josiah asked if we could register at a bike shop ... no surprise there. I really don't know what to put on my list. I need my mom! I should just have her do it for me haha.

Also, what is the norm for how many places you're supposed to register at? Here's the break down of where I'd like to register:

- Crate and Barrel: dinnerware, classy serving pieces, gadgets
- Target: practical stuff, basic cooking supplies
- CB2 (online only): decorative touches, barware, funky serving pieces

Josiah really wants to register at Bed, Bath and Beyond because they give cash back for returns haha! He worked there for a couple years, so he would know. Our friends told us that they returned a bunch of crap for a grand after they got married. (I don't plan on returning anything though...ha!)

So Crate and Barrel would be good for my parents' friends and relatives, Target would be convenient for everyone, and CB2 would be good for my friends who are looking to get something cool and fun.

I'm not sure how much people actually use registries. I'm the jerk who doesn't use them ... if I know the couple well enough, I try to get them something fun. I figure they're going to be getting enough practical stuff. I hope people get Josiah and I fun stuff too!

Who has advice for me?

Some cool things I'd like from CB2(but no one would actually want to buy for me):

Beaker Glass Pitcher

Firefly Pendant Lamp

Perspective Mirror

Tambien Barware

Ah, yes. The honeymoon.

2009-10-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

Finally, something exciting.

Josiah and I have been trying to figure out where we are going to go on our honeymoon. We've actually talked a lot about it (mostly through wishful e-mails at work when we are feeling particularly down). To say the least, we both need a vacation badly. Preferably for a really long time. Like a year? Or the rest of our lives?

Anyway, here are a couple options we've come up with.

Sweden/Netherlands/Denmark

One of our good friends lives in Sweden, and it was a no brainer to have this be a major contender. It would be really great to see him and Scandanavia in the process. I've just really romanticized that part of the world and I'm not sure why. Plus ... TULIPS!

2. Czech Republic/Austria/Hungary

I really know nothing about this part of the world. Everyone says Prague is the coolest city ever. I'll take their word for it. Josiah is really enticed by Prague for some reason, so there's that.

3. The United Kingdom

I'm of the opinion that English speaking countries are a bit boring. I can't say that this would be at the top of my list, but I know it would be sweet. Plus, there would be a ton of good soccer matches to see. Glasgow is pretty much the capital of indie music, so I think that would be a lot of fun.

4. Northern Italy/Switzerland

I spent two months in Italy during the summer of 2007, and it was an amazing experience (of course). I am really conflicted though. Part of me is screaming, "Go back, now!" while the other part wants to explore other parts of Europe. The compromise would be to see northern Italy, which I did not travel to at all during my Italian studies. So, it really wouldn't be a compromise at all. A lot of war-era Italian films took place in the north, as poor Italians moved up to Switzerland to obtain jobs and survive. The area is just so drastically different than the rocky south and the central Italy that is typically thought of -- rolling hills, wineries and cypress trees.

5. France

I hate France and don't want to see it. The Tour de France is enough for me. Josiah wants to go there though, to live out his literary fantasies and follow Hemingway's expatriate footsteps. Icky.

Ideally, we'd bring our bikes to whatever place we end up going. That way we could ride around in the cities and do some light touring. I'm not really sure if the logistics would make sense for a "quick" trip though. And I think it'd depend on which place we go to. I can't say I would enjoy cycling through the Dolomites in northern Italy. We'll see.

Frustrated and not witty

2009-10-25T20:37:00.000-07:00

So ... looks like I've dropped the ball. Guess that's what I get for not doing anything in a couple of months. Here's a very basic checklist from the cute Bride Ideas list book Amanda gave me as a graduation present.

9 to 12 months

Set a budget
Make the guest list
Set the date
Research and reserve a venue
Determine the wedding party

6 to 9 months

Choose colors
Order invites
Register for gifts
Interview key vendors (Florist, Photographer, Baker, Caterer)
Find and secure an officiant
Shop for and order dress
Shop for and select attendants' gowns

4 to 6 months

Meetings with key vendors (Florist, Photographer, Baker, Caterer)
Plan the honeymoon
Arrange for passports
Obtain marriage license and other legalities
Order rings

What's funny is that every checklist is different and has a different timeline. For instance, TheKnot.com tells me to book the rehearsal dinner site five months in advance, but Bride Ideas says to do it between two to four months.

Here's a list from Real Simple that's a bit more in depth.

Seven to Six Months Before

Select and purchase invitations. Hire a calligrapher, if desired. Addressing cards is time-consuming, so you need to budget accordingly. They are ready to be addressed.
Start planning a honeymoon. Make sure that your passports are up-to-date, and schedule doctors’ appointments for any shots you may need. We have some options, but haven't decided for sure yet.
Shop for bridesmaids’ dresses. Allow at least six months for the dresses to be ordered and sized. Chose the dresses but haven't ordered them yet.
Meet with the officiant. Map out the ceremony and confirm that you have all the official documents for the wedding (these vary by county and religion). Need to talk about that.
Book a florist. Florists can serve multiple clients on one day, which is why you can wait a little longer to engage one. Plus, at this point, you’ll be firm on what your wedding palette will be. Got that one done awhile ago.
Start composing a day-of timeline. Draw up a schedule of the event and slot in each component (the cake-cutting, the first dance). What?! Is this a joke?

Five to Four Months Before

Book the rehearsal and rehearsal-dinner venues. Negotiate the cost and the menu. If you’re planning to host a day-after brunch for guests, book that place as well.
Check on the wedding invitations. Ask the stationer for samples of the finished invitations and revise them to suit your needs.
Select and order the cake. Some bakers require a long lead time. Attend several tastings before committing to any baker.
Send your guest list to the host of your shower. Provided you, ahem, know about the shower.
Purchase wedding shoes and start dress fittings. Bring the shoes along to your first fitting so the tailor can choose the appropriate length for your gown.
Schedule hair and makeup artists. Make a few appointments with local experts to try them out. Snap a photo at each so you can compare results.
Choose your music. What should be playing when the wedding party is announced? During dinner? To kick off the dancing? Keep a running list of what you want—and do not want—played.

My focus right now is to schedule meetings with bakers. I tried to do that the week before last, but their schedules are funky. I am meeting with Fleur di Lis Cakes on November 5th, so at least there's that. Bakers have been kind of frustrating to find. I've noticed that they tend to have terrible sites with terrible pictures. I haven't seen any cakes that I've really been impressed with either. And it's kind of scary ... I have pictures of what I want, but what happens when it's delivered and looks terrible? It's not like the wedding dress that you see it before you buy ... yowza. I've just seen some really terrible cakes and hopefully mine doesn't turn out to be one of them. I kind of wish my mom could just bake it haha. I'd love to have these key lime cupcakes from Bon Appetit. I made them a year or so ago and they are definitely my favorite cake concoction ever.

Ugh, I am feeling overwhelmed again and I haven't even done anything. I understand that your wedding is supposed to be the best day of your life and all, but it just seems ridiculous how much time and effort is supposed to go into it.

I can't seem to get anything done, let alone personalize it and think about the details. I have a feeling this wedding is not going to be very cute or thoughtful. I don't really have the energy to add thoughtful touches, nor do I have any good ideas. And stupid stuff like ... who is going to do my hair? I have never gone to a real "salon." So I guess I have to start going to a fancy hair place so I can find a hairdresser who I trust?

Well, I guess I needed a wake up call at some point. It's just a pain because these next weeks are particularly hectic with crazy deadlines at work and freelance projects. It doesn't help that I have four articles due tomorrow and I haven't started any. I guess I should say ciao to this stupid blog entry and hope the checklist magically gets completed in my sleep.

So much napoleon in my mouth

2009-10-23T11:57:00.000-07:00

Holy cow. What a whirlwind of a week ...

So, I went to Baltimore. I made it on the second flight, which was excellent. The weekend was filled with a lot of dessert, a lot of laughs and a lot of jumping. I figure I'd upload some of the pictures here for your viewing pleasure.

In Amanda and Jaren's swanky Baltimore high-rise apartment. Puts my decrepit house form 1912 to shame!

This is us jumping in the mouth of a megalodon (dinosaur shark). If it was eating us I'm sure we'd be this ecstatic.

It was 40 degrees and raining the whole damn time. So. Cold.

We seriously took like 84 jumping pictures. This is the best!

All in all: a great trip. It was quick and involved a lot of travelling (I spent 14 hours in the airport/flying on Monday), but I am so happy I got to spend time with Amanda ... even if we didn't do any wedding stuff haha.

On to more good news: I kicked ass at my weigh in this morning.

134.4. That's right. This is the first time I've weighed under 135 in years. Like 5 years. Freaking crazy.

I ate a crap ton of bad food this weekend, of course (though I tried to be somewhat good), and I weighed myself on Monday to much horror. Granted, it was at 4 p.m. and I usually weigh myself at 9 ... so it was going to be higher regardless. But still, it was back up to 137.badnumber and I was pretty pissed to have gained back the weight I lost last week. So I was a stellar eater and exerciser this week and somehow made a victorious comeback. Also I didn't eat breakfast this morning because I wasn't feeling well, so not sure how much that would affect today's results.

Week one (10/9): 137.2
Week two (10/15): 136.0
Week three (10/23): 134.4

Because of my shortened week, my goals are a little odd. Since Tuesday I've ridden 55 miles, which is pretty good for three days. Last week I did three resistance workouts, so good for me. I did another one on Tuesday and am going to work out in a second over here.

Tonight the Central Slayer alleycat hosted by Hot City Destroyers. I'm hoping all of my training pays off.

Last but not least ... I haven't been doing any wedding stuff. I suck. This weekend I am going to post a checklist of what I've done so far on our timeline. Hold me to it.

Flight Friday

2009-10-16T06:34:00.000-07:00

I am currently in the airport, waiting to (hopefully) board my plane to Baltimore. I can't even wait to see Amanda this afternoon. It's hard to believe I haven't seen her in two-and-a-half months. This will be the first time she sees my engagement ring! So exciting. So much wedding stuff will get done this weekend. Hell yeah.

As of yesterday, I weighed 136.0. Pretty stoked about that. Dropped 1.2 pounds in less than a week. I didn't get to ride that much because of vacation preparations and being mildly ill (Josiah is full-on ill). BUtttt, I bought a road bike on Wednesday! I can't wait to ride it when I get home.

Sorry for the short update, but I've got to pay attention to the standby situation!

Edit: Didn't get on the first flight. Hopefully I'll get there at some point.

Finally.

2009-10-10T20:19:00.000-07:00

They came! Forgive my crappy cell phone picture. The color is a lot richer in person. I love them :).

Weigh in No. 1

2009-10-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

Fitness Friday has come and almost gone, and I nearly forgot to make my obligatory update.

As promised, I jumped on the scale this morning, so I am officially using this at my starting point:

October 9, 2009: 137.2 pounds

I'm hoping to eventually make it down to my goal weight of 130. That would pretty much take care of my gut (hopefully).

A couple months ago I decided to track what I ate. I eat a lot. All the time. I am the ultimate snacker. Any time I'd pass by the pantry or kitchen, I would grab something ... just because? It was ridiculous. I've always been like this, and it makes sense why I could be super active and fit, but still not make any gains in terms of weight loss (so punny). So, I figured it was time to make myself feel really guilty by keeping a food diary.

Most of my coworkers have been personal trainers and I talk to a tonnn of RDs for work, and everyone agrees that logging food intake is the best way to lose weight.

I tried it, and it's literally the only thing that has made me lose weight somewhat effectively. At my lowest, I was down to 135.something about a month or so ago. I started out at 142ish when I first started my job.

Basically, here's the gist.
- Write down everything you eat.
- Keep track of caloric count and fat grams.
- Want to eat a donut, but know that those 400 calories will make a huge dent in your daily caloric intake.
- Get instant feedback at the end of the day as to your success.

In general, what I eat isn't bad. I cook a ton
and try to eat a lot of fish, vegetables, whole grains, fruit, etc. The problem was that I just snacked like a mofo. Seriously, if I could cut out my meaningless snacking (and my candy), I would weigh a lot less. Oops.

Basically, writing down what you eat makes you accountable for your actions. You can't cheat. Because you know you're cheating, and you can't fool yourself.

For me, it also helps because I don't really eat out when I track my food. A lot of places don't have nutritional content (at least independent restaurants), so you'd have to guess. And believe me, from all of my interviews, people always underestimate portion size, which in turns leads to underestimating calories. So, if I cook my own food using recipes from places like Cooking Light, I know exactly what's in it and the nutritional make up. It helps me be in control of what I'm eating. And plus, it saves me money. Always a good thing.

I've logged my food twice for probably increments of 3 to 4 weeks each time. The first time I definitely just gained the weight back after I stopped logging. That was shitty. The last time I did it was probably a month ago, and surprisingly I've only gained back a pound or two. While that definitely isn't good, at least it shows I kind of improved my habits? Ha.

I'm hoping to use this round of food logging to basically make myself aware of my choices and help form healthier habits. For example, I am obsessed with dessert. But I'm trying to eat fruit for dessert instead of candy, ice cream, etc. My grandfather has always had his cherries after dinner ("Glorrrrr! Bring me my cherries!" he'd always boom from the downstairs), and I think I could learn from him. Plus, I just need to get out of the habit of eating because food is there. Not necessary at all.

Here's today's food log:

10/08/09
Breakfast: cup Blueberry Special K cereal w/ soy milk: 150 cal
Lunch: smallest piece of pizza ever (w/diced bell peppers, spinach, roasted garlic sauce, feta, goat, cheddar and prosciutto): approximately 200 cal; sugar-free fruit cup: 70 cal
Dinner: 6 oz. salmon w/spicy shrimp stuffing and chipotle salsa: 250 cal
Dessert: lick of the spoon from the lemon bars currently in the oven: 15 cal
(Edit) Dessert pt. 2: an actual lemon bar (Mom, they are delicious): 150 cal
--
Total today so far: 835 cal

It doesn't seem like very much (and looking at it written down, it's not), but surprisingly when you're eating healthy food, there aren't that many calories. I could have had a combo meal at McDonald's that was more calories than that. But instead I had cereal, pizza, some fruit and a hunk of salmon.

Yeterday I did some extra snacking (and candy corning) and had 1,165 calories.

I think the one thing I have going for me is my habit of not drinking anything other than water. Alcohol especially has a billion calories. I can't imagine drinking four or five bottles of beer and hitting like 800 calories. That is insane. Hopefully my monthly margarita doesn't set me back (haha just kidding). Though last week at Boulders, I drank three Shirley Temples. Not sure what got into me that night. So crazy. Ha!

Here are some tips I've gathered through my own experience and from articles I've written about nutrition and food logging:

- Keep your logs in one place. Whether it's online through a service or in a planner (I'm using my Moleskine planner), it's helpful to see your progress. Before I was just using whatever random Post-Its I found. Then I would lose them and it just wasn't very helpful.
- Track more than just calories. Last time, I logged the calories, fat (trans and sat), fiber and protein. That helps put things into perspective for you. Depending on what kind of lifestyle you live, you need different proportions of fat, carbs and protein.
- Pay attention to portion size. For me, the big thing was cereal. Sure, a serving size of cereal is between 3/4 cup and a cup, depending on the brand. But when you pour a bowl of cereal, it ends up being a lot more than that. Take a dry measuring cup and measure out a cup and put that in your bowl to see what that looks like. I was definitely shocked!
- Learn from it. No one is going to keep a food diary for the rest of their lives. And least hopefully not. But after one week of keeping a food journal, you will learn a lot about your eating habits. Maybe you're not getting enough protein. I realized I wasn't. I know my good friend Bethany started keeping one, and she was especially interested in her fiber intake. Logs can be really useful to see what you're getting too much of and not getting enough of.
- Apply your knowledge and adapt your diet. Once you become aware of the missteps, put the knowledge to use. Honestly, before I logged my food for the first time ... I knew I ate a lot, but I didn't realize how much of it was just for fun. Now I know I need to watch my snacking and I can remember that. Most of the time I don't pay attention, but at least it's there if I'd like to listen, haha.

That was really long. Sorry for rambling. I know too much about this kind of crap from work.

P.S. - Rereading the last two entries makes me seem like a freak. I swear I'm not actually obsessed about my weight or anything. I'm just a goal-oriented gal and want to look hot for my wedding.

Fitness Thursfriday

2009-10-08T11:26:00.000-07:00

All day, every day, I am surrounded by fitness. I write about health and wellness, fitness, sports medicine and nutrition. My coworkers are all former professional or collegiate athletes. My friends are cyclists. My family is too athletic for their own good. So, where do I fit in?

I've always been somewhat active. I grew up playing soccer and had practice basically every after school and tournaments on the weekend. In early high school, I ran track and cross country. I was definitely way more in shape then compared to now ha.

As time progresses, I've discovered I really want to get serious about cycling. I love it, I love my friends and I love bikes. It's been a great outlet for Josiah and I in terms of combining something active with our social lives. My favorite thing in the world is our Thursday night Ladies' Ride, where I meet up with Erica, Adriane and all of my other girls (and sometimes guys!). It's been wonderful to have fun doing something I both love and is good for me!

For awhile now, I've wanted to make some sort of fitness post setting out some goals for myself. And now I have more of a concrete reason.

I just set up and engagement photo shoot with Morgan Bellinger of Move Photography for November 29. (I'm planning a special post in the future about how pumped I am to work with my friend Morgan!) So now I have a date that I need to look good for. (If only my hair would grow six inches by then...)

I've always been one to want to lose weight, get in shape, eat better, get fit, blah blah blah. I'm not good at doing any of those things. I'm trying though. Ever since I started my job (and have been surrounded by people obsessed with health, performance and counting calories), I've been doing a better job at maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I still love ice cream and candy, but I'm dealing with those infatuations a bit better now.

In the past I've struggled a lot with my weight and being unhappy about my appearance. I know this is normal to an extent with any woman. As I've grown up, I've consequently grown out of hating who I am and my appearance, though it occasionally comes back if I'm feeling especially down.

I'm excited to use this wedding as a time to improve myself, physically and mentally. I've come to the realization that setting vague goals like "I want to lose weight" aren't going to get me anywhere. If I had a lot of dedication and drive, they might haha. Instead, I'm really going to focus on my cycling and getting better at that. Right now I'm trying to reach 100 miles a week (I hit 120 a few weeks ago, but only got around 60 last week). I know if I make this a priority, I will become better, faster, leaner and overall healthier. I'll let an improved appearance become the result of my cycling goals. I'm tired of constantly trying to lose weight and feeling unsuccessful.

My goals:
- Ride 100 miles a week
- Do weight/resistance training 3 times a week
- Consume less than 1,200 calories a day

Every Friday I'm going to do a recap of the week and assess if I achieved my goals or not. I'll use Friday morning as my weekly weigh in to keep some consistency. I think I'll also cover some sort of fitness-related topic. Tomorrow I'll talk about food journaling (the only way I've ever lost weight).

As some of you know, I love a good challenge. After all, I haven't used spoons in five years after I made it my angry New Year's resolution. Making this a game for myself is probably the only way I can make some headway.

Now, it's time to make use of my lunch break and do some weights in my office's gym. Ciao!

P.S. - Sorry this post was incoherent and all over the place. It's hard for me to gather my thoughts on this subject!

Some bike-related photos:

An old photo of the Ladies' Ride, taken by Erica Lucci.

Bikes, bikes, bikes in my living room.

Hilarious picture of Chris, Erica, Josiah and I after a 55 mile this spring. My hair tie broke before the ride started!

Riding into the darkness on another ladies' ride, another one courtesy of Erica.

Wedding alleycat!!!!

2009-10-07T20:38:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Josiah and I are heavy into cycling. We ride fixed gear bikes, the kind with no gears and no brakes. The sport is a blast and we've gained so many really, really incredible friends over the past years through bikes.

Josiah and I have officially decided to hold a wedding alleycat (a scavenger hunt-like bike race). We're thinking it'll be the weekend after our wedding and it'll be a way for us to celebrate with all of our bike friends! I've been wanting to organize an alleycat for a long time now, and Josiah ought to plan something (since his wedding planning involvement is not much to brag about haha).

I'm pretty sure this is the greatest idea ever! We are already having a blast thinking of destinations (Tempe Center for the Arts, courthouse, dress boutique, strip club) and props (something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, garters, ring pops, etc.). The people who help us with the race can be the bridal party! The spokecards could be adaptations of our actual invitations, and the fliers could be save the dates...!!!

Now we just need to come up with a punny name. And get this shit together.

Sad but true: I am kinda more excited about this than the actual wedding. Sort of kidding haha.

Edit: It would be great to make this a guy/girl partner race. The dudes could ride to Dream Palace, while the girls could ride to a salon or something, etc. then meet up at the courthouse or chapel or whatever. Yes, it is going to be hilariously stereotypical hahah.

My mom hates this idea

2009-10-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

A while ago, my little sister Annelise said the bridesmaids should wear Vans at the wedding. I laughed it off, though I secretly thought it was a great idea. Last week I thought I had come up with an amazing plan: Josiah could give his groomsmen Vans to wear at the wedding as a gift. Then I realized I wasn't the brilliant one and remembered Annelise's suggestion haha. Josiah and I have worn Vans for years now, and collectively have had too many pairs to count.

After some searching, I came up with the perfect pair, this white organic Authentic shoe with a green stripe.

Vans come in a billion different colors, and about a year ago I saw the perfect reddish orange color Authentics. I should have bought them, but probably made up some excuse (oh, fiscal responsibility). If I could find a pair now, I would be in heaven.

My ideal wedding shoe scenario:

Bridesmaids and groomsmen in all white or white with a green/red accent stripe.

Me in reddish-orange (still on the hunt)

Josiah in green:

The girls are wearing green dresses from J. Crew, so white shoes would be adorable. I, on the other hand, could wear the reddish-orange to add a fun pop of color to my ivory, knee-length dress.

My mom is not keen on the idea of the girls wearing Vans at all … let alone me sporting Vans. I plan on wearing her down, but in the case that she holds strong, maybe I could just wear them for the reception and be comfortable? ...I would kind of like to wear heels so I can have nice calves haha!

Can you imagine how cute the pictures would be with us all in Vans? I can’t even handle it. Anyway, how am I going to skid my fixed gear down the aisle in heels? We all know heels + cages don't work well. But you better believe that our bikes are going to be involved somehow...

We're on our way to fall in love.

2009-09-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

I remember a summer's day
I remember walking up to you
I remember my face turned red
I remember staring at my feet
I remember before we met
I remember sitting next to you
I remember pretending I wasn't looking

When Josiah and I met at Barnes and Noble on Nov. 3, 2004, he handed me a burned copy of “And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out” by Yo La Tengo. It was his favorite CD, he said. It still is.

It was appropriate. I was initially drawn to him because I knew he listened to the same music as me. It sounds shallow, but that’s a big selling point for indie hipsters. You know, we just “get” each other. Zack Horne brought me up when meeting Josiah at a Microphones concert at the Modified. Our first date was a Delgados concert at the Clubhouse, back when it was like 10 square feet.

I remember driving home from Barnes and Noble, and stumbling upon track two “Our Way to Fall,” while pulling into my neighborhood. It instantly struck me.

A couple months prior, I was at Barnes and Noble (cut me some slack, it was the only cool place in Goodyear) with my good friend Mia and her brother Bo. We were hanging out at a four-person table when I heard a faintly familiar voice and looked up at the fourth person joining us at our table: Josiah. I can only imagine the panic clouding my mind as I instantly looked away and tried not to freak out. I have a feeling I did a poor job.

This was a common occurrence during my few interactions with Josiah pre-November 2005. Whether in the Millennium High School cafeteria or outside of Mrs. Sveom’s class where I had homeroom the last period of freshman year, my reaction was always the same.

I remember pretending I wasn’t looking.

Needless to say, I could relate to “Our Way to Fall.” I tend to be a superficial music listener. I don’t pay much attention to lyrics or delve into songs, but how could I not pay attention to this anthem of embarrassment and eventually love?

In the past five years, Josiah and I have probably attended 100 concerts. Our most anticipated one is coming up a week from today: Yo La Tengo. They haven’t played in Arizona for years and we fear this may be the band’s last hurrah (they’ve been together for like 20 years). We are both incredibly excited to see this concert and I know we won’t be disappointed.

Josiah’s main contribution to the wedding planning is the music. I’ve given him the task of compiling the music that will truly set the tone for our event, including mingling music, what I walk down the aisle to and reception tunes. This portion of the wedding is so incredibly important to us, and I wouldn’t trust anyone else.

I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.

P.S. - In an upcoming post I'll include some of our favorite tunes that we plan on including in our playlist.

No turning back!

2009-09-28T12:24:00.000-07:00

The invitations are coming soon! They are expected to ship on Oct. 2. I can't believe it. This will be the first physical "thing" I have from the wedding. It's crazy to have done a ton of work but not really have anything to show for it (other than peace of mind, ha).

Onto our proof...

The huge version is available here.

Josiah's response to the invitations nearing completion:

"I guess it means you HAVE to marry me now, or it would be a waste of money
and paper ;)"

Such a sweetheart. Also, I'm pretty sure that's the first time he's used a smiley face. Priceless!

Real updates coming soon.

I hate chocolate, except when combined with hazelnuts

2009-09-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Bethany and I were having an emotionally charged conversation about old people not liking cute invitations. In a rash moment, I blurted out (via Gchat) “My mom is just lucky that I didn’t fold the invitation like a crepe and put Nutella inside.”

Thus came the greatest idea of the wedding so far: “You should do mini things of Nutella as your favors.”

Oh yes.

Anyone with a brain knows how good Nutella is. Especially paired with bananas. And especially inside crepes.

Like all good things, Nutella comes in small jars that would be perfect as a gift. I’m still unsure whether people will think I’m odd or not. I mean, it’s not exactly the same as gifting a jar of super-crunchy Jif, right? I wonder if our non-hip, non-Euro guests will even know what Nutella is.

Who cares. Nutella!!!!!!!!!

Here’s a picture of a cute set of seven mini jars.

I have an inkling that mini Nutella jars will be:
1. Hard to find. Dumb imports.
2. Not economical.

Regardless, my search starts now. As I told Bethany, I hope people are confused and don’t want the Nutella. That way I can take it all home. I deserve 100 mini jars anyway. Think of all the crepes I could make…

I have a jar of Nutella in my “pantry” (really just half a spice cabinet) that hasn’t had any use in a long time. That needs to change. When I studied in Italy, I had a Nutella and banana sandwich every day for lunch because there was no peanut butter. I also had four helpings of gelato a day. And I still lost 10 pounds!

In honor of Nutella and the glorious Italians who created it (I think. Maybe not. Too lazy to go on Wikipedia.), I am going to make banana and Nutella cupcakes from the blog Bleeding Espresso. Maybe I’ll post some pictures tomorrow.

Hardpressed

2009-09-15T08:53:00.000-07:00

I am obsessed with all things letterpress. It all started with the invitations. But now it's spread to thank you cards, calendars, fortune tellers, moleskine notebooks (I know, right?) and now ... recipe cards!!

While I was browsing Design*Sponge, I came across this post with the most darling letterpress recipe cards.

One D*S reader suggested including a recipe card in each bridal shower invitation, then asking party-goers to return them to the bride with a recipe. I think this is the greatest. Idea. Ever.

I love cooking. I love cooking for people. I love cooking for Josiah. I love cooking for myself.

I pull almost all of my recipes from Cooking Light, with the occasional Bon Appetit or Food and Wine recipe thrown in. But I would love to have a collection of tried and trued family favorites to store in a recipe file.

Letterpress recipe cards by Moontree Press

P.S. - I can't wait to debut my wedding invitation design. I've been working with the lovely ladies at Invited Ink and I am so excited. Sally Ann drew me up a custom invite and I couldn't be more excited. It's so beautiful!

Cutesy moments, pt. 2: "Keep on blogging"

2009-09-13T20:38:00.001-07:00

Some odd smells just drifted over from Jo's side of the couch. After I expressed my disgust, Josiah recited the next blog entry:

"Today's entry. As I look over to my soon-to-be husband's way, I am rethinking my decision to marry him."

End of an era

2009-09-13T20:08:00.000-07:00

It's 8 o'clock and I'm sitting here on my brand new (second-hand) couch. Josiah's lounging on the chaise next to me, furiously highlighting a book on some nonsense ... gender and modernity. Noah looks like one big lump at Josiah's feet; he's tangled up in his holey blankie.

Josiah and I are both in odd times of our lives right now. Things are busy, stressful, disappointing and, honestly, not right in some aspects. We both need to work through it until we can reach a point in life where we are happy -- not just OK.

A lot of times over the years (and especially this month) I've regarded Josiah and our commitment as the one "right" thing in my life (in addition to friends and family, of course). He has been the constant good force over the past five years -- the consistently encouraging presence through the strenuous classes, the late nights in the newsroom, the crappy jobs, the identity crises and the losses.

I haven't blogged in the past week or two because, honestly, I haven't done much. I've been addressing a lot of personal issues that have put wedding planning on the backburner. I'm trying to be proactive and positive, but it's hard to when the future is so uncertain.

But once again, I have to remember what is certain: Josiah and I are getting freaking married. And all of my best friends will be there. Why shouldn't I be excited? We are going to be throwing a party (for ourselves, but still) and it will be kickass.

Sometimes I have to remind myself what this wedding is about. My mom has brought this up a lot. It's about Josiah and I. It's about our love. It's about our marriage. Of course, it's also about all of the people who have brought us together, encouraged us, supported our decision.

So, here's the hoping that the coming blog entries will bear good news and fruitful inspiration. I need it. Both in life and in wedding.

P.S. - Thanks to Amanda, Erica and Todd for being especially great friends during this ever-changing time.

My maid of honor

2009-09-03T14:44:00.000-07:00

Three months ago, my best friend Amanda moved 2,400 miles away. She packed up her tiny Hyundai with as much crap as it could hold, and she drove to the other side of the country to participate in Teach for America.

To be honest, it's been shitty. Really shitty. I've cried a lot, felt sorry for myself, wondered why I have no friends and, overall, been very lonely since she left. I feel selfish for wanting to keep her here forever -- to go to sushi, eat McDonald's swirl cones, make fun of everyone, use terribly ugly voices, etc. It sucks to be with someone non stop, then have them torn away from you, never to return again. (At least not for two years.)

But before she left, she gave me a going away present: a bridal list book and a pack of brightly colored felt-tip pens (my favorite!). The big engagement was coming up and she knew exactly what I needed: a place to keep all of the lists that would soon consume my life.

I love Amanda. I love her more than I've loved any other friend. I'm not gay, but if I was I'd love Amanda in that way too. Right now, that love is devoted to Josiah.

Amanda is the best. She is the friend who will drop everything for you -- no matter what. She is hilarious, thoughtful, gorgeous and nurturing. She is the friend that has made me pee my pants. And even though I fake peeing my pants a lot, I'm being literal here. Not only is she the greatest friend on earth, but she is brilliant and an extremely hard worker. She was my assistant editor when I was EIC at the State Press Magazine. And to be honest, I would have not be able to do it without her.

It's funny, because Amanda and I have known each other since our freshman year at ASU. She was the awkwardly tall and obnoxiously loud one who lived a couple doors down from me in the Hayden West dorm. I was the reclusive hipster in room 209 who did not like anyone having fun remotely close to me. My roommate Bethany and I would complain about everyone outside who would never shut the hell up.

Then, sophomore year Amanda stumbled into the SPM editors' office during one of our weekly meetings. She was a new writer, and I recognized her as the loud girl from the dorms and promptly decided to not talk to her. Instead, I was pretentious and made fun of my fellow staffers with Katie Lehman, our photographer.

The next semester, our paths crossed again while working at the Arizona Republic. I figured I might as well get to know this girl, considering we'd probably just run into each other more and more as we continued our journalism classes. Surprisingly, we instantly became attached at the hip, hanging out at all times and becoming BFFs.

Since then, there have been three trips to California, too many days spent in the basement, countless hours getting goofy and a lot of wondering why everyone else is so dumb.

I am so thankful we came to be great friends. She is truly a blessing in my life. I would be even more of a disaster without her right now. Even though she lives on the other side of the country, even though she teaches Pre-K full time for TFA, even though she's taking graduate classes at John Hopkins ... we still manage to talk every day. I think that speaks volumes about how good of a friend she is and how much she means to me. I have friends who live 15 minutes away who couldn't be bothered to pick up my calls, let alone call me in the first place.

Thanks, ManFru. I don't know what I would do without you.

Photo courtesy of Deanna Dent.

P.S. - I forced Amanda to get a blog to chronicle her experiences as the greatest Pre-K teacher in all of Baltimore. You can read it here.

Edit with Amanda's response:
Amanda: celeste
oh my god
i am crying right now
you B
i cannot believe you did that!
ugh you are the best friend ever
and i miss you all the time tooo!

Then:
Amanda: i am in shock
me: why?
Amanda: i didnt think you liked me that much!'

Hahaha. Oh man.

Cutesy engaged moments, pt. 1

2009-09-01T23:12:00.000-07:00

I have decided to write more easily digestible entries. My first attempt is the installation "Cutesy engaged moments." Here you will find embarrassing snippets of me and Josiah's relationship as a newly engaged couple.

Josiah: "You look especially German tonight."
Celeste: "No."
Josiah: "Yes, you do."
Celeste: "Why?"
Josiah: "Your hair, your complexion, your eyes--"
Celeste: "--Those have not changed. I don't look German."
Josiah: "It's not a bad thing. I'm German. You know who else is German?"
Celeste: "Hitler."
Josiah: "No."
Celeste: "Heidi Klum."
Josiah: "Yes! How did you know that's who I was thinking of?"

The rest of the conversation covered whether Seal was a robot or not.

How Mariee lost my business

2009-08-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

Last year, Amanda and I sat in our editing class which consisted of a few things: 1. not editing 2. making fun of our dumb classmates and 3. looking at wedding stuff.

It was in that class that I found Drew, a dress fromPriscilla of Boston. This line is, by far, the classiest of all the wedding designers. I searched high and low for dresses that were gorgeous in their simplicity and hushed detail. I am not one for rhinestones, jewels, bows, fluff, tiaras, trains or any of that nonsense. I am not Cinderella and my wedding is not a ball. My sister Annelise's wedding however ... that's another story.

While looking for bridal stores carrying the Priscilla of Boston lines, my mom came across Mariee in Scottsdale. I should have known right off the bat that Mariee would be trouble, considering the name of the store is in French. But, I went against my best judgmental judgment and visited the salon two weeks ago.

I was not amazed by anything I tried on--the dresses were nice, but not my style (see: ornate and long). They didn't have the short PoB dresses that I liked, but the sales associate said they would be able to order the samples in for me to try on. I was very impressed and thrilled by this. She told me to e-mail them the names of the dresses I'd like, and she would get them in right away.

I e-mailed her that afternoon. Like two hours after we left the shop. My mom heard back from her a few days later, saying that she had spoken with the representative and they would be in for my appointment on the Saturday the 22nd. The day before our appointment, the woman e-mailed my mom, saying they were supposed to arrive on the 17th, but hadn't. She said she would contact the representative on Monday (the 24th) to see what the status was.

And then we never heard back from her.

Who knows how many times my mom called, left messages and e-mailed the store. It was ridiculous. What kind of business doesn't answer its phone during business hours? Despite our best communication efforts, she never got back to us. So, she lost a sale.

My mom, my friend Sara and I headed up to Uptown Bridal yesterday to try on some ridiculously cute dresses we had seen the week before.

After privately embarrassing myself wearing Spanx for the first time--"for my privacy," the saleswoman assured me--I stepped into a dress and opened the velvet dressing room curtain. I could tell by the look on my mother's face that this dress was "the one" and that was that. I tried on some others, but everyone kept reverting back to the original. So, I tried it on again.

I was in love with the dress completely, but in the back of my mind I wondered about the PoB dress and if I could commit to any other. I voiced my concern and my mom stopped me short. They apparently did not want our business. After numerous phone calls and e-mails, they had still not gotten back to us. They didn't deserve our money and I wasn't going to give it to them (or, at least, my mom wasn't going to give them her American Express).

So, I went for it, a la Michael Ian Black (no one will get this). And I'm very happy.

The shop made me put on this ridiculous "bride" garb because I found a dress. Then they took a picture. I look absolutely ludicrous, but I think it sums up my wedding attitude of "I mostly hate this, so I'll be really sarcastic and fake obnoxious smiles." This is only how I feel sometimes. My mom hates being photographed and will kill me for letting the Internet see her. But mom, look at me -- I appear to be bald with a double chin.

Highlights from dress shopping:
- Having boobs like an 80-year-old, courtesy of the flattening and lengthening powers of Spanx
- Wanting to try on the ugliest dress ever and post pictures saying, "I found it!"
- Witnessing a very lost and unhappy bride try on her wedding dress
- Wearing clear, stripper-like heels
- Realizing that my hips and waist are about two sizes bigger than my bust -- really?!
- Finding the dress I'll be wearing on my wedding day ... I guess that's pretty cool

Jealousy

2009-08-28T13:58:00.001-07:00

Today, by way of Betsey Johnson's Twitter, I came across the photographer Christine Chang's blog.

Two weeks ago, she posted pictures of, what I have decided, is the prettiest wedding ever. It may just be because this girl is the most beautiful bride on earth, but everything looks just right. The Betsey Johnson dresses, the peacock feather bouquet, the baby's breath, her hair. Man! If you don't agree with me, something is wrong with you.

View all of the pictures at Christine's blog here.

Floral redemption

2009-08-27T09:06:00.001-07:00

A phone call from yesterday:

Celeste: "Josiah, the florist was awesome."
Josiah: "That is the first time I've heard you say something was awesome."

It's true. I've been less than thrilled about some recent wedding experiences, but my meeting with Jeanne from White Poppy was incredible.

First of all, she was excited. And had ideas. And cared about what I thought (a novel idea?).

At one point she called herself the "anti-wedding florist," which sold me haha. She explained that she's not into the frilly tulle and bows and nonsense garbage. I'm stoked about that.

I can't wait to work with her and get everything figured out. What a relief. It was a great feeling to walk out of her home studio (in the beautiful Arcadia neighborhood), and be truly excited.

Saturday brings another appointment to try on dresses at Uptown Bridal in downtown Chandler. They have a great collection (read: more than one) of shorter dresses. I can't wait to try them on!

In love with too many buttefly colors

2009-08-26T16:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I just wrote 3,750 words compiling 3 (and a half) articles. So, of course the natural thing for me to do next is write a blog post.

Unfortunately, wedding world, I don’t have much to say. I suppose I just wanted to check in. I haven’t done much of anything for the wedding in the past week and a half. I feel guilty. But alas, my mental health came first last week. And then, this week, my 45 billion articles came first. Seriously – I went to bed after 1 a.m. last night, then woke up at 5 to start writing again.

In any case, I am back and ready for more. I haven’t looked at my guest list after last week’s nightmare (finding out that catering was going to cost approximately $80 per person). I hacked off probably 40 more people, and I’m scared to go back and see who got the ax in my fit of rage haha.

Changing subjects: Martha Stewart is a god. Seriously. At least her editorial team is. Everything in the magazine is incredible.

(Except for this butterfly cake that makes me want to puke.)

Anyway, on to the cute MS paper crafts!

Today I have another florist appointment. Hopefully this one is more willing to pay attention to what my mom and I have to say.

And then after that, I am cooking for delicious shrimp burritos for four dudes. And then, maybe I'll sleep. But probably not.

Floral disaster

2009-08-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I last posted. I have an entry written saved in my drafts, but it is really melodramatic and whiny. Not going to publish that one.

In any case: yesterday was eventful. My mom, sisters and my friend Erica accompanied me to a dress shop, the mall and then to a florist.

The florist was particularly ... not pleasing? I'm not sure how to describe her. But, I felt incredibly awkward during our 20 minute conversation. I also felt like I was not allowed to give any input or suggestions.

She started out with her asking what colors the bridesmaids' dresses are. Last time I checked, that was not at the top of my priority list. But maybe bridesmaids' dresses are an absolute must during the 8th month. Let me check my bride-to-be book ...

... Nope. Not the most important thing right now.

We brought in a magazine that had the colors we wanted on the cover. I thought that was good enough to provide her a palate. Apparently not. At one point, she told me that I should "figure out my colors" before we could go further.

I thought it would be more logical to pick the colors of the flowers and then base the bridesmaids' dresses off of that. Tulip colors are more limited than fabric colors, so I'd like to nail that down. But, according to the florist, "That's backwards."

In her defense, she seemed nice.

But she did not listen to a single word I had to say. Instead, I might say something like:

Celeste: "I think we need something along the edge of the water. There's a ledge that we could put something on."
Mom: "Yeah, it's kind of bare. We need to add a little something along the water."
Florist: "Let's put some flowers on the seat. Yeah!"

She kept suggesting things that really had nothing to do with what my mom and I would be discussing. It made me feel like I should stop bother trying to say anything. So, I pretty much did haha. From the get go I just felt kind of odd and put out, and the uncomfortable feeling just increased as we went along.

I just didn't really like that she wasn't really willing to listen to what we had to say.

Our conversation when we got back into the car:

Celeste: "I feel ... like she just ..."
Mom: "Wasn't listening to you?"
Celeste: "Yeah."

Now, onto more florists.

In the meantime, here are some tidbits (me and Jo's new favorite word) of inspiration for flowers and centerpieces.

Love the colors (this is what I'm going for) and the bud ideas. I think bud vases are so cute in multiples. This would also look good in a circle around some other sort of centerpiece.

What an awesome idea -- centerpieces that are favors of mini bouquets. Not sure how I could translate this to tulips, but very cool. Read the Martha Stewart DIY instructions here.

I like that the vase goes past the top of the tulips. Never seen that before.

This picture creeps me out, but I'm digging the fishbowl full of flowers. Seems expensive though since there are seemingly 1,305 flowers in there.

I know this isn't a centerpiece, but I need this idea to be incorporated somehow!

My new idea:

I'd love to use Perrier bottles to put flowers in. The bottle's opening isn't very wide (maybe two or three flowers could fit), but the green is so perfect! I could have that in the middle, with bud vases of the reddish-orange flower surrounding the Perrier bottle in a circle? Amanda suggested going to look at Cost Plus World Market for some wider mouthed bottles.

Another awesome idea:

OK, so my mom and I really want to spice up the steps and the red ledge with something. Maybe we could line it with some simple Perrier bottles and bud vases?

Also, Amanda is a genius. Her idea: put a couple tulips in the bottles and hang them from the chairs on the aisles. So good!

Bless my mother. And crepes.

2009-08-18T13:16:00.001-07:00

Good news on the wedding front.

My parents met with the caterer today. Mom says she is "very nice."

More importantly (maybe) -- it turns out we can have a crepe station. And an Italian soda display. And blood orange juice!!!! And pretty much everything else we could think of. Yay!

Basic brunch starts at $25/person, then goes up with add ons (generally around $8/person per food station). As far as I know, that doesn't include renting linens and all of that nonsense. Who knows what it will end up being. The caterer says she'll send a price breakdown in the next couple days.

All I can say is ... crepes! My dream will come true.

My dream invites

2009-08-14T12:01:00.000-07:00

I was going to make another invite inspiration board, but these deserve their own post (because getting a post on my blog is such an honor).

I scooped these up from the Paper Shop Ink blog, where the designer, 9spotmonk, made a sneak peak post. Unfortunately, 9spotmonk's Web site says it hasn't launched its wedding invitation line.

According to the post, the invites are printed on 100 percent recycled chipboard, and the envelopes are 100 percent cotton. Stunning!

View bigger verisons (the detail is amazing!) here, here and here.

Sadly ... I don't even need to view the pricing to know these are going to be expensive. But seriously, how freaking beautiful/cool/awesome are they?

I found my inspiration

2009-08-13T22:04:00.000-07:00

Save the dates from Etsy.com

2009-08-13T16:25:00.000-07:00

1. Winifred Studios $80 for 40 sets

2. P.S. Paper Goods $1.25 for 1 set

3. Baumbirdy $2.50 for 1 set (these card is a shimmering silver)

4. Mprints $90 for 50 sets

5. Invited Ink $359 for 100 sets (the text is letterpressed)

6. Dawn Correspondence $30 for 20 sets

7. April Ink Stationary $45 for 25 sets

So, save the dates: cute and practical or time and money waster?

Why I'm in a bad mood, part 56

2009-08-13T13:39:00.000-07:00

I just feel lost.

Tomorrow marks the end of week two of our engagement. For two weeks, I’ve been scanning over checklists, browsing the Internet and flipping through magazines. (A measly two weeks is 1/17th of our 8.5 month-long engagement.)

According to all these resources, the first step in planning a wedding is establishing a vision—the scope, the décor, the general theme backing your wedding. I thought I had figured that out, but all of my ideas are crumbling and I’m not quite sure where to start.

All I know is that I want our wedding to be different. We are not the usual 20-somethings and we want the wedding to speak to that. We want bikes, simplicity, fun. I want a short dress with pointy pumps. We want Yo La Tengo, M. Ward, Built to Spill. I want my pup to be a guest of honor. We don’t want unnecessary frills or nonsense just because that’s “how it’s done.”

I see weddings like this and this from Design*Sponge, and wonder how people simply get their shit together to have such beautiful cohesion.

How am I supposed to coordinate an event when I can’t even decide on my colors?

Hear ye, hear ye

2009-08-12T15:56:00.001-07:00

I am hereby declaring that there will be no chocolate at my wedding.

Statutory Crepe

2009-08-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

While driving to work this morning, I came up with a glorious idea.

Those who know me well have come to deal with my hatred for coffee and tea products. I have never liked them and have never will. Surprisingly, I love coffee shops. But I obviously had to find a quick alternative to the quadruple shot Americano iced skinny frappuccino with a half order of whip.

That alternative is the Italian soda.

I have been obsessed with Italian sodas for as long as I can remember. There are just about a billion flavors — blood orange!!!, banana, almond, guava, peach, vanilla, mandarin, etc. — including a tasty variety of sugar-free products.

For those poor souls who have never had an Italian soda … well, the recipe is fairly simple.

First, pour a glass of sparkling water, like San Pellegrino, over some ice.

Then, add a generous amount of your favorite flavor of syrup.

Lastly, add some half and half and maybe even whipped cream. (Optional)

I would love to have an Italian soda station set up at the wedding. I feel like this has a ton of potential to be really cute and bad ass. If we had a table with a ton of supplies, set up cutely with some pour spouts on the syrups … oh man I am getting goosebumps, I’m so thrilled.

Now I just have to find some syrup for cheaper than $8 a bottle. Maybe I can find a wholesale place?

Station idea No. 2:

The only things I love more than Italian sodas are crepes. Sweet crepes, savory crepes, big crepes, small crepes … give them all to me.

I believe my fascination with crepes started a year or two ago, when I visited San Francisco with my BFF Amanda and this other weird guy who I don’t even know, Eric. In fact, the meal was probably the best in my life and I will forever remember The Crepe Vine.

My caterer, Santa Barbara Catering Company, offers a French toast station, but I am going to try to finagle a crepe station instead. Just think of all the toppings we could have: berries of all kinds, caramelized bananas, nutella, mascarpone, cream cheese, yogurt, chocolate, peanut butter, whatever … sigh.

Crepes are great because people can truly personalize them and fill them with whatever tasty combination they want. (Once, I made a banana cream pie crepe with banana pudding and vanilla wafers. Best decision I’ve ever made.)

On a personal note, I plan on opening up a crepe cafe at some point in my life. It needs to happen. Josiah and I already came up with some amazing names like Statutory Crepe (his idea). So thankful to be marrying such a punny man!

Stripes!

2009-08-10T21:35:00.000-07:00

I figured I'd take a break from the hard-hitting, too long posts and start my first of many visual entries.

Enough text ... I love stripes. I love cake. Here are some pictures.

My expert opinion:
The rolled fondant is my favorite (the first and the last pictures). I also like the idea of having both vertical and horizontal stripes, though that cake looks like a stack of oversized sugar cubes ready for a middle school pyramid project. I would really love to rip the floppy bows off of the brown/white cake, but I am a big fan of the varying stripe size and how the stripes are actually ... in the fondant. I have no idea how cake making works, so that's the best description I could give.

Too long

2009-08-10T11:41:00.000-07:00

I've already been slacking on my blog posts. I blame it on having a job.

Anyway ... time for today's lunch-time update:

I'M NOT STRESSED ANYMORE! Well, not actually, but mostly because ... we found a place!

I had some very important wedding venue requirements.

1. Outside

2. Not a golf course

3. Somewhat non-traditional

4. Not ugly

5. Available for brunch

I figured it would not be too terribly difficult to find this. I underestimated the fugly factor of Phoenix though, especially while comparing the venues to my dream wedding destination: the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs.

I pseudo-grew up in Colorado Springs. When I was five, my dad (a former Air Force pilot) was whisked away for a year to a glorious South Korea base. Naturally, bringing your family was not recommended. My mom and I moved to Colorado and lived with my grandparents for the year.

To say the least, I have fond memories of Colorado. My grandparents lived at the base of Cheyenne Mountain, about a two-minute walk from the Broadmoor. Every day, my papa would take me there and we would go ice skating. I grew up watching the most beautiful weddings in the world as we walked around the resort's lake. When I was five, I couldn't even fathom wearing a dress (I was content in my oversized neon Esprit shirt and spandex shorts), but I knew that the lakeside weddings were absolutely perfect. Whenever I go to Colorado (a couple times a year), I make sure to spend a lot of time at the Broadmoor.

Photos by New Concept Photography

Unfortunately Arizona just doesn't have a beautiful backdrop of nature. Even though I've known this for a long time, I was especially reminded once looking for a venue to host my wedding.

Here's a brief rundown of what I came up with:

Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ

A disclaimer: I'm not an art person. I spent a summer in Italy--Florence to be exact, supposedly the art center of the world?--and stepped foot in about three museums. I'm sorry! I just can't appreciate art like I know I should.

In any case, I've been in love with the museum as a ceremony/reception site ever since I found it a few months ago. It's absolutely gorgeous, but in a hip kind of way. I had thought of it after reading online that non-traditional sites like museums may be cheaper and more willing to bargain prices since weddings aren't their main money maker. Sigh, if only this was the case. Not only was PAM booked solid (with the exception of a few Friday/Sunday openings), but it was also ... wait for it ... $5,000 just to rent. Moving along.

Pros: Sophisticated, bad ass, beautiful, filled with stuff to do (if you're into art), perfect outdoor setting

Cons: My father going broke

Hotel Valley Ho, Scottsdale, AZ

I had never actually been to the Valley Ho before we met with their wedding coordinator, Dawn Peterson, on Saturday. My first impression of the place was swanky but relaxed. The Ho is definitely cool -- it's been around for a really, really long time and recently underwent $82 million in renovations. The property is simply cool (there's really no other word for it). My mom said it reminded her of a hip hangout in the '60s. The colors are bold and patterns splash the walls and carpets.

The courtyard where we'd have the wedding was pretty enough. It's a grassy area surrounded by palm trees. But the backdrop put me off--old (albeit cool and funky) hotel rooms. I can only imagine some bratty, still-drunk Scottsdale idiot puking off the side of the balcony during my beautiful mid-morning ceremony. No thanks!

The reception rooms were too receptiony. I specifically wanted an outdoor wedding so I wouldn't be surrounded by drab walls and ugly carpet. They did have an outdoor area for receptions, on the Ho's tower rooftop, which has a 360-degree view of Phoenix (it was incredible!). Unfortunately it only sat around 100 and our party will be more around 150.

Photo by Sergio Photographer

Pros: funky retro feel that speaks to Josiah and I, plenty of good photo opportunities, reasonable rental price ($2,000)

Cons: limited availability, not impressed with the reception areas, high food/beverage minimum ($7,500, which would be too much for our brunch idea), a hotel and, consequently, nothing special

The Farm at South Mountain

A few years ago, Josiah dragged me to one of many weddings of his friends. This one in particular, Mike and Robin's, has stuck out to me over the years. My heart instantly melted when I stepped foot onto the dirt path leading up to the pecan grove. The Farm is just ... different. Sometimes I forget I'm in Arizona when I sit at the splintered picnic tables while eating lots of baked goods. I love it there and have imagined getting married here ever since attending Mike and Robin's.

Pros: the best outdoor feel I've found, only $1,200 to rent, limited availability, represents Josiah and I well, Santa Barbara catering, which has an awesome/not super exepsnive brunch menu

Cons: possibly too outdoorsy, heels sink into the grass, a fairly typical indie wedding spot, definitely prettier at night than in morning, may get too hot by end of reception

Tempe Center for the Arts

A fellow engaged lady Tiffany recommended this spot, noting that she was interested in getting married there, but it wasn't big enough to accommodate her 225 guests. Though I've hung out at TCA and ridden past it hundreds of times, I hadn't even thought of holding a wedding there. So, so glad she suggested it!

The arts center is literally brand new and sits on the edge of Tempe Town Lake. It has an art gallery and performance space. In general, TCA seems pretty typical but its architecture and design is totally fun and interesting. The outside features a negative edge pool that seems to disappear into the lake. The whole part of the building that faces the water is glass and it's overwhelmingly beautiful.

Turns out, TCA doesn't actually do many weddings, and the ones they have booked are in the evening. The woman actually said we could choose whenever we wanted. How. Awesome. Is. That.

The ceremony would be held on the outdoor patio that fades into the negative edge pool. The reception would be indoors in a really unconventional "ballroom." The room is an extension and juts out over the pool, and the walls are 100 percent glass. It's cool as hell.

View the whole wedding set here.

A few pictures I took for my photojournalism class.

Pros: Awesome architecture, good photo opporunities, location (downtown Tempe) that means something to Josiah and I, low rental cost of $1,600, coolest indoor reception yet, nice backdrop of the Tempe Town Lake, Santa Barbara Catering

Cons: Possibly too modern, indoor reception, less structure and help considering it isn't typically a wedding venue

The verdict:

When all was said and done, it was down to The Farm and the Tempe Center for the Arts. They both represented us in completely different ways. The Farm is a beautiful escape from the Phoenix norm. It's outdoorsy and rustic. TCA is hip and modern, perfect for two 20-somethings to tie the knot.

My parents both liked TCA better, and Josiah and I do too. While I love the rustic feel of The Farm, I think it may be just a little too much. Plus, I'm scared of my heels getting stuck in the dirt and me falling (which basically happened when I was a wedding guest). Being able to pick our date at TCA was a huge selling point. Tempe was our home for many years and really represents our relationship as we have five years' worth of memories there. Plus, the indie hipster in me likes that I'll be getting married in a truly unique and "underground," as my mom says, place.

January 15, 2098

2009-08-05T15:53:00.001-07:00

Celeste: "I am already hateful of this process."

Bethany: "You've been engaged for four days. Suck it up."

I am a worrywart. It is true that I became engaged on Friday night and I am already stressed out. The wedding may very well be tomorrow, not April. I have already managed to annoy those around me, make my mother angry and persuade Josiah to rethink his decision to marry me, let alone be around me for 10 minutes.

Here is the first dilemma of the too many to come: our desired timeframe.

You see, Josiah and I have been together for a long time. We didn't want to have a super long engagement, because by that time Josiah will be really old. I know there's nothing wrong with being engaged for a year or more, but we just want to get it over with. We've been waiting for a long time, so we see no reason to prolong it.

So we picked April. I've always dreamed of a brunch wedding (our favorite meal), with a crepe station and fresh blood oranges cut into fancy shapes (neither of these will happen). Still, though, we like waffles. April mornings are perfect in Arizona -- 70s with a zero percent chance of showers. Can't get better than that for an outside wedding.

Apparently everyone else has the same idea because places are ... not really available.

Josiah was convinced that a wedding would only take three weeks to plan. We argued about it even before we got engaged. My mom has always said a year was the length needed to properly plan. I told her she didn't have the Internet back in the day and I could surely cut that down. I am confident I could get everything else ready in 8.5 months, but I can't really change the unavailability of venues in April.

I've already had dramatic conversations with anyone and everyone who will listen to me (mother, Josiah, Bethany, Erica and Amanda). As of yesterday--my second day of searching--I had resigned myself to having our wedding in my parents' backyard amidst a lot of dog poop. I would invite 10 people and feel sorry for myself. Mom says I was being "doom and gloom," which has been a common phrase since Friday night. Not anymore!

So it turns out pretty much all of the venues I've looked at have had one Saturday available each, either in late March or April. That's good news, kind of. I'm happy that places are available but it scares me that there is only one date at each. Just today a place e-mailed me saying someone had secured a Saturday at lunch. I need to be quick and agile.

I have some appointments set up for this weekend to look at a couple places, then one next week. Hopefully they go well and stay available until I can go look at them.

I will feel much better knowing that we have a place secured and I can leave my parents' backyard to Cheyanne and Aldo, our cute poopers.

Also: Hilarious excerpt from an e-mail I just received:

"We have availability on January15th, 2110 to host your wedding."

Wow. That was the exact date I was looking for! Gotta love that font.

I remember a summer's day...

2009-08-04T15:53:00.000-07:00

I'm getting married. Not sure when. Not sure where. Not sure to who. Just kidding.

Josiah and I "met" in January of 2002. I was 14 and he was an older man of 16. He had black, plastic-rimmed glasses and wore black band T-shirts, just like me. I knew we were perfect for each other. I would see him in the halls of Millennium High School with his emo friends. Truth be told, I was his emo princess. He says my "Cheer Up Emo Kid" backpack patch "spoke to him."

Years passed and I had yet to say a word to him (barring when I interviewed him for the school paper). I continued being really girly, walking certain ways to class because I knew his friends hung out by the vending machines (so cool). I drew a heart around his junior year picture in the yearbook. I awkwardly sneaked around Blockbuster when I saw him walk in, only to run to the corner and call my best friend Megan. Looking back, I'm somewhat embarrassed, but not really. I'd probably act the same now!

In October of 2004, I received an unexpected instant message from my recently ex-boyfriend/good friend Zack. Our AIM exchange went like this:

"So I went to a Mt. Eerie concert and saw Josiah."

"..." (me being nervous over the Internet)

"Yeah, I told him you were in love with him."

"bad words!!!"

"He said he was interested in you."

"I hate you."

Considering Zack hadn't spoken with me for a couple months after I broke his heart (kidding about breaking the heart, not about the silent treatment), I thought he was just being a jerk. Turns out, for the first time ever, he wasn't!

After some gutsy contact via Livejournal, Josiah and I started e-mailing ... then phone conversing ... then meeting at Barnes and Noble on the fateful Wednesday evening of Nov. 3, 2004.

And now we're getting married.

It's about damn time. (Thanks Zack.)