City Lady Country Girl

L.L.Bean Signature, eh?!

2011-11-28T16:03:00.010-05:00

Good for you L.L.Bean. You must have sensed that regardless of your lifetime guarantees, your shearling slippers and your classic totes your target audience is most excited by pants with an elastic waistband. I first started noticing an expansion of the company when I saw that in your catalog you where offering different "fits". A typical wide fit vs. a longer and leaner, more "modern" fit. Then I noticed that that there is a whole separate WING of L.L.Bean, "L.L. Bean Signature"! Nice job, dude. I won't tell J.Crew you're ripping them off. Just keep doing what you're doing.

Extra! Extra!

2011-11-25T17:01:00.005-05:00

I just stumbled across this guy, Adam Ambro.
He makes this:

and this:

and most importantly this:

Art is so cool! We are so lucky that people get born with so many different talents! (Sometimes I feel like things I say sound as if I am completely high. *which I am NOT at all*)

Borden Boxes

2011-10-13T09:58:00.000-04:00

As you may or may not know, Nick and I own a piece of the historic Borden Farm. So finding little artifacts from it's heyday is always a pleasure.

I picture a chic modern country home (more specifically OUR *future* chic modern country home) with rustic Borden boxes under the sink, up on the shelf, next to the couch, etc.

We've already collected several Borden antiques, but keep your eyes peeled, Christmas and years of birthdays are upon us. (WINK.)

Roller Rationale

2011-10-12T09:20:00.007-04:00

I came upon these skates (a couple of years ago?!) and my heart exploded. But alas they were too small for my utterly average sized feet. I listed them on Etsy, because I felt like some small footed human deserved the charm of these... wheely booties. (I think that's like the Latin term.)

As months went by and my price got lower and my inbox filled each month with my Etsy billing statement, I decided to keep the skates. Perhaps I will display them.

Although I fear the last thing my home needs is an addition to my already ubiquitous still life tableaux, freckling my domestic landscape.

I just came upon this photo...

2011-09-24T12:58:00.003-04:00

from when Nick and I went to City Hall to get our Marriage License. Taken by our favorite family photographer, Sam.

(Nick's face looks like it's melting, but I look great, so... POST!)

The Fever

2011-06-08T11:11:00.000-04:00

GAgfsuywqkh caN'Te makey no sense nun- mee likey tu MUCH-

Ke$ha was entirely right about love being a drug.

If you'd like to know more CLICKY HEAH

Once you've got "Silver Fever" you really start to understand the fever aspect of it. Nick and I have two airstream books (because we got the fevah) that talk a little bit about the obsession that can happen with these GORGEOUS pre-prefab works of art. It can really be dangerous! I feel my blog devolving (evolving?!) into a vintage trailer blog!

For more...

HOME

2011-06-07T10:32:00.006-04:00

This recent Airstream dreamin' has cause a bit a neglect in the H-O-M-E department. While my apt is certainly lovely, it lacks the focus that would enable me to put my jeans away rather than throw them on the floor. And while that system is so easy to maintain, throw my jeans on the floor, pick em up the next morning and wear em again, and so on, I imagine that if my apt looked at all like the interiors featured below I wouldn't DARE throw anything on the floor.

(Although... it would be unreasonable of me to blame my untidiness on my apartment's lack of cohesive aesthetic.)

Kimberly Ludy Via Design*Sponge.

Emma Reddington Via Design*Sponge.

Eva and Gentry Dayton Via Remodelista.

That is such a great entry. Talk about focus. What do you do when you enter the house if you're a guest, ask them if you can remove the antique goggles so you can hang your coat?!

I've got to go and throw my pants on the floor now.

Matthew Hofamn's Airstream

2011-06-06T20:19:00.007-04:00

Hold on to your hats-
This is Matthew Hofman's Airstream:

Inspirational to say the very least.
And while Nick and I are going to keep things relatively how they are, I can't help but have a major crush on this clean and unique renovation.
If we weren't saving up moola to start working on our ACTUAL country house, I'd go to town with our Airstream. To TOWN.
Please go his website and browse his blog, where he takes you through the project from the beginning.

Boat Money

2011-06-06T11:09:00.004-04:00

We have a lake. (I know, I know.) And so naturally I want an adorable rowboat or canoe. I spent the first year we owned our land scouring Craigslist for one such item. Two years ago (I think), for Christmas, Nick made me this box:

Inside he had a given me a couple hundred dollars to go toward the boat of my dreams.

When we were putting our heads together as to how to afford the Airstream,

"We can eat spaghetti every night and share a monthly metrocard"
"But we already DO that!"

And then we thought:

"BOAT MONEY!!!"

It wasn't a lot, but it felt like our past selves had put a little aside for our awesome future selves. It was hard to take the money from Nick's cute presentation, but that's why I took a picture of it and blogged about it.

FUTURE SELF!

Living The Dream

2011-06-03T10:23:00.011-04:00

And this is only the beginning...

Today Nick and I bought an AIRSTREAM.

Resting beside an old barn in Sterling, CT she sits.

Hauling her to our farm will be a whole different adventure. (Most likely someone else's adventure, like a professional, who has experience and insurance.)

We have wanted this for so long. Now we can enjoy the farm, build our home slowly, have guests, wash our hands, feel like the land is ours.

The Airstream will sit by the lake, beneath the same tree we were married under.
We both feel... insane bliss.

On The Farm

2011-05-10T10:51:00.004-04:00

Nick and I, post wedding, have been biz. Things seemingly at the top of our priority list have fallen in rank, such as Thank You cards (we have a year, folks and they are in progress...) and important things like Upstate upkeep. However, now that Winter has finally thrown in her frosty towel, we are ready, willing and able to return to the farm.
(These pics are from a few days ago!)

While funds remain... what they are Nick and I can only go so far with converting the hay drier into our home. (Below is the ultimate "before" picture! Can't you feel the possibilities?!!!)

So in the meantime, as I've mentioned, we have been flirting with the possibility of getting a vintage trailer. Nick and I search eBay and Craigslist like it's our job. More than actually looking for a trailer in reality I think we're getting to know the market and exploring our options. (But owning a gorgeous Airstream (or Spartan) is sort of inevitable.)

That's Nick at Sonic. He's so handsome. I am so excited about the fue-tch.

(Future)

Happy Trails

2011-04-25T17:36:00.005-04:00

After casually perusing various websites and carelessly falling in love with a 1952 Yellowstone trailer on eBay, I found this website.
M y H E A RT m i gh t explode.

I LOVE these pictures. I love vintage trailers, I love pickup trucks, I love Christmas, but I don't like this whole deer situation. (Ticks)

Papa John

2011-04-08T12:52:00.007-04:00

Before John was "Nick's dad" he was a little boy from Providence Rhode Island. His mother had flaming red hair. He loved to sing and dance. He joined the seminary as a young man, until he thought himself better suited to be on Broadway.

So John Scoullar went to NYC and was on Broadway. (That's the short version.) He met tons of interesting people that would shape his life forever, such as the people pictured below: Rick, his writing partner and Linda, Nick's mom.

In 1981 Nick was born. (That's my favorite part!) John and Linda were great parents, they playfully indulged Nick's precocious demeanor and marveled at his ability to converse with adults. They gave him an almost supernatural gift for understanding his emotions as well as others around him. (That's what you get when your parents are in the theatre business.)

In 2003 John mourned the loss of Linda, his former wife and best friend.

Between the time Nick and I were engaged to when we got married, John was diagnosed with skin cancer, my father with prostate cancer and my birth mother with breast and colon cancer. We weren't certain what percentage of the above mentioned could be in attendance at our wedding. But they were all there.

At the wedding John was vibrant and proud. He radiated happiness and just cried through the whole event.

The past couple of years John started a baking business and worked on his one woman show "Hello Dears". Often the baking business and the show were one and the same.

In October the New Victory Theatre will be opening their season with John and Rick's theatrical version of "The Little Prince". We will be there, along with Brad, who is the other half of "Dad and Brad".

2 weeks ago John passed away. He was loved wherever he went. He was an observant, colorful, charming man who made my husband and for all of those reasons I love him and will miss him very much.

Emerson Made (In Heaven)

2011-03-30T16:15:00.016-04:00

Flipping through a somewhat recent issue of The Nest I came across a GORGEOUS home, belonging to a couple formerly from NYC.

I showed Analise, who said, "I KNOW that house!". After further investigation she realized that it was the home of EmersonMade. A husband and wife team that kick started a fabulous business, evolving from her homemade fabric flowers into a full line of clothing, accessories, and charming items for the home.

Not only did the article inspire my instantaneous acquisition of glass canisters and individual utensil organizers from the container store *HOT! (And useful.)*, but Analise said she loved her blog. So I went to investigate.

Conclusion: I LOVE IT TOO! Not only is her entire aesthetic just chic and adorable, but those photographs (exclamation). They depict a truly charmed (stylish) existence.

As Of Late

2011-02-22T15:27:00.011-05:00

From top to bot:
*Our bunnies, Fred and Ginger, *Fancy Nancy's shoe's, pre-throw out :( , *my jar of string, *our crazy bank bag (now pillow) that we found in our barn, *the CITY, *Christmas, *I'm on the cover of a book, apparently, *milk, *the man of my dreams, *man of said dreams at phone booth, *Cousin Tommy (who is just gorgeous), *our office (mid-renovation), *our office window, *a shirt Nick made me like a million years ago and I LOVE it, but it needed to be thrown away, *the first snow of the seaze.

Pillow Talk

2011-02-09T16:48:00.008-05:00

These pillows from J. Covington Home speak for themselves. Yowsa!

Get thee to my couch-ery!

These particular dudes range in price from $130 - $300. Which means instead of them being "throw" pillows, they are more like "place-gently-where-they-belong" pillows.

Industrial Coat Situations

2010-12-12T16:30:00.009-05:00

Howdy. I'm on the hunt for an industrial coat rack, one that can come apart and live in our closet when we are not in need of it.
I almost nabbed a great one on craigslist for $35, but someone claimed it first. (Craigslist in NYC is cutthroat.) Pictured below is a handsome one:

Found at Candian's House and Home.
HOWEVER, I'm looking for more of an Industrial garment rack on wheels, BUT if I ever came across a guy like this, featured above, I'd totally get him. I know just where I'd put him...

And I certainly wouldn't turn my nose up at this guy ether:

Found at Behind the Seams: The Ethical Style Blog.
And NO, I'm not just looking for things in front of brick walls... it's just a co-ince.

Or is it?

This piece was discovered at Design For Men. (But what they should really call it is Design For Men AND Faryl). It's a great blog! In this particular episode (post), they talk about Get Back, Inc., which is just a perfect collection of Vintage Industrial treasures.

ALSO, I love this guy:

Not something one could ever hang one's coat on, but dang, what a gorgeous little shelf.
From Factory20.

CHEERS!!!

...Something Borrowed, Something Blue

2010-11-20T12:58:00.009-05:00

Nick and I sorted though many traditional wedding customs for our big day and picked to our liking. S.O.S.N.S.B.S.B. is one such custom that I didn't have to think twice about doing!

Something Old: My trusty cowboy boots, that made standing in grass and dirt all day just a breeze! And they added a bit of rustic, farmy charm to my pretty white silk dress!

Something New: My pretty white silk dress that was handmade in Brooklyn by Kimera Design. I LOVED wearing this thing, it was comfy and I felt gorgeous.

Something Borrowed: My mom's diamond earrings. I just wanted a tiny sparkle, nothing too dangly or serious. These were perfect.

Something Blue: The little bow on the back of my wedding undies! I was totally pressured into getting this lacy piece of nothingness and I regret nothing.

Playing Hooky And Breaking Legs

2010-11-20T12:27:00.010-05:00

After the wedding I immediately started rehearsing for a production that would play in Massachusetts for 5 weeks and then open in NYC. That show is now over. And I am back.

Above is our stage door in MA and below is our theatre in NYC

Planning the wedding was stressful, but there was something so fulfilling about being focused on JUST the wedding. Like nothing else could bother us, because we already up to our necks in bother. And this most recent theatrical endeavor enabled me to have that same kind of focused energy. I didn't have time to think about anything else. Blinders can be such a blessing.

But here I am... back. With thoughts, and to-do's, and time. I mean I look forward to friends and free days and nights, (and blogging...), but I've been having some serious anxiety!

Par example: 'Thank you" cards for the wedding, our holiday card, working on our country house (but Winter and poverty might put that off for a bit), fixing up our apartment, and other such things that require paper work and/or hour long phone calls that lead through a sea of automated prompts that will only sometimes yield a human being and almost never provide the help that you seek.

BREATHE. I'm fine and WE are fine. And breathing will help and lists will help and making my bed every morning makes life just feel a bit more manageable. What am I saying?! Making my bed every morning makes it way more than "manageable", it makes coming into my bedroom just straight enjoyable and it makes going to sleep exciting! And while I make my bed I sometimes think about my grandma, who taught me not only about the pleasure of making the bed, but the satisfaction of doing laundry and washing dishes too! She was unbelievable. I loved her like crazy. (I guess I still do!)

AND I am so grateful for not only my grandma, but my HUSBAND (which still feels funny to say!) and a bazillion other things. (Maybe I'll make a list.)

Sam's Photo Booth

2010-07-31T16:56:00.014-04:00

Sam Morgan (pictured above, alongside Mary Cavett*) not only looks good in a seersucker suit, but is an architectural photographer, a talented drummer and an all around great guy! Other than being one of Nick's friends from the old days he also has an incredible gift for portrait photography. Sam has taken the majority of our holiday card photos, which have all been straight up fantastic. So when he offered a couple of weeks ago to set up a photo booth at the wedding, how could we say no?!

Here are just a few from the night:

(From top to bottom: Bride & Groom. Sascha, Joanna, Adam, Geoff, Nick, Lars, Analise, Bonnie, Emily, Claire, Jasmin, Milan, Derya, Cheryl. Brad & Dad. Adam, Derya, Geoff, Cheryl. Bobby. Reshmi. Emily, Stephen, Alena, Hillary, Jed, Sarah. Analise & Milan. Tommy, Claire, Milan. Leticia & Pope.)

*Mary Cavett made us her famous pecan pies for the wedding. They were delicious!!! (As usual.) She also helped SO MUCH with the wedding, we are eternally grateful. It is also impossible to mention Mary and not mention that she's also a Rockette. (Nick and I watched her do some promotional dance number outside of radio city hall this one time and we both cried.)

Pre and Post Pics

2010-07-30T12:39:00.011-04:00

The days before the wedding were ridiculous. Nick and I felt like we were at the end of an 80s movie: "MY PARENTS ARE COMING HOME EARLY!!! We have FIVE minutes to get this house clean!"

That's Nick and I at IKEA, gathering the last bits of wedding necessities. (In truth I think we didn't need that much from there, it's more likely that we went for the food.) But we did end up splurging on these adorable dish towels that we used as cloth napkins for the wedding!

Here they are AFTER the wedding:

And those are just SOME of our wedding dishes being washed. It was a long Monday afternoon. Washing those 60s Pyrex milk glass plates in the dirt felt so cavewoman!

This is Alena at our Pre-wedding fashion show! We got together 4 days before "THE day" to check out what everyone was wearing and to pick out some accessories etc. Seeing our bridal party all dressed up gave us such confidence about the wedding, they were all so gorgeous!

Here's another pre-wed pic. This is right after Milan and his dad Paul helped put up the altar. Nick and I are practicing!

Monday afternoon, now a "wife", I took a moment to enjoy our land and our lake and reflect on how beautiful our ceremony was and how great Don made that window look with just a few sets of curtains from IKEA. (It all comes back to IKEA.)

Nick's wedding shoes broke on the way home and he suggested he throw them out (which is unlike him) and he said "It'll be like your dress and how you only wear it once!".

Before The Photographs

2010-07-26T19:25:00.003-04:00

The moment I walked down the aisle to the moment I threw the bouquet (which felt like only minutes apart) was like a drive-by of emotion and color and joy.

Analise suggested, in her infinite wisdom, that I write down my memory of the event before I see any pictures. So...

I remember the gorgeous impromptu bouquets and boutonnieres that our friend Randy made just hours before the ceremony. When I saw them my eyes welled up, they were just so perfect! Wildflowers and old gingham ribbon? YES!

I remember looking at the time, while the girls and I were getting ready, pre wedding, and seeing that it was 4:30pm, which was the time the ceremony was supposed to start and we were still A HALF HOUR DRIVE AWAY and SOME of us, no names, were NOT EVEN DRESSED!!!

I remember my dad being late to pick us up and when we got in the car he said he couldn't drive before finishing his cigarette and I nearly had a heart attack. Needless to say he let it go.

I also remember my father in the middle of our arduous, s l o w journey toward our farm said the reason for his sluggishness was to avoid being pulled over by "the fuzz". I reminded him that if there were any occasion to speed it would be now, with me as his get-out-of-jail-free bride in his back seat, rushing to a wedding, where the guests have been there for an hour, on the hottest day of the year.

When we arrived I looked at the long tables under the tent that I had so desperately wanted to help set up, but was unable to as I was... you know, prepping to get married. I had such vision for the tables and I wasn't sure I could articulate what I wanted. But when I saw what our friends had accomplished my eyes yet again welled up! It was just beautiful!

I remember/am traumatized by my father (again), who didn't understand that I didn't want Nick to see me before the ceremony and that if we kept driving down our driveway he was most definitely going to! I had to scream at him to stop! He said "But I see a parking spot!" I said "Dad, this is MY land, any spot I want is a parking spot! PLEASE STOP NOW!"

He turned off the car. "I don't wanna waste gas.", He says. "Dad, they're saying today is like 105 degrees, please keep it running for the last minute we are in the car.", I say as I'm curled up in the back seat as to remain hidden from the bridal party, lining up to process.

Once they began their walk down the aisle. I said "Okay dad, it's time, drive up a little closer and we'll get out". He began to drive, but didn't stop! "Dad, STOP!"

"But I see a parking spot!"

"We have to go NOW! PLEASE!!! Stop the car and get out!"

"I have to park the car!"

"THEY ARE WAITING FOR US!"

At this point I openned the door of the moving car like I was trying to escape a kidnapping and pleaded with him. "PLEASE, dad, get out of the car, you can move it later!"

He drove onward as I heard Canon in D come to a close and there was silence. I was starring in disbelief at his now parked car that he was just SITTING in (!!!) when he finally came out, his tie was not tied, his suit jacket barely on. When he got to me I straightened out his tie, grabbed his arm and ran towards the aisle. Our entrance music began and he started to CHIT CHAT WITH ME! I think I must have gone into shock, because the next thing I remember is seeing Nick at the end of a sea of people, I smiled without knowing I was, but found it difficult and strange as my mouth was completely dry.

Nick's face was completely red from standing outside all day, drenched with sweat and tears. He kept looking at me in my dress and then sweeping his eyes back up to mine with a grin.

It was hot and the ceremony, conducted by our incredible friend and indispensable officiant Karsten, was short and sweet. In what seemed like seconds we were running back up the aisle, my new husband's hand tightly in mine. We didn't stop running for some time.

The next thing I remember was my mother telling the photographer exactly how she should be photographed during the portrait session. (sigh).

Then before long our guests, about 100 of our dearest friends and fam, were gathered under the tent and we ate! I barely remember what I ate, I know I did though, because I thought I should.

The speeches that were given were beautiful and sincere (and very often hysterical!)

I remember dancing to Ke$ha's "Your Love Is My Drug" which was a surprise hit!

I remember tasting our friend Mary Cavett's pecan pie, that she made for the wedding and thinking "How is she so consistent with the deliciousness of these pies!?"

I remember it beginning to drizzle toward the end of the night and being so happy to be able to cool off. I was not alone in feeling that.

I remember climbing up a very tall rickety wood latter to throw my bouquet, while the song SHOOP played, which was a coincidence, but seemed entirely appropriate.

The day was fantastic and the love was tangible. I can't wait to look at pictures and remember in a whole other way.

I am wife today! This is so exciting!

The Final Lap

2010-07-21T09:04:00.014-04:00

This past weekend was GREAT. Aside from a few waves of panic and occasional minor/major stress induced confrontations, we worked hard and it felt fantastic.

Nick, with the help of his buddy-best man, Milan, BUILT OUR DANCE FLOOR!!! They made it out of highway signs that were left in the barn when we bought the place. (Could that be considered UPcycling?!) The finished floor looks amazing.

That's us painting the last bit of trim, which I started like, what seems like, months ago!

We all scribbled to-do lists to keep us focused and organized. Analise is the MASTER of lists.

Analise, BTW, planned my bridal shower (which I still have to write a post about!) and that's where that "Best Wishes" bunting comes from! She made it! I liked the flags so much I thought "Why not use them again!?"

I painted signs for the property and the neighboring roads to help people navigate. You know, you just can't look at wedding blogs for more than 5 minutes without seeing these ubiquitous adorable wooden signs with white paint that say things like:"Wedding, this way!" They are very appropriate for our modest farm wedding, so it was something that had to happen. (I'll post pics of the signs at a later date).

Nick likes me to take pictures of him in front of our truck, looking surly. What a treasure!

Saturday night we went out for Thai. It was delicious! (But sort of stressful when Milan decided that we needed programs for the wedding and we told him that we had decided against them a year ago and he said "Okay." in that horrible you-wait-and-see tone. We were like, why didn't you bring this up months ago when we could have discussed it and then maybe had some time to print something!? He suggested typing something up on the computer and and making copies. I was like no no no no, our wedding and "xeroxes" will have nothing to do with each other.) But like I said, the food was outstanding.

AAaaaaahhhh! Weddings!

Invitations

2010-07-11T08:44:00.011-04:00

When a friend of ours offered to do our invitations, we were VERY excited. He is a professional design wizard and we trust him (and like him!) a lot. He asked us to go to Paper Presentation and to do a little texture shopping. Find out what kind of paper we were attracted to, etc. While we were there we fell in love with this envelope with an exaggerated wood grain texture. Campy? Corny? Or perhaps FARMY/outdoor wedding-y?! Perfect!

We had seen in our dealings with our friend, at his stationery store, this double sided card stock, one side red and one side white. He wanted to use it because it reminded him of the red barns on our land! We agreed! In printing the cards he suggested (insisted) on letterpress. We agreed! Then he asked us what we might want to say... you know, wedding wording. And we thought about and thought about it and when we brought him our thoughts he said "Oh well, I sort of wrote something too."

And we read it and when we looked up with tears in our eyes we said "It's perfect. Thank you."

Around the same time our friend said to us "Go take a picture of grass on your land." So I did. One shot. One try. I said "I hope it works." He said "It's perfect."

RSVP cards:

The ingredients were all coming together. But WAIT! We needed to pick out stamps!

Well look at that! It's our barn!!! The stamps are great, they arrived quickly, although they are a tad larger than expected, but they did the job!

Next thing was how to tie all of this together. LITERALLY! We used a white hemp string tied in a bow to continue to use the image of my engagement ring.

Everything was in place: Labels, stamps, envelopes, info, RSVP cards, charm. check. Now all we needed was an assembly line of love. So Nick and I labored away for hours, stuffing and tying and stamping.

(Hooray!)

The paper took much longer than expected to get to the printer so the invites were DELAYED!!! But what's strange that in all of our anxiety about the wedding we didn't panic about this. We knew people would have them eventually and that everyone knows when the wedding is and it would all work out. Which it seems to be...

The 5 Stages of Wedding

2010-07-06T18:47:00.010-04:00

Nick proposed to me on November 21st, 2008. Since that day, while planning our upcoming union, we have observed that there are several stages involved in getting married, which incidentally are surprisingly similar to the classic stages of crisis. (Hahaha)

Utter Joy. When we first got engaged we were full of tangible bliss, giggling and holding hands all over town. We had something to say at parties when people asked us what we were "up to". It was great. Looking at my engagement ring gave me serious jubilant agita of the tummy. This stage has not completely dissolved, but sometimes goes on vacation while we are occupied with other stages, such as...

Resentment. Why should we get married? Can't people obviously tell that we are like OBSESSED with each other? Do we have to have a party to prove that to people? Must we spend all the money we've been saving up for the last 8 years on some party!?! What is marriage all about anyway, what was so bad about how we were before? ETC ETC etc. In general we don't feel this way a lot, but these are questions we have asked ourselves more than once.

Denial. What wedding? Thinking about planning a wedding is stressful! Let's just not think about it. BESIDES, we have TONS of time! Fast forward to "tons of time" later and you enter the next stage:

Panic. What are we going to do?! Every bed and breakfast in the tri-state area is booked for the 24th! They don't have any 20 x 40 tents available?! We need how many more forks and knifes?!!! We don't have an officiant!!!! What about food?! What about our bank account?!!! What about NAPKINS!!! Who is gonna move the chairs from the ceremony to the tables for dinner?!! The letterpress printer hasn't got the paper yet!!! Invitations are weeks late! We only have 20 items on our registry!!!

And now we have moved on to what is probably the best stage:

Acceptance and hope. Wow. Lists have really been helping! We can just talk this whole event out minute by minute. Detail by detail. We LOVE each other! It is going to be a beautiful day and things are getting done and will be awesome. At the end of the day its just a party with people you love who are all there to celebrate the ever evolving life of two young (not so young) kids that have been NUTS for each other for 8 (billion) years.

18 days till we are wed. (!)

Bicycle

2010-06-29T14:13:00.002-04:00

I was going through old photos and I found this picture of my bike! I still have it, although I haven't been riding it this season. Just too busy I guess. But isn't she charming? It's also a folding bike.

The wedding invitations are going out in the next few days. (Thank goodness!!!) And the website is up, with the exceptions of a few omitted details. 25 days til the wedding!

The Diamond District

2010-06-22T18:48:00.013-04:00

Nick and I, with 32 days left till the big day, have quite the TO-DO list. One such to-do was to acquire wedding bands. We went to several places, ending with a trek to the diamond district, which is on 47th street between 5th and 6th Avenues. WHOA, what a crazy experience.

Talk about aggressive salesmanship. After a while it became apparent that we weren't shopping for a ring, we were shopping for just a normal human exchange! And if the people weren't bad enough with their insincere salutations and their leering "How can we help you?"s, the actually jewelry was not our style, huge diamonds and thick shiny bands.

And then we found Steve, at 78 W47th Street. Instantly we knew that he was the real deal. Honest, present, knowledgeable, kind and his jewelry was all antique!

He showed us trays until I said "Stop, this is the one."

It is a 1920's diamond platinum engagement ring. (The diamond is from the late 1800s!) I love it. It is just incredible in person, the picture does nothing for it. It is out blings me to the max! I'm trusting I will grow into the woman who can rock that ring on an everyday level. Next up: Nick's ring, which is easy!

Wedding band: CHECK!

Change of Heart

2010-06-18T11:03:00.006-04:00

Whoa.
So remember when I bought my wedding dress?
Well... I bought a different dress!!! (GASP!)

I went with my mother a few weeks ago to Kimera, a store in Brooklyn that hand makes dresses. As she was getting sized and browsing styles and colors I was thumbing through their wedding dresses, which are beautiful! I came across this one that I just HAD to try on. (Just for fun!) I mean, I already have a dress, I thought, I'll just take this opportunity to feel wedding-y.

I couldn't take it off. It felt so comfortable and I felt so pretty! I casually asked how much the dress would cost to make and with the extra charge for rush service and it was a little more then I could handle. So that was that. Or was it?

About a week later my birth mom, 1 part trouble maker, 1 part romantic, surprised me at my bridal shower by coming from Minnesota! She took me aside and said "If you want that dress, it's yours." I said "That is so sweet of you, but I couldn't. I already have my dress and it's perfect." I may have said "no", but now my wheels were turning...

I took my vintage dress, which I DO like a lot, to get altered, by a sort of fantastic eccentric woman, who was totally on my page. She LOVED the old dress and had such vision for it. But when she told me how much the alterations would be I thought: Well that's almost as much as having that other dress MADE for me!!! Wheels turning. Wheels turning.

The next week my heart was all akimbo. Something had to be done. I asked Analise to join me at Kimera to help me decide. I tried on the new dress and I tried on my vintage dress. And then I tried on the new dress and I didn't take it off. We weighed the pros and cons of both dresses. We were both being very sensible. I was leaning toward the new dress, but something was keeping me from being 100%. I grabbed a bridal accessory, this little metal comb with fabric flowers on it, and stuck it in my hair. I spun around and Analise was teary eyed. Check. Done.

So I got a new dress!

(My other dress, which was $30, will one day belong to some deserving beautiful bride, I'm sure.)

I'm really excited!!! I won't get to see the new dress again until 2 weeks before the wedding. CRAZY! I'm so thankful for Mary Grace (my birth mom) she is such magic, and I'm so thankful for my mom for introducing me to that amazing dress shop. And I'm thankful for Analise for getting tearing eyed and sealing the deal.

And I'm thankful for Nick for getting to marry him!

YARD SALE LOOT (6/12/10)

2010-06-13T22:26:00.012-04:00

This lamp was $4, the guy was FIRM on the price. His friends, who were also purging some of their basement clutter, seemed embarrassed by his strict tone and offered us ALL of their things for free.

We actually didn't have enough cash for the lamp so we had them hold it for us until the next morning. We knew it would have a good home on the desk in our barn, and don't you agree?!

Below is a galvanized pail filled with old barn hinges that the nice people gave to us for free!

Yard Sales are what the summer is all about. From the marker scribbles on neon poster board to the store bought plastic sign, we are ON THE LOOK OUT. Sometimes these signs are well posted and helpful, with dates, an address, the distance to the sale and most importantly arrows, and sometimes... they are not. No matter the sign, the sale could go in any direction.

The push mower (which works!) was free, the Borden milk bottle was included in a bunch of stuff from an amazing lady that gave us everything for a dollar and change (also see objects below), and that adorable cheesy acrylic winter accessory set was a BUCK!

Nick and I pretty much know how good a yard sale is going to be by the general color palate of the objects laid out. Bright colors mean toys, which means, most likely, baby clothes and "as seen on TV" and typically we just drive right by. Brown is usually a good sign. Old things. Once we find the right colors there are generally two ways it can play out:

"Excuse how much is this metal crate?" "...eh... a quarter."
OR
"Excuse how much is this metal crate?" "Oh, well that's $125."

In a single wave of scavenges I'd say maybe 1 out of 7 is a real winner. This weekend we hit several major jackpots. When things can be paid for in change that is what I look for. When things are free, that is also exciting. Last week Nick got all these records, 2 for 25 cents. Every time he plays his new albums he says "this was 12.5 cents!" Ahhhh bargains.

Below is a "Votes For Women" mug. (It was free.)

That is my finished filing cabinet that I had anticipated being more navy than blue, but regardless I'm pleased. This is not it's permanent home, just getting out of the way as we organize the barn.

Brook Farm General Store

2010-06-11T17:15:00.008-04:00

I found this Brooklyn Treasure via Remodelista. LOVE it. love it. My hometown is SO COOL!

BY THE WAY, life for Nick and I has been cah-RAY-zee. I have been meaning to blog for AGES. I had a wonderful bridal shower!!! I do have pics, but not nearly as many as I had intended on taking. One of these days, hopefully before the wedding, I will get some internet time in and really let this blog have it. Good times!!!

43 days until the BIG DAY!

Weekend Acquisitions

2010-05-17T10:22:00.012-04:00

Yard sales, antique stores and beyond.

I LOVE old wooden hangers. It's all we have in our closets. The best is when they come from an old hotel or have some kind of marking on them. I asked the lady at the yard sale how much? She said... "Just take em!" (That is just so great.)

The horse puzzle is from an antique store, I thought to myself: Okay... the most you can spend on this is $5. Price? $5. SOLD.

Did I stop with the horse paraphernalia? No. Yard sale. Horse book for our vintage book collection: 25 cents.

Porcelain cow head at the Humane Society thrift store, which was AMAY-HA-ZING: labeled $5. The lady who saw me pick it up screamed 50 CENTS!!! SOLD.

It always feels great to be able to pay for something with a single coin. As is the case with all of the above items. WHAT A GREAT WEEKEND! TREASURE!!!!

Other items scored, who were a bit camera shy: Dr. Dolittle books boxed set from the 50's: $1. Green thermos with cork stopper: 25 cents, A promotional towel from Oldsmobile that says "The Good Olds Boys" in bright red letters over clean white terry cloth: $1. (It looks brand new) VHS tapes: Point Break, The Karate Kid, Escape From New York, and 48 Hours: 25 cents each.

Current Events

2010-05-17T00:40:00.006-04:00

Nick and I just arrived back from being Upstate for four days. Our legs are exhausted, driving with two feet is tiring!

I worked on the land a wee bit, tossing around some wildflower seeds and pulling up a good amount of dead weedy things, while Nick worked in the house. Well... "house".

We had several delicious meals at the Dale's place...

I continued working on my filing cabinet project! (But I need MORE TIME!!!)

We went to a bunch of yard sales, which yielded many treasures, remind me to tell you about them later. And I took back to the city a huge planter filled with this weed below, which I really like the look of! There are a ton of cute weeds that grow on our prop. (And also some ugly and aggressive ones.)

Being Upstate was awesome. There is SOooooo much work to do before the wedding (and for life in general), but the stress of it is lesser than the pleasure of being up there. Coming back to the city after being in the country is like enjoying the seasons change, WHICH I always do.

BTW Keep on voting away for us, PLEASE. Oh, please. These contests where people have to vote for you just drives me crazy. All we want is some amazing wedding photography. It's so close... just vote... tell your friends.

VOTE for us HERE (for the Picotte Photography Contest!)

and/or

Vote for us HERE (For the Ian Londin Photography Contest!)

THANK YOU.

Wedding Photography Contest(s)

2010-05-10T09:33:00.010-04:00

One of the most important elements to a wedding, actually one of the most important elements to life in general, is to be surrounded by good photography. I said it. I believe it. It's true.

So... Nick and I were starting to look at photographers for the big day and were not surprised, but slightly disappointed, at how expensive wedding photography is. Duh. Prices can get up to double digit thousands! Crazy. So my natural instinct was "I'll enter a CONTEST!".

I googled away and came up with a few eligible matches. The problem was we only really liked a couple of the photographers. So we only submitted to those two!

So, it brings me GREAT PLEASURE, as one of the five finalists, to ask you to vote for NICK & FARYL in Ian Londin's Engagement Story Contest!

AND, Yes, I said AND to vote for us again, if it's not too much trouble, for us in Broke-ass Bride's Photography Contest, where we are also one of five finalists!!!

The winner in both contests will receive free wedding day coverage. (!)

Go crazy. Stay home from work and just keep voting! Or go to work and just keep voting! It means so much to us to preserve properly this very exciting day that Nick and I are eagerly anticipating!

CLICK TO VOTE! or CLICK TO VOTE!!! (the other contest!)

Tubby

2010-04-29T15:32:00.005-04:00

I just found these via Remodelista:

But these two below, not via Remodelista, just via... the internet, are also cute.

Altar Ego

2010-04-29T10:37:00.001-04:00

Analise just sent me this:
Which obviously I LOVE.

Here are other such ideas:
Those are from KC & Sara's wedding.

These I found HERE.
Although there is PLENTY to do on the priority list before I start playing Bob the builder, I would love to devote a little time to thinking about a focal point for the ceremony.

Come Spring

2010-04-20T12:06:00.006-04:00

As you may remember I lost my engagement ring. I called various parties at the time to be consoled, which mostly they did.

When I called my mom however, she said the dumbest thing! She said "Well, come Spring..." And I said "What?!" And she said that come Spring, after the snow melts, I'll find it. This angered me. Was she just trying to make me feel better or was she actually stupid?! I didn't loose it in my front lawn, I lost it on the Upper West Side of New York City!!! A fragile white ring in a foot or more of snow!!!

And even though part of me thought it was ridiculous, I would always keep an eye out on the streets for weeks after the snow melted. I mean I believe in miracles, come on.

But all that time of having a ringless finger caused a certain amount of cynicism with the whole thing. Eventually I stopped hoping to find it. I thought: It doesn't matter. Everyone knows Nick and I are crazy about each other, who cares about a ring, etc.

But Nick did not feel the same. He said we gotta get you a ring. So Nick and I went together and bought me another ring. The same ring. And it felt wonderful. Better than I had assumed it would.

So...

Just now I was doing some Spring cleaning in the bedroom and as I was about to vacuum and I looked down to the right of the bed and by God, my mother... was right.

There it was. My ring.

Thanks, mom.

Now I Want A Piano

2010-03-27T13:15:00.005-04:00

After seeing this situation on Design*Sponge's Before & Afters I knew I had to say something.

SOMETHING!

Thank goodness there are always free pianos on Craigslist!!! I don't care if it plays AT ALL. It's just so pretty! Nick thought about maybe removing the innards before transporting to make it lighter. He's smart-ish!

Hey guess what'll look awesome atop a painted piano? Painted trophies.

Painted Trophies

2010-03-19T13:32:00.004-04:00

About a month ago, on Craigslist, I saw that someone was giving away a big assortment of chess trophies! Uh... how could I refuse?! So now I have a bunch of cheap, shiny gold-ish colored symbols of some anonymous person's disposable glory. Awesome.

I thought to myself wouldn't these be cool if I painted these? I looked on the Internet for pictures, figuring someone else surely would have had a similar epiphany. Not so much. Here's what I found:

I like the horse one! I don't know what color my trophs are gonna be, but I'm leaning towards white or grey. Show you soon!

A Proposal

2010-03-15T15:08:00.000-04:00

Isn't that cute? (I forgot where I got this pic from. SORRY.)

ARIZONA

2010-03-14T17:07:00.004-04:00

(OMG Hahaha I just realized I forgot to post this when I wrote it!!! So do me a favor and pretend it's a month ago? Thanks.)

Nick and I had the pleasure of being treated to a Pre-wedding honeymoon by Mary Grace, my birth mom. She has a knack for knowing exactly what you might want and when you might need it. After reading both Nick and I's many blog posts regarding airstreams, etc. She read somewhere about a place that you could stay in a vintage trailer park. The Shady Dell.

Which resides in a place called Bisbee, Arizona. (Check out the article in next month's Country Living about Bisbee!)

We went for a weekend and it ABSOLUTELY changed our lives.

First of all... we had been kind of stressed about the wedding. We felt overwhelmed trying to plan it (duh). Also the weather had been cold and kind of grey for weeks, you know... cause it's winter (duh). So the timing of this vay-cay couldn't have been better. We had a car, which was pretty fancy. The guy at the rental place gave us an upgrade, cause it was our pre-wedding honeymoon. That car was awesome.

Arizona was awesome.

Our 1951 Spartan Royal Mansion? Awesome.

The pictures from our trip are totally awesome!!!
America, which is different from New York, has so many cool old signs and weird places in the middle of NOWHERE! We accidentally drove to New Mexico on our way back from actual Mexico, which was pretty darn sketchy.

The picture below is the only picture we took there, cause that's about as long as we were there for.
This is a picture of my new favorite truck. It was in the eerie border town of Douglas, Arizona.

HOW DID ARIZONA CHANGE OUR LIVES?

We had such a carefree experience. Instead of speaking of the wedding, we spoke of being married. It wasn't stressful, it was fun. It was our future!

Also the moment we stepped into the trailer we knew that we wanted one.

The planning of the wedding was not the only thing that was causing some... stuh-ress, but trying to build our home Upstate! Contractors and plumbers and not having any money. Ya.

So we thought that perhaps if we found an old Spartan (we fell in love with the Spartans) we could live in it Upstate, while we saved up for the house. And if we got a chance to actually live on the land it could help us see what we want to do with the place. Every time we go up it feels like we're just visiting. But THAT will change.

As things do.

ARIZONA WAS AWESOME!!! Thank you Mary Grace. You always amaze me.

The Silo

2010-03-13T12:34:00.001-05:00

This past weekend we drove Upstate. Our land was covered in about 2 feet of snow. Attempting to brave our long driveway to the barns would have meant sure doom. We parked on the side of the road and walked. It felt like a crime to tarnish the perfect snow with our footsteps, but it had to be done.

Analise and I were working on transporting things from the car to the barn (which wasn't easy) when we noticed something strange by the side of the silo. As we got closer she recognized the strange pile to be Milan's jacket a top of his father's home-made sled, which is basically a wood platform attached to a pair of skis!

Just as we were about to wonder where the boys were we hear "HHhhhhhheeeeeeeyyyyy!" It was coming from the inside of the silo!!! (Which until only moments before had never been seen from the inside!!! At least not by us!)

To enter we had to wade through thorny brush and crawl past the plywood barrier, which now stood unhinged, into a dark and narrow shaft. Once inside we looked up.

Nick decided that he would climb to the top. He was so brave (and crazy), but it enabled him to take this:

That's really high up! Beyond the first wall of trees is the lake, it's frozen and covered with snow, but you can still kind of make it out. To the right of this view you can apparently see the mountains!!!

Instantly, upon entering the silo, all 4 of us got dangerously inspired. We should build inside of this! Words like "office", "guest house", "3 stories" and "structural engineer" were thrown around. Nick and I recognized this kind of excitement. It was the kind of excitement we felt when we first walked into the 1951 Spartan Royal Mansion. Like destiny. Like when we walked on the property before we bought it. Complete possibilities. The only problem with these kind of surges of great vision is that you only really have the time and money for maybe one of those cool things. And this is where priorities come into play. Do we NEED to fix up the silo? It would be cool, but shouldn't we work on our house first? Shouldn't we work on having a place that's insulated and has plumbing?!! Choices.

Part 2 of our adventure was getting this TV out of the barn and into our car, to take back to the city. We were planning on using that TV as our upstate TV, but we figured, what's the point of having a TV if you don't have floors? We're not real big TV watchers, but we do love movies and we do watch LOST every week with our friends at our place. So why should we continue watching LOST on our old boob tube from the 90s when we have this newer, BIGGER boob tube just sitting in our barn!? But HOW were we going to get the TV to the car in 2 feet of snow with the car being over 100 yards away and uphill?!! The answer? Milan's dad's sled!!!

That's my helping stance.

Well anywho. I'm sure whatever our endeavors will be I'll be posting about em. Oh! That reminds me... I just realized that there all all these posts that I never published because I forgot to! So expect a to be reading about some good times from the past.

Kitchen Inspiration: Take 3

2010-03-12T16:56:00.008-05:00

It's all about STORAGE...

I have plans this Saturday to prime the kitchen. It is going to be some undertaking. I will let you know how we do.

Top pic: Via Remodelista, 2nd down: Martha Stewart, White Le Creuset Shelves from Wide Open Spaces, Last photo, again, from Martha Stew.

Gray Marriage

2010-03-11T16:55:00.011-05:00

Hi. So we painted a wall in the living room gray. We wanted something neutral yet bold to bring out the white moulding around our windows. (Will post picks soon!) Here is some post paint inspiration. (Just to keep us excited about our color choice... "French silver"!)

Top pic: DecorPad, 2nd down is Jenna Lyons' living room (from J.Crew) via Habitually Chic, Daybed photo courtesy of Martha Stewart, Next pic is from Design*Sponge, 5th down is another from DecorPad, 3 big arched windows: DecorPad, the next one is... (so embarrassing...) ALSO from DecorPad, Please don't hate me DecorPad, The last photo is from a website that appears not to be in English Xanga?

Gray can really cool a room down, which can lead to a sort of sterile, sad feel to the space. Even though we have a very sunny living room with 2 big south facing windows I think we may need to add some warm wood to the area, perhaps hanging a picture (or several) with nice wood frames. We'll see! Painting is so fun BTW.

Nick and Faryl on Brooklyn Bride

2010-03-10T14:34:00.000-05:00

Our SAVE THE DATE was featured on the awesome blog Brooklyn Bride!
Cool.

Nice Throw

2010-03-05T12:09:00.000-05:00

I LOVE THESE.

1. Because they are gorgeous.

2. Because they come from Prince Edward Island, where Anne (with an e) of Green Gables lives.

I found them on Katy Elliot's blog: Katy Elliot. They are made by MacAusland Woolen Mills. If I could order them online they would be on that registry so fast. The only other problem, other than not being able to order them online, is which color should I choose?!!

Stripes and linens are m.t.b. (Meant to be!!!)

The Vision

2010-03-04T11:26:00.000-05:00

After writing my last post, so... post post, if you will, I went home and had a little look-see at our kitchen with Nick at my side. We thought how can we make this the best kitch poss without spending a fortch? (Sorry I'm feeling a bit abbrevy.)

Our design pow-wow went well and we are on our way, equipped with a clear vision and a tenacious can-do attitude.

Here is some inspiraysh:

Top photo from LivingBetterTogether.blogspot, second down: The Style Files, the one with the dogie: MarthaStewart.com, next one via Decor*Pad, and the last: Carrie. Can.

(Now, I DO have a can of blackboard paint, HOWEVER I have no intention of using it to paint an entire wall as shown in some of these photos.)

Things I am sure of: I'm sure that our kitchen will be predominately white, as it is now. I'm sure we will have accents of wood and stainless steel. I'm sure that we are gonna prune the unnecessaries from our kitchen, as we did last night. "See ya later table!" AND I'm sure that it's gonna look great!

Don't Count Your Kitchens...

2010-03-03T16:55:00.008-05:00

This is not my kitchen. It belongs to THIS PERSON.

As I was dancing through my kitchen this morning I realized I have been neglecting her, regarding her cleanliness and her aesthetic potential.

Weddings and life and the Internet have pulled my focus slightly from my actual habitat. I've been living so far in the future and have been so consumed with what I want for the future I have forgotten my plans for our apartment. You know, the one that we ACTUALLY live in right this very moment!!!?

I have an armoire, if you remember, that could use a touch more TLC before calling it done. I have an armchair, you may also remember, that is bored to tears with being 3/4 finished. Our living room has had painters tape around our window frames for 2 weeks in anticipation of a small paint job.

Neglect, neglect, neglect.

It's also hard to imagine what kind of things we should register for when our apartment could stand to be a little more cohesive, design wise. Right now it has the slight feel of an indoor flea market. (Only slightly.)

But the thing that would make me the happiest would be to straighten up our kitchen. Shelves need organizing, pots and pans need a peg board, pantries need to be consolidated, counter space needs to be excavated. This is my goal.

Kitchen, prepare yourself, I'm gonna make you so happy and I'm gonna cook in you like crazy!!!

(Some of those pics are a little sterile, but even if I tried to make my kitchen as showroomy as some of the above, it would still come out looking kind of old and charming. I vow to try and work on this, folks... but don't get too excited. With weddings and life and the internet all I'm saying is:

Don't count your kitchens before they hatch. (I hope it hatches before easter!)

I Lost My Engagement Ring

2010-02-27T12:40:00.029-05:00

The following post, that I can only describe as dense and intense, includes an introduction to our corner pictures (a.k.a. "pole pics"), our proposal story and the events leading to my lost engagement ring.

That's me with the ring, a few days after Nick proposed:
The picture below is me now, without my ring: (Please note the lack of happy glow in my face and the accumulation of frigid snow on the city streets.)

Nick and I take a picture on our corner whenever we have the camera with us. We've been doing this for maybe 4 years?

This was the last time the two of us took a corner pic with me wearing my ring. It was 2 days ago:

Nick tried to console me by saying that I'll be getting the for real ring soon! And that'll be forever!

My friend Alena said, "At least you still have your engagement!" She's so smart. That's why I asked her to be one of my bridesmaids! That's our wedding party below, Alena's the one who's blurry:

I'm now past the weeping stage. It's only a ring, right? It's not a family heirloom, and it didn't break the bank, but... it's the ring that Nick proposed to me with.

It's the ring that I first saw and tried on and knew right away. I said to the sales associate;

"How do I get a boy to get this for me without asking?"

Hmmmm. My little romantic wheels were in motion. The next day the plan was hatched and I called the store to let them in on my trickery.

I had sensed Nick was on the look out for a ring and I figured he could use a little help.

Before leaving for work in the morning I had planted an envelope in a pile of papers on my desk. A couple of hours later I called Nick at home.

"Could you do me a favor?..."

I directed him to the pile and told him to look for an envelope. Once I could tell he had picked up the pile I hung up.

The front of the envelope said, "Nick". The back of the envelope said "Open at noon." He loves surprises as much as I do, so he obeyed. When he opened the envelope (at noon) the inside read: "Go to the following address, tell them your name and ask for "something that fits'...".

So Nick obliged and ended up at the correct address, but what I didn't realize was that three separate businesses all belong to the same address.

Nick decided to try one of the establishments. He thought perhaps I had gotten him coffee, because he loves it so much, so he entered this coffee place. He went up to the guy at the counter:

"Hi, my name is Nick?"
"Yeah? Can I help you?"
"I'm looking for... something that fits?"
"What?"

Nick explained to the guy his mission and the guy told him most likely he had the wrong business and to check next door. So he went next door and tried again:

"Hi, I'm Nick, I'm looking for something that fits?"

The hip young cashier eagerly handed him the ring. Nick said "Oooooooh!" She asked him if this was something we did often? To which he replied "Get engaged? No."

He called me shortly afterwards and told me he loved me. I was like shaking, cause I knew what he knew and he most likely had the ring and I was excited and nervous and.... AAAahhhh! Later he stopped by work and it took us at least 10 minutes before we could look each other in the eye.

Sometime later that month we were going Upstate to close on the land we were buying. I had a feeling that that day might be THE day. We went to the corner to take a picture before we left the city. Nick started the timer on the camera and placed it on the mailbox, as usual. I was jumping up and down to convey to the camera that I was excited and nervous about officially owning land! Nick says to me "No, stand still." And right away I knew.

He got down on one knee and took a white box out of his pocket. "Will you marry me?" He was trembling. I forget what I said exactly, but I'm sure it was something like "YES!"

We have the picture, which is amazing, but it's a little too special for the world wide web right now.

For the next few months every time I looked at my ring I got butterflies. (It's only a ring though.)

This is perhaps the exact moment I lost the ring:

I was so excited about the snow storm that I went out to take pictures with my big ring nabbing mittens that I continued to take on and off ALL AROUND MY NEIGHBORHOOD.

I didn't panic when I noticed the ring was no longer on my finger. I calmly retraced my steps, as much as I could, and I sifted through the white snow for my little white ring. It wasn't until I got home that I got really sad.

Below Nick and I are looking for the ring:

This is us still looking:

I had a habit of running my thumb over my ring just to give me a little it's-still-there-and-I-love-it kind of subconscious reassurance. Every time my thumb does it now I get a slight wave of panic, which subsides into a gentle sadness and longing.

It's only a ring. And I still have Nick and I still have all of the friends I love and seasons that change and the pictures I cherish. And come July I'll have a new ring, like Nick said, one that will be forever.

Lucky

2010-02-26T11:11:00.000-05:00

This is what happens outside of our window when it snows...

One of my favorite things about this is that you can no longer see New Jersey across the river. Lovely.

The Registry

2010-02-25T12:12:00.016-05:00

Nick and I have been living together for a very long time. We have acquired bits and pieces of charming and useful material objects for as long as we've been "Team Nick and Faryl".

So when it comes to creating a registry, which believe you me excites me to no end, we are having a tough time. We decided to go out "shopping" to see if we could get any ideas. We walked from our place, which is Uptown, down to SOHO, leaving us with miles of merchants to enchant us.

This is Nick at Macy's trying out the towels.
Conclusion: They were awesome. Martha Stewart is amazing. (These are her "low-twist" towels, what does that even mean!?)

Conversations on our voyage ranged from:

"But we already have towels."
"But we've had them for over 6 years!"
"But they're still fluffy!"
"I know. Isn't that amazing?!"

to:

"I don't want new pots and pans."
"But ours are all gross!"
"I like them like that. If we got new ones I wouldn't want to mess em up."
"Yeah, exactly. I wouldn't want them to get messed up either."
"Like my guitars. If they were too nice I wouldn't want to play them."
"Okay. But burnt pots and scratched non-stick pans don't make me feel like cooking, they make me feel like crying."
"Well you're a little bit country and I'm a little bit rock n' roll."

pause.

"Okay we can get new pots."

Then we went on a hunt for some elusive hamburger place. There was an absurdly long line so we went to this crazy little diner instead.

We walked and talked and "shopped". At the end of the day we had a list about 10 items long, including Ghostbusters 1 and 2 on DVD. Success? I don't know. Then we went to Sammy's Noodles, which is always a success. This was my fortune:

This was Nick's:

What a jerk.

To supplement our lack of items on the registry we thought it might be most useful to have "funds" like a "house fund" or a "honeymoon fund" or our favorite, an "Airstream fund" (which will help us buy a vintage trailer to stay in while we work on the house!)

I think that another part of our hesitancy regarding "registering" is that it's mostly for stuff that's new. And we aren't really used to that. We are used to clearance items and apartment sales and thrift stores and the idea of getting something from Williams-Sonoma, that isn't marked down, feels crazy.

We don't need an electric mixer or silverware or luggage, but this opportunity to kind of look around our home and examine what we do need (and what do we want) has been eye opening.

Nick & Faryl Are Getting MARRIED!!!

2010-02-24T11:07:00.023-05:00

July 24th, 2010

Formal invitation to follow...

Video by Ry Russo-Young

*BTW... Wedding details can be found on our website, which is currently under construction. Check back *here* soon for updates! We are registered at myregistry.com. Please bear with us as we add to it (after living together {and acquiring things together} for over 7 years, it's tricky!)

Love,
Nick & Faryl

How Exciting Is This?!

2010-02-18T12:21:00.007-05:00

This package, which was probably the most exciting part of my day yesterday, came after what I might describe as a J.CREW standstill. Let's rewind...

Shortly after getting engaged... (maybe even slightly before, shhhhh) whilst thumbing through my favorite magazine, which happens to be a J.CREW catalogue, I saw a picture of the Strapless Gracen Dress.

I thought "That's so smart and pretty!" It held in my mind as a possibility for a bridesmaid dress for sometime. For months I kept looking out for something more fun, or something that just was "IT", but that "it" never really came...

And then I was on J. CREW's website and the Gracen dress was ON SALE! I said "You know what? This is it." The reason I never found anything was because I was looking for this dress! I was fixed on the shape of it and the idea of Nick and I's gorgeous wedding party with their gorgeous shoulders all showing. Gorgeous.

Here is the kind of funny part though.

After we had our Wedding Party dinner, back in December, someone asked "So what color do you have in mind for the bridesmaid dresses?" And I said... "You know what's weird? I imagine them being... PINK!!!" They were all probably as shocked as I was. Pink? That's not really part of my inherent color scheme. But it just feels right...

(FLASHBACK: 5th grade, Julie Stelzer and I were sitting on a stoop next to the deli by school and we were discussing tacky color combinations. (Naturally). I remember quite distinctly saying that the most offensible color combination of all time, something I wouldn't be caught DEAD wearing, was PINK and RED. Now no one is going to be wearing red, but our barns are red!!! Am I a traitor to my 5th grade self?! Am I tacky? This might be just another one of those things that I say I hate and then end up loving, like Tori Amos and Harry Potter and like... Nick.)

BACK TO THE J.CREW STANDSTILL-

So I called J.crew to see if there would be a possible time to come in with our ladies and try on these "special occasion" dresses, so we could see if they fit well and figure out their sizes before ordering. And we needed to do all of this fast, cause once something is ON SALE at J.Crew it goes quick. I was met with opposition at every turn. They didn't have an appointment for months. I could come in to see the dress in person if I came early in the morning, but there was no trying on allowed. The whole experience, in store and on the phone, was kind of horrible. Everyone involved with this sect of J.crew is like a joke. Terse, dressy, lonely women who have the unfortunate job of dealing with manic, micromanaging brides all day, everyday. (One can only assume). I was fed up. Soooo, I called J.crew and said "Do you have any of these dresses left? May I please order them in the following sizes..." And that is what I did. And instantly I felt de-stressed about the whole sitch. Our friends can come at their leisure and try on these dresses and I've got swatches in other colors if need be. And the ones we don't take we can return. Done.

Dang. Dress Drama.

So they arrived and they are gorgeous... (that's the color, not the dress).

and they are NOT "barely peach" as they are called, and as it appears to be in this picture, but they are the exact color of an old ballet slipper. Let's call it "PINK". And the dresses go perfectly with the flower girl dress...

And the flower girl dress goes perfectly with the flower girl, my adorable, precocious Niece, Gisel.

Stairway to Hev.

2010-02-14T17:36:00.011-05:00

Busy busy busy. Thinking and not thinking about the wed. (I am in an abbrev. mood, please bear with.) But I COULD NOT resist doing a little google-google and putting up these pics I discovered after seeing these 2 on Door Sixteen:

But WAIT, there's more!

As if I needed another reason to love stairs.

Stair pics courtesy of The Haystack Needle, DesignSponge, Apartment Therapy, Ferret & Hound.

Less Than Six Months

2010-01-26T12:57:00.008-05:00

In less than six months I will be married! To Nick!!! I feel so lucky to have him. Sometimes I can't believe that we're together. So many stars had to align to grant us the privilege of one another. Maybe that's how it is with everything... and everyone.

When I first saw Nick I thought he was horrible! I mean looking back it's not that I was wrong, it's that we've both changed. He was an arrogant teen, with a daunting sense of entitlement from perhaps too much of an allowance or too much private school or maybe because he had his own TV show.

But sometimes I wonder, how could I have not seen beyond his annoying blue hair, or sticky tight t-shirts. How did I miss this sweet, imaginative, romantic, funny guy? How could I not know that he possessed powerful magic? A magic to calm me, and charm me, and carry me from the couch to the bed, when I've fallen asleep watching TV.

I love taking pictures of him, because I think he's beautiful. And I love that I loved him before we even kissed. And sometimes when we're grumpy, because the future can be daunting and the pressure to be who we always imagined us being seems too far away, we can rely on the joy that we bring each other and we are indeed among the luckiest people.

Weddings Are So Fun

2010-01-26T12:09:00.007-05:00

Photography from Carl Zoch of Brit & Daniel's farm wedding, via Green Wedding Shoes.

Staying Inspired: A Daily Dose

2010-01-19T18:55:00.007-05:00

Photos via Oncewed

Craig

2010-01-18T18:10:00.009-05:00

and his crazy list.

So... we got a couch.

And two matching arm chairs.

IF we would have bought them from Crate and Barrel, which is where these dudes originate from, we would have paid around $2,300. (Not to mention delivery costs...).

However, IF we had gotten them from Crate and Barrel, perhaps there wouldn't be stains on them. I think saving $2,200 is actually quite preferable.

The stains that I had seen on the couch at first were just your everyday wear and tear stains, no biggie, BUT THEN, the lady who we bought the couch from tried to spot clean the sofa and man o man, you do NOT spot clean a sofa without checking in an INCONSPICUOUS area first. But she did and she maybe, or maybe not, ruined the sofa.

I love that word, ruined, it's so intense. But I'm not devastated, not at all. Besides if I had a perfect couch, I'd panic any time people came over. I'd eye them with their beverages or greasy crumbs. But this is fine. I'm still gonna clean it, but it's nice to know that I'm not the one who ruined it.

HERE ARE SOME IDEAS RE: cleaning the upholstery. I could hire a professional upholstery cleaner. They aren't as expensive as you'd think, a basic cleaning is around $65. And they come to look at the filth situation (for free) and quote you a price before they begin. There is also the idea of buying the matching fabric from crate and barrel and reupholstering it myself. It's only $25 a yard and a single yard would cover the bench of the piece, fo sho. There is also rumors floating around the web that I could use Dryel sheets... Just rub em on! Apparently it works. So I think that'll be my first attempt.

I can't wait folks! Cleaning to me is like magic! I take a sponge to a dirty stove top and *wink* its clean.

I never knew I'd be such an advocate of clean.

But I am! And I love it.

Thanks Craig for your bargains and your ability to take two manhattanites and send them to Flushing Queens, THREE TIMES. That was an awesome adventure, all three times!

Craigslist Crazy

2010-01-13T16:16:00.005-05:00

I've been "inter-nesting", as Nick likes to call it, scouring craigslist to find the right couch and the right dining table at the right price. Here are the kind of things I've been looking for:

A rustic, yet modern, light wood table with benches- such as the Big Sur, from crate and barrel, and the Modern Farm Table, from West Elm.

The sofas I keep finding myself attracted to all share a similar aesthetic. I want to be able to see the legs of the sofa, it takes away from the enormity of the couch and gives a lighter feel. I am looking for something neat and simple. Not red. Not slip covered. Modern yet personable. Something similar to these dudes down below:

Getting JAZZED

2010-01-08T16:48:00.008-05:00

Hello. I've been slightly avoiding thinking about weddings and country homes. December is always a crazy time with birthdays and holidays and holiday cards etc. etc. But this year, or LAST year rather, things were extra crazy, so focusing on our nuptials, especially blogging about our nuptials, was low on the priority list.

BUT NOW!!! 2010!!!! The year of the wedding. The year of years: Let's talk!

To get myself jazzed up again about the whole event I went to Oncewed.

Here are some jazzy findings:

From top to bottom: Joanna & Alex, Engagement photos: Nancy Neil, Joanna & Alex again, Hannah & Ben, Emily & Lance, California Campground Wedding, Brianna & Matt, Laura & Ryan, Rooftop wedding.

BTW, get excited about our Save-The-Date. I can't WAIT to post it!!! Also prepping to unveil our website... (!) 2010!!!!!!!

A Kmart Christmas

2009-12-09T18:15:00.013-05:00

Many, MANY Holidays ago, Nick and I were at Kmart. We had separated in the store to browse for a few minutes. Upon our rendezvous Nick had discovered that I had acquired a basket, and within that basket (apparently) I had acquired about $50 worth of Christmas ornaments. He suggested, like a gentleman by the way, that I come back in perhaps a week, when maybe I would be in a less frenzied state. He said "Besides, would you really want to have a Kmart Christmas?"...

The answer is YES. (I mean he was right. THEN. But have you SEEN what M.S. {Martha Stewart} is doin over there?! Gorgeous. Every Holiday I'm impressed.)

(I know I already have a picture of the little pin cushion ornaments, but aren't they adorable every time?!)

The end of the story is I usually allow myself to buy 1 Kmart Christmas item per holiday season and then wait till after the new year to really let loose, when everything is heavily discounted. A couple of years ago we bought a Martha Stewart Christmas tree 90% off!!! It's 7' 1/2" and is holding up quite well. For a couple of Jew-y New Yorkers Nick and I sure do know how to love Christmas!

You see Nick's Dharma present sack I made him?!

"SAY YES"

2009-12-07T15:01:00.009-05:00

I have been DYING to ask our friends to be our bridal party for EVER! Every time I'd pass a cute bridesmaidsy dress in a window I'd want to call one of m'ladies and ask her what she thought of the cut or the color. But Nick and I waited because we wanted to do something special. So...

...with a little help from our friends at Industries Stationery we began with simple postcards and envelopes. Then we poked holes through the card stock with an enormous needle. (Perhaps it was a knitting needle? I dunno!) Then, on a separate sheet of paper, placed over the postcard, we wrote heavily with a dull pencil. We removed the top paper and sketched over the imprint to make the text more visible. THEN we sewed spun cotton through the holes and through a little metal tag that said "SAY YES" on one side, and the date of the wedding on the other. Then we tied the cotton string in a little bow to look like my engagement ring!

Totally cute.

THEN we asked everyone over for "dinner" and at each person's place was an envelope with their name on it. The cards asked, as seen above: "Will you be my Best Man?", "Will you be my Groomsmate?" etc. Everyone said they WOULD and we had a great dinner and a lovely time.

Part 1 of Team Wedding is ON!

I'll Take Two

2009-11-21T11:31:00.007-05:00

I found this via KatyElliot.com, for more info: NewYorkTimes.com

THANKSGIVING

2009-11-21T09:00:00.000-05:00

It may look a little something like this-

Nick and I have never actually hosted a Thanksgiving before. This will mark our first. I am very excited. Nick is majoring in turkey with a double minor in stuffing and gravy, while I'll be dividing my focus between brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes and pie. Also on the agenda are two kinds of cranberry sauce; the good stuff (from the can) and the "good stuff", from actual cranberries. Various guests are bringing various dishes and really I couldn't be more thrilled. I could, however... use a dinning table.

The Challenge Of A Lifetime

2009-11-20T13:36:00.009-05:00

Remember me? I was in the garbage and you rescued me.

You stripped away what was left of my filthy ghost-of-a-Golden Girl fabric...

And you watched Enchanted on repeat for days on end, while sewing and stapling and dreaming of the perfect "After" to your horrific "Before". I know you're not finished, but you're CLOSE. And once I'm completed, please let people sit on me. I know you don't want to mess me up, but really, it's what I was made for! I'm gonna be so comfortable and stylish, CAN'T WAIT and BTW I love enchanted too!!!

Thank you so much, your new chair.

PUMP it up!

2009-11-14T19:01:00.000-05:00

A brief throw back to our pumpkin carving endeavors a few weeks ago. (I forgot to post the picks in October when it was slightly more relevant.)

GO TEAM PUMPKIN!

The Game

2009-11-13T21:45:00.003-05:00

Nick and I, never really truly understanding the word freedom until the purchase of our used 98 Subaru Outback, have spent the past few trips Upstate on cloud 9.

While driving around I like to imagine that if I fell in love with a house I could just magically own it and transport it back to our acreage. Here is one such home:

Isn't that the kind of home you want to host family dinners in!?

File it under FUN!

2009-11-13T21:40:00.000-05:00

Nick and I have accepted our rolls as the keenest youthful scavengers on the Upper West Side. Some might call us garbage pickers... others might say we're "upcyclists". You could call us resourceful or creative, crazy, trashy (quite literally), etc. I like to think of us as visionaries.

The other night we found a great little discarded radiator cover on our block and brought it home, swapping it out for our dingy paint chipped one. While throwing away the yucky one (sorry, little dude, you weren't yucky just... an eyesore.) we came upon a file cabinet! (MUCH NEEDED.)

It was the perfect size and in good condition! The only problem? It was a dull mocha color. The exciting part? I'M GONNA SPRAY PAINT THAT SUCKER NAVY BLUE!!!!

Below are some other file cabinet refurbishments:

THE tortoise AND THE hare

Good Housekeeping

Apartment Therapy

(Sorry they're all light blue-sh and sorry that last one isn't REALLY a file cab)

BTW remember that old wing back we found? STAY TUNED.

A Gift

2009-11-02T07:04:00.000-05:00

My friends Jared and Ann are moving to San Fran! When Nick and I paid a visit to their cool brownstone in the Bronx a few months ago we apparently both, on separate trips up the stairs, remarked on how cool their barn pics were. So a couple of days ago when Jared and Ann came over for din din they came baring gifts!

Neat! THANKS guys!!!

Can't We All Just Get Along?

2009-11-01T01:27:00.006-04:00

Tonight (and pretty much all of today) was Halloween. A holiday that has lost its appeal to me in recent years. Being a New Yorker- and I feel like I start a lot of my sentences like that, can sometimes be hard. The City is always busy to a certain degree and on special days, like "the weekend" it can become TOO congested or feel... hijacked, if you will, by all sorts of maniacs.

I love people visiting and I love people helping our local economy (that is IF the visitors in question venture to an actual "local" establishment, which is ACTUALLY pretty hard to do these days because mom and pops can't afford to really exist... ANYWHO.

Where was I?

I'm from New York City. And on such holidays that tend to elicit wild behavior, i.e. New Year's, i.e. Halloween, I would prefer to stay at home, WHICH WE KIND OF DID... to watch game 3 of the world series. GO TEAM!!! It was a tough fight! I was nervous, but it turned out for the best. I'm not a baseball fan (although it is my sport of choice, bested only by gymnastics) but I AM a... (wait for it) a New Yorker. So kudos! GO TEAM!!!

But that was only the end of the day...

The beginning involved an 8:50AM train up to the country, a hot chocolate, a majestic view of the Hudson, and good company. We got our car inspected, which was... kind of like game 3 of the world series! It was exciting and scary... The guy who was doing the inspection was chatty and sincere. He said the car looked good. He asked us if we went to school in the area. We said "No. We're from the city." Nick said "She's from Brooklyn, that's why she's tough." (He usually plays the Brooklyn card if he thinks we can get any street cred.) No cred was given.

The once gregarious mechanic was now cold. He plugged in our car to some machine, which was to be the last part of the test. "Did you have to jump the battery today?" He said. We replied "Yeah, we did, we've got to get a new battery soon." To which HE replied;"When the battery is jumped the car's computer reboots and we can't get a reading. Which means, I'm gonna have to fail you. Which means it's gonna cost more. Go drive it around a bit and come back next week."

DANG.

Mostly though I was sad cause we ruined our rapport with the rural man, with our fast talking city slicker ways. I may be proud to a New Yorker, but I was so embarrassed. Why can't he just tell that we're nice people? Why would our place of upbringing slight him so?

Now Nick and I, wounded, will no doubt feverishly try and mend our error. We will go back and pal up to "Joe", as I assume his name is, most people Upstate are named "Joe". See?! There's all that city humor ruining my chances at a nice communal now and again chit chat. Thanks, Joe.

After the inspection we drove around. I drove around! (Which was really exciting!) I've never really driven like that before, like an actual driver! I wanted to blend in on the road. I wanted to roll down my window and say to the neighboring car "Hey! Can you tell I'm a new driver?! Wasn't that stop smooth?!" We drove from town to town, taking in this new freedom, this new totally legal, freshly license plated car.

This one town had Halloween down! The streets were packed! The commotion wasn't reckless or aggressive, as it can be in the city, but busy and fun! There were families and big groups of children and teenagers and college kids. And it seemed... great!

Then we drove the car back into the City and found a fantastic parking spot RIGHT in front of our apartment, which is no easy feat. We grabbed our 2nd slice of pizza for the day and headed to Milan's for a low impact evening and watched a game that somewhat arbitrarily gives me pride for my home town. New York.

It's our team, Joe, for all of us. New York means you AND me! Can't we all just get along?

The perfect spot

What To Do

2009-10-27T17:59:00.008-04:00

Exclusively pulled from Design Sponge's Before and Afters are some inspirational reupholstery pics. (And these better be inspirational, because I've got a skinned wingback chair in my kitchen that needs some new duds. And once it's dressed it needs to get out of my kitchen!!!)

This redo belongs to julia schafer of l+j industries. CLICK for details!

This chair belongs to Steven & Alison. CLICK for details!

No stranger to reupholstery, Molly, from Chairloom, does her thing! CLICK for deets!

Former designer turned furniture renovationist is London based Hannah Stanton.

Melissa wisely opted to have this chair reupholstered by a profesh.

Heather, from Skinny Laminx.

Yo. Check out the rest of Design Sponge's Before & Afters. There are some great transformations!

The Weekend Away (Results)

2009-10-22T21:02:00.031-04:00

A rag tag team awaits the arrival of Nick (and a mini van) in front of Penn Station. Our team was small, as threat of snow, yes s n o w, had been brought to our attention from a less than reputable news source.

Our wood was delivered ahead of schedule, which was only slightly terrifying for two reasons. One: the threat of bad weather on wood left outside = can't built a sub floor as intended. And TWO: The crazy stealing woman. I know it seems unlikely that she might be able to lift 500 lbs of lumber, but I think she has powers.

The wood was moved inside. (BTW- That's our soon to be country house!!!)

SOON AFTER the ladies and I drove to Manza Family Farm to pick up the trees we bought last weekend. On our way we got pulled over for speeding. Guess how fast we were going?! 40-45 miles per hour. (It was a 30 mile per hour zone.) When the officer came to the window I gave him some good old fashioned guff.

Long story short we obviously didn't get a ticket. I mean what could be more charming then a van full of girls listening to some country tunes en route to acquire trees from a local farm. Uh- you know it's a good thing we got pulled over before we acquired the trees, cause I think there might be something slightly illegal about driving with a forest in your car.

We planted the first tree, an October Glory Maple. I was persuaded to name it, which I still feel mixed about. (When I was a kid I had a TON of cabbage patch kids. My mom never let me have the birth certificates that came a long with the dolls, because she wanted me to choose the name. And if the doll ever went missing or got... let's say eaten by a dog she didn't want it to be like somebody DIED!!! I feel that.) Naming a tree is totally fine and fun, but if it doesn't make it- am I gonna morn the loss of Rebecca like a person?! I named her Rebecca. Shut up.

That's me with Glory. She's the second tree we planted. After that we planted our Yellow Bird Magnolia ("Michael").

Then it became night.

Accomplishments for the day included planting three trees and building half a sub floor. Then we went to Rob's Pizza, which was great. (Please see photo above) Then we saw a movie and then we went to sleep!

Above: That's Alena in the morning drinking a fresh cup of bunk house coffee. Below: That's Nick as Lee Harvey Oswald. He's portraying him in a play and the production needed a few pics.

We drove home and ended up driving through Times Square, which for a New Yorker is kinda weird. Driving anywhere in New York is kinda weird.

After we dropped people off Nick and I got McDonald's!!! It was a DRIVE THRU McDonald's, which is another rarity in the city.

In the end the rag tag teams wins BIG TIME.

Just Imagine

2009-10-22T20:41:00.005-04:00

I'm so excited about our country house! I can totally see it finished in my mind, it looks like home!!! I wish the dang thing would just get built. How can I use my interior design skills when there's not even really any interior to design? I mean... there are cinder blocks, but COME ON, I'm the kind of lady that needs a little dry wall here and there. OR, at the very least some insulation and/or some light plumbing. I wanna shop for linens! I wanna keep my eyes open for discarded artwork on the New York City streets! I want to acquire plates and glasses!!! Open a refrigerator!!! And when people come over we can all sit on the couch!!!

The picture below I discovered via Remodelista. The ceiling reminds me of our future country house. (Lordie, Lordie, this is all so exciting! Weddings and houses and planning, OH BOY!)

SAVE-THE-DATE

2009-10-19T14:58:00.014-04:00

We picked a date.

So now, instead of saying "uh... like the last weekend-ish of July 2010... ish?" We can say:

July 24th, 2010.

(Whoa, I typed it!)

I can't wait to start working on Save-The-Date cards! Here are some of my recent stationery faves floating around the web:

(From lilribbers on Etsy, via I DO (X2))

(Via Lucky Luxe Couture Correspondence)

(Via Modernemotive)

(From Hello Lucky)

(Michael Fusco, via Oh So Beautiful Paper)

(I can't find where I nabbed this pic from... Oops!)

*BTW-That top illustration is from Hawthornephotography.com)

I'm a little torn between youthful charm and classic elegance. Do we use a photograph and make a postcard or do we have a one on one with a skilled typographer? I'm sure I'll let y'all know the outcome.

Hooray!

July 24th, 2010!!!

The Weekend Away

2009-10-15T18:17:00.008-04:00

This Saturday, Nick and I, have invited some friends up to the farm for a "planting party".

Activities planned, in order, are: * WORK ON FARM * Which means ... Plant some trees, move some trees, paint some trim and build a sub floor. Afterwards we will travel to Rob's Pizza, a surprisingly wonderful pizza joint "in town"-

(But not really in town, as our town is too small to be considered a "town", so they call it a hamlet. Awwww.)

Then we'll be heading to the local cinema to see Where The Wild Things Are!!! (It's only $4! Upstate is so cool!) Then we head back to the bunk house, huddle around a heater and sleep until morning.

THEN... in the morning, we'll go PUMPKIN PICKING!!! Is this the most amazing weekend or what!? (BTW the weather is calling for snow, hahahaha!)

I mean after all, inside all of us is...

ADVENTURE!

Am I a fool?

2009-10-15T00:15:00.003-04:00

I have only one choice. Take a good look at this discarded old chair. Chair, you will suffer no more. Prepare for a new life with me. Prepare to be reupholstered and sat in, again and again.

Maybe I am a fool, but you know it takes a "before" to become a "before & after".

A Civil Ceremony

2009-10-13T18:50:00.006-04:00

My friend, Anthony, got married this afternoon down at City Hall!

We all met around 11am. Anthony was surprised so many of his compatriots showed up. He said if he knew how many people were planning on attending he would've made the event one part wedding and one part trip to Six Flags!

City Hall was nicer than I had expected! Even though you had to take a number and wait on a couple lines, everyone was relatively happy! There were flowers you could buy in a sort of vending machine style and really nice couches you could lounge in while you waited.

I wasn't sure how formal we were gonna be so I just wore a necklace and heels, that's how you know I'm kinda gussied up, FYI. Our friend Chris wore a suit and a homeless man asked if he was a politician. Ivonne (the bride) was smart and brought converse for post ceremony. Fun times guys!!!

Congratulations!!!

Yesterday and Today

2009-10-12T10:50:00.004-04:00

Yesterday we bought 3 trees for the farm. Today I woke up and tried on my wedding dress.

This is so cool.

Tree Owners

2009-10-12T00:19:00.012-04:00

Today Nick and I bought 3 young trees. It seemed strange, shopping for nature, as I told the woman at Manza Family Farms, who helped us find our way through 15 acres of orphan oaks and conifers, to name just a few. We ended up with a Yellow Bird Magnolia tree and two October Glory Maples. This place was great and the prices were totally reasonable, if not down right ridiculous.

All of the trees are expected to grow to around 40 feet! The October Glory trees have the most beautiful fall colors, one of our new guys, like the one above, is bright red and the other was a fantastic autumn combo of red, yellow and orange. Please see below.

It's so strange to buy something so alive... you know it's going to grow, but into what exactly?! It's so strange to purchase something that will in all likelihood outlive you. I wonder if this is how my parents felt when they adopted me. (Come on, isn't it just the least bit similar?!)

My mom wears two flower charms around her neck, one for me and one for my sister. I think it has something to do with that we couldn't grow in her , so she she says we were like flowers in her garden and she didn't know what kind of flowers we'd be, but she was excited to see.

I'll bet all parents kind of feel like that.

Yellow Bird Magnolia.

TREES!!!

A Change Of Scenery

2009-10-03T11:43:00.011-04:00

Can you guess where I am?

I'm not Upstate, and I'm not in Minnesota... no, not Kentucky.

Somewhere seasidey and charming, as most seasidey places tend to be...

Oh the historic homes!!! Have you guessed yet? Think pilgrims and... Kennedy's...

I'm in Provincetown, MA! Cape Cod, baby!!!

Country Living @ Kmart?!?!!!

2009-09-27T18:43:00.000-04:00

The only publication I have EVER subscribed to is Country Living.

I kind of caved in a few months ago, after the fall of Domino Magazine, in an attempt to help keep print alive. And I mean $10 a year?!! How could I say no? Well, it just so happens that Country Living has recently launched a line of products at Kmart and Sears... and it is really GREAT stuff.

Here's Nick modeling my favorite apron that retails at only $12!

This is their "Red friends" bowl

More items later... (my computer is being very sketchy). Their picture frames are fantastic!! And their sheets sets are perfect... except for the fact that they're around $70!

Run, don't walk, to your local Kmartium.

A Before & After WOWEE

2009-09-25T20:33:00.003-04:00

From Design*Sponge:

Get outta town! Man, if I had that "before" house I think I would have just laid in the dirt and cried. Talk about vision and faith! That "after" house is great!

Note to self: windows, paint and porches, GO!