I am very busy...
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 by Lindsey
Working on plans for the Loudoun Style Photo Shootout that I am hosting in May.
I'll be back, I promise.
I'll be back, I promise.
Household Management: My "Hope Chest" Pt. 1
Thursday, April 8, 2010 by Lindsey
For my eighteenth birthday, I decided that I wanted an antique steamer trunk. I can't quite remember why I desired this large, obscure piece of history. It's not a particularly useful piece of furniture, but it makes me smile. I seem to recall my Mom's response to my request being "You're so weird. But, that is really cool." With help from craigslist, my Mother's internet saavy, and our SUV, a month before my 18th birthday we headed to look at and hopefully purchase the trunk. The people who sold it to us were a very nice older couple, and while they never used it as more than a piece of furniture, it was originally given to them by a German friend who was a world traveler, and brought it from Germany with her.
The sideways-table-phase of my beautiful trunk.
This trunk sat in my room for a little over a year, and was shifted multiple times, from laid on it's side, to standing up on end, in the corner...against the far wall...used as a table. Yet it still really had no purpose. I know most people would say "not everything has to have a purpose", but I certainly feel like something with such history deserves more than sitting around empty.
One of my favorite hand-knit washcloths.
Finally, after taking up knitting, and starting the (ridiculously tedious) process of knitting an entirely garter stitched baby blanket, the trunk found it's calling as a Hope Chest. At the moment it has...two hand-knit washcloths, the baby blanket, and a bunch of really soft huge towels that I found on clearance at Target. I have a whole list of other things that I'm slowly planning to gather over the next 10 months. But for me, the trunk is just the representation of all of the other things I have stowed away for our home after our wedding.
Baby Blanket Pre-Completion (It is finished, now.)
That includes an entire closet full of kitchen stuff which I was fortunate to acquire during my year working for Le Creuset, an antique drafting table, an antique vanity, some side tables, shelves, two TVs, a futon, bed, filing cabinet, papasan chair, a chair that desperately needs reupholstering, and lots of artwork of all shapes and sizes.
Despite all of this, I am shocked to continually discover how much more we need. Not even the "want" or "convenience" stuff...but stuff we actually need. Fortunately, this is where my trusty sidekick the spreadsheet comes in. Yep, again, I love lists. Google docs has been an awesome resource for Nathan and I, especially being long distance. I start a project, then give him access to it so that he can open it once and never see the edits I've made six months later. (Kidding, honey...I know you've opened the household spreadsheet at least twice!)
I definitely understand why this is a "must-have" on most registry checklists.
I bought mine with my '08/'09 tax return, and I LOVE it.
When I started thinking of things I use on a daily basis that we will need, I started dropping them into a random document. It quickly expanded to the point that it is now separated in tabs by the rooms in our future home, and color-coated by level of must-have, need, want, luxury.
Honestly, every time I open up my lovely rainbow of needs and wants, I feel like a Klingon sale master: armed with my bat'leth of organization (Okay, so maybe I'm still 12 at heart.) and ready to tackle the complicated and treacherous world of Craigslist, Garage Sales, Clearance Aisles, and sales at Williams-Sonoma. Yes, I get a power trip from my spreadsheets...
I am really enjoying preparing things for our home, plan to update as I acquire new and useful things and ideas. Before I wrap up this post, I thought I'd share a list of things that I plan on making/buying to fill the actual physical trunk. :)
- King-Sized Knit Blanket
- King-Sized African Quilt
- Twin-Sized Knit Blanket
- Knit Couch Throw
- 3 Knit Baby Blankets
- 10 Knit Hand Towels
- 10 Knit Dish Cloths
- Sm. Knit Bathroom Rug
- Sm. Knit Kitchen Rug
- Knit BoHo Nursery Mobile
- Stuffed Knit Elephant
- Organic Cotton Sheets
- Towels
Now, I shall go off to conquer my long list of things to do for the day.
-Lindsey
Of insects and delicious breakfast food...
by Lindsey
The weather here in Virginia today is absolutely gorgeous. Molly, Taylor, and I are all sitting on the back patio enjoying the spring, the breeze, and some delicious homemade whole wheat apple muffins. I love being able to work outside on days like this.
Molly decided a little while ago that she wanted to go back inside for a few minutes, and left half a muffin on the patio table. Soon after, a bumble bee came and started circling the table, angling for the muffin. So, I took it inside.
About fifteen minutes later, Molly came back outside and scowled at me, "Where's my muffin?"
"A bee was trying to eat it, so I took it inside."
"Oh." she goes inside to retrieve her muffin, and comes back out a moment later, talking to the air, "Bee, if you can hear me, this is my muffin, and you're supposed to not eat it, because it's mine, and you're supposed to go away and leave it alone."
She is the coolest two year old on the planet.
-Lindsey
I annoy myself...
Wednesday, April 7, 2010 by Lindsey
...especially when I am blogging, and I get a particular word stuck in my head. When that happens, I end up using that word multiple times in one paragraph. Ugh.
Apparently my favorite word of the day is "though."
Wedding Plans: The Dress
by Lindsey
When I first started wedding planning, I really thought that the dress was a priority for me. It was my chance to wear a formal, I've never had an occasion to wear a formal, and while I don't feel bad about that...it's exciting! To have a dress custom altered to fit me, to really feel beautiful as a bride...it's every girl's dream, right? At this point, while I still don't want to settle, I think that I'll be so focused on getting married, and being Nathan's wife...I won't even be thinking about how I look. Plus, I want to be comfortable. Still though, I want something that will make me feel good, and fit well so I'm not tugging and fidgeting through our whole event.
Ultimately, the thing that I finally resolved to is that the only "the one" at my wedding will be my amazing future-husband.
Being on such a tight budget, I knew I would have to be creative. I set a self-imposed $200-$300 budget for my dress, I knew I could find something in that range that I would be happy with, and had plenty of time. I started trolling eBay, craigslist, and preownedweddingdresses.com, for good deals on dresses. I looked at David's Bridal online, and nothing appealed to me.
Over the course of my exploration and internet gazing, I started coming across beautiful gowns from designers like Maggie Sottero, Liancarlo, and Paloma Blanca. I had a huge "dress crush" on these two dresses in particular, but knew that neither were in my price range.
Liancarlo 3820
Maggie Sottero "Alannah"
I just knew that I wanted a dropped asymmetrical waist, a ruched bodice, a corset back, and a sweetheart neckline. (And...how cool is that bubble skirt on the liancarlo?) I also know how ridiculously inflated the prices for wedding gowns are. Even if I had a few grand to drop on a dress I'm going to wear for 6 hours, I would never feel comfortable dumping it into such a deceitful industry. So, I went to the natural "back-up option" for budget brides: chinese knockoffs. Yes, there's a lot of debate about them...I'm not here to debate them, I wanted to give it a consideration.
It sounds "too good to be true" right? Get the dress of my dreams for $250? I was skeptical. I still really have no opinion on the subject, I read a lot of mixed reviews, and basically came to the conclusion that there are some reputable china-based sellers out there, and that you get what you pay for: cheaper fabrics, less lining, less structure. It wasn't a great option, but I felt like it might be the best way for me to go.
Queue my all-time favorite website: Etsy. Why had I not thought about this before? I love Etsy, and I feel really good about buying handmade. (I'll post more about this, later on.) I immediately ran out to post an Alchemy listing with a sketch of my dress, and my budget. Within 24 hours I had 6 seamstresses offering to make my dress at prices ranging from $200-$350. Out of this range, I really "clicked" with a girl who runs a group of independent designers and seamstresses. She said she really liked my dress ideas (see above) and would love to make my dress for me, for $250, she didn't have experience in specifically making wedding dresses, but had made prom dresses and ball gowns in similar styles and materials. I was sold, and soon had agreed to purchase my dress from her.
But then I started thinking...what if that style isn't flattering for me? I have a dress made, it gets here two months before the wedding, it looks awful, and I have to find something else last minute. I told my seamstress to hold off on buying fabric until I could at least go and try some on. In the meantime, I kept gazing...and started leaning towards something with more of an empire waistline. Being realistic, that's the style that typically suits me. This was also at the turning point of our wedding plans when we decided to throw tradition out the window and really make the wedding our own.
Wai Ching "Athena"
Then I discovered Wai Ching. The queen designer of the bohemian wedding dress. Since Nathan and I have decided to save ourselves for marriage, it is important to me (and my family) that I do have a white dress. But boy did I swoon over some of her luxurious colors and unconventional styles. Her dresses are out of my price range...but I love color so much, and started thinking...maybe I could incorporate color tastefully into my dress without taking the bridal look away. (Just a note for anyone who is interested: she does make her dresses in all white, or shades of white and ivory, and I've heard great reviews from brides who have worked with her.) I didn't end up with any color in my gown, but it did open my mind to going a more bohemian direction with my dress to match the rest of the wedding.
Wai-Ching "Zolotova"
I finally came to the conclusion that I needed to be realistic about my body type, and the style that looks good on me, and that I would probably need to actually go try some dresses on. So, I went onto the website of our local bridal shop, to see what designers they stocked so that I could go and look at the websites and decide which dresses I wanted to try on. I messaged my awesome Etsy designer, who said that she could make any of them. So, today I trekked out with my friend Natalie to try on some dresses. Fortunately, the shop had most of the styles I was interested in trying on, and I came away knowing which style I wanted for my wedding! It wasn't the most thrilling experience of my life, though. I had a ton of fun with Natalie there, but the shop didn't have a lot of samples in my size (and I'm not that big...), and maybe it just wasn't my "thing." It was useful, but I'm glad I found a good style the first time, and don't have to drag around to a bunch of other stores.
Plus, since I'm having mine custom made, I can make any changes/alterations/additions to it, and make sure that it is just right. Now, I am not superstitious at all, and I don't feel like posting a picture of my dress will take away the precious "first look" moment from our wedding when Nathan sees me in the first time for the dress.
With that said, this is the dress style I've finally chosen. It is made from champagne colored dupion silk, which is a really different texture and sheen than typical satin or chiffon. It's not flowery, but it definitely has a unique, bohemian vibe. Mine will not have pockets, and the little jeweled piece on the front will be different.
This is the front, the original dress is Paloma Blanca 4004:
This is the back of the original dress, but I'm considering having it made differently:
I'm not sure that I like the "tail" on the original dress...it's different, but I just am not convinced. This is a similar look and could be easily modified, so I'm thinking I might go with a back style more like this:
My other option is to have a corset-style back, which I think could be really cool and different, especially if I used satin ribbons for the corset in sapphire, olive green, and teal blue to match our wedding colors. I'm going to draw up some sketches, and am looking forward to putting in the deposit so that she can start making it! It'll still be 6 months or so before I get it, but she said she'll send me pictures as the process moves along! :-)
So, yep - that was my short, simple, abbreviated wedding dress adventure. And I highly recommend Etsy.
-Lindsey
Wedding Plans: The Beginning
Tuesday, April 6, 2010 by Lindsey
When Nathan and I first decided that we were headed towards marriage, I immediately began to get images of rings, music, and wedding dresses in my head. I knew from the beginning that I was going to be what is (affecionately?) called the "budget bride." I would not enjoy my wedding day if I knew that money was frivolously spent, and ultimately, it is one day. Granted, it is a very special and meaningful day, but it will be special regardless of how much money we do or do not spend. Also, after about a 2-minute conversation, Nathan and I were on the same page and knew we did not want a traditional wedding. It wouldn't be us.
Yes, at times, I have gotten starry-eyed at the luster of "magazine weddings" and watched WeTV as brides preceding me down the aisle picked the "perfect" venue, dress, flowers, etc. It didn't take me long to realize that wasn't what we wanted, and as the planning process has gone along things that I initially thought were very important have (partially thanks to my Mother) become less of a priority.
So, at this point, what are our priorities?
- A special, drama-free, stress-free celebration of our lifelong commitment with our closest friends and family. I refuse to be bridezilla.
- A short, intimate, meaningful, and spiritual ceremony.
- Writing our own vows.
- Sticking to a budget of under $3000 (At this point, it's looking more like it will be $2000.)
- Having our wedding be a reflection of our relationship, faith, and unique personalities.
- Music. Music must be incorporated.
With our priorities set, we've been able to take those points and really create them into something that will be a memorable experience for ourselves and our guests. I'm very excited to share all of the plans in the months to come. I like the format I've seen from other blogs where each "area" of the wedding is given a blog post (or two) so I'll probably stick to a system like that, and post a little something about each area of our wedding planning. (The Venue, The Dress Hunt, The Vow Writing, etc.)
They'll be scattered in with other home/marriage posts, as well as my everyday life ramblings, so I'm going to try to remember to categorize them as "Wedding Planning" so that they're easier to find.
Before I wrap up this post, I thought I'd give a little preview of things to come with my inspiration board, and five words to describe our wedding: simple, vintage, handmade, bohemian, artistic.
Some great resources I've found so far are:
http://www.etsy.com (SO MUCH of our wedding is being custom-made through Etsy sellers.)
I read this earlier and it totally made my day: Your Wedding is a Launch Pad For Your Life.
The best is yet to come...
-Lindsey
Household Management Pt. 1 (a.k.a. What I learned from my Mother.)
Monday, April 5, 2010 by Lindsey
Have I mentioned recently that I love lists? Well...I do. To say that they make my life easier would be an understatement. My view on the matter is: God created lists so that that he could replace my sanity with an extra helping of creativity.
As passionate as I am about my artwork, and as much as I love my photography job, I am thrilled that I will soon be fulfilling the role of "wife" (and eventually, "mother") as my top priority. While I plan on continuing to work from home and pursue my artwork avidly, I find myself frequently daydreaming of weekends spent grocery shopping with my future husband. Yes, I'm easily pleased, but oddly enough...grocery shopping is something we enjoy doing together.
Managing a household effectively is something my Mother has devised many tools to do, and fortunately has passed along to me. It makes sense: she has six kids, works full time, and homeschools. She is the epitome of a triple threat, and while some of her tools are obviously not what Nathan and I will need right away, I am so grateful to have her wisdom as a launching point.
I have begun to develop a sort of "household list" of reminders for myself, so that we can be the best stewards possible of our home and resources. Otherwise, it would be mid-august and I would suddenly glance out the smudged window and see our 3 foot tall grass and think "oh yeah, I guess I should start spring cleaning and yardwork."
Household Maintenance List
It's not the day-to-day tidiness that really gets me as much as those occasional things that aren't incorporated into the weekly schedule. Washing the outside of the house and windows, having pest control spray for ants or check for termites, waxing the vehicle, central heat/air maintenance. I started my "household list" about six months ago, and have been taking notes from friends and family as situations arise that they have to attend to. Because the cold hard truth is: appliances break, and things need upkeep. There's nothing we can really do about this inevitable inconvenience except to keep things maintained and make sure we have an emergency fund.
My other household management project at the moment is a menu/grocery list system. I have seen how invaluable this can be for budgeting, as well as day-to-day sanity. It can provide structure without having to be rigid about it, and always allows for an answer to the question that invariably crops up once a day: "What's for dinner?"
Grocery List Spreadsheet
Nathan and I plan to really make it a priority to live a healthy lifestyle, we want that to be a core value in our family and to be the norm for our kids --- so, he's teaching me how to ride a bike, and play raquetball, and I'm pulling him into the world of delicious whole grains, no-sugar banana cookies, spinach quiches, and moroccan chicken dishes.
My plan is to follow my Mother's example and use Friday/Saturday for menu creation, and then do our grocery shopping on Sunday afternoons. I originally had pictured doing the grocery shopping by myself during the week while Nathan was at work...but to my surprise, he requested that we do it together! (And...may I add... I found it to be quite romantic. I'm easily pleased.)
2-week menu spreadsheet
I know myself well enough, however, to know that there will be weeks that I have crazy schemes, or get started on art projects, or swamped with photoshoots, and I just won't make a menu. Because despite my best intentions of doing things like that, sometimes I just don't. So, in addition to working on that particular character flaw, I've decided to also give future wife-Lindsey a gift: a database of Menus with corresponding grocery lists. I'm slowly but surely creating two-week menus full of delicious, well-balanced, simple recipes, and grocery lists. So that on those weeks that I'm busy, or just don't want to create a fresh menu, I have some to fall back on. That way, all I have to do is print out the grocery list, black out what we already have in the cupboards, and hit the grocery store.
Probably a way more elaborate system than is even necessary...I have a feeling that it will be quite a shock for me to be cooking for two people. TWO. But I feel like working on these projects now while I'm here in VA, and he's there in CA, means there is less for me to concentrate on when we are finally together. Plus, it's a nice distraction, regardless of the future implementation.
I'm sure that as life goes on, I will find other ways to optimize and manage our household tasks. I'm also certain that over the next 10 months leading up to our wedding, I will come up with more home-related projects that I'll be eager to share, which is why this is just Part 1.
Now, I really am going to go work on some photoediting before the day disappears and I wonder where all of my productive energy went. Lots of exciting things this week: I am I'm adventuring to try on wedding dresses with my friend tomorrow, hopefully finally getting my driver's license tomorrow or Thursday, and spending a "sister day" of dress-up, finger paints, and Pixar movies with the coolest 2-year-old on the planet.
Have I mentioned I'm widly, incredibly joyful, blessed, and crazy about the love of my life? I am.
-Lindsey
Budgets, spreadsheets, and lists, oh my!
Sunday, April 4, 2010 by Lindsey
I have had the unique opportunity to begin working on wedding plans and ideas far in advance. (In anticipation of our engagement.) We've had to do everything non-traditionally throughout this relationship, partially because we're crazy, and partially because we're long-distance. Knowing that Nathan was waiting to officially ask my parents permission, requiring him to be in the same zip code, we went ahead and discussed our plans with our parents.
We were quite surprised when our parents and immediate family members had the "Well, duh. Of course you're going to get married." reaction upon hearing our happy news. Haha.
The extra time was a huge advantage in helping to set expectations, and then re-evaluate those expectations, and finally come to a realistic view of our true priorities for our special day. With that all done, I'm now working on the most important parts: planning for our life after the wedding.
My plan is to document all of the little pieces over the next 11 months until the wedding, and into our newlywed life beyond, with the hope that if nothing else, others might benefit from some funny "what not to do" anecdotes!
In keeping with that theme, today I've decided to share my favorite organizational tool in all of marriage and wedding planning: the spreadsheet.
Yes, from budgets, to guest lists, to menu planning...the spreadsheet is my invaluable trusted friend. Today's Lesson: Never underestimate the power of color coating.
We were quite surprised when our parents and immediate family members had the "Well, duh. Of course you're going to get married." reaction upon hearing our happy news. Haha.
The extra time was a huge advantage in helping to set expectations, and then re-evaluate those expectations, and finally come to a realistic view of our true priorities for our special day. With that all done, I'm now working on the most important parts: planning for our life after the wedding.
My plan is to document all of the little pieces over the next 11 months until the wedding, and into our newlywed life beyond, with the hope that if nothing else, others might benefit from some funny "what not to do" anecdotes!
In keeping with that theme, today I've decided to share my favorite organizational tool in all of marriage and wedding planning: the spreadsheet.
Yes, from budgets, to guest lists, to menu planning...the spreadsheet is my invaluable trusted friend. Today's Lesson: Never underestimate the power of color coating.
+1
Thursday, April 1, 2010 by Lindsey
Just wanted to write a quick post to welcome my wonderful fiancé, Nathan, to what is now our blog!
He's a busy guy, so I can't imagine he'll be posting much until after his graduation this December, but I hope to get his input every now and then, especially as we progress in planning our wedding and marriage!
-Lindsey
He's a busy guy, so I can't imagine he'll be posting much until after his graduation this December, but I hope to get his input every now and then, especially as we progress in planning our wedding and marriage!
-Lindsey
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