my flowers! my flowers! my flowers!

They are in! Here are sneak peak shots...




A special bonus gift...



Corsages!


Boutonnieres! (Everytime I try to type that word, spell check comes up.)


...But to see the big guns photos, you'll just have to see them at the wedding!
(Unless you're a creepy stalker reading my blog. And in that case, please don't show up.)

pretty flower creation!

This whole wedding planning hubbub has lit a fire inside of me.

Little tdk, who always declared I was not artistic and could only work with combining "straight lines" (thus the name of my blog), has started making pretty things on a DAILY basis. Yesterday I took a sick day (read: "mental health day," which is highly encouraged here in our social work-y environment) to relax and also to get through some tedious wedding BS that needed to be done... and I somewhat accidentally made one of my prettiest creations yet. I plan to replicate this and think it could make a great pin, hairpiece, or even bouquet.

I brought it to work today to provide me encouragement and inspiration throughout the work day... so of course I have to post a few pics...!

parties!!!

we had a weekend of wedding-related parties this past weekend. an engagement party on saturday night, complete with a mexican theme (VERY FITTING for both of us), including a pinata with our faces on it.


don't worry -- no one hit the pinata. it is now at our house, sitting on a couch in the reading room, trying to find a place for itself to fit. maybe we should bring it to the rehearsal dinner?

on sunday, mom's friend pam hosted a bridal shower for me. it was so nice, in both a humbling way, and also in a "it's my party" kind of way.

overall: i feel really, truly humbled by the amount of support austin and i have. so many people drove in from out of town for this weekend, and one friend even flew down in an airplane.

in other news: the wedding flowers are IN THE MAIL! i'm so freaking excited to see them.

alternative Guestbook ideas

On to the next decision: Whatever to do about the "guest book?" Both Austin and I don't know how we would use a book full of people's signatures, so we are talking about doing something different instead of a plain old book with blank pages and ivory satin cover.

Surprised?
(Everything else about our wedding is slightly off-traditional, so why wouldn't this be also!?)

Here are some ideas that I found through a few Google searches:

What about a poster?


Or a nice customized book?


Or how about notes put into a cool jar, that we figure out what to do with later?


Or my current favorite...a fingerprint tree!!

new ring idea

I've decided to take a different direction for Austin's wedding ring........

wedding rings = drama

Buying our wedding rings is the bane of my wedding planning existence! I recently wrote about the drama with my ring, and that is a whole other issue. I have to send it back on Monday (after our "engagement party") so Tacori can re-make my wedding band correctly.

I finally found a GREAT deal on Austin's wedding band yesterday and was so excited that I ordered it, and then afterwards I found a 10% off coupon online. So I e-mailed the company and asked if they could please change my order to include the 10% off amount. They cancelled my order and suggested I re-order (which I was happy to do) EXCEPT when I went to do that this morning, the price had DOUBLED. What is this kind of business? I have an e-mail in asking for them to please honor the original price, but we will see what happens. There are negative reviews of this company online. Ugh. Drama.

(Hopefully this means all of the wedding-day-something-must-go-wrong stuff will happen beforehand?)

mild celebrity sightings... TWICE in one weekend!!!

On Saturday morning, we went to Millie's for brunch with Dad. My father is ALL ABOUT diners and especially diners that are like dives, so of course we had to take him to Millie's. We figured the wait would be better on a Saturday, but when we arrived, we found a camera crew filming an episode of The Balancing Act, which is a show about women and living a healthy life...I think. So instead of the typical hour-long wait with my mimosa, I stood on a booth bench with my mimosa and watched the same "Wow, these potatoes are amazing! And now we're heading off to the Picasso exhibit" scene being taped repeatedly.
It was funny to watch these folks who were clearly from another part of the country try to "fit in" at this diner that is a self-described "snob's nightmare."

And one more side note: you could tell that Beth, "the talent," was wearing a full body Spanx.


At the tail end of my run with Laura on Sunday (5 miles!!!), we passed a couple on Floyd Ave with a stroller walking past us down the street. Laura kept saying "No way... no way... NO WAY!" Can you guess who it was?
The couple from Young House Love. Just last week we were talking about how it's cool that they live in Richmond also, and wondered if we would ever run into them, after realizing we had gone to Hobby Lobby around the same day they blogged about a trip to the same store. Turns out... we saw them a week later instead! Didn't say hi of course, and therefore, there is no photo evidence, but it was still cool.