Yeah yeah yeah...I know....

The longer I waited to write, the lazier I got. So I took some time off and just enjoyed my summer...and then some more summer, and a bit of fall (wink).

I've missed you all! Without further ado, some excuses and photos in a semi-coherent package:

Lots of rollercoasters at Hershey Park with my best friend, godson (cutest boy alive), Mike and about 20 of their closest relatives.

An end in sight to hundreds of fabric flowers. I have this down to a 2o step art that takes 1.5 minute per flower. Ghetto of course, but they'll hold up and have their volume.

Enjoying the oil paints that I received for my super sweet Bridal Shower from one of my best friends, Heather. She was certainly listening when I said I wanted to start oil painting. It is so much fun!

Starting small, with color studies. But more to come!

A bit of tie-dying and fabric dying to create some more fabric for those billions of fabric flowers I made. I don't regret it actually, and I saved them all to make some big fabric filled pillows when my callouses heal. Just kidding.

Packed and partied and packed and planned and packed and left town for our wedding in July! Road trip from Philly to Ft. Lauderdale to get hitched in my hometown.

I decided to just keep going with the fabric flowers. It was 20 hour drive, so why not finish up the stash of fabric I had? As you may guess, these flowers will be a recurring theme in this post...

Shoeboxes and my organizational and resourceful nerd skills came in handy. It reminded me of roadtrips with my family when Andrew and I would create our own little spaces for all of our belongings, lest we get bored! And if we crossed that invisible line, madness and hitting would ensue.

I made a ringbearer pillow from scratch from Philly to Baltimore. I was quite impressed with myself. It even had a little fabric handle on the back side.

We arrived in Florida, and had a few days to enjoy with family and friends in town to finish up some last minute stuff. Excluding the fabric flowers, we really didn't go crazy with the DIY stuff. We only made the chuppah (Mike built it, and I'm not sure what the term for it is if you're not Jewish, but that's what I've been calling it since I'm a South Floridian), fabric flowers for the chuppah and the faux-to booth backdrop, programs, some paper goods, etc...

We had a wonderful day, and we didn't expect or want everything to be perfect. I slid down a floating ramp while taking photos (before the ceremony, so that we could have more time to party), skinned my elbow and nearly fell into the intercoastal. And you know what?! It was hil-arious (mostly since nobody got hurt). Thankfully, I stuck in that position from the boning in the dress and lack of abdominal muscles from laughing so hard, so I had time to yell out, "Take a picture!!!!"

I cried and laughed repeatedly at the same time for two days straight. I'm such a girl....

My dad and I danced to "Rainbow Connection" by Kermit the Frog. And I cried some more. Then him and my BFF Brooke both made speeches that had more than just me crying.

How cute are my mom and dad below?! I had them both walk me down the aisle, since they're both equally important to me. Plus, my dad wouldn't have had it any other way!

I threw my bouquet at the girls, it hit the ceiling and with my water polo goalie reflexes, I caught it myself.

Yes, I caught my own bouquet. I backhanded it a second time, because I am not doing this again!

All of the colors worked out beautifully, and our wedding party looked gorgeous. We had told them to just buy any dress that fit into a palette of poppy reds to oranges and yellows. They enjoyed having the choice, and it was better than if we had even tried to plan it.

You can see a short blog post of our photos from our brilliant photographers, Ashley and Philip Colhouer here. I can't say enough great things about them. If I move back to Florida ever, we are so hanging out! You'll also see my crazy self and friends making insane faces for the faux-to booth, including a couple who ended up knocking the thing over, cracking up and kissing. I love my family and extended fake family.

We had people from Sweden, France, Indiana, Florida, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Philippines, Canada, Missouri, DC, California, etc. We were overwhelmed with love.

I talked to everyone that I could, tried to stay in the present and focus on all of our loved ones, and just enjoy the ride.

We watched a storm roll in off the ocean, and swam with friends. Found out about new babies and engagements! Went on a short cruise in the Carribean since a road trip with the whole set of Fiesta Ware that my mom scored for $30 at a yard sale (!!!) and other super-generous gifts and my 100K mile car just didn't seem feasible at the time.

It was perfect, and we had time to get back to Philly in time to hang out with my mom and her twin that was visiting from the Philippines for our big day. So I ditched the new hubbie after a few days and took a road trip to NYC with the twins. We had a blast and saw Mamma Mia and ate lobster for lunch at Bergdorf Goodman, and tons of Filipino food. Mmmm!

We wrote millions of thank you cards and didn't mind it one bit. We were so grateful for all the love and generosity.

We've been cooking and baking A LOT. Having knives that aren't broken off at the tip make such a difference. Bliss....

A glimpse of the Fiesta Ware. My mom is the best. That and an Audobon bird clock are just about our favorite gifts.

Bread has been baked.

Dutch babies and muffins have been baked.

Farmer markets have been visited. Books have been read from the library. And someone you know has gotten hooked to True Blood and Arrested Development (on Netflix).

Oh, and an iPod cake was made for one of my favorite Apple obsessed uncles!

Thanks for visiting me again! I'm glad to be back.

Love,

Marissa