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

To Do: Fabric Flowers

Our next wedding project is making some simple fabric flowers to create an arch for the ceremony. I purchased some solid fabrics a few months ago, and a new pair of scissors (half off! thanks to the lovely, Andrea!) We have finished the tissue paper pomanders, so now we can move onto this step.



Heck, I even washed the fabrics when I purchased them, so they would be ready to iron and sew up when I got around to it. I'm thinking of improvising on Martha Stewart's fabric flower tutorials.



There are some cute ideas, especially the May Day type wands for the flower girls. Mine are adorable, and little spitfires (in a good way). I'm worried that they may whack some guests, or their siblings if i created this though....



Our colors are slowly turning into yellows and oranges. I may dye some muslin with some bright pinks, to bring that out. I just didn't see anything at the fabric store in the warm colors I wanted. I have a feeling that I'll be making enough fabric flowers in the next two weeks to last a lifetime. Good thing I have two thimbles! Perhaps Mike will be watching golf or hockey instead of March Madness for this craft.



Other than that, we just have to finalize some details for the actual ceremony, and take care of a few things here and there, like making namecards. A great friend of mine is an officiant, and we're so lucky to have her marrying us! She's also a poet, and I just know it will be so special.

Hope you're all having a lovely day!

There's a Time & Place for DIY

As an avid crafter and Jack of All Trades type of girl, I'm usually the type to do it myself. However as most of my fellow crafters know, sometimes doing it yourself is more expensive and not worth the hassle and time. With a lot of preparation, planning and help, I fully believe that nearly anything is possible. But sometimes you just have to look DIY projects in the face and say, "Hells to the Nah" and let it go.

That was the route with our invitations. I fully intended to do it. I wanted to do it. We had ideas and sketched them out. But the more we thought about it, running into limited time with busy schedules, our hearts weren't into it. Also, I had an inkling that my vision and knowledge for what I wanted to do would not match up in this case.

I'm so glad we goccoed our Save the Dates, but I'm a busy lady, and found it was more affordable to order so we could focus on other avenues. What a relief case to find a great deal, agree on a design, and press a button to pay. As my pal Andrea sagely advised, I should not feel guilty, and perhaps can print thank you cards instead.

So, onto the DIY projects that we are going to take on. Decorations for the ceremony, the reception, and a few fun things here and there. We're not going crazy, and have a plan of attack. One thing I've learned over the years is how to be realistic. (Give or take a bit).

It always helps to get the ideas out of my head and onto paper. Brainstorming with pen and ink, and of course some fun color.



We're doing three main projects. The first is tissue paper pomanders (made with recycled paper so I don't feel too bad) in shades of creamsicle, marigold and vanilla. Mike and I make a great factory, and my cousin Cara visited this past weekend and helped out. We'll use these for putting on chairs down the aisle.



The second project will be making a simple structure for us to stand underneath. Like a chuppuh, but without a top and only 2-3 posts. I do want to keep it simple and create easy fabric flowers to hang. That way we can do it ahead of time, and not have to worry about fresh flowers or anything. Affordable, and we can keep the flower garlands afterwards! We'll make it so we can bring it outside or inside, depending on the weather in Florida.



We'll make some fan programs most likely. Perhaps some little banners and pennants for the entree table. Decisions, decisions!



Our goal is to keep things simple, have fun, and allow our personalities to come through. Our colors are slowly migrating from pinky-orange to orangy-yellow with accents of pink. We'll make it work though, you know I hate matchy matchy! As long as we get hitched, dance with loved ones and have fun, that's all that matters.

P.S. My heart nearly burst between laughing while watching Mike diligently creating tissue flowers while watching March Madness baseketball games.

Drawing Maps and Gettin' Hitched

Mike and I broke out the Gocco before the holidays, to work on Save the Date cards for our wedding guests. Since many people will be traveling, we wanted to get the word out as soon as possible. Making that list was damn hard. Especially when you have 70 people who count as family members...on the bride's side!



We're getting married this July, in Ft. Lauderdale. I know. Holy Rusty Hotness, Batman. But there are good reasons. Mike doesn't teach in the summer, we want to have it in my hometown, and many of our friends and family are in school or also teach. Air conditioning is aplenty, so nobody will melt.

We both love maps, and had been tinkering with the idea of making a map for our cards. Many of our friends will be flying or driving down, from as far as the Philippines, Sweden, France, New Jersey and Indiana! We're feeling very lucky.

The cards were a total collaboration and we had a good time doing this. He drew the front, I did the banner, the details, and an illustration in the back. Bickering was minor, but unavoidable.

I am mighty proud of that banner, people. Having us walk off a plank was vetoed though.



I love that everything does not line up exactly. Obviously, some were better than others, but I enjoy seeing that overlap. And here is my cute little anchor below.



The best part was that I was able to use all of my existing gocco and paper supplies for this project! I knew I'd been hoarding them for a reason. Mike learned to gocco, and we did not throw anything at each other.



It was a labor of love, but it's worth it, just to see that pile of cards stamped and addressed, ready to travel all over the world.



P.S. Please tell me I'm not the only person who gets immense satisfaction from a stack of letters ready for post? And did you like buying school supplies as a kid too?

P.P.S. We're having fun planning, but are definitely not going overboard. Ha ha ha! Pun totally intended!