Bits of Yellow on a Gray Day

This is one of my favorite color studies that I did. It was a gloomy and gray day last May, and it felt like it would never warm up again. I found myself riding my bike home slightly miserably, but then I started noticing electric jolts of yellow, amarillo, chartreuse, mustard, citron, and any other name for the color of lemons you can think of.

It cheered me up a bit. It reminded me that life is never just about the good things and beauty. As every good story and tale over time shows us, there is always light with dark.

Life tends to kick you in the ass at times, but we keep on going. If we're lucky, we have many loved ones that can lend support or rally us in bad times, and will celebrate with us in better times. If we're luckier, they'll let us be there for them as well.

One thing that I really learned from my trips to the Philippines, is that nothing is more important than family. It doesn't matter if it's the family you're born with, or the family you make in my family's opinion. It's all the same. Even the family that I may not see more than once in a very long while, when I do see them, the love and shared connection is strong. We laugh and we cry, and sometimes at the same time.

This past week has been a hard one for my family. My dear cousin's newborn baby passed away due to complications, and it was the anniversary of my brother, Tito (uncle) and Lolo's (grandfather) death. We are a strong bunch, but it can be a bit melancholy over the holidays. This Christmas season, I'm grateful for all the love and support my family gives each other, and I wish for peace and love for all. I'm looking forward to spending time with my Indiana family, but will be really missing my Mom and Dad too.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas if you celebrate, and are also surrounded by people you love!

Fall to Winter+ a Little Baking

With the frigid temperatures this week, the golden fall leaves from last week seem far away.

I celebrated my 32nd birthday on November 19th! I threw myself a lovely party and invited a medley of friends from different parts of my life. I left it to them to get along, which they did! I baked apple and pear crisp, cupcakes, the sugared cranberries (which have become tradition), Layla's amazingly easy and addictive artichoke spinach dip, and a cake.

Having learned from last years unintentional $76 champagne punch, I tried to tone it down a bit this year (so that I could spend all of my money on baked goods). Tip: try not to pick drinks that require multiple fancy bottles of liquor by accident, though it is a fun way to stock up your bar! I went with a citrus infused champagne punch via Epicurious. I like champagne punches because they're festive and bubbly, and don't seem to leave my friends with a hangover.

It was beautiful with all the oranges, limes and lemons cut up in circles. And there were barely any leftovers (beverage wise). I had to send the troops home with cupcakes and pumpkin bread.

The following week we stayed in the area for Thanksgiving this year. It was a nice change to not travel to Indiana, though we missed seeing family and friends. We headed down to Atlantic City area to spend Thanksgiving with my Uncle, Aunt and cousins. I brought Mike's mom's Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan topping (so good, I can be encouraged to post recipe if anyone is interested), more sugared cranberries, and a blue ribbon dutch apple pie

Other than that, we made our first Black Friday purchase ever, a new MacBook Pro laptop! What a glorious little machine that probably deserves a nickname. I bummed around and spent way too much time watching Arrested Development (yes, I'm a latecomer!) on Netflix on the new laptop and cackling merrily and loudly at their shenanigans.

I may or may not have re-read the last Harry Potter book snuggled up on my couch and watched a couple of the movies.

Until next time,

M

Chop Chop and a Falcon

October was eaten up by two trips to Indiana on consecutive weekends for yours truly. Mike stayed for the week, so I did a round trip road trip, with a round trip flight from Indy to Philly sandwiched in between. It was wonderful because I also got to spend time with one of my best friends Tracy, and have brunch with some very special people.

We had two weddings to attend, our niece's and Mike's best friend's wedding.

Right before the trips, I made a spontaneous decision to chop off 10 inches of my hair. It was only going to be a few inches, but I figured, who knows when it will be this long again, and wanted to donate it. Not completely selfishly, mind you. I did want to donate, but I also wanted to have an excuse for myself when I missed my long hair that said, "Get over yourself, Merce, you gave your hair to some kid in need. Quit whining!"

So yeah. I'm happy, and actually, it gave me some much needed polish for work. I was feeling blah hair wise. Oddly, my short hair is harder to care for, since it sticks up in the morning. Ha.

As I said, Mike's BFF had a wedding in Indiana. Well, it was Halloween themed! And it had a taco bar! And tombstone shaped cakes that Mike helped make! We dressed up nice and wedding-like beforehand, especially since Mike was in Sheila's wedding party. Aw, how cute.

Then, yours truly ended up in a parking lot with Mike's entire family (Mike was diligently taking wedding photos) where we all changed discreetly by the cars and put on makeup (hawk-like eyeliner for me, more vampire powder for others). No seriously, check out that eyeshadow!

I jumped at the chance to be part of a Royal Tenenbaum themed couples costume, as the third wheel to Richie and Margot Tenenbaum. I could have easily found a curly black wig and red tracksuit, but that would be no fun. Not when I had the best idea ever for a Mordecai Tenenbaum costume. (This is the pet falcon that belongs to Richie Tenenbaum).

How amazing do we look?! Susan (one of my amazing sisters-in-law) even made the wooden finger that Margot has. It was the most fun...

Then we have one of Mordecai and Mike. I can't tell you how much fun I had with these wings. And it was the easiest costume to make. Hot glue gun, feathers, scraps of fabric and a little glitter.

Mike and I couldn't do the couple's costume because I did not feel like being the mate to a pink gorilla. Though I have been called a crazy banana before...

There's always next year!

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

Color Studies Quatro, Cinco y Seis

Life's been hectic the past few weeks. Changes at the job, but I'm looking forward to new opportunities within my workplace. Fingers crossed!

Short trip to New York City to spend time with my cousins.

Indiana to pay my respects to a wonderful women who will be missed dearly.

Florida for my bridal shower with family friends. My mom bought me a silly crown to wear which made me extra happy, since I love hats. My best friend truly went above and beyond!

Sandcastles and an open air Jeep ride with my favorite two year old little boy and best friend. Practiced my Spanish, which is vastly improving with the help of said two year old!

Lots of time with my adorable Mom and Dad.

Happy hour in their neighbors garage. He rolls up his garage door on Friday and Monday afternoons, for "Bumper's Happy Hour". How cool is that? I got to drink out of the Holy Grail cup, and wear an iron key around my neck to be officially sworn in. I love my parents' block.

Met my amazing photographer for our upcoming wedding! We just click (no pun intended).

Flew into Ft. Lauderdale at 5AM, and got a wedding cake and some inexpensive flowers by 1PM!



Baby shower and Derby Party yesterday in Philly.

Today: blissfully lazing about the house writing thank you notes!

I think I'm back on the grid now...

P.S. I put some color studies in here since I was camera-less.

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.

The Universe Doesn't Want Me to Drown

I grew up in the water. Being from Florida, it's important to learn to swim early, since there are so many canals and pools that kids can fall into. My godmother taught me when I was a toddler, even though I fought her every bit of the way at first. Once I learned, I felt at home in the water. After all, Marissa does mean "of the sea".



In third grade, I joined the diving team, and was a competitive springboard and platform diver for the following ten years. However, in ninth grade, I fell in love with water polo, and especially the group of friends I made playing. I was a goalie all through highschool, and a year in college at Indiana University. After I stopped, I figured it was a part of my life that was over.

Recently, some of my friends started playing in California and Florida. MB mentioned playing volleyball again, and ended up sending me a link for a water polo league in the area. Two days later, I was at my first practice in eleven years.



I switched back and forth from feeling completely excited, to so nervous I thought I'd retch. I've found that most times you put yourself into situations that scare the bejesus out of you, things turn out okay. And if they don't, you can always just move on, learn from it and try something else.

Of course, the people were incredibly welcoming and nice, and though I feel like I got hit by a mack truck, I'm looking forward to going back. I'll be easing into this, after all, it has been eleven years, people! Plus, my gym membership is up, and the treadmill was getting really boring.

There was one part of the practice when I felt so out of an element that used to be second nature, and simply exhausted. I switched out with the other goalie.

He asked, "What's your name, anyway?"

"Marissa."

Kiddlingly he replied, "Ugh, like I need another Marissa in my life! That's my sister's name."

Guess what his name is? Andrew. Just like my guardian angel out in the universe who used to be a goalie himself, for ice hockey. So if that's not a sign that things will be okay, I don't know what is. And even though it may be kind of silly, it's more fun to believe that it's a special wink from someone out there saying, "Suck it up, Oldilocks!"



Ah, and while we're on the topic of floating and not drowing, I want to show you my newest addition to our art collection. Isn't this a beautiful print, from Lisa Golightly? She runs a shop called Kiki and Polly, where she sells her original pieces and affordable prints. I loved it immediately, but it makes complete sense just why I like it now that I'm writing all this to you lovely friends.

My mom did ask that I call her after the practice so that she'd know I did not drown. She laughed when I told her how beat up I felt. But she laughed even harder when she heard about the teenagers in the truck next to me driving home who invited me to a party! After feeling so old and out of shape, that was just what I needed to boost my poor ego!

Thank you, Universe. You sure know how to crack me up.

Christmas Break Roundup

I baked 2 loaves of Cuban Bread before I left Philly for South Florida to see my family. It was delicioso, and quite easy.



We finished ornaments for ourselves. I decided to make a special set for my Aunt Sissy and Uncle Steve. She and I have a Snuggie joke, and she was smack talking my pink one since she has a leopard print one. They recently took up fly fishing as a joint hobby, and really enjoy it. Thus, the personalized ornaments as a little Christmas present. Cute, no?



I enjoyed the snowstorm in the Northeast before I left. I enjoyed bringing Creme Brulee French Toast to Robin's house for brunch. It was a peaceful and uplifting walk in the snow! I'll post the recipe soon, it's fantastic. You guys will love it.

Mike and I fulfilled my wish of making my second ever snowman...on the roof of our next door apartment. We made snow angels, and heckled my friends below. Good times!



I spent most of my time with my parents, best friend and godson, and my aunt and cousins. It was a nice change to spend quality time with people I love over the holidays, rather than rushing around trying to fit everyone in. Sometimes, you just can't do everything you want to!

We went to the Miami Metro Zoo, on the last warmish day of the year. Usually, South Florida is warm in winter, but they have a cold spell right now. Seriously, I saw on the news that the Orangutans are using burlap sacks for warmth and drinking hot chocolate! Who knew?



We saw a giraffe family, elephants, gorillas, flamingos, alligators...you name it, we saw it. It's a big zoo, and we spent about 6 hours there! How cute is the baby giraffe? It was kind of sad to see some of the animals in the zoo, but there were many that are endangered and their young are living in the wild now. I guess it can be a good thing. Also, the Miami Metro Zoo is open air, so at least they're not caged up too badly, though it's still sad.



We stopped by the Humane Society in Ft. Lauderdale to visit the dogs, since my godson loves them! It was so heartbreakingly cute to watch him squeal,"Doggies!" and kiss them through the fence. I don't think I could love a kid anymore than I love this one!



There was a New Years Eve party. I enjoyed chilling with the folks this year. One of the highlights was playing pool with my dad, and including a sweet four year old in our game. She has a new baby brother, so could definitely use the extra attention! After the first party, it was off to our next door neighbors, for their annual midnight handmade chocolate buffet and practically illegal quantities of fireworks!



There was a short trip for Mom and me to Jacksonville and Melbourne beach, where I got to hang out with our Northern Florida faux-family members and the eight grandchildren whom I adore. I was able to be a star in a fashion show, a "recital", the finale of my "recital" (under orders from an adorably bossy future flower girl), and sign my name on the wall of a secret Girls Club underneath the stairwell of their house!



I mean, how amazing is this little room? Their mom is the coolest, which is why she was my favorite babysitter of all time! Just don't tell the other sisters!

Alright, looking forward - lets enjoy this year!

Do Gigantic Alligators and Toddlers Mix?

Something about being Aunt Merce to the cutest two year old boy in existence just makes me want to give him outlandish things to play with. Toys like the giant fabric snake my Grandma Craine got me when I was 11. Impractical, but awesome and completely memorable.

Enter a huge scrap of bright green soft corduroy that was not used for Axl Rose stenciled tote bags for two friends. What can one do with 35 square feet of green fabric?

Originally, I thought that a giant stuffed alligator (with a non-scary grill of course) would be a wonderful present. But that would be extremely cumbersome and could possibly frighten the cutest boy in the world. Perhaps giant toys will wait until he's four.

After all, I don't want to be the well meaning lady who gives her granddaughter a clown shaped hamper with pointy diamond eyes which needed to be stuffed in the closet each night before said granddaughter could go to sleep. And lets face it...I still knew that clown was in there, plotting to kill me if any of the barriers of pillows fell off the bed!

I loved that my Grandma Huber bought it for me though. She was pretty amazing.

So, the 35 square feet of green fabric will turn into a Christmas tree skirt. Mike is using his crazy math skills that relate to art to create a perfect circle. Thank goodness that man is creative and handy and can destash some fabric for me!

I think we can settle on an eighteen inch tiny and happy baby gator instead.

P.S. When I say 18 inches, I do not mean 18 feet, which would be the exact opposite of the miniature Stonehenge in one of my favorite movies, Spinal Tap.

P.P.S. Merce is my nickname with high school friends. It's the way my name sounds when said lazily by a good friend with a thick Puerto Rican accent. It's my favorite nickname.