Wedding Wednesday - Centerpieces

Style Me Pretty

100 Layer Cake

Lovely Little Details

Style Me Pretty

Pinterest

I'm a bit overwhelmed with tablescape ideas. I wanted to focus on my dress first, because that determines a significant amount of the wedding's feel. As I mentioned on Monday, I'm feeling much better about dress options so I'm allowing myself to start gathering ideas for center pieces. 

I really want to incorporate the vintage feel of blue mason jars and the western feel of succulents but I also don't want it to come off as a 'how many wedding trends can we fit into one reception?' sort of look. I really like the above pictures and am thinking of mixing the blue jars with some galvanized steel containers. I think that mixed with the burlap table runners I'm going to make, it could be a good balance of rustic yet elegant. 

Weekend Revelries

Treasures from the antique mall

First apple cider of the season

Checking out the capital building 

Cute apple display at the farmer's market

Sneaking a picture at the symphony

Normally my weekends are pretty low key and used to recoup from the week or spend some time relaxing, but I had a particularly successful and great weekend the past few days. Friday night after work my roommate and I headed to Waukesha to hit up their giant antique stores and to attend one of the last Friday Night Live events of the season. Every Friday in summer the downtown streets shut down, stores stay open late, and musicians set up on every corner to play free mini concerts. It's a blast and I like to pretend I'm in Gilmore Girls because it definitely has that feel to it! However, the highlight of the night was hitting the jackpot when it came to finding vintage blue mason jars for cheaper than I've been able to find them anywhere else! I also picked up a complete set of Sherlock Holmes stories and Leanne came away with a fantastic pink depression glass tray for only $9 which was actually worth about $45. Total score there!

Saturday we drove out to Madison to visit the giant farmers market that surrounds the entire capital building and to go wedding dress shopping. We picked up all sorts of yummy fruits and veggies from the market and I had a lot of success with dresses! I really want to share pictures, but I can't in case a certain Mr. sees them. I had been starting to panic because I'm past the 9 month mark for the wedding and the only dress that was remotely what I wanted was way out of my price range. So I'm very happy to have some great options now! 

After the farmers market we headed back home, but my night wasn't over since Kacey surprised me with tickets to the symphony! Neither of us had ever been to a symphony before and we weren't sure what to expect or how bored we would be, but it ended up being really fun. They preformed Beethoven's Fifth symphony so it helped that we were familiar with the music. We got all dressed up and looked pretty snazzy, so of course I forgot to take a picture of it. 

Sunday wasn't quite as exciting and involved mostly cleaning and organizing around the apartment but had a great end with wine and a super cheesy movie. Because sometimes you just need wine to get through bad movies. A lot of wine. 

Fabulous Friday

A few things that have made me happy this week:

My future hubby sending surprise flowers to my work as a congratulations present for my promotion!

They opened a Topshop in Chicago! I have been waiting 4 years to shop there again!

My new blazer. I call it my Dr. Who jacket. All I need now is a bow tie.

I just love how this duvet turned out. Looking at it makes me happy and proud of myself

Wedding Wednesday - Rustic Tea Party

 Photos from Celebrations at Home

Sunday Suppers

Vintage Rose Garden

Martha Stewart

I'm going to switch gears for a minute and talk about bridal shower inspiration. My cousin is getting married this November and my mom and aunts are hosting a tea themed shower for her. Normally when I think 'tea' I immediately start thinking Alice in Wonderland! Marie Antoinette! Girly ruffly glittery extravaganza! Which is great, except that my cousin is totally an outdoors, camping, rock climbing, vacation in India, hike a mountain, fiddle playing type of person and I think she might recoil in horror if we did a girly tea. So I found (not that I have any say in planning this, but it's all for fun right?) some fun inspiration for a more rustic fall tea party. I'm especially in love with the top 3 photos from an Autumn Dessert Party over at Celebrations at Home blog. I want to go to that party, it looks absolutely lovely! Maybe my aunts will let me decorate a table or two and I can use some of these ideas!

DIY Anthro Inspired Duvet

Remember this picture?

That was the sneak peak of what I was currently making. It's finally finished! Ta da!

This is my take on Anthropologie's Cirrus/Nimbus duvet covers. If you know me at all you'll know I love Anthropologie, but sometimes their prices are a bit ridiculous. Like $228 for this duvet cover. I made mine for less than $70, and it was super easy (but long, oh so long and repetitive). I love love love this duvet so much that I make excuses to take naps just so I can snuggle up in it. Not like anyone needs an excuse to nap in the first place!

I'm working on a step by step tutorial of how I made it, but I seem to have misplaced some of my notes. I actually started working on this back in May while at my old apartment, but then I had to box everything up for the move and I don't remember exactly where I put them. I hope to have it up in the next few weeks so stay tuned!  

Homemade Blackberry Pie

This week I crossed another item off my 25 Before 25 list and made a pie completely from scratch! I'm incredibly pleased with how it turned out, especially because I've never made a pie crust before. I used this recipe for a blackberry pie which includes instructions for a crust from scratch as well as how to make a lattice top. It also includes a bit of lemon zest in the recipe which I think is a great complement to the tarty sweetness of the blackberries. I know what I'm having for breakfast the rest of the week!

100 Years of Style

I know this video has been all over the internet lately, but I think it's fantastic so I wanted to post it here.

Remembering 9/11

I can't believe it's been 10 years since 9/11. While I don't have family or friends in New York that were directly affected by the attack, it still had such a huge impact on me. I was in high school and I didn't hear about it until after both towers had been hit. I was sitting in the gym for the 15 minute chapel service our school had, goofing off with friends and trying to convince ourselves that this was the time we would actually pay attention. But then the preacher started praying for the lives of those lost when the airplanes hit the towers, and suddenly we were indeed paying attention. Most of the teachers stopped teaching their classes after that and we spent the next several hours watching the tvs in each classroom. Sometimes we discussed as a class what was going on or what we thought the repercussions of this would be, but I preferred when we were allowed to sit in silence and watch the news. I couldn't believe what had just happened.

It doesn't seem like 10 years have passed. We need to remember those who were lost, those who were heroes, and those who have had their lives affected by the attack.  We need to remember those in the military who have been fighting and giving their lives to protect us and keep us free from another devastating assault. Never forget.

Where were you when you heard about 9/11?

September Must Have List

Polyvore set

It's September already? Holy cats, where has the year gone? It's already starting to cool down (weather, please please stay this way and don't go back to being 90 and humid - k thanks) and I've started thinking about fall items to begin incorporating into my wardrobe. What's on my September wish list?

~ Bright pants, leather accents, and skinny jeans tucked into boots. I really want to try out the red skinny jeans look but I have yet to find a pair that isn't about 6 inches too long for my short legs.
~Infinity scarves. I was searching for the perfect one last year but wasn't able to find what I was looking for. I can't knit, so the search continues.
~I am lusting after that wrap watch. I actually have plans to make my own if I can find a good watch face. I've checked about 4 craft/bead stores and they're harder to find than I anticipated!
~Fall blazers. Maybe it comes from being a History major, but I always love the nerdy librarian professor look for back to school. Elbow patches are awesome and bow ties are cool.
~Stripes, bows, and chambray. I'm also still on the hunt for the perfect chambray shirt and I want to layer these blouses under chunky sweaters and crisp blazers.

Wedding Wednesday - Engagement Pictures Inspiration

Green Wedding Shoes

Ruffled Blog

Green Wedding Shoes

Green Wedding Shoes

A Bryan Photo Blog

Southern Wedding Magazine

One of the things about wedding planing that I'm super excited about is getting our engagement photos taken. I love the idea of a themed shoot, or having props involved, but I'm not sure how much I'll be able to convince Kacey to go along with before he says no. But I'm the bride! He has to listen to me, right? Isn't that how it works? No? Well maybe after he sees these fun pictures he'll change his mind. (Right sweetie?)

Labor Day Weekend

How is everyone's Labor Day weekend going? Kacey and I decided to enjoy our weekend with a mini road trip to western Wisconsin to do a brewery tour and be all touristy. I've lived in Wisconsin most of my life and had never been on a brewery tour before! We quickly fixed that and headed out to New Glarus, home of Spotted Cow beer, Swiss towns, and lots of farms. 

Yay it's Friday!

I had a whole post written for today but my computer decided to eat it for some reason. I'm too tired to rewrite it all now, so I'll distract you with cuteness!

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Ahhh look at the puppy!