Modern American Girl - Meet Samantha

So now we're on to Samantha. She was the very first doll I had, and I loved her story. She was an orphan who lived with her super rich grandmother (who she called Rosemary for some reason) and was trying to be raised as a lady but she just wanted to have fun. My kind of girl. I was originally going to have her as a super rich New York upper east ender, ala Gossip Girl, but then I realized that I've only ever seen like 2 episodes of Gossip Girl so that was going to be difficult. But then I decided I was going to base her on Kate Middleton, because Rosemary was very strict and old fashioned and that kind of reminded me of the Queen (I guess? Somehow?). And everything just fell into place after that. So Sam is going to be refined and proper for the moment, but we may get a little rebellious later on. Also, do you know how hard it is to find a plaid dress like the one she's wearing that doesn't look ridiculous? So I just avoided the plaid completely. We'll have plenty of that with Molly - I've already decided to make her a hipster.

Life Lately

I found this drawing in my baby book when I was looking for old pictures for my wedding. 

I think I could draw better when I was 2 than I can now.

Yummy and healthy dinner - quinoa veggie stir fry

Neon clutch and a princess crown for my work bachelorette party!

Hendrick's gin and mint martini. Yum. 

Unpacking in our new place!

Last week was interesting. I took the week off blogging with the intention to work on wedding stuff. Then Kacey was suddenly laid off when his work downsized his department. He had no warning and it came as a huge shock to both of us. We're really trying to stay positive, but it was just so unexpected and it happened right before the wedding which is just terrible timing considering all the other things I'm stressing over. On the other hand, it's really a blessing in disguise. Kacey was pretty unhappy at his position and kept talking about finding a new job. Of course, you always think that finding a new job will be easy and stress free since you're still employed and can leisurely pick whatever new career you'd like to do. God had a different plan for us, and now we're really learning to trust in him to guide us in a new direction.

I think we go back and forth between being worried about what we're going to do, and being thrilled at the prospect that this allows us to do anything we want. In some ways I feel like something big is coming. We have all these dreams of moving west and being near the mountains again. I feel like maybe God is lining up the pieces for us and we just have to be patient (not one of my strong suits), have faith, and wait for his timing. Kacey wouldn't have started actively looking for new career paths if he still worked at his old job, so maybe this was just the kick in the seat to get us moving on to the next thing.

Still, any prayers/happy thoughts/job finding mind waves you'd want to send our way would be greatly appreciated.

Memorial Day

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I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend full of warm weather, barbeques, swimming, drinking, or anything else you did to celebrate. I hope everyone also took a moment to thank the veterans and current service men and women for their courage and sacrifice. Thank you to my grandpa,  for his service in the marines during the Korean War. Thank you to my friends who are currently in the military, to their wives and families for their strength, and to all who serve.

Be Back Soon

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Be right back, it's wedding planning central over here right now. Pretty much every minute of my week has been planned out. I'll be back over the weekend.

Modern American Girl - Changes for Addy

And so we finish up with Addy. I love this green coat. If you're going to go with a pea coat, you might as well pick a fun color, right? I feel like this is a good outfit for walking around the city. In the last of the Addy books, she is finally reunited with the rest of her family. It's bittersweet, however, since her elderly uncle had died on the way to Philadelphia and her aunt passes soon after they find each other.

The more I look at this outfit, the more I like it. Aside from the coat, I'm also really liking the blue bag and blouse. But since it's almost summer, we'll file this look away for a few months!

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It's like the tiny Darth Vader in the Volkswagen commercial

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Today was one of those days where I just stared at my computer screen, willing this post to burst into existence. Alas, the force is not strong in this one because I'm still sitting here wondering what to write about. I figure if I just keep typing, the white space on the screen won't seem so intimidating. Hey, that's how half my college papers started, and I repeatedly rocked those!

Lately my life has been consumed by wedding planning - and not the fun kind. It's been checking in on vendors and making tedious decisions. But I guess that's what happens when you hit the 4 week mark. Four weeks! I can't believe it and yet I can't wait. Kacey and I got the keys to our new town house yesterday, but I completely forgot to take any pictures. In all fairness, we were way too busy running around from room to room like little kids and yelling to each other from across the house. We have 2 (small) bedrooms! We have stairs! Two sets in fact, because we have a basement! And a kitchen with tons of windows and light! Not to mention counter space! I can't wait to start cooking in it and take all sorts of pretty pictures for the blog. My kitchen now is so tiny and tucked away into the back of the apartment that it sucks all the fun out of cooking.

We also scoped out our new neighborhood and there are so many great spots to take outfit shots! I'm hoping to start doing more fashion/outfit posts since I'll actually have a photographer now. I'm getting really excited for this summer, it's going to be great!

Well now, what do you know? Random typing did result in a semi-cohesive post.

I Do Believe In Fairies

On Friday my roommate and I went to see the Milwaukee Ballet's production of Peter Pan. We tried to go last year but it was sold out, so I've literally been waiting a year to see this show. It was phenomenal. I might be a tiny bit biased since I danced ballet for about 10 years when I was younger and a good chunk of that was through the Milwaukee Ballet School, but this was honestly my favorite ballet performance that I've ever seen.

I don't even know what to start raving about. The costumes and sets were incredible - there was this gigantic pirate ship that broke into three pieces and was moved around the stage to create different sets. The dancing was superb and wonderfully stylized. But my favorite thing had to be the flying. It was wonderful - you could see the cable holding the dancers up, but the way they moved made it look like they were controlling the cable, not the other way around. They would jump and land and roll and dance, and then just fly back up into the air, and the whole thing looked completely effortless. I can only imagine the hours and hours of practice it took to get everything to look flawless. I thought it was the perfect balance of dance and wire work to really make it believable.

One of my favorite scenes was when Tinkerbell almost dies and they rely on the audience to bring her back to life. The great thing about ballet - and dance in general - is that there are no words so all emotions and story lines have to be shown through the movement of the dancers. When Tink almost dies the whole scene centers around saying the words "I do believe in fairies," so what do you do when you can't speak?

Well, upon entering the theater we were given one of those fiber optic lights with mysterious instructions to only turn them on near the end of Act 2. As Tinkerbell started to fade, the lights all went out and Peter walked right up to the front of the stage and rang a little bell. People started turning their lights on, and as more people caught on the music swelled and you could just feel the emotion and excitement radiating from both the dancers and all the kids in the audience. I would have loved to see what it looked like from the stage. It was just really cool to see an emotional scene play out without a single word being spoken.

Then after the show we played on the little pirate set they had built on the mezzanine level. But the real thing I took away from the show (besides a desire to read Peter Pan again) was an ache in my heart to start dancing again. I always forget how much I miss it until I see a show or watch my little cousin's dance recital. I think it's time I do some serious research into taking some lessons for fun.

Also, I found this fun behind the scenes article and photos about how they did the flying in the show. Doesn't this just look like so much fun?!

Modern American Girl - Addy Saves the Day

Just call her Addy Walker, American crime fighting hero!

I really only have two things to say about this look/book. 1. Addy gets to fight crime and help save the world! Or at lease her church fair. She not only saves the day by chasing after the bad guy (or girl in this case) who stole their money, but she also is reunited with her brother in this book, meaning only her sister Esther and her aunt and uncle are still missing.   2. This outfit was based almost exactly on an outfit Cassie wore one time, which I obsessed about for weeks. Her shoes had little cherries on them, but I couldn't find ones that looked right. Still, Addy's looking pretty fabulous here with her straw hat and whistle accessories. Not that you'd be doing much running in these shoes - book Addy was much more sensible and wore flats. That's ok though, I still like the red pumps!

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Wedding Wednesday - Honeymoon Packing

I have to stay, one of the things I'm most looking forward to about my wedding is Hawaii! Ok, so technically that's the honeymoon, but I'm in desperate need of a vacation and I can't wait to sit on a beach under a palm tree and have a daiquiri. Or three. I've never been to Hawaii before, so I've been putting some serious thought into what to pack:

Cute sandals. I love these with the pops of color, but they're all sold out online :-(

Aldo

 Colored shorts. I like these from Urban Outfitters for a fun take on chinos.

Urban Outfitters

Sunglasses (of course). I love the classic Ray Ban wayfarers.

Sunglass Hut

 Fun colored swim suits. Brightly patterned ones are also acceptable.

Victoria's Secret

 A fun maxi dress/cover up. I think these stripes are adorable, though I've also had my eye on tribal prints.

Piperlime

Has anyone been to Hawaii before and have tips on what to pack? I hear it's pretty casual and swim suits and flip flops are pretty much a uniform. Can't say there's anything wrong with that!

Monday Miscellany

Snapshots from my week:

My first facial - holy cow that was amazing

Strawberries, greek yogurt, and chocolate. Not quite as good as ice cream, but still good.

Wedding hair trial! Not sure if I'm going to have it down or up yet.

Vintage treasures in a local antique shop 

This week was much better than the craziness that happened last week. Wedding stuff was accomplished, sleeping in and relaxation was had, and tasty food was eaten. 6 weeks to go until the wedding and Hawaii! I need to start figuring out outfits...

Summer Sandals

{1, 2, 3, 4}

Can I start thinking about summer? Because I'm ready for warm weather. I'm really liking neutral sandals that go with everything for this transitional period. I can just see myself wearing some of these with a bright high-low skirt and a light weight white blouse.

Modern American Girl - Happy Birthday Addy

I'll be honest, I don't remember much of this book. I keep forgetting to pick up the series from my parents' house, so I'm going off 8 year old Sarah's memory (which is terrible). I remember that Addy's dad was with them at this point because he couldn't find work, and later made ice cream - I don't think the two were connected though. I also remember she learned double dutch, thanks to some help from an elderly woman (who google has told me is named M'dear) who was blind and taught Addy to listen to the sound of the ropes. I remember trying the same thing many times after reading that and still failing miserably double dutch. Though who are we kidding, Addy ain't playing double dutch in those shoes! And if you're wondering about the feathers, M'dear gave Addy some canary feathers for her hair at the end of the book as a birthday present. I thought that might be a little weird today, wearing your pet's feathers on your head and all, so we went with some fun earrings instead.

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Bridal Shower

This past Sunday my wonderful aunts thew me a bridal shower full of tea, tasty food, and lots of pretties! They held it at the Washington House Inn, which is a bed and breakfast in Cedarburg, this quaint little town just north of Milwaukee. The kind of town where main street is all 19th/early 20th century buildings, ice cream shoppes, antique stores and an old mill. 

Some of my lovely bridesmaids  (sorry for the bad picture, it's from a phone!)

Me with my grandma and my mom

The shower was amazing, my aunts pulled out all the stops - even making the floral centerpieces by hand! It was so wonderful and I think fun was had by all. I don't think any of them read this, but if you do, thank you so much!!!