Thanksgiving 2011

Our Thanksgiving was a lot of fun this year. We hosted 18 people in our new home and it went great. Our pictures from the actual day are on my Dad's camera, so I don't have them to share here now. I'll try to remember to get them soon!

I chose to do one long running table through our dining and living rooms. Great idea to allow for greater communication and no one got stuck at the "kids table." We had to do a bit of mix and match with the place settings, but I actually really liked the little extra pop of color from the blue plates.

The centerpieces were inspired by (where else?!), Pinterest. This is the original picture.

J thought this would be a fun project to do, so he grabbed his saw and went to my parents who'd just chopped down a cottonwood tree. He was also very excited to get to add to his collection of tools. 

This drill bit in the 1.5 inch size is perfect for tea lights. The project took make 30 minutes total to make me 5 logs that had 3-5 tea lights each. We plan to save them in the attic for use next year, too!

On Sunday our Pastor did an awesome thing, instead of preaching about Thanksgiving, he gave us many Biblical examples of times when God was praised with Thanksgiving, and then he invited us to partake in open mic. The people around us are so amazing. I sat through the service with tears in my eyes as people came forward and praised Jesus through the hard times and were thankful for the redemption they had found. It was truly inspirational.

Also, have you read Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation? He wrote it in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War. You can read the entire proclamation here. Here is my favorite excerpt: 

"I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens ... to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union."

Happy Thanksgiving to you all on a daily basis. I hope your hearts and homes are filled with love, happiness, and thankfulness throughout this Blessed Holiday season.

Table mockup

Sailboats: $1 each
Picture frames: $1 each
Candles: $0.79 each
Flower ball: $6 each
Glass sundae "vase": $0.79 each
Ribbon & fabric: < $3
Price per centerpiece: $16

Total effect: Priceless!

I love my centerpieces, and am so excited to see the real ones!









What do you think?

Sailboats

Fiance and I have been working on these for a little while now.

I purchased over 130 of these little sailboats at Michaels. They retail for $1 each and the lady gave me a 20% discount, so they were way cheap!


Fiance and I went to Home Depot for clear varnish, and he spotted tintable wood stain. He chose "island water." I was a bit wary of it, but in the end, I love the look.


In process (some need a second coat):


The finished product!


These will be sprinkled on various tables and since we are foregoing favors, guests are more than welcome to take these home if they so wish.

Flowers, round 1

My wedding coordinator says it's time to start meeting with florists because the good ones around here book up fast. So she's making appointments with her top 2 favorites for Friday. I'm actually kind of excited about it now (flowers are not a top priority for me). My list of flowers that I want to include:


Stargazer lilies




Gardenia




Carnations (white, pink, and dyed blue)

Did you know that a bunch of carnations can look like peonies? Carnations are a much cheaper alternative to peonies and they are "heartier" and will last longer.



Stephanotis



Blueberries



Hydrangea (blue)




Roses (Blue? and Ivory)




Gerbera daisies (pink)


Stargazers are "my" flower, so they were a must-include. I think my bouquet may be gardenia only. It is just such a classic flower, plus it smells so amazing. The only downside is the petals can bruise easily, but I don't think we'll have a problem.

Gerberas and blue roses may be too modern for the style of my wedding, but they add color and pop. They will probably only be seen in centerpieces.

The groomsmen will probably have boutonnieres of rope/knots with maybe a sprig of stephanotis. I have not decided on bridesmaid's bouquets as of yet.

There will undoubtedly be more posts from me on this subject as I meet with florists and make decisions. What are your must use flowers?


*all pictures from google images.

Sorry for the absenteeism!

I've been absent for the past week or so. Not from your blogs (I love reading & commenting!), but from my own. Lack of inspiration I guess. :-(

This morning, my Mom had a melanoma removed from her foot. Because my dad has to be out of town this weekend, there was no one to drive her around and make sure she doesn't go running(!!!) or get too loopy on pain meds, so I gave up a wine tasting trip to Lake Chelan in central Washington to hang out with her and eat chocolate. :-) The surgery went well, and that should be the end of it. Yay!

I went and saw Sex and the City with a girlfriend last night. I feel as though I must preface this with the fact that I never got into the tv show. I found it fairly vacuous, but the movie was phenomenal. Yes, I cried. Can I just say how much I love the character Charlotte? I find her character to be the most honest and sincere. I never have been a SJP fan, never will be...

I've had centerpieces and flowers on the brain the past few days and will be posting on that later this weekend or even into next week. I'm planning to go meet with 2 florists next Friday.

Anyone else having trouble with the picture uploading form?

Calling All Brides

Are you looking for that perfect centerpiece?
If you have no clue what you want...
Just need inspiration?
Simply enjoy looking at pretty pictures...
Rented Elegance Wedding Décor is the place to go!

For those of you using "Kate Spade Green" have you considered using limes and/or Granny Smith apples as decor?

The lime & pink rose scheme here is so pretty.
Seen this stuff yet? It's a powder you mix with water that becomes a gel and keeps flowers hydrated, it also holds candles. You can easily dye it with food coloring. This picture is tacky, but if done well it can be pretty cool.
I'm personally not a fan of tall centerpieces, but I really like this one, especially the base.

Table tops & Ceremony venues

I had a flash on inspiration. For those of you who have boat experience you may know that ropes lying on the ground can be a major tripping hazard, so many smart boatwomen (like myself!) coil the ropes. This not only looks pretty, but makes them a) obvious and b) flat, thus reducing a tripping potential.

What if we made centerpieces out of coiled rope?!



White nylon rope would look really cool against dark blue table clothes. Plus it would be a more masculine touch, cuz let's face it, the flowers in the center are very girlie. I'm all for girlie, but I like some masculine effects too.

We could put our custom Birgee on a "flag pole" in the center of flower arangements on some tables, and candles nestled in rope coils on others.

I think I'm going to run with this idea.

Elizabeth at Tie the Knot posted this picture of rope ties at the end of the aisles. I may do this as well at the ceremony venue.


Since I have mentioned ceremony venues twice now, I feel I should explain. We currently have booked the church that I grew up in. BUT, I do not like the current pastor that is there and do not want him to marry us. Fiance has a family friend who is a pastor and Fiance wants him to marry us. I think this is fabulous since it will make the ceremony much more personal and intimate! However, the current pastor at my church has to approve Fiance's pastor to marry us, and while I would hope this should not be a problem, it could be as one is Lutheran and the other Non-Denominational. Tricky, eh?

The place in which I really want to get married is the concert hall at the local university. Fiance is currently finishing up his degree there, and it also has a special family tie: ALL of my aunts and uncles and my parents attended there and met their spouse there. Fiance's Mom and Aunt attended there, as did all his cousins. Half of my cousins attended there as well. See the family connection, it would just be so cool to get married with all that family getting to reminisce about their own love stories that happened on campus!

This picture also should explain why I want to get married in this hall!

I can only dream about walking down the aisle to the sound of that organ! The only drawback is that there is no center aisle, but I think it would be cool for Daddy to walk me down one side and Fiance walk me back up the other--it's almost symbolic!

OK, that's all for now. I've got to go get ready to go out for the evening with my Nursie friends now that finals are completely finished! Wahoo!