Back in Texas!!

After a full 8 hour day of travelling yesterday, I'm finally back in Texas!! I came into the office for a brief half-day to attend a training session on our Staff Review/Goal Setting software, then I'm outta here!! On tonight's agenda: Nascar Truck Series @ Tx Motor Speedway with my CityBoy & little brother! We managed to score tickets in the luxury suite compliments of my Dad's boss, so we'll be up there schmoozin' with some real grown ups and having a great time!!

Portland was fabulous, here are some of the photos I managed to take on my iPhone (I managed to forget my camera b/c I pulled it out of my purse to charge the battery!!):

Greetings from Portland

I'm in Portland, Oregon for Training all week!! It is GORGEOUS here!! We're kinda stuck out in the 'burbs of Tigard/Lake Oswego for our training and my firm said "y'all are just down the street from the training facility" and wouldn't approve a rental car, so we've spent about a gazillion in cab fare when we probably could have gotten a rental car pretty cheap. Our instructor got his for $95 for the whole week!!!

Its killing me being stuck in the hotel...I am definitely my dad's daughter b/c I, like him, want to drive all over the city and see the sights. Everytime we go out for dinner, I can see the pretty tree covered mountains and hills and I want to see MORE!!

Tomorrow our training is finished at 2:30, so we're taking the bus downtown and spending the afternoon/evening seeing the sites and doing Portland-y things!!! We have a list of things to see, so I'll take iPhone pics (I forgot my camera in Dallas, I took it out of my purse to charge the battery and realized Sunday at the airport that it was still sitting on the dresser...bummer) and post some!!!!!!

Staring at Ikea all day...

This has been a busy week, I'm no longer in the office twiddling my thumbs. I don't have time to blog while I'm at a client (I figured out how much it would cost the client if I billed even 15 minutes of blogging time and I felt guilty) and I don't wanna be near a computer when I'm at home, so the blog has and will be neglected for the next 2 weeks!!

Anyway, the client I'm at is directly across the highway from Ikea and everytime I go to ask the client a question or go to the bathroom or get a coke, I see the giant Blue & Yellow IKEA sign out the 6th floor window and it makes me die a little inside b/c I'm stuck in here and not over there shopping.

Anyway...my parents flew back into Texas last night after being in Chicago/Madison for a week and they stayed at my apartment last night. This morning, on my way up to lovely Frisco, I passed them and I just KNEW they were going to Ikea (my mom loves that place)...sure enough, Noon rolls around and I get a phone call. They were just getting done at Ikea and wanted to know if I wanted to meet them for lunch! OF COURSE! Who says there's no such thing as a Free Lunch? So, Mom suggested just eating at the Ikea cafeteria (they were there, I was close, it worked...food wasn't bad either), so I ventured over.

After enjoying my Swedish Meatballs, we did a quick stroll through Ikea to grab some Euro Pillows for my "Big Girl Bed" (I had to get rid of the girly collegy bedding) and Mom pointed out all of her wedding ideas in the "Pretties" section, so I'm posting a few of her thoughts!!!

I'm not sure I like the really dark red candle, but I think once its lit, it'll be a brighter red, either way, they're $2 a candle and already in my colors (kinda)

Mom and I both like these lights for Decoration. We want to use the lights to hide some of the less attractive areas of the Sons of Hermann Hall where I will be having my reception (its a small town with few venues...its the best we can do...plus, my parents had their reception there and its HUGE!!)!

I also like these Ball Lights b/c they kinda go with our Geometric theme. We will be using Chinese Lanterns in white, reds, pinks, and oranges through out the hall and most of the other decorations will be very geometric (my sister came up with the "theme").

Anyway, those were our finds for the day on our quick run through Ikea during lunch!!! More to come...I love Ikea!

Small Town Modern

I'm getting married in my very small hometown. Weddings in my town are quite an experience, as my Fiancee can tell you. He referred to his first Lee County Wedding as a "frat party"... Beer, Barbeque, Dancing, and a few traditions an outsider may find disturbing...

I'd always thought of ways to escape the Beer-N-BBQ wedding, dreaming of a small wedding in my parents backyard or a destination wedding or something else unique, but now that I have the rock on my finger, I find myself wanting the traditional Lee County Wedding...BBQ and all! This might have something to do with the fact that D loves BBQ...as a matter of fact, we were talking about the "menu" and my mom said she prefered potatoes to noodles as a side dish and D put his foot down and said "NOODLES!" He's such a dork.

So, I'll be having the traditional wedding for Lee County, with a few modern touches. We'll have the Beer & the BBQ, the DJ playing late 90s Country Classics for our guests to scoot their boots to...but we'll also have an iPod playing OUR music, an amazingly tasty cake, gorgeous decorations & little touches of US everywhere!

SPRINKLES!

So, I'm very into clean, simple lines. I like modern, architectural, non-fufu things. For my wedding cake, I went with these likes and my bridal committee and I decided on a 3 tiered whtie fondant covered cake as a palette for my Aunt L (my florist) to decorate with whatever gorgeous flowers she chooses...

Now...I am pretty much ADDICTED to the food network (maybe not so much now as I was in college, but I still love it) and I have watched every Cake Challenge and every Ace of Cakes and I know that I could rollout some white fondant and cover 3 tiers of cake... So, Mom and I decided to ask my Aunt D (a fantastic baker) to make my cakes!!

Mom & Aunt D are both very planny people (who both have daughters getting married in the next year) and back in August had already started thinking about wedding cakes! My mom ordered several different pre-made fondants online and since we were having a birthday party for my dad, she made a "test cake" for the whole Fam to try!!

I absolutely love all things citrus...Oranges, Lemons, Limes, Grapefruits...so we decided to go with an orange flavor scheme for the cakes! Mom made a white cake (with some orange zest), homemade buttercream (with Patron Citronge, an orange liqueur), and flavored the fondant with Orange as well! The result was FANTASTIC!! I ate like 4 pieces and the cake was GONE by the end of the night!

Well, since we're doing the family-made cake and already decided on a flavor, we are missing out on CAKE TASTING!! Soo, I staged a cupcake tasting for Hubby-To-Be and I last night. I get Daily Candy Dallas's emails everyday and yesterday's email featured Sprinkles Cupcakes for the UT-OU Red River Shootout benefiting Children's Medical Center Research...so I decided to stop in on my way home and pick up a few!!

I picked a few I thought Hubby-To-Be and I would both like: Red Velvet (okay, this one was all me), Banana, Lemon, and Cinnamon Sugar. I surprised him with them after dinner and instead of letting him tear straight into them, I cut each cupcake into quarters and we each got one quarter of each flavor, a la cake tasting!!

Dallas Photo Ops!

My Sister (a Baylor alum) has always been in love with the Suspension Bride in Waco and after seeing this shot by Lubbock-native photographer, Lauren Clark, she decided she wanted to take some of our engagement photos there (Sis is doing our Engagment Photos)...


I brought this idea up to Hubby-To-Be and he said "That Bridge is so Cliche and we have absolutely NO ties to Waco!" (a friend of ours proposed to his FIRST (of two, both cheated on him before the wedding, poor guy) fiancee on that bridge...)

So, since we all 3 (my sister included) like the architectural look, we've decided to take some of our e-photos at Home (my parents house and my grandparents winery and the general "country") and some in Dallas!!! So, I need to scout out some great photo spots in Dallas for our Christmas photo shoot!! Suggestions are WELCOME!!

Old, New, Borrowed & Blue...

Something old, something new,
Something borrowed, something blue,
And a silver sixpence in her shoe.

I think I have most of my "somethings" figured out...

Something Old
My More-Grandma's Handkerchief. My mom and aunt and older cousin, Kassie, all carried this in their wedding bouquets. It is very old and delicate and disintegrating in the center from being folded for so many years, but when tucked delicately into a bouquet, its ruffled edges have the appearance of a butterfly. My cousin, Bekah (Kassie's sister), is getting married in June and she will also carry the hankie.

Something New
Probably my Dress? I haven't decided if this is going to be for sure what I consider my "something new," it kinda feels like a cop out to me?

Something Borrowed
This is the one I'm still not sure on...

Something Blue
The Star Sapphire Ring my dad gave to my mom. My mom is giving me a gorgeous star sapphire ring that my dad gave to her. Sapphire is my birthstone and I've always loved the ring. I almost cried when my mom said she was giving it to me for my something blue. I will probably have it resized, I have, as my aunt puts it, "sausage fingers" and although the ring fits on my pinkie, I'd like to wear it on the ring finger of my right hand.

...and I said "What about Breakfast at Tiffany's?"

Holly: I don't want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together. I'm not sure where that is but I know what it is like. It's like Tiffany's.

Paul: Tiffany's? You mean the jewelry store.

Holly: That's right. I'm just CRAZY about Tiffany's!

I managed to find the most amazing man on the planet. He treats me like no other guy ever has, like I'm everything in his world. We argue, but 5 minutes can't pass following an argument before we're apologizing to each other. We're both Virgos, and that makes us similar in so many ways, but it works perfectly. He's my Tiffany's. He puts me together.

And...as if he wasn't already the perfect guy for me, he bought me a gorgeous ring and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him!!

So, my sister gave me some busy work for my boring day in the office today to come up with some ideas for a Sex and The City themed Bachelorette party for her college roommate who is getting married in January! The party is gonna be at my apartment, since I live in the city where the wedding will be and the party will take place the night before the wedding since my sister is flying in from Wisconsin!! Well, this got me thinking about ideas for my own bachelorette party, my sister wants to do a Tiffany themed party...and THAT got me thinking about wedding bands to go with my bling!!

Those are my 3 options on Bands to go with my ring. I think the one I am leaning towards most is the simple platinum band. I've always loved the simplicity of my mom's ring...a simple diamond solitaire with a simple gold wedding band. To me, the simplicity of one diamond and the simple wedding band is more representative of my relationship with my fiancee...our relationship is simple, perfect, and unpretentious.

Thoughts?

My Favorite Mr. & Mrs.

I was looking at more invitations and stumbled across The Future Mrs Darcy! and absolutely fell in love with a couple of their designs, but more than that, their designs are named after famous couples...Elizabeth & Darcy from Pride & Prejudice, Holly Golightly & Paul Varjak from Breakfast at Tiffanys and so many others! Which got me thinking about famous couples... I have a lot of favorite love stories, here's a list of some that I love:


Love Story (classic...I'd never seen it before I met my fiancee, he rented it and brought it over right after we started dating when I was at home sick)


Pretty Woman (so, she's a hooker, it has a happy ending)


Sex & The City (The series and the movie...Carrie & Big's love story is a bumpy, but great one)


Breakfast at Tiffanys (Don't we all feel like Holly Golightly sometimes?)


Anyway, here are a few of my favorite designs from TFMD:

Ferris & Sloane....man, I love Ferris Bueller's Day Off and this invitation!!! I'm really into non-traditional (read: stuffy) invitations, so this one is right up my alley!

Okay, Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall is a little more traditional, but what would you expect from Casablanca?? I really really like this style and can already picture it with our names in the places of these famous lovers!!

Okay, so this one isn't really practical, but my Fiancee and I are the HUGEST office fans ever!! I think of any of the lovers that TFMD has invitations for, we're most like Jim & Pam!! I definitely can't wait until Thursday...I'm still a little pissed that the VP debate happened on a Thursday and caused me to miss The Office & Grey's Anatomy...

Bling!

I'm really not an everyday jewelry wearer, my daily jewelry consists of my gorgeous Tiffany engagement ring, my watch & my college ring. That's about it. Every now and then I'll feel zesty and wear a cute necklace or cute earrings, but I don't own that much to choose from... and I can't see myself remedying that problem b/c I just don't think about jewelry for my outfits...my mom and sister, on the other hand...


My mom is a fabulous jewelry maker, I love everything she has made for me and anyone else, so she's going to be making jewelry for me and my 'maids (and I'm sure something perfect for herself as well)! I think that I want something a little outside of the standard CZ necklace & earrings, so we're going to go with Long, Pink necklaces for my 'maids and something long and funky for me!!


Here are some things that inspire me:

This beaut' is by Tarina Tarantino. Most of her stuff is a little outside of my style, but some of her stuff, I'd die for. I think this necklace would be great for either my maids or me! Red necklace with a wedding gown? I'd do it!...

So, this one is probably the closest to what I'm imagining for myself. Its also by Tarina Tarantino.

STD is not an appropriate acronym for Save the Date....

I've been thinking lately about Save the Dates...I'm getting married in September 2009, so my sister (my paper guru) and I decided March would be about the time to send them, so I'm a little early, but it never hurts to look!!

My sister is a super hero when it comes to paper goods, she is the go-to-girl in our family for invitations, she makes her own handmade Christmas cards every year (last year with her Gocco printing machine thingy...which I'm clueless about), and she's also a Fabulous photographer! If I didn't actually want her IN some of the pictures and not behind a camera all night, I'd have her as my photographer in a heartbeat!!! Luckily, I know another great photographer, Amy Blackburn!!

I can't find any pictures of invitations my sister has done, but here are some ideas I like:

Invitations By Nature

Minted

The last minted one is probably my favorite! My sister is taking our engagement pics when we're both Home at the 'rents for Christmas, so depending on how fantastic the pictures turn out, I'd love to use one with our STD ;-)

Love this Photographer!

I think I may have had my photographer picked before I even started dating my fiancee seriously!! The photographer I'm using is a friend of my older sister's from high school and someone I've known since I was a kid. And, did I mention, she's AWESOME!! Here are some of my favorite Wedding/Bridal pictures by her.

The courthouse in my hometown, absolutely gorgeous...

Amy loves shoe shots and SO DO I!! I can't wait to pick out fun shoes for my dress!!!