Jean Jack

When JP and I were on our honeymoon in Santa Fe, NM we stumbled upon the Jean Jack gallery. We were, well I was in love. JP liked it as well, but it really struck a cord with me. We tend to be fairly picky about art that we would have in our house. We go more for photography, drawings and some multi media work, but vary rarely do we get turned on by paintings. Jean Jack has lived in Santa Fe for the past 18 years, and hails from the east coast. She has been painting landscapes for the past 38 years. Her shop is meticulously put together, a fantastic mixture of found objects, art and white wash. We came away with a glorious little house with a blue roof, a found object not painting. But we know that one day one will hang in our house and we will be reminded of our journeys together since our trip to Santa Fe.

Rotten Bananas

One of our favorite gifts from the wedding was a bread maker. Up until last week it had been kept tidy and boxed up waiting until it had a home, or there was just the right opportunity to use it.

I walked into the kitchen last week and realized that I had three very ripe bananas that were very soon going to a feast for some fruit flies, yuck...

So I ripped open the bread box, literally, found a recipe on line and went to work. It was really quite easy and made the house small wonderful. For the most part it was successful. Might have worked a bit better if I had opened the instruction book and seen that there was a banana bread recipe that was suggested by the manufacturer. Oh well, my husband is the instruction reader, I am more of the figure it out as you go kinda gal.

At any rate, it tasted great, but the sides had some opportunities. You can see this from the photos I am sure. I have to mention the glass in the picture, I found it while antiquing in PA with one of my best friends before the wedding. Seeing as we were on a wedding antiquing trip I knew that I had to purchase the Colorado glass being as that is where we were having the ceremony. I forgot about it until I was cleaning and re-organizing when we got home and was tickled to find it.

It's Done!

JP and I had a hugely successful wedding! For the three days before the wedding we woke up to snow and would have about one or two snow storms a days. It was really very beautiful and we were excited to be there for such strange weather.

Everything went off without a hitch with one small exception. There was some sort of stomach discomfort that passed from my Dad to JP and then onto our bridesmaid, Melissa. JP was out of commission two day's before the wedding, but did manage to take the gondola to town for an hour and we were able to get our wedding license. It was a quintessential Telluruide experience, and worth the trip! The court house in town is brick with a large clock tower, the halls are lined with old photographs of town and the mines that surround it. We received our license in a small room, with two folding chairs and the kind woman who assisted us. The whole process was done on a type writer, a machine not so often used any more, but adored by many.

JP and I were so moved by all those who took the time and made the effort to come to Colorado. We all had such a wonderful time and had such a great response from all of our guests. Most importantly, JP's dad came and provided a wealth of support, excitement and love for JP. We were really happy to have him there and get to spend some time with him. The wedding was defiantly a defining point in our lives pertaining to our family and friends and the relationship structure going forward. And going forward is what we are doing right now.

That being said the next part of going forward for me is changing my name...
I used to have really mixed feelings about this, but am excited to do it now, strange as it is. To make things easier on a busy gal MissNowMrs.com was set up. This service compiles all of the most up to date forms that you need to submit to different corporations and government agencies. Best of all, you enter your information once and it will auto fill all of the forms. All you have to do is print up the forms from your on line file and send them in with the appropriate fees. And not to worry, when you print up each for it is accompanied with instructions for any additional things that you need to do. Gift certificates are also available and would make such a cute shower gift for a bride to be.

And speaking of brides, I am off to try and see Sex and The City, I will let you know what I thought tomorrow!

Darn the Pound

to have and to hold ribbon from Cox and Cox

A while ago I wrote about Cox and Cox, an online store from England. Today I opened my email to find out that they just added a wedding section! They have all kinds of goodies that they have pulled together for that extra touch for a wedding or party. The 'To have and to hold' ribbon, featured above, being one of my favorites. There were so many more that I loved, sadly I can't show them all...

But here are a few more!!

photos from Cox and Cox

So these are some of my other favorites. The Wedding Matches are so adorable. Let's face it matches might not have that much of a place at weddings any more due to the fact that no one is smoking any more. However, there is something great about a custom, or semi custom match box. I think that this would be such a nice addition and start to your celebration to put into the welcome baskets with a nice travel sized candle for each room. There is nothing nicer than getting rid of hotel room scent and a nice gesture on the part of the bride and groom to help make their guest feel comfortable. Oh yes, printed on the box is the Oxford Dictionary definition for wedlock, "marriage mar'ij n. wedlock, to tie the knot: the union of a man and a woman as husband and wife, the perfect match." The Paper Fiesta Bunting is just so smart, adds a touch of fun to any event. It can be placed outside in trees, on fences, or on poles. Similarly, it can be strung up inside to add a fast dressing to any space. I love these Seed Favour Sets. They consist of 10 seed sticks that are ready to plant and will germinate in about 3 to 4 weeks. Available in a multitude of choices from Alpine Strawberries, to wildflowers and herbs they can be valuable for any occasion. What a nice way to give your guest a gift that is easy to travel with, they can deal with on their own time, not like a live plant, and can remind them over and over again about your beautiful soiree! And last, but definitely not least, the Wedding Sign. Made of enamel and printed on both sides it is such a good choice for corralling your guest to where they should be!

So now that I have shared all of these wonderful finds the sad news for us in the United States, as of tonight the exchange rate is just under two dollars to the pound. What a stinker! For now I will be satisfied by looking at the web site and dreaming of the day when the dollar is worth something again...

Keeping It All Together

Fortunately, I have been fairly good at keeping all of my ducks in a row organizationally with the wedding. However, I have not been using a wedding planning book, I found them to be cumbersome and not quite what fit me. I know that organization is a major challenge for a lot of brides. Recently I found Muse:Wedding Inspiration on line and think that it is just swell. It is completely customizable format that can suit any bride. As with most wedding planning you do need to spend some time setting it up and making it yours. I found this to be really nice because I was not sorting through junk that has nothing to do with my wedding.

There are spaces to work on your budget, and you can create multiple ones as well. There is a schedule, and places for ideas. The site is a bit nicer than paper because all information is in one place and can all communicate with itself. Leaves out the cross referencing and making sure that nothing was left out. So I hope that you find this as fun and functional as I did. Also, why not use it for other things in your life. It is a blank format, no one says that it has to be used for a wedding...

And I'm Back...

The past three weeks have been such a whirlwind.

It was so wonderful being able to spend so much time with my parents since the beginning of the month. The trip to St. Louis was fast, but great. The shower that I had there was so beautiful and it was such a treat to spend time with some of the women who have seen me grow up. I was also entrusted with the care of a beautiful fur stole belonging to the grandmother of my gracious shower host. I am planning on wearing it over my dress when the weather gets a bit chilly during the wedding. So excited!

Saturday, I was lucky enough to have another shower in Baltimore. Many of our friends and some of JP's family were able to join us, yes JP made an appearance at the shower as well. The shower was so beautiful, and the stories that were shared about JP and myself were thoughtful and a nice reminder of the times that we have shared with some of the most influential people in our lives.

There are not many times in ones life when friends and family are all able to gather and celebrate together. It has been so meaningful to have friends who care enough about us to create and organize events that made some of these times possible. We can not express how appreciative we are.

One of the highlights of last week was having my parents in town to go with me to my dress fitting. It was completely unexpected, but really fun. Even though we forgot to bring a camera, we did get some good mother daughter shots in with the cell phone.

We are just over a month away from the wedding at this point and are jam packed every weekend until we leave. My best friend from high school was at the shower on Saturday and wanted to get together for lunch some weekend before the wedding. I said that we would love to, but then started going through my schedule with her and realized that realistically the next time we will be able to have lunch with them before the wedding will be in Telluride. I have my checklist made and it seems that for everything that I check off I have about two more things to add, oh well, I love making lists!

One of the items on my list is wedding jewelry. With the exception of my dress and vail, I have been trying fairly hard to ensure that everything else wedding related can be used again, and not for something as fancy as a wedding. The jewelry has been a challenge. I did not want to spend a whole lot of money, and I did not want crazy wedding jewelry. For a while I was planning on doing some kind of pearl situation, I thought that I might make something, but after trying on a few pieces decided against it. I found a great necklace and I love it, so I bought it, but did so at a place that if I do not end of using it I can return it. So now I need earrings, but I think that I have a pair that will suit just fine already in the jewelry collection. But I am still on the lookout for a great pair of earrings that I could wear if I choose to wear my hair up and forgo the necklace. Trivial I know, but I like options.

Oh, I almost forgot that I picked up the bridesmaid dresses on Friday and Melissa was able to try hers on after the shower on Saturday and she looked stunning. I highly suggest TwoBirds to any bride. If makes it so easy and the look ends up being individual, sophisticated and effortless. Three things that I think most women try to achieve. I can't wait to see Lexi in hers next weekend.

So that is an overview of what has been going on. But stay tuned because I really do have some new blogs planned for the upcoming days.

Where is NPR?

Tuesday marks the start of crazy wedding season in our household. In the next twenty or so days I will be driving to and from St. Louis, in 8 days, and with our dog Porter. Attending two wedding showers, really excited about this, cooking my first Passover dinner. Driving to and from Philadelphia, working when I can, and continuing to prepare for the wedding, crafts and such. And the grand finale will be my bachelorette party!

So to kick off the month is the road trip to St. Louis with my mom. When JP and I go on road trips we inevitably start out listening to our local NPR station and then lose the signal, rude. But I was checking out their web site the other day and found this great service, who knows how long it has been around for, but it is step by step directions and listings of NPR stations along your route. How nice, to never have to go without it.

We are off to run all kinds of errands and then clean the house in preparation of the parental arrival.

Something to remember

My mom forwarded me some pictures from the dinner in the sky website. Apparently you can rent this service, and time any where, as long as there is an appropriately sized surface that can be secured.



What a unique way to celebrate, the table holds 22 people, great for an intimate rehearsal dinner, or small wedding party. Just make sure to limit peoples fluid intake...

It's Been A While

I am not quite sure what has happened in the past week, but I think that I just took a small computer vacation. But I am back now, I promise.


On second thought, what happened is that I purchased a button machine, went antiquing with Melissa in Pennsylvania, and dug my sewing machine out of the closet. I have been having a blast.


I am now making buttons as well as the flowers out of vintage table linens and they are going so well. {The excuse for purchasing the button machine is that I am using it for items for the wedding, which I am and you will see more on that later.} I began selling them at Red Tree as well and have been getting some really good responses. JP is so excited that I have gotten my creative side back, and he is being so accepting of the fact that the house has turned into a studio with all of my things spread out everywhere. He even took interest in the buttons and has picked out a few for himself.



For a while now I have been on a clutch kick. Sadly, all of the ones that I fall madly in love with are way out of my price range, such is life. So I decided to just go right ahead and start making some myself. When I was in PA with Melissa a few weekends ago gathering goods for the wedding I also picked up a great tea towel. It turned out that it transitioned really nicely into a clutch.



I chose a quilted nylon fabric, that was originally used for monogrammed flask covers that I gifted on New Years Eve in Telluride a few years ago. {Sorry no pictures, but they were really cute} At any rate, I am fairly happy with my first attempt at clutch making. I really want Melissa to give me a mini lesson, she makes beautiful ones, so that I have a better idea of what I am doing.

So that is what I have been up to, for the most part. We have started receiving RSVP's and it is so fun to open the mail box every day and see what has come in. So far the positives are winning. We also received out first gift, such fun!

We are off to NYC for a night at the end of the week for Fawad's opening and just used price line to book our hotel. I love price line, we got such a great rate and a hotel that I think should be some fun.