I have a new favorite happy-mood-maker.

It is impossible, impossible, to listen to the songs on
Mindy Gledhil's CD, Anchor,

and not feel like hugging your husband

and dancing.

Listen Here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AWRHBHDVlQ

I just finished up a special order for Oswald the Owl address labels

for my designer friend Martha.

 

 (It's a birthday present for her sister. Shh!)

So cute. 

Spring

Summer

 Autumn

Winter

 

*names and addresses have been changed

It is a happy place

To be

Where oranges become

Winking jack-o-lanterns

Like tiny pumpkins –

Only much sweeter.

 

And it is even happier

To be

Where husbands become

Giggling companions

Like fairy tale princes –

Only much better.

And it is happier still

To realize

Your husband became

The only one you’d ever

ever

want

to carve

orange jack-o-lanterns with.

 

And he is

Unlike anyone else –

In the whole world.

A Very Unusual Date Night

Timmy: If you had told me this morning that 

I would be doing this for tonight…

*to be continued*

Four.

I'm happy to be here, at the end of four months, 

ready to jump into the beginning of five.

Five is going to bring exciting things like…

Groupon marketing…

Radio advertising…

Gym partnerships…

a new website,
new newsletters,

and a really awesome

"day after Thanksgiving"
(which also happens to be Apple's five month birthday,
which also happens to be my twenty-fourth birthday)
sale. 


Whew.

Farewell, four! 
Hello five!

Dear Timmy,

 

I appreciate the fact that you show
great enthusiasm for all of my creative ventures. 

Even when that means you spend a good deal of time waiting and waiting
while I take picture after picture of plant silhouettes.
 

I love that you share my enthusiastic ramblings
as I relate how pretty the plant shapes look
with a colorful sunset illuminated behind them. 

I adore knowing that you adore me.

 

And I would just like to say, 

you’re my favorite silhouette.

Love, your favorite girl

Lessons Learned: From The Wedding

300+ yards of gauzy fabric can be had for 10 cents,
if you have thrifty parents with amazing connections.

My husband can rock a bouquet.
And looks very attractive in dress pants.

Body tape hurts. And doesn't work. 

And is nearly is impossible to put on.

Bringing trees into a sanctuary also brings in spiders.
Big spiders that crawl up the pastor's shirt as he is reading the marriage vows… 

It is nearly impossible to not laugh
when you see that big spider scurrying across the pastor's shirt. 
(But I didn't laugh.)

High heeled oxfords are not comfortable to stand in for a long ceremony.
And no matter how sneakily you try to shift your feet…
it will be caught on camera. 

Even if he doesn't understand WHY
my Dad is willing to cut down trees with a chainsaw

and spend an afternoon creating a forest in the sanctuary.

My mom and dad are pretty much the definition of good parents personified.

(When we grow up, Timmy and I want to be just like them.)

If you can't figure out how to pin a boutonniere,

and nobody else can either,

sticking it in a vest pocket works quite nicely.

If the best part of a wedding is getting married,

the second best parts are the moments leading up to it.

(Planning, Decorating, Shoe Shopping… etc.)

Big sisters are pretty darn cute,

especially when they are pregnant.

Boys like to jump. 

The only thing better than having a little sister

is having a married little sister

and a new little brother to love.

Photo Booth

 In the corner of the reception stood a booth where smiles were made. 

A trunk full of pretty props happily offered their services to guests.  

And a photographer with a tripod (That’s me!) smilingly snapped photo after photo. 

 

Suddenly, gentlemen in top hats and lovely ladies with silk gloves and oriental fans, 

 found themselves hanging in a frame on the wall of an old fashioned home. 

So cute. 

 

(The photo booth was created to look like a framed photo hanging on a wall. This is further evidence of my dad’s talent. I gave him description of what I was envisioning, and he managed to perfectly create my thoughts.) 

 

The Reception

And so, it was with dreamy smiles and bubbling laughter that the bride and groom arrived at their wedding reception. It is probable that they hardly noticed a single thing around them, except the love in each other’s eyes. But, if they had been happily gazing they would have seen a gymnasium completely transformed into a flowing tent of white. Yards and yards of gauzy fabric covered the ceiling, walls, basketball hoops, and mats, creating a delightfully sweeping canopy. 

Old couches, chairs, trunks, lamps, and rugs were artfully strewn about the floor, arranged into eye pleasing corners and romantic alcoves. It certainly appeared as if tiny fairies had secretly waved their wands and altered the drab gym into an enchanted world. (But those of us who did the decorating knew that fairies had nothing to do with it.) 

Strands of pearls mingled with old books, and vintage brooches were tucked into arrangements of dainty stems and tiny vases of blooms. Bouquets in the deepest shades of fall flowers overflowed onto tables and chairs, bringing in the spicy mingling scent of autumn.  

The food table was adorned with platters created from trunks of slender trees,
settled among dried hydrangea blooms and grasses. 

Towers of cookies, cupcakes, and cakes were piled onto cut glass serving platters. (Mom not only made all of the food herself, but she also purposely chose “vintage” foods with romantic names that fit the reception theme. She amazes everyone.) Tiny labels announced each delicate dessert – Jeweled Thumbprints, Almond Tipped Shortbread, Viennese Crescents, Pinwheels, Cappuccino Flats, Pineapple Upside Down Cake…

Gorgeous dessert plates, collected from antique shops and thrift stores, waited in happy stacks for lines of celebrating friends. Each plate had a different face, and the effect was perfectly charming. (Oh, I do love mismatching vintage plates! Lucky me, I got to keep many of them...)

Gifts and cards were collected in an old white trunk.

Nearby a table, devoted entirely to the happy couple, beamed with radiance. For it was here that photos of the love birds hung from fluttering ribbons, mixed with sweet facts and darling quotes, accented with bunting and organza blooms. 

  A golden bell was used for ringing, demanding kisses from the newlyweds. 

The guest book was a tree, and each guest stamped a finger print “leaf” in its branches, signing their names nearby.  

In the corner stood a photo booth – but we’ll talk more about that later.

 

It was beautiful to see groups of guests perched on couches, laughing and smiling among the many vintage details. We all watched with perfect delight as the couple made their rounds with smiles that lit up the room. 

 Sweetness filled every heart as Caleb sang his bride a lovely song he had written just for her. Toasts were made and joy emanated throughout every corner of the reception hall.

 

The night passed quickly, as magical nights tend to do, and in what seemed to be an instant, it was time for the newlyweds to say their goodbyes. Cheers rang into the wind as everyone gathered outside in the growing darkness, hugging, kissing, and shouting best wishes. We saw sparkling eyes and smiling faces from within their car as they sped away…

What we did not see, and can only guess, is two pretty faces smiling with pure happiness as two pretty hands – with new rings gracing their fingers – intertwined.  

Husband and wife.