A Note To My Blog

Dear Blog,

Oh how I've missed posting to you.  Ideas have been swirling, but the motivation to pen them has been sadly lacking.

The last time I visited you was way back in August.  On my birthday, to be exact.  So much has happened since then.  Summer turned into fall, we went on the rainiest honeymoon in history, daylight savings time came to an end, my office moved to another location after a major power shift and then poof somehow it became November and now the start of the winter holiday season is just days away.  Jeez.
 
I promise to take better care of you, to post to you on a more regular basis, to keep content interesting and fresh.  I'll try to be motivated, even when I don't want to be, all for you, dearest blog.  All for you.

Now, onto some shameless photos.

water spout and GIANT rain cloud.  honeymoon.

hubs and bar graffiti in memory of honeymoon.

Tragic Tuesdays: Tunes

This song...I had no idea it was actually a real song until I googled it.  Crazy!

Any-who why this crazy song?  Well, it was on this day in 1422 that Henry VI became King of England and the shallow age of just 9 MONTHS.  A little wet behind the ears to be crowned King, dontchya think?

Here's an extremely brief history lesson for you:  (thanks to the Writer's Almanac)

Henry the VI  "was King Henry V's only child. In 1423, the year after he ascended to the throne, English nobles from around the land swore loyalty to their toddler king. They also set up a regency council to make government decisions until he was old enough to do so.  

It was about a century and a half later that William Shakespeare wrote a historical trilogy of plays about Henry VI. To get information about King Henry's life and times, Shakespeare used a reference book called The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and York, written by Edward Hall and published in 1548. The three Henry VI plays were among Shakespeare's earliest plays, and they were huge box office successes, helping to establish him as a major living playwright. These days they're hardly ever performed anywhere.  Still, there are many quotable Shakespearean lines in the Henry VI plays, like:

"Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends."

And,
"Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind;
The thief doth fear each bush an officer."

And, "Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep."

So, even though this song is about Henry VIII, not Henry VI, I thought it would still be fun.

Coffee Break Craving

Spotted this on a lunchtime cruise-through of my local Anthropolgie store the other day:

Boucle De Souffle Jacket by Ellevenses

Wait, it's also available in a rich, chocolately brown:

Boucle de Souffle Jacket by Elvenses

It's a cotton/wool blend with a slightly nubby texture and would be the perfect addition to my fall wardrobe. 

Don't be surprised when this Coffee Break Craving meats satisfaction.

In the Details: Old, New, Borrowed and Blue

So, I blogged about my dress here and I raved about my shoes here, but there were other fun little pieces of my ensemble that, while important to me, might have been overlooked, or unnoticed by others.  They deserve their own proverbial '15 minutes' too.

Behold, my lovely jewelry.  It looks like a pair of earrings, but it's really a ring (right) and a pendant (center) with a bracelet that was more for photo purposes than wearing.  The stones are swiss blue topaz surrounded by diamonds.  I saw this set and knew immediately that I had to have for my wedding.  I've worn it about a dozen times since then.   These also served as my 'something blue'.

Next up, was my 'something borrowed'.  My grandfather recently passed and I wanted to honor him at our wedding with more than mentioning him in our ceremony.  My mother and grandmother went through some of his things and came up with a small box of trinkets that were special to him.  One of those things was his Knights of Columbus lapel pin.  I never really talked to my grandfather about his role in his local chapter, or even what it meant to him, but I remember him being a very active participant in their events: parades, Christmas parties, formal dinners, etc.  So, when I saw the pin I knew that would be the piece.  On the day of our wedding my mom and I pinned it to my bouquet, and there it stayed.  It was with me the whole day.

me and mom fastening the pin. 

all pinned in.

Some other little fun pieces I carried or wore that day included a french linen, hand-embroidered hankie.  I came across a rather large collection of these at a vintage shop here in Philadelphia and sorted through them to pick out ten that I liked.  Each was hand embroidered with a different, but similar motif.  I gifted one to each of my bridesmaids (along with their custom made necklaces) one to each of our mothers and one to each of my sisters-in-law who were part of our ceremony reading.  Now that I am thinking about it, I should have photographed them all together, as I have NO pictures of them whatsoever.  Anyway, the one that I carried was embroidered with black eyed susans.  I carried it with my bouquet throughout the day.  I'm proud to say I never needed to dab my eyes with it, though at one point during our ceremony I was looking at Keith and realized he had some sweat beading up on his forehead.  I nearly reached over to wipe it away...it took a lot of willpower not too.  (part of me thought it inappropriate to reach and the other part thought it would be embarrassing to him.)  In his defense, the air was stuffy up at the altar, or at least WE thought it was.

Seeing my Dad for the first time that day, hankie in hand.

To round out the old, new, borrowed, blue tradition I was considering my dress, it's 'sash'  and my veil new so I guess that counts for that.  I've already talked extensively about my dress, so I won't go on about it again, but the sash part was fairly unexpected.  Back when I 'said yes to my dress' we also said yes to the accessories they outfitted me with: my veil and my swarovski crystal 'sash'.  In the spirit of full disclosure, my crystal sash was in fact a head piece.  It is meant to be worn like a headband with the ribbons tying under your hair at the nape of your neck.  Well, that wasn't going to work with my hair and the way I wanted to wear it.  I brought it home and tried it on my head in at least a 10 different ways.  I actually did get to a point where I had a headband style that I liked, but the longer I wore it the heavier it got, and it kept sliding backwards no matter how many pins I stuck in it. Somewhere in the middle of my last visit to Kleinfeld it was suggested that I wear it as a sash.  I wasn't sold on it at first.  I really loved the simplicity of my dress.  I liked that it wasn't covered in 'bling'; that's not my style.  I didn't want to leave this piece out of the equation though, so on my wedding day I tried playing with it in my hair again and was ready to give up when I decided to model it fashioned as sash.  Well, needless to say it was well received by my bridesmaids and I was even told that it 'made my dress'.  So, there I was, a bride in a swarovski crystal sash attached to ribbons and tied in the back.  And then there was Chelsea Clinton in her  crystal and pearl sash attached to ribbons and tied in the back about 6 weeks later, so how about THAT. 

my sash and my engagement ring

Getting help from Mom tying my sash

Let me tell you this: if there is one thing you are NOT allowed to do on your wedding day, it's dressing yourself.  Everyone around wants to help you put something on.  In the end, it's helpful, but if you don't give into the fact that you are not in control of getting dressed you will short circuit really fast.

Moving right along.

One of the last accessories I carried with me on my wedding day was my clutch.  It was definitely a last minute purchase.  I wasn't going to carry one at all since I would be bringing a bag-of-tricks with me to the reception (curling iron, touch up make up, hair brush, camera etc) I didn't think I would need one.  As is with most things I do, I decided at the very last minute that I wanted to carry a clutch and it had to be cute.  I started looking about a week before the wedding and was striking out left and right.  I was just about to give up when I hijacked the lunch hour of my coworker, Candice (yes, I'm Candi, she's Candice) and dragged her all across Rittenhouse looking for a clutch.  At one of the last stores on our hit list we found this light blue pearlescent leather clutch.  It wasn't exactly what I was looking for (I really wanted something yellow to match my shoes.) but it would match my jewelry as well as Keith's tie.  A few dollars later and we were walking out of the store with it.  When I got it home I decided it needed a little boost and quickly attached a peony flower pin to its side.  I was satisfied with it. Unfortunately, it barely held my camera, which is TINY, some cash and a lipgloss. Oh well.  It still looked cute which was part of the clutch criteria.

Purse, peony sash

So, that's that.  I honestly don't think I left anything out.  Those were all the little details I carried with me all day.  Yes, I did carry a bouquet, but that deserves it's own separate post, stay tuned.

I'll leave you with one last photo for this post.  It's me walking out the door towards the limo that would take my parents and me to the chapel.  We had just finished with 3 hours of photos on the beach and boardwalk with the bridal party and I had ran up to my room to refresh and grab the aforementioned bag-of-tricks.  (Which is tucked behind my back in this photo.)  When I came out the door my parents were waiting for me and the photographers were snapping away.  I remember looking up and thinking it was such an odd paparazzi moment, but also thinking 'holy cow, I'm getting in the car to go the chapel to get MARRIED!' 

Going to the chapel

All photos included in this post are courtesy of Artist European Photography

Tragic Tuesdays: Tunes

I found this song, recently, on another blog I read. (I can't remember which one, I just have the song title and artist scribbled down on a post-it that's stuck to my desk.)

The xx- Islands

I love the cool, almost brooding, melody that goes in and out of this song.  Not to mention the (weird) syncronized dancers remind me of the Fall 2009 Calvin Klein print campaign.  Take a look-see:

Happy Tuesday.  Can someone please make Friday get here faster??

Tragic Tuesdays: Tunes- Thursday Edition

Did everyone already know that 'Eep Op Ork Ah Ah' from the Jestons was sung by the Violent Femes?  I JUST found out.  How did that sneak past me?

In light of my newly acquired cartoon knowledge, I give you this week's Tragic Tune, complete with George on the drums!

 

I love you Jet Screamer!!!  Eep

And About Those Shoes

Right after I settled on my dress, I decided that in no way, shape or form would I be wearing white shoes.  I know it's traditional for brides to wear all white, but let's be honest, it's not 1952 any more and weddings have come a long way.

I understand that many brides chose to wear all white, but that just wasn't for me.  I wanted to wear a colored shoe.  Every outfit has to have that little pop to it, right?  Why couldn't the same be true for my wedding ensemble?

I started out thinking I would wear a green shoe to go with the navy and green scheme of the wedding..  I searched and searched for the right 'special occasion' green shoe and just couldn't find it anywhere.  I even considered buying a white satin shoe and having it dyed green.  The more I thought about that, the more it conjured up images of junior prom dresses with shoes 'dyed to match'.  I red lined that idea rather quickly.

I came across these no-longer-available green shoes from J. Crew.  The Martine Satin Slingback.  I must have seen them on some other bride's feet on some other blog and hunted to find out what they were and where I could find them.  Well, I won't even tell you how devastated I was when I found out they were no longer available.  I went to my favorite discontinued item website: Ebay.   I figured someone must have bought them, didn't wear them, was unable to return and put them up on America's biggest yard sale. Someone must have!  Well, poof:  there they were.  Green Martine Satin Slingbacks by J. Crew.  Apparently these shoes are in high demand and the price proved it.  Listen, my wedding was a special occasion and I was willing to spend some coin on my shoes, but not the kind of coin that Ebay sellers were demanding.  Sooooooo, back to the drawing board.  (but not before saving an alert in MyEbay for all new listings on Martine Satin Slingbacks - all colors!)

On went the search for the green shoe.  The internet is a powerful shopping tool, friends.  One day I came across these shoes on DSW:

Capparos via DSW

The price was beyond reasonable and they had my size, so I bought them.  A few days later they were at my door.  The color was nice, the fit was alright, but overall the shoe just wasn't exactly what I wanted.  The satin was stiff, the rosette was too tightly wound, I really wasn't in love with the platform and they were not soft looking like the J. Crew shoes. However, I decided to keep them.  If I couldn't find anything else these would 'do'.

So the search continued.  I frequented the online shoe department at Saks and Neiman Marcus.  I would scan sites like Endless and Piperlime; which is where I found these: 

Badgley Mishka 'Hyde' via Piperlime

I thought I had found the shoe to end my Goldilocks style hunt.  What's that you're saying?  This shoe is blue.  I thought she wanted green.  Well, yes.  This shoe is blue.  I did want green.  But again, I was willing to settle.  This shoe matched the blue in the jewelry that I was going to wear and it also matched the blue of the purse I carried and the blue of the ribbon that my bouquet was wrapped in and the blue of the tie my groom was wearing.  (More on all those other pieces later.)  So, why not blue!?!?  This shoe could be my answer.  Sure the heel was slightly higher than I wanted to wear, but I would manage.  I was ready to drop this item into my shopping cart when I noticed they didn't have my size.  I might have started banging my head on my desk.  I might have yelled at my computer.  There might have been steam coming out of my ears. I couldn't say for sure.

Well, at least I already had a pair of shoes...

Remember when I said I saved a search in Ebay for those J. Crew shoes?  Enter the saved-search-email containing a link to a pair of my dream shoes (in my size), but in yellow.  Aaaah!  Why can't they be green.  Why?!?!  Whatever.  I clicked the link, read the item description and saw the price.  I don't really think this seller knew that she had a shoe so high in demand when she set her price.  For a pair of hard to find, new without the box, never worn shoes (not a mark on those soles, ladies) I felt like I was stealing these shoes.  So what if they were yellow.  I had to see them in person.  I had to put them on my feet.  I had to make sure they were everything I thought they were.  I don't think it was a full 5 minutes before I clicked the 'buy now' button.  A few days later I had the shoes and they were everything I had dreamed of.  The satin was soft, not stiff like the ones I already owned.  The leather inside was supple.  They fit like a dream.  The knot on top was the perfect size and they were so comfortable.  I decided that I could romp around my wedding day in these with no problems!

Getting ready  for my first fitting, I really wanted to see how each shoe looked with my dress  (even though I had already decided the green ones were out) so I brought them both.  Both my Mom and the woman fitting my dress, Marina, liked the green, but not me.  I really wanted the yellow.  My mind was made up.

Yellow shoes on my feet on my wedding day:  I loved it.  And so did my photographers and videographer and my bridesmaids and most of my guests.  (I actually overheard someone saying 'what was she thinking with those yellow shoes?' ...really??? I'm standing right behind you.  Duh.)  I am so happy that the shoe gods bestowed these little yellow gems upon me.  So happy.

And now for the shameless yellow shoe photos from my wedding photographers:

acting as an engagement ring holder

just hanging out on the window

getting cozy with a bridesmaid's bouquet

getting a little help putting them on from my bm's.

finally on my feet

in full-force on the sandy beach

making their statement in the park

and last but not least making a sunset appearance on the dock

There you have it, as with my dress, I loved my shoes. And for the record- these are not the first, only or last pair of yellow shoes I own.

(last 8 photos courtesy of Artist European Photography)