i know what i am doing for thanksgiving

besides the massive amount of cooking and eating that will no doubt occur, i am going to be spending the majority of my weekend pouring over the wedding pictures "). they arrived in my inbox this very morning ... you can only imagine my delight. i hope everyone has a most wonderful holiday.

{all images from the fabulous parker j}

oh my ...

so if i could do it again, i totally would. getting married was a raucous good time and who doesn't want to have that much fun on at least a semi-regular basis?? if i were to have our wedding part II i would snag this dress (with a much more modest slip that is) add a lot of balloons (because yes they are the new cupcakes) and make sure there were way more cameras lolling around on tables because we are STILL waiting for our photos!

{dress by alexis mabille found on shiny squirrel ... please click over to alexis' site, the clothes are jaw dropping and need to fill my closet, as in the whole thing and right now}

leif holland

i have found myself to have gone stick crazy recently. seriously every time i take frances out for a jaunt i end up coming back home with 2-5 sticks in my hand. it started with this incredibly awkward empty waste of space spot in our home needing to be filled (it is always nice to bring a bit of the outdoors in, no?) and has since taken on a life of its own. soon we are going to have about 20 square feet of a stick forest about 10 feet above our fireplace.


anyway while over at poppytalk i happened upon a leif holland and felt a twinkling of a kindred spirit. maybe when we relinquish our poorly laid out apartment i will hack up the sticks and create something almost as beautiful that we can take with us and keep in our home forever. until then i will just soak these up and keep to creating the cvd+mas forest.

betty pepper

jewelry beautifully made from books by betty pepper found over at notcouture.

film festivals and the cutest little nuggets

i am off for the weekend. we are heading northerly for ... wait for it ... a film festival. woohoo! a breath of city, or kind of. i am patiently waiting until monday to see twilight (yes i am one of those. i also obsess over harry potter and used to be a huge video game person) so i am getting my movie fix a different way.

but to leave you with something that *hopefully* makes you smile :

{all photos available at sharon montrose's etsy shop ... and on my christmas list}

because i still like wedding dresses

so if you are in the market for a dress i would recommend heading over to this post over at once wed. healthy discount on anything derek lam ... um ok. maybe i could get away with wearing this to mas' holiday office party?? that might be reaching a bit.

my new kitchen

{photo and receipe from the most amazing food blog pictures and pancakes}

i'm not going to lie ... registering was kind of a fun part of the whole wedding process. mas and i had about one and a half kitchens worth of kitchen stuff before the wedding so we kept the registry to the really fun and practically absurd (do you really ever use steak knives? would a fancy gigantic juicer really add something positive to our lives? do i really need a pastry scraper? - yes).

anyway our new tools plus our weekly farm share have completely transformed our diets. it is fantastic, i just love it. last night we broke into our new slow-cooker and let me tell you it is wonderful and amazing. i made a guiness and meat pie and though it didn't quite look like the picture above it tasted quite nice and was a complete departure from our normal eats.

wishing i were 12 ...

um ... have you been to the blog style rookie?!?!? a friend alerted me to this absolutely obsession worthy body of work created by a 12 year old named tavi who has a norwegian mother and a jewish father and one hell of a sense of self. she is phenomenal is her bittyness. i. can't. get. enough.

mociun

{available here}

ah! i can't believe i am just hearing about the opening of an online mociun store!!! i have loved mociun ever since i happened upon the most perfect pair of leggings a couple of years ago on some random website. it was a pain in the ass trying to get those leggings but my lovely mom prevailed and found them in time to make the most lovely christmas present. anway ... now that i have a place the presumably sells most everything that is mociun i no longer will have to get my relatives to do the dirty work (though i very much appreciated it mom!).

{available here}

ben chrisman photography

so i'm kinda a fan. maybe it is all of the weight in the corners and maybe it is just because these pictures are so not your average wedding fare. whatever it is i have decided that i love ben chrisman.






see more fabulous images at his website here and his blog over here.

crazy days

{for a bit of color - floral ocean by betsy walton}

so it has been crazy around here. i finally got the feeling back in all of my limbs (getting back from the honeymoon left them all a little light and airy) and have hunkered down to prepare myself for the holidays. goodness there is so much to be done. also spring time is quickly approaching and all of a sudden i have a bit of work to do. and on an exciting note there is a lot of new work that has passed through the studio as of late so i will be posting pictures of those lovelies later this week and then early next.

for now though i must direct you to one of the best websites ever, ted: ideas worth spreading. a treasure trove of short, interesting and educational videos having to do with just about everything under the sun. my dad sent me a link this morning having to do with underwater camouflage and i watched it three times ... thanks dad.

my walls

{prop/set styling by the wonderful martha bernabe)

about five months ago i talked endlessly about painting our walls, and deep down i meant it. but you see we are renting our abode and after talking to our land lord who would like for us to paint the walls back to their original color we decided it was just too much work for the amount of time we have left in this place. so it never happened. however, i am constantly thinking about our next house, one that we plan on staying in for at least a while. and sometimes i see a room that i just have to incorporate. this room is just that, only i don't imagine it will be easy. the color is bright, slightly harsh and pretty much the antithesis of all the other greys i have in my mind. oh well it is all in my dream world for now anyway.

one red robin

i am kinda liking this print of tango the peg bear by australian artist j. monte aranez. found in her etsy shop, one red robin.

alyson fox and design*sponge

i am really hoping everyone saw the post on design*sponge yesterday about alyson fox's wedding. it was wonderful and fabulous and shot partly with a holga! SWOON.

{photo via the blog of ashley garmon photographers}

if you somehow missed the pictures or just to see more of this event, including the dress the bride designed and made for herself, go to the originally mentioned post here or here.

indulging in my girlie side

for the most part i tend to stay away from pink, floral patterns and anything overly girlie. in fact i find myself needing to be surrounded by greys, blues, dark browns and deep but vibrant greens in order to be happy. however i have this huge soft spot for the random frilly piece and today when i found nice (thank you poppytalk) i found a few things i might be able to incorporate into our home ... maybe.

we have a serious lack of storage space in our apartment, which is pretty comical since it is nearly twice as big as our place in chicago, so i was thinking about hanging hooks (a very many of them all different) along our very narrow front hall wall. you know so i can hang my purse, jacket, scarf, etc. perhaps this guy could hang out amongst the hooks? {available here}



and while i am pretty sure this would get nixed by mas for in the house ... maybe i could swing this light shade in my work area? oh i love it so. {available here}

fern fiddle head

i am an absolute nut about my laptop. in fact it is a serious problem when traveling. first of all, i always bring it with me and second i am uber-protective of it. i am not the type to wrap it in a scarf, throw it in a bag and be on my way. it has a case, a black neoprene one that keeps it safe and sound and kinda lacks any sort of flair. so i was thinking, wouldn't it look prettier in one of these?????

{laptop cases from fern fiddle head's etsy shop}

veterans day

{polaroid from eric trine found here}

since mas has one of those cushy government jobs he has the day off! so ... we are going to hide out together, alone, maybe with bicycles or maybe with sail boats. see you guys tomorrow.

brandi strickland

head over to the shiny squirrel and feast on the wonders of brandi strickland ... all on sale!

elizabeth dye

{photo via elizabeth dye}

my wedding was perfect, i mean really perfect. i didn't get to do half of the stuff i had originally planned on doing, but really that was for the best (thank you east side for informing me of that fact). instead of running around like a crazy the week before i was able to enjoy the company of my family and friends who i see very rarely now that i live on the far away coast. anyway on to elizabeth dye ...

if i had the option to change one thing about the wedding it would be my dress. don't get me wrong i absolutely loved my dress and it worked out very well, but honestly i spent way too much on it only to spend way too much in alterations to make it different enough so that i wouldn't feel like a million other brides out there in the world. if i could do it all over again i would take a long weekend, head up to portland (hello my favorite city on the west coast and maybe even in the world) and meet with the most wonderful elizabeth dye. i swing by her blog every once in a while to see what she is up to and i love all of it.

abigail brown

i love these creature cards from abigail brown. i'm only wishing i had some little one somewhere in my life to give them to. available here.





oh and i have i ever mentioned how badly i want one of her birds??? they are just lovely.

truly smitten

{photo found on once wed and shot by max wanger}

i thought that with the end of my wedding would come a lull in my obsession with wedding blogs. well let me tell you, that is absolutely not the case. turns out i am just kind of a fan of weddings .. who knew?

while over at once wed i happened across this most amazing wedding. the most adorable couple with so much personality crammed into their pictures i just want to take bring them home with me and live in their happy world for a bit.

a late fall

{photo from here}

the weather is cooling down here (slightly at least. we have a range of about 20 degrees year round so cooling down means hovering in the low 60's.) anyway, with the cooler weather comes the comfort food and i can't wait for oatmeal in the mornings. i found this post over at joy the baker and can't wait to indulge myself in a simple but delicious breakfast for the next few months.

ruffles are an obsession

{geren ford available here}

it would kinda be like wearing my bolero ... only on an everyday basis.

it is good to be back ... well maybe

{mas and i in front of the snaefellsjokull glacier, did i mention that everyone should go to iceland?}

after a most glorious wedding (sorry i have NO pictures yet but i will post some soon) and an absolutely fantastical honeymoon i am back at home and at work. i have a lot of catch up to do today as i was pretty horrible with email the entire time i was gone, our house is looking worse than it did the day the movers dumped our stuff everywhere and all of the food that is still (regretfully) in the house has tuned a funny shade of green or white or brown or black. it is just going to be one of those days that npr lingers in the background while i run around like a crazy person. so much fun.

oh and on a completely different subject, i must say that i am absolutely thrilled that we made it back in time for the election! both mas and i took advantage of early voting (thank goodness for that) but it would have been awfully sad to have missed the celebrations. i suppose it would, of course, have been better if we were in chicago for the evening but one can't have everything. hooray obama!

Almost home

After three days of travelling we catch our last flight into San Luis
Obispo in a couple of hours, and thank goodness. My clothes are
beyond dirty and I think I now permanently smell like airplane. (Such
a small price to pay for SUCH an amazing trip.)

I'll be back to regular posting tomorrow.

ps - go to Iceland

Just Waiting