Pinterest Sunday

Time for my weekly Pinterest roundup! Every Sunday, I share with you a few of my favorite finds from the previous week.

My biological clock must have been ticking extra loud this week because I've got all baby related pins for you!

First, up you know I'll have to pass on my owl obsession to my child right?

Source: etsy.com via Jenn on Pinterest

Organic wood teethers in an owl shape.  How cute!

Next, M and I love giraffes, so you know they'll be involved in the nursery.

Source: etsy.com via Jenn on Pinterest

How cute is this giraffe mobile?

And finally, I shared with you the idea of using Ikea spice racks as nursery bookshelves in my first Pinterest post. This week, I found another nursery that used this idea!

Source: ohdeedoh.com via Jenn on Pinterest

I love the idea of having it down low so the child can easily access the books. We have a window in the room that will be the nursery that these would fit under perfectly.

Valentine Decor

I totally forgot that I took pictures of my Valentine decor and didn't share them with you!

Here's my Valentine "mantle"

I told you I needed more Valentine decorations! Sadly, I didn't find anything I liked in the stores this year, so I'll have to keep an eye out next year.

The picture frames are from Target. They always have cute frames for the various holidays/seasons. I have lots of these around our house. They are usually around $5. Sometimes I buy them when they're on sale and sometimes I wait until they go clearance the day after the holiday. It just depends on if I really "need" it!

The picture on the left is from one of our first dates and the picture on the right was taken the summer before we got engaged.

The cupcake was a gift from my mom. It usually lives on my kitchen windowsill.

What did I do with my Ikea vase?

Filled it with conversation hearts! I bought 2 bags at the grocery store when they were on sale. I figure they'll probably keep for a couple years, so I'll get more use out of them. The candle is also from Ikea.

I did find some super cute owl window clings at the grocery store, but I already took them down, so no picture!

I won't be decorating for St. Patrick's Day as neither of us is Irish and I've never really celebrated it. I'll wear green that day and that will be the extend of my "celebrating." I'm using the time between holidays to find some decorations for our mantle when it's not holiday time. I've got my eye on lots of cute things at Michael's. I won't be decorating for Easter until March 24, so plenty of time to find new stuff!

(I am totally trying to justify a trip to HomeGoods soon!)

Do you decorate for holidays? What's your favorite place to find decor items?

Wedding Wednesday: Booking the Reception

As I said before, I considered this venue to be my number one choice. I was willing to change my wedding date to get it and I hadn't even seen it in person yet! I used the ballroom's website to contact them and after some e-mail and phone tag, we set up a time to visit.

Saturday morning, M, my mom, and I headed to downtown G-town. I love downtown G-town because it still has a wonderful vintage charm. The ballroom is on the third floor of a building originally built in 1909. We took the stairs to the top (there's also an elevator) and it was love at first sight!

The room has wonderful large windows on 2 walls with great views of the courthouse in the middle of downtown. I loved the vintage woodwork and the beautiful chandeliers. Even though the tables and chairs weren't set up, I could see great potential in the room.

Picture this without the horrible snow!

The manager of the ballroom gave us a folder of information and told us lots of great details. The great news? We won't have to rent anything! The tables, chairs, and linens are all included! We get the entire top floor which includes the ballroom, restrooms, a coatroom, and a smaller room to use however we want. Since the ballroom is so large, we can have the buffet right in there with us or we could set it up in the smaller room. We could also use the smaller room as a a set up area for the caterer.

And the best news? The price was well under budget! I was sold. However, I did take some advice from the bridal books and decided to wait a few days before signing the contract. I used those days to think about my decision, but in the end, we knew it was exactly what we wanted. A couple days later, I signed the contract and wrote a check. No turning back now! We had a church and a reception!

How did you chose your reception venue? Did you visit more than one or were you a bad bride like me?

Pinterest Monday?

Sorry, but a bit of a stomach bug has meant I've been sleeping much of the past 36 hours.  This week you get a quick look at my favorite Pinterest finds of the week.

Source: thepioneerwoman.com via Jenn on Pinterest

I LOVE this custom Kitchenaid mixer that Pioneer Woman is giving away! So pretty and so unique.  Too bad there are only 4! I've entered to win one, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  I'd gladly give up my red one for this beauty!

Source: tumblr.com via Jenn on Pinterest

Ok, seriously, how cute is this? I've seen it repinned several times and I just couldn't resist. The chubby legs just kill me.




In other news, I really am trying to blog about things other than Pinterest and wedding stuff, but I find it hard to think of subjects. Any suggestions for what you'd like to read about?  Please leave me a comment!

M and I were able to get out some this weekend. We had fun with friends on Saturday night. We used a Living Social deal for dinner and then hit up our local Borders store, which is sadly closing. The store was packed and books were 20-30% off. M picked up some books for himself and I got a children's book to add to my collection.


The Pigeon Wants a Puppy
(I LOVE the Pigeon books!)

Sunday, I  felt well enough in the afternoon to hit up the local cinema. We finally got to see The King's Speech and it was wonderful! (I found it funny that we were the youngest people in the theater.) We both really enjoyed it and definitely think it should win a few Oscars.

Wedding Wednesday: Going to the Chapel

Photo by Amanda Fales Photography

I knew from early on in our relationship that M's only requirement for his wedding was that it take place at the Catholic church he had grown up in. This was fine with me since I didn't really have a home church. Although M did not ask me to, I began the process of converting to Catholicism a few months before we were engaged. When we became engaged, we settled on a date fairly quickly and booked our first venue...our church!

We were engaged on Christmas Eve and booked the church on January 29. We met with our priest for what turned out to be a fairly casual meeting. He asked us a few questions about ourselves and then asked the church required questions, such as if either of us had been married before. Since I was in the RCIA class, he knew that I was not baptized, but that I would be at Easter. After we satisfactorily answered his questions, we were officially put on the calendar!

We were actually the first wedding they booked for 2010. It seemed early, but once I knew we had the date for sure, I felt comfortable looking for other vendors. My next goal was to get the reception site I had my eye on. Of course, I wanted to check it out first and look over their catering options.

As for the church, we didn't need to do anything for about a year. We were to start the marriage classes about 6 months before the wedding. I was sure I'd be calling the parish office with questions before that though.

It was so nice to finally be able to tell people an exact date when they asked! I felt so proud checking off something on the wedding checklist.

How soon did you book your ceremony venue? Did you get the date you wanted?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Pinterest Sunday

Time for my weekly Pinterest roundup! Every Sunday, I share with you a few of my favorite finds from the previous week.

First, my owl obsession continues with this cute mug.

Source: modcloth.com via Jenn on Pinterest

Next, how beautiful is this nursery?

Source: potterybarnkids.com via Jenn on Pinterest

Love the colors and large photographs!

And finally, another recipe I want to try!

Source: designspongeonline.com via Jenn on Pinterest

Homemade peanut butter cups...these look so yummy!

Wedding Wednesday: Planning & Inspiration

I admit that I was always the girl who dreamed about her wedding. I have been mildly obsessed with weddings for years. I had even been planning the event prior to meeting my husband. Of course, it's amusing to look back now and see what I really did compared to my "dream" wedding. But as a girl who loved weddings, I collected inspiration for years. For today's Wedding Wednesday, I wanted to share with you the resources I used throughout my wedding planning for planning and inspiration.

First up, the magazines!  I loved those 400+ page volumes with their ads galore and an occasional article thrown in. I loved to pull pages out of them and file them away.  Here are the ones I read...

Martha Stewart Weddings (1-year auto-renewal)
What isn't Martha and her team of minions an expert on?  I loved Martha Stewart Weddings even if the ideas were insanely too DIY, fussy, or just plain expensive.  It's a great magazine to get dress ideas from, just don't get too attached if you're on a dress budget of say less than $5,000. I actually got my subscription free from My Coke Rewards.  Finally, my Coke addiction got me something!


Bridal Guide (1-year auto-renewal)
Bridal Guide is a good resource for all brides. I found lots of good inspiration in this magazine and they actually acknowledge that not everybody wants to spend $25,000 on a wedding. I got this subscription free too. I think it was through one of those free magazine websites where you fill out a survey to qualify.


Brides (1-year auto-renewal)
I actually had a subscription to Modern Bride (through My Coke Rewards), but when they stopped publishing Modern Bride, they sent me Brides. Lots of pretty ads and the occasional helpful article. They can get a lot out of budget range, but there are always was to do things cheaper.

My mom wanted to buy me a wedding planner when I got engaged, but I just ended up using the free wedding planner from Russell & Hazel.Check out their wedding planning templates HERE. I just printed the ones that were relevant to my wedding and organized them in a 3-ring binder I bought at an office supply store. Super cheap and actually helpful! More than one vendor marveled at how organized I was with my binder.

My mother did insist on buying me a book, so I picked out this one

The Knot Complete Guide to Weddings in the Real World: The Ultimate Source of Ideas, Advice, and Relief for the Bride and Groom and Those Who Love Them.

I liked it because it had things to look for and questions to ask vendors. I read through it a little and did refer to those questions when planning vendor interviews, but other than that I didn't use it much. I passed the book onto my brother's fiancee when they got engaged.

After checking it out of the library, I really wished I had gotten this book:

The Knot Book of Wedding Lists
I loved having checklists and lists when wedding planning and this book is full of them! It has lists for every aspect of planning and I really found it helpful since I really had no clue what I was doing!  It also had those vendor questions I loved so much from the other book.

To be honest, most of planning and inspiration came from the internet. I had organized folders on my computer full of pictures I had saved from the internet. I had a bookmark folder of wedding websites I read I started using a Google Reader to keep up with the wedding blogs I found. The internet is a bride's best friend. It's how I found most, if not all, of my vendors.

Here's my list of wedding websites that I still read nearly 8 months after my wedding.

• Weddingbee - Can I just gush about my favorite website for a minute? Real brides, in various cities around the world, planing every kind of wedding imaginable and they share it all with us! I found lots of inspiration from the Bees and I still read it. I love their message boards. I am still posting there only now I'm sharing my own wedding. I had dreams of becoming a Weddingbee blogger, but it turns out I was a terrible wedding blogger and I just couldn't do it. Ok, I'm done...on with the list!
• Once Wed
• Style Me Pretty
• Snippet & Ink
• Ritzy Bee Blog
• The Bridal Wishlist
• Project Wedding Blog
• Elizabeth Anne Designs
• Southern Weddings Magazine
• Wedding Chicks

I also read the message boards at The Knot, but I don't post there. Their local boards are actually usually pretty helpful!

Have any wedding resources I missed? Share them in the comments! 

Pinterest Sunday

Time for my weekly Pinterest roundup! Every Sunday, I share with you a few of my favorite finds from the previous week.

First up, something fun for Doctor Who fans.

Source: etsy.com via Jenn on Pinterest

Fans of the 10th Doctor will remember the Doctor's famous Timey Wimey Detector from the episode "Blink." (A.k.a. The scariest/creepiest episode of Doctor Who ever. Seriously, I screamed when I watched it & I refuse to watch it ever again.) Anyway, I found this necklace on Etsy and I just love it. It's a subtle, classy nod to my favorite show.

Next, a recipe I'm dying to try!

Source: traceysculinaryadventures.blogspot.com via Jenn on Pinterest

Soft pretzel bites!  M and I love soft pretzels and these look a bit easier to make than actual pretzels.

Next, it's time for a cute picture to make you smile!

Source: zooborns.com via Jenn on Pinterest

Seriously, how cute is this baby rhino? I found the website Zoo Borns the other day and now I check it everyday to say "awww." Baby animals can make any day better.

And bonus pin this week!

Source: modcloth.com via Jenn on Pinterest

I found this dress this morning and I can't stop looking at it.  I love it! (Although, I'd love to see it in some other colors...maybe a nice pink?) Really considering this one for my brother's wedding now.