Eye candy

I've been away from the blog for awhile.  I was completely taken out of commission when I got sick for roughly the fifth time since January.  That sucked.  Since then, I've been playing catch-up.  My wedding time right now needs to go toward addressing our save the dates which finally arrived this past weekend.  I had some camera play time a couple of weeks ago after getting some Easter candy in the mail (inspired by a blog contest) so I figured I'd share what I came up with (before it all ended up in my stomach-except for the ring, of course).  I can't wait until I have a DSLR again, but it's still fun to wax creative.

{all photos by me, candy compliments of my mom}

For the love of chocolate

If I had attended this wedding with this amazing looking chocolate bar I’m pretty sure I would’ve thought I’d died and gone to heaven.

I don’t think this will be redone at our wedding but I can only hope to someday be in a room with so much delicious chocolate up for grabs. That’s the stuff dreams are made of.

Dandelion love

Well over a year and a half into this engagement, wedding planning has morphed into something entirely different.  In the beginning it was all about inspiration and ideas.  And I filled my head with a lot of those.  But now it is becoming much more real, and I have moved past that in many ways.  In part it is due to necessity.  There is no more time to sit and daydream.  Decisions are being made and I'm behind on the to-do list.  It's like when you write giant research paper and you have to spend hours on the front end finding quality research, reading it, collecting data, etc.  And then finally it's time to write and you just have to hunker down and focus on your paper.
Also, my brain is full.  Most of the images that fill my google reader start to look the same.  Fabric bunting?  Seen that before.  Bride in Manolo Blahniks?  Next!  But every once in awhile I come across something I absolutely adore.

If I had a flower girl, I would send her down the aisle with dandelions, just like this.  I mean, seriously, how perfect would that be?  How charming would it be for her to reach the front and blow all of the seeds to the wind?  So much more natural than rose petals or a fancy floral arrangement.  Love.

We wove a web in childhood, a web of sunny air.
[Charlotte Bronte]

Photo from ::here::

Smile

From ::here::

Ice cream sundae bar

I love ice cream.  I was thinking of doing an ice cream sundae bar at the wedding but, for the moment at least, have decided to go with something a little less complicated.  Anyway, Eat Drink Chic has created the most opulent sundae bar I've ever seen, along with lots of pictures.  It's a great idea source to get your imagination rolling.

MmmMmmmMMmm....

Love it

I don't think I need any words to explain why I love this.

But allow me to add, so that you may understand why I am SO taken with this right now, that I was in love with the wildflowers in Minnesota this summer.  During my visit back, that's one of the things that stood out the most.  Which was kinda weird, because here on this tropical island we have flowers in bloom everywhere and all the time.  Many days I'm overwhelmed with the scent of flowers in the air.  But I was still struck by the beautiful wildflowers growing all over in Minnesota.  I don't much care for fancy arrangements of roses and other fancy flowers but you can give me a hand-picked collection of wildflowers any day.

Loveliness from ::here::

Canning lemonade

How come I've never seen lemonade served in mason jars with the lid on before?

Perfect!

Photo from ::here::

Masking tape makeover

I stumbled upon this Japanese washi paper tape the other day and now I need a reason to buy some. I’m thinking I could set out a roll for guests to seal their candy buffet bags…

Any other ideas?

Find it ::here::

If I had a million dollars

…and/or oodles of craftiness, thriftiness, and hours upon hours to kill…

I would get me some of these. I think they are so cute. I would give them to all of my wedding guests with favors of quaint little herb pots. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Of course, I don’t have any of the aforementioned skills or assets, so this is a no-go. It was a nice daydream, though.

Garden markers from ::here::

Back to the future

I am officially back on our little island.  The trip home was so nice.  Sadly, though, it had to come to an end.  So here we are, back on the other side of the world for another year of adventure and wedding planning from afar but--one year from today--we will be back in Minnesota, getting married!

I know, I know...I've neglected the blog.  But now I have a lot to share.  Decisions were made.  Centerpieces, the dress, the officiant.  More inspiration was garnered.  And my best friend's wedding.  (Not-so-much like the movie with the groom stealing and such.)

I'm leaving again in four days for a soccer tournament in Taiwan, but I will do my best to squeeze in updates before then.

For now, here's what I'm currently downloading:

It's a free download...so I can make cute pictures like the one above, from here.  :)

Fun with colors

This is such a fun little tool to try.  You can choose up to 10 colors and the application will pull photos from Flickr to populate your real-life color palette.  Enjoy!