Where I Blog Party

Kate at Centsational Girl is hosting a "Where Do You Blog?" Party and, of course, I wanted to join it! 

This is my reading nook.  I live in a one-bedroom apartment with a fiancé and a cat, so I have very little extra space.  I decided a while back that I would take a corner of my bedroom and turn it into my own reading/ writing/ blogging area.  This was the result.  We had an old recliner that was upholstered in some terrible corduroy.  So I bought a pretty blue sheet and put over it.  My plan was to faux-slipcover it, but I couldn't figure out how to do that.  Instead, I draped and tucked it until it looked decent-ish.  The lamp has a really cool on switch.  It lays on the floor so it can be turned on with your foot.

This pillow created my color palette.  I absolutely love the way the blue, brown, and yellow play off each other, only adding to their individual brightness.  I would love to paint a room the blue in this pillow one day.

This is just a folding TV table covered in a pretty tablecloth.  The pen holder is a cut glass goblet from my cabinets.  The picture is of my besty (Leanne) and I.  The books are some that I've started and some that I haven't.

I am currently *trying* to read Ada, or Ardor by Nabakov.  It's a tough read because it is very Russian.  If you've read it, you know what I mean.

And this is on the wall above my chair.  My beautiful late grandmother, Jeann Hayes Greenway, looks down on me and protects me.  

This is where I blog!

My Wedding Invitations!

A couple of months after I became engaged, I found the most beautiful DIY- wedding invitations at Target.  They were the perfect color, had a gorgeous design, and were simple.  When I first found them, they were $20-something for a box of 50.  Knowing I would probably need 100, I would have spent about $50 for two boxes.  This, of course, isn’t a drop in the bucket compared to most people’s invitation suites.  But, as I had a very small budget, I put off buying them.  A few weeks later, I went back with my fiancé and a good friend.  Lo and behold, the invitations were marked down to only $15 or so!  I bought all of my invitations for only $30!!

(Excuse the lighting; I live in a tiny little apartment and our light fixtures are horrible.)

To me, these invitations are completely gorgeous.  They have the details I wanted, without being over the top or tacky.  

One way I was able to save so much money is by printing the invitations myself.  I used a font called English (which I can't, for the life of me, remember where I found it).  I tinkered with the size and the spacing.  Gartner Studios (www.gartnerstudios.com) provides templates for both the invitations and the response cards on their website.  I was able to edit them in Microsoft Word, which I am most comfortable with.  I printed out some test copies, then set to printing out the real things!

I set up an invitation station at my kitchen table, with my printer hooked up and ready.  I've had the printer for six and a half year- a graduation gift from my late grandmother.  The printer took me through a Bachelors, a Masters, and miscellaneous other life events.  But when it came time to print my WEDDING invitations, it died!  RIP HP Deskjet Printer. 

Luckily, I saddled up my fiancé's printer and got them all printed, put together, and sent out! Now we're just awaiting responses!  I simply love my budget-friendly wedding invitations!

Color block

Go here and come back: www.remodelista.com*

I LOVE this color combination.

http://remodelista.com/posts/high-low-gray-and-saffron-bed-linens

I think it's clean and fresh looking, but also extremely cozy.  Gray and saffron are really different colors (in my mind), but look awesome together.  I would love to implement that kind of color scheme in my own home.  But, when I try to figure out a wall color that would match them, I go blank.  Would you paint walls gray?  Would you paint them saffron?  Or would you paint them an entirely different color?  How would you coordinate this bedding with a room??

*If you are not familiar with Remodelista, it is a pretty amazing sourcebook for designers and non-designers alike.  It, in fact, is "the sourcebook for the considered home," which, incidentally, is exactly what I want my home to be.  Their iPhone app gives daily items that sometimes make me go weak at the knees.  Check it out!

Laissez les bon temps roulez!

It's been a while since I posted, though I can't blame a rigorous work and social life for the absence.  When I decided to complete a one year Master's program for early childhood teaching, I had a much different view of my post-grad plans.  I thought I would find a teaching job beginning in fall 2010, work for a year, buy a house, have a baby, and have the perfect life.  Little did I know, the economy has made teaching jobs a precious commodity in most places around the US.  So I am still chugging away, jobless and getting antsy about the future.  


In the past few weeks, I have, however, had a chance to prepare for my upcoming October wedding.  I prepared and sent out around 75 invitations, worked on favors, met with our cake makers, and made some pretty great strides toward a completed wedding.  Stay tuned for a peek at my invitations to come this week.  I wanted to post them sooner, but also wanted to wait until all who were invited received them.  


A true product of my generation, I will watch just about any reality show that airs (unless it proves to be too mindless and ignorant for me).  One show that my fiancé and I enjoy watching together is Swamp People on the History Channel.  It comes on at the same time as Mad Men so, naturally, I set the DVR to record it.  I love the passion that these men exhibit for a job, a way of life really, that very few people would ever do.  They hunt alligators to make their living.  Can you imagine??  Most of us wouldn't even want to clean a toilet for a living and these people hunt 500-pound killing machines.  

I went out with a good girlfriend for a "girls' night" last night.  It was so much fun and definitely much needed for both of us!  We realized how lucky we are to be in relationships because we saw just how slim the pickin's are for single men these days.  

My good friend Tanya (right) and I playing pool

I am trying to figure out how to make this blog one that I would get excited to read myself and how to increase my role in the blogging community.  Hopefully I can make this blog something that reflects my personality and the excitement that I feel in my life.

 

Chore Buster

Thanks to a fellow blogger (Mrs. Potts' Thoughts), I stumbled upon this website

Chore Buster

With this website, you can divide up your chores by frequency, people, difficulty- even by what each chore is worth for a child's allowance.  How fun!!  My fiancé and I live in a tiny little apartment and, although we have barely any space, we still find a way to shirk our chore responsibilities.  This was a great way to get my fiancé to agree to do chores on a schedule- which I hope will be successful!! 

Ode to my address stamp

I'm addressing wedding invitations and just have to thank God for my Three Designing Women address stamper!  It looks like this:

Three Designing Women's Website

This is one of the best things I have ever bought in my life!!  If you don't have one, RUN (don't walk) to the store to order one!

Great Giveaway!

Kimba at A Soft Place to Land is hosting a giveaway of a Silhouette Craft Cutter.  I NEED this.  This belongs on my desk and in my (future) classroom.  I could do so many awesome things with this.  We are soulmates.  Please pick me!!!

Wedding Guilt

From the time my fiancé and I started planning our wedding, I have felt guilty for asking so much of everyone involved.  I felt guilty for fiancé's mom paying for and helping plan most of the wedding.  I felt guilty for asking my bridal party to take time out of their schedules and money out of their wallets to be a part of my wedding.  I felt guilty registering for lingerie because it's not really a necessity.  Most of all, I felt guilty registering for my home goods because everything is so expensive these days.  We registered at Target, so I kept things pretty affordable there.  But my desires don't always match my need to keep things inexpensive.  If I could have my dream wedding registry, this is what would be on it:

Juliska Berry and Thread Collection in Butter Yellow
I would want place settings, serving dishes, etc etc.  It's just so gorgeous!!

Lenox Flourish Stemware

Autumn Legacy by Lenox

A lot of couples register for beautiful things like this.  I always wonder if they get what they ask for or if they're left with only one or two pieces of a set.  I wonder if my wedding guests would resent me for registering for such pricey (but completely gorgeous) items.  I guess my Southern simplicity gets the best of me in situations like this and I end up registering for things I want less (though still lovely items).  Any opinions on this??

Scrapblog

For those of you who are not aware of this website that was sent by God, Scrapblog is simply awesome. It allows you to basically scrapbook on the internet. I made my new blog header with it and am quite pleased. It looks a bit more professional, though I will probably end up changing and tweaking it. There is a decent selection of free materials. Go check it out!

Scrapblog's Home Page

This is the first header I created:

To me, it's a little too busy and not very cohesive.  I like the simplicity of the new one.  Please let me know what you think, good or bad!

Organizapalooza!

I spent my lovely Monday off going back and forth between reading "Eclipse" and doing some organization.  In a tiny, less-than-500-square-foot apartment, organization is key, especially when you have as much stuff as fiancé and I have.  I organized our tiny little linen area (not even a closet) and washed some linens.  I also made recipe cards out of all of the recipes I've printed out in the past year.  It feels good to be slowly bringing this apartment up to my standards!

I also did a bit of blog-stalking today and found the cutest DIY lighting.

(Found on The Stories of a2z, via Design Sponge)

As a true Southern lady, with canned vegetables in my pantry, this light sets my soul on fire.  I have always loved the easy charm and simplicity of Mason jars.  I even use one as a vase on my desk!  I can't wait to have a reason to make these!

$1 Inspirations

While looking for a small notebook to keep bank balances in, I found this cute little notebook at Michaels.

My iPhone picture of it does not do justice to the bold colors.  The yellow is a bright golden sunshine.  The red is fire engine red.  The blue is a dark nautical-sort of blue.  And the white provides a great way for the colors to be tied together.

I think these colors would be amazing in a little boy's bedroom.  Michaels also had small canvases of similar designs, all for only $1!  I love the availability of cute, fun design choices that don't break the budget!

Blog blog blog!

Hello world!  I've been meaning to get around to blogging for a while now, especially since I've been planning a wedding for almost a year.  But, during most of that time, I was also a full-time grad student.  Now that I am finished with school, I can focus a little more on fun stuff.

My fiancé and I started looking at blueprints for houses today.  Now let me be clear: we are nowhere near ready to build a house!  I haven't started teaching and fiancé has not figured out what he wants to do with his life.  So this is all a very far off dream of ours.  But fiancé's parents have some land beside their beautiful house and it is our dream to build beside them.  That said, I want to share my favorite house!

Rye Patch Cottage

The concept drawing!

First floor

Second floor, including an awesome office space above the garage!  This has my name written all over it.

I just love the possibilities that this house holds for us!  It has loads of space, with all the features we want.  We can have a basement (which is of utmost importance to fiancé).  And we can make memories with our new family (my favorite part!).

Luckily, we have fiancé's parents who are experienced with building.  We have his uncle who is an expert carpenter and framer.  We won't have to pay for the land, so we can save a lot of money there.  And, most of all, I love that we will raise our family so close to their grandparents.  I see a bright future for the Manis family!