Hey y'all! I am just up in arms about wedding shoes! I am really still leaning towards a nude heel so I can wear it with formal wear post-wedding and Badgley Mischka has two shoes that are really beautiful that I think would be fabulous with my dress (trying not to go metallic as I feel like then I will be overly concerned with how my jewelry and hair go...):
I like the 'Keeper' pump because of its construction. I love the fact that it is whimsical and carefree. I am happy that it is satin with a grosgrain bow because the satin is more what I am looking at now, a "proper evening shoe" material! What do you think?
I like the 'Randi' sandal because it is a little sexy, to be honest. My feet are covered for the most part so they won't really be shown off by my dress in any way. This shoe brings the sexy without my feeling guilty over it during the church service, too. The shoe is fun and flirty which may be nice long-term wear wise, as I can wear it out with my skinny jeans and a cami-cardi set or with a fun summer dress and my pearls! It is satin as well and I would have to assume that the "petals" are organza with the way they fall (although of course Nordstrom doesn't tell us!!). What do you think?
Nothing major on the wedding front although M and I did make a 50% deposit on the luxury home we have rented for our honeymoon week in North Carolina. We are staying in the village of Duck. We had considered the Sanderling Resort, one of my family's mainstays, but we wanted to have our dog and be able to cook together at a sound front home, so we booked a house instead. We will just take the car service to the Sanderling for dinner and spa treatments when needed, instead! Just as good : ).
Photo Credits: both pairs of shoes - Nordstrom, beach house back photo - Southern Shores Realty
MJA and I are engaged. Duh. Everyone knows that at this point. [no, that isn't us]
He works in a very secure, salaried Federal job as a LEO. We both look forward to when I am done with school and can support my shopping habits as well as contribute to the household - right now I do what I can when I can but to maintain a Deans List status I can't work too many hours.
Anyway, so I do work SOME, and I can work maybe a few hours more.
A personal goal of mine is to start saving up for this wedding. Thankfully it is in 16 months and with MJA and I saving together we actually can make a good dent. I am hoping Macon cooperates and so I can put the rest of my mutual funds into the wedding fund so we can have a great party with many of our family and friends in attendence.
Our goal is to have $10,000-12,000 in cash for this wedding. Many vendors only accept checks in my small hometown, so it's pretty logical to have that much on hand. My Mom just retired so I am not about to let my parents foot a majority of the bill. MJA and I can do pretty well and they can help a small bit. MJA said last night, "if we only have to charge $2,500-3,000 of wedding stuff, I will be so happy." Well, I will be happy too, so this blog is not going to be ALL about finances, but you will see me talk more about saving and having a traditional, small town wedding in a lovely location and a fun reception - I'll try to make these entries on a weekly basis...
The reception hall has been booked. The location is Evans Hall in the town where I grew up. The date is set for October 8, 2011! It is a gorgeous location with a lot of potential for it. Several of my Tweethearts / blog friends / real life friends know it inside and out. I thought I would share some great photos of it so you could see how it can be played...
The floor is all tiled black and white. So, no dance floor (apparently LOTS of people rent them for their wedding, never really thought about it until now??)! Also, lends itself to the more classic 30s-40s glam evening wedding reception we are going for.
I think Amid Privilege called the blue trim on the room Wedgwood blue. It is certainly not the W&L blue the campus is more familiar with, but with the white walls it lends a really lovely air of distinction!
Several childhood friends have already had weddings here (these pictures were from childhood friend Megan and Donny, who met in Middle School and dated starting then (in band class with me!!!)) [seen above]. It isn't original, but this location is nice for weddings where you want people to have a wonderful time, and walk to the wedding, reception, back to hotel (or B&B) if they can and NOT drive!
If you have any doubts - Miss Mindless is an alumnae and can attest to the fact that the building is fabulous!
Would love y'alls feedback, as I always do!! XOXO
Quote of the day: "Maturity is the ability to think, speak and act your feelings within the bounds of dignity. The measure of your maturity is how spiritual you become during the midst of your frustrations." -Samuel Ullman
Hey all, so... if you haven't heard on my Twitter (worthystyle), then surprise!! I am engaged! It finally happened, and I only say that because PBF and I have talked about it since we first got together and got serious about six months into our relationship!!
PBF did it on Sunday, June 13 in the Italian gardens at Maymont in Richmond, VA. It is a beautiful place where we have always enjoyed spending the day walking around and cuddling, picnicing, etc. It was HOT and he knew that so he tried to get me up and into the City early early in the AM. I had a hunch it was going to happen but I was not positive about it. I had had "hunches" before and was wrong so I was pretty flip about it!
Here are a few pictures so you can see how genuinely beautiful Maymont's Italian garden is:
However, Maymont is not just an Italian Garden. There is also the Japanese Garden, the Maymont House, the wildlife and nature center, as well as the Children's Farm. It is located on 100 acres in the middle of Richmond. It was built by the Major James Dooley for his wife Sallie in the 1890s. When they died they bequeathed the entire Estate to the City of Richmond.
It is very romantic and lovely. He asked me after we got to the Park at around 11:30am on that Sunday. He asked me in the gazebo. NO ONE was around to take our pictures, and I had no camera! He even told me not to bring one! All I got was stuff from my Blackberry... sigh... We went to walk around and I just kept looking at the ring... couldn't help it! I am very happy and PBF has amazing taste. He designed it himself.
In this picture, you can faintly see the gazebo he asked me in by my pinky finger. Lots of photos are done of the wrought iron gazebo on the other side of the garden, but we've always called that one our "nook". This waterfall falls into the Japanese Gardens below the Italian one...:
The below photo is from the Italian Gardens fountain from the bottom. Isn't the architecture great? The Dooleys had specialists from their home country come to Richmond to work on these gardens... many spent over a year or five working on these gardens making sure they were as accurate as possible to the taste of their home country.:
This close-up of the ring was taken by my brother J on Father's Day this weekend. PBF (who we will now call MJA as he is not just a BF anymore!) and I went over with Lily the dog on Friday PM. What a great weekend to celebrate with family all kinds of things! Our engagement, my Pappy's 92nd birthday, Father's Day, etc.!
Picture 1 from gonomad.com, Picture 2 from Pyogenes, Picture 3 from Todd Dixon blog, , Picture 4-5 from me, Picture 6 from my brother
He had a gift card from Christmas to spend, and I had a rewards card from my J.Crew credit card. So, we went to the Charlottesville store.
I had a list of things I would be willing to get at the store this weekend:
* NO RUFFLES * NO baby pastel colors * NO jeans or winter-weight items
And I had success!
I purchased two Haberdashery 3/4 stretch tops in a Tiffany Blue [no idea actual name, not on J.Crew website?] and Sweet Papaya:
Here is my personal photo:
I needed another neutral pair of comfy Spring/Summer shorts- esp since I am headed to SC and FL soon, so I got a paid of these, which the store had rolled up a bit and I pictured me doing that with my Sperrys. These are REALLY comfy cotton. Not their normal stiff-but-comfy cotton shorts. These are way better and are great in cognac:
Here is my personal photo:
Lastly, I wanted a black summer-weight mini. Not legs up to there mini, but one I could pair with different items to dress it up or down. I wanted something I could wear high-waisted or low-waisted, prefereably with an elastic waistband so I could be comfy in it (like when I am driving long distances, say, on vacay). I tend to go for a fun bell shape or anything with airiness to it as I am hourglassy and like to emphasize that with my legs, so this skirt in Clean Rinse Wash is what I went with:
Here is my personal photo of it:
Amazing thing is, before taxes, I spent LESS than $200 on FOUR items from J.Crew. Shocking, right? PBF was jealous. But he did get a cute linen shirt - as the ones from J.Crew fit him better than other stores... again, a color not on their website. It's the Baird McNutt in a cobalt blue, really really handsome on him. : )
Lastly, if you go to the Cville store, as for Michelle - she was a great help and very attentive.
I hope CBS posts a better quality - but the music is great - gives me goosebumps!
Here is the actual music video:
Lyrics Wanna pack your bags, Something small Take what you need and we disappear Without a trace we'll be gone, gone The moon and the stars can follow the car and then when we get to the ocean We gonna take a boat to the end of the world All the way to the end of the world
Oh, and when the kids are old enough We're gonna teach them to fly
You and me together, we could do anything, Baby You and me together yes, yes (x2)
You and I, we're not tied to the ground Not falling but rising like rolling around Eyes closed above the rooftops Eyes closed, we're gonna spin through the stars Our arms wide as the sky We gonna ride the blue all the way to the end of the world To the end of the world
Oh, and when the kids are old enough We're gonna teach them to fly
You and me together, we could do anything, Baby You and me together yes, yes
We can always look back at what we did All these memories of you and me baby But right now it's you and me forever girl And you know we could do better than anything that we did You know that you and me, we could do anything
You and me together, we could do anything, Baby You and me together yeah, yeah Two of us together, we could do anything, baby You and me together yeah, yeah Two of us together yeah, yeah Two of us together, we could do anything, baby
So, I was in the Lilly Pulitzer store in Williamsburg last weekend with PBF. He had never been down there and naturally was captivated by this great shopping scene:
This shopping scene is called Merchant's Square and it uses similar architecture to fit in with the historic Colonial Williamsburg which it is adjacent to. If you go at the right time of year, the place is not busy and you can even get parking behind some of the shops as we did, which was a treat. The Lilly Pulitzer store is called Ocean Palm, and it is a Lilly Pulitzer VIA store (http://www.oceanpalm.net/).
At the Lilly P shop, we purchased this adorable leash, in Sunshine Yellow Lobster Pot, for my puppy, Lily [note 1 'L'](ASPCA named her that, not us, I swear!!). PBF got it for her as he wanted her to have something "preppy" so when she is at games with Mommy she will be WASP-y to match! Cute, huh? : ) And before anyone flips out, we did not spend the $54 retail the leash was listed as on the Lilly Pulitzer site - we were able to get ours for $36 at the store:
Sadly, while many of my blogging buddies were able to buy Murfee's for 30-40% off retail, this store did not have them on sale. Then again, I have about 4-5 pashminas in fun colors, so I won't have a cow about that!! This Murfee, in Lilly's Pink Checking In, is the one I love the most:
I asked for this for Christmas but did not recieve it... however, I will not be too upset. It is fun, and random, just like me! Plus, the NAME. How could I not be destined to purchase it?? I must buy it before it disappears... I could sooo work it at a couple of the horse races this Spring!! Here is the WORTH shift in "Not So Crabby":
Another piece I love is the Roslyn skirt. Perfect to go with basically all of my polo shirts and cardigan sets, this skirt length makes it Jack Rogers, Rainbows, ballet flats (Tory, Kate or JCrew), driving moccasin, and Sperrys (the non-metallic sort, of course). Isn't it just perfect for Spring?
I know a lot of you have already posted your favorites... months ago... but I want to hear about Spring more!
It is 63 degrees here today. Insane. But very nice. It isn't 100% Spring weather though as there is a COLD wind making it's way through. It is supposed to drop another 30 degrees soon... thankfully!!
The dining room color is Woodlawn Colonial Gray, another NOVA plantation (seen here behind the couch)!:
**Our dining room looked like this when we visited it - they "gave" us the "window treatments" AKA lengths of fabric stuck through plastic-finished hooks in (eww):
Our plan with the dining room is this:
Ethan Allen - Townhouse Rectangular Dining Table
It has drawers on either end to store serving pieces, etc, and can extend to being 120" long! The legs are fluted and just amazing!
For chairs, we are planning on going with a chippendale side chair of about 5 on either side, so 10 total, and then 2 host/arm chairs. We may over time add a few more to fill in the wall spaces left!
The bay window has a space which would be sweet to put a couch/loveseat in but there is no room. So, our best option is a storage console piece which we could move during the holidays to stick a tree in. This is the one we have been going with - it is from the same collection as the Ethan Allen Dining Room table:
My mother was incredibly kind and gave us her old display case from her first marriage. It was used for storage when I was growing up on our farm, in the barn, for I believe horse accessories/etc, and now has a neat shabby-chic wearing to it. The pecan has withstood time well (as good pecan should), and has an older grey-ish finish on it, which we look forward to sandpapering off a good bit, to really make it look even more antiqued. There are two lights which need to be replaced on the inside, and the shelves are made of glass. I am on the fence about this, but I am thinking maybe replacing the glass and their holders with a grey-covered velvet would make it better for fine display pieces - wedding china/silver, antiques from my family, collections of my grandmama, etc...
For looks, it is very similar to this china cabinet and display piece by Ethan Allen (Maison), except flat across the top - and the pecan is marbleized underneath the fading finish:
Lastly, we want a blue and gray oriental carpet with touches of ivory, rose, and champagne tones for the dining room. So, here are some inspirations on those lines...
Or
What do you all think? Draperies are natch our last thought, as these pieces are much more significant in the order presented!
From: thetearoom.typepad.com, a more minimalist look. We want something dressier. Like the shelves though.
PBF and I will soon be doing major decorating for the house. Not just because it is the holidays, but because we will be starting on the major painting. Why are we doing it in the winter, you may ask. Well, because where we live in VA you can leave the house open all day long, and in the Summer that = HUMIDITY. Not good when spending a bunch of $$ on high-quality paint that could bubble, get dust on it, or just look bad. So, we have been waiting for this dry/low-humidity weather to kick in and it has in the past month. By the time my exams are over it will be perfect.
Living Room
We plan on painting the living room a deep dark forest green. Maybe a dark polo green is a better way to put it, as forest green has more brown in it. This isn't that kind of color. We will be purchasing the paint for Lowe's and we/I will be doing it ourselves. I have seen jobs at friend's houses that professionals did and they completely destroyed the crown molding. To be honest, this painting job feels like something I should do as I am worried they may "screw it up"... so I would rather screw it up myself than have to be concerned with someone else.
The living room color is Montpelier Palmetto Green, named for Montpelier in VA:
A lot of people - parent included - have questioned this choice, but the room is the length of the house, has a TON of crown molding, plantation blinds in white, and gets a TON of natural light, so the light won't be sucked out in a bad way.
This is what the living room looked like when we visited it the first time:
You can see that they had professional window valences made, but they did not really "work" with the rest of the Living Room. It was a mish-mash of things, understandable as they were recently married AND the husband was relocated out of state during the time the house was on the market - but not in our taste design-wise at all.
A more formal version of French Country. From: FineLiving.com
Our plan with the living room is to be minimalist (as in few things that are key pieces, not as in a Modern look). We hope to keep the look of French Country consistent in the house so we are going for classic, home-y, and traditional, without being stuffy. Our house is a colonial so layout-wise it is perfect. This is also so when I inherit items they can be placed throughout the house without looking out of place (my parents and grandparents have dozens of antique furniture pieces and collected pieces of artwork and figures from Europe). For example, my great-grandmother had a gorgeous Gold oval mirror which my parents currently have in their living room and I would love to have it for over the fireplace when it is my turn. It would be perfect there.
We were given as a housewarming gift from my Grandmother and Grandfather a beautiful sofa table: It is from Ethan Allen, the Maison collection (perfect name!), and is in the finish Rustique.
We plan on recovering the couch and sofa my parents had in the farmhouse I grew up in this fabric pattern - yellow background with red and green diamonds within it: This fabric is from Ethan Allen.
With a few throw pillows done in this pattern, which I love as it picks up the colors from the sofa and is a bit whimsical and 19th century at the same time: This fabric is from Ethan Allen as well.
I cannot wait to take all of the silver/brushed nickel fixtures including the living room ceiling fan and replace them with brass ones - such as the one below: This is a Hunter Bayport 42-inch four-blade ceiling fan with antique brass fixtures: This photo was taken from Amazon.com.
We are debating closing up the open "TV shelf" space above the gas fireplace and turn it instead into a real fireplace mantle with a family painting above it (not a portrait, a piece of artwork from my family, obviously). We'd get a media center to house our entertainment center, etc.
We have already ordered a large bookshelf from Ethan Allen to be delivered next month so the room becomes more library-style as we hope it will be used as such. It is large but we want it to look classic and still be functional (we have a TON of books between us). The shelf will go between the windows facing the front porch. Again, less floor space taken up because this shelf is TALL:
The collection is called Tango at Ethan Allen. (This bookshelf is actually 3 shelves, so use perspective in that regard).
Here is another photo of the living room (Thanks, Blackberry Tour!), including our goofy Halloween decorations! haha:
All Historic paint colors are shown here: http://www.valsparatlowes.com/explore-colors/historic-colors/paint-colors.html.
You may find that choosing Lowes for paint is a poor choice, or, at the very least - random. Well, originally, I was going to get the paint there because of my father's discount but now that doesn't apply (this Fall he went back to being an Executive Sales Manager at Pitney Bowes). However, they carry Valspar which is incredibly high in quality, and they have a relationship with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is an organization I have a great deal of passion for - as they have assisted with many projects near and dear to me. Currently, a major project of theirs is the Miami Marine Stadium, a unique structure to say the least:
Check out the NTHP at: http://www.preservationnation.org/.
