berries

Any idea what I'm making with these tomorrow?

My Wedding Day!

I can hardly believe that it's been three weeks since my wedding day. It seems like just yesterday but at the same time like forever ago...

I am one very blessed lady, everything about my wedding was absolutely perfect. I was so happy that day I'm not sure anything could have made me upset :D I also am so so so glad that I chose a good photographer... definitely #1 on my list of important things for a wedding.

Here are only some of the images Rachel took that day.



Melissa and Beka steaming my veil just before Crystal finished my hair and pinned it in



When I saw my flowers come in I was beside myself. They were so breathtakingly beautiful I wish that I could have kept them forever! Which is why I am glad I have good pictures of them!







The first time I saw this picture of Steve I shrieked right out loud and smiled the biggest smile :D









*LOVE* the shoes :)





My absolute favorite group shot of the day!



















Together, Mary (my florist) and Jen (my cake baker) worked on this until it was totally perfect. I cannot explain in words how happy I was with it! It's too bad we had to eat it but man was it gooooood!



We ended up making a kind of spontaneous exit when some of Steve's groomsmen decorated his Best Man's car for us. We climbed in and then I threw my bouquet out the moon roof





















The bridal party pictures were taken around the Elim Bible Institute campus but when we were finished with those, we headed to Mendon Ponds for some more of just the two of us. We spent the night at the Woodcliff Hotel and then early Sunday morning had to get to the airport and were off to Miami for our cruise! Those pictures will be next... :)

touring the apartment

Now that we are back from the honeymoon and things are still out of control starting to settle down, I've been working on cleaning and organizing the apartment. I find doing this so much more fun now that I'm married than when I had my own place, but I'm not sure why.

I've been working on everything little by little, but the kitchen was so clean and pretty much as organized as it will get that I couldn't help but take pictures of it. Plus, there is such crazy amazing light in there that sometimes I just walk in there to feel happier. Light can do that ya know.

This is what you see when you first walk in. Can you tell I'm still obsessed with the peonies?





Two of the cookbooks I received from the wedding is the Betty Crocker vintage cookbook, which is totally a blast from the past because it's the first book I really ever used recipes from :) And then there is the 500 cupcake book. Ooo lala! I made one of the recipes the other night... chocolate chip muffins. And it called for buttermilk... since I didn't have any, I used butter and milk. I am well aware that's not what buttermilk actually is, but it actually worked. They were eaten too quickly to take pictures of.



So there's my kitchen. My married kitchen :) Speaking of marriage, I'm shooting another wedding today and then also my own wedding pictures have been posted on facebook! I will be posting them on my blog asap!

on my table

in my kitchen (well, almost)

10 more days before I am officially a married woman and can finally live in just one house :)

I've had a lot of fun over the last month and a half though cleaning and creating and making the new apartment a place we will be happy to live in when we come home though. One of the things I love about the new place is the amazing light that comes in the kitchen. It's already mostly white and then having a west and south facing window ensures most of the day there is soft{er} light streaming through the curtains. It's perfect for my spontaneous needs for taking pictures of whatever is around.

And what's more, there are lilac bushes all over the yard, probably about 7 or 8. Perfect for picking any time I please :) And I do pick them!



In fact, just last week I received one of my first wedding gifts in the mail {which I promptly opened} and it revealed a stunning glass water pitcher from pottery barn from my friend Keri!

I went out and literally climbed a lilac bush to make it hang down far enough so Steve could pick some of the dark purple ones... we collected a variety of the colors and put them straight into that vase :) These pictures are of some lilacs I had put in a small water carafe {which I found on the side of the road} before I got my lovely pitcher.



This next picture is interesting. Even before I made the move out of my apartment into my parent's/steve's house my betta was on his way out. He wouldn't eat, he rarely moved and he was growing fuzz.

I wished so many times that he would just die {i know that's mean, but the little guy just needed to go to a better place lol}

Finally, after almost 2 months of this, he did die. Leaving me with an empty fish bowl and a live underwater plant. For over a week I left the whole thing set up just so that the plant would be ok but finally decided that there needed to be a better solution.

So I used another of my small water carafes that I paid a lot of money for found on the side of the road and planted the little plant right in there. It's so cute and colorful. It's moved to a couple different places in the apartment, but currently is residing in the bathroom.



But I love the way the light streams through it and enhances the greens and yellows. It's a happy plant :)

cake tasting, yes please

A few months ago I got a lead for photos, which in turn lead to the discovery of my baker for my wedding {JMC Custom Cakes}... which btw is in 12 days.

I'm just a little excited. Only a little... hehe :D

This past weekend we picked up a goodie box from Jen with 4 different flavors of cake in it... and since she was baking a different kind when we stopped by, she threw in a 5th flavor. Which consequently, we loved and ended up vetoing one of our previously thought "definite" choices for.



Such tasty little treats these were. From left to right, top to bottom the flavors were:
{lemon pound with strawberry jam and fresh strawberry filling}
{sugar cookie cake with chocolate mousse filling}
{chocolate pound with peanut butter filling}
{chocolate pound with vanilla buttercream}

and not shown is key lime with strawberry filling... the only way I can describe this cake was that it had the texture of a fudgey brownie, but the tart flavor of key lime with just the right amount of sweet from the strawberries. Sooooo de-lish!

I cannot wait for the wedding to get here :) I'm done saying I want to enjoy the time not wish it away, let's get on with it already! and I can't wait to enjoy the fabulous cake and other food we will have.

yummmmmmmmmmmmm :)

for the love of color

For Christmas a few years ago I received a pair of adidas St. Tropez bright orange sneakers from my brother Dan. I looooooooooove them. Not just because they are orange but because I had wanted adidas sneakers like this since I was 9. No joke.



And because they are good quality, they have retained wearability, but the color has grown dingy with time... I have mourned this fact, wanting the brightness they once exuded when they were new from the box. But they have been well-loved... and even taken a trip to Mexico with me. Which is where this pic was taken.

Anyways, they've grown quite old looking and I still wear them, but I wished for another similar pair to wear when I wanted nicer looking sneeks.



I found these at Old Navy of all places... for a grand total of $15. Perfect! They are not as comfortable, or near as good of quality as my trusty rusty adidas ones, but they satisfy my need and love for color :)

may flowers

Tulips blooming everywhere, makes me happy :)