Cheers to 2012!

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I have a feeling that 2012 will be even better than 2011.  Just a hunch, but our to-do list for 2012 includes buying a house, getting married (!), getting a puppy (finally!), etc.  It's going to be a very good year.  Cheers friends!  Happy New Year!

p.s. Next year I am so making these amazing drink stirrers, that Martha she is the queen of awesome entertaining ideas.

December Book Club: What Alice Forgot

I got really excited (like only a book nerd could) when I realized it was time for Debbie Jo's December Book Club Review, and I'd JUST (as in, last night) finished a great book!  I won't claim to read great works of literature in my spare time, but I'm definitely addicted to reading, and have been since I was a little kid.  So without further ado, I give you my BOOK REVIEW!

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty sucked me in from the moment I picked up the book.  I'm going to be honest here, I'm a sucker for a cool cover. There, I said it.  Go ahead, think of less of me I don't mind.

Cool cover aside, this book has it all. Liane Moriarty begins the story with Alice waking up on the gym floor, only she can't imagine what she's doing in a gym - since she never works out. Alice hit her head and can't figure out why everyone is acting so strangely.  Turns out she's misplaced TEN YEARS of her life. That's right, amnesia.  She can't remember anything between age 29 and 39, and she thinks she's still pregnant with her first child and in love with her husband.  Turns out she has THREE (!) kids and is in the middle of a divorce. 

Amnesia makes for a pretty hilarious plot.  And you'll be rooting for Alice the whole time through, her character is instantly likeable and vulnerable.  You want so badly for things to work out for Alice, and for her to have a second chance with her younger more optimistic outlook on this life she can't remember.

Her inner monologue is witty and sarcastic.  After being questioned in the hospital, "The constant re-asking of questions was presumably to check her mental state.  Alice thought about yelling, ACTUALLY, I'M GOING OUT OF MY MIND! but she didn't want to make the nurse feel uncomfortable.  Crazy behavior made people feel awkward."

Or about waking up in the gym, "The gym? Alice didn't go to gyms.  Had she woken up drunk in a gym?"

Overall it was a great book.  Not too serious, but definitely a book you'll want to read in one sitting, it sucks you in.  I highly recommend it!

But Where Are You, Dream House?

 (Disclaimer: This is just a dream house, not what we think we can afford. ha)

Well, we've looked at about 25 houses so far, and still haven't found 'the one'.  Okay, that's not true, we found 'the one' but it's a short sale.  We have an offer in on it, but that could take months to hear back from the bank. Not good for someone with little to no patience or as Tim says, I'm just 'intense" ...sounds much better than impatient :)

So, it's almost like we haven't found anything.  I'm not sure if we're being way too picky, or if there is just crap on the market right now.   I'm leaning towards the 'crap' scenario, since it makes us look better!

Everything has gross bathrooms, kitchens, and carpets.  Paneling, garages that have been converted into dens/family rooms, holes in the floor under sinks, basements that have standing water in them.  Can't we get a break here?  We are in a pretty decent price range too, so that's not even the problem. 

We are kind of running out of time before the wedding, and might just have to find an apartment to rent.  We don't want to just buy something to buy something.  But we can't be settling on a house at the exact same time as we're having a wedding, we might go crazy. 

So, here's hoping that the housing market starts booming in January.  Anyone else have a hard time finding a place they loved?  Do we just need to compromise?  Are you on a house hunt right now?  I'd love to hear inspiring stories :)

Covering Up..

Blogging about boleros, cardigans, and faux fur today over on Engaged & Inspired.  Which do you prefer?  I'm leaning towards a cardigan for the quirky fun vibe, I'd love more opinions!

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas...

Sorry for the radio silence on the blog, just a little busy getting ready for Christmas.  I'm definitely taking note of everything I want to do next year when Tim & I have our own little house :)   This gorgeous advent calendar is topping the list.  Merry Christmas to you and yours!

All I Want for Christmas...

Tim and I decided we're just doing one small gift for each other this year, since we're trying to save for our potential new home (if we can find a place we like!) and the wedding.  But that doesn't stop a girl from dreaming...here are a few items on my christmas wish list, there's always next year :)

A cute notepad to keep me motivated at work, I'm a sucker for stationary.

A lovely book filled with home decor, entertaining tips, and fashion. All things I could use help with!

A gorgeous tillymaison tray to hold my jewelry and keep me organized.

This wooden sign in the color of my choice for our wedding and also later on our wall surrounded by pictures.

A dainty gold necklace, since I finally am starting to like gold.

And a sparkly dress, just in time for New Year's.

And, while I'm at it I'd really like an ipad for blogging, pinterest, and just general web surfing.  It seems so perfect for what I need :)

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What's on your wish list (real or imaginary) this Christmas? 

Things are getting FANCY around here!

(disclaimer: this is not the knife block we registered for)

You might have noticed the blog looking all shiny & new, thanks to debbie jo!  I won a blog redesign, and boy did I ever need it.  You can get yourself a fancy new design here!  I say do it.

Sooo, a few weeks ago we got our first off-the-registry gift in the mail!  Exciting times.  I open it to see the knife block we registered for!  Hooray for knives, now we can cut things once we get a house!  Then I checked the gift receipt to see who sent us this newlywed necessity to see a name that did not ring ANY bells:  Marie Kelly.   So, I thought maybe it's a family member of Tim's who I forgot.  I check the guest list, and NOPE.  So I thought well, it must be that one of these Kelly's goes by another first name.  Check with Tim.  Then his mom. NOPE.  WHO ARE YOU MARIE KELLY???  

So, I call the Macy's in Brooklyn - leave a message because apparently wedding registry never answers the phone, not that I tried three times in a row or anything. Who would do that?

TWO WEEKS go by with no word from Macy's.  Then I come home to a message on the answer machine, who could it be?  Oh, it's MARIE KELLY.  The Brooklyn Macy's gave this woman my phone number, so she proceeds to explain how she was trying to send a gift to Tim O'Hara and his fiance, Shannon, in Garden City, NY.  Somehow she (or Macy's) chose our knife block because that groom had Tim's first name and my last name.  YIKES. 

This situation could not be resolved without Marie and I talking on the phone three times, and the King of Prussia Macy's shipping the knife block back to her (since Shannon & Tim did NOT register for it). 

Oh, adventures in registering. OH, and Target's registry can't handle the apostrophe in my name - so my name is spelled wrong on their site. We're basically doomed in terms of our registries. Wedding Fail.

Tuxes or Suits?

The great debate, tuxes or suits...check me out blogging over on Engaged & Inspired here today...

Wedding Bells..

I was really good on both black friday & cyber monday this year, but I did score one good deal: wedding bells!

 Tim & I wanted to have bells for our guests to ring as we recess back down the aisle, instead of throwing rice or flower petals. 

I first got the idea when I read an article on Glamour magazine that talked about the tradition of ringing bells to ward off evil spirits, and essentially bless the new marriage.  I loved the idea, and scored a 25% off deal on bells from theknot.com!  That site is not exactly my favorite, but I can't turn down a deal that good. It was 25% off $9.99, for 24 bells.  I ordered 9 boxes, so we have just over 200.  I can't wait to display them with our programs. 

The bells are the perfect size (paint swatch shown for scale!), and they ring really well.  I was not the biggest fan of the silver glittery string on them, and the tiny poem they came with.  So since I had a gift ceritficate to Olive Manna I bought some jute twine and I'm using it to tie adorable tags to the bells.  

50 down, 150 more to go! 

I'll probably display them in this weathered wire gym basket, or maybe one of the cheeseboard boxes.  The room in the basement is really starting to fill up with all this wedding stuff...

Next Year's Holiday Card..

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How totally amazing is this holiday shoot?  I am definitely doing something similar next year.  Oversized lights = instantly romantic and festive, just add plaid and you can't beat it.

Hairstyles..

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Blogging about wedding hairstyles today over on Engaged & Inspired...check me out here.

Where's My Table?

I've decided that Fridays will be my wedding update day over here on the 'ole blog.  Excited? I figured you would.

So, I knew I wanted to do something creative for table numbers.  Tim tried to convince me that the table numbers our venue provided were enough, but let's be honest - that's a little too easy, I needed a project. So, I had this great idea to buy these 99 cent frames from Ikea, and 'spell' out the numbers using buttons inside the frames on burlap.  See how cute (and reasonable!) the frames are:

I had such high hopes, as is always the case with me and crafts.  I've been collecting buttons from antique stores since we got engaged for this very purpose (that is a sentence I would never have pictured myself typing).  Well, I attempted to secure the burlap inside the frame.  Please note 'attempted' is the key word here.  And double digits inside that tiny frame? Not happening.  Basically I ended up returning 24 of the 25 frames to Ikea, luckily the glue/button fiasco only involved the test frame.  I think the cashier at Ikea may have judged me a little. 

Anyways, I got my $24 back.  And proceeded straight to the marketplace. What? I can't help myself.   I still wasn't ready to give up.  So, thanks to my obsession with Handmade Weddings (my favorite of all wedding books I've purchased) - I bought these water bottles:

And then proceed to vinyl-decals.com (as instructed by the bible...I mean, Handmade weddings), where I ordered yellow numbers!    Easy peasy.

Army of bottles:

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They turned out pretty fab, if I do say so myself (and I do)!  I'm not sure if we'll fill them with water, or maybe something colored (maybe lemonade?).  I hope older guests are not confused and aimlessly wandering looking for their tables.  But I'm really happy with how they turned out.  Ikea is still a winner in my book.  And I promise not to drop Ikea like a hot potato once we can afford better furniture.