Pretty Things Part 1

Ok so while I have tons and tons to update everyone on, I don't really want to talk about all of it until it's completely, 100% set in stone. So, in the meantime I will be dedicating the next couple of weeks to all of the pretty things I've been finding on the wedding blogs lately.

Today's post: Pretty Flowers I Love

Boutonniere - source: SMP

Bridal Bouquet - source: SMP

 

Bridal Bouquet - source: Karen Tran Florals

Centerpieces - source: SMP

 Centerpieces - source: SMP

I think you can tell the themes I'm currently already loving on ;) 

Remember, if you get a chance, please help donate to Allen and I for the Susan G. Komen 3-day walk! Links to our pages are in the upper-right of the blog. Thanks so much!

Susan G. Komen for the Cure

So I know I haven't posted in a while (my bad), and I have plenty to update on, but first I want to tell you all about something Allen and I are participating in this year - the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure.

We will be walking 60 miles over the course of three days with thousands of other women and men. Net proceeds from the Komen 3-Day for the Cure are invested in breast cancer research and community programs. One person is diagnosed with breast cancer every three minutes in the United States alone. But ten times that amount of women are considered to be high risk due to their family histories - including myself.

I want to help put an end to these risks to research new technologies, treatments, and preventative methods. That's why Allen and I are walking so far - to do something bold about breast cancer. I'll keep you all posted on this incredible adventure and the training we take on for it!



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If you would like to help contribute to our fundraising efforts, please use the link at the top right to donate. Between the two of us, we have committed to raising almost $5,000, so we can use all the help we can get!

Soon-to-be Mrs. Ross's Colorstrology

Another Colorstrology for the future Mrs. Ross, since her work blocked the site ;)

 Lindsey's Birthday

Lindsey's wedding















They're actually pretty different! Man I love this thing ;)

Colorstrology

So I've already picked out the colors for the wedding (for the most part) and actually used Pantone chips to help me have an accurate color match - I know, I know...nerd alert. Something kind of awesome and fun that I discovered on the interwebs today comes from www.colorstrology.com. It ties together two of my favorite things - astrology and Pantone colors! Woo! This site is totally perfect for showing what Pantone color is representative of you and the day that you were born! It also gives a pretty cool discription of your personality as well, which I still think is cool whether or not you believe in astrology.

I did a couple dates here that reflect a few of my friends that I know read the blog, just as a special shout out to them :) Enjoy ladies!

Jill















Elaine

Ms. Bunny

Amy

Me!

I have to say, I think Jill's is my favorite. That one seriously screams "Jillian" to me when I see it with the pink and purple! I love all of them though. Elaine's and mine are pretty much identical due to the fact that our birthdays are a day apart. 

I also did the Pantone color match for our wedding day...hmmm...very interesting ;)

 

The One That Got Away

So our trip up to TC this weekend proved to be not as productive as I would have really hoped for. We went to a lot of appointments and met with a lot of people who had a lot of things to say, and came up with this conclusion:

We got nothin'.

We saw the only 3 venues in TC that can hold all of the guests we're inviting, and the one venue that had been the forerunner for me this whole time is really not our best option. The other two are...well, "eh" puts it lightly for me. The one I liked the best, the Traverse City Opera House, is the one that I am now going to refer to as "The One That Got Away."

 bye bye Opera House :(

There are a lot of reasons behind this. First and foremost, it's expensive. Secondly, we didn't really get the greatest customer service from the people/vendors that we would have to use to go there, and that is just the makings of a impending bad experience in my opinion. Yes, it's gorgeous, and yes, it would be fabulous, but I (and the rest of my family and Allen) am big on the customer service aspect. If you don't feel like the venue is going to do everything humanly possible to make your day extraordinary, time to go elsewhere.

So we're kind of starting from scratch now. I'm still hooked on Traverse City, but we have to look at other options that might be hiding around us. I'm trying not to get discouraged on any of this, but I have to admit it's pretty frustrating when you have your heart set in one place, and then realize that it really just isn't the best thing for you. So we move on, hopefully with more stellar results.

Save the Dates

So, I may have spoken too soon in my post last week that I'm lacking wedding "style." All of a sudden, out of no where, all kinds of wedding fabulousness is smacking me in the face. I'll continue to post a lot of it up here as part of my own categorization method, but I've decided to also keep a few details to myself so I can make sure there's still surprises for those who actually come to enjoy our day. :)

In the meantime, I wanted to share these adorable letterpress Save the Dates that were posted as part of Clover and Bee's "Inspired Midwest Bride" series. I just love how intricate the design is, while completely taking advantage of the one color letterpress print. The entire Save the Date package that they put together is adorable - a vintage feel, but still crisp and clean, along with the long portrait composition. The calendar at the bottom with the punched out dates is absolutely adorable too! Plus, I love me some letterpress so I can just never get enough. Enjoy!

Lack of Style Guide

A lot of people have been asking me lately about the "style" of our wedding - colors, flowers, centerpieces, look and feel, overall atmostphere (do we want it to be vintage? classic? elegant? contemporary? modern?). Do I have inspiration boards made up? No. Should I? Maybe?

The answer is this: I have no clue.

I can tell you what I think our colors are going to be, and what I think I like for certain elements (flowers and the like), and I can tell you that narrowing down all the beautiful options I've seen on every other wedding blog is incredibly overwhelming, but other than that I'm a little bit lost right now. There are so many options!!!! It's so hard to pin point - especially when we barely have our venue determined at this point. (Sidenote: We should hopefully have that determined after next weekend, when Allen, my parents and I all go up north to finally pick where the reception will be - yay! More on that later hopefully). I have a feeling that the venue will really drive a lot of what our overall style is going to look like.

But the other issue is that I would like for things to be uniquely us, but it seems that everything that is "uniquely us" in the random sporadic ideas that I have tend to not be that original. As soon as I find something I really like and think is cool and different, I read a blog about someone who has done that already. In all honesty, I think we're all just copycats at some point or another, but it would be nice to have a piece of the wedding that just belongs to us and no one else. I hope in the next year or so we'll figure out what that one thing is.

Speaking of blogs, one of my favorites (Clover & Bee) had a quote from one of their featured brides in their Real Wedding section that really hit home for me:

“The truth is, we’re not people who often consider our style. Our most consistent style is probably cute and nerdy, with aspirations to being elegant and sophisticated. (We’re perfectly happy with the former, and occasionally achieve the latter.) That said, we did want this once-in-a-lifetime event to include certain elements—lots of natural light, elements of both the outdoors and the city, and the beautiful jewel tones found abundantly in our culture. Most of all, we wanted our wedding to look and feel unique, rather than just being another event in a rectangular box in a hotel that could be located anywhere.” 

Mawwage

Today is the wedding of my dear friends Elaine and Paul! I'm SO excited and SO happy for them, and I know tonight is going to be a total blast.

I'm also honored to be part of this wedding - I'll be doing one of the readings. I teased Elaine that this is how I'm going to start my reading:



Congrats to the future Mr. and Mrs. :) You deserve nothing but amazing things in the years to come. I love you guys!!

Winter Wedding Inspirations

I saw these on ruffledblog.com, and even though I'm going to a winter wedding this weekend (more on that tomorrow), I am not personally having a winter wedding. But if I were, I would want to use each and every one of these inspirations. HOW CUTE ARE THOSE FLOWERS?! I love it! The decor for the cake and everything is so simple and elegant, yet so easy!! To view the entire blog post go here. Gorgeous :)

Rack of Lamb and Zucchini

Well it's been a while since I've posted up one of my new favorite recipes lately so here you go! This lamb chops recipe is one that Allen and I did on a whim for our little mini celebration the Monday before Christmas and I've seriously been craving it ever since! I'm proud of this one because it's one we did completely on our own with no recipe (so bear with me while I write this out - if you have any questions just let me know!)

Sorry - this one is not for my veggie friends unfortunately, but the zucchini recipe below could work for you! Just skip down :)

Rack of Lamb
Ingredients:
- 1 whole rack of lamb (the one Allen and I got from Meijer had 8 racks in it - there's not a lot of meat on the bones so 4 each was the perfect amount, we weren't crazy full or anything)
- Olive Oil
- Santa Maria seasoning (we got this seasoning from Allen's brother Mark in AZ - I believe it is only sold on the west coast, but it basically consists of sea salt, garlic, a little pepper, and minced onion if you want to create your own)

Preheat your oven to about 450º. Season the full rack (top and underneath) with seasoning while you heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a cast iron skillet on medium high. If you don't have a cast iron skillet, you could probably just use a regular large stove top pan and prep a baking sheet for the oven. After the olive oil is heated, put the rack of lamb in the skillet and sear on each side for about 3 minutes, or until you get a good crust on the top end. Put the full skillet in the oven with the top of the lamb facing up (or put the lamb on the baking sheet with the juices from the stove top pan) for about 25 minutes. Pull it out and cover the lamb for about 10 minutes to rest. Enjoy!

Zucchini Recipe 
This is a recipe that I really stole from my mom so I have to give her credit there. It took basically everything in the world for my sister and I to eat vegetables growing up, and this is one that I would usually eat with no problem. The parmesan cheese in this recipe really covers up the veggie taste, without being too unhealthy for you, so I have to love it (plus, I love cheese).

1 zucchini (for one serving)
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Parmesan cheese (I like fresh grated but you could use anything)

Preheat oven to 350º (either conventional or toaster oven). Cut the zucchini length-wise and put on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and sprinkle cheese on top. Bake about 8 minutes, or until zucchini is cooked through and cheese is crusty on top.

Adorable flowers

Just a quickie for an adorable little flower arrangement I saw on Clover & Bee:

I absolutely love the urns with the roses and how they compliment the tables. As much as I love tall centerpieces, I don't love when I can't see across the table at the people I'm sitting with. I think these are the perfect compliment for classy, a little vintage, yet absolutely gorgeous. I would probably look for something similar to this, but maybe have a grouping of them with different urns and/or different flowers in multiples on tables. That would also depend on how our tables are set up, but at a minimum I think these would look great at a head table or something.

Love, love, LOVE! The whole wedding that these were featured from can be found here, and the photos of the event are awesome. A little too vintage for my style, but still adorable all the way :)

Budgeting

I am crazy frustrated with trying to find a reception spot. Granted, we haven't looked into that many places just yet, but on our first excursion up to Traverse City we saw one venue that I just drop-dead fell in love with. This would normally be an awesome thing, except of course, that my eyes are bigger than my budget and it's looking slightly unaffordable at the moment.

Speaking of budget, can we talk for a split second about how much I hate to budget?! My financially-savvy fiance and I are crunching numbers (ok, let's be honest, he's crunching all the numbers) to make sure this is all affordable so we don't go into bankruptcy in our first year of marriage. Responsible? Yes. Slightly eye-opening at what we can't afford? Absolutely.

That being said, we are extremely lucky that we have some beloved family members who have offered their services for a few aspects of the wedding process (his mom is a master cake-baker so she's got that on lock, and my aunt is a florist/artist/extraordinaire that is generous enough to offer her services as well). This will save us in a lot of areas, but even with this huge amount of help, I think I need to come back to some realistic views of how this wedding is going to go.

This is my "reel it in" pep talk to myself, in case you can't tell.

My dad keeps coming into my head when I start thinking about the wedding and all the fun, cool things that I would like to do with it. His favorite saying: "You and your sister, you have champagne taste on a beer budget."


I hate when he's right. Hopefully we'll be able to find a happy medium somewhere.

Things I'm loving right now

Hello blogosphere. Hope you're doing well.

So there are a few things going on right now that I am absolutely loving! And I felt like sharing.

#1. Conan vs. Leno
I can't even tell you how much I'm loving the NBC battles right now. It's kind of fascinating to me. Not only because I happen to love a good corporate scandal, but also because since I started re-watching Conan this week because of the whole battle, you can tell he has completely come back into his own! (yes, rewatching, because his show changed a lot when he moved up in time slots) I missed his old goofy ways, and you could totally tell he had watered things down when he became host of the Tonight Show (whether it was asked for by NBC or not is too soon to tell). But I respect the statements the guy has made to the general public, and I am happy he is back to his old ways - including cutting waist strings. That's what made him so successful in the first place! So therefore, in case you all were dying to know, I am on Team Conan. Not that I have much against Leno - I think he's been put in kind of a rough spot by NBC - but it's time for a new Tonight Show host, and it should be Conan O'Brien. That is all.

#2. Sherlock Holmes
Ok, I know that there's some back and forth on this one right now, but I loved the Sherlock Holmes - and not just because of my love of Robert Downey, Jr. (but that didn't hurt either). Granted, the plot was a little "eh" since I'm not huge into witchcraft or the supernatural, but I thought the portrayal of Holmes and Watson was awesome. RDJ and Jude Law were a perfect match as far as I'm concerned! Can't wait for a sequel (if there is one).

#3. Spin Class
LOL! Ok I'm not that much of an old lady, but that picture made me laugh. So I just started up a spinning class last week, and MAN am I loving it!! It is such a great work out and since Allen and I are on a hardcore health-kick these days, I've decided that this is the perfect kind of cardio for me. The class I'm taking does 35 minutes of cycling, and then 15 minutes of either core or strength training work. I love, love, love it no matter how sore my booty was after that first bike ride (and believe me, I was sore). I just have such a hard time motivating myself to run or go on the eliptical, so I'm pretty happy with this choice so far. Hopefully I'll keep it up for the next 12 weeks!

This weekend is full of some fun plans - tonight we're going to Lansing to see an Irish band with two of our friends, and tomorrow will be a lot of cleaning and school work until Jill's going away party (ok, that's not fun for me, but it will be fun to see everyone). And then Sunday is the first night of our cornhole league! This should be interesting... :)

Woah gorgeous

2 posts in one day?! Are you kidding me?!

Ok I couldn't help it though - I was browsing and found these photos of gorgeous bouquets from Karen Tran Florals. I love the bride and bridesmaid bouquets! The centerpieces aren't too shabby either, but definitely out of my price range ;) Had to share. Love.



PS - so you are aware, this blog is also for me to categorize things I like for my wedding. Since it's so far out, I'm sure I'll forget all of this at some point, so I'd like to be able to come back here and be like "wait, where were those bouquets I like?" and easily access them. Woo!

The 'zona

After the craziness of the holidays died down this year (well, it didn't exactly die down, we just straight up and left it), Allen and I headed to Arizona to visit his brother and sister that live there. We were joined by a few friends and had a really great, fun, WARM time. And by warm, I'm saying it doesn't take a lot to convince me to move somewhere warm when it's 70º and sunny with clear skies. That blast of cold air when we came back to Detroit was not a fun one.

A few of the fun photos from our trip:

Allen and his brother Mark

The boys, after doing a bit of rock climbing (Jeff, Erik, Mark, Eric, and Allen)

Mark and Allen teaching their nephews "The Captain" (Alex is on the left, Andrew on the right)

"The Tree Incident"

So, a funny thing about "The Incident". Mark, at some point on New Year's Eve, decided it would be a great idea to tackle our friend Eric into the Christmas tree. He even went so far as to ask Molly permission to do so, and had the foresight to remove some of the more sentimental ornaments from the tree beforehand. Well, the thought was that the tree would just fall back into the wall. Instead, the tree crumpled underneath them. This is the aftermath the next morning. We all just decided to chalk it up to Nick (the cat) being pissed about not getting enough Christmas presents this year.

The Engagement Party

So I'm straight up convinced that Allen and I have the most generous and amazing family and friends in the world. How I know this is because of the mass amount of people that showed up to the engagement party that my sister Erin (aka maid of honor) and friends Jill and Erin threw for us. I'll say one thing - I had such a blast seeing everyone! Even if that's the smallest indication of how awesomely fun our wedding is going to be, I'm all set.

There was food (oh MAN was there food - a chocolate fountain even!), lots of Traverse City wine to pay tribute to our wedding location, a slide show (if I can get my hands on it, I'll post it), a trivia game, and my parents gave Allen and I a beautiful set of Waterford champagne glasses to use for our wedding toast. We're going to do our best to not break them before the wedding, cuz that's how we tend to roll.

There were many great photos that were taken that evening, but there are two that are my favs:

We call this one, "The Physical Challenge"

Yep, that's Jess proposing to me to earn extra points during the trivia game. She did a fabulous job because I said yes.

On my mom's Facebook (yes, she has a Facebook), she captioned this one "We were four...now we're five!" aaaaaand I was pretty much about to cry. I did tell her that my dad is seriously going to have to work on smiling for photos if our photographers at the wedding are ever going to stand a chance at a good family photo. He did pretty good in this one though :) Also, my sister has inspired me to tan...a lot...before the wedding.

Another big huge ginormous thank you to the Erins, Jill, and my parents for helping out and for putting everything on for us. Love you! :)

A quick one!

Sorry for the delay in blogging - I apparently have to learn how to draft and save for later.

One of my favorite things Allen and I did during the holidays was have our own little Christmas celebration the Monday before the actual holiday. It was really, really nice to cook a big dinner, watch a movie (nothing holiday - Inglorious Basterds, haha! But that movie was awesome), and exchange gifts. I hope it's a tradition that we carry on with us for as long as we continue to have crazy holiday seasons.

Speaking of...the holidays were absolutely CRAZY. Way too much going on, and while all of it was a lot of fun (more to come on that), I was a little relieved to leave for Arizona on the 28th to go visit my future brother and sister-in-laws.

While we did a lot in AZ (more to come on that also), the best part was just relaxing, hanging out with everyone, and reading my newest book The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. I have to say, the book was really interesting. Brought a lot of light into new topics of science that I had personally never thought of before. The end of the book completely dragged on, but for a while it was impossible for me to put it down (ask anyone I traveled with). I recommend it for sure!

More to come on the holiday festivities, our engagement party, and Arizona. I just have to finally load all of my pictures up!

My fellow soon-to-be's

So one thing you should know about me is that I have always been surrounded by really strong, amazing, beautiful, smart, and all-around fabulous women in my life. I know everyone always says they have the best friends and family in the world, but in my world, it really is true. I think that I am really lucky to constantly be surrounded by successful women - and they all are truly successful in their own unique ways too. They are the ones who push me to be better and are the ones who listen to me moan and complain when I am having a hard time at work or school or life, and I am lucky to have found such an amazing group of ladies to surround myself with.


Additionally, one of the really nice things about being engaged right now is that I have quite a few friends who are currently going through wedding planning (plus one or two who have already gone to the big dance). They understand my pains, my moods, and my need to plan everything two years in advance, so that is kind of nice to have around. Plus, my friends are all so different, and it is nice to bounce ideas off of each of them because I know I will get different inputs based on their different styles.

That being said, I am crazy excited for this weekend. One of my darling former roommates is getting married next month, so we are all spending the weekend in Chicago to celebrate the end of her singlehood. And let's be clear, it's going to be a PARTY! (cuz that's how we roll)

I can't wait to see all of my girls :) Some fun to report on that when we get back!

Butternut Squash Soup

So cooking has quickly jumped to the top of my list of hobbies in the past year or so, and I've really been enjoying trying out new recipes. One of my favorite things to make is soup - I love soup. I could eat soup every day. We already have a few really yummy soup recipes in the rotation (french onion, broccoli, beer and cheddar), but last night we made butternut squash soup. I have to say, it is now officially in the rotation - I love it! Here is the link to the recipe (also below with my modifications): Giada's Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients

Soup
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 3/4-inch pieces (about 7 to 8 cups)
6 cups low-sodium chicken stock
1/4 cup chopped fresh sage leaves
Kosher salt freshly ground black pepper

Crostini:
1/2 baguette, sliced diagonally into 1/2-inch thick slices
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage leaves (I did not put sage on there, but it's an option from the original recipe)
1 cup (2 ounces) grated fontina cheese
Kosher salt (and I also added pepper)

Directions
In an 8-quart stockpot, add the butter and oil and melt together over medium-high heat. Add the onion and carrot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add the squash and the chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a boil and add the sage. Continue to boil until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Turn off the heat. Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture until smooth and thick. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Keep the soup warm over low heat.

For the crostini: Put an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Arrange the bread slices on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sage. Sprinkle the cheese on top and season with salt, to taste. Bake until the cheese has melted and the bread is light golden, about 6 to 8 minutes.

To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the cheese crostini.

Giada's Note: The cooked vegetable mixture can also be pureed (after cooling for about 5 minutes) by ladling, in batches, into a food processor or blender and blended until smooth.

Enjoy!!

Priorities

So as Allen and I have started building our wedding plans, a few priorities have come out of what we'd like to see/have at the wedding. Surprisingly, we both have the same level of priorities for some of the big ticket items. Our list, so far, has gone in this order:

1. The Bar: Anyone who knows us knows we like a good party, so that is probably priority #1 for this wedding. And nothing contributes more to a good party than the booze, let's be honest. I'm sure we'll be featuring some of our signature drinks at the wedding (car bombs anyone?), but if nothing else, just making sure everyone is properly hydrated is important to us :)
2. The Photography: Since this is one of the major keepsakes that we'll have around forever and ever, this is not a place we plan to skimp on. Plus, I love me some good photography so on THE day, it's pretty important.
3. The Music: We have both been to weddings where everything has been absolutely wonderful, elegant, and delicious...but a bad DJ just ruined the time for everyone. We will have a very thorough DO NOT PLAY list that our DJ will be required to follow (no chicken dance, macarena, and any other coordinated dance songs as far as I'm concerned). This is also where all of YOU come into play - visit the "music selection" page HERE to put in your request! (Although we do veto power).
4. The Food: Allen and I are also very big food lovers (I'm such a fat kid at heart, let's be honest). So the food, while important, ranks lower than a few other items on the list mainly due to costs, but we'll make sure everyone has a full belly to keep up with the bar.
5. The Invites: This last one is probably my own little priority in this wedding. I'm planning on designing and printing my own invites, and I want them to be fabulous. Others may say that this is just another added stress I'm bringing on myself, but I honestly think I'd be more stressed out NOT doing it myself.  Plus, as a self-proclaimed print nerd - my coworkers can attest to this - I feel that anything less than fabulous would not meet my standards.