Nothing Left for Me to Do But DANCE!

photo by me!

That's right...it's the return of Dance Fridays. Not that I'd really gone that long without them. This one is short and sweet. First of all...look at this photo:

photo via Awkward Family Photos

Isn't it awesomely hilarious?? If you follow my twitter at all (and you should, in fact, just click here and make yourself feel better), you would know that at around 2:30 in the morning, I couldn't get enough of Awkward Family Photos. Entertainment Weekly featured the site in this week's issue, and then one of my favorite blogs, Avoision, had a post about it yesterday. Anyway, it's freaking hilarious. I could post so many more that had me dying laughing, but then this post might as well be a part of Awkward Family Photo's blog. So just go there...and die laughing. It'll make you rethink your shot list for your wedding!

Then for a more grounded photography experience, check out these two beautiful weddings. I love Jeremy Lawson's beautifully shot wedding (at University of Chicago! I love it!), and Green Apple's lovely hued wedding (via The Wedding Chicks).

Finally, in order to prove to A.P. that wedding planning is intensive and requires lots of time and discussion (that can't be done at the last minute), I made a list of all the things we will have to deal with. OH. MY. GOD. It's five pages long, SINGLE SPACED. I'm in over my head...I know I am. After all, even though our wedding will be our own, wouldn't it be nice if it were as dreamy and as beautiful down to the details as this fake wedding as featured by C. is for Charmed (there's that pesky blog crush again!). Who doesn't want a tree filled with memories??

photo by Tec Petaja via C. is for Charmed

Happy weekend, bloggers! Dance it up!

Oops! I almost forgot!

I forgot that (assuming I did the math on this correctly) Mimi from Not a Bride Yet is, well, a bride now! Here's hoping everything went according to plan! Can't wait to see the photos! Congratulations, Mimi!

A Change Is Gonna Come

One of my favorite songs of all time is Sam Cooke's original version of "A Change is Gonna Come." It gives me chills every time I listen to it. It makes me both sad and hopeful, because it is at once a tragic account of a life that seemingly was never given a chance, yet the refrain is filled with so much optimism.

On days like today, in light of California's recent decision to uphold a discriminatory piece of legislation everyone knows as Proposition 8, I like to listen to this song and imagine a future where this kind of discrimination isn't the standard of our government. In a year where "hope" has been our nation's refrain, and is being reflected in not only our current sitting president, but also the passing of legislation in Iowa (Go Hawks!), Maine, Vermont, and Washington that allow gay couples to marry, I feel like our nation is a lot like that dejected, yet promising narrator in Cook's song. We are surrounded by discrimination, and the misused voice of God, but our hopeful voices shall not go unheard.

In the end there are two important things to remember: the first is a distinction our forefathers made hundreds of years ago, that is, the separation of church and state. These laws that legalize marriage have nothing to do with religious marriage. It's an important distinction and one I believe Americans have lost sight of. If you believe that being gay is wrong in the eyes of God, that's your right. Others shouldn't be punished on a legal level, however, for religious points of view.

The second thing that is important to remember is a lot like the hopeful refrain in that song. Marriage, ultimately, is about love. 18,000 gay couples who were married before the passing of Prop 8 did so because they were in love so deeply that they were choosing to bind their lives together before the witnessing eyes of their families, their friends, and their Gods. 18,000 people love each other enough to sign their name on a line and commit themselves fully to their partner. I don't know about you, but I'm thinking that's a lot of love! And maybe that's the image we need to keep burned in our brains: this is all about love. Nothing more, nothing less.

Sommer over at Crabs & Coconuts posted a tribute a little while back to Mildred and Richard Loving (if you don't know who they are, click that link!), and the more I think about it, the more I think about how those 18,000 people are the Mildred and Richard Lovings of this battle. They are the ones who are standing up, before the world, asking why it's wrong to love and marry who they love. I wish I had a more hopeful response for them than this: I don't know when, but I do know these laws will change. I only hope that this change comes soon.

photo via here

"As We Mature, the Relationship Matures"*

Without going into too much detail, lately I've been really appreciative of the wonderful relationship I have with A.P. The thing is, I used to be so unhappy before I met him. I don't mean depressed (although it was that at times), and I don't mean I was a really negative, miserable person, either. I just was lonely, and unhappy, and in relationships where I always felt like I was walking on eggshells, maintaining some version of myself that does exist, but is like me on my best behavior. Now, I'm just me. And though I feel bad that that sometimes means A.P. sees me in my granny panties because the laundry needs washing, or in my leggings and old French contest t-shirt that is from 1989 and has bleach spots on it, or sprawled out on the couch with eight chins and frizzy hair and zero makeup on (I might be describing myself right now), I'm happy that, at the end of the day, I've found someone who I'm just comfortable around. No topic is off limits, I'm not afraid to say or do anything with A.P. because I'm confident that we're in it together and it's okay. He loves me for who I am. As cheesy as that sounds, lately I've realized how true it is, and how lucky I am for having that kind of a relationship.

I have to confess, I didn't do a Dance Fridays post this week because, well, I think everyone in the blogosphere had Memorial Day weekend plans on the brain, because I was thoroughly uninspired by much of what I found/saw/read this week. Oh well.

I have another confession to make. A.P. and I rented a car this weekend, and I went to Michael's. I found the Speedball fabric silk screening kit on sale from $79.99 to $39.99. I bought it. I also found all this awesome Martha Stewart craft paper on sale for $3.99 and less! I'm making these paper flowers which I got the idea for because it was featured on Vintage Glam Blog, which snagged it from Craft Stylish. Anyway, I'm taking pictures as I go, so perhaps I will post those this week. I will say this, the happy outcome of all this wedding planning is the rediscovery of how much I love crafting projects. I like making nice art, and painting and taking pictures, but it's so nice to just craft the shit out of some stuff.

In the mean time, enjoy this pic of me, flying. I took a bunch of photos of A.P. jumping into the bed. I'm going to save you the horror of seeing his skinny frame in boxers (even though the ones I took of him were awesome...he's way braver than me about catapulting onto the bed), but check out this one he took of me. See the leggings and French contest t-shirt?? Ummm...yeah...

photo by A.P.!

* I don't know if I've ever raved about by my intense love for How I Met Your Mother, but this post's title was taken from one of my favorite episodes this season, if not of all time so far. If you haven't watched How I Met Your Mother, check it out.

(Late) Spring Cleaning and the Wonderful World of Silk Screening

So, I've been a bad little blogger lately. Since I graduated, I figured I no longer have an excuse to not clean up around the house. So, I've been doing massive cleaning projects around the house. I found my desk buried under piles of data and books. I cleaned and re-organized our hall closet. I did all my filing. It's been a long process, and I'm not done yet. There's still the bedroom. Since I moved in with A.P., a little over a year ago, we have had a messy bedroom. We just got stuck in a rut, and haven't been able to get it together since. That changes this week. It's my goal to finish cleaning this house, and then attack the job search in a nice, clean house. I was going to get hardcore this week and start pounding the pavement looking for a job, but I figured it might be okay to take one week off, seeing as how I just finished school last week. No more than a week, though. In fact, if it seems like I'm blogging a little too much, feel free to harass me a little via the comments.

Anyway, last weekend, an art store that I have a membership to gave a free silk screen printing demo, and A.P. and I went. We made t-shirts (see below)! Now, if you're me, it was a fun day. On a scale of 1 through 10, 1 being a bore, 10 being super awesome, it was a 10! For A.P., who to my sometimes disappointment is not as artistically inclined, it was a 3. However, for some time, I've been debating about designing and DIYing our invitations, and I've been contemplating silk screening them, but didn't really know anything about it. Turns out, it's pretty easy! I didn't buy any of the materials, yet. I figured I'll be pretty busy for the next month, so I won't have time to mess around that much, so I put off buying all the materials. But now, I constantly dream about silk screening and all the cool t-shirts and posters I'm going to make.

photo by me!

Did anyone else DIY their invites? Or some part of it? Am I going to be in over my head??

Yes, Virginia, Years (and I Mean Years) of Hard Work Can Pay Off

photos by me!

I'm going to write a longer (most overdue) post later, but for now, the big news is...I graduated! Yay!! Instead of posting pics of my stupid (ugly) Harry Potter gown, I figured you could see what I wrote underneath! Bright, bold, and fun! That's how life (and all great outfits) should be! Okay...bigger post coming later. Later, daters.

Dance Fridays!

photo by me!

Everyone who knows me well knows that my secret shame is my unabashed love of pop music. You know, the kind that you only listen to in the car when your ipod's battery is dead? Part of my love of pop music stems from my love of a good crescendo. If you write a song that has a good crescendo, I'm all yours. If you write a song that has a good crescendo featuring a strings section, I'm all ears! That's why, despite my non-love for The Killers, I was surprisingly bitten by this infectious song. It's okay to love one song, right?? It starts out just okay, but then those strings start up and...it's all over.



Anyway, here are my favs from this week. Short and sweet...

Dear Christina: Don't make your friends secretly hate you. No floppy hats. Not everyone is Jennifer Lopez.

A.P. hate this wedding. I loved it. At least he's looking at wedding stuff a little more. As Ellen would say, "Am I right, ladies?"

I totally want to DIY these garden markers. Just think! You could even DIY them into place cards!

I've got new blog love for .C is for Charmed. But look at these pretty engagement photos she featured on Wednesday. Look how in love they are! Lovely!

photo via Steep Street Photography via .C is for Charmed

Finally, check out the latest additions to the blogroll: Perfect Palette, Budget Savvy Bride, Olivia Leigh Photography, and Sparkle Power.

Dance the day away!

An Actual Wedding Planning Post on a Wedding Themed Blog? Shut the Front Door!

As promised this post will be about wedding crap, er, I mean, planning. But first, I have to gush! Check out what my sweet, sweet man got me as a graduation present!

photo by me!

That's right! A Diana F+ camera! I've been crushing on these for a while, but since I'm, you know, a broke ass grad student, they've been a dream. Well, a while ago, I told A.P. he could add it to the gift list (we keep gift ideas for each other on a list...every once in a while we'll tell each other something to add to the list). Then a package arrived the other day, which he claimed was for the new surround sound system that he bought, but of course, it wasn't. It was my beautiful new Diana! I'm so excited! I'm going to the camera shop before my graduation (because they're like two blocks away from each other) to buy film! Yay!! I can't wait to start posting images!

Anyway, today isn't about graduation, lousy mothers (who, btw, emailed from abroad and made it clear she wasn't attending my graduation but didn't offer up any form of congratulations whatsoever), twitter, or anything else. Today, ladies is all about weddings.

As promised, I've made some inspiration boards. Truth be told, I entered Feather Love's free photography contest (and lost), and made these for that contest. I'm not posting both, because A.P. and I agreed that one was good, and one was just okay. So I give you my very first inspiration board. I'm usually pretty good about crediting images, but these are ones that I've taken from various sites for the past year or so, for my own binder. So I really have no idea where some of them came from. The ones I remember, I've posted links to below the photo. If you see an image and it's yours, please email me and I will update the post to give credit where credit is due. Thanks!

center image via Robert Ryan's etsy store
clockwise from upper left corner:
1. Tea Kettle via MagiaMia's etsy store, 2. bird gift tags via Maka Le Wakan's etsy store, 3. birdie cake via Toast & Tables, 4. handkerchief hanging vases and cake stand via Once Wed, 5. ring pillow via Weddingbee, 6. tins and flowers source unknown, 7. birdcage veil via Jennifer Behr, 8. happy couple source unknown, 9. birdie cake topper course unknown, 10. table assignments on grass bed source unknown, 11. J. Crew Daphne via Altar Ego

Freaking Awesome!

photo via this site

I don't know if any of you watch Lost, but that finale just rocked my world. I'm not saying anything else because I know we live in an age of DVRs, and busy schedules, but yeah. ROCKED. MY. WORLD.


PS. I heart Sawyer even more now.

PPS. A real wedding entry tomorrow. I promise.

Totally Unrelated to Anything Besides My Love of Gossip

Okay, this is for gossip hounds only...

Does anyone else find Kate Winslet's relationship with Leonardo DiCaprio a bit...odd? I don't really know how to describe it, except maybe inappropriate. To each their own, and I'm sure that her husband Sam Mendes is fine with it (or at least I hope he is), but I gotta tell you, when I saw her Golden Globe acceptance speech, I remember thinking how awkward it is that she thanked Leonardo DiCaprio before her husband and said how much she loved him. But still, it wasn't that bad. I mean it could've been a really awkward Angelina Jolie and her brother kiss (see image below). But then Ms. Winslet went on and on about her love of Leo on Oprah, and all kinds of other media platforms. Okay, again, odd, but maybe okay, right?

photo via The National Ledger

But the, then I saw today's Perez post. Really? You wear a ring on the same finger as your wedding band and you're not aware that perhaps your love is a little too much?? Really??!!?? Whatever...this is totally my opinion. But it's just...weird. Look at her looking at him...all in love.

photo via Perez Hilton

A Miracle Has Occurred

image from Real Simple

A.P. finally looked at the Real Simple Wedding issue. Something I'd been begging him to do for weeks now. Progress, ladies...progress.

Dance Fridays!

photo by me!

This week's Dance Friday post is a little short. My new goal will be to tweet about a lot of this stuff and keep these Dance Friday posts shorter....they were getting so long! Nevertheless I'm a surfer, and I love to find good ideas/good things to buy/inspiration from all over. Here are some of my favorites this week:

I love, love, love this post from Once Wed. First of all, my favorite thing on all the bridal blogs are the real weddings. They're like porn and totally addictive. I'm in love with the happy faces, the romantic moments, the beautiful details. Just all of it! Sarah & Adam's wedding is, for the most part, standard: white dress, happy couple, pretty flowers, dad walking his daughter down the aisle. But it's the infectious happiness that gets me every time I look at it! Truly, though! Look below! She just looks so damn euphoric!

photo via Once Wed

I read this article on MSN, and was initially disappointed when I thought A.P. only met one and a half of these "requirements." Though my disappointment quickly turned to humor when I realized that the reason he didn't meet the "requirements" is because I'm being nitpicky and finding exceptions, which then made me realize that A.P. is right...my expectations are way, way too high for everything! Then I went back over the list, and decided, in all honesty, and without being a nitpicky woman about things, he met all but #4 ("he's still a little mysterious"), which means I'm not doing too bad.

Seriously...expectations = way too high: I wasn't going to give him #3 because he's a picky eater and still picks things out of meals...see? Nitpicky. I'd give him #4, too, out of regret for thinking he didn't measure up at first, except when you've lived with someone for a little while, and you walk into a room and the room has a, shall we say odor, because the inhabitant of said room had a, shall we say bad burrito, there can be no more mystery. The only mystery is how he managed to hide all his gross bodily functions from me for almost two years before we lived together! Hey! Check it out! He does have a little mystery, after all. A.P.'s the best boyfriend ever!

Finally, check out this cool address filer from perla239's etsy store. I saw this on a blog, but it was so late, and it was in between twitter updating and I honestly have no idea where I saw it. Anyway, it's cool. Go check it out. Etsy rules.

Happy Friday! Dance it up!

PS. Still a little longer than I'd like, but...it's got two pictures!!

What Does the Birdie Say???

Tweet, tweet. That's what! Last night meant site maintenance...specifically figuring out how to code in Twitter. Done and done. I'm breaking my normal use of of polaroid pics in order to give pictured directions. Forgive me. You can now tweet about this blog in two ways:

1. You can click on individual posts, and click on the "Tweet this" link at the bottom of each post.

{Click on the individual post.}

{Scroll to the bottom of the post and look for the Tweet This link.}




{Click on the Tweet This link and it will take you to your own Twitter page.}

{Tweet your friends about my blog. Yay!}

2. You can also twitter about the blog in general.

{Look to the right of the blog. Under the About Me section, you'll find the Tweet This link.}

{Click on the link, and go through the same process listed above.}

Finally, you can also follow me on twitter, and read my latest tweets. You can find these on the right hand side of the blog, under the Tweet This that appears under the About Me section. The newest tweets appear on top, and the Follow Me on Twitter link appears below.

{Follow me on Twitter.}

I tried to find as many people from my blogroll as possible, but if I didn't find you, find me. Does anyone else Twitter?? If so, give me some good tips in the comment section!

Tweet, tweet.

It's Good to Be (Half-) Indian

photo of me!

One of my big dilemmas for the wedding (besides wondering where the, you know, money is coming from) is how to work in my heritage. First, let me explain. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I'm a half breed. That's right, a designer dog...though I prefer bitch. My mother is white...though I prefer bitch (I'm KIDDING...even though I complain, I do love my mom), and my father is Indian, as in India Indian. Dot...not feather. Though not really dot either since, you know, we're Catholic.

Anyway, I digress. The older I get, the more I embrace the fact that I'm Indian, er, half-Indian. I never really denied it growing up, but I like it more and more. I think that this stems from the fact that my dad is getting older and I'm more aware of his mortality, and also from my realization that there will be no more brown babies! I'm the last one!! Since A.P. is the whitest white boy, I assume that our babies will be the whitest white kids...with a mother who tans so dark she looks dirty. It kind of bums me out. I've told A.P. this before, too. Which is why I think at some point, I'll push harder for adoption. Mix it up. Can't be outnumbered. That's never good.

So I've always wondered how I will incorporate my Indian-ness into my big day, besides inviting my Indian best friend and my half breed family, that is. I always felt it was going to be this big challenge, and lately it seems that I'm, well, wrong. Indian is totally in! Who knew? Growing up it was all Apu and the quickie mart, Gandhi, smells like teen curry jokes. But then something happened...it started with the yoga craze, and then Madonna and her mendhi, and Gwen Stefani and her bindi, and then, then it became Slumdog Millionaire, and Kelly Kapoor. Now suddenly I see Indian inspired wedding cakes, and Indian weddings in 27 dresses! It's INSANE.

But here's the kicker...the terrible thing I almost don't want to admit. Now that it's trendy, it makes me want to incorporate it even less into our wedding. I mean, I was already on the fence, because even though it's who I am, it's not part of my personality. I mean it is, but not in any way that makes me feel I have to build a freaking wedding theme around it. Eh, who knows? Maybe I'll draw some saris on my freaking birds, and call it a day.


PS...Totally unrelated, but have you guys seen this commercial? It cracks me up!!

Mommy Issues and The Great Write Way

Oh my goodness, you guys! I'm so sorry I've been such a bad blogger lately, but I'm finishing up my huge ass research project for my last grad class before I graduate in less than two weeks (woo! hoo!). Seriously...it's up to 63 pages so far, and it's not completely done yet. I still have to go through, edit it, and possibly add a little more depending on what feedback my professor gives me. Geesh. Anyway, my class ends this week, so my old friend, time, and I are looking forward to meeting again next week.

That being said, I'm feeling so uninspired by the wedding planning lately. I mean, I still read all my blogs, and find pretty ideas, and all that jazz, but I'm so...uninspired. I think maybe I overloaded too fast. My brain can't handle it all. It also doesn't help that many of my friends and family don't seem to give much of a shit. That's not completely true, but it's mostly true. I think it just seems exhausting planning all of this crap for people who don't even care. Two of my siblings eloped, and I'm starting to understand why more and more each day. I know I'll get back into it, but lately, it just proves frustrating.

I think, though, it comes down to this: I have a shitty family. I do. I always have, but it's become more and more apparent with my upcoming graduation, who barely anyone is coming to. Here's the deal: I graduate from graduate school on the 15th. I'm the only one in my family to have gone to graduate school, so you'd think it'd be a little bit of a big deal, right? Um, not so much apparently. I sent out invitations to various family members and a couple of friends, and so far the list of people who are coming is slim. It bums me out, because this has totally happened before with previous graduations or accomplishments in life.

So my mom is on a month long cruise, and "didn't know if she'd be back in time." Awesome. Btw, she technically could be back in time for my graduation, but she's playing this game with me where she's not telling me one way or another. She does this all the time. If she were a man, I'd have broken up with her by now! Then when I complained about this to my brother, he said, "Well it's a once in a lifetime opportunity for her to travel like that." To which (and this is why I love him sooooo much) A.P. replied, "Well it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to see her daughter graduate from grad school." My family's priorities are all screwed up. So you can see why I'm a bit bummed out. My graduation will be happy, I know it will, because I'll pick myself up by the boot straps, and be proud and happy, BUT it's also bittersweet. Life is filled with enough moments where people let you down. Those people shouldn't always be your family members.

Dance Fridays!

photo by me!

Wow. What a week. I'm so exhausted. So I rarely talk about my job here because of the nature of what I do, and the privacy issues involved. Plus, I just want to keep it as separate from my personal life as possible. I'm still not going to talk about my job here, but I will say that the temp. job I've been doing ended this week, and it's been very bittersweet. I was so sad to leave, and will miss the work terribly. That being said, it has been the most exhausting week ever! I got two and a half hours of sleep last night because I came home and cooked a lunch for the people I work with. It took me all night! Ugh...I came home today and slept from 5:30 until 10pm. I was exhausted! I still am. Anyway, that's my (lame) excuse for not blogging that much this week.

My knee is FINALLY starting to feel better! Thank God! Today and yesterday have been the best days so far. It still isn't 100%, but it's a vast improvement over, you know, barely being able to walk a week ago. Dance Fridays are, for now, still a couple of weeks away, but I feel them coming.

Now that I've entered the world of temporary unemployment again (hopefully just until summer!), I'm at a loss for what to do other than finish up school, which has two weeks left! So, I've been contemplating doing some re-decorating around the house. I've been particularly inspired by The Maiden Metallurgist. A little background on the fair maiden...I saw her wedding featured on A Practical Wedding when I first started my wedding blog obsession. I fell in love with her whole wedding, and the location. A.P. and I are planning on trying to have our wedding at the same venue. More on those details later, though. For now, there is her week long reveal of house projects she's been doing with her husband as part of their Apartment Therapy 8 Step Cure. I was so impressed with her projects that I made these birdie (go figure) canvases, and am planning on making three more for a little canvas collage in the entryway. I'm also thinking about doing some other projects around the house.

photo by me!

Anyway, a lot of this week's dances are design-related. Enjoy!

I've been collecting Altoids Tins lately for DIY projects. I was planning on making little keepsake boxes of some kind, but found these great ideas on Design * Sponge. There are the mini tin gardens, which are my favorite, as well as the tin message board. I love that both are eco-friendly, too!

My thirst for papercuts *and* birdies was quenched by another Design * Sponge post.

I sort of wish that One Love Photo had included more specific instructions for how they pulled this off.

The birdie-obsessed in me likes these gift tags not just as gift tags but also as something to incorporate into a centerpiece. I'm certain I could DIY a similar thing. Is it wrong that part of why I love Etsy is because I get ideas for stuff I want to DIY?

Plus they would match this awesome cake stand from Once Wed. I think maybe a good unemployment project would be to take all this birdie, wood, peet pot shit and make a damn inspiration board already. Does that mean I'm selling out???

I love Apartment Therapy's post on the return of cardboard. It made me feel good about my convincing A.P. to buy this a year ago. See? I'm ahead of the trend. In two years, everyone will be doing surprise weddings. This blog shall act as proof of my geniusness!

Finally, I wish I had a wedding with a smoking lobster! And I hope I ride away happy from my wedding on a bicycle built for two! We should all be so lucky!

photo via Green Wedding Shoes