Sunday, August 28, 2011

i've got the bug

it all started one day while mucking around on Pinterest and now i have another computer related addiction... yep colour palette generating

but with so many pretty colours and pictures out there how could you not...

source: Glen Proebstel via SF Girl by Bay

but whats lovely about pinterest is it introduces you to websites you would otherwise never know about for example the interior stylist Glen Proebstel who is the brains behind this wonderful picture

on another note i was on Rock n Roll Bride earlier today where i saw a feature on a zombie attack engagement shoot SO FUNNY see it here (she also has some interesting articles about blog PR)

on a progress note: after successive trips to Bunnings (long ones i might add it really sucks not being just down the road anymore) we are still struggling to get the varnish out of the corners etc on the chairs and just keep forgetting to get new staples for the staple gun (note to self: MUST WRITE REMINDER ON FOREHEAD)

but did polish the Parker chairs and damn they came up good with totally minimal effort thats what quality gets you

Saturday, August 27, 2011

spring is almost here!!

while those on the other side of the globe prepare for colder months, we of the great island country get our togs (swimmers in Australian), snags (sausages) and golden blonde hair ready for the Aussie spring/summer. For some that means shedding the winter coat off our legs, losing the tubby tummies brought on by rich winter foods and the beginning of camping season.

for me my most vivid memory of spring/summer as a child is getting sent to the pool with my sisters with $20 to pay for rides on the then giant slide and to buy food from the kiosk. They had the best scallops (potato cakes) and Paddlepops only cost something like 80 cents. You would eat your icecream first as the summer heat would quickly turn it to mush, catching the drips with your tongue before the sticky goo got all over your hands, then jump straight back in the water scouring the bottom of the deep-end for money and trinkets lost by other swimmers.

source: What Katie Ate - colours via DeGraeve Colour Palette Generator

Thursday, August 25, 2011

self-catering

we of the tiny budget foolishly choose to self-cater.....

with 29 days to go and a lecture from my mother fresh in my ear i have decided to finally sit down and organise the deadly shopping list!!

I can't remember how much i have previously shared with you on this point but when it came to catering it was pretty much a no-brainer... i had a quick look into some catering companies in the area found almost all too expensive or not really professional looking and decided we head down the ole self catering track....

we quickly decided against a sit-down meal as it would require more chairs/tablecloths/knives/forks etc (though at one point i really wanted to have a wedding brunch - our favourite meal of the day) and went with cocktail style service.... but we would have needed more waitstaff, people preparing etc

so entered the idea of afternoon tea buffet.... we had all these grand plans for pastries and things when we decided lets just take it back as simple as we can get it because when it comes down to it we want our big day to be as stress free as possible!!

so one solution: Ploughman's Lunch

traditionally this consists of a hunk of bread, hunk of meat, hunk of cheese and some sort of pie and relish

ours will probably translate into something more like this....

source: Zucchini Ribbon Salad on Proud Italian Cook and A Summer Cheese Plate on Sprouted Kitchen

as the RSVPs slowly trickle back in we are getting more of an idea of the number of people to expect and right now unless we become really good friends with a lot of people really fast that number should not exceed 75 people.

now comes the tricky part, unless you throw huge catered parties all the time chances are you aren't going to know that much about quantities and as i am not one of those people i am no different. so whats the first thing we all do when we are trying to solve a problem - Google it. so thats what i did (though how many people will a wheel of cheese feed? does come with some interesting sites) and the most helpful sites i found are here, here and here.

but yes still feeling a little unsure about what quantities i might need, i mean 1kg of butter really??

so i guess we did what we thought sounded right:

1 person will probably have 3-4 slices of bread, 2 thin slices each meat (3 types), like a cup of salad each, lots of cheese (no idea how to figure this one out) and probably like 3 boxes of mixed fruit for everyone (apples, pears etc)

yep and here is where you think i will pull the rabbit out of the hat and say 'voila! here is the perfect solution!'

nope, no rabbit still not any closer

on a more positive note though, i have sanded back 8 out of 10 chairs (before doing some kind of damage to my back and neck, i am comically similar now to the hunchback of notre dame).

Monday, August 22, 2011

so close i can almost taste it!!

with a mere 31 days to go until our big day it all seems really unreal, the vast amounts of time i had are quickly disappearing and i must get on with everything otherwise i am in grave danger of falling behind, both with the wedding and uni.

the drink dispensers i purchased off Sharnel Dollar Designs arrived today very well packaged and definitely worth the money I paid. I took some extremely bad photos on my iphone of them but they have good pics on the site here


i also got off my butt this afternoon and started sanding some of the chairs 4 and a half out of 10 down, i am thinking i should have started earlier though as i am powering through them. hopefully i will get all the sanding done by Friday then we can start oiling and on the wkd the re-upholstering can be done!

then.... i MUST do some study :(


Saturday, August 13, 2011

colour palettes

my share is a little bit different today, while pinteresting this morning i came across this link for the creature comforts blog. Basically its a tutorial on creating colour palettes without the help of photoshop etc using a site called DeGraeve. You simply enter the image URL (this can be done by right clicking the image on a normal PC) and clicking 'Color-Palette-Ify' and voila you are done. Now not sure how a professional would do it but to make the following picture I just clicked print-screen, pasted it into publisher (paint would work too i just like publisher better) and came up with this....

source: whereisthecool via randomitus
  handy right? not sure what kind of copyright issues it would bring up but i am sure that if the image used is referenced properly there shouldn't be a problem but if anyone knows any different please let me know

Friday, August 12, 2011

shopping list

i am home alone this weekend, the boy has gone on his bucks wkd and all housemates have left the building. It's quiet and kinda boring. I started my day at the usual time, had my usual breakfast and completed my usual morning ritual of checking Facebook, Ebay etc.

Then i turned MY music up full bore and did a weights workout, i tried skipping (for the first time in years seriously) but my tights kept falling down - seriously it was kinda funny but a whole lot of irritating - i guess they aren't really 'tight' tights. After this action of getting my blood pumping i thought ok i will hang that washing out that i meant to do yesterday (i'm terrible like that) and guess what i lifted the lid of our el-cheepo washing machine and found it was full of water. yep so my stress that the towels would be all smelly and stuff was unfounded because they were still just sitting in water. our washing machine is broken, again.

the previous day the boy had taken it apart after we heard something rattling around inside - it was a black bobby pin and a few coins (not mine i swear my hair is blonde). so the jury is still out on what is wrong with it.

in the meantime it got me thinking how irritating all our appliances seem to be, we have needed a new fridge for pretty much two years (the freezer first started leaking now just doesn't work at all tried fixing seals etc but to no avail), the mower is a goner (brand spanking new but just stopped working one day), my wizz stick is whirring in a manner it really shouldn't be, the xbox recently starting having some problems and my own poor old laptop is processing things at grandma speed and of course our camera which through no fault of its own is now in less than stellar condition.

so here is my shopping list if money was infinite

The Miele W 4751 - Miele is recommended by Choice and I love front loaders
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 - perfect for widescreen shots we wanted this originally but $$$

The Smeg Fridge - i think everybody secretly wants one of these
The new iMac - aren't they just so pretty and clean and smooth!! - i would also settle for a MacBook
also i don't really need the following but would love them

Arzberg Profi White Dinner Set - they also have them in some lovely soft colours
Mixed Vintage Flatware (Source: Brooke Boling via Style Me Pretty)
both the industrial lights and the lovely wooden table (Source: Le Voyage Creatif)

Thursday, August 11, 2011

vision for seating

in continuation of my wedding 'vision' here is a little idea of what we are doing for the reception seating...

this was an area for some debate, i really wanted the wedding to be cocktail style not only to save money but so that it would encourage everybody to mingle a lot more and hopefully make the night more enjoyable for those who don't know many people. i investigated it all and a lot of the sites i found recommended providing seating for a little above half of the guests. Now initially we were looking at about 100 guests but this number will be significantly less i think due to a serious deficit of people attending from my side... say more like 70.

and that's ok. i was at first a little taken aback by it but as long as all the important people are there thats all that matters.

now the seating....
it will be a combination of picnic rugs, circular tables and a few 'lounge' areas - hopefully this will cater for all types of people

source: Vintage + Chic via That Kind of Woman and Greige via Glamorous Little Side Project
source: Beauty Comma and Simply Bloom Photography via Elizabeth Anne Designs
source: Desire to Inspire and SF Gate via You are the River



Wednesday, August 10, 2011

picture of the day

source: Pinterest Vanessa Dunn
today is a day for no motivation, the boy is still in bed we stayed up late last night watching the first season of Prison Break on DVD. We meant to only watch one but found ourselves continually saying 'just one more' luckily neither of us have anything on until 11. yes we are both incredibly lazy.

so while pottering around this morning i re-discovered this wedding on Snippet and Ink. It was one of the first ones that really touched a chord with me and we even talked about doing our own backyard movies to end the reception but alas didn't work out. still i think this is one of the most beautiful weddings around and i will feel lucky to even get close to its beauty for ours.

also was checking out the Bash, Please blog and quite some time ago Rue did a shoot of their workspace. yep i am jealous, check it out here 


progress and horrible pictures

you know how there is at the point you hit when it seems like the wedding is getting really close and things progress really fast? we are there.

went strolling around the shopping centre today while on the phone to my MOH talking about the other bridesmaids dresses.

she has bought hers it looks like this...

Decjuba Bracken Cowl Neck Dress
so now we are trying to find some to match - well coordinate well with, again forever new has some good'uns

like this one...
Forever New Maya Mesh Embellished Dress

the boy and i have also been working on our ring book and i believe it is pretty much finished (still tossing up whether to glue pages together or not) so excuse my horrid pictures i took them in a rush and just to show the family what we have been doing...



still a little worried my paper thin ring will fall out onto the grass and be lost forever but i think we might tie a ribbon around the whole book you know just to be sure. Just in case you were wondering we used spray adhesive to glue the velvet to the book (much like contacting a school book) and a stanley knife to cut the holes out for the rings. You could run craft glue around all the edges of the book to keep the pages together but ours was left as is and still seems secure.

also got a little bit of random shopping done including the super bargain purchase of upholstery fabric for chairs @ $3 a metre and this little collection of things...



all coming together nicely indeed..

Friday, August 5, 2011

wisteria vision

either i am incredibly dedicated or incredibly bored i can't decide either way to continue my post from this morning on the wedding vision....

source: We Heart It - under the sea bee and Elaine Song Style at Home

source: Sloan Photographers via Style Me Pretty
source: Ferm Living Shop (Berry Black Wall Sticker) and Lyana Votey Photography Blog
btw i remember reading somewhere lately that a lot of blogger brides get overwhelmed by all the inspiration out there and are often tempted to make changes to wedding details - i think i am definitely falling into this trap....

however i have found that this process of systematically going through wedding ideas really helps put things back into perspective when it all comes together you begin to see how some ideas just don't work well together...

Thursday, August 4, 2011

ceremony vision

it is now 49 days till the wedding, WOW. yesterday we went suit shopping with the boys at Roger David it was tres stressful but after the groomsmen disappeared the boy and i shared a look or two of mutual 'wow, it's really happening/how exciting!/i love you so much' funny how a look can kinda mean all those things yeah? we also ended up purchasing our wedding fragrances and i picked up some pink lippy and nail polish

source: Davidoff Cool Water and Dolce and Gabbana Rose the One
ps i really apologise today my grammar/spelling is even worse than usual for some reason

i also purchased our glamping tent off eBay and did a count of the chairs 8 to go!! but if i can collect more pretty ones i wont have to use so many of the ugly bistro ones

in other news its the boys bucks night/wkd next wkd and as he is going away i think i might head up the coast and do my pallet coffee tables (which means i should probably order my castor wheels) and possibly meet with the photographers and in doing so i would like to share my vision for the day so what better way to get that sorted than to share it with all of the world!!

so here goes...

source: Marta Locklear Photography via Style Me Pretty and Marianne Wilson Photography via Style Me Pretty 



from my previous post here

source: Gabriel Ryan Photography via Green Wedding Shoes and La Lune Events

source: Katie Day
source: Josh Merideth of Bella Grace Studios via Ruffled and Paperbird via Pinterest

source: Jose Villa via Once Wed 'Flowers in her Hair'
and thats all for now folks thanks for watching

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

gifting

i love gift wrapping, sometimes even more than actually buying the gift. that's the difficult part, the buying, especially in my family where tastes can be pretty particular.

so today i FINALLY organised a present for my friend the one who likes romance novels oh and animal print hence the wrapping. it's a scrapbook/photo album which i put some pictures in hopefully she likes it but she is the lovely kind of person who will pretend even if she doesn't.



pin-up birthday cards are kind of my thing - not sure how whole copyright thing works but i found the image here via Google and as it is not for profit i think that's ok.... let me know if anyone knows otherwise



i found the different way to tie ribbon from here and i think it might look better with a thicker stiffer ribbon but i like it anyway :)

Census Day

yep i am a dill, i accidentally thought that yesterday was census today when it is in fact next week OOPS!! anyho read my amended post for details :) 

days like today next tuesday only happen once every five years, today next tuesday is census day, the day when everyone in Australia sits down and fills in a long ass form telling the ABS who we are and what we are up to. i think there are generally only two groups when it comes to filling in the Census forms - those who love it and those who hate it.

I am one of those freaks in the love it category, well love is a strong word but i definitely don't have any negative feelings towards it. I think there is something cool about documenting where we all are at certain points in time especially when it could be used later on to provide a information to our relatives 10's of years into the future.

So as it is next Tuesday is Census night and because we have been meaning to have lobster for dinner for several nights now I decided to make a bit of a thing of it (hey I had a free afternoon). so i set a lovely table with all that i had within my grasp and made a little questionnaire of our own to fill in. I plan to put them in a little homemade envelope and seal not to be opened until the next Census in 5 years time.



by the way you should definitely check out this inspiration shoot, love love love it!!