Archive for the ‘blather’ category

Mason Jar Obsession

February 6th, 2010

I’ve been obsessed with the idea of mason jars since last June when I saw this post on Apartment Therapy.  I mean, just look at the beautiful glow all those candles give reflecting off the glass of the jars.  Plus, it had the perfect casual charm that would go perfectly with our BBQ/winery wedding.

The perfect glow

Once I got it in my head that this was going to be the tabletop decor for my wedding, I’ve been trolling Craigslist almost daily for Mason Jars, especially the older kind.  I had some luck in finding about 15 of them about 45 minutes away which I got for $25.  I was pretty pleaseed with myself, especially since that batch had a bunch of the blue ball mason jars that really special.

http://www.bridalbuds.com/2009/02/wild-flower/

Well, I just hit paydirt on Weds.  Someone posted about having a bunch in their basement that they were looking to get rid of. The price tag on the listing was $10.  I immediately emailed and asked if he was selling them for $10 a piece.  It took him a day or two to get back to me but in his reply he said he was selling them for $1 each.  I jumped on it and told him I’d take whatever he had left, which ended up being around 70!

I drove an hour in a torrential downpour to get them the next day before someone beat me to the punch or he changed my mind.  And when I arrived, he had a box of all differnt sizes and brands, other than the standard Kerr and Ball.  There were even a few blue ones in there.  I scooped them all up an thanked him profusely.

Funnily, enough, I recieved another email from him the next day saying he found a bunch more in the basement but that his sister had clued him in on the value.  He had a new listing for the jars at prices of $4, $6 and $8 and the big blue ones he’s already sold at $25!!

Needless to say, I’m quite pleased with myself for being the early bird and catching the mason jar worm!

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Traditional v. Sustainable

October 21st, 2009

I’m all over the place, some may call it indecisive. I have all sorts of internal battles on a regular basis: Do I dress professional or hip for work? Do I eat gourmet or healthy for dinner? Do I open up evening plans to everyone or keep them exclusive? The list goes on.

Needless to say this inner-conflict touches ever part of the wedding planning. I like to think of myself as a fairly modern, progressive girl but there’s still this part of me that is tortured by all the little-girl fantasy’s I had growing up. The part that wants my wedding to look like something out of a movie, with an quartet playing somewhere in the back-ground of our reception on a mansion lawn. Then I remember who I really am. A somewhat quirky, irreverent girl, who thumbs her nose at convention, has issues with authority AND a limited budget.

I’m reminded of this conflict while working on our wedding invitations. In an effort to be more environmentally friendly and save money, we’re going ultra modern on this. Our save the dates are being sent out via email and most likely our actually invite will be a simple recycled paper postcard with a request to RSVP online. Overall, I feel good about hitting two of the 3 R’s of the tenant Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Still, I get little pangs when I see my coworkers beautiful and fancy invites. Granted, all those extra pieces of paper and envelopes and postage always seemed excessive to me but there’s a certain gravitas when you get a thick envelope of an invite in the mail…

Phooey! I’m not doing it.

(I might just break down and get those postcards letter pressed though.)

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THE dress…for less

October 16th, 2009

My Dress!

My Dress!

Yup, I have finally committed to a dress. You may or may not know that this is the 3rd (really 4th) wedding dress I’ve purchased. This is the ONE though, the one I’ve been eying since we first got engaged. In all my foot dragging about the whole wedding, I kept thinking I could get away with not visiting a bridal salon. I kept envisioning some experience hearkening to the scene in Pretty Woman when she first goes to the stores on Rodeo Drive, “I don’t think we have anything for you!”

I did some research though, and found an absolutely charming shop in Alemeda called Lilac Dress Boutique that wasn’t intimidating in the least. Quite the opposite in fact. With Jenee being kind enough to accompany me, I was able to try on most of her well edited selection. Most important, she had the dress I wanted and it fit really well. The only issue was it was WAY over budget, it left me in a conundrum. Pilar, the proprietor was so nice that I was thinking I would have to buy from her just out of sheer gratitude. And Simon was so sweet, saying if it was the dress that I wanted then I could have it.

But I was holding out hope that I could get it for less and somehow outfit myself for under than $100. (Yes, I was high to think that.) Being the Queen of Craig’s List, I kept scanning the interwebs*, and found the dress in my size for 1/3rd the original price in Denver, CO. I admit, I feel bad that I’m not buying it from the boutique. In my defense though, they are shipping the new dresses in a lighter dye lot that I don’t like as much. Hopefully, my glowing review of her shop on Yelp will make it up a little.

So glad that’s decided, now Simon can start the hunt for his wedding day outfit!

*How I found my dream dress for so cheap: ebay, OneWed Used Wedding Dresses and Craiglook which lets you search multiple cities.

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