Inspiration: Bright Magenta

When it comes to color, I generally keep it simple. I wear a lot of black and navy, and I absolutely love neutral shades like cream and beige. Our house is decorated the same—blue, white and gold dominate. And when I do stray, I always opt for shades of pink. I don’t hate color. In fact, I love it. Bold shades always draw my eye. I’m just more of a play-it-safe type of gal, and when it comes to spending money on clothing I like to invest in pieces I know for certain I won’t tire of.

With winter approaching I want to embrace color, so when I was drawn to a deep magenta blouse at J. Crew a few weeks ago I knew I had to get it. I didn’t ask myself the usual questions I ask when I shop: What will I wear this with? How often will I wear it? Would it be more practical in black? I just bought it! And I’m so happy I did. Magenta is the perfect color for a wedding party, too. I just love how the color pops. If I had to plan my wedding right now I’d dress my bridesmaids in it.

Inspiration

Pretty lame self photo of my bright magenta J. Crew top, but you get the idea.

Reality

Bridesmaids dresses in spiced wine from J. Crew

Source: stylemepretty.com via Libby on Pinterest photo by Eric Kelley Photography

What do you think about this color? Would you wear it to work? Or a wedding? Or dress your bridesmaids in it? 

I Broke a Wedding Gift

I want to discuss a serious topic this morning--broken wedding gifts. I was putting a wine glass away on the top shelf and accidentally bumped it into another wine glass, which then came crashing down into the sink. It smashed in a million pieces. It was so sad.

This is the wine glass I broke if anyone wants to get me a Christmas present.

If you were a fly on the wall in my kitchen this morning you'd probably find the sight of a bathrobe-clad woman vacuuming her sink pretty hilarious. I, however, was not amused. I dislike cleaning shards of glass off the floor that I normally walk barefoot on. Lesson learned, I won't do the dishes before I've had coffee!


Aside from the mess, it really stinks that I broke one of our wedding gifts. In only six months of marriage, no less. Luckily I have seven other wine glasses, plus eight for red, (we're serious about our Charles Shaw in this house.) And I registered for an extra set of dishes for this very reason. But I'm afraid at the rate I'm going, I'll have nothing left in 30 years!


Have you broke anything off your registry? And if so, do you replace it right away?

Our Six Month Wedding Anniversary

In all of the excitement that comes with Monday, I didn’t realize that it was our six month wedding anniversary until after I had blogged. Six month ago today, Keith and I were jetting off to sunny Hawaii for our honeymoon. Oh, how I wish we were on our way to the airport for a vacation today. This morning, my lovely husband is sitting beside me on the train. Yay for commuting buddies! He’s working in a different office that’s right off my route, so we’re traveling together again, but just not to a sandy beach that serves Mai Thais. Maybe in six more months…

The beach! Sunsets! Tropical drinks! Party shirts! 

Last night we celebrated. Keith brought me six roses and I poured him a glass of red from the box o’ wine that’s been sitting on our counter all week. We’re a classy couple. I’m usually pretty handy in the kitchen, but last night’s “celebratory” meal was a bit uninspired. I had pork chops, and I had red wine. Put the two together and (according to Food Network) what do you get? Something delicious! Yes. But, no. Not last night. Pork chops + red wine did not equal anything worth eating. Keith said he liked the “flavoring” but I think he was just being nice.

After dinner I scraped the leftovers into the trash, loaded the dishwasher and hopped in the shower. We watched the most recent episode of our new favorite show, Homeland (It’s on Showtime!) and then we went to bed.

Other than the meal falling short, we had a wonderful night together. Sure, it was far less exciting than our wedding night, but in a way it was just as special because it was our typical night. We cook (all other nights dinner is delicious, I swear!), we talk and laugh and then we unwind. We have similar nights about 5 days a week so enjoying them is important. We certainly do exciting things, too. Last week we saw John Grisham speak at Yale. We go to happy hours with our friends and we plan special date nights at our favorite restaurants. But enjoying the average, run-of-the-mill evening together is what I think counts the most.

That was a lovely little look at a slice of my life. What about you? How do you and your husband spend your nights?

Weekend Recap

Hello! Hello! Hello! It’s Monday again and I’m sure most of you were thinking something like this when you woke up: “Monday. Here we go again. Let’s get this over with.” But did you also notice that is was brighter when you rolled out of bed this morning? I certainly did. For the last few weeks I had been leaving my house in the dark. It was such a good feeling to wake up a few minutes before my alarm to a bright bedroom. I was pretty thankful for that light this morning, not just for myself, but there’s still thousands of homes in Connecticut that don’t have their power restored after last weekend’s storm! A few days without power after Hurricane Irene made me a little batty. I don’t know how these people are doing it. And if you’re one of those people without power, call us! Come over!

I always love the extra hour we get when we turn the clocks back. We didn’t have much on our agenda yesterday so we filled the extra time with a little lounging on the couch, an HBO documentary on the financial crisis and I got a head start on my Thanksgiving placecards. I’m not much of a DIY-er. I’m more of a HSETDIFY (hire someone else to do it for you)! But I’m getting there. Here's a sneak peek:

 I followed this tutorial from Mint Love Social Club. 

If she didn't live on the West Coast, I would have invited her over to help!

On Saturday night, Keith and I had the extraordinary experience of watching our first roller derby match. Wow, guys. It was awesome. Crazy contact sports always put me in awe. I’m totally not tough at all, so it’s really awesome to live vicariously through those players who are beating the crap out of each other. My friend just joined a roller derby league and Saturday was her first bout. After, she told us she was a little nervous going into it but you never would have thought that. She zipped around the track hip-checking other girls and even taking a few nasty spills. I was very impressed. I don’t think I would be able to stand on skates without the obstacle of a large pack of angry and competitive women!

To top off our amazing night, we discovered that there was a Shake Shack in Fairfield, CT! We had burgers, delicious milk shakes and fries and then we crashed on our couch to watch my favorite, Charlie Day, on Saturday Night Live. 

It's ok to move to Connecticut. All the things you love will eventually follow!

 

It was a great weekend and now I’m ready to tackle the work week. Who’s with me?

How was your weekend?  

How Big Will Your Bouquet Be?

Did any of you early birds catch Randy Fenoli on the Today Show this morning? He has a book out called, "It's All About The Dress," which I'm sure is something you planning brides can relate to. Don't you feel that your dress really sets the tone for the rest of the design decisions you make?
Randy shared some of his "rules" for brides and I wanted to share one that I thought was really interesting: He said your bouquet should not be larger than your head, otherwise it will take attention away from your dress.
Do you agree?
Bouquet trends are always changing. Just look at your family's wedding photos and you'll see that no two are the same size or style. While planning, I never considered the size of my bouquet. That was one detail I left in the hands of the professional florist. And I was so happy with the results. Check it out:

 Photos courtesy for Blush Floral Design and Amy Kelkenberg

 

Photo courtesy of Cynthia Brown Studio

Ok, so my bouquet was larger than my head. But I think it complements my dress perfectly. If your dress has less volume, you may want to consider a smaller shape. That's why it's important to bring a picture of your dress when you meet with the florist. Which brings this post full circle: Your dress really sets the tone for the rest of your choices.


Have you thought about your bouquet size? Does size matter to you?  

What I Love About November!

 If you asked me what I love about November a few months ago, I’d probably say nothing. It’s cold, dark and the beginning of a very long winter. But I’m trying to ditch all those negative thoughts—not just about the winter, but everything. It just seems like a healthy, feel-good thing to do.

With that, here’s a list of things that I’m looking forward to this month.

• I’m going to a roller derby match this weekend! I’ve always wanted to see one and I’m really excited about it! But hmm, what does one wear to a roller derby match?

• We have reservations at the Union League Café in New Haven in a week! It’s the best restaurant in the city and we’ll share the meal with our parents. I love going out to fancy new restaurants—it’s one of the things I miss about living in New York. Luckily, New Haven has some pretty great restaurants and lots of restaurant week deals to take advantage of!

• My brother is coming home! He gets two week leave and it’s timed perfectly with his favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. I can’t wait to see him.

This is how my brother spends most of his holidays. 

• Thanksgiving! I can’t wait to eat mashed potatoes, stuffing, mom’s famous spinach squares and pie. And then I’m going to wash it all down with a pumpkin martini. And this year will be even better because we’ve invited more cousins!

Here I am at my first Thanksgiving with my two grandmothers.

 I don't remember it much, but I look pretty excited.

• Thanksgiving decorations! Each year my mom plans a delicious meal and serves it on a beautiful table. Even if there are 30 guests, we find a way to squeeze everyone around a table. I’m currently helping out with the place cards, which I have a really good idea for!

• Thanksgiving games! Each year my mom makes everyone answer a question during dinner. It started out simple, “What are you thankful for?” But that grew tired and she began asking different questions like what was your first job, pick only one food item to eat for the rest of your life and who are you voting for. That was an interesting year!

• I get to see how much my godson has grown since July! Last time I saw Henry he was only a month old—hardly bigger than our Thanksgiving turkey. I can’t wait to see him again.

I have a feeling he'll look something like this!

• I’ll get to see my nieces, too. I hear they love to play dress up now, which is perfect because I do, too!

They've already developed an appreciation for vintage apparel and trends! 

Sounds like a good month! What are you looking forward to this month?

A Marriage vs. A Wedding

I don’t want to talk about what happened yesterday. I’m not even going to name names. But yesterday’s events got me thinking and I keep coming around to one thought: There’s a difference between a wedding and a marriage, people. If you don’t know what it is than you don’t deserve either! I’m not going to single out any particular person, because I don’t think yesterday’s news was anything new. But I want to know why more people are not spending more of their engagement preparing for their marriage? I don’t mean booking florists and tasting double fudge cake. Why are more people not sitting down and talking to each other? Really? I'm floored that people don't do this.

Keith and I had to go through marriage preparation before our wedding. We woke up early on Saturday mornings to meet with the deacon, we spent an afternoon conferencing with other couples and we traveled to Boston to meet with our priest. We put several hours into our marriage prep. We even took a standardized test with sharpened number two pencils, answering questions about our relationship. The deacon made us sit in two separate rooms. I joked about it, but our answers gave us insight on which topics we were on the same page about, and which we weren't. After the test, we talked about money till we were blue in the face. We talked about how our families resolved fights and how we would. We talked about how we feel about the other doing things on their own. We talked about how we would make decisions and then we talked about money again. And when we were done, we tasted cake and shopped for ties and selected music. There was time for everything.

It’s easy to get caught up in planning a wedding. There’s a lot to do and it can be distracting. But what it comes down to is this: A wedding is just a party. A marriage is what happens at a wedding, and that does not get packed away with the dress and it’s not supposed to shrivel up like the bouquet. And those pictures that you’ll have forever, well you’re not supposed to put your marriage in a pretty bound book and only take it out when company comes over.

 I’m not claiming to be perfect, or have a perfect marriage. My wedding is done, gone, over with, but my marriage is still in its infancy. We’re learning new things every day. But I'm proud of myself for realizing the difference between the wedding and marriage, and deciding that when I walked down the aisle there would be no walking back. I went to an awards dinner last night and one of the recipients got the biggest round of applause for being married for 68 years. Of all his great accomplishments, he was the most celebrated for his marriage. That made me happy, especially on a day when all marital hell broke loose all over the internet.

That's all I got. Feel free to add your two cents!