B. and I have been window shopping for homes recently–usually online, sometimes open houses on random Sunday mornings, and definitely the parade home tours that have come through the area. If only, something like this can be found here:
photo courtesy of freshome.com
Clean stream lines. Check. Modern and contemporary. Check, check. Location, San Francisco. Check, check, check!!!
More pictures can be found at freshome.com.
With the unveiling of Apple’s iPad as well as the slew of electronic reading devices heavily marketed by Barnes, Borders and Amazon.com, it’s difficult not to be tempted to jump on this bandwagon if you haven’t already done so. An avid reader myself, I am torn between whether or not to make the investment.
I love the feel of turning pages of a book. Doesn’t matter to me if it’s a brand new book that no one before has leafed through or a dog-earred book checked out from the local library. In fact, I’ve grown into the habit of leaving my check-out slips in library books I’ve checked out so the person after me knows what other selections I made with that book. I enjoy finding others as well.
I do own a secret library of romance novels in electronic form that I would be too embarrassed to be caught reading due to the racy front cover. To add onto it could potentially be lessening my carbon footprint (if you look past the burning of fossil fuels to power these electronics). I recently heard a piece on NPR about Stanford University rebuilding their engineering library with more than 85% less books on the shelves, keeping only the ones students have regularly checked out and making everything else available in digital form. Perhaps it’s time to follow suit and leave my fears of a post-apocalyptic world behind, to risk still being able to partake in one of my favorite past times electronically…20 years from now. If it were the end of the world, wouldn’t it be more convenient to carry a slim electronic device with survival gear rather than a small library of books?
I am in love with the iPad (per my obsession of everything Apple) and Barnes and Noble’s Nook does come with some pretty swanky covers. What are your thoughts? Do you already own any of the electronic devices or do you swear by the print?
I’ll leave you with 100 year old Virginia Campbell’s limerick:
“To this technical-ninny it’s clear
In my compromised 100th year,
That to read and to write
Are again within sight
Of this Apple iPad pioneer.”
The bridesmaid dresses are in! Here’s a sneak peek of the color:
The color is “venetian gold” from the Dessy Group. I was very satisfied with their service and selection. I chose the color and let my bridesmaids (all 10 of them) choose from the different styles available–as long as the dress was floor length. What do you think?
I love this dress that America Ferrera wore in her movie that came out this month:
It’s a long shot, and ends tonight but please try to help me win it!
I fell in love with the picture above from an album on theKnot. The pearl strands did me in too and it’s now part of our wedding theme…well we don’t really have a theme so let’s call it imagery–part of the wedding imagery. It’s snowballed from an accessory on tables and centerpieces, to being incorporated in the invitations, to now (light bulb moment!) the wedding favors. And yes, I can use snow analogies now that the dreaded stuff has melted away.
One of my bridesmaids found this guestbook I wanted to tailor the invitations after:
Bruce and I have been thinking long and hard about wedding favors too. We went from fortune cookies, to lucky bamboo, to now finally hopefully a more concrete idea. I thought of this from something I saw at Walgreens a few years back. They were selling these boxes of oysters they had with a real pearl inside. With a quick online searching, I came across similar products:
Wish Pearl can
Love Pearl can
The actual oyster inside
Colors of the pearls you will find
On the label of the wish pearl can is this cheesy but cute poem:
“Wish pearl from the blue, Pick me up for a wish come true, Your wish on this pearl now, You will get your wish somehow.”
Each pearl is supposed to mean something:
White pearl for Wisdom
Cream pearl for Success
Peach for Health
Purple for Wealth
Black for Love
You’re supposed to make a wish before you open the oyster…did you get the color you wanted? lol I didn’t come up with that myself, it’s their advertising. 
With a guest list that’s overwhelmingly hitting well over the 500 mark, we’re going to be setting the hall to fit 560 guests. That’s 56 tables that seats 10 individuals each. And that means we’ll need at least 50 centerpieces (the tables on the dance floor location will be moved after dining–no need to get fancy there). Wowzers!
I’ve been testing myself by looking at albums at the Knot to see what appeals to me and sure enough I’ve found I like similar things. I’m thinking we’ll do a variety of arrangements out of these (click on thumbnails to enlarge):
Since we’re thinking our colors are going to be Venetian gold and ivory, we’ll use golden Asian pears. In the first picture, it’d be a white calla lilly wrapped around the vase. I especially like the idea of cutting open the fruit. It looks so pretty in the third picture! It wouldn’t be a bad idea to cut open lemons–it would look good with the color scheme and smell great as well. However, what if we used the Asian pears and cut them open horizontally so you’d see the star inside:
We’ll have to test it out and see how the fruit will sit in water for several hours–hopefully it won’t turn brown!
I absolutely love these tall arrangements. I’m imagining the head table set up similar to the third picture with the strands of pearls strung with it as well.
Simple and pretty. I saw a lot of these short, square vases at IKEA for super cheap. I like the first picture with the peonies a lot–but imagine it with white roses filled with water and pearls instead of the rocks. Yes? I also like the last picture: capturing nature and bringing it inside.
Another idea that combines the above is to fill tall vases with the Asian pears and water and top it with an arrangement of curly willow branches sprayed painted gold–similar to the second picture in the first bullet point.
I’m very lucky and blessed to have very talented members in my family that will help put all these together. So, the only thing that we have to worry about in our budget is purchasing the flowers, vases, etc. I’ve been looking at mass ordering from Costco and online sites–a little daring but will definitely help cut the costs of ordering from limited floral places in my little hometown. The great thing is, most of the flowers I want is in season: white roses, hydrangeas, stock, and calla lilies. There are also a lot of fruit vendors up here in the Twin Cities (I’m talking the Hmong flea market) where we can probably get boxes of the Asian pears to bring down. If we do an assortment of these arrangements it’ll also keep the price down.
With that color scheme we’re thinking of, I’m imagining the hall glimmering with gold hues, pearls, and shimmery ivory. What do you guys think of the arrangements? Any ideas, suggestions, changes? What about a ballpark for the price of flowers and flowers alone? Please do share your thoughts!!!
Wedding planing has been coming along smoothly. My main sources of ideas and inspirations have been on the web. I’ve been pouring over blogs, The Knot, and WeddingBee, among other major bride to be sites. I’ll have a list of all the links to my subscriptions and bookmarks soon.
Bruce and I have set the date for October 2, 2010! In Hmong culture, the traditional wedding and the American reception that many young couples today have adapted usually takes place where the bride’s family resides. So, our wedding will be in my hometown of Plover, Wisconsin. Plover has a population of about 10,000–it’s such a small town that the wedding hall we booked is less than a mile from my parents’ house! It was a rough few months of searching to find a place that would fit over 500+ comfortably and we’re happy to announce our wedding and reception will be held at Memories! We actually got a really great deal–it was only $400 instead of their usual $800 to book. That includes all tables and chairs to seat 560, buffet tables, electronic equipment such as microphones and projectors, bartenders until 2AM bartime (!!!), and the room itself which comes slightly pre-decorated.
The lights that are strung will stay
We are looking at similar table cloths and chair covers
There is the wonderful Rockman’s Catering next door that has cut us a price so low that I’m almost afraid to post it online! They’ve been open in the area for 25 years and the owner Scott as Andy Bernard would say is a “delightful fellow”! He sat Bruce and I, along with my parents down and walked through what a typical catering day would look like for him. Then, we went through and it again step by step to accomodate a schedule that would better suit our needs. Not only that, but all the dishes are going to be traditional Hmong food! Can you tell how exciting that is to me by the excessive use of exclamation points!!! And now on to what everyone’s probably been waiting for with abated breath…the grand total! Please keep in mind I was going to exclude this cost (because it’s so low that I might get in trouble!), but my first intentions of posting about wedding planning was to share all the details and costs of a low-budget wedding. So, without further ado:
$2000.00
This price includes all linen (tablecloths and napkins), dishes, and staff charges as well as a 5.5% tax charge and 15% service fee. Now, with the average wedding caterer cost coming to $12,790, according to The Bridal Association of America (and that’s only numbers for 150 guests)–I feel like that’s quite the steal!
Our grand total so far:
$4900.00
Not too shabby if I can say so myself!
We are going to be eating good for sure in the Lee household this week! It’s Restaurant Week and it’s a perfect time to get better acquainted with the tastes of the Twin Cities–at a fraction of the price! Bruce and I, along with a pair of friends, kicked off the week with dinner last night at Bagu Sushi. You can read my review here: Yelp.com.
We also have a reservation later this week for La Belle Vie which I’m very excited about. A $100 French dinner at $30? It can’t be beat. And I know what you’re thinking, only two reservations for the week?! Well FYI, we’re saving our stomachs for the following week when we’ll be in the Philadelphia area for Philly cheese steaks. So much for that diet…
7am and it’s still dark, doesn’t help when instead of driving to work you feel like you should be driving home from a long day. It’s cold, dreary, and slushy. What a horrible combination. Some people enjoy this time of the year, after Christmas it’s all downhill for me. Because spring seems so far away, these are defensive strategies I’ve but into place to combat the winter blues, also known as the Four P’s:
Potted Plants
I snagged up a few potted tulips and orchids on sale after the Hallmark holiday known to women around the world as Valentine’s Day. After repotting them in cute pots from IKEA, they breath a little bit of life in me every time I drag myself in from the cold.
I also have this mystery flower I planted that my mother-in-law gave me. Momma Lee picked it from an aunt, who picked it straight from the house of General Vang Pao’s second or third wife (or was it fifth?). I’m very excited to see this one bloom–it’s beautiful and very fragrant. It also can grow as high as the ceiling! Trying to name this mystery flower has also been entertaining–I’ve been searching online for about a month and a half now with no success. Nothing I love more than a challenge! Momma Lee says Hmong ladies call it something along the lines of “Lucky White Flower For Men” because when it blooms, the scent seduces them…and they are lucky. Try googling that. ;) As a last resort, or if spring happens to come along first, I plan to take it in to a florist or a greenhouse to ID it.
Planning a Spring Garden
After years of serious gardening with my parents and grandparents and absolutely hating it (I’m not made for hard labor–my threshold for pain is very low) you’ll be surprised to hear I want to start gardening for myself. Whaaaaaaaat? Yes, yes, I know.
As mentioned before, one of our only three sources of of natural light happens to be a patio door in the living room. Unfortunately, that patio does not walk out to anything but air. There is no balcony–just a railing to block the window as a safety precaution. I found some deck rail planters that I can use to start a miniature outdoor garden for some herbs and flowers. That’s actually Plan B. Plan A is to start a community garden at our complex. We’ve got a really great shared patio area with a huge backyard. Since we are advertised as a “green building” I’m hoping the community garden idea won’t be too hard to sell. Corn, tomatoes, eggplants, spicy hot Thai peppers–here I come!
Picking up a New Hobby/Past Time that Takes Place Outside…in the Cold
I always said I was going to pick up snowboarding because it’ll keep things interesting in the winter time. If you love doing an activity in the blistering cold, you’ll learn to love this gawd awful season right? Considering I find it hard to walk on my own two feet, my natural instincts in the form of procrastination has thankfully kept me from trying to slide down a hill with both feet strapped on to a board. Instead I’ve picked up something at a much slower and safer pace: ice fishing. Bruce and I have been going out every weekend with our newly invested gear: ice house–check, heater–check, gas auger–check, fish finder–check, a vehicle that’s 4WD….the next investment. We’ve quickly learned that it’s easy to drive onto the ice with a stick-shift 2 wheel drive sports car, but driving off is a wholenother story entirely. After an hour and a half of shoveling and pushing our way back to shore, we’ve decided to walk to the deep holes in the future.
Partaking in a Book Club
For nerds like me, there’s nothing better than curling up with a good book–especially if I’m warm and comfortable–inside. And being able to discuss it with others is the topping on this sundae. We started a virtual book club earlier this month with the first pick being Three Cups of Tea. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’ll work out being that each participant’s located in different geographic areas…around the globe.
Well, that’s my battle plan. If you don’t love this cold (especially with the record feet of snow we’ve been getting!!!) what’s yours? Please do share!
Love at first hue
Bruce and I started painting our adobe this weekend. We only have half of the office/guest bedroom and one coat in the living/dining area painted which was drying as the parental units arrived into town this weekend. Yay us!
For the office I decided to go with the color I found on a house tour at Apartment Therapy. It was love at first hue and I knew I had to have it. However, convincing Bruce was a wholenother story! With some quick sleuthing on the internet, I came up with a 3 point persuasive speech–primarily how blue not only is a calming color but is used often to maximize productivity. He was sold at point 3: the color blue is frequently used in gyms because it produces faster and definitely more noticeable results.
The color is “Blue Spa” from Benjamin Moore. You have to search for this particular brand to see which local retailers carry it. We found an Ace store in our area and headed there. I was only intending on coming back either with the swatch or a sample to test it out in our lighting. That plan quickly went out the window. The price for a gallon of BM paint runs on average about $50. We knew we’d need at least 2 gallons because of the darker color and the size of the room. Well, I just wasn’t about to put $100 worth of paint on these walls–especially since we’re only planning on being here for the next year or two and these days you need to stretch a dollar! Luckily, the friendly sales associate suggested we try their Ace brand which maybe wasn’t quite on the scale as BM, but their quality was just as good. On top of that, a gallon was on sale for $19.99! So, we promptly bought two gallons to take home.
Living Room Color Inspiration
We did some shopping around at other local home improvement stores and found the $19.99 price to be a complete steal–so much that we went the next day to buy more paint for the living room. An issue we have with our unit is the lack of natural lighting–we basically have a total of 2 windows–one in each bedroom and a patio window in the living room. The living room gets the most light and we jumped at the opportunity to make the most of that with light, neutral colors. We love the breezy, beachy feel of this living room from Young House Love and choose our colors accordingly: Latte in eggshell from Sherwin-Williams and Glidden’s Tracery. Actually, the blue from their design is Valspar’s “Under the Sea” but we ended up with a more “neutral” blue. And of course, we went back to Ace to have them mix the paint for us–2 gallon each at $19.99!
Total cost of paints, 6 gallons at $119.94–quite the savings, especially if you compare it to the original cost of one gallon of Benjamin Moore. Will be posting before and after pictures soon!
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