Food, food, and s'more food

On Sunday, D and I went to the cutest bakery/restaurant around. They had delicious food and the best looking desserts I have ever seen. I had to pull out my instagram! Here are a few pics.

Hungry yet?

My Man is a DIYer!

I love lamps. I love old wood. My HTB made this amazing lamp for me out of an old log. He did such a great job! I love it, and it adds the much needed light in my office!

I can't even tell you how many talents this man has! Anything he sets his mind to, he is great at! This is just one of many. I had to use it to brag about him!

Venues

Remember the French/Mediterranean venue I posted about earlier? My hubs-to-be and I drove there for an open house they hosted on Thursday. Yes, that's right, Thursday. We drove in traffic for two hours after work while starving. All to be disappointed in the cold food, pushy salespeople who appeared to be miserable, and terrible cake. And I do mean terrible. I can make cake better than this from a Betty Crocker box. (Literally, the cardboard box would even be better). The decorations were cheesy and looked like half were from Oriental Trading and the other half from a funeral.

Today, we went to see another venue. Remember 'The Secret Garden?' It's in the middle of town. Neither I or the HTB (hubs-to-be) are city people, so we weren't too keen on having our wedding in the city. However, we were pleasantly surprised with this place. The garden was beautiful. Other than it being surrounded by high rises and a somewhat busy road right next to it, it was pretty darn close to what we were looking to find.

So the search continues...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here are pictures from what I did for my hubby-to-be for Valentine's Day. We decided not to do gifts this year (since he just bought me the most amazing ring and we are flying to Mexico for five days for my friend's wedding.) I had to do something though, so I put together this little display.

The jumbo Hershey's kiss is a tradition. My mom gives my dad one every year for Valentine's Day, so I have carried on the tradition. Eventually he may get sick of them, but I will always be willing to save him from chocolate overdose by eating as much or all that he does not want. I found the binary "I Love You" sign from another blog I follow. (You can see it here. Sorry I stole it!)

I wanted to make it more manly, so I came up with the beer idea. I made a little love note to play off a pun on the beer. I wanted to make it kind of rustic looking, where it went with the beer, and not pink or anything girly. Here's how it turned out.

I guess I made it blend in too well because he didn't notice the message. He thought it was just some tag that came on the beer. Oh, well. Here is the card that I gave him.

It is so true. I do have a HUGE crush on him!

He took me to the best little restaurant around that makes ah-mazing Italian food. It's BYOW, so he brought a bottle of my favorite wine. :) The restaurant was serving heart shaped pizzas, which were sooo cute, but we opted to get individual dishes. The dinner was so good, I ate all of mine and quite an embarrassing portion of his! If you have ever had pink sauce, you will know why. Seriously, it was so delicious, I could drink the stuff and lick the plate clean. Then, he took me to see The Vow (per my request). I loved it! It was such a moving story about passionately loving your spouse. Every girl needs to see this movie. Even if you don't like movies like this, you will like Channing Tatum. :) The hubs-to-be was less than impressed with this chick-flick. Let's just say you won't catch him in line to see this movie again. Or any other girly movie. On the way home, he surprised me with these:

Not sure you can see them. The car was dark. Well, that was my Valentine's Day. I hope everyone had one as special as mine!

Bachelor, another week, again, ugh

I actually saw this week's episode on time. So in case you missed it, here's the scoop. First, Ben takes Lindzi on a one-on-one. I like Lindzi, but this date was really awkward. And every time she is on camera, she seems like she might be a little drunk. They jump off a helicopter into the ocean. Did I mention Lindzi is afraid of heights? He never seems to run out of ways to torture the women. Then, they catch their own lobsters for dinner, which strangely do not have pinchers. After eating their dinner that was alive a few moments ago, Ben tells Lindzi they are going to write a love note and put it in a bottle and throw it in the ocean. The whole thing was really awkward. It wasn't romantic at all.

Back at the hotel, Courtney says that she needs to be appreciated and she is feeling neglected. She actually whines to all the other women about it. And the craziest part is that they all sit there and listen! For as much as these women hate her, why do they hang out in the same room as her and listen to her?! You are in Belize! There has to be a million better things to do! Pick one! Courtney says that if Ben does not give her a one-on-one, she will not accept the rose he gives her. Yes, she assumes she will get a rose. I doubt anyone believes that she would decline a rose. No rose = going home. The last thing Courtney wants is less time on camera. I guess she thinks she can decline a rose, and he will convince her to stay, and the whole thing will just provide more camera time for her. As if on cue, a date card arrives for Courtney. She says that he listens because she was not very happy with him for leaving her there in the hotel room with all the other girls. As she leaves for her date with Ben, she yells to the girls, "Bye! I can't stand you all!" Then, during her date, she tells Ben that he shouldn't have gone on a date with Emily (which I left out because it was so boring) because he knows how Emily has treated her. Seriously?!?! Where does she come up with this stuff?? Then she proceeds to say that she has tried 100% to really get to know the girls but they are mean to her and are shallow. I think she is confusing them with herself. Ben asks if she has any friends at home and she says "I have a lot of good friends" then actually says that they are all guys, and although Ben makes a face to this, he quickly forgets the huge red flag above her head. Dummy. I actually kind of want him to meet her family. I wonder what they are like. I imagine her dad to be something like Hitler. And her mom to be something like Joan Rivers...but taller, and with bigger shoulders.

My favorite part of this episode is when Ben admits that he's a weird guy. That's the only thing he's said that most viewers would agree with. Wait, I change my mind. My favorite part is Courtney's face when Emily says that they have created great friendships while being there. In case you missed it, it looked like this.

Except it was actually worse, if you can believe it. I couldn't find the actual picture though, so this one serves the purpose. For a model, this girl really has no face control. She makes a lot of ugly faces. She probably has more ugly faces than the number of times Ben has ever had a haircut.

So Ben takes Rachel, Kacie, and Nicki to swim with sharks on a group date. How romantic. (eye roll) Kacie and Nicki are super excited, but Rachel, naturally, is scared to death. She comments that she is afraid of lakes because they might have sharks in them. Really?? So she won't get in the water until Ben promises that the sharks will not eat her. I really hope he cleared that up before telling her that because if he's wrong, she's going to be pretty disappointed. Or paraplegic.

So Ben declines seeing the girls before the rose ceremony because he already knows what he wants to do. He sends home Emily and Rachel (after wasting the whole shark swim with her and not paying attention to the other two girls there). Kacie got a rose after the shark swim, so next week, Ben will meet her parents. He also gives a rose to Nicki- did anyone see this coming?? Not me. He has barely talked to her since the show started. Have they even been on one date?? He also gives a rose to Courtney and Lindzi. So, yet another week rolls around where Ben still has not realized Courtney's evilness. This is beyond ridiculous.

So who does he pick? That's a question even Siri can't answer.

This is all too much for Courtney to handle.

Or perhaps it's the wine she is constantly drinking... Haven't they run out of alcohol by now?!?!

Bachelor, again

As I'm sure you can tell by now, I DVR The Bachelor, which means I usually end up watching that week's episode later on in the week, so I am repeatedly behind on my Bachelor posts.

I find this one a little hard to write about because it got sort of...annoying. And, sort of, sad. It's sad how desperate the girls are for his attention and affection. I know this is nothing new for the Bachelor & Bachelorette shows, but come on, this is just an average guy who desperately needs a a haircut, is very awkward, says the weirdest things (or says normal words in a weird way: "May-chet-ee"), and is hardly capable of carrying on a conversation. I know this sounds really harsh, but I'm pretty disappointed in the guy. Courtney strips for him and he looses track of the whole reason he is there. He is completely wasting this season and the shows attempt to help him "find love." He's not focused on finding love! He's got his mind somewhere else. The producers need to come up with some lame reason to kick off Courtney, like they did with Casey S., if they really do believe their show helps people find the love of their life. Instead, they are playing it up. Courtney and Ben both look like complete fools. Oh, and props to the rapper girl for finding a clever way to make Courtney look even more stupid and evil. Who would have thought to just apologize to her? (Although, I think Emily actually meant the apology.)

And Jamie. Oh, Jamie. Poor, poor Jamie. I feel so sorry for this girl. I see now why they didn't give her more camera time before. It was to save herself! This poor girl made a complete fool of herself and will probably regret it for the rest of her life. (If you have not seen what she did and you care to see it, find someone who has TiVo or DVR and watch. I will not describe it.)

So back to Casey...I'm still not sure why they kicked her off the show. She said that she was single and not dating anyone. So what a part of her still has love in her heart for someone she dated for years and shared her life with? She knows they cannot be together and is trying to move on! That is no reason to kick her off! Chris even said to her, "I know you are trying to find love." Isn't that what this show is about?! So the only reason they made her leave is to create more drama so people would actually watch the show. If they didn't have some type of drama or catastrophe to show on their previews for the next week, people would stop watching because, quite frankly, this season is dragging on painfully slow. We can only take so much self-inflicted torture of listening to Courtney. Dang it, Ben! Wake up! Get over your hormones, and send the girl home! I bet even Brittney's grandma no longer likes him. Remember her:

At this point, I think this is all a lost cause. He has done too much damage with Courtney to have any hopes of having a relationship with any self-respecting girl. All the girls are too good for him. Except Courtney, of course, but she thinks she is, so if he picks her, she will just dump him anyway. I still have an ounce of hope Chris Harrison will just kick Ben off for being an idiot and start Emily Maynard's season just to save any little dignity they still have.


I hereby claim Ben's season to be the quickest way for viewers to stop watching the show.

I Heart Apartment Therapy

Apartment Therapy really is like therapy for the decorator's soul. I found this before and after on their website today. Just had to share it.

They did a great job updating this home office! The white-on-white looks clean, fresh, and beautiful! The punch of color adds interest to the room. If only my office looked like this...

Bachelor- Week 5 (A Few Days Late)

Something happened to my DVR, so it only recorded half of the Bachelor this week. I found out the mystery brunette girl's name- it's Jamie. You know, the one I'm pretty sure Ben has never talked to but she still gets a rose every week. Oh, and I found out what a leap list is. I'm sure you have too. Way to do over the top marketing, Bachelor producers.

My recording started right before Ben & Elyse go on a date. I like her more after seeing her open up. She's really pretty, which I never noticed until they were on the yacht and she didn't have all that make-up on. I think he was already planning on sending her home before the date even started. He didn't even give her a chance. As soon as she said she has accomplished everything she wanted to do, he shut down. Poor Elyse, she actually seems like a normal girl. Maybe that's why he sent her home- he likes sleazy.  He made that quite clear when he thew away his chance at love to "get frisky" with a floozy. "A girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do," really Courtney? Getting what you want by sleeping with people? Oh- so that's how she got her modeling job.

He has already crushed their little hearts by sleeping with Courtney- they just don't know it yet. You could see the guilt written all over his face when he talked to the other girls before the rose ceremony. He has ruined this season. Great job, Ben. What would your mom think?

Quick, somebody help Kacie B.'s hair! Where is Blakely with her complete hair salon travel kit?

Girls he should have kept (or maybe, Girls who are too good for him): Elyse, Jennifer
Girls he should sent home: Courtney, duh!

The Secret Garden

Yesterday I discovered this European Garden that hosts weddings. I don't know how this place has escaped my millions of previous wedding venue searches. It must be a well kept secret. It's gorgeous and they actually responded to my email by the next morning! You would be surprised how many places never respond to their email. This place has wedding setup you can see without disturbing the actual wedding. We are scheduled to go see one in March! I'm really excited since it reminds me of The Secret Garden, which was one of my favorite movies as a kid. Here are a few photos of the venue:






All three images are from the Ruffled blog.

Thank you Katie's Rose Cottage

I love this! Katie's Rose Cottage's Tutorial on making these cute little burlap roses:

http://www.katiesrosecottageblog.com/2012/01/burlap-rose-tutorial.html

Seriously, who doesn't love burlap? I have been trying to figure out what to do with all my burlap fabric. I'm definitely going to have several of these around my house now...

Here Comes The Bride...

Yay!! The wedding venue I've had my eye on for a month finally called me back! I am so excited to go see it! It's kind of a French/Mediterranean place. I can picture the wedding here:

Beautiful, right? Now for everything else...
I have been looking at hundreds of bouquets and dresses, imagining it all together. Have I mentioned how fun this is!!! I had no idea how much fun this is! After going to a bridal show with my mom and aunt, I left SO excited about the dress! I love looking at wedding dresses!! Before I wanted something nontraditional (think: rustic), but now I am leaning towards something more formal. I love monochromatic, soft, muted colors so I am thinking champagne and really, really light pink. Think less colors, more texture. Everything will have a very romantic feel to it. Here's a sneak peek of my planning album :

Style Me Pretty

Style Me Pretty

Ruffled

Lover.ly and Jose Villa 

Pinterest

Style Me Pretty

Clearly the desserts and cake are important! There needs to be cupcakes! And, of course, chocolate covered strawberries for my mom. :)

Everly True

Ruffled

Everly True

Everly True

Wedding Chicks

Pinterest

Gorgeous Gowns:

Nordstrom

Vera Wang

Vera Wang

Pinterest

dustjacketattic.blogspot.com

bridalmusings.com

aphroditesweddingblog.com

lillypulitzer.tumblr.com

Notice a theme in the gowns? :)

Sites & Blogs I Love!

These blogs are definitely worth checking out. In fact, you may want to click on them when you have plenty of time because they are quite addictive and hard to leave. Enjoy!

Bows and Arrows
http://bowsandarrowsdeluxe.blogspot.com/

Moss Eclectic
mosseclectic.com

Pure Style Home
http://purestylehome.blogspot.com/

Vintage Revivals
http://vintagerevivals.blogspot.com/


Apartment Therapy
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/


Living with Lindsay
http://livingwithlindsay.com/


Want to suggest your blog? Tell me what it is and I'll check it out.

The Bachelor -Week 4

I really want to go to Park City, Utah now. It is beautiful there. Ben and Rachel's one-on-one date was really awkward. They don't seem to have the chemistry that should be there. The best part of their date is the only time she actually talked to him (at the end of the date). I really wonder what exactly a Fashion Sales Rep does. She sells...fashion?
For the group date, I was pretty excited that he made them ride horses and them go fly fishing with waders. Lindzi was the only one who looked comfortable on a horse. I'm a little confused by how Courtney suddenly had a hat on for the fly fishing part of the date. They don't take purses, so where was she keeping this hat up until then? Also, I have to quote some of Courtney's terrible things she says. They speak for themselves, so I don't even have to comment on them. She says, "Kaci is cute and she's sweet...and she's kinda annoying" and later also says "she thinks she's so cute." Also, her claim of "I'm a nice person. I just want to rip her head off and verbally assault her" and "she should watch herself." You know, all the things nice people say. She also walks around saying "winning" so the girls know that she is winning this thing that is a game to her. This erks the girls since they are there to find their future life partner. I think it's strange that Courtney caught a fish and no one else (including Ben, whose idea this was) caught one. One girl who was sure not to catch a fish was Samantha, who looked miserable on the fishing trip. I don't think she and Ben go together. I agree with his decision to send her home.

After fishing notes: Blakely's hat was cute. But then again, I like anything gray. In his conversation with Samantha, she looked like she was concentrating very hard on looking like Marilyn Monroe and not really listening to him. When he told her, they should end it, she seemed not react at all. It was like she was thinking, "Wait, what did he just say? I wasn't listening." When he was alone with Courtney, I just wasn't buying her act of being insecure. I think she just did that to get the rose. She seems evil like that. She doesn't look him in the eye when she's talking to him. It just goes to show that she's not being honest.

I keep wondering what Jennifer's natural hair color is. Anyone have any guesses? I'm really glad he gave her a rose after making her repel down a big dark hole and then dropping her so she falls into water (ok, so he did too), but still. Speaking of hair color, does Blakely travel everywhere with a complete hair dye kit? Is that her profession? I'm pretty sure it's not. I'd be more likely to believe she is a professional stomper. Seriously, did you see the girl stomp?!? She's been doing it for a while!

There seems to be fewer relationships this season than all the others. It appears that he has no relationship has formed with (he hasn't gotten to know) Elyse, Nicki, Casey S., Monica, Samantha and the mystery brunette. For most of these names, as you read them, you may have no idea who these girls are. That is because they have had no camera time yet. In fact, I had to rewind and find out some of there names because I didn't even know that yet, and I still couldn't find the brunette's name. I liked Ben & Ashley better than him and any of the girls on this episode. He and Ashley were just so cute together. And they weren't awkward at all. This season is filled with awkward moments.

Clay Walker was a nice touch for this "country" themed episode. I like Clay Walker and I'm kind of impressed that Ben knows who he is. I think when Jennifer said "I really feel like we connected" when they were dancing in front of Clay Walker, she was talking about Clay Walker. Same thing when she said "I really like this guy." Again, she was talking about Clay Walker. Eh, I don't blame her. I couldn't help but notice she had reapplied some makeup after swimming in the cave. That's nice that the Bachelor producers let them do that so they don't have to be on TV with no make-up on, but again, where do they keep this stuff (without carrying purses)?

I liked Casey S, until she stirred up all that drama with Emily & Courtney. She was kind of egging Courtney on with her mean comments about Emily. I'm disappointed in her. Besides, she forgot to wear pants to the rose ceremony.

And to sum up all my random jibber jabber up:
Girls I think he should probably just go ahead and send home: Rachel, Courtney (I'm really tired of her weird mouth mannerism and evilness), & Elyse
Girls I think he should keep: Lindzi, Jennifer, the mystery brunette (you know the one who nobody knows her name. You may not even remember her- or thought "Wait, who is that girl? Has she been here the whole time?" Hint: she wore a blue dress to the rose ceremony.)
Girls who just need to suck it up and be tougher (aka Girls who got really whiny): Kacie B. & Emily

Rings, rings, & more rings!

It is really hard to stick to one plan when there are so many pretty rings out there! Here are just a few for example:

My ring

So this is my "placeholder," which I have grown to love, so it seems hard to be able to give this up someday.

Since I love this so much, we were thinking about having the real thing look just like it. It's classic and very simple. I imagined the wedding band to look something like this:

or this:

 A simple wedding band, the old fashioned kind. (Tons of these can be found at Bluenile.com).

More About the Engagement!

Ok, time for my favorite topic- my engagement to the most amazing guy I know!!! I told him a long time ago that I wanted us to pick out rings together. This threw a curve ball in his plan since he wanted it to be a complete surprise. Since we had not gone to look at rings yet, I did not see this coming. My mom was dropping hints pretty hard, but I was so sure I would know when it was coming, that I was completely blind to them. I even heard him say to his family "it's a surprise" when they were discussing plans for dinner with his family. Love is blind, right? So we planned on having a big dinner at my new house right before Christmas. Both his and my family were invited. I didn't think anything of it because I thought the get together was for Christmas (and because my family kept asking if they could come see my house). He wanted the proposal to be a complete surprise, which was not easy. We are both big on family, so he wanted both our families there. In order to make sure everyone would make it a priority to come, he told them what the special occasion was. That meant several people knew. In fact, everyone knew but me. I found out after the proposal that my parents had known for a month and were able to keep it a secret! His parents had known since August! With something that causes so much excitement, I am very proud of them for being able to honor his wish to surprise me. So he proposed at night, in front of my new house (which we picked out together and had planned on it being our house someday), in front of our Christmas lights. Have I mentioned that I love Christmas lights? And that Christmas is my favorite time of the year? And that it is the most romantic time of the year? And that he wanted our families to be there? Needless to say, he did a great job! In case you were wondering, my answer was "Yes! Of course!"

The whole thing was magical. This Pinterest picture pretty much sums it up:

via

So what about the ring you may be thinking...He proposed with a "placeholder" so we can pick out our rings together but he could still surprise me with the proposal. Man, this guy is smart. ;)

So the fun begins!! From the ring to the planning to the dress to...everything. So this decorating blog becomes a "decorating my wedding" blog for a time. Enjoy!

Bachelor Episode 3

Episode 3:
Shawntel is back! I liked her from Brad's season (up until her crematoria tour). She seems down-to-earth and easy-going (as long as you can handle her strange and creepy profession). I don't think all the girls should be so hard on her. She's just trying to find love, like the rest of the girls.

Favorites: Lindzi & Kacie B.
Girls I think he should send home: Jaclyn, Courtney, & Erika (they are not very nice)

By the way, does anybody know what a leap list is?

Bachelor Update

Episode 2:
Favorites: same as last episode (Lindzi the horse girl & Kacie B.)
Girls I really hope go home: just Courtney

Bachelor Matchmaker:
I feel pretty bad about listing the British girl as one of my least favorite last time and then she cried and took it really hard when Ben sent her home. Poor girl. She probably goes through this a lot. Where is Ryan from Ashley's season when you need him? Quick, somebody introduce Ryan and this poor girl. I created a little picture grouping to illustrate my point.  (Although it's really their personalities that go together so well).

Also, I wish he hadn't sent home the Kentucky Derby girl. I know I sort of dissed her hat choice, but I didn't want her to go home. Don't get me wrong, I love a good derby hat, but this just wasn't the right time for it. He should have kept her over the girl with the crazy cackle (aka Monica). But...since he sent her home, I think she and Brad would make a great couple. (See below). They are really cute together, right? I hope Chris Harrison will have figured out all this by the time the next season of Bachelor Pad airs.

Left Behind...

My fiance is skiing with his family. I was not able to take off work, so he is sending me pictures so I can feel like I am there (soft of). This picture is from Angel Fire, NM. I had to share it because the sky looks incredible. I see where they got the name.