Happy Weekend!

Well dolls, Friday is upon us, the sun is shining, the wine is chilling and my bicycle is freshly oiled. It's a long weekend here in BC so I'll be catching up on all my beaching, swimming, picnicking and  shopping.

via Oh Happy Day

Hope you have something fun planned! Here are some fun links from around the web this week:

Denim and Diamonds

Definitely rocking the veil with bikini on my honeymoon. Not ironically at all.

A beautiful, sparkly print

Bridesmaids in LBDs 

Moon River, sung by hipsters, to bring a happy tear to your eye

Bridesmaid corsages

Chantilly lace (sans the pretty face)*

A beautiful leather bracelet

I love an anchor tattoo

My summer exercise plan

Meanwhile, in the countryside...

Baked Eggs

An vintage style locket with a very modern secret

Have a lovely few days!

*Anyone?

Short lemonade stand update

I overpaid at a lemonade stand last weekend (#87), and I gotta say, it's my favorite thing to do in the summer. 

The fist pump I got when I paid a couple seven-year-olds $2 for their 50 cent/glass homemade lemonade? Absolutely priceless.

Photo via Vol. 25

Short announcement

Now that our wedding date is set, I'm going to be blogging more about weddings (or more specifically, planning my wedding).

If this bums you out, I'll see you in February when it's back to regularly scheduled programming (like tissue boxes and apartment puppet shows)

Otherwise, strap in ladies. I might even paint the other nine nails.

Love this

Anyone who is on Pinterest has probably seen this cute nail job about a million times, but I love it. Love it! I am so damn lazy in the summertime that this sparkly-just-on-the-ring-finger is totally appealing. Cute and easy and way less work than painting ALL my nails.

via Cupcakes and Cashmere

Plus it's an easy way to say "I'm getting married, bitches" without being a bitch about getting married. I think.

And the ice cream looks good.*

*In other news, I knew I found the right bridal salon when the seamstress told me that "massage and the right angle cut on the bodice" would easily hide my back fat (and all the other salons had suggested dieting). Talk about love. Here's to a summer of ice cream and massages. xoxo

**For non-lazy girls, check out these ombre nails!

The countdown is on

Today we finally got approval from the church to get married there in January. So the countdown is on! Five months to go!

 Photo by Alixann Loosle via Inspired by This

I can't wait!

Holy smokes

OK Blogstars, can someone help me out? I know that there are, like, 50 gazillion wedding blogs and probably twice as many personal style blogs, but are there any blogs devoted to what to wear for all the events leading up to the wedding? I was at a bridal shower last night and The Bride told me that she has bought no fewer than twelve dresses for her Bridal Events. 

Charlotte Gainsbourg via the Morning After Pill via East Side Bride

Which include: the parents-meeting-parents dinner, the friends-only engagement bash, the formal engagement party, engagement photos, bridal shower, bridesmaids' tea, out-of-town bachelorette, bachelorette party, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, night before the wedding, wedding, reception dress, wedding night, morning-after-wedding brunch, leaving for the honeymoon/"going away outfit", plus the honeymoon (another dozen outfits plus bikinis).

All this just makes me want to go to sleep! And even though I am kind of horrified at the sartorial breadth I am facing, I'm also pretty stoked to come up with outfits. I sort of feel like Kate before she went on her Canadian tour, faced with a wide variety of events and charged with having the perfect outfit for each. It's half expensive, stressful nightmare and half girly, let's-get-gussied-up dream. 

Am I a bad Practical bride?

Delightning Review of Things! Dry Shampoo

Last time I reviewed Self-Tanner. Today, it's Dry Shampoo!

All the beauty magazines say things like "Don't wash your hair everyday! Use dry shampoo!" because supposedly it's better for your hair and will extend the life of your color and whatnot.

So I found this little sample bottle of Salon Grafix Invisible Dry Spray Shampoo when Adam and I were in Seattle on Canada Day (Canadian fail). And I have two things to say about it.

#1. It works
#2. It might kill you

Giving human girls unrealistic expectations about their hair since 2011: 
Catherine "Winning" Middleton via What Kate Wore. Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Yes, I followed the directions and sprayed it on my hair, layer at a time, waited for it to dry and brushed it out. And yes, it removed the grease and my hair was leave-the-house ready without all that pesky showering business.

But it also contains Butane. As in could asphyxiate you, get it the f out of the house Butane. I'm sure it won't asphyxiate you, but still. It's worth noting that you're spraying a highly volatile, highly toxic gas on your head to avoid jumping in the shower for ten minutes.

Conclusion: Take the time to have a shower, and air dry your hair in the sunshine. Or just live with greasy hair, whatever.

Here's that quick reminder: I'm a hobby blogger (say that five times fast), and I don't get paid or compensated for reviews.

And let's throw in a disclaimer too: These are only my opinions, I'm not at all an expert in this field. Just sharing my experience and some extremely low-level research involving reading a package and logging onto Wikipedia.

Wednesday

One of my close friends is currently vacationing in Bali and emailed me this morning to let me know she's having a dress made there for my wedding.

This made me think two things:

via Nordstrom

One: Holy crap, she's buying a dress to be a guest at my wedding, she is a wedding guest, she's my wedding guest, I'm getting married, holy shit, and we haven't booked anything for the wedding and I haven't even picked a color for the bridesmaids dresses and how can I be sure my dress even gets made in time and we're only five months away and a@#$ragha!@$#!!!!@$!LKJASD!@$#L@$ I am stressed OUT!

and two: Holy crap, she's having a dress made for my wedding? Am I bridezilla who is forcing guests  to have dresses made?*

Time to reread Your Wedding is Not an Imposition

Again.

*No. Obviously. She just wants a new dress to party in at my wedding, and that's amazing. It's coral, by the way. She's going to look like a million bucks.

Something blue

Hope you're having a dreamy Tuesday, dolls.

via From Me To You

Tissue box of the day #3

Apparently my blogging niche is funny tissue boxes, because this is my third TBOTD. Third! (Here are one and two)

I can't not post them now!

Anyway here she is:

Amazing, right?

The Umbra "casa" by designer Mauricio Affonso. So chic, so modern! It might be my favorite so far.

See a cool tissue box you want featured on my blog, The #1 Blog for Tissue Box Design (probably)? Leave a link in the comments or @ me on Pinterest!

Outfit of the day

Coral. I need to go put on some coral. How gorgeous is this color on her:

via Girls with Curves

Stunning.

Happy Weekend!

You may have been wondering where I've been the last few days. Let me try to explain. Summer is refusing to come to Vancouver so I've been bitter balls like a rodeo clown with no rodeo all week. I felt I needed to keep my whining off of the Internets, so thus the radio silence.

  Hyperbolic photo via Weardrobe

Despite the dreary, gray weather (with no sun! none!), Adam and I took a long bike ride today and sat on a patio in the drizzling rain drinking Caesars with friends. We're Canadian after all.

Anyway, if you're somewhere warm and sweating your cheeks off, here are some links to read while you cool out in the local Starbucks or whatever.

A list for the listless

A female Foosball table*

Popsicles in champagne

The most beautiful wedding venue

A chic wrought iron towel rack

Upcycling like a boss: A chandelier made from a garden basket

Pretty Vancouver style

Making tonight: Cinnamon-Sugar Crusted Coffee Cake Muffins. Yeah.

A stunning silver settee

I brought this potato salad with sun dried tomatoes and basil to a BBQ this week, and it was a big hit. A really nice change from a creamy potato salad (minor recipe adjustment: I roasted, rather than boiled, the potatoes).

Cute sailor shorts


Happy weekend lovers!


*Mixed feelings on this one. I love to play Foosball and it's fun to see female players, but 1. How the f did it take this f-ing long? and 2. Do they have to make everything marketed to women pink? Sigh.

Pretty Polish Paper Pajaki Chandeliers

Pretty Polish Paper Pajaki Chandeliers - try saying that five times fast. Phew.  

I was on Design*Sponge earlier today and saw this beautiful illustration of a Polish Pajaki paper chandelier:

[1]

I just think they are so festive and fun, and wouldn't they look pretty at, say, a wedding? Or more specifically, my wedding to Adam, who happens to be Polish? I have been looking for a way to include our different heritage in the reception in order to personalize it a bit.

These chandeliers might be perfect:

 [2]

Perhaps using deep red flowers to match the merlot-colored theme we're working with, like these:

 [3]

And hung festively over the bar or desert table, comme ca:

 [4]

I'm not overly crafty, although I do like a good auto-pilot project I can do while watching Lord of the Rings or whatever. Plus, with a January wedding, we'll have a few weeks off leading up to the wedding (bonus!). So these might be a fun project. I'll do a test drive first and keep you abreast loves.

Images from here: [1] Illustration by Julia Rothman via Design*Sponge [2] via Decor8 [3] via Martha [4] via Martha

Suspicious happenings

Very suspicious: two jewel-heist-themed events occurred today. 

First, there was this outstanding honeymoon-in-Iceland style advice featured over on East Side Bride, written in such a way that I literally had to put down my glass of water and sit quietly as sparks and lightning shot around my brain. 

A taste: 

M, kindly imagine that bjork has asked you along on a jewel heist and pack accordingly; you need close-fitting black (for stealth), your most commanding boots (for maneuverability), a bathing suit (for water landings), and ludicrous accessories (i repeat, bjork).

Right? Right? There's more, go check it out.

And second, the poster I ordered from Strawberry Luna came in the mail today:

 

I think the universe is trying to tell me something, and that something is "jewel heist."

Happy Tuesday loves! xoxo 

Homemade pizza

There's something oddly romantic about making pizza from scratch, a sort of Under-the-Tuscan-Sun sort of feel. Maybe I feel that way because I always wait for a warm day before I make pizza dough. I always tell Adam that it's because the yeast needs warmth to rise, but you can really just shove it in the oven on low. I just love the whimsy of mixing flour, yeast, water, salt, sugar and olive oil, setting it in a sunny patch to rise, going for a long walk and coming back to (magic!) risen dough.

Homemade pizza is the BEST way to use up leftovers. I literally went into the fridge and took out all the odds and ends and shoved them all on the pizza: a quarter jar of Texas Martini olives (that had proven too spicy for martinis), some sauteed mushrooms from Friday's dinner, a few strips of bacon, one sad red pepper that Adam had grilled up on Friday, and the last inch of a tube of goat cheese. It was delicious.

I used this recipe for the dough, more or less. I made one big pizza and cooked it for about 20 minutes. My friends always seem impressed when I tell them I make my own dough from scratch, but the truth is it's only a couple of ingredients. I don't tell them that. Sometimes it's nice to impress people.

Happy Monday, loves!

Photos by me on my iPhone, which is why they suck. One day I'll get a Canon and learn to bounce light or whatever. I had sticky dough fingers last night!

Happy Weekend!

Well it's finally summer in Vancouver. Pretty much. It poured with rain all week, but the sun is out now, and (surprise, surprise), I'm planning an epic bike ride for this weekend. Maybe if it gets really warm, I'll go hop in the ocean too.

via Let's Drift Away

Is it nice where you are? Too hot? Not hot enough? Adam's parents were just in Yellowknife in the deep north, and the weather there was 30 degrees (86 for you yanks)!

Anyhoo, here are some links for your weekend:

This article suggests men hire a "Proposal Consultant" at $2000-$10000 a pop to help them plan the perfect proposal. Yes, really.

In related news, A Practical Wedding put out a call for submissions today, and I'm going to send in my proposal story, which I promise will include advice the exact opposite of that utter bullshit article.

This made me laugh

Sweet and salty roasted chickpeas

I'm loving stalking Kate's outfits while she and her new husband are in Canada

Ruby slippers

Channeling Olivia Palermo

Hello stripes!

And more stripes!

Don't forget: Dress for the job you want (ha!)

I'm saving up for these Frye boots. I hope to be stomping all over town in them come Autumn.

Lace letterpress

Riviera style

Have a lovely weekend, dolls!

xoxo

Bridesmaids

I've bought my gown, so now it's on to the bridesmaids. I'm thinking jewel tones, mismatched, but none of this "full-length gown" business. My girls need to boogie. 

The question now is, how to get the girls coordinating so delightfully when one bridesmaid is en route from Tennessee to San Fran, another is en route from Sydney Australia (by way of Bali) to Vancouver, and the third is packing up Vancouver and heading to Boston?

I've heard of some people grabbing a paint deck from the hardware store, circling the color they want their girlies to wear and mailing it to them. Then the bridesmaid just takes the color shopping and finds something close to it. I may try this strategy. 

Any other ideas?

via Kiss the Groom

PS, About the radio silence yesterday: My Internet connectivity is being a brat. Apologies.

Hot Caprese Dip

I know what you want. A recipe for Hot Caprese Dip, made with only three ingredients that you might even have in the house right now. Amiright?! I'd probably throw something spicy in there too, but that's just me.

It's inspired by a salad, so it counts as healthy. Just in case you were wondering.

Recipe and image via How Sweet It Is

Delightning Review of Things! Self-tanner

A gazillion years ago I promised to report back on a self-tanner I was trying. Well here is my review: Don't use self-tanner. They say it won't streak, it streaks. They say it won't turn you orange, but it will turn you orange. They say it will give you a "summery glow." It gives you a "Oompa-Loompa-style paint job."

I won't even waste your time with the brands I tried because they all suck.

I'm just going to say it one more time: Don't use self-tanner. Especially if you're of British/Irish decent and so pale you're almost see-through in parts. And if you are already olive-skinned-or-darker, don't get greedy. You're making us see-through girls self conscious about our paleness.

  Lauren Conrad via We Heart It (I know, I know)

A better bet for summertime is a bronzing spray, something with a bit of sparkle in it but no orangey-ness. I like this one from Sephora.  It's fun, and gives your legs that "I'm a celebrity and I sweat glitter" look instead of that "I'm a creepy candy technician from Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory that eliminates children from factory tours one-by-one" look.

Oh, and when you rub it in, your hand gets covered in glitter and you feel like a super badass Tinkerbell when you high-five Planned Parenthood canvassers on the street shortly thereafter.

Or whatever.

Coming up on the next Review of Things: Dry Shampoo


Quick reminder: I'm a hobby blogger (say that five times fast), and I don't get paid or compensated for reviews. In case you were worried about me telling you not to look like an Oompa Loompa was part of some great Sephora conspiracy.

Covers that aren't but ought to be

 

Lovely. More here.

Cover by artist Andrew Barron via This Isn't Happiness (via Caustic Cover Critic)

MommyJacking

Do you guys ever read STFU, Parents? It's freaking hilarious. They have a section called MommyJacking, where it's all examples of Moms hijacking unrelated conversations to talk about themselves/their children. Example:

 

The funny thing is, post-engagement I've inadvertently started BrideJacking in a similar way. For instance, one of my friends was bemoaning her temp job and I said like a prize asshole, "Well at least you have my gown fitting to look forward to!"

Yeah. That happened. I caught myself doing it and immediately apologized and my friend laughed at me and everything was fine (duh, that's why we're friends), but from now on I'm trying really hard not to BrideJack conversations. Because no one wants to be (or be around) that girl.

Hey, Happy belated July 4th to my American friends!

(PS I just realized that I BrideJacked this post on MommyJacking to talk about being a bride. It's a freaking epidemic! Sorry)