Pinterest sucked me in.

I finally got an invite to Pinterest, the virtual pin-board website where people can make lists of everything from exercise tips to dream cars. I have always been the kind of person who makes lists, so being able to make an extremely graphic representation of things I want, need or like is just really fun and addicting.
My most-perused (by me) board is the one named "New House Wishlist." We moved in January to a new house, a three-bedroom, 1-story house with a carport. The house is contract for deed, which means we'll eventually own it. We've done a lot of painting and ripping out carpet, but we're nowhere near done.
The point is Pinterest has a lot of fun, crafty ideas. One of the ones I wanted to do was this, pictured at left. I love to have little plants in the windows, and I thought this was a neat presentation.
One of the biggest events in Mt. Vernon every year is the Midwestern Herb and Garden Show, and it's this weekend. Today Dan and I went and got fudge, cookies, tea... and some plants, too. I got a "hen and chick," the small rosette-shaped succulent; some Greek oregano; basil; catnip; and lemon balm. I then took Dan on an impromptu supplies-gathering journey that began at the Dollar Tree. The DT had some bud vases in the style of these vases, but nothing in that size, so I headed to my favorite place to hate, Wal-Mart. I found some inexpensive vases in kind of a hurricane shade shape and decided I didn't want to dash all over town, and they'd do.
I had a package of "bowl decorations" my aunt- and uncle-in-law sent us in advance of our wedding I decided (at length - not that they weren't lovely, just I had it in my head I needed to do exactly what was in the picture) that could stand in for the rocks seen in the bottom of these little vases.
And so the lady with the black thumb got to work.I put the different decorations in the bottom of each vase, and then some kind of raffia-type material as a potting soil buffer. I put a little bit of potting soil in the vases, and then jammed the soil down with the end of a serving spoon. Finally, I potted, or "vased" the herbs, and tried to gently smoosh them down. I had too much of everything in the first one, so the plant is kind of overflowing.

This is me smooshing potting soil. This is also the first time I have tried to take pictures of myself doing something for the express purpose of blogging it, so there's that also.
Anyway, the original photo shows the vases with interesting paper wrapped around them, with the name of the plant on the paper. I got some vellum and wrote the name of the plant on the vellum, but with the curve of the vase, I wasn't sure how it would look. I decided to hot-glue the vellum to the vase so it wouldn't slide all over the place.
I took some pictures of the first one, and tried to tie some yarn around it, but it was kind of like a curvaceous woman wearing a shapeless dress. It looked blah, and if I tried to cinch the yarn at all, it crumpled, so I decided to forgo the paper altogether. That's what the little tags are for.
Here's what I ended up with:I think they're pretty. Hopefully I can keep the dang things alive.

Season's Greetings

I'm going to take photos of the animals I made for my nieces and nephews tomorrow. I will probably post them tomorrow too, the kiddos aren't really at blog-browsing age and my brothers don't subscribe here, as far as I know.
I've been keeping quite busy trying to get everything done. I'm on my last one, just sewing on some stubby little hippopotamus legs before I get started on a commissioned project that I can't mention.
I have a little more time now that I quit Facebook. You can't ever really quit Facebook, as they apparently hold on to your information until the rest of time, but I probably won't go back for a while. I took a break for several reasons, from my displeasure with the privacy of the site, to some negative experiences I had with friends, to the fact that I'm one of those people who gets an inferiority complex from looking at the facades of other peoples' perfect lives, then feeling bad for feeling bad about my life. To quote Joe Walsh, I can't complain but sometimes I still do.

Working on my fitness

Yesterday, I activated a one-year membership to our local YMCA that I received from my dad as a very, very generous Christmas gift. I had a free session with a trainer, and he took me through a variety of strength activities, as well as a little bit of cardio.
I am super-sore today, especially in my arms and chest. The treadmill is my comfort zone and my happy place, and I was definitely out of my comfort zone. I was happy to meet with the trainer, as we walked through some workouts and set some goals I hope I will be able to achieve.
I'm not allowed to look at the scale for two weeks, as the trainer is trying to get me to focus on how I feel rather than how many pounds I've lost.
My plan right now is to work out two times a week for the next two to three weeks, and try to get through the holidays without giving up. I think with the other program I was in ( a weight-loss contest of sorts) I was more interested in winning then pacing myself and making eventual changes that would work for me. I overloaded myself, working out five times a week and volunteering and going to Bible study, and I didn't think about how fast I would burn out.
One thing the program did show me is that I can reduce my diet by a bit without being too terribly deprived, and that I am capable of losing weight. I lost about 20 pounds at 1 point, from switching to diet cola and working out, but I have gained some of that back. I just need to maintain the workouts.
If you, dear reader, want to support me with a "Keep it up!" on Facebook or something, that would be wonderfully motivating. I am trying to be realistic this time, and really take baby steps, so hopefully I will be able to do it myself.

Life after marriage

Our married life has been going pretty well, just working and trying to save money for a house, a honeymoon, another car.
I've been working on various crafts, from some things people have commissioned to a crocheted scarf for Special Olympics athletes competing in the Winter Games. Right now, I'm mostly working on Christmas presents, which of course I can't post details about until after Christmas. I will say, the nieces and nephews are getting an animal theme this year.
Dan has been busy with a number of new video games, including Battlefield 3 and Skyrim. I prefer watching him play Skyrim, because he gets to fight dragons and I can side-seat drive when he makes his dialog choices.
I'm looking forward to seeing our family at Christmas. I was able to get the day in question off, so we are planning to take that lovely trip back to Indiana once again.
The logical step that everyone makes once a couple gets married is, of course, now it's baby time. While we are interested in children eventually, I would like Dan to get his associate's degree before there's an infant in the house, and I would like to establish just a bit more job security before I'm off for maternity leave. I am studying up on pregnancy and babies, just because I have no idea in general what to expect. I didn't do much babysitting growing up.
Both of us are interested in getting in shape. Dan is more interested in getting "buff," while I would like to be able to run a 5K again and shed a few pounds.
I am generally a pretty confident lady, but in the past few months I have had several people asking me if I'm pregnant. I don't know if my clothes just don't fit, or if my body is just shaped like a preggo lady's. Either way, I am not really offended and I try to take it as a compliment - I must be glowing. Of course, it means people think I'm fat, too.
I'm not hurt to be thought of as fat, because I have come to accept that with my job and my genes, I'm going to be built for comfort and not for speed basically no matter what I do. The thing that bothers me about strangers asking me if I'm pregnant is that it's rude and reductive to me as a human being.
Once a woman becomes pregnant, it's like her body even more than usual becomes the public domain upon which to comment. She can't hold a coffee cup without people gasping in shock, and I've heard people say that strangers will take the liberty of touching their stomachs. None of that is all right, and furthermore, I don't think it's all right for people to ask about what's going on in your reproductive system. What it comes down to is it's not any stranger's business, and it's not an appropriate or polite way for people to start a conversation.
Of course, for family, all those rules go right out the window. But family members should know if we have any announcements, they'll be clued in as soon as possible.

Keeping it up

I just stumbled across another blog, Young House Love, where the couple ostensibly have continued to blog about their house projects and other things. I think I'd like to do that. Though I'm terrible at keeping the blog updated, Dan and I do love to make stuff, so I think I might try to keep it up.

A rundown of our awesome day - aka the longest post ever

It will be difficult to craft a post that does justice to the beautiful day we had on July 16. I'm sure I'll forget something!
Our save-the-dates and invitations were designed by Arippke on Etsy. I had them printed at A & K Printing in Mt. Vernon, Il.


The big day:
Daniel and I were married at the Garden Chapel in Greenfield, Ind., on July 16, 2011, at 3 p.m.

The chapel is a beautiful building with a high ceiling and stained glass. It is actually the original St. Michael's Church, where I attended church when I lived in Greenfield, and is more than 100 years old. The upstairs area, which was commandeered by my bridesmaids and me, had a lovely antique mirror and a tiny room with stained glass, where I admit I took a few deep breaths before the ceremony.
My bridesmaids and I carried purple and white stock flowers from Andree's Florist. My bouquet also had small orange spray roses. They smelled divine!
The ceremony was officiated by Brother Ira Scott from the Greenfield Church of God. During the ceremony, we did a wine box ceremony with a wine box made by my friend's wife, Vonderberry77. The box included love letters and a bottle of our favorite wine, Oliver Winery's muscat canelli.



My bridesmaids were three cousins and three friends; my maid of honor was my best friend. Dan's groomsmen were all friends.


My brothers were ushers, and my nieces were flower girls. They carried handmade baskets from Hilltop Baskets in Bluford, Il., and wore lavender gowns customized by my sister-in-law. My nephew was the ring bearer, but he had second thoughts at the last second and the show went on without him. He had just woken up and was so not into the idea!

The bridesmaids wore 'lapis' dresses from David's Bridal, which were actually a deep purple rather than a blue as suggested by the name. My bridesmaids also wore purple and silver multi-strand glass bead bracelets I made as their favors. The groomsmen and my groom wore coordinating tuxes from Men's Wearhouse.


I wore an ivory satin-and-tulle gown made by my mother from a 1959 Vogue design and spangled with swarovski crystals and glass pearls (by me). My mom actually broke a sewing machine on my dress, which I may never live down. My veil was made by me, from the same material my mom used on her wedding dress when she married my step dad. I edged the veil with glass beads, a trick I practiced on the veil I made for my dear friend Kasey's wedding. I wore a rhinestone bracelet from daniel12 and blue rhinestone earrings and a matching bracelet I borrowed from my maid of honor, Katie. I made my garter from leftover dress material and a violet heart-shaped Swarovski crystal.


Our reception was at the American Legion in Greenfield, Ind., where we decorated the head table with twinkle lights and purple and clear toasting glasses for the bridal party, bought secondhand. The reception was decorated with ficus trees borrowed from my aunt's church and fluffy white paper balls Dan's aunt and uncle sent us in a huge box of wedding decorations. We decorated the head table with twinkle lights my godmother had.


The centerpieces were clear glass bowls filled with sand and purple candles. The tables also had some mini candles one of my aunts brought from my cousin's wedding. My awesome cousin and bridesmaid Mattie made a flag quiz to keep people entertained - the Legion hall had all the state flags hung from the ceiling! The gift and cake tables were decorated with ivy garlands and white tulle. Everything at the reception was a collaborative effort from our wonderful friends and family, and I'm so incredibly thankful everyone offered their help.
As you know, the favors were tiny crocheted hearts made by me, which surrounded the bowls on the tables.


Our reception was DJ'ed by Jeromy Pierce. The beautiful, delicious wedding cakes were made by Willow Branch Bakery. We had a main cake with red velvet cake and butter cream icing, and a smaller groom's cake with lemon cake and raspberry filling. Daniel's grandmother also made a delicious (and huge!) carrot cake, and my cousin Colleen made a lovely and delicious strawberry cake.

For the father/daughter dance, my dad and I started out dancing to Butterfly Kisses, a song my dad found hilariously gag-worthy, and then we surprised most of the crowd by dancing an Irish jig. My grandmother was the youngest of 13 children, and her grandpa said he wanted to do a jig when she got married, so my dad paid homage to his memory and sense of humor.


Our breathtaking photos were taken by Adam Sturm, who runs his own business, Seegull Media, out of Indianapolis (though he has traveled all over the country for his work). Adam also does video and website design, so he is quite multi-talented!
The process of planning the wedding has had its stressful moments, but they were negligible compared to the love, caring and friendship Daniel and I were so blessed to receive from every angle. Our wedding weekend was the most wonderful time, and we will always look back on it with nothing but joy and happiness.

It happened!

Sorry I'm so terrible at updating the blog! I'm working on a big, 'here's everything that happened' sort of post. I lost my camera cord (and my mind) about a month before the wedding and so I didn't post until now. I want to share all the BEAUTIFUL photos our photographer took, so I'll definitely post soon. Keep an eye out.