Table runners and sangria

Newest project in the works: wedding site

I also bought 3 fabrics for table runners:

I'll make them about 14 inches wide, but I'm undecided about the length. I think we'll rent ground-length white table clothes for 5ft round tables and lay these on top- maybe they should be 84 inches? Any ideas?

For the reception, I decided mojitos would be a little labor-intensive, so I think I'd like to have punch bowls or pitchers of white sangria! I have a test batch in the fridge right now. Never made sangria before... so we'll see how this turns out.

Recipe I used: 8 strawberries, 1 granny smith apple, 1 nectarine, 1 lemon, 1 lime, 3 tbs sugar, 1 bottle chardonnay, 3 shots peach schnapps. And we'll top if off with soda water when we're ready to drink.

I have no idea how it'll taste... but it's pretty!

the dress the dress the dress!

this isn't it:

This was the dress I thought I wanted to get married in. Before I was engaged (but knew I was going to get married within a year or two) I fell in love with this dress from jcrew, but it was $1300, which was a lot more than I wanted to spend. I spent a lot of time online looking for a scoop neck, a-line dress that was under $500, and ended up finding something on target's website for $80. I figured it was worth a shot to order it, try it on, and pay a bit more to have alterations done so it looked more like the jcrew dress. When it came, I thought it fit perfectly, and for about 2 1/2 months I was convinced I could make the target dress into something I loved. But the past three weeks or so, I haven't wanted to go near the dress. I've been having nightmares about my wedding day and that dress, so I decided to go out with Mia and just see what else was possible for June 20. We went to Easton thinking there might be bridesmaids dresses at Nordstrom, parked nearby, and popped into BCBG Max Azria to see if there was anything worth trying on. There were only a few white dresses, none of them very interesting, except for this one...


and it was really beautiful and so much like some of the $5,000 dresses I was pining for...

vera wang collection- 12248

and there was only a size 8 in the store, but it was almost $400 which seemed like a lot. I tried it on, and really, really liked it. It was a bit big in the chest, but the length was perfect, it was light, and moved, and was so comfortable. We had them hold it, went to a few other stores, didn't see anything, and I decided it was definitely worth $400. I went back to buy it and for whatever reason, it rang up as only $250! I also bought an antique gold and rhinestone barrette that's beautiful and was on sale for $11.
So the past 24 hours I haven't been able to stop looking at it or thinking about how it's really, truly mine. I took it to a tailor a little bit ago to have it taken in a bit. It's probably good it will be out of the house for a while, otherwise I'd wear it out and get it dirty trying it on so often.

Progress

Well, I can't believe it's been a week since my last post. Time is just flying. One wedding "to do" that's been crossed off for a while was finding bridesmaids dresses. I wanted to find something affordable, flattering, summery, and something that could be worn again after the wedding. I look at the j. crew sale page pretty often, and love so many of their dresses. A note about j. crew sale items: there are patterns to their sales and promotions, usually a cycle between free shipping and 20% your total order. So I saw this dress, loved it, but it was $170. A few weeks later, this color was on sale for $99, fast forward a few more weeks, $69. I was worried that some sizes might sell out, so when there was free shipping I ordered dresses for everyone. When the dresses finally arrived, one of them was actually a yellow blazer instead of a yellow dress, so I went into the store to return it. By this time, the promotion had cycled to an additional 20% off, so while I was returning the blazer, I asked about a price adjustment, and they did it! All the dresses ended up costing about $55 a piece.

I'm also making progress on my plate collection. I had a great run to the Ohio Thrift on Cleveland Avenue and found about 10 dinner plates and 4 salad plates for $.20-$.60 apiece! I'm about to run to a few other locations- Ohio Thift is the only thift store I've found that have individually color-coded plates. FYI- the last Wednesday of every month everything in the store is 50% off!

Pasta Salad

I love pasta salad but I don't normally crave it in the winter. The sunny and 64 degree weather in Columbus today has my body confused, because I can't think of anything but spring cleaning and pasta salad.

A few weeks ago I was at Trader Joe's and found 1lb bags of multigrain fusilli for $.50. I'm not sure if that's the normal price, but I bought four bags because it was cheap, looked tasty, and 1 serving has 8g protein and 6g fiber. So in this recipe, I used Trader Giotto's Multigrain Fusilli with Flax. I also used the minced garlic from TJ's. I bought a jar recently and just love it. I've been using it in everything lately.

Fresh Herb and Lemon Pasta Salad

In a small bowl combine:

1 tbs chopped fresh mint
1 tbs chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
zest and juice from 1 lemon

In a large bowl combine the following and toss with the dresing:

1 lb cooked pasta, rinsed until cool, and drained
1 cup shredded zucchini, loosely packed
1 shredded carrot
1 chopped green onion
15 oz can chick peas, drained, rinsed

I ate a bowl of this at room temperature right after I made it and really enjoyed it, but I bet it would also be good warm or cold, too. I really threw together bits of what I had around, so the measurements are all estimates, but probably pretty close.

Reception centerpieces

Well, I think it's starting to feel a little more like spring this week. It's actually beginning to get light outside before 7, it might be 58 tomorrow, and I can't stop thinking about my wedding-flower garden...
I think I'm going to start seeds indoors in the next week or two, take a few trips to Cincinnati to till our old vegetable garden, fertilize, and plan, and then... to plant! I'm really so, so excited by the thought of growing most of my flowers. I know I'll be making frequent trips back home over the next 3 month anyways, so I'll be able to see the flowers growing and help weed and water. We'll see. I met with my florist (and best friend) on Skype the other day. She's in France right now, and recommended 5 start finding pictures of bouquets I love instead of focusing on flowers that bloom in early June. That makes a lot of sense.

The photos below are from a site, www.stylemepretty.com, that has some amaaaaazing photos and ideas. Really, there are too many.