11 THINGS, ETC

I was tagged by Hayley, and I liked her questions a lot. I also thought this would be fun because I'm pretty new for a blog, and it's always fun to share more. So here it is:

How does it work? Post the rules on your blog
Write 11 things about you
Answer the questions
Create 11 new questions for others
Tag 11 people

I saw that some said post a picture of yourself, and we took these pictures this evening when the light was good. So I added it to this one!

11 things:

1. I wanted to be a flight attendant more than anything when I was a kid. My brother used to play a flight simulator computer game. I would walk up and down the hall, and serve him crackers on a plate, flight attendant-style.

2. I loved that I had a z in my maiden name, and I love even more that I got to keep my z when I changed my last name. 

3. The first thing I bought that cost more that few dollars was a papasan chair (bowl chair) from Pier 1 when I was like 13. I wanted it so bad, and it's in our apartment as I type. Still love it!

4. I absolutely love typography and lettering. My favorite thing to doodle in class was always bubble letters and fancy ways to title my notes and papers. 

5. My first real concert was Sufjan Stevens in Atlanta. Magic. Though the best convert I've ever been to  was Mates of States in Athens. 

6. I used to seriously have a crush on Ty Pennington, the carpenter from Trading Spaces. I watched it all the time with my mom, and, oh, did I love him. 

7. This Kanye tweet is probably one of my favorite bits of celebrity oddness to come from the internet in recent times. It's so child-like and oddly passive aggressive. Plus...he's just going on about Wicked, the musical. I think about this tweet when I am down. 

8. If I could choose one talent to have and really be a beast at, I would want to be able to sing so good. I've been watching Glee on Netflix...and I just wanna be young and sing, too. But it's just so bad when I do. 

9. I want to live in a loft apartment at some point in my life...it's a huge thing. 

10. If I could eat whatever I wanted all the time, with absolutely no consequences whatsoever, I would eat chocolate covered pretzels, Bojangles fries, and bread just all the time. 

11. One of my favorite moments in my life was when my best friend Katie (miss her) and I were driving through Atlanta at 4 or 5 in the morning. We had just been to a Julian Casablancas concert (I died), and were on our way to pick up Douglas from the bus station (long distance love). There was no traffic and we were driving on this huge interstate alone, the buildings were all lights and the sun was hinting to rise. I had something to look forward to, cities excite me, we were having fun, and something about it felt like perfection. 

Hayley's Questions:What's your favorite color?

mustard yellow, like a really good golden yellow

What was your favorite Disney movie or just kid movie growing up?

Cats, the musical. For real. Over and over.
If money (and talent) wasn't an issue, what would be your dream job?

I would have a huge printmaking/sewing studio and sew and print things all day. I'm closer to this dream job than ever. It's amazing.
What superpower would wish to have if you could only have one?

invisible, and I would take pictures all the time
Hansel and Gretel OR Little Red Riding Hood?

love Hansel and Gretel
Who was your favorite teacher and why?

my high school ap lit teacher, she actually taught us about reading to get something out of the book instead of doing it all for a grade
What is your favorite dessert?

strawberry shortcake
What was the last book you read?

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Do you collect anything?

lots and lots of things, you can see a good many of them here
What is your favorite emoticon?

all of the ones on skype that move and do stupid things, :P
Do you remember your dreams?

most of the time, sometimes not at all, sometimes super vividly

My Questions for You:

1. What's the farthest you've ever been away from home?

2. Favorite breakfast food?

3. What's the most played song on your computer/ipod/phone?

4. If you could teleport, where you go right now and why?

5. What's your favorite gift you've ever been given?

6. What did you want to be when you were a kid?

7. Which celebrity would you accept as your husband?

8. What was the last movie you saw in a theater?

9. Can you dance?/Do you like to dance?

10. Where's your favorite place to be?

11. So far, what has been your favorite day of 2012?

And here's the few people I tag: Noelle from noellephant, Megan from the darling ewe, Alice from niceties, and powkomomdiaries. I've enjoyed reading these ladies' comments and in turn finding the blogs they write. I love this whole process. So there you go!

10 THINGS ABOUT ME

1. I've played the drums since I was in 6th grade. i wanted to play the drums way before then because i thought garth from wayne's world was the coolest, and then i had a big ol' girl crush on zac hanson. 

2. i learned the basics of sewing from my mom when i was around 12 years old. i learned more techniques from the web. i fell in love with it because i could make things that were both completely unique and completely functional.

3. I worked at waffle house one summer. i was occasionally covered in waffle batter, only broke one plate, and learned a little about a lot.

4. i had this peel-off hello kitty nail polish when i was four. it's been a slippery slope of hello kitty accumulation ever since then. i highly prefer red hk to pink hk.

5. i call smaller versions of things "baby."  it just feels right.

6. i've been a vegetarian since i was five. before that bacon was my favorite. then my grandma told me what it was. that was it.

7. despite the previous fact, i love hamburger things. cute hamburger things.

8. i think the magnetic pincushion is the best thing ever.

9. on the topic of amazing craft tools, my absolute favorite is the exacto knife. i use it for everything.

1o. i pick out all of the red and pink candy. they're the best. especially strawberry.

IN 2011...

...it snowed six inches in Athens in January, canceling the first week of classes. I felt extremely cozy, explored the snow with Elizabeth, and was unable to take the rest of the semester seriously.
...this is what my room looked like before I moved to Charleston. I was sharing an apartment with one of my best friends in the world, Douglas built me this fort over my bed, and despite being away from him for most of time, it was one of the best times of my life.
...I spent the first half of the year seeing Douglas only during weekend visits and over skype. We explored Charleston for the first time, spent Valentine's Day in a hotel room, and grew closer over phone calls.
...I had a European adventure with my dad at the end of my junior year. We explored Paris, Venice, and Rome. I learned more about the world and myself. We returned home and I decided to leave school and move to Charleston with Douglas.
...I planned our wedding in two months and everything was perfect. My dress was light pink, my favorite people were all in one place, I danced with my dad, and now I'm married to Douglas. What more could I want?
...I put everything I owned into boxes into a truck and moved away from Athens for the second time in my life. This time, everything was right.
...I began to make our home together. I've made our one bedroom apartment a perfectly cozy home for the time being. We love living here.
...I began to create things again and started my own small business, Anykind, a true work in progress. I'm developing my style and what I love to make, and I'm so excited that this is what I get to do everyday.

...I was lucky enough to go to two fairs! I continued a tradition of going to the Georgia National Fair with Elizabeth and went to the Coastal Carolina Fair for the first time with Douglas.

...we experienced the pleasures of living near the beach and enjoyed having my parents and then Elizabeth come to visit us. We loved having each of them and can't wait to have more visitors this year.
...I participated in my first craft fair. It was small but went extremely well, and it was a huge step for my growing, developing business.
...we celebrated the holidays together for the first time as a married couple. We visited with friends, ate and ate and ate, and loved celebrating with our new families. It was the best holiday season probably ever.
...we celebrated the end of the year and the beginning of the new one with some new friends in Charleston. We watched old music videos, lit sparklers and a few loud, smokey fireworks, and I felt at home here. I can't think of a better way to end one year and start the other.

Happy New Year to you all. It's gonna be real good.

OUR WEDDING

I think I knew that I was going to plan my own wedding and do most of the things myself since I was about 13. I grew up a crafty child in the hands of an extremely crafty and creative mother. I just knew that I liked things to look a certain way, and I liked to do it myself. So I also knew that when my wedding day came, I was going to have to plan out everything myself in order to be truly happy with it.

Our wedding basically went according to that plan! With the help of my mom, I planned the wedding, gathered supplies, and made things throughout June and July. At the time, having less than two months was as exciting as it was scary. But now that it's been three months since, I feel like it couldn't have worked out better. I'm not a long engagement type of girl! 

I can honestly say though, that everything fell into place after we found and reserved the perfect location. Ashford Manor is a beautiful bed and breakfast on a gorgeous piece of land. It's about five minutes down the road from my parents house in Athens, GA. I passed it everyday for 12 years on my way to and from school. I always thought it was such a classy, secret-garden type place, but I hadn't actually been there since I was 5 or 6. I happened to go see a play on the lawn there with my friend, Elizabeth, a few days after Douglas proposed. When I saw the place again, I knew it had to be there. So very luckily, they had a free Sunday at the end of July. It was perfect.

After that, I started really planning. I ordered white hydrangeas and cream roses to be delivered a few days before the wedding, so we could make our own arrangements and bouquets. I began to design the program (above) and added names as we figured them out. I stumbled across perfect invitations on etsy from Ello There, ordered them, loved them. I decided to get a local pasta restaurant to cater (best wedding food I've ever had). And I ordered a small, simple wedding cake, matching petit fours, and a Dairy Queen ice cream cake (Douglas's groom cake of choice!) The little details were easy and fun to figure out after that. 

When it came to my dress, I knew two things. It wasn't going to be long, and it wasn't going to be straight-up white. I'm too short and too white for that deal. I went to Atlanta for a day with my mom and found the perfect dress from Zara. I knew immediately. I loved the light pink peachy color, the silhouette and length, and most of all the soft texture of the dress. The flowers on the dress went so well with everything I had already planned! After that we got the dresses for my maid of honor and bridesmaid. I loved picking out what people had to wear! 

We had a fairly small wedding and wanted to keep the wedding party small, too. I chose my best friend and close friend who I was living with at the time, both of whom I know from middle school. Douglas chose his best friend since forever and a close college friend.

Funny thing: the ceremony was going to be outside, down the hill from the house. About thirty minutes before the ceremony was going to start, a delightful summer shower moved in. As it came time to start, the shower moved on. Unfortunately, it was so humid outside afterwards and the hill down to the site spelled out certain, slippery death for the older wedding guests. We decided to have the ceremony in the foyer of the bed and breakfast. There wasn't enough room to set up chairs, but it was more intimate and comfortable than it would have been before. I love that it happened that way. 

I made the cake topper with glitter cardstock, glue, and a bamboo skewer! Perfectly simple.

I love our Mr. and Mrs. forks. We use them all the time!

Douglas and I danced to "Sea of Love" covered by Cat Power. My father daughter dance song was "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," and Douglas and his mom danced to "Moon River." So sweet!

Even though we were spending the night at the bed and breakfast that night, we still wanted to make an exit (mostly because I wanted bubbles!). So we walked through the bubbles, got in our car, drove around, and came back! 

And that was our wedding! Planning it and creating everything is one of the things I'm most proud of. Especially getting it all done in time! I couldn't be happier with how it turned out and how the day went. I hope you enjoy looking and reading about the experience!

All photos by Marie Sturges.