Let the Wedding Coordinating Begin

but wait....my wedding was over a year ago....so this must mean that...

I'M HELPING COORDINATE A WEDDING!! 

That's right! In just 2 short weeks I'll debut as a Wedding Coordinator! 

Back last Fall I met Amanda through my friend Becky. Amanda was engaged and was planning a wedding for August 2010. She, like so many brides I know (myself included), was trying to plan her wedding without much outside help, while also working a full-time job. For those married ladies out there, we all know that planning a wedding could be a full time job itself so if you're going it alone then you're going to need either A) an extended amount of time to plan & prepare or B) some outside help. Well, Amanda decided to do a little bit of both...She has taken her time to plan and prepare for her perfect wedding (about a year long engagement) and she asked me to help her coordinate her Wedding day-of...things like setting up decor, organizing arrivals/departures and timelines and just generally making sure every last detail is attended to. We also began discussing design schemes early on and Amanda communicated to me that she wanted a very elegant, vintage inspired wedding. I LOVE making inspiration boards (decor is one of my favorite things about a wedding....next to the beauty and symbolism of the event itself...the organization of pulling off a flawless event comes in a close 3rd!) so I offered to put one together for Amanda. Based off of the color of the bridesmaid dresses and with keeping an elegant vintage theme in mind, I came up with this inspiration board:

I envisioned a jewel-tone color palette based off of Amanda's peacock blue bridesmaid dresses. The subtle repeating of brooches builds on the vintage theme, along with soft, garden-like florals. The addition of beautiful depression glass also adds to the vintage aesthetic. Amanda shared the inspiration board with her florist...so I can't wait

to see what they came up with. Amanda will be reusing her bridesmaid's bouquets as centerpieces for the reception. We'll also be injecting some Black and White Damask into her reception. Anyone remember these: 

Yep, these are the table toppers that my mother-in-law made for mine and Mark's wedding. I ordered the fabric from buyfabric.com and measured out the sizes then Mark's Mom graciously made 7 of these for me to use at our wedding last year. I'm happy to share these with Amanda for her wedding. We'll be using one on the Bride's Cake table and one on her guestbook table in the foyer entrance area of her reception. 

I'm so excited to be helping Amanda with her wedding. They're a beautiful couple and I'm sure it's going to be a beautiful wedding! I'll make sure to give you all a recap of the day and how everything turned out.

talk soon,

the indecisive wife :)

New Addition

Ha! ...just playin'. I had to. 

This is our REAL New Addition:

Her name is Evie Grace Boger and we adopted her from the Humane Society on June 28th.
(btw, it only took us about 2 1/2 weeks to give her a name...not too bad considering it took us about a month to name Rufus....the poor thing was known by "kitty" for the first month or so of his life)

She's a cutie and yes, she gives Rufus a run for his money. She's only 4 months old now, but she can totally hang tough with him (yes, that's another subtle reference to a boy band. i couldn't resist). I was really worried about introducing this new member of our family to Rufus, but to my surprise Rufus took it really well and they were already playing together after the 1st week. We're not yet to the snuggling together phase, but I have hopes they'll get there eventually. There's definitely still some sibling jealousy going on, but it's much, MUCH better than I had worriedly anticipated. And just to add some cuteness to your Friday, I'm gonna share more pics for your viewing pleasure :)

Me holding her at the Humane Society    Mark holding her at the Humane Society

In her carrier on the way to the vet

Working Hard at the office with Mom :)

Happy Friday y'all!!! 

xo,

The Indecisive Wife

Lighten Up!

We have a great screened-in porch and covered deck right off of our kitchen and living room. Actually, this was one of the selling features of the house that really appealed to us because Mark and I both love to spend time outdoors. As we toured the house for the first time, we immediately noticed the neglect that this screened-in porch had endured over the years. The ceiling was plywood...that's it. No paint, no nothing. Between that and the fact that the deck was graying badly and in desperate need of re-staining and sealing, I knew this was going to be project that we would have to tackle at some point....and why not wait until the hottest part of the summer (100 + heat indexes) to tackle it?!

We started with the screened-in area. I decided to paint the ceiling just a basic white because the trim on our siding was white. In addition to giving the ceiling a "finished" look (as opposed to the unfinished look of plywood boards), we also had the goal of brightening up the area. This deck is right off of our Living Room which has two large double windows that look right out onto the deck. Having this covered deck and screened-in porch is great, but it really blocks a lot of the natural sunlight from pouring into our Living Room so we wanted to help brighten up both the deck and the Living Room by using some lighter colors.

In order to add some interest to the basic white we decided to trim the ceiling in a warm brown color (Granite by Olympic Paint in Exterior Satin). We also decided to add some trim pieces to the ceiling itself in order try to "up" the architectural detail a bit. Since I was basically covered in paint and sweat the entire time we were doing this project -- Oh, and by covered I mean COVERED....I even had little white paint specks in my contacts....IN MY EYES y'all! -- I didn't really get to take any pictures of the process. But after 2 weekends and a random weekday night we were left with these results:

We're happy with the way it turned out....and we're definitely glad it's over....painting over your head is hard work y'all!!! Next up....restain and reseal the deck! We've already selected and purchased a semi-transparent Cedar Naturaltone shade made by Olympic....we just have to get started. Although I think we might take a break from the deck and "painting" projects and get started on a building project instead -- a Permanent Wooden Hammock Stand with Pergola Roof. We already have the hammock...it's a super comfy extra large Mayan Style woven hammock...and Mark has already drawn up the plans for it so now all we have to do is purchase the materials and get started building! Stay tuned for our progress on this project! ;)

xo,
The Indecisive Wife

Wedding Pictures - Help Me Choose!

Okay, so here's the deal....I'm trying to pick 2 pictures to print as 11 x 14's for a picture ledge that we've just installed in our Dining Room. I've chosen two color photos and two black and white's. Our Dining Room looks something like this:

So we're working with a deep purple wall under the chair rail, a creamy off-white above the chair rail, champagne-ish/gold and black flocked damask curtains, a black table, white chairs and a dark walnut buffet with gold hardware. The picture ledge is black and is on the opposite wall that you can't see here. (oh, and btw, that cheapo looking standard builder's chandelier will eventually be replaced by a black crystal chandelier)

So.....Option 1:

And Option 2: 

So, cast your votes! Option 1 or Option 2...which would you pick?! ......HELP!! :)

xo,

the indecisive wife

Mary, Mary quite contrary, How Does Your Garden Grow?

Well, it started out about like this....

I take that back.  It actually started out as a barren part of our backyard with patchy grass and crappy clay filled earth. BUT, I saw potential! It was, on a positive note, the sunniest spot in our backyard. Although our immediate backyard (read: the part that is fenced in) is devoid of any trees, there are numerous tall trees looming over our fence, casting afternoon shadows on our northeasterly facing house. So this sad little unlevel spot was just gonna have to do! 

Our Plan A was to use old (FREE) railroad ties to set up the garden....fortunately, it was brought to my attention that those old relics typically contain creosote, which is known to have a "carcinogenic character". Oops! On to Plan B...

Plan B was to use cedar. Since Plan A was free, Plan B was a much more expensive option, but we bit the bullet and made the short trek to our neighborhood Lowe's to pick up some cedar planks. We decided to keep it easy and make the garden 12 x 8 since that's what length options were available in cedar. Mark then dug out the area to make it as level as possible and started attaching the cedar together. We placed two planks on top of each other to create a taller ledge for the walls. I believe they were 4" each so we made the walls 8" high. After the fairly simple construction, it was time to fill the garden with some dirt we picked up since couldn't use our Alabama clay infested soil.  

Instead of buying the more expensive Miracle Grow brand Organic Dirt, we opted to buy the cheapo Evergreen brand of top soil, hummus and compost. We mixed all of these together in a wheelbarrow and began filling the garden.....and filling the garden....then another trip to Lowe's....and filling the garden....then a trip to Walmart (cause Lowe's had closed)....and filling the garden. Then calling it a night cause we could no longer see in the dark....one more trip to Lowe's the next day and 18 bags later we finally had the garden filled! Uh, yeah....we obviously underestimated a few times ;) 

We planted 3 tomato plants of different varieties (2 heirloom and 1 cherry), arugula, mint, chives, basil, oregano, parsley, zucchini, green beans (bush variety), bell peppers (1 green, 1 yellow, 1 red), jalapeno peppers, sweet banana peppers and a super hot chili pepper and watermelon. The green beans and the watermelon are the only plants we planted by seed...but luckily, they came up just fine!

The garden grew quickly, but the tomato plants grew so much, so fast that we had to restake them using 5 ft. tall tomato trellises. Unfortunately our rain in Alabama this summer has been few and far between so Mark and I have to make sure to water the garden every other day....we've found the easiest way to do this is to keep a sprinkler on one end of the garden and just walk out, turn it on, and let it go for about 10 -15 minutes. I have to say, this garden has been a big success and we love having it! We're producing so many tomatoes from these 3 little (well, BIG) plants that we can't even keep up with eating them so we've been taking them to work and spreading the love around! Not to mention, it's so awesome to have all of these herbs just steps from your kitchen....it's really allowed us to expand our weekly recipes without making additional trips to the grocery store. 

So if you're wanting to start your own vegetable garden at home, but don't know where to begin....just go for it! Crappy soil shouldn't hold you back...you could always set up a raised bed garden like we did! Think it's too expensive?! No way! This garden - including materials (cedar, wood screws, 18 bags of dirt) and plants cost us under $100 to put together. And trust me, we've gotten way over $100 worth of vegetables out of it in just this first season. Plus, I can't wait to do cold weather plants like cabbage and broccoli! We could even mix in some flowers as filler if we don't feel like having such a big garden every year. Plants like marigold are good companion plants for a garden - keeping away lots of nasty pests that you don't want eating away at your hard work. And for future purposes, we think the garden gives a nice quaint feel to our home (you can actually see the garden from our kitchen window) and would be an asset for any potential buyer. So roll back those sleeves and reveal those green thumbs....home vegetable gardens are IN! :)