Happy Thanksgiving!

I would like to wish everyone a fabulous Thanksgiving tomorrow! I will be hosting dinner for my in-laws and am actually kind of excited to cook for them. Hopefully all of my dishes will turn out well! I have so much to be thankful for this year... my husband, my family, my friends, my luck in life... my job, my house, my education... I am so blessed! Somehow I ended up with a pretty super life.

**Lindsey**

Wedding Weather Tracker

My intent is to show you this tool so that you may make educational guesses as to what attire would be appropriate for your wedding day, what time to take sunset photos, etc. NOTE: I did not say that my intent is to draw out your inner OCD qualities... those qualities that make you obsessively check the weather every single day leading up to your wedding... those qualities that make you freak out if the forecast mentions any chance of precipitation... those qualities that - okay you get the picture. Please don't use this tool for off-label purposes. There. I've said my disclaimer.

Without further ado, I would like to introduce Weather.com's Wedding Planner tool. What it allows you to do is track average temperatures and precipitation, down to the DAY of your wedding, as well as sunrise & sunset times (so that you and your new husband/wife can sneak away for perfectly-timed glowing sunset photos).

{Image Source}

With this tool, you can set the date and location of your wedding and see the average weather conditions are for that location/date. In the picture below, you can see averages for each month in Indianapolis, and even compare another city (in case you are deciding between two different locations).

{Image Source}

You can click on each month to get an even more detailed daily estimate of temperature PLUS sunrise & sunset times.

{Image Source}

Please play responsibly!!

My DIY Fall Decorations

I had the house all to myself today, so I was finally able to make some Fall decorations for my house! A little late, I know, but I'm hosting Thanksgiving for my in-laws next Thursday and I want my house to look festive!

I found some awesome inspiration all over the web for these projects, so I'll try to post the original links in case you want the directions for each project.

Here's an overall view of my new buffet with most of the decorations on top...



My first project was the plaid "artwork" with brown yarn string... I got my inspiration from Better Homes & Gardens' article: Easy Holiday Decorating with Ribbon. Although this piece doesn't involve ribbon, it does involve using up a leftover piece of padded poster board and some $1.50 fabric from Walmart. :) I added the brown yarn after viewing how Miss Blush packaged her bridesmaid gifts over on Weddingbee.



My second project was making yarn pom poms. These turned out so cute!!! I was inspired by Koala Brains' Billy Buttons tutorial. Once I had three poms in each color, I put them in a clear narrow vase from Walmart and wrapped each vase in some orange ribbon I had left over. I also stuck some straw in there for good measure.





My third project was making the leaf candle holders. Michael's has all of their fall decor on sale for like 70-90% off (don't quote me on that... but they were super cheap), so I picked up some semi-translucent artificial fall leaves for 75 cents. I can't remember where I saw this idea, but it's so simple... I just used double-stick tape to stick each leaf on the candle holder, then secured with a straw bow. I found my candle holder at Walmart. In fact, all of the glass items I used today were from Walmart.





The last DIY project for this post (I did a few more things, but forgot to take pictures!) was the clothespin place card. I actually thought this up myself! I bought the clothespins for another project (Christmas gift: fun paper-covered clothespin magnets), but thought it would be so much fun to attach name cards to the clothespins and clip onto the side of each guest's wine glass. For an added touch, I stuck some small fake leaves to the bottom. I love how these look, and I just know my guests will love them, too!

Summer Floral Inspiration

On such a chilly day, it really brighted my mood and warmed up my thoughts when I saw this array of beautiful orange, yellow and pink flowers over on Mindy Rice's website (found via Style Me Pretty):




{Image Source}


The splash of aqua (the cake! the tie! the bike!) adds such a refreshing coolness to the warm color palette. I just love it! I also adore the long rectangular tables, the vine-ripened oranges hanging overhead, and the rustic urns that the cake & flowers sit upon. There isn't anything I dislike about this decor!

What is an Event Designer?

Event designer: noun. A person who designs events. :)

Ok, here's the real definition (according to me)...

An event designer is a super-human made up of three distinct alter-egos, which I will describe:

The Designer
Obsessed with color, detail, lighting, & space.
Enjoys browsing those huge linen binders full of fabric swatches.
Regularly utilizes Polyvore to create inspiration boards for decorating.
Has an unhealthy fascination with paper products, typeface & letterpress.

The Planner
Obsessed with having a plan A and B for everything.
Enjoys double- and triple-checking plans to ensure everyone's on the same page (and providing everyone with a detailed itenerary so no one forgets his/her duties!).
Regularly utilizes a Franklin Covey planner to map out all of life's details (through 2020).
Has an unhealthy fascination with lists and file folders.

The Assistant
Obsessed with harrassing non-RSVP-ers until their reply is accounted for.
Enjoys DIY projects and doesn't bat an eyelash when asked to create, bottle & label homemade honey favors for 250 guests.
Regularly utilizes safety pins and duct tape to fix anything (like MacGyver!).
Has an unhealthy fascination with the Tide Stain Stick.

What I'm Loving...

Hi Friends!

I have just added a Google Reader widget-thingy to my blog (right side), which posts a link to everything I "star" on my Google Reader. How fun! Now you can see what inspires me on a daily basis - and you will most likely see some blog posts that reference a starred item. If you haven't started subscribing to your favorite blogs & websites via Google Reader or another RSS feeder, you don't know what you're missing! To have everything in one place really makes my life easier.

**Lindsey**

Cake-tastic!

One of the most fun items on my wedding planning to-do list was choosing a cake. I don't know how many work hours were lost to browsing Brides.com's cake gallery... Cake-searching truly is an addiction! Speaking of cakes, I'd like to share a few of my favorite cakes with you...

First up, the inspiration for my wedding cake. There's something about a plain white cake with adornment that gets me every time:

Next, a beautifully simple square cake with ribbon trim.

Here is a GORGEOUS chocolate brown cake with sugar apple adornment.

And finally, the coolest idea ever: Reese's Pieces cake!

{All cake pictures taken from Brides.com's Cake Gallery}