Double Secret Surprise Time!

In a couple weeks my mom is turning 60.  Crazy, huh?!  And get this, my sis is turning 40 this December!  Where does the time go?  Anyways, my dad wanted to throw a surprise party for my mom.  But when he approached the topic with my sister and I, we practically simultaneously said "Hell, no!".  Well, it was two separate phone calls that he made, so it wasn't simultaneous...but it would have been if we were together!  See, while my dad or my sis would love to have a surprise party thrown for them, they're the social types, my mom and I are the exact opposite.  The thought of a surprise party makes us crawl in our skin a little...okay, a lot.  Ugh, just thinking about the idea of a surprise party is making my stomach do somersaults!  Anyway, needing an alternate plan, my sister and I put our heads together...a dangerous thing.  But in this case, an awesome one!  And what we came up with might be the most perfect (for my mom) secret surprise EVER!  And, as with most surprises, it all starts with lies...

A couple weeks ago I planted the seed that Antoine will be out of town this weekend, visiting his best friend in L.A. (Lie #1).  So I said I was thinking about coming up for the weekend with the Cheese-man (Lie #2) and visiting, using a chance to visit my grandparents as my main reason for coming (Half-lie #1 - I will be visiting my grandparents but obviously mom's bday surprise is the main reason I'm coming).  What mom won't find out until I park my car in their driveway tonight is that instead of bringing Cheese, I'll have my sister in tow (Surprise #1)!  And instead of spending the weekend laying around not doing anything, my sis and I plan to kidnap my mom and take her to Cleveland for a girls weekend (Surprise #2)!  We've booked a hotel for Saturday night, thanks to Antoine's generous donation of hotel reward points (Surprise #3)!  And on Saturday, after we have breakfast with my grandparents, we're meeting up with my hlp, Amanda (Surprise #4) and going to David's Bridal so I can try on wedding dresses (Surprise #5 - a biggie, since that's one of the wedding related things that matters most to my mom...and one wedding thing that doesn't exactly thrill me)!  Oh, yeah, and my sis and I did my wedding flower dry-run last night, so we'll be taking my mom a bouquet (Surprise #6)!  Here's a sneak peak of the bouquet we're giving her...

I gotta say, the dry run went very smoothly and didn't take long at all!  And, as I expected, it consisted mostly of a lot of sister chit-chat!  I'm really looking forward to doing the actual flower arranging the day of with my sis, mom and Amanda!

Ok, where was I?  Oh!  We're taking mom to to Melt Bar and Grilled (Surprise #7 - what what!!).  And we're taking her on a little birthday shopping spree (Surprise #8) and to Lucky's Cafe for breakfast on Sunday (Surprise #9)!  Her head might literally exploded from all the awesome surprise-fun this weekend!

It should be a blast!  Hope you all have a great weekend, even if it's not filled with double secret birthday surprise shenanigans!

Psst...

Get in close and I'll tell you some exciting (at least to me) news.  No, closer.  Come on, I probably won't bite.  Probably.  That's better!  The news...Antoine and I are going to Vancouver over Thanksgiving!

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We've been talking about it for months and months, I even renewed my passport in anticipation (though, truthfully, not having a valid password was driving me up the wall anyway).  But last week we booked our flight!  Part of me thinks that this trip is a highly frivolous thing to do when we're planning and saving up for a wedding, but that part is quickly smothered by the extremely excited, larger part of me that's doing its happy dance. 

Now, you might remember my post about how Phoenix is evil and I want it to die?  Well, yeah, my feelings haven't changed.  Scratch that!  They have, I hate it more now (if that's possible)!   The three hour difference continues to be a pain in our asses.  And the fact that Phoenix seems to be anti-AT&T is nerve-wracking.  When we try to face-time, my screen freezes with Antoine in mid-sentence and the speakers make loud, high-pitched screeching noises.  When we text, it sometimes takes him hours to receive my messages.  And when he calls me, the calls don't go through half the time.  Yeah, Phoenix can go do inappropriate things to itself and die for all I care.

But...(in an attempt to retain even the slightest amount of positivity) there are positives to this god-awful project.  Namely, skymiles, hotel rewards and credit card points.  And this summer, the hotel Antoine stays at is running some promotions that will leave us with a couple extra nights stays.  While he's been saving up most of his hotel rewards nights for our mega-honeymoon (as well as skymiles), we figured why not splurge a bit and use up these promotional stays for a pre-wedding-cation.  And since Antoine's been racking up skymiles flying to that horrible city every week, we've got plenty of miles to use for our Vancouver flight.  So, in November when everyone else is eating turkey and being subjected to forced family time, we'll be relaxing and exploring Vancouver, BC!  Oh, and did I mention we'll be staying in this place...

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And this place...

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Yeah, to say I'm excited would be a gigantic understatement!  So, now's the point in the story where I ask you fine folks who have been to Vancouver for suggestions on what to do/check out while we're there.  So far on our list:

• Bloedel Conservatory
• Vancouver Aquarium
• Public Market (and perhaps a tour)
• Chinatown
• Chinese Garden (depending on the weather)
• Diners, Drive-ins, and Dive spots around the city

Is there anything we're missing?  Any must-sees?  Keep in mind that the weather will probably be rainy and cold, so that does limit what we can do.  But still, any suggestions would be much appreciated!

So that's the scoop.  Oh, don't mind me, I'm just standing here in the corner doing my happy dance.  I don't think I've been this excited for Thanksgiving in a very long time.  I've heard flying on/around Thanksgiving can be a nightmare, but I gotta say spending the holiday in a city that doesn't celebrate it will probably be wonderful!  Apparently I've become quite the cynical lady in my late twenties.  But I'm okay with that.  Anyway, hope you have a good rest of the week!

Creature Collection

Here's part one and two of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History photos.  This final set are all taken just outside their Mythic Creatures exhibit; a collection of monster/alien creature toys housed in a glass display case.  For some reason, I was just mesmerized by this fantastic selection of vintage toys all packed tightly into the display case.  Hope you find them as interesting as I do...

The white cyclops is, by far, my favorite.

No, wait.  This guy might be my favorite!

Anyway, hope you have a happy Friday!  I'll be working my tail off at work trying to make a deadline, so I'm so very ready for it to be the weekend!  But aren't we all!?

Cleveland Museum of Natural History

I still have a million (ok, not quite) pictures left from the end of March when we went up to Cleveland to visit Amanda and Aaron.  I had already posted the pictures from our delicious brunch at Lucky's Cafe (YUM!), but I left out what we did after that.  All of us, being comepletly stuffed went back to Amanda and Aaron to rest for a bit.  Antoine and I took Cheese for a walk around their lovely neighborhood, and then we decided to check out the Rockefeller Park Conservatory.  But, on our way there, we spotted a sign for the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.  They're current exhibit was on Mythic Creatures, which intrigued Amanda and I.  And when Amanda and Antoine said they both had never been, it was pretty much decided that that's where we were going.

The Natural History Museum is one of the places in Cleveland that I have been to, many times.  When I was growing up Cleveland was the nearest large-ish city...so when my school had a field trip to the zoo or a museum, that's where we went.  You might remember my feelings about the Cincinnati Museum Center, how it was old, outdated and did nothing for me.  Well, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History is definitely old and it doesn't stand up to Chicago's Field Museum or DC's Smithsonian...but I love it.  It ties me to my youth.  School field trips, weekend trips with my mom...just the two of us.  And you know what, it hasn't changed much at all since then, but I still love it.  So, here you go...

Oh yeah, one things Cincinnati Museum Center is definitely lacking...otters!  Cleveland's has an outdoor area with bird exhibits, deer, turkeys, and this guy.  So cute!

We spent nearly three hours there, exploring the museum and me taking pictures.  Prepare yourself for two more museum related photo-dumps to come.  I got a little picture happy...I'll blame it on the museum and all the good memories it brings up!

It's Like Junior High Again!

For about a month and a half now, I've been painting my nails at least 2 or 3 times a week, experimenting with different color combos and techniques.  It all makes me feel like I'm in Junior High again.  When I was in Junior High I would lock myself in my bedroom for hours (without the windows open, to my parents' constant dismay) and paint my nails, blue with big yellow stars, cute little hearts and glitter, and ladybugs with little googly-eyes.  It was one of my "things".  Once I got to High School I kind of grew out of it.  I continued to paint my toenails, but I left my fingernails alone...until now.  I've noticed a big resurgence in fun fingernail painting, so I decided to jump on the bandwagon and experiment a little.  Hell, I still had a huge case full of nail polish to have fun with, some actually from my Junior High days (which I then proceeded to throw out).

I'm not what you call a girly-girl.  I don't wear a lot of jewelry (most of the time none, except for my engagement ring), so painting my nails in a cute and often sparkly way to be a little girly without feeling uncomfortable.  Also, since I've been painting them regularly I've noticed that they're really growing.  This is partly because the nail polish makes them really quite hard so they don't break as easily, but also because I really don't bite them when they're painted.  If you look at the first couple of shots you can kind of see how much they've grown compared to the last couple.  Also, it gives me something to do with my hands while I'm watching tv.

Experimenting in Manual

Remember my 27 things before 28 list?  Well, you may recall (but probably not) #11 on that list, learn to shoot manually.  Just to clarify, that's shoot completely in manual with my camera, not a gun.  Anyway, turns out it's not as hard as I thought it was going to be.  I mean, I've got a long way to go, but with a little reading and some experimentation, I was actually able to produce some half-way decent shots.  And here's proof, my first batch of semi-successful manual experimentation shots: 

Naturally Cheesy was my first test subject.  I mean, he's so cute.  I love taking pictures of the guy!

1.)  Read Jane Eyre
2.)  Go to Midpoint Music Festival
3.)  Romantic cabin weekend with Antoine
4.)  Start jogging
5.)  Make at least 4 LP books for Etsy
6.)  Finally watch Casa Blanca and Citizen Kane
7.)  Go camping with Amanda and Aaron
 8.)  Make rainbow cupcakes
9.)  Go canoeing
10.)  Visit Cuyahoga Valley National Park
11.)  Learn to shoot photos manually
12.)  Embroider/needlepoint something
13.)  Gather, scan, and print family photos
14.)  Make a miniature book
15.)  Make blueberry jam from scratch
16.)  Have another drunken, long-distance tweeting party
17.)  Make most of the Xmas gifts I give this year
18.)  Get a pedicure this summer
19.)  Try 5 new (or new to me) Cincinnati restaurants: one down, four to go
20.)  Have an unplugged day with Antoine
21.)  Learn to French braid
22.)  Buy yarn from a fancy yarn store
23.)  Blow dry my hair less (doing good so far!)
24.)  Go to the "World's Longest Yard Sale"
25.)  Learn to make latte art
26.)  Plant a better garden
27.)  Hang more of our Rob Jones prints/posters

Painting Pottery

Another fun birthday festivity that took place, and I forgot to tell you about, was pottery painting.  Funke Fired Arts was running a Valentine's promotion at the time, where if you painted two of the same pieces the second one was half off.  Pretty sweet deal.  Plus it gave us an opportunity to check out their relatively new pottery painting section of their studio, called the Atrium.  When you walk in, it looks like most pottery painting places, an assortment of fired pottery to paint and a variety of glazes.  However, they also have a huge water feature sitting in the back of the room (?), idea books filled with instructions on how to create different effects, many of there pottery pieces are very quirky and fun (even A and I had a hard time choosing what we wanted to paint because there were so many we liked) and wide variety of stencils, sponges, fabrics, etc. to create textures and designs on your piece.  They gave us a brief run through and then let us go for it.  Basically, you pick what you want to paint, fill out a form describing that and providing all your info so they can call you when it's ready to be picked up and then you're off.  There's no time limited and no charge for firing.  So, if you want to spend all day working on a light switch cover...you can, and you just have to pay the price listed on the back of that piece. 

Antoine and I decided to take advantage of the promotion and each painted an oversized mug.  Perfect for cereal or soup...or a gigantic cup of coffee!

They had decorated the studio with paper hearts for Valentine's day.  It was really quite adorable.

Antoine decided to try something different with his piece and use some fishnet type fabric to create texture.  We both really liked how it turned out.

 Antoine and I both had a great time, and we're already talking about going back soon.  Another nice thing about the Atrium is they let you bring in snacks and drinks, so it'd make a great date night or girls night.  And it's perfect for kids.  Since we went in the beginning of February and it is in an atrium, it was a bit nippy in there, so I suggest wearing layers!  They fire the pottery depending on how many pieces they have, and we were luckily that they were firing a batch that day (Saturday), so on Monday I got the call to pick our stuff up.  And since it was around Valentine's day, they wrapped them in red tissue paper and put them in a Funke Fired paper handle bag for us...a nice touch.  Everyone was super friendly, and I couldn't recommend it more!

Wedding Talk

It's been almost two and a half months since Antoine and I got engaged and there hasn't been nearly enough wedding talk on here.  Don't get me wrong, I have no intention of subjecting you delightful folks to inspiration boards and various other forms of wedding porn.  Because, that's just not my thing.  Weirdly enough, I went through a spurt way before we got engaged when that shit was my drug of choice.  But then, all of sudden I cooled the f#@k down and now I really could care less about that stuff.  Since I've been engaged I haven't bought a single wedding magazine, mainly because I'm not a magazine person.  But also because...meh.  And I really have no intention of ever buying one.  And as far as blogs go, I only read one wedding related blog and that's A Practical Wedding.  The most grounded and significant wedding/marriage blog EVER!  Or at least in my opinion. It talks about the important stuff, the stuff that goes beyond wedding favors and matching bridemaid's dresses.  You know, things like emotional connections, commitment, and not losing your sense of sense.  It's the shit, you should check it out.

When A and I got engaged we always thought we'd like a long engagement, for several reasons.  A long engagement gives you time to save up money and, for me in particular, save up vacation time for the honeymoon!  It gives you time to plan and decide on things without being in such a hurry.  My sister and brother-in-law had a long engagement, about as long as ours.  Michelle always told me she liked the extra time to plan, that she felt like she didn't have to rush.  I thought, "Sweet! That makes perfect sense!"  Only thing I forgot, my sister and I are totally different.  She's known to be indecisive.  Actually, her inability to make decisions is quite legendary.  Me, on the other hand, I like to make decisions at the drop of a hat.  I tend to go with my gut, and I tend not to second guess those gut reactions.  That's something Antoine and I have done throughout our relationship, even with the big decisions, and they've all worked out.  So, what's my point.  We're only 2 1/2 months into our 1 1/2 year long engagement...and we've pretty much got everything figured out.  And no, I'm not exaggerating...

Photographer:  CHECK!  One of my high school friends, who lives and shoots in Cleveland, has a agreed to photograph our wedding and do our engagement shots.  And it won't cost us nearly as much as most wedding photographers our there.  And bonus, I know her, she's super nice and talented, and will make us relative shy people feel super comfortable!

Guest list:  CHECK!  There was a some brief arguing about this, but we came to a good compromise and ended up with a nice, balanced guest list of about 50 people...the smallest we could get without seriously offending my parents and without leaving out some important people to us.  50 guests will keep it fairly intimate and hopefully not make me too uncomfortable...I have socially awkward tendencies when I'm in front of a group of 5 or more.

Ceremony:  All figured out!  We know exactly where we want to get hitched, it's within our budget, and since we've still got over a year to go it shouldn't be difficult to reserve!  More on that later...

Reception:  We've decided to have our reception at Arnold's Bar and Grill downtown.  Lucky for us, our date was free and everything sounds perfect.  As far as wedding receptions go, it's going to be relative inexpensive, cozy and laid back, just how we want it!  Since they've written us in their books and we're planning a meeting in October to discuss specifics, I think that might count as a CHECK!

Music for the ceremony:  CHECK!  My wonderfully talented cousin and her equally talented boyfriend have agreed to perform a couple of our favorite songs, songs that mean something to us as a couple, at the ceremony.  It won't be your traditional wedding processional, but that's what we like about it!  And we like that family is involved.

Invitations:  We found the perfect invites on Etsy, and what do you know, they are just the right price!   Another big decision made!  One that we happened to make one weekend afternoon, just after we got engaged.

Bridesmaids/Groomsmen:  CHECK!  This was obvious to us when we first got engaged.  We knew we didn't want a ton of people in our wedding party, just the select few that are super important to us and have meant something to our relationship.  For me, I knew without thinking, I wanted my best friend in the world, my hlp Amanda, and my dear sis standing up next to me on that important day!  And for Antoine, he knew he want his best bud Cory and his brother.  Easy as pie.

Bridesmaids dresses:  I've been in a wedding before, I've worn the traditional bridesmaid dress from David's Bridal...and then, after the wedding, I've donated it to Good Will because I obviously was never going to wear it again.  That's the nature of most bridemaids dresses...and it's not cool.  So I knew from the beginning that I wanted my bridesmaids to pick out their own dresses, dresses that didn't match each other and weren't from some bridal store.  Dresses that hopefully wouldn't cost them anywhere near $100 or more.  And most importantly, I wanted them to wear a dress that they would actually wear again...and not as some zombie bridesmaid Halloween costume!  I gave them a couple guidelines, knee length with a slightly vintagey feel, and gave them a color palate to work with...the rest is up to them. 

Officiant:  We've got a little idea in our heads that we think will be pretty perfect, but more on that later...

Cake:  Sure, wedding cakes are pretty, but that's about all they're good for...to look at!  I've never eaten a piece of wedding cake and said afterwards, "Oh my, that was absolutely delicious!" And I'm not a huge fan of cake, in general.  Antoine and I thought, "Who says we need to have a traditional wedding cake!?  We could care less about the whole cutting the cake and feeding each other thing!"  So, we decided to to change it up and go with something we know is delicious, something locally produced by people who know their stuff, and something that has warm fuzzy relationship memories tied to it.  When we thought about all these things two places popped into our heads...Dojo and Abby Girl Cupcakes.  These are our two favorite places to get a sweet treat in Cincinnati.  We're going to have a couple Dojo gelato cakes and a variety of our favorite Abby Girl Cupcakes.  The cupcakes will double as our favors, since we'll have single cupcake containers and enough for everyone to take one home!  So, yeah, that's pretty much another CHECK right there!

Flowers:  I've always kind of wanted to do my own flowers, for some reason.  I love flowers and I like being crafty, so the idea of sitting around with my bridesmaids and my mom the day before the wedding, putting together bouquets and tiny centerpieces sounds awesome to me.  After some research, I've decided to go with Blooms by the Box, and narrowed down the colors (lavendars, light greens, light pinks, creams and little pops of purple...think Larkspur) and a basic idea of the types.  So, I guess that's a CHECK!

Dress:  Umm, CHECK!  (Shh, don't tell my mom...I've promised to go dress shopping with her, because it's one of those things that's important to her.)  So, I've always had my eye on this one J. Crew dress, since forever, or at least the last couple of years.  So, when it went on sale just after we got engaged and had an additional limited-time extra discount on top of that and free shipping I jumped on it.  I had never tried it on before (or anything J. Crew for that matter), I totally guessed on the size, but I got it and I'm kind of in love with it!  It's going to need some alterations, mainly in the hem, but that's no big deal.  So, yeah, that's done!  And it only cost me $250...which is pretty cheap, as far as wedding dresses go.

Registry:  CHECK!  I get the point of registries, I do.  They make sense, some of the time.  But you gotta admit, they've become something of a wedding beast monster!  I mean, really, do you think someone is going to buy you that $600 flat screen tv?  Really!?  And for Antoine and I, who already have a house full of pretty much everything we need (a lot of it fairly new), it seems a little like a waste.  So, what we've opted to do is a relatively minimal Amazon registry with some of those things that we do need for the house (all of our selections being ones that offer free shipping or Super Saver shipping), and we also created a Honeymoon registry.   We opted to go with a homegrown honeymoon registry through my lovely sister, the travel agent, instead of one of those online honeymoon registries that charge fees to either the bride and groom or their guests.  And speaking of honeymoons...

Honeymoon:  CHECK!  It's pretty much planned.  Down to where we're are staying every night of the trip.  We'll be spending a little less than three weeks exploring all the awesomeness of the West Coast, from Seattle to L.A.  It is going to be magically, deliciously spectacular!!  I'm so excited!

To say things are coming along nicely might be a bit of an understatement.  And I know that things will not always go as smoothly as they have so far, I'm not a complete fool!  But so far, things are pretty peachy!  And I'm really digging the progress we've made!

Peoples and Outtakes

I know it's surprisingly, but when the four of us went to Krohn this past weekend I did manage to take pictures of other things besides flowers (read: orchids).  Now, the success and quality of those pictures is varied and, in some cases, rather suspect.  Let's take a look, shall we...

Amanda and Aaron posing in their cuteness (in the motherf#@king orchid house, I might add)

A halfway decent, self-shot picture of Antoine and I

Now, here's where it gets a bit strange...

I have a thing for jamming my camera in Antoine's face and taking extreme closeups.  As you can see, he is not a fan!

Awe!  Back to the couple cuteness...except, for some strange reason, Aaron didn't want to look at the camera anymore!

Exhibit B.  Aaron, come on man, you gotta look at the camera!  Still killing it with the cute though.

And then this guy walks into the shot...weirdo!  (Please note that Aaron is still looking off into nowhere!?)

And then I ask Amanda to hold my camera, for some reason, and all Hell breaks loose.  I should have known that bad things were going to happen when she asked if the camera was on...

Really people!?  Come on.  They can't be trusted!

Anyway, I hope you all have a spectacular Friday!  I happen to have the day off from work for my birthday, but I've got a sick fiance at home, so I have a feeling it'll be a relaxing day in watching movies.  Totally fine by me!  Have a great weekend!