Obsessions

So, so many to list... I am linking up with Sara at Saige Wisdom. She has a fabulous etsy give away  happening right now with this obsession link up. You still have like a day to get your posts up, so get on it!

1. Pinterest

And now that it is summer, I have time at actually do some of the stuff I have pinned. I actually have a post I am working on with some of the smaller things I have done in this last week or so.

2. Picmonkey

My husband bought this fancy photo editing/web developing software (it's like photoshop on steroids) and I can't figure it out. Then I found picmonkey and now I am a collage making, text adding, photo filtering fool.

3.This little old blog. I have been tinkering with this blog layout, and if you noticed, I took the plunge and changed the name of this little space. But am I still showing up in Google reader? You like?
I also found this cool little linky, where you enter your info and Shane from Whispering Sweet Nothings enters your blog on a Google map, so you can find other blogs from your area. Super fun if you ask me. You can follow the link, or click the cute Coast to Coast map button on my side bar.

 Um, why are all my obsessions internet related? Isn't this summer? Oh wait, it's Oregon and we've been having crummy weather.
4. I am obsessed right now with our summer vacation plans: Kauai.

We went last summer, and I am so excited and feel so blessed that we are going back. I keep looking up restaurants/beaches on Yelp and rereading the guide book that we used last year.

5. And finally, my etsy obsession:

etsy

etsy

I just got my brand new Nook, and now I really want a fancy cover for it. If I am being honest, one of the big reasons I wanted a Nook was for the cute covers on etsy. The Mister thinks I am crazy, but he has wanted me to get an e-reader during each vacation we go on. 

Mid week confessions are back!

I haven't written out my midweek confessions in quite awhile. Trust me, it's not because I don't have anything confession worthy. It is now my first free Wednesday of summer break, and it's time for me to join in the fun!


Right now I should be writing a couple lesson plans that relate to my critical reading training I took last week. But that is boring. Blogging is more fun.

We have Fiestaware dishes in four colors (red, yellow, orange and shamrock). I cannot use two of the same color plates/bowls together. It drives me insane. I love our fun colors, and I want to make sure they all get used. That means the Mister and I have to use different colored plates at dinner. If we are using a bowl and a plate, they must be different colors, but the Mister and I may overlap one color. Typing this out, I realize how crazy it sounds but that's they way it works.

Source

It is really hard impossible for me to start a book, read a chapter or two and then put it down and pick it up at a later day. Nope. I pretty much read a book in a day or two. I thought it was because I was reading fluffy chick-lit type books, but yesterday I read a grown up book, and it was the same way. (Until Tuesday by Luis Carlos Montalvan. It's a book about an Iraq war vet who suffers from severe PTSD and gets a service dog, Tuesday.)

Amazon

Last March, I entered a picture of my cat on kittenwar.com. I then obsessively watched her stats, and got angry when she lost a match. I erased this confession and rewrote it. Twice. I admit this is kind of embarrassing.

She's so little in this! 

I freaking love the Olympics. I was watching the track trials but move over fully clothed runners, the swim trials are on!

Source
Let's just take a moment and be thankful for the summer Olympics.

What are you confessing? Have you been watching the Olympic trials at all?

Wedding Week: The Weddings I Didn't Have

 This post is all about the wedding I would have had, if we had done things differently. I hope y'all have realized through Wedding Week, that I really did love my wedding, but it is always fun to think about what if...

What if we got married in Vegas?

Vegas Wedding by casey-amber featuring chain sunglasses

For Vegas I would have worn a short, flirty cocktail dress and accessorized with tons of bling and blue. If I had gotten married in Vegas, it would have to be somewhere like the Little White Wedding Chapel and we would have been whisked away in a pink Cadillac.

What if we got married on a tropical beach?

Beach Wedding by casey-amber featuring t strap shoes

It's not a secret that the Mister and I both love the coast. My dream beach wedding would take us away from the often time chilly (but still lovely) Oregon coast and brings us to a tropical beach. I would be wearing a long, flowing one strap dress, and accessorizing with a soft coral in my bouquet and flowered head band. My necklace and flip flops would give us a touch of sparkle with diamond starfish.

What if we had gotten married at the courthouse?

Courthouse Wedding by casey-amber featuring platform pumps

My wedding had close to 300 guests. Sometimes I get jealous of women who went down to the courthouse and shared their wedding vows with the only person who really matters. For my courthouse wedding I would wear a subtle grey dress with hints of hot pink. I probably would have to switch to the TOMS after the ceremony, but the heels would add some formality to the event.

Tomorrow if our official 2 year anniversary! I can't believe it's been two years already!

Wedding Week: Our reception and the details

And now a look at the reception and the little details. These pictures really don't capture everything.  We had three large tents set up, as well as the shop. My father in law hung giant white tarps up inside the shop (where the dance floor was) so it looked like the inside of a tent. He also put up so many strings of white bubble lights. It was really incredible. 

Our reception area, in and out of the tents

We were toasted and ate some cake

We threw some things.

We danced.

The flower girl basket and the ring bearer "pillow" (do you see the pink heart ring?) and a basket of favors.

Our guest book table

My grandma couldn't fly up for the wedding so her grand kids and great grand kids posed for a picture for her.

My bouquet. My dad passed away when I was 11, and he had red hair. I wanted a bouquet of all orange roses so that he could walk me down the aisle. 

I hope you enjoyed looking through the pictures from my wedding. It was fun going back through them and sharing with all of you!

Wedding Week: The Big Show

This is all about the most important part of our wedding: the ceremony. It's a little longer than most of my posts, but there are lots of pretty pictures :)

We had our ceremony and reception at the farm that my husband's dad grew up on. Currently his aunt and uncle live in the house and still run the farm today. Our ceremony took place on the lower part of the farm, over looking a wheat (or hay?) field in an oak grove.

When we decided to have our wedding and reception on the farm, we walked the farm to find the perfect location of our ceremony. This area did not make my short list. Many of the oak trees look like they had seen better days, there was a pile of yard debris waiting to be burned, and there was very little grass growing under the trees. But because of the way the roads and parking would work, this was really the best place for it.

She took her job very seriously.

If I am being honest, I was not excited at all. But my father-in-law told me not to worry about it. He spent pretty much every weekend and many evenings after he got off work, working on the ceremony site. He cleaned up the trees, planted grass and got rid of the burn pile. He also coordinated the harvesting of the hay and then we used the bales as seating for our guests.

I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful setting. My brother (who also walked me down the aisle), made the arbor we stood under as a wedding present. It is now in our backyard.

Unity Candle

Our ceremony was performed by Coach Ron. He was the campus security monitor/volleyball coach at the school I work at. He also is a minister. The Mister grew up Catholic, and I am a non-church going Christian. Because I didn't want to go through all the classes to become Catholic, we couldn't have a Catholic priest perform the ceremony. I didn't want to just Google "justice of the peace" and pick one, so I approached Coach about performing the ceremony. It was so nice knowing the man who was playing such a huge role in my life. His part of the ceremony was funny, touching and was really loving. 

We had two readings in our ceremony, as well as the Blessing of the Hands. We said the traditional vows. I love knowing that we said the same words that both of our parents said on their wedding day. 

After the ceremony was over, we rode off in a 1960's Cadillac limo. (That same limo drove me and all of my bridesmaids down to the ceremony site to start the wedding.)

6/22 Wedding Week: Friday Letters Edition

For Wedding Week, I have decided to write Friday Letters to myself. But Me two years ago before the wedding, with things that I wish I would have known before the wedding. 

Dear Prewedding Casey,

Your husband's aunties (all 15+ of them) will help with wedding set up/clean up in so many ways. It is amazing. You will feel so loved and like such a part of the family. However, they will not see your vision with your tissue poms that you spent months working on. You know what? You like them and if you want them hanging above your cake, you hang them above your cake. They (the poms) do not have to be banished to the beer tent.

Your DJ is not very good. I mean, he's okay, but get him a list of songs you want played. When people say "no" to your request for Party in the USA by Miley, remind them that you are wearing the big white dress and if you want to nod your head like yeah or move your hips like yeah, you are allowed to. And even though you want a Miley Cyrus song played, you do not want your wedding reception to sound like a middle school dance. Please tell him that.

You will not get a piece of cake. Have someone save you one.

Thank you for getting your photographer a list of pictures that you want taken. Now make sure someone is in charge of making sure those pictures will get taken. You will be very upset when you realize there is not a picture of you, the Mister and your mom and another one of you, the Mister and his parents. You will also be upset that there is not a picture of you and your Uncle. 

There will be a large truck load of trees delivered to the reception site. Don't be surprised. They will look nice. You will also see a large pile of rocks and dirt at the reception site 2 days before the wedding. Don't panic. It will be taken care of because your father-in-law is amazing.

Save a table for you and the Mister to sit at. Apparently people don't give up their seat to the bride and groom, and you will be sitting back behind some bushes at your reception.

Spend time with your out of town family. You don't see them enough.

You and the Mister will exchange cards before the wedding. The one he gives you is about a billion times better than the one you give him. Write something more thoughtful. 

Love, Casey

Wedding week: Getting ready

The night before the wedding, the Mister stayed at his parent's house, and I stayed at home. I have been in weddings where all the bridesmaids and the bride stayed together, but I decided just to stay by myself (with Allison Kitty of course). I got up fairly early, checked Facebook, watched a little soccer (the World Cup was on) and then I packed up my to-go bag. My bridesmaid Kim picked me up and we were on our way to the farm. (We did make one stop so I could get a burrito. It was delicious.)

Since we got married on the farm that the Mister's dad grew up on (and his uncle still lives there), the girls all got ready in the house. One of my old cheerleaders (who had just finished beauty school) came and did hair, and a friend of a friend came and airbrushed on our make up.

Then I put on my dress :)

The guys got ready in the shop where we were going to have part of reception.

I always knew I didn't want a "first look." I totally understand why some people would want it, and the Mister was all for it. But my mom and I both believe its bad luck to see the bride before the wedding. I did however, want one picture of us before the wedding. I had read about a picture like this years ago in People or Us Weekly, and I always wanted a picture of us holding hands around a corner.

I loved how they turned out. 

What do you think about the "first look?"

Wedding Week: Pinterest Edition

You engaged ladies don't realize how good you have it now. I am a BP bride. BP meaning Before Pinterest. (I first wrote PP- PrePinterest- bride, but I don't want to be a PP anything) Things weren't all bad in the BP days, I mean I still had blogs. And I did have the king of all wedding blogs Weddingbee. Wedding blogs, including Weddingbee, are really what got me interested in blogging to start with.

Anywho, I have been seeing wedding items pinned for sometime now, and a lot of times I think "man, I wish I would have seen this before my wedding."

I am linking up with Michelle at The Vintage Apple for her weekly installment of Oh How Pinteresting. For Wedding Week, its all about the pins I wish I would have seen before our wedding:

We got married on a farm and I love the wood look under a mason jar of flowers. We had the jars, but mirrors under them.

Pinned here

Guests at our wedding sat on hay bales. These would have been perfect to line the aisle with:

Pinned here

I still think I might do something like this for our bedroom.

Pinned here

Some photos that would have been neat to have:

Pinned here

Pinned here

The Mister has a totally normal love of comic books:

Pinned here

Now this is just smart.

Pinned here

Are you planning your wedding via Pinterest?