Eva is 5 today!

Here are a couple of pictures of Eva's 5th birthday celebration with her part-time babysitter (me). She was thrilled to be treated like a little princess. My daughter Natalie snapped these with her Blackberry. Hopefully someone will upload me some from the other cameras we used and get them to me soon. The table really looked more awesome in person if I do say so myself. I had fun decorating it at my niece's house. My niece helped me too, especially by providing some cobalt blue anchor hocking dessert dishes that she had stored away and had never used. I thought it really made the table pop and don't know how it would have looked if she hadn't brought those out. I didn't want to spend a lot of money and was trying to get by with what I already had at home to decorate with. These chair covers (which need ironed by the way) are really tablecloths that we just threw over the chairs and wrapped a bow around. I will show more details soon. Next week is Eva's brother Ezra's 7th birthday. I am planning on using the lizards, frogs & insects theme, since those are a few of his favorite things. I don't really know what I am going to use on the chairs though. I don't think he would go for the girly chair covers. I don't really know what I am using on the table either but I do know I am going to be making some dirt pudding with gummy worms in a bucket for him. Hopefully I will have pictures soon. I am wanting to go into the children's party business. I may have to look into a government grant though to get started unless someone out there wants to give me a loan. :)

I love This Dress

When I saw this dress on this bridesmaid model I immediately thought "That's the dress I want to wear at Angie's wedding." I found out after some investigation that it belonged to Melissa Haggerty's grandmother and she found it in an old trunk just days before she was to produce this Coco Chanel inspired spread in Wedluxe Magazine. So it's just another "I can't win" moment for me.

photos by ikonica.

Melissa has her own blog 'She Said Spectacular' on which I found these "spectacular" chartreuse vases and candelabras from Contemporary Furniture Rentals. I would love to use these for Angie's wedding but somehow I already know that it won't be possible before even investigating it. Pretty sure there is no Contemporary Furniture Rental in Indy and the cost of shipping these from wherever would be too much of an expense but I will go ahead and look into it anyway soon. But then again my mother, the 'Spray Paint Queen' always said "If you can't find something in the color you want a can of spray paint is usually a perfect solution."
Look at me. I finally figured out how to add the inclosure links to things. Guess I'd better go back and add some to the rest of the blog, huh?

Nickel City Studios

Just when I make a resolution to stay off of the computer or at least spend less time on it and get myself organized around here, I stumble upon a photography blog that has me spending hours scrolling through. Just when I decide to quit naming a photography blog of the week, I start finding more amazing photographers. These pictures are off the Nickel City Studios blog. They were captured by another husband-wife team who really know how to snap the special moments and emotions of the wedding day. These pictures here might not be the best examples of the moments and emotions but if you go check out their work you'll see for yourself. I tend to like looking at the decor of the weddings so I grabbed these off of their blog. I love the way their blog rolls so smoothly. Some blogs take forever to load on my computer but with this one I never had to wait. Alyssa and Rich Mattingly have a very interesting and entertaining way of talking you through the photos by taking turns commenting on each other's work amongst other things. I spent so much time just looking that I didn't really get a whole lot of information on these two. I gather they are based in Buffalo, New York. Or perhaps Nickel City? I'm sure I will be returning many times in the future to this blog and I am fighting the urge to go now and look and read some more but there are Christmas decorations here screaming to be put away. Have a Happy New Year of Blog-Stalking!

More Brian Dorsey

I haven't had much of a chance to blog stalk lately so I am really slacking in naming a photographer of the week. I think I am going to have to forget that idea and just name one when I find one that really impresses me. It always helps to impress me when you have clients with great table decor. Brian Dorsey has put more gorgeous weddings on his blog. I could spend hours on his blog. I love this table here with all of the green and white flowers. And can you believe this cake? Quite regal.

The Top 20 reasons I Am Still Fat This Christmas.

Reason number...

20. Angie's always baking.

19. Sitting on my butt at the computer instead of exercising could have a lot to do with it.

18. Stress makes me want to bite something..Best it be food.

17. They say you have to get enough sleep or you will put on weight. Who can sleep with a Rat-Dog and a wiener dog with a cone on her head to keep her from chewing off her bandages (which she does twice a night sometimes.)

16. Prevacid doesn't work. My tummy hurts 80 % of the time so I try to soothe it with food.

15. Constantly having to fix someone else something to eat adds to my roly-polyness. Who can cook a roast and not taste it over and over again?

14. Sensa doesn't work.

13. The last time I lost 18 lbs nobody even noticed. The only one who did only weighs 96 lbs. soaking wet so it's not like she was going to be jealous.

12. Relacore doesn't work.

11. Prayer works. But the last time I prayed to lose my appetite I couldn't eat for a week. I couldn't sleep for a week either and ended up having a nervous breakdown and growing a mustache. Lesson learned. Be careful what you ask for.

10. Cheese & crackers are fattening.

9. Things that aren't fattening usually taste like cardboard or cat urine.

8. Ali doesn't work.

7. I stopped drinking beer. I started drinking wine. Sugar must be more fattening than hops.
6. There's always a party to go to and I am "ALL about the tables"

5. My boobs are bigger when I'm fat.

4. Chocolate makes me feel loved.

3. Poor people can only afford peanut butter and mac & cheese for dinner.

2. I have to keep on extra pounds for the day I get picked to be on Survivor.

And as I always told my kids...The #1 Reason I am still fat this Christmas is..

I AM SANTA CLAUS

MOB Dresses

I've been looking at Mother of the Bride dresses all evening while the bride did her annual Christmas baking for the neighbors. I don't know what I'll do next year when she doesn't live here anymore. I guess I will have to start doing it again myself. I have really enjoyed having Angie take over that duty. She loves to bake. Me, not so much. I don't like to get burned and I do every time I bake. As far as the dresses go, I already know I am going to have to start dieting and exercising to be able to fit into anything and have it look good on me. This is not going to be an easy task since I am having a hard time finding anything I even like much. I do however like these samples the best out of all the dresses I looked at tonight. I think I am going to have to wear long to cover up the bad veins in my legs unless I by some miracle get the insurance to pay for me to have them fixed. At this point in the diet I can't even allow myself to put one on. I have never been this fat in my life so this is going to be rough. Maybe I will pretend I am on my favorite show Survivor and just think of them every time I get hungry and try to work through the pain of it. What do you think of these dresses? I think I like the 3rd one the best because it would cover the ugly freckles and brown spots on my chest. The arms are going to need a lot of work. Sitting here blogging is not going to help that either so I had better get off the computer and start getting ready for this wedding. It is only 8 1/2 months away and we don't have much accomplished. We just suffered another big financial blow as well so the stress is mounting. I placed an add on Craigslist offering to wrap gifts for anyone who had enough money to pay someone to do it. I had a response within 10 minutes. A guy wanted me to wrap them for .50 cents a gift, provide the paper and wait to be paid two weeks after Christmas. He upt it to .65 cents when I laughed at his offer. I told him I was going to have to reword my add and changed it to anyone Rich and Generous who needed someone to wrap their gifts. If I have to provide the paper and ribbons & bows .65 cents is hardly going to cover that. Maybe I should have taken him up on his offer but I'm hoping for a better one. I figure it couldn't hurt to try. The job search has begun. My niece is going to be having her baby soon and probably won't be needing me for four months after that since she is going to be off for 3 months and then her husband will be coming home from Iraq and get to stay off work for a month. Too bad everyone else is out looking for jobs right now too. Anyone needing any help with cleaning or decorating out there let me know. A temporary babysitter maybe? Anyway, here are the dresses I halfway liked. Any thoughts?

source- http//www.thebridalshop.com/Forever_Yours/images/88104.jpg

source- http://foreverbrides.com/thumbs/87205.jpg

source- http://www.therosedress.com

source-http://www.highsocietyoccasion.co.uk

source- http://www.hannonsfashionshop.com

http://static.houseofbrides.com

source- http://www.thebridalworld.com/foreveryoursmotherofthebride/images/87207.jpg

source- http://www.frankusher,co.uk/images/coterie/collections/

Tabletops

I found these tabletops on JP Parker's Blog. JP Parker is one of the number one rated florists in Indianapolis. Hop on over there to find out about these pictures and more. I know they do beautiful work in her shop but I wish they would photograph more of the arrangements and post them on their blog more often. See anything you like here Angie?

The first two photos were from a dinner party where JP Parker Flowers worked with event planner Rayna Traylor of RTR Events. These next photos were taken by photographer Paula Shoultz Brown.



http://www.jpparkerflowers.blogspot.com

Demetrios Bride

I spent last evening looking at bride dresses at Demetriosbride.com. As you can see I am a little partial to the mermaid style dress. I am in love with a couple of these. Demetrios has just about any kind of dress you could want from sexy (verging on sleazy) to classy and sophisticated to fun and funky to princess for a day. Personally, I like a lot of detail and bling on my wedding dresses . However, my daughter Angie likes clean & simple so you won't be finding her wearing any of these on her wedding day. Though she has had a tough time making up her mind as to what she will wear. This first dress just says to me "I am SO READY to have fun at my reception. Let's get this party on!"

bobbi+mike My Photogs of the Week (Angie's Engagement Session) click here!

I know I've been slacking when it comes to posting my photography blogger of the week. I've been losing the will to blog and have been preoccupied with taking care of a whiny pooch who was malled by my neighbor's dog last week. She's walking around with a lampshade on her head that she somehow can get out of very easily when I turn my back on her. And believe me, her open wounds having me wanting to turn my back on her at every look. It literally makes me want to vomit. So enough about Pooch and all of our dog woes. Right now I need to get back to my blogger of the week. I can't lead you anywhere else this week other than to the amazing bobbi +mike website. I know I've led you there before but this time my little girl Angie and her fiance' Erik are on the blog with their engagement session. I have to say, they look pretty striking in these photos (if I do say so myself) The super talented bobbi+mike have done a stupendous job on these. Go now and check them out! This one is my favorite.

The Cupcake Tower Giveaway

My daughter Angie is obsessed with cupcakes. She just made a bunch for a baby shower at work. Anyway, I was just telling her about an awesome cupcake blog that I just discovered. However, Angie is going to have to look at my blog to find out where she can get the recipes. The recipes can be found here... www.cupckaeactivist.com/ Some of the recipes for Thanksgiving look delicious and are pretty cute to boot. Look at these adorable turkey cupcakes.

Look how yummy these Dulce de Leche Pumpkin Cupcakes look.
This blog is all about cupcakes and I will probably be checking it out all night long. Elise Wallace is the cupcake activist and she looks as adorable as her cupcakes do. She is having a giveaway right now that ends on Nov. 20 so hurry over and get your entries in to win this cool cupcake stand. I understand that the winner of The Cupcake Tower gets to choose their own ribbon detail package which can change the color to match your event. Pretty neat.