Jane's 5 Things

Jane's 5 things...

"So here is my list! (in no particular order)
1. Go to and explore Ireland (and anywhere else for that matter)
2. Own a home
3. Have a loving family that is strong and grounded in The Church
4. Continue to make wonderful friends and stay in touch with old friends

5. Not carry my groceries home or have to walk up and down seven flights of stairs to do laundry"

You just gotta love Jane.

Cake Inspiration

Flying Marshmallow

HA HA HA HA HA

Wedding Monogram! (finally)

When we got the first round proof back on the wedding invitation, the monogram that they had drawn looked like something out of a cartoon... And clearly THAT wasn't happening. So, me being me, and knowing exactly what I want, and not being able to find it... I thought "Hey! I have a design firm! I should just do it myself!"
Genius, except that I am a client manager and a branding consultant, not an actual designer. Thus began the Great Monogram Adventure of 2010 in which my Adobe Illustrator skills were tested to the limit. (What are vectors?)

After hours toiling away (in the dead of winter, uphill both ways) I have emerged victorious. Ta da!

Wedding Flowers

So this wedding planning thing.. fun. All kinds of fun.

Here are some of the bouquets I like so far:

Vespa? Yes please.

Alone

Sometimes I feel like I just need to be alone and sit very still and very quiet until I feel like myself again.

Life is art

Cloud Climbing

Awesome.

Seth's 5 things

Our first featured 5 things... Seth.

"Well thats easy, my five things are;

1 Travel to Croatia and beat the national team single handedly in a water polo match

2 Go to the moon and be back for dinner

3 Meet the mad hatter

4 See every awesome band in concert

5 Become the first ever drummer/photographer/pro cyclist"

Photobooth Date Idea

Don't you just love photo booth picture series?  Capturing different expressions and moments in sequence.

This looks like such a fun date to me. Take $20 and go spend an hour at a photo booth.

You can even do searches for photo booths here.


If IKF and I ever get a free night in this lifetime (hello whitefrog launch + wedding planning), we'll try and go do this.

U is for unicorn

How cute is this alphabet from Paper Nut?

See the unicorn and the elephant?!

Letterpress Temple

How GORGEOUS is this artwork by Cameron Moll?!?

It combines three of my favorite things: Letterpress, Typography and the Temple! The original run is sold out, so I really, really hope he does another run.

There's always money in the koi pond...

Check out this Koi Pond Dollar Origami...

Hi

Love this piece also from Keep Calm Gallery.

Yeah Right

What's inside a stack doll, really?

Keep Calm is one of my new favorite sites for typographic art.

Like this...

Family Tree Art

My 5 things

I saw this done on another blog, and I am shamelessly stealing the idea. I've asked several of my friends to provide me with their list of 5 things they'd like to accomplish in their life time... Big or small... significant or simple... and I will be posting their responses periodically on my blog.

In the spirit of reciprocity I here are my 5 things:

1. Speak in front of a large audience and win them over
2. Go to Venice for Redentore
3. See my kids grown up, happy and healthy
4. Make a creme brulee
5. Live my life so that my future husband will love me more when we're 80 than he does now

If you have 5 things to share, email them to me!

That just happened

Maketh an anchor

What is it with me and anchors right now? (Ether 12:4 maybe?)

Love this bag...

Can you tell?

I would also like to add velociraptor to this list...

Spring!

Good view

Anchor me

If I ever got a tattoo, I think I'd get an anchor.

(Don't worry Mom, I'm not going to get a tattoo.)

May the force be in your frosting

Why yes, those ARE Darth Vader cupcakes...

Wedding Sign

Gratefully, my parents do NOT feel this way about IKF.

You know you want to hop on that trend...

Speaking of the love epidemic... Have I mentioned recently how many friends I have right NOW that are engaged and almost engaged... Like a TON.

Me, Amanda, Sarah, Kathryn, Marlene, Amy, Suzanne, Evelyn... And by a ton I mean 8. But still, doesn't that seem like an awesomely high percentage?

AND these are all girls OVER the age of 25... all of those amazing wonderful girls that I always thought totally deserved to meet someone amazing and be really happy, despite the odds. (Not that younger girls don't also deserve that, but after a decade of dating disappointments, finding the right guy just means something different...)

Hooray for the educated, traveled, accomplished, wonderful women in pre-wedded bliss!


Cheers!

The "dog person's" downfall

Everybody loves kittens.

Success

"Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal."
-Thomas S. Monson

Happy

"You put the happy
In my ness,
You put the good times
Into my fun."
-Ben Harper

Don't act it, or show it - just do it.

Oh Selvedge Yard... You are a blog from a bygone era.

This Selvedge Yard post about James Dean hit home for me today.

To quote:

"I love that story.  It’s like, don’t go through the motions like you’re doing something– actually do it.  How you live, move and breathe should be natural.  Speaking for myself– so many times in life, it’s like we’re so busy planning out our routines instead of encountering life naturally.  Not that all planning is bad, but we’re focused on the efficiency, convenience, routine all the time- and also how the world sees us.  What should I say?   What should I wear?   What will people think of me?  Blah, blah, blah.  And life becomes stale.  It becomes predictable.  It can become this sad little trap that ultimately is the end to all means. We stop anticipating or welcoming anything unplanned, different, or unexpected because we wouldn’t know what to do with it.  Where would I fit this into my neat little plan?

I wonder sometimes what I’m missing out on in life because I don’t want to be inconvenienced.  Because I don’t want to take my eyes off the hamster wheel under my feet and look up.  Stop planning and analyzing everything to death– just do it."

Engagement Outfit?

So.... Engagement pictures are a week from Saturday and I have no idea what to wear... Even looking through every wedding blog on the planet has not brough me any closer to a conclusion on this issue.

I think I have style and then I meet people who ACTUALLY have style and I bow to their accessory-picking prowess. And then I follow them around like a puppy dog asking for fashion advice and stealing their outfit ideas.

SO... my extremely stylish friends... And I know you're out there and that you check this blog...

I am sending out a cry for help.

I need an engagment outfit... Or two.

Here's the scene: IKF and I sort of fell in love over books. We are book people. We are also Redlands people... raised in and around this little haven of Victorian homes and orange groves... So, (I don't know where this genius flash of inspiration came from) we are taking our engagement pictures at the Smily Library in Redlands... It has everything! Gorgeous old architecture inside and out. Big beautiful windows for great lighting. Big old oak tables. Little reading nooks and cast iron fireplaces. Stained glass. And lots of fun books that we can use as props.

My natural style leans toward the modern side of fashion - random pops of bright colors, a lot of black, the occasiona animal print - but in a setting like this I feel like it deserves a more timeless look.

Oh genius lovers of Anthropologie... HELP!

Shots of the location:

Baby Cuteness

Will my kids be this cute when they are all sleepy and dressed in pink onesies?

Egg Collection

I find this image very compelling.  I have no explanation as to why... I just do.

This is how I felt yesterday

Cross Country Heart Strings

I HEART shoes. Pink ones.

It's pictures like this that keep me obsessed with shoes...

Tell me you don't want those... Ok, fine. But I don't believe you.

I can haz wedding dress

Dear World,

Did I mention that I found my wedding dress this weekend?! I will not post it here for IKF may not see it. But I will post my shoes... Because they deserve to be shared.

Love,
S

SHOES:

Midtown

I'm missing NYC today. Probably because one of my friends is moving from NY elsewhere and asked me for a list of things to do before she leaves... So I got to revisit my NY blog and the related memories.

*sigh* I heart NYC.

Why didn't I think of that?

A lesson in marketing from Marc Johns.

 I think I'll suggest this to one of my clients.

If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it... WAIT...

Hover-over reads: Using a ring to bind someone you covet into your dark and twisted world? Wow, just got the subtext there. Also, the apparently eager Beyonce would have made one badass Nazgul.

I heart xkcd.

Business Jenga

Wearing White

I'm headed to Utah in exactly 10 mins to look for wedding dresses.

Do you think Monique Lhuilier makes temple-ready dresses? No? Bummer.

Ok Go makes a Mouse Trap

Ok Go on Treadmills

Ok Go In the Backyard Dancing

Raspberries

Oh Captain My Captain

Sometimes when I'm feeling dramatic or literary I get the urge to watch Dead Poets Society.

And then for a week afterwards I get the urge to stand on my desk and recite Walt Whitman.

Good Enough

You can go here: TomPetty.com > News > Listen to 'Good Enough'  to listen to the 1st single off of the new Petty album.

Luuuuuuuuuuv it.