Pages

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Vintage Styled Bridal Shoot

Something exciting to report on today....

I got the photos today courtesy Sarah Ainsworth Photography from the vintage styled bridal shoot we collaborated on several weekends ago.  Sarah has written about the shoot on her blog and you can read her take and see a full list of vendor contributors here.  We are hoping this gets featured on some blogs, thereby getting us more publicity!




This was such a fun undertaking.  Sarah was already well into the planning of the session when Danielle of Sunday Hatch and I got roped in.  Sarah knew that she wanted to showcase vintage styling to use for her portfolio, since it's so trendy right now.  She also hoped to use these photos to encourage her prospective bride clientele to think outside the box when scheduling their bridal portraits.  Through a mutual friend, Danielle and Sarah were connected, and Danielle ended up offering her vintage style Jim Hjelm dress and modeling skills. :) Then I came on board to help from a design angle, and Danielle and I pooled our vintage materials to create a simple & elegant backdrop for Sarah's shoot.  More on our pooled resources later.....



We braved the heat and humidity to pull it all together in one day on some folk's private property just southwest of Houston.  We started gathering and organizing around 1:30pm and worked straight until dark.  I somehow ended up doing the floral arrangements and while I had no prior experience doing florals, really enjoyed it (I think I might have found a new love...eek)!  Danielle helped me with her eye for balance and symmetry when she wasn't busy getting made up.  Sarah had lined up some really great people to help out.  The makeup & hair artist, Leah Nygren of Your Beautiful Face Co, was so talented, in particular.




So excited she got some great shots of my (notorious) vintage blue bottle collection which is for rent!




The Hubbies, Tim and Rob, also did a good bit of sweaty labor, hanging the windows and carting the heavier pieces of furniture from here to there.  Actually, everyone did a good bit of sweating, but I don't think any of us had as much fun as Tim and Rob did trying to figure out (the engineers that they are) how to hang those windows without a ladder.  We'll never know.... and probably don't want to!




This was a really good experience to get under my belt.  There are some things I would do differently - namely not planning a shoot like this under the heat of a thousand Texas summer suns! - but overall it was a successful endeavor.  This might be a good time to plug here that if you want to do a themed or styled shoot for your engagements and/or bridals, I'm available and so are my rentables!

Here are a few more pictures I liked...





Yay!  The sweat paid off, me thinks.  How 'bout you?
Man, those cokes look good...


{ if you are interested in renting the door, dark wood table, old books, teal carafe, or blue mason jars - 
contact Danielle @ SundayHatch@gmail.com }


Saturday, July 16, 2011

Today I love....

THIS STOP MOTION SAVE-THE-DATE VIDEO!

The idea of a video for your engagement announcement and/or Save the Date was one that The Honey and I were so in to, we just never found the time (also our engagement was really too short to make sense to send a Save the Date anyway).  I think they are so much more personal, unique, and fun than paper announcements.  Plus, you can treasure it and the experience of making it for the rest of your life.  I absolutely love this one, reposted here from my favorite wedding blog Green Wedding Shoes.  What better way to wake up on a Saturday morning.  What do you think?  Did this one have the AWW-factor for you?





Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Oh the places you'll go...

The NUMBER ONE bad thing about Pinterest is that it makes me want to travel A LOT.  I barely have money to live in my house in my own city, so it is painful to imagine taking trips that might not happen in the foreseeable future.  Now, if you read you know that we have an elaborate trip planned to Greece and possibly surrounding countries planned tentatively for our Oneiversary next spring, but here are three other places a little closer to home, and possibly a little less of a dent in the pocketbook, that are really looking appealing right now!

Nantucket & Boston, MA

I'm just a HUGE sucker for the East Coast.  I feel like at least a 1/4 of my heart will always reside there, mostly because for a 1/4 of the year they actually get to experience FALL WEATHER.  I will always harbor bitterness for this against Texas and do so specifically and with particular fire in the midst of 100+ degree summer.  The Honey and I did NYC last fall right before our engagement (and that's another story for another day) and I would LOVE to go back again, but I also love Boston and its revolutionary history is one of my favorite time periods.  I've never visited Nantucket, but I can envision me in white & navy stripes very at home on this picturesque beach!



Source: flickr.com via Larkin on Pinterest



Seattle, WA

Wow.  Just wow.  Do you need a better reason?  I bet you expected me to post the Space Needle, didn't you?  Sure it's what you would recognize right away, but I find this a more gorgeous view as much as I love the cityscape.  The first home of Starbucks, Pike's Place Market, Giant Sequoias, and Puget Sound are reasons enough!  Can't really put my finger on it, but Seattle just strikes me as a really amazing place to visit.  Okay, okay, it's really just Grey's Anatomy that's the draw.  (not.)




Savannah, GA

Now, people might debate about how "Southern" Texas is, but you have to plead no contest when you're talking about Savannah, GA.  Old plantations, river boats, and yet another US war time period preserved with care lead me to have great interest in spending a few days here.  The huge houses with wrap around porches, true southern cooking, and oh. my. goodness... these trees...  In a word, DREAMY.  And have you seen any Georgia weddings lately?  Whew, they are gorgeous.  Who cares about Atlanta!  Let's hit up coastal Savannah.... and while we're there? Hilton Head Island you say?  Okay by me!






Three unique cities in all different parts of the US of A!  The nice thing about travel and me is I'm really pretty easy to please: as long as it's some place new, there's a bit of history to revel in, and they serve up good food and beautiful landscapes - I'm down!  Sometimes I have to remind myself that we don't always have to leave our own country to see some beautiful cities.

Monday, July 11, 2011

The Fourth, Food, & FUN

I know what you're thinking.... you're thinking "OMG!  She made it on Style Me Pretty, thought she was the bee's knees, and quit blogging!"

Sadly for you, no that is not the case.  But I did take a little extended vacation from blogging.  Now I have so much to blog about I will have to share it over the next week.  YAY!

So we spent a great Fourth of July at my Uncle Jim's lake house in Possum Kingdom.  Weird name, bee-u-tee-ful lake.  The Honey was up at 8:30 every morning and in the pool with a beer by the time I got up at 9am.  I swear he floated around for 12 hours each day, only emerging to eat massive hamburgers and sleep, before doing it all again.  Sick.  We also took a gorgeous ride on their house boat, and watched the fireworks over the lake.  I made FUNfetti Stars & Stripes cupcakes to take.  Tim snapped this pic of me having SO MUCH FUN making them.


I'm wearing my cupcake apron from Mama Bear (the mother-in-law).  First use and so appropriate.  We also took Mr. Dog with us to the lake, and he was true entertainment while we were there.  He swam in the pool and the lake, rode on the boat, and we even helped him learn how to "surf" in the pool.  Too bad I don't have any pictures of that!  BUT here he is as co-captain with the Honey on our way to the lake.


And here he is helping Uncle Jim cook delicious hamburgers.  He is always so helpful in the kitchen, that Mr. Dog.



Over the last week we've started leaving the house to do FUN THINGS.  It's really so hot, it's debilitating to be outside.  We are consistently seeing temperatures in the 100's.  We only walk Oscar early in the morning and late in the evening because the asphalt is so hot we're worried about his paws burning.  But we can't spend the whole summer indoors, so this last weekend, we again spent most of the weekend in the pool!  My friend Jesse has a condo on the south side of Lady Bird Lake and his complex has a nice pool.  We lived there for the weekend, floating, leaving to visit the food truck park and get some liquor, but mostly floating around staying cool.


Jesse, you're famous!  You made it on my blog in your Oakleys!


A lot of people asked about the food truck park.  Over the last few years, Austin has drawn quite a bit of attention with the food truck revolution.  Some of the trucks are unpredictable, as in they move around town, but most have a consistent location where they serve on a set schedule.  They are popping up all over as they are pretty affordable to run and manage, with very little start up cost compared to opening and running a restaurant.  You can find trucks with almost any type of cuisine:  American, German, Asian, Mexican, Sushi, BBQ, Pizza, Cupcakes, Snocones, etc. And many blends of different cuisines in one (like Asian BBQ).  Most of the food is made right in front of you, and I suppose that is part of the appeal: you order, you watch it being made, and you have instant gratification in eating it thereafter.

Saturday we were on the hunt for Asian and decided that, having been here over a month, it was high time we tried a food truck.  We picked up Jesse and headed to South Congress to scope out the two parks with trucks open.  We ended up at Coat & Thai, and the food was both decently priced and very tasty.  Here's the Honey ordering.  I swear I had the best crab ran goon of my life here.  I would go back simply for that!



 Jesse actually ordered from a food truck next door which served gourmet hotdogs.  His dog was a chicken and turkey blend with peppers and onions on top.  I didn't taste the dog, he said it was delish, but the fries that accompanied it were UH-mazing.



While we were waiting on our food one of these huge umbrellas blew right out of the stand and into traffic on the street.  Amazingly it did not hit any cars and came to rest in the right hand lane.  I wish I had a picture of Tim saving the day.  He ran out to get it and bring it back as everyone watched.  It was like something from Mary Poppins!

Sunday morning, we also had brunch with Jesse (clearly this was the weekend of "food with Jesse") at the renowned Magnolia Cafe on S. Congress.  I decided after that experience that no place serves food good enough to wait for 30 minutes in 100 degree heat.  The food was pretty good and decently priced, but I won't go back unless it's a weekday and not so busy.  Maybe, while I was eating, I was just a little bit influenced by this . . . 




That, my friends, is what you call ARM HAIR.  I could say sooooo many things in response to this picture but I WON'T.  He should have to wear a hairnet on his arms when he's around food.  Okay, okay, I'm done!

So I'm pretty sure that food trucks are a big positive point or two for Austin.  Super Arm Hair Man might be a negative, but here's at least 10+ more points to make up for it . . . 



It's a Bike Bar.  Not a "BikER Bar"... but a BIKE BAR.  You pedal, you drink, etc. etc.  At this point, as you can see we were driving uphill behind them and they were barely moving.  I just missed the guy in green waving and hollering at me as he saw I was taking his picture.  They were clearly having a ton of fun, and I know this to be true, because I rolled down my window and yelled "IS IT FUN?!"  And everyone shouted back "YES!"

Well, there you have it.