Upcycling Part I

I love UPcycling. 

You know, I entered that phase of my life several years ago where I generally cared about the environment and conservation.  I had parents who were pretty environmentally-conscious, so being a rebellious teenager I tried to be the opposite.  I distinctly remember opening the door of our parked car to set my empty Route 44 Sonic beverage cup out onto the parking lot pavement, before promptly driving away... to my mother's complete horror.  "Whaaaat, Mom?  They have people who pick them up!  Geeeez."

Now a responsible adult, I always recycle where there's opportunity.  While living in DC, Hubby and I got really concerned with recycling.  The District is really wonderful about recycling, they accept almost everything you can imagine.  So, when I say we got concerned with recycling, I mean we recycled everything we could think of: I broke down cereal boxes, carried glass bottles home from work, peeled off labels, and the paper stubs of tea bags... I mean, we were pretty zealous about recycling.

But UPcycling is just a brilliant concept.  Sure, breaking stuff down to make new stuff is a great idea.  What's even better is just skipping that whole "breaking stuff down" step and using things for unusual purposes after their original purpose is over, done with, kaput.  You know that saying?  One man's trash is another man's treasure?  With a little imagination a old object can be transformed into something truly unrecognizable and very desirable.  What I also miss about DC are what I liked to call "Sidewalk Donations."  In many District neighborhoods people would dump their old crap out onto the sidewalk, sometimes with a "Free" sign stuck to it, but it was generally understood it was for the taking.  That is where I found this beautiful Victorian era imitation chair with the basket weave seat torn.  Someone had just set it out to be snagged or trashed.  I snagged, and it's been the most interesting and unique pot holder ever since.

Also in DC I found all 6 of the old window frames which were used at our wedding.  These were mostly hanging out by dumpsters in the alleyways around our neighborhood.  They were someone's trash, but a definite treasure to me, and they traveled 2,000 miles to take part in our wedding day.

copyright Greenleaf Images 2011

I've talked about a few of my own upcycling ventures.  I'd love to know if any of you have done similar things?

Check back for Part Two on UPcycling -- I'll feature some interesting projects I've found around the web.

copyright Tyler James Metcalfe Photography 2011

I'm NO J-Lo!

I .swear. the next post won't be about weddings.  Really... I swear.

I was watching Maid in Manhattan on TV earlier today... terrible movie (WHY Ralph Fiennes?! WHY Stanley Tucci?!  Career low point...) and it has nothing to do with this post, except that it reminded me that J-Lo was also in a movie called the Wedding Planner...  Okay, this isn't really about weddings so much as it is about struggling to find purpose in whatever it is that you do. 

I've launched my facebook "fan" page for my new company Laurel White Design.  Very shortly Tim will be finished with my business website.  June 26th will be my first official wedding, coordinated by Laurel White Design.  Clearly, we are now open for business, and so, of course, anyone who hadn't sort of gotten wind of this project a few months ago is now asking questions about it.  I'm struggling very much with how to respond to the question "so you're a wedding planner now?"

{ugh.} 

The short answer is "Yes, I am indeed a Wedding Planner."  The long answer is... well, it's long.

This might seem like a really stupid moral struggle to some of you, but then, you didn't know me growing up.  You clearly didn't know me in highschool and college.  Finding love, sticking to love, and marrying my love are all relatively new concepts to me.  Yes, I'm married and I love who I'm married to, but I never thought I would find myself helping other people down that road.  I'm not against marriage.  It just was never a very high priority for me.  Maybe some of that was because I never thought I'd meet someone I really wanted to marry, but some of it was definitely the "I'll be the cool, single, independent chick for the rest of my life" motto.  More importantly, I always thought big, expensive weddings were a huge waste.  Sure, they're fun to attend - I appreciate that - but think of all the millions of other things you could put that money towards.  Starving children in Africa aside, there's traveling to exotic places, a down payment on a house, a new car, adopting homeless animals... you get the idea.  I'm a selfish person already, so yeah, I definitely struggle with jumping into an industry that is, pretty much, incredibly selfish.  I literally cringe when people ask me if I'm going to be a "Wedding Planner."  I feel like saying yes not only makes me selfish, but immediately dumps me into the category "shallow, superficial, and ridiculously overrun by estrogen."

Then a friend -- a guy, of all people -- totally screwed my head on straight.  He pointed out that I was having a very small, closed perspective on the whole scenario.  Here I've been put into a position to use skills I have been blessed with to help other people make one of the most important days of their lives an enjoyable experience.  Not only that, I can lead people to see that extravagant weddings aren't necessary to express their personalities or their love for one another.  But it's all about how you choose to look at what you do with your life... Yes, I'm looking to make a little bit of money at this, but really, I know I can be good at it, I know how much having an official wedding planner would have made my whole wedding experience a 1000 times better, and I know how much I like to see people relaxed, happy, and in love on their wedding day.

{hmmmm.}

I will try to remember that when I'm dealing with multiple Bridezillas on my own reality TV show and I have a personal assistant who bitches about me behind my back.

Gypsified

I was inspired by an inspiration board I saw on a wedding blog,The Wedding Chicks, for a Gypsy Engagement Shoot.  I felt like their board left a lot to be desired, BUT I do think a "gypsy theme" is a fantastic idea.  Before I ramble about that, I'd like to just comment here on a new trend in the wedding industry....

IMAGINATION.



If you haven't been a bride in the last couple of years, or you simply aren't on the look out for it, the whole "trendy wedding" thing has probably passed you by.  But there is good reason why so many designers, photographers, videographers, etc are jumping onto the bridal industry bandwagon -- some of the most beautiful, stylish events are now weddings.

Gone are the days of boring and bland . . .

When I was planning my wedding, I made a joke about how much time I'd been spending shopping for crafts in Hobby Lobby.  A friend said "Oooooh, please tell me you're not having a 'HOBBY LOBBY wedding'!?"  I didn't know what that meant, and I was immediately worried, because.... YES, a lot of materials being used at my wedding were purchased at Hobby Lobby.  However...they hadn't been purchased in the bridal section, with the fake flowers, all-in-one sets of garters and veils, and even white trellises with ivy.  So I was safe from what this friend deemed the pre-fabricated "Hobby Lobby wedding style."  Basically a packaged deal.  Unfortunately, many people are not.  I'd hope that in most cases it's for many reasons, from lack of funds to lack of availability.  Sadly, I think in many cases it's just pure lack of imagination. 

I love traditions, but there ARE many cases when tradition is NOT your friend.

Now, if you had the kind of wedding I just described, I apologize if anything I said here offended you.  You are not to be blamed for past years of tradition and typicality!  You were a victim.  Before the weddings of today, there were very few people who even considered having non-traditional ceremonies & receptions.  But some brilliant business-minded entrepreneur realized that NOW everyone wants to be unique and show personality and be treated as individuals . . . and they went right ahead and capitalized on it. 

[I'll just admit it... I'm trying to, too.]

My point is this.... WHEW.  Weddings can be fun, not stuffy.  Weddings can make you gasp with delight over the thought and detail applied.  Weddings can be creative, theatrical, fantastical, whimsical, elegant affairs... and all this on a budget, too!

So now, if you've read all of that your reward is to see the beeeee.u.tiful gypsy inspiration board compiled by Yours Truly.  Compare it with the "professional" one and then you tell me which one you like better.  This preeeety much took me all day because I'm still learning Photoshop.

The day I crashed Blogger... & Birthdays

Well, my stint with Blogger as a host site will be short lived - I assure you. 

Less than 24 hours after my first carefully crafted post, Blogger crashes and my post is sent into cyberspace limbo.  Fantastic.  Not really.  So Tim is going to hastily buy a domain (?) and build me my own website.  This will actually be much better suited to the amount of blogging I really should be doing and the types of things I want to be able to post (pictures, inpsiration boards, etc).  I think it will be an all encompassing design site, but also good to promote my new business endeavors.  Stay tuned for launch date.

What really is fantastic is we are well into the month of May now.  We got hit with torrential rain two days ago (the kind where it's so gray outside you just go back to sleep, which I did) and it was lovely.  We hadn't seen rain for over three months.  But really, the month of May is a fantastic month because it's my birthday month!

I've never been big on celebrating my own birthday... until this year when something really important came in the mail.  Apparently, if you sign up for an Anthropologie card, you also get a little birthday gift.  If you know me at all, just getting to stand in Anthro and sniff is gift enough, so to get an actual gift from them is pretty fabulous.

So I decided to compile some things off their website that I might use said gift for, check it out.

Also, happy birthday to my little sister who turned 24 years yesterday.







I love the simple color block of this dress.
Easily worn as a sheath or with a neutral belt.



This belt is so simply, yet so eye-catching with it's asymmetry.
 I love the quad loop and the bright round button of a belt buckle.

 



Terrific shape and twinkle!








Green Beauties!

 

A light weight shirt with detailed sleeve. 

Clearly very cute with jeans and would make a casual outfit  a perfect 10 with very few accessories. 

Speaks for itself.



A color that will never go out of style,

and a shape that mixes with almost any style outfit, too.

 

 



I think any girl would feel beautiful in this shirt.  The pattern is delicate and flowery without feel overly estrogen-infused.  The neckline is flattering and the pattern brings in so many colors to accessorize with.



my first spot o'blog

Jumping on the bandwagon here, folks.  So... I used to "blog" back in the days of livejournal and xanga... do you remember those?  Now Facebook has taken over the world (and my life) so I didn't really see the purpose in having a public opinion blog for several years, it felt like shameless self-promotion... until I started reading other people's.  Then I realized that if they felt what they had to say was important, surely whatever I felt like saying probably was, too! 

And there you have it.  I caved.

On a more serious note: I believe that when you begin things it is good to have a statement of purpose, even if that purpose is vague, unfiltered, and irritatingly dancing just out of reach.

The truth is I'm not really sure why I'm blogging, or exactly what material this blog will eventually cover consistently.  I'm sure it will encompass wedding inspiration, interior design, home furnishings, event planning, pretty little things and DIY projects, because those are my current craze.  I'm also newly married and beginning that phase of my life and documentation is nice to look back on.

But what I do know for certain, and what I can state here, is that after quitting my desk job, growing a green thumb, and planning my own wedding this past March, I came into my own... creatively speaking.  Not only that, I realized that I had artistic ideas that (who knows why?) other people valued, admired, and wanted to take part in.  All that surprised me as much as anyone, trust me.  But along with some self-confidence, I also gained that desire to share ideas and bounce ideas and steal ideas.  So that's what this is folks... my place to share, bounce, and steal.

let'smakealittlenoise!

Lo


Also, I have joined the Pinterest trend.  If you already know you like my style, or if after reading this you're interested, follow this button to my Pinterest site!  happy pinning!

A little photo from our session with my sister a few weeks ago...

 copyright Greenleaf Images 

(www.greenleafimages.com)