Friday, October 25, 2013

Our wedding day was...

September 14, 2013 was:

hands down, the most fun, love-filled, exciting, nervewracking, day of my life.

a day where we were surrounded by 105 of the most loving, supportive and party-ready family and friends.

planned down to the minute, and that plan was executed flawlessly by a team of said loved ones.

when our families witnessed our raw emotions as we said the vows we had written to each other.

a day my inner diva came out and I kicked out a couple of wedding crashing cougars.

when my family realized I married an amazing dancer.

the day I realized I have an obvious obsession with lists - according to all the speeches people gave for us.

photographed beautifully by our amazing photographer and friend, Kevin.

the best day of my life.

~~~

Now that I have settled back into reality after nearly a month of wedding and honeymoon bliss, I am planning to put together several posts on our wedding and honeymoon. We should be receiving our professional wedding photos in a few weeks, so that's when I'll do most of the posting. I realize this will likely take me months to put together, but I am going to split it up like this: 
  • The Prep
  • Ceremony
  • Cocktail Hour
  • Dinner, Toasts & Speeches 
  • Dancing the night away
  • I Do for Ice Cream
  • Wedding Party
  • Favorite Photos
  • Honeymoon - Oahu
  • Honeymoon - Kauai
Here are just a few favorites from the KP Mora Photography blog



















Monday, August 12, 2013

My favorite number of days until the wedding!

Yes, that's right ---



Just a little quickie before I head off to bed after a very long and very productive day (first, I was on-time to work, got LOTS done, came home in minimal traffic where Marc had dinner ready, did some wedding planning, then went for a run, then back to wedding planning, and wrote a blog post)! I would say that's pretty good for a Monday.

I'm getting sidetracked here, where was I?...

In the past few days, we (my parents, Marc and I) have crossed SO many things off our wedding to do list! It feels so great. I think with each thing crossed off, I relax a tiny bit and get a little more excited (if that's even possible)! Here's everything we did since last week:
  • Dress fitting! It fits great! I tried on my veil with the dress as well, I made my veil from my mom's and I'm so glad it's going to work out. I just need to jazz it up a little :)
  • Wedding day walk through with the caterer at the venue. He is going to be the coordinator on the day of, which I didn't realize, so that's a huge help!
  • Made hair and make-up appointments for wedding day.
  • Ordered the vases for the center pieces which we are making ourselves.
  • Picked out the flowers we will order on Wednesday (since they can only be ordered 1 month in advance) - we're getting them for a great deal at SAMs Club.
  • Purchased my jewelry - love it!
  • Purchased my second pair of shoes for the wedding/reception - wedges that will be easier to dance in. I tried them out at work today, they feel pretty good, considering they're still quite tall.
  • My uncle became an official Deputy Commissioner and can legally officiate our wedding!
  • Sent out rehearsal dinner invites.
  • Wrote wedding programs (won't print them until 2 weeks before, just in case we change a song or something).
  • Made the flower girl basket - my mom decorated it so cute with ribbons, I love it!
  • Made the prelude and ceremony music playlists.
  • Bought Marc a new honeymoon wardrobe - my most successful shopping trip for him yet! Everything I brought home fit except for one shirt. Woo hoo!
  • Made the Wedding Day schedule and shared it with the bridesmaids.
  • Decided on our "thesis" for the wedding ceremony, we just need to email it to my uncle so he can finalize what he is going to say.
WOW! Making this list of what we did just this week makes me feel so accomplished! I can almost breathe! I am sure I missed some things too.

Oh ya, Marc and his dad replaced all the trim on the front of the house in preparationon for painting the house next weekend. Things sure are picking up here at the Baldisher household! Soon to be the Fisher Household in just ...... 33 days!

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Excited is an understatement

To say I am excited for this weekend is a complete understatement. This week has been so hard to concentrate! I have been waking up at all hours of the night just because I know what is coming and I cannot contain myself.

I feel like I should be spending each moment doing something wedding related. Whether it be for the wedding to come this weekend, or the wedding that's coming in 52 days.

Back to this weekend though, we will be celebrating the marriage of my beautiful BEST friend since we were babies. We are so different and so similar in so many ways. We grew up together. We played together. We had countless sleepovers in a row. We whined together. We wine together. And now, we even get to get married together! Well practically, I think within 50 days of each other is close enough to say we're doing it together. She is going to be a beautiful bride and it is going to be a beautiful wedding.

As we met for coffee last night for the last time as "as single woman," we found ourselves saying, I can't believe it's already here! This time that we will remember for the rest of our lives. It's here. She is getting married in just 3 days and will soon be a wonderful wife to a wonderful husband.

So here's to the weekend of a lifetime celebrating these two love birds!




Tuesday, July 2, 2013

A Furniture Makeover Success

I completed this project a few months ago, but have received several compliments on how great this piece of furniture turned out so I wanted to document my process here on the blog-o.

My inspiration for this project came from Pinterest (of course)!

Coffee bar. Keeps your counter and cupboard space clear for other stuff. Love it!
{http://thevintagewren.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-08-04T14:13:00-04:00&max-results=3}

Behold, our new coffee bar!!!
It's a great way to free up some kitchen counter space
and add some decor to a random blank wall.



First, I did some blog research of my own to determine which paint, brushes and process I should follow. After staring at a paint sample color in our living room for about a month, we finally decided we were comfortable with it and headed off to Lowe's.

We settled on a small can of this rusty cranberry/raspberry color Valspar paint in semi-gloss so that it would stand up well to any spills and easily clean up. I also picked up a small container each of Zinsser Primer and Minwax Polycrylic Protective Finish in clear to use as a coating on the top surface. I also picked up some foam brushes, a foam roller and several different grits of sandpaper. I already had some regular paint brushes, blue tape, tarps & gloves at home. I have learned that painting with gloves is a must!! No more having the "I have obviously been painting furniture" look on my hands & nails.

Rust-Oleum Gallon Interior Latex PrimerMinwax Gallon Polycrylic Gloss Polyurethane


I started out by taking the dresser apart, removing the doors and hardware and setting it out on our driveway to begin sanding. Which proved to be the most arduous task. Sanding an intricate piece of furniture like this takes a loooooong time if you want to do a good job. Do you see the detail in the doors and legs? The electric hand sander was great for the flat surfaces, but I had to do all the fancy parts by hand of course.


After a good sanding and wiping the whole thing down, I was ready to prime! I painted the whole thing in 2 coats of primer (sanding once in between) to cover all the grain of the dark wood. Everything I read online said that if you want a quality painted piece of furniture, do not skimp on the sanding & priming stages. So I really took my time on these parts. I think I finished sanding and priming the first coat in one day, then sanded it again and did the second primer coat the following weekend.

A little something I learned about primer - don't use a brand new brush for primer unless you have paint thinner to clean it with... My brand new brush was ruined because the acrylic-based primer did not come out. Oh well... now I know for next time!

Then, the next weekend, I sanded again and did the first coat of color, which was so fun to see it on the actual piece of furniture! I used a regular bristle brush that worked great because the roller turned out to be annoying to use with all the curves and detail in the wood. Here you can see my set-up which was taking over half our garage for at least a month!


As you can see, I decided not to paint the inside of the shelves. I like to have a little glimpse of the "original" wood and plus I thought that sanding, priming, sanding and painting the inside shelves was a little pointless. I decided not to sand in between the two coats of color because the brush strokes were not severe.


After 2 coats of color, the following day, I applied the first coat of Minwax coating to the top surface. The trick with this was to apply a very thin coat and brush in only one direction or else it got sorta sticky and goopy. I let that dry for a few days then painted another coat of Minwax (I heard that if you didn't let it dry completely in between it got weird, so I went to the extreme).

Theeeeeen, I let it dry completely for about a week. If you don't let the Minwax dry for a long time before placing objects on the surface, it can leave marks and dents in it. After I brought it inside and set it all up, it has done great, so I would definitely recommend letting it dry outside for a while. It also kept all the fumes in the garage and our house didn't smell like paint or top coat.

I love how it turned out! I do want to get a little shelf to hang above it with hooks for our coffee mugs so they are there for easy access & some extra wall decor like from the inspiration picture above. Marc even said he might make one for me! Let's add that to the list of projects I have on his list... ;)

Thursday, June 6, 2013

May Showers bring ....

a month that flys by so fast I blinked and it was June!

May was such a fun month, I want to document it all in lots of photos:

We showered a very special bride, my best friend since birth, Valerie, for her upcoming wedding this summer. Here you have all the Baldwin ladies and a Barnes, but not for long... :)


This gives you a little glimpse of the beautiful decor - lace, candles, vases, bird cages, so cute!


Opening some sexy gifts...


and some practical ones,

 
And playing a game where we asked her questions about her husband-to-be and each question she got wrong, she had to put a piece of bubble gum in her mouth - how cute is that little flower girl?! And I spy a beautiful maid of honor in there too :)



~~~~~~~~~~~~

 
Celebrated my soon-to-be sister-in-law's baby shower. It was an elephant theme to match the nursery and turned out so cute! Isn't she just the cutest pregnant mama?! Can't wait to welcome this little boy into the family sometime around June 24th :)


The pretty table spread - that punch was delish!


Played "Name that Poo!" where you sniff the diapers filled with melted candy and try to identify the candy bar...



 Sniffing the poo :)


Check out this adorable elephant cake Marc's cousin's wife made for us!


 ~~~~~~~

And here are a couple other random fun times that filled up the month of May:

Celebrated Mother's Day with these beautiful ladies!


Visited the wedding venue for some more planning and hotel where the girls will be getting ready - here's my mom and sister being their silly selves on the rooftop terrace of the hotel. Can't wait to stay here!


Marc and I celebrated our 4 year dating anniversary and decided it was a perfect excuse to go out and race some go karts. It was a blast! I had no idea how much fun I would have skidding around corners and passing cars just like the pro's!



Stopped off on the way to plan our wedding ceremony with our officiant, my uncle, and walked across the Foresthill bridge, what a beautiful view and it was SO high up!



I got to meet this little cutie: Preslie Kay - can you see her one dimple on her right cheek? Adorable!



I started addressing wedding invitations - the date is quickly approaching!!

 

~~~~~~~~~~

And now to leave you with a little milestone we hit today - cue the freaking out!!

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Finally!!!!

After a few months, I have finally gotten my act together with a post on our Engagement Photos!

Let me begin by explaining why it has taken me so long to get around to posting these. First, it was a much longer process than we anticipated for a few reasons:
  • After some unfortunate technical difficulties on the photographer's behalf, all the photos from our first photo session were lost and we had to schedule re-takes. :( Yes, this meant that all the effort that went into round 1: hair done, makeup done, outfits dry cleaned, day off work had to be done alllllllll over again. Needless to say, it was frustrating and really drug out the whole process. After spending some time being upset about it, we decided it must have happened for a reason and showed up for the retakes knowing more about how the session would go. I skipped the hair and make-up appointments this time and just did my own, which I surprisingly ended up liking better than having them done. I think the photos from the retakes came out better than the first ones, so in the end, we were not so upset.
  • Once we finally got the photos back, there were about 60 of them (which I don't really get because many more photos were taken than that... maybe the other 100 just were hideous and the photographer wanted to spare us?). We had fun looking through them all but when it came down to actually chosing which ones we wanted to print, it was so hard!
    • First, the photographer offered to make our Save the Dates, which turned out really cute so we quickly ordered those and sent them out. That was the easy part.
    • Then, we had to chose actual printed copies. The package we were given came with 3 8x10s and 6 5x7s and 25 digital images on a disc. It took us about 2 months to narrow it down and actually find time to sit down together to chose our favorites.
    • We didn't find out until recently that the digital images will be watermarked and encrypted or something so we won't be able to print them ourselves. I guess they're supposed to be only for online use or something... We are a little disappointed about this, but at least we get high quality prints of our top favorites.
    • I also wanted to order just one single print copy of all the ones we looked decent in (about 45 of them) but this turned out to be crazy overpriced, which again is disappointing and I don't understand it.
**I hope this portion didn't come out too negatively... we did enjoy having our photos taken and it we had a fun time doing it. I learned that Marc is really artistic when it comes to photography. He had no problem making suggestions for poses and those ones actually turned out to be some of our favorites! He totally surprised me! We just hope our actual wedding photos don't end up being this difficult. Which we know they won't be because we've chosen a family friend as our photographer and he's going to be great!**

Now, the part you've all been waiting for, THE PHOTOS!!!! These are just a few of our favorites --













*Yes, we did break one of my rules and make silly hearts with our hands... It was sorta like torture and really awkward... But it didn't turn out too horribly ;)