Life in Color Photo

My aunt and cousin threw me a wonderful shower this weekend. It’s so
strange to be the guest of honor, but I must admit I loved it. And they
played to all my weeknesses: little green touches everywhere, candy on
the table, yummy sweets, loud fun family, and presents! Sciarrino
snapped some of me opening them.


I got lots of wonderful and unique things for my home that I can’t wait to use. But one thing was my absolute favorite gift, and that was from my great Aunt Mary.


It was a rug made by my great grandma Stewart on my mom’s side, her grandma. It  was one of the last ones she made. She was a woman after my own heart, and even when it got to hard for her to go thrifting she’d instruct her daughters (my grandma and her twin) to bring her cotton fabric when ever they found it. She’d then make the strips and do the braiding. My auntie Mary also gave me a framed picture of me and my great grandma from her 80th birthday party. I was only eight. It’s the first picture I have of her. The gift made me tear up, but in a great happy kind of way. I was lucky enough to receive other family heirlooms which mean so much to me. Also lots of fun? Getting to see the little baby Meg.


Everyone took turns keeping her entertained and she was quite a good baby, even when we did silly things like put ribbons on her very bald head. She’s my cousin Jen’s baby, remember her? I love her concerned "I can’t believe I was born into this family look." So funny. Of course we had to get out my aunt’s wedding pictures from 29 years ago:


That’s her and my mom on the right. They look so young, and they were, my aunt was only 19. But so pretty in her $27 dollar dress her friend made her (that’s dress and veil!). But the boys just look silly in those frilly tuxes. Really fun to look at, it makes me glad we spent the extra money to have a book made of our favorite photos. I had to get out my binder and show the ladies all my details:


Do you love my silly little outfit my cousin made me wear? I even had a wand! Mmmmm those jelly belly’s look good, but I have my first dress fitting in less than two weeks! And finally the family pictures:


Baby Megan


Me and auntie Eileen, my grandma’s twin.


Mom, me and the baby. We always compete for maximum baby hold time.


My great aunt Mary and grandma had already left, but can you believe I got everyone outside. It was pleas of natural light that did it. Thank you all, I loved it!

I actually scrapbooked! A little something I started at Sue’s crop. This little spiral is going to keep track of my bridal showers. It has places for guests, gifts, quotes, and pictures. I can’t wait for my first shower tomorrow!

Today I woke up and finished with the whole postage stamp thing. I really hope the people we did special combinations for "get it." To answer a question: To find a place where you can get awesome stamps go to the American Philatelic Society and look for your local branch.  I found a local club through this site and contacted the president. He contacted me right away with lots of helpful information. Anyway that part is all done (though I think I will continue to use these awesome stamps on all my letters from now on). So I worked on that, did Ribbon Jar business, and set out to Portland to do a mock table at the reception venue. I picked the most awesome color table cloth ever (seriously it rocks). I can’t wait to see the whole room done up. Then it was off to pick out a tux. If your in the Portland area I really recommend this place. They have the exact white tie I wanted from the Martha Stewart Winter 2001 Wedding issue… for $95!!! And that includes shoes, suspenders, vest, shirt, pants, jacket with tales, everything. Sweet. Plus since no one ever orders this type of material she getting all new shirts for the guys (Cotton pique, I’m a natural fiber girl, what can I say?). Then I rushed home to the invitation madness!


Oh man do I love my invitations. It’s so hard because I love paper, and type and design, and I knew I was only going to have one shot at this and Sciarrino nailed it. They are divine. The RSVP card is letterpress and the rest is done with a printing press here in Salem. The difference between this and say a laser, is that a plate is actually made, and then one specific ink is used (for us a very understated metallic green) instead of a combination of colors to get one shade. There is no better way to get the blackest black. It is oh so heavenly. We were about to be talked out of our font because it’s got such thin lines, that it was hard to read on the laser proofs, but on press? SWOON.


This basket is the result of: ripping, slicing, inserting, sewing, stuffing, licking, and twisting. Times 141.

Okay so I can’t believe I’m putting this picture up here, since it’s me with absolutely no make up on (I usually don’t go out like this by the way). So I have a simple routine: foundation on certain spots, but not all over the face, dandelion powder (blush) on the apple of my cheeks, curl my eyelashes and comb my brows. Well after sitting in the chair for a while I finally got to see the make up she was working on. First she put concealer on me, then foundation everywhere, then fake lashes, then she shaved the ends of my eyebrows (I am soooo pissed about this because it is starting to grow out really weird, and it better grow all the way back out before the wedding). And of course eye make up, and lipstick, and plumper, and then airbrushing. I present the "done up" me:

Uh…. And this is about halfway through the process. I saw myself and I was like, ew. Uh, can we take off this lip stuff (it was seriously glossy), and I didn’t have much blush on which is like the one thing I need (I think). So I asked her to put more of it on. So now, I think you’re going to see this picture and say, "hey that looks good," or, "you need lots of make up for pictures" But this is not me. And after having the make up on for four hours I came home and was starting to take it off because it felt horrible, like a clay mask. It took me all the eye make up remover I own, three face washes, and three washcloths that turned brown with make up. I started to loose it and Bj happened to call at the same time and he got an earful of crying, impossible to understand Amber. The more I think about it, the more I don’t like it. I mean everyone I know will know that I don’t look perfect. I don’t need plumper lips, I’m perfectly happy with the ones I have. And I have pictures of myself with lots of makeup on (from a Sadie Hawkins dance in high school) and I hate those pictures because they are so not me. I don’t want to feel like that all night, uncomfortable in my own skin.

I started writing this a few days ago and since then have talked to my wonderful wedding planner about it and I am going to work with the make up artist to get more of the look I want. I was feeling like I wasn’t being a committed bride or something because I wasn’t willing to dye my hair and wear all this make up, but now I think I am being committed, to my own style and personality. I don’t want cookie cutter memories of my wedding. And I don’t want Bj to be afraid to kiss me or hold me close because he’s afraid I’ll leave a big makeup streak on his clothes or face. I’m also in Vermont now and being here with Ceara, Grant, and Bj is so so relaxing that it doesn’t seem like I have a trouble in the world. It helps too that we found a florist and cake maker before we left, so I’m feeling really good about the schedule of things. More later, just decided I should post this entry. Emee (my planner) said it’s perfectly normal to feel this way after a run through, that’s why we do them.

Dude! Wedding planning can be a bitch! No seriously, what is with all these things coming up? I can’t even believe I managed to get a newsletter out last night, it’s a miracle. So I spent all of Friday and Saturday working on wedding stuff. Friday my mom and I went up to Portland so I could go to meetings (florist, church, coordinator, etc). Those went pretty well. I wasn’t too keen on the florist, so I’ve lined up more meetings. I would rather get a crapload of candles than pay a fortune for so so flowers. The best news is that WE GOT A CHURCH!! I guess god does love us after all (ha, I always knew he did, just being a bit dramatic). We are going with first Presbyterian. Soooo expensive, which is a huge bummer, considering we only have 30 people coming in total, so we could have gone with a smaller church. But the coolest part for me is being married in a Presbyterian church since I was raised in one. They will not allow my childhood pastor to ordain the ceremony, but I love the pastor we are having, and to top it off, it’s a woman, how cool is that? She said some couples choose not to marry there if she is the pastor on rotation because of that, what the??!?! Talk about backwards. Anyway she grew up here in Salem, and Bj and I really felt connected to her, which was important.

After all the meetings we went to Oblation as it was closing to pick up the RSVP cards. And as I was looking at them I realized the designed had been centered on the page, instead of justified to the bottom, so we had to come back on Saturday. I was coming back anyway to go to a bunch of other appointments, so we just left earlier. And we brought Sciarrino who designed them and has been such a great support helping me with so much. Luckily it was agreed that it was their mistake and I just got a call that they have already been reprinted. I had to get more of the custom paper I bought so they are going to reimburse me for that. I won’t sing all their praises until I pick them up, but I’m very pleased they took responsibility for the mistake. Oh and they must have thought the design was as kick ass as I think it is because they used the plate to print notecards for themselves (we noticed them on their desks when we were looking at the file).  You’ll see why when I scan one in. Sciarrino and I are very different as artists, but we are both really detail orientated which is why I love her style.

Now on to those shoes, those lovely, gorgeous, impossible to find shoes. I’m not giving up on finding them, so if you see a pair let me know! But I did order a different pair of sling-backs because I’m getting too nervous time wise. I have to have them dyed after all. I wanted a pair of Manolo Blahniks in that Carolyne style that Alison mentioned. Actually when I went to Saks they randomly had a pair someone had returned in my size, even though they don’t sell the shoe there. The shoes looked like they had been worn all night and were really dinged up, but I was willing to roll with it since I am going to dye them, if I could get the right price. They’re like 425 dollars regularly, and they would only give me a 15% discount, which is so lame because seriously anyone who could afford that would buy them new. And like who are they going to sell them to? I could go on and on, but I did get cute ones from the bridal boutique were I got my dress. I also saw Sciarrino’s bridesmaid dress on her, and she was smokin! Don’t forget male readers that she is single! I’m sure that status is not going to last once she’s in the dress. I am being a pretty nice bride if I do say so myself (hello puffy sleeves?).

We also got my wedding day robe (it’s so cute, check out my picture of the day yesterday), my wedding night outfit (what do you call it mom?) – ohh la la, and green underwear to wear under my dress, of course! We sampled more cake (um, not finding good cake, so hopefully Thursday’s appointment will be the winner), got a honeymoon dress, and met another stamp guy. I’m going to go back to him after I get some of the combinations together, but I can’t go Thursdays or Fridays because hes "out in the field" LOL!!! Who knew there was a stamp "field"? I suppose he means auctions, estate sales and such, but still funny. Anyway he was really nice and ran out to the car as we were leaving to give me the commemorative duck stamp calender for this year, so if anyone needs one…

Sunday my mom came to help me work. She’s been so awesome people. Before she left she cooked up an awesome soup so I’d have something healthy to eat. Nothing like trying on undergarments to get you back into healthy eating mode, right? I have a bunch of work to cram in before I leave for Vermont, so don’t expect a lot of crafting. Oh, ya, I’m going to Vermont. Bj and I are going to see Ceara (my maid matron of honor) and her husband. Before that I have no less than six more wedding related appointments in Portland, as well as a meeting with my mom’s friend who is hopefully going to do our calligraphy for us. She said if she liked her style she would do it as a wedding gift. Is that not the sweetest thing? We think it’s so cool she has an amazing skill that she can give. My mom and I are now contemplating calligraphy lessons of our own. In anticipation of this I’ve typed out the guest list and proper titles and addresses. Not that quick of a task. And it’s involved tracking a few people down.

I divvied up the list and set everyone on hunts. My mom came back with some sad news. An all time favorite family of ours growing up was our neighbors three houses up on our old block. The house was a sweet mom, cool dad, and super rad daughters. Their youngest was our babysitter and has always been my inspiration when I’m with children. She the fun one who listened to us, played with us, ran around with us, and did everything, unlike the babysitter that got play-dough thrown at her head because she wouldn’t get off the phone with her boyfriend. Danielle introduced us to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (which I then introduced to my favorite duo, Nick and Lacey). When my parent’s went out of town she saved our little stipend and let us each spend a little bit at Toys R Us, of course the whole fun was just going there. The whole family was great, and were always my best Girl Scout Cookie customers. We moved away, Danielle became a nurse, and other sisters married. One of her sisters has an adorable family including a little girl named Claire who this summer was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I spent last night reading all of the blog they started for her, and she just seems to have the most amazing spirit. Her grandma (who my mom talked to when she was getting Danielle’s address – see I can relate this story back) has barely been home since it happened. The whole family has rallied around her. They may not be able to come to the wedding because of this, but will be in my thoughts and prayers every night. It sure brings me back down to earth about silly little wedding things. I’m going to try hard to just breath and remember that life is precious, and more wonderful than not.

Ladies, gentlemen. I am desperately looking for these shoes in white (so I can dye them like this):


They are Manolo Blahniks, I don’t think they are made any more and I can’t find them any where. I wear a size 38, and ideas? I found a pair of regular sling backs that are cool, and I’m going to another designer’s trunk show Saturday. But before I pick up anything else I want to make absolutely sure I can’t find these. I cut this out from a wedding mag years ago.

So I’m not one of those people who likes to do things like everyone is doing them right now. I know lots of people like to be unique, but I see it as kind of an extreme sport, and when it comes to my wedding, its the Olympics baby. So I’ve only been saving wedding magazines for 10 years, but with supplemental research material (movies, classic novels, stories, even music) I’ve come up with some must haves for our wedding. The thing is I’ve got this tight schedule, so I should just let some of that go right? HELL NO. Bring it ON. I’m going to use the invitations as an example here. They are being printed at two separate places because I want two types of printing. I am not writing the addresses on, they are going to be done with calligraphy. The calligrapher is also going to write out my address and I’m making that into a rubber stamp for the reply cards. But none of that is really that difficult, so I had to make it MORE difficult for myself by deciding that none of the stamps currently being issued by the post office suited my taste (don’t get me wrong I love the Gee’s Bend stamps, but I already used those for my save the date cards). So I decided to go vintage. This involved contacting stamp collecting societies, and a bunch of stamp shops in my area. Well today I finally hit the jack pot. I need a lot of stamps to make up the 52 cents for the outer envelope and 39 cents for the RSVP card. I put a big dent in that as you can see:


The best part? These suckers cost 95 cents to the dollar. That’s right a dollar’s worth of perfectly good (but older and cooler) postage costs 95 cents. I had budgeted for it to be more than face value. Sa-Weeeet. I still have a meeting with another collector in Portland Saturday and I should be able to get the rest. I was so giddy I had to stamp one envelope:


Making up these combos specifically for people is going to be way too much fun, and I can’t wait!!!

I’ve also made meetings for cake people, flower people, and got a chunk of Violet’s dress knitted last night. Dawn emailed me to ask how I do it all, Dawn my head feels like it’s going to explode right now, but I’ll go into details of the organizational strategy soon for you.

I wish I could go back to this weekend and just lay around like this some more, but I really think my "lay around time" is going to have to wait until after the wedding, which is um, exactly two months away (but less really when you think about how short February is). Throw in the bridal showers (is it wrong to be so excited about all the gifts?), trips up to Portland (seriously getting to an insane amount), and work and man am I a busy girl. A lucky girl, but a busy one. I had the care of my little sister for five days. Two of those her BBF came over to hang out with us as well. I moved all my furniture in the living room and set up a prime Veronica Mars watching station, complete with in door campfire activities such as marshmallow roasting (toasting?). I am so the coolest big sister ever. Oh, but not for all that wonderful stuff, for schlepping Emilie back and forth to her poor invalid boyfriend (OH MY GOD he must get better by SWEETHEART!!!). Seriously these 15 year olds could not have been cuter or nicer. I really think if you take time to see what teenagers are interested in and really listen to them they are not the animals society makes them out to be. Maybe I’m too close in age (eleven years removed) or maybe it’s because they’re not mine. But I actually like teenagers.

I also like new friends, and Bj and I had some over this weekend. We invited down a friend of his from work and her boyfriend (hi Courtney and Jim!). I only met them the first time at the company party (which I do have a picture of this year, instead of a drawing, but I need to get it from Bj). Not only does Courtney read my blog, which obviously makes her first rate, but they like to play games! And they brought some! We even got my sister in on a nice round of Scattagories. We stayed up way too late to make it to Sue’s crop on time, but we did drop in for a bit. I got more paper (because I so need more paper, right?). And Sue said something about me not scrapbooking anymore. And it’s weird because I think about scrapbooking, and I use some of my supplies, but I guess it has been a while, and I got this pang of guilt. But my plate is so full right now, I mean I have like 16 unwatched Baby Stories on my TiVo right now, and I don’t think that’s ever happened before!

Other than that it’s all wedding stuff. We have the reception place, Dj, band, photographer (oh ya, we need to have engagement shots taken, don’t know if that’s going to happen), dress (it’s a surprise!), wedding bands picked out (but not bought) and… no church. I have a clear line on one, it’s so spendy, but there aren’t a lot of options. The list of stuff I still need to do or get is huge: chandeliers/ other lighting schemes, pick out trees, knit Violet’s dress, table settings, flowers/florist, shoes, which then have to be dyed, invitations, cake, dessert bar, mini champagne, calligrapher, stamps, gifts (bj, my girls, parents, etc), magically loose 10 pounds with out working out or sweating or stopping eating the candy. And can some one tell my why there isn’t "Amber green" as a general choice on various wedding related things, like table linens? Sage is so last century people.