The [Temporary] Great Escape

James Zachery and I are most certainly not known for our ability to sit still and/or reverently. Nor are we known for our normalcy. Being as we hadn't gone on an adventure since Snowboard-A-Palooza, we felt like we were way overdue for a date of running from reality. Where did we flee to, you ask? Only one of the most beautiful places on the East Coast-- Carillon Beach in the Gulf of Florida.

Zach's spring break conveniently aligned with our restlessness, allowing us to take a not-long-enough-but-better-than-nothin' weekend trip to the Gulf. Zach rode down on Thursday with Mrs. Christine McClure (Mommy McClure) while I suffered through Thursday and Friday at work-- and boy do I mean suffered. In hind-sight, I'm not sure if day-dreaming about romping around on the beach with my fiancee kept me sane and gave me the motivation to push through or if it was completely counter productive. I'm 90% sure that I spent both days gazing longingly into space envisioning somewhere I'd rather be. In short-- the last 2 days of my work week were a complete wash.

2 long and lonely days-- a half a bag of Blazin' Buffalo Doritos-- an hour long hunt for an iPhone car charger-- 6hrs-- 3 states-- getting pulled over but never ticketed twice--and a whole lot of newly pioneered curse words later... I had arrived! Needless to say, I was slightly less-sane than I was upon my departure, but who's counting!?

Despite our grogginess, we decided to start Saturday morning out with a relaxing walk on the beach where I managed to acquire my very first tan-lines of the season. Walking on the beach is an activity of therapeutic nature that both my mother and I partake in on our annual 4 week trip to the Atlantic side of Florida. We all know that I go a lil' nuts with excessive running-- the same neurotic tendencies carry over to my beach-walking. I could go for miles and hours at a time. [On one of our previous beach trips Zach actually came looking for me-- I think they were worried that the crazy lady with wind blown hair might have gotten lost.] It was on this leisurely stroll that we were reminded how unappreciative the bottoms of our feet were of unstable surfaces; furthermore, it was were we began formulating an answer to the million dollar question...

"How are you guys getting married!?" 

We've without a doubt driven our parents to the point of lunacy with our laid-back indecisiveness about our "wedding." As if us calling the big event off wasn't disruptive enough-- we had yet to solidify a Plan B... . you know, we like to keep people on the roller coaster that is "Zach and Maxine" for as long as possible. Needless to say-- it was a very productive walk. But that doesn't mean we're opening our big fat mouths quite yet. We need to let this chicken stew in its respective egg before it hatches.

We enjoyed some modest shopping and dinner at the delicious Pompano Joe's-- coconut shrimp and mango chutney=yes please. And then of course we had to have desert-- it is the McClure mission to sample and critique frozen yogurt boutiques. Zach devoured his vanilla, pina colada and chocolate blend topped with fudgie brownies while I dabbled in a more adult formula-- raspberry with assorted gummy bears. These weren't just any gummy bears, people. They were soft, flavorful, tiny and had more flavors than I have fingers! 

We spend Sunday morning at church and reading by the pool. I started the most fascinating book-- "Labor of Love: One Man's Journey Through Pregnancy," or something of that nature. Zach protected himself from the sun and I showed off my new bathing suit-- a gift from my brown eyed boy.

6hrs-- 3 states-- 2 candy bars-- a pack of gummy worms-- and a 30 degree difference in temperature later we had arrived back in Atlanta sun-kissed and longing for more time in the sand. Zach and I had a lot of time to talk and reflect on the events of our engagement-- I even convinced him to try to wedding bands while we were there! Reluctantly he obliged in following me into Kay Jewlers-- since most men [mine in particular] are not willingly ring-wear-ers, I wanted Zach to try a few on and figure out what kind of material he was most comfortable with. After figuring his correct ring size I watched as he tried on ring after ring.. as he slipped the last ring onto his left hand, I locked my eyes on that fuzzy knuckled little finger and shamelessly and excitedly blurted out to the entire store... 

"We're getting MARRIED!!!!!!" 

It was as if I was suffering form a relentless case of verbal diarrhea. The sales woman commented on how adorable we were and the store manager attempted to soothe my excitement by cleaning my ring for me.

We're home. Safe. Sound. Grateful. Exhausted. In love.

Z+M

Paint or Be Painted

This past weekend I had the opportunity to participate in a killer service project and Camp Twin Lakes. Camp Twin Lakes is a wonderful non-profit organization that provides kids who suffer from a vast array of illnesses/disabilities with the opportunity to "be normal." We're talking about children with real, scary, sometimes terminal illnesses who would otherwise never have the opportunity to conquer a high-ropes course, rock climb, zip-line, canoe or even swim. A group of around 100 of us rambunctious 20-somethings designated our weekend to partaking in contributing our blood, sweat and tears into adding to Camp Twin Lakes. My job was of the less bloody, sweaty and teary....I was deemed as the Official-Documenter-of-Events for Saturday.....

So...ladies and germs [as my father would say].... .let's take an abbreviated walk through my weekend as the all-seeing-not-really-all-knowing eyes/shutter....

There were multiple "artistic" assignments-- we beautified the pool area with cartoon-istic paintings and adorned the dining area with sponge painted fruits and vegetables while adding a non-sequential comic strip which bordered the floor board...

We jack-hammered some crumbling structures which lay in the center of these GIANT tee-pees and built  new fire pits, constructed of brick to ensure their ability to survive even the bluest of fires. Considering that I had never seen a jack-hammer at work "in real life," this was a special treat-- furthermore, his [the jack-hammer, I like to personify most everything] name was loving displayed across his forehead-- "Wacker." I will keep this in mind when Zach and I are naming our first child.

We built. A lot. We made an assortment of benches of varying sizes, we lay sod-- which loosely translates to "played in the mud," we built a barn for a potential petting zoo from the ground-up, we created a puppet theater, mapped out and installed an RC track to ensure that campers can be transported quickly and safely to their destinations, and played in the mud some more.

I am incredibly jealous of whoever got to operate this destructive piece of machinery...This our track in the making!

Puppet Theatre To Be..and of course, there's always time to break from labor to enjoy muddy hands, sun kissed cheeks and hair glued stiff with sweat..

We chiseled and painted signs so that campers [and us scatter brained servicers alike] could navigate the campus...feast your eyes on the finished product and and precise process...

We built some "shade structures" to ensure that campers would have multiple places to seek refuge from the unforgiving rays of the sun and also took some time to beautify the property with some greenery and yellowery [yes, that IS a word..

Mind you, there are over 500 photos so these are just some sneak-peeks to get the point across somewhat. After a total of 23 hours of drilling, hammering, measuring, walking, sweating, digging, planting, pressure washing, painting, taping, painting, painting, building, mumbling obscenities and let's not forget JACK-HAMMERING, we had completed each and every one of the tasks we set out to do. That's right, we had successfully completed our assignments [and then some] and felt incredibly proud of how much the appearance and functionality of the campus had changed. After reveling in our good-deeds rewarded with even better feeling by hugging, hustling and high-five-ing we decided that there was in fact ONE daunting task left un-done. Let's see if you can guess...

• 80 degree weather. 
• a coudless sky.
• relentless sweating
• a well-earned sense of accomplishment and compassion
• more sweating
• dehydration
• delirium
• exhaustion
• utter excitement

What in the world COULD all of these factors equate to!?!?!?!?! Let's also calculate in that we were a group of respectable, well-educated, 20-somethings/30-somethings who probably will never grow up. Friends, I will tell you what the solution is to this complex problem.....

We jumped in the pool...FULLY CLOTHED

...not to brag but Angella Copeland and I totally get props for being the first two girls to willingly cannon-ball into icy oblivion. Okay, I'm totally bragging. What else is new. Look at the rest of the group behind us, cowering in fear that we might hug them or sit in their lap thus drenching them. Which we did.

I must admit that I missed my fiance terribly as he had to remain in ol' Atlanta so that he could work on Saturday. 

However, I returned humbled and satisfied by my experience at Camp Twin Lakes. Being the biochemist nerd that I am-- I am incredibly fascinated by disease and the havoc it wreaks on ones body, I've spent my education studying anatomical and pure scientific complexities...having such knowledge causes me to posses unyielding gratitude for my health. I get to get up every day and go for a 5 mile jog whereas some of the kids that we served this weekend won't ever have the opportunity to stand on his or her own two functioning feet. There are so many things that I take for granted, that we as healthy individuals take for granted-- our ability to walk, ride a bike, brush our own teeth, sit in traffic, practice indecisiveness over what to eat for dinner, do cartwheels and know that we have a potential lifetime ahead of us. I feel genuinely fulfilled that our group might have helped to encourage a smile in at least one of the future campers hearts. I think that service is important-- we all need it at one time or another.

Let's not take things for granted anymore. 

Especially the little things.

Always and Until Next Time

M[+Z]

Sometimes We Get A Lil' Crazy.. .

So, we have some wedding-esque news that has the potential to knock your socks off. Be prepared to experience the following: laughter, tears, surprise (!!!), confusion, annoyance, the irresistible urge to roll your eyes, hug us and spit on your computer screen.. .at us.

Let’s reminisce a bit, shall we? Some odd weeks (okay, okay, MONTHS, multiple months) ago—my dear fiancée and I set a wedding date, booked a venue, a caterer, a photographer, picked colors.. .okay, so we merely narrowed down color possibilities, I went through the grueling process of trying on wedding dresses, we ordered fancy-shimmery-paper for our invitations, we sent “Save the Dates”, and we started a countdown to remind us of the daunting number of days between us and our “I Do’s.”

Here’s  an interesting thought--- Scratch all of the above mentioned tasks and obligations. Throw the mind-numbing hours of unconvincing decisiveness out of the proverbial window and take a breath so that you process this next thought with an open mind..  .maybe even count to 10? 1….2….3.. .4…okay, we’re not doing that.

We’ve changed our plans, people. 

We are forgoing the big wedding 

to indulge our inner-romantics 

by “running away together” 

to exchange I Do’s.

Which means 

that our guests can “unsave the date,” 

as we no longer own June 4, 2011.

Are you rolling your eyes yet? Screaming at your computer? Working on an impressive spit ball which has the ability to travel through cyber space?

There are about 1,000,000… . . more realistically, a handful of reasons why we on-not-so-much-of-a-whim decided to obliterate our wedding plans for the sake of simplicity. I will cover the basic(s) while being incredibly elusive and non-specific. The Jist: The Nitty-Gritty: That brown eyed-boy and I love each other, A Lot. And what we want most out of “our” day is to walk away from it as Husband and Wife—that is our only purpose and priority. That’s about as good of an explanation as I can provide, or am willing to provide. And believe me, that’s a lot more invasive than Zach’s idea of an explanation: He wanted to say....

“Dear Friends and Family. We are Eloping. <3”

Boys. They are so too-the-point. Girls, we are so over-explanatory-to-the-point-of-confusing.

So, “What Now?,” you ask.

We elope. We start making our house a home and we wake up every day as Mr. and Mrs. McClure. As a side note: I hope you’re not still holding your breath and/or counting… because if you are, you might suffocate and/or suffer no real consequences from counting. We would love to spend time visiting with any/all of you despite the fact that we’ve nixed our wedding plans. And considering that we have 2 extra bedrooms and also that I make a mean breakfast casserole--- we’d love some guests.

Let’s  Re-Cap, shall we?

1.    We have given June 4^th back to the people—so, don’t buy a plane ticket, stress about what to wear and/or show up to Summerour Studio on the evening of June 4th expecting a Big Fat Greek wedding…’cause we won’t be there! BUT—if you WANT to come visit with us… PLEASE do.

2.    We are eloping. And will of course, keep you updated on all developments and/or activities pertaining to our romantically satisfying elopement. I'm sure we will throw together an open house at our new digs and/or some kind of casual get together.

3.    Please dispose of your spit ball(s) and/or paper wads in a civilized fashion. I.E…not all over our cyber-faces.

If you have questions, comments, or just bad gas—we’d love to talk with you concerning most of the previously mentioned matters. We love all of you.

In other news.. . .I have A LOT of updating to do. Perhaps I'll go nuts regurgitating the past 2 months of our lives whilst Zach pretends to study tonight? Although, don't hold your breath.. . .seriously.

Until next time,

Z+M

Johnny Depp makes an odd Willy Wonka

Ladies and Gentleman...

[or, as my father would proclaim:]

"Ladies and Germs"

[Some] of our engagement pictures have arrived!

The cold noses, frozen finger tips and excessive amount of time spent on blow-drying my hair [okay, so maybe it was just a normal amount of time but we all know how much I detest showering...who's counting!?] paid off! Our photographer has delivered us a perfectly bundled package of classic/not-so-classic, just-artsy-enough, at sunset, killer back drops combined with an even more killer eye for the usually unusual and picture-esuqe-- this concoction of adjectives thus describes our engagement photos. Now, we've been provided with 25 edits and will receive a second disk that holds the full array of un-edits to do with as we wish. Since our initial for-fun photos illuminate brightness and summer-time I think it's pretty awesome and time-line-ish that our actual engagements depict an appropriate at-dusk, fall time theme. We thought we would share a few for kicks and giggles.. . .

.. . ..we can't exactly tie ACTUAL knots with our fingers..so this is the most accurate portrayal of "tangled" that we could get.

.. . .just standing under a weeping willow..staring [adoringly]

.. .Pondering @ Grant Park

. .I kind of threw out the whole "to be or not to be" train of thought..it's all relative...and not as much fun as clumsily destroying a perfectly good bow-tie for the sake of a kiss...

<--ENGAGED. Like, Duh!

.. .please note that my dress was a size too big and caused a bulge in the belly. Also, this is Zach's favorite

And, of course...you remember [or maybe you don't] our previous introductory blog-photo that looked like something out of a J Crew add..minus that my eyes were still debating on whether or not they wanted to open...

. .okay, so that concludes YOUR sneak preview. I left my absolute favorites out of the mix as to not prematurely expose them. Oh, and, the new-new blog title photo is also an example of engagement madness...I love that the Krogg Street bridge backdrop adorns an "EVERYTHING LASTS FOREVER" banner. Kind of fitting, eh?

In an abbreviated update: 

• we survived "Snowpocalypse 2011," unscathed. We occupied ourselves with working out, and sledding at all hours of the night [thought: why is it that all of the havoc we wreak happens AFTER the sun sets. Are we fang-less vampires? Or hairless Werewolves? Food for thought.] and lots of movies. I've got some photos and blurbs to post concerning such topics-- in due time. 
• Some butt hole bought our discounted Crate and Barrel couch a mere 12 hours after we'd decided that it was THE couch. We should have been less concerned about the road conditions and more concerned about someone snatching up our goods. Ya snooze Ya lose. That being said: after A LOT of pouting and a decent amount of disappointment--we're on the hunt again! 
• I've lost over 10 pounds since this time last year [seriously] and only have 8 more to lose before I'm at my wedding goal weight. I'm going to continue gorging myself on Chick Fil A for about another month or so-- I figure, I'll start getting obsessively serious once the New Years Resolution-ers realize that they're out of steam. Of course, I'm still running like a mad-woman. Speaking of, my room mate and I are running a half marathon in Tennessee at the end of April. 

Stay tuned.. .we've got a potential snow boarding trip in the works, invitations just waiting to be designed and ordered [our goal is to get that done this week...procrastinate much?] and a wedding to attend.. .after I work a sickening amount of over-time in order to bring my case load up to date after 3 snow days. Thanks Mother Nature! 

Until next time...

Z+M

Comp Day[s], Mini-Road Trips and Fishies.. *

I think I'm starting to get the hang of this whole "big girl job" thing. It feels good [sometimes] to be out of my pull-ups and into fancy-meant to be pressed [but aren't because I woke up too late]-slacks. Mainly because I've experienced the beauty of comp-days and being salaried. I can't stay away from biochemistry forever but until I'm fit to make my return, it's fun to dabble in that of the totally unrelated. I took this past Friday off with the intention of ordering wedding invitations and wreaking some havoc with my fine fiancee... .we were going to get so much done and have the satisfaction of knocking numerous tasks off of our forever growing to-do list....in theory. What actually happened was breakfast at Chick-Fil-A, unsuccessfully lurking around A Paper Affair for an embarrassingly small amount of time before bolting for Chattanooga. As in Tennessee. As in the Tennessee Aquarium. Our main motivation for our great escape from Georgia was to feast our hungry eyes on Tahitian Wave featuring Kelly Slater via IMAX. We arrived roughly an hour prior to show time which enabled us to hang with those with gills and fins for a while...we were more entertained with petting rays, pestering penguins and climbing man-made rock walls than we were with the actual fish.. .. .... .

Tahitian Wave immediately had us both lusting for salt water, the tangible concept of an endless summer and natural Kelly Slater-esque surf abilities. I think we are both way too much of weenies to attempt to conquer any form of a Tahitian wave so we'll stick to dreaming and watching delicious documentaries. Speaking of delicious, we may or may not have shamelessly [over] indulged in some Buffalo Wild Wings....if you haven't tried the Asian Zing sauce.. I recommend it. 

Next: Pre-Registering-Window-Shopping at Lenox! We decided that before we are armed with the magical beepy scanny device, we should take mental inventory of a few stores to ensure that.. . 

A) we pick the stores most fitting to us and 

B) we don't prematurely go beepy scanny device happy and register for a sleuth of things we don't need or that don't go together.

While innocently exploring Crate and Barrel we found our future couch--upholstered in buttery dark brown leather and constructed with the concept of rejuvenating naps in mind. The best part of our soon-to-be-seating is that it is not only 50% off it's original price of $2,700 but it is an additional few hundred dollars off for the floor sample. It's 88 inches in length and is deep and glorious. We would have taken 'er home by now but on account of the snow and icy road conditions, Crate and Barrel has been closed. Mark my words-- if they open their doors tomorrow, you can bet your lucky stars that Zach and I will be anxiously waiting with check book in hand... 

I'm incredibly anxious to get moved into our new home so I can start decorating and see how everything will look all set-up and what not. And of course, share some personal photos rather than click and drag internet thumbnails. It will be interesting to see how our new baby fits in our living room considering that the measurements of said new baby just barely made the cut. We really wanted a nice leather piece for our main living room-- leather is just timeless to me, it can work in virtually any set-up and under any version of decor. So, while it will presently serve as our main living room couch-- it could down the road be great seating in an office or a secondary living area. Next up we'll be in the market for some nice chairs and an accommodating end table to top off the living room seating. We've found a great mirror that we love at Pottery Barn [also severely discounted but it has yet to be purchased. Do we need it?] and have some other minor wall ornamentation but we don't want to take away from the focal point[s] of our living room....which incidentally also serves as our entrance hall-- we have a killer fireplace above which we will hang our TV. Here's the thing-- the painful reality: Zach and I like nice stuff.. Who doesn't? Unfortunately, nice stuff=$$$. But because I am my mother's daughter and am very conscious of what's a reasonable price and what's a ridiculous one and also my father's daughter who like him, believes in spending a little more on excellent quality-- well... it's a pretty good balance so far. We'll see how many boxes of Ramen noodles I go through to promote plans for furnishing and remodeling our soon-to-be-home.

Enough with the house stuff, right? 

We're going on day 3 of being snowed in [with the exception of a few runs to the gym and to RedBox.. I have a new appreciation for German engineering with all wheel drive]. More to come on that later.. .until then, I'm going to snuggle with my husband-to-be and watch movies until our eyes are red and strained, after which we'll attempt to make the most enormous of snowmen-- in the dark.

Until next time....

Z+M

I'm drunk on sugar

T'Was the night before Christmas. . .and all 

through [Stacye + Bob's] house. Not a creature was stirring [except for a Maxine, 2 doggies and 2 kitties]. Not even a mouse. Mainly because I would have already found something to squish it with.. . 

Zachery just

departed for Atlanta after a day of consuming unnatural, excessive, diabetic coma inducing sized portions of fudge. 

Our personal poisons: Me-- Butterfinger Fudge and Peanut Butter Fudge. Zach-- Rocky Road Fudge, Chocolate/Walnut Fudge and Toffee Chip Fudge. He argues that he's bringing one piece to his dad but I only half way believe him

We spent the day bouncing around in small-mountain-town-esque stores and well, eating. Next time we'll come equipped with hike-worthy shoes. It's hard to believe that a little over a year ago Zach and I were going on our first date. I think just experienced a temporary lapse in woman-li-ness....how could I forget that we exchanged gifts!? Zach has once again made it impossible for me to "one-up" him. First I get a killer ring-- now he's presented me with a gorgeous designer wallet, a new edition version of my signature scent [Chanel/Chance] and 2 really amazing Nike pull-overs [featured on me in the photo above, and also in the post concerning the 5k I ran in reindeer antlers and knee high socks]. I don't care how tacky it is to broadcast my new digs via the internet. I'm stoked. In exchange, I gave Zach some Bose Noise Canceling headphones, a snow boarding trip, a handful of Michael Kors ties and his favorite socks. Needless to say, we're both lucky that our significant other has such fantastic taste! Even more needless to say-- I think both my brown-eyed boy and I are ready to hit the snow [since we can't hit the surf]. On a semi-related note: I've pinky promised Zach that I will FINALLY purchase a new long-board over New Years weekend. I think the reality of this pinky promise is that Zach wants HIS board back-- I've been holding it hostage for.... months.

I suppose that I'd better focus my attention on the 24-hour "A Christmas Story" marathon and dive into some more wedding research... . before the sugar high dissipates. .. .Speaking of Christmas. ..There's a 60% chance that I'll have a white one up here..  .which would soil my plans of driving into Atlanta for the morning/afternoon.. .however, it would give me ample time to concoct/take the most extravagant bubble bath EVER. 


In lieu of revealing some tid-bits of wedding research that I have yet to conduct.. .here are some photos of my last Christmas here in my North Georgia sanctuary.. . 

 

As per usual: Love & Hugs

Z+M

Where's the money tree?!

It’s Officially Winter. Which means—

the cold? It ain’t goin’ no where. 

Zach and I thought that in celebration of the ACTUAL arrival of winter and accompanying chilling temperatures—we would take our engagement pictures! 


Sunday afternoon we met with our photographer [founder of Sharif Hassan Photography/The Bowtie] around 4 to so that the symphony of shutters could begin. First and foremost—let me tell you about our photographer.. . 

His name is “Beefy"

okay, so maybe on his birth certificate it says “Sharif Hassan” but who pays attention to the fine print, anyway!? Beefy sports the most impressive handle bar mustache in all of the land. He lives in Atlanta and shoots everything from pin-up girls to extreme sports and outdoors to engagements and weddings. He probably dedicates about 50% of his time to his amazing photography and 50% to waxing his mustache. Either way, I HIGHLY recommend him. He did a ton of research to help us find some good spots to shoot and was totally easy to work with. He’s goofy, laid back but incredibly talented and professional. I don’t know how many of you have actually experienced having your engagement pictures taken—or even portraits but I will let you into this little gem of knowledge: no matter how much you love each other or how comfortable you are in front of a camera.. .it’s unavoidably awkward. 

Feast your eyes on our photographer and his mustache.... .

We hit up Grant Park first to skip in the leaves and kiss under weeping willows before moving onto the bridge on Estoria and then the infamous Krogg Street Bridge where “Everything Lasts Forever,” we ended the shoot on some seemingly abandoned train tracks between East Atlanta and Grant Park—there were rows of stationary choo-choo trains covered in graffiti. It was pretty dark by that time but I’m hopeful that at least some of the later shots turned out. It’ll be a few weeks before we’re able to broadcast a sneak peek but we’re incredibly anxious/excited to see the end result(s)—which we will send out with our invitations.

Oh, invitations. We should get on picking those out… . .

After our engagement pictures were finished and our noses, fingers and toes were sufficiently frozen we headed to our friend’s house to make gingerb.. er, graham cracker houses. Zach and I teamed up and decided that we would put his architectural genius to use by constructing an impressive double wide trailer .complete with obnoxious colored “Christmas lights” and even more obnoxious lawn ornaments. 

[Glorified Trailer Trash... ]

Although it feels like we haven’t done much else aside from emptying our pockets on behalf of this time of year [spending ample amount of time in the home-goods section in Anthropologie has been the demise of my bank account]—it’s nice to have festive time together. And seeing friends has been awesome as well. Between edible house building, tacky Christmas sweater parties, cut-throat games of scategory and traditional holiday parties with some of my wonderful friends.. .we’re feeling festive. Slightly cheesy. But festive none-the-less.

[Us Plotting to Win Scategories]

Followed by:

[The crew of newly-weds and soon-to-be-weds at Clark and Monique's Tacky sweater game night]

Followed by:

My French friend Shelley, My professional ballerina/personal shopper friend Liz and I at Liz and Jeremy's Christmas party]

In other news, I’ve eaten the equivalent of my body weight in peanut butter fudge today. I’m incredibly anxious to hit the gym after work. Then I’ll probably just eat some more. I was so excited to get back into a size 2 and now it seems as if my new goal is to compete for the highest weight against a small elephant. I've arrived at my vineyard sanctuary to indulge in some heavy duty relaxation and more heavy duty wedding research. And running on mountain roads. But we’ve already covered that in a previous post—no one is supposed to tell my mother, remember? I’ll probably reveal wedding color possibilities and expose our [my] possible ideas for décor this.. . .Oh, and flowers. I need to pick those.

I wish someone would tell me: Does this wedding "to-do" list EVER end!?

Back to the Anthropologie stuff: Zach has forbidden me from decorating our entire house in such a way. Mainly because this style CAN be over-done.. .and in large doses it could transform a space into the likes of a fashionable grandmother-type's home. So, I'm sticking with accents here and there rather than following a stuffy color scheme-- okay so I'm sure our "grown up" dish ware will have some sort of consistent theme. Back to the here and now: Our kitchen is modest in size and the paint color will likely remain the same champagne-ish-dark-ivory that it currently is... .I'm hoping that we can eventually install a backsplash of subway tiles. Like I said...accents.


Item # 1: Fancy Paisley Spoon Rest. Which my sister-in-law to be also owns but if some thing is cute enough, I will shamelessly play copy-cat.

Item # 2: Un-designated Containers. They're cute. They were $4. And they can look killer displayed with or with out a purpose.. . 

Item # 3: Measuring Cups. These are pretty self-explanatory. And adorable. Hello Fashion. Meet Function. 

Item # 4: These are supposed to be candle votives. But that ain't happenin'. Okay so. FIRST of all. I did NOT buy purple. I bought a really killer bright turquoise and a bright-ish yet mustard-ish yellow-- they just weren't featured on the website. And they will serve as toothbrush holders in our bathrooms. 

Until Next Time

Z+M