Link Love

As a nice way to wrap up the work week and welcome the weekend, 
I would love to share some links from around the web!

DIY Rope Wrapped Mason Jar Lights

NY Times Dialect Quiz It's really fun & really accurate!

A red ceiling - perfect.

Banana Crumb Muffins yes please!

We LOVE Beyonce.

Mexico City here we come?

We hope your weekend is full of productivity and fun!

Love, 

image from simon and james

Will you be my bridesmaid?

Genna, the Diva. 

Reason 1,347 why Genna is the best.

Genna is just holding it!  We are not promoting underage drinking!

The first couple of months of being engaged were filled with questions, "When's the date?", "What are you thinking for colors?", "What's the theme?", "How did he propose?".   I didn't have the answers to all of their questions, truthfully it's all overwhelming.  

To answer one of the most pressed questions, the date, we started brainstorming.  I knew I wanted a fall wedding and fall 2013 seemed so soon.  So we settled on fall 2014.

For the first two months I binged on wedding planning, mostly location hunting, contacting venues for prices and such.   We went to one venue, fell in love with it, and that was it.  We had our venue.  (more on it later.)  

Of course, I had a good idea of what friends I wanted to be bridesmaids.  It seems the trend lately is to have little or no bridesmaids.  But there were some people I wanted to have with me through and through (planning, walking down the isle).  I didn't want to just ask them casually, so this is how I asked them.

We had the engagement party because our engagement was going to be so long and everyone wanted to celebrate.  It so happened that the museum that is our venue was hosting their annual Victorian Fashion Show and Tea.  So I invited the girls and they didn't see my question coming.  The only person that knew I was going to ask them was my mom (John of course knew).

We watched the fashion show, which was so much fun!  There were outfits from the 17th century up to the early 20th century.  Then I found a spot on the porch of the Hale House and presented them with their gifts.  There were little frames inside that said "Will you be my Bridesmaid?", thanks to my mom for capturing the moment of them opening them and their reactions.  Too bad Teresa, our (mine and Christina's bestie) couldn't be there, but she is also a bridesmaid!

It was so much fun to see their surprise.

This weekend I try on dresses for the first time! Eeek!

Speaking of dresses, I found this Marc Jacobs dress while working at Crossroads.  It seemed perfect with the little velvet hearts on them.

Frances Ha // Mumblecore

I studied film while in college. It was always a blessing for someone who is knowledgable in film who can easily direct you to which films will best represent a genre. My friend David has just introduced me to the modern film genre, mumblecore. It's a pretty silly name, right? & it doesn't give you an idea of what the genre is about. 

Mumblecore is a defined as an American "subgenre of American independent film characterized by low budget production values and amateur actors, heavily focused on naturalistic dialogue." 

(I apologize greatly for citing Wikipedia. My professors would :smh: in shame.)

From what I've seen, Mumblecore greatly resembles French New Wave, my favorite genre of film. Both genres share the same characteristics above. 

So I decided to go to back to film school & watch a new mumblecore film weekly as a "homework assignment". I enrolled Keith into the class so we could DIT&O it. It's always more enjoyable to watch a film with other people. You notice more about a film when you are able to observe other people reactions as well. Oh, that was funny? It was funny, huh?!

This week's assignment was Frances Ha (2012). Once again, a title that doesn't give a clue to what it's about. I really enjoyed the film. One of the most noticeable trait of the film is that it's black and white. I love black and white films. Modern black and white films always intrigue me (The Artist, God of Love). I think it has something to do with my love for classic films.

Frances Ha is about an "undatable" 20 something New York dancer who is trying to keep her head above water. Frances doesn't seem to have anything going for her except maybe her very loving relationship with her friend Sophie, which at times isn't the best. The film is intriguing because we wonder if Frances is going to make a mature decision, or if things will finally work out for her. 

Frances Ha was filmed beautifully & the locations were greatly appealing (New York, the city's apartments, France). & I enjoyed the costuming as well. Keith mentioned that he hated Frances' clothes; made me laugh. 

I hope you check out this film. Fortunately, you can find Frances Ha on instant Netflix! I won't drop out of this mumblecore class, so I'll be back next week to introduce you to another!

images from filmcaptures.com

Paper Plants

Thanks for the photo Miranda! 

Plants need sunlight, water and attention. In an office setting full sun for succulents may be hard to come by. I gifted these little cuties to a friend that had also recently started a new job.  All I did was cut them out on cardstock and glue them together.  The mini terracotta pots are full of pinto beans and to have them stay in their pots just drizzled some clear Elmer's glue on top.  

Super easy and if you're on a budget, extremely budget friendly. Such a thoughtful little gift, and the best part is they won't die!

The Crafty Mashup

Hosted by the ladies of M.A.L.A. & Dulce Calaveritas this Saturday we will be mingling and networking!  We will have limited inventory there, but also happy to take orders.  

If you are free Saturday night come by to get some handmade goods, watch movies and network!  

For all of the details visit and RSVP on the Facebook event page. 

See you there! 

NYE Mischief– Gatsby Style

After watching the newest rendition of The Great Gatsby– I imagined what it must have been like to be a guest at a party just like that.  Imagine no more, I along with some great friends experienced that party.  Thanks to friends Kadie and Emerson for providing the perfect venue for this party.   Their home is listed on the National Historic Registry and was built in the late 1800s, so you can imagine the charm the home has.  Kadie left it to me to decorate, and because the house is so amazing and their place is already decorated with vintage pieces it took very little  effort.  

With Kadie's permission and my willingness to vacuum, I set up a confetti bar.  Guests grabbed a paper cone, and made their own confetti mixture to fling into the air at midnight.  I knew I wanted to paint the ever looming eyes of Doctor TJ Eckleburg that Nick describes as keeping a "watchful vigil".  I painted the eyes in about 2 days and though I'm not the best painter it was a lot of fun.  I also made the tassels hanging in the living room.  The only thing different with these is they are extra long, I made each tassel with one sheet of tissue paper cut on the short side. There is a hook right in the center of the high ceiling, so we hung two strands from there and attached them to each corner of the room.  It felt like a big top at a circus.  I also painted the "Let's Misbehave" sign and it was a lot of fun walking it around to get pictures of everyone with the sign.  Let's not forget about the clear balloons!  I love balloons & the clear ones made me think of champagne bubbles.  

The party was so much fun– it left most of us saying it was the best NYE party they've ever been to.  Since the New Year I re-watched The Great Gatsby and just thought about what a great time we had and how much it felt like we were in fact at a Gatsby party! 

You can see more photos on my Facebook album cleverly called The Great Minter.