Almost road trip time!

Leg 1 of the journey begins tomorrow at 8:30 AM

YAY!!

Lovely song

I almost wish we didn't already have a song...but maybe it is still negotiable :)



Thanks to Judy for sharing :)

Updates and things

Phew, I am taking a break from my endless to-do list to write a blog.  So things have been coming right along, I just feel like everything has a deadline of last week (which isn't really the case) so I am freaking out a little bit.  I could also be freaking out because in a mere 3 days Aaron and I are roadtripping to Las Vegas so I can meet his Mom and their family.  EEK.  I have never been super nervous about meeting parents of guys I have dated, I can be personable and friendly when I try ;), but never has it been more crucial for me to need to be liked (and I have never met parents of someone I was engaged to...).  I mean, I guess if they hate me I will just have to deal with that, but I really want them to think I am the best thing that has ever happened to Aaron, lol.  No pressure.  I think it will be fine though - but I will tell you guys all about it!  And in addition to the trip being to meeting the folks, I am co-hosting a bridal shower for my super awesome friend Angela, and Aaron is turning 30 (OMG, old.) that Saturday!  So I have been put in charge of decor and games for the shower - I don't want to ruin the surprise, so I will have to blog about these things after the fact.  And I am not certain what we are doing for Aaron's birthday yet either. I should probably add that to the to-do list for today.  

Oh yeah, so Friday, I had an appointment with Distinctive Details, so I brought my mom along and we looked at dozens of options for table linens, and the best chairs ever.  I really liked the owner and her assistant who helped us, and they have lots of experience outfitting the Petroleum Club, which was good.  I did feel nervous though, that not one word of price was mentioned.  I like setting my parameters before hand, so I don't fall in love with something I totally can't afford.  I think that is a wedding biz trick - they want you to fall in love with the thing, then they ask you to empty your wallet.  I see it on Say Yes to the Dress like every episode.  But I mean, it is a table cloth.  I am not going to fall in love with something so not that important.  My equation for loving inanimate objects is:

Love = Fabulousness x (The price I estimate it to cost - the price I actually pay for it)

Therefore, there is no love without a sense of a bargain in my book, no matter how high the fabulousness is.  Wedding vendors try to knock out that half of the equation.  I am on to you!!!

Anyway, after we had our appointment I took my Mom by the club to check it out, since she hadn't been.  She liked it, and I think the creativity wheels were a turning in her head of ideas to set up the space.  

Saturday night Aaron and I had fancy date night pt 2.  We went to *17 for dinner.  If you think you are experiencing deja vu, you are - this is the restaurant of one of the wedding reception hotel prospects I visited earlier this year.  The food was absolutely fantastic and tt is literally down the street from Jones Hall, where we caught the season closer - Dvorak's Cello Concerto.  They had a guest Cellist - Alisa Weilerstein, and she was incredible.  The whole performance was beautifully performed, as per usual.  Musical Fireworks, Indeed!

As you can see by his plate, Aaron thought the food was terrible

That is about all going on over here, break time is over!

Bridesmaids!

Go see this movie, it is hilarious!!!

Fancy Date Night!

My two loves, Aaron and cake.

Every now and again it is good to get dressed up and have a night on the town :)  We started the night at Ruggles, and had a delicious dinner and amazing dessert. (you are looking at a creme brulee cheesecake right there!)   Then off for a night of the arts.  Aaron gave me the greatest Christmas present last year - passes to the symphony!  I am endlessly in love with music, and most especially any music live.  Aaron isn't a huge fan of going to my weirdo indie rock shows, due to crowds and late nights in bars, and standing for hours - so symphony is much more 'our' speed.  We went to Exploring Mahler 10 : Through musical examples and images, Hans Graf and Brian Newhouse of Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media will explore Deryck Cooke's completion of Mahler’s unfinished final masterpiece. - www.houstonsymphony.org

The Mahler story is really quite interesting.  At the time he began this 10th and final symphony of his career, he was going through bigtime personal struggles surrounding his beloved wife being a scandalous adulteress.  But Mahler became ill and soon wasn't able to complete the piece.  It wasn't until 50 years later when Deryck Cooke filled in the skeleton of work left by Mahler, and this version is what is the most popular version performed and recorded today.  The piece is really remarkable, and you can just feel in the score his loneliness, and just the varying feelings of fear, reflection, etc. upon knowing the end of his life was near.  It was a really great and moving performance!  

So yeah, we had a pretty fun fancy date night - and we will be having part 2 next weekend to use the last of our passes to see Dvorak's Cello Concerto!  "Ending the season with musical fireworks"  Yay!!!

Building a Beautiful Table: Chairs

Building a beautiful table:

Phase one

Chairs:

I know, I thought I said this was about tables.  I lied.  Lol

My favorite wedding chairs are just those chiavari chairs simple and don't really draw attention away from the table.

 I don’t have this option at this venue, which is fine.  Renting them from an outside company is in the neighborhood of $8 a chair.  Idon’tthinkso!  The Petroleum Club of Houston has some okay chairs.  They are black cathedral chairs with a rounded back with this sort of weird gold rope trim, and gold legs.  They aren’t the most unfortunate looking chairs in the world, but they will just look immensely better with chair covers.

 closeup of the trim (ignore that guy)

That being said, I usually hate the look of chair covers.

I feel like I am drowning in a sea of fabric.  And while they look pretty before the party starts, they soon start to look like your couch once that couch cover gets all mangled and tangled from being sat on half a dozen times – and you are doing pretty good if you don’t trip all over them just to get to the bathroom! 

someone throw me a floatie.

And then the spandex chair covers are available, but those just look like alien chairs to me.

Tell me what's next, alien $#% - Kanye

And I would imagine those would be kind of slippery to sit on?

And the giant bows on the backs are bothersome too.  Can we not get anything a little less 80’s prom looking?  Let’s evolve, people.

And I bring you, distinctive details!

http://www.distinctivedetails.com/

I want that chair.  (The one on the right)   



Wedding Hair

I suppose I could also title this post 'Putting the cart before the horse' but I was bored this evening and delving into pictures of wedding hair.  I have no part of my 'look' together at this point, but after my research, I am drawn to the pulled back or to the side styles that are sort of low and loose.  Let me tell you though, there are sooo many interesting styles to be had- Hairstylists sure have some cool skills!  Once I get my dress and everything, I will book a hair try-out with someone.  I don't have a regular hair person, so maybe I should work on finding one...  I should really focus on things that have more short term deadlines!

Theme Inspiration

An Elegant Candlelit Winter Wonderland.

That is our theme :)

Our colors are going to be navy blue with accented icy blue and silver
And Flowers and stuff I am thinking ivory and pale pink

excited!!!