SWAK

It's official - all of the invitations have gone out - every last one of them, and I couldn't be happier with the way they turned out. I designed the look based on a few invitations I saw on various wedding blogs, and I printed them all on my parents home printer. I wanted complete control over the wording since we needed to include info about both the wedding and the Idaho reception. I also tried to keep the design similar to our Save the Date cards by using the same colors and the same M-heart-C logo.

The entire process was surprisingly easy (and really fun), and the cute little "Adopt a Shelter Pet" stamps on the RSVP cards were icing on the cake. (Really, you should adopt one - I did!)

Pictures of the finished product below:

Love Birds

The birds are done (that's them above), and I'm pretty sure they're the cutest things ever. I can't wait until they're settled on top of the cake for all to see!

This past Saturday was the 3-week mark. Can you believe it? That's 20 days until I'm a married woman. I'm freaking out (as usual), and even Mason has started to feel the butterflies...

Numbers 5, 11, 12 & 15

With all the wedding to-do lists on my mind, this other little list has fallen to the wayside. I need to get busy - August will be here before I know it. Below are a few things I've scratched off recently:

#5 - I've definitely been eating more veggies this year - and more fruits! Check out that salad below - so much nutritious goodness in one little bowl. And my new favorite? Eggplant. Yummm.

#11 - These days there's too much sun shining outside my office window not to soak it up during a lunchtime walk. I usually meander down through all the food trucks and end up on a bench in front of the La Brea Tar Pits. Lucky me that I work in the museum district, right?

#12 - Thanks to my wonderful sister, my Jonathan Adler savings account is on the right track. (Just look at the excitement on my face when I opened that cute little box.) Now I've got my eye on this and this and this. Oh, the options...

#15 - Remember a while back when I mentioned I was going to a writer's group? That counts as a class, right? That's what I thought. Check it off.

Ok, four down, and plenty more to go!

Flowers A La Mom

I'm sure you've heard me mention plenty of times that I'm making all the flowers for my wedding out of fabric - BUT - have I mentioned that "I'm making" sometimes means "my mom is making?" If not, I should, because she is one amazing flower-maker and an even more amazing mom.

Check out those beauties above that she's been hard at work crafting. Is that not the prettiest thing you've ever seen??

Showered

I gave you guys a little preview of my wedding shower here, but never told you just how much fun it was. With homemade tex mex favorites (enchiladas! tamales!) and chips and dip from my favorite Mexican restaurant to snack on, plenty of margaritas and Coronas for sipping and festive cupcakes for dessert, it was the perfect mix of mingling, snacking and gift-opening. (Pics of the oh-so-cute cupcakes below.)

Although we knew it was asking a lot to have a "gift card" shower, it was really the only way we could get the gifts back home to California, and I'm so thankful to all of my friends and family for participating. Mason and I were both overwhelmed at the generosity and felt so loved!

Thanks again to everyone who came. It definitely started the wedding festivities off right!

Digging

It's been more than a week since I've posted (oh my!), and I really must apologize - but I'm back now and it's Friday and I've got a great list of a few things I've been digging lately. That should make up for it, right? That's what I thought.

So, here goes -

Things I'm Digging Lately:

• These fantastically cute mobiles from blabla kids - adorable


• The fabulous Jen Lancaster's truly fabulous summer reading lists - Memoirs! Fiction! Misc!


• This beautiful wedding - look at that bride - stunning!


• All things Etsy (especially this)


• The idea of starting my own Etsy shop - overwhelming, yes? exciting, YOU BET!


• Rummey Bears' Friday moments (like this one and this one)


• DIY gift ideas - seriously, who wouldn't want this necklace?


• Other completely fun gift ideas like this surprise ball


• Summer classes like this one - school doesn't always have to be boring

I hope those are enough fun things to put a smile on your face and make you forgive me for leaving you for so long.

Enjoy your weekend, all!

Number 6

Can be crossed off the list.

My night stand now looks like a marriage self-help library. If you need a book on this topic, I'm definitely your go-to girl.

And when it came to the biography, I opted for a memoir - "Three Weeks With My Brother" by Nicholas Sparks. Even if you're not a fan of Nicholas Sparks, this book is a great read, packed full of interesting facts about his life, a life that's been much harder than you would think.

I hope you had a great weekend. Mine included a whole lot of sleeping in. So did Cajun's.

Moments

I first saw the video above on one of my favorite blogs, hula seventy. I've been back to watch it a few times since, and I cry every time. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's the music, or the weight of each little moment, or maybe it's just that I'm a little weepy lately.

Life is such a fascinating and frightening thing. Does it ever scare you that we only get to do it once? What if we don't do it right? What if we could've done it better? Have you ever been terrified at the thought of forever? How do you decide on something forever?

These are the kinds of things I've been thinking about lately. So many times during the day, I find myself staring off into space, the task at hand totally forgotten as my mind drifts toward these thoughts. I'd love to hear your take on them.

Simple Living

I spent the long weekend at the lake in Texas, just like I do every year, but this year the trip has stayed with me well past my flight back to California. Maybe it was the old friends I saw or the new ones I made or both, but I keep thinking about how happy and content everyone seemed - proud to be living simple lives in small towns with good friends and plenty of family around all the time.

It made me jealous that what is a once-a-year event for me is an every-day event for them. Four years ago (or is it 5 now), I couldn't wait to get away, but seeing how happy everyone is, I can't help but think about what it would be like to go back...