I'm naked

Today I forgot to wear my engagement ring to work and I feel naked without it!
I only take it off to do dishes and when I coat my hands in lotion and after doing both last night I forgot to put it back on... I can't wait for the rumors to start flying around the office :/
♥ Rachel

Our "First" Thanksgiving

Andy and I hosted our first joint family Thanksgiving...

it was low stress and high calorie!

♥ Rachel

Happy Halloween!

♥ Rachel

Photo post!

Hooray, I posted my photo as promised!

Fail. My dessert from tonight, "Apple Goo."

We still ate it.

Photo Fail

So I did take a photo to post yesterday, and one for today. I was going to be slick and post them at while at work. FAIL. The card reader on my work PC doesn't work (just like at home) and so my photos are stuck in my camera. Hopefully I will get to it tonight...

What I am doing here?

Today I was paid the nicest complement that really made my day:
"You shouldn't be working here; your talents are being wasted."

I took a variety of photos on Friday during our company picnic and sent the photo album link out Friday afternoon. Typical co-workers, no one responded with the exception of one guy asking me to photoshop himself into the photo as a joke...


What a nice surprise - someone being nice in the workplace! Her comments have spurred me to do something I love... photography. The theme of being passionate (about anything!) has come up a lot this weekend. This is just the kick in the ass I needed!

Beginning today, I'm going try to take a photo a day as a challenge for myself.
Let's see how long this lasts...

Rachel Getting Married

Today "Rachel Getting Married" came out in theaters and since today is a year before the wedding, I was so excited to see today's paper with "our date" next to "RGM" is huge letters - this is one for the scrapbook! I'd love to go see it tonight just for the ticket stub... ;)

♥ Rachel

The Countdown Begins

One year from today Andy and I will be standing on a beach, exchanging vows to become husband and wife.


I can't predict who will be president or what the economy will be like, what colors or cake I will have decided on, but I do know that I will love him more with each day.

♥ Rachel

Happy Birthday!

Exhibit Marks What Would Have Been John Lennon's 68th Birthday

♥ Rachel

Project Runway - Wedding Dresses!

On last night's Project Runway, the contestants returned from their 2 months away with their collections - including a wedding dress and a coordinating bridesmaid dress! Below are Kenley's and Leanne's gowns- my two favorites.

Also, I'm considering dressing up as Kenley for Halloween.

♥ Rachel

Useful Links :)

Over the weekend Andy and I were discussing the origin of his last name with our chipper Macy's registry associate. THEN I stumbled upon this website via TestPattern that can tell you the origin and the highest density of people with your last name in the world.



With the onset of fall, and considering my wedding is almost exactly one year away, I wondered what time of day the sun would be setting (for photos and planning the reception lighting)... and the only place I could think to look was the good ol' Farmer's Almanac which can tell you the sun and moon's rise and set for the next forty years!


♥ Rachel

Birthday - One week later

Wow, after a rocky start my birthday turned out to be wonderful.
Thanks to one of my coworkers I was treated to a Pumpkin Spice Latte and a slice of cinnamon bread. Andy surprised me at work with a vase filled with huge Stargazer lillies that filled the office with their beautiful fragrance (much to the disapproval of several coworkers) and then took me out to lunch. For dinner we went for sushi and sat in a private room - it was amazing food and ended with a tiramisou cake!

♥ Rachel

Rachel and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad start to the birthday

Wow. What a random way to start the 25th year of my life...
When I took the dog out to potty this morning there was a woman and a little girl dressed in all black (dressed more like those nuns that wear black or burqas or ninjas) running down the street. It really spooked the dog and he went crazy barking and running around frantically. I brought him inside to feed him and start my bread (to take into work) and he got even more spooked and hid under the table and wouldn't stop barking. Lovely. Sorry Andy, I hope you weren't trying to sleep.

When I was attempting to make cinnamon pull-apart bread (monkey bread) the buttery cinnamon sugar gaze boiled over the top of the pan and pooled in the bottom of the oven and started to burn while I was in the shower. It woke Andy out of bed and he started bagging on the bathroom door - FIRE! FIRE!
Apparently our fire detectors are awesome because when I ran downstairs to check it out, it was just smoking. Then the smoke detector started speaking "FIRE" at us (I had no idea it could do that!) and that's when things got bad. I turned off the oven and Andy and I (sopping wet) were running around opening windows and fanning the detectors. The poor dog is so stressed today... so are we!

I have no idea what the plans are for tonight, but Andy is going to take me to lunch. I'm guessing I'll go over to his parents for presents and cake. Maybe out to dinner.

♥ Rachel

Fun Things You Didn't Know You Needed

Yesterday, Andy and I journeyed up to the Northern Suburbs to receive our Birthday gifts. Among them was this genius invention my Grandma C got me:

Stop Sign Park'N Place™
When visiting last week she noticed that I was using a wood block to stop my car... and not very successfully. I can't wait to try it out when I come barreling home from work tonight!

♥ Rachel

I just died a little...

Over the weekend (to add to my Wizard of Oz collection) Andy and I went to McDonald's to get a happy meal. I was THRILLED to see they now offer caramel iced coffee on their menu. I subsituted my ususal "orange drink" to try one out...
Verditct:
Andy felt it made him thirstier and although it tasted amazing going down, I was sick a few hours later. I blamed lactose intolerance, but today I came across this blog article...

McDonald’s Iced Coffee: Just Say No!

The second ingredient, cream, of course is a killer for me, but the third listed ingredient, sodium phosphate - is “used to treat constipation and to clean the bowel before surgery, x-rays, endoscopy, or other intestinal procedures. Sodium biphosphate and sodium phosphate enemas are also used for general care after surgery and to help relieve impacted bowels.”

Wow, now that's something I want to put in my body! Okay, after the end of this Wizard of Oz happy meal promo I am DONE eating at McDonald's. Seriously. I mean it this time.
♥ Rachel

THE dress...

I think I may have found THE dress... I'll add it to the quickly expanding wedding binder.

Who'll Stop the Rain?

With constant rain since Thursday evening, there was massive flooding near our townhome and the surrounding area. While dropping off some books at the downtown Naperville library we decided to join the gawkers. Little did we know our best sides were being photographed...

...until the photographer asked for our info!

Can I just gush for a second about how much I love seeing "fiancee" in the same sentence as our names?!

♥ Rachel

Cornice – How To

I fell in love with the Serafina fabric at Pottery Barn and created a cornice using their table runner. My inspiration:

Here are instructions and materials needed to create a window cornice in less than an hour:

Supplies:
-2 L-brackets (corner braces)

-Drywall screws / sinkers
-Wood board 1”x6”xlength of window + overhang
*Tip: You can get your board cut for FREE at Home Depot
-Fabric
-Decorative cording with a lip for easier stapling (Jo-Ann’s)

-Staple gun
-Drill
*Helper

Directions:
We started by installing the L-brackets into the board about 6” from the edges of the board (Your board will appear like a shelf when installed against the wall.).

Next, mark the center of the board and the center of the window. Make sure to center the board on the window and trace the drill holes onto the wall (Your helper will come in handy when attempting to trace the holes while keeping the board balanced and centered.) We wanted to give the illusion of a larger window so we set the board about 10” about the actual frame.

Now, find the center of your material, start stapling from the center and work around the edges of the board.

Next, using the same stapling method, take your decorative trim, and staple it along the top of the board to conceal the staple marks on the front. Trim with a lip is great for stapling, but you could also use a glue gun to adhere regular cording or fringe.

Finally, drill holes in the wall where you made your marks earlier. Use drywall screws and sinkers to ensure your cornice will stay installed! We found this out the hard way when it crashed to the ground in the middle of the night a few days later...

ACTUAL PHOTOS COMING SOON!!

Color Pallet

Before I was engaged I fell in love with these invitations from einvite - I just liked the color combination and the coral motif so I ordered a sample and tucked it away in my design/inspiration binder.

Now that I am beginning to make wedding-related decisions I'm revisiting that binder and my Google Notebook for more ideas... but keep coming back to Red and Aqua color combinations:

In writing this post, I've found a blog devoted entirely to Red and Aqua weddings!!!
This website pretty much sums it all up: "Call it aqua, turquoise, or Tiffany blue. Pairing this color with a bright red makes a color combination that can be fun and whimsical, or surprisingly elegant." http://liza0828.googlepages.com/redandaquaweddings

A trip to Paper Source helped solidify my love of the combination with a room filled with Red and "Pool" stationery. Thank goodness it was raining or I would have done some serious damage to my credit card but I walked away with (only) 2 stationery sets.

I'm pretty well set on these colors but considering how much time I have until I need to commit there's always room for change!
♥Rachel

I didn't forget about you... honest!!

I’ve been meaning to write, honestly, but my latest DIY experiment was a complete disaster and I didn’t want to get off to a bad start. Project#1 : failed attempt to re-dye a shirt that I splattered bleach on immediately after removing the tags :(

Instead, I have some wonderful news to share – I’m engaged. Today Andy popped the question and of course, after catching my breath and between the tears of joy, I said YES!!
Ring1
Ring2
Now I can begin doing what I love – event planning!!
I (already) have several engagement thank you notes to write so I’m going to fire up my heat embosser and work on those tonight… hopefully I’ll have some photos soon.

♥ Rachel

Obligatory Introductory Post

Hi, I live in the Western Chicago suburbs with my boyfriend and puppy. I enjoy diy projects, crafts, decorating, reading, home improvement tv shows, photography, budgeting, trying new recipes, and I refuse to pay retail price if I don't have to.
I'm a craft/cooking blog stalker and so I feel like it's about time for me to share some projects of my own since I've borrowed from so many amazing women's project blogs. I hope to be updating on a weekly basis... but sometimes life (ie - tv programming) just gets in the way.
♥ Rachel