"Whatever God wants, He keeps!"

There are those moments throughout my day when I feel like I'm living in a movie. Something will cross my mind quickly and it will in some way, shape, or form remind me of an obscure scene in an obscure movie and I wonder, how much of my brain capacity is being monopolized by this useless information.

I know that there are people out there who suffer from what we like to call, movie turrets. My cousin Dave is conflicted with this rare disease in which every other sentence out of his mouth is a direct quote from a movie. What amazes me about his condition is that he could see the movie once and know every line by heart. I on the other had, take bits away from movies on visual cues, and herein lies the odd little world I often find myself entering without warning.

For example I was on my way to work the other morning and stopped at a red light. I stretched my hand forward and adjusted my rear view mirror and all I could think about was Johnny5's three fingered "hand" adjusting his mirror. Honestly. I imagined my hand was his strange appendage and had to do a double tack to make sure I still had all my correct digits.

Do you ever have deja vu...but movie vu? You find yourself thinking, I've done this before, but then you realize...no, that was Christine Baranski running in her high heels down the alley while pulling off her sunglasses, not me.

Visions of Invitations Dance Through My Head

For those of you unaware, I am a Graphic Designer. Yes, I went to an engineering school, but while my friends played with their graphic calculators, I sat on my floor in a pool of paper samples just feeling my way around. Back in August when my sousin (our phrase for a sister-like cousin) Jaclyn got engaged I asked her if I could make her invitations and stationary as my gift.

I mean who wouldn't jump at the chance to have handmade stationary for a fraction of the price it would cost to have it "professionally" done. So over the past few months I ordered paper samples and showed Jaclyn & Andy envelope swatches. It was a whirlwind of decisions but we came up with some beautiful designs.

Save the Dates have been mailed out but it is time to start finalizing the wording on the invites and gathering the rest of the information for the programs. Once that is done I can begin the task of printing, cutting, gluing and beautifying the invitations. Basic plans done.

When I told Laura I was doing Jaclyn's invitations, she and I both automatically assumed I would do her stationary as well. Laura has completely different taste than Jaclyn. Not to speak ill of either of their taste, they are just different. Jaclyn knew exactly what she wanted and Laura left more of the design to me, which is where all the excitement is. I was thrilled when I brought a mock-up pocket fold invitation, complete with inserts, to show Laura and Chrissy and they loved the design. But nothing was ever finalized.

(envelopperinc.com such fantastic inspiration)

So now, I have all these ideas about what we can do with the basic design, and I want to ask Laura what she thinks and have her pick decorative things out for embellishments but then I remember...her wedding is next April. Take a breath Elise.

I guess my issue is just that when the Muse strikes me, I need to run with it, otherwise I won't want to put all my meticulous energy into the project. When the Muse hits, I need to do something creative. Perhaps I can tack down Jaclyn & Andy this weekend to work on finalizing the invitations so I can order things and get started...

Oh Muse, you are a fickle fickle creature.

Done and Done!

I have one best friend from college. This isn't to say I don't have other friends that I see and talk to frequently and love to death. But I only came out of college with one best friend. Laura is my other half. We are both sharp and witty women who know what they want. We wound up living in an apartment (with other changing girls) for three years and to this day I'm positive that other than my sister, Laura is the only girl I could ever live with.

Last summer, Laura and her boyfriend of 6 or so years, Jim got engaged. Woo! Weddings! The date is still not set but it will be Spring of 2010 and the past few weekends I've been traveling up to Troy to see reception halls and try on bridesmaid dresses and assist in many other bridesmaid-like duties.

A few weekends ago at the Birch Hills Expo, we met some women from Angela's Bridal and since Laura hadn't bought a dress yet, she made an appointment. So this past weekend I went back up to Troy to help in finding the perfect dress.

First off, allow me to say that the women at Angela's were fantastic. They were extremely helpful and each of them had wonderful things to say (even when negative) about the dresses that Laura tried on. When Laura put the first dress on, Chrissy, Meg and I all let out a sigh. It was beautiful, it was perfect, it was well priced, it was SO HER. It was classy yet modern and had just the right amount of sparkle in just the right places.

Laura tried on 4 more gowns but none of them compared to that first dress. She was concerned it might be too dramatic for her mother's taste but when Ursula (her sister and maid of honor) walked in, the first words out of her mouth were, "Wow." And she assured Laura that she thought Mom would also love it.

Meanwhile, Michelle, Chrissy & Meg all tried on some beautiful Bill Levkoff dresses and we all decided we loved them. Bridal gown, done! Bridesmaid dresses, done! Bam! Just like that. It was amazing. Our other two romps to David's Bridal were all for naught after that 20 minute talk about how perfect these dresses would look on all of us.

They had the sweetheart neckline that mimicked Laura's dress, they had tank straps so we could all wear supportive undergarments, the taffeta was airy and not at all grabby, they were the perfect spring wedding dress...well, in cornflower blue with an ice blue sash they would be!

And, best of all, since January when I was measured for Jaclyn's bridesmaid dress, I have officially lost an inch to my waist....
...only to gain it in my bust. *sigh* All I have to say is I'm looking forward to having to pay to get both my bridesmaid dresses taken in by the time the weddings roll around.

For the rest of the day Saturday all us girls celebrated. Laura had bought her dress! It was real, her wedding was happening. Her and Jim had a moment when they both said to each other, "Wow, it really feels real now." And they were excited about it.

Jaclyn (my cousin) and her fiance Andy had a similar moment a few months ago while we were hammering out Save the Date details. He just turned to her and said, "Hey, we're getting married this year." And they both squealed and clapped in joy.

This is going to be exciting and torturous at the same time! Hurray!

(Digital Illustration of Laura and I done by me.)

Would You Still Be My Friend...?

Last summer my father scored fantastic tickets to the American Pro Volleyball Tour while they were at Coney Island. I love women's beach volleyball and jumped at the chance to see Olympians up close and personal (Misty May Treanor & Kerri Walsh specifically). For those of you unfamiliar with the APV Tour, it is sponsored by Crocs. So that yellow gator was everywhere and were were inundated with ads the entire day.

After catching a preliminary game, we wandered around the promotional tents and I stood at a kiosk for a good 10 minutes entering information in to try my luck at winning a free pair of Crocs. I figured if they were free, no one could fault me for having them, although I heard it all day from my sister about how ugly Crocs were and how she couldn't believe I had wasted my time at that kiosk.

Cue to me four weeks later opening what I thought was unsolicited mail and laughing as I read alloud to my father and sister, "Congratulations, you've won a free pair of Crocs!" So giddy as a school girl I went online and chose (from my list of available free Crocs) which pair I'd like.

Behold! My Free Crocs! Athens in Chocolate/Light.

A week later, my free Crocs arrived at my door and I've never looked back. They were as comfortable as I knew they would be and twice as ugly as I remembered them from the APV Tent. And, probably best of all, every time Julibean is home, she steals them from me and wears them...take that sister who mocks my attempts at free things! You like them too!

My point, dear readers is this: even though free Crocs might be acceptable because I didn't ever really pay for something so hideous...I kind of want a second pair. I know that I've fallen blunder to a marketing ploy, but what can I say, "They got me!"

So, would you still be my friend...if I wore these?:

Be honest...I have what I like to call the Crocs Conundrum, and I'm sure many of you suffer from this same internal struggle. They're so ugly! But they're so comfy! What on Earth should we do?!

West Coast Shenanigans

So Seattle was beautiful. We had uncharacteristic gorgeous weather and my parents and I did quite a lot of sight seeing and wandering around.

Drove up to Vancouver and toured around Capilano which was amazing! It's seriously like visiting an Ewok Village. There are fantastic bridges throughout the canopy of the trees and you wander endlessly through the forest. I cannot even explain to you how incredible this place is...you should definitely take it in next time you're in the Vancouver area.
Spent some quality time with my brother Dan which included bottling home brew and then brewing some more!

"You have to drink beer to make beer.
Those are the rules, I don't make them up."

It is quite an exciting an intricate process. Maybe someday I'll make my own home brew...possibly some home brewed wine instead. Speaking of wine we also visited Chateau Ste Michelle, Washington State's first winery. Might I recommend taking the wine tour and certainly please enjoy the Muscat Caneli. I am personally not a huge fan of dessert wines but this one was fabulous...and I may or may not have come home with an entire case of it.

And of course I do not have any photos of it since cameras and cell phones are not allowed on the tour, but we also saw the Boeing Plant. The place is huge, Disney Land and it's parking lots could fit inside and still have space to grow. We even got to see the 787 Dreamliner Production Line. Most people wouldn't be so excited by this however my brother is actually working on the plane. His job is to keep it in the air...so yeah, his work is kind of a big deal. Plus we're standing there and I look down and see one of the engines without its cover and turn to Dan and ask if it's a Rolls Royce engine.

Where did that come from? I will never know. It might have to do with an image of one that's on one of the walls in my office of a Rolls Royce airline engine...but I was shocked myself to find out I had correctly identified it as such. I've never really studied the image, nor do I actually study engines of any kind, but I guess walking past it 10 times a day left an imprint.

I often have moments where something hiding subconsciously in my memory just burst out and makes me say something that surprises even me. It's odd but I suppose that's just the way my brain works.

Crazy Go Nuts!

I'm still alive! I promise. Work has been super crazy since Charo is out for the next month and I have the task of doing all her work in addition to my own. Goody. Plus bridesmaid duties, bridal showers and grooming, oh my! So much happening.

Soon to come! Posts about Seattle, booze, Johnny5, Million Dollar Mermaid and more!