Around here

Still on jury duty, still living in an apartment that looks like a wedding exploded, still not doing any grocery shopping. Basically, it's a routine.

{cake topper to be}

{fringey streamers}

{paint swathes}

{painted tablecloths}

I realize that our cake topper is currently polygamous - I couldn't choose between the two men and I decided that whoever gets rejected will still be a worthy addition to our current collection. The lady was chosen because her boobs were the least scary of all the options I saw. She'll be getting a veil replacement.

I've always loved those fringey streamers from Jordan, and we're currently thinking they'll get deployed in a couple of places. We have a few little sore spots at the venue that could use coverage. These are super easy to make.

There will be more on the tablecloths later, but we're both really happy with how they're turning out.

Engagement photos!

You guys, I'm on jury duty. On a case that is expected to last almost a month. And attempting to cram about a million miscellaneous wedding tasks* into my all too brief evenings. I'm going to pop in now and again to hopefully share little stuff, and maybe bounce ideas off of you as I start to lose my ability to make simple decisions** without an undue amount of agonizing.

But for now, I'm just leaving you with these photos from Melissa of Happy Confetti Photography. We took advantage of Mel being in town (to shoot a fabulous wedding!) and we all met up. Choosing the location was a no brainer. We live all the way across the city right now, but historic downtown has always had a really special place in our hearts.  Grand Central Market is my favorite place in LA, hands down and I love seeing it through Melissa's photographs. She took pictures of us too, but it feels weird to plaster our faces all over here. You can hop over to her place and check it out and I'll just squirm self consciously in the meantime.

{grand central market}

{spice stall}

{us in grand central}

{angel's flight}

Actually, the best part about jury duty is that the courthouse is just a few blocks from where these pictures were taken, so I get to walk through the market every day and explore the entire area on my lunch breaks. I'm averaging 4 - 6 miles a day of wandering and it is awesome.

Oh, and if you're in LA, you might want to consider doing yourself a favor and getting tickets to the LA Craft Brew Crawl before they completely sell out. It was the best event we went to last year, no question, and it's a great way to see a little more of downtown. We sprang for VIP tickets this year and I'm already excited.


* I think I managed to talk myself out of attempting to bake and decorate 10 cakes the week before our wedding. And I think that was probably the best move I could have made, even though I'm still telling myself that I could bake just one or two or three or AT THE MOST five cakes the week before our wedding. Plus cookies. 


** Do I wear my hair up or down? I tried to get D to help me analyze this critical issue during happy hour on the weekend and he told me in no uncertain terms to go ask a girl. He may be an architect but he has his limits, clearly.

The weekend, briefly

Fourth of July is always a crazy weekend. We have multiple family birthdays, so there are always plenty of parties to go to and catching up to do. And this year we also squeezed in some wedding tasks, making for a few very long days.

{double chocolate cake}

{roses, napkins}

{cherries}

{4th!}

{snowy face}

{dip dye}

{washing napkins}

{snowy surveying}

Weekend notes:

:: I got to do a little bit of baking for the birthday weekend. I almost never make chocolate cakes (I'll almost always take vanilla anything over chocolate), but I took advantage of the opportunity to test out some new recipes. I didn't make those beautiful cupcakes, though. Just a cake and I didn't even manage to get a picture of the finished product.

:: The napkins will be showing up later. All I can say right now is that I'm clearly a little crazy and I should probably make sure that I'm frequently referring to my DIY flow chart over the next few months.

:: Circe didn't feel like being on camera this weekend, but Snowy was happy to oblige. He loves it when lots of people are working in the house - he just wanders around and supervises everything.