The suit saga, ended

I realize it isn't very polite to write an incredibly long post, solicit your input, and then fail to follow up on it at all.

The suit search continued for another month, I think, before it was successfully resolved. And by successfully resolved, I mean we KILLED IT. We got the suit of glory for less than any of the other contenders would have cost. It involved the Barney's sale and a little bit of dodgy behavior*.

It's an N. Hoolywood suit, a Japanese design, and it's gorgeous. The tailor took up the hem on the pants and that was it. $10. Done. It clocked in at under $600, which is an excellent price for any suit, much less this one. I sometimes come home and catch D trying on the jacket, for no reason.

I love the detailing. You'll have to wait to see the fit until after the wedding.

I won't bore you with the subsequent dress shirt saga, but mostly because I had exhausted my shopping reserves by this point and D was left to forge on alone. I also abstained from the little brother suit shopping experience, which was thankfully resolved somewhat more quickly.

Oh, and I do have a dress. The story is just way less interesting. I looked online, I made an appointment, I tried on 5 dresses, I bought one. I only had to put an hour of time on the parking meter. It was awesome. It's being hemmed at this very moment, and that was all it needed.

*The longer version - after trying the suit on in Opening Ceremony, D obsessively googled N. Hoolywood, discovered that Barney's does carry some of their line and that the sale was going on. We found the suit (40% off!) but they didn't have the right size. Luckily the NYC store did have it, and they mailed it. We waited a week, praying that the size would be right (the Japanese-US size conversion is a little weird, so we weren't completely sure). It was perfect. And then two weeks later the suit went on double discount, and we started agonizing. Is it worth it to return it and risk losing it forever? It was a very existential dilemma, but we are cheap. So we returned it and purchased it again, which is technically against the rules, but we figured the worst they could do was ban us for life, which would actually be a benefit to our bank accounts. The return-rebuy attack was extremely well coordinated. We entered and left at separate times, communicating by text only. I purchased a diversionary shirt (also, that lip gloss) which I later decided not to return, so there was a slight cost. But we won!

The weekend, sort of

These are the only pictures I took this last weekend. Probably because they were the only quiet moments in what was otherwise a complete whirlwind. We ran errands, packed and unpacked boxes, went to our 10 year high school reunion and just barely managed to get home in time to actually cook something for the first time in a week. (We squeezed that beer tasting in by calling it a wedding errand - we needed to figure out our beer order and we thought it only right to explore a local option)

{on tap}

{the bruery}

{sunday evening}

The wedding is rushing towards us and we're trying to make headway on our lists and figure out our logistics, like who will take what box where and when. It's the less glamorous part of planning, but I think it's the most important. Usually I think we're doing pretty well. I'm slashing projects right and left and generally feeling okay about it. But every once in a while one or the other of us gets socked in the gut with that panicked feeling of not having enough time. We'll get there.

Obviously, there will be no schedule around here at all for the next two weeks. I have a few wedding-y things that I have written and still want to share with you and some others will have to wait until after the wedding. And I'll probably pop in with rants/updates, on a random basis.

Double chocolate cake with milk chocolate frosting

Back when I thought I was going to make an entire buffet of cakes for our wedding* I realized I should probably test out some chocolate cake recipes. Chocolate is sort of meh for me, so I don't have a giant stash of tried and true recipes. But I'm pretty sure that if you attempted to pass off a chocolate-free dessert buffet to my family, rioting would occur. So I tried.

{milk chocolate frosting}

I made this double chocolate cake, but used this milk chocolate frosting recipe. I'm a sucker for buttercreams with cooked bases. They tend to have a lighter texture and a little less sweetness than a simpler one bowl buttercream.

{crumb coat prep}

The cake was awesomely good. Really. I ate the batter, straight out of the bowl. I ate the scraps of cake that got stuck to the pan when I impatiently tried to remove the cake before it fully cooled. I ate the cupcakes I made with the extra batter. The frosting was good too, but I'd have been happy to eat that cake plain, chocolate lover or not. I'm stashing this one away, for sure.




* The cake buffet was a cherished idea of mine. I love baking, I love making cakes. But we invited 200 people to our wedding. That's a lot of potential cakes. And then I started thinking about where I would store them and how I would transport them, and how much I will probably just want to be sitting on the patio with our friends in the week before the wedding, drinking moscow mules and not frantically frosting cakes. It became a no brainer. We're still having a cake buffet (details to follow, when I have my act together) but I will not be baking any of it. Except maybe some cookies. That wouldn't be too crazy, right? Right?

Saturday, briefly

I had a bridal shower! It wasn't even a little bit terrifying! I don't do birthday parties and I was really nervous leading up to this, but Emily and my sister understand me well and they threw an amazing party with plenty of bourbon spiked punch. Being surrounded by so many of the women I love ended up being pretty awesome. Also, there were ribs and pie.

{balloons!}

{a spread}

{bourbon-peach punch}

{dishing up}

{favors}

Also over the weekend, but not pictured - endless errands, ring shopping for D (!), lots of lists.

We're 2.5 weeks out and not ready. I should probably be freaking out more, but I'm having a hard time getting up the energy.

Friday flowers

An all white arrangement of tulips and button mums.

{white tulips}

Our apartment had gotten out of hand chaotic, so we took a break from wedding projects this week to whip it back in shape, more or less. Flowers are the finishing touch, always. Well, flowers and a giant cheese platter, which you can just barely see in the background. They really pull a house together.

Lipstick training wheels

I have spent more time at Barney's in the last two months than you even want to think about. It was part of the suit saga, which just seemed to drag on and on (spoiler - it was successfully resolved! details later!).

The Barney's in LA has the makeup counters right next to the elevator, so while you're waiting (and it is usually an inexplicably long wait), you're constantly tempted. It's such a strategic move, because after looking at $250 shirts, $25 for a tube of lip gloss suddenly seems frugal. Sort of.

{beauty is life lip gloss in salsa}

This lip gloss is killer. It is overly sticky if you apply it with the wand. But if you dab it on the center of your mouth with the wand and then use your finger to rub it in? Perfect. The color sticks around for hours and it looks like you're wearing lipstick and it's the best color. I've tried buying lipstick before but I've always wimped out. I think I'm traumatized because they always want me to wear mauve and I feel like I'm instantly transformed a business woman from the '80s. I just need a power suit and a set of white high tops.

This does not make me feel like that. It feels like I should be wearing something silk and looking effortlessly disheveled. Totally worth the $25.

Bottega Louie

I'm currently going through withdrawals. The courthouse is conveniently located a mere 7 blocks from the best macarons in the city. I was there for a month. I don't really want to tell you what that box* costs because then you could do the math.

{mandarin macaron}

I was kind of counting on my juror's fees to make up for this expensive habit. Probably should have checked to see if I was actually going to get those fees before I started indulging (turns out, federal or state employees aren't eligible for our $15 a day, which is fair enough, given that we get our usual salaries while we serve). Whoops.

*You can save money by getting them in a bag, if you are going to eat them right away, but if you're planning to transport them at all, you'll want the box so that you don't squash them flat. Also, it's pretty.