Cheap bakers twine and other slightly less important news

Had to share this incredible find (courtesy of my friend Jane): $9.95 for 3,400 YARDS of bakers twine!

Pink Bakers Twine via wesellcoffee.com

And no, this deal isn't only for red twine. They have just about every color, including some of the harder to find ones like pink, orange, lime green and light blue. I knew you guys would appreciate it, especially with the holidays coming up! I've already ordered mine so I'm not worried about it selling out. Go get your own spool here.

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I know this blog has been too quiet lately. Being busy is no excuse because we all are, but I am/have been. I swear! The mister and I have used every nice weekend between Labor Day and today to work on the patio project. We're finally at a point where I can see forward progress. No more digging. No more dirt piles up to my waist.

This was last weekend: 4x4 poles and sakrete for the fence posts. Now we have a raised garden bed in the rear and a 2" layer of crusher run (gravel) down. Next is sand... and then the pavers.

Work has really picked up and I've had back-to-back clients, which is atypical for this time of year. (Extra money is good. It allows me to buy silly things, like spools of bakers twine.) I'm in charge of the office holiday mailing from creation to dropping it off at the post office. No easy feat for 700+ clients.

No matter how organized I am, the holidays sneak up on me. Never mentally ready for them to start. Two weeks ago while picking up ornament crafting supplies for my Weddingbee secret bee, someone was driving around with Christmas music blasting from their car. I remember thinking, "Really??! Really?" But if that's what it takes to get your head into the holiday spirit... *sigh*

So on top of all the holiday shopping, ornament-making, card-mailing, and ambitious crafting and cooking projects, I'm creating seven individual wedding albums as presents. (I must be nuts.) Four are complete - the easier, smaller (<40 page) ones. The larger, more detailed parent albums are next. After  busting my butt to get those first four albums out the door for a 25% off discount, Shutterfly announced a 40% off discount (book40) the very next day. Of course. So now I need to get the three albums done asap to snag this deal.

What are you up to this weekend?

Happy Birthday M!

Happy happy birthday to our Best Man (and my future brother-in-law)!


The boys - 1977
We'll see you soon and we're bringing cake!

Happy 2011!

Just popping in to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Hi!
We had a blast hosting everyone last night! The photobooth was a big hit and we have more food and alcohol than we started with, as usual. You know what that means -- a second party ("no BYOB/F") is coming very soon! I wouldn't leave you without some sample photos from our little DIY project (details to follow). For now, it's just pics of us - pending model release from our friends.

Raise a glass...

... to 2010! It's is almost gone, much like a good glass of bubbly. For those of you with gift registries on the brain, here's a round-up of champagne glasses to suit everyone's taste (be it extra brut, sec, doux or somewhere in between).

Classic: Schott Zwiesel - 2 for $78
Minimalist: Verve - 9.95
Modern: Edge - 8.95

It's party time!

Our annual NYE party is just around the corner. As such, I've convinced myself I need a new cocktail dress. One with sequins. Because sequins are festive!

Here are a few gowns (under $250 please) worthy of co-hosting duties:

source
Fun color, chunky sequins - source 

O' Piney tree, O' Piney tree

One of our favorite holiday traditions as a couple began as a small-space (and partially lazy) solution. We acquired a rather large antique icebox. Come Christmas-time, we realized it was firmly planted where our Christmas tree would normally go. There was no room for a tree in our small home, but we couldn't not have one.

2006 & 2007 trees
Genius struck that fateful year (2008) when I half-jokingly suggested an alternative: create a tree out of leftover pine branches and arrange in a vase. We wouldn't have to buy or schlep a tree home. It wouldn't be wasteful; in fact, it's downright green. It would fit on top of the icebox. No stringing tangled lights. Just a few ornaments and we're done. For the time-pressed, space-challenged or just plain lazy, this is awesome.

So I got a few branches from a co-worker who'd just purchased a tree, snipped a few sprigs and voila! Meet Piney...

Merry Christmas Eve

Dusting off the photo archives to bring you this holiday treat.


Christmas 1979 (Mr. P) and 1982 (Miss P)

Easy peasy presents

After the last shutter click of our engagement shoot, our photographer asked what we would do with the shots. Mr. P and I looked at each other and shrugged. I knew we'd do something with them, but what exactly had yet to be determined. Once the online proofs were in and the families (read: the moms) raved about them, I knew we had foolproof Christmas gifts.

We ordered ten prints from our photographer's Pictage account after Thanksgiving. Turnaround time was estimated mid-December, which wasn't fast enough for our early Christmas in WV. Hoping the prints would arrive just in time, I put a 2-Day rush on the order. We missed their arrival by less than 12 hours, so the rush shipping fee ($16) ended up being a waste of money. And to rub salt in the monetary wound, free shipping was offered on Cyber Monday and is now 50% off.

So how did the photos turn out?

Home for the Holidays

We're spending a few days at my parents' house for an early Christmas. Trying the alternating method for holiday time with our parents until we have kidlets. This year is a "stay home year" but my folks couldn't make the trip to Delaware later this month. The upside to celebrating the holidays early means no procrastinating on presents, less stress and more holidayness.

While I'm home, I thought it'd be nice to finally clear out my boxes of stuff. Last night I found notes from each year of high school. Not kept in a shoe box but a binder in protective sleeves, organized by year. Apparently my organizational tendencies go back further than Brian and I realized. Digging past the notes, I found old school newspapers, book reports, class schedules, awkward artwork, etc. Most of it got tossed, notably love letters from my first boyfriend and diaries... some things I am not sentimental about!

Tomorrow I'm tackling the baby albums.

When did you start delving into the family archives? What did you find?

We need a wedding

Our holiday weekend in New Jersey was meant to end on Friday morning, but it's late Monday night and we're just now returning. Tragedy struck Thanksgiving night. Mr. P's grandfather suffered a fatal heart attack, which we unfortunately (and fortunately) witnessed. This is the third Thanksgiving in a row that we have spent in mourning. (It's the fourth death in 3 years for the family.) I'm beginning to think there is a black cloud over the holiday and our engagement.

To say we are exhausted is putting it lightly.

Gobble gobble

We're out of town for a few days so posting is on hold. Lots of late-night entertaining (ah, here come the holidays!) has kept me from building up a cache of vacation posts. Once we're back, I'll make it up to you! In honor of the gluttonous holiday before us, I'll have two cake-related posts, including a tasting, for you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Birthday dinner at Terrain

I'm loving the crayon candles. It looks like I'm five.
(Better than Swiss cheesing the top of the cake with 29 candles.)
We dined at Terrain last night for my real birthday dinner. (More details on our super-tasty BYOB wine here.) A month ago, I heard they would be participating in the Main Line Restaurant Week and suggested to Mr. P that we go with friends. And it fell on the week of my birthday! What a coincidence... Weeks passed without further discussion and I forgot I even mentioned it until he became secretive about our restaurant reservation. Secretly, I hoped that's where we were headed.

Yellow fever

Celebrating my one and only birthday as an engaged lady. Next year when I say I'm 29 again, it won't be true. (Thoughtful Mr. P surprised me with yellow daisies - our wedding color, if we have such a thing. The second bunch of yellow flowers, from someone else, were not coordinated with his. Apparently there is a rumor floating around that I like yellow...)

Happy Birthday Bridesmaid R!

May you always be "classy as sh*t"!

Valentine's Day 2010

In the middle of winter's many snowstorms, we hosted a Valentine's dinner for four of our friends. Four bottles of red wine, Sauternes, port, cherry lambic and miscellaneous beer flowed freely while we noshed on a sizable beef tenderloin, roasted veggies, antipasta, caesar salad plus a chocolate layer cake with hazelnut brittle for dessert.

Mmmm, appetizers.

The Thanksgiving un-surprise

Every Thanksgiving, we trek to north Jersey to see Mr. P's family. This time, we had some news to share with the 20+ family members. His mom promised to keep our engagement a secret. I had happy butterflies all week at the thought of revealing our happy news. We walked into his aunt's house without saying a word, thinking we were going to pull one over on everyone until it came out in a dramatic reveal. But it was not to be.