With my wedding only four months away, it's time for the DIY projects to commence! I will be having a very small and intimate beach wedding ceremony this upcoming February. Since the ocean naturally provides a beautiful backdrop for my wedding ceremony, there is not a lot to do by way of ceremony decorations other than my bamboo canopy with custom floral arrangements. However, I did come across this idea on Pinterest and thought that it will add a little spice to my isle seats!
First, I bought some mason jars online. A case of twelve was under $10. Then I went to my favorite craft store, Hobby Lobby, to pick up some hemp twine and wire. The project was very easy to do and only took a few minutes. I began by creating loops with the wire on the sides of the mason jar. I twisted a little loop on each side and connected the wire in the middle of the rim.
Close-up of the loops
Then I wrapped some twine around the rim of the mason jar and tied it off on the end. From there, I measured out enough twine to hang from the isle seats, and strung it through the wire loops. Then I tied it at the top. Super easy!
Measuring the twine
The finished product. I can't wait to see how they look with flowers!
Stay tuned for more wedding DIY projects and a photo recap from my upcoming wedding and reception.
A few weekends ago my fiance and I were watching a show on Travel Channel about "America's Best Waterparks." One of the parks was in Williamsburg, VA, which was only three hours away from DC. Kevin is a big history nerd and has always wanted to go to Colonial Williamsburg as well, so we decided to take a mini road trip for the weekend to visit Colonial Williamsburg and Water Country USA.
We booked a room at the Williamsburg Hospitality House, which was walking distance to historical Williamsburg and directly across the street from the campus of William and Mary. We figured we'd go to Colonial Williamsburg and tour the campus of William and Mary during the day on Saturday and then hit up some college bars that night. Then, we'd spend all of Sunday at the water park and drive home that night.
Williamsburg Hospitality House
Day One: Colonial Williamsburg
We started out the day by trying to find a place for lunch. We thought it would be a great idea to go to one of the local college eateries, so we started Yelping some places on campus within walking distance. During our search we realized that our hotel was actually on William and Mary's "strip," which consisted of only THREE bars. The bars were deli's by day and "bars" by night. So we walked across the street to the College Delly & Pizza, which also doubled as one of William and Mary's favorite hangouts.
From there we headed to Colonial Williamsburg. Although I wasn't as excited as Kevin to go on this part of the trip, I actually ended up having a very fun time. The whole area is like a "living museum" where everyone was dressed in colonial garb. There were shops, restaurants, horses, and exhibition sites around every corner. There was even a parade that started from the Governor's Palace and went through the entire town. It's free to walk around the area, but if you want to enter the exhibits and listen to the historical monologues then you have to purchase a ticket. Adult tickets were $45.
If you are really into history and want to learn all about Colonial Williamsburg, then I suggest purchasing a ticket. If you are just there to see the sights for an hour or two, then there really isn't a need to buy a ticket.
Governor's Parade
Williamsburg Farmer's Market
One of the houses on the main street. House Lannister?
Someone's in trouble!
Colonial fashion show
We learned about the weapons of the time
Pretty garden
After walking around and listening to a few exhibits, Kevin and I decided to find a tavern for some drinks. We saw a sign for a tavern that had a long line outside the door. We figured this must be the place to hang out, so we got in line. When we walked in, we were ushered to a side room and told to grab a seat. The side room was actually a bedroom... and it was at this point that we realized that this tavern wasn't a tavern as in a "bar," it was a tavern as in a "hotel" and we had waited in line to sit through yet another exhibit.
We sat through one lecture in the first room that was actually pretty interesting. Then we walked into another room and sat through another lecture. From there we had to pass the front door to head upstairs. It was now or never so we made a break for it, ditched the tour and sneaked out the front door in search of an actual "bar" tavern. We came across some taverns that were restaurants, but people were waiting outside for tables so we opted for lemonade instead.
Very deceiving sign
After some root beers and a lemonade, we headed to the Governor's Palace for another tour. This one was extremely interesting and was lead by a wonderful tour guide. You could tell that she loved her job and was very happy to be there.
Our wonderful tour guide inside the courtroom
Outside view
After that tour we took a non-guided tour of the public gaol where the pirate Blackbeard was jailed for a short time. Then, we headed over to the area where the Brickmakers work. This exhibit blew my mind. There were actually teenagers who's summer job it was to make bricks. Not just a few bricks, hundreds of bricks a day per person! I felt so bad for the poor girls who signed up to be actresses in Colonial Williamsburg and were assigned to brick duty. Oh, you're a waitress at the tavern? That's nice. Oh, you sit in the air conditioned palace and tell people about the American Revolution? That's nice. I make bricks ALL DAY in the blazing hot sun. I even overheard one of the girls mention how she hadn't gotten to take a break for an hour. Her "break" was talking to the group about how the bricks are made instead of being the one making the bricks.
Left: Poor girl making the bricks by hand. Doesn't she look angry and sad? Right: Other girl talking about how the bricks are made during her "break"
The kids walk on the mud to make it soft enough to be molded into bricks
Kevin in Blackbeard's cell, doing what he does best
After a long day in Colonial Williamsburg we came home and got ready for dinner. Since we realized that the college nightlife of William and Mary was nonexistent and the food on campus was subpar, we decided to look for a restaurant in town. We stumbled upon this all you can eat seafood buffet called Captain George's Seafood Restaurant that had AMAZING Yelp reviews and decided to give it a shot.
We got there around 5:30 and the line was out the door. Not just out the door, but down the entire side of the restaurant. Kevin had to drop me off so I could get in line and he could park the car and join me. By the time he parked the car and joined me, the line had doubled in size. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen.
We made friends with a lot of people in line and they told us to stay and wait it out because this was about to be the greatest meal we've ever had. We stuck it out and the line finally made it inside the door. Once we got inside the line still wrapped around some railing and people were split into two sections: parties of 4 or less and parties of 4 or more. Finally we made it to the end of the line and were seated.
Our good friend in line was right. This was by far the best seafood buffet I had ever eaten in my entire life. Better than anywhere I'd eaten in Florida and for only $30 a person! There were two massive buffets of snow crab legs, mussels, clams, crawfish, seafood stuffed mushrooms, seafood fettuccine alfredo-- basically everything you could imagine. Then there was another massive dessert buffet with peach cobbler, apple cobbler, cherry cobbler, cheesecakes, chocolate cakes, vanilla cakes, carrot cakes, chocolate pudding, banana pudding, etc. I was in food Heaven. Kevin gave the buffet a wonderful run and our friend from line complimented him for eating "so much for such a little guy."
It was glorious
Day Two: Water Country USA!
After waking from our food coma, we were ready for a day at Water Country USA! This was the day I was waiting for! We threw on our suits and took the short drive to the water park. Before we got there we had heard about these Quick Queue passes that let you skip the lines for five of the slides. The catch is that they only sell a certain amount each day and you have to buy them before they are gone. They cost about $20. Since we got a $20 discount on our tickets for being a Virginia resident, we decided to get the passes. Best. decision. ever.
We chose to go on Sunday instead of Saturday to try to avoid some of the crowd. This was also a good decision, as there was not an outrageous amount of people there. We purchased a locker with unlimited access for the day and stored our towels and clothes. Then we headed to the slides. We decided to get there right as the park opened and hit up the slides where our Quick Queues wouldn't work first, then spend the rest of the day cutting the lines on the Quick Queue slides.
We rode every single ride in the water park, went on both lazy rivers multiple times, hung out in the wave pool (which is not as good as America's First Wavepool, shoutout to Point Mallard) and grabbed some lunch along the way. My favorite slide was called Vanish Point. This slide was two slides in one. On the first one, you are put into a chamber one person at a time and the floor drops out of the chamber and you free fall for a few feet before you slide down the slide. The other is a speed slide where you shoot down the slide as soon as you sit down.
This woman just realized the bottom dropped out of the slide
The blue/green slides are the speed slides
Another one of my favorites was the Aquazoid, where you get in a large raft built for four people and shoot through pitch black tubes. Here is a video of what it looks like:
The Aquazoid and Vanish Point were both Quick Queue slides and we got to skip the entire line to get in front of everyone and go first. You should have seen the looks we were getting. In the line to Aquazoid there is a bridge where people stand and wait in line. There is a sign on the bridge that says, "From this point, there is only a 15 minutes wait!" A couple in front of us with Quick Queue bracelets dubbed that bridge "The Bridge of Death" from all of the death stares they got as they walked passed the people on it. We thought that was hilarious and told all of our fellow Quick Queue-ers. We unofficially renamed this slide "The Bridge of Death."
After spending the entire day at Water Country USA we stopped at another all you can eat buffet for dinner. This time it was an Asian buffet with a sushi train, Mongolian BBQ pit, Thai section, Chinese section and a "make your own Pho" section. It was called Peking Restaurant and it left me in another food coma, this time for only $12. Who knew that Williamsburg was the "all you can eat" capitol of the world?
All aboard the sushi train!
We had a great mini vacation in Williamsburg, VA and highly suggest all of the places we went. Other great places to visit in the area include Busch Gardens, Jamestown and Yorktown.
Every year my fiance and I like to take a trip to his parent's lake house in Glen Arbor, MI. Glen Arbor and the surrounding area is so beautiful that I thought it would be a perfect backdrop for our engagement photo shoot.
When I started planning the shoot, I knew exactly where to start my photographer search. I went straight to TheKnot.com and found a wonderful photographer in Traverse City named Tom Balazs. Tom's style of photography was exactly what I was looking for. He takes pictures that have a vintage charm and creative flair. He also plays around with lenses and especially loves outdoor photo shoots.
Another thing that was very important to me in a photographer was someone who would let me have the rights to my pictures, a CD with the photographs on it, and someone who wouldn't force me to only buy photographs from their website. These things are very important when you are on a budget, as pictures can start to add up very fast. I've heard horror stories where people were forced to purchase pictures from the photographer's website at $12 for just one 4X6 photograph! Tom gave me the option to purchase from his website or from another shop of my choosing.
I contacted Tom to start planning the shoot. I knew that I wanted to have an outdoor shoot, possibly on the beach or at a local vineyard/winery. When I mentioned this to Tom he informed me that he also worked at 45 North Winery and that we could take pictures there at no charge! It was our lucky day!
Now that the location was settled, we worked on a theme. We decided to "have a picnic" with a bottle of wine and a blanket and then go from there. I also thought it would be interesting to bring some fabric initials I had in my house and my favorite state pillows.
After a few short emails, an online "get to know you" survey and a phone call, we were set and ready to go. It was great to work with Tom, and I think he did a wonderful job on the photos! Here are a few of my favorites:
So as some of you may know, I recently started a new job. As crafty girls, we all know that one of the best parts of starting a new job is decorating our new space! :)
Instead of using your average pen and accessories holder, I decided to use some Ball Mason jars I had around the house. These are great to store push pins, cords and scissors. I also have one on my desk that I'm using as a vase to hold some flowers.
We all know that Etsy.com is one of my favorite places to find decor for my home, so why not use it for decorating my office too? One item that I got off Etsy.com is a beautiful ceramic business card holder. I got it from the store, potteryandtile. Here is the link to the shop.
I also got some very unique artwork from the shop, FauxKiss, which specializes in printing words or pictures onto pages from old dictionaries and other books. Here is a link to the FauxKiss shop. The shop has a special going on right now where if you buy two or more prints you get a third print free! I definitely took advantage of the special offer. I got one print of a chandelier, one of a princess elephant (Roll Tide!) and one that is hanging in my kitchen that says, "Life is Sweeter Together."
The frame mats came from FauxKiss as well, and were only couple of bucks. I got the frames from TJ Maxx, another one of my favorite places for decorating.
Lastly, I had to hit up the Etsy store, SweetlyFramed to get a customized Alabama print with a heart over Decatur, AL. Just for a little touch of home :)
The SweetlyFramed store is wonderful. Just tell them what state or country you'd like a picture of, where you'd like the heart to be placed and what color print you want-- then they do the rest. These are great gift ideas too for family or friends.
Here is the finished product!
For your viewing pleasure, I thought I'd post this hilarious video titled "Sh*t People in DC Say" that is similar to the original video, "Sh*t Girls Say." Enjoy!
Thanks in part to Pinterest, I've been on a crafting spree lately! I've found a lot of cute ideas on Pinterest that I could do with items I already had around the house. The first thing I did was create a picture wall. Because our apartment is so large, I tried to fill up wall space by hanging a picture or two on each wall and it ended up not looking very cohesive. I got the idea to take the pictures from around the house and put them all onto one wall. Along with items I already had, I went to the clearance section at TJ Maxx and got a couple of picture frames for around $2 each. I took the glass out of the frames and hung them on the wall. One frame has a little yellow watering can in it that I got from TJ Maxx for $1. For the other frame, I took out the glass and replaced it with part of a placemat that I also got in the clearance section for a quarter. Then I added a little flair to it. :)
Wall from far away
Wall close-up
Bama and ZTA flair pinned to a placemat!
For my next project I saw a picture on Pinterest of a coffee table centerpiece that had a candle in a glass vase surrounded by wine corks. Since I currently had a vase with wine corks in it as my coffee table centerpiece, I just added a candle! It was $5.99 at TJ Maxx.
Centerpiece
Close-up
I have always been a big fan of shadow boxes and was so happy when I found one for $12 at TJ Maxx! I loved the floral design on top, but thought I needed to change the fabric on the inside of the shadow box to match the rest of my decor. I used some leftover fabric from my DIY fabric bed frame to cover the inside of the box. Here is what I did step-by-step:
Before close-up
Before
First I cut the fabric
Then I made sure it was the perfect size
Next, I ironed the fabric (notice my pink iron)
Then I pressed the sides of the fabric into the box (no glue needed)
Then I added some pictures :)
Then I hung it, which was a disaster. I think there are six holes in the wall now... oops!
and.... voila!
The last thing I added to the room was an amazing find I got from the Cottage House on Bank Street when I was back in Alabama last weekend. It is a beautiful framed vintage advertisement from the 1800s. The Cottage House is amazing. The owner's husband restores all kinds of vintage furniture and she sells mostly "Made in Alabama" products. I suggest checking it out! If I could afford to ship some furniture back up here, I would have!
