Friday's Letters

I figured this would be as good a way as ever to prompt my ass to write. SO I'm hopping on the bandwagon!

Dear Friday, hello, sexy. I've been waiting for you.

Dear Stomach, I hear you, man. But it's only 10:00. This is not a socially acceptable lunch hour. Can we wait until at LEAST 11:45?

Dear work, OY. so many motions. Why do you always get busy right before I'm out of the office? Also, ARE you going to hire me on after I take the bar? please? I'll stand on a street corner with a sign if that's what it takes to bring in my own clients. Srsly, though.

Dear metro area attorneys, I have many skillz. I am totally employable. Hire me please? I'm cute, I'm little, I don't take up much space, oh and as drunk-Cathy from SATC Movie said "and I can type like a MUTHAFUCKA," (and I have a lot of debt and OMGINEEDAJOBLIKESTAT)

Dear Como Lady, remember that one time you said you'd email me the contract? yesterday? lies. Would it pain you to email it to me today? pleez? thanks?

Dear TJ, sorry we haven't in any good snuggles lately. Momma's been busy. TONIGHT, I promise. (why yes TJ, I AM a crazy cat lady!)

We set the date!

After what feels like an eternity, but was really only 5 and a half weeks, M and I have set the date!

October 5, 2013

Weird to actually think we have a fixed point to work around. Was October our "ideal" month? No. M wanted June or September as top choices, July and August were 3rd and 4th.. we really hadn't even considered October, but when the one church in town with a 3:00 ceremony that you don't have to be members at (but must be an alum/family alum) has 4 openings between April and October (2 in April, 2 in October),... you work with what you have! We figured, MN weather in April is just as big a crapshoot as MN weather in October OR July for that matter. It could be snowing in April or October, and it could be storming in July. Besides, we're having everything indoors anyway (except cocktail hour, but it's under a covered patio) AND the first week in October is the BEST for fall colors. The trees all look like they're on fire. It's beautiful.

SO without further adieu, here is the church:

Really, it was the only church that worked with the times we wanted to have events, so it's an incredible perk that it just so happens to be BEAUTIFUL. Yes, this is a college campus chapel. The lawns out front (the "quad" if you will, at the University of St. Thomas) are perfectly manicured, as well. It's really amazing.

 The inside. :) The neurotic home decorator in me LOVES the blend of old school wooden pews, with the more modern looking white trimmed pillars and light yellow paint. I really don't think we need to do an ounce of decorating for the ceremony. Just let the church speak for itself.

I lurve it. It's so clean looking! OMG I need to stop gushing, but every time I look at it I squeal. I foresee many a drive-by in my future.

Next, guests will drive over to Como where they will have cocktail hour next to the flamingo and duck pond:

 It actually just occurred to me that the little guys may be hibernating by October... either way, it's a beautiful area, and all the foliage and water will still be there.

At 6:30, guests will go inside to the Covered Porch, overlooking the reflection pond where we will have a plated dinner. Again, beautiful room. I love the stone wall with uplighting. In our venue search I was looking for rooms that largely could stand on their own in terms of beauty. Even with these smaller centerpieces, the room looks phenomenal. (Fun fact: I'm wanting to do something very similar to this first centerpieces in the foreground: submerged sticks/silk flowers and a floating candle!)

 The view from outside. We'll also have a grassy area in front of this reflection pond with tables and chairs set up.

 AND as an added bonus, we get to rent the "bonsai lobby" and the "ferns of the world" rooms. The bonsai lobby, which I didn't even pay attention to when we toured, has a bunch of little bonsai trees in glass cases. Mostly, it'll be where we stick a bartender and/or our DJ- I'm still unsure about that. On one hand we can close the doors off so people can still talk in the main reception area, and nobody has to give up a table for the dance. On the other hand, I fear if the dance isn't in the "middle of everything" people may be less inclined to dance. We'll see. That was random. Anyway, we also get this room:

 There's a path that weaves all around the room as well as benches, and people can walk through here all night with drinks and food! SO even if it is a rainy garbage MN fall day, we get the "outdoor element" INDOORS. Best of both worlds, really.

The paranoid Type-A in me is having a mild-heart attack announcing we have the date already. Mostly because we've "reserved" the dates at both venues but haven't paid the deposits or signed the contracts. (Check is in the mail for one, and the contract is coming today for the other) and I know this is a formality and these dates ARE being reserved for us, but I have this fear that the woman at Como thought I said 2012 or something.. even though October 5 doesn't fall on a Saturday in 2012.. I'm just nuts, really.

So that's that! Very excited to start looking at photographers and DJs and crafting, now that I have a date to put on things! I must be getting back to my BFF today: the copy machine. [srsly. lawyers waste more paper than every other profession combined. I swear. One of the partners is in the middle of filing an appeal and he asked me to make a copy of EVERY motion filed in the case by any party- there are 4- put them in chronological order, and then create a spreadsheet of them with the page count. fun. The stack of copies will be no les than 3 feet tall when it's over. Closer to 4 probably. woof.]

-Kelly



Mother's Day

I have to start this post by saying I took absolutely zero photos on Mother's day. That'll happen though when it's your first time having your entire family over for a holiday and you're running around trying to get ready because they showed up 15 minutes early (in true form). Alas, thankfully my cousin Mark is a PHENOMENAL photographer (and is the photographer for the student newspaper over at Hamline where he goes to college), so I jacked these from his FB page. I take zero credit, but man did he sure make our humble little gathering look elegant!

He even took a snazzy picture of the front of our house in all its springtime glory. :-D

As I sit here in my office (procrastinating that pesky research) I will say my heart is so full (super cheesy line I would never ordinarily use...). This weekend was filled with law school friends on Saturday night, celebrating the fact that we made it through 3 years with (most) our sanity in tact. Sunday was spent with my mom's side of the family, as well as M's mom and step-dad. It made me SO happy seeing how perfectly they all got along, and how well M and his family fit in with mine. It's something that could be easily taken for granted, and I've heard the horror in-law stories, so to see everybody mingling and chatting (something NOBODY on this side of the family has any difficulty doing) was heartwarming. Makes me even more excited for our post-graduation dinner, which will contain a lot of these family members, M's mom and step-dad, as well as many others. (my dad CANNOT. stop. inviting people. Srsly. It went from 8 people at dinner who were coming to the ceremony to 27. I don't even know.)

NOW onto the photos!

 My uncle Tom and my littlest cousin Mitch on the steps.

 Max, Mitch's brother, says "talk to the hand."

 Max again!

 Pie. ohhhh the pie.

 M enjoying some pie. (There's a significantly less flattering photo of him with a mouthful of pie and sleepy eyes, but I chose this one. Don't say I never did anything nice for you, M.. ;-) ...)

 My little (bigger) brother. Have I mentioned I have a brother? Well yes. This is him. He's 21, graduating from college in December.

 This is Grandma Esther. She is in her 70s and dresses better than I do. It's embarassing, really. (Me not being able to dress myself, not her). Her husband was the grandpa that practiced law (that I mentioned in my Office Tour post) that passed away last February.

 Aunt Marie trying to feed Mitch.

annndd Grandma feeding Mitch. Both he and Max were more interested in screaming at the kitty who would pop into that window in the background. He was chilling in the office most the day. Between the food and the open doors he'd either have wound up eating everything in sight or escaping. Little guy was BEAT last night after visiting with so many people.

ANNDD yes, I am the world's worst daughter and took no photos of my own mom. AH, actually I do have one I took for the Instagram prompt "Day 13: mum" but forgot to email it to myself. Alas, mom was there and had a great time :)

That's it for now! Hoping to hear back from the church coordinator today so we can SET A DATE finally. oof. Hope you all had a great weekend as well!

-Kelly

The Catholic Guilt

I've been avoiding this rant post for a few reasons. Mostly because I'm not trying to offend anyone. But I need to put it out in the universe and maybe hear some creative solutions from anyone who knows anyone who has made it through the circus of wedding planning, and done it Catholic style.

Here we go.

I'm Catholic. Born and raised. K-12 was spent in uniforms, and religion classes, and with confirmation and the WHOLE shebang. I love me some Jesus, although I will say I'm more "quiet" about it than some of my Catholic counterparts. I just respect other people's beliefs and decisions and am not the poster child for Catholicism so yapping about it gives me anxiety. Anyway, as a qualified Catholic, I also feel like I'm qualified to whine a bit.

Catholics do NOT make it easy to get married. I'm totally down with the counseling and all that, and actually I've heard it's a ton of fun. That's not my gripe. My grip is that the ONLY option I'm seeing for mass times, on a Saturday, at ANY church in the metro in St. Paul/Minneapolis, MN is 1:30. Um, what? I get it. You have Saturday mass..and adoration,..and all that fun stuff, but really? why not like, 3:00? The issue we're having is the reception locations won't let us in until 4:00, 5:00, 6:00... and we don't want to have our cocktail hour until 4:00, 5:00, 6:00.. you know, "normal" drinking hours. I've been to weddings where there is a gap in between the ceremony and reception. Was it manageable? sure. Did we just go to the bar between? yes. Is it my IDEAL scenario? no. Especially when we have at LEAST 75+ coming from out of town (3.5 hour drive, M's mom's fam) ... I'm really not loving the idea of unleashing them onto the city for a FOUR hours without supervision. No, but seriously, these people are driving all the way down for us and I don't love the idea of saying to them, "hey guys! you're on your own for a few hours! good luck!"... it just makes me uncomfortable.

I can deal with a shorter gap. We think we've settled on a venue (the Como Park Conservatory), just have to set the date. Como is a conservatory and (free) zoo. SO, sending people there a bit early wouldn't bother me AS much because they can wander around the grounds, look at the flowers and plans, the animals, etc. I just can't get down with 3+ hours.

SO, that being said, I'm wondering first if anyone has ever been to a Catholic ceremony that had a creative solution for "the gap"..? OR if this is a totally hairbrained idea:

We're thinking we do a whole civil ceremony, just get an officiant, yadda yadda for the BIG wedding. BUT still go through all the Catholic pre-wedding stuff: the counseling, the Engaged Couples retreat, etc. Then, the next day, or a week after the big "party" ceremony, have a very small sacramental service. BUT my question here is: will the church only do it/recognize it as official if the sacramental service IS the real service in that, it's at this service where you sign the marriage certificate? Will they go through the motions for the sacramental portion if you've already signed that and mailed it? These are the bizarre scenarios I think about.

Real talk here- I honestly don't care if I get married in the Catholic Church. That's harsh, and it's not really like "aww I don't give a shit" but if it's going to be a whole circus to do it, I'm fine with an officiant. I'm far more spiritual than "structured" when it comes to my religion but It's my dad. That's a whole separate post, and I know it's "my wedding" and I can do what I want but the man is my idol, I'd do anything to make him happy, and let's be real, I've done baptism, confirmation, so on some level would it be nice to have it as a sacrament? yes. But I choose to believe God would recognize and accept it no matter WHERE it happens.

Help. Anyone?

HOME TOUR // KITCHEN

M first took the sledgehammer to our sheetrock in October of 2011. The way most houses are designed in our suburb, the entrance to the (typically unfinished or 1980s style finished) basement is through the kitchen. Since the houses are all pretty small this renders the kitchen even tinier and less efficient. After living there for a few months, we formulated a game plan: blow out the wall in the living room to create a "new" entrance to the basement, and wall up the doorway in the kitchen so we can put in more cabinets and counterspace.

This is how the kitchen looked when we bought the house: 

 The doorway to the basement is back beyond the fridge. Yes that is a sawed-in-half door you see,.. we have no idea either. I loved the rest of the house but this room was "meh" to me. Ugly counters, and with the color of the walls, the cabinets were very unappealing as well. First thing I did when we moved in (literally the night after we closed) was painted the room a sage green color. It was amazing what a difference it made AND I didn't hate the cabinets anymore! The spice color of the cabinets was competing way too much before with the burnt orange kitchen.

After a month or so of work on the weekends, we sealed off the wall and had a new doorway in the living room. From there we ordered cabinets to fill in the gap.  I had contacted the former owner to find out the brand of cabinets and we eventually determined they were American Woodmark brand from Home Depot. Yay! Here's the kitchen with the different paint, and added cabinets. Those 3 cabinet doors on the left used to be doorway and wall. So strange.

(see the crusty tiles along that back wall?...yes.. needed to go.)

SO, we FINALLY had more cabinets! We used the floor boards that we cut up to install the new lower cabients as a "faux countertop".. which is how it stayed for over a month. Finally, we were ready to start shopping granite. We knew we wanted a lighter color to pick up on the floors, with darker flecks to pick up the cabinets. 4 weeks ago we ordered our granite. Last Tuesday, M ripped out the old counters, and the granite installers came on Thursday.

Here she is! The stone is called St. Cecilia. It's a golden color with sparkly flecks, black flecks, browns, reds, etc. It is BEAUTIFUL. We just needed one last little thing: a backsplash. This would've been something we could have waited on, if a) see back in the corner there? that's exposed sheetrock and plaster from the door-fill. Not attractive, b) we didn't have pre-existing cruddy tile on 1/3 of the wall and not the other 2/3, and c) I hadn't invited my entire family over for Mother's day next week. woops. Oh well, it lit a fire under us to get this project DONE.

Off to Home Depot on Saturday to look at tile! I learned 2 things on this trip: M is colorblind, and I can't count or add. He's not really colorblind but not to toot my own horn TOO hard here, I was the one with the "vision" for the backsplash. (That sounded super cheesy...). Ever since doing some research for my dad's kitchen, I have loved glass tile. In moderation that is, as i think if you have a busy countertop design, it can be a bit too much. I knew I wanted a "strip" of glass tile running around the backsplash. SO we picked a cream color (looks white in the photo but it's not) and a mixed-stone and glass tile design for the strip. We measured it out so we would have to do as little tile-cuts as possible (PAIN. IN. THE. ASS). The browns and creams picked up on the counters and I loved that the glass tile had a light green color that picked up on the walls.

SO, while M tried several methods to cut tiles so we could fit them around the outlets and awkward corners, I started laying tile. Applying mortar to a small section, then starting with the bottom row of tile working my way up, putting spacers in all the while. (Thanks to HGTV I had a false sense of confidence) --> but it paid off! Every foot or so I'd do, I'd step back and SQUEAL at how good it looked. Seriously. With the exception of graduating from law school, this backsplash is the thing I am MOST proud of in terms of manual labor. I did 3/4 of it myself (the "easier" wide open spaces, and M handled the smaller section that had the most tricky cuts. I just plowed through and left the spaces blank where tiles needed funny cuts.)

and here she is:

Our ridiculously beautiful new kitchen. New stainless steel sink with our new sexy faucet too. I am so in love with it. If you had told me 5 years ago even that I'd be THIS jazzed up about a kitchen I'd have laughed at you, but there really is something to be said for walking into a room every day and knowing that YOU paid for this, YOU worked on this yourself. Definitely a milestone moment in adulthood.

M grouted it yesterday, and I wiped off the excess. Today we'll seal it up so it's waterproof. It is a huge sign of relief to finally be done with this project. It seems like forever ago M first knocked a hole in the wall to start this process. Isn't that how it goes though? It always takes longer than you think it will ;-).

HOME TOUR // THE OFFICE

Guess who only has one final to go before she's DONE WITH LAW SCHOOL (caps necessary) !?!? THIS GIRL! The only relevance to that statement now is it means I have a smidge more free time tonight between finishing my ADR final, and starting to outline for Family Law. Hence, 3 days in a row of posting. Lookout! 

I realize it's been a while since I've done any "home" posts, so I figure I'd start assembling some home tour posts, highlighting one room a post. Deal? Deal. SO, you may remember back from this post what the office looked like when we moved in. Granted there was no baby furniture, but the room was lemon yellow, the desk was in the middle of the room, and the only art we had was the gallery wall you'll see below. Hated it. 

One weekend when M was in NYC with his mom and sisters (a Christmas gift from her to them) I redid the office by myself. Yep, everything you see below I did myself. :) 

[warning: if it looks like this room is straight from a Pinterest board, that's because it is. I got the paint idea, all the art ideas, and the paper flower ideas all from Pinterest. You may continue]

Let's begin the tour! Here's a shot looking into the office from the hallway/guest room doorway: 

 That's a Pier 1 desk and chair (no idea how much they cost, M's mom got them for us as housewarming gifts). The couch was a hand-me-down from M's mom's friend (an assistant U.S. Attorney) so it was worth a ton and looked brand new. We really didn't have anywhere to put it but there was no way I was convincing M to turn down a pristine expensive couch. Those 3 mirrors are from IKEA.. maybe $3 a pop. Pillow with a map design was also IKEA, under $10 for sure. I started with the base color and then measured all around the room and taped off to paint the stripe. Before the paint dried, I removed the tape and ta-da: clean lines!

This is inside the room, looking against the opposite wall. You can get a sense of orientation from the couch in the corner there. Bookshelf with books and photos, a cigar box (wedding party gift for M), etc. You can see our 2 extra dining room chairs as well. This is the "cat's wall"- the cat bed he HATES for whatever reason, water dish and food bowl. Had to put food and water separate because he'd constantly flip his food dish looking for more food. water. EVERYWHERE. Last, is my "Minnesota String Art. "

 Here's a close up of the art. Definitely Pinterest inspired! I bought a cork board from IKEA, and sketched out in pencil very lightly the outline of the state. From there, I used finishing nails and gently hammered them in about a half inch apart, including a heart shape near the Twin Cities (aka home). I bought string at Michael's, tied off one end, and started weaving it around all the nails. Turned out fantastic! I had the nails, so with the string and board this was a $15 project max.

 Above the couch is our gallery wall. The bottom 4, and the 2 middle, are all maps. Maps of places we've lived or visited. Top left is my grandpa's law degree I got after he passed away in February of 2011. Top right, second from the end, is the certificate my great grandpa got when he was sworn in to argue before the United States Supreme Court. For those who may not know, this is a HUGE, HUGE honor. A VERY small fraction of attorneys ever get to do that. Far right is a giraffe I drew onto the page of a novel I tore out. Saw it on Pinterest, loved the way it looked. Looks way better up close and not blurry..haha.

 Here's the desk area. That stack of books are my bar exam review materials. (yes, barf). Calendar, BarBri schedule pinned to the cork board, and you can't really see but I made paper flowers out of novel pages and pinned them on that last cork board (which were actually hot pads I got at IKEA, haha). Shelves ($20) and the fake little potted plants ($15) are from Target.  photo on the bottom shelf is grandma and grandpa at my parent's wedding. Top shelf is a photo of my grandpa from his days in the legislature in a shadowbox with flowers from his funeral. To say my grandpa was influential in getting me where I am today is an understatement. I'll have to post on that soon..

Straight on shot of the shelves. You can kinda see the paper flowers better here. 

 And lastly, TJ's corner of shame. The old setup had the litterbox out in the open and I hated it. This way unless you come all the way into the room you can't really see it.

aannnddd that's our office! We're getting new granite installed tomorrow (!!!) so stay tuned for a kitchen tour in the near future!

-Kelly

Bridesmaid cards, save the dates, and invitations

After countless hours on Pinterest (actually more pre-engagement than post, but I think that's largely because I already have a good idea of what I want, thanks to Pinterest!) I got some ideas for some of the details for the wedding. 

Actually, the whole venue picking- date setting business is exhausting and overwhelming and I'm way more excited to get into the little details and crafting, because that's what takes me to my "happy place"..making "pretties" as M calls them. (Actually we call them "pwetties" because we are apparently 12 years old and speak in LOLcat language.)

One of the first things I knew I wanted to do was get a card or find a creative way to ask my girls to be bridesmaids. This also would help with the fact that I am super awkward with these type of heartfelt conversations. This way, I got to write all the mushies out, hand them the card, and then be there for an in-person reaction (for most of them, that is had to mail one to Duluth, one to VA and one to MI). SO I popped on Etsy for all things crafty and got 6 specialized cards for $12 plus shipping! That's cheaper than Walgreens, folks! Here they are: 

(Gratuitous ring shot. ;-) )

I got to customize the colors and the little series of photos down the right side. There were actually 2 more up top that said "wear whatever dress I choose and say you love it?" and "keep me out of jail at the bachelorette?".. these finish the question on the left side, which says "Will you?" (and then obviously it says "be my bridesmaid"). I was also able to get one that said "Maid of Honor." Overall, a great investment! I don't plan on going TOO over the top with little details, since nobody else will notice them and if I Etsy'd everything I'd break the bank, BUT these were a bargain! 

Last Thursday I got bored and remembered we had a Scrabble game at the house. Let me back up: Scrabbe is kind of "significant" to M and I. We went to the Chatterbox Cafe on our 3rd date and played scrabble- it's a cool bar that has board games and Super Nintendo/Nintendo games for you to play. Then, for my birthday (which is also Valentines Day) the first year we were dating, Scrabble was how he told me what my gift was. He hid the letters in his coat pocket and pulled them out when I wasn't looking, and as the game went on (we were playing before dinner reservations later) he spelled out "Eric Church" and right as I was about to get all up in arms that Eric is NOT a proper Scrabble play, he tossed an envelope in my lap- it was 2 tickets to the Eric Church concert! The irony there was that I had gotten him the exact same gift. Bahaha. SO, we had 4 tickets to the concert. I sold mine on Craigslist since his were better seats. 

Anyway, I knew I wanted to incorporate Scrabble somehow, and I saw photos like this on Pinterest: 

SO Thursday night I got bored and started spelling things out with Scrabble pieces and my ring. The above is an Instagram shot.

As one of my ideas for Save The Dates, I wanted to spell it out with scrabble letters and my ring, and then include the details in text at the bottom. So I layed out the letters and my ring on our black coffee table, and ta da! :

I actually have a complete mock up I did using the Google+ photo editor that had our names in white, a random date, and the city/state, as well as "formal invitation to follow"... and I had it on here until I realized it had both our full names, and M being in the interactive marketing field, is wary of our "stuff" out there on the interwebz. (Ya'll understand ;-)) Anyway I'm thinking of doing the above, OR during engagement photos writing "Save our date" and the date, on the bottom of my shoes. I've seen it on Pinterest too. Then we'd sit on the ground and the focus would be on the shoes with us blurry in the background. You get the idea. The last idea I had was to hold up a sign during engagement photos. 

As far as invitations go, I'd like to try to make them myself. I went to JoAnn Fabrics for the pillow project, and scouted out their cardstock. They have normal paper sized packages of a cream colored cardstock for pretty cheap ($3.00 or so for 25 or so sheets). I just want a simple invite, so I'm thinking of printing them ourselves- 4 to a page- on the cardstock, and then to glam it up a bit, wrap a different color piece of lace around it and secure it with a dab of glue, like this: 

                                                                            Source: 1stwebdesigner.com via Kelly on Pinterest

We'll see how ambitious that idea is, and I may do a test run long before we'd have to actually do our invites to see how feasible it is. 

That's about it for wedding stuff today! Update on St. Anthony Main: we loved it, but when we got the quote back we nearly had a heart attack. The sad reality is, with our numbers, it's going to be in that ballpark no matter where we go. Alas, it us US who want to have the big party with all our family and friends, otherwise I'd be close to saying "F it" and going to city hall or eloping. Hopefully things are a bit easier once we get the venue squared away. 


We're going to see the Minneapolis City Hall Rotunda next week (she finally emailed back) as well as the St. Paul College Club (right next door to the governor's mansion, and my school.. holla!). I'm hoping after having seen those 2 (that'd make it 5 total) and getting some estimates, we'll be able to make a final decision. 

-Kelly