Won't You Be Mine?

Normally I don't get that into Valentine's day, but this year was a completely different story. I woke up yesterday morning softly singing, "Won't You Be Mine? Won't You Be Mine?" Ed, who is getting ready for work, turns to me and days, "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood?" "Yep!" It's funny how songs just pop into your head!

This little tidbit has nothing to do with anything, but I just thought that Ed has excellent song recall - perhaps he should be the music therapist.....

As many of you already know, I just passed my music therapy board exam last week - whoot! I'm officially an unemployed music therapist (although I am looking!) But while I'm looking for a real job, I'm enjoying my job at home - taking care of my Ed. I often call Ed "My Ed" to differentiate between him and his dad, mostly when the family is together. We have "Bev's Ed" and we have "My Ed" or "Rachel's Ed" depending on who is doing the talking. Ok, back to what I was talking about. I've been at home now for two months since I finished my internship and have been doing a combination of the following: studying, cooking, crafting, sleeping, reading, and watching every single episode of Law and Order SVU. It's great! I feel like Suzy Homemaker. I'm embracing my inner woman - I cook, I clean, I do laundry, and so on. I enjoy it!

Now, back to Valentine's Day. I spend a lot of time at home thinking about things, especially things that I have to plan for. I love planning! So, I thought, why not plan a fun Valentine's Day dinner. I do have to give some credit to Ed for this idea as well. Not only did I/we want to cook a good meal, but I also wanted everything to look nice. I figured this is probably the only year I will do something special for Valentine's day. After all, shouldn't you express your love for each other year round?

When Ed got home from work last night he had the LAST bouquet that Pick 'n Save had in store - yellow alstroemerias. Now, he had no idea what kind of flowers these were. He just knew that he couldn't come home without some flower in hand. I just loved those flowers! I had a lot of them in my wedding bouquet. To me, they have so much more meaning than roses.

Anyway, here's our evening in pictures:

Ed and I in our little kitchen with our aprons on ready to cook. 

Ed wearing his apron and chef's hat that I made him for a gift. 

This is a great pattern to use if you want to make a chef's hat. The pattern is in PDF format, so all you have to do is print it out and start sewing! Click here for the link.

A table set for two.  

I made tissue paper roses for napkin rings curtsey of Martha Stewart. 

Ed's sock monkey wine cosy is a home next to a small tea light and my orchid. 

I added paper roses to my potted orchid. This plant isn't in bloom right now - actually, you can't see any of it. I leave the support posts in the pot so I don't loose them. I was glad to spice them up with the roses. I think I'll even keep them there!

We started with a salad. 

I'm trying to take more "dramatic" shots....

Followed by the main course. 

Thanks to the Milwaukee Journal sentinel for our main course. We enjoyed tenderloin steaks, which we cooked using a cast iron skillet, but on the cooktop and in the oven, rosemary red potatoes, and sauteed vegetables. It was sure good. Here is the recipe if you'd like it.

Cheers! 

Time for desert! 

To end the meal, we just had to have something chocolate! Now, I'm not usually one for cake, but when I saw a recipe for Molten Lava Chocolate Cakes, I knew I just had to have them! Plus, we got a boatload of ramekins for our wedding and I wanted to put them to good use.

Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes with Strawberries and Cream

 I was trying to imitate the desert you use to be able to get from Olive Garden. They served this exact same thing, although I think that the cream sauce turned our a little different than the restaurant, but OH was it GOOD! Death by chocolate... I want to make these again so bad! And, the recipe makes four cakes, so we enjoyed this dessert again tonight!

Now this is the one Ed ate. As you can see, the chocolate is spilling out! Yummy!

Overall, Ed and I had a great night. After dinner, we ate our cakes while watching Up, an animated movie. It's such a cute movie about an elderly man who looses his wife and goes on an adventure. If you haven't seen it, you should really watch it with someone special. It's a sweet movie ; -)

That's all I've got for tonight. It feel good to be back at my blog. Who knows, maybe I'll do a little bit of backtracking, considering I haven't put anything up here since we were married!

Flower Girl Basket

Ok, I know that I said I would do a post everyday! It's hard to remember to, especially if I don't write it down on my long list of things to do.

Anyways, today I'll show you my almost finished flower girl basket. Our beautiful flower girl really wants to toss petals as she walks down the aisle, so I have the perfect little basket for her. She is going to look so adorable!!!

First, here's the supplies I used: Leftover wide satin ribbon and lace from my aisle decorations, a big pink daisy, and a little light pink Easter basket.

Basket supplies

 And here's my almost finished product. All I need to do is add a little ribbon around the basket.

Almost finished product ; -) 

I hope everyone has a great Monday! I know I will! I'm getting very excited because two weeks from now my cousin arrives from England!!!!!!

~R.

The Last Hurrah! One Month to Go!

I'm not the type of person who counts down to events, but sometimes you just need to have a change of heart, especially when you're getting married!

Instead of 'counting down' the days until the wedding, I though I'd be hip (that was for you, Nicole!) and do a post every day with something wedding related. Let's see if I can keep up with this! Hopefully it makes the time just fly by...

Today's picture is one of our church decorations that I made out of canning jars.

~R.

DIY Ring Pillow - Martha Stewart Inspired

It's finished! I've been a diy bride and made my own ring bearer pillow. It was hands down the easiest thing I've made for the wedding! Truth be told, I made this pillow two weeks ago and am just now blogging about it. I'm going to use the old "college started up again" excuse to explain my procrastination.

For those crafty brides out there like me, you've probably been searching for the perfect ring pillow to make for your special day. I found mine on Martha Stewart's wedding website. Here's the link to the pillow that inspired me, as well as a picture:

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/photogallery/creative-ring-pillows#slide_16

Martha Stewart Ring Pillow

I liked this idea but wanted to add my own spin to it. I wound up buying a yard of white satin fabric to make the pillow (with finished dimensions of 8x8). P.S. I have a TON of that fabric left, so if anyone needs to make a pillow, you know where to turn. To add some color to the pillow, I bought some pink ribbon that matches the pink rose petals that our flower girl will be tossing. Instead of making my own flower for the top, I bought a large ivory flower (I'm not sure what kind it is, but I'm thinking hibiscus). I choose an ivory flower because I wanted it to contrast with the white of the satin. I finished it off with a thin white ribbon that we'll tie our rings on.

Here's my finished product! I'm very proud of it! If anyone ever needs a ring pillow, I'd be more than happy to make one for you! 

Our ring pillow! 

Also, before I forget, if anyone wants a more detailed description of how to make a ring bearer pillow, you should visit this site. It was the best instructional I found, complete with pictures! 

http://www.weddingbee.com/2010/04/14/diy-ring-bearer-pillow-tutorial/

Now it's onto hemming thirty squares of yellow fabric for our tabletops.... thank heavens that our wedding is happening soon so I don't keep coming up with more and more craft projects!

Keep crafting!
~Rachel 

Ring Pillows

We officially have a ring bearer! Ed's cousin's son is going to do us the honor! He just happens to be the same age as our flower girl, so everything will work out just perfectly. Now I just have to pick out a pillow design. Therein the problem lies!

I really would like to incorporate our daisy theme into the pillow, but I almost think that it makes the pillow look too fun. I am also in love with the idea of doing a lace pillow. I'd just have to find the right lace pattern and then lay that over a colored piece of fabric so you'd be able to see the lace.

When I went to the fabric store today I was very discouraged because I couldn't find any fabrics in the colors I wanted. I had gone there with my list of things: yellow fabric to go under the centerpieces; ivory for the flower girl basket; lace for the ring bearer pillow.... I didn't buy any fabric! Now, I didn't want to become bride-zilla in Jo-Ann's, so I took a deep breath and continued on with my shopping mission. I left the store with a daisy cookie cutter that we're going to use as a part of our favors.

Both Ed and I think that Pablo would do a good job as a ring-dog, but I don't think that will happen. One can always dream!