Photo catch up

photos from the last week:

PSU creamery with John

coconut chip & peachy paterno respectively

a bat got lost and took up day shelter on the umbrella at home

hummingbirds love lily season

Combat Engineer from the in-laws, since mine is in Iraq :-) see what I did there?
experimenting with makeshift simple sangria making. Recipe: cut up fruit, pour in wine, drink now or later
$4 oversize skeleton shirt. no sternum? no problem

- From the desk of Mrs. Sarah McPherson

Saturday cats 7

Obviously way too cute for just one photo this week. Darwin in the first four, finally making use of the comfy papasan that I never do, then Huxley, who likes to hang out at my desk with me.

- From the desk of Mrs. Sarah McPherson + Hux

PITT

I do miss it. Especially Pitt + husband.

- From the desk of Mrs. Sarah McPherson

I love when

kittens want to cuddle and sleep on me.

Kyle surprises me with a sweet message.

my toes are freshly painted.

Huxley jumps up and sits right in front of the tv to watch up close. He likes watching things move across the screen.

I catch my rings glittering in the sun. (un)fortunately this often happens while driving.

I use up one pad of post-its and start a new color.

we talk about our future.

I have interesting and odd dreams at night, and I can remember them in the morning.

family members stop by to visit me at my apartment!

I know exactly what they're talking about in Bones (thanks Human Skeletal Analysis class & Forensic Anthropology!).

- From the desk of Mrs. Sarah McPherson

Wednesday Wedding: Websites

Today a list of websites and blogs I frequent for ideas and practical online tools for planning our wedding! To be honest, I mostly look at the pictures, and when something catches my eye I'll read the entry. There are a ton of wedding sites out there so I like to stick with a few to keep from getting wedding overload.

Etsy
On Etsy people sell things they make. I've found several fun gifts for friends/family on the site, and I like to browse particularly for wedding decorations, accessories, and other extra touches (if not to buy then to get ideas for things to make myself!).

The Wedding Chicks

Definitely one I mostly just scan for pictures. It seems a bit more fashion photo shoot, mixing in real wedding examples (sometimes you can't tell the difference). Lots of pretty pictures to look at.

Pinterest
This is a site where you can create boards full of pictures. It's handy for sharing all of your ideas with those helping you plan your wedding- bridesmaids, family, whomever. I just recently discovered it so I put all the images I had saved to a file on my desktop up. Others can also add images (pin) to your boards if you so desire. You can also repin images other users have added, and easily pin an image from any website you're looking at by adding a "Pin It" tab to your bookmarks bar. A good source for inspiration and organization, wedding related or not.

Offbeat Bride
It's fun to see (as the name tells you) offbeat wedding ideas. Some crazier than others.

The Knot
The Ultimate wedding planning website. This is the first one I really started off at, and it has handy personalized planning tools such as To Do lists, inspiration boards, vendor contacts, and a platform for creating a wedding website if you so desire. I have the book version, too, and they have a magazine that I haven't checked out yet (no need really, with the internet).

Cupcakes & Cashmere
This isn't a wedding blog, but it's fun for everyday ideas, snacks and fashion to consider working into a wedding. My sister just recently introduced it to me.

- From the desk of Mrs. Sarah McPherson

Two months down

I love countdowns...

but this one is a little long for my liking

(that's what she said)

- From the desk of Mrs. Sarah McPherson

In my Apartment

Some things in my apartment. I'm testing out a new title header- what do you think? I played around with it through the day, and finally arrived at this!

married

Alvar Aalto glassware from Finland

 the only kitten toys that haven't mysteriously disappeared

 green fruit bowl from goodwill

 inaccurate, but a great wall filler

colorful pillow 

 - From the desk of Mrs. Sarah McPherson

Monday Movie: Away We Go

This week I'm sharing one of my all-time favorite movies, Away We Go (2009). The movie stars John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, as an early thirties couple who are expecting their first child and recently released from any home ties, so they set off on a trip to figure out where they want to start their new family. I think it is a funny, sad, thoughtful, lovely movie. It is both uplifting and a little bit depressing, usually leaving me with a smile and a tear. Krasinski and Rudolph are wonderful together. The relationship between the two leads is something to be admired. Critics have taken issue with them, stating that Burt and Verona are "smug, superior, and condescending," that their relationship is "implausibly ideal." But you know what? They do have a superior relationship. To me it is kind of the ideal. The two fully acknowledge their imperfections and worries, but they exude so much confidence in their love for one another. We see them in contrast to their odd, broken, self-absorbed friends and family that they visit on their journey, played by a great supporting cast. The soundtrack, primarily featuring singer-songwriter Alexi Murdoch, suits the movie perfectly. For me this is a comfort film, but it makes me miss Kyle so I can't actually watch it very often. Kyle enjoys the movie too, and we watched it the day we got married. Maybe we kind of like to see ourselves in Verona and Burt. Anyway, I love this movie; perhaps it will be an anniversary tradition (along with brunch at Ihop).

- From the desk of Mrs. Sarah McPherson

Taste of Austria

For dinner on my birthday, my brother John, who recently returned home from a Rotary exchange year in Austria, cooked up an Austrian meal for us! It was very tasty and nice to have something different for a change. I had been sad missing Kyle for most of the day and this cheered me up quite a bit.

meat-flour-eggs-breadcrumbs-pan

he didn't need to use this cookbook, but I looked through it and pretended I knew German

potato salad - erdäpfel salat

erdäpfel salat & wienerschnitzel

for dessert - kaiserschmarrn, kind of like a ripped up pancake that tastes like a waffle, with raisins

sprinkle with powdered sugar

 Nana Rose's jam on the side

On an unrelated note, while the death of any one person is sad, I just hope as many people are aware of and saddened by the shooting and bombing in Norway. I've not been to Norway, but having lived in Finland and traveled through a couple other Nordic countries I can understand how big a shock and tragedy this must be for them. Scandinavia is the most beautiful and happy place I've ever been and I hope for the best for Norway in the aftermath of these attacks. 

- From the desk of Mrs. Sarah McPherson

Saturday Cats 6

Testing out posting from my phone...

Ten Things

My birthday plans are nothing exciting to write about (working out, maybe laundry, quick stop at the doctors to check if I have TB or not for work) so instead I'll tell you ten things about me.

1. I hate the part right after you get out of the shower, when you're still dripping wet. And then you think you've dried off but nope there is still water dripping, even after you've put your hair up in a towel. I just do not enjoy the feeling and wish I could be instantly dry.

2. October is my favorite month. Autumn, perfect weather, hockey starting up, fall clothes, pumpkin spice flavored and scented things, also Dexter returns on the 2nd...just lovely. I don't drink coffee, but when I worked at Dunkin' last year I became mildly and briefly obsessed with their pumpkin spice coffee.

3. Of the activities/hobbies I used to do, I miss horseback riding the most.

4. I enjoy making long, thorough study guides and notecards. I do not enjoy reading them over and over afterwards and feel as if the many hours spent making the study guide should be enough studying anyway.

5. I have a collection of something between one and two hundred songs/poems/song ideas that I wrote maybe between the ages 7 and 12. I'm pretty certain they are all terrible.

6. My favorite food is quite possibly cucumber. The long, thin European kind. I do not eat it as frequently as I should, because I usually forget to check for it at the grocery store.

7. I have an odd fascination with the Exxon on Atherton, ever since I moved to State College. I've never been there, but it's one of my favorite spots in town.

8. I wish I had better hair or at least knew what to do with what I've got.

9. Aside from a return trip to Finland, if I could go anywhere I'd like to visit New Zealand, with Kyle of course!

10. I've more than once considered working up a scheme where I dress really terribly for a month and have someone nominate me for What Not To Wear. That would probably help with #8 as well. Any takers?

- From the desk of Mrs. Sarah McPherson

Wednesday Wedding: Guestbook

Welcome to my first official Wednesday Wedding post! 

First, a little background on my brief history with weddings: I have only been to two weddings in my life, both two years ago, so before planning my own I did not have much experience or knowledge of everything that goes into making a wedding happen, or anyone to exactly guide me through it. I've learned a lot already, thanks to tips and suggestions from some of you, and of course the internet provides endless hours of browsing pictures and ideas. For Christmas my friend Tracy gave me The Knot Ultimate Wedding Planner, which is helpful for telling me when things need to happen, answering questions, and organizing all the details that I didn't even know about.

My feelings on having a wedding pre-engagement were very different from my feelings post-engagement. When it actually became a reality, I got really unsure of if I wanted a wedding or not. I'm not much of a party person, and I don't like attention on me, so I worried I wouldn't even enjoy the occasion. I thought it would actually be a pretty miserable event for me. Especially with trying to figure out the details of Kyle and I getting married, I thought I was starting to see that a wedding wouldn't even be about us, just about trying to please and throw a party for others. So for the most part, for several months up until June really, whenever I would try to get into wedding things again, I just got worried and upset and had to stop before accomplishing anything. I'm not sure what turned me back around, but I'm feeling pretty good about wedding planning now. I guess actually being married already helps lessen the stress, and talking about plans with my bridesmaids and friends helps get me motivated to continue on. Now that I've gotten into the swing of things, it's pretty fun! It's an opportunity to do whatever Kyle and I want, and I hope to give him a really fun and special wedding, especially after his year deployment. 

-------

So , back to the topic for today! I'm starting off this week with some creative guestbook alternatives I've stumbled upon. Sometimes it is nice to flip through a book for memories, but sometimes you might want something a little different to better suit the personalities of the bride and groom, or the theme of the wedding.

Puzzle Pieces
About once a year I love sitting down to work on a puzzle, so this one kind of appeals to me. I don't think I've actually seen any real wedding examples that use this. The completed puzzle could easily be displayed in a frame and put on the wall to be seen every day, as opposed to having a typical guestbook tucked away under the bed. You could paint pieces before hand to match your wedding colors, but I think I'd leave them plain and use different colored pens. It might take forever to put together, with no picture to guide you, however, and guests would have to keep their well wishes quite succinct.

Leaf Your Thumbprint

This one is kinda different, but more commonly used than I might have thought. Guests stamp their thumbprint and sign their name on what starts out as a naked tree, usually with the couples initials "carved" in the trunk. It's another one that you could frame and display all the time, and you could use whatever colors you want to end up with some pretty funky looking leafy trees. Unfortunately, I've noticed, this idea inspires the happy couple to request that guests "leaf" their thumbprints and sign their name. Oh puns. 

Pictures or it Didn't Happen

This seems to be a pretty popular idea, having a photo booth, or a Polaroid camera available for guests to have fun with. It's a nice way to add some visuals from the actual wedding event to accompany messages and well wishes in a more typical guest book. You could set up an area with fun props for guests to have mini photo shoots (I'm all about thinking of fun activities for guests to do, to keep things interesting and for those who don't feel like dancing). 

"Send" a Postcard

I really like this idea. You know I love postcards, and it would be fun to decorate a mailbox for guests to put their finished messages into (the image of Carl and Ellie from Up comes to mind). Blank postcards or some from various or specific locations could be used. With blank cards, guests could decorate one side (arts & crafts station!) and write a message on the other. I'm not sure how they would ultimately be stored, probably in a binder/book in clear page covers. 

Sign This Dish

"Sign this dish with your best wish." Not sure I like this idea. I wouldn't want to deal with something so breakable and awkward, but I have only seen this once or twice in all my hours of wedding blog browsing.  

- From the desk of Mrs. Sarah McPherson