Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald - Cheek to Cheek (Heaven)

5 years later

Our wedding day, June 25th, 2005



5yrs later, June 25th, 2010





I have been blessed in enormous ways in my life. Most of all to be married to my best friend and soul mate. We spent our 5 yr wedding anniversary at the wedding of our Best Man, and almost all of the guests who attended our ceremony were there!

After all the speeches and first dance, cake cutting and the like, Jess surprised me by taking up the microphone. There, in front of friends family and other guests, he spoke about how lucky we were to be so happy after 5 yrs of marriage, how blessed we were to be best friends. How wonderful it was to be raising a family together. He said all the things I felt in my heart and ended the speech with saying, "I love you,I love you, I love you."
Then he cued the music, " cheek to cheek" and we danced in the middle of the whole wedding reception! It was an amazing and thoughtful gift, and I am a lucky girl indeed. I am looking forward to spending the rest of my life with the man who will always have my heart.

hats and a great party

Mandy showcasing the hat I made for her!

Mandy and Mandy- and here's how my hair came out

Some of the most rockin ladies I know!

So I did not bring my camera to the wedding*, but a friend gave me these pictures to share with you. There were a lot of folks who made great efforts with their hats and really everyone was dressed to the nines! What a pleasure to spend time with so many of my favorite people, all in one place! The funny thing is that you can't even see my hat in any of the pics because its pinned behind my victory rolls! Also, a lot of hats were taken off by the time these pic's were taken! Anyway, great time, good people and it was fun to get dressed up!!

Oh wait I did get one good** pic of a hat....


* No pics of the actual wedding, cause it ain't my place! :)
** back off ladies, he's taken!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

KINO PROBY!!!

Come on down and kick it old school with the handsome gents of Kino Proby next Thursday night! It's a great, fun energy show you won't easily forget...be there or be square, my friends!!


Kino Proby - Empire D&D - 7.1.10 - "Sweat rock and American Beer"
Thursday, July 1, 2010 at 9:30pm
End Time:
Friday, July 2, 2010 at 1:00am
Location:
Empire Dine & Dance - Portland, ME


Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Hat's Made...

Oh man, I love a project with a purpose. I used to be a able to create artwork all the time just because I had the inclination. Of course that changes a bit once a person has two little toddlers bouncing around trying to eat beads and paint! And for a little while I grieved that loss of spontaneous creation....but now I have come to realize that the time I do spend creating is all the more precious, and what I create has much more value to me. And so, usually it has to be a project with a purpose for me to budget the time to do it.
So during the kids nap time today I made a hairpieces/hats for the wedding on Friday. I plan on making a few more in the future as it was a completely lovely project. I used feathers, felt, brooches, fabric flowers, pearl accents, wire, needle, thread, booby pins and of course a glue gun! Here's how they came out:







While I was chatting with my talented and creative sister earlier today, she reminded me of a blog I forgot about called Soule Mama. It is the blog of Amanda Blake Soule, it's beautifully written and full of gorgeous photographs. I find it incredibly inspiring. Upon revisiting the blog I ordered her two books that I had intended on aquiring the last time I read her -"The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections" and Handmade Home: Simple Ways to Repurpose Old Materials into New Family Treasures" I am really excited about them!!

Also, looking at her blog reminded me that its high time I take some sewing lessons. I've got an old sears kenmore machine I've made a few things on, mostly curtains and a couple dresses for my little girl...but since I can barely rethread the thing its definitely time to get some professional help! Also, I saw an ad for this book featured in Bust magazine and I really want to try it out! So sewing lessons it is.

I am really getting excited to see what people wear for hats on friday and I still plan on keeping you posted. I hope to see some folks sporting homemade chapeau's ( at least one of mine, anyway!)!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Loving Hats

I am attending a wedding this coming friday, and the invitation has encouraged hats for the ladies. I LOVE this. Of course I have the perfect hat already, the only dressy one I own in fact. It looks to be of 1940's vintage. It was given to me by my mother, who has many such things, being an antiques and flea market enthusiast. I just adore having a reason to wear it! I plan on styling my look entirely around the hat, with victory rolls, retro black eyeliner and pearls.

A couple of gals have asked my opinion on what kind of hat they should wear, and I've suggested they make simple hair adornments from flowers and feathers. I decided to try and find some ideas (gotta love google) to help design the pieces and I came across two websites I just had to share...
I adore this one: www.villagehatshop.com
I love the amazing and creative designs showcased on the site. Also it had this great quote that was right up my alley: "Have nothing in your house that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." William Morris.
I am not sure what that quote has to do with hats, but I love it anyway.

This other site is more of a really? This is a real thing? kind of link:

www.hatsofmeat.com

I doubt there will be any hats of meat at the wedding...but I will post any hat pics I take.

Here's Mine:



( The label reads "New York/ Paris/ Mr.John/ Caprice")



The hat is meant to be worn feathers forward, but I prefer the velvet bow to be in the front, so that's how I'll wear it, cocked slightly left to make room for the rolls. I'll let you know how it all turns out!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Bloggerish

I am starting to suspect that I am not much of a blogger...I am more of a blog enthusiast...all of my favorite blogs post a few times a week, even if its just a random photo now and then. I have lots of idea's to post, but posting seems to be somewhat low on my priority list. But when I do get to it, it's a fun way to reach out to people or just get my thoughts onto the page.
So, folks, you can expect more of the same from me, sporadic bouts of posting in no particular order, with no particular theme, based on my varied and changing interests. Hopefully it'll be fun for you, too!