Colorado Bound!

Tomorrow, I am returning to beautiful Colorado. And this time, I'm taking my sweetie pie with me!

Somehow we knew this vacation (just the two of us!) would be much needed. And that, my friend, would be an understatement. A few weeks ago, we returned from some relaxing days in Florida and since then, I feel we have barely seen each other. Our days usually progress as so: a quick kiss good-bye in the morning, work, gym, dinner, dishes, more work (MBA application work for Mike, wedding planning for me), go to sleep too late, get up and start it all over again. Minimal cuddling time. Dislike.

On top of our hectic schedules, we are both looking to the next year with a lot of excitement and anticipation, but also with some anxiety about things that are out of our control, you know, things like where we will be living in a year. Mike and I are both planners: totally type-a, completely detail-oriented. I find myself repeating, "It's okay, it will all work out," a lot - both to myself and out loud.

It is okay. It will all work out. There are moments when I feel frustrated and overwhelmed and want to cry. Moments when I just cannot look at another wedding blog. Moments when I just can't figure out another "What if?" scenario if we do actually pack our bags for another city. But there are significantly more moments that bring tears to my eyes because I just feel so incredibly blessed. Blessed to have my family, friends, co-workers. Beyond blessed to be able to marry the man who makes me the happiest girl in the world.

So off we go! Time to relax! Time to rock climb, hike, breathe fresh air, and drink too much beer! Cheers to that!

Angelo & Valerie | Wedding Morning Preparations

My baby sister, Valerie, married her sweetheart, Angelo, in Rochester, New York on Saturday, May 26, 2012. While my duties as her maid of honor did not allow me to capture the entire day through my lens, I happily snapped away during our morning preparations. The photos are not all technically perfect, but they collectively represent one small hour that I will treasure for years to come.

Color Love | Laduree Hues

Saturday Snapshot | High Line

The High Line, New York City

Saturday Snapshot | Pure Black Coffee

Dragonfly

These photos actually belong to a larger group of snapshots, from an afternoon I spent exploring the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens (more soon), but I felt they were special enough to share just by themselves. Dragonflies always remind me of my mother – one of her favorite creatures – and discovering this little guy in an otherwise vast landscape made me smile during a long week.

Color Love | Packaging Hues

Project Life 2012 | Week Thirty-One

Week thirty-one - Monday, July 30th through Sunday, August 5th - was a week where I found more inspiration in words than in photos. The month of July came to a close and, happily, I was able to check-off everything I was supposed to complete in the first month of our engagement. I visited Paper Source for the first time ever and just loved the saying on their colorful bag, "Do something creative every day." Good words to remember - it is amazing how much of a difference this makes in my world.

My need to unplug - from Twitter, Facebook, wedding blogs, Manhattan - became more readily apparent as the days wore on, as one might expect as a long awaited vacation approaches. I also included two free printables that I really loved - one from Eighteen 25 and one from Ali Edwards (I re-colored this one to hot pink!).

Dulce de Leche

A few years ago, I stumbled across a recipe for making your own dulce de leche at home. I had just tried the sweet treat for the first time when Mike surprised me with a WMD (Wafel of Massive Deliciousness) from Wafels & Dinges – back when they only had one truck! After barely recovering from the blow that was finding out their spekuloos spread was not available in the United States*, I was happy to find I could, if nothing else, recreate that deliciousness of oozing caramel.

And then my eyes came across this line, “Be sure to frequently check the water level: the can should be covered by water at all times and the pot should never be allowed to boil dry, otherwise the can may explode.”

Um, explode?

I had a vision of working in our little kitchen, with two cans of scalding sweetened condensed milk suddenly exploding, covering the ceilings and walls, Mike walking in the door from work, and fire raging from the stovetop with me in my pink apron screaming for our non-existant fire extinguisher. Now that I think of it, there probably wouldn’t have been a fire. But the thought was terrifying enough for me to never, ever think about making the treat again.

Fast forward a few years, as that very same image played in my mind as I agreed to test a recipe for dulce de leche. The biggest pot I had only held four quarts of water, which seemed like an incredibly small amount to me, so I borrowed one of Mike’s homebrewing pots for the afternoon. I placed the two tiny cans on the bottom of the pot and then proceeded to cover them with fourteen quarts of water, a sight that was almost as ridiculous as my vision of exploding cans and dulche de leche covered walls.

The good news: the pot did not boil dry and the cans did not explode. In fact, the water level barely dipped below the original level. The bad news: having homemade dulce de leche on hand can be dangerous for other reasons.

*It is now! Most grocery stores now carry this brand and Wafels & Dinges now sells their own version.

Saturday Snapshot | Simplicity

Project Life 2012 | Week Thirty

Last week was fairly quiet until the weekend, when we drove to Wildwood, New Jersey for the annual beach ultimate frisbee tournament. Madness is about the only word to describe those 36 hours.

We have been having some pretty intense summer storms and I captured a shot of the clouds rolling in through our bedroom window. I included two of the many paper samples I have picked-up to consider for our wedding invitations. It's tough to make a decision with so many beautiful options! A few other things of note: Mike surprised me with hot pink wrist wraps (I've been hunting for them for months!), the Olympics began, and I included words from this poster that I really love.

Project Life 2012 | Week Twenty-Nine

Here is our week twenty-nine: Monday, July 16th through Sunday, July 22nd. We ended up referring to this as the "Week of Worth It" - recovering from a wedding the weekend before and seeing the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises. Otherwise it was a fairly quiet week, with margaritas and wedding planning during the weekend and a bit of lettering practice for our invitations.

Project Life 2012 | Week Twenty-Eight

Here is our week twenty-eight: Monday, July 9th through Sunday, July 16th. This week’s layout is mostly composed of photos from the wedding of our friends Jon and Pam. I designed the labels (above) for two beers Mike made especially for the wedding. Both were really delicious, but the saison was out of this world! This was such a fun weekend to share with our friends!