wedding planning begins

Since becoming engaged in February Mr. Ramon and I have rambled about on the topic of our wedding. I started looking through wedding blogs for DIY inspirations and dreaming of what it could be - our perfect night.

How happy am I to have a guy who wants to be involved in every decision made ? Very - at the moment, though I can see this also being a pain in the butt as we continue to move forward. He is a designer and has very specific ideas in his head. My job - get him to articulate them.

We came up with the 2 most important things for us - look awesome and have great music. All other elements being secondary.

We tried to put our "theme" in words - it would have been so much easier to understand if it was "ranch themed" or "preppy". We settled on describing our theme as "rustic glamour". Not sure what that means - well we are trying to figure it out as well. Think Anthropologie - in the sense of found items, open beams, rustic details and a dose of candles, sparkle and glamour.

We landed on a month - January. I really want a winter wedding. Cold, pouty day with clouds - I dream of snow.

We chose a time - we are looking at an evening wedding with desert, dancing and drinks to follow.

Here are a couple of images that I found that are little bursts of inspiration.

Next week we conquer venues - of course we are looking for something specific - so our options are limited. So pop back and see what we found!

Fresh Flours - Ballard

Had to run over to the end of the world this morning - Ballard, so I thought I would check out the new bakery I saw next to Bastille a couple of weeks ago.

Fresh Flours is a cute little shop - utilitarian and basic. Just the way I like it. They have all their pastries laid out on the counter as you walk in behind a glass sneeze guard. They have a cold case with juice and sandwiches in it also. When you look back into the space you can see all the ovens and baking racks - a sort of exposed kitchen. (In fact when I saw this place - I said - "why not me - I want this")

I could not decide what to take away with me so I grabbed a couple of basic items to test them out. Upon talking with the girl behind the counter I learned that they are owned by a Japanese couple who love the art of French pastry infused with subtle Japanese flavors. This explained the azuki bean brioche and green tea cookies.

I picked up this apple turnover. I am a huge fan of pocket type pies and the turnover is my favorite flakey favorite. This version had a thicker than expected exterior with more of a chew than a crisp bite. The apple was nice - perhaps a little sweet. A very pretty pastry.

The other two sweet items I grabbed were a chocolate chip and a peanut butter cookie. I like to try out the basics at new places to see if they can win me over with them. Getting the basics right is so important I think.

The cookies were soft in the middle and chewy around the edges. Overall tasty - the chocolate chip may have been a touch to sweet - but the peanut butter was spot on.

I also picked up a sandwich for my lunch. I love egg salad - my mom makes the perfect egg salad. We are purists - so only egg, mayo and salt/pepper. Always on white bread. Sometimes on white toast for breakfast. The girl at Fresh Flours said their egg salad was a bit dry - but had no mustard - a must. So I decided to give it a whirl. The bread was a bit dry - but that may have been on purpose so over the day it would not get soggy. Other than needing a bit more salt it was not bad. I must say - it did not stick around for a photo - sorry!!

Next time I am in Ballard I will stop in and give one of their Japanese inspired pastries a whirl.

Liberty of London

In a previous life I was a make up artist. And even though I have every shade I could ever need - I continue to hunt down make up items for my collection. MAC always has fun collaborations that result in great colors, fun packaging and me spending to much!

Recently I went into my local MAC store and was super surprised that they had done a collection with Liberty of London.

Liberty & Co. has been around since the later 1800's. What started as a shop of housewares has turned into a continued rotation of home, apperal, and cool accessories.

The packaging for these cosmetics is covered inside and out with little floral prints and birds - signatures of Liberty of London and the crisp white background is oh such a nice contrast.

I could not contain myself. I actually walked into MAC for a practical every day item - which they were out of. So I walked out with the most bold and beautiful blush for amazing disco cheeks, a very mauve lipstick and a eyeshadow that is grey and green at the same time.

And even though I have been using these items for a few weeks - I cannot yet toss out the packaging. It has me spellbound!

party flowers

Spring is here in the Pacific North West. Or at least it is attempting to be here between the  hail and sideways rain. But the tulips and blossom trees are pushing forward putting me in the mood for a spring get together.

I sent out invites to a close group of friends for a little gathering of snacks and drinks.

I wanted to make the homestead a little more festive so I decided to attempt to make some of those awesome tissue paper flowers that are featured on almost every party and wedding site.

I found directions on Martha Stewart and they were so easy to make.

Ramon helped out and ironed to tissue paper for me - we used 8 sheets for nice fullness - I would like to try with more and see how it comes out.

I worked on the accordion folding and cutting the ends to create the petals and then secured them with florists wire - then we separated the layers

The tricky part is to fluff the layers and create seamless balls so you cannot see where the two sides meet.

Ramon hung them from the ceiling while I art directed the installment - overall they looked really good and people who came over thought they were pretty and were surprised I made them. Which either means I don't look like the crafty type or they looked real good!

As I am also wedding planning I thought these might be good in newspaper for a more rustic flower look - they also would be quite smashing in black tissue and a pop of green.

Le Marais - our neighborhood in Paris

While in Paris we stayed in the wonderful Le Marais neighborhood. Full of great food and shopping but also all of the usual Paris type establishments that make this city so fun - cafes, butchers, bakers, pastry shops and green grocers - just to name a few.

We arrived tired but exhilarated - so we decided to start walking our neighborhood and get a sense of what is and Paris had to offer.

Hungry and ready for a breakfast - we stopped in for a little coffee and Croque Monsieur (a wonderful version of grilled ham and cheese with a bechemal or mornay sauce). This is not your typical breakfast item and garnered some unusual looks from our waitress. But once she knew we were americans it all made sense.

I was amazed at the amount of pastry/bakery options that one neighborhood could support. From basic bread to fancy pastries and confections.

This store had amazing marshmallow options as well as beautiful cakes and pastries.





The butcher shops were so pretty - these people take their craft very seriously and meat was displayed like works of art. Some still had feet and heads attached - it was nice to see a culture still in touch with their food. Not like here where most things are shrink wrapped - boneless and no longer representing the animal that it once was.



There were a great deal of deli type stores - filled with cured meats, salads, cheeses etc. A great place to stop and pick up a meal or side dish. We oohed and ahhed over the aspics and meat gels.





One very cool little chain of stores is called the Daily Monop. Here you can get a wide variety of pre-made sandwiches, salads and soups. Also prepared fruit, yogurt, beverages and dry snacks. There is a variety of fresh-baked bread and rolls to choose from as well.

We stopped by here regularly for little snacks - it was so convenient to say - "I am running down to the Monop", it was so close and handy.