Wedding Scrapbook Goodies

           My wedding is less than three months away!!  Therefore, I am beginning to think of all the pictures, and the scrapbook I will create with them.  Here are a few nice treats I found shopping around online to get my creative juices flowing.  Most were found on Overstock, but some can also be found on Two Peas in a Bucket.  

*This is from Martha Stewart's Line of Edger Punches*

*This Circut Cartridge is called Tie the Knot with some great little cuts.*

*This paper even though for heritage or family tree albums has beautiful classy paper I love*

*This is a archival sparkly mist to add a nice touch*

*These are so cute!  They are embellishments from Angelous*  

        
In other news, I go to pick up my dress on Saturday!!

Matched... or rather hooked...

             Let me me begin this book review saying that my favorite read in middle school was Lois Lowry's The Giver.  So when I saw that Matched by Ally Condie in the blogosphere was described by comparing it to The Giver I had to read it.  I am very happy that I put it to the front of my reading list!  It turned out to be a more adult type of version compared to my middle school read.  Condie creates a society where every person is dictated by the choices made for them by the government.  People are only allowed to enjoy a hundred different types of songs, books, poems, etc. Everyone in the society has to die by the age of eighty no matter what their physical state, and their jobs are chosen for them as well.  The most significant moment of a seventeen year olds life is their matching ceremony where they are given the person they will marry at the age of twenty.  This person is chosen by a formula known as a matching system.

           This story follows the adventures of Cassia after she discovers here match is her childhood best friend, which proves to be an unusual circumstance.  However, the day after her matching ceremony she goes to view a data card with her matches information only to have the picture of another childhood friend flash on the screen.  Despite being warned that this is just a glitch in the system, the incident along with the death of her grandfather sets the plot spiraling into motion.  Cassia soon begins to question if the society really has everything all figured out while she falls in love with both of her matches.  Even though the second one is forbidden to be with her.  

          I completed this book within twenty-four hours of reading it, and am excited for the second installment set to come out in November.  Condie really was able to create a lot of drama within in the confines of the societies restrictions.  She also did not do too bad with the love story.  My favorite thing about Matched is that it gave me a lot of food for thought such as books like Scott Westerfield's Uglies series.   

Bridal Hair

Some great ideas from The Knot!

Key Lime Pie Cupcake

       This week was the week for Key Lime Pie Cupcakes!  My mom gave me Anne Byrn's Cupcakes! From the Cupcake Doctor a while back and this book is chock full of great cupcake recipes.  I chose the key lime pie cupcakes for several reasons, one being they are my first time trying filled cupcakes.  Plus they continue on my use of products of summertime such as strawberries and pink lemonade.  These cupcakes are filled with lime spiked condensed milk and topped with toasted meringue.  They turned out great, and were eaten up at work in no time.  Here are a few peaks into the kitchen.  

*My lovely stiff meringue before they were toasted on top of the cupcakes.*

*The toasted tops*

*My cupcake with the filling. *

Say Goodbye to the Dress

        Last July, I found my almost perfect dress at Victorian Lace Timeless Bride in Downtown Mobile, Alabama.  The owner ushered us in and allowed us to try on dresses way past the store closing time.  Now it is time to take this deal of a dress and make it my own.  I have a few tricks up my sleeve to make the simple yet classic dress more appropriate to my body type.  As you can see I am five foot three and this dress was worn originally by a much taller bride.  (Hey almost everyone is taller than me.) Also I would never choose a dress with a train and keep it.  

       Therefore, this Saturday I returned to Mobile in order to alter the dress to be perfect for my wedding day.  My changes are so extreme the seamstress took before photographs of the dress as well!  This post is a farewell to this long dress, and express my anticipation to see the final product almost exactly a year after I bought it on July sixteenth.  

Full 360 View!  

A View from the back

More Etsy Wedding Fun

Super Cute Wine Glass Charms by All My Creations 

These Tiny Mirrors would make great gifts!  From Honey Bunny Paperie 

A Little something to put a "wedding day survival kit" inside!  By Rose bud lips

These are great ideas for our outside ceremony by Funny Side of Life

Blue Petyl Created this beautiful bouquet of buttons and trinkets

This is a very special piece on my very own friend's Etsy Shop would make a great "Something Old."

Please go check out Artsy Southern Belle for more awesome vintage jewelry and goodies!!

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

Recipe from Sweet Tooth

 "Stressed spelled backwards is desserts.  Coincidence?  I think not!" 

~Unknown

My Newest Obsession... Food Trucks!

       I have been slacking in both my reading and reviewing as the summer heat slows me down.  The official temperature for right now is ninety-two degrees, and it is only June!  Anyway on with the show. Last week I finished the book Food Truck: Dispatches and Recipes from the Best Kitchens on Wheels by Heather Shouse.  She took a tour across the country interviewing food trucks from the Pacific to the Atlantic and everywhere else in between.  The book is a sorted into geographical areas and each section presents beautiful photographs of the different people, trucks, and foods. 

      Since I watched The Great Food Truck Race on the Food Network, I have been fascinated by the concept of gourmet food trucks.  Probably because you the nearest ones are in New Orleans or Baton Rouge from here.  (I would  even love to start my own.)  This book can even be used as a travel guide to the food enthusiast.  Especially since Shouse has mapped out the locations of high traffic food truck areas in cities such as Portland, Oregon.  The trials and errors of the owners are highlighted in the personal interviews she has conducted with many of the vendors.  If you can dream it, it can now be found on a food truck!

     Some of my favorite trucks featured in Food Trucks were the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, The Que Crawl in NOLA, and Potato Champion in Portland.

**In other news, I was quoted in The Sun Herald in an article about the arrival of the new books for the newly rebuilt Biloxi Public Library downtown.  

So Why Can't I Register at Barnes and Noble?

          Edward and I have put the cart before the horse a bit last year by buying a house together before having a wedding. Therefore, I was a little leery about registering for a ton of house stuff.  (I mean really we only have so much room in our closets that are already full.)  Plus the idea of telling people what to buy us is a little odd.   For weeks we have been brainstorming what is a little ratty that needs replacing plus items we cannot live without.  This does include some very well used items from my college dorm days.  It was a relief to see all the cool places now that do have registries such as Amazon.com and REI.com.  We could even register for a honeymoon!  How cool is that?  


            We did think that we would register at REI online, but realized that Edward has already accumulated all the camping equipment we both need plus some for a party of ten in the wilderness.  I have not received all the books that I want, but I thought it rude to ask if I could register at Barnes and Noble.  So we will probably compromise with the old stand by Bed, Bath, and Beyond plus a few other places yet to be determined.  Here are my top five favorite items that will probably appear on my registry from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

The Keurig Mini-Plus in Red even matches our Kitchen!  

We have a very old and funky colored Duvet it is time for new bedding.

(Although I doubt Edward will let me get this one.)

This Cuisinart Blender/Food Processor Combo is perfect to save space

We have these older metal hangers that need to be replaced with this no slip variety.

These are very much needed with Edward's abuse and the age of our current collection.

Sweet Sweet Summertime

         This weekend, Edward and I celebrated the first week of Mississippi heat with an impromptu crawfish boil in our backyard.  We decided to go on minimal and only serve the crawfish with the things that go in the pot such as mushrooms, sausage, garlic, asparagus, and whatever else struck our fancy.  Saturday morning I decided we needed something sweet to go with the mud bugs.  So I pulled out my new cupcake book called Who You Callin' Cupcake? by Michelle and Vinny Garcia.  I purchased the book because of all the alternative flavors such as earl grey, peanut butter bacon, and even tequila sunrise.  I decided to try their recipe for lemon blackberry cupcakes because nothing says summer more than blackberries.  (Well beside maybe watermelon.)

          However, their actual lemon cupcake recipe looked delicious but very time consuming.  Not to mention contained a point of butter.  So I substituted their recipe for lemon cake mix out of the box with a package of lemon pudding.  I added the lemon pudding so when I chopped up the blackberries and put it in the batter the blackberry pieces would not sink straight to the bottom.  I did follow their cream cheese frosting recipe only adding more lemon zest to play up the lemon portion of the cupcake.  With the 1/4 white chocolate the frosting turned out delicious and did not run like other cream cheese recipes I have tried.  I was even able to make a cute little dollop on the top by putting the frosting in a gallon zip lock and cutting a nickel size hole in the corner.  My past few baking attempts have not been successful on my part, but these turned out perfect!