Eight is Great

today, mr. man and i celebrate 8 years of wedded bliss. you better believe we made it through year 7 without one single itch! no big thang! since i'd been waiting 6(!) years already, our engagement was a whirlwind. luckily location was a non-issue because my parents had a park for a backyard, complete with pond, pool, and basketball court (the dance floor, of course).

oh man, that weekend was not without drama (big shocker, huh?!). the afternoon before our wedding, a huge summer thunderstorm (totally normal for NM/west TX) rolled through. awesome. it came and left in a hurry, but not before knocking down trees, fences, and blowing tons of leaves all over the yard and pool, ruining all the prep we'd already done. grrrrr.

so, naturally, i became a basket-case worrying whether we should move the wedding indoors, or just leave it as is. what if there's another storm? where would we put people if there is? what do we do? what do we do? that's when a dear friend grabbed me and slapped me made me focus on what the wedding of my dreams looked like. so, i climbed off my crazy train, kept with the original plan and hoped for the best.

after that weekend, i won't ever discount the power of prayer. an angel friend raked leaves during our rehearsal dinner (without us knowing). my family set up tables and chairs before getting ready for the wedding. some friends made sure the tables were decorated, while others scooped leaves out of the pool. and, we prayed and prayed and prayed. and that storm gave us a lovely day of low 70s, after days (and days) in the 90s. the bridesmaids in black dresses and all the boys in monkey suits breathed a sigh of relief!

that outpouring of love was only the beginning of the love we felt on our wedding day. we were surrounded by amazing friends and family who love us and knew us as a couple. and, the compliments we got throughout the day of how much love everyone felt were so humbling.

i couldn't wait for that man to ask me to be his wife (6 years, remember), and i wake up every day thanking God that i get to spend the rest of my life with him. in my sister's toast, she said she hoped that we'd look back on our wedding day as the day we loved each other least, and you know what? we do - i love him more today than yesterday, and i'll love him more tomorrow than today.

happy anniversary, mr. man. i love you. i love you. i love you.

Why Do Today What Can Be Put Off 'til Tomorrow?

so, i'm in the process of creating an etsy site. well, it turns out i don't have tabitha's powers to wiggle my nose and have it poof, be done, so it's gonna take a little bit to get it up and running. so, in true procrastinator form, i've put my head in the sand, and am starting the weekend early! in fact, today, happy hour started at 4:01!

i don't feel too bad about closing up early. after all, i did declare august the month of relaxation. and, this has been a pretty relaxing week, other than a few designs and shipping our ebay sales (ya'll, that thing actually works!). my mamacita came to visit, so we did some shoppin' and eatin' and happy hourin'. and, she helped me attempt to tame my beast of a front yard. (thanks, mom!!)

you know i have pictures for you, my three readers:

a little late nite skee-ball

the weepies at zootunes

margaritas, mojitos and sangria on alki (conan visited the same resty the next night! sad we missed him.)

the must-do stroll thru the market when anyone's visiting

pretty proud of this pic!

vino and pizza alfresco for lunch

a good book and a sangria on the addy in the shade

we also found an AWESOME flea market, so stay tuned for an entire post on that and the goods we scored. (think you can guess what item went home with me from this picture?)

there are only two real weekends of summer left - get outside and do something fun, then come back and tell me all about it! if you need us tomorrow, we'll be having fun in the sun in a boat on lake washington!

Slumber Art-y Tutorial

my mom found some small wooden plaques that she sent to me. every time i'd see them, i'd wonder what i could use them to make. then, it came to me - the guest room needed a cute little door sign, and since a guest was coming, i went to work. the fact that i'd just bought chalkboard spray paint was a total bonus!

here's whatcha need (plaque/canvas/cardboard, spray paint, stick on letters):

choose a fun word (i chose sleep), and stick the letters on your plaque/canvas where you want them

spray paint over the letters (while chatting on speaker phone with your sister)

wait a little bit, then peel off the letters

ok, now, to be honest, my paint seeped a little under the letters, so make sure to stick those suckers down. because of that, i filled in the letters with silver, and it turned out super cute!

we're done! so, hang it up wherever you like (foam tape on the back sticks it directly to the door)

since i used chalkboard spray paint, i can leave a cute-c (inside joke!) message for my guests! so, come visit!!

i'm linking up over at the lettered cottage!

Keepin' It Real

ok, 'keepin' it real' might be a little misleading, cuz there's no sugar coatin' anything around here. but, 'hanging my head in shame' doesn't quite have the same ring to it. i've kept it real a few times - check it out here and here.

baby sister turned the tables on me and did some whip crackin' of her own this week. she put us to work cleaning out the basement, aka the workshop. i'm quite embarrassed to say it looked like this:

but now looks like this:

and, oh dear, looked like this (look if you dare):

which, thank the good Lord, now looks like this:

seriously, how was any work getting done? how the heck did i find anything? i guess there's always some method to the madness, but good grief! (looks like the figurine my paw-paw always had on his desk with the phrase 'a clean desk is the sign of a sick mind' really stuck with me!)

the efforts uncovered a pile of items we'd been meaning to sell. there mighta been hoarding comments thrown around. whatevs. i'm NOT a hoarder (even though some of it mighta been wedding gifts from 8 years ago). so, maybe i'm glad that girl packed her whip?? she took care of ebay and craigslist, and created a hefty goodwill pile. if you're interested in oh say, a breadmaker or a lava lamp, i'm your gal.

bah, all this organization talk is makin' me break out in hives. enough! let's look at fun pics of what we've been doin' instead! oh, and go visit baby sister. that girl's much better about breakin' down the deets.

fun sunday afternoon bbq with friends where we got to stare at this ah.maz.ing view (if we have to):

and, no question, there was some of this:

and this going on (add a little mountain dew to daiquiris for a kick):

ok, i'd really love to stay and chat more, but i really mustache. (tee hee)

Surf's Up

one of my sisters from another mister added a bambino to her brood in june, and i thought and thought about what gift to give. checked the registry, added things to the cart, then promptly emptied the cart, deciding instead to gift them announcements made by moi. that's a good gift, right?

since mama's hawaiian, we had to bring some'a that flair to the cards. especially since this was big brudda's announcement three years ago:

i was thinking retro-ish, surfer sign-y, and luckily mama was on board, and even sent pictures of baby in a surfer shirt! so, this is what we came up with:

see the surfboard in the corner? and, the wooden "sign" feel? how it looks like the words are carved into the sign? i was so excited his shirt was turquoise and orange, because those were the exact colors i had in mind.

just another perfect example of how awesome custom is. ain't nobody else gonna have this announcement. insert the hawaiian phrase for too cute here!

I'm Lockin' Her in the Basement

i can't believe baby sister's been here a week already. time flies entirely too fast!! we're havin' a ball, y'all. (i'm a poet and didn't even know it!) and that girl does whatever i ask of her. well, she kinda has to, cause i'm buyin' all the eats and drinks, ya know. i'm makin' sure she's doing enough for rosita designs so she can list 'intern' on her résumé. she's gettin' rill good at tying pretty lil bows, which is sure to help her immensely out in the world of biology.

havin' someone around to do stuff with is soooo much more exciting than doing stuff alone. especially happy hour. cause i've heard in some circles, drinking alone is frowned upon.

here are some pics of all the fun we've been havin'. don't have a pic of it, but i've also introduced her to the classy world of bunko, aka drunko. (middle sissy: don't be jeally. we'd'a invited you too, if you weren't cookin' up a bambino.)

trying new recipes is also more fun when there are more people around. these are broccoli chick pea burgers for meatless monday. (not nearly as good as i wanted them to be.

happy hour starts promptly at 5:01 around here. in a fancy glass. with a side of garnish. outside on the addys. (you wish you worked here, doncha?!)

i promise we've been workin' too. we set up shop at the seattle square yesterday, and we'll be back there the 18th and the 25th.

if you're out and about, stop by. there are other cool vendors, live music, dining al fresco (food trucks!), and all the people watching you can handle. (seriously)

still on the agenda: more live music, bbqs, kayaking, crafting, and a visit from the mamacita. (maybe some work, too, we'll see)

Tea for Two

isn't a tea party the perfect way to celebrate a baby? the hostesses of this cute shower wanted to tie in the colors of the baby's room with the theme. so, i set to work designing options in blues and greens, tying in tea cups, tea bags, and swirling warmth.

the girls unanimously chose the teacups to set the mood (my personal fave, too). and, i whipped together their package of invitations

thank you notes

and favor tags (we did 4 different sayings, but i thought this was cutest!)

i hope they got mama a box of chamomile, since she'll be up all night pretty soon! i tell ya, it never ceases to amaze me the creativity of my clients - custom is SO cool!