The whale in the room {garden}

Does this make me strange? I just found out that the garden we are getting married in has a dinosaur theme for the summer and... I'm thrilled! I can't wait to take silly pictures running from all the dino displays they have around! Plus, there is a whale made of woven reeds- photo op anyone? I'm thrilled, and while that may make me strange, it sure will make our wedding day a heck of a lot more interesting!

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one. - Dr. Suess

*photo by Ket Quang of Haute Photo- our photographer *squeal*

This shirt

Somehow, this shirt needs to find its way into my closet. In view of the saddening decision by California's Supreme Court, I think the shirt is particularly true. Plus, the company is a small Des Moines, IA based shop that is coming up with several awesome shirts (both political and just plain funny). So by purchasing this shirt, you not only show support for a marginalized group, you support a small local store. Huzzah!

Equality is the soul of liberty; there is, in fact, no liberty without it.- Frances Wright

J'aime Paris dans le printemps

Or anytime, really. This time last year Mr. P and I were wrapping up our European tour (along with my intrepid roommate, Meesh) and were lolling through our last days in Paris. For me, Paris holds many glamours- history rushing along every cobblestone alleyway, elegance dripping like moss from every tree and doorway, the city's very recognition that life is short- take time to appreciate it. Mr. P is a bit more straightforward. His favorite thing about Paris could be summed up in two words. Pierre Herme. Not that I can blame him- I've never seen nor tasted such amazing pastry goodness. The entire shop is, quite literally, food porn, and well worth the trek, no matter how far you're apartment is. But in 7 days in Paris, we went to the bakery at least 6 times and spent ridiculous amounts of money on fleeting foodie fancies. But then again, a year later we are still talking about those macaroons...


The fine arts are five in number, namely: painting, sculpture, poetry, music, and architecture, the principal branch of the latter being pastry. - Antonin Careme (Marie-Antoine Careme)

*photos by me; bottom inside of the Pierre Herme shop/realm of gods

I want this job...

At any given time, you can walk into a room and find my cat doing this:


I want her job. That is all.

Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this. - Anonymous

*photo by me

Here please?

I woke up to a beautiful morning, but... it has been over a year since I traveled to anyplace amazing and I'll be honest, my traveling feet are starting to itch. Where would I like to be? Pictures say it best.

Where would you like to be when the sun rises tomorrow?


Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain


*all photos from cuellar's flicker photostream- stop by to see a huge array of stunning photography

Gift: Received

Yesterday we received our second wedding gift in the mail, and Mr. P was particularly exultant over it.
With this Kitchenaid Immersion blender in hand, Mr. P can now create all sorts of creamy smooth concoctions for me. Mmm... black bean soup... *drool* The only gift thus far that has topped the blender is the gift we received from Mr. P's sister and brother-in-law - 22 pounds of gourmet baking chocolate. Just take a look at her blog- this woman obviously knows about superior tasties, so you can imagine the quality of the chocolate she sent us!

Chemically speaking, chocolate really is the world's perfect food. -Michael Levine

Digital inspiration

In the past few weeks, I've developed an obsession with Etsy. Where else can you find stuffed horse dolls, steampunk lapel pins and feline cravats for sale at any given time? Do I need any of these things? No. Do I wan these things? Unequivocally YES!
Honestly, many of the items I obsess over serve no purpose other than to amaze me with the ingenuity and craftsmanship of many people in this world. Some of the things I've found are almost more pleasing for their absurd amusement quotient than any useful item that I've found. Sometimes you need to just enjoy a clever piece of work, or marvel at the unique twist that another person's mind can put on something. Again, I don't need these items in a physical way, but just having the chance to see the products of the imaginations of others has inspired me to express myself in some inventive manner. It is unlikely that I'll churn out copies of Darwin's 'The Origin of Species' on needle heads or recreate the 'Last Supper' in picture collage, but even a step towards adding a new, creative idea into the cultural wasteland of today's America is a small stride in the right direction.

Maybe I'm the only person out here who is looking for a bit of inspiration, but if not, and you want some free and fun eye candy, hop over to Etsy, support an independent vendor and, just possibly, find an outlet for your own unique product. If nothing else, its a great place to spend a few hours (and your life's savings). Enjoy:)

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties. - Erich Fromm

*Images from penguinandfish and natorious

A picture is worth a thousand words

Jen over at Green Wedding Shoes, one of my most favoritest blogs, posts some of the most amazing photography. Due to our own personal budget, we weren't able to get our top pick photographer, but that doesn't stop me from drooling over some of the fantastic photos Jen posts on a nearly daily basis. What I really love about such blogs is that you can take pieces out of each picture that inspires you and find some way to make it your own. My budget doesn't have room for chiavari chairs or buckets of champagne, but we can set up a colorful and awesome photobooth or enjoy local made products with our friends- its all in the details that actually matter to me and Mr. P.


Sometimes the pictures from blogs like Jen's (see the gorgeous montage above) have been more helpful than all theknot.com has to offer. This wedding provided me with some inspiration for how you can do a wedding on a budget and still have it look elegant and fun, and focus on what really matters. It has been difficult to keep myself from falling into the flock of 'must look perfect' wedding drones, and I'll admit that in the early stages, Mr. P. was the most influental player in keeping my feet on the ground, but for a while I kept thinking 'But if only we could...' whatever, and it made me unhappy with the entire planning process. But as we got farther into the big W (wedding, that is), I realized that so many of the things I 'needed' to have (tall and short floral arrangements, green table linens) were really just wants that wouldn't actually improve the day. Mr. P and I are committing ourselves to each other for life- THAT is what I should have been focusing on.

So, with pared down expectations, I untied my knot and started following blogs like A Practical Wedding, created by Meg who is a veritable fountain of realistic suggestions for how to make 'your' day something meaningful, not an example of how much money whoever is paying makes. Rather than following a cookie-cutter model of brides-to-be, I've also found lots of inspiration from the ladies over at Offbeat Bride, led by Ariel, who have shown me a pantheon of ways to take the 'zilla' out of 'bridezilla'.

To put things into an even better perspective, today I was assailed with a flurry of marriage advice. It was my last day at work before leaving for our wedding and literally every member of our staff who is or has been married offered up some tidbit of advice. The vignette that I enjoyed the most was one middle-aged man said that 'Her dad wasn't so pleased with us being together, so we ran off and got married, spent a week on a riverboat, and went home to announce our marriage. Everyone thought we'd fail, but that was 37 years ago, and I love her more than I did then and wouldn't change a thing, even though sometimes it was pretty tough'. 37 years and still head over heels- what more can you ask for (except 50 years;). His story of their bare bones ceremony, followed by years of love and joy, helps put into perspective that the W is really just a party- what matters is the marriage, and that won't be made or broken by a picture perfect day or a train wreck. Our life will be what we make of it, not the result of a wedding industry stereotype- so why buy in? We have made some different choices, and you know what? From this side of married-hood, I wouldn't change a thing.

Marriage--a book of which the first chapter is written in poetry and the remaining chapters written in prose. - Beverly Nichols

*photo by Poser:Image and posted on Green Wedding Shoes

L.O.V.E.

Or in this case, M.A.C. I recently went to The Big City (TBC) and found a M.A.C. Cosmetics store and, quite literally, went to town. I've never been a make-up wearing kinda gal- I own horses, I spend a lot of time outside, I'm a tomboy. However, I'm also a bride-to-be AND the wedding is now *13* days away. What does this mean? Oh yes, I should learn how to do my own make-up!


Now, for those of you who, like me, have not spent a lot of time practicing the art of make-up application, let me tell you this- 13 days is NOT enough time. The intricacies of eye liner alone are enough to make one tremble, which is not conducive to a thin, non-raccoon like lines! However, the artist at the M.A.C. store was very patient with me and did her best to help, and I walked away after spending a criminal amount on make-up.

Strangely enough, buying this more expensive make-up has actually made me want to wear make-up more. This isn't a guilt reaction to spending more than was judicious on pretty eye colors- the stuff honestly just feels better when I wear it. Its like buying Sofft shoes after a lifetime of Payless- you feel the difference, and suddenly can't go back. In a very strange way, stopping at M.A.C. helped me reach a MUCH deeper realization than make-up normally allows. Having the ability to spend money on quality goods made me appreciate what Mr. P and I have earned together- yes, I spent more than I should have, but the fact is we can afford it. We can afford to buy quality foods, but nicer shoes and yes, even purchase a lovely home. We have money set aside for a rainy day, we can easily afford to care for my pasture ornament ponies, and we each get to have some 'fun money' every month to blow on frivolous pasttimes. Maybe my purchases only go skin deep, but wow is it nice to be able to make such a choice!

There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way. -Christopher Morley

*picture from this site

If at first you don't succeed...

Mr. Pony and I are eagerly anticipating the purchase of our first home. More room to spread out, more room for storage, more room for me to display my eclectic souvenir collection... Just more room in general. We are looking forward to all the joys of home ownership, but we've already discovered some of the pitfalls awaiting prospective buyers.

First off, we are both under 25, so the first thing my parents said was 'You are much too young', end of story. We've gotten past that, and they are now supportive, as are Mr. P's parents, but that was the undercurrent as we started the search process. Then, after viewing 20(ish) homes, we found one we loved, put in an offer and *huzzah* we won! We spent a joyful couple of days until the dreaded home inspection occurred, and which point we found that there were some issues with the foundation that, in a few years, would need extensive work- to the tune of $15-20K. I have since reattached my lower jaw to my skull, but that was a big shock for innocent, home-buying us.

So we made the decision, which was actually more painful than it should have been, to just walk away. Better to put out for the inspection and walk away than just buy the house now and be out a ton later! It felt like we were giving up on something, rather than making a solid decision about our future- silly, I know.

However, we haven't given up. We've found a few other houses that we like, and are likely to make an offer on another house this weekend, proving to ourselves that there was no point in getting all depressed about losing out on the first house- there are other fish in the see (or houses in the neighborhood, as it turns out). So we shall see how this goes. Home buying- isn't it grand?

'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Don't give up too easily; persistence pays off in the end.' - Thomas H. Palmer

Picture from Las Vegas Buyer Agent.

Things may not always go as planned

I recently made my darling husband-to-be (Mr. Pony, if you will) a batch of scrumptious chocolate chip cookies. Delicately crisped edges, gooey chocolate chunks and a whiff of extra vanilla. Sounds gorgeous, right? But... This is what we got.No, they don't look awful but they are flat as pancakes and not even remotely cookie shaped. Of course, all I had to do was close my eyes, open my mouth and allow the chocolate-y goodness to work its magic, but I was still annoyed with the unexpected result.

Of course, this got me thinking. There are many ways in which the life I had envisioned and the life I lead are completely different. At one point I was going to be an exotic animal vet living in Africa working on lions, and at another point, an Olympic equestrienne traveling the globe. Neither of those things happened, and at this point I don't even want them to (of course, who can say if that will change in the future). But despite a profound variance from my original 'plans', life is good.

Being human, there are moments where I wonder 'what happened to all my dreams?', but the simple answer is that the dreams were sweet and perfect for that given time, but times changed, and I changed with them. Sometimes it is hard to let go of a cherished childhood goal, but after searching myself, I found that those dreams no longer apply to me. Mr. Pony would support me in whatever hair-brained scheme I cooked up to become a sword-juggling shark charmer, but following those young dreams is no longer what I want, and... that's ok. It took me a while to realize that just because my goals changed doesn't mean they were wrong in the first place, it just means that life has rolled on and I've become a product of even more experiences. Every time I turn around, there is another chocolate-y sweet moment waiting for me, and even though the texture and shape are a bit divergent from the original recipe for my life, I'm still excited to move forward with what I have.

That said, welcome to my blog. It may be random, ecstatic, doleful or abstract at times, but such is life. Enjoy my ponderings as you will, and if the wanderings of my mind spark some insight for your own life, so much the better.

Things do not change; we change. - Henry David Thoreau

*photo by me*