Real Quick

I have to post this little video that I just came across, I want to remember to watch it again (and again, and again), so much beauty in those 44 seconds! I found it on Bluebird Vintage which is fast becoming one of my favorite blogs ever. If I can say it without sounding creepy, I would like to live inside their world too.

James and Aubrey Sneep Peep from Geoff Boothby / Landshark on Vimeo.

A New Year's Eve Retrospective

This year I (in no particular order):

1. Got engaged to my best friend and soul mate.

2. Adopted our wonderful olde english bulldogge Grizzie from the SPCA.

3. Adopted our wonderful little grey kitty Moshi from BARCS.

4. Graduated from college with a BFA and cum laude honors.

5. Got a job at the most adorable cozy little elementary school working with great kids.

6. Started volunteering at the SPCA spending lots of time with amazing dogs and cats.

7. Saw my dad become successfully cancer-free!

8. Saw Rammstein in concert (for the second time!)

9. Turned 25.

In 2012 I will....

1. Get married to my best friend and soul mate (and get a snazzy new last name in the process!)

2. See Rammstein in concert for the THIRD time (and finally not have to drive five hours to see them).

3. Go on our honeymoon to Disneyworld, I've been dying to go to Disney for years now (haven't been since I was little)!

4. Finally move in with Justin.

And in 2012 I will hopefully...

Get my own photography business rolling, get a new camera and start photographing weddings.

2011 has been an incredible year when I think about it, it's nice to see everything written down in front of me. 2012 is going to be a life-changing year, I'm so excited for it to get here!

And now for the obligatory "year in pictures":

I learned how to knit (it's not a diaper)....and consequently forgot how to knit...

Adopted Moshi!

Saw Rammstein in New Jersey

Discovered that I enjoy documentary photography

Also discovered another new art form that I enjoy, collage

Graduated from college

Had an awesome 4th of July

Completed our family with Grizzie, our bulldog. Lola is an excellent big (little) sister.

Got engaged.

Hung out with a lot of great friends

Met so many amazing animals at the SPCA, this is Mason, one of my favorites.

Turned 25, which is a nice number to be.

See you in 2012!

xoxo,

Caitlin

A Christmas Retrospective

I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas! I've been saying since Justin and I got engaged that I couldn't WAIT for Christmas to come and go so that it could officially be full-out EXTREME WEDDING PLANNING MODE time. In just a little under two weeks we will officially be at the 4 month mark. Four months! This is insane! Because really, in my head, I think of it as 3 months, because the month of April is just going to be like one big giant exciting fun-fest. How am I going to sleep at night in April? How am I going to do ANYTHING in April?! Is it normal to be so unabashedly excited about one's wedding? Like, we're talking six year old-on-Christmas-morning-getting-Barbies-and-a-new-puppy excited. THAT'S VERY EXCITED. I AM USING LOTS OF CAPITAL LETTERS BECAUSE I AM SO EXCITED. This will be our last Christmas as an unmarried pair. My last Christmas as a Smith! Next Christmas I will be Mrs. Gore.


Last Christmas Justin and I were just finally figuring ourselves out. We've come a long way since then, and an even longer way since our first Christmas in 2006. We had only been dating for a month or so. We didn't spend Christmas day with one another because we just weren't at that stage yet. I remember Christmas shopping together and we just bought one another our gifts and gave them to each other right there (I guess we weren't serious enough for a formal gift exchange?). We were a little awkward, but that's okay! Justin bought me a black shiny purse and Scrabble...and I can't remember what I got him (oops). And now, here we are, so many years later, a few years older and much, much wiser (so glad I don't wear all of that horrible heavy black eyeliner any more). 


So, Justin, if you read this, Merry Christmas and I love you and I can't wait for everything that is to come!


Merry Christmas everyone and have a wonderful New Year!


xoxo,


Caitlin






[note- How many times can one use the word CHRISTMAS within two paragraphs?! This must be a record.]

Mrs G.

A checklist of things that I am excited about (in no particular order):

- My 25th birthday is coming up in a just a few days, the 18th. I'm not normally very excited about my birthday anymore but 25 seems like a nice age to be. Plus I'm going to see the Nutcracker which I have always wanted to do! Having a birthday so close to Christmas used to be fun when I was little, getting so many presents in the month of December! But now it's just kind of another day, sometimes things can get a little lost in all of the holiday hullaballoo. It will be nice to go do something special with all (most) of my loved ones.

- Earlier this week I got a little card in the mail from Betsy Robinson's Bridal Salon that my dress is in! It's finally time to make an appointment to go for my first fitting, something that I am excited about and also a little nervous for. I just hope it fits good!

- Justin and I got our first very own Christmas tree! It's so cute in all of its haphazard glory. We're waiting for the cats to knock it over but so far they've been very good boys. I can't wait until next Christmas when we will be a married couple!

- Finally getting started on wedding crafty things! I've been waiting till the new year to start doing all of that stuff, making little decorations and things. I can't wait!

Things that I am not exactly excited about per-say but looking forward to...

- My hair growing out. Is this a weird one? I've had some dreams recently that my hair is long again and then I wake up and it's still stuck at this awkward not-quite shoulder-length style. I want long wavy hair for my wedding, why is it growing so slow! Sometimes I think maybe I want to cut it all off again (like, ALL off), but I would probably regret it. Who knows though, I think a pixie cut would be cute with my dress.

I guess that's it for now, aside from the obvious things of being totally extremely excited about GETTING MARRIED and being MR. AND MRS. GORE. I just started a new job working with kids in an elementary school and right now of course they call me Ms. Smith. I've been thinking how cool it will be when I get to tell them all to call me Mrs. Gore. Or Mrs. G! Crazy.

xoxo,

Caitlin

a recent picture of us looking fancy for good measure

The 5 Month Mark

It's crazy that the wedding is a little under five months away. 149 days to be exact. Sometimes it still feels really surreal to be planning my wedding. I'm so excited about so many things and as much as I want the next few months to fly, I also want to savor them as much as I can. People say that being engaged is one of the best times of your life, everyone is constantly congratulating you and sharing in on your excitement. You get to make a big long list of things you want and people give them to you! You get to go taste test yummy foods and try on fun clothes that you would otherwise never get to wear. I love being engaged. I love how I always rub my thumb over the diamond on my ring. I'm weird about wearing jewelry and I thought I'd be weird about a ring but now I don't ever want to take it off, even for a second. 


If being engaged is this much fun, I can only imagine how much fun being married is. For one, I'll finally get to call Justin "Hubby". People probably hate that term but I like it. Is that dumb to be excited about? 


What was your favorite part of your engagement? And what's your favorite thing about being married?

7.29.11

Happy Sunday

Lately I've been going crazy collecting ideas on my Pinterest page. Gathering pictures of decor, food, bridesmaid stuff, accessories, etc. Pinterest is pretty much the best thing ever. Here's a little selection of some of my favorite things right now...

via Style Me Pretty

Justin and I want to have some lawn games at our wedding for kids (both young and old) to play. I love bean-bag tosses (I refuse to call it corn holing because that just sounds gross) and this is the cutest idea I've seen with the silhouettes painted on!

via Grey Likes Weddings

I love these felt and ribbon streamers as a ceremony backdrop! The colors are nice and bright and cheery and refreshingly different from the typical wedding color scheme.

via Arrow & Apple

Anyone who knows me knows that photography is my "thing" and I have a special place in my heart for the plastic-fantastic camera that is the Holga. The dreamy lo-fi images produced by their little plastic lenses are some of my favorites ever taken. I would love to have a bunch of Holgas lying around on tables for guests to take pictures with! However, disposable cameras may be a safer (and cheaper) bet, plus they still have the look of the plastic lens that I like.

via Style Me Pretty

I LOVE this guest book idea! I've been trying to find something unique enough to suit my tastes other than the typical and literal "guest book" or having everyone sign a big photo mat or something. This is so suited to me, having everyone write little notes on a postcard! I JUST so happen to collect vintage postcards and just so happen to have a hefty little stash of them right now. Perfect? I think so. I know that Justin and I would have fun sitting around after the wedding reading everyone's notes. And how pretty would they all look in an album or collaged on a wall?

via Style Me Pretty

I love this picture. Definitely campy but whoever said there was anything wrong with a little campiness here and there? We're getting married on a farm so this feels appropriate. Plus, I love the bride's look, her cute hair cut and headpiece is adorably 1920's looking.

via Style Me Pretty

How perfect are these flowers? My colors exactly. 

Odds and Ends

Today I've just been thinking about various little details, such as cake toppers and boutonnieres (that word is tricky to spell). All of the little things that put the icing on the proverbial [wedding] cake, so to speak. Things that I will agonize over and most people will not look twice at on the day of. I think really, the only thing anyone actually cares about and remembers is the dress. And the food and the music and the flowers. 

On the home-front news, I've ordered and received one pair of potential wedding shoes (ridiculously fabulously crazy adorable wedding shoes from ModCloth), and am waiting on another pair to get here (they are coming from England!). I'm not showing pictures, it's a secret! I'm also waiting to hear from the bridal salon any time now about my first dress fitting. Something that I am semi excited about, and semi unexcited about. Trying to stick to a "wedding diet" is stressful and not going so well. This is the WORST time of year to try and shed a few pounds! Blast that pumpkin pie and whipped cream that I just ate for breakfast...

Picture time!

via At Company B

via Ready Go

via Arrow & Apple

via Baumbirdy

DIY Feather Boutonnieres via A Beautiful Mess

via The Party Fairy (ever since I saw these old-fashioned soda pop straws on Etsy probably about a year ago, I was obsessed)

via Hey YoYo

Honestly, how amazing is Etsy for every thing wedding-related?! I have found the BEST stuff on there! Do you have any favorite Etsy shops? Drop me some links in the comments!

xoxo,

Caitlin

Invitation Inspiration

Today I've been thinking about what I want our invitations to look like. There's too many ideas bouncing around in my head...so many colors, themes and font styles that don't seem to go together as a cohesive look. I spent some time trolling around Etsy just picking out things that I like...

via Three Eggs

via JenSimpsonDesign

via ElloThere

via Printerette Press

via Little Spark Creations

via ViaVacious Designs

via Jack and Jill Wedding

This last one is just for fun, Justin and I are both video game dorks (more so him than me). He would probably love it if I chose something like this. My mom, however, would probably HATE it (hi Mom!).

via sthblue

So what do you think? Do you have a favorite? Leave a comment and let me know!

xoxo,

Caitlin

Wednesday Morning Musings

Good morning! Today I'm just going to make a post of wedding inspiration. Not much else happening on the home front lately. I'm about to mail out our save-the-date cards in a few days though!


First up, I have to share this video of Elsie's wedding from her amazing blog, A Beautiful Mess. As soon as I came across her blog about a month ago and saw the amazing video made at her wedding, my brain was exploding with ideas. It's exactly the kind of feel I want, completely personal, nothing is a cliche. You can tell that every little detail is a reflection of the couple themselves. It doesn't have to look like the weddings idealized in popular culture to feel like a wedding (long white dress, veil, white flowers, black suits, glimmering reception hall, steak and potatoes...you get the idea). Enough talk, here's the video:




Swoon, right?


And some other things... (okay, this took me a really long time to put together because I'm bad and have been saving pictures for a long time now without making a note of where I found each picture...blogging 101 right.)

1. Tree trunk cake stand via Nhu and Steve's Wedding on Love and Lavender  2. Pink Rainbow Cake via Call Me Cupcake! 3. Paper Pom-Poms, via ? 4. Cake table via Outdoor Maryland Wedding on Style Me Pretty 5. Shepherd's hook flower jars via Julie and TJ's Wedding on Love and Lavender 6. Candy table via Jamie and Jesse's Wedding on Love and Lavender 7. Vintage floral patterns via Mr. and Mrs. Murphy on Lydia Jane Photography (my friend and incredible wedding photographer!) 8. Fringe chair banners by Nice, found via A Beautiful Mess

xoxo,

Caitlin

Just Us

A few weeks ago Justin and our four-legged daughters went out for a little photo shoot with my lovely friend Liz. The idea was sort of a joint venture, we wanted some engagement photos to submit an announcement to the newspaper, and also because Liz and I are starting up a little photography business called Big Paw Little Paw (there'll be more on that later...)

xoxo,

Caitlin

A Little Bit of Color

Actually, make that a lot of color.

I love kitschy stuff, garishly colored stuff, knick knacks from the 60s and 70s. I've discovered a newfound love for Irregular Choice shoes, they're absolutely ridiculous. Some of them have clear lucite engraved heels, which is something that a couple of years ago I would've thought was absolutely hideous. They're all in beautiful vibrant colors and full of texture and tiny little special details that make them possibly the coolest shoes ever. These are just a few of my favorites, and ones that I would like to wear in the wedding. Right now I'm really feeling those silver Marie Antoinettes at the bottom right.

Kitschy Wedding by jwednesday featuring handcrafted rings

There's something about a bride wearing oxfords that I love. Maybe it's because it feels like you've stepped right out of the 1920s, but whenever I wear my plain old brown oxfords, I feel special. They're my special shoes! As soon as I saw these pink and white beauties on Modcloth, it was l-o-v-e.

Pretty Pink Wedding by jwednesday featuring round toe shoes

A Few Little Details

I played around today taking some pictures of my ring and also some of the [many] glass bottles we have been collecting for the wedding. A little sneak peek of sorts...

Thinking About Wedding Shoes

I've been thinking about what kind of shoe I want to wear lately. I'd always had ballerina flats in mind for a few reasons, one of course for comfort (and I'm not the most graceful gazelle in heels), and two because there's just something so classically dainty and elegant about flats. The thing about flats though is that I can't seem to find any that look special enough. So here are some fun heels that I would love to wear (click picture for sources).

wedding shoes by jwednesday featuring heel pumps

These puppies are from BHLDN and would set me back $342. They are possibly my ultimate dream wedding shoe. Sigh.

Also from BHLDN, these babies run $220. 

Things I Like Saturday

all images via Love & Lavender