Think a Cleaning Schedule Won't Work for You? This Will Change Your Mind (Free Download)

One of the things that Mr. C and I have struggled with is developing a routine that keeps the apartment in top shape. Last night, as I folded the last of seven loads of laundry (in fairness, we have a TINY washer and dryer) I realized that I needed to do something to intervene.

When Mr. C decided to go back to grad school, we discussed it and decided that I would step up and take on more of the housekeeping activities. Even before he started classes again, I cooked all of our meals, but now I'm supposedly in charge of making sure everything still looks nice. This is not to say he doesn't help clean, because props to those women who can keep a house looking sharp solo, but I am not one of them. He is definitely in charge of his bathroom and the den, but if I ask for help with the rest of the apartment kicks in.

The problem I've run into in trying to develop a routine is that our days vary quite a bit. I have evening meetings, we go out to dinner or drinks with friends, our parents are in town for a few days, it makes it difficult to find a consistent schedule. I scoured Pinterest looking for ideas. I found daily lists that required an hour day, I found breakdowns by room, breakdowns by task (i.e. vacuum, dusting, etc.) but nothing that really fit. Then, I stumbled across this gem:

"Cleaning Schedule Architecture, Building One that Works for You" by Of The Hearth

Isn't it pretty? AND it looks like a board game. AND it doesn't say that on Wednesdays we scrub toilets. Because sometimes on Wednesdays, I have a meeting and don't get home until 10:30 and don't WANT to scrub the toilet! I love the central, daily to do tasks, and the ability to move around the outside at your own speed. That means, those rare days when I get into a cleaning frenzy, I can work my way through the boxes. 

I adapted our tiles a little bit. As she says in her blog, the original creator really wanted to focus on the bathroom and the kitchen. I may readjust a bit after we've sort of settled into the schedule I worked up, but I roughly envision getting once around every week. Here's what I came up with:

Nothing too fancy or crazy, but I figured this way, Mr. C won't mind it hanging on the fridge. For now, I'm going to hang it with a couple small magnets, and move one like a little game piece around the square. 

I hope this helps you (and me!) get a grip on keeping things tidy. Do you have a system that really seems to work for you? Want to try the board game approach yourself? Click here to download the free blank template! And don't worry, I made it a nice pretty blue, just for you :)

From the Other Side

Photo courtesy of our friend Katie

Well, I am now officially a Mrs. We just returned from our honeymoon, and we are exhausted but very, very happy. I will try to go post some "recap" style posts for you, but I'm already kind of happy to be done with wedding things and moving on with real life. We got engaged in May of 2013, and I was told I was a very well organized bride, so there were lots of little details. I'm excited to get some free time back again to start doing other things.

Here's a couple of pieces I'm going to try to work on, to name a few:

• Writing a book
• Getting my ankle back in shape and then getting the rest of me there as well
• Recording and sharing my recipes
• Revisiting my museum focused blog, and reconnecting with the social media happenings in my field

100 Happy Days, Week 1

I have a couple of friends from college who are doing the #100HappyDays challenge, and posting their results to Facebook. It seemed like a good idea, and with so much stress happening in the buildup to the wedding, I thought focusing on the positive and happy couldn't hurt.

So, I've signed up for the #100HappyDays challenge. I'm now one week in, and though I'd post a compilation of this week's images here. 

Day 1, 5/24, T-99

Ah, The Moose. I could totally make this a 100DaysofMoose challenge if I wanted to. I don't, really, so I figured I'd get this one out of the way now. But gosh, isn't he so darn cute?

Day 2, 5/25, T-98
I try to avoid impulse clothing buys (hahahahha) so a couple of weeks ago when I tried this dress on at Kohl's, I was very proud of myself for walking away. But days passed, and I kept thinking about it. Wouldn't it be perfect for my July bridal shower? So, I went back and bought it, then brought it home, put it on, and twirled around. I can't WAIT until July when I get to wear it. 

Day 3, 5/27, T-98

This one was a pleasant surprise. We've got good friends Mr. C met through work. They are seriously the nicest people. They've got an adorable little house a little north of us, and they invited a bunch of us over for a bbq on Memorial Day. At one point in the evening, the husband was hanging out with Mr. C and another of our friends, and the wife and I were sitting on the porch. She ran upstairs and came down with a guitar, which I didn't realize she played, and we spent the rest of the evening sitting around and singing. Eventually the boys joined in, and by the end we were all belting songs from The Little Mermaid at the tops of our lungs. It was pretty awesome. 

Day 4, 5/27, T-97

Oooo, sparkle. It isn't really the sparkle itself that made me happy, although hard to ignore that. What really made me happy were two things connected with this photo. First is that I was there trying on the ring with Lady A. Mr. C and I had gone the week before (see previous posts), and I knew that, for myself, I'd need to go back and try some things on. Lady A came with, and was the perfect person to have with me. She knew our budget, made sure I didn't get talked into anything, and was able to articulate exactly what I was thinking. She's seriously awesome, you guys. The other part that made me happy is what my wedding band will stand for. It is the physical symbol that Mr. C and I are going to be a team. We're going to be right next to each other, supporting each other, encouraging each other, for the rest of our lives. And if that doesn't make you happy, I don't know what does. 

Day 5, 5/28, T-96

On Day 4, I didn't take a photo. I know, I know, awful right? I guess I'll have to take two somewhere along the line. I realized the problem of primarily using Instagram to document this challenge. What made me happy on May 28th was reading some of the inspirational words of Doctor Maya Angelou, who passed away that morning. She was someone who I have always admired, and her words have offered me guidance. When I was first thinking of going into the museum field, a good friend of mine sent me this quote. "History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need to be lived again." I've tried to carry this with me throughout my career, to face those sometimes difficult topics that are so vital for us to preserve and keep in the public consciousness. 

Day 6, 5/29, T-95

Last week, Mr. C went down to NYC to pick out his suit and spend some time with some friends. While he was there, they got tickets to go to the barely week old 9/11 Memorial Museum. Being a museum curator, I told him he had to take a lot of pictures and copious notes for discussion after he got home. Well, he didn't take the pictures, but he did pay attention to a lot of little details that he shared with me. Then, on the evening of Day 6, I was sitting in my car after coming back from the gym while the digital creators for the exhibit were giving an interview. It was a great feeling being able to listen to their discussion, knowing that as soon as I got into the apartment, Mr. C and I could talk about it at length. 

Day 7, 5/30, T-94 

Watching the rain clouds come in. Today, the weather was very off and on. In fact, I sent my poor interns out to plant part of the garden after looking at the weather online, and we though we'd have a couple of clear hours. Within three minutes, a front passed through, and they both got soaked! I was running errands later, and as I was heading back to work I saw this great cloud. I miss really being able to watch weather move here in NY, but this was a gorgeous rain cloud coming down the valley. 

The Noms

Oh, the noms. I already detailed, at length, the delicious desserts that we'll be offering at the wedding. But the food itself is going to be DELICIOUS.

I know this for a fact, because when Mr. C and I were back in Iowa for Christmas, we and my parents were able to do a tasting. Our caterer is included in our venue, and we really could customize whatever we wanted. They offered us suggestions based on our preferences and guest list, and we tweaked from there. Here's what we're having:

Via Catering DSM. I was too busy eating to take photos myself. 

Cocktail Hour:
Cheese & Fresh Fruit Display with Crackers & Breads, Hummus, & Hot Cheesy Artichoke Dip*
Prime Rib Slider with Boursin Cheese & Pickled Red Onion
BBQ Bacon Wrapped Shrimp
5 Spice Chicken Wonton Cup with Sweet Chili Slaw (Passed)
Fresh tomato, smoked mozzarella, basil and garlic oil on a crostini

Dinner:
Seared NY Strip** with a Honey Peppercorn Sauce served with Herbed Potato Gratin & Roasted Asparagus
Frenched Breast Chicken*** with Boursin Cream Sauce served with White Cheddar Potato Puree & Seasonal Vegetables
Roasted Salmon with Beurre Blanc Sauce with White Cheddar Potato Puree & Seasonal Vegetables
Free Form Vegetable Lasagna with Asiago Cream Sauce & Arabbiatta Sauce

Seriously, I am so excited. Mr. C has already decided on the steak. And honestly, I'm torn between the steak and the lasagna. I know, right, lasagna? But seriously, it was delicious. During the tasting, they brought each of us a full serving of each entree, but luckily they let us take a lot of it home in boxes. The lasagna was the first one to go!

*When we tasted the artichoke dip, it was good, but was not cheesy enough. Previously, our caterer had called it Artichoke Dip. Note that it is now Cheesy Artichoke Dip. And yes, I realize there are a LOT of dishes with cheese in them, but hey, I'm a Midwest girl.

**They will be cooking all of the steaks to medium. People are welcome to send them back to cook them more, but they said having people request prior just leads to more confusion.

***Ah, the Frenched Breast Chicken. The caterers actually call it Airline Chicken, which simply means that it is a breast with a wing attached. But how awful does Airline Chicken sound? Frenched breast is another term for the same thing, so we're definitely callling it that.

Putting a ring on it

Nothing purchased yet, but Lady A and I went and tried on bands tonight after the frustration of last week's non-fitting band fiasco. According to our jeweler, the full custom matching ring with baguette side stones and a horseshoe of diamonds would cost over $1,400. OUCH.

So, instead, I looked at options for straight across bands. At first, I was going for super skinny ones, but look at what we found!

Kabling!

The band itself was too small to fit past my knuckle, but I think it looks great. And turns out, once I was actually able to try some rings on, I really didn't mind the gap as much as I thought I would. Now let's just see if Mr. C is okay with it being about $100 over budget.....

Mirror Mirror

So, confession time. I try very hard to not be too "trendy". There is nothing wrong with chalkboards, mason jars, or striped straws, but they are just not for me. However, there is one trend I seem unable to avoid - mercury glass.

Oh, how I love it. It is elegant and pretty and can be formal or casual and is so gosh darn beautiful. Vases, jars, candleholders, you name it, I want it. But, even I know that moderation is necessary. So rather than cover every available surface in mercury glass (as much as I'd like to), I'm limiting myself to signage.

I put my dad's sisters on the task of finding old glass or mirrors.

Oh, and just for fun. Here's a list of other "trendy" things that I would love to do, but have said no to for various reasons (mostly cost and/or Mr. C's dislike of them)

• Watercolor everything. Paper, dresses, table linens. I love it. If we redid the wedding in a more outdoor setting, I would go full-on watercolor for everything I could. 
• Trees/birds. When we were first moving in together and working on selecting decor for the apartment, we quickly realized that if something was had birds and/or branches on it, I was going to love it. Especially if it was teal. While I am finding a way to sneak some branches in (you'll seeeeeeee!!) I did try to restrain myself. 
• "Vintage". I have a hard time with this term, because it can really mean anything. Old looking, quirky, distressed, there are so many things that fit into the category. Other than my mercury glass, we're avoiding this. Mr. C's taste is much more elegant, so things looking ramshackle is not his favorite. 

What about you? Any trends you're incorporating? Which ones are you leaving out?

Mind the Gap

I love my engagement ring. We searched long and hard to find the perfect setting, and Mr. C found a gorgeous center stone and it is absolutely perfect.

The problem, then, is that I never really considered what our wedding band would look like. It certainly did not even enter my mind when I was choosing an e-ring setting. I guess this is why I am terrible at chess.

Last night was Mr. C and I's one year "engageversarry". We've been meaning to go look at wedding bands for awhile, and felt like this was a good excuse. So, we went down to our jeweler's new shop (no more mall!) and took a look at what they had.

Within 15 minutes, Mr. C had picked out the ring he wanted. He walked in saying "white gold, dad ring." Aka, very simple. He ended up picking out one that was a little fancier than I'd expected him to, but it looks great. White gold, brushed in the middle, shiny on the rim on each edge. This isn't the exact ring, but it is pretty close in looks:

via Zales

For me, it was a little harder. In fact, we didn't make a decision, and I feel kind of awful. What I didn't realize when I picked my band was that, because I wanted a low profile and Mr. C gave me this beautiful, not minuscule diamond, the only way to have a flush wedding band is to custom order. Which, as you can imagine, is not cheap.

Without doing a custom order, my only options are to have a gap between my engagement ring and my wedding band. For illustration purposes, here's an image found on a Weddingbee post all about the dreaded (or not so dreaded, for some) gap.

via Mrs. Major on Weddingbee

 Her engagement ring is very, very similar to my own, except my baguettes don't taper out. There are some women who love the gap, and intentionally pick rings where it is highlighted. For me, I really am not thrilled with the idea. But, I think budget wise, it is something I'm going to have to get used to. I'm going to head back to the jewelry shop tonight or tomorrow to look some more, as I know it isn't something I'm going to be able to stop thinking about until I do some more trying on.

What do you think, gap, or no gap?

Papa

On Tuesday, Mr. C's grandfather, aka Papa, passed away. He had been in poor health for a long time, and was undergoing radiation on his neck that made it very difficult for him to eat or speak. While we're both very sad, we're happy to know that he is no longer in pain.

Over Easter, the entirety of Mr. C's family was able to get together at Nana & Papa's house. Mr. C's Cousin Baseball, was throwing a surprise 60th birthday for Uncle Baseball in Ohio, where Cousin Baseball lives and works. That meant that Uncle Baseball, who lives in South Carolina, was able to reschedule the last half of his trip when we realized that Papa was really not doing well. We'd been planning on heading to Mr. C's parent's for Easter, but easily switched gears. It was really lovely getting to spend the entire weekend with Mr. C's extended family. We had our own mini Easter service in the living room, where one of Mr. C's younger cousins gave a sermon, and we all ate way too much ham.

I feel so lucky to have gotten to spend the time with Papa that I did. I don't have any grandparents left, so have really appreciated how lucky I was to come into a family with two. Papa & Nana embraced me with open arms, and made me feel like I was just another one of the grandkids, in the best way. I will always remember trying to sneak the good flavors of jelly beans out of the jar on Easter Sunday, and Papa waggling his finger at me with a smile. He loved his family, was devoted to his community, and will be sorely missed by us all.

Papa with his grandpuppy Bear in early April

Dressing Our Moms

My mom and Mr. C's mom are a study in opposites. Dr. Mom, mine, is a veterinarian who owns her own practice, doesn't take crap from anybody, and is more comfortable in an Iowa State sweatshirt and blue jeans than anything else. Her illustrative example is that when she was 7 months pregnant with me, she was testing for the next belt up in Tai Kwon Do. They wouldn't let her do flying sidekicks because of the pregnancy, and she was pissed. That, in one story, is my mom.

At a friends' wedding a few years ago. Silly faces, but typical wedding wear.

Mamma C, on the other hand, is a fashion conscious kindergarten teacher. I love her dearly, but she is so different from my own mom. Whereas my mother is taller than my 5' 7" by a solid inch and a half, Mamma C fits under my chin. As a result, she lives in high heels. Her illustrative example is that when we moved Sister C into her new apartment, carrying furniture and boxes, Mamma C was right there with us in leopard print stilettos.

Mr. C's family at a wedding last fall. Not pictures, Mamma C's stiletto shoes

So, when it came to choosing dresses for each lady, it was not an easy task. Mamma C needed something keeping with her usual style, while my mom is a one-dress-a-year type of girl, and anything too over the top would make everyone who knows her go "who the heck is that?" So, we set out looking for dresses that would make them both feel happy, comfortable, and like themselves.

For Mamma C, we were looking at sparkles. When both of our families were here with us, we went to the shop where I had bought my gown. Both mom's went through the racks. My mom didn't hit on anything that was perfect, but Mamma C picked out a few options. Finally, we settled on this stunner:

Style 114900 for Montage by Mon Cherie 

This was actually one of the more subdued dressed that Mamma C tried on. We were trying to find something that was still perfect for her, without being too unbalanced from the type of (read: simpler) dresses my mom was looking at. We went ahead and ordered this, with the caveat that we'll shorten it to a pencil skirt. It is going to look awesome. I haven't yet gotten to see Mamma C in it, but here's a photo of the dress:

Sneak peak of Sister C's dress!

My mom actually ended up finding her dress without me. We'd gone back and forth for awhile, and in fact when she and my dad came out to visit, she brought a couple of options with her. Unfortunately none of those worked, so the search continued. Now, Brother E broke up with his girlfriend last month, but she had been very close with my family. So much so that my mom took her along when looking for dresses. And boy, did they find a beauty.

Dress 72259 by C20 for Watters

Seriously, this is the perfect dress for my mom. Comfortable to move in, a good length, glamorous without being flashy. I was super excited that we had the chance to go try it on when I was home last month, so I could see it in person. It is so pretty! Then, of course, the next question has to be about jewelry and shoes. Because Mamma C's dress is so sparkly, I wanted my mom to have a fun necklace to balance it out. And boy, we managed it.

Bling!

See???? So pretty and sparkly. And matching earrings. And we found her some shoes that she'll be comfortable (and taller than me, always and still) in.

So that's the story of what our mom's our wearing. We still need to finalize the details for Mamma C, but next time they're in town we'll get to go try on her dress and see what she wants to pair with it. I can't wait!

Petals & Posies

During our trip back to Iowa, we had the chance to meet with our florist. My family has been using Carmen's for everything for years and years, to the point where I'm pretty sure if my dad forgets to order for my mom's anniversary, they call him and remind him.

The best part of working with them is that they already know me. Our particular florist, Debbie, is someone I've known for years. Her daughter and I graduated high school together, and were involved in church youth group a long time ago. It is one of those nice, comfortable, easy relationships with someone you've known forever.

Debbie and I chatted via email for a few weeks prior to our visit. I'd pinned some ideas of flowers that I'd liked and sent her a list, and she let me know what their supplier would be able to provide during our wedding. Unfortunately, the downside of an August wedding is that a couple of my favorites, peonies and tulips, are going to be too hard to get. But, Debbie is going to bring some awesome flowers. Here are some of the photos I sent her for inspiration:

via Style Me Pretty

via Wedding Obesssion - Could basically duplicate the one on the left and I'd be happy

via Brides

We walked through a whole list of who will get what. My bouquet will be mostly blush colored with some ivory, and the girls will have mostly ivory with some blush, and both will have the brunia berries and lambs ear or dusty miller. Our mom's are getting wrist corsages, as is my brother's girlfriend, who will hopefully also be our ceremony musician.

She also had some fantastic ideas for our centerpieces. Awhile back, I saw this picture and fell in love:

via Buzzfeed

Seriously, how adorable is that? My parents have been assigned the task of gathering books. I had planned on buying gold plate stands to prop the books up, but when I showed Debbie this, she had a better idea. A few days after we got back home from our trip, she sent me this:

I love how she incorporated the book into the arrangement. These were just the flowers she had available, not necessarily what she'll be using for real. We talked with her about adding more flower, less greenery. We're also going to hopefully do half of the tables like this, half with a large manzanita branch as the focal point. When I go back in April, I'll meet with her again and see what we can do. 

Hair & Makeup Trial

Welp, I'm officially a bad blogger. My apologies for the long delay in posting. I'll blame it on a combination of bad weather, food poisoning, a nasty cold, and general wedding fatigue. I'll address the last one in another post (probably?) but for now, I'll keep plowing through our busy Christmas planning extravaganza.

I wasn't really sure what to expect going into my hair trial, to be honest. I have very, very, very fine and thin blonde hair, and many times in the past attempted updos have left me looking quite bald. I really wanted to avoid that. I spent quite a bit of time looking around Pinterest trying to find photos that I thought would work with my hair. I wanted an updo with some volume, and with details on the side so when my veil, which is nearly opaque, is on, you can still see that my hair is done up.

Here are the ideas I brought in:

via Wedding Window

via The Knot

We tried a couple of variations, and this is what we ended up with:

Side View

From the back

Front View

At the time, I really liked it. The side wisps drove me nuts, within the hour I'd tucked them behind my ears. But now, with some distance, I'm not sure how I feel. I like the way it looks from the front, but I really don't like the side view. I'm not sure how to fix that, but when I go back in April I'm going to try again.

The other thing is that, by the time we'd gotten the braid and the poof, she had almost no hair left to make the bun at the bottom. As such, Lady A and I are going to start looking around for extensions. I've never worn them before, but I think it make be the solution we're looking for. My plan is to try to find a set of real hair clip-ins. I'll let you know how that goes!

As for the makeup, that I was less thrilled with. It didn't look bad, at all, but I made the mistake of telling her I don't wear a lot of makeup normally, so I think she was afraid to use very much on me. As a result, it actually is much softer than what I wear when I'm dressing up to go out. Unfortunately, I didn't get a great photo, but here you go:

30 minutes post trial

Obviously, there needs to be a more permanent lipstick solution. The other thing is that we're having a formal evening wedding, and I don't know that this is enough "umph" to match that. I'm also seriously considering seeing if they do lashes. As you can see, I get crinkly eyes when I smile, and I think I'd like to have some more definition.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Recipes?

Mostly Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

Growing up, I used to love the freezer chicken pot pies. On a cold, wet day, they were the perfect comfort food. As an adult, and especially as one who tries to pay attention to what I eat, I've avoided pot pies altogether. Between the fat and the sodium, I haven't even wanted to try.

But, with the Polar Vortex descending, I found myself craving crusty, gooey, chicken and veggies. So, I ran around the internet a bit, but never quite found something that was perfect. The recipe below borrows a bit from a couple of easily accessed recipes, but I mostly just threw stuff into the pot.

Mostly Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 Tube low-fat crescent rolls (or biscuits of your choice)
• 1.5 cups chicken broth
• 3/4 cups chopped onions (or a sprinkle of dehydrated onions, if you hate onions like I do)
• 1 cup potato, chopped
• 1 cup carrots, chopped
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 large chicken breast, cut into pieces
• 3/4 cup reduced fat milk
• 1/4 cup AP flour
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large pan, bring broth to a boil
3. Stir in all vegetables except peas, return to a boil, then let simmer for 5-6 minutes
4. Add chicken and frozen peas, return to boil, then let simmer for 5 minutes
5. In a separate bowl, slowly whisk milk into flour until well blended
6. Add flour mixture into chicken mixture and stir well. Turn heat to medium and allow to thicken, approximately 5 minutes
7. Add thyme, salt, and pepper, mix well. 
8. Coat individual ramekins (or a larger dish, your choice!) with PAM or another non-stick spray
9. Lay one biscuit into the bottom of the ramekin, and pour 1/4 of chicken mixture over biscuit. Layer additional biscuit over top of chicken mixture. Repeat for remaining ramekins. 
10. Place all ramekins on a baking sheet and slide into oven for 14 minutes, or until biscuit on top is golden brown. 

Om nom nom. This was really great, and we actually fought over the leftovers. I may decide to forgo the bottom biscuit in future. While tasty, I'm not sure it outweighed the added calories. Otherwise, this was very yummy.

Oh, and as always use caution when opening canned biscuits. I was chatting with a friend while I made these, and he sent me this:

True life, people. I get tense just watching this.

Delicious Desserts - Macarons

If you read my previous post, you'll have seen that I was not 100% on the cake train. Although, if there were an actual train of cake, I could probably get on-board with that. Anyway, when we were still deciding whether or not to do cake, we decided to bring in another dessert option.

To preface this, I had the opportunity during college to live in Paris not once, but twice, during two different May Terms. The last time I was there, in 2009, I lived right off of La Place de la Madeleine. Big, beautiful Neo-Classical church, on a site line down La Rue Royale towards La Place de la Concorde. I know all of that might mean nothing to you, but the salient point here is that in the Place Madeleine is a pretty little shop called Ladurée, of macaron fame. It isn't their biggest shop, but that didn't make it any less tempting. I did manage to avoid eating macarons every single day, but definitely managed to make a few visits every week.

Left to Right: Raspberry, Coffee, Pumpkin Spice, Pistachio (2), Lavender White Chocolate

What all of that means for the wedding, really, is that I wanted macarons. And, luckily for me, there's a wonderful little French cafe in Des Moines called La Mie. My mom goes there quite a bit, uses it for informal meetings for work, and she raves about their macarons.

So, on Monday, BM S, Brother E, his girlfriend A, Mr. C and I met at La Mie to taste some macarons. As BM S is expecting a little bee in July, she abstained from any of the creme filled (aka raw egg) macarons, but she did get to help me taste my favorite, raspberry. We decided we're going to order 300 macarons (for 150 guests), in each flavor except the Lavendar White Chocolate. It didn't do a lot for me. The coffee didn't either, but Mr. C loves coffee so I figured I'd give him that one.

Mmm.....macarons

Now, two questions remain. First, we have to pick up the macarons the day before the wedding as the cafe is closed on Sundays, and find enough refrigerator storage to keep them all cold. This may mean spreading them out between bridesmaids, their parents, and some local family friends with the hope that they all get to the venue in time. I'm also going to try talking to our caterers to see if they have storage space for them in a big fridge somewhere.

The other question is, how do we want to display them? I'll come back to that, I promise. For now, I'm going to leave you hanging :)

Delicious Desserts - Cake

I will be perfectly honest, Mr. C and I are not huge cake people. I mean, if somebody sets a piece of cake in front of me, I will eat it, although that may be more of a statement of my willpower than my cake preference. Mr. C is pretty much in the same boat. Ice cream, pie, tortes, cookies, crepes, custards, you name them, we eat them. But cake definitely isn't our go to.

However, when we mentioned our thought of ditching cake altogether to our respective parents, they suggested that even if the tow of us didn't want cake, most people come to a wedding expecting cake. And, as much as we are okay with changing things up, we figured this was not the hill to die on.

So, on Thursday we found ourselves at the local grocery store, tasting cake. And, I will admit, as there were pieces of cake (mostly in cupcake form) set in front of me, I ate them and they were yummy. Because I'm a bad blogger, I didn't take any pictures. We tried four flavors; vanilla, chocolate, champagne, and red velvet. The vanilla and chocolate tasted pretty average. Not bad, but hey if we were going to have cake it may as well be delicious. And look pretty.

Imagine this, except two tiers and without the flowers on the side - via The Knot

Going in, I knew that we wanted to do a couple of smaller tiers, then the rest in sheet cakes. We chose two flavors; champagne and red velvet. In the tasting, the champagne cake was violent, neon pink. The baker said they actually tint it, and for our cake she'd have them tone it down to a pale blush. Perfect, non? So, we're doing that on the top layer, and the red velvet on the bottom. Then we'll do two sheets, one of each. Also, for no charge, they're going to add our monogram to the top of each of the cut sheet pieces.

For not having been thrilled about the idea of cake, I'm actually pretty happy with how it is going. Our initial plan is to have the florist drop off a ribbon for the baker to use, but after thinking about it for awhile, I want to see if they can do something that is edible. If not, ribbon is fine, but a little painted gold band would be lovely. We got a beautiful serving set as a gift from family friends of Mr. C, which was totally unexpected but that I am very happy to have. Now, the only thing is to find a cake stand!

It's not heaven...

It is our new cutting board!

Mr. C's mom is awesome, and gave it to me in an awesome cutting board in the shape of my beloved home state. Mr C. and I both decided that we'd prefer to keep it looking pretty, so he hung it up over our sink in a place of honor.

Awesome, right?

This is both a chance to show off my awesome gift, and also a lead-in to what Id id over my Christmas vacation. We started off in CT at Mr. C's family family for "Fakemas" and too much junk food, then headed back to my homeland from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day. It was awesome, and we also got SO much wedding planning done! Over the next few days, I'll break down the various appointments/tastings/trials that we had to catch you up, but for now, here's an overview:

Thursday
- Dinner at Rehearsal Dinner Option #1

Friday
- Cake Tasting
- Wedding Catering Tasting
- Venue Visit

Saturday
- Linen Rental Visit
- Bridesmaid Dresses Ordered

Sunday
- Engagement Photos
- Mom's Dress Ordered

Monday
- Hair and Makeup Trial
- Macaron Tasting
- Florist Meeting

Tuesday
- Lunch at Rehearsal Dinner Option #2

In addition to all of that, I also got my likely wedding shoes (yay!), got most of the work done on the wedding website, and have a design for our Save the Date magnets that is now awaiting a final proof of an engagement photo before heading off to the printers.