Save the Date

I made these really quickly one night a few weeks ago when I started to panic about people having information about the wedding. The idea came from an idea in Martha Stewart Weddings a few issues back. Martha's was made to be a postcard, however I was a bit nervous about the little envelope making it all the way to the recipients houses with the rest of the card. I decided to adapt it a bit and make it an enclosure. I really like how it turned out, and had a great time hand stamping all of them.

Some Tradition

As many couples come together these days there is a combining of religions, or in some instances an omission of one all together. Some choose to be completely secular, and some choose to add in traditions that they find important while omitting what is not relevant to them as a couple. We have decided to have a judge be the officiant at our wedding, however I would like to still incorporate some Jewish traditions. One of the components of a Jewish marriage is the signing of the Ketubah, the marriage contract. Traditionally, this contract was to lay out guide lines of responsibility for the bride and groom in their marriage. It is also the contract for the bride price, an important thing to be sure. In general I do not enjoy Judaic artwork, the aesthetic is just not one for me, that was until today.

I found the most amazing artist on line. Her name is Tsilli Pines, and she is an Israeli-American graphic designer. She lives and works in the pacific northwest, of course, and creates in her spare time. She has a whole web site full of amazing creations, but what really caught my eye were the Ketubah. They are so beautiful and not done in what I would consider to be Judaic aesthetic. She does custom printing for each piece as well. She has five text that are her standards, that range from reform to orthodox, and back to secular. You can also choose to have custom text printed and she seems to be very flexible. I hope that you love them as much as I do. (The image is a bit light on the white background, so please use the link and look at her beautiful works, this one is titled Moons)

Put Your Stamp on It

custom stamps from stamps.com

After I had applied all of my stamps to the rsvp envelopes and they were nice and secure in my sealed and addressed outer envelopes I realized that I had heard the price of stamps was increasing sometime in the near future. And then I panicked.

It turns out that we are in the clear, stamp prices will be raised once cent to $0.42 on the 12th of May 2008. Our rsvp's are due in before that, but for anyone who will be purchasing stamps for use after that date be aware of what you are purchasing and make sure to ask questions, not that you always get great answers at the post office. Also, you can save some money and purchase some of the 5 billion, according to the USPS web site, forever stamps that I have been put into circulation to prepare for the great money hike.

Also, you can purchase customized stamps for various wedding mailings. There are a lot of sites out there, on of which is stamps.com, who offer this service. Make sure to have the post office weigh what you intend to use the stamps for so that you order them with the correct postage. Use your engagement photos for invitations, or a landmark where you will be wed. And for the thank you notes, choose your favorite portrait from the wedding, or event. This would also be so cute for birthdays and baby showers, or birth announcements. I have to also mention that this could go very wrong and be really cheesy, so walk the thin line with this and make sure that it is done tastefully and not tackily.

All in One Place

the mini binder by Russell and Hazel

All of the wedding books tell you that you have to have all of your wedding information with you at all times. What if there is an emergency table linen disaster and you need to make a decision that cannot wait until you get home? The world could end. And lord knows, people do not have enough to carry around with them without taffeta swatches.

I decided to take this advice with a grain of salt, but knew that I needed to step up my daily planner and information storage system. And, as my parents tell you, I love a good binder, always have. Anything that is organizational I can't get enough of. A few years ago, I came across Russell and Hazel, the ultimate affordable, fun, durable organization company for all things desk related. Their products can be hard to come by, at least a good variety in their product line, so I quickly went on their web site to see if there was a local retailer in Baltimore. Luckily, there was, Chelle Paperie, where we then had our invitations designed and printed.

mini filler paper by Russell and Hazel

I decided to go with the Mini Binder, in gold, of course, and all kinds of great inserts. I loaded up with lined paper, a calender, an address insert and folders to place those little things that seem to disappear into your purse. I cannot recommend this company enough. I am still using binders that I purchased over 5 years ago, and that is saying a lot for me! So check them out you will be glad you did.

month table by Russell and Hazel

Solo Show

The grooms man in our wedding, Fawad Khan, has his first solo show in New York, opening on the 13th of March. After attending MICA with JP, and then for his senior year, myself, Fawad move to NYC to earn his graduate degree from School of Visual Arts. After graduating he has worked in advertising, and has recently become a full time artist. We are so excited for him and cannot wait to see what unfolds. For more information on Fawad's upbringing, and some insight into his work, please visit NY Arts Magazine.

Finishing Touches

The one thing that I still do not have nailed down for the wedding is what jewelry I should wear. I think that for the ceremony I will probably go with a mid sized dual strand pearl, perhaps tapering in size from front to back. And I guess pearls for earrings as well, not a statement, I am aware, but I do like the simplicity of it. I feel like I should be very pulled together for the ceremony, but after that I am free to go. So, while some brides choose to have different dresses, for different times during the wedding celebration, I really like the idea of spicing things up a bit by simply changing accessories. I was looking at the Anthropologie web site this evening and found some nice pieces, well a necklace that I really love, and some earrings that I thought might be nice for someone who wanted to have some fun but not too much. But it is key to remember that you should keep balance in mind and choose either to have the earrings, or the necklace be the statement, not both. (I have been known to do this, but don't recommend it!)


I also think that a wonderful piece of jewelry makes a great gift for people who you are thanking at the wedding, but not necessarily for them to wear during the wedding. Try to find a designer who they really like, or if you are at a craft/art fair and see something that just so perfectly fits your maid of honor, go ahead and get it. Who cares if they can't use their gift in the wedding, probably better because they might be game for wearing it in real every day life. And if you are a laid back bride, I like to think that I am, you can let the attendants choose their accessories, and if you chose your gift wisely she will love it so much that she will want to wear it right away. So those are my thoughts on that.

Where are We?

Telluride is such a small town I was not originally thinking that we needed to make maps. I was going to provide each room with one, just in case, but nothing really individualized for the occasion. But, this morning I came across these amazing maps from an artist, Laura Hooper, on Etsy. I am so inspired by it I think that I am definitely going to make one for the wedding, just a nice little hand touch to make it more personalized. But not to worry, I will still be providing hiking trails and town maps that are a bit more useful for everyday than the hand drawn one.

A Good Friend

Yesterday I had a wonderful day, our friend Melissa, my bridesmaid, drove down from Philadelphia for the day to do all things wedding related. I cannot express how excited I was and what I wonderful time I had, it meant so much to me to have someone else as excited as I am and want to get involved in planning and details for the weekend of the wedding. We had a wonderful and story filled lunch at Atwaters in Belvedere Square, and then headed off to Jo Ann's Fabrics and found all kinds of great things for the wedding. I know everyone just took a deep breath in that I found things for the wedding at a craft store, but don't worry, they did not come from the wedding isle, and they are really only ingredients in a larger project. I think that I am most excited about the button press that I purchased. Melissa and I were playing with it last night and it is so much fun, but more to come on that later.



Melissa also brought down the Spring 2008 Philadelphia Home magazine to show me the loft of an Anthropologie friends that was featured. While looking through I found the above flower display and loved it. Happy Spring.

Casual Elegance

I decided a while ago, that the style for the wedding is casual elegance, a style in which I strive to live, but do not always achieve, but hey, I am still young right...

Currently our abode does not have a washer and dryer and we are back to doing laundry at the laundromat, one of my favorite activities in life. When we work up this morning and were talking about what our plans were for the weekend I mentioned that we had to do some serious laundry, and almost as if it were fate, when I jumped on the computer this morning I found this great laundry bag, which I think is definetely casual elegance, from India Rose. I think it might also make a really great back bag, or general catch all, because lets face it, when you do not have your own washer and dryer you have way more laundry to do at one time then normal.

Big Weekend

photo from Numpty on Etsy

Last weekend was jam packed with to dos on the wedding checklist. JP and I met with Lauren Schott, the jeweler who made my engagement ring and we put in our order for our wedding bands, we are both really excited about them and cannot wait to see the wax molds and then the rings.

We also had a really nice visit with Lauren and Jon, Lauren (formally known as Stromberg) is my best friend from high school. She and her husband live in Mclain, VA and I had not seen her since moving back to MD in June. I have been trying to get Lauren to Telluride since our sophomore year of high school and am thrilled that they will be celebrating our wedding with us there in May.

On Sunday, we trekked down to Mclain, VA to find a suit for JP for the wedding. We were able to find a great suit, and JP looks so handsome. The shirts that he, and his groomsmen will be wearing will have French cuffs, so now we are on the hunt for unique cuff links. While we will not be using Lego cuff links for the wedding, I could not resist putting them up on the site. I know that they are really easy to make, but think that they are kinda cute, and in the correct setting might be nice.

So now the last big hurtles will be choosing what we will be eating at the reception, and assembling and sending out the invitations. From there it should be easy sailing. I say that now, but who knows.

Gifts They Can Use

Trying to try and find good, useful thank you gifts for your bridal party can be fairly challenging. If you are looking for tacky, ugly, or useless you are lucky because there are endless possibilities out there for your friends and loved ones. However, I am not looking for any of these qualities in what I choose to thank my friends with. In addition, I think that a lot of people try to give gifts that are a remembrance of their wedding, while that is fine, it really needs to be thought out. Do your friends really want items with your names on them, or your wedding date? Probably not. You can choose jewelry, but make sure that it fits their personality and not yours. And I think that is the key point in trying to choose a gift, make sure that it is for the receiver, and not for the giver.

photo from Cherry Tee

While I was cleaning up old bookmarks on my computer I came across Cherry Tee, a great little tee shirt company that only makes high quality, well fitting, beautifully colored tees. There are a few style to choose from, but nothing fancy, no screen printing, no logos, just great simple cotton standbys. I think one of the best things that company has done is reached out from selling the single tee, to selling them in sample sets, gift sets and tee's of the month options. Wouldn't it be nice to be in your friends wedding and for the next year, the first week of every month, receive a great new cotton shit! What a great way to say thank you over and over, and give your friends something that they might actually wear or look at more than once. So check it out, I promise that you will not be disappointed.

Great Packaging

photo from Rust Belt

I love this new jewelry company that I discovered today. The company uses all re-purposed materials and tries to have as little impact as possible on environment. The line is designed by two women, Anna Bario, and Page Neal who are both committed to re-thinking the luxury jewelry world, which is filled with practices that have both negative environmental and social impacts. But I also really like them for the packaging that their items arrive in . Above is a great example of the reused glass bottles that they have adjusted to suit their needs. So while I might not be having a green wedding it is still nice to throw a nod towards something that is ecologically responsible. And what a great choice for the couple who is having a green wedding, nice as wedding party gifts, or as wedding day accessories. This company also has a really informative blog and site so if you have a moment you might want to check them out.

Treat Your Body Well

photo :: Biggs and Fetherbelle

It is no secret that I love all things bath and body related. I am a sucker for great product design and therefore am always ready to try a new a beautiful bath product. Aside from the visual, I am also always on the lookout for hydrating lotions, soaps, chap sticks and well, anything great. Through working at Red Tree, I recently discovered Biggs and Fetherbelle, a great line that is made locally, in Baltimore, by a sister team. Their products are all natural, fragrances are from essential oils, and the colors are derived from plants, herbs and vegetable oils. It is so wonderful to be able to support locally owned small companies that have a really fabulous product, and I just love them. They also do custom gift sets as well as great little bagged up soaps that would make a super shower gift. If you are interested in trying some of their products I would suggest the Mini Bar Set, with 8 sample soaps ranging from Barlesque to Fixins bar you will not be disappointed, I promise.

On the Wedding Front

As we have been taking to friends about the wedding and letting them know about airline deals and where to fly into we have had such an amazing response from people. My mom has been saying all along to expect more people to come than not because people love a chance to take a vacation and a wedding is such a good reason, and that seems to be what is happening. There has been such an outpouring of people who are so excited to come and cannot wait and we would not be happier.

photo from TwoBirdsbridesmaid.com

Also, last week I put in the order for the bridesmaids dresses. I had found them back in November and thought that I had a lot of time to get going on that front. Then to my horror, when I was flying to Telluride I splurged and purchase In Style Weddings, and the dresses were mentioned in the magazine. I knew at that point that I needed to place my order and get on with it. Fortunately, the line, Two Birds, just starting to be carried by a bridesmaid store in Baltimore and I was able to go, see the dress and try it on, and I loved it. While I was there the owner mentioned that the woman who owns the dress company was going to be on Martha Stewart in the beginning of February. At any rate I am really excited about them and think that they are such a good solution to the horror of bridesmaid dresses.

Dude Day

So in a nod to the super bowl, which I do not really care about, but my better half does, I thought that I would share a great recipe for today. We had this last night for dinner, and really enjoyed it, as we always do. I am not really sure where the recipe is from, my mom gave it to me after we had it at her house and loved it, so sorry about that. I hope that you enjoy it as much as we have.

Chicken Wings with Spicy Apricot Sauce

4 1/2 pounds chicken wings with tips cut off
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup apricot preserves
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1 garlic clove smashed
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, I did not have this so I used chili power and it worked well


Preheat the broiler, and line a baking pan with tin foil. Place and cookie cooling rack on pan and oil it lightly. In a bowl combine the olive oil, pepper and 2 teaspoons of the salt, add the chicken wings and toss to coat. Place them on the rack and broil for 20 to 25 minutes. Turn one time.

In a new bowl combine the apricot preserves, lime juice, garlic, cumin, cayenne, and 1/4 teaspoons salt. Brush each cooked wing with sauce to coat and return to the broiler for another 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the wings and brush the other side, cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Repeat this round of coating and flipping each side one more time.

Serve hot and with plenty of strong napkins.

Serves 4

Hope you all have a great pig skin day!