tabling the issue

Today I discovered Oneida.com. OoooOOOooo.

I've always liked setting a nice table - my favorite table ever was Bon's bridal shower table(s) at L'Uraku. Motif: polychrome paradise (I miss those umbrellas.) Each guest had a different colored napkin, and either a blue or green gift bag by her plate. I arranged red, yellow and pink rose petals down the center of the table. It sounds like a big color-mess but in the mid-morning light, and with L'Uraku's decor, it looked very pretty.

I've long been a fan of Pier 1 and have purchased many an odd piece of dinnerware from the Ward location - a rectangular orange and red dish with an elephant on it, cereal bowls, a pair of sterile white plates big enough to tap dance on, a really big mug. I bought my first placemats and cloth napkins (orange with embroidered dragonflies) from Pier 1.

My second favorite table made use of those placemats and napkins - had some friends over and cooked up an outdoor dinner for four. White plates, orange mats and napkins, a few fat candles. Such ceremony. When was the last time I had those friends over? Um, had 'em over the new place for a Passion Party, and the majority of people had to sit on the floor. I think I served frozen lasagna on paper plates.

I no longer have a dining table. I have a table that used to be used for mealtimes and now holds more crap than you can shake a stick at. It's been converted to the "computer table." We eat on the couch in front of the TV. I have a wrought iron-looking thing that I bought on a whim from Ross because I thought it would look so awesome on my lanai. We used to eat outside at this table. Even though it had an inconvenient design (spaces big enough for your fork to fall through, for instance) at least it was a table to eat at.

Anyway this was supposed to be about dinnerware. Oneida.com - hm, maybe we should register for china. It's not china in the stuffy, Waterford sense, but modern, colorful stoneware that can be mixed and matched. True to my wacky form, though, what first caught my eye was a set of handpainted Farmhouse Rooster ware. What's not to love about a barnyard motif? Come 'n' get it.

haha

Yeah. Too bad we don't have a romantic bone in our collective bodies.

Er, that sounded WRONG.

newsies

I like this dress.

And after re-wrapping a Cinnamon Girl t-shirt for my little girl cousin for the third time, I realized that I really like tulle. Poor Scott.

My friend N has asked me to be part of her bridal party. I can't think of anything more fun. (Well, my own wedding is, in my book at least, supposed to be at least slightly more fun, but you know what I mean.) Yesterday she called to say she wasn't having a bridal party but was doing matching haku lei for her close girlfriends. I thought that was awesome but she changed her mind - yay!! I thought her original idea was sweet and simple, very original. (I was tempted to steal the "no 'maids or 'men" concept, frankly.) But am jazzed that two of my friends are getting hitched in '08 and I get front-row seats at both ceremonies.

Yep - that's about where things are right now; I'm all excited about my friends' weddings. S and I can't even book the hotel till 12 months in advance, and I feel like I can't do anything till we have the date solidified. I want to send save-the-dates but what if ours is snagged? I want to shop for dresses but it feels wrong like what if we end up with a much later date and my tastes change and yada yada yada.

Yada.

Oh yeah we (WE!!) watched 3+ episodes of "Bridezillas" last night. I turned to S several times and said, "Aren't you glad you're marrying ME?" With hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend on a wedding alone, people become slightly insane. I'd like to think that if we had a limitless budget that we'd still keep it simple and that maybe we'd just have awesome food. And maybe a cocktail hour. Not go stupidly overboard with decorations, planners, custom made furniture, absurd cakes, etc.

Anyway, we do not have a limitless budget so that is moot. And truth be told I don't regret not being able to afford an open bar. My relationship with alcohol = tepid. It makes people stupid. I used to think that was funny. Now it worries me. I guess that's part of getting older. Besides, if you have to get drunk to endure our wedding then, um, don't come. Just send money. Hehehe.

yay me

I made a cute save-the-date card! ... Now if only we had an actual date.

cookieeeeeee

Geri just gave me some fortune cookies her daughter, Michele, used as favors. Her theme was wine, and the cookies were brown (chocolate) and red (sort of fruit loop-flavored) ... SO PRETTY, and so tasty. Of course the fortune was a custom-designed slip of paper that said thank you from the couple ... cute.

Cookies. See, I get so distracted by all the fun stuff when I should be planning out the who, the when, and the where. Instead, I get all caught up in discussions about back in the day when people put homemade fruitcake in hand-folded, printed boxes as favors. (I like fruitcake, so this is very appealing to me.) Veil, no veil? Chocolate cake? Two attendants or three? Mannerless friends and well-behaved near-strangers: invite both, or neither? Theme. Budget. Family. Scalloped invitations.

Le sigh. See? Concentrate on cookies. It's less of a headache.

updates ...

• I like this.
• I like that.
  
• I LIKE being engaged.
  
  
• No date yet.
• No venue yet.
• No RUSH yet.
  
  
• I love my Club Wedd planner.
• I love my shiny shiny ring.
• I LOVE my fiance.
  

evolution indeed

Hot now: Le bridesmaid dress