lazy afternoon

This is the kind of day I love. Got up at a slightly lazy 7:45, dressed in jeans and flats and headed to work. Office was deserted. Worked on a cool, cute project and actually spent the time on it that it deserved, unlike my normal forced work process in which a project with all new creative is done in 3 hours or between meetings. Left my desk neat and tidy at noon - noon! - and headed home.

Brett greeted me at the door playing a new Wii game like a big kid, I just laughed. Then researched some fondue recipes for New Year's Eve. Lot's of people had lots of opinions on the subject on Food Network's message boards, some downright vicious! Geez, peeps, it is cheese and wine. Oh, and kirsch. More about that later.

Walked to Whole Foods for ingredients and had a strange experience. We saw one of our pilates teachers there, said hello, etc. and then I saw her walk right by a woman I know from our web agency at work. I always think it's so weird to see people from different compartments of my life converge! Like at our wedding. Awfully bizarre to see childhood friends with new friends with coworkers with grandparents with my godfather, etc.

Then to the liquor store, or as we say in the South, the package store :) Needed the aforementioned kirsch. Here's where my packaging snobbery kicks in to high gear. Yes, I spent over $30 more on the wax sealed, more authentic looking bottle of Kirschwasser instead of the cheesy DeKuypers cherry flavored brandy. Sooo, now we're looking for drink recipes that feature kirsch since I only actually need one tbsp for my recipe. Come on, I know ya'll agree!

Now my husband is cooking an early dinner and we're relaxin'. Finally. Holiday Season, I love you but you sure are exhausting.

Happy Happy New Year, everyone!

holiday indulgence

Since I am in the office this week, I find myself eating a bunch of crap that someone made and unloaded on their coworkers, as I often do. 

My favorite being a minty cookie/candy confection made with melty mints like we used to eat as kids. Probably full of partially hydrogenated substances, but I don't particularly care right now. Not to mention dyes, nothing in nature is this particular shade of green. Ho Ho Ho. 

That's how I laugh now since my innards are saturated with 

sugar n' spice.

favorite Christmas songs

I have 4, one for each member of my family:

Dad's: Here Comes Santa Claus

I don't really know why, but this song makes me think of my dad. Probably because my dad always did so much for us to make the holidays fun and has been known to take on the Santa persona himself now and then. I especially like the line, "He doesn't care if you're rich or poor, he loves you just the same." I heard it this morning in bed and I really missed him. XOXO, dad. Love you.

Mom's: Feliz Navidad

I can totally remember my mom singing this and getting into it when I was tiny. My mom was not often silly while I was growing up and I remember loving it when she would just lose herself in a silly moment and let me see her truly joyful side. Now it's easy to goad her into the giggles and we have so many special jokes. Love you, mom. Glad you're in a joyful place.

Katie's: All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey

I probably don't really need to explain this and I suspect it is the Christmas themesong for many sisters! We love it more. I remember dancing to this a few years ago at one of the first Christmases we spent with our stepdad and stepbrothers and them just looking at us and sidling out of the kitchen like, oh my god, this is what its like to have girls in the family? Great.

Miss you, Katie. Have fun with the all the little girls this Christmas. Lucky you!

Mine: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Love the sentiment. Love Rosemary Clooney's version and the John Denver version from the Muppets Christmas album that I'm sure we wore out as kids!

bonus* Walking in a Winter Wonderland

We sang this in some ridiculous winter chorus concert, probably circa 1993 or 1994. Makes me think of all my girls, misbehaving in the music room and walking in the genuine Potsdam winter wonderland for so many fun and SNOWY winters! xoxoxoxoxoxo to all my Potsdam friends! Love you all so dearly.

bonus bonus* Sleigh Ride, the instrumental version

Especially when the big brassy crescendo happens. Nothing screams holiday festivities louder. Maybe because it was in a Gap commercial when my young and impressionable mind was forming ideas about what's cool. I also love the Ronnette's version.

Merry Christmas!

best. compliment. ever.

We just started watching Mad Men, and of course I am totally sucked in and obsessed. Coincidentally, I have a new found interest in cosmetics. More specifically, lipstick. Red. I always thought I looked sort of whorish in lipstick. And I turned into a girly girl really late in life for some reason. But anyway, I have been prancing around the house in this lipstick but didn't have the courage to wear it to work. I did wear it running, I think I felt faster. Friday I wore it at the office and you'd think I was wearing Manolo Blahniks on my face. Everyone lost it.

One girl said, "You look so vintage! You know, like Mad Men! You're like Mad Woman!" Funny, last week that would have really meant nothing to me, but this week: awesome.

girls girls girls

Some more favorite wedding shots... with some of my favorite girls. xoxo

cranberry sauce is done...

and everything else is chopped, prepped, brining, minced or cleaned. Yum! Can't wait for tomorrow. Missing the family and friends though :(

I am feeling more grateful and thankful this year than ever before in my life. I realize how much I have, physically and emotionally, and just feel blessed in every way. This has been an amazing year and I just want to shout out to all my friends who stay in touch on le blog! So much fun to be connected with you all. Hope everyone has a fabulous day tomorrow, whatever you're up to.

xoxo - T

such a blah day

Today is freezing, gray, raining and lonely. So here's a photo from a much nicer day about 7 weeks ago :)

Thanksgiving dinner

I have wonderful kids table memories

Brett tells me that growing up he had Stove-Top stuffing and canned cranberries. So I am going to step up to the wifely, domesticated, newlywed plate and cook for our first Thanksgiving together and let him perform his husbandly duty of sitting on the couch with one hand on the remote and the other wedged in his waistband. We're having:

turkey (brined overnight and stuffed with citrus, herbs and onion)

fancier green bean cassrerole (fresh green beans, shallots, fresh mushrooms, cream, white wine)

caramelized sweet potato wedges (with orange zest)

wild rice dressing (with sage and dried apricots)

mashed potatoes (the old fashioned way)

cranberry compote

I wish my brother-in-law Kyle could be here to make his famous peach pie for dessert. I'll miss my family all tucked away together in NNY, but I think a quiet Thanksgiving alone is just what B and I need right now. Oh, and we'll spend the rest of the weekend getting the condo all ready to list. Please tell me you know someone who needs a lovely 1980's 850 square foot condo in downtown Atlanta? 

sniff...

So someone on facebook wants to slap me. That's not nice. People are mean.

post 148

I'm so glad we poopooed the warnings, balked at authority, threw caution to the wind...  and shot in this bookstore. THANK YOU, Almasy Photo, for so many beautiful wedding photos. More to come. Finally Friday!

feeling pretty smart!

My blog images have been looking terrible lately, the program seems to be downsampling them quite a bit and they look so pixelated. Fed up, I googled it and after reading a few articles, found out how to go in an edit the code to fix 'em up. Want to do it too? Go into the Edit Html tag and change the numbers right before your image name from  /s400/sampleimage.jpg to /s800/sampleimage.jpg. 

Easy!

the latest

For Mya, and parents-to-be Kelly and Jeff. 

to font or not to font?

There is a beautiful font I have wanted to buy for a while. It is the font created specifically for Martha Stewart Living and is now available for the masses to purchase. Great, right? Well sort of. I was pretty close to adding it to my cart this morning while working on a design for our Christmas card for '09. This close. But then THIS pop up ad appeared on my screen:

The type looks suspiciously similar to Archer... Kinda ruins it.

love this!

www.myparentswereawesome.com

"Before the fanny packs and Andrea Bocelli concerts, your parents (and grandparents) were once free-wheeling, fashion-forward, and super awesome."

I just love this site. I have always spent time thinking about my parents when they were my age and obsessing over old photos: photos of my grandparents as teenagers, my mom's yearbook, my dad's scrapbook. Some genius put all that nostalgia online. Just one more thing to take up time, but at least there is a little less snark involved than a lot of internet nonsense.

Goodness, it's late.

how to...

fail a test with dignity. Courtney just sent me this in an email along with the note, "Just like HS math." Which yes, for me would be accurate.

Enjoy! Hilarious.

part 2

the Barbie shoe!

all our pics are self portraits, the beach was pretty deserted.

freckles! a.k.a. sun damage :)

crabs!

I have been bad about documenting our travels this year, here are a couple pics from a weekend in Baltimore at Kyle's Crab Fest '09. All the family bonding, baby holding and Old Bay seasoning I can take in one weekend!

We had fun running around helping K and K get ready for the party and of course, admiring their gorgeous house. The new bathroom was unveiled that weekend and my jealous heart about burst! Katie, mom and I had a fun trip to K Mart for some necessities and found crab flavored crackers and hula hoops. Brett had fun with the neighborhood rugrats, especially the ones with bikes and skateboards. Rad. I got my fix of babies, there were 16 kids under 8, including two sets of 14 month old twins! I met a sweet baby named Deacon and stole him from his mom for a few hours. Heaven :)

Here is a picture of the handsome birthday boy, and a shot of the souvenir koozies. A great weekend. I think I ate about 8 crabs, I just had to do my part...

um, pass the Yuengling, please.

honeymoon with my honey

fun in the sun

I got to marry him?

moi

Just a quick post about the honeymoon! More for my own memory preservation than anything, but enjoy! These are just a smattering of my photos, I haven't gotten any off B's camera just yet. But there are some good ones, so I'll have to do a to part 2.

We drove to Rosemary Beach, FL, sort of a fake, postmodern beach community for yuppie Southerners, which normally would gross me out. But the architecture and design of the place overruled the yuppie factor and we settled right into a week there very easily.

We decided to do the honeymoon on the cheap - consequently our second meal as husband and wife was consumed at Chik-Fil-A and followed with snacks from the gas station. Klassy. We went to Publix as soon as we got to the beach to buy groceries and I am happy to report we cooked dinner 4 out of 6 nights and made breakfast at home everyday, too. We even went as far as to make our own margaritas to bring to the beach! It was fun to be frugal. Even our souvenirs were fairly cheap, I found a Barbie shoe washed up on the sand and decided that was all I needed to remember the beach. It now sits in a place of honor on the toy shelf in the kitchen, right next to the red plastic fish I found on the beach in Mexico. Doesn't take much to make me happy :)

We spent a lot of time sitting in the sun, reading and sleeping, it was heaven. The sun came up every day at around 6, so we were early risers and early to bed, we felt so old and married, but we loved it. We did TRY to go out one night to a hot spot all my friends raved about, but it was packed and we wanted out early bird specials without a 40 minute wait. The one night we splurged on dinner was at an 8 table, very romantic restaurant called Cafe Tango. We realized there that it payed to drop a casual, "we're on our honeymoon" and got free dessert. A fun night and a chance to dress up. Of course we forgot to take a picture.

Brett sensed me getting a little restless about 4 days in and took me antiquing on Saturday. Lots of neat places, we bought an antique map of the world and I may or may not have found 2 dresses I could not live without. Did I say all I needed was a Barbie shoe? Um, yeahhhh.

Other highlights included a 30 mile bike ride (in place of a training run since it was 90 degrees), one of the best cupcakes of my young life, purchased from an Airstream camper which made it taste better, sunset walks on the beach, people watching and the smell in our little house. I haven't washed a few things that we brought because they still have the distinct peppery, slightly musty smell of the carriage house. A lovely vacation!

a biking break

This was meant to show the dirt on my legs, didn't really show. They were dirty.

mmm, Airstreams... er, I mean, cupcakes...

We felt a little boring for not having run off to Greece or Capri or even Aruba for the 'moon, but honestly, planning a wedding in 4 months was tough enough! And it was fun to do a road trip together. Hopefully next year will bring international travel. Until then, I've got good memories.

weekend notes

This has been a great weekend, I have been home alone! I realized that this is how I used to spend a lot of my weekends and while I thought I was happy then, I had not yet experienced true happiness. I might have had all the time in the world to shop for shoes, fold and iron the contents of my linen closet (?) and go on a hot date or two (ok, sometimes three :) but I miss Brett so much this weekend that I almost can't wait for it to be over 'cause then he'll be back. OK, so that might be a slight exaggeration, slight.

I got rid of a bunch more stuff this weekend, I just put it out by my dumpster and people help themselves. Saves a trip to Goodwill! I don't know too many of my neighbors but I bet I'd be served out of one of my old champagne flutes if I dropped in for some bubbly :)

I do know one neighbor really well, Tiffani! We've been tight for about a year now, she is a fellow designer and we like to spend our together-time antiquing, shopping for cupcakes, watching Gossip Girl, cooking soup and going to arty, indie events that my other friends aren't into. She likes to try to flatter me into buying dresses I will never have an occasion to wear and I like to smother her baby niece with my motherly instincts. Last night we did the Halloween thing. She came up and we drank the remains of a bottle of Gray Goose Vanille, mixed with coke and outfitted with cinnamon stick stirrers. Then we used the holiday as an excuse to wear crazy outfits and eyelashes and strutted down to the Silver Scream Spook Show for a screening of the 1932 classic White Zombie. This is one of my favorite Atlanta activities and last night was one of the best ever shows. Home and in bed my midnight :)

T and T's Halloween self portrait

Today was more cleaning out, I organized my collections of the good home decor magazines that are no more (sniff), roasted a chicken following closely the instructions in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (another favorite wedding gift) and then decided to step into fall with a small, conservative shopping trip.

Brett and I figured out our family budget last week and it was a true wake up call. I am embarrassed to admit, I have never done a budget and have always followed the close enough school of thought when going about my finances. I usually just go shopping and buy what I want, trying not to be too extravagant and to buy only stuff that I L-O-V-E. But I have spent more than I should. Now I am on a clothes budget. Sort of stings to think about, but I am considering it a challenge. Today I bought some awesome skinny jeans at Ann Taylor Loft, which is sometimes at risk of selling mom-jeans, but I love these. Not too skinny, perfect length, teeny bit of stretch and the best part, $60. And a great sweater coat thing with a big chunky collar for about $25, originally $80. I wanted a $50 cardigan but decided to leave it behind and check back for a sale. Then onto DSW. I have been craving black patent pumps for about 2 years, but just keep putting it off. I got a great pair today for $35! Steal. I resisted a cute pair of open toe ankle boots :) My one splurge was a full price metallic skinny belt at the Gap, but I had a gift card :)

I think one of the keys of not buying too much is wearing unflattering clothes and not doing hair or makeup before going out. Admittedly, the fake blue mole I penciled on last night was still hanging on and was probably a tad inappropriate, oh well. My point is, if the clothes you are trying on still look good with a sports bra and clogs, then they are worth it.

But in addition to my self-centered ramblings, I wanted to congratulate J & K and A & T on their new babies! Can't wait to see more pictures of all that cuteness :) Happy Birthdays, M and J!

And now it is getting dark and 6pm. And I don't really mind. Have a good week!

marathoning

note my freckly face!

Sunday was the dreaded Marine Corps Marathon. I did ok despite a hot, humid and very lazy summer training season. It was a great course and we loved the marines. Nothing more motivating than a ,"Way to go, ma'am" from a handsome young man in uniform.

It was a fun girly weekend with Courtney, Michele, Emily and special guest appearance by Katie. And of course marathons mean an excuse to eat. And eat. Thanks, Courtney and Andrew, for a great weekend!

Immediately after the race I swore that that was it for me, but now I am rethinking. C and I decided that spring marathons are a way better idea since you can train during the colder months. Sounds like a plan!

I just checked out the action shots they take. Of course they all suck as usual. I especially love this gem of me and my ba-ba:

This would make a fantastic Christmas card, no?

Funny people

Conversation between me and my boss today

over my cube wall:

Boss: Hey, Tera- What are boyfriend jeans?

Tera: Um, what?

Boss: What are boyfriend jeans?

Tera: Don't you read the J Crew catalog? They are jeans that are sort of narrow cut and distressed, like jeans you would borrow from your boyfriend.

Boss: But they're girls' jeans?

Tera: Yeah, they just look like guys' jeans, like how you'd borrow your boyfriend's favorite t shirt.

Boss: Oh, okay. thanks.

Tera: Why do you ask?

Boss: Uh, they're on my mom's Christmas list.

Her mom is obviously probably a little old to be within the normal target audience for boyfriend jeans. I just lost it, we laughed so hard.

Conversation between me and the meat guy at Whole Foods on Monday night while shopping for meat loaf ingredients:

Meat Guy: Hey can I help you?

Tera: I need some ground pork. My mom says it is good to use a mix of beef and pork in meatloaf.

Meat Guy: Well, it's over there already ground in that case.

Tera: Ok, I'll check it out.

Tera and Brett proceed to the meat case. They look at all the packages. The beef packages say things like, "ground beef shoulder, ground chuck loin." The pork package says, "ground pork canada."

Meat Guy walks over to help: Did you find what you needed?

Tera: Yes, but I have a question. What part of the pig is the canada (pronounced ka-NAH-da)?

As soon as the words are out, Tera realizes her mistake... She struggles for words to right her wrong, they are not there. Meat Guy and Brett dissolve into laughter and we skulk away.

Brett: At least that guy will have a funny story to tell his friends after work tonight.

Tera: I'm just here to help.

smells like...

We just opened yet another wedding gift; very nice cushy towels. As we were oohing and ahhing and feeling the Egyptian cotton plushiness, Brett's like, "these smell like something from childhood. Swim goggles, they smell like new swim goggles, the foam around the edges." I thought they smelled like the piny, chilly scent of the Christmas stuff that my mom would pull out of the basement every year. And there you have it. Pretty soon they'll smell like Tide.

Today I just feel lucky to smell anything. We spent ALL DAY yesterday cleaning out the vacuous storage closets in my place and dragging stuff off to Goodwill. Including a 1999 iMac, a full set of art history text books from Alfred University circa 2000 and 7 flat pillows on which I am sorry to say I have been forcing my guests to sleep, not realizing really how yucky they were. Anyway, all that cleaning and kicking up of dust made me sneeze at least 200 times. Miserable. But the apartment feels so much lighter with out all that stuff, not to mention bad memories and waste of space.

welcome, fall!

I know pretty much everyone feels this way but I am going to go ahead and get the obligatory thank goodness it's fall post on the record. I got home from work a little early today and quickly changed into jeans, a wool sweater and boots to walk to the store with my new husband. Felt so great! We did end up spending $8.00 on 5 apples, but that's another post altogether. Also wore tights to work a few days this week with my summer dresses, drank some NYS cider courtesy of my dad, roasted vegetables, and am enjoying that magical witching hour of an obscenely low power bill between AC and heat. I already bought 13 pumpkins this year so may have gotten that part out of my system :) This weekend will definitely be the perfect time to put one our favorite wedding gifts to use. Who has a good soup recipe to share?

to quote Katie...

We did a nice wedding. 

And we're glad we did. I can't wait to see all the photos (and pick the three or four out of hundreds taken that I might half like) and was happy to see a bunch on facebook this morning. After all the worrying that the wedding would be boring or the music would be too quiet or the cake would be dry, I learned that if you just let go and let stuff happen it all turns out just fine. I'll remember that for my next wedding. I'm so kidding. Here's a cute pic of me and my dashing groom courtesy of Megan and Oscar. Missing everyone and off to get a facial at the spa!

a harried few days

So you want to have a wedding... what are you, crazy? This has been a nutty few days and I will probably crawl under the table tonight at dinner and take a nap. Thanks to everyone for their encouragement and support through all of this! The future Mr. and Mrs. S. appreciate it :)

count down!

The count down is on, I just realized that this time next week we'll be hitched! Wishing I had taken this week off, but oh well. Here are some sneak previews!

I'm with the guy in the orange tie...

A bride knows her guests' priorities

and her own!

love this

I found a link to a site that creates old polaroid effects on your photos. The first one here added a soft effect, the second photo was more or less a color treatment. Neat. Try it. rollip.com

We're so vintage.

three generations

I dearly love my family, most especially my grandmother Theresa. She even lets her guard down once in a while and thrills us with adorable dating stories from the 40's. Sounds a lot like today, except with better hair.

Can I please please look like that when I'm a certain age?

Love you, gram. xoxo

wedding style

my wedding mood board (click to enlarge)

I have been busy doing all sorts of wedding prep, and some words come to mind:

fun: Yes, admittedly it has been more fun than I thought. Who doesn't love being a little self-indulgent now and then?

expensive: Um, I am embarrassed to admit what I have spent on this wedding. Well, parts of it. At least I came to my senses last weekend and decided to return the second pair of shoes...

nostalgic: This sounds weird, but in a way I am sad that we are getting married already. I think I many have mentioned this before, but I hate it when firsts come and go. First dates, first kisses, etc. You never get that excited feeling back! I am a little sad that our wedding will be one day and then just a memory. But on the flipside, I know the marriage is the important thing, not the wedding. That said, I miss it already.

educational: I read an article the other day about how a bride learned that she had been a very bad wedding guest until she got married! Didn't buy off the registry, sent her response card very late, brought a date without letting the bride know, wore the wrong shoes as a bridesmaid... I think I have been guilty of a couple of those crimes but never again! 

insomnia inducing: Anxiety definitely runs in my family and I was not spared this lot. If there is even a tiny thing to worry about, I'm up all night. Hence, my wedding mood board. I'd rather have the sleep. 

entertaining: We have met some real characters through all of this, from the mean lady at a dress shop to the crazy lady at a florist. Bunch of weirdos in the Atlanta wedding scene!

touching and incredibly flattering: I have received the nicest thoughts, notes and kind words from people since we got engaged. I am so honored that people even care what I am doing! People have been more than generous to us and it is so so appreciated.

2 weeks, 6 days!

My my my...

How time does fly. I can't believe that summer has pretty much come and gone. We have traveled so much! And I still have not documented my birthday, my trip to Potsdam or even how Brett got called a dickhead in the airport yesterday. True story. But because I am feeling excited, I will post a few pictures that we just got back from our engagement shoot. There are some cute ones, some sappy ones and some fat arm ones. Here is a sampling of the best ones. All photo credits go to Anne and Dan Almasy, Almasy Photo, Inc. Uh, if you need wedding photographers, you pretty much need look no further. They're great! Even if they make us feel old since they're younger than we are.