Anthro Haul

I can never resist sharing my awesome finds from Anthro., but really can you blame me? Anthropologie is not the cheapest of stores, but what they sale tends to be more 'artsy', 'creative', and EVERYBODY (well, mostly females) loves it. Justin loves that the clothes are well made. My mother wishes she had clothes that fit like the dresses I buy from Anthro. My grandmothers think the home decor is awesome.

Recently Justin and I have started looking at the cookbooks from Anthro.

We won Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream during a giveaway, but it is currently on sale at Anthro. so you may want to check it out. It has awesome reviews on Amazon!

Justin and I made the cherry chocolate ice cream from the book for Justin's dad's birthday this weekend. While it was absolutely delicious, we couldn't get it to 'set'. We're going to try another recipe from the book again soon. We may have been in too much of a hurry. Recipes I'd love to try from the book include: strawberry balsamic ice cream, blood orange sorbet, and maple walnut ice cream among others.

We also recently purchase The Good Life by Adrian Richardson. Adrian Richardson, it seems has a tv show in Australia. He is also really big into cooking meat (which you may not surmise from the cover). Apparently he and Justin both believe that a happy animal is the best tasting kind of animal (i.e. one without growth hormones, one that eats grass and grows naturally). Of course, they also both agree that alligator, rabbit, quail, and pigeons taste good (or would taste good). *shrugs*

I guess what got me excited about this cookbook (beyond the delicious looking comfort foods that I could get behind making) was the graphic design. There is a really awesome bookmark that comes with the book that looks like the tablecloth on the front of the book. It is really crazy and makes you feel like you could have cooked that delicious pie on the cover. The book is hardcover, and the pictures of the food frame the text and recipes. I love that the images aren't overly saturated in color. And the best part: the book is FULL (to the brim!) of images! I hate cookbooks without pictures; they make me sad! :(

We got some gifts for my grandmother which I don't really feel like I can post online without sharing with more people than I want to. We also got some bathroom 'cutes' that they no longer have for sale at the Anthro. website. A soap dish and a toothbrush holder in a lovely turquoise with some intricate floral scrolling. Very pretty. (Justin picked it out. He didn't like the cheap, also turquoise, toothbrush holder I had gotten from Kohl's. *shrug*)

Overall, my favorite thing we got from Anthro. this weekend (or actually, last night) was the Native Birds dress.

I'm planning on wearing this dress to my cousin's outdoor wedding in October. I think. Maybe. I've been watching and waiting for this dress to go on sale since July!! When I went to the first Anthro. store yesterday, I was informed they were out of my size. The store sales associate told me I could order it, but I really wanted to try it on before purchasing. She told me she had the dress and loved it! She also told me that the dress was true-to-size, which I found to be true when we located the dress at another location. I couldn't believe that the guy helping me in the dressing room remembered who I was from a previous trip to Anthro. and gave me advice as to what type of belt to purchase to 'jazz' up this dress. (Talk about amazing sales associates!)

I also tried on the Jacquard Circle Skirt dress, which I knew we couldn't afford.

Let me just mention how absolutely awesome this dress truly is! I really didn't think I would like it on me. I tend to have issues with circle necks; they just don't look right on me. I also thought I would hate the sleeves, but they look really elegant. This dress truly looks like something right out of the 1950's era with the huge circle skirt. I love the model in the picture above; I think she looks a bit like Audrey Hepburn in the dress. :)

So yeah... Go check out your local Anthropologie store if you are interested in any of the things I mentioned above. In the case with the cookbooks, you can get them cheaper at Anthro. than you can get them online right now! (Huge plus!) And who doesn't like clothes on sale? ;)

Favors or Cake Toppers?

Check out Rue la la!

I think some of these swarovski crystals would be such a fun cake topper or to use as reception decor. Besides, I can hardly resist anything sparkly!!!

They also have some really fun macarons that are bright and colorful. Can you imagine putting these on a table as favor for guests to take home? What about as an addition to your dessert table? Such bright colors to offset your wedding cake and make it beautiful!

Act soon if you are interested though. Rue la la sales don't last very long!

Fads or Awesome Ideas?

Just out of curiosity, would you have all of your wedding photography taken with an iPhone and edited with Instagram? What about playing your favorite musician singing songs from the jazz era? It's crazy what you discover when looking at wedding sites. Who does this?!

My biggest concern is that the couple who chose to have their photos taken with the iphone may someday regret that they don't have high resolution images. ... I would love to have been the photographer, however! Yay for light equipment that fits in your pocket!!! I think a better alternative for the couple would have been for the photographer to shoot using a fancy camera (like the Canon 5d mk2) and then put the images through instagram. Just my thoughts.

As for the music? Umm... I do love Arctic Monkeys version of "Baby I'm Yours", so I can see where it would be fun to play musicians singing older songs. I'm just not certain I would play it so that everyone is happy. Lucky for Justin and I, I knew going into the wedding that the majority of our friends and my grandparents (and probably his) enjoyed jazz music. The only people I wouldn't be making happy preferred rock, and I just decided I couldn't please everyone. Too few people were picky enough to make a difference to me (even though one was my dad!).

So if you are up for going along with the fads of the time... Congratulations! Enjoy your instagram pictures and "fake" rock/jazz music. It is your wedding! Just try to think about how you will feel after the day is over... and whether or not making everyone happy or paying a lot of money for instagram photos will make you happy in 20 some odd years. If not, you may need to rethink a thing or two.

A Love Story in Pictures

I came across this earlier today, and I just wanted to share.

Go check it out. You won't regret it. :)

Pet Peeve - Ceremony Music

I have gone to two weddings in the past few months, and every wedding I go to the couple has chosen a pop song to walk down the aisle to.

WHY!?!?!

It is soooo annoying to hear the beginning of an awesome song and have it cut off, because someone has finished their walk down the aisle.

Repetitive songs may be a slight exception if you plan and cue it just right (i.e. during a refrain skipping to the last part of the song so that no one notices that any of the song has been skipped).

When Justin and I were picking our music, I knew right away that I did not want the typical "Here Comes the Bride" song. We were not allowed to use pop music in the Catholic church, but we could use any classical song we wished. While I tend to get annoyed at the rules Catholics must follow, I was so glad that these restrictions were placed on the ceremony. It was clear from the Catholic music minister to the priest that the goal of the church was for us to have a beautiful wedding including a beautiful sermon (that was suppose to make the mom's cry, but it ended up making the dad's cry instead) and pretty music that wasn't too cheesy.

The music minister allowed us the option to choose any music he had available. He also gave us the option of having a family member sing a song approved by him and the church.

Either way, I think more brides should be mindful of what they choose to walk down the aisle to as well as the style of music played during the ceremony.

The Baguette

I wasn't going to post about this, but we made French bread!!! Julia Child's French bread!! So how could I not?!?! We are not done perfecting the process, so I cannot actually provide true critique on the recipe itself. BUT WE MADE BREAD!!!

Let me just start by saying:

"How can you tell how good bread is without testing it? Not the smell, not the look, but the sound of the crust. Listen. [bread crackles] Oh, symphony of crackle. Only great bread sound this way." - Ratatouille

Yes, our bread crackled.

Have you ever bought bread from the grocery store that 'crackled' (that wasn't also as hard as a rock)? I've never had crackly crust on a super-soft gooey melt-in-your-mouth bread. It just hasn't happened in my 20-something years of living.

Then, Justin added some delicious Charleston balsamic vinager, fresh parmesan, and fresh diced tomato to a slice of bread... just for me! I was in heaven! So delicious!

But anyway, back to the bread. We did initially have some trouble getting the recipe right. Then we let the dough rise too long. But overall, our first experience French bread making was enough of a success to encourage us to attempt it again. (We are considering getting Raymond Calvel's book on bread making. It's a bit expensive, but it is so exciting to have amazing tasting bread!)

Anyway, the bread has gotten stale on us. (Any recommendations for keeping French bread fresh longer than 2 days?) We are currently in the process of making it a second time. We can't wait to have it again!

Jazz Music @ Amazon

Just in case you were interested, Amazon currently has a wide variety of jazz music up for grabs at the low price of $.69 a song. Go check it out if you are trying to build up your music collection, preparing a wedding song list, or just want to know what is available!