12.07.2007

Eilis's Daemon

12.02.2007

Decorating Lot 152

I love Christmas. I love the music, the decorations, the gathering of friends and family, the symbolism. I love it all. Ted has a strict "no Christmas music or Christmas tree until after Thanksgiving" policy which I find quite reasonable. Once Thanksgiving is over, however, it's no holds barred. We got our Christmas tree on Friday night from a cute little nursery around the corner. We intended to tie it to the top of Ted's car like we did last year, but the guy offered to just drive it to our house for us since w were right around the corner. Sweet. We dragged all of the decorations out of our little storage attic and got to work. I was super excited to decorate our very first house together for our first married Christmas and I must admit it was everything I had hoped and dreamed. The house looks adorable and festive and we had a lot of fun listening to Christmas music and wrapping some presents to tuck under the tree.


Our fabulous little tree


We got a starter nativity set as a wedding gift and combined it with my Grandmother's old nativity pieces.



Inspector Morty makes sure the tree is within code this year.


I had the idea for a craft project about a month ago when I saw some really cute displays for a porch at Target. I had a feeling I could make them for a lot cheaper than the asking price, so I set up shop in the living room last night as we watched hockey and got to work. I used our old planters (which have been housing dead crispy flowers since this summer) and decorated them for Christmas. We also put out some simple white lights on the bushes and two trees in the front yard.


Starting my project


The finished project


Our cute front porch all decorated


Lot 152 all decked out!


We're having a Christmas party in a couple of weekends so I went all out decorating the inside of the house as well.





I hope everyone else is enjoying getting ready for the Christmas festivities!

11.28.2007

Depicting the Latest.

Here's an update as to what we've been up to lately...in picture form:

First of all, a few weeks ago Ted had a boys' trip to Myrtle Beach with his boyfriends from hockey. Those crazy cats decided that it was a "mustache required" event this year, so they all set out to grow a juicy 'stache. Ted hadn't shaved since the wedding, preferring to kick it with a full beard at work and then shave down to the mustache once he arrived in Myrtle Beach. Shave he did, and when he returned home on Sunday I couldn't help cracking up and snapping this shot. The 70's cop throwback sunglasses really complete the look, don't you think??



We rented a cabin in the mountains of Asheville, NC with our neighbors for Thanksgiving. It was rad--3 bedrooms, full kitchen, fireplace, big screen TV, and a hot tub. Sweet. We got up there Wednesday night and stayed until Sunday. No one wanted to leave and we even contemplated putting our deposit down for next year.



A view of the gorgeous scenery:




Sign on the door of the corner store:




We took a drive one day and came across this pretty overlook:





Ted enjoys reading the graffiti on signs and we all got a kick out of this particular nugget as we looked closer:



The weather was perfect fall weather...a sweater and light coat was perfect for being outdoors. We found a great place to hike and got some cute shots along the way:





When we weren't out exploring we were playing games. Board games? Yes. But mostly? Nintendo. Yup. Old school NES. Paul and I got to reminiscing about the old Power Pad and the Olympic Track Meet game. All that's left to say is that we happened upon a used video game store and I'm about $60.00 poorer. The Power Pad? 8 bucks. Deal of the century. It works like a charm too...except I think I've gotten a bit too old for these shenanigans as I seem to have thrown my back out doing hurdles...


11.15.2007

The Married Couple.

Ted and I are settling into the married routine and enjoying the post-wedding experience. I'd like to say that we have a lot of downtime now that the wedding is over, but to be honest we are busier than we were in the months leading up to the wedding! I think once Christmas is over things will settle down again, but Ted is convinced that we will be busy for the next five years. Oh Ted.

Here's a recent picture of "the married us."

11.04.2007

Straightening Up.

We've finally got the house back into some form of order this weekend. We registered for a lot of new dishes and glassware for the wedding, but as the gifts began arriving we quickly learned that the glassware we registered for was too tall to fit in our cupboards. We solved the problem by ordering a hutch for the dining room. We weren't sure if it would fit and look good in there, but Ted put it together this weekend and we are both in love with it. It seems to really finish that room off. We're having a Christmas party this year and I can't wait to use all of our new fancy glasses!

10.27.2007

Easily the Best Day of My Life.

Our wedding was such a wonderful event. We can't stop talking about it and recapping. Everything was gorgeous...from the ceremony to the reception. We had the best time. Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us.





We went to NYC for the week for our honeymoon, and as predicted, had a riot. We drove home on Friday to have the weekend to relax. Here's some photos of the trip. More wedding and honeymoon photos can be seen here.



10.21.2007

Married!!

We had an awesome wedding weekend. Here's a little taste of the festivities...

10.10.2007

It's a Southern thing, apparently. *Gag*



Had to leave "The Bug Man" a sample of the critters we found infesting the yard the other day. The woman on the phone was trying to explain to me the visual difference between a flying ant and a termite but I couldn't stop throwing up in my mouth long enough to listen, so she just sent the guy out to look for himself. Looks like we are all clear, though giant mountains of flying ants don't make me very happy either. Ted wants to set the yard on fire to get rid of them. I think he's a bit of a pyro.

10.09.2007

Still not nervous!

11 days to go! I forgot to mention in my last post that it's like Christmas over here! There are new packages on the doorstep almost every day! Sometimes more than one! One day I came home and there were four giant boxes on our doorstep. It's been awesome. Today at work one of my patients gave us this gorgeous ceramic platter. I'm so in love with it! It's totally me, and she doesn't really even know me, you know? So thoughtful of her. She also gave us some macaroons from this great bakery in the area, but I ate them. Don't tell Ted.



I also bought myself a present! I've been a fan of Camilla Engman for a year or two now, but have never been able to get my hands on any of her prints because they always seem to be sold out. There was this one with a red fox that I was in love with. Well, the other day she put some more in my shop and I was able to score a four pack of her prints. So fabulous! Can't wait to frame and hang them!






In other news, it's hockey season! Yahoo! Ted and I kicked things off last Friday at the 'Canes v. Penguins game. Good times were had by all...it's good to see the boys back on the ice.

10.02.2007

Wedding Countdown: 18 days.

Wow, it's sort of lame that I haven't posted in so long, but I have been busy counting down the days until the wedding. There have been a few projects as of late that I've wanted to post about, but I would have to show pictures of things that would spoil surprises for Ted, so I had to hold back. At this point in the planning I feel like everything is pretty much taken care of and ready to roll. I've been feeling quite calm and ready for the big day to arrive. Ted and I keep talking about how everyone always asks "Are you getting nervous??" with a tone that suggests one of us is ready to bolt. I can say with complete confidence that the only things I'll be nervous about on the day of the wedding is walking down the isle without tripping or making a weird face in all of my pictures, and being able to take a deep breath in my gown without splitting the seams. Other than that? I'm sound as a pound and ready to go. Ted claims that if he was nervous about getting married then we wouldn't be getting married, which is a very Ted thing to say if you know him.
In regards to preparations, boxes are packed and stacked in my closet, dresses are ironed and ready to transport, gifts are wrapped, and supplies are organized and ready to be utilized. We have fairly busy schedules until we leave for the wedding, which is great because I'm so excited I'm might spontaneously combust soon. Some of the girls from work are throwing me a bachelorette weekend, so I have that to look forward to and will get out of town the weekend before the wedding so I don't stare at the clock counting down the hours.
So, that's it on this end! I may or may not have anything to say in the next 18 days, but will surely post pictures of the event when we get back!

9.14.2007

Yay!

We started working on the programs tonight! Ted got the innards all printed up today and we got busy cutting and pasting when he got home from work tonight. We had a nice little production line going on and we're making quick work of them. We spent about an hour or so on them and got about 1/4 of them done. If we do a little bit each day this weekend we can probably be finished come Monday, which would be awesome. Now, for the unveiling...


The cover, as seen previously.


The insides all printed and ready to be cut.


T-Bone gets crazy exacto style.


Put together!


The caboose.

9.13.2007

MIA

I just realized that I haven't posted in ages! We've been busy with wedding plans, and frankly, watching TV. We got cable hooked up again and I've been overdosing on Bridezilla, crappy reality TV, and Big Love. It's been awesome.

We have been doing some wedding things though. I've been making some fabulous to-do lists. The weird thing is that I had most of my first list crossed off, but had some additions to make, so I started a new one. The new one is much longer than the first...and I had accomplished so much! It's amazing how many little details there are that I'd forgotten about. Good thing they are written down now! Ted keeps complaining about the "list" I made for him...until I show him the 2 page list of my own and ask him if he wants to trade. (For real though, he's being a good sport in my "we're getting married in a month!" frenzy.)

Anywho...the latest?

In lieu of a guest book we will have something that I haven't been able to come up with a snazzy title for. "Wish leaves?" "Good Luck leaves?" At any rate, we found these rad paper leaves at The Paper Source and will lay them out on a table with a sign encouraging guests to write us a little note or sign their names on a leaf. Then we'll put them in a scrapbook to enjoy browsing through in the future. Can you dig it? I even found some cute little plates at Target to put the blank and finished leaves on. Fun!





Mortimer, my "helper," wants to get in on the action.

9.03.2007

Baby Goodness.

We met our new niece Bryn this weekend and she is a bundle of adorableness! Congrats Dria and John!






Dr. Byrnes examines his newest patient


Everything looks in order and she gets the "all clear."