an open letter to Leanne Marshall

Dear Leanne (imal),

Watcha been up to since you won Project Runway?

No pressure, but I really hope you're working on a line of organic cotton wedding dresses. For some reason, most of the eco-conscious custom gowns currently available are a) nouveau hippie or b) Ren-Faire hippie.*

There is a serious dearth of wedding dresses that are truly both eco and chic. Will you be the one to step up? (I mean, hello.)

The "hippies" aren't the only ones who want to go green.

Love,
ESB

*Real hippies don't get married. They don't need some piece of paper from the man.

rats, you worked hard all year.

You deserve a break.

Plus I think I'm developing a crush on porcupines.*

Woodland Creatures Letterpress Valentines by delphine STUDIO. Via What Possessed Me

*It's a passing thing, I swear. You will always have my heart.

Balloon, Birthday

For Amanda.

(Stencil by Banksy. Photo by Over The Counter Culture.)

baby ambivalence

I'm on the fence about having a baby. Or, rather, I'm looking over the fence. Thinking smugly, "I'm so glad I don't want a baby."

But every so often I have a moment of doubt.*

Like when the rad eight-month-old Mr. S and I are dancing to a Tom Petty Pandora station and he makes a little humming noise to indicate that he appreciates a mean guitar riff. Or when Jamie admits to having a thrifted baby clothes collection tucked away in her shed (hello tiny Wrangler).**

And I get this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach.

But mostly I think about all the ways I love my life with H-town. And all the things we want to do as two.

Yikes, did I really just write a baby ambivalence post? Welcome to esb year #2.

*Mom, please do not get excited. If you ask me about this post, I will deny I ever wrote it. I'm serious.

**We had a whole corresp w/ Peonies about whether it was tempting fate and/or just plain creepy to buy baby clothes before you have a baby. But I have determined that Jamie is behaving sensibly. I mean, could you pass up a size 12mo vintage western shirt? For 99 cents? And her best friend gets the collection if she doesn't have a baby for whatever reason.

(Image of the shirt snapped for me by Jamie)

and if you're planning to propose on valentine's day....

I think this yellow gold heart by Beth Coiner (available at auto) would make a slammin engagement ring.

Diamonds are so over.

for your bohemian valentine

This necklace by I. Ronni Kappos is made with vintage glass "from the famed, but long defunct, German glassworks in the Sudentenland region of Bohemia."

I want it. I really really want it. But a homemade Valentine will be even better.

Right?

Online at the ever-awesome auto

Yeah Drea

Meg knew I was gonna love this wedding.

Drea is a metallurgist. (I know, what is a metallurgist, right?) She got married in a Chicago bake shop. And her new husband, Josh, a print/web designer, did the wedding invites + website. Of course.

But my here's my favorite part.

Drea told Meg: The two things that did the most to keep our budget low also kept us sane, and they were actually the most organic things about the wedding. We had a small wedding, 47 guests, but that was born less from a desire to be thrifty than from a desire to only be surrounded by people we know and love on our wedding day. We didn’t want to spend the whole night making polite small talk when we could be dancing.

That's the way I describe our wedding to people. It was tough, but we kept the invite list small. (Plus, we had a "destination" wedding on the remote island in BC where my dad lives, which kinda separated the wheat from the chaff.) We ended up with 50 of our closest friends and family. So perfect.

We laughed. We cried. We danced into the wee hours. Many of us drank whiskey out of mason jars. But there was no small talk.*

*Man do I hate small talk. And being polite is not my strong suit. I don't know if you've noticed.

(Photo by Michele Wayman)

cushion stuffing

pixigolightly (approx 3h ago)
At what point exactly was my brain removed and replaced with cushion stuffing? Tell me, please.

desertfete (approx 3h ago)
@pixiegolightly when you started blogging. Exactly.

me (approx 1min ago)
Eff.

another dj wedding

What is it with djs? They can't leave the rest of us with the illusion that we're cool?

Photos by Kate Webber. See more of Abigail & Eli's nyc wedding (including flowers by the rad Saipua) on The Bride's Cafe here and here.

I assume you've seen the portland dj wedding.

happy blog birthday to me

I can't believe I've been uploading my curious flittery thoughts for a whole year now, and you, my cool-as-hell glittery readers, actually read them.

I love you guys.

(Image courtesy of The cherry blossom girl via Marvelous Kiddo)

finding love in the everyday

Go directly to yesterday's Words To Read When You Wed on A Practical Wedding.

And not just because Meg and Amanda gave me a shout-out.

Title and image courtesy of scissors paper glue

please allow me to clarify

When I said "mini-cleanse," what I meant was, "I should stay away from bourbon for a few days." Um, and burritos.*

I would never give up food. And I don't even know how to work our juicer.**

*I was in San Francisco for the weekend. Wheat is a migraine trigger for me, and you can't make a burrito without a big flour tortilla. But it's impossible for me to leave SF without eating at least one. This time I had two.

**Basically, I'm the husband in the marriage. I act all bumbling in the kitchen so that H-town is forced to wait on me. Every once in a while I slip up and prepare a meal and he remembers I know how to cook, but usually it works like a charm.

(Image courtesy of jerryriddle)

bunny ears? who comes up with this stuff??

I know I said I'd try to stop spotting the next thing.* But this has me alarmed.

I do, however, appreciate the how-to from T Magazine for achieving the look: While hair is still wet, jump into bed with Johnny Depp and roll around until hair dries. Do not comb. Mist lightly with hair spray, and wipe that smile off your face.

Sounds like a beauty regime I can handle.

More bunny ears (with tousled hair) here.

*Or are bunny ears and black masks all part of the same carnival/Eyes Wide Shut/fetish thing? Hello, Gossip Girl, on trend as usual.

Where the f*ck do I get wedding musicians?

Jen emailed me with this question:

I am living in the UK with my husband to be. We are already legally married, they wouldn't let me move to the UK if we didn't get hitched (he is a Brit). We are having the wedding outside here this coming summer. I cannot figure out wedding music. There is no electricity outside and since you can't legally get married outside in the UK (I know, the English are sometimes bizarre) the venue people aren't much help, this is there first outdoor wedding ever. Because he and I are already legal we are sidestepping this whole outside rule.

So I looked into booking a string quartet, WAY out of the budget. Also looked into the local universities for musicians, but as the wedding is in the summer they aren't sure if they could find students who could commit. Also, not even sure if I am thrilled by a string quartet. But I know I can't walk down the aisle in silence, it would be sad.

Suggestions?

I agree, it would be sad to walk down the aisle with no music. But maybe you're setting the bar too high.

At our wedding, H-town's 13-year-old niece warmed up the crowd with Dvorak on the flute. Then two of our good friends did an unplugged version of a Pixies song for the "processional."

It doesn't matter if the musicians are professionals. It doesn't even matter what instruments they play. It was the most amazing feeling to walk down the aisle with my friends singing my favorite song to me. (I am srsly tearing up right now just thinking about it.)

Does anyone else have advice? Please weigh in.

(Image courtesy of Olivia Bee)

What? It's ground hog day??

I feel like this guy is kind of rubbing it in about all the sh*t I ate (and drank) this weekend.

Point taken. Time for another mini-cleanse.

p.s. I was a little disappointed with Fuck You, Penguin today. I'm not gonna lie.

(Image courtesy of deerluvr)

witty wedding flats

.v's lust-worthy new Lanvins are making me think about pretty ballet flats again.

This pair is not cheap. But wouldn't they look fabulous peeking out from under a wedding dress?

And as Elizabeth Dye says, "If your shoes are perfect, you can wear a burlap sack. Put your dollars on your feet."

Lanvin flower ballet flat and many more at net-a-porter.com

an open letter to Bensimon

To the lovely, stylish people of Bensimon,

I effing love your shoes.

And I don't know if you've noticed, but a google search of "bensimon sneakers" brings up this east side bride post as the second hit. The Bensimon Girls don't even make it onto the first page.

So I think you should hire me to be your spokesperson. And/or send me free product for review.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Sincerely,
Nomi Nickel

I may have inadvertantly channeled white lightening here. Whatevers.

upcycled pouch from forestbound

Made from Vietnam era military laundry and applied with antique lace. To go with your doily necklace, of course.

Forestbound via Earth Friendly Weddings

Plaid Habit

My new favorite from Cyberoptix Tie Lab (of course).

Interlocking vintage syringes are reversed and doubled in a kaleidoscopic pattern. Fresh from the prep school underworld.

I love me some prep school underworld.

In case anyone is on the fence about Toybreaker/Cyberoptix Tie Lab

Ahem, TTO.

F'ing do it.

Photos courtesy of the toybreaker blog.