Collected Nest

Photo of the Day (1.26.12)

2012-01-26T22:49:00.000-08:00

Today's photo: Snails at the beach from a beach-combing walk a little while back.

I've been busy this week working on projects in my craft room. I'll have to take some pictures this weekend to share what I've been up to.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-18T15:52:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Is it too late to still say, "happy new year"? The last few months have just flown by. I don't even know what happened to them. But I'm back here and I'm making some goals for the new year. I will blog about them soon so that I will feel like someone might hold me accountable.

Photo of the Day (12.13.11)

2011-12-13T23:32:00.000-08:00

Today's photo: Nothing says "Merry Christmas!" like a lovely family of Christmas carolers. Just don't forget to lock your doors.

Are you ready for a close-up?

Now available at your local thrift store, exorcist not included.

Photo of the Day (12.12.11)

2011-12-12T23:29:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that it is already December. Christmas is almost here! Are you ready? I'm definitely not, but it is still my absolute favorite time of the year, so I'm happy.

Last weekend was the lighted boat parade in Morro Bay. It was hard to take pictures with so many people around. But here's one as the sun was setting behind the rock, before the parade started. Just a little decorated kayak.

Photo of the Day (11.28.11)

2011-11-28T23:05:00.001-08:00

Today's photo: It's been a little while since I posted on here, but I haven't given up. It's that time of the year when there are a million things to do. I've been busy working on some projects for Etsy. Hopefully soon I will have actual "things" to share and a shop to open.

Photo of the Day (11.8.11)

2011-11-08T23:24:00.000-08:00

Today's photo: The top view of the Devils Postpile National Monument in Mammoth. Nature sure can do some crazy/beautiful things.

Photo of the Day (11.7.11)

2011-11-07T23:24:00.000-08:00

Today's photo: Sky filled with little white puffy clouds on our drive up Highway 395 during our trip.

Photo of the Day (11.3.11)

2011-11-03T23:21:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Graham with his "pet" raven in Death Valley. I think it makes him look like some sort of desert pirate with his raven on his shoulder.

Photo of the Day (11.2.11)

2011-11-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Here's a peek at our trip we took last week to Death Valley and Mammoth. This is the Devil's Golf Course in Death Valley. We had a really great time. I took about 900 photos, so I have to figure out how to sort them out, and then they will go up here on the blog.

Photo of the Day (10.31.11)

2011-10-31T22:36:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: This year's Halloween pumpkins. We decided we didn't want to deal with the mess of carving our pumpkins this year, so we painted them instead. I used some stencils on the white one, and Graham free-handed his raven and spooky letters. It was fun and only took about 20 minutes.

Photo of the Day (10.20.11)

2011-10-21T00:05:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Fall centerpiece on the dining table made up of all the funky pumpkins/squash we got at Avila Valley Barn. As well as the one pumpkin that I grew this year (that survived the backyard re-do).

Photo of the Day (10.18.11)

2011-10-18T20:58:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: A sneak peek of what was done in the backyard. This is one of the redwood trees that will make the basis of our woodland garden section of the yard. It is so exciting to be able to use our yard, over the weekend we had a fire in our fire pit and ate dinner on the patio.

Photo of the Day (10.17.11)

2011-10-17T22:38:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: I finally filled up my hummingbird feeders in our front yard. And the hummingbirds are very happy. This is the dominant one. He sits on this little birdhouse hanging on our porch and waits for the others to approach the feeders. Then he chases them off. Doesn't he know there are 3 feeders and he can't possibly drink that much?

Photo of the Day (10.12.11)

2011-10-12T22:46:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Flowers at Avila Valley Barn from on visit there on Monday.

Photo of the Day (10.11.11)

2011-10-11T23:42:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Pumpkins at Avila Valley Barn. Yesterday, Graham and I went to Avila Valley Barn to pick out some pumpkins for Halloween. It was a wise move to go on a Monday and not on a weekend: less busy. We enjoyed ice cream, farm animals, and a hay bale maze that made Graham sneeze. But it was all fun, and now we have some pretty pumpkins to enjoy.

Photo of the Day (10.10.11)

2011-10-10T23:59:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: A Snowy Plover at the beach. Graham, my mom, and I went to Sebastian's in San Simeon for lunch yesterday and decided to make a stop at the beach on the way home. I was patient and crouched in the sand and seaweed in order to get some pictures of them. They are just so cute!

Photo of the Day (10.6.11)

2011-10-06T22:24:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Another one from when I was taking pictures of the sunset in Morro Bay the other day. The rock had an interesting little ring of fog around it.

Work was started in our backyard today! It already looks so much better. I'll share lots of pictures soon.

Photo of the Day (10.5.11)

2011-10-06T00:12:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: The stormy-ish weather we have had the past few days made for a beautiful sunset in Morro Bay last night.

Photo of the Day (10.4.11)

2011-10-04T23:55:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: A steaming mug of apple cider was perfect for the cloudy and cool day we had today. I'll probably have another one tomorrow since we're supposed to have a storm blow through in the morning.

Photo of the Day (10.3.11)

2011-10-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's photo: I forgot to post this last night. Yesterday, we made quesadillas for lunch. I was going through the fridge to see what we wanted to put in them, besides cheese. I was naming things off, some a little weirder than others. But Graham was intrigued by the artichoke hearts, I was a little unsure. Well, they were really delicious. Graham used habanero pepper jack cheese, which was really good, but really spicy. I used a Mexican cheese blend for mine. The flavors of the cheese and the marinated artichoke hearts blended really well together and made for really tasty quesadillas, served with a little sour cream.

Photo of the Day (9.30.11)

2011-09-30T23:58:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: There was a small flock of Elegant Terns in with the seagulls on the beach in Seaside last weekend. They were pretty cool and making all kinds of noises.

This weekend is Three Speckled Hens up in Paso Robles again. I'm excited to see what treasures we find this time.

Photo of the Day (9.29.11)

2011-09-29T23:14:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Another one from my little series of architectural photos that I took over the weekend in downtown Salinas. This one is of the Travelers Hotel.

Photo of the Day (9.28.11)

2011-09-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: The old sign of the Greyhound bus station in downtown Salinas. I love all of the cool signs and buildings; so much more character than our "downtown" of strip malls.

Photo of the Day (9.27.11)

2011-09-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Some cool buildings in downtown Salinas.

My mom's birthday was last week, so we went on an adventure with my brother and our kindergarten teacher to celebrate. We went up to Salinas on Saturday morning and visited a fun antique store. We also checked out the local farmer's market where we found a guy who sells birds; he had some of the nicest looking, most beautiful finches. I'm so excited to get some cute little finches once we get our aviary set up in the backyard. Then we walked along the beach over in Seaside. And finally we headed down the coast and had a wonderful, leisurely dinner at Nepenthe in Big Sur. I'll be sharing some of the photos that I took on our fun little adventure.

Photo of the Day (9.26.11)

2011-09-26T23:22:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Young Heermann's Gull at the beach in Seaside on Saturday. I will be sure to blog more about the adventures we had.

Photo of the Day (9.22.11)

2011-09-22T23:51:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: A new little rabbit's foot fern keeping me company on my desk in the craft room.

Photo of the Day (9.21.11)

2011-09-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Graham got creative in the kitchen tonight. For dessert we had sautéed pears and crumbled bacon over vanilla ice cream. It was a very interesting and delicious combination.

Photo of the Day (9.20.11)

2011-09-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: I'm a little behind on my blogging. I had some camera issues and some laziness issues, but I'm back. Here's the start of a little fabric bunting strand that I'm making to decorate the shelves in my craft room.

Photo of the Day (9.14.11)

2011-09-14T22:59:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: A little butterfly shadowbox collage that I made for my craft room yesterday. I have a thing for that color yellow spray paint.

Photo of the Day (9.13.11)

2011-09-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: I got to play around in my craft-half-a-room today and it was awesome. I really love my new desk and shelves and drawers and everything! I started a project with some fabric, but all I have pictures of so far is the tiny scraps. But they were pretty and looked like confetti.

Now that I have my new craft space I will be blogging more about what exciting stuff I'm working on, as well as getting my Etsy shop up and running.

Photo of the Day (9.12.11)

2011-09-12T23:05:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Here is a sneak preview of what we have been working on this past weekend in the craft room/office. It is looking really awesome and I can't wait until I can work in it. We still have some finishing work to do, but then I will take some pictures and tell all about it.

Photo of the Day (9.9.11)

2011-09-09T22:11:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Little succulent flower in one of my planters in the backyard.

Photo of the Day (9.8.11)

2011-09-08T23:01:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Tiny glow-in-the-dark dinosaur that we found while excavating the backyard. I think we better call in a paleontologist.

Photo of the Day (9.7.11)

2011-09-07T23:45:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Monty was eyeing the snickerdoodles that I made today. They were tasty and he really thought he wanted to try one.

Photo of the Day (9.6.11)

2011-09-06T23:13:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: I'm also growing some tiny little apples, so I can bake a tiny apple pie! I will be sure to take pictures of the pie too.

Photo of the Day (9.5.11)

2011-09-05T23:10:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: I have a tiny pumpkin growing in our backyard. So far it has survived all of the trench digging in the and will hopefully survive for Halloween.

Photo of the Day (9.1.11)

2011-09-01T22:50:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: New Martha Stewart craft paints from Michaels. I apparently like to get things in one of every color, but believe it or not, there are so many more colors of these that I still don't have. These paints seem pretty awesome because you can use them on any type of surface, like wood or ceramic. I've been playing around with them on wood and I plan to try them out on some plain ceramic plates soon.

Photo of the Day (8.31.11)

2011-08-31T19:27:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: New boots from Target. I've wanted some pretty brown boots for a while, but haven't wanted to spend a few hundred on a pair, so now I have pretty 35 dollar boots. And just in time for fall to start. I love fall.

Photo of the Day (8.30.11)

2011-08-30T22:13:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Nasturtiums growing at my parents' house.

Photo of the Day (8.29.11)

2011-08-29T21:17:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Super pretty sweet peas growing on my parents' balcony.

Photo of the Day (8.25.11)

2011-08-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: One of the latest additions to my miniature chair collection. This is one that my mom picked up recently.

Photo of the Day (8.24.11)

2011-08-24T22:06:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: An ink bottle we found buried in the backyard over the weekend. We've found many things in the backyard such as peanut butter jars, plastic bread bags, and shards of broken pottery, but this was a little more interesting. This bottle has a sort of bubble in it that is a reservoir, the perfect size for the tip of your ink pen. You would just invert the bottle and the reservoir would fill with ink for you to use. The patent number is printed on the bottom, so I was able to look it up, and it was patented in 1930. Pretty cool for old junk in our backyard.

Photo of the Day (8.23.11)

2011-08-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Here is a "before" picture of what our backyard looked like not too long ago. Right now we are in the process of clearing the yard out and installing irrigation. The landscape company is going to start work on phase one during the first week of October. I'm going to take some more pictures of what it looks like now, because it looks like we have some sort of a giant gopher due to all of the trenches dug for the irrigation.

We've been spending all of our weekends working on the backyard, so I haven't had anything too exciting to take pictures of. Hopefully soon we'll move on to working on our craft room/office. It's all very exciting though!

Photo of the Day (8.19.11)

2011-08-20T00:21:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Monty is king of the pillow. He loves the throw and pillow made out of the Vanna's Choice yarn, so I'm going to commission my friend April to make a cat bed out of the yarn too.

Photo of the Day (8.18.11)

2011-08-18T23:54:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Glasbake cameo casserole dish. Awhile back my brother came to visit and brought me some Pyrex, as well as this piece of Glasbake. I apparently never got around to showing any of the Pyrex I have acquired recently. And even though this isn't Pyrex, she's just too pretty to pass up.

Photo of the Day (8.17.11)

2011-08-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: I need to go on a photographic expedition because I'm pretty much out of interesting photos. So here's a photo from our Big Sur trip. The yellow hills of Big Sur. The hills have been so much brighter in the past few years since the fire in 2008.

Wedding Wednesday: Woodland Wedding Inspiration

2011-08-17T21:52:00.000-07:00

I think I've decided that I'm going to make the Wedding Wednesday feature a monthly feature instead of a weekly feature. I figure since I've pretty much covered our own wedding, I'll work on some pretty inspiration posts once a month. There are just so many pretty and inspiring weddings on the internet, I want to have a million more! (Always to Graham of course.)

This board was inspired by the beautiful photo of the summer camp ceremony in the redwoods.

1. Camp Campbell wedding in the Santa Cruz mountains. 2. Woodland bouquet by Françoise Weeks. 3. DIY cutout wedding invitation. 4. Place setting via The Sweetest Occasion.

Photo of the Day (8.16.11)

2011-08-16T22:39:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Mason jar filled with old buttons that adorns one of the shelves in our living room.

Photo of the Day (8.15.11)

2011-08-15T22:42:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Over the weekend Monty's food bowls and storage container were attacked by ants. We went out and bought a new container, since the old one was broken, hence the ants. We let Monty eat out of it while we cleaned up his bowls and the aftermath of the ants. Luckily, this container comes with a no ant symbol on the label. He must have thought that he hit the food jackpot.

Photo of the Day (8.12.11)

2011-08-12T22:33:00.000-07:00

Today's photos: Flowers on the dining room table.

Happy weekend!

Photo of the Day (8.11.11)

2011-08-11T23:11:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Sandpiper and sand dollar fabrics from Cloud9's Beyond the Sea collection. I spotted this fabric a few months ago and thought it was too late to get my hands on any. I did some extensive Google searching on Monday and I found some available from a little quilt shop in Wisconsin. It arrived at my house less than 48 hours after I ordered it! It's so adorable, hopefully I'll be brave enough to cut into it instead of just staring at how cute it is.

Photo of the Day (8.10.11)

2011-08-10T23:17:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Last night for dinner I made a big pot of potato soup. Although summer doesn't seem like soup season it definitely feels like it on the central coast, it's all foggy and chilly. I used Graham's new pinch bowls to lay out all of my spices before adding them to the soup.

Wedding Wednesday: The End of the Day

2011-08-10T22:45:00.000-07:00

After the reception we headed down the street to the train station, with tin cans clattering behind our freshly decorated car. It was hard to miss us.

At the train station we took a few last pictures with our photographer before calling it a day (a very wonderful day).

We had fun posing with the trains in the background. But, boy were we happily exhausted, and ready to just enjoy each other's company. So that wrapped up the festivities and we headed off to the Apple Farm (after first removing the tin cans).

Our wedding day was absolutely awesome, and we definitely couldn't, and wouldn't, have asked for anything better!

All photos by Allyson Magda

Photo of the Day (8.9.11)

2011-08-09T22:23:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: This was lunch we made today, all from scratch. One of our neighbors works at a local avocado farm and occasionally brings over a bag of avocados. Those avocados make the most delicious guacamole. I haven't always been huge on guacamole or avocados in general, but I think I have changed my mind. I am now a fan of guacamole, especially the homemade, farm-fresh avocado variety.

And don't tell me that's not a balanced meal.

Photo of the Day (8.8.11)

2011-08-08T23:25:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Monty and I were watching a documentary on insects today. And he was really watching, his head was darting from side to side as the bugs moved across the screen. It was super cute.

Photo of the Day (8.5.11)

2011-08-06T00:11:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Common Merganser in the river in Big Sur.

We're planning on working on the craft room a bit this weekend. I'm super excited. I can't wait until I have a place to craft and sew, and get back to showing some fun projects here on the blog.

Photo of the Day (8.4.11)

2011-08-04T23:14:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Monty helping me build my Ikea furniture for the craft room. He is just so helpful. You should have seen him earlier reading the instructions, unfortunately I didn't get a photo of that.

It seems that I somehow forgot to blog yesterday, but Wedding Wednesday will resume next week. And hopefully there will be more excitement soon, as we work on this craft room.

Photo of the Day (8.2.11)

2011-08-02T23:39:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Manzanita berries with the ocean in the background from our hike up to Buzzard's Roost while we were camping in Big Sur.

I think I better go out and take some more photos before everyone gets tired of all of my Big Sur pictures.

Tiny Drawers

2011-08-01T23:15:00.000-07:00

One weekend back, Graham and I went to a few yard sales. The only thing I bought was this tiny set of metal drawers. You can tell that it was originally an army green sort of color, but was then painted a horrible wash of white with pastel blue and purple.

I think the picture makes them look better than they did, the paint was a flat paint that was rough with brush strokes. I had some yellow spray paint on hand from another project so I sprayed on what seemed like a million thin coats of paint to cover the previous paint job. It immediately looked better, but it was just all yellow and I decided it needed some contrast in the label holders. So I worked on the label holders to get them back into their shapes for holding labels and scraped out anything left over, that had previously been painted over. I accidentally chipped off some of the yellow paint in the process, but I decided with its imperfect silhouette, it also needed an imperfect paint job. So I chipped off some paint on the corners and such for a more worn look. Then to finish the unit, I made some labels by spray painting some pieces of card stock with chalk board paint to create chalk board labels. I thought the black labels offered a nice contrast to the yellow drawers. And now I can label and re-label what is inside the drawers. The unit itself is only about 18 inches tall and I think its going to look very cute in my future craft room.

Speaking of my future craft room, this weekend we went down south to visit my family. While we were down that way we took a trip to not one, but two Ikeas. We also dropped of the twin bed that was in our office/guest room/craft room to its new owners making room for a craft desk and all that comes with it. So we are a few steps closer to creating my craft room/Graham's office and I am so excited. I will be sure to share all of the progress here as we get to work.

Photo of the Day (8.1.11)

2011-08-01T22:50:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Leaf floating in the water on the bank of the Big Sur River.

How Japanese Play Cooking

2011-07-29T08:22:00.000-07:00

What you are about to see in this clip just about encompasses all that makes Japanese electronic demonstrations great:
1. Music that sounds like it belongs in a Wii video game
2. Silent-movie style slides between segments
3. Ridiculous gadgets no one really needs but people will want them anyway

Papa-Goto from jarashi on Vimeo.

Photo of the Day (7.28.11)

2011-07-29T00:21:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Maidenhair fern growing from a log in the middle of the Big Sur River.

Photo of the Day (7.27.11)

2011-07-27T22:48:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Redwood sorrel with the Big Sur River in the background. I always have a really hard time getting good pictures of redwood sorrel because it's so dark under the redwoods, but I think this picture turned out pretty cool.

Wedding Wednesday: Portraits

2011-07-27T22:43:00.000-07:00

I'm running out of really exciting things to post about our own wedding, so soon I'm going to have to write posts about wedding inspiration I find around the web. Today, I have some portraits taken of Graham and me throughout our wedding day. So nothing too exciting to write about, but you can enjoy the pretty pictures taken by Allyson Magda.

All photos by Allyson Magda

Photo of the Day (7.26.11)

2011-07-26T22:26:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Moss growing on a tree stump in Big Sur. I really love moss.

Photo of the Day (7.25.11)

2011-07-25T23:31:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: My feet on the "buggy bench" in the campground at Big Sur. We've always called this the buggy bench, and it's been here since I was a little kid. It's a big log with a quarter cut out in a way to sort of resemble a baby buggy. There are even pictures of my brother and me sitting on it from various trips.

I also just like taking pictures of my feet in all different places.

Photo of the Day (7.22.11)

2011-07-23T00:24:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: A shot of the Big Sur River using the miniature mode on my camera, which is an effect that creates the look of a tilt-shift lens. It's a pretty fun mode to play around with. I want to take some pictures with lots of people or cars to really get a good miniature effect.

We're headed to some garage sales in the morning, so we're hoping for some good stuff. Happy weekend!

Photo of the Day (7.21.11)

2011-07-21T17:51:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Little Dark-eyed Junco on our hike up to Buzzard's Roost in Big Sur last week. It was an exhausting hike, so breaks to take pictures of birds were necessary.

Wedding Wednesday: Viewmasters

2011-07-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

Something really fun ~~we did~~ my brother did for our wedding was to make viewmasters of some pictures of Graham and I for guests to look at during the reception.

If you don't remember what viewmasters are, they are those little plastic viewers that show a reel of 3-D pictures and you might have had one as a kid. My brother has a camera that can take the 3-D pictures. So he took some fun pictures of us around different locations and then he made them into the viewmaster reels.

Each table at the reception had a viewmaster with a different reel of pictures. It was a super fun way to keep people entertained and share some pictures.

All photos by Allyson Magda

Photo of the Day (7.20.11)

2011-07-20T16:20:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: My parents' little teardrop trailer getting ready to pull away, headed to Big Sur last week. There is more work to be done on it, but it made it through its second camping trip.

Photo of the Day (7.19.11)

2011-07-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Steller's Jay in our campsite at Big Sur. There sure are lots of them up in Big Sur and I love their little hairdos.

Photo of the Day (7.18.11)

2011-07-18T23:31:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Campfire sign at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. We just got back yesterday from our annual week-long camping trip to Big Sur. We had lots of fun, mostly spent relaxing in the hammock. I will have more pictures to share from our vacation.

Photo of the Day (7.8.11)

2011-07-08T22:35:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Mojave Yucca at the Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area.

Map of the United States of America

2011-07-08T22:28:00.000-07:00

On our way to Vegas, we stopped at the Barstow Station for dinner. It is this crazy mall/food court sort of thing made partially out of train cars. Graham spotted this crazy map of the United States just outside of the bathroom. The West coast seems pretty normal (ignoring the locations of Alaska and Hawaii), but then you head east, and things get pretty interesting.

Who knew that Washington D.C. was actually shaped like the capitol building and is floating in the Atlantic?

Hopefully no one tries to actually use this map for... anything.

Photo of the Day (7.7.11)

2011-07-07T21:12:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Red Rock Canyon National Conservation area just outside of Las Vegas. It was a really pretty place to see and take some pictures. Some of it had a very Dr. Suessian feel to it. We visited the area around sunset and drove along the 13 mile scenic drive with the windows down. It felt nice with temperatures in the 80's and a breeze blowing, a welcome change from the 110 degree weather during the day in Vegas.

Photo of the Day (7.6.11)

2011-07-06T23:45:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Jack rabbit butt out in the Mojave Desert at the Harper Dry Lake Watchable Wildlife Area. We decided we had to stop on the way home from Vegas and see the "watchable" wildlife. We drove on a crazy dirt road to the middle of nowhere. But they were right, so we saw jack rabbits, funny little squirrels and some avocets and other birds. It may have been 110 degrees, but we still had fun watching some desert wildlife.

Wedding Wednesday: The Dress

2011-07-06T23:16:00.000-07:00

How have not written a post about my dress?! It's one of the things that make you really feel like a bride on your wedding day. It's one of the things people ask you about when you're planning your wedding. Wedding dresses take up at least half of bridal magazines with just the ads alone. So it's definitely a top priority for most brides. I looked through all of those bridal magazines and looked online. I was drawn to all of the seriously expensive gowns. I never really imagined myself walking down the aisle with a crazy train on the back of my dress. I wanted something fun and cute (just like me ;) ). My mom and I went to our first bridal salon and I tried dresses on, but nothing wowed me. We then went to Down the Aisle in Arroyo Grande and it felt better the moment we walked in the door. It just felt super nice and special. We looked at all of the dresses. I tried on many dresses and decided I liked the look of cap sleeves. I also asked if they had any short dresses, and they had one. My mom said when I tried that one on, she saw my toes curl up and a smile spread across my face. That was the one.

And guess what, this one had optional cap sleeves - perfect! It was Essense of Australia D594. I don't think it's available anymore, I saved this picture from the website when it was. But now there are a lot more short dresses to choose from, so you don't have to worry about having a crazy train if you don't want one.

And now some gratuitous pictures of me in my dress:

I loved my dress, and I can't imagine having had any other one for our wedding day.

Photo of the Day (7.5.11)

2011-07-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Graham and I from our trip out to Vegas last week. Graham was going for business and I was just going for fun. We stayed in North Las Vegas, and we never once went to the strip. We are very low-key Vegas kind of people.

Well, hello!

2011-07-05T14:04:00.000-07:00

Graham and I headed off to Vegas the end of last week and then we had the 4th of July and I didn't post on the blog, but it was a nice little break. And now I'll have some new pictures to share once I upload them to the computer.

The previous weekend my mom and I had gone antiquing with a family friend who was in town from San Diego. I saw so much Pyrex, I could have bought a collection to fill a whole room in my house. But part of the fun of collecting something is the physical act of doing it. So I still like hunting for it at thrift stores, and buying a few pieces at antique stores when they are good deals. Like these:

I love the pine cones!

Orangey/yellow butterprint.

More spring blossoms.

Photo of the Day (6.28.11)

2011-06-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: A slice of Madonna Inn pink champagne cake. We just got back from our fancy dinner at the Madonna Inn and we got this tasty slice of cake for it being our 3rd wedding anniversary.

Photo of the Day (6.27.11)

2011-06-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: New farmyard fabric that I got over the weekend. I saw this collection online so I was excited to find it locally at the Cotton Ball in Morro Bay. Again, I don't know what I'm going to make out of it, but it was too cute to leave behind.

Photo of the Day (6.24.11)

2011-06-24T23:59:00.001-07:00

Today's photo: Tiny daisies growing in our backyard. They have sprung up with all of the weeds, but they are so cute that I'm not pulling them out.

Photo of the Day (6.23.11)

2011-06-23T22:35:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: The fabric for the curtains I'm making for my parents' little teardrop trailer. Graham is helping my dad build the cabinets, while my mom and I work on decorating it. We're trying to work on it as much as we can before our annual Big Sur camping trip in July. It's looking really good so far. I told Graham he should write a post about the progress and share some pictures. I'll be sure to show the after shots of the curtains.

Wedding Wednesday: The Food

2011-06-22T23:55:00.000-07:00

We really lucked out with the food for our wedding reception. We were lucky enough to have a family friend who is a caterer, and was willing to do the food for our wedding. We were able to work with her and have everything that we wanted.

We started with a "lemonade hour" after the ceremony. Lemonade, mimosas, and water was served as well as a beautiful spread of fruits, veggies, and cheeses. I'm sure it was all as delicious, as it was beautiful but we were so busy taking pictures and hugging people that I hardly got a chance to see it, let alone taste it.

We did get to enjoy the food at the reception. We couldn't settle on just one thing, so our buffet was a multicultural feast. We had enchiladas, lasagna, salads, and more, as well as thai food from our favorite thai restaurant. And it was all delicious!

We were so glad that our friends that own Jasmine Thai Cuisine in Morro Bay were able to personally deliver a tray of one of our favorite dishes. And they were also able to stay for the ceremony, before they had to head off and open the restaurant for the day.

All photos by Allyson Magda

Photo of the Day (6.22.11)

2011-06-22T23:24:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Wild rose of some sort on my walk this morning at Sweet Springs Nature Preserve in Los Osos.

Photo of the Day (6.21.11)

2011-06-22T23:13:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: I found this picture on my computer and I realized that I never posted about painting our bedroom. Back in April, when Graham went to Augusta for work, I painted our bedroom. I made the wall behind the bed striped using painter's tape. I like changing something around the house every year as a surprise, but I think he's beginning to expect it. We're really happy with how it turned out, it adds some interest to the otherwise blank wall.

Blogger was giving me problems last night and wouldn't let me add my picture to the post, and since a photo-of-the-day without a photo isn't much of anything, I waited. So here it is tonight.

Photo of the Day (6.20.11)

2011-06-20T23:31:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Little cement bird planter that came from Miner's Hardware over the weekend.

I also recently upgraded to the premium version of Picnik, so I've been playing around a little more than usual with my photo editing. By the way, I love Picnik for my simple photo editing, as I don't have (nor do I know how to use) Photoshop.

Photo of the Day (6.17.11)

2011-06-17T23:12:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Funky ceramic owl that guards our front door and our black-eyed susan vine.

Photo of the Day (6.16.11)

2011-06-16T23:42:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Treetops in Morro Bay. I was playing around with my camera while Graham was pumping gas the other day in Morro Bay. I think I better go out on a little photo expedition because I need more pictures to post for the photo of the days. We'll see what we are up to this weekend.

Garage Sale Saturday

2011-06-16T23:38:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we got up early and headed to San Luis to go to garage sales. I made a list of all the garage sales I had found on Craigslist the night before and then I left it at home, so we just wove our way through the streets until we found them. We also made a stop for donuts to fuel our adventure. It was definitely a popular garage sale day. Cal Poly had just let out, so students were prepping to leave town and the weather was just beautiful.

We hit one where the woman told us she was moving that week and everything had to go, so make an offer. I found a nice Pyrex Spring Blossom 2.5 quart casserole dish for 25 cents! When she said 25 cents, I was like, "25 cents?!" and she told me I shouldn't question the prices. I really was shocked though, I was willing a pay at least a few bucks for it. So I happily handed over my quarter.

A little later Graham found something he was looking for too. He found a vintage Royal typewriter. Our plans are to hang a bunch of old typewriters on the wall in the office. So we added this one, for 10 bucks, to my cursive typewriter that I already have, and we'll keep looking for more to add to our collection. We tried it out when we got home and it works well if we ever want to use it.

That was all we brought home with us, but we had plenty of fun. We ate donuts for breakfast and that always makes it a good morning in my book.

Photo of the Day (6.15.11)

2011-06-15T23:01:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Scrub jay in the backyard, here to enjoy the bounty of food at our bird feeder.

Wedding Wednesday: Tableware

2011-06-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

The tableware was something that we thought long and hard about. After all the thinking much time was then spent to complete our plan. We thought about renting and then we thought about disposable. There wasn't a big kitchen on site so it would be difficult to wash any dishes, so we were leaning towards disposable dishware. I was very picky though, I still wanted it to look nice, and I wanted it to be as environmentally friendly as disposable dishware could be. I looked for a while and then I finally found bamboo plates and flatware. It had a very natural feel, that seemed to fit in at our garden party.

So, that solved the problem of plates and flatware, but what about cups? We looked at plastic cups and plastic cups made of corn, but weren't really satisfied with the look. Then Graham came up with the idea of using second-hand glasses. That started our mission to find water glasses, champagne glasses, and water carafes for all of our tables. We decided to just use a mixture of all different shapes for the champagne glasses including flutes, as well as the cute little coupes. We scoured thrift shops and garage sales for weeks. Our favorite spot was the Goodwill Outlet store in San Luis Obispo where you just dig through boxes of dishware and pay no more than 50 cents a piece. Sometimes when we'd bring so many up to the counter, the clerk would just make a guess and it would be even less than 50 cents. After finding them we made sure to wash them thoroughly, including a sanitizing iodide bath. We definitely had a lot of fun finding all of our glasses and it was also a lot of fun for our wedding.

We picked out special glasses for ourselves and our wedding party. Mine was a light pink color and Graham's had a fancy rim.

Our guests seemed to really enjoy the different glasses too. We even let them take them home if they wanted to! Some of our guests were even able to collect whole sets of glasses at the end of the day. The water carafes were a surprisingly popular item among the guests too. We have friends that use theirs on a regular basis. If I were to do it again, I think I would even do it for the plates too! Just make sure you have plenty of time to collect them all.

All photos by Allyson Magda

Photo of the Day (6.14.11)

2011-06-14T21:03:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Brass holiday wreath hanging over our fireplace. It's a really cool wreath with little animals and figures for just about every season and holiday, so it gets to stay up year round. I did some research on them and apparently some people call them friendship wreaths, but nobody seems to know when they were made.

I was taking photos of our garage sale finds from the weekend and decided to snap some pictures around the house (that's where this one came from). I'll post about our garage sale treasures soon!

Photo of the Day (6.13.11)

2011-06-13T23:00:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Lavender in our backyard. I've been working in our backyard a lot, trying to get all of the weeds cleared out. Hopefully soon we will begin work on our backyard landscaping project. Right now, it definitely looks better when most of it is out of focus. We're really looking forward to have a backyard to really use and enjoy. I'll be sure to take some before photos to share.

Photo of the Day (6.10.11)

2011-06-10T22:32:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: The sunset in Morro Bay tonight. Graham and I went to dinner at Bayside Cafe tonight and then I snapped a few photos before we headed home.

We plan on heading out to some garage sales in the morning, so hopefully we find some good stuff!

Photo of the Day (6.9.11)

2011-06-09T22:42:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Trees out in the backyard on a sunny day.

Photo of the Day (6.8.11)

2011-06-08T22:56:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: House finch on the bird feeder in the backyard. We set up my new feeder pole and accessories. The birds seem to like it, maybe I'll make a post all about my bird feeding.

Wedding Wednesday: More Succulents

2011-06-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

I already talked about how I had succulents in my bouquet, and there were succulents on our wedding cake. Well, we also used succulents as our wedding favors.

We ordered a bunch of little 2-inch succulents online from Cactus Limon. I was worried about getting the succulents through the mail, but it was the best price considering we were ordering over one hundred of them. The succulents all arrived at my parents' doorstep safe and sound in a big box. We got little terra cotta pots at Michaels (they were having a sale on all the pots and we went to a few locations to get enough), then we sponge painted them to look mossy. We planted a little succulent in each pot, then topped them each with sea glass that my mom and I had collected. I put all of the succulents out in my back yard to stay in a nice sunny spot until the wedding, and they were doing great. That is, until the weekend before our wedding when there was record-breaking heat. It was something like 110 degrees in our backyard, and it was too late for some of my little succulents by the time that I thought about them. Some of them were really wilted and sun-burnt so I had to go out and buy more locally. The wilted ones made a comeback, not in nearly enough time for the wedding, but now I have them growing in our backyard as another reminder of our wedding. After that, it was smooth sailing for the succulents (and for us), as it was a lovely 70-ish degrees on the day of our wedding.

I really loved our choice to use succulents as the favors. It is so much fun to hear from our guests, a few years later now, that they still have the succulents from our wedding. It makes us feel good to know that everyone is still caring for and enjoying them long after the wedding is over.

All photos by Allyson Magda

Photo of the Day (6.7.11)

2011-06-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Monty enjoying our new dining room rug. He's been sad since we replaced the carpeting with hardwood, so now he has a pretty rug to roll around on.

Photo of the Day (6.6.11)

2011-06-06T19:44:00.000-07:00

Today's photo: Zippers that I ordered on Etsy. I got a sample pack of all different colors from Zip It Zippers, so now I can make more pouches with some nice zippers.