Wedding Wednesday: My Favorite Photos

I just got our wedding photos back from the photographer last night and I thought I'd share a few of my personal favorites for today's Wedding Wednesday post. I'll do a few posts in the next coming weeks that go through the specific parts of the wedding (getting ready, the ceremony, the details, the reception, etc.) but I wanted to share my faves first!

So without further adieu...

 

 

 

Kudos to our photographer Jamie. As I dig into these more and more I'm LOVING them!

Linking up!

Ikea Overhaul!

Over the last couple of weeks M and I have made quite a few purchases at our local Ikea. When we moved in together we wanted to update/upgrade some of our existing furniture and also fill in some of the furniture gaps we had.

Enter Ikea.

I love Ikea. They have great furniture, home decor and other stuff. However, their furniture is a bit DIY, if you know what I mean. (Might I suggest this for all new couples? Spend a weekend together assembling Ikea furniture. If you can make it through that...you're golden!)

Anywho, we are in the process now of getting it all put together. Most of it is done, but a few things are still in the works. I'll show better photos once we get everything assembled! Below is what we purchased for our place.

Coffee Table (Rekarne) & Side Table (Lindved)

Here's a pic of our actual coffee table. We've since had a piece of glass cut to fit on top because with my Hawaiian punch habit, we were nervous that I'd spill it on the light wood. :) The side table is near the left window.

Dining Room Table (Norden)

Dining Chairs (Ingolf) & Benches (Sigurd) 

 

We opted to do 2 chairs and 2 benches for our table. The benches will go on the long side and can be tucked under the table when not in use. The chairs are for the ends. The table expands out to fit 8, so we may add two more chairs at some point. (side note - I have no idea why this picture is making them look gray. The chairs and benches are all white.)

 

 

Bookcase (Billy) & Media Shelves (Billy)

Again, they are both white...despite the picture color discrepancy. We purchased 2 media shelves (for all of M's dvds) and 1 bookcase. The media shelves flank the bookcase and we will put them all together on a wall to give sort of a "built-in" look.

I'll have better pics once we get everything assembled and in place. :) I feel insane that we've spent so much money on furniture, but we needed it. We were eating dinner on the coffee table every night. And our books/movies were in boxes. I just have to keep telling myself that...these were all necessary purchases. :) I managed to make it out of Ikea without purchasing any additional doo-dads or throw pillows (my weakness). Also, M and I haven't killed each other yet over putting together furniture...though there was a brief "discussion" over a toothbrush holder I bought for his bathroom. But I digress...

Happy Tuesday, friends!

How to Annoy Your Friends on Facebook

Hello blog friends.

Today, I'd like to dedicate an entire post to the social media channel known as Facebook. Facebooking (yes, I'm pretty sure I invented that just now) comes with responsibilities. You have a responsibility to yourself to be safe and a responsibility to your FB friends to not annoy the ever-living crap out of them.

With great power, comes great responsibility, y'all. I believe someone famous said that or something. Well, it's true with regards to FB. You have the attention of a massive amount of people (much more than you'd probably ever have face-to-face at once) so you have a responsibility to keep your content fresh, relevant, short and most importantly, to NOT annoy your friends.

How do you annoy your FB friends? Simply by doing any of the below.

Check-in
You should always check-in all the time on FB. Make sure you check-in at the most mundane and random places ever and do it all the time so people know exactly where you are at all times. (Because that is really safe.) Geolocate all your statuses and make sure that people know when you are at home, at the movies, the grocery store and even in the bathroom. That's awesome!

Post vague or obvious statuses
You should definitely post FB statuses that the majority of people agree with to get likes or comments. Try to focus on something that most normal people hate like animal abusers, child abusers or pedophiles. Posting a status about them and how bad they are is really a great way to get activity on your page because probably no one in the entire world shares your same opinion. Also, when something bad happens to you, post a vague status like, "What a horrible day" or "WHY ME?!" and then don't comment further so people reply for details. Definitely, DEFINITELY don't put all the details on FB. Make people pull it out of you.

Use a lot of hashtags
This one is simple. Hashtags now work on FB. (Did y'all know this?) So, use them away! Make sure you use some irrelevant hashtags like #tagsforlikes, #l4l, #pretty, #puppies and maybe even something like #awesome. Hashtag away, my friends!

Tag people in every photo!
Tag people in every single picture of them. Don't just tag them in one and let them tag themselves, tag the heck outta them. Fill up their pages with photos of them! Bonus points if you post a bunch of old high school/childhood photos and tag them in every one. Because EVERYONE wants old unflattering photos of themselves on their page, duh!

So, if you want to annoy your FB friends, make sure you do some or all of these things! And have a happy, HAPPY Monday! :)

{Guest Post} Hewitt's Diary Entry #472

This was originally posted last week and it posted retroactively...somehow...I blame the Blogger app. Because it was buried under a few other posts, I decided to repost it today to give Hewitt his necessary attention. :)
__________________________________________________________________________

Okay, so this is a guest post that technically wasn't typed by Hewitt. (he has no thumbs...or fingers) But was dictated by him to my computer. So, here is a chapter from Hewitt's daytime diary.
6:13 am: I am awoken by the sound of my mother rousing herself from bed. I've been up grooming for hours, however, at the sound of her moving, I quickly curl back up into a ball facing away from her and pretend to snore. This is a daily occurence. My lifetime goal is to exert only the exact necessary amount of energy to do anything. And rising from my throne bed before it is necessary is a big no-no.

6:47 am: Mother enters my lair and makes some remark about how cute I am in a "little Hewie ball" in her baby voice. It's all I can do to swallow my own vomit in disgust...I continue "sleeping".

7:03 am: Mother (aka Mommy) leaves her bedroom area and departs for the downstairs. This is one of my only chances to get treats, so I stealthily follow her downstairs but stop at the landing. I remain on the landing and don't follow her all the way to the kitchen. I remain on the landing...glaring at her until she comes over and opens the blinds on the small window at the stair landing. This is my daytime portal to the outside world. It must be opened every morning.

7:05 am: I follow her into the kitchen and she lets me out to do "my business". I will refrain from commenting further on what occurs here because it is indeed, MY BUSINESS.

7:07 am: Upon re-entering the house, I make my way over to the pantry and glare again through my developing cataracts. Mommy calls me her little "blue-eyed buddy" because cataracts in dog's eyes can sometimes make them looks sort of cloudy and blue. I do not enjoy her making fun of my disability. She will pay for this one day. She opens the treat container and hands me one. I grab it in my mouth and swiftly make my way into the dining room to eat my delicious snack.

7:10 am: Mommy leaves. Now the fun begins.

7:15 am: I drink some water and sniff under the kitchen cabinets. There are sometimes morsels or crumbs here that the brooms don't catch. If I'm nervous or if it is stormy outside, I will often lick the carpet/baseboards. This is a nervous habit. I make my way over to my daytime portal and doze off.

10:38 am: The sound of the garbage truck in the neighborhood rouses me from my dreams. Those imbecilic jerks. Of course, I must voice my disdain by barking at them until they leave.

10:42 am: They must have received my message, because they leave and I return to my day nap.

12:09 pm: I wake up and realize that the sun is out! I quickly proceed back upstairs to where the sun shines through on the carpet and lay in the sun and doze back off.

1:41 pm: I wake up and move about 4 inches to remain in my patch of sunlight.

4:07 pm: I wake up and move about 6 inches to remain in my patch of sunlight.

5:22 pm: Mother arrives at home. Of course, I hear her car when she pulls in the driveway and I hurry to greet her at the door. If I put on my absolute best and cutest face, she will shower me with treats and not affection. I can only tolerate so much physical touch.

6:03 pm: My favorite part of the day - walkies! Once mom puts on my leash, we go out for a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood. Here I meet up with some of my dog friends and we sniff butts. Then, I'll check out the smells o' the day and maybe chase a small child on a bike...I might even bark at a squirrel if I'm feeling frisky. I attend to "my business" on walkies as well. Mother, like the simple-minded human she is, always takes plastic bags to pick up "my business". How smart are we dogs that we've trained our humans to pick up our business?! If I knew how to laugh, I would laugh at that.

6:39 pm: Dinner time! My tantalizing dinner of salmon and sweet potato dog food is made better with the addition of some water. Mommy puts my food in the microwave for a few seconds until I have a deliciously salmonized gravy. Mommy can't stand the smell but to me, it's perfect.

6:40 pm: My after-dinner grooming commences.

6:44 pm: My after-dinner grooming ends.

6:45 - 9:45 pm: This time consists mostly of napping, but the occasional game of one-sided fetch (because I never actually drop the toy...my mom must distract me with another one) or maybe me catching up on whatever tv shows the humans are watching or begging for human food.

9:46 pm: I prompty retire upstairs to my quarters for bed. Occasionally, I'll pretend to be asleep on the ottoman so Mommy has to carry me upstairs. (I'm never actually asleep. Just sleepy. And cute. Strike while the iron is hot, they say.)

Hewitt signing off.

On Housewifery

Pretty much most of what I've blogged about recently has been personal, so I apologize ahead of time again for another blatantly personal email.

Ever since M and I got married and moved in together (it's officially been 12 days but we've only lived together in our house for 5 since we went on a honeymoon for a week) my "nesting" instincts have re-emerged.* Also, I'm not trying to set back my gender 150 years by saying this, but my interest in things related to being a "housewife" have basically exploded.

Let me essplane, okee?

Things that I usually could've cared less about before are interesting to me now. Things that I was borderline interested in before, I am now obsessed with.

via

For example:

1. Gardening, planting flowers, yard work - before marriage: mildly interested, after marriage: borderline obsessed with planting flowers and growing vegetables. I want to grow ALL the pretty flowers now. And cut them and have fresh flowers all the time. So weird.

2. Meal planning - before marriage: bleh, no thanks, after marriage: YES, YES, YES! I've only done this for a week, so I've obviously not had long-term experience with this but I do follow a few other bloggers that do this and it seems to really be helpful in staying organized, stress-free and being cost-effective.

3. Entertaining - before marriage: on occasion, after marriage: START THE PARTIES NOW!! Maybe it's because I want to use all the pretty dishes and servingware we got for our wedding. The only problem is  that we DON'T HAVE A DINING ROOM TABLE YET. Small issue. Maybe we'll pick one up this weekend when we go to Ikea. :)


 *Most of you that have been married for years are probably scoffing at my ridiculous musings after less than 2 weeks of marriage. But these are mostly my observations. Be nice, okay?

Splurge vs. Steal: Garden Party

'Tis the season for garden parties, garden weddings and horse races! I put together these outfits below with those occasions in mind. Only...one is MUCH more cost-efficient than the other. One of the outfits below costs around $1,266 and the other costs about $151. Can you guess which one is the "splurge" and which one is the "steal"?

splurge vs. steal: garden party by aprilanne147 featuring a red purse

If you guessed that the outfit on the left is the "steal" and the outfit on the right is the "splurge", you'd be correct!

How'd you do?

Honeymoon Recap

I realize I'm doing this a little backward...doing a honeymoon recap before the wedding recap, but I'm waiting on the photos from the wedding photographer. So, I figured I'd go ahead and do the honeymoon recap now.

You can see my informal photograph wedding recap here. Prepare yourselves for a barrage of photos. I've included a break so it won't take my blog forever to load. :)

I'm BAAAAACK

Friends! I'm back from my honeymoon in the good ol' US of A. I'm off work for a couple of "detox" days and go back on Thursday. I'm working on editing all of my honeymoon photos and doing a honeymoon recap post tomorrow.

Sorry for such a short post today. I've got great things in the works tomorrow, though, so come back on Tuesday!! :)

Here's a little sneak peek:

{Guest Post} Mylie's Beach Day

While I'm away on my honeymoon, I've invited a few friends to write some fun guest posts for you to read. Today's post is from Kim over at A Cuppa Kim. This lady not only has one of the cutest pups in the entire world, but has literally (almost) traveled the entire world. Seriously, her travel and pup blog posts are some of my absolute favorites. Read on to see why...

Hey There Striped Flamingo Readers!

CuppaKim and Mylie here. Thanks to their mamas, Mylie and Hewitt have blog and instagram crushes on each other.  There is definitely some romance floating through the cyber air.
Mylie can't resist when April posts sassy shots of Mr. H. I'm pretty sure the feeling goes both ways, too.

The only problem is, Mylie and Hewitt are on opposite coasts. It's an East/West romance, that's for sure.

Mylie, or Smiles as she is often referred to, is a West Coast Schnoodle through and through (in fact, that was the name of her breeder). She is a born and bred California girl.

And like any good California girl, Mylie loves herself some beach time.

The other day, my sister and I decided that Mylie was long overdue for a beach adventure. We picked up sandwiches, and all hopped in the car and headed to the coast, for an extremely beautiful March day.

Mylie tugged on the leash all the way down the hill, where as soon as her paws hit the warm sand, she was jumping up trying to look in our hands and purses, for her beloved ball.

To Mylie, Beach = Fetch.

We know what the Smiles likes, so her ball was in fact in my sister's purse, but we needed to settle in before it was time to play. She could hardly contain herself. There were some serious whimpers while we set up our beach chairs.

  

This beach in particular is Mylie's favorite. And mine too. I've been going here since I was in high school. Plenty of space, gorgeous views, close to home, and most importantly, dog friendly.

This day was no exception, there were furry critters everywhere. 

So, we played fetch. 

And more fetch.

And then when we thought she was done, even more fetch.

  

And between fetches, Mylie crawls between our chairs, and finds the littlest pocket of shade to cool off in.

 

And girlfriend is covered in sand.

Head to toe. Up her nose, on her tongue, even in her eyes.

But she seems completely unphased.

She just loves the beach. Through and through.
The sights, the sounds. The seabreeze blowing through her dirty white fur.

As we drive home, and Mylie sits lazily in the back seat, you can tell she really enjoyed herself, by living up to her nickname, a big smile plastered on her face the whole drive back.

And after a beach day, everything else can seem like the worst.
Because sometimes it is.

Beach Day also = Bath day.
Smiles wont even look at me once I put her in the sink.

She is not a happy camper.

Until the bath is over.
And she gets all her shakes out.

And all is right in the world again, and we wait until the next beach adventure.

Thanks April and Hewitt for allowing me and Mylie to share one of our adventures with you and everyone over here! 

Isn't Mylie the CUTEST? Well, second cutest, of course. Hewitt loves this entire blog post so much...because it's full of pictures of his favorite West Coast girl. However, he's lacking thumbs...so he can't type any comments. Sigh. #dogproblems.