Guest Blog: Natty Michelle

Hello friends.  As many of you know, I’ll be in Maui for a few days soaking up some much needed sunshine and relaxation as I celebrate the end of a 3 year graduate program and my hard earned degree.  While I’m away, I’ll be driving the Hana Highway, watching the sunrise on Haleakala and snorkeling off the shore of Molokini.  Of course there will be plenty of good seafood, lots and lots of laying out and a few stops at some local antique stores.  I am so excited to be going and even more excited that I get to share something fun and new at mysundrymusings!

I thought it would be fun while I was away to have some friends I’ve met in the blog-o-sphere write about various topics I think they are experts in with their blogs.  Over the last six months I’ve had a chance to meet some great people in the design blog world.  I decided to touch base with a few of them and have them guest blog for me while I’m away.  I’m so excited to introduce them to you this week!

Enter: NattyMichelle, lover of all things related to fashion, weddings, photography, food and travel.  She’s also a fellow Georgian who inspires me to keep my southern touch and helps me stay connected to my home state when things get a little rainy in Seattle.  

Natalie and her husband were just married in May so I asked her to blog about some must-haves that every bride should think about for her special day.  Most especially I wanted Natalie to include the amazing maps she hand paints for brides to add in their “goodie bags.”  What an inexpensive and special touch to every wedding.  So classy.  I should have made some for my 30th birthday swag bags, yeah?

My husband and I were married May 15, 2010 in Athens, Georgia, and it was truly one of the best days of my life. It’s an amazing feeling to be surrounded by all of the people you love for a day centered around celebrating the new adventure you and your significant other are about to embark on. There are a few things I learned along the way during the many months of planning, and I wanted to share a few of those tips with any of you out there starting to plan a wedding of your own. To me, these are the top 5 must-haves for every bride to stay organized -and fabulous- leading up to her wedding day:

1. A Journal – the one item that I relied on day and night during the many months of wedding planning was my journal. I kept notes in it from every venue visit, details on church availability, caterer menus, and sudden ideas that would pop in my head about bridesmaid gifts, our wedding cake, and invitations. I liked that it was small enough to fit in my purse, and pretty to look at, too!

Decorative Florals Small Journal, Crane & Co.

2. Thank you notes are vital for the organized bride; in the months before (and sometimes after) your wedding, you’ll be showered with gifts galore! It’s important to keep a large stack of thank you notes on hand to mail to friends and family to stay ahead of the game and avoid any unnecessary stress.

Flapper Love Bird thank you notes, nattymichelle.etsy.com

3. A Camera – to capture moments when your wedding photographer won’t be around is a must-have for your wedding weekend. Your rehearsal and the dinner that follows is usually an event not covered in a photographer’s package, but these memories are still those that you want to have documented to look back on for years to come. Another place to have a friend or relative snap pictures is at your bridal luncheon or brunch – definitely a time to cherish long after the Big Day is over.

Fisheye Camera, Urban Outfitters

4. A Map of your wedding destination is the perfect piece of flair for your invitation ensemble and hotel welcome bags to inform out-of-town guests about the weekend’s festivities and things to do in the area!

Hand-Painted Wedding Map, nattymichelle.etsy.com

5. A Survival Kit – the day of your wedding will be a total whirlwind, and you’ll need several items on hand to stay fresh should disaster strike! Important things to have on hand include a toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, bobby pins – the list goes on and on! You can make your own or buy a kit, like this one found at Paper-Source.com.

Happy planning! xo, Natty nattymichelle.blogspot.com

Things I’d like to tell to my 16 year old self.

Today I’m off for what is to hopefully be one of the best adventures of my life.  I am thrilled to have the opportunity to spend a few days in Maui by myself to celebrate the last three years of my life as well as reflect on what direction I think my life is to be headed in the next few weeks, months and year.  It’s the first trip I’ve taken where someone will not be waiting on me upon my arrival and I’m nervously anticipating what this trip will bring.  Until then, enjoy my queued posts and I’ll think of you as I bask on the warm, Maui beaches.

I recently saw this on hulu seventy and thought it was the most amazing idea ever.  In honor of my 30th birthday last November, I decided to spend the year pursuing passions I’ve left untouched and facing fears in my soul that have long kept me from living my life well.  Here’s to finally enjoying life:

Dear 18-year old self,

Buy a new polaroid camera and as much polaroid film as you can.  Hide it for 12 years. Wait for something called Ebay and sell it after saving several boxes for yourself.

When you’re in that beauty pageant your senior year of high school, don’t stick your arms out like a beefy wrestler.  You’ll regret it in the video the rest of your life.

One day a relationship will end with a guy you thought was the one and you will think your life is over.  It isn’t and you will be happy again.  Wait for Seattle.

Learn the difference between the words objective and subjective for your Sociology 101 final when you are rushing over your last minute reading before class.  Missing that one question about the subjectivity of marriages will cost you an A in the class and it will irritate you for the rest of your life. 

In high school it will not be “cool” for you to join the band, be in drama club, be a part of the dance line or sing in the school chorus.  Do it and forget about what they say. 

When all the other girls keep developing and you don’t, love your body just the same.

At some point in your early 20s, a credit card company will see that you are a responsible spender with a good credit history.  They will give you a card and then increase the credit limit beyond your wildest imagination.  Decline it and do not use your credit card except for emergencies.  That ugly hot pink sweater from Gap that you will buy your sophomore/junior year in college does not count as an emergency and it will shrink, look heinous and be given away in less than a year.

There will often be a little nagging voice in your head that whispers to you that you’re never good enough.  Tell it to shut the hell up and believe the opposite of most everything it tells you.  That should save you at least half of your therapy bills and help you enjoy more of your life in your 20s.

In your freshman year of college you will be all but told that you’ll make it into that one sorority you really want.  You won’t.  Enjoy your college years and don’t think that your social life is second class because of it.

On Saturday, April 28, 2009 do not wear the wool socks that were your father’s in college.  They will cause you to fall down a flight of stairs and dislocate your toe.  It will be painful.

Please don’t read any of those faith-based dating books.  Find spiritually minded people who will invest their lives in your and be real with you about what a good dating relationship will look like.

And finally, when you live in Eastern Europe for half a year and your friends go to Prague for a weekend, don’t turn down the opportunity to go with them.  Don’t.  Don’t.  Don’t.

Senior Prom, 1998.  

I’m the girl with the dark red-pink dress 8th from the left between the two girls in black.

Amazon subscription deals

Have you ever checked out Amazon’s subscription deals?  I’ve seen a year subscription to Dwell for $5 and heard about Real Simple doing the same.  You can’t BEAT that, now can you?  Check them out!

You know, I will be really disappointed if paper magazines are replaced with digital versions in the future.  I think it’s headed in that direction, but I’ll keep my hopes up that they won’t succumb to the digital trend.  I just love getting a magazine in the mail, waiting until I have a free afternoon or morning and curling up on the couch to flip through the pages. There’s something about the feel of paper between my fingers and the sound of ripping sheets that makes my heart soar.

Speaking of.  What do you do with your magazines when you have finished reading them?  

My mother used to save all of hers…every…single…one.  Traditional Home, Southern Living, Better Homes and Gardens, Veranda…the list goes on.  Finally she started ripping out the articles she wanted and then throwing out the rest of the magazine she didn’t want.  After seeing her stacks…and stacks…and stacks of magazines (and my father’s endless plea to have them recycled) I started throwing my magazines out promptly after reading them and never looking back.

After having a subscription to the coveted Domino (before they went out of business) I started ripping out pages and keeping them in file folders. Now that they are gone, what I would GIVE to have saved them.  Oh well.  Who would have predicted? But as I started saving them, I eventually caught on to punching three-ring holes in them and placing them in trendy binders instead of creating yet another file folder full of papers I couldn’t easily flip through.  I’ve heard of some people going so far as to put the pages in clear plastic page protectors. I haven’t gotten that organized…yet.  But instead of having tones of files, I at least have divider tabs to keep my pages sorted.  Lovely, eh?

The Round-up

My friend, C in DC, recently asked me to publish some pictures from my current garage sale-ing escapades here in Seattle.  Actually here’s what she wrote:

annnd, i want to know about these vintage pillow cases.  and don’t make me wait until 2 weeks from now when the article you’ve already written for your blog finally journeys through your daily queue and goes live.  i’m too impatient for that! :)

Here you are, my friend.

I also realized that I’ve been tardy on getting some pictures posted of some other July happenings and thought I’d do a little “Round-up” on the ole’ blogger here.  Buckle down, it’s a long ride to the bottom.

***

I have a friend/former classmate that I’ve been going garage sale-ing with lately. I’ve really gotten “in” to garage sales.  I think the whole not using my credit card/accepting my broke status/learning to be creative adventure as of late has me embracing a new hobby.  Whatever it is, I love garage sales.  Seattle has some great ones with pretty awesome stuff for really cheap.  We had quite the adventure our first weekend out together when we were rear-ended by a solid steel 1967 Ford F-250.  

Yeah, did I mention my friend drives a Corolla?  

Two whiplashes and $6000 of automobile damage later, we have bonded over pain and suffering compensation.  Honestly, I’m fine with just getting my chiropractor and massage bills paid for in full.  Whiplash is no fun.  At any rate, check out my cool finds over the two weekends we’ve been out together:

Two vintage pillow cases for 50 cents each.  I almost felt terrible walking away with them.  They were worth so much more than what I paid!

Two new windows $1 each!  If only the woman knew she could have gotten at least $15 a piece for them!  My plan, once I get my own place, is to have a wall of windows.  Don’t ask me why but I love collections of things (bottles, pictures, candles, trinkets).  I actually brought a window from from my parent’s old home in GA when I moved out here.  So excited to have two more to my collection.  My favorite touches are the little handles at the bottom.

I got these three candles FOR FREE.  I’ve been wanting to have some candlelit late-afternoons-into-the-evenings here at my place.  In fact, I’m doing that as I get this blog ready.  So relaxing.

I’m REALLY excited about this gorgeous runner I scored for $3 at the garage sale we were trying to turn into when we were rear-ended.  At least we got something out of the trip, eh?  It’s a little snagged at the end but for $3 I couldn’t pass it up.

I scored THIS frame for FREE at a garage sale as well.  I’m not sure I’ll be keeping the painting in it but isn’t the frame amazing?

Also on the side of the street I found this awful looking table with my old roommate A, for free of course.  I am nervously wondering what on earth I will do with to make it presentable.  OF COURSE it will be repainted but picking out the color has been a bit of a doozy. 

Okay, so here are some randoms from the month…just some odds and ends I wanted to share with you:

FINALLY a picture of the amazing umbrella I bought in Vancover.  I’ve talked about it for months and just now remembered to take a picture.

The kids I nanny have enjoyed the sunshine this month, when it appears.  I thought this picture was too cute when they were running up the hill in their neighborhood.  Gosh I’m going to miss them when they start school…and when I finally find a job!

I have been meaning to tell you about the gorgeous earrings my parents gave me for graduation.  I was so touched to have my mother give me a gift designed by a jeweler in my hometown with the diamonds from my grandmother’s ring.  My grandfather gave them to her as an anniversary present years ago.  The flowers remain in the original setting but have been pulled apart from the ring to make two earrings.  It’s a gift I’ll treasure for always.  I am her namesake and one of my favorite memories of her is seeing this ring on her left hand, placed next to the engagement ring my grandfather gave her. This is the best picture I can take of them:

In preparation for my trip to Maui this week, I had a mani and pedi and decided to share it with you.  I really love OPI’s Lincoln Park After Dark.  It’s pretty much my signature color these days.  I don’t know what I’ll do when it goes out of style.  Oh, and I got a great shot of the ring I gave myself for graduation.  I know, I really celebrated this whole graduation thing.  I wanted to really “mark” it…Maui…a great graduation dress…and a ring to give to myself.  The last three years have been a lot work, both academically and personally.  The ring has four really small diamonds (don’t get too excited, it’s less than .25 carats total) secured with white gold on a rose gold band.  Halfway around the rose gold band there are etches on the ring.  So unique and feminine.

Last but not least, I did a little therapeutic DIY earlier this month.  You can find the instructions here on Design*Sponge.  Basically you take paper scraps (from wrapping paper and what-not) and paste it to the lids of old jars.  SO CUTE and very easy to do.

Supplies:

The paper for the lids:

Finished product!

Whew.  What a month!  I’d love to hear your thoughts after I shared all of that.  What do you think?

"Fashion fades. Style is eternal"

Yves Saint Laurent, designer of couture

Repoussé flatware

I recently read My First White Friend by Patricia Raybon for one of my last graduate classes last month.  In fact, it was one of the last books I read for my entire graduate career.  

Very moving and thought provoking.

In it, the author spoke a wedding gift her mother received from a family she worked for in the South.  It was a place setting of Repousse sterling silver flatware and you know I had to google what the pattern was.

Isn’t this just delighfully pretty?  Probably not your style, but it’s someone’s style for the price you pay at Macy’s for a four piece place setting!

Newest obsession.

Two years ago I used to travel down to the Gulf coast (one of my favorite places on the earth) to visit a guy I was dating.  On one of my visits during the summer, I came up with the brilliant plan to buy Oakley Belong sunglasses.  I lusted after them…googled them…envied them…studied them.  I wanted them and there was no stopping me. After coughing up the $150 for the glasses, I thought: “That had to be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done.”

I live in Seattle, for crying out loud.  Land of 226 days of clouds, 4th cloudiest city in the United States.  We.don’t.see.sunshine.ever.  When I lived in Georgia I was more than justified in buying expensive sunglasses.  I was at the beach or pool at least once a week.  I needed and wanted them to last.

Well, now that I graduated and have time to catch up on my two guilty pleasures (The Hills and Friday Night Lights, go ahead, judge me), I’ve felt innundated by Ray Ban Aviators.  And I want them.  Bad.  Real bad.  Not the $12 Target ones, but the $90 Ray Ban ones.

Help.

Connie Britton as Tami Taylor in Friday Night Lights

Taylor KitschTim Riggins in Friday Night Lights

Audrina, Kristin and Stacy in The Hills

Kristin Cavallari in The Hills

You know you want a pair.

(Click on photos for credits.)

Artwork by kids

I babysit a lot.

A lot is probably an understatement.  This past fall semester I babysat almost every weekend night.  And this spring semester it was every Thursday through Saturday, and sometimes Sunday.  

I work hard so I can play hard.

Occasionally I get really cute pieces of artwork by some of the kids I nanny and I proudly display them on my fridge, wall or doors. I recently realized that I wanted to find a way to frame it and put it on my wall both in an effort to be creative and to remember the kids I’ve been with.  I had the chance to get really close to a couple of families here in Seattle and will miss those children dearly when I find a full-time job.

Wouldn’t this abstract finger paint be adorable as matted wall art?

Rosie

Have we talked about Rosie Thomas yet?

No.  I mean really talked about her?

I love her.  

I wish I could have barbecues with her and her husband.  I wish our unborn children would one day play under the trees on a cool, summer Seattle night.  I wish we could be kindred spirits like Anne and Diana in Anne of Green Gables.  I wish she would one day sing at my wedding.

She’s so freakin’ cool.

I usually listen to Rosie when I need to brood, contemplate, lick my wounds and dream about a better day.  I’ve watched Rosie perform once at the Round at The Triple Door in Seattle (the best venue I’ve ever been to) and it literally changed my life.  

Changed it.

Then I saw her at another Round at The Fremont Abbey in Fremont when she released a documentary on her life.  I loved every minute of it.  Here’s a little musical snack of one of my favorite songs by Rosie Thomas, Wedding Day.  I heard she’s moving to New York and even though we’ve never had a conversation, I’m so sad she won’t be in Seattle anymore.

I can’t wait to drive the Road to Hana in Maui later this month and wave my hand out of the window listening to Wedding Song.

Sigh.

Links to Rosie’s blog, MySpace and youtube videos of her alter ego Sheila Saputo.

Little blue box.

Oh my.

Does every woman remember the first time she got THE little blue box?

I know I will.

I really do nanny for the best families ever.  No really.  The best.  I love their children.  I love the parents.  

They come home to a clean kitchen.  I come home with my first Tiffany’s box.

I met J and J and their son J (affectionately known as J3) after they found my profile on Sittercity.com.  I was their first choice of a sitter to have stay with their infant son and I was the first non-family member keeping their son.  No pressure.

None.  

For the two years I was on Sittercity, I never found a family that wanted to meet me!  I have lots of experience with kids (14 years, in fact) and was always shocked that no one wanted to interview me.  When J and J called me I was surprised…I forgot I even had a profile.  They interviewed me.  We connected.  And, I’ve been babysitting twice a month since October.

For graduation they gave me a sterling silver ring designed for Tiffany and Co. by Frank Gehry, architect for the Experience Music Project (known as the EMP) near the Space Needle…near MY NEW STUDIO.

Gehry designed jewelry for Tiffany & Co and so J, J and J gave me this one from the Torque collection.  I absolutely love it.  It’s one of those gifts where had I been the one picking out the ring, I might not have been brave enough to venture out and get this one.  But when opened the box and saw it in Tiffany’s signature small cloth bag, I loved it.  It’s kind of like when someone orders a new dish for you at a restaurant.  Maybe you wouldn’t have tried it on your own but after having someone else order it for you, it becomes a new favorite. I get really excited when I’m forced to try new things and end up loving them.  This ring is one of those experiences.

Photo credits for box.

Photo credits for EMP.

Picture credits for ring.

"The difference between style and fashion is quality."

Giorgio Armani

One of my favorite YouTube videos.  You’re probably already watched it, but here goes.

Summer Reading List

And, none of them are required for a research paper, reading report, book review or final exam.

I bought this in Port Townsend when I was with my parents during their visit.  It’s a vintage copy.  I never read it in grade school.  Good time to start, eh?

And if I’m feeling really brave:

Vintage Photographs

I’ve started another collection: vintage photographs.  I flip through them in antique shops until one of them strikes me and then wonder about the story of the person(s) in it.  The photo below was purchased at Best Friends Antiques in Port Gamble, WA on the Olympic Peninsula when I went with my parents last month during their visit.  We also purchased a vintage Etiquette by Emily Post.  More on that later.

I liked this picture.  The woman gives the camera a look of settled self-confidence I can only dream of owning.  Striking, isn’t it?

Any ideas of what to do with them now that I have them?  I’m thinking of interesting collages or displays.

Fried Green Tomatoes

I recently spent a morning in the bed watching Fried Green Tomatoes.  It’s pretty heavy at parts, but funny as well.  I’ve actually traveled to Whistle Stop Cafe in Juliette, Georgia just northeast of Macon where it was primarily filmed (not to be confused with the Whistle Stop Cafe in Texas).  I stopped by one time on my way home from the University of Georgia with some girlfriends.  You know, the quintessential “bring your friends from the dorm home to meet your family” kind of roadtrip.   Of course the fried green tomatoes were delicious and I’ve stopped many other times just to drive through the little town and remanence about the movie and being there with friends.  I’m inspired to add fried green tomatoes to my menu for the housewarming party I’ll be hosting in the fall.  In fact, I decided while watching the movie that the party would include a southern inspired menu.  

While watching the movie, I heard a quote that I loved: You know a heart can be broken but it still keeps a beating just the same.

Watching it made me miss my wrought iron skillet.  Can’t wait to pull it out when I get my own kitchen and start cooking with it.

I copied this picture from Flickr and then didn’t give photo credits.  Ugh.