Rained Out.

On Sunday Solanah and I attended a friend's wedding in a lovely botanical garden. Sadly, here in the Pacific Northwest the month of June is quite unpredictable weather-wise, so the wedding was a bit chilly, and a hair rainy.
When we arrived, (an hour early...) we decided to wander around the gardens taking some pictures. Solanah snapped a few of me playing on a trail.
The wedding had a strict all black dress code, so Solanah and I were of course matchy-matchy, although I am convinced that we can not hang out and not match. Before the numptuials began we snuck some food in a corner (my shush face picture explains,) because we were starved. Cue bridal procession...
We made some lovely friends at the wedding, one of which took a few snaps of us, our hats, and the umbrella we shared during the damp vow exchange.
The reception was fun thanks to our new found wedding friends, who shared a table with us. And of course, every wedding gets better with...

WINE!

All in all, despite the wet conditions, it was a lovely ceremony with fun people and tasty treats to eat. And the cake was BEAUTIFUL! (but I was too full of wine to eat any. *sad face*)
Ahhh... wedding season, seems it will be a busy summer.

A Night At The Hilton

I brought Husband along with me to my cousin's wedding this weekend (he hates weddings). It was a small, sweet and quick outside wedding. Things carried over to the Hilton across the street, for a fancy dinner and delicious champagne.
I wore my favorite party dress, the green Marion McCoy. I love the bustle on the back with the bow. This dress was the best $40 I have ever spent. ever.
We had a very delightful Pork Tenderloin dinner, and plenty of bubbly and cake! The service was excellent, they even put our napkins on our laps for us?! I have never experienced that in my life. The servers were great, but the crowning point on the Hilton that night was the lobby. The couch to end all awesome couches. I am not kidding, the lobby area of this Hilton, looks straight out of a scene of Mad Men. I of course forced husband to be in a picture on said couch, he doesn't appear happy about it.
After the dinner and dancing, we thought to ourselves, let's splurge and get a top floor room. We call out sitters and arrange an over-night trip for the kids, and proceed to the front desk. Fully prepared to be putting a presidential suite on our credit card, we were sad to hear they were all booked up.
We ended up with the basic king-sized bedroom, with no view. To make up for this we ordered fancy room service for breakfast! I had french toast on Challah bread. It was glorious! I have never had room service in my life. It was amazing. I hope I get to do something like this again.

All in all we had a busy, yet super fun weekend. I am so blessed to feel this happy. I struggle with sadness a lot, so I feel wonderful knowing I am in a good place right now. I love my family, and I am glad I get to do exciting things, even if only sometimes.

A Mid-Evening Pick-Me-Up

As many of you know I live in the Pacific Northwest. Because we see sure a large number of gray and rainy days here, I find my self with the seasonal blues. I spent all day in a funk, trying to wish it away, to no avail.
That is, until a friend posted her wedding pictures on Facebook tonight. Her wedding was stunning, she wore a beautiful dress she bought on Etsy, and had her hair in a 30s finger-waved bob. Their son wore a snazzy little 18 month-old Tuxedo, and joined them as they exchanged vows. It was a beautiful sunny day in October and they had a great photographer who captured some beautiful pictures of the wedding. I wont post any of her (Unless she expresses thats ok *wink wink*) Update: She says it is OK! So here is the lovely couple:


Of course I will also share a couple candid moments the Photographer caught of me, trust me.. they are classy!

(click to enlarge images.)

My son, and myself are watching the blushing bride head down the aisle. The silly glasses-wearing guy is our friend Clarence.. Look out Clarence, you have officially been fashion-blogged!

The above image deserves clicking-to-enlarge. I don't know how you capture a moment so pure, but this is how I, my husband, and daughter look.... almost all the time. Sheer genius, this image!

This image made me laugh hysterically when it posted. Do I not look like some Meat Monster sent from the past to fill your plate with prime rib? Yes, yes I do. I think this image speaks volumes of the life and times of Me, The Mysterious Metropolitan Housewife you know and love.

After giggling and commenting back and forth, I am no longer feeling the blues. I am just Happy for Andreah and Aaron, and glad I got to attend their lovely wedding.

Show and Tell: Ring Finger

Late last night I was inspired by a new series on this blog, called Show and Tell, where my readers can interact more. You are welcome to show and tell me in a comment, in fact I encourage it!
I thought I would kick off this test run, with wedding rings. I get a lot of questions about my unusual wedding ring, and it generally sparks a lot of interest in the real world, so I though it would be a great thing to share with you.
My ring was purchased in a most non-traditional manner. I wandered into an antique mall, loved it, and bought it for myself. (My husband had picked out and bought me a lovely engagement ring though!) I bought it about 2 weeks before our wedding, despite the fact that it was sterling silver, with Cubic Zirconia and glass "stones." I have been stopped at expos and antique stores so that it can be looked over. One appraiser casually guessed this ring to be costume jewelry form the late Edwardian period.
One of the CZ's fell out and a lovely lady at the antique mall showed me how to fix it, and gave me a real diamond to put in it! So now I have one real diamond in my ring, how fancy!

So dear readers, do share yours. Share you vintage or contemporary wedding band, engagement, or promise ring. If you are not getting married anytime soon, but love to window shop, post your dream ring. I would truly love to see it!

Panic at the Disco, er, I mean wedding!

Tim's cousin is getting married in just over a week. Which, would not normally be that big of a deal, except I *just* found out, that the wedding is at this grand Victorian mansion, and there is to be formal dining and dancing afterward. Yes my friends, its to be a black tie sort of event.
I do not, repeat, do not own anything even remotely appropriate for such an affair.
I have spent the day on Ebay(EW!) hoping to catch a decent deal on a 30s style dress to wear ( so I can wear my lovely topper...) I did find one dress, a 30s black cocktail dress, but alas it was about 6" to big in the bust region.

I wish there was some miracle that would make a really inexpensive formal dress land in my lap.
I am sort of hunting for this silhouette:

Sigh, I really need to invest in a decent formal piece when I come into money again, because this likely wont be our last fancy shindig.

Getting Hitched. Part Deux

2 years ago, I was married in a tiny little town on the Long beach Peninsula in Washington State.
The darling town, Oysterville, has not been touched by time. The entire "city," which is about 1/4 mile big, was built in the 1850s and remains that way today.
I had a modest wedding, with about 45 guests.
We handmade almost everything for the day, crafting up until the morning of.
It was a picturesque morning on the back side of the Willipa Bay, perfectly overcast, and calm winds.
I sobbed as I read my vows with my son in my arms.
I was a bride-zilla, and it rained on my perfect day.
None the less, it was the most fantastic day of my life.
Our wedding was even featured on on OFFBEAT BRIDE!





Fast forward, Valentines day 2009.
We have discovered, our friend, our minister...
Did, in fact, forget to file the paperwork.
I am not legally married. Our wedding, was not a legally binding contract.
I don't even know what to say. Vegas? Here we come?

The finer things in life...

Tonight, I am being ultimately classy. And by classy, I mean only that I am drinking wine and inhaling chocolate chip cookies. Which is to say, not very classy at all.
I am getting myself in a vintage mood. I sit here, waiting in joyful hope for the coming of great vintage finds up north on Monday. I have planned an insanely elaborate trip, complete with maps, notes, places to stop and eat.
I am really hoping to score semi-decently on this day journey.
So, please all of you, think happy vintage thoughts for me.


In other mindless wanderings, I found a book I had when I was getting married. Its a lovely little book called, "I do. I do!" which relates the history of weddings, and where all those silly wedding traditions come from. Its very fun to read when you are getting into the mood for walking down the aisle. But the vintage bonus, is the stellar imagery in the book. its filled with historical wedding porn.
Here are two of my faves:

S. I was gonna drop this off at the shop if you had some interest in reading it. Let me know :)