Favourite Things: Vacations!!!

While at heart I am a complete and total homebody, like pretty much everyone I love taking a vacation. Unfortunately, since the Mr. and I are both young and poor we haven't yet had too many opportunities for super exciting vacations.

Here's a couple of photos from some of our favourites:

New York 2007



Magnolia Cupcakes!!!

New York 2008




Tobermory 2009





Now the real reason I'm writing about vacations is that I'm going on one! I'll share the details when I get back, but just letting you know I won't be blogging for the next two weeks because I'll be VACATIONING!!!!!

See you in two weeks!

Romantic and Lovely, or Just Plain Hot?

An excessive use of candlelight (is there really such a thing?) will be another way I plan to convey a cozy vintage Christmas feel to our wedding. I absolutely love candlelight. I love how it instantly conveys a really cozy and warm atomosphere. While it's lovely any time of year, for me it's especially wonderful during the winter when it gets dark around 5:30pm here in Toronto.

Here's a bit of candle inspiration for you:


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I haven't had a good list in a while (oh lists!), so here's a list of how I'm planning to use candlelight in our wedding.

1) Tea lights and votives placed all around the room where we will be having the ceremony
2) We'll be getting married in front of a lit fireplace
3) My bridesmaids will be carrying lanterns instead of bouquets
4) We'll have another lit fireplace in the room where we'll be hosting the cocktail hour
5) I'm planning to design a centerpiece for each table that incorporates votives and tea lights in mason jars

However, I do have a few concerns about using so much candlelight. I'm a bit worried about how it will translate in terms of photography. While I love candlelight, I also definitely want to have pictures that aren't completely fuzzy or dark. My second concern is that I'll have too much candlelight and people will be way too hot. I guess I could always warn them ahead of time...

How are you incorporating candlelight into your wedding?

Soup and Cocoa and Gingerbread...oh my!

Food is definitely one of the main ways that I'll be conveying a wintry feeling. I think food is such an integral part of any holiday. To me all these images convey a sense of comfort and warmth.

Soup

I think serving soup is a great way to convey a warm welcoming wintry feel to our guests. Originally we'd planned to serve soup as the first course of our meal, but now I'm toying with the idea of soup shots during the cocktail hour. I love the idea of soup shots and I think our guests would really enjoy them, but I haven't made any decisions yet.

Bowls of Soup as a First Course:


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Soup Served in Shot Glasses:


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Cocoa

Mmm cocoa, or even better, cocoa with marshmallows. Drinking cocoa always reminds me of the hours I used to spend outdoor playing in the snow. I'm a big fan of this whole designer marshmallow trend and would be happy to see it make an appearance at our wedding.


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As a proud Canadian I am quite a donut fiend and I'd love to serve something like donuts and cocoa as a late night snack.


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Gingerbread

I think Gingerbread is one of the ultimate wintry foods. I absolutely love gingerbread loaf, but I refuse to make any time other than the month of December. That's makes it all the more fun when December rolls around.


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I also can't forget the classic gingerbread house! I don't think this will make an appearance at our wedding, but you never know. Decorate your own gingerbread house anyone...?


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So these are a couple ideas I've been toying with in terms of how to incorporate the season into our wedding food. We haven't figured out anything definite and are certainly open to suggestions!

What foods do you associate with the winter holidays?

Winter...in May?

I realize it's summer and that perhaps we do not want to be thinking about winter all that much. However, I am having a winter wedding so I wanted to discuss some of the ways I plan to incorporate the season into my wedding.

Today I'm starting with explaining my overall style and feeling. When I'm trying to briefly describe the style of my wedding I usually go with cozy Christmas vintage. Here's what I have in my mind when I say that:


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To me images like these scream cozy and family centered and that's exactly the feeling I want our wedding to have. I haven't really worked out yet how exactly I will achieve this, but those are pretty good examples of what I have in mind when I use phrases like "cozy Christmas vintage."

I have to say though that I've found it pretty difficult to find a lot of winter wedding images that demonstrate this type of cozy winter feeling. Many of the winter wedding images I've found are much more modern and stark. That's pretty much the opposite of what I want so those aren't too helpful for me. I've had more luck looking at websites about holiday entertaining like Hostess With the Mostess and Martha Stewart Holidays. I'd love to hear some of your favourites.

Do you have an overall feeling in mind for your wedding? What kinds of images say winter to you?

Favourite Things: Tamari Roasted Chickpeas

Yes, this is a slightly random post, but these babies are definitely one of my favourite things. Tamari Roasted Chickpeas is a recipe from one of my favourite cookbook authors Dreena Burton. Dreena is the author of The Everyday Vegan, Vive le Vegan, and Eat Drink and Be Vegan, all of which are completely fantastic and full of amazingly delicious and (mostly) healthy recipes.

While I have many favourite recipes of hers Tamari Roasted Chickpeas are one of my all time favourites because they're easy to make, great as a snack or as part of a meal, super healthy, and are so delicious. I may or may not have binge ate a whole bowl of these once...


Image from Vive le Vegan Blog


Image from Vive le Vegan Blog

Click here to see the recipe and I hope you enjoy as much as I do!

My Uninterested Groom

I generally try to avoid stereotypes in my life and in particular stereotypical gender roles. I don’t like the idea that because of one’s gender, one should behave or be interested in certain things. Unfortunately, when it comes to planning the wedding, Mr. Knitting and I definitely fall into very stereotypical gender roles. While I am (obviously) incredibly excited and interested in every little detail and in making the day as meaningful as possible, Mr. Knitting is completely uninterested. He’s made it clear that while he is thrilled to marry me, that’s really actually all he cares about. He’s happy to have the big party, but all he really wants is to be married to me, and in terms of how that will happen, he could care less.

In some ways this is great for me (yay I get my way for EVERYTHING!!!), but when I see or hear about examples of grooms getting really involved I get a bit jealous. Why doesn't Mr. Knitting think it's fun to spend an hour or two in Michael's with me or spend the afternoon in a stamping store looking for the perfect ink stamps for our thank you cards?

The thing is, I don't know if this bothers me because I actually wish he was more interested in the wedding details or if it's just because I feel guilty for perpetuating stereotypical gender roles. Obviously I should just get over it if it's for the latter reason. In my real life I take no issue with the fact that I'm the one who does pretty much all the cooking and baking in our home and that's because I feel pretty supported as Mr. Knitting does all the dish washing and the vacuuming. It seems pretty silly actually to take issue with the fact that he's not much of a wedding planner if it's just about gender roles.

Me baking while Mr. Knitting waits to be served LIKE A MAN!!!! Yes I'm kidding.

I think I'm just going to have to make peace with the fact that I have a stereotypical uninterested groom. Frankly it's probably better for me this way as I get my way for EVERYTHING!!!!! (Yes, I'm a control freak).

Go ahead, make me jealous. I want to hear all about how your grooms are helping out!

Green Eyed Monster Rears its Head!

Haha that's a pretty goofy title for a not so goofy post.

Anyway, despite us both being raised Catholic and meeting in Catholic school, I'm not religious and Mr. Knitting is even more not religious. One might say adamnatly not religious. As a result we will be having a civil ceremony. While I'm very happy with this and know that it's absolutely the right choice for us, occassionaly I get a bit jealous of church brides.

St. Michael's Cathedral in Toronto


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St Basil's Church (at the University of Toronto)


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I love the idea of getting married in a place that has such incredible meaning for an individual and to be married by a trusted priest, minister, rabbi...etc, seems like it would be really special. I am also a bit jealous that for religious people the marriage ceremony has a lot more meaning than it does for me. For me, the ceremony won't really alter our relationship at all. For me, our marriage ceremony is a lovely moment to say we love each other and to promise to be together forever in front of our friends and family, but it won't really fundamentally change anything for us. Our relationship is something that has been and will continue to be built and sustained over time with no one moment profoundly altering it. For us there will not be a moment of being bound by God, which I think must be so powerful for those that believe in such things.

Have you ever wished you believed in something you didn't?

Princess Diana's Wedding Dress

I keep reading all these polls about the all time best wedding dress and Princess Diana's dress comes up a lot.

Here's a look at it:


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I don't get it. I am really not a fan. Now I realize that pretty much most wedding dresses produced in the 1980s were...um...interesting, but it's been almost 30 years since her wedding and I don't understand how people looking at the dress now still seem to find it gorgeous, especially when there are so many other incredible dresses to choose from.

What's your all time favourite celebrity wedding dress? Are there any Diana wedding dress fans out there that can explain it to me?

Favourite Things: Jewelry from the Met

I (like many other people) love the Met. I think it's such an incredible museum and if I lived in New York, I'd be there at least once a month, although I'm pretty sure you could go once a day for a year and still find something new every day.

Me being my usual sophisticated and grown up self at the Met:


Anyway, this post isn't actually about the Met's collection, but instead their gift shop, or more specifically their jewelry. I love their jewelry. I love the fact that it's all related to art or history in some way and the fact that most of their stuff is quite affordable (for good quality) is a great bonus!

Here's a few of their pieces I think I should own:
All images from the Met website

Spanish Openwork Necklace:


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Spanish Openwork Bracelet:


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Russian Imperial Anemone Twist Bracelet:


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Snake Bracelet:


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London Observatory Watch:


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Lady's Locket Pendant Watch:


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Glistening Snowflake Pendant:


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Art Deco Pearl Bracelet:


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Spider in a Web Pin:


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Ice Crystal Snowflake Watch

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I don't actually own any of these pieces at the moment and I probably won't for a while. They are pretty affordable, but when most of my jewelry comes from the St. Lawrence Antique Market and costs under $10, I can't really afford to splurge on any of these yet. Oh well, something to look forward to...

What are some of the places you like to look for new jewelry?