Your Weekly Pins

Another Friday, another week of pins! Here's what caught my eye on Pinterest this week...




HOME DECOR

[I've been really digging mixing various tones of green in design. This little dining area does it quite nicely. It looks so refreshing!] 



[At first I was like, "Hey, that's a pretty cool sideboard." And then I looked closer and was like, "Holy crap that is an incredible sink vanity!!!" Fantastic.]



[How super cozy does that yellow chair look? I feel like you'd just melt right into it!]




FOOD

[I pretty much love anything that involves peanut sauce, so these Thai turkey burgers with peanut sauce totally have me drooling. These will definitely make it on the grill this summer!]





[Anyone who knows me knows I ADORE Cadbury Creme Eggs. Seriously. Love 'em.  I've probably had a dozen well before Easter. So when a friend pointed these insane (in a good way!) Cadbury Creme Brownies out to me, I nearly screamed (also, in a good way). These have GOT to be made by Easter!]



[Looking for an easy, but delicious appetizer? These Buffalo Chicken Poppers with Avocado Blue Cheese Dip look like a snap to make and are undoubtedly tasty.]



[Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups. I'm not even kidding. It's like these food bloggers are climbing intro my dreams and making all the wildest ones come true.]




HEY, NEAT!
 
[I eat fresh berries every single day. Usually mixed in with my morning oatmeal and my afternoon Greek yogurt. I buy a lot of berries, but have a hard time keeping them fresh all week. No longer! This simple vinegar wash will keep them perky much longer.]






GETTIN' HITCHED

[I love this creative take on the standard ring bearer pillow. So cute to personalize an embroidery ring with fun details.]



[Y'all know I'm not afraid of color. So I LOVE these fun, fringe-y streamers used as a backdrop at the cake table. If I could fill the entire room with these fun decorations, I would.]





[Is this not the most epic, amazing wedding photo you've seen? I'm crazy about it. The rain, the excitement on the guests' faces and especially sheer elation exuding from the happy couple. It all comes together so beautifully.]



[Slightly less intense, but I really love this shot of the groom and groomsmen, too. The groomsmen gift were those wooden baseball bats - and I just love how they're all posed so relaxed. It reminds me of an old photo of classic Yankees players.]



There's plenty more where these came from! To see everything I pin all week long, follow me on Pinterest.

Call Me Snapdragon

Hey everyone - I just wanted to pop in and do a little shameless self-promotion... after all, isn't that what blogging is all about?

I know some of you have been into following along with the budding stages of Eric and my wedding planning and enjoying my updates (well.... at least saying you enjoy them to my face). While I'll be checking in right here in my lovely home with big wedding updates throughout the planning process, I'm happy to announce I'll be sharing all the nitty gritty little details over on BridalBuds.com.

Source

Bridal Buds is a community blog following a handful of brides-to-be (and many post-wedding brides) as they plan their big days. As Snapdragon Bud (my blogger moniker on the site), I'll be checking in a couple of times a week to share big vendor news, our planning trials and triumphs and will be sharing all the little DIY details you know I'll be tackling over the next 13+ months. Bridal Buds is a part of the Wedding Wire network, which, if you're planning a wedding, is the source for discovering great local vendors and super-helpful vendor reviews.

Check out my first post here ("Meet the New Bridal Bud!"... so y'all probably know everything I've included in this introductory post), and keep looking for updates from Snapdragon bud (why Snapdragon? I was given a list of different flowers to choose as my user name, and Snapdragons are pretty rad...also it sounded way cooler than "Pansy Bud"... plus, I'd like to use Snapdragons in our reception decor, if possible!). 

Don't worry - I'm Loving Today isn't going anywhere;  I'll keep up my regular blogging schedule as you know and love tolerate it right here. But if you're just crazy enough to follow all the super in-depth wedding biznass, my Bridal Buds posts such satiate your thirst for aaallllllll the details.

Will You Be My Groomsman?

A couple weeks ago, I shared my "Will You Be My Bridesmaid?" cards with you all. You know, the ones I spent weeks making, painstakingly cutting out paper-doll chains, dresses and attempting to recreate each bridesmaid's hairstyle to match each respective paper doll.

I sort of went all out.

One of my bridesmaids joked if Eric made paper dolls when asking his groomsmen and ushers to be in our wedding. Well, I can report that he did not, and as of yesterday, he completed his task of asking his dudes to be a part of our wedding. Though it took him a fraction of the time it took me (like, we're talking probably 1/500th of the time), I still absolutely loved his approach, and couldn't help but laugh when he showed me his idea.

Here's what each of his fellas received in their e-mail inboxes yesterday afternoon:

Nothing like creating an Internet meme of you sitting on a toilet to ask your closest friends and family to be a part of one of the most important days of your life!

Wedding party: Officially selected!

Your Weekly Pins

Another Friday, another week of pins! Here's what caught my eye on Pinterest this week...




HOME DECOR

[What does it say about a person who falls in love with a toaster? Because I'm head over heels for these. I want need one in every single shade. Yes, need. Who's got $250 to spare?]



[This is one of the coolest re-makes of an old piece of furniture I've ever seen. The bloggers loved this $1,000 dresser from Anthro, but obviously did not love its price tag. So with a little elbow grease and a lot of creativity, then re-made is from an old dresser... for $30!!! I think I like theirs more than the original!]





[Speaking of Anthropologie, this quilt of theirs is absolutely fabulous. Such a cozy, bohemian vibe.]




I CAN HAZ STYLE?

[What a sweet little apron-inspired dress this is! I love the bold colors and stripes.]



[Oh hey: Mustard, turquoise, a cardigan, polka dots. Of course I'm going to pin this one!]



[Lilly rarely goes wrong with her outfits she puts together, and this is just another example of a cool mix of color, pattern and texture. Love!]




CRAFTS

[I went through a thrift-store t-shirt phase in high school, but haven't really parted with a lot of the shirts. This DIY tank-to-tee project looks incredibly simple, and would be a great way to repurpose those old t-shirts into some cute summer wear!]




I WANT

[I'm all about showing love to the place you live, and this fantastic Wisconsin-shaped key hook would look so cute next to our front door.]




GETTIN' HITCHED

[I nearly squealed when I saw this super-cool record-book used as a guestbook at a wedding. Eric and I love spinning records at home, so it fits us perfectly. However, it doesn't really fit the overall "theme" (if we have one...) I'm envisioning for our wedding, so this one just may have to be an "I admire this from afar" idea.]



[During wedding planning, it's easy to get caught up in the silly little details we think are so important (trust me), but often we overlook the real meaning behind all those peonies and escort cards. This wedding story is one of the most beautiful, heartbreaking accounts I've ever read. I was fighting back tears the entire time I read it, but was so glad that I did. I'm so grateful the biggest concern I have about our wedding with how the weather will be next May. I'll be looking back at this story frequently when I catch myself getting too caught up in the frivolity of it all...]




ADORABLES

[I'm not ashamed of my absolutely love for Martha Stewart. The woman essentially does no wrong (well, except for that whole stock-trading incident...), and I'm a big fan of anything attached to her name... including all three of her pups, which she recently tweeted a photo of. this morning. How adorable is this picture?!]








There's plenty more where these came from! To see all my pins all week long, follow me on Pinterest.

Our Prickly Pair

I mentioned our spontaneous trip to Home Depot last weekend, which lead to our spontaneous day of yard work, but I never mentioned our spontaneous little purchases of a couple spiny little buddies to add to our home!

Killer cacti!

Well, I wouldn't call them straight-up "killer," more like just killer cute! We were walking through Home Depot on our way to load up on mulch, when I saw the prettiest display of colorful, prickly cacti and I just had to have a couple of my own. I picked out  the pretty pair, along with a couple colorful pots to place them in.

When I got them home, I just set them on our floor cabinet in the kitchen for the time being, then Eric and I both agreed they actually look pretty great there - plus, that is a place our curious little cat never goes, so we wouldn't have to worry about him poking his eye out or hurting himself around our spiky new friends.

They add a fun, bright vibe to the kitchen - perfect for this gorgeous, warm week we've been having.

The best part about these houseplants? I probably won't manage to kill them! As long as you don't over water them, they're super easy to care for. Perfect!

P.S. Whenever I say (or type) the word "cacti" I can't help but think of this theme song and its very last line. "Watch out for those man-eating jackrabbits!"

We've got our very own desert right in our little Wisconsin kitchen. Do you have any cacti at home? Any experience with live cacti outdoors?

Mulch Madness

What a weekend.

It started off HUGE for me, with my Ohio University Bobcats beating Michigan in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It also ended with another Bobcat win - against USF, sending my alma mater to the Sweet 16. This is gigantic for these "little guys," and I couldn't be prouder to be a Bobcat.

It also happened to be an incredibly gorgeous weekend, weather wise. Saturday, I finished a fantastic 10-mile training run then immediately got ready for St. Patrick's Day fun. Now, you'd think after a beautiful day spent enjoying a Guinness or two would mean the Sunday after would be shot - but no! Eric and I woke up and decided to make a trip to Home Depot. And after our random shopping spree there, spent the rest of the 80-degree day in the sun, working in the backyard.

We went to Home Depot for spray paint and a twine, and ended up with 20 bags of red mulch and some new solar lanterns to line the yard out back. 

Eric did the heavy mulch work.

 While I groomed our yard by raking up dead leaves and fallen sticks.

Can you believe the difference the bright red mulch makes out there? It brightens everything up and makes the yard pop. I can't wait to see how it looks when all our flowers and plants (not just the now fully-bloomed daffodils) have bloomed! 

After Eric was done mulching, I went ahead and assembled and installed the solar lanterns. 

They add such a polished garden feel to the yard. They only had a couple of hours to charge so we didn't get to see how brightly they will light the yard last night, but they just look so nice. We definitely needed to add more light around the perimeter of the yard for our upcoming nights spent outside by the fire pit.

On top of these projects, we added some grass seed, cleaned up the front sidewalk and walkway up to our house and finished a few other odds and ends outside. I still can't believe how much we got done, and can't believe the gorgeous weather we had on a mid-March day. 

Apologies to all neighbors who had to see my exposed, shorts-wearing legs, which currently sport the pastiest shade of winter white imaginable...

Here's to hoping we don't get a huge cold snap or snowstorm so we won't have to do this all over again in May...

Your Weekly Pins

Another Friday, another week of pins! Here's what caught my eye on Pinterest this week...




FOOD
 

[Although I love Indian food, I don't eat it very often. When I do, it's usually microwaved from Trader Joes (you guys, their frozen chicken tikka masala is seriously the jam), but when I'm feeling slightly more ambitious, I just may have to try this slow-cooker version of one of my favorite Indian dishes.]


 
[I can get on board with the whole Paleo diet thing. It makes sense for the most part, but I just like grains way too much to full abide by this practice. However, I'm very interested to try this "Oatmeal Minus the Oats" recipe to see how it stands up to my longtime every-morning favorite breakfast meal.]


 
[Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day, if you weren't aware. Now, I don't always celebrate St. Patrick's Day, and if there's any Irish in my blood, it's too busy being drowned out by all that German. BUT I can definitely get behind adding Guinness to brownies and calling them a St. Patty's Day treat. What makes these brownies even more enticing? The super special ingredient that will fool you like a Leprechaun.]




 
[What's better than adding Guinness to brownie batter? Adding it to cake batter. And then topping that cake with Bailey's Irish Cream-laced frosting. I am so close to baking this amazing cake up this weekend, although I don't know who I'd feed it to!]




I CAN HAZ STYLE?
 

[Last week, I discovered a little online shop called Spool 72 and I immediately wanted nearly every single dress listed. This is one of them. Further proving my obsession with chevron has not waned.]




 
[Hey, remember right above when I was talking about loving the dresses at Spool 72? This is another one.]


 
[Aldo has a lot of great shoes out for spring, like these super-pretty pink flats. I'm thisclose to ordering a pair of my own!]
 


 
[Whether we like it or not, swimsuit season is just around the corner. Immediately when I saw this gorgeous lemon-yellow suit, I wanted it. How cute is that braided single strap? And the wide waistband looks like it'd be flattering. I was so close to buying it, then I looked at the price tag and realized it was $550. Then I realized that is ridiculous. Then I realized I wanted cake.]






CRAFTS
 

[Recently, I MacGyvered my own little stamp for a project I'll hopefully be able to share with you next week. It involved a few minutes on brainstorming in the wood-working aisle at Michael's when they didn't have the exact shape stamp I needed. I never thought of cutting a large eraser to use as a stamp, but it's such a smart, thrifty idea! I'll be putting this one in my back pocket for later.]




GETTIN' HITCHED
 

[I'm gaga over these fantastic door-knob table numbers. They look so easy (and relatively inexpensive!) to make. And what a cool, rustic vibe (especially for a couple so focused on home design/projects!).]


 
[This is such a pretty bouquet. I never thought I cared about my bridal bouquet, but the more I look at my Gettin' Hitched board, the more I realize I find so many bouquets I absolutely love. This pretty peach and pink one is fantastic!]


 
[When I came across whatever the heck these rock-looking things are, I realized it is almost exactly the full color palette I've been envisioning for our wedding. All shades and colors are represented, though it uses just a bit more green than I think we will in our decor.]






 
[Here's another good example of the color palette I like, minus a few colors I'd like to incorporate. These four colors together just scream "ice cream parlor" to me - and I love it!]




 
[Oh hey, more odds and ends that fit in the family of my desired color palette! Not only are the colors great, but I think I want every single thing shown here, as well! (P.S. I just discovered this blog a few days ago and it won me over instantly - a first-visit add to my Google Reader within five minutes!)]



There's plenty more where these came from! To see everything I pin all week long, follow me on Pinterest.