A letter ...

Dear tree stump jewelry box,

I heart you and want you to live with me.

- Bridechka


PS: You could also kind of be a kick-ass b-maids gift. Just sayin.

From modestpeach

No color scheme? No problem!

We never picked wedding colors ... usually when people ask about it, we just shrug .. which is followed closely by us having to call an ambulance to revive the person we have just been talking to since they have clearly passed out from the shock of hearing something quite so horrible as "no set colors" ... I know we are truly heathens... but more to my point .. we just never sat down and picked colors. Mostly because we both think a color palette will just kind of develop organically on its own, based on the choices we make (and not the other way around).

As most of you know, lately, we have been loving greens. There is nothing that makes me smile more than a huge evergreen with thick green needles dusted in white snow ... the green, the white, the black, all work so beautifully together and they just scream, WINTER is here! It makes me feel like a little kid again waiting for Ded Moroz to bring me presents for New Year (yep in Soviet Russia even Jewish kids got a sort of Santa, he was like a fake government sanctioned Santa for all Russian kids, we can call him Fanta .... I can explain but it takes a while ...).

Wow ... my digressions are really getting the best of me today! Anyways ...

This weekend we got bridesmaids dresses! Yep, they are selected and ordered and done with. But the interesting part is that they are not green, which had been the plan originally. On Saturday, we had picked out a dress and were debating colors in the store and my beautiful ladies decided the dress we had picked would look better in a different color. They are far wiser and more stylish then I; besides which they actually have to wear the damn thing, so I totally deferred to them. Plus I couldn't agree more that the color they picked will be a stunner on everyone.

... and now a color scheme is starting to develop:
Green - trees which are very symbolic to the two of us
White - for winter and my super fabulous hypothetical cotton ball bouquet

and .................................................................................................

Navy - which is the color of the girls dresses

So what do you think? Here are some inspiration boards I found online to give you guys some visuals:

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Women in Green

You know how sometimes, you fall in love with a green dress, and then you see another one and realize that you love that one too? Then another, then another, until you realize that you have a problem? No? Really? It's just me? Is there a green dress twelve step program? 

Well aren't you lovely?

So you know how brides always tell bridesmaids, "you will love this dress! You will totally wear it again!" Well, maybe if this was the dress, that might actually be true ....

How gorgeous!?! The color, the flow, the cut ... and I guess being Rachel Weisz doesn't hurt the overall hotness. Image found on the hilarious Fug Girls blog.

More pretty shiny things...

Ok, what is better than something pretty? Something pretty with meaning.  I don't really like to wear jewelry without any sort of meaning (either given to me by someone special, or symbolic of  something important to me). That is why I love, love, love.... Dogeared Jewelry... Have I mentioned that I love them??

You can never go wrong when your gift gives not only to your friends but to charity too. So go with the one of their Find Cure Necklaces.

I am also a huge fan of their Make a Wish line.  Like the BFF necklace perfect for one of the fabulous chicas in your life...

Or maybe your friends are more some tough cookies? No problem! get them the Kick Ass Make a Wish Necklace.

Or maybe you need some luck in your life? Enter the Lucky Bamboo Necklace.

Or maybe you know someone who needs some knowledge knocked in to her... I mean encouraged! Get her some Pearls of Wisdom.

Yes they definitely have more than just necklaces (bracelets, earrings, etc...). And yes the price is right ... well the price ranges anywhere from $10 - $200+ but all of the stuff above is under $50 (most is way under!). 

Don't forget to get something for yourself... you deserve some wishes too! 

"Pink Bridal Shower" ... or ... "Why I chose Yevs as a Maid of Honor"

I wanna brag... I have the coolest friends ever.... no, really... EVER! And among them are my two Maids of Honor: Yevs and Mushu-Pork. Mushu lives in the far away land of Washington D.C. (but is coming to visit this weekend, yay!). But Yevs is local and amazes me every day with her insane party planning, gift giving, event finding, and just general coolness skills!

Last year another friend of ours got married and Yevs planned this cute and sweet bridal shower for her at her parents house in honor of the bride's love of all things pink!


Upon arrival guests were given flutes of pink champagne it was the perfect mix of girly and fabulous (two words that are very apt in describing the bride). Yevs bought plastic champagne flutes at a party store and the champagne whole-sale from a store in NJ (no tax! Yep, she's a smarty).





Yevs printed up custom wine bottle labels with the bride and groom's names and the wedding date on them and affixed them to some delish and cheap-o bottles of wine from Trader Joes.


She also created favor bags out of cute burlap sacks that she bought and stuffed with small make-up and beauty gifts.

There was a lot of yummy food but the highlights were this Russian waffle cake made by Yevs (yeh, I know homegirl is like superwoman!) and the pink and violet frosted red velvet cupcakes made by yours truly.


And I save the best element for last. The bride and groom refer to each other almost exclusively as "monkey" so trying to find some way to incorporate this, Yevs found a post Valentine's day sale on Oriental Trading Company and bought these pink monkeys. Since they were on sale, Yevs got them for a few bucks each! It was a really sweet personal touch and the bride could not stop smiling and playing with them all day.


On top of all of these great ideas. Yevs also had a dance instructor come and teach us a few ballroom dances since the bride used to ballroom dance competitively... clearly the rest of us were completely out of luck in trying to keep up with her! But there is nothing like seeing a Russian babushka doing the cha-cha. The whole party was perfection!

Continuing with theme of trees...

As the holiday season looms in the very near future, today I am thinking about presents. There is not a whole lot that I like more than giving people gifts... my very slim bank account can attest to this fact. Last year I decided to buy a small meaningful piece of jewelry for two of my closest friends (incidentally they will be my two maids of honor!) and I happened upon the The Giving Tree.

I found exactly what I was looking for (beautiful designer pieces) and the kind of personal service that makes you feel like you live in Pleasantville, USA and just bought something from the cool ladies who run the jewelry store down the street.

The owners of Giving Tree collect fabulous pieces. They are extremely knowledgeable about their products and are super helpful to their customers. Plus they have a blog! Let's get real they are really tipping the scales of awesome into uber awesomeness.

The website is the definition of user-friendly... my favorite part is that you can view the jewelry by price. Hello, $50 and under page, I will definitely be using you for bridesmaids gifts! Another fun feature are the descriptions of the jewelry designers that they carry. Each designer gets a page with some information regarding their work written by the ladies of Giving Tree Jewelry. They not only describe the designer's bio, they also describe the feeling of the jewelry that that person designs.

Ok I think I need to stop raving now...just go check it out!