6 Months!

Today is our 6 month wedding anniversary! 

I am fully willing to admit that I have completely surprised myself and dorked out to the max over being married. To further establish my annoying newlywed status I bought my husband a 6 month anniversary present. This is completely out of character but I'm enjoying it immensely. I mean, getting married was the coolest thing I've ever done so I might as well wallow in the fun of it.

Though I do have a history of gifting him random things for no reason so maybe it's not so dorky to actually make up an occasion for it. 

Incase you care the gift was python straps to make our hammock camping adventures more fun. 

That's not the reason I'm writing this post though, I really just wanted to share our wedding photo album because I love it! Seems cheesy b/c you've seen most of the pictures in the recap I did here but hey, if I'm going to call myself an annoying newlywed I might as well live up to it. 

Our pictures came to me in the beginning of december and straight away I made one photo book for each of our parents to give as Christmas gifts. It was pretty easy considering that I was on a tight deadline, decision had to be made fast. I came up with a basic layout using blurb (which btw is super easy) and just switched out a few pictures here and there to personalize it. 

When it came time to do ours however I didn't have a deadline and therefore had all the time in the world to hem and haw over all the picture choices. I feel like this was a good thing though because it really gave me a chance to go through all the pictures and the 3rd and 4th time few I found some gems I'd completely overlooked on my previous picture browsing adventures.

My goal was to create a story with pictures that completely captured the events of the day and I feel like I did a pretty good job. So years from now going back and looking I'll be able to share the details of our wedding with someone who wasn't in attendance and really be able to show them how the whole day went down.

I love that we had such a casual event and I love that a great friend of mine was the person who captures it, it doesn't come off as staged or stuffy and the true spirit of the day really shines through.

I also feel like kind of a badass because I got this done in under 6 months which I've come to find out is quite the feat! 

The cover, I went with the hardcover option. 

Our invite.

One thing I wasn't thrilled about with was that on page 2 blurb takes the bottom part of your page and blocks it off so that they can put their own stuff there. In the books for our parents I had detail shots there but didn't really like how the text messed up the flow so for our book I added text from our ceremony and I thought it had a nicer look to it, it's also nice to have those words for always. 

Pictures from our big hat bitches brunch and getting ready pictures. I love that picture of my mom seeing me for the first time after hair and makeup, I'd missed this one the first few times through, her eyes are bugging out of her face and it's awesome.

Priceless mother and daughter getting ready shots. 

Sneaky sneaky first look.

Couple portraits. 

Some more first looks.

Walking down the aisle.

The hand off and the ceremony. 

We did it!

First married snuggles and kisses.

DIY details. 

Cake fight!!

Family portraits.

My parents. 

His parents. 

Siblings.

Dear friends. 

More friends & hanging out in the grass.

Hugs and booze.

Festivities.

People watching.

Our first dance.

Father daughter dance.

Mother son dance plus me being forced to dance again.

Dancing fools.

Mid reception photo shoot.

BBQ & speeches.

More speeches.

Play clothes.

The end.

The back, rather appropriate I think. ;)

It pays to have a handy husband

I have an entire board on pinterest dedicated just to shelves because I have kind of an obsession. I'm not the only one though because I can find plenty of pictures of people to pin and it ranks as one of my most followed boards. I also have one just for rooms made from closets, I am so weird.

Anyway, it didn't take long for me to stumble upon the idea of ladder shelves and though I recently talked about a vertical one I fell in love with at Ikea the house we currently live in is more suited towards a horizontal one. Check out the many options below.

A while back I rearranged our bedroom so there was room on either side of the bed, this was at The Beef's request because apparently starting your day by crawling over your significant others lifeless body is not idea. Going to the end of the bed was also an unpleasant experience due to a large elliptical that resides there. 

When the room was rearranged it suddenly opened up the possibilities for some wall space that I had previously only been kind of using. I decided a ladder would be perfect there. So one day when The Beef was bored but feeling handy he asked me for a project, I didn't have to hesitate for a moment and requested a ladder. The project was simple enough and it barely took an afternoon to complete. We didn't even need to leave the house for any of the necessary supplies. 

The next order of business was to stain it. I saw on pinterest that to age wood you could soak steel wool in vinegar for a few days to give it a grey color. I thought that might be a nice look. However it took me a few weeks to gather the supplies and then when I combined the ingredients I got sidetracked by life and let it sit for two long instead of the nice grey color I was hoping for I ended up with a rusty red. This was not what I wanted. 

Then I thought about it for a while and figured I should just leave it as it because this won't be our home for much longer and I'll be able to decide what color to stain in when we have a more permanant bedroom. Besides, I hadn't even figured out what to put on it yet.

Entering wedding planning and all other projects were completely thrown out the window. Though the ladder project was the first I wanted to tackle once the hoopla had died down because there was a ladder in my living room. But then I started a new job and the ladder moved to a less intrusive spot. However, the very night I finally got our wedding pictures I knew that this ladder would become my wedding shrine. I just had to go about plotting it out. 

Then Christmas happened which actually is what spurred me into action. A framed wedding photo of us given as a Christmas was what finally halted my procrastination. It was the same kind of fun frame I already had in my possession finally adding to the imagined symmetry I so desperately crave. Three more frames that were given as wedding frames added to the mix and I had the bulk of my shrine taken care of. 

Rounding out my frameaplooza were framed invitations from the wedding itself and the party a month later at my mothers house. From there all it took was one of our lanterns (I'd been dying to do SOMETHING with it) a tiny mason jar, a wrapped can and paper flowers from our center pieces finished it off nicely. 

Still something was off with the spacing, the project was finally completely mapped out when I got a hold of the decorative marriage certificate and a beautiful cross stitch my aunt did that she sent with our congrats on getting hitched card.

Tah-da!

My only hurdle then was to get it all up on the wall. This was a job for The Beef who wasn't home and would probably put it off for as long as I already had without the proper inspiration and since I'd finally gotten it all figured out I wanted it done NOW. So I hung it up, with a series of push pins and when I told him of my method he practically had a heart attack and put it up in a more secure way at once. Victory is mine!

It's a beautiful sight to wake up to every morning and I could not be happier with it. 

Ikea is a bad influence

Yesterday my friend and I spent several hours wandering around Ikea day dreaming. 

Today I'm looking around my house pouting at everything because it's just not "good enough"*.

We rent this house so making it "good enough" isn't on my to do list because there is no point though I'm sure the landlord would love it. 

So I'm banned from buying from Ikea until after we buy a house but that of course doesn't stop me from exacerbating the situation by going there and spending half of my day daydreaming. 

It was point out to me that I have really "weird" (I say eclectic) taste and if I don't get myself straightened out my future home is bound to look like a spaceship flew through an art museum and then crashed into a farm house.  

I'm sure when I have the right pallet in place I'll be able to adjust my design ideas.

In the meantime if you feel like shopping for me at Ikea I've prepared a wishlist of things that I wouldn't mind keep in storage or making fit in my house for the next few months.

*term used very loosely and in the brattiest way possible. 

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50252707/

All day long I could not stop staring at this damn pictures, I don't know why but I've become obsessed. This is highly unlike me, well, as far as pictures are concerned that is. 

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30252609/

I find typewriters incredibly romantic though I'm not sure why because my only experience with one came as a gift from my grandmother. I imagine a little office nook so I don't have to work from home on my couch anymore and I think this would just make a darling addition.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70251740/

I feel like it goes without saying that I really need to own this. I was seconds away from picking it up and running to the checkout yesterday when I imagined what my reaction to the beef bringing home such an item would be. I try my hardest not to be a hypocrite so I let it be, but one day I'd really like to have this, perhaps in my office nook. Just picture it, Button's Blog coming to you from atop a button rug. Too precious.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60139693/

If you follow me on pinterest it's pretty obvious that I have an obsession with shelves but what you might not know is that apparently I have an obsession with clocks as well. I feel like I get this from my father who has a substantial clock collection. I never really realized it but over the past few years as I'm out and about in the world I can't help but notice clocks. I don't see a clock as useless even though I can find the time on my computer, cellphone, microwave, oven, etc. I guess I think of them more as art, I'm looking at them as I would a picture so maybe my office nook will need to be more of a room some day so that I can fill it with clocks and shelves. At least I can put clocks on shelves or in this case have a clock that is also shelves.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50237651/

Seriously, this clock is hopelessly beautiful and caters to my newly reignited obsession with roman numerals, how delightful.

 

Chair/towel rack which is basically a cleverly designed shelf so of course it speaks to me and has endless possibilities, and if push comes to shove I will need something to sit on in my office nook.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30182471/

So something truly terrible happened in Ikea; I discovered that this item exists. I was playing kitchen and opened what I thought was an double wall oven only to discover that it's actually a microwave and oven instead of two ovens. So now I sit here glaring at my countertop microwave wish I could smash it into the wall so it wasn't taking up so much valuable counter space. This might be the end of me.

So ends my wish list. This is not a sponsored post but if Ikea wants to throw a clock my way for writing it I would not decline it. Just sayin'. 

Body+ and mental health for all

I love pinterest, it's way better than having a million websites bookmarked into 99435784 folders on my browser. Recipes, crafts, things to make me giggle, the list just goes on and on.

Tonight however as I was looking at the health and fitness section I found some things that really bothered me so I grabbed a sample of the images that I took issue with and I'm just going to do a quick rundown here. 

I saw this one pinned in a ton of places and it seemed that half of the pinners found it amusing and were very serious about it with comments that were rife with insecurity and jealousy.

I admire anyone who can find a means of motivation that works for them but all I personally see when I look at this is the wrong kind of pressure. Non scale victories should be far more important than the number you see, no one should tie up their self worth in a number.

Well this sounds like a really good way to get seriously injured. I'm all for not quitting when things get a little difficult but you can't ignore your body's cues that you need a break. 

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that the picture was not actually taken during the conversation that the texts depicts. However, when is it ever ok to judge another person's body like that?

Why can't skinny be sexy? Why can't muscles be sexy as well? Why can't sexy be more of an attitude attribute vs. an appearance one? 

Why do you have to suck it in at all? Just accept yourself. Focusing your energy on some ideal body image as your end game instead of your health, and perhaps your self confidence seems like a great way to burn out. 

I'm sure I'll be really proud when I'm sidelined by an injury that could have been avoided by listening to my body's cues that I needed to stop. 

How about neither? Some people naturally come looking either way and there's no reason to shame anyone for it. 

This one made my blood boil. There's a pretty good chance that if you're not comfortable with yourself then you're getting naked with someone else for reason you might later come to regret. If you're worried about a partner rejecting you for what you look like naked that's a whole nother can of worms. 

And finally this one really bugs me. I know a lot of people who see this as a positive thing. "Finally a campaign that tells us we don't need to look like Kate Moss to be pretty/sexy/attractive!"  But all it's really doing is holding up another body type that could be construed as equally as unattainable as the stick thin supermodel.

Health is what we should be striving for, not a physical ideal. I know I'm not alone in these thoughts but I just stumbled upon part of the internet tonight full of impressionable people putting these ideals up on pedestals and it frustrated me. I've been there, I've done that, I know what it's like to put that kind of pressure on yourself.  

It's taken me a very long time to find myself in the headspace that I'm in now so I know it's not easy. I just find all of this so irresponsible.