It's quiet around here!

Tanq&Tonic

Happy Tuesday, ladies.  I hope everyone on the East Coast is staying safe and warm despite the snow, power outages, etc.  What's going on this week?

We *finally* have our house mostly set up. Couch arrived Saturday and we filled in the rest around it.  Here's our new setup:

Now it's time to pick art for the walls.  I'll probably send out for some canvases once we choose the photos we want to use.  Choosing is always the hardest part!

How is everyone else doing?

kimmykupcakes

Aloha! I think it goes to show you wedding season is dying down. Most of us on the board, right now, aren't getting married until next year. I have a feeling this board is going to really start picking up after the new year. I continue to keep working on wedding projects and restoring our house. It's all I do these days. We put our wedding invitations together this weekend! I'm so over the moon happy with them. I can't believe my MOH/BFF made them ourselves! I can't wait to show them to all of you. But, I'm going to wait to post pictures after our guests have seen them first. Tanq- Your place is looking good!

jessj336

Ha Ha! Tanq, I was thinking the same thing this morning as everytime I check the board there is nothing new.

Love your couch and setup!! Gorgeous!

I wish we had a house or bigger space to decorate but living in Manhattan it is all about tiny spaces and we are constantly trying to declutter even more than we already have. I can't wait for the day we have a place we actually own that is hopefully bigger than our 750sq 1 bdrm.

Happy Tuesday almost Wednesday to everyone!!

Sara4242

I love your couch, and would claim the end with the chaise as my own.  

I, for one, have been working feverishly on wedding stuff. We're getting married in 34 days!! I continue to be amazed (though not surprised) how very friendly everyone in Hawaii seems to be. Everybody I talk to has been SO nice and accommodating. I might have even developed a girl crush on Anna Kim, who I've booked as our photographer.

We've decided to stream our wedding live on the Internet, and got that set up this week. I still need to finalize something for our dinner that night (Tanq, I checked with Aloha Events - they can't do it - but thanks for the recommendation!), and figure out how I'm going to carry my dress on the plane.

Once that stuff is done, I'll focus on planning things to do during the honeymoon part of our stay. Anybody have any "don't miss" suggestions??

Hope you're all having a great week!!

breaness

Tanq- I love your couch! It looks like you have a nice, open, roomy floor plan which I love! Ours is open and feels much larger than it is and I love it for that.

Kimmy- I am SO excited to see your invites!

Sara- Where on Maui are you getting married? I did a vacuum seal bag for my dress and took it to Vanessa Thompson in Kihei to get steamed and I swear to you it looked 100x better than it did when it left the bridal shop, and again after it got cleaned, steamed and pressed for the AHR.

Also, Sara, check out my wedding website (link in my maried bio) for our honeymoon plans. I posted a review on here a while ago and I'll be updating it into my married bio, but very literally everything we did was a 'don't miss'

I'm just trying to rest up and feel better. I've been off work the last two days sick and apparently people thought that I was fired? Lovely. Nope, just sick. I love that whenever anyone's gone rumors start flying. There's a ridiculous amount of turnover in our department. My boss was just fired and that's the 3rd manager they've had in that position since I started. The longest any of them has lasted was 6 months, and they normally go 4-6 months between managers. Yikes. 

jtoly

Tanq~ I really love the coach too! Your room definately looks open and cozy! My FI bought his grandparents house and it needs so much updating! We did get the bathroom done but you would never imagine what the kitchen looks like! Our oven/ stove is from 1960's. Kimmy~ I can wait to see your invites! Jess~wow that's a small apt but NY is awesome!! Sara~yay! One month Brea ~hope you feel better soon My daughter boyfriend or whatever he is, is coming over tonight and she told me to "disappear"! Uh No!! Lol

WinstonsGirl

Totally not around lately.  Got the house keys last night, so work at day, moving boxes at night.  Our house defanitely doesn't look as nice as your's Tanq!!  Full of boxes.  Will be back in a week or so when we're moved in.  

Tanq&Tonic

YAY!  It's nice to hear from you gals and know that things are mostly going well. 

Kimmy - I soooooo can't wait to see your invitations.  EXCITED.

Jess - have you been to Ikea?  Some of my favorite displays there are where they say "great living in 585 sq ft" and it's the most amazing transformation of a small space into a really livable area.  I'm sure it's crazy expensive to make it happen, but they just have some of the most creative ways of using small spaces.

Sara - 34 days!  That's so soon.  Hopefully the last few bits aren't too stressful.  I just carried my gown on with me and when I arrived, it didn't even need steaming.  Looking back, I think it looked slightly less crisp than I'd ideally like, but that's me being ridiculously nitpicky

Brea - feel better soon!  Sounds like such a stressful environment.

jtoly - LOL.  I would say "sure honey" and then do everything in my power to stick around.  Heh.  This is also why I'm afraid of being a parent

dianalynm

Tanq--Also love the couch! Ours is similar and we discovered that we need a deeper one in case we both want to lay on it together at the same time! lol.

kimmykupcakes--Yay wedding invites!!! I still want to make mine, but I haven't figured out what I want to do, yet...

jess--I feel you on the 750 sq. ft. deal! My fiancé and I live in a small condo as well, about the same size. We also just got a dog! So now the space feels more small, but we're dealing with it. Just got in a couple boxes of wedding stuff, so it adds up in such a small space!

Sara--It's gonna zoom by, just like this year! I can't believe it's already November...

Brea--I hope your leg is healing up well...

Jtoly--LOL

kje--Congrats!! That's awesome!

As for me, we just had our engagement party and it went pretty well. My fiancé mom and aunts threw it for us. Just glad the weather was very nice last Saturday! I also got one of those canvas deals on Groupon and used it on one of our e-session pics. Well, the completely wrong pic got delivered! Luckily it was a tame one (two kids playing in the sand on the beach), but imagine if it was just an awkward photo...!

Also got in 2 boxes full of blue mason jars! Haven't opened them, yet, as to not cause anymore clutter in our small place, so I'm definitely holding back!

brianatappin

other than my mini meltdown the other day, not too much new here.  FI just got #1 of 2 HP touchpads he managed to buy in the whole HP-isnt-doing-hardware-anymore-so-lets-sell-touchpads-for-$99 madness.  The other one is "lost" (aka stolen) in the FedEx system somewhere, but we're excited to get one at least!

I'm down to 13 days til the wedding and 9 til we leave for Maui!  Still have a million little things to do but I made a list so should be able to handle it.

Mom has planned a special mother-daughter thing this friday...all she's told me is that I need to wear comfortable shoes and we will be outside a little bit so dress accordingly, BUT we're also going to dinner at a restaurant with a dress code so I have to figure that one out, HA!

Oh - and I'm planning all of our Maui outtings around the Oregon Duck/Standford football game (Go Ducks!) that'll be airing at 3PM Hawaii time the Saturday we're there - I don't know if that's love or just crazy! 

FSForever

Tanq, nice couch and space.  We really want to redo our living room but waiting until after the wedding.  

Kimmy, can't wait to see the invites.  We got all of my daughters pieces this weekend and her BM's are coming over next week to assemble.  I still can't believe she will be married and leave us when we return from Maui. 

Jtoly, don't leave.... We still don't let FSIL go upstairs to my daughters bedroom.  FI has told him they are't married yet so there is no need for him to be up there. 

Brianatappin,  My Mother and I are having a day this friday too.  My Bday but not really excited to turn 39 again, just to spend it with her, my girls and FI. 

Crazy week at work.  Last big meeting of this year next Tuesday and then I can sail through the holidays, if we don't get bad weather.  Can't wait.  Poor FI is getting tired of the overwhelmed me. Pretty much have everythings ready for the first wedding of the house.  

jessj336

Tanq,

Yep I am very familiar with Ikea....used to go there a lot but now FI & I are trying to invest in better quality stuff so most of our furniture is Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn or Room & Board at this point. Most of the Ikea stuff kind fell apart after a few years.

The small space is a challenge esp since the apartment has weird angles in some rooms so furniture doesn't quite fit as it would if the room was a rectangle or square.

But it is home and we have a balcony with a decent view so that is what matters...I just we wish we had time to declutter more and organize better.

If I we weren't saving/paying for the wedding and owned the place I would invest in the built closet organizer shelves, etc. Oh well! Someday!

jtoly

Update! The bf didn't come over but FI decided that we should look into purchasing another TV for our back room which has a couch from my house that I brought with me to FIs house when I moved in. This way we will ALL be downstairs and in the same area. Living room - kitchen - back room. My daughter is going to be 17 in two weeks so I won't be leaving her alone with a boy yet!

spappano

Hey ladies!

Tanq - your house/couch is beautiful!!!  Loving it!

Sara - where are you from in Indiana - I too live in Indiana - wow 34 days!!!  Soooo close!!!!

Kimmy - cannot wait to see your invites   So happy you are happy with them!

Brea - I am sorry you are sick - hope you feel better soon - and love the fact that everyone thought you were fired - how nice!  Geez!!!

Jenn - how did the bf thing go?  haha

Diana - glad you had a nice time at your party - that was very sweet of them to throw you an engagement party - and I LOVE the look of the blue mason jars - if we were having a bigger wedding I would totally do that!!!

Bri - wonder what your mom has in store for you - how sweet of her though!!!  And you are getting so close as well - just try to breathe and take it one day at a time - you will get everything done!!!!  So excited for you!

FS - I feel you on being overwhelmed - I too am totally stressed out!!  Hang in there!

AFM - leaving for Hawaii on Friday and let me tell you - I need it!  I have been fighting with my ex husband all week and it is just taking a toll on me - he is having a hard time with me moving on and is making everything soooo difficult - long story short he had a gambling problem during our marriage that I didnt know about and it has just been hard on me - financially.  But I have a wonderful fiance who would do anything to take my stress away and is always there for me - so I am happy!  Or at least I will be on Friday when I get to finally see him.  It has been a very rough week and I am emotionally exhausted but Hawaii is just what I need to recharge myself.   I cannot wait!!!!!

Tanq&Tonic

Jess, I hear you.  It's kind of shocking how expensive 'real' furniture is though!  DH and I have been moving a ton (3 cross country moves this year) so we keep buying crap furniture and then selling it before we leave.  We finally decided the couch was going to be our splurge

spappano - that sounds incredibly stressful.  Hopefully you can clear things up and cut ties with the ex quickly and just move forward.  I'm glad you have so much love and support from your FI as you go through this!

jtoly

Ugh! Some ex's could be a pain. Mine tells me to move back only when he's drinking. Other than that doesn't say much. Hopefully once you get married he will let it go! I hope you have a great time in Hawaii!!!

bellathebride

Hi girls! Sorry I've been MIA. We're prepping to move and I've just been exhausted.

@Tanq- beautiful place! Love the modern feel!

jessj336

Tanq-

Where are you living now?? Your avatar says Hudson Valley...are you still there?

I hear you on the expensive "real" furniture. FI & I bought so much crap furniture that we got sick of it and saved for real furniture plus I have picked up quite a few Pottery Barn pieces that were brand new at the outlet so the prices were significantly lower. My PB Basic couch would have been $2400 in the store with its washable suede slipcover and down cushions but it was sent to the outlet because of a tiny tear in the fabric on the underside which you would never see anyway. It was marked as $800 at the outlet and we purchased it for $400 since we went during a holiday weekend sale.

dianalynm

Jess - My FI and I bought a storage bed + nightstands from West Elm. GREAT for small spaces!! We love it so much...the only thing is, since it's quality furniture, it's heavy!!! We've moved that bed twice already and may possibly anticipate moving it again! Luckily I've assembled and disassembled it every single time, so putting it together is a breeze...just worried about scraps and nicks while moving...