Missoula Road Trip

Although it pains me to say it, I was a bit of a jackass on Wednesday.

The previous week the Missoula city council sent a request to my boss to have someone who works with Bozeman’s historic preservation department come down to Missoula foe a Q & A session. Missoula is considering adopting similar ordinances that I implement in Bozeman, and they wanted a program overview from us.

I say us because I work for Bozeman’s preservation program with one other person. And thank god there’s two of us, because we’ve both been swamped in the last month. I have two major grant applications due next week, she’s got ordinances to be adopted, etc. And believe me, neither of us really WANTED to go to Missoula at all, but when the boss says “you’re going” there doesn’t really leave much room for discussion.

So Tuesday night I brought the city’s small all wheel drive SUV home, in preparation for the 200 mile, 3 hour drive to Missoula, and then the 200 mile, 3 hour drive home from Missoula on Wednesday.

I woke up at 6:15am, showered, and glanced at the new two inches or so of new snow outside. Damn. Snowy roads over the continental divide and Cardwell Pass were going to suck. Nothing to do but soldier on, right? I mean, I was under the boss’ direction, at a request from a municipal council. They were expecting me at 11am.

And usually, its snowing in Bozeman, but by the time you get to Belgrade the weather is just overcast.

DJ, admirably, didn’t throw a shitfit when I told him I was still going. He reminded me about how all wheel drive works, and handled it ok when I gave him a cheery “I’ll be fine!”

He left for work, and I backed the CRV out of the garage, to hear the radio announcer say that the Belgrade interchange with I-90 was closed due to a major accident. Shit, ok, I had to reroute through Churchill and hit the Manhattan interchange. Good thing I left early.

Lets just sum this whole saga up by saying the following: 1) driving behind a semi-truck on Homestake pass is no place to find out that the City’s vehicle is out of wiper fluid; 2) or needs new tires, despite all wheel drive; 3) it’s a pisser when you fill up the gas tank and wiper fluid, in Butte, only to find the wiper fluid still doesn’t work; 4) I accept that being a Montanan means you’ll drive in snow, but that sucked; 5) the roads sucked all the way to Missoula; 6) I was an hour late because the roads sucked; and 7) and it wasn’t cool to be told, now that you’ve risked your life to get here, you’ve got 15 minutes to talk.

As I drove over in the shitty roads, I kept thinking about DJ. That I needed to be careful, because the last thing he needed was to have me get in an accident (or worse), because I was bullheaded about doing something stupid and he bit his tongue and let me do it anyway. I let him know when I got to Missoula, when I left Missoula, Butte, etc. But I know he probably didn’t get much done all day on Wednesday because he was worried about his stubborn FI (who also likes to drive fast).

I think one of the successes of our relationship is that we let the other person be who they are, and do what they do. Despite it sometimes being annoying, or ridiculous. And I learned on Wednesday that my stubbornness and drive to do what I want on my terms doesn’t impact just me anymore.

So sorry DJ. That was a jackass move. And I’m glad, for both of us, that I made it home safely.

Dress-Alikes

You know I’m wearing my mom’s mom’s wedding dress from 1951. You’ve even kind of seen a photo of it.

And believe me, I can’t wait to tell you the whole story on this dress, its alterations, etc, but I want to have photos from my grandparent’s wedding to tell the story with. And I tried to hunt up my grandparents wedding photos while in Clarkston over Christmas, but they’re buried in a box somewhere in the garage. Or closet.

Such is life when your parents move.

BUT, I spent a little of tonight browsing around for invitation inspirations, so that we could start thinking about how those are going to come together. I’ll post on that later, because in my search of wedding related stuff I stumbled across a bunch of dresses that I wanted to show you!

(DJ: Standard disclaimer. Continue at your own risk. None of these are photos of the actual dress, just dresses that look similar.)

Dunkin' Doughnuts girls coming to visit?

Dudes we’ve got a guest list of 300 people. That means that if (the average) of 2/3 of the guest list attends… we’ll have 200 guests at El Weddingo.

And when we put together the list for this thing, we actually went through the spreadsheet and noted people we thought wouldn’t come. I mean, lets get real; we’re getting married in July, in a not-so-convenient place with very few hotel rooms. I recognize people have other things to do in mid-summer.

Although it’s to early to really say, without RSVPs and a count of who actually showed up, we are hearing from a lot of people who we listed as “probably won’t come” on the spreadsheet that they’re planning to attend. And for some reason I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that so many people would make the effort to attend. That so many people love me, DJ, and us.

What a nutjob, huh? I mean, why is it so hard for me to accept that 300 or so people love and support us?

But today’s post is not about my awkwardness with large crowds of people who love me. It’s devoted to a certain group of women who love me.

In 2003 I rode my friend Katie’s coattails on a summer adventure. Kate had decided to work at a kids sleep-away summer camp as a ropes instructor for a camp in New York, about 100 miles northwest of New York City. I’d spent the previous summer as a lifeguard and swim lesson instructor at Riverside Country Club in Bozeman, but thought Kate’s idea sounded like fun. Somehow I made my way onto the camp’s lifeguard and swim instruction staff.

Soon after arriving, maybe the day of, I met Lauren. Lauren is, I think, my Jewish twin. Same chubby cheeks, same curly brown hair, same affinity for Nissan vehicles.

And as Lauren and I were walking across the camp grounds, Lauren and I ran into Lis and Nyv, who were returning from a shopping venture. Lis is a native of Chico, and has one of the biggest hearts of anyone I know. Nyv too, is someone with a sharp wit, a wonderful sense of humor, and an infectious spirit, not to mention a kick ass New Zeland accent.

Me, Lauren, Nyv and Lis.

Over the course of 10 or 12 weeks the four of us became thick as thieves, all working in the pool area and all having the same day of the week off. We spent one very fun day sitting in Dunkin’ Doughnuts laughing our asses off at things I can’t even remember.

We stayed in touch as best as possible after the summer ended. I returned to Bozeman, Lauren to Long Island, Lis to Chico, California, while Nyv headed onto the second stage of her trip around the world for a stop in London.

Lis, Lauren, Nyv and me in New York City in 2005.

We managed to get together in the fall of 2005 when Nyv stopped through the United States en route home to New Zeland. We met in New York, stayed with Lauren’s parents and spent evenings sitting under their back deck, hanging out, drinking wine and laughing uproariously. Later that fall Nyv stopped through Kentucky to visit for a week.

Nyv and I trying on hats in KY in 2005.

While we don’t get to see each other often, and don’t get to participate in each others lives in a daily basis, I appreciate each of these women so much. They’ve taught me about endurance, tolerance, sense of adventure, a giving spirit, and mostly how to laugh.

And the best part- they’re either coming to our wedding in July, or to our second reception at our house in September (I’ll write about it more soon!). And when I read the email exchanges between the four of us, I can’t help but bounce a little in my seat. Mostly because I can’t wait to laugh, laugh, and laugh till I cry with these fabulous people. I can’t wait to show them where I live (lake or Bozeman), and can’t wait to have them around for a bit.

Because I recognize that good friends are hard to come by. And a little part of me is still amazed to be lucky enough to have so many people who love me. And who let me love them.

Isn’t it amazing what putting together a wedding teaches you?

Adventures in Registries

Registering for wedding gifts. Ugh. Ahh. Harumph. Shitballs.

We started at Macy’s last Monday. Weeeellll I actually got bored over Thanksgiving and started a Macy’s list online.

Mistake #1: starting a registry online

The online registry became a problem when we registered on Monday, because the usual Bridal Consultant works Tuesday through Saturday. No problem, right? Because the manager could totally help us.

And then the manager had a question, so the newbie clerk could take over. I repeatedly mentioned that I had already started one online, but I wanted to come into the store with DJ and use the scan gun too. And that I wanted to make sure the rewards got onto my Macy’s card.

Newbie clerk (who had an impressive mullet) shortly had us on our way, armed with scan gun and list of things to register for.

Mistake #2: Not waiting till the Bridal Consultant was in to claim the scan gun

Because after two hours of zapping this, that and the other, I went home to edit our registry, and couldn’t log into it. I could look us up, and view the registry we’d just started in store. I could log in, and edit the registry I’d started online. But I couldn’t look up the online registry using our name.

And I really need to edit that registry, because I’m mortified at some of the items on the registry. A $750 duvet (was on sale for $250 in store!). Three different Kitchen Aid mixers. Mostly I just want to play!

Mistake #3: Going in without a plan

I’m working through the Macys issues. They’ve merged the two lists, and only one list comes up when you look us up by name. But I still can’t log in an edit the list.

We registered at Target on Saturday night. Because nothing says PARTY TIME like a couple of schnitzers and a scan gun!

It went better. After the Macys online/ in-store debacle I didn’t even browse at Target. We buzzed through pretty quickly, loading up on the kitchen gadgets, organizational stuff, board games, etc.

And then I got home and realized that for the most part, the Macy’s/ Target registries are full of the Exact. Same. Items.

Well… hmmm. Is that a good thing, or bad thing? Should Macy’s be our “nice” stuff: Crystal, nice bedding, towels, kitchen stuff? Target our “fun stuff”: board games, every day plates, lawn stuff, random organizational stuff?

How has anyone else kept multiple registries in order? Did you make mistakes in the process?

Or do you (like me) still have guilt in creating a list of “wants” that aren’t really “needs” in the middle of a recession?

Setting Up House: The Office, Part II

I inherited a crafting gene from my mother and grandmothers. Although she hasn’t had time to work on projects, my mom is a sewer. Both of my grandmothers are products of the Great Depression. Although they were in elementary school through the 1940’s, both are very thrifty and have a knack for turning something used into something useful.

I’m looking forward to putting my crafty gene to work on our house. I think the craft gene is next to the cheap gene? Maybe?

I’ve we've tackled setting up/ decorating the office first. Since we won’t receive many office-related wedding gifts, the office is the room that will change the least post-wedding. I’ve  shown you the basic idea for the office, and we’re making progress on it.

On Monday night DJ hung the shelves above the desk, as well as reinforced my desk. I dressed up a corkboard with some decorative ribbon and hung it above the desk. Dusty has named the desk area “Little Courtee’s Workstation” (in a sing-songy voice) and he seems to anticipate a number of Courtney-drawings in the corkboard.

Instead of drawings I started working out my creative drive on Tuesday night by taking apart one of the chairs my grandmother gave me in order to recover it. I saw this fabric on Sunday with DJ’s mom, and thought the green/ teal/ blue etc. would be a nice accent to the grey wall paint, the tan couch and the darker wood color of the desk. Hopefully the floral pattern isn’t too feminine for DJ’s taste.

Of course, you remember this chair:

Sorry for the weird lighting. Blackberry phone photo.

With exception of the back, the pink fabric was all attached to the chair with staples. I started by using a seam ripper to take apart the backing, which is the only piece of actual sewing on the chair. Then I ripped the stapled fabric off of the remainder of the chair, taking care to pull the staples out with a pliers and set them aside so no one stepped on them.

Yay taking apart old fabric!

I should add that Real Housewives of Orange County is good background noise while doing a project like this. Because I had to concentrate on the chair, I needed TV that required not a single brain cell!

Once I got down to the cushions of the chair, I assessed whether I should start over with new cushioning. My answer to that is I probably should, but I won’t. I don’t have the first clue what is appropriate for this chair, and it’s just easier to not mess with the current cushioning.

Yeah... I probably should have put new padding on... but I didn't.

I’m crafty, but not overly ambitious!

Once I’d taken all of the old fabric off of the chair, I spread out the two yards of new fabric I purchased (at half off Jo Ann Fabrics!) on the floor. I decided which way the pattern went (flowers up), and laid the old upholstery pieces out on the fabric as guides. I played around with which flowers I to capture for specific pieces, and then cut around the templates, adding about an inch to my cutouts as accident margin.

Once all of my new pieces of fabric were cut out, I laid them on the chair to see how they fit. Some additional scissor snips were needed to make the fabric fit around the arms. By the end of night one, my chair looked like this!

At some point I should have gotten a real camera out...

I just needed a staple gun to attach everything.

I stopped at ACE Hardware on my way home Tuesday night and purchased said staple gun. By 7pm I was off and running, stapling away. Despite cutting the fabric an inch larger on all sides than the templates, it seemed like I had to do a lot of pulling to get the fabric to stretch to the length I wanted. I wrapped it around the base of the chair and stapled it to the inside of the chair frame. This way the staples shouldn’t stand a chance of being visible.

Staple staple staple!

By the end of night two (Wednesday night), I’d stapled all of the fabric to the chair, with the exception of the back. I hand stitched the backing to the chair on Thursday, and was done!

Off center, camera phne photo.

I think the chair fits quite nicely into little Courtee’s workshop…

The next project is to repaint this white dresser a matching color of blue/ green, so we can use it for more storage. This dresser, oh the places it’s seen! I even dragged it back and forth from Kentucky with me…

Hmm... how to choose.

Have you used your winter evenings to get home improvement projects done?

Flower Power

I've mentioned before my flowers ideas, how Harrison provides no options for vendors, and how my Grandmother is our florist. Mom and I have continued to discuss bloomage for the past months, and I think we're on the right track.

The concept (note that I didn’t say “plan”) right now is to order flowers to be delivered to our house in Harrison. This way we avoid someone having to run into Coeur d’Alene to Costco for flowers the day of. Because I don’t need to add to the stress of the day by needing to spend 100 minutes in a car (this basic statement applies to hair and makeup as well).

So I asked around, and found a couple of whole sale flower places that deliver using Fed Ex or UPS. We’ll order flowers though something like FiftyFlowers.com Once they arrive on Thursday morning we’ll let them sit in the air conditioned house in order to let them open up a bit (they always ship with the buds not totally open). We’ll assemble the bouquets and boutonnieres Friday morning.

Which begs the question, what kind of flowers do we want? (Note: the truth is, I don’t really care. But someone has to make a decision, so I guess it’s me?) (is that how Mr. Bush got into Iraq? By being the last Decider?)

Well, I've already mentioned that I like hydrangeas. And the color scheme for this shin-dig is blues and whites:

Photographers: how do white flowers on a white dress work?

I liked this image so much I have it saved twice. I love the blue tinting at the ends fo the hydrangea blossoms!

Simple, makes a statement, and looks relatively easy to assemble.

And frankly, hydrangea only bouquets seem to be the easiest way to go for us DIY-ers. Buuuutttt, a giant hydrangea as a boutonniere might be a little out of scale. Or just weird.

Thus, after searching the internets high and low, I think I’ve decided to add sweet peas to our floral mix. You might remember that I grew sweet peas in pots last summer:

I can't wait to grow these again next summer!

Fresh flowers in a house is always fun.

And used them for a Oh-My-Gosh-We’ve-Been-Engaged-14-Hours-And-I-Must-Take-Glamour-Shots-Of-My-Ring photo session.

My ring is so shiny you can see the blue of my shirt in the left side of this photo!

Let me show you some sweet pea/ hydrangea inspiration inspiration…

I like the muted colors of this boquet. Not overwhelming.

Blue hydrangeas and with sweet peas mixed in.

This is absolutely gorgeous, but we want to keep the floral order simple. This has too many different kinds of flowers. Boo.

Sweet peas!

Oh, hello. Hydrangeas? Check. Sweet peas? Check. Tulips? Probably not possible. White roses? hmm...

I love, love, love, love the simplicity and varied colors of these boquets.

I like how a hydrangea blossom fills out a boquet a little more.

Mostly sweet peas. I wonder what those darker pink leaves are?

In order to avoid giving DJ a giant hydrangea on his chest as decoration, I think we’ll stick with a sweet pea (or maybe white rose) boutonniere format.

Hey sweet peas!

Hmm... white rose and white/ blue sweet peas?

My mom is insistent that I need to choose an accent color to pop out amongst the blues and whites that we’ve already got going on with the color scheme. I’m adamant, absolutely against, hot pink. I’ve seen it too many damn times. And I’m not sure we need an accent color. I kind of like the monochromatic look… (with variations in hydrangeas and sweet peas, of course).

My mom also thinks we should store the flowers, both pre and post-assembly, in the cooler of the local grocery store. I’m a little hesitant; only because, well, how do we know their cooler won’t go out? At least if the flowers are in front of me I’ll know if they’re too hot… right?

Did you DIY flowers? Good idea or bad idea? How did you narrow down your inspiration for flowers?

Name Game (and a Top Gun quote)

I’m keeping my last name after we marry. I am, and will always be, the person with the three names my parents gave me nearly 27 years ago. It’s a simple statement of fact for me, but for varying reasons. My names connect me to who I am. My names represent familial ties that don’t disappear when DJ and I take vows. And I’m lazy.

I am:

COURTNEY because it was the ‘80’s (hey, at least it’s not as common as Britney or Jennifer). It seems like every kid I grew up with had a name that ended in an “ie” “ee” or “ey” sound.

HEITSTUMAN (Hi-Stew-Man) because it is my mom’s maiden name. My mom’s dad’s dad was a blacksmith in little Colton, Washington. He married a woman named Katherine Becker, and they had 13 children before he died. My grandpa Bob is one of the best people on earth; patient, kind, full of mirth, sociable, and generous. DJ reminds me of him.

KRAMER because it is my father’s last name. And though my family name “ain’t the best in the navy”…. Oh, wait, this isn’t Top Gun… back on track. (Cougar and Merlin and Maverick and Goose!... did I mention it was the ‘80’s?))

My family name has meaning in this community, and I refuse to duck that meaning by taking on DJ’s name. And Kramer is who I am, personally and professionally. My high school diploma, BA in History diploma, and Master of Historic Preservation diploma all say Kramer. I am who I am.

Oddly, I didn’t feel so strongly about not changing my name until I started dating DJ. It’s about not him, or his rather boring last name. But I think that dating DJ has brought me to a new level of maturity. One where I recognize who I am, and what that means.

And having both of my parents last names in my name is meaningful to me. It’s a reminder of my grandparents, and the town we’re from. Hardworking, generous, industrious, family oriented roots. How could reminders of those predispositions be a bad thing?

My mom wishes she’d kept her last name. DJ’s mom wishes she’d kept her maiden name. My dad’s mom wishes she’d kept hers. My mom’s mom wishes she’d kept her last name. Imagine the shock of little Joyce Druffel, getting married in 1951 in the catholic church in small farm town America and not taking Bob's last name!!!??? Scandalous!

Lastly, although maybe the foremost reason for not changing my surname, is that I’m lazy. I have enough paperwork in my life, I don’t need to add contacting Social Security/ DMN/ Passport/ Bank/ Credit Cards/ Student Loans/ forwarding addresses/ Family/ Friends about the name change to my list of things to do. Especially if DJ doesn’t have to do them!

Sidenote: after 30 years of marriage, my dad looked at my mom and said “Sandi, I think we should be the Heitstumans now.” My mom was flattered, and appalled at the thought of redoing all of their paperwork!

DJ doesn’t mind that I plan to keep my name. He doesn’t care either way. And we haven’t really talked about what we’ll do when we have kids. I’d kind of like to give any daughter of ours my middle (mom’s maiden) name and my maiden name and DJ’s last name. Four names is too many, you say?

Maybe we should just both change our last name to Heitstuman?

If you could do it over again, would you change your name? Have your husband adopt yours? Create a hybrid? Any struggles with naming children?

Gift registries

DJ and I are planning to start our wedding gifts registry tomorrow. All political correctness aside, I’m excited to check this item off of our “To-Do” spreadsheet.

Because after years of making fun of DJ and his spreadsheets, I’m now a devotee. You just laughed, didn’t you!?

Regardless, registering for gifts in the middle of a recession is kind of hard to stomach. I mean, DJ and I are actually thriving in this recession. We sold his condo for a (very small) profit, built a house with all of the high end amenities we never thought we’d be able to afford, and have been able to travel extensively in the last year. There are a lot of Americans who had a much worse 2009.

So waltzing into a store and setting up a gift list with a value over $1,000 is kind of… well, tricky, emotionally for me. I mean, we already have so much stuff. Both of us lived alone before shacking up, so we really have all the necessities, sometimes in pairs. How does one navigate the tricky ground of asking your recession-impacted friends and family to travel to the backwoods of North Idaho and then give you a gift too!?

Well, my grandma ordered me to set up a registry, so we will. Us Heitstuman women, we’re opinionated.

Asking for gifts, especially in my practical family, begs the question, what do we need?

So you’re saying we need to inventory our whole house and kitchen, huh?


We already have a set of china that DJ’s dad picked up during his time in the Army in Korea. It’s not a totally complete set, as some of it has been broken. I’ll probably try to replace pieces some day, but we will not be registering for china.

My mom gave me a set of every day utensils when I went to grad school. Its fine, the set is complete, and I think we’re good on the everyday utensil front.

I would, however, like to register for crystal or some other version of nice glass wear. I’m down with pint glasses for daily use, but our Thanksgiving table looked a little college-esque with the pint glasses:

Fancy pint glasses? Check. Fancy non-matching wine/ whiskey/ champagne glasses? Check. Table cloth? oh..... Shit.

We do need a nice water pitcher, wine and water glasses or crystal, champagne flutes, and vases. We have no vases in the house, which indicates how often either of us brings flowers home!

We will go overboard on registering for new kitchen tools, gadgets and small appliances though. We’ve both been eyeing Kitchen Aid mixers. And all of the gadgets that come with it. Toasters, pots and pans, and a grown up coffee pot are all things we’ll ask for too. We’re foodies, who love to cook, so useful stuff is on our list.

Oh, helloooooooooo you'll look nice in our black and white and red kitchen!

As for other traditional registry items, we do need new bedroom stuff. Principally, a new bed. Can we register for that? We’ll eventually buy a new queen bed, and our current one will move into the guest room. I’d like to register for new bedding though, and to prevent the down comforter tug-of-war we’ve been having this winter, we’ll register for a king size comforter to use on our queen sized bed!

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New towels, bathroom carpets, etc. will all be part of the registry. The kick here is that I haven’t exactly thought out a decorating scheme for our brand new master bathroom and guest bathroom. I kind of like the sage green we have going in the guest bath… but the master bath, with its emerald green granite, is hard for me to tab down. White? More tan?

We are boring, boring decorators. Such neutral people.

Other registry items will revolve around the house. Deck furniture. Porch swing. Lawnmower. Window washings. Living room area rug. Gardening rake.

Did I just get too practical with those items? Does anyone else have a hard time creating a gift registry when guests are strapped for cash?

Also, does Costco do registries? We’re Costco people.

Are you overwhelmed yet? Because I am!

Setting up House: The Office

The office room is one of our favorite rooms in the house. It faces south and west, and has awesome sunset views over the pond and Tobacco Root Mountains to the west. Like these:

Of course, the utility trailers are not longer in the middle of the lot to our west!

We’d like our office to “Do” a couple of different things:

1.  Be an organization center for our paperwork, which means we need to bite the bullet and actually purchase a file cabinet. 
2.  Be a second TV room/ sitting room for us and guests (the office and guest room are attached through a Jack and Jill bathroom)
3. Be a repository of our books/ library (I have a LOT of books. Total history nerd)
4. Storage is good.

As usual, we’re also broke. And the tax credit we’re so excited about getting probably won't happen 'till May. Yeaaaahhhh…. That sucks.

So! Office setup! Must! Be! Cheap!

First, a quick refresher on what the office currently looks like, here she is in all her glory:

Yowza.

The basic floor plan of the office looks like this:

Why yes, yes I do draw room layouts in powerpoint. It's all I have!

The closet in the office is bigger than in the guest room, and it is currently storage for extra coats (holy mother of god, do we have a lot of coats!), random wedding stuff, our two rolling suitcases, a Tupperware of my out of season clothes and my sewing machine. But, there is no reason this stuff needs to stay in the office closet.

 

 Here’s my long term plan for the office:

So totally not to scale.

Going around the room clockwise: couch on the left with photographs hung above, lamp in the corner either one of the torch lamps from downstairs (when we get new living room furniture- someday) for reading. Door to bathroom, Mt. Saint Helens Photo of DJ’s, window, double drawer lateral file cabinet with TV above, window, desk with parish chair (recover?), bulletin board hanging on wall above desk, shelves my dad built for me as a kid above desk, with various boxes for storage, book case (if it fits), closet (generally unchanged)

So what does all of that look like pulled together, you ask? Well, here’s the inspiration I’m looking at:
 
For the couch area:
 

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Pretend for a minute that this Pottery Barn inspiration is the east wall in our office. The tan couch is against the wall. There is a small coffee table. A lamp in the corner. Exchange that couch for the one seen in this 2006 picture of my Lexington apartment:

And exchange the coffee table for something like these ottomans, which have storage in them too.

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The wall behind the couch area is long, and I'm not sure if we'll want to use the mirror seen in the Lexington apartment photo, as well as framed photos to fill it, or find some cool artwork.

For the file cabinet/ TV area:

I'd like to go with a double drawer lateral file cabinet in this corner for a number of reasons. First, it's a lot of storage. Second, it'd be the right dimension to sit a TV on top of. And last, because a square two drawer cabinet will not fit to the right of the desk area.

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Despite our real need for a file system, I just have a really, really hard time dropping over $50 on a file cabinet. I'll be searching second hand and antique stores for this purchase. I could always buy one in the "wrong" color and repaint it....

For the desk area:

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Obviously we'll use my (free desk) until we're grownups and can afford a new one.

 

Of particular note here is the wall mounted shelving above. That's how the brown shelves my dad built me have been mounted in the past, although I believe it's possible to mount them by their ends for a less cluttered background. I like the idea of filling the shelves with boxes like these for storage of random stuff like cameras, camera equipment, assorted items, cords, etc.

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And the magazine butlers for corralling Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware and In Style magazines.

 

I’d like to continue to use the chair my grandma gave me from the parish house in Colton. You’ll note it’s pink, which isn’t totally cohesive with our tan, cream and chocolate color scheme. I could recover it, but if I do I want the chair to be a burst of color. Like a rich whiskey color. Or seafoam blue. Or something.

 I'd like to add pops of color to the mostly neutral color scheme using the lamp shades, couch pillows, and chair coverings. Window treatments, as well could help add color to the room. I haven't decided where to go with window coverings; I'd prefer to sew them if possible to save money. I like being able to sit at the desk and look down on the street at the world below, so being able to see out the bottom of the window will be key.

What do you think so far? It's definately not a total slam dunk, yet. But we'll get there. We're headed over to Livingston today to check out some antique stores, maybe we'll find some treasures!

Why Harrison?

I had my first wedding dream yesterday morning. It had something to do with my friend Jen and I, and walking the two blocks to the church to the wedding.

Which is funny, since we’re not getting married in a church.

Regardless, the church was on the water, and I was so thankful to be near the water.

I woke up kind of giggling at myself. I’ve been stressing pretty hard about all of the “what-ifs” of our lakeside wedding. DJ and I discussed a rain plan the other day, and basically threw the whole thought of having a rain plan out of the window. Our train of thought was that rain in July in Harrison is usually very brief, and we’d wait it out.

So basically, we’re going to pretend it’s going to be gorgeous. You’re with me on this, right?

Wednesday night driving home I thought about how I’ve become *that girl* planning a wedding. Totally ignoring the realities of the situation, and pushing ahead for only the vision I have in my head. Sure, it’s tempered by some of DJ’s ideas, and some of my mom’s practical solutions, and a dash of my dad’s realities, but mostly, this wedding is really becoming all about what I wanted.

Yes DJ, I did just write that. I’m acknowledging that I’ve forced my wants for this event into what will hopefully be reality.

I’m ignoring the reality that it might rain. I’m ignoring the reality that Harrison doesn’t have enough hotel rooms for what the reality of our guest list is. I’m ignoring the reality that a year ago I wanted a simple, low key, less work, more delegation wedding, and instead creating a day of timeline that includes setting up chairs for the ceremony.

Sigh. Damn, sometimes I wish we could start over.

But that begs the question, why was I so insitient on a Harrison wedding?

Because when I close my eyes and imagine that moment of walking down the hill, across the bike path, and down an aisle lined with our favorite people in my favorite place, towards DJ to marry him, I get butterflies. I smile, and tear up a little bit. I’m so, so looking forward to the beauty of that moment.

Because Harrison and the Coeur d’Alene body of water has always been my reset button.

My haven. My place of respite, relaxation, and enduring peace.

And given the turmoil in my family’s life, through no fault of their own, I need those things now.

Thank you DJ, for letting me have my way on this one. I owe you.