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Pushing to the Back Burner

July 20, 2011 · 3 comments

The main big front burner of my stove is completely dead. My stove/oven/microwave unit is ancient, I mean vintage. Original to the house which was built in the late 70s or early 80s. On Sunday there was a mini fireworks show on my stove along with some sizzling noises and it hasn’t worked at all since then.

I figure there’s got to be a metaphor in the fact that I have to literally move everything to the back burner now. I’m just not quite sure what that metaphor is yet.

Good news is there’s a new stove in my garage. Bad news is it’s already been there for three years and I’m still using the old one.

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Shutterfly Photo Book Giveaway [Closed]

July 18, 2011 · 46 comments

This giveaway has now ended. The winners are #4 Kim, #9 Marisol, #14 Kim, #17 Beth, #23 Eugenie, #26 Stephanie Gimlin, #27 Lala R, #32 Jl Johnson, #35 Colleen, and #45 Brynn.

Wedding planning thoughts are swirling in my head now that we’re finally getting closer and it’s getting time to actually plan.

In just one month, we’ll be in Hawaii meeting with the wedding planner, selecting a ceremony location, finalizing a date, testing out the resort’s salon, attending a luau to see if it’s the right choice for our rehearsal dinner, and having dinner at the restaurant we’d like to have everyone join us at after the ceremony.

Photography is another very important element that we need to consider. My mom, my brother, and many other family members are very talented photographers. I don’t want them to miss important moments because they’re busy photographing so it’s nice that the wedding package we’re looking at also includes photography but I think my family can do a much better job of capturing the experience beyond just the wedding ceremony and in a candid and meaningful style.

Normally I just look at and use my photos on the computer but I want to have a wedding photo album. I’m not big on printed photos, in fact I don’t think I’ve printed a photo since at least 2008. I also don’t want to spend a ton on having the photographer create and provide the photo album.

And then Shutterfly emailed me to find out if I’d like to create a free photo book for myself and blog about it. And the timing was perfect.

When we go to Kauai next month, I’m going to take a zillion vacation photos with my iPhone and then create a photo book to see how it comes out and see if I like it enough to do my wedding album with Shutterfly.

shutterfly photo book

I also have 10 free Shutterfly Custom Path photo books to giveaway to Carrie Actually readers. To enter simply leave a comment.

Of course I’d also love it if you subscribed via rss or email, followed me on Twitter, or liked me on Facebook but none of those will make you any more likely to win.

Entries will close July 25, 2011 at 11:59pm Pacific time. Winner will be selected via random.org, notified via email, and must respond within 48 hours. This giveaway is open to the US only and you’ll have to pay shipping to Shutterfly to have your photo book delivered.

Disclosure: I’ve not yet tried Shutterfly but will be doing so using the free photo book they’ve provided me after I get back from my Kauai trip in August. Shutterfly is also providing the 10 photo books I’m giving away to you.

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Window Shopping for Wedding Dresses

July 13, 2011 · 7 comments

Last night, the fiance and I went out to do a little pre-Hawaiian vacation shopping. Apparently he didn’t currently own any swimwear. With my years and years of being in the pool almost constantly the concept of not having a single swimsuit boggles my mind. I’ve got a billion, I probably have more swimsuits that pairs of pants.

So we went shopping for gear for Hawaii for him. The trip was rather uneventful for him, we got him one pair of swim trunks (he was aiming for two) and one shirt.

But it was pretty exciting for me. In the window next door I spotted some gorgeous short white dresses. I even tried one on. And I loved it’s off white color, it’s floral beading, it’s shortly flowiness, the way it was fancy but still casual enough for a low key, afternoon, potential beach wedding, and it’s $200 price point.

But sadly as I’m six feet tall the dress was much too short for me. I sent a picture to my mom and she thought maybe it was even meant to be only a shirt but I looked on the web and saw that it is indeed intended as a dress.

So I’ll continue to browse. I’m excited about dress shopping but not in a rush as we haven’t finalized our wedding date yet. We’re currently eying August 18, 2012 so it’s still even a bit early to be dress shopping. I just worry about the availability of short dresses after this summer passes but before next summer arrives when I’d like to have my dress selected in early 2012.

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Letting Go of Magazines

June 28, 2011 · 23 comments

Fifteen years ago or so I became obsessed with magazines. I’d immediately drop everything to plunge into and enjoy a new issue. I’d carefully read through every page and look at every picture. I’d mark pages to come back to later. And I’d clip out pictures and inspirational text for art projects when the magazine had been so well read it was about to fall apart.

In college I majored in graphic design and focused specifically on print. Then I worked as an intern at Readymade magazine as the first step on my career path. They couldn’t afford to hire me in 2005 and a week and a half ago they finally shut down for good. Their publisher is shifting those resources to digital and that’s what’s happened with my interest in magazines as well.

After a few months of being engaged I went to the bookstore and bought a stack of wedding magazines (ten years ago a trip to the bookstore to buy magazines was one of my absolute favorite activities) and I’ve only flipped through a couple of them so far.

I still subscribe to a ton of magazines (mostly free subscriptions that I’ve gotten via airline miles) but I don’t have that eagerness to enjoy them that I once had. They site in stacks around my house waiting for me to flip through them once before I recycle them. I don’t think I’ll renew those subscriptions and it’s hard to say it’s even worth redeeming those points that would otherwise expire for magazines anymore. I don’t think I even enjoy the magazines enough to be worth the paper they’re printed on.

And if that’s how I feel about magazines these days, it’s no wonder Readymade is gone.

Do you still subscribe to magazines? Has the experience of reading a magazine changed for you over the years?

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Ten To Dos for June 2011

June 1, 2011 · 3 comments

  1. Sew the buttons back on to a few items on clothing
  2. Read 2 books
  3. Visit the farmer’s market
  4. Take Lucky to the dog park
  5. Send someone a real piece of mail
  6. Spend some girl time with my sister and/or my best friend
  7. Try a new activity or restaurant with my fiance
  8. Get my anti-anxiety medicine refilled even if it means a dreaded visit to the psychiatrist
  9. Sleep in on a weekend
  10. Try a new recipe

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