streamers!! pt.1

Before we begin: anybody around here use a Mac and have iLife11? Specifically iPhoto? Does it make anybody else want to rip their brains out with a fork? Mine seems to be having issues importing 10 photos.
10.
I mean, one of the main features of a photo program has to be the ability to get photos from point a to point b (program), right?
If you can't do that properly, you're in serious trouble, my friend.
In fact, it's at the point where, as I'm importing my 10 photos, I might as well go have a long shower, take a nap, or go for a jog because everything else is freezing.

Anyhoo. According to the Interwebs I'm not the only one having issues, so I suppose that makes it less frustrating.
On to wedding-y-related stuff.
Over here, we've kicked into high-mode DIY.
We have a lot of projects coming up, so we might as well ride the enthusiasm while we still have it!
This was our project this weekend, resulting in blue and green stained hands when we went to the gym.

Streamer background! So, at the moment it's just the dyed cotton streamers, and probably about 1/3 of the total we'll end up making. But it was sort of our test-run, and I think they turned out beautifully! We want to hang them from a dowel or rail, and maybe use some yellow streamers as our 'guest-book', for people to write on with fabric pens, and then we can add those ones to the other and have a beautiful bright wall hanging. We're both super excited about this project. We imagine them behind us during the ceremony, then moved inside to cover the dark weird wall in the reception room... plus, if we have to go indoors due to the weather, we can use this behind us so it's not like we're just having our ceremony in the entry-way of our reception room. I think we'll be making some darker ones, and possibly having some cream/white ones in there, too.
Super excited.

Also, along with the invite (which I've changed a little since I uploaded it here), I now have RSVP and information cards to go along with it. Can you guess the colour theme?

(our surnames are not Antelopes nor Frog, but they fit)

(tempted to move the 'What's to eat?' question up, turn it sideways, and have it coming out of the tiger's mouth, there... but then the other ones would probably have to go wonky, too)

 Plus we also bought 6 wooden word signs (I'm a literacy student/English teacher. I looooove words. I love words on signs. Oooh, and these are caligraphy signs too. Pretty!) which we're going to paint white, maybe with a pearlescent finish? Or maybe just shiny white? Or something else. I don't know yet. The words are, from memory: love, joy, forever, imagine, laugh and dream. They'll be going on the tables somewhere. Possibly on books (words leaping out of pages! Yeah!) or between, or something or other. Not sure yet.

But it's all super exciting. Apparently at some point in the next couple of months I'm meant to book a florist (if we go down that route). How does one go about booking a florist???

welcome the new year and all it brings

Hey!
It's 2012.
How did that happen?
This is a big year. The world is meant to end, right? I think subconsciously Nic and I have taken that onboard and are cramming so much stuff in, just to make it worthwhile.
The other day I designed our wedding invitations, more or less. Yes, there's still 7 or so months (um..) before we need to actually have them, and Lord knows I'm changeable (like it one day, hate it a month later), but I like Photoshop, and I like making stuff, and I liked making them so much that for a minute there I had a glimmer of being able to do it more than just for fun. Maybe I'll put them below the cut, you can let me know what you think. Then I just have to figure out how we go about getting them printed up. We'd both love letterpress but I don't know how much $$$$$$ that would be.

I'm filled with a sense of trepidation about the wedding, in some ways. Not about getting married to Nic, although it's a very final and 'definite' thing to do... more that... you know, you always read wedding posts about people whose family came together and laughed and had a great time, and it was a real celebration and community thing, right? I don't even mean in the lead-up to the wedding, I'm assuming I'll get no help there except from Nic... more on the actual day, particularly for smaller, intimate weddings....I think I have a vision of my mother (or even other members of my family), gloomy, judging, making snide remarks about the food, the fact that we're having butter chicken as one of our mains and a vegetarian gnocchi as the other (quelle horreur! untraditional food!), or that there isn't enough wine selection, or that we served people canapes instead of a sit-down entree, etc etc. All these things, even though she continues to go on and on about her spit-roast backyard wedding...
I just want people to have fun, and I think I'm going to kill myself by stressing out about whether they will or not.
And then there's the feeling that Nic and I have sort of 'hermitised' ourselves. Which is to say, we have two really close friends, and not a whole lot beyond that until we get to 'people we're friends with at work', and 'people we talk to sometimes when we say 'let's catch up!' and it never happens'... and again, those stories of a community of people, of friends being there for one another, helping out, sharing the joy... I can't see it, and it makes me sad. And maybe when it's needed it will come... I don't know.

I've had two wedding panic 'oh crap we forgot something vitally important and it's the day of the wedding!' dreams already. Yesterday I made a timeline. I think I feel a bit better now.

Click below if you want to see the invite. If you could let me know what you think, if it needs any changes, etc, that would be fabulous. Of course it looks a bit less awesome without our surnames as it sits up nicely next to the ampersand, but so it goes. And the actual one has the password for the website, too, but it's not finished yet.

OH! I need to do a NZ post of some description. I'll knock that up a bit later.

photoshop mad...

So you know how last time I said we'd decided we were getting married at the zoo? Well, turns out our ORIGINAL date, 10/11/12 was still free. Me being me, however, I needed to make sure there was nothing better. Nothing against the zoo, I just have to exhaust all my options to be completely comfortable in the choices I've made so I don't spend ages second guessing myself.
So we went to some really adorable venues today- like, super rustic, very Australian and probably what we'd originally be looking for... BUT... they didn't do anything for us, we kept saying: the zoo is better. We love the zoo.

SO....
Zoo it is!!!

Which means I've been spending the last 3 hours or so photoshopping like crazy (because I can), since we have overseas people we'll want to get save the dates to earlier rather than later... I want to keep hush hush about the zoo till the invites go out cos it's cool, so our random STD mightn't make sense but hey, it's fun and I think it's pretty. I think we'll get it printed on post-cards and then glue magnets to the back so people can put it on their fridge.
Infact, that could mean that the superfluous stuff (eg, everything except "Save the date!" and the date) could possibly go on the back...

Anyhow, if you'd like to see what I've done, click below... If you have any suggestions, if you think I've gone overboard with the fonts/borders/glowy stuff, tell me.... I'd appreciate it!

Arg! This thing is becoming real, FAST!!!

study + kittens = procrastination.

I'm taking on a very audacious project this week. I'm not sure if audacious is the right word, but when I tried to find synonyms for 'gutsy', not much came up, so I'm wondering if that's Aussie slang or something.
So I'm trying to finish an assignment by this weekend, when it's not due for about 3 weeks. It's a straightforward assignment that involves me researching vegetable gardening programs that go to schools, and the benefits of being educated while outdoors. Totally up my alley. Which is making it easy. Which is always nice.
So, this is how I study:

Fairly terribly picture quality taken indoors with light on & blinds closed. Well done, Em.

Yes. The kitten is the most distracting factor in this whole equation, and yes, I still have a blank picture frame. I stupidly got it from Ikea expecting to be able to get photos printed out to fit, but apparently nobody in shops prints photos that size. And I haven't been bothered finding somewhere online to do it.

But really... what would you prefer? Reading stinky academic papers, or head bumps and tummy-scratching a kitten? She's even looking after my glasses.
Also... we've started calling her Mia. (Though secretly I like the spelling Miya, I think people would be inclined to say My-a instead of Mee-a).

Also, I designed our potluck/engagement party/games night invites yesterday. We'll send them tonight, since it's in just under 2 weeks time. It'd be nice to push it out another week but that Sunday is m... wait, the reason we had isn't a reason any more! It'll be my brother's birthday but even if he has a party he won't invite me, and since we've decided not to invite family to our shindig, it doesn't matter if I have a party on his birthday weekend. Sa-weet!

Anyway, here it is. A bit wacky, but that's us.

Yeah, click on it to see the bigger version with the actual words and stuff.

I think I've procrastinated enough now. Back to the thing I was doing.

(Edit: Ambitious is the word I was looking for. You know when it's not even that unusual of a word but it just alludes you? I knew it started with an A, at least. Also, it was too ambitious... I sort of changed the second half of my whole assignment in a way that meant I had to do a heap more research and reading... which may just be my super creatively lame way of procrastinating from actually writing the damn thing, but that's ok. Also I think I'm going to ride to Nic's work in about an hour and meet him when he finishes, then go to the gym. Procrastinating by exercise? Well, you can't tell me not to keep fit. So there.)

saving the date...

So!
Now that we have a date, I know the wedding is still not for many, many months, however! I figure now is the time to start really planning and thinking and getting STDs ready (that always sounds so wrong) and what not...
So I wanted to do something a little different then just a random card.. something 'us'... And I saw this..
<------------------------

And then like, putting a magnet on the back so people can put it on their fridge.

Pretty. cool. stuff.

Plus Nic likes it! and I like him. So, this is promising. Just have to figure out where to print them, and how much that will cost. ;)

Must getting 'wedsite' spiffed up so we can put the address on there too and also think about how we want it to look. Maybe something with a piece of pie, or one with a book, or OOOO.... involving Reya and/or Mal (ie: Mal holding sign in his mouth... TOTALLY plausible I tell you!!!)