Wedding Wednesdays: My Bridesmaids

My sister: Maid of Honor

Sara and B: Bridesmaids

Bestie: Bridesmaid
Who I get to see in 17 days!

I thought I'd share today what my bridesmaids will be wearing for the wedding. I absolutely LOVE their dresses. This last winter, my sister went to a fashion show and saw a dress that she thought would be perfect for the wedding. I asked each girl what they thought and everyone agreed it was "the dress." It is from Christopher Straub's line he designed for Maurices. When we went to get the dress it was 40% off too!!! What a steal.

Screen shot... sorry!

Next up, the shoes! We went to DSW and instantly found black and white Audrey Brooke pumps.

My sister modeling in DSW

Now, as you can see, the dress is all black. It needed a little somethin somethin to really wow. So, my sister and I went out in search of a diamond belt. There was nothing out there. Nothing, I'm tellin ya! We looked in every store at the belts and necklaces. The mall was closing and we thought we'd just go to Claire's and look really quick (thinking we wouldn't find anything). Well, we did find something! It's a necklace/bracelet/earring combo of diamonds. We figured out that you can hook the bracelet to the necklace to adjust the size of the necklace. They are perfect! And, they add that little bit of sparkle the dress needed.

While we were shopping for the belt, we came across the perfect hair piece. They will add that little bit of class to the outfit!

My sister will wear the white because she's my maid of honor and Bestie and Sara will wear the black!

So, there you have it! In 25 days these lovely ladies will be wearing the above outfit! What do you think? 

No Wasting

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I don't like to be a waster. Especially when it comes to food! I spent my money to buy the food, I might as well eat it all and enjoy it!

One thing I like to do, is when I'm cutting a melon use the two hollowed halves as the bowl. Now, I do realize that sometimes when serving food, you want it to look fancy and pretty. I understand! But, when your sister is coming over (as mine was) and you know she'll appreciate it, go ahead and do it! Wanna see how cute it looks? Okay, I guess I'll show you!

Marm on Monday: Our new office chair

When we were going through and picking things to register for my Sweet didn't really have an opinion on  anything. Most everything was my doing, my picking, and my reasoning. Soooo when he asked if he could register for a new office chair I hopped right on it. He went onto Target and picked one out. I mentioned to his Mama that he had chosen it, and last week (a few days after my shower) it showed up assembled and put into our office at our house! What a nice surprise, huh? Funny side note- when My Sweet first sat down he said it's weird because it doesn't recline back at all. A few days later- still perplexed- he realized the bottom of the chair was put on backwards! My Sweet and his father are not exactly known to be the most handy men. Good thing they're so darn handsome!!

Here's a few pics of our new office chair...

We also registered for a desk that would match this chair just perfectly.... weddings are sooo much fun!!!

Words of Wisdom: No re-dos

Danielle and I

 

Hello! Happy Friday. It's Danielle's Mom here today posting on Friday...

No re-dos:

I think it is important to remember when your children are young to give them responsibilities, not chores- that sounds like work.

It could be something as simple as making their bed in the morning.  

Instead of showing them how to do it, do it with them. They can learn from doing- not just watching. Sooner or later they will want to do it on their own, and when that happens be satisfied with the outcome.  They will be so proud of their work. It might not look the same as if you had done it, but  try to never "re-do" what they have done. Let them grow up with confidence in their ability to handle responsibilities.

 

Positive reinforcement will teach your child their efforts are important and appreciated.

Here is an example of my daughter Chana's bed when she was little. Although it is not how I would have made the bed; she did it and that's all that mattered!

Now, here's my bed. Can you see the difference? I still like Chana's better.

Wedding Wednesdays: My Shower!

This last weekend was an exciting one! It was my bridal shower. My sweet Aunties and Mommy put it on for me. It was at my parent's house and planned to be in the backyard. The weather wasn't great (rainy and cold) so it got moved to the garage. My aunts did such an awesome job making it feel pretty. There were so many details they thought of that were so me... The tables had doily tablecloths and teacups with tealight candles floating in them. There were two flower arrangements in the middle with my wedding colors and a pop of my fave- Martha Stewart Blue. Underneath all the food were doilies too. Something very clever for the "theme" was a recipe theme. Each person was  mailed a recipe card with their invitation and instructed to bring their favorite family recipe and the dish to the shower. So, the food was delicicious and there was sooo much of it! Annnd now I have all of the recipes! It was so much fun and I am so thankful/grateful for everyone who came and made me feel special. I didn't get as many pictures as I intended to, but here are the ones I did get!

My sister came over to my house before the shower... sister time is great!

Kate Spade silverware y'all!

My cake... YUM! Love the quote too.

Opening some presents

Sara and Baby B!

Playing a game

My sister looking sassy

Flower arrangements... so pretty!

The food was delicious!

My sister with B... doesn't she look good with a baby? Hint hint...

Nature

We love nature. It is so fun to frolic and imagine crazy things and explore and talk and be in love and on and on I could go! Today, after work, we decided it was the perfect night to put our water shoes on and cross the river (more like a stream) at my parent's house and go on a little hike. A few weekends ago when my sister was in town, she and I went on a similar hike and kept saying, "Man my Sweet would love this!" So, tonight was the night! Hope you take time to really enjoy the natural beauty that surrounds us!

There's my Sweet heading in!

Hmmm pictures you take yourself never turn out great, do they?

Marm on Monday

Just a quickie today! I made an apple pie for work tonight when I got home... did you catch that? For work. Who do you think wanted some of that apple pie? Of course my Sweetie!! He sure does love sweets. Well, as a little surprise, I made him his very own little apple pie. The best part about it (other than making my Sweet happy) is that it is all stuff that would have went to waste if I hadn't made the little pie. It was left over crust and just a few of the apple slice chopped up! Love to not be a waster... So, here it is:

Granny Smith apples=sour!

Ready to go in the oven

Ready to eat! Don't mind the dirty pot holder!

Words of Wisdom from Mama

It is an exciting day over here on the Mini Martha blog! My soon to be Mother in Law(or Mama, as my Sweet and I affectionately call her) is going to be posting her first "Words of Wisdom" post. As I have said before, my two Moms are going to take turns doing the Friday post to the tune of "Words of Wisdom." So, without further adieu... Introducing: Mama!

Here we are: My husband, myself, Danielle, and my son.

It must be Friday...my philosophical self is emerging. Danielle is my sons wife to be. She is the perfect homemaker (yes, I was born in the 50's).  Throw in love and respect for my son and I am a happy mother in law (to be)!


My mission for my posts on Fridays will be to leave you with thought provoking quotes and sayings. I hope you enjoy my corner of the blog.

Today's thought: Power of healing? Forgiveness.

Here we are being silly. Can you believe how big that ice cream cone is?

Cleaning

I love to clean. It makes me happy. I see cleaning in three phases: the before, during, and after. Each one is better than the next!

Before: I love to plan what my "plan of action" is going to be (bathrooms, kitchen, floors, laundry, snack break, vacuum, ect...).

During: Using pretty cleaning gloves and cleaning products I love make it fun to clean. I feel happy that I am washing away bacteria, dirt, and grime. I like to put some dancing music on and dance/clean. It gets me a little exercise and I don't even realize it!

After: The smell of a clean house is so so great. My favorite, is walking around the house the next day when I wake up. I walk upstairs and I literally feel like the house is glowing! It's pretty darn great.

Have I told you I enjoy the small things in life? Cleaning is just one of the many...

My cleaning bucket: it has all of my supplies

Love my gloves! Aren't they pretty?

Inside my bucket: Melaleuca cleaning products, brushes, a microfiber cloth (for mirrors and windows), and my gloves (from Menards).

And now I'm going to go clean...

Wedding Wednesdays: Invitations

Now that everyone has received their invitations... I will show you what they look like! I love them. I hope they set the tone for our wedding: classy, formal, and conservative. Oh and black and white. I would just love if my guests came in black and white... dreamy!

My soon to be Mother in Law (in 38 days!) and I designed the invitations at the Paper Depot in Minneapolis, MN. It was a lot of fun, a lot of work, and sooo worth it after they were all said and done. My Sweet and I went on a little double date with our friends Evan and Sara (who are also getting married) to the Paper Depot and cut all of the paper needed to assemble the invitations. I bought a heat gun (with a 50%off coupon) to make the monogram embossing. On a day my Sweet and I both had off from work we went over to his parent's house and we formed an assembly line making up all of the invitations. I was so happy to have the help and we saved a lot of money doing it ourselves. Also, I am a control freak so being in control at every step of the process kept me sane!

Pardon the pictures. They were taken with my iPhone and just don't look great. Hmmm maybe I should convince the old fiance I need a nice new camera for my blog. Actually, I am way too frugal for spending that kind of money, so you'll just have to bear with the not so great pics!

Outside of invitation

Close up of our monogram on the outside

Opened up

Information blurred- sorry! I don't want any wedding crashers!

Each is an individual card