Happy first day of summer, friends! This new season is really announcing itself, isn’t it? I don’t know about y’all, but it’s forecasted to be in the mid-90s here today! Yeesh!

I make a summer to do list almost every year, but I feel like it’s even more important this year, as wedding craziness (inevitably?) descends. Hopefully these to dos will be a reminder to pick my head up every once in a while, have simple fun with John, and savor the warmest months of the year!

Jen Huang via Snippet & Ink

Special for 2012:
— Take a calligraphy class (whee!)
— Host a picnic
— Bake something with fresh berries or fruit
— Try a gourmet popsicle
— Order from a local food truck
— Have a staycation at our apartment complex :)
— Read three new novels
— Take some sort of dancing lesson with John

Must dos every year:
— Take a walk on River Road in Mystic
— Swim in the Eno
— Watch an outdoor movie at the NC Museum of Art or Koka Booth
— Spend a day at the beach
— Go to a Backporch Music concert at the American Tobacco Campus
— Camp
— Take walks before or after dinner as often as possible
— Watch fireworks

Printing this out and sticking it on my fridge! What’s on your summer to do list?

P.S. Spring 2012 and summer 2011

One of the highlights of my crazy week was co-hosting a bridal shower for John’s sister, a topic of much discussion on this blog. Her wedding is coming up in just less than one month, so I figured it was high time to show you the finished project! To recap, I gathered inspiration here, shared our inspiration board here, and sent out these invitations.

See all of the credits on the original post!

One of Marget’s best friends graciously allowed us to host the shower in her apartment, and it turned out to be the perfect size for our intimate gathering – about 15 gals. The food table was the main focal point, and I have to say, I’m pretty proud of our spread! I designed a menu in Illustrator to match the invitations (I used the Love*Jenna clipart from this PDF for the frame – great resource!). The individual servings of fruit salad with washi tape-secured cocktail forks were a big hit! (I was inspired by this birthday party.) The plastic cups and forks were from Party City.

Rounding out the edibles were individual cups of cut veggies (we added the ranch dressing right before guests were scheduled to arrive), delicious cucumber sandwiches (we loosely followed this recipe), and deviled eggs. The veggie cups were also from Party City, and happily, we were able to save and hand wash many of them for use at a future party!

We did a really fun “mix your own mimosa” bar for drinks, with orange, grapefruit, and strawberry apple mix-ins.

Finally, for dessert, we had quite the spread: a fruit tart, a carrot cake, and a donut croquembouche! One note, if you’re thinking of making something similar: buy a lot of donut holes!! I think we used about 75 on this baby. The drink stirrers and flags were made by me.

For decor, we kept things simple: gorgeous pink peonies, and lots and lots of hand-punched confetti, including more gold glitter hearts.

We had two main activities at the shower, besides the usual mingling, nibbling, and watching Marget open gifts. As guests arrived, they each selected a little envelope. Each envelope had a date on the outside, and a blank card on the inside. We asked the ladies to write Marget a note appropriate to their date, and then at the end of the shower, we gave all of the sealed envelopes to Marget. The ideas is that she’ll have a sweet note to open every day for the two weeks leading up to her wedding! The cards and envelopes were from Paper Presentation, and the little stickers were from Martha Stewart’s Avery Line at Staples.

The second activity of the day was our version of the Newlywed Game! While M + S were visiting John and me earlier this spring, I distracted Marget while John filmed Seth answering a series of questions. We edited the short clips, then asked Marget the same questions at the shower, and compared her answers. Fun!

We of course didn’t send the ladies off empty-handed – favors were tiny bottles of Essie nail polish, tied off with cute “Live colorfully.” Kate Spade approved, indeed :)

We had so much fun putting this shower together for Marget, and I think she had a great time! I hope y’all enjoyed following along!

Christian Oth via Style Me Pretty

Since my last update…
— We had our first conversation with our pastor, who will lead our ceremony. It was pretty quick, but we made arrangements to meet twice more with him – once individually (gulp!), and then once more together.
— We ordered John’s suspenders and bought his shoes – post coming up soon about his accessories
— We revised our cocktail hour and reception menu in advance of our tasting at the end of the month
— We also revised our floral order in advance of our upcoming venue walk-through – excited!
— We booked the third night of accommodations for our minimoon (feeling pretty good about our second night’s accommodations, since Meredith texted me that I would love them when she visited, without knowing we had already booked them!)
— Marget and I bought some more decor that we’ll share – so nice to be planning alongside someone with similar style! :) Marget also kindly bought me some additional ribbon with a voucher I had for MJ Trimming.
— We reserved a pianist for our ceremony – an old friend from whom I took piano lessons when I was younger
— I discarded the idea of paper flowers (too time-consuming for a project I wasn’t enthralled by), but found something even better to replace them!
— I’ve started whitening my teeth – whoo! No sensitivity yet – keep your fingers crossed!
— The bridesmaid dresses arrived!

Next up on the list?
— It’s going to be a big month! We have a walk-through at both of our venues, a tasting with our caterer, a meeting with our chapel coordinator, and my bridal shower!
— We’re taking John’s tux to be tailored today
— We still need to make some major decisions about our rehearsal dinner
— Our invitations are printing, so I should have them in hand, addressed, and out the door by the next time I update you!
— My sister and I are going to make a trial cake while home… yum!
— Lots of crafty projects on the horizon – signage, stirrers, favors, oh my!

My final paper pick for 2012 is One Canoe Two Letterpress! I love so many of their products, but I’m always especially captivated by their state prints. At $15 per 5×7 letterpress print, you could fill a whole gallery wall with all the states you’ve lived in, or the favorite states you’ve visited!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends! Check back on Monday for my next wedding planning update – less than three months to go!!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4