Fragment: TABU

One of my best friends ever is getting married! I've known Tabu since I was like 16 years old...awww :)

And not only am I inspired to blog about this because he's my best friend, but I am also in love with the concept of his BIG DAY!

Kangri and Tabu, like the rest of us common mortals, are not in their best financial place at the moment. Therefore, they wisely decided to postpone the wedding.

(Right: Tabu and me/Left: Tabu and Kangri)

However, their group of friends from ICC (the community church they attend) had the beautiful idea of celebrating, literally, a "community wedding" for the lovebirds. And when I say community wedding, I mean, someone will provide the bride with a dress, another will be in charge of decorating the venue, one will make the cocktail that will be served, others will be arranging the bride's bouquet, two girls will get bridesmaids dresses, one will make the cake, I will make the bridesmaids button bouquets (YEY!), etc, etc...and all this without Kangri or Tabu having to do anything or pitch in a dime!!! Isn't this marvelous?!

That is true friendship, I must say... :)

I am so excited about this wedding! Once again, I am hooked to the best wedding website for ideas and inspiration www.stylemepretty.com.

I so love untraditional weddings! This is such a practical idea. A true friends and family celebration. That's what it's all about. That's what I dream of for MY big day ;)

*SIGH*

NOTE: Pictures to come!

"Wedding dress shopping..."

...for LEMAY!!!

Marvic and I were so excited to be there! Standing at a showroom, surrounded by all these white gowns, a huge mirror and our best friend swirling around in beautiful dresses!

Definitely, a moment to remember forever...

And guess what, you guys?! I am the maid of honor!!! I feel super honored ;)

I'm so happy for you Lemay! :D :D :D

May God bless your union...Muuuuah!

"Fascinated with FASCINATORS"

Thanks to Etsy and searching for wedding ideas, I have become totally FASCINATED with FASCINATORS! It all started with Whichgoose, but I have found other such beauties on Etsy! I'd want to have like 10 weddings so I can wear a couple of them ;) (here are just a few from Whichgoose)



Fascinators have this egocentric, groundbreaking, breathtaking, chic rebel, charmed wit, boho flair, peculiar, airy feeling to them!



Imagine a fascinator themed wedding, where you ask all your guests to come wearing their own! Wouldn't that be so much -WHIMSICAL- fun?!

I'm so FASCINATED!! Go on etsy, search and...BE FASCINATED ~~~ ;)

"Mamma Mia!"

I saw the movie Mamma Mia! last night with my sister and I must say, I have seen my dream wedding materialized (especially with my whole wedding theme shifting).

...an outdoor terrace, with a magnificent view; long tables with white cloth and embroidered details; bright, mismatched glasses; spring flowers in colorful, mismatched vases; jelly jars as candle holders, with a wired string of butterflies wrapped around them, set as centerpieces and hanging from the terrace ceiling...so enchanting... so relaxed, so familiar, so simple, so pretty and colorful!

It's like bohemian and whimsy put together...isn't that exactly what I want?!

note: Look at the bridesmaids dresses, so flowy and simple...and the bouquet: wild greenery...love it, love it, love it! Also, the crowns and hair accessories reminded me so much of Whichgoose (see how hooked I am?). After watching this movie, I love my Bella crown and my wedding dress even more!

The elements on the tables looked something like this...

"Whichgoose@Etsy"

I've bought yet another BELLA!

I think that at this point WHICHGOOSE has become a fragment of my life...I mean, I first found out about her back in April, and ever since, I've been hooked to her shop, her creations and her blog! Her art has served as a wonderful source of distraction and entertainment in my lonely days (which are every day). I utterly enjoy browsing through her shop!

And so far, I have bought from her my wedding crown BELLA, my flower girl's crown DREAM...and my most recent acquisition, my maid of honor's head band, another BELLA.

I was obliged to buy this BELLA...it just looked so much like these enchanting cones that I found at a christmas SALE that my sister recommended I check out.

These are the cones...

I was drawn to these cones as soon as I spotted them in the store! They reminded me somewhat of the DREAM crown, so I bought them, not even sure of what their use would be (bridesmaids will carry instead of lanterns?). And then, I saw the BELLA headband at Whichgoose's shop, and it was like seeing the cones in the form of a crown!! I have got to have this BELLA!!!

The cones even have the star anises that the BELLA headband and the DREAM crown have! *sigh*....so perfect.....

Now, I feel that my whole boho-hippie-beach wedding theme is kind of taking a twist...whimsical-ethereal-enchanting might be the new words describing the wedding...even a bit woodsy ;)

Fragment: CRAFTING

I went button hunting a couple of weeks ago, but hadn't had a chance to write about it with all the hecticness of my cuban friend coming...but now that I'm resuming all my chores and personal activities, I remember that I have a wedding to keep planning!

So button hunting was of course, DELIGHTFUL! My sister took me to a pretty big mercer's shop and guided me directly to the buttons section. There were 5 aisles holding jars full of different colored, sized and shaped BUTTONS!!!!! Oh my!! I felt like I was dreaming!!!!! So after an hour or so of choosing the ones I liked most, we went home and layed them out on the table...

This is me sorting out the white and ivory buttons for my wedding BUTTON-bouquet!! EXCITING!

The wire sticks I'd already found at a local craft shop a couple of days ago. I was hanging out with a friend and when we drove by the store I got a hunch that I had to go in! I was so excited to randomly find exactly the wires that I wanted: green and sort of thick for sturdiness.

Yesterday, I went to my sister's house with my toolbox holding all the buttons and the wire sticks..."LET'S GET TO WORK!" It was fun and relaxing making the button flowers...this is what I love about craft making, it's so therapeutic! I think we had a successful first try at button-bouquet making ;)

"A wedding GIFT!"

My sister has given me a gorgeous present! I'd told her that one of my 'wedding ideas' was to tie a small frame around my 'faux-bouquet'; the frame would hold a picture of mami when she was my age. I thought this would add a nice, vintagey, sentimental touch ;) details, details, details...where the beauty of it all lays!

So, when she was looking for interesing things in the christmas SALE section of a store, she found me the perfect gift! Isn't it gorgeous?! And the colors and style match perfectly with the rest of my ideas, especially with the DREAM crown :) YAY!

Can't wait to put mami's picture in there!

(my newest obsession)

One thing I've had very clear: I want a wedding that defies all the cookie cutter stuff!

And some of the things I want very different are the bouquet and flower arrangements. First of all, because I am not and never have been much of a flower person; secondly, why is it that we do things without even asking WHY we do it? Why do we cut a cake for someone's birthday? Why does the bride HAVE to hold a bouquet of flowers to walk down the aisle? Why throw the bouquet? Why wear a garter? Why, why, why?? Ok, I don't want to sound like such a rebel, I do appreciate symbolic things because they spice things up, they hold a certain charm...............but why not give it a little twist that will make it YOURS? My bridesmaids won't have flowers, instead, they will carry lanterns and place them along the aisle to adorn my way to the altar.......as of me, I WILL carry a bouquet, but I've been wondering for the past few weeks, how can my bouquet be different?

I started skecthing ideas in my little notebook...and I came up with something interesting. Vine sticks tipped off with attached fabrics, colored papers, and buttons! A scrapbooked bouquet! YES! This would be soooo ME!

And of course, I logged on to etsy and searched for button bouquets to see if anything like it would appear...and to my surprise and extreme satisfaction, it does exist!! People do these crazy things I think about! I am so not alone in the world...it feels good to know there are others that feel my way ;) BUTTON BOUQUETS, my newest obsession! Check them out on etsy.com, there are so many! I wanted to buy this one from the seller letters4lilly for my wedding bouquet but then I thought, this looks easy enough to make; I can go buy buttons that I fall in love with, and make my button bouquet myself!

It will have much more meaning this way ;) I am so excited about this!!!!! I can't wait to go BUTTON hunting!

"BELLA and DREAM"

I woke up so early today...it's such a cool morning, and for Dominican Republic that's quite amazing. I had my very hot coffee, mmm, and my tasty wholegrain bun. And...I couldn't help it...I had one more hour until I'd shower to go to work, so I logged onto ETSY...and yes! I've done it once again...yet another PURCHASE!!!!

I am so, super, extremely EXCITED! I have bought BELLA and DREAM from WHICHGOOSE for the wedding...Not only are they beautiful, whimsical and ethereal, but they hold meaning to the MushyPushy legend ;) Bella, which is the crown I'll be wearing, carries one of the names that Pushy calls me most. And Dream, which will be the crown for my niece, the little bridesmaid, carries such a significant word for our relationship...you all know it's all around a dream! And it is from the DREAM crown listing that I took the excerpt from Shakespeare's play included in my previous posting (WEDDING PLANNING fragment)...ohhhh, they were so meant for me! Asi lo siento ;)

P.S. Pushy, do not log on to etsy to see these things ;) you are the ONLY one that needs to be fully surprised ;) ...LOVE.

Fragment: WEDDING PLANNING!

I was supposed to visit Pushy in California but one day he called and said: "Let's not do this anymore, we've lost precious time of being together, I love u and I want to spend the rest of my life with u...but I want this forever to start already! Let's make some plans....I will need u to change ur ticket to NJ so we can talk to ur parents....would u do that for me?" WHAT!??!?!?!? In 2 secs, I had my ticket changed! And just like that, the rest of our lives has begun....

"O, how this spring of love resembleth

The uncertain glory of an April day;

Which now shows all the beauty of the sun, 

And by and by a cloud takes all away."
-Shakespeare

Spring day. Barefoot on the sand. Sunset at the beach. Sitting on rugs and pillows. Incense and lanterns. Lots of colors and patterns. Nothing too flowery, more like greenery, vines and twigs. Drums, harp, acoustic guitar. Love poems around a bonfire. Hippie headbands! Long-flowy dresses for girls. Comfortable, light clothes for guys. Dancing 'perico ripiao' (merengue) and Bob Marley all together on the sand. A family and friends FEAST! And Pushy and Mushy promise their future................

Some pictures that have served as inspiration...

For my BOHO bridesmaids ;)


LOVE IT!

"So what ever happened to the dress??"

What ever happened to the fabulous dress that I found on etsy?

Well, I think I got a bit too distracted browsing around on etsy while my dress was being SOLD :( I want to cry!

Nonetheless, I have found many other fabulous ones, so, I guess it'll be OK.

Ok, ok, ok....I can't lie! I don't want to cry anymore...at all! Because I have found the perfect dress for my BOHO BEACH WEDDING! I can't post the picture here, though. Pushy can certainly NOT see it ;)

Check out the dress that was sold (picture above) from the seller SALVAGELIFE on etsy, where you can find many others for your delight.

Happy shopping!

Fragment: ETSY

It is incredible how a WEBSITE can change one's life/one's days in a way one could've never imagined (or at least I couldn't have).

Personally, I despise sitting in front of a TV, a computer or anything that makes me feel as if hours have been washed down the drain. But one day, while 'googling' stuff to find ideas for my wedding dress, I found ETSY. There, I found a beautiful, vintage dress that I thought would be sooooo PERFECT for me! The price was perfect too, $98 *wink, wink*. I fell totally in love with the dress, not aware at the moment that what I'd found was more than just a dress. I'd found a community, a way of life, a concept that would change my way of seeing things. I'd found inspiration; a connection with people that are so much like me!

ETSY instantly intrigued me so much! VINTAGE, HANDMADE, CRAFTS? Sounds to me like NENY, NENY, NENY. And, just like that, a whole new world opened up in front of me...from my laptop! I would've never guessed, since I am so not a computer person.

Etsy is all about buying/selling VINTAGE and HANDMADE. People all around the world open their own little shops for free in this community to sell their crafts and vintage findings. Endless treasures could be found in all these shops! OH MY GOD!!!! I am so HOOKED.

As I checked out all kinds of shops, without a doubt, I found my favorite one: WHICHGOOSE's shop.

Through etsy I've realized that I am not alone in the world. I actually belong to a community of people that are on the same GROOVE as me ;) What an amazing discovery! As I said on my 1st post, it is so powerful when we find something/anything that we can identify with, connect to.

I wish to open my own etsy shop, soon. I'm still thinking about what my 'niche' would be. I have some ideas in mind, but still haven't felt like THIS IS IT. I think having my etsy shop will be fantastic once I move to Napa Valley. I'll certainly have something to look forward to everyday! Making my crafts, posting them on the etsy page, logging in often to see if there's been any sales, if so, wake up the next day, prepare the packages and send them out.

In this way, I will be connected to so many people in a surreal way. BEAUTIFUL :)

............and so, reading about the sellers on etsy, I've learned and fallen in love with the concept I now intend to live by: RECYCLE, REUSE, REPURPOSE!