Happy Lovey Dovey Day!

First of all. I'm the luckiest girl in the world! I'm marrying the funniest, most caring person on the planet.  

We are getting married June 19th!  I'm so excited about the party we are planning.  In honor of Chuchie Wuchie Face day. Here's a few of our ideas.

We are working with a really great team at Stephanie Grace Design It's been tricky since we are working in Wisconsin right now and will be heading back to NYC in March. Parnell and Stephanie have been super helpful. If you are in Santa Monica, check out their new shop.

We new right away we wanted a "Rob and Laura Petrie Wedding." If you've never seen the Dick Van Dyke show.  You can catch episodes on Hulu. It is the BEST sitcom.

We were torn between a NYC wedding and California wedding. We've decided to go head and do both! (kinda) We'll have a ceremony with family and a few friends in Cali and then, a reception at a bar in NYC. For now, we're focusing on the California part. We've picked the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood as our venue. It's historic and beautiful.  The clientele might be a little too "hollywood" for us. But, we're packing the place with our loved ones, so it'll be just right.  The first Oscars were held here, and the decor is all original. Pretty. Dang. Cool.

This vintage light fixture is my favorite piece in the hotel. I WANT IT!

This is the lobby where we'll say the big I DO!

We are going to use Vintage Suitcases instead of a guestbook! Guests can fill out these Travel Stickers I found at 

www.saveoncrafts.com

I will be crocheting little flowers that will be sprinkled thru out my bouquet of red Dahlias and Roses. I have not decided on a yarn or pattern yet - but here's a few ideas. Eventually I will use real pearls. 

We had our Save The Dates designed by my favorite Etsy seller, Kate Gabrielle at www.flapperdoodle.etsy.com 

We then printed right on to the back of the cards ourselves. (JD actually did this all on his own... YAY for him) It took us a little time to get it all lined up perfectly, but it was fairly easy and turned out just like we wanted. I found little embellishments at Target (which totally surprised me) and they added such a nice touch. 

Kate also surprised me with "Will you be my Bridesmaid?" cards. They are now for sale in the stationary section of her site. Love them!

Once we were ready to ship we had our own stamps made at www.pictureitpostage.com  It was super easy and they arrived in a few days. I'm aware that having stamps made of yourself is super dorky, so we chose this great dorky pic from a photo booth.  When our Save the Dates arrived our loved ones instantly knew they were from us. : )  We still have a few more to send, and hopefully that will happen soon. 

The last litle bit to share is our officiant.  After some major hemming and hawing (and a little freaking out on my part) we came up with the PERFECT officiant!

While on tour with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang I was luck enough to be partnered up with the beautiful, talented, loving, honest, ridiculously funny Tim Hughes. JD and I ended up sharing housing with TIm in Orlando and Orange County.  Tim was always so supportive and excited about each and every wedding discussion we had. We know Tim understands and believes what we believe and stand for, and we know there is no one more perfect to help us make this commitment to each other. We asked Tim in a sneaky way while playing a game called "mail man" and we are so happy he has agreed! 

He went to http://www.firstnationministry.com/request.shtml and is now legally able to perform the ceremony! 

I can't wait to someday help Tim plan his own wedding.

Sooooo this is what we are working on. There's more to share, wedding party, an 8 year old singing superstar, flowers etc... but I think we are off to a pretty good start! 

Eureka! The search for the perfect Vintage Cocktail Dress (A Heavenly Tuesday Part II)

After my successful trip to Loop I skipped my way over to ReThreads. I was headed there with a mission.  I'm doing a 50's and 60's musical review.  It's a great show, but we ran into one little problem with costuming.  The 4 girls wear 50s/60s coctail dresses for many numbers.  When we started I had a beautiful vintage green dress. It looked lovely with the Pink, Yell, and Blue dresses the other girls were wearing.

 Unfortunately as we got closer to opening the show, the seams started to literally melt away.  Even in places were the dress was not tight at all, the thread was falling apart. It was just too old, too well loved. It would have taken forever for the stitches to be replaced, so a new dress needed to be found.  The bummer was, it was too late to run around to vintage clothing stores and find a perfect fit (especially when I don't have the darn 26 inch waist most of these 1950's girdled women seem to have). So, something had to be pulled from stock.

I totally understand why this happened, but the result was a bummer.  I ended up in a frumpy patterned dress which looked silly compared to the other girls.  I didn't say anything, I wore the dress and did my job. BUT after hearing how BAD I looked on stage from not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 times by 4 SEPARATE PEOPLE! I new something had to be done.

1.  Our music director, who I love, told me it looked like a potato sack (I felt better about that when i saw the second episode of this seasons Project Runway)

2.  A patron said "all of the other girl looked so beautiful! But you, not so beautiful."

3.  A friend came and saw the show and she said "What the heck is wrong with your costumes. You look awful."

4.  Family members came and agreed it was horrible. Especially the back was super saggy.  (I hadn't even seen the back)

4.5 - Also - I do have to say he had tact - but our director said "Is that what you are wearing??" I smiled and said "Yeeeeesss."  He replied, "It's a lovely dress, but it's not quite right."

And thus... MY MISSION BEGAN.

After heading to 4 different vintage clothing stores and leaving empty handed I found the home run dress at ReThreads in Milwaukee! I could not believe how perfectly it fit.  It had long sleeves which was a little weird... but Aja Heuss  (our ASM) removed the sleeves and placed the cuff buttons on the shoulders!   I am now soo excited to put on this costume.  Yahoo!!!

Here's the before...  (I actually feel sort of bad for the dress... it's not bad on it's own, but not right for a show and did not go with the other dresses)

and after...

Success!  Here's the 4 dresses together : ) Yay! Thank you Milwaukee!

                                      

A Heavenly Tuesday

2 weeks ago JD had a recording gig in Milwaukee so I was lucky enough to spend the day exploring 3 of my favorite things... coffee, yarn, and vintage clothing... I couldn't believe these three things all existed in one little strip mall a few blocks from his recording studio...

While at Altera Coffee I enjoyed a beautiful 16 oz triple skim 1 pump mocha (my current drink of choice) and a breakfast burrito (my eternal breakfast of choice). Altera also has amazing Espresso Milkshakes if you ever get a chance. I then made my way to Loop. I had an order to fill and needed some lux green yarn. I found exactly what I needed...

Blue Sky Alpaca

Which became...

and Tahki Baby (LOVE!!!) mixed with a mohair baby kid

which became...

YUMMY!!

I then headed to ReThreads for part two of my fantastic day. More on that tomorrow : )

******** A bit about Loop - I've been there before and it is a truly lovely shop. Very Knit AND Crochet friendly, and also needle felting materials (which I love). It reminds me of a bigger Purl Soho in NYC or oddly enough Loop in Philly. All three shops are crisp and white and neatly organized. My only complaint is that they don't have a swift or a yarn winder. I had such a lovely time in the shop (I was there for about an hour comparing green yarns) and I really wanted to start working with the blue sky right away. I was totally bummed when they said they didn't wind yarn. Yes, I can do it by hand, and yes I have my own swift at home... but having at least one skein wound on the spot is such a simple basic finishing touch to a LYS experience.

Tour De Yarn Continues!

I've now been back in Wisconsin for exactly a month. I've already hit some amazing yarn shops. I'll fill you in over the next few days. Here's the first shop we went to in Delavan, called Needles and Pins.

Lindsey (another yarn head) took us to this spot, and Katie (a non yarn head) was great and came along for the ride.

I love this barn! This is the Parking lot for the shop... what? So great.

They had some great finds, but mostly I was excited about the GIANT barn out in front, and the fact that they keep their yarn in baby beds. What a beautiful useful idea! I love it!

More yarn shop updates to come!

Way to Go 2010!

So, the year has just started and already, 2 wildly different kick butt pieces of news to share.

First - I'm lucky enough to say I have some seriously talented, hard working friends. On the 28th of December at 2pm a cast of 9 singers, 8 band members, a director, stage manager, costume designer, sound designer and a 3 person crew got together to put on a show at the Fireside Dinner Theatre in Fort Atkinson, WI. The show was conceived by our Director, Ed Flesch, who was also a member of the cast. This would usually seem like a normal task for all of us but here's the kicker... the show went up on New Years Eve. That's 2.5 days to put on a full 2 Act 2.5 hour show in a 700 seat theatre.

I don't know how - but we did it! And... it was actually pretty fantastic. Only a few little word flubs here and there, but I can say without a doubt both of our full houses had a great time, and so did we. Here's a few pics from the crazy day.

Here's few members of the cast right before the show.

I sang Goldfinger and got to wear some AMAZING shoes.

My fiance John Dominguez who also played bass in the show!

And - my second bit of news...

So - I wake up this morning, clearly EXHAUSTED. We get ready and head to spend a nice day off with JD's family. On the way to their house we stop to look for a book for his mom. She's also an avid knitter and has been wanted to knit a top down raglan sweater for his dad. I found a book that looked just right called Knit on Down. It has several patterns that are mostly seamless and mostly knit from the top down. Done and done. As we head to the register, I tell JD I want to stop by the magazine section.

SIDE NOTE - A few weeks ago, after announcing to my Molly Made Facebook group that my Doggie Shrug pattern is now available at www.redheart.com, Drew Emborsky (aka The Crochet Dude) mentioned there was a Doggie Shrug used as a full page add in the Jan/Feb issue of Crochet Today. I honestly thought he was mistaken. I was a little sad and thought someone else must have written a Doggie Shrug pattern. I often buy this crocheting magazine, but I don't subscribe because I spend so much time on the road doing shows. It's hard to have magazines forwarded all over the country. I've looked for it in several shops, but had yet to find the Jan/Feb edition.

So, we stopped by the craft/hobbie magazine section of this Barnes and Noble in Milwaukee. I gave JD one copy and I took one copy. I started slowly page by page, he quickly leafed through and... BAM! There's a giant pic of my Doggie Shrug on the inside of the back cover! I seriously freaked out!! I screamed and jumped up and down. I have got to be the biggest dork in the world!

It's an add for Red Heart Yarn which is a great tried and true brand you can get mostly anywhere. My name isn't even listed by the picture - but I could care less! I'm seriously so honored and excited to see that they are using something I created. I also have a pattern for Flower Petal Leg Warmers available on their website and I have a secret pattern coming out on another website... so I know this is just the beginning. I do wonder if, some day, seeing my piece in a mag will be old hat, but I will never forget how unbelievably excited I was to see my first piece in print. Knowing it is in book stores and yarn shops all over the country, sends me over the moon.

I had JD take some pictures of me with the magazine before I bought a few copies. I do think it is really hilarious to compare the pic of me in my Goldfinger costume to the pic of me in my tragic day after the show get up. (I love this giant knit Anthropologie sweater.) Oh the "glamorous" life of an actress with an addiction to yarn.

I can't believe it took so long to find! Maybe I was meant to find it today as a way to kick off the new year.

Winter Blast

I met some great people today at Winter Blast, in Astoria. We hung in despite the crazy rain. Here's some pics from the day...

WINTER BLAST

Hi All!

Crazy Crazy busy right now - but wanted to let you know I'll be at a craft show tomorrow in

Astoria! I'll have LOADS of great pieces that would make fantastic gifty-poos! Here's the info -

WINTER BLAST HOLIDAY HANDMADE MARKETWhere: Cretan’s Association Banquet Hall, 32-33 32nd St between Broadway and 34th Ave; Astoria, Queens (astoriaevents@gmail.com)
When: Sunday, December 13, 10:30am–4:30pm
Why go: More than 40 crafters will hawk everything from soy candles and stationery to crocheted goods and clothes.
What to buy: Soap that Makes Scents pumpkin-scented body soufflé soap whip ($5.75); Lithos Du Monde handmade pink rock ring ($60); First Floor Down Productions Exodus h

oodi

e with ax blade and turkey feathers graphic ($75); and Kokalaki Jewelry’s sterling silver chain convertible necklace that can be worn as a lariat or a choker ($28).
Don’t miss: Bumpin’ beats courtesy of DJ Teddy Boom Boom, and cookies, cupcakes and brownies priced to move at $2–$4

and a few of my newest items -