So . . .

I am being "let go" from my job, like so many others right now. That was the result on my Thursday meeting. I get to keep my job until April 30(unless I find something else before then), when my contract expires, and I was informed that it was not at all performance related, but as part of the restructing mandates from the governmental automotive panel, all employees at my branch of the company with less than 3 years or more than 40 are being let go (Thanks, Mr. President. Still love you, McCain and Palin!).

So I'm going with my "back-up" plan: I had already applied to a PhD program, and had been struggling to decide whether to work full time or to start my PhD in fall. I have praying hard for guidance on what decision to make, and He answered me, if not in the way I expected. I'd like to find a job for the summer, maybe to start in April, so I've sent resumes to alot of places closer to campus.

Wish me luck!

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Keep me in your thoughts for the next hour or so!

I just got a call from my personnel manager, who wants to meet with me and my boss at 9:00. Given all the layoffs and economic downturn in the auto industry (esp. with the company I work for), our plant is going to have to fire 11 salaried employees, and do major restructing with who's left. Given the I work part time now . . . let's just say I'm more than a little nervous. Say a quick prayer for me ladies, and I'll let you all know what I find out.

Pictures from my bridal shower!

This past Sunday, my sisters threw me the nicest bridal shower! I thought I'd share the pictures with you all.

This is the cake table, complete with our maternal grandmother's candleabras and a circa 1914 punch bowl that is used at every wedding in our family.



One view of the guests - we had more than 30 guests, which just seems crazy to me. I have a huge extended family, and most of them were in attendance, as were of my mom's sorority sisters from way back.

The bunny cake. When I was little, my grandmother used to make me a cake just like this for my birthday every year. She stopped when I was about 12. When I was a senior in high school, my grandmother had a stroke a month before my 18th birthday, and as she was recovering, the first thing she baked was a bunny cake for me for that birthday. She passed away in 2005, but my sister made this bunny cake for me as way to have her in spirit at the shower.

Love you, Mamaw.

What traditions did you have at your shower?

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Hello!

Sorry for the late post tonight - I had to work until 3:00, and then had one lecture class followed by an industrial hygiene lab that just got over. My car is in the shop to repair the damage from the aforementioned run-in with the deer, so I'm waiting on mister to pick me up before I can finally go home. Thank goodness I don't work tomorrow - I'm exhausted!

I have some exciting news - I got the prints of my engagement pictures in the mail today, and should have them framed, hung, and ready to show off tomorrow. I usually don't like the way I look in pictures, but these turned out really nice. Any suggestions on ways to display engagement photos at a wedding? We're using a photo mat for a guest book, but any other ways would be appreciated, too!

Once I get the house clean(does anyone else seem to have a constantly dirty house?) and all the shower presents put away, I'll let you all see what my work in progress house looks like. Maybe we could start a share-a-room series, to see how creative all you are as decorators - what do you think?

Have a nice evening, loves! I'm heading home to go to bed.

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From cottage living, a toile lover's dream.

My Weekend

It went by so quickly! I had my bridal shower yesterday - I'll post some pics when I get home. It was so much fun, and we got tons of wonderful presents. I spent all day Saturday cleaning, because mister indiana's parents, grandma, and nephews were coming done for the shower, and I don't like for them to see a messy house. His parents live about 3 hours away, and mister is not close with them, so we only see them four or five times a year. It was the first time my parents had met his parents, and to say it was akward is a huge understatement.

My dad grew up in the south, and, with only a high school education, worked his was up from an hourly machine operator to upper-level management at a large tool and die company. He is recently retired, and splits his time between farming (which he did while he worked 60 hours a week, too), making custom furniture, and volunteering as a math tutor for elementary school children. He is a southern gentleman, and I am a huge Daddy's girl to say the least. Mister Indiana's dad is a laid-back, tie-dyed t-shirt wearing, proud user of certain "substances," who says things like "righteous," and "far out." The two men and mister spent the whole afternoon together yesterday, and I'm sure it was a unique situation.

All in all, I'm not saying that I dislike his parents - they have always been very nice to me. But they just seem so different, maybe because we don't see them often enough for me to get to know them. Anyone have future-in-law stories, or can offer some insight on this?

Since it's Monday, and I'm stuck at work awfully early, I thought a puppy picture would be a good way to wish you all good morning. Hope everyone's weekend went well.

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From PB. Who else would make such a preppy-chic little chair?

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Doesn't this make you want to paint your walls pink?

Spring Shopping Wishlist

As I mentioned earlier, my spring/summer wardrobe this year will pink and green based. I don't really *need* a whole lot of new things, but with a beach honeymoon coming, as well as needing new monogrammed items (who knew shopping would be a benefit of a name change?), I've come up with a my list of must-haves for the season.

1. Tortoise Sunglasses

2. Monogrammed Pendant, from The Pink Monogram

3. Polka Dot headbands

4. A not-too-short Madras skirt
5. Green polo

6. New presciption eyeglasses

7. Navy flip-flops

8. Lilly something (because one always needs more Lilly)

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7 Things You Don't Know About Me

The lovely Miss Lisa at tagged me to share 7 things about myself that you all don't know. Here we go:

1. I wear opened toed shoes and sandals all year, even in the snow. I've done it so much that my feet don't even get cold anymore

2. Mister Indiana proposed on Christmas Eve, 2008, so we're planning the whole wedding in about 3 months.

3. If I could have any job in the world, I'd really like to be a QVC host. You get to dress up every day, have hair and makeup done for you, and meet all sorts of people.

4. I have a huge Vera Bradley collection, at least 30 pieces. It's a local company, and has been trendy here since the late 90s, so I've been getting things from them for a long time. My all time favorite patterns are the long-retired Watercolors and Mason Blue, though I'm jonesing for the new Hope Garden.

5. My Saturday mornings always follow the same pattern: wake up, shower, gym, grocery store, tan, go home, bathe the dogs, start laundry. I love having such a simple, nice routine - I wish every day could go so according to schedule.

6. I picked out my wedding dress in half an hour. It was fourth one I tried on, and liked how simple. elegant, and comfy it was. I'm large chested, and the halter on the dress eliminates the need for tricky undergarments or the risk of flashing family members.

7. CoCo has bandannas for every occasion - holidays, football game days, seasons. She will stand by the "doggie cabinet" and beg until I put one on her, she likes them so much.


This was fun!! I tag:
The Magic Risotto Diaries
Gracie Beth
Prep in the Big Apple
Ms Cupcake
Nautical by Nature
Marie-Antoinette

Hope everyone is having a good day!

Spring Fashion Inspiration Board

I fell in love with the idea of inspiration boards when I began wedding planning (engaged or not, you should check out Snippet and Ink for some amazing work!), and have found that they can be really useful when working on other design/style "projects." I make them for rooms in my house, parties I'm throwing, and of course fashion for a given season. Here's my honeymoon/springtime style board. I made it Powerpoint - it's super simple to do, and helps give focus when buying and coordinating things.
Images from Lilly, Kate Spade, National Photo Archives, US Weekly, Nordstroms, J Crew, RL, Girly Twirly, and Flckr.

Dream Room of the Day

How cute is this room!

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Room from A Well Appointed House, in my wedding colors!

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Doesn't this seem like the kind of refined casual you see in classy grandma's houses? My Nana would have loved those chairs.

Check out Miss Monogram's Cute Giveaway!

http://missmonogram.blogspot.com/2009/02/giveaway-time.html

Honeymoon!

We'll be leaving the Sunday after the wedding to go Siesta Key, Florida, where we'll be staying at the gorgeous Captiva Beach Hotel. Part of the reason that we chose Siesta Key is that while neither of us have been to that part of Florida, my mom spent part of her childhood living in Sarasota. I've heard about that area my whole life, and am super exicted to see it for my self. The other part that drew us to the area is that while our honeymoon is during a prime Spring Break week, we didn't want to fight drunken college kids for beach space. This area has some night life, but not too much of an MTV crowd (no offense to MTV- I watch True Life religiously)

I can't wait to spend a week on the beach, and the upcoming trip has given me an excuse to start shopping for spring clothes a little early.

I tend to plan my wardrobe each season around a given color pallete - fall/winter has been black, red, and yellow. It helps me create outfits while I'm shopping at different stores, and just makes life easier. Last spring/summer, I did hot pink, blush pink, and navy, and I'll be building on that this year, with a honeymoon/spring/summer choice of hot pink and lime green (Please tell me someone else out there thinks this way, and that I'm not just a huge dork ;) )

I went to Old Navy over the weekend and got these cute little things:

What do you think? Tomorrow (or maybe later today, depending how crazy things get at the office) I'll share what the rest of my spring shopping list holds.

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Love the green - need a few pink accent, in my opinion, though!

Good Morning!

It's 6 am, and it's already been a **long** day. Anyone else feel that way? Thought a puppy picture (of Miss CoCo, age 4 1/2 weeks) would make you smile.

Dream Room of the Day

I want a stainless fridge - bad. Do they show fingerprints as bad as everyone says, though? If we have little indianas somewhere in our future, would that be a huge pain to clean their fingerprints off it?

Preppy Fashion Icon #4

I don't love the newer seasons of SATC, and haven't the seen the movie, but Seasons 1, 2, and 3, are television perfection in my mind. I love Charlotte, love Kristin Davis, and think her clothes are not only the most wearable, but the cutest of any of the ladies'.

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I love subway tile - I have a major crush on this kitchen.

Less than a month

until I become a Mrs.! It has been a crazy day, trying to finish bridesmaid dress shopping - who knew asking everyone to find their own black dress could be such a nightmare! - doing laundry, and trying to get homework finished. I also got some fun honeymoon clothes, which I'll share tomorrow.

And by the way, anyone else have a disapointed mister in their house because the Daytona 500 was rained out?

Preppy Fashion Icon #3

Lauren in Lily - what a preppy dream!

Lauren Bush! Not to turn this into a politics discussion, but I adore her fashion sense as much as I love her pedigree - truly classic and all American. And what a perfect match with David Lauren!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I just got back from a fab dinner that mister indiana planned for me - every year, he tries to suprise me with a restuarant we've never been to. This place, Truffles, had an amazing 4 course meal. I had fried goat cheese with crostini, a cesear salad, a filet with mushroom duxelle and haircot verts, and coconut sorbert, and he had summer squash toretillini, spinach rosoto, the filet, and a devil's food cupcake. Wonderful food (we're wannabe-foodies, and Top Chef junkies, so anytime I can pretend to be Padma makes for a good evening!) We didn't do major presents this year, but will get wedding bands with "that money" instead - I'll share pictures when they arrive in the next week or so.

I want to share a reading with you all, one that has a special meaning for us, and that I hope you enjoy.

At night, there was the feeling that we had come home, feeling no longer alone, waking in the night to find the other one there, and not gone away; all other things were unreal. We slept when we were tired and if we woke the other one woke too so one was not alone. Often a man wishes to be alone and a woman wishes to be alone too and if they love each other they are jealous of that in each other, but I can truly say we never felt that. We could feel alone when we were together, alone against the others. We were never lonely and never afraid when we were together.

~ a farewell to arms, ernest hemingway

Hope you all have a great v-day!

Dream Room of the Day

Not sure about the coral over the fireplace, but love the lines of the chairs. Anyone have black rooms? How hard of a color is it to paint?

Preppy Fashion Icon #2

The gorgeous, British, on-and-off girl of Prince William: Kate Middleton. Love the English Prep look.

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A little modern for my taste, but still has an urban-preppy feel to it. Imagine how well monogrammed pillows would fit into the mix!

Preppy Fashion Icon #1

For this coming week, I'm going to focus on a few of my favorite women, both fictional and real, and show variations on classic, vintage, and preppy fashion. I love clothes and accessories, and really enjoy finding someone to take style cues from.

We'll start with a favorite movie character of mine, Cathy Whitaker, played by Julianne Moore in Far From Heaven. I could talk for days about how much I love the cinematography and the palpable chemistry in the film, but today I'll stick to how fab her wardrobe is.

Love the red coat so much and I had to go get one - and believe me, there's nothing like a red trench to make you feel sassy!

Please say a prayer!

Keep the families of those affected by this morning's Buffalo, NY plane crash in your prayers. I have a dear friend who only lives about two blocks away from where the plane went down, and while she and her family are thankfully alright, she said the fire is still out of control, and several homes are on fire. Keep them in your thoughts, and I hope the damage is as minimal as possible.

Since it's Friday the 13th . . .

of course, I hit a deer on the way to work this morning. I'm fine, but poor little car will need a new passenger side mirror, has a large dent in the hood, and will need work on the front fender. Just what we needed on top of wedding expenses. And I feel horrible for the poor little deer.

For all you ladies that live in rural areas, be careful - deer are everywhere right now!

A proper introduction

I realize I've been writing for a few days and haven't really told you a whole lot about me. I am a twenty-something graduate student, studying human performan and ergonomics. I'll be done with my master's this june, and am still debating if a PhD is in my future. I work in the automotive industry in the lean manufacturing department of my facility. I am super-close with parents and talk to them multiple times a day. I love all things southern (though I am stuck in the midwest for the time being), 1950s, and was thisclose to becoming a professional musician instead of majoring in organizational psychology.

The Mister is a mechanical engineer and music lover, plays guitar, and is a fanatic about his cars. We met while I was interning at the company he (and my daddy) work for, and got engaged on Christmas Eve, 2008. Our wedding is this March, and is a preppy, polka dot, red and aqua luncheon.

Our two babies are his jack russel terrier, Buddy, and my mini schnauzer, CoCo Chanel. I'm excited to share my stories with you, and hope you enjoy!

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I found this room through apartmenttherapy, while looking for images in my red-and-tiffnay-blue wedding colors. I love how it feels light and airy while still having color.

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I have collected so many pictures of gorgeous decoracting inspiration, and thought I'd share one daily with you all. Here's todays:

We recently painted our great room a very similar shade of red. I love the look of throw pillows in dining room chairs!

What are your decor favorites?

Puppies, polka dots, and pictures!

over the weekend, mister indiana and i took our long awaited engagement pictures with the super talented jenny newark of grise photography. the weather was abnormally warm and sunny, and we were able to bring the doggies along for the day. i bought a new outfit for the occassion - i've been looking for a reason to buy it for a while, a what a better excuse than e-pics? (it's from jc penny's, of all places, and is pretty inexpensive). we got a few pics back to look at today, and i thought i'd share my favorite thus far:

have a happy and preppy day, ladies!

Shout out to one of my fav blogs . . .

Check out this fab giveaway from the polka dot owl: http://thepolkadottedowl.blogspot.com/2009/02/ok-i-lied.html. Good luck!

hi all!

i am a huge follower of so many ladies' womderfulo blogs, and thought i'd throw my hat into the world of blogging as well. i'm a preppy, classic midwestern girl with great love for all things southern, floral, damask, and vintage. i'm finishing up my master's degree, debating a phd, and planning a march 14th 2009 wedding to the very amazing mr. indiana. i love baking, sweet tea, tiffany's, and decorating. i hope to share recipes, preppy fashion finds, stories, and inspiration along my journey to become the june cleaver i've always hoped to be. thanks for joining me!

buddy, one of my babies, as a puppy!