enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

  • maybe we’ll just make it a feature.

    Jcrewshoes

    Photo from j.crew via Green Wedding Shoes

    So the word from P is that it is too early to commit to colors. But these shoes fit my orange + gray plan so fabulously.

    Colors

    I do not have a theme for the wedding. But I do want it to feel warm. Warm and sunny like California. I am going to rely heavily on color (and maybe candles?) to achieve this. And I am definitely being drawn to orange tones, light gray and cream. I love the above combination – except not as muted as it looks on the internet. Paul, what do you think?

  • currently.

    Flowers
    Photo by Zoom Photography via Style Me Pretty.

    I am feeling a bit ahead of the game here on the wedding planning front. I am just a little bit impatient by nature and I love to arrange and rearrange and make lists and cross out. This whole part is FUN for me. It is crazy that at the end of all this, I get to be married to Paul and the real excitement will begin. I love that all this build up and anticipation is working towards something that will last forever. Pretty cool.

    I contacted Lauri of Zoom Photography after seeing the lovely Napa wedding she shot on Style Me Pretty yesterday. She is available on our date and happy to come to Sacramento. I just need to figure out if I have the budget for someone as fabulous as her. Ultimately, photos are up at the top of Most Important Things to me. So, fingers crossed.

    We found out that Paul’s med school graduation is May 15, 2010. This was one of the big dates that we were waiting for and now everything (honeymoon + time to look for a home) is starting to fall into place. I get such a weird satisfaction from typing things into iCal. It makes me anxious to buy a 2010 planner.

    I love the look of the flowers in the pink glass above. I think we have some glasses very similar at my parent’s house. I am hoping to combine glasses and vases (mostly that we already own between our two families) filled with flowers for the tables at the reception. Ooh la la…

  • the one in which the internet wins.

    IMG_2120
    Paul and I were given an Apple giftcard for Christmas and he generously gave it to me to put towards a new iPod. I had been using my circa 2005 iPod shuffle until I lost it at the gym. With the giftcard burning a hole in my pocket, I went to the local Apple store to find a replacement last week.

    The store was packed with people fiddling around on iPhones and practicing their finger scrolling. No one was interested in helping the girl by the iPod counter. So I walked up to what I thought was the register hoping I could just ask for one and pay for it there.

    The register was actually a "Genius Bar" and the "bartenders" were very occupied tutoring new iPhone users. I stood around for a few minutes until I noticed a computer screen that highlighted who was next in line. I had no idea how to get my name on that computer screen or why I should wait in a mythical line in order to PAY MONEY. Everyone in the store looked confused and/or determined to spend money but no transactions appeared to be happening. Maybe there needs to be tutoring on what to do after you have entered an Apple store.

    In a bit of a tizzy, I drove home and signed on to the Apple store online. A-Ha! Pick the product! A-Ha! Put it in your cart! A-Ha! Free customization! A-Ha! Free shipping on shuffles! A-Ha! You want my money!

    The very good news is that I now have exactly what I wanted AND it says, "enjoy". The bad news is that I think the future of brick and mortar stores is bleak.

  • book winner + etc.

    Randomnumber.paul picked #39:

    Of course I'd love to own a handbound book! Thanks for the chance and as always, the inspiration. 🙂

    Posted by:
    Rachel |
    March 08, 2009 at 07:49 PM

    Hey hey, Rachel! Come on down! Email me at elise.blaha@gmail.com.

    Thanks for the kind words about the book. I am hoping to stock up on supplies and then take orders for custom books this summer. I will keep you posted. And I will try to arrange the video how-to. I may need to get P to be the videographer for that one..

    More thank yous for the insight on the wedding planning. I do understand that there is not a "right" or "wrong" way to do these things. I do believe that this day is a celebration of E + P love. And, I have been overwhelmed by the excitement of some total strangers and some close friends. I am trying to ride these waves of excitement and not worry so much about anything else.

    Excellent.

  • and we’re off!

    Todo 5
     Todo 4
    It has been a week since the transfer of the ring and I feel like we have an outline of a plan. On Saturday, we met with friends of ours, who are getting married in July, and I was given the Real Simple Weddings Book. It is beautiful and also insanely overwhelming. It details all that there is to do and really puts a wrench in my theory that this was going to be well, really simple. Ahem.

    But since last Monday evening, we have picked a date. This was probably the quickest decision to make as there is a narrow window of time between the day Paul stops working as a med student and the day he starts working as a real-live doctor.

    We have reserved (at least I think it is reserved… Dad?) a ceremony location. It is the church that my parents currently attend and the same place that Paul's parents were married (plus it has a fabulously long aisle).

    We have two-thirds of a guest list, though after hearing what a wedding costs per head, I am nervous about having to go at that list with a red sharpie and make some cuts.

    We have arranged flights to go back to Sacramento in early May to look at reception venues. I am anxious to learn more about this place.

    I have decided to consider just buying hundreds of pretty flowers and tossing them into little Ikea vases for decoration at the reception.

    And of course, I have already come up with a sketch for the handmade programs, invites, save-the-dates and guestbook. But, let's be honest, that I have had mapped out since January.

  • maybe next time + enter to win.

    Giveaway1

    I had big plans to photograph each step of how to make a book using the "case-binding" method. Except that it is very hard to take pictures while making a book and then come up with instructions so it makes sense. Sad Day.

    Covers
    Textblock

    I went ahead and made the book this afternoon, using a text block and bookboard from Paper Source and cover paper purchased last fall from Paper Studio. A text block in case binding is the "block" of papers that are pre-cut and pre-glued that will drop into the covers and spine to become the pages of the book.
    Giveaway2

    If you are interested in learning more, I am sure their are videos on youtube or there may even be bookbinding classes in your area. In the meantime, if you would like to own a handmade book, please leave a comment to be entered to win this one. I will randomly choose a winner Monday night.

  • twist and shout.

    IMG_2088 Oh Friday. Greetings!

    This morning, I printed for a letterpress swap I am participating in hosted by Kelly of Paper Stories. Orange really is my new favorite color.

    Next on the craft agenda, I am brainstorming for a class I would love to run on a separate blog in April. It is still developing a little bit, but I thought I would take a lot of the ideas I have been holding on to for the book I wanted to write last fall and transfer them into a class syllabus. Much more to come as get some ideas sketched out.

    Look for the bookbinding how-to here sometime this weekend. I, meanwhile, will be looking for spring.

  • hey! are you in the dc area?

    IMG_2086
    Last summer, I obsessed over the reduced prices of Arturo paper at Paper Source. I bought seven boxes of cards and envelopes then because SOMEDAY I was going to be so thrilled I had stocked up. Yesterday, at the Georgetown store, we received over 200 boxes of the stuff. Or about 20 times my collection. It is all in fairly organized piles and waiting for a paper lover, wedding planner or just someone who likes pretty things to come buy it.

    And the very best part : it is 75% off. It's a deal and a half.

    I bought small cream and white cards (about 4×6) as well as cream folded cards that
    will eventually be wedding programs. I love that I can say stuff like that
    now.

    Paper Source is located in Georgetown at 3019 M Street NW, 20007. We have just added a new "outlet" portion on our second floor and it is packed with cool, very limited-edition items, including the Arturo.

  • all i know.

    Mosaic1812688photo credits : 1.
    Happy
    little trees    , 2. ranunculus
    print    , 3. inspired:august,
    4. 308:
    12.5.07    , 5. hello
    spring    , 6. film.174,
    7. bumble
    and bumble in the meatpacking    , 8. 09.28.08
    {running}    , 9. oranges,
    10. Untitled,
    11. Untitled,
    12. spare,
    13. Fresh,
    14. to:
    you, from: me    , 15. Above the
    crib    , 16. Untitled

    At this point, all I know is that I am marrying Paul and that my dad will walk me down the aisle. I guess I also know that there will be an aisle. And I do know that there will be a dress – probably cream, not white. And my hair will be up. So, I know five things.

    I spend a lot of my time at Paper Source talking to new brides about their options for wedding invitations, programs, table cards and etc. Often during the conversations, their eyes start to glass over or they start to look really anxious. It is right around then where I mention the most important thing that they will do in this planning process is learn how to edit.

    Wedding planning, it seems, is a lesson in editing. It is taking two million ideas and cutting through them to see what works for you (+ the groom). Because ultimately, you cannot do every fabulous idea that has ever appeared in Martha Stewart Weddings. You get to do about six of them if you are lucky.

    The photos are some of my flickr favorites that fit the very abstract idea in my head for what our celebration will be like. I am not going to do balloons AND paper lanterns AND half cut grapefruit, but I do love the combination of oranges, yellows, grays and whites in the above photos. The pictures are warm and homemade. I love that.

  • the e + p engagement.

    IMG_2080
    It was not a big surprise. Not in the sense that we have always
    talked about getting married. Not in the sense that on New Years, Paul
    asked my parents for the OK. Not in the sense that on a rainy day in
    January we went to look at rings.

    And yet, it was.

    As
    he was talking, my mind raced trying to figure out if this was really going to be it or if
    this was just him saying “I love you.” I finally knew when he reached down and out of his flannel pajama pocket came a
    little ring. No box. Just a ring. He did not say, “Will you marry me?” He
    did not get down on one knee. My hair was not hot at all. It was not
    how I pictured it.

    And yet, it was.

    It was so us. So everyday. So “Hey, I love you. Be mine. Forever.”

    We
    opened a bottle of very nice wine and celebrated on the couch with
    dinner of chicken, cornbread and asparagus. I made Paul do a toast. He
    hates toasts. But he said “To us, the young love birds…” and I
    finished up with “…who will one day be wise old owls.” And then I
    said something like, “Can you believe we have 80 more years together?
    Oh my god, we are going to have grandbabies!” And he laughed and I laughed and it was good.

    I spent the night smiling and looking at my ring. And I took some time to email and call my family and the girls. And there was some kissing (with Paul, not the girls).

    I am in love with a man. A very good man. I am planning a wedding. A very good wedding.

    Based
    on his school/becoming a doctor schedule – we think the wedding will be
    in April 2010 in California, of course. I will do my best to keep this blog from becoming a TLC
    wedding story.

    +++

    I am so overwhelmed with all the sweet comments and emails throughout the day. Thank you. Thank you.