Anyone home?

Hi, there... if you're even there...

I thought I'd drop in for a little visit...

Guess what? I miss Swoonworthy.

A lot.

Like a lot alot.

I miss styling,

and writing,

and the whole combination of it all that results in,

that's right,

blogging.

I've been thinking about it for a couple of months now. I've just been so busy and overwhelmed with my job (which I luckily love!) for so long now and it's now all bubbling to the surface. I knew I wouldn't be able to continue blogging with everything else I have going on...

...but I can't deny it any longer. I miss it so much.

I also have lots of exciting news to share. Well, maybe not "lots," but two things, technically.

First, today is officially the end of my first quarter-century on this Earth, and the start of my second. That's right, my 25th birthday. You know when you're little and people ask you if you feel older and you say yes even though you really don't? Well, to be 100% honest, I sort of do this time around. I feel like I've been an "adult" for awhile now, but just the words TWENTY. FIVE. sound so much older. But in a good way.

Second, the Boyfriend and I got engaged back in February and are planning our wedding for late August 2011! I guess I should get used to calling him the Fiancé on here, huh? Anyhow, we're paying for the wedding ourselves, so we've gotten creative and have a ton of DIY projects coming up... which is one of the reasons I'm writing:

I'd love to come back to Swoonworthy—maybe not everyday like I used to—but at least to drop by every once in awhile and share some of my wedding planning projects and to simply document the entire process for myself. My heart is fluttering just thinking about it all (blogging+DIY+wedding)!

Alright, here I go again. Blabbing on and on and on...

For the time being, I'll leave you with one of my favorite engagement photos (what am I talking about, they're all my favorites!) of the Fiancé and I taken back in late July by the lovely Jen Huang of Jen Huang Photography (who just so happens to be a college friend of mine!). She gets to fly all over the country and take amazing photos. Lucky duck.

*swoon*

Paige

Once Upon a Time...

Three years ago today, a boy and a girl went on their first date. They were both very nervous.


She picked him up from his place and they drove to Alki Beach in the West Seattle area of Seattle. Did I mention they were both nervous? The more nervous people are, the more they tend to like the other person. And they were very nervous.

After parking the car, they walked up and down the street, talking and laughing, trying to decide what to eat for dinner. They finally settled on chowder from Spud. The girl insisted on paying for herself, which probably made the boy worry a little, but he had nothing to worry about. She was planning on sticking around.

They left Spud, crossed the street to the beach, sat on the pebble-coated sand, and leaned against a large log together. They opened up their chowder and conversation continued. The girl pretended not to notice that the boy could hardly eat. He was very, very nervous. She finished her meal in no time (nerves will never get in the way of hunger for this girl), and the boy put his away, saying he would save it for later, that he "wasn't very hungry."

Once the sun set, they went to his apartment and stayed up talking until five in the morning, and watching Weird Science (a really terrible movie from the '80s), but not paying attention to the movie at all because they were both freaked out as to what to do next. When the girl finally had to leave, the boy walked her to her car. She only gave him a hug because she was worried the chowder might have put on a show if she tried to kiss him.

Next time, she promised herself.


That "next time" has turned into a lifetime. That boy has stuck by this girl through it all - a year and a half of long-distance (including five months in India), living with her parents (yikes), and the hardest of all, cancer (my dad still thanks him for not "heading to the hills" after my diagnosis). The Boyfriend and I plan on recreating our first date tonight by going to Alki to get chowder and, if it's not raining, sitting on the beach until the sun sets. We'll probably nix the Weird Science, though. It's just too terrible of a movie.

*swoon*
Paige

The Square-Shaped Elephant in the Room

Alright. I'll try to put this as delicately as possible.

Brace yourselves.

The boyfriend wants a new TV.

As someone who doesn't watch much television (aside from the occasional episode of The Office), I would be perfectly fine getting rid of our current one altogether and just not replacing it. It's not very appealing to look at (a big huge cube of silver plastic) as we haven't jumped on the flatscreen bandwagon; and while a new TV would look much nicer, I would rather save the money for a down-payment on a house (every little bit helps, right?).

Anyway, I know I'm probably not going to win this one, so I've been trying to come up with ways to better camouflage the behemoth he has in mind.

I've thought about buying a cabinet to hide it in, but I didn't want a huge looming piece of furniture in our already small-ish living room (which triples as our entry area and my desk area - semi-enthusiastic hooray for multi-use spaces!).

I had been planning on putting a few prints up on the wall behind the TV, but it wasn't until I came across Kim Johnson's house tour on Apartment Therapy (via My Little-Way) and found this fabulous idea that I thought to cover the entire wall with larger prints to make the television blend in perfectly!


It looks as if it's one of the prints! Genius! I have a few unframed pieces already, waiting to go up, but I'd like to hold off until I have a few more so it doesn't look too patchy. The pieces in the picture have a primarily lighter palette; however, it might also look nice to incorporate darker colors and make the blank television screen blend in a little more, especially when our walls are a creamy white color.

Now all I need is your help! What are your favorite sources for art? Who are your favorite artists? To frame these (hopefully) soon-to-be acquired pieces, I recently came across this simple, inexpensive way to ("framelessly") frame your own pieces instead of spending your entire paycheck on custom framing.

*swoon*
Paige