Double Score

I read a lot of wedding blogs and it seems that my list grows daily. I use Google Reader to keep track of everything and this just adds to my obsession since I can tag things for later reference. My most used tag is “love” - and I mean love as in omg I LOVE this! Not oh dear, I love you so…

But I digress. Today not only did I find a love but I found a DIY - double score.





There is a little antique shop down the road from my mother’s house and he has boat loads of old clear glassware that he has a horrible time getting rid of. He happens to be buddies with my grandfather, which is why I know this, and he says that clear glass is just not that popular. Score one for me because the next time I go home for a visit - I’m totally checking out his store for some cheap stuff. Why didn’t I think of this before?

You can find more about this on Perfect Bound.

Act Your Shoe Size!

I have searched high and low for the perfect nail color my entire life. Last year I started going to the hair salon across the street for regular mani/pedi’s because I was expecting to be engaged soon and wanted my fingers to look pretty when I was. Since I could never find the perfect color I always paid extra for the French manicure. Not that I don’t like French tips, in fact I prefer them, but who wants to pay $5 extra each time?! Well there I was sitting in the manicure chair and there it was - my perfect color!






What’s even more perfect? The name! It’s called Act Your Shoe Size. Can anything else explain me more perfectly?








The sad news is that I thought my love affair with Act Your Shoe size was over! How tragic? I find my nail color soul mate and then it gets discontinued? As if! The bottle at the nail salon started to get stale - you know, when it gets all cakey and doesn’t dry quickly anymore. I was down in the dumps until I found it on Amazon! What would life be like without Amazon? I shudder just thinking about it!

PS - This is the color I wanted my bridesmaids to wear until I talked Art into a Black and White wedding! I think we’ll all get our toes done this color though.

Open letter to J. Crew

Dear J. Crew,

Thank you for all of the pretty wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses that you make. Please consider making these



and these ...



in white for me. Pretty please?

Yours truly,
Miss Julya

P.S. The pretty shoes in orange are on sale because orange shoes are ugly - just a friendly little piece of info for ya.

Give me chocolate!!

I’m getting married on the 3rd Saturday of October which turns out to be The Sweetest Day of the year. It’s a confectioners holiday and I’ll post later about it’s history and how I’m going to tie sweets into my wedding day. Through this process I’ve started to become obsessed with sweets and specifically ones I can’t have like these:







Why do they have to be $9.50 EACH? I WANT THEM!!

A perfect summer wedding

I recently went to a beautiful wedding in Pittsburgh, PA. The bride and groom are college friends of ours so watching them walk down the aisle was very surreal. Because I have an eye for DIY projects I could tell that the bride really put her own personal touch on the day by making her own invitations, programs, and centerpieces. She did such a beautiful job and I wanted to share some her of pro shots. I didn’t want to show faces so here is a small sampling of her beautiful details.





A nice close up of the bride and her bouquet.




The flower girls. There was also a female ring attendant.




The church.




Walking down the aisle.




The reception hall was an awesome country club complete with a sprawling golf course.




The bride and groom walking to their private golf cart for pictures.




A perfect picture of the couple.




Some guests enjoying the cocktail hour out on the patio.




The ball room before guests.




Details on the cake.




Yummy sweet ending bar!

I'm not little or a thing

Last night my girls kidnapped me for a little trip to Victoria’s Secret. At first I was really excited to see their special bridal offerings, including some cute tops, undies, and lingerie. Upon further examination of my cute findings I see the 3 words – “Sexy Little Bride.” Little? Really? Let’s forget for a moment the PINK campaign that Vicky’s ran recently. The one with PJ bottoms with the word PINK across the butt? Think about that one for a minute… Now they are putting “Sexy Little Bride” and “Sexy Little Thing” on their products. Maybe it’s my women’s college education that tells me this is degrading but common! I get that their underwear line is called ‘sexy little things’ since underwear is, after all, a thing. But what makes Victoria’s Secret think that I want to be called “little” and a “thing?” I thought the days of ‘the little lady’ ended in the 60’s. Needless to say I didn’t buy the two tops below – maybe if it had said “Very Sexy Bride” or plain old “Bride” I would have been more inclined to shell out the $34 and $48 respectively.

It's OK to run down tourists!

In fact, it’s good for my health and will help me to live longer! It’s true because NY magazine told me so in their new feature - Why New Yorkers Live Longer . Don’t believe me? Well read for yourself. Here is my favorite quote:


When I ask what the X factor is—where the “excess life” is coming from—Frieden goes over to his desk and returns with a clear plastic statuette. It’s from the American Podiatric Medical Association and Prevention magazine: BEST WALKING CITY, 2006.

“We’ve won it a couple of years in a row,” he tells me with a grin. He’s got a bunch of them kicking around.

Walking? This isn’t quite as facile an explanation as it sounds. Scientists who study urban health argue that it’s not just that we walk more—it’s the way we walk that has a surprising spillover effect on life spans. Researchers have long known that people here walked fast—far faster than anyone else in the country. Indeed, the easiest way to tell a New Yorker from an out-of-towner is by walking speed: The natives blast down the sidewalk at blitzkrieg pace, and the visitors mosey along like pack mules. Eleanor Simonsick, a Baltimore-based epidemiologist, knew that regular walking is a powerful way to maintain your health. But she began to wonder, a question very germane to us in New York: Does the speed at which you walk also affect your health?