7/29/11

Five Things Friday [#4]

It's been awhile but although I'm tired (and I'm always tired at the end of a week) I'm feeling very thankful for so many good things in my life.

1. Sharing two years with my husband and his lovely post. If you haven't read it, take some time and check it out. He's a good writer.

2. Sunshine! Honestly summers here are so perfect that I have to do everything outside... even sew:

3. Along with that, I've been really inspired and have been working on some vintage-esque pieces that I hope to get in the shop next week.

4. Talking with my best friend on the phone about her honeymoon and dreaming of going to visit her sometime in the distant future.

5. The upcoming weekend and perhaps going out on the boat again. Can not wait. :D

What has you feeling grateful this week? 

7/28/11

Vloggin' it Yellow Heart Art style

sooo what did you do last night?

I decided to make a fool of myself, cuz what else would you do at 10:30 on a Wednesday night?

That's what I thought.

Basically, I love Leonora of Yellow Heart Art's rockin' vlogs and so after some Twitter back and forth-- Illene of Much Love Illy and I said we'd make a lip-sync vlog too and join up in her vlog dance partaaay.

So I did.

All I can say is enjoy. And I hope I don't scare you off too much.

Also does anyone else get weirded out when they watch themselves on video?

And the husband watched it and his only comment?

"The music is off. If it matched up it would be really good."

Aw, thanks honey! And yeah, there were technical difficulties GALORE last night. just an fyi

buttons & such

I love vintage buttons.

Even as a small girl.

Once I brought my mom's button basket for show-and-tell.

I'm not sure if anyone was the impressed. ;)

When my grandmother died I inherited her tin of buttons. As she grew up during the Depression, she kept every button and if she donated any clothing, she took off the buttons first to put away in her tin.

I have a few other antique buttons and brooches and some clip-on earrings I've picked up.

Paired with some vintage fabric and fabric scraps (borrowed from my mamma) I've been making some one-of-a-kind things for the shop.

see them in the etsy shop soon!

also. there will be another post today. If you get embarrassed for other people, I don't suggest you come back to see it. Jus' saying :)

7/26/11

happy two years and a guest post from the husband

(FYI: grab some iced lemonade or a glass of wine- this is a long post with lots o' photos)

In lieu of writing a blog post today, my lovely wife Erika has asked me to write something instead. She said to keep it around 200 words. That’s like six sentences, so this might be a tid bit longer. Our 2 year wedding anniversary is today and her prose to me was to "write something about the wedding." Kind of a broad topic, no? I'm not entirely sure why she thought I would be a good choice to compose this blog post, as she is a substantially more gifted writer than myself. My only thought as to why is that she wanted to go upstairs to make more crafty things for R&W. Or to watch The Bachelorette. Either way, I'll certainly do my best to keep y'all entertained.*

So, our wedding was hot. Like hot with two "t's" hott. Seattle summer temperatures generally range from 70-80 degrees, with a 5 degree cushion on either side of that. If the weather stays within that 20 degree window, all is right in the world in the eyes of Seattleites. Any sort of variance from that however is cause for uproar, complaining, and threats to move to Canada.** The temperature on our wedding day was 98 degrees. When we booked our outdoor wedding, our biggest concern was that it might rain. Turns out that occasionally happens in Seattle. Also turns out, that would have been a blessing. What we ended up having was the hottest three week stretch in the history of Seattle (well since they started keeping records 110ish years ago).

Erika's company line about the wedding is that she "doesn't remember much." I think the fact that it was nearly 100 degrees (no A/C in the reception hall mind you, this is Seattle after all, and apparently it never gets above 80, so why would any building be equipped with A/C?) and the fact that we each talked to over 10,000 people that day probably contributed to her memory loss.*** I on the other hand remember it like it was yesterday. In fact (this is a true story. I swear.) two nights ago I spent an hour looking at our wedding pictures at 2 am.****

Full disclosure before I continue. I’m a complete sap at weddings: weddings for people I barely know, weddings for people that I love dearly. It doesn’t matter. I’ve never actually cried at a wedding (other than my own), but I always get the big lump in my throat every time the bride walks down the aisle. Every single time. It’s mildly annoying.

Before I got married, random people I knew would talk about their own wedding days being “SUPER AMAZINGLY AWESOME!!” and “SPECTACULARLY WONDERFULLY FANTASTIC!!!” And despite what I just said in the previous paragraph, I would quietly laugh at these weirdos and say to myself, “Self, while weddings are great and all, there are surely other things in your life that will always be better than your own wedding. Like watching the Huskies win the National Championship, the Rose Bowl, or really, any game at all.” Turns out I was the weirdo.

Now I’m not an emotional fella in terms of tears. I can express feelings and talk and have good hard conversations and all that jazz, but I’m not really a crier. Since I began high school (11 years ago), I think I’ve only cried for deaths and break ups. Neither are fun. At all. I’ve certainly never cried tears of emotional joy like a girl. ;) With all that said, I cried at my wedding. Not a lot, but some. Tears of joy for sure.

My goal now is to not get too sappy and gushy on y’all (see * #1), but we’ll see what happens. I can honestly say that the day I married Erika (July 26^th, 2009 for all of you keeping score at home)***** was the best day of my life. Hands down, no question at all. I will not debate this with anyone. There is something about marrying your very very VERY best friend that is SUPER AMAZINGLY AWESOME and SPECTACULARLY WONDERFULLY FANTASTIC.

I remember pretty much everything about that day. I ran in the morning, just like I do everyday. I went to my usual Starbucks and got my usual drink (the baristas were shocked that I was there since they knew I was getting married. Honestly, why would I not drink coffee on my wedding day. I do need to be awake for the vows correct?) The day was hott with two t’s. We took pictures for about infinity hours before the wedding and got into every pose imaginable to man. Don’t get me wrong, it was super fun to hang out and be goofy with my soon to be wife and our very best friends, but we took so many pictures that I was pretty sure I was going to end up with a permasmile. We had ones kissing, smiling, whispering, eyes closed, eyes opened, standing, sitting, hugging, looking serious, and one of me playing quarterback with my groomsmen as the offensive line.

After we finished the photography portion of the program, Erika and the girls went and secluded themselves into her little “Bride Room." I think what it said in our wedding plans we drew up was “Erika goes and hide." While the girls were “hiding," us guys drank lots of water and no alcohol prior to the ceremony. Although I’d always pictured having a beer with my groomsmen an hour before the wedding I just really didn’t want anything to go awry.
Along with being the super fun groom who nixed the beer idea I also required that all six of my groomsman keep on their full tux for the 5 p.m. outdoor ceremony. There would be no removing of jackets or rolling of sleeves for the ceremony. This was my wedding and I wanted it to be classy and perfect.

As all of the guests arrived, I’m quite certain they were silently (or maybe not so silently) cursing us for getting married on one of the hottest days in the history of Seattle. As everyone sat down, the groomsman and I, along with our Pastor, moseyed up to the altar. I could feel the sweat rolling down my entire body, which was outfitted in a full tuxedo, vest, and jacket. Yikes.

Once Erika started walking down the aisle, the heat was almost unnoticable to me. She was captivating and I didn’t really care if it was 10 degrees or 100 degrees. She was (and still is) gorgeous and I was about to marry her.

The ceremony started and things were going just fine. I said my vows and was thoroughly enjoying the moment of celebration with Erika, our families and our friends. Unfortunately my brother-in-law Andrew (groomsman number 5 of 6) didn’t feel the same way at all. In fact, I’m pretty sure he wanted to be anywhere else in the world at that moment. You see, during Erika’s vows, right in the middle of her telling me that she’d stand by me in sickness and in health, Andrew got down on one knee, and puked. Apparently all of that water upset his stomach (clearly he has a sensitive stomach) and when the upset stomach was combined with the heat of the day and the massive quantities of suit material his delightful brother-in-law required him to wear, he could take no more.

After the puking, things went fine. Everybody laughed, he felt better, and we sealed the deal with a kiss. The reception was awesome and crazy all at the same time. We were whisked around by parents and friends and the photographer, making sure we talked to everybody that came. We ended up not getting to eat our own cake until a year and a half later, which we’d forgotten that we’d left in Erika’s parents freezer (delicious by the way).

It was certainly the best day of my life and nothing will top it. If you haven’t tried marriage, I highly recommend it. For me, one of the best things about being married is the fact that I can secretly hope some day some guy says or does something one day that offends her so I can punch him and defend her honor. Extremely dorky I know, but I bet if you peered inside the brains of 10 guys, all 10 would say beating some AHole up for saying something to his girl would be something he’d love to do. As for me I’m 5’10 and 140 lbs. so I might just have to settle for a punch instead of a full beatdown.

I don’t really know how to end this random story of a hot wedding, vomit, and many asterisks, so I’ll just say this: Being married is one of the most rewarding, challenging, exciting, annoying, fun, and wonderful things I can imagine. I know Erika would say the same, although she’d use bigger words and potentially more emphasis on challenging when it comes to me folding laundry. (I folded tonight honey!) I am truly honored to be married to such a wonderful woman. I thank God everyday for the blessing He gave me in my wife. She is truly a prayer answered and a beautiful person to spend time with. I love her more than anything and would do pretty much anything for her. She is the most loving, loyal and admirable person I know. If we are blessed with a daughter someday, I would hope and pray she could be half of what Erika is.

Happy anniversary sweetheart.

*I spent this past weekend (Thursday-Saturday) driving from Seattle to San Francisco and back with one of my very best friends. He’s from Tennessee and says y’all a lot. The drive is 14 hours (830 miles) each way. Trip totaled 61 hours and 2 minutes. We spent a lot of time together. Sometimes things rub off.

**The whole threat to move to Canada is actually only from my liberal friends when a conservative gets elected. And from my conservative friends when a liberal gets elected. I clearly embellished there.

***It was really more like 400 people, but still, it was more than usual.

****Upon my return from San Francisco at 3 am early Sunday morning, I went straight to bed. I got up 4 hours later to run and go to work. It was not a good day to say the least. I got off of work at 5, came home, made dinner and went to bed at 6 pm. I thought I’d sleep through the night. My body had different plans and I woke up at 9 pm ready for dinner and some quality time with Erika. She was ready for bed. Oops. So I watched SportsCenter and looked at our wedding pictures and played Angry Birds until 3 a.m.

*****That’s a baseball reference for those who don’t follow sports like their life depends on it. When fans keep score at home (a bunch of random symbols that you fill in on a sheet that says which guy hit the ball where and a bunch of other random things that don’t matter at all), the announcer of the game will often say random things that maybe you didn’t notice during the game, just in case you were keeping score at home and wanted to keep your scorecard correct.

7/25/11

spray it (don't say it)

The simplest decor redo I've learned?

A can of spray paint.

While you can go the long route of sanding, priming, and painstakingly brushing on an oil paint... you can also pretend you're a teenage delinquent and spray paint your furniture, piece of art, or picture frame in half the time.

Last weekend I decided that my kitchen chairs were boring or rather, I finally decided to do something about my boring chairs.

Two are Goodwill finds and two are from Fred Meyer (like Target). All four were that blah-birch wood color with slight variations.

With my husband's permission (he usually is entertained by my forays into decor) I bought four cans of Krylon Oxford Blue in a Satin finish and two cans of a cheap brand of primer spray paint.

I sprayed each chair with a light cover of primer. The primer covers the previous color (if there is one) and makes it so the solid color sticks better. Usually if you prime a piece of furniture, you won't need to sand it.

After letting the primer dry for a half hour, I applied the first coat of Krylon Oxford Blue spraypaint.

spray paint pointers:

shake the can before and during painting

do even, light sprays about 6 inches away.

spray in the same direction

Your first coat should be light. Again, I waited a half hour (even though the can said 10 minutes) just to be sure) and continued with a second coat, and then a third.

After three coats (and some random extra sprays) I deemed my chairs Design-Sponge worthy and ready to move back into the kitchen.

I love them.

Do you spray paint your furniture?

p.s. the Seattle giveaway is still going on-- go enter :)

7/24/11

i love you blogs roundup #1

I am a blog addict.

I Love You Blogs and Coffee Print (Kraft) by jenniferramos

Honestly I am. (I love coffee too)

And I love it when other people share their favorite posts from around the web and so, I thought I should do the same :)

What I've loved reading this week:

[source]

plenty of colour: anthropologie window display designers

[sourcee]

deer in a bottle: vintage art

[source]

a beautiful mess: instagram inspiration // things to do with your pretty photos!

Did you read (or write) something you loved this week? Share! :)

7/22/11

rainy city giveaway

OK it's not raining right now but I know what you all think when you think Seattle.

rain, right?

Well I'm about to rain down some gifts on a lucky follower! (see what I did there? Clever!)

Thank you all who clicked that little Google friend button over there --->

or read along secretly

or on some reader.

I know that I would still blog here even if it was just the mom and the husband reading

but I love that you guys are interested too. And I love what you have to say and I think your blogs are pretty sweet, too. :)

the loot:

$10 Starbucks card

2 Theos chocolate bars

1 super fabulous original rouge & whimsy creation (i.e. headband made by me)

the deets:

Starbucks card: self-explanatory. Starbucks is from Seattle but they're everywhere. I'm sure you could find one near you to spend this moolah at.

Theos chocolate: Only the best most fab chocolate ever. Made in Fremont, Seattle (i.e. a neighborhood less than four miles from me casa.)
Organic and fair trade and plain delicious.
Also, the wrappers are insanely adorable. Would it be weird if I always want to keep them?

Headband: Green printed chiffon poppy headband that sits on a ribbon covered headband. Pretty cute for summer or anytime.

how you win:

1. You must follow my antics here & leave a comment telling me when & where you enjoy your chocolate (or sweet of choice.) The bathtub? The bus? Spill.

want more chances?
I'm not good at math but more comments would increase the probability, correct?
Correct.

2. Follow the abbreviated me (140-characters worth) on the Twitters & tell me in a comment. (@erikalc)

3. Speaking of Twitter, post a tweet about the giveaway and include @erikalc so I know thatcha did it.
Suggested tweet: "I'm drooling over the coffee and chocolate giveaway on @erikalc's blog"

4. Heart my Etsy shop & tell me about it.

Sound good?

This giveaway will be up until 11:59 pacific time on Tuesday, July 26, 2011

(that's my wedding anniversary!)

I'll announce the big WINNER on Wednesday.

Sounds good?

Cool.

Happy Friday everyone.
It's supposed to be 80 degrees here this weekend. I'm getting myself to a beach.
You're all welcome to join.

:) Erika

7/21/11

he said she said: leonora from yellow heart art

Do you live with a boy?
Do you ever interact with a boy?
Do you sometimes, just occasionally, have some difficulty communicating?

I know I do.

I love the husband, I truly do. But there are times when I say up and he says down, I say right and he says left (though he's usually right because I often directions).

My point is sometimes guys and girls, well, we don't see eye to eye and we don't understand where the other is coming from.

I'm starting a new series called "he said, she said" where I'll share some funny stories of the battle of the sexes.

and to kick it all off is one of my all-time favorite bloggers Leonora from Yellow Heart Art.

I love her for two reasons:
1. her amazing, hilarious-but-so-true graphic prints that need to come live in my house
2. her laugh-out-loud-til-you-pee-a-little blog posts about her and bubs

OK I thought of another reason.

3. her vlogs. Go watch one. You can thank me later.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Me: I don't think we can both enter from the same side
Bub: Babe, I got this, just trust me.

Is "trust" refundable? Cause clearly there is something wrong with my "trust". I want my money back. I'll even take store credit.

Leonora JenniferYellowHeartArt.blogspot.com
YellowHeartArt.etsy.com
facebook.com/yellowheartart
Twitter.com/YellowHeartArt

----------------------------------------------------------------

Want to share your own "he said, she said" story? I'll take all light-hearted posts at erikalriggs [at] gmail [dot] com.

:) Erika

7/20/11

what i love wednesday [#10]

happy wednesday!

it's all downhill from here, well, all downhill 'til the weekend that is. ;)

I'm loving things on Etsy this week (but let's be honest-- when am I not loving things on Etsy?)

These are the things *right* now that are catching my fancy and making me drool and making it real hard to save any money for that dlsr camera...

1. pillow cover by sweetharvey

(adorable, no?)

2. silver sterling hoops bracelet by zzaval

(really into bracelets lately)

3. liberty fabric covered bangles by sierramoon

(see above statement)

4. the sweet life photo locket necklace by heartworksbylori 

(one of the sweetest lockets I've ever seen)

The above photo was edited with pixlr-- a little time consuming 'cuz I was not sure what I was doing (and I refused to read directions and it was 11 p.m. at night...)

Usually I just use picasa but it's been making me mad lately. :)

What do you guys use to edit photos or make 'em pretty? I see so many of you put together such cute little blogger mashups and I have a sneaking suspician that you're all photoshop pros. [le sigh]

anyone wanna help a (photo-challenged) girl out? Fame and fortune will be yours! (well probably not fortune and maybe only a little fame.)

love to you all.

:) Erika

7/18/11

holy smokes batman! and other random musings

oh hey 102 followers. ---->

I owe you all a Seattle giveaway. Give me a day and I'll gather the goodies. Don't worry. It'll be worth becoming a follower ;) (it involves chocolate & coffee! woot!)

While you twiddle your thumbs and wait for that post, I have ~~two~~ three announcements...

1. Check out the letters to my teenage selves that were written by some awesome bloggers:

Mama Marchand

Ashley of After Nine to Five

Pixie Mama

Thinking about scripting your own letter of advice to your more pimply, awkward self-- link up and tell me about it! (And I'll do my best to feature it here.)

2. Sale section in the shop! That's right. Some stuffs are cheaper than before while I clear our for some new stuff for end of summer and fall! Go check it out. :D