inlove

I am on a hunt for a vintage inspired wedding dress from the 1940's & 1950's... I would love something lace, long sleeved and tea length.

http://www.poshgirlvintage.com/1950s-beige-lace-tea-length-wbrown-velvet-bow-dressl-p-2555.html

I absolutely love every little detail about this dress! It is exactly what I have been putting together in my head =)

Girls, if you know of any vintage dress shops in Portland please let me know because I would love to be able to check them out to find my prefect vintage wedding dress.

sweet

I wanted to share with you all my 'go to' brownie recipe from Paula Deen, Paula is one of my favorite chefs- we both have a love for butter way too much and I love that!!! Everything is better with a stick or two of butter..

Ingredients

• 1 (17.6-ounce) package brownie mix with walnuts
• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 3 (6-ounce) candy bars with almonds and toffee chips (recommended: Symphony brand)

Directions

Prepare the brownie mix according to package directions.

Line a 13 by 9-inch cake pan with aluminum foil and spray with vegetable oil cooking spray. Spoon in half of the brownie batter and smooth with a spatula or the back of a spoon. Place the candy bars side by side on top of the batter. Cover with the remaining batter.

Bake according to package directions. Let cool completely, then lift from the pan using the edges of the foil. This makes it easy to cut the brownies into squares.

This recipe and a 'how to video' can be viewed by the link below- Please try this recipe! Go Paula!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/toffee-brownies/video/index.html

a daily battle

What is really considered beautiful? Lots of make up, enhanced skin and hair color or natural skin tone against natural hair color and less cover up?

Back in 2008 before I moved to Oregon, my hair was blond, skin was a golden beautiful tan and I felt pretty each day. As time had passed in Oregon (where the sun lacks) my skin has faded to its vanilla white tone and my hair is no longer its bright vibrant blond. I have allowed my hair to grow out to its natural dirty dishwater blond...and so feeling very unattractive daily- 'new' Amanda to the right --->

I am desperately working on trying to love the natural Amanda as apposed to the 'fake' Amanda that made me feel pretty every minute of the day.

the 'old' Amanda

I want to find that confidence that I see in so many other girls around me...

What do you guys feel builds confidence and real beauty? What do some of you do daily to make yourself feel beautiful and confident?

Everyone has a place...

My project this weekend was working on the place settings for my wedding. I am having such a small, intimate wedding that I know for sure who will be there which enables me to work on these so early. Everything at my wedding is DIY (by mostly me) so I want to be well prepared for everything I have planned and have the time to make everything perfect!

All I needed was decorative scrap booking paper sheets that fit the theme of my wedding, ink pads, lettered stamps, twine and a heart hole puncher...

I took each 6.5" x 4.5" decorative sheet and folded them in half. I then stamped the name of myself and my fiance on the cards with black ink. I hole punched two hearts on the top edge and tied it with twine to add the vintage feel I am looking for in my wedding. This took mere minutes to do and I am very happy with the final product. I am very eager to make the rest of these perfect place settings!

Vintage Wedding 3/11/2012

I finally have a date set for my wedding =) Time is flying by too, and my DIY wedding is coming near and I wanted to share some of my ideas and plans for my very intimate and special wedding.  

I was offered the use of Blush Salon and Spa for my ceremony and small reception to follow =) This salon is very old and vintage inspired as is and I believe it is going to be the perfect place to say I DO!

I am using purples, pinks, silver and white as the colors in my wedding, and I am leaning towards poppies, tulips and lilacs as my flowers- I might use just one genre of flower or I might combine them all. I plan to use mason jars as the 'vase' for my centerpiece to hold my sweet flower arrangements...

This is the look I am going for with the mason jar- but with my chosen flowers. 

bridalbuds.com

I am going to incorporate vintage inspired clothespins along with the floral arrangements with photos of Will and I. =) I am starting this project over this upcoming weekend!!

Decorated similar to this-

weddingbee.com

We have decided to go with cupcakes for the wedding as opposed to the traditional cake.

 http://shopruche.blogspot.com/2011/05/wedding-wednesday-cupcakes.html I love every little thing about this cupcake and I think it will be perfect for the wedding =)

Hi! I'm Amanda

I never know what to say about myself in the 'about me' sections...so I thought I would give a little breakdown of 'tiddly bits' (thanks donkey show) about myself for my followers...

For some reason before I sit down on the cold toilet seat to use the restroom I always rub my hands together to create warmth as if this will make the toilet seat warm...
I have a weakness for anything salty (get your minds out of the gutter) and DONUTS!
I hope to one day own my own Bakery with light pink walls accented with turquoise and everything vintage =)
Love love love Barbara Streisand and I would really enjoy seeing her in concert with my mom
Scared of the dark when I am alone in bed and it is super quiet (and I start thinking there are sharks in the carpet)
I sleep eat almost nightly =/ (I think this might be a real disease)
When I am alone, I dance in the dark; and have since a little girl
I hate to read, but I do occasionally enjoy a racy, sexy book
OBSESSED with Food Network
Messiness is not an option!
Learning to slowly love the 'natural me'

And...back in 2009, December, I met the most amazing guy and I will become his gal forever on March 11, 2012...and he has simply made me a better individual in a very positive way...I continue to learn from him each and every day.

darlings