A Lil' Bridal Shower DIY

Quote Love: “Whatever happened to chivalry? Does it only exist in 80's movies? I want John Cusack holding a boombox outside my window. I wanna ride off on a lawnmower with Patrick Dempsey. I want Jake from Sixteen Candles waiting outside the church for me. I want Judd Nelson thrusting his fist into the air because he knows he got me. Just once I want my life to be like an 80's movie, preferably one with a really awesome musical number for no apparent reason.” – Olive, from Easy A

So the main reason my family came to Hilton Head this weekend was because some good friends of my grandparents’ hosted a couple’s shower for Linnea and William. This reminded me that I’ve been meaning to share with y’all some things about the shower I threw for Linnea, particularly a quick and easy decoration idea :] (wait, is this about to become one of those blogs? The answer is, temporarily, yes.) (And by those kind, I mean the kind I stalk on a daily basis, wishing my life could be that party-perfect.)

I would have LOVED to go alllll out for my one and only sister’s (not) one and only bridal shower, but unfortunately, it fell in the middle of this week and I had work in the morning and a 12-page paper looming over my head (uggh), and I am only a poor college student (emphasis on poor). But I did still want to make it pretty and special. I love the look of pennant flag banners like these:

(So fun but simple, right? via Pinterest)

…and I wanted to recreate that look, figuring there must be an easy way to do itwithout any actual sewing or (much) time investment. Solution: twine and tissue paper. And double-sided tape. Then, literally, just cut out triangles from the tissue paper, fold the end over the twine and tape it.

I had originally envisioned these against a wall, with two lines of pennant flags –alternating with pictures hanging between each flag – and then another row of just twine beneath, where guests could pin up a note for Linnea. Because of the space, this plan was reworked just a little, but the end result – especially the space to pin up notes, which ended up wrapped between columns (bottom two pictures) – was pretty great, if I do say so myself.

Voila:

 

P.S. speaking of my pennant obsession, check out these invitations (which, yes, I realize are all for baby-related things) and these cake toppers. LOVE.

(A special thanks to Leah Stockstrom's photography skillz and documentation per my request... :] )

Friday Five

I love the beach. I really do. I love beach vacations where your whole family piles onto the sand with beach chairs and coolers and sodas and you spend hours out there. I love walking as far down the beach as you can, ankle-deep in ocean and keeping an eye out for treasures like starfish or horseshoe crab skeletons. I love standing still and squinting out as far as you can see and thinking about how vast and beautiful God is.

But the thing is, when I’m going to Hilton Head, I don’t necessarily think that I’m going to the beach, but rather that I’m going to Mama Kaye and Papa Joe’s house, and the beach – just down the path behind the house – as an added bonus. 

And so, today, here are five ordinary Hilton Head things that I can look forward to and are a part of the time I spend on the island:

1. MK and PJ’s house: MK and PJ have lived here my whole life. When I was five, the week before we moved to England, I split my chin open on the stairs in this house and had to get stitches. The house has been remodeled, and that staircase actually isn’t there anymore, but there’s the screened-in porch upstairs with a hammock swing, and the comfy chairs perfect for reading in front of the huge window (which you could see the beach from if it weren’t for the trees), and the ‘library’…and just being here is the best.

1. Bike rides: PJ and MK have these perfectly old, rusting beach riders – the kind that you backpedal to brake – that Linnea and I ride all over the plantation daily when we’re here. The sidewalks wind past golf courses, beneath trees dangling Spanish moss like forgotten scraps of lace and near ponds where you might chance to see an alligator. And today I fell off my bike. No further comment.

1. Dinner: MK always cooks meals like tuna steaks with blueberry mustard sauce. And they are always delicious. We eat late here, around 8, and all meander upstairs to the kitchen about half an hour before that and eat appetizers as we watch Mama Kaye finish up cooking. We sit around the dinner table for a long time, and have coffee and dessert there too. It’s lovely.

1. Kenny B’s and Coligny: The place Linnea and I always have to go when we’re on the island is a hole-in-the-wall N’awlins-style place called Kenny B’s, where we eat huuuge blackened shrimp po’boys and she-crab soup. (Although I believe I’ve told you about this before.) We usually head over to wander through the boardwalk –style touristy beach stores at Coligny. And it makes it even more typical when we drive Matilda, the twenty-year-old, formerly-brown-now-Kentucky-blue beast of a truck I often drive when I’m here…

1. TV: I don’t have cable at home – and I don’t want cable at home – but there’s just something about being here that means I spend a lot of time watching completely pointless television (like Say Yes to the Dress, which is on right now…), which I never would any other time. And you know what? It’s kind of nice to do that for a few days. And then return to my cable-less worlds.

And this is exactly a description of my weekend :]

Hilton Head!

...may came home with a smooth round stone

as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)

it's always ourselves we find in the sea.

- e. e. cummings

So glad to be at Hilton Head for a few days!

[photo of our beach, taken by Allie MacDonald]

The Truth

Wait, was this made specifically for me??

[Print via nelliev2's Etsy shop]

P.S. I'm sleeping in my new room for the first time tonight!

It's Not You, It's Me

Dear The B,

It’s been a good year together and all, but unfortunately I think from now on we’re just going to have to call it quits. I’m sure you’ll understand. I know you had some great things going for you – lots of cabinet space, a fireplace, 2 ½ bathrooms, a washer and dryer in the cupboard under the stairs just like Harry Potter, a parking spot for each of us, a curtained-off storage area we called Oz, a nifty brick wall still exposed from where you were built on the back of another house, and five spectacular housemates*.

But let’s be real, there are some things you might need to work on. For starters, you have no foundation. Sure, that meant kittens could live under you, but it just doesn’t bode well for the future. The kitchen sink, which you have tug to the left to turn off completely – what’s up with that?  And perhaps you could have been a little roomier and more soundproof, so we couldn’t all hear each other while each sitting on our own beds in our own rooms. We froze in the winter (until the repairmen came and turned a knob on the heating vent) and burned in the summer (until the repairmen came and…fixed the a/c). And then you went and burst a pipe right above my closet while I was out of the country. Was that really necessary, B?

I do love your quirks, but there comes a point when you have to decide which quirks you actually want to build a future with. So, The B, I think you can probably understand why I’m upgrading to something a little bigger and better. But I really hope we can still be friends.

Regretfully,

Caroline

P.S. Hellloooo, La Bamba

*four of whom, plus me, are pictured above. Liz had already gone to sleep.

Packing is Sad

I May or May Not Have: eaten gummy worms for dinner

Line Love: "The morning we drive up to Bitsy's house, the sky is heartbreak blue, question-your-existence blue, the kind of blue you look away from because, as much as you want to find one, there's no end." from Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch

I have looked at -- and slept next to -- this every day for the past ten months:

And I took it all down today. All that is currently left is the blue and green ribbon the pictures hung from. GAHHHHHH.

Let's just file packing under "things I don't like but find myself doing unfortunately often."

Elenowen

I head of Elenowen a while ago, but recently downloaded a few of their songs on briterevolution.com (if you like free, awesome music and supporting good causes check that website out). I'm loving The Storm, but right now I'm enjoying their cover of Falling Slowly (a beautiful song originally by The Frames). They sang this song on The Voice a show which I don't actually watch (seeing as I don't have cable and all) but apparently I should. 

P.S. They're married. Isn't that adorable?