Engagement photos Part1

Winnie Forbes is an amazing photographer and she has definitely not disapointed!

Andrea & Jim's Engagement Photos

More exciting news for the Zacharias!!!

My sister and Joe are engaged! Congratulations guys! I am so excited for you both!



What an adorable way to propose!



Joe used his grandmother's diamonds and a new center diamond and put them together in this beautiful setting. I can't wait to see it in person!

rainbow view

Check out this rainbow from the balcony of our apartment!

Mint anyone?

I planted some mint this spring and it's growing like crazy! I can't eat it all so why not create a centerpiece with it?



Another adorable picture of Lena :)

pillows and pictures

Sorry for the lag in updates. I haven't been up to too much wedding stuff lately. I have been making some throw pillows for my picnic engagement party :) They aren't nearly as cute as these.

Jim and I are going to have our engagement photos done this weekend! It was a great excuse to do some Anthro shopping :) I will keep you posted.

Long Beach junking

Maria and I spent the weekend in Long Beach (WA) diving through garage sale piles and antique shops looking for decoration ideas. Above is an idea of the style I'm going for.

Here is a picture of my engagement ring on the best find of the weekend. This 12 piece china plate set cost me all of $4!!!



This is the true definition of bliss: Lena on the beach. Is there any better definition of happiness than a dog on the beach?



More to come!

Martha's got nothing on me

Who says I can't be productive? After work yesterday I found myself with some actual free time! I got a ton of cleaning done but what I'm most proud is reviving this old towel. I wish I had taken a before picture but I had no idea it would turn out so well. It used to be a dirty yellow with bleach spots all over it. I soaked it in bleach and it didn't hurt the embroidery at all! A brand new K for a Krajeski-to-be.



I'm off to the coast with the bestie to dig through garage sale piles and antique shops. It's going to be rainy so we might have to find a spa...and a glass or two of wine. I'll blog our findings next week. Have a great 3-day weekend!

Photos by Winnie

For photography we have to go with Winnie Forbes. She did two of our good friends' weddings and is just the sweetest person. You can see Jess & Adam's beautiful wedding on her website.

She also does awesome photos of kids and pups. Check out her blog for these. I'm thinking Lena and Uisce are due for a photo shoot :)

For the love of public radio

A little off the path here but I wanted to share my love of the following public radio shows. The fiance and I love to listen to them at work and in the car :)


This American Life


Wiretap


Radiolab

Enjoy!

Red Shoe Blue Shoe

I think I may need color to tread with on my wedding day.

Ooohs and Ahs

Just some visual inspiration :)

When life gives you lemons...

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So life has been throwing me all sorts of sweet fruit lately but that doesn't mean I can't still make lemonade! Throw some vodka in the mix and you have JuJu Juice. I'm definitely thinking this will go very well with my color ideas. You can't help but smile at big pinwheel slices of lemon :)

A grandmother's gift

When I was born my grandmother gave me the Chinese name Yung-Hwie which means "always blessed". I just found out that Caswell received his Chinese name yesterday! It is Hau Li which means "greatest gift". And he definitely is :)

A brand new Zacharia

At 2:34am today Caswell Asher Zacharia was born into the world! He weighed in at 6lbs 9oz and is 19inches long. He's such a cute little bundle! Here is daddy and lil' Caz. Congratulations Sam and Ashley! He is so handsome :)

We received our very first congratulatory card in the mail! This adorable card is from our very good friends, Greg and Amanda, and their oh-so-cute little boy Corbin. Thanks for the love guys!

The flowers in this picture were picked by Jim while out on a walk with the dogs :)

Citrus Sky & Ocean

This week I have been searching for color inspiration. This picture pretty much sums up what I have been picturing in my mind. Bright warm citrus colors with bright cool blues! Any market bouquet would look good on a table like this. I really shouldn't be thinking about color before I find a venue but I just can't help it!

As for my quest to shape up for the wedding I got a great head start by joining Sgt. Mike's Greenlake Boot Camp at the end of March. He does a 10 week (twice a week for 1 1/2 hours) program in the spring, summer and (sometimes) the fall. It is $175/person which works out to about $9 a class. I'm half way through and starting to see visual results. I started seeing physical results right away. I am definitely going to sign up for the summer session but will need to make a plan for staying in shape during the winter. If you want to join me check out the website: http://www.coachmiketraining.com/. I'm doing the Monday/Wednesday 6pm class. Say 'hello' to Sgt. Mike!

"WE'RE JUST GETTING STARTED WITH THE WARM UP PEOPLE!"

A brighter weekend

The weather has been very unpredictable so far this spring but we saw a little bit of sun this weekend. I decided to make another trip up to Bellingham to see one of my new favorite bands, Camera Obscura, and spend some time with my dear friend Megan. Jim was celebrating his best friend's birthday in Tacoma so it turned out to be a good time for a girl's night!

Megan and her husband said their "I Do's" almost two years ago at a beautiful little Inn near La Conner. Megan has always been artistic and decided to design her own wedding invitations which turned out beautifully. During my visit this weekend she burned a CD of all of the wedding ideas she collected during her planning process which I plan to disect (and blog about) this week. Thanks Megan!

My best friend and MOH, Maria Szablya, is the official photographer of my blog. She has a great eye for objects and people and an itchy trigger finger. She took the puckered picture above at Pike Place market this weekend. I have been drawn to the color yellow lately...possibly a wedding color?


Speaking of colors I'm loving this blue and teal. I found this hand-pressed card at the Bellingham farmer's market (http://www.bisonbookbinding.com/). I also love peacocks! There was a park near where I grew up where peacocks would run free.

On a non-wedding note I purchased my very own scooter this week! I spent my afternoon scootin' about the Fremont/Ballard/Greenlake area. We also managed to get this awesome shot of Lena. She doesn't have a helmet but she's got the eyewear covered!

Seven years and four days ago...

....Jim and Andrea went on their first date.

For those of you who don't know our story I will summarize here. Short and sweet.

We met through friends in college. He was a freshman and I (the older woman) was a sophomore at Western WA U. Our first date was purely Bellingham. He took me to Mambo Italiano in Fairhaven for dinner, Mallards for ice cream downtown and back to his place where we watched his favorite movie (Snatch) and made me some green tea because I was cold.

Last weekend we celebrated our SEVEN year anniversary with a trip to Bellingham. We checked in at the Village Inn in Fairhaven, had drinks at the Black Cat, and of course dinner at Mambo Italiano. After dinner we took a walk through campus to "check out the new buildings" and found ourselves in front of the fountain in Red Square where we had our first kiss. Although distracted by a group of Asian kids running around with squirt guns, he managed to pop the question. I said yes :)

"Yes" is what brings me to the point of this blog. I'm hoping to keep a record of our upcoming year of engagement. No, there isn't a date yet. We really haven't started the planning process at all. I think with this blank slate I may even be able to give future brides-to-be an idea of what it's really like to plan a wedding. I really don't know what to expect but I hope my journey will at least be entertaining to those of you who decide to keep up.

Thanks for your support!
Andrea