DIY Mother of Pearl bracelet

A couple of weeks ago, while Mark was in Vegas for his bachelor weekend, I decided to get in on some DIY action. I was originally inspired by this bracelet, but couldn't find a similar chain at Joann's. This mother of pearl strand of beads however was marked down from $3.99 to $0.97 -cheaper online I'm finding.

So here's what I came up with.

Step 1. I separated embroidery thread into two sections and then took one length of thread and thinned it down to a few strands so it would fit through the beads.

Step 2: I threaded the thinned strand onto a needle and strung 6 of the mother of pearl beads, knotting it at each end.

Step 3: Take one of the sections of embroidery thread and wrap a piece of scotch tape around the end so it's almost like a shoelace and can go through the rectangles easily.

Step 4: Weave through the rectangles.

Step 5: Do the same thing with the other strand, but weave the opposite way. Knot the two sections of thread on each end. Don't pull too tight or the beads will start to bend upwards and zig-zag. Combine the 2 strands and then separate them into three equal sections.

Step 6: Braid the sections.

Step 7: Knot the end with a toggle clasp inside. I affixed my knots with a little bit of epoxy glue to make sure they hold up.

Tadaa! Finished product.

Also in navy...

Closet update

Behold my organized closet. Before you laugh and say, that's clean?!, let's not forget the before. First of all, I got rid of a TON of stuff. I try to go through my closet a couple of times a year and donate/give away anything I don't think I'll wear, but I'm really bad at parting with things I love. I got rid of so much this time, which, while it sucked in the process, I will say that getting ready in the morning and picking out what to wear in the last couple of days has taken far less time.

So on the right side... I'm not one to organize by sleeve length or color, so don't judge. I've always stored my purses and clutches on the top shelf. I kept them there, however, now all of the clutches and small bags are in the plastic drawer containers. To the right of those are my designer/nicer purses that I keep in the original dust bags.

The shoe solution is not long term. I suck at keeping my shoes organized and need to figure out a better rack system. -or something. The other half of my shoe collection lives in my half of the bedroom closet and in our coat closet.

The right side is mostly sweaters and dresses. On the bottom are a couple larger plastic drawers and a wicker hamper where I put my hand wash/dry clean only clothes. You can't see it too well, but on the top shelf are all of my jeans/cords. Up until this weekend, I hung all of my pants, but in an effort to not smush all of my clothes, I opted to go with folding them.

The rest of the room is much cleaner now too. I still have a couple of mail stacks/magazines to go through, but in the meantime, I'm pretty happy with the results. It's far from my dream closet, but for now, it will do. :)

I know what you're thinking. Wow Shiri. This blog content is so insanely interesting. I know. Pretty lame. Well if you're still reading my blog, (it may be more of a diary at this point,) there will be more updates soon. We finally bought the tile for our kitchen backsplash and will be putting that in soon, which will make our kitchen 100% complete. Plus, we're in the process of planning our backyard rehearsal dinner and I will try to share some of the details on here too.

I'm kind of a slob sometimes...

A good chunk of my day on Saturday was spent cleaning my closet. While I'm far from a hoarder, I'm perfectly content with a hidden mess. Our house usually stays pretty clean and organized, as long as you stay out of the office (where my closet resides).

Up until this weekend, the office looked like an episode of Hoarders. -And not because I'm a hoarder. I know. First stage is denial, right? Well I seriously am not. I swear. The office had just become an easy dumping ground for all of my crafty wedding stuff (tissue paper, pink wagon, shoes, bridesmaids gifts, the list goes on). Plus all of the mail, magazines, and other need-to-file crap that I thought looked okay as long as it was neatly stacked. Neatly stacked... I wonder how many hoarders say that about their collections. Mark finally deemed an intervention appropriate. It was necessary. He even offered to help and create some overflow temporary storage for all of the wedding stuff.

Well we did it folks. I no longer have to keep the office door closed! Once I was done, the last thing I wanted to do was take an "after" photo. I was burned out. So I'll leave you with a couple of befores. These only show one side of my ridiculous mess, but I assure you the other side was no better. I'll try to post the afters soon.

Mystic Tan is not an editing option in Photoshop

Tali posted our engagement photos on her blog last week! We absolutely love them! It's amazing how a photographer can suggest a pose that seems so unnatural in the moment and it ends up looking so real and perfect in the end. Tali's talent never ceases to impress me.

Thank goodness my wedding dress will mask my pale legs, as they are blinding...

For more photos with higher resolution, head over to Tali's blog.

Sunshine, fruit kabobs, and rainbows everywhere

While we were in Austin a couple of weeks ago, Tali and Cliff hosted Dahlia's first birthday party. It was no small feat! There were about 40 attendees including the kids. Tali really went all out with the rainbow theme. There was rainbow food, colorful photo backdrops, and Dahlia even wore a rainbow dress!

Here are some photos captured by Tali, Francis and a few other guests.

The rainbow food spread included fruit kabobs, skittles, baked mac n' cheese cups, rainbow cupcakes, veggies, and more!

Dahlia is asking for her cupcake!

she approves :)

photo bomb

rainbow love

isn't she the cutest? Dahlia's pretty cute too :)

In case you didn't know we were engaged...

Here are a few photos that prove it! ...Actually they totally don't, but they're engagement photos.

Both our wedding photographer Francis Joseph and Tali collaborated on our engagement photo shoot on Saturday.

Mark and I had a blast. We started at the Dripping Springs Founders Day Fair, and then navigated our way deeper into the country and found a nice field.

We are dying to see all of the photos, but Francis and Tali were kind enough to share a few teasers to tide us over.

(c) Tali Wildman

(c) Francis Joseph

(c) Francis Joseph

(c) Tali Wildman

One.

A year ago yesterday, something awesome happened. My beautiful niece Dahlia was brought into the world.
I can't even begin to express how happy she has made me. Yes, we may have 1500 miles between us, but the iPhone 4 is awesome, and I get to see her at least a couple of times a week.

Yesterday Tali, Cliff, and the folks celebrated with Dahlia, and she got her first dose of cake!

And her first tutu...

Mark and I are headed to Austin next week for Passover, engagement photos, and most importantly, Dahlia's first birthday party.

I can't wait!