reader, i married him

on july 13th 2013 i walked down a grass aisle and married my best friend. two years of "goodnights" on my porch finally behind us. three months of planning was at an end. we were together--completely together at last and it felt so right. after i read my vows to keegan something inside me flipped. i felt different, more committed in my love to him almost as if a physical change had taken place inside me.

 i wanted our wedding to feel like "us"--to have meaning. keegan and i are rather free-spirited and not very traditional.

 

we were humbled as the love of our friends and family surrounded us and rejoiced with us. i've never laughed and cried so much in a single day.

 love this dog. forever a tomboy getting muddy.

three generations.

life is sweet.

keegan and i love a good game of chess as we snuggle on the couch on a friday night. i won't disclose who wins most often, but it explains why we plopped two chess pieces on top of our cake.

winner of the year 2013 cutest flower girl ever award.

due to the out door venue we couldn't do a slide show, but an old window i got for $9 at an antique shop, cleaned it up and used double sided tape to place pictures worked quite nicely.

our family photo history hall going back four generations.

manly.

cut log round from our woodpile, moss, ribbon. insta ring bearer "pillow". total cost $2.

Heading to the house to get the luggage...

 gearing up for the send off. keep your mouth closed and your head down! 

rice!

thank you everyone who made our day perfect. special thanks to our parents for their unending support and love. we are truly blessed.

confessions of a bargain hunter

Nancy, my a psycho mother-in-law was out to make my life miserable with lies and allegations. my personality tends to be more flight than fight and so my subconscious kicked in and i was outta there. i ran away from her drama and built a grass hut among the peaceful Amish i lived quite happily until...Nancy found me again...
i woke up. "what a bizarre dream," my first thought. i sat up, pushed a hunk of fluffy hair away from my face. i told myself that i do not have a mother-in-law, nor when i do, will her name be Nancy. that was a relief!  

i got up and went down to the kitchen to fry some eggs and sausage. my roommate was there cutting fruit so i shared with her my tale of woos which is therapeutic for me. i doesn't matter if the victim/listener never read Freud in his life, or knows anything about dream therapy, they just have to listen. once they do, i can move on. 

after breakfast i settled in the sun on the chaise lounge to read for a while, but something distracted me...what is that...i leaned closer...an ring of unwanted hair had somehow evaded my venus triple blade nd was flourishing quite blissfully like a tribal anklet. i postponed C.S. Lewis and People Mag. to show that hair who's boss.
later my roommate and i traipsed off to thrift in Minneapolis meeting up with a couple other ladies along the way.
for those who don't know or understand the primitive instinct "the hunt" has when it takes hold of you, just bear with me. it's like a strange, fantastic kind of adrenalin. nothing it too good or too cheap to not be haggled over. no breeding is too good to not elbow a little and give other shoppers eyeing your purchase-to-be a long warning look.

in case you still don't understand what i mean, here's a visual of some recent purchases...ignore the ugly carpet. look at this coffee table i purchased last month. faux slate top, solid legs, i see enormous potential, consignment asking price $30, but with a coupon, i got it for $8. cool metal reel art piece. $20 for the set at a consignment shop. vintage wooden wine case? $1 at a garage sale and perfect for holding a girls jewelry or knickknacks. see my point? bargain hunting is love, pure, sweet, addictive love at first sight. 

i usually enter the shop and snap my head from left to right taking quick inventory. recently, i've been gravitating to the furniture. i've been dying to refinish or upholster interesting pieces to go in the eclectic, art-deco designed house i will one day own, but also pieces i can buy for a bargain and then flip for profit--who doesn't want a little extra cha-ching, right?

i found this cutsie little corner table, solid antique piece with lots of character. i imagined myself refinishing it with a dark mahogany ebony stain, it wasn't on the floor yet (that's right, i snuck into the backroom) but when i asked, the owner wanted $70 for it. i would have asked lower, but i was talking to him via his staff's cellphone because he was on vacation in Texas--he seemed pretty decided not to go lower. i decided not to ruin his vacation for him by forcing him to hang up. although i was tempted, but couldn't bring myself the spend that kind of money on a whim. i think it has a lot of potential. maybe i'll get some second opinions. 

in the end i got a baby blue chunky watch for $6.99 (picture 1.). after hitting up the stores for almost 4 hours and only $12.99 spent i went home satisfied and hungry as a lumberjack. my roommate and i reheated the lamb roast, twice baked potatoes and dished up cold bean salad and feasted like the thrift queens we are. cheers darling!

so i didn't find exactly what i was looking for today, but so what?! the hunt continues, the adventure lives on and i bonded with some pretty cool gals.
so this is an admonishment to all you impulse buyers--if you don't get that feeling inside your tummy, heart palpitations and cold sweats over the item at hand, you should shelf it and move on. there are so many sweet pieces out there waiting to become art, but you just have to be there at the right time, with the right dollar to snatch it up.

until garage saling season, this is bethany, signing off.

cold tea & guinea pigs

"what am i doing?" i glance at my second cup of Starbucks "Passions" tea now just a silky glob of honey at the bottom of the mug. maintaining a blog is like buying a new pet--like a guinea pig--it requires maintenance, love and time. its not a big deal to most, but to me firing up this guinea pig means i need to be committed to doing what i've set out to do. it's like gearing up to do anything difficult: lifting weights, having your in-laws over to dinner, or kissing the boy you like for the first time. you take a deep breath go for it, and hope for the best.

so here's the deale-o:

goal: one post every week featuring different topics that strike me as interesting, all original things that i'm doing--no nose picking other websites. different articles may include: life in the Twin Cities, health/wellness, fashion on a budget, lil' Susie Homemaker tips, DIY--"and put some elbow grease into it" topic. 

comments and ideas are welcome and appreciated. let me know about your guinea pig too so i can check it out. after all, we are our own weird community and we have to band together! chow!