anyone else feel overwhelmed right now?!

For starters, I admit it - I woke up this morning and had to go and find a picture of Kate formerly-Middleton's wedding gown.  Anyone else see it?  What did you think of the royal wedding?  I was determined to continue with my life because I thought, "Fairy tale wedding?  Psshaw.  That's great but what about my stressed out and humdrum life right now?"  And then I woke up this morning and thought, "C'mon, Aime.  Another couple is promising to love and honor each other for the rest of their lives.  Be happy for them and she is obviously going to be beautiful so go look at the pictures!"

Weddings are just precious times and things to be cherished and I firmly believe in "fairy tale" weddings no matter what your budget is or if you are marrying a prince or not.  It is your special day and the fairy tale part comes from seeing the man of your dreams standing in front of you, you wearing a beautiful dress, and promising to love one man and one man exclusively, as long as you both shall live.  So celebrate true love and everything that comes with it - especially the party after the ceremony!  =)  I had no clue my father was such a good dancer until we had our father/daughter dance at my wedding.  It made me almost start crying while we were dancing (apparently, my mom was crying).

i'm not sure what it looked like to everyone else but it felt like a scene from an old movie!  that's how good of a dancer he is!

And speaking of weddings, the reason why I titled this blog post what I did is because I am getting to "take part" in several weddings this summer!  Which is totally exciting.  Except that now I'm realizing that I need to get my rear in gear and start pumping out all those lovely wedding jewelry designs that have been rolling around in my head.  So you will all get a chance to see some of those things next week hopefully.  I also have a few very good friends getting married and since I dabble in graphic design, I designed some different wedding invites for one couple.  Here's a sample - what do you think?  

So there is a little bit of how crazy life has been.  But in good ways.  I really have been so blessed - I have nothing to complain about in life and my gracious God and Savior still cares, provides, and forgives for me when I get finicky under stress.  One of my biggest blessings is my mom.  And since Mother's Day is right around the corner, I am having sale in the shop.  Use coupon code "mothersareamazing" to get 15% off your entire order.  Hopefully it will make some of your shopping a little easier.  =)

Have a beautiful day!

yumminess and lots of it!

You have been hearing about my pregnancy and everything going on with that.  You have also heard a little bit about the illnesses and the general tired feeling that I've been dealing with.  Well, a lot of that changed this past week.  I have been feeling so much better!  And with feeling better, I have been taking more interest in my food.  Yes, that was a highlight of my week.  =)  People who know me well know that I absolutely love food.  Tasting things that go together and compliment in texture and flavor is exciting!  It's an art form I can digest!  So I thought I would share some of my eats with you today.

the hubby got a ham and swiss omelet and I got the belgian waffle - amazing!

So the hubby and I have discovered a new cafe that we are LOVING.  It is a small, quiet, cute little place in the downtown area of Anaheim which has been under rehab for a while and is finally starting to come together.  We first went to Cafe Amore last Saturday for a leisurely breakfast and were really surprised at how good it all was (from the street, it looks like a dinky little hole in the wall place.  I have been taught once again, not to judge a book by its cover.).  The coffee was high quality, the food was hot and freshly prepared and they make all their baked goods on site!  Next time any of you come to visit me, I will probably bring you here.  =)  

my udon with tanuki (tempura crumbs) and spicy-tuna don.  uh-mazing!!!

Can I just pause here to say that I have the best hubby in the world?  He knows my likes and dislikes way better than I have ever thought.  And yesterday being Friday, we like to go out and spend the evening out when we can.  So he decided to take me to one of my favorite noodle houses.  Fukada's is, by the far, the best place for udon and soba anywhere!  They hand make all of their noodles the old-fashioned way that the owner brought over from Japan.  One of their dinner menu items allows you to pick either soba or udon and a side dish with it.  So I got hot udon with spicy tuna-don.  SOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!!  And I was so excited I was bouncing in my chair.  =P  I'm a little uncontrollable when it comes to really good food.  

And as I'm typing this, I am sitting back in Cafe Amore.  Enjoying one of their homemade chocolate chip scones and a lovely decaf vanilla latte.  I am so happy.  =)

Have a beautiful day, everyone!

the hazards of being in the jewelry business

One of the goals I had always wanted for my blog was to educate people about jewelry.  This may seem silly but there is a lot of information out there.  Like why some jewelry you buy at Forever 21 eventually turns green on you and other things that might be mysteries at the beginning.

But going back to my jewelry education.  One thing that has been changing quite a bit lately is the price of metals.  I work exclusively with sterling silver because it has (up until now) been much more reasonable than gold.  But things may be changing for all of us women (and men) who like to indulge our accessory whimsy.

One of the biggest jewelry suppliers in the US, Rio Grande, ran an article on their website last week about rising silver prices.  I thought I would share it with you because it had some generally useful information: http://riograndeblog.com/2010/12/bam-silver-prices-again/.  But to summarize the big points, it is essentially saying that silver jewelry and other items made with silver could be getting more expensive in the near future.  Historically, silver has stayed in a specific ratio with gold based on price.  With gold shooting up the way that it has been, silver could follow as more people invest in the cheaper metal.

So that is my friendly silver public service announcement.  =)

Have a beautiful day!

the reality of being a pregnant lady

So I am getting further along.  I am now 18 weeks and have a decided baby bump.  =)  I'll put pictures of that up later.  But right now I had to rant about a little something.

Now I'm not much of a drinker but I love pairing wine or beer with different meals.  In my attempts to be a good mom starting now, I have cut out virtually all caffeine and all alcohol.  But I made a dinner last night that just begged for a good beer.  So the hubby got one out for himself and then turned to me and asked what I wanted to drink.  I sighed and said juice.  I was a little caught up in my dilemma that I got a picture of our relative drink situations but totally forgot to snap a shot of how good dinner looked.  =)

I do like my cherry grape juice but a beer sounded really good too.  =)

But in happier news, we were able to eat outside yesterday which was thoroughly enjoyable and I quickly forgot about how much I'm looking forward to being able to hold my baby versus carry the kid around inside of me.  And I will make that dinner again and take pictures because it is an awesome and easy summer grilling idea.  =)

life gets crazy!

I love being busy.  Having somewhere to go, someone to see, things like that.  Yes, I do burn myself out and need to stop and get a pedicure or something like it to slow down, take a breath, and start back up.  But once again, it has been a month since I've blogged!  And I really have been dying to get my blog back on.

But I really do have a rather good excuse.  I had two of the most amazing girls in my life come and visit me in the last two weeks and it was a fantastic time.  First, my little sister came and visited me for a week.  Like most sisters, we haven't always gotten long...mostly because I was the big sister telling her what to do and she was the little one not listening (which was probably wise part of the time...)  =).  But now that we have both grown up a lot more, things are better and we are best friends now.  Of course, we went to Disneyland while she was here (we live about two miles from the park which is super fun).  But the definite highlight of the trip was when we went and saw Wicked the Musical!  I've seen it once and my sister has just heard me gush about it for a long time so when she came, I was finally able to share that experience with her!  And it was amazing.

And secondly, my maid of honor is visiting me!  There was a group of us girls who lived together for four years in college and we have remained fast friends.  Anna was my maid of honor at my wedding and we have always been able to talk about anything, anytime, anywhere.  The highlight of her trip?  Probably our multiple trips to In N Out Burger.  =)  She is a little bit of a burger freak and so we went a lot.

But that being said, now that we are moving back into a more regular routine, I am a little jealous of some of my blogging friends who are at Creative Estates this coming week!  But I sincerely hope you all have an amazing time if you are there and the rest of us look forward to hearing your stories!  =)

Have a beautiful day!