Sep11

The Dress: Part One

by artjynx

I now have something tangible regarding the dress and I’m very excited. I’ve decided to document my experience with Whirling Turban Dressmakers, as so far it’s been a pleasant one. This is also to calm the fears of those who think what I’m doing is a little crazy. Whirling Turban is located in Indonesia and owned by a former Hollywood costumer who employs some very talented ladies who can make amazing things. You can read their history here. How did I find them? Scott knew I would not be interested in adhering to most traditions when it came to our wedding but I felt a little weird or guilty about it at first (I live in the most homogenous city in Texas where unique is well, unique). He came across a website called Offbeat Bride which totally made me feel all betters and inspired me to be as fun and creative as possible without worrying about naysayers or overly traditional people. It’s our wedding and we should have a wedding that represents us.

Whirling Turban is a sponsor on that site where I quickly became enamored of the retro style dresses that were fun and not at all the fluffy white overkill gowns that saturate the wedding industry. No offense to women who love these, they just aren’t me, and I was dreading the process of going to a boutique type place and trying gown after gown on and not being happy about it. I never wear white, why should one of the most important days of my life force me to dress up like someone else’s idea of how I should be? (I took it very personally, but shouldn’t I?)
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Sep06

Hiking Along Barton Creek

by Scott

View Barton Creek Hike in a larger map

Growing up at my parent’s house in south Austin I spent many summer days hiking, biking, and swimming all over Barton Creek. I think it’s one of Austin’s best undiscovered features. I’m not talking about Barton Springs pool which everyone knows about but the park and wilderness area upstream from it. I remember the first time a friend showed me the super secret path down to the creek, at the time I felt like a new secret world was just opened up to me. We spent the next several summers down there for entire days at a time. There are a few bike trails down there that are perfect for maintain biking. You can choose to stay on the north side of the creek where the trails are relatively flat or try the south side for a little more adventure where with more rocks, turns, and jumps.

A few weeks ago Tina and I spent the weekend at my parents and I was lucky enough to be able to share Barton Creek with her. Since this was August, in Texas, it was hot! So we left early in the morning before it got too hot from my parents neighborhood, Travis Country, and hiked down to the creek. Unfortunately it hadn’t rained for a while so the creek was bone dry. But that didn’t stop us! I showed her one of the many springs along the creek, and we stopped at Twin Falls. I loved this place, it’s really great natural waterfall. The water has cut several channels in the rock so it has everything Jacuzzi pools, flat shallow water, deep water, and there is a secrete cave behind one of the water waterfalls!

Twin Falls Panorama
Panoramic view of Twin Falls along Barton Creek when it’s dry as a bone. Photo taken August 2010.

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Aug27

Finally…an update! Flowers, dresses and peacock feathers…oh my!

by artjynx

Warning: There are wedding spoiler alerts in this post. If you’re the sort of person who likes to be surprised, this is not the post for you. See the previous post with the cute little puppies. Really, they love the attention.

Ok so the last couple of months have been packed with finding vendors, writing checks, and cutting fabric. Lots and lots of fabric and making decisions about that fabric and then starting over with different fabric…unfortunately, that’s the creative process. I’m learning to trust it as long as I keep budget in mind. Making fabric flowers was a LOT harder than I thought. As this was my inspiration from Milkpod Studios on Etsy.

Their shop is closed until Aug 30…guessing because they’re so busy after being featured in Bride’s magazine. I found them a bit pricey but people have to make a living, but i need to save some money so I decided …YES I CAN! (famous last words, no?)

My first attempt was “fairly clunky” it’s the only way I can describe it. Scott was supportive, but I wasn’t totally feelin’ it and when that happens and i’m not real confident I tend to be slow at it. I have 5 bouquets and centerpieces people. This is not for the faint of heart. I started to scour youtube on tutorials and other bride blogs etc. I came across Princess Lasertrons pretty flowers but wow that’s a LOT of sewing…a talent I haven’t quite grasped. At least her earlier work anyway. I needed something inbetween. Some of her later stuff is actually what I decided on. I’m thinking all that emroidery may have gotten to her as well as it seems to fading from her recent bouquets.

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Jun14

the furr-balls…Maisy and Mia

by artjynx

In case you haven’t noticed, our flickr set seems to be over run by mini-schnauzers. There’s actually only 2 to be exact, but they’re quite photogenic and always seem to be waiting for their close-up Mr. DeMille…

Schnauzer Sandwich
Schnauzer Sandwich
Mia expressing herself
Mia expressing herself on her first day home. After some adjustment, Maisy accepted her new sister.

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May22

Brown Butter Cookies with Sea Salt

by artjynx

This sort of has wedding discussions in it :)

I discovered the Brown Butter Cookie Company when reading wedding blogs…this particular one (called the temple of groom)was actually written by a groom. I’ve been sending them to Scott so he can relate. ;)

Brown Butter Cookies from the Brown Butter Cookie Company

This recipe came from another blog I found but it’s not the real “Brown Butter Cookie Company” recipe. The lady who created this said there was something not quite right about it as it was still inferior to BBCC. After ordering some BBCC cookies, I’m thinking the secret ingredient is the salt. There are lots of sea salts out there and they all can affect the flavor of whatever it is your cooking dramatically. My co-workers and I examined the cookies (it’s always good to share) and we think it’s hawaiian pink salt they’re using in the recipe and faking people out with regular sea salt on the outside. I found 2 kinds of this sea salt on amazon and am waiting until I can try it. I will be taking the majority to work as I’m finding if I get rid of sweets quick enough I don’t tend to eat them.

UPDATE September 22, 2011: Due to the amount of hits this post has gotten, I felt the need to try this recipe again and lo and behold I discovered the issues…..Secret ingredient was NOT hawaiian sea salt. and it’s baking SODA not powder. Here’s the new recipe and it’s awesome and will be the new christmas cookie this year.

Ingredients:
1 cup salted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 Tbs sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
Flake Sea Salt
1. In a small saucepan, melt butter on low to medium heat, stirring occasionally, until browned. Stir in sugars and vanilla and remove from heat.
2. Let the sugar mixture cool to room temperature.
3. In a mixing bowl add flour and baking soda. Stir in sugar mixture until combined.
4. At this point I recommend letting the mixture rest for at least an hour to let the flour absorb all the butter. The mixture may be stiff afterwords and crumbly- microwave handfuls of dough for 10 seconds. The dough will be easier to roll.
5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
6. Roll 1 inch balls of dough. Place on cookie sheet and sprinkle flake sea salt on top.
7. Bake for 15 minutes.

ok, you may ask, what’s with the obsession with overpriced shortbread? At the moment, while doing my homework for this wedding, I’m really enjoying allowing myself to explore new stuff. Actually I should be writing all of this here. Several new things I’m actually going to try to do for the wedding are sort of underway…one involves some historic doors from a hotel in downtown Bryan, and the quest for a corset…(hence the giving away of any sweets …who am i kidding though, I haven’t been able to cook anything in weeks) The odds of me actually finding time is quite slim. (hey, at least I’m losing something somewhere. Time counts doesn’t it? :) )

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