Map art

Remember many posts ago when I teased and tantalized you with map art?! Well, the explanation is here. Hold on to your hats because it's good! Sadly, I did not come up with this great idea on my own. Instead I found it here at Anything Pretty. Basically you take an old map or atlas (who needs those with GPS anyway?!) and you cut it to match a frame or mat. Easy enough, right? Right.

I had an old atlas (thanks Dad!) and thought 'what the heck am I going to do with this?!' Before pitching I looked through and decided to mat maps of Minneapolis, Minn. (where Andy's from) and Richmond, Va. (where I'm from, Richmond represent! What! What!) next to one another.

I'm pretty happy with the finished product and so is Andy. He's got a small fascination with maps. See below for a map he drew of Minnesota and Wisconsin on our first date. We keep it on a memory board above the sink with some other odds and ends (check out our old Virginia (is for lovers) licenses nestled in there).

Carnation infatuation

OK, so plenty of people out there (read: flower snobs) think carnations are a lame filler flower. Perhaps you've seen the episode of Sex and the City that references such a debate? Well, I'm here to say carnations are freakin' awesome. They are cheap, they are full and lush, and all gathered together sans baby's breath are so so so pretty. I plan on having carnation centerpieces at THE wedding (almost less than 100 days away FYI) and carnation bouquets.

I fashioned an awesome wedding-esque carnation centerpiece just in time for a visit from the almost in-laws (read more about their visit and the goodies we noshed on in a future post). Fresh flowers are nice when there are guest, otherwise we usually don't have them. (HINT, HINT, Andy). Anyway, here's picture (or two) of my fresh carnies! I bought three bouquets of carnations at Kroger (three for $12, what, what!) and put them in pilsner glass. Taaa daa!