Final Draft

I am super excited to say that the invites are finished. Well, as far as the design. We still have to nail down a number to order, address the envelopes, lick, stamp, and mail them. But, the hard part is over! I met with Al and Connie yesterday to go over my changes. Connie sent me proofs today, and we have been emailing back and forth tweaking them little by little. I did get hung up on some of the details. I could not decide on the phrasing of the reception line. The original read, "Reception immediately following." I wasn't a fan. So I kept changing it from "Reception to follow," to "Reception following ceremony," to "Reception to follow ceremony," and a dozen others. I researched Google Images to see what others did. After debating with myself for like half an hour, I kept the original phrasing. No need for the word 'ceremony' but I needed a time. The reception is always after the ceremony, but its not always right afterwards. Yep, these are the things that a Bride-to-Be must worry about. Small, minuscule details that no one will ever notice. I love being a perfectionist. Damn, the Virgos.

Point and Shoot

I have been looking forward to registering for our wedding for quite sometime. All of my wedded friends tell me how much fun it is to run around a store with the scan gun zapping goodies that magically get collected into a wish list. Sounds easy and fun, right? Sike. Not for this Bride-to-Be. Sunday, alone, I spent 10 hours working on my registry. I visited two different Kohls (Westernhills and Mason), a Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and both of their websites. My feet hurt, my back ached, and my brain was exhausted. When I walked in the front door after registering all afternoon, Jon asked if I was feeling okay. The registry had taken its toll. So, am I finally finished? Nope.

As the Under Budget Bride, I wanted to register somewhere that I knew had great deals for my guests, but also quality products that would last. I originally wanted to only register at Kohls (who doesn't get excited when they get a 30% scratch-off in the mail). But, I had to add Bed, Bath, and Beyond because, quite frankly, they have everything. So Sunday, I arrived at Kohls in Westernhills at 9:30. They armed me with my gun and off I went. I was moving along, slowly but surely. I had to compare prices and products. Food Network Brand vs. Farber, etc. Then, I come to the Fiesta dishes. I had my heart set on these. I love the colors, and they have gotten great reviews on several websites. But, the place setting comes with a bowl that is only about 2 inches deep. WTF? I'm sorry, but those bowls are an accident waiting to happen. Can you imagine trying to carry a bowl of hot, steamy soup from your kitchen to your living on a cold wintery day without spilling? Thats right, you can't imagine it because its not possible. So I did some research and found that Macy's has Square settings with deeper bowls. I am now up to three stores.

This has truly been a stressful experience. Last night I had trouble sleeping. I would wake up and not be able to fall back to sleep. The wine glasses I originally ordered, have received terrible reviews. Now, I'm thinking I'll get a really nice set of crystal stemware, since we already own casual stemware. My mom is grateful I did not invite her to join me on my excursion Sunday. She knows me all too well. I didn't even want Jon to go because I knew there would be a lot of complaining and I would not be able to think. Long story short, the registry is still not finished. I need to finish it by this weekend, so we can shower invites mailed/emailed. Here's to another sleepless night.

Card Table Dinners: Gun Powder and Grilled Cheese

Hello Readers! I have decided to expand my blog to include a new segment: Card Table Dinners. One of my newly discovered passions is cooking. I love bringing ingredients together to form a final, edible, delicious product. And, someone has to cook in our house. If I left it up to Jon, we would be eating chicken, veggie, rice with a rotating sauce selection. No thanks. So most nights of the week I cook and we enjoy our meal at our kitchen table, a fold-out card table. Jon never owned a kitchen table. As a bachelor, he ate at the coffee table in front of the TV. But, Valentine's day 2010 we decided to have a romantic dinner at his house. He was in charge of dinner, and I dessert. When I walked into his house that night, he had a newly bought card table set up with a red table cloth, red roses, and candles. My heart melted. It was so romantic, although a little ghetto. Still one of my favorite dates.

I didn't own a kitchen table either, so we still eat at our card table with the red table cloth.

Usually we have Meatless Mondays, but due to thawed ground chicken in the fridge it was moved to tonight. I found the recipe last night, and I must advise people to stay away from the Green/Bruckmann household for the rest of the week. I made a vegetarian chili which contained 4 cans of 4 different types of beans. Hence, Gun Powder. I planned to make corn bread muffins with it. However, those require milk which is currently out of stock at our house. So, I improvised and made something much better than cornbread. Pulling ingredients from the fridge, I made a grilled cheese with sliced fresh mozzarella, basil-pesto, and roasted red peppers. Delish!

I needed white beans for the chili, but Aldi didn't have any last night. So, I had to soak some overnight. Quite frankly, I can never get them just right. Any tips? They are just so much better out of a can. My other mishap while cooking is that for some reason I thought it required 8 cups of water. HUGE MISTAKE! Only needed 3 cups! So I proceeded to scoop out a few cups with my measuring cup. Overall, this chili is not that great. I will not be making it again. Even though I did screw it up, I don't think the ingredients worked well enough together. I posted the recipe below if you would like to give it a whirl. There we're plenty of good reviews on the website, so maybe it might tantalize your taste buds. I will be making my grilled moz-pepper sandwich again (I must admit, I did char it a tad. But oh, so still delicious). We always have pesto, red peppers, and moz in the fridge, so its an easy, quick meal.

Bringing the chili (but more like soup) to a boil.

Assembling the fancy grilled cheese.



Bon Apetit!



Jane's Vegetarian Chili

I hope my next installment of Card Table Dinners is much more delectable. Usually I hit them out of the park. Oh, well. Luckily Jon is a willing participant. Does anyone else serve Meatless Mondays (or Tuesdays)? What's your favorite to make?





Experiments in Gardening

Hello Readers! I am going to take a break from the wedding posts and write about my first gardening adventure. Jon and I are living in sin, so to speak, and I am in charge of cooking and groceries. I am an avid coupon clipper, I check all of the local store's ads, and I shop at Aldi from time to time. But, produce is always a killer on the wallet. Hence, I am growing a vegetable garden. Last year, I grew some herbs (Basil, Cilantro, Oregano, and Parsley), which went okay. My basil was amazing, my oregano and parsley were okay, but my cilantro was a dud. This year I am dramatically expanding by attempting to grow: yellow squash, cucumber, kale, egg plant, mesclun, swiss chard, jalapenos, bell peppers, green onions, Roma tomatoes, regular tomatoes, and a repeat on the herbs. BTW: if anyone has any extra mint seeds, I would love some. I have searched everywhere, and just can't seem to find any.

Three weeks ago I started my plants indoor with a couple of plastic starter greenhouses. I bought mine at Lowe's for maybe $7. They are very inexpensive and super easy to use. Its good to start indoors, so you have an earlier harvest or bloom with flowers. Its been exciting to watch them sprout. Even Jon gets excited about them. The peppers (both jalapenos and bell) and the egg plants have been the slowest to sprout, but they're coming along. My zucchinis are monstrous!



Flowers are in the left tray and Veggies are on the right



Zucchini Monsters

My friend Aja, Jon's amazing groomswoman, recommended that I try the Lasagna Gardening technique. Its a great way to garden organically, and its much easier to build. Instead of digging your garden out, you build your garden up from the ground. First, start by layering newspaper or cardboard to kill any grass and weeds on your plot. Then you layer 'Browns' and 'Greens' alternatively until you have a fairly deep plot. I think mine is about 8 inches. Now, what the heck are Browns and Greens? Browns include fall leaves, shredded paper, peat, pine needles, straw, and even dryer lint (who'da thunk it?). Greens are veggie scraps, coffee grounds, tea leaves/bags, grass trimming, and garden trimmings. You can find info on Lasagna gardening with the help of Google. I used Lasagna Gardening - About.com

Having decided to do this last minute, I didn't have most of the materials on hand. I had been collecting newspapers, but definitely did not have any good compost started. So, we went to Reading Feed and Seed to pick up some 'Layers'. I bought 9 bags of organic topsoil, 9 bags of organic peat, 3 bags of mushroom compost, and 2 bales of straw for about $60. I used the topsoil, peat and straw as my brown layers plus whatever remnants I could find around the yard. I did dig through our trash in the laundry room for some dryer lint. I used the compost and whatever else I had collected for the green layers. Now I have to let it set for a few weeks to let some of the material decompose. The rainy day we've had today is great for decomposition. On dryer days, I'll turn the sprinkler on. In Cincy we can plant in April to June. I think I am going to hold off until the end of April, just to be on the safe side. I would hate for my hard work to go to waste.



Laying newspaper.




Watering my newspaper layer so it doesn't blow away.



The newspaper layer that will smother anything underneath.

He!

Ho!

The finished plot waiting to be planted.

Me. Covered in dirt with my shoebox of seeds.

After we get our patio built later this spring Jon is going to build me a Brown and a Green compost bin, so I'll have good compost this fall to use in building my garden for next spring. I am really looking forward to watching my 9x12 foot plot of earth grow into (hopefully) a successful victory garden.

Riley in the rose bushes.

Flossing her teeth on some thorns.

Sunday's kill. First time she has ever brought us a snake. Jon walked out onto the front porch and she just looked up at him, so proud of her hunt. At least it was dead and outside of the house.

Tell me about your gardening experiences. What is your favorite? What has been the easiest? I can't wait to share stories and fresh organic food this fall with my friends.

RSVP to Rumpke

Hello Readers! I apologize for my neglect. It has come to my attention that many people actually read my blog. THANK YOU! That is encouraging. Special thanks to Jen and Jeff for filling me in on Reds Opening Day. Please become a follower so I know exactly how many people actually read. Even better, leave a comment (good or bad).

Any who. I have finally graduated with my BBA in Accounting from UC, and I am focusing more on the wedding. BTW: Shoot me an email if you know anyone hiring a recent grad in the accounting field.

So, I have moved onto invitations. Quite frankly, the thought of them makes me want to vomit. No offense to my guests, but really, they will end up at Rumpke one way or another. You will get 'The Invite' in the mail, hang it on your fridge, and then sometime after 9/10/11 you will toss it (hopefully into recycling or a compost). Anything that eventually ends up in the garbage does not deserve a great amount of funds.

My Dad's friend owns a print shop (my foot in the door). Networking is key to planning a wedding! So, I set up a meeting with Al one Saturday morning. Funny story: I could not remember which house was his. Jon and I pull into one driveway, but we were discouraged by a 'black Jesus' bobble head on the dashboard. We decide to pull into the next driveway. In case we're at the wrong house, Jon devises the cover-up story that we are zealots asking if people have found Jesus. We ring the doorbell, and nothing. We stand around. Try again. Nothing. Finally, Al spots us. "You got the wrong house!" Turns out, we were right the first time. We looked like idiots.

Al and I sit around the kitchen table and start discussing invites. Jon thinks his time is better spent on the couch catching up on Girl's HS basketball (get used to it ladies). Al gives me a figure of $250 for 125 invites. And, that is with me picking the simplest of designs. I mean, don't get me wrong, he had some super cute Disney invites that I loved, but those would have cost upwards of $500. Well, this just is not sitting well with me. So, I asked what if we design something. I don't need glittery paper and I really don't think my guests will mind. Its not like they would say, "I cannot possibly attend the Bruckmann/Green wedding because their invitations don't razzle dazzle."

Long story short, we are as of now, under $100 for 125 invites. Phew. I received some samples yesterday and spent some time reworking them last night. I used FREE editing software, Paint.net, which is very similar to Photoshop to alter the sample. I didn't add anything extravagant which won't add to the price. And the best part of my simple design: Your refrigerator magnet can hold this invite! I hate the invites that my magnets just can't handle. You put it on the fridge, and then it starts the slow, sliding descent to the floor. Arrgh!  But please, after 9-10-11 please recycle or compost our invite.