Old Mission Peninsula
October 9th, 2007 @ 5:11 pm by Ms. Dahlia
This past weekend, Mr. Dahlia and I traveled up to the Old Mission Peninsula just outside of Traverse City, Michigan. (This was his gift to me for our anniversary; back in September, I took him to Cedar Point as my gift to him.) Not only would it be an amazing place to just visit, but the area would be perfect for a honeymoon or destination wedding.
Map is found here
Free Software, Part 2
October 7th, 2007 @ 12:31 pm by Ms. Dahlia
I would like to share with you another open source program that I really like: OpenOffice. Like Microsoft Office, only free. In addition to word processing, spreadsheet and database features, the OpenOffice suite also has a really nifty (but basic) design program: OpenOffice Draw. Overnight Prints recommends Draw as one of the programs in which to design postcards. Since we will be printing our invites through them, I thought I’d try it out.
Here’s what OpenOffice looks like when you first open the program:
It’s October…
October 5th, 2007 @ 1:48 pm by Ms. Dahlia
For some, that might conjure up images of leaves, apples and pumpkins. While those are maybe items 2, 3 and 4 that come to mind, the first thing I think of is baseball. I’ve always been a Tribe fan, but will also root to long-standing baseball teams that haven’t won in decades. (If the Indians can’t do it this year, I hope the Cubs will, even though it doesn’t look good. This also means that I always root for the team playing against the Yankees.)
Jacobs Field (a.k.a “The Jake”). Picture found here.
Free Software, Part 1
October 4th, 2007 @ 5:50 pm by Ms. Dahlia
There is a tremendous amount of open source software available on the internet. Open source is free! Which means if you are looking at dabbling in designing invitations or placecards and don’t have InDesign or Adobe Illustrator (or want to splurge on it), you can download a similar program at no cost to you.
Today, I bring to you a design program I have worked with: Scribus. Now, documentation for the program isn’t fabulous, but there are plenty of good tutorials available on the web. I’m definitely not the most design savvy individual, but I’ve been able to figure out some of the very basics of the Scribus without too much trouble. And the benefit is that it is easy to do layouts, when compared to using Microsoft Word.
Here are some screenshots.
I’m On The Prowl
October 4th, 2007 @ 11:28 am by Ms. Dahlia
For shoes. Fantastic, fabulous red shoes. And not just any red, mind you, no. Deep, dark, burgundy wine red. Since my dress isn’t red, I want my accessories to be my favorite color. Besides, it is more practical to get shoes in red, which I would wear after the wedding whenever I could find an excuse to- holidays, formal wedding, vacuuming- whereas white/ivory/ecru/snow colored shoes would just stay in my closet for a couple of years before I donated them to goodwill, like I did with the white satin ballet flats I wore to prom.
Unfortunately, while red is a big color for shoes this season, it seems that patent leather is the material of choice. While I covet these shoes (identical to ones available at a local boutique):
Red ballet flats by Jeffrey Campbell
Oh, The Places We’ll Go, Part 5
October 3rd, 2007 @ 1:23 pm by Ms. Dahlia
Part 1- What we were looking for
Part 2- Mexico
Part 3- Spain
Part 4- Greece (and Turkey)
After considering Santorini and Istanbul, I pushed forward the idea of just going to Turkey to see more of the country. Turkey has a lot to offer, and also has some amazing places to stay outside of Istanbul.
Consider Cappadoccia:
Marriage and Politics
October 2nd, 2007 @ 5:51 pm by Ms. Dahlia
While at the gym this morning, I read this article about the relationship between marriage/family life and participation in politics; it specifically looked at how views about a woman’s role may impact her level of political involvement, whether voting, writing letters to members of congress, or attending a protest.
I mentioned it to Mr. Dahlia over breakfast. Back before we were dating we spent a lot of time discussing politics. This was just before the 2004 presidential election, and debating the pros and cons of each political party (not candidate as much; neither of us were huge fans of either presidential hopeful) was something we did frequently. Mr. Dahlia’s views over time changed, as he moved from focusing on a party’s stance on a single issue to considering a broader range of issues, and voting with the party that was more closely aligned with a majority of his preferences. (I like to think that this is a result of my persuasive powers that kept him from ending up like the man to the right in the comic below).
Comic available here.
Oh The Places We’ll Go, Part 4
October 2nd, 2007 @ 10:26 am by Ms. Dahlia
Part 1- What we were looking for
Part 2- So Mr. Dahlia vetoed Mexico
Part 3- We almost went to Spain, but had one small problem- Mr. Dahlia had fallen in love with someplace else.
Picture is from National Geographic.
Location, Location, Location
October 1st, 2007 @ 2:11 pm by Ms. Dahlia
When we started our venue search, we knew what we wanted- cool, hip, urban and modern. An awesome loft space with brick walls, or something equally different. Someplace with character. Someplace we didn’t go to for prom. My high school proms were always held at the Crawford Auto Museum, but his were all over town. Finally, they had to know what creme brulee is, and be capable of making it on a large scale, as I am not really a cake person, and creme brulee is one of my favorite desserts. Plus, Amelie mentions that cracking creme brulee is one of her favorite pleasures, and it is one of our favorite movies.
Cue the catch: we are getting married in Cleveland.
This left really one space that would work for us with these requirements.
Vivo’s V lounge. We had already talked about it as a reception site prior to us being officially engaged.
Now, it is a very cool space, and had a maximum capacity of 100 people for a sit down dinner, or 200 for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres . Which was perfect- our initial guest list had about 125, and we really wanted a cocktail reception.
Oh The Places We’ll Go, Part 3
September 30th, 2007 @ 1:55 pm by Ms. Dahlia
Part 1 - What we were looking for.
Part 2 - So Mr. Dahlia vetoed Mexico.
“But what about Spain?” we thought to ourselves. So many people have said that Barcelona is amazing. And you can rent out really nice apartments for way cheaper than you would get in a comparable hotel. Check it out here.
Just a sample of what is available:
Studio apartment in Las Ramblas for 120 euros, or roughly $160.
Nice kitchen
Ms. Dahlia, Detroit/Cleveland
Age and Occupation: 24, PhD Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, IT System Administrator
Engagement Date: December 31, 2006
Wedding Date: May 2008
Blogging Since: September 19, 2007
Venue: United Methodist Cathedral & historic downtown hotel in Cleveland
About Me: I enjoy cooking, dancing and swimming. I am a geek and apply game theory to my everyday life. Winter is my favorite time of year, especially when spent curled up with good coffee and a book by Madeleine L'Engle.
