Weekend in Music City

This past weekend the boy was attending a conference in Nashville so I decided to tag along.
Yes, this is from the Tennessee welcome center, which does mean we drove to Tennessee. Driving about 10 hours each way in a weekend isn't something I'd recommend, but we made it.
We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland hotel, which I've been describing as mix of Disneyland and a Vegas casino. (It's always where the Grand Ole Opry is currently held.) The view above is the main hotel lobby, which looks amazing by itself, but even more so when you realize that the other half of the room has these two waterfalls.
Since the boy was busy, I was off on my own most of the trip. And part of me is a little embarrassed to admit I didn't do much sightseeing in Nashville itself. But what did I do?
Of course I explored the hotel. This is in the Delta section of the hotel which is where our room was and is made to look like Mississippi river. Yes, that is a boat which you could pay to ride around this lobby. And here's another picture which better gives you the Southern/Mississippi River type feel with a Plantation replica.
I layed out at the pool.
Which was a first for 2012! Thankfully we had pretty awesome weather while we were here.
I read a ton! This is 2 of the 3 magazines I brought all of which I finished. I also finished both Wither and Fever (pictured here - reviews to come!) and also started a third book.
I had a blogger meet-up with Sarah of Sarah in the City.
I watched a fountain show.
I visited Shrek's house. (Although Shrek wasn't actually there. But I'm sure at times he is. They also had places decorated to visit both the characters from Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda.)
I happened to walk by a wedding in progress, and loved a ton of their little details, like the fact they were married on St. Patrick's Day and the bridesmaids wore green. I also loved her escort cards, but I don't have a picture of them.
I shopped for souvenirs. Funny enough the only thin I purchased that's actually from Tennessee is the kiwi jam, but it all looked fun to me.

As you've probably noticed almost all of these pictures are in the hotel itself. Yes, there are probably people out there who'd say it was a waste to visit a city and not really do anything. But to be honest what I really want to do was take time to unplug and have a restful weekend, and I think this met that goal.

Have you ever taken a trip somewhere to wind up barely leaving the hotel?

The Haunted Sisters

Royal Sisters by Jean Plaidy
It's been a while since I've picked up one of Jean Plaidy books, and like every time it seems I'm wondering why I've let this sit in my reading pile so long before picking it up. The book takes place at the end of Charles II's reign through William & Mary's reign, and it's a time I thought I knew a lot about. I was afraid that much of the book would be a rehashing of The Three Crowns, but while both feature William and Mary, each tells their story at different time periods. And as I've come to expect in Plaidy's books, I always wind up learning so much, which I love about her books.

While I knew that that Anne, sister to Queen Mary who would eventually be queen as well, had children I had no idea how many or how many survived and I was surprised to learn about them. I had never heard about her son the Duke of Gloucester, and the stories of him were some of my favorite parts to read.

Finishing this I can't wait to pick up Courting Her Highness, which I'm assuming will cover the details over Queen's Anne reign. I would love to go on and read the rest of Plaidy's books, except most of them are still out of publication. They were being republished fairly regularly, but I can't seem to find any indication that there's a plan to release more in the near future. But hopefully that changes, and if you've never read one of Plaidy's book, as always, I highly recommend her.

5/5

Today I'm linking up with Blonde Undercover Blonde for Book Club Friday!

Let Them Eat Cake

Yesterday I introduced my cake baker, and discussed the process I went through to find them. But today we're going to go over the actual cake in a little more detail.

I was asked to bring any inspiration photos I had to the appointment. Which for me meant printing off my cake board on pinterest. I never consciously made the board, it was more of when I saw pictures I liked I pinned them, so it included a range of images. I didn't really have an idea of what I wanted, but looking at the pictures together a theme came through. All of them were fairly simple, and most had some type ribbon at the bottom of each tier. I pointed out my favorite image to the owner, and told her this was basically what I wanted.

Mrs. Mascara's CakeExcept I wanted the cakes to be square, so basically the cake above (which is actually Mrs. Mascara's) mixed with this one as well.

SourceOnce she knew what I was looking for she started planning how we she'd actually carry out the vision. We would do a white buttercream frosting on the actual cake. The ribbon would be fondant dyed to match the bridesmaids' dresses. And we would do a gumpaste rose on the middle that would be a light yellow. (She actually told me the gumpaste flower would keep for years. As it hardened it would turn into almost a porcelain-like flower that I could keep on a dresser as a reminder of the wedding.)

We didn't decide on flavors, since I need to actually arrange a day to pick up the flavors I want to try to make a decision. But besides that in about an hour we had the cake completely designed. I was a little surprised because I wasn't expecting to leave the appointment with such a firm decision on what the cake would look like and with such detail. (Especially since the first baker I went didn't take the time to do the same.) And since who doesn't love looking at cake, I figured I'd share a few more of my inspiration photos.

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SourceDid you have a hard time decided on a cake design or did your baker surprise you? And which of these cake pictures would you pick as a favorite?

I'ts Pi Cake Day!

First since today happens to by Pi day, let's start off with a math joke.

Teacher: Pi*r^2
Student: Pie are square? Pie are not square. Pie are round. Cakes are sqaure.

But moving on to the part of wedding planning that I was most looking forward to, cake tastings! The first tasting I went to was at a bakery not too far from where I work. I didn't neccessarily think I'd be booking it, but I figured free cake for lunch was something I could handle. When we walked in we were handed a plate of 3 petite fours. The green was almond flavored, the white was their butter flavor (or vanilla), and the third was chocolate.
We sat down with the owner and discussed flavors, designs, and pricing, and to be honest this was probably somewhere I would consider. At least until we inquired asking if we they could deliver the date of our wedding, which is a Sunday. We were told no, that they're closed that day so they're able to go to church, but she'd be willing to box the cake up for someone to pick up. But I'm not too sure that I know someone who'd I'd be willing to trust enough to pick up a cake, drive on the interstate to our reception site, and assemble correctly, so this place was automatically out.

The second bakery I went to was the one I'd been hoping to book all along. They're the bakery that the boy's sister tends to use for her kids' birthday parties, all of which come out adorable.
This one's from the boy's nephew 2nd birthday, and while I'm almost positive this is from the bakery I booked, I'll feel awfully embaressed if I'm wrong here.

But once confirming that they would infact deliver on a Sunday during a holiday weekend, it was looking awfully likely that we had our baker. Once we attended our consultant we were given a slice of their white buttercream on almond cake as a sample.
To give you a size comparison, the plate this was on was about the same size as the plate for the three petite fours. And if you're concerned about the fact that there's only a single flavor, once you put down a deposite you're able to pick up a box of 6 slices each this size with the fillings you'd like to try.

We sat down with the owner to discuss pricing, falvors, and had her basically draw out our cake. But since this post has already gotten long enough, I'll make you wait a while to show you what we came up with. But I will leave you with two real wedding cakes from our bakery.

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SourceDid you have a hard time deciding on a cake baker? Or did you have something, like no delivery on a Sunday, make your decision for you?

The Cost of an STD

Now that I've given you the big save-the-date reveal, I figured it made sense to give the budget breakdown. Yes, it's for your curiosity, but it's also so I have something official to add to my budgeting spreadsheet. Now they may be a little creative math here, but I figure if I only used a third of the 180 labels, I don't need to include all of it in my budget. After all, I may NEED oval shaped label for something in the future right?
56 magnets w/ envelopes from MagnetStreet + Shipping: $106.51 ($142.65 for 75 + Shipping)
56 Oval Mailing Labels: $3.73 ($11.99 for 180)
56 Business Cards: $0.94 ($4.22 for 250)
56 Forever Stamps: $24.64 (Purchased the day before the price increase at $0.44 each)

(This doesn't include the photo stickers or the glue tape I used to get the business cards onto the envelopes since I already had them around the house.)

Total for 56 Save-the-Dates: $135.82
Price per Save-the-Date: $2.43

Which without stamps in less than $2 each. Doesn't sound too bad to me. Now hopefully I can DIY invitations for not much more!

Would you consider $2.00 per STD a good price? And if you're mailing out invitations, did you manage to pick up stamps before the price hike?

Meet Virginia

John Carter
So maybe my clever post title doesn't quite work unless you seen the movie, but I'm still ok with that. I think this movie had a lot of potential, and while there were parts that I enjoyed, I don't see myself sitting down to watch it again.

I actually really liked the ending of the movie. And I don't mean that in a clever, I liked the end because the movie ended type of way, but that I really liked the way the story ended. And to be honest, the ending made me want to see a sequel.

But sitting through a lot of the rest of the movie, I was bored. I was confused quite a bit, and the movie seemed to drag on forever.

We did opt to see it in 2-D. After seeing all of the awful reviews on this I couldn't justify paying the extra charge.

Part of me wants to recommend that you pass on this one and wait for something better. But I'd still love to see a sequel to this, and if more people seeing it means that's more likely, then you should go see it!

In My Mailbox (35)

It's been a while since I've been able to link up with The Story Siren's In My Mailbox. Although in some ways that's a good thing, because I've been able to avoid the temptation of buying any new books. But this week I'm back with a ton of books that I can't wait to share!
The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn
This one's a memmior about the author's experience attending Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Basically a foodie book (with recipes!) set in Paris sounds like a perfect book for me.

The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
I've been seeing this book around for a while now. I couldn't tell you completely what it's about, but I have a feeling it'll be similar to The Christmas Cookie Club which I really enjoyed.

The Time in Between by Maria Duenas
This is a historical fiction that takes place in Spain during World War II. It's supposed to be somewhat similar to Casablanca. Ever since I've heard about this being published, I've been wanting to read it, so I'm excited to now have the chance.

Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos
This is another one I've had my eye on ever since I heard about it, although I couldn't tell you exactly what it's about, I'm still thinking I'll enjoy it.

The Perfect Royal Mistress by Diane Haeger
I've actually read one of Diane Haeger's books before although it has been a while. This book is about Nell Gwynne, who I've read about recently. This time period (the reign of Charles II) has become one of my favorites lately, so I'm always up for new books from it.

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
This is actually a historical novel written by a France Jew. However before she was able to finish writing it, she was deported to Auschwitz where she died. I think the story behind this book is awfully interesting, and can't beleive I hadn't heard of it before now.

Wither & Fever by Lauren Desefano
I'm SOOO excited to read this. I've been obsessed with Wither ever since I heard of it, and just hope it lives up to my expectations.

A Foreign Affair & A Dangerous Affair by Caro Peacock
I hadn't heard about this before, but the fact they're historical fiction that takes place in Victorian England makes me think they're just the thing for me.

Now that you've seen the books I've picked up, you might be wondering where they're from. Well they're actually from a blogger meet-up!
This is me and Jesse from Elle Lit. We met up for lunch earlier this week, where we both exchanged a ton of books (as I'm sure you can see). We had a great time talking and getting to know eachother better, and I'd love to be able to do it again! And if you're curious to see what books I gave Jesse you should check out her IMM, and if they don't appear this week they probably will next.

Did you find any great books this week? And have you ever been to a blogger meet-up?