DIY Yourself Into Insanity - An Update

Remember way back last April - over a year ago! - when I listed all the DIY projects I was going to do? Yeah, well, we've got about 5 months until the wedding and there are so many of them I can hardly see straight. I've learned, like most DIY brides do, that some things just have to not happen and I'm okay with that.

I will post more of my projects as I finish them. I don't consider all of it DIY because I do a lot of this for a living. However, I do feel like I will be finished with everything in plenty of time (fingers crossed.)

Here's a peek:

• all planning (hoping to recruit a day-of-coordinator)  Check. Did and done.
• invitations, save-the-dates, lined envelopes, programs, table numbers, place cards No seating charts, woo hoo! Screw it. The rest I have under control. The SDs went out ages ago, the invites are printed, mats are trimmed, monograms are punched and assembled. 
• boutonnieres, bouquets and centerpieces  Not happening. I'm leaving this to the expert and offering a hand & two eyes.
• petal toss cones  Replaced by wedding wands.
• farewell bells Not happening.
• cake topper (possibly) DONE!
• a cake stand Not happening because I bought one!
• hand-stamped thank you cards DONE! I love the trash at work!


Still planning on ....
• wedding favor bags, tags and signs
• my veil(s) & a fascinator
• shoe bling
• keepsake handkerchiefs (modified ... I'm cheating.)
• garter (again, cheating because I have an awesome mom).
• customizing the aisle runner ... maybe.
• various other decorations including but not limited to toasting flute & cake server embellishments, program holder, wedding tree guest book print, wedding signs and mason jar wires. 

Heartbroken in the Aftermath of Nashville Flood 2010

{via Huffington Post}

I consider myself a Nashvillian, although my hometown is an hour away. I grew up in TN and I've lived here my entire life. I've seen all sorts of weather from the great ice storm in 1993 to a mile-wide tornado that tore through my hometown of Lafayette, TN just two years ago, but I have never seen anything as wide spread and devastating as this. How did we get so lucky as to have escaped damage or flooding or a tornado even?

The Cumberland River has engulfed Downtown Nashville. 19 people are dead and many, many more have lots homes, cars and businesses. I'm heartbroken and worried about our beautiful city and surrounding counties. So much of the city's culture and uniqueness is under water. Lives have been lost and folks who never thought they would need flood insurance are facing the worst.

Let's all work together to find opportunities to give assistance - physical or monetary - in any way we can. It's a shame that the national news coverage is more concerned about a bomb that DIDN'T go off than they are about people dying of natural disasters right here in their own country.

Here are some places you can give:

Nashville Area Red Cross
Soles for Souls
So Nashville is Flooded ... How Can I Help via Nashvillest

Our biggest obstacle this week is conservation of water in Davidson County. Please do you part and refrain from washing your car, your dishes, your laundry ... you might consider not washing yourself every day. This is serious. We are in very real danger of losing our second water plant.

I hope that Rep. Jim Cooper is able to convey to President Obama how serious the situation is here and how much we will need the government's help.

This blog has been started to host the many YouTube videos out there of the flooding and aftermath.

The great Nashville flood of 2010.

(from TwitPic)

As anyone who's been in Middle Tennessee over the past few days knows, we had some of the most monstrous flooding on record, nearly doubling our previous record 48-hour precipitation rate. To preface this, Little Spoon and I are fine. We had a tiny bit of water leak into our garage, a dribble from one corner of one window that a towel shoved up in the blinds took care of, and some waterlogged soil. That's it. And for that, we're very, very thankful.

But our city is devastated now. And I can't think straight to work. Both because of sadness and a roiling anger at some of my fellow citizens.

One of the two water treatment pumps is out. The other one would have gone under if the waters had risen less than two-thirds of a foot more. The mayor has requested that we curtail our water usage by at least half - using water for drinking and food preparation only. Our water reserves are down 15%. And yet, car washes remain open (with some people doing it themselves), apartments leave their sprinkler systems on, and people continue about blithely as if water is not a scarce resource.

Grow. The Fuck. Up. People.

We are all in this together. We must make these small individual sacrifices so that everyone can have the resources we all need. Yes, it seems like a joke about running out of water in the middle of a flood, but it's not. This is part of your duty as a citizen. Yeah, we might be a stinky people for a few days by forgoing showers; we may have dishwashers chock-full of food-encrusted wares for a while before turning to disposable plates, cups, and cutlery; and our laundry could get a bit funky waiting to get done.

But that smell around you? That's the smell of banding together in a time of crisis. Wear it with pride. It's a pungent badge of honor.

As I watched the torrents pour ever faster down the street in front of the house Sunday, I grew frightened. I thought that an earthquake was the disaster I'd least like to experience. But the slow, sneaky, relentless onslaught of the flood waters made me think otherwise. It wore away at the levees. It overflowed the banks of the Cumberland and other rivers. It sent silt down into the basements and first floors of landmarks, businesses, restaurants, tourist attractions, and other spaces, threatening to overwhelm our water treatment capacity.

Are we going to let our ignorance finish off what the flood began?

C'mon, people. Better to be unpretty than to be parched in the midst of a lake.