“These ARE the right envelopes, right?”

[….and the Corascope Chronicles continue….]

Scope and I decided Saturday was the day to get those all-important wedding invitations done and ready to mail. Sounds simple enough, right? Sure. Until we realized those invites we ordered came in pieces in nine separate boxes and we’d have to *gasp* assemble them ourselves.

Oh.

We opened all the boxes; looked at the directions; armed ourselves with strips of super-sticky temperamental effers glue dots; and got to work.

See these ultra cool stripy red and black envelope liners?….


….Nice, huh? We had to attach them to the insides of the inner (not outer) envelopes with the strips of little leeches glue dots so that the inner (not outer) envelopes would look like this….


Aren’t those envelopes AWESOME???? :-)

It was a bit tricky at first and we sat around pelting those envelopes with our most stern, don’t-mess-with-me looks…. kinda like this….


But, eventually, we showed those unruly glue dots who was boss and found our rhythm! And, whaddaya know, soon we were cranking those envelopes out like a well-oiled machine! And it was actually kind of FUN too!!!!….


(Awwwwwwwww, I just LOVE this picture!! Scope looks so adorably HAPPY!! *swooooooooooooon*) :-)

Yup. We were feeling quite proud of ourselves. Yessiree. Until it suddenly dawned on me that it was a tad odd that the inner envelopes had adhesive flaps.

(????)

”Umm…. these ARE the right envelopes, right?” I squeaked…. and we stared down at them….

D’oh!

Turns out the answer was no. No, they were, in fact, NOT the freaking right envelopes. We’d put the liners on the OUTIES instead of the INNIES.

Dang it.

But, see, this is why when you’re buying wedding invitations, you buy extras. Luckily we hadn’t finished mutilating ALL our invites, so we hastily shoved our circus-freak envelopes aside and started all over again.

Oh well. No biggie. Soon we were back in rhythm, breezing our way through assembling the envelopes. Then we stuffed the envelopes (oh, shut up) and applied stamps and address labels, and suddenly *POOF* the whole thing was done!….

And it felt GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!! But not as good as it felt when we actually dropped them in the mail box (squeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!)—but, sorry, you’re gonna have to wait for that part of the story. Heh heh heh.

:-)

[….to be continued….]


© Love Letters By Cora

What warms my heart right up like a big ol’ cup of hot chocolate

[….and the Corascope Chronicles continue….]

Friday, while my poor, darling daughter was slaving away in school, Scope and got some much-needed wedding tasks done before venturing down the hill to Lake Washington to have lunch at Ivar’s.

*warm and happy sentimental glow*

Anyone remember why Ivar’s is special to Scope and me? Hmm?…. Anyone?…. Anyone?…. Because Ivar’s is where Scope and I had our first meal together the day we met.

*misty-eyed sniffle*

After lunch, we walked around a little, discussing all that’s happened to the two of us in the last year (WOWZA, for sure!!!!) and took pictures of a sign that Scope will have the pleasure of posting for you soon.

Then we picked Gwen up from school and the three of us made our way to Best Buy to take a look at some things we might like to have once we’ve all moved in together this summer. Things like a webcam and a Wii, for starters. Then we ran over to Cold Stone for some ice cream (or a smoothie, if you’re Scope) before having to drop the kiddo off with her dad for the weekend.

*sad sigh*

She didn’t want to go with her dad. AGAIN. There was all kinds of drama, but I'm legally not supposed to blog about any of that. Soo.... instead I will just tell you how much Scope and my daughter remind me of each other. A LOT. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is that makes those two just so quirkily and awesomely similar ~ perhaps it’s their sense of humor; or their wisdom; or the way their eyes both twinkle with playfulness; or their patient tolerance of me….

Or maybe it’s the way they both ignore the shoe basket and line their shoes up in the dang doorway instead….


*snicker*

And don’t think that picture up there doesn’t warm my heart right up like a big ol’ cup of hot chocolate, because it absolutely does!!!!

MY GOD, I LOVE THOSE TWO!!!! WE’RE GOING TO MAKE ONE UBERFANTASTIC FAMILY, I CAN JUST TELL!!!!

And.

I.

Can.

Not.

Wait.

:-)

[….to be continued….]

© Love Letters By Cora

File Under: Be Careful What You Wish For

So, as you may or may not or maybe kinda sorta might recall that Scope was flying into town to romp away the wily weekend with me Thursday night…. right as FlashForward was ending.

Hmmm.

Dilemma.

What to do…. miss the last few all-important, nail-biting minutes of FlashForward (and, thus, not know quite what the heck is going on next week) to race to the airport to meet Scope on schedule…. or leave my tired, travel-worn, lovely fiancé abandoned alone, and feeling unloved, in the cold, cruel, unflatteringly-lit airport for a few minutes while I finish watching that crack-like addictive show with my new best friend, Guilt, telling me what a cruddy fiancée I am the whoooooooooole stinkin’ time?

Tough call. No, really.

But, fortunately, fate or luck or karma or wish-granting-and-magic-wand-wielding Southwest Airlines fairies or something swooped in at the last minute and saved me from having to make my dreaded decision myself. You see, when I looked up Scope’s flight on SWA’s website I saw it was (….drum roll please….) delayed by ten minutes.

PERFECT!!!! I could see the whole show AND still get to the airport in time!!!! Woo-hoo!!!!

My Guilt and I hi-fived each other and then I plopped myself down on my couch in all my FlashForwardy bliss; gasping and startling and shouting things at the TV like, “OH MY GOD, THAT GUY IS A COMPLETE AND TOTAL FLIPPING PSYCHO!! I CAN’T BELIEVE I DIDN’T SEE THAT COMING!!”

But then it went all wrong. That harmless little ten minute delay which would have worked out sooooooooo nicely for me, Scope, and my Guilt, turned into an ugly thirty minute delay….

….which turned into a stinky fifty minute delay….

….which turned into an unfair hour delay….

….which turned into a whattheheckisgoingon???? hour and fifteen minute delay….

….and then some.

(Stupid overzealous Southwest Airlines flight-delay-wish-granting fairies!!!!)

Every time I looked at the flight status it got worse and worse and worse. I started wondering if something bad had happened: did his plane make an emergency landing in Omaha or what????

Gah!!

Scope didn’t set foot inside Sea-Tac Airport until almost 11 pm (1 am, his time) and he was EXHAUSTED…. and yet looking mightily dapper with his fresh, new look….


Mm-hmm. That Van Dyke beard he’d been sporting for a few years now has been shaven off, leaving his handsome face bare and—and ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE, that’s what!!!!!!!!!

And, please, is there ANYTHING on Earth that can match the UBERSPECTACULARNESS of that man’s smile?

No.

The answer is no.

Case. Closed.

:-)

[….to be continued….]

© Love Letters By Cora

227-248/365

And now for an update on my attempt at Project 365! Here are some of my favorite photos I’ve taken lately:

Day 227 (March 2, 2010)

I was sTrEsSeD oUt (!!!!!!!!!) and needed a break, sooo I took that splendiferous new camera I got from Scope to a park along the edge of Lake Washington just down the hill from my house, and drop-kicked my sTrEsS right into that lake by letting my snap-happy demon loose, and taking picture after picture after picture. *deep happy sigh*….











Day 232 (March 7)

Okay, so I know the almighty Wedding Fairies have strict orders to spit on my cake, bludgeon me with my bouquet, and/or shoot my garter belt at my rear like a fiercely-fancy rubber band if I dare break wedding protocol by showing you a picture of my wedding dress. But—eh—I figure a wee itty bitty teeny peek can’t really hurt. Much. R-r-right?….



Day 244 (March 19)

The morning dew on my lawn….



Day 247 (March 22)

Remember those Camera Toss experiments I’ve been toying with? Yeah? Well, I’m still at it, only this time I added another element to it inspired by an idea Scope sent me: overexposure. The camera was set on bulb and focused on some flowers which were backlit at a window, then I swooped the camera off to the side. The long exposure time turned the entire background white, while the movement of the camera created a kind of painted look to the flowers, and I just LOOOOOOOOVE it!….



Day 248 (March 23)

Ummm…. it’s a garden statue of a frog. Of course. *croak* ….


Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand with that, I’m outta here! Scope is flying into town tonight (squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!) so don’t expect to see much of me again until next week. Have a spectacular weekend, Blogaritaville!

© Love Letters By Cora

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Cheesy Love Songs

Okidoki. So, in an effort to save myself from getting into any possible irksome future legal smack down(s) by delving into deep, dizzying and dangerous discussions which may tempt, lure and seduce me into saying things I may regret (*cough-someone I know is SUCH A JERK-cough*) I’m going to play it safe today and tell you my top ten favorite cheesy love songs which—ohhhhh, I dunno—I may (hint hint) or may not wish to have the DJ play at the wedding reception in July.

(Scope, I hereby apologize for my uber-dorky taste in music—but, better start getting used to it now, right?!?!)

(And, hey, it’s not like I want to dance to “Islands In The Stream.” *snicker*)

(Sorry, obscure FLASHFORWARD reference.)

(Moving on….)

Here are my TOP TEN FAVORITE CHEESY LOVE SONGS at the moment:

(And, to all the overachieving nutjobs out there, don’t feel pressured to watch ALL the videos, of course!!)

(Unless you’re reeeeaaaaalllllllyyyyyyyyy that wrapped around my finger and devoted to kissing my butt, then by all means carry on and enjoy.)


10. “Hella Good” by No Doubt
.


.
9. “If I Can’t Have You” by Yvonne Elliman
.


.
8. “Bus Stop” by The Hollies
.


.
7. “You Get Me” by Michelle Branch
.

.
6.“More Than A Woman” by The Bee Gees
.

.
5. “Love You Madly” by Cake
.


.
4. “Binary Love” by Blake Lewis (and I swear this one is about has to be about two bloggers falling in love, seriously! Awwwwwww….)
.


.
3. “Friday Night” by The Darkness
.


.
2. “How Deep Is Your Love” by The Bee Gees
.


.
1. “Let’s Just Fall In Love Again” by Jason Castro
.

© Love Letters By Cora

*hiccup* Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! *hiccup*

I wasn’t planning to post anything today because I’m seriously short on blogging time, but then Skyler’s Dad sent me a link to this video and I just have to (HAVE TO) share it with you!!

Enjoy!

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE ST. PATRICK'S DAY

(Thank you, SkyDad!!!! I love it!!!!)

Happy St. Paddy’s Day, Blogaritaville!

Wading Through The Weekend Whirlpool….

“Whew.” That would be the quick way to sum up my weekend. Yessiree. Mm-hmm. The long way to sum it up? Uhhh…. well, read on. :-)


Friday night, my very, very, VERY excited daughter and I went to the theater to see Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland. Gwen, being the ultimate Tim Burton fan, had waited a long, lonnnngggggg time for the release of Alice and was, appropriately, grinning like the Cheshire Cat the entire wondrous evening! See?:


*snicker*

All the 3-D showings were completely sold out that night (not all that shocking, admittedly) so we saw it in 2-D instead.

And!!!!

We!!!!

Loved!!!!

It!!!!

Alice In Wonderland was a delectable smoothie of the quirky, the dark, and the maniacal madcap—(which reminds me, Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter? BAAAA-RILLIANT!!!!)—all swirled together in one yummy, gooey blob of deliciousness. Absofreakinglutely. And my dreams that night? Totally insane.


Saturday morning I lugged Gwen into David’s Bridal, where (….drum roll please….) I bought my wedding dress.

Yep!

Now, if I’m being honest, (and I am) (of course), I hadn’t gone into David’s Bridal intending to buy The Dress that day. No. The plan was to just innocently try on a few gowns, get an idea of what I liked, and then drag my mom and step-mom back there with me some other time to help me choose. But, whoopsie!—I ended up finding The Dress by accident (or maybe it found me), so, well, I went for it.

Of course, I did.

(Sorry, Mom.)

My dress is truly lovely! (And not at all like a meringue, thankyouverymuch.) My daughter burst into tears when she saw me in it and sat there sobbing and gasping in the middle of the store, “M-m-mom, you look sooooo b-b-beautiful! I’m not used to seeing you like this!”

*crickets*

….Ummmm….

….Thanks….

….I think….????….

Obviously, I can’t show you The Dress. Duuuuuuuh. But, c’mon, let’s take a tour of some of the ones that almost were, shall we?:






(Yes, it was a mature, stoic, serious affair.)

(Clearly.)

(Ahem.)

After David’s Bridal, we went to All About Weddings to A-OK the proofs for the wedding invitations. (Checkaroo!) And then we picked up one of my daughter’s friends and my mom (because another one of my daughter’s friends bailed on us after I’d already bought her ticket. GRRRR) and went back to the theater to see Alice In Wonderland again—but this time in 3-D.

(A free ticket to Alice totally makes up for missing the wedding dress, Mom, I swear! Ask anyone!)

Alice in 3-D was twice as nice. If you’ve got a choice, I definitely recommend catching it in 3-D. It was amazing! And I’m still trying to pry my daughter off the ceiling, which ain’t easy.


Sunday I met up with a most marvelous and magical woman by the name of Rachel Rausch Johnson. She’s a fellow citizen of Blogaritaville (you can check her blog out HERE), but, even more importantly, she’s the photographer Scope and I have hired to help us capture our wedding day on film.

I stumbled upon her fantastic photos on her fun website HERE and got a chill right up my spine, like I knew—I just knew—she was the one for us.

(And, dammit, when my spine talks, you know I LISTEN! *wink*)

Rachel and I sat in my dining room eating scones, looking at her fabulous photos, and discussing The Big Day. It’s going to be splendiferous, I can just tell! :-)

(If you spaced on clicking the link to see Rachel’s wedding photos up there, I’m giving it to you again RIGHT HERE, because, seriously, they’re really, really, REALLY that awesome! So, click it, people—no excuses.)

Five minutes after Rachel left my house, there was a teenage boy a-knocking on my door to buy a huge glass display cabinet I’ve been trying to sell for months. He saw it. He loved it. He bought it. And I quickly helped him dismantle the entire cabinet and load it in his car lest he change his mind again.

As he drove away with that mammoth glass monstrosity in his car, I hi-fived myself (which, to the untrained eye, looks a lot like clapping) (shut up) because that’s one less thing I’m going to have to lug 2000 miles to Scope’s house this Summer.

Score!

And, there. That was my weekend in a nutshell. (Yeah, it was a ridiculously big nutshell, I agree.) And now I think I need a weekend to recover from my weekend.

*dramatically exhausted big crybaby yawn*

© Love Letters By Cora

I will NOT be late!

Today is a hyper, excited, giggle-tastic day here in the Land o’ Cora. There’s a little movie coming out today. Maybe you’ve heard of it?….



My daughter and I have plans to take two of her friends to the theater to see Alice tomorrow afternoon…. but—what the heck—we might just sneak off and catch it ourselves tonight first!

Heh heh heh.

Have a WONDERful weekend, Blog World!

207-224/365

And now for an update on my attempt at Project 365!


Day 207 (February 10)

Pfffft! If Carrot Top mated with a fish, I guess this is what you’d get….






Day 214 (Feb. 17)

Spring has sprung. The cherry trees across from my house were suddenly covered in pink buds and an opened flower or two….




Day 215 (Feb. 18)

It seems Seattle has bypassed Winter and Spring entirely. It was nearly 70 degrees today and people were outside in shorts and flip-flops IN FEBRUARY!….




Day 216 (Feb. 19)

On the other hand, it was clearly still Winter as far as the eye could see in Illinois. *shiver*….




Day 217 (Feb. 20)

I know I already showed you this chandelier the other day, but I love the pictures sooooooooooo much, so I’m showing you again. Just humor me. It’s easier that way….





Day 219 (Feb. 22)

More cherry blossoms on the trees across my street….










Day 220 (Feb. 23)

The sunrise as seen through my kitchen window….




Day 223 (Feb. 26)

Ohhhhh, the joy of a paper crown when you’re turning six!!….




Day 224 (Feb. 27)

Mini golf anyone?….


I got a hole in one, baby! Yeeeeeaaaaah!….


[….to be continued….]

© Love Letters By Cora