On The Nightstand: Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close

Wickedly hilarious and utterly recognizable, Girls in White Dresses tells the story of three women grappling with heartbreak and career change, family pressure and new love—all while suffering through an endless round of weddings and bridal showers.

Isabella, Mary, and Lauren feel like everyone they know is getting married. On Sunday after Sunday, at bridal shower after bridal shower, they coo over toasters, collect ribbons and wrapping paper, eat minuscule sandwiches and doll-sized cakes. They wear pastel dresses and drink champagne by the case, but amid the celebration these women have their own lives to contend with: Isabella is working at a mailing-list company, dizzy with the mixed signals of a boss who claims she’s on a diet but has Isabella file all morning if she forgets to bring her a chocolate muffin. Mary thinks she might cry with happiness when she finally meets a nice guy who loves his mother, only to realize he’ll never love Mary quite as much. And Lauren, a waitress at a Midtown bar, swears up and down she won’t fall for the sleazy bartender—a promise that his dirty blond curls and perfect vodka sodas make hard to keep. 

With a wry sense of humor, Jennifer Close brings us through those thrilling, bewildering, what-on-earth-am-I-going-to-do-with-my-life years of early adulthood. These are the years when everyone else seems to have a plan, a great job, and an appropriate boyfriend, while Isabella has a blind date with a gay man, Mary has a crush on her boss, and Lauren has a goldfish named Willard. Through boozy family holidays and disastrous ski vacations, relationships lost to politics and relationships found in pet stores, Girls in White Dresses pulls us deep inside the circle of these friends, perfectly capturing the wild frustrations and soaring joys of modern life. ---GoodReads

This was a fun read, full of friendship and a little bit of love mixed in. While three girls struggle with romance, jobs, and figuring out what they want in life, all of their friends seem to be settling down, getting married, and having kids. This book is definitely relate-able to most women in early adulthood, and leaves you with a great feeling of "I'm not the only one!"

**HELP! My reading list is getting shorter and the library is out of my next three top picks! Please let me know of any books you've read lately that you think I may enjoy! Leave a list in the comments section.

Dinette: Before & After

Well folks, as promised in last weeks post about our kitchen repaint, it is time to show off our dinette.

Here is what the dinette looked like when we moved in:

And here it is a few many months later.

View from the living room:

View from garage/back door and laundry area:

The table is a hand-me-down from my parents. They got it as a wedding gift nearly 30 years ago. You can view my centerpiece and how i made it here. The china cabinet is from my grandmother. We debated for a while about where to out it, and we finally settled for the dinette. It fit nicely in that corner and matched our kitchen cabinets perfectly. We filled it with some of our china pieces, vases, and glasses that we received as wedding gifts, as well as some of my grandma's teapots and hand painted pieces. Our champagne flutes and cake topper from our wedding are also showcased in there. 

My favorite part of the dinette is the brown shelf I found in downtown Bay City. I loved it the second I saw it, and didn't realize until I got it home home perfectly it fit with my wine theme. It matches my cork cage and looks great with my other accessories. 

cork cage: cork n' ale; vines and grapes: hobby lobby; wine picture: kohls; "wine & dine" canvas: homemade

Does anyone else have a theme for their kitchen area, or am I just weird?

Any fun wine cork project suggestions? As you can see I've got a bit of a collection going.

Tutorial: Wood Framed Mirror

Last weekend, my mom called me up and insisted we make these mirrors she saw on the Shanty-2-Chic blog. I'm always up for anything, so all I had to do was convince Adam (and my dad) to help us cut the wood. 

what you will need:

mirror (walmart has them for $5), 2- 1x4's, gorilla wood glue, staple gun, liquid nails, wood stain

I was slacking and didn't take any pictures, so I will do my best to describe the process.

We started by removing the plastic frame from the mirror. To start, remove the paper backing off the mirror and cut the glue. To avoid cracking the mirror (yes we know from experience) pull the plastic away from the mirror after the paper backing and glue is removed. 

The next step is cutting the wood. Each mirror will vary in size, so your measurements may vary. 

2- 52" 

2- 16"

(both measurements are at the long points of the wood)

Once the wood was cut, we glued the frame together using gorilla wood glue and reinforced it with the staple gun. When the glue dried, we began to stain. We ended up doing two coats. 

The last step was to attach the mirror. We applied liquid nails to the back of the frame on the middle edges. We found it easiest to set the mirror on the frame and trace it before applying the glue so we knew where the glue needed to be. Once the glue was applied, we attached the mirror and gently pressed down on the edges.

My mom used dark walnut wood stain, which I loved. 

I am seeing another mirror or two in my future with this stain. This would look great in my guest bedroom!

I decided to put our mirror in our bathroom, so I decided on Ebony Minwax stain. It looks great in our bathroom, and will one day actually be hung on the wall.

The best part about this project was that we already had the mirror, stain, and most other supplies. All we needed to purchase was the wood and the liquid nails. This simple and easy project makes me want a mirror in every room of the house. Even Adam loved that he was able to get out the saw and help out.

Have you tried this or plan to try it in the future?

Aren't projects so much more fun when you work on them with others?

On The Nightstand: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list.

Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers. ---GoodReads

 This is a book that everyone should be required to read in high school. While the topic of this book, suicide, is a bit more serious than what I normally prefer, this book held my attention from start to finish. The two narrators telling different stories at the same time was hard to get used to at first, but it really made the book come together. 

Throughout the book, I found myself feeling for Hannah. High school can be terrible for a lot of people with rumors, teasing, and feeling like they don't belong, and her story made me so glad that high school is over. I also felt for Clay, the boy that had a crush on Hannah, that should have picked up on the signs but didn't. 

After reading this, you will start thinking about your actions and changing the way you treat people. You never know how you will affect another person's life with your actions and words.

Have you read any good books lately? Let me know and I'll add them to my reading list!

New Kitchen Colors!

It has recently occurred to me that I have seriously been slacking on the updates to our home, or showing you any pictures since we have moved in whatsoever. I think a big part of this is because I don't think any of the rooms are completely finished to my liking yet, and I feel that my house just does not measure up to all the wonderfully decorated homes in the blogger world. 

Well, today a voice inside me was screaming "WHO CARES?!" Despite all the changes I eventually want to make to my home, I equally appreciate the stage it is in now, and I am going to proudly share our progress with all of you. 

disclaimer: most of our furniture and decor is either hand-me-downs from friends and relatives OR from our college days and years of apartment living. 

But, without further ado, here is our kitchen:

This is what the kitchen looked like when we moved in, as shown in our empty Home Tour post.

And here is what the kitchen looks like now:

View from dinette/living area:

View from the back door/garage:

(this area is usually full of our crap from throughout the week. yes, i hid it in the laundry room while taking these pictures)

I have always wanted a brown/tan/burgundy kitchen, and so far I love the direction our kitchen is heading. I can't wait to add a little more wine decor to finish the kitchen off. Also, the mismatched appliances drive me crazy, but they will have to do for now. 

Next week, I will be showing off our dinette area. I promise you it is much more fun then kitchen cabinets and appliances.

What do you think of my kitchen repaint? Anyone else repaint their kitchen lately? Anyone braver than I was and paint it a bright/crazy color?

I would love to hear your thoughts!

Wedding Wednesday: Programs

So you know how I told you in my last post about how I was no longer blogging about the wedding and I was starting to focus on other things? Well, scratch that, I lied! There are still just a few wedding projects I want to still show you guys!

My wedding programs were probably the most time consuming of all the projects I decided to DIY, but with that being said, I think they were also my favorite. 

To make this project, you will need:

a lot of scrapbook paper and plain cardstock, ribbon, wallet size pictures, glue sticks, and a few extra helping hands. 

Our programs were four pages long:

Page One: Cover

This page was made of cardstock and measured 5 inches long and 4 inches wide. We put a wallet-sized engagement picture, our names, and wedding date on the cover page. 

Page Two: Special Thanks

This page was made with scrapbook paper, measuring 5 1/2 inches long and 4 inches wide. We added cardstock as the border, and it also seemed to make the page a bit more sturdy.

On this page, we thanked everyone for being a part of our special day and traveling to be with us, as well as our parents for all the love and support they have given us throughout our lives.

Page Three: Wedding Party

This is where we listed our Wedding Party and their relationship to us, including maid of honor, best man, bridesmaids, groomsmen, and flower girl.

The page measured 6 inches in length and 4 inches wide. Once again, we used a cardstock border to make the pages sturdy.

Page Four: Ceremony

We used this page to list the order of our mass, as well as the readings we had chosen for the mass.

And in case you haven't pick up on the pattern yet, this page is 6 1/2 inches long and 4 inches wide.

One thing we needed to pay special attention to while making these was the space at the top and the bottom. At the the top, we needed to leave enough room to punch holes and tie the ribbon. At the bottom, we didn't want any of the purple border to show when looking at the cover. 

We used a glue stick to adhere everything except the picture. For the picture, we used rubber cement. When everything was glued down, we put one of each page together and punched two holes at the top. We used 12 inch long black ribbon to tie the bows.

And this was the final product:

On our wedding day, we had them sitting on the front table of the church. I also had some of my cousins pass them out as they greeted our guests coming in. 

At the church:

and here are some of my fantastic cousins passing them out...

it looks like some of our guests enjoyed them as well...

Well there you have it, our Handmade Wedding Programs!
I would love to hear about how yours turn out if you decide to try this!

New Look!

Melanie Gets Married has a whole new look!

I originally had designed the blog to match the theme for our wedding, purple with black and white damask. I have decided that since the wedding is over and I am now blogging about new things, I should change the look to go along with it. So I spent eight hours a little time this weekend deciding on fonts and colors. This is what I came up with:

My new absolute favorite color scheme is blue, grey, and yellow. 

There are still a few things that I would like to change, but overall, I am so excited about this new look and the new colors!

What do you think?!

Has anyone else changed the appearance of their blog lately? 

How long did it take you until you were completely satisfied with the result?