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the renegade bride

“the wild, wacky adventures of a bridal industry insider +newlywed + new homeowner and (in practice)renovation-maven. Whee!”

December 14, 2011 New More goodies from our Wedding

Our Photog blogged our wedding today (including the first attempt at the pool jump) so you should go on over and check it out: http://hassasphotography.blogspot.com/2011/12/hawaii-wedding-photographer-hillary-and.html

 

December 7, 2011 Woohoo! We’re on Style Me Pretty

I can finally commence with the recaps, now that our wedding was on Style Me Pretty today! Please check it out http://www.stylemepretty.com/destination-weddings/2011/12/07/kona-wedding-by-hassas-photography-brocade-designs/ MORE, MORE, MORE from me soon. I’ve been holding back and holding my breath for this very post!!

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October 26, 2011 Where oh where oh where…

Ya’ll. Ok! First of all, I’m ALIVE. yes. I know. I’ve not blogged and I’m a bad, bad girl. But I have excuses. I was really busy (wedding season and all) but this next week I promise to make it up to you. Big time. First off, I have a really revealing tell all type post where I talk about how Birth Control made me a monster like creature, and that I had to quit taking it. I also have WEDDING PICTURES. Yes. Much like porn, wedding pictures. We got them earlier than planned (score) and I’ve submitted them to an editorial blog I’m waiting to hear back from, but I think it’s safe to post just like, one, right? One tiny one.
So one picture and then a promise: I’m back next week. and it’s sooo on!

October 26, 2011 The most perfect day

The most perfect day

image by sam hassas

September 14, 2011 Yawn

The hardest thing about getting up at 6:15 in the morning and immediately beginning to work is that by 4 pm, you have worked for 10 hours and you are so tired you just want to lie on the floor a little, just a little, and sleep for a few minutes, but you know if you do that then you will not be able to get (fill in the blank) done and then what will happen? The world will blow up.

In 2012, I am setting groundrules. Rules like not taking on 40+ weddings a year (dear God, help me right now when we are looking at 10 huge events in the next three weeks), not overextending myself, not answering the phone or email past 6 instead of my 8 pm rule now.  I am going to revise the fact that I have to steal time away from my work calendar in order to have a small social life, and that the hours spent work free (ha-ha) are really the 45 minutes before I fall asleep at night, and then I have nightmares about the to do lists, and the things left undone, or the proposals yet to be finished, or the emails i’ve not answered…

I could say that I’d be happier if I had an assistant, but that wouldn’t work. I’d be happier if I had a clone. I’d definitely be more productive, and I’d probably whine less. But I have a hard time allocating (based on a secret belief that no one is going to do the job the way I want it to be done).  I have a hard time letting someone else take over and be happy with the end result. For me, that means working for 12 hours a day on the days we don’t have weddings and working even more than that on the weekend,  of being perpetually exhausted, and wondering, absently, if I’m this tired at 32 what will it be like when I’m 40? 50?

Back to the 2012 groundrules. I have lots of plans. I am hoping these plans can actually happen this year. I am pretty sure that some of my plans are going to really make people mad, or think I’ve broken my brain. But I’m really, really, really tired of being exhausted. I’m tired of people not understanding why I can’t go to their 8 o’clock dinner party (because if I did, at 10, I’d be asleep in my soup because I have to go to bed at 10 during the week to just survive the weekends). I’m tired of feeling selfish when I get a pedicure because it forces me to relax, and yet I still make it a point to answer each.and every. email that comes in while sitting in that chair. I confess to being a workaholic, because if you don’t work it won’t get done, and if it doesn’t get done then your business fails.

This is such a rant, I know, but the past weeks have really been trying. It’s a crazy time, a time I love, but right now I’m feeling the burn on several levels. I know it will pass, I do, but I need to transcribe my feelings so that when 2012 rolls around and I’m feeling all optomistic and forgetting the 12+ hour day burn, I will read this and remember that I need ground rules. I need boundaries. I need to let go, a little, of trying to be perfect and trying to make everyone happy. Because ultimately, I end up feeling really tired, really fragile, and like I do right now– like I’ll pop if I don’t write all these feelings out.

As I hesitate to publish this (as though not to sound whiny and complainy about doing a job I love to death), I figure it’s a good thing. It’s like internet therapy: putting these ideas out into the universe so positive things can come back in. I don’t want you to think, dear reader, that I for any reason am complaining about being busy– I am blessed and thankful to be busy. I just need to learn how to better manage my busy-ness so that it doesn’t take such a chunk out of my soul. I am sure I’ll figure that out, right?

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September 8, 2011 Total Selfishness. Woo.

So, I totally failed at Labor Day Challenge. Go ahead and judge me, but I only somehow managed to accomplish the sketch of the garden (check out the brocadenashville.com post on bulbs and whatnot if you are so into learning about that kinda stuff) and make dinner for the hubs and mother in law.  Our gutters were full of sludge like stuff that Don said was leaves (it looked like something primordal) and we had to clean them before it “came a monsoon” as they say here in the south. And I was tired on Sunday after the wedding Saturday and all I wanted to do was soak in the bubblebath and read Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park as the night before I’d finished watching Lost in Austen on the Ovation Channel (Tivo’ed) and I was remembering how AWESOME Jane Austen was, and I never read Mansfield Park so I wanted to do that, and thusly, I accomplished less than nill. I did, however accomplish drinking some wine (whee) and meeting some cool people and having a nice time with the mother in law, and then went to some neighborly friends for Labor Day eve and ate steak with Chimichuri (so good) and had Bourbon Slush Punch, so that was pretty great. All in all, a pretty fairly decent first Labor Day as Married People.

I guess that would really come down to describe my total and utter selfishness, but no– wait, there’s more.  I have a lot of work to do (read: I am way behind on EVERYTHING that I am supposed to be doing for work, life ,etc– the Labor Day list being but one sad example of my overextended calendar, and I really, really, really need a robot assistant to help me do things. But add to it that there’s new stress that I have to find a new location to operate my business out of in the next six months and there’s no free time to like, sleep really, and I want to whine about that, a lot, because I am a whiny-type person that really gets a kick of out complaints. Just now, to break my tedious whining I Googled “Robot Assistant” and found the following picture:

How awesome is that?

But in my need to do all this other stuff, I just increasingly WANT To do one thing: get a pedicure. I think that pedicures are my Achilles Heel. I honestly would get 3 pedicures  a week if I could somehow manage it financially and time-wisely. I would go and sit in that magical, magical chair and have them take care of my poor, abused, sad feet. Right now, it’s been over a MONTH since my last one, and my toes resesmble something like I’d imagine an Ogre’s toes to look like. It’s pretty gross.  But after a pedicure…well, they will look like new, happy toes that are full of grace. Like the below image, though I’m pretty sure I’ll imagine the rose petals.

My husband does not comprehend or appreciate my love for the pedi action. I dragged him along once and I don’t think he had nearly a good time, because he got a guy doing his (in my opinion the guys are best at the pedicures– they really get in there, and they are precise about the polishing, but I digress) and he said a bunch of “I don’t want a dude rubbing on my feets” which I told him was kind of homophobic, and he said it had nothing to do with that, he just didn’t like dudes rubbing on him. Personally, I don’t care if it’s a pedicure-giving zombie rubbing on me, I have a pretty lax attitude about who can massage my feet (read: anyone with fingers).

So, in selfishness, I am going to plan a pedicure date soon to make my toes (and self) happy.  It’s a small thing, right? I mean, come on…we’re all entitled to a little foot rubbing love. Even if we don’t truly deserve it since we didn’t finish our to-do list, but whatev….

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September 2, 2011 Labor day challenge weekend 2011

Because I am the kind of person that needs to be accountable and whatnot, here’s my “Labor Day Challenge” weekend post to myself. With you, dear readers, as audience and people who can make me feel bad when I do not perform adequately. CHECK IT!

We have a wedding this weekend– it’s really cool, and I’m excited about it, at Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville. That means today + tomorrow are lost causes, but Sunday + Monday are ripe with possibility. Here’s the plans:

1. Finalize front garden sketch for bulb planting plans + order bulbs <– Expect a detailed cross post on this and my Brocade blog next week, all about bulb-ing

2. Prime + Paint the Dining Room

3. Take pictures of the bathroom + dining room and post on the blog

4. Sand + refinish the buffet. Or at least sand it. Progress is important

5. Find the rest of my plates for the plate wall

6. Make a labor day bbq dinner for husband + mother in law <– if you can move arms

Things that almost made the list…

7. Learn how to use the sewing machine and make something with it (it’s still in it’s box. But I now have a sewing table, so that’s progress!!!)

8. Build the headboard for the bedroom (overly ambitious)

9. Finish tiling the kitchen (cries)

10. Do something in the kitchen worthwhile (double cry)

The only thing I wish was on the list but is not is NAP…so let the challenge BEGIN! What do you plan to accomplish this Labor Day Weekend?

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August 25, 2011 Las Vegas, Baby!

One of my favorite places in the world is Las Vegas. It’s up there in my top five, which follows:

1. Kona, Hawaii (clearly)

2. Las Vegas, NV

3. Cancun, Mexico

4. Yosemite National Park

5. Manassas, VA

Those are the top 5.  Las Vegas is also special since it’s where Don + I spent our first vacation, and where I asked him (albeit a bit drunkenly) if he planned to marry me one day (he said yes, and look, he clearly did! Thanks, Las Vegas). We have lots of happy memories there.

The last time we went, we stayed at the Las Vegas Hilton. Home of Elvis. Pluses: cheap, a little off the street, directly in route to our favorite place on the strip (more about that soon) and pretty cheap resort rates.

The Hilton also has the Star Trek: the Experience exhibit/thing at the Hilton. We were too poor (thanks, Grad school!) to go to that then, but we had fun looking at people who were going there:

The biggest splurge of our trip was that Don took me to The Picasso restaurant at the Bellagio for the best meal of my life. We had pate, a crazy expensive bottle of wine, and some amazing food. Imagine dining in a spot surrounded by priceless pieces of art, getting amazing service, drinking delicious wine…ahh, heaven. That’s my idea of heaven, people. Beautiful surroundings + amazing food + man I love = perfect, heavenly day

I still have the rose from our dinner table tucked away in my keepsake memories box. Aww, right? So sweet! I know, I know!

ANYWAY, so this upcoming March, my husband is turning 30!! I am really excited for him, and I want to make it a big deal. Now, let me give you a little backstory here– Don does not like making things a big deal. Especially birthdays. I am the kind of person that thinks a party with fanfare and confetti is appropriate for all of life’s amazing moments, ESPECIALLY birthdays. On my 3oth birthday, it was the first year my studio was open and consequently my first mother’s day, and I was slammed crazy busy. I worked something like a million hours, and I was exhausted. Some friends had us over to dinner, and I brought chocolate covered strawberries and about passed out from drinking a glass of wine. TOTALLY LAME. Worst birthday ever. Well, not the worst, but one of the worst. I didn’t care for it. I have a few rules about my birthday– 1. Don’t work (i’ve broken that rule three times and regret it more every time I do), 2. Do whatever you want, 3. Make a big deal out of it, because it is a big deal, 4. Eat cake the next morning for breakfast. Pretty simple rules. If I can manage it, I find a way to sneak in drinking a margarita and having Mexican food.

But for Don’s birthday, he never wants me to make a big deal. Now that I’m his wife and can do whatever I want (evil laughter), I feel like the only way I can get him to make a big deal out of his thirtieth birthday is to get him outta dodge. And by getting him outta dodge, I mean Las Vegas.

It’s a pretty brilliant plan if you ask me. The last time we went, we made all sad poor people decisions about where to go and what to do. We did very little gambling (even though I love, love, love roulette) and mostly at Circus, Circus, where they have penny slots (woo!) and $1 chips, and you could get a coupon for a $2 subway sandwich. We spent a lot of time there. Like, a lot of time, a shameful amount of time:

I have no doubt that for nostalgic purposes (and cheap Subway sandwiches) we will go back there.

It looks really nice from the street, but believe me, it’s not that nice.

Sooo….Las Vegas. Right. I was looking at places to stay, and I have come up with a few picks that I am debating over. One is the new place on the strip, the Aria. They are running some really great rates  and the place looks really cool– kinda like a crazy futuristic  spaceship hotel:

Hello, fancy hotel!

But at $200 a night with the stupid resort fees + taxes, I think that maybe breaks my bank some. So I went onto my pal, travelocity, to snoop around at some other options:

The Signature at MGM grand is running a great special– stay 4 nights, get 1 free, and it seems pretty swankity: “The Signature at MGM Grand lets you revel in the luxury of Signature Deluxe Suites and One-Bedroom Balcony Suites in three 40-story towers. Located next to MGM Grand, The Signature’s separate entrance brings you into this secluded enclave near the heart of all the action. Many suites boast a private balcony with view. All suites offer pillow-top beds, lavish bathrooms featuring Jacuzzi tubs, upscale linens, kitchens or kitchenettes with refrigerators, sinks, and microwaves, and HDTV flat-screen TVs with DVD/CD players. Additional amenities: 24-hour in-suite dining, an exclusive heated pool complex, personal check-in/checkout, 24-hour concierge, fitness center, business center, and more.”

Look, this picture of this random lady says “I am having fun here, it is really nice!”

The rooms are pretty awesome:

But I’m not totally sure. We could save $100 a night staying at Bill’s Gamblin Hall + Saloon (yes, that is the real name)

Or for the epitome of luxury, we could sell everything we own and use all our credit cards and rob a bank to stay at the Four Seasons Las Vegas– for 72,000:

Luxury!

Crazy fancy bathroom!

That is still the hotel room!

That’s the pool. Kinda meh for 72K for a week.

Well, that’s the extent of my research for now. I welcome your thoughts, Vegas fans– tell me where you’d stay if you could.

EDIT: I found out that was some kind of glitch on the Travelocity website saying the Four Seasons was a bazill. Well, I am sure that was for a suite or a special floor or the rooms with a luxury panic room and a butler. We could actually stay in a Standard Room (still really nice) for $247 a night– a little spendy, but there’s nothing like the Four Seasons….

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August 15, 2011 Sunday Supper

A few years back, I stumbled upon the premise of the Sunday Supper  and fell in love. While I don’t have a big get together (yet) I hope to in the future once our house is done and we can have actual, er, guests over. As a brief update: still no countertops (but they are being installed as I TYPE!! Wooohoo!!); farmhouse table is in production (yay) and pretty much nothing else has been accomplished, because we fail at accomplishments.

But anyway, this weekend we had a house guest– my husband’s dad enroute from Minnesota to Florida, who is helping us with all sorts of fun projects like completing the lighting and whatnot, and for dinner last night I planned to cook something lovely. The recipe: my “famous” manicotti. I do a stuffed shells type of Manicotti, and here’s the recipe, and pictures to boot.

SAUCE

Disclaimer: the sauce is a labor of love. It’s a five hour endeavor, but I promise, it’s worth every moment. This is a double recipe, it’s enough to make sauce for both the manicotti and have leftovers for the next time you need sauce. Which really, could be anytime…

In a large pot, combine:
3 tbs olive oil
5 large cloves of garlic
5 large fresh herloom tomatoes, cut in chunks (now these are the big boys you can get from your garden or whole foods, where each weighs about a pound. If you don’t have that size, then go with 10 lbs of fresh tomatoes)
4 cans of whole  canned & peeled tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning
1/2 cup white onion, diced
3 Handfuls fresh basil, pulled from stem

Big Giant Tomatoes

Rough chop on the fresh tomatoes

Oodles of fresh basil– tip: if you choose to use dried basil, you will need to use less (it’s more concentrated) and add halfway through the cooking time. I’d use 1 tablespoon dry

After you add all those delicious components into your pot, lower the temperature to a low simmer for 4 hours. Yes, four hours. Stir occasionally. Taste occasionally. Then at hour three:

add 2 tablespoons white sugar and 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar. Stir. Then mash up all your tomatoes with a potato masher. It’ll look like this:

Transfer to 2 qt saucepan on low/simmer (note: you will have about 16-18 cups of sauce at this point. You want to cook it down a bit for the next thirty minutes or so, and stir it frequently. Add salt to taste– I add about 1 tablespoon, but add the salt slowly. You can add more oregano at this time if you’d like.

Now, bring a big pot of water to a rolling boil & add olive oil and salt; cook your shells. I cook about 20 to get 16 as my total number to fit in a large pyrex baking dish

While your shells are cooking, make your ricotta filling & preheat your oven to 400(375 for convection baking)

FILLING

1 container 15 oz whole ricotta cheese ( organic tastes great)
1 small egg
1 tablespoon parsley, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper
Mix in a bowl then add 1 cup shredded part skim mozarella cheese
1/4 cup peccorino Romano cheese

Egg, parsley, pepper and salt

Mix those ingredients in a bowl and extract your shells. Don’t rinse them, just pour them into a colander and gently dry them with a towel. They need to be dry to cook the best in my opinion.

Layer bottom of a glass Pyrex baking dish with 1 1/2 cup of sauce
Fill shells with 1 1/2 tsp of filling
Add sprinkle of part skim shredded mozzarella
Cover with sauce as liberally as you like
Cover sauce with 1 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup pecorrino Romano cheese


Cover with tinfoil
Bake 35 min covered and then remove foil
Remove foil
Cook 10 more minutes
Serve with bread to soak up excess sauce
Prep: sauce 5 hours
Shells and assembly 30 min
Baking 1 hr

I think it’s the finest manicotti in the land, perfect with a glass of Chianti. Enjoy!

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August 11, 2011 Back on the Diet Train

I confess, once the wedding hit I kind of went on a food eating explosion of fun. At first, it was just eating a few more bites than I’d have normally eaten. Then it was opting to cook with a little more butter than before, or indulging in 2 percent milk over 1 percent. Before I knew it, I was loading in a few hundred calories a day, which has resulted in a few more pounds around my midsection. When I visited my dear friend the scale yesterday morning, she stared back at me with a number that made me realize that if I didn’t get back on the diet train, I’d be regretting it. Big time.

So, I’m returning to diet land. For me, that means starting with logging everything I put in my mouth. That’s a huge component of weight loss, because you kind of get…well, unmindful…of what you are eating. I found a great app to download (Lose It!) and had a pretty good day so far. It starts with one good day, right?

My entire life I’ve struggled with my weight. I’m pretty sure I was in the womb wanting peanut butter before I even came out into this bright, beautiful world.  I have a natural love for food, for cooking, and for entertaining, which makes me want to make fancy dinners even when something simple will do.  I would much rather go to a great restaurant than go shopping. Add to it that I have a strong passion for wine and cocktails as well as dessert, and you can see why I have an eating problem.

Over the past three years, I’ve lost a lot of weight– and I’m super proud of that accomplishment. I’m sure that some people out there would be like “don’t worry, it’s just five pounds,” but those five pounds are like a gateway drug of diet disaster. As much as I wish i could be one of those people that can naturally maintain and exercise for hours on end to aid in that maintaining, the older I get the more I realize that the only diet plan that works for me is holding myself accountable, logging everything I eat, and knowing that I have a “budget” of calories that I have to adhere to if I want to stay the size I am. And when you go from a size 18-20 to an 8-10, you really DON’T want to go back.

I have to admit– I really thought getting back on the logging/accountability train was going to suck; I was dreading it like a person dreads jumping into a pool that MIGHT have cold water. The main thing putting me off was thinking, “oh, it’s going to suck having to think like that again,” but in all honesty, even when not consciously dieting, I was thinking of how many calories each thing I put in my mouth contained. I just wasn’t logging it. And now on my second day of logging, I’m already feeling more focused and more in-control of my life, and that in itself is producing a lot of optimism and good mojo.

So, back on board of the diet train I go. I think I may start posting some of the food & recipes I use on here if people are interested. If you are not interested I guess you can just skip those entries :)

 

 

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