gina + brian

I am going through my pictures and organizing things on my computer before school starts and realizing I never did a post about the beautiful San Antonio wedding I went to late in June to celebrate G and B!

I have loved watching the relationship between these two incredible people grow and change.  Gina and I were roommates right when she and Brian were trying out their long distance relationship status between Houston and Savannah, and I got to witness their incredible communication, love for Christ, and faith in each other change each day.  Brian is such a hard working medical student and I love how much creativity and love Gina puts into her job at SCAD.  I cannot wait to see where life takes them!  Gina's sweet blog is such a fun website to check in on each week, she has so many great decor ideas and loves to share their adventures in newlywed world.

What a beautiful time we had in San Antonio.  From mani/pedi parties to margaritas at the rehearsal dinner, all of the events leading up to the big day were fantastic and so well planned.

 Becca, the MOH, did a great job on the ribbon bouquet! 

La Fonda restaurant where we had delicious mexican food on Friday night! 

It was so fun to meet Brian's family and to spend more time with Gina's awesome mama, Kitty.  Her family had us over for a fabulous bridesmaid luncheon with an incredible spread.  Don't you love how this table is decorated with old tins and silver?  What great flowers!

Mrs. Dudics is an amazing artist and painted each girl in the bridal party a small painting of pansies, her specialty.  She and Gina both LOVE flowers (I remember how often Gina would arrange bouquets in small vases around our Savannah apartment) and the pansy flower is a symbol of friendship, of thinking of someone during a special time, and the girls were all so thrilled to get such a sweet memento from this weekend.

I cannot wait to hang my canvas in my new apartment! 

The church at The Incarnate Word campus was one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever been inside of - with intricate ceilings, the seating faced the aisle for a very intimate view during the ceremony and aisle procession, and Gina's colors (of course!) were beautiful!  Her bridesmaids wore this amazing blue and her green/peach/cream flowers tied everything together perfectly.    

photograph by stela alessi photography

It was really fun to see my SCAD buddy Ashley who is now doing floral and event designs with her own company in Austin.  I hope I get to see a lot more of her and her sweet family now that I am back in Texas.  She did an incredible job setting up The Argyle for this spectacular event!

 photograph by stela alessi photography

photograph by stela alessi photography

Gina's friends were so fun to be around - I had a blast getting to spend more time with Becca, Molly, the Sarahs, meeting Miss Caroline, Christina, Michael, Heather, and Natalie.  I am so excited to live with Whittaker in Dallas!  We tied programs, did hair and makeup, giggled so hard, got teary eyed when we saw her in her dress for the first time, and danced  like nobody's business on the floor.  

I loved seeing Olivia again, she is so grown up!, and was so impressed with this little flower girl and her fabulous mama, Jenni. :)

And of course, my little Jean was a beautiful bride and Brian could not have looked more handsome.  

Congratulations, you two!  May the Lord bless you and keep you always! XOXO! 

goodbye, harry.

Tonight I saw the last installment of the Harry Potter film saga.  And I loved it.

I am so glad that I read the books (I have definitely done my fair share of starting and stopping with each one - they are LONG, ok?) and have loved exploring this series alongside my students and with my brother and sister.  I will never forget going on a "date" (hahah!) with my high school boyfriend to see the first one my junior year and having no idea what was going on.  Wow - 10 years ago!

I really admire J.K. Rowling's style of writing and the films are truly beautiful and so full and rich.  I laugh, cry and scream inside each time I watch one.

I would love to write a children's book - even one with with one-millionth of the creativity and color that this series carries!

It has been so fun to see the characters grow up and to think about how much their readers have changed over the years.  I remember Laura and Christopher were in elementary school listening to these magical tales in the back seat of the car and getting each book as they came out at Barnes and Nobles.  And to think now about how much older they have gotten makes me feel ancient!  It is certainly the end of an era.

J.K. Rowling just blows my mind.  She wove so many intricate details and created an entire world and society inside of her brain.  WOW!  I can't wait to see if she does anything next, and to see where these actors end up.  I heart Ron, Harry and Hermoine! :)

If you haven't gone yet, make sure you get your ticket and your 3D glasses!

summer salads

Fresh produce in the summer! There is nothing I'd rather eat in June, July and August.

Each week my parents go and pick up a "box" from the farm in Lubbock where my mother owns a share in a local farm, or CSA.  Whatever she comes home with is what she decides to make for dinner that week - and she freezes/prepares and cleans the rest.  Sometimes she shares with friends (today we had a LOAD of peaches so we took some to her friends) but I have learned so much about how to creatively cook and what to do with ingredients I might never buy on my own.

Something I DO love to eat (and eat all of the time) is CORN!  There is nothing I love more than corn on the cob - so much so that I would cut it off of the cob when I had braces, and will put it on just about anything.  It might be my favorite veggie.

SO...when we got corn on the cob in the box last week, my mom busted out the FAMOUS salad our friend Jessica sent over.

Ingredients Add to grocery list

1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
1   avocado, diced into 1/2 inch pieces
2 cup cooked corn, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup finely diced red onion

Dressing
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lime zest
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

Combine the corn, avocado, tomatoes and onion.  In a large glass bowl, mix together the dressing ingredients in a glass bowl. Pour over the salad and toss gently to mix. 

The best part was having fresh corn to use - instead of frozen.  Mami steamed the corn for just a little bit so that it was very crunch and so crisp!  I am embarrassed to admit how much I ate! 

And of course, Mami did it up right for dinner!  We had chicken fajita meat, a plate full of grilled onions and roasted poblano peppers (home-roasted, I might add...), peach and cucumber salsa (remember the large batch of peaches I mentioned earlier?), queso cojilo (farmer's cheese to crumble on the top), tortillas from Market Street, and spoonfuls of other toppings and salsas.  

Here's to eating fresh, local ingredients, making dinner with my Mami and sharing a margarita with my Papi. :)

wedding gift idea

Just found this incredible site where you can get custom calligraphy done, order a return address stamp, and give gift cards.

The site is called PaperFinger and there is so much beautiful stuff on this website.  My favorite item is the stamps - for under $100 you can get a custom made return-address label stamper for your friends and their new home/life and it comes with a customized card and ink pad in the color of your choice.

I have always been a lover of paper, handwriting, cursive and all things stationary and this company has got great style and classic items.  I hope not too many of my new brides-to-be are reading this - as they might get a little sussy in the mail from me!

PaperFinger also has a great blog - and has been featured in all sorts of magazines and on different design websites. 

I hope you enjoy this little gem! 

design fever.

My mama and I are getting a LITTLE bit excited about my new apartment with the lovely Sarah.  I do have to say it's pretty great to have an interior decorator/landscape architect in the family. :)

We decided that we just couldn't stand it any longer, so the other night we drew a floor plan of my bedroom and living room on her computer software and decided to lay it all out.  I am so pumped to set up a new, girly place to come home to each day.  and I LOVE to nest!

I have two items that I have been working towards (saving money, browsing photos online) and I can't wait until they are done.

First of all, I have no headboard.  I have usually (in college, graduate school, Savannah) just hung artwork above my bed, but I am ready for the real deal.  I have shopped and shopped and decided I LOVE upholstered headboards AND really love seagrass/woven ones.

My sisters Kathleen and Laura got me adorable sheets (so soft and shabby chic) two years ago for my birthday and I want to finish the whole picture!

My mom and I are going to dumpster dive through some garage sales to see if there isn't an old headboard we can fix up and upholster ourselves with some fun fabric, OR I might just need to save up for the headboard of my dreams.

Secondly, I inherited this pretty beat up armoire while I was in Savannah and have always wanted to have a DIY moment.

I usually keep it in the living room (DVD's in the bottom drawers) and the top part has been where I hang my coat, purses, knitting bag, etc.  However, it is lopsided and one of the doors is broken and has fallen off.  (I don't even have a picture because it's not my proudest posession...)

Here is what my mom and I are hoping to emulate:

I would love to have a place to put my sewing/crafting items (instead of in a closet where it's a pain to use them, therefore causing me to abandon any and all projects) and also love the idea of adding shelves for books.  There's lots of girly fun to be had in adding fabric or wall paper on the inside to brighten it up - but I don't think we'll paint it since the light colored wood already looks great.

My favorite sites to browse for ideas are Design*Sponge and Pinterest.  If you have not visited these beautiful galleries of ideas and inspiration - be sure to do so!  I can't get enough of the before-and-after photo shoots and newspaper clippings that make me want to makeover everything in front of me!  

I am so excited to get started and I will be sure to keep you posted!

GLEE in 3D

Speaking of musicals.....I will go see this by MYSELF if I have to.

August 12th - two weeks only.

moonlight + musicals

Tonight was a Casanova family summer tradition.  We went to the park to see a musical under the stars.  There's something that takes me back to Zilker Park in Austin.  Nothing quite like sweating, snacking, singing and clapping along to your favorite shows in lawn chairs, on blankets, and in the middle of the summer.

My Papi and I have the same feet, no? 

The show we saw tonight was High School Musical and tapped our toes to the cheer routines, salsa numbers, and great stuck-in-your-head-all-week catchy tunes.

I am realizing that I really miss singing and think it's something I need to pursue in my new location.  I might need to join a choir, but, I mean, I'm a teacher - I have summers off - why not audition for my own musicals or summer shows next year?

The Casanova clan is deeply rooted in music.  For as long as I can remember, we have ALWAYS had impromptu sing-alongs, played "radio" in the car (where mom names a genre and we shout along to a song in unison from the back seats), gone to choir concerts, harmonized to Christmas carols, held guitar jam sessions on the screen porch and near the piano bench (yeah, Beyonce!) and been lovers of music.

With that, of course, comes growing up in a house full of music and musicals.  I am pretty sure my first movie was Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, and can recite every word to "The Prince is Having a Ball!"

(I just looked at YouTube and there are no videos of this epic song...sad!)

I also have always loved Sound of Music, Mary Poppins (no lie, my inner nanny has always looked up to this chick), and the Casanova children definitely used to act out Fiddler on the Roof  (remember my post about "sunrise, sunset?"), babushkas and all.  Kif used to sing "If I Were A Rich Man" in the bathtub - haha!

I feel like it was yesterday that my Papi was taking us to see West Side Story and swimming in Barton Springs in July.

"I want to be in A-me-RI-caaaa!" 

Truth be told - I would have killed for a Sno Beach sno-cone, but Italian Ice was pretty tasty too!

I mean, who doesn't love a good musical?  I am not gonna lie, I often get teary eyed at the end and fall in love with the characters --- no matter HOW good they are.

As a kid my parents would take me to the high school productions in our school district and I ogled and drooled over the "big kids" who put on Bye Bye, Byrdie! and Lil' Abner.  I have SUCH fond memories of being back stage with my buddies at WHS performing in The Music Man, Oklahoma!, and Guys and Dolls.

(Again, in the same vein as my post about baby Everett's mom, Vanessa, I do wish I had some digital copies of incriminating cast pictures with my fellow Madrigals.)

How fun is it to be in a costume?  To scream at the top of your lungs to a song? and I do love me some dancing/choreography.  Remember those Room 211 dance parties I used to have with my class each week?

So,....What are your favorite musicals?

I decided to start seeing more shows and participate in live performances MYSELF...and I'll keep you posted.