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Message In A Bottle

11 Jan

Beach Wedding Invitation

Today I received a small white package sent first class mail. As I picked it up it made a beautiful light jingle. “What could this possibly be?”, I thought to myself. I opened the package and found a small clear bottle filled with sand, shells, light blue and royal blue scrunched streamers and most importantly a tightly wrapped scroll. I knew right away that this was the wedding invitation of my very good friend Dominique and her fiance Ashley. I knew it was going to be in Aruba and that it was going to be a beach wedding, so I put two and two together pretty quickly.
 
What a beautiful, crafty, and creative wedding invitation. I hope to soon get married and I often think of different options for wedding invitations. Personally I think that paper invitations are very expensive and after the wedding they simply get thrown out, well hopefully recycled. I just think it’s such a waste of money. As I try to plan how much I need to save up for my wedding I think I’d rather save the money on invitations and put more towards the actual ceremony or the gifts that I will give my wedding guests.
 
 Dominique and Ashley admitted to me that they only saved a small amount of money sending out these kinds of wedding invitations, but they wanted to send out something unique and creative. They also got to work on them together, which I think is a wonderful way to start the creative collaboration of your wedding with your partner.  This invitation was way more exciting to open than any old paper invitation I’ve ever received.
 
 I pulled out the cork and wondered how I was going to get the scroll out,  because it was a little bit shorter than the bottle opening. Then I noticed a little piece of twine that was sticking out of the bottle. I pulled at it and realized that it was attached to the scroll. These girls are so smart! The twine was one piece that was wrapped tightly around both ends of the scroll. I had to use scissors to cut it open. I unwrapped the scroll which was of thick quality and really had to be held open firmly or else it would shoot back light a rubber band into its rolled form. The edges of the invitation were burned to give it that treasure map look and the writing was in an elegant quill pen style.
 
 
Not only is this invitation beautiful and memorable, but it makes me really want to go to this wedding. The amount of creativity, care and love that they put into making this invitation makes me think that they are doing the same for their wedding. It makes me feel that it will be a very special event.
 
Knowing that Davis and I live in Los Angeles (most of their guests will be coming from NYC) and that there is a very good chance that we will not be able to make the wedding because of the distance and cost, I feel touched that they took the time to make me one of these “message in a bottle” invitations for us. I feel that they really want us to be a part of their special day. Seeing this bottle sitting on my desk will be a constant reminder and I think it’s going to make me try harder to make it to Aruba.
 
I think that was their plan all along! God women are smart! Yes, by the way Dominique and Ashley are both beautiful women, which is another reason I’d like to make it to this wedding. It might be my only chance to experience such a one of a kind event. I hope we’ll be able to swing it. If not I’ll always have the invitation. I will never throw it out.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Word Of The Day

9 Jan

Aromatize (verb)

Definition-to make aromatic or fragrant; swirled the wine to aromatize it

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!

9 Jan
Frasier Fir Candle

Where fore art thou Christmas tree? Next to the garbage dumpster in our building that’s where. Yes, sadly, we got rid of our Christams tree yesterday. Growing up in my family we always kept our tree until at least January 6th, because we celebrated Three Kings Day. That’s the tradition Davis and I are continuing with.

One of the things I dread most when taking down the Christams tree is losing that amazing fragrance that it gives off, but I have discovered a way to keep that scent around a little longer. Thymes makes a candle called Frasier Fir that smells amazing! Even better than my tree sometimes. It smells like you’re walking through a Christams tree lot surrounded by the most fragrant, fresh cut douglas and noble firs. I’m very picky about my candles and have a real aversion to those that smell artificial. This candle has a scent that is concentrated, but natural. I light my candle during the holidays when my tree is up just to enhance it’s scent, and after the holidays when my tree is gone so I can keep that wonderful, clean, crisp, winter scent just a bit longer. I like to transition out of the holidays slowly.

Knowing how amazing this candle is now, this year I bought several of them to give out as gifts to my close girlfriends. They all loved theirs and are burning them now. There’s actually a whole collection of this scent available that includes diffusers and soaps as well. I’m not 100% sure, but I think this scent is only seasonal. I’ve only seen it around during the holidays, but maybe it’s available year round at the Thymes website http://www.thymes.com/Collection.aspx?nodeid=2037&ecid=google_brandcollectioncampaign_frasierfir&gclid=CM3ruYrZw60CFcoaQgod-E4E-w.

I bought mine both years at Beyond Scents http://beyondscents.com/contact.php in Marina Del Rey. This is actually the only store I’ve ever seen the Thymes Frasier Fir candles at and I go into a lot of specialty candle/gift stores. The ladies at Beyond Scents are as sweet as peach pie and they gift wrap for free in beautiful little bags with colorful sparkling adornments and satin ribbons. I bought two of the 18 oz. candles that burn for up to 50 hours for $26.50 each and several of the votive candles to give as gifts for $12 each.  It’s about .50 cents-$1.00 cheaper on the Thymes website.