WedWed - Wedding Wednesday {14}

A Big Buck Hunter Wedding.

Last week's WedWed post instigated to the following Facebook conversation:

When I initially glanced at Andy's "DUMB" comment, I rolled my eyes. "Chris's wedding gear is gorgeous," I scoffed to myself. "What does Andy know anyway?"

Then I clicked on his link and burst out laughing. I should have known he'd pull something like a camo tux out of nowhere.

Thanks to Andy, I've been obsessing about the idea of a Big Buck Hunter wedding all week. Could a camouflage wedding be cool? Does Andy have a future career as a wedding stylist?

Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't such a terrible idea. This getup featuring a Michael Kors camo bag, a JCrew silk organza dress, and Rampage camo heels isn't that bad. After all, when we were in the process of moving to Seattle we did compile a list of places in and around our new neighborhood that had a Buck Hunter machine. During our first visit, we made it a point to go to at least one of the bars on our list. I remember being very proud of Chris getting a few Hunter Heros that weekend! 

I imagine, if we did have a Buck Hunter themed wedding, it'd look like this:

Don't shoot the cows!

**If you like anything in the collage I made above (maybe you want to have your own camo wedding?), email me and I'll do my best to find the original links again!**

image{s} of the week

 

Hiding in Plain Sight

camera: iPhone 3GS
application: Instagram
filter: Hefe
behind the lens: Chris

The Gata typically comes to us when she's called. The only exception is when she is hiding under the bench in the entry. We call her and call her, but she ignores us and remains frozen under that bench. She can't see us, so she assumes we can't see her.

Hey Gata, I know you're there!

WedWed - Wedding Wednesday {13}

Often, little attention is paid to what the groom wears to the wedding. September 24, 2011 isn't my day, it's our day and I want Chris to look smokin' hot. I mean, er, handsome. When I say I want him to look handsome, that means that I think he should look classic and, more importantly, he should look like a man. No polyester satin vest and tie that matches the matching bridesmaids dresses.  There's a difference between matching and coordinating, no?  

I do have a couple hangups: 1. The ill-fitting, rental tuxes at the high school prom left a bad taste in my mouth for the classic tuxedo; 2. Menswear is a foreign fashion land to me. I know some basics, like the difference between a shawl collar and a notch collar, but that's where it ends.

In sum, my problem is that I apparently have a lot of opinions about menswear, but not enough experience to know exactly what's appropriate or where to find it. 

I popped by Nerd Boyfriend this morning to get started. If you haven't been there, I encourage you to check it out. The blog, run by Roxana Altamirano, offers pointers on recreating ensembles worn by a variety of icons. 

 
Above: Screenshot of Nerd Boyfriend. This particular post features Michael Caine. 

After Nerd Boyfriend, I stopped by the only places I knew that offered great menswear Chris would like: J.Crew, John Varvatos, and Blackbird. Luckily, I was able to catch Chris on IM so we could go back and forth about what he preferred. Here are our favorite pieces thus far:

 

1. Ludlow three-button suit jacket with center vent from J.Crew in black; 2. Linen pocket square from J.Crew; 3. Silk basket weave tie from Blackbird; 4. Spring Fever bow tie by Forage; 5. Murray Dress Oxfords by John Varvatos.

 Anyone have any formal menswear resources they'd like to share?

Happy Monday

I'm moving a little slowly today, what with a busy, fun-filled weekend behind me. Chris and I had a crew over to our house last night for pizza (that's Chris's dough you see in the image above!). We found an aged whole milk mozzarella at Whole Foods that has become our new favorite. It melted beautifully and had a pull that any Slice post would feature! The favorite pizzas of the night were split between two white pies: the first, a smoked mozarella/roasted garlic and the second (my favorite), a kalamata olive/fresh ricotta. Hooray for leftovers! 

In other, non-food news, I found a beauty of a serger at an estate sale on Saturday!

She sings, doesn't she? I can't wait to start sewing knits. Pictured below is Wendy Mullin's Sew U Home Stretch: The Built by Wendy Guide to Sewing Knit Fabrics. I'm serger-ing a t-shit today. Let's hope it goes well! Having Wendy's book to reference sure can't hurt.

 Happy Monday!

image{s} of the week

Lily 1

camera: likely my Canon Rebel xti
settings: unknown 
behind the lens: me

Atop my spring cleaning list is "organize blog image files" because, in order to build some of the features of my new website, I need to locate and resize all Lavender Honey images to date. This may seem like a mundane, simple task and you're right, it would be - if I had been organized from the beginning. Not only are different versions of the same image saved on multiple computers, I've also been giving ambiguous names to photos, such as "cool lighting," "awesomeness," or "yum." Needless to say, my mindless spring cleaning task has turned into a puzzle. 

I did, however, rediscover a few images along the way. These lilies are one such example. They live in our backyard, near the stairs to the deck. I remember photographing them sometime late last summer when their fragrance was at its peak. Lovely, aren't they? The smell of lilies reminds me of prom; not a specific prom, but many vague memories packed into one collective idea of what prom smells like.  

Lily 2

***Photoshop Nerd Alert, Technical Discussion Ahead***

When I found the psd files for lily 1 and lily 2, they were untouched. Minimalist retouching is my taste these days, so both have very little adjustments. Lily 3 (below), on the other hand, has some more intensive retouching.

When I opened the file I could tell by the existing layers that I was using what I call my "Versace" Photoshop style. In 2006 Vincent Versace published a book called, Welcome to Oz 2.0: A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop that shifted the way I used Photoshop and perceived digital photography. I scoured his book for tips on layer masking, especially his development of "image maps," which are essentially layer mask opacity maps.  The other technical take-away for me, exemplified here in Lily 3, was his use of Lighting Effects (filter>render>lighting effects), specifically omli-lighting. The results in Lily 3 are far less severe than Versace's work, but it's interesting to see his influence on the image. 

Lily 3

Below is an animated gif that attempts to illustrate how each successive layer changes the image. Pay particular attention to the foreground at the bottom of the image...the subtle shift is nice, no?

 

Going through my images has been a lot like cleaning out my closet - there are always a few forgotten gems tucked away, begging to be rediscovered!