Day 1 – The Grape Vine

Posted on Apr 13, 2012

It’s not everyday you get to see five empty double decker buses cruising up the grape vine. It was kind of like watching the elephants walk into New York City at midnight for the circus because their trucks can’t fit on the bridges into the city.

It’s just kind of awesome and unbelievable.

On The Road

Posted on Apr 12, 2012

I went through a phase where I read almost entirely classic literature. Except for Jack Kerouac’s On The Road. Blasphemous as it may be, it was just too pretentious. Too hipster. Which makes sense being that it was essentially the start of the movement. I’m also probably the only person who hated Holden Caulfield. What a little whiner.

For the next three weeks I will be rocking out to more audiobooks than I can comprehend while stuffing my face with fruit leather and forcing my mother to pull to the side of the road so I can take a picture of that cloud over that field with that tree. Because, my friends, I am driving around the country with my mom for three straight weeks. 24/7. Will we survive? Will she live to tell the tale? She is planning on telling a tale. She’s interviewing all her high school classmates from her graduating class of 1962. It’s been 50 years. 25 years ago I did the same thing with her at age three. My only memory from the trip was sleeping in a tent in the rain, being warm and dry in the middle of the tent while my mom and her friend Joyce flanked me sopping wet. Classic three-year-old hostile take over. You can read her first book, Scattered: Like Chaff In The Wind by hunting it down on Amazon or going to the Library of Congress. Or asking me nicely for one of the few precious copies left in her collection.

We’re heading for Sacramento, CA tomorrow and then up to Redding, OR the day after. On to Olympia and Spokane, WA then Coeur d’alene, ID. Then across Montana we go and into Minnesota where I’ll get to hang out in Dalton again. Soon after we spend a lengthy bit of time in my mom’s home town of Turtle Lake, ND and some surrounding areas. I love going back there. It’s become this picture in my head of what life should still be like, quaint, friendly, no traffic or stop lights. We continue on to Detroit, Niagara Falls (the Canadian side for my 30 before 30 list) and then Palmyra, NY. Shortly after that we go to Redding, PA then D.C. and finally Nashville, TN, after which I will fly back to Vegas and be greeted with puppy kisses and husband kisses.

So if you want to keep apprised of all the awesomeness that will surely be happening follow me on Instagram. Username: MegRuth

I will hopefully be updating the blog and facebook with a photo a day each. But who knows what kind of service I’ll have whilst trekking across the U.S. of A.

I hope you’ll join me on my adventure. It surely won’t disappoint!

And here is a slide I found in a silverware drawer today. Because a silverware drawer is a perfectly adequate place to store a solitary slide.


Don’t say I never showed you a picture of myself at age 8 with my face painted as a dog, holding a wooden cane.
If you look carefully you’ll see the doorbell on my front porch. Do not mistake it for a fire alarm box.
It is, in fact, a doorbell. 
There’s also a matching mailbox.
And yes, those bars on that window were there to prevent my brother from escaping as a teenager, not to keep the riff raff out. 😉

Desert Dream: Las Vegas Styled Inspiration Shoot

Posted on Apr 3, 2012

I have been wanting to put together a styled shoot for a long long time. So many ideas swirl around in my head on a daily basis. But when you’re already married it seems a little silly to be dreaming up DIY projects and tables-capes for a wedding that’s already happened.

I finally got my ideas together using Pinterest, because it’s amazing for such things, and set out asking some local vendors if they would be willing to work with me on a styled wedding shoot with a mild desert theme. I was so fortunate that they all said, “YES!”

We all worked SO hard to make this shoot come together and it totally paid off! I’m so pleased with the results and couldn’t be more thrilled to share it with you all. And on top of having everything come together so beautifully, Style Me Pretty featured it on their blog! This lady was jumping for joy (quite literally and much to the confusion of my mother). Be sure to check out the feature, here.

Our main theme was a dreamy desert feel featuring colored sand, colored succulents, and brightly colored embroidery floss. We were not shying away from color in the slightest. I think so many times a bride can think that one bold color is all she can do and combine it with a few muted or neutral colors. Not so in my book! If you’ve ever seen my house you know I’m not afraid.

We started narrowing down the process with a great invitation suite by SHE Paperie, all the inspiration for the day was based off of this. Right down to the hair. It’s important to take all your ideas and focus on one starter piece to help focus the creative process. Things can get out of control real fast if you don’t do this.

Layers of Lovely came up with the brilliant idea of spray painting the succulents to ombre in the centerpiece on the table. How brilliant is that?!

The DIY sanded table number and the ombred cake with sanding sugar by Gimme Some Sugar LV paired nicely and continued the theme of a minimalistic desert feel. Topped off with a few more spray painted succulents. Love them!

Our bride modeled a lovely Saja gown provided by the generous owner of Bella Bridesmaid Las Vegas as well as the bridesmaid gown. The bride and bridesmaid dawned orange shade of lipstick to coordinate with the orange tones in the table-scape and the florals. All the amazing hair and makeup was done by the celebrity beauty team at Your Beauty Call. And to top off the fabulous braided do, Pomp and Plumage supplied the custom fascinator and veil (Which you can WIN! Read more for details!)

We chose to have the shoot on the patio at Bar + Bistro at the Arts Factory in the re-emerging downtown Las Vegas because it is one of the most unique and cool places you can find in the city. Amazing, food coupled with a distinctly urban/rustic quality makes for the perfect location for any affair.

I love to DIY and the projects shown in this post will be detailed in the coming days so you can add them or find inspiration from them for your wedding day or party!

And give it up for all the AMAZING vendors that worked on the shoot! Check it:

Hair and Makeup: Your Beauty Call
Lash Extensions: Ciao Bella Studio
Florals: Layers of Lovely
Wedding Cake: Gimme Some Sugar
Invitation Suite, Menus, Place Cards: SHE Paperie
Bridal Gown and Bridesmaid dress: Bella Bridesmaid, Saja wedding gown
Custom Fascinator & Veil: Pomp & Plumage
Custom Wedding Date Hanger: Handcrafted Affairs
Venue and Catering: Bar +Bistro at The Arts Factory
Table Rental: RSVP Party Rentals
Table Linen: La Tavola
Runner and Napkins: DIY
Turquoise Chairs: Collected and spray painted
Table Number: DIY
Sign In Map Guest Book: DIY
Models: Ali, Kavin and Lindsey

What inspired you most about the shoot? What was your favorite bit?

Desert Dream: Map Guest Book

Posted on Apr 3, 2012

Map Sign-In Board/Art for Your Future Home!
The items you need: a canvas the size of your liking (keep in mind tags hanging off map will be large enough for people to write on and depending on the number of guests may make it hard to see the actual map in the end), embroidery floss, needle, ultra fine tip sharpie, glue gun, a yard of linen fabric (or faux linen like I used!), and a graphic map of the US enlarged to fill the canvas, tags. Prep fabric by cutting it about 3 inches larger on all sides than your canvas (keep this in mind when you buy the fabric), cut out the map

STEP 1: Hot glue top center, then bottom center, then the centers on of the other sides, then glue around the corners, pulling fabric taught on each side.
STEP 2: Turn the canvas over and place the map in the place you want on the canvas, making sure you leave room for Alaska and Hawaii, outline the entire US with sharpie with dotted line (cause it’s cute!)
STEP 3: Begin cutting out a few states at a time and tracing around them with a dotted line on the map. I did this with only a couple at a time to be sure I put them all in the right places.
STEP 4: Write on the tag a message to your fiance and make a stitch in the place you met. Then each guest can tie on a stitch and mark where they met with a tagged message to the newlyweds!

For easiest results use a very graphic map. Also this is a great job to give to junior bridesmaids or friends not in the bridal party, help guests make their stitch in the place they met and tell them out to do it, or even do the stitch for them.

Desert Dream: Dip Dyed Napkins

Posted on Apr 3, 2012

Dip Dyed Napkins with Embroidered Monogram
The items you need: Rit dye, 100% cotton napkins, bucket or deep container, boiling water, salt, embroidery floss, embroidery hoop, pencil. Prep napkins by running them through the wash without softener.

STEP 1: Follow directions on dye box for mixing dye, boiling water, and salt. The salt helps hold the dye in the cotton fabric
STEP 2: Slowly lower napkin into dye, trying to keep it level with the water to maintain an even line of dye. Lower 3/4 into water, hold 10 seconds and lift out 1/4, hold another 60 seconds and lift out another 1/4 (only 1/4 of the napkin should still be in the water), hold for another 60 seconds (or longer) and remove completely from water
STEP 3: Carefully place wet napkin on drying rack. As you complete more napkins be sure not to overlap a dyed portion with an un-dyed portion so as not to get drips on the white part of the napkin. Let dry completely
STEP 4: Sketch out a design for your monogram
STEP 5: Place napkin in embroidery hoop and pull tight
STEP 6: Chain stitch your monogram, remove from hoop and iron flat

Desert Dream: Sanded Table Number

Posted on Apr 3, 2012

The DIY Projects:

Sanded Table Number
The items you need: spray adhesive, paper box, colored sand, paint and paint brush, paper with your table number, scissors, and bowls for mixing sand. Prep the sand by mixing different amounts of the colors you want to fade into each other. A lot of yellow with a little orange in the first bowl, an equal amount of both in another bowl, and a lot of orange and a little yellow in the last bowl.

STEP 1: Paint box to create a lighter surface so your color stands out more, let dry
STEP 2: Spray the glue all over one surface of box, spoon lines of sand across the glued area in a gradient pattern, tip off excess sand, let dry
STEP 3: Cut out the number from the paper, place the template over the sanded gradient, spray glue directly over the template, spoon purple sand over the template, remove template and tip off excess sand, let dry
STEP 4: Repeat steps 1-3 for better color and sand coverage
STEP 5: Repeat on all sizes

For best results make sure you let the glue fully dry after each step.

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