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duet - a pair who associate with one another; "the engaged couple"; "an inseparable twosome". according to thefreedictionary.com
here is a sweet piece i did last year just because i'm crazy about "happily ever afters":)

Who do you need to thank [and its long over-due]?

I never thought I’d start a fight with Billy Idol, but never say never, right?

As you know, Jake and I got engaged on Valentine’s Day. We want to enjoy our engagement time, so we haven’t set a wedding date. There are too many things up in the air right now for us to seriously book a venue, DJ, caterer, etc. However, my parents were in Phoenix for our engagement celebration. They live in Ohio, so since they were here, I agreed to go wedding dress shopping with my mom and Jake’s bro, Zach.

Something you need to understand about me … Although I have fantasized (vaguely) about my wedding day (exponentially more since I met Jake), I have never seriously considered my wedding dress. There are women out there—one of them being my gal pal Janine—who have known the precise dress they will wear down the aisle. As soon as these women get engaged, they buy their dream dress, because the dress has been waiting for them for years; why wait any longer?

After my David’s Bridal experience, I am jealous of these women, because my David’s Bridal experience taught me three things:
1) I look heinously chubby in traditional wedding dresses.
2) Zach looks better than me in most veils.
3) I look sickly wearing white.

Although item 2 is disheartening, items 1 and 3 are of much greater importance, considering I will soon be a bride, requiring a wedding dress, and I look terrible in most wedding dresses. My mother would argue this point; she thought I looked beautiful in a couple of the gowns. However, the problem is, I didn’t feel beautiful. And isn’t the bride supposed to feel beautiful on her big day?

I decided to do some research into the whole white wedding dress thing, and here’s what I found … Wedding dresses were not popularly white until 1840, when the British Queen Victoria wore a white dress for her marriage to her cousin, Albert of Saxe-Coburg. (Do we really want to perpetuate a tradition founded in incest? Uh …) This famous people wearing white thing became the symbol of Hollywood when actress Grace Kelly married the Prince of Monaco in 1956 in a fancy, white gown. So the white wedding dress is fairly new.

I know what you’re going to say. There’s the image of purity that is associated with wearing white. Granted. But how many women in America can wear white as a sign of purity anymore?

Jake and I have discussed all of this, and he admits he prefers me in blue. Chinese women get to wear red. Gothic chicks get away with black. So what about me? How am I going to make this work? Although the trip to David’s Bridal was helpful, it certainly didn’t bring me any closer to finding the dress of my wedding dreams.

I’m starting to get ideas, but it’s going to be awhile before I find the PERFECT dress. I’m happy to know I don’t have to wear white. I’m sad to tell Billy Idol that his wedding song is no longer my favorite. I probably won’t be a traditional bride, but I’m gonna find a way to look good for my man—my soon-to-be husband—because Jake is too hot to have a chubby, sic

Image via Wikipedia

What’s your best/worst/funniest Valentine’s Day story?

Related Articles

• America, Rage Against the Valentine’s Day Machine (chicagonow.com)
• To Celebrate or Not to Celebrate Valentine’s Day (chicagonow.com)
• Non-Traditional Valentine’s Day Greeting Card Sales Booming at GreetingCardUniverse.com (prweb.com)

I call this one "Cold Feet" because his feet are in the water. Get it? LOL I did this one as a wedding gift for a friend. She used it as her wedding invitations.



My Blog: ArtByAndy.blogspot.com

Two weekends ago I flew up to New Hampshire for Felix (my older brother) and Adrian's wedding. It was a very intimate, casual, and beautiful ceremony and lunch (yummy, too!) in the small town of Sandwich, New Hampshire where Adrian grew up. There were about 15 friends and family in total in attendance. After a lovely exchanging of the vows in front of the fireplace, and a champagne toast, we sat down for lunch. With three tables, Felix and Adrian were able to rotate after each course.

Here's an animoto video of the day:



The bride and groom were practically beaming in happiness the whole time.

Best wishes for a wonderful life together, Felix and Adrian!

Image via Wikipedia

What’s your best Bridezilla story?

Related Articles

• A ‘Bridezilla’ Gets Mad at Her Bridesmaids For Eating, Looking Like “Grapes” (VIDEO) (tvsquad.com)
• ‘My Big Friggin’ Wedding’ Trailer: You May Fist-Pump, Then Kiss the Bride (tvsquad.com)
• Handling the Stress of a Million Details (weddingbee.com)

My participation in formal ceremonies has varied as much as the results. Decades ago as best-man at Jose's wedding, I had to intervene in the parking lot brawl where the bride's kin wanted to knife the "communist" groom. (They were a little conservative and he, the opposite.) That marriage eventually dissolved.

Giving a testimonial to the audience at my brother David's wedding from the pulpit of the San Anto Cathedral pretty much left most gente's mouths open and led to my never being reinvited to that church. Said marriage, dissolved.

I was elated to do the eulogy at my brother-in-law Rick's funeral, not only because it could never be undone like previous events, but also because of the difficulty of the task, given the sometimes opposing assessments of his character. I made him shine. That performance was so well received, I was allowed to do the Xmas "prayer" that year at the in-laws' celebration. But not the following year.

This year, performing the wedding ceremony for teacher friends Josh and Darcy amounted to a higher calling. An outdoor March service in Colorado is always a gamble and of course it snowed the day before, threatening to put a damper on festivities.

Loving Neil Gaiman's 100-word Xmas story and inspired to attempt the same, I decided to create a micro-story for the occasion. If you've never attempted one, you may not know how difficult a task it can be. In truth, I failed. Not only couldn't I contain my fiction within the word limit; mine pales in comparison to Gaiman's.

I chose to call upon the ancients gods and incorporate the discordant weather for a wedding audience presumably unaccustomed to either. The image above is of Ichpuchtli, the Aztec goddess of Sacred Prostitutes, invoked, among other things, for beauty, sensuality, sexual pleasure and a fruitful marriage. The ancient Indians embraced irony like that into their world, something our own would do well to realize the value of.

Below is my piece. The title refers to the fact that I couldn't do it in less than 111 words. 4 represents the word "for." The remainder is the date of the ceremony. I share it with the thought that this one will not suffer dissolution.

whenever we get together great things happen.



Here's a sea lion that we came upon on the beach, we named her Sweetheart...we were AMAZED together...



we made cool rock sculptures...we LAUGHED together...







We SHARED things we never shared before. And before we knew it...



it was time to see Mx off to Italy for a year...



Go to an awesome rehearsal dinner, where I needed to borrow my sis's dress at the last minute and we had to change in a Taco Bell bathroom to make it there on time.

When we were little girls,



we thought we'd live down the street from each other.



Our trip was over too fast.

This Illustration Friday topic had me thinking of using an image from a project I worked on last Christmas: a humorous wedding card depicting a newlywed couple opening gifts. The above is  a modified version of one of the roughs. I can’t exactly post the final art as the card was for a client and [...]

With this ring I thee wed… and now I expect…

To never have to do the dishes again

To never need to cook a meal again

To have my meal given to me when I come in, regardless of time and yes I will complain if it isn’t ready or is ruined

To allow the pets to lick clean the plates I can’t be bothered to move off the floor

To let mould grow in my old coffee mugs

To leave my laundry around the house and have you clear it up

To not have to figure out how the washing machine works

To not have to learn how to use an iron

To expect you to have a full time job and do all the housework

To not have to tidy up – that’s YOUR job

To not have to lift a finger around the house – unless I want to

To go out with my mates on a drinking binge and not tell you when I am coming home

To forget birthdays and anniversaries

To think a bunch of garage flowers is a sufficient apology

To spend ages talking about how great my car is and not notice your new hairdo or clothes

To think “facebooking” is a good way to communicate with you

To have a better relationship with my computer and blackberry than you

To know more about my online buddies than you

To expect hugs, cuddles and *** when I want it

To expect you to look after the kids and deal with discipline

To sit in my underpants all weekend if I want to

To spread out across the bed and have all the duvet if I want

To snore all night and refuse to use the spare room

To stay in bed for as long as I want

To drink beer in front of the TV and watch sports

To fart in bed, heck to fart anywhere!

To let myself go – I don’t need the gym body any more

Well heck darlin’ what do you expect??? I married ya didn’t I…!

Yes my darling you did but after all that… here’s the number of my divorce lawyer!

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Ladies, how many of us are still awaiting our Prince Charming and dreaming like little girls about that fairytale wedding that’s just gotta happen?  How many of us are at our wits end because it doesn’t seem as though he’s out there?  Well ladies, why not marry ourselves?  I mean, yeah it sounds a little crazy and even desperate, maybe, but think about it.  Who could possibly love us more than we love ourselves?  You do love yourself, don’t you? 

Here’s what you gotta do.  Start planning your wedding.  Don’t tell anybody yet, cause trust me, they’ll think you’ve lost your mind.  Your wedding can be as big or as small as you like.  Remember to budget cause you still got to go on your honeymoon.  The first thing you should do is pick the date.  If you’re not inviting anyone, this should be easy.  But perhaps you will want a girlfriend or two to share your special moment with you, you decide, who knows, if they are single, they might just want to marry themselves as well.  But it has to be girlfriends you trust because remember, hush is the word, you don’t want your sanity questioned.

Okay, after you’ve picked the date, it’s time to outline the events of the day.  Since most weddings are performed in the spring and summer months, you should find plenty of interesting things to do on your special day.  But if you decide on a winter or fall wedding, that’s fine too.  Since this is a non-conventional event, who says you have to follow the norm.  First and foremost a trip to the spa is essential.  Nothing says “I love me” more, than a pampering session.  But before you even do that, treat yourself to a nice breakfast to start the day off right.  You can either prepare yourself a breakfast filled with all of your favorite edible delights or you can check into a hotel the day before and on the morning of your wedding order-in room service.  It’s your wedding day, do it how you do it! 

Since you’ve pre-planned this day, I’m sure you’ve already made a hair appointment for the occasion.  You know the queen’s locs have to be tight.  So let’s see, we’ve got breakfast with ourselves, a trip to the spa and hair salon on our agenda, what else do we have to do?  Oh yeah, before I forget, how about the reception?  Now this is where you can invite other people to join in the celebration.  You can have a traditional reception in party style or you can have a quaint little dinner some place with your selected guest.  Hum, let’s see, oh, mercy, I almost forgot the ring.  Now that I think about it, you can either do a ring or perhaps a necklace or other piece of jewelry.  Once again, you decide, it’s your day! 

I must admit, as I’m typing this, I’m starting to question my own sanity at this point.  Am I really sitting here telling women how to plan their own wedding to themselves?  Let me continue, I think I’m on to something.  Where was I?  Aww, yes, remember when picking out your ring or whatever, please stay within your budget.  You don’t want to purchase something that later will have you resenting yourself for spending too much money.  It’s one of the number one causes of disdain in a marriage; you’re not trying to cause any conflict within your marriage. 

What’s next?  Your outfit for the occasion is the next order of business.  Most brides get married in white dresses.  The traditional white dress was worn to signify purity.  I don’t know about you, but my very thoughts would prohibit me from wearing a white dress, so color is definitely not an issue here.  Decide what you’re going to wear on this once-in-a-life-time event.  I can say that with certainty cause I don’t believe you’ll be divorcing yourself.  If it’s within your budget, go on and splurge on your dress.  Go on and buy you a real wedding dress.  Okay, I’m strongly starting to question my sanity here.  But really, this is serious business.  I believe if you make this as real as the real deal, you’ll have a sense of closure on the whole, I want to get married thing.  Trust me when I say, with the divorce rate extremely high and people doing a Jekyll and Hyde after they get that piece of paper, this way is much better. 

Now for the hard part, which probably should have been done before any of the other things, but hey, this is my first time planning a wedding where a person would be marrying themselves, so cut me some slack, alright?  Who’s going to officiate the wedding?  There are all kinds of places that perform unconventional marriages, so this might not be too hard to find, now that I really think about it.  And since some people are opting to just live together so that they won’t have to worry about paying that nice chunk of change to get unhitched, the wedding performers might be a little desperate themselves.  So check around and see what you can find. 

Last but certainly not least, as they say, what are you doing for the honeymoon?  This one is limitless.  You can either go on a solo cruise, a few of your pals and yourself cruise, or you can take about a week off from work and hole up in a swank hotel suite.  Do whatever you like, this is all about you!

Well, I think I’ve covered everything.  I’ve been married before and there wasn’t much planning or money that went into my trip into Helly Matrimony, and I am truly thankful for that.  But, if I were to do it again, which by the way, I have more of a desire to marry myself, than I do a man, these plans look about right. 

I sure hope this has been most helpful, if only for a good laugh.  Once my money gets right, I might have to put this into action.  After all, I do kind of miss the institution.

Ladies, how many of us are still awaiting our Prince Charming and dreaming like little girls about that fairytale wedding that’s just gotta happen?  How many of us are at our wits end because it doesn’t seem as though he’s out there?  Well ladies, why not marry ourselves?  I mean, yeah it sounds a little crazy and even desperate, maybe, but think about it.  Who could possibly love us more than we love ourselves?  You do love yourself, don’t you? 

Here’s what you gotta do.  Start planning your wedding.  Don’t tell anybody yet, cause trust me, they’ll think you’ve lost your mind.  Your wedding can be as big or as small as you like.  Remember to budget cause you still got to go on your honeymoon.  The first thing you should do is pick the date.  If you’re not inviting anyone, this should be easy.  But perhaps you will want a girlfriend or two to share your special moment with you, you decide, who knows, if they are single, they might just want to marry themselves as well.  But it has to be girlfriends you trust because remember, hush is the word, you don’t want your sanity questioned.

Okay, after you’ve picked the date, it’s time to outline the events of the day.  Since most weddings are performed in the spring and summer months, you should find plenty of interesting things to do on your special day.  But if you decide on a winter or fall wedding, that’s fine too.  Since this is a non-conventional event, who says you have to follow the norm.  First and foremost a trip to the spa is essential.  Nothing says “I love me” more, than a pampering session.  But before you even do that, treat yourself to a nice breakfast to start the day off right.  You can either prepare yourself a breakfast filled with all of your favorite edible delights or you can check into a hotel the day before and on the morning of your wedding order-in room service.  It’s your wedding day, do it how you do it! 

Since you’ve pre-planned this day, I’m sure you’ve already made a hair appointment for the occasion.  You know the queen’s locs have to be tight.  So let’s see, we’ve got breakfast with ourselves, a trip to the spa and hair salon on our agenda, what else do we have to do?  Oh yeah, before I forget, how about the reception?  Now this is where you can invite other people to join in the celebration.  You can have a traditional reception in party style or you can have a quaint little dinner some place with your selected guest.  Hum, let’s see, oh, mercy, I almost forgot the ring.  Now that I think about it, you can either do a ring or perhaps a necklace or other piece of jewelry.  Once again, you decide, it’s your day! 

I must admit, as I’m typing this, I’m starting to question my own sanity at this point.  Am I really sitting here telling women how to plan their own wedding to themselves?  Let me continue, I think I’m on to something.  Where was I?  Aww, yes, remember when picking out your ring or whatever, please stay within your budget.  You don’t want to purchase something that later will have you resenting yourself for spending too much money.  It’s one of the number one causes of disdain in a marriage; you’re not trying to cause any conflict within your marriage. 

What’s next?  Your outfit for the occasion is the next order of business.  Most brides get married in white dresses.  The traditional white dress was worn to signify purity.  I don’t know about you, but my very thoughts would prohibit me from wearing a white dress, so color is definitely not an issue here.  Decide what you’re going to wear on this once-in-a-life-time event.  I can say that with certainty cause I don’t believe you’ll be divorcing yourself.  If it’s within your budget, go on and splurge on your dress.  Go on and buy you a real wedding dress.  Okay, I’m strongly starting to question my sanity here.  But really, this is serious business.  I believe if you make this as real as the real deal, you’ll have a sense of closure on the whole, I want to get married thing.  Trust me when I say, with the divorce rate extremely high and people doing a Jekyll and Hyde after they get that piece of paper, this way is much better. 

Now for the hard part, which probably should have been done before any of the other things, but hey, this is my first time planning a wedding where a person would be marrying themselves, so cut me some slack, alright?  Who’s going to officiate the wedding?  There are all kinds of places that perform unconventional marriages, so this might not be too hard to find, now that I really think about it.  And since some people are opting to just live together so that they won’t have to worry about paying that nice chunk of change to get unhitched, the wedding performers might be a little desperate themselves.  So check around and see what you can find. 

Last but certainly not least, as they say, what are you doing for the honeymoon?  This one is limitless.  You can either go on a solo cruise, a few of your pals and yourself cruise, or you can take about a week off from work and hole up in a swank hotel suite.  Do whatever you like, this is all about you!

Well, I think I’ve covered everything.  I’ve been married before and there wasn’t much planning or money that went into my trip into Helly Matrimony, and I am truly thankful for that.  But, if I were to do it again, which by the way, I have more of a desire to marry myself, than I do a man, these plans look about right. 

I sure hope this has been most helpful, if only for a good laugh.  Once my money gets right, I might have to put this into action.  After all, I do kind of miss the institution.

Hellooo!

We had a lovely break from routine, did some travelling and are now back in Montreal. Here are a few pictures of our travels:

We never get tired of this view:

Edinburgh castle

The old swimming baths that I used to go to has been turned into a wonderful tapestry studio called Dovecot Studios. While we were there, we were lucky enough to catch the John Burningham exhibition that was on:

Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh

We took a very wet but lovely trip to the botanics:

Wildflowers, Edinburgh Botanics

On our way to see some friends in Orkney, we stopped off at Dornoch:


Dornoch beach

Stromness is so pretty:

Stromness, Orkney

Skimming stones in Stromness

Ewan's Rock balancing, Stromness


View on our cliff walk


Old man of Hoy

But he main reason for our trip was because my sister was getting married:

The happy couple


My beautiful sister and my lovely nieces

It was an absolutely wonderful day and we were so glad that we got to share it with them. We did lots of fun family stuff together and also had plenty of time to sit around and relax.

Consequently, I haven't touched any art materials in weeks, which was needed I think. But now, I am itching to get started again but also a little nervous to begin. I am experiencing a little bit of illustration stage fright if there is such a condition :) I thought I might start with buying a new sketchbook, try a bit of doodling and see where it takes me....

Almost forgot to mention that some copies of the latest book that I illustrated recently arrived:Why oh Why does Baby cry? Published by Random House.



It has tabs to pull and flaps to open:

Flap closed

Flap open

See you soon folks!

Image via Wikipedia

You have a great marriage. Your wife is fantastic. You also have a job that you are thoroughly satisfied with. What could possibly go wrong? Oops, you misplaced your wedding ring. What are you going to do? Here are five excuses for losing your wedding ring:

1.  You wouldn’t believe it but our dog swallowed my wedding ring. I guess he mistook it for a tasty treat.

2.   My ring fell off while I was polishing our car. It got lost in the grass. What’s that? You just saw the car and it was filthy dirty. Um, um, um. Well it was clean two minutes ago. On second thought, it was off my finger while I was mowing the lawn. What’s that? The grass doesn’t look like it has been mowed. Um, um, um. On third thought, I’ll tell you the truth. My ring was cutting off the circulation to my finger. It was a horrible sight. I couldn’t wear the ring anymore. I decided to donate my ring to Goodwill. Wasn’t I being generous?

3.   It fell in the sink. I tried to take it out of the sink, but I dropped it. The next thing you know it was being chewed up by the garbage disposal. We need to replace our garbage disposal immediately.

4.   I was at work when my ring came off my finger and landed in the shredder. Oh my word, all I have left is twisted metal.

5.   Joe in the warehouse picked up my ring that I accidentally placed in the shipping department while I was working on inventory. He thought it was suppose to go in the box marked fake jewelry. Before I knew it, Joe had shipped my ring to a company in Puerto Rico. Isn’t that the craziest thing that you have ever  heard?

Image via Wikipedia

You have a great marriage. Your wife is fantastic. You also have a job that you are thoroughly satisfied with. What could possibly go wrong? Oops, you misplaced your wedding ring. What are you going to do? Here are five excuses for losing your wedding ring:

1.  You wouldn’t believe it but our dog swallowed my wedding ring. I guess he mistook it for a tasty treat.

2.   My ring fell off while I was polishing our car. It got lost in the grass. What’s that? You just saw the car and it was filthy dirty. Um, um, um. Well it was clean two minutes ago. On second thought, it was off my finger while I was mowing the lawn. What’s that? The grass doesn’t look like it has been mowed. Um, um, um. On third thought, I’ll tell you the truth. My ring was cutting off the circulation to my finger. It was a horrible sight. I couldn’t wear the ring anymore. I decided to donate my ring to Goodwill. Wasn’t I being generous?

3.   It fell in the sink. I tried to take it out of the sink, but I dropped it. The next thing you know it was being chewed up by the garbage disposal. We need to replace our garbage disposal immediately.

4.   I was at work when my ring came off my finger and landed in the shredder. Oh my word, all I have left is twisted metal.

5.   Joe in the warehouse picked up my ring that I accidentally placed in the shipping department while I was working on inventory. He thought it was suppose to go in the box marked fake jewelry. Before I knew it, Joe had shipped my ring to a company in Puerto Rico. Isn’t that the craziest thing that you have ever  heard?

Our wedding was perfect, I am still reeling from the experience of it all. We were surrounded by the most loving, generous people who made the weekend so special for both of us. Unfortunately I have very few pictures yet (hurry up photographer!), but I do have this one taken by my mom. I just couldn't stop dancing...