I'm interpreting your silence as tacit compliance

I'm super crazy excited right now. Last night, on my way home from work, I almost stumbled upon an old door that someone had on the corner for trash pickup... Yeah, I took it. So, I didn't take a picture because it was getting dark by the time I had it in my possession last night, and I left for work today when it was still dark out. Sorry, but anyway, I couldn't wait until good picture-taking time to tell you! It's about 6 feet tall and 1.5 feet wide, so like a half door. Here, it looks like this:

Obviously minus the door frame and there was no handle in it. Also, it was white and peeling. Kyle just shook his head when he saw that I had it dragged home (noticed I said 'had it dragged home,' yeah, I made our roommate go get it... it was two blocks away, I would have looked retarded. I'm just a helpless female ;)). Anyway, but this was our exchange:

"LOOK! I FOUND A DOOR!!!"

"Yes, you did."

"ISN'T IT AWESOME?!"

"What the hell are you going to do with that?"

"CUT IT IN HALF AND TURN ONE HALF INTO A MENU CHALKBOARD AND THE OTHER HALF INTO A PROGRAM CHALKBOARD!!! ISN'T THAT THE BEST IDEA EVER?!"

"Oh... Okay, that sounds cool."

Well, enthusiasm (or lack thereof) aside, he agreed that it was a problem-solver, and the best part was that it was totally and completely free. I just hope the people who threw it out don't get jealous because I had a better idea for it than they did. Although the chances that they read my blog are really... slim to none... I would think.

It made me feel even better, though, because it meant that I wouldn't feel as guilty spending a little money here or there to get some other things I've had my eyes on because now I don't have to buy something like a $50.00 reclaimed cupboard door chalkboard. Two for that matter.

Also, I was walking home yesterday and I came across this scene:

No, it's not a crime scene, it's a fern bed. I was struck immediately by the dried up fronds that stick out after the actual leafy parts of the fern are dead for the year. I remembered, and laughed out loud, that I had seen these last year at this same time and thought 'Oh, how cute, I should use those somehow at the wedding.' At the time, I was leaning towards dried flowers and these are appealing to me because they're unappealing to most people, they're brown and weird-looking, they have these little arms; they almost look like they're alive and wriggling. You want a closer look?

Yeah, that's right, I picked a whole bunch of 'em and took them back to lab. They'll stay here for a few days so I can be sure they won't explode and spread their spores all over us, devour us and decompose our bodies at supersonic speed... Who else saw last week's Fringe? It's made me quite paranoid around mold and spores.

(By the way, that little pink thing beside the rubber chicken is not what it kind of looks like. Not saying that you all have dirty minds and I don't either, but it did strike me that it could be construed as.... anyway, it's a little pull my finger keychain that makes fart noises... I mean, you see the rest of my collection of ridiculous gag gifts... so get your minds of out of the gutters people!)

Anyway, I like the idea of mixing soft, feminine elements with this hard, sort of dead element. I like the color and I love that it has texture and it's interesting.

I had recently been feeling nervous about how minimalist I went with flowers. Our centerpieces are literally going to have maybe one flower and a few wheat stalks per table. I was starting to worry that it wasn't going to be enough; that I would have to call her and add a few more elements to make me feel... not soooooo minimalist. But here came another break in the form of these free, dead ferns. I know it's morbid, but it cracks me up.

When I saw them last year I knew in the back of my mind that I was going to forget them. Obviously I couldn't pick them then, who would want these things hanging around, dropping spores all over the place for a year? But I think it's funny that a year later, I saw them again and had the same idea and I'm psyched that I stopped and picked some this time around. I guess everyone (including me) will have to wait until the wedding to see if they actually make it into any arrangements.

With all this in mind, I'm too excited not to buy my Amish milk cans:

(especially because that trash-door and those dead ferns saved me so much money!) But I'm still on the fence about these Mason jars.

No one has dissuaded me yet... one more day of this and I'm just going to have to buy them... I can't stand the suspense!!

Are there other DIY brides out there? Did you ever catch a break by finding old (or dead) stuff and making something out of it?