I just got this email from a reader, and had to share it with y'all…

At the risk of sounding like an overenthusiastic thirteen-year-old text addict: OMG, Ariel!!!

Your book (2nd ed.) arrived from Amazon today. I just finished reading it in a single sitting/laying down. I haven't laughed so hard in a while. A long while. It might have been the humanure essay, or possibly your wholehearted cheering of penis-cake eating as a married couple…whatever the reason, your book took a relatively crappy day in Iraq and made it fantastic.

Yeah, I said Iraq….

Continue reading "My favorite book review" →

Okay fellow geeks and nerds, get ready to be super stoked about these XKCD save-the-dates made by OBT member Jordan! Boomdeyada…

From Jordan's OBT update:

"So here's our Save the Date — we're just e-mailing it (FH did a great job of figuring out how to get to it to go in the body of the e-mail without coming off as spam). Art is by Randall Munroe of our favorite webcomic XKCD (please please visit www.xkcd.com if you have never done so, he's awesome). I'm super excited!"

Ariel and I are big fans of XKCD, and when I showed this to Ariel she pointed out that "of extra geeky importance is that all XKCD comics are Creative Commons licensed — meaning that this is a totally legit appropriation!" Which I did not know, but I'm glad of it because it means that if any of you out there are inspired by this, you too can have some pretty amazing XKCD wedding invites and STDs!

The Offbeat Bride: Tanith, Aspiring Romance Novelist (and OBT member "TanithRice")

Her offbeat partner: Darius, Youth Case Manager

Location & date of wedding: The Crofoot Ballroom, Pontiac, MI — Aug. 14, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: I had never dreamed of being "princess for the day," and good thing too, because our budget simply wouldn't allow it. I knew right away that I wanted an intimate affair with only our closest friends and family and since me and my hubby were the only ones paying for our wedding we did everything OUR way.

Continue reading "Tanith & Darius's laid back, Motor City recession special wedding" →

When we were brainstorming centerpiece ideas for our Mexican-themed vintage-style wedding, we really wanted to incorporate something that really represented us, our life and our tastes. We HAD to have chips 'n salsa on the tables (hello! Mexican wedding in Texas!) and wanted an economical, handmade vehicle for that tasty goodness.

Continue reading "How to DIY your own vinyl record bowl" →

The Offbeat Bride: Brandi, Admin Assistant/Soon to be full-time nursing student (and OBT member)

Her offbeat partner: Seena, Architect/Awesome Humanoid

Location & date of wedding: Izone – mentor/adopted family's home on Mt. Washington, Los Angeles, CA — 10/11/2008

What made our wedding offbeat: What made our wedding offbeat was it truly reflected us and the life we have at this very moment in time. We stripped it down to what we could accomplish without feeling wrung out, which meant that many of the grandiose DIY projects (I'm not a DIY girl, not quite sure what I was thinking) got trimmed or cut entirely. My husband, the creative one, taught me what it is to edit. What we were left with when the editing was finished was perfect in it's imperfections, it felt like us.

Continue reading "Brandi & Seena's simple, friend-filled at-home wedding" →