Dana Burland

Per tradition , we had our friends Louis and Lindsay in town last weekend for a day of apple orchard visiting, spiked cider drinking, football watching, pumpkin carving fun. And please, how cute is Louis's snowman themed pumpkin with the tiny gourd hat and leaf arms? Sah cute! Also included in the weekend was our first visit to Harmony Brewing Company where the pizza--on par with recommendations I had heard--was indeed the bomb dot com. Our pumpkins are still on display on our deck, and attracting regular admirers. Every hour is feeding hour at casa de Blinder-Burland.

The worst part about wedding planning is sorting through details that aren’t closely related to the actual dedication of your life to the person you love. You know, the person who you love more than Wendy’s frosties and french fries. Last night was so not that. It was a post-work trip to the jewelry store where Ben quickly found a ring that met his must-have needs and where I made about zero wedding band progress but heavily enjoyed myself anyway. One day, we’ll give these rings to each other. One day, we’ll wear them forever. Until then we keep planning, and occasionally pause to enjoy each other—like we did post jewelry store with matching his and hers frosties and a shared small fry.

What do you get when you stack 11 people in 1 small house with a fridge full of beer and a box of Guesstures ? The funnest weekend ever. A whole slew of lovely, fun friends gathered at  Ashley's  parent's house up north this past weekend. The weather was lackluster but it hardly mattered. We had a family-style pancake breakfast, watched the MSU football game, went shopping downtown and played a beer and vodka gummie bear infused marathon of  Guesstures . Ari's slightly confusing impression of crutches and Ben's adorable acting of “balloon” were crowd favorites. Weekends like these—and plans for more in the future—fill my tank with fuel for another work week. Two mini scoops of vanilla ice cream in my coffee Breakfast with part of the gang Some of the boys. Not pictured: Brian, Ben2 and football. A quick break in the clouds

"How many people will be coming with you?” It’s a frequently asked question from wedding vendors when setting up meetings, and I’ve frequently answered “just two, thanks”. With our out-of-town wedding, we don’t always have a family or bridal party member we can easily grab to come with us. But as planning goes on, I’m recognizing the silver lining to that. When I couldn’t have my maids with me for dress shopping, I invited two girlfriends whose friendship—and style opinions—mean the world to me. The four of us, with my mom included, had a blast sifting through hangers of what seemed like big white sleeping bags and snapping photos for the girls who couldn’t be with us in person. It was special to share the first try on of the dress with them. When Ben and I found ourselves faced with a midweek cake tasting appointment this past week, we invited our good friends Andy (the best man) and Ashley . How horrible to burden friends with free cake on a random Tuesday nigh...

It’s been over two years since Ben and I moved to Grand Rapids together. With the huge exception of missing friends who grew to feel like family in Pennsylvania, it really has been lovely. I love being back in Michigan. We're two hours away from family which means more weekends and holidays together. We're 3-4 hours away from some of the state’s best scenery and character like the Sleeping Bear Dunes  that cut so deeply into Lake Michigan it shocks me every time. I love that there’s so much more to explore, too, like the wilderness of the upper peninsula . I’m so happy to call Grand Rapids home. Downtown is constantly challenging itself to be more sustainable, more charitable and more of a place to be — something is new  every year. The surrounding neighborhoods and farmland feel oh so Midwestern with their friendliness, too. And yes, even in the winter I’m constantly amazed at how beautiful Lake Michigan is covered in fingerlings of ice and frozen waves. ...

It’s live! What’s live? A project I’ve been working on for months and months. A project I took a secret trip to Boston for. A project that’s going to make Steelcase product widely accessible in a way its never been before. We’re selling office furniture through Staples ! My portion of the project was to work as the Steelcase marketing liaison to the Staples marketing team. Together we determined what our marketing plan would look like, how we’d measure it for success and how we’ll be agile as needed when reviewing performance. I also helped coworkers review designs of the online shopping experience of our product on the Staples site. Will people really use this functionality or that? Do we like how these options are displayed or would we prefer they be displayed that way? It’s fun, projects like these. I really like imagining the customer’s perspective and designing for it. It’s also a lot of work. It’s taken a lot of time and energy to get to launch confidently. And now it...

At the end of the summer Ben and I held a congressional apartment hearing on the state of the wedding budget. We’re just under a year away from the big day, but rapidly approaching a fiscal cliff. There’s no real need to panic—the majority of the budget has been spent on the majority of the big planning stuff. Still, this congress is in budget scrutiny. This is why I’m on a bridal high from my this “craft” project: our $20—card and envelope included—save the date project. Yes $20, minus postage of course because at $.49 cents a pop we’re gonna have to forego a Friday pizza night or two to send these suckers. Did you hear that, Ben? DROP THAT HOT AND READY. All it takes is a middle schooler's worth of knowledge in Microsoft Paint and access to a good drug store photo printing kiosk. You can print anything from a Kodak kiosk—you know as long as it's 4x6. Here are my tips for making this DIY invite/announcement/mini poster project happen: 1. Create your canvas I made a 12...