craftmybride

i like the way you work it*

2010-09-28T04:08:00.000-07:00

(me blowing bubbles at a recent wedding)

hey kids, its been real. i'm going to be posting almost exclusively over on the new blog now. i realize i still owe you a honeymoon post and i will let you know when the professional photos come in. otherwise, i promise to keep reading your blogs.

see you around!

*they played 'no diggity' at the above mentioned wedding. sad you all missed my 'bag it up' dance moves

one of the reasons I married my husband...

2010-09-23T09:55:00.001-07:00

I got this email this morning:

"I received notification today from the president of Germany that the European Union is issuing a proclamation that Lisa D. (new last name) is awesome. I don't think it comes with a cash prize, but small Swiss children will be cheering your name and singing songs about you all day. I know the Spanish have a parade scheduled.Me, I will be celebrating in a more quiet way: just thinking about your awesomeness every second. I may also get drunk.I hope you have a nice day today."

coming to a mailbox near you...

2010-09-19T15:58:00.000-07:00

(hooray! now just to write & send them all!)

how was your weekend? mine was great!

happy friday!

2010-09-17T03:47:00.000-07:00

hello friends! I am going to need your assistance soon in:

1- deciding on a haircut (yes i want to do the post wedding chop, my hair is too long for someone as lazy as me! i'm thinking shoulder length)

2- thank you cards input (I want to do something fun like our invites and save the dates but I am also at the point where I need to get them done and send them out)

Thanks in advance & have a great weekend! what are you up to??

(congrats & good luck to the weekend brides!!!)

((also, please check out my new blog: http://craftmylife.blogspot.com))

how has it been a month already????

2010-09-15T03:25:00.000-07:00

love you, babe.

((also, check out my new blog http://craftmylife.blogspot.com))

I'm up to something....

2010-09-11T16:28:00.000-07:00

...and I hope you will check it out.

Until then, I leave you with this:

(Stop! Hammer time; Sorry no pictures of me doing the hammer dance)

Also, did you guys have a good weekend? I did! Got some cleaning done, made jam and applied for a mortage! We got a million grown up points for the mortage which we quickly lost by watching Justin Bieber peform at the VMA (it was strangely mesmerizing)

sorry!

2010-09-09T03:28:00.001-07:00

Sorry I have been mia! I've been really busy with life in general. I've been preoccupied with the following things:

1. thoughts of babies

(you can order a custom portrait from this etsy shop)

2. (hopefully) buying our home

(print from here)

3. withdrawal of caffiene

(print from here)

4. more baby thoughts

(from this shop again!)

5. this guy

(my husband, of course)

promise to be back for real soon! also, promise to be back commenting soon too!

let's get this sh*t done!

2010-09-04T10:33:00.000-07:00

Alright people. I've put off recapping long enough so here goes:

Basic summary: food, dancing, chatting, hugging, laughing, drinking, more dancing, more hugging.

Longer summary: After our first dance, we did mingling, first seperately then together. I basically just had a couple jokes and kept using them over and over. Observe:

(why am I so weird? what story am I telling to our officiant's husband?? why does my hand look like a claw??)

Me: 'Hi everyone! Having a good time? Enjoying the food?'

Everyone: 'Yes!'

Me: "I feel like a politician here, running around kissing babies and shaking hands. When I leave people are going to look at each other and ask 'Wait...what are we voting for??' Ha ha ha.

And repeat.

So after we made the rounds, we sat down at our table and our brides/groomspeople gave speeches. They were incredibly touching and definetly one of the highlights of the day. Also, me and my girls wept like babies but I loved everyone second of it. Also, I swiped my sister's notecards after the wedding and put them in my photo album. Then my sis called up my dad to dance with me. I loved that he had listened to the song and knew the words to sing along. We did some kind of weird fast shuffle dance since the music was a little faster than most slow dance songs (Tenderness on the Block by Warren Zevon)

(I love the face my dad is making here)

Ryan and his mom danced to a great Talking Heads song (or maybe David Byrnes solo? I think maybe it was a David Byrnes solo song). Then Ryan made a great speech thanking everyone (his stepmom for making breakfast that day, his cousins for running the show etc etc). He also told people to eat cupcakes and use the photobooth (we didn't do a cake feeding thing; the photobooth shoutout also made a ton of people go use it too which was great). Then we danced. I spent most of the time dancing with my friend's 2 year old who loves Lady Ga Ga. Then it ended. It ended so much sooner than I thought it would. I was sad I missed saying goodbye to some people but glad I got to give some extra hugs to others. We stayed late with our photographers to take photos by the lake. Then we went home and ate late night BBQ and read our cards together. We read our postcards the morning before our honeymoon and that was a great way to start our day. Some were sweet, some were sassy and almost everyone wrote one (some wrote 2 or 3).

(Me carrying our loot; I just liked the look of the suitcase for cards, it ended up being a great idea for transporting them away too)

Next recap: honeymoon aka the first time I milked a cow! stay tuned (hopefully it won't take me weeks to post!)

more procrastination! woot!

2010-09-01T17:55:00.000-07:00

So ya still feeling like I need something more substantial to post anymore recaps. All I have saved to my drafts is half a post about dancing and eating cornbread leftovers. Not even a little bit exciting/good/worth reading. In small updates: I am loving calling Ryan my husband. I love calling him my 'house husband' when he does amazing things like water my garden and organize our home. I am still locked out of those computer programs. I am in serious baby mode (will you guys still read me when I post baby crazy things???). Was planning on weaning myself off caffiene but instead had a large skinny vanilla latte and 3 diet cokes today (oh and coffee gelato). Still catching myself looking down at my ring finger and smiling. Still have a giant green hat in my craft room (Jill, let's get together soon?). Still facebook stalking people who went to our wedding to see if they post any new pictures that they just didn't tag us in. Needless to say, I am a tired sloppy mess right now. So in an attempt to post something wedding related here is a series of photos of me making weird faces:

(what am I thinking/ doing in these pictures??? now that would be fun to go back and put thought bubbles in like in the bottom one I'm thinking 'oh god i left the iron plugged in' etc etc etc)

***also, just getting around to responding to comments/ commenting on your blogs, sorry for the delay!

we interupt these recaps (again)

2010-09-01T03:10:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone! I need to get back into the swing of writing recaps before I write something worth reading. Here is what is going on right now (that is actually wedding related):
1- changing my name
2- contemplating what to make for thank you cards
As far as the name change goes, it is pretty ridiculous. I took an early lunch to go to Social Security but haven't had a chance to go to the RMV since I've stayed late everyday (even just a few minutes means I won't make it in time). I told people at my work about the change and some people were faster than others about changing it and I got locked out of all my computer programs. Regardless, I am psyched about the new name. As far as the thank you's go, I am at a loss. I want to make some pretty cool ones to be on par with the invites. I'll keep you posted.
So I hope to get back to actual recaps soon, but work is kicking my butt (I think I mentioned before I work at a college and the kids are back so its a little nutso). Lastly, I just want to wish one of my favorite people in the world (my sister) luck on moving into her 1st apartment! LAD, wish I could come, good luck with the start of school (and the start of pumpkin lattes) and I love you to pieces!!! Call me :)

(me and my sis)

recap 4: first dancin'!

2010-08-29T18:45:00.000-07:00

So after some posing on the porch (formal portraits, serious face ache from smiling), we went inside the lodge to where the action was. We were announced by Ryan's cousins and our bridal/groom parties joined us too. Then we danced a little to the song we came in to (Party Hard by Andrew WK). We forgot how long the song was (Anyone else notice how looooong things seem when you are standing in front of everyone? Attempting to dance? By attempting I mean some hyrbid version of "the mashed potato" and "the lawnmover"? Or my patented jazz hands and bob your head move?) Anywaaays, my advice? Play a snippet of your chosen song then move right into something else. In our case, we moved right into our 1st dance (Book of Love; Peter Gabriel verison nice hybrid of Ry's PG love and my love of Magnetic Fields and just about anything Stephen Merritt does). I loved it. Every awkward second of it. I know a lot of people do things like take dance lessons prior to the day but I kinda loved how fresh and unrehearsed ours was. Also I spent the entire time spinning Ryan and scoping out cute babies to hold and hug after the dance.

( top to bottom: one of my favs even though its blurry, we look happy and everything felt like a blur so it sums up the day nicely; not sure whats happening here but i like it; so art school but again i love the idea of everything whirring around me and i look so calm and introspective, i'm probably just thinking of holding babies and being so in love with Ry; i really wish i knew what he is saying to me here, love this picture too; baby success! hoo-rah!)

a slight hiccup & a happy friday

2010-08-27T03:21:00.000-07:00

I realize this post should be another recap but this week has been nutso. I am slowly writing that post but in the meantime, thought I'd check in and say hi. To tide you over, here's a picture of me playing the crap out of an inflatable saxophone:

(Left to Right: tutu'd Liz, jazzlady Lisa, stocking cap'd Jill)

Congrats & good luck to the weekend brides! Especially Jen! Have an awesome day tomorrow!!!

recap 3: things are happening!

2010-08-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

I cried just a little. The under 10 minute ceremony talked about how we first met and what we love about each other. I put the ring on the wrong finger.

In the words of a true Boston girl: it was wicked awesome.

up next: party hard!

recap 2: morning of!

2010-08-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

So my first memory of the morning of is waking up and smiling, pretty well rested for falling asleep so late the night before (keep in mind, I'm an old person who likes going to bed at 8pm). Then hearing an excited squeal, I went into the bathroom and at quarter of 7 in the morning, my sister was in there doing her hair. I hope my sister doesn't mind me revealing this here but her side bun was fake hair. She had me hysterically laughing telling me the story of buying the hair. She went to Sally Beauty Supply and the girl ringing her up said ''hey girl! be careful. I was at the club the other night, ya know drinking and dancing? and my friend was all 'girl your hair is on the floor!' and my hair was on the floor!' My sister then asked her how many bobby pins she had used and she said 'one'. Classic. I love it so much.
So after a very relaxed morning of coffee and bagels with the girls (advice: eat the morning of! you will need something in your system when you get your drink on later or just good for calming nerves), we caravaned over to the camp and I got a chance to give hugs and thanks to all my helpers (can I discuss how much I love the family I married into? tons and tons of love!!!). These are some of the things they were doing:

(table breakdown: flowers in center with table numbers and disposable cameras, postcards and bibs at people's seats; if you do disposable cameras: I recommend not spending too much on them since not everyone will use them and when you go to develop them you may have a lot of black blank film from people not using the flash. More people than I would have thought actually wore the bibs so that was really fun. I also highly recommend the postcard idea to everyone! They were so fun to read together! Almost everyone did them, some people wrote stories, some people wrote about the wedding, really really fun)

(As I mentioned before, my aunt did the flowers. I really liked them! Lots of color, nothing too crazy. Also, most people kept their hooray flags since Ry's cousins handed them out as people sat down. My little cousin ripped the flag off and made some kind of sword I think, so theres that too!)

(Sorry realize you guys have seen these a zillion times, but table number close up)

(Ah! To finally see all the garland in action! It was all over the outside of the place. We really lucked out with amazing weather and got to decorate and have our ceremony outside. And on another cool note, the camp liked my decorations so much they too pictures to put in their catalog! also, the bartenders said they go to hundreds of weddings a year and mine was their favorite ever! and they said it a bunch of times!! what what)

(Close up of pinwheels on windows. They were hung across the full windows and on the stage too)

(cupcake tower, little cupcake "topper" I made)

(The wreaths in the entranceway. So psyched the R didn't fall off, it is hotglued on there like craaaaazy)

(favor close up; good feedback on the favors! people love giganto marshmallows)

While all that was going on, here we were:

(my sister doing my hair; one thing I really loved is getting ready in that room with the windows; people who walked by like various cousins and family could peek in and say hi to me. Lots of people came in to visit me and I liked that so much more than being alone. Our officiant, Ryan's best lady, Ryan's mom and aunt, my mom and our awesome photographer. I loved being able to see them and spend time with them before. Also, a drunk fisherman stuck his face in through the window to congratulate me)

(More makeup than I've worn in quite some time. Felt very glam. My sister did an amazing job on my hair and makeup. She is the best!!! The necklace is something I bought my mom when I went to Italy in college)

(Me and my awesome awesome ladies! How fabulous are they? They looked amazing. after taking this photo, I proceeded to hyperventilate and pace the room, repeatedly almost tripping on my dress. No idea why I was so nervous, I think just taking in the day. Whenever I smile in pictures, I always feel like it looks like I just ate something delicious, like I'm thinking 'yummmm'. Liz looks happy and calm. So does Laura, but I know she is secretly nervous that what the Sally Beauty salesgirl prophesied would come true. One of the 3 times I cried that day was when my dad came in. Stay tuned for great pics of my dad looking freaked when he is about to walk me down the aisle!)

next: ceremony & happenings!

recap 1: pre-wedding events!

2010-08-22T08:08:00.000-07:00

(one of my favorite photos of me and the bestie at the pre wedding dinner; promise next recaps will have more pictures!!!)

Event 1: Bachlorette aka Friday the 13th Fiesta

First piece of advice: I recommend (if you can) that you have your best ladies stay with you before the big event. Because our wedding was a Sunday, I lucked out and had the girls for 3 days, 2 nights! You can do things like gab, do your nails and eat nachos and drink lime rickeys (also, if you paint your nails a bright cheery color, it will pump you up!I picked some crazy bright pink red orangish color!)! And watch MST3K! So I spent most of Friday morning doing last minute things (last minute gifts to give out at pre-wedding dinner, last minute grocery shopping for fiesta, etc). Then my sis came over at noonish and my other amazing girls came pre party and helped me clean and make food. I should have known better but I of course made too much food (I made a couple salads but all we ate were chips, salsa, jalapeno poppers and crab empanadas. Also, the tres leches cake was a huge hit! Will make that again). More advice: make sure to invite your McGuyver friend who can jury-rig your clothes line to hold a pinata. Another piece of advice? If you make edible favors, remember to actually give them out to the people who attend your party. Whatever you do, do not 'have a little bite' of one of the many left in your fridge because you will then proceed to eat more than your share of margarita cupcakes with lime curd and whipped cream (and edible glitter!!). All in all, great party, good friends, good sangria and margaritas. Not too much to clean up other than jalapeno confetti and broken pieces of pinata (which doubled as hats! It was a star shaped pinata). Anyone need any pinata candy? I have a huge bag left. I could send candygrams if you send me your address!

Event 2: "Rehearsal Dinner" aka Pre-Wedding Dinner

I know its is traditionally called a rehearsal dinner but we did no rehearsing. It was making me a little nervous to have no rehearsal but guess what?! Didn't matter. We all made it down the aisle fine. So anyways back to the rehearsal. There were 30 of us at a great Chinese food place. More advice: eat scallion pancakes before your wedding. It will make you very happy. We did an introduction of all family members to one another and I did a quick 'thank you everyone' speech. Then I gave out gifts. I am going to tell you guys what I did since I was really stressed out on what to give so maybe this will help you!

Mom- Maya Angelou book, picture of us (I printed out pictures of me when I was little with them and found a nice quote and framed it. I also found some cool vintage wallpaperish paper to use as the background)

Sister & Hairdresser-stovetop espresso maker (for doing my hair), bridesmaid tin (filled with all yellow things to go with my original color theme, things like candy, earrings, chopsticks, screenprinted dish towel, perfume, nail polish, etc etc)

Best Friend-bridesmaid tin

Out of Towners- canvas bag with iron on map of Mass (easy to make! and cheap!) filled with:

Boston magazine, lobster lollipops, local Marylous coffee, Cape Cod postcards, stuff from the College I work at (baby shirts for the cousins with babies, mugs/water bottles for the other guys), bottled water

Dad- stovetop espresso maker, picture of us, cufflinks (used fabric and cufflink posts I bought off etsy)

Aunt & Florist- picture of us, pot with herb seeds

Ryan's mom- ladybug brooch (ladybugs remind them of Ry's grandma), 'thanks for being so fabulous' wooden sign, vera bradley photo book, picture of us

Ryan's aunt (super helper with venue and on day of!)- ladybug day planner, candy, photo clutch

Ryan's dad- hot pepper vodka, cufflinks, flask (covered blank flask with hawaiian shirt fabric since he wears hawaiian shirts all the time)

day of helpers- bags with penny candy (wax lips, unicorn pops, hot tamales, etc)

I also made gift tags which said 'thank you for everything' and I used pictures of me as a baby with them or pictures of them and little Ryan.

All were very affordable but I really wanted to thank everyone for all their help.

Up next: day of! woo!

Happy Birthday, Bear Claw!

2010-08-21T06:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my husband (!!!) who turns the big 3-1 today. I love you so much and am sorry your present hasn't arrived yet! I have a feeling this year is going to be awesome.

(I promise you some recaps soon. I'm doing some serious relaxing since we got back from the honeymoon. No professional photos yet but I have tons of facebook ones to show!)

the key to an amazing wedding...

2010-08-15T19:39:00.000-07:00

...is to have a photobooth with a big green hat

(my sister the boxer punching me as I jump out of a big green hat)

I had an absolutely amazing day with my family and friends! Thanks for all the sweet shout outs and well wishes! I will recap after the honeymoon! be back soon!

and congrats to all the brand new weekend brides!!!

GUEST BLOG: My Wife-to-be is a Liar

2010-08-11T09:40:00.000-07:00

by Ryan J. Tressel, esq.

Alright, ladies, it's truth-tellin' time. I've sat here quietly for the past eighteen months as my wife-to-be has spread untruths about me. I mean, I don't blame her. Who would want to admit that they are marrying the gloomiest, grumpiest bastard of all time? Better just portray me as a sensitive, caring, funny stud-muffin. Well, it's not true. I haven't laughed since 1987 and despite whatever random Google image gets spit out when you search for 'handsome man' that she has posted here, I am, in reality, hideous. If an unbaptized child sets eyes on me, I steal their soul. That's how hideous I am.

With the wedding scant days away, I thought it was time I came down these parts and laid down the law about Lisa. Yes, that's right, if she'd lied about the grim, chubby monster she was marrying, why wouldn't she lie about herself?

Lie: She's a super-talented artist who has lovingly and painstakingly created all our wedding decor herself by hand.

Truth: Sweatshops. Indonesian children. 6 cents an hour.

Lie: She has a terrific and truly sweet sense of humor.

Truth: Anytime you chuckled at something Lisa posted on this blog, know that it was lifted wholesale from an episode of "Perfect Strangers." That's right, you've been laughing at Balki jokes all along.

Lie: She has devotedly blogged several times a week, when I, the professional writer of the pair, gave up his blog months ago.

Truth: At least two-thirds of the posts on craftmybride were copied and pasted from the wedding blog of Larry King's seventh wife.

Lie: She has done a wonderful job dealing with all the stresses of planning a wedding, even after both my sisters decided to get married weeks after us, and handled herself with an uncommon grace.

Truth: Neither of my sisters has been seen in six months. Search crews gave up weeks ago.

Lie: She is the most beautiful woman on earth.

Truth: This is true, however, do you realize how many small animals she has sacrificed to Acolmiztli, Aztec God of the underworld, to attain this beauty?

Lie: I am the luckiest man alive to be getting married to the best person I've ever met in four days, and then living in a house with her and having tons of babies.

Truth: Ever since I didn't pay the toll crossing over Troll Bridge, I've been cursed. Cursed, I say!

I wish all readers of Craftmybride the best of luck in their futures. I hope you haven't fallen for any of Lisa D's internet scams, and for those of you who have and subsequently lost your entire life savings, I just wanted to say the missus and I are judgement proof, so it's really not worth your time trying to sue us.

In all seriousness, some of you have been terrific internet friends to my bride over the past year and a half, and I know that it has meant a lot to her having so many people follow her journey and offer their thoughts and supportive comments. But I just want to point out that there is nobody who is a bigger craftmybride fan than ole' RJT here. I've read every post every morning after she's slinked off to work, and while I haven't commented very often, I think I should get points of the "long time listener, first time caller" variety. I'm enormously proud of my little lady, and for those of you who have read this blog and thought about how cool and awesome and truly wonderful Lisa D is, just imagine how lucky I feel that I get to marry her.

In your faces.

thank you to the max

2010-08-10T17:34:00.000-07:00

(I have such a girly crush on this wonderful artist...I want to buy everything from her shop! Also, check out her daily diaries! One of these days I am going to do this for me too)

With only a handful of days left (and lots of days without blogposts...sorry! also, probably going to be several days without them coming up too!), I'm just going to ramble for a bit. You miss my rambling don't you?

1. Food. I know, don't I talk about this enough? No clearly, I have so much more to say about food. You would think with single digits left until I am going to get married, I would be cooling it on the bad food. You know I kinda was for a while but not in a healthy way. I was so stressed I wasn't eating (that my friends NEVER happens). Then I did things like eat this (its as good as it looks). This girl has inspired to try to be better, especially for the little ones I hope to have very soon. Lets say I start this after the wedding. Until then, I am going to try to be more zen, less piggy-ish but not try to fret too much. Did I mention I broke into the pinata candy? Yikes.

2. I think every big life changing experience makes you see others in different lights. I could go on for a while about this but I think I'll let it be at that. well, actually one more thing, this whole craziness, this year of planning for 1 day (not even 1 day! 5 hours of 1 day!) has made me love Ryan even more. The fact that he sticks with me during my craziness, my ridiculous worries, even after watching me eat embarassing things and/or crying during MTV shows and sappy ads. Did I mention he is playing me down the aisle with a song he wrote for me? Did I mention how the vows he wrote for us made me cry? I love him like crazy. He is going to read this and shake his head at me but I don't care! I love that dude of mine.

3. I have zero desire to do anything in the days leading up to my wedding weekend. is that bad? I am currently eating popsicles and watching 'I Shouldn't Be Alive'. I guess I did clean up and do the trash so that counts as something? +2 points for me!

3. I can't thank you guys enough! Yes you. The bloggy world. I know I could have made it to this point on my own but it would have been a whole lot less fun awesome. I love that I got to "meet" you and hope we can stay in touch long past the weddings (you are all going to keep blogging, right???). I was fully intending to write individual shout outs to everyone I read but then I realized how many blogs I read! ha ha. So heres the shorter verison:

thanks to all of you for your inspiring posts. thanks for making me laugh when i was in a pissy mood. thanks for being so open and honest and making me feel less alone. thanks for writing things in better words than i could ever write. thanks for expressing things i have trouble expressing. thanks for the shout outs and sweet comments. thanks for letting me steal your DIY ideas. thanks for letting me see your pictures! thanks for actually reading my blog. I love you all!*

*anyone who stumbled upon this post. please check out all the hyperlinks. you will find some
amazing ladies and gents! also, if i missed anyone, sorry! its the result of me getting sleepy or sloppy or both. also, does this make up for me slacking on commenting on your posts? sorry about it.

also: Extra special shout out to Angie! You are the best! Your wedding is going to be AMAZING! Thank you so much for everything. Your comments and emails made my day on more than you know. Come to Boston and visit sometime!

Be sure to raise your glasses to Angie, Rachel (L&L- I am geeking out thinking about your wedding! I am drooling over the DIY incredibleness of it!!!) and Tamar (thanks for leaving me so many sweet comments that made my day!) this weekend! This Saturday is going to be one hella awesome crazy wedding day!!!! Hip hip hooray!

7 days

2010-08-08T08:14:00.001-07:00

(also, make fun of me if you want but this movie scared the beejeezus out of me)

something fun!

2010-08-07T14:09:00.000-07:00

(image from here)

In the midst of finishing last minute to-dos for my wedding next weekend (!!!!), I thought I would stop by, say hi and share some of the foodie ideas I've been collecting for friday's bachlorette:

drinks:
summer fruit sangria or rose sangria with pineapple and guava
lime rickeys
pineapple mojitos

apps/little bites:
chile-corn custard squares
stuffed jalapenos
crab empanadas
minted watermelon salad
red rice
shredded cabbage and radish salad
mexican tortas

desert:
tres leches cake or these cookies made into ice cream sandwiches

for favors/ thanks for coming parting gifts:
these cupcakes in mason jars with lime curd and whipped cream

Your thoughts? It's going to be a smallish crowd so I'm not going to be making everything I posted.

Also, how are you doing? Sorry I haven't been around. like I mentioned above, I gotsa get stuff done for next weekend!

something tells me...

2010-08-04T18:54:00.000-07:00

(image from here)

....that last night will not be the only sleepless night i'll be having lately

but in good news:

*paid cupcake people

*have many helpers for day of

*lots of good songs on the radio

*surprise party at work

*amazing friends lending me amazing props for photo booth

*yayayayayay good job, California!!!!!!!!!!!

bad news:

*still more stuff to do

*missing my bloggy friends!

just wanted to say hi! hope everything is good with you! 11 days to go!

silly shout out

2010-08-01T14:13:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to give a shout out to another Lisa getting married today...

(image from tumbler via a friend's facebook status)

Once Wed, eat your heart out

2010-08-01T09:47:00.000-07:00

The wedding we went to yesterday was so incredibly fun and happy and emotional and the decor was to die for. Ryan officiated and read a poem he wrote and I was crying (of course) but instead of just tears running down my cheeks kind of crying, this was chest heaving loudly sobbing kind of crying. He is a VERY good writer. It was such a happy day and the weather was perfect (awkward sunburn just like predicted!). The bride was gorgeous and I am so so happy for her and her new husband (side note: they are our wedding photographers)! They are such amazing people. I wish I had taken any pictures of the ceremony (too busy crying ha ha). We sat on hay bales (they have relatives that own a farm). Comfier than anticipated! So anyways here are some pictures:

(me and Ry wearing hats from the photobooth)

(this amazing wedding was all made possible with family, friends and the bride and groom's hard work (and tons of love). She is the one in the straw hat, just in case you couldn't tell by the white dress. They also had a LL Cool J cut out with the face out so you could pose as him. And lots of crazy sweaters and hats. Also at one point her grandma was in the sailor suit posing. How insanely great is that?!?! This was Ry's crowd and I really really like all of them)

(view inside the tent. Did I mention this is her parent's backyard? It was amazing! For food we had picnic baskets with food from whole foods like pasta salad and baguettes and brie. Also, super amazing cupcakes. They did all the linens themselves too.)

(one of the favors, beautiful potted flowers with an adorable little sign)

(sparklers and personalized matchbooks)

(lots of little bottles with pretty flowers)

(another favor. They were filled with a kazoo, fake mustache, a small rubber ball and poems)

(close up of the centerpieces)

(bathtub of delicious sodas and beer. one of the best things i found out is most of the bottles, dress up for the photobooth and all the quirky cool things there were the brides already. she loves collecting things. i though that made everything even that much better!)

(view of the backyard outside the tent. lots of lanterns and paper pom poms)

It was so fun. I loved it. I am so psyched to get married in 14 freakin days!

Yes yes yes!!!

Bear Hug!

2010-07-30T03:01:00.000-07:00

(image from here....just on a side note, I was actually googling pictures of care bears to post since I'm pretty sure one was called hugs a lot or something of that nature..children of the 80s, help me out! what was that bear's name???)

Happy Friday all! I just wanted to give a shout out to all my awesome friends and family and the always amazing blogger community for the sweet thoughtful comments you guys have posted lately (you know who you are). Thanks for everything!

P.S. What are you guys up to this weekend? Hopefully I am finishing wedding things (see: all previous lists). Also, we have wedding 3 tomorrow!

***Also: Listen to some Bowie this weekend in honor of this lady! Britt, you totally rock and your wedding is going to be phenomenal! I know it!***

uh-oh

2010-07-29T03:00:00.000-07:00

(image from here... I would just like to mention that in 5th grade we made 'homemade' stress balls out of balloons and some kind of constarch mix. I popped it almost immediately. This whole stressed out business is nothing new)

So as I was catching up on fellow bloggers' posts this morning, I realized something scary. If Angie has 17 days to go, I have 18 (also, go to angie's page and check out her amazing photo shoot with something i sent her)! Scratch that, that post was from yesterday. I have 17 freakin days left!!!!! I should have probably done something last night instead of staying up until the wee hours of the morning reading this (I can't put it down, well I had to to go to work and drive my car, etc but thats besides the point). Ah, whats done is done. Today is another day where I can put off doing things another day. So here my friends are a couple last minute lists:

1. finish thank you gifts (I keep having new fun ideas but maybe I should tone it down a little and just get it done already!)

2. finish cake topper

3. make tissue poms (I have sort of lost steam when it comes to this... I am doing a lot of thinking along the lines of 'well I already have a lot of other decorations, do I really need more.....' )

4. finish buying supplies for bachlorette (pinata, decorations? do people care about decorations for a bachlorette? atleast i can wait on buying the food)

5. finish putting together OOT bags (the supplies are literally sitting beside the bags, also I have one more bag to make, new(er) guest is definitely coming now)

6. call caterer & cupcake people

7. buy a bathing suit (so dreading this....)

8. finish buying any last minute supplies I want/need on day off (remote timer for camera, extra tissues, etc)

9. i realize this is a little premature but at some point in the future, I need to pack

10. finish typing lists/ asking for day of help

11. print out signs (why is this hard?????)

here is what is actually happening (not on a to-do list):

1. stressing out about people who haven't rsvp'd yet but not want to call them then just give up hoping they will and assume they are coming

2. stressing out about how I look awful in every picture taken of me and oh god what are the wedding pictures going to be like?!?!??!?

3. while stressing out about how i look fat in pictures, continue eating

4. stressing about about imaginary things like what if i get an awkward sunburn before the 15th (which will undoubtably happen....any "tan" i get is an awkward sunburn)

5. stressing out about gifts i'm making (as part of the gifts, i have been looking for quotes/poems, nice prose, etc and found nice ones on most family members except mother-in-laws, am i the only person on earth who really likes their mother in law?? I even googled 'nice mother in law' and it still got me nowhere. help?!!?!)

6. i'm sure theres some other stresses rolled in there too.

aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh

things i learned this weekend

2010-07-26T15:49:00.000-07:00

1. probably no matter what, I am going to cry at my wedding

2. something is probably going to go wrong at my wedding and that is okay

3. our wedding is probably going to be really great

4. i was a pretty stinkin cute kid

(I am rockin that hoodie! Ha ha. I am in the midst of exploring old photos for some super secret thank you gift ideas)

Now to elaborate:

The wedding yesterday was awesome. Completely awesome. The bride looked amazing in a short white dress and bolero with super cool vintage orange jewelry. It started to rain so the whole thing ended up taking place inside this amazing restaurant. After the rain there was a great rainbow! Oh, and did I mention the bride made fantastic paper flowers? And not paper punch flowers, painstakingly hand cut ones?!?! And did I mention how to-die-for the food was?!??!? So ridiculously tasty. Also, we sat with some fun recently engaged couples and did the whole "how did you meet?" and "how did they propose?" business so that was fun, especially after some wine. The readers made me weep (Ryan did a great reading and I even had a shout out in it!). The officiant even wore a bow tie he had found on a trip during college with the groom. He had promised him that when he got married, he would wear it to his wedding. how great is that?!

also, bought some tissue paper to make poms. E-mailed camp, bartender. Bought a new dress for wedding 3 next weekend. Borrowed some jewelry from my momma to hopefully wear to the wedding. got last parts of out of town gift bags. not feeling super productive but feeling okay about it.

did i mention i found out many people at the wedding (by many I mean under 5) have read my blog??? how exciting!

this could be our little secret....

2010-07-24T15:46:00.000-07:00

Anyone else know this song? It is stuck in my head like crazy! Also, I have been replacing 'higher' with 'ryan' and serenading him. It is definitely on our wedding playlist.

Anyways....

Today we went to an awesome rehearsal cookout for our officiant. I am really excited for their wedding tomorrow. It is at an orchard/vineyard with 50 guests (I feel so honored to be part of the 50!). Anyways, anyone still looking for rehearsal dinner ideas, I highly recommend a cookout and/or place with a pool (I suppose this goes mostly for hot weather weddings unless you want to do a polar bear plunge theme). It was cool and delicious and relaxed (her sister made gazpacho shooters! I would have eaten them all but didn't want to be piggish. like I always say, I would weigh 5 lbs if I always had to eat in front of people I am meeting for the first time/ really skinny people). I am also excited about the gift we got them but I think she reads my blog so I will not post about it until after tomorrow. Speaking of gifts we need to discuss how amazing the handmade gifts are that she got. In addition to a wonderful hand-stitched phoenix (arizona reference, they lived there) and a wonderful painting, her stepdad made this:

Can you even deal with how amazing this is?!? 'Cause I can't. He handcarved all the chess pieces and made the board and everything! The pieces are all musical instruments because the bride and groom met at a band camp when they were younger. I almost wept when I saw this.

Seeing as this post is already all other the place, let me briefly go off an a tangent then we can circle back to gifts. Is this alright with everyone? Good! So I've been thinking about karma and how awesome life can be when you have amazing people all around you. I'm not just talking friends and family (they are amazing but this is understood). I'm talking the guy who pumps my gas, the people behind me in line, the people who let me go in traffic, amazing bloggers who I adore reading and who are going to be sending me prizes! And little things like snuggling with cats and awkwardly hilarious sunburns and playing songs on repeat (I guess this has to do with the top part of this post, it all circles back!). Whenever I get ridiculously stressed out about the wedding, I really just need to stop and think about how great things really are, remember these sweet little moments and think about how INCREDIBLY lucky I am that I get to marry, live with and have babies with the best guy around.

Alright, last topic: gifts. I need/want to get gifts for everyone helping me out. I am thinking small tokens of appreciation (already done with bridesmaids, my dad and know what I'm getting my mom). Suggestions? I have a few ideas but always like your input!

Tomorrow: wedding 2! Then wedding 3 next weekend, then (gulp) our wedding is wedding 4 in just a couple weeks! weeeee!

have a good weekend everyone! thanks for listening to me ramble!

giveaway?

2010-07-22T05:16:00.000-07:00

I am no longer in need of the ring pillow I made (a combo of a shy 3 soon to be 4 year old and some steep steps!)

Any takers? If more than 1 person wants it, let's do this thing old school. I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 50. First person who guesses, wins!

wedding prep as an infomercial...

2010-07-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

Do you ever try to make garlands? Do you try to sew them and find the fabric is too thick or the needle too thin and resort to hot glueing them together instead (don't you judge me!)? Do you finally get around to making several strands then simply throw them in a pile so you can go watch a movie with your super sweet fiance? Do you then spend the entire next morning (hours, people) untangling massive piles of string? Well have I got the solution for you!

Introducing.... A PAPER TOWEL ROLL!

Simply cut slits in the top and bottom of the roll and wrap around!* No more tangled mess!

(If I was truly dedicated there would be before and after pictures of me and of course it would all be black and white)

*can't take credit for this. Think I saw it on Oh, Happy Day a while ago

more signs!

2010-07-18T13:35:00.001-07:00

Today I met with my aunt aka florist about the flowers and vases. I am very excited because I think it is going to be very colorful and fun. Then I came home and worked on lists (what needs to be done day of, contact numbers, what to pack and bring, etc). I am going to type up checklists to streamline the process. Also, I made these signs:

this is my favorite for sure...

I'm going to fold these in half and put them on tables. I don't think I need to put them on benches because we are going to have people helping seat the guests. What do you think? Should I use them there too just in case?

This makes me laugh. I'm probably overtired.

Time to work on the #$@% garland!

summary of a weekend (so far)

2010-07-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

*woke up late

*cleaned

*did not even bother to shower until almost noon (I know I am such a rebel!!! without a cause too!)

*watered the plants/picked some veggies (I am so psyched about my vegetable garden! I know this is not wedding related AT ALL but I have been picked (and eaten): radishes, eggplants, tomatoes and cukes so far! I also have tons of herbs growing, some strawberries, beets and various bush beans. I also have a kiwi and lemon tree (the kiwi apparently is some kind which actually grows in the northeast? I'm dubious but only spent $3 on it) I even have the cukes sitting in pickle brine as we speak. The tomatoes I am gobbling up like a good Italian girl. Also, anyone have any good eggplant recipes? Mine are growing like crazy and I have 1 good curry recipe that is wearing out its welcome at this point.)

* added matchbooks to favors. Realized I am about 10 short. Have to go back to dollar store. (No biggie, I also have to make some belts to go with some dresses I plant to wear to upcoming weddings. They are a bit too billowy for me and I found a great tutorial on making an easy classy belt)

* finished paper pinwheel garlands

* made paper cones for flags and made a garland out of the cones! I think this will be fun outside where we are doing the ceremony. It will be part of the ceremony and decor at the same time. Hooray!

*got a couple more rsvps for yes (actually had a couple reversals from no to yes to...anyone have these?!)

* one of the funnest parts of the weekend so far? Eating sundaes with Ry and working on our playlist. Then singing really loud in the car (They Might Be Giants' cds are excellent driving music). Then singing and rocking out some more this morning. This is going to be fun.

* grilling some lunch (by which I mean having lunch grilled for me)

*found old fun suitcase upstairs to bring to have people put cards/gifts in (we said 'no gifts' but if I know our families.....)

* talked to high school friend about name change process (a MUCH better resource than a website. also less scary)

* started lists like: what to bring on day off (I'm thinking typing and printing this will prevent forgetfulness), what to pack, what decorations are needed, where they go, etc.

* updated wedding website with wedding weekend events, pictures

* ate a whole bag of green grapes and watched a marathon of 'Dateline: Real Life Mysteries'

still to do:

*finish cake "topper" (oh yeah. remember that thing? well now I know what Ryan is wearing so I can finish that)

* string fabric flower garland

* buy more matchbooks

* stop eating so many grapes

hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend! (and managing to stay cool!)

1 month

2010-07-15T03:11:00.000-07:00

Woot, woot. I am marrying that guy I love in 30 freakin days. (Okay, breathe. You'll get everything done you need to. Anything you don't, not important, right? RIGHT?!?!? Okay, breathe). Because I love me some lists, here are the last minute things I'm worrying about/need to finish/start:

1- finish favors

2- finish stringing garland (soooo easy! why am I putting this off like a mofo? what is wrong with me? I know what it is! Its bad tv and couch potatoe-ing needing my full attention. If only they wouldn't play marathons of 'I'm Pregnant and....' and I didn't hobble together a dinner of handfuls of chips, some low fat pudding, a few bites of a bad frozen dinner and few sips of awful soup.....If all that didn't happen, then I would be productive...or not)

3- make final signs- one greeting guests at entrance, signs for bathroom, reserved seat signs (since we are not having a seating chart, we just want to make sure immediate family/bridal & groom parties are near us)

4- speaking of seating charts, one thing I saw and loved at the beginning of this 'inspiration' process was a chart bride has at her wedding that explained who everyone was . I would looove to do this but not sure how feasible it will be. We'll see.

5- actually type of events of that weekend, events of the day

6- give caterer final # (our caterer and cupcake girls are very relaxed and don't want any deposits)

7- thinking of good dance-y songs that aren't 'We are Family' (nothing wrong with that song! Just not for us...I'm thinking more like 'Dr. Feelgood and any Journey song except 'Open Arms'... I want people dancing and I think people dance less to songs they don't know, right?)

8- finish buying gifts for anyone ever who is helping us with the wedding (eeek!)

9- buy a badass pinata for the bachlorette fiesta

10- change my name (and shift current last to my new middle name. also, no idea where my social security card is...oops!)

11- type up what I need help with on day of (mostly decorating, probably should include pictures/drawings)

Phew. That's it (for now). How are you guys dealing with the stress/last minute things? Heavy drinking? Heavy Ben & Jerry eating? Give me tips.

10?

2010-07-14T03:14:00.000-07:00

According to the knot, I only have 10 things left to do (Project Wedding still has me at 26). What the?????? Ryan just got his suit, my mom booked and invited people to the pre wedding dinner and we applied for our marriage license, so those were a couple more checks off the list. While that number is awesome since it is so little, it is also super scary because the wedding is almost here and the knot's list doesn't include things like 'Lisa, finish your damn garlands! Put those little matchbooks into all your favors! Facebook harass people who haven't rsvp'd and whose help you need! Why haven't you bought tissue paper!? You need to make poms! Why is the paper you bought to make cones to hold the flags still sitting there?! Make those damn cones!' (So basically, I am picturing the knot or any other wedding website with a checklist, yelling at me like Harvey on Celebrity Fit Club. Oh, don't act like you don't watch it. Oh, you really don't?? Well, you are a better person than I)

(image from here)

venue pics!

2010-07-12T09:42:00.000-07:00

Stopped by the venue, to drop off last minute paperwork and payments. My mom sent me an email that said 'first of 50!' So clearly I have a couple pictures to show you guys:

Driving up to the lodge

Outside of lodge

Inside the lodge. This is where we will sit & eat & dance. Also, those poles running around the room are what I will hang the tissue paper poms from.
Trying out the garlands (with some assistance from the very nice guy who works there). Hooray! I like them! What do you think??

table for guest book postcards/mailbox

Table for cards/gifts and favors. Unsure what to put the favors in (can I just stack them??) but I am going to put out a vintage suitcase propped open for cards/gifts. Ryan had such a great idea for us to write each other cards and put them in there so people will know where to put their cards and also so we can write each other a little something something.
*Help needed: Where should I put the kid's activity sheets??? Hmmmm....

And hopefully where we are getting married. Only thing is some people can sit on the benches but some will have to stand (we will have a mic so people will be able to hear us). We may get married up on the porch instead for more people to be able to see us. Regardless, people are standing. The actual ceremony will only be between 15-30 minutes and we're having an open bar for the reception. Oh yes, they will be rewarded for standing.

wedding 1

2010-07-11T17:28:00.000-07:00

So yesterday attended wedding 1 .......and it was really really awesome. It was super emotional (I'm a crier anyways but this was one was killer I tell ya! I was a weepy mess...I'm sure the wine and rum and coke weren't helping). It was kind of eye opening to see a real wedding in the midst (lets be real here: towards the end) of planning one. And theirs was kind of perfect. They got married. They were happy, they cried. EVERYONE danced. The food was good. The drinks were good. It rained, no one cared. And you know what? I can't tell you what the place even looked like (and that is not because of the torrential rain; also it was at a country club like place to give you an idea) . I'm sure it was nice but all I remember are the people there. How the room was filled with so many happy, caring faces and isn't that what we all want? Our loved ones having an absolute blast, dancing, lots of hugs and cheek kisses and drinking and more dancing (P.S. Ryan was a dancing fool last night and I loved every second of it! I love that man so damn much). I am still on a happiness high from the day. Also, another reminder is that my feet still hurt because I spent the majority of the night wearing these suckers:

(image from kaboodle)

Yowza I know but ouch.

so it begins...

2010-07-09T03:18:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is our first of the 6 weddings we are attending (including our own) between now and October. I think it will be a blast, I am super excited for the bride and groom and they'll be lots of people there I like. Also, I need to learn how to bust a move in high heels. In addition to the festivities, here is a summary of what has been preoccupying me this week:

1.- my "bachlorette" (anyone else send out evites (or in my case facebook invites since I somehow messed up the evite and it wouldn't let me use the picture of my cat and a bottle of captains. see below.) and then crazily check the rsvps? nope just me?).

2.- Babies.

3.- Garlands. almost done with paper pinwheels ( a combo of 'TheFirst 48' and fro-yo helped me finish a chunk last night)! Next stop, fabric flowers. I am going to try to bring some with me when I go to the venue on Monday to see how they look!

4.- the last of "the list" (major things left: get marriage license, confirm guest list (hey! ya you the 38 left! what the deal??, give ppwk to venue, pay vendors, get freaking married!)

5. - Party Cat (was I the last to find out about this????)

6.- New Glasses!

What are your weekend plans? Hope everyone has a good one!

(also sorry for the insane use of parentheses within parentheses)

TNT knows drama

2010-07-06T16:42:00.000-07:00

I am taking a popsicle break from garland making. Its just me, some grape popsicles and a pile of paper pinwheels. Oh and tons of law and order episodes. This is some serious ACTING, people. This used to be one of my favorite shows and maybe its the combination of hot glue fingertips and sugary popsicles but it seems so over the top tonight. Lord.

Alright, time to get back to work!

still full of cake...

2010-07-05T18:06:00.000-07:00

weekend roundup!

not necessarily as productive as I wanted it to be (garlands? untouched), it was a great weekend nonetheless. Heres the breakdown:

-had a wonderful birthday full of grilling, my signature potato salad, tons of diet cokes and frescas, red velvet cake and an ice cream sundae bar. What can I do with a tub of caramel and no ice cream left? other than pour it directly into my mouth?

- do you remember when I posted about the lemon tree and the suitcases? Well my family reads my blog for sure. I got a lemon tree and both my mom and mom-in-law got me suitcases (now I get why when I went suitcase shopping with my sis she said everything was "stupid" and "ugly"). One set may be returned for store credit aka new shoes (I think I have to wear something nicer than foam flip flops to the upcoming weddings we are attending). Also received amazing salad tongs! (trust me if you saw them, you would agree!)

- received several RSVPs ( a bunch of no's which is sad but I totally understand, especially since they are out of state)....only 41 left ( if you are reading this and haven't RSVP'd...please! let me know either way! I won't be mad! I just need to know!)

-sent an official evite for bachlorette....bought solo cups and stickers and faux diamonds for deluxe solo cups ala A Los Angeles Love

- met with the photographer to discuss "must have" photos...she is awesome, I am so pumped...She is also getting married soon and Ry is her officiant (end of the month!)

-had another cookout to get rid of some of our colossal leftovers with the best man and best lady

-did some more work on out of town gift bags...also bought matchbooks for favors

- built trellis' for my out of control cuke plants ( I am growing both pickling cucumbers and lemon cucumbers which are round and yellow... I also bought a backyard homesteader book! Oh man if we only had no neighbors and a little more land, I would so be raising livestock!)

-did I mention our new neighborhood has their own 4th of july parade? I got lots of starbursts!

phew...I think thats it

so...how was your weekend?

I'm getting married next month...

2010-07-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

(by this print here)

...and that is totally crazy to me. They are ordering me a new name tag at work (even though I've never worn my old name tag. I work at a college, we really only wear them when the freshman come and when the freshman come I'm usually in our office doing some crazy project and nowhere near the freshman. but I guess in case anyone gets lost and wonders into our office?? Lord, I'm rambling) and the new one has A NEW NAME on it.

its on like donkey kong, ladies.

I hope everyone has a fun and festive weekend! drink some wine, eat some burgers and do some partying. (and say a toast to her!)

**side note: don't know how much I'll be posting this weekend. its my birthday and they have parades just for me (sorry america, its true)

mo lists, mo problems

2010-06-30T03:25:00.000-07:00

1- disposable cameras? purchased! thanks mom! (quick question: Am I crazy to cover their little cardboard outfits they come in with this nice patterned paper I bought? Should I just leave them be?)

2- 4 packs of crayons for activity sheets? purchased and on their way!

3- activity sheets? completed!

4- additional signs made? hey, I'm workin on it!

(sign for table with s'mores favors...thats hot stuff, by the way in case you were wondering the name of the comic character)

(sign for postcard "guestbook" table....image is a hella old green lantern)

5- eye appointment? made, follow up scheduled and freaky contacts being worn! there is something so strange about wearing contacts since I haven't in about 5 years. I spent yesterday adjusting my glasses (you know? pushing them up on my nose?) and there were no glasses there. I also feel like 'oh thats what I look like???' when I can see my face without glasses. In glasses news however, totally getting some new ones which I am beyond jazzed about (2 for $99, I am all over that shizit!)

thats all I got folks! we're inching ever closer to the elusive friday and my birthday is this weekend!

p.s. To those of you emailing me (you know who you are!): You are super rad and have made my week!

for the kiddies!

2010-06-28T18:02:00.000-07:00

With the above image as my inspiration, I am making a coloring sheet for the kids at the wedding and tucking a small package of crayons in the pocket (side note: anyone know where I can get 4 packs of crayons???). The sheets will probably be 11 x 17 double sided with a total of four images. Below are the images I'm using (they are all from the amazing kid's comic 'Tiny Titans'):

Whats that say at the bottom you say? You want a close up you say?

Aw yeah.

weekend roundup

2010-06-27T17:35:00.000-07:00

1. picked radishes & eggplant from my garden (ate the radishes chopped in a salad, in the process managing to cut off one of my fingertips with my mandoline slicer (this was promptly followed by my sis doing the same thing); holding onto eggplant to hopefully make this)

2. watched (and wept during) Toy Story 3 ( it was great! go see it now!)

3. made more terrariums

4. attended a bachlorette, complete with beads and phallic whistles...unofficially invited people to my "bachlorette" aka mexican food/diy margarita/pinata party

5. shopped my brains out (the usual suspects: dollar tree, michaels,target, etc)

6. brainstormed wedding crafts (kid's coloring sheets & pinwheel garlands....will post pictures when I have them...)

more (actual) updates soon! promise!

how was your weekend?

fluffy post aka what is the deal with rompers

2010-06-26T05:46:00.000-07:00

sorry guys. I have nothing deep and meaningful for you...but I do have lots of pictures of stuff I want to buy!

I am loving the new adorable one piece swimsuits that all stores seem to have now! But since I am not a millionaire I can't buy the majority one ones I have been drooling over (really anthro? $200 for something that makes me feel self conscious? you should pay me $200 to wear it!). Also someone needs to explain to me why bikinis, etc cost more than 1 pieces??? aren't they less fabric?

(suit via target)

Also, anyone else running into the problem that you see a cute sundress, you try it on and its a romper? I apologize to anyone who reads my facebook status because I already complained about rompers on that forum too. But seriously! My sis looks hella cute in them but I look like a baby with a full diaper in them. Maybe I'm wearing them wrong?

Things I hope to buy soon (perhaps with some birthday cash?):
- little suitcases for our honeymoon
- swimsuit
- shoes for all the weddings I am attending
- belts for all the billowing dresses I have purchased recently
- meyer lemon tree (for fun! no idea how long it will survive in New England weather, but why would Lowes be selling them otherwise?)

what are you guys in the midst of shopping for? or making lists 'to buy'?

the little things

2010-06-22T17:29:00.001-07:00

You know those days where work is kind of annoying and last minute wedding things are getting to you? Days where you eat too much and feel kinda bad about it? I had one of those days today.

You know what made it all better?

Two words:
baby! goats!

(in total there were 4 of them, 3 babies with very soft coats and 1 mother. Did I mention their tricked out pen? They have a skateboard ramp and slide in there!)

check check check

2010-06-21T16:40:00.001-07:00

honeymoon? booked!*

marriage license? researched!*

last couple stray invites ready to go? almost! (anyone else going through this right now too??)

earrings? purchased & specially made for me!

(I really wanted studs and these are so perfect! Anyone looking for some great unique earrings check out this shop)

great future husband? check!

and finally some numbers:
55 days left
25 things to do (according to the knot)
36 things to do (according to project wedding)
some number in the middle (according to me)

* courtesy of Ry

wearing the same dress twice and drinking wine alone aka my weekend

2010-06-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

So how was your weekend all? I should start off by saying, rather reminding you, that I am kinda crazy. So basically I have been obsessing about the plethora of wedding events I have this summer (have I mentioned my sister-in-laws and my fiancee's cousin and our photographer and our officiant are all getting married this summer?). Me and Ry looked at the calendar and we officially have some event every weekend until our wedding. Eek! So they are many wedding events in the works. Needless to say, I have been freaking out about what to wear to these events. I have been picking up basically every dress on clearance I see that even looks slightly good on me (this is getting pricey people. Well this is coming from someone who is like "30 dollars for a dress!? OUTRAGEOUS! So clearly take it with a grain of salt...or an entire saltlick). Then when I go to the events I feel like everyone can tell I am wearing a $15 dress from target's junior section and earrings from charlotte russe. Also, I felt like a schlub wearing the same dress I wore to my shower to my sister in law's shower. I know on one level, no one will care or probably even notice but I totally freak out about it. So I wore the same outfit and of course no one noticed or atleast no one said anything. I did panic and buy a dress for the father's day cook out we threw (Target again). Again feeling nervous. Anyone else ever feel this way???

P.S. Also, I made huge pitcher of sangria which no one drank but me. I wish you guys lived closer and I would invite you all over for some! Anyone reading this who lives nearby: open invite to drink with me and help with last minute wedding necessities!

P.P.S. She's back! Yipee!

anyone else feel like they're getting ready for the prom?

2010-06-16T18:05:00.000-07:00

So I went over my mum's tonight and my sister did my hair and make up trial. Something about the whole experience felt very prom-y to me (probably because I don't feel grown up enough to be getting married?). I half expected to throw a tiara on and jump in my friend's minivan with my high school date.

(don't be hatin' on my stylish work outfit, you know you love my sweater vest...also, not sure if you can see but she did a french braid across the top of my head and half way around my head too which I loved)

(close up with my hair piece)

I would just like to mention how much I completely adore my sister and how totally psyched I am that she is doing my hair and makeup. She did a fabulous job and we talked and gossiped and drank Marylou's coffee and ate sesame chicken (aka candy chicken) while my mom snapped pictures.

These are the moments that get me soooooo jazzed for the wedding day.

Hi my name is Lisa and even though I may not be blogworthy, I'm okay with it!

2010-06-15T17:10:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, my name is Lisa

(Hi Lisa!)

Its been several months since my last visit to OnceWed

(from here)

Anyone else feeling this way? I....just...can't....do...it...anymore! When I first started planning our wedding, it was a whole different ballgame. Different everything pretty much from dress ideas to table ideas to favors and beyond. And you know what made me drool above all else? Hopefully being featured on (fill in the blank with any number of sites)'s blog. Then eventually those sites wore thin, then I decided 'Well if I'm featured on Once Wed, I will pretty much die...of excitement!' I still have not taken it off my blog reader (in case of what? In case I need to drive myself crazy with another vintage DIY inspired rustic chic magical woodland mason jar centerpiece bonanza? mind you I like every aspect of that, which is why I cannot click on those links). Indie bride sites can be killers too. Like things are "too mainstream" blah blah blah. I feel like I'm back in art school listening to No Doubt while my roommates glares at me and listens to the Faint (no judgments if you like them. my permanent memory of them is and will always be my freshman year roommate)

Now all I read are amazing girls' blogs like hers or hers or hers or hers ( I can't even count all the amazing ladies blogs I visit...yes I spend a lot of time online)

And I couldn't be happier!

Now lets all go and (finish) plan(ing) our super cool rockin tipsy (or drunken) wonderfully decorated quirky unique cheesy goth hipster vintage rustic trendy modern lovey dovey day. I heard it goes by really fast. Lets have a good one and the only thought we're allowed to have when we look in the mirror is "Damn! I look amazing"*

*If anyone disagrees or voices a different opinion, I give you full permission to kick them in their naughty bits

people watching

2010-06-14T16:22:00.000-07:00

So the other night we went to Friendly's. I know, not exactly eating good. But I wanted it and I ate it and now its over and now I don't. At least I didn't order this:

(image via serious eats)

Cause sometimes I'm hungry and I'm eating a sandwich but secretly wishing I was eating 3 sandwiches. Friendly's has lost its freakin mind.

Soooooo.... we walk in and I see their basket of kid's menus folded to hold crayons. Immediately, I think ''what a great idea! thats what I could do for the kids at the wedding!'' and as much as I wanted to take one to figure out how they folded it, I didn't because all I could picture was a poor little kid not getting to color because some crazy bride stole his crayons and paper. Anyone know what I'm talking about??? (this is so besides the point of this entry)

Aaaaanyways.... We sat beside these two people who I thought might be on a date. Even though we didn't say anything to each other, I know Ry well enough to know he was listening to them too. The girl was in grad school, I got that much. At one point I heard the guy ask her about her dissertation and she in return asked him if he knew what 'jimmies' were. I also heard him ask if 'they could take it to the next level', but I think he may have been joking about something*. I was fascinated and trying to figure out if they were in the early stages of dating (the guy was so mopey, I couldn't figure out his deal! He should have just ordered some kind of sundae with a candy face and he would have felt much better!). The two of us and Friendlys go way back. Both Ryan and I worked at a Friendly's when we were younger (the same one coincidentally, just at different times) and many of our pre-dating dates took place there. When we were driving home and discussing the Friendly's couple, Ry asked me "Do you think people watch us when we go out? And then talk about us on their car ride home?" I started to think. Perhaps when we first went together, another couple watched us and saw me trying to act cool and talk about hip bands I liked but didn't anymore because they "sold out" (I know, I'm cringing too) and perhaps they overheard Ryan's defending said band/artist, talking about maybe how they have to pay the bills and get braces for their kids. Maybe someone saw us sitting across from one another in a booth, picking at french fries and heard me talking about how I hoped he would still hang out with me even after I returned from my trip 300 lbs heavier (I was visiting my grandma and she manages to work crisco into everything she makes). They would have seen me trying to be too cool for school in my turquoise Gap raincoat (which is waaaay too small for me now). Then I think of us now. I don't think we act particularly strange when we go out. I think we always have a good time, always laughing and giggling, telling lots of stories. I'd like to think people probably look at us and see a couple in love. Two people full of smiles and ice cream sundaes who still enjoy each others company and want nothing more than to spend a Sunday night together eating faux dinner food and talking superheroes.

*On a side note: While this was amusing my favorite Friendly's story is still the group of teenage girls we sat beside once and overheard saying 'My grandma made me lunch today. She had no bread so she made me and peanut butter and fluff sandwich in a taco shell', followed by the time (when I worked there in high school) I witnessed a drunk guy in rainbow suspenders standing at the entrance, greeting people and seating them....or the time I accidentally filled the peanut butter sauce containers with horseradish sauce

((Also, did I mention Ry is on fire? He is checkin items of our to-do list like crazy! I love it!))

kind of sick of shopping, doing things

2010-06-12T13:43:00.001-07:00

Couple things:

First, I had a dream last night that my best friend through me another bridal shower but this time a million people came and it involved relay races. Oh, and Aziz Ansari was there!

Also, did some more shopping for the bridesladies gifts. Did some more shopping for out of town gift bags. Did some more shopping for bathroom baskets ( I am going to put baskets in the bathrooms with stuff like sunscreen, bobby pins, bug spray, mints, gum, etc). Now I just need to go to the dollartree and buy a ridiculous amount of baskets (I am not shelling out $$ for baskets that no one will notice or care about!). I also need to make a couple more signs like one for the guestbook table, one to welcome guests, one for favors. Also I tried to make a list today of what needs to be done the morning of so I can figure out who to "assign" the decor to:

1- garlands- hung on walls, possibly on banisters (depending how much I make). The tables are also pretty small so instead of putting the paper pinwheels on the tables, I think I might make a garland with them too (need to string together!)

2- tissue paper poms- hung from ceiling posts (need to make)

3- tables- table numbers (made!), centerpieces, baskets of snack appetizers (need to buy), stamped bibs (made!)

4- flags (put the "hooray" flags to wave at the ceremony in little holders beside the benches, which reminds me I need to buy holders)

5- guest book table- sign (need to make), postcards, pencils (both bought!)

6- diy photobooth- hang fabric (bought!), put out camera and timer (need to get timer), sign (need to make!)

6- favor table- sign (need to make!), favors (might still be tweaking)

7- bathroom baskets- (need to finish!)

8- kids baskets? (buckets, artsy stuff like sketchbook/roll, crayons,etc)

I'm sure there's other things but I can't think of any right now! Also, Ryan handled the bartender part of things so one more thing done. Woo!

How are you guys holding up? Hows your weekend going?

in defense of davids (and more!)

2010-06-10T16:06:00.000-07:00

I wrote a little about this already in the comments section of A Los Angeles Love the other day. But I really had an awesome experience at David's Bridal. When I first went to try on a dress, I went to a little boutique down the Cape (Cape Cod for any non-Mass residents reading this). It was having a sale where all dresses were $400. Except that they weren't. That only included sample sales and even then not really. The one guy (who I believe owned the shop) kept trying to convince me I wanted different styles then I did and it was so awkward and I felt bad leaving not buying anything even though I didn't like anything, nothing fit me super well and everything was way out of my price range. Then I went to Davids and found an amazing dress (super affordable, style was just what I wanted). The women there made me feel awesome and beautiful and I could not have been happier. This morning I went for a fitting and everyone was wonderful. I got there at 10 and they did not open until 11. Someone had accidentally scheduled me for an hour earlier than they opened. They still saw me and said I was beautiful and made sure I was fully aware of the charges of the fitting. Again, awesome. I understand that not every store has amazing employees (doesn't that go for any store?) just like I understand that there are certainly boutiques that are probably amazing too! All I'm saying is I'm not a size 2 and I'm not flawless by any means, but the David's store I went to made me feel that way.

In other news: went to the venue today with my aunt aka my other mom aka my florist had her little planner with her and we did some floral figuring out. They also had tables set up so I got a better sense of how it will look the day of. Needless to say, I....am....super....psyched!!!!

and finally a list:

- finish buying/making out of town gift bags

- finish buying gifts for everyone related to wedding/thank yous

- pick day for my sister to do hair/make up trial

- make something to give the little kids at the wedding (bucket with coloring book, crayons?)

- call caterer and have them fax license to venue

- hope a particular etsy vendor comes back from vacation so I can buy these earrings for the wedding:

- figure out wedding help (figure out who can help and what I need help with, mostly setting up day of...volunteers: I will need you soon! I love you all!)

Also, did I mention I needed to have my dress taken in a little? Woo!

boozy fruit!

2010-06-09T04:17:00.000-07:00

For my "bachlorette" (as I'm mentioned before), I'm thinking informal snacking and drinking, hanging out with my favorite ladies. Maybe mexican food, maybe summer favorites like grilled veggies, etc. But something like this would be a welcome addition:

(image via sweet paul, find the directions here)

Actually, this would be a welcome addition to any day. Say a Wednesday perhaps?

operation: fit into dress, commences

2010-06-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

Lady Grace kinda sucks. There I said it. The woman who "helped" me? Terrrrible! She was really rude and kept saying things like 'you know the bra you're wearing doesn't fit you right (I thought it looked nice!)?" and "wow didn't you wait until the last minute to go shopping (nuh uh!)" and "one of your boobs is bigger than the other ( never noticed, thanks for something new to be self conscious about!)". Also when I told her what I wanted she said ''ya basically that doesn't exist (but David's Bridal told me specifically to get this for my dress) " then seemed exasperated when she asked me about my size and had to measure me (Really? Am I the first one to come in to a flippin' lingerie store that needed to be measured? Sorry Target doesn't measure me when I buy their 2 for 1 specials). So needless to say I did not want to spend $50 on a corset that gave me pointy Madonna breasts, especially since the lady was so snippy and judgy. On the way out, I wanted to yell 'You suck and your store is 90% old lady nighties!'. Basically this is what she gave me to try on (but strapless):

So instead we (me and Mom) went to Macy's and bought serious shapewear and bra that actually fits! Its called a "miracle suit" and was actually pretty comfortable (even though I'm probably going to be a sweaty mess wearing it in August). Moving up in the world, baby. Also, we got dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and I got a small salad and didn't even eat the whole thing! Seeing yourself in a crazy huge mirrored dressing room trying on undies did wonders for my appetite!

7-0

2010-06-06T10:32:00.000-07:00

So since I spent yesterday ranting about marshmallows, I didn't really write about anything else I've been up to. So here goes:

1- Me and the momma going lingerie shopping. Time to buy the craziest corset of all time! I love how excited my mom is for this. We also talked today about rehearsal dinner things which I am so glad that her and my other mom are planning this so I don't have to think about it.

2- I did some iron on bags for out of town guests. So far I just made 3 since I know 3 groups of out of towners are coming for the wedding. I used this image:

(from art.com)

Just like to say how proud I am of myself that I actually remembered to print out a mirror image so it actually came out correctly when I made it! Half of my christmas gifts I made this year were backwards iron on transfers. Oops.

I need to do some investigating into what to fill the bags with. So far, I just have some salt water taffy. Any good Massachusetts ideas? What would you like to get if you came for a wedding in Beantown? I'm thinking maybe going into the city or down the cape to buy some souvenir-ish things like lobster lollipops, postcards, cranberry things, etc.

3- Also I finished the table numbers and signs. Well I might do one more big 'wedding this way' sign. I have them pressed in books right now since it is so humid (thanks Ry! I totally wouldn't have thought of this)

They are double sided (also Ry's idea) and I used the scallop edged scissors to cut them all. I really like how they turned out!

I can't believe the wedding is in 70 days! efffff.....

favor madness

2010-06-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

So I actually did a ton of stuff today! I was in my basement for a good chunk of the day stuffing favors which meant putting giganto marshmallows in tiny bags, tying with bakers twine and putting them in tiny gable boxes with a tealight and wooden stick ( Quick question: should I add a matchbook too? I was thinking those cute little boxed ones. Your thoughts?). Heres what they look like:

First things first: we need to discuss these ridiculous marshmallows.

They are almost the size of apples. They are a good 4 bite marshmallow. I tried to eat them in less and almost choked. Can you imagine the headline? "Deranged DIY bride chokes on enormous marshmallow while attempting to check another item off her Knot to-do list''. Awful! Anyways, first off you have this guy:

There is something creepy about the fact that he is wearing clothes. On top of that it is that creepy mascot eating its own kind thing. Not only is he roasting one of his own on a stick, he is wearing a shirt of a marshmallow on fire. Serious self loathing!

Next we have this tagline:

I just love it because it makes me think that they must think somewhere someone calls regular marshmallows 'tiny roasters'.

Clearly, I have had waaaaay too much sugar today.

long overdue post*

2010-06-02T03:52:00.000-07:00

some things I love about my soon to be husband:

- I love his laugh. It is the best when something makes him really laugh. I still get so excited when I make him laugh too

- I love how sweet he is. It always seems on days I feel the dumpiest/most haggard/like a chub, he looks at me and says ' You look nice today'. Whether he senses my down-in-the-dumps attitude or is simply being sweet, I do not know ( but I guess it doesn't matter does it?)

- I love how much he likes music and reading (I also love how he is very seasonal on what he reads and listens to)

- I love how when he is cleaning out the upstairs (backstory: we currently live in his grandmothers house), he brings down boxes for me of stuff I might like. Its like going to an awesome thrift store, everyday!

- I love how he doesn't care that I go to bed super early and watch awful tv and often when I'm 'reading' a book, its a cookbook (I read too! I swear!)

- I love that we are getting married and that he is putting up with me during all this wedding to-do baloney.

- I totally love his beard

That is just a snippet too. I am a lucky gal.

*I thought I needed to write a post like this after seeing several other sweet ones and spending last night buying mini wooden sticks (to put in my diy roast your own marshmallow favors which people are probably going to look at, maybe say 'awww' then eat the marshmallow and toss the rest)

I can't believe I actually got anything done this weekend

2010-06-01T04:05:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I accomplished something other than getting mosquito bites on Memorial Day weekend but there's a first time for everything. So here's the summary:

- Friday: went to store for surprise hammock for anniversary gift. Super psyched for cheap hammock with stand. Then met up with Ry's excellent best lady and ate pizza
- Saturday: realized hammock did not have stand, that is why it was so inexpensive (well for a hammock). still debating whether to get a stand or return hammock. Spent most of day being a lazy person.
- Sunday: went to cookout. petted some baby bunnies. talked wedding stuff with the extended family. was told numerous times how much people liked our invite which made me very happy.
- Monday: went to cookout. My sister cooked me a delicious burger and everyone liked what I brought (green salad, tomato mozzarella salad and this one). Also, my sister is totally hilarious so that always makes my day. Then went to to wonderous Michaels with 2 gift cards and spent most of one. I invested in some canvas bags for out-of-town gifts to fill with things like salt water taffy, etc. Also bought some scallop scissors for table numbers, tiny cellophane bags for favors (also bought enormous 'campfire' marshmallows using another gift card, currently storing them in my basement to avoid them getting overheated in this weather and expanding/exploding), bought a bunch of craft books I always read (this one, this one, and this one...don't judge me!), some more tattoo and iron on inkjet paper and some terrarium stuff (since my succulents are piling up because I am a nut for terrariums right now but still needed 'river rocks' to finish making them).

Also, won these on ebay for the table numbers (I won 36 and it only came to $20 which is way less than I saw them everywhere else. Yay!)

Hooray for 4 day weekends (well 3 1/2)! I want another.

Happy Friday! (And some special shout outs)

2010-05-28T03:23:00.000-07:00

Woooo! Happy Memorial Day weekend all! I have a half day at work today than a three day weekend! Thank Goooodddd. This week was a killer. What are you guys up to? I hoping to get some crafting done, finish the table numbers, actually spend time outside (heavens!) and hang out with friends.

Oh and did I mention our anniversary is this weekend? Yes its true. It was 5 years ago when I was graduating college over Memorial Day weekend ( and sick with mono but that's a different tale...worst tonsilitis ever!). Also, did I mention its the first year I remembered? Yes I am a bad person. I don't know why it is so hard for me to remember but my mind is probably full of love mush from that magical summer. So Ry: I love you to pieces. Thanks for sticking it out with me so long and heres to more years of magical summers.

And of course, congrats to another Lisa who gets married tommorrow! Your wedding will be amazing and it will be a total blast! Take a serious break from making things after this one :)

Good luck to anyone else getting married this weekend! Have an amazing day!

from when we were first dating...

pick a number, any number

2010-05-26T03:16:00.000-07:00

So as I've mentioned several times on this blog, we are not doing assigned seating. We're all adults (well except the kids) and we can find our own seats and be merry with whomever we sit with. But we are having table numbers. We had a couple different ideas on the signs but this is what I have done so far (I'm up to table 16 but here are some of my favorites; please keep mind I'll be resizing them too!):

and as a bonus, the sign for the buffet:

Things On My Mind

2010-05-25T17:34:00.000-07:00

1. I need a new super fun poppy sing-a-long cd for hot sticky summer days. Suggestions??*

2. I need to buy salad dressing that will make me eat salad but not plump me up. Suggestions??

3. my bestest friend

5. the BEST returned rsvp card yet!

It totally made my day! I mean really, how great is this???

* sorry for the crazy use of question marks

Bridal Shower fun (a sneak peak)

2010-05-24T03:21:00.000-07:00

*
This is the look of a girl psyched to eat some scones (less psyched to have fat arms but thats besides the point). So we had a fabulous tea party complete with various teas, scones, mini sandwiches and strawberry shortcake. There was about 10 or so people there which was perfect and small and it was wicked tasty and fun! Also, I don't know if you can see it but I am wearing a very cute headband that I bought about 10 minutes before the shower (because I felt like I need to accessorize a little since I was wearing no accessories whatsoever) and everyone said 'love your headband!'. It was $8 at Target. Invest, my dears.

My best friend, my sister and I. So color coordinated.

My two best ladies wearing hats the tea lady brought with her.

Me and my super fabulous mother in law

I like this picture because it looks like I am telling a hilarious story (my friends Jill on the left and Heather on the right). Which either means I am talking about my grandmother or the time my aunt found a dead body (true story! slighty more horrifying than funny though, I'm betting on funny Nana stories instead)

More to come! Most notably the more hilarious photos of the day.

So I'm thinking for 'bachlorette': bad horror movies and homemade cocktails! Who's in?

* all photos by my mom

Saturday Bonus Post!

2010-05-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

That's right peeps. A bonus post! So here's what I've been up to but here's a couple thoughts first:

1- thank you to everyone who has already rsvp'd to our wedding. Way to be quick! (thank you Jen for the extra 'woot, woot' at the bottom of the card too :)
2- I love having a 'rustic and artsy' wedding since anything I make that looks weird I can just call 'rustic and artsy'

So, I did some painting on my faux cake topper (since we have no cake it'll just be hanging out near the cupcakes. I made one just because I love cake toppers and wanted to include us and our cats).

So there's an image of the whole thing then a close up of the cats. I bought siamese porcelain cats and repainted them with porcelain paint to look like our kit-cats. Heres some pictures of the real guys for reference:

Tinker and Pirate having a dance-off

Beets in the manger

I am very happy how they turned out. I haven't finished detailing me or really painted Ry at all since I am not sure sure of his outfit/ hair style of the big day and don't want to force him into anything by painting it (ex. you have to match the cake topper! ha ha)

Also, I finished gluing the eyelet fabric to the vases. I am stoked since I was putting this off for whatever silly reason. I am also so glad that I have these storage boxes that I ordered the vases in since it will make transporting the flowers easier.

Can I also just say I am having a fabulous day? First off, I ate half a cupcake for breakfast and solidified cupcake plans with the bakery for 170 cupcakes, half of them will be 'babycake' (basically a super delic hostess) and half red velvet. Then we went on adventures and I picked up some materials to bring to the crafty shower tomorrow. Today was also one of many days where I just looked at Ryan while we were driving around and squeezed his hand and smiled, thinking how excited I am to be marrying this guy. Overall, a very good day so far.

Now off to cut out a zillion fabric circles! I will post pictures after the shower. Hopefully we will get some serious crafting done. We are planning to work on yarn poms, fabric poms and tissue poms. It'll be pom city at my mom's house.

Shout out

2010-05-22T05:55:00.000-07:00

(image via here)

I am sending love towards this awesome lady because she is getting married....TODAY! She always has such amazing posts and is always so sweet to leave comments on mine too.

I will eat a cupcake in your honor today (no joke: we are going to a bakery today!)

things on my mind

2010-05-20T17:11:00.000-07:00

there are a couple topics floating around the wedding blogs right now that are never far from my mind: food (more specifically dieting and even more specifically dieting for your wedding) and having kids. If I was a better writer, I would probably spilt this into two posts. But I'm not. So heres a jumbled mess of a looney person.

chapter 1- food vs. lisa

lets just start by saying yes I am putting off doing wedding stuff right now. Isn't that clear yet? ha ha. alright, so weight and diets have always been touchy subjects for me. Me and food have always had a pretty serious relationship. Some of my earliest memories are food related. My beloved cheez-its, the italian wedding soup my grandmother made, these super sugary granola bars a best friend in high school always had at her house, eating poptarts at another friends house, the lollipops they handed out after dance practice (what? everyone didn't do ballet for the candy?), buttered 'wagon wheel' pasta my dad always made. I remember being excited to go to camp because we would get bagel sandwiches. being at camp and eating taffy and I recall very specifically eating dinner once which was comprised of cheese ravioli and mashed potatoes (maybe I wanted pierogis??). I realize that was long and ridiculous but my dear readers, that ain't even the half of it. Lucky for you, you do not have to hear the rest of my list of foods I enjoy (I think I already mention them enough on this blog as it is). Basically, read this book and you'll get the idea (now I never had any eating disorders other than body images issues but so much of the rest of this book rang true. Oh and its awesome and hilarious too). Also, I have also had a love hate/relationship with exercise. Well, lets be real: a hate relationship. I'll do it for a while, get distracted stop, feel bad, eat, feel worse, exercise. I am not super good with self control.

So anyways here I am an engaged woman of 26 who has promised herself about 30 times since the start of the engagement but the diet starts today. I haven't lost weight yet except for the couple months when Jillian Michaels was yelling at me every morning. I realized I may have said this over and over but at this point, with 3 months to go I'm hoping I just look good in my dress as me. I'm not going to be this crazy skinny girl I always want to be. I don't think these hips of mine would let me weight 115 anways. I'm still working toward feeling better about myself but luckily I have an awesome man in my life who thinks I'm smokin. He always makes me feel good.

chapter 2- kiddies (which is a nice segue-way from the above sentence about my serious "birthing" hips)

God I love babies. I have wanted to be a mom since I was about 13. I have already had several conversations about Thomas the Tank Engine with my poor friends after hanging out with one of my favorite little guys (my little cousin who is also going to be our ring bearer). My one worry is one that always haunts me: $$$. Babies cost a lot and I would not want anything but a super awesome life for the little ones. But they will have extremely loving parents, cool cats to hang and handcrafted baby toys (I've made them for everyone else, I hope soon I can make them for me!). Always in the back of my mind, I think of our old downstairs neighbors when we lived in our apartment. I always think if they could do it, we definetly can. Basically picture if Deb from Napoleon Dynamite (complete with side pony and popped collar) married Danny Bonaduce and had 2 little boys who never wore shirts but always had farmers tans. Granted there are many things they do/did that I would not but they made it work. So can we. Also, I probably need to stop reading blogs like this where I just end up being being jealous and angry that I can handcraft clothing while growing the best garden of all time while being a super mom and cooking organic healthy meals and making art all at the same time with my 17 arms.

Sigh. Sorry to offload that craziness (but thanks for listening)

cue the creepy music

2010-05-18T17:10:00.001-07:00

(image via here)

So....... who else is feeling this? The right before-the-Freddy or Jason-gets-you kinda eerie calm feeling? I mailed my invites today. I was freakin' out the other day because there is a typo and the type is pretty small on the directions. But I gave the invites out to my co-workers today and you know what? They totally loved them. They actually asked me to make color copies of the rsvp card to keep before they filled them out and gave them to me. Also they are also going sans significant others and are going to just go as a group instead, which is pretty rad. This also goes to show that I need to stop doing things like pointing out flaws in things I make because people might not notice them otherwise. So ya I'm feeling pretty good now. 40 things left to do on my knot list!? I can do that with my eyes closed. Somehow 75 things to do on the project wedding list? I can do that up too, it will take slightly longer for some reason but I can handle it. I am feeling re-energized, people. This weekend is visiting the cupcake people (and i'm sure nibbling a bite or two of their delicious cakes) and Sunday is bridal/ crafty shower. I....am....psyched!

I should probably start pre-gaming now.

wait they don't love you like i love you aka maps

2010-05-16T19:53:00.000-07:00

so I did finish addressing my invite minus one or two whose addresses/zip codes are missing but I have a real reason why it took so long to do this. I have been waffling over doing directions/maps because I thought I was fine telling people to check our wedding website. However, we have gotten several wedding invites in the past week or so and all of them had directions, so I decided to make these today and just print them myself at home on cardstock:

'cause if you plan on driving up to our venue in anything other than the batmobile, just turn around.

(also, did you guys have a good weekend? I did! It was filled with lots of non wedding but super fun things like cookouts and picnics!)

alright, alright

2010-05-13T14:59:00.000-07:00

okay, time to get serious: I need to address my invites tonight. What has been keeping me from doing it thus far?

1- laziness

2- sleepiness

3- laziness and sleepiness

4- episodes of Chapelle show that needed to be watched for the millionth time (and clearly needed my full attention!)

5- hanging out with my cat*

*I need to clarify. I always hang out with the kit-cats however, one of them is not as snuggly (I'm sorry "snuggly" is a word, spell-check). This is compared to the two boy cats who basically want to climb into my womb. So last night, she (Tinker) decided to be my best friend of all time and she was all about hanging out. So clearly, this took precedence to anything else on my plate.

Tonight: No excuses! Lets do this thing.

***also, did I mention I got flowers at work yesterday from my 'cat'? I love my guy to pieces. It took me totally by surprise and, as I told him yesterday, it elevated his status to 'super stud' according to my co-workers.

beware: self deprecating rant

2010-05-10T16:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when wedding (and/or life) things are stressing me out, I feel like an awkward teen again. Like I'll never be cool enough, thin enough, good enough ( another reason I need to prevent myself from looking at sites like this where the average bride's waist is the size of my forearm. le sigh.). I feel pudgy and uncomfortable in my skin... awww just like I'm a teen again! Also? The stress leads me to breakouts and eating, further driving home the geeky teen chunk within. Sorry for the rant everyone (if you want to know what spurred it on: I was invited to something this summer where I have to wear a bathing suit. effffff.....)

(image from here)

blerg.

it's the freakin weekend baby (i'm about to have me some fun)

2010-05-07T15:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry for a fairly uneventful week, folks. Here is a list of things I didn't do:

- call the cupcake people

- actually start working on the table numbers

- address the invites

here what I did do:

- watched ridiculous tv (marathon of billy the exterminator anyone?)

- ate ridiculous food ( you know those days where you apparently forget how to cook and then eat popsicles and cereal instead of dinner? no? well uh not me either)

- and on a wedding note, I think I decided on a father/daughter song.

Now I am not a fan of the whole my dad giving me away business but you know what? I love my dad. He totally rocks. We love to cook together and to talk about music, politics and 30 rock. So I am having him walk me down the aisle and having a father/daughter dance. Now I didn't want basically any song written for this occasion ( no offense to people who love those songs but 'butterfly kisses' creeps me out!). So I googled 'not lame father/daughter dance songs'. No dice. I think it actually googled extra lame ones. I also wanted to make absolutely sure I didn't accidentally pick a song about something crazy inappropriate ala Michael and Maeby singing 'Afternoon Delight'.

(the clip is about 3 minutes 10 seconds in, fyi)

So I decided on Warren Zevon's "Tenderness On the Block" because:

1- warren rules

2-my dad thinks warren rules

3- its not creepy

(I wanted to post a youtube link but no such luck. feel free to listen to jackson browne's acoustic version because thats all youtube's giving ya)

geek love

2010-05-05T17:53:00.000-07:00

So we want to have table numbers so it will make it easier for the buffet style food at the wedding. No assigned seating but I will need to make about 20 or so table numbers (the more the merrier, I can probably put sign at various areas like food, photobooth, etc). So an idea I had was to use comic images and to put numbers with them (the comic theme is obv all over the invites but really nowhere else). I was thinking along the lines of this:

(image from here)

I would love to use the line images and then put numbers with them. I love that image of the head and the lightning. Can I just add that me and Ryan first got together over music not comics (Elvis Costello if you're wondering)? I had never read a comic before him. Now I do read the occasional graphic novel or indie comic. I was thinking it would be cool to use images from books I love too. For example:

(craig thompson's goodbye chunky rice image from here)

(daniel clowes...i think from 'like a velvet glove cast in iron'? image from here)

(jamie hernandez's maggie and hopey from love and rockets image from here)

or Adrian Tomine or Gilbert Hernandez or Charles Burns, etc etc etc

Ryan asked me the other day if I was going to regret having a wedding with superhero elements and I said no. The more I think about it, the more excited I am to have a wedding that is totally us. There's been a lot of talk about how no one's wedding is unique lately and I totally agree with that. I am finding that the less I worry about having the most 'unique crafty wedding to end all weddings', the more excited I am.

the other dresses

2010-05-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

If any of you are like me and have a million wedding to attend in the next coming months along with you own, get thee to the nearest Target! They have some super sweet dresses* (even Zac Posen!) I bought:

(all images via target.com)

* please don't judge me for buying a 'junior' dress (top one). its wicked cute

also, did I mention I only spent about $60?!

fail or win?

2010-05-03T03:23:00.000-07:00

So I finished assembling, lining, stamping and stuffing the invites. All that's left is addressing. But I did stumble upon something as I put them together which made me have to go back through them and do some 'editing'.

So here is the page I photocopied to use as the envelope liners. I just flipped through the comic and found it at random:

Pretty good right? Lots of stuff happening, good color. So I cut it into strips and lined just the top half of the envelopes. As I got near the end, I actually read some of the dialog (which looks particularly bad when cut off):

So I had to do some copy/pasting as not to cause great aunts to think less of me. Otherwise, it is fairly hilarious.

What do you think? Fail or win?

Happy Friday!

2010-04-30T04:06:00.000-07:00

Some things that made my life lately:

-awesome email exchange between me and my sistah. She is the best around and she is almost done with her freshman year at art school! Laura- I am buying you tons of Marylous when you visit.

-hearing from my dad that my grandma is very determined to come to the wedding. This is despite her fear of flying (and she may even be flying alone). I am so impressed and excited to see her (if we cook together when she comes to visit, shortening will probably be involved...scratch the word 'probably'). Yay for Nans!

-watching old episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000, hanging with my future hubs

***note to self: do not try to assemble invites while watching Parks and Recreation. you will mess up due to the hilarity (anyone else watch this show? it might be my favorite show on now...well except for all the crazy embarassing stuff I watch like 'help! i'm turning into a giant'...I find it hard to say no to shows that are entire sentences long (see also: 'i didn't know i was pregnant'))

Have a great weekend, all! I hope to get some serious wedding stuff done! I'm thinking table numbers (to make it easier for buffet lines, don't think we are doing assigned seating) and some kind of container to hold the flags I made.

invites!

2010-04-28T17:37:00.000-07:00

So I am in the midst of assembling the invites ( we don't have all the stamps we got off ebay yet but I figured I might as well get a head start)

This is a pretty crummy picture but basically I made color copies of a random comic book page (it was from the superman wedding issue) and cut that up to use as a liner. p.s. yes, the envelopes are totally from office max and no, I totally don't care.

RSVP postcard front:

(you can't see it on this image but the ones we are sending out have a line for people to write their names)

RSVP flip side:

(I blocked out our address, there isn't just a random black box on it. Its not that I don't want you guys to visit me, its just everyone else. There was an alternate version featuring kryptonite in lieu of Lex Luthor but that was not to be. Also, if anyone was wondering I ended up buying the king & queen stamps for the postcards)

Invite front:

Invite inside:

Is it just me or does sending these out make the wedding feel more real than buying the dress ever did?

what's the opposite of a brideszilla?

2010-04-26T17:51:00.001-07:00

So I am a people pleaser. It's just who I am. I hate conflict. I don't like to rock the boat. So basically out of fear of being labeled the wretched b word, I sometimes go so far in the other direction, I get walked all over. But today! I went out of my comfort zone and it totally worked in my favor! Wooooooo! So basically I dropped off my invites to be printed this weekend and when I picked them up tonight they were printed on...computer paper?! I mean really?! So I called the manager and was sweet as pie and she totally refunded me, printed them on cardstock and had the whole thing done in 20 minutes or so. I only had to pay the difference (what it would have cost anyways) which I was more than okay with since they were not expensive to begin with. Also, my invites are double sided and are going to be folded like greeting cards so that means I am investing in what I used to think was the silliest thing going:

(image via martha)

thats right. a bone folder, people.

I hear the craft store calling me.

Am I a snob if...

2010-04-25T14:55:00.000-07:00

I think the one available postcard postage stamp available through the post office is hella lame?

(image via usps.com)

I feel like I spent a little too much time on my rsvp postcards to slap a polar bear on them. Especially since our invite stamps are so awesome. Zazzle has most of their stamps available in 28 cents as well but are still about twice as much then if i bought them elsewhere. But it sure is hard to resist zazzle's appeal when they offer such wonderful stamps as this:

(the appropriately named 'cat lost in space')

Thinking I'm probably going to just use a 44 cent one I like a little better. Unless, any other suggestions?? (also, no disrespect to people who like polar bears!)

In other news:

-Talked with my aunt about flowers. She is planning to grown all the flowers for my centerpieces. How awesome is she?!

-Dropped off invites to be printed (picking them up tomorrow!)

What what

stamps for invites? check!

2010-04-24T10:26:00.000-07:00

(we bought 8 sheets off ebay since they are only 39 cents each)

hello, is it me you're looking for?

2010-04-23T17:02:00.001-07:00

so my friend came over today to make wedding crafts yet instead we chatted and ate cookies. She also gave me great wedding advice (which is always appreciated!) on topics from guests to open bar and so forth. She also made really sweet comments about everything I've made and made me feel really good about our plans so far. I need to see her more (she is also in the selective group that makes me laugh until I cry; also she has an amazing husband who sends us books and the cutest kids around). Who knows what is up for today? I certainly have many things to work on. Tomorrow, like I said before is flower time. I'll keep you posted, kids. Just thought I'd drop in and say hi

(also I totally loooove this hair via cup of jo)

tea time

2010-04-20T06:18:00.000-07:00

If I registered for china, I would have registered for these babies:

(all from trixiedelicious's etsy shop..unfortunately all of the above (that I had saved in my favorites) are sold out...but she has more fun things in her shop too!!!)

bling, pt. 2

2010-04-19T03:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates but there really haven't been any. I need to work on the invites. I'm meeting with my aunt next weekend to talk flowers. Need to figure out all the details I'm forgetting about. My good friend is coming over this week for some delicious take out and hot glueing of crafts. My goal tonight was to get some lace but that did not happen due to a combo of staying late at work and running other errands. See? I got nothing, peeps. Well, I have done one thing...

(ring from here)

You like?

** side note: I realize I wasn't very clear above. I bought this ring last night!

or f 'all of the above'

2010-04-15T18:21:00.000-07:00

Help me pick one! (back story: I went to the fabric store today and bought 1/3 yard of several different types of lace and then picked up my dollar store order of vases...a few minutes and some hot glue later...)

D!*

E!*

*both are more off-white and/or tan than white, not sure if you can tell from my less than stellar photos

presto!

2010-04-14T16:42:00.000-07:00

(image via here)

I am researching affordable bed & breakfasts for our honeymoon and just found a place in Vermont that will give me 10% off if I am a "librarian, quilter or magician". Those are the kind of people I want to do business with.

checkity-check check check

2010-04-14T04:01:00.001-07:00

(image from here)

Finally an item to formally check off the ridiculous list! The "rehearsal dinner" is now in my momma's hands. Yes! I put quotation marks around it because it really is actually more of an informal dinner to get a chance to actually see my out of state relatives traveling for the wedding before the day off (since rumor has it no one really gets to see/spend a lot of time with anyone individually). I think we're going to "rehearse" when our officiant is nearby and if we can take her to the place so she can see the layout. Otherwise, its morning of, people. So back to the dinner, we were brainstorming last night between bites of pizza and one thing she said got me so jazzed "how about a clam bake?". Not sure if that is actually how its going to go down, but I am super psyched nonetheless.

Now:

rings

honeymoon

invites

finish decorations

Obv, there is a bunch more but I think that can fill my plate for now. Also, my lovely ladies are throwing me a crafty party and I need to bring some crafts to make. I am thinking that this is a good time to bring tissue paper to make those large hanging poms poms and maybe put people to stringing my garlands? Any input? What are good group wedding craft projects?

piles & pounds

2010-04-12T15:58:00.000-07:00

This weekend I added to the growing piles of these:

(sorry its so dark, its like looking into the great pom abyss)

all I have left of all the fabric I bought are these four towers of circles:

oh yeah. and three pounds of yarn

and now instead of working on more, I find myself watching some stupid show. I'd turn it off but I'm too far in now and have to see how it ends.

***update: totally saw that coming...I knew he was the killer and had multiple personalities. What what. Years of watching court tv has primed me to identify whodunit pretty quickly. Still got it!

make fun of me if you want.....

2010-04-10T11:07:00.000-07:00

...but I am so jazzed to see the dollar tree has a website! why did I never think to check this out before?! I just ordered cylindrical vases for all the tables for $1/each and I can pick them up at the store down the street from me! BLAMMO! I was hoping to order some woven baskets as well but I have to order those in boxes of 48 and they come in assorted colors. Any good suggestions for bulk cheap woven baskets? I can always just scout out the dollar stores and visit everyone in the area until I manage to buy 20 of them.

(image from dollartree.com)

Now I just need to buy some awesome lace and hot glue it up. I am so excited for how cheap this is! woo!

Now, I need to work on flowers with my aunt, buy our rings, figure out our honeymoon, buy some fabric, make some garlands, buy a remote timer...well the list is pretty long but I'm really excited to work on it now!

***also: thank you everyone for all your great tips about timing our wedding day! me and Ry talked for a long time last night about everything wedding and I think we have finally got the day down. Special thanks a lot to my event planning friend Jill who managed to break down the entire 1-6 event for me with times. How awesome is she?!

***also, have a great weekend, everyone!

advice!!!

2010-04-09T03:57:00.000-07:00

(you can buy this print here)

Okay so heres the deal: First off, happy friday! Second, I need some advice from soon-to-be brides and from those already married:

How the heck did you arrange the timing of your wedding day????

Heres the scoop with ours: 1-6pm in August, 150ish people, ceremony & reception both in one place. No day of coordinator (that will be whoever of our close family/friends wants to help us corral everyone...actually I really think we should have a reality show to find out who should do it). So we have the ceremony 1-1:30ish then what? We take photos 1:30-2:30ish but do we serve appetizers? have people sit and eat? We are having a buffet so people will need to serve themselves but there will be servers dishing out the food. We are trying to estimate how long it will take 150 peeps to wait in line and get their bbq. We just want to make sure we time it that we can eat, get dances/speeches in, and have fun without worrying about if we have enough time left (we are taking photos after too so the photos aren't the issue mostly timing the grub is)

Advice?!?!?!?

(thanks in advance!)

bling

2010-04-06T04:03:00.000-07:00

(clearly I should be a hand model...kidding!)

So one of the 64 things (!!!) the knot says I have overdue for the wedding is buying our rings (I know I shouldn't look at the big dumb knot...I clearly need help). I just want something small and simple to compliment my engagement ring which is more important to me since it was his grandmother's. Finding a simple band is more crazy and expensive than I thought (like everything else!!!). These are some of the ones I'm looking at (some of the original people I had bookmarked have closed up shop). I like this, this, this, this, this and this.

Your thoughts?

dun dun dun dun

2010-04-05T04:12:00.000-07:00

The porcelain cats I bought for the cake topper are missing.... and here are the culprits:

(I wish I had some better mugshot photos but these will have to do)

why do they think everything I have/make is a toy for them (especially when they have actual toys too)????

getting stuff done is awesome

2010-04-04T05:55:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter! Seeing as the only thing I will be accomplishing today is eating, I thought I would post the projects I worked on yesterday:

stamped all the favor boxes! For some reason the 'n' in the stamp put up such a fight to show up on the boxes. I keep being like 'what the n!?' and Ryan was like 'what are you saying???' (side note: I made the stamps for the bibs and favor boxes using discounted clear stamp sets and clear squares found on sale in the dollar section which I hot glued together to build my own stamp! pretty cheap and crafty of me I must say)

finished stamping and packing all the bibs! now my hands are stained and fingers ache from pressing down on the plastic. Sorry for that annoying complaint!

and last but not least....so many yarn poms!!!
*** side note: these are teal. not sure why they look bright blue

Also, if we decide to invest in a remote for the digital camera people to take their pictures at the wedding, this is the fabric I want as the backdrop:

**all pictures from my phone...not bad for a phone!

Happy Friday!

2010-04-02T12:16:00.001-07:00

So sorry I have not been around much this week! I was so swamped at work and kind of in a foul mood so my posts would have probably been awful! But I am now in the midst of a three day weekend and have enough fabric, yarn and crafts to last me a lifetime so hopefully I can post some actual crafty business soon. And I have an iced coffee and a beautiful day. What else could a girl want? (If you said ice cream, I was thinking that too). Wish me luck!

(you can buy this print here)

little bits

2010-03-29T18:45:00.000-07:00

sort of updates:

*work is totally kicking my butt lately so I leave with less than zero energy but still have been making poms! and baking like a crazy person (tonight I made chocolate banana bread and crackle cookies). at this point I have just been making the yarn poms but as soon as I get into the groove of them and get cocky and go super fast, I screw them up. Note to self: stop thinking you are the pom-master.

* as mentioned before, my hair is getting crazy long. So I have been experimenting with it. I did some side braids, etc and wore my hair like this to work today (um don't mind my crazy split ends and frizz):

(image via Ryan's iphone....i really wanted to take a picture of me winking at the camera too then i remembered how ridiculous i look when i wink and how for some reason i always have my mouth open too)

in conclusion, it took about 5 minutes to do and everyone at work was all "ooooohh" (lets just say I usually put less than zero effect into my hair on a normal basis) and everyone was like 'is this your wedding hair?"....hmmmm maybe?

*I really need to stop looking at wedding images but here is a new one I have fallen for:

(image from this wedding bee post)

um yes please. now someone needs to tell me where I can get about 20 hurricane vases for next to nothing. thank you in advance.

sunday funday!

2010-03-28T18:31:00.001-07:00

today I bought this:

and this:

to make this!

Also, I bought some great fabric and an ink pad (yay!) and had the most super fabulous day with my best friend. Yesterday, I went on a grand adventure with the fiance. I need more weekends like this!

#%!@

2010-03-27T18:08:00.001-07:00

(image via once wed)

Do you ever start a project only to realize that you are missing one key piece? For example, you are looking to stamp the rest of your webbing bibs for your bbq wedding only to find you don't have any ink. So I made some fabric flowers and ate ice cream instead! Good Saturday!

peepin'

2010-03-25T03:24:00.000-07:00

(image via just born store)

so I feel kinda of bad since this happens every year but I have fallen off the 'let's get fit and diet' crusade I was so happy to be on in January. If my life was successive idealistic Januarys, there would be no problem. However, whatever I try to do to prevent it, February also comes along and is always bad news. It may be a short month but it packs one hell of a lazy punch. I think I just need to find an exercise I like doing. Also, is that real? Any suggestions? And please don't give me 'Oh you'll loooove lifting weights and going to the gym' because I'm not so sure about that. Actually I'm definetly sure about that. I won't be loving anything of the kind, especially not looooving it.

Also, I am a super fan of easter candy and no I am not eight. This further puts a dent into my 'be healthier' plans. On a related note, have you guys had chocolate covered peeps yet? Not as good as I had hoped but that didn't stop me from eating two. Now I just need to find my beloved sweetarts 'chicks, ducks and bunnies' and it will officially be brought on.

chop chop

2010-03-24T03:09:00.000-07:00

(image from here)

so i wore my hair down yesterday which i haven't been doing too often lately because my hair is getting really long (i can't sit on it or anything but it is atleast half way down my back...if it was long enough for me to sit on my 5 year old self would be so psyched! that was my main life goal at age 5...well that and to eat cheez-its for every meal). so anyways i get home, its raining and i throw my hair up because i am sick and tired of it. i look in the mirror and although i am a hot mess my hair looks perfect. what is the deal with that?!?!?! that always happens to me!!!! even if i am thinking "don't think about your hair" just the thought will make my hair look stupid if i try to style it like " hi i just threw my hair together and yes it is fabulous" it always looks like "hi i just got caught in a tornado that was localized only on my head".

so anyways, this makes me a little nervous about my hair for my wedding seeing as it will be the most focused I've been on my hair in a while. probably since the prom (and i had one hell of a hair helmet of curls that night...).

thank god my sister is doing my hair and she is totally excellent and knows how to use a brush.

also: i want bangs sooo bad...anyone else make big hair changes (or is thinking of doing so) before the wedding?

zazzled

2010-03-23T17:21:00.000-07:00

alright friends, heres the skinny:

* ordered favor boxes (up until a couple days ago I have no idea that boxes had different names. well maybe vaguely but i didn't know anything beyond big, smaller, long. but i ordered 200 mini gable boxes so I will have approximately 50 left over. dear all friends and family, every gift you get for the next 5 years will be in a mini gable box)

(image from here)

* this reminds me, how crazy is it if I make the marshmallows for the favors myself? I have made marshmallows from scratch before a couple times and it would be way more delicious than stay puff but way cheaper than gourmet ones

* received the mini pencils in the mail. man, that vendor was beyond psyched I ordered them

* been talking to the best lady about doing some centerpiece mock ups to figure out what I like and what to invest in. i can't wait to visit her without having to worry about my car breaking down! also my aunt seems really jazzed to help me with the flower situation! yeesssssss...

*need to get some kind of game plan and rally all the people who keep offering to help me

* spent a bunch of time looking at stamps today (right?! as if this is something normal people do in their spare time) after seeing the ridiculous great stamps ms. awesome weds used. I really love these:

(both stamp designs by hallmarkeveryday on zazzle)

I love the illustrations and it would still be using our superhero theme on the invites (there's a tiny superman on the buildings if you can't see him)

did i mention i'm surrounded by piles of half finished wedding projects but i am sitting here eating popsicles in my jams and watching 'food paradise' on the travel channel for the zillionth time? what is my deal?

I'm back, baby

2010-03-22T16:25:00.000-07:00

I don't know if any of you watch Futurama but I am saying the above title in my head just like Bender would. After a weekend filled with decidedly non-wedding activities like:

*baking cookies...vegan cookies since I have a plethora of ripe bananas and no butter and well because frankly they are a super delicious...try these or these)
*planting (indoor starter) seeds for spring! (bunch of herbs, various sizes and colors of tomatoes, lettuces, peppers)
*making spice rubs/mixes (i'm sort of a food nut)
*cleaning house ( as much as I hate it, how good does it feel after youre done?!)
* doing tons of laundry!
*reading!

after a nice break and some good talks, I think I am back in business and back on track! Today I ordered golf pencils off ebay to have with the postcards. I don't know if I'm their first customer or what but I got about 5 emails thanking me for buying a $5 box of mini golf pencils. You are welcome! Then I also bought some glassine bags for the favors and am debating on what kraft boxes to buy. I am thinking these:

(image from here)

to make these:

(from this ebay seller)

your thoughts? also, your comments are too sweet! what a nice group of blogger friends!

***also, I gave in and emailed my garden club auntie about flowers. the paper flowers are sitting in a vase in the room mocking me and making fun of me for giving up but I don't care. They are not the boss of me!

sorry!

2010-03-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I promise I'll back soon with hopefully good projects, etc to report. i need a little bloggy break to sort some things out. So to tide you over, heres a picture of a dog wearing glasses:

(image via the always awesome hipster puppies)

hope to be back (for real) soon!

ain't that the way, the way it's supposed to be

2010-03-18T16:01:00.000-07:00

Alright so heres the deal: kinda having a bummer of a week so not in the best of moods (i am a ridiculously emotional person to begin with...see: last week's post about the office wedding). So not surprisingly, this post is about wedding stress. Well more specifically the crazy things it makes me do like cry, pig out and in general act like a maniac.
So.... as you know, I just bought a new car and this new ride came with a cd player. Now even though I have an ipod I find myself listening to the radio more often than the ipod (not to mention I have the "original" ipod...the big, clunky one thanks to a dad who for years always bought me the newest coolest piece of technology. it has died on me several times but it's still kicking...somewhere in the house...). So the radio means Hall and Oates if I'm lucky (ya thats right I said it...I love them, get over it) or a funny dj if I can't deal with any songs. So on my way out the door this morning, I grabbed two random cd books. On the way in to work, I listened to one of my favorite, favorite albums, In an Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel. It was good like it always is. On the way home, I got caught behind an insane accident so I was just sitting in awful parking lot-like traffic. So I was thumbing through the book and stumbled upon one of my favorite albums when I was high school. Thats right "Losing Streak" by Less than Jake. One of my many high school music phases involved ska. So here I am screaming at the top of my lungs along with "How's my Driving, Doug Hastings?" while sitting in traffic. I am 26, dressed in my work clothes, wearing my thick glasses and driving my Aveo but I might as well be 15, wearing board shorts, a blink 182 shirt and all the plastic jewelry they sell at Hot Topic (or all the jewelry a high school kid working at Dunkin Donuts can afford...which is surprisingly alot) and driving my grand prix. It was totally awesome. And I think to think that maybe I made someone else's day who saw me rockin out and having a blast and smiled to themselves while stuck in traffic after a long day.

So that my friends is the secret: rockin' out. Isn't that always the solution?