As we come upon the end of April, I look back on this month - which has felt incredibly long and somehow has sped by - and instead of feeling like I somehow survived it, I feel pretty good. I got a lot of projects started, which is awesome-rific because that means that I'm not sitting on my hams doing nothing.
I'm one of those people who, when faced with a large, time constrained project (one that doesn't involve writing... with writing I am totally the other way around... hence why I have started a million stories and finished none) I like to do it now, get it over with, and sit back and relax as it comes closer. I have heard many brides telling me that the last two weeks before the wedding they had nothing to do, so they had to rest on their laurels till the big day. They like to note how miserable this was.
Just to take a look into the future (and to prove my point) the last two weeks of my wedding contain Christmas (a Saturday) and New Years Day (also a Saturday). The last two weeks of my wedding year will be spent running around during all the craziness of the holidays, trying not to break any nails/teeth/eyelashes/limbs, and holding myself back from eating every cookie in sight. There will be no "two weeks before my wedding." I've come to terms with this.
My mother has asked me "What are you going to do in July and August when you have done all your wedding stuff too early?"
The short answer, "Either sit on my hams and enjoy it or I won't have everything done by then." (sorry, I liked the 'sitting on my hams' analogy so I wanted to use it again).
The long answer is that there are no two ways about it that there will be now ham-sitting. If you take the amount of months until our wedding - pretty much 7 months and 8 days... just because we happen to be sitting at the end of April - and divide it vaguely in half, that's about as much time as we have. Every other month or so of the next year is FULL of non-wedding related things. Looking forward:
April - VENDOR MONTH, all wedding, all the time
May - Nothing, no time at all. Brain Tumor Society Race for Hope, a birthday party, baby shower planning (or something, I'm just doing what I'm told), Mother's day, Trip to NY so Fiance can meet most of my family (and hopefully not run screaming back to NoVa)
June - My plan is bridesmaid dresses and a trip to Men's Warehouse so boyface can try on some tuxes and we can come to a decision on that. I also hope to have the bouquets done before this time.
July - Non-wedding related hell month - My birthday (I'm turning 25! So this constitutes an entire weekend dedicated to the celebration of it. I told you I wasn't going to let this wedding define me and I'm certainly not going to let it ruin my quarter century birthday!), the fourth of July, a baby shower, my brother is leaving for bootcamp and my parents are going out of town. Mom also wants to go to see hotels for our out of towners sometime in July. I'm not sure when that's going to happen...
August - SCRAMBLE! I want to get the invites out early November so we best be getting the last minute details figured out. I also need to start getting appointments ready for the fall. ie: hair/makeup trials, underwear, try to get my dress designed, get the bridal part uniforms ordered.
I don't even want to think about what happens after that... It goes something like a baby being born, a halloween party, various wedding satellite parties, and me red faced, standing over a paper cutter with a paper punch in one hand and eggplant cardstock in the other, and a intravenous bag of sweet tea vodka directly to my right...Note that there are only 4 weekends in each month... and I work full time so if it's happening, it's happening on the weekend. I also didn't count any of the DIY projects I have set up for myself. Here's a small list of what I can think of at this exact momenet: bouquets, boutenneires, card box, French memo board for 'guest book', cards for 'guest book', programs, out of town bags, table numbers... That's all off the top of my head. And a lot of them I can't do until we get closer.
So, I started this post feeling fulfilled that I had started all these projects and gotten almost all of my vendors signed.
I have somehow managed to stress myself out by describing the year ahead. Running off at the pen (keyboard?) as usual for me...
But at least I have vented my stress for now so Boyface doesn't have to listen to it anymore...
Oh, and as an aside... I have never, ever had allergies before. The 'screw-you' fairy has bit me... hard... on my hams...
-Bo.J.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Flowers - finally, I did promise... and what was that about cake?
My post-titling skills notwithstanding (I mean come on... let's look at the big picture here. I named my blog "Hell Year - Planning My Wedding (meh)" and so far the only part of it that is accurate is the (meh) because it hasn't really been hellish...) I am holding true to my aforementioned flower post.
Mom and I settled in, poured some wine (duh) and spread out our silk flowers all around us.
These are the components to my bouquet. The white flowers are peonies, my absolute favorite flower. Now, before I go too much further, let me explain why I am having silks. First of all, my wedding is in January. I don't know about the rest of the world but 'round these parts that's the dead of winter. Most flowers aren't exactly blooming in January so having really flowers would be expensive and, for the most part, the quality wouldn't be as good. And, I really wanted to have my absolute favorite flower (see above, ie: peonies) and they bloom exclusively in May. Peonies are actually a symbol of a long and happy marriage (according to some website I read, believed, and didn't keep the URL to... fact checkers crucify me now) so this is appropriate.
Anyways, the dark purple (shall we call it eggplant or aubergine? we shall!) flowers are anemones in eggplant (joy!). The reason I chose aubergine as my wedding color is because I thought it was a very wintery, dramatic look in the way that the purple pops off the white. I wanted to capture this feeling in my bouquet.
The reveal! Honestly, this picture doesn't do it justice. The fullness and beauty of the peonies is really showcased in how I put this together. And those are the things that I really love about the peony. It is a very flowery flower. It has a lot of petals, it is full to bursting, and it smells AMAZING.
By the way, if you want to try the most beautiful, light, and feminine scent ever, you'll have to be very lucky.
Bath & Body works doesn't sell it anymore (Sad Panda x 3,000). Howeeeveeerrr, FMIL got me three of four bottles when you could still by them on the B&BW website for my birthday a couple years back. I have at least a bottle and half left and I try to switch it out with other body splashes so it lasts. But when I googled to find this image, I noticed that there were a few places like eCrater that are selling it. It's really unfortunate that they took it off the shelves. It really is a great every day type of body spray.
And this is (a glass of Chardonnay) and my first Bridesmaid bouquet! I used small white roses and the same eggplant anemones for the girls' bouquets. For MOH's bouquet, I will use some peonies, some roses, and some anemones to make hers a little special. We will be using some eggplant ribbon to wrap the bouquets once we can get the stems cut... which will take a pair of wire cutters and some brawn.
We still have MOH's bouquet, 3 more bridesmaid bouquets, and 1 smaller bouquet for my Jr bridesmaid left. But it felt good to get these started because they were a really pretty and just made me smile. I am glad we are going with silks. It'll be nice to have these flowers around for the rest of my life.
We also got a toss bouquet, preconstructed with some different flowers in it. It is actually really pretty and will make a nice gift for whoever catches it. "All the single ladies... all the single ladies..." Great... now it's stuck in my head...
On the cake front, the cake lady's oven broke the Friday before our meeting so we had to reschedule. So... nothing on that front. Other than the fact that Mom talked me into 4 tiers. That way the top tier that we take with us for our 1 year anniversary will a) be smaller and b) have chocolatebuttercream on it. (mmmmm) Either mom takes some sort of sick pleasure out of changing my mind about things, or she is overflowing with wisdom. I think she walks the very thin balance beam between the two...
-Bo.J.
Mom and I settled in, poured some wine (duh) and spread out our silk flowers all around us.
These are the components to my bouquet. The white flowers are peonies, my absolute favorite flower. Now, before I go too much further, let me explain why I am having silks. First of all, my wedding is in January. I don't know about the rest of the world but 'round these parts that's the dead of winter. Most flowers aren't exactly blooming in January so having really flowers would be expensive and, for the most part, the quality wouldn't be as good. And, I really wanted to have my absolute favorite flower (see above, ie: peonies) and they bloom exclusively in May. Peonies are actually a symbol of a long and happy marriage (according to some website I read, believed, and didn't keep the URL to... fact checkers crucify me now) so this is appropriate.Anyways, the dark purple (shall we call it eggplant or aubergine? we shall!) flowers are anemones in eggplant (joy!). The reason I chose aubergine as my wedding color is because I thought it was a very wintery, dramatic look in the way that the purple pops off the white. I wanted to capture this feeling in my bouquet.
The reveal! Honestly, this picture doesn't do it justice. The fullness and beauty of the peonies is really showcased in how I put this together. And those are the things that I really love about the peony. It is a very flowery flower. It has a lot of petals, it is full to bursting, and it smells AMAZING.By the way, if you want to try the most beautiful, light, and feminine scent ever, you'll have to be very lucky.
Bath & Body works doesn't sell it anymore (Sad Panda x 3,000). Howeeeveeerrr, FMIL got me three of four bottles when you could still by them on the B&BW website for my birthday a couple years back. I have at least a bottle and half left and I try to switch it out with other body splashes so it lasts. But when I googled to find this image, I noticed that there were a few places like eCrater that are selling it. It's really unfortunate that they took it off the shelves. It really is a great every day type of body spray.
And this is (a glass of Chardonnay) and my first Bridesmaid bouquet! I used small white roses and the same eggplant anemones for the girls' bouquets. For MOH's bouquet, I will use some peonies, some roses, and some anemones to make hers a little special. We will be using some eggplant ribbon to wrap the bouquets once we can get the stems cut... which will take a pair of wire cutters and some brawn.We still have MOH's bouquet, 3 more bridesmaid bouquets, and 1 smaller bouquet for my Jr bridesmaid left. But it felt good to get these started because they were a really pretty and just made me smile. I am glad we are going with silks. It'll be nice to have these flowers around for the rest of my life.
We also got a toss bouquet, preconstructed with some different flowers in it. It is actually really pretty and will make a nice gift for whoever catches it. "All the single ladies... all the single ladies..." Great... now it's stuck in my head...
On the cake front, the cake lady's oven broke the Friday before our meeting so we had to reschedule. So... nothing on that front. Other than the fact that Mom talked me into 4 tiers. That way the top tier that we take with us for our 1 year anniversary will a) be smaller and b) have chocolatebuttercream on it. (mmmmm) Either mom takes some sort of sick pleasure out of changing my mind about things, or she is overflowing with wisdom. I think she walks the very thin balance beam between the two...
-Bo.J.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
SHOESIES and, oh yeah... flowers, too
So... what's the best part about anything? When it comes... 4 days before you thought it would! I received a little doober in my mail box saying I had a package at our leasing office. Well... let's just say I threw on whatever I could find that was decent (was in the middle of changing out of work clothes when I found the little yellow slip) and bounded over to the office. I scared the receptionist (I'm sure) because when she presented me with the box I squealed, grabbed it from her, hugged it to my chest, and ran back to my apartment. Because it just happened to LOOK like a shoe box.
Aaand if it LOOKS like a shoebox....
SMELLS like a shoebox (Bo gets to see what everything smells like when it comes into the house... seeing as he's a scent hound and all...)
And TASTES like a shoe box...
OOOH! IT'S A SHOEBOX!!!
Alright... so I was a little scared when I saw the condition of the box... But I, a discount shoe whore, know better than to judge a shoe by its shoebox. So... in we go!
Awesome! Not even out of the bags!!
Super perfect! The only freakin shoes I could find that are a kitten/small heel and aren't UGLY AS SIN! See... I have a little problem. First of all, let's put it out there. My problem is heels. I LUUURVE heels. I own about sixty, I'm sure... much to boyface's chagrin, I buy on a regular basis (mostly on sale... mwaha) I'm a tall girl. In tall shoes. Mhmm... there is nothing sexier than a good pair of heels... but I digress...
Unfortunately, my other little problem is directly related to Future Hubby and Heel Obsession. When we started dating, we were of height. He's grown a bit since then (that's right! If you can't find a good man, raise one! I am 2 and a half years older than him! Cradle robbers unite!) and is now maybe 2 inches taller than me. Most of the time when we go out this doesn't bother me. I duck in pictures and feel good about myself and all that in my fancy dancy high heels. However, on my wedding day... when we are standing at the altar... I don't want to be a head taller than him! I just don't! I contemplated ballet flats... but I have big feet and walk like a freakin duck in ballet flats... And kitten heels often equal ugly shoe. And, dammit, I want purple shoes!
These little beauts showed up on Amazon and I could not be happier. They are cute! They are short! And they are... DYEABLE!!
Aaand if it LOOKS like a shoebox....
SMELLS like a shoebox (Bo gets to see what everything smells like when it comes into the house... seeing as he's a scent hound and all...)
And TASTES like a shoe box...
OOOH! IT'S A SHOEBOX!!!
Alright... so I was a little scared when I saw the condition of the box... But I, a discount shoe whore, know better than to judge a shoe by its shoebox. So... in we go!
Awesome! Not even out of the bags!!
Super perfect! The only freakin shoes I could find that are a kitten/small heel and aren't UGLY AS SIN! See... I have a little problem. First of all, let's put it out there. My problem is heels. I LUUURVE heels. I own about sixty, I'm sure... much to boyface's chagrin, I buy on a regular basis (mostly on sale... mwaha) I'm a tall girl. In tall shoes. Mhmm... there is nothing sexier than a good pair of heels... but I digress...Unfortunately, my other little problem is directly related to Future Hubby and Heel Obsession. When we started dating, we were of height. He's grown a bit since then (that's right! If you can't find a good man, raise one! I am 2 and a half years older than him! Cradle robbers unite!) and is now maybe 2 inches taller than me. Most of the time when we go out this doesn't bother me. I duck in pictures and feel good about myself and all that in my fancy dancy high heels. However, on my wedding day... when we are standing at the altar... I don't want to be a head taller than him! I just don't! I contemplated ballet flats... but I have big feet and walk like a freakin duck in ballet flats... And kitten heels often equal ugly shoe. And, dammit, I want purple shoes!
These little beauts showed up on Amazon and I could not be happier. They are cute! They are short! And they are... DYEABLE!!
You thought you were gonna get a picture of my beautiful heels on my feet didn't you? Bo had other ideas...
There they are! (Dammit Bo!) Forgive my scarred feet... I bought a new pair of heeled sandals a couple of weeks ago (see!) and the blisters are still heeling. But aren't the shoes just perfect? High enough to look like a heel...
And the half pump and a peep toe! Two of my favorite elements in a shoe! (Note size of foot! Those honkers look like clown feet in ballet flats... However, AE flats actually look good on them. So I have two pairs of those for work and/or cute with jeans. If you have long feet like I do, give them a check out you can only get them at Payless [BOGO!!!])
Bo's final approval!
Now... I have had some inspiration recently in the form of one other bride's shoe purchase. I heart the bow thing... HEART IT! So my idea is to A) dye the shoe dark purple because that's the best color in the world. and then to B) make some sort of bow shoe clip to attach where I please. Now, I found these on Etsy. If the dyeing doesn't work out, (test strip included with shoes) I will leave them white and then maybe just buy those for the clip part... However, if we do dye them I am hesitant to buy online for color match purposes so we will be making our bows... This might be challenging and doomed... But god I love those bows...
Times I mispelled the word 'Bow' as 'Bo' as in, my dog's name... about 13. And I was trying...
Flowers? What? Oh... total shoe ADD fail. I will get them up. For now? I am going to wear the shoes while vacuuming to break them in :D (and make boyface put on his nice shoes [lovingly dubbed the Al Pacino shoes] so that I can make sure he is indeed taller than me. Measurements will be taken....)
-Bo.J.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Update for the ages
So in all my excitement about my new camera (squeal) I forgot to write about the meeting with the Officiant on Sunday.
After taking the most complicated route EVER to Herndon, we found the Panera where we were going to be meeting him. Of course, boyface wanted to get something to eat. I was too nervous to eat anything (I get very anxious when it comes to 'new.' This comes out most predominantly when meeting new people. Also see new places, new restaurants, and new 'things.' Not that it ever stops me, but it makes me kind of sick to my stomach and fidgety and I do that nervous laughter that makes people stare at me and wonder what psychological disorder I've been recently diagnosed with... but I get through! If I didn't, I wouldn't have a month in Egypt, several trips to Philadelphia, an Art History Degree, 5 tattoos, or an engagement ring...) While we were ordering, we were approached by the Officiant. I figured he'd know it was us. Yes, I am so guilty of toting my wedding planner with me EVERYWHERE so I'm pretty easy to spot.
He endeared himself to us very quickly. Hockey talk usually gets us going. 5 points for potential officiant!
We told our story... talked about what we wanted... mentioned Taoism... he started in about chimes and Eastern ceremonies. That all didn't matter... what is more important is that he was easy to talk to, willing to work with us to do what we wanted, and he told me that he had once told a bride's father to shut up and get back in line. This, I like.
So, that is over with. Pressure off. Now we just have to get the money together... ya know, this century and all.
Last night, mom and I worked on some bouquets. I have to get the pictures off my (NEW!) camera so I will post those later on.
We've hit a little hiccup with my dad that I don't even want to talk about. No matter how anonymous I feel this blog may be... putting my complaining on the internet is not exactly what I call safe. So let's just say... it's a little hiccup... and just causes more grief because I'm a child of divorce who reacts to divorce hiccups as such. I'm terrified of involvement outside of those that... have my best interests at heart. That sounds terrible but, let's remind ourselves, this is my wedding. Shouldn't it be mostly in my best interest? And Mr. Boyface's?
I dunno... like I said... don't really want to go into detail. Just know that, no matter how 'friendly' your divorce may be, it does effect everything your kids experience in life even after they've 'gotten over it.' There are times that it would be nicer and, frankly, easier if I had a 'normal' family. But this is the hand I've been dealt and I've got to play it to the best of my ability... and hope to A) Make the best of it and B) give my kids the best I can.
Over-use of 'half quotes'... FTW
Right? Right.
I'm off my soap box now... Sorry if this post is a little wonky. I'm on allergy meds for the first time in my life and my coffee is making me feel a little toasty (not that toasty is a bad thing). And just... wrapping my brain around some things.
Forecast:
Bouquet pics
Cake this Sunday WOOTY!
Happy Friday!
-Bo.J.
After taking the most complicated route EVER to Herndon, we found the Panera where we were going to be meeting him. Of course, boyface wanted to get something to eat. I was too nervous to eat anything (I get very anxious when it comes to 'new.' This comes out most predominantly when meeting new people. Also see new places, new restaurants, and new 'things.' Not that it ever stops me, but it makes me kind of sick to my stomach and fidgety and I do that nervous laughter that makes people stare at me and wonder what psychological disorder I've been recently diagnosed with... but I get through! If I didn't, I wouldn't have a month in Egypt, several trips to Philadelphia, an Art History Degree, 5 tattoos, or an engagement ring...) While we were ordering, we were approached by the Officiant. I figured he'd know it was us. Yes, I am so guilty of toting my wedding planner with me EVERYWHERE so I'm pretty easy to spot.
He endeared himself to us very quickly. Hockey talk usually gets us going. 5 points for potential officiant!
We told our story... talked about what we wanted... mentioned Taoism... he started in about chimes and Eastern ceremonies. That all didn't matter... what is more important is that he was easy to talk to, willing to work with us to do what we wanted, and he told me that he had once told a bride's father to shut up and get back in line. This, I like.
So, that is over with. Pressure off. Now we just have to get the money together... ya know, this century and all.
Last night, mom and I worked on some bouquets. I have to get the pictures off my (NEW!) camera so I will post those later on.
We've hit a little hiccup with my dad that I don't even want to talk about. No matter how anonymous I feel this blog may be... putting my complaining on the internet is not exactly what I call safe. So let's just say... it's a little hiccup... and just causes more grief because I'm a child of divorce who reacts to divorce hiccups as such. I'm terrified of involvement outside of those that... have my best interests at heart. That sounds terrible but, let's remind ourselves, this is my wedding. Shouldn't it be mostly in my best interest? And Mr. Boyface's?
I dunno... like I said... don't really want to go into detail. Just know that, no matter how 'friendly' your divorce may be, it does effect everything your kids experience in life even after they've 'gotten over it.' There are times that it would be nicer and, frankly, easier if I had a 'normal' family. But this is the hand I've been dealt and I've got to play it to the best of my ability... and hope to A) Make the best of it and B) give my kids the best I can.
Over-use of 'half quotes'... FTW
Right? Right.
I'm off my soap box now... Sorry if this post is a little wonky. I'm on allergy meds for the first time in my life and my coffee is making me feel a little toasty (not that toasty is a bad thing). And just... wrapping my brain around some things.
Forecast:
Bouquet pics
Cake this Sunday WOOTY!
Happy Friday!
-Bo.J.
Monday, April 19, 2010
woot!
My new camera came in! Yay for tax returns! As I had it sent to my office so as not to held hostage by the hours of the leasing office, it came in this afternoon with our normal mail. I opened the box but because big mean mr boss man was (allegedly) coming in I couldn't actively play with my new toy.
but ooooh boy when I got home I was taking pictures of everything. It started with the dog... because he's so cute I love taking pictures of him anyway.
But then, as can be seen in the next picture, pups didn't exactly want to sit still to have pictures taken of him.
So I moved on to more stationary objects. What follows is a series of (attempted) artistic shots of my shiny! :)
On the anubis puppy!
Def one of my favorites, the buddha crown... tee hee (Note: this is only a snapshot of the crazy amount of kitzch that we have displayed around the house... the New York Rangers puck came off the ice and was given to me at a Caps game by one of the Capitals' trainers. One of my favorite keepsakes)
Morbid? Yes. Totally me? Double yes.
The Egyptian God Bes. He is the god of fertility... so this actually makes sense. This figurine actually came from Egypt.
Well... that was fun. I love the little bottles... how cute. So... wedding stuff completed tonight=zero. However, now we're watching a movie in which Josh from Drake and Josh plays a perverted drug dealer in the mid-90s. Woot!
-Bo.J.
but ooooh boy when I got home I was taking pictures of everything. It started with the dog... because he's so cute I love taking pictures of him anyway.
But then, as can be seen in the next picture, pups didn't exactly want to sit still to have pictures taken of him.
So I moved on to more stationary objects. What follows is a series of (attempted) artistic shots of my shiny! :)
On the anubis puppy!
Def one of my favorites, the buddha crown... tee hee (Note: this is only a snapshot of the crazy amount of kitzch that we have displayed around the house... the New York Rangers puck came off the ice and was given to me at a Caps game by one of the Capitals' trainers. One of my favorite keepsakes)
Morbid? Yes. Totally me? Double yes.
The Egyptian God Bes. He is the god of fertility... so this actually makes sense. This figurine actually came from Egypt.
Well... that was fun. I love the little bottles... how cute. So... wedding stuff completed tonight=zero. However, now we're watching a movie in which Josh from Drake and Josh plays a perverted drug dealer in the mid-90s. Woot!-Bo.J.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Grasping at Crafts
So I don't know if I am bored or feeling pressed for time (prematurely) but if I dont' start a project I'm going to strangle someone. The project I chose was my guestbook.
I am going to make a French memo board (seen here as represented holding pictures of creepily faceless people) out of some extra eggplant fabric that mom overzealously purchased. I really wanted to do cards that would allow people to write little blurbs of advice or wishes instead of just signing their name or filling up a whole page with drunk ramblings (totally guilty of this myself).
So I started with some sheets of cardstock that were preforated to be made into postcards. We orginally used these to make the save the dates. They just make it a little easier, less cuts you have to make.
*As always, please excuse the subquality cell phone camera pictures... I ordered my new camera and it should be here next week!
(The cardstock printed and shown in the three different stages 
(I am INCREDIBLY happy with the way the words turned out.
(Step one complete! Attempting to not do this entire project
(Except for these two because I wanted to see how they looked
I am going to make a French memo board (seen here as represented holding pictures of creepily faceless people) out of some extra eggplant fabric that mom overzealously purchased. I really wanted to do cards that would allow people to write little blurbs of advice or wishes instead of just signing their name or filling up a whole page with drunk ramblings (totally guilty of this myself).
So I started with some sheets of cardstock that were preforated to be made into postcards. We orginally used these to make the save the dates. They just make it a little easier, less cuts you have to make.
*As always, please excuse the subquality cell phone camera pictures... I ordered my new camera and it should be here next week!
(The cardstock printed and shown in the three different stages on top of the handy-dandy Roto-trim paper cutter that
I steal from my parents periodically and my brand new corner rounder)
~
I downloaded a new font from DaFont.com and (after about an hour of arguing with my parents' slow and angry computer) positioned my little words and priinteeed!
(I am INCREDIBLY happy with the way the words turned out.They look like someone stamped them or, better yet, they were
printed by a professional. I made the letters bold and printed them
in dark purple and it looks superfantastic!...unlike this photo...)
~
While I was making Mac&Cheese for dinner, I popped the postcards at their preforations. For the most part they came apart really nice, but for some reason the horizontal preforation didn't like to split as easily and there was minimal ripping of the top layer of paper. Hopefully this can be taken care of with a little trimming on my RotoTrim!!
While I was making Mac&Cheese for dinner, I popped the postcards at their preforations. For the most part they came apart really nice, but for some reason the horizontal preforation didn't like to split as easily and there was minimal ripping of the top layer of paper. Hopefully this can be taken care of with a little trimming on my RotoTrim!!
(Step one complete! Attempting to not do this entire projectin one night because I want to spread it out...
I made a pretty stack
and stopped here.)
~
~
(Except for these two because I wanted to see how they lookedcompleted....ish)
~
I cut out my cards, trimmed the edges, and rounded the corners. I think they are slightly not the same size... but I am really debating whether or not I care. I want them to stack nice but I dont know that I want to go into that much detailed trimming...
My mother said that I should put "From:_________" on the bottom of each card so that people will know to sign their names. Who the hell would write out a little piece of "advice" or "wish" and then not sign their name? Maybe I'm giving people too much credit (which is out of character for me) but I think it's stupid and it wouldn't look good. So I'm going to make some sort of tent card with directions on how to properly sign a card thing... Whatever.
I'm still not done with these... more to follow.
In other news, one of my bestest best friends and my executive bridesmaid is having her baby!! EB and I have been friends for almost five years now and we have seen each other through a lot of different life stages. I have learned so much from her and I can't wait to see her new baby boy (and I bet she can't wait to see her toes...) It's funny how life throws you those curve balls that, even though you've sworn them off... a man or a little baby boy can make you happier than you ever thought you could be. Congrats, EB!!
-(a waxing poetic) Bo.J.
-(a waxing poetic) Bo.J.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Pre-Emptive Strike
I just wanted to share this...
http://www.weddingbee.com/2010/04/15/if-i-could-strike-a-word-from-our-language/
http://www.weddingbee.com/2010/04/15/if-i-could-strike-a-word-from-our-language/
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
oooh it's here it's here
and it's so freakin adorable i could eat it! ...if it wasn't made of porcelain...
its our cake topper!! have you ever seen anything so cute? oh, and miss bonejangles! isn't that a lovely sparkly you have on your ring finger!!
alright, so i'm flipping excited. this brings me one step closer to buttercream swirls AND chocolatebuttercream... oh yeah, and to getting married. this little thing made me very happy.
aand... we came to a decision about the time. now, before you judge me realize that mom had more reasons. i don't really know why i wanted 3:00... but 2:30 makes more sense. That will give us more daylight for pitchers (aka pictures, i was trying to be funny... eh) and such.
I'm very excited, it's been a productive week. I have also decided on my guest book (and apparently to use proper capitalization and punctuation all of the sudden).
More on that later, I am going to sink into my glass of milk, watch Hook with my baby, and think about my wedding cake topper! :)
-Bo J
its our cake topper!! have you ever seen anything so cute? oh, and miss bonejangles! isn't that a lovely sparkly you have on your ring finger!!alright, so i'm flipping excited. this brings me one step closer to buttercream swirls AND chocolatebuttercream... oh yeah, and to getting married. this little thing made me very happy.
aand... we came to a decision about the time. now, before you judge me realize that mom had more reasons. i don't really know why i wanted 3:00... but 2:30 makes more sense. That will give us more daylight for pitchers (aka pictures, i was trying to be funny... eh) and such.
I'm very excited, it's been a productive week. I have also decided on my guest book (and apparently to use proper capitalization and punctuation all of the sudden).
More on that later, I am going to sink into my glass of milk, watch Hook with my baby, and think about my wedding cake topper! :)
-Bo J
Monday, April 12, 2010
April aka Microcosm of 2010
Ya know what that makes April? Hell Month... and I'm right in the milky center of a poison dart frog's slick little pores. (no comments on the anology please)
The first weekend in April was Easter weekend, not particularly interesting just very busy. Dinners and such with family and such. Fast forward to the second weekend in April, ie this past weekend. ie the beginning of the end of quickly shortening little rope.
The photographer. Have I ever been so excited about pictures? No. I was dancing all last week and letting everyone know about my impending meeting with my perfect photographer. The criteria (in order of my priorities):
A) Slightly offbeat, detail oriented, artistic style without being too artsy. I want pictures of the little details that I am working so hard on and very few posed. (Check!)
B) Photojournalistic style. Capture the day as it unfolds... telling the story not just taking random "pretty" pictures. (Super check!)
C) Fits within budget (Checkety check!)
**Added bonus... they actually come in under budget with an option of an extra Photographer to follow boyface while he is getting ready that brings it just to the budget mark. Sweet deal mes amies!!
However... something familiar and annoying came up. "So what time is the wedding?" the photographer innocently asks.
"3:00" I asnwer, clenching my teeth and waiting, waiting, waiting.
"Well... 2:30." the voice comes from behind me. Ah my mother... when she really picks something to be stubborn about, she sticks to her guns. I'm going to kill her.
Embarassingly enough, we did actually go back and forth a few times right in front of the photographer. "3:00" "2:30" "3:00" "2:30". Why two grown women can't find the time to argue about these things not in front of ther people, I don't know. I'm going to kill her.
Regardless, we leave, contract in hand talking about how quickly we're going to sign it and send it back. Just in case you're wondering, nothing fatal has happened to the photography part of the the wedding (yet) what insues has nothing to do with my awesome photorapher... and isn't terribly bad either. Just exhausting.
My mother decides that yes, my grandmother (who is visiting from back home) needs to see Georgetown on a beautiful spring Saturday at peak time during the last weekend of the Cherry Blossom festival. (In case you do not know this... all of those factors equal flaming horrible death type traffic) So... we sat. In the car. For probably two hours.
Arrive home, talk to Future Mother in Law who took boyface to lunch. Say goodbye. Nearly throw up because I haven't eaten all day. Clean kitchen instead of eating because we have friends coming over. Greet friends, talk for awhile, make iced tea instead of eating. Begin putting together new hutch instead of eating or playing game with friends.
Yes, I finally did eat. We ordered wings and other non-diet related food products. All of that avoiding food will take it out of you, let me tell you.
Sunday was a Mary Kay free pampering session in the morning. And then of course because I am with Ms MoH and her sister we end up coming back to my apartment and eating cheese and drinking wine. We really can't be seen together without wine and cheese being broken out and consumed. It's fun... but counterproductive even after eating nothing but salad all week. Honestly... I wouldn't trade it... :D
And then, it's the hockey game (which we lost... which ends the season for us. Boyface's team won. They get to go to the playoffs. Good for him) And then... it's dinner at my parents house because my grandparents are in town. All in all we had 8 people and four dogs. You couldn't throw a cream puff without hitting a dog. But they sleep better afterwards.
I think it took me longer to write all that than the weekend actually felt. And to tell you the truth I'm hopping excited just to go home tonight and spend time with the boy. I also have a pantry to put together... and we are talking chicken tacos.
Maybe this weekend wouldn't have been so exhausting if it weren't for the knowledge that next weekend is going to be just as bad, and so is the next. Appointments and other people's weddings... but I'm trying to concentrate on being excited to do these things and that I'll never get to do them again. I guess my couch is a small price to pay for such experiences.
BTW - I am attempting to put together a card box out of shoe boxes... the DIY that inspired me to take on this project used hatboxes. But I can't find hat boxes and lord knows I have enough shoe boxes to build a fairly spacious castle for 10 year old (I do love shoes)... However my camera is broken so pictures may be... off of my cell phone and therefore terrible.
We shall see...
I'm done with my babble for the day
-Bo. J.
The first weekend in April was Easter weekend, not particularly interesting just very busy. Dinners and such with family and such. Fast forward to the second weekend in April, ie this past weekend. ie the beginning of the end of quickly shortening little rope.
The photographer. Have I ever been so excited about pictures? No. I was dancing all last week and letting everyone know about my impending meeting with my perfect photographer. The criteria (in order of my priorities):
A) Slightly offbeat, detail oriented, artistic style without being too artsy. I want pictures of the little details that I am working so hard on and very few posed. (Check!)
B) Photojournalistic style. Capture the day as it unfolds... telling the story not just taking random "pretty" pictures. (Super check!)
C) Fits within budget (Checkety check!)
**Added bonus... they actually come in under budget with an option of an extra Photographer to follow boyface while he is getting ready that brings it just to the budget mark. Sweet deal mes amies!!
However... something familiar and annoying came up. "So what time is the wedding?" the photographer innocently asks.
"3:00" I asnwer, clenching my teeth and waiting, waiting, waiting.
"Well... 2:30." the voice comes from behind me. Ah my mother... when she really picks something to be stubborn about, she sticks to her guns. I'm going to kill her.
Embarassingly enough, we did actually go back and forth a few times right in front of the photographer. "3:00" "2:30" "3:00" "2:30". Why two grown women can't find the time to argue about these things not in front of ther people, I don't know. I'm going to kill her.
Regardless, we leave, contract in hand talking about how quickly we're going to sign it and send it back. Just in case you're wondering, nothing fatal has happened to the photography part of the the wedding (yet) what insues has nothing to do with my awesome photorapher... and isn't terribly bad either. Just exhausting.
My mother decides that yes, my grandmother (who is visiting from back home) needs to see Georgetown on a beautiful spring Saturday at peak time during the last weekend of the Cherry Blossom festival. (In case you do not know this... all of those factors equal flaming horrible death type traffic) So... we sat. In the car. For probably two hours.
Arrive home, talk to Future Mother in Law who took boyface to lunch. Say goodbye. Nearly throw up because I haven't eaten all day. Clean kitchen instead of eating because we have friends coming over. Greet friends, talk for awhile, make iced tea instead of eating. Begin putting together new hutch instead of eating or playing game with friends.
Yes, I finally did eat. We ordered wings and other non-diet related food products. All of that avoiding food will take it out of you, let me tell you.
Sunday was a Mary Kay free pampering session in the morning. And then of course because I am with Ms MoH and her sister we end up coming back to my apartment and eating cheese and drinking wine. We really can't be seen together without wine and cheese being broken out and consumed. It's fun... but counterproductive even after eating nothing but salad all week. Honestly... I wouldn't trade it... :D
And then, it's the hockey game (which we lost... which ends the season for us. Boyface's team won. They get to go to the playoffs. Good for him) And then... it's dinner at my parents house because my grandparents are in town. All in all we had 8 people and four dogs. You couldn't throw a cream puff without hitting a dog. But they sleep better afterwards.
I think it took me longer to write all that than the weekend actually felt. And to tell you the truth I'm hopping excited just to go home tonight and spend time with the boy. I also have a pantry to put together... and we are talking chicken tacos.
Maybe this weekend wouldn't have been so exhausting if it weren't for the knowledge that next weekend is going to be just as bad, and so is the next. Appointments and other people's weddings... but I'm trying to concentrate on being excited to do these things and that I'll never get to do them again. I guess my couch is a small price to pay for such experiences.
BTW - I am attempting to put together a card box out of shoe boxes... the DIY that inspired me to take on this project used hatboxes. But I can't find hat boxes and lord knows I have enough shoe boxes to build a fairly spacious castle for 10 year old (I do love shoes)... However my camera is broken so pictures may be... off of my cell phone and therefore terrible.
We shall see...
I'm done with my babble for the day
-Bo. J.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Today's current reason to not be working...
Ok, have I mentioned that I am OBSESSED with buttercream swirls?
Not like cupcake swirls... like on the side of a cake, a whole bunch of swirls in the buttercream. This, being both hard to find and describe (as most of my whacked out ideas tend to be), has made my search for some sort of inspiration for my wedding cake pretty freakin hard.
I know what I don't want. Fondant. I hate fondant. Fondant can die in a sugary fire of doom.
Luckily, my cake decorator uses chocolate clay (which sounds competely awesomely tastey) as an alternative to fondant. It molds well but doesn't taste like butthole wrapped in death (nice mental picture, eh?). So, this solves the problem of the shaped and mysterious grooms cake that I will not describe here in case Mr. Boyface surprises me completely and actually find an inkling of interest in all this wedding crap. (Or I show him this blog, which I am wont to do at times... regardless of his level of give-a-crap)
However, I don't want a flat sided wedding cake. I want texture. I want the buttercream to look... well, creamy! So, I'm set on my swirls... and I have given up on finding inspiration on Google or in fabric or art (which the people on ANY website will show you pictures of... cakes inspired by the bride's favorite fabric... melt...) I don't have a favorite fabric, at least not one with a pattern... an inadequacy I didn't realize I had until planning my wedding...
I ordered my cake topper, Lenox's Opal Innocence Forever Yours. So, now I'm just going with simple. I want the middle tier to be chocolate buttercream (by the way... are there any three words that sound better together in the English language. Chocolatebuttercream. This might be my new favorite phrase. I literally, just love saying it... I can almost taste the words... Chocolatebuttercream... Think about it, what sounds better than creamy chocolate butter? Oh god, I hate being on a diet...) and the other two tiers will be white buttercream (with SWIRLS dammit).
But today, I have been hit with some inspiration!! Sticking with the same theme, only the middle tier will change here. Flat chocolatebuttercream(yum), with white buttercream piped to mimic the latticework on the topper? With little eggplant colored flowers speckling it? And then ask cake lady to pipe some little eggplant colored flowers on the topper?
It's not wintery, no. But I don't really feel it has to be. Right now... I'm feeling more like it has to be mine... and I am feeling pretty good about this one...
By the way... the last paragraph or two literally just hit me while writing the other couple of paragraphs. I think I might try to draw this inspired cake (ha! i can't draw a straight line with a ruler)
And then... I'm going to look into some creamy chocolate butter... mmm
-Bo. J.
PS... one for the road: chocolatebuttercream
*Here is the picture that resulted shortly after this post was finished:
Please forgive the poor image quality... cell phone pic. Poor representation of buttercream swirls by the way...
Not like cupcake swirls... like on the side of a cake, a whole bunch of swirls in the buttercream. This, being both hard to find and describe (as most of my whacked out ideas tend to be), has made my search for some sort of inspiration for my wedding cake pretty freakin hard.
I know what I don't want. Fondant. I hate fondant. Fondant can die in a sugary fire of doom.
Luckily, my cake decorator uses chocolate clay (which sounds competely awesomely tastey) as an alternative to fondant. It molds well but doesn't taste like butthole wrapped in death (nice mental picture, eh?). So, this solves the problem of the shaped and mysterious grooms cake that I will not describe here in case Mr. Boyface surprises me completely and actually find an inkling of interest in all this wedding crap. (Or I show him this blog, which I am wont to do at times... regardless of his level of give-a-crap)
However, I don't want a flat sided wedding cake. I want texture. I want the buttercream to look... well, creamy! So, I'm set on my swirls... and I have given up on finding inspiration on Google or in fabric or art (which the people on ANY website will show you pictures of... cakes inspired by the bride's favorite fabric... melt...) I don't have a favorite fabric, at least not one with a pattern... an inadequacy I didn't realize I had until planning my wedding...
I ordered my cake topper, Lenox's Opal Innocence Forever Yours. So, now I'm just going with simple. I want the middle tier to be chocolate buttercream (by the way... are there any three words that sound better together in the English language. Chocolatebuttercream. This might be my new favorite phrase. I literally, just love saying it... I can almost taste the words... Chocolatebuttercream... Think about it, what sounds better than creamy chocolate butter? Oh god, I hate being on a diet...) and the other two tiers will be white buttercream (with SWIRLS dammit).
But today, I have been hit with some inspiration!! Sticking with the same theme, only the middle tier will change here. Flat chocolatebuttercream(yum), with white buttercream piped to mimic the latticework on the topper? With little eggplant colored flowers speckling it? And then ask cake lady to pipe some little eggplant colored flowers on the topper?
It's not wintery, no. But I don't really feel it has to be. Right now... I'm feeling more like it has to be mine... and I am feeling pretty good about this one...
By the way... the last paragraph or two literally just hit me while writing the other couple of paragraphs. I think I might try to draw this inspired cake (ha! i can't draw a straight line with a ruler)
And then... I'm going to look into some creamy chocolate butter... mmm
-Bo. J.
PS... one for the road: chocolatebuttercream
*Here is the picture that resulted shortly after this post was finished:
Please forgive the poor image quality... cell phone pic. Poor representation of buttercream swirls by the way...
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Save the Dates
Finally! I had originally planned for the Save the Dates to go out the end of February... They ended up going out the beginning of April. But that's alright... this just means that everyone will be going to my wedding website... that is sometimes finished.
So, we start with the supplies!!
That is a clear acrylic snowflake stamp clinging to the top of a candle jar (I didn't want to buy the $9 acrylic block that the stamps are supposed to cling to... I used similar stamps for a baby shower invite in February... they will temporarily stick to pretty much anything glass or plastic... like the sliding glass door onto our balcony that is still home to one of the baby shower stamps...) The 2" snowflake punch that was supposed to be 3" but nobody trusts ebay I don't know why I did. The mini hole punch, a snowflake edger that we didn't use for this project but I had on the table anyway, and a standard hole punch. The mini hole punch was for the snowflakes because the standard hole punch was too big.
Even more important supplies:
My mom's home-made guacamole... mm... and wine. This made this four hour project seem more like a party. Also important: paper cutter and Ms. MoH's hands. :D
I don't remember the exact number of snowflakes that we ended up with... but I'm sure it felt like a million to mom after she was done.
This was mostly my job. I don't know if you can tell but they are dark purple snowflakes (my colors are eggplant and white). I'm actually pretty proud of these because it made such a nice touch and it was so freaking easy (but nobody knows that mwaha... alright, to be honest I'm sure most people threw the envelope away without a second thought but damn they look good on this table!)
The finished Save the Date! Picture of us courtesy of my stepdad and his awesome photographic skills and one lucky winter with a TON of snow. It might be a little different, but I have gotten a lot of compliments on these. One of my mother's friends says she's going to make an ornament out of it. Not something many people will forget. However... I'm afraid I may have set the bar pretty high and people are going to expect everything to be this creative and interesting... I'm not sure I have that much energy.
Mom was so excited about the postage stamps, they have wedding rings on them. I thought they made a great touch. People who don't know my parents' names (ie: boyface's family) will know that this has something to do with somebody's wedding right away (if the snowflake doesn't make them think twice about labeling this as spam).
Note: We stacked the Save the Dates (snowflake, picture, snowflake, info) and pushed them into the envelopes. Because the envelopes weren't completely flat, the post office charged mom an extra $.20 for each! It was major crap, but I'm glad mom asked. It would be really disappointing to get them all back no matter how awesome I thought the envelopes were...
It took us (me, mom, and MoH... lol) something like four hours to do everything... but that was punctuated frequently by the sipping of white wine and the spreading of cheese onto crackers and fighting with the computer to print everything the way I wanted it to. It was a good day actually.
So, the first DIY super crafty project out of the way... a million more to go.
So, we start with the supplies!!
That is a clear acrylic snowflake stamp clinging to the top of a candle jar (I didn't want to buy the $9 acrylic block that the stamps are supposed to cling to... I used similar stamps for a baby shower invite in February... they will temporarily stick to pretty much anything glass or plastic... like the sliding glass door onto our balcony that is still home to one of the baby shower stamps...) The 2" snowflake punch that was supposed to be 3" but nobody trusts ebay I don't know why I did. The mini hole punch, a snowflake edger that we didn't use for this project but I had on the table anyway, and a standard hole punch. The mini hole punch was for the snowflakes because the standard hole punch was too big.Even more important supplies:
My mom's home-made guacamole... mm... and wine. This made this four hour project seem more like a party. Also important: paper cutter and Ms. MoH's hands. :D
I don't remember the exact number of snowflakes that we ended up with... but I'm sure it felt like a million to mom after she was done.
This was mostly my job. I don't know if you can tell but they are dark purple snowflakes (my colors are eggplant and white). I'm actually pretty proud of these because it made such a nice touch and it was so freaking easy (but nobody knows that mwaha... alright, to be honest I'm sure most people threw the envelope away without a second thought but damn they look good on this table!)
The finished Save the Date! Picture of us courtesy of my stepdad and his awesome photographic skills and one lucky winter with a TON of snow. It might be a little different, but I have gotten a lot of compliments on these. One of my mother's friends says she's going to make an ornament out of it. Not something many people will forget. However... I'm afraid I may have set the bar pretty high and people are going to expect everything to be this creative and interesting... I'm not sure I have that much energy.
Mom was so excited about the postage stamps, they have wedding rings on them. I thought they made a great touch. People who don't know my parents' names (ie: boyface's family) will know that this has something to do with somebody's wedding right away (if the snowflake doesn't make them think twice about labeling this as spam).Note: We stacked the Save the Dates (snowflake, picture, snowflake, info) and pushed them into the envelopes. Because the envelopes weren't completely flat, the post office charged mom an extra $.20 for each! It was major crap, but I'm glad mom asked. It would be really disappointing to get them all back no matter how awesome I thought the envelopes were...
It took us (me, mom, and MoH... lol) something like four hours to do everything... but that was punctuated frequently by the sipping of white wine and the spreading of cheese onto crackers and fighting with the computer to print everything the way I wanted it to. It was a good day actually.
So, the first DIY super crafty project out of the way... a million more to go.
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