The end of April

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.

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.

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!!

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.

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.

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.

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

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!!

(Step one complete! Attempting to not do this entire project

in 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 looked

completed....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.

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/