Friday, December 3, 2010

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Smile like you mean it

I did it! I finally up and got myself blogging with a new site, new name, and a new little image that can stay at the time for the meantime.

Come join me at my new locale, smile in motion Hope to see you there!

Peace,
Jenna

Monday, November 15, 2010

Always searching

I totally pulled a number on myself.

So I was reading this article on Eat Pray Love which was a major critique about the book. About how she was just a privileged white lady searching for enlightenment with lots of cash and time at her leisure. Now, I definitely agree with this critique...even though I don't want to because I loved that book. Because I love the idea of taking a year to travel and go to magic places and 'find myself' and blah blah. And reading that critique made me feel SO TYPICAL. And who wants to be typical, huh? Sure, we are all trying to fit in and be normal...but typical? yuk.

anyway... so after that critique I was all "but how to I find enlightenment without well to do women telling me of their amazing exploits? and then following in their footsteps and buying my way to a higher level of being?" and then I decided that to be the MOST enlightened, I would actively NOT seek enlightenment.

genius! Enlightenment is right here waiting for me on my couch!

Now, as stupid as that does sound, I believe a part of it. Because I am always, always searching for something better. I'm always searching for more and striving for the best. But if you are always striving for the best, chances are you may pass up good along the way.


The best path probably lies in the in between world of moderation. Enlightenment/happy/content does take work.....but maybe not to the level being pushed by what may evolve into an Enlightenment Industrial Complex. We may not need retreats and trips...just giving ourselves some more attention. The never ending quest for that better place has got to stop and I have to just take a look around and enjoy where I'm at.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Hello?

Why hello there! Yes, I do still exist. And no, I haven't totally abandoned the blog! (even though it totally looked like it for a while)

I just needed to take a break. A BIG break. From thinking about the wedding. And the wedding was too emotionally fraught for me to really talk about it or do too many recaps about deep things. In all honesty, I'm not ready to share all I think about the wedding. Partially because I'm still working on what I think but mostly because I know some of what I think and I'm still dealing with it.

Because the wedding was great and I'm glad we did it. But it was not the best day of my life. And that is hard to come to terms with.

I do get giant fuzzies in my tummy though when I think about standing up there during the ceremony with my darlin. And sometimes, when we are just hanging out, Brett will get this big, silly grin on his face and he'll say, "You looked so beautiful that day."

And honestly - that makes it all worth it. To hear those words here and there, scattered through my future will make it all worth it.


Oh, and I kinda do plan on letting this blog slowly fade. But I wanna start a new, non wedding focused blog. Wanna know the only thing holding that up? I can't come up with a freakin NAME! I know right. Silly! So I'm waiting for inspiration to come to me on that but also enjoying a break from blog land. There were some things I neglected while immersed in blog land... :)

But its been about a month and I thought I'd throw a line out there and let you know I haven't (totally) abandoned blog land...hopefully you haven't abandoned me!

xoxo,
Jen

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

We are all really the same person

One of the major things that I've learned while wedding planning and mainly while wedding blogging...is that we are all pretty much the same person. The similarities between wedding journeys is uncanny. We see the same posts written over and over from different perspectives. Yeah, sometimes its redundant. But sometimes it needs to be redundant.

We all worry about how our weddings are going to look (is it too WIC!? is it too Indie!?) We all try to have a wedding that is 'creative' and 'unique' (or as the Knot puts it so bluntly, 'wowing our guests') We all fret over our dress, shoes, accessories, hair, and makeup. We all consider whitening our teeth. We all put ourselves down about our weight and worry that we won't look good enough. We all worry about people having a good time at the wedding and enjoying themselves. We all cry and freak out at some point (more likely many points).

All this to say that our wedding journeys are uncannily alike and follow that very familiar arch of "I'm gonna do this thing! YEAH!" to "um...maybe tomorrow.." to "WTF, MY LIST IS EATING ME ALIVE!" We check out the WIC world, get freaked out, rebel, find blog land, give a big sigh of relief, and then settle in to the work of making the wedding happen.

And I love that this community is here to help us work it out. But the other major thing that blog land has done for me is to make me realize how similar we all are and how I'm not alone. And that is invaluable.

Its been major for me to stop judging myself, because come on, thats kinda what it all is. We are worried about other people judging us but if we weren't first judging ourselves it wouldn't matter what other people thought.

And we all want to fit in and feel 'normal' and blog land has made me see that (crazy as it is) freaking out about a wedding, no matter how 'practical' you try to be...is in fact normal.

So ease up, gal.

Monday, October 4, 2010

What do I do with this thing now?



At first I thought I hated my dress and would want to send it far, far away after the wedding (preferably for a price so that I could hate myself less for buying something so horrible). Then I altered it and fell in love with it and thought I'd want to hang on to it forever. Now that the deed is done...I feel like I'd be ok letting go of my Darling dress. (Especially if it went to the Sisterhood!) But I'm not quite sure.

Sell it?
Give it away?
Tuck it in the cedar chest with my mama's dress?
Use it to be a zombie bride on the Zombie Pub crawl?

What are you doing with your dress after the wedding?

Friday, October 1, 2010

The Dress!

Dear Blog Land,
It seems a bunch of us newlyweds are kinda disappearing around these parts, huh? I feel really bad to do it, but I think it might just be the way it is. I plan to continue writing and will let you know where. As for Me, Myself & Bride... well, I feel that she must fade out and let the next batch come through.

But first, I owe you all some recaps!

And a recap and MAJOR story that I totally forgot about...the dress! Oh, boy, the dress! Remember that epic sh*t storm of suck? Yeah, no good. No good at all.

I bought a dress. Then I regretted it. Then I was pep talkin to myself and all "I don't need no stinkin 'dream dress'! No dress can complete me! I complete me! GO ME!" and tried to make myself feel better. This pep talk worked for about...a minute. Then it sunk in that I really, in all honesty and truly did not like my dress. But I tried to remain calm and be brave and repeat "one day, one dress". This calm lasted a little bit longer, but alas was not meant to be.

At some point, roughly in the last week of July, a mere weeks before my wedding, I knew I needed to so SOMETHING. I broke down. I was dreading wearing my dress. I didn't want to talk about the dress or think about it. And the idea of wearing it on an important day such as my wedding just made me sick.

Not what you want to feel about your dress, ya?

So I reached out in a random last ditch effort. There had been a dressmaker who I had contacted previously about making a custom dress. At that time, she quoted me at $1,600+ for a custom dress - ouchy! But I wrote to her, telling her my sob story, feeling like a brat bride, and asked if she thought alterations on my dress might be possible. She did and she quoted me a very reasonable alterations price. *insert glimmer of hope here*

I scheduled an appointment ASAP and ran over there with my dress to find out that this lady was a heaven sent! She had a very simple plan and exuded complete confidence in being able to make it work! So I said ok, left her with my dress, and crossed my fingers.

Leaving her shop, I felt like a weight had been lifted! I felt free! I didn't even know if this was going to turn out, but I felt so much better already!

Well, to cut to the chase... it turned out. Splendidly! The dress was shortened to just below my knees and looked super cute! She even took the extra fabric and made the flower that I had been failing at making to put on the hip! Total win!

So you want to see it? You want to see what happened to the dress?

Ok, come back tomorrow for some pictures!!!


haha, jk. I'll give them to you now! I'll even throw in a few gratuitous photos of us looking all spiffy and cute! So, without further ado... Meet Darling! (as my dress has now been named.) (and here to refresh your memory is Darling back when I may have called her less kindly things...)





And because you've all been so lovely and patient, here are a few extras that are my favorites! We'd like to get one printed to frame and hang, but I have no idea how we are going to pick! (Note: many thanks to Chelsea Marie Photography - they did such a great job and were a pleasure to work with!)



Tuesday, September 28, 2010

On and on

I feel sad. I feel like its graduation and we are all getting married and then going our separate ways in blog land. I feel like I'm losing a wonderful little community that I was so happy to find! But I think its time.

Now that our wedding is done, I don't feel as drawn to wedding blog land. Those pretty pictures are not enticing but merely serve as a reminder to how glad I am to be done with it. Plus, they bring up the wouldas, couldas and shouldas and who needs that? not me!

I'll try to do some more recaping - especially since we should be getting our pictures really soon! yay! But I don't want to reminisce too much about our wedding.

It happened. It was a great day. But I'm too focused looking forward to many more great days.

Since I do love blog land, I am going to try to continue blogging in some way...I just have to figure out what that way is. I liked having the focus of 'wedding' to concentrate my thinking. If left wide open, I think my brain would just produce some word splatter worth nothing.

I'll keep you posted!

Peace,
Jen

Friday, September 24, 2010

Sentimental

Happy Friday!

Here is a darling song for you, this Friday. This was a friend's first dance song, and I've loved it ever since! There are two versions...I like the "sentimental" version (the one posted below) but take your pick!

Swept Me Away by The Avett Brothers

Peace,
Jen

Monday, September 20, 2010

My precious...

Want to see one of my favorite things ever? One of those small details that I loved and was so happy to have spent hours making just right?

Well, here it is! My handmade hair dodad!


Isn't she beautiful? This little lady is the result of HOURS of my time and much swearing, but damn...after all that, I'm in love!

I spent a long time looking on esty for a fascinator - and found many of them that were absolutely gorgeous! But I just couldn't bring myself to pay $80 bucks for some hair thing. No way. Plus, I knew what I wanted and I had my materials. I had fabric from cutting the train off my dress and some extra pretty green pearls from my necklace. So I went to it.

First, I searched for a good tutorial on how to make a fabric flower. Wow - so many out there! Its ridiculous! But of course, Martha came to the rescue with an easy and fabulous fabric flower how to. The how to is for a ring pillow but works just as easily for a hair fascinator.

It took me a while to get the flower to look right...somehow, depending on how you pinch the petals, it can come out completely different! One way makes really cupped petals, which make a super cute flower, but I didn't want this thing popping off my head. I wanted it to sit nice and smooth on my hair. So I worked and worked to get the petals to sit flat. Still not sure how I did it...but I did it!

Add the pearls in the center, some feathers, felt the back, super glue some bobby pins to the back and VOILA! What a beaut!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Choice and Trajectory

Now that I'm back to my regularly scheduled brain programming, I've got a bit to throw at you. I'm going to try to put it into words, but bear with me because sometimes this brain to fingers things doesn't work so well and I just spit out jibberish. But at least I know its jibberish that is trying to get somewhere and maybe will eventually! Jibberish with a purpose! (if I ever write a book...that's going to be the title!)

We had our wedding. It was great. It wasn't perfect. But it was great, and it was ours. Would I have done things differently? Yes, of course. But looking back... we did things the way we did for a reason. Some reason. Some of those reasons I can remember, some I can't. Some were stupid...some were very thoughtful.

All of this to point out the process. Planning a wedding, we are focused so much on that one day. Not even one day, usually, but a few hours in that one day. But when its all over, that one day is a bright flash and we realize that planning a wedding may be as much about the wedding as it is about the planning. That journey changes us as individuals, couples, families. And at the end of this journey, when you are done with the wedding, you are able to take a step back and look with wide open eyes at what happened.*

I want to run with two topics: choice and trajectory.

Choice

In my last post, I included a link to Barry Schwartz's talk about choice.** In one fateful comment section, Jenny posted this video. I watched it and it has since been continuing to blow my mind. Its a really simple talk and concept, but it has forced me to change the way I think about choice. Because I was that person! That paralyzed person in front of the salad dressings or the tooth paste going "WTF!? WHY ARE THERE SO MANY KINDS OF TOOTHPASTE!!!" and then I would read the labels, trying to make the best choice. Because there are so many! And one has to be the best, right!? And of course I want the best! AHH!!!

O_o

Phew. Ok, I'm back. Here is a quick summary of his talk (and by quick I kinda long...) in case you can't watch it.

So his talk basically says this: too many choices makes people unhappy. It does this in a few ways. First, with so many choices comes paralysis. When faced with that wall of toothpaste, I freeze! How to pick one tube out of that entire wall?!? Then, when you do choose that one tube, as Schwartz says, "We end up less satisfied than we would be if we had fewer options to choose from."..."The way in which we value things depends on what we compare them to"..."When there are lots of alternatives to consider, it is easy to imagine the attractive features of alternatives that you reject that make you less satisfied with the alternative that you've chosen."

Next, with all these choices, we end up expecting more. If there is one option available, you get what you get. But when so many choices are present, you immediately expect more. Out of all these options of salad dressing, toothpaste, jeans, etc. there better be one that is the perfect option for me! Of course nothing is perfect, but we build up our expectations when we have more choice and those expectations are always let down.

Schwartz says, "The reason everything was better back when everything was worse is that when everything was worse, it was actually possible for people to have experiences that were a pleasant surprise." Yes, yes, yes.

His final reason why choices make us miserable (#4 below) is self blame. When there is only one choice and that one choice isn't perfect for you, who do you put the blame on? Whatever company, institution, group or whatever that limited your choice to that one pair of jeans. But when there are many, many options and the one chosen isn't perfect for you, now who do you blame? Yourself. You should have chosen better, should have found the perfect one, should have X, Y, or Z.


This totally rings true in my life. I'm always looking for better. I'm always trying to make the best choice I can. But am realizing that all of this is setting myself up for failure. I can't possible win this game.

On our honeymoon we were traveling around California - a new place for both of us - and I noticed that, while we were having a great time, nothing was a surprise. Nothing was blowing us away. There was no room for "experiences that were a pleasant surprise." I've seen too much on TV or in movies or in magazine that I expect AMAZING. I expect mind blowing.

I've jumped out of a plane at 10,000 feet and wasn't blown away. WTF!?

Ok, I'm going to stop here with choices before my head explodes. (even though that would be a mind blowing experience and a definite surprise!)

Trajectory
I had this friend, once upon a time, who was uber critical. Of the world, of himself, of everyone else. He was not very fun to be around at this time because he expected nothing less than saint-like behavior. If you weren't doing everything you possibly could to be a saint citizen, you fail. I got pretty upset with him and his expectations. Yes, people can do better, but no, you cannot expect then to make such sudden changes in their lives with just a little nudge.

We are all on our own paths. These paths are the cumulation of our choices and our past. And we will generally keep going in the same direction. That is our trajectory. It takes more than a little nudge, a little critical thought, to change this trajectory. It has to be a shift from one direction to another - not a jump to a whole new track.

Angie sent me a story the other night which is a perfect compliment to the thought about choice and a great example of trajectory. It describes how we naturally think about the story of our lives and are continually adjusting how we think the story is going to end.

We've reached a new chapter - marriage - and now I don't know what the end of the story is going to look like. There are so many choices and so many possibilities and I'm not sure how to proceed and where to go. I definitely have to let go and stop feeling responsible for making the 'perfect' choice. Its not about the destination, its about the journey, right?

But where do I want to journey to?

What story do I want my life to tell?

How do I make such big choices without freaking the F out!?!?


*note that I try to keep the wedding theme with this post but then never pull through with it! choice and trajectory would definitely be neat to explore in explicit wedding planning terms, but I'm going to go with the broad 'life choices' for this post. Now lets go tangent, shall we? **little plug for TED. With its hours of thought provoking videos, its like etsy for my brain.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Now what?

The wedding is over and my bride brain is slowly starting to fade away (Though I still have that knee jerk reaction a lot and keep thinking "oh! I could use that for x,y,z" or "That's a cute DIY project!" But alas, no more wedding projects for me.) So now comes the inevitable question around these parts... what next? What do I do here is bloggy world when I am no longer a bride to be?

Talk about married life as Me, Myself and Wife? Go back to being my normal, neurotic self and morph this space into randomville as Me, Myself and I? Or finish my bridal bit and than fade into the interwebs?

Do you care about my everyday biz? About the explosion of thoughts that go into my head and come out as incoherent messes? Should I end every sentence in this post with a question mark?

Well, we got some more time because I do have more recaps coming, but just putting the question out there. What are you interested in hearing about?

Here are a few of the things rattling around in my mind at the moment that may be making some post appearances:
  • We want to move west. Specifically to a place with a ski mountain.
  • What do I want to do with my career? Which direction to go, how to become something that sort of resembles a 'professional', goals, etc.
  • Health. I've been doing pretty good in the health realm and am looking at doing a lot of things. We'd like to do more climbing. I am addicted to spin class. I want to try yoga for the strength, balance, and spirituality. And I've been poking around at the possibility of a triathlon next spring/summer... (Me, Myself and the Tri?)
  • Books! My brain needs some new wrinkles. It has been full of white fluffy stuff for the last eight months! I need something more substantial to sink my gray matter into! (Any good recommendations?)
  • Making friends. This is way harder than I think it should be! But a lot of my friends have moved around or we've grown apart and I miss having those bonding times with the ladies! Where are my Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha?
  • Food! I loves it and I miss it and I want more! I'm specifically interested in baking. More specifically I'm on a quest to recreate this chocolate torte thingy that we had that totally blew my mind.
Way too many things going on in my head. All of them fighting. None of them getting processed appropriately. *sigh* Back to normal life!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Unexpected things I learned from my wedding

There is one thing I've said so many times that it could possible be my wedding mantra, and it is that ''weddings are crazy!" And they are. In all sorts of good ways, bad ways, and just plain crazy ways.

I'm still trying to figure out what I think of our wedding. I can't contain it in any neat little statements. I can't say it was all one thing or another. Because it was pretty much everything. Perfect and disappointment together. And I think thats just the way weddings roll. (Did I mention that weddings are crazy? Because they really are.)

But I did learn a lot from planning and executing a wedding. Some of these things came as quite a surprise...ok, most of them!
  • I improved my decision making ability. Really, I was so indecisive at the beginning it was crazy! But at the end, I was all big bang BOOM, decided! One of my bridesmaids told me I was scary on the day of because she would come ask me a question, I'd stare at her for a second while I thought it out, and then say yes or no. Simple. Done. Next! (I may also have had a crazed look on my face that morning. I'm going to call it the 'determination face'.) I'm suspicious that a large part of this improvement in decision making has also come from the improvements I made in living with a decision once its done. Learning that sometimes you just gotta pick something and it does have to be perfect. (See Barry Schwartz on choices. One of my new favorite theories that I'm trying to apply heavily to my life.)
  • Some people, no matter what, won't dance. So don't try to make them. I learned how to host a party and not get all bothered about whether or not people are having a good time. I had a good time. I provided the opportunity for them to have a good time. If they didn't, I'm not going to let that rest on my shoulders.
  • I learned how to be bitchy and stand my ground and not back down and all that jazz. But I also learned to negotiate better (especially with certain difficult family members). And in the end, I think our relationships are better for it. Partially because we worked through some things and partially just because we can now go back to normal life and not have to deal with BIG issues anymore! Yay, avoidance!
  • I learned that large amounts of money are really tough to spend. But that once its gone...I can't say I miss it. Yeah, I could do lots of things with those thousands of dollars. But I spent it on a wedding. Money is money and that's all.
  • The wedding bought out the best in some and the mediocre in others (luckily we didn't have to deal with the worst of anybody!). It made me really grateful for those who really came through for us. (and I want to give an extra special should out to Ski Bum Bridesmaid! I know you're stalking! Hi!) It also put my tolerance for dramatic, pessimistic, insincere people at an all time low. Life is too short for that! I want to surround myself with people who are happy, positive, sincere and who make my life better.
  • It made me see what I want in my future. I want those friends and family in my life who mean the most. I want to be surrounded by happy, uplifting people who know how to have a good time. I want to be a happy and uplifting person for others. I want to create a community with all these good people! I want to commit to my choices and not look back! I want to lose stress, worry, anxiety, self esteem issues, and live life!

Friday, September 10, 2010

The Day: Ceremony

Did I ever tell you about the dream I had where we were getting ready for the wedding and then all of a sudden everyone was congratulating me and apparently we had gotten married and I couldn't remember any of it? Yeah, that was an icky nightmare!

I kept hearing the line "You won't remember any of it anyway!" about the ceremony and I was terrified of that. That's the most important part of the day! I damn well would like to remember it! But I am extremely happy to report that I was present and in the moment and remember all of it. And here for you (and largely for my memory), is our ceremony recap.

I remember looking at Brett before we walked out to the ceremony. Nerves were flaring up like crazy, so we took a deep breath together, took each others arms, and out we went. There were so many faces looking at us that I didn't know where to look. I looked down, around, at a few people, at him - and I was so glad we were walking together. We hugged our parents and then took our place at the front.

As the ceremony started, I moved my feet to find a comfortable place to stand, took a few breaths and made sure I was present. I listened to our officiant read the words we put together, let the meaning of "create a new family" sink in, saw our photographers out of the corner of my eye, and enjoyed. Two of our close friends came up to read the selections we chose. I laughed a little. Their presentation was almost theatrical - but classical them! Through all of this, Brett wouldn't stop staring at me! I was watching who was speaking but then kept getting drawn back into his gaze. His eyes were happiness. (At one point I looked out into the crowd, but the only face I saw was my dad's with eyes full of tears and I had to immediately retreat! Bad place to look unless you definitely want to cry!)

Our officiant gave his talk (we didn't know what he was going to say before hand) and it was a great balance of humor and insight. He referenced the economy, our beliefs, and noted the very characteristic pause Brett has when asked a serious question. Then it was time for vows.

First, we had community vows. Everyone stood up and said "we do" after three community vows. Very simple, but it was great to see everyone standing in support of us and hearing a nice resounding "we do" each time!

Next, our vows. I went first. I didn't feel a single nerve at this point, but took a nice deep breath to steady myself. I grabbed the mic and my paper and let it all go. There was a little shaking in my voice due to emotion, but I didn't cry a single drop! (Not sure how that happened...every time before the wedding, heck, even now when I read my vows I cry!) Brett read his vows - no tears there either - and just smiles galore on my end! He included the story of when he fell in love with me, made me laugh, and made me smile.

I loved the simple feeling of sliding the ring on his finger, of mine getting stuck at the knuckle, and then, of course, that wonderful first kiss!

Mission accomplished: we were married!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

The Day: A few favorite moments

  • Smiling like an idiot during our ceremony
  • Looking out to the crowd and seeing my dad totally tearing up
  • All the toasts from our loved ones that made me smile, laugh and cry
  • Dancing with my hubby with everyone watching but feeling like we were the only people there
  • Dancing with my dad and him saying how proud he was of me
  • Seeing so many amazing people all in one place to celebrate with us
  • Staying out with friends till bar close and getting more precious moments with people I don't often see

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Better by the hour

There was the moment after the wedding where I asked myself the big question: Was it worth it?

And then I sat there baffled. I couldn't answer it! Part of me remembered the eight months of craziness, stress, crying, fights with the beau, anger, frustration, etc. Then there is the matter of spending eight months of my time planning for one day. Then there is the intense matter of spending thousands of dollars on said single day. Was it worth it!? How can all that be worth one day!?

But it was more than just that one day. All that time spent planning gave me more than just a wedding. It gave me those lessons learned about us as a couple, about me as an individual, about what family means to us, about how much I like spending time with my mom and wish I saw her more, about what great friends I have who are willing to go out of their way and spend many of their own hours on "just one day" for me, and so on. And I thought about how much the process has changed me and how much fun some of it was.

I still haven't quite worked out my answer to that question...but I'm working on it. And I have a feeling it may not be a simple yes or no answer. Me and simple just don't get along like that. But me and complicated? We're best buds.

One thing I have noticed, though, is that I definitely like the wedding best after its over. Specifically a week or two since its been over. The slight tinges of regret or disappointment that I felt right after are slowly fading away and starting to matter less and less. My love of our ceremony and the time spent up there holding his hands is starting to matter more and more.

The Day: Getting Ready

We had a lot to do on our wedding day. The day generally went something like this:
  • Wake up
  • Go to venue by 9 and decorate like mad!
  • Get hair done at noon
  • Back to venue to get dressed and perty
  • Photos
  • Ceremony!
  • Cocktail hour!
  • Dinner!
  • Dancing!
  • Break down
  • Afterparty!
So yes, like everyone says, the day did fly by. But I'm happy to say I was in the moment and present for most all of it! To start my recaps, I'm going to go with the first portion of the day and wait till my brain is done tumbling the rest of the day around.

Our morning was one of the only parts of the day where I actually felt stressed. Neither of us could eat much but we sat there trying anyway. I got through half my bowl of granola before I gave up. Neither of us could say much and probably both looked like deer in the headlights! Not the 'ease into the day' morning I had been hoping for...but whatever! We packed up all the boxes of crap and decoration that we had and chugged over to the venue.

My parents were already there unloading. My mom had checked in with the venue. And we jumped in to join the bustle! My dad is a genius and brought a hand truck, so all our boxes were inside in a snap! It was a little chaotic at first... everything was unloaded so fast that I spent the first while just finding things! I should have labeled boxes better with what was inside and where it was supposed to go - another 'oops' to add to the list! But we got it sorted and everyone had what they needed to do their task (as previously assigned on the task list) and got workin! It made me so grateful to see everyone helping out so much! It came together with lots of hands helping! We had given ourselves three hours to do all our decorating and that was just barely enough time. We snarfed some lunch and then the ladies ran to get our hair did!

It was really nice to go see my normal hair lady. She is a sweetheart and it made me feel better that she knew my hair and that we'd kinda done a trial run on my last visit. It was also great to just chat and feel relaxed in a familiar place.

The salon trip was mostly to control frizz and make sure my hair was behaving. And also to make sure that I smelled like the delicious Aveda products! mmmmmm Because after the salon we went back to the venue to do makeup and to do the minimal styling that was going to go into my hair. A friend of mine, with her glorious Clinique supplies, did makeup for me and then did a neato little twist to one part of my hair. Then in went my fabric flower that I'd made from leftover fabric from all my dress alterations!

I was so happy with this little flower! After lots of time and swearing, it turned out just like I had hoped! That is definitely one of the DIY projects and one of the details I'm glad I didn't give up on. It made me feel great to have that cute thing on my head! I don't actually have many photos from the wedding...but I do have this little one to share of me:


My hair was down, like always, but did have the little twist in it with the flower pinning it back. I felt just like I had hoped - like myself. Just a fancified version of myself! :)

Once dressed and perty, we did the photos! This was fun because the first batch was just of me and my love. We wandered around the beautiful park location, snapping photos. It was hard, though. The photographers kept making us kiss! But someones gotta make out with that cutie, so I took to it and hopefully my face isn't scrunched up in too much pain! ;)

We got a lot of photos in and had some time left to spare - perfect! Then all of a sudden, some guests started appearing! EEK! Before that, I was just kinda doing what needed to be done, but seeing people arrived made me remember all that was to follow. And some nerves started to resurface...

We had talked about mingling with our guests before the ceremony but that morning decided not to. We knew everyone would be asking the same question and we'd be saying the same thing. Plus, we both started getting that spaced out deer in the headlights look again! So we went back to our get ready room and waited. And waited.

We only had to wait maybe twenty minutes or so? But it seemed like forEVER! All I could do was pace and fiddle. I'm pretty sure I looked like this for those twenty minutes.

We hadn't quite figured out how everything was going to be timed as far as when our parents go out and then we go out and blah blah blah. Good thing to leave for the last minute, ya? It was a good jolt though, because it was just the bridal party left in the room...I was waiting for some cue that we were supposed to start and then I heard the music! Ahh! Time to go! We weren't lined up or ready but we flew into position and out when lady and dude 1! I got a kiss before lady and dude 2 went and then it was just us.

A few deep breaths, nervous glances, and out we went, too.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

PS I'm Sorry

I was looking at my last blog post (since most of the time I type something up, post it, and don't actual read what I wrote until much later....hence the spelling issues that oftin occur) and I realized that it included the phrase "I can tell you that none of it was like I expected". And then I realized that my two weeks ago past self would have punched my current married self.

Because when planning a wedding you are trying to expect EVERYTHING! So WTF, Jen!? It was nothing like you expected!? NOT what a bride wants to hear!

I'm partially a liar...because a lot of it was like I expected. We did, after all, have a tasting with our caterer and that exact meal did show up at the wedding...so I was expecting the mushroom ravioli. There were some aspects that I had no expectations for...like the ceremony. I had no way to anticipate what that would be like. So it was not like expected.

And the other thing is that I might be kinda slow. Because I was surprised how nice some people were and how...not nice some people were. Not that anyone was mean, just that some people weren't particularly nice. Like I thought that since it was a wedding that meant everyone would be the bestest, smileyest version of themselves. So yeah, call me silli willi.

Anyway. just wanted to come say sorry for including that mean, mean phrase. If you are still planning, don't worry. It will all go according to plan and everything will be just like expected. If you have reached the other side...sshhhhh, don't tell!

Married!

Woah, kids, I'm married! Did you know that that is what happens at a wedding? Two people get married! And when its your own wedding, that means YOU get married! No joke!

I'm still kinda in shock that we are married. Its like I didn't see it coming or something. Or just that I have no idea what "married" means! Nothing has changed really... I have another little ring buddy and his hand is incredibly sexy with his little ring buddy, but other that that, anything different? Not that I've seen yet. But I'm sure things will show up in the future.

Anyway, I'm back from wedding and honeymoon madness!

I'm still trying to wrap my head around all the things that happened and what I feel about them, but I can tell you that none of it was like I expected. Here are some random thoughts and tidbits for you in no particular order.
  • The wedding went so well! Like so, so, so well! Everyone came through for us and helped us put on a wonderful event! It really showed me who would stick around and be there for us when we needed them. Some people just really, really make me so thankful!
  • I loved our ceremony and I'm so glad we wrote our own vows! I was totally present through all of it and remember it and cherish it! I wasn't nervous. Didn't mind speaking in front of all the people there. Just felt so happy! Oh, and neither of us cried. I just smiled like an idiot the whole time! In the receiving line, one relative asked me, "Were you born smiling!?"
  • Wow, its so hard to get around and talk to everyone. I totally tried and I totally failed.
  • It goes by in flash. I wish I had been able to talk more with everyone. I wish I had danced more with my hubby. But what can you do? Talk with them and dance with him another day, that's what. :)
  • I wish I had more room in my tummy to enjoy our awesome dessert spread! Family and friends baked pies, cheesecakes, cupcakes, brownies, marscapone bites, brownies, etc. We got a lot of compliments on the many awesome choices of desserts.
  • Honeymoons are awesome. Especially since I didn't do too much of the planning. It was kinda like a bonus that I kept forgetting about in my wedding stress but then BAM! I'm on a plane to Cali! WEE!!!
  • I like the wedding best once its over. Being here on the other side is so much better. So much easier. And now we aren't living in sin! Score!
xoxo,
Jen

Saturday, August 28, 2010

The Day

Its wedding day, folks! Please think some good thoughts and send your lovely vibes my way! I'm hoping wedding zen hits me full force but could definitely use some good mojo from this amazing community!

Thanks for being with me on this journey, lovely blog land! Its been so helpful to have this genuine community of support and help and humor along the crazy wedding planning ride. I really can't say thanks enough!

But. I can do a little something for you.

I decided that today would be the day to 'unveil' if you will. So, here for the first time, is US! Aka Jenna and Brett! These are all photos from our engagement session with our lovely photographer. She gave us awesome photos from this session and it makes me even more excited for some wedding photos! What a treasure!

I'll see you back here after the honeymoon!

Love,
J

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Why am I at work!?!?!


Oh yeah, cuz making money is cool especially when paying for a wedding that is THREE days away!! EEEEEE!!!

But I most definitely do not want to be stuck at my desk today! Don't brides get an automatic free week off before the wedding or something? Isn't that written into the rules somewhere? I think it should be. Luckily, I think my boss totally recognizes the fact that the three days I've worked this week are going to be a total wash. No productivity here! Just some putzing, daydreaming, and making lists for myself. And apparently blogging, too!


My emotions are still like a game of hungry, hungry hippo: spaztastic. But they are kinda moving more into the direction of excitement and I'm really, really trying to push the nerves and the stress away. GO AWAY, STRESS! I don't want to be your friend! I know we have this long history and all, but its just not working for me anymore. I don't want your bad influence!

We have some time to relax in the next few days in between running errands and finalizing details. We are also trying to make time to visit with some of the out of town travelers. As my friend from Seattle said, "I'm coming to town just to see you at your wedding, but I realize that I probably won't see you much at your wedding!" so we need some extra date time! And some State Fair time! Can't miss the Great Minnesota Get Together, now can I!? Wedding details, schmetails! I want a PRONTO PUP! And mini donuts. And hot dish on a stick. And some deep fried oreos. And beer. And whatever else my little tummy can fit!

And I've been writing my vows. Which has been way harder than I expected. So much to say and so little time! And dammit, its not helpful that I cry every time I try writing these dang things. But I think I finally got something good...hopefully... Well, I think it'll be good if I can make it through without being a blubbering mess. I have no idea which way that is going to go. I may be too nervous to cry. Or I may just break down and not be able to say anything at all. It feels like a 50/50 chance to me.

Oh! And can I just say thank you to the weather gods for looking fondly down on us and having a great forecast for this weekend? SO appreciated! We had an inside backup plan, but who wants to be stuck in a silly little room when there is a grand old oak tree to get married under! Sweat may run down my back with the heat and humidity that's forecasted, but I don't care! No rain! YAY!!!

So blog land...

Without further ado (or rambling), I'm heading out to finish my last day of work as a single lady, then off to getting sh*t done, and then getting married! We're flying out Sunday to Cali for the honeymoon and won't be back until the 5th! WOO! So wish me luck, please send some good vibes my way, and I'll see you on the other side!

Love,
J

I do have one last thing that I'm going to leave you with...but you have to wait a little bit for it! ;)

Photo from Desirée Delgado who has so many fun pics! I loved browsing her flickr stream!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Can't Wait!

I can't wait! Yeah, yeah, our wedding is five days away and I'm excited about that, but guess what I can't wait for!? Someone else to get married! Ok, not just anybody. Someone else who I like a lot.

I can't wait to be helpful for someone else. I can't wait to buy thoughtful gifts for someone else. I can't wait to be a little wedding angel if they need me! People have been so helpful and nice to us while we've been planning this wedding that I can't wait to give it back!

I'm going to listen to their crazy thoughts and nod at their lofty wedding goals. I'm going to offer whatever skills I may have to their wedding. I'm going to listen to their family drama. I'm going to help them set up if they need it. I'm going to make them meals for the week of their weddding (because right now...cooking is the last thing I want to do!) And then I'm going to dance a lot because everyone likes a good dance party.

So. From a bride with five days until marriage, be nice to us. Please?

Weddings are hard.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Down the aisle

We've been slowly picking the major tunes for our day - which ended up not being many songs at all! We have a song to walk down the aisle to and a first dance....and those are the only stand out special songs! Otherwise its all just a free-for-all mix!

I knew for walking down the aisle I wanted to use Sigur Ros. First - um, amazing? Yeah, thats them. Just amazing. Second - when we first met, we used to just stare into each others eyes while we listened to Sigur Ros. The music filled the space and allowed us to forget words. Third - AMAZING.

So for our 'dance dance' Friday post, here is our walk down the aisle song. We did think about having this as our first dance and if you are still looking - consider it! Its beautiful and soaring and uplifting - Its Við spilum endalaust by Sigur Ros.


(check out some of the other "Take Away Shows" - they get these great bands and have them play in random locations, giving a unique show to whoever is lucky enough to be around!)

Happy Friday!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Poem


Look not in my eyes, for fear
They mirror true the sight I see,
And there you find your face too clear
And love it and be lost like me.


*photo is a teaser from our e-session :) I think I'll reveal us after the wedding!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Soon

I'm losing my mind. The 28th is coming up so fast, there is so much to do, and I'm going through emotions like a hungry hungry hippo. (what, that doesn't make sense!?) Sunday was just pure joy. Monday was annoyance and a little bit of rage. Today is tired.

But through it all, I'm so excited to marry my man! I love him so much and I'm so lucky he loves me. How does such a thing happen? seriously

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Congratulations!

Congrats to two lovely ladies from blog land! Angie is getting married TODAY! And Lisa is getting married TOMORROW! Go over and give them some wedding day love!

These two ladies just warm my heart and I have never even met them! They've been lovely followers here at MM&B for quite a while and I've appreciated them so much for keeping me company on this crazy journey!

I wish them nothing but the best for their weddings and hope the day is everyone they could ask for and more!

Good luck, ladies, and we'll see you on the other side!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Dance Dance cuz Its Coming Soon!

Happy Friday!

For today's Dance Dance its The Roots, yo! Collaborating with Cody Chestnutt on a grooving little bit called The Seed (2.0)



Have a great weekend!

Tomorrow, we are going up to the north shore for a friends wedding. This was our dream destination, so I'm super excited to see what they do with it! Plus, I'm excited to dance with my beau and practice our mooooves!

xoxo,
J

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Its all in your head.

I had a really weird day this past weekend. It was Sunday, the Stagette Weekend Extraordinare was done, I was just a wee bit hungover and could feel my mushy brain moving along at a putzy, putzy pace. Me and my darling future hubby hung out together just high on love. We also talked about our respective experiences with our Stag Weekends.

One thing that we both noted was how many compliments we get as a couple. We have been told by a friend that we are his role model for what a good couple should be. A friend told me how much she loved the way we look at each other and that "Its like he falls in love every time he looks at you." (totally made me tear up!) And another friend, who is a skeptic of love, told my mister how great it is to watch a couple work so well together.

These things are so amazing to hear! I feel good in our relationship (obviously...since we are getting married!) but sometimes you are so in it that you forget how lucky you are! This was a nice reminder to step back and appreciate the amazing guy that I somehow managed to find and that I somehow managed to dupe into loving me! ;)

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Mom, sometimes you are crazy!


My mama and I have a great relationship...most the time. But I swear, there is something about wedding planning that takes us normal people and flips that switch to crazy. And the drama switch. And some chemical reaction just melts are brains so nothing makes sense any more and the smallest decisions seem monumental. ("But what if our cake stands don't MATCH!?!?")

And as the wedding day nears, I'm nervous. For lots of reasons. And one of them is freaking out on the day of as we set up and get ready. Me freaking out. My mom freaking out. My mother-in-law freaking out. All this freaking out making my future hubs freak out! and then it'll just be chaos! chaos, I tell you!!!

Not if I can damn well help it!

Me and my mums had a lovely conversation the other day where I told her I was just slightly worried about us freaking out. At first she seemed a little affronted, and then she said, "Yeah, I'm worried I'm going to freak out, too." So I asked, "Mom, how can we go about not killing each other the day of?" and we came up with a plan to not commit murder on the day of the wedding.
  • First thing Mama said was that my organization really helps her. So having lists of what she is supposed to bring, what she is supposed to do, whats happening when, etc. and letting her see these ahead of time is a big plus. Seeing them ahead of time lets her ask questions, clarify items, and make sure we are all on the same page.
  • Second thing we both noted is that we have a tendency to get annoyed, hold it in, and then burst. Instead of bursting, we are both going to try very hard to voice our issues sooner if they arise.
  • Third, to avoid frustrations, being clear is key. And a lot of this is going to start with me. I need to be clear on what I'm expecting of people. I am also going to make a point to tell people that I need them to be helpful and do what we ask...this is not the time for opinions! Its the time to DO! Also, I need to be clear on how thankful I am for their help. No one wants to help a pushy, ungrateful bride.
K, so that's it I guess. The three things we've come up with so far to help us not kill each other. Now I just need to figure out how to do the same with my MIL...hmm....

Any suggestions on how not to kill people?
Any suggestions on how to broach this topic with a MIL or other helpers who might be troublesome?

Peace!
Jen

* Image from Five Film Plus, fun story: growing up, my mom would get frustrated with my brother and I for whatever dumb stuff we were doing and get whipped into a yelling fury. Sometimes, instead of being scared or behaving...we'd run around in circles yelling "Mad-mom-martigan! Mad-mom-martigan!" I'm sure that really help my mom's temper at the time. :) Love you, Mom!

Bomb giveaway!

While posting it here gives me a second entry, it also gives you all a chance to enter and swipe away an AWESOME giveaway from over at A Mountain Bride!

The giveaway is for No Foundation Foundation from Perricone MD. I know we are all looking for a way to give us the best bridal glow, and this product looks like a winner.

Good luck, all!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Stag Weekend

sooooo
sleeeeppyy.....

Its Monday morning after a long weekend and I feel zonked! So I'm going to let my fingers fly and give you a recap of my bustling Stagette Weekend!

Friday - My two ladies of honor stole me away, we went out to dinner, roamed an art fair and then had a girls night with drinks, snacks, and a cheezy wedding movie. Perfect, fun, bonding night!

Saturday - I woke up early (8:00 is totally early on a weekend!) to make it to a special appointment I had then made it back to my house to meet everyone for the start of our Stag Party Weekend!

First thing on our schedule: guns! Both the guys and the gals groups went to a gun club just north of the Twin Cities and had an awesome time! The owner of the gun club was so excited to have women there that the gave us member prices, deals on ammo and a personal lesson! I was pretty nervous to shoot and had never really shot anything before, but the people at the gun club were very nice and welcoming. So they took us out to do trap shooting and I thought there was no way I was going to get this little flying disc in the air! But lo and behold, they told me I was "a natural!" and out of the five guys and five girls that we had shooting, I had the highest score with a 19 out of 25 on my second round! BAM!

From guns, we all then went to grill out and socialize for dinner. It was great that all the ladies and the guys were hanging out and getting to know each other. We have a wide variety of people that we hang out with, and it was fun to see them mix!

After the grilling, the guys and gals split up for our respective bar crawls. We both stuck to the more mellow side of the Twin Cities and did St. Paul crawls. Patios, Irish bars, and a super crowded dance floor! I was proud because I managed a nice steady buzz for the night with limited shots (which are my downfall). When the ladies who were staying over came back to the house, we finished off with a refreshing run through the rain storm, greasy pizza and the few minutes of a movie that we managed to watch before all zonking out!

Phew!

Thanks to my lovely ladies who set it up and did a wonderful job! I couldn't ask for better friends and am so happy to have them standing up for me at the wedding!

Peace,
Jen

Friday, August 6, 2010

Baby, I'm about to have me some fun!

Good morning, ladies and gents, and happy Friday! I am currently posting to you from the PAST! Because today, I took work off and am hopefully not sleeping in an instead doing all sorts of productive things! In fact, I took all four Fridays off this month before the wedding! Thank goodness I work somewhere where I get bomb vacation benefits and have been saving up vacay time! These days off will definitely help me progress down the to do list and ease my mind. Plus, by taking an extra day off each week, that invariably means that I work one day less and four day weeks are the BEST! Almost as good as three day work weeks.

In other news, this weekend is my stag weekend! WOO! My double trouble maid o' honors have planned what sounds like an amazing weekend - from what I know at least! And all I'm going to tell you right now is that it includes guns, grilling, boozing, and possibly a river in there, too! yes, yes, yes!

If I have any energy left in me after this weekend, I'll post a prompt recap! But. I promise nothing!

To keep you satisfied until then, listen to this love song by Amos Lee called Sweet Pea. And have a great weekend!

xoxo,
J

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Pom Poms Galore!

I am super excited to share some DIY/DIT craftiness with you today! Not only is this project complete - like totally done and I don't even have to think about it anymore - but this is probably going to be the only project that I've had in mind since the beginning. Months and months ago I became enthralled with little lovely garlands... which looked easy and all but turned out to be the project from hell! I only managed to make one tiny little dumb poof ball based on that tutorial before I was throwing things. Not the best...

But I was determined! So I found a new way - inspired by my aunt and based on Martha's know how. So, ladies and gents, I have for you today....

Quick and Easy Peasy (Plus Super Cute) Garland Tutorial!

Materials
  • fabric
  • cutting mat and one of those roller cutters work excellent (thanks, Mom!)
  • good fabric scissors
  • pins
  • wire - 24 gauge is what we used
  • wire cutter
  • ribbon
  • needle big enough to fit ribbon
First things first... by a crap load of fabrics in your chosen colors! Wait, maybe don't buy as much as us. We bought a LOT! My mom kinda freaked out and we ended up with 10 yards total! holy geeze. Um, and we maybe used a third of that for garland making? But we have used it for some other projects and its definitely better to have more than less. And we had coupons. Anyway. Ok, get fabric. I'd say something stiffer like taffeta is best, but that can be expensive. We actually have three totally different types of fabrics for our pom poms and they all turned out ok, but the stiffer stuff definitely poofs up better and stays in place better.

Now that you've got your fabric, cut it all up into rectangles. Ours are six inches by five inches to in the end make a pom pom of about four inches wide, but play with the sizing to find what you like! You can also play with how many layers you use in your pom poms. At least three are needed to make a nice poofy pom. We used four layers. Here are my lovely rectangles...
Also, take your wire and cut a bunch of segments approximately five inches long. You'll use these in a bit but its good to have them all handy and ready.

Take your four cut rectangles, line em up, and pin them together. Now, you are going to cut the edges to give the pom pom the desired texture. I've seen them with pointy edges or rounded edges - we rounded ours. The nice part about this step is that you don't have to be too picky. Make sure the corners are nice and round and kinda make a nice wave along the edges, but any oddities from this step are not too noticeable. Here is a funky looking bunch as a good example:

Now you are going to take your four layers of fabric (take the pins out! ouch!) and accordion them. As small as you can get the accordions without too much work. And accordion them the long way? short way? Um, start with the shorted edge towards you and then accordion that way. I dunno what to call that!

Then, when you have it all accordioned up, take one of your pieces of wire and wrap it tightly around the middle of your fabric bunch. It should look roughly like this:

Now poof that sucker! Pull and yank and squish it - don't be shy - until its a lovely little poof ball of a pom pom! Like zis:

Beautiful!

Now make a bunch more. I think we had roughly 70 poms of each color? Or something ridiculous like that. With your ribbon and big needle (get a strong one! I broke a little puny one after two poms!), string up your lovely poms into an even lovelier pom pom garland! With all the pom poms I had, I used up three rolls of 10 yards of ribbon. Aka I now have 90 yards of garland. Holy balls, batman, thats a lot of garland!

But I can't wait to hang them up and see them brightening our outdoor space!

(sorry for the poor lighting on these photos)

So there you have it. The garland tutorial that was months in the making!

Peace,
Jen

PS those are our colors! I don't think I've actually shown you our colors yet! I've become adept at describing them and they are as follows: "Granny smith green, robin's egg blue, and magenta/fuschia/pink/purple/berry color." See? adept.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

YES!

The ruling came in against Prop 8!!!!!!! Good job, Judge Walker!

I'm so happy for California, and I hope this is just the start and that this ruling starts the wave we need to come to our senses nationwide!

Why is it so difficult getting gifts?


Speaking of registries... The registries have been one of our biggest trouble makers in this planning process. And I think that is weird. Shouldn't receiving gifts be easy? We put together a list of what we want...and those who want to give us gifts give us those things. But no. Not quite. Because it just wouldn't be wedding planning without a dash of drama and a healthy dose of indecision!

Its probably because we are running into the common problem of not wanting much STUFF. We've been living in sin for quite a few years now, have a home set up, and don't need (or want) much. (and have very little room to put said stuff in!) But a lot of people don't like giving money - even if its in the awesome form of honeymoon gifts on Traveler's Joy!

We've had family telling us that we don't have enough on our tangible item registries and that we need more. That we should set up another registry all together to give lots of choices. We even had a family member set up a registry for us because they reaaally wanted us to have this extra registry. And people telling us that the stuff on our registry isn't nice enough and that we should take this opportunity to get china or or crystal or other fancy stuff (stuff that would definitely fall into the "don't want or need or have space for" categories). People telling us that the white dishes we picked out are boring (because he wanted super dark dishes and I wanted super bright dishes....so we just went with classic-never-fail-will-always-match-and-never-go-out-of-style white).

Talk about unsolicited advice! Such strong opinions on what we should ask for for gifts!? wtf

Are/did any of you have similar registry problems?

Image from Kol Tregaskes because while some of you are dreaming about babies...I'm dreaming about puppies!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Finals Time

I feel like I'm back in school. Like its the end of the semester and finals are looming close. Everyone keeps asking me if I'm excited for the wedding and I never know what to say. Yes, of course I'm excited, but I also have a little heart attack every time I realize how soon its coming up! Its like when people would ask me if I was excited for summer. Uh, yeah, obviously! Everyone loves summer, but first I have to go through finals first and not lose my sanity!

My goal here is to get stuff done and NOT procrastinate, dammit! and then have a week before the wedding where I can actually be excited and anticipate the upcoming day and enjoy the ride. I dun wanna be a stress ball!

And its actually coming along great and I'm super excited because I have two lovely crafts that I want to share with you all! They are all finished and they don't look like a child did them! Unless Martha Stewart has a child...then maybe they look like her child did them. One of the best parts too is that the mister has been involved in lots of them! He made pom poms, he pretty much did all the work for the tree cookie escort card holders, and I even had him decoupaging! awesome!

There are more crafts coming too! Like the flower that I'm making out of the cut off train from my dress to rest on the hip of my dress. And the lighted trees that we are making. And the mason jar lanterns that might not qualify as 'crafts' but I'm going to include in our DIY section.

huh...I never really thought of myself as DIY, but maybe I am? who knows. and who cares! :)

August 28th is only 25 days away! and I have this feeling that time isn't going to stop. So the 28th is only going to get closer and then BAM! be here!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Mish and Mash

August. Is. Here. Holy goodness we are in our wedding month! Crunch time, baby! Time to tighten the knots and get ready for this ship to sail! I feel like I'm back in college and its finals time. I'm super excited for summer (aka honeymoon and married life) but there is this big thing in the way that is sucking up all my attention. And while I can't wait for it to be here I'm just trying to stall time so that I get all my biz done! Luckily I'm awesome at cramming...but unluckily I'm a horrible procrastinator. I'm trying so heavily not to procrastinate! I really, really want that week before the wedding to do very little, check on loose ends, and just mentally prepare.

Since it is August, it means that our August 1st "RSVP by date has passed and we still have a bunch of guests who did not RSVP! wtf? Did any of you deal with this? How do you gently but firmly harass the people you didn't hear from?

Other random thought... I looked at one of our registries the other day because I was going to take an item off (my parents just put an addition on their house and my mom is going crazy and getting rid of everything and buying new everything it seems. Which is fine by me because we get first dibs on all their awesome stuff! And they just gave us this set of glasses...so I was going to take the glasses we registered for off. but anyway...) and sooo much of our registry has been bought up! Its crazy!

And I feel kinda silly for being so excited. We registered for stuff because we know a lot of guests really like to give tangible gifts. But at the same time, I feel weird accepting so many gifts! And to see all the stuff that has been bought is kinda overwhelming and makes me feel really nice and special and grateful for our generous family!

So this is what a wedding is all about. Warm fuzzies and love! :)

Monday, July 26, 2010

Story time!

Hey, slacker blogger here!*

Just stopping in to tell you a quick story that I can't believe I haven't told yet!

So a while back, I got this e-mail from another Jen who is also in her 20s, also lives in St. Paul, and just got married in June. Oh, and what? She happened to get married at the SAME VENUE! No way, huh? She saw one of my comments on a 2000 Dollar Wedding, checked out my blogville and noticed our many commonalities!

Not only was she nice enough to drop and e-mail and say hi, but she gave me advice about the venue, sent me photos of their ceremony set up, and shared her experience. Super helpful! We were both planning to have our ceremony in the same location in the lawn but she decided to change it slightly due to slope and lighting....which gives me the heads up that we might want to do the same!

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Blog land, I love you. And to my kindred spirit, Jen, thanks for dropping me a line and giving such helpful info! We'll be in touch!

* and I'm going to really be a slacker blogger in the next month or so. My mental capacity is totally diminished right now and I just want to get shit done!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Winners and Dance Parties

TGIF for serious, folks! And its looking like a pretty bomb weekend with fireworks and roller coasters and water parks in my near future! I love me some good Minnesota fun!

But forget that biz for now, we got a giveaway to square up!

Thanks for all your comments and thanks for the patience with my super-casual-not-quite-planned giveaway. I just felt the spirit of blog land love move me and I was all "I wanna give you stuff!" and share the love and jazz. So. Now...with the help of a random number generator (thanks interwebz!) the winner is....*drum roll*....comment number 2!

Which translates to the winner being...Lisa of CraftMyBride!

*cue music* Come on down, Lisa! You've won whatever jazz I've decided to send your way!

And readers, if you haven't yet, check out CraftMyBride - do it! Not only is this gal super adorable in a way that just makes you want to interwebz hug her, she is super de dooper crafty and clever and is just chalk full of good vibes (and love for her dude) that just wafts off the screen. Love it! The world needs more good vibes!

So Lisa, e-mail me (memyselfandbride [at] gmail.com) and we'll get your prize off and on its way!

And since it is Friday, here is a tune that I just cannot stop playing. I am totally hooked on Janelle Monae and here is another great tune from her called Many Moons. Enjoy!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Best conversation ever

I still have lots of dress stress that sometimes rears its ugly head in the shape of me beating myself up with a mental sledge hammer about buying a dress that wasn't totally me and not defending my right to feel gorgeous and like myself on my wedding day... but in those moments, my beau is amazing and always manages to say the right thing.

Here was our conversation yesterday:

Me: I'm so scared!
Super cute future hubby: Of what?
Me: That we'll do our 'first look' and you'll see me in my dress and you won't like it!
SCFH: Why wouldn't I like it?
Me: I dunno...
SCFH: But you are going to be in it! and I am going to marry you in it! and its going to be GREAT!
Me: *attacks his face with kisses*


(and last reminder to go enter to win!)

Is this mean?

Quick question to you, blog land:
When the party ends, who is doing the clean up for your wedding? And are you going to be there?


We were under the impression that, as the bride and groom, we get to leave when the party leaves and continue on to our after party at the bar. But my mama disagrees. When asked if she and my dad along with the mister's parents would do the cleanup and do the checkout with our venue, she got a little huffy, thinking it mean that we would bail out.

But I wanna bail out! I don't want to go running around in my wedding dress cleaning up!* And we are hoping that the tear down won't take long and won't be hard. That we can set it up so that whatever needs to go can just be chucked back into whatever box it came in and then loaded in the car.

So what do you think? Is it fair to ask that they clean up and we get to ditch out? or is that mean?

* and when I say cleaning up, I simply mean grabbing all our decorations and packing them in the cars. no scrubbing or vacuuming necessary

(and btw, go enter to win!)

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Type A What!?

You know things are getting good when you have lists of lists. And "make lists" is part of your to-do list! And your list of things to bring includes lists! OMG its MAdNEsS!

Naw, just kidding. Its not madness. Its pure bliss for this Type A gal! I see my lists and I breath a sigh of relief. With my list in hand, I won't forget something, everyone will know what they are supposed to be doing and when, and I will get shit done!

Here is my growing core of lists for The Wedding Day.
  • Timeline for the day
  • Things to Bring
  • What decorations go where
  • Day of Duties for all our helpers
  • Contact info for all relevant parties
Ahhh, so therapeutic! If lists are the saviors of my sanity, then right now the calendar is the devil. I avoid the calendar as much as possible! Getting ridiculously close to being in the same month as the wedding!? don't wanna know! don't talk to me about it! LALALALALA not listening!!

O_o


(oh. and go enter to win!)

One more day for giveaway!

I'll let this giveaway go for another day because only three of you have commented to enter so far! wtf? No one likes free things? Or do I have to be more specific about what kind of free things?

Ok, here are some hints about what the prize might be...
  • something I like
  • something I think you will like
Is that helpful? No? Too bad! Here you are trying to get free things and then demanding all sorts of information from me that I don't have! geuze.

So...I may not know what the giveaway is yet, but lets just say that's because there are so many cool options that I can't choose yet. Or I may survey you to find out which option would be the best for you because I don't want to just send you stuff and then you be all "oh...well, um...thanks? Its the thought that counts?" because that would be sad. Prizes shouldn't be wasted!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Back to the Beginning!


Wanna hear how I met my future hubby? Well, as with many good/bad/ugly stories, it all starts with a frat house*...

So once upon I time I was going to college. Well, kinda. I had just moved into the dorms and was going to be starting college on Tuesday. But it was Friday, so we best go out! And our dorm just so happened to be on Frat Row so we thought we'd go see what all that hubbub was about. My roomie and I are walking along the row and realizing that we are not going to get in anywhere since we aren't showing off in short skirts and hot tops with lots of cleavage. :(

But as we are walking along we come along to a frat where my roomie thinks she knows someone. As we approach we see the dunk tank they have set up in the front yard and get asked if we wanna pay three bucks to throw three balls. "Naw," I say. "I'm broke. No cash on me!" "Oh," says frat boy 1. "Well, you could just go in the dunk tank instead!" "Yes," says I. "That sounds like a great idea!" So frat boy 1 points me in the direction of super cute frat boy** (aka future hubby) to borrow some shorts so I don't have to get mine all wet. In the dunk tank I go, get dunked a few times, then the next dude hops in. I give back shorts to super cute frat boy but don't really see him much that night.

Fast forward a week later and we go back to frat house to see dude that roomie knows. I don't see super cute frat boy...sad! So we are chit chatting and then I look and BAM! Super cute frat boy is back from work! ooh, super cute frat boy is indeed super cute. Somehow we end up talking and I find out that super cute frat boy is also super nice and super down to earth and super outdoorsey! We talk, talk, talk and my roomie ends up drinking way too much and passing out in other frat boys room (no skeez involved here luckily!) I tell future hubby that I should go but that I will see him in the morning when I come to pick up passed out roomie. He says that I should just stay since it is already early morning. I ignore good judgment and say ok. So future hubby and I stay up talking until way early in the morning until future hubby then has to get up and go to work!

I go back to my dorm...spinning from a great night but not sure what to think about this. I JUST got to college! WTF!? Oh, and he is shorter than me (which isn't hard to do when I'm around six feet tall!) and I thought I'd never date anyone shorter than me. But when I told roomie that she said, "That's ok! Hes not taller than me! I'll take him!" and then I got all bristly and laid dibs on future hubby cute frat boy. Done deal.

That's our story and now super cute frat boy will become my super cute hubby in 39 days! eeeek!!!

*We love to laugh about this since neither of us fit in with frat culture at all. So two people who are so well matched to each other met in a place that suited neither of them!
**Future hubby doesn't really like it when I call him a frat boy (...sorry, baby! Does it make it better if its proceeded by 'super cute'?) He pretty much stayed there for the cheap rent. Other than that, the frats deserve most every stereotype given to them.


Reminder: go over here to win something sa-weeet!

Image from FotoRita

Monday, July 19, 2010

Shower Recap

Afternoon, ladies and gents!
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! It was a jam packed one over here in Minnesoooota! We got our best dudes their wedding duds, saw Inception (awesome!!!), went to my shower, celebrated a birthday, had some crazy storms that flooded the streets of Minneapolis, went river tubing, and then woke up very tired on this Monday morning! Phew! I need a break from my weekends.

I've been getting a lot of questions about my shower and just people asking how it went. All I can manage is to say "good!", but I feel like they want more. So after a few seconds of them staring at me I usually break and say, "Um...well, it was very showerlike! We played some games, ate some food and then everyone watched me open presents." That still doesn't seem to be an adequate answer but that is all I got!

Maybe I just feel a little awkward about being the center of attention...especially when all that means is that everyone is watching me open presents. Presents that I've already picked out, are not really going to be a surprise, and are kitchen/house stuff (which means cool but not "OMG NO WAY!" kinda cool). Presents that I feel awkward for asking for and then more awkward for opening at a party just for me. It feels super selfish and all memememememe!

I think that's the interesting part of these showers. I've done all I can to reduce the burden of gift giving for people - I've suggested gift alternatives and theme alternatives that would demand very little financially from people. I've suggested to my in-laws that the other shower doesn't even take place. But it seems that people really want to throw showers. And traditional ones with all the gifts at that! I mean, don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining. Gifts are sweet! and we are going to be high tech in our house because of all of them! But why is it that all these other people want to have these things regardless of how I've tried to tone it down?

Anyway, I did have a bunch of fun at the shower and I love my aunts to death for putting on such a nice little party for me. I was honestly just a bunch of smiles that day but halfway through opening presents I thought my face my break because I was smiling so much. At that point I had to transition from smiling full on to a really quick smile only when necessary. Otherwise my face was just too tired and ended up with a creepy half assed looking smile on. and thats no good. no good at all.


Oh, and reminder! Go comment to enter the giveaway! I swear I won't send you something stupid!

Friday, July 16, 2010

Friday Diddy

I was driving along yesterday, scanning the radio and then KAPOW! Beats where like bambambam and TI was rapping and then I was dancing my ridiculous white girl dance in the car.



And the video isn't full of naked people, so I can officially like this song now! yay! Way too many songs are ruined by skeezy lyrics and even worse videos.

Have a great weekend everyone!

I'm excited for my shower tomorrow and some fun birthday action this weekend with one of my ladies of honor! Oh, and don't forget to comment for the giveaway!