Cat.

Lu likes to hang out in the oddest spots to avoid the doggies. This is her latest hang out.

A Small Token.....

At the beginning of 2009, the NC Lottery put out "Sweetheart Cash" scratch off tickets. Wouldn't they be a cute little extra to put in your bridal party gifts, or as a guest favor, or with a tip to your hair stylist???

Rubber Stamps

I knew a while back I didn't want to write our return address over and over and over and over on our invitations. Yesterday I discovered thepaperwink.com !! I ordered this great stamp, here's the proof they sent me to approve!

Only $18!!

I like it because we can use it before and after we get married.

And yes, I realize I posted my address online....ooooohhhhh now someone's gonna come get me.... bleh! The reality is, I own the house, and it's public information anyway, so whatev.

The Veil....

I have not been big on the whole veil issue..... but as I posted before I bought one on eBay..... got it on Tuesday..... it's great! I feel good about wearing it. Here's a quick picture I took this morning before work. It's kind of misshapen, but you get the idea.

Orange Paisley Shoe Quest

I have googled "orange paisley shoe" over and over and over and over and over..... hoping something new would appear. Nothing has.

The Via Spiga's are few and far between, and never my size. So, I'm getting creative.

I decided in order to perfectly match my shoes to Jeremy's tie, I'd order an extra tie and cut it up and make flower shoe clips out of it. I went on to tiebar.com to get it, and they had the matching pocket square! It will be much easier to disassemble!



Here's the general idea of what I want to do!

I'm pretty excited! :-)

Need a 'something blue'???

How fantastic are these earrings??



Found Here.

Cake AND ICE CREAM!

A while back I learned that Jeremy's college, NC State has a dairy production on campus, and they produce ice cream! You can buy individual cups too! So we're purchasing some for our wedding, and of course I had to have a stylish place to put it with our dessert buffet..... I spotted this, and had to have it!



It will live in our dining area before and after the wedding to house beer and other things when people come over! I love it!

For the ice cream (and other goodies) from NCSU, see www.cals.ncsu.edu/food_science/PilotPlant/DairyProducts.htm

Going Postal.....

So, I tried not to get caught up in invitations, envelopes and mostly, stamps! Our invites are only costing us $1.65 each (not the cheapest, but NOT letterpress prices either). When I found out that the post office was offering "forever" stamps (stamps that you can use forever, even when the price goes up) I was thrilled! Saving pennies here and there is totally my thing. So before May 11, when postage went up, I trekked to the local post office and bought 100 "forever" stamps. They have the liberty bell on them. Not heinous, but not pretty-wedding-ish either.

Today I saw these....



I'm in love. But should I buy them, and scrap my "saving pennies" bit??

I mean we're only talking about $2 more to have the king and queen of hearts.....



That's it. I'm buying them.

:-) Did I mention they will go lovely with my orange envelopes!?

Getting Beautiful....

on the big day..... I'll be wearing this!


(not the gown, just the robe)

Mine is a slate gray color.

I was so excited to get it, I've been stalking it, waiting for it to go on sale.... it was $50, marked down to $29, so I splurged!

:-)

The Veil....

Since selling my Amsale dress, I knew I'd have to purchase a veil to wear with whatever I decided..... I was not to keen on the whole veil thing from the get go.... but I figured eh why not.... I found this one on ebay.... I think it's stylish, without being over the top.... I hope it works out!

FOR SALE!

Kate Spade Gwen Wedding Shoes

Ivory

Size 7.5

$175 + Shipping



Kate Spade Hera Shoes in Black

Size 6

$150 + Shipping

It's easy being GREEN

While I'm not much of a "green" bride, I am doing things, that you can consider "green"

like this....

Instead of buying a bunch of vases to put flowers in, I've been saving my chocolate milk bottles! So far, we have 6! I imagine we'll have close to 20 by the time the wedding rolls around.



I did pop in a goodwill a few weeks ago to scout out the glassware and they had TONS of those (normally heinous) green vases that come from florists for $1 each. They might actually look pretty in the right setting!

Weekend Recap!

What a weekend!

I spent most of my time camped on the couch, sick. I had some horrible allergic reaction to God only knows what... and my legs and arms broke out with Urticaria (a fancy word for hives). We were on the way to pick up our truck, and my leg itched... so I scratched... I looked down, and my thighs were covered in small red bumps! AAAH! I freaked, dropped Jeremy off to get the truck, and I immediatly went to urgent care. He gave me meds... the meds made me feel icky! But, I'm all better now! :-)

On to the good stuff.... Rodney and Susan tied the knot on Saturday night.... In the exact place we will be in 4.5 months! I was so excited to go, and see how they were doing things!

Walking up to where they (and we) get married! They had beautiful flower arrangements on the chapel!




This will be us so soon!







Some things I learned about this wedding....

1. Make sure they cut the grass!
2. Make sure they trim the bushes!
3. They had "up lights" installed around the rec hall! (YAY!) But, make sure they all have bulbs!
4. I want a big group picture of us and all our guests.

Linens.... Again....

I've been doing math for the last few moments......

I will need: 7 tables end-to-end on each side (14 tables) and then 4 tables for our "head table"

18 tables total

Ultimately I will need 36 twin sheets to cover all the tables, and sewing 2 twins together will be long enough to reach the floor.

36 sheets X $6.50 per sheet + tax = $248.63



The closest price of renting I can compare to is the rental co. provides black floor length linens for 8' tables at $15 each..... or $270..... so if $15 per linen is the "norm" then I will be saving money.

I've emailed IKEA to see if I can get a discount since I'll be buying so many!

Linens....

I want chocolate brown linens.

My rental co. doesn't carry them. Neither does the other one in the area.

So, I'm thinking I will buy these from Ikea and sew 2 twin flat sheets together, and cover all the tables with them. I've gotta do some math, and make sure they will go all the way to the floor. I'll keep you posted.



The website says $6.50 each, but I thought they were $4.50 in the store. I'll have to check it out.

I did this about a month ago for table cloths for an Easter party we had in our neighborhood, they came out great!

While these aren't chocolate brown, they will do. Maybe I'll do brown napkins to accent.

..... really no one's gonna remember if my tablecloths were light brown or dark brown, so I'm not sure why I care so much.....

Target Find!

Last night on my way home from work, I stopped by Target to grab a gift card and went looking for the black swimsuit below.... they didn't have it.....

but...

I saw this hanging on the 50% off rack.... I snatched it up, hoping it fit and looked good on, I wasn't in the mood to try it on.

It's SO cute! A different belt would really look cute.... maybe one of my orange ones?? ;-) and some sassy shoes!

It's not as frumpy as it looks in this picture.

As if I don't have enough orange shoes....

Saw these on piperlime today....

thought they were worth a shot....

Honeymoon Style....

I'm moving on from wedding planning to all the cute things I plan to take on the honeymoon to Antigua!

I'm loving these three options for being a beach bum :-)

From Target.com (also comes in red)


From J. Crew (comes in lots of colors)


From VictoriasSecret.com (also comes in black)

More Postcards!

The "Thank You" postcards I will use for anything pre-wedding.... I will probably use them down the road for other things..... I am ordering ones with a picture from the wedding, for all wedding thank-yous (Side Note: I was NOT impressed with the color quality of these.... you can't really tell from this pic, but the image has a really strong red tint to it.... I will be complaining!)


Back Side


Our RSVP Cards
This is a really old pic of the recreation hall.... where our reception will be :-)


Back side

2 Quotes to Hang your Hat on

"Don't get sucked into the world of wedding bullshit"

(I am glad I found my way out of the bullshit, before saying "I do")

"It's supposed to be meaningful, not a damn dog and pony show"

Amen.

Weekend Goodness....

I really love it when I am home on the weekend.

Friday evening- work meeting... :-/ but it was fun, and I didn't have to travel too far.
Saturday- Early AM- Man my booth at the Davidson Farmers Market
Saturday afternoon- Beer, Bourbon and BBQ Festival (it was too damn hot, I felt horrible, so I went home and left Jeremy to have fun with our friend Matt)
Saturday Evening- TV, pizza, couch... :-)
Sunday- Brunch with my hunny at Toast, Ikea, cleaning.

:-)


My booth at the farmers market

My view from my booth

Doggies hang out on the porch

I bought the shelf and one swing arm bar set for our bathroom :-) Now it kinda feels like a hotel bathroom!

Finally bought a chair for our office! It's not the one I wanted, but at only $22, it beat out the $130 chair!

I want this in our kitchen! :-)

I want dresser in our bedroom!

I also bought a set of 6 glasses at Ikea for the girls to put their flowers in at the reception.


On another note...

It was mothers day. To those of you with a strong, encouraging woman you call mom in your life, I hope you took a moment to appreciate her, not just yesterday, but everyday.

Remember.....

Those Juicy Shoes????

They are still for sale! Please someone give them a good home!

ALSO FOR SALE-

Brown Bolero!

$30

New with tags

Medium (fits sizes 6-10)

Officially....

Under 150 days to go.

Under 5 months to go.

Time. Effing. Flies.

Heinus? Maybe. Awesome? Yes.

Love. Them.

If you find them in a 7, let me know.

I was tagged....

1. What is your current obsession?
Shoes for my reception

2. Which item of clothing do you wear most often?
appropriate to be seen in public- DKNY Denim dress
not appropriate to be seen in public- AE mens sweat pants

3. What's for dinner?
No clue... maybe something festive for cinco de mayo

4. What are you listening to? Two Guys Named Chris... rock 92

5. Say something about the person who tagged you. Grace lives in Durham :-)

6. Favorite vacation spot? Any beach!

7. What are you reading right now? I haven't done any lately

8. 4 words to describe yourself: silly, bright, honest, thrifty

9. Guilty pleasure? making fun of wedding porn, the knot, expensive coffee

10. First spring thing to do? drink beer on the porch, grill out, hike, lay out

Save Your Girls Money.....

My girls are wearing dresses from target.com

Over the last few weeks, their online selection of "party dresses" has greatly expanded.....

all these are under $50!

I have purchased the ones with boarders



Great options for bridesmaids, rehearsal dinners, or even reception dresses!

DIY Goodies

I was in Michaels last week and came up with a brilliant, cheap lighting solution....

buy 30" grapevine wreaths, wrap them in Christmas lights, and hang from ceiling horizontally!

wreaths- 12.99 - 40% coupon
lights $2.99 a box of 100 mini lights



hung like this ->

Signs....

found the "wine" signs a while ago for $3 each at TJMaxx, found "beach" sign this weekend for $4.99 at TJMaxx..... perfect for repainting into "Wedding" signs!

Before...


After...

Other J. Crew Finds....

I can't get enough of these shoes.... I'm in love!!!

ONLY $30!!!!



Belt- of course... in orange! (modeling on the dress I bought!)

.... wearing shoes and belt today :-)