Thursday, September 30, 2010

U to the F

Greetings from the Ark! Here in good ole' PA we are getting some crazy rain.  What is it about rain that makes us want to hibernate and be unproductive.  Well I have been trying to ignore the fact that it is rainy and windy and just plain miserable outside so I can get some much needed cleaning done.  Apparently my washer is taking note to the weather as it keeps stopping and needs me to coax it through it's cycle. oy vey.
I have good news though!  I'm still UFing...today I hit a milestone! 10lbs down! Woo hoo!  I'm pretty darn proud.

Last night for dinner I made this yummy dish, some eggplant parm, give it a whirl you won't be disappointed! Even the mister couldn't get enough.
Happy almost Friday!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Teal and Black Wedding : Crunch time…

We were lucky to be able to rent the club for 2 days and could set up the day before. Thank goodness too because we had a lot to set up. We got there first thing in the morning with our cars loaded. Josh still a little groggy from his bachelor party shenanigans the night before, along with his best man and groomsmen. But still they all came to help set up. Along with all my girls and both our families. With all the help we did get a lot accomplished in the time we had.

I’m not going to lie, I was probably a little biotchy. It was an emotional day.

We did have a little fun while decorating.

We got done a little after lunch, I stopped at Staples to get a bigger memory card for my camera for the honeymoon and micky d’s for some lunch for the soon to be mr. and I. Everyone ran around doing last minute errands to get back to the club in time for rehearsal. Rehearsal went well then it was off to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Oliver’s. As we were leaving the rehearsal I remembered I forgot to pick up the panera order that we got for both houses for breakfast. My Mom graciously volunteered to pick it up as we all went to eat. Unfortunately they didn’t have our order ready and she had to wait quite a bit. Once she got to Oliver’s it was complete everyone was there and had a great time.



After dinner Josh and I said our last ‘single’ goodbyes and went our separate ways. The girls and I chilled out and went to bed.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Teal and Black Wedding : Par-tay!

I had a lovelly bachelorette party planned for me, with a few of my favorite ladies.  When asked if I had any ideas, I said nothing crazy, a low key night would be appreciated.  Maybe a spa day and dinner. Bingo!
We had a great time, we started at spa, the price included 2 services, I chose a massage and a pedi.  This was just what I needed the week before the wedding.  Everyone contributed to the delightful snacks and drinks.
After our pampering we headed to my parents for dinner.  My Mom set up a lovely sit down dinner for all of us.  Yummy salad and lasagna.

 Then the games began!  I received a care package from my Bridesmaid Beth with a few things to contribute since she was unable to make it.

 I had a constume change as I received not one but two fancy shirts!  The above from Beth and the one below from Stacy and Kylie.
 In my care package along with some other fun items was a game the man of the night...

 After our pin the kiss on the bachelor game...my Mom brought out the kareoke machine and well my friends thats where the pictues stop.
I had a great time, it was just what I wanted, a girly good time with my friends, good food, and some pampering.  Perfect way to send me off to marraige land.

Teal and Black Wedding : My favorites

As I did touch on the dress, I realize now I never mentioned my accessories!
I did a lot of research for my special day, I put a lot of time and energy into making it mine/ours. 
My veil was my favorite. 

I assigned my Mom to veil duty, she graciously accepted the challenge. I wanted a mid length veil with lace.  I could not have been more happy with what she made.  The intricate time she took to hand stitch the lace to the veil was so much appreciated.  It is beautiful, and still my favorite part of my wedding day look.
Since I did not plan on wearing the veil the whole night I made myself a little hair flower.  Really easy, I chose a fake flower pulled it apart and sewed it back together onto a barrette.  Voila! Easy as pie.
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It just added a little somethin somethin.
Jewelry I found on Etsy, of course I wanted to tackle this myself, but after not being able to find what I was looking for at the craft stores I gave up and went for something on Etsy.  It was perfect, simple and elegant.

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 Shoes!  I know I wanted teal...and after looking at every possible shoe store, you know where I found these?  Payless.  They were in the dyeable section which I wasn't too sure about, but they really ended up being perfect.

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All these accessories completed my wedding day look.  Including my engagement ring
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And soon to be wedding band.
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Saturday, September 25, 2010

Ahhhhhh...carpet

Hello!
I'm writing you from a new location, one that smells of fresh carpet and paint.  A project we have been working on for probably the past month.  Well today my friends was the day the computer made the move to the downstair, while the whole reveal is not ready, I was too excited to not tell you.
We chose the color palate of grey and yellow.  I love it!
Today my Mom and I went to Ikea to pick up a few finishing touches for the room.  Mainly the desk and chairs.

Ikea

Ikea

I can't wait to finish the room, we really haven't ventured down here till recently.  Next up will be to redo the powder room and laundry room, then the family room.  We can't wait to have more living space, hopefully it will alleviate the spare bedroom/storage room syndrome.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Teal and Black Wedding : Signs

While I touched on our centerpieces here that wasn’t all that was on the table. We had some tealights to create a soft ambience along with some Hershey kisses and the menu. I got a lot of my ideas from www.weddingbee.com, and if you are planning your wedding, I HIGHLY recommend the site, so many good ideas and support. I wanted something to put on the table with what the menu was for the evening, the table number, and a note to direct people to the photo booth. I couldn’t figure anything out, so Josh and I went to joanns to find something. Josh picked up these wedding programs and said we could stand them up on the table. GENIOUS! And he didn’t think he was crafty! It worked out perfect.

Also at each place setting we had a card directing everyone to our shutterfly wedding website, with instructions on how to upload their pictures from the wedding to it. This way everyone could share each others pictures! Plus we got a glimpse of pictures before our professional ones were done. How did we get these cards? We used vistaprints and got free ‘business cards’. They worked out perfectly!

I did a few more signs around the reception. One at the bar listing the drinks, one in the bathrooms with the toiletries’ basket, and one at the escort card table. I used the same bow technique on the signs as I did with the centerpieces and the invites.
After typing up this post, I'm left wondering what I would have blogged without Jenae's help, she's the bomb!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

UF Update

While I've been busy documenting and sharing my wedding, I haven't kept you updated with the UF update, and after reading my friend's post, it has given me some needed inspiration.
Since my last post I have lost 7lbs! Woo hoo!  While it's a big accomplishment, I do have a decent way to go, and I haven't really noticed the loss.  What have changes have I made?  Well staying true to that post I am eating lots and lots of whole foods, fruits and veggies are my friends.  It amazes me how much I was eating, eventhough I didn't think I was eating much.  I really have not been keeping track of calories, but more so making better decisions both with food and excersise.  When I know I can't trust my self on making those decisions I use the Lose It! app on my Ipod to track calories and my excersises.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Teal and Black Wedding : Flowers take dos

While I made the bouquets and my lovely assistants helped with the centerpieces, we did purchase some boutonnieres and corsages.
I wasn’t about to tackle a boutonniere or corsage so we went to our trusty grocery florist for them. We got bouts for my Grandfather and corsages for the Mom’s, Grandma and Josh’s sister.

We did have a lot of extra flowers, and originally we had big plans for them to be inside canning jars hung on shepard hooks lining the aisle. This was all before it decided to be the rainiest coldest week in October. The high that day was 45 degrees and rainy, so we had no choice to bring the whole ceremony inside. Our dreams of a nice fall outdoor wedding were crushed. The day before we had our mind made up, as it had been raining about 2 days prior and was supposed to continue till the end of the weekend. While everyone was waiting for me to breakdown because it would be raining on my wedding day, I remained calm and focused on the fact that it was out of our hands. I can be quite the control freak, so I’m sure this was just the universe regaining it’s control.

The plan was for everyone to sit at their assigned seats for the service as well as the reception. We did have a row of seats at the front for our honored guests our family. The shepherd hook canning jars with sprigs of fall colors were replaced with a beautifully decorated Trellis at the end of the aisle. The trellis I insisted on the morning of the wedding didn’t need to be decorated to my Mother, yet she went behind my back and did it anyway and so thankful she did.  She's so sneaky.

She called up a decorating friend of hers and he made his way to the venue and did it all out of the goodness of his heart. He did an awesome job. I love our ‘first kiss’ picture, doesn’t it look like the mums are fireworks going off?

Where did we get this awesome trellis? He made it.

My Dad a jack of all trades, built the trellis for us that now has a home in our patio. Isn’t it lovely?

I’m telling you peeps we had a hand in everything to make it our personal wedding. No one will have a wedding quite the same.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

bittersweet

In addition to our past Chili Saturday we also celebrated Josh’s Mom’s birthday with his family.
 
We went to the Teppan Steakhouse for not only dinner but a show. We had our chef, Suzuki, which I’m pretty sure is not his name, whip us up something yummy. He was quite amusing with his performance; we all got a few good laughs.  Sandy would have gotten a kick out of him.  And later Josh said she probably would have thought he was cute.

After dinner Josh and I picked up some pretty mums for his mum and visited her, shared a few tears and sang happy birthday to her.  It's something I don't think any of us will get used to, we miss her.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Teal and Black Wedding : Flowers


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This was an evolving thought throughout the planning process. First I wanted hydrangea’s, which found to be troublesome and expensive. Next I thought fake…that was short lived. And then I thought there has to be some way of making them. But really when I found my dress, they had a bouquet of fake red roses to play bride with and really the simplicity of the red rose bouquet was what I was looking for.

A few months prior to the wedding I did a practice run. I got a dozen roses from produce junction for about $4. I found a tutorial on the web on how to construct a bouquet and boom I had my flower trial right in my own home(well my parents at the time). Seeing that it was pretty simple to do I decided right then and there that I would do my own.

Which also set up doing my own bridesmaid flower bouquets and the centerpieces.

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 My idea for the wedding was simple elegance. For the centerpieces I picked up some teal ceramic vases at Michael's the Black Friday before the wedding. If I remember correctly they were on clearance and then 25% off. Woo hoo! Throughout the weeks leading up to the big day, I took my 40% off coupons to Michaels, ACMoore and Joanns to stock up on floral foam. I opted to use the same ribbon and bow for the vases, then filled them with white flowers.

my kitchen turned into a florist

Two days before the wedding I enlisted my mom and bridesmaid Kelli to go to produce Junction and ransack their flower department. We got all the flowers for the centerpieces and bouquets for under $200! If you have planned your own wedding and know flower prices you know this is unbelievable. No doubt it did take a lot of effort and time and man power. My Mom and Kelli spent the whole day doing the arrangements, a few weeks prior I got all the vases bowed and ready to go, while I tackled to bouquets.

The flowers held up beautifully and I was glad we did them 2 days before. The roses really popped by the wedding day. I used floral pins to pin the white ribbon for me and teal ribbon for the girls in place.
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In the end I was glad I chose this route. It saved us a ton of money in the end plus the satisfaction of doing it yourself really is huge. I am happy to say I had a major role in construction our wedding, making it our very own.
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Monday, September 13, 2010

chilly...I mean chili

This past weekend we made the journey to a far away land or the Chili Pepper Festival.  Really it's only a half hour drive but you would think we might be living in another era with the horse drawn carriage and Amish folk.

We were quite impressed by the amount of people that flocked to the festival,also impressed by the amount of vendors.  Ahhh and the many salsa and hot sauce samples, needless to say Josh was in heaven.

Entertainment of the day was when Josh got him and my parents a smoked crab stuffed jalapeno,  thinking it wasn't too hot everyone took a big bite.  Here's everyones 'omg this is hotter than I thought look'


After everyone got some chili and pulled pork for lunch, we headed up to the pepper fields.

Peppers as far as the eyes could see.  It was a gorgeous day for a fall festival!  I love this time of year!