Last blog of the year

As I type this, I can't but look back at the year 2010 and how wonderful it has been to me.  I became engaged to the man of my dreams.  Yes I got my intelligent surfer!  It's been 3 years and 3 months since we've been together, and it seems like it was yesterday.  I'm the luckiest girl in the world, and in exactly 4 months I will be his wife.

I have to be thankful for the wonderful friends we have, new & old (not old in age :)).  For our families that we love and miss.  And I'm hopeful that 2011 will be even better.

Hope you guys have a very happy and very healthy new year!

Love,

A

Christmas Time

Hi everyone:

Merry Christmas!  I'm so excited to about having the week off, I haven't had a week off since last Christmas.  I'm already making plans for the week, kind of New Year's resolutions that I will start earlier.

1. Start doing yoga again.  I saw this show about seniors doing yoga and this 86 year old woman was skiing and gardening at 86, and she says it's because of yoga.  Point taken.

2. Learn how to sew.  I just did that today.  I got a sewing machine for Christmas and just used it today for the first time.  It was fun, I can't wait to get more supplies and do something.  My first project will be  runners for the wedding tables.  I've made a couple of dresses that I have hand sewn myself.

This is the first one I ever made.  It was a silk pashmina. 

 This one was a really ugly dress before.  Didn't sew this one, D had to double taped me into it!  I was lucky that belt lasted as long as it did, once I sat on the taxi cab it burst!

This is the before, it looks cute there but the drop waist falls down to my butt.  And the bubble seam falls down to my knees.

3.  Learn a third language.  Thinking either Italian or French. I just happened to watch Eat Pray Love last night and it motivated me to learn another language. 

4. Work out more.  I have to get in shape for the wedding and honeymoon.  I worked out today for about 40 minutes.  I was so out of breath and nauseous after I felt like a contestant on the Biggest Loser.  But I have to keep it up.

This week I need to call and book our wedding night hotel room and get a quote from another rental place. 

What are your new years resolutions?

Glitter shoes!

So browsing the internet for shoes I came across these.

 

H by Halston for Bakers and I became obsessed.  They've been out for a while and they didn't have them in my size. I tried them at the store and they looked so good!

So I decided to Google glitter shoes and how to make them and I came across this blog. http://www.adventuresindressmaking.com/2010/01/diy-christian-louboutin-glitter-pumps.html

This talented lady gave me the inspiration to create my own glittery shoes.  I'm wearing them to the company Xmas party, I need to see if I'll wear them to my wedding.

This is how I did them.

Went to Joann Fabrics and got some Gloss Mod Podge, multicolor micro glitter & sponges. The smaller Mod Podge will do, I just thought I'd buy the bigger one. It'll come in handy for our DIY wedding!

I had gotten these shoes a few years ago from Ross cause they were 9.99. The brand is Oh deer...

I put plastic bags just like she said, and used a shoe box to contain the glitter. You don't need plastic bags if you're just adding glitter.

Mixed the red, gold, blue, purple, green, silver glitter.

Mixed some of it with the Mod Podge, that was a lot of mixture, I didn't even use a quarter of it. I was putting the mixture and then pouring the mixture over the shoes.  The second shoe was easier to make because I left the heel for last, I was using the heel to turn them around. 

I have glittery shoes!  I skipped the whole spray painting them.

This is why she spray painted them, you can see the black through the glitter.  Fortunately I put another coat of mod podge & more glitter the next day and the issue was resolved.  I would suggest doing them during the day time when you can clearly see what your doing.

Glitter does get everywhere.  But they are so much fun!  Took them to my office and all the girls loved them. Can wait to get a mani/pedi and have fun dancing! 

Glitter                      6.99

Foam Brush              .99

16oz Mod Podge    7.99

                               17.53 w/tax

The shoes are a few years old by now and I've worn them several times, so I'm guessing the 9.99 has depreciated to 0 by now.

Royal Wedding

Thanks Kate & William for setting your date the day before ours.  I don't have to miss your wedding.

Rentals

D & I visited a party rental office, weirdly enough I've never planned a party with rentals so I had no idea where to even begin.  We saw what they had to offer, now we're just waiting till December to do the walk through our location in order to get a better idea about what we need to rent.
I'm figuring out the tables we need, how many glasses we'll need, linens, etc.

I'll report back on this as soon as I have more details.

Save the Dates

Oh boy this is how I realized that I can't take criticism.  Don't know how creatives do it.  I finally decided to try make our own STD's.  D tried to do his own, and I tried to do mine, twice.  The second one I tried ended up looking a bit sci-fi.   Perfect for a Halloween party not so much for a wedding save the date.
Judge for yourselves...

My cubemate H loved it, but she loves all that sci-fi, ghost, csi stuff.  So I researched STD's on Google, I found one in the colors I liked.  I'm obsessing about these B/W stripes linens I saw on some pictures from a Martha Stewart wedding.  My other friend & co-worker J helped make the shape on illustrator, I had no idea how to do it.  And I took it from there.  Although I had to ask her how to do lines, had no idea how to make that either.
All in all it was fun, except cubemate H yelling at me asking me to add polkadots ("I don't know how to!!" I yelled back). 
That night I went home to show D what I had done and he had some ideas.  He asked to add drop shadows.  I complied, after making faces, and complaining the whole way through.  Move this over here...  Change that font.  This is too much for me to take, I can't take the criticism!  We finally both approved it.
Then I had to print it, of course I built it to the wrong size.  Built it 5x7, postcards should be 4x6. Fine I'll just print at a smaller percentage.  I made up the CMYK combo for the blue, once I printed it on regular paper it looked awful, so I changed it.  Then when I tried printing it on cardstock, totally different story, I basically went back to the original cmyk colors.  Definitely try it out on the paper stock you want.
I finally made 2 versions of them with the back included.  I shipped it to my mom to try it out.  4 days later it made it.  Whew!  Here they are

Now it's a matter of printing more & sending.  If only I have better handwriting...

The Wedding is on!!

D & I finally decided on a wedding venue that would satisfy our requirements:

1.  Be cheap
2.  Allow alcohol
3.  Allow music
4.  Did I mention be cheap?

And we found it.  Drum roll please...

Our ceremony and reception will be held at

Heritage Square Museum

The security deposit has been paid, the date has been put on hold.  Now it's a matter of doing everything else.  Rentals, food, bartenders.  Oh boy, the list goes on and on...

The Knot is telling me we have 172 days to go!