Home Sweet Home

While my days are currently occupied with finding the perfect ribbons and scouting honeymoon location potentials, Mark and my mom have began our hunt for our new home! As a total surprise to me, Mark & I will be relocating (locally) after the wedding madness has subsided. My mom is ever so graciously helping us build our new life together and I am so overwhelmingly grateful and excited (and spoiled!) :)
One of my post wedding resolutions is learning to let go and trust others. You may have known this forever but I just learned that I am a total control freak! hehe SO as my first practice, I am trusting this decision to the expertise of my knowledgeable mom and totally considerate and practical fiance. I know they will do a fabulous job hunting and finding the house for us to call home! Wish us luck! <3

Quality Time Captured

Our engagement shoot was one of my favorite things that we have done since getting engaged. Besides the fact that we got some fabulous shots, we got to spend an afternoon together doing our favorite things - laughing, eating, exploring. Jonilyn, our photographer, was such a pleasure to hang out with. We were totally nervous at first but she encouraged us to just do our own thing, and act natural. Picking our favorites was hard since there were so many funny ones, but here are a few that are absolutely frame-worthy...

To see more pictures, visit our flikr album ~ Click here

Blessed

The role of the mother of the bride has undoubtedly gotten a bad rep - deservingly in some cases, but not in mine. Throughout this whole wedding planning process (throughout my entire life actually) no one has been more essential and supportive than my mom <3 Knowing when to let go and when to stand ground is a skill she has so eloquently embraced (and something she has taught me I clearly need to work on!) Whether is it attending countless vendor meetings, finding the perfect lace to match my dress, or even just listening to me rave or rant about this and that - she willingly and lovingly accepts the madness and craziness that is me.

I've always suspected but was recently reminded about how a lot of the joy of a wedding is in the planning and not just the Big Day alone. Really, while it feels like you are doing all this stuff for everyone else, it is everyone else that is equally excited to witness and celebrate (genuinely celebrate) your joining in marriage. How beautiful is that?! I am positively overwhelmed with the amount of help I have been offered from family and friends. Mark and I feel incredibly blessed to have their support!

If you have people like this in your life, I encourage you to just express this to them, even if they already know; everyone just needs to be reminded of it now and then... To my beautiful mother, I owe a lifetime of gratitude. I love you mom!!!

A Hairy Decision

Hair classically up? or half down?

Please help me make a decision - place your vote!

Note: My hair does not hold curl well. Unless it is a very tight curl which is not the look pictured here :( But on the other hand, we all know I have the heaviest hair and it is very hard to pin it up and expect it to stay (especially since I plan on cutting some rug on the dance floor!!!) HELP!!!

**Click on the collage to enlarge**

Yes, that is my dress in the first collage and I am getting the mantilla veil pictured in the center of the 2nd collage :)

On a side note, look how long my hair is getting!

It's so tempting to cut it to my shoulders but I need the length for the wedding.

Click on the comments link and tell me which is your favorite! Thanks XOXO <3

Weekend Warriors

It has occured to me that we have hit that stage of planning where there are suddenly 592384 little things to do. All major vendors have been booked and the weeks/months ahead are full of all these mini projects. It sounds heavenly but its these "mini" projects that are proving to be the most time consuming, and yet convienently the easiest to put off. What I really need to do is sit down and gather all the post it notes and (mental notes!) and make a huge to do list (if you know me, you know that these sort of checklists are the very being of me, its what i do, its what excites me, its MY LIFE! haha omg - creepy - ) Because I am certain that anyone who is reading this is not even half as thrilled as I am about this list, I will spare you from sharing what I need to do and instead share what I did do this weekend...

Linette (my sister from another mister) accompanied me to the previously blogged about Paper Source wedding event. -WAIT- Rewind... when I told Linette what the event was all about, her reply was: "wait, what? you want to check out paper? huh?" Upon further explanation, she basically laughed at me and called me names and advised me not to share my love of paper with anyone else... ya too late. This is important to the story because within only seconds of entering my ridiculed favorite store, I lose Linette to the lure of patterns, textures, and vibrance of - you guessed it - PAPER! If you could only see us prancing around the ultra packed store squealing, "OMG look at this! Try this!" We are so embarassing! And then we make a bee-line for the do it yourself craft table and like 7 year olds (no offense 7 year olds), we grab all the flourish-y stamps, metallic ink pads, & glitter tubes like we were on some distinct mission NOT to share the good stuff. We learn the art of embossing from the totally unimpressed sales staff, and hours (yes hours) later we leave with our new rubber stamp kit, our embossing tools, and an enthusiastic passion for handmade craft products. We thought we were sooooo cool with our new found knowledge and lingo! haha what a bunch of nerds! I would post a picture of what we made but I know for a fact, my photography skills would just not do it any justice :( but all I can say is if you dont have one of these, your missing out on some serious Saturday night fun -

Its an embossing heating tool... DUH!

So that was the Paper-Source event. After that we went to Michaels, Tall Mouse Crafts, & Joann's Fabrics to look for ribbon to decorate the centerpieces - no luck whatsoever, not even close. I get Linette every Saturday though, so you can expect to hear more about this. Yay for you!

Sunday - On Sunday, Mark and I thought we would start to tackle our Bed, Bath, & Beyond gift registry. This was after much debate if we even register at all because the truth is we dont really need anything. As it is, we have way too much stuff and no place to put it. But then we took a look around our room. Cozy as it is, there is a black tv stand across from me, a light colored desk adjacent to the bed. We dont own one set of matching towels and we have "aquired" table settings. It is one beautiful disaster and has been functional thus far but we realized that as we are building a new life together, we should take advantage of everyone's willingness to generously help us build a home together. So there we are at BBB - Me with the clipboard, Mark with the scanner (how fun!) working our way down the "suggested checklist"

The Suggested Checklist... hmmm how do I put this? Cherry pitter, hands free apple pealer, beef jerky maker. 'nuff said.

The results - 2 1/2 hours later we were physically and mentally exhausted and entirely overwhelmed with the massive selections. Even me, the disturbingly obsessive shopper, was like "eh whatever, just scan it" I know some major damage control needs to happen but its yet another task that will have to wait for now. I figure we are much better online shoppers anyways and BBB has a great website.

SO that was my weekend - very small baby steps but its a start...

Man, I'm good at starting stuff ;)

The Way to this Woman's Heart...

...is definitely through my stomach! Feed me well & I rarely will find anything to complain about... Sad, but oh so true!

Tonight Mark, Mom, & I "sampled" 11 appetizers, 3 salads, 2 entrees, and 3 desserts at the Madison. Before you label us oinkers, know that we did it all for you, so that your wedding selections will be only the finest - and markessa approved ;)

I would love nothing more than to elaborately describe the results of our tasting with you, however this may be one detail that I leave to the element of surprise. Me? Keep my mouth shut? About food? Ya ok, we'll see how long that lasts!

Hate is kind of a harsh word :\

It's not that I hate Valentine's day. I just cannot support a day that makes single people miserable and pressures those who are coupled up to be spontaneously romantic. Even more aggravating, I am annoyed by the ridiculous sky rocket of retail items and the commercialized idea that spoiling your significant other somehow dictates your love or worthiness of that person. Call me a scrooge, but Mark and I are entirely anti V-day. And call me a show off but everyday Mark and I put our best efforts into showing our love for each other. True, some days we score better then others, but the intentions are there ;)

I am not bashing anyone who makes friends with the hallmark holiday. Nor do I shy away at the offer of a delicious not-good-for-me chocolate. But yes, I am urked that everywhere I turn there are flowers and I LOVE flowers but not overpriced ones on February 14th. And I am slightly peeved that none of our favorite places will do a takeout order, which probably means I am eating Mac n Cheese again tonight. And I am irrate that I could not find a parking space at Target because your men are desperately looking for a last minute card!

Ok maybe I do hate Valentine's day just a little...

Productivity

I have a really bad habit of over-researching. This has plagued me all my life and has been the most time consuming part of wedding planning. I spend way too much time attempting to see everything that is available and not available to me, and take the longest time making the most simple decision, even the obvious ones. I promise I'm going to work on this (starting after the wedding, he he!) TO make matters worse, I am an avid blog stalker! Honestly, I feel like I know people because I follow my favorite blogs so religiously. I even find myself genuinely concerned when they dont post for days without warning. LOL You guys, its bad! You should be genuinely concerned for me! haha No, but seriously...

I guess, on the bright side, one good thing that can be said about me is that when I make a decision it has been thoroughly considered and I get a great deal of satisfaction from this. I booked my florist today and I couldn't be more pleased and excited to work with her! Not only because she was my first choice and I have admired her work on many knottie bios, but because she has challenged me to be more decisive and creative. Stay tuned for some of my ideas for my do it yourself vases/candle holders. IN the meantime, check out the inspiring floral creations of the ever so popular and equally talented, Flower Allie. [click here to see her blog]

The Aisle File

As if I didn't have anything else to do, I decided to make a bridal party newsletter last night and was up ALL NIGHT finishing the damn thing. Roll your eyes at me all you want, but it's is informational and you know it, Gino! lol I happen to love it and I also am very well aware that I get so crazy- hung up on side projects sometimes. (sometimes? haha!)

There is another page missing but it wouldnt upload for whatever reason. I basically included a who's who page (that SOB took me forever!) , important dates, accomodations info, and then some updates on the bm dresses for the girls, and attire guidlines for the guys. I thought it was a great way to give everyone a heads up on what's going on and whats coming up.

DIY: I really used a little of everything - some Pages templates on my mac, and then just played around on MS Publisher, & MS word.

GaGa for kiddie wear!

I love the sensible concept of children's formalwear rentals . I did a quick google search and found Gagas.com - a website that rents special ocassion formal wear for both girls and boys. This is especially nice for the our lil ring bearers who are 2yrs old and will not likely be able to wear their little tuxes/suits again since they are growing so darn fast! They have a great selection, really reasonable prices, and a rental period of 3 weeks! Oh and I also read that if you want to purchase instead or rent something you are dying to keep, most items have a purchase option on it. The flower girls will most likely get their dresses off ebay or the garment district but for the little guys, $17 spent on Gagas sounds about right to me :) Now I just got to decide on the style. What do you think of these?

Paging Dr. GreenThumb...

What the %@*$?! Mark just got me these yesterday. Why are they all over the place like that??? What am I doing wrong? :(


He he, if you look closely in the background that's Diezel's little head strategically posing!

For the Love of Paper

Since the beginning of time, I have had an overwhelming obsession with all things paper. When I was little I used to "collect" stationery (I know, I was a real wild child!)

I have a drawer full of cardstock, scrapbooking paper, & notecards, both blank & embellished. So please don't be too weirded out when I send you a "thanks for carpooling" or "sorry I lagged" card. I was probably just looking for an excuse to use my cute stationery!

One of my favorite places to kill an hour is roaming the displays at Paper Source. I browse the paper walls, admire the latest letterpress projects, and start up craft related venting session with the sales girls "just cuz." You can only imagine my excitement when I saw the flyer for their upcoming wedding paper event in a few weeks. This one day workshop will feature live demos & inspiration for do-it yourself gals (& guys!) and best of all it's F-R-E-E! The South Coast Plaza location will be hosting their event on February 16th! You can bet I'll be there with my craft bag (and camera) in hand!

Click on the banner for more info...

Markessa Monograms

These make me smile :)


To design one yourself, watch this video for the Power Point directions - DIY MONOGRAM

La Luna de Miel

That's spanish for Honeymoon. How beautiful does that sound?!

Just for the sake of fun facts (my maid of honor loves fun facts), I researched a little about the history of honeymoons and this is what I came up with...

From Wikipedia:

The Merriam-Webster dictionary reports the etymology as from "the idea that the first month of marriage is the sweetest." A honeymoon can also be the first moments a newly-wed couple spend together, or the first holiday they spend together to celebrate their marriage. In many parts of Europe it was traditional to supply a newly married couple with enough mead for a month, ensuring happiness and fertility. From this practice we get honeymoon or, as the French say, lune de miel.

My darling fiance and I have not found an answer yet when people ask us where we will be going on our honeymoon. This is entirely because we are concerned about the amount of mead we will have, or not have, post wedding day. We had planned on postponing this until a later date, but the more intense this is all getting, the more I think we will want to take at least a mini vacation afterwards. The thought of some relaxing alone time after the sweetest day of our lives sounds heavenly. So if I can convince the fiance to hop up on cloud nine with me, where should we go?

Neither have us have ever been to Hawaii...

This bride is always down for a NYC trip...

Also contemplating Costa Rica, Cabo, Puerto Vallarta...

REALLY want to make my way to Thailand or Malaysia, Mark wants Rome & Italy but all those last ones will have to wait till a later anniversary...