DIY Invitations

Ms. Dancer and I decided today was the day we would get the invitations DONE. We started at noon. The design was already done – text checked twice because I am an atrocious speller, no really I am that bad. After about 2 hours choosing the paper (an three different stores), 3 hours printing them out, 1.5 hours at Kinko’s getting them laser cut, 1.5 hour dinner break, another stop at Staples for a long reach stapler, and 3.5 hours of folding/stapling, I was determined by the end of the day to see at least one finished product.

I am grateful that we decided to go to Kinko’s instead of trying to cut them ourselves. Not only did everything line up Ms. Dancer and I did not drive each other crazy with sharp objects (probably not the best idea). Once we arrived at the house we set to work putting these together. We sprawled everything across the kitchen table and hunkered down for a long night.



Although the folding got old after the first hundred pages (I actually think I got a blister on my finger). The stapling was not so bad especially with the new long reach stapler we got.



The outside of the invitations were a beautiful stubble floral pattern in a pale blue on a sparkly cream paper. To give the outside pop we banded the paper with strips of cranberry stamped with our monogram. Once the invitation was folded the band had to be wrapped around and then glued with our Elmer’s stick.



The paper we found that I liked and that we knew would not jam the printer was a more lighter weight then I originally wanted but I knew that we would be under the maximum limit for the one stamp postage (a huge plus) and because we were doing booklets I thought the lighter paper would be ok.



And yea we finished them all tonight. For DIY invitations I was really proud how they turned out. Now if the envelopes would just get here Ms. Dancer and I can move to the next phase of the invitation process: Address, stuff, stamp and send.


Below you will find the finished product.

When One Door Opens

You would think another door opens, at least that is how the famous saying goes but I am sitting in a room and all the doors are closed, I have tried each and every one of them. I wish there was a window I could go out. Instead I sit here and try to figure a way out of my cell.

I am having a bridal wedding meltdown. It is now August 30th two weeks after the date that I wanted to send out our invitations. Our invitations are not sent, as a matter of fact they are not even printed yet due to a certain young woman who has been sitting on the file for three weeks and has finally sent me an email today letting me know that she can get them done by September 30th, UMMMMMMM HELLO that is not ok considering the wedding is October 18th. Damn the single woman who has no idea how important or stressful this is, I KNEW I should have found a married printer girl. Now I am battling my depression and trying to force myself to deal with this. Either I need to decide if I should pay the super rush insanely crazy super fee to get my invitations printed and sent out ASAP OR I can just do everything myself on the printer at work and hope that they come out right.

So the dwindling wedding budget and the limited time frame my MOH and I are going to go to the office this weekend and print, cut, bind, and stuff all the invitations ourselves. There are so many things that need to be printed that I may not come out of this a whole and shiny person. Hopefully this dead beat bride makes it though the weekend alive.

Here is everything we need to print.

PROGRAM (OUTSIDE)


PROGRAM (INSDIE)


THANK YOU BASKET FOR OUT OF TOWN GUESTS (FRONT)

THANK YOU BASKET FOR OUT OF TOWN GUESTS (BACK)

INVITATION COVER - WITH RED PAPER SASH

INVITATION PAGE 1

INVITATION PAGE 2

INVITATIONS PAGE 3

RSVP CARDS

ESCORT CARDS

MENU

FAVOUR TAG

How far would you go?

I was thinking about limits today and how in this world the tools you use to get what you want. I think about how I get up and drag myself to work every day because I want a house, a nice car, unlimited amounts of shoes and I wonder how much I would be willing to do if someone took away the things that I love.

I have found that my dog would do anything for a piece of cracked dried section of a broke down stale dog biscuit; I wonder what I could get him to do if I offered him beer?

We do not allow Rogue (my dog) people food, he is only allowed dog approved products and I think it is because this is the reason that the dog treats (which he gets sparingly) are that much more wonderful. Imagine eating the same meal twice a day for 6 years. I bet if I was fed spaghetti (which is my ALL TIME FAVIOURITE MEAL) for 6 years that liver and onions (which is my ALL TIME UN-FAVIOURITE MEAL) might look pretty good, a treat even. Rogue has become so EXCITED by the mere glance of a treat that he will perform all his tricks before we give the command. I have never seen a dog sit, lie down, roll over, speak and then attempt to shake my hand so fast. I am not sure if I have the world’s smartest dog in that he is trying to anticipate my needs OR if he is just that desperate for his equivalent to a small piece of crack.

I wonder if we did not have opposable thumbs and were made the subservient companions of some higher being what we would be willing to do for a sip of diet coke (the elixir of life).

She Gave me Malibu Barbie

While in Michigan last week I had a dreadful meeting with my florist. In fact it was a dreadful meeting with my NON-florist because my florist was having surgery. The problem is that I felt like my florist really got what I was trying to do and I felt that the new florist was just giving me her version of what a 18 year old bobble-head Malibu Barbie would want. The flowers were ok but not anything like what I wanted. There was NOTHING that was right.
1. They were baby doll pink and peaches – I had requested bold cranberries and raspberries with a splash of cream
2. They were small and tightly bound into a perfect little ball – I had requested big bold and messy
3. They were dainty and sweet – I had requested loud and over the top

This new florist got an earful, in a hopefully modulated non-bridezilla shrill pitch, at least that is what I was going for. But from her look of horror at my tirade I knew that she hated me in this moment. Ally McBeal style I started a visual mind wander that she would go to the back of the store after I exited and let loose a string of profanities that would compare me to the devil or Satan. In which I would then pop my head into the back of the store and scream as fire burned behind me demonically “Satan?” seriously couldn’t you come up with something better than that “I prefer to be called ruler of all that is evil.”

Unfortunately this was my ONLY opportunity to see the flowers in person before the big day because this was my last visit home until right before the wedding in which she informed me that was not going to work for another meeting because the flowers would already be ordered. Shaking off my annoyance we pushed forward and agreed to do ANOTHER sample and she would just have to email the photos of what she was thinking. I took a deep breath and remembered the skin on top of pudding that sometimes you need to go through the ugly to get to the good.

Don't Fill In The Quiet Space

After finishing a meal Mr. Rogue cooked.

Me: “Yummy that was a great dinner.”
Mr. Rogue: “When is the last time you cooked? We need to get you back in the kitchen you are going to get rusty.”
This is when you stay silent and stare – because you need to give him time to realize that was an inappropriate comment
Mr. Rogue: “Um, You could make that Indian dish. I really like when you cook that.”
Still silent
Mr. Rogue: “Maybe you could make it next week.” Pause. “Or whatever maybe not. I could just keep cooking.”

Yea that is what I am talking about. The value of silence.

I Know He Is The One

I always thought relationships were meant to be hard, every experience I had with men (aside from my relationship with my father) seemed to be very difficult. And it wasn’t just me; all my girlfriends had a hard time navigating the minefield that is the man they love/are obsessed with. I spent 11 years trying to figure out men, what made them tick, how to get my way, how to work together with their very different male brain to try and get a relationship to actually work. I got pretty good with the basics of how they are wired but everything even with my accumulated knowledge never felt quite right.

Then I met my husband and all the things I thought I knew about men blew up in my face like an egg bomb in a high school locker; stinky rancid and not at all good. Mr. Rogue was someone I wanted that I could not seem to get, and what is more, nothing I did could get his attention. It was if all his wiring was done by a dyslexic drunk Russian and when I pushed button A, which would normally get me at least a first date and to first base, with Mr. Rogue it caused him to glare at me and turn the other way.

Unfortunately or fortunately for Mr. Rogue instead of being frustrated and giving up on him, his disinterest caused the exact opposite reaction. No one tells me what I can’t have, that is like waving a red flag in an angry bulls face. I was fascinated by him and his completely jacked up Russian wiring. And I have spent the past four years trying to readjust my thinking. Because he was an enigma to me I gave up all the old patterns of dating I had built up over the years and I was actually able to just sink into him. We made new paths and to top it all off, after the initial struggles of figuring out if we wanted to be together then everything was just so damn easy. Do you hear me Internet if you are with the right person they are going to think the sun shines out your ass. I could not be happier than I am with my perfect for me man.

MR. ROGUE

Michigan: A Mother’s Smack Down

I know there are things that I need to get accomplished, things that if I keep procrastinating on will never get done, and as I sit here at my Grandfathers my mother does what mothers do best. She tells me that there are things to be done, and then metaphorically speaking she pulls my face at a height of 5’7” down to her 5’ level and smacks me across the face, afterwards embracing me in a big hug. Now the work can begin I am officially being lead to do things by my mother and the world is now realigned.

We start with going through the program, we decide on the format, we choose the songs that will be played, we have an hour long conversation about the sand ceremony and then we move onto the event calendar, what people are doing when, and then the hall dinner and party afterwards, I am tired. Each of these things takes a lot of time, the details are hurting my brain and as I frantically look at the clock to gage how much longer I have to deal with wedding stuff I dream of a large glass of vodka in place of my sparkling water.

Michigan: Returning the Gifts

Part 2 of the Shower: I purposely registered at Macy’s and Target because I knew I would be getting a lot of gifts in Michigan even though I live in Los Angeles. Both Macy’s and Target take gifts back in the town that you are having your wedding and will give you a receipt to pick them up in the town that you live in. I found this very helpful because the amount of things that I got would have cost a fortune to ship.

So yesterday after the shower my mother and I immediately went to Macy’s to return the gifts. Mom parked the car and we found a basket to transport things to the store. While I went in mom went to the gas station and to run an errand seeing as with the pile I had I would take a while. Unfortunately for me this particular Macy’s was spilt, there were two Macy locations and they just happened to be at opposite ends of the mall. I of course was in the NON home center section, the place that I unfortunately needed to be. So here I was with my shopping cart overflowing with presents, in heels and a dress, trying to navigate around the crowds to get to the other half of the mall.

As I arrived 20 minutes later, sweaty and tired, in the correct side of Macys I was able to get to the process at hand. The woman that I worked with was uber helpful and nice. I was able to return all the gifts and she even was able to get them shipped to my house instead of handing me a form to go pick them up at my local Los Angeles Macy’s, I was impressed.

As I was waiting for all the paperwork to be finished and the items scanned I could not help but to ease drop on the young couple in the room being helped by another associate, because ease dropping was the only way to alleviate my boredom and because they were talking super loud. Internet a note: if you don’t want to be overheard don’t pretend like you are screaming in my EAR!

So the cute little blond girl and her Neanderthal looking husband to be were disagreeing about every single item that they were trying to put onto their wedding registry. I could not help but compare my and Mr. Rogues fun experience of selecting anything and everything we thought we could ever use or just some fun stuff that we thought would be fun just because we could. This couple was treating their selections as if this one single choice was going to influence their entire lives FOREVER, and that if the right trash can was not picked then we were all going to hell. I felt sorry for the man for his little future blond bloodsucking vampire walking all over all his suggestions. I felt bad for the little blonde with her husband that would just keep repeating the same objects again and again like a broken tape recorder.

With the paperwork complete, and my mother having found me (since I was not where she dropped me off she hunted me down) we set off on the hour ride to Grandpa’s going over details of the big day and reminiscing about life. What a great and busy day. Excuse me while I go stuff my face with ice cream and take a long long long long nap.

Michigan: My Michigan Wedding Shower

Unfortunately after being out late last night and getting no sleep the night before I could not sleep in today. There was still a million things to do and I was on a strict schedule. So Ms. Bitch, Ms. Babydoll and I all packed up, kissed both Ms. Ivey League and Ms. Bitch goodbye and were off for my wedding makeup and hair test run.

I could not have picked two better girls to go with me. Both Ms. Pool Shark and Ms. Babydoll were experts in hair and makeup and they both had a lot to offer and say about the various styles that the designer tried. After playing for over two hours we finally settled on a halfway updo with some curls and simple makeup, the longest thing we debated with was my eyeliner which I never wear. First it was too thin, then it was too thick and then we had to decide between black or dark brown. SHEZ getting married is hard.

Glancing at the clock we realized that we were running a bit late which left us rushing to my Michigan wedding shower. My mother had planned the whole thing at a great Italian restaurant. With the help of my aunts they pulled together the best shower ever and I am so thankful to my wonderful, perfect, sweetheart of a mother.

Michigan: Busiest Day EVER

I flew on a redeye last night which landed me in Michigan at about 6:30am. My bridesmaid Ms. Pool Shark and I had planned on getting my errands done together all day SO she drove in from Pittsburgh (which took all night) and picked me up from the airport. Needless to say we were both super tired.

We were so hot in Ms. Pool Sharks convertible and my hair was going WILD on our way to the salon so I tied it back unfashionably in a scarf. I really don’t look good without hair; bald would so not work on me.



We had breakfast and then we were off to do all the last minute wedding errands. First I had an appointment to go look at the flowers one last time. Because of the last debacle where they gave me totally the wrong look I was apprehensive but they managed not to screw it up this time. Then we had to go and select the final linens for the table and pay the hall the remaining balance. It was wicked hot and all I can remember is sweating profusely hoping I would not faint.

After running around doing the errands we swung by the airport again to pick up Ms. Baby Doll who had flown in from Indiana. Then we were off to Mrs. Bitch’s house where Ms. Ivey League was meeting us for a girls sleepover.

Even though Ms. Pool Shark and I were ready to topple over with exhaustion we managed to rock it at the bar and push through. Surrounded by some of my favourite girls we had a wonderful night. Thanks Mrs. Bitch for putting us up in your house.

Creating The Mini-map

Since almost half of my guests were coming in from out of town for the wedding and staying at the hotel I had reserved a block of rooms for I knew I wanted to create a fun and cute mini-map to put into the invitations as a general roadmap, something a little prettier than a printed out Google map.

Although this went through many rounds of revisions I ended up settling on this design. Even though I knew it was not perfect time prevented me from doing anything further. I printed this out at a very small scale and over all I was happy with the outcome.

Whitening Our Teeth

It is no secret that unlike most males of his species Mr. Rogue cares about his appearance. Not in an obsessive metro sexual way but he does take care of himself well. So when I gently coaxed him to try crest whitening strips because I had such wonderful success with them already he obliged. The whitening strips make your teeth sensitive so instead of following the twice a day regiment on the packaging I decided to do a lesser version for myself and Mr. Rogue. We are so happy with the results, I think I will use these for the rest of my life or until they find out that they cause tongue cancer, or some kind of aneurism whichever comes first.

Meeting with BBBS

It has been 186 days since I first applied to BBBS and frustratingly I am only NOW getting to the point where I have my first interview with a councillor. I magically thought that when I applied there would be lines and lines of children waiting to get a big sister but after the application was filled out I was sent an email that the background checks would take some time. So now after all this time I was excited and anxious for my interview after so many hurdles had been crossed.

I walked into the room with my interviewer completely confident on the outside and apprehensive on the inside. I really did not know what to expect and the questions were very personal. In the long run I ended up sobbing my heart out in her office and the fasode that I had when I walked in crumbled.

Exiting an hour later I was not sure if I was going to get a call back. I feel like a dud right now. Hopefully I passed because I think I have a lot to give a little.

They Cancelled a Piece of my Life

I am a Sex and the City worshiper. The girls and I would anxiously await the night where we could curl around the television and sip wine while eating whatever random stuff was left over in the cupboard. As long as the show came on and there was wine sometimes we even didn’t eat. It didn’t matter though because the show it just nourished my soul.

I think that EVERY woman can see a little bit of themselves in at least one of the characters if not find something in themselves that connect with more than one. Me I connect with all four. But then a few years into the program I got the terrible news that they were wrapping up the series. It was one of the worst days of my vain idolized life, right there behind the day I found out that Taco Bell’s meat was not real. I remember that day I was talking to the guy behind the counter saying how much I loved the hard shelled tacos, raving about the wonderfulness of the taste when he broke the horrible news. It ruined my life forever I am sure.

I never got over the meat thing and I am sure I will never get over them cancelling Sex and the City while it was still loved. They totally should have kept it going even until it got into some twisted Sex and the Golden girls thing I would have still been a faithful viewer. Officially television became the place where dreams come to die and watching it will never be the same again.

Confessions of a Shop-aholic

Because I was so successful at losing so much weight I decided to buy some super cute shoes for the honeymoon. And these yellow and turquoise Baby Phat high heels are a little over the top I thought are perfect colors for the gorgeous Aruba weather I am anticipation. They also fall into the whole new yellow theme I seem to be on right now with my recent purchase of this purse which I know will look perfect with these new baby’s.

Giant Success

So I have been working myself out, staying on a pretty strict diet, and the pounds have just been melting off. I feel better, I look better, and I feel like I am a whole new person. My clothes are fitting again and I could not be happier. Although the weight is coming off slowly, it got there slowly and I have learned that it is the best way to lose weight and keep it off.

Here are some before and after shots

Before Dec 07




After Aug 2

I feel like I could concur the world right now!

Check Me Into the Loony Bin

I love my grandparents house. It is warm and inviting in an old person cozy kind of way. The only thing that drives me CRAZY and I mean Julie Andrews on the top of a mountain screaming like a mental patient kind of crazy is the clocks. In every room and sometimes more than one there are clocks and not the really nice silent digital clocks, no nothing quiet so modern. These are ancient where gears and belts that squeak and wail so loudly that the noise, the noise just seeps into my brain paralyzing it with the need to take a baseball bat to them all.

And then the worst thing is that every fifteen minutes all these old clocks chime and bong and beep and whistle letting you know that ANOTHER fifteen minutes has gone by. It would maybe a little more bearable if they were synchronized but they are not. Instead they all chime at different times. First one starts and then as the minutes tick by a cascade of annoying horrible loud sounds fill my ears. Thirty seconds into it I am resisting the urge to jump out of bed head first because a head trauma would feel good right about now.

Invitations Finished

I have been stuck under a hole for the past 3 months and it has taken every ounce of energy just to make it through the day with some form of sign that I am part of the human race and not more directly related to a rock. I am trying here really I am but the constant struggling is becoming almost as painful as giving up and just staying in bed all the time. I think I could be happy in bed all day, well maybe not happy but less miserable. I walk around like an exhibit for that rare panda with everyone looking at me, and you know what, I think that panda died, he died alone, without a wedding, just like I am going to if I don’t get my ass in gear. So today I got up and forced my body to finish the last finishing touches on the invitations for the wedding so I can send them to the printer and check one more thing off the list of never-ending things I need to get done for the wedding.

Trying to plan a wedding while depressed is kind of like that dream you have when you go to school only to realize you are naked. I would really like to wake up from this nightmare now. I keep asking God if he is done hurting me because if he isn’t then I really need to FedEx order a thicker skin. No matter how hard I have been trying I feel like my depression is like Teflon for my wedding, nothing ever sticks.

So as I complete this one small task, this task that I have been trying to get done for weeks I feel a little better, not good but it is like I see a small ray of hope that MAYBE just maybe I can manage to pull this wedding off without shattering into a million pieces. Today with a lot of effort I mentally scotched tapped my dreams of a beautiful wedding back together again.

It’s My Party And I’ll Cry If I Want To

I am tired, I am stressed, I am totally over planning for this damn wedding. Not actually getting married, I am so excited for that! But this constant planning, this behemoth of a party, I am just so frustrated. I just want to lie back for an entire weekend and do nothing. I want to read a book and not feel guilty that something is not getting done. I want to take a random trip somewhere up the coast with my man and put our toes in the water. I want to think and plan about our lives after the wedding but I am EXAUSTED. It is like I am in some slave camp and this HUGE 7 foot ugly German woman with a cat o nine tails is following me around whipping me for being the worst bride ever! Such vanity to want to just give over to my selfish soul and run away to some island.

I am also tired of worrying that I am missing something, that the linens I choose are going to be just a bit off cream than what is in my mind, the music that is going to be played during the ceremony. I want to worry about the more weighty issues, talk about things that do not involve frills and lace, like the effects of the economy, or next president, global warming, or ANYTHING that stretches the other brain cells that have not been out to play in a long long long long time.

Now I know I am incredibly blessed to even be sitting here typing/whining about my situation. I just want my life back. What would help, what I really need is for God to throw me a bone and add 4 more hours to the day. Yes God I think that will help me tremendously, but what if I said pretty please with sugar on top and a cherry. DAMN life should just be a bit easier.

The Art of the Spray Tan

I learned how to be a woman slowly after years of building layer upon layer of my knowledge. Most of the information filtered to me through friends or older girls who took me under their wing. I remember once, when I was still pretty young, pausing in my nightly ritual before I was off to some club or party to think all this is a lot of work. The shaving, the lotions, the clothes, the makeup, curling the hair and the clothes it was all so much energy just for a few hours of fun and yet I still did it.

That leads me to my wedding shower where I turned to two girlfriends and asked if they had ever gotten a spray tan. You see I got some pretty funky tan lines at my Bachelorette party weekend and I was interested in whether or not I should apply makeup or take the plunge and get my first spray tan.

They both raved over how wonderful the spray tan was and even showed me the proper spray tan stance shown here:



Arms out, legs slightly spread just to make sure the SPRAY gets into all the crevices.

Still apprehensive even after their assurances I turned to the internet where I read horror story after horror story. The internet can be a blessing or a curse all that information at the tip of your fingers and having to weed through it all to find the correct information.

I don’t know these girls but love the photo, see here.

I think to stay on the safe side I am going to use makeup to cover up the worst of the lines and try spray tanning another time when it will be perfectly acceptable to hole up in my house for a month if the tan goes horribly awry.

Childless And Proud Of It

I feel bad for parents when their children go completely out of control in public places. So sad and so embarrassing and I really do feel for you because really you are probably a very nice person and this is something that happens outside of your realm of control. I do understand. Yet that feeling only lasts as long as I believe is enough time for the parent to take the child outside of the public place until they calm down. However there are some parents, who used to the banshee wailing of the little human, continue on as if they are tone deaf. Secretly maybe they honestly are tone deaf to the monster, if you are in the boiling pot long enough it may not seem so hot. They have to listen to that all the time, daily even, the tantrums and screaming. To the rest of us childless people it is like being thrown into a torture chamber and asked to wait in line for your turn on the rack as a 9 foot Neanderthal gives the wheel one more turn and the sorry being tortured begs for his life. This is what is happening in our brain as your child screams bloody murder and you flip the switch in your head to ignore. I have not built up that kind of mental power yet.

So I am at the book store, reading and drinking a Starbuck Chi Tea Latte, I am in heaven. And this child not 10 feet away starts screaming bloody murder. The parents are not reprimanding or shushing no they are continuing their conversation. After 10 min and several dirty looks from me and the other patrons of the book store I swear that child looked at me, like, HELLO ADULT HAVE I MADE YOU RECONSIDER EVER PROCREATING, HAVE I SUFFICIENTLY BROKEN EVERY BLOOD VESSEL IN YOUR BRAIN. I have never wanted to silence by any means a person more than I did at that moment!

The Shoes and Some Glitter

These days it is not uncommon to hear of brides with various twos… weather it be two veils, or two dresses. The idea is to pretty much wear the more traditional to the wedding and do the quick change and wear the more modern item to the rehearsal dinner. I am not sure why you would want two dresses when you pay so much for the one dress but I am defiantly going to be rocking two types of shoes.

IMAGE SOURCE

IMAGE SOURCE

IMAGE SOURCE

IMAGE SOURCE

I adore the idea of a very traditional wedding dress and a pop of shocking colored pair of shoes. Since I am a shopaholic with my main vice being shoes I have spent forever looking for the perfect pair. Today Ms. Dancer and I on another shopping trip to find the wedding accessories we finally found them. The perfect pair of cranberry shoes by Marciano whom I am now in love with. They were the perfect color and were classy yet bold which was EXACTLY what I was looking for. The only issue was that they were a bit pricier than I originally budgeted for but whatever I must have them. They also are not comfortable to wear ALL DAY LONG I will defiantly be wearing them for the ceremony and photos where I will then quietly slip into my comfortable flats. Take a look and please keep the drooling to a minimum.

Riding the high of finding these wonderful shoes we decided to glance at the jewellery on the way out because I was STILL also looking for the earrings and imagine my surprise when I spotted the perfect pair, and I got to snag the last ones they had because they were on sale.

I was so happy with our shopping today even thought it was a little frustrating that we were out at the stores for 6 hours and managed to find both of these in the last half hour at least we were gifted with finally finding them. With these purchased my wedding accessories are now all accounted for and I can breath a sigh of relief that I get to check another item off the long long long list.

Book Club - "Three Cups of Tea"

I ran across a GREAT book that I picked up for book club. It is a work that inspires me to be better, to reach further and to look past my own limited view of the world. This was one of my favourite books that I have read this year and I would HIGHLY recommend it to everyone. But seriously if you look on Amazon there are over five hundred people who have reviewed this book with 89% of them giving it five out of five stars. THAT is amazing.

Basically Three Cups of Tea is true story about an young American who enters Pakistan as a mountain climber, who really sees the issues of the country and who against all odds begins a lifelong struggle to make a real change. By dedicating his life to his mission he gives up so much to fulfill his personal mission to build schools and teach girls. His theory was that if you teach the boys they go off to the cities and leave their communities but if you teach the girls then they stay and in turn make the community a better place.

If you want to buy the book make sure you click through the Three Cups of Tea website here which then takes you to Amazon. If you do it this way then 7% of the sale will go to Greg Mortenson’s charity.

Finish Line

Today was Mrs. Bulldog’s wedding shower and while I generally dread wedding showers I was excited to go to hers because I would know a big portion of the women going and because Mrs. Bulldog throws a damn good party. Getting there everything was going great until the games started. You see I am a competitive you want me on your team because I love to win kind of person, which makes me very competitive and a little bit annoying I admit. I really do try to not care, to lean back and just watch everyone else but then something clicks in my head and I focus on winning weather I want to or not. It is not something I am proud of but in the end I love to win.

So the first game we played was the bride to be carries around a tray and you are supposed to memorize everything she is carrying on the tray. After she gives each table 15 seconds to look their fill she moves onto the next table. After she was done with all the tables she disappears and the real game begins. What was Mrs. Bulldog wearing. Duh I totally rocked this one and of course I won 

The second game was that we had to sing, as a table, a song that had the word love in it. I coordinated everyone and we sang “All you need is love” from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack. Dude we totally rocked that and won again.

I am special, and yes I mean padded room special. Maybe I should make next year’s goal to lose every single game I play. That could be interesting...

Here are all the girls.

One, Two, Three

I would not say I am a dancer, but I am not a great lumbering beast on the dance floor. As long as I have a few drinks and am in the mood if you know what I mean I can be a complete dancing queen. I have even managed to become a moderately good salsa dancer due to a friend who dragged me to numerous salsa dancing clubs and injecting tequila into my system until I to could move just like the pros, or at least stumble around enough to fake it. However when it came for my fiancée to learn how to dance and in turn for me to brush up on my dancing I felt like I was the one with 6 left feet and no rhythm. A title my fiancée had proclaimed his.

After donning my dancing outfit, Mr. Rogue’s super man shirt (for courage), his flannel pants because I ALWAYS wear them dancing, and my snazzy high heels I was ready and dressed to impress. After removing to table from the kitchen and sweeping the floor in said outfit we were ready to tango, just kidding we are actually dancing to the waltz for our wedding dance, as if I would tango. I only wish it was that type of wedding where we could tango like Mortitia and Gomez Adams. Totally does not go with the theme I have had in my head since I was a little girl of my wedding dance. But I digress.

We could not dance, we could not even kind of dance. And not because Ms. Dancer was a bad teacher or because Mr. Rogue or I were not trying, it was me and my inability to follow. Stubborn, pigheaded, know-it-all me cannot drop command and just follow my partner. This is again a proven moment in which I would be better suited to the man’s role. Really this is the 20th century, why can’t we shake it up a bit and let the woman lead for the next 1000 years. I had to do all kind of exercising, INCLUDING dancing with my eyes shut (bullshit I can’t seeeeeeee). After the 5th lesson we were reasonably comfortable and I was getting better at the ‘turning off brain and just let the puppet master pull the strings’. Dancing is like that horrible game they make you play in team building exercises. Just shut your eyes and fall backwards, don’t worry the fat dude behind you that never bathes and has a zit on his nose that you have been fantasizing about popping with the slingshot you carried around in your back pocket when you were young will catch you. YEA RIGHT!

Precious Jewel

My now fiancé, for our first Christmas together, three years ago gave me my first piece of jewellery from him. A simple silver band with a large pink emerald cut stone that I still cherish to this day. I love everything about it and to me this ring signifies the beginning of our deepening love for each other. Although this cost far less than my engagement ring sentimentally I treasure it more.

The Hole

I think many people (myself included) are afraid if they take medication or even agree to see a therapist that they are in some way admitting failure and defeat when they are depressed. I feel like society says people should just buck up and get over it and that reaching out a hand and asking a professional for help is a huge sign of weakness. I am almost ready to be weak then and be seen as a failure in some eyes. I think I really need help with this. They say time heals all wounds but it is SO not getting better.

Second Dress Fitting and Some Extras

Since I tried on my dress a month ago and found out that I had not lost enough weight for it to fit and decided to make a corset back in the dress this will be the first fitting where I am hoping that the dress will actually fit. Ms. Dancer came with me and I was ecstatic with the results. It was PERFECT and I could not be happier with the work that the seamstress did. As I sighed in relief that my perfect dress was not ruined Ms. Dancer and I turned to our second mission of the day to choose a tiara and veil.

I did not have any idea what I wanted when it came to a veil except that I wanted it to be simple. This indecision lead to us trying on over 20 veils and I was astounded by the variety they were able to offer me. In the end I picked something that was two tiered and fell in layers to about the center of my back. I felt that it was the perfect length for my dress. Any longer and it would cover up the crystals on the bustle, any shorter and it would not fully cover my hair but instead chop it off in a weird way. So with the veil chosen we turned to picking out a tiara.



I knew I wanted crystals for the tiara because of the detailing on the dress. There are a line of crystals on the bustle on the small of my back and the same line of crystals across the bust of the dress.

MY WEDDING DRESS BACK CRYSTAL DETAIL

We were lucky because in addition to seeing which tiara’s that Mon Amie had there was also a woman Meg who was showing her handmade jewellery off in the store and who popped into the dressing room to show off some of her merchandise. She is super talented and had a lot to choose from. She had the perfect tiara. It was simple and matched the crystals on my dress. We tried it on with the veil and the dress and I knew it was perfect.

THE TIARA

After finding the tiara she stuck around to show me a few necklaces. I was not sure if I wanted one, I had not decided but when she pulled out one of her designs it was divine and I fell in love with it. Closing my eyes to how much I was spending today I agreed to take it with a few modifications which she was more than happy to do.

THE NECKLACE DESIGNED BY MEG

NECKLACE DETAIL

Even though I spent way to much today I was happy that things were starting to come together and the look was getting to what I really wanted.

Confessions of a Shop-aholic

I was at lunch at the little divine sushi place around the corner from my work and just jumped into my little secret store ‘Runway’ where I found this fo alligator yellow clutch that I know will look perfect with my new Dollhouse flats, what a happy summer color!