DIY Bride-zilla - ROAR!

Yeah yeah, I forgot the link again.  But yesterday I posted on Weddzilla about my little DIY meltdown, and it's actually quite amusing (if I do say so myself)!

Go check it out, and leave me some comments - I haven't really been feeling the love from anyone other than my Aunt lately, lol!

Seriously - When Did It Become JULY!?!?!?

Ummm, yeah, this morning when I was writing my post about the big change in my life I seemed to completely forget that today is the first freaking day of July!!!!  Yeah, ummm, 2 months left of planning ::cue squeals of excitement mixed with shudders of nervousness::

Seeing as it is a new month, I can't forget to share with you my plans:

Oh yes, July will be a busy one...

On the non-wedding related front my last day at my current job is July 13, and I start my new job on July 18.  Then I have a hair appointment on the 30th.

Now, on the wedding related front:

• This weekend - finish my damn invitations
• July 7 - mail said invitations
• July 9 - Make candy buffet bags/tags
• July 10 - Turn the DIY string balls into DIY string ball curtains
• 14th-15th - Since I have two days off before I start my new job I plan on making sure to finish my shoes (so they'll be ready for my second fitting) and probably work on my topiary balls as well as my pearl bouquet
• July 17 - Bryan will be helping me make columns for our ceremony space
• July 18 - I'll have my second fitting!  (and I promise to try and get more pictures of my hoarder seamstress' house!)
• July 24 - finish the topiary ball thingies that will be used as cocktail hour centerpieces
• July 30 - make bar signage (what's available as well as signature drinks)
• July 31 - I'm hoping we'll have gotten some RSVPs back and we can start the seating chart!

Definitely going to be a busy month - but it doesn't even compare to what August is going to look like!

Are you going to be having as busy of a July as I am?

And don't forget you can always check out my calendars and timelines on my "Countdown to the Big Day" tab!!!

Big Life Changes...

...are always scary, but 90% of the time they are for the best.

Yesterday I officially resigned from my job.  Let's face it, I was miserable here.  As much as I liked {most} of the people I worked with, and I feel horrible leaving given that one of my other coworkers just left (and our group only has 4 people in it) I have to do what's best for me emotionally and financially.  I'll be starting at my new job on July 18th, and I'm very excited!

I had given my current company a chance to match the offer that my new job gave me, not because I wanted to stay but as a courtesy given the only two people left have less than 1 year experience here between the two of them.  When the director of my area told me that they weren't going to be countering, and I simply responded "Okay" he looked a little dumbstruck.  Bryan and I think he might have thought I was bluffing about having another job lined up, but that would be really stupid if you ask me.  So after he stared at me for a moment he goes "And to be quite honest, Amanda, I'm offended you were even looking at other jobs considering all the opportunities we've given you."

It took every fiber of my being to prevent me from either laughing or blowing up in his face.  First of all, he was not the director of my area when I was initially hired, so he had nothing to do with that.  And unless you count an obscene amount of work and responsibilities (and given I had just graduated from college and didn't have any sort of mentor ship because two other people from our group quit last summer) with absolutely no compensation or recognition as "opportunities" they've done nothing but under appreciate the amount of work I've put in here.

And after that, I felt like a massive weight had been lifted off my shoulders.  I'm excited about my new job, I was actually afraid they would counter the offer and I wouldn't be able to turn down the additional salary even though I don't like my job.  But I'm still slightly offended.  It just proves that management here really has no idea what it is that I do, and they're going to be in for a big surprise when I leave.

But - at my new job I get to wear open toed shoes, and I'll actually get paid for overtime!!!!!!  And I'll no longer have to walk past the Planned Parenthood Protesters on my way to work!  Part of me felt like it wasn't the best idea to switch careers with my wedding coming up so quickly, but there's no day like today, and I've decided to take Skinny Bitch's advice and "dedicate myself to creating the life I want."

As for working out (yes, it is still Fitness Recap Friday) I only did twice this week...but that's better than the past two weeks!  I did HIIT 15 on Monday and Fire 45 on Tuesday.  Tuesday night I knew I would be approaching my boss the next day and I took all my anxiety out on that kickboxing workout.  I'm amazed my arms didn't go flying off my body I was punching so hard, hahaha.




And since I'm quite proud of the progress I'm making on shoe number 2, I just have to show it off:

Isn't she purrrrty?

This weekend is more invitation extravaganza - I'm hoping to get them in the mail by next Thursday.

Any big plans for Fourth of July weekend (wedding related or not)?

Sorry I've Been Quasi MIA

But life has been nutty lately!  Seriously, I feel like I'm losing my mind - way too busy!  And, I didn't even get seriously started on my invitations last weekend so this weekend I have a date with a 4-pack of redbull, my cricut, and my printer!

But anyway, it looks like Weddzilla is finally getting back into the swing of things, and my post about my shoes went live today - you can find it here!

I also had my first fitting this past Monday, so I promise to be back soon with a post about that!  Don't hate me...life is just too busy right now!

Random, Random - Who Wants Some Random?

Yeah, so, I didn't work out this week.  At all.  I'm ashamed of myself.  But I promise, I'm back on the wagon starting tomorrow!

So, instead I have a lot of random-ness to share with you.  Let's start with Skinny Bitch...there have been a few pages of my calendar recently that I really like.  I actually like them so much that they're hanging up in my cube at work, haha.  And here they are:

The first two are actually my favorite.  June11/12 is probably my very favorite.  Especially since I haven't exactly been happy with my job lately, and I've been feeling just overwhelmed with life yet underwhelmed with myself.  I just have to remind myself that I do have control, and I can create the life that I want.  I already have an amazing fiance, caring friends and family, I just have to figure out what I want to do and do it.

I like the affirmation because let's face it, we don't tell ourselves that we love our bodies enough.  And regardless of where you are in a weight loss/gain/maintenance journey, you should love the body you've got!

And I like the last one because I'm sooooooo bad at remembering to hydrate myself!  So that sucker is front and center - on top of my computer monitor at work - to remind me to drink more effing water!

Next up, some beauty finds!

So, I get my hair done at Ulta, and while I'm "processing" I shop, haha.  Well last night I found (and fell madly in love with) the Pop Beauty Bare Texture Kit eyeshadow pallette.  Seriously, swoon.  If you're looking for an awesome new eyeshadow pallette, I 100% recommend this one:

Personal Photo

And here's a blurb from the description (stolen from the Ulta site):
Bare hues to subtly frames your eyes as our added POP eye-brightening hue adds bursts of color - so you have the option of going bright for night! Kit also contains POP Beauty's famous Eye Magnet Primer for durability and a defined eye that stays that way all day or night! Line and blend mini brush duo included. This is all about the texture! Frolic along with matte, shimmer or full-on glitterati pigments! Play, combine and mix texture & color to truly define your peepers!

Seriously love it.  I had trouble picking out which colors to use this morning...I ended up going with barely lining my eye with the top row farthest to the right, did top row farthest to the left for my lid, middle row - middle section - top left for the crease of my lid, and a little hint of the green that is in the middle of the top row on my tear duct...

Perfect look for work, if I do say
so myself!

I also bought, and am now obsessed with, CoverGirl natureluxe "gloss balm" (I got it in "cabernet"):

Personal
Photo

I like that it isn't sticky and adds just the right amount of color and glossiness.  And it has SPF 15, which is always good to have in the summer.  And since it's CoverGirl (aka not obscenely expensive) I might have to go to Walmart to see if they have it so I can invest in a few more colors!  The one I got looks super dark in the tube, but it really isn't.  That's my favorite kind of lip color though!
And finally, on today's random agenda, gotta throw in some Wedding Related fun, right?  Well, I've started working on my second shoe - and no, I haven't gotten so sick of it that I wanna stab my eyes out with the tweezers that I use to place the gems yet.  A little less than 2 hours worth of work (I do have to actually eat during my lunch, not just bedazzle shoes) and we are well on our way:

Starting off sucks...once you get a good bit done, it becomes much easier.

That's all for now - still quasi dreading starting my invitation suite this weekend, but you can't avoid the inevitable!  Just keep your fingers crossed for me that everything goes smoothly...

Do you have any random-ness to share on this lovely Friday?

So Much Wedding Excitement to Share!!!!

First of all, let me apologize for being MIA for the past week.  Going home for my bridal shower (more on that later) and then trying to get ready to start working on my invitations (eek) not to mention that stupid thing called my job, I've just been running around like a mad woman!

But, we shall start at the beginning...my flight home last week was delayed for 3 and a half hours!!!!  I hate airports.  In my mind airport = hell.  People are either in too much of a rush or they aren't moving fast enough, somehow it has gotten to the point where people think being in an airport gives them a right to look like they just rolled out of bed in public, and the chairs are always uncomfortable.  Needless to say, being delayed 3 and a half hours didn't really put me in the best mood.  But apparently, Jet Blue does a lot more than give you cookies and free TV on all of their flights!

First, they brought out all the snacks that are available on the planes (chips, cookies, soda, etc) and let us help ourselves.  Then they ordered pizza for us!  Yeah, they totally had 20 pizzas delivered to the airport for us to eat.  Then they started playing trivia and if you got a question right you got a $25 credit towards a future Jet Blue flight.  Then they said they were going to draw a winner out of all the people who had answered questions correctly for the "grand prize."

I totally won the grand prize.  I never win anything.  I was pumped.  It was Red Sox tickets for a game that I would no longer be in Massachusetts for but, do you know what this Sunday is?  Yeah, it's Father's Day.  Know who loves the Red Sox?  You guessed it, my Dad!  So I got to be the best daughter ever and give my Dad pretty awesome tickets to the Sox game this Saturday.  And that totally made up for the delay.

My Bridal Shower was on Saturday, and it was absolutely gorgeous, and I can't wait to tell you allllll about it, but I forgot my camera at home.  My mom mailed it down and it should be here any day now, but I'm not even going to bother writing about the shower until I have pictures to share with you as well.

But, at some point during the shower someone decided to drown my phone.  They tried to clean it up (as in, they dried off the outside) but when it wouldn't turn on and I pulled the battery and a bunch of water came pouring out it was pretty obvious what had happened.  I minorly freaked out.  Being without a phone makes me feel naked.  Being without a phone when I was flying back to Pittsburgh the next day made me want to vomit.  I don't even know how to use a pay phone anymore.  So, BM Kim and I went to Verizon.

First, there was nothing they could do, I could have a replacement sometime next week.  Then I threatened to cancel my contract.  They asked if I wanted to talk to customer support, I said yes.  They dialed the number that brings you to the automated system.  I damn near exploded - but chose to continuously press 0 until a human came on.  As I'm on the phone the Verizon man magically found a phone he could give me as a loner.  I was livid.  If I hadn't said "yes, I want to speak to customer support" he wouldn't have even looked if there was a phone they could give me temporarily.

At this point, probably 45 minutes had passed.  Then we spent the next 2 and a half hours waiting for him to figure out how to set that phone up with my number.  TWO AND HALF HOURS!!!!  Did I mention we were still in our absolutely adorable bridal shower outfits?  But they just could not get it to work.  And they finally went and magically found a new Thunderbolt (the phone I have) to give me.  I was like "Seriously, I thought you didn't have any more thunderbolts???" (my phone is still under warranty).  And his asshole response was "we don't have any replacement thunderbolts, this is a new one."  Took him all of 5 minutes to get that sucker working.

My theory is that they couldn't set up the crap-adelic phone on my plan because I have a hardcore unlimited data plan and that sucker probably wasn't even T-9 capable.  They weren't going to downgrade my plan so their system wouldn't allow them to put that phone on my plan.  But whatever, I have a new phone now, it just took 3 and a half hours.

Then I went out with Kim that night, flew home the next morning, and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing because I was exhausted!

Enough ranting and raving though...onto a much more important topic - wedding day accessories!

I've probably mentioned I've been working on applying crystals to my shoes during my lunch at work and last week I finished my first shoe!  Then I made a little flower to clip on the front the other night!  I have a post for Weddzilla all about it, but Weddzilla has been wonky for the past couple days, so I'm going to at least show you a picture:

Isn't she purty?  But, like I said, more to come on that once Weddzilla catches up with all the pending posts!

Then last night I decided to try out yet another idea for a boutonniere for the guys.  This time I was going to use pearls (like my beloved bouquet) and I came up with the idea to mount them on a gold leaf brooch.  BEST IDEA EVER!  And now I have even more of an excuse to troll ebay for vintage brooches...

And my absolute favorite picture:

Seriously, couldn't be happier!  I love when I come up with good ideas.  Not only does it look fabulous but it's a freakin' pin!  How much easier could that be for the guys?  And they'll be all different leaf brooches (you can see some that I've picked up already in a few of the pictures).
And, I officially finished making my pocketfolds last night.  Let me tell you, cutting, scoring, folding, assembling, and embellishing 85 freakin' pocketfolds kind of sucks.  But they ended up costing me pennies a piece, so I can't complain that much, not to mention I get the satisfaction of saying I made them all!  Blood, sweat, and tears baby - that is what is going into this whole wedding (minimal blood though)!

So this weekend begins the actual assembly of the invitations.  I'm kind of pumped, kind of dreading it.  The design isn't that complicated, but my Cricut is going to get quite the workout!  But none of you get to see them until I've mailed them out - sorry!

I think that's all for now.  Don't hold your breath for a fitness recap tomorrow since, ummm, I didn't work out at all this week!  Someone please blog-slap me, I totally deserve it.  And my first fitting is on Monday.  Who doesn't work out at all the week before their first fitting??????? Whatever, starting Saturday I am 100% back on the exercise bandwagon!

100 Days...

This can be found on my "Countdown to the Big Day" Tab!

Ok, so technically it's 100 days and 22 hours, which a lot of people would count as 101 days, but boohoo to them!  This is my blog and I can count down to my wedding however I see fit!

It's slightly surreal, in all honesty.  I've been eating, sleeping, drinking wedding planning since last June, at which point the wedding seemed eons away, but now we're really getting quite close!

Not only have we hit the 100 day mark, but my first bridal shower is in a week and a half (another huge milestone).  And I can honestly say I think my "Whimsical Land of Circles" vision is actually coming together!  Check it out:

Look at all those circles!  Haha, and that's only the stuff I've already made! There are plenty of more whimsical circles to be created for the wedding!

So, what do you think?  Do my DIY efforts scream "Whimsical Land of Circles" to you, or have I missed the mark?

Do you know what tomorrow is?

Quite simply, it is the first day of June!!!!!!  When did that happen???  It also happens to be quite the milestone in wedding planning, because it marks 100 days left until the big day!  How crazy is that?!  There are basically 3 months left to get ready for the wedding ::deep calming breath::.  Luckily, at this point, I'm feeling pretty good, and I'm ready!  Here's what's coming up for the month of June:

Personal Creation - And look, I used pretty clipart!

So, like I said, June 1st = 100 days left until the wedding, and I also have a doctor's appointment.
I don't have any projects on the books for this weekend, which means I'll probably put a lot of time into my pearl bouquet and finishing my pocketfolds (they're all assembled, they just need the finishing touches).  Then next Thursday I fly home to Massachusetts because my Massachusetts Bridal Shower is next freaking weekend!!!!!!!!!!  How crazy is that!?  And I'm proud to say I have yet to registry-stalk at all.  Considering I still try to find my Christmas present before Christmas, that's a big deal.  I can't promise that I'll be able to hold out completely though.  Then I fly back down to Pittsburgh Sunday morning.

June 15th is my sister's Birthday (note to self - make a birthday card for Kate to bring home for bridal shower) and on the 16th I have a hair appointment.  Usually I don't schedule hair appointments in advance - I just wait until I want one and schedule it last minute.  But, last time I got my hair cut we scheduled the rest of my cut/color appointments leading up to the wedding (the last one being the Saturday before the big day).

Father's Day is June 19th so I'll have to plan something for Bryan, since he and the dogs got me such a lovely Mommy Day present, and we'll probably have dinner with his parents.

And finally, I plan on spending the second half of the month busting out my invitations.  I don't plan on showing them on the blog until after they're all sent, but let's just say you should be excited because they're going to be freaking awesome.

It's definitely going to be busy, but I'm not complaining - the busier I am the faster time flies!

Help Me Decide on Pocketfolds!

I'm being indecisive about how to finish my DIY pocketfolds...and I hate being indecisive.

But since it is Weddzilla Wednesday, you can see what I've narrowed it down to here!

And, don't forget to enter yourself in my give-away (on this post)

I enjoy making cards WAY too much!

This past Saturday we went to Bryan's parent's house to celebrate his cousins Birthday.  She just turn 9, and I adore her; she totally reminds me of myself when I was 9.  I had WAY too much fun picking out a present for her (we got her 2 of my favorite books from when I was around her age - and yes, she actually enjoys reading, which I love - a friendship bracelet making kit and a purse decorating kit) and then had even more fun wrapping the present and making her card!

I used my Sweet Treats cartridge for my cricut and based my card off of this lovely video:

And here is my final product:

I LOVE IT!  And, what I love even more is that after she opened her present, she pulled that fabric flower off the ribbon and attached it to the headband she was wearing.  Not only did it match perfectly (completely by coincidence) but it looked effing adorable!

If you like making cards, I would 100% recommend the Sweet Treats Cartridge, it has so many fun shapes and card cut-outs!

Did you make any fun crafts this weekend?

PSA for all Cricut Enthusiasts!

Cricutmachine.com (aka my favorite website) is having a Mother's Day Sale!  Not only are all cartridges $29.95 or less (excluding the Imagine Carts) if you spend at least $29.95 you get a free tool kit!  Even if you already have a tool kit, it's never a bad thing to have extras of!  I just ordered the Home Decor Cart, the Wrap It Up Cart, and a Tote for my cartridges that matches my Cricut Machine tote, all for under $100, plus I'll get a tool kit.  You really can't beat it!

Go to CricutMachine.com Now!

**Just as a disclaimer, I don't work for CricutMachine.com or anything, I've just found that they have the best prices on cartridges (not on cutting mats, if you need cutting mats go to overstock.com) and I like the spread the word when they have good deals!  I don't get anything if you go and buy stuff, you'll just be missing out if you choose not to, hahaha.

I Finished My First Real Etsy Order!

And I just had to brag about it!

I've already finished and shipped off a few orders of custom embossed napkins, but those aren't nearly as exciting and unique as this.  This order was for 70 Save the Date Magnets and coordinating custom envelopes.  She sent me a link to what she was thinking of for the magnet, with a few adjustments, and I created it myself!  Then I designed a monogram for her and made the magnets and the envelopes by hand.  It was pretty time consuming, but I couldn't be happier with the final product (and I hope the bride loves them as much as I do)!

Without further adieu, my first real Etsy order (with certain things blurred out for the bride and groom's privacy):

Why yes, that is a magnet - which is why it is on the fridge!



Close-up of the magnet being a magnet



Just the magnet



The front of the envelope




The back of the envelope

 Seriously, I love them.  The magnets are pretty straight forward (make the design, print on magnet paper) but for the envelopes I printed the monogram and return address on regular 8.5x11 paper, cut the paper down, cut the envelope liner and inserted on the back, then used my Ultimate Crafter's Companion to turn the paper squares into an envelope, and finally embossed the flap with my Sizzix Texture Boutique.

So, what do you think?  Not bad for my first big sale, right?