Shower Me Baby!

In my Weddzilla Post from yesterday (I know, I know, I'm the worst at remembering to link to it) I talked all about my recent Bridal Shower and showed off how I got my DIY skills from my Mom, lol...enjoy!

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!

Mixed Feelings on My Facial Detox - And Some Random Happiness

So, I've officially not worn make-up for a whole week (in case you missed you, you can find my original post about facial detoxing here).  At first, it was very difficult.  But now, I may reconsider wearing make-up to work everyday.  Seriously, getting ready in the morning is SO much easier if you don't wear make-up.  Maybe I'll only wear it on special occasions - like for important meetings or something.

But anyway, before I show you the before/after pictures I have to admit that they don't look like there has been as much of a difference as I see in real life.  The biggest reason for that is because whereas the flash didn't go off during the "before" pictures, it did during the "after" so my coloring is completely different.

Also, my period started the day after I started my detox.  I don't know about you, but my face explodes when Aunt Flo comes to visit, so it is in much better condition than I would normal expect given the time of the month.

And third, but this is completely my fault, not wearing make-up just made me want to pick at my skin even more (no idea why) which is bad.  You'll see I have a lovely little blemish on my chin that I didn't have a week ago and I'm willing to bet money that if I hadn't constantly been picking at it, it wouldn't be there anymore.

But, without further adieu...

I also have a feeling 1 week isn't long enough of a detox.  Skin almost always gets worse before it gets better, and I think 2 weeks would have much better results.  But, my 2 week detox will have to come another time because there's no way in hell I'm not wearing make-up at my bridal shower...which is in 2 freaking days!!!!!

And now, as promised, some random happiness...

1)  I am taking a day off from work tomorrow!  Woohoo!  Because I'm flying up to Massachusetts today after work for my bridal shower on Saturday!

2)  I'm wearing a really adorable outfit.  The top I got at Kohl's for a steal because Kohl's is never not in the middle of a huge sale!  And the necklace I'm wearing I actually got off ebay in a huge lot of vintage costume jewelry that I had bid on/purchased because of some brooches that I wanted.  The necklace was just a total bonus!

3)  There were no planned parenthood protesters picketing this morning.  Any day that doesn't start with a massive picture of a dead fetus is a good day in my book!

4)  My dog's are flipping adorable:

Seriously...is that not the cutest picture ever???

5)  Cricutmachine.com is having a MASSIVE sale - and I look forward to wasting a good portion of my day browsing cartridges to buy since days where you're going to be traveling after work are the longest work days ever.

6)  I have re-discovered my love for the band Kings of Leon.  The entire "Come Around Sundown" album is flipping amazing but I really like the sound of "The Face"...

7)  I made some pretty sweet cards for my Dad (for Father's Day) and my sister (for her birthday) that I'll get to give to them in person this weekend!

8)  Did I mention I don't have to work tomorrow!?!?!

So, needless to say, although my facial detox wasn't as successful as I would have liked it to be, I have a lot to be happy about!  I'll be MUCH happier once I'm on my way to Boston though - the weather isn't looking to great for flying this evening!

What do you have to be happy about this totally random Thursday morning?

Today I Begin My Facial Detox...

Yeah, so remember when I was bitching about hating my skin (in case you don't, the post can be found here)?  Well HiLLjo, author of Daisy to Sunflower, made an unthinkable recommendation - if I want my skin to clear up I have to cold turkey quit wearing makeup for a while.

At first the idea kind of made me want to vomit.  I've been wearing makeup for as long as I can remember.  I feel naked without it.  But the idea of not having clear skin for the wedding makes me want to vomit and then die, so I figured I'd give it a try.

But, instead of waiting until the wedding to see if it would work for me, I'm doing a mini facial detox between now and my bridal shower (Saturday, June 11th).  And you should know me well enough by now to realize I love me some before and after pictures, so, (and I can't believe I'm posting close-ups of my face on the internet sans-makeup) here are my before pictures:

Oh the horror...

Let's just hope that a week from now I'll be happily posting "after" pictures (because if things don't improve you can bet your first born I'm taking this suckers down and deleting every copy of them I can find).

And, just for fun, I really like my Skinny Bitch calendar today, so I'm going to share that with you as well (to make up for forcing you to look at my naked face):

Until next time...

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!

A Bunch of Wedding Related Random-ness...

First up on wedding related random-ness...did you know that my first bridal shower is two weeks from tomorrow!?  My Mother is hosting a bridal shower for me up in Massachusetts, and then Bryan's Mom will be hosting one later in the summer in Pittsburgh.  I'm super excited...and I got my outfit!

Remember how my mom got me that gorgeous necklace and I said I wanted to get a dress for my showers that I could wear it with (if you don't, you can read about it here)?  Well, I found the perfect dress...

It's from Express and I love it!  It even has pockets, which is awesome, and the sweetheart neckline looks great with my vintage pearls.  Please excuse my makeup-lacking face in the last picture, but I plan on wearing my hair back in a bun like that.  Oh, and I can't forget to show off the shoes I got...

I love these even more than I love the dress!  First of all, they are absurdly comfortable.  Secondly, the metallic color is to die for.  And lastly, I only paid $25 for them!  That's right, twenty-five-dollars!  I got them from DSW - the original price was $45 but I used a coupon and a rewards certificate.

On another attire related note, I think I found a dress that I want to wear for my bachellorette party...

Don't laugh, because seriously, when will I ever have the chance to wear an over-the-top mini dress like that again?  I saw it in the window of NYNY, which I usually refer to as the "stripper store in station square" because they sell skanky dresses (much worse than that one) and clear, plastic heels.  MOH Sam and I might have to make a trip down there to try it on...

Next up, some DIY progress.  First, my pearl bouquet:

Look at it grow!  I really don't mind working on this because it's so easy to do while veggin' out on the couch.  I seriously can't wait to see what it looks like when it's finished.

And finally, some progress on my DIY shoes:

I've started working on this project during my lunch at work; otherwise I'm not sure I ever would have finished it.  So each picture is about an additional 50 minutes of work - I'll be done with the first shoe in no time!  But then I still have a whole other shoe to do, lol, which I would like to complete before my first fitting...

That's really all for now.  Do you take progress pictures of your long, labor intensive DIY projects to keep yourself from losing your mind like I do?  Because seriously, if I wasn't taking the pictures of that damn shoe, I would probably be convinced that I'm not getting any closer to being finished!

Have a great weekend everyone, I hope you have awesome weather like we're supposed to here in Pittsburgh!

Mother's Day Fun!

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the Mommies out there!  I figured I shared my crafts and creations for the day we all spend appreciating the most important women in our lives!

First up, cards.  I made all these using the "Wild Card" cartridge for my cricut (highly recommend that cart, it is really fun):

This one was for my Mom:

This one was for Bryan's Mom:

And these next two were for Bryan's Grandmothers:

We went to dinner at Bryan's Uncle's house, and for that I made brownie pops!  Both delicious and adorable!  I used this recipe for the brownies, then cut them into small brownie sizes and rolled each into a little ball.  Then I dropped a ball in the chocolate ganache (from that recipe - it says to pour it on top, I skipped that so I could cover them at this point), shoved a lollipop stick in them, and propped them up in some styrofoam to solidify:

Then I decorated them with nuts, sprinkles, colored chocolate, or peanut butter, and put them in the lovely little structure I made (I used cardstock for the box base then wrapped ribbon around it and used my cricut to cut out some flowers.  Then I painted a sytrofoam cone purple for the pops to be stuck in):

And then I wrapped the whole sucker up in plastic wrap for the trip to Byran's uncle's house.  They were a huge hit!

And, because I have the best fiance ever, my babies (aka my dogs and cats) got me this lovely Mommy Day present:

I love pearls, and I absolutely adore this ring!  Most definitely wearing it when we get married!

Did you do anything special for Mother's Day?

More Happy Birthday to Me!

So, since fitness recap Friday kind of blew this week, it's gonna be a two post kind of day!  But before we get to the good part (aka presents for meeeee) the post requires a little background info.

Before I found my dress, actually before I was really looking at dresses, I stumbled upon a bunch of these pearl necklaces on Etsy and I fell in love:

I'm not usually a "vintage" gal, but I just adore these.  I think they're classy and elegant and gorgeous.  At first I was determined to find a dress that would look good with a necklace like this.  Unfortunately, I fell in love with my dress with it's one sleeve - totally would look over powering to have the one sleeve and that necklace.  I even considered getting rid of the sleeve, but that would take away the most unique part of the dress.  Just to refresh your memory, this is my dress (and we'll have better pictures after tomorrow ::squeal::):

I actually posted on Weddingbee about my conundrum.  I loved that style necklace, but I also loved my dress...what's a girl to do?  Well, one of the lovely hive members suggested I wear the necklace to the rehearsal (or other wedding events)...genius!!!!

Heck, I'll wear it to both my Bridal Showers (I'm having a Massachusetts Bridal Shower as well as a Pittsburgh Bridal Shower) and my rehearsal...I love those necklaces that much!  Plus, they aren't exactly cheap so I would want to get my money's worth.

Well, guess what my amazing Mommy gave me for my Birthday (she gave it to me last night since I flew home)? An actual vintage pearl necklace!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Not an Etsy look alike, an actual necklace from the 40's!  And here it is:

She got it at "Twentieth Century Ltd - Vintage Designer Costume Jewelry" which is at 73 Charles St, Boston, MA

It is a little chunkier then I would have picked for myself, but it actually looks really good on (thanks to my ballerina neck, which I also "got" from my mother, lol).  Once I have some make-up on I'll take a good picture and show it off, I promise.

I might take the plunge and order this dress that I've been eyeing for my Bridal Showers now that I have the perfect necklace for it.  It's a little dressier then I would normally go for (for a bridal shower) but heck, I'm the bride, I can wear what I want:

Source

What do you think?  Is it way too dressy for a summertime bridal shower?  Or are you in the camp of "the bride can be as dressed up or as dressed down as she wants - she's the bride"!?