Insert Crotch Grab Here

Last night Sam came over to use my computer and print out her college assignment. We got to talking about all the things I have left to do. She has been such a huge help! She called a lady named Heidi for my hair appointment. I'm sure some brides-to-be would be in a mad panic if they did this but...I waited until just yesterday to worry about who is going to do my hair and what I want it to look like. I had ideas of the look, but no one skilled enough to pull it off. Enter Heidi. She is the lady that did Sam's hair for the Summer Festival and she did a great job. I'm hoping she will squeeze me in this Saturday and all will be good to go. If not...I guess I'll pull something out of my ass and make it work.

Besides some minor hair drama I was explaining to her about my ipod fiasco and how I still had much to do in the week to come. Well, that led to her telling me about her song choices for her wedding. One of them was "The Way You Make Me Feel" by Michael Jackson. So one thing led to another and now...the bridesmaids and me are preforming a dance at the reception to it. Yep. A dance. In case you all didn't know this, every single one of my MOH/B-maids has been a cheerleader. Hardcore cheerleaders. So it was only fitting that we somehow worked in a routine for us to do. In the beginning of the song there is lots of step-clapping while the music plays. The intro is pretty long on this song. While it is starting out we are gathering everyone around and pulling Justin over to sit in a chair in the center. My people will be behind me in a simple line and I will be in front of them standing next to Justin doing the dance. It's hilarious. Super easy and FUN! I'm thinking about making it a little longer. Right now the dance ends a little less than half way through and the first quarter of the song isn't dancing. We'll see what happens. There is a little catch...my people aren't learning this song until the night before the wedding at my bachelorette party. There will be alcohol, penises, bad language, games and dancing! Hopefully we will dance and then have drinks. I can just picture all of them trying to learn the dance while being tipsy. What a funny mess that would be! Yes, yes, dancing then the drinks.

It's gonna be hilarious either way!

Sweet Favors

I didn't end up with nearly as many pictures as I thought I had taken of these. And I still haven't bought a camera much to my disappointment. So here are the pics of the favors. Look at all that chocolate!
When I was cutting out the little tulle squares for these (on a separate night) I swear I counted at least 150. I think it was more like 160 though. Then I started making them...I ended up with 60-ish. Who knows how that happened.
But aren't they cute? I used 3 different ties. The thick ribbon, thin ribbon and raffia. The tulle is a gold color that shimmers, my sweet-ass phone camera just doesn't do them justice.

Bring on the stress

Less than T minus 2 weeks 'till the wedding. I still have to buy big pumpkins along with a number of other items. The song list needs put together and we need to find out how exactly we are going to get it to work (ipod drama). I have to make around 150 favors.

I had my bridal shower yesterday! Thank you Jessica! It was completely amazing. I had a great time, tons of fun!

We found out yesterday early morning my cousin died. It's a horrible story and I'll leave it at that.

I'm completely frazzled. I can't remember if I've already done something. I keep asking the same questions over and over and over and still I forget if I asked it already. I felt terrible for trying to enjoy the shower. I still feel bad worrying about the stupid wedding details.

Posting will be back when I can think straight and stop the crying fits. Damn you Death!

I Get Gifts?

So the other day I was talking to one of my bridesmaids and she mentioned, "yeah I have your gift for the bridal shower". I said, "what gift? I get a gift?" and the realization started to dawn on me. I get gifts at the bridal shower!!!! Woo hoo! I win! Don't ask me how I could possibly forget that people will be giving me presents. I was looking forward to the shower so I could see people, hang out, eat good food and maybe play some great silly games. But now people are going to give me things! Who ever started that tradition anyways? I'm getting married...give me lots of parties for various reasons so I get tons of gifts. I'm not complaining or anything because, well, I'm the one getting the gifts here. But really, how many gifts do people need just because they are getting married? Oh well, one of the many crazy things involved with getting hitched.

OCTOBER!!

Squeeeeeeeeeel! I'm getting married this month! Today we went to the gym which I am totally happy about. It was just what I needed to take the edge off my stress. We are cramming in lots of sessions this month because we feel better when we work out and I want to feel my best for our wedding. Also, we don't plan on going after the wedding for a little while so we want to get plenty of time in while we can. After the wedding it's honeymoon time!

I went to the store and paid for the petite fours. My Mom picked them up later in the day and they are staying in her freezer until the wedding. The lady there named Amy was so nice! The manager of the bakery was going to charge me an extra dollar and some change for shipping. So she (manager) rounded the direct cost of the cakes from $53 and some change to a solid $55. Okay, I could deal with that but I did grumble a bit because originally I was told that I would pay what it cost them and nothing more. Well, when I went to get the bill today to pay for them, Amy told me not to bring a receipt back. She didn't want her manager to know that she took $5 off for me. So I paid $50 for the cakes when the store paid almost $54. I win!!!

I looked up our county clerks website to get information on a marriage license. The website was very informative. It had all the info I needed and it was all good news! The whole process only takes 15 minutes. They issue them 8:30am to 4:30pm so we have to do it on a lunch break. They cost $60 and it must be cash. And the best part? We only need to bring a drivers license or ID card. No birth certificate or anything. Pretty easy huh?

This Sunday is my bridal shower, double squeel!! I'm so excited for this! It is being held in Eugene. While we are out there Justin is hanging out with some of his groomsmen and going shopping for his shirt for the wedding. After the shower on our way back home we are going to stop by the amazing 24 hour Winco! We are going to buy the candy for the wedding favors and all the pumpkins we need for the wedding. Our car will be loaded down with pumpkins!

Hunting season opens this Saturday. So in the midst of all this darned planning Justin is also going to try and kill us some dinner. Yummy, I love homemade deer jerky!

Well, enough ramblings for tonight! I gotsta go take a shower and get me some sleep!

Happy October!!

Halloween Yet?

I love Halloween and I can't wait for it to get here. So in the Halloween spirit here is a video that I found last night.

The story...I was talking with Sammi and she told me about a video on youtube. It is of the Wizard of Oz suicide. Apparently in the background of the movie they caught someone hanging themselves on camera. Later this was replaced with a bird on the DVD version. That's how the story goes. Well, I was interested in seeing this. I love those little things about movies (Disney's Ariel ring a bell?). They make me curious and I like to see them for myself. So last night I went in search of a good video that showed this.

Here is the one I found

Wizard of Oz Suicide

Okay, I see what they are talking about. I'm not sure if it is actually a person though. So I went in search of a better video....and came across this.

Please note, this scared the crap out of me! Not for the feight of heart!! You get a warning.

The Wizard of Oz Suicide - Revealed

I'll let you catch your breath. I didn't get a warning when I watched this. I should have read the comments I suppose but who does that before watching every youtube video? I jumped and screamed my head off. Things like that, that just pop up, scare me. It was so unexpected! This is the first thing to really scare me in years...years.

I just watched it again and it still creeps me out.

Just thought I'd share the scare!

It's on like Donkey Kong...

Remember the game Donkey Kong. That was fun. I played it on my Gameboy. The green pixelation was great wasn't it? Ah the good old days.

I'm going to go kick Lego Batman's butt. And clean the house. If I'm not back by tomorrow either the thing growing in the corner pulled me in or one of the villains has me hostage. I'm off to save my appartment! Duh da dunnnn! (like superhero music...get it?)

I'm IT!!

I have never been tagged before. Honestly, I'm a little confused on how it works. I'll wing it. Wings are good. Perhaps I'll have hot wings tonight?

Let's see, Blablover5 from Introverted Bride tagged me. Yay! Super blogger! You should check her out.

Now I think I just answer the questions like she did, right? Works for me!

4 things I did today:

1. Woke up ready to get the working portion of Friday over with so that I could enjoy my weekend. Oh how I love the weekends!!!

2. Watched this clip from a football game. Frickin' amazing! I tried something like that in a dream the other night. Only it was showing off my skills at a running roundoff backhandspring backtuck. I ended up watching my head roll away from my body. Let's just say it was unsuccessful.

3. Learned that my bank Wamu is not very happy today. Or my Dad. He had stocks in Wamu. Whoops.

4. Got surprised by Justin for lunch. He was supposed to be too busy to take a lunch today. Noon rolled around and in walked Honey! The perfect pick-me-up for a Friday afternoon!

4 things on my To Do list:

1. Get off my lazy ass and get it back to the gym...tonight!

2. Play Legos Batman and get the current frickin' level finished...again. We bought a Wii just a couple days ago and last night while in hot pursuit of some villains our tv started emitting this horrible loud "ehhhhhhhhhhh". Think of "the most annoying sound in the world" from Dumb and Dumber. Yeah, that one. The Wii froze. We lost our unsaved progress! Damn it! It wasn't that bad of a loss, but enough to get really frustrated with the darn thing and call it some mean names. Let's hope tonight goes better.

3. Get my cardboxes finished. I've been unable to do these because I need an exacto knife to cut the top slit before I decoupage them. No knife, no progress. My goal is to finish these tomorrow. Or at least get a good start. It depends on if the Joker taunts me. I might be forced to play.

4. Do the dishes and scrub down the bathroom. I'm been putting the bathroom off. My least favorite of household chores. I figure if I do it tonight, I don't have to worry about it the rest of the weekend. Blah.

4 of my guiltiest pleasures:

1. Being a nerd and playing video games late late into the night. We're talking next morning here.

2. Shopping at Torrid. I love this store! My pretty plastic cards get abused here. Oops.

3. Being a Britney Spears closet fan. I can't help it. I love her music. Have you heard her new song Womanizer? LAUV ET! <---Kinda like a high pitched sing-songy voice. (From a movie I'm not sure which.) I'm glad she's finally not so damned crazy.

4. Food. I have a love/hate relationship with food. I'm learning to control the beast.

4 random facts about little ol' me:

1. I have this weird thing about open doors. I get anxious if I'm in a room -any room- and the door is open. I have to constantly glance at it. Otherwise I end up scared and running to either slam it shut or leave the room.

2. If I'm in a longer than normal hallway or an aisle at the grocery store I'll walk down to the end of it...runway style. Always making sure I have the "wind in the hair" look.

3. I have been to Disneyland 16 times throughout my life (I'll double check that when I get home.) and I can't wait to go back!

4. When I was 8 I was a Junior Princess at the Toledo Summer Festival. That year I fell out of a tire swing at the highest possible point. I broke my arm and a stick went into my lip (inside it actually, where the lip and gums meet.) I had to pry myself off of the stick. Eew. That night was a big hoopla to announce everyone and I really wanted to go. I was eight and there was a princess tiara...of course I wanted to go. I passed out on stage and had to get carried away by my Dad.

Now I'm gonna tag 4 people:
1. Ramblings of a future Mrs
2. She Weds
3. THE ATYPICAL BRIDE
4. Jumping the Broom

I hope they don't mind being tagged! I really should comment people more often instead of just reading their blog and sneaking out the back door.

Duck, duck, GOOSE!!

Moms Flowers

These are for the Moms. I love the way they both turned out! It's a little bit of green/pink hydrangea and a pretty orange daisy-ish flower.These aren't different angles. The top one has a smaller orange daisy and more hydrangea. The bottom one more orange daisy less hydrangea.I was worried they were both a little too large. Especially the second one with the larger daisy. But then my Mom pointed out that both Moms have large breastesses so It will look fine no matter who wears which. I'll let them decide.Here is a close up of the raffia. I know I've shown it a couple times now but I can't get over how nice it goes with the whole theme. I'm so glad I discovered this method of wrapping everything. It makes it look much more put together and complete. With my "trial flowers" that I basically destroyed, I attempted many different methods of covering the stems and tying the ribbon. DISASTER!! Not only does the raffia method look nice but it is extremely simple to do. My kind of thing!

Toss Bouquet

If you are a lady that will be in the bouquet toss "catcher" group please please please do not read this post. You will find out soon enough at the wedding what I'm talking about. On a darker note...Your life depends on it. Okay, maybe your lint bunnies life is on the line here. Just don't read any further...we clear?

Back to business...

Up up and away! When I throw the tosser bouquet the lovely ladies will have no idea what's about to happen. Let's set the scene shall we? Everyone will be chit chatting with music in the background. Then Nelly Furtado's Man Eater will come on and someone will yell "bouquet toss!!". The lovely ladies will gather around, probably shaking their booties. I'll gather the pretty flowers in my hands...Work some magic...turn around for the toss...my back to everyone.

Sounds pretty normal so far. Right? Here's the catch. Okay, wait a second. If you happen to be one of the lovely ladies that will be a "catcher" please skip this post. It won't be any fun if you read it. You'd be what I call a Party Pooper.

I'm serious!!! Go on now...shoo!!!!

Okay, back to business. Instead of one nice bouquet to toss, I made five small ones. It looks like one bouquet but when I toss it, it will scatter and five lucky ladies will get to be catchers.Here is what it looks like when it is undercover. But all I do is pull one gold ribbon and they will become separated.

Each mini bouquet has a charm attached to it. Each charm has a meaning. The key you see means this lucky lady will be the next to buy a home. I'm not putting any sayings with the mini's though. Each charm can be interpreted however the holder sees fit.

Cute huh? I read this idea somewhere and have successfully kept it a secret until now. So if you were a Party Pooper and read it while, in fact, being a lady who will be grooving to the Man Eater song and trying to catch one of these bad boys...please don't spread the word. It won't be any fun if you spoil it! Plus, I just decided it will be bad luck and your charm will mean the complete opposite. In this case, you will be the last person in the group to get a home. So NO Party Pooping please...pretty please? I beg you don't tell?

Random Tidbits

These are some pictures I just got around to taking. I'm grouping them all together because I fell like it and because...I can. Nee-ner Nee-ner (rhymes with weener). This is showing you the finishing touches of my bouquet. Mainly the ribbons I added.
In this you can see again the pretty ribbon. The sheer doesn't take pictures very well. It's shy I guess. It's this really pretty brown/red/copperish color. Gorgeous! The main focus on this pic was to show you the raffia that I tied on the stems. I was never good at making those darned necklaces in school. You know, the ones most of the potheads sported? But I must say I did a sweet job on this one!
This is my cake serving set. I'm not certain that what you're looking at is the final product. I'm not completely satisfied but what else can I do? Unless I can think of something better, this is it. It makes me happy...but not HAPPY! Eh.
This is the memorial. You know those pretty shiny super polished round but flat (does that make since) rocks that some people use to decorate or put in fish tanks? Well those are at the bottom. Then two white peonies (I LOVE PEONIES!!!!).
These are going somewhere (obviously) with a sign that says, "In loving memory" to honor my Grandpa, Justin's step-dad Mike, and Justin's Grandma.

The crafting continues...

Maids Jewelry

I decided in the beginning that I wanted to make the bridesmaids jewelry. Me and MOH Stephanie, super crafty lady, got together and whipped it all out. 4 sets of earrings and necklaces. I made the necklaces, she made the earrings. Well, that's all well and good but then I decided to add another bridesmaid to the bunch. Making me one set short and out of supplies for more. When I went to order more pearls of ebay I was a dork and hurried through the whole process. The pearls got here and what? Huh? Not the same pearls. The new strand ended up being the pretty (real) potato pearls that I used in my earrings. So in the end I decided to go out and buy my MOH's a set of earrings/pearls and give my Bridesmaids the ones I made. On the plus side, now I get a set to keep too! The Bridesmaids earrings MOH Steph made. She's got some mad skills. These were made up in no time.
The bridesmaids necklace I made. It's a floating necklace and looks really pretty when on. I love the way they turned out. The beginning attempts at this type of necklace hung funny when you put it on. The pearls clumped together and it just looked bad. We shortened it a bit and added some more pearls. It hangs right below their collarbones now. Almost like how it's hanging in the picture.
Another picture of the bridesmaids necklaces. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep the extra one or give it to someone important in the wedding. Kind of like an extra thank you.
And these little beauties are the MOH's sets. Pretty little strands. I like the drop that will hang down the back. Just lovely.

The Building

Here are some pictures of the building that we are using for the wedding. I'm not sure exactly how the setup will be with all the tables and chairs. The building is somehow going to have the ceremony and reception in it. It's a really large building, I just haven't figured out the details yet.

The counter space needs to have plenty of walking room around it because that's where all the food goes. Butted up against the counter is a hard floor that will be our dance area. I doubt people will actually dance but it's there none the less. Me and Justin are having our first dance. That's the only scheduled dance there is (for now...). I was thinking of having the ceremony in front of the doors that lead to the deck. Not sure how the entrances will go. Where is the aisle going to be? How are we fitting all the tables and chairs for people so no one has to move anything afterward and people don't have to sit all awkward to view the ceremony? All these details will be decided on the 17th before the rehearsal dinner. That's why we have all day.

Enough B.S. Here are the pics...

This shows part of the dance floor and the wall with the "cool" elk head. We are getting married at the Elks. But really? Maybe I can put a veil on it. Or hang some tulle on the antlers. No one will ever know.

This picture is showing the doors I was thinking about having the ceremony in front of. Outside you can see the deck. Well, you can't really see it in this picture but use your imagination. This also shows the dance floor and how it connects to the counter (far right).This is the humongous counter space we get to use with the kitchen behind it. All is available to us! I was very pleased to see that counter. It's the whole length of the kitchen! This pic doesn't show it well but it's about 3ft deep. SWEET!!!! Now we don't have to use the tables for food. Just people...and maybe presents.This is the right side of the deck. Also available to use.

And this is the left side. Something else I was thinking about...the deck wraps around slightly. I could enter from here and come through those doors to wherever we decide the ceremony should be. I'm not sure where to enter from so no one sees me before my big debut. This is one option I've pondered. The only problem is there is no cover outside. If it's raining this might not be pleasant. I just looked through these pictures again and darn it...that pic with the elk head shows a big ol' window right were I was planning on hiding if I went with this option. Hmmmm...I'll figure it out later when everyone is at the location and we can bounce ideas off each other.

Less than a month before I'm Mrs. Perkins!!!!

Ceremony

After a long and grueling process the wedding ceremony and my vows are complete. I only had to make the final changes and finishing touches but let me tell you, it was muy dificil. Now I just have to get copies of the ceremony to my sister and Justins brother. I feel about 10lbs lighter now that that's all done.

I don't want to have a card to read from during the ceremony so I need to start practicing my vows. Gotta commit those suckers to memory. It shouldn't be that bad. I have a good memory and already have most memorized anyways. After all, it is what I feel all the time. I'm just vocalizing it.

Well, now I'm going to work on the songs for the wedding. We purchased an alarm clock/radio/ipod thing-a-ma-jig the other day. The entire wedding music will be from DJ ipod. I love the guy, he's a riot. Right now he's in a pink case though. Maybe I'll let him go au naturale for the wedding. We'll see. I'm not sure all the details to using an ipod for your songs. I think I'm going to create a list of songs (that we like) and then put my, oh say the bouquet toss song in between them. So, for instance, the ipod will play song #1, #2, #3, #4, bouquet toss, #5, #6, etc...get it? And since I'm making the list I'll have an idea when things are coming up. Plus, I'll let key people know which songs are which. When someone hears an "important" song they will yell out, "Bouquet toss!!!"

Pretty laid back and casual, yeah? I'm diggin' it! I think I'm going to make one of my former cheerleaders in charge of pushing play for the ceremony music. Then she can just turn down the volume when the time is right. I'll let you know what else I come up with.

Picture Perfect

One more thing to check off my list. There are so many more that I want completed today. But to keep my sanity I must blog between. Yep. I have to blog. *shrugs* There is no other option.

I decided to go with the Adam Sandler song. It fit us better. So this morning I put on a movie. Well, it took 2 movies to get through it all. The Wedding Singer, of course, and Ella Enchanted. Then I got to doodling. Take a look at the final product...

So this is a picture of the whole thing.

An up close view of the border and writing. There are little swirls and background swishes all over. It blends in with the writing and makes it easier to cover up any little mistakes.

The writing was done freehand, I'm sure you can tell, with pen. No pencil...because I don't have a single one in the whole house. I looked.

I love the way it turned out. Guests will sign the glass frame with pens. We're doing this in lieu of a guest book. Because who really goes through a book to look at little "Congratulations - Jane Doe" Not me, that's for sure. This way the framing is meaningful to us and we can see all those happy sayings everyday hanging on our wall. I love this idea.

Off to do more wedding stuff...

Pearly Pictures

Here are the pictures I promised! I'm want a real camera. Taking pictures with my phone is so unsatisfying. Me and Justin were looking at cameras the other day. I want one so bad I can taste it. Mmmmm. Metallicky goodness. With a hint of flash.
So the strand of pearls I purchased from Diamonds by the Sea for about $60. The earrings I made with pearls I purchased from ebay for a total of maybe $4.00 tops including shipping. Don't they look almost identical? Oh how I love you ebay!

Seasons Greetings!

I am a holiday nut! I just noticed that my X-mas countdown is at 99 days. We have reached the double digits until Christmas is here! Just this month to get through. Then I can decorate the house and the fun begins!!!! First the wedding in October to kick things off to a great start. Followed by none other than the costumrific Halloween. Next we have the scrumdiddlyumshis Thanksgiving. And last but not at all least is Christmas! Me and Justin are starting a new family tradition this year. One we can carry on with our kids when we have them. Every night starting December 1st we are going to watch one X-mas show/special. We have quite a bit on DVD. Not exactly sure how many. In fact, now I'm really curious just how many X-mas related DVD's we own. I'll be sure to count and then update when I get home. I'm on the work computer now.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm just so friggin' excited. I never thought my life would be full of...well, love. Cheesy but true. We never say, "I love you." in my family. EVER. We don't hug. I don't remember ever doing any of that. Then when I met Justin I was thrown for a loop. They say it all the time! Outloud! And hug people a lot! It threw me off the other day when his Mom told me she loved me. I just stood there dumbfounded. I'm just not used to saying it. She said it's okay Honey, you don't have to say anything. I love my new family. I'm looking forward to having kids and telling them I love them every day, multiple times throughout the day. Oh, and squeezing their brains out!

Not literally. For all you negative, don't-have-anything-better-to-do people out there. I have never squeezed any child's brains out and I do not condone squeezing children. Are we clear? As a cheerleading coach I had to learn the hard way that some people really are dumbasses. I don't even remember what it was but I made some silly joke that was obviously extremely exaggerated and what do you know? I got a call from the Athletic Director asking about it. So now I feel the need to explain myself occasionally and point out that no, Dumbass. You're not suppose to really go out and do that. Oh the drama.

Wedding, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas!! Holidays Rock!

So Close!

At this time next month I will be frantically running around trying to get the building decorated for our rehearsal dinner that is in 3 hours (and 31 days of course).

I am getting married! EEEK! Many of the things that are left to do I have to wait for. Getting the cake, pumpkins, nails done, etc. I can't really do those until much closer to The Day. Yep, it's in caps cause it's that darn important.

There are quite a few things I could be doing now I suppose. This weekend I'm going to whip out a couple. I plan on finishing my vows which are practically done anyways. Just a little modifications here and there to put the icing on the cake. Then I will finish the ceremony while I'm at it. It's in the rough draft stage. Next, I will finish the card box and the recipe holder box. The card box is, duh, for anyone bringing us cards (really? A card box for cards?). The recipe box will look similar to the card box. It is going next to the food and is for *drumroll please* recipes! Since each invite asked for a side dish of their choice with the family recipe I realized I should probably have a place for them to stick the recipes. Otherwise they'd most likely end up all over the counter and perhaps even in the food. My family is great, yeah?

I also should work on the whole picture thing. I bought this awesome frame on sale. $11.00 for a $25.00 frame! I win! I'm going to put a cute pic of me and Justin in it (oh yeah, I should probably find one of those too. Add that to my To Do list.) and then I have to figure out what I'm going to edge the pic with. My choices are covering the free space with maple leaves or freehanding (I'm fairly artsy and freehanding a pretty script I could manage well. It would be more like drawing than just writing.) Where was I? Oh yeah, freehanding the lyrics from the Adam Sandler song "Grow old with you". Or when we decide what our first dance song is I could use that. But we are HUGE movie people and this song fits pretty damn perfect. In fact I just decided it's this song or the maple leaves. No other options. So now I just have to figure out the nitty gritty details and viola!

What is this picture for you ask? For people to draw funny faces on! What else! Realistically they are suppose to sign their well wishes and yadda yadda yadda... But I will not be surprised if I end up with a pirate mustache and round glasses and Justin gets...oh let's say an eye patch and buckteeth. Yep. I know my family pretty well, you just wait and see what happens. I'm one of those people who will most definitely say, "I told you so." so beware when I'm indeed correct.

Change of subject, my hand has stopped twitching!!! Yippee!! It stopped it's tissy fit completely on Tuesday. Monday it was twitching off and on. And then before that it was twitching all day everyday. Weird huh? But hooray! Finally relief.

Pearls

We were taking my sister out to celebrate her birthday. The typical movies and dinner. We had some extra time to kill before the movie started and stopped by Payless to kill it. No cute shoes jumped out at me screaming "wedding day!!" so me and Justin moved on. My Honey guided me to Diamonds by the Sea. A jewelry shop! He let me pick out jewelry for the wedding. Isn't he sweet. I was telling him that I still had that on my to do list. I ended up getting a pretty strand of brown pearls. I love them. I had purchased some pearls off ebay a while back and realized that the new necklace and the ebay pearls match almost exactly. So today I made earings to go with my necklace. I'll post some pictures soon.

I survived

Yesterday, that is. Here's how it went. Justin picked me up after he got off work. We went to South Beach, about a 5 minute drive, to pay our gym fees. Then we went to the grocery store for the invites. Turns out they are indeed regular postage. Woo Hoo!!! We picked up a roll of stamps and headed off to the craigslist guys house. The couches were AMAZING!!! He could have easily gotten $500 for them. We paid $200. Lucky us!!

They were only getting rid of them because they have 3 kids. One is a cute little girl about 4 maybe? who kept coming out to help us load it all up. They also have a great dane. This furniture was just too big for their house so they were downsizing. Yeah for us! After saying yes, we absolutely want this, we drove to the nearest ATM withdrew our money and headed home. We had enough time to pick up the living room and move most of our current furniture out of the way (shoved it in different rooms). Then the nice craigslist guy showed up with our furniture and backed his trailer into our super narrow driveway. What a guy. He helped Justin unload everything. I didn't have to unload anything. The plus side of them thinking girls are "dainty" ha! I've never been dainty in my life.

We spent the rest of the evening rearranging the house, putting stamps on invites and finally sitting down and vegged a little watching Starship Troopers 3. That movie was pretty dumb. Not the worst movie I've ever seen, but pretty lame and definitely in the top 10.

P.S. The twitch continues in my left hand.

Stupid invites

Today is jam packed with crap I need to do. After Justin gets off work at 5 we are headed over to some guys house to look at a couch set (craigslist). If we like it we are going to pay him and he will deliver it to our house about 7 miles away. Yeah for that, but we live in a fourplex and there is barely enough room to turn our cars around. How is he going to turn a trailer around? He won't that's how. He's going to end up pulling up to the driveway and we get to carry the sofa and loveseat up the hill and into our place. Super.

Then I suppose we will drive back into Newport. Why you ask? Because our gym membership is due today. It was due the 1st and we forgot that day. We haven't been since the 1st (don't even get me started on this one) and it will be late after today. So we MUST go to the gym tonight. At least to drop off the money.

We also have to go to the local grocery store and get our invitation weighed. Hopefully it will just cost regular postage. I've been having a pretty shitty week though so I'll bet a pretty penny it's more.

Then, we have to actually get the damn things in the mail. I just found out today that a few addresses are wrong. Oh. Frickin'. Well. They'll still get the invite. It'll just go to a different house. I'm not re-labeling them AGAIN. I already had to do this to about 10 invites. No more. No way Hoser.

Somewhere in here we have to go to some lady's house (she's moving away and giving us these things) and pick up a chair (this is for Justin's Mom, Debbie) and table, fit it into our car (what??) and bring it back to our apartment. I did mention we are getting a sofa and loveseat in there today right?

Super. Just. Super.

So, our living room will consist of: an old couch, a futon, a huge entertainment center, 2 large end tables, 2 dvd racks (bookshelves people height), a new-ish couch and loveseat set, a broken old dusty chair (for his Mom), a rolling table, my snakes cage and stand, and our shoe holder/bench. Am I leaving anything out? Our living room is decent size. But not large. There won't be room to breathe. AHHHH!

Then...it gets better!...Justin is not going to want to go to Newport. I can almost guarantee it. So we won't get his Mom's chair dropped off at her house tonight. Justin is leaving for school tomorrow and will be gone until Friday evening. He won't want to do it then either. I get to move all this furniture around by myself. Not to mention clean out the spare room of all wedding stuff (O.M.G.) so that the spare room can actually become a spare room with a bed etc. and our living room can, once again, be livable.

Hmm...why won't my body stop twitching? Perhaps because I'm going cookoo?

Twitching Me Nuts!

I'd be lying if I said I was not completely stressed out. I promise myself (when I actually get to my home tonight) I'm going to make a nice lavender bubble bath, light some pretty pumpkin (favorite!) candles, and just relax. Ahh, I can almost feel it now!

For the last four days now (FOUR (4) whole days!!) I have had a twitch in my palm. It is my left palm on the thumb side of the "life line", right above the thumb muscle (if that description doesn't make much sense to you...just go with it...) It has been twitching non-stop. It makes it itch/tickle so I'm constantly touching it. ERGGG! So annoyingly frustrating! I wake up with it twitching, I go to sleep with it twitching.

This morning my left foot between my big toe and the next one (whatever you want to call it) started twitching so bad I had to take off my shoe and do a quick massage to make it stop.

My eyelids have been twitching off and on throughout the day. My right ring finger twitched for about a half and hour. I'm going twitching nuts!!!!

Which is why I need to take a deep breath (or a couple hundred) and say, "Ommmmmmmmm" in a nice warm bubble bath. I've tried massaging my hand in every plausible way I could think of. Honey gave me a nice neck and back massage yesterday (such a sweety). Still no relief.

I'm going bonkers. 4 days with a non stop twitch. What a pain in the ass.

Location found!

CHECK!!!!! I was very much stressing over this issue. Honey took care of it today for me so that I didn't have to. What a sweetheart! It is going to cost us $500 total. We ended up renting the building for 2 days and not the outside area. The building includes 20 tables (perfect), enough seating for about 120 people (again perfect), a full kitchen (added bonus!), restrooms (always a plus), and showers (weird). I'm told by other people it also has a large deck you have access to. And of course the huge plus of all of this is that people will not get rained on. I didn't realize how much this was starting to bother me. Now that I know it's not an issue it's a big weight off my shoulders.

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but in the invites we wrote for people to please bring their favorite side dish along with the family recipe so that we may create a "Wedding Day Cookbook". Having a full kitchen to our disposal will be a humongous, ginormous advantage. I know already some plan on bringing crock pots and such that need outlets and space. Yeah for the kitchen!

We are going out to the location Saturday to look at everything. We've never actually been in the building so I hope to bejesus that we did not just make an outragous mistake.

Only 39 days left! Oh my gosh time is ticking!!!

Flower Girl Basket

Check! I whipped this out earlier this morning. I braided raffia and hot glued it(just got a hot glue gun, Hallelujah! So much help!) to the basket. I bought the basket at the dollar tree.

Then I hot glued some maple leaves to the out side of the basket.

There are also maple leaves hot glued to the inside to cover the ends of the raffia.

Then I added some ribbon and Ta Daa! A pretty flower girl basket. I'm trying to find something else I can craft up today while I have everything out. Any ideas? I'm drawing a blank.

Ooo! Ahhh! Pretty!

Ta Daa!! This is the masterpiece! Obviously my hair is not done and please excuse the mess that is my appartment in the background. I swear those pictures makes it look dirtier than it is. Please move your attention to the silly soon to be bride in front of the camera if you will. This is The Dress!!!! What do you think? I'm in love with it. Not a fan of cameras though so I was goofing off for the pictures.

I am so in love with this dress! *eeeeeeek* I'm squealing with excitement. Next month I get to wear this dress for a day!

It's a Cult, right?

Call me a little slow. I was perusing the whole blogger thingy and found something that said followers. Followers? That's a pretty handy little gadget. Adds yet another fun little aspect to blogging. But it does sound a little cult-ish. I have a follower. I am a follower. Follower. Oh no, I've gotten myself into one of those moods. Follower. Weird word. Follower, follower, follower, follower. I still insist it is cult related. Oooh hey!! I am, in fact, a Reverand! Remember? I didn't. I forgot. But I am! Follow me people!!! I will show you the way into my deep and mysterious "religion" *cough cough* cult.

Follower. It reminds me of the skunk Flower from Bambi. Follower.

How we met

It occurred to me that how me and Justin met has never been brought up...until now. It was a dark and stormy night...Just kidding!

He wrote me on myspace. Not kidding. We talked a little bit via myspace mail. Then he wrote, "I know this is cheesy, but can I have your phone number?". I said yes, indeed, cheesy but gave it to him anyways. I like cheese. I remember feeling giddy and nervous. I called Sam over to look at his pics and asked her what she thought. She said to go for it! Thank God I did! I'm sooooo not great at talking on the phone so as much as I was excited, I was running the "what ifs" in my head. I was never one of those teenagers who spent hours on the telephone. I hated talking on the phone and I told him that.

So I gave him my number. And waited. And waited. Then I got another email. He said when he called my cell he got some guy answering the phone. I informed the silly boy he had dialed the wrong number. He tried again and this time I answered. We ended up talking for a good 3 hours that first time. Who knew?

We talked a few more times on the phone. Then he asked if we could go out sometime. I said sure as long as it wasn't McDonald's. That's where the myspace serial killers go. He said no problem. Burger King it is! It made me laugh. We went out that weekend. He pulled up to my parents house, I ran out before any of my family could interrogate, and off we went. The first movie we ever saw together was Disturbia.

During one of our many long phone conversations, we found out we have many, MANY things in common. One of them is movies. He even played the game me and my sisters play without me ever telling him about it. The game is to recite little pieces of movies and then ask what movie it's from. Well, during one of our talks he said, "What's your boggle?" Then all cocky, I bet you don't know what movie that's from?

I knew then that this guy was gonna get to me. I responded, "Oh, yes I do! That is one of my favorite movies ever! Demolition Man." I win!

We are, without a doubt, movie maniacs. I have found the perfect guy for me. My Honey ROCKS! And I owe it all to myspace.

Wedding Nightmare

I had my first (I think) wedding bad dream. We were all at the location. It wasn't raining...yay for that! Justin and his groomsmen were all in street clothes and told me they thought that was what they were supposed to wear. The whole ceremony and vows were never finished. No one had a clue what to do. Josh and Samantha (our brother and sister/officiants) had never before seen the ceremony they were supposed to read. We told them to just "wing it" direct quote from the dream. There were no decorations. No pretty dress for me. It was just everyone gathered around outside at our location trying not to look bored. Thank goodness that was just a dream!

Justin says he'll take care of the location dilemma for me. He says, "Honey, it will be done and paid for, 100% complete, by this Monday." What a sweetheart.

I'm getting married next month. NEXT MONTH!!! Can you believe it? I can't. I'm still in shock I found my soulmate. It was an ongoing joke in my family. Let's start at the beginning.

As you can see from the pics over to the side, both of my sisters were proposed to at Disneyland. The joke was that since I would never get a guy. I was planning to have a whole bunch of cats. One of them would be named Mr. Bubbles. I was going to take him to Disneyland and propose to him. Ha Ha, good laugh. It was never a problem for either of my sisters to get a guy. But me? HUGE PROBLEM. My father told me, "No wonder she can't get a guy. She's too much of a bitch for anyone to like." (What an ASSHOLE! It still makes me fume! Blue tipped fire is spurting out my ears as I type!) While that partly may be true, I just never liked anyone to ever say yes. Even to just a date. (Maybe because I had never seen a great, loving, open relationship? Maybe because I've learned that to show emotion is to show weakness? Maybe because I've learned that people, even those you think may love you, can be cruel?...Still fuming). I'm not a big fan of people. And I believe dating involves people.

So when I met Justin. Something clicked. We still have never fought. We have disagreements that are settled immediately. We are, simply put, perfect for each other. He is my other half. (cue background noises of people gagging) but it's true.

Mission Unaccomplished

I made a killer zucchini bread for the reunion today! It was scrum-diddly-yum-shis! While I was out there I was supposed to look at the building I was considering having the wedding in. Nope. Didn't do that. Instead I had fun with family I haven't met before. And some I've known for a long time. I did get some invitations out to people. That's a plus.

Isn't that horrible? It's practically September and I still haven't sent out the invites. Oh well, I'm doing it now aren't I?

I really need to figure out where we're having this thing. To do that I need to call out to the Park and ask how much it is to rent the building. Does that include tables and chairs? How many tables and chairs? Then I need to go out there and look at it. Is it pretty? Are there places for us to enter? etc.

Then, finally, we need to make a decision. Why do I have to call? I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one getting married here. Perhaps I'll make Honey do it.

Location dilemma

Awhile ago I mentioned our location. The Elks Toketee Illahee Park. We were going to have the ceremony outside in a gazebo. A little bit of explanation for you: Looking at the gazebo opening (the back half is a wall...it's a pretty large gazebo) the guests would be seated at 6 o'clock. The aisle is 9-10 o'clock and is a natural path through tall alder trees so everything is easily visible from the guests seats. The guests would be seated at tables during the whole event. Or maybe we'll have the tables set up behind them? The food would go inside the gazebo (12 o'clock) and be blocked from sight by decorations until the ceremony is over.

That was the original plan. Now we are seriously considering renting the building located at the park instead. In the long run I'm hoping (haven't checked yet) that it will be cheaper. With it outside we have to rent tables and chairs for everyone and it would just be a hassle, not to mention worrying about the Oregon weather that changes every 5 minutes. Having the building, we're guessing it probably comes with some tables and chairs and it would keep everyone dry.

Lucky for me there is a family reunion out there this Saturday. I hope to have the location finalized and paid for by the time it's over.

Why are weddings so much hassle? Maybe it's because I procrastinate...

My dress!

I found my dress!! It's perfect! It's beautiful! It makes me feel AMAZING!! I love love love it!!

We went to Eugene today to go dress hunting. Justin's best friend lives there. He and Justin went out to the movies and just hung out (they don't see each other much anymore) and Ira's (the friends name) wife went dress shopping with me. My Mom was busy with work, so was my sister Steph. And I'm not sure what Sam was up to but I doubt she would have went with me. We asked Justin's Mom to go but she was busy with paperwork. So Jessica (Ira's wife) and I went to David's Bridal and found the most perfect dress ever!

I was SO glad that she went with me. That was the second time I have ever seen her and the first I've ever "hung out" with her. She's really nice. Too bad she doesn't live closer. Maybe I could have a friend *sad face*. I don't have very many friends. Actually, I don't have any around here. And other than that I have acquaintances. So sad.

I have a dress! I can't get over how happy I am now. This whole not having a dress was stressing me out. Not anymore. CHECK!

So when we first went into David's Bridal they made me sit down and register with them...blagh. Then showed me to my size area and let me look. The person helping me came over and said people usually get through about 5 dresses in an hour and a half. My eyes got huge here. Only 5 in an hour and a frickin' half? She said that usually people like to get all accessorized with each dress to get the "full look". I said I'd like to get in and out of here as quick as possible. So I picked some dresses, went to my little cube (changing room), stripped down (awkward!), put on the little poof skirt, covered my boobies with the bra-ish thing, and then had the sales lady come in to eye-hook me all up (extremely awkward!!). I was put into the first dress. Felt like a two year old, "raise your arms" so the sales lady could put the dress over my head. It was helpful but humiliating. I hate being in any sort of attention. Anyways, the dress...So I tried on the first one, they made me go out and stand on the podium with all those mirrors around (AHHHHH). It was a very lovely dress. But no choir of angels could be heard.

Next I was strapped into the second dress. I loved it! But I noticed the boob area was actually too big! Weird. I mentioned this weirdness and she said yeah look at this, then proceeded to grab a nice handfull of the back of the dress. I changed out of that particular one into a size smaller and viola! Magic! Cue the choir of angels singing a high note. Perfect fit! Who knew I would end up getting a size smaller. That made my day.

It's a halter top that comes down the tummy area to a "V" below the *ahem* gut. Then it poofs out. No train or anything, just poof. It has tons of bead work all over the upper half. The dress is extremely slimming. Did I mention I love it?

I plan on wearing my hair down and curly. My hair curls right up with a little bit of product. I have a veil to go in my hair and then a pretty tan colored rose to go right next to the veil.

I'm actually starting to feel more excited about getting married and less stressed about getting everything done. Today was very much about enjoying the experience. Woo Hoo!!! But I did realize during all this, how the heck am I supposed to spend the whole entire day being part of the center of attention. I didn't even like being helped trying to find the dress. I felt like I was a nuisance. "Please do up my bra thingy and put a dress on me because I couldn't possible do it all on my own. I must have assistants." Snooty falooty. So. Not. Me. I'm a sweatshirt and jeans girl through and through.

The wedding should be interesting.
Do you think I mentioned the word dress enough? I love it!

Cake Topper!

Well, let me start out by saying YEAH! Tomorrow I am going to David's Bridal and I am coming out of there with a friggin' dress! I'm bringing my trusty plastic (visa) for support.

After I got over my initial blegh-ness of today I was fairly productive. I made and completed the Moms' flowers. Completed the fella's boutonnieres (added ribbon). Finished the bouquet toss flowers. Completed my bouquet (added ribbon). Now all the flowers are finished completely 100%! Can I hear a, "check!"?

And for the grand finale I made our cake topper! It was extremely easy. I bought pumpkin salt and pepper shakers from Ross. A while ago I bought wine covers (I think that's what their called) from the dollar tree that were a bride and groom set. With a little bit of cutting and some handy dandy glue dots...(drumroll please)...I got these!! Ta-Daa!!!!

Cute Huh?

Here's the groom!

And the bride!

I love my pumpkin people. The day is looking up!

Ahhh!

I am getting so darn frustrated! My Mother and I went out to Corvallis yesterday to try on a wedding dress. I saw this wedding dress on craigslist (gotta love it!) and called the girl and arranged to try it on and all that hoopla.

So we found the place rather successfully. My Mom is not great with directions and tends to get very aggrevated and...nasty...when we have a little trouble finding things. I was very happy it didn't come to that.

I met the lady, she was VERY nice! Tried on the dress... and again no such luck. There was no way it was going to zip up past my breastisess. DARN IT!!!!!

Is there a mass conspiracy out there that I can't find a single dress that's doable?

The search continues for a suitable wedding dress. I'm starting to lose hope I'll ever find one.

Birdy

Justin's Mom recently went to the pet store and while she was there she fell in love with a bird. It was a lovebird with a sad story. It has rejected every mate offered to it. Justin's Mom felt for the bird, she too has lost a mate and knows what it is like to be alone. The pet store owner gave Justin's Mom a huge discount on the bird and with the help of Justin, moved the bird into her home a few days ago.

We went over to visit and it's the cutest bird. A black head, white chest, blue body and dark blue almost purple on its tail area.

Justin called his Mom last night to check on her and see how she was doing. She says she think she got the bird for the wrong reasons. On Monday she will decide if she is keeping the little guy or not.

Turns out, we might get a little lovebird.

These boots

With every passing day I realize how likely it is that it will be raining on us at our wedding. I refuse to by a tent. I like the rain, Justin likes the rain. If the family doesn't like it they don't need to show up. Besides, there are trees to stand under if it gets too bad.

Since I would bet some big bucks it's gonna rain, it led me to my next thought. I was going to wear flip flops. It is after all outside in the grass. But with it raining my feet are sure to get soaked.

Soooo...I'm pretty sure I'm going to get these bad boys!

Rain boots! Friggin' cute right?! And what do you know...my something blue. I'm going to target to try them on in a couple days. But I absolutely love them. I can see the picture now...us kissing, my foot popped up out of my dress, and an umbrella keeping us dry(ish). Yep, I love it!

Our wedding is going to be pretty darn strange. I can't wait!

A Wedding and A Reunion

Today was a family reunion. My Mom's Step-Mom's Side. We consider her my Grandma but I thought a clarification was in order. It was a side of my family that I rarely see. The first time I started to realize that I was related to them was last year when my Grandmpa was in the hospital before he died. Not happy times. It was nice to see them under better circumstances.

While there I went around and had everyone write down their names and addresses. One step closer to mailing out the invites which me and my sister Sammi put together.

On Saturday my cousin Cyle was married to his long-time girlfriend/fiance Jessie. It was nice to go to a wedding. I've been to three total now. The first two happened when I was younger and we never went to the receptions (if they had them). So when I went to this one I was very observant. Any details I wanted to copy? Or not copy?

For starters, I did not like the location. It was a church...a creepy church...with a creepy painting of some landscape in the background.

Just so you all know, I am not a fan of any organized religion. I think that, Yes, there is something bigger. No, people should not conform to rules and beliefs written long ago and passed down through the years changing slightly with every re-writing and swaying with current popular beliefs. I think that to have ideas about higher powers, a bigger concept and Gods etc. are great! But to believe that poof and then there were is ridiculous, even childish. People should take pieces of each religion that make since to them and have some ideas from there. You should not be constricted and bound to words others tell you and ideas that are not your own. My religion is a belief that there is something more. What that is I don't know, but I love my ideas of it.

So you see, I'm not a fan of churches. Places to worship (not a fan of the word) one of the Gods people created. The ceremony was close to a sermon, therefore, not a fan. The end of the ceremony made me almost tear up. When they kissed. It was the only part that was very personable of the whole ceremony. It was the only part of the ceremony we saw emotions. That part was great.

By the way, in his preachings the pastor said something along the lines of Jesus called the church is bride. He loved the church even though it was imperfect. Then he likened the church to Jessie (the bride) but that Cyle still loved her anyways. Did anyone else catch he called the bride imperfect? Ouch. *eyeroll* Why if a woman has a child and she is not married is she imperfect? I feel ready to hulk up when I hear such stupidity dribbling out of high and mighty, holier than though, usually Christian (sorry I don't actually have anything against Christians...it's all organized religion. Christian is just what people around here tend to be.) assholes. All of them.

Her colors where yellow and black. Her bridesmaids wore black and white dresses. Yellow bouquets all around. Two flower girls (their daughters) very cute! No ring bearer. We had the reception at the local golf course. It was nice and sunny for the wedding all day. The cake was amazingly beautiful. The bride was prettier. I loved her dress and it made me sad to realize I don't think I'll find the one perfect dress. The cake was actually made by a relative of theirs. It had three tiers each set on a plate thing with columns. It was about a 5 year old high off the table. It had yellow roses all around each layer and the table itself. The top layer had a bulbous vase with yellow flowers and ribbon. The middle layer had pictures of the bride and groom around it. It was a great cake.

In another corner was a money tree. I was iffy on doing this at my wedding. I'm not a fan of asking people for money. But I have to say, both sides of their family loved it. They had stickers to put on the bills, then people got creative with how they could tie it to the tree. They were laughing and having a great time just tying money to the tree. Justin's Mom actually insisted we have one of these. She said we have to, it's just something people do at weddings. Then the dreaded word...tradition! Well, I'm all about getting free money and after I saw that people actually enjoyed it...why the hell not?!

They only had about five small round tables I think that they decorated. Just some plastic table coverings in black and yellow. And then some black tulle in the center with tiny plastic wine classes and yellow stuff (candy?) inside. A round vase with one candle tart in the center and those little plastic bubble blower things so we could blow bubbles. It came off very nicely. But different than what I had invisioned for my wedding so nothing I could really copy.

It was a great day. I can't wait till our wedding day. Only 62 days left! Holy cow!