Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Tackle it Tuesday #2
My sister in law Veronica is the most talented artist I have ever met (you can visit her website here), and we were lucky enough to be given a piece of her artwork for Christmas this year. Without us knowing anything about it, Brian's dad set everything up to have her draw one of our wedding photos for us.
Here is the original:
And here is her recreation of the photo:
I really wish I could get a good enough photo without a glare to do this any justice. The detail is just incredible. She even went so far as to use the design off of our wedding invitations on the 4 corners of the portrait, which made it even more special.
In any case, we were just thrilled to receive this as a gift this year, and consider ourselves very lucky. My tackle today was to find a place to hang it and get some nails into the wall. We now have this portrait hanging on one of the walls in our bedroom :)
All in all, my end of the tackle was much easier than hers!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Tackle it Tuesday....On Thursday....UPDATED
Ok, so perhaps starting my very first tackle it Tuesday post on a Thursday isn't the best way to kick things off, but better late than never, yes? My understanding of Tackle it Tuesday is that it began with a mom who intended to post about tackles she accomplished around the home. I am not a mom, but don't see why I can't adapt this to post other things I am tackling. Mostly, I'm just trying to get back into regular posting, and this seems like a great idea to me.
So here goes!
My husband and I got back from our honeymoon yesterday (yes, I do intend to put together a blog post on this soon!), leaving us just few days to get ready for Christmas. The day we got back, I braved the parking lot hell that is Santana Row to get over to The Container Store for some cute wrapping supplies. I will admit that I actually really enjoy wrapping presents when I have nice quality paper and fun bows to work with, so I figured I'd spring for some nicer stuff this year to make wrapping a bit less of a chore.
We are still waiting on a few presents to be delivered, but this is what we have so far. Go me!
UPDATE
I don't think I had an accurate idea of just how many gifts I needed to wrap when I originally posted this tackle. 24 hours, 2 rolls of wrapping paper, about 60 yards of ribbon and 2 rolls of double sided tape later, this is what has happened:
Now I REALLY can say GO ME!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Happy Birthday Alex!
Happy Birthday to Alex! May we enjoy many more years together as a family of friends!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Wordless Wednesday #1
March 2008 - just 5 months after we first started dating:
Oh how far we've come!
Oh how far we've come!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
In an attempt to blog more...
In efforts to attempt to blog a little more often, I'm going to try to make this "Wordless Wednesday" thing happen each week....no promises though! Because I have a career in which it is important to lead a more private life, I've had to keep this blog unsearchable, which limits readers mostly to friends who know about it.
Since I can't expand it in any large sort of way, it has made it difficult to keep up with regular posting. Especially since I'm a very open person in general and like to share what is going on with me. Thank you Marni for the Wordless Wednesday idea and continual encouragement with my blog :)
Since I can't expand it in any large sort of way, it has made it difficult to keep up with regular posting. Especially since I'm a very open person in general and like to share what is going on with me. Thank you Marni for the Wordless Wednesday idea and continual encouragement with my blog :)
Monday, November 29, 2010
Rough Patch II
Quite a bit has changed since losing my job in October. Not long after it all happened, I sunk into a bit of a depression, and had a difficult time coming to terms with all of it. I stopped doing a lot of things I enjoyed doing (keeping up with friends, crafting,shopping etc.) and mostly just wallowed at home most of my days. My husband, seeing I was in a funk, bought me the new Sims 3 game, and for a couple weeks, I spent SEVERAL hours a day sitting at home living someone else's life.
I knew I was depressed, I knew laying around at home wasn't fixing anything, but part of me knew it was what I needed to do. I needed to sit and wallow in it a while and just be sad about the whole situation.
A couple weeks after I was let go, my former boss FINALLY answered my calls and agreed to meet up with me to sign off paperwork that is necessary to validate all the hours I accumulated while working with her. During our meeting, I pretty much gathered that she had thrown me under the bus to cover her own butt, which is why the county decided to let me go. Of course, she didn't say that, but it was pretty obvious.
Fortunately, while I was wallowing at home, I'd been taking some time here and there to look for jobs and shoot out some emails/resumes. Within 3 weeks of being let go, I had landed myself another internship. One week after that, I started my first day.
This place is just amazing. I really cannot stress this enough. My new supervisor is a REAL supervisor who actually takes time out of her day to provide real supervision and guidance instead of expecting me to do things for her and then lying about providing supervision to me. Group supervision is small (2-4 people on any given week) but it is REAL supervision with other really great interns.
As for my site, I'm contracted out to serve as school counselor for an alternative high school. This means I'm working with kids who have been kicked out of traditional high school for various reasons. Many of these kids are on probation, and have drug/alcohol/trauma/abuse histories. I'm the only counselor on site for a school of 115 kids, so I definitely have plenty of people to work with.
What I love the most is the trust and flexibility of my job. My requirement is to be there when the kids are in school M-F and do the work I think is needed. There are no requirements to see a certain number of kids, work with them in a specific kind of way, take a specific style of notes, run specific kinds of groups,or keep files in a specific kind of way. My company trusts me and my education, and trusts the work that I do, and my reasonings behind it. They back me 100%, which is something I've never ever had before. I'm able to keep files in a way that makes most sense to me, use treatment strategies that make the most sense for the situation, and see kids on whatever schedule feels most comfortable. They back me 100%.
The only downside is that I'm making roughly 1/3 the hourly wages I was making before. However, this is quickly trumped by the fact that I'm working for an amazing company and with great supervision and amazing kids. The stress of making less money is SO MUCH LESS than the stress from the joke of an internship I had before.
All in all, I'm in a much better place now. I'm really looking forward to our honeymoon coming up in a couple weeks, and am so glad I can go enjoy myself without the job stresses I had before.
I knew I was depressed, I knew laying around at home wasn't fixing anything, but part of me knew it was what I needed to do. I needed to sit and wallow in it a while and just be sad about the whole situation.
A couple weeks after I was let go, my former boss FINALLY answered my calls and agreed to meet up with me to sign off paperwork that is necessary to validate all the hours I accumulated while working with her. During our meeting, I pretty much gathered that she had thrown me under the bus to cover her own butt, which is why the county decided to let me go. Of course, she didn't say that, but it was pretty obvious.
Fortunately, while I was wallowing at home, I'd been taking some time here and there to look for jobs and shoot out some emails/resumes. Within 3 weeks of being let go, I had landed myself another internship. One week after that, I started my first day.
This place is just amazing. I really cannot stress this enough. My new supervisor is a REAL supervisor who actually takes time out of her day to provide real supervision and guidance instead of expecting me to do things for her and then lying about providing supervision to me. Group supervision is small (2-4 people on any given week) but it is REAL supervision with other really great interns.
As for my site, I'm contracted out to serve as school counselor for an alternative high school. This means I'm working with kids who have been kicked out of traditional high school for various reasons. Many of these kids are on probation, and have drug/alcohol/trauma/abuse histories. I'm the only counselor on site for a school of 115 kids, so I definitely have plenty of people to work with.
What I love the most is the trust and flexibility of my job. My requirement is to be there when the kids are in school M-F and do the work I think is needed. There are no requirements to see a certain number of kids, work with them in a specific kind of way, take a specific style of notes, run specific kinds of groups,or keep files in a specific kind of way. My company trusts me and my education, and trusts the work that I do, and my reasonings behind it. They back me 100%, which is something I've never ever had before. I'm able to keep files in a way that makes most sense to me, use treatment strategies that make the most sense for the situation, and see kids on whatever schedule feels most comfortable. They back me 100%.
The only downside is that I'm making roughly 1/3 the hourly wages I was making before. However, this is quickly trumped by the fact that I'm working for an amazing company and with great supervision and amazing kids. The stress of making less money is SO MUCH LESS than the stress from the joke of an internship I had before.
All in all, I'm in a much better place now. I'm really looking forward to our honeymoon coming up in a couple weeks, and am so glad I can go enjoy myself without the job stresses I had before.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Belated Halloween Blog
So, I've been meaning to share some super fun Halloween treat ideas I tried out this year. After losing my job, starting a new one, and trying to get settled into some sense of normal, I've finally got some free time on my hands to post this :)
So the first was an idea I saw used here. (To see a really nice how to on her blog, check out the link)This one didn't cook up to show all the layers all that well but in any case, the black and orange swirly made for some fun cupcakes.
I originally went with black frosting and quickly realized that this would dye the mouths of everyone who ate them....which isn't exactly what I was going for. I then decided orange was probably a safer option.
I did the icing by scooping it all into a sandwich bag and snipping one of the corners. After doing it I realized the icing looked a bit like a giant swirly turd. Lesson learned: make a smaller cut in the bag next time.
The next recipe I tried were string cheese witch fingers.
This one is super easy, and I think came out super cute. Start by taking your string cheese and cutting it in half to make two fingers. Use a pairing knife to hollow out a spot towards the top where you will later place the nail, so that it will lay fairly flat. Then take your pairing knife and make teeny notches to look like the knuckles. (This looks a lot harder than it actually is.)
You can then slice up a green bell pepper to make little fingernail pieces. You will want to cut the "meat" of the pepper fingernail so it is about 1/2 as thick so that it will lay a little flatter on the cheese.
Adhere with a little dab of cream cheese and voila!
On a side note, I'd recommend making sure your hands are very clean (which you should be doing anyway) and maybe even wearing gloves, as string cheese picks up little particles quite easily. I made the mistake of quickly wiping some of the cream cheese off of my fingers onto a black kitchen towels, and then noticed some of the little black fibers stuck to the next finger I worked on....oops!
The final treat I tried was an idea my mom gave to me based off something she had seen someone bring to an office Halloween party. To create these spider eggs, just prepare your favorite deviled egg recipe, and then use black olives to create spiders for each egg. I used about 1/2 an olive for each body, and then sliced up the olives to make little legs.
This one is super easy, but quite time consuming. In any case, I'm glad I did it. It was my first time ever making deviled eggs and I think they came out really cute!
I ended up dressing as Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas and the husband was a mad scientist(literally and angry scientist). Unfortunately we managed to make it through the entire party without taking any pictures of ourselves. Bummer!
In any case, I'm looking forward to finding some new fun Halloween recipes to try out in the future!
So the first was an idea I saw used here. (To see a really nice how to on her blog, check out the link)This one didn't cook up to show all the layers all that well but in any case, the black and orange swirly made for some fun cupcakes.
I originally went with black frosting and quickly realized that this would dye the mouths of everyone who ate them....which isn't exactly what I was going for. I then decided orange was probably a safer option.
I did the icing by scooping it all into a sandwich bag and snipping one of the corners. After doing it I realized the icing looked a bit like a giant swirly turd. Lesson learned: make a smaller cut in the bag next time.
The next recipe I tried were string cheese witch fingers.
This one is super easy, and I think came out super cute. Start by taking your string cheese and cutting it in half to make two fingers. Use a pairing knife to hollow out a spot towards the top where you will later place the nail, so that it will lay fairly flat. Then take your pairing knife and make teeny notches to look like the knuckles. (This looks a lot harder than it actually is.)
You can then slice up a green bell pepper to make little fingernail pieces. You will want to cut the "meat" of the pepper fingernail so it is about 1/2 as thick so that it will lay a little flatter on the cheese.
Adhere with a little dab of cream cheese and voila!
On a side note, I'd recommend making sure your hands are very clean (which you should be doing anyway) and maybe even wearing gloves, as string cheese picks up little particles quite easily. I made the mistake of quickly wiping some of the cream cheese off of my fingers onto a black kitchen towels, and then noticed some of the little black fibers stuck to the next finger I worked on....oops!
The final treat I tried was an idea my mom gave to me based off something she had seen someone bring to an office Halloween party. To create these spider eggs, just prepare your favorite deviled egg recipe, and then use black olives to create spiders for each egg. I used about 1/2 an olive for each body, and then sliced up the olives to make little legs.
This one is super easy, but quite time consuming. In any case, I'm glad I did it. It was my first time ever making deviled eggs and I think they came out really cute!
I ended up dressing as Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas and the husband was a mad scientist(literally and angry scientist). Unfortunately we managed to make it through the entire party without taking any pictures of ourselves. Bummer!
In any case, I'm looking forward to finding some new fun Halloween recipes to try out in the future!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Rough Patch
Last week was, by far, one of the most frustrating weeks of my life, and I'm finally ready to talk more openly about what is going on with me right now.
As many of you know, I recently graduated with my M.S. in clinical psychology. I am working towards becoming a marriage and family therapist which unfortunately means that a masters degree alone does not grant me the ability to start my professional career. The BBS requires me to gather 3000 supervised hours over the course of 2 years (post-grad) before I am eligible to sit for the licensing exam.
While I was finishing my degree, I was working as a marriage and family therapist trainee at a local county facility. This was allowing me to gather some pre-degree hours that I was able to apply to the overall 3k total. After my trainee-ship was up, I was asked to stay, even though it meant I would be working for free. I was told that if I stayed, when a paid position came up, it would be mine. The benefit for me was that I could continue to collect supervised hours towards my license, and the benefit for them was free labor.
I worked for free from the end of May until the end of September, and as promised, a paid position was given to me. The best part was that not only was it a paid position, but it was paid very well. At this point, I'd been working for the site for over a year, and felt pretty comfortable in my ability to do the job. Things were really looking up for me professionally, and finally having a well-paying job meant that Brian and I could consider looking for our first home. I was really excited to open that chapter of our lives.
Three weeks later I was fired without notice. When asked why, I was told that they could not discuss it, and that was that. I was left confused, embarrassed, angry, sad, and without a job. That was almost a week ago, and I still don't know why it happened. I've attempted to get more information, but still have nothing.
On Friday, I had to file for unemployment for the first time in my life which was....well, a more than humbling experience. I never thought that it was something I would have to do, as I thought that working all those years to obtain a masters degree would help keep something like this from happening.
Financially, Brian and I are fine, and we will continue to be fine. I know this. We are incredibly lucky to have been given the opportunity to have our 1 bedroom apartment rent-free in exchange for managing the complex. Mostly it is just frustrating, as our dreams of moving away from this situation finally became a reality, and then disappeared in the blink of an eye.
I've spent the past few days feeling defeated, a bit depressed, and questioning my ability as a therapist. I have never in my life been fired from a job. In fact, I have never even received a negative review from a job. I take pride in my work ethic, and if I was doing something wrong, I would have liked to have been given the opportunity to correct it. Unfortunately, the situation has left me not knowing whether it was something I did or not, and without the opportunity for professional growth.
I will continue on, I will move forward, and things will work out for the better. This is another thing I know. I will spend my free time looking for another internship that will allow me to get my remaining hours, and eventually, I will find one. However, it doesn't change the fact that I'm still confused and upset about the entire situation.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Booming Business
Okay, well I don't know if I can quite say "booming" just yet, but it certainly has exceeded all of my expectations thus far!
Once the craziness of my wedding died down, I decided to take one of the ideas that my lovely cousin Holly gave me after reading a blog about tissue packs, put some of my own spins on them, and offer to make them for other brides to be. I really enjoy little crafty projects, and thought I'd give it a shot. Etsy only charges .20 cents per listing, so I figured that even if it never took off, I wouldn't really have lost anything.
Once the craziness of my wedding died down, I decided to take one of the ideas that my lovely cousin Holly gave me after reading a blog about tissue packs, put some of my own spins on them, and offer to make them for other brides to be. I really enjoy little crafty projects, and thought I'd give it a shot. Etsy only charges .20 cents per listing, so I figured that even if it never took off, I wouldn't really have lost anything.
Little did I know that it would take off! I've had 5 orders to date, and have about 3 more pending currently. It doesn't sound like much but I haven't been doing it for long either. Here are some photos of a few of the orders I've done:
There has definitely been a learning curve when it comes to the perfect type of paper, number of tissues, paper size, seals, and placement of adhesive. I feel like I've really learned a lot though, and have created the perfect "tissue packet formula" hehe.
I'm actually hoping orders stay where they are for now, because I wouldn't want to get so many that it just wasn't fun anymore. I have a feeling orders will slow down now that wedding season is coming to a close. Guess we'll just have to wait and see!
Monday, October 4, 2010
A Twist of Life
I've never been one to believe in fate, destiny, karma (not in the traditional sense anyway), or any other inevitable phenomena of that nature. However, I had an interesting thing happen today that I felt like reflecting upon.
I had the absolute WORST day at work today. Probably the worst day I've ever had at any job in my entire life. Now, due to the nature of my profession and the professional confidentiality that goes along with it, I really can't get into detail about why my day was so terrible. And that's that. All I can really say is that I work with severely mentally ill individuals, and it seemed like a few of them were particularly ill today. So ill that I spent the ENTIRE day running to urgent care, writing a zillion emails, writing up behavior contracts, consulting with other staff members, and making phone calls since my boss/supervisor was out sick today. All while worrying about the physical and mental health/safety of these particular clients.
To top it all off I wore new heels to work today that were NOT conducive to all the running around, and left me practically limping by lunchtime...which I didn't get until nearly 2pm.
By the time 5pm finally came around, all I wanted was to get the hell out of Dodge, get out of those stupid shoes, and go home to my nice warm bed. In keeping with the general theme of the day, I had a client that is not mine stop me and want to chat me up about his most recent crisis as I was trying desperately to get out of the building. All I could think about was how badly I wanted to just get to my car.
I finally got home around 5:30, kicked off my shoes, changed into more comfortable pants, and flopped down on my bed. I laid there, in a fog, for about 5 minutes before a tenant came and knocked at my door. All I could think of was the fact that I had ZERO energy to get up and help yet another person with their problems today. I'm only one person.
I got up anyway seeing as apartment manager is my job, and opened the door. I was right that it was a tenant knocking, however, I was wrong about the reason. There she was, standing at the door with the biggest piece of chocolate cake I have ever seen. She told me that her granddaughters had a birthday party the day before, and they had so much left over cake that she didn't know what to do with it. I thanked her for bringing it and made a joke about how it made my day.
The thing is I wasn't joking at all. I brought the chocolate cake back into the room, flopped back down on the bed, and proceeded to take a bite. I'm not usually a big cake fan but I swear to you it was EXACTLY what I needed. As I type this, I'm still on the bed, my husband next to me, and we've eaten about 3/4 of the slice of cake together.
I've been giving, giving, giving all day, and all it took was this little gift of chocolate cake to start turning my day around.
Funny how life works sometimes.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Best Friends
I am now a married woman, and looking back, I feel incredibly lucky to have had such wonderful ladies who supported me through the wedding process. I don't know what I would have done without them. Michelle and I decided 16 years ago that we would each serve as maid of honor for one another on our wedding days. Here is a photo of us on her wedding day in March of 2008:
And on mine in August of 2010
And on mine in August of 2010
Who would have thought that so many years later, the promises made by a couple of boy-crazy prepubescent 11 year old girls would be kept? I have found one of the best friends a girl could ever ask for in her, and look forward to many many more years of friendship.
I'm waiting on the professional photos, but you can bet I'll post some once they arrive!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Custom Candy Wrappers
I've been going back and forth a lot on what I want to do for bridal shower favors. I'm not a knick knacky kind of person, and didn't want to present my guests with knick knacks they likely would never use. After much debate, I decided on chocolate. First of all, it's all women, and let's face it, ladies love chocolate. Second, they can eat it and be done with it. No clutter when they get home.
I saw these online, and it got the wheels turning. Unfortunately, to get the number of wrappers I was going to need, it was going to cost at least $70, and that isn't even factoring in the cost of the chocolate. I quickly decided that I needed to find a better alternative, and turned to my trusty Microsoft publisher program to do the trick.
I originally wanted to design a big Hershey bar wrapper, as I thought it would be nice to give everyone a big candy bar as they left. Unfortunately, what I learned is that they no longer make the standard sized Hershey bars with the foil and paper wrappers, and now wrap them all in plastic. As a matter of fact, ALL affordable standard sized chocolate bars available in stores are wrapped in plastic. (Where is the fund raising kid selling chocolate bars when you need him?!?) The only way to get the foil wrapped candy is to buy the GIANT sized Hershey bars, or the minis. The giant ones were too expensive, so I decided that minis were going to have to suffice.
After a bit of fiddling, I came up with a good template for the mini chocolates that I was able to customize into a few different designs. Unfortunately, I only have a black and white laser printer, so I had to stick to monochromatic designs. These are a few photos of my home made attempt to make my own candy wrappers.
I'm really happy with how they came out. I ordered some cute aqua organza pouches off eBay that I'm going to use to package the favors...one of each design per favor. All in all, enough favors for 30-40 guests only ended up costing me about $25. Not too shabby.
I've even considered designing some templates to sell in PDF "print yourself" format through an avenue like Etsy. Since people would be printing themselves, I wouldn't have to stick to the black and white designs. I don't know...just a thought :-)
I saw these online, and it got the wheels turning. Unfortunately, to get the number of wrappers I was going to need, it was going to cost at least $70, and that isn't even factoring in the cost of the chocolate. I quickly decided that I needed to find a better alternative, and turned to my trusty Microsoft publisher program to do the trick.
I originally wanted to design a big Hershey bar wrapper, as I thought it would be nice to give everyone a big candy bar as they left. Unfortunately, what I learned is that they no longer make the standard sized Hershey bars with the foil and paper wrappers, and now wrap them all in plastic. As a matter of fact, ALL affordable standard sized chocolate bars available in stores are wrapped in plastic. (Where is the fund raising kid selling chocolate bars when you need him?!?) The only way to get the foil wrapped candy is to buy the GIANT sized Hershey bars, or the minis. The giant ones were too expensive, so I decided that minis were going to have to suffice.
After a bit of fiddling, I came up with a good template for the mini chocolates that I was able to customize into a few different designs. Unfortunately, I only have a black and white laser printer, so I had to stick to monochromatic designs. These are a few photos of my home made attempt to make my own candy wrappers.
I'm really happy with how they came out. I ordered some cute aqua organza pouches off eBay that I'm going to use to package the favors...one of each design per favor. All in all, enough favors for 30-40 guests only ended up costing me about $25. Not too shabby.
I've even considered designing some templates to sell in PDF "print yourself" format through an avenue like Etsy. Since people would be printing themselves, I wouldn't have to stick to the black and white designs. I don't know...just a thought :-)
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
More Wedding Projects
Monday, June 14, 2010
52 Days!
I can't believe how quickly the wedding is approaching. I've been very productive with regards to wedding details and planning, but it seems like there is still so much to do. I definitely have a new appreciation for brides planning their own weddings, and all the small details that go into even a seemingly small wedding. I also have a new appreciation for small things that really irk brides and grooms; Small things I will now vent about. Ahem....
For starters...people who use computers all the time, who have been given the wedding website on both the save the date magnets and the invitation, yet still bother my parents for details on accommodations. Even though there is a CLEARLY laid out section on the website for all of this. Now, if this was say, my grandpa, who doesn't use the net very often, I'd understand. But c'mon folks, use the resources we worked to provide you instead of creating more work for us!
Second is people who don't fill out the RSVP card correctly, and then you have to hunt them down to find out what they meant as far as guest count. Blech.
Third is when Bed Bath and Beyond decides to discontinue items on my registry right as I'm sending out invites, and I have to go through and find new stuff.
But, if these are the worst of my problems, I suppose I'm doing just fine. I took my dress in last week for alterations, and couldn't be happier with the place. The first shop was going to charge me $280-320 just for a hem and bustle, which seems pretty unreasonable. The new place is charing only $180 for the same job. Super score. AND, they will hold my dress until right before the wedding, and steam my veil for free. Keeps me from having to store the big dress bag in my teeny apartment. I also still can't be happier with my dress, trying it on again for alterations only confirmed how much I love it :)
Brian and I bought his wedding ring today, and I think he picked a really great one.
We decided to go with the Tungsten Carbide, as it is one of the strongest metals available, super scratch resistant, never needs polishing, and is comfortable and light. Not only that but it is super affordable. It should be arriving in the next couple of weeks :)
We went and got our marriage license today, which started making things feel so real! The clerk told us that our marriage license number 309999 was very lucky in Chinese culture, and that we would have a good marriage. I'm not of the Chinese culture, but I'll take it. ;-)
A good friend of mine from my cohort in the masters program offered to do our wedding ceremony for us. People had suggested that we find a friend to do the ceremony, but I was worried about this option because I wanted someone with experience. Turns out, Jeff is a wedding officiant in his free time, and has done about 15 weddings. Major score. Saves us the cost, and I am getting married by a good friend. :)
Anyway, that's mostly it for now. I feel like even with all this, I haven't updated on even half the wedding related things that have been going on lately. Being a bride, a maid of honor, and a bridesmaid means lots of wedding festivities!
For starters...people who use computers all the time, who have been given the wedding website on both the save the date magnets and the invitation, yet still bother my parents for details on accommodations. Even though there is a CLEARLY laid out section on the website for all of this. Now, if this was say, my grandpa, who doesn't use the net very often, I'd understand. But c'mon folks, use the resources we worked to provide you instead of creating more work for us!
Second is people who don't fill out the RSVP card correctly, and then you have to hunt them down to find out what they meant as far as guest count. Blech.
Third is when Bed Bath and Beyond decides to discontinue items on my registry right as I'm sending out invites, and I have to go through and find new stuff.
But, if these are the worst of my problems, I suppose I'm doing just fine. I took my dress in last week for alterations, and couldn't be happier with the place. The first shop was going to charge me $280-320 just for a hem and bustle, which seems pretty unreasonable. The new place is charing only $180 for the same job. Super score. AND, they will hold my dress until right before the wedding, and steam my veil for free. Keeps me from having to store the big dress bag in my teeny apartment. I also still can't be happier with my dress, trying it on again for alterations only confirmed how much I love it :)
Brian and I bought his wedding ring today, and I think he picked a really great one.
We decided to go with the Tungsten Carbide, as it is one of the strongest metals available, super scratch resistant, never needs polishing, and is comfortable and light. Not only that but it is super affordable. It should be arriving in the next couple of weeks :)
We went and got our marriage license today, which started making things feel so real! The clerk told us that our marriage license number 309999 was very lucky in Chinese culture, and that we would have a good marriage. I'm not of the Chinese culture, but I'll take it. ;-)
A good friend of mine from my cohort in the masters program offered to do our wedding ceremony for us. People had suggested that we find a friend to do the ceremony, but I was worried about this option because I wanted someone with experience. Turns out, Jeff is a wedding officiant in his free time, and has done about 15 weddings. Major score. Saves us the cost, and I am getting married by a good friend. :)
Anyway, that's mostly it for now. I feel like even with all this, I haven't updated on even half the wedding related things that have been going on lately. Being a bride, a maid of honor, and a bridesmaid means lots of wedding festivities!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Airbrush Tan Experiment
So, I have a skin condition on my arms and legs called Keratosis Pilaris. It basically means that excess keratin is produced around my hair follicles and it doesn't slough off as easy as the skin does for normal people. It leaves my arms looking red, and feeling a little rough.
Mine isn't as severe in the picture, and is fortunately more evenly spread on my upper arms and lower legs. It really isn't all that big of a deal, and to deal with it I typically just exfoliate my arms once or twice a week with a body scrub. It's super common, and I notice that tons of people have it. However, it doesn't change the fact that there are certain times I am a bit more self conscious of it, like, for my upcoming wedding day.
When I was younger, I used to go to tanning salons and use the tanning beds to get a nice summer glow. Now that I'm older, and feel less invincible, I actually care about what I'm doing to my body. The thought of increasing my likelihood of developing skin cancer by 75% scares the living daylights out of me. Especially after having lived through the cancer experience with someone that was very near and dear to me. I don't want to put myself at risk. Especially for something as trivial as a wedding glow.
At the same time, I'd like to do something to even out my skin tone for the big day. I don't even care about being tan so much as I do about having nice even skin. I went to the local tanning salon and asked about their non UV options. I told the girl I did not want to be orange, and was simply looking for the lightest shade they offered to even out my skin tone. She assured me that airbrush was the way to go, and I decided to buy 3 sessions on that day.
I showed up for my first session not really knowing what to expect. They basically have you strip down as much as you're comfortable, put a strange little cap on to protect your hair, and put sticky soles on the bottom of your feet to avoid tanning the bottoms. The spraying itself only took about 5 minutes, and I was ready to go.
What the did not prepare me for was the fact that my skin was going to be DARK for the first 5-12 hours. This is what I looked like when I got home.
It doesn't show as well in the photo, but I basically looked like an over tanned bimbo who should be walking around some Southern Cali beach. I was so dark that when it came time to select where we were going to have dinner, I asked him if we could do drive through, as I was to embarrassed to be seen looking like that. However, wanting to do what the professionals advised, I waited to shower until the next morning, letting the initial spray stay on for a full 12 hours.
My first shower the next morning was quite messy. The water washed away the dark color, and revealed this tone:
Much better. And I felt pretty good about the way skin looked nice and even. However, there were spots on my hands and arms that were pretty orange, and I wasn't happy with it overall. Unfortunately, the orange never really went away, rather just faded over time.
In the end, this is NOT something I would recommend to folks for something as important as your wedding. I'm planning to do airbrush makeup for my wedding, and the makeup artist says she airbrushes face neck and shoulders, but I think I may talk to her about spraying some of the to cover my arms a little too. I've done it in the past with this, and it worked so well, so I've got higher hopes for the airbrush look than this fake tan crap, haha.
Mine isn't as severe in the picture, and is fortunately more evenly spread on my upper arms and lower legs. It really isn't all that big of a deal, and to deal with it I typically just exfoliate my arms once or twice a week with a body scrub. It's super common, and I notice that tons of people have it. However, it doesn't change the fact that there are certain times I am a bit more self conscious of it, like, for my upcoming wedding day.
When I was younger, I used to go to tanning salons and use the tanning beds to get a nice summer glow. Now that I'm older, and feel less invincible, I actually care about what I'm doing to my body. The thought of increasing my likelihood of developing skin cancer by 75% scares the living daylights out of me. Especially after having lived through the cancer experience with someone that was very near and dear to me. I don't want to put myself at risk. Especially for something as trivial as a wedding glow.
At the same time, I'd like to do something to even out my skin tone for the big day. I don't even care about being tan so much as I do about having nice even skin. I went to the local tanning salon and asked about their non UV options. I told the girl I did not want to be orange, and was simply looking for the lightest shade they offered to even out my skin tone. She assured me that airbrush was the way to go, and I decided to buy 3 sessions on that day.
I showed up for my first session not really knowing what to expect. They basically have you strip down as much as you're comfortable, put a strange little cap on to protect your hair, and put sticky soles on the bottom of your feet to avoid tanning the bottoms. The spraying itself only took about 5 minutes, and I was ready to go.
What the did not prepare me for was the fact that my skin was going to be DARK for the first 5-12 hours. This is what I looked like when I got home.
It doesn't show as well in the photo, but I basically looked like an over tanned bimbo who should be walking around some Southern Cali beach. I was so dark that when it came time to select where we were going to have dinner, I asked him if we could do drive through, as I was to embarrassed to be seen looking like that. However, wanting to do what the professionals advised, I waited to shower until the next morning, letting the initial spray stay on for a full 12 hours.
My first shower the next morning was quite messy. The water washed away the dark color, and revealed this tone:
Much better. And I felt pretty good about the way skin looked nice and even. However, there were spots on my hands and arms that were pretty orange, and I wasn't happy with it overall. Unfortunately, the orange never really went away, rather just faded over time.
In the end, this is NOT something I would recommend to folks for something as important as your wedding. I'm planning to do airbrush makeup for my wedding, and the makeup artist says she airbrushes face neck and shoulders, but I think I may talk to her about spraying some of the to cover my arms a little too. I've done it in the past with this, and it worked so well, so I've got higher hopes for the airbrush look than this fake tan crap, haha.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Wedding Rings
So, as you remember, my lovely fiancee got me a very lovely engagement ring last December. We went back to Tiffany recently to pick out a wedding ring that would compliment the ring, without breaking the bank. I decided to go with a plain band that matched the band of the engagement ring.
Never mind the chipped polish ;-)
Very simple and clean. I can't wait to start wearing them together :)
Never mind the chipped polish ;-)
Very simple and clean. I can't wait to start wearing them together :)
Thursday, June 3, 2010
We Did It!
That's right, after two years of giving my blood, sweat, and many tears to the master program, I graduated with my M.S. in clinical psychology. Here are a few photos from the day.
The whole group before the big event
Me, Lindsay, & Cory
They wanted to charge 49.95 for one unedited digital copy of this image. No thanks. Here is the proof of me getting hooded instead.
After the ceremony.
All in all, I'm so glad it is over. It has been a difficult 2 year journey, and I am ready to move on to the next phase.
The whole group before the big event
Me, Lindsay, & Cory
They wanted to charge 49.95 for one unedited digital copy of this image. No thanks. Here is the proof of me getting hooded instead.
After the ceremony.
All in all, I'm so glad it is over. It has been a difficult 2 year journey, and I am ready to move on to the next phase.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
How Swag Bucks Works
OK, so I realize this is totally spamming, and I'm going to sound like a commercial as I write this. HOWEVER, those who know me know I wouldn't bother posting about something like this unless I felt it was worth your time.
What is Swag Bucks?
So, my dear friend Marni introduced me to this awesome thing called Swag Bucks. Basically, it is a search engine not unlike Google or yahoo. You use the Swag Bucks search engine doing your day to day searching just like you would with any other engine, and every once and a while you run the chance of winning these things called Swag Bucks. Over time, you collect them up and redeem them for prizes. One of the best trades for your Swag Bucks as it turns out, is for Amazon.com e-gift cards. For every 450 Swag Bucks you earn, you get a $5 dollar credit to your Amazon account to use towards anything you wish.
Is it Legit?
Go ahead and do a few searches on it. You will find that it absolutely is legit. Marni has been doing it since March and has already made over $75 dollars credited to her Amazon account. I have been on since mid May, and have made $15. They send out the e-gift card codes on the 1st and 15th of every month. I just got my first codes today, and it literally took seconds to transfer the code to my amazon account. Super simple.
Why do they do this?
I asked this same question in the beginning. If they are paying us to search, how are they making money? What I have learned is that many companies pay search engine providers for every hit they get to their site as a result of the search engine. This means that Swag Bucks is getting paid each and every time someone arrives at one of their paid sponsors. They then take the money they make and give some of it back as incentive for people to use their search engine. I mean, c'mon, let's face it... with such well established search engines that have literally become household names ("let's Google it") it makes sense that they would offer to pay people as incentive to grow their search engine. No one would use it otherwise, and they wouldn't be able to stay in business. By giving just a little back, they are benefiting as a company.
Is the search engine as good as Google?
The honest answer to this question is no. Google will likely get you way more results, especially when it comes to image searches. However, since I started using it 2 weeks ago, I have only had to go to Google ONCE because Swag Bucks did not deliver what I wanted. For the most part, the search results are more than adequate. And if not, you could always use the Swag Bucks search engine to search Google ;)
Ways to Earn
There are several ways to earn Swag Bucks day to day.
Searching
The first way is to use the search engine. You won't win every time, but you will win on occasion. My wins are typically anywhere from 7-14 Swag Bucks, although I did win 36 once. I generally win from searching roughly 3 times a day.
Finding Codes
Here is how they make things interesting. From time to time (generally 1-3x per day) they release secret codes that are good for a limited number of time. They release the codes at completely random times, and they are generally good for 5-8 Swag Bucks. They usually make it fun by making it something you have to search for or use your brain muscles to figure out. There are several ways to find out about codes.
1. Visit the Blog Regularly
Swag Bucks has a blog that they generally update a few times a day. This is where they release hints about
2.Visit the Fan Blog Regularly.
We Love Swagbucks is good at keeping up on when new codes are released. This is a good thing to check a few times a day. They can't tell you what the code is, as Swag Bucks has strict rules about not giving out codes, and will disable them if they catch wind that anyone has, but they can let you know when one has been released and how to go about finding out how to get it. It saves you from having to lurk the twitter, facebook, and blog pages for codes.
3. Facebook Page
They also have a facebook page that they release code hints on from time to time. If you're an avid facebook user like me, it's a good way to keep up on what is going on but shouldn't be your only way, as they don't always post code hints here.
4. Twitter Page
I don't personally use twitter, but they do post codes periodically via this method. I don't have an account and thus, don't have a link, so you can search for their twitter page on your own, lol.
Shop & Trade In
You can also win swag bucks by making online purchases through their partner sites and trading in old cell phones and such. I don't personally like this method of earning but if you are planning to do some online shopping anyway and the site happens to be one of their partner sites, I say go for it. You make 2 Swag Bucks for every 1 dollar you spend.
Referrals
This is one of THE BEST ways to earn. Every person who signs up under you helps you to earn Swagbucks. Keep reading for more on that.
Benefits of Installing the Toolbar
The toolbar comes with lots of little links that help you manage your Swag Bucks account. It also comes with a little search engine so you don't have to go to Swag Bucks.com every time you want to search. I was even able to configure mine to connect to my yahoo mail and alert me whenever I have a new email. Score.
What if I don't want to download the toolbar?
So, I ran into this situation where I was at work, and didn't want to get in trouble for downloading content onto my computer. I was able to work around this by configuring the search bar built in to the top right of my browser to search Swag Bucks automatically. I'll do my best to walk you through the process.
From Internet Explorer
1. Click on the drop down menu and select "manage search providers"
2. Click "find more search providers"
3. This will open a web page. Scroll to the bottom and select "create your own search provider"
4. In another window, go to the Swag Bucks Search Engine and search the word "TEST" in all capital letters.
5. Paste the URL that comes up into the URL portion of the create your own search provider page.
6. Name the search engine what you want it to be called. "Swag Bucks" is probably best.
7. Click "install search provider" and then click "add" in the window that pops up and Voila!
8. Now, go back to the drop down menu up at the search bar and select Swag Bucks to make it your default search provider.
From Firefox
I haven't figured out how to do it in Firefox without at the very least, installing the Swag Bucks Plugin. From this page, you can also install plugins for Safari, Opera, and Google Chrome. If anyone figures out a way to do it without installing plugins, please let me know, but I don't know that it is possible.
Why do you keep linking the word Swag Bucks?
Well, dear blogger friends, because if you decide to sign up, and do so under my link, I get referral credit. Basically, every time you search and win, I win too. To date, I've already made over 600 Swag Bucks through referrals alone. This is seriously one of THE BEST ways to earn. I didn't think I'd be able to get any referrals when I started, but by posting just a few (3) Facebook posts about it, I've been able to gather 9 referrals. I wouldn't recommend spamming your friends with posts, but I think it's OK to do one every now and again.
What it comes down to is I really recommend it. I've tried to explain it in as much deal as I can, but if you have any questions you can always, always, always, message me. I'd be happy to help answer any questions. I've earned $15 dollars in roughly 3 weeks, and am looking forward to earning enough money to have a mostly, if not totally, free Christmas. Go Swag Bucks!
What is Swag Bucks?
So, my dear friend Marni introduced me to this awesome thing called Swag Bucks. Basically, it is a search engine not unlike Google or yahoo. You use the Swag Bucks search engine doing your day to day searching just like you would with any other engine, and every once and a while you run the chance of winning these things called Swag Bucks. Over time, you collect them up and redeem them for prizes. One of the best trades for your Swag Bucks as it turns out, is for Amazon.com e-gift cards. For every 450 Swag Bucks you earn, you get a $5 dollar credit to your Amazon account to use towards anything you wish.
Is it Legit?
Go ahead and do a few searches on it. You will find that it absolutely is legit. Marni has been doing it since March and has already made over $75 dollars credited to her Amazon account. I have been on since mid May, and have made $15. They send out the e-gift card codes on the 1st and 15th of every month. I just got my first codes today, and it literally took seconds to transfer the code to my amazon account. Super simple.
Why do they do this?
I asked this same question in the beginning. If they are paying us to search, how are they making money? What I have learned is that many companies pay search engine providers for every hit they get to their site as a result of the search engine. This means that Swag Bucks is getting paid each and every time someone arrives at one of their paid sponsors. They then take the money they make and give some of it back as incentive for people to use their search engine. I mean, c'mon, let's face it... with such well established search engines that have literally become household names ("let's Google it") it makes sense that they would offer to pay people as incentive to grow their search engine. No one would use it otherwise, and they wouldn't be able to stay in business. By giving just a little back, they are benefiting as a company.
Is the search engine as good as Google?
The honest answer to this question is no. Google will likely get you way more results, especially when it comes to image searches. However, since I started using it 2 weeks ago, I have only had to go to Google ONCE because Swag Bucks did not deliver what I wanted. For the most part, the search results are more than adequate. And if not, you could always use the Swag Bucks search engine to search Google ;)
Ways to Earn
There are several ways to earn Swag Bucks day to day.
Searching
The first way is to use the search engine. You won't win every time, but you will win on occasion. My wins are typically anywhere from 7-14 Swag Bucks, although I did win 36 once. I generally win from searching roughly 3 times a day.
Finding Codes
Here is how they make things interesting. From time to time (generally 1-3x per day) they release secret codes that are good for a limited number of time. They release the codes at completely random times, and they are generally good for 5-8 Swag Bucks. They usually make it fun by making it something you have to search for or use your brain muscles to figure out. There are several ways to find out about codes.
1. Visit the Blog Regularly
Swag Bucks has a blog that they generally update a few times a day. This is where they release hints about
2.Visit the Fan Blog Regularly.
We Love Swagbucks is good at keeping up on when new codes are released. This is a good thing to check a few times a day. They can't tell you what the code is, as Swag Bucks has strict rules about not giving out codes, and will disable them if they catch wind that anyone has, but they can let you know when one has been released and how to go about finding out how to get it. It saves you from having to lurk the twitter, facebook, and blog pages for codes.
3. Facebook Page
They also have a facebook page that they release code hints on from time to time. If you're an avid facebook user like me, it's a good way to keep up on what is going on but shouldn't be your only way, as they don't always post code hints here.
4. Twitter Page
I don't personally use twitter, but they do post codes periodically via this method. I don't have an account and thus, don't have a link, so you can search for their twitter page on your own, lol.
Shop & Trade In
You can also win swag bucks by making online purchases through their partner sites and trading in old cell phones and such. I don't personally like this method of earning but if you are planning to do some online shopping anyway and the site happens to be one of their partner sites, I say go for it. You make 2 Swag Bucks for every 1 dollar you spend.
Referrals
This is one of THE BEST ways to earn. Every person who signs up under you helps you to earn Swagbucks. Keep reading for more on that.
Benefits of Installing the Toolbar
The toolbar comes with lots of little links that help you manage your Swag Bucks account. It also comes with a little search engine so you don't have to go to Swag Bucks.com every time you want to search. I was even able to configure mine to connect to my yahoo mail and alert me whenever I have a new email. Score.
What if I don't want to download the toolbar?
So, I ran into this situation where I was at work, and didn't want to get in trouble for downloading content onto my computer. I was able to work around this by configuring the search bar built in to the top right of my browser to search Swag Bucks automatically. I'll do my best to walk you through the process.
From Internet Explorer
1. Click on the drop down menu and select "manage search providers"
2. Click "find more search providers"
3. This will open a web page. Scroll to the bottom and select "create your own search provider"
4. In another window, go to the Swag Bucks Search Engine and search the word "TEST" in all capital letters.
5. Paste the URL that comes up into the URL portion of the create your own search provider page.
6. Name the search engine what you want it to be called. "Swag Bucks" is probably best.
7. Click "install search provider" and then click "add" in the window that pops up and Voila!
8. Now, go back to the drop down menu up at the search bar and select Swag Bucks to make it your default search provider.
From Firefox
I haven't figured out how to do it in Firefox without at the very least, installing the Swag Bucks Plugin. From this page, you can also install plugins for Safari, Opera, and Google Chrome. If anyone figures out a way to do it without installing plugins, please let me know, but I don't know that it is possible.
Why do you keep linking the word Swag Bucks?
Well, dear blogger friends, because if you decide to sign up, and do so under my link, I get referral credit. Basically, every time you search and win, I win too. To date, I've already made over 600 Swag Bucks through referrals alone. This is seriously one of THE BEST ways to earn. I didn't think I'd be able to get any referrals when I started, but by posting just a few (3) Facebook posts about it, I've been able to gather 9 referrals. I wouldn't recommend spamming your friends with posts, but I think it's OK to do one every now and again.
What it comes down to is I really recommend it. I've tried to explain it in as much deal as I can, but if you have any questions you can always, always, always, message me. I'd be happy to help answer any questions. I've earned $15 dollars in roughly 3 weeks, and am looking forward to earning enough money to have a mostly, if not totally, free Christmas. Go Swag Bucks!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Down with David's Bridal!
Let me just put it out there. David's Bridal sucks. You want to know why? Pull up a chair my dear blogger friends, and let me tell you why.
When I first got engaged, I like many other brides, was under the impression that David's Bridal was a good place to go for affordable wedding dresses. While they do in fact have some affordable dresses, this was NOT a good place to go.
David's Bridal Myth 1: You always see all those David's Bridal commercials, and they have all those locations. They must know what they are doing, right?
Wrong! To begin, I scheduled an appointment a week in advance. When I got there, they had no idea who I was, and had me mixed up with some Kristin Brown in Hawaii. I can understand that there are a lot of Kristin Browns in the world, so I let that one go. They made me fill out a new registration form because they couldn't find my info. Whatever, no big deal.
What I didn't realize is they DOUBLE BOOK their consultants on weekends. This means that you do not have a consultant who is only helping you, but rather a consultant who is helping you and at least one other bride at the same time. The consultant zips you into a dress, and basically leaves you there while she goes to help the other bride. So, even if you HATE that dress. You're stuck in it until she returns. So basically, even though I had an hour and a half appointment, I only got to try on 5-6 dresses. They did not tell me this when I first booked my appointment.
At one point, I was in this lace/beaded dress. It was very pretty , but it just didn't suit my body type. Not only that, but it was HEAVY. I was stuck in it for so long, my back was absolutely aching. However, heaven forbid you try to take it off without a consultant. That's a major sin over there at DB....even if you're about to fall over.
There was another dress that had this really interesting neckline. I asked her what it was called and she had no idea. This was very surprising to me. It did not appear that she knew much at all about any of the dresses. So much for quality training, yes?
Seeing that these first few dresses were not going well, the consultant finally asked me what I liked in a dress, and I gave her a few key features I wanted. I told her I like strapless, A-line, pick up skirt, and a lace up back. So off she went, and 10-15 minutes later she brought back a dress that fit all these qualifications. Oh boy. The taffeta on the dress, I kid you not, felt like one of those plastic party table cloths. I knew INSTANTLY that this was not the dress, for me, and politely told her so. She proceeded to look at me with a frustrated look on her face and said, "Well, you realize this has everything you said, right?!?"
Are you kidding me? Just because it has all the general features does not mean they are all put together in the right way. PLUS, it feels like it came from the dollar store! I have absolutely NO desire to *swish swish swish* down the aisle in a plastic table cloth! Mind you, I did not verbalize any of this and remained very polite to her. No point in being a bridezilla just because this consultant is over worked.
Anyway, this moves us into the next myth.
David's Bridal Myth 2: David's Bridal has high quality gowns.
Wrong again! As we covered in the previous section, many of their fabrics are cheap and just do not feel like something you would want to be caught dead in on your wedding day. Kindly keep in mind that this is coming from a girl who primarily buys all her clothes at Ross,Target, and sometimes even the thrift store. I am by no means a fashion snob.
The other thing to keep in mind is that David's bridal dresses are so pathetically THIN, that you are forced to wear a long line bra and a giant petticoat underneath just to make the dress lay right. For those of you unfamiliar with what those are, take a quick gander:
Sexy, right? The under skirt costs and additional $49 and the long line bra costs an additional $79. That's an additional $128 (pre tax) you can take right out of your dress budget right from the start, because I gaurantee the dress won't fit right without them.
Furthermore, while you can't see it in the picture, this thing is ITCHY! The "Zip up power net waist and lace trimmed bottom" were the most uncomfortable things I'd ever worn in my life. That's right folks, you read it right, power NET. Try that one on for size.
David's Bridal Myth 3:
I am on a budget, and I can only David's Bridal prices.
WRONG! I must admit that I too believed this to be true. I thought that the cute little shops with the beautiful gowns would never have anything even remotely within my budget. Let me tell you fellow brides to be, I am so glad I went anyway!
The first key is to play it smart. Don't even walk in the door without having a budget in mind. If you don't have a number to tell them, they are of course going to pull expensive gowns, as they do get paid on commission and want to make a hefty sale.
The second key is to be very specific about the budget. Don't say: "I have a budget of $1,000" if that is all the money you have. You have to keep in mind that you still need to buy a veil, have alterations done,buy shoes, etc. Be VERY specific and say: "I have a total budget of $1000, and this includes alterations." This lets the consultant know she probably should be pulling dresses under $700 for you, rather than what she would like to do which is to pull dresses at $999.
Believe it or not, I found my dream dress at Trudy's Bridal in Campbell for $515. This was less expensive than every single dress I tried on at David's. The consultants at Trudy's are friendly, know their stock, know the business, and can give you one look to know exactly which dresses are going to look great on you. I was able to find my strapless, A-line, lace-up gown in (get ready for this) TAFFETA!! The main difference is that this taffeta feels absolutely amazing, and is so light and airy. This dress will not be weighing me down one bit on my wedding day! Most importantly, no swoosh swoosh swooshing down the aisle!
The key to these smaller shops is that they have highly trained consultants, and do not ever double book their appointments. (In fact, you often see Trudy herself wandering around the shop conversing with various brides.) They carry much higher quality gowns that do not require a long line bra or poofy under skirt. In fact, my dress is so well made, the only thing I'm required to wear under my dress is my underwear, and it still lays just perfectly. No bra, no poofy underskirt, no anything! Something tells me my fiancee would much rather find cute little panties under my dress on our wedding night than that monstrosity you saw before ;-)
Just a thought.
The Lesson:
Don't be intimidated by those cute bridal salons. Go in with a budget in mind, and be very clear about what you are, and are not, willing to spend. By doing this, I was able to take my budget of $1000 and stretch to cover the:
Gown $515
Veil $198
Shoes $60
Alterations $120
Jewelry $74
That's right folks, that's a grand total of $967 for all of the most important things. Not bad, huh?
In any case, while I would recommend never stepping foot into a David's Bridal, just be careful if you do. I unfortunately was stuck doing business with them for all our shoes, since not many places in the area have a good selection of shoes, and do custom dying. Stay tuned for another post on the drama that adventure brought to my life!
Down with David's Bridal!
When I first got engaged, I like many other brides, was under the impression that David's Bridal was a good place to go for affordable wedding dresses. While they do in fact have some affordable dresses, this was NOT a good place to go.
David's Bridal Myth 1: You always see all those David's Bridal commercials, and they have all those locations. They must know what they are doing, right?
Wrong! To begin, I scheduled an appointment a week in advance. When I got there, they had no idea who I was, and had me mixed up with some Kristin Brown in Hawaii. I can understand that there are a lot of Kristin Browns in the world, so I let that one go. They made me fill out a new registration form because they couldn't find my info. Whatever, no big deal.
What I didn't realize is they DOUBLE BOOK their consultants on weekends. This means that you do not have a consultant who is only helping you, but rather a consultant who is helping you and at least one other bride at the same time. The consultant zips you into a dress, and basically leaves you there while she goes to help the other bride. So, even if you HATE that dress. You're stuck in it until she returns. So basically, even though I had an hour and a half appointment, I only got to try on 5-6 dresses. They did not tell me this when I first booked my appointment.
At one point, I was in this lace/beaded dress. It was very pretty , but it just didn't suit my body type. Not only that, but it was HEAVY. I was stuck in it for so long, my back was absolutely aching. However, heaven forbid you try to take it off without a consultant. That's a major sin over there at DB....even if you're about to fall over.
There was another dress that had this really interesting neckline. I asked her what it was called and she had no idea. This was very surprising to me. It did not appear that she knew much at all about any of the dresses. So much for quality training, yes?
Seeing that these first few dresses were not going well, the consultant finally asked me what I liked in a dress, and I gave her a few key features I wanted. I told her I like strapless, A-line, pick up skirt, and a lace up back. So off she went, and 10-15 minutes later she brought back a dress that fit all these qualifications. Oh boy. The taffeta on the dress, I kid you not, felt like one of those plastic party table cloths. I knew INSTANTLY that this was not the dress, for me, and politely told her so. She proceeded to look at me with a frustrated look on her face and said, "Well, you realize this has everything you said, right?!?"
Are you kidding me? Just because it has all the general features does not mean they are all put together in the right way. PLUS, it feels like it came from the dollar store! I have absolutely NO desire to *swish swish swish* down the aisle in a plastic table cloth! Mind you, I did not verbalize any of this and remained very polite to her. No point in being a bridezilla just because this consultant is over worked.
Anyway, this moves us into the next myth.
David's Bridal Myth 2: David's Bridal has high quality gowns.
Wrong again! As we covered in the previous section, many of their fabrics are cheap and just do not feel like something you would want to be caught dead in on your wedding day. Kindly keep in mind that this is coming from a girl who primarily buys all her clothes at Ross,Target, and sometimes even the thrift store. I am by no means a fashion snob.
The other thing to keep in mind is that David's bridal dresses are so pathetically THIN, that you are forced to wear a long line bra and a giant petticoat underneath just to make the dress lay right. For those of you unfamiliar with what those are, take a quick gander:
Sexy, right? The under skirt costs and additional $49 and the long line bra costs an additional $79. That's an additional $128 (pre tax) you can take right out of your dress budget right from the start, because I gaurantee the dress won't fit right without them.
Furthermore, while you can't see it in the picture, this thing is ITCHY! The "Zip up power net waist and lace trimmed bottom" were the most uncomfortable things I'd ever worn in my life. That's right folks, you read it right, power NET. Try that one on for size.
David's Bridal Myth 3:
I am on a budget, and I can only David's Bridal prices.
WRONG! I must admit that I too believed this to be true. I thought that the cute little shops with the beautiful gowns would never have anything even remotely within my budget. Let me tell you fellow brides to be, I am so glad I went anyway!
The first key is to play it smart. Don't even walk in the door without having a budget in mind. If you don't have a number to tell them, they are of course going to pull expensive gowns, as they do get paid on commission and want to make a hefty sale.
The second key is to be very specific about the budget. Don't say: "I have a budget of $1,000" if that is all the money you have. You have to keep in mind that you still need to buy a veil, have alterations done,buy shoes, etc. Be VERY specific and say: "I have a total budget of $1000, and this includes alterations." This lets the consultant know she probably should be pulling dresses under $700 for you, rather than what she would like to do which is to pull dresses at $999.
Believe it or not, I found my dream dress at Trudy's Bridal in Campbell for $515. This was less expensive than every single dress I tried on at David's. The consultants at Trudy's are friendly, know their stock, know the business, and can give you one look to know exactly which dresses are going to look great on you. I was able to find my strapless, A-line, lace-up gown in (get ready for this) TAFFETA!! The main difference is that this taffeta feels absolutely amazing, and is so light and airy. This dress will not be weighing me down one bit on my wedding day! Most importantly, no swoosh swoosh swooshing down the aisle!
The key to these smaller shops is that they have highly trained consultants, and do not ever double book their appointments. (In fact, you often see Trudy herself wandering around the shop conversing with various brides.) They carry much higher quality gowns that do not require a long line bra or poofy under skirt. In fact, my dress is so well made, the only thing I'm required to wear under my dress is my underwear, and it still lays just perfectly. No bra, no poofy underskirt, no anything! Something tells me my fiancee would much rather find cute little panties under my dress on our wedding night than that monstrosity you saw before ;-)
Just a thought.
The Lesson:
Don't be intimidated by those cute bridal salons. Go in with a budget in mind, and be very clear about what you are, and are not, willing to spend. By doing this, I was able to take my budget of $1000 and stretch to cover the:
Gown $515
Veil $198
Shoes $60
Alterations $120
Jewelry $74
That's right folks, that's a grand total of $967 for all of the most important things. Not bad, huh?
In any case, while I would recommend never stepping foot into a David's Bridal, just be careful if you do. I unfortunately was stuck doing business with them for all our shoes, since not many places in the area have a good selection of shoes, and do custom dying. Stay tuned for another post on the drama that adventure brought to my life!
Down with David's Bridal!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Trucking Along
So this week is going to be the week from hell. I need to get a huge paper finished up before I will be able to take a sigh of relief and coast on through the rest of the semester. Well, not really coast, I'll still be nervous about the oral defense I have to give for my paper before graduation, but there isn't a whole lot I can do to prepare for that, so at least I'll have more free time.
Most of the wedding details have been planned, and there aren't a whole lot of things to do now. I did this on purpose since I knew I'd be so busy with school, and just wouldn't have the time to do more planning until graduation in May. That's when I'll start working with the DJ and cake maker to determine what we want.
I HAVE however been doing some shopping on my favorite site! I found my bridal necklace
And earrings:
Now I'm just trying to decide whether I want the studs or the dangles. Any thoughts? (the ones on the right are pictured in white but would be ordered in ivory)
I also found the flowers I want to put in my hair:
And FINALLY, I found my shoes at Davids Bridal. I met with most of my bridesmaids last week and we all went in to pick our shoes and have them dyed. This is what I chose:
And YES I ordered them in that color! I love the idea of having fun colored shoes under my dress :)
Anyway, shopping has been an absolute blast. The final thing is going to be picking out the veil, but I'll have to wait for the dress to come in before I do that to make sure it's the perfect match.
That's all for now!
Most of the wedding details have been planned, and there aren't a whole lot of things to do now. I did this on purpose since I knew I'd be so busy with school, and just wouldn't have the time to do more planning until graduation in May. That's when I'll start working with the DJ and cake maker to determine what we want.
I HAVE however been doing some shopping on my favorite site! I found my bridal necklace
And earrings:
Now I'm just trying to decide whether I want the studs or the dangles. Any thoughts? (the ones on the right are pictured in white but would be ordered in ivory)
I also found the flowers I want to put in my hair:
And FINALLY, I found my shoes at Davids Bridal. I met with most of my bridesmaids last week and we all went in to pick our shoes and have them dyed. This is what I chose:
And YES I ordered them in that color! I love the idea of having fun colored shoes under my dress :)
Anyway, shopping has been an absolute blast. The final thing is going to be picking out the veil, but I'll have to wait for the dress to come in before I do that to make sure it's the perfect match.
That's all for now!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Engagement Photos
We got our engagement photos back from Brittany. We are so lucky to get such great photos for such a great price....free! These are a few of the photos we liked the most.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Baskets
So I went to the Salvation Army store and bought these baskets for $1.60 each.
I went to Michaels and bought a can of glossy black spray paint for a few bucks and now I have FAR cuter black baskets
There are a few spots that need some touch ups, but they are looking WAY better already. I'd like to do some sort of damask lining with this scrap fabric from the card box project:
but I'm not entirely sure how to go about it. Hopefully I can ask around to see if anyone knows how to do this. I've definitely got plenty of time. I'm not even entirely sure what they are going to be used for. Maybe one for the flower girl and one for programs? In any case, I'm sure we will find a use for them :)
I went to Michaels and bought a can of glossy black spray paint for a few bucks and now I have FAR cuter black baskets
There are a few spots that need some touch ups, but they are looking WAY better already. I'd like to do some sort of damask lining with this scrap fabric from the card box project:
but I'm not entirely sure how to go about it. Hopefully I can ask around to see if anyone knows how to do this. I've definitely got plenty of time. I'm not even entirely sure what they are going to be used for. Maybe one for the flower girl and one for programs? In any case, I'm sure we will find a use for them :)
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