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.

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 :)

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.

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!

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!

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!

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.