Monday, November 23, 2009
NCAA Nationals
I'm not a huge sports fan my friends, but a runner that Ryan coached and is great friends with is a freshman at a Division I school in the Southwest. He's running in his first Nationals meet as a college athlete, so if you could send well wishes his way around 11 a.m. Central time, I would be much obliged! This kid is in crazy good shape, and Ryan and some of his old teammates are cheering him on today at the meet in Indiana. Thanks everyone!
The Holiday Dilemma
How do you and your fiance(e)/hubs/wife/partner work out the holidays?
Source
So there's Thanksgiving. In terms of Christmas, I'm going up on Christmas Eve to spend the day with his family. I'm going to an evening service at my church (which I am crazy excited about) and then I'm heading back to my hometown that night to spend Christmas day with my family. Ryan is coming down to visit with my family the day after Christmas.
(How creepy is that baby Jesus?!)
I have no idea what we're going to do next year! My first thought is we'll alternate Thanksgiving every year, and then one year do Christmas Eve with one family and Christmas day with the other, then switch, but that is definitely up for debate. We talked a little about it this weekend, and we might do Christmas Eve evening with his family, then drive to my hometown, do Christmas morning and brunch with my family, then drive up to St. Louis to do stuff with his family. That way we can both be with our families on Christmas day.
I'd love to hear how you all handle it. I can't imagine not waking up at my parent's house on Christmas morning...and I'm 23. That's so lame sounding, but still! So what arrangement have you come up with?
Ryan and I have figured this year out....Thanksgiving we're each doing with our respective families, and I'm going up to St. Louis Thanksgiving evening (his family does the Black Friday shopping at the buttcrack of dawn...I have never done it, and does anyone know if J Crew has Black Friday sales?). Side note: I'm actually really excited to do this shopping thing. I'm pretty much done with my Christmas shopping (I know how annoying that sounds, but I HATE crowds so I am usually done by Halloween), so I'm just along for the ride.
SourceSo there's Thanksgiving. In terms of Christmas, I'm going up on Christmas Eve to spend the day with his family. I'm going to an evening service at my church (which I am crazy excited about) and then I'm heading back to my hometown that night to spend Christmas day with my family. Ryan is coming down to visit with my family the day after Christmas.
(How creepy is that baby Jesus?!)
I have no idea what we're going to do next year! My first thought is we'll alternate Thanksgiving every year, and then one year do Christmas Eve with one family and Christmas day with the other, then switch, but that is definitely up for debate. We talked a little about it this weekend, and we might do Christmas Eve evening with his family, then drive to my hometown, do Christmas morning and brunch with my family, then drive up to St. Louis to do stuff with his family. That way we can both be with our families on Christmas day.
I'd love to hear how you all handle it. I can't imagine not waking up at my parent's house on Christmas morning...and I'm 23. That's so lame sounding, but still! So what arrangement have you come up with?
Outside the Box
Saturday Ryan and I were at Hobby Lobby and we did so well!
We weren't looking for this, but we saw it and I instantly loved it. We're going to use it for our card box. I'm on the lookout for thick aqua ribbon to embellish this a bit, and I know I'll re-use it for storage after the wedding.
Here's a close up of the pattern:
The hatbox was with the Christmas packaging stuff, and was 50% off, so we got it for $5.50!
Cardbox dilemma solved! That was easy.
We also got all of the aqua fabric for table overlays for the reception. We bought 15 yards of fabric at $1.99/yard and it was half off. It came to like $17.59 or something. I am still on a high at what great deals we got! I've told pretty much everyone I've come into contact with how well we did I'm so excited.
What are you doing for your cardbox? What's your biggest bargain triumph?
We weren't looking for this, but we saw it and I instantly loved it. We're going to use it for our card box. I'm on the lookout for thick aqua ribbon to embellish this a bit, and I know I'll re-use it for storage after the wedding.
Here's a close up of the pattern:
The hatbox was with the Christmas packaging stuff, and was 50% off, so we got it for $5.50!
Cardbox dilemma solved! That was easy.
We also got all of the aqua fabric for table overlays for the reception. We bought 15 yards of fabric at $1.99/yard and it was half off. It came to like $17.59 or something. I am still on a high at what great deals we got! I've told pretty much everyone I've come into contact with how well we did I'm so excited.
What are you doing for your cardbox? What's your biggest bargain triumph?
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Guest Book
I love clever packaging!
Our MyPublisher photo book arrived a bit ago, and I was really pleased with how it turned out.
We'll be using it for the guest book at our wedding, so we left lots of white space inside to give people room to sign.
We did the classic hardcover, which starts at $29.80. We liked the linen cover with the photo cut-out better than the bookcover, so that saved us money as the bookcover costs an extra $4.95 (I also didn't want the edges of the bookcover to get all bent up). We didn't add any pages, either, so our book cost us $29.80 + tax + shipping. I think it would be easy to spend quite a bit on these books, just adding a page costs $0.99, which adds up fast!
I was super impressed with their customer service. After we put the book together and previewing it, we noticed that the pictures that were crooked on the page (they were like that intentionally, we chose a layout that had the pictures haphazardly arranged on the page) were fuzzy while all of the other pictures were crystal clear. We e-mailed their customer service that night (it was a Saturday) and got a reply an hour later telling us that the pictures wouldn't be fuzzy when we got it.
I got another e-mail when they finished putting the book together, and then another when they shipped it. I love being updated like that! The book arrived maybe 4 days later, so it was very quick.
We also had a buy one get one free coupon, so we got 2 identical books. The shipping was $12, which I thought was kind of steep, but to be fair, they were shipping 2 books instead of just one.
The books were skinnier than I thought they would be, but that's just me not being able to visualize how thick 20 pages are. We didn't upgrade the paper or anything, and I am happy with the thickness of the pages and with the clarity of the pictures. We chose black for the linen cover, and I'm glad we ordered 2 books, because you can see fingerprints on the cloth already. The next time I'll order a different color.
Overall, I was really impressed by MyPublisher! I definitely will be using them again.
Did you use MyPublisher or Blurb to make a book? What did you think?
Our MyPublisher photo book arrived a bit ago, and I was really pleased with how it turned out.
We'll be using it for the guest book at our wedding, so we left lots of white space inside to give people room to sign.
We did the classic hardcover, which starts at $29.80. We liked the linen cover with the photo cut-out better than the bookcover, so that saved us money as the bookcover costs an extra $4.95 (I also didn't want the edges of the bookcover to get all bent up). We didn't add any pages, either, so our book cost us $29.80 + tax + shipping. I think it would be easy to spend quite a bit on these books, just adding a page costs $0.99, which adds up fast!
I was super impressed with their customer service. After we put the book together and previewing it, we noticed that the pictures that were crooked on the page (they were like that intentionally, we chose a layout that had the pictures haphazardly arranged on the page) were fuzzy while all of the other pictures were crystal clear. We e-mailed their customer service that night (it was a Saturday) and got a reply an hour later telling us that the pictures wouldn't be fuzzy when we got it.
I got another e-mail when they finished putting the book together, and then another when they shipped it. I love being updated like that! The book arrived maybe 4 days later, so it was very quick.
We also had a buy one get one free coupon, so we got 2 identical books. The shipping was $12, which I thought was kind of steep, but to be fair, they were shipping 2 books instead of just one.
The books were skinnier than I thought they would be, but that's just me not being able to visualize how thick 20 pages are. We didn't upgrade the paper or anything, and I am happy with the thickness of the pages and with the clarity of the pictures. We chose black for the linen cover, and I'm glad we ordered 2 books, because you can see fingerprints on the cloth already. The next time I'll order a different color.
Overall, I was really impressed by MyPublisher! I definitely will be using them again.
Did you use MyPublisher or Blurb to make a book? What did you think?
Friday, November 20, 2009
Girl Power
I grew up in the age of the Spice Girls. I still love them, and I'm not embaressed! Their songs are perfect running music.
Ryan, for whatever bizarre and unfounded reasons, doesn't share my love for the Spice Girls. Weird, I know. Needless to say, I have been limited to ONE Spice Girls song at the reception. One.
I am torn, ladies, TORN.
Watch Wannabe in Music | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Toughest wedding decision yet!
I can't be the only person who wanted to be a certain Spice Girl, so fess up...which Spice Girl did you secretly want to be?
Ryan, for whatever bizarre and unfounded reasons, doesn't share my love for the Spice Girls. Weird, I know. Needless to say, I have been limited to ONE Spice Girls song at the reception. One.
I am torn, ladies, TORN.
Watch Wannabe in Music | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Toughest wedding decision yet!
I can't be the only person who wanted to be a certain Spice Girl, so fess up...which Spice Girl did you secretly want to be?
Thursday, November 19, 2009
How Cool!
RYAN GO AWAY...PLEASE!
This is a potential gift idea for you, so buzz off...if you're reading this, which you probably aren't, but still.
Ok ladies, check this out.....
Sorry for all the scrolling. They're Transformer Autobots and Decepticon cufflinks! I know I'm not the only woman out there who's man wants to name their first born child Optimus Prime. Wouldn't these make a great gift for your favorite Transformer's fan?
I found these on Etsy, home of wonderful things.
This is a potential gift idea for you, so buzz off...if you're reading this, which you probably aren't, but still.
Ok ladies, check this out.....
Sorry for all the scrolling. They're Transformer Autobots and Decepticon cufflinks! I know I'm not the only woman out there who's man wants to name their first born child Optimus Prime. Wouldn't these make a great gift for your favorite Transformer's fan?
I found these on Etsy, home of wonderful things.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Over the Top
Thanks to Katie for passing this on to me!
I'm going to share it with Miss Mojito, Kristy, Miss Pug, Buhdoop, LauraLou, and Chocolate Lover.
Can I just say how much I love following along on everyone's journey? I am blown away by the kick*ss women I've "met," and I love knowing that if I ever travel to Indiana then I can call up Miss Pug, or if I go to Vancouver I can give Chocolate Lover a ring! So thank you to everyone who reads and comments and shares, you all have impacted my wedding planning experience in ways I never thought possible. We've got ourselves an amazing circle, don't we?
I'm going to share it with Miss Mojito, Kristy, Miss Pug, Buhdoop, LauraLou, and Chocolate Lover.
Can I just say how much I love following along on everyone's journey? I am blown away by the kick*ss women I've "met," and I love knowing that if I ever travel to Indiana then I can call up Miss Pug, or if I go to Vancouver I can give Chocolate Lover a ring! So thank you to everyone who reads and comments and shares, you all have impacted my wedding planning experience in ways I never thought possible. We've got ourselves an amazing circle, don't we?
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