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?

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?

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.

Spice Girls Say You'll Be There
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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?

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.....

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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.

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?

Running Season

It's training season you guys! January 23rd I am running St. Louis' Frostbite Series Half Marathon. I ran it last year in 2:00:32, and I'm hoping to run under 2 hours this year. This is how cold it was last year:


NINJA RUNNER! Just kidding, they don't call it the Frostbite series for nothing...that half marathon was my biggest education in winter running gear. I will be dressed much better this year.

I mention this because I have no one to run with, and the runners out there know that when you have no one to run with, it is much, much easier to just not run at all. Which is not an option, because if this half marathon goes well, then I might, might run a full marathon in May. We'll see how this training goes. I'd love to run a full marathon before I get married. Basically, I feel that by announcing this to you all, I will have to run the race and if I'm going to run the race then I have to train for it...I hope you all don't mind that I'm using your for accountability purposes!

Any other St. Louis ladies out there running any of the Frostbite Series? Do you all have any fitness goals you're reaching for?

More Options

I posted here about how thrilled I was that J Crew is bringing by Tropical Aqua for the spring, that color will be perfect for bridesmaid's dresses.

After browsing through their spring preview once or twice (ahem, more like ten times), I realized that only 4-5 dresses will be available in that color. Normally not a big deal, but the style of dresses is very, very similar. I want to give my bridesmaid's more options than that, so I have a couple of ideas....

1. J Crew also has a color called "fresh mint." Here it is:

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It's pretty close to aqua, and I'd need to see this up close to the aqua to be sure, but I think that fresh mint and tropical aqua might work nicely. Different shades of aqua, you know? I'd have to see it in person, though.

2. David's Bridal has a color called ruby that is the perfect red, and there are 6 dress styles that come in that color. Actually more than that, but I'm not counting the long dresses.

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There's a David's Bridal in St. Louis, so Ryan's sisters wouldn't have to drive to my hometown to try this dress on.

So I'm thinking, have the girls see if they like any of the Tropical Aqua dresses from J Crew. If they don't, we'll see how the Fresh Mint and the Tropical Aqua look together. If that doesn't work, they'll have another 6 options to choose from at David's Bridal.

I know that every bride says that they want their bridesmaid's to be able to wear their dresses again...but I mean every word of that! I hope that giving the bad*ss women who are standing up with me as many options as I have will increase the odds of the dress being worn again.

What are you doing for bridesmaid's dresses?