Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Another happy hodge podge; stuff's gettin' done!

Sorry I've been a little sporadic. Big, stupid presentation for work :(

Also, I hope everyone's recovering from Irene! We live in Philadelphia and never even lost power! Sorry though to any and everyone who still doesn't have power. I know my grandparents have massive downed trees; thankfully no one hurt, not even their houses, but no power for a week!

ANYWAY, I wanted to stop by and show a little progress report in the wedding world!

All invitation components are out and arranged:
From left: invitations, big pile of torn paper bits, RSVP cards, the notice to plant the wildflower seed-imbedded inner envelope, the hotel info, a big envelope that holds all my vellum (which has also been cut to size... which was a production, vellum is a pain in the arse), and the return envelopes with their awesome Shutterfly address labels.

I am three quarters of the way done with the decorating part. Here is a mock-up of what 3/4 of them look like:
I am so happy with how they're turning out. The only negative is that September is a very busy month, and my mom offered to help assemble the invitations, but I don't have a free weekend to go see her. I feel kinda' bad because I really appreciate her offering. I try to let people help because I appreciate their offers... I mean, unless you don't really want to help but are only offering to be nice. I wish we could have gotten together one of those awesome invitation assembly lines you see everyone else having:
No, not like that, these:
Isn't it funny though, how tidy they all are? Anyway, it would have been so nice to have everyone over or go somewhere and set up, and have a nice little invitation party. Drink champagne and talk girly stuff. Not because I wanted to exploit labor out of them, but because the alternative is me doing it by myself in my cramped living room with clutter everywhere and while watching crappy movies over and over again on HBO (I have seen Eat, Pray, Love and Legion like... 500 times!). But at least there's still alcohol involved.

Anyway, the point is, I'll be assembling them myself, and it's almost assembly time!! The other daunting task is addressing the envelopes. Professional calligraphy was never even an option for me. It seemed a completely unnecessary expense, and I have really decent handwriting as is. It just so happens I also took a calligraphy class is high school, just 'cause. But that wouldn't even matter, because the pens pretty much do everything for you. I can't even brag. But the point is it's daunting because I'm still nervous about messing up!

As I get started addressing, and when I take pictures, I'll show you some samples, and you can tell me if I have any business self-addressing all my envelopes :)

Lastly, the man went behind my back and ordered suits before the Labor Day sale. I mean, the price of the sale that was going on at the time ironically works out to be the same as the Labor Day sale but that's neither here nor there. He bought suits! Remember the suit?

Well they came in yesterday and I sneaked a peek!
At first I was pretty upset, it's still really dark! I rolled my eyes and almost pulled my hair out. Why can't I get this right?? This is way darker than the picture online. But before I lost it completely, I got the brilliant idea to walk the suit over into the sun:
And I might have gasped a little. Only a little though, because I had a feeling it just needed some proper light. As I keep looking at the pictures and looking at the suits over and over again, I get more and more attached to them. The color, even in the shade, is definitely decent; maybe not as warm in the shade as I had hoped, but the color in the sun definitely makes up for it. My pulse slowed down, and for the time being, I am letting myself be excited that we found the suit.

Kyle's out of town for business right now, but when he comes back, I have a good feeling that he will also sign off on the suit (because I am sure he will not want to go through the process of returning it and restarting the guessing game) and then we can FULLY cross this one off the list.

One last note, I went ahead and wrote that unthreatening but very firm e-mail to Rikki and she finally got back to me, but she had forgotten most of the information we talked about the first time we talked. So I don't know how to feel about it. My mom suggested doing my own makeup the day of but getting our hair done at a salon BEFORE going over to the venue for the rehearsal (we have to do our rehearsal the day of the wedding because the day before is Thanksgiving).
(for those of you who are not Futurama fans, this is blind Leela who did her own makeup)

It completely slipped my mind that we are not allowed at the venue till noon the day of the wedding, that leaves us with the whole morning to go get our hair done. I don't like how disorganized this all is. I am not happy about it at all, it's all very frustrating. In my mind, it's like a gift, having someone there to tend to your girls. I'm worried at this point that trying to go somewhere the morning of and then doing our own makeup is just as much stress as worrying about whether or not Rikki is even going to remember to show up!

But then I slowed it down and remembered that I am supposedly a self-proclaimed DIY bride
And I've been meaning to head over to Sephora and try out the Bare Minerals. My mom's suggestion was going and paying for the whole lesson thing, maybe spending $100 on makeup, but saving $900 in the long run. Kyle's mom's suggestion was the Bare Minerals. I feel good about me, but I feel bad about my girls. I wanted to treat them. But, at least, I think, I can still treat them to getting their hair done.

What does everyone think? Did you end up doing your own makeup? Did you struggle with the decision? What about hair? And does anyone have any product tips??

Friday, August 26, 2011

Hiccup

I'm frustrated, and instead of keeping it locked inside, like I usually do, I need to just let it all out.
I would love to enlist ya'll's advice.

I'm experiencing a classic vendor hiccup. I need to find a makeup artist and hair stylist for the wedding day. I personally do not want to go to a salon before the wedding. Part of the reason for that is just convenience, partly it's because I love all the ladies surrounding me and want to pamper them. But there's another kind of annoying, tiny reason why I don't want to travel a lot the day of our wedding...









Or in the vegans' case:

Ha, gross.

Anyway, our wedding is a day after Thanksgiving. Like all normal businesses, our venue is closed on Thanksgiving. Our rehearsal, therefore, is the morning of our wedding. I'm a little freaked out time-wise as it is about how we're going to fit everything in. Add a drive to and from a salon on top of it? In Black Friday traffic??


Yeah, no thanks.
(Our venue is right in the heart of Lancaster, very close to the outlets. It's this serious.)

ANYway, I'm sure you're asking yourselves when I'm going to come to my point. Well, I already talked about looking for a makeup artist. And I was happy with her. I had a serious ideological problem paying as much for someone to come to me as it cost to actually perform their service ($100 for hair, $100 for travel, sometimes that didn't even include makeup). Rikki Smith does not charge for travel because she lives in Lancaster, and her prices were just significantly lower on top of all that. She's a little more independent, doesn't have a big salon name to back her up, but I dare myself to tell the difference between her and anyone else...

We seemed doomed from the start though. I e-mailed her a request first, she called me but I was in a stairwell or something so I missed the call. I called back but didn't hear back from her, so then I tried e-mail and she would be super snail slow to respond via e-mail. I finally got in touch with her and we set a date for a make-up trial...

Then she cancelled it. But it seemed ok because she just moved it to the next day...

Then she cancelled that too. Then I tried to reschedule with her via text message (the only method of communication she seems to respond to) and the date I was available was not good for her. So I found another available date (and of course by now we're getting dangerously close to the wedding) and texted her again, but she hasn't gotten back to me...

Got all that??
I finally found another date that works for me (dinners, baby showers, my own shower, you name it, I do not have a lot of free weekends for the next three months) and I really need to know if it will work for her and she won't answer my texts! Every time I e-mail her I get an auto-response about her being out of town. She always seems to be out of town.

Anyway, I sound more peeved than I am, I am peeved, but not quite ready to give up on her. I got a really good vibe from her. Nonetheless, I started panicking this morning because my alternative is paying over twice as much for someone from Philadelphia to drive all the way to Lancaster and charge me an arm and a leg for their gas! So I looked once more for another makeup artist in Lancaster and I found one.

Mirror opposite of Rikki, I filled out an e-mail request form from her website and heard back within a few hours. I e-mailed her back with available dates and she e-mail me right back to confirm. Then she told me her prices...
Turns out she was going to cost almost as much as the spa people in Philadelphia... and she doesn't charge for travel, she's just that expensive.

So, now we come to the dilemma; and I need some help here:

  • I did not get quite as chill and friendly a vibe from this new potential makeup artist but I love her succinct response time.
  • Her prices though are pretty astronomical. More than twice what I wanted to pay for makeup.
  • She's available for a trail, she's available for the wedding. Did I mention she gets back to me really quickly and answers all my questions??
On the other hand:
  • Rikki is a cool chick, I like her a lot. From my experience so far with vendors, that goes a long long way.
  • Her prices are super low. I don't want to be swayed by money here, that's not what the decision should be about BUT that doesn't mean I shouldn't keep it in mind. We really don't have a lot of wiggle room in the budget to just throw that much money at paint for our faces.
  • Did I mention it's hell trying to get ahold of this woman?!
So what now?? My new potential makeup artist is waiting for me to respond to her confirming that we can have a trial, but I'm waiting to hear back from Rikki. So,

  1. Do I switch to the new artist and give up on Rikki?
  2. Or do I stick with Rikki no matter what? Trusting that no matter what hurtles we encounter up to the wedding, she will do a great job?
  3. Oooooor do you think I should write a firm but kind e-mail to Rikki explaining that I really like her but if I can't count on her communication skills, then it's not going to work??
Have you had any similar vendor woes? How did you approach them??

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Happy??

Finally! The only post my sister keeps bugging me about.

Our cake artist/baker/whatever you wanna' call her is Renee from Bella Manse:

She was very nice, very with it, but not too serious. She entertained us (me, Mama, and the man) in her house?bakery?showroom?? I actually loved that I had no idea which it was. We were in this really nice dining room with really nice furnishings that looked like a very cozy dining room for a family but she also had her cakes displayed there.

We tasted a myriad of flavors; spice cake, white cake, yellow butter cake, lemon cake, chocolate cake, banana cake and a myriad of frostings; white chocolate mousse with strawberry/raspberry/blueberry filling, peanut butter, pumpkin, cinnamon whip cream and her fantastic buttercream. She let us try some of her fondant and chocolate fondant (tasted like tootsie rolls!) and let us combine whatever cake with whatever filling to our hearts' content.

I was a bad blogger and didn't take any pictures. It still feels weird to me to go to someone's place of business and start taking pictures of all their stuff. But I know most people are used to it nowadays.

Anyway, everything was phenomenal (except the banana, but that was not her fault, I hate banana)! I have never been a fan of fruit in my cake, but it melded so well with the mousse and the cake so that it was perfect. The cake itself was just firm enough but still moist. Very very satisfying; of all the vendors we've seen, this was the most fun, obviously.

So we started talking design and I showed her my two most-inclusive inspirational photos:
 


So, here's the breakdown we gave her:

  • We love the irregular sizes of the tiers in the right hand cake, so we requested a 4 tier round cake, with the top and third tiers taller and the second and bottom tiers squat.
  • We love the look of the chocolate fondant, especially because our venue is so all-over white, so we requested chocolate fondant
  • While I love the dark chocolate fondant, Kyle and I both agreed that it would be a little too modern and we wanted something a little warmer so we asked for light (milk) chocolate fondant.
  • I liked the streamlined nature of the left hand cake but Kyle said there wasn't enough going on, so we settled on NO PLEATS but YES to the band of fondant going along the bottom of the tiers, as in the right hand cake.
  • For a nice contrast, we asked for the tiers to be light chocolate fondant but the strip along the base of each tier to be dark chocolate fondant
  • We don't need ribbons or sugar flowers; not only are those things more expensive than they're worth (in my opinion) but I love our theme of balsa wood flowers and we are going to keep it going. I already talked to our florist and she is going to provide balsa wood flowers, some wheat stalks, guinea hen feathers, and maybe a few of the burgundy calla lilies for cake decoration.
So, at the end of all that, here's what you're left with:

Now, I can only apologize so much for my lack of prowess on Photoshop, so I will only ask once more for you to use your imagination and picture balsa wood flowers running down the cake as well as some guinea hen or pheasant feathers and some wheat stalks. Imagine them wherever you want. Go nuts.

Now... flavors... we went a little crazy because she told us to (well, our definition of crazy), she gave us so much leeway as far as our number of choices. We could pick two cake flavors for the whole cake and TWO different fillings for each tier.

Now, I have to be honest, I looooooved her spice cake but if we had gone with spice cake, we would have been limited filling-wise (didn't want to go too flavor crazy!) so we went with her yellow butter cake, which was fantastic, and not at all bland, but still, a little more of a blank canvas. Then we asked for white chocolate mousse + strawberry for the top tier, oreo cookie buttercream  + chocolate mousse for the second tier, white chocolate mousse + raspberry for the third tier, and finally peanut butter + chocolate mousse for the bottom tier...

Nom nom nom nom!!!! I cannot wait to dig into this cake and have one piece from each tier!! I. am. so. EXCITED!!!

Now, I am still wavering a little bit on cake flavors, because I thought maybe we should go with a marble on the oreo cookie layer, but didn't really think of that till like, just now. The great thing about Renee is that she told me I could change my mind as many times as I wanted up until three weeks before the wedding. I love her, I cannot wait to eat cake!!

We didn't even go to see any other bakers after we met with Renee. She was willing to work with us on everything and her prices were really competitive. This was one of our easiest decisions wedding-wise (yay!!).

So, how was your cake tasting?? Did you fall in love with the first baker you met with, like we did? Or did you shop around?

Sister Jordan, are you happy???

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

EARTHQUAKE!!!

Sorry to the residents of Virginia:
Who just suffered a 5.8 earthquake! But we felt it here in Philadelphia!! Try being on the 9th floor! It wasn't fun!!

Kyle's exact words: "I just survived an earthquake. I'm famous!"

Dan's exact words: "I thought I was having a stroke."

Happy Hodge Podge


So right now my bridesmaids and mother are keeping things from me and trying to be sneaky, so bridal shower must be soon upon us. I do know the date, because unfortunately, with all of us so spread out, there was no way not to tell me the date, but other than that, there's lot of mystery going on.
This means that this weekend was spent updating our guest list with some address revisions, updating and solidifying our registry, and agonizing a little more about wedding bands and suits.

Our suit of choice is picked (same as I already showed, nothing new here):



But we're waiting for the BOGO Labor Day sale to buy.




The rings are picked, Kyle has to to exchange the monies and that will be taken care of.







Invitation checklist stands as follows:


  • Order envelopes (outer envelopes, inner envelopes, response envelopes)


  • Order paper


  • Order lotka paper for trifolds and vellum to cover invitation


  • Buy burlap for belly bands and twine to tie invitations and feathers for decoration


  • Order seal


  • Address and stamp envelopes


  • Self-address (with free Shutterfly address labels) and stamp response envelopes


  • Cut vellum to size


  • Print out invitations


  • Rip lotka paper to size and fold into trifolds, glue pockets for RSVP/response envelope/hotel info


  • Rip invitations to size (rough edges)


  • Decorate invitations with stamps and colored pencil (like the Save the Dates)


  • Put invitations together: glue invite into trifold; put RSVP, response envelope, hotel info, etc... into pocket; wrap with burlap and twine and decorate with a single guinea hen feather


  • Stuff invitations into inner envelope and apply wax seal, stuff inner envelopes into outer envelopes, seal, and send!




  • Yeah, so only one more thing got crossed off, but I'm solidly on my way to the end. 8.5 bullet points crossed off, 5.5 bullet points to go! I still have a month and a week to get them done. We set the RSVP date three weeks before the wedding so I want people to have about three to four weeks to return the RSVP and allow approximately a week for mailing (because everyone's relatively close by) so that means I would like to send them out by the end of September... That's not that far away...


    Kyle says to me the other day "Why didn't you address the envelopes awhile ago?" What?? Who do you think you are?? Men, right?


    Hey! Who cares if he's right, that's not the point. Oh yeah, by the way, we had our pre-marital counseling this weekend!
    No one got hurt :)


    My G said we passed. Every question or situation he posed came back around to communication. I didn't want to keep saying "Yeah, we've dealt with that." but living with someone for five years means that if you haven't learned how to communicate with them yet, you're in trouble.
    Yeah, that type of trouble. At the end, I felt like I hadn't said enough (because I didn't want to say "yeah, we've dealt with that"), that I had let my G do all the talking, and I'm hoping he doesn't feel that way. But the point he drove home multiple times is something to the effect of "Even if you don't think you need to address that right here right now, just talk to each other about it if you need to."


    He surprised me a little by asking if there was any issues with our parents that might carry over to our spouse; he says that before marriage your most intense relationship is with your parents and after marriage, your most intense relationship is with your spouse. Any bad blood or insecurities etc... left over from childhood or young adulthood can transfer over to your significant other if not properly addressed.


    I was less surprised when he asked if Kyle had any bitterness he was holding onto from his previous marriage (no, on account of her being a crazy beotch) and whether or not I had any daddy issues (he didn't say daddy issues) I was holding onto from not knowing my biological father (frick no, on account of having an awesome adoptive father who's more blood than my actual blood).


    We also discussed our Myers Briggs personality types... this consisted mostly of Grampa comparing notes with Kyle because G is a Rational Fieldmarshal and Kyle is a Rational Mastermind and G said he doesn't often meet other Rationals, so he was excited... I guess he wasn't so surprised I turned out to be an Idealist... so he didn't spend much time on me. Turns out, according to Myers and Briggs, mine and Kyle's personality types are very compatible (whoo hoo!!).
    So my to do list is getting smaller and smaller!! We also booked our regional flights in Costa Rica. Yay!! And my aunt finished our little bird cake toppers but I don't have them yet so I don't have a picture for you :( Sorry.


    Up for grabs today: I have to e-mail our DOC to talk to her about table linens and finally schedule a makeup trial with my possible makeup artist.
     

    So when do I get to check these things off the list?? When I've sent the e-mail or when I've actually decided on linens?? Because sending the e-mail is half the battle, but linens are still not picked... Although since it is wedding season, and I have no idea when she would be able to meet with me about linens, it seems cruel and unfair not to be able to check linens off the list just because I have to wait for a special trip to my venue just to pick out the dumb things! Whew.


    I sent the e-mail, as well as one to the makeup artist, who usually takes quite a while to get back to me... I hate depending on other people to cross things off my to do list.


    Anyway, so who wants to take a gander at my master checklist??
    • Yarn orbs - still only 6 of 20 done
    • Hair flowers - 5 of 5 done
    • Fabric backdrop for alter
    • Fabric archway for entrance
    • Fabric strips for bride and groom chairs
    • Shrug - almost 3/4 done!!
    • Invitations - more than halfway done
    • Trip to my aunt's farm for cool old rustic stuff (old wood for signs, old frames for menu/program/etc..., old tubs, old crates, wooden swing, whatever!!)
    • Mass trip to Lancaster flower and craft warehouse - whoo hoo!! Fun fun!!
    • Small burlap bunting
    • Burlap ring pillow
    • Bird cake topper
    • Burlap table runners
    • Hangers
    • Music list, solidify DJ (you wanna see my music list sometime??)
    • Hotel rooms night before and night off wedding
    • Rings
    • Suits - again, does it count that we picked the suit but we're waiting for Labor Day to order them??
    • Regional Costa Rica flights
    • Pre-marital counseling
    • Pick a dress, then get it altered
    Even though I believe I'm forgetting a few things, and because some of those things are small and I will not suffer for running out of time to do them (small burlap bunting, sorry, but you'll be the first to fall through the cracks... followed closely by you, burlap ring pillow!), my checklist is half way checked!!! This is a huge leap from a month ago when one thing was checked off, and that one thing was something my aunt was doing!

    I'm getting more and more excited as we approach the 3 month mark. It's very hard to believe. Sunday was our engage-iversary and we didn't get a chance to do anything (this was the same weekend as pre-marital counseling and spending time with MOH/BM Mia and Dan) but it was duly noted. I have the proposal on video and for some insane reason, keep forgetting to post it! It's at home right now... I'm a bad blogger. I've been sitting on it for a year... horrible!

    Cake soon, Jordan, I promise. How is everyone else's to do list coming along? Anyone start to get jittery at three months? I'm OK still, but I can feel it starting to creep towards me...

    Friday, August 19, 2011

    No cake yet

    Our pre-wedding "counseling" is tomorrow!!

    I'm excited to be checking it off the list, excited to see my grandparents, and nervous or anxious to see what there will be to expect from counseling. Thankfully, it's not nearly as daunting as it is for the Catholics. We only have one session, about three hours maybe, and my G assures me that it will mostly be discussions about the nuts and bolts of the ceremony, with maybe a little sprinkling of our compatibility based on the Myers-Briggs test. Should be sufficiently fun and awkward.

    Meanwhile, we've given no thought whatsoever about our ceremony set-up, but I did find one reading (and hopefully only the one) that I think is perfectly appropriate (read: short but religious). Completely universal and standard (read: boring) but I don't care, I really like it:
    Yeah, you guessed it, 1st Corinthians, chapter 13. BUT, not just because it's the one everyone uses, I actually love the non-conventional verses, like verse 13: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." I love the verses that no one ever includes. Yeah yeah, love is patient and kind, blah blah. I love the first verse. This also solves a conundrum that had been brewing which was how to include Kyle's dad in the wedding somehow; my Grampa is officiating, we're asking Kyle's Pop-Pop to say the blessing before dinner, and it left his dad out in the cold. Problem, meet solution. I am also excited because if I couldn't find a traditional but short reading I was probably just not going to have a reading.

    Kyle and I also have to get working on our vows... I can't wait to share them after the wedding... Hopefully Kyle will not wait until the night before the wedding (or morning of, more like) to write them... *HINT HINT*

    I'm also looking forward to framing our vows or maybe vows, reading, and promise... the part with the rings:

    Anyway, in the meantime, I am 5/8ths done with knitting my shrug, which is officially more than half way, thank you very much. I also started working on the invitations!!


    The paper products, all printed out. Kyle was sweet enough to do all this at work. I had him print out the invitations, RSVP cards, hotel info, and the little note telling our guests to plant their inner envelopes, which are embedded with wildflower seeds(!!)

    I am still debating over the map. I just had him print out a sample page for now. Not sure if it will need to be included... and if I include a map, do I need to include directions?? Argh, so many decisions!

    Anyway, I set to ripping all the components out, and haven't finished yet, but here's my progress plus all the mess I've been making:

    It all went remarkably well. This paper, even though it's pretty super thick, tears easily and, more importantly, in a straight line (I have to plug this paper again, it is answering all my prayers as the coolest paper ever. If you ever need some natural, hippy-looking paper for any sort of rustic application, and of course they have other types of paper too, check out Under the Sun).

    I've started tearing out the invitations and RSVP cards, I hope to finish that this weekend, plus get some knitting done. Then I have to finish some more yarn orbs and my list of DIY projects is getting smaller and smaller!


    In other checklist news: my aunt is working on or is done with our little big cake toppers, and Kyle and I are going wedding band shopping (we already know what we want, just have to go actually order them) on Sunday! Once these things are actually crossed off (including him buying his suit!) I will do a status update on my checklist.

     


    I am still having crises about the dress, shoes, make-up, hair, decor, money, whether or not Mia is going to be there, etc... but I'm keeping those at bay because I know that overall, the day is going to be a success and we are going to love it. I feel that if I recognize that these issues exist, they can't sneak up on me and destroy me.

    That being said, they all need to be dealt with, except for Mia, because of course, there's nothing I can do about that; either she can't be moved because she's about to pop, in labor, or still in the hospital nursing a one-day-old infant. Of course, while Kyle hasn't said a word about it, and while both of us are overjoyed for them, it kills me that Dan might not be there either, and if he is there, his mind will be elsewhere. I'm not trying to sound selfish; just realistic: I feel bad for Kyle, but Kyle insists that everything will be fine. The whole thing just makes me frazzled.

    Anyway, as far as everything else (all those small, insignificant things), I don't know why I'm being so indecisive and I just need to relax about them, as they are not big deals! Moreover, the more I think about these small but stressful things, the more it presses more important things out of my brain. For example, I had something important in my head the other day, I can't remember what, but it was something that must be done and like an idiot, I started thinking about make-up and dates for make-up trials (important, but not as important as whatever got lost in my brain) and now it's gone. I'm sure it will come back... hopefully... but I feel that the closer we get, the more often this will happen. Can't. let. important. things. fall. through. the. cracks!

    I'm sorry, I could go on and on, and my sister tells me I write too much. The long and short of it is that this weekend is GOING to be productive!

    So share with me: any stresses? Any to do list snags? Any good ceremony readings?

    Thursday, August 18, 2011

    test

    Testing, testing!

    Comment if you get this!! Pleeeease

    And if I lost you in my URL change, I invite you to catch up!!

    Did I lose you??

    I feel (I might be wrong) that I lost a good many of my faithful lovelies when I changed URLs months back. I am new to this whole blogging thing and still haven't learned all the intricacies. If you've still got this URL in your reader... you have a lot of catch-up!

    Come back to me!! I miss you!!

    Wednesday, August 17, 2011

    Ohmigod suits

    Kelly doesn't have a video about suits, but let's just pretend :)
    (my reaction to most of our suit choices so far: These suits suck... These suits SUCK!)

    Real quick, and without a lot of windy words, we've narrowed our suit search down to four (and of course, we haven't seen ANY of them because no stores carry them, but we're found four online that are hopefully true to color).

    These suits rule. Surprisingly, they are all from Men's Warehouse, which really came through (again... online) as far as options, more so than anywhere else:

    I don't have to reiterate how ridiculous it's been that this was the only store with options for us. I get it, not everyone wears brown suits, but some people clearly do; all these gentlemen look strapping in them... Sooo why is it that only one store makes brown suits??

    I am just going to leave my unanswerable question unanswered. Kyle is going to have to order a suit online to see if it's the right color. If I get my way, it will be the first one (Pronto Uomo Signature Brown), to my eyes exactly what I had hoped for.

    Also, in two hours, the countdown clock is going to reach double digit days!!

    So, how was your suit shopping experience??

    Monday, August 15, 2011

    Ohmigod shoes

    I will not put the Kelly video up here because it's got bad language, but for any adults who don't care about language... ohmigod shoes:
    I am in the process of looking for bridesmaids shoes, but can I help it if shoes are awesome and I keep finding adorable ones???

    No, I can't. I forgot I never showed mine:

    Sorry for my narsty carpet. Anyway, these are my adorable Payless loafers. But in my search for bridesmaids shoes, I found some more shoes for myself! I can't help it, it's an inevitability.

    Anyway, here they are!! And I would love opinions:
    These by American Eagle Outfitters are vintage eggplant,
    While these by Payless- just regular old eggplant- are more purple (at first glance, they look too purple, but upon reflection, they are by the same brand as my current 'purple' Payless shoes, meaning they are probably the same shade).

    So I like the vintage, rustic vibe of the AEO shoes but I love love love the fun leopard print on the Payless ones. Also, the vintage eggplant ones almost look brown whereas the eggplant ones, if they are the same shade as the ones I already have, are the exact shade I'm looking for.

    I see a divide happening here, and coincidentally, it is far-reaching: This debate has become as fierce in my brain as my debate over wedding dresses:








    I know I don't really have to do this anymore, but Baby, if you happen to be perusing, which I know you're not, but just in case,





    STOP NOW...



    'Kthanksbye!!



    On one hand, you have this vintage, rustic, romantic awesomeness; which I love...

    Then on the other hand you have a more chic, modern, fun vibe... which is also awesome and I love.

    Which do I love more??

    Your guess is as good as mine at this point. Do I want to complement the theme and venue perfectly? Or stand out against it??

    Someone else decide this for me, please.

    In the meantime, I am having no luck on the bridesmaid shoes front, so, in an attempt to delegate, bridesladies: please find your shoes!! Help me out; search whatever shoe sources are your favorites and e-mail me ones you like. I will post as we go, and you can all help me and each other decide. But while we wait for that, what do you all think about my two new shoe possibilities? Vintage eggplant (AEO) or plain old eggplant (Payless)??