I'm not so crazy after all

Holy Moley did we get a lot done this weekend! I'm happy to report that I did a lot of stuff so that I could tell you I did a lot of stuff... That's right, if it wasn't for you awesome followers/subscribers, I would have sat on my ass all weekend! I just got the new George R.R. Martin book... so... everyone's very lucky:

But instead of reading the whole book in two days, Kyle and I went all over our great city of Philadelphia getting rings and altering suits. I also got my dress back and tried to make hangers on Friday. And on Sunday I did another makeup trial after buying makeup on Saturday. We also looked for groomsmen shirts and ties but didn't find any to our liking yet.

Getting Kyle's suit altered was the easiest thing that I've ever done. Man puts on pants, man stands on a platform, tailor makes a little chalk mark, man pays $20, man is spent... He didn't even have to put the whole suit on, that's why I didn't take any pictures... In fact, when we got to Men's Warehouse, I had to go to the bathroom, so by the time I got finished in the bathroom, he was almost done. If you blink, you'll miss the male tailoring process.

You have to hide in swamps and use a high powered camera to capture the process. Be very stealthy.

Saturday was gorgeous, so we walked the ten blocks to Barsky for our wedding bands:

Awww, I know, we're so sappy. But if you prefer a non-blurry close-up:

I was worried about his not going with mine because mine is platinum and his is tungsten carbide, but I love how they look, both silver-colored but his looks brushed and manly-er and mine's shiny and girly-er. I'll be honest, and probably sound disingenuous, but I was shooting for smaller diamonds in the band, but Kyle convinced me he liked it better with the diamonds in the band being the same size as my sidestones and since he was paying for it, I didn't argue. He was then worried I didn't like it. I love it, it's just a little overwhelming because those are decent-sized rocks in that band!

I hope no one thinks it's a bad omen (and we didn't really care) but we wore them for a few hours that night to get accustomed to them. Kyle's is almost too small, it was hard to get his off, but mine fit perfectly, and if I wear them in the wrong order (engagement ring closest to my heart) the wedding band holds the engagement ring in place. Not sure how I feel about wearing them in the wrong order, but I loved Kyle's take on it: "Are you kidding me? You put the most expensive one on the inside! Who cares about convention?!" *Eye roll* We'll see. It was super weird seeing him with a wedding band on. Really super weird.

So I "forgot" to take pictures but I tried to make some hangers this weekend. I found some 14 gauge galvanized wire at Home Depot and used pliers to bend it to my will. It worked... I mean, I can do it, but I have no idea how people make it so straight. Mine were certainly more homespun-looking and... bumpy. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's not very professional-looking. I then reflected that even though the wire I got was the sturdiest they had at the store, it still wasn't going to be strong enough to hold up my large, heavy dress. So, plan B:

I'm going to assume for the time being that the wooden hanger will not be difficult to obtain nor, hopefully, too expensive, and personalize the bottom. This, to me, solves two problems; ridiculous sagging hangers, and sloppy work. Maybe some day I'll show you my first attempts at the actual hanger part... it was pretty bad. HOWEVER, my initial attempts at writing Mrs. and bridesmaids' names has been successful, so I still want to do this!

With nothing much else to do at work today, I just did a little research and yeah, both Home Depot and Lowe's sell hangers for a buck each. Score.

Anyway, moving on, speaking of the dress, I went on Friday to my second fitting. Maggie wasn't as excited as I was, can't imagine why. I needed it taken in some more (whoo hoo!) and I had the ruffles pulled up all the way to my hip on the high side so the asymmetry is really played up in the waist. I know that probably doesn't make any sense, but it will once you see it... you only have about 39 more days to wonder what the hell I'm talking about.

I will stop there specifically to stop taunting. Suffice it to say that she fixed it right there while I waited and I took her home (the dress, not Maggie) and my dress is ready!! Yay!! Now, on to more pictures!! I organized my makeup on Sunday while the man was watching football.

Yes, that's my toilet, but it's clean, I promise. The top consists of all my Bare Minerals, brushes, and primers. The bottom is Sephora eyeshadows and brushes, Maybelline liquid eye liner, and Covergirl mascara and lip stain. I watched some tutorials because I truly suck at eye makeup. Part of it was the fact that I didn't have these fancy brushes, but anyway, I'm just saying, there's no shame in my game, I googled the heck out of "smokey eye tutorial." Anyway, I washed and moisturized my face...

While my bright bathroom lights wash me out, I assure you I have some redness and skin tone unevenness here and there as well as under eye circles.



I primed and put on the Bare Minerals foundation:

Again, it's funny but you won't really see a change here, because my bathroom lights make everything look the same. However, the foundation does a good job covering up blemishes, under eye circles, and uneven skin tone... which it did here, trust me.

Next comes the powder that's the equivalent to your pressed powder and then mineral veil, I'm not showing a picture because it's laughable how much that looks exactly the same as the foundation picture. My bathroom is really the best place to do makeup for me so that I can really see how much of everything I'm applying, but natural light? Fagetabotit. Anyway, I did my makeup with this look in mind:

Ready to see what I made of it? I don't know if I'm ready, but here goes nothing:

I took two (obvs), one out of my direct blinding bathroom light and one right in it. I don't know which is more representative... by that I mean, I don't know which is more like what our wedding pictures will come out as... probably the one that looks more natural though, I figure. So I took close-ups out of direct blazing burning light:

 

Now that I'm seeing them, I still feel that they're not captured well (besides the fact that they're not focused well) I got close-ups in high light as well, just for scrutiny purposes:

 
I dunno' I like it better now than I did looking at it on Sunday. And Kyle thought it was too much (which it is) but it photographs well. I think it's bended fairly well. I actually think I managed to copy the image I had in my head, but I promised I would be less heavy-handed... :D It's not as luminous as I had hoped, and yet the Sephora eyeshadows caused massive fallout all over my face, I can't believe it didn't show up in pictures because I couldn't get any of it off. So yeah, it was a little frustrating, but still fun. I'm going to try again soon with some other eyeshadows I already had plus different combinations of Sephora and ones I already had. All in all, my verdict is (and this might seem really really obvious to some, bear with me) you really need those brushes... And yes, it's not lost on me that that statement is coming out of someone who's planning on doing her own makeup for her own wedding in a little over a month.

Lastly, I took stock of what I have left to do and each task's difficulty level, and I started getting a little panicky that things are going to possibly start getting cut from the plans. Amazingly, this didn't stress me out, at least I don't think so based on the absence of a certain stress-induced, never-ending eye twitch. I did dream about makeup, but other than that, I haven't had any more weird pre-wedding episodes. Everything important is falling into place and I've got to take everything else one day at a time.

I'll leave you with our most recent restaurant review! The man and I had such a wonderful day on Saturday, we decided to end the day in style at Salt and Pepper Philly:

They don't take pictures of their food, and I didn't either, but our appetizers were the highlight of the meal; I had a fantastic butternut squash soup and Kyle had awesome crab and shrimp spring rolls. Our entrees were still really good and the service and ambiance were excellent. The best part was getting the best seat in the house:

That's right, second floor window seat. We ate and drank and got fairly tipsy and talked about all sorts of stuff. It was a fun night, and a practice I recommend, as both of us initially said 'No, let's not spend the extra money' and then were really glad we changed our minds. It certainly took my mind off wedding planning. Although this one is clearly still wracked with stress:

What are you gonna' do?

So does anyone have any makeup tips? DIY stories? Are any of you having trouble containing your fiance's excitement?