MAKE WAY FOR BABY!!!!

Get ready for ohhs and ahhs and awwwwws all around. Welcome the newest member of the crew and congrats to our Maid of Honor/Best Man dream team:

This is how fantastic Mia looked right out of the hospital (maybe a little tired... but I'd love to look that good after three days with no shower!) 

He's soooo tiny! Yes, in case you were wondering, 6 lb, 12 oz is TINY! Look at his sweet spiky hair!! And that little button nose!!! Grandma's hand is reference.

Proud Papa and Mama with the little bundle. I hate how perky they look! ;)

My favorite shot of the weekend:

Ha! Yeah, I told him he'd be holding that baby by the end of the weekend. We didn't help much because Mia's mom was there the whole time we were, but we were able to let Mom and Dad nap for awhile during times like this.

Le sigh...

I'm the old lady!

I know it's torturous teasing, but I don't yet have photos of the little lizard that is our MOH/BM's first child but I can't not pester you with all the details! Gabriel Anderson (that's first and middle name) was born yesterday (November 9th :-( ) at 2:17 PM and weighed in at 6 pounds 12 ounces. Tiny little thing. Well, not too tiny. But I don't know his height yet, so... he could be short and adorably pudgy! We already planned a trip to see them this weekend, so you'll see for yourselves! I know they did a lot of cooking in preparation for baby but we think we're going to try to help with laundry and cleaning and taking care of their three cats and one dog. That is until they kick us out. I'm not dealin' with Mia's attitude if she gets no sleep ;)

Anywho, I'm starting to feel a little pressure about this whole 15 days left thing. No biggie, but two  more weeks until your wedding. Relax. Well, we haven't gotten all the RSVPs in, we haven't solidified our ceremony layout, we haven't created our support system for our alter, and we haven't finalized our music lists. On the positive side though, I'm still THIS CLOSE to finishing my knitting, hair and makeup is paid for and appointments are verified, and we met with our DJ last night (read: we had dinner with our friends Nick and Julie and happened to talk a little about music at our wedding). That may sound a little wishy-washy, but when Nick needs to get down to business, business gets taken care of quickly. It was a weight off my shoulders because he has all the equipment and speakers and info he needs now to get the job done. And we got to hang out with them, which was really nice because we haven't seen them in a long time. Most of our communiqué has been over e-mail and text messages.

ANYWAY, we're also set to go get our marriage license tomorrow morning, which will be another huge weight off my shoulders as it happens to be the most important (legally of course) part of being ready to get married! I am planning on inventorying our wedding room (pictures forthcoming, man will they be fun, I can't walk in that room anymore! I can barely enter it!) and taking stock, playing with what will go where, there will be excel spreadsheets involved. We're also hard at work on this:

When last I reported on our soon-to-be chalkboards, we had cut them in half and started sanding all the old paint off. It took a long time, lots of sandpaper, and possibly some lung health. This is what they finally looked like when all the old paint was gone:

Not sure why anyone would ever want to cover this up! So that's exactly what I did :) Well, not really, I just stained it, the grain still shows through:

It lightened up a little too as it dried. Tonight I'll paint the middle with the chalkboard paint! I can't wait to show it off!! By the way, I have to promote Minwax Gel Stain. It was awesome and so easy to work with, not drippy, even coverage, all-around fantastic. I'm not getting paid to say that, but if there are any other girls or non-crafty guys out there who want to have an easy time staining, I recommend starting out with this product, because it's incredibly user-friendly.

I got a little under one fingernail, but nail polish will hide that, BUT when I went to clean out my brush I wasn't thinking and got it all over my left hand (I had taken my ring off, thank GOD!) and started freaking out. MINERAL SPIRITS, PEOPLE!! Miracle-in-a-can is what I call it. Not a trace left on my skin... which is great because I didn't fancy having Kyle place my wedding band over my brown splotchy hand.

Anyway, I just turned 28 two minutes ago. Wow. And it's time to get back to work, because I'm taking a pretty significant chunk of time off for wedding prep and then honeymoon. How did my other married readers feel at the two week mark? Does it get better or worse? Any crafts anyone wants to share??

Holy LIZARDS Batman!!

It's another beautiful day in the Mid Atlantic and I woke up this morning to a text from late last night:

"Hey, just an fyi, Mia's water broke and we're at the hospital."

Yeah, no biggie. So all your good vibes and thoughts and prayers would be appreciated as our best friends undertake the arduous task of labor.

So... Mia's water broke last night at around 10 PM... is it too much to ask for the labor to last until tomorrow sometime? I think November 10th is a better birthday than November 9th ;) Not that I would wish for her labor to last another 16 hours... maybe just hope a little... Hahaha, I'm totally kidding, that's so selfish!

Anyway, so, this also means that along with maybe having the little bugger born on my birthday (there I go, still hoping!) Mia will most likely be recovered enough to be at the wedding! Yay! That sounds kinda' selfish, but HONESTLY I'm just so psyched that she and Dan will be there with us. I know the man is excited too, excited for them and excited for the fact that we'll be able to share our day with them. So to commemorate this momentous occasion, nothing else could be more fitting than PICTURES OF BABIES!!!

 

I could keep going of course, but you get the idea. Everyone's got baby brain this morning... now you do too.

Soooo, that's occupying most of my thoughts this morning obvs, but just a few other quick things. I finished stripping the old crap paint off the door last night, so tonight I'll start staining it. Like I said, I'll post pictures.

I've gotten a few packages for wedding decor that I keep forgetting to take pictures of and show, but I think it's time to show you our wedding room :) Watch out for those fun photos!

I finished all the corks for place card holders... that whole process was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. They all have flat bottoms and a slit on top for a place card. I VERY soon have to make up those place cards... If only everyone had RSVP'd by the date I wouldn't have to hold off on making place cards. The good news is that we're literally only waiting on four (out of 52, it's actually a few more than that, but I've gotten definite verbal confirmation from a few people who either didn't get the invitation or can't come and told me so... to my face) but I won't pretend that I'm not peeved at the rudeness. It just so happens that everyone we're waiting on is married... I have no doubt that they went through this same thing... C'mon, man! You lovelies have had quite a taste of my anal retentive attention to detail.

I NEED all the data in front of me!! In the end, I have to keep reminding myself that one or two extra meals adds a whopping $50 tops to the tab. I really don't have a problem erring on the side of caution, I don't know why I can't stop myself from freaking out over a few RSVPs missing... I mean I do, I'm a control freak, hello, I shouldn't have to explain myself!

Anyway, I could keep rambling, but there are more important things to do! I've got to get back to real work right now, but tonight will be door staining and knitting! 16 days!!!

And sunny again just like that!

Today is a disgustingly beautiful November day. Daylight savings meant that when we woke up this morning at the ungodly hour of 5:30 AM, the sun was already peeking above the horizon, and the weather man said that it was going to be close to 70 today! Craziness!!

And to think, yesterday we couldn't see the brake lights of the car in front of us it was so foggy.

Yesterday I was worried about the wrong ties and nobody being paid and not having a honeymoon and not getting a marriage license and not getting anymore of my DIY projects done and the girls not having anything for a coverup...

Then I paid the second half of the honeymoon (umm, I mean Kyle paid for it, I just did the legwork)

I went to the post office and sent checks for the baker and florist (checks that Kyle wrote)

 







And sent the aqua pashminas back so that hopefully the light blue pashminas will come in their place

And then I went home and put my back into paint scraping and the soon-to-be chalkboards are almost chalkboards. Pictures are forthcoming. I am ALMOST done knitting. I can't believe that it's coming to a close. I can't wait to show it off, it's always just been a big rectangle but the point is that it's going to look like and be worn like this:

 

To show just a few of the ways I could wear it (all courtesy of Etsy seller TickledPink, must credit her for the idea... but was not going to shell out $385 for one... mine cost me $78 in yarn... and a whole year of labor :D)

Finally, the most important on the list is on the way to getting completed; Kyle's divorce decree came in the mail yesterday! Now, Kyle had mentioned that he was a little embarrassed that I was just spouting off about his previous marriage and divorce on the blog like it was nothing. To be completely fair, he's probably right, because I do sometimes lack a sensitivity chip. I don't mean to throw it around like it's nothing. It was a not-so-fantabulous time in his life- in our lives- but it's a real part, not to be ignored, and I don't think it needs to be brushed under the rug. I bring it up also because there are folks out there, I am sure, who can commiserate. I'm not going to pretend our whole lives have been roses and nothing bad every happens to us. MOREOVER, and most importantly, I don't bring up 'the divorce decree' to bring attention to it, but to bring attention to how stressed I was about getting it in time. It's coincidental that it happens to be a divorce decree.

Could I have said something to the affect of "We got everything we needed to go get our marriage license" and never brought up his previous marriage? Of course, but oh well, what you see is what you get... like I said, missing sensitivity chip here, I guess. I was too relieved to get it to care much about whether or not anyone was judging us. And you lovelies wouldn't do that to me anyway, would you? :)

So, in a nutshell, yesterday, after I posted yesterday's blog post, got a whole lot better, and today I feel just as sunny as today is. Awww, how cheesy. Oh, I almost forgot; who else lives their life by the 10 day forecast? Probably no one. I reflected last night that my life is passing me by because I live for ten days from now... everyday. Well... we are officially ONE WEEK away from knowing tentatively what our wedding weather will be... WOW! That's my real indicator of how close we are to the wedding. Sooo, I better get to work.

Everyone enjoy the day!!

Foggy like the weather

This is what it looks like in Philadelphia right now:

(I swear, there's a whole city beyond that fog... It was worse an hour ago too, but I forgot to take a picture then)

I haven't posted in a few days because some discouraging things have been happening that made me not want to think about wedding for a few days.

DISCLAIMER: these things are going to seem silly once I spell them all out, please just keep in mind that they all happened in one day and were accompanied by an announcement by my boss that rocked our lab.

The bridesmaids cover-ups came in. These are the ones I ordered, remember?

This is what I got:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. First of all gross. Second of all... just no. The same day, the ties came in, oh, I don't think I ever shared the concept:

(Kyle will be wearing a burgundy tie and the groomsmen will be in light blue ties; the two middle ties are two different light blue ties from the same vendor that we were having trouble deciding between, and the cappuccino ties are for my Grampa and Dad)

Kyle ultimately felt that the lighter blue tie was too light so we ordered the slightly darker blue ties thinking they still looked pretty light. Well no, they came in and were way too dark. I mean, not navy, but blue blue, instead of light blue. So in one fell swoop I was faced with having to get new ties and new pashminas. We actually went out Friday afternoon (because Kyle took one look at me and grabbed his car keys) and got lighter blue ties, but the vendor who sold me the pashminas is not admitting either way that she sent me the wrong pashminas (they are clearly the color of the bottom of a hotel pool. C'mon, man!) or denying it but she won't send me replacements until I send her back the ones I have now.

Then I looked at my countdown clock and a string of expletives came unbidden to my lips. And now I can't remember how long it took to get them the first time... so I can't say whether or not there will be enough time to send me out the right ones. ALSO, what if I'm wrong? What if she writes me back and says 'Yeah, that's the light blue.'...... Come one now, I know different monitors can show different things, but that light blue in no way looks aqua... the pashminas I got most definitely are.

We are four days away from being two weeks away!!!! I'm starting to get a little unhappy because important things aren't done, like the marriage license and paying for the rest of the honeymoon, flowers, and cake (no worries, those checks are written and going out today!) and it's making me not able to focus on my crafts at all. I can't say I'm stressed, I'm not; just unhappy right now. I do not want to be this way two weeks before my wedding. Ha, people are not lying when they say it sneaks up on you.

Also, the old crap paint is not coming off the old door I found even with paint stripper. I think this will be OK though because the chalkboard paint should cover that up and if it looks a little bumpy, well that will just add to its character. I'm only mentioning it because it added to my not-so-great Friday. Then my boss told us all that he's moving to Baylor University next year... that's in Texas. Thankfully I should be a PhD safely out of UPenn by then, but it shocked us all nonetheless.

Lastly, I talked to my best friend last night:

Don't let the bloody orifices fool you, he's actually quite sweet.

He thinks he's a cool guy ;) I'm just kidding, he's definitely not this full of himself... but he does think he's funny... Maybe, just maybe, I can find a normal picture of him somewhere... no luck.

Meet Sean, we've been friends for 12 years now. He's the biggest goof ball you could ever be fortunate enough to know. He knows me better than any other non-family member in my life (Kyle's included in family). PLUS, his insane Lithuanian last name is the clue for most of my online passwords since no one can spell it. While I refer to Kyle as my best friend, and while I can talk to Kyle about everything and love Kyle with all my heart (in fact, one of the most bestest things about Kyle is that he's not threatened by my relationship with Sean, like so many other ex-boyfriends have been), Sean is my link to my teenage years... Yeah, I was stupid and kooky and ridiculous, but I still look fondly back on those years nonetheless. No one else from those days is still in my life, so it's a big deal to me. Also, I would have hated most of high school if Sean wasn't there. He stood by as a good friend through every dumb relationship and decision I made. He was better than every boyfriend I ever had in high school and college even though he and I were never actually anything official. He was there when I needed him, he was an excellent listener.

After high school, he spent a lot of time in dead end jobs, got into trouble a few times, ended up in rehab, got into trouble a few more times, and spent some more time in some more dead end jobs. I am by no means disclosing all that to say my best friend is a loser. He maintains the best attitude towards his situation of anyone I have ever met. He takes responsibility for his actions and accepts their consequences. He is slowly but surely rebuilding his life. For the first time in a long time, when I talked to him for a full hour and a half this weekend, he sounded wonderful and hopeful and funny again. We even spent a little time reminiscing about high school, which mostly just means "Remember that one time at lunch?" and then uncontrollable laughing.

The reason I say all this is because I felt like I wasn't there for him when he was going through some of his hard times. I wanted to be, but I always had excuses- legitimate or not- that made it difficult to reach him or hang out with him for long. I think it's because I always felt like, as his junior by two years, I had no right to scold him for his actions, but I also couldn't pretend he hadn't done something dumb. I feel blessed though that even when I don't see him for months, our conversations have never felt like we're drifting apart. I'm so grateful for that. But we're going on an alarming number of months now since seeing each other and I feel a little unbalanced. I need his irreverence in my life. It kills me that I can't hang out with him after school like I used to.

Why is all this bubbling to the surface now? Well, I feel like I don't know how he didn't make it into my wedding party. I'm sure it had something to do with keeping it traditional or the fact that he would look absolutely hideous in a burgundy ruffly dress. Whatever the reason, I've been racking my brain for about a year as to how to include him. And not as the person who has to track people down and force them to sign the guestbook or something. It has to be meaningful, because he still means so much to me.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Did anyone else go through a sort of unhappy funk? I think I'm at the stage where I'm ready for it to be here and then over but I need more time to get everything done. Can anyone relate?

I'm not a bad person...

...I just want to enjoy Pinterest at work! But no! I work at a children's hospital and they block every fun website ever! And of course, the blogosphere was full of awesome Pin-able images today:

The first two images are from Wedding Gawker and the third image is from Once Wed. I wouldn't have had to worry about remembering where they came from if it wasn't for not being able to pin anymore. Pinterest also lets me write a description, so I can remember why I love certain things. The first image is to remember that if there are any particular branches left on the trees with some nice autumn leaves still attached by the end of November, I bet I can find a place for them. My mason jars are shipped!!!

So as for the second image, I can't wait to use the mason jars to hold the bouquets before and after the ceremony. Instead of hiding them or sticking them all in a corner somewhere, I like how this picture has the bouquets smack dab in the middle of a table arrangement. Obviously, the third image is another (and one of thee best in my opinion) way to use my mason jars. I think instead of trying to make a flower arrangement or pay for another flower arrangement, I can always use more light (If I could get to Pinterest right now, I could link to several pictures of awesome lighting)!

In other news! My old crates came in, but I had them shipped to Kyle's work, and I don't have them yet... BUT THEY'RE HERE!! It's about time to make a mock up of the alter where I plan to use some of the crates and lanterns, etc... Gah! I cannot wait to make real the concepts floating around in my head!

In more other news! We are about the put the rest of the money down for our honeymoon!!!

Just in case you didn't hate us enough, there it is again. In 30 days, I'm going to die and go to heaven aka Costa Rica! It's almost ours...

Lastly, I made myself a new to do list (it was so much fun!) and I've got mixed emotions about this one; it's crazy fun, but also crazy expensive:

SPA TIME!!!!! It's time to pamper myself a little, and Kyle too! I'm not happy with my skin right now, so facial is at the top of the list (bye bye $100, but hello beautiful, even, smooth skin... hopefully)

Mani/pedi is a must of course. I was very surprised to learn though that Kyle was down for a mani/pedi with me. My last mani/pedi was before my MOH Mia's wedding and it was awesome. But I plan on enjoying this one even more since it's me and my open-minded sweetie getting pampered together.
As much as I don't think it's the best financial choice, I also want to get another facial right before the wedding, so two facials, and mani/pedis for two equals lots and lots of relaxing fun but an empty wallet. I'm trying to feel guiltier... but I know how awesome it's going to feel and I'm having trouble :) I also know some people get manis weekly and facials monthly leading up to the wedding, so two facials and one mani doesn't make me feel all that overindulgent.

So the overwhelming emotion right now is excitement. RSVP date is coming closer and only a few are still missing. A loooot of packages are coming in the mail, and I've still got itchy internet fingers for a few more Etsy finds. I've got my first facial appointment for tomorrow (eeeeee!!) and I'm trying to coordinate with the man now for our mani/pedi. The only disheartening part is that with Kyle so busy at work and putting so much on his own shoulders, he's been very stressed and not enjoying it at all. I don't know how to lift his mood when the payments and the appointments and the scheduling are not going to go away (girls just need to be told 'awww, I understand, everything will work out' but guys actually need things worked out! 'What? You need me to actually fix something? Sorry, you're on your own there. I was just gonna' pat you on the back').

Does anyone else have a groom that tends to be prone to funks? Facials and Mani/Pedis will help, right??

Happy November!!

This month already has a little significance to me (my birthday's in 9 days, eee!) but now it will also be my wedding month, so HAPPY NOVEMBER!! I'm not going to apologize for being one of the only bloggers that didn't post anything about Halloween. I'm sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but it has never been a favorite holiday of mine. We did absolutely nothing... plus we're the scrooges that didn't even buy candy. But with that being said, we got no knocks on our door either. We went as a pillow fight one year (I made full-body puffy pillowcases for us to wear and we ran around with boxing gloves punching each other), that was fun, but other than that... just really not a holiday we care much about.

Although I know the wedding world loves it, and I do love perusing the Halloween weddings:

 

(if your names are Ursula and Malachi, you pretty much have to have a Halloween wedding. Sorry)

 
(all images from Style Unveiled)

So we spent the night looking at shoes and suspenders and watching Disney movies (OK, I was the one watching the movies). Do you wanna' see the shoes my husband-to-be has picked for himself?

I almost told him he can't have them because I would be too jealous. I know, they're ridiculous, but they're also fun and cool (and fake!) so I sanctioned it ;) You've all seen those photos where the bride and groom show off her shoes and his socks, well, we're doing one better!

So, this past weekend, we spent time with our MOH/BM pair Mia and Dan in Baltimore. There was no phallic paraphernalia, no tiaras, no drunken tirades, not even any pictures; just a great time hanging out with our friends. If Kyle and I were going to go all out, we'd have to do the whole Vegas thing and do it right. As it was, a night in Baltimore, back in our old stomping grounds, was just what the doctor ordered. We had a great time and no police were involved! Win win!! So thank you to Mia and Dan, who showed us an awesome time! Sorry, to everyone else, for not having pictures. This concept of what the bachelor/bachelorette party was supposed to be like was just lost on me. I don't have a lot of female friends, I never saw a scenario where we would all dress up in tutus and wear tiaras, so I didn't see the point in documenting our decidedly normal night out. Kyle didn't even wear a button-down or anything, and he certainly didn't wear a tiara.

Otherwise, I keep asking myself why I'm not freaking out over our fast-approaching nuptials, and I keep telling myself it's because I don't have time to freak out; I HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF TO DO!!! The burlap bunting is not done, our chalkboards need to be completed, and we need to work on the support for the alter. I'm still knitting, writing thank you notes from the bridal shower, and I still need to do a few more yarn orbs. FREAKING OUT IS A COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE WASTE OF TIME!! No, but seriously, we still have time (I'm actually more concerned for how all this stuff is going to fit in my car!) and I'm still maintaining that as long as our loved ones are close, we can afford to be a few yarn orbs short.

Back to work so I can go home early and GET BACK TO REAL WORK! Did anyone else have a less stereotypical "bachelorette" party? Does anyone else have a groom as stylish as mine??