DIY thanks to Youtube

I've been told I should be updating my blog...please excuse me as I only have 9 days until I get married! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! I'm excited, but also a bit stressed. No more triple or double digits.

I wanted to share one of my favorite websites of all time--Youtube! I watch videos from my childhood all the time on it--but it's also a great place for make-up and hair tutorials. I saw this tutorial when it was first posted. I am a lurking member of nappturality and saw a post for this video. Thanks for the tutorial, Dynamic Runner!




I have tried a number of intricate styles that looked beautiful--but hurt like hell. My scalp has become very tender since I don't have to use a comb anymore with locks. I do not want to be in pain on my wedding day, some of the hairstyles I tried didn't last for an hour--even with Advil. So I was looking for something that isn't too tight, simple to do, and pretty. Enter this Youtube video. I love doing a side ponytail, so I tried a side "Lobster tail." It took about five minutes to do and I like the look of it, and I wore it for the whole evening (could have worn it longer, but I wanted to take the bun out to sleep). I'm putting the photo below, but keep in mind that my hair is not freshly twisted (I'll get to that next Thursday) so this photo is not an accurate depiction of how my hair will actually look. Also, I plan to pin curl the front so that I will have a sort of side swept curled bang for the day of. And the look will be complete with my birdcage veil. I can't wait!




Oh, and please ignore the red dots on the back of my neck--this is a botched tattoo that I haven't gotten around to covering--NOT a rash. (Ha!)

Kermit and Miss Piggy (Somebody's Getting Married!)

When my best friend was close to her wedding date I sent this video to her Facebook page and of course it made her cry. Even though Miss Piggy tricked Kermie into getting married, it's still really cute. I'm getting more and more excited and actually feeling less stressed as questions get answered (and as we come up with a rain plan).

Enjoy the videos!

19 days!

Today was the day, the first day of "the nerves." I looked at my calendar and realized there were three weeks left. I e-mailed HR to find out about the whole name change process and referred to Mr. J as my husband. Wow.

Today we got a big shipment of supplies: our LED real wax candles for the tables (24 of them) and our bunches of lavender (26) to decorate the tables, bouquets, and we'll figure out what to do with the extra. I always order a bit extra and the bunches were larger than they appeared in the photos, score! Our whole apartment has the faint smell of lavender (we're keeping it sealed in the box in our closet). I wish I could show you pictures of the finished product--guess you'll have to wait until after the wedding.

We went to a wedding this weekend and spoke with a couple who have been married for 54 years. The husband asked to see my ring and when the couple looked at it the wife said, "Oh I can tell this is going to be a different affair." I took that as a compliment!

Eh, I don't really have much to say...so much to do, so little time.

Marriage License Day!!!!!

*Bacon stands for Mr. J! Well, not really, but I really DO love bacon and this t-shirt was a gift I received yesterday from my lovely co-workers, including a bacon cookbook and three packs of bacon (they know me so well!).

Anyway, this post is not about bacon--but our marriage license. Hooray! It was a painless process, though there were some screaming babies. I highly recommend anyone in living in New York to make the trip to the new Marriage Bureau in Manhattan on Worth Street. We didn't go there (haha). We went to the Brooklyn location, which has not been renovated like the New York office. Despite the grimy yellow paint, it was a great experience for us and we have until September 6th to get married in the state of New York.

It was a little weird to fill out my new surname, I'm going to be Mrs. J in 29 days. Mrs. always sounds old to me. I think I'm going to feel like a "real" adult the first time someone calls me Mrs. J.

It's the Little Things

I love Snapple Lemon Iced Tea. I came home from work yesterday after a long day, opened the fridge and there was my favorite drink staring back. I looked at Mr. J and said "Is this for me?" He said of course. I almost cried and this might seem like such a small thing--but it means he is genuinely invested in my happiness, in our happiness. Sometimes he'll buy me my favorite cereal, for me this is better than getting flowers! I can't wait to marry him.

Today he gave me some advice because I've been dealing with an issue (not being able to get in contact with my father) and what he said was so thoughtful and caring, and he made it an issue for us as a couple to tackle. I have a partner, a true partner in this world and I can't tell you in words how good it makes me feel. I get to marry him in a month! I can't wait. I was ready to go to the JP months ago, but I'm glad HE wanted a wedding, I'm glad to have the chance to stand before my closest friends and family and declare that I'm going to fight for love with this man.

What NOT to do!

Do not buy seven cases of wine from Trader Joe's months before the wedding because you are an uber organized planner and want to get as much as you can done before things get too crazy. Do not leave said cases of wine in your hot ass apartment, so hot that sometimes you have to turn off the heat in the winter. Do not leave said cases of wine in your hot ass apartment that retains all the heat from spring/summer time.

Why?

Because one day you will read about wine on Google and discover the reason behind people having wine cellars and wine fridges, because wine is supposed to be kept in a cool environment. DUH. Because you will realize that you have kept your wine in the opposite of a cool environment. Because you will test a couple bottles of wine and realize that they taste like crap. Because you will ask your fiance to test the wine out and he (who doesn't know much about wine either) will say that the wine is fine, "it tastes like beer!" Because wine is not supposed to taste like beer, wine is supposed to taste like wine!

Because you think you know so much about wine because you like to drink it, but in fact you are a wine idiot.

Luckily, we didn't spend an arm and a leg on the wine. And we have a new plan that is even better: beer, two signature drinks, and wine (we'll replace some of it).

14 pounds!

Oh how I wish I could report that I lost 14 pounds. I really wish I could. My best friend keeps telling me that I'm going to lose weight as it gets closer to the wedding because of stress--and I keep telling her that I EAT when I'm stressed. I've gained 14 pounds since being the maid of honor in her wedding this past February.

Ugh.

The upside to the scale going up these past months is that my dress (which my mom bought for me in December) was too big for me. I normally wear a size 12 dress if it's form-fitting and a size 8 dress if flares at the hips. These hips do not lie (ok that was cheesy). So the dress is a size 14. I had my first fitting three weeks ago and the seamstress pinned it a lot, thanks to me being a size 8 on top. So this means that my extra 14 pounds fits the dress, I just can't gain any more weight.

The downside is that I feel like crap. I've been avoiding the scale because I knew it would show me something I didn't want to see, but could feel when I'm walking up the stairs. So, no more! I am not going on a diet, but I am going to eat better, Mr. J and I have been slacking on grocery shopping which means we eat out a lot more than we should. When I cook at home, it's usually healthy. Must buy groceries. And I'm going back to my daily yoga routine. I'm not going to try to lose the 14 pounds until after the wedding, but I'll get started and maybe lose a few that won't affect the dress.

I should be writing thank you cards right now...

source

but all I want to do is procrastinate. Ugh. I am totally thankful. (Can a general thank you on my blog to everyone count?) But writing these thank you cards kind of makes me feel like Lauryn looks in this picture.

Ugh. Okay, okay.

So not looking forward to writing thank you cards for the wedding! That's more people!!!! And I'm a friggin writer!!!

Alright, I'm going to do at least do 5 tonight. (I really am thankful, just lazy.)

Our Broom

I just finished decorating our broom for the ceremony. All supplies are courtesy of Michael's (I LOVE that place). It was a plain broom, I wrapped a shimmery lilac ribbon with a satiny blue ribbon up the broom, added some fake flowers in our colors, and tied a bow. I used corsage pins to keep everything in place, it's like practice for when I make all the bouquets. I can't wait to jump over it with my man!

34 days to go!

Mr. J and I have our color-coded to do list in Google Documents--his items in blue and mine in purple. Since he's on summer vacation, he'll be doing a lot of things for the wedding, it will be nice to have him doing stuff full force now.

I've been doing lots of the little projects for the wedding over this 4-day weekend. I cleaned all of our Starbuck's bottles that we are using for the centerpieces, got all the adhesive off the outside of the glasses. I stuffed half of our favors into the blue and purple favor bags (we decided to go with edibles). I tied purple ribbon around all 72 pairs of flip flops. I made boutonnieres for the groom, best woman, groomsmen, and our dads. At first I wasn't going to do bouts for the guys because we are using the lavender plant as our flowers and the place we are getting them from doesn't recommend them for bouts. Mr. J and I went to Michael's (we will probably make one more trip there before the wedding) and I bought some fake flowers, floral tape, and ribbon to make the bouts. We also got some small pebbles to put in the glass jars with the lavender, lots of ribbon for various projects, and favor bags.

You can't tell, but the larger one on the left is wrapped in purple ribbon (groom) and the rest are like the one on the right, wrapped in blue ribbon

Before the ribbon

After the ribbon!

Boy Met Girl (Our Invitations)

So, here's the outside of our invitation. We used kraft paper and printed the stick figure image I drew on that paper, then cut it in half because the invite opens in the middle. It says "Boy Met Girl" and on the inside is that stick-figure image of us as a bride and a groom and it says "To read the rest of our story, please join our families in a celebration of friendship, laughter, and love as Mr. J & Future Mrs. J are united in marriage on bla bla bla..." The inside is lined in the lilac paper and then the kraft paper.

Bridal Shower Photos

I was in LA for school for 10 days so I neglected the blog for a bit. We are at 34 days until the wedding, I can't believe it. There are still tons of little things to do which I'll talk about in another post.

My bridal shower was held at my friend's parents' home in Brooklyn. The menu was fried chicken (it went so fast it was so yummy), macaroni salad, rice and peas, mini-rolls, and regular salad. It was catered by a friend of my mother's. We played a couple of games, one where I filled out a questionnaire and whoever got the most correct answers for how well do you know me, won. My oldest friend--we went to elementary and high school together--won. The other was a quiz that Mr. J answered, all of the guests had to write down how many they thought I'd get right. I did horribly at that game and as you'll see from the picture below--I had to take a shot out of a cup shaped like a boob every time I got a question wrong. There was a "Book Fair" where books for different parts of my life were given, it was awesome! There was also a burlesque performance, lots of eating, jokes, and an all around good time had by all.

Here are some pics from my awesome bridal shower:

Me and my lovely bridesmaids

My beautiful cake!

My awesome bridal shower invitation!

They made me drink wine from a booby cup whenever I got answers wrong!

This was part of the Book Fair--my own personal Sex Bible :)