Cheers and Jeers

Cheers... to possibly having our wedding featured in a Madison magazine!!! I don't know all the details yet, but our wedding photographer asked if he could pass our name along to Brava Magazine, and now I'm working on filling out a questionnaire from one of their writers. I've been running around the house for the past two days yelling, "I'M GONNA BE ON THE COVER OF A MAGAZINE!" and NavyGuy's been shaking his head and reminding me that a) the writer said nothing about the cover, and b) it's an article about us, not just the bride. We'll see about that...

Jeers... to having to work on Saturday instead of being able to visit Tally pup. I'm sending NavyGuy down without me, but with our camera (we're still negotiating the video camera, as he's terrified of being that parent), because even if I can't see her, I need reassurance that she's okay. And happy. And at the top of her class. And making friends. And brushing her teeth. (I'll be sending a checklist with him.)

Cheers... to payday today. Thank god.

Jeers... to NavyGuy's squadron. They deploy very soon, and yet they're being completely ridiculous in scheduling the guys, and leaving them absolutely no time to get any pre-deployment stuff done, or even, I don't know - see their families AT ALL. NavyGuy was one watch twice this week (which means 7am - 10pm at the squadron, no leaving), had two days of night flights, and there's no sign it'll be letting up. Way to go squadron - good job building morale before a deployment, and taking care of your own. Total bulls#$%.

Cheers... to getting my craft mojo back. It had flittered away for a bit, but with the arrival of the latest Creating Keepsakes magazine, and an invite to scrap next week with some of the Navy wives, I'm feeling artsy-fartsy-mojo-licious.

And all of you...?

Read more...

Christmas done come early kids!

When I got home from work tonight, NavyGuy had a surprise for me. The disc of our wedding photos arrived from the photographer... and my husband had already loaded all of the photos onto my computer!

(Yeah, he rocks like that a lot. But then there are the nights I come home and the only thing he's done is nap with the puppy and leave every single light on, making the house visible from three miles away.)

So anyway, back to the point - the pictures are HERE!!! And that means, wedding recaps :) Once I do some sorting and planning, the fun can begin!

Read more...

Preppy Chic Wedding

This weekend, NavyGuy and I attended our first wedding as a married couple; otherwise known as, the first wedding after our own! I'll be brutally honest up front - after you've been the bride at a wedding, no other is going to be quite as fun. For me anyway, there's nothing like being the center of attention, in a gorgeous white gown, surrounded by your friends and family. That said, our friends' wedding this past weekend was a fabulous affair... here's a sampling of the day:

The classic color combo - navy and yellow - looked great. The girls wore cute navy blue dresses (I'm thinking Ann Taylor maybe?), and the boys wore khakis, light blue shirts, yellow ties, and blue blazers. Awww... what a cute couple. The bride's dress was very chic - simple taffeta with a v-neck top, A-line skirt, and a small brooch at the waist to add a little bling.

Dinner was a buffet of chicken, beef, manicotti, mashed potatoes, green beans, and rolls. The cake was almond, vanilla, or chocolate cake, with raspberry filling and buttercream frosting. The blue ribbon striping gives the cake a cool nautical feel. Blue and yellow butterfly cookies served double duty as favors and place cards - each table was named after locations at Lawrence University, where the couple met.

The reception took place in a permanent tent attached to the Fruitlands Museum. The bride and groom dined at their sweetheart table, with this beautiful backdrop of the woods and sunset. After some dancing, we headed back to the hotel - NavyGuy and I had been up for waaaaay too long and we had a full day of brunching and Boston the next day!

Read more...

More Travel

Well, as we speak, NavyGuy and I are once again on the move. This time it's a red-eye flight to Boston for a wedding. Two friends of ours from college are getting married in Harvard, MA at the Fruitlands Museum. [HistoryGirlie - Fruitlands is Bronson Alcott's failed transcendentalist utopia!!! If I see Louisa May, I'll be sure to say hi, and if I find a comprehendable explanation of what transcendentalism actually is, I'll be sure to send it your way ;)]

Fruitlands Museum, Harvard, MA

The wedding is Friday night, and I'm excited to see what the bride has come up with for this wedding. Given that NavyGuy has been instructed to wear khakis and a blue blazer, I'm hoping for some sort of New-England-clam-bake-Kennedy-compound-preppy-chic affair.

The bride and groom...

Saturday morning there's a post-nuptial brunch, and then NavyGuy and I have to decide how we're going to spend the remainder of our Saturday. We could stay in the "countryside" and tour the other transcendentalist sites like Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond and Emerson's home, or we could jump over to Boston and try to take in as many historical sites as humanly possible in six hours... it's a tough call. While I'd love to check out Boston, is it worth it to go for just hours? We could see the other Massachusetts sites, and save Boston proper for a separate trip when we can do it up right... I don't know. Thoughts? I'm sure we're going to have a blast whatever we end up doing!

Bon Voyage!

Read more...

We Want You! (to vote!)

Today's new post is below - you can scroll down to read Part 1 of the Seattle Mini-Moon.

Sister needs to pick a bridesmaid dress. One of her best friends is getting married next summer, and has tasked Sister with picking out a bridesmaid dress for herself. Sister has five choices to chose from, and some specific factors to keep in mind:

1) the dress, regardless of which style the girls choose will be black
2) each bridesmaid can choose their own dress
3) the wedding is going to be a small, elegant affair...
4) in Florida... in July. So it's gonna be HOT and humid

That said, these are the options Sister needs to choose from:

1. Silk Taffeta Halter Sangle Dress

2. Silk Taffeta Lorelei Dress

3. Silk Taffeta Strapless Sangle Dress

4. Silk Taffeta Delores Dress

5. Silk Taffeta Ruffle Wrap Dress

So, which frock should Sister wear? Please leave your votes in the comments section.

Read more...

Muchas Gracias

I stated long before the wedding, that we, not I, would be writing the thank you notes for the wedding gifts. I'm quite traditional when it comes to some things, but there was no way I was going to be doing all of the thank you writing myself, just because I was the wife (with the better handwriting). We agreed to split up the thank yous, and each write some of the notes. NavyGuy denies remembering ever agreeing to this plan, but he most definitely did.

Today, as we sat on our bed, with the handwritten list of wedding gifts received and ample blank thank you cards ready to be penned, I began to question the wisdom of this plan...

Me: C'mon, we'll just get a few more done before you have to go to your meeting.

NavyGuy: Ugh, I'm tired. When did I agree to help with this?

I shoot him "the look," as words aren't even necessary.

NavyGuy writes a line or two, then falls back dramatically on his pillow as if he's just bench pressed five hundred pounds.

Me: Acting like you can't do this, will not spare you. I know that trick.

NavyGuy glares.

Me: Just get it done! See, I just wrote one. Here - use this as a template.

NavyGuy: How do you get them done so easily?

Me: I don't stop every four words and whine.

NavyGuy: I just think you'd be so much better at doing this.

Me: Uh huh. Yep, I probably would, but then you wouldn't learn.

NavyGuy sighs. And begins tapping on his notebook.

Me: I thought you said you were tired.

NavyGuy: Yeah, I am.

Me: Well, if you have the energy to tap your fingers and annoy me, then you have the energy to finish that note!


Thank you notes completed: 7
Thank you notes to-be completed: 58
Chance that NavyGuy will get out of finishing his: 0%
Chance that he will be locked in a sterile room to finish his alone: 100%

Read more...

Quick and Dirty Wedding Recap...

Woo hoo!!! Our photographer has all of our wedding photos online... so, you know what that means... time to start the wedding weekend recaps! (Cuz it's not like I should be using my time to find a job, work on grad school homework, or clean something...)

To begin, we're going to do a nuts and bolts recap; if you have no desire to suffer through excruciating detail and a million photos over the next few weeks as I relive my our wedding weekend, then this post is for you. It'll hit just the very bare minimum highlights you need to see to get the essence of the day...

I will preface that all of these photos are from Dave Watkins, of Narella Studio in Lake Mills, WI. I will rave about him more in a later post, but seriously - if you are getting married anywhere in the state of Wisconsin, seek this man out. Demand that he clear his schedule and photograph your wedding, because you will NOT be disappointed. If you want more info about him, please check out his website here. He was super accommodating and put together a special site for me to get photos from so I could post them on this blog, and I promised him I'd give him some shout-outs in return :)

And, without further adieu... our wedding day.

The boys arrive (looking like the cast of Ocean's 11).

Grandpa and I start our big entrance.

And the deal, is sealed.

There was cake.

There was dancing. (Rock on ladies!)

There was love.

Can we be done now?

Stay tuned for the in-depth recaps (starting with the debacle at the nail salon) coming soon!

Read more...

Guest Post

Miracles do happen ladies... I got NavyGuy to watch Bride Wars with me! It did require a shrill argument about how I watched "his movie" (Taken) earlier in the week, and that he should give this movie a chance, and on and on... but I prevailed in the end and held him down convinced him to watch the movie tonight, AND to write a review of it from a groom's perspective! (Click here for my review.)

Snide Wars
by NavyGuy

Let me start out by saying one thing – THIS IS A CHICK MOVIE!* This is in fact the archetype of the chick-flick. Fittingly, the movie is narrated in a calm adult voice by Candace Bergen, the only person who is an adult in the whole movie, and in fact acts like a chaperone for the two female leads. And lets talk about the two female leads. They spend the whole movie trying to outdo each other in making the audience hate them more than the other. Not only that, but this movie hits every point of female insecurity: weight, clothes, hair, nails, style, and even money. And of course, the moment of inevitable hubris and realization for both brides simultaneously as only celluloid can deliver.

In the recent trend of “bromance” movies, this could almost be called a “sismance.” The entire narrative structure is so tired and worn, that it feels like a marathon runner being dragged across the finish line. In fact, the final twist is so transparent, even someone of only marginal foresight can see it coming from well beyond the horizon. Like the first 5 minutes of the movie.

Ok, now that I’ve finished ripping the movie on a cinematic level, I’ll at least say some nice things, or at least not as mean. The movie was cute, seeing as we just got married, it was funny to see some things from our wedding in this movie. One in particular was when one of the grooms jokes that his particular bride never lets him lead. This is something Mugs and I often joke about, as we have different senses of rhythm and we both always want to lead, which often leads to any time we dance together, we look just a little out of sync. Anyway, in the end, the movie tries to be about friendship, and if you squint real hard, and don’t really think about it too much, it sort of achieves that end.

*Note from NavyGirl: Apparently, he wants to make sure you understand he watched this under duress and should not therefore, forfeit his man card for agreeing to watch a chick flick with his wife.

Read more...

WeddingBee Love!!!

Yea!!! I uploaded a photo to the WeddingBee gallery, where readers can share their wedding photos, and they picked mine as a Gallery Photo of the Day!!!!

Check it out here - I'm so excited! And even better, it's a photo showing off my super fly bridesmaids :)

Read more...

Sneak Peeks!

I'm still working on unpacking and organizing life around here. Marines #1 and 2 trashed the place while we were gone, so along with unpacking, doing laundry, and sorting wedding gifts, I got to clean the kitchen and livingroom. The boys also used push pins to secure blankets as makeshift window treatments in the livingroom, and moved a scary piece of exercise equipment (which seems to resemble some sort of back stretcher?), into the office, blocking the doorway and access to my craft table. They'll be dealt with appropriately tomorrow...

In the mean time, our fabulous photographer Dave posted a few photos from the wedding on his facebook page. Here are a couple of my favorites so far!

All photos from Dave Watkins at Narella Studio.

Read more...

NavyGirl becomes...

NavyWife!

We're back from the wedding - it was unbelievable. I never imagined it would be as wonderful as it was... there'll be full updates (and tons of photos) as soon as I finish unpacking and get life back in order around here!

Back to our regularly scheduled programming soon!

Love,

Mrs. NavyGuy

Read more...

Signing Off

This will be the last post pre-wedding.  The last single girl post :)  At the moment, I'm frantically trying to pack a bazillion things into two suitcases, finish thank you notes to people, and deal with the fact that there's a 60% chance of thunderstorms on wedding day (yes, I know I should put on my big girl pants and get over it cuz I'm marrying the love of my life that day, rain or shine, but dammit, I want pretty outside photos and no worries about getting wet - or struck by lightning).

So, the next time you hear from me, I'll be a married old lady.  We've been planning this event for over a year and a half, and I'm still in denial that it's really finally here.  It's comforting to know that regardless of what goes haywire in the next few days - NavyGuy and I will be Mr. and Mrs. NavyGuy by 3:30 on Saturday afternoon.  Wish me luck, love, and serenity for the next 72 hours... 

... and pray the weather folks are smokin' crack. :)

Read more...

3 Days!!!

Off to Madison to pick up NavyGuy!!!!  We're spending the day running errands and finishing up the last minute wedding details, and I'm psyched to see him - I've almost forgotten what my groom looks like!  Hopefully he won't be too tired from his red-eye flight...

And thanks to my friend Miss Kewi (meteorologist to the stars), I have a new site to check for the weather updates!  According to NOAA...  

Saturday: Partly sunny, with a high near 72. Calm wind becoming east between 5 and 10 mph. 

HOORAY!!!  Thanks Kewi :)

Read more...

A Small Wedding Break

Before I came back to Wisconsin at the end of April, I made several cards that I knew I would need throughout the month of May. One cousin needed a congrats card for his performance in a play, another cousin needed a First Communion card, and moms would need Mother's Day cards. Because I made them early, I had to wait to post the photos, and of course with all the wedding madness, it slipped my mind. Well, during one of the eighteen times I woke up last night with a random thought (make sure you have safety pins to attach the bridesmaids' sashes to their dresses, where did you put that piece of paper with the name of so-and-so's guest, don't forget to bring a zip up shirt to wear while you're getting your hair done on Saturday!), I remembered the cards, and figured some of you may appreciate a small break from the constant wedding posts...

Here's the one for the budding actor. Cousin K was in his school's performance of "School House Rock," so I thought the sentiment was fitting ;) The letters are foam stickers from the Target dollar spot, and I made the stars using a basic shapes Cricut cartridge. I really like the black background, cuz it makes the neon-y colors pop!


Cousin SL had her First Communion, and looked like a doll in her little white eyelet dress. She even managed to down a chocolate covered donut after church without getting a bit of it on her dress! (I'm not sure her mom was thrilled that MOH and I got her the doughnut, but what are older cousins for if not to get you into trouble...) The butterfly is Martha Stewart punch, and the orange cross is just a free-hand drawing I did. It turned out simple and clean.

I LOOOOOOVE this blue-ish paper. It's from a SEI company pack that I found on sale at Michaels. Again, butterflies from Martha, and a (cheater) sentiment printed on the computer. The colors and font seemed kind of retro to me (like 1950s ish maybe?), but it seemed to work, and seemed to please the moms. The design layout came from Clean and Simple blog.

Sorry - one wedding related item: weather for Saturday - partly cloudy, and 73 degrees! We're slowly but surely creeping upwards temp wise! (I'm choosing to ignore the weather.gov report that indicates a slightly higher chance of rain Saturday night.) (Yes, I'm checking two weather sites, and soliciting forecast information from every person I know, or see at a store, or run into on the street.)

Read more...

Frenzy

Weather Update

Saturday's Forecast - we're up to 72 degrees, partly cloudy, 10% chance of rain.

I stayed up until midnight stamping programs because around nine last night I had a burst of energy; I woke up at 6:15 this morning with a burst of energy.  I'm not stressed or nervous or worried - just frenetic.  Bursting with energy to accomplish all of the remaining tasks so that by 5:30 Thursday night, I can start enjoying myself at my bachelorette party, and sail smoothly into the festivities on Friday, and the big event Saturday.  I have absolutely no clue where this sudden energy and drive is coming from, but I'll take it, cuz there's still lots to do, and my brain keeps jumping from item to item.  Is this what it feels like to be on drugs?  

Oh!  Grandpa has all his front teeth again.  Huzzah!

Read more...

Nothing left to do but...

check the weather.

Every couple of hours.

Cuz, you know - the forecast might have changed.

As of 9am Sunday morning, the prediction for wedding day: partly cloudy, 69 degrees, 10% chance of precipitation.

Weather.com and I are gonna get real friendly this week...

Read more...

Wedding Karma

While I was shopping on Thursday, I ended up going to Hobby Lobby twice.  The first time, I bought 50 sheets of cardstock for the wedding programs.  A young girl rang up my purchases, and with the paper being 29 cents each, I was expecting to fork over around $20 (I had a few other items in the mix as well).  Lo and behold, she asked me for $9 and some change.

I thought it seemed odd, but I went with it.  Maybe I hadn't noticed sale signs by the paper or something.  So I took my bags and headed for the car.  I went on to the next errand, but kept thinking back to the Hobby Lobby purchase.

Finally, I checked the receipt.  Dang.  The girl had charged me for 5 sheets of paper instead of 50.  

And then, the moral conundrum began...

Angel on one Shoulder: You know you need to go back to Hobby Lobby and fix this.

Devil on the other Shoulder: But it's not your fault that the sales girl goofed!

Angel: The right thing to do is correct the mistake and pay for the 45 sheets of paper that you basically stole from the Hob Lob.

Devil: But that's at least $10 you've saved, and every penny counts now that we're getting this close to the wedding.

Angel: If you don't take that paper back and fix this mistake, it WILL rain on your wedding day.

And so, of course, I took the paper back, coughed up the correct amount of money, and convinced myself that my moral act will spare me from any precipitation come wedding day. I'd feel foolish admitting this, except when I told my mother the story, she said the "it will rain on your wedding day line" before I even finished the story... so clearly I come by my superstitions honestly.  Anyone else feel a little superstitious about the big day?

Read more...

Who'd a thunk?

You expect problems during the wedding planning process. Of course, things are going to come up, people are going to argue, and the day won't go completely according to plan. However, when I used to imagine planning my wedding, I never envisioned any of the following...

- getting grief, not from either mom, but from NavyGuy, over the seating chart.

- having to worry about whether my matron of honor will go into labor during our vows.

- being told one month before that there would be a runway show going on adjacent to our ceremony and that large trade show booths would be set up in view of all of our ceremony photographs, forcing us to relocate the ceremony to a new space in the building.

- that a flu virus would threaten guest attendance for an event in May

- seeing my grandfather, who is walking me down the aisle, gleefully show off his missing front tooth, which popped out less than two weeks beforehand, after he bit into a particularly tough dessert bar

- announcing to NavyGuy at the T-minus 10 day mark, "Is this DAMN THING OVER YET?!?!?"

Read more...

Program Woes

Argh.

The programs are officially kicking my ass.*

I've been trying to decide on a design for weeks. I like none of the ones that are possible with my now limited time constraints, supplies, and budget. I don't even like any of the ones that would break my budget or require crafting from now until twenty minutes before I head down the aisle.

Having not admitted defeat yet, I refuse to quit and either a) throw together a haphazard piece o' crap that will forever haunt my wedding memories**, or b) forgo programs all together***.

Thus, tomorrow, between a haircut and a trip to Madison for several wedding errands and a dress fitting, I need to come up with a master program plan that
a) solves the font-sizing-readability conundrum
b) involves a booklet
c) does not involve a booklet needing 45 pages
d) does not involve a booklet wherein I fold a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 white paper in half and scrawl our names and the date across the front in a fit of bridal fury

And so I charge ahead!


*meaning, my anal-retentive, type A, OCD, perfectionist self will not settle for something that's "fine" but instead keeps redoing and retyping in varying fonts, layouts, sizes, etc convinced there is a magic design that will satisfy me.

** becoming more of a possibility as the clock ticks down to wedding day.

***something I will threaten to do at least eight more times before the damn things are finally done.

Read more...

DIY Table Numbers

Wedding Madness!!!! I don't know how much time I'm going to have to show off the wedding details before the big day (we're down to less than two weeks - AGHHHH), but I promise anything that doesn't get posted before May 23rd, will simply be fodder for more extensive (and better written) posts after the shindig is over.

I just cannot wait on this project however, so I've put all the wedding tasks aside for the moment to showcase one of my favorite details so far - the table numbers. I know, I know - really minor in the larger scheme of things, but I saw a cool idea on theknot.com almost two years ago, and I was hooked immediately.

The table numbers are basic numbers - 1, 2, 3, 15, and so on. But on each number, there is a photo of myself and one of NavyGuy at the corresponding numerical age. In other words, the peeps who are seated at Table 3, get to view cutey pictures of us at that age! I'm psyched - it was a chance to show off more photos (which everyone loves at a wedding), without going through the technical headache of trying to put together a slide show, etc.

I wanted the table numbers to still compliment our color scheme and the general classy-ness of the tables, so I started with dark brown tents.

The paper is 6"x6". In order to attach the two pieces at the top, I simply made one sheet a smidge longer, so I could fold it underneath and attach it to the other side. (TWP and I worked on this during our "Flip That Room" extravaganza.) We also added a piece of dark brown ribbon on the inside of the tent, so that they wouldn't slide open too far or fall over.

(Don't you love my professionally edited photo to show you where the ribbon goes?)

I printed all of the photos I wanted to use in black and white (it took days to go through the boxes of photos that both my and NavyGuy's mom have saved since our childhood... and even longer to estimate our ages in many of the photos!). Color photos would also work fine, but I wanted them to look a little more subdued. The photos were cropped to 5"x3.5". I printed the actual table numeral on cream paper, and opted to make all of the layouts the same, regardless of whether the photo was horizontal or vertical. The cream paper was trimmed to 5.5" square, and the photo was layered on top.

Here you can see a variety of the first step before we attached everything to the brown table tent. (Yes, that's obviously me in the photos - and yes, I really was that cute. God only knows what's happened since then.)
And here's toddler NavyGuy!

We attached all of the cream papers to the brown tents, and boom! Table numbers that will hopefully help our guests find their seats, and entertain them while they're there. I do pity the poor folks that have to sit at tables 9 through 14...

Read more...