It's a Wonderful Day In My Neighborhood

It rained last night, and rain means cooler temperatures and not-dry weather (what you guyses would call regular humidity). Oh, and since it rained overnight, there's a lovely layer of snow on the mountains out back of our apartment.

Here are the full sized pictures if you'd like to use them as a nature-y desktop. :P One, two, three.

Third day of this cold means super dry throat, which means lots of cough drops and lots of tea. I decided to get cough drops after eating one of those zinc tablets on an empty stomach and feeling superbly nauseated for about a half hour. The tea I picked up is a peach green tea, and while the packet it comes in smells awful, the peach really shines after you steep the tea.

Sproutlings Update: they be growing! When we planted them, I asked H. to give me three of what he thought were different colors. It is now evident that one of them is a pinkish color, and the other one might be a white or a yellow. They have different outer shell thingies.

This one is the pink one, and I guess you can't see it very well, but there's a bit of a crimson outer coating while a smaller green stem/leaf/something pokes through. This is the one that bloomed first, if any of you are betting on them at home. Once again, I'm very excited for the third one to pop up any day now.

I am not going to post any pictures of the invitations, but you'll see for yourselves in a few days when they arrive like little rays of sunshine in the mail. I still have to assemble all of them, but that won't take too terribly long, I imagine.

Aaaaand it just started to downpour. Sideways rain! ... aaaaaaaaaaand now it's done raining. Total time: ~ 3 minutes. Now it's back to being perfectly sunny, just the way I like it.

Well that's all for now, folks. Off to finish those fancy-pantsy invitations.

Small Successes

As H. said yesterday, "How did you catch a cold in the desert?" Being the delicate flower I am, I somehow managed to get aches and pains and a sore throat. This means putting off the invitation assembly process for a day, but that's good, since Sunday isn't a mail delivery day anyways. I'll just send them off Monday and be relieved when they arrive in their various destinations a few days later.

Yesterday, as my body started to power down for this wonderful cold, I had a sweet little surprise awaiting me in the apartment. My gladiolas had started to sprout! Or at least one of them had an adventure and poked its head out of the soil.

Isn't he just the cutest? I was thrilled that at least one of them wasn't dead yet. H. disagrees with me, but I like to think that it had something to do with the lamp I had hovering over this guy as he was sprouting. The desk lamp I brought with me uses a 10W fluorescent light bulb with a "daylight" glow. I had read online that bulbs and seeds respond best to blue wavelengths of light, and that a "daylight" fluorescent bulb helps in the sprouting process. I wasn't sure if the desk lamp would be the correct wattage (seeing as how light bulbs produced specifically for growing plants were at least 15-20W), but I guess it worked!

I was just about to take a nap this afternoon and decided to check on my little sproutling when I noticed that a second little one had appeared! This bulb had sprouted while underneath the lamp I set on it this morning. Coincidence? I think not.

Now all that's left is for the third one to make it's appearance. I would like to think my flower box has more than a 66% survival rate, but we'll see. I'm also surprised by how short of a time it was for them to sprout. It only took six days for the first one, and seven for the second one. The label on the gladiola bag stated I'd have to wait somewhere between eight and fifteen days. Soon, I'll have the greenest thumb in the land!

You can sort of see both of them in this picture. One at the front, and one way, way down at the end over there. The middle one is being stubborn, but what middle child isn't? Eh, eh? ... I guess that's really for all children.

Ah, my pride and joy. The only downside to these guys is that after seeing the second one, I was going to take a nap to help get over this cold quicker, but couldn't sleep because I was so excited about the sproutlings. H. thinks thought this was hilarious.

And that's pretty much been my weekend. Other than getting up the courage to enter this quick DIY contest, it's been a nice, lazy weekend. H. bought me a waffle maker as a surprise a few days ago, and now you can see the fruits of its labor. This thing is so easy to work, it's not a hassle at all making waffles!

Oooooo!

Aaaaaaah!

In The Meantime

I forget if I've said this before, but H. and I bought a little stair stepper to use instead of going to the tiny, cramped not-very-gym-like gym that the apartment complex has. So every day, I hop on that gadget and walk along while I watch Eureka or Bones or any movie that I know H. will never ever watch. However, a couple of days ago, I had a little strain in my left leg. I figured I was just "feeling the burn!", but after trying to stretch it out, I think I made it worse. So, today is my first day off from working out - I kind of miss it now that I've been doing it every day for a week or two. And what else would I do with my newly found extra time than look at wedding-y things!

I do believe I have solved our What Goes Inside That Darn Vase problem! I found this super easy idea that will completely eliminate the debate on whether to use rocks or sand or sliced lemons and oranges or chupacabras to fill up the empty space inside the vase. Ta da!

How easy would it be to just spray paint the vases white? Then we could put whatever the heck we want inside, and no one would see. Also, I'm super psyched about seeing those gorgeous green leaves flowing over the sides of a perfectly white vase. Super duper psyched! And it's most definitely cheaper than any option we have for putting something inside the vase.

Aaahh. It feels really nice to have a cheap yet elegant solution for something.

Time to go make a haircut appointment!

EDIT: Susan, I found some more inspiration for my/our bouquets. Here's a link with more photos. The only thing I don't like about these is that I'm pretty sure dahlias are on the more expensive end of the floral spectrum, so I'll have to figure out some substitutions.

(5 min later) Okay, I also found this colorful little guy. I'm kind of in love with it. So cute! I have no idea what type of flower this is, though. Any thoughts? This might be my decision ... maybe ... !! Now I've got visions of me with this bouquet and you and Brittany with Either just pink ones or just yellow ones or something. Oh my goodness! I'm so excited! Now I just need to know what flower this is.

 

Alrighty. Now I'm off to tidy the apartment. Whistle while you work!

Waiting.

As I nervously await the verdict of whether or not the reception hall is big enough for us, I figured I'd show you what I accomplished over the weekend. Well, H. and I accomplished. As the story goes, after receiving beautiful pink roses for Valentine's Day (of which I forgot to take any pictures, doh!), I wanted more and more flowers. Instead of buying bouquets of them, I decided to grow them. :D

Currently, nothing is growing, but I have high hopes! I planted gladiolas, three of them, and hopefully they will be sprouting in a couple of days. I am way too excited about this for my own good, but at least now I have something productive to do in the morning instead of browse the internet for wedding ideas. I'll probably do that anyways in the afternoon.

H. and I mixed some soil and some Perlite (which I didn't know wasn't soil - it has a picture of dirt on the front!), and today I'm going to mix up some fertilizer diluted in a gallon of water. Hopefully I don't over nutrientize these plant babies.

As we were watering the soil thoroughly as per directions on the soil bag, it started raining! It's only rained on the mountains out here, not actually on the civilization parts. H. was very proud of this accomplishment we had somehow provoked.

I'll be posting some more pictures once something develops. I super duper hope these guys sprout - I might have to do the funny dance a la My Neighbor Totoro, except I would stop before they grew into actual trees.

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Now What?

I got an email from the hotel representative I've been working with for renting out a reception room.

The only space I have is our McKinney room.   It is 1400 square feet.  I can only do a small-ish dance floor in that room.  I want to make sure it is what you are looking for and will meet your needs.

The hotel will provide the china, glass, and silver for a fee when using an outside caterer.  We cannot allow you to bring in wine or any other alcohol.    Our house wine is Woodbridge, and you get about 4 glasses out of a 750 ml bottle. 

I am here Tuesday through Saturday and would like to arrange a time.  I can put together a contract for you and your family, but would like to make sure you are aware of the size of the space. 

Several issues with this email: (1) 1400 sq. ft. is not a helluva lot. How the hell are we supposed to fit 50 people in that room with tables and chairs and buffet tables and a dance floor? Our apartment is 900 sq. ft. and there's absolutely no way we could fit fifty people in here let alone the tables and chairs to accommodate all of them. What the hell.

(2) What do you mean you're going to charge a fee for using silverware and china? So renting the reception hall is free, but we have to pay for using the dishes? Whatever.

(3) Like hell I'm going to pay $28 for a single bottle of wine. That is just freaking ridiculous. And you won't let us bring in alcohol because why? You don't think we can handle our liquor or something? I'm trying to do this wedding on a reasonable budget, lady. REASONABLE BUDGET. And by the way, that brand of wine sells for $12 at any grocery store.

Ugh.

I just spent an hour looking at other possible reception venues. I realized I never emailed back one place, so maybe they are still available (although honestly, I doubt that day isn't booked - it's less than three months away). If all else fails, I suppose we could have the reception at the church. The drawbacks to this include the fact that they don't have a dance floor, that the space (the old church excess area) is much too big for fifty people I imagine and thus we would look like ants in a huge hall, and that I have no idea where the bridal party would go for photos after the ceremony. I imagine we just chillax and take pictures around the picturesque water fountain and whatnot, but if everyone else is still going to be mingling around, then what do we do? I doubt Father Tim wants us taking photos in the actual church.

So. I have emailed one or two other places requesting pricing information. I have very little hope that the dates are still open for any of them, but who knows. With the recession and all, maybe they haven't booked anything for that very popular spring weekend.

Onto something that isn't so very, very depressing - I have to return the shoes that I bought online (okay, I guess that is still depressing). I tried them on, and the heel feels like it is too far forward, like I can't get my footing (literally) when I walk. I compared them to a pair of shoes that I already had, which I like very much, and feel extremely comfortable, and super easy to walk in, and realized why the hell can't I just wear these shoes? Doh! Leave it to me to try and buy something that I already have and like. I took some pictures of these shoes, which you guys have probably seen before, but here they are to refresh your memory.

The only slight problem with these shoes is that one of them is a little dirty, and I don't know how to clean it. It's like I walked right next to something that was recently wood-dyed, and some of it rubbed off.

You can see the damage on the loop there, but there's also something halfway up the shoe - it's like a piece of glue or something. Hopefully we can clean it off, because these are probably the most comfortable heels I've got, and I got them from good ol' Walmart a couple of years ago.

I found another option for shoe accessorizing. =3

The tutorial for making them is on a weird-looking blog (complete with odd picture instructions, but I get the gist of it), and I think it'll be easy to do since I'm starting with a T-strap sandal. So now I have to decide between the "petal sandals" and the flower clips. Decisions, decisions.

Yesterday, I bought a plastic rectangular planter, some $1 garden gloves, some flower fertilizer, and gladiolus bulbs. I also bought something called Perlite, which I thought was soil because there was a picture of soil on the front, but it's actually just organic styrofoam that aerates the soil. So today H. and I are going to go pick up some actual soil, and then we can get planting! I'm super excited to have some greenery in the apartment ever since Valentine's Day. I'll take a picture for y'all when it's all set up, and probably every couple of days after that so you can see the progress. I just hope that they don't disappoint me and die. :x

Off to Home Depot!

EDIT:  Susan, here's the DIY tutorial I was talking about. It looks super easy if you want to try it out, and don't be limited to just green for the fabric color. Enjoy! =]

Victory!

I received an email from Cody the office manager at Epic Photography. He says and I quote: "The prize was $500 off, I think they were just mistaken. If you call them again they will have the correct amount, tell them that Cody sent you over if they have any problem." Heck yeah!

So come Monday morning, I'll be calling a certain DJ company to tell them to get their heads out of their cubicles and give me my $500 off. >D

On a completely unrelated note, it was seriously windy here today. It was so windy that one of the steps (concrete step connected to a metal skeleton railing thing) leading up to our apartment makes this rattling noise whenever there is a large gust of wind. At first, we thought it was someone dragging a metal post across the concrete. Hopefully it won't be too windy tonight, or else I'll be napping all day tomorrow!

Also, it's supposed to get down to below freezing for the entire night. I doubt our pipes will freeze, but I hope the town doesn't make that big a deal of it tomorrow on the news.

Can't wait for the Oscars!

Back and Forth

I am currently waiting on an email from the company (Epic Photography) that notified me of the prize package that I won. When I mentioned the $500 discount to the DJ company (DJ Connections), they said that it wasn't $500, it was $150. But since they already gave me a discount of $175 because the Hilton is a preferred vendor/venue, they wouldn't take another $150 off the price. Thus, the price remains at $575 for a DJ for about four hours. Although they did say they would put the $150 towards a projection system if we wanted to have a slideshow of H. and I as children or whatever.

So I emailed Epic Photography, asking which was the correct prize price: $500 or $150. I got an email back from the office manager, asking where my wedding was (what branch of the company I was working with). So I sent the email, and haven't heard back from them in a day. We'll see what happens.

I can't talk with the DJ company until I hear back from that office manager, but the DJ's keep calling me. Yesterday, I received six calls from them, and they never left a message. Instead, they sent me an email saying they would like to talk to me. I suppose I could call the videographer and tell them to stop calling me because there's no way I'm paying nearly $2000 to catch my wedding on film. No freaking way.

I haven't heard back from Cathy Moser, the Hilton representative, in two-and-a-half weeks. I sent her an email this past Monday but haven't heard back. So ... yeah.

Overall, a disappointing week. Perhaps the weekend will be much more funner.

On a lighter note, if I hadn't already picked bridesmaid dresses, and this dress was in stock at all, I'm pretty sure I'd have the bridesmaids wear this lovely dress:

I just super duper love it. Really, honestly, love it. Maybe I'll just get H. to get if for me for my birthday (if it ever comes back into stock). ^^

I Love Superpowers

I caught a really great break yesterday. I received a phone call from a photography business representative - he was calling to tell me that I had won their monthly drawing, that I had won the third prize. I figured it was a scam, so I asked what company I registered with for the drawing, and he said the Davids Bridal in Frisco. Well, you can't get very much more specific than that, so I asked him what I had won. He replied that I had won $500 worth of services towards three separate companies ($500 each); towards a DJ, towards a videographer, and towards his photography business. He was genuinely surprised that I hadn't been notified by any of the other companies yet, and asked if I received the letter in the mail with the details about the prize. Would you guys mind checking if I received anything from Davids Bridal or Epic Photography?

I talked with someone from the DJ company, and they told me that the package that best suits ~50 people is $700 for the event (they don't do hourly rates). He also mentioned that the Hilton is on their preferred vendors list, which means $125 comes off of the original price, bringing our total to $575. H. suggested that I not mention the winnings until he had quoted me a price, just so they wouldn't give me the most expensive package. The man will hold the date until Tuesday, and then I'll receive a phone call from either him or their event planner to answer any other questions I have, as well as book the date if I would like to use their company. Essentially, we're getting a DJ for $75. And, their services that he listed sound extremely useful.

• We can create a Playlist for the DJ. Any song we want that they don't already have, they will purchase for us. Or, if we're less controlling, we can just let the DJ roam free with the music (using pre-approved themes like the 90s or 2000's or whatevs).
• We can create a Do Not Play List. Whichever songs we absolutely do not want being played at the reception (he used the chicken dance as an example), the DJ will politely decline to play if any guest requests it. "Sorry, ma'am, I must have left that at the office. Would you like to request something else?"
• No travel expenses, no setup fees, no tear-down fees, no tips. 
• They provide lighting, if we would like a certain mood or setting on the dance floor.

I'm seriously considering booking this company for the event. Their website is ridiculous to try and work through, but the email that the guy sent me has a list of all the awards/honors they received over the past couple years. They sound really reputable, and I can even tell the DJ to be all low-key and in the background, and not be one of those obnoxious loud DJ's that are in the movies.

Now for some pictures! I found a really cute idea that I'd like to try for the reception - these guys could hang from the ceiling in groups of two's or just by themselves, with different colors and sizes.

All it takes is some fabric, hot glue, and a paper Chinese lantern. The Paper Lantern Store has super good prices on the lanterns, has different sizes available, and the shipping is just $8. I'd have to see the space to know how many we'd use, but if we do one every couple of feet or whatever, then we shouldn't need more than ten per row. Alternatively, we could just have a few behind the wedding couple table, or we could put them at the entrance to where all the people will come in, or we can put them around the guest book area, or around the food area. Lots of ideas!

Instead of attaching the large pom poms to the ceiling, we could make a mini pom pom garland, and string that along the ceiling.

The only beef I have is that the last step uses thread to string them all together. I don't know how expensive thread is, but I've read a number of other DIY tutorials for various hanging things, and they use fishing line. It's clear, works like string, but best of all, it's strong - something I don't think thread would be when all these flowers are attached. But that's just me.

I'm considering having a dessert bar at the reception. Something that the guests can munch on before we present the cake. I haven't decided yet if we should ask the caterer to do it (I can't find a list of the desserts they offer), or if we should just go ahead and do this ourselves. If we baked things ourselves, we would need to freeze the desserts until the day of, and then just let them thaw out the night before or morning of. H.'s dad makes a mean chocolate covered peanut butter ball, and his brother makes a delicious Oreo ball. Those can easily be frozen and kept for over a week.

This recipe for Kahlua Truffle Triangles looks particularly appetizing. And the recipe claims that you can make these guys up to a month in advance.

So here's the deal - when I come back in April, I'd like to try out this Kahlua recipe and this Cheesecake Factory recipe, see how much it costs to make them, see how they taste, and decide whether or not to let the caterer do this aspect of the wedding as well. Alternatively to the cheesecake recipe, we could just buy those little cheesecake squares from Costco and set them out nicely.

Well, that's all I've got for now. Hope the snow finally goes away for you guys!

Ruh Roh.

Leave it to me to find something I might like as a centerpiece idea. (Hey, at least I'm not watching Say Yes To The Dress, right?) Here's the thing: I was reading this wedding inspiration blog and came across this entry. It tells you how to build your own terrarium - which I had never heard of until today. But after looking at the pictures, I'm wondering how much work it would be to do this:

 

It's just an idea at this point, but we could either use the vases we have right now, or (for a smaller feel) we could use these 19-ounce wine glasses. That way, the nest will still fit around the bottom of the glass. I will admit that I started looking at plants that are described as "terrarium" plants, but we could potentially use any flower/plant, and then tell people to take home the glassware at the end of the night to plant their centerpieces.

So, what do you guys think? Good idea, bad idea? If we used cheap plants, then we could cut out some of the cost for the silk flowers. Currently, the total for the calla lilies, carnations, and leafy greens comes to $80. I bet that we could find some wonderful live plants for under that amount. And, we could make these up to a week ahead of time, and then just set them up on the tables the day of. If we used the current vases, we could do a combo of rocks on the bottom, and then just some soil or mulch or something on top.

Your opinions are needed! To finish this post, I'll add another idea for a photo booth backdrop.

Flowers and More!

I'm going to dedicate this post to pictures of bouquets I think are fabulous, and perhaps a theme will emerge so that I can figure out what I want for flowers.

Looooove this bouquet! I really like that it's almost white, and that the flowers are just these lovely pastel colors that go well together really well. I also kinda like the little green streaks (is it grass, maybe?) instead of huge green leaves. The fact that there aren't any pearl or shiny things in it really makes this look all natural.

Here's a completely different bouquet that caught my eye as I'm browsing wedding sites. In this one, I like the textured greens mixed in with the flowers - and the bouquet isn't all white again. I guess I'm leaning towards pastels and such.

From the same wedding, we get this image of their centerpieces:

I hope you can see the closest centerpiece, because I think that the lime slices look really snazzy inside the vase. It looks like it's filled with water and lemons, and I'm not sure how much work that would take, but what do you all think about that? Maybe instead of slices, we could do lemon halves or quarters sitting on top of some river rocks (the rocks are much nicer and shinier in person than in that image). How does that sound?

H. and I were trying to come up with an idea for our guest book that we both liked. He's not a huge fan of getting the large signable frame of us, so instead I was thinking we could do one of two things:

1.  An Envelope Guest Book -  You take any journal, find some nice little envelopes and colorful cardstock, and the guests write happy notes and wishes for you and place them inside the envelopes. H. suggested we could even put the paper and envelopes at the tables along with pens, and then they just drop the envelopes in a box or something whenever they're done. The box could be somewhere inside the reception room. That way, you don't have a long line of people waiting to sign a frame.

2.  A Photo Booth - we already have that Polaroid camera that prints out the image instantly. How much does the film cost for it? Because if it's cheap-ish, then we can ask the hotel to use one of their couches from a lounge area and just have guests come in and take an instant picture which you can then - you guessed it! - put into an envelope and drop into a box for me to glue to a journal later. Or if we can find a photo album that fits the photo size, they could immediately place the photo inside.

Back to bouquets, if I decide to go with an all-calla-lily bouquet, this is probably what I would want:

Ignore the bottom half of the left side of that picture. Below is another example of a calla-lily bouquet, with more than just the lilies.

So yeah. Lots of options, not enough decisions, I know. >.<

So I know I already did a cake-inspiration post, but I'd like to add this cake to the mix.

What if we mated this leafy cake with that tiny flower 2-layer cake that everyone loved? I think we'd get a fantabulous mixed cake, that's what. But I'd probably lighten the green detail on this cake an awful lot to a nice pastel green to go with the theme I'd like for the cake.

But back to beautiful bouquets:

I love the white and green theme - I'm just worried that since the bridesmaids dresses are green, this wouldn't really work as an accent color. I think I'll use green, white, and some other color to add a real pop!

Another pastel bouquet:

And that's that! Now I get to go yell at UPS for being useless in changing the delivery address for the package that H. and I would like to have here. In the next coming days, I look forward to talking with the hotel lady, the catering lady, and looking up a good florist. Not to mention my wedding shoes should be coming in any day now - hopefully they are so comfortably that I can wear them whenever H. isn't here. Ha!

Weekend Mischief

Superbowl weekend is upon us, which means lots of beer and football. Costco has a wonderful deal on Digiorno pizza - 3 pizzas for $10.99 (pepperoni flavor) - and one of the local chains had a 4-for-$1 deal on avocados, so we're having chips, guacamole, pizza, and beer.  H. isn't completely thrilled that the Cowboys were out of Superbowl hopes about three weeks into the season, but we're watching the game for good football and awesome commercials. The most exciting part of the whole thing will probably be listening to the Greenbay Packers fans living below us yelling at the screen and cheering on their team.

Not a whole lot to say on the wedding front. I'm planning on sending the invitations out around the last week of February, or at least all of the invitation sites say to send them out 6-8 weeks before the wedding.

Oh! Have y'all already picked out the guys' suits? I realized the other day that you might want to see what colors and patterns I picked for the groomsmen/groom to wear, and then you can design something for los chicos.

This is the suit color that we picked. It's the only grey tux, so I guess they have something against spring weddings.

This is the vest that we chose. It's got a nice, subtle diamond and dot pattern that doesn't clash with the tie's pattern (see below).

This is the tie that we chose. If I remember correctly, this is the only design for the green color (that matches the bridesmaid dresses). You could play around with other ties, maybe a blue one? As you're looking at the website for ties and vests, you can see that they have different color options for each design option. In other words, each design only has a certain number of colors that it comes in. 

This is H.'s tie. I figured I'd include it just so that you'd know that's what he's wearing. Here's a link to the shirt that they guys will be wearing, and I'm fine if you want to choose the same shirt for the boys - nobody's going to notice the shirt, I bet.

One of the neat things about the TV channels that are automatically broadcast here is that there are four PBS channels, each of which usually has something different running, and one channel called Create. As a side note, Create runs several different cooking shows (each are a half hour long), including two Italian cooking shows, one Asian cooking show, Primal Grill (Dad will know this), and many many other regular American cooking shows. Speaking of Primal Grill, the other day I learned that the show is filmed in southern Arizona. Maybe I could go track that guy down and make him grill me some ultra raw meat. Can I get an Amen? (Dad knows what I'm talkin' about)  =3

But anyways! I was watching Cook's Country yesterday - it's the show with the one main male host who goes around and watches people cook or taste tests things or sees which cooking utensil works the best and so on. After learning that the most flavorful can of beans to use in chili is actually a vegetarian brand, I watched the host and a lady cook make the most beautiful angel food cake ever made. They followed seven key steps, and the cake came out very delicious looking. It's a good thing they haven't invented Smell-O-Vision yet. I really want to try out the recipe, but I don't think H. and I can finish it in a timely manner. I made a blueberry and pear pie about a week ago and we're still trying to finish that off.

If you'd like the angel food cake recipe, just let me know and I'll send it to ya. It's a bit too long to include in this post.

H. is working on hooking up his computer to the TV, so that you can see his PC on the TV screen. The only problem is that in order to surf the internet on his TV-computer amalgam, he needs the computer to be directly linked into the router, which means the router needs to be out in the living room. The only problem with that is the router doesn't work in the living room. So right now he's fiddling with the cable box in one of our closets, trying to electrically engineer the wiring to work in the living room. That's about as technical as I'm going to get, seeing as how I have no idea what exactly he's doing. : D

H. and I were driving out to one of the local stores (I figured that local honey would help with my allergies), through a part of town we hadn't been to yet, and as we waited to turn left at a set of lights, H. noticed a sign on a restaurant on the corner. It said "Now Open", and the restaurant happens to be Panda Express! So for Valentine's Day, we're going to get all dressed up and chow down on some excellent Chinese food. Okay, so maybe we won't get dressed up, but it's thrilling to know that it's a five-minute drive to delicious food.

Oh, so about coming back three weeks before the wedding: we're planning on buying our tickets this weekend for our flights back to Texas. The plan is for me to arrive in Texas on Wednesday, April 6th, and H. will arrive in Texas on Friday, April 8th (since he has that day off work). We'll both fly back to Arizona on Sunday, April 10th. I'll let you guys know when we've got exact flight dates & times.

Well that's all for today, folks. I'm going to leave you with a picture of something I would like to try and recreate for the wedding, but needs to be taste-tested when I visit the first week of April.

P.S.: It's chocolate truffles!

Thursday Feels Like Wednesday Sometimes

Well long time no blog, people! Sorry for the lack of updates - I had to put a halt on wedding shenanigans to deal with cleaning up the apartment and try to shove the remaining boxes of stuff out the door.

So I realize that it is probably snowing where you guys are, but it is also pretty cold here, too. Yesterday, the high was 44, and today the high is 37. No rain or snow or anything, just super cold air. Although, if your car is sitting in the sun, then it's nice and toasty when you get in it to go somewhere.

Speaking of yesterday, I learned that Michaels is a huge store of temptation. I almost bought wedding favors (again!) because I found these cute little $1 wooden birdhouses and thought about how fun it would be to have markers and paint and have the guests decorate their own birdhouses! And then I realized that might make it less of a wedding and more of a craft session. Here's a picture of the birdhouse, but in the store it's just blank wood instead of being already decorated. I also almost bought this bird punch, and then I'd find some fancy paper, punch out the birds, and include it as confetti with the invitations. H. thought that might be overkill (can I get an el-oh-el?).

There was also a $1 flower pot with seeds for Forget Me Nots, about an inch by an inch big. I almost bought it, but then remembered that it'd need to be in the sun for some amount of time, and as the sun doesn't directly shine into our apartment - which is going to be wonderful during the summer months - the little flower pot would have to sit on the balcony, and I wouldn't want it to fall, or have me forget about it. In short, I want flowers!

This is probably going to sound bad, but I need to return the wedding shoes that I bought a couple of months ago. Both pairs. The one pair that we did like hurt my feet when I went to go try the dress on. And that was just standing for a half hour, so imagine what it will be like all day long.  I'm planning on returning the shoes when I return in April - DSW accepts returns as long as you have the receipt, which I imagine is still with the shoes.

So, I purchased some new shoes. (crickets) I realize that these are not the cheapest shoes, but I figured that since they are a brand name, and they are usually $100, they must be very very comfortable. All reviews that I found of these shoes had high praise for how comfortable they were, including a couple of brides who wore them all during their wedding day. I have high hopes for these babies.

 The heel is 2.75", and I love the strappy look. I really think that it'll be difficult to lose these shoes when we're swing dancing. What do you guys think?

Now for something special. I kept seeing these fabulous shoes that had floral details on them. I seriously almost bought these shoes and these shoes from Macys, because I fell in love with them oh so deeply. I am proud to say that I found something that I believe will fix my floral addiction. TA DA! Shoe clips!

The Etsy seller handmakes the flowers, then hot glues them onto metal clips that will clip onto your shoe and hold the flower in place. If you notice the price, it's about $20 / pair of flower shoe clips. Since all you need to do is hot glue the flower onto the clip, I've bought the clips separately for $3.90 for 6 pairs. I wasn't sure if you guys wanted to do this with me, but if you do, I've got enough for everyone plus a couple of tests.

Now for the flower part of the flower shoe clip. This Etsy seller provides handmade flowers in different colors for $10 a flower ($20 a pair). Who wants to spend that kind of money? We don't. It is at this time that I should mention H. has decided it would be best if when I come back 3 weeks before the wedding, I come back for more than just the weekend. Probably Tuesday or Wednesday through Sunday. This way I'll have time to help you guys finish up the wedding projects.

That being said, I found some tutorials on how to make those fabric flowers:

• Stuff and Bits
• Flowers by Michonne
• Design Sponge 
• Katie Did

Think we can do it? I haven't really decided on a color yet, but we'll just see what's cheapest without looking cheap, shall we? =3

That's all for today, folks! Have a happy snowy wintry third day of February! =]