It's my birthday!

I am 30 years old today :O  !!?!  And I have had a pretty fantastic day despite having to work, and it being the last accounting day of the month which is always super busy.

farewell youth.

I was treated to lunch by my little brother (he had to work this evening) at BJ's Brew House, which was delicious.  He and my Mom gave a present to both Aaron and I - a stay at Hotel Zaza for our wedding night!!!!  So exciting!!!!

<3

After work my Mom and I hung out a bit before we met up with Aaron for birthday dinner at the Cheesecake Factory!  We had a delicious feast, and Aaron got me some gorgeous flowers and the new Mindy Kaling book which I wanted so bad!  I had given a bunch out as gifts to my friends, but refrained from buying one for me because we are on a budget.  I got it literally 2 hours ago and have read half of it already.  Win!   I also got a beautiful bouquet of flowers from my bestie Katrina yesterday at work.  I love getting flowers :)  

So it has been a pretty great day filled with over eating, and the cherry on top?  The Addams Family Values is on TV right now!  That is seriously one of the greatest movies of our time and among my favorites, so hilarious!

Source

Here's to the next great decade!

Our Winter Wonderland Wedding Invites - Part 2

I bet you thought I forgot, didn't you...

Refresh your memory with Part 1 here


I included 2 insert cards in our invitations.  The first was for accommodations and hotel info.  I also put our wedding website which has other hotels if you are brand loyal or don't like saving money.

Then we have a directions card to get to the church and the reception.  The directions to the church are good enough, but the reception location is downtown - thus a little tricky.  Our plan was to put better directions and a map at the back of our wedding program.  That way you have it handy when you are headed there!

Then we of course had the RSVP card.  We kept it pretty simple, but made sure to include the deadline!

I knew I wanted to do postcard RSVPs to save on the postage.  Advice though - I thought I could just do a basic card stock but it was waaay too flimsy to get through the post office in one piece, so we added the back.  I think it is a nice touch and color contrast though, so that worked out well.  But wouldn't you know that postcard postage would go up one stinkin' cent from 2 months before when I got super cute polar bear stamps.  That Tiffany lamp stamp ruins the whole look of it!  Oh well.  

I didn't know what sort of box to put in front of the options, so I just went with a circle.  I made all of these in Microsoft Word, so my choices were limited.  I did get some back that were bubbled in like a scantron, and that made me laugh a little. :)

And that is our invitations.  My advice again, is that if you are brave enough to make your own wedding invitations, give yourself plenty of time.  It is a lot more work than it seems!

How to keep track of the RSVPs

Checking the mail has never been so much fun!  Every day a few more RSVPs come in, and it just brightens my stress-filled days.  I only wish it wasn't my wedding so that I'd have some quality hanging out time with everyone!

With a wedding the size of ours, there are a lot of people to keep track of on the guest list.  I am not sure if there is an easier way, but I thought I'd share my method of keeping track of everyone.

1. I keep all the incoming cards for back up.  And possibly a future scrap booking project.

2. I really have a deep love for excel spreadsheets.  Therefore, I have all of my invitees on a basic excel list with their addresses.  I use one line for each person, and if they are bringing an unknown to me person, I just have 'date' as a placeholder.

When I get in their RSVP they get highlighted on the left hand side so I know they wont need to get hunted down on January 8th.  And then on the left I put the number of people coming.  If they can't come, I just put a zero for good record keeping, lol.  

If there is a baby involved, I just put them behind a slash so I can keep the kid head count separate.  I am proud of page 1, almost all have responded!  Good job guys.

I am hoping that we will get a good amount of RSVPs in this week and next week because the deadline is January 7th.  I don't want to have to make a billion phone calls, but from what I read from other brides, it is pretty inevitable.  Until then, I will be anxiously waiting by the mail box :)

Wedding Jewelry

"Before you leave the house, take one thing off." - Coco Chanel

I am not a big jewelry person at all.  It is sad too because I have so many lovely pieces of jewelry that get neglected.  I usually don't remember to accessorize when I am leaving for the day.  Then other times I just feel too flashy.

So when I was deciding on my wedding jewelry, I knew I wanted to look a little glam, but definitely not over the top.

Since my dress is pretty sparkle-tastic I opted for a fancy bracelet instead of a necklace.  Plus I think necklaces draw attention to my stumpy neck.

I did get some really great earrings that look pretty good on me, if I do say so myself.  If you have a round face like I do, picking some longing earrings can really help your face look slimmer.  There is a good article here about complimentary earrings for your face. 

Want to know the awesome news?  I totally got my wedding jewelry for $30 bucks.  Sweeeeet!

$25 at Macy's

$5 at Target

Just enough sparkle! 

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas!  And if Christmas isn't your thing, I hope you at least enjoyed a day off work!

Mine was pretty swell.  We had my Mom's annual Christmas Eve get together with friends in Houston.  We changed it up and did fajitas instead of turkey, which was excellent!
Then we had Christmas morning here at home, and then headed to Austin for the day to see some family.  I somehow completely spaced on taking present opening pictures.  Whoops.  Here are some though :)

There is a tree somewhere behind our giant bodies.

Cousins!

The 'do something silly' shot, lol

Christmas is the best!

I feel like this lately.

Source

I am regretting having a wedding immediately following the the stressful holiday season...

It is really bumming me out that I have been so overwhelmed with a wedding to do list that I am totally not even enjoying the holiday season, which is the highlight of my whole year.  I feel like I am being cheated by my own self.  Little things that don't go according to how I want them to make me want to scream and break things.  It is pretty horrible.  I think I need to start doing some yoga or something.

We are 38 days away.  OMG!

And if you work full time, that is only 5 weekends, one of which is Christmas.  And only about 3 weeks of school break left. 

My to-do list:

Meet with cake baker/design cake

Get dress altered

Get Aaron's tux altered

Find a hair person

Have a hair trial

Take engagement pics with Erica

Get veil fixed to work with my hair-do

Buy a garter

Find a jacket thing or sleeves for my dress

Find the last 2 vases we need for centerpieces

Break in my wedding shoes

Buy more supplies for our favors

Finish making the favors

Order Church flowers

Decorate Church candles

Make a program design

Make programs

Book the Church Choir

Order clips for the pews

Make pew decorations

Make a sample centerpiece

Pick a bouquet that I want

Figure out flower order

Finalize attendant gifts

Make table numbers

Make place cards

Help Aaron de-clutter his apartment

Address and send out rehearsal invites

Make rehearsal dessert

Make rehearsal centerpieces

Make mani/pedi appointment

Order Jeff's tux shirt

Figure out how we are decorating the entry

Figure out my guest book vision

Assemble send off rose petals for throwing

Finish the marriage test our Priest gave us

Meet with Fr. James about marriage test

Meet with band

Meet with linens people

Make weekend itinerary

Coordinate with our 'day of' helpers

Call the non-RSVPers

That is all, no big deal.  And I probably left about 10 things off the list too...

As far as Christmas goes, I still need to get gifts for my step brother and sister, but other than that I am done.

You know, a month ago I had a much better attitude and was like, we are doing whatever, and I don't care, everything is wonderful and good.  Now I just look at that list and want to cry. 

This is supposed to be fun, right....?

Red Neck Wine Glasses

Aaron and I got an awesome wedding gift last night from my Mom's next door neighbors, and I just had to share because it is hilarious:

Bubba's Redneck Wine Glasses

If you haven't seen these, or can't tell from the picture, these are mason jars with stems attached, lol.  Hilarious!

We got our present early because the neighbors are weeks away from moving to London for 2 years for work.  I am bummed that they wont be able to make it to the wedding, but they are super excited about their new adventure, so I am happy for them.  They will be missed around here!

If these glasses are to be used by actual rednecks, feel free to swap the wine for moonshine or pabst blue ribbon, lol.  

Thanks again Frank and Noelle!

Wedding Tuxedos

Getting the mens all suited up has been a relatively easy journey.  Well kind of.

My dream was to have midnight blue tuxedos way back when, but apparently I just dreamt them up in my mind because they only exist in suit form.  I would have been fine with suits, but it would have toned down the formality.  With bridesmaids in navy blue it might have been a little overkill though.

Then we have dear sweet Aaron.  He is so funny, for someone who is not that great of a dresser (but I still love him), he is awfully picky about what he wears.  So of course he decided that he was going to refuse to rent his wedding tux.  In his words - he is not wearing used clothes on his wedding day.  While I appreciate the sentiment, he acts like I am asking him to wear hobo clothes I bought at someones garage sale.  So I was concerned with this idea from the get go because I just want everyone to match and look like they are in the same wedding.  And I am so not about to ask people to pay hundreds of dollars for a tuxedo to wear once, after they are paying hundreds of dollars just to be there in the first place.  Also, I figure for $150 bucks (or however much it costs to rent a tux) you get to wear a nice designer tuxedo, and it fits you just right, it has all the pieces, they can matching the accessories with the bridesmaid colors, and it is just easy.  I am not looking for any extra complications with this stuff, you know?  And for the final portion of this rant...I think Aaron spending a lot of money on a tuxedo is beyond financially foolish.  We don't have hundreds of extra dollars in our budget to buy an expensive tuxedo, I don't want you to look like you are wearing a $100, ahem, cheap tuxedo, and I am willing to bet 5 bazillion dollars that this tux will never get worn again.  Make that ten bazillion.

But in an effort to choose my battles and keep the peace, Aaron bought a very reasonably priced tuxedo from JC Penney, and it actually looks pretty nice.

10 bazillion.  Any takers?

Oh, and Aaron also refused to wear a vest because he thinks they don't flatter his physique (which is totally ridiculous) and that it creates too many layers and he will be hot (which is also ridiculous, it is January!)  So the guys are doing just black cummerbunds and bowties, and Aaron has silver ones so he is special.  Mozart, to be precise.

Made in America, yeah!

So Aaron told the guys what was up, and they all agreed to purchase these tuxedos.  I still have ushers and a grandpa though.

I called my grandpa today and told him we were buying tuxedos and he really wasn't into that.  He told me about this guy Al who has a tuxedo place in the mall by his house (Al's formal wear) and that I should call Al and see what kinds of deals they have, lol.

Lucky for me, there is an Al's on my way home from work, so here's what I did.  I printed out the photos of the tuxedos from JC Penney and took them into Als and hoped I would not get stink eyed.  The lady there was super nice and showed me the matching tux model that looked just like the one the others bought.  Win!

So now everyone can be happy and rent or buy their wedding outfit, and I can check this off the list more or less!

Rehearsal Dinner

check!

It has been a pretty productive weekend!  We have exactly 48 days until the big day, so I am really starting to feel under the gun about all the unfinished plans that need planning.  But I got some big things knocked out this weekend, so that is awesome.

The biggest accomplishment is booking rehearsal dinner!

Since we are having an elegant chicken oscar-esque event for the reception, we wanted a low-key fajitas and margaritas type dinner.  That would seem easy enough, especially in Houston of all places.

Well here is the thing.  Our rehearsal is Friday night, and Friday night is the absolute WORST time to be driving around in Houston.  The traffic is nightmarish, and this is coming from the gal that commutes an hour to her workplace that is 17 miles away.  That being said, we didn't want our rehearsal dinner attendees to have to deal with that, as they will already be in a foreign city.

true story.

 The second thing is that the closest Mexican restaurants to our church either don't have the space to fit our needs (we have about 40-50 on the guest list) or the food is mediocre and overpriced.  It is sad, but you go into these places and you don't see one Mexican dining in there.  That is your first clue that it isn't that good.  No one wants to celebrate with sub-par fajitas.

So we did a compromise, and are having the crew drive a little bit more than I would have liked, but for really good food that is good priced as well.  Plus we get our own little area away from the regular restaurant patrons.

My Mom and Jeff went for lunch there Saturday and we got to talk to the manager and get it all reserved, win!

 Ayi yi yi!

And as soon as I got home, I ordered our invites from Pear Tree Greetings:

Big weight off my shoulders getting that set up!  Now I only have about 499 things to do :)  

48 days away, eep!

Baby, It's cold outside!

It has been literally freezing in Houston the past two days, I think winter has finally arrived!  We braved the frozen tundra to get us a Christmas tree early this week, which was fun.  There is not a more intoxicating aroma than a Christmas tree if you ask me!

My Mom and brother Jeff checking out the selection

And we went out for Gingerbread Lattes from Starbucks afterwards :)

Yes!

And today I had a lovely dinner date with my gals Lindsey and Leslie.  Came home, finished my last school project, so I am OFFICIALLY DONE!  (for the semester)  Such a wonderful feeling!  

Oh, and Aaron and I met with Fr. James, the new head priest at our church about wedding things - I will talk about that more in a post soon.  He gave us a super long test to take to see how good we will be at marriage, lol.  It is a take home test, so I need to finish that and bring it back for the results.

Other wedding things that are going down this weekend:

*My Mom and I are going to Harwin (Houston's ethnic shopping district) for some discount fabric for table cloths

*Hopefully finding some last items for my Bridesmaids gifts

*Visiting a whole-sale flower shop we might order the wedding flowers from

*Checking into a rehearsal dinner locale

*Seeing about a hair lady my neighbor recommended

Oye, there is still so much to do!

Why Aaron and I are good for each other

We were made from the same nerd mold...

Aaron and I have a deep and serious love for all things Christmas and we are planning on attending a Home Alone pizza party at our local Alamo Draft House - because few things get you in the spirit of Christmas like Home Alone.

Keep the change, you filthy animal.

So all week we have been totally excited for Saturday.  We are pinching pennies to get this wedding paid for, and are sooo busy with everything that we hardly get time together to just have some fun.  Here is an excerpt of our discussion of the pizza party/budget.

Pssh, Romance is gross.

so much screaming.

Our Winter Wonderland Invitations - Part 1

Without further adieu...  our hand made snowflake invitations!  

My flash was being a little intense, so I apologize for the bad lighting.  They are basically a little booklet with all the info, and there is a pocketfold in the back for different enclosure cards.  (I'll show those in my next post, I didn't have any handy)  

The cover page was just a translucent page with our names printed on them.  I got a neat snowflake punch at Hobby Lobby, and some fun silver glitter paper for the front snowflake that is attached with a teeny brad in the shape of a heart :)

Page two is the ceremony info.  Pretty basic.  I tried to find clever wording, but decided to just keep it simple in the end.

Page two was the reception information since we are partying at a different locale than the ceremony.

The pictures really don't do it justice, they look really pretty and sparkly in person.  I have gotten so many compliments on them too, which feels really good since my Mom and I spend hours upon hours working on them!  I'll make a separate post over the weekend for the inserts and RSVP cards we made.  I would like to also give an honorable mention to the 10 or so people who have sent back their RSVP card already, way to be on top of things!

Part 2 - Insert and RSVP cards!

Barbie and Ken Get Married

Taken from this article on Glamour's website.  You really should go to the article and see all the photos, too funny!

Wedding Crocs!

I have successfully acquired comfy shoes to dance the night away in and horrify my Mother in one fell swoop!

My first pair of crocs that I have owned are these flat mary jane style which I wear to work all the time. ( I call them my business crocs) ((And even though I am not very fashionable, I wouldn't be caught dead in public in those ugly crocs that are like mules/gardening shoes))  But that being said, they are sooooo comfortable.  And I think these flats are pretty cute if I do say so myself.
I am such a glutton for comfort you guys.  My dear Mom, she is so classy and put together looking always, and she just doesn't understand how I did not inherit this trait.  We got into a tiff just the other day because she was trying to tell me I had to wear panty hose and I didn't want to because I don't think my legs will be exposed at all during the evening.  "When I got married, I wanted to look perfect and polished, I don't understand why you don't want to look your best." - direct Mom quote.  I am not defending it, I know I could use an upgrade in the style department 9 times out of 10.  I guess I just feel like 'me' when I am dressed down and comfortable.  Being a bride is proving additionally challenging, because while I want to look stunning of course, I am most comfortable blending in and not having attention on me.  I mean, I hardly even wear jewelry because I feel like I am being too flashy.  It is silly, but this is how it is with me, lol. 

(source)

Don't look at me. 

So I have the fancy sparkley dress, and fancy shoes to be wed in, but for the party we are bring back the authentic Natalie who wears crocs and doesn't care.  And just for good measure I'll probably spill food on my dress while I am at it!  (...I hope not) 

So I have my business crocs, and now I have my wedding crocs :) 

Holidays!

Hey guys!  It has been a while, I know...

I, along with my Mom, have been working for weeks and hours getting our hand made invitations out so I have had little time for much else!  They have been mailed out, so in a day or two I will do a post on them once they have been received by the guests.  (Didn't want to ruin the surprise!)

Finally addressed and ready to go!

I have been having an awesome holiday however :)

I'll rewind back to the weekend before last, my Mom and I and a few neighbors had a humongous garage sale (sorry I forgot to take any photos) but we didn't pretty fantastically, so that will make a nice addition to the wedding budget - in a positive direction.  So yay for that!

Thanksgiving was pretty great too.  It was a small group, My Mom, brother, Aaron and Ruth and Sam (my step-grandparents).  We had a delicious feast, and Aaron made the most delicious turkey!

My little brother with a comically small whisk

Cutting up the bird!

Ruth and Sam are ready to eat!

We ate until we could eat no more.  Then Aaron and I went and saw the new Muppet movie, and it was great!  I recommend it if you have ever loved the muppets, or like laughing and feel nice movies :)

Friday we decided to sleep rather than wait in lines for super crazy deals, but around 9AM we headed to Macy's because we had some really good coupons.  The mall was pretty tame, so that was nice.  I always say I would gladly pay double to shop in an empty store rather than try to shop and bumping into people all over the place.  

And today (Saturday) it was rainy and I lounged around the house all day and did nothing.  It has been glorious!  

This coming week I have finals at school, so I will be getting those out of the way, then winter break starts!  Which means hyper-wedding mode starts in full force until the big day.  I so cannot believe I will be a married lady in a little over two months!? Wild!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Wedding Crowns

We ordered our wedding crowns last week, and they have arrived!  We ordered from www.orthodoxweddingcrowns.com, and they came really quickly!  And they are just as beautiful as the picture:

St. Julia-Silver

The “St. Julia-Silver” crowns feature a stunning display of unique design, mixed with traditional qualities. Intricately woven silver thread/wire winds around baby pearls (faux pearls), creating a wonderfully rich design you won’t find anywhere else.

I have the St. Julia crowns attached with double-sided white Satin ribbon, and have been formed into traditional circular, 7” diameter crowns.

Source: www.orthodoxweddingcrowns.com

It was super difficult to decide which style we wanted, they are all gorgeous!  I am happy with our decision though.  We also ordered the small replica crowns to use as our cake topper, then as an ornament on our Christmas tree :)

Here is a nice overview of why the Orthodox wear wedding crowns:

http://www.orthodoxweddingcrowns.com/crownhistory.php

and here

http://orthodoxwiki.org/Marriage

Office of crowning

The second part of the service is the ceremony of coronation, in which the heads of the bridegroom and bride are crowned by the priest. In the Russian tradition, the crowns are gold or silver, while the Greek tradition uses crowns of leaves and flowers.
The crowns are crowns of joy, but also crowns of martyrdom, since marriage involves a self-sacrifice on both sides.
At the end of the service the newly married couple drink from the same cup of wine. This common cup is a symbol of the fact that after this they will share a common life with one another. This also recalls the miracle at the marriage feast of Cana in Galilee.


Yay, I am getting excited, we have just about 2 months to go!  Eeek!

Happy Engage-aversary to us!

It was a year ago exactly  - November 12th, about 11pm, when this crazy adventure started.

For at this time last year, Aaron unexpectedly knocked on my door and proposed.  :)

Source

It was basically just like this.  Magic sparkles and all...

I can't believe it has been a whole year already!  Though sometimes it feels like it has been like 8 years...

Unfortunately Aaron is up in Indiana (Notre Dame to be exact) at a philosophy conference for the weekend.  Maybe we can celebrate this milestone this week sometime.

But for the occasion, I wrote Aaron a love haiku.  I was feeling poetic, lol.

our love had birthday

a year of laughter and smiles

forever seems nice

That was a pretty terrible haiku.  

I love you Aaron!

The Long Walk Down the Aisle

I am happy to report that I have requested my grandpa (Buelo) to escort me down the aisle on the big day.  I am so glad that he is willing and able, and honored even.  :)

::a Natalie and Buelo pic will go here once scanned::

Figuring who to ask was troublesome to say the least.  I really considered walking alone, I mean, I'll be 30 years old by then, I am an independent woman!  Roar!!  lol.

I am glad my Buelo is up to it, but had he not been, my Dad has three wonderful brothers and two brothers in law that I am certain would have been delighted to give me away had I asked.  I just wouldn't know how to begin to decide between them.

And I thought about my little brother.  He would have been a good option too, but he is in the wedding as one of the groomsmen, which I think is the best place for a brother to be.  I just thought it would feel weird to be given away by my little bro, the one I look out for and give unsolicited advice to.

Then I thought about my Mom.  We are best friends.  She was Mom and Dad since I was 11.  She would be the most appropriate to give me away.  But I wanted my actual  Dad to be somehow represented, so Buelo seemed like a better choice.  Plus being Mother of the Bride is an important thing in and of itself.  I want her to have her time to go down the aisle before me and get ooh-ed and ahh-ed and 'doesn't she look lovely-ed' at.  If she walked with me she'd totally steal my thunder!  I am joking, but you get the picture.

For those of you who don't know the story, the reason my Dad isn't around to walk me down the aisle himself is because he passed away back in 1993 from cancer.  It was hard and horrible, but time heals your pain as well as it can.  I miss him so very much, but this whole getting married thing really makes the void so much bigger seeming.  I wonder if he would have liked Aaron.  I wonder what advice he'd give us about marriage.  I wonder what he'd look like as a 59 year old.  I wonder what song we would have danced to.  I know that he is always with me, figuratively speaking.  It is just a bummer with no one to blame.  I think some things you just never get over.  Though if life hadn't unfolded the way it did, who knows what my life would be today.  I can say for sure that I am pretty glad for where I am today, so that is something.

Miss you, Dad.

Night with the girls

I have to tell you about the rest of San Antonio weekend now - all the fun that was had spanned the entire weekend after all :)  Angela, Katrina and I checked into the lovely River Walk  Plaza Hotel after an afternoon of visiting with grandparents, and got ready to hit the town.  It was Halloween weekend, so we knew it was going to be a fun night :)  Luckily we were able to walk to the River Walk and downtown - it was only 2 blocks away, win!

Katrina and Angela

We strolled the River Walk and grabbed some food at a nearby Mexican place.  It seemed like there were a lot of people hanging around (and several in costumes, which was fun) seemingly waiting for something to happen, but we were unsure what?  We soon learned that there was a Halloween parade on the river that night, and we had a pretty decent view from the patio at dinner.  It was very festive :)

After dinner we were looking to find a spot to chill out and drink more margaritas, so we walked the whole river and nothing looked too awesome, so we went up to street level.  After walking around aimlessly for a few blocks we found the neighborhood Pat O'Briens.  This place was actually pretty great, we had three nights out in one place!  We got a table and some cocktails and chatted for a bit, then we went to check out the piano bar area.  The piano bar was really fun and engaging and we sang and drank some more.  And yes, that last picture is my dear Katrina 'making it rain' on the piano player, lol.  We can't take her anywhere...

Once we ran out of monies for piano requests, we went upstairs to the dance club which was fun.  We were full of liquid courage to bust a move at that point, lol.  Earlier in the evening I sent a text to my cousin Chris who lives in SA that we were hanging out downtown if he felt like meeting up, and about now is when he replied that he was headed to another bar in the area.  So we got our googlemaps out and headed that way.

And we passed the Alamo!  Funny story, when we were planning out the evening beforehand at the hotel, I was looking at a map of everything, and where to go.  Angela is our history gal and almost PhD in the subject, so it was necessary for her to see our famous Texas landmark while we were here.  Well at the hotel, I decided that the Alamo was way too far to walk to, and we'd have to take a separate trip in the morning.  There was no way we'd be walking that far... Looks like I ate my words!

Our last stop of the night was at On the Half Shell to meet up with my cousin and his lady friend.  If you are in SA on a Tuesday night, go here and you can see my cousin doing poetry slam.  The dude is nation champion finalist material.  Pretty awesome!  But yes, OTHS was fun and loud, and we got to see their costume contest going on :)  And I got to see my cousin, and that is always fun too!

It was like 2 in the AM by the time our heads hit the pillow.  I had a really fun night, and I was so glad that Katrina and Angela were there to make it so fun.  Guess we old gals still have some late nights in us!