OOT bags & initials for my sister!

Last night, my sister, her lovely bridesmaid Lindsay, and I made the OOT bag labels and initials (a la Pootiekins) for her wedding, which is only 1.5 weeks away!!! Before we started all the crafty goodness though, I excitingly gave my sister her highly anticipated wedding gift!  (*Notice the piles of boxes int he background?!  Yes, that’s my wedding pile!)

Oh yes ladies, the elusive KitchenAid Mixer in Cinnamon Gloss! Please pardon the fingerprints, we kept oohing and ahhing over it.

For the OOT bags, we bought some simple kraft bags from Michael’s. We only needed 40 labels, so the bags were a good choice. If we had to make 100 OOT bags, it would have been cheaper to order them in bulk.  I designed the label in Adobe InDesign, which is super awesome. I’ve always used Illustrator, but I really warmed to InDesign. It’s a much easier to program to use, or maybe I’m just used to the Adobe suite at this point.

Her wedding takes place on 4th of July weekend, so the colors are red & blue (it’s brighter in person). I bought Avery sheet labels from Office Depot and printed out two designs per sheet. I cut them out using cute Fiskar scissors bought from Michaels.

For the initials, I took a cue from the ultra fab, mrs.pootiekins (aka Sarah K. Chen). I also used Mrs. Cherry Blossom’s post that contains some great tips! We bought 10 silk flowers from Michaels that were all 50%! Total cost for the silk flowers was $15. For the initials, I simply followed suit and ordered from Craft Cuts (16″, Times New Roman, 1/4 thick). They weren’t “cheap,” but I ordered three initials (her fiance’s first initial is the same as mine) at a total cost of $35 including shipping.

One thing we did differently, we put the glue on the wood first and then pressed the flower into it. I asked her how many times she burned herself and she responded, “Five.” Is that any better? I’m not sure.

I only post this picture to show you what the fiance did the whole time.  That’s right.  He played Wii Mario.

We bought the green textured ribbon from Michael’s $1 bin.  Score!

Update on Hot Brides Challenge!

I’ve recently altered my workouts and eating, and I wanted to share it all with you!  Hopefully, my plan will inspire other brides-to-be looking to lose an inch or two without starving themselves, yeah?!?!

As many of you know, I’m currently studying for the bar, so during the week I have a NO BLOGGING rule (I actually wrote this post on Sunday and scheduled it to post today!)

8:15 am – Wake up!
8:35 am – Eat 1/4 cup of Bare Naked Granola with Plain Soy Milk
9:00 – 1:00 pm – Attend Bar Class (Try not to fall asleep)
11:00 am – Eat cottage cheese and fruit (kiwi or apple)
1:00 pm – Eat tuna salad or chicken salad OR Spa Lean Cuisine (depends on time)
**I usually bring some extra tuna/chicken salad with me to eat an hour before my work-outs!
2:00 – 5:30 pm – Study at Coffee Shop
5:45 – 6:45 pm – Kickboxing Class on Tuesdays & Thursdays
6:00 – 7:00 pm – Spinning Class on Mondays & Wednesdays

Dinner – a variation of:  Chicken burgers / Spinach & Chicken / or Brown rice with steamed veggies and chicken. (Point: Eating lots of veggies and chicken, with moderate amounts of healthy carbs!)
Dessert – 1/2 cup Sugar-Free Orange Sorbet

**Also, none of the food I eat has more than 6 grams of sugar per serving. If you’re buying Lean Cuisines (they can help you out in a serious time crunch), I always check the sugar content. If you eliminate sugar from your diet, you will eliminate your cravings!!!

On Fridays, I go the gym and either run on the treadmill or elliptical and do a little weight training. I’ve also been playing tennis after my kickboxing class on Tuesday and play a little golf on the weekend.

I’ve been on the regimen for about two weeks now and I can already notice a difference! My goal is to lose about 15 pounds before November 1st baby!!!! I’ll keep ya’ll updated

Anyone else on a plan to become a HOT BRIDE?!?!?

I’m a Non-Ivory Shoe Bride!

I bought my wedding shoes the other day, and one of my friends was shocked. Yes, my wedding shoes aren’t ivory and she assumed like many others do that your wedding shoes should match your dress. But, my reply was simply, “When will I wear them again?!” And, “Who wants boring ivory shoes?!?”

Case in point:

(Image by Jessica Claire)

(Image from Brides Cafe)

(Image from Style Me Pretty)

Dressin’ the mom!

In keeping with the spirit of wedding attire, I will finish this topic with the most important person in my life, my mother!  A few weeks ago, I spent some torturous time at the mall looking for my mother’s outfit.  As she was unsure of what to wear, I went alone to the mall to find something to save her the trouble.  Yes, I’m a really good daughter!

I’m not going to lie, it was brutal. Lots of the dresses were just terrible. Full of sequins and glittery material. My mother doesn’t work at the Golden Nugget! Not to mention finding something at a reasonable price?!?! I mean, seriously! After much searching at Dillard’s no less, I found a blush two piece number that I thought would look great on my mom. The price? $72. Oh yeah.

I know that lots of moms don’t want to look like “moms” and I can respect that. For me though, I really love a tailored jacket. I think it looks really classic. My mom’s outfit has a jacket, but it’s not a plain one, the cuffs are really cute and there’s a tiny bit of sparkle.

Doesn’t she look great? I think the color looks perfect with her dark hair! The dress needs to be hemmed a tiny bit, but other than that it ROCKS!

A close-up of the jacket. She’s going to wear pearls like below and I really think the wide cuffs spruce it up, don’t ya think?

My mom tends to heat up, so the jacket can be removed to reveal a very classic two piece dress. I think she looks AMAZING! She was so impressed (nay relieved!) that I found this for $72!

Our new, brighter bridesmaid dress!

No one really tried to guess the new color, except for Kate who guessed Kelly Green. Unfortunately that is incorrect, but I DO love that color!

So, after we found the guy’s great sport coats, I really felt the bridal party was too…brown.

It was a bit of an inconvenience for the girls, but they were so great and no one got upset with me. I called J.Crew and they agreed to exchange our brown dresses for these:

Yes, they are the same dresses but in a different color and slightly more expensive. Still though, for $70 my bridesmaids aren’t complaining, except that this is actually the 3rd dress I’ve picked out. Yes, I made a online ordering snafu and ordered a different yellow dress that ended up being totally wrong, and so a couple of my bridesmaids had to visit the post office again. They wanted to hurt me a little, but don’t worry I’ll make it up to them.

I think the dresses are beautiful and bright and will give our wedding that added punch of color I’m always talking about! They go REALLY WELL with our groomsmen suits, don’t ya think?!?!

my answer to the brown v. black dilemma!

As you know, I’ve gone back and forth about what the groomsmen will wear.  Many of you liked black and I think black is a classic safe bet.  It would look great, absolutely, but I just felt it was too formal for our wedding.  Plus, I wanted the guys to pay for something they’d keep.  I mean rentals cost, what $100 nowadays?  Also, we initially had chocolate bridesmaid dresses and for some reason I just wasn’t feelin’ it.

Naturally, our second option was tan suits, but I felt that was too informal. If we were having a beach/tent wedding it would be perfect, but I felt I wanted something more.

Then, it happened. I was going through my trusty Google Reader, and I came upon a wedding featured by Elizabeth Anne Designs. It was in a word, breathtaking. I won’t say any more, I’ll just post pictures taken by Heather Moreau of Vallentyne Photography.

The groomsmen suits were perfect!!! They were in the brown family, but not as informal as the tan suits AND the groom looked a little different in a rich velvet blazer. I contacted the bride, Maie, (yes a bit stalkerish, I ain’t ashamed) and asked her about the suits. She happily gave me some tips on how to find some. (*Note: She’s featured in this month’s Modern Bride)

On Memorial Day weekend, hoping to find some great sales, we went to Stein Mart. What did we find? Five Ralph Lauren sport coats for the groomsmen at $58 a pop. Three Ralph Lauren sport coats for the dads at $58/each but in a slightly different color. What else did we find? Yellow ties for $12/each for each of the groomsmen & dads. Also, Ralph Lauren khakis for $34.

Look at my cute soon-to-be hubby:

He tried on each tie for me. See how his smile is lessening a little?

We bought two of each, and then one with tennis rackets, hee hee.

Here’s a close-up of the dad’s blazers. I love the plaid, it looks so old school!

And what did we find for the Groom? We found something, but it’s currently at the tailor and we’re not sure it’s going to work. I’ll tell you that it’s a rich brown velvet Ralph Lauren blazer. We found it at Dillard’s for $65. Yes, you heard me correctly. It was rather large on him so we’re not sure if the tailor can fix it, so you’ll just have to wait until after the wedding to find out what he wore!

**Thanks to Maie for inspiring me and allowing me to completely steal her ideas! You’re the best!

mooning the honey in Costa Rica!

Not sure about my title, maybe it’s just all this time off I have making me a lil’ stir crazy?!?! A couple of days ago the fiance and I booked the 2nd and 3rd hotel of our honeymoon in COSTA RICA baby!!! We are so pumped about it, mostly because we’re going for 12 days but also because we’re pretty outdoorsy and adventurous. We’ve heard the coolest things about Costa Rica!

The first week we’ll be staying at a timeshare in Guanacaste, which is in the northern part of Costa Rica. It has volcanoes, surfing and lots of hiking! For three nights we’ll be staying in a romantic bungalow at The Harmony Hotel.

Here’s a few pictures from their website:

Our third hotel is Hotel Grano de Oro, located in San Jose, which is where the international airport is located, so we’ll be nearby. Such a decadent room, right?!?!?