Bali, I Am Coming For You

Now that the winter has definitely dragged on a bit too long, it's the perfect time to daydream about our Bali honeymoon and spend unreasonable amounts of time on the internet searching for goodies to fully prepare myself for the trip.  Because you can never be too prepared to relax, get massages, and eat and drink to your heart's content for 2 weeks.

So, how to be a Bali Boy Scout? (naturally I would be a Girl Scout but the b's were irresistible)

Swimsuits!  I have this bikini at home. 

I would try it on for you and post a pic of myself, but I don't want to burn your corneas. Instead, my pug "decided" to model it.

Look at me mommy! I'm so sexy!

Sadly, that is my one swimsuit. I'm pathetic. I had to cure that pathetic-ness. I looked at several recommended websites, including Everything But Water and Fig Leaves, but damn they can get expensive (particularly the former, on the latter there are deals).  Plus, I was having a hard time finding sizes for my small boobies ("SB").

Then there was the old standby, J. Crew. While not totally cheap-o, they have plenty of styles, colors, and most importantly, sizes (see SB comment above).  I am paranoid that anything strapless would fall right off of me because of, again, the SB problem, so I like to have a strap. Here's what I found:

Lido halter, $44

 

Glamour bikini bottom, $38

And just in case you need more of a visual, here is a woman who is much taller, skinnier, and well-endowed than I am (that isn't saying much. again, see SB comment above):

 

You're pretty

(ignore the bottom)

Are you purchasing any wardrobe items to look HOT on your honeymoon?

DIY Stress

It's March.

Twenty months after we became engaged, I find myself at the beginning of the month that always seemed sooo far away. And now it's March. 2010 (the year that also seemed sooo far away).

I know that in reality, my to-do list is manageable.  I believe there is an inevitable craziness that occurs the last few weeks preceding the wedding.  But I know what we have to do and it's all, well, doable.

Right?

Regardless of my attempt to have "perspective", the flutters of anxiety have begun and persist (and it only *just* became March).  I just mentioned that I have my to-do list, and that with the immense help of my sister and others, we will get things done--so why the flutters?

Because.

What if it's not a complete to-do list? We all forget something. And what if things that seem simple now end up being a major fiasco to complete? What about all the potential roadblocks and problems?

I am. Worrying about hypotheticals that I don't need to worry about.

I am. Creating a certain amount of stress for myself because it's "March".

I am. Generating anxiety because I feel like I *should* be panicking or doing something, because if I'm not, clearly I am missing the boat and the wedding will go up in flames.

I am. Getting lost in the fact that there are a myriad of moving parts that each require a list of details to be meddled with, instead of focusing on the fact that all the tasks are manageable.

I am. Writing this because I need to get it off my chest and it makes me see how ridiculous my self-created stress is.

Thanks, hive.

Any of you feel/felt the same way a few weeks before your wedding?

On the Way to the Hair Salon...

...I must have lost a few brain cells.


Remember the hairstyle I wanted? 

Source

(Mrs. Coconut)

Remember my hair trial?  Here was the finished product.

I really liked it, but could have done without so many curls, which was due my long, long, long hair:

Keep in mind my hair is curled in the above picture, so it was a few inches longer when straight.  At the time, my hair/makeup artist, Aimee Lam, gently asked whether I *always* kept my hair that long--as if to say please, hon, chill on the Rapunzel.

I figured suuure, I have *tons* of hair to spare.  So a couple of weeks ago I went in for a haircut. And I'm not sure where my usual fear-of-change and risk-averse personality went, but I asked the stylist to lop off a good chunk.  No fear!

Not pleased with myself.

While not shockingly short, I'm concerned that it's too short to achieve the curled low updo that I want.

So on my way back from the salon, after having lost said previous brain cells, I then started to lose perspective.  At that point, it wasn't even a matter of whether my hair could physically be formed into the above hairstyle (because looking at it now, it's not *that* short).  I was absolutely convinced that I had ruined my chances of achieving my beloved hairstyle and kicked myself for having gotten such a short haircut so close to the wedding.

Eventually, Kevin injected a little sense back into me by saying: "Honey you're going to look beautiful no matter what, this isn't something you have to worry about." (two brownie points, maybe even three, for that man!)

Whether I can or cannot get the hairstyle, psychologically this is a lesson for me to "let go". I wanted a particular hairstyle. I may not get it.  But Kevin is right.  I've hired a hair/makeup artist who is uber talented and whom I love, who will do an amazing job in making me up all pretty with or without this hairstyle. Right? I mean, who freakin' fixates on a HAIR STYLE??

Let go, let flow. (Of course, I say this after I asked our local vitamin peddler whether prenatal vitamins would help my hair grow faster in a month. He looked at me funny.)

Anyone else make a few "oops" before the wedding?  Anyone need a little jolt back into reality that it's okay if you don't get what you originally envisioned?

The Key

Let me share with you the #1 key to the Pugs' happy relationship.

Source

You think I kid. But I don't. The #1 key to harmony* in my and Kevin's relationship is apartment cleanliness.

I have always felt a sense of satisfaction and peace at maintaining a clean, tidy home. I love the feeling after I vaccuum and polish the floors, clear and store the clutter, scrub down the bathroom and kitchen, and very importantly, wash all the dishes in the sink.  Granted sometimes I would go embarrassingly long in between cleanings, but at least keeping the place clutter and grossness-free has always been a priority.

Now, when Kevin moved in, by far the most obvious problem we had adjusting to each other was our *drastically* different approaches to cleanliness.

It was war royale.  For example, I can't stand a sink full of dirty dishes.  He admits that this does not bother him (horrors). 

Source 

(oddly, these look like clean dishes placed in a sink, but point is that a sink full of dishes drives me nuts)

I like to put my clothes away.  He likes to use his clothes as floor covering.  I like vacuuming up after our pugs.  I don't think he realizes that they shed.  It started to feel like this:

Source (huh, maybe I should buy this book)

It's not that Kevin doesn't appreciate the cleaning that I do--it's simply nowhere on his radar that something is messy.  I think he's missing some kind of brain chip (I'm sure he would say the same about me).  Things that I consider gross and unbearable don't bother him in the least, and most of the time he's not even conscious of it.  

I tried backing off, he tried helping out more--it worked to a certain extent, but there was still a significant amount of tension.  After one fight too many, Kevin suggested hiring a housekeeper.  I balked. I thought it was indulgent, unnecessary, and a sign of laziness.  I told him that I had time to clean and was perfectly capable of doing so.  In perhaps one of the wisest moments that Kevin has had, he responded:

"Mina, it's not whether or not you have time to clean and can do it, it's a matter of how you'll feel about me after you do it."

He was so right. No matter how much I understood that he would never be Mr. Clean, I also understood that I would never, ever be the type of person to do all the cleaning for someone else and not resent it.

So we hired A to clean the apartment, and I am absolutely in love with not only the wonders she works upon our apartment, but also with how she has benefited our relationship.  It's something that we don't have to argue about (much).  I still do most of the housekeeping in between the times that A comes, but Kevin has his own chores (taking out trash and recyclying, walking the dogs multiple times a day, etc.). 

Anything you did for your relationship that has brought significant peace?

*I say this is jest. Of course there are other things that make our relationship go 'round. I mean, we do all sorts of things together, like watch TV and surf the internet side by side.

You Can't Resist the Artichoke

Yes, more artichoke.  If you commented on the previous post, do it again here.  

I know some of you were doubters about my beloved artichoke--Miss Rainbow, I am talking to you. Let me quickly show you how it played out.

My sister and I Gocco'd the invitations a few months ago, and I present to you, Artichoke Invitation Suite:

 

Becoming a better photographer is next on my list after becoming Gocco god.

And here is the suite in pieces:

Main invitation

Schedule of Events 

 

RSVP card

While I like RSVP cards that are extremely simple, the hotel needed to know in advance how many guests would be eating which dish, or else they were going to charge us, like, a million dollars.  Also, we needed a head count for the other weekend events for planning purposes.

Do I love them? Yes. Are they perfect? Not quite.  Could I have just sent this image to an invitation designer/printer and been on my merry way? Well yes, I guess so--but despite the effort of this DIY project, it meant a lot to me to make my own invitations.  Maybe because I'm not crafty in any other aspect, I thought that this would be a great opportunity to give a personal touch to a very important aspect of the wedding.  

My DIY skills are now officially spent. 

Were you happy with the way your invitations turned out?  If you made them yourself, was it worth it?

Artichoke in Gestation

And here's a look at the process of making our invitations, which went out last month. I know, so fun.  I won't go through the nitty gritty of using a Gocco because you find that in plenty of other places, but here are some highlights.

("Highlights" may be overstating the case, but nevertheless, we shall muddle through.)

We started with our artichoke image. 

Source

(copyrighted by Bobbi Angell--do not use without permission!)

I wanted to use the artichoke on all three parts of our invitation suite--main invitation, schedule of events, RSVP card--but not the same exact image.  So my friend used Adobe Illustrator to create two alternate images to this main one--one with a close up of the bottom portion of the stems, and one with just the smaller artichoke on the right of the image. 

As you probably don't recall, I purchased Strathmore Natural White 130 lb. cover paper from Limited Papers, and had the company pre-cut my paper into 5 x 5 cards for the invitations and schedules, and 3.5 x 5 cards for the RSVP cards.

Before I could start Gocco'ing my heart out, those suckers needed to get rounded corners. So I took my handy rounded corner punch, and rounded away.

 

Observe the hubris from the mighty corner punch at the bottom of the picture.  Below is a blank, rounded RSVP card:

Now that the paper was prepped, I needed to burn me a mean artichoke on the Gocco screen by flashing really scary bulbs through the screen and image.*  The abridged version (and check out those veins just poppin' outta my arm!):

Then, I inked the screen. This was fun, mostly because it was the least stress-inducing step of using the Gocco.

Then, we went from this:

To this (blank one on top, printed one on bottom--to point out the obvious):

But whoa-ho? Where be the text, yo? (I'm a little tired right now.)  I created the text in Word, using Vera Humana 95 and Day Roman fonts.  We then burnt an image of the text onto a new screen, inked it, worked some more Gocco magic, and voila!

Kinda cool, huh? Admit it, you're really impressed with me. Say it!!

Next up is the full invitation suite. 

*I try to spread this around as much as possible, but if you don't want to use the bulbs and/or cannot find Gocco screens and bulbs, you can still totally use your Gocco--see this great post on Unless Someone Like You about a DIY Gocco screen. 

Things Not To Do

I have a few ideas on things not to do right before your wedding.  I learned these from the aftermath of my "pre-wedding celebration" (i.e. bridal shower/bachelorette party) last week, and the lessons generally fit into the theme of "Safety First". 

Thing Not to Do Right Before Your Wedding #1: Dance on a Stripper Pole

 

Kendra (formerly of Girls Next Door, now apparently has her own place with stripper pole and reality TV show and married to a pro athlete with baby I'm sorry how did that happen jealous much?) taught me all my moves 

Yes, you heard it, I made out with a stripper pole.  Dancing on a stipper pole is hard work, people. I didn't know this, and neither did I consider this in my inebriated state during the festivities. Two things happened the next day which weren't so pleasant, and things that I would not want to happen on the wedding day:

A. I couldn't lift my aching sore arms.  Swinging yourself on a pole, hoisting up your entire body weight, and whatever other antics you want to do take a lot of arm strength. 

B. Bruises. I tend to bruise easily, but regardless, making a running leap and throwing yourself against a pole, holding on tight with your limbs as you swing around again and again lead to things like this:

Sexay!! Uh huh.

Thing Not to Do #2: Feed Your Pugs

The day after the festivities, I was tired. Slow on the uptake/coordination tired.  When I was reaching down to pick up the food bowls to feed my pugs, I whacked the center of my forehead, right above my eyes, against the corner of my dining room table.  

Woe is me.  What do you mean you can't see it.  Okay here.

That says "Epicenter of Concussion" above.  Low-grade concussion while trying to say my vows would probably be doable, but perhaps not so cool.

Lastly, the culprits who apparently will be starving until the wedding:

I'm kidding. Of course I'll feed them.

Maybe. 

The pain was worth it--I had a fabulous time at my pre-wedding festivities which were lovingly planned by my friends.  It involved manis/pedis with a glass of bubbly, potluck dinner, bubbly, surprise guests from California, bubbly, a slideshow which induced an ugly cry face, more bubbly, a human pyramid, and a night of dancing.  Most importantly, it involved lots of love and friendship, for which I am inexpressibly grateful.  What, you want a pic? Here.

I make my mom real proud.

Anybody else have some tips on things to avoid right before the wedding so you can be fit, conscious and happy for the day of?