The Light at the End of the Tunnel
Posted: September 10, 2012 Filed under: Updates | Tags: reception alcohol, tuxedos, update, wedding, wedding reception, wedding tuxedos 11 Comments »I keep getting “helpful” emails from sites like Wedding Channel and The Knot reminding me that my wedding is only 11 days away. Why thank you, I didn’t realize that.
Fortunately, I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel now. John and I went to the tux place and picked those out last week. We knew he was going to get a tail coat, but we thought we’d get vests in red or blue. However, there’s specific kind of vest that work with tail coats (full-back vests come down too low) and they had a limited selection of those. He ended up deciding on just a black tie and vest, which looks very sharp.
We went to Formal Wear Outlet in Hillsborough (also where I got my wedding dress) to get them, which it turned out was definitely the cheapest way to go. It was actually cheaper to buy them than rent them. They sell used tuxes for $99 for the complete set including cuff links and studs. Shoes were $10 extra. Every place I called about rentals would have been more than that once you factored in the shirt, vest, etc.
The only bad thing is that we’re buying them, but two of the groomsmen don’t live close enough to us to try them on, so we’re going by the measurements they gave us and just hoping they fit. Of course, we’re getting the tux for his fourteen-year-old nephew a bit large so that, hopefully, he won’t grow out of it immediately. So I guess there are two downsides to buying them, but if you don’t have any growing boys in your wedding party, I think it’s a great option. Also, if your beloved owns his tux, you can always have overdressed day, which John and I are great fans of. He wears his tux and I wear an evening dress for no reason whatsoever and wander around town.
I had a minor breakdown while sewing the chuppah yesterday, but John cheered me up again quite quickly. Right now, the only DIY I have to do is finish that and put stems on the flowers and boutonnieres. We also finally wrote the ceremony, so now we just have to write our vows. We still need to get a final count on guests so we can estimate how much alcohol to buy. We’ve decided not to have a champagne toast since champagne is a bit pricey and people can toast with beer and wine just as easily. Does anyone know of a good way to figure out how much beer and wine to buy for a reception?
It’s Been A While
Posted: May 8, 2012 Filed under: DIY, Updates | Tags: diy, stress, update, working out 4 Comments »Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. The exam period officially ended on Friday, May 4, which was when my 20 page paper on domestic violence law was due. I wish I could say I’d just been lounging around the house relaxing since then, but I had a number of Etsy order to catch up on. I still do actually, but the Dalek cake toppers have to dry between coats of paint (and my god the white ones require a lot of coats of paint!), so I have some time to take a breath right now. Also, Mr. Darcy has made a full recovery from his kitty cold, so he’s back to “helping” with my craft projects. I found a few cool new ways to make fabric flowers during the exam period, so I’m going to try them out soon. I may have a DIY post for one way if it works out well for me. For the other method I found out about, check out The Bitchy Bride‘s post How to Personalize Your Bridal Clutch – she put a fabric flower with her awesome, custom-printed book fabric on her clutch, but she also used the same method (and same awesome fabric) for bouquets.
In other news, I worked out for the first time in forever today. I wrote in my Bridal Weight Loss Rant a while ago that I wanted to get back in shape, not just for the wedding, but because I wanted to feel – and look – better in general. John and I have been trying to be more active, but it’s hard sometimes. With the stress of moving and the end of the semester, I just didn’t feel like I had the time or energy to do much of anything. Now that I’m feeling more normalized, I thought it would be a great time to get back into the habit of hitting the gym. The little fitness center at our apartment complex isn’t much, but it has everything I need – namely an elliptical machine. I got on it today and did a moderately vigorous half-hour workout. It seemed to go by pretty quickly (of course Queen makes everything better) and I didn’t feel like I was going to die during the workout. Now, I can tell that I worked out (my thighs are probably going to be a bit sore tomorrow), but I feel good. I definitely need to start doing that a few times a week at least.
In other, other news, we went to the Asheboro Zoo on Sunday. It was fun, though they didn’t have as many animals there as we were hoping. I like the fact that many of their exhibits try to mimic the animals’ natural environments, but they should have the viewing areas set up better so that you can actually see the animals. I meant to take lots of pictures with my awesome new camera, but I forgot to bring it. However, I thought I share some revelations we had about my cat, Lily. Lily is a sweet cat, but she’s a bit tubby. She also desperately wants to be an outdoor cat. This is a picture of Lily as she actually is.
Lily is the blob on the left next to Mr. Darcy
This is what Lily thinks she is – a terrifying, roaring lioness.
What Lily thinks she is
This is what Lily would be if she were a sea creature – a harbor seal.
Lily of the Deep
Alright, enough rambling for today. I thought of several good blog posts that I didn’t have time to write during exams, so those might go up soon. I also will try to post a DIY fabric flower tutorial soon.
Soft Kitty, Sick Kitty, Little Ball of Fur
Posted: April 27, 2012 Filed under: Updates | Tags: big bang theory, cat, cat cold, kitty, kitty cold, sick, sick cat, soft kitty, update 3 Comments »
A healthier Mr. Darcy with his sister, Lily, in Korea
Mr. Darcy seems to have come down with a pretty bad kitty cold. He started sneezing a lot a couple of days ago, but I assumed it was just allergies (I’ve been sneezing a lot too). It got a lot worse the next day and by yesterday he could hardly breathe. He was siting in his cat cube wheezing horribly last night when we got really worried. He was breathing through his mouth, and his ears and nose were warm to the touch. I was thinking about taking him to the vet today, but I read some things about the feline equivalents of human colds and decided to give it a few more days. Apparently, the most common cause is a virus and there’s not much a vet can do since antibiotics won’t work on viruses. The common consensus on most of the sites I was researching on was to wait a week and take him to the vet if he doesn’t improve.
The cats have been banned from the bedroom in the new apartment. I miss having a warm ball of fur curl up under the covers with me (Mr. Darcy) or having a quietly purring blob sleeping next to my feet (Lily), but it is nice not to be woken up as much at night. We decided to let him stay in the room last night though, because we wanted to keep an eye (or ear at least) on him and we thought he’d be more comfortable without the other cats around. Apparently he wasn’t too happy about the arrangement though, and decided at 5:45 that he desperately needed to get into the bathroom. Then he demanded that I turn on the faucet for him. I relented because he was sick and needed fluids. I left him to hide in the cabinets while I tried to go back to sleep, but Lily and Jude had apparently realized that Darcy was in the room and wanted to join in the fun. For the next four hours, we woke up continually as the other cats cried and scratched at the door. We keep a water gun by the door for just that reason, but this morning it didn’t seem to deter them much.
Darcy seems a bit better today, though he’s still sneezing and has a runny nose. His temperature seems to have gone down though, which is a very good thing. John and I, though, are very tired. John is still at work (it’s 9:30 pm), because it’s a Friday night and the restaurant stays open until 10 on Fridays. Hopefully he won’t have any late night stragglers and will get home before 11 tonight. I’ve been trying to work on my paper all day with limited success. It’s a complete mess. I’m half-tempted to just throw out what I have so far and start from scratch. I don’t know why this paper is giving me such problems. I know a lot about the topic. There’s plenty of research and a decent bit of case law available. Yet I can’t seem to write anything that’s cohesive. Perhaps I should just go to bed early and start again tomorrow.
For those of you who don’t know what the title of the post is referencing, it’s a slight variation of a song from the show Big Bang Theory that Penny sang to Sheldon when he was sick.
I’ve Been a Busy Girl Tonight
Posted: March 21, 2012 Filed under: Updates | Tags: diy, progress, record, update 4 Comments »
Perfect for keeping letters sorted
Since getting home from class at 4:30, I’ve gotten a lot accomplished. I went to Walmart to get some crafting supplies, photographed all of my Etsy items on a white background and edited them in Photoshop, put the first coat of paint on my bathroom door (there was a hair dye incident), started on some Dalek cake toppers, and made an upcycled record desktop organizer.
What every desk needs
We Found an Apartment!
Posted: March 19, 2012 Filed under: Updates | Tags: apartment, diy, food, restaurant, update 2 Comments »
Our new home - well not this building, but one very similar to it
We had been having some difficultly finding an apartment that was cheap enough for us and was still an easy commute to the law school. We also wanted to stay away from any complexes owned by GSC, because they own my current complex and I’m not a fan, but they seem to have a monopoly on affordable housing in Chapel Hill. On Thursday we looked at some apartments at Poplar Place and really liked it. We were having a few issues with cost, but I went back the next day by myself and looked at a different floor plan. I was pretty much sold on it, so John and I went back yesterday and looked at it together. We decided to go for it and put in the application. I should find out today how much our deposit will be. Read the rest of this entry »
