Hello 2010!

It's been a productive break, and I plan on telling you all about it before Spring semester starts, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. I just wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year! Now I will get back to celebrating then end of the year of Bobby's proposal, with him, the love of my life!!

"Friendly" Family Competition

I thought I would be the one adjusting to Bobby's ultra-competition family: the many annual 5k competitions, always out-doing each other in behind-the-boat water sports every summer, and many other activities that are the joy of this active family. But, Bobby has a few new competitions to adjust to himself. Not tests of physical abilities, but mental and creativity acuity, and yes, even luck. My mom's family has an annual predicting-college-football-bowl-winners contest every year in memory of my grandfather. That contest  is largely based on luck, because if it was based on skill, my uncle would be the perpetual champion. (Okay, so he's won more than anyone else, but my win was solely luck-based). The newest family challenge is restricted to the cousins of my generation. An ultimate test of creative ability. Gingerbread house decoration. Bobby and I thought we were winners for sure until we started getting emails with other entries. Pretty sure we were beat this year, but we will be more prepared for next year and have a full arsenal of edible decorating tools available! I wanted to share some pictures with you all, so enjoy!!

First, is our entry:

We thought our graham cracker car and chimney were pretty awesome. He's not in this picture, but there's even a gingerbread santa in our chimney. (He suffered a broken leg during the postal service flight and resembled Gingy from Shrek more than santa).

Next, my sister and her boyfriend's entry:

Love the orange and blue (go gators!), and the pretzel fence is the best!!

Next, is my cousin, Erin, and her boyfriend's entry:

Their ginger bread men are having a mini marshmallow snowball fight, and they also thought of the fence, making theirs with gum drops.

Lastly, my cousins, Brett and Chad:

They had a marshmallow snowman, hershey's chocolate driveway, and gum drop greenery. And a santa. I know their's is much better than ours, but I am slightly suspicious. Their parents were the organizers of the competition, and they might have had an unfair advantage with previous house decorating experience.

Bobby and I are ready for next year. He's adjusting to my family's version of competition, and I'm adjusting to his. (Next is keeping up with his family during our post-christmas camping trip!)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

.... because it's semester break! I love having all of this time off from school to work on wedding stuff! Although, most of my time has been taken up by buying and wrapping Christmas presents, baking christmas treats using my Nana's wonderful recipes, and of course, spending time with my fabulous fiance. By the end of the semester, we weren't getting to spend too much time together every day, so it's been really good for us to just be together.

By now, most of the presents are wrapped, and the cookie dough is in the fridge waiting to be shaped into trees, wreaths, and snowmen. So, I am going to spend a day with my mom and sister, the MOB and MOH. We are going to make a ridiculous amount of flowers today, and plan out some more of the reception. We'll probably also go to lunch and make a trip to starbucks as well, because a trip to visit my mom wouldn't be complete without a hazelnut latte for me, a caramel macchiato for my mom, and a chocolate chip frappacino for my sister!

I'll make sure to take some pictures of our projects today and post them for everyone to see!

a personal update

Just a little update from me...

The semester is over, so as far as being a student and teacher are concerned, I have a little break. The researcher part of me has a lot to do this week so I can really enjoy my break! Having a break from school means I don't have to feel guilty about choosing wedding stuff over homework :-D So, I'll be working on some more flowers, and store searching for reception table centerpieces and some kind of budget friendly container for the little gifts I'll have at the hotel for our out-of-town guests. Oh, and I am also working on a knitted hat and scarf set (merry christmas present for me!) and getting all of my Christmas presents wrapped. I have become quite the present wrapper this year. I love all of the boxes and bags at Michael's! They are the best!! (and pretty green too, since they are definitely reusable)

And now, I will share with you all, the excitement from this past weekend. Solutions Bridal was having an open casting call for bridal show models, so I went, figured I would give it a try! And I was chosen as one of the models - so lucky me gets to play dress up with some of the absolutely fabulous gowns that Solutions will be showing off in their runway show! Super exciting! :-D

DIY Fabric Flowers, Part 1

I've been working on some DIY flowers from ribbon, fabric, and buttons. My inspiration came from wanting to do something different for my flowers and finding numerous sellers on etsy with beautiful felt, fabric, and ribbon flowers for bouquets, hair accessories, and many other things. Knowing I could give the whole DIY flower thing a try, I searched for some instructions as a starting point. I came along another blog, Little Birdie Secrets' fabric flower tutorial roundup. I have tried a few of the ribbon flowers, which I will post about later. I think the flowers I am going to talk about today, I came up with myself, but I've looked at so many DIY flower instructions, it's hard to remember. My apologies for non recognized sources.

Here's my favorite flowers so far, and definitely the easiest as well! (Modeling... not the best picture, but I had a final today, so it's really not that bad!)

My supplies were:
A light gauzy type fabric remnant from Joanne's, ($2 for over a dozen flowers! what a steal!)
needle and thread
Pipe cleaners

First, I folded the fabric width-wise to about a 3" strip, and pinned the edge to keep it together. Then, I cut the strip into squares, and pinned the middle of the squares to keep it together. (On the left in the picture).

At first, I used a circle guide to cut the fabric, but then realized for less frustration and a prettier flower, that trimming off the corners and being left with a roundish-oval shape was perfect! I stacked and pinned 5-6 rounds, laying the rounds slightly off-center from each other. Then comes the fun part!

First, thread through the center of the stack and fold in half.

Stich a few times at the center of the fold to hold the crease.

The next step might be a little confusing in words, so hopefully the pictures will help. Basically, you fold/crease/squash the fabric to make a more flower-like shape and stitch the folds to hold the new creases.
First, bring each end of the crease to the center to look something like this:

and this:

When stitching the creases, a more open flower is made by stitching different pairs creases together, which also makes a little "nub" (weird word, but it's the only one I could think of at the moment) for the next step.

The next step is the stem. I made a loop at the end of a pipe cleaner, then stitched it to the flower. I tried a few different ways of attaching the pipe cleaner, but the loop system seemed to work best for me.

Most of the flowers I made were from the 3" squares, but I had a little extra fabric, so I made some 4" ones as well. Both looked great, and you could probably play with the number of rounds in each flower. 5 worked well for me to get a full flower and the most flowers from my fabric. I am going to cover the pipe cleaners with flower tape to make them sturdier, and hopefully they'll hold up well in a bouquet.

So, there it is, my first flower project. Once I get a bouquet done, I will be sure to post pictures! And, expect more instructions on my ribbon and button flowers once I figure out the simplest way to make them.

a little venting

I should be studying for tomorrow's final (which I haven't started yet), and not wasting time on facebook and etsy, but.....

I need a little venting time. Sorry if this is whiny, but I just need a little of that right now. Plus, I think I've been pretty good so far, and definitely not anywhere near a bridezilla type. So, things that are stressful:

1. Figuring out reception food. This is turning out to be very not-fun for this budget restricted couple. I love my family and friends, but seriously? Do caterers really expect two graduate assistants to pay more per guest for over 100 people than we pay for a nice dinner out?

2. The distance of all those who should be helping me plan! I am very much a planner, and normally don't mind taking on big projects myself, although usually I need to be reigned in a little, since I can go overboard sometimes (ok, well, alot). But, it's not the best when all of my bridesmaids and family membranes are so far away and busy that even a phone call to share ideas is an ordeal! (I'm sure I'm exaggerating about this at the moment, and I don't want this to be taken as an insult by anyone reading this. I love you all and know you are willing to help in any way you can!) And, without having everyone together, I feel like I'm repeating myself all the time, and tend to leave out important details the more I talk about something to different people!

3. Details. Now that we have the Hipp and an approximate guest list and time schedule, we have to start figuring out the details. Such as, how are the tables in the Hipp best organized to allow for enough seating, the food, favors, cake, drinks, and a dance floor? What are our guests going to do for the 2+ hours between ceremony and reception? Should we even worry about this?

4. Bobby's minimal (although growing) knowledge of all this wedding. I will ask an opinion, or share an idea, and his usual, immediate, response is something along the lines of "weird" or "are you sure?". Then he thinks about it a little, and after a few days will admit that it was a good idea or have a constructive comment. Maybe this is a guy thing, or a Bobby thing, but it adds to the feeling of repetition and overall stress. I try not to bug him about stuff he really doesn't have an opinion on, but even important things, like the possibility of a honeymoon registry, cause undue stress!

5. Scheduling the marriage prep things through church. I don't know what it is about Catholic churches, but their schedules really don't allow for a student to get in contact with anyone in the parish office! They're probably just making up for being "open for business" on the weekends, but everyone is gone by 3pm, and when I have classes/research until then, it makes it difficult to schedule important things like pre-cana classes.

6. My mailed save-the-dates. I was just informed by my mom that my website address with more wedding information on the save-the-date postcards has been inked over by the post office barcode, making it very difficult to read.  Guess I'll be collecting email addresses and forwarding it like that!

Now I'm too wound up to even try to fall asleep... guess I have no choice but to study now. At least there's only 2 more days to my semester. Then "break" starts and I have all the time in the world to write 2 journal articles, and try to prepare for spring!

I will end on a happy note though, Thursday is my and Bobby's 3 year anniversary. He has something special planned :-) Soon after that, we will hit the 5 month pre-wedding milestone. AHHHH!

My Catholic Wedding Checklist

Bobby and I met with our parish pastor today, to start the marriage preparation process. We both agreed to have a Catholic wedding from the start - neither one of our families have had a Catholic wedding in our generation, and we knew how special it would be for our grandparents. Now we have a list of items to complete, and a little less than 6 months to do them all! Here's our checklist:

1. Meet with parish priest. (Done!)
- Obtain baptism certificates and "Affidavits for Freedom to Marry" (get a family member to sign a form saying each of us has never been married before).
2. Attend a marriage spirituality course.
3. Complete FOCCUS communication survey course and review process.
4. Complete a natural family planning course.
5. Attend a weekend engagement retreat, PreCana course, or meetings with a marriage preparation couple.
6. Review financial educational materials.
7. Plan the wedding ceremony with the parish music minister.
8. Obtain a marriage license.

So this week, I will be busy calling and scheduling steps 2-5. :-)

I didn't realize how stressed I was prior to the meeting today. I feel much more relaxed now that the process has started and we are in the parish schedule for our wedding!