a fitting tribute

Love this!

lol

if only my sick day allotment wasn't just chopped in half...

It’s been awhile, sorry!

Over the weekend I finished the Save-the-Dates for the family members coming to St. Simons and slaved over the wedding website. Somewhere in there we went to Bed, Bath and Beyond three separate times (don’t ask), did some spring cleaning and hung up most of the new drapes I bought at Pottery Barn.
I’ll post pics of the STDs once everyone’s gotten theirs in the mail. Plus, I just want to say…
Congratulations to my cousins Charlie and Kris who welcomed the newest member of the family, Emma June on Sunday!

when you enter a contest...

be prepared to win...

Holy crap, I won a contest for a free Boudoir Photo session which now just seems ridonculous!

The point of the contest/session is to "Celebrate Yourself" and help a new photographer pad her portfolio.

I'm loving that it's free, but I'm not sure there's enough alcohol to make me feel comfortable!

What do you think? Should I do it!?

Note: I would rock a Bumpit for Brigitte Bardot hair.

142k

Lafawnda made it to 142,000 miles as we pulled into the work parking lot today.
W00T!

we're half way through the week!

From HERE

sniffle

from A Cup of JO:
This photo essay is heartbreaking but beautiful: "Katie Kirkpatrick, 21, held off cancer to celebrate the happiest day of her life. Breathing was difficult now; she had to use oxygen. The pain in her back was so intense it broke through the morphine. Her organs were shutting down but it would not stop her from marrying Nick Godwin, 23, who had been in love with Katie since 11th grade. Five days later, Katie died." -- Photographer Romain Blanquart.

Such a sad yet inspiring story.

alternatives

Quest for "the dress" numbers 3 and 4 over the weekend didn't work out... each were a long disappointing experience.
I'm not planning on visiting ANY more shops this weekend, but that doesn't stop me from looking online.

Here's some sweet wedding-related Etsy finds:
Shower/Rehearsal Dinner/Bridesmaid dresses:
Seafoam Grecian Monroe dream gown


Light Blue Tulle Strapless Mike Benet


1950s strapless yellow lace ruffled prom dress


LEMON DROP



Jewelry:

Mermaid's Crowning Glory


The White Trio Ring

wedding photographer

I have a new wedding photographer - hooray!

Here's the link to his website: Tim Brown Photography

He is a Southern boy and very excited to shoot our wedding. We're going to talk again soon to figure out a photographic timeline for the day, which will help me plan the ceremony and reception.












I'm going to put an ad on Craigslist Savannah for a videographer and see what kind of responses we get... we'll have to wait and see if its in the budget.

Oh, yeah and the Save the Dates still aren't done but I'm getting quotes from professional printers ;)

quest for the dress part trois

I am taking a road trip to another bridal shop this weekend... However, I might have found my dream dress on Craigslist assuming its still available, it fits, and its what they say it is.

wish me luck!

you're fired.

On Monday I emailed both my engagement photographer and my wedding ceremony photographer since I hadn’t heard back from either in about two weeks. I still haven’t heard back from the engagement photog.

Yesterday, the wedding photog sent me a long reply… so here’s the condensed version:

“Rachael, Hi, if I got this email then I'm not aware of it… but when it comes to a Saturday night in one of my busiest months… I just determined that… I am giving up an opportunity to work a full wedding … it just cost me too much in revenue… for a Saturday night wedding during these prime months. Of the photographers that I know of that you'd be comfortable using, I don't think that any of them would tie up (just) a Saturday night…I hope that you can understand that I couldn't make a living if I didn't utilize my Saturday's to the best that I can.”

First off, spell my name correctly – it’s in the email you just replied to and second, you’re fired. You broke your contract, and now you’re outright asking for more money than you quoted. Plus, I can’t believe you would have the balls to tell me no one else will be willing to photograph an afternoon/evening wedding.

I’d much rather pay someone who wants to be there (at an agreed upon time and price) and I thank God that this happened now and not the day of the ceremony!

My wedding coordinator at the resort is working to find me someone else… fingers crossed!

Because I needed a reminder

Half way there...

Only 6 months until the wedding and 6 weeks left of boot camp...
Here's the proof:




I'm feeling unmotivated and unexcited about today. I was really hoping to have sent the Save the Dates (STDs) to the SSI attendees by today, but if I can do it by next week it won't matter much. I have a DIY post but I can't put it up yet... soon. I promise. Still need to do about a million things and I haven't heard back from my engagement photographer or my SSI photographer - it's been over a week and I need answers!
Hotel rooms for the weekend of the wedding are filling up quickly and we're going to need to have a plan for our honeymoon (i.e. somewhere to sleep) but as far as I can tell no progress has been made in that department. I think if I can get the STDs worked on this weekend I'll feel better about my lack of progress... finding a dress would really help also.
Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer - work has been awful and I was rejected as a contributor to my favorite blog, but at least it's Friday and I get to go back home for the weekend.

Does anyone know how to get Blogger posts back into a Rich HTML format? I'm in basic mode and it sucks.

quest for THE dress #1

Over the weekend I stopped into David’s Bridal since it was the last day of their $99 sale. I’m sure where they keep those $99 dresses or what they must look like but the lowest priced dress I tried on was $450… still, not too bad.

I am looking fora sweetheart neckline with a mermaid/trumpet style and smallish train. Here’s what they brought me:

#1 - Grecian Goddess, super staticy and the front layers looked weird. I liked the shell-like "bodice" though.

#2 - Classy Kelly, this Oleg Cassini was gorgeous but a little too fancy for an outdoor/beach wedding. LOVE that lace on the bottom!


#3 - Pleats! Not so good.


#4 - Lovely Lady Lace, discontinued=good price, my favorite of the 5.


#5 - The Beast, this one was waaaay too big (note the sales clerk holding onto the extra fabric the clothes pins couldn't handle) and came with lace sleeves, ew.


They weren’t bad, but none of the dresses were “the one.” I wasn't expecting to find the right dress on the first try. Has ANYONE every bought the first dress they try on? I'm serious... anybody?

I’m off to The One Stop Wedding Shop on Saturday – wish me luck!

omg, omg, omg, omg!

Andy just sent me this press release from GameSpot and I nearly had a nerdy-Beatle-induced-seizure in my cubicle...

"Last month, MTV Games and record label Apple Corps announced that The Beatles: Rock Band would arrive in stores worldwide on September 9. Although there will be no shortage of hype surrounding the game, it turns out that the Harmonix-developed project will be just one part of an all-out Beatles blitz.

Apple Corps announced today that The Fab Four's entire original catalog will be remixed and rereleased to go on store shelves the same day as The Beatles: Rock Band, alongside two new Beatles CD box sets. The rerelease has been in the works for four years at the legendary Abbey Road Studios, and includes the band's original 12 studio albums, Magical Mystery Tour, and a combo disc of the two Past Masters releases.

The entire catalog of remixes will be available in a box set with a number of Beatles documentaries on DVD. Although the rereleases will be all-new stereo mixes of the recordings, purists will also be able to pick up The Beatles in Mono box set. As the name implies, the set features 10 of the band's albums as they were originally released, in glorious mono."

Nerd squeal!

DIY - Wedding Map

As much as I would love to have a Laura Hooper personalized map, I think they’re a little too busy, plus they’re not in the budget.

Today I spent my lunch making my own map for our wedding celebration. Using Google maps and Photoshop I was able to create this little beauty:

Isn’t she sweet?
It wasn’t too complicated by using the pen tool, clip art and layers I was able to trace my Google Map and add the highway markers. I did the same thing to the city-level zoom and VOILA!

If only more people didn’t know where they were going, I would send one of these suckers out with every invite.

aw, honey, honey...

Today a coworker brought me a jar of raw honey (well, he didn’t just bring it, I had to pay him for it). He’d been boasting the positive health effects he’d been having since he started taking it a year ago and among them– no allergies!

I’d like to give it a try since:
a) having a dog when you’re allergic to dogs probably isn’t the best idea
b) I was just wondering what it would be like if I breathed though my nose instead of wheezing like Darth Vader and what my “real” voice would be like… less Fran Drescher-y, perhaps?
d) I’ve had allergies for a quarter of a century and I still haven’t figured out how to control them

So he brought me this jar:

And it's delicious! Its very thick, like cream cheese but tastes just like regular runny honey. I also tried his "Super Enriched Raw Honey" which was like a brick and tasted like Burt's Bees lip balm... I'm now part of his experiment to convert people taking medicines to using homeopathic remedies. He also made me swear to buy a jar of the good stuff this weekend – yeah, if I have time.

At the very least, it would be amazing it I didn’t sneeze or sniffle through my wedding ceremony! Here’s hoping!

sounds like a fun night, right?

After a challenging day of data entry and 2 nights of high intensity workouts, I’m looking forward to tonight!!
• Working on STDs
• LOST
• Busting out the spring wardrobe
• Making an iced coffee on our new Kuerig machine

And last and most importantly… reading the Spring 2009 issue
MS Weddings!

Seriously, is there anything that compares to this wedding bible? I saw the new Brides issue but it looked nearly identical to the last issue… oh, Martha, how I love thee…

it may be tacky...

...but I would love to use these icons for dinner selection on my RSVP cards!

from PaperSource