That Redheaded Sister

This week has been brought to you by laziness.  You guys, I am having a tough time getting motivated to do all of the things.

This week will mark week #3 on my little weight loss journey.  I do not have as high of hopes for my weigh in tomorrow as I did at the beginning of the week.  Mainly the reason is because I have not been to the gym in TWO weeks.  A lot of it has to do with the amount of stress I am under, but a lot of it is laziness.  I think my focus needs to change and I need to create a training plan and see how much the feet with work with me if I start running again.  I did see the doctor a few weeks ago to get more injections in my feet, but it looks like I am going to need orthotics.  Hello $$$$$.  I have to wait until after the wedding to consider this.

This week I signed up for Ali’s 2nd Annual virtual race.  I guess that means I REALLY need to start training my feet to run again if I want to have any sort of power to run this.

This week I met Monte Durham from “Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta.”  We hugged.  He signed a magazine.  We were at Crate and Barrel registering for the wedding at a private event they were hosting and he was there talking to brides.  We chatted about my crazy dress shopping experience and his trip to London.  We are besties Im sure LOL  But, seriously, he is really nice.

via Google Image Search

This week marks three months until we are married.  It also means in three months we are going to be sitting on the beaches of Cancun relaxing.

This week we were approved for a home loan!  We have to wait until we are married to actually close on a house (that is how our loan works), but we can start looking and go under contract before being married.  This is a bit of an overwhelming process because we have no idea how to start.  I guess being preapproved was the best thing to start with first (thank you HGTV, I learned so much from you).  Now we need to find an agent.  How on earth do you go about doing that?  We have a few close friends/family that are agents, but we are opting not to use them because it is no different than doing business with them.  If something were to go wrong, we dont want it to ruin a relationship.

This week I finished working on the boutinneres for the guys.  I love them but I am worried about them looking too cheesy.  What do you think?  The best part: these cost a whopping $8 to make 7.  I researched and researched and I was going to spend $50 to 7 if I had a florist or grocery store do them.

I think I need to get a picture of it attached to a jacket, but I kind of like how they are wild looking but still incorporate my yellow.

How has your week been so far?

Slowly, just slowly I am starting to get my social life back.  I am starting to go to bed at a reasonable hour (not 8pm).  Work has not slowed down one inch for me, but now its time to start focusing on wedding stuff.  I just checked The Knot and we have 96 days left.  NBD right?

Yesterday I spent the day at my parents working on projects for the wedding and I started to come up with a production schedule for everything.  This part is hard to plan because our venues are so unique and they do not provide the help most venues have.  I think at this moment if I had to do it again, I would probably opt for the much more expensive venue that is almost all-inclusive.  I guess Ill have to see how this all plays out in the end to determine if it was worth it.  Pros and cons to both

So whats left you ask?  It seems like a lot, but I dont think it really is.

My bachelorette party has been planned for April and my Maid of Honors have done a fantastic job planning.  We are headed up to Nashville for a weekend and I am pumped!  I think it is time to buy some new dresses to match new cowboy boots

Source: Google Image search

Ceremony: I have to build, yes build, our altar.  It isnt going to be anything crazy, but since I am keeping the decor very simple for the ceremony, I want to make this piece look nice.  I have almost ALL of what I need for it that I found for FREE!

I have to create my flower girls accessories.  Right now I have three flower girls and was planning on having one drop flower petals, but that is just something that has to be cleaned up at the end, so I am going to have two of them carry flower pomanders and one carry a sign

Source: Emmaline Bride

Source

I also have to pick out all of our music for the ceremony.  I cannot afford someone to play the music at the ceremony so I have to figure out how to play it off the Ipod.

Reception: There is still a lotish we have to do project wise.  We are making all of our own draping thanks to the awkward lengths we would need from our hanging points.  Labor of love right?

We are DIYing (shocked?) all of the lighting for much cheaper than the professionals would do.  And I think there are a few miscellanous projects we still have to complete, but I would hate to bore you with all of those.

I have also started doing Weight Watchers again.  I just HAD to.  I didnt want to spend the money, but I know just how successful I can be on that program, so I said why not?  Last time I lost 25 pounds and fit into the SMALLEST size I have ever been in since who knows when.  Since starting last week, I have dropped 3 pounds and I am so happy.  I did not hit my goal of getting to the gym 5 times last week (it was a very stressful and emotional week for me at work).  Since I dont know what this week will bring, I am going to goal myself at 4 days and focus on my upper body for weights.

The pain in my feet are temporarily gone (thank you cortizone) but I need to let them heal, so no running for me right now.

What is going on with you?

Brides, any tips for me with 90 days out?

Any fun races you are signed up for?  How I miss racing!

I am starting to feel very prohibited by my wedding budget.  I set a very tight budget on myself and at this point, I am about $2500 over.  When I started tallying everything together, my heart kept dropping.  I THINK I have everything covered, but there is no telling what I have yet to account for and what will push my budget over the edge.  Personally, I do not want to think about it.  My goal is cutting this baby down (which means I am going to have to give up some things).

About two weeks ago during my time off for Thanksgiving, I was inspired and feeling crafty.  I have been casually looking around for cake toppers and havent really found anything I liked.  Even the ones I did like were wayyy too expensive.

After browsing Etsy for awhile, I saw a few I thought were pretty cute, but $$.  What I liked about these particular toppers was the added nostalgia they brought.  When I was younger, I was obsessed with Fisher Price Little People.  I had a metro city of things: two suburban houses, the beach house, the fire dept, the jail, the airport, the hospital, etc.  I cannot remember a time when I WASNT playing with my “Jenny” people, as I so lovingly called them (I will admit I truly thought this was their official name until very recent times.  I dont know WHY I thought they were called Jennies)

Yep, I had most of these. Source

Had this too! Source

After contemplating, I decided to whip out the glue gun and start working.  I actually found a tutorial online showing how to do this and as soon as I find it again, I will post it.

What I bought:

Wooden Doll bodies – my store only had one size and one style
Large beads – I used the larger sized beads
3/16in dowel rods – You can use any type you want, I went cheap
7 inch circular plaque
wooden hearts

I first painted the plaque white and lined the bottom face with a navy blue ribbon.  I could have painted this yellow, but I wanted to keep the bottom as simple as I could not knowing how much would be covered by my “Jennies.”  Plus I need more navy in my decor, going a little yellow cray cray over here.

While the paint was drying, I had to do something drastic.  I had to decapitate my doll body’s little head!  The size just wasnt doing it for me and I wanted the head to be as proportional as possible.  Marie Antoinnette would be proud!

I started working on the heads and trying to get the hair color as close as possible to our own (harder than expected).  My head ended up being “redyed” because it did not match as much as I had hoped.  The heads were pretty easy and could be easier when you are smart with your planning (someday I will learn).  For the eyes, I painted the black lines on.  As soon as I walked back to my office I realized that would have been easier with a thin tipped black sharpie.  oh well.  The little head that was viciously chopped off came back to life with purpose.  I painted that the same color as my hair and glued it off center on the back of the head to represent an updo.  No waste here!

Back to the body.  Before painting or gluing to your body, I recommend at this point you drill the holes in the bottom of the body for the legs.  All I did was find a drill bit that matched the size of the dowels and drilled little holes.  Easy.  If you wait until after you have painted, you could end up with a mess.

There are so many options to decorating your body, I wouldnt know where to start.  I wanted to do something with glitter (shocking) so I painted my dress top on the body.  After it dried, I wiped Elmers glue on it and sprinkled my glitter.  This may or may not replicate my real dress

The same for Jenny Matt’s body.  I painted his body white for the shirt and yellow for his tie.  After the paint dried, I hot glued the new heads to the bodies.

Legs time.  I determined the length of the legs and cut them down to size.  I sanded Jenny Matt’s down and painted them black (I assume he will have a black tux) (Oh goodness I am having images of Dumb and Dumber flash in my head) (Maybe I should take control of his outfit…there WERE threats of Dolphins colors).  I used my trusty glue gun to fill in the holes on the bottom of the body and placed the legs inside.  Snug as a bug.  I marked the bottom of the legs with a small amount of paint and marked where I wanted the bottom portion to be placed on the base.  I drilled my little holes.

With my Jenny, I wanted the bottom to be somewhat full.  I had leftover satin fabric from my garter and cut to size the length I needed.  I knew it wasnt going to pouf as much as I wanted so I grabbed my left over tulle and glued it to the bottom of her body.  Then I glued the satin over that and I had instant pouf!  I also cut a sliver of tulle and glued it to her “updo” for the veil.

Sorry for the dark pictures.

 Once our Jennies were dressed and glued, I added a small heart with our initials.  I had a few different sayings I wanted to write, but this seemed to work the best with the space given.

Here is the final product:

I opted to go armless because I could not find a material that I actually liked.  Plus, they look good without arms I think.  So what do you think?  Do you think I should use this as a cake topper or go for something more traditional?  Do you think it still looks a little plain?

Total cost for this project: $10.54

First let me say, hello again.  Its been a while and I am sure you are all torn up over it.  Second of all, is it SERIOUSLY November?  Whoa!  You know want that means, right?  In exactly TWO months this guy will be able to each french fries again!  I have stuck to that little resolution I made last New Years to not each french fries for a year.  I hadn’t started missing them until early last month and now I am dying to eat just one.  I must say through this fried potatoless journey I have learned how to branch out with my side dishes when we eat out and not stab fingers that sneak their way onto my plate.

Friends, last month was pure insanity.  Nothing like my January/Julys, but it was busy.  You remember I started the month off in New Mexico for work (which I have learned the hard way to not be as eager to help).  After being home for 43 seconds, I turned around and drove up to Louisville, KY.  Some of you remember we lived there this time last year (has it really been a year since we have been back in Atlanta?).

There was a lot of working going on, but a lot of laughter and beer.  I love when we have large shows that require offices from all over to get together.  I work with some fantastic people and they truly make the day fun.

One weekend while up there, I took a little drive to visit my family in Chicago.  My cousin was married and we had a blast!  She had a photobooth (I am a wedding photobooth virgin) and we spent more time in there than on the dance floor.  Here are some of the pictures:

My sister, me, and my crazy cousins

Me and my cousin

My cousin, the bride, in the front. Then the rest of us crazies

We had so much fun!  After the wedding, I packed up and headed back to Louisville for another week.  That week was pretty low key because everyone had gone home.  By the time I was ready to leave, I was so sick of eating out, especially eating sandwiches.  I have had my fill of Panera, McDonalds, and Subway for the rest of the year.  I must say, no matter how hard you try, if you work events like these that keep you on the show floor for 15+ hours a day, you will eat like a garbage can.  There is no getting around it.  I packed a lunch some days, but for dinner you eat what you get.

After finally getting home, it took a few days to bounce back.  Actually, lets get real, I am still in rest mode.  I managed to get 75% of a wedding project to complete (if we are friends on Facebook or Instagram (click to follow on the sidebar), then you saw the tulle madness I was in).

I hope to have a finished product checked off the list in the next few weekends!  I am actually semi moving along with this wedding planning gig.  I sent a list of things I have already done to a friend and thought “what else is there?”  Oh that WHOLE LIST!!

So while life starts to get crazy again, I am trying to find a way to release.  And you know that is done by running.  The dr gave me the go ahead, so after a terrible few days back in my office, I went to my running store for insoles.  I ended up buying a new pair of shoes and I feel like I am walking on clouds!  I went with the Asics (dont ask which model yet because I dont remember) for the first time.  To be honest, I was scared of the softer, heavier bottom Asics had, but my feet disagree.  I love the comfort factor these shoes have and the wider toe box.  I wore them to work yesterday and had ZERO pain.

Now I have to reteach myself to run again.  Not really RETEACH, but I have to start all over since it has been so long since I last ran.  I downloaded the couch to 5k program on my phone and will start there.  I hope by spring next year I will be back to half marathon training again, pain free.

How was your Halloween?  Did you get many trick or treaters?  We only had a few

What races are you running?

Any projects you are working on?

Dont do any of those?  What is new in your world?

I am suffering from crazy jet lag right now.  I spent the whole week in Albuquerque, New Mexico for work.  Ive never been but heard it was a fun city.  I didnt get to see too much of the city because I was working the whole time, but what I did see was just ok.  I missed the Balloon festival by a week.  Darn

At the end of the trip, I was READY to come home, even if it is just for the weekend.  Yes, I am traveling again starting next week for the rest of the month.  I am working two shows up in Louisville and going to Chicago for my cousins wedding.  Come Halloween I am going to be drained.  No time for that though because first and second week is one of my large shows and around Thanksgiving is when I go into full planning mode for my BIG show in January.  I am not looking forward to that at all.  I know the client does not like me (they seem to dislike everyone that has been in my position), so I requested today to be moved to different shows.  Mainly because of the attitudes towards me and because in July I started taking my frustrations home and when I admitted that to my friend at work, I broke down crying.  That is so unfair to everyone and work should be left at work.

So now that busy season is in full swing, wedding planning isnt.  Or it has slowed significantly.  I am so grateful that both my parents want to help pay for this (even though I begged against it), but I am still without a budget.  When I started making a lot of progress in planning, poop hit the fan for my mom with my siblings.  My sister’s lame ass ex-boyfriend had his mom break up with her for him and  with her lease ending, my mom has been trying to help her through.  She and my stepdad are also dealing with custody issues with my brother (his mother really screwed up) and its been overly stressful for both.  I took a step back from my needs so they could all get through this.

Today I talked to my mom and I can tell she is not in the mood to talk wedding.  I brought it up slightly and that is where the conversation ended.  I tried to call my dad just to see what he would say because I REALLY need to come up with a budget, and he did not answer (which is typical) and I probably wont hear from him until I head up there in two weeks.  At that moment I wanted to say F this and lets go to the beach and elope.  If no one else is going to care, why should I?  I am doing this 100% alone.  My friends arent into this, my family, why should I care? (Selfish? No doubt, but planning a wedding is HARD work and I feel like no one really cares).

Sorry.  I am so frustrated right now.  I have a meeting with my first caterer next week and I am going alone.  DJ, Ill probably go alone. DIY projects, alone.  I am hoping when Matt gets home from work, we can sit down and talk about the check list.  I dont know what to ask him to do or what he will want to do.  I do know I dont want to hear “we have plenty of time” or “if you cant plan a wedding in two months, there is something wrong.” #^$*#&@#^#^@&#^@&#*&#&#

So lets talk about the fun part of the planning:

I made my bouquet!  I want to show you the whole thing, but I think it will be fun to leave a few things a mystery, dont you?  Here is a sneak peak:

Total cost: $39.  Not bad, eh?

I cant stop looking at it and the best part is I will have it forever!  Of course I will share with you how I made the pearl clusters (easy project).

Whats next: I am meeting with the caterer next week and I have to take more time off until I am back in town.  8 months until the wedding, but really 5 months left to plan.

Good news: I had my feet looked at last week and he said I do not have a neuroma, but damaged soft tissue.  He shot me up with some cortizone and my left foot feels MUCH better.  I am going back next week to do the same to my right and take a look at my running shoes.  I am THISMUCH closer to running again!  I CANNOT WAIT!

Time to get back to “what questions to ask your caterer” research.  A hug to everyone that survived wedding planning

Raise your hand if you are ready to see the easiest DIY project ever?

As you know, my wedding is going to have a rustic feel to it and I have been eyeing moss for a very long time.  Being in my little ” I dont want to do anything” funk, I thought this would be the easiest project to get out of funky funkmaster.

I shopped around and I cannot believe how expensive letters are.  I mean, this project could get crazy if you wanted large letters.

For this project, you will need:

Letters: you could buy the precut letters or buy the foam core sheets at Target/Walmart/Dollar Store/etc.  I use a lot of foam core boards at work, so I was able to find a scrap piece they were throwing away.

Moss: I bought two large bags of green spanish moss at Hobby Lobby ($5.99 and then on sale for 40% off).  This project only needed half of a bag.

Spray Glue: Elmer’s makes a aerosol spray glue.  Trust me, this is the best glue to use.

Scissors/sharp knife

Ribbon/fabric: You will use this to hang your letters

To make this project extremely easy, you could design your letter in one of the various editing programs on your computer, but I chose to free style these.  The height of both letters are 14″ and the width is about 12″ (maybe a little larger)

After marking and cutting, this is what I had to work with.  They felt very durable and I really wont have to worry about them flopping around.  They will be inside, but if I start to worry they will move around, I may glue a washer to the back to give it extra weight.

The M was a little more difficult, but the best part of this project is no matter how off something looks or is, you are going to cover it with crazy moss.  It will cover all.

At this point, I was flying through the project.  I sprayed my glue and stuck the moss on.  The trick I learned with using this foam core and glue was to spray it and give it a second to tack up for easier adhesion. If you are quick to stick the moss on after spraying the letter, it will just slide around.

And dont worry, this is a pretty messy project.  Cleanup was easy since I did it on the carpet, the vacuum had no issue.

Once the glue process started this project was completed in no time.  I gave it a little hair cut and threw temporary burlap to hold them up.  I havent decided what I will use to hang the letters, but I know it wont be scrap fabric like I have now.  Maybe a burlap type ribbon with bow?

For me the who project was around $4.00.  I was lucky to have the spare foam core laying around, but sheets arent very expensive.  I bet you could do this project for about the same price.  And if we really want to break down the price, I technically only used half a bag of moss and there were two letters.  Each letter cost about 90 cents to make.  Hello budget friendly!

Dont worry, these will stick around in the house as decor after the wedding.  I love versatility.

I needed a project to take my mind away from thinking about the wedding.  I have two major projects sitting here staring me in the face: our nightstands in the bedroom and a dresser that will become the tv stand someday.  Decisions decisions.

Ive had the nightstands longer and they have been ever so patient waiting for a new life.  (because that is how I make all major decisions).  They were the winners in this vicious battle.

A few months ago while not looking for anything in particular, I ran into two nightstands I have almost given up on finding on Craigslist.  I never expected nightstands to be that difficult to find.  $40 for the pair, for BOTH!  I couldnt believe it.

Sorry for the stinky cell phone pics.  Here is one before.  I WAS going to go with a green because it seemed like the coolest option Sherry from Young House Love suggested, but Matt was against it.  He said to pick another color from the room.  I didnt want anymore blue in the room, so I pulled the gray from the chest I redid a few months ago.

The thing about this project I didnt want to deal with was the prep work.  Honestly, I have a hard time using the sander on the patio while in an apartment.  Its loud and messy.  I probably shouldnt care because the people that live around us are louder than anyone I have ever lived near, but I have common courtesy.  After some research I found a tip for painting 70s furniture.  These particular tables have that glossy, thick finish on the top that would probably be more than a pain to remove. It was one of those tops that feels like you could peel it off in one piece and it would snap in half.

First:

Primer.  I read on a few sites that I could get away with priming this first and skip the sanding.  I bought Kilz primer with a Bondcote mixed in that will stick to any surface.  Everyone in the blog world seems to use Kilz and not the paint/primer mix.  I prepped my nightstands and they instantly started looking better.

Two coats of primer I was ready to paint.  I used the French Linen chalk paint on the chest, but I knew I didnt have enough to paint both of these the same color.  Luckily, the guy in the paint department did a color match for me.  He smeared some on a paint stick and mixed away.  The color had some brown hints to it (probably from the paint stick), but I LOVED IT!!!  It was soft while being a little modern.

I am not going to keep the knobs because they are a little too harsh for the color.  Next time I am near Hobby Lobby I am going to pick up some glass knobs.

My one biggest fear about this was what would happen after the tables dried.  Should I protect it?  I didnt sand it, so I was afraid it would chip away.  I had a lot of extra wax left over from the chest so once the 3 coats of paint were dry, I slathered it on.  After 10 minutes of dry time, I wiped it off and it feels like a strong coat.  I feel like it will be nice and protected from all of the elements!

I think it really lightens up the bed and the darkness of the headboard.  What do you think?

The last time I had a week off was about two Christmases ago when the end of the year was slow for me and I always had two weeks to take off.  Since then I have probably taken off a total of a week in two years.  After the massacre of July, I decided its ALWAYS a bad time for me to take off, so this week was my week to take off.  I made my to do list and looked forward to a week away from it all.  The week ended up being the complete opposite of what I expected.

Saturday:
Went dress shopping and found THE dress!

Sunday:
Had to work for about an hour because a show was moving in
Went to the Braves game and had pretty great seats.  The game stunk because we lost and I fried in the sun

Monday:
Took Barley in to get his vaccinations and the poor guy ended up having a fever and a possible respiratory infection so they had to hook him up to an IV and give him a shot of antibiotics.  No vaccinations for him.  Twice a day we have to give him an antihistamine and because it is in pill form, they gave us pill pocket treats.  Have you ever tried them with your pet?  Amazing.  He has no idea there is a pill inside

Tuesday:
Reorganized the whole kitchen.  I wasnt quite sure why we had it setup the way we did, but it needed to be redone

Got new cell phones to cut down on our monthly payments by $50.
My friend hosted a small jewelry party and I did not buy anything.  Remember…Im on a budget and that stuff was a little pricey for me

Wednesday:
I did absolutely NOTHING.  I wanted to go to the pool, but I was still too sunburned to sit in that sun again.  I wanted to go to the gym, but could not find my motivation (note I could not find it at all this week).  I sat around in my pjs on pinterest all day and felt guilty.

Thursday:
Started to get a little stir crazy so got up and ran a few wedding related errands.  I ran over to JoAnn’s in search of something to be inspired by.  Inspired I was.  I bought two little baskets in navy blue for the flower girls (not sure how I want to decorate) and created my garter.  It was so easy and I am so in love with it.  I ended up making two, one to keep and one to toss.

Then I napped.  Again

Friday:
I asked Matt to take this day off so we could spend time together (remember we really only see each other 1.5 days a week).  We met with my mom and looked at the two last venues I have on my list.  I love both of them, but I left completely confused.  One is a historical barn they converted for events and its perfect.  It fits the theme to a T.  The layout of it is not strange, but its hard to envision 10 tables in there with a dance floor.  They will fit, I just dont know how.  I also cannot have the ceremony there because it is wayyyy too tight and the outside isnt that nice.  I am not against having the ceremony elsewhere, but its hard to find where.  The second place is actually my grandma’s clubhouse in her neighborhood.  It has a lodge feel to it and is extremely cheap.  There are a large lawn in the back for the ceremony, but the inside is laid out in a way that might make the space cramped with tables and a dance floor.  I emailed both locations for suggestions.

Both images of location 1

What does Matt have to say about all of this?  He likes the clubhouse more because its more “finished.”  I like the barn because it fits the theme perfectly and there is more room for everyone to be seated in one room.  He has this notion that we have PLENTY of time to pick a location (except I have had to change the date three times because venues are not available).  He also would rather go to Vegas and elope.  Sigh.

Saturday:
Nothing wedding related happened (expect buying these super cute pencils to sign the guest book with).

I walked around my small downtown area to see what shops were there and there wasnt much.  Matt and I were lazy most of the day (and at this point I was going crazy) until dinnertime and we headed to Home Depot for project supplies and to the driving range to practice our swings.  Oh and there were no zombie sightings this time.  (In case you didnt hear in the news, the range Matt goes to was attacked by a man on bath salts whatever the kids are doing these days a few months ago.  He ran from the woods naked and it took multiple officers to restrain him while he yelled he wanted to eat their faces.  Check the story and video out here.)

And now it is Sunday.  There are only a few things I didnt accomplish off my list:  pick a color to paint my Craigslist buy, work on Trails and Tails, and work on my resume.  Oh well.  I can tell you this: I am not ready to go back.  I have been trying to keep up with my work emails while out, but they give me such anxiety lately.

How was your week?  How was your weekend?  One of the last few of the summer.

No rest for the weary in these parts.  I am still waiting for some time off after my whirlwind month last month.  Two more weeks.  I can honestly say I have NO IDEA what I am going to do during that week off, but its going to involve cleaning, running, and planning I am sure.

As I told you, my wedding is going to be heavy DIY.  I am trying to keep the costs down and I like to have my hands on as much as possible.  My first project was my way of asking my friends to be in my wedding.  I hinted around in a few places what they were, but could not reveal anything until they were sent.

For a long time I knew who would be in my wedding.  It was when we got closer to planning when I realized I needed to cut a few people out.  Not because I didnt want them in the wedding, but because more than 5 can be though.  I wanted to keep it strictly family and my two VERY CLOSE friends.  The other issue I was having was who should be what.  After a LONG conversation (with myself), I decided on going with two maid of honors and three bridesmaids.  My bff from childhood could very well be a matron of honor, but she is out of state and I dont want her to feel any stressful obligations to this.

Back to the project.  What I did was send a homemade dress shaped cookie using the colors of my wedding in a matching box and little note asking the question.

I made a lemon sugar cookie and royal icing. Lemon for the color yellow because my wedding is yellow and navy.

Lemon Cookie from Martha Stewart:

Ingredients