Days 36 - 49

it's been a pretty busy few weeks and i haven't had much time to post...

let's see, what's been happening??

• we finally tried on our dresses and had a fashion show party with some talented ladies and we have official approval from both the little ones and jess. thanks for coming by and bringing the girls, great ideas for dress accessories and yummy cookies! i think we're keeping the dresses! i'm still not 100% sure, but i think i'm just shocked that we got 2 dresses for so cheap (mine was a shocking $59) and can't believe it worked out...
• i am officially obsessed with evernote and have spent the weekend mornings reading blogs and clipping the images i like into my evernote wedding notebook. seriously - everyone needs to use this for both work and other fun stuff.
• we finalized the save the date image with liana's cousin (thanks again, tina!) and have ordered custom stamps for the post cards. i was hoping to start this project over the weekend too, but that just didn't happen.
• i was on the for sale boards at wedding bee and found this chandelier for sale. we may go pick it up next weekend in NH.
 

• i started cleaning the shutters last weekend and at 30 minutes a shutter, i didn't get very far. we look like 'that house' with these random 17 dirty wooden old shutters scattered all over the back deck. good thing their in the back yard and not bringing the property values down OTB. so, the cleaning project will be continued today before the trick-or-treaters arrive. here's what we're going for with the shutters -they will be hinged together and used to separate the ceremony space from the rest of the massive room, hopefully creating a more intimate feeling for the ceremony. the plan is to move them after the ceremony and use as decor throughout the space.

•  

i found this blog where they used shutters and we love the idea! the wedding was also featured on ruffled. cross your fingers we can really pull this off...

• We have a meeting with our coordinator from russell morin next week and will be doing a walk through with her at the venue. I really hope that she'll tell us we're on an ok track and that these projects will work out for us. we're nervous about the logistics -- i mean we're talking about bringing in shutters, frames, maybe a large mirror, small tables and a huge chandelier to hang. and everything needs to be out of the building that night -- apparently people do this all the time, right?

Day 35

so we made an amazing pizza last night and i woke up this morning to find an email from the wedding channel about a new contest -- couples who cook

if anyone is reading this and would like to comment on the contest page about our caramelized onion and portobella pizza, please do! i mean, really, doesn't this look tasty?!

Days 16-34

so it's been a hectic few weeks and i can't believe i haven't posted in so long! we've been super busy and traveling through new england a bit over the past few weeks. ok, so we made 2 trips to NY, but one of them included a drive from brooklyn to rochester for a wedding and then to montreal --technically we were in several states and did a lot of leaf peeping :)
the wedding was beautiful and very traditional, but did give us some great ideas (thanks nicole and jon!). in an effort to remind myself later of things --
to do:

• include a fun, low key night before the wedding with everyone you love at a local pub
• make personalized gift bags for out of town guests (ie. some people enjoy hiking, while others are more into shopping or photography museums)
• great food, drink, and music is a must
• make sure you talk to everyone and dance as much as possible
• day after brunch with everyone to get a chance to actually talk to people, relax, and talk about how awesome the previous day's activities were

now that we're back from our road trip adventures and i'm able to catch up on my blog stalking, check this idea out --

wheat grass - how cool is this?

wheatgrass DIY on ruffledok so i've never actually had wheat grass (as far as i know), but i do enjoy the concept of growing a tray of wheat grass and somehow incorporating it into the space. we're still not sure how to or if we want to do seating arrangements, but i'm sure we'll find a way to use it! maybe i'll buy a kit and practice growing it to see how it looks...

and i just found a wheatgrass centerpiece kit for sale! they have 10 in circles which may end up being cool and they are cheap too!

oh and by the way -- while in rochester, i got a call from JCrew that they found my dress somewhere in transit and it arrived yesterday and liana received her dress right before we left. of course it's still in the box, but, hopefully we'll get a chance to try them on this weekend and see if we really do like them together.

Days 10-15

i really wanted to post more last week, but the week just got out of control. i mentioned that i had a catering interview last wed - well i think it got it assuming that the background check goes ok :)  i did get an email back from the manager at wolfgang puck catering and i since i didn't include my entire address history on the application, i had to email him back with that info. it's really not my fault that my 8 addresses in the last 10 yrs didn't fit in the 4 lines on the form...anyway, $17/hr and it's work as much or as little as you want and you're not tied to a set schedule, i think i'm into it.

i also spent time responding to more studies and have updated the other page with details. oh and i did a focus group on eye care on thursday and made a fun and easy $150!

what else? i think a lot of stuff happened during the last 5 days... the most exciting part -- we went to j.crew wedding yesterday for an appointment. i was a bit nervous and wasn't sure what to expect since it was our 1st time trying on dresses. but since we were in the j.crew store, it wasn't too overwhelming and was actually kind of fun once you got into it.

and the crazy part?! we ordered these 2 dresses! liana is going for a different color instead of the brown (see the blue dress below). i think the blue and aluminum will work well together. i'm still not sure if i love my dress or if it's too plain, but once i spend some time looking at funky shoes, perhaps a blue sash, or fun hair piece, it could work out...

the best part is that they weren't that much and we can return them if they don't work out. i still can't believe that we just ordered dresses, but it's exciting. we're still planning to look around more, but you never know.  we were also on the fence whether we should go shopping together for dresses. i'm so glad we decided to -- i didn't think about the importance in the fabrics as well as the colors and styles needing to complement each other. who knew?! screw 'tradition' - we need to look good!

Day 9

Not much movement on the planning today. though i did get a call that I won a $300 gift certificate for some beauty treatment (laser hair removal or facial rejuvenation or something) and scheduled a consultation for this thurs. after reading the yelp reviews of this seemingly sketchy establishment, i think i may cancel the appointment. apparently everyone 'wins' this prize and this was nothing special...so sad.

Other than that, i've been making lots of progress on research studies! and they are all single or 2-visit studies and so it's ethically ok to be in enrolled more than one at one time. read more on my funding the fun page for details.

and we suck and still haven't signed the contract with the photographer (no links to post ---don't want to jinx it yet). oh, i emailed this guy from cali who posted on craigslist that he's going to be in boston soon and wants to shoot engaged couples. i need to let him know we are probably not interested in buying much (or anything at all), but i think he wants experience, so that should be cool.

Days 7 & 8

Ok so i made it almost a straight week posting daily. yesterday was kind of tiring. for starters, we spent the morning scrubbing the carpenters trunk /  future coffee table that we recently purchased. then we headed to the great bridal expo, which was quite the experience. liana was feeling ill and high on allergy meds, i was ready to tackle the expo tables, and we got slightly lost walking from the train to the westin hotel. the supposedly 8 minute walk took us 45 mins and yes, once we got to the hotel, you could actually SEE the T stop...it was really probably a 3 minute walk. it was crazy inside, tons of people and not as many vendors or free stuff as i had anticipated. i was hoping to see lots of DJs and maybe some local flower shops. they also sold perforated cut outs with your name and contact info for your to quickly enter contests ($6) instead of writing your name at each booth. that was a pretty smart move. a smarter move was the chick we saw with her mom with sheets of those stickers you use on envelopes with your address. brilliant. i also nearly fell over when liana pointed out the couple sitting in front of us with matching bride and groom hats. oh yes, i am not kidding, they wore them and wore them proud.
we did love the westin  westin on the waterfrontand realized it is super close to AFH. i plan to call this week and talk to them about reserving a block of rooms. there are also 2 bars and we had a much needed glass of wine after at city bar and thought it'd be a great place for drinks at some point before or after the wedding.

 i also started playing with the stamp kit  we bought at staples - the one we got has 7 lines and 2 ink pads, but i couldn't find the link. we're planning to use this on the save the date postcards, invites, and other future stuff we send. there is enough space for our full address as well as space for our wedding website -cool huh?!
Once we figure out how to use  'gwash' then for real DIY here we come. it was a rather embarrassing trip to the art store when i asked if they had something called gwash (didn't see the huge signage in the aisle next to where i was standing) and then when at the register with 2 paint brushes we didn't realize we had $26 brushes in hand. nothing like looking like most non-artsty-cool people in the store on a busy night.

Day 6

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