DIY Projects

I am so happy, excited and relieved to have all of my DIY projects done! A couple of weeks ago, I shared the card box I made. The rest of this stuff was pretty small and manageable but it seems to always be these little the things that people leave for the last minute and then stress about, plus we all know these projects always take more time than we anticipate. 

So, here's what I did...

Ceremony Bubbles:

I ordered some mini-bubbles from theknot.com. They were having a sale, so I got  150 bubbles for like $15!

Then I got some standard black ribbon to tie around each bottle. 

Finally, I got a super cute b&w container from Target to keep the bubbles in.

Bailey loves helping mom with wedding projects!!! 

Table Numbers: 

This one can hardly be considered a DIY project...but I did do it myself, so I'm sharing it. I designed my table numbers using Word, then sent them over to {my now work} Bryant Graphics to be printed. 

Then, I bought these super cute little wire stands from etsy.com. I was a little disappointed with them at first {they're kind of flimsy} but they ended up working just fine. 

I combined the two elements and voila....table numbers! 

FAVOR TAGS:

For these I downloaded a template off of a label site {sorry, can't remember which one}, then added our message, had them printed and cut down, punched a hole in the top and added a ribbon.

ESCORT CARDS:
So, one thing I am weird about is handwritten escort cards...I know they can look really nice and I am sorry if you did handwritten escort cards, but I am too high maintenance and I think they look sloppy, at least they would if I wrote them. So, I had the genius idea to use labels and card stock to make my escort cards. I just bought standard white labels from Target:

and once I had all of my RSVPs and my table assignments done I used Microsoft word to create a label with each guest....

As you can see I used a little chicken symbol and a little carrot symbol on each card to signify whether the guest is having a chicken or vegetarian meal, this way the waiter knows what meal to put where and the guests can just enjoy their conversations without being interrupted.

cute, right?

Then, I got black card stock, cut it in to 3x3 pieces and folded them in half. Then all I had to do was put a label on each one, alphabetize them and my escort cards were done!


MENU CARDS:
Again, I just designed these on word and printed them at work. Super simple. Super easy.

CEREMONY PROGRAMS:

Originally I had planned to do a program similar to this one:

I bought all the materials and designed them on Word. Then, while at work I came across a program that we had printed for one of the wedding designers we print for and became obsessed. The layout was SUPER simple but it was huge. its an 11.5x11.5 sheet of paper folded in half. I loved it. SO, I scrapped my whole idea and designed a new one. 

Sorry everyone but you're going to have to wait until after the wedding to see all of the completed projects! I know you won't be able to sleep until then! :)

What did you DIY? 

Big Butt's Gettin' In Gear

I'm not embarrassed to admit I am a hardcore stress eater. {maybe I should be embarrassed to admit that}. Anyways, a few months ago my stress eating got away from me and soon my lovely wedding dress was too tight...not cool. 

Since, I have reeled it in and have been working out and the dress once again fits. The wedding is now LESS than two weeks away and I need to make sure that this little eating problem doesn't crop up again. So to keep myself on track I have decided to once again go through the hell that is the cabbage soup diet. I started yesterday and am doing great so far {the first two days are easy.} I already feel lighter and somehow healthier. 

Day 1: 

Soup & Fruit {no bananas}

Day 2:

Soup & Veggies. Baked Potato for dinner.

Day 3: 

Soup, Fruits & Veggies {no potatoes or bananas}

Day 4:

Soup, Bananas and Skim Milk

Day 5:

Soup, Beef and Tomatoes

Day 6:

Soup, Beef and Veggies

Day 7:

Soup and Brown Rice

Lord help me. 

Also, you should all know that this is my last week of blogging before the wedding, so this entire week will be wedding related....sorry! It's almost over. And, you should be excited for the guest posts I have lined up...talk about amazing! 

In other news, J had his Bachelor Party this past weekend. Him and his boys took a lil' road trip down to Iowa State so J could watch his team the Texas A&M Aggies play! They had a great weekend and J not only came home alive but with all his teeth and without any noticeable injuries! Good Job Hunny! 

The Color of Cancer

This month is breast cancer awareness month. I absolutely love how it has become so HUGE! So many people, businesses and major companies are embracing the pink! I think raising money and awareness for breast cancer is incredibly important, especially as a woman. 

However, there are a ton of other types of cancer and it is important to raise money and awareness for them as well. As unfortunate as it is, I think it is safe to say that all of us have some experience with some kind of cancer, and some know it all too well. 

A couple of weeks ago I was absolutely shocked numb when I learned that one of my closest friends/bridesmaids had been diagnosed with Lymphoma. I was sad, scared and angry. This is MY friend! She is 28 years old. She is a wife and a mother. It's not fair. As I calmed down and accepted it, I realized that way too many people have thought what I thought and felt how felt and the worst part of that is so many people have and are going through what Courtney is going through. And no, it's not fair. 

In a situation where I feel powerless I have been grasping for some idea or some way to honor Courtney, so that she knows she is constantly in my thoughts and prayers. I found this great chart on www.choosehope.com and wanted to share it with all of you. It lists all the types of cancer and their coordinating ribbon. 

I have to say I was pretty excited to find out Lymphoma was lime green...what a great color! I wanted to share this with all of you because I know a lot of you have a connection to cancer, and I thought using color to either honor, remember or raise awareness is a really cool idea. 

As soon as I found out I went out and got a Lime Green pedi. 

please excuse the extreme dryness of my feet. 

and, since people always ask my tattoo says "AGAPE" in Greek....it means selfless love. 

{i was in a sorority and am Greek by blood, so it has a lot of meaning}

I was so excited when I learned that Courtney's best friend had also found ChooseHope.com and had bought  all of Court's friends a hope ring. The idea is that we all wear these rings for Courtney and we take pictures of our rings when we are thinking of Court, whether it's somewhere cool and exciting or at the grocery store. 

I also just need to share a story about how amazing Courtney is. After her most recent chemo treatment {she's halfway done!} she noticed she was beginning to lose her hair. She knew that cutting her hair short and beginning to wear her wig would be a very difficult and emotional time. So, in typical Courtney fashion, she decided to make the best of the situation and she invited her best girlfriends over for a Chopping Party. We brought over food and wine {of course} and one of our friends brought crazy halloween wigs. We were all decked out in CRAZY hair which made Court feel not-so-bad about the really great wig she has. 

All of us in our wigs--Court is the beauty in the middle. How amazing is that wig? You can't even tell! 

It is exactly for this reason that I know without a shadow of doubt that Courtney will beat this. She has THE. BEST. ATTITUDE. She turned something scary in to something SO fun and she has so many amazing people around her, rooting for her and supporting her. 

We had a blast and her short hair is ADORABLE and the wig....well, doesn't even look like a wig. 

Sneeze Money

This is my grandpa, George. 

George and my grandma Nicki live in Colorado. When we were younger we would stay with our grandparents for a couple of weeks every summer. One thing I will always remember about those summers is my Grandpa counting sneezes. Every time one of us would sneeze my grandpa would yell "ONE." It didn't matter if we had sneezed once or twenty times that day, he would always yell "ONE." He would continue on talking about how "they" paid for sneezes. We never knew who "they" were but at the end of our summer trips we would receive a little monetary surprise that we nicknamed "sneeze money." 

The past three weeks I have been battling a brutal combination of a head cold and allergies and one day I was sneezing so much, I actually began to count. After I had hit 12 by 10:00am I knew I had to tell my grandpa. I sent him a text {yes he is in eighties and can text} explaining how many times I had sneezed. I got an excited text back shocked that I had remembered to count my sneezes. 

Three days later after getting the mail, I got this:

In case you can't read it, it says:

SPECIAL REWARD 

for Sneezing

12x .25 = $3.00

This is sanction and ratified by 

THE DEPT. OF SNEEZING

with the authority and approval by FTC

Washington, DC.

GMA&GPA INK.

It was the cutest, funniest, most thoughtful and nostalgic thing I have ever received in the mail. My grandma has Parkinson's Disease and is unable to travel so I haven't seen my grandparents in over 3 years. I love them and miss them like crazy and having this special little memory brought back means so much. 

Hostess Gifts

I was blessed to have three amazing bridal showers (one, two, three) and two phenomenal bachelorette parties (one and two)! I am so grateful for the amazing women in my life, those who not only hosted the showers and parties but those who attended! I was definitely showered and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

I wanted to get each of my shower/party hostesses a little something to thank them for putting on these wonderful events! I was super excited when I found these SUPER cute initialed notepads from AdvanageBridal.com!

I actually ordered these back in May, because I fell in love with them instantly and knew I wouldn't find anything I liked more.

I put them all in cute little bags with a thank you note to each individual woman thanking them for being so gracious, generous and all-around kick ass!

I truly cannot thank these ladies enough. These past few months have been so fun and have made me feel so special. I want to get married every year just so I can do all of this fun stuff again! Thank you to all of you...you know who you are! I hope you like your personalized notepads! HA!