Inspiration for wedding look-feel

The right side of this is from an inspiration board I found on a different website, and the left side reflects many little images I found which inspire the theme of my wedding.

I recommend browsing as many wedding magazines and websites as possible to get a feel for the colors, styles, and images that appeal to you. It's also helpful to have these kinds of pictures and sketches to bring with you as you order your wedding cake, invitations, flowers, and rentals (tablecloths, dinnerware, etc.).

First things first - bridal attire

So the very 2nd time I went to try on dresses (the 1st time wasn't so great - I went to a place where I couldn't find a single decent dress and the sample sizes I had to put on where at least 8 sizes too big for me. I'm sorry I don't remember the name of the place) I found my dream dress. Unfortunately the dream dress came with a heavy price tag which I just couldn't reconcile with my budget. Unfortunately, the store didn't allow pictures (pretty common practice with these places) so I don't have a picture of myself in the dress.

By the way, this whole wedding business is quite a racket. The lack of transparency is incredible. Not only are cameras banned from the dress stores, but often times the price tags are hidden or non-existent and it's pretty much impossible to return your purchase, even if you don't end up wearing it. Not your typical American shopping experience.

So of course I'm not going to put my dress up on this site, as it is a secret, but once the wedding transpires you might get a glimpse. I will say where I ended up purchasing the item - The Running of the Brides event at Filene's Basement in Tyson's Corner. I got there a few hours after the initial madness of the early AM opening. 3 of my lady friends helped me pick out and put on dresses, and after 2 hours I finally settled on a nice dress for 1/10 the price of the dream dress pictured. Of course, all sales are final at this event, and you take the dress just as it is - in my case, with a few mysterious black marks that should come out after spot cleaning, and with a much too large bust that will also be fixed by the time of the wedding.

If you want to see some bridal madness, check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVtisU3yFj0.

First things first - wedding attire

I thought that since I'm not super-busy at this moment in time, I could do something perhaps useful to society by taking all of the stuff I've found and learned since I started planning my wedding in January of 2008. I hadn't really given my "ideal" wedding a thought before my fiance proposed early this year. But since, I have spent countless hours thinking/ planning/ collaborating with my many helpers (my friends and family members).

The first thing I did was choose bridal attire to set the overall theme, tone, and formality for the wedding. I choose this tactic because all of those things determine other very important elements such as the time of day and budget for the event, which play into pretty much every decision you will make about your wedding.

I spent pretty much all of February and March looking online at hundreds of wedding gowns and bridesmaids dresses. I got my Donna Ricco bridesmaids' dresses at Nordstrom - they're cocktail length, simple, elegant purple dresses. The best part is the color. The quality of the fabric isn't too high (it's a little itchy), but they really go with my vision of the color scheme. The maids will wear silver strappy shoes.

I choose 3 lovely bridesmaids, but the sad thing is that one of them is probably not going to make it to the wedding after all. So I will probably have my youngest brother, 22, sub as the "bridesman."

Yet another reason to hate country music...

...as if you needed one. I plunked down on the couch with my greek yogurt & honey, granola, and a spoon, and turned on abc at the stroke of 8pm, as I was excited to catch my favorite show (the only one I keep up with right now). I see my Pushing Daisies lovelies flashed briefly, then something about "and now, the Country Music Awards" and I hear the unmistakable twang of something I cannot tolerate. So I guess my show will have to wait until next week. I don't even know why I bother with real time anyway. I usually just watch my show on abc.com and that works out just great. The one time I give the tube a chance it disappoints me.

Boo.

Gimme a break

This winter I get to go to the very ends of Latin America (and the earth) and then to the very tippy top of Latin America. I'm going to Chile with my boyfriend to spend the holidays with his family and at the beach since it'll be in the 90s at that time. Then I'm going on a school trip to Mexico to interview various people and find out how their socioeconomic situation is going with the effects of NAFTA.

I'm quite excited about it and I hope I get to speak lots of Spanish. I know for sure I'll only be speaking in Spanish in Chile, but I'm going to have to make a pact with my fellow students to ensure that we only speak Spanish to each other during our trip. Pura vida.

I thought to myself "SELF!"

Yesterday I made a friend go boot shopping with me. We went to Filene's Basement and found a pathetic and cheap-looking selection. Then my friend suggested we go back up Connecticut to another shoe spot. And my boots were in the window, in three colors. I picked the brown ones, and they were a good fit. Oh, and the shoe guy wanted to measure my foot even though I knew my size and I'm 25 years old. My feet stopped growing long ago, so you'd think I'd know my size.

So I didn't bat an eye at the pricetag, bought the boots, and when I started admiring them later that evening, I thought "Hrm. That was a lot of freakin' money I just spent there. I wonder if I could by chance google my boots and see if there's some kind of deal anywhere else." And lo and behold, the first page to come up had my boots, my color, my size. I bought them, with free shipping, for 75% off the store price. Cha-ching!

Here's hoping that the package arrives in good time and I actually get what I wanted.

The Germans call it "yogging"

When I jog, my body simulates sudden and massive organ failure. I get a shooting pain in my lower back region, my ankles feel like they're going to give out, my ears pop and I can hear my inner ear jiggle with each step, and bile starts to travel up my esophagus. I wonder if all that's something I should be worried about.

I'm glad that some people can get their jollies from jogging (like my roommates, who will go unnamed), but the truth is, I don't feel like I need it. I'm a Class-A walker. You won't hear me complain about walking because I can do it all day long, for miles and miles. And I walk faster than the average person. It's just that it's not quite a jog.

Girl with two pearl earrings

If I had the fortitude and the wherewithall to do it, I would take a series of photographs of ladies switching their shoes for an interview. The photos would feature college students and young professionals clad in their best interview suits stopping a block or two from their interview destination to change their shoes from their worn-in flip-flops or sneakers to their more appropriate, close-toed heels.

And maybe my exhibition would include close-ups of bunyons and hammer toes. Eww. But perhaps good news for anyone with a foot fetish.

We can call it the "iTote"

Someone out there needs to create some nice looking tote bags that have a protective pocket for a laptop and can fit a bunch of stuff. And the strap has to be sensible and wide so that it doesn't cut into one's shoulder.

The tote bags should come in cool prints, especially animal ones (because we all know how I love them and thus how cool they are) and cute and endearing prints and other designs. The bags should be made of soft leather and should have other adornments such as zippers, outside pockets, tassles, buttons, and other such things (probably not all at once though).

I've searched high and low for a tote bag worthy of my precious cargo (my darling laptop) and appropriate for my age and personality but it just hasn't happened. I got a lead on some Vera Bradley diaper bags, however, and although that may sound weird I think it has potential. Maybe 10 years from now I can actually use it to carry diapers. Who knows though, my bladder may give out earlier than that.

Back in U.S.S.A.

I'm in my homeland again, as of a few months ago. For some reason I haven't felt like writing lately. Grad school has sucked the creativity out of me. But now, all of a sudden, I feel the urge to create. I already created a few custom-made cat toys for my boyfriend's cat. One of them is a plastic bag ball. I recycled a bunch of sandwich bags by stuffing a bunch of them into one sandwich bag, which I tied in a knot, and now the cat has a fluffy ball to kick around.

So does this mean that I'm turning into a crazy cat lady? I sure hope not. I don't get cats. They don't respect the alpha male or female. They think they're hot stuff.

Visit my other Blog!

http://b-logna.blogspot.com/
--Link to my BLOG-na or blog for Bologna.
Maggie Kiki Roo will not be updated until I get back to the States in July 2007.

Highly volatile

Well I sold my car finally and I hope I can live on the money in Italy for at least a few months. It's bittersweet because I really like my car and it's in great condition--but I guess it's more useful to me right now in its liquid form.

I leave in less than a week so I'm trying to get everything I need together and finish up some business here in the U.S. so I don't have to handle it while I'm abroad.

I'm taking two courses in Economics this month. My classes are pretty demanding and all I do all day long is Econ. I sit in class for 5 hours a day and write pages of notes. I'm also not getting enough sleep and I'm struggling to understand the subject. If there are any economists out there who would like to offer their services, please let me know.

Also as of yesterday I've taken to crying at the slightest provocation so watch out for me. Yesterday I cried because some old lady was being brusque and overly verbal about how I was filling out some medical form wrong and I cried when my boyfriend didn't understand what I was saying and then I cried a little when I managed to run over my foot with one of the wheels of the chair I was sitting on at the time and I'm sure I'll cry many more times before I get on the plane, and then the whole time I'm on the plane, and then for a while when I first get to Italy. And then hopefully once I'm in my new surroundings with my newfound student friends I will feel happy enough to keep my crying to regularly scheduled late night sessions when no one else is around to see me red-eyed, snotty, and blotchy. Waaahh!

All Muddled

We were treated to a mojito bar at a party I recently attended. Such a cool idea. I'm going to make a panini bar for a party tomorrow. And we're making bellini's too, which apparently is an Italian drink involving peach nectar and champagne. We're doing it with nectar de mango though. And we're making virgin bellini's for the children and the pregnant woman.

Papa's Got A Brand New

Top shopping find of 2006. It makes me so happy to look at it. Exactly what I've been looking for all this time.

Hot Pockets

My boyfriend and I were undertaking the agonizing task of selecting an ice cream flavor based on taste, quality, and value at the local grocery store when we decided to share a quick kiss and a hug.
"Ooooh, you're gonna melt the ice cream," winks the lady walking by at that precise moment.

That lady was quick.

A Life Legitimate

I just went to the dentist for the first time in almost 2 years and it feels so good. It feels good to be insured again. It's something I will no longer take for granted. Does anyone else enjoy visiting their dentist so much? It also helps that my dentist is pretty cool. She has traveled the world and knows Chinese and Spanish and hacks at your teeth like a true pro. My grandma was my first dentist. My worst experience was throwing up a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips while my grandma worked on my teeth. To this day I avoid that flavor--it tastes like dental bile. I also associate the taste of Bernie's famous teriyaki chicken after a good teeth cleaning with the taste of tooth. Yes, when I can truly taste my teeth they taste like roast chicken. What do your teeth taste like?
When my grandma was still practicing (she retired at the ripe old age of 75 or so) I had so many good times in her dental office. My first paid job was filing paperwork in her office. My brothers and cousins and I had water and air fights with the little tools for your teeth. My grandma and her coworkers made little animal figurines out of plaster of paris for their children patients, and I collected them. I don't have any in my possesion now, regretfully. I would take naps in the chairs on slow days, adjusting my position with the cool controls. I feel asleep to the easy listening channel that was on (which could explain why I get random Kenny G songs stuck in my head sometimes). Her assistant at the time was an awesome person. She once gave me a glass mickey mouse piggy bank with my name etched on it. In fact, that piggy bank is in the room with me now, and it's been full of coins for probably 8 years. She was the first person I knew personally to die. She had cancer, but she didn't suffer long.
My teeth are so clean. Let's make the feeling last.

Comfort Comes To Call

The way I am around my little brother is the way I should be around everyone.
If I wasn't so guarded/thinking too much/cautious/embarassed all the time.
I need to work on standing up for myself. I did it yesterday a little bit, looking people in the eye when they do annoying things like blabbering loudly on the phone--when did cursing become okay in front of kids, women, strangers? And then there was a guy on the plane showing his buddies behind me a picture of a guy giving the finger. When did this become okay?
I can't help but feeling old-fashioned. I can't believe the 2000s are my time. I belong to a time where candies cost a penny, a sturdy pair of shoes cost $1, men took off their hats as women walked by, and friends and acquaintances "came to call" in the afternoons. Then again, I also belong to a time where the internet connects diverse networks, you can have sushi for lunch and In-n-Out for dinner, refrigeration and washers and dryers abound, and women are pilots, doctors, and police officers. I can never truly call myself a liberal or a conservative, but I do so wish that some of the social graces of yore were more alive now.

Smoooooth

S3600075
Originally uploaded by weetahbug.

I made two delicious smoothies this morning, one for me and one for my boyfriend:

1 Dark chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast packet
1 ripe banana
6 ice cubes
1 cup Silk vanilla soy milk
1 T peanut butter
...Delicioso

1 Strawberry Sensation Carnation Instant Breakfast packet
1 ripe banana
6 ice cubes
1 cup Silk vanilla soy milk
...Sabrosito

What a great way to start the day! I highly recommend Carnation Instant Breakfast, because they're chock full of vitamins and minerals, especially calcium, and then of course soy milk and its protein and goodness. And then the flavors are delicious. Next time I'm going to try the sugar-free.

Run Away

I admit I have my prejudices. There are certain people I avoid when I'm out. When I'm walking, I avoid people that walk slowly, like the elderly, the obese, women teetering in uncomfortable heels, and roaming tourist families.
I also tend to avoid people that have bad B.O., men and women with long, straggly hair, men that have glazed piggy eyes and their mouths hanging open for no reason, men with clothes so baggy they're falling off of them, red-in-the face buff jocks that have had a few, etc.

Then there are those really aggressive, looking to stir up a mini-controversy people (many times accompanied by like-minded friends) that look challengly in the eyes of everyone around them, shoulders forward, mouth ready to spout off about how you're intentionally trying to avoid them, how you're racist, scared, and any number of unpleasant things about you and the millions of others like you. How do you handle those people? I suppose by acting the same way. Maybe you could try keeping the same posture, beating them to the punch and saying "hello" "how are you?" "how's your mother?" "have a great day."

I don't feel like I have to apologize to people on the street that get a "feeling" that I'm nervous around them. I have had inappropriate experiences with people on the street, and it's pretty hard to keep up with the news and at the same time feel comfortable around random people on the street. Just about everyone makes me nervous. But really, if some harm is going to come to me I only have a certain degree of control. So I try to maintain that control by looking at everyone around me and paying attention to their signals, not walking alone in random places at night, not dawdling with my keys next to my car, etc. I also walk pretty fast, not only for the aerobic value but to give off my own signal: I can run pretty damn fast and put up a fight, so don't mess with me.

Heard On The Street, B-Mo County

While walking to the nearby strip mall, I look over my shoulder to smile at a man on the opposite side of the street. He's sitting at the bus stop eating a sandwich and a coke.
As soon as we make eye contact: "You trying to avoid me?" asks the man.
"The crosswalk's right there." As I point to the two crosswalks adjacent to the corner where he's sitting.
"I'm sorry" his hands up in defense.
"A little paranoid?" I ask the middle-aged black man.
"Yes, I am."
Entendido.