It's Here! It's Here!

That's right, Little Bit's... aka BM Bit, aka Sister... BM dress arrived yesterday!!!

It's kind of a funny story that involves me pausing mid sentence and doing a double take at the UPS box sitting on the couch.  I see a) it's addressed to BM Bit and b) its from China.  I knew what it was and wasted no time ripping the package open [deterred only momentarily at the newfangled packaging... thanks again for coming to the rescue Husband to be!] and low and behold... there she was.

I think angels sung.  All of my fears about the color being too light, or the quality being poor evaporated. [Although, again, I paused when the dress looked nothing like the photo, my heart stopped for a second before I realized I was holding the dress inside out... phew, crisis averted!]

Then I had to wait. And wait. And wait (for all of 15minutes) while my Mom and BM Bit got there. I held the dress in my lap, or would dance around the house holding it up against me just to watch the skirt twirl. *insert wistful sigh here* it was perfect.

Everyone agrees. =) Or they do to my face, which is all that matters.  And without further ado... may I present BM Bit in her lovely dress:

The Front

The Back

Twirly Goodness

And yes, my exact direction was, twirl it! twirl it! make the skirt go woosh! =) haha, God Bless BM Bit for being a willing participant to my wedding addiction.

Might I also add, the peep toe pumps make a fabulous accessory to the dress?

Ahh... so excited, and so relieved.  Thankfully, I can lay this one to rest for now. Annnnd on to the next project. 

Maybe the Bears Won't Be Homeless After All!

I am a very excited Megan today! Perhaps you remember these guys:

Well, last time I updated you all, these poor bears were homeless.  Apparently babies don't eat out of the good 'ol fashion jars these days.  And since my alternative was to buy and waste a bunch of baby food I wanted to try one more time to just get the jars sans food.

This morning I sat down and made myself do some research (which went a lot more smoothly then the last time) and found our perfect jars (that come with their lids!) for a great price.

found @ Bittercreek South

Aren't they adorable?  So these little guys come in a case of 24 for a little over $12.  I ordered 6 cases, and got an estimate for shipping of $24.42.  Well, to make matters even more exciting my actual cost for shipping was even less.

Because the jars come with the lids the $.52 /each is a fantastic price, especially since everywhere else the lids were separate and/or the shipping was $70+.  Not too shabby right?

And that is how the tasty little bears found the perfect home.

.:220:.

Confessions of a Wedding-holic

 Hello, my name is Megan, and I am addicted to Weddings. Phew, they always say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.  Unfortunately, since going cold turkey really doesn't seem like an option (hello don't they -who is they by the way?- realize I have a wedding in 7.5 months?) I suppose the only cure is powering through until the end!

    I had weddings on the brain months before the engagement actually happened.  Did you know there are lots of women that fall into this category, they even have a place/name/board for us on the wedding website.  It’s called No Ring Yet (or some form thereof).

    These particular boards generally offer advice such as: don’t worry about planning yet, you’ll change your mind over and over again; don’t worry so much about planning you’ll miss out on the fun of being engaged; and so forth.

    This is all great advice, and I admit, I probably haven’t done my best to follow it.  It’s so easy to be caught up in the planning and what I was envisioning back in September of last year (shh...) Is not even remotely still in the picture today.

    However, one thing that has not changed is the level of excitement I feel about the whole process.  It’s exciting imagining the joy and love that will be felt on that day.  I do have to admit, in the spirit of honesty, that this whole thing is a lot more stressful then I anticipated.  I mean, I went into this with 18 months to prepare (from my actual engagement day people, stop judging me!) And now I’m looking at 7.5 months and my list of things to do just keeps growing.  I thought I would have a lot more of this under control, but here’s the truth they don’t tell you on those No Ring Yet boards... there’s a lot of details that are contingent upon each other and that cannot feasibly be handled until just months before W day.

    That’s right folks, no matter how hard you try, you really can NEVER get ahead.  As Dory would say “Just keep swimming.” 

Did I ever mention how deathly afraid of these light-bulb fish I am? If I could imagine a physical form for my wedding stress, this is definitely it.  *insert shudder and cold sweats here* Picture Source

 
    It really is all you can do.  Stay on top of your endless lists, keep crossing things off knowing as you do that about 8 more will spring up (stupid Hydra effect!) But that this happens to everyone.  It helps to remember that sometimes.

    I know that 99% of the stress I feel is my own fault.  As I admitted previously, I just want so badly for all of my visions to come to life.  It’s hard for me to walk away from something once it has gotten stuck inside my vision, and it doesn’t help that I want everyone to love each detail as much as I do.  This is never going to happen, most people won’t even notice half of the details... but, a bride can hope.

Source

    I’ve gotten a bit side-tracked from my original intention in posting today, which was suppose to go more along the lines of “I sat down and revamped my to-do list today, and realized how many more things I still haven’t figured out... how did this happen I’ve been planning/researching/visualizing for almost a year?!?!” and “how the heck is it already September?” but I suppose I got the point across anyway.

    Although, to be fair, just about every big ticket category has be worked on and/or set.  Maybe not every detail has been finalized, but there are things in motion, which means that they will be. One way or the other.

    I just hope that when 2012 rolls around and things start getting crazy busy that some of those things I fell in love with, that I haven’t been able to walk away from, don’t get left in the dust.  That might be a little more depressing then I care to imagine.

    Alright, enough of my musings for the day.  Back to beefing up this to-do list (which I will unveil on my countdown post in a few days.) I mean my mama always said, if you’re going to do something do it right the first time. So why keep things off the list just so that it’s not as intimidating?  We (I suppose that’s my inner self and bride self, since not too many other people could really be in the Know) both know that they need to be done, and I don’t need a gosh danged thing sneakin’ up on me during crunch time that I forgot because it wasn’t part of the Hydra.

Hotel California

Well technically we're talking about a very specific area of California... but you get the idea. *the true name of the hotel has been omitted for the sake of confidentiality.

All of my bridal timelines say that somewhere around 6 months you should start reserving blocks of rooms for your guests.  I just want to reiterate that we're closer to the 7.5 mark, as some background information as you read.

So I called the hotel that is partnered with our venue (both in terms of discounted rates and a complementary shuttle).  Everything goes along smoothly, and Casey promptly returns my calls. Then disaster strikes.  Okay maybe not a real disaster, but it was a curve ball of epic proportions.

Enter: Long Beach Grand Prix.

LBGP Logo

Oh yes, the event that causes all true Long Beach citizens a momentary wince of apprehension.  The noise and crowds are just short of legendary, and it literally takes the city a good month or so to prepare.

Why didn't you think of this Future Mrs. H?  Well, friends, simply put, I'm not getting married in Long Beach, how the heck was I to know that this cursed event could ruin my wedding plans from two cities and a bridge over?!?!?

This means quite a few things.  (1) My lovely discounted prices have evaporated.  Casey is a great guy and was able to provide us with a bit of a discount from the rates that the other guests will be using that weekend, but it's the principle that has me waving my fist in the air, crying out to God at the injustice.

Gone With the Wind

Somehow, I get the feeling Scarlett knows what I mean. (The family connection to the movie must have something to do with, but alas, that is a story for another day).

That brings us to (2): they can only hold 15 rooms.  I originally anticipated needing between 25-30.  EEK!  I'm not sure what this really means for guests.  I have looked into other hotels, but there is a similar situation going on in all the surrounding cities.  I guess it really will be first come first serve, and our family members coming from out of town will take precedence.  In my defense, I have warned everyone about the situation. It's really up to them at this point to figure out what they will need to do.

If we switch hotels, which realistically really won't solve many (if any) problems - we also lose the shuttle.  I just hope people realize that this is, in fact, a SITUATION, and one that will need to be handled early.  I'm telling myself not to worry about the people that try and wait until next January... but I am sure I will never hear the end of it.

These Shoes Were Made for Walkin' (down the aisle)

Well friends, I am happy to report that serious shoe efforts were made this weekend.  We ordered 16 more gross of rhinestones... yes, thats right... 16 gross.  Maybe you aren't aware of how many rhinestones that is, let me break down the numbers.

1 gross = 144 pieces

We originally bought 2 different sizes (16ss and 20ss) per color, and 4 colors total: Silk AB, Crystal AB, Tanzanite, Purple Haze... and we got 2 gross per size per color.

Thats 16 gross to start! And we just about ran out (we still have about half of our original amount in the silk and crystal colors (so 1 gross per color - maybe), however, we were completely out of both shades of purple).

So yes, we just got 16 more gross in just the purple.

16 gross = 2304 pieces x 2 = 4,608 stones purchased thus far!!!!!

AND WE'RE NOT EVEN HALFWAY DONE YET! Well, thats a bit of a misconception, the stones have been purchase but not applied, we may have left overs. (cross your fingers).

Anyway, now that you with me on the intensity of the rhinestone situation, would you like to see the shoes version 6.5?

Ta-da! They're really coming along aren't they? *insert wistful sigh here* I cannot, I repeat, CANNOT wait to wear these... the way they sparkle is overwhelmingly beautiful... I wish the pictures did them justice.

Anyhoo - stay tuned for the final result... if you're still with me that long! =) haha

.:229:.