Wedding Shoes

Have you ever noticed that when you need to find an item, you can never find what you want? But if you have no plans on buy anything, that's the day you'll find something perfect you need/want. For example my wedding shoes I bought today.

I went to the mall today with two of my bridesmaids, Alison and Anna. I drove with Alison to mall and on the way I said, "Oh I'm not worried about finding my shoes for the wedding; I have few months to look around." Go figure, the first store we go into a saw these beauties. 

I already have my "something blue", so I figured I would want to find ivory shoe that will go with my dress. To my surprise, there were two pairs of ivory shoes there that I liked. However, once I tried these ones on I knew they were going home with me.

 
With a $39.99 price tag, I felt like was getting a pretty good deal. (Total with taxes: $43.69) May I add, I think I'm falling in love with JC Penny's because I'm finding all these great items for my wedding. Not only did I get these shoes there, you may also remember my post when I got my wedding shower dress there as well.

Plus, I also bought the flower girl dress at JCP's too. Who knows what the next JC Penny's find will be; but I have to say, I feel good about this roll I'm on.

Question: Do you have a store that you always have good luck finding the things you need/ want?

My First Farmers' Market

Even though I talk mostly about wedding stuff on my blog, I really enjoy reading food blogs. I think it's because the soon-to-be hubby is Italian and he seems to be able to just smell different foods/ spices and knows if they'll taste good together; and that's not me. So I'm hoping by reading food blogs that I'll pick up some good tips and recipes which will allow me to cook as well as Sam.

I read a lot a food blogs that talk about going to farmers markets to buy the fruits and veggies, but I never gone to one till today (which happen by accident, may I add).

I had I go to the town hall today to buy a sticker for my car which allows me to park on the streets. (I think it is dumb I have to pay $30 every two years so I can park my car outside my house, but I digress.) When I was there, they had the weekly Farmers' Market going on, so I figure I'd check it out.

I was surprised by how many stands were there that didn't sell food. There were bunch of different things for sell there. It ranged from crafts, jewelry, cleaning products, and of course fruits and veggies.

 
When I read all these food blogs, it makes me want to eat healthier and try new foods. However, I caved to my old ways and bought one of my summertime favorites...

I love me some kettle corn! I used to live in Bloomington-Normal IL, and every year they have "Corn Fest". At the festival, I always bought biggest bag of kettle corn I could get. The bag I would get at "Corn Fest" would put this little guy to shame. However, I knew I needed to buy the biggest bag, because this happens..

This little guy never stood a chance. If you never try real hand popped kettle corn, you need to add it to your bucket list because you don't know what you're missing out on. I've tried the microwave kind before, and it's was junk. I'll only ever buy the really stuff because there is nothing better that a handful of the this sweet and salty snack.

Question: What's one of your favorite summer time snacks?

Well Hello Again

I know I've been slacking on blogging these last few weeks, but things haven't been very exciting.

On the job hunt front... well, it's still going. I keep telling my soon-to-be in-laws, "It's like a no hitter, you just don't talk about it". When it comes to job searching there are so many highs and lows you go through; so I would rather just not talk about it However, like I said before, I believe everything will work out the way it's supposed to.

On the wedding front... there has been some things that are happening. Last week we pick out the tuxes for the guys, worked on our wedding registry, and meet with a travel agent to talk about our honeymoon. But I'll talk more about those things on upcoming posts.

Things planned in the next week or so...

We want to pick out which cruises we'll be going on for our "friends" honeymoon.  Sam and I went on a cruise last year with family and it was fun; but it would have been more fun if we had friends with us... so we are inviting a large group of our friends to join us on our honeymoon.

Flowers... I really have no clue about what type of flowers I want for my weddings, so I think I'll go meet some florists and see what ideas they have (and how much it's going to cost me).

That's about it.

I'm sorry I've been slacking; but if anything become news worthy I'll be sure to keep you in the loop.

Night!

Wedding Shower Centerpieces

I love to save money and I like making crafts, so this wedding has given me the chance to do both.

I was given some silk flowers from a cousin's wedding last summer. I've never been a big fan of silk flowers, but they were free, so I wanted to find some way to use them. Also, I've seen silk flower done well in centerpieces, but they normally have to be in water for me to like them... so I came you with this centerpiece that I'm thinking about using for my wedding shower.

This centerpiece cost a $2.00 plus tax.

Vase- $1 (Dollar Tree)
Floating candle- $1 (Hobby Lobby at 50% off)
Silk flowers- free
Fishing line- free (had it laying around the house)

Now that's a pretty good deal if you ask me!

How I made this...

1. I hot glued three of silks flowers to fishing line, and have the spaced about an inch a part.
2. I made a loop (about the size of a dime) of at the end of the fishing line which will attached to the bottom of the floating candle. This will give the fishing line a stronger base when attaching it to the candle.
3. I melted candle wax (I used a taper candle) and poured it over the fishing line loop. Let dry. You could also just melt the bottom of the float candle and place the fishing line loop into the melted wax. I tried both ways- I like using a second candle the best.
4. Fill vase with water. Place flowers and candle into the water.
5. Take picture and post it on your blog (but you can skip that part if you want!)

The only issue I have with this centerpiece is that the color from the silk flowers did start to bleed into the water when it was first placed into the water. According to my mom, if I soak the silk flowers in cold salt water it should stop the dye from bleeding into the water the next time I put them together. I'll have to give it a try and see how well it works.

Question: What do you think about using these centerpieces for my shower which is in August? Or would these be good for the wedding which is in October?  Should I / could I use them for both events?

I would love to hear you thoughts...

4:00 am Drive

Yesterday my phone alarm was set for a very early 4:00am. You know you love your friends when you are willing (and happily willing) to wake up at 4:00am so I can drive home to get to work.

One of my best friend's father is sick and so she came home to visit him. She didn't have her car with her, so I drove her back to her apartment/ home which is 3 hours away. So to make it to work at 8:00am, I had to get up at 4am.

I made great time leaving her apartment in the morning because I was in my car ready to hit the road by 4:10. (It took me the minute to figure out I needed to turn off the flash).

I have to say, yesterday was a prefect day to be up to see the sunrise. This was taken about 30 minutes into my trip.

Please ignore the bug guts on the window. That will happen drive through central Illinois in spring.

What think I like most about driving long trips by myself is that it gives me time to think.

To think about... the wedding... my job searching... how life maybe different once I find a new job... moving myself and Sam to a new city... my friends... my family...etc. I really do enjoy the down time that long car drives give you, even if it's really early in the morning.

Also, this drive once again made me thankful for all the things I have in my life. I have great friends, family, and fiance. I have my health, employment (even if it's only part-time), and a bed to sleep in at night. I'm grateful to have all these blessing in my life, which includes being able to wake up the morning see the sunrise.

I was in such a good mood that I need the documentation to prove it (not only to myself because I'm not a morning person, but for those people who know I'm not a morning person).

I probably shouldn't take pictures of myself while driving, but trust me, I had that highway to myself .
 
I'm happy to say I made it back to my mom's house with a little time to spare, so I try (I'm not I really sure that I fell a sleep) to get a quick 25 minute nap in before I had to hit the road again to get to work.

Question: What do you like to do on long car rides/ drives?

Glass Unity Candles

Today I decided to bring some of my wedding stuff from Sam's house to my mom's. Currently, I have half my of wedding things at Sam's and the other half at my mom's. So I figured I would try to get everything in one location, this way I could start getting everything organized.

One down size of having some of my wedding items at the soon-to-be in-law's house, my mom doesn't get to see things I've bought (until today). This included my glass unity candles that I ordered online.

I have a love for all things glass and candles, so this is a prefect combination of those two loves.

The first time I saw glass unity candles was at my cousin's wedding 8 years ago. When I saw her candles, I knew that someday I would have a set of my own for my wedding.

One thing I love about these candles, is that they're reusable/ refillable. I love the idea of getting to use my unity candles during our anniversaries, and other special occasions. With traditional wax candles, you don't want to burn them down to nothing because you'll never get to use them; with these, I won't have to worry about that.  Also, another great thing about these candles is that you can buy oil in our wedding color (of course I got the oil for my candles in purple). Finally, I got to pick from a few different designs and got to personalized the bottom with our names and wedding date.

Sam isn't very religious and I wanted to make our unity candle reflects both of us, so I choose a design that seemed to fit who we are as a couple. The candle reads:

This day

I will marry

My friend,

The one I

Laugh with,

Live for,

Dream with,

Love

I picked this saying because I hope to have the pastor incorporate it into of vows. This way we will always remember our vows because they're forever engraved into our unity candle.

I'm so happy with how the candles turned out. I'm always concerned when I buy something online that it won't be as nice as I hoped, but these candles turned out prefect.

Question: Would you trust buying things for your wedding online? Or do you prefer to get important items from a store?

Week Recap & Invitations

So as you may have notice, I really only post on the weekends. I'm sorry about that, but what can I say... my life is pretty boring.

Quick recap of this last week for me...

Saturday- I went to my first charity benefit. It was for a 3 year old boy with brain cancer.

My friend Cathy worked so hard to help this family put on this benefit. She worked on getting all the raffle and silent auction prizes gathered from local companies, and  then made all the prize baskets. I'm so glad I went because it was for a great cause and I got to support a great friend in the process.

 Sunday- Sam and I went to church, then had our third counseling session with the pastor. Sam isn't much of a church going guy or a morning person; so he must really love me to get up and go to a 9:30am church service.

Monday- Just work then my traditional "Monday Night, Fajitas Night" with my friend Jen.

Tuesday- Was my dad's birthday. No cake fights this weeks; just a quite dinner with my dad and I.

Wednesday- My wedding invitations came in!

Thanks for everyone who put in their vote when I had my invitation search post. Sam's input is what put me over the edge to get these ones. I think we made a good choice for us and our wedding. Now, we just need to get them sent out.

Thursday- After I got done working my two jobs- Sam, Jen, and I went out for dinner and drinks to celebrate Jen's 25th birthday (which was on Wednesday).

Sam thought it would be funny to keep bugging me during dinner; so my revenge- taking pictures of him.

The picture taking would have started bugging the other people around us before Sam, so I stopped. Sam really didn't seem to care, and I didn't want to be that crazy lady at the restaurant who just kept taking pictures.

Friday- Worked and hung with Jen. Sometimes it's nice to be around friends, even if your not doing anything. Jen and I did some running around town, then just hung out at her house all night. I watched TLC's Friday night wedding themed line up of shows, while Jen worked on planning her trip to Europe that's happening later this summer. (Like I said, I'm pretty boring)

Saturday (today)- Well... your reading it. It's raining again here in Chicago. There maybe plans to go downtown tonight, but I think the weather may put a damper on those plans. But we'll see.


Questions: What are you doing with your holiday weekend? Anything fun or exciting?