Day 583 - Dance till you drop

Last night was my bachelorette, a silly but necessary component of the modern bride's trip down the aisle.....okay, maybe not necessary but I can not imagine not having one.

For the purpose of being completely honest I shall tell you that my brain is fried. I am tired, I was drinking and as much as I am not hung over and wasn't drunk, I most certainly am finding it difficult to put words together this morning. Please ignore the choppy manner by which I relay the night to you.

timeline? Sure.... informal...choppy, perfect for a morning after blog entry.

• My maid of honor showed in the am to come with me to my make-up appointment. I had booked it for the bachelorette day so I could see how the make up held up through a full day. If it was successful and looked good I would have them do my make-up the wedding day. It was a success. 
• We returned home to wait for our "extra guest". The bachelorette was to be the bridal party plus one although later it was plus two. Unfortunately one of my bridesmaids found herself ill the night before so she was not able to make it to the bachelorette. :( But we will have to abduct her for another day out! A post-wedding celebration! 
• With our "extra guest" in tow we headed out to lunch at my friend's restaurant. I'm hoping to have our rehearsal dinner at the same location. 
• After lunch it was off to have a mani-pedi with the girls. We met up with my sister (other bridesmaid) at this point and the four of us laid back and got pampered. okay, perhaps 3 of us, my sister apparently does not find the pedicure process very pampering. We got a kick out of her squirming during the process though. 
• After this we ran back to my place to gather our gear for the night and pick up the plus 2. 
• At my sisters place we started the night with a sexy and the city party. Even cooler than I could have imagined. :) Won some awesome prizes too! 
• Then garlic fingers, penis cake and more booze. Followed by a trip to the club. 

I can say this for dancing or at least heading out to a club for a bachelorette, at least for me, is a very different atmosphere than just going out to the club. I couldn't quite peg it last night but looking back this morning I think a biggest thing is that your upcoming wedding is at the front of your mind the whole time. Not necessarily stressing you but perhaps distracting you or maybe even just adding an element to the moment. When you are going out dancing you are just going out dancing and to everyone around you that is the same fact. But when you go out for a bachelorette you are going out dancing to celebrate the end of your single life. Typically this involves some tell tale jewelry which results not only in free cover but also in congratulations from complete strangers and oohs and awws from girls who want to see your ring through their beer goggles. I had expected DJ's to be a little more attentive which at first was not the case. But when we switched bars or at least sections of the bar to another DJ he was a lot quicker to provide the tunes requested! Although, oddly enough for a bar scene, neither DJ had Shots - LMFAO something I've heard almost every time I've been out in the past year. But they did have Maneater - Nelly an older tune that my sister and I used to dance/drink to years ago. Just after that they played Low - Flo Rida a song which came out when I was pregnant and couldn't dance/drink to it at a club.
I think one of my favorite songs that the first DJ played was I will survive - Gloria Gaynor oddly enough a song I can't really stand ... I don't hate it, I just ... don't listen to it. If it is on an ipod I press skip. It's just...it is a theatrical song that you have to be in a theatrical mood to listen to. Sure enough, I dragged my Maid of Honor up unto the speakers and we belted it out to no one in particular and each other of course. So maybe it is a song I might at some point request in the future when out. Just a fun drinking out with the girls song apparently. Not a frequent one though, I put it on just now to see if I had a new love for it. I don't, in fact I'm about to turn it off when I finish this paragraph. However, it at least now has a memory to connect to it that will make me smirk when I think of me doing the running man on the speaker in my six inch heels while I told no one in particular to "go on now go! Walk out the door!" something I didn't realize was quite as dangerous until I did it sober last night. Those speakers have just enough space all around them for a heel to slip down and break a leg. Yikes, had I been drunk I think I might have injured myself quite badly! But I also wouldn't have been doing the running man on a speaker in 6" inch heels were I drunk. Nope...not a chance! 

OH another highlight of the night was that in the beginning on all the speakers there was a large group of people who were doing the same dance moves and getting the crowd in on it. They'd switch it up as if they were giving a fitness class or dance lesson. It was quite amusing. Although I didn't join in necessarily I did enjoy the random participation of the rest of the room.
Another would be this drunk girl who was loooooaadddedd t-rexing it all night. just back and forth with her trashed buddy up on the stage. she'd t-rex to one end of the room, sweep her hand through her hair then t-rex back to the other end. Ocassionally she'd switch it up by putting her hands on her hips and doing a move which can only be compared to the fresh prince doing Jump on it in high speed and then regaining balance to t-rex back to the other side of the room.

By the end of the night we were just getting goofy and having silly fun. I even tried to get a lapdance from a poor sap. All in good fun of course and didn't expect him to nor would I have let it go on for long, I guess you could say it was just me having fun at someone else's expense and seeing if they had the balls to put on a show for fun. When he didn't we just did ourselves, everything from mocking our t-rexing girl from the other bar to a quick spurt of thriller and then just random shit we named or associated with people or activities.

All around, a great night, and when I came home and curled up with my hubby-to-be it suddenly felt soooo real once more. He said the same, with all those last little details coming to a close it feels like that wedding is coming up. Which is good, since it is 29 days away! Now if only I could help his pen hit paper so he could finish start his vows! ;) 

See below the fold for a few pictures. Mind you there is a synthetic penis so this is not for the sensitive and/or virginal eyes. No babies, NSFW and don't come complaining to me when you walk away laughing.

<3 your happy hippie bride

Day 501 - Passed around

WOW! That was INSANE!

Today I set out to do the simple...or what was supposed to be the simple task of applying for our marriage license! I called my local department who directed me to another department who told me where I needed to go. For simplicities sake we'll say that I was told to go to their centre midtown on Mario street (Hubby-to-be is racing with the kids on mario kart....so sue me) To give an idea I will lay it out like this:

• 1:34pm I take a bus to Mario street midtown which is about 10 minutes bus ride away. 
• 1:50pm I wait in line at the centre and at my turn I tell them I am here to apply for a marriage license. The lady tells me I need to go downtown (30 minutes away) to the vital statistics department on Horatio St. Flustered I leave with a piece of paper that has the vital statistics phone number and address. 
• 2:10 while waiting for hubby-to-be to check his text and tell me what bus to take I check my balance to see if while I'm here I should make a payment on his wedding band. Don't want it to be a wasted trip. I decide against it and head for the terminal completely annoyed.
• 2:18 while waiting for the next bus to Horatio St. which isn't due to arrive until 2:30 I stare at the number. I think to myself, "My transfer expires at 4pm if I go all the way downtown to Horatio St. I will arrive at 3pm....and chances are they are going to tell me it's the wrong place. So I call the number Of course they tell me that I don't need to go to Horatio St. that I need to go to Mario St.I inform the representative that I am currently at Mario St. and they told me to go to Horatio. She gives me another number.
• 2:20 pm I phone the other number who tells me "You don't need to be on Mario or Horatio st. you need to be on Bowser Road Inbound!" This is a 4minute busride from my home!!!! I could have been done SO much faster! This is rediculous! Right in front of me is a bus which will take me there so I thank her and hop on said bus. 
• 2:22pm I call hubby-to-be while waiting for bus to leave and tell him, "I should be home soon." I explain what has happened and then say, "And if this place turns me away then we just aren't getting married!" 
• 2:26pm Now off the bus at Bowser Road Inbound I realize I hadn't acquired an exact address from the lady. I have a pretty good idea where it should be as Bowswer Road is pretty abandoned. But to be safe I call the city back and explain that I have been bounced around a lot and want to make sure I get to the right spot since my transfer expires at 4pm. On a side note I was supposed to meet my boss at 3pm so there is even more stress on this timeframe! 
• 2:30 I go stand in line. A gentleman says, "Can I help you?"
  "Only if you want to. This is my third try!"
  "Your 3rd marriage? Are you sure you want to?"
  "No no...my third attempt at applying. First they sent me to Mario St. then Horatio st. now here, if this doesn't work I'm giving up." He laughed and asked if the man knew he was getting married because "it doesn't make a good present."
  "Yeah he knows." 
• 2:41pm I exit the building successfully completed my application. FINALLY Head towards bus terminal. 
• 2:50 I'm approaching bus terminal from inside a building when I see the bus home is getting ready to leave. I run like a mad woman at the doors to get to the bus in time. I push softly on the first door as I exit and it opens to the right so naturally I think the next one which is 2 feet away will also open the to right. I hit the edge with my wrist and all 100 lbs of force behind me SMACK might as well have ran into a wall for all the good it did...evidently THAT door opens to the left..... ouch! Swollen and injured I board the bus where a less than impressed driver grudgingly lets me on. 
• 2:53 I arrive at my stop and begin the walk home rubbing my throbbing wrist. Walk in the house take off my jacket and see my boss pull in. Phew, that was close.

What  a day!!!!!! I think I'm going to have fat friday a little earlier this week....aka today! :p

<3 your sore hippie bride

Day 353 - WHOOPS

As you know I am a DIY bride. Among the things I am DIYing there are my bouquets, my invitations and yes even our first dance. So focused am I that I will sometimes rehearse while in the shower. I have learned that THIS is likely not the best venue for practicing your wedding dance choreography. Not a shower activity, lesson learned *whoops*

The positive aspect is that I now have the first minute of our dance rehearsed....now I must go melt into something really cold and refreshing.

<3 your sweaty hippie bride

Day 352 - Dressed to impress...the budget

I'm struggling with the idea of spending too much money on my flower girl dresses. I want something adorable and appropriate but I do not want to spend too much money on it because it will definitely get stained if I do. Isn't that how it works? I think it would hurt to spend $40 on the dresses and I'd much rather pay $20 or less. It's a kids dress, she's going to wear it a few times maybe when playing dress up. It'll be shoved aside in her memorabilia stuff and that's about it. General prices for flower girl dresses lean around $60-$70 so I don't have high hopes right now.

I passed several high school students in the past little bit and I have noticed that most kids now walk around wearing sweatpants. What is with that? Fashion has gone out the window and it's all about comfort? As I reflected on that I thought of my relationship and laughed that you could describe us as fitting together like high school sweatpants. I said this to a few friends who were disgusted with this comparison and insisted I find a better one. I returned with the statement, "I did not realize just how strong my love for him was until he failed to pass the approval test with my parents" This, given my lack of a relationship with my family, was approved by all.

<3 your hippie bride

Day 310 - 63% accounted for

Oh, so very addictive. Every day that I can't afford to put money into my wedding I instead input time. Time spent logging in to see if anyone new has RSVP'd.
63% of my guests have RSVPd, there are still more to mail out and we already know that Krista is waiting until May to RSVP .... maybe I shall serve the food in order of RSVP received ;)

I kid... I swear... or do I? :p

Day 300 - Addicted to RSVPs!

Ever since I sent out my wedding invitations I find myself logging in first thing in the morning to see if anyone has RSVP'd.

I can see how this wedding stuff can be completely addicting. I have a small guest list of 50-60 people and everyday I get so excited by new RSVP's. I also smile when they sign my guestbook in addition to rsvping.
So when I woke up this morning to fresh RSVP alerts! I declared aloud, "EXCELLENT!" I love non-procrastinators :) ♥ 312 ♥

Day 297 - Stress melts away

On days like today, when work and work related stressers are piling up around me. When I am completely overwhelmed by those around me and stuff I need to get done but don't have time to do. I simply turn on my wedding playlist, close my eyes and remind myself that in 316 days I will marry my best friend and love of my life.

Within moments nothing else matters ... until I snap back to reality and realize I must wait 316 days! Drat!

With 315 days to go I have removed the password from most pages on our wedding website and it is up and operational. Although, for security reasons, some pages will remain password protected.

Once the deadline passes for RSVPs the whole page will become password protected again and the RSVP tab will be removed.

You know you're emotionally drained when a simple guestbook comment from your best man on your wedding website can bring tears to your eyes. ♥

Some days it feels a million years away, others it feels like it's around the corner. ♥ I wish it were tomorrow! I would marry David today, yesterday and everyday! ♥ 

Day 294 - Bridal fugly!

Our engagement party is coming up, the theme is bridal fugly. As a result I spent the entire day with one of my bridesmaids trying to find the perfect fugly wedding dress!
Here is what didn't make the cut.

She vants to bite your neck! Honestly one of the itchiest and plainest ugly dresses ever

"All we are saying, is give peace a chance!" 

well hello there....welcome to the 70's

Not terrible but I didn't need shoes since I'd be a barefoot hippie all day.

THIS was the dress I wanted...however my bosom once blossomed too much! 

You'll have to wait to see what made the cut. But that last dress... oh it broke my heart to leave it behind, it was EXACTLY what I was looking for! 

Day 282 - Genevieve says yes to the dress

Nothing particularly productive, however my toddler has found her dress!

My daughter and my maid-of-honors daughter were copying us and flipping through bridal magazines. Genevieve ended up getting really into it. :)

The link is relatively private and so can't be embedded. Click here to enjoy. :)

<3 your hippie bride

Day 245 - Another wedding

It's amazing to think that in a year and one day I will shed the past completely and marry the love of my life.

There is another wedding coming up shortly and today I went to purchase our wedding presents for them. I learned a few lessons during this process.
1) Zellers kids Mac & Cheese is NOT vegetarian. Even though the menu describes all the ingredients and doesn't mention bacon.... it is loaded with bacon. Not just bacon bits on the top which I would have grudgingly picked off. But also throughout the meal there are giant chunks of bacon slime. GROSS!

2) You CAN get locked into a building! It doesn't just happen on Home Alone movies! While out with Genevieve buying the present off their registry Genevieve got sick. I rushed her to the bathroom but not quick enough. I was cleaning up the mess and trying to tend to her. Shortly after I hear a staff come in and I apologize for the smell. I explain that she was just sick and I am almost done cleaning it up. She looks at me stunned and tells me that they were locked up and leaving. She had come in to use the bathroom before they left. Had she not had to use the bathroom I'd have been locked in and later set off the alarm!!! Can you imagine. She then told me she didn't think I could make my purchase. I looked at her firmly and as nicely as I could stated, "I am making my purchase! I was almost locked in here! I am MAKING my purchase!"

She ran off ahead of me, presumably to advise the manager and when I came out they rang me in with no incident and let me out. I was absolutely stunned!


<3 your wiser hippie bride

Day 218 - Extreme Couponing

I have been couponing where I can and shopping for a bargain everywhere. Today I managed to save our wedding budget $133.90 by acting on a tax free event. This meant rushing my poor daughter outside in such a hurry that.... well let's let the video tell you the story

Worth it in the end...hoping to save another $300 plus dollars soon. I took some of that saved money and bought her new shoes. :) 

Day 211 - He's brilliant

I cracked open the wedding planning book today to get a few tasks organized. While doing this I asked that hubby-to-be give me a helping hand in making a list of what is important to him. 

This is what he gave me:

- Bride Happy
- None of your family {I told him some were coming and he then wrote}Sad panda
- No Pink Suits
Butterflies?
Big Screen in Bathroom$100,000 car to leave in
- Do whatever you want! 

The big screen in car were making fun of a groom on some TLC show. Otherwise, cute, loving and so not helpful. ;p

Day 163 - Ceremony readings

While reading through some ceremony readings to find a few for our ceremony I came across this gem. Although I will not likely use it in my ceremony it is still awesome and maybe a bridal party member will use it in their speech. :p

"To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it
Whenever you’re right, shut up."

Day 182 - Smaller I be

I just felt I should update you once again with a less formal photograph. I am now down 30 lbs. Leaving 20 lbs to my goal. 30 lbs maybe but 20 is my initial goal. 
I'm finally in my skinny jeans again. :) 

Enjoy the rapture tomorrow!

Also, thought for the day, in today's day you are not proof that your parents bumped uglies... think about it. It's true! 

Day 166 - We built this guest list on rock & roll

I'm pretty sure this guest list will have me sent to the nut house before I'm done. But right now ... I'm pretty sure we have practically decided on almost maybe confirming our guest list to maybe be a nice round 80 although perhaps we might think of maybe adding 5 others but that is only a maybe instead of a definitely. But it is a definite maybe so maybe it's more definite than maybe....*faints*

We realized with the finances we need to keep it small and intimate but we also do not want to alienate people. At this point we are juggling an online, live wedding for those who are further away and can't our couldn't make it to the ceremony without spending a lot of money to attend.

Not sure how that would fly at this point but we will see as time progresses. 

Day 15 - Wedding invasions of the dream

YAY I have lost a whole 3.1 lbs more and have thus far been gaining nothing back. Not more than .2 of a lb which I lose the next day and then some. I'm loving watching this weight just melt of.

I've also learned that if I have a long conversation about wedding stuff with Kathy just before bed... it results in a dream of sleep overs where we are planning weddings. Well that was silly. Her wedding is coming up soon though and so we certainly had a fair amount to talk about.

No much else to update about, <3 your hippie bride.