Washi, wa-shee

I have been the financial nazi in the house, for the last 20 months. Every time Jake has an idea for the wedding, I say exclaim: "Do you know how much that is going to cost!?!? A. LOT." Yeah, we are kind of backwards from the norm. But what is normalicy?

I think I have finally broke. I just made an impromptu purchase. I always think my purchases through, but not today. I completed the transaction before I gave myself any time to second guess my actions. Weird.

Want to know what I bought? I bet you want to know. I purchased two rolls of washi tape.

Um, what is washi tape? Well, according to Wikipedia, wa means Japanese and shi means paper. Therefore, I purchased Japanese paper tape. I have no idea what I will be doing with it. Your guess is as good as mine. But I just had to have it.

via Tiny Prints Blog.
For ideas on what washi tape can be used for, click the photo above.

Dear Val and Matt

Dear Val and Matt,

Happy WEDDING Day! YAAYYYYYYY! I hope you have a wonderful day that is everything you have dreamed of. I know you you have been working so very hard on it for oh I don't know, maybe like the last 16 months! Have a blast and enjoy every single moment of it.

Photo by me.

P.S. Val - I'll see you on the other side. I'm expecting a full power point presentation on the ins and outs of pulling it all off!

4 months

We are 126 days out! I am this close -->||<-- to freaking out because it seems a bit too real. As we get closer, I'll be hammering out more and more projects. Some I will share with you here, and some I will keep a complete secret until the day of. There is a lot of details, guess that is what happens when you are Type-A and have an eye for details. Wait, was that an oxymoron?

Moving right along...with the done list:

• Just days after my meltdown, we found and booked our cinematographer. 
• We have chalkboard speech bubbles for our faux-to-booth. What is a faux-to-booth you ask? Well, you know what a photobooth is right? You know that box with a camera in it, a small bench that barely fits your ass and half of mine? Oh and it takes photos of you in 4 poses? Well, we are not having a box, but we will have a camera set up for folks to ham it up in front of. Drunk friends with some fun props should end is some hilarious photo keepsakes.
• We have mustachios on a stick! Our planner told us to keep it a secret, OOPS!
• We, (and by that I mean, our planner) renegotiated our contract with our venue and saved ourselves a ton of money. I saw that the website for our venue had been updated with options that were not there a year ago. Of course I had to follow up on it. Worse case they tell me "no".
• I have been working on our ring pillow. I'll show you the trial and the finished product when I finally finish it. Ugh is the word I'd use right now.
• My girls and I planned my bachelorette party. Can you say VEGAS!? Sorry, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, at least that's what the saying goes. This will be my first trip out to there EVER. I'm pretty sure that this will be pretty epic.
• We purchased my wedding band. More on this when I actually have it in my grubby hands.
• We finally have all of the fabric for my Chinese dress picked out. The buttons however remain to big GIANT pain.

Now onto the to-do list:

• Suits/Tux rentals
• We need to find a tent company. Oh and we may be able to save money by splitting the costs with the couple who are getting married at our venue the very next day.
• Welcome dinner venue and caterer
• Morning after brunch venue and menu
• Transportation
• Finalize the centerpieces
• Finalize the dinner menu
• Print, assemble, and send invitations
• The maid of honor still needs a dress
• The mother of the bride still needs a dress (do not get me started on this)
• Table numbers
• Programs need to be designed, printed, and assembled
• Menus need to be designed, printed, and assembled
• Guestbook - I think I have an idea, just needs to be executed
• Cardbox - aiya...another big GIANT pain that I have been avoiding. I may end up outsourcing the project and completely scrapping it to save my sanity.
• Chair signage - do we even need signage? seriously?
• Welcome packages for out of town guests - oh...there is so much to do for this alone...again, maybe I should just outsource.

I think there is a shit-ton more that goes on the to-do list, but I do not have the brain power, nor do I even want to begin to list them all for my own peace of mind.

Countdown:

5 months

Meltdown at 5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

11 months

12 months

13 months

5 months

Clearly, we are now days away from the 4 month mark, but to do one post on two months of work might be over kill. So I've decided to break things up. For the most part, you have already read about most of what we did five months out, but I'll relist them as a quick recap.

• We were able to spend a few days visiting friends and family in Oregon (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, and a tearful ending)
• We secured rooms at the Westin for everyone. Use the link we have supplied to get the discounted rate for both room and parking.
• We secured airline discounts for folks who choose to fly on Alaska Air. I was also able to find a discount code for JetBlue flights!
• We failed at trying to win a contest in which we would receive a discount on our wedding planning package.
• We appeared in the Boston Herald.
• And lastly, I had a major meltdown.

Countdown:

Meltdown at 5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

11 months

12 months

13 months

Digital Camera 1: Assignment 1

I have completed 2 weeks of my 8 week photography workshop. Last week's session was really REALLY slow, but it picked up some this week.

Our first assigment was go take photos of things that interest us using the Program mode. Program mode is essentially the same as Automatic mode, except the flash does not pop up on you. Personally, I hate program mode, but that is just me. 

Here were my submissions. Note: we were not supposed to touch them up for submission, the photos posted here have been slightly edited for contrast.

Homemade tomato soup (Tillmook recipe) and grilled cheese on sprouted whole wheat bread.

Apparently, April is national grilled cheese month. Who knew? My instructor sent this photo over after seeing mine.

Heritage Bundt Cake. Click on the photo for recipe and details.

Gluten free banana bread with 70% Callebaut chocolate. Click  on photo for recipe and details.

The class did not spend hardly any time on my photos during the critique session, so I'll take it as a good thing. It may have helped that we were running into overtime.