Updates and Giveaway!

First, I just want to let you know that I'm sponsoring a giveaway on my cousin's blog. There will be 2 winners of the giveaway... one will get a wire rose ring and the other will get a butterfly ring. It's super easy to enter, so head on over and check it out!

Second, you have probably noticed some changes here on the blog. I have a new banner and buttons, a lighter background, and I'm bidding adieu to a few things, namely Music Monday, Here Not There, and Good Reads.

Music Monday is ending because it's fulfilled its purpose. I had some really awesome music I wanted to share with you guys and I did that, so instead of going broke buying new music to share every week, I'm going to leave it as is. You can always find past Music Monday features by searching "Music Monday" in the search box. If I ever randomly come across a great new artist I'll be sure to share, but it will no longer be a regular feature.

Here Not There is ending for 2 reasons. Reason One is that it took a really long time to make the posts for it. I had to find duplicate items, save all the images, combine them side by side, put prices on them, and then put them into a post. It took forever. The second reason is that I almost always ended up buying something when I spent that much time looking at pretty stuff online. I've been spending too much money lately, so I'm hoping to significantly cut back on the time I spend drooling over ModCloth, Ruche, and all the other online shops I love. As with Music Monday, you can search "Here Not There" in the search box for all theold posts, but I will not being doing any new ones.

Good Reads is not actually ending... it's just migrated to the sidebar as a blog roll instead of its own page. I will be adding more blogs to it later, but I won't have as many listed as I did on the Good Reads page. There's about 100 thousand blogs that I love and I wish I could list everyone, but unfortunately I won't be able to do that. 

Well that was probably more explanation that anyone actually needed, but oh well.

Third:

Gorgeous. Absolutely perfect. I love it.

Not gonna lie, though, I'm kinda mad at her. See, I've always wanted my wedding dress to have long sleeves, possibly lace ones. I know that's pretty old-fashioned, but that's kind of why I liked the idea of it. But now that Kate wore this dress, you just know every one and their mom is going to want to get married in a dress with long, lace sleeves and within a few years this style will be totally worn out. Not cool, Kate.

Style Inspiration: BHLDN Wedding Dresses

I am not the type of girl that has her whole wedding planned by the time she is 15. I mean, I think about it every now and then, but it has never been something I've obsessed over or put that much thought into.

While the wedding itself has not ever been much of a consideration for me, dresses, on the other hand, have been something I have thought about quite a bit. Don't laugh at me... all you single people do it too whether or not you want to admit it, and I'm sure the married people would agree they also thought about the dress a lot even before they even met their spouse.

Anyhow, yesterday I was on Yahoo and the main article on their front page was about wedding dresses. Being the dressoholic I am, I clicked on it... and almost died. Several of the dresses they had in the slide show were from BHLDN (don't ask me what that stands for), and they were seriously the most gorgeous dresses I've ever seen before. So naturally I went to the BHLDN website to track down the rest of them...

...
...
...
I am getting married next week. You are all invited and can bring as many guests as you like.

What? You want to know who the groom is? Uhm... well, I've got a week to figure that out. I'll go put an ad on Craigslist or something. It can't be that hard to find a husband, can it?

And do you suppose my new husband would get mad at me if I divorced him so I could get married again in a second dress? Because really, how would I ever be able to pick one favorite? Heck, I couldn't even pick 5 favorites. Hopefully that Craigslist ad generates lots of interest!

The Ultimate Man Repeller

So it's Valentine's Day and I am blogging, which I think says it all. But just to be doubly sure I never get a boyfriend again, I thought I'd do a post on wedding dresses. Which will also allow me to show some love to one of the smartest blogs I've come across, The Man Repeller.

Because what is a wedding dress, if not The Ultimate Man Repeller?

And what better day to do Bridal, an area of fashion that doesn't get written about very much (although I'm sure the Wills and Kate-fest that we're about to endure - the bride wore Issa, and a really dated engagement ring that creepily belonged to her husband's dead mother, who died partly as a result of the hellish pressure of being the Princess of Wales. Congrats! - will change that), which seems odd to me as, let's be real, all girls think about what they will wear to get married.

Odder still is that so many do, and then seem to lose all sense of self the minute they are actually required to make the decision. It's the only way to explain the blanket uptake of the standard looks-a-bit-like-what-Vera-Wang-was-doing-ten-years-ago number. And why would anyone go to one of those depressing bridal stores anyway when Net A Porter sell wedding dresses made by actual designers you've heard of for about the same price as said strapless mediocrity, if not less? These beauties below are all on the site at the moment:

What self-respecting Scandophile hipster bride wouldn't say yes to an Acne gown?

Imagine the awesomeness of your wedding pictures if you were rocking this Lanvin baby. I'm seeing beach wedding, crazy tousled hair, Ray Ban Aviators, friendship bracelets and Havaianas.

This, by Willow, is pretty much what I wear on Saturday nights (I love me a white sack in a high-end fabric) but who's to say you shouldn't just look like you and be comfortable?

These are the two I would choose. The first is Preen, which is a label I usually dismiss owing to the fact Cheryl Cole wears it a lot, but that neon yellow stripe down the side in combo with the Grecian meets S&M webbing over the front... I DIE (not literally, corpse bride is a look that only really works for Halloween).

As for the D&G below, with a bountifully out-of-control top knot and a red lip, Jesus Christ, I'd marry myself in it. 

Speaking of red lips, another wedding style mystery that has always vexed me is who decided you had to make like the Estée lauder Beautiful ad and apply copious amounts of pink blusher to get married? Is it a legal requirement of the wedding contract that it be signed outwith the presence of eyeliner and only by a woman wearing a self-conscious up-do and tasteful blush lipstick? If I ever get married, you better believe my trademark raccoon eyes are coming down the aisle with me.

As if Valentine's Day wasn't enough to fulfil the essential journalistic timeliness required to anchor a story (still can't quite get my head around the fact that I am doing this for FUN), Urban Outfitters also launched their bridal range today, called, inexplicably, bhldn. Hipster bride!

Or, not so much. This was the most interesting dress on the site. Other than it being strapless (ugh) I pretty much love it. It reminds me of that incredible Gaultier fish scale dress Marion Cottilard wore when she won the Oscar for La Vie en Rose.

But the rest of the dresses just looked like cheap versions of standard bridal fare, when I had been expecting full on HPSTR RDCLSNSS with veiled trucker caps and Free People vintage-look dresses adorned with PBR sashes, worn by shoeless brides wafting down an aisle of cherry blossom trees to the strains of Animal Collective to marry someone extravagantly bearded sporting brogues and a bow tie.

If I was to go with more conventional bridal designers, and believe me, I'm still talking Wang/Lhullier/Temperley/Packham rather than Berketex, I'm thinking Alice Temperley would win, based on these two:

Still, no pressure right now. I haven't met this guy yet:

But one decision that has already been taken care of is the matter of the cake:

RANDOM LOVE

Random Love of my shrinking lady bits:
[found this picture after a random clicky on Facebook]

They are looking quite grande in this photo from Stacey's Wedding!

Thank goodness for good bras and tight dresses!

That deserves a "Hey Now!" and a "Hollar!"


This photo just perked up my evening!

[hehe, perked]

CONGRATS

Two of my favorites got engaged last night!!!!

My sister-in-law Lucky and her bf Mikey!!!!

Congrats to the happy couple... I can't wait for the wedding (lols, to the two of you for already setting a date AND location on day 2 of your engagement!) I can't wait to hear the details in the months to come and to go wedding dress shopping!!!

Love you!!!

WEDDING WEEK RECAP!

I'm back!!

This past trip was a very long trip, a much needed trip, and dammit, it definitely made me miss home.

I don't really feel like typing a whole lot right now, so instead, I'll leave you all with a little bit of a photo recap of the week--minus pictures from the first wedding since I already dedicated a post to that one.

And now, the slideshow begins:

Maid of Honor T-Shirt that I made for the Bachelorette Party!

The bride Stacey, with Stephy my new friend, and myself at the bar during the Bachelorette party...

Karaoke... It was part of the tasks for the Scavenger Hunt--It must have been the Long Islands that made me participate!

Our friend Guney from the pizza shop dropped by the bachelorette party!

Another task on the scavenger hunt list...

Maid of Honor dress!

The MoH and the Bride

Wedding Flowers

MoB and Bride

First married Kisses!!!!!!

Long Island Iced Teas... Drink of choice for the wedding party! That's the Best Man Fran and myself.

Me and Stephy, one last time!!

 I'll type a little bit...

During my speech I cried like a friggin' baby! As soon as I stood up and started my speech/toast to Stacey and Steve I started blubbering! I was such a dork... Fran and I later joked that he was the Gut/Laughter and I was the heart... It ended up balancing out; our speeches... 

All in all it was a wonderful wedding week. The bride and her husband are now on their way to Jamaica and I'm back in Georgia...

Time to get back into the swing of things... work tomorrow, tests in ATL later on, and applying to grad and law schools!

It's going to be a busy August!

HONOR OF MAID

That's me!!

That's what I did tonight... well not fully, that's what I'll be doing FRIDAY NIGHT when Stacey gets MARRIED!

Tonight I just Maid Of Honored the BACHELORETTE PARTY!

More pictures to come... but for now here is my outfit for the evening...

Wearing my Banana Republic [from eBay] jeans, with my DIY Maid of Honor shirt for the evening... AND my Michael Kors watch. I later added my new necklace from JCrew that I wear as a bracelet. I'll post more about that piece later, probably after I post about tonights events and the wedding on Friday.



P.S.
I had an absolute BLAST tonight. My best friend and neighbor picked me and Stacey up tonight and drove us home so that I wouldn't have to be DD tonight, so that I could enjoy the evening as the MOH to Stacey's Bride. WHAT A GREAT FRIEND!!! He just offered today, and I didn't even ask, or expect it. It was the nicest thing ever.

I love my MD friends...

I miss them...


:(



P.S.S.
I look way skinny in this pic! Yay for fun DIY shirts, good hair, AND a good pair of jeans [that are NO LONGER TIGHT] to make a pic of me look reallllly good and skinnier!

HOLLAR!

BLAME IT ON THE ELECTRIC SLIDE!!!

One wedding down, one to go!

I had SO much fun Saturday night! I got to see all of my old rugby friends and see two wonderful people tie the knot!

I danced, yes, me... danced.
Not as much as everyone else, but I did dance... and don't think that it was because of the alcohol I consumed, because I only was allowed 3 drinks that night--I had to drive back to MD after the reception--and the rest of the night I drank Shirley Temples... Haha!

Here are a few images (the tame ones) from the evening!

When you play rugby and one of your teammates gets married, you and the other rugby guests are REQUIRED [by the Gods and Laws of Rugby] to pose in various rugby related positions in your wedding attire.
It's just what we do... no questions lol, just go with the flow.

The Electric Slide...
Required dance of weddings across the nation--I couldn't miss out on participating in this one ;)
I believe that this dance was the trigger for the rest of my dancing that night... damn you Electric Slide!

There are no words... I have no explanation handy.
They probably played Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA" and I was throwin' my hands up cuz the DJ was playin' my favorite song and he made all of my dancing butterflies fly away.
Would you also pay attention to the fact that I am STILL WEARING MY HEELS! I didn't take them off once! Well I did, just to stretch out, but the entire night, from the dessert bar to the real bar to the dance floor to my table, those suckers were on my feet ALL NIGHT! I was and am so proud of myself for keeping them on!

Nothing makes a wedding like a tiny Asian and her favorite tall girl (Ahem--THAT's ME!!!)

Looking back over all of these pictures has made me even more excited for Stacey's wedding on Friday!
I've still got some last minute things to do for the bachelorette party--which is Tomorrow! night--and for her gift...  I want to post about some of the things I plan on doing for the bachelorette party, but I have to wait until after--I don't want Stacey to find out, it'll ruin the surprise!



I'm heading to Towson tonight to see Doug at the store and then I'm going to ride along with Banks and see my other Cop favorites :)... I might even add eating some sushi into the mix of things to do today.

Blog at you later people!
More pictures and fun times to come... this week is going to be a busy week!

Get Excited!!!!!

WEDDING #1

This evening begins my Week of Wedding!

Tonight I drive to Camden, NJ [not the safest place on the east coast] to celebrate the union on my coach and one of my former rugby teammates.

I am SOOOO SOOO excited for this evening!

I finally decided on a dress:

Here's a better one--just not of the whole dress--I'm working with my camera phone because my digital camera has officially gone ka-put--and currently I am unable to get a replacement:

I added loopy earrings and a few rings to the final outfit...

Time to hit the road!


p.s. Did I mention that I forgot about sitting down and eating--a main part of the wedding--well I did, and I just realized this. My dress is a little snug. I might be abstaining from dinner this evening... ugh damn.

I'll be updating via the twitter account tonight... feel free to follow me! It could turn out to be an interesting night--I dont know who will be there! Hopefully some of the rugby ladies will be there so I can catch up with them!! I miss my rugby friends! :(

BECK TOLD ME I WAS A LOSER... WTF?!

So says the song, so is my life. Ugh.

Talk about a little bit OCD...

I started packing/planning my outfits for my trip back to MD (which is at the end of July) last week--that is two weeks EARLY if you can do the math on that one ;)

Even more pathetic is the fact that I just made a spreadsheet, YES, I said spreadsheet, planning/organizing my time for the 7 1/2 days that I am home.

How lame is that?

I'm half tempted to show you all my spreadsheet--hehe that sounds kinda dirty--but it's not 100% yet. I've still got a few gaps in it that need to be filled (woah! that sounds dirty too--HA I like it!)

Just thought I'd share my OCD/pathetic/loser-ish need to obsess over the tiniest little things; i.e. packing for a trip which includes two weddings, a rehearsal dinner, a bachelorette party, shopping trips, drinking adventures, a bottle of bubbly in my room after the wedding, a ride-a-long with my favorite Towson Police officer, a day trip to D.C., and who knows what else [all of that NOT being in the correct order--btw].

Yeah, okay, I'm done.

Coco Rocha Loves Wedding Jewelry

A friend of mine from church that's getting married asked me if I would like to make bridesmaids rings for her wedding (and I said yes. Surprise!). Had I planned ahead, I would have made them during the day time so I could take some better pictures. As it was, however, I waited until 11pm when there was no natural light to be found. So I apologize for these horribly lit pictures.
So these are the rings. I made 5 of them with copper-colored Swarovski Crystal beads and antiqued brass wire, and the 6th one was with a red round Swarovski bead and vintage bronze wire for a friend that's helping in the wedding but isn't a bridesmaid.
I decided to wrap up the earrings in my standard shipping packaging, minus the shipping envelopes and tissue paper. I wanted each package to match, so I decided my best bet would be to find a fashion editorial in one of my old Vogues because they are usually 6+ pages.
Took me a while, but I finally found a good one with more subdued colors and where the model was mostly covered. :) It featured Coco Rocha (one of the "regulars" in Vogue). Prettiness!
So I ripped the pages out and picked which sides to use. Since they were too wide to wrap the rings in, I had to cut some of the sides off.
Oops, I cut Coco Rocha's hand off. Sad day.

All 6 Coco Rocha's after being cut down to size:

I folded each separate paper up and punched holes in one end. Then I used some antiqued brads to close one end of each package.
I call this picture 'The Many Faces of Coco Rocha':

Then I put the rings in (along with a business card), punched holes on the other side and closed them with brads as well. Normally at this point I would wrap it up in tissue paper and put it in my shipping envelope, but since I'm not shipping them I just left them like this:
And of course, I added little name tags so the right person would get the right ring.

The End!

VR

SCORE!

I had to stop by David's Bridal this afternoon to pick up my bridesmaid dress for Stacey's wedding. Not only did I NOT get lost on my way there, but I also stumbled across an Old Navy :) [conveniently located right across the street from the dress shop].
I walked in looking for a dress for my Uncle Tony's wedding and walked out with a dress for my Uncle Tony's wedding! (That's a first for me!!--actually sticking to a shopping goal)



Okay, well I lied. I got a dress--in a MEDIUM!! and on sale (under $16)--but I also picked up two cardigans that were both on sale then dumped on the clearance rack for a further discount. I was able to snag each one for $7!

I wasn't able to find a picture of the dress online, but I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures at the wedding/mini-family reunion (only two weeks away). I was however, able to find the cardigans online and realized that they were incorrectly placed on the clearance rack and mixed in with the other sale cardigans.

This cardigan is SUPPOSED to retail for $26.50 -- I luckily got it and a white one for $7!

HOLLAR!

I just LOVE good purchases and awesome sales and deals!!!!

Tomorrow I can promise that I won't be shopping and wasting money... 

The niece and nephew have a soccer tournament tomorrow and Sunday. I'll be spending tomorrow (from 7AM to ??PM) working volunteering at the water tent with my brother and one of his co-workers. His company/store is one of the sponsors for my niece and nephews teams this year. His company was able to donate over 30 cases of water, hundreds of reusable water bottles, drink koozies and chapsticks all for the kids and their parents. Apparently there are going to be over a hundred teams attending the Atlanta Peach Classic this year--this weekend is going to be crazy.

I'm a little sad that it's a soccer tournament that I'm supporting and not a RUGBY tournament, but it's okay. I've got one nephew and a questionable niece or nephew on the way that I can make sure they play rugby. I've got to get at least one 'lil rugger out of the four of them... JUST ONE (is that too much to ask for?)!!!

:)

GOOD LUCK TOMORROW!!! 

Go Thunder Soccer!!!!!