Quiet Weekend

Mr. T and I are enjoying the calm before the storm. It's amazing how many items on our to-do list need to be done the month before the wedding, if not the week before.

This weekend I addressed about half our envelopes in my own dubious handwriting, although Mr. T was very complimentary about how they looked. I told him he was biased, but it was still nice to have a cheerleader there.

Mr. T worked on some of our other paper products: icons for the escort cards, and the drink menu for the bar. Those are looking very stylish, and without the pressure of the invitations hanging over our heads, they seemed to flow very quickly!

We should get our invites back from the printer soon, if they really are working as quickly as they thought they would. I haven't heard anything yet, and today's the exact 2-week mark.

I also created a more detailed alcohol budget. We had a general budget, but after we went to BevMo this weekend and priced what the bottles of vodka and tequila are likely to cost, we had a guideline for how much we have left to spend on the wine. That was very helpful, actually. It's unlikely we'll have enough in the budget for Tru Blood soda or Crystal Head vodka, sadly. I'm still holding onto the idea of one bottle of the vodka for display at the bar. A girl can dream, right?





We also went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and picked out flatware. Of course the style we liked has no corresponding hostess set. I put a hostess set by the same manufacturer on the registry for now, but I'm not entirely satisfied with that decision. We might have to revisit our choice.

OMW Week 31, WW Week 21

So last week, not only did I only work out three times, but I also ate more than WW wanted me to. Granted, it was mostly stuff like extra fruit (can't get enough of summer cherries, yum!), but some of it was pasta and booze, and I fully expected to not lose any weight.

And yet, when I weighed myself on Tuesday, I'd lost another 1.5 lbs, bringing my total up to 28 pounds lost! Crazy, huh? I don't get the rationale there.

I've increased the weight I'm lifting on the pull-up machine. This machine is set up so that you have to increase in 10-lb increments, and that is quite a jump! I can only do four at a time. So I do three sets of four. Hopefully it gets a little easier soon.

It's been nice and quiet at the gym. I think folks are on vacation. I'm enjoying not having to wait to use machines, or trip over folks in the locker room. Ah, luxury.

Envelope Addressing Frustration

We got our black envelopes in the mail last week, so I thought I'd get a jump on getting our invites prepped to go by starting to address some of them on Sunday. I'd read a blog post about how to do faux calligraphy, which I thought was genius.

Sigh.

None of the things I thought would be problematic were actually a problem. I was able to easily create an envelope template and align the address properly. The envelopes fed through our home printer perfectly. The black text showed up on the black envelopes so that the type was visible under a good light, and you could trace over it. And yet, when I tried to, my attempts looked AWFUL. We went to the store and got different pens. Still awful. Mr. T tried it. Awful.

Mr. T decided that the problem was probably the pens and ink. Unlike the blogger I referenced, we didn't want to invest in a calligraphy pen...we don't have the time to learn how to use one properly anyway! We bought an assortment of silver pens, but all the attempts looked either messy, or blotchy, or spidery, like an extremely elderly calligrapher had addressed them. I think the ink just didn't want to take to the paper that already had ink on it. Mr. T also thought that as we slowed down to try and trace the address, the ink pooled up, causing the blotchy and messy effect.

So, after hours of trying to make this idea work, I gave in crabbily. Guests will just have to make do with my handwriting! Oh, well.

Dress Fitting #1

On Friday I went for my first dress fitting. Even though what they brought out was two pieces of different colored off-white muslin, I squealed and yelled, "I LOVE it!". I guess I'm an easy customer.

This was my first time in a real corset (Hot Topic or Lip Service ones just don't count, do they?) and even though it was just the muslin mockup, I was surprised by three things:

1. My waist looked tiny.
2. M. was right, I won't need a bra (first time in my life, I think! Well, aside from when I was younger than 11 years old).
3. It was a little harder to bend over than normal! Well, I guess I wasn't super surprised by it, but that boning is no joke. I had great posture.

The skirt was a bit too short, and the shop owner thought I'd lost weight even since she measured me, which I'm not sure if I lost all that much...my waist was the same size when they re-measured me on Friday.

I had to pick a new fabric because they can't get the Duchesse satin anymore in the color I liked, but they presented me with a silk dupioni that I liked even better. I loved how the lace panels in the skirt looked, and we're going to back those with the red fabric so you can see the detail of the lace. I can't wait to see the final product! We're going to do one more muslin before they cut fabric, so I'll go back in a month or so. Squeal!!

I'd post some pix, but Mr. T is known to read this blog from time to time, so you'll have to email me for them if you're curious! ;-)

Review of: Lots of Books

I've been reading up a storm as usual but having trouble finding time to post about all of them. Here's what I've been up to:



I found out about this book on Offbeat Bride. It is a great book, but was so general that it didn't help me out at all at this stage. I would've loved to have read this 17 months ago, or so! Wonderful, funny writing.


This book was more useful, although pretty traditional in its approach to wedding vows. I copied some pages to use as inspiration for our ceremony. Eek, we need to write that soon.



BO-RING. I felt like I was cramming for a mid-term on Halloween. Dry and scholarly.


This one was more interesting and had more fun pictures and poems and such, but I didn't even finish it, I suspect because I'd read the other Halloween book first.

What I learned: Halloween was born from the Celtic holiday Samhain and combined with All Saints' Day and even Guy Fawkes Day. The Irish and Scottish brought it to America, where it took on a life of its own. The end.


I read this awhile ago but apparently I never reviewed it. It's a creepy mystery about an old house, and family secrets, and spooky experiments. I enjoyed it, but I don't remember a ton about it, so that's not a great sign. Still, for fans of Victorian mystery, I'd recommend it. Here's a review I pulled off Amazon:

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Many of the creepy late Victorian familiars abound in The Seance: the dark woods of the English countryside, the ruined mansion with secret passages and hidden chambers and fog on the moors. There's even a sarcophagus in a dead fireplace, a tricked-out suit of armor and some apparatus for collecting electricity when lightning strikes. Drafts blow out candles at the most inopportune times.

The literary conventions of the Victorian suspense novel are present as well: the nested narratives that arrive in mysterious packets, abandoned diaries and even a family tree -- complete with married cousins. Australian John Harwood, whose Ghost Writer won an International Horror Award in 2004, writes with Poe and Dickens peering over his shoulders, shaking their wizened heads perhaps over one modern twist: The strongest characters in The Seance are two women of action.

This was a fun, trashy read about a succubus making her living by managing a bookstore and trying to avoid feeding on nice men. Other local immortals start getting killed off, and she gets pulled into the investigation...and of course into danger. Really quick read, and I'll likely check out the others in the series.


I read this for my book club, so I wouldn't normally review it, but I really loved this book, which is set in post WW 2 England and is told through a series of letters. It has that sort of Anne of Green Gables feel about it, where all the characters are quaint and lovable, and even if something dramatic happens, you know you're in for a happy ending. I totally recommend this one--make sure to curl up with a cuppa tea as you read it.



I read this one on the plane to Hawaii. My book club had read one of her previous titles, and somehow I managed to forget that although her writing is lovely, her subjects are completely depressing. This one was no different and made that flight a very long five hours. It's interesting from a historical perspective, as it starts in Shanghai in the 1930s and follows two sisters as they flee China and land on the Bay Area's own Angel Island. But there's not much joy in it, which made it a very heavy read.

Loved it! I've been referring to this one as Million Dollar Baby meets the Xmen. It's about the daughter of a genetically modified human and her eventual quest to revenge her brother, who was killed in a boxing ring. That may not sound like much, but there's so much to this novel, including a believable relationship between the protagonist and another woman, which was beautifully and lovingly rendered.



The same author wrote this book, but this one is set in the same world as the Kushiel series, only a few generations later. Like that series, this book has an Indiana-Jones type adventure vibe (mixed with lots and lots of sex) as the heroine travels the globe in search of her destiny. The end pretty much promised a sequel, to my mind, and I can't wait! Carey writes believable, smart characters.

My only complaint with Carey's writing is that the protagonist is always extraordinary. I mean, you expect that out of your hero, I guess, but even Harry Potter is a so-so wizard. Carey's heroines (and hero, if we're looking at Imriel) are always beautiful, articulate, and possess extraordinary powers. It's at once satisfying reading and also a bit like a diet of nothing but candy--sometimes too much of a good thing. But really, her writing is quite addictive, and I can't wait to read the next one!

Invitations to Printer: Check! Plus, other random tasks

I'm so happy to report that we sent the invite files to the printer yesterday and dropped off the black paper this morning before work. Hooray! That is such a weight lifted. We were ecstatic after uploading the files yesterday.

Also, the printer has already sent us a PDF proof of our invite. That was fast! The owner told Mr. T that they were in a lull at the moment, so the printing might only take about 2 weeks. Hooray! That means, if we have some time to spare, that we can consider doing custom postage through Zazzle or a site like that, to coordinate with our invitations. If we use the post office's postage, we're stuck with some not-so-thrilling options, but we'll suck it up if we have to. I just wish they'd updated the Edgar Allen Poe stamps with the new rate...sigh.

This weekend we also accomplished a few other wedding tasks:

• We made our registries live on our wedsite. We haven't added flatware yet, but we can do that later.
• We tried two more rehearsal dinner options. This is turning out to be much more challenging than finding the wedding venue! To summarize, the Vietnamese place closest to our venue sucks, so we're looking at opening our search to restaurants without private rooms.
• We purchased a custom return address stamp from Etsy.
• We booked our hotel room for our wedding night, plus our photographer's hotel room for two nights.
• We ordered our cupcake stand (cardboard, to be painted and adorned by us).
• We purchased gifts for my bridesmaid and MOH as well as our officiant.
• I purchased a wedding band for Mr. T from an online jeweler...luckily we can return it to the company if he hates it.
• We purchased envelopes for our invitations, with extras for thank you notes. We also decided that lining the envelopes wasn't worth the hassle, so that's another thing off my list.
• We put some thought into our first dance and decided what we're going to do (but I'm not telling!)
• I scheduled my first dress fitting for this Friday! This is when I try on the muslin version. After that they order the fabric and get to work!
  

Phew! Only another 120 things to go!

OMW Weeks 29-30, WW Weeks 19-20

So, when I weighed myself the week of 7/20, I'd gained two pounds. Sigh. The MOH suggested that it was water weight. Two pounds of water weight seemed crazy to me.

However, happily, when I weighed myself the week of 7/27, I'd lost that two pounds! I'm just happy not to have gained more weight in Hawaii, since not only was I not getting up for the gym, but I was also laying around by the pool and disregarding WW at every turn. Phew! So, I'm still at 25.5 lbs lost as of last week.

This week's weigh-in will hopefully happen tomorrow...we didn't get up and work out today for a very good reason, which I'll post about next!