the long awaited (...right?) invitation post

Our invitations were going to go out tomorrow, but since the USPS is a giant FAIL (grrrr) that may or may not be the case. But since only like...one person who will be receiving an invite reads my blog (well, occasionally two...but I still don't care), I am still posting pics and I don't care who knows it. Except you guys. Since you now know it.

Anywho, these are iphone pics, so my apologies for poor quality/lighting. Our "theme" is what I'd call vintage-rustic-chic. The color is off in these pics - the pocketfolds and ink are dark brown, the green is chartreuse, and the blue is a pale but not quite baby blue. It is the color of my favorite Coach purse actually, but that means nothing to you unless you've seen it.

This is what the invite page looks like. It is attached to the inside of the pocketfold.

This is what the RSVP card looks like. The menu icons are for macadamia nut and pesto crusted chicken, pineapple teriyaki pulled pork, and the star is for special dietary needs or vegetarian request.

This is the pocketfold closed. I used the twine as a rustic bellyband...the flower is made of different layers with a bronze brad in the middle. The detail is gone in this pic but they are really cute. Got them from an etsy seller.

The whole thing open again...you can see the paper is a pearlescent ivory.

I used pearlescent vellum envelopes, and used 4x2 inch labels for the address. I used a corner punch that had 3 different shapes (fiskars "baroque") and I used a combo of the 3. This looks pretty awkward in the pic, but it is really cool in person.

And that's it! I'm sure you've all been on the edge of your seats, so I hope you were able to contain your excitement for the entirety of this post. :P

What do you think?

my surgery adventure

so, I had my surgery on Thursday, March 11. It went pretty smoothly overall, and now I am just trying to recover. A breakdown of my adventure since then:

Wednesday night, before surgery:

• 6:30 PM: eat a "light" dinner of stir fry, and drink as much water as I can since I will be cut off in one hour.
• 7:00 PM: eat some ice cream as a treat.
• 7:15 PM: start panicking because I am already really thirsty, and I'm still drinking water.
• 7:30 PM: ughhhh, mouth feels like the desert already. need to distract myself.
• 7:45-10:00 PM: work on cutting/stamping and assembling invitations; periodically complain about lack of hydration.
• 10:30 PM: finally give in and go to bed - after all, I do have to get up at 6 AM for the surgery.
• 11:00-6 AM: toss and turn, consider running away to avoid surgery, sleep little if at all.

Thursday morning:

• 6 AM: wake up. brush teeth, whine that I cannot actually swallow any liquid even though it can hang out in my mouth for a couple minutes. Wipe off any lotion/etc. as instructed, shuffle into "comfy" sweat pants ensemble for post-surgery. Tell loved ones it was a good life.
• 6:20 AM: arrive at hospital, which is approximately next door to my house. Check-in, pay ridiculous co-pay (although...$100 for a $40k surgery is probably not too shabby, eh?), get escorted to surgery wing. Answer approximately 4000 questions, which I just answered at check-in, and also with the check-in phone nurse the day before.
  
• 6:45 AM: change into sweet gown, cool blue hair net thing, and slipper socks. Plus some kind of leg squeezing contraption so I don't get a blood clot while they cut me up. Nurse hooks up my IV on the first try (miracle with my veins); several comments about how cold my hands are and how the finger scanner won't register my vitals because of it (not the first time this has happened).
  
• 7:00 AM: am apparently looking panicked, as surgeon comes to talk me down from a ledge and tells nurse to give me the sedative, which she calls "like a few shots of tequila."
• 7:00:35 AM: already "drunk" from shot. No longer care what happens.
  
• 7:15 AM: tell Chad bye, wheeled into surgery room. The last thing I remember is them telling me I was too tall for the table and having to adjust it before I could be moved onto it. Then I was out.

The surgery was supposed to be over by 9:30. It didn't end until about 10 because when they started cutting into me, they were having trouble cutting my abs (gross) because apparently they are muscular. Who knew? Also, when they finally got to my gall bladder itself, it was longer than usual, and surrounded by scar tissue from all the attacks/pain I'd been having (of course). So it took some time. When they woke me up from anesthesia around 10:15, I was hyperventilating and outright sobbing. I have no idea why, but the nurse was shaking me and holding my head still and yelling at me to BREATHE.

I finally took a few deep breaths, and immediately passed out. I woke up again at about 10:45 in a recovery room, where they finally gave me some juice, and when I was like "um...pain" they told me I had to eat before they could de-pain me. I choked down 2 crackers (throat was sore from the oxygen tube thing), and they gave me vicodin - I'm sure those 2 saltines made a difference...

Anyway, they let me go around noon, with a bottle of vicodin, which ended up doing NOTHING but make me completely nauseous and dizzy. I got no sleep the first night, and spent that day coming in and out of consciousness and drinking water. I didn't eat anything for a couple of days. I also had a sweet oompa-loompa orange tan from the disinfectant stuff they used in surgery. The next morning, my dad called the surgeon to get a different pain pill (the pain was worse than when I woke up at this point). It worked for awhile, and I got some food down, and got to take a quick shower...but then I immediately threw it all up. Just some friendly advice: vomiting with open surgical wounds on your abdomen is miserable...don't. I spent that night coming in and out, so I at least got a couple hours of sleep, but the nausea...lord.

The next morning, I completely gave up on the pain pills and just took some ibuprofen. Believe it or not, this worked WAY better than either of the hardcore pills I had. I have been doing that ever since, and now that everything is out of my system today (still had nausea yesterday from the remnant meds), I actually managed to eat some toast and part of a Subway sandwich. I also managed to walk around the kitchen some today and take another shower. I am feeling a lot better now, and just need help sitting up/down since I can maneuver with my arms pretty well. I have a post-op appointment next week, but my wounds look good and I haven't had a fever at all, so that is good. I am not allowed to lift anything over 8 pounds for 6 weeks, and I don't have *too* much pain at the incisions, just a lot of swelling. Since I'm otherwise healthy, the surgeon was able to do everything through an umbilical incision, so my belly button area is the worst. I still have the other 3 minor incisions around my abdomen for the laproscopic procedure, but they didn't actually have to open those small incisions so they are healing quickly.

Thanks for the happy thoughts before, and I'm hoping for a speedy recovery! Should have an invite post this week, since I got delayed finishing the RSVPs due to my nausea.

stolen!

this seemed like a fun thing to do, so I stole it from Christy. I am waiting for my printer ink to get refilled at Walgreen's as we speak, so I will post some invite pics today or tomorrow once I've had a chance to actually print one! Also, we did our last catering tasting today and it was SO GOOD. I'm so pumped for our food now, and I cannot believe the price we are getting. They could charge wayyy more but I'm not complaining. Anyway, here's what I stole!:

Copy the list, bold the ones you've done (with explanations if needed), share with friends.

I have:

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii (in June!)
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (Disney World, but not Disneyland)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a thunder and lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train (Europe)
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run (I was a baseball master as a child)
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (I'm German/Russian/Native American. Been to Germany and America! ha.)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (today is not that day)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant (this is one of my mom/my favorite things to do.)
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (during my field camp we were in the background of a scene from the most recent Terminator movie. They digitally deleted us though, of course.)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (and it went terribly wrong, ask my friends.)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp (truly disturbing, but something I think everyone should do.)
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter (HELL. NO.)
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (does laid off count? because that happened to me when the economy first started tanking.)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (fingers, wrist, ankle, knee, toes, etc)
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (so cool!)
80. Published a book (does my thesis manuscript count? because that was published)
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (or at least from serious injury)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake (I stood around on the shore, it was way too gross)
97. Been involved in a law suit (class action)
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

ask me anything?

this is going to be another quick post to encourage you all to formspring me and ask me questions.

I promise another big update should be coming next week, with pictures of our finished invitations. They are getting sent in the next couple weeks, but I want to try to get them done (or at least half) in the next week. Our final catering tasting is Monday, and then we will know what our menu choices are and can print the RSVPs.

Today I was scheduled for jury duty, but got dismissed early (my juror number was really high...1800 something. so not shocking).

Next Thursday, I am scheduled for surgery - finally getting my evil, stone filled gallbladder removed. Turns out not only does this problem run in my family, but a prescription I took for about 3 years causes gallstones. So, thanks doctors for never warning me about that! I will be spending my spring break week recovering from the surgery and enjoying pain pills. Unless there are complications. So, you know, happy thoughts and all.

Hope everyone is having a fabulous week!

quick update/fainting spell

so, I logged onto the knot today, saw this, and promptly fainted:

umm, SHUT THE FRONT DOOR.

I know most of you former bride types were all psyched about the count down, but this is really wigging me out. I expect to fully flip shit tomorrow, when it says 99.

in stuff you actually care about other news, have you been watching the olympics? I always forget how much I enjoy them (although, I have to give a shout out to the summer games, which I am ALWAYS pumped for) until they come back around, and I find myself glued to coverage of random sports I never watch otherwise. The US is doing great, and the men's figure skating finals last night were pretty awesome. Too bad the Russian silver medalist, Plushenko, is being a giant whine-bag about it. He spent the medal ceremony pouting/eye-rolling, and has spent today whining to any media outlet that will listen about how he was robbed. (I found this article, which briefly explains his loss, interesting.)

this update is pretty damn brief, but I gots stuff to do. So I leave you with this:

Someone's got a case of the Mondays...

Not me, because my Mondays are awesome. No obligations. I could do without the allergy/possible sickness issues I've got going on, but whatevs. Could be worse, right?

Anyway, my random topic of today's post is (drumroll): spring clothing I'm too broke to afford but am still dying to own.

Let's start with Anthropologie, my one and true store love. If I could live there, I totally would.

Adorable.

This also comes in red, but I'm digging the navy. Plus, I look good in blue.

I love this cardi. Yellow is horrendous on almost everyone, but I'd suffer through it for this.

This dress doesn't really scream "spring" to me, but I think it is cute.

I'm not sure why I like this top, but I do.

They call this a jacket, but I say it is an adorable cardi. That I NEED.

On to J.Crew, my other clothing love, which is wayyyy out of my price range 99% of the time. Except at the outlet, where I always seem to score deals.

Don't ask me to explain myself here. I just like it.

I want to casually shop and then eat lunch on a lanai in this.
I want this whole outfit. Not that I could pull it off.
I need this (in peacock or bright pink) to lounge on the beach in. Once I, you know, finish the 30 day shred.

Lastly, we'll head over to Ann Taylor Loft - you know, the poorer woman's J.Crew.

Fairly confident adorable outfits look ridiculous on me, but I like the top.

Need to add this shirt to my collection.

I need this whole outfit.

LOVE these shoes.

I need this dress for something...not sure what yet, but something.

So there you have it: my spring needs. Commence judging my fashion sense and/or taste!

random Wednesday thoughts...

My last couple of posts have been picture heavy. I'm not feeling very inspired today to hunt down pictures of whatever thing I feel like talking about today, so you're getting a random bulleted list:

• We are down to 116 days until the wedding. When.the.eff.did.that.happen?! Freaking my mind out.
• I've lost 8 pounds since December. Not really a lot, but considering that involved Christmas/New Year's food pig-outs, and involves me eating healthy, but still enjoying a cupcake once a month or whatever, I feel pretty good. So there.
• New anthro catalog in the mail yesterday = way too much money I want to spend. However, my bff gets a 25% discount...
• Yesterday while teaching, a couple students kept calling me "ma'am" - this thoroughly weirded me out for some reason. I'm only like...4 or 5 years older than most of them, and I do have some students that look older than my parents. Plus, I look about 12.* Stop it!
• I want a new swimsuit for the honeymoon...any recs? I found some cute ones on victoriassecret.com, but eh. I don't really want to spend $100, but some quality should be involved.
  

Hope everyone has a fabulous Wednesday! and the rest of the week.


*funny story: everyone thinks I'm 12, but when I bought my car in December 08, the guy at my bank asked if I was 16 yet. WTF.

let's talk about June.

The first 8 days of June*, specifically.

What's so great about that, you might ask. Well, what's so great is that during that time we will be on our honeymoon in Hawaii! Which I am pretty damn stoked about. I've always wanted to go to there (thanks, Liz Lemon), and I recently checked a guidebook out from the library which is making my excitement approximately 400% worse.

We will be hanging out on Oahu for 4 days, and then Maui for 4 days. We are flying in to Honolulu on the first, and staying at a pretty sweet hotel in Waikiki:

Our room should look something like this ^

With a sweet kitchenette thing, like this ^

And a view, something like this!

While we are there, we plan to dine at some of the awesome places I found in said guidebook, and go on lots of fun adventures. Some of the things we plan on hitting up so far include the Dole pineapple plantation (yummm), the Sea Life Park (where I DEMAND to swim with dolphins, this is expensive non-negotiable), visit the Pearl Harbor area/memorial (I expect this to be really surreal), and head up to the north shore for beachy goodness.

After we've lived it up on Oahu, we are moving on to Maui. We'll be getting on one of those terrifying mini planes of doom, which I'm not really pumped about, but whatevs. We are staying on the west coast of Maui, and I do mean ON the coast (75 feet away, actually):

I will be lounging at this pool. Which seems redundant, being right next to the ocean and all.

I can't find a picture of the room, but it is an ocean front suite, so that means AWESOME. On Maui, we will be attending a luau (booze + buffet + a show!), parasailing, and visiting a volcano, which I think everyone can figure out will be the best part, since I...like rocks.

I think this post is making my anxious-ness (is that a word? anxiety seems negative) worse.

*side funny note: one of my grad student friends is getting married on the same day, to a girl in the same grad program as Chad, and is then honeymooning in the same places as us at the same time. No, we did not plan this. Yes, we are meeting up for mai tais in Maui.

hey, what's up?

I have not posted in FOR. EV. ER. Trying to get back in the swing of it, though.

So what's changed since August...hmm:
- finished another semester of grad school, despite completely forgetting one of my finals even existed (4.0, woo)
- Thanksgiving (family visiting, delicious feast, etc.)
- bunch o'wedding vendors booked (more on that later)
- Christmas (absolute disaster re: family, but our little personal celebration between my parents, Chad, and I was great)
- read a few books
- rescued a puppy eating out of a bag in the middle of a busy road
- one of my bffs/MOH came to visit in September (shenanigans, etc.)
- checked a few things off the 101 list (check the sidebar for dates if you are curious!)
- scheduled surgery for March
- New Year's Eve, spent playing Texas hold 'em/bullshit at my mom's boss' house...
- only like 128 days or something until we get married. WHEN did that happen?!

some photographic evidence (mostly via crappy iphone photos, apologies):

Thanksgiving feast

Chad's post-feast and wine stupor

Glass artist we watched for like an hour straight when my bff/MOH was here

bff/MOH singin' in the rain...in my CSU hoodie. Who vacays in CO and doesn't bring a coat?

We also visited the Stanley in Estes Park (hotel from "The Shining")

Cupcakes we tasted for the wedding...snickerdoodle, red velvet, cherry vanilla, and mexican hot chocolate.

puppy we rescued! she was a mess. with red hair. but she is the sweetest thing ever.

she poops herself out pretty quick when you play with her though. on my grandparents' stylish rug.

Christmas tree!

my pocketfold-making station. finished product pictures to come later.

Ta-da! pictures. And I promise I'm working on posting more often. I shall share more wedding excitement and other fun with you later this week.

update...

well, I am back from my internship in Nevada. It was absolutely fabulous, and although the town was ridiculous, the people were awesome. I made some great friends and I am officially doing my thesis there, so it will be interesting.

I can check another item off my 101 list:
#58: go camping with chad.
we went camping in cripple creek, CO. this is west of Colorado Springs, and very pretty. We stayed at a very nice campground, ate smores, and checked out some cool local stuff. we went to the Florissant Fossil Beds National Park and I may or may not have stolen some fossils...we also toured an older underground gold mine, which was pretty cool. We ended up sleeping in the car in the middle of the night because the tent was miserable, but once we get a different tent it will be much better.

We have also made a lot of progress with wedding stuff. We are meeting with a caterer next week, and meeting with a florist and photographer this Sunday. I am really excited to see what the florist has for ideas. I am also excited to do the tasting with the caterer next week, and start doing tastings for wedding cupcakes...you can never have too many cupcakes, right?

Anyway, I'm currently watching bridezillas and drinking big red + vanilla vodka (ridiculously delicious)...so this is a short and sweet update :)