Cake birds, placemats, dress rehearsal...

Last night was busy!

Finished cake bird #2. He has to dry. Then he'll get painted and an outfit made. I can't wait. I'm hoping to do it on Thursday night, but we'll see.

Last night I also made and finished all the dress rehearsal and dress rehearsal dinner invitations. I think most people already know the deal, but I wanted to send out official invites, you know?

Finally, last night I worked on placemats. I have the goal of finishing those tonight... but we'll see.

That leaves the gift bags-- to do this weekend. We already finished one round of biscotti. I will work on another round tonight. We're going to do the dipping at B's this weekend. Well, he'll work on that while I cook.

Next week I work on linens, and then... wow! We're nearing the end. I mean, LOTS of odds and ends, but it's really getting there!!

WHEW! DONE!

Invites are done. Well, there are 3 address stragglers whom we haven't been able to get in touch with, but yes. Done with all we can do! Only one mess-up so far; two of our friends have long last names that begin with A (Arenberg, Arsenault), and we sent at least Arsenault's invite to Arenberg. Oops. No hard feelings, but now I have an email out to Arsenault as to whether he received an invite. Oh well. Try your best, right? I suspect there may be 1-2 invites that left out the website card. When you do assemblyline that happens... I hope not though. I figure if we did, people will call us or our families.

MORE IMPORTANT THAN INVITES: Hannah has been born to Erin and Brian! Read all about her and anticipate anxiously photos of her. I bribed her sister into sending me a few, but I can't wait to see more. It was a heck of a labor, poor Erin. Her description of "I tried a bit of everything" was pretty accurate.

I'm leaving this evenign to head out to Philly for my sis's graduation. B came up last night so we could get past a squabble we had on Wednesday when I was down there to see him. Oh nice. B comes back up this weekend for a meeting, though I won't be in town. He asked for a list of things to do, and I gave him one, making sure to indicate what was truly important versus kinda important. If he does any of those, life will be so much better for me. The apartment is slowly recovering from invites.

Whenever I do a big project, I wish I had less stuff. Stuff clutters. It makes me want to move. Moving can be a cleansing process, you know? I want to move. I want to move closer to B.

I am taking no wedding stuff with me-- only work stuff. Hopefully that will give me a leg up next week. My parents are in town beginning Friday... some point before then, I have to clean out my car. It is such a pit right now; pussy willow twigs and buds all over the place and a winter of dust and grime. Ew. In my defense, it has been raining the last few days... ok, last few weeks, so I couldn't do it! But I can now, so I guess I have no excuse come Monday-Thursday.

Oh a totally unrelated side-note, the flavors cinnamon and black licorice should totally be stopped by Jelly Belly. Ew. Ok, cinnamon has some redeeming value. But not the black licorice. Bleh.

Life this week

Busy but good. Monday was met with work, starting after the long drive from where B's at. Mailed 20 invites. Monday evening: CLEANED. Oh Lordy, it felt GOOD. I also got the memory foam mattress thing for B so he can sleep better.

Tuesday: laundry! The joy of clean clothes. I also picked up 7 lbs of rhubarb and 40 pussy willow branches. They are great; like 1/2- 3/4" diameter at the bottom. The most excellent thing was because they had been closed a few times when I was told they would be open (thus a few fruitless trips and some frustration), they gave me the rhubarb at $1/lb and the branches at $0.50 each. WOO!

So, $27 later, my car was packed with a box of rhubarb, 40 willow branches (and they're big... like 5' tall each), and a memory foam mattress. I should add that my car windows and trunk can all close!! I'm very proud of my packing. AND, this is great because now I only have to take them out down at B's place tonight, rather than load/unload/load again, losing the fuzzy buds in the process. If my windows/trunk were not able to close then I'd have been forced to figure another thing out since I'm not leaving those open in the parking garage downtown.

Poor B... tonight he gets greeted with 40 willow branches. We've already discussed how to store.

Tonight we hope to finish the final 24 invitations. Total there were 92. NINETY-TWO! Crazy. We're not expecting all of those folks to show, obviously. Luckily, we're flexible up to 168 on tables and 135 on chairs. but, more chairs can easily be acquired. Again, poor B-- I asked that dinner be ready to go that way when I get there we can get to work.

As far as chair covers, I've solved the dilemma: we're going to wrap material around the BACKS of the chairs and have a sash on them, but we're not going to do 100% chair covers. It will look fine, and we wont' have to spend $100s on chair covers that we have to go to the hassle of reselling. B and I talked about it and we like this solution.

Monday monday.

Fun day on Saturday with friends. Wedding work on Sunday.

Invites are almost all done. Goodness, enough blogging was done on them, right?

I have the goal this week of cleaning my poor poor apartment and also gluing on the roses we have onto centerpieces to see how many centerpieces we have and how many to go. FINALLY another project other than invites. Whee!

The place closed before I got there on Thursday, so I'm going to TRY and get willow branches this afternoon after work. I may call the place so as to hold them to their "oh sure, we'll be open till 6" claim. My foot. I got there at 6:01 on Thursday and the place was closed up and silent as a nunnery. I suspect some folks left early. Cheeky suckers. But they're selling nice willow branches, so I mustn't complain too loudly. If all else fails, B can get them this weekend, but I'd rather avoid that since his car is smaller than mine and thus, the branches would be a PAIN to transport.

Got two new Noelle Dass prints this weekend. I LOVE HER WORK. I got "Pig Blowing Bubbles" and "The Joy of Homecoming". LOVE THEM. I also got "Simple Pleasures" for Baby Stenz -- her request after perusing the prints and loving that one. The prints are wonderful and totally brighten up my office. Eh, heck with it, I'll post pics below:

"PIG BLOWING BUBBLES"

"OTTERTOPIA"

(mine has a smile on his face)

"MUST... GET... BALL!"

"THE JOY OF HOMECOMING"

"I DROPPED MY BANANA!"

Aren't they great!?

This weekend will be crazy-- I'm back east to see my sister's graduation. And down to visit B on Wednesday. Oh yea, and the wedding is in less than 50 days. AH!

Friends are good.

Friends of ours might bring the freezer down south to B's new place. How awesome! So I won't kill myself on the road!

Another friend did all the lettering on our invites.

Other friends are helping in other ways.

SO lovely.

Got a lot of work done on the remaining invites last night. Very happy. 4 more mailed today.

It has not stopped raining. DOWNPOUR last night. Crazy.

Invites yay!

50 down, the rest close to completion! It's our own darn faults... we chose to make things complicated. But, I always think it's better to do something well and neat rather than badly and boring. Not sure which would cause me more stress though. Ha!

But I feel much better... now must clean up the apartment. B worked on it a bit this weekend (LOVELY man), but it needs more work. I need to attack the floor with a cat brush, as the vacuum has chosen not to pick up fur... I'd buy a new vacuum, but there's the worry that our next apartment will have wood floors (about a 40% chance up here), and that would just be demoralizing. Maybe after the wedding we'll buy a new one... But for right now, the current one works, it just doesn't get fur. And I really can't blame the vacuum; the fur does velcro itself to the floor.

I should shave the cats.

Not the first 50 invites.

Yes, thought I would, but I didn't. Had a spray paint mishap which resulted in my hands all painty red and it looking like I murdered someone outside. Sigh.

But tonight should be fairly simple.
* Outline 50 invites
* Cut out announcement
* Glue on announcement
* Glue on exterior envelope address
* Stuff envelopes
* Lick envelopes
* Glue on return address on back flap.

Knock on wood.

The first 50!

The first 50 invites should be ready to send tomorrow! I realized that from 51 onwards, various things for the invites were in varying amounts of completion, so it was better to divide our list and send the invites sooner to those whom are farther away (thus needing more time to make arrangements if they come).

Wow. SO much going on. And (professiona) work is booming, so I often wonder if things will ever get done....

50. Tomorrow. Thank goodness.

Random things in life

This week has been a whirlwind.

***

In a nutshell....:
Work: A new job title and trying to wade the waters of figuring stuff out without ticking people off. It's something I've been working towards my whole life, and to finally be here is great and terrifying and fantastic.

Wedding: Trying to get invitations done but being so exhausted from work that this is taking a long time.

B: Went down to visit B on Wednesday. Bliss, but lost an evening of work.

***

I traced everything out, and there are three commitless weekends until the wedding. How did this happen?!
4/25: We have a wedding to go to and then down to help friends on Sunday
5/2: FREE!!!
5/9: A party down south of here, so we're going down there for it.
5/16: I fly out to my sister's graduation in Philadelphia
5/23: My parents are in town for a professional ceremony of mine... it involves swearing. :)
5/30: FREE!
6/6: FREE!
6/13: We're trading cities with friends because they have a wedding near us, so we're headed south.
6/20: I'm free (sorta), but B has a week-long conference so he's busy.
6/27: THE WEDDING!

***

Freaking out...

***

I should also add that the new position at work means I will have MANY more responsibilities and commitments. So my weekend and evening hours may get cut back. No, not "may"... WILL get cut back. So I'm a tad worried.

***

Goals, overall right now:

Invites: Get sent out by Tuesday, at the LATEST. That way, our goal of getting RSVPs by 5/30 is reasonable.

B apartment: He needs to find one by next week, so that our visits down south won't mean so much lost time for us. This will be a LOAD off my worrisome shoulders. Plus, then next weekend we can move him in, including the mini freezer so I can cook and have the food DOWN THERE.

Finish up projects: There are a lot of worked-on but incomplete projects right now. Invitations. Centerpieces. Lanterns. Placemats. I want to spend next week tying up loose ends, that way at least I know where I stand on each of these projects.

Invites. Yikes.

Without giving up too much... right now we're doing 80 invites (there will likely be 10 more to do, but we have 80 going right now). Each invite= 20-40 leaves. Times 80= 1600-3800 leaves. CRAZINESS.

Each night it's a battle between lay stuff out /let things dry and where to put stuff so the monster cats don't attack.

Invitations...

We are trying. As soon as they're mailed and likely received, I will send pictures. Between wedding class this weekend and Bob visiting and the house a mess, invitations got worked on, but not finished.

Sigh.

Invitations, the continuing saga...

Last night I worked on the RSVP cards. We're making the cards, that way they go with the overall invite theme, and so our colors and theme of the wedding will be reflected well.

But I do have a gripe: Why is it so hard to find envelopes? Regular small envelopes. I realized last night that the only small envelopes I have ever used were old ones from a stationery set where I had lost the original stationery and thus could use my own stationery with the lonely envelope.

So this posed a problem: we had the RSVP cards ready, but how to figure out the envelopes?

Simple: We're making them. It really is easy! Create a template, cut, fold, glue. The only problem is how to seal the back... We may just ask our guests to tape it. It's easier than hassling with a sticker. Or maybe we could half put a sticker on. Hm.

But, what's also nice is the envelope is in our colors.

One note though: You have to check the US postal service for envelope dimensions. Square= more postage, and the length x width cannot be bigger/smaller than certain dimensions.

Invites, continued...and why I love B

Last night continued the saga of invites. I have decided that the back office will not get cleaned out until after invites are sent. We NEED to get invites sent SOON, so it seems kinda stupid to spend time clearing out a room. Granted, the room clearing needs to occur, but the invites need to occur first, so.... no cleaning for now.

Got 12 invites worked on, did another step on 5 more. It's work! At least it's work I can watch TV to, but still.

Tonight: Same old same old. But...

(Why I love B)
...B MAY come home tonight for a mid-week visit! I feel bad... he drives 2.5 hours each way. And of course, it makes me worried to have him drive so far when he's tired, you know? He claims he isn't, but I still fret.

Invitations, RSVPs, and Food

So far, so good. B did all of the first few steps down south over the past few weeks. Now I'm on to the finishing steps. It's a multi-step process (cut, let things dry, etc etc), but I really like the way they're turning out.

Last night I did 17 invites (goal was 10, so woo!). However, I did NOT feel up to the reorganization task, so that got postponed. Something like rearranging a room you have to feel up for, you know? So instead, I went overboard on the invites and cut out 3 different other things for the invitation (front side of RSVP card, inside of RSVP card, and website postcard insert).

I keep wanting to work on other projects (because they need to get done too-- eg: centerpieces!), but the invites have to come first. Because we're the ones doing all this, additional people don't pose much of a cost increase, but they are cause for additional planning. So the sooner we get these invites out, the sooner we'll know how many (precisely!) to plan for.

Right now I think we can handle up to 168 on tables (that won't/can't happen!) and 135 chair-wise. Additional chairs can be ordered, table coordination was more difficult, so that's what we overprepared for. Our guest count right now is tentatively at 103, but that's being optimistic in some places and pessimistic in others. And yes, we're hoping Joe Blo doesn't bring his newbie girlfriend of 1 week, but sometimes there's no stopping people and their +1s. B and I have the mentality that it's lovely to have our friends there, regardless, and that is what we should focus on: being blessed by their friendship. Though, I must admit, not having catering costs (well, per capita) is rather lovely.

Speaking of catering/food, that's another battle to be planned. I'd rather not cook too far in advance because a) I don't want the mini-freezer running longer than I can help, and b) I'd rather not have food frozen for TOO long. There is the possibility that B may be getting his own apartment down where the wedding is, so that would GREATLY lessen the food woes. B would take the mini freezer, and each week, food would be shuttled down (we'd have to get an ice chest for the car). Oh, to have food already down there... what a stress off our backs that would be.

So yes, there is a lot up in the air. One task at a time, right? Invitations now.... hopefully to be mailed out on 4/20.

Goal tonight: Work on invites. UNLESS: feeling up to the task of cleaning out the back office/wedding room.

It's a big week.

There are a lot of things happening this week. One big work-related professional thing which I'm not going to talk about because this is a job-free blog (mostly)! But, needless to say, it's on my mind.

There also are invitations. They are turning out super-cute and I love them! But... it's been a challenge. Sort of a trial and error. We haven't screwed up on any, but it's amusing that with each one you learn something new. When to do what and that sort of thing. Our goal is to have them done by next weekend (ha!)... We'll see. But if we were to mail them on the 20th, that would be 2 months and 1 week before the wedding. That's a good time frame. So, goal identified, but let's see if it's reached.

The goal isn't going to be made any easier by the fact that we're busy Friday night and a good chunk of next Saturday with a marriage course. Ahh, hoop to jump through for a Catholic wedding. I was thinking about it, and I think we've talked EVERYTHING to death, so I can't really imagine having my world rocked or being on rocky ground about my thoughts about B (or vice versa). But, it's a requirement. It's not that I think it's bad... it's just a requirement.

This past weekend we: worked on invitations and did some roses. I made 10 more paper mache balloons. Then my paste ran out and I used that as an excuse to stop (even though I could have easily made more).

TONIGHT:
I'm going to clean out the back room. Right now we have office supplies and tools and wedding stuff and goodwill stuff in the same room, and that needs to stop. I'm going to clear out everything non-wedding. Ambitious, but I will be so much happier. And I will do 10 invites.

Work

This week, B's taking on the tasks of:
1) hotel reservations (he needs to find more rooms)
2) wedding assistant interview(s)
3) ordering groomsmen shirts & ties.

I don't envy him the interview things... but I think he'll handle it with ease. I think 4 interviews and we'll know whom we're hiring. And these aren't formal interviews; just quick coffeehouse type meet-ups.

I am working on roses. I HAVE to finish the centerpieces this week, or I feel I will go mad. HAVE to. Last week had some break-down moments and lack of productivity as I had to deal with some people situations, and I was not nearly as productive as I needed to be.

I've found that if I cut out a TON of patterns and then glue them (rather than doing, say 20 at a time), I'm a lot more productive. Here's hoping.

We bought cups yesterday so I can do the paper mache. I wanted them all to be uniform, but I didn't want to go to a ton of expense buying balls or something for each one. So, I bought a bag of balloons, I'm blowing each one to the same approximate size, and I'm paper mache-ing each one. I could glue directly onto the balloon, but I"m too scared it will pop and roses will go EVERYWHERE. The paper mache, once it hardens, is solid and the balloon is no longer needed.

I'm not sure how many roses I have right now. A good centerpiece requires around 200. I have more than that right now. But, I'd rather fill up the box I have right now and then start gluing, that way I'm not demoralized when I find out I only have roses for only x number of centerpieces.

Next weekend: invites.

Things are really getting busy...

There are a lot of projects on the table right now... Thought I'd list the immediate ones, partially for my organization, and partially, well, to post.
*
Invitations: B's finishing step 1 of the actual invitations down south; they should be ready to come up by next weekend. We'll work on step 2 and 3 the weekend of 4/3. I'm working on envelopes at home right now, and I'll get the outer envelopes from B this weekend so I can start labeling next week.
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Placemats: 56 have fabric on them, which means another 44 need fabric. We're planning 100 for now, and additional ones can be made if we get more than 100 rsvps. Then, all 100 need ribbon and backing. Goal to get this done: 3 weeks from now.
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Giftboxes: We've done nothing! Well, we have all the supplies. I need to cut and glue paper on to all of them, as well as make the contents. I think the making will occur the weekend of 4/3 because baking can happen while other stuff is happening.
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Registries: Will be finished up the weekend of 4/3. BBB's will take a while though... there's a lot to go through.
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Website: Needs: photos for a few things, hotel information, and registry links and info. I think that's it though!
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Centerpieces: My big project this week and next week during the week. I sit at home and cut and make paper roses. No joke. I made probably about 40 last night and cut probably about 70. Not very productive, especially considering each centerpiece needs about 200 roses. UGH.
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Lanterns: Our friend, Tiana, it cutting circles and folding, B is doing the same. Our friend, Jenn, is stapling and making lanterns. So, while I NEED to staple the petals I have, I have to work on centerpieces the next couple of weeks. Those take greater importance right now.
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Food: I need to do a test-run of the rouladin to double make sure the freezing/thawing process doesn't ruin the integrity of the item. This is more to please my parents than me... I've done this before! Ugh. But I suppose it will make me happy too. Food preparation should begin the first week in May. I figure 1.5 months frozen is an ok time. I plan on freezing the rouladin in gravy so as to keep it moist in the freezer. Spaetzle will be made probably the first week in June.
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Tablecloths: Need to be made. I have the material... but I think I will use the material I have on chair covers first, and then possibly use the remainder or buy thicker material for the tablecloths.
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Chair Covers: Need to be made. ASAP. We will be measuring the hall this weekend, as well as taking detailed measurements of the chairs. Then it will be a matter of cut and sew for me. I need to get these finished soon. Hopefully by mid-April.
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Yellow Lanterns: Haven't even begun to be made. Eek. I figure we'll probably need about 200 of these.... They will be easier than the regular lanterns because these only need to be hung on a vertical strand... but still.
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Hiring Workers: One has been hired, the other 2-3 need to be. This will occur in late April/early May.
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Flowers: Need to be ordered. Probably this weekend. I need to also order other items for the flowers, and that will probably happen online or I will call local florists.... that will probably occur next week.
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Menu Cards: Will occur late-April, once I do a test-run of the rouladin.
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Name Cards: Will occur mid-June, after we've hunted down all the RSVP folks.
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Church Decorations: I think we're going to do all-white. There had been the hope of doing color, but B and I discussed it, and we like the idea of lanterns in the church done in all white. Thign is though, white will show staples more, so we may glue these lanterns. 28 rows, each side, so 56 pews to hang on, times 3 lanterns each = 168 lanterns. I have beautiful white satin ribbon to hang them on. B & I think it will be a nice way to tie the church decorations with the reception decorations
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Dress Rehearsal: I need to fill out the card reserving things. UGH. I keep forgetting. B and I need to decide who will provide the meat... probably a local BBQ place.
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Cake Decorations: I have to get started on these. Maybe a day in the next week or two can be devoted to these....I will probably start after 4/3 weekend because I want to do a few more practice ones and get B's input.
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Rose Droplets: It depends on whether we get the centerpieces done with enough time. I'd like to have 3 rose droplets on the back of each chair at the reception, but if we dont' have time, these will become lanterns instead.
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Table runners: Need to be sewn. This shouldn't be too complicated.
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Wine Glasses: Need to be cleaned (they have logos on them right now... extras from an event) and have charms put on.

There's more, but you get the idea....

Circles and invites

I totally relaxi-taxied last night. It.was.wonderful. I didn't want to get up to too much, but I made a mock-up of our invitations, that way if B likes it, he can get to work on them with a friend this weekend. I like it, though I'm not posting a picture of it until AFTER they're sent and received.

I spent the rest of the evening cutting out circles. Each lantern on the string of lanterns requires 20 little circles. TWENTY. SO I figured I could totally veg and love the fact that stress is over for the week... and cut out circles.

I made a stencil, so it's easier. I can do 15 circles per page (they're small for the size of lanterns on the strings), and I can cut 10 pages at a time. So each time I finish cutting out one page of stencils I've made 150 circles.... so almost 8 lanterns. I did 5 stencils last night, so 750 circles. Yay! So almost 38 lanterns worth. Granted, I still have to fold and construct.... But I think it takes less time to do one BIG job of each step rather than do it incrimentally. Ie: make a TON of circles. then, make a TON of folds. Then make a ton of lanterns. Definitely saves time over making one latern at a time. I want to have 20 strands done by next Friday.... here's hoping.