I, Nicki, take you, Jonathan

Tonight is the rehearsal dinner! I am so freaking excited I can't stand it. It still blows my mind that me and Jon are tying the knot.

Last night we wrote our vows. We chose to write our vows because it allows us to better express our love and promises to one another for our life together. It gives us the opportunity to focus on our relationship and what makes it unique and amazing. It was definitely a daunting task. To come up with the words that would literally last a lifetime. Words that are much more than a cheesy love poem or a movie quote, but words that are actions and emotions that our marriage is built upon. These words will anchor us and remind us in the future as our relationship faces challenges what we are to one another. These words will give us courage and resilience as we spend our lives together. Yeah, pretty big deal.

We started the way everyone else starts: Google. What else did other people write? We shared our favorite phrases and words from different examples. We questioned our relationship. What makes this work? Why are we so perfect for each other? What is the foundation of our relationship? Our list included honesty, friendship, trust, humor, forgiveness, and other words. We didn't want to just copy someone else's vows. Vows should be uniquely yours if you choose to write them. This is when we really had to look inside our hearts to find the right words. Clearing my head, I imagined standing at the altar on our wedding day facing Jon, and I just started typing what I wanted to say to him. What I was feeling at the moment. What made me believe in us. What we were actually doing on our wedding day. This led to our first sentence of the vows. Jon thought I copied it, but it truly came from my heart. From there we did the same thing and came up with a total of 5 sentences that would build the foundation of our marriage. They are broad enough to last our lifetime, but specific to us. For now those words are for me and Jon. After the honeymoon I'll post them. Perhaps they can inspire others.

The Final Countdown

Here we go. 10 days til the Big Day. Amazingly, I'm not stressed out. Its all coming together beautifully, and I can vision how the day will pan out. Honestly, I can't wait. We worked so hard and spent so much time, that we are excited to experience the 'fruits of our labor.' My future Mother-in-law said it best, "Its now, just hurry up and wait."

With 10 days to go, today is the first day a forecast will be available for our wedding day. I haven't checked it yet. I'm a little nervous it may ruin my mood and sharply increase my stress. Inanimate objects may be kicked or punched. No one better tell me its good luck if it rains on your wedding day. That proverb was invented to make the bride feel better about crappy weather on her wedding day. Its pretty much the one thing that can go wrong, that will really make me mad. I could careless about everything else. The flowers, the cake. These problems I can fix. Mother nature on the other hand is a force I cannot reckon with. If it does rain, please do so in the morning while we're getting ready or in the evening during the reception. Just let us get all of our pictures done. We are getting pre-ceremony pictures at Fountain Square, Backstage Alley (Jon and I love Broadway and always walk this alley on our way to see a show at the Aronoff), and Mr. Pitiful's on Main St (our favorite bar where we have lots of memories and its simply beautiful on the inside). After the ceremony we're getting family pictures, again outside. Our church has a beautiful garden, a gazebo, and a rustic, old barn which we hope to use as our backdrop to our 'Thank you' postcards (more on that in a later blog). So as you can see, rain before the reception could really put a stick in the plans. But, I need to check. So here goes nothing.......

Here comes the bride

I just finished picking the music for our ceremony. This is probably the toughest task I have yet to face. As a wedding present, my uncle and another member of his band are playing our music. Between his song list and other songs I could think of, I had to come up with basically 5 songs. Sounds easy right? Nope. Not for me. I had to make sure the lyrics matched the moment in the ceremony. Also, had to ensure that the tempo matched the mood. Oi. This was one daunting task. It basically took 3 full nights of internet searches to figure it all out. I would go through the playlist, You Tube a song, and then Google the song to research the meaning behind the song or for whom it was written. And I probably did this at least 5 times per song. Monday night I emailed Brian with a tentative list, with three of the songs not on his play list. He said they could easily learn 2 of them, and so tonight I had to rework the playlist. I needed music for the entrance of family members including the mom's lighting the taper candles. Then I needed the Bridal party entrance music. Followed by of course, me and my dad. I chose one of my favorite love songs which was also my parent's wedding song. This may have been a bad idea. I tear up pretty much everytime I hear it. Hmmm...Maybe I'll walk down the aisle with earplugs. We then needed music for the lighting of the Unity candle, which comes after the exchange of vows and rings. Had to make sure the lyrics were fitting. And finally, after Reverend Kathy pronounces us husband and wife, I needed some processional music.

So it is all said and done. I am very satisfied with the selection and I think it will make for a very memorable ceremony. Unfortunately, you'll have to be there to hear my ceremony playlist or just wait for the post honeymoon posts.

Everybody out of the pool

From time to time when it comes to wedding stuff I get the urge to want to vomit. Not because I'm thinking about having to spend the rest of my life with a crazy Irish man, whom I adore, but because so much time, effort, and money has gone into this one single day and that any one thing can go wrong. I get the urge before opening emails from vendors especially when it has an invoice total. Like right now, I have an email from my cake vendor, but I have yet to open it. She has the total for the cake waiting for me. Last Thursday I spent an hour working with her and the decorator. Long story short, I think all of our brains ached afterwards. It was exhausting. We really weren't communicating well, and we were not on the same page about anything. She thought everything I decided would look amazing just to get me the heck out of there. But I stuck around until I was comfortable with the overall design. I felt bad because I know I'm a perfectionist and a pain in the rearend. The toughest part was trying to visualize it while designing it. I would close my eyes and try to picture it, but then she would start rambling about something and totally mess up my concentration. I then tried sketches, which helped. Once I left and was on the road I was able to actually imagine the design in the quiet of my car. I called her about 15 minutes after leaving and changed the look of the middle tier. My best advice is to bring multiple pictures of wedding cakes with you. My original design could not be done exactly like the picture because it was fondant, but we came pretty close. The other pictures helped with giving us ideas and with figuring out what the different layers would look like.

Regardless, if the cake ends up being hideous, it will still be delicious. It is a family run business with everything made from scratch in a commercial kitchen they had installed in their basement. She made Opera Cream Brownies and White cake with a Rasberry filling for us to sample a couple months ago. It was the best cake we've ever eaten (Mind you, we tried the NCH Bakery and the Northside bakery. Jon decided we should call bakeries more often and let them know we're getting married so we get free mini-cakes.) We're going with the White and Rasberry and also a White with a Chocolate filling. To save some money, I had the cake done with 3 tiers which will feed about 162 people and a sheet cake that will feed about 50. Now I just have to open the email.

I wish that I knew then, what I know now.....

Today, a random thought popped into my head (One of many. This one just happened to make enough sense that I thought to pursue it). "Why not check out those gift card exchange sites?" They seem legit, and could offer some major savings. I googled (Funny how that word now has a universal meaning for an internet search. Sorry, Yahoo. Unfortunately Yahoo'ed, although fun to say, could have different meanings. I Yahoo'ed it. Does it mean I got super, duper excited and shouted to the roof tops or that I performed an internet search. Next time, make up a word that has absolutely no meaning or connotation-Random thought). Anyways, I googled 'gift card exchange' and came across several websites that offered the service. I went with the Plastic Jungle. Basically, you can buy gift cards at various, mostly random, denominations at a discount. For example, all of the Home Depot cards are sold at an 8% discount. So before even entering Home Depot you have 8% off of your bill. Now, some may think this sounds a little sketchy. Well, this site guarantees all of their gift cards. When 'sellers' send in their gift cards, Plastic Jungle verifies the funds before reimbursing the seller. Sellers can receive cash deposits, Amazon credits, or they can donate all or part of their proceeds to charity. For buyers, the discounts can be as high as 35%. If a merchant is not available, you can set up notifications. Plastic Jungle will alert you when a particular gift card has become available.

Now, I wish I would have thought of this a year and a half ago. I searched for a Michael's gift card. $175 gift card for $143.50. That's an 18% discount. And that would have been on top of the 40% off coupons they run weekly. I have definitely spent that much this year between ribbon, paper, stickers, and other random stuff.

I have yet to try this out, but I am definitely going to give it a whirl. I plan to use it when for home projects, Christmas, showers, and any other defined shopping I might have to do.

The Bad Blogger

Hello Readers. As the title states, I have been a bad blogger. Trust me, I haven't been posting because nothing has been going on. In fact, its just the opposite. I am super busy, especially with the Big Day just over 2 weeks away. I promise to catch you up on everything that I have been doing, so we may be doing the time warp dance. I have lots of events and things to share including Showers, the Bachelorette Island Escape, and other projects. Tonight, I'm just posting about the Unity Candle.

So the Unity Candle, it consists of 1 large pillar candle and 2 tapers. Whoopy doo, right? That can't cost much. Well, I have news for you, businesses make a killing on these things. I walked into Michaels and they were about $40. I checked online and the same thing. Plus, our minister requested that we use 'Dripless' tapers. Yeah, pretty sure they don't exist. So my brain (which has been cranking out some pretty creative ideas today) decided that Factory Direct Candles in Western Hills might have 'Dripless' tapers and for much less. Well, no dice on the 'Dripless', but their tapers were only $.35. (Of course all the other colors were only $.25. I guess they wanted to get in on the wedding market action too.) And I got a pillar for only $3. So far, I'm already doing pretty amazing price wise. I decide to glitz up the pillar a tad and head over to Michaels. They have rhinestone and pearl adhesives. I find a fancy one for $6 and I'm out the door.  But I then decide to also go to Hobby Lobby (once I eventually found it. I took a short tour through the Mason area). There I found an even better rhinestone and pearl adhesive and it was only $3. I also solved the 'Dripless' problem. They sell little crystal trays for $5 that hug the tapers so any wax will collect there and not on the candlesticks or floor. My Unity Candle grand total, a whopping $11.50.

The final product (on its side)

Doesn't Hurt to Ask

I saw a picture in a magazine of center pieces that consisted simply of a few single bud vases lumped together. I was intrigued. What a great idea. You still have the size, but not the expense of a full-flowered center piece. I decided to go with a silver charger plate with four varying sizes and colors of single bud vases each containing either a yellow, lime green, deep purple or hot pink flower. I was going to accumualate the vases by asking for donations and perusing garage sales. My first garage sale scour yielded a whopping 3 vases. I need 120. It would take me a lifetime at that rate. Then I had a stroke of genius: Thrift stores. I popped into St. Vincent de Paul in Colerain one lovely Saturday afternoon. Jackpot! The shelves were lined with single bud vases. And, they were each anywhere from .50 to $1. I called my mom super excited. I had just found the Mecca of single bud vases. I grabbed a cart and started filling it with any and every vase I could get my hands on. As I was making my mad dash, I happened to take notice of a piece of construction paper which contained the most beautiful words known to man, "50% off." Double, Super Jackpot Bonus. Called my mom again to tell her the amazing news. I walked out of there with 56 vases at a cost of $21. Pretty damn good.

From time to time I would stop in that thrift store and any others that I happened to be near. I have learned that St. Vincent de Paul is the cheapest thrift store. Goodwill seems to be the most expensive. I found some vases here and there, but never the jackpot I scored last September. Each time I went into the Colerain St. Vincent de Paul, there was a sign saying they were unable to offer sales on any of the shelf items due to low inventory. Well, I just refused to pay 'full price' so I would just walk out and figured I'd check a little later.

Last week, I thought I'd try a different St. Vincent de Paul thinking that perhaps it was only the Colerain store that was low on inventory. I went to the one on Este Ave, and they too were not offering discounts on shelf items. I felt defeated and aggravated. The Under Budget Bride cannot pay full price for vases. Oh, Thrift Store Gods, you tempted me with your crazy, super cheap sale and that is just something I cannot come back from. Yet, I couldn't ignore the fact that the wedding is closing in, and I still needed quite a few vases. I bit my lip and grabbed a cart. I was honestly quite sad as I checked the price written on the bottom of each vase I plucked from the shelves and placed into my cart. Oh, the agony. Most cost about $1. I trudged along the aisles slowly filling my cart.

By the time was I finished, I had managed to fill the basket. I looked down and just thought of the register Ka-chinging away, dollar by dollar. Ugh. Then I thought "What the hell? Why not ask for a discount?" The worst they can say is "No." And so I asked. "I know the sign says no discounts on shelf items but I am buying a large volume. They're for my wedding." I always throw in the wedding card. People love weddings and well, love. The one cashier went back to ask the manager, while I chatted with other. The first cashier came back, and said the manager would be up shortly. And we waited. I mentioned how some of the same vases were different prices. She said if she had known that, she would have just given me them at the lowest price which would have put me at $.50 per vase. Finally, the manager made it to the registers. I think we were all a little nervous about the verdict. The clerks wanted me to get a good deal. We became fast friends chatting about weddings and such while waiting on the manager. She took one quick look in the basket and simply said, "Give 'em to her for a quarter each." I walked out of there with 41 more vases at a cost of $11 with tax. Winning!

Hula Mula

There I was in Old Navy. My mission was to find a cute white summer dress to wear to one of my showers. No luck. So I was leaving the store, empty handed. Old Navy has geniusly reorganized the store so that their registers act as a barricade to the exit forcing shoppers to go around them. And at the front lines of this barricade are a bunch of chotskies that tease the buyer into an impulse buy. There was a little army of piggy banks smiling up at me all dressed in hula attire. PERFECT! We are going to Hawaii for our honeymoon and what a fun way to save money. Price check: $5. Whoop dee doo. I picked out a green one (New last name will be Green. Found it fitting) and headed to the registers. And now we have our beloved Hungry Hungry Hula Honeymoon Pig.

Oink, Oink

Leap of Faith

I bet you were thinking this post was about my decision to marry Jon. No. That was too easy. No thinking about it. My heart had that one figured out a long time ago. This entry is actually about picking a florist. FYI: Creating your bouquet is nothing like it is in the movies. Florists do not stock a wide variety of flowers and walk around a greenhouse with you mixing and matching different blooms until you are sure that is the design you want. Not even close. They have piece of paper that the two of you have to fill out. Oh, and the flowers, they're all in a book. Good luck trying to imagine what they will look like together.

Lets rewind. One day I decided it was time to find a florist. The night before I scoured wedding magazines to get an idea of what I wanted. This is a must when searching for your florist. It puts you and the florist on the same page. It also makes the whole process easier. They can then visual what you want and suggest flowers at different price ranges.

The next day I decided to drive around near my parent's house and talk with different florists. Apparently, florists are very busy in the morning. Did not dawn on me (no pun intended). The first florist basically scolded me, sat me down with a book and refused to answer any of my questions. She suggested that I make an appointment and I thought otherwise. The next florist was much more helpful. He worked up a quick quote, admitted he was very expensive, and I was on my way. My flowers would have been around $1,200. Way over my budget. Oh yeah, did I mention I only budgeted $300 for flowers. Not realistic, but I had no idea flowers were that expensive. I mean the freaking things die in a week. Anyways, I was determined to come close. The next couple of florists were nicer and I did make appointments with them. My last stop was Felss the Florist in Mt. Healthy. I almost passed his shop. Good thing I didn't. He was super helpful. We came up to around $600 including my bulk flowers for my center pieces. Much more in my price range. I promised I would be back, but had to meet my other appointments. He then basically wished me luck on finding a cheaper florist.

Long story short, Felss was the cheapest. One guy never emailed my quote and two others were over $1,000. I went back one afternoon and finalized the flower selection. My total came to around $660, but I think that's pretty good considering it includes bouquets for 8 bridesmaids and 1 groomswoman.

Felss has been in the business for a long time. He has taught many of the local florists so he knows what he's doing. Our minister also gets all of her flowers for the church there, so it feels good to support a local business. But as I said in the title it is a leap of faith. I have no idea what my flowers are actually going to look like. I gave him my picture and specs, but its up to him to design them. It is by far the scariest decision a bride will have to make.

My inspiration

If the Shoe Fits

I have inherited Flintstone feet. They are a size 7.5, but due to their width I usually have to buy an 8-8.5. Buying shoes is a nightmare. Can I wear cute, strappy shoes? No. Can I go into a shoe store, pick out a pair, try them on, and complete an outfit? No. My feet are ginormous. I hate shoe shopping. And, not only are they wide, but my heel is unusually skinny. Its nice because it makes my ankles look fab, but any shoes I buy have to have a strap or an adjustable sling-back. So no pumps and no cute flats.

Unfortunately Jon won't let me walk down the aisle barefoot or in flip flops. Heck, I would be happy in gym shoes. So I faced a challenge finding wedding shoes. But of course I couldn't settle for just white shoes. Oh no. Apparently I really love to torture myself. I wanted bright yellow heels. I have always wanted yellow heels but could never find them.

On Wednesday I set off on my search. I started at DSW. No dice. Stopped over at Nordstrom Rack. No shoes, but lots of other great finds including jewelry for my showers and my future Step mom-in-law. After lunch with Suzanne, I headed up to Kenwood. Walked the entire mall. I found a pair of Miz Mooz shoes at Nordstroms that fit very well, but they didn't have yellow. When I got home I scoured the web to see if Miz Mooz made a yellow heel. Again, no dice. For my brother and sister-in-law's wedding we got our shoes at Colorful Soles in the Bridal District. They have a wide selection of shoes and can dye them whatever color you need. Unfortunately for me, they went out of business. Back to the Internet. I did a search for women's wide shoes. Found a website, Wide Shoes for Women, that has links that go directly to the wide width selection of different stores. Their 6pm link even lets you select the width you need. Perfect. I picked the 'C' width and sure enough there was a page full of wide shoes. I narrowed my selection to only yellow shoes. Eureka! Lots of yellow heels. Found a pair I liked. Best part: only $20 with shipping. UPS delivered them yesterday and they fit like a dream. Needless to say, I am in Shoetopia.

Don't worry. My toenails will not be blue for the wedding. And I'll eventually cut off my anklet (done in my wedding colors).

Nightmare on Wed Street

Ok, so the wedding is on my mind 24/7. This is what I have done now; I need to get this done next; I'm waiting on a response from this person; etc. So, of course the wedding has permeated my sleep. Am I having wonderful dreams about me and Jon's first dance? Do I dream of the church doors opening and me and Dad walking down the aisle? No. I am having nightmares. Nightmares that wake me up in the middle of the night in a sweat. Nightmares about all the things that can go wrong. My favorite was the nightmare when all of my bridesmaids showed up in puffy white dresses covered in red hearts. FYI: I hate hearts. Last night, the stylist double booked, I forgot to order the bridesmaid's jewelry, and I never designed and ordered the favors. Not a good situation. I was running around some place (maybe a convention center? Love the randomness of dreams) searching frantically for a stylist. And of course cursing people left and right. Yep, I was a bridezilla. And the best part: I still have 92 days of sleepless nights. Sweet Dreams.

Under Budget Blonde

Last night I got some interesting phone calls. First my mom calls. She received my brother's and one of my bridesmaid's envelopes unsealed and empty. Ok. Thats an easy one to figure out. Those must have been the envelopes Jon tried to seal with the sponge and just wiped off the sticky part. No biggie. I can resend those or just pass them out. But then I received more phone calls. First, from my friend Lisa. Her envelope showed up empty. Is the mailman trying to crash my wedding? Then another phone call. This time from Matthew. Yet another empty envelope. Ok. What the heck? Then I start replaying Tuesday night in my mind. Ah ha. At one point during envelope stuffing Jon and I started chit-chatting. I remember after our conversation, I looked down and there were no more envelopes. I literally said, "Huh, I guess I stuffed them all." I thought I double checked the stack. Apparently not. Must have shuffled the empty ones with the stuffed ones not even paying attention to what the heck I was doing. My favorite call was from our friends, Jason and Mandi. Jason applauded my Under Budget Bride efforts. Thought my idea of sending out empty envelopes so people would call, confused, was a huge money saver. No cost on invites or RSVP postage. When people called about the empty envelopes, I could just ask, "You coming?"

So moral of the story is, don't let your fiance in the room while stuffing envelopes. We have a similiar rule in the kitchen. If I'm wielding a knife, Jon is not allowed anywhere near me. It only took a little loss of blood to establish that rule. The whole situation has led to some laughs. Luckily, it has only been my friends, and a majority of them have been the old neighborhood crew. Just a day in the life of a B2B.

Man vs. Machine

Today is a momentous day. I am dropping the first round of invites in the mail. No turning back now. I even planned to have them in the mail on June 1st and son of gun, I did it. Woo Hoo! Last night, Jon and I worked on getting the addresses printed on the envelopes, stuffing them, and then stamping them.

The overall job was pretty easy, but of course there were some technical difficulties. I put all of the addresses in an Excel spreadsheet, so I could just do a Mail Merge in Word to print all of the addresses on the envelopes. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. Tip: Find out from the printer the type of font they used for the invites and make sure it is available in Word if doing a mail merge. I had no idea what they used. I went through all of the available fonts on Word at least 5 times plus Jon gave it a whirl. We ended up settling on one that was pretty close. With the return address on the back flap and no other print on the front of the envelopes, we figured it wouldn't be that noticable.

Once we settled on a font, we tried to figure out what size of font to use. Jon preferred to take up the whole envelope, I preferred a smaller, dainty font. We chose a 36. Big enough for the Post Office to read, but not overwhelming. I ran the first envelope with the font in bold to see what it would look like. Not too great. Sorry, Andrea. You get the guinea pig envelope. We ran the second envelope without the bold. And Voila, we have our winner!

Now, I just had to print the remaining 90 envelopes. The funny thing about technology is that when you are actually trying to get something done or you are under a time restraint, it just doesn't want to work. Its like all of the computers, printers, scanners, and faxes have gotten together and formed a conspircacy against all of mankind. So, I start the printing and everything is running smoothly. The printer is kicking out envelopes beautifully. And then it freezes. I have 7 envelopes done. WTF? I save the Word document and shut everything down. Restart. Try again. This time I get even less, only 5 envelopes. At this point I am really angry. I'm saying some choice words. Jon hears me in living room. I'm sure he was debating whether or not to ask me what was wrong. He has witnessed my anger with the printer while in school year and knows it can get ugly. I resolve to print only 10 envelopes at a time. Eureka! This works. Although it is now shooting a blank (teehe) before each one it actually prints. I swear my printer has a mind of its own. But regardless, its printing. So 10 at a time, I get through all of the envelopes.

During this fiasco, Jon has stamped all of the RSVP postcards. (Tip: Make sure to get the 'Wedding' stamps from the post office. The clerk told me they just came out with a new design so I am ahead of the curve. Yay!)  After they printed, I stamped and stuffed the envelopes. But of course I couldn't just stuff them. After the first one, I realized there is an art to stuffing envelopes. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would take the time to figure out the best way to arrange the contents of an envelope. After I got a bunch stuffed I handed them off to Jon to seal. He tried using a sponge, but it just wiped away the stickiness. Then he tried good ol' fashioned saliva. Couldn't stand the taste. One of my duties at my job is to pay and mail bills. So every week, I lick and stick about 20 or so envelopes. Apparently, this has been preparing me for my role as a Bride-to-Be. I said, "Hand 'em over." So each envelope is sealed with the saliva of yours truly. ;)

Card Table Dinners: Corn, Zucchini, and Green Chili Burritos

I made these last night, and they were delicious. Not to mention inexpensive, super easy, and super fast. The recipe is from the June issue of Vegetarian Times. No, I am not a vegetarian, but I do try to cook at least one meatless meal a week. I subscribed hoping to find recipes and I did. As with any other recipe I did make some adjustments based on what I had in the pantry.

Ingredients:
Canola Oil
1 small onion (sliced or diced)
1 small zucchini (diced)
2 gloves of garlic, minced (I buy the jars of minced garlic. I put garlic in everything and its a huge time saver)
1 cup fresh or frozen corn (thawed if frozen)
1/3 cup black beans
1 Tbs. diced green chiles (Mine are from the can. I'll use the rest to make pork tacos next week)
2 Tbs. chopped cilantro (I used dry and eyeballed it)
2/3 cup shredded Monterey-Jack Cheese (Used Colby-Jack because it was in the fridge)
4 Tortillas (We used fajita sized)
Queso Fresco (optional, I just happened to have some)
Lime wedges (did not use)

1. Heat the oil over medium heat. Add your onions and your zucchini and cook about 12 minutes or until tender and onions start to brown.
2. Stir in garlic, corn, beans, and green chiles. Cook about 5 minutes or until everything is heated through.
3. Stir in your cilantro and cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Divide mixture amongst your heated tortillas. (I heat my tortillas directly on the burners. After heating up the mixture, I turned off the burner. Then one by one I heat each side of the tortilla on the burner.) Top with the Queso fresco or other cheese. We also added reduced-fat sour cream. I used a little salsa on my first one, but found that it didn't need it. There was enough flavor in the mixture on its own.

This was such a good dish. Both Jon and I enjoyed it. Plus, you get the burrito effect without all of the calories.

Say Yes to the Dress

Oh, and I did. UPS delivered my dress yesterday afternoon. They sent me an email notice of its delivery, and I immediately called my mom to make sure she got it. God forbid, they deliver to my neighbor or some crazy cross dresser down the street. But it arrived safely in one piece.

After a family dinner celebrating my parent's big 6-0, (Happy birthday Mom and Dad), my mom and I swung by the house so I could try it on. I can't even explain how beautiful this dress is. The material is luxurious. All made in the good old US of A. The satin liner is so soft to the touch. And the Alencon lace is gorgeous. Really, I can't describe it. If you're at the wedding, I will not get offended if you ask to touch the dress. Just, keep it PG, I will be a married woman. ;) 

As a bonus, they sent a swag bag! What! A swag bag. That's right. A little tote filled with all sorts of fun goodies. I received 2 wedding magazines which cost like $6 each. Trust me, I buy them from to time. I also got an OPI polish, MSRP of $8ish. A couture dress stain remover kit. This little guy is nifty. It has 3 different systems for all sorts of stains. Any type of stain from blood to liquor to vomit to bacon. Everything! Love it. I just hope I don't have to use it, especially to remove vomit. Gross.

My favorite part about my dress, is that I can say its from NYC. So glam!

Colby Man - My little Ring Barer

Colby and Grandpa

Wedding Miracle!

The past 24 hours have been a roller coaster of emotions. Yesterday, I was devastated. Unhappy with my wedding dress. Upset that the one I love had been sold. Bummed that I couldn't even find a pre-owned one on the internet. All hope was lost.

This morning I woke up determined. After a grueling workout and a delicious breakfast I sat down in front of my laptop. I started on Modern Trousseau's website. I called the NY flagship store. No answer, so I left a message. Basically explaining that I love the Lauren dress, but my local store had sold their sample. And I really wanted to wear that dress on my wedding day. What could I do to get my hands on one? I then called their other flagship store in Charlotte. Good news, but not great. I could get the Lauren dress and still time to have it for our wedding. Bad news, I was way off on the price. I must have mixed up prices back in September when I tried on the dress. I mean really mixed up prices. Huge difference. My heart sank a little.

European Bridal is still having a sample sale, so I decided that I would head down that way to see what other dresses were available. Since they don't open until noon, I decided to hit up a couple of thrift stores to find more vases for the reception.

As I was walking into St. Vincent de Paul, I got the most amazing phone call. It was April from NY. She said, "It must be fate." First thought that popped into my head was that she was going to explain how I can still order the dress in time for my wedding. But, NO!!! They are having their sample sale this weekend, and the Lauren dress is included and in stock!!!!! Big smile. I was so pumped. I proceeded to tell her how I was in tears last night and my local store had sold their sample. She said she had goosebumps. April loved my voice mail message and was so excited to call me back and give me the great news. The price is 50% off retail and no sales tax since its shipping from NY. After I hung up, I sat in my car and screamed at the top of my lungs. I called Jon and told him the great news. I did a happy dance in the parking lot of the thrift store. I proceeded to tell the clerk and another customer about my wedding miracle. I called my sister-in-law, Becky and told her the great news. And, I haven't stopped smiling since!

Tip: Not sure if all designers do this, but the Charlotte flagship store told me that their retail outlets can only mark down a dress by 10% and only on trunk shows (with the exception of samples). However, she was able to mark down the dress by 15%. After finding a dress you like, I would suggest calling the designer to see if you can get a better deal.

Card Table Dinners: Quick Skillet Hash

Yesterday I came across a recipe on EatingWell.com for a Florentine Hash Skillet. It was a quick and easy recipe for work mornings. I decided to change it up using the ingredients from by breakfast casserole I posted this past weekend. I loved that casserole so much, and I need to change up my usual. Plus, this incorporates some serious veggies and its filling.

Ingredients:
Artichokes (canned or frozen but thawed)
Spinach, Kale, or Swiss chard (any good green)
White Cheese (Mozzarella Veggie shreds)
Roasted Red Pepper (I dice a bunch then store them in the fridge so I don't have to get out the board and knife each time)
Goat Cheese
1 egg (I scrambled mine and added my all purpose seasoning. Also can cook over easy)

Heat some oil (I use canola) in a small skillet on Med-High heat. Then layer your ingredients. First the artichokes, then the Kale, the White cheese (to help hold it together), Roasted Red Peppers, and finally the goat cheese. Next dump your scrambled or over easy egg on top. Reduce the heat to Med-Low and cover. Cook until the egg sets. It should only take 4-7 minutes. While it cooks I put away my ingredients, pour my juice, and get out my vitamins. By the time I finish, its time to eat. Bon Apetit!

Eating Well's Hash Skillet Recipe

Breakdown

Today I get an email from European Bridal announcing a sample sale. When I first looked at wedding dresses I fell in love with the Modern Trousseau Lauren dress. It was perfect. It was lace with straps, barely a train, light, and elegant. However, there was one small glitch: it was $1,400.

I ended up finding my dress at Bridal and Formal during one of their off the rack sales. I got it for only $94.71 with tax. I was pretty excited about it. We even picked out the bridesmaid's dresses that day. The most amazing part was we did it all before noon. However, I never loved the dress. I saw it as a work in progress. There are so many changes I want to make to it to make it look more like the one above.

I called European Bridal today after work to see if the Lauren dress was included in the sample sale. No dice. It had been sold a week or so ago. My heart was broken. I have been crying off and on all night and can't seem to stop. I look at pictures of me in my dress, and I just don't like it. Its strapless and goes up to far on my chest. The train is too long and there is too much tulle. I just look frumpy. I have realized its not the dress of my dreams. I fear I'm going to look terrible on my wedding day. I could have wonderful hair, nails, make-up, and shoes, but it all comes down to the dress. I bought based on price and not on a gut feeling. I am regretting not just buying the Lauren dress.

My mom and I went to the seamstress a couple of weeks ago to discuss some changes to my dress. It went pretty smoothly. I emailed her last week to see if other changes could be made, but I have yet to hear from her. I just don't know if my dress will ever be what I want it to be.

Tomorrow I am going to call my seamstress. I have to know. I'm also going to be all over the phone trying to possibly locate another Lauren sample dress. My chances are very slim. I may also pop over to the Bridal district and do some browsing. The problem is, I don't know if I would be able to get another dress.

People say its just one day, but its a day I'll remember for all my life. I want to remember looking and feeling like the best damn bride ever.

Card Table Dinners: Aritchoke, Red Pepper,and Goat Cheese Breakfast Casserole

Wow, that's a long title.

Anyways, I made this amazing casserole this morning and just had to share.

Ingredients:

• Artichokes (I used frozen and simply popped them in the microwave for a few minutes)
• Diced Roasted Red Peppers (From a jar. A staple in our house)
• Shredded white cheese (I used Mozzarella Veggie Shreds)
• Crumbled Goat Cheese
• 4 Eggs/Milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. I sprayed a 6.5 by 7" casserole dish with cooking oil. It was only me and Jon, so it was plenty big. Use more eggs if using a bigger a dish. While the artichokes were thawing in the microwave, I scrambled my four eggs with a little bit of milk. I also added some Organic All Purpose seasoning to bump up the flavor.

Once the artichokes are thawed, layer them on the bottom forming a 'crust'.

Then sprinkle a thin layer of your 'white cheese'. Follow with your diced roasted red peppers and then the goat cheese. Finally, evenly pour your egg mixture on top. I completely forgot to take pics after laying down the artichokes. My apologies. It totally just slipped my mind, so no photo until after we had already eaten most of it.

Bake it in the oven for about 50 minutes. Its done when the eggs have completely set and you can pull the fork out cleanly. Below is a picture of the leftovers that I am looking forward to reheating in the oven tomorrow morning. Other additions that would taste amazing in this dish: green onion, sweet onion, garlic, asparagus, spinach, and/or bacon.

Treasure Hunt

To avoid the chore of painting our bathroom, I decided to go flea marketing to find vases for our wedding center pieces and bouquet vases. My first stop was Rink's Flea market in Mt. Healthy. Total waste of time. The place was a dump, most of the vendors were closed, and I am pretty sure I was the only customer there. On my back towards Cross County highway I literally passed the Covered Bridge Antique Mall. I made a quick right turn and parked around the block. This place is amazing. I must have spent over an hour perusing the rows of goodies. I found nothing for the wedding, but found some amazing items.

We are remodeling our living room and the colors are Sea Sprite (a blueish-green) and Toasted almond. Jon is going to cover our one wall in all shelving and cabinets for our TV and storage. I found some great tropical chotskies for the shelves. (I apologize for the sideways pics. For some reason, Blogger would not upload them right side up. Ugh, technology). 

A fun Hawaiian tin made in Durham County, England by George W. Horner and Co. Only $6.50.

 





Brass Peacocks. Pretty heavy duty and only $6.50 for the pair. Macy's would charge way more than that.



Tobacco Leaf plate made in Hong Kong. I love the little Mongoose's in the trees. Only $4.

Ceramic Calypso Dancer. She was half off so the total was $8.50.

Butterfly necklace. My first find as soon as I walked in the door. The clasp needs replaced but it was only $4.50.

Vintage Coke bottle case. My most expensive buy at $16. Perfect for displaying shot glasses. Special thanks to my Mom and Dad for the idea.

Overall I spent $49 and had a wonderful time. Things that I really wanted, but couldn't buy included a mounted carousel piece for $300, a dry bar for $165, and a beautiful Bone China tea set from England, but the set of 8 would have put me back $96. The owner had mentioned they sold many sets for Royal Wedding tea parties. Perhaps another time. I'll be sure to share photos of my treasures on display as soon as we get the living room finished. The address for the antique shop is: 7508 Hamilton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45231-4308

Final Draft

I am super excited to say that the invites are finished. Well, as far as the design. We still have to nail down a number to order, address the envelopes, lick, stamp, and mail them. But, the hard part is over! I met with Al and Connie yesterday to go over my changes. Connie sent me proofs today, and we have been emailing back and forth tweaking them little by little. I did get hung up on some of the details. I could not decide on the phrasing of the reception line. The original read, "Reception immediately following." I wasn't a fan. So I kept changing it from "Reception to follow," to "Reception following ceremony," to "Reception to follow ceremony," and a dozen others. I researched Google Images to see what others did. After debating with myself for like half an hour, I kept the original phrasing. No need for the word 'ceremony' but I needed a time. The reception is always after the ceremony, but its not always right afterwards. Yep, these are the things that a Bride-to-Be must worry about. Small, minuscule details that no one will ever notice. I love being a perfectionist. Damn, the Virgos.

Point and Shoot

I have been looking forward to registering for our wedding for quite sometime. All of my wedded friends tell me how much fun it is to run around a store with the scan gun zapping goodies that magically get collected into a wish list. Sounds easy and fun, right? Sike. Not for this Bride-to-Be. Sunday, alone, I spent 10 hours working on my registry. I visited two different Kohls (Westernhills and Mason), a Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and both of their websites. My feet hurt, my back ached, and my brain was exhausted. When I walked in the front door after registering all afternoon, Jon asked if I was feeling okay. The registry had taken its toll. So, am I finally finished? Nope.

As the Under Budget Bride, I wanted to register somewhere that I knew had great deals for my guests, but also quality products that would last. I originally wanted to only register at Kohls (who doesn't get excited when they get a 30% scratch-off in the mail). But, I had to add Bed, Bath, and Beyond because, quite frankly, they have everything. So Sunday, I arrived at Kohls in Westernhills at 9:30. They armed me with my gun and off I went. I was moving along, slowly but surely. I had to compare prices and products. Food Network Brand vs. Farber, etc. Then, I come to the Fiesta dishes. I had my heart set on these. I love the colors, and they have gotten great reviews on several websites. But, the place setting comes with a bowl that is only about 2 inches deep. WTF? I'm sorry, but those bowls are an accident waiting to happen. Can you imagine trying to carry a bowl of hot, steamy soup from your kitchen to your living on a cold wintery day without spilling? Thats right, you can't imagine it because its not possible. So I did some research and found that Macy's has Square settings with deeper bowls. I am now up to three stores.

This has truly been a stressful experience. Last night I had trouble sleeping. I would wake up and not be able to fall back to sleep. The wine glasses I originally ordered, have received terrible reviews. Now, I'm thinking I'll get a really nice set of crystal stemware, since we already own casual stemware. My mom is grateful I did not invite her to join me on my excursion Sunday. She knows me all too well. I didn't even want Jon to go because I knew there would be a lot of complaining and I would not be able to think. Long story short, the registry is still not finished. I need to finish it by this weekend, so we can shower invites mailed/emailed. Here's to another sleepless night.

Card Table Dinners: Gun Powder and Grilled Cheese

Hello Readers! I have decided to expand my blog to include a new segment: Card Table Dinners. One of my newly discovered passions is cooking. I love bringing ingredients together to form a final, edible, delicious product. And, someone has to cook in our house. If I left it up to Jon, we would be eating chicken, veggie, rice with a rotating sauce selection. No thanks. So most nights of the week I cook and we enjoy our meal at our kitchen table, a fold-out card table. Jon never owned a kitchen table. As a bachelor, he ate at the coffee table in front of the TV. But, Valentine's day 2010 we decided to have a romantic dinner at his house. He was in charge of dinner, and I dessert. When I walked into his house that night, he had a newly bought card table set up with a red table cloth, red roses, and candles. My heart melted. It was so romantic, although a little ghetto. Still one of my favorite dates.

I didn't own a kitchen table either, so we still eat at our card table with the red table cloth.

Usually we have Meatless Mondays, but due to thawed ground chicken in the fridge it was moved to tonight. I found the recipe last night, and I must advise people to stay away from the Green/Bruckmann household for the rest of the week. I made a vegetarian chili which contained 4 cans of 4 different types of beans. Hence, Gun Powder. I planned to make corn bread muffins with it. However, those require milk which is currently out of stock at our house. So, I improvised and made something much better than cornbread. Pulling ingredients from the fridge, I made a grilled cheese with sliced fresh mozzarella, basil-pesto, and roasted red peppers. Delish!

I needed white beans for the chili, but Aldi didn't have any last night. So, I had to soak some overnight. Quite frankly, I can never get them just right. Any tips? They are just so much better out of a can. My other mishap while cooking is that for some reason I thought it required 8 cups of water. HUGE MISTAKE! Only needed 3 cups! So I proceeded to scoop out a few cups with my measuring cup. Overall, this chili is not that great. I will not be making it again. Even though I did screw it up, I don't think the ingredients worked well enough together. I posted the recipe below if you would like to give it a whirl. There we're plenty of good reviews on the website, so maybe it might tantalize your taste buds. I will be making my grilled moz-pepper sandwich again (I must admit, I did char it a tad. But oh, so still delicious). We always have pesto, red peppers, and moz in the fridge, so its an easy, quick meal.

Bringing the chili (but more like soup) to a boil.

Assembling the fancy grilled cheese.



Bon Apetit!



Jane's Vegetarian Chili

I hope my next installment of Card Table Dinners is much more delectable. Usually I hit them out of the park. Oh, well. Luckily Jon is a willing participant. Does anyone else serve Meatless Mondays (or Tuesdays)? What's your favorite to make?





Experiments in Gardening

Hello Readers! I am going to take a break from the wedding posts and write about my first gardening adventure. Jon and I are living in sin, so to speak, and I am in charge of cooking and groceries. I am an avid coupon clipper, I check all of the local store's ads, and I shop at Aldi from time to time. But, produce is always a killer on the wallet. Hence, I am growing a vegetable garden. Last year, I grew some herbs (Basil, Cilantro, Oregano, and Parsley), which went okay. My basil was amazing, my oregano and parsley were okay, but my cilantro was a dud. This year I am dramatically expanding by attempting to grow: yellow squash, cucumber, kale, egg plant, mesclun, swiss chard, jalapenos, bell peppers, green onions, Roma tomatoes, regular tomatoes, and a repeat on the herbs. BTW: if anyone has any extra mint seeds, I would love some. I have searched everywhere, and just can't seem to find any.

Three weeks ago I started my plants indoor with a couple of plastic starter greenhouses. I bought mine at Lowe's for maybe $7. They are very inexpensive and super easy to use. Its good to start indoors, so you have an earlier harvest or bloom with flowers. Its been exciting to watch them sprout. Even Jon gets excited about them. The peppers (both jalapenos and bell) and the egg plants have been the slowest to sprout, but they're coming along. My zucchinis are monstrous!



Flowers are in the left tray and Veggies are on the right



Zucchini Monsters

My friend Aja, Jon's amazing groomswoman, recommended that I try the Lasagna Gardening technique. Its a great way to garden organically, and its much easier to build. Instead of digging your garden out, you build your garden up from the ground. First, start by layering newspaper or cardboard to kill any grass and weeds on your plot. Then you layer 'Browns' and 'Greens' alternatively until you have a fairly deep plot. I think mine is about 8 inches. Now, what the heck are Browns and Greens? Browns include fall leaves, shredded paper, peat, pine needles, straw, and even dryer lint (who'da thunk it?). Greens are veggie scraps, coffee grounds, tea leaves/bags, grass trimming, and garden trimmings. You can find info on Lasagna gardening with the help of Google. I used Lasagna Gardening - About.com

Having decided to do this last minute, I didn't have most of the materials on hand. I had been collecting newspapers, but definitely did not have any good compost started. So, we went to Reading Feed and Seed to pick up some 'Layers'. I bought 9 bags of organic topsoil, 9 bags of organic peat, 3 bags of mushroom compost, and 2 bales of straw for about $60. I used the topsoil, peat and straw as my brown layers plus whatever remnants I could find around the yard. I did dig through our trash in the laundry room for some dryer lint. I used the compost and whatever else I had collected for the green layers. Now I have to let it set for a few weeks to let some of the material decompose. The rainy day we've had today is great for decomposition. On dryer days, I'll turn the sprinkler on. In Cincy we can plant in April to June. I think I am going to hold off until the end of April, just to be on the safe side. I would hate for my hard work to go to waste.



Laying newspaper.




Watering my newspaper layer so it doesn't blow away.



The newspaper layer that will smother anything underneath.

He!

Ho!

The finished plot waiting to be planted.

Me. Covered in dirt with my shoebox of seeds.

After we get our patio built later this spring Jon is going to build me a Brown and a Green compost bin, so I'll have good compost this fall to use in building my garden for next spring. I am really looking forward to watching my 9x12 foot plot of earth grow into (hopefully) a successful victory garden.

Riley in the rose bushes.

Flossing her teeth on some thorns.

Sunday's kill. First time she has ever brought us a snake. Jon walked out onto the front porch and she just looked up at him, so proud of her hunt. At least it was dead and outside of the house.

Tell me about your gardening experiences. What is your favorite? What has been the easiest? I can't wait to share stories and fresh organic food this fall with my friends.

RSVP to Rumpke

Hello Readers! I apologize for my neglect. It has come to my attention that many people actually read my blog. THANK YOU! That is encouraging. Special thanks to Jen and Jeff for filling me in on Reds Opening Day. Please become a follower so I know exactly how many people actually read. Even better, leave a comment (good or bad).

Any who. I have finally graduated with my BBA in Accounting from UC, and I am focusing more on the wedding. BTW: Shoot me an email if you know anyone hiring a recent grad in the accounting field.

So, I have moved onto invitations. Quite frankly, the thought of them makes me want to vomit. No offense to my guests, but really, they will end up at Rumpke one way or another. You will get 'The Invite' in the mail, hang it on your fridge, and then sometime after 9/10/11 you will toss it (hopefully into recycling or a compost). Anything that eventually ends up in the garbage does not deserve a great amount of funds.

My Dad's friend owns a print shop (my foot in the door). Networking is key to planning a wedding! So, I set up a meeting with Al one Saturday morning. Funny story: I could not remember which house was his. Jon and I pull into one driveway, but we were discouraged by a 'black Jesus' bobble head on the dashboard. We decide to pull into the next driveway. In case we're at the wrong house, Jon devises the cover-up story that we are zealots asking if people have found Jesus. We ring the doorbell, and nothing. We stand around. Try again. Nothing. Finally, Al spots us. "You got the wrong house!" Turns out, we were right the first time. We looked like idiots.

Al and I sit around the kitchen table and start discussing invites. Jon thinks his time is better spent on the couch catching up on Girl's HS basketball (get used to it ladies). Al gives me a figure of $250 for 125 invites. And, that is with me picking the simplest of designs. I mean, don't get me wrong, he had some super cute Disney invites that I loved, but those would have cost upwards of $500. Well, this just is not sitting well with me. So, I asked what if we design something. I don't need glittery paper and I really don't think my guests will mind. Its not like they would say, "I cannot possibly attend the Bruckmann/Green wedding because their invitations don't razzle dazzle."

Long story short, we are as of now, under $100 for 125 invites. Phew. I received some samples yesterday and spent some time reworking them last night. I used FREE editing software, Paint.net, which is very similar to Photoshop to alter the sample. I didn't add anything extravagant which won't add to the price. And the best part of my simple design: Your refrigerator magnet can hold this invite! I hate the invites that my magnets just can't handle. You put it on the fridge, and then it starts the slow, sliding descent to the floor. Arrgh!  But please, after 9-10-11 please recycle or compost our invite.

Eco Favors

I am not a big fan of the ribbon and tulle lining the church aisle. Instead I plan on making flower cones to hang from the pews. As I was researching on how to do this yesterday, I came across the neatest little product and I just had to share. Did you know they make paper embedded with wildflower seeds? Amazing! I love to garden and I love flowers. Plus, how perfect for a wedding. And the paper isn't tossed into a landfill, but transformed into beautiful blooms. Intrigued, I looked into it more. Of course it is a little more expensive than regular old paper, but it might be a nice touch to use in moderation. We are having 250 guests so its not economical for our invites, programs, or thank you's. However, it may be great for our table markers and they would blend perfectly with the centerpieces. Most of the companies will print whatever you need on them, but for an extra fee. They also sell them blank, so you can design and print at home. I found a few sites that sell the paper: Botanical Paper Works and Flower Seed Paper. Also, look into buying larger sheets that you can tear into smaller pieces to save a little money.

Save On Crafts sells 6x6 paper that can be rolled into cones and filled with candies or flower petals. They are $7.99 per pack of 10 (not including ribbon or goodies), but I would definitely ask for a better price if having a bigger event. These would be great to place on tables for favors or to hang on the backs of chairs. The website has more pictures with some other neat ideas.



First Date

Oh, you thought this was going to be about me and Jon's first date. Nope. This post is about my ring bearer and flower girl's first date. It was at the most romantic of locations, a bar in Mount Adams. Following our Ladies Day out at the art museum we had lunch at Longworth's. It gave Colby and Adrienne an opportunity to get to know one another. So freakin' cute!

Once we got them settled in, Colby took a liking to Adrienne and really just wanted to hold her hand. He is quite the flirt. But Adrienne was not having it.


Colby: "Hey pretty lady. What's going on?"
Adrienne: "OMG. Get me out of here!"

Adrienne started to warm up to Colby's flirtatious antics. She was falling for his charming moves and silly jokes.

Colby: "I think this must be heaven, because I see an angel sitting before me."
Adrienne: "Oh, stop it. You're making me blush."

Colby was happy as a ham with the way the date was going. Adrienne just couldn't take her eyes off of him.

So that is how Colby and Adrienne's first date went. Nobody tell Aaron about this. As a father of a daughter, he has prohibited Adrienne from ever dating.

I am so excited to see these two in a tux and a dress in September. We're not too worried about whether or not they'll make it down the aisle. Besides who can predict how two 1 1/2 year olds will act? We just want to see them all dressed up in their fancy clothes.