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Showing posts with label wednesday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wednesday. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

WW: Perfect Nails


For me, one of the most fun parts about getting ready for our wedding (or any wedding related activity) was doing my nails!

Now, I'm pretty horrible at painting my nails. I can do a solid color, but anything beyond that needs to be taken to the professionals. I love getting my nails done, but my bank account doesn't love it so much. In fact, it's quite the opposite. When I decide to get my nails done, I'm usually sacrificing something else for that luxury (unlike when I was 18 and had no bills and got them done every two weeks).

I found out about the amazingness of Jamberry too late in the game for my wedding, so I'm going to share it with you! I'm not being compensated for this, though I am currently hosting a party by a blogger consultant. I am seriously considering becoming a consultant because these things sell themselves. (I'm horrible at approaching people for sales).

Without further ado, here are my top picks for wedding nails. Each link will take you to the Jamberry website where they always have a buy 3 get 1 free sale (on everything!) If you click my name as the party host and Victoria Meyers as the consultant, you will be a part of my party! We get to virtually party together, since we're so far apart.

Here is the home link for my party if you just wanted to browse yourself.

Purchase here

Purchase here


Purchase here


Purchase here

Of course, I picked some mostly neutral nail designs because I think they're more classical, but of course go all out!! Think of how much more fun this would be than getting your nails done at a salon. They seat you all separate -- the day before my wedding I was literally by myself in the corner getting my nails done for NO reason, my friends got to sit together....they could have easily moved me to one of those seats.

On top of that, I would say that I got my nails done at least 4 times for our wedding festivities (engagement party, engagement photoshoot, bridal shower, wedding) and each time spent around $65. Now in SoCal it is super easy to find affordable nail salons, but I know in some places it isn't that easy *cough* Ohio *cough*. So you could easily be paying more for your fingers and toes. Each $15 Jamberry purchase gives you enough for your fingers and toes and then some. Some packs have lasted multiple applications, depending on how dilligent you are about saving.

Pretty nails, but expensive! (If you look closely you'll see matching toe tattoos!)


What's even better - to me - is that you and your girls could be doing your nails together and for each other. We did that at my bachelorette (but with regular nail polish) which was fun buuut let's admit something here...I was a little too sloshed to keep them from getting messed up.

Problem solved!

Plus, if you wanted a cute design like this at a nail salon you'd be paying extra. So you're welcome.

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P.s. Maybe I'm not so bad at this sales thing when I think something is legitimately awesome.

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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Wedding Wednesday Guest Post

*This is a guest post by Charlene @ From Bisons to Buckeyes

First thing is first, I am going to put a little disclaimer in here that I am in no way a wedding expert and I know some brides will disagree with some things I list here, but I just want to share what worked for me.

So without further adieu, here are some tips for making sure your wedding day goes smoothly...
  • Enjoy your last few days of being single! Create memories with your friends the week leading up to your wedding. I cherish those memories so much. Not that I don't hang out with my friends now that I am married, but it's just not the same, you know? Besides, I had a lot of friends come in from out of town for the wedding that I don't get to see very much, so I wanted to spend time with them! Also, having these moments to take my mind off of wedding planning really helped calm me down.
  • Create a schedule to give out beforehand. I made a schedule outlining the entire weekend and gave it to all my bridesmaids. This schedule included the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, bachelorette festivities (just the time, I didn't know what we were doing), bridal luncheon, getting our nails and hair done, and a photo schedule for the actual wedding day. You might even want to make one for the groomsmen and family members.
  • Make a list of must-have photos and give it to your photographer ahead of time. 
  • Drink lots of water both on your wedding day and the few days leading up to it. It is an exciting time and will be easy to forget to hydrate but the last thing you want is to be dehydrated on your wedding day. Especially if it is in the middle of a hot July in Georgia like mine was.
  • Don't put the dress on till you have too on your wedding day. Seriously that thing is probably hot and heavy. Besides, you don't want to get anything on it!
  • Do a first look and take 'couple' pictures before hand. I know some people say it is bad luck to see each other before the walk down the aisle, but we made the first look special and made a point not to see each other before then. We got married at 7:30 pm, so taking extra pictures after the ceremony just wasn't practical. I couldn't justify waiting till after when I had the whole day before the wedding and we could take our time and enjoy it.
  • Assign a job to each bridesmaid that she will be in charge of on the wedding day. I did this for a couple reasons, one being I could stop worrying about the things I assigned, and two being my bridesmaids felt important and didn't get bored. Some of the jobs I assigned include...
    1. Make sure you (the bride) drink plenty of water all day. As I mentioned earlier, it's easy to forget and you definitely don't want to get dehydrated on this day.
    2. Make sure you (the bride) eat. When I am nervous, I don't have an appetite at all, but you need your energy! Besides, there is so much going on it is easy to forget to eat as well.
    3. Get all your stuff from your dressing room to your car. Especially if you plan on leaving and going straight to the honeymoon without seeing anybody like we did. Having someone make sure your makeup and everything you used to get ready is in the car waiting when you leave will take a lot of that stress off of you.
    4. In charge of the getaway car decorations. I knew the groomsmen wanted our car decorated so I put a trustworthy bridesmaid in charge of overseeing it. Though, the car was still not as tasteful as I would like but that is another story.
    5. Keeping you (the bride) sane. I had someone whose sole job was to make me sit down, relax and take deep breaths. I picked someone who I knew wouldn't be annoying about it.
    6. Keeping up with the schedule and making sure everybody is where they need to be for pictures and whatnot.
    7. Pack a bridal survival kit (like the one from this pin on Pinterest) and be in charge of knowing where it is and getting it if needed. Fortunately, I really didn't need anything out of mine, but we had it in case I did.
  • Try to relax on your wedding day. After all, this is supposed to be the best day of your life, right? Enjoy it!
  • Going along with the above, focus on your husband-to-be. He is all that matters in the end anyway.
  • Don't sweat the small stuff. Face it, something is going to go wrong. You are trying to pull off this fantastic wedding that you have probably dreamed of your whole life. There are a lot of little details and natural law just says that every little thing can't be perfect. So don't worry if the music doesn't start at the exact moment or even if a bridesmaid trips down the aisle. It isn't the end of the world and most people won't even notice, let alone remember it years later.
  • And lastly, don't let your wedding planner completely run the show. If you want something done and she doesn't, don't cave. This is your day!
If you are married, did your wedding go smoothly? What tips would you add to my list?
Be sure to check out my the Wedding Series on my blog where I recapped my wedding weekend with lots of pictures!


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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Wedding Wednesday: Flower Power!

I know it's been my wedding obsession lately but I am absolutely in LOVE with what is going on in the flower department. I suppose it is because when I originally decided to get flowers they were very, very minimal. As in, I decided we should have bouquets and just that.

Of course, everyone thought I was absurd. I'm just not big on flowers! Mostly it's because I am very freaked out by fern plants, and they are always in with bouquets. I know it's weird but hear me out.

When I was 12, we moved into this house that happened to have two master bedroom and bathrooms. So, I had my own bathroom attached to my bedroom and it was the perfect place to put flowers that people bought me. So, I got some flowers for my birthday and I was excited to put them there and there they stayed - because I'm lazy and also I like to KEEP EVERYTHING. ALL OF THE THINGS. I'm working on this...

So, one day I was touching my things in the bathroom and they had this weird brown stuff on them and I thought there were bugs attacking my room and I would die. Eventually, my mom convinced me they were the spores from the ferns and I need to know WHY THOSE HAVE TO EXIST AND FALL ALL OVER.

It helps that I was probably learning about animal and plant sex organs in class at that time so I was scarred that there were plant sex cells all over my bathroom and I touched them.

So, anyway...back to the wedding...

Iman's cousin has saved me! She is the best, best lady ever! I love her and I am so happy to be getting to know her better. Thanks to her we have some exciting flower things going along. Which I will now show you. All pictures are from Pinterest.



Somehow these little glass balls will be filled with little daisies to decorate the arch. These are the ideas of his cousin, but the end result is still in her creative brain! 


Sunflowers at the end of the rows! 


I just love sunflower balls! We could totally use fake ones, too

of course I have shared these from Muffin Tin Mom before. We are putting a little twist on them, but I am just so excited for all of the cuteness! 

So basically, there is a mixture of daisies (red and yellow, big and small); sunflowers; yellow roses (reserved for Iman and I) and some various fillers like billyballs (omg, I love it) and small flowers that look like daisies!

This weekend also ended with most of the invites done and addressed (a few left to do), groomsmen and groom fitted and styles picked out, most everything left to buy for decorations/misc, and my MOH got her dress. The girls will have their dresses bought by the end of the month.

IT IS CRAZY THERE ARE LESS THAN THREE MONTHS LEFT!!!

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Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Wildcard Wednesday [Co-Host]

I am so excited to co-host this week!! 

 Welcome to Wildcard Wednesday!


 

The name of the game is #wildcard 
Stakes: A special PRIZE will be up for grabs the last week of each month
 Your link ups each week are your entries
Example: If you link up your blog, bloglovin and twitter you will have 3 entries each week
Disclaimer: You MUST be following your hosts in order to win

Winner of the September #wildcard {Won A $20 Giftcard of Choice}:

Rules of the Game: 
1. Follow all your hosts

Simply Clarke: Blog / Bloglovin / Twitter
Mal Smiles: Blog / Bloglovin / Twitter
All That Glitters: Blog / Bloglovin / Twitter

and co-hosts
Independent Travel Cats: Blog / Bloglovin / Twitter
Anchored: Blog / Bloglovin / Twitter
Be A Warrior Queen: Blog / Bloglovin / Twitter


2. Grab our button for your post so that others can join in the fun
3. Link up using your Blog URL, Bloglovin' URL & Twitter
4. Visit at least 3 other blogs

5.  TWEET about Wildcard Wednesday using #wildcard 





Now make some new friends :) 





Happy Wednesday!!!

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Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Wedding Wednesday: DIY Crafts


So I was about to write my Carabox reveal and stumbled across Chit's and Giggles' Wedding Wednesday post. I love love love this link up. (I hate to say this but, I do love talking about my wedding...well, anyone's wedding...or life for that matter!) 

I want to share a couple of my DIY projects that I am going to attempt to create. Key word: Attempt. I'm crafty and they're cute buuuuuut I'm also a little clutzy, so hopefully they last! 

I am not a crazy Pinterest-er, but I try to get on every once in awhile so that I can see all of the fun crafts that people are doing and posting. 


Our ringbearer is going to be a little over 3 years old, so I really want to make sure he doesn't lose our rings! Directions found here.


Does anyone remember making those cool string things in school? They were my favorite. This is going to be our backdrop. Iman even wants to make it with me! Directions found here


Ribbons! Our venue doesn't let us do confetti, rice, sparklers or anything like that. We could probably blow bubbles but I would somehow get bubble in my eyes. I know it! So, I'm going to make ribbon wands. Directions found here.




Chits and Giggles
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Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Wedding Word Vomit :)

Hello There Wednesday!

How is it the middle of the week already? I haven't even been working both jobs a zillion hours!

Today I wanted to talk about our upcoming wedding. There are a lot of things I didn't realize, maybe some advice to give (since I'm 7 months into being engaged!) and some stories to share! 

I haven't yet shared our engagement story, though I did show off some ring bling a few days after the proposal. Things have been a whirlwind ever since.


Iman made this collage when he picked up the ring

When we got engaged we were living together and our lease was going to be up in 2 months. The week after our engagement we secretly decided we wanted to move back home to my moms. It looked like the best decision for us. Then came the engagement party, which was phenomenal - hosted by my aunt and like one of our typical family parties, but we got to merge the two families! A couple of weeks later my dad texted me from an ambulance because he had a pulmonary embolism. He was hospitalized for 10 days.

At our engagement party


This, combined with some problems on Iman's side of the family, solidified why we needed to move home. So we did. (BTW all of this happened between Thanksgiving and MLK JR Day). We both went back to old employments, but clearly, we needed more stability and a bigger income. Nevertheless, we spent the months of February and March frantically booking everything because we wanted to get married in October. If you've planned a wedding you know that really, you only need 6 months BUT the good places book up a year in advance. 

The day after all of the deposits were paid, we decided to postpone the wedding six months. So for the last several months we've just been focusing on working to save money. I haven't gotten to do anything crafty yet :( 

We're incredibly blessed, though. Not only were we able to find a date that allowed us more time to save up (since we are paying for ourselves) but it works out that it is also Spring Break for the teachers in my life - AKA my mom, best friend and another best friend is in school in NC. The crazy thing is that it allowed other friends from out of state more likely to come - our wedding photographer and a friend who is due with her second baby in October! 

The timing is perfect, although, of course, I am still constantly worrying about money. 

We got these tattoos about 6 weeks before he proposed


Friends and family are contributing to our wedding any way they can. Let me tell you: Getting Married in Southern California is NOT Cheap. Not even if you have half of the things you need taken care of. Venues on average are $5k without catering. HOLY COW.

 Luckily, we were able to find a wonderful golf course that includes catering, gave us the best deal where we get to have service, the cutest chairs, and mood lighting included for the best price. On top of that, it's the venue that made my jaw drop when I walked in - which I didn't expect. I'm sappy, but I just never imagined myself getting giddy like that.

from La Habra Golf facebook


My mom is making my wedding dress. She made her own, a vintage-inspired 1800s dress, and now she will make mine inspired by the 1950s. My godmother is going to buy the fabric. It is going to be such a wonderful, meaningful experience. I never imagined buying a dress. I just knew my mom had to make it. How else am I going to find THE perfect dress when the dressmaker doesn't know me?

My dear friend Amanda is going to do our baking as our wedding gift. I just adore her. She's going to make it for 200 people!!!

My uncle is gifting us the DJ - along with an emcee - HIM! It's going to be such a blast. He's got great energy. Plus his son is our ring bear (he doesn't like to say bearer). He's already begun practicing his aisle walk. 

Lil T!!!


My namesake will be our main flower girl. She's the oldest of the young cousins, named after me, and Iman is completely smitten with her because she can throw a football and she is a little bit in love with him. 

Raylinn!!


We're including 5 attendants plus 2 jr attendants each. I'm so happy that his younger brothers are the same age as my cousin and adopted sister. 

Our photographer - Holly Williams - is flying out from Ohio to take care of our pictures. Photography was the defining moment when we decided to push our date back. We couldn't find a 2 shooter package with the things we wanted to include for less than 2,500 (before taxes). My desired budget was 1,000...2,000 if we had to! Then Holly posted an Instagram of her new business cards and on a whim - preparing myself for her to say no - I asked her if she would come to Cali for mine. SHE SAID YES! So we are able to get her services, fly her in, and pay for a 2-night hotel stay for under 2,000. The best part is that she and her hubby get a Cali vacation. (Hellooo, I live 5 minutes from Disneyland). 

Photo from Holly Lynn Photography



I also was able to win a discounted price for a day-of-coordinator and I seriously am so grateful for this. Enter into any contests you find. Liz is an amazing wedding planner. She recommended our venue and has helped so much along the way, even though we are only paying for day-of service. I met her at the venue last weekend and she is a riot. Amazing. My mom loved her, too. I mean, we happened to look up as we were standing under the gazebo and notice spider webs. My mom mentioned that I'm allergic. Liz then made it her mission to make sure and stay until the events director was finished with a meeting to put in our file the spider allergy. 

I am just so grateful for everything that has been presented to us!! Iman's promotion and my new job with promotion opportunities is really going to make this possible. He gets bonuses now and doesn't have to work 50 million hours (though, as I mentioned, I do.) 



Today, I started a couple of new savings techniques. One is saving every $5 I get. I don't have any yet, but I'm going to do it tonight when I am at work. I wanted to start this in January but forgot. Two is to honestly look at what I spend on and STOP. My friend who is studying abroad in Venice made me get Viber last night so I can text her everything I spend money on. So that she can yell at me when I spend it needlessly. Three is to set up an Impulse Save account. I've been looking into it since November, but hadn't done it yet.  Lastly, I am going to go through our stuff and sell it. I know I have a million books I can sell, even if it is for $1 or $2, that's still progress. Plus, I might be able to have some fun projects (when I have time) and sell those. 

Linking up for the first time! 

Chits and Giggles



Have a wonderful day! 

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