Aug102010

August 10 TMW Post

Tweet: @msrib after finally settling on wedding dress #3, i’m rethinking my jewelry. at least i wear the necklace i bought all the time so it’s not wasted. http://bit.ly/9CYcIn

The neckline of my dress is fairly low, as I learned when I tried on undergarments last week. My favorite and best fitting bustier stuck over the top of the dress by at least 1″. The piece I have is royal blue with a brass setting and chain. My dress is champagne, and my hair piece is silver with clear rhinestones and crystals.


Necklace source: etsy

Now I am totally rethinking what I want to wear. I have a bunch of Swarovski pearls in Powder Almond and Copper that I was planning on making for my bridesmaids until our bridal party was taken out of the picture. Anything I see on Etsy with pearls I can remake easily. Yes, I’m that good. 😉 I love the look of a simple necklace with a large show piece off to one side. My concern is would that show piece stay off to the side? Don’t know what I’m talking about? Something like this:


Tweet: @msrib totally putting my married name on my new business cards cuz holy smokes, i’ll be Rebecca Fletcher in 64 days! http://twitpic.com/2ccxod

So.. yeah, I decided to put my married name on my new business cards. I sat there staring at the screen trying to figure out what to do and then it hit me… in exactly 2 months (since it’s 8/10) I will be a wife! It also made me contemplate the whole do I change my name internal debate. I have 2 brothers and thus, my last name will remain. I’m just happy to have a much easier to pronounce last name to give to my children. For the last nearly 34 years, I’ve had people mispronounce my last name and it’s getting annoying.

If you’re on any of the above websites, feel free to add me!

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Aug102010

Food for Thought… Delish Recipes

Any bakers or chefs out there? Totally amateur, I mean, I don’t expect any professionals to be reading this. We have a brand new kitchen and so far I’ve only made a few meals and one pound cake in it. Do you have any tried and true recipes that you just love and that are always a hit?

I would love a recipe for chimichurri and tzatziki and other fun ethnic sauces. Have you made them? Sure, there’s tons of recipes out there, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily amazingly delish.

This afternoon I decided that I wanted to find a recipe for garlic chips. I found this one, that looks super easy peasy, but I’d add some salt or maybe oregano to them.

My french toast casserole

My favorite recipes:
Individual pies in a jar (got rave reviews and several people asked for the recipe)
Elaine’s Dump Pound cake (always a hit – I make it in a bundt pan with homemade buttercream icing)
Butternut Squash Soup (good hot or cold and definitely one of my favorites!)
Turkey Pot Pie (one of my favorite dishes, but the filling was overflowing the pie crusts like crazy. Almost could’ve made 2 complete pies with it.)
French Toast Casserole (This was SO good that we seriously ate the entire thing on and off during a single day)

Oh yes, it was a huge hit!

Recipes on my list to try:
Lemon Shaker Pie
Cookies in a Jar (well, the recipe itself, not just putting them together)
Garlic Wings
Peanut Butter Cups
Risotto
Homegrown Potato Chips
Paula’s Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
Joy the Baker’s Apple Pie
Red Velvet Cake Balls (OMG i so totally need to make these soon!)
Key Lime Pie (This was a total staple growing up in Miami since we had a few key lime trees on our property. It’s on my “to try” list since I haven’t tried this recipe.)

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Aug082010

IKEA as a Wedding Supplier

Today, Steve and I took a trip up to the IKEA in Sunrise, FL. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I adore IKEA and could walk around and enjoy all the pretties. Before we moved back to Miami, I would scour the catalog and envision how our home would look and our future children’s rooms and everything else. Naturally, I turned to their little accessories for reception ideas.

My vision for the reception is very loosely based in Asian design. Our invitations have orange and blue bamboo trees and leaves. I am toying with ideas of lucky bamboo or fortune cookies as the favors. A recent idea was little bamboo steamers or baby take out boxes filled with candies. The party will be really low key, but for centerpieces, I’m picturing lots of vases with floating candles and submersible lights. Today, I took the following pictures for inspiration and potential future purchases:

White round paper lanterns can have lights inside or not

Blue vases, 3 different sizes, for centerpiece groupings

Plant pots for low centerpieces. Since they’re white, I’m not sure how to use them.

White pots that are just super cool looking, centerpieces maybe?

Clear vase, 1 per table for rocks or shells and floating candles or something.

all images taken by me inside IKEA

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Aug082010

Pay It Forward

I was tooling around on my blogs this morning and discovered this amazing phenomenon on the blogs, inspired by a true story of a 7-year old. I initially found the story on Mismikado Down The Aisle and fell in love with the idea. I’ve creative, my friends love my crafty-ness, so why not!


source

The way it works is…

1. I will make a handmade gift for the first 3 people to comment.
2. I have 365 days to make and send you the gift.
3. The gift will be a total surprise.
4. You keep this going by posting Pay It Forward on your blog (obviously, you must have an active blog to participate).

To participate, just let me know when you plan to post the Pay it Forward on your blog. Comments will be kept unpublished so it’s a surprise who gets the goodies. Please be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you if you’re one of the first 3 commenters.

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Aug032010

Lifetime Student.. Or Why I Kinda Want Another Degree.

Hello hello!

Today, of all days, I started to really miss school. Ya see, I graduated in May with my Masters in Business (MBA) and was convinced that I never wanted to return to school. My MBA saw me through 5 years, living in 3 cities, 2 states, countless relationships, 1 fiance, tons of stress, several long nights typing frantically away, new friends, an $85,000 bill*, and a huge sense of accomplishment. Oh yeah, it was 100% online and I never set foot on the campus of East Carolina or even visited Greenville, NC.

Today, I started looking up online degree programs for major Florida universities (hello in-state tuition!) and trying to find something of interest. Ideally I would love to do Human Resources or something technology related. During my last semester at ECU, I discovered an entire degree in Networking and Web Design. Holy hell. Had I known it existed back in 2005, I would have that instead of an MBA. But no, I have my MBA… oh yeah and a concentration in Management Information Systems.

When I first was interested in doing a concentration, there were very few that were taught completely online. MIS was one of them. Human Resources was not. Duh, I obviously picked the one that wouldn’t require a 2+ hour commute to Greenville for classes. No, wait, I was still living in Gainesville, FL at the time, so make that about 9 hours for the commute.

What does this mean? It means that I am seriously contemplating returning to school for a year or 2 (program depending) providing that I can find a Florida school with a degree of interest. And that offers financial aid. No sense in going back to school if it won’t halt my student loan payments, right?

Yes, I do believe that I am certifiable in wanting to do this again. The last 5 years was a very long and very frustrating time in my life. They were also extremely rewarding. Can the good outweigh the hair pulling? Time will tell…

* It looks far worse written as $85,000 than it does as $85K. This includes 3 years of out-of-state and 2 years of in-state tuition, plus extra cash to pay off bills and credit cards which, in turn, bumped up my credit score.

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Aug032010

August 3 TMW Post

Tweet: i really need to make my hair appointment at the @LuxorLV salon. for a 2pm ceremony, do y’all think 10 or 11am for a simple updo?

Tweet: anyone out there have good tricks for DIY hair updo’s? yes, i’m being conservative & doing my own for the wedding.

I am completely shocked at how much hair stylists charge in Las Vegas. Seriously, for the hairdo I want to get (a simple updo) I am getting quotes upwards of $90, with $120 being from inside the salon at The Luxor. The majority of the quotes do include travel to our hotel room. I had a simple updo done with much longer hair for a wedding in Pittsburgh and it cost me $50 plus a tip. This afternoon I took advantage of the amazingness that is the WeddingWire vendor search and shot off a short email to about 25 stylists in Vegas.

Good afternoon,
I am getting married on October 10th at the Luxor hotel. Could you please tell me what your charges are for hair (no make-up) and if you are available in the morning around 10 or 11am? Please include any travel charges and other fees.
Many many thanks! Becca

Easy peasy and straightforward, right? My only response so far is a quote for onsite hair and make-up for $200. Didn’t I specifically say no make-up? People that don’t pay attention enough to read my super short email don’t deserve my business. Oh wait, nor does a price that high!

Am I crazy to think upwards of $90 is expensive for a simple updo, no make-up in the convenience of my hotel or hotel room? Until I sent out the mass of emails, I thought $120 was the lowest price. Yeah yeah, you get what you pay for, but well, I suck at doing my own hair.

What would you do?

MOH Hair, from my Facebook page

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Aug012010

Do the… ‘Do (ha!)

Ok ladies, I need some help. We are on a crazy tight budget for our wedding and I’m planning on doing my own hair and make-up for the ceremony. Since it’s a Vegas wedding, it’s very low key. I am forever putting my hair up, no matter how it’s styled, so I figure best to start with it up. Also, I want an updo as I have knit my wedding veil and want to wear it hooked below the ‘do.

Tonight I purchased Spin Pins and a ton of bobby pins. Can you suggest your favorite easy to explain updo?

After a quick search, I like the following styles, but I don’t know how easy they’ll be to replicate or if they’ll look good with my veil…

Image Source


Image source

Link to source, which is actually a tutorial for her hair

And as a treat, what my hair looks like with the Spin Pins and my gorgeous hair comb.

2 above pictures courtesy of my terrible iphone cam

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Jul292010

Heavy Post

The pun is fully intended in my subject. =D

I stumbled upon this amazing post on A Practical Wedding this afternoon and it just made me smile. If you follow me on Twitter, then you probably saw my tweet about it.

It is no secret that I’ve struggled with weight all my life. I was put onto Weight Watchers at the age of 12 when I had the least of my weight problems. My biggest accomplishment (as a 12 year old) was fitting into a pair of 28 waist Guess jeans. I hated changing in gym class and at camp. I’ve been a member of a handful of gyms. Lost up to 40 pounds several times in my life only to put it back on and more. I was forever comparing myself to my slimmer cousins and classmates. However, I didn’t eat to escape. I’m not an emotional eater. I watch what I eat and often forget to have actual meals. I feel lazy more often than not and know I should do something to change this. I know losing weight will certainly help when we start having children. Yes, I know the heavier you are the more difficulties a woman has getting pregnant.

The thing is, my last doctor couldn’t have been more thrilled about my tests and blood work. I have no health problems, perfect cholesterol and blood pressure, am not pre-diabetic or anything else. I am just fat. There, I said it. Did I mention that I come from a large Jewish family? Typically, Jews are not drinkers, we are eaters. At every family gathering the tables are practically buckling under the weight of food.

And nothing makes me feel worse about myself then buying clothes. I despise shopping. I don’t keep up with current trends. In fact, I could care less what skeletons on the runways are wearing. Show me a model with fat on her bones and I’m more likely to pay attention. Speaking of which, have you seen the Lane Bryant ad the networks are trying to ban?

I tried on my wedding dress last night and sent a picture to a few of my girlfriends. Aside from the comment about the bra sticking over the top, a good portion of them said the dress looked fantastic. That made my night. Sure, it’s a size I wish I didn’t fit into, but it still looks good on me. I know that on my wedding day, no one will care what size I wear (except maybe my mother) or how much arm fat I have. Those concerns will be mine alone. It also doesn’t hurt that Steve loves everything about me and never once made a crack about my weight.

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