miami

Dec272010

The Actual Reception Location

Seeing as it’s now less than 3 weeks from our wedding reception, my folks called us outside Saturday afternoon to start discussing the logistics and layout of the tents, tables, food, drinks, etc. I’d posted pictures on here not long ago of the yard where the party was going to be held… well that’s totally changed! Rather than party in the big open yard with bad lighting and trenches where dad pulled all the trees out, we’re having it in the yard between their house and ours.

Dad decided to hang a few more light strands around the yard to increase the lighting. It’s a gorgeous area with tons of plants and natural beauty already in place. AKA zero need for additional décor! The strung lights cast plenty of light, but there will also be several spot lights around the yard. Over by the tents, there will be more lights. Good thing my father is so crafty as there are electrical outlets all over the yard perfect for additional lighting.

He’s also going to buy mulch to even out the ground so no one else trips like I did a few weeks ago. I’ve been checking the weather and it is going to be the perfect Miami “winter” with a high of 73* and a low of 53*. So much for my idea of wearing a cute dress! More like a cute sweater with a pair of jeans and maybe boots.

The plant house in the middle of the area

The large tree surrounded by seating, the appetizer/ drinks tent

The food tent

The whole area taken from the area where the seating tents will be located

We still need to make the favors. I bought 100 sheets of origami paper to make the candy dishes and 7lbs of candy. Also need to…
* organize the guest book canvas boards and markers
* make the flags for the centerpieces
* order the food!
* make sure we can borrow tents and chairs from Cathy’s family or else find a place to rent
* buy the centerpieces (6″ plants) and plant sleeves [or maybe make them]
* find table cloths
* clean our house!
* and probably several other things

Dec142010

South Floridian Looking for Admin Job.. Help?

OK, truth time. I need a job. Pretty desperately. Yes, I have a part-time job 3 days a week and average about 20-22 hours per week. So for a pay period, I make what I used to make in 1 week. Ouch.

So we have this “plan” for me to get a job… any job [that I’m willing to do] for a few months while I continue applying all over the country. I hate Miami. I feel like a teenager living here full of hatred for this city waiting to escape it. I can’t really explain why, I just hate it. I never went out partying, and never wanted to. I don’t drink [since I was 19] or do drugs [never touched any] or anything else. And that’s not just about living like I’m pregnant, I was never interested in drugs or losing control like when I used to drink.

Tangent, what?

I know it’s horrible to take a job knowing you’ll only be at it for a few months, but I just can’t see us living here very long. I’ve been looking all over the country, with focuses on Austin, DC, Madison, and a few other places. The good thing about DC is all the government jobs. The bad thing is how long and seemingly ambiguous their application process is.

Right now I’m looking for an administrative job. Something in the admin assistant range. We just need the money. My current job is making it really difficult to pay the bills. Steve has been footing the majority of the bills lately and lemme tell ya, it’s a horrible feeling. Sure I’d like to be a stay at home mom one day, but only IF we can actually afford it. And even then, it’d be to home-school our kids.

How can you help, blog friends? If you know anything in the Miami area in an administrative capacity, preferably something temporary, could you please let me know? Yes, I have an MBA, but at this point, I just need some extra money to pay bills. I’ll worry about using my degree later on. Please post, RT and spread this post as far as you can in South Florida. I will love you forever! And if your lead lands me a job, I’ll send you something yummy made especially for you!

Thanks!

Dec082010

January Reception on my Mind.. Among Other Things

We’re closing in on the January reception pretty quickly. As of today, we’re about 5 weeks out.

Over the weekend, I started a list of things I want to price check, such as the disposable plates, cups and flatware, the paper lanterns, string lights, and favors. Good thing is, the Christmas clearance sales will be a few weeks prior so I’ll be able to pick up a few dozen twinkle lights for dirt cheap.

Tonight I was debating between Hershey’s Kisses and M&Ms. They’re both chocolate, so chances are it’ll come down to price. I found both on Amazon, free shipping and no tax, so that’s an option if we can’t find them locally. Also, the containers – 2” square, cones, or organza bags – was researched and all can be found on eBay for a song! While the cones are adorable, they’ll only work if I end up with M&Ms as the Kisses will only fit 3 or 4 at most. The 2” boxes max out at 11 Kisses, but I don’t know about the bags. I want favors to have enough chocolate, but not too much.

Hey, at least they’re delicious favors and not something that’ll get thrown in a drawer or stuck on a shelf to collect dust.

We also need to decide on the food, desserts, music, and everything else. Dad has a good rental place for tables and chairs that he uses for a lot of events here. The music is most likely going to be iPod music for background noise.

Food? We’re thinking Pollo Tropical, a bunch of desserts both homemade and store-bought, Publix cake is a given. Umm, yeah I don’t know what else. I know it’ll all work out in the end.

I’m really excited about this party as there are a lot of family members that we haven’t seen in AGES coming in for it, but I also cannot wait for it to be over. I kinda feel like it’s keeping me tied here.

Steve wants to stay for a while so we can pay off/ down our debt, but the job market is horrendous here. For me. He has a job. I wish my aunt had enough work for me to make 40 hours every week instead of every 2 weeks.

I recently updated my LinkedIn profile to denote that I’m doing a nationwide search, not that I think it’ll help. We’ll see. I also started look at alternative options like Teach for America and AmeriCorps. If nothing else, I can do all my research for my yarn store while we’re still living here.

Not having the best day. Sorry for ending this post on kinda a downer note.

Dec022010

Hello Miami “Winter” – Please Stay A While

Days like today warm my little winter-starved heart. It will be in the 50s all day long in Miami and that just makes me ridiculously happy. The windier, the better because that drops the temp even more.

Sure, I knew what the weather was like down here before we moved. I was never moving here for the weather and was pretty damn depressed that I was leaving my cold weather and chances of snow for extreme heat year round. No, I’m not a freak, I LOVE cold weather! I also hate Miami. Yes, that does make me weird to the majority of the non-Miami residing population. We moved for family, cheaper rent (alas more expensive everything else), and a job. But mostly family.

Never in a million year did this Miami born and raised girl expect to be craving snow and weather in the 20s and 30s. It’s gotten to the point where I am seeking out jobs to apply for in states that HAVE an average snowfall listed. This 50* “winter” stuff doesn’t cut it for me anymore. I want to be able to wear my hats, scarves, and sweaters. Yesterday, it was over 80* all day and I went to work in shorts and a t-shirt. Also, I saw many Facebook postings of snow and freezing weather. Yeah, color me jealous. I’m sure they were jealous of the heat down here and, frankly, they can have it.

Yesterday I was searching through pictures from the last 11 months for our holiday newsletter and relished looking through the 2 folders of snow. It was depressing me. I do know that heavy and long winters can take a toll on people, but that’s what all this heat does to me. I don’t want to leave the house. Our a/c bill skyrockets the hotter it gets. It’s just so blah. Poor Phoenix doesn’t get why it’s so hot out as his winter coat keeps reappearing. There’s seriously enough fur for a whole new kitten every time I brush him.

In other news, I’m finally compiling what is needed for our January reception/ party. With the holidays coming up and mail likely being delayed, I should order it soon. Gotta pow-wow with our “party planners” soon to figure out what we need!

Aug132010

Craigslist Makes Me Happy

I posted a few ads on Craigslist South Florida with a simple request and a decent pay range. I felt I would be fortunate to receive 2 or 3 responses to it. 9 hours after posting, I am up to 14 responses. Sure, not all of them are what I am looking for and some are way out of our price range, but they are all insanely talented. Sometimes I forget how talented people are. I think I take for granted that I live in (ok outside of) a bustling metropolis chock full of insanely talented and vibrant people.

Sure, I could have scoured CL for what I am looking for and taken a lot of time to muddle through it, contacting who I was interested in… but I took the easy way out and posted ads. And I couldn’t be happier with the outcome!

I’ll keep you posted on how these pan out.

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

Jun062010

Not so Quickie Update

In the last few weeks, we’ve had the following wedding progress:

* booked our airfare — yes, this ranks as the absolute highest since it was such a chore! But alas, we have non stop flights to/from Vegas from the 8th to the 13th for $390.99 including the flights, taxes, fees, airline club fees, AND insurance. I may be taking a risk by booking on Spirit Air, but there’s a few reasons why I am OK with it. Namely being in touch with their head of customer service via twitter and email the last few weeks, and also Cat’s sister is working for them. Both make me feel good about the decision. Also you can’t beat that price for 2 people ON a holiday weekend with a stick! Now the problem is finding a hotel room for the 8th since our reservation in the suite is for the 9th-13th. Also, this puts us $200 under our travel budget!

* guest list — I finally typed the names from all the labels and the slips of paper mom gave me into Excel. I was somewhat shocked to find out that it added up to 189 warm bodies including children. The reception will be open to all families, totally casual and just plain fun. Honestly, as much as my head is saying no, I think it’d be completely fun to have a bounce house! The whole shindig is in my parents back yard and guests will have roughly 4-5 acres to roam and play on during the party.

* designed and had printed 2 more stamps for wedding/ post-wedding use — the first is a super fabu address stamp that went through tons of changes before being agreed upon. The other is a stamp for the back of the RSVP envelopes. The envelope stamp says “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Love Robert Frost! These 2 and the original one I had printed were done by the crazy talented BlossomStamps.

* purchased clear labels and downloaded loads of new fonts — yes, I am both lazy and cheap and will be using labels for our invites. The font I finally decided upon is called “MA Sexy” which amuses me, but whatever. It is both easily read and super flourishy. LOVE!

* cupcake tower — during a shopping trip to Home Depot to get the pieces for the tower, dad pointed out that we can do as many projects for the Miami reception, but not Vegas. His idea is to use short pieces of PVC pipe since I was going to wrap whatever I bought with blue painter’s tape anyhow and he has tons of piping. I’m also going to use 2 of the leftover door knobs from our new cabinets since there are a bunch left over.

* cupcake wrappers — I bought 3 shades each of orange and blue 12×12 card stock from Michael’s. After cutting them all out, I’m planning on stamping and embossing the following logo onto each. Steve said he prefers mini cupcakes, so we’ll be getting 4 dozen of those from Retro Bakery. I asked and was told we get 2 flavors per dozen, which is great and all, but their flavors are aMAZing and picking 8 will be torture!

* crinoline — I haven’t ordered one yet as I’m sort of hoping to find one locally. The only problem is I can’t find a store locally that sells square dance outfits. I might just suck it up and order the one from Petticoat Junction. I want a pale blue one, but think getting white and dying it on my own might be a better option than hoping they sell the right color.

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In totally non-wedding related news:
* ECU finally recognized me as a graduate with 2 degrees (the MBA and the MIS certificate)
* I am officially a Florida drivers license holder, now to get Luna transferred as well
* I am the somewhat proud owner of an iPhone. Somewhat because the signal is horrendous, but that may be due to it being an old phone.

May242010

April 27 TMW Post

Disclaimer: For all y’all not following my wedding planning antics over on TweetMyWedding Tuesdays, I’ll try to remember to post them all here. Unfortunately I’ve been seriously lagging at that and so there’s going to be in flux… apologies!
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Tweet: the more i think about it, the more likely our reception/ 40th bday bash will be mid-January. perfect weather, 3mo post-vegas, etc. bueno!

I am almost 100% certain that our delayed reception will be held during Presidents weekend 2011. Not only is it a long weekend, but that Friday is Steve’s birthday! Perfection, no? He’s not thrilled about my advertising his age, unless I use the old saying, so here goes… “Lawdy lawdy, look who’s 40!”

We will have the big bash, but in an oh so casual way. I am picturing Japanese lanterns, lots of candles, orchids, bromeliads, and twinkling lights strung all over my parents back yard. Mid-January is beautiful and breezy down here due to it being their few weeks of “winter” where the temps get into the 50s. I cannot even begin to put into words my excitement over planning a real party!

Tweet: spring in Homestead is absolutely gorgeous. sleeping w/windows open & it’s in the 60s outside. yes, #miamimove was a good decision 🙂

Tweet: researching fees to become a FL resident. 1 good thing is no tax on Luna since she’s only 3mo old. too bad other fees are ridiculously high.

Tweet: 1st real outing & I ran into an old friend & former co-worker… Yay!

Because planning the wedding and changing my name in 5.5 months isn’t enough of a hassle, Steve and I are currently trying to figure out how to become legal Florida residents. Since I left 4 years ago, the laws have increased dramatically to get a driver’s license. We are technically living with my parents and don’t have a lease, therefore, no legal “we live here” paperwork to show the DMV. The good news is that in my research, I discovered that bringing in a new car used for less than 6 months means I don’t have to pay additional taxes on my new Luna. That’s at least one thing I don’t have to worry about. Moving to a new state is a hassle, but at least we have no more state taxes! And also plenty of time between the move and the wedding; namely, 166 days!

Also, because I grew up here and did all my schooling in Miami with the exception of college, I have a ton and a half of friends that I left behind when I moved. I anticipate seeing a lot of old friends in my days out and about. I’m certainly hoping for that at least.

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