I need my bloggy friends to help me out and make a bachelorette party amazing!

My friend Tiffany's Bachelorette Party is coming up. We have a tradition of getting tank tops made for Bachelorette parties. It makes it a lot more fun when everyone has matching tank tops.

The first year we did it for S's bachelorette party all the girls that came with were bridesmaids so she had a bride tank and we all have bridesmaids tanks. See below.

Then for my bachelorette party everyone but one girl was a bridesmaid. So creative me got her a tank that said Flower Girl. Drunk guys didn't notice and it was super fun.


For Tiffany's Bachelorette Party only three of like the 10 are bridesmaids. I can't come up with 7 other things. So we are just going to do something like Tiffany's Bachelorette Party or Tiffany's Fling before the Ring.

Here is where you come in.

Any better ideas for the tank tops? I was thinking all things that start with T. Ta tas. Tipsy. What can you guys come up with?

Tips and Tricks Thursday

This week’s topic is tips and tricks for planning a wedding to remember.

1. Get used to compromising.

I love and adore all you future bloggy brides and I know you want to avoid a starring role on the show Bridezilla. Avoiding any and all Bridezilla moments is impossible. But if you don’t get used to compromising you might be on the show. There is no way for you to have everything go your way unless you plan on looking like a two year old temper tantrum throwing fool. Guess what?! It is practice for that thing that comes after the wedding, MARRIAGE! You get to do a whole lot more compromising after the big white dress comes off.

We had an outdoor ceremony on a lovely sunny day in October 2009. I wanted flowers that wouldn’t wilt in the warm October sun and gave a more casual feel. I wanted gerbera daisies. Add theknot.com to your favorites. I visited that site a lot when planning our wedding. I found pictures on the knot of gerbera daisy boutonnières and showed them to Hubby. He was not a fan. We looked at a lot of boutonnieres and he only like roses. So we added some roses to the bouquets and the cake and ta da! Compromise! Honestly looking at my bouquet makes me smile because it is a symbol of the compromise I made to make my Hubby happy.

2. Pick a time frame and location.

You may want to get married on a special day or you might have your heart set on a special location. If you want to get married on a specific day at a specific place you might have to wait a year or two. So this could be compromise #1.

Hubby bought my dream ring when I was with him ring shopping in November of 2008. We were staying with my parents in Nor Cal and I called them right after he bought it. I will never forget calling my dad with the biggest smile on my face and telling him I was carrying a Tacori bag and he didn’t know what that was and was like uh ok. Dork! We showed them the ring when we got back to their place. But my great grandmother’s diamond wasn’t going to be put into the ring until December and Hubby still had to officially propose. Because we live 8 hours away from our parents there were discussions about where to have the wedding. I told my mom that if I had the wedding near her she would have to help me out a lot (compromise). So after the ring was bought my parents began the search.

Do I have amazing parents or what? I’m an only child so that might be part of the reason they didn’t mind spending their weekends looking at wedding sites for us. I would email them places I found online and they found places on their own and visited. They took a lot of things into consideration. I would say one of the top things on my dad’s list was if they accepted credit cards. I think this is a great tip for you planners. My dad realized that some of these places were going under and he didn’t want to write them a check for thousands of dollars without a guarantee of a wedding. He figured that he would be able to get his money back if he needed to for any reason from the credit card company. Plus hello frequent flyer miles! (I don’t know what card they used and what benefits they got, I’m just saying).

Pay attention to the vibe you get from the people and the place. There was a woman that forgot about their appointment, um yeah no thanks. Another place was near the train tracks. We didn’t notice until like time 20 of watching our wedding video but you can hear a train in the background of our ceremony. But this other place you would have to stop your ceremony and wait for the train to go by. My mom the green thumb that she was, paid attention to the flowers. She knew we were thinking summer time for the wedding and there were some places that looked pretty with lots of rose bushes but those bushes wouldn’t be in bloom when we wanted to get married.

The place we ended up getting married at impressed my parents. The owner/wedding planner was in the military so he is really good at sticking to a schedule and making sure everything gets done. They do hundreds of weddings and events every year. Their packages were all inclusive. They were the dj, caterer, cake maker and had contacts and people that were familiar with the site for the florist, photographers, and reverend. That made things 1,000 times easier because we didn’t have to interview and meet with people, especially since we don’t live close by.

I realized I have a lot of tips and wisdom on this topic. I might do more posts with more advice.

*Don't be jealous of my classy wedding pictures!

Tips and Tricks Thursday Topic Preview

This week’s topic is tips and tricks for planning a wedding to remember.

A couple of you lovelies are in the wonderful process of planning your weddings and asked for this professional (weird comment I made to my wedding planner during our rehearsal, I just meant I had been a bridesmaid in a lot of weddings) bride’s advice and wisdom.

So those of you married bloggers or just about, create a post with your tips and tricks for planning a wedding to remember!

I need someone to link up Thursday!!

Write a post with things you learned planning your wedding or things you wish you had done differently and then link up on Thursday! I don't want to hear that I gave every tip that you would have!

Top 2 Tuesday

Top 2 favorite things about summer:

1. Beach Days

We live about 20 mins from the beach. I tell myself if we lived closer I would be at the beach every day. I would run at the beach, do yoga at the beach, and lay out. IDK if this would really happen, but let’s pretend.

Not being walking distance from the beach makes things a little more difficult. You have to pack up all your stuff and possibly food and find a parking spot. That usually means going to the grocery store and having the necessary beach foods (sandwiches and chips and Gatorade) and waking up early enough to get parking.

If I am going to do all this preparation, I want to get a tan. This requires wearing a bikini. I am a freak of nature and always cold. I learned this when I asked what temp people keep their houses at on twitter and their responses were a lot lower than our 70-73 range. (This weekend we woke up and it was 69 and turned on the heater.) In our 70-73 degree house I wear sweatshirts and put blankets on. (I told you guys, weirdo!) So if I am going to wear a bikini I’m going to need my beach like 80. That doesn’t happen until summer. So we try to go about twice a month during the summer.

*I know you all love this pic. Don't be fooled by the color. It is pink. That is the only color I turn. This might be my I have been in the sun way too long face.

2. BBQs

Ok as I was thinking about this maybe I should put having more friends in town. Remember the camp I worked at where I met my gay husband? Well a lot of our new friends we made I met at that camp or from keeping in touch with people. For example gay husband kept working there and new people got hired and some of them we awesome and I met during get togethers during the summer. Anyways, they are all younger and are still in college which equals me missing them and having no life when they are away at school. So when summer rolls around and they come back into my life it brings a lot of joy and laughs.

I’m sure you know by now when of my favorite things to do is have people over to eat. Hubby is am amazing cook and I just enjoy the time and conversation while eating.

Summer time and BBQs just go together. Something about having a BBQ makes the day longer and more relaxing.

I am definitely looking forward to having some beach time and BBQs this summer!

Peiducre on our toes, toes

As I mentioned in a previous post, my pregnant friend S has a hurt foot. I might have even mentioned it in the post about her baby shower a few weeks ago. I have to tell you all the story in hopes that you will learn from her mistake as I have and NEVER GET ANOTHER PEDICURE!


Like women all over the world S and I enjoy being pampered and having someone else do the tricky task of painting your toenails. When I moved to San Diego and had to take on more responsibilities financially, that lovely pampering and colorful toes was one of the first things to go. S has kept up with pampering her tootsies.



A few weeks ago, S got a pedicure. While she was getting the pedicure she and the woman doing the pedicure noticed she was bleeding. For those of you that don’t get mani/pedis this is actually kid of normal. That is the part that should make everyone cringe! The woman put a band aid on her foot. S paid and went on her way. There was a lot of traffic getting out of PB and she didn’t get home until late. When she got home she took the band aid off her foot and got a little worried. But it was late and she figured her foot would get better.



She sent pictures to her family and when they all came down to see her for her baby shower they made her go to urgent care. We saw her Friday night and the foot was nasty! Her foot was swollen compared to her other foot and the wound was a huge gaping black hole. The geniuses at urgent care gave her antibiotics and weren’t able to get a culture. They told her they thought it was a spider bite. Geniuses.



When I heard the story about she bled while getting a pedicure I had that gut feeling it was an infection related to that. When I told my mom (emergency room nurse) about it she said it is probably a bacterial infection. People (aka so called doctors at urgent care) often think they are spider bites.



S went to a dermatologist and they told her it is an atypical mycobacterium. I found one website that has pretty good info on the bacteria. http://www.wordinfo.info/words/index/info/view_unit/3963 It says, “The infection, caused by a fast-growing microbial cousin of the tuberculosis bacterium, left some of the customers taking antibiotics for months, and even that did not always clear the infection. Some women suffered scarring or have needed skin grafts, and estimated medical costs for some have exceeded $10,000.” S has been told she would have to take SEVERAL antibiotics for a long time. This would be a disaster alone, but let’s not forget, for me the scariest part, she is PREGNANT.



Right now it sounds like she has a good specialist doctor that she visits weekly to watch the infection. It is currently not being treated because the antibiotics she is supposed to take can be harmful to little Ethan. She is pretty much in constant pain. You might be thinking this could never happen to me, the place I go is clean. Her doctor told her this common bacterium can’t be sterilized with the stuff they use in nail salons. They need to be using medical strength stuff. My advice, give yourself a pedicure. Save money and stay healthy!




















This is not a picture of S. This is a picture I got from this article. In August of 2006 a woman DIED from the same thing that happened to S. Ok?

Tips and Tricks Thursday

This week's topic-
I use these tips and tricks to take great pictures:

I am not so good with the pictures, that is why I picked this topic. I can't wait to read what everyone else posts. I googled some tips for you to.

Begining Photography Tips:
1. Move in closer.
-Each time you spot a subject, snap a shot and then move in closer for a better shot. Having your subject almost fill the frame helps your viewer understand and appreciate your photo. Also, details are often more interesting than an overall view.

Keep moving in closer until you are sure the photo will successfully represent your subject.

2. Be quick.
-As the motto of one of BetterPhoto old t-shirts states, "Shoot First, Ask Questions Later."
3. Compose with care.
-Strive to lead the eye along an interesting path through the photo, with the use of strong lines or patterns.

•Keep the horizon level;
•Crop out extra elements that you are not interested in (more on this is the next tip);
•Consciously place your subject where you think it most belongs rather than just accepting it wherever it happens to land in the photo;
•Play with perspective so that all lines show a pattern or lead the eye to your main subject;
4. Be selective.
-You can:
•Focus in on a close-up that tells the whole story;
•Move around until you arrange the telephone lines into a neat pattern that leads to the subject; or
•Take a panning shot that makes the cable car remain in focus while the background goes blurry.
5. Focus on your subject.
You will find that a smaller depth-of-field (and smaller f-stop #) focuses all the attention upon your subject. This is great for taking a picture of your child, your dog, or your husband - subjects stand out against a blurry background.
6. Experiment in time.
-Use a slow shutter speed and a tripod to make a pretty picture of any creek or stream. On the other hand, you can use a fast shutter speed (1/500 and up) to capture an object in motion.

Combining a fast shutter speed with a long lens, you sports buffs can get a trophy of your own when you are able to catch the expression on your favorite runningback's face as he slips past the final defense toward a winning touchdown. Remember, catching the moment in fast-paced action photography may take a little more practice so hang in there.

7. Look at the light.
-ow is the light affecting your subject? Is the subject squinting?

Is the light blazing directly and brightly upon your whole subject? This works well if you are in love with the bold colors of your subject.

Side lighting, on the other hand, can add drama but can also cause extreme, hard-to-print contrasts.

Lastly, indirect light can be used to make your subject glow soft and pretty.

8. Watch the weather.
Look outside and decide whether or not you are going to want to have the sky in your picture.
If it's overcast, simply keep the sky out of your pictures as much as possible. This is usually the best way to avoid both muted tones in your subject and washed-out skies in your background. You might also find black and white pictures of an overcast day more pleasing than color.

When the day is beautiful, go ahead and make the most of it.

9. Keep it simple.
10. Be bold.

Source
Don't know what some of those things mean!

Tips and Tricks Thursday Topic

I use these tips and tricks to take great pictures:

You can also mention what camera you have.

Our digital camera was a raffle prize probably 5 years ago. All of you take such wonderful pictures and it has inspired me to ask you for tips and tricks. Also, what cameras do you use? Can't wait for you guys to link up!!!

Tips and Tricks Thursday

I use these tips and tricks to turn my frown upside down:

* get a new haircut

* go shopping

* have a girl’s outing

* workout

* read a book

* scrapbook



As I said yesterday, I have been moody lately. I had an amazing weekend in LA but started slamming doors and feeling depressed as soon as I walked in the apartment. So I have been trying to come up with stuff to get me out of this funk.



I got a new haircut a few weeks ago and I am not loving it. My bangs are not what I wanted. They are too long and I think they look exactly like they used to. The layers are too short and don’t look good when I use the hot rollers. Maybe I should force myself to shower earlier in the evening so I can blow dry and straighten the next day.



My wonderful friend S that is pregnant and has a messed up foot (I need to blog about that because it is information everyone needs to know) agreed to have a girl’s outing and go shopping with me. We need to get some presents for our friend T’s wedding shower and bachelorette party. I am in T’s wedding this summer and S was supposed to be matron of honor but little Ethan decided to show up and ruin everything! T is being an awesome bride. Our dresses were $20 and I’m so excited to wear it again and again after the wedding. She also just said wear whatever nice and cute black shoes you have. I am over my black shoes and wanted to get a new pair. Hubby killed that idea. I also wanted to get a few work spring update items and Hubby said you got a new shirt at Costco. Wahoo one $12 shirt!



I have this nagging you need to be active and stay healthy thing in the back of my head. But I hate it and I am completely lacking motivation. I am going to try and push past it and hopefully some of those feel good endorphins will show up.



I am reading the third book in the Thomas Kinkade Cape Light series, A Gathering Place . I am really enjoying it. Maybe I need to turn the tv off and read!



I think working on the wedding scrapbook might bring a smile to my face. I can’t exactly figure out what is slowing me down with it. Might be the planning of the book. I like to plan everything out ahead of time.



Looking forward to reading all your tips and tricks! Link up so we can all cheer up!

Tips and Tricks Thursday Topic

Lately I have been feeling blah, irritable, and like I could cry at the drop of the hat. It could be hormonal but I am sick of being bitchy and weepy. It is time to cheer myself up.



This week’s topic:



I use these tips and tricks to turn my frown upside down:

Read this whole post! You guys will never believe this!

A lot of you probably don't know about my love for the hilarious DANE COOK! You can see my first post about him here. Here is a picture from when we payed around $50 per person to see him in San Diego when he was on tour. He is very small and far away.

We went to Los Angeles Saturday morning. I didn't tell you guys cause I don't want you to break into my house and steal Blue. Friday when I was asking a work friend about stuff we should do in LA he said go to Sunset strip. I was looking at Sunset strip (aka working hard) and saw Laugh Factory. As a huge DANE COOK fan I thought we should go there and it would be BEYOND AMAZEBALLS if DANE COOK randomly stopped by. Everyone was down with going to Laugh Factory because we aren't really let's try to get into clubs with the Hills stars people.

When we first got to LA we did a hike of Runyan Canyon. There is a scene in I Love You Man when they are sitting on a bench that is crazy high above the LA skyline. We took pics by that bench. They don't every show you the crazy steep 100 stair hike after the bench. But since I'm trying to get a brazil butt lift without the video I was all done to huff and puff my booty up the crazy steep hill.

We had an amazing lunch at a place called The Counter. You get to pick your meat and toppings and it is all delicious and I had the milkshake of the month a cookie milkshake. Love that place!

Then we were relaxing and hanging outand the boys went to get beer. So I decided to contact my friend DANE COOK on all the social networking sites and try to get him to come to Laugh Factory. I tweeted him @danecook are you coming to laugh factory tonight? My cute blonde friend and I would DIE if you showed up! xoxo

You have to mention the cute blonde friend because that is motivating for men.

Then the boys came back and we were talking and trying to figure out buying tickets for Laugh Factory. I yelped it like I do every decision I make. Some people mentioned there was a guest list. So we called and tried to get on the guest list. We were unsuccesful at this but the guys just happens to mention there.
will.
be.
a special.
guest...

DANE COOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really told my friend, "Shut up! You are lying." I thought the guy had hung up on here and she was pretending to be on the phone with him still and that he was saying DANE COOK would be there. She freaked out and threw the phone at me and I was too in shock to talk. Apparently I thought DANE COOK was on the phone, I'm not sure.

Long story short, I was afraid for anyone to post anything on facebook or tell anyone. I wanted Dane to be little secret and I was so afraid we would jinx it and he woudln't show up. I made them knock on wood like 30 times.

But my dreams came true! He made a guest appearance! It was a short set and he told some jokes I had heard before. And Dane, honey, love you lots, but were we not trying so much with the outfit? My love for him continues to grow. I will always be an adoring fan. I was thinking I should have made THE LIST so I could have told Hubby, well he's on my LIST. And tried to sleep with him. But I think Hubby and I don't make LISTS because we are both really attractive and know we could probably get with people on THE LIST and that would be sads. (If you don't know about THE LIST, you probably didn't watch FRIENDS and I probably don't like you. j/k) I also like to think Dane is an amazing human being that would say, "You are sexy and attractive and I would totally sleep with you, but I couldn't do that to your marriage."

Surferwife, does this count as a celebrity encounter?

Tips and Tricks Thursday!

I have a great idea! I was thinking about why I blog. I started blogging to have a place to write my thoughts and feelings about life. I keep blogging because I have met an amazing group of people. I love reading about your lives and that you laugh along with me through stories about my life. I would never want to stop blogging because I feel like I now need these relationships we’ve created. You are all a part of my life that I don’t ever want to lose. You guys with me? Plus, where else can you get advice from hundreds of people? I value that some of you are parents and can give me advice that I may some day need; I hope future brides appreciate the advice about weddings I can give them.

So here is my great idea: a weekly day of advice! I’m thinking Tips and Tricks Thursdays. I will post a topic and my advice if I have any and you can post your advice and link up! I’m thinking topics like time management (how you manage your time in the mornings and evenings), style tips (for both men and women), career advice (tricks to get ahead and tips for letting your boss know you are quitting), etc. What do you guys think? Is this something you want to do with me? Are there things you need advice about? Let me know and I’ll post them! I will post my first topic preview next Wednesday. So excited!

Not your average Easter

Easter morning Hubby and I went to Hubby’s Uncle’s house for breakfast. We had bacon and corn cakes with strawberries. I hadn’t had corn cakes until I met Hubby. Have you guys had them? Let me know if you want the recipe.



Anybunny, after stuffing our faces we went for a little walk. I was not wearing appropriate foot attire, as usual. The walk was in a lovely grassy wild flower area. That means I started sneezing and continued like once a minute. Luckily, the walk wasn’t very long.



I had taken the wedding album to show them for fun. Uncle said it was so modern compared to theirs and whipped out his two volumes of wedding albums. I love seeing pictures of little Hubby.



I had a ton of laundry to do this weekend and hadn’t gone to the grocery store so we left the Uncle’s around 12:30.



We got our chores done and we were relaxing on the couch watching tv around 3:30.



Then our Ikea mirror started shaking.



We live in a second story apartment so the mirror could have been shaking for a couple reasons. Sometimes people walking up the stairs loudly can make rattling noises or sometimes the washing machine can get going for whatever reason.



We looked at each other and the floor started moving.



I said, “Earthquake?”



He said, “Yeah" and got up from the couch.



The good tv addict I am paused the show we were watching and said, “Go to a door way.”



He went to the front door and I said, “No, come over here.”



We stood in our bedroom doorway petrified.



I said, “Should we go outside?” Thoughts of the apartment building crumbling around us were racing through my head. If we go outside what are we going to do with the bunny? Is the bunny ok where he is?



The shaking stopped and I checked on the buns. He was eating. Probably concerned about when his next meal will be if there was an emergency. He gets more scared when we cook in the kitchen. I think he is really started to worry we might make good on the bunny stew threats.



Then I called my parents. They were surprised that we actually went to a door way. My dad has felt earthquakes but not enough to go to a door way. They said to watch the news. After we got off the phone with our parents I said to Hubby, “Are we sure that wasn’t the dryer?”



I found the usgs website and it said there was an earthquake in Baja California . I thought maybe that was what we felt. Then I checked facebook. Everyone was posting about the earthquake. I texted my friend that was supposed to come over for dinner and is visiting for a marine training. I said, “Did you feel that?” He replied, “Yeah they made us evacuate.”



It was a 7.2 earthquake. Pretty big folks.



There hasn’t been any major damage to people or property reported in the U.S. Two people in Mexico were killed and several people injured.



The next day, at work, when the marines were flying loudly over our building; I was a little freaked out. Loud rumbling make me nervous now. My desk at work rattles if I breathe. Also a little nerve racking.



Thanks to our trusty $20 Ikea mirror we know when the earth is shaking at home. Monday night while watching tv it shook a little and I asked our friend the earthquake expert and he said there was an aftershock around 9:30. Thank goodness for our Swedish alarm.

Friday!!!! Faves!!

So excited for the weekend! I want a new profile pic. I have a hilarious one of me from my friend's baby shower but it looks like I'm licking a poopy diaper (its chocolate). So if you didn't know it was chocolate you might think I was like a crazy poop licking mom blogger. What do you guys think?

This is my first time participating in Favorite Friday hosted by Jen at a girl in pearls.




This week's topic is your favorite celeb coupe that is still together. I picked one that I'm sure a lot of people will pick.


GIULIANA AND BILL!!!!

They crack me up on a weekly basis. Plus I love that they have put a celebrity face on infertility struggles. They are an amazing couple and I really pray they are blessed with a child soon.