April 8, 2008

  • What if…

    What if… ..
    your biggest fear about getting married wasn’t about fitting into your dress, or making sure all of the pew bows were tied properly, or that that you’d remember the choreographed dance steps to your first dance? I wish I could say that my mind was preoccupied with programs and favors and ribbons (oh my!) but unfortunately it wasn’t as simple… it was all about NOT being sick on my wedding day.

    I was hesitant to write about this before the wedding, mainly because I wanted to avoid any sort of loyal attention to the subject. Certainly wishful thinking would come through on the big day as long as I kept happily not-thinking about the big “s” word happening… and I have a feeling that I’m not the only one out there to battle chronic illness and have the same thoughts floating in my head.

    Just to clairfy, I, along with 3-6% of the US population, suffer from fibromyalgia. I was diagnosed 10 years ago when I was 17 when my athletic body melted into uncontrollable pain and spasms, and I’ve been fighting to ignore the pain everyday since then. My pain is mostly in my neck and upper back, and while everyday my muscles are rock hard and I’m constantly stretching and popping things, on bad days I can’t get out of bed as my pain migrates to other areas to inflict harm on new territory. Lots of other fun stuff comes along with the FMS, like tension migraines and IBS, but the suffering really comes from the day-to-day struggle to just keep moving and shrugging off the pain.

    My personal history with chronic illness has shown that I always make it through the stressful events in my life, such as final exams, job interviews, performances, etc., but sadly I usually collapse into a heap hours later to awake from a fog days later. My big worry was that I would survive the actual wedding ceremony, but the second I started to let loose on the dance floor, I’d start to feel weak. Or perhaps I’d be fine all day but have a horrible honeymoon on account of the preceding weeks of stress. Let’s just say I had plenty to worry about, and there really wasn’t much I could do but have things around to make sure I was comfortable, relaxed and out of pain.

    So I did my best to plan that things went well, everywhere from avoiding all caffeine all day long and making sure that I bought a wedding dress that sat on my rib cage and hips instead of draping on my neck and shoulders. And in the end…. I survived. In the follow-up to this post, I’ll go through of what I did to “set-up” for success… but for now, I just want to leave all of those worrisome brides with a glimmer of hope… that someone who wanted to be anything but her sick self during her wedding made it through with flying colors!

    Perhaps the responses to this post will help realize that we’re not alone out there and that others are facing the same BIG issues… and I hope everyone has as much “healthy luck” as I did on my big day! So good luck to my fellow sickies out there… I’ll be personally cheering you on from the other side!

March 19, 2008

February 12, 2008

  • Making the space work for us

    When Mr. Lemon and I visited our reception hall the first time we were simply fixated on the windows and the view. The second time around, we focused in on the details… and there was a glaring problem that we had right when you walked off of the elevator:

    Now I’m all for celebrating Monterey’s fishing history (despite the way my Dad describes the afternoon stench of the city in the 40s & 50s), but seeing those photos on the wall doesn’t exactly scream, “Let’s Celebrate!” Mr. Lemon examined the photos only to learn that they were quite bolted to the wall which meant they couldn’t be tucked away and stored in the coat closet. He left me with the task of eliminating them from the reception and I let my mind wander toward a solution.

    My solution was all quite simple. I decided to make a wooden frame that would sit on top of the canvas boxed photos on the wall, cover it with some sort of canvas material and slap on our favorite engagement photos in poster sizes. The frame would be light enough not to damage the photo underneath, and the fish (along with the giant mug shot of Mr. Ferrantes) would be hidden from view!

    The wood to build the frame cost around $5 and I found some white interior decorating fabric for about $6. We stretched the fabric and stapled it to the frame (just like you’d stretch a normal canvas), but we decided it still needed an extra touch. We taped off a border on each canvas and painted it gold, leaving a bit of white inside to center the poster. I had the posters printed at El-Co Color Labs while they were running a 2-for-1 special, so it was around $22 for all four posters. We attached the posters to the fabric using foam wall tape and they were ready for the reception!

     
    (gotta LOVE the metallic print paper… it does amazing things with sunset prints!)

February 5, 2008

  • No need for a panic…

    The 1 cent stamp increase rumors have faded completely … as it seems that someone in the philatelic community read a memo incorrectly and set the collecting world all a flurry!
    So mail your .41 cent invitations with pretty stamps without any fear!

    (my apologies for any panic that was raised from my earlier post!!!)

January 24, 2008

  • 42 cent stamp warning!

    So I was happily looking up the release date for the new LOVE stamp for someone on the bulletin board, when I realized something wasn’t right.

    Every stamp past April 2008 was listed as being 42 cents… not the current 41 cents. Umm… uh oh? (I had to deal with the postal rate increase in May ’08 so I completely empathize with those that would have to wait and worry about cute stamps)

    I quickly checked the source (a USPS postal memo) and it looks like more details will be announced in the coming weeks after a few big meetings, but nothing solid other than a November press release that expected prices to go up in 2008.

    So for now this is just an APB for those who are buying their favorite stamps ahead of time… you might want to wait a little bit longer to see what happens… 

January 10, 2008

  • Disappearing Rings?

    Pennsylvania, January 2nd, 2008: Today’s our long awaited Broadway day in the city! We’re leaving in just a few minutes once I finished putting on my layers and grab my …. rings… “Hey honey, have you seen my engagement ring?” ….

    It’s the 10th vacation day at my in-law’s home and I’ve gone into a panic. It set in that morning as I realized my engagement ring, which had been sitting on top of my wedding band (which was still there) on the nightstand, was long gone. I scoured every inch of the hardwood floors, emptied the bed of sheets, moved furniture and raked my brain trying to think of where it could have gone.

    Seriously… I took both rings off together. One was still there. And we have to leave by 10am and Mr. Lemon is starting to get really upset with my absent-mindedness. “Where on Earth did you disappear to you silly silly ring?!?!”

    After an hour of searching, panicking and preparing for the day, Mr. Lemon indulges his parents in my debacle. Within five minutes, MIL Lemon rings out with, “Got it!” We all rush to the 2nd floor landing and realize that she was walking out of the master bedroom. Why would my ring be in there?

    Wait a minute! Mr. Lemon let his parent’s puppies in to wake me up this morning… nuh-uh!

    Meet Jacob Marley:

    Don’t let that adorably long face fool you. This puppy (aka. Jacob Marley) lived up to his ghostly name and decided that he wanted to abandon his Dicken’s upbringing and jump over to Tolkien by stealing MY PRECIOUS engagement ring. Luckily he hadn’t yet injested it, but instead simple stowed it away in the liner of his crate. We assume he grabbed it off the nightstand while he played on the bed with me that morning… and in a brief 30-second period my ring was suddenly his newest toy.

    While we can laugh about it now, I certainly lost a few hairs that morning due to stress. Please someone tell me I’m not the only person whose ring has been pet-napped?

  • Salton Sea Trashing


    If you’re in Southern California and wanted to get in on the “Trash the Dress” fun… here’s a great opportunity for you! Twenty-five photographers along with makeup artists will be having an all-day TTD shoot at the Salton Sea (near Palm Springs) on this Saturday (January 12, 2007) and they’re looking for a few more REAL brides. You’ll be able to receive all of the photos on CD and print them out on your own! If you’re interested, e-mail chris@chrisaustinphotography.com ASAP for more information!
    This event is very similar to the TTD event I went to in July (also with OSP photographers) where I had an absolute blast in Laguna Beach!

December 22, 2007

  • Holiday Gifting on a Budget

    This year, Mr. Lemon and I tried to hold each other to a $100 gifting limit. As a newly married couple, our pennies are going to the house fund, and we just cleared up the last of any lingering debt, so we’re trying to stay in the black! But honestly… we’re both BIG gifting people… and we couldn’t just send cards this year and feel ok about it. So… Mr. Lemon jumped on my holiday craftnanza wagon… and he approved of this year’s crafty gift: etched champagne glasses!

    Each one is etched with a “CHEERS” greeting in either Gaelic (because we’re both a bit Irish) or Japanese (our favorite celebratory food). The glasses were from Crate & Barrel ($3.95 each), so they were quite the steal, and I love the straight edged flute look! I also added a mini bottle of champagne to each package to make the gift a bit more complete! So.. for about $10 each (glasses, mini champagne bottle & shipping box) I think we’re sharing a present that tops a minor gift card.

    This could easily be replicated for your own ideas as a wedding favor or gift, so here are the directions to help you get down with your crafting etching self!

    Materials:  something “glass” to etch, Gocco, gocco screen (70 mesh), etching creme, brush/q-tip, tape

    Step 1:

    Print out the design you’d like to etch on your glass & make a carbon copy of it. Burn it into a sheet of 70 mesh screen using your Gocco and cut it out to use as a stencil.

    Step 2:

    Attach the stencil to the glass using tape. I used mailing tape, which came off incredibly easy when exposed to water.

    Step 3:

    Apply etching creme to the burned areas of your stencil. (I used Miss Cherry Blossom’s hints about using a Q-tip as an applicator, and applied the creme gently to the screen.) Wait 10-15 minutes for the creme to work.

    Step 4:

    Run the glass under luke warm water until the stencil is clear. Then remove the stencil and clean the glass with a paper towel.

    Also make sure to clean the stencil and remove all etching creme from it. Dry it off and keep it flat by wrapping it in a paper towel and placing it under some heavy books.

    Step 5: The finished product!

    Not too shabby for my first gocco etching attempt, don’t you think???

    But I wouldn’t be silly to stop there… so I decided to spiffy up the packaging of the boxes as well…

    I packed the boxes with sheds of all of our holiday catalogs and ads, and added a little note that I printed on vellum for each of the packages.


    Then I “wrapped” the box in sheets of legal sized paper that I had printed other ways to says CHEERS in many languages. I couldn’t just send it in the plain white box it came in!

    So they’re off to the post office now… and I hope that our friends will like their holiday gift! I usually end up crafting until right before Christmas, so my gifts are usually given between Christmas and NYE. Maybe one year I’ll have enough pre-holiday time to get everything assembled… or not!

December 6, 2007

  • Lemon Day Part XIV: Receptions Goodies

    All of the fun little details do add up in the end… and I can honestly say that it was worth the blood, sweat and tears. [The tears came on the Wednesday before the wedding... when I couldn't find something somewhere in some box, and when I did... oh boy did the tears fall!] Instead of spending money on fancy linens and chargers, we just spruced up the room with our own little touches, and I think we pulled off a great color scheme without too much of a hassle!

    We didn’t have a lot of room for framed photos on our welcome tables, so instead we opted for a simple digital photo frame on the table with the wish cards. Our photographer happened to capture one of our engagement photos while they rotated through.

    The wish tree turned out wonderfully! After we constructed the wish tree, we soon realized that tying any sort of ribbon to the branches may result in the loss of an eyeball or a nasty scratch on the forehead. So, instead of risking injury, we thought of an easy solution that would make the task of hanging a wish quite easy: paper clips. Sure they’re not crazy fancy nor wedding gorgeous, but they worked out just fine and made the wishes the highlight of the tree… not their hangers.

    The wishcards were made from 3 giant sheets of PaperSource paper that I cut into large cards, and they were gocco’d on the front and back. (Front: rose design from the invites; Back: Best wishes from:)


    Each table setting had a menu/program card for the evening which was personalized for each table. Our tables were all named after Disneyland rides, and we used the old attraction posters as the informal sign for each table. Mr. Lemon came up with catchy lines for each ride, and I came up with the detailed explanation.

    For example, for the Mad Tea Party, the card read:  “Spinning the table is not encouraged during the reception   [However, Mr. Lemon may find it extremely enjoyable]“; and for the Jungle River Cruise, “The backside of water never looked so good  [Disneyland has banned Memphis from this ride for this exact reason]” (a reference to our puppy who is neurotically addicted to water).

    Inside each was the menu for the night on the left side and the event program (with estimated times) on the right side.


    Here’s a view of the table where you can see our cookie/tea favors. I had an elaborate boxing arrangement set-up for the cookies, but in the end I opted for simplicity and just kept them in the bags that I had originally made, and tucked the tea packets in the glue fold. Our friends delivered the Diddy Riese cookies (fresh from LA the night before) on Friday morning, and we had a little bagging party where we attached the Stash Teas and plopped the cookies into the bags.

    And of course… there’s my favorite centerpieces (which have already been recycled by my cousin for her fancy-schmancy 50th b-day party).


    These were the fun seating cards that I made for each guest, where the glass bauble indicated their table and the paper at the bottom indicated our guests food choice. (You can see I’m at the Peter Pan table and I had the filet mignon)


    The table linens on the “special” tables (i.e. the cake table, the wish tree, and the 2 gift tables) were custom additions made from some ridiculously cheap decorator fabric from Michael Levine. For about $10, I was able to cover all four of the tables with this lovely blue/gold fabric as well as gold/gold fabric in the same pattern. I would have loved to create tablecloths for all 16 guest tables, but I realized that while it would be cheaper than renting them, it would still be a good chunk of money that we didn’t need to spend, so we made the details stand out instead.


    And we can’t forget that gorgeous and oh so tasty cake…

    Part I: Beauty Shop Prepping
    Part II: MAC Attack
    Part III: The “Morning-Of” Brunch
    Part IV: Aunt Kathi’s Perfect Bedroom
    Part V: VroomVroom to the Chapel
    Part VI: The Boys In The Garden
    Part VII: Rings and Other Ceremony Things
    Part VIII: Purty…Purty Flowers
    Part IX: Let’s Do This!
    Part X: We Do
    Part XI: Strike A Pose
    Part XII: All By Ourselves
    Part XIII: Party Time, Excellent!

December 4, 2007

  • Feeling a font out…


    I blogged quite awhile ago about one of my favorite fonts ever, Burgues Script, and how lovely it is for Weddings. Well, I recently acquired a new font by the same designer that would be uber-lovely to use for celebrations as well, especially for those vintage-inspired fetes! This time around, it’s Feel Script!


     

    Again, this is one of those $99 designer fonts (available here) that not everyone needs, but it’s a small price to pay to accent your event from top to bottom! I told Mr. Lemon that this font reminds me of walking down Main Street USA eating an ice cream cone… it’s perfect for a happy and fun wedding!

    For those of you looking for the bargain fonts (free or of the cheap variety), I’ll hop in with some recommendations for you too!