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Photo by Katherine Gray - Build Your Wings Photography

Ok, not really of DOOM. But, oh the mishaps were very Lathrop-y.

Because it is so much fun and we have such a wonderful time with it at the Mocks, I tracked down a Beatles Rock Band Limited Edition bundle. It comes with a drum set, Hoffner bass controller, microphone and microphone stand. Buying all the pieces separately can easily creep to $200+. Sears.com has the Limited Edition bundle for $99. WIN! Rock Band 3 was on sale at Amazon (sans keyboard for now) and we were in business. It just all needed to get here. I hate both paying for shipping and being patient. I had to wait! Days! for these things to make their way to me. DAYS! In the five minutes we were snuggling upstairs, UPS came to the door and knocked a knock that sounded rather a lot like a cat running up the steps to us. Boo.

Friday we were supposed to go to Southern Maryland to pick up anniversary cupcakes and go fishing. Instead, we had to wait around for UPS to deliver us unto the Rock Band. . . More waiting! I checked the status of the package and they’d gotten it into their crazy heads my little blue house was a) a business and b) not open on Fridays so they would be attempting the delivery on Monday. This would not do. A very grumpy me called UPS and arranged to pick up my Beatles Rock Band. I was DONE with this waiting horseshit.

When we got there the UPS wage slave was very near a very painful verbal lashing when he hunched over his little computer attempting to track down its current status. Luckily I saw it behind the counter he was standing at (/faceplam) waiting for us to pick it up.

Rock Band achieved! Victory was assured. Fish remained un-retrieved from a lake for one more day.

We followed up with dinner at hibachi where not so tasty (tho very flashy) kerosene vegetables were served along adequate scallops. We scurried home to rock out the night as ‘Civilian Authority’.

Saturday included a plan of the orignally scheduled cupcake retrieval, a free exercise bike from the in-laws and the much-delayed fishing. Visit with the in-laws (all of them), exercise bike, and cupcake retrieval went off without a hitch. However the weather gave Trey’s asthma a run for its money.

Trey’s Lungs: *gasping for breath*
Air: You seek to inhale me? FOOL!!!
Trey and Jess’s fishing plans: *wither and die another day*
Fish: Yay!!

Sad and dejected, we wandered home and emptied the care of the spoils we had successfully collected that day. I convinced the husband the only cure for our sadness was delicious Mexican food. Ever the loving man, he humored his wife’s crazy notions and off to Mariachi restaurant we went. OH MY GOD THE EPIC NOMS LIVE THERE! Stuffed full of some of the most amazing food ever, we rolled home. Comic books and video games capped the evening as we battled food comas. (Oh my lord am I ever behind on comics. Ugh.)

Sunday, our actual anniverary, was nasty hot. We hid in the house. There was also a terrible excursion to the new Frederick Wegman’s that I have pretty much blocked out of my memory. Seriously, I almost moved by Sunday entirely with “We stayed inside all day and played video games and did nothing.” But, oh god, no, the Wegman’s. Huge. Beautiful Market. I think. I couldn’t see much through the ridiculous mass of humanity heaving through it back and forth. We grabbed the things we knew we needed right away and then ran away screaming. Never again on a Sunday. OMG No.

The rest of the day really was full of video games and slack. Dinner was seafood at the Cracked Claw. It was decent but we couldn’t stop discussing how we’d change everything about the decor, layout, landscaping, upkeep of the building and the food. So, while it was delicious, it left a bit to be desired as a complete dining experience.

Monday was a beautiful day. Perfect fishing weather! We didn’t go fishing. We went and met the littlest McCrady! I delivered unto them Steaming Hot Meat Muffins! Meatloaf baked in a muffin tin. Hat tip to Misha for that idear. Nom nom nom nom nom BABY! She was adorable as all get out. We both got to hold her and give Meg a break by giving her a bottle. She fell asleep in our arms mid-noms and was just about the best thing ever. We shooed ourselves outta there in time to get just out of range of the bulk of rush hour and let the family embark on their walk to test drive their new stroller.

The evening unfolded as an adventure to find HDMI cables for our new TV as I altered my intended destination three times before ending up at Costco and finding what I needed in five minutes but still wandered the store for another 30. Our weekend was capped off with tuna sammiches and more comics.

Tuna sammiches were about as close as we got to fishing this weekend, but our fishing spirit is not broken! Fish! You are on notice, bitches!

All in all we spent the whole weekend telling eachother, “Remember what we were doing this time last year?” and reminiscing on the whole thing. It was phenomenal. Definitely an adventure.

[Photo by Katherine Gray - Build Your Wings Photography]

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From The Win Files will be a list of nifty things or links that I just find completely and utterly awesome. Welcome to the first installment.

I Am Comic Sans, a short imagined monologue from an oft-maligned font found on every personal computer from here to Timbuktu. If you have delicate sensibilities regarding foul language, this here be your warning.

I have the uncontrollable urge to place a tiny little 100×100 preview graphic of the awesome in the next link but I can’t bring myself to preview it and cheapen the full reveal. While I was very proud of my own wedding invitations, I would have been just as happy with these and take no personal insult in declaring them the Best. Wedding Invitations. Ever. Serious nerd points with this one. Serious. Like whoa.

Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me fame is working on a documentary about people who <3 Comic-Con. My husband and I are going to Comic-Con this year for 2 days of our honeymoon. I’m trying to decide if I’m going to be outgoing enough to send in a submission for the documentary. How much will I kick myself if I miss out on it?

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Taken by Kat

Goal #1: At the end of the day, be married to the person you love most in the world.
ACHIEVED

Things did not all go as planned, which if anyone will recall, was planned. And everyone loved it anyway which was so much more important to me.

Our officiant was quirky, sweet, hilarious, and genuine. She would make some tiny mistake and it just made me smile at her charmingness.

We ordered two small tents and got one huge one instead. It was great and really turned out better than the two tents probably would have.

The friend who was supposed to video our wedding got suck and had to cancel at the last minute (eek!) And our friends proved they are damned heroes and bought a video camera. Heroes.

My family was perfect. His family was perfect. Love everywhere. It was stupid hot, but there was so much love. Perfect.

I forgot the jewelry for my bridesmaids, my mother-in-law had an extra set and we just made it work. I forgot the cake serving set and Christi had summer stiff at the house that worked in its place. I forgot the pen for the guest book, the McCradys bought us one.

The totally cute escort board I made and we both worked really hard on? MELTED! more than once. Hot glue + hot sun = hot mess. I admit a little sadness that no one got to see how very cute it looked, but some of the cute got seen. The actual table cards were still super cute. My table labels got shorter and shorter as their susceptibility to wind became more dire. They were a great conversation starter for folks.

The sparklers were supposed to go at everyone’s seat, they didn’t. I didn’t even see where they were. Plus the party ended before we got to play with them. Oops. But yay sparklers!

I forgot to pack lipstick and BOOM! bridesmaids had a bevy of lipsticks in front of me. I feel in love with the one Kym offered me. I made sure to note the name of the color (Clinique Honeynut) to pick it up later and she told me to keep it. Trey has good sisters. Srsly.

My hair was awesome and my makeup stayed perfect. I got married!

So, yes, some stuff went wrong but still managed to be awesome.

Things that were perfect:

• Husband said yes
• Mimosas
• Bridesmaids’ hair
• My hair
• Dancing with my dad
• Food
• Makeup
• No sunburn
• Rain stayed away just long enough
• Centerpieces
• Tiki bar
• Ambience
• Ceremony site
• All the love of friends and family
• Everything? Yeah. Everything.

Continue reading »]]> By the above picture, you can probably guess what happened there. That was Saturday. I was headed out to crash Trey’s bachelor party and I decided, “What the hell? It’s a week before the wedding, I’ll just throw my phone on the concrete steps in front of the house and see what happens!” (Not really. It fell out of my purse.)

Surprisingly, I did not cry. This is a big deal for me.

I drove to a Verizon dealer near the house. They were closed. So, then I had to use the very broken phone to find an alternate Verizon location. That was exciting! Shards in the fingers are not so good . . .

So, it definitely still works, but is incredibly difficult to deal with. My replacement should be arriving on Tuesday (aka tomorrow)

In other, more better news!Wedding favors! Done!
Vows and Ceremony! Done!
Table Assignments! Done!
Under garments that work and fit! Done!
Attendant Gifts! Ordered!

I’m doing pretty good, I think, so far. I do have some people who need to get paid, still. I’m totally getting married and it’s going to be awesome! At least that’s what I keep telling myself after my terribly nonsensical nightmares that I have forgotten something very important.

And on a completely different vein, I switched web hosts for the most arbitrary reason possible. My previous web host doesn’t support PHP 5.0. Because it didn’t have the most recent technology, I couldn’t use the Wordbook plugin. I am so capricious! The transition went pretty smoothly, I think.

The hardest part was getting the old Priory of the Storm guild forums migrated to the new server. That part was actually a little fun because I ended up having to run the SQL queries for the data manually. The only thing that didn’t port correctly were other users’ userpics. I really don’t think that will terribly disappoint anyone, though. It is an archive, after all. I just wanted it to be functional and secure.

HOLY CRAP I’M GETTING MARRIED IN 5 DAYS!!!!!!!

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Two weeks and counting now till the big day. Finalized some details with the party rentals yesterday morning. Made my hair appointment for the day of. Fiance and I traveled down to Calvert for the marriage license then headed to the caterer for the tasting of the final menu. Very long and exhausting day.

I am officially at the point where I am worried I’m forgetting something important and I have no idea what it could be. I’m also paranoid that people aren’t going to have fun and it’ll be my fault. Fun! Boo. Have to keep telling myself it’ll be fine and if something is missing, it’s not likely anyone will notice. It will be plenty fun.

The mantra: If, at the end of the day, you’re married to the person you love most of all, the day is a success.

The alternate mantra: Something will go wrong. And that’s okay.

Obviously, I prefer mantra number one.

Next on the list of things that need done are:

• table assignments
• sprucing up the wedding favors
• making the table assignment board
• figuring out how we’re going to label the tables
• hoping what I’m wearing under my dress fits as I’m on my third option, here
• attendant gifts
• and paying people

Believe me, that list is a lot shorter than it used to be.

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I came. I saw. I crafted. . . I also totally just made that up. People who know Latin can and will correct me, later, I know it. For now, that’s what I’m going with.

I like to think I am somewhat skilled. I have relearned how to crochet and knit using the Internets. I know my way around Photoshop, Eclipse, PHP, HTML, and CSS enough to be not only dangerous but also useful. So, why not make my own bouquets, boutonnieres, and hair fascinator for the wedding? And that’s precisely what I did.

Yesterday, my goal was to get the boutonnieres done and wrap the handle of the last bridesmaid bouquet. Little did I realize that I’d get those done, but with time to spare to work on the moms corsages (two moms, two grandmothers, and two step-moms get to wear pretty flowers!) and follow the wild hair I got to make the feather fascinator!

Boutonnieres

Click for more detail

I made three different looking boutonnieres. The one on the left of the picture is HTB’s bout. It’s very difficult to tell that it is very different, but I know it is and that’s what makes me happy. The one in the middle will be for the groomsmen, and the one on the right will be for the dads. And now that I’m thinking about it, I’m really glad I made one too many of those because I realized I had miscounted the number of dads!

Materials:

- Peacock eye feathers
- Peacock iridescent plumage
- Peacock iridescent quills
- White goose feathers
- Assorted brown guinea feathers
- 30 gauge silver wire
- clear glass crystal beads
- floral tape
- brown ribbon
- hot glue

I went to both Michaels and JoAnns on my feather hunt. I was looking for some things that were pretty darn specific and neither shop really had exactly what I was looking for in embellishments for the bouts. They did have decent peacock feathers for a really good price, so that was excellent. The dads bouts are basically a hat embellishment that I took apart, reshaped and reassembled for my own purposes.  Plumes n Feathers.com is where I found the absolutely wonderful extra peacock feathers. No photo can ever really do them justice, but the plumage behind the eye feather on my fascinator gives an idea of how gorgeous they look. I took the cue from The DIY Bride Crafty Countdown to make them. They are a great idea and kudos to whoever thought them up.

Bouquets

My inspiration for bouquets came from lots of places. But mostly, Martha Stewart.com. No really! I think one of the best pieces of advice I took from looking at bouquet inspirations was not to make the bouquet huge. If it is little and easy to carry, you won’t be looking for the first opportunity to put it down right away. I used silk flowers for my bouquets. It is important to note faux is only cheaper if you are actually paying attention to cost of materials. I got all my flowers on sale, thankfully.

Inspiration links:
- Tiny Flowers Bouquet
- Butterfly Bouquet
- Sparkly Crystal Bouquet

Results:

Bride’s Bouquet	Bridesmaid’s Bouquet
Click for more detail	Click for more detail

I admit that my bouquet came out a tiny bit larger than I’d really intended, but I really like the ostrich plumes and the asymmetrical nature of the bouquet. I can only name two of the flowers I used, so I’ll not embarrass myself by not naming any of them. Suffice to say I think the bouquets are lovely.

Corsages

The moms corsages are very simple and were crazy easy to make. Just some fabric white tulips, floral tape, and some brown ribbon were all they needed.

Click for more detail

Also? Holy crap it’s less than a month away!!!!!!!!

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I’m getting married in June.  I am Captain Procrastination as well as Captain I-can-do-it-all-myself. These two things? They are not a good combination. These are important details, remember them for later. Needless to say, my invitations are not yet in the mail. Nor are they printed. They are, however, designed, finally.

I am one of those people who knows enough about Adobe’s products to be dangerous. I could have gone to one of the multiple very cool, funky, interesting wedding invitation sites and ordered some very, very cool wedding invitations. I also know enough about printing and the wedding stationery business to be just as dangerous. First, I know the difference between engraved invitations, thermographed invitations, and letterpress invitations. I also know they are are all RIDICULOUSLY expensive! Gorgeous! But ridiculously expensive all the same. I’m working on wedding number two, here, so a) I get to pay for everything myself and b) I’m not spending a ton of money on formal/traditional wedding invitations.

So, my basic plan is this: Design my invitations; send the paper and design off with the fiancé to work where they will be professionally printed and die-cut at an incredible discount; assemble, address, and mail off the invitations; profit.  Naturally, my first steps would be to rough out an invitation idea and find myself some paper.

I got a serious case of designer’s block faced with the blank white canvas of the invitation design. Lots of excuses were dreamed up. “I can’t work on this right now, I just moved into my new house!  I have to unpack!” “I’m just so busy with work.” “I’ll get to it after I relax with a little bit of World of Warcraft.” “It can wait till tomorrow, right? Right. Totally. No big deal.” “It’s my birthday, I can’t do this on my birthday!”

The time finally came to buckle down and just get it done. I gave up illusions of something original, funky, and swirly because I’m just not that good at manipulating my tools to get those kinds of designs. I’ve never been an illustrator. I’m a great tracer, but that seemed like the wrong tactic to take on this. Not that I’m against tracing things. Sometimes, you have to trace one shape or object to get the look for your finished project. I had settled on something very simple involving some visual interest surrounding an accented bit of type, an ampersand.

Somewhere, I got it into my head that I wanted Stonehenge on my wedding invitations. It was where we got engaged, it had an influence on us picking the site for our wedding ceremony (we found an outdoor, fixed sculpture in Solomons, Maryland called The Council Ring that consists of a bunch of standing stones, specifically for gatherings) and has just kind of been our “thing”. And then I found this:

Look at that bit of line drawing. Isn’t that just wonderful!? I think so. Of course I found it on the internet. Which meant it had absolutely NO business being used in a print piece as-is. Remember how I said I was Captain Procrastination? You know what’s more fun than anything else for someone procrastinating? A distraction! Especially when that distraction is justified as useful for the desired end goal now taking a back seat to the distraction. I couldn’t work on the invitations with my schmancy ampersand! I needed to make this perfect Stonehenge graphic print-worthy! If I failed? Eh, I would still have my ampersand idea.

Again, I totally know just enough about stuff to be dangerous. I know how to take something completely un-printable and make it printable. And make it printable, I did. Not only did I get to procrastinate more on a really fun project, but it worked out in the end!

So, I finally had my invitation design, replete with colors, interesting fonts, and STONEHENGE! All ready to get sent to the printer for a quote and also some advice on their overall printing capabilities. This led to the need to find paper. Which turned into a whole other kind of saga. There will be much talk about the paper, because that story leads down other paths of fun wedding preparations that just plain make me happy!