Potato Soup and The Office Marathon

Happy New Year bloggers :)

So I had planned to make a trip to the Outlet Mall in Howell this afternoon, but after a crappy nights sleep, an inch of snow on the ground and pure feeling crappiness I decided to stay home. I am getting some Mary Kay stuff done, watching season 4 of The Office and eating some of mom's famous "After Christmas Potato Soup". Sounds like a pretty decent afternoon if you ask me.

I've been sick for about a week or so, hasn't been terrible, just enough to be annoying and make me sleepy all the time. I have found that I tend to get upper respiratory problems when my allergies or a cold kick in this time of year. This is the worst it's been so I decided last night to pick up a fancy new humidifier for my night stand. I gotta say, it works pretty well. I only woke up once in the middle of the night fighting to breath instead of three, haha. So we're making progress.

We got some bad news on the condo yesterday. Well, good news and bad news actually.
Good News: The condo appraised for less than what our original price was, which means that the seller can either lower the price to the appraisal amount OR we have the option to put up the money or walk away.
Bad News: Our seller owes more on the condo then what the appraisal price is, so she couldn't put the condo at the lower price. Well, I am not about to pay $8,000 more then what a home is worth, just not going to happen.

We decided to walk away, then I got a call from our Real Estate agent (who is great btw, if you're looking for an agent let me know and I will give you her info) and she said the seller's current mortgage company will take 3 days to decide if they are willing to take the lower price or let us walk away. So we are in limbo until sometime next week. Talk about anxiety.

We've already formed our registries around this house, so we would have to redo everything which isn't a huge deal, just inconvenient. Oh well... we shall see.

I am now off to finish some Mary Kay stuff, got some paper work and calls to make. Then it's off to get ready for a lazy NYE with Justin. I will probably blog later (or tomorrow) about my "List for 2010" :)

Be Safe, Have Fun and Happy 2010!

Condo, Christmas, Craziness... Oh My!

So, I have about a half an hour left in my day, so I figured I would use it to update you fine people :)

On the housing front:

Our offer was accepted on the condo!! We are in the middle of getting our appraisal back and waiting for closing. We ended up offering $2000 less then the asking price, asking for the fridge (all other appliances were already included, we wanted the matching fridge, lol) and closing costs. They are going to do all 3, as well as fix some things we found during the inspection!! Once its ours, I will post some before and after pictures. I cannot wait to paint and make a home out of it!

Holidays:
Christmas was great, pretty low key, but great. We have 4 celebrations that we attend so it was jam packed with food, family and presents. Christmas Eve we always go to 10pm service, sit in the balcony to watch the signing of "Silent Night" by candle light. It's my favorite part of Christmas Eve :)

Christmas day is pretty crazy. This was my last year waking up at my parent's house for Christmas (more on how I feel about that later), usually my sister and I wake up first and then get the parents up, but... as we've aged it ended up being more about my parents waking up first and Laura and I following after. We have Christmas, just the 4 of us (or 7 of us, including the cats). Later Justin comes over for his little Christmas with us/breakfast. In the afternoon we go to my grandmas to have Christmas with her and my mom's brothers. It used to be a huge family affair, but after marriages/divorces it's become more about the five of us (my immediate family), my grandma and whatever uncle decides to show up. For the passed couple of years we have a second Christmas at my grandma's, the day after. This is my favorite one, it's "Aunt Judy" Christmas. My Aunt Judy, cousins, my family and grandma get together to have a smaller, more casual day. This year was pizza and cake, lol. Then Jusin and I jet off to have Christmas with his family. It's crazy, but I guess that's the nature of the beast.

New Years Eve is really not a big deal in my family, never has been. Usually Justin and I go out with his family/boating friends to a bar, but this year we are doing our own thing. We're stopping by Applebees for dinner to visit our friend, Brandon, then going back home to watch some movies. We usually end up wanting to leave the bar around 11:30 anyway, so this year we'll stay home, save money and celebrate just the two of us :)

I am more looking forward to the time off work then the actual holiday. I'm also going to hit up the Outlet Mall in Howell on NYE, so that is exciting. Hopefully it isn't crazy busy, because I'm not big on crowds... especially while shopping. NY Day, we will be finishing up our registry at JCPenny and meeting with Justin's grandparents for lunch.

That's really been the main focus for my life lately. I've got my Mary Kay grand opening coming up soon, and have to start getting my behind in gear! Next week is going to crazy. My birthday is next Thursday, then I have my Grand Opening that weekend, nothing like jamming it all in at once :)

I'll come back with some more details and be a little less vague tomorrow. I'm not being a very good blogger... I just come in to give a monthly update, which I'm sure is no fun for anyone!

Until tomorrow, be safe and stay warm!

Pink Cadillac

So a couple things have happened since my last update.
First, we put an offer on a condo, and then found out that the bank was already working with another offer (which we were told otherwise) so we promptly lost that one.
Tonight, we went out and looked at another condo and fell in love with it. It's perfect for us and is private owned, so no bank to deal with. It's got 4 bedrooms (His and Hers offices - YES!) and brand spanking new kitchen and all appliances are included. The neighborhood isn't 100% what we were looking for, but it will be ok for us for the next 5 - 6 years before we start thinking about having little kiddos.

In other news, I am working towards becoming a Mary Kay consultant. I had that party in November, and after taking some time to think about it, going to a MK training session to meet some of the ladies and get some great advise from my unit leader and coach, I have decided to take the plunge. I have always wanted to start my own business and this is the perfect way for me to do that! I get to structure everything myself and really have the opportunity to put in effort and actually get something out of it. I don't plan on making a career out of this, it would be great if it happened, but I won't hold my breath. I would be happy if I could just bring in some additional income so Justin and I can save up for a house. My absolute top goal that I see as being a possibility would be to have this supplement my income enough that I could get another part-time job and dedicate more time to MK. We shall see. So, if you need a MK consultant or want to do a FREE makeover let me know!! My grand opening will start January 9th, so I will good to go after that.

I guess that's all I have for now. I honestly could think of more to say, but I am extremely tired. This week has kicked my butt and I started a new early schedule on top of it. So, I'm off to bed and will update more after the weekend. I've got 2 makeovers I going to as well as some babysitting time, so it should be fun!

Happy weekend!

Pocketfolds, Ribbon, Monograms, OH MY!

So I have found the style that I want to with my invitation bellybands, but the construction process is going to be interesting. I bought a custom embosser with a monogram on it, and I LOVE IT. I just am having a hard time trying to figure out how to put together the bellyband and monogram so that it looks nice and not like an at-home craft project. This will be my mission this weekend! I wonder if mailing labels will work, over card stock? hm.... I will have to try that.

These are the two pictures I have of the front of the invitations so far. The top of the monogram says "Justin & Emily" the bottom says "May 8, 2010" and there is a "P" in the middle.

Right now it is being held together with some scotch tape and the bellyband is a little too loose. I am in desperate need of some masking tape and some better paper to make the monogram look more finished.

That's all I have for tonight. I plan on working the kinks out this weekend so when my sister (MOH) comes home for Christmas she can help me put them together. :: insert evil laugh here ::

Hunting Season...

We've looked at a few houses, probably less than 10 so far. We have made one offer, lost one offer and haven't found "the one" quite yet. It seems that there is something to put into the "con" column with each place, which is to be expected. But here is the low down.

We've seriously looked at two houses. House #1 we will call Leona, House #2 we will call Barton.

Leona was quite a fixer upper, but we really liked it, and we also liked the price. We went after work one night with our real-estate agent and at first glance, it looked like we might have found a keeper. The next morning I went with my Dad to check out all the details that I would over look. Boy, was there so much more that I noticed in the light of day with an experienced person at my side. The plumbing was not up to code, the ENTIRE back yard was cement, no grass, a huge 30 year old in ground pool in the middle of the yard, gross bathroom and needed all new windows. This house pretty much looked like it was half assed by the last owner, nothing was finished and what was finished was just half-assed. There were a LOT of random things going on in there that just didn't make sense. After spending about two hours walking around the house and yard with dad, we decided to pass. Too much to do and not enough time to do it. PASS.

Barton defintely need A LOT less work. Just some small details to work out, cosmetic things and minor updates (like insulation around the bay window, finishing the deck, putting up some drywall in the dining room, etc) but it was all stuff that we could do ourselves. It just needed some TLC and appliances, we can do that. Again, we looked at it with the real-estate agent at night and went to check it out again the next morning with my dad. Dad ok'd the house, but we all had slight concerns about the neighborhood. It wasn't ideal (to say the least) but it wasn't horrible either. I think we just got over excited about finding something in our price range that didn't need to be updated to such a degree, so we put a bid on it. We offered about $10,000 less than the asking price, because it was definitely over priced for the neighborhood. That was Saturday afternoon. On Monday we find out that the selling agent had another offer that came in over the weekend. Cool, no big deal. By Wednesday we find out that there are 4 additional offers on the house and the bank is asking that everyone bring their Highest and Best offer and they will go from there. Well, after thinking about it, Justin and I just weren't as intersted in the house anymore and still thought it was pretty overpriced, so we went up about $2500 in our price and called it a day. We found out Friday evening that we didn't get the house, and I think it was more a sigh of relief that we didn't end up with a house in a neighborhood that we weren't 100% on. So in the end, it was a good thing.

We are now interested in a condo that we found. The neighborhood is perfect, close to the expressway for me (I work in Downtown Detroit, and we are looking in the Livonia/Plymouth/Canton area), its got a neighborhood/suburban feel but is also close to shopping, our families, etc. The condo is on the higher end of our price range, which sucks, especially with association fees, but it only needs some new carpet, paint and a good scrub down. It's a little smaller then what we initially wanted, but we could deal with that. We don't plan on having kids for a good 5 years or so, so we could upgrade when needed and still get our moneys worth out of it and get our investment back (hopefully). It's even big enough to raise the first kid in if we needed to. So right now we are just waiting to hear about what offers/info the sellers agent has for this condo. I would really like to put an offer in on it soon, so hopefully we'll get some good news tomorrow.

That's all I really have right now. If I have some updates tomorrow I will definitely post them.

Here's hoping!

Giving Thanks, Giving All My Money to Black Friday!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving All!

This weekend is always a busy one for my family, much more so than Christmas. We have Thanksgiving at our house, so Thursday morning is usually spent cleaning and setting up the table for the arrival of my Grandma and other random family members that show up from year to year. On Friday my sister and I get up early to go shopping. This has been a tradition that my mom, aunt and grandma started a LONG time ago and my sister and I started our own tradition about four years ago. We shop on our own, but meet mom, my aunt and grandma for lunch to catch a second wind. Saturday is our extended family Christmas party, this has been a tradition long before I was alive, we have about 40 people that gather the Saturday after Thanksgiving and this year was our turn to host. Sunday is defintely the day of rest, but by the time Sunday comes I have no energy to do anything anyway.

This year Thanksgiving was pretty laid back, just grandma and Justin joined us for dinner, so it was relatively small. Justin and I traveled over to his grandparent's house after dinner to have dessert with his parents, grandparents and aunts family. It was a nice day. Lots of food, lots of laughter and lots of shopping preparation.

Friday morning my sister and I got up at 3am to get ready to head out into the craziness that is known as Black Friday. We started at JCPennys which opened at 4am, we ran in grabbed a gift for mom that we knew we wanted and then jumped in line before booking it out of there in time to get in line across the street at Target. We pulled into the parking lot to see a group of people standing in front of the store and got out to find that a line was wrapped around to the back of the building. We ended up waiting in line for 45 minutes, and for someone who didn't bring a coat (because I didn't expect to be standing outside... I thought we would take longer at JCPennys) I have to say it was absolutely freezing. Not as bad as it could have been, but freezing none the less. When we got through the doors Laura (my sister) and I started running to the middle of the store where they had the LCD TVs that I wanted. There were no carts left, so I ended up dragging a 40 inch LCD Flatscreen throughout Target while trying to dodge all kinds of crazies. After a pretty short line, a wait for Laura to get through line (we ended up getting sperated because she had more to shop for and I wasn't about to drag that dang TV around the store to shop), a failed attempt to get the TV to fit into my sisters car, a call to Mom to have her come outside and help me carry the TV to my aunts car and another stint in the freezing cold waiting for mom, I got my TV!!!! Justin and I are forgoing Christmas presents this year so we are splitting the cost of this TV so we have a nice one to put in our house (whenever we get one). From there Laura and I did a lot more shopping that resulted in quite a few presents, a wedding band for me and complete exhaustion!

Saturday was the family party, and OH the drama that is involved with family parties. Honestly, I don't want to get into it because It's just too much to explain and will probably annoy me further.

So today I spent my time watching the Monk Marathon on USA and gluing the cork onto the back of my coasters. This was about all I had energy for today after the past 4 days, so at least I feel semi-accomplished.

I'll update in a little while about the house hunting. We've made some progress :)

Understanding Team Jacob

So, unless you've been living under a rock for the past month, you are well aware that "New Moon" came out this weekend in theaters. I first have to admit that I am a big fan of the series, both books and the movies. In the past I have not been much of a reader, but once I graduated college I started reading for pleasure, and the Twilight series was a major part of that transformation in my life. I have read three out of four of the books about 4 times each. The other book was my least favorite, so I have read it 1.5 times (only reading my favorite parts the second time). I am not sure what it is about the series that draws me in and keeps me reading, but there is something that does. The writing is nothing special, but the characters in the book are slightly underdeveloped and there are definitely some holes in the story line, but I cannot help but become fully obsorbed in these stories.

Twilight (book): I really enjoyed the book, it's what got me sucked into the series as a whole and have found "new things" each time I've read it.






Twilight the Movie: eh, it was alright. It was too dark and the characters love story got the shaft. A LOT of the things were taken out of the movie for time/editing and I was quite disappointed, that didn't stop me from pre-ordering the 3 disc edition from Amazon three months ahead of time.

New Moon (book): I found this book extremely boring and long in the middle, but the end has some of my favorite parts and some great story twists and turns. I am extremely thankful that I kept with it even with the desire to quit half way through.




New Moon the Movie: I was plesantly surprised. It was much better than the first movie. Most of the story from the book was part of the film, the soundtrack was ok (not as good as Twilights) but everything from the acting, characters, lines, cinematography, etc were SO MUCH BETTER!! I completely enjoyed this movie and plan on seeing it again. It also made me understand a character that I hated in the book, Jacob Black was played brilliantly by young actor, Taylor Laughtner (or however you spell it) and it made me believe his side of the story and feel for him, which is something the book NEVER did!

So the moral of the story?
Did I enjoy the book series? yes.
Do I think the writing was sub-par? absolutely.
Would I vote for Stephanie Meyer to win the Pultzer? Not a chance.
Do I watch/read/obsess over everything Twilight related? yep.

I have been sucked in, and I'm not afraid to admit it ;)

On a quick side note, we have put an offer in a house and are waiting to hear back from the bank to see if it was accepted. Hopefully we will hear soon.

More to come soon,
Em.

The Hunt for a House Begins...

So we officially started the house hunt last week, this is the reason for my MIA status lately.

Apparently when I get a new "project" I obsess over it until my brain turns to mush, so I have literally done nothing but look for houses/condos online, in neighborhoods and exchange e-mails with my realtor for the past two weeks. We've seen a couple good houses, but nothing we would seriously put an offer on. We had one house that we were serious about until we saw it in the daylight, lol. It ended up needed WAY more work then originally thought. I took my dad to see it with me the day after Justin and I checked it out and the two of us spent a good two hours looking at every inch of the house. In the end there was just too much to fix and not enough funding/time for us to do it. It wasn't my dream neighborhood either, I would have been settling for a neighborhood I'm not crazy about, so I guess it's good my dad is meticulous and gave me the truth about the house.

Right now we're going back and forth between getting a house and condo. Here is the low down:
Condos are are much more updated, usually come with appliances, a little cheaper and don't require me to actually take care of outdoor things. The downside of condos: association fees and neighbors that are super close!
Houses in our price range (in our favored neighborhoods) are going to need quite a bit of work (we're talking more then paint and carpet) and we would most likely have to settle for an area that we aren't in love with. This scares me, as does being financially responsible for owning a house and taking care of the outside and any structural things that go wrong. I think (in the words of my mother) "the first couple years of marriage are hard enough, do you really want to be remodling a house at the same time?" um... NO I don't!

Moving on to other things...
BLACK FRIDAY IS FAST APPROACHING!
I have a love-hate relationship with black friday. One year I will love it, the next I will despise it and all the crazies that come along with it. I get anxiety in crowded places and that anxiety usually makes me crabby so me+no sleep+way too many people in one department store = crabby emily.
So I will usually decide the night before if I really want to make the effort to get up and chase down all the crazies for $10 off a DVD collection or a crock pot. The funny thing is, I usually end up shopping more for myself then anyone else, which is NOT the point of going out, but whatever. I checked out this years Target ad and have finally found a plan for completing my DVD collection before the "big move". Target is having AWESOME sales on DVD series, and this will be an excellent present for people to get me so when I move out, I will be able to take all my favorite shows with me. Over the years my mom, sister and I have collected a lot of TV series, but not all of them are mines, so they can't come with me. bummer. So this years Christmas list will be filled with seasons of The Office, Friends and Sex and the City. Love it!

So, I think last time I wrote, I promised some invitation mock-ups... well I'm still working on that. And by "working on that" I mean, I haven't started so leave me alone :P
That will be a Thanksgiving break project... hopefully.

This weekend is the Mary Kay party and New Moon date with Rachel. I'm super excited about it and will post some more info on what it is later. Maybe tomorrow.

So this will be all for now, gotta save something for tomorrow :)

Wish me luck on my house/condo hunt tomorrow, got 3 places to look at after work!

Mini Breakdown

Yep. I had one. It was irrational, but I knew it would happen, and I'm sure it won't be the last one I have on this topic. Justin and I have decided to start looking for apartments soon so we can finally move in together. Now, I cannot wait to live with him and have my own space, but I had a  mini breakdown thinking about not living with my parents and waking up on Christmas morning not in my bed, having to do everything for myself, etc. I have lived in the same house my ENTIRE life, slept in the same bed (for most of my life) and have never lived on my own. Just a mini crisis, and I'm glad I got it out. I know when it comes to "moving day" I will probably have the same breakdown again, hopefully Justin will understand. I just feel overwhelmed with the "real world" idea. Money, life, work, money, bills, money, cleaning, cooking, MONEY! AHHHH!

Ok. I'm better now.

On a different note, I am going to attempt the bottom of the coasters this week. Mom and I bought a roll of cork from JoAnn Fabrics with a coupon (ended up being less than $5) and some E6000 (aparently it's the "mack daddy" of craft glue) so we'll see how it goes. We've got 90 coasters down, not sure how many more to go. I am in the process of deciding between 2 and 4 coaster sets for each person... After the coasters I'll be going into "Invitation mode". I need to get AT LEAST a perfect mock-up so I know what the hell I'm going to do when it comes to crunch time. I have quite a few ideas and am SUPER excited about the custom embosser I bought online a couple weeks ago. I can't wait to post some pictures, so keep your eyes open for some fun updates this week, I know I have been slacking lately. Hopefully I will be back into full swing this week.

More Later :)

DIY Coasters

Alright ladies! Here we go: These are the instructions for the DIY coasters I have been talking so much about. Please remember I got the idea from a Knottie: TheSaltyPeanut I found her and her outstanding bio on the DIY board. (I just went to the bookmark I had for her bio, so I could link it, but it seems to be gone).

What you need:
4x4 (or whatever size you want) White Ceramic Tiles
- I found the tiles at Lowe's (& Home Depot) for $.16 a piece, they come individually or in boxes of 80
Modge Podge
White Ceramic Paint (small bottle)
Small foam brushes
- These can be found at any craft store, I got them 20/$1 at Michaels during a Back to School sale.
Scrapbooking paper
Water Based Acrylic Coat
- I used Minwax Water-Based Polycrylic found in the wood stain aisle of Lowe's/Home Depot.


The Coaster Process:
 Tips:
*Doing them in sets of 20 - 30 at a time works best, it's not overwhelming and works best with timing for the Modge Podge layers.

*The coasters I used had bare edges, so I used the white ceramic paint to cover the sides.
*I leave the coat of Acrylic on for sometimes up to 3 days just to ensure that is as dry and set as possible.
 

1. Cut the scrapbook paper so it is 1/4 inch smaller on all sides then the tile (4 inch tiles will have 3 3/4 inch squares)

 



2. Cover the bare edges of the tile with the white ceramic paint. Depending on your type of paint or your amount of OCD you may need two coats. My first couple of batches I used two, but realized that there aren't noticeable differences between those with one layer and those with two. Stacking the coasters at varying angles will make it easy to pic them up without disturbing the paint on the edges.

 



3. Once you get through all of the tile edges take one of the tiles and put a layer of Modge Podge on the surface of the tile. 
 

4. Take one of the scrapbook paper squares and put it on top of the Modge Podge. To ensure the edges are going to stick to the tile, but a thick layer around the edges of the scrapbook paper by smashing the brush down around the edge. Then smooth an entire layer of Modge Podge on top of the paper. It's ok if it looks white, it will dry clear shortly. Do this to all of the tiles you have, laying them flat on a garbage bag in the order in which you do them. 

5. Once you've put the first layer on all the tiles start with your first one again, and put another Modge Podge layer on. (If you are doing a smaller batch give the tiles about 20 -30 minutes to dry in between layers) You will do this again so you have three Modge Podge layers on each tile. Leave them for about 4 hours to give the Modge Podge time to dry. 




6. Once the Modge Podge is dry (it may be slightly tacky, but it will be almost completely dry) put a thin layer of the Acrlyic coat on each of the tiles and leave them laying flat on the garbage back overnight so the acrlyic will set.

The next step would be to put whatever you want on the bottom so they won't scratch up table tops. I haven't gotten to this process yet, and once I do I'll post some instructions.


 Good Luck! Let me know if you have any questions, I will double check my instructions to make sure I didn't leave anything out :)

Bad Blogger!

I have been a bad blogger for the past couple of weeks. I have meant to come on here and tell my small following about my life, but I just never got to it. So accept my appologies :)

So my first excuse for not writing is that my sister came home for a surprise visit for a couple days. We spent three days shopping, eating and I spent an evening making her Mr. Potato Head Halloween costume (pictures of the costume to come).

Excuse #2 I have been going through a wedding hiadous lately. I just can't seem to get myself into the DIY, wedding mode BUT with the recent arrival of my Enagement pictures that need is starting to come back.

I'm sure everyone that reads my blog has seen my e-pics already, but I'll post a couple anyway. These are some of my favorites.

So this is all for a couple hours, I am off to do another round of my shower favor coasters (I'm taking pics this time). I'll be back in a little while to put up some pictures and instructions for the coasters as well as some pumpkin pictures from yesterday (Halloween).

Happy Sunday!

Engagement Picture Session!!!

Today was E-Pic day in our neck of the woods! It was actually a lot of fun, I was a little nervous at first becuase I had no idea what to expect but our photographer, Joe was amazing! He made us both feel really comfortable and it was actually pretty fun. We went to a bridge I used to go to in high school on Hines Drive, unfortunately the bridge is in A LOT worse shape then it used to be, so we spent about five minutes taking some pictures to satisfy my need for "my bridge" pictures and then headed off to a park. The park was awesome! There were some great colors that turned already, swings, two bridges, paths in the woods and a playground. Joe took a lot of pictures and showed us a few during the shoot and I am SOOOOOOOO excited to see the rest. He said he should have them up on his site by Thursday, so tomorrow is going to be the longest day ever! I cannot wait to post some pictures for you, my three followers later in the week :)

In other news, Justin and I have decided that our next big task is going to be finding a place to live. We have a lead on someone who is planning on buying and then renting out housing in our area, which I think might be our best bet at this point. We got approved for a mortgage, which is enough to get a nice condo in the area or a foreclosed home. We are definitely leaning towards the condo, just because we do not have the time or funds to fix up a foreclosed home. I realize it would be much harder to sell a condo down the line, but we expect to be living in whatever property we buy for 5+ years, so hopefully the market will take a turn and we could end up building equity in the property instead of losing money. Hopefully. So stay tuned for updates on the housing hunt. We are going to wait until after the holidays to start a serious search, but the preliminary stuff will have to start soon.

So, I have taken Tuesday - Friday off from work this week, for a few reasons, one of which I am not going to mention until tomorrow because I have NO idea who reads this and there is something in the works. The other reasons are: engagement pictures which were today, and some serious cleaning and organization that needs to happen in my room (and all the other rooms my things have migrated to). So tomorrow's mission is going to be: CLEAN STAIRS and GET CLOTHING ORGANIZED! This is my bottom line mission, if other things get done, GREAT, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Although, I'm in the middle of watching "Flipping Out" with Jeff Lewis, maybe he'll inspire my organizational side :)

Hopefully I'll have updates later with Engagement Pictures!!!

Had to Brag!

So my wonderful mother brought home some Sweetest Day flowers for me tonight! I just had to brag, take a look, I love daisies!!

Feeling Accomplished!!

So I was feeling a little better this afternoon so I decided to take on the task of finishing my rhinestone "Mrs. NewLastName" hoodie for the wedding day. I am feeling so proud, I wasn't very confident that is was going to work for some reason, but was so excited when I saw the finished product!

I got the instructions from another Knottie, who got them from a website. I got the instructions in my early knottie days, so I didn't think to take down the knotties name...sorry. If you're out there let me know and I'll give you credit!

 What you need:
1. Flatback Hot Fix Rhinestones
(I used 10ss 3m, which were ordered off ebay, I used between 700-800 rhinestones BUT I have a long NewLastName)
2. Mylar Paper
(I also purchased this from ebay I got 10 sheets for $5)
3. Tweezers or a wax rhinestone "picker-upper"
4. Computer/printer
5. Iron
6. Sweatshirt

 These are the instructions I got online, my notes will be in red.

1. In MICROSOFT WORD go to "Insert----> WordArt" and use WordArt to type out your text. Use one text box for your soon-to-be last name "Mrs.XXX" and then use a separate text box for your "EST. DATE" if you choose to include this. *I used PowerPoint because I am more comfortable with that over Word*

2. Use the Word draw tools panel and select 'Rotate or Flip' then choose 'Flip Horizontal.' This will flip your text so it looks like you are looking at a mirror image of the text. Next adjust your text for the font you want (Lucida Handwriting or Calligraphy are nice) and font size. Print them out and through trial and error see what will fit well on the undies you choose. Then print and cut out your text. *I obviously used a sweatshirt, not undies and chose Edwardian Script for my font because it has been the main font I have used for WR stuff*

3. Next, tape your text down onto your work surface and tape it so it stays in place.

4. Then take your MYLAR paper--peel off the sticky sheet away from the white backing and place the sticky sheet on top of your text--sticky side UP. Tape it down to the table, too, so it stays put. *The tape is SUPER important, you will go INSANE if you try to do it without taping the mylar paper down!*

5. Then just place your rhinestones onto the sticky mylar paper over your text (trace it with the rhinestones). Make sure your rhinestones are SHINY SIDE DOWN and glue side up. You should be looking at the glue side (when you flip it and put on your undies the shiny side will be up).

6. After you're done with the design, place it shiny side up onto your undies. Take a thin cloth or even thin t-shirt and place it over the design/mylar paper. On high heat and NO STEAM place the iron over the design (and cloth) and put pressure. This is melting the glue! Do this until you feel the stones are setting. Then flip the undies over and apply the iron to the back of the undies too. This is IMPORTANT in making sure they set! *When you go to remove the mylar paper, do it SLOWLY because some rhinestones might not of stuck and you may need to be ironed a second or third time*

That's all there is to it! It's pretty cumbersome, but easy non-the-less. I took the top of one of our TV trays off and put it on my lap in the lazy-boy and watched TV while tracing the letters with the rhinestones. That helped keep me comfortable and made it easy to put away everything if I had to take a break (it's not taped to the dining room table). I'm so excited to have this one done! But I skipped dinner to get it done, so now I'm off to find something to eat. Good Luck and let me know if you have any questions about the process! :)

The Office: Watch n' Blog

So, I was going to wait for a day or so before my next post, but this episode has made me laugh already, so here I go:

Anyone else notice how Kevin is just sitting in Jim's office in the background when Michael and Oscar are arguing?? lol!

I don't like that Jim and Pam are gone :( I miss them and it's only five minutes into the episode...I wonder if they'll be in the episode at all. Maybe we'll get to see part of the honeymoon...wow, that sounded dirtier than I anticipated. ha!

I have to say that I like Andy, sometimes, but other times I find him quite strange, which I'm sure is all part of what makes Andy, Andy.

OH. MY. GOD! Dwight just dumped the roach on the table, and I about jumped out of the chair I was laughing so hard.

A leaky spark tube! lol.

I would be so ticked if I was Jim and Pam and people from work kept calling me, BUT I would NOT be carrying my cell phone around while on my honeymoon.

Alright, The Office is over, I am moving over to Grey's but am not going to blog seeing as how I have missed the past episode and a half.

Longest Week Ever...

This is one of those blog posts that is just going to consist of me complaining about how my week went, so consider that your disclaimer.
1. I am incredibly frustrated with my job, it's really hard for me to go in everyday and seems to get more ridiculous every. single. time. I walk in the door.
2. I have been sick for about two weeks now. This past Monday, I was feeling pretty good, most of my yuckiness was gone...fast forward to Monday night --> I start to feel WORSE then I did before. Fever, chills, achy, runny nose, stuffy nose, sinus, coughing, headache, dizzy... you name it. So Wednesday rolls around, and I am having a lot of trouble breathing, I just couldn't seem to get enough air in each breath, so I am forced to take really big deep breaths every third breath or so. Wednesday night: I am weezing, and when I go to bed my throat and chest are burning each time I take a breath.
3. I take a personal day today to go to the doctor, no bronchitis, my breathing has gotten a little better, but I am told to take the next couple days off and rest. Excellent. Except I have some scheduled time off next week and I'm sure it look very good for me to be gone for two days, then back for one before I am gone for another four. I hate my job, but I NEED my job.
4. I haven't seen my fiance in five days. We have both been working and he was keeping distance so that he can stay healthy (he needs to be healthy to go to work), which is completely understandable, but I MISS HIM!
5. The medicine that my doctor prescribed me says it might cause diarreah, REALLY??? Can't I just get a break. (I know this is an over-share, sorry).

I think in an effort to keep up with my blog, I am going to start taking pictures of things and blog while watching some of my favorite shows. I love TV and that's all I'm going to be doing for the next couple of days, so we'll see if that keeps me blogging. Hopefully I will get some pictures taken for my knot bio as well. Here's hoping I will feel good enough tomorrow to get some stuff done.

Stay tuned... I might just blogg while watching your favorite show ;)

214 days and counting...

I'm home sick from work today. I usually feel pretty guilty when I can't go into work, which I did this morning, but I got progressively worse as the day went on, so I would say it was a pretty good decision. I work in a call center where I have to answer calls all day long, so if I'm not feeling well it makes my job impossible because the phone never stops ringing. So I figured I would use some of my down time to update my blog (not that anyone reads it, but whatever!)

Justin and I have decided to hold off on the house hunting for a little while. After going through the numbers we wouldn't have been left with enough money to eat/live while still saving for the wedding. So for now, we're still with our parents, which is okay, I've been here for 24 years. A couple more months won't make a difference. We did find a few condos we liked though. I'm still going through the condo-house debate. Any suggestions??

So changing topics - I watched my first episode of Gossip Girl last night. I was intrigued but also found a couple things slightly annoying. Being obsessed with other teenage drama shows, I knew I would at least be interested in it. I was surprised that even though I have never seen an episode before I enjoyed the characters and plots of the show. My beefs: Blair and her BF (I cannot remember his name, just that his initials are CB) are strange. I find him highly annoying because he reminds me of a Luke Perry impersonator. His voice sounds SOOO fake. But to Blair's credit, I think he's funny. I enjoy her personality/priorities, lol. I do, however, find "Gossip Girl" very intriguing... who is she? how does she know all these things??? Crazy!!

Alright, I know I am all over the place today, but I think I need to lay down and get some more sleep. Maybe I'll have another "The Office" marathon, those are fun.

Thanks for reading,
XOXO
Gossip Girl.

Wish you were here!

So last week my laptop screen got cracked when my mom rolled on it with the Lazy-Boy. Technically it is my fault for putting it on the floor, so I can't blame her. Anyway, my Dad found a company that fixes MacBook screen in LA, so on Monday I sent it out for repair (thankfully this guy only charges $180, compared to Apples $500 - $900 estimate). It's been quite a LONG week without my computer. I just don't know what to do with myself at night. The only time I am able to play around on the computer is when things are slow at work, and things are NEVER slow at work. Already I have been interrupted by the phone three times since I started writing this. My point: Here I am going into my weekend and I am sad that my computer will not come back to me before the week's end :(

Pity party over.

On a brighter note: I have tomorrow off!!!! So today is technically my Friday! I am going out with the mother tonight and hopefully my Aunt Judy that I haven't seen in about 6 months, so that is super exciting.

Tomorrow FI and I are going mortgage hunting! I am really excited to see what is out there, but I am super nervous that we won't be approved for what we need. Sometimes I wonder if we are actually ready to be homeowners. I know it is the best financial decision (between buying and renting) and will be better in the long run, but it just seems like a huge commitment with huge expenses attached to it. I think I also feel like I am unprepared. I know nothing about finances and mortgages and don't want to end up being screwed over or unable to make my mortgage payments in two months. I guess I will just have to find out what our options are tomorrow. So for tonight.... house or apartment, that is the question!

First-Time Home Buyer/Bride-To-Be

Crossroads. That's where I am. I can see my future, but I see about four different paths to take to get to that final destination. I graduated from college a year ago, I am closing in on my year anniversary at my first full-time job, I am getting married in 7 months, 3 weeks and 6 days, I am in the process of trying to find a place for my fiance and I to live, and in the midst of all of this, I am just trying to live my life and figure out how to pay for adulthood.

I cannot wait to find a place to live, apartment, house, condo... whatever! I just want to find a place to call my own and start building my life with my future husband. With the economy has it is, I know there are homes out there that we can afford, but I am nervous that maybe we will end up over extending our finances. Although, this could just be my "becoming an adult" cold feet. Sometimes I just can't believe I'm old enough to have these kind of responsibilites.

7 months, 3 weeks and 6 days.

I am wedding crazy, now-a-days. My fiance and I have been together (with a few derailments along the way) for over 6 years, we have been engaged since April of this year. I honestly still find myself not believing that I am engaged and actually PLANNING MY WEDDING! Everything has pretty much been planned, now it's just about execution and paying for everything. I have a feeling a lot of my posts will end up being wedding related for the time being, because I am in project mode :) I consider myself a DIY bride (for those of you not, "Knot Saavy" that just means I plan on doing a lot of things myself). I found a DIY project on a bio on The Knot that had instructions and pictures for coasters made out of ceramic tiles and scrapbooking paper. So far I have made 30 of them, and have fallen IN LOVE with them. I cannot wait to make the next batch. The "knottie" (as we call them) made hers for favors for her reception guests, mine will be used for shower favors. I cannot wait to give them out. I could probably go on forever about wedding plans, but I will refrain for the moment, since this is supposed to be a introduction post.

I work for a non-profit organization in downtown Detroit, which is both good and bad.
Good = I have some sence of job security because the economy seems to be worse here then everywhere else in the country.
Bad = The economy sucks! There isn't much out there right now to help people that need it the most.
I have some reservations about my current employment. Some things I chalk up to my inexperience in the "Real World" and others I chalk up to the fact that I work for some real jerks.

I think that's enough for now. I'll update later on, gotta get back to work.
Thanks for reading!