Bridesmaids gifts

A while ago i started shopping around for my girls gifts. I wanted something fun, yet practical. Something they would get use out of and use it even after the wedding.. For some reason i thought that i had to present my girls with their gifts at my bridal shower, but it was brought up to my attention that the gifts are distributed at the rehearsal dinner. That gave me a lot ( not really) more time to shop around. I want to get every girl something a little different from the next, though all equally filled with love =-)

I know for sure i am making them their Bridesmaids jewelry. I found the perfect supplies that will look beautiful with their dresses. I'm not sure whether i will post pictures of the project or not. I guess it wont be the only gift they receive- It'll just be a part of it. I haven't started on those yet. I have been busy, as you can tell by my lack of blogging.

Juju is having a hard time deciding what he is going to get the guys. I suggested Swiss army knives, that was a no go. Plus he has a wide range of ages to give to. Poor fella, at least i have an idea.

Congratulate Us!

We have been pre approved to get married. We successfully completed the pre marital class that is required by the church. In my car, on the side of the front passengers seat, neatly tucked in a red folder sits our Certificate of Completion, which strongly resembles the place settings at Omega. It was not as bad as i had envisioned it. The topics were interesting and there was few activities, thus i cant complain.

All we really have to do now is take the questionnaire at the church. I left a message for our priest, but he tends to be busy so i'll have to cal him back a few more times. Speaking of calling people a few times, I finally got in touch with the decorator at the church. I had a pretty good idea of who she was since i always saw her at church. So i walked up to her and began rattling off the story of how i had left 3 messages and had not heard from the decorator. She interjected and said that it was her who decorated the church. Just like that. No apology, nothing. I mean she could've made up a lie, something, anything. But no, she had no shame.

Any how we are to meet with her to further discuss our church decorations. I just hope she knows what shes doing. I'll let you know.

Love Letters

This weekend, Juju and I will be going to our couples retreat. I have to admit, I am a bit nervous. I'm going to be blunt, i don't want to go. I'm going to be honest, Juju doesn't want to go. I know it will only one day, but something about it makes me feel uneasy.

When you get married through the catholic church, and probably other churches as well, you have to take pre marital classes along with a quick 500 question questionnaire. And then what ever you get wrong, as in what ever you and your partner don't agree on, you will go over. ONE by ONE. I'm not sure if that's what we'll be doing this weekend, or if that is done with the priest that will marry us. One day juju and i discussed what we would do if our priest would say he wouldn't marry us. Juju promptly answered, "well, we'll just have somebody else do it" I was referring to the whole 500 question questionnaire.

A friend of mine said she and her then fiance had to write love letters to each other and read them to each other. Now, I'm not sure if this was out loud or in private. I can handle that. I'm good (sorta) at expressing myself in writing. At least anything that i have ever written for Juju has made its point across.

I guess i really don't know how to describe how I'm feeling about the whole retreat. I'm not shy. It will be bilingual, thank goodness, believe it or not, i don't know all the Spanish words in the dictionary. I feel like they are going to... not criticize, more so, analyze our relationship. I'm afraid they will conclude or assume that, by their book, we'll answer too many questions wrong, thus not making a good match, or a good candidate to get married. I think I'm over thinking this.

I know how much i love Juj. I know the problems we have. I know our weaknesses, our strengths. I know what we agree on and what pushes his buttons. Sure sometimes he wants to throw a kidney punch and i sometimes want to drop kick him, but i mean... who doesn't? If i have to write him a love letter, i will include my mild desires to drop kick him. He'll know what i mean. As i sit here and think more about this, i am beginning to feel a bit more calm. I know i have nothing to worry about, because like i said in the beginning, he's my lobsters. And once lobsters find their mate, they will grow old, holding hands.

Perfect Shoes

I started searching for the 'perfect' bridesmaids shoe. I wanted my girls to get the same shoes, same color (obviously), i wanted them to be comfortable, and if possible, to be able to be worn again. Well to begin with, most of my girls dont wear heels, I would say 3 out of 8 wear heels. I found some strappy heels for about 35 bucks, they were pink and they matched the watermelon color pretty well. The only thing is that since they were strappy, they might become uncomfortable quickly and the heel part of the shoe might slap the heel of their feet. So on continued my search.

They have all the shoes displayed at Davids Bridal, but one day i stumbled upon the perfect shoe. Not too high, not too low, it is peep toe criss cross pump. And they are dyeable. So i figured, they look comfy enough. They are cheap enough, AND they can have them re dyed black for another occasion.

5 Out of my 8 girls got theirs yesterday. I will hopefully be going on friday to get the rest. Another thing off my list! We had to order a few sizes that werent in stock and some are scheduled to arrive as late as 4/30. I panicked a little when i heard that. We'll just have to pray to the shoe Gods that they arrive sooner.

Here it comes!

You like the new countdown?

I though you would.

Flowers

Juju and i went on Monday to sign the contract for our flowers. I cant believe we are so close to the wedding and we didn't have our flowers secured. I feel so relieved to know that everything, well, just about is taken care of. While we were there we made a few changes to the taller centerpieces. We went with a simpler concept then we had initially wanted. Our floral consultant mocked up a centerpiece for us and we loved it. We basically paid off the entire balance for the flowers (sigh of relief).

We have also decided on silk bouquets for the girls. Numerous people told me that traditional, in Hispanic weddings, the bridesmaids pay for their own bouquets. I'm frugal. I don't want them to spend more then they have to. With the attempt to keep our vision and budget for our flowers in check, we opted to make the bridesmaids bouquets. I mocked up one bouquet and it looked pretty darn good. I'm not one to toot my own horn, but i was shocked. More on this later...

We still have a few small things to do. All of the stationery involved with the wedding is next on my list. We continue to comb through our guest list and we should be starting on our invitations soon. I mean soon. Like this weekend. Invitation etiquette says "Invitations for a long-weekend or holiday wedding should be mailed out a little bit earlier, as well. (Aim for about two months in advance.)" And we are at about the 2 month mark, well a little bit more then that i think.
Once i get a better idea of the number of guest i can get started on the guest place settings.

I recently found out that if we want our church decorated, we would need to pay someone (from the church) to do it for us. I guess they want to ensure that we don't 'Tape, Pin, Staple' anything. So I'm at a crossroads. I had began to purchase ribbon for the pew bows, not to mention the bowdabra, tulle, and our aisle runner, which i have yet to monogram. When i spoke with the receptionist she mentioned, that even if we provided our own decorations, the fee would be the same for set up and take down. I tried contacting the decorator, with no avail. So here i sit with countless spools of tulle and ribbon. I haven't yet returned them, because like juju said, what if her stuff has yellowed? I don't know if she uses new material for each wedding or she re uses past bows etc.

I will have to continue my stalking.

Saturday

One of my bridesmaids Mari, Juju's cousin, turned 21 last Monday so we went out to celebrate the milestone that is 21. We started out with dinner at Buccas. I, personally love Bucca's. Its so delicious and the food taste fresh. After waiting for an hour, although we had reservations, we were finally awkwardly seated at two round table that made a # 8. We ordered drinks, toasted to the birthday girl and dove into our meals as soon as they arrived.

My favorite dish was the Chicken Cacciatore, but for an unknown reason, it was removed from the menu. The Chef actually made one specially for Juju and I after we found out it was no longer on the menu. The runner up-and staple- is the Chicken Parmesana Since the portions are meant to be shared, Juju, Sasha (his lil sister) Dezzy (cousin & BM) and i shared that and garlic mashed potatoes. Mmmmm.

Just as we were about to finish, Dezzy, who is sitting next to me, pulls out this sort of cartilage/bone looking thingie out of her mouth. It was gross, and when it comes to things like that, i easily get squirmish. so we all looked at it in awe, trying to figure out what it was. We flagged the waitress down and showed it to her, she picked it up with her hand, after it had been in dezzy's mouth, at this point i have my head buried in Juju's shoulder laughing me head off. The waitress took it to the kitchen for further investigation. The manager came back an concluded that it was a piece of wicker from the bread baskets. Im going to stick to my theory that it was something the chicken ate. The manager removed the dish from our bill, which was
appreciated (and expected).

After dinner we went to NOTTE. The drinks were relatively expensive although they were pretty tall. It has been a while since i've been to an English music club. Lately we've been patrons at Wherehouse [hotwater] and Tropical. After a few drinks and dancing the same way for a few hours we decided to meet my sister at Tropical and/or Babalu (depending on where she was) We arrived at Tropical (just missed gaby, she left to Babalu) but since it was 1 already we decided to just stick around at Tropical. We had a few more drinks and danced the night away. Juju and i have become very fond of Tropical. The drinks are moderately priced, its a bit smoky in there sometimes, but i love ( <3 ) love the music variety. They play everything. I had a great time on Saturday, it was the first time i actually hung out with Dezzy outside a family function. Saturday was the first time Sasha had gone out to a club, she turned 21 in January, but due to a lost ID, she had not yet gone out out. Mon & Cristy, we are always hanging out, its like second nature.

After bar, we were craving Mexican food, we headed to a popular Mexican restaurant, where our visit was abruptly cut short, due to a scuffle inside. We immediately got up and headed towards the door. We decided to go to the drive thru and call it a night. That was enough excitment for one saturday.

My Veil

I ordered my veil on-line Saturday February 28 and received it March 9th. Is that incredibly fast or what? It is specially fast because i ordered a top to bottom fully custom veil. I chose the length (you can choose from 24'' to 108'') , the color, (you can order ; white, diamond white, ivory, shimmer, dark ivory and even gold), the fullness at the top of the veil( sheer, standard or full), the number of layers, how wide you'd like it at the bottom of the veil, what type of edging, the cut, the details for beading, pearls, or rhinestone oh and the size and type of comb you'd like it attached to. Honestly, i took me 3 visits to completely customize it. I love that no one else will ever wear the same veil, my veil. My dress is incredible (Duh) and i wanted something that would complement it, nothing too much, nothing too little, and its perfect I cant wait to wear it.

I had fallen in love with a veil at Davids Bridal that was over 200 dollar. This my friends, was a fraction of the cost and completely mine. I obviously wont post a picture because the Mr reads the blog every once in a while. But..... I'll give you this much.

Sin Penas

On Saturday night we went out for dinner and drinks with my cousins and my sister and her hubby. Off of someones suggestion, i wont say who, we went to Fiesta Garibaldi. Juju & I had never been there before, but everyone else had. A few years back Gaby had gotten sick with some sort of food poisoning from the same restaurant ( different location ) but she was a trooper and gave it another go.

It was pretty dead for a Saturday night. In fact there was a small group leaving the restaurant and then we were the only ones there. I was sadly disappointed with my food, as my sister, jesse, dulce and juju were. Thanks a lot primo! After picking at my food we walked over to the bar were the bartender tried killing my sister with an awful drink. My cousin Patty's long island was the only thing that was good. She skimped on the Xrated on my drink, thus i was not happy. We decided to pass them all to Marco, but he didn't finish them all.

We headed back to Marco & Patty's house where we played dominoes and had a few more drinks.

Juanito, a friend of ours, brought this:

Quita Penas

There is a number of definitions for Penas; pain, sorrow, misery, heartache, distress, embarrassment, labor, trouble. Thus, the literal translation is 'Sorrow Remover'

I know what your thinking. What? Sorrow remover?

oh yes. It works. Just look at these amazing before and after pictures:

Before (full of penas)

AND....

After- Penas Free!

We finished the bottle. We sat there until 6 in the morning laughing and sharing stories and our favorite memories. I had a great time. Even though Marco and i got punked by 2 bunnies when we stepped outside his house. A bit traumatic, but we'll be fine.

Entering Rehab

The first step is to admit that you have a problem.

I have a problem.

With. Food.

Perfect example, just the other day, i had an angry whopper, [Gaby's been talking about them for about a year now, i finally tried it] less then an hour later i was stuffing my face with a cheese pastry, a sloppy Joe, potato chips, a rice krispie bar and i washed it all down with french vanilla flavored coffee. disgusting. I know. I should be ashamed of myself. I am. I have fallen off the wagon.

Dulce struggled to squeeze me into my dress. I am ashamed.

Luckily i have time. 73 days. I need to loose a few pounds and tone up. The other day, my mom bought an elliptical. That's right, I have absolutely no excuse to not loose a few pounds. I have an exercise ball somewhere too. i should probably go and find that. I still have my membership to the gym. The only down side to that is that juju works until at least 7:30 every afternoon, so that mean i would have to go by myself. Not that i haven't gone alone, but its just nicer when you have someone to sweat next to, someone you know.

So i [ and my family ] have decided that i will start moving some of my priceless possessions into what will be our house once juju and i get married. The elliptical will go in my room. It will serve as a constant reminder that my dress doesn't fit. Maybe should hang my dress next to it.
Motivating enough?? I think so.

Rerouted Honeymoon

A few weeks ago i went to go talk to a travel agent. I wanted to consult with a professional because i, well, really have never been anywhere, with the exception of my hometown in Mexico. And that was about 4.5 years ago when Juju and i first met. I had initially looked at all the travel websites out there. Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, you name it, but seeing that i rarely travel, i was weary of booking such an important trip online. I got a good idea of where i wanted to go, where i wanted to stay and what i wanted to do while we were there. Juju said he would leave the honeymoon planning up to me, which i was thrilled about. We went back and forth a lot initially, before i took the planning process over my self, he wanted to go to a busy city, ( Mexico City to be exact) and i wanted to be laying beach side with a fruity drink with a tiny little umbrella in my drink. Not that I'm ready to lay beach side, but ill cross that bridge when i come to it. Finally we both decided to go all inclusive beach side. The details of everything would be left up to me and thus i want to keep it a bit of a surprise.

FYI- resort #1- my first pick resort
resort #2- the resort the TA suggested with the $200 resort credit.

So when i arrived at the travel agents office, i showed her what i found and asked her what she could get for me. She punched some numbers into the computer, added figures and gave me about the same numbers i found online. I asked questions, she answered. And then she said 'one sec, let me take a look at something' she proceeded to tell me that she could get me into a different resort with the same star rating, which included a 200 resort credit, for the same amount of resort #1. I asked more questions and i told her i would get back to her. I was honest with her and i told her that i, in my head, had already decided i wanted to stay at resort #1, but i would think about her suggestion.

I left her office and sat in my car in the parking lot for a few moments, trying to absorb all the information that was give to me. I thought to myself, I wonder if she gets kickbacks for sending X number of people to certain resorts. I mean if she does, that's fine, i don't blame her for trying. I understand that some people work on commission and everyone needs to make a living, so i wasn't bothered by it at all. But I'm my head i had everything planned out already.

WWJD? What would you do? Would you stick with what you initially wanted or go somewhere else based on a suggestion? Don't get me wrong, both resorts are beautiful and both have similar if not identical amenities. But what if Resort #2 sucks, and its all her fault? Or what if resort #1 sucks and its all MY fault. Oh goodness.

Updates

February has been a very difficult month for me as a whole. Earlier in the month we confronted a very scary situation with my cousins and recently lost an aunt. Working 7 days a week has definitely put a screeching halt to my chipperness. With everything going on i stopped posting as often. A few things have been put on hold, but I'm trying to get back to normal, whatever that is. So here i am, once again, trying to get back at it full force.

First i want to address a few topics/updates. My Finger, being naked and all. Well tis fully dressed with my ring. My sister in law called and let me know that my custom band was in and it was ready for my approval. I could also pick up my ring, which she cleaned and had rerhodiumed. So that is that. I took a picture of my ring with the band on it, but since i took it with my phone, its not the best picture. Here, i share:

As you can see my knuckles are permanently bruised and discolored, i had no idea you could really see it though. I used to box and i never really did get the 'wrapping' part down. Go figure, now I'm scarred for life.

Next, We went to a few appointments to find our florist. I learned a lot about flowers, their origin, their season, their costs... We go a few bids and we got a good idea of what the flowers are going to costs us. An arm and a leg. I am contemplating using silk flowers for the bridesmaids arrangements to help cut costs. With 79 days to the wedding our options are limited. The last estimate i received was definitely lower then the others and it didn't seem like she was skimping out on the flowers. Our first florist, who shall remain nameless, brought our estimate down nearly 600 dollars, but also made me frightened by how many corners and flowers she was cutting out. I began to worry my girls would end up carrying a single stem of baby's breath. =-/ Again, i haven't really done much follow up with her, still putting my puzzle back together.

Lastly, Juju bought me a set of pearls. He wanted to buy me something to wear for the wedding. He actually found them while we were out shopping together, so it wasn't a surprise. Either way they are beautiful, elegant and classy. Its funny because i already had jewelry for the wedding. To play the something old part in the little rhyme, i was going to wear a set of faux pearls, or beads as juju insultingly called them, i wore for my Quinceanera. I don't mind not wearing my previously selected jewelry, these fit my dress perfectly and i love that Juju picked them.