10 Things I Have Learned About Planning a Wedding (Since I Got Engaged)

I've been engaged for 2 whole weeks now! Hooray! Wedding planning is fun, right!? Not all of it! So here are some things that I have learned about wedding planning since I got engaged.

1. Find an awesome location for your ceremony? They want $20,000 dollars just to rent the space. Oh and they won't tell you that on their website. You have to email or call them for their rates so they don't scare the initial shit out of you.

I mean all I'm doing is walking around on your property and having my friends come hang out and stuff.

2. If it looks fancy, it's expensive. Real damn expensive.

These invites are beautiful, but are they $3,000 dollars beautiful? Uhhh... nuhhh.

3. If it has anything to do with the "w" word, it's going to cost you more.

Me: "I'm looking for pricing on an up-do on Saturday, Oct..."

Awesome Hair Chick: "Oh okay my up-do rate is $60 dollars."

Me: "Okay great I would love to do a trial with you sometime soon."

Awesome Hair Chick: "Oh this is for your wedding? Congratulations! My rate is $250 dollars for weddings."

4. If the venue/vendor/anything has ever been featured in a magazine, they are more expensive.

I have all of these accolades and stuff and therefore I can rape you in the butt with my prices!

5. Pinterest is actually NOT very helpful at planning a wedding.

If you think that the link will take you to the actual designer of the dress you are WRONG. It will probably take you to some Chinese dress maker that doesn't speak English. And talk about distractions. Try searching for "bridesmaids dresses" and then you see cute bridal party robes and then you go to Etsy to see the prices and then you have a minor coronary.

6. Just because it's a new or different idea, doesn't mean it's a good idea.

Hello awkward walk down the aisle making eye contact with every single guest.

Those guests sitting towards the center of the X are going to be really comfortable all night shoving their chairs in to each other.

7. Apparently there is an acceptance for calling your best friends "bitches" when it comes to inviting them to stand next to you, hold your dress while you pee, and put up with you on the most stressful day of your life.

Really? Like no.

8. There are a bunch of things that are not that exciting that you have to remember to plan for.

Damn you stamps, and taxes, and tips, and other boring stuff.

9. Even when you get a bunch of stuff for free, your wedding will still cost a lot of money.

Dis chick got a free venue, free officiant, free dress, free accessories, free hair, free makeup, and free groom's attire and she still paid 23 grand for her wedding.

10. Find the dress of your dreams? Expect to drive all over God's green earth to try it on.

Because of course the dress of your dreams (for now) is in their new Spring line and it hasn't arrived at any store within 150 miles of you. And then once you do try on this dream dress it will probably look like crap on you because who really knows what will flatter their body the best?

So that my friends is what I have learned about planning a wedding. Good thing we don't have a date set yet!

I have got a few things accomplished like the color palette and how I want my hair to look. The important stuff, ya know?

Buy This Not That: Apricot Scrub Edition

Let me start by saying I love a good exfoliant for my body. I prefer exfoliators that do not disintegrate with warm water, ie: salt or sugar scrubs. I want an exfoliator that will stick around with me until I am done scrubbing. And I also prefer an exfoliator that is pretty intense. I use my scrubs before shaving, before getting spray tan, and any time my skin just feels dull.

I have tried a lot of different brands of exfoliators, but for the last three years I have used Walgreens brand Apricot Scrub.

This scrub is thick, coarse, and the perfect consistency. It is an absolute dupe for the St. Ives Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub. And the price is about .50 cents less! One tube of this scrub would be enough for three whole body scrubs. 

A few months ago I went to Walgreens to repurchase this scrub and I saw they had changed the packaging to a solid green tube with white and yellow text on it. I bought it, got it home, and found out it was NOT what their exfoliator once had been. After the initial frustration left me I decided to buy the original St. Ives brand and while at Target I got the Up & Up version, too.

I might add that this comparison is strictly based on the St. Ives Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub and it's competing store brands. Not their similar product the St. Ives Blemish Control Apricot Scrub.

Having all four products in my hands I was sure which product I would repurchase. Here is a quick comparison...

// The Up & Up scrub was not thick like the St. Ives is. It's creamy like a lotion and it has very finely ground exfoliants in it. Much less coarse than the St. Ives. This would make a great facial scrub but it is not coarse enough for me to use on my body.

// The St. Ives scrub is very thick and has a lot of coarse exfoliants in it. The ratio of exfoliants to the binder is perfect, in my opinion.

// The new Walgreens formula is the right consistency but the exfoliants are finely ground and the ratio of exfoliants to the binder is much less than the St. Ives brand.

// The old Walgreens formula was almost exactly the same as the St. Ives brand but almost a dollar less in cost. (If purchased on sale.)

Here are the prices for my area.

Walgreens Apricot Scrub (new formula)- $3.39

Walgreens Apricot Scrub (old formula)- $3.19

St. Ives Apricot Scrub- From Wal-Mart $3.87

Up & Up Apricot Scrub- From Target $2.69

After using all four products I can easily say that if Walgreens would bring back their old formula I would absolutely continue buying their store brand. Until that happens, I will be purchasing the St. Ives brand.

The Up & Up and the new Walgreens formula just do not stand up to the St. Ives consistency, texture, and end result. I will probably use them on my face until they are gone then not repurchase them.

This post was not sponsored. All opinions are my own and the products were purchased with my own money.

New Years Resolutions

2015 New Years Resolutions

1. Don't take anything for granted. Stop "needing" crap I don't need. Appreciate what I have and the people I share it with.

2. Stop asking people to do things for me that I am perfectly capable of doing myself. You know that innocent "Can you go get me a water downstairs, babe?"

Well I'm going to stop doing that.

3. Read a book. Yeah. One dang book. Gonna be tough for me.

4. Keep saving my $5 dollar bills!

5. Take a class. Either an online class, a CPR class, any kind of class!
(Stole this from you, Neely!)

6. Move my mom to Joplin. This has been on my to-do list for a year and a half. It needs to get done THIS YEAR.

7. Plan a wedding!

8. Get in to a better routine with work. I need to devote specific time each day to accomplish a list of tasks instead of sporadically getting random work done.

9. Post at least once a week on this blog. I wrote 39 entries last year which is pretty low in my opinion.

10. Do at least one craft project or a home project each month.

Using this chart as a reminder, I would say most of these are SMART. A few aren't measurable but if I set this post as one of my home tabs I will be reminded daily of what this year's goals are. And then maybe keep my self accountable and get these done!

Happy New Year, ladies!

Quick Catch Up: End of 2014

I'm going to make this quick and try not to bore you with long posts about where I have been the last two months. I know. I've been slacking major time. But that's about to change!

// We went to Branson back in November. If you don't take a little family getaway trip once a year you SHOULD! We had a great time and it really kicks of the holiday season on a great note.

// I started an Etsy shop making custom baby headbands.

// I hosted our 3rd Annual Bake-Off. We made lots of cookies and drank wine. It was uber fun!

// I started a gift-wrapping business and actually had some customers! I probably wrapped 100 gifts this year!

// I went to the PRI show in Indianapolis and then went to Michigan to check our new boat.

// I got engaged!

bling bling!

// And had an awesome Christmas.

// Neely and I hit up some after-Christmas clearance sales.

And we both got awesome "holiday trees"!

// For New Years Eve we enjoyed time with family at Neely's house where we all made artisan pizzas and drank champagne.

And that's where I've been! I had such a great holiday season and was so thankful I was able to be at home and not traveling. Sometimes, I can be such a homebody!

Anways... stay tuned for more posts and regular blogging around here. I truly miss my random rants and filling this little corner of the interwebs with silly ramblings.

How to Organize Your Christmas Decor

Happy New Year! I plan on writing a little catch-up post soon but before I do that I wanted to share how I organize my Christmas decor.

Taking down Christmas decorations can really be a pain in the rear UNLESS you have a good system that makes it easy. I've been doing this for just about my entire life. My parents had vintage ornaments that were very fragile so I learned at a young age how to pack away Christmas decor very well. So I hope you learn a few tips that will make your holiday season much more organized!

1. Label everything! Label the original boxes that your ornaments came in. This will make it much easier when you are removing the ornaments from your tree. You can see exactly where each one goes and it will make the process much smoother. Also, your glass ornaments are safest in their original packaging!

2. Use shoe boxes and Ziplock baggies for miscellaneous items that may have came in strange packaging. Don't forget to label each box/bag so you know what goes inside!

3. Put random decor items (ie: glittery trees, signs, characters, etc) inside  shopping bags from Target or Wal-Mart so they don't rub on each other and transfer glitter inside your tubs.

4. Use tubs! Boxes work well if you are storing your items in a controlled environment. If you store them where it can get hot/cold/musty/humid the boxes will absorb odors that might not be pleasant.

5. Take photos of your decorations before you put them in storage. Put the photos in a folder on your computer so that a few days after Thanksgiving you can look through the photos to remind yourself what you have. This way when you are out shopping right after Thanksgiving you won't get caught up with all of the beautiful decor and ornaments that are already out on display because you already know what you have! (I put a reminder on my calendar to look through my Christmas photos in mid-November. Right around when holiday items start showing up in stores.)

6. Make a list of items you might want for next Christmas. Let's say you were at a friends house and they had multi-colored lights on their tree and you want to do that next year. A list will help remind you what you DO need to buy before you dig out all of your decor. (Or if you are really good at planning ahead, go buy those items a few days after Christmas on clearance!)

7. Store similar items together. I pack my small filler ornaments inside a smaller tub. This makes it much easier when it comes time to put them on the tree... I just grab that little tub and go to town!

 I also pack my ornaments with items that are in the same color family. I have one whole tub that has my red and gold ornaments and one tub that has my blues and silvers.

8. Use soft goods like hand towels, tree skirts, tablecloths in between layers of your decorations so that things stay protected and don't shift as much when they are in storage.

I hope you learned something today that will make your Christmas tear-down go much easier!

My Cyber Monday Faves

Black Friday? Blech... so four years ago. The new fad is Cyber Monday! Shop from your bed in your PJ's and no interrupting your Thanksgiving. Don't pretend like your inbox isn't blowing up with crazy good sales right now. Get on it, girl!

Here are my favorite Cyber Monday sales!

Sigma Beauty

Sigma only does 20% off once, maybe twice a year so use this opportunity to try their brushes. They are OUTSTANDING. I don't know how I lived without them before. I ordered a few things I have been dying to get my hands on, but had to have a sale of course!

Converse

25% off nearly everything! That includes custom designs. You can bet your sweet little tush I designed some radical Chucks at about 6:30 this morning. Can't wait for those bad boys to get here!

Target

Love me some Target furniture. Don't love me the Target shipping prices. Today is the day, my friends, to order whatever you may desire from Target!

American Eagle

I live in American Eagle jeans. Are they worth their on average $45 dollar price? Yes but I like getting things on sale so 40% off is the prime time to buy!

Go get'em ladies!

Confessional Friday

Guess what day it is!?

Confessional Friday!

Yup! My only form of communicating with y'all.

I'm kidding... but seriously.

I'll just confess what has happened in the last month.

// I did a Halloween themed photo shoot like I was talking about here. It was fun to dress up in a costume and not look like that adult trick-or-treating freak with no kids.

// We went to Miami and Key West for nearly two weeks. We were gone away from home for 13 FREAKING DAYS. But I won't bore you with 324,759,323 pictures, I'll just give you this pretty sunset shot.

// And while we were gone our precious Boo Boo got very weak and sick. We got a call five days before we were supposed to be home that he wasn't doing well. We had a friend stay all weekend at the house with him and our vet made multiple home visits to try to make him more comfortable until we got home but he just didn't make it. We had him put to rest on November 9th... just two days before we got home. RIP sweet Boo Boo kitty.

// The weekend after we returned home was Tyson's nephews 3rd birthday party. His sister went all-out with the construction theme so I followed suit! It was so much fun, even for the adults!

// One of my best friends, Justine, delivered her baby. Teagan, has an omphalocele which is a condition where the umbilical cord doesn't close around the baby's belly properly and multiple organs grow outside of the baby's body. I went up on Monday and spent two days with her and Teagan. They are both doing well but they need all the prayers they can get. Teagan is in the NICU and will be staying there for quite some time.

// And finally... today we leave for a little family va-ca to Branson. We did this last year and it was a lot of fun so I'm excited that we are making it a tradition.

I promise I will get in to a better routine around here. I have a lot of great posts I want to share but other things have taken the time from me. That's life, right!?