Damning the Economy!

You read right! I'm damning the economy!!

Just in case you weren't aware, we're having a destination wedding. We've been informing people about our destination wedding since the beginning of our engagement, which was about a year and a half ago. As you probably guessed, no one did.

Nowadays, we can't turn on the television without hearing company xx has laid off xxx people. And I also shook my head as the number of unemployment were announced. The last time I heard, which was just a few days ago, the unemployment rate jumped to all time high of 9.3%. WOWW!!! Back of my mind, I wondered if anyone in my life will be affected by it. Of course, I crossed my fingers hoping it won't happen to anyone I know.

Well, guess what? I just found out that my future father in law got laid off. And my brother got demoted (to just making commission) since his boss's son lost his job and now that guy wants my brother's job. What the heck. I wouldn't be in this state of shock if it was just some random guest that's not coming to our wedding. But it's family. They're close family members who we want there as we make a commitment to each other on our special day. We want them there no matter what. What the heck.

Of course you know that if my brother doesn't go, my sister in law, my niece, my nephew won't go either. WHATTTTTT!!! NO, it can't be! I want them there. I only got one brother! And no matter how much of a pain in the ass he may be, he's still my brother and I want them there!! And of course, my SIL, my niece and my nephew too. They're the world to me.

And because we can't have our wedding without Mr. JellyBelly's mom there, we're going to pay for her to go. But what about Mr. JellyBelly's step dad? And Mr. JellyBelly's brother? Hopefully, we have enough moola to pay for one more extra person.

UGGGHHHH!!! Unnecessary stress!! Now what?

I hope something works out for them.... All of them.

He Rules!!!

WOW!! I'm so excited!!

Today was my first day of clinical and we were there from 8 to 2. I know, it doesn't sound like it's a long day but if you haven't gotten yourself up at 5:45 in the morning for a while, this does take a toll on you. Anyhoo, after my clinical, I went to the bookstore and headed to my mom's. On my way home, around 2:15, I was thinking about calling Mr.JellyBelly because I really wanted to ask him to grab some muffin pans for me from Sur La Table since they're having a sale. But since it's already 2 something, I knew he'd be busy at work and I didn't want to bother him. After all, it's just my little "oh, let's see if I can bake" type of project. What if I no longer have the desire to bake?

And because my mail goes to my mom and because I haven't eaten since 10 in the morning, I wanted to stop by my mom's. I ate first. You shouldn't be next to me when I'm hungry. I turn into a very mean lady!! Then, I packed my pail of mail in to a plastic bag and I headed home. On my way home, I thought about calling Sur La Table to see how long they were going to have their sales. I told myself that I will try to meet Mr. JellyBelly at work to go.

And guess what I saw when I was going through my mail? Martha Stewart's magazine with cupcake recipe!! What!!

(source)

I thought to myself: "But noooo!!!!! I don't have any pans to make my cupcakes!!! How can I try these recipes?" I flipped through the magazine really quick to see what kind of things I can do if I had my own set of pans. As soon as my thought finished, Mr.JellyBelly came though the door. As usual, I got up to say hello and he handed me a bag. I opened the bag and saw two muffin pans from Sur La Table!!!! WOWWWWWW!!!! I was so so so excited!!! He knew exactly what I was thinking!!! And he came in right on time as I was finishing my thought!! WOW!! Sigh.....He's so good to me....

And of I go to look at other stuff I need to make cupcakes with...

I ordered samples for invitations...whoo hoo!! first step! =)

Okay, I've realized that my freedom is coming to an end VERY soon and because of that, I knew I still wanted to get some wedding stuff done before my life becomes hectic again. I knew I had to go look for my wedding dress and REALLY start working on the invitations. But what to do what to do?

As you recall, Mr. JellyBelly and I bought some of our wedding supplies from Papersource a few weeks ago (December 31st) but they're still sitting in the bag that they came in. Mr. JellyBelly asked if he can see a sample/mockup of what our wedding invitation would look like with all our supplies. I said...um...well, no because I don't have the pocketfold yet. In case you don't remember, the pocketfolds he liked were from envelopement with the flap. But those babies cost about $3 each. I can't afford that. I'm on a student budget. But guess who came to the rescue? Yeap..a weddingbee. Mrs.Hisbiscus to be exact. On her blog, she wrote down every little thing she did to get those invites done, which included buying her pocketfolds from cards and pockets!

I visted cards and pockets website and found a tone of green pocketfolds but which one do I choose? I IMed the link to Mr.JellyBelly and he chose Clover. But I wondered if it was too light for what we're wanting. So, I looked and found Citron. But he didn't think that color was green; he thought it was brown. (In case you didn't know, Mr. JellyBelly is color blind and doesn't really see green all that well.)

And for the envelopes, we were hoping to get green envelopes to match as well but the store didn't have them. So, I asked Mr. JB if we should do white or pearl or champagne. Mr. JB thought it'd be good to do white. But I think I may like pearl. Hm...

I kept on visiting the website and yesterday, I decided to bite the bullet and ordered a few samples, which included the envelopes and the pocketfolds. We shall see how they all look. I forgot to mention, I wanted the envelopes to be the pointed A7 because I bought myself the envelope liner templates and my $8 paper from papersource. I want to use them!!!

Patiently waiting for the arrival of my lovely samples........

Details

Even though invitations that were sent out asked for guests to RSVP, guess how many people actually did? Five! You heard right. FIVE!! But I expected some people, ma and pa JellyBelly to come as well as sister JellyBelly and BIL JellyBelly. That's total of 11, if you count me and Mr. JellyBelly.

A few days before the party, I was one track mind. Mr. JellyBelly and I went to Costco to grab some stuff and I couldn't handle thinking about anything we needed for us. I was only focusing on the baby shower that was happening. I told Mr. JellyBelly that I can't focus on other things right now. Thank goodness for Mr. JellyBelly because he said "it's okay, I'll be in charge of our house supplies". Life Saver!

I made a few lists of things I needed to buy at Costco, Safeway, Ross, etc.. I need to buy nuts, flowers, avocadoes, tomatoes, onions, lime, celery, carrots, ranch dressing, jellybeans, balloons.....

I also had to make sure minor details were taken care of. I made cootiecatchers, origami cranes, origami hearts, and favors. Ah, I also made a board of baby announcement cards that were created by me. Also I must remember to confirm the cupcakes order!

Here are the pictures on the day of:

Favors, cranes, cootie catcher (aka fortune teller), gift cards with my attempt at calligraphy

Cootie catcher up close

Board of Baby Announcement Cards

And I also had to make sure to send out an email to all the guests and potential guests: I had to make sure to tell them that they needed to park far from our house since the last thing I wanted was for my sister to come and say "what the heck are those familiar cars doing here". I also had to remind Mr. JellyBelly to park our car on the street so that our drive way was free for the pregnant lady. =) Wasn't I thoughtful? ha ha. Oh and my email to the guests also told them to come by 1 p.m. since we were expecting the happy couple by 1:30 p.m. Well, on the day of, guess how many people showed up by 1 p.m.? You will find out soon . . .

Planning a babyshower

So, last week, I was stressed about my sister's surprise baby shower regarding details -- When should I have the food ordered? When should I have Mr. JellyBelly pick up the food? What about the cupcakes? How am I going to get my sister to come to our house with out telling her that it's a surprise shower?

Well, everyone in my life were wonderful enough to help out, including my cousins, my brother in law (BIL) and of course, Mr. JellyBelly. So, I asked my sister before if she wanted a baby shower and she said no. She was very persistent about not wanting to have a baby shower but of course, I felt that she deserved one. So, back in November, I decided to throw her one, whether she wanted one or not. hee hee. And initially, I decided to have it on January 17th but thought that she could pop anytime after January. And I wanted to do it a little earlier but not too early. So, I chose January 10th. And then I started to plan mentally. I knew I had to get my cousins and my BIL involved.

My eldest cousin got a permanent makeup tatoo, and two weeks prior, she wrote "complaining" of how she hates her new permanent make up and for my sister to help her out. And to meet at my house since I was going to cook my famous chicken and potatoes dish. (Okay, they're not famous; I just wish they were. ha ha ha.) And my brother in law was to come up with his own "excuse" to tag along.

Over the next few weeks, I bought things here and there -- to make invitations (card stock, ribbons, envelopes, little foot print whole punch); table cover; pink cups; pink napkins; plates to put the food; cupcake stand; etc

Oh, of course, I also "shopped" at my mom's for plates, forks, spoons, etc.

And about a month prior, I sent out emails to "save the date" for the baby shower. I couldn't send out the invites yet since I didn't create it yet. And when I was done with my final, that's when I decide to create them. It took a while but it was finally completed a week later. Here's a picture before the pink card stock and a bow was put on:

Well, after I sent out the invitation, I knew there was no going back. ;) I must go through with this party!

Stop it!

Seriously..I need to stop weddingbee-ing! Check out the latest tip on calligraphy:

http://withthisringwedding.blogspot.com/2008/11/calligraphy-101.html

What a great idea!! I'm going to try it out...!

Oh...!!

Have I told you I love weddingbee for all the suggestions/ideas these ladies have on there?

I went on there today and Miss Martini posted a blog about her wedding invites. And she posted about a pocket folder I've never seen. She called it a non-folded pocket invites. WHAT! They existed? I didn't know that at all!!

And of course, as soon as I saw it, I IMed Mr. JellyBelly and asked what he thought about it. And he said he liked it. Whoo hoo!! I mean, these non-folded pocket invites fit our purpose of wanting everything together. WOW!!

Too bad they don't have lots of colors. Our wedding colors are orange and green. The only "green" they have is thyme green and it's a bit lighter than I wanted for our colors. Hm.. I am now on a goal to find non-folded pocket invites with deep green color!

finally!!

FINALLY!!

I told myself that I should look into blogging one of these days but never got around to it. And today's the day I signed up to blog because weddingbee.com is looking for a blogger. I thought to myself: "wouldn't it be cool if I was chosen as a blogger"! Then, I looked into their requirements and I realized that I only made some of their requirements but not all. One of the things that ng that was missing is the blogging! Well, I shall try to blog and see what happens. The worst thing they can say is no, right?

Mind you, there are some talented people on there!!! Did you know that they only have 20 bloggers? TWENTY!! I know!! I was shocked to learn that.

My latest "crush" is on Mrs. Daffodil. She's so talented. My goodness. When you get a chance, go look at her posts here. She basically wrote out everything that she and her hubby did for their wedding. And thank goodness for that because I can learn to do things from her step by step instructions! If you don't have time to read all of her blogs, just read this one: Pt. X: Wait, This Wasn’t Part of the Schedule! It's so good!! I don't think Mr. JellyBelly will do that. He's too shy.

Oh, before I go any further, let me tell you a little bit about myself:

I'm in my late 20's and am engaged to be married in August of 2009 to Mr. JellyBelly in the beautiful state of Hawaii. We have three "kids" together -- two girls and a boy, who we adore very much! (See pictures up above.) Also, I am a full time student and I try to be creative as much as I can. This can be hard at times because I barely have enough time to read my books for school. Okay okay..it's not that I barely have time, it's just that I'd rather be doign somethine else than read my books. And of course, this darn thing call computer gets most of my time too. Whenever I get home, I turn on my computer..even if I just spent the entire day on it. How sad, huh? And mind you, I go to the same websites almost everyday. It's not like these websites are constantly updating. So, what do I do on there, you ask? Just search and search and search for the most random things. I start out with one and from there, I go to other related stuff and keep searching until I feel tired. And of course, because of this, my wrists have been hurting like crazy. UGH!

Ah...at last, I muste tell you about my latest obsession: our wedding invitations. Initially, I was going to have my invites ordered but they cost $6 a pop for a simple invitation with response card and envelopes. I actually put the deposit down for the invites already. So, I have to contact the lady to see if that deposit can be used toward something else. Mr. JellyBelly was hesitant. He said something like "ok love, you can design it and show it to me. I just want it to look nice for our wedding." Uh..duh! Of course I want those invites to look nice. After all, it's my wedding too.

So, I got the software I wanted for Christmas and created an invite for him. I showed it to Mr. JellyBelly and he said "Oh wow!". He loved the design!!! Whoosh! Thank goodness. Otherwise, I just spent moola on a program that's not going to do me anygood. =)

Mr. JellyBelly and I went to Papersource to see what they had. And we bought some 210 g luxe paper from papersource and also some poppy paper for the backing of our invitation. I was hoping to buy some pocket folders from there but Mr. JellyBelly didn't like the ones from Papersource. The one he likes is the one where you have a place for the invitation to be glued down and it also has a spot for the response card at the bottom -- like this one. The one from papersource just has a slot and he's not into it at all. Since it's his wedding too, I decided to accomodate. =) Now, we need to get those pocket folders in green! I can't wait!