Fabulous May

Another month has come and gone, so it's time to take a hot second to look back one what made it worth the 31 days we put into it...

L O S T: The Final Season.

I'm not sure if this falls under the category of "fabulous" but I think it's worth mentioning. I'm still on the fence about how I feel about the finale. I still have so many questions like: Where is Christian Shepherd's body? Why can't woman on the island have babies? Why was it so important that Claire raise Aaron? Who built that huge statue? Who was that in the cabin with Christian Shepherd? What was up with the pendulum, and how did it predict the island's movements? Wasn't Nadia Sayid's soul mate, not Shannon? Who was that black dude with the bald head working for? Who was shooting at Sawyer and the crew while they were time traveling in the row boat? How did Daniel leave the Island in the 70s? Why wasn't half the cast in the church at the end? Who finished the frozen wheel? Where did Jacob and the Smoke Monster's mother come from? Where did Jacob and the Smoke Monsters OTHER mother come from? How can it be purgatory, after the writers kept saying it wasn't purgatory? What a cop out!

*pant pant*

I get very exasperated just thinking about it. But something I DO know-- the Smoke Monster's name was Samuel. I'm sure you'll sleep better tonight.

Fresh Cut Grass

This is one of the BEST smells in the world and mmmmm.... it just makes me think of summer!

Philadelphia Flyers

I don't like hockey, and I'm not even going to pretend like I'm a fan of the Flyers. However, I am a fan of this fair city, and anytime the city gets pumped about something, that just makes me happy. Besides, you have to give it to those guys; they were huge underdogs when they entered the finals against the Boston Bruins- but baby, look at them now!

My Blogiversary

I have to admit, I'm pretty proud of my little blog. I have 46 followers, over 10,000 views, and according to my traffic report, over 70 people a day stop by for a peek. That's a heck of a jump from the 5 visits a week when I first started this! Hopefully, you'll all stick around-- I think there are even more exciting things coming in the next year!

Birthdays

Holy crap do we have a lot of birthdays this month. I've mentioned this before but between my family and friends and JEGs' family and friends (and a few co-workers), we have about 10 birthdays in the month of May. I like birthdays because it gives me a reason to drink , um... I love to celebrate the lives of other people, oh who are we kidding? I like a reason to drink.

Rock and roll, May. Thanks for producing some fabulous moments. We'll see you next year!

Always & Forever,

ME

Momma G's Fruit Salsa

With the holiday weekend on our hands, a lot of people will be attending BBQs and picnics galore. If you are one of those people and are stuck with what you are going to bring, fear not! I have the answer--Fruit Salsa.

Ingredients

2 kiwis, peeled and diced
2 Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored and diced
1 pound strawberries
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons fruit preserves (any flavor, but I really love orange marmalade)

10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
butter flavored cooking spray
2 cups cinnamon sugar

Directions
1. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, Golden Delicious apples, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (which is 175C for all you metric lovin' fools out there)
3. Coat one side of each flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray.

4. Bake in the preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.




5. Listen as people sing your praises and thank you for allowing them to experience heaven on their palette.

Have a great holiday weekend!

Always & Forever,
ME

Serenity Prayer

Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference

..specifically, Lord, help me from making this mistake again:

Oh yeah. We all remember the epic fail from last year.

The maxi dresses are out again, and I have been tempted by their evil ways again. I don't know if I thought I finally hit a growth spurt at the age of 28 and grew an extra six inches, or what, but every time I pass those dresses I get the urge to try them on.

Help me be strong friends, help me be strong.

Always & Forever,

ME

DIY Hydrangea Pomanders

This weekend I knocked out another project on my DIY TODO list- pomanders.

Earlier in the month I asked your opinion in my great silk vs. paper debate, and after a lot of hemming and hawing, I made a decision:

Silk. and I will tell you why.

1. Time. I did a run-through of the paper flowers with printer paper and pen. It took about 20 minutes for me to make one flower. I do not have that kind of time and/or patience to take on a project like that. Not at this stage in the game.

2. Water. If it rains the day of the wedding (God forbid) or even if someone accidentally spills water on the paper pomanders, they are toast. With silk, if they get wet, all we will have to do is shake them out a little and they will be ok.

3. Resale Value. I would like to resell these later, and I feel the cardstock would not hold up too well in the shipping process. I would actually be concerned about just transporting them to the venue and back!

Time to get down to the knitty-gritty of it all. Let's start with the supplies:

20 hydrangea Spray (I ordered mine from Afloral.com, and I specifically ordered these)
5" Styrofoam balls (you can get them from Michael's but the best price is from LACrafts)
Hot glue gun
Ribbon
Bedskirt Pins (more on those later)

First, I want to show you my trial and error- focusing more on the error.
When you get the flowers each stem has about 5 blooms on it. I was cutting each stem and sticking it in the styrofoam ball. This made for two problems: first they were obnoxiously large

and after 20 spray, I only had 6 pomanders done, and all of them were bald on the bottom.

So I had to reassess my situation.

I plucked each bloom from the stem (no cutting required) and separated them into two piles- big blooms for outlining and little blooms to use as filler flowers

Next, I figured out where I wanted the bloom, stuck it in the styrofoam, pulled it out*, shot some hot glue in the hole*, and stuck the flower back in.

I began with a perimeter around the ball

then I would divide each side

and filled in each area until it was full.

The ribbon was a little tricky. I wasn't sure how I was going to attach it to the ball. I was afraid that if I hot glued it directly to the ball, it might make it harder for the next bride to switch out the ribbon. Then I had an ingenious idea.

About a year ago, I picked up a bunch of bedskirt pins after reading about them on All Things G&D. I still had a bunch left over, and thought they would be perfect because their corkscrew shape would hold onto the stryofoam without having to use more hotglue. I used a blue chiffon ribbon that is very similar to my bridesmaids dresses, stuck the bedskirt pin through the ribbon, and then into the styrofoam. I have to say, it's super durable!

It took me roughly six hours to finish this project- and that included deconstructing the 6 pomanders I had already done, pulling apart the stems, and reassembling each one.

If you are going to attempt this project, I highly recommend finding a place to hang them until the wedding date. I had them sitting in a box over the weekend and they got incredibly flat. For the next month and half, they will be hanging the utility closest

Whew. That was one major project that feels good to get checked off the list!

Always & Forever,

ME


*that's what he said.

Blind Date

In 1962, and 14-year-old girl named Nancy wanted to go on a date with a guy. Because she was only a freshman in high school, her parents said the only way she was allowed to go was if it was a double date. Nancy turned to her best friend, Penny, and begged her to come on the date. The guy had a friend, and it would be a casual night out. Penny agreed.

One April evening, Nancy and Penny met up with Nancy's date, and he brought along his friend Russ. Russ was older; an 18-year-old high school graduate working in the printing business. They had a fun night out together, and Nancy and her date went on a couple more dates.

Penny and Russ, however, stayed together.

The story is told that in the summer of '66, Penny and Russ were laying on the beach when Penny says to Russ, "We are getting marriend next May" to which Russ replied, "Ok".

..and so they did. On May 20, 1967, Russ made Penny his wife

Four children, 3 foster children, 2 daughters-in-law, a [soon to be] son-in-law, 4 grandchildren, and many laughs later, they are still together.

Happy 43rd Anniversary to the best parents a girl could ever have. Your marriage is one of love, respect and laughter. You have taught me how to be a good wife, partner and friend.

I love you both so much.

Always & Forever,
"The Girl"

Open Letter to Mother Nature...

This is the crap I woke up to yesterday...

I had to wear a jacket to work-- in the middle of May!

It made me think of a note that I had written to my roommate about two years ago:

Dear Spring-

So word on the street is you are back in town, I thought I even saw you about two weeks ago. But it's been so gloomy lately, I thoguht maybe you left...

Did February and March team up and beat you up? Because if so, May is here and totally has your back.

We miss you, Spring. Please come back.

Love,

the ladies of Lucky No. 7

Sixty Days Away...

In just two months from today, I will be Mrs. JEGs.

!!!!!!!!!!

The invites have been sent out...

..let the mailbox stalking begin!

Always & Forever,
Meeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Pop the Champagne!

First off, I would like to wish myself a Happy Blogiversary!

That's right ladies and gents- one year ago, I started this little bloggeroo. I have to say, I didn't think I would stick it out longer then a month, but here we are, 220 post, 41 followers later, AND an official blogger of TheKnot.com- I'm still rockin it out.

I'll wait for your applause to die down.



...

.....

.......



Ok... thank you for that :)

A lot has happened in the past year: I moved in with JEGs, we got engaged, then all of our friends got engaged, my collection of neices and nephews grew. Basically, it's been a kick ass year!

In honor of my blogiversary, I decided to revist my top 10 favorite posts. Get ready to start clicking some links!

Here they are:

#10. Zip, Zip, Zoom!- That BMW should know better then to mess with a chick in a Jeep.
# 9. Perhaps I should stick to "Ivory"- The first life lesson I posted- I did not stick to ivory, however.
# 8. JEGs in Flight- I give kick ass gifts
# 7. Missing the Bullseye Where the battle of Me vs. Target all began
# 6. My Late Night Affiar- Don't tell JEGs, but I had an affiar with 9 men- at the same time!
# 5. OBX 09- The best vacation I have EVER had.
# 4. Sobriety: Week One- Giving up the sauce for Lent= worst idea ever.
# 3. Stinker- The day I almost died.
# 2. On Bended Knee- Our engagement story.
# 1. ...and so it begins!- The post that started it all.

Thank you to all my readers for all your love! I hope you've enjoyed reading about this past year as I have writing it!

Here's to another 365!

Always & Forever,
ME

DIY Paper Parasol

On my list of DIY stuff for the wedding was a paper parasol. I had fallen in love with these while browsing through pages of wedding porn on the web. I looked around to see what my purchase options were, and I had three:

• purchase one from Etsy
• try to snag a used one from another bride
• or do it my damn self.

The parasols on Etsy ran about $45- $50 and, if y'all don't know by now, I'm kind of cheap. I wasn't paying that much.

So I tried to hit up the 'Trash to Treasure' boards on The Knot. There were so many listed there, but they were snatched up so quickly, I never had a chance.
So onto Plan C: Do it my damn self.
I have to say, this was relatively easy. I purchased a plain white parasol from TheKnot store

I hemmed and hawed about having it say "Thank You" vs. "Just Married". After giving it some serious thought, consulting JEGs and my mother, I decided on Just Married. We still plan to stick the picture in the Thank You cards, but now if it is a really nice picture that we want to frame, it wouldn't look weird saying "Thanks!!"

Once I finally decided what I wanted it to say, I typed it up in a Microsoft Word document. Here is the tricky part: you need to make the letters super big in order to fill up space on the parasol. I used the font Chopin Script (which you can download here ) and bumped it up to 550 pts. For the word 'Just' I printed out the 'J' seperately, and then the 'ust'. 'Married' was split up three ways- 'M', 'arr', and 'ied':

Next, I taped the letters to the back of the parasol with scotch tape:

Then, I began to trace them onto the parasol- first in pencil, then in black marker

Tada! All traced out!

My next step was to run to Michael's (with 40% coupon in hand) and grab some black acrylic paint and brushes to paint over the letters

I chose two different brushes: a No. 1 flat shader for the outlining and smaller areas and a No. 10 Filber to fill in the thicker areas (like the trunk of the 'J').

One slow night at work, I sat down and started to paint over the tracings I had done. About 2 hours later I had this:

It is super important to let the paint dry before you close the parasol. I actually left mine open for about a two days (we were having a week of very hot, humid days).

So what do we think? I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. I just hope I remember to use it the day of the wedding!!!

Always & Forever,

ME

Weekending

So it's Friday, and I am finally posting about last weekend.

.. could you tell I was a little busy this week ;)

Anywho, I had a kick. ass. weekend. First off, Friday day shift makes me happy. The weather was beautiful and I was done work at 2:00 pm. Boo- yah.

Momma and Poppa G came up to our area, and we checked out a pub called PJ Whelihan's. Momma G wanted the place for the rehearsal dinner to have a nice, relaxed atmosphere. A couple months ago, JEGs and I stumbled upon this place, and thought it was perfect. His parents agreed so they booked it for July 16th!

Our only beef with the place- it was open mic night. I wanted to pay the dude to stop playing. Seriously, how do you screw up Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl"??

Moving on....

After dinner, JEGs and I went to check out my chiropractor's band Dr. Ben's Backbone Blues Band. They were playing outside at some joint up in Skippack. It was such a beautiful night, the music was good, the smell of lilacs in the air, and the middle-aged drunk people were incredibly entertaining. So was I after I had 3 Captains and Coke... after the two beers I had at dinner.

On Saturday we headed out to the Coatesville area. JEGs wanted to check out a car show his friend had organized. It was so beautiful, we popped out the T-tops in his trusty Trans Am Vanessa, and cruised on over...

my levels of fabulousity are so high, they are toxic.

After the car show, we headed to a BBQ at our friends Bonnie and Andy's house. We brought a cake that was... well, it was awesome. Like epic.

Angel food cake with pineapple and pudding filling, topped with Cool Whip and fresh berries. And all of it was fat free. That's right. It was awesome. As was the burgers, potato salad, dip and general time spent with friends.

Of course, it's not a party until someone walks through the screen door. Usually I have this job, but this time it was Matt's turn.

Screen Door- 1. Matt- 0.

Sunday, JEGs' family threw us a "Pre-Wedding Party". This was not your momma's bridal shower- no siree. The men folk were invited!

Here is their house all decorated:

the bridal bench for present-opening

complete with my favorite flower- tiger lillies

Our lovely hostesses- Momma G, Aunt Marlene and MumMum

we practiced our cake-cutting abilities

and I totally nailed him with icing.

Me with my Daddy-O

PSA: my dad is the cutest man ever.

JEGs best buddy, Mike, brought his Harley over, so of course we had to have a photoshoot with the two of us on the bike. Complete with me in uber short skirt.

Again, our friends and family were so generous- we got pretty much everything off our list, and plenty of gift cards to boot!

I got a little too excited about napkin rings

I love this picture.. Momma G with JEGs and I

fabulous bitches.

Momma and Poppa G with Mommacita and Daddy-O.

Yes, my parents are munchkins.

It was such a great weekend! I ate too much, I drank too much, but I spent quality time with my friends and family.

In parting, I'm leaving you with this classic picture

I have no idea what we were trying to accomplish, but I'm pretty sure we are oozing sexiness.

Happy Friday!

Always & Forever,

ME

Silk v. Paper

Alright friends and followers, I need your help.

You obviously have impeccable taste ( I mean, hello, you are reading my blog) so I need some opinions.

For the ceremony I would really love flower pomanders lining the aisle and I was dead set on white hydrangea's, similar to the picture below..


Until I saw this picture-

That is made out of cardstock and yarn. HOLY GOD do I kind of love that idea. It's different, and has the potential to be a little more cost effective.

However, the original idea of silk flowers might be a little more time effective.

Hmmm. And I thought finding a fiance was going to be hard.

I'm leaving it to you friends and followers- silk or paper? I want plenty of opinions. I've got 38 followers, so I know you are out there- time to come out of the wood work!!

Always & Forever,
ME
PS.. when I asked for JEGs' opinion, this was the answer I got- " i dont know..haha if you ask me which is better...WIX oil filters or ACDelco I'll have an opinion. fake flowers tho? im clueless " Boys.


images found here and here