Fly Around My Pretty Little Mess

2012 Goals

2012-01-18T14:00:00.000-05:00

1. Bring my lunch to work, most days.
Not striving for perfection, just less tacos from Burrito Brothers.

2. Run the St. Patrick's Day 8K
Inspired by this, I've already recruited Josh and a co-worker to run with me, and (hopefully) a friend will be joining me as well!

3. Visit Bradley in Chicago

4. Go on a vacation with Josh, before this happens (!!!)
I would like to go somewhere tropical; he would like to visit the parts of Texas where our families don't reside (Austin, San Antonio).

5. Go to the dentist
They called over Christmas to see where I've been. Waiting for dental insurance . . . that my husband forgot to add me to during open enrollment. Oops. Out of pocket it is!

6. Get behind the wheel and drive
I haven't operated a motor vehicle since November 2009, when I drove the mile or so from my parent's house to Josh's parents house. I would just like to drive around an empty parking lot to remember which pedal is the gas.

7. Combine my cellphone plan with Josh's.
We need to move on from our parents, maybe. This actually makes no economic sense, and Josh would have to get a new iPhone while his is perfectly good still. But, Katie and Bradley are saying it's time. (My siblings have always been my true parents.)

8. Pick a photo to have put on a canvas & frame our wedding invitation.
I have a LivingSocial deal to use for a canvas print, and I need to probably save some money for the wedding invitation framing.

9. Put an album of wedding photos on Facebook
There is one thing stopping me from doing this, and I need to complete that task first.

10. Find patience, spiritual growth and new talents through my volunteer activities.
Redux!

2011 Goals: Report

2011-12-30T15:53:00.000-05:00

1. Have that weird mole on my stomach looked at
I went in for my first dermatologist appointment in March. She said the mole needed to go. The biopsy results weren't so hot. So I needed to have additional skin removed to insure all dangerous cells were gone. I now have a nifty scar about an inch long on my stomach

I'm also suppose to return every six months to be examined. Haven't done that yet!

2. Wear a bikini on my honeymoon
I'd like to say it was because of the new scar on my stomach, but I really didn't wear a bikini because I wasn't comfortable with how I looked in one.

3. Be a better shopper and dresser
This really started happening for me in the fall, after the wedding, when I had more disposable income. I'm still working on building my wardrobe, but the move into our shared apartment helped edit my clothing considerably.

4. Blog more
Didn't happen.

5. Prepare to leave my job
There are some exciting and scary things materializing on this front. But, in general, I feel more balanced about my work than I did even six months ago. This is something I'm really proud of in 2011.

6. Make clutches for my maid of honor, mother and future mother-in-law
Happened! Here's a photo of mine taken by our wedding photographer:

Photo by Katie Stoops

7. Grow out my fingernails
Did it! And still doing it! Granted, it's encouraged a now pricey manicure habit that might need to be curbed in 2012.

Photo by Katie Stoops

8. Go to California to see Bradley graduate from USC

BOTTEGA LOUIE!!!

And family

9. Find patience, spiritual growth and new talents through my volunteer activities
Funny. I thought that this is something I should add to my 2012 goals. FORGOT TO WORK ON IT THIS YEAR!

10. Marry the man I have known for 15 years, as of yesterday, on July 23

Photo by Katie Stoops

NaBloPoMo

2011-11-01T23:10:00.002-04:00

It has been so long since I have posted to my blog that I didn't understand the new layout of Blogger.

I . . . I . . . just don't know. I don't know if I can get use to this.

Let's see if I can post more than once this November.

After 10 O'clock

2011-09-27T22:05:00.004-04:00

Setting: the apartment, getting ready to go to bed

Me: I've heard really good things about Moneyball! I didn't know it was written, or at least the book was written, by Michael Lewis.
Josh: Michael Lewis? Really!
Me: Yeah! And did you know he is married to Tabitha Soren? Do you know who that is?
Josh: Of the Soren Foundation*?
Me: Did you just say that?
Josh: I don't know what I'm saying.
Me: No, Tabitha Soren of the mid-90s MTV News.
Josh: Oh, don't listen to anything I say after 10pm.

* I have Googled and this does not come up with anything. He was really making things up.

I Feel Like This Is The Beginning

2011-09-04T22:04:00.007-04:00

Confidential to my parents:
Happy 29th anniversary!

Photo by Katie Stoops, from our wedding

We had a combined father/daughter and mother/son dance to Frank Sinatra's version of Stevie Wonder's "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life". I got very uncomfortable with everyone watching us dance and ended up kind of ruining the whole dance by suggesting an awkward partner switch.

But Mum, in a stroke brilliance, came up to dance with Dad. Because of that, I have some of my favorite dancing pictures from the wedding. And I feel a little less embarrassed about my dancing nerves.

Thanks, Mum!

Photo by Katie Stoops

Was that enough kissing photos in one post for you?

With Their Back And Forth

2011-08-16T17:14:00.003-04:00

Confidential to McKatie:

Happy birthday to the best Maid of Honor there ever was!

Bottega Louie Los Angeles, May 2011

Confidential to my husband:

Happy birthday to a pretty good groom.

St. Lucia, July 2011

Supplemental Income

2011-07-12T11:22:00.004-04:00

Setting: new apartment
Scenario: while unpacking boxes, we stop to search through my purses looking for a couple iPods that I stashed in purses

Me: *pulls out sandwich size Ziploc bag containing a powdered white substance from a purse* What is this?!
The Fiancé: IS THAT COCAINE?! ARE YOU SELLING DRUGS?!
Me: I don't know! Maybe? *opens bag, smells substance* It smells like Kool-aid. Why do I have a baggie of Kool-aid in my purse?!*The Fiancé is now laughing hysterically. I move to the kitchen to open the bag over the sink.*
Me: *tastes some of the powder* Oh! It's Benefiber. Nevermind. Not drugs.

What a bummer! I thought for sure I could sell the white powder for profit. Now, I'll just have to resort to selling things on Craigslist to make extra money for the wedding.

Six Years

2011-06-23T11:19:00.004-04:00

Setting: Last night, his house
Scenario: We had a fashion show with his complete wedding look.

Me: Hey *yelling at him in the closet* when this is all over, can we plan a wedding? Just for fun? With all the things we want?
Him: No, you can do that for profit if you want.
Me: Ok, fine then. Let's just fantasize about our dream wedding then.
Him: *ducks back into closet*
Me: It would start with guests receiving a quatro-fold -- no it would have five folds -- what's the word for something with five folds? Cincofold? Anyway. They would receive a multifold, letterpressed brochure outlining the events for the weekend. First up would be the golf scramble on Thursday afternoon.
Him: Why would you have a scramble? If you are going to play golf, just play golf.
Me: You know I don't know what a scramble is, and I'm just using that word. It's either that or a competitve volleyball match on the beach that is overlooking the ocean.
Him: Fine, golf.
Me: And I want a white tent, a Sperry tent!

At this point the fantasy was interrputed as I instructed the Fiancé to try on his wedding day socks as well with his suit. And he looked at me like I had completely lost my mind.

Happy six year dating anniversary, Josh! I can't wait to marry you in 30 (!!!) days. I hope the U.S. Open ticket I got you last weekend makes up for the lack of wedding related golf outings next month.

Photo by Katie Stoops

Father of the Bride

2011-06-19T22:04:00.009-04:00

Happy father's day, Dad!

Dodgers Stadium, May 2011

All the photos from our family trip to California for Bradley's graduation here. This is the last time we will travel as a family as five, before I get married. Last time I have to sit in the middle of the backseat of the car.

Upside of marriage!

It's Kidney Stones!

2011-05-22T23:50:00.004-04:00

Monday before last, I woke up at 2 am to go to the bathroom. This is the first time I can ever remember waking up from my sleep because I had to pee. I went back to bed and woke up at my normal time for the day. When I went to the bathroom then, I was struck with such a pain that it sent me running back to my bed. My entire left side was in searing pain, and I couldn't get control of it.

I had a kind of important work project to tend to that day, so I sent an e-mail to my work saying I wasn't feeling so hot but I'd rally and be into work in a few hours.

Well, a few hours later I was in the emergency room of George Washington Hospital being diagnosed with a kidney stone, my first ever.

I only went to the emergency room after the doctor at urgent care said she couldn't determine what was wrong with me; based on the location of my pain, she thought it was my liver. Later, I asked a PA at GW where my liver is. It's mainly on the OPPOSITE side of my body.

I called my dad as I walked from the doctor's office north of Dupont Circle to Foggy Bottom. He didn't answer. Bradley was the first to find out what happened via the above picture that I tweeted as I was being discharged from the hospital. He bbm'd me: jillabean? are you ok? You might want to call Mum. Later, he asked if I got so excited about my impeding trip to California later that week for his graduation that my kidneys malfunctioned.

That's exactly what happened.

I eventually passed the stone sometime on Tuesday afternoon, but I wasn't able to catch it. Such a waste of the cute little specimen jar they gave me at the hospital.

Oh, and if you were wondering what the pain feels like, it's like Joey's reaction in that Friends episode times about 10. And I got morphine at the hospital!

Chashley Wedding: Professional Photos

2011-05-03T10:09:00.000-04:00

With less than 80 days to my own wedding, the details are starting to get to me. I ordered a sample out of town tote last week, when I had already decided I wasn't going to have out of town totes. There is a simple, yet labor intensive escort card display to assemble. All of these projects are just to prove to the Wedding Industrial Complex that my wedding has the all important "details".

But as we all know, I can do wedding details. Below are a few pro photos from Chashley's wedding photographer Nathan Kula highlighting the little touches I created to make their New Orleans nuptials unique.

I can totally use these photographs as proof of my ability to create wedding details, right? But really, I should be asking who I exactly need to prove my wedding skills to . . .

Disposed Income: Fail Edition

2011-04-21T10:35:00.000-04:00

$10 to have neckline fixed on dress for engagement photos

I recently purchased this Max and Cleo dress in green from Rue La La:

It eventually became a forerunner for engagement pictures. But the neckline wasn't modest enough. So I took it to the dry cleaner in my apartment building. Their alterationist did a fantastic job on my roommate's bridesmaid dress in the fall. I was completely confident in their work.

When the dress came back, it didn't lay properly at all causing a gap to form at the wrap portion of the bodice. I ripped out the stitches. With the help of Mum and McKatie via a video chat, I used a safety pin to raise the neckline to its proper place. The pin showed a bit when we were taking photos, but our photographer said "That's what Photoshop is for!"

$115.82 at my hair salon to have a "trim" + $7.49 for a curling iron

I have a situation going on with my hair salon. Long story short, I switched stylist one day last fall because my stylist was unavailable and my hair was the pits. My salon specializes in curly haired gals, so I wasn't worried about the skill set of the new stylist. Then, because I have the backbone of a jellyfish when it comes to beauty services, I continued going to the new stylist, even though my original beloved stylist was available.

So last weekend I went for a blowdry so my hair would look nice for our engagement photos. Usually they make my curls look fantastic. The day after, I just rejuvenate them with some product, like I did for Chad and Ashley's wedding:

Instead on Saturday, I received this blowdry:

That is a BlackBerry photo and yes, I did cry!

The "cut" was $65, which the stylist said she wasn't going to charge me for but the front desk did (there was a flurry of activity as they were closing for the day and also, see above for spineless jellyfishness). The rest of the money was for a jug of product that was 1. more expensive than the price tag listed and 2. not the smaller container size that I usually purchase.

The Fiancé thinks there is an easy solution to my hairdresser dilemma: go to the new stylist for color, which I think she does well and go back to the old stylist for cut, which I think she does better. I don't think this is how it works, especially in a small salon.

This uncertainty has sent me looking for a stylist for the wedding day that will come to my hotel suite. But given my love for my kidneys and want for them to stay in my body, I might have to make peace at the salon for my wedding day.

Oh, and the Fiancé went shopping with me (at Marshalls of all places) after this disaster to purcahse a curling iron to rejuvenate my curls. I'll be sure to post engagement photos to show my hot tool handy work.

$43.94 at Lands End Canvas on a skirt I will never receive

I waited for this skirt to go on sale, and then I waited for a coupon code for free shipping.

When I realized a coupon code wasn't coming, I bit the bullet and ordered the skirt. I chose to pay with PayPal, mostly because it didn't require any effort on my part to leave the computer and locate my wallet. Somehow, PayPal and Lands' End had a glitch as I pressed submit on my PayPal order. I paid for the skirt via PayPal, but couldn't finish the order on the Lands' End site.

I called Lands' End and PayPal with no resolution. The money is just floating out there, and the transaction will expire in October. The worst part is that the skirt is now sold out in my size and color. I had so many adorable summertime outfits planned with that skirt in mind. I'm heartbroken.

Ground Control To Major Tom

2011-04-15T11:00:00.005-04:00

There is a gentleman at my office who has the social graces of a hippo. He wonders past my desk multiple times a day with episodes of awkward chit chat often ensuing. Occasionally, too frequently for my liking, he asks "So, what's the countdown?".

Who says that to a bride? Especially me, a bride who has no clue how many days until her wedding. I usually just say "It's coming!" or "July will be here soon enough!".

But yesterday, I wanted to end the conversation quickly. I said "I don't know, but Macy*s can tell us!" Macy*s.com keeps a countdown clock on our registry page. I pulled it up.

100 days.

No longer do we wonder if we're together

2011-04-11T11:56:00.004-04:00

Setting: The Fiancé's apartment after dinner last night. He made chicken, asparagus and rice on his own!
Scenario: We sat down to look at our calendars and budgets. I opened his Google calendar and scrolled to June looking for a wedding balance deadline I had calendared on our shared Goin' to the Chapel calendar.

Me: Why are there so many things on your calendar?
Him: Because there are sports. *he has several different teams' calendars*
Me: Ah, ok. *still searching for what I was originally looking for* What is this?! *On June 19, there is a reoccurring appointment: Engagement Anniversary*
Him: Well, yeah.
Me: I didn't even know what date it was until I saw this! You are cute.
Him: This way I don't forget.

Lions and Lambs, Showers and Flowers

2011-04-06T10:03:00.006-04:00

March was always going to be a busy month. Everyday in March, I was grateful for its almost five full weeks. I needed each of those days to accomplish everything on my to do list. And for the most part, I feel successful.

I recruited almost 150 volunteers for Taste of the Nation, whose $20 volunteer donation netted our event roughly $2500. In addition to helping spearhead a ministry for parents with young children (don't ask), I organized two Lent soup dinners at the Cathedral on Friday nights. My effort to partner with a local restaurant resulted in having the soup, bread and spoons all donated. Making gallons of soup was not possible in March.

It was also not possible to not be rude. I left a restaurant during a birthday party because I couldn't handle the crowd, the confusion and my time was too precious that night. I still feel bad and hope a friendship isn't effected.

The wedding took a backseat in March. We printed our invitations and shopped for clothes for our upcoming engagement session. The only freak out in March revolved around the wedding, but that's not totally accurate. It was about the rehearsal. The rehearsal issues are worth their own post, because it has caused more stress than any other element of the wedding, hands down.

I learned how to delegate for the wedding in March. Or I learned how to communicate about the wedding in March. There was a period where I kept telling people (the Fiancé and Mum) that they needed to help me with the wedding. Eventually the Fiancé responded with "You keep saying you need help but you won't tell me what to do!" I took a deep breath and asked if he had accomplished the few things I'd previously asked him to do in regards to the wedding. No.

That is fine! I'm not holding it against him! Really, I'm not. But I'm also not going to give him additional tasks to accomplish. He is busy, and I can do things faster anyway. I set out an expectation in March that if you (the Fiancé, Mum, family) want something for the wedding (a shower, a tea, a bachelor party, and at this point, a rehearsal dinner) it is up to you to help me. I will not be disappointed in my wedding if those things don't happen. I am just too busy to get emotionally involved.

By the end of March, rooms were booked at the hotel where I wanted rooms booked, our first wedding gift arrived, and my dress was taken to the tailor for its first fitting. Most importantly, I want to spend every March for the next 60 years with the Fiancé.

That didn't change.

Weddings Are Good For Health Deductibles

2011-03-08T14:53:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite days as an engaged person so far was the last day the Fiancé lived in Boston. I had two appointments at bridal salons in downtown Boston, to try on dresses that I could only find in Boston. So that Friday afternoon, I left him and a friend to move sofas and beds into the moving truck. I had a really wonderful time trying on dresses by myself at both Bella Bridesmaid and Priscilla of Boston. I was even measured for a dress that looked like July 23 at Priscilla of Boston.

The dress was $2800, which I thought I could afford. You have to remember that this was the end of July, and we had been wedding planning for barely a month. I sent photos of the dress to Mum, and she was pleased. Then I went back to the Fiancé's apartment that night and proceeded to freak out. See, I received an e-mail that day from a wedding photographer who quoted her basic services at $6500.

$2800 + $6500 = me awake all night rocking in a corner

No, literally. I couldn't sleep in the Fiancé's room, and he needed to sleep so he could drive to Virginia the next day. So I went into the other bedroom that was now empty since all the furniture had been moved out and laid flat on the carpet. My brain raced with ideas on how to afford a wedding.

Needless to say, my wedding dress did not cost $2800 and our photographer is not the woman who sent me the e-mail that day.

But I love my dress and my photographer.

* * *

Have I mentioned that there are four young women other than myself engaged in my office? And another woman was just married in January. Someone commented that our office is now like the WE channel: all weddings, all the time.

One of those women went to a truck show on Friday, where the designer was present. I told her to keep her wits about her. Trunk shows are notorious traps for brides. Salons will offer you percentages off to entice you into buying a dress right! then! even when you might not be ready to purchase a dress.

She sent me an e-mail at 5:30 Friday with a link to a dress and a message "I think I found the one!" But today, we had three separate discussions about if it was "the one". Because this "one" woke her up Friday night and kept her up for three hours. She felt like such a sucker.

I told her at least she didn't have to go lie on the floor in an empty room.

Inside A Relationship: 150 Days til Forever

2011-02-21T08:04:00.001-05:00

Setting: on the phone
Scenario: the night before we are set to register for the first time at the Macy*s Sip & Scan event.

Me: Remember you have to leave work early tomorrow.
Him: Why? . . . AH! So we can register! I'm writing myself an e-mail right now. *I can hear him open a new tab on his computer to compose an e-mail. He narrates the e-mail.* Leave work early to register. Why? Because you are marrying Jillian and you love her.

* * *

Scenario: showing the Fiancé a wedding related product that has both our last names

Me: My name looks bigger. Sorry about that.
Him: That's ok. I'm more of a sidekick in this relationship anyway. You are the most important part.

* * *

Setting: on the phone
Scenario: The Fiancé is ready for a break now

Him: Can we go on our honeymoon now and just stay there?
Me: That's not how that works. Sorry.
Him: That's what they did on Boy Meets World.
Me: What?
Him: Boy Meets World! They go on a honeymoon and stay. The main character guy starts to grow coconuts. Look it up on Hulu.

Girl's Best Friend

2011-02-08T11:19:00.000-05:00

On Saturday afternoon, I had time to kill before the Fiancé and I were meeting for my quarterly supply run to Target. I happened to be downtown, on the corner of K and 17th to be exact. I decided to cross the street and stop in at Mervis Diamond where the Fiancé purchased my engagement ring.

The store is fancy; you have to be buzzed in and then you have to be buzzed in again from the lobby. I announced that I didn't have an appointment but was interested in getting my ring cleaned and pricing the matching wedding band*.

The manager lead me to a room and took my ring. I could hear the whirling of the cleaning apparatus. She walked back into the room examining my ring.

"Well, it's clean, but I think we are missing a diamond."

If you don't know what my ring looks like, here is a photo courtesy of Heather Ryan Photography:

This is a photo of the engagement band from the designer's website, pictured with the matching wedding band and a center stone of a different shape:

Source

The stone that was missing is one of the two little round ones that are on the setting itself. Here's a close-up:

Source

I'm about 95% sure I walked in that day with the stone still in the band. I have heard that these tiny little diamonds fall out easily, especially after being cleaned. But I didn't need to argue that point; Mervis is replacing the stone for free regardless. I could have had it done that day in about three hours, but I didn't want to postpone my Target adventure on account of a silly little diamond. I'm dropping it off today for the repair.

On the very bright side, my ring has never looked so good. It is so sparkly now that my roommate, who didn't know I had my ring cleaned, commented from across the room the other night as I gestured with my hands "Wow! I can see your ring shining in the light from here!"

*Blogger's note: I already have my wedding band from somewhere else, but that is a post for another day.

Inside A Relationship: Inside The Bedroom

2011-02-03T20:16:00.002-05:00

Setting: Saturday night at my apartment
Scenario: The Fiancé and I are relaxing after dinner

Me: I need to show you something in the bedroom.
Him: That movie didn't end too well for the characters.
Me: *closes bedroom door, starts to take off jeans*
Him: Oh!
Me: I need you to look at this bruise situation I have on the back of my thigh. It hurts, and I can't see it because of where it is.
Him: Um, it's a bruise.
Me: IT HURTS! There is like a bite mark or something. Do you think an alien attacked me at night?
Him: It's possible.
Me: I'm cold.
Him: Put your pants back on!

Mr. and Mrs. John Harrington IV

2011-01-26T10:45:00.002-05:00

I made a rule to not purchase wedding magazines before I was engaged. But I think many women, and some long-married, feel like the latest issue of Martha Stewart Weddings doesn't count as a "wedding magazine". It's more a perfect bound slice of heaven.

The first summer I lived in Washington, D.C., I purchased the Summer 2008 issue of Weddings at the now defunct Olsson's Books in Dupont Circle. I think the Fiancé was out of town for work, and it was cheap entertainment while I was alone.

I have never regretted this purchase.

It was here that I found Lily and John. There has not been a wedding in the last few years that inspired more brides than Lily and John's Santa Barbara nuptials. At least two Weddingbee bloggers wrote posts about their love of Lily's wedding look. I know that her dress was so sought after that Once Wed sent out an A.P.B. looking for brides willing to sell the same dress.

There aren't a lot of elements that can transfer between a backyard fete in Southern Califonia and a downtown D.C. wedding. But every time I have to make a wedding decision, I flip through the pages of that magazine looking for the answer: What did Lily do?

What will the men in the wedding wear? And what ties?

Their own gray suits with matching pink ties.

Source

What should we have on our cocktail napkins?

Our initials in pink.

Source

I recently found Lily on Twitter, and I extended by gratitude for all the inspiration.

She re-tweeted and repsonded!

Before moving to New York City, Colleen (a.k.a. Mrs. Ribbons) needed someone to take her old issues of Weddings. Now, I have two copies of the Summer 2008 issue.

I will be tucking one away in my hope chest for my daughter's wedding. I just have to get a hope chest first.

(Crazy For You But) Not That Crazy

2011-01-20T21:41:00.000-05:00

The CDs were not in my suitcase. I did not pack them. I left them with the pile of Christmas gifts to be mailed. I realized this when I went to load them onto my iPod on New Years Eve day and they were nowhere to be found in Virginia. That was a fun surprise.

Once my Christmas package arrived, I sat down again to finally load all 69 songs into iTunes. The first two CDs loaded fine, and then I opened up the last case and found nothing. No CD.

Of course.

I called home to share the awesomeness of this revelation with Mum, because she enjoys a good laugh. She quickly found the missing CD in my bedroom, in the CD boombox. I told her to keep it there and just bring it with her in July for the wedding. Obviously, it's much safer there.

2011 Goals

2011-01-17T15:58:00.001-05:00

1. Have that weird mole on my stomach looked at
Let's start with a delicate one, shall we? I've noticed this mole has changed color, but for me to have it looked at would require some insurance hoops. I think my skin's health is worth it.

2. Wear a bikini on my honeymoon
This is obviously a weight loss goal without being too explicit. I ordered two sale suits from Lands End's Canvas line to try.

3. Be a better shopper and dresser
Less Old Navy and more something better. I need to kick it up a notch. Since I moved away from Texas where Mum, McKatie and I would shop often together, I've found myself purchasing less clothing. I definitely need to build a better wardrobe after living here for two and a half years.

4. Blog more
I know I'm going to want to remember this time in my life, especially the wedding planning process, when I am older. I am not recording enough of it. I also need the ability to blog about the things that are bothering me and not worry about people's feelings being hurt. Or maybe I should just get a Hello Kitty diary.

5. Prepare to leave my job
For real this time.

6. Make clutches for my maid of honor, mother and future mother-in-law
I bought all the materials and I just need to sit down and construct them. This is right now the ONLY crafty project I have for the wedding. I want to follow through.

7. Grow out my fingernails
I am 27, and I bite my nails. Hot. I want pretty ring photos on the wedding day.

8. Go to California to see Bradley graduate from USC
This is just a thinly veiled excuse to eat our way around L.A. as a family.

9. Find patience, spiritual growth and new talents through my volunteer activities
Basically, I need to stop bitching about the time commitment and get more wholly involved to find deeper value.

10. Marry the man I have known for 15 years, as of yesterday, on July 23.
It all started in sixth grade world geography . . .

2010 Goals: Report

2011-01-06T14:42:00.003-05:00

1. Do the 30 Day Shred for 30 days.
Haven't even taken the cellophane off the DVD packaging.

2. Reach the other 50% of my savings goal by May.
I'm not sure if I did this or not, because I forget the goal amount. I did put all of my holiday bonus into savings.

3. Learn to sew a zipper into a garment correctly.
Nope.

4. Have an original craft project of mine featured on another blog.
Nope.

5. Own less.
I didn't return to FloMo until Christmas this year, but was able to create one donation bag and one trash bag during a midnight cleaning spree on Christmas day. I also created a donation bag out of my closet here. I realized that after living here for 2 and a half years, some clothes are ready to move on to greener pastures.

6. Reconnect with people.
I'm trading more e-mails with people, but this is weighing even more heavily on me as we create the wedding guest list.

7. Enjoy more live music.
Fail. We saw a friend's band open for Fitz and the Tantrums in May. We also bought tickets to see Jenny and Johnny, but sold them on Craigslist because of a miscommunication about work schedules and concert venues.

8. Go to a baseball game at Fenway Park.
Check!

9. Be more consistently on top of my workload.
I'm in the same exact place regarding this as I was last year at this time. Not good.

10. Climb the Bunker Hill monument steps.
I took a nap instead on the day we were to do this.

Absolutely Cuckoo

2010-12-27T14:54:00.007-05:00

Yesterday, I was on a quest to stuff as many items as possible into my smaller-than-average carry-on size rolling suitcase. Even after my mother said she would mail me a box with anything I couldn't pack, including my white winter coat that the magical elves at Bibbentuckers cleaned for me, I wasn't getting on that plane without my CD boxset of The Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs.

The Fiancé and I have decided that this would be the music for our cocktail hour. We tossed around the idea of editing it into a playlist that doesn't include the songs about underwear and other sordid things you don't really need to have mentioned at a wedding reception. But I've since decided we should play it the whole way through like it's Pink Floyd's The Wall or some other rock opus.

This decision has been made in the same manner as many of the other decision regarding this wedding: Hey, that's a good idea! Let's do that! As it stands, our most complicated decision has been our wedding cake, and mainly because my immediate family loves cake and is very worried we won't have enough slices.

Bradley inquired about the sound system that will be playing 69 Love Songs at our reception venue:

Do they have speakers?
- Yes
But are they, like, good speakers?
- Yes . . .
What is the equipment like?
- That's a problem for Future Jillian.

After the Fiancé spent Boxing Day with his extended family, many of whom sound excited to spend July 23, 2011 in Washington, D.C., I realized we are having a wedding. And it looks like there will be more than 10 people there. Future Jillian's problems aren't so far away. Perhaps it is time to make real decisions, like finalizing a guest list.

Playlist 1, Guestlist 0

Angel Tree 2010: Part 2

2010-12-16T11:08:00.000-05:00

The other two cards I chose listed items I thought would be easy to locate, but instead turned into an online adventure.

Girl's long-sleeved dress size 12-14

I pity you if you have a tween girl. The clothing selection out there is downright disgusting. Dresses were either cheap looking, cheaply made, or inappropriate for this age girl in my opinion. I went to Filene's, H&M, Old Navy (online), GAP Kids, Macy*s, and Marshalls. I came up with one option, which was a Ralph Lauren Polo dress for $36. Once again, I wasn't buying a child a dress more expensive that some of the dreses I wear to work each day.

Enter Land's End's St. Nick's Picks on Cyber Monday. I picked up the dress below for $15 and a pair of matching tights for $3.97.

Holy cow Land's End, what is up with your sizing? The dress was large enough, including the length, for me to wear. The Fiancé thought the pattern looked a little like Homer Simpson's muu muu. And then someone at the church gift wrapping party (more on that below) mentioned some girls get party dresses and others get such practical dresses. And those girls are often sisters.

Luckily, I brought my dress wrapped so she couldn't see the hot little number I purchased. I still felt so ashamed!

Girls' long-sleeved white school uniform polo, size 16

I called three different area stores to see if they had polos in stock, but I guess this isn't a big item after the school year begins. I added this to my Land's End cart for $19.50.

I used Want Not's Land's End free shipping code. My total for all four of my adopt-a-family tags was $97.01 which the Fiancé graciously split with me.

On Sunday afternoon, and then again Wednesday night since we didn't complete it all, I wrapped the donated gifts with other volunteers from St. Matthews. Like I mentioned before, there were 31 families. I spent three hours wrapping Family 17's gifts, alone. Do you know how hard it is to wrap shirts and sweaters when there aren't gift boxes? I was relieved when I discovered my already wrapped sweater dress buried in the pile.

Angel Tree Gift 2010: Part 1

2010-12-10T12:37:00.004-05:00

This year, I am getting involved at the church the Fiancé and I are going to have our wedding at next July. St. Matthews adopts 31 families for their Christmas giving. Each family has on average six members, and they aim to give each member 5-6 gifts.

You do the math on that one.

I didn't pick up gift tags the first weekend they were set out, since the table was crowded. I figured I could be laidback about it and wait until next week since there were so many gifts to buy. This was a poor choice. All the fun gift tags were gone the next weekend, like toys or baby clothes. So I basically panicked and called the Fiancé and said "I don't want to find a set of Hannah Montana pjs for a little girl!"

With his encouragement, I picked up four diverse tags, all for different people and families.

Here are the gifts I bought the traditional way: walking into a brick-and-mortar store.

Lady dress (any color) size M - $39.20 at Filene's Basement

The day before I picked up the gift tags, I had been shopping at Old Navy where they had tons of cute dresses for $20. Unfortunately, it's kind of a hassle for me to get to Old Navy (I have to ride a bus) and none of those dresses were featured online. Therefore I ran to Filene's during my lunch and grabbed an aubergine sweater dress and a two pack of tights.

I'm a little uncomfortable with this purchase for two reasons:

1. I don't find the quality of merchandise at Filene's to be high enough to purchase for myself to wear.
2. The dress was $29.99 which was oddly more money than the outfit I had on that day while shopping in the store.

But this kept me from going to Macy*s with their evil coupon programs. I'm calling this even.

Hair straightener - $19.32 at Nordstrom Rack

Leopard. Pink. Done.

In an effort to help the volunteers at St. Matthews with the 1000+ gift wrapping challenge, I decided to wrap my gifts before returning them to church. Please note the recycled pink ribbon from one of my birthday gifts on the box with the dress.

Next: online efforts

Don't Need No More Ice Tea Spoons

2010-12-01T11:28:00.009-05:00

Over the holiday weekend, actually while we were getting ready to go out Black Friday shopping, the Fiancé and I discussed wedding registries. We specifically discussed what stores we would like to spend a Saturday at with a price gun and reckless ambition. The standards, at least for people in our socio-economic group, are Bed, Bath and Beyond, Macy*s, and Target. I would like to branch out to Crate & Barrel and a store that has an outpost in Western Pennsylvania since none of the above do and that's where my extended family lives.

On the list of wedding worries, registering is so far down that I can't even put a number on it. All I want is for people to come to our wedding. Having a destination wedding during the peak summer vacation season, I have no expectations for gifts. I spend most of my time stressing that there will be enough guests to meet my venue's minimum head count.

Shortly after we were engaged in June, I had a conversation with Mum about the fact that I don't need anything from anyone. I don't need a toaster, or ice cream maker, new towels, or a wastepaper can. As a couple, we are at a point where we (mostly me) own necessary kitchen/housewares, and more importantly we can buy things if we need them. Mum has taken a slightly reserved approach and won't let me buy items that are traditionally gifts to the new couple, like a cake serving set. I've passed up a few bargains waiting her to gift us.

But on Cyber Monday, Oneida was having a 15% off sale on their already reduced flatware sets. I couldn't help it. For $63 shipped, I picked up a 65 piece everyday service for 12 . This same set retails for $230.

Oneida Colonial Boston

The Fiancé was very confused and thought I was buying this as a gift for someone. When I told him it was for us, he responded "We have grown up silverware!" with genuine enthusiasm.

I can't wait until we return from our honeymoon and his mismatched Ikea silverware goes directly into a pile for Goodwill donation.

Johnson Family Calendar 2011: Outakes

2010-11-30T23:46:00.003-05:00

A few single shots of the first born Johnson:

Fenway Park during a Red Sox game

RFK Stadium during a DC United game

NOLA

Birthday present

And a couple shot I forgot:

Nature

Johnson Family Calendar 2011: Couple Shots

2010-11-29T10:04:00.002-05:00

When the Fiancé's parents visited in October, they wanted to buy us an engagement gift. We don't need or want anything, except for them to have fun next July at our wedding. But me, being me, made a joke that the Fiancé could use a TV, since he doesn't own one.

He does not need a TV for the following reasons:

- he doesn't have cable
- he is never home to watch TV
- and if he is going to watch TV, he's going to watch it at my house since I'm probably cooking something for him at the same time
- we are moving in 8 months and would rather not hassle with moving anything big
- we may not get cable at our next place

We finally convinced them to not.buy.us.a.tv.please!

As I was organizing photos for the 2011 calendar, I realized I should have asked them for a new digital camera since all my photos this year were taken with my BlackBerry. These low quality shots,combined with the fact that I am too lazy to host them somewhere other than Flickr, produce some lovely pixelated pictures to be featured on my wedding year calendar.

At least the FMIL took photos with an actual camera during their visit.

BlackBerry beauties:

Birthday last fall in Austin

Fort McHenry in Baltimore

Fenway Park

New Orleans streetcar

New Orleans port

Wagon, off

2010-11-26T21:56:00.002-05:00

I've fallen off the NaBloPoMo wagon for the first time in the five years of participating in the event.

Look forward to my 2011 Johnson Family Calendar submissions tomorrow. Today? My Thanksgiving outfit from yesterday, featuring yellow tights, my new haircut and the scarf the Fiancé's mother (Future Mother-in-law or FMIL, if you will) bought me for my birthday.

Flippy Floppies

2010-11-23T16:27:00.001-05:00

On Saturday, Becky, Alicia and I went to get birthday pedicures in Dupont Circle. As we were about to leave, I threw away my pedicure flip flops and mentioned how we might have flip flops for guests at the wedding.

Their response: No need! We'll bring our own flip flops in our bags to change into. We were going to do that already! No big deal!

This is why they are my friends; they're not idiots.

Related: I'm the creator of this. (Kinda NSFW)

Inside A Relationship: Turning Japanese

2010-11-22T16:23:00.003-05:00

Setting: my kitchen
Scenario: cooking dinner last night

The Fiancé: You know it's like you've fed fresh meat to the wolf or something.
Me: . . . ?
Him: With the karaoke! I've gotten a taste of it and now I'm obsessed with looking up other songs to sing!

Why There Wasn't A Post Yesterday

2010-11-21T23:04:00.003-05:00

The Fiancé and I did Karaoke for the first time. We chose Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but changed our selection to Friday I'm In Love by the Cure at the last minute. We thought it was more duet and bar crowd friendly. But the DJ disagreed and shook his head at the substitution. He even commented on dumping the "cooler" song when he introduced us to the crowd.

Later as we were closing the bar tab, our names got called up for Maps. The DJ didn't take us out of rotation, and I think he secretly really wanted to hear this song.

But I'd had three drinks.

And the Fiancé's favorite band is still Green Day.

(I need some explanation for what happened next.)

I remembered most of the words and the beat. But when it got to the chorus, the Karaoke teleprompter typed out the "MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPS" part as "Ma . . . Ps". So I said out loud "Ma" (like the slang word for mother) and "P.S." (as in "P.S. I love you").

The DJ looked at me like I lost my mind.

And then I did it again during the second chorus.

I'm so sorry to 2003 Jillian and Karen O.

No Apartment Dog

2010-11-19T12:13:00.006-05:00

When we came back to my apartment last night after retrieving birthday cupcakes at Red Velvet Cupcakery, I immeditaely took of my tights. I've learned after the two previous winters spent living with a dog that tights + dog hair = gross. But, actually I've learned anything + dog hair = gross.

Case in point, my roommate had just bathed the dog before we came home. And wet matted dog hair was collecting on the carpet as the dog was free to roam around the living areas wet. Of course you wouldn't keep a dog in a bedroom while wet! They can jump on the bed and make it soggy. Best to let it ruin the recently professionally cleaned carpet that I took the time to schedule the appointment and pay for since I was tired of living with dog hair everywhere.

The Fiancé and I are eating dinner out at a restaurant on Thanksgiving Day. When I inform people of our decision, I defend it with "I've cooked Thanksgiving alone twice before! I didn't want to clean all those dishes again!" and "It will be cheaper!" both of which are true. But the real reason is because it would take more time and energy than I have with my current schedule to prepare my apartment to cook a Thanksgiving turkey. The Fiancé and I had a brief conversation about it last night:

Me: I would go insane if I had to cook Thanksgiving in that kitchen. You would find me not wearing any underwear . . .
Him: Why would underwear be the first thing to go if you were insane?
Me: Sorry, pants. I meant to say pants. You would find me standing in the kitchen wearing only my underwear and a white tank top, but my apron would be covering it all, with an oven mit on one hand as a knife is in the other hand tracing lines down my arm.

I actually really like both my roommate and the dog.

Late Twenties

2010-11-18T22:33:00.003-05:00

27 today! The year Grandma Helen said you should be married.

Give us 8 more months.

Flour And Water

2010-11-17T14:51:00.003-05:00

Franck: So dis ees a vary popular keck with the many of the foshinable woddings, you know. And this is, I jus don't do any more. And this is fabulliz.
Annie: Oh! Oh! That is incredible!
Nina: Annie, that's just like the one we saw in the magazine.
Annie: Do you like it, Dad?
George: Well, what is that? Is that--is that dollars? $1200?
Franck: Vel, Moster Bonks, dis ees a vary raisonable price for a keck of dis magnootud.
George: A cake, Franck, is made of flour and water. My first car didn't cost $1200.

The Fiancé and I had our first cake tasting over the weekend at a bakery in Maryland. The cakes were delicious, the staff was wonderful and we were quoted a price that was within budget. We left elated and confident that another wedding decision had been made.

Yesterday the proposed contract was e-mailed to us, with the pastry chef's apologizes. You see, she misquoted us: delivery from Bethesda to D.C. is actually $150. My cake is travelling 7 miles down the road, and it is basically one road they have to drive down. For you with liberal arts degrees, the math works out to over $20 a mile to just have the cake delivered to our reception venue.

The cake now totals more than my wedding dress cost.

$10 Shellacked Decorative vegetables, A-holes

2010-11-16T21:59:00.002-05:00

It's decorative gourd season, m'fers.

Thanks to the Fiancé for carrying these from Bethesda, Maryland through Friendship Heights, on a bus to Georgetown and on the Metro back to Virginia.

Chashley Wedding: Bridal Party Gifts

2010-11-15T13:29:00.004-05:00

I didn't purchase the fabric for the ties from Purl Soho. I found a better deal at Hart's Fabric. Each tie needed 3/4 of a yard of fabric, so I ordered 4 yards to be safe. After I placed the order, Hart's called to say they only had a little over 2 and 3/4 yards of the Kaffe Fasset Moss fabric. I asked if they could give me a discount since it wasn't a full yard; they did. I then proceeded to freak out for a good 6 weeks about not having enough fabric.

I carefully (and a bit creatively) cut all three ties and the bowtie on the bias from that 2.88 yards of fabric. So imagine my surprise when I had a TON of fabric left. Because I felt guilty for the additional cost of the now extraneous fabric, I proceeded to whip up a few goodies.

First up were the fabric yo-yos for the gentleman of the wedding to wear in lieu of fresh floral boutonnieres. I had to convince the groom that this wasn't too frilly or feminine. It's quite a popular look on the more "rustic" weddings featured on wedding blogs.

I made 7 in total. 5 for the fathers and grandfathers:

2 for the little boys who escorted the flower girls:

Lastly, the men in the bridal party each received a handkerchief. I just took a simple 14 inch square and hemmed the sides.

I embroidered their initials. One groomsman's initials were "SS", and he chose to hang his hankie outside his back pants' pocket. If you didn't know those were his initials, it was awkward.

The ladies each received a small pouch purse based on the pattern in Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing.

I lined each with a yellow fabric from my stash. It actually has little white polka dots on it. The button was again from my stash and the elastic to create the closure I saved from a package, so it was free! (The book also recommends using a hair elastic for this project.)

The bride used her purse on the wedding day to keep her diabetic testing supplies.

I sent the remaining bits of fabric and all the items in labeled bags. The ties were each packaged with their coordinating handkerchief in a brown envelope with gift tag, ready to be passed out.

I waited until close to the last minute to send the package as I was still creating things. It cost me $35 to 2-day FedEx this all to Chad in Texas. I hope they thought it was worth it!

Wordless Weekend: So You Want To Go To Law School

2010-11-14T22:50:00.001-05:00

(Mostly) Wordless Weekend: Runaway

2010-11-13T23:56:00.004-05:00

The one request the Fiancé had when I went wedding dress shopping was no tulle on the skirt.

Ballerinas always make me wistful.

Announcement

2010-11-12T22:05:00.002-05:00

I just spent the last hour and a half look at fonts trying to find a capital J I liked with a complimentary lowercase z.

Chashley recaps resume once I stop debating a shade of peach.

Chashley Wedding: Ties

2010-11-11T21:22:00.007-05:00

Chad chose to wear one of J.Crew's Italian chino suits for his wedding apparel. His three groomsman followed suit (ha!) and paired the same chino pants with white shirts for the outdoor, early fall wedding in New Orleans.

Right before Chad and Ashley moved back to Texas in the summer, we stopped by J.Crew where Chad picked up a chambray bowtie like the tie below.

He wanted a similar look, but in green. And not $45-85 each.

I took the biggest challenge of my novice sewing career by committing to make three standard straight men's ties and Chad's bowtie.

I started this adventure in June, when I went to visit Melanie in New York City. At the newly revamped Purl Soho, I picked up a sample of Kaffe Fassett's shot cotton in moss. The staff advised using this over a chambray. I trusted their judgment since the pattern I was using to create the ties was their own.

The pattern was not the best, but it was free. None of the ties turned out the same. At least they looked professional!

I stressed for about a month about finishing the ties, and knocked them mostly out in one intense sewing weekend. The last thing on my to-do list was the bowtie. And that was my sewing Everest. I sat down on Labor Day and wouldn't let myself do anything else except finish this project using the Burda Style bowtie pattern.

A gentleman I work with donated one of his old bowties for me to hack apart for the hardware. These sliding mechanisms are hard to come by, so I was really grateful for his generosity.

The pattern, instructions and tips from Burda Style made this tie go together within a matter of hours.

The Fiancé was nice enough to come over and let me practice my newly-acquired-via-YouTube-tutorials bowtie tying skills out.

A bowtie should look slightly uneven. This way a self-tied bowtie will not be confused with a pre-tied tie. I received high praise for my tying skills from some experts.

I have never felt anything as wonderful as the relief that washed over me once I finished these ties. I pumped my fists in the air and shouted "yes! yes! yes!" as soon as I saw the bowtie completed on the Fiancé.

The groom gave me a thumbs up post-ceremony for his tie. That's all the praise I needed.

Chashley Wedding: Hair Accessories

2010-11-10T22:16:00.005-05:00

The two hair accessory projects I made for the ladies of the wedding are nice bookends: Ashley's hair flower was the first project I did and the headbands for the flower girls were a last minute project right before I shipped everything off.

Ashley found the hair flower below from Brass Paper Clip on Etsy for around $40. She asked if I could do better.

Together we went to Eastern Market in DC and found a vintage brooch for $6. I would like to give Ashley a lot of credit for finding this little gem. I then bought the magnolia and feather trim from two different Etsy sellers for $11. This is one of the few times when not having a car or a Metro accessible craft store makes things difficult. This project would have cost significantly less if we could run to Michaels.

I had the hair clip in my craft stash. So for around ~$20, here is the flower I was able to create:

I would like to take a brief moment to discuss the integrity of the Internet. I know a lot of crafters and artist argue the integrity of creating a product that is a direct copy of another's work. I would not encourage others from doing what I did. This flower was a gift for personal use.

Chad and Ashley have four nieces who were going to be flower girls at their ceremony. I took my own advice and ran to Forever 21 after work and bought 4 headbands on sale for $2 each. (Shocking, right? Nothing ever seems to be on sale at F21.)

I made a simple fabric yo-yo with the leftover green fabric from making the men's ties (to be revealed tomorrow) and finished them with buttons from my stash. Buttons I bought for about 35 cents a package when the Jo-Ann Fabrics on Burnet Road in Austin closed four years ago. Yes, I hesitated about ~~loosing~~ using them on this project.

I removed the original tulle bow from the headband and sewed on the fabric yo-yo.

Three out of the four flower girls successfully wore their headbands on the wedding day. I complimented one of the little ladies on such a beautiful hair accessory. She politely thanked me.

And the Fiancé totally called me out on complementing my own work.

Chashley Wedding: The Invites

2010-11-09T23:13:00.005-05:00

Chad and Ashley were working with a limited budget for their invitations and were searching for invitations they could print themselves. They also wanted to incorporate elements of their New Orleans nuptials, specifically magnolias.

Ashley found a template on Sweet Penelope for a magnolia invite, but just the digital file was $50. They would still need to buy paper, envelopes and pay to print them.

I stumbled upon Download & Print via one of the numerous wedding blogs. Basically, this site offers simple invitation templates that you can edit yourself in Word. No need for advanced graphic design programs!

I took Download & Print's Fall Magnolia template, added their information and whipped up an accompanying reception card. See the results below!

A word from the bride herself on the budget breakdown:

Chad and I went to Papersource and spent less than $75 on our envelopes and paper for the invitations. How you ask? We bought a pack of 250 sheets of star dust opal paper for $15! I printed them for free, at work and took them to Kinko's to get cut (less than $20 total). All that's left is postage ($66.00) bringing our total invitation cost to ~ $161 dollars. That's half of what we budgeted, and we budgeted on the super cheap side. I'll momentarily mourn the lack of letterpress, but only as long as it takes me to spend the $140 we saved (which wouldn't have even bought letterpress...) on something else. Thank you so much for a) finding this free little gem b) doing all the work ups to make it perfect. They look so good!

PrettyLittleMess Product: Chashley Wedding

2010-11-08T23:11:00.003-05:00

This week, I'm going to highlight a few of the projects that I produced for our good friends Chad and Ashley's wedding this past September in New Orleans. A little programming note:

Tuesday - the invitation
Wednesday - the hair accessories
Thursday - the ties
Friday - the bridal party accessories

But first, a grainy BlackBerry photo of the newlyweds leading the Second Line post reception:

Poet Laureate

2010-11-07T20:22:00.001-05:00

Originally uploaded by prettylittlemess.

My family has several unique phrases we say. I usually end phone call conversations with McKatie by saying "Love you like a fat kid", which has caused more than one person to raise their eyebrows at me. Basically I'm shortening the endearing phrase "I love you like a fat kid loves cake."

And we all know that's a lot of love.

Yesterday, while shopping I found this hanging in a fancy gift store in Georgetown.

I feel like this has a place in the McMahon home.

Inside A Relationship: Smells Like Starbucks

2010-11-06T22:42:00.002-04:00

Setting: Nordstrom fine fragrance department
Scenario: I have two wedding day scents in mind and as we walked through the store, we stopped to have the Fiancé smell them. Backstory: I'm marrying a man who gets caffeine withdrawal headaches if he doesn't drink a cup of coffee within minutes of waking up.

Me: *holding up a small jar of coffee beans* Smell these so you loose the scent of the first perfume.
Him: Oh! If you could just smell like that the entire day, that would be great!
Me: Sure, I'll just rub coffee beans all over myself before walking down the aisle.

The Dude Wants To End Childhood Hunger

2010-11-05T21:58:00.003-04:00

I'm a chairperson for Taste of the Nation DC, one of Share Our Strength's food events.

Jeff Bridges has just been announced as the celebrity spokesperson for SOS's new initiative, No Kid Hungry. If you would like to see childhood hunger end by 2015, click the link and take the pledge.

And I Called Myself A Zen Bride

2010-11-04T21:32:00.003-04:00

Setting: my apartment
Scenario: the Fiancé walked in the door tonight for dinner, I was fretting on the couch

Me: Hi! I did something crazy today.
Him: Did you freak out at work?
Me: NO! I read the reviews for the *insert wedding related item here* we ordered this week and they aren't good. Here! Photographic evidence. *I show him a photo*
Him: It's not that bad. What's the alternative?
Me: We could buy this instead. *I show another picture* What would you do?
Him: *hesitant* I . . .
Me: Ok, what should WE do. Think of the team Johnson!
Him: I think if it is causing you doubts, cancel the order.
Me: I'm sitting in the middle of Party Pig with this, aren't I?
Him: Not quite.

I like to call this "debating a shade of peach". Because this decision really won't matter on July 23, 2011, but is absolutely paralyzing on November 4, 2010.

When People Stop Being Polite & Start Being Political

2010-11-03T22:56:00.003-04:00

Setting: the Fiancé's house
Scenario: discussing the election

Me: Did you see Sean from The Real World was elected to Congress?
The Fiancé: WHAT?!
Me: He's from the Boston season. Remember?
Him: Oh, yeah . . . I've never watched an episode of Real World.

Note: I Ate A Cupcake For Lunch

2010-11-02T17:03:00.006-04:00

I'm not hiring a personal trainer to prepare my bridal bod after all. Sessions were $79 each, with a minimum commitment of 2 a month. For those of you playing at home, that amounts to $1422 for the nine months leading up to our wedding.

The photographer we decided on is $1000 more than we had budgeted for.

And the church (for now, at least) is going to be $500 more than I plugged into our Google doc spreadsheet budget estimator.

So I'm being an adult and not partaking in the indulgent, but probably really beneficial, training sessions. The Fiancé, who is always supportive of spending money for things that will be useful, cringed at the thought of spending the exact same amount of money we needed to find for our budget shortfalls on toning my gut.

Honestly, this is the first thing that has bummed me out about paying for the wedding. I wish we could afford both: personal training so I can look amazing in the pricey photographer's pictures.

It's now all up to me to lose the 13 pounds I want to by July 23.

NaBloPoMo

2010-11-01T20:59:00.000-04:00

It's that time of year again, kids!

And yes, this year will be a lot of wedding talk. Consider yourselves warned.

I Lost All My Money At The Bullfights

2010-10-28T11:22:00.005-04:00

According to a wedding budget estimator, that was built into a Google Doc spreadsheet that we modified to use as our wedding budget, we should spend 8% of our budget on photography. I played with the numbers a bit, taking from other categories, to give us 16% for photography.

As it stands today, the photographer we like and the combination of services we want amounts to 25% of our budget. And that's without an album. Because her albums are $1800 for 100 pages.

We might spend more on photography at our wedding than food and drink.

May I suggest wedding photographer if you are looking for a career change? I am only assuming it is quite profitable.

I have shared with the other brides on the Washington D.C. Weddingbee board my extensive Google doc of D.C. area photographers. I have contacted 99% of those 40 photographers and sent inquiries to 3 New York City based photographers, one in Southern California and one in Atlanta. In the words of Julia Sugarbaker, I have completely lost my mind.

Photography is the most important wedding day element for me, as mentioned before. We aren't having a videographer, so the professional photos will be the only tangible memories. But this isn't the Fiancé's most important element; he just wants a honeymoon. He wants a vacation, period, desperately. I'm afraid the more money we spend on pictures, the less there is to spend on a week at a sandy beach.

Bridal guilt, I have it bad.

Physical, Physical

2010-10-25T22:13:00.006-04:00

I have hired a personal trainer for the wedding.

(I've also hired a wedding coordinator, but that's another post.)

((I've also hired a psychiatrist, but that's another blog.))

The trainer asked me to fill out a six page health evaluation questionnaire. The guys at the gym responded to my answers with a question: am I open to some nutritional suggestions?

The Fiancé was there when I received their response e-mail, so we went through my answers together. The first issue was probably the chart that asked you to list your exercise type, frequency, and duration. I filled in the following:

Exercise type- running to the Metro
Frequency- everyday
Duration- 5 minute sprint

Ok, they thought that answer was humorous because they put a little smiley face next to it. But, then they asked my nutritional habits and composition. Here were my answers:

Breakfast- never eat
(Snack)- n/a
Lunch- sandwich or nothing at all
(Snack)- yogurt, fruit, or candy
Dinner- mishmash of take out, frozen pizzas, pasta or really elaborate meals that I make then end up eating too late at night
(Snack)- chocolate

By the time the Fiancé reads this on my evaluation, he is laughing so hard he almost falls off the chair. I realize that the personal trainer is probably amazed at how I don't have scurvy with that diet.

I have a goal of not wearing Spanx under my wedding dress. Here's to the first week of introductory training sessions!

The Way We Get By

2010-10-11T14:11:00.007-04:00

The Fiancé's parents visited from Texas this weekend. It's their first time visiting him on the East coast since his law school graduation almost a year and a half ago. I think they skipped a Boston visit to get to see me AND the Fiancé in one stop.

Or they waited to visit D.C. so we could do a White House tour together. I encouraged the iPhone Johnson Family Calendar picture taking outside the White House north portico. Watch out 2011!

After said tour on Saturday, we walked to our wedding ceremony and reception sites. On the way we stopped by the Tabard Inn where I will be spending my last night as a single lady. Across the street is the Iron Gate Inn Restaurant where we wanted to have our rehearsal cocktail hour. I had worked really hard the last two weeks to find a place in D.C. to hold an informal get together after our rehearsal Friday night. Most places in D.C. have $1500-$2500 minimums for such events. And those are prices for cocktails, not full meals. The thought of planning and paying for a second wedding-reception-caliber event was overwhelming.

Iron Gate has a beautiful outdoor patio and bar that we were going to have appetizers and drinks at, all based on consumption. No deposit, minimum, bar fee, or site fee.

When we crossed N to take a closer look at the place, there was a banner across the iron gates (yes, it has actual iron gates) that was falling down. Something about "closing" "last chance" "October". Surely they weren't going out of business! They were just closing the patio for the winter, as many area restaurants do.

Ha, ha, ha.

The beautiful place I was going to sip my last single gal cocktails at, the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Washington, D.C. where the manager and I confirmed my event not 7 days earlier, is closing at the end of October. And the Fiancé's mother even took our photo in front of it!

The Fiancé slept over on Saturday night because he was afraid I would stay up all night Googling for alternatives. Bradley had the best response of all when I told the news, "That's about right." Because something had to go wrong! And I am counting all my blessings that it wasn't my reception space the went defunct.

I think I should mention now that I have the penthouse suite at the Tabard Inn. Pizza and beers in my room Friday night, everyone!?

An Education

2010-10-07T11:47:00.003-04:00

Setting: on the phone
Scenario: The Fiancé took a shower at my place on Saturday. He didn't want to use my last clean towel. So he . . . improvised.

Me: Hey, remind me again. How many degrees do you have from Yale?
Him: Just the two.
Me: Hm . . . ok. Because I was wondering what they would think of one of their alumni using a washcloth to dry themselves off after a shower.
Him: *laughs* I used an undershirt when I went on debate competitions. A washcloth is an improvement.

* * *

Setting: dinner
Scenario: I was discussing with the Fiancé how I tried to explain the usefullness of a Google docs spreadsheet over an Excel spreadsheet to someone who wasn't all that hip to Google docs.

Him: You know what I wish we had in chambers? Google Wave!
Me: You know they shut down that service like two months ago, right?
Him: That's good. Because I'm going to quit my job and start a tech company!
Me: And produce a product that has already failed once?
Him: Exactly! You could rewind documents. *makes a little air circle with his finger* I could use that at work!

Soon-To-Be Johnsons At The Wedding

2010-09-21T15:16:00.004-04:00

Setting: hotel lobby
Scenario: We were leaving only 45 minutes early for the Chashley wedding, and I was worried about making it on time. Spoiler alert- we were the first ones there.

Me: *checking the contents of my evening bag* Oh, I don't have tissues!
The Fiancé: You aren't going to cry at the wedding. You don't need them.

I actually wanted them for blotting sweat in the almost 100 degree heat.

* * *

Setting: walking back to our hotel from Bourbon St., close to midnight
Scenario: after the joyous Second Line through the French Quarter, we had a drink at the after party bar with our friends and then headed back to the hotel. I didn't realize 1. how much my feet were aching and 2. how far from the hotel we were at that point.

Me: If I take off my shoes here, the worst disease I'll get is hepatitis right?
The Fiancé: Maybe. We'll make sure at our wedding you have comfortable shoes to change into.
Me: *stops on the street, points to feet* THIS is why people have flip flops in baskets at weddings! Flip flops in a mothereffing basket!

Spending Moratorium '10: Week 8

2010-09-08T11:14:00.005-04:00

$3.40 @ Pret a Manger - half a sandwich
$10.40 @ Corner Bakery - lunch

Not included, paid out of Wedding Fund:
$??? - my wedding band (the ring the Fiancé will give me at the altar)

Not included, part of a gift:
$9.54 @ Paper Source - envelopes

The package of envelopes I bought at Paper Source did not have a price sticker on them. I was shocked at the register to find out how much 10 button and string envelopes cost. The lady behind me in line agreed with my disgust at the price, but proceeded to say she was buying $16 card kits just to get the sticker she liked. That sticker was then going on her own handmade baby shower invitations. You see, the sticker was green and gold but the pre-package invitation was green and purple. Purple was not one of her colors.

She was totally suffering from the Party Pig Complex.

I was so distraught from that $10 Paper Source experience that I had to take a rest on one of the adorable Georgetown side streets. I think the Fianceé even offered to buy me a cupcake.

It's An Antique

2010-09-04T15:30:00.000-04:00

Recently, Mum went through a box of her wedding mementos at home in Texas. She found her wedding invitations and receipts for pretty much everything they purchased for the wedding. She also found a helpful booklet on ways to save money for the wedding that was given to her by the church when they went through Pre Cana.

One of the hints was to tie a piece of colorful ribbon around regular champagne flutes and those would be the toasting glasses for the bride and groom. Of course, Mum bought special glasses from a mail order bridal catalog in 1982.

This got me thinking: I need toasting glasses! I have been searching eBay for wedding items, and I found these for $11.99 buy it now:

I sent the link to Mum to ask her thoughts. She responded "They look like mine!". Here's the picture of her glasses that she sent to me:

I chose the same toasting glasses as my mother, only 28 years later. She said the Fiancé and I can borrow hers. That's $11.99 saved!

Happy 28th wedding anniversary, Mum and Dad!

Inside A Relationship: Art School

2010-09-01T14:40:00.006-04:00

Setting: his apartment (!!!)
Scenario: I wanted to illustrate a possible decor element for our wedding reception for the Fiance. I drew the outside of our reception venue and then the inside.

Me: This is the outside. *notices visible confusion on the Fiancé's face* This is a sketch. It doesn't have to look realistic. You were in LEAP, use your imagination.
Him: Fine.
Me: This is the inside *rectangle with little dashes to represent stairs* Now there is a door here. *I draw a circle on that same rectangle to denote a door knob*
Him: *fits of giggles* That was just stairs! Now it's a door? This is like those UPS commercials!

Lady wig.

Spending Moratorium '10: Week 7

2010-08-26T22:11:00.000-04:00

Nothing

Amazing, right? Since the Fiancé moved here, I've been going to the grocery store with shocking regularity. Also, having him in town takes up my free time. Instead of wondering around a store after work, I come home and make dinner.

I'm sure a lot of this will change when the weather turns cooler, but right now I am loving my walk to the grocery store.

Someone On The Internet Is RIGHT

2010-08-23T14:31:00.001-04:00

I'm having a hard time finding my voice when it comes to blogging about my wedding. Probably because there are so many wedding blogs of all shapes and sizes out there already. In the year(s) leading up to our engagement, my Google Reader only stocked the pretty wedding blogs. And I rarely read the content on those blogs. I just focus on the visuals.

Through a series of tweets last week, I stumbled on this post by A Los Angeles Love. It's basically a punch in the face to my post last week about wedding photography. She discusses what is becoming the standard in wedding photography blog features: slim, attractive Caucasian couples at unique venues having a themed wedding. The lack of diversity in people and types of weddings featured is only feeding the Wedding Industrial Complex.

I needed to read that post. The entire wedding blog industry needed to read that. The last line in my photography post "a photographer can only take beautiful pictures if there is something beautiful to photograph" came straight from a higher profile wedding photographer to me.

I had drank the Kool-aid and didn't even know it.

I'm adding A Los Angeles Love to my Reader. I'm going to need more than pretty pictures to make July 23 a great day.

Spending Moratorium '10: Week 6

2010-08-18T09:49:00.004-04:00

$16 @ Martha Stewart Weddings - one year subscription
$4.70 @ Cosi - mojito lemonade
$2.11 @ Staples - double sided tape
$6.69 @ Pret A Manger - half sandwich and lemonade

Not included, paid out of Wedding Fund:
$228 @ Zappos - ANOTHER pair of wedding shoes (that are already on their way back to be returned)

This also does not include the Fiancé's birthday gift, a Baked & Wired carrot cake cupcake.

Actual Photos This Year

2010-08-16T09:46:00.006-04:00

Confidential to Katie McKatie:

Happy birthday!

Jamaica, April 2010

Confidential to the Fiancé:

Happy birthday!

Fenway Park Boston, July 2010

A Thousand Words

2010-08-13T14:06:00.007-04:00

Do you read wedding blogs? Oh, you don't? I'm so glad. Because if you did, you would realize that all weddings take place in fields. And barns. Or open meadows. And seeing images post after post (Style Me Pretty, I'm looking in YOUR general direction) of beautifully styled outdoor weddings, it makes the photographic limitations of a 100 year old church and restaurant reception obvious.

I'm a city girl, having a wedding in the city.

Photography is the most important investment for July 23. I'm looking for a mix of photojournalism and fine art photography. I want detail shots that look like they came out of an Anthropologie catalog. I'm the girl that takes photos of her plated dinner before she eats it at a restaurant, remember?

Below are three snapshots from recent weddings I love. I understand that a photographer can only take beautiful photos if there is something beautiful to photograph. I'm working on that part too.

Colleen and Kirk

Colleen lives in D.C., but was married in Indiana. I met her this past spring at a WedddingBee meetup (shut up). Her wedding was done by Heidi at Our Labor of Love.

Here's a link to her SMP feature and a slideshow of her day.

photo courtesy of Heidi's blog

Alicia and Ian

Another 'Bee blogger, Mrs. Cowboy. Her wedding was in Colorado, shot by Tec Petaja. See all the photos on Project Wedding.

photo courtesy of Project Wedding

Lily and John

This California wedding is from the Summer 2008 Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. View the full spread here.

courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings

Spending Moratorium '10: Week 5

2010-08-10T09:46:00.004-04:00

$20.90 @ Fiddleheads - conditioner
$3.99 @ Amazon.com - Arcade Fire's new album
$16.30 @ Elephant and Castle - lunch*
$95.75 @ Sam's Club - open house weekend haul**

Not included, paid out of Wedding Fund:
$20 @ Arlington Flea Market - vintage handkerchieves for bridal party
$??? @ bridal store - WEDDING DRESS!!!
$XXX.XX @ Piperlime - 2 pairs of shoes for the wedding (one will be returned, this was for sizing)

* I was invited out by a co-worker who I never get to eat lunch with. Of course I was going! Then, I had to get the sweet potato fries. That's how I had a $16 meal at lunch without getting a bevergae.

** We purchased paper towels and toliet paper to split for the year. The Fiancé also picked up coffee and Diet Pepsi in bulk. He paid me in cash for his purchases.

Speding Moratorium '10: Week 4

2010-08-03T11:05:00.002-04:00

$7.52 @ Arby's at BWI- dinner before my (delayed) flight to Boston
$39.25 @ Kora- The Fiancé's "Welcome to NoVa" dinner

That was it.

Spending Moratorium '10: Week 3

2010-07-27T10:00:00.000-04:00

$80 @ Fiddleheads- haircut
$90 @ Oyamel- dinner with the Edies
$4.24 @ Starbucks- water and tea
$6.89 @ Park Place- lunch
$4.34 @ neighborhood market- 2 lemonades

Total- $185.47

Not included: another meal with the Edies that Mum reimbursed me for with cash

The haircut was so I could look my best while trying on ~~$3000 hunks of silk tafetta~~ wedding gowns.

365

2010-07-23T21:45:00.002-04:00

Today at 2:30 p.m. EST, I called the Fiancé at work:

"In exactly one year, I will be walking down the aisle to marry you."

The Fiancé broke out of his work mode and said "You're right! Thanks for reminding me!". I could hear him smiling on the other side of the phone.

* * *

I startled myself when I said "walking down the aisle to marry you". Because in that moment, I saw it happening.

Because it's going to happen.

Spending Moratorium '10: Week 2

2010-07-20T09:54:00.000-04:00

$4.18 @ Victoria Secret- 2 pairs of nude underwear, on super sale
$11 @ Washington Kastle's game- margarita and fries
$31.03 @ Target- life supplies*
$8 @ Five Guys- a desperate lunch
$10 @ neighborhood threading station- eyebrows did

Total- $64.21

Not included, as previously outlined: amazing Melting Pot dinner and the Washington Kastles game ticket

Also not included, because purchased with a Nordstrom gift card: most expensive pair of underwear I've owned in my life that aren't Spanx

I couldn't wear my ~~Old Navy~~ Victoria's Secret underwear while shopping for a bridal gown.

*tissues (Target brand)
salsa (Target brand)
Tide to Go pen
deodorant (bought with coupon)
Certain Dry
panty liners
Simply Lemonade Raspberry (single serving size)
tampons (on sale)

Does she…or doesn’t she?

2010-07-16T11:46:00.002-04:00

I'm going gray. I would label this as premature, since I still look 18. I have been fixing the problem at home with Nice'nEasy Root Touch-ups. But after a few months of this, coupled with growing out a full hair box dye job from the fall, my hair is different shades of brown, orange, and gray.

Since this will not do for the wedding, I went to a salon this weekend that specializes in hair color for a (free) consulation. I wanted to know how much I needed to invest in my hair this coming year.

I met with a woman named Anastacia who had dirty dishwater blonde stringy hair and a tongue piercing. Her strategy was three pronged:

a three hour color correction appointment: $345
two weeks later, a color glaze: $55
every 6 weeks, a touch up: $80

This of course does not include tips or products to protect my color treated hair.

When they asked if I would like to set up that color correction appointment now, I fumbled something about summer vacations and finding a good time then left the salon.

Hell will freeze over before I hand a woman with black roots over $1000 to color my hair.

Spending Moratorium '10: Week 1

2010-07-12T13:51:00.004-04:00

$12 @ Groupon- Petals for the People gift certificate for one week of flowers
$30 @ Paolo's- dinner with friends
$21.45 @ Circa- dinner with a woman who was married at my "dream" reception space (I paid for her meal + I did not get alcohol)
$3.90 @ Sweet Cupcakes in Cambridge- two mini cupcakes

Total - $67.35

This total is a bit higher than I expected, since I spent Fourth of July weekend in Boston. The Fiancé bought a few meals for us, but I also made a summertime feast of hot dogs on Sunday and Monday. I also felt like the total would be less since I brought lunch everyday of the four day work week last week.

The Groupon purchase was my first. It's a flower arranging how-to thingamabob. You get the flowers and a video to watch online. I'm filing that under wedding prep since I might want to DIY a few of the floral arrangements.

Mr. Bradley Goes To Washington

2010-07-08T12:17:00.006-04:00

Two weeks ago, Bradley came to visit for the first time since I've moved to D.C. And next weekend Mum is visiting for the first time. This makes Dad the last to visit.

I think he's holding out for my wedding.

The timing of this visit meant that Bud was the first McMahon family member to see Sparkly, the Engagement Ring in person. This was just par for the course in our sibling relationship. Not only did we share a bathroom growing up, but he also helped me pick out my prom dress at Dillards.

He said he would NOT visit any wedding stores. But we did pop into my church and visit two potential reception sites.

After exhausting his limited patience for wedding related site-seeing, we visited my favorite Smithsonian. Bradley tried out a potential career post graduation: big rig mail delivery.

I finally made it to the Air and Space Museum after being in D.C. for two years. No one else who has visited wanted to go there. We spent a lot of time at this museum, along with all the other three to six year olds visiting D.C.

The weather in D.C. for June and July has been hotter than I've ever experienced here. During Bradley's visit, a heat wave rolled in with the highest temperatures D.C. has seen in 80 years.

That's always the best weather to truck out to BFE to see Thomas Jefferson.

On the last night, we had drinks with some of my D.C. friends who I think Bradley enjoyed finally meeting after hearing all my stories. It was a really great way to cap off our week of togetherness.

Rest of the photos can be viewed here.

Dolla Dolla Bills Y'all

2010-07-05T14:16:00.000-04:00

I've had my Bank of America account for a little over six months now. Every month, I make an automatic deposit from my primary checking account at Chase into the Bank of America account. The only purpose of the BoA account is for spending cash.

This system really isn't working for me. The amount of my monthly transfer is not enough, but I'm hesitant to transfer more since cash is notorious for being spent without any recollection of what it purchased.

When I was in New York City visiting Melanie and Sarah, I withdrew a larger amount from Chase. When I got home, I took sticky notes and wrote the following on 3 of the $20 bills:

laundry
eyebrow
Josh

It's like my own GTL : I owe the Fiancé $20, I needed to do laundry and I pay my eyebrow threading place in cash. I'm 26 years old, and I had to write reminders so I wouldn't grab a $20 and spend it frivolously.

Then I was still short! I forgot to write "taxi" on a bill to use for a preplanned cab ride. Needless to say, the Fiancé is still waiting for his $20.

2010 Spending Moratorium

2010-07-01T20:29:00.002-04:00

I am currently $726.90 in debt to myself. (I borrowed money out of my long-term savings accounts to pay for a few things.) My rent is going up next month. Metro raised fares this week and will do so again in August. There is nothing like getting engaged and budgeting for a wedding to make you realize your spending has gotten out of control.

A few calculations with my current pay and the above factors concluded that my Discover Card Threshold is now about $100 more than I can actually afford each month.

Bring on the Spending Moratorium!

Just like last year, there will be rules:

1. I will not buy any clothing, shoes, or accessories.
2. I will not buy lunches out. I will buy groceries and pack my lunch.
3. This moratorium does not include the following purchases:

Washington Kastle's game in July
The Melting Pot for Alicia's birthday
Katie McKatie's birthday gift
The Fiancé's birthday gift
Nationals baseball game
A few ice cream adventures during lunch time ($10 total)

I already have McKatie's gift (it just needs wrapped and shipped), and I know what the Fiancé will be receiving for his big day. We've already had the discussion that this year's birthdays and holidays will be scaled back in preparation for our wedding.

My goal is to save $700. This night actually be impossible, but I am up for the challenge. Look forward to weekly updates!

Wedding Mottos: Guest List Edition

2010-06-28T12:38:00.005-04:00

This weekend we worked on a budget, but nothing could be determined without knowing what type of wedding we were having. And that couldn't be decided until we knew who would be there.

Below are the three phrases I repeated as we started this process:

1. Everyone who will be there, should be there because they love you.

It's taken from a post Holly Burns did right before her wedding last fall. The bit I keep remembering is this:

. . . remember that everyone will be there (and you presumably invited them) because they love you. They are not going to give you a bad wedding rating with the New York Times because the lanterns don't flutter up and down instead of to and fro.

I've gone to weddings where I wasn't there because I loved the people. And I judged the odd centerpiece of a shallow heart shaped container with floating candles.

I feel like if I limit the guest list, I limit the judgment at our wedding.

2. I am an adult. But just because I can eat cake for breakfast, doesn't mean I should.

This comes for Jason Kottke's post asking what it means to be an adult.

Yesterday, I asked the Fiancé if recognizing my limits and putting limitations on our wedding activities do to my high strung/anxiety-ness was being mature or selfish. We agreed it was a little of column A and a little of Column B. The Fiancé then said to me "Remember what it means to be an adult. Just because you can eat cake for breakfast, doesn't mean you should."

Just because I determine the guest list, doesn't mean I should ONLY have the 10 people I really, really want there.

3. Dad wants someone there to talk to.

This is what Bradley said to me on the phone last night after a particularly snapdragon like reaction on my part. His words were like a dagger to my selfish, overly anxious heart.

Of course there needs to be more than 10 people there! Otherwise, we'd just sit and stare at each other.

Awkward.

It's On Like Donkey Kong

2010-06-25T16:48:00.004-04:00

The story of how we got engaged isn't really important. What's important is that the next day when I woke up with a case of Montezuma's revenge in a New York City hotel room, he sat with me on a street corner bench as I ate crackers and drank iced green tea.

He is the man that I knew I would marry for the past two years. The proposal was really just a formality.

A formality that resulted in an amazing piece of jewelry.

On our five year dating anniversary, the Boyfriend became the Fiancé.

Now, let's work on making him the Husband.

My First Letterpress Class

2010-06-08T11:51:00.001-04:00

The Boyfriend and I share a Google Doc titled "The Wedding Savings Spreadsheet". There is a column for how much I'm saving per month for our wedding and another column to show the Boyfriend's matching contribution. Then it tallies our total up at the bottom.

It is one of my favorite things.

Since I tend to live like a miser, the Boyfriend insists I can take money out of my wedding fund to buy something. But I never have.

Until two months ago when I asked him if I could take $250 from the wedding fund and take Suann Song's letterpress printing class. His response: of course, actually I demand you take the money.

When I told this story in my class on Saturday, one of the girls exclaimed "Marry him!".

* * *

The Hive at 1511 is just three Metro stops from my apartment in Old Town Alexandria. I'd passed by the adorable little rowhouse that houses not only Simple Song Design but Kate Headley Photography and Ritzy Bee Events right after the ladies announced they were opening a studio. To be able to go inside was truly special; it looks like something out of a movie staring Meg Ryan with sun filled rooms beautifully decorated. At the end of the day, I told the Boyfriend that the entire experience was like a fantasy. I left feeling inspired.

The class was three students, including myself. We watched a short film on the art of letterpress (after taking this class, I appreciate it as an art) then headed to the back to start printing.

Our first design was a set of blind embossed (no ink) cards with a phrase or name of our choice. The second set of prints used the photopolymer plate we designed with Suann.

It took over a month and several consultations with friends before I decided on a J in a circle. You can see it above, set up to print.

Here is a shot of the entire Pearl press.

This was my view as I loaded the paper.

Action time! The only way I got a successful print was to not.talk.to.anyone while operating the press. I'm not so good at multitasking while operating a hundred year old piece of machinery.

To see photos of my finished product, skip on over to The Hive's blog. Or don't, so you can be totally surprised when you receive one of my creations in the mail.

As our class was wrapping up, Suann talked about how the Boyfriend and I can come back for the next workshop: print your own wedding invitations. She had it all laid out, who would print what on which machine. It's all set.

The Boyfriend totally didn't see that coming when I took the money.

Boyfriend Weekend

2010-06-02T13:41:00.000-04:00

This was the last weekend he would be a visitor in D.C. and also the 2 year anniversary of my move to the District.

Friday:
-He arrived at 10 p.m.
-Late dinner at our neighborhood Italian restaruant

Saturday:
-The Boyfriend woke up early, visited two apartments in my neighborhood
-He returned by 11:15 with a lease on a new place to start August 1
-Lunch in the city with friends at Farmers & Fishers.
-Shirt shopping at J.Crew for the Boyfriend (nothing purchased)
-Sex and the City 2
-Dinner at Eatonville with friends

-Saw friend's band open for Fitz and the Tantrums at the Black Cat

Sunday:
-The Boyfriend was up early again to get our rental car at the airport

-Motored up I-95 in our rented PT Cruiser
-Shirt shopping at the J.Crew Outlet at Arundel Mills (items purchased)
-Continued to Baltimore with Angela and her Dad
-Visited: Fells Point, HMS Sutherland, Edgar Allen Poe House, Westminster Cemetary, Fort McHenry

-Consumed: pizza, gelato, crab cake
-Returned the rental car by 11 p.m. with a full tank of gas

Monday:
-No one was up early
-Purchased Sam Adams Summer Ale and headed to Virgina for a birthday party barbeque
-Ate hotdogs and watched Jersey Shore
-Returned home in time for the Boyfriend to Metro out to Dulles and catch his flight

Airplanes I Boarded Last Week

2010-05-24T16:34:00.000-04:00

May 13, 2010 Boston to Madrid 6 p.m.

My awesome friends took me Flat Stanley style on their European adventure.

May 14, 2010 D.C. to Boston 7:30 p.m.

There isn't a picture because a photo can not accurately capture sitting on a plane for three hours during a lightning storm and then pushing back from the gate only to have the crew expire their "crew day" while waiting for the flight path to clear. Did you really want to see a picture of me crying (on an empty stomach) as I heard the news? Or would you rather have seen a photo of the line of people from the TWO cancelled flights waiting to be reticketed at the US Airways counter?

Actually, I could have taken a picture of my Glamour magazine I finished reading on the non-flying plane.

May 15, 2010 D.C. to Boston 4:30 p.m.

The earliest U.S. Airways could get me to Boston was 2 p.m. I needed to be there by 11 for a brunch meeting we had. I decided it wasn't worth it to go. I asked for a refund of my flight and called the Boyfriend to say I wasn't coming.

And that's when I learned what it's like to disappoint the Boyfriend, the man who has sat through snow storms, delayed flights, re-routed flights, nights in airport hotels, pricey tickets and early morning wake-ups just to see me.

I felt like shit.

So at 1:30 Saturday afternoon, I bought a last minute ticket to spend 36 hours with the Boyfriend eating Hamburgers on the Harvard campus and touring the JFK museum.

One of the best things I've done during this four year, eleven month long-distance relationship.

Perfect Proposal Dress, hint hint

2010-05-13T12:26:00.009-04:00

Once, my mother said that we as a family needed cellphones with cameras so we could send pictures to each other when out shopping. I believe she made this statement about 7 years ago, when I was first at UT.

As of this February, all five of us have BlackBerrys. We were obviously not in a rush for this virtual shopping experience.

So, last night I had my usual "I'm going to visit the Boyfriend and I own nothing cute/stylish/weather appropriate" freak out and stopped in H&M. Of course the only thing I could find that I loved was a strapless gold cocktail dress reasonably priced at $34.95.

I'm the queen of buying fancy dresses and never wearing them (see Exhibit A), so I was on the fence about this frock. I took two photos of myself in the wholly weather inappropriate dress and sent it to my fashion team.

Katie called to say it's cute! and I should buy it! She called Mum over and they examined the photos more closely claiming that since it has pockets, it's a done deal. Why was I even questioning this?

Katie then asked what that polka dot thing was in the dressing room with me; it too was cute! And Mum yelled at her. Katie is the queen of shopping the dressing room. Her reasoning is that the selection is much smaller, therefore better. Unfortunately, that polka dot thing was going to be her birthday gift. I told her to act surprised when she gets it.

I purchased the dress, and some matching gold bangles that were at the checkout. Katie offered some weatherizing styling options. I told her this dress wasn't coming to Boston this weekend, since our plans are to eat at somewhere decidedly casual.

Even though the dress was only $34.95, I still couldn't wear it to a restaurant featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

Sisters' Adventure

2010-05-06T11:04:00.003-04:00

Compare and contrast:

Caroline Lee Bouvier (Lee Radziwill) and her sister Jacqueline Bouvier (future Jackie Kennedy) on September 15, 1951 on a boat to come back to America after their travels in Europe. Via

Jillian McMahon and her sister Katie McMahon on April 24, 2010 at canopy ziplining adventure during their trip to Jamaica.

All other McSisters in Jamaica photos here.

88? How Old Is That?

2010-04-29T10:40:00.001-04:00

Originally uploaded by prettylittlemess.

Confidential to Master Bradley:

Happy birthday!!!

Bradley: So Chris and I are playing a month long April Fools joke on the house saying that the house was sold and we have new landlords and we don't know whether we will be living here next year. The asset management firm that bought us is Putnam, Powell, and Lowe.
Me: *laughs* This is my new favorite thing
Bradley: We said the contact is John Hooker the little secretary guy from Britain but I wanted to do "Mr. Phillips". Honestly my house is full of idiots. The phone number for the place is a strip club. Matt said he is going to call today to talk to the new people. Should be interesting calling a strip club for "Mr. Hooker".

Jamaican Me Crazy

2010-04-21T09:54:00.001-04:00

New music purchases for my vacation:

Fang Island
Future Islands*
Local Natives
Passion Pit
XX

*Recently, a group of friends were all discussing a band; I think this was the band they were talking about. I was excluded from the conversation as though I was a nun who wouldn't know the first thing about popular music.

Anyone remember a time when I would have dominated an indie rock conversation? It wasn't that long ago, I swear.

Getting old sucks.

It's A Line That Is Always Running

2010-04-18T21:43:00.004-04:00

My Aunt Beth died Friday. She was my godmother, married to my Dad's twin brother, Uncle Mark. He died when I was about to go into first grade from a brain tumor.

I saw Aunt Beth at Grandpa's funeral in November, along with Jenny and Tim. My cousins.

In the scant two years I've lived in D.C., this is the fourth family member to die.

It's Like This And Like That

2010-04-15T11:43:00.001-04:00

Setting: tailgating before the DC United game
Scenario: Jeff is opening a two liter of Coke to make calimocho. The bottle starts to spurt.

Suril: Pour some out for your homies!
*the bottle stops spurting, so Jeff only has to pour out a few drops*
Suril: That was a terrible pour.
Dan: He must not have a lot of homies.

* * *

My work homies are moving on to other things, either by choice or force. We had a good run, and I'll always be thankful that I had the opportunity to work with them. They have made the last (almost) two years fun.

On to the next episode!

Répondez s'il vous plaît

2010-04-05T12:39:00.006-04:00

Setting: on the phone
Scenario: discussing a friend's wedding

Me: They are just going to have snacks, like crudités. Then the cakes are going to be stacked petit fours and beignets.
The Boyfriend: I have no idea what any of those words you just said are, but it all sounds good.

Who's That Lady

2010-04-01T10:35:00.004-04:00

Last night as I exited work, someone whistled behind me in my office lobby. I turned around and didn't see anyone. Then, they whistled again. The security guard at the front desk looked at the security monitors and said she didn't see anyone.

Five minutes later, I was walking up Connecticut Avenue. The street was like a parking lot with traffic. A guy looked out the passenger window of a stopped truck and said to me "You're beautiful".

I said thank you and kept walking.

But I did check to see if I had some sort of sign on my back. Like a kick me sign, but only the opposite. Or if my skirt was tucked into my underwear.

Where Everyone Knows Your Name

2010-03-29T13:48:00.004-04:00

Setting: work last Friday
Scenario: A senior co-worker asks a few of us younger staff members how we are doing after last week's layoffs

Me: Well, I cried in a bar last week.
Her: I've done that.
Me: I hadn't had anything to drink yet.
Her: I haven't done that.

* * *

Setting: at our bar last Friday, a week after the layoffs
Scenario: former co-worker (the harbinger of the above mentioned bar tears) talks to me about the situtation

Him: You are the only person taking this badly, and I need you to stop. You are making me worry. No one else is worried but you!
Me: I know! I just feel so bad for you.
Him: I'm going to be fine. Trust me! I'll be around, going places. I'm going to send you a picture of me somewhere eating a banana with a monkey; I'll have a goofy grin on my face. Then you'll know I'm fine.

* * *

Setting: church yesterday
Scenario: Our priest, the one we are talking marriage, slips in my pew before mass to catch up with me

Fr: What's new?
Me: *thinks* There were massive layoffs at my office, but I kept my job!
Fr: That's good. The Boyfriend must have been praying for you.

Yes, he called him "the Boyfriend" and not his given name.

I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend

2010-03-19T11:44:00.002-04:00

The priest we are discussing marriage with is our age; he graduated from the seminary in July. (He shared a fist bump with the Boyfriend, since both are celebrating their first year not in school since age five.)

When he asked us each "Why Jillian; why the Boyfriend?", I remember looking over at the Boyfriend and thinking "Yeah, why?" But before I could answer, the priest interjected that our answer could not include the word "love". And I said "It wasn't going to."

I don't want to marry the Boyfriend because I love him, that much I know.

* * *

Last Saturday was (I think) suppose to be a really romantic weekend in New York City for us. We had a nice hotel room and reservations at a great restaurant.

But we spent the majority of the weekend battling the monsoon that descended upon New York City. By 4 o'clock on Saturday, I asked the Boyfriend if we could just go back to the hotel and get out of our wet clothes.

As we ran up Central Park towards the hotel, without using our useless umbrellas, the Boyfriend looked to me and said "There's no one I'd rather be doing this with but I really don't even want to be doing this with you right now."

* * *

Yesterday there were massive layoffs at my office. I don't like calling the Boyfriend at work, but I couldn't wait until our nightly call to tell him. My heart was broken, I was physically shaking, and the tears were coming fast.

He was shocked when I started listing off the people who were gone. And I said "What if it's me too? I'll just come live in Boston right?". This is what he says at the end of each visit, that he's taking me back with him to Boston. His response was a resounding yes and that we would be ok.

When we did have our nightly talk, he said that he was serious: if I ever lost my job (which, thankfully, I did not yesterday), I could go be with him or stay here or do anything I wanted. And we would be ok.

We.

Inside a Relationship: Be Mine

2010-03-12T15:12:00.001-05:00

Setting: on the phone, before Valentine's day
Scenario: The Boyfriend and I set a $10 limit for Valentine's Day gifts. I, of course, already had his gift since before Christmas. Then, I saw this cake on several blogs. I have a heart shaped cake pan . . .

So two weeks before Valentine's Day, I baked the cakes to freeze. That was a process: make the batter, bake one cake, cool cake, bake another cake, cool that cake, clean freezer so it doesn't taint cakes, prepare cakes to freeze, then place everything into the freezer.

I talked to the Boyfriend on the phone about 3/4 of the way through the process.

Me: I'm making your valentine.
The Boyfriend: Ohhh!!!
Me: Yes, why do I look at the Internet and find pictures of things and then think "I can do that!"? I need to stop looking at the Internet.
The Boyfriend: *laughs*
Me: I should have just shown you a picture of this really cool thing I thought about making, and then you would have said "Aw, that's nice, but looks like a lot of work. So I'm glad you didn't make that. I love you". Then we would make-out!
The Boyfriend: *laughs* So I take it you aren't including labor costs in your $10 gift?

He already owned a copy of The Dark Knight on DVD (the original gift); I'm glad I made the cake.

Here are the flowers he had delivered to my office the Friday before Valentine's Day. A completely wonderful surprise.

I Can't Make This Stuff Up

2010-03-08T17:44:00.002-05:00

Compare and contrast.

The Philosophy Of Law

2010-03-05T12:16:00.004-05:00

Setting: on the phone with the Boyfriend
Scenario: The Boyfriend and I have a special place in our hearts for the National Postal Museum. I called their special events coordinator to see about having our wedding reception there.

Me: They don't hold events unless you are a non-profit or corporation.
The Boyfriend: Oh, man!
Me: All the Smithsonian museums are the same, the woman said. So that's that. Unless you want to make us and our wedding into a 501(c)?
The Boyfriend: I could do that! Oh, wait. No I can't. I went to Yale. But my Dad could do it for us!

Because he went to a law school that taught real life applications of the law.

A Good Year

2010-02-24T10:20:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday, the Boyfriend and I sat down with the priest at the church where I want to get married. He filled out a questionnaire with us each separately. (No, it wasn't the FOCCUS test if you know what that is; this was more preliminary).

Sample questions:
Are you currently married to someone else?
Are there any reasons why you can't get married?
Are there any reasons why you can't have children?
Is anyone forcing you to do this?*

We were also asked how long we have known each other, and I responded "since 1996". Fr. wouldn't accept that as an answer. So I said "Fine, 2004".

Our answers were kept a secret. Until last night when I said to the Boyfriend "Did you know that Fr. wouldn't let me say that I've known you since 1996?" And the Boyfriend said "Yeah, he wouldn't let me say that either."

That sent me into uncontrollable giggles.

*I wanted to say, "YES!"**. But the priest didn't take that as a joke. So "no" was recorded on the questionnaire.

**Their names are: Katie, Bradley, Mum and Dad.

PrettyLittleMess Product: Personalized Pens

2010-02-03T11:41:00.000-05:00

Mere days before Christmas, Ms. Melanie received two job offers. I was over the moon ecstatic for her.

I had always wanted to give her the gift of personalized pencils for her classroom. Given the timing of her employment, I couldn't order pencils to present to her at Christmas. Instead, I recalled this tutorial and created personalized pens.

I did a few things different than the tutorial:

1. I used the dimensions in the tutorial for the paper pieces to create a template in Word. I created text boxes in that size, typed "Ms. Graves" and added backgrounds and colors. That meant I had everything for all the pens on one sheet of paper and personalized!

2. I tried using double sided tape, but it was kind of a fail. So I used a trusty UHU glue stick.

This also ended up being the only Christmas gift actually delivered on Christmas Day since the USPS failed to deliver my package from Virginia on time.

Pretty Packaging: 2010 Calendars

2010-01-29T12:15:00.000-05:00

The calendars themselves were a Zero Dollar project, so I was definitely not spending any money on the packaging.

At my office, we FedEx and UPS a fair amount of documents. About halfway through last year, I started collecting the brown paper backsides from the airbills. An airbill is what you slip your shipping label into and stick on your package. Below is one for your reference:

Of course I looked like a freak with a stack of brown paper slips on my desk. But I told everyone I hated to see them go to waste and was sure I'd find a use for them.

Thus, the calendar wrapping was born.

For each calendar, one of the larger (UPS) brown paper backsides was used.

I trimmed it to fit the height of the calendar, wrapped it around all 12 pages and secured it in the back with a brown sticker from my stash.

Here is where the only expense came in, the new PrettyLittleMess Product stamp. I ordered this from the stationery store in the ground floor of my building. They do engraving for the White House . . . and now stamps for my little projects. The stamp was $15.

I tied a piece of bakers twine around the package to keep the pages enclosed in the wrapping. The tag was made using a manila folder, corner rounder and hole punch. I already owned the tree stamp and ink.

The literal definition of "brown paper packages tied up with string".

Just a few of my favorite free things.

PrettyLittleMess Product: Calendar Gifts

2010-01-25T10:35:00.000-05:00

Like last year, my co-workers received a calendar from me as a holiday gift. I tackled the design this year instead of buying from Etsy, since I took both an Adobe class and inherited a MacBook in 2009.

It's a pretty simple design, using two types of Rockwell font. I downloaded the Sketch Rockwell for free online. It added visual interest with no additional labor on my part.

Four months were printed on each page . . .

. . . then cut into fourths.

Since most people were receiving their second Pretty Little Mess calendar this year, I didn't have to make as many covered bull clips. I made the necessary few using some scraps (literally scraps, you know how I do it) of Martha Stewart Crafts paper that was in my stash.

Look how the sketch hash marks match?

The final product.

And in action on my bulletin board at work, shot taken by my new BlackBerry(!!!)

Up next: calendar Pretty Packaging

Inside A Relationship

2010-01-21T10:35:00.000-05:00

Setting: At Target, as I try to decide what I can afford out of the lotion/skincare aisle. They didn't have my cheap face scrub, so I was deciding between pricey face products and something new and shiny, yet completely unnecessary.

The Boyfriend: *points to the face scrub* Leave the gun, *points to the $10 foot cream* take the cannoli.

* * *

Setting: Watching Giada make pancakes, while making breakfast myself

Me: She just made boxed pancake mix 400 times more complicated by adding mascarpone cheese, vanilla and almond extract, plus almond paste like it was chocolate chips! All to a boxed mix. That's too much.
The Boyfriend: I wonder how you would make pancakes from scratch . . . I guess you would have to grind the wheat . . .
Me: Get out of my kitchen.

* * *

Setting: Discussing a friend's search for a wedding dress

The Boyfriend: What about J.Crew? She doesn't like any of their dresses?
Me: No, they are a little too plain for her.
The Boyfriend: Ah! That's what I like about them; they are simple.
Me: You are adorable.

I'll Tumble For Ya

2010-01-19T10:35:00.000-05:00

Clients from Hell
Black and WTF
Put This On

The Real in Reality TV

2010-01-14T10:11:00.007-05:00

Mum would like you to all know that when I wrote about cleaning my parents' house on this post, I was specifically talking about my belongings that are taking up space at my parents' house. According to Mum, my wording made it seem like she needed to be on the A&E show Hoarders. I regret this insinuation.

I've recently started watching Hoarders on Monday nights. This week's was a doozy because the woman needed to touch everything before throwing it away. And her daughter was the spitting image of me, willing to throw everything away without even opening the bag to see what was inside. But that's not how they roll on Hoarders because they don't want to break the fragile mental psyche of the participants.

I asked Katie if she was watching Hoarders, and she said "No, it hits too close to home." Because Katie couldn't locate her college diploma this week. She thought it was perhaps in her closet and had to climb in there and step on a VCR while searching.

When I offered to help her clean her room, she shrieked "You will throw away all my fortunes!"

Those are fortune cookie fortunes, that she has collected since her first Chinese take-out dinner.