Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Weekending Times 2

I swear, one of my worst habits is misjudging how much am I able to get done in a day. I am either woefully behind on my to-do list, or I get the whole thing done in half the time and am at a loss about what to do with the extra hours. (Though admittedly it's typically the former, rather than the latter.)

Two weekends ago was my bachelorette party, and while I'm obviously not going to post pics of everything that happened — suffice to say my sister made me a scavenger hunt that involved weird things like "kiss a bald guy's head" and "copy someone's dancing without them realizing it" — my 'maids and I looked hella cute so I wanted to post a few tame shots :)

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Bachelorette weekend started in Athens, at my alma mater, with a couple of bridesmaids who also went to OU. We grabbed dinner with my sister, Anna, who's a student there. She's too young for bar-hopping, unfortunately, but Emily, Hayley and I participated in a shuffle of sorts. Athens has something like 20 bars, and a popular pastime is to do a "shuffle" — get one drink at each bar. I'm far too old for that ish, so we did what I dubbed a "selective shuffle," only going to the good bars. I had about nine on my list, and we made it to about seven of them (thanks to a huge turnout for a festival the next day, some good bars had huge lines)...with the last one hardly even counting, as I got a drink I didn't even want and didn't finish, haha.

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Anyway, part of the shuffle includes signing the bathroom walls at each stop with the name of your shuffle. Hayley took it upon herself to add a few names: EmGettNMurried and TheHentIsOver (Hent being part of Matt's last name).

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We met up with my friend Aisha, who also went to OU and happened to be in town that night.

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We stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast (highly recommend Bodhi Tree Guest House to anyone staying in the area). Breakfast featured locally milled polenta cakes and black beans with eggs and crème fraîche. Unbe-freaking-lievable.

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Back in Columbus Saturday afternoon; I refueled the only way a basic bachelorette should: Starbucks drink in one hand and a "Bride-To-Bellini" (as named by my sister, Ellen) in the other...complete with an inappropriate straw, of course.

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My other sister, Abby, planned the whole shindig on Saturday. She and Ellen got some awesome, tastefully tacky accessories and I was thrilled that I didn't have to wear anything crazy-inappropriate.

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Abby and me at the hotel, before we all headed to the Big Bang Dueling Piano Bar.

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All the bridesmaids (minus Anna) at Big Bang. Sadly, I failed to get many picture with the rest of the girls who came...womp womp.

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Being serenaded by a stranger, as per the scavenger hunt. It was "Let It Go" and it was awesome.

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For breakfast the next day, nothing but a chicken-and-waffle from Taste of Belgium in the North Market would do.

This past weekend, I was feverishly crafting with Hayley, Ellen, her fiancé, my mom and Tiffany, another bridesmaid. After a few weeks of worrying that I'd be short a dozen centerpieces, we finally finished them! It was such a weight off my shoulders; with just 12 days to go, I feel like I can relax a little and enjoy my last two weeks of engagement!

And yesterday, Matt and I got our marriage license! Aaahhhh!

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Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Holy crap an outfit post!

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sweater: Forever 21
skinnies, boots: Target
necklace: giveaway win
watch: Coach (secondhand)

Rest assured that, despite my lack of posting outfit photos, I have in fact been wearing clothes these last several weeks. Some of the outfits are even originals/non-repeats! Shocking, I know. I wore this just last week, but I jumped it to the front of my queue of "outfits to post" because I have an important question related to it...

Just when exactly does boot season end?!

I know this might be a no-brainer in some parts of the country or world, but here in good old Ohio, it can be 75 degrees one day and 42 the next. I am not kidding. So while we're looking at a high in the low 70s today, this sweater-and-boot combo was totally weather-appropriate when I wore it on Friday. Not very springlike, but hey, I was comfortable (if not seasonally accurate).

In other news, I completely failed to acknowledge my four-year bloggiversary! It was on April 8. BUTTTTTT my first outfit post was on April 14, so I guess this counts as a recognition?

It's hard to believe it's been four years since I started balancing my eight-megapixel point-and-shoot on a table or balcony and setting a self-timer. So much has changed since then! To name just a few: I grew my hair out and cut it all off. I upgraded from boyfriend to fiance (ha, here's hoping he doesn't find that offensive). I got a better point-and-shoot, then received a DSLR camera and fell absolutely in love with photography. I clawed my way out of debt and changed jobs. I discovered a love for dance and ran my first 5k and developed my rock-climbing skills. And of course I've met some fantastic fellow bloggers.

I don't know how much longer I'll keep blogging — I'm waiting until things settle down after the wedding to make the call officially — but I do know it's been an awesome ride so far. Thanks to everyone who's still reading. You guys keep me at it :)

Friday, April 10, 2015

Engagement photos!

Edit: Due to a weird change with Flickr, I inadvertently deleted all this post's photos. It's a lot of photos, and honestly I can't remember which ones I posted originally. So if you really wanna see these pics, feel free to check them out on Facebook. Thanks!

Howdy folks! I can't believe this is my first post in April. Well actually, I totally can. Between work, photography projects (four shoots since my last post!) and of course the neverending to-do list of a DIY bride, I've been swamped. I'm surprised I even have time to sleep! Still, I did have a glorious moment this week during which I realized I had finished my entire to-do list for the day — something that hasn't happened in weeks — and it happened an hour before my bedtime. I could've cried.

With only a month to go before the wedding, I think I'm finally getting caught up. I have no plans this weekend, other than crafting the hell out of some centerpieces, all day, both days. With any luck, I'll get them finished! Cross your fingers for me.

In other, more interesting news, Matt and I had our engagement photos done recently. Actually, my friend Emily did them months ago, but none of us accounted for the fact that Matt hates getting his picture taken...a fact that I don't think he even realized the severity of until he was staring down the lens. Fortunately, our phenomenal wedding photographer was gracious enough to squeeze us in at the end of March. Matt had a shot of Jameson to loosen him up, and it really made a difference. Unfortunately, it was freezing — no literally, some freezing rain started to fall right as we were finishing up — but we got some really lovely photos just the same.

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In addition to the 55 or so photos that he edited, our photographer also sent us something like 150 unedited photos. So naturally I had a ball with those.

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Well, that's it for me for now. With any luck I will be able to get back to posting more than once every two weeks after this weekend!