The Wedding Shower

The wedding shower was wonderful! I think everyone had a nice time. If I had to pick one "glitch" it would be that my niece was sick and couldn't come...and she was the "talker" for her end of the table. I was very careful with the seating so that every area had someone that would keep the conversation going. That is always a concern when you have a number of people that don't know one another. So, with her absent, we had a quiet end of the table....and a loud end of the table.

We had a wonderful waiter named Andrew. He even helped Bern carry things in from her car!

The room was magnificent! It's was called the wine room with one whole wall lined with bottles of wine. The long wooden table was gorgeous. We place our menus, place cards and little jewelry gift boxes at each seat, and Bern set her five cake stands down the center of the table. She made ones like I sell in MyOtherShop, but she used plates in Tresa's green and did them different heights. On them we put the wonderful little pastries we had purchased from Deerfield's Bakery. It looked awesome.

When everyone had arrived we found our seats and Andrew took all of the orders. At that point I gave our guests permission to eat dessert first if they liked and most of them took me up on it! My fear was that everyone would be way too full after lunch for dessert, and I didn't want them to miss out. So, we ate dessert! Then we had bread and then we ate our lunch...and was it ever fabulous! We had plenty of great things for people to pick from. Good food, great conversation, a bit of wine and some fantastic desserts....what more could you ask for?

After dinner, Tresa and Chris opened their gifts. She told me later they were overwhelmed with everyone's generosity. They registered at Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn. The gifts were so cool that it made me want to have a shower...for ME!

I had to laugh a few times when they would open a gift and Chris would look at Tresa with raised eyebrows and a questioning look because he didn't remember registering for that item. Tresa would just say, "Oh, I added that to the registry!"

After they opened their gifts, someone asked them how they met. Chris stood up and told a very funny story about how they were actually at a couple of the same parties, but Tresa was sitting in the corner with friends and wouldn't give him the time of day. Finally, the third time he was able to talk to her and also spilled his beer all over her! He said the spilling of the beer gave him a reason to "follow up" with her so he could offer to pay her dry cleaning bill. During that conversation he asked if he could take her out to make up for the mishap and she said yes.

He wanted their first date to be very special so he took her to this place that said they had entertainment. The entertainment was people speaking and reading their poetry. The very first guy that got up started doing his "share" I guess it's called and it happened to be about his father's genitalia! Not exactly what you are looking for on a first date. Needless to say, they didn't stay long. Other more successful dates followed and now here we are planning a wedding!

Tresa said the shower was perfect! I'm so glad she liked it.

Now, it's on to that necklace she asked me to make. I'll keep you posted!

Why Can't I Ever Find The Great Deals?

Well, I just got back from the mall. It's a really nice outdoor type mall with really great stores. I have a couple of pairs of black pants so I just wanted two tops....one that I could wear to our shower Sunday and then one that I could wear to Chris's family's shower next month. Tresa went shopping on her lunch hour yesterday and found a cardigan sweater for $11.00 and a blouse for $6.00. I was hoping to find some really great deals.

Those of you that follow my blog know that I do not like to shop. When I need something and have to go shopping, I never find anything. When everyone else, like Tresa, tell me they found all these great deals, I never find any.

Tresa finds good deals because she wears these tiny little baby sizes. You know, when you go to the sale rack and the whole thing is size small or x-small. That's Tresa. I love it when you go to the sale rack and it's packed with stuff in your size, but there are 40 of everything you look at. That tends to mean that no one bought them.....uh.....why is that? Either the neck hole is too small to fit your head through it or the sleeves are a foot too long! Does that ever happen to you?

I went into this tonight with a really great attitude. I knew I would find the two things I needed. I was even considering buying a dress for the shower next month....I can't believe I even considered that...but if I had found a great dress for really cheap...like the $20 one Tresa found last week....I would buy it!

Well I went into Banana Republic first. They have amazing sales. Hmmmmm....nothing really knocked my socks off. So, no luck at Banana. Next, I tried J Crew and then Ann Taylor. They had a lot of great looking clothes, but not much on sale and I really didn't want to pay $80 for one top.

Getting a little concerned, I went into J Jill. I never shop at J Jill because it's out of my budget, but I actually ended up finding a really cute top for the shower this Sunday. It was not on sale, but at this point $50 didn't sound too bad, so I bought it.

It's really cute. It has a couple shades of grey with some black and pink. It has the high waist that reminds me of a maternity top and 3/4 length sleeves. It'll look great with the black cuffed slacks I bought a couple of weeks ago.

I did not find anything for the shower next month, but I still have time. Once we get our shower done Sunday, then I will head out and find something to wear to that one and find shoes and jewelry for the wedding, and a suit, shirt, tie and shoes for Irv!

Getting ready for the wedding would be so darn much fun if it just didn't entail all of this shopping!

A Little Bit Of This and A Little Bit Of That

Wow, we are really counting down the days until the wedding shower. Last week we decided on the food and today we picked the desserts. We can bring our own desserts in, so I am ordering from Deerfield Bakery. They're awesome and we are getting their little pastries. Click here and take a look at this page of pastries! I know, it's unreal isn't it?

I've decided on the Cream Puffs, Eclairs, Dipped Strawberries, the Cheesecake Tart, Key Lime Tart, Tira Misu Cup, the Napoleon and the Petit Fours! I think we are going to do 8 of each for our group of 20 which will give us more than 60 pieces. There is no way we will eat all of that, but Irv and Michael (my human garbage disposals) informed me that they will gladly take care of the leftovers for us! HA!

Tresa did ask me today if I was still going to make the box for the reception that people drop their cards into.....I said, of course I am! I do have a cute idea. When I start working on it I'll tell you what I am going to do. She doesn't want the traditional one that looks like a wrapped gift, or a satin one or anything like that. I think she'll like what I come up with.

Okay, that's enough shower talk.

I am planning to start doing giveaways on my blog. I think a monthly one. I know, I know.....some people like them and some don't. I've seen some that make you jump through hoops to enter....trust me....I won't do that. Just a comment on my blog and maybe a visit to my shops. I would like to start this week if I can figure it all out. We'll see.

We were supposed to have a blizzard last night and this morning....it fizzled out. I was bummed because I was thinking maybe I would get a day off of work. No such luck. Then they had one up for tomorrow and they changed that one too. What's with the weather guys anyway? I think they like to say that so everyone is sure to tune in to their next report....it's a conspiracy for sure!

Remember how I said I don't watch much t.v....well tonight is American Idol and I will definitely be watching!! It's always good for a laugh in the beginning!

One last thing...there was a post in the forums yesterday morning by Ozark. Every morning Ozark gives a quote of the day and some words of wisdom to go with it. Here is the forum thread. This one was about how it takes 26 muscles to smile and 62 to frown, so she suggested we all smile. Even though I am shy, I am always quick to smile at people. It's about as outgoing as I get. My thought is that you just never know what an awful day that person you see might be having. They might have lost their job, or a loved one, they could be sick or just very sad. Your smile might be just what they need. So, touch someone's heart and give them a smile. It won't cost you a thing!

Wedding Shower Progress

Okay, I busted my little you know what today. I started this morning working on some items for MyOtherShop, then I changed gears and started working on the menu for my daughter's wedding shower in two weeks, then I went back to more decoupage, then I went back to the menus, then I finished the menus (woo hoo), then I spent some time on the etsy forums and twitter, then I worked on the favors for the shower, then I started on the place cards for the shower, then I printed the little thank yous that go on the favors for the shower, then I worked on the place cards again, then I ate dinner and now I am blogging during commercials of the season premier of 24!! So, how was your day?

I talked to my daughter tonight and I made her promise me that she won't visit my blog at any time over the next two weeks so that I can share some of the things we are doing with you. She promised. Now, I would like to believe her, but Tresa is NOT really good with secrets. If she knows I am writing and posting pictures about the shower, she is going to want to peek. Hopefully she won't. I want everything to be a surprise and for heaven's sake....she's 34 years old. I hope she can refrain from looking!

My daughter-in-law Bernadette, my son, Michael and I went on a hunt yesterday for paper and ribbon for the menus and the place cards. What a nightmare it turned out to be. Tresa's color is a medium green with a few brown accents. I bought little kraft paper jewelry boxes on etsy to put the favors (keyrings I am making) in. They are so cute.

Well, we were going to do the menus and place cards in the same color and add some green ribbon. Oh no, not a chance. Couldn't find the card stock in that color. They had one sheet at one of the stores. Didn't want to wait for them to order. Been there, done that. Won't do it again. We looked at every color cardstock they had. If we found one we like,d we couldn't find ribbon. If we found a kick butt ribbon, we couldn't find cardstock.

Our mistake was going into this with a vision of what we wanted. Sometimes I think it's better to start projects without any idea of what you want to do so you don't go nuts when you can't find what you have your heart set on.

So, we finally decided on green, and we found some...not enough, but Michael went up front and they called around for him and a couple of the other stores had some so we were in luck. Poor Michael, I felt so bad for him. Bernadette and I are really picky....let me repeat that....really picky....when it comes to stuff like this. It took us forever to come to any decision. All the while, he was trying to be so patient. He did a really nice job considering we were in the craft stores for a good couple of hours.

Now all we needed was the ribbon. We looked and looked and looked. We would find one we loved, but of course it didn't come in our color. At long last, we found ribbon. I don't think either of us are entirely in love with it but it's cute and it matches the paper.

I'm not done with it all yet, but I did complete some of each thing I'm making so I could share them with you. I'll show you some of the keyrings another day.

Now it is time to sit myself down in front of the t.v. which I almost never do, but 24 isn't a program that you can watch while doing other things. So, off I go to vegetate for a couple of hours.

Busy, Busy , Busy

I am in the process of filling MyOtherShop with cool stuff, I'm revamping FourDogDay, my daughter's wedding is in a little over two months, the shower is in 2 weeks, I need something to wear to two showers, the girl party and the rehearsal dinner and haven't bought a thing yet, my new diet is awful, I still need to get my dress altered and we are going to get 8 inches of snow tomorrow which means it will take me forever to get home. Am I stressed? Of course not! What's the point? It won't get anything done any faster and it isn't going to stop the snow.

The biggest thing for me right now outside of etsy is the shower. We want it to be really nice for Tresa, so my daughter-in-law, Bernadette and I are hard at work. Today we decided on the menu and the wines, figured out the place cards, and Saturday we are going to shop for the paper for the menus, the ribbon for the favor boxes, and the things we need for the centerpieces. I wish I could show you stuff and tell you what we are doing, but Tresa reads my blog and we aren't sharing any of the shower details with her. I'll take lots of pictures though and post them after the shower.

Once the shower is done, the next thing in line is finding clothes for the other events, shoes for the wedding and getting my dress altered. The dress is royal blue and I want silver shoes. I kind of like these, but I'm thinking I might want a higher heal....although I am not a high heel person and I will probably break my neck in them!

Well, I have turnips in the oven (Ugh) and squash in the steamer (Yuk). I might have a veggie burger with it (Boring). This diet is the pits...but tomorrow I am treating myself to an egg and cheese croissant from Dunkin' Donuts and my chai latte from Starbucks. I've done really good this week and I deserve a reward! Yum! Can't wait!

Major Meltdown on the Way

Okay, so I am a great multi-tasker. I do not get rattled. I do not get stressed. I don't fret over things I cannot control. I'm pretty good at staying in control. My workshop is usually pretty tidy, because I like order in my workplace. I go with the flow. I always get things done well in advance of when I need them. So, why on earth do I feel like I am about to have a major meltdown??

Just kidding!

I will say that things are piling up a bit, and tonight I really don't give a care. I have tons to do and I'm thinking that tonight I just might not do a darn thing! I went to the dentist today, and it left me with an aching jaw and a nasty headache.

What do I need to do? Well, let's see....tomorrow is Christmas Eve, but we go to Irv's nephew's house and I have the gifts for the little kids ready to go. Tomorrow I need to make shrimp dip and a cake that I have never made before, but no big deal.

I do have gifts that are not wrapped yet that I need on Friday...so those will need be done soon.

Let's see...I have to finish and mail the invites to my daughter's wedding shower, but I am waiting on the confirmation from the restaurant so I can hand write the insides. Don't want to start writing until I know we are good to go. They need to be mailed by the weekend.

Sitting in a little plastic storage bin are the favors I am making for the shower guests. I have 5 done with another 15 to go. Hmmmmm.....the shower is on January 25th. That gives me a month to finish those. No sweat.

I have some thank you cards I need to finish for gifts I received the last day of school. Those I need for Monday.

I have some funny Valentine's Day cards started that I would like to get done and listed soon....

I bought the unfinished wood things and haven't even had a chance to start sanding the rough edges yet. I really need to get some of the pieces done since that is what I intend to open MyOtherShop with in a few weeks.

Oh, and then there is the file folder that is overflowing with FourDogDay receipts...none of which has been recorded or added up. I've been avoiding it. I really don't want to know what I spent to get this business started in comparison to what I made this year. I do need to get that done though. I like to give our stuff to the tax guy as soon as I can. If we get something back from the wonderful IRS, we might drive out to Telluride this summer, and that would be fantastic!

In addition to those receipts, I need to go through our personal tax things and get those in order for the accountant too.

Now, looking at all of that....I keep thinking I really should be on the verge of some kind of breakdown. Maybe the fact that I am not is an indication of my metal state?

Well the boys just got back from doing their Christmas shopping and Michael already asked if I could wrap Bernadette's presents for him..."Please, please, please Mom. It will take me an hour to do it myself." Geez, how can I say no? Just add it to the list....he needs those by 3:00 tomorrow.

In order for me to really not have a meltdown, I think I need to prioritize some of this stuff, have some dinner and then I need to dig in and at least get something done, but instead, I think I might chill out this evening and start fresh in the morning!

Have a great evening and a lovely day tomorrow!