Wedding Hair - Update

If you remember from way back in August, my hair was going long. It's still going.

At that point, my hair was here:

Shoulder length

And now, it is here:

Oh yeah. Check out the Threadless tee!

And from the back...

That is right around the bottom of my shoulder blade! It has been a good number of years (let's say some point in middle school) since I had my hair this long! I am very lazy when it comes to my hair, so I've been wearing it up almost all the time while growing it out. This past weekend was the first time in a while that I wore it down. Of course nothing really drives home the point of how long your hair is until the wind hits it and blows it everywhere! Boy did I pick a windy weekend to wear my hair down. My head felt like this, but without the whole decapitation thing.

Medusa

 

 

Each strand had a mind of its own. Luckily, it didn't get too knotty. I'm still using Herbal Essences Hello Hydration daily, but sometimes have to resort to what's available while traveling. Luckily, I was able to fall back on Infusium 23 which I used last time my hair was this long. It worked wonders to keep my hair de-tangled.

That ends this teaser post. Check back tomorrow for the start of the updates from the weekend (cake tastings, venues, caterers, groomsmen outfits, etc.)

Digging the Tracks - Part 2

The last time we were "digging the tracks" was back in December. Fittingly, we left off with the "Time Warp". Fast forward to 3 months later, and here we are.

Track 5 was Ain't No Rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephant. This little ditty came into our lives via the video game Borderlands.

I've only played the game a little but Douglas has beaten it several times and has played all of the DLCs (downloadable content). The humor in this game is what hooked us. Weapons have names and descriptions that reference movies and tv shows. The robots, called Claptraps, scream out in horror as they lie leaking, bust a move across the screen and shout for your attention, or turn evil mastermind and make your mission miserable. (I love the Claptraps and am still waiting for the toy to come out). Did I mention that there is a zombie DLC? Anything with zombies gets a plus in our books.

Track 6 shows more of our violent side (although I'm noticing a trend with evil masterminds or psychopaths in some of these track choices). Stuck in the Middle seems like an innocent enough theme for all of life's rough spots where your significant other is standing by you, until you watch Michael Madsen in Reservoir Dogs.

I became a Tarantino fan with Kill Bill vol 1 and never looked back. Funny that Douglas was the one that took Noel and I to see it in theaters. I own all of the movies that Tarantino directed and Reservoir Dogs gets better each time you watch it. Ever since I first saw the scene with Madsen, I knew I would never hear Stuck in the Middle without thinking of his little dance and the "activity" that followed.

Track 7 is evil. I would love to just leave it at that, but then Douglas would give me a lot of crap for it. This is one of those stories where you need to know another story first. Douglas is more of a Monopoly player and I am more of a Trivial Pursuit player. He's more strategy, I'm barely what could be considered strategic. Being a Trivial Pursuit lover, I own many versions of the board game. Douglas enjoys playing, but doesn't enjoy it when I continually beat him. Then came Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit vol 2 and playing with Ryan.

Ok, more background. I didn't grow up with cable or satellite, so I was not exposed to shows like "Doogie Howser, MD", "Full House", "Family Ties", and "Growing Pains". 1980s and early 1990s tv is my Achilles heal. I point this out to explain how/why they kicked my butt.

Back to the game with Ryan. As we were all playing, I was sitting with zero pie pieces and zero correctly answered questions. Douglas and Ryan, however, were not only answering questions before the asker was done asking, but one in particular, they sang. It was an easy enough question: How many faces has Bon Jovi seen and subsequently rocked? They sang the answer - for the game winning pie piece. Despite my continued failed efforts to win Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit, I still play because one day the answer to a question in the Fad category will be "slap bracelets"!

Track 8 is another movie reference. Hotel California is a great song on its own so it doesn't really need anything extra. And yet...

We all know that "nobody f***s with the Jesus", but accenting his intro with a flamenco version of Hotel California by the Gipsy Kings. Lebowski is one of those movies you either love or hate. I had the luck of watching it with a good friend of mine who really reminds me of Walter. His enjoyment of the movie, while drinking a white russian none the less, automatically gave me a positive association. It is one of a very limited few films I actually don't mind Julianna Moore in (she left a bad taste in my mouth after Hannibal and I've never been able to forgive her - I am also a big Silence of the Lambs fan). While Douglas doesn't have the same appreciation of Lebowski that I do, he's coming around. He's throwing out quotes from time to time and is getting better at catching Lewboski references in other movies/shows.

That's all for now folks. Stay tuned because next weekend is our big wedding planning weekend in Roanoke so we will have a LOT to cover on the blog next week.

My Luck with Shoes

I despise shoe shopping. I typically have so much trouble finding shoes that fit that I rarely venture into buying a pair online knowing that odds are good I'll be paying return shipping and a restocking fee with nothing to show for it. Why do I have so much trouble? Because of these babies:

I love my big German feet (thanks, Nana)! However, they do make things difficult. Even though stores have started to carry more of a variety in the bigger sizes of the past few years, they are not all created equal. A size 11 in high heel peep toe A fits totally different than high heel peep toe B. So it's a crap shoot. When the long awaited Wonder Woman boots showed up today around lunch, I couldn't wait to slip them on. Well, it wasn't so much a slip...

I...have...THE POWER!

Ok ok. It wasn't that bad. However, there was a bit of a struggle since the boots are very snug in the calf to the point of the zipper having a bit of trouble (and my calves aren't that large). My initial reaction to the boots was disappointment. The calf hugging was nice once zipped but the material bunched up at the ankle which doesn't give the boots a sleek look. I spent the rest of the work day bummed out because I was considering sending them back. After work, I trudged upstairs, box in hand, to take some photos for the blog. What was going to be about five minutes of some quick snap shots turned into about a half hour of photo fun which resulted in a great realization: I love these boots!!!

Now the boots have a special place in my closet and I am a very happy Crystal. This may have to be my look for the rehearsal. The boots, that skirt, and this shirt:

Proximity Shirts from ThinkGeek.com

Newsflash! Wonder Woman Boots!

Guess what are making their way to me from SuperheroStuff.com?!

The boots I couldn't have! They have 11s and 12s!!! With only a $1 restocking fee on returns, I should have no problem finding the size that works for me!

These babies...

SuperHeroStuff.com - Wonder Woman boots

...are mine!

While I'm still planning on wearing flats for the ceremony and photos (I do not want to tower over Douglas when we're being married) I could totally rock these babies at the reception or, at the very least, the RHPS after party! Oh yes, you read that right, Rocky Horror.

Potential for Photography!

I am super psyched! Not just because our big wedding planning weekend is coming up, but also because there's a photographer in the mix! Oh yes, photography is back on the table and it is looking goo-ood!

So what happened? I keep finding myself on rolls lately with Google searches or reading the boards on WeddingBee. During one of these rolls, I was Googling for photographers local to Roanoke. I skipped past the typical companies that pop up and are high-priced (they start at $4k!) and soon stumbled upon an experience photojournalist who had relocated to Roanoke with his wife. He freelances on projects and appears to be building a wedding portfolio on the side. After looking through the two weddings he had on his site, I knew I had to contact him and find out his pricing. Imagine my surprise when he writes back that with a second shooter, a disk of edited images with printing rights, 4x6 print proofs, online hosting, and 6 hours of shooting it'll only cost us $1,500!!! My jaw hit the floor. I will do my damnedest to make room for such a deal in our budget (it may already fit in our budget, but more on that later). This sounded like too good of a deal, so I inquired to some of the other photography companies I had come across just to get actual numbers from them. The lowest I got back was $3,500 and that didn't include half of what this guy was offering. Stoked that I had found our photographer, I jumped on and emailed him straight away. Wouldn't you know it, we had an entire email conversation over a couple of hours last night. Talk about your quick responses!

As if all of this wasn't enough, he takes payments in three installments - 1/3 to book, 1/3 before or day of event, and 1/3 when he delivers the photos. Score! We were also able to set up a meeting with him during our crazy wedding planning weekend. He chose Mill Mountain Coffee as the meeting place (talking affordable photography while drinking delicious chai...uh, yes please!) and even though he's bringing the contract with him, he's giving us all the time we need to look it over and get our deposit in. He wants to use the meeting simply to get to know us and what our plans are for our wedding. Pinch me, I'm dreaming! I'm really hoping we all get along at the meeting, because that's the only bump I could see in this road right now. How amazing is it to go from looking at possibly nixing photography to possibly finding the photographer that fits our style and budget?

We've also had another awesome realization this week. There is the possibility of our invitations w/envelopes and RSVP cards costing us less than $80 (not including stamps)! CRAZY!

So here's where we stand:
Food - Plan A: Catering, seeming like less of an option, but still holding out for another go-round to see what they come up with at a lower price point now that they know the style of food we like. Plan B: local restaurants that cater, seeming more and more like a great option but will need to take into consideration hiring our own staff and getting event liquor license (started pricing and isn't too bad). Plan C: DIY, holding off on exploring this option until after the meetings.

Venue - Hoping to nail down a meeting with our long favorite option that has been under renovation. Just learned that the carpet is going to be purple (tell me it isn't beckoning me) and am really excited to see mock-ups of the interior and talk price. With any luck, we'll be able to lock it down!

Photography - pending any road bumps in the meeting, we may have our photographer!

Cake - Meetings scheduled with three bakers. I've been drooling since we picked out the cake and icing combinations we wanted to try.

Flowers - haven't started looking and am still considering going without. It seems so pointless to buy flowers that I will only hold while walking up and down the aisle as well as in photos. We'll see. I can be convinced either way at this point.

DJ - browsed briefly but haven't really started looking yet.

Invitations - pending picking a layout, finalizing wording, and locking down a venue, they're mostly done...so not really.

Dress - bought and at the shop!

We are so excited that after mid-month, we should have most of the wedding stuff locked down!

And here it is, your moment of zen:

My recently acquired Harley from Arkham Asylum (does a little dance)