Planning, planning, planning!

So we made it in the Alive Mag bridal show pics... thus above. Shown are Elaine (Laura's MOH), Laura L (getting married 3 wks prior), Laura R, Me, and My sis.


Wow, its so odd how you have to make so many decisions and try to figure out how they will affect you 8 months from now. Well its just kinda crazy! So I do have a few resolutions to previous posts. The first of these being instead of joining any gyms, etc. I decided to purchase a heights fitpass. I am supremely pleased with my decision. With this pass I can go to unlimited classes which are scattered throughout the week and a few on the weekend. The pass was $120 (for a non-resident) and goes through May 15th, when working it out it was about $30 a month. I enjoyed that I didn't have to worry any gym commitment, etc. So far so good. I've been 3 times this week, woo hoo!

As far as other things are concerned, this week I met with one florist and went to the 3 bridal shops in search of bridesmaids dresses. The florist I met with was Artistry Florist. The man who must be the owner met with us, his name was Randy. Very nice guy and seem to know his stuff. Had some great ideas. I'm planning on meeting with at least 3 florist just to get different ideas and prices. So we shall see how the next appointment goes. Bonus is Tim's friends used this florist and really loved them!

For the dresses, I've been in search of the perfect but also moderately priced dress. Kinda a toughie! The first place I went, the Ultimate Bride, we get a 25% off discount there since we're getting our tuxes from Savvi formal. Bummer is that I didn't really see any dresses for under $185. I'd like to stay under a certain point, which was less than that. Plus I didn't feel the women were very helpful or paid much attention to me, not like the other places. So I guess I was less than impressed with them overall. There is another higher end bridal shop down the road from there Brides by Demetria. We stopped there. They had a larger selection but all the dresses were about the same price. I did find some I liked there and the women were very nice. On wed after work I stopped at Town and Country Bridal in plaza frontenec and was pleasantly suprised. The women I met when I walked in discussed with me what I was looking for and really helped me out a lot picking and choosing in my price range. Despite being in that fancy expensive mall they had some reasonably priced dresses for a fairly good price. Thus they are currently a front runner.

For some reason I have this feeling that Davids Bridal is the devil. I have no clue why this is. I spoke with my aunt on wed after town and country and explained that I was disheartened in being unable to find to many dresses in this arbitrary price range that I had dreamt up in my head. She suggested Davids and for some major reason I have this major reluctance to use them. I guess I would prefer to use a local place or some random thing, which honestly doesn't matter truly because these other places just purchase the dresses from the designers. So I'm biting the bullet today and going to check out Davids just to see the selection. We'll see how I feel.

Bridal show #3

Today was bridal show #3 at Windows Off Washington, and wow it was a cool space. I will say I investigated their prices and well they were a bit out of my range, but it was fun to go around and check out the venue. Anyways for our discounted $5 fee we got in w/ a lovely glass of champagne upon arrival and essentially open bar (beer/wine) throughout the event. Interesting enough today it was 3 brides, my friend Laura, Heather and I. Not to shabby if I do say so myself. There were quite a few vendors there, many I had seen before and a few new ones. I will scan in the super cute photo booth pic that we got done by Laughing Penguin... the neat thing they do w/ their "photo booth" is that its actually set up like a photo shoot w/ a background and actual photographer to take pics during the reception. While of course I loved the idea, the $995 price tag was a lil too much. I did like how they had an actual photographer though to get good shots. I'm sure they'll get some takers!

My main concern at the show, however was searching for a potential DJ as well as florist/flower people. Got a few good leads, so we shall see how this all comes along.

I've learned you really don't know what to expect of the show until you get there. They never post the vendors prior to going. I'm sure this is a way to lure people, however its quite frustrating. 2 more shows to go... next weekend is high tea at the cornado w/ just Laura and I. I believe this show should be pretty swanky and fun.

In the planning world I feel I've learned a lot but also have so much more to learn as well... Laura and I were discussing how we felt we needed an etiquette book in order to review important customs and things that are must, etc. I may check the library for such a book :) ta ta for now!

Fitness Problem Solved?

So I may have come to a conclusion for my fitness/gym problem. A co-worker of mine works at The Heights in Richmond Heights and its not too far from here. A little further than Ballys but without the essential commitment at about the same price. I can purchase a fit card from The Heights which entitles me to go to any classes that I want at The Heights for $120 for the entire session. In doing this, I have paid upfront and don't have to worry about canceling a membership or anything like that but I should be able to take all the classes I want. In reviewing the schedule, there are many classes tues-thurs eve that I'm interested, plus a kickboxing on sat morns that I could choose from. I suppose this doesn't give me access to all the equipment, but I'm not much of an equipment type person anyways. I figure once the weather is good (and hurling starts) that I'll also be able to throw a jog in here or there to make up for that missed time. So I plan on going this week to The Heights to get my punch card. Woo hoo, fitness here I come!

By the way, I'd like to add that I loved the classes by Inspire Fitness with Christy. I really enjoy the Fitball class that she does, its an awesome abs work out. It just was too hard to get to work on time (around 7:30), I could always adjust my schedule accordingly however I'm pretty sure the docs like me to get there by that time and don't want to mess up my routine...

Registering

As in most of my posts I'm in a bit of a quandary. There are many options for registering. I am acutally not even sure how far ahead in advance you are supposed to register, however most blogs/guides etc say at least 6 months before or prior to your first bridal shower. Luckily my cousin has done a little leg work for me and sent me a list of "necessities" for a registry which she had combined through multiple lists. Thanks Karen!!

Anyways there are many places you can choose from and in discussing this with Tim. He had no clear preference on a place. In going to the bridal shows a some research I've found out the following.

• Many people have complained about Target for many reasons... not updating the registry frequently, items quickly being discontinued or out of stock, and being NOTORIOUS for being terrible about returns. So I'm thinking that Target may be off the list.
• My cousin Karen is registering at Bed Bath and Beyond. They have tons of different stuff for all your needs. In addition to this, they'll take back anything that was on your registry no questions asked, according to the website. I'll have to go in to find out more about the other benefits.
• At the Alive Show, they had the people from Macy's there. At Macy's you get 5-10% off stuff if you don't get it, plus you get 5% back on a Macy's card for anything that people purchase there. Essentially it seems like you get free money on all stuff that is bought. That seems neat and is in the running.
• Crate and Barrel, my friend Laura is registering here. Throughout the month of February they have these registering events where you go in before the store is open (or they open it late) and they provide you some free breakfast and champagne and will have someone guide you through the store for registering. This is very intriguing plus sounds kinda fun! I haven't yet checked the other "benefits" that you get for registering there. More to come soon on this I suppose
• Williams Sonoma, haven't much looked into theirs. I do know that they have special hours you can come into register when the store isn't busy/open to the public.
  
• Sur La Table... until my Mom's cousin got married I hadn't ever heard of this place. Its a really cool place and had tons of different stuff. I'd have to check more into their benefits as well.
  

That's all of the places I can think of at the moment... I'm sure there is more. Just trying to exhaust the list :P

259 to go and counting

Wow, busy week! We had the Alive Magazine Show this past Thursday which was pretty fun, can't be bad w/ free booze n apps! Only bummer was that Laura or I didn't win the 5k prize :(

I think I may have mentioned this previously but let me back up for a second... My friend Laura who is in the bridal party is also getting married this fall, 3 week before I am, 9/18/10. Its quite fun because her and I can share of a lot of this together!!

Anyways, back to the show. From all the emails from Alive and promotion that it had it was a fairly small show which I was surprised by, however should mention the space while amazingly beautiful (Lumen) is small and wouldn't have been able to fit too many vendors anyways. I know Laura found some invite inspiration which was great. We stayed until the end as they had the 5k prize pack raffle at the end and watched the bridal fashion show. I had never seen a bridal fashion show but would like to say that the models showing off the dresses, only one of them was working the dresses. She was amazing and I couldn't wait to see her walk out, I even went so far as to say she could totally wear a paperbag and I would've bought it. LOL I have plans for 2 more bridal shows. One is high tea at the Coronado w/ just Laura and I. I anticipate that one being pretty swanky and fun despite their rude emails when we inquired about their venue. I did want to say one neat thing about Lumen is they have led lights all around their windows and will light them up to match your colors for your event, which is pretty cool.

Soon I'll be checking out invites w/ my sweeite. Lots going on and its hard to believe this will be happening in less than 9 months!!

Engagement Ring Care

So I've been thinking on this post for quite some time actually. I had to go out and do some research myself regarding this very topic. To be honest of course when I received my beauty, I was absolutely thrilled! However, I have no clue about the care of a such an object and unlike most expensive purchases these babies don't come with an instruction booklet... So here goes. I have pooled this from a few net searches, as well as asking the jeweler.

Prior to my engagement party, I went to the jewlers to get my ring cleaned because I wanted it to look as shiny and wonderful as it first did when I first got it. I'm not saying by any means that it looked dull or anything, but its quite amazing what a little cleaning can do to shine it up. So when I took it to the jewelers, they essentially told me what my aunt had told me. Put it in a small glass (a shot glass is often perfect!) with 1 part ammonia, 3 parts water. So just a tiny bit. Let it soak for overnight (or 1/2 hour according to the jewelers) and ta da, clean! A soft toothbruth or soft cloth can be used as well to help wipe and clean addition bigger dirt off of the ring. I will try this out soon and post results. I'd also be interested to know if anyone has other ideas/ways to keep it clean.

A few other important things the jewelers told me:

• take off prior to sports
• take off when showering, using lotions, etc this helps keep it shiny. (Have tried this and thus far it does appear to help quite a bit)
• try not to touch the diamond, excessive oils on your hands can contribute to the cloudiness of the diamond
• be careful when using harsh cleaners, they can cause damage to the stone
• (this one's from my mom) take off gold when getting in the pool, chlorine can damage/strip away layers of gold
• also check the prongs (the way mine is set, all the prongs should be atop the diamond, if they aren't take it back and they'll happily adjust it!)

When all else fails, the place it was purchased usually will clean it for free for you! So feel free to stop by there and have them clean it for you!

Clever Ideas...

Got this from Tim... just thought there were some good ideas...

CLEVER IDEAS WORTH KNOWING

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store.
If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil.
It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!


Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.
Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.


Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef.
It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.
To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of
spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.
For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.
Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste
of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.
Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!
Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm.
This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.


Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up.
Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg.
Just throw bag away when done; easy clean up.


Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size.
You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.
Reheating refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in
a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food
moist and help it reheat faster.


Newspaper weeds away
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers,
put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and for-
get about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will

not get through wet newspapers.
Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't

see easily.
No More Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away!

To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... ta da! ... static is gone.


Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water.
Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such
as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.


Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove

box of your car When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!
Re open ing envelopes
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.


Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.


Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!


Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS
The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material .. I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well ... the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the drye r sheets to make your clothes soft and static free ... that nice fragrance too. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box ... well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very longtime (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share!
Note: I went to my dryer and tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water and a nylon brush and I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it .. the water ran right thru the screen! There wasn't any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about!

Weight loss and finding a gym...

First of all, I'd like to congratulate my friend Lia and Wes who got engaged on New Years! I'm so excited for you both! In addition to that, Matt Schdmidt and his lady as well!!

So like most brides, (and women in general, in addition to the new year resoluations, etc...) I am making an attempt at losing weight and keeping fit. Not only do I want to look fabulous on the big day, there is the possibility of going to Hawaii in May for my job (trying to keep that on the DL a lil bit the ladies at work might get upset), for which of course I'd like to look nice in a swimsuit. Compouding this, having my Masters in Public Health, I would like to be healthy and fit as to set a good example. I know it might sound lame but I feel a calling to set an example for others that you can fit that time into a busy lifestyle.... So I've been trying to figure out what to do about a gym. I can go to the Wash U gym, which isn't too far away, however it's kinda crappy and I'm the kind of person that enjoys taking classes and doing more of a structured work out. So I had a friend that was a member Ballys and had gone there quite a few times w/ the passes they had given me to get in free. I have actually squeezed 3 one week passes out of them (at one point I was interested in figuring out how many I could get until they would finally tell me no!) I will admit the guy who has been calling me from there "Johnny B, as in Johnny B Good" he leaves me on my messages has been quite persistent. They claim to have no commitments, etc and I can cancel at any time. However when I asked to read the paperwork, they do it all through the computer and have no contract that you can look through. What the heck is up with that??? I do like the facility (but drive directly past the Wash U gym to get there a few blocks) however just recently found out my work out buddy will be moving to DC. So since she'll be leaving, I'm wondering if I'll go there as much. It always nice to have a work out buddy. To make it more complicated they are putting in a club fitness just 2 blocks away from my place. Its the kind of place that there are "no commitments and you can cancel at any time, also" etc. I'm not sure really what the deal is because I'd have to read the fine lines. Bummer is I'm ready to work out now but this dang place isn't open yet. They have been getting it ready for a few months, but I have no clue when it will actually open. I've been meaning to stop by, but just haven't made the effort... thus I'm in a quandry. I'm also considering trying out a fitness camp by Inspire Fitness (trying out the class next Monday). Sort of a boot camp... Not too pricey and would have the instructor for guidance. I took some fitball classes by the girl who owns it, Christy and liked them a lot. We shall see how this all turns out. I'll keep you posted on the weight loss and choices for working out.

the calls have started... but not too much

I just wanted to let you know that I forgot to mention yesterday in my post that when I got home I did go through all the various paperwork and flyers from various vendors and tossed the ones I didn't need, and organized the others into florists, DJ's, limos, etc... I must say I was quite proud of myself! With my pack rat mentality,that's impressive :)

I would like to also let you know I have only received 2 calls (one from Savvi formal wear and one from this company that sells dishware -looked it up online and lots of people claim its scam worthy, they pitch you this stuff and you get a complimentary honeymoon but have to pay airfare and taxes and other various fees. Thus I'm fairly uninterested in this and will just ignore. Thankfully my sis filled out that one and put Dad's home phone, pure awesomeness!) So far 1 email... I'll keep the count going.

On another note, do some fabluous work by my "second Mom" Cathy Hooper and Aunt Carol (my bro also went out...) We have a lil over 25 of my table decorations. One for each table, score! Check those off the list!! I just have to get them from Ohio to here, another job for my wonderful brother! Woo hoo!

Bridal show fun...

Apparently in St. Louis it must be bridal show... I think my sister and I could go to a bridal show practically every weekend through the month of January. Why this is, I'm not quite sure. One of the vendors suggested it was because a lot of ladies get engaged over the holiday season, I don't know...

So anyways Liz and I went to our first bridal show today hosted by St. Louis Best Bridal Magazine. I can that it was kinda fun but also a little overwhelming. From DJ's and photographers to bakeries and formal wear, they had lots of options. Prior to going to the show, I checked out the website and they had a few suggestions for going to bridal shows which are:

• bring address labels printed w/ your info on it... this helps save time from writing it all out at each vendor (I think this would've been helpful)
• if you already have your venue, etc don't bother wasting time checking out other places, unless say you are looking for rehearsal dinner or shower places
• bring a notebook and pen to take notes for any ideas/places you really liked, lots of people will be talking to you, if you jot notes down this can be helpful for who to contact in the future** I brought a notebook and didn't have time, but my sis is a great at asking questions, also have a bag you can put flyers, etc into!
  
• avoid the special show price, why wouldn't they be able to give you that any day?
• dress comfortably, you'll be walking around
• enjoy it!
  

There are a ton of people trying to sell you stuff... I could've had at least 4-5 different cakes/cupcakes to taste. (Proudly I only tried 2!) Also they all want you to sign up for their "raffle," while I know that these can be beneficial (my friend Jasmine won her honeymoon this way, which was awesome!) I'm curious as to how many people will contact me further?? I'll get annoyed if I start getting a bunch of random calls... The bummer is for me, that the only number I have is my cell phone and at the end as a home phone I started to put my Dad's number down. If I really want to contact someone, I'm the kind of person that will contact them, I suppose that's just me. Overall though, I think it was pretty fun and I did collect some information that I needed. A few more to go this month. So I suppose I'll be able to compare them.

I'll sign off today w/a pic from a photobooth my sister and I tried...