Wedding Help Needed

I'm having a creative block. More specifically, a wedding block. For the life of me, I can't think of anything to do for our centerpieces. We're going to a town that has a Hobby Lobby and a Michael's tomorrow, so I would love to be able to think of something in time to get the supplies tomorrow. I don't want to do flowers because real ones are crazy expensive and fake ones can add up just as quickly.

In case you don't know/remember, we're having 12 round tables for our guests as well as a long head table for the wedding party. We're using these tablecloths:

(It's kind of hard to tell, but they're an emerald green)

I was thinking of doing a square of burlap on the round tables to distinguish where the centerpiece will be as well as a long burlap table runner for the head table. Similar to this:

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Would the two fabrics be too weird together?

I'm planning on making these:

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to go on the tables; probably three or four to a table since we have 60 LED candles to use. 

Besides that, I'm drawing a blank. We're trying the whole "sit with whoever you want" deal, so I can't spruce up the tables with table numbers. Like I said before, I don't want to do flowers, real or fake.

I feel like I need something with some weight to it to put in the middle and sprinkle the candles around but I can't think of anything.

I wanted to hang something from the rafters, but after looking at the space again, there's just so way. So I thought of mini-ones to put on the tables a la:

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This is interesting: 

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So is this (obviously not on rocks): 

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Opinions?

• As you can see, we're kinda looking for the outdoor, fall feel (even though our wedding is in August)
• If it helps, we're going to have our favors and our photo cards at each place setting.
• In a perfect world, the centerpieces would be DIY-able, mean something to us (another reason why flowers are out of the question) and on the cheaper side of things.
• Unfortunately I don't think we can do the candles-in-water thing because we have to use battery powered LED candles. Fire is not allowed and I don't think batteries mix with water well. 
• Keegan's mom has suggested mirrors, but I'm not a huge fan. I feel like they're kind of....ordinary? Like something you'd see in a large banquet hall wedding (not that that's a problem, they're just not for me.)

It's gotten to the point in the wedding where I'm getting stressed. We're down to the 4 month mark and I feel like I have so much to do. I'm still (generally) enjoying it, but the stress has increased lately.

Help?

The Night I Got Paid In Produce

So I work at an art gallery. I very poor non-profit art gallery. So poor in fact that I don't get paid for the 40+ hours of work I do, except for when I stay late on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and come in Sunday mornings which totals about 10 hours a week.

Anyways we had a gallery opening last night. The artist was Hillary Parker who does watercolor botanical work. One of her pieces is the Edible Spectrum, so naturally she bought a lot of produce to recreate this artwork as a centerpiece on the food table. When the opening was done, the produce was left. Since no one else wanted it, my boss let me have it. Essentially, she paid me in produce.

Not pictured are the two bananas that I already froze for smoothies and a nectarine and a plum I ate for breakfast. It's also hard to see the orange and red pepper in the back. The two tiny orange things are cumquats which I tried for the first time last night. They're super sour, but surprisingly good. I also might take a few fingerling potatoes tonight that were left over.

Woohoo now I don't have to buy produce for the next week!

Thursday Randoms

I lead such an exciting life that the things I do can't fill up an entire post by themselves....so I'm crunching them all into one so it looks like I actually do stuff.

• First thing's first. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOMMY! I've been a horrible daughter and her present hasn't been bought yet, but it's the thought that counts....right?

• I'm being mopey today because Keegan's traveling for work. Again. This time he's in Louisiana to visit a customer. I'm happy that he at least he skipped the trip to tiny-town Mexico, but it still sucks that he's gone. Due to both of us working until 8 last night, I only saw him for a total of 2 hours before we passed out. In those two hours we grabbed dinner, drove home in separate cars, he showered and then we went to bed. In reality I saw him for maybe an hour total. I know that this doesn't compare to people whose spouses are in the military or otherwise gone for months at a time, but when you see your fiancé for an hour a day when you live with him, it gets tired quick. I compare his job to a surgeon's. He's on call 24/7, works late nights and sometimes has to go in overnight/on the weekends when he wasn't scheduled. Don't get me wrong, I'm so thankful that he at least has a job that is allowing us to pay for a house and a wedding a year out of college, but I'd gladly give up some of that money to see him more.  
• In less woe-is-me news, we finally have our sod. The landscapers came yesterday while I was working out in the morning and started laying it pretty quickly. I had to leave before they really got started and came home last night after dark so this morning was the first time I'd seen our house with a full lawn of grass. 

 

The grass is browner than the dirt that we had before, but it'll turn green eventually....right?

•   My thighs are killing me today. Yesterday I did the P90X plyometrics workout for about 45 minutes total and oh.my.gosh. I can feel it today. I was a bit sore yesterday when I got home, but today I can barely walk. I feel like I'm waddling everywhere and stairs are a killer. I decided to let my body rest today, but I'll be up bright tomorrow morning with Tony getting my butt kicked.  
• This weekend we're going to Tuscaloosa to do some serious shopping. I need to order my shoes from David's Bridal (which I hate doing, because I feel like they're the WalMart of the bridal world, but I can't find shoes anywhere else.) We also need to figure out wedding bands, go to Hobby Lobby for stuff for the wedding and I'm trying to talk Keegan into buying a Kindle. I have found so many books I want to read, but buying each of them would be more than buying the Kindle itself. That was my argument when I brought it up to him yesterday so we'll see what happens on Saturday. 
• In other wedding news, I made a photo sharing site with Shutterfly so that our guests can upload pictures of the wedding. I made a card through Vista Print and got 250 of them for $10 including shipping. They were supposed to show up today, but I got home on Tuesday and they were waiting in my mailbox. Woohoo fast shipping!

Obviously I put the password on the actual card, but I don't want internet creepers looking at our pictures.

• In Operation Lookin' Sexy news....there's not much. Keegan and I both started out strong and were working out almost every night. Then Keegan started working longer hours. Then we both got sick. Basically when it comes down to it, I haven't lost more than a pound or two in a month. I got fed up with things and this week I decided to buck up and do better. I've started working out in the mornings so I can't think up an excuse by the end of the night. I've stopped drinking soda (except for the one with dinner last night) and I'm bringing a water bottle to work that I fill up at least twice. I've started buying more fruits and veggies. I'm eating a breakfast cookie and fruit for breakfast instead of sugar-coated oatmeal. I'm honestly trying. And I think I've lost a pound or two this week. It's hard to tell because my weight seems to fluctuate between 3 and 5 pounds a day. I'm thinking I should do a weekly weigh in so that I'm not discouraged when my weight fluctuates daily. At least I'm seriously trying again. I'm hoping to report more news in the next month. 

Anyone have any healthy meals they want to share? I'm up for trying pretty much anything besides sea food. 

Weekend Recap*

*I really need to come up with a more interesting title...



Looking back on this weekend, it was much more productive than I thought it was going to be.

• Friday, Keegan and I went to Sears, but all of their work out equipment had been sold except for a crappy looking bike and an elliptical that was still $1300. Boo. Guess I'm going to have to stick it out with P90X and Jillian Michaels. 
• The visit with our friends was amazing. They got into town about 4:30 a.m. on Saturday morning and left about 2 Sunday afternoon, but it was totally worth it. We got to meet Brendan's new girlfriend and just hang out with the boys. There was some drinking, some pizza eating, some movie watching and just general hanging out. Perfect. 
• Sunday after our friends left, Keegan and I got a hair cut. Unfortunately everything in this tiny town closes on Sundays so we were stuck with going to WalMart (who knew they had a hair salon?) We waited for over an hour and a half, but eventually we got it done. Surprisingly enough, they didn't do too bad of a job. I told the girl that I wanted my hair trimmed and layered which I normally do to thin out my thick hair. However, when I got home, I realized that I didn't need my hair thinned. The medications I was on made me lose so much of my hair that it's super thin now. Guess I'm going to have to work on getting it thick and healthy for the wedding. 
• I am thisclose to having our invitations ready to print and assemble. I did two mock-ups on Sunday and Monday and they turned out well. I realized late last night that I don't have our wedding website or any information about our registries in the invitation so I'll have to make a new card with that information on it. Besides that, they're ready to go. I'm going to print out all of the cards this week and then have to wait until we go to Tuscaloosa or Tupelo this weekend so I can get a fancy paper cutter. There's no way I'm going to cut all of that paper by hand. 
• I have started working out in the mornings. I realized that if I wait until I get home, wait for Keegan to get home and make dinner and then try to work out, I never do. Either I'm too tired, Keegan's too tired or we have too many errands to run after work. By doing it first thing when I get up, I have the most energy and can't come up with an excuse to get out of it. I was planning on doing my 30 Day Shred DVD this morning, but I couldn't get it to come up on our PS3. Instead, I did the P90X Ab Ripper segment. Not quite the workout I was hoping for, but it's something. I'll have to get Keegan to show me how to work his new-fangled fancy get up for the PS3 so I can get some quality time in with Jillian the rest of the week. 
• We finally got my passport pictures taken and the application sent off. We went last weekend to get the pictures done, but they were cut to the incorrect size. I have to get a Canadian passport and the pictures have to be 2"x 2 3/4" instead of 2"x 2" like the American passports. We went in yesterday and had to argue with the photo girls about the size. I finally got it through their heads that I needed a different size and asked them to print out two larger photos for me that I cut down. Now everything is on its way to my parents house for my mom to sign off on and then it's off to the officials in Canada. Here's hoping everything works out this time *crosses fingers*

So overall, a pretty productive weekend. How was your weekend?

Friday Funday

What better way to celebrate than a blog full of bullet points?

• Today I'm like a kid before Christmas. Why do you ask? Late tonight two of Keegan's best friends (and one of their girlfriends) will be descending onto our house for the weekend. We haven't seen Brendan (Keegan's bestest best friend and his best man) since August and it was December when we last saw Matt. I am more than excited to see these boys and show off my new house, even though I'm sure they won't care. They're going to be getting in late tonight (like 1 a.m. late) and have to leave on Sunday so it'll be a short visit, but it'll be awesome none the less. 

• Last night the tablecloths for the wedding were delivered. In case you don't remember, I got 19 tablecloths for $92.53! I was a little wary about them being shiny, but they turned out great.

See?

Now I just need to figure out what to put on them for centerpieces.

• Apparently today is my birthday/Christmas! I work in an art gallery and one of the artists who had a show in the gallery during March gave me one of her paintings totally free! I'd post a picture, but I don't want anyone to try and pass off her work as their own. I'm excited to find a place in my house for it. 
• On a slightly less enthusiastic note, I have a bone to pick with drivers that follow too closely to my car. I now live out in the county and the roads I drive on are narrow with no shoulders. Animals, especially deer, jump out in front of cars all the time and I'm so nervous a deer will jump out in front of my car when someone is following so close to my car that I can't see their front bumper. I just know that if I need to slam on my breaks for any reason that my car won't come out in one piece.
• The Sears in our tiny town is going out of business. In one way it stinks because it's one less store to shop at, but in another way it's great because we've been able to get a lot of things we've needed for the house (like a hose) for 20-40% off. They've been "closing" for months now, but apparently they're really for sure closing now so things are starting to be 50% and more off. Tonight Keegan and I are going to go and see if there's anything else we need. I'm really hoping talk him into getting a treadmill or an elliptical for the house. I've had this urge to pick up running for the last few months but I'm not coordinated enough to run on our cul-de-sac of gravel and there's no way that I'm going to run on the county back roads with no shoulder, so the next best thing is a treadmill. Last time we checked they were only 40% off so I'm hoping they'll be knocked down again. 
• I'm trying to be better about what we've been eating and drinking. Keegan and I don't keep soda in the house (unless we're having guests) but we have soda at work. Usually I have a can at lunch, but I'm trying to cut that out of my routine. I brought a water bottle to work today full of ice cold water that I've been sipping on all day. Hopefully if I have water near me, I won't feel the need to have a soda. 
• We still don't have internet. Eventually, (maybe once the whole internet saga is resolved) I'll post about the craziness we've gone through. 

Anyways, that's about it for me. Tonight we're going to Sears, maybe some quick grocery shopping to get drinks for the boys and then a bit of last minute cleaning. This weekend is going to be full of fun and shenanigans and I can't wait!