Even though the wedding is over, there is still more wedding-related business to take care of...

Thank you cards!

Of course, I had to make them myself.

A couple of months ago Michael had packs of blank white cards on sale for 50% off so I snatched up a bunch. Once our pro pics came in I chose two pics to put on the front of the cards. To save money I photoshopped them so that I could actually get 2 pictures out of each print so I would only have to print half as many as I needed -- plus 4x6 pictures would not have fit on the cards. Then because shutterfly gives away 25 free prints for new customers I created two new accounts using different email addresses and got 50 free prints for $5, or the price of shipping. So the total for 100 custom made thank you cards will come to $15!

We are still waiting for part of our security deposit to be returned to us from our venue, but I think it's safe to say that thanks to my money-saving shenanigans, we will have come in at least $2500 under budget. woohoo!!

Hip Hop in the Hizzouse Part II

Okay, so not only is Philip Johnson awesome, but I have to say that I'm pretty awesome as well.

Check it:

I'm pretty sure in this picture I'm doing some variation of "Yo, yo, yo what up diggity dawg" complete with hand motions.

Why?

Because when you put me in front of a camera I have no choice but to act like a fool.

And because I'm awesome.

Hip Hop in the Hizzouse

I just read an article about Philip Johnson's glass house -- about how it's really not the beacon of minimalist design that it claims to be. Mainly because the grounds of the house also consist of 8 other buildings that Johnson used for various other purposes and to house his crap. He had a building which he used to watch TV, another to house his art, another just for sculptures, etc. But the BEST building in my opinion is the one he named Da Monsta, "which Johnson built for no apparent reason and named it to sound like a hip-hop reference".

Um, how awesome is this? My opinion of Johnson just grew exponentially. I now love him even more than when we found that picture of a monkey dressed as him. Which, after a cursory google search, I can no longer find. Sad face.

Mooning with my Honey

We finally have our flights and accommodations booked for our honeymoon in August and I'm so. excited!!

We are going to be spending A LOT of time sitting in airplanes, so we better accumulate some things to do otherwise I am going to be dealing with a cranky Russ.

The festivities will begin on Friday, Aug 14 when we fly to New York City to wedding it up with our friends Rosemary and Davoud. Then we leave NYC Sunday night and fly to Taiwan with a layover in Anchorage. Total travel time: 18 hrs. Even though we're leaving Sunday night, when we get to Taiwan it'll actually be Tuesday morning (darn you time zones!). My aunt is going to take us around Taiwan (where Russ is going to "try not to eat anything weird") for a couple of days before our banquet on Saturday.

We leave for Bali on Sunday for our 5 hour flight to Bali! We will spend one night here:
Then 2 nights here:
And finally 3 nights here:
The best part is that the first three nights are free since we're using my starwoods points and the last three nights we are staying in a super amazing deal that I found -- hello villa with a private patio and plunge pool and complimentary massages. All for less than $200 a night! Yes, please! Everything in Bali is cheap, cheap, cheap -- like you can get $10 hour long massages and hire a driver to drive you around the WHOLE day for like $25. Insane in the membrane I tell you! The only things we'll have to worry about are the money exchangers who try to scam you and the monkeys who try to steal your credit, but I think we'll be okay.

So then after all this amazingness we have to go home (sad face). And this is where the marathon airplane trip begins. We leave Bali Saturday afternoon for the 5 hour flight to Taiwan where we have a 3 hour layover. Then we have an 12 hour flight to San Francisco, followed by a 4 hour layover and a 3 hour flight to Dallas. And then (no more and then) we have another 2 hour layover and lastly a 2.5 hour flight to Pittsburgh.

That's about 31 hours total. I'm thinking some heavy sedatives will be in order. And we both have to work the next day.

But I'm so excited!! Why can't it be August already?

Choppity Chop Chop

Hairs all gone!


At least 10" of my hairs are now sitting in a plastic baggie waiting to be shipped off. It's pretty gross. I suck at blow drying the right side of my head, so I guess I will have to live with the flippy bits on the right.

2 down, 2 to go!

Actually, technically, TECHNICALLY, I used my kitchenaid twice yesterday but I'm only going to count it once.

I whipped up some frozen yogurt that tastes exactly like pinkberry. yum! Although next time I might try using the regular yogurt instead of the expensive greek yogurt that costs 4 times as much. And experiment with some mix-ins.

I also made a batch of snickerdoodles, which I was also sure were going to be a disaster but somehow turned out great (noticing a trend here?). Russ doesn't like snickerdoodles because of the cinnamoniness, so I brought them to work today and my lab has been devouring them, which is also good for my waistline.

1 down, 3 to go

In my quest to win our Kitchenaid bet, I mustered up the energy to test out our new mixer this weekend. I am in now in love with not having to mix anything by hand anymore (who am I kidding -- Russ did all the hand mixing before).

I need to come up with a name for the mixer. Any suggestions?

I know I said my first concoction was going to be pudding but I made some whoopie pies/gobs/devil dogs/suzie Qs instead, which were a big hit with the hubs. Anyone know why there are so many names for these? The recipe said to scoop a tablespoon of the batter onto cookie sheets, but when I did so they started spreading like crazy, so I was convinced that they were going to turn out horribly misshapen and icky. Then I had the brilliant idea of spooning the batter into my cupcake pans, and they turned out beautifully.

Next up I need to test out our new ice cream maker (with a imitation pinkberry recipe I found!).

We are SO going to be obese.

Some other potentially vomit-inducing disclosures:
Russ and I have taken to calling each other "hubby" and "wifey". Russ has also, for unknown reasons, started calling me Edward. I retaliate by calling him Sally. Oh, the adventures of Edward and Sally.
Russ has twice introduced me to someone as his wife. I still feel a little giddy each time I hear it.

Pssst!

Psst!

Hey you!

Yes you, The Mess. You were supposed to go away after the wedding. Instead, you decided to double in size. What gives? Not only that, but in the weeks leading up to the wedding you also decided to manifest yourself into Myhouseisfallingapartitis. Common symptoms include leaking roofs, pantry doors falling off their hinges, and an ironing board that will not return to its upright position -- a flight attendant's nightmare, I'm sure.

That's not cool, yo.

For some reason, I figured that after the wedding, all the wedding crap would magically disappear. But no. It found its way back into our home. Only now it is joined by tons of boxes. So many boxes that last night I made a fort out of the boxes. My dear husband (husband!!) tried to put some order into the disorder by taking out what was in the boxes and trying to put them away, only to find that our house is severely lacking in storage space. And not only do we have all the new stuff to find room for, but also the old stuff.

Oh, The Mess. Why must you play me like this?