T is for Trolley!!!

As of today, Jordan and I have been officially engaged for 8 months! Wow! And thanks to a very, very generous gift offer from my cousin, our wedding party will be riding in style! There isn't that many options in our area for wedding transportation and I was starting to get frustrated at the few options that we had. Until, we found Cedar Rapids Trolley Co. and they told us they had something just perfect available on our wedding day... After the ceremony, our wedding party is going to be cruising around town in a unique, vintage styled trolley! 

Who doesn't stop and stare when they see one of these?!
I know I always do!

Yay! This really goes with our whole vintage-style theme...I haven't been to any friends or family member weddings where they've had a trolley so I'm excited that we have this and will be different from the norm! We definitely didn't want a stretch limo because on those you can't hardly talk to anyone or see anyone besides who you're sitting right next to and that just wouldn't be any fun! I can't wait to cruise around town and take pictures on the trolley! Thank you Cody for your generous gift and helping make our wedding plans come together and our big day special! We love you and appreciate it so much! That trolley won't even know what hit it once the Cross-Easton wedding party takes over!

Good Looking Labels

I love cute return address labels. I'm not sure why, but I always notice these when people send them on wedding invites or Christmas cards. And I also love free stuff. Naturally, that means I love the *free return address labels that I just received from Vistaprint! Of course, the * means something...I paid $2.00 for each set of 140 labels for shipping (so technically, yes, they weren't entirely free, but still!) At Vistaprint, if you sign up for a new account, they usually give you some sort of freebie. Since I follow the Krazy Coupon Lady Blog I noticed that on April 8th, (which is the opposite of our wedding date, 4-8-12 and 8-4-12, so it was a sign!) if you signed up for a new account, they would give you 140 free return address labels! Turns out they offer this deal pretty often so if you need some labels, use this site! I used 3 different email addresses to get this deal so in total, I only paid $6 for 420 customized, super cute and awesome return address labels! And it's even more perfect that we're only mailing out 135 wedding invites so I only needed one set of the wedding ones....then I got 280 of the E (duh, I'm obsessed with monograms) ones with our full name on them for thank yous after the wedding and Christmas cards...and anything else we have to mail out! Here they are but with our street and house number blurred out just to be safe:

Perfect for our wedding invites!
Love the little bride & groom!

And perfect for our thank yous!
Same as our wedding colors
and has a monogram! 

All in all, this was a very random find but I'm so happy that I just went with it and ordered them without hesitating! These turned out way better than anything I would have been able to make on the computer and I got them in less than a week....for $6.00,  I'd say it was a very quality purchase! It's just one more thing I'm happy to have put my personal touch on to make our invites and wedding unique! And besides, I can't WAIT to use the E ones because that means we'll be married, ahhh soo excited! Only 110 days to go! :)

Ahh it's (almost) the weekend!

It's Thursday!! And tomorrow I get to sleep in! AND I only work 4 hours then I'm off to Des Moines for the weekend to visit the two cutest kiddos I know and love so much!

Sibling Love
Teagan & Kemper

I haven't seen them (or my bro and sister-in-law) since February...To be exact, since our epic weekend out in Madison. Which means it has been far too long! I can't believe a month and a half has passed by so quickly! Ahh so many things have happened and yet, I still have so much I need to do! But oh well, I'm not worrying about that now! My brother is running in a race and Kat is doing hair for a wedding so I get to babysit and spend a quality Saturday morning with the kids. I'm so excited for some snuggling, giggling and being a kid again with those two....and then of course, I'll enjoy some nice cold ones Saturday night with the adults of the house. Ah I can't wait! Now hopefully nothing bad happens to me tomorrow since it's Friday the 13th, that would be just my luck! Happy early weekend everyone, don't cross paths with a black cat tomorrow!

MORE bags, bags, bags.....

After a much needed spur of the moment road trip to my Grandma's this past weekend, I'm finally feeling a little more upbeat since my previous post(s). Sometimes, I just really need some quality family time and I'm so lucky and thankful to have my Grandma less than 2 hours away...especially since my parents don't live that close now anymore. It really sucks on weekends when I want to get away but especially on a holiday weekend. My Grandma did what every Grandma does--stuffed me up with food, played a few hands of cards, and then sent me home with an Easter basket while I was in a slight food/candy induced coma. There's nothing better than a Grandma's lovin.

Since I had been focusing on school the past two weeks, I figured it was time to start chipping away at another wedding project. I made a trip to a consignment store we have in town here and just to clarify, this consignment store is the bomb. They only accept items that are new/in good condition/in style and all that jazz. Basically, I've found tons of good finds and usually with the tags still on them! And I also always drop off stuff so I usually come out even or make money by getting rid of my stuff, awesome! So from the title of this post, I'm sure you can guess what I found....MORE BAGS!!!! As part of the gift to my girls in my wedding, I'm giving them these awesome tote bags to carry all of their stuff and then I'm also filling it with some goodies. So, while roaming around the consignment store, I came upon these beauties hanging up in the health/beauty section...

What are the odds...
They happened to have 10 brand new make-up bags
from Bath & Body Works with the tags still on them!

Yes, they had 10 bags which is exactly the number that I needed!! I have been searching high and low on the internet and in stores for low price make-up bags...Considering I need 10, I really didn't want to spend anywhere from $3-5 per bag! So, to add to my excitement, these bags were priced at the lovely price of $0.50 A PIECE!! Umm what?! Done and done. Perfect, brand new bags with the tags and for only fifty cents....I may or may not have squealed out loud and couldn't stop smiling. I love finding a good deal, especially one like that! Right when I didn't think this could get any sweeter, once I went to check out, the cashier told me I had a $12 credit on my account...so I got the bags entirely FOR FREE!!!! Yipee! :) Of course, the next thing I did was go across the street to Target and picked up some travel size items because I wanted at least one of the bags to have stuff in it! Here's what all I have so far:

-hairspray = $1.50
-static guard = $2.50
-tide to-go = $2.50
-deodorant = $0.99
-hand sanitizer = $0.99
-advil = I had this already but will probably get the individual packets for the rest of the girls...unless I can find some free pill boxes/packets then I'll fill those with Advil from a big bottle I have
-tums = pack of 3 for $1.70
-shout wipe = pack of 12 for $3.25
-kleenex = for some reason, I had 12 of these travel size kleenex packs
-band aids = had these 
-nail file = pack of 15 for $1.50
-Q-tips = had these
-bobby pins = pack of 50 for $2.50 then I cut cardstock paper to put the bobby pins on for each bag

I don't know why but I love travel size items!

Everything (so far) together!

There are a few more things I plan on adding to the bags like lotion, tampons, lip gloss, gum and/or mints. I don't think I'll put Static Guard and a Tide-To Go stick in each bag since those were a little pricier. So maybe just mine and my sisters because the maid of honor also needs a top notch bag! I'm estimating that each bag in total will cost $10-12 on average which is a good price range since I have a big wedding party to get gifts for. I also plan on making a "mini sewing kit" for my bag with ivory and purple thread, a needle and scissors...just in case! I've been looking at other blogs and magazines to help create these "Emergency Kits" and it's been a lot of fun! I want to make sure we're all prepared because not having things like this, would cause me anxiety for if/when (but hopefully never!) something does come up! It's always better to be over-prepared than under-prepared! And plus, these will be great for all my girls for after the wedding too because they can use this bag again and it will already be filled with the travel essentials! I love multi-purpose gifts or "the gift that keeps giving." I know my time and money is being well-spent because this is stuff that everyone will use at some point or another! So am I missing anything crucial or fun?! The rest of the goodies/present for their tote bags are a surprise...I can't give away all of my secrets!

no really, check the 'tude.

“I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. 

I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. 

But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.” 

― Marilyn Monroe

Yes, Marilyn. You tell 'em. Just because someone has an opinion, an idea, a vision, a WHATEVER IT MIGHT BE, that you don't agree with, doesn't make that person selfish. It makes that person unique, an individual, and themselves. It makes that person different from everyone else and independent. It doesn't mean they are being rude, disrespectful and need to apologize. Someone should never have to apologize for having their own ideas and views that don't match up with another person. In this crazy world we live in, everyday we are manipulated into wearing or not wearing something, eating or drinking certain things or avoiding various foods and drinks, listen to this, don't watch that...blah blah freaking blah, the list could go on and on. What I'm saying is, everyday we as individuals are challenged. Do you want to conform to society and listen to everything thrown at you about what you should or shouldn't eat, drink, wear, watch, or read? Do what makes YOU happy. And fight like hell for it to stay happy. If this means pissing people off, being painfully honest or being downright blunt to people, then so be it. If the person challenging you truly cares and loves and understands you, they'll come around. Maybe eventually they'll just agree to disagree with you. If they don't, well then, later nerd. Because bottom line is, when push comes to shove, shoving back gets exhausting and in the end, you realize it isn't worth the effort.

check the 'tude.

Today is one of those days where all I want to do is reality check people. Everyone in my path could fall victim at any time. Of course, there's quite a few who are most definitely at the top of my list. And then there's those who just need to be slapped for saying something dumb. Like, "Ooh the papers were due today? Can I email it to you by like, ummm, Friday?" No kid, you can't. It's Tuesday and it's not my problem you can't read dates and figure out when stuff is due. Get it together. Seriously! I'm not even going down that road right now. Instead, I'm just going to keep listening to my Pandora playlist of showtunes and grade these awful, awful papers. Watch out today people, because you don't want to mess with me! Sass pants are on and they're not coming off anytime soon!

A tisket, A tasket...A cute handmade flower girl basket!

My wedding project list seems to be getting smaller and smaller by the day which is an awesome feeling considering in 3 days, we're at the 4 month mark away from the wedding! Holy smokes, how did this creep up so fast?!!! I can't believe we've already been engaged for 8 months and only have 4 to go! All the wedding blogs and magazines I've read all say how fast the time goes while engaged and planning the wedding....and now I couldn't agree more! It's been fun and exciting, stressful and emotional, and we've had lots of happy and sad tears! This has really proven to us though how well we work together and help to balance each other out which makes us really look forward to our wedding day! Now, I'll show off my latest wedding project! The flower girl basket for my niece, Teagan!

Here's what you'll need:
-a "basket box"
-paint and paintbrushes
-sand paper
-hot glue gun
-any fun extra to decorate it with (I'll point those out in the pictures)
-And Jordan says "a steady hand"

Total cost: I had all of the paint and brushes and my mom got the box from Hobby Lobby and made the tulle flowers....so I'm estimating a total cost of $10ish on average

Total time: 2-3 hours

Start off with a plain, smooth "basket box"
as I like to call it!

Paint it any base color of your choice.
I used the paint left over that we got for free!
And I enjoyed a Shock Top Lemon Shandy while crafting :)

After sanding it off around the edges and in the middle
(to give it sort of a rustic look)
I free handed the words: Here Comes The Bride with a pencil

Very slowly and steadily, I traced along the words....
a short stiff bristle brush works best for this!

Once it all dried, I used the lace off of the flower girl basket
from my parents wedding and wrapped the handle with it!
Then I hot glued the tulle flowers onto the side of the handle

purple and green flower "poofs" on the side
to finish it off!

And that's it! Super easy and so stinking cute! Plus, a fun wedding heirloom to hold onto to pass on for future weddings! Who isn't going to love seeing my 4-year old niece Teagan carrying this down the aisle?! Now I just need to pick up some petals for her to throw and she'll be ready to strut her stuff....I'm praying that she doesn't chicken out now the day of the wedding!