Wedding invitations...finally!...

I've been really busy with report writing for school the last week so have been a little slack with blogging - whoops! However, I have finished my wedding invitations and am now able to present to you all the long awaited wedding invitation pictures!

How the invitation will appear when people pull it out of the envelope.

Untie the ribbon.

The inside of the invitation. The left side has all the details and normally at the top it will have the names of the guests. This is just a mockup/keepsake, so has our own names. Luckily we are invited to our own wedding!

There are three tabs. One, 'Directions', explains how to get between the church and reception. This one is a bit of a filler and isn't really necessary.

The R.S.V.P. card will have the names of the guests. A plain envelope is included behind the three card tabs so people can post back their replies.

The Gifts tab.

So, there you have it! Finally! I'm going to post the invitations this weekend or early next week. Thankfully, since we are having a small wedding, I only had to make about 30 of these invitations, as with all the cutting, gluing, folding, and measuring, these invitations took absolutely ages to make! The iPhone pictures don't really do them justice and I think they look really impressive when they come out of the envelope.

We have gotten rid of our photographer. His communication was non-existent in that he did not reply to emails, forgot appointments and returning photos unless I nagged, and, on closer inspection of his photos from my sister's wedding, was really more amateur than we had initially thought. His photos are all very bright (over-processed) and he said himself he doesn't know how to use Photoshop so just wings it with it, and when I looked with my uncle (who is the photography enthusiast) at the photo specs in iPhoto, it turns out the guy had his camera on a near-automatic setting and didn't even bother changing the one setting he had control over unless he changed to a different location (ie. from Greek church to Catholic church, from church to photo shoot location, and fro photo shoot location to reception). I was really angry that I was paying this guy good money to not reply to communication and to deliver below-average photos while he practised on my wedding day. I am now in the process of looking into a new photographer and luckily someone at work has put me onto a good photographer who has several options available for people to shoot our day within her business.

Derek comes back from the US on Sunday. He's done nearly $300 of shopping for myself, my mum and my sister in Sephora! His only job over there was to get the suits, and of course, being a male, he managed to screw it up. I have spent the last four weekends going around various fabric shops trying to find a match for my sister's dress so I can get some chiffon to make the flower girl sashes. If you remember, my sister's dress is a tricky shade - a lavender/mauve/periwinkle shade that isn't truly purple but isn't truly blue, either, so it's really tricky to match as every fabric I held up to the dress was either too blue or too pink/purple. Finally we had some success in a small shop in Mentone. My Mum and I then went through every single shop that could possibly sell ties in Southland, trying to find a tie match for my sister's dress for the groomsmen. We finally found something acceptable in Peter Jackson:

Derek's tie is black and has a similar texture to the groomsmen ties.

The groomsmen ties are a purple colour and have a tiny grey dot through them, so when you're not standing on top of them they are a little softer and match the dress well. It was basically impossible to find any plain ties, let alone a range of plain ties.

Now, after spending so much time and so many weekends matching up everything as perfectly as I could, I was pretty angry when Derek deliberately did not match things up on his end. He was given three simple instructions when buying the suits with his friends (and the idea to get them while he was there was so they could all go together and get the same thing, and so we would save money as they're cheaper and stores have a 2-for-1 special). The three instructions?

1. Get three plain black matching suits. No pin stripes or weird patterns.
2. Get three pain white shirts to wear.
3. Take a photo of what you get so I can see.

Not one of those instructions was followed:

1. Get three plain black matching suits. No pin stripes or weird patterns. Apparently, it is all the rage in America for the groom to wear a different suit to the groomsmen. I've heard of some people wearing a completely different coloured suit, but generally, the guys stick the same, with a different coloured tie or a flower or waistcoat to separate them. Also, in Derek's case, the fact that he's white with a beard, and his two groomsmen are Asian and Indian makes the three of them pretty easy to tell apart from one another. I think our small crowd will know which one is Derek/the groom. He said the salespeople in the two shops he allegedly visited both said the groom gets something different so he's got a suit a different material to the other two guys. I was pretty furious about this as it will ruin photos as it will undoubtedly be a different shade of black. I know I'm marrying the guy, not the suit, but when I spent so many weekends going all over Melbourne to match up the dress to everything else, for him to go and deliberately mismatch made me angry!
2. Get three pain white shirts to wear. Instead of getting shirts, he got none. He also spent double the amount planned on the suits. Good work!
3. Take a photo of what you get so I can see. No photo, just my imagination of these mismatched suits with no shirts based on some very poor descriptions of 'its a different shiny-ness material than the other two', and now I won't see the other two guys' suits until they arrive in Melbourne for the wedding in October. 

What a bloody hopeless idiot!

For those of you getting married or already married, what has gone right? What has gone wrong? What things have you overreacted on? For those of you with no weddings on the horizon, do you think I was fair to be cranky about him buying mismatched colour suits?

Postcards from America...

I know, I know. I said I'd be posting my finished wedding invitations! However, when I was cooking dinner tonight, I was looking at my fridge at all the postcards on it. My uncle recently got back from a 7 week trip around the USA (lucky thing, I'm so jealous), and sent me a lot of postcards along the way. I don't know how it all started, but we have a tradition between the two of us of finding a story card postcard to send the other person wherever we go. I think it stemmed from that my uncle sent some to me many years ago now, I complained that all I was getting was educational postcards rather than real postcards, so I sent him a story card in retaliation, which he of course enjoyed, and now it has gone from there.

So, I share with you, postcards from America:

My fridge, covered in postcards.

From the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC

I set my uncle a challenge in New York and Boston to find me story cards where I would actually learn something new. This one talks about elephants walking the bridge in celebration. I did not know that ever happened.

From Graceland. He has found a typo and corrected it on the front!

From New Orleans. I liked this one as it had all the Deep South slang.

This one was from somewhere along the Mississippi, about some weird girl whose boyfriend went off on a boat and so she was so desperate for him to come back she spent the next 50 or so years until she died, standing on the same bank of the river, waving a cloth or something at every boat that went by in case one of them had the boyfriend, he saw said weird waving girl, jumped overboard, and they were reunited. Needless to say, it never happened and she died with the waving cloth in her hand. What a miserable way to spend your life, and never get over a first love.

From San Francisco.

From the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

From Boston, about Paul Revere. Again, I knew some of this stuff, but learned some new things.

It was funny because most of the cards were titled 'Did You Know?' and had the same font and all, like they're all produced in some giant postcard factory in some boring state in America and sent around the country to their destinations for purchase.

Last night was open night at school so wasn't home until 8:30. Today I was wrecked. Tomorrow I promise I'll post about my wedding invitations. I'm so proud of them and they look really good.

Before I go, what do you think of postcards? Love getting them? Hate having to write them? Think they're a waste of time and money? Do you keep postcards people send you or do you recycle them or throw them away? I love getting postcards!

Sephora shopping list...

Derek's been in the US for the last few days now and is going to be heading off to the shops at some stage to pick up all my favourite items I discovered when I was living in Boston that I just can't get over here in Melbourne (or can get for triple the price!). I know a couple of days ago I said I'd be showing off my now-finished wedding invitations, but that will be a post coming your way soon. For today, I bring you...

The Sephora Shopping List
Sephora is such a great shop. I wish they had it here. They have some great items with their own brand, a good rewards scheme, and having all the cosmetics and perfume you can dream of under the same roof is such a great concept. Why they don't have anything similar here, I don't know. Derek will take the list to a Sephora, hand the list to one of the many sales assistants, and get them to fill it for him - easy! This is what I have on the shopping list so far for Derek:

Sephora Collection Fragrance Atomizer, $3.00 USD

This will be great so I can carry around my favourite perfume on my wedding day.

Sephora Collection Classic Rounded Blush Brush, $24.00 USD

I'm after a round, soft, large brush for applying my NARS Orgasm blush. My current brush, a Manicare one, is fine, but it is a little small and gives a bit of a concentrated application - something you don't really want in the Orgasm blush! I'm hoping this brush is more soft and bigger.

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion,  $24.50 USD

This is one of my skin care staples. It is essential some of this be picked up for me (even if it sits around for awhile before it's used) because it is sooooooo much cheaper than here -where it is over $70!!

Clinique Clarifying Lotion 2, $12.50 USD

Twelve dollars and fifty cents for this toner?? Unbelievable! This also is in my daily regime and can't be passed up for the price.

Clinique Liquid Facial Soap, Mild, $16.00 USD

Also part of my morning routine, also something dirt cheap in the US.

Christian Dior Diorshow Mascara, black, $25.00 USD

I naturally have pretty long lashes, and this mascara really makes my eyes pop. I love how this mascara does a great job of fluffing out my lashes and making it look like I have heaps more lashes than I do.

Lancome Juicy Tubes, Spring Fling, $18.00 USD

I love Juicy Tubes. I love the Spring Fling flavour/colour. You can't get the Spring Fling shade in Australia. It is a perfect netural gloss. I love how Juicy Tubes last for ages on your lips and take a bit to come off. Whenever anyone is shopping for me from the US they know to buy several of these so I'm kept well stocked.

Now one thing I haven't purchased is more primer. I used to use the NARS primer with SPF 20 but they have changed their primers and now have an oil free one and a SPF 30 one. I don't know whether to get this again or get the Smashbox Photo Finish primer. This product has rave reviews online and my sister got it for her wedding, and it is fantastic. I guess its worth a try.

Anything I've missed? Considering getting Derek to pick me up an eyelash curler, as well. I'm also interested in maybe giving eyeliner another go. I've never been very good at applying either liquid or pencil eyeliner, but I like how it enhances my mascara. Anyone have any recommendations of good eyeliners to get?

Flashback to the 90s (A.K.A. 'Report Writing Procrastinating')...

After a quick wander at Chadstone this morning, followed by lunch at my Mum's house, I came home and intended to write some reports. Unfortunately, they're not due for another 2.5 weeks, and since I work better under pressure, it's been very hard to get started. We have to write about 500 words per child, and quote specific pieces of work they've done and everything. It's a pretty time consuming process.

Of course, I got distracted on YouTube. I was commenting on a friend's Facebook status and it got me thinking about the 90s back when I was in primary school and we had discos, because me and this friend used to love going to discos at school! We also used to listen to Ugly Phil (remember him?) on the radio every night and talk about the number one songs on Rage each weekend. So, I bring you some of my favourite songs from my school time heyday:

First up, Twenty 4 Seven with Slave to the Music. Too bad this poor girl's jeans are so high waisted they nearly cover her belly button. They do not look comfortable. Not too sure what's up with the random frog throughout this clip, either, but this was one of those good disco songs back in the day.

Next we have The Sign by Ace of Base. This song stayed at number one for about 79 weeks - well it felt that way, anyway. I love this song and was so excited each Saturday morning when it was number 1 on Rage. I didn't remember how much making out there was in this film clip. Loving the graphics, and the curly haired guy getting right into the dancing in this clip.

This one was one of the favourites to sing along to at the school discos. It's Dum Da Dum by Melodie MC. Enjoy the random cat in the song's film clip. This girl singing in this song has on those John Lennon round glasses which got super popular in the 90s, and you could buy them at the Reject Shop for a couple of dollars. Wow, classy times!

One of our teachers used to DJ the discos and he always used to put on this song to get us all hyped up and dancing and yelling. It was actually pretty fun. The song is Boom Shake The Room by Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jazz.

Although not a disco song, as this wasn't out until 1998, this song was still popular back in the day. I remember watching the film clip for this at a friend's house on a Sunday morning on Video Hits after a sleepover. All the girls knew exactly when the quick shot of the top of Taylor's boxer shorts (definitely not jocks) were shown. If you can't remember, never spotted it back in 1998, or are keen to see some red elastic holding up his boxers, check out the video at the 0:15 second mark. I will confess that I really still like Hanson. They have some great songs and really hate when anyone bags them out as the MMMBoppers. It's just plain ignorant to me.

What were your favourite songs of the 90s? I can't believe that awful techno dance music was so popular and I actually liked dancing to it!

All by myself...

Well, it's official. I have survived a night alone in my house! Derek has finally made it back to Boston over 24 hours of travelling. It feels very weird being at home alone. I literally don't speak from the time I get up until I go out somewhere and then when I get home I don't speak again. Probably good I don't have anyone to talk to this evening, as I was belting this out in the car on the way home this evening and now have a croaky voice and tender throat:

Mariah Carey, #1's

There are some very good songs on here, and it was dark while I was driving home so no one could see me sing along, hand actions and all like Mariah does to hit her high notes, LOL.

Yesterday, I found out I was successful in getting the last ongoing position at my school! It's very exciting as ongoing positions are like gold in Victorian government schools. It's a bit of a right place, right time situation, and since I've had some time off teaching when I was living overseas, I was never at the front of the line at the schools I've been at. I was chosen over two other candidates from our school, which is really quite a difficult position, but now I am set for life. I never have to interview again. I can take family leave for up to 7 years and my job will be there when I get back. I never have to write another six page application for a job, or apply and interview for a job that is already mine. Like I said, gold.

Today I went to my Mum's house and had lunch. After lunch, we went to the local shopping centre for a stroll. Of course, I went into JeansWest, and of course, I made a purchase:

JeansWest 'Rosie' cardigan, black, $39.99 AUD (reduced to $33.99 with Gold Membership discount)

I purchased this cardigan in black and bone (no picture available for bone). It has a really nice cut that is longer in the back and curves around the back really nicely over your hips. Cardigans are great for me because I don't really feel the cold, and some people at my work would have the central heaters (which are old-style and come from a boiler room which overheats the whole school to one roasting temperature) on all day if they had it their way. My classroom also seems to be the hottest in the school, so I have to have all the windows open so we don't all cook by morning tea. Heat blasting in from one wall, and cool air from the windows on the opposite, is a perfect recipe for cooking up illnesses, and everyone gets colds galore.

After our venture at the shops (where we treated ourselves to a hot cinnamon donut each from Donut King), we went back home and watched a pretty ridiculous movie:

Oklahoma! DVD, $13.95, AUD, Big W

This movie has very little storyline and is pretty typical of the movies of the day which had people breaking into song and dance where normal people would be talking in normal voices and using their hands to gesture as they talked. My Mum purchased this DVD a little while ago for us to watch together as we went through all The Partridge Family DVDs and had a great laugh at how bad that show was, and Shirley Jones (the mum in The Partridge Family) got her screen break in Oklahoma!. One day, Shirley Partirdge (Shirley Jones) sings the lead on a particularly funny song, Whale Song, in a giant opera voice, and you can often hear her voice going nuts in the chorus of the other Partridge Family songs, so I was killing myself laughing at this over the top singing and my Mum told me she was a Broadway singer and in some musical movies, so that is why she sings the way she does. Hence, us watching Oklahoma! this afternoon came about. Easy way to kill a few hours, if nothing else. 

Pretty bored at home alone. At least I have Foxtel to keep me somewhat entertained with bad reality shows. Tomorrow I have semester one school reports to write (it's about 500 words per child and 25 grades to assign per child, multiplied by 23 students in my class, so obviously takes awhile). My Mum has invited me over for lunch tomorrow (my sister and her husband will also be over) so I may detour on the way over to stroll Chadstone (my favourite shopping centre). I've also nearly finished my wedding invitations - just have to print a few more envelopes and put everything in the envelopes! What a big job it was. Tomorrow I hope to share my invitations with you all.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend. Since I've got the house to myself the next two weeks, I'd love to know, what do you like to do when you have the house to yourself? Do you relax, treat yourself, pamper yourself, watch TV no one else you normally live with is interested in, eat chocolate for breakfast and toast for dinner, or anything else enjoyable/strange/entertaining?