Disturbed & Ill: Camo Tuxedos

Mr. 3 and I have been on the tuxedo hunt recently.  After a horrendous experience at Men's Warehouse (more about that in a future post), Mr. 3 put his foot down and said he would not be using Men's Warehouse no matter how much I loved the new line of Vera Wang (I'm not sure he actually knows who that is or would remember the name if you asked him...I'm pretty sure he more said "I'm not wearing anything from that store.")

So, we went over to Jos. A. Bank to check out their tuxedos.  I'll have to fill you in on the full adventure later, but I wanted to drop a quick PSA against this heinous monstrosity:

Why?
Jos. A Bank
$?
(who cares...no one should ever order this)

Despite the cutie model, I almost threw up.   Mr. 3, an avid hunter, of course immediately loved it and even tried to bargain with me (can't we have two vests?).  This is why grooms are not allowed to go shopping without their future wives.  Besides the sheer tackiness of it, I would not want my future spouse coming to our wedding in anything that represents death.*  I'm surprised they didn't top it off with a bit of blaze orange as a pocket square...clearly Jos. A. Bank hasn't passed a hunter safety course.

*Full Disclosure: I eat meat and I wear leather and fur.  I'm also not against hunting; however, I cannot get behind camo as a fashion choice.   Sportswear: Yes.  Church Proceeding: No.

Bridesmaid Shoes and the Drama that Ensues

Melinda and I prefer maids to have matching shoes if the dresses are short. It is less distracting and provides a more cohesive appearance - wonderful things except dictating shoe choices means an extra cost for the maids. The bridesmaid dress Melinda picked out (which, btw, is beautiful and I am so excited to wear it!) is short, thus began the shoe search. She wanted to keep our overall costs down since she is a considerate bride and not a bridezilla at all <3

Melinda did a wonderful job in finding beautiful shoes at a great price. Check them out below! The color is slightly more pink than it appears. Melinda found them for $55 at DSW, but since they were not available online, she got all of the maids' shoe sizes and purchased us each a pair.

I decided to run out to my local DSW to get my own pair so that Melinda could return my pair instead of shipping it to me. That exact day I went to DSW, the shoes had gone on clearance - I found my size and two sizes for my sister Natalia, also a bridesmaid, for $40. I was going to see her in a few weeks and then still be able to return the size she did not want. Excited with my purchase and the extra discount, I dropped off the giant bag of shoes at J's apartment for safe keeping. This is all wonderful and great, but here is where the story gets messy.

As I was prepping for traveling to Florida a few weeks later, I realized that I could not find the giant bag of shoes. J and I tore apart his apartment looking for the bag and also the boxes, but to no avail. I sent Melinda an email hoping and begging that she had not returned the shoes she had snagged for Natalia and me. Fortunately, Melinda still had our shoes but my pair was a half size bigger than the size I preferred so over the next few days, Melinda and I called around searching for the shoes in Florida while J continued to look for the shoes. In the end I decided to stick with the pairs Melinda had for us, but we never did find those shoes! I have absolutely no clue what happened to him. It is possible that they got left on the bus between the shop and J's apartment, but that is doubtful. Another option is that J and/or his roommate threw them out with the trash.. I am not sure how someone could throw out a shopping bag with three full shoe boxes inside, but you never know when it comes to men. 

Anyway, long story short: Melinda found awesome shoes for a great price and I somehow lost three pairs of them. Are y'all doing matching bridesmaid shoes? If so, where did you find them? I have not decided yet if my maids will have matching shoes since I want their dresses to be long, but I think my eight bridesmaids plus a junior will be too many to take Melinda's route :)

Maid of Honor Cards

Last week, I received a card from Melinda. I was super excited to see that it was a Maid of Honor card and a lovely note on the inside! Of course I said yes :) Melinda will be my Matron of Honor, since she will be married by my wedding date, and my little sister is my Maid of Honor. I also have six other bridesmaids and a junior bridesmaid, plus two ring bearers and two flower girls. No worries, the church is large.

Melinda and I spend countless hours on gchat and weekend texting/cell minutes going over all the wedding decisions we have made, are currently making, and need to make. I know my little sister appreciates all the effort Melinda is putting into my wedding since Natalia is in college and does not have much time for anything other than studying (and sorority/fraternity/miscellaneous social events). However, I did not send out cute cards or anything like that for my bridesmaids, honor or otherwise. I just asked/informed :) 

Did you send and/or receive cards or any other token regarding bridesmaid status? Or were you more casual about it? 

Product Review: Victoria's Secret Sports Bras

In my quest for wedding weight loss, I've decided to share a few of the things that I've begun to heavily rely on for my workouts.

One of my former step aerobics instructors told me that your biggest investments in workout wear should be in 1) your shoes (we only get one set of natural knee caps) and 2) your sports bra.  As you work out, your upstairs lady bits are going to jiggle (some of us more than others) and as they do, the connective tissues that support your boobs will weaken (bad) and cause major sagging (ick!) if not properly supported by a good sports bra.  Whether you are well endowed or part of the IBT Committee, it matters not, boob sag big or small is sad.

Since I like my boobs to stay closer to my armpits than my belly button I have been on the search for a great new bra that would provide ample support for running, tennis (when I eventually start playing again), zumba, and step aerobics.  I have to say that I'm ABSOLUTELY in love with Victoria's Secret Runway Sport's Bra.

VS Runway Sports Bra
$44.50
Image from Victoria's Secret

Your chest will not move.  I don't know what magic is woven into the fabric, but the fact that you can order by your usual bra size is so helpful!  It's got an underwire and some light padding (which helps avoid that awful smushed mono-boob look, hurray!).  It's also made out of a moisture wicking fabric which is waaaaay better than your standard cotton sports bra.

It's a bit pricey, so I've been trying to buy one new bra a month using one of those $10 off any bra coupons that come in the mail all the time (there's usually a free undie coupon attached as well).  As the bra band starts to wear out (which all bras do), you can adjust the back to get some more mileage out of the same bra.  The way I also like to look at it is that it is a $35 (with coupon) monthly investment to ward off a breast lift down the road (ick!).

Has anyone else out there found a great workout product that we need to know about?  Let us know!

DIY Lollipop Crafts

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I've been diligently working on my candy bar and all things pink, green, and metallic.  Despite having relatively low floral costs, I have decided not to put flowers on the candy table, but instead making "candy themed" decorations to liven up the table (a la Amy Atlas).

I recently decided to make two arrangements of giant lollipop-esque items after seeing these at the craft store:

As usual, I was inspired by all things sparkly and knew that I HAD to use them somewhere at the wedding. That amount of sparkle seemed best suited for the candy table. This is a fairly self explanatory project, but I do have a few notes/tips. 

First, here is a list of supplies that I used:

Although wine isn't on the list...I definitely needed a glass to complete this project

-Styrofoam balls for base (I used 2 different sizes for contrast, less work, and less supplies)
-Sparkly pom poms (any type of pom pom-like decoration should work)
-Dowel rods (to make the lollipop stick)
-Spray paint (to paint the lollipop stick)...buy it at your local Home Depot or Lowe's, I've already priced the spray paint at the craft stores and the home improvement store gives you 3X the paint at the same price.
-Wide wired ribbon (to tie bows at the base of the lollipop head, I'm using some from my pew bow hoard)
-Low heat hot glue gun (If you only have a high heat gun, I highly suggest you spend the $5 for the low heat version.  High heat will melt your styrofoam.)
-Large (like 100 pack) of hot glue sticks (you will need a ton, I also suggest you buy the kind that work with high heat and low heat glue guns...less worry later about which glue sticks are which)

Directions:

1. Spray paint your dowel rods outside to allow them time to dry.

2. I decided to use styrofoam balls as the base of the lollipop and hot glue the mess of them out of them using the sparkly pom poms as the "candy coating".  Place the balls close together to prevent gapping (you may have to hot glue a second layer of them at certain points to cover up any gaps).

 *Tip: Spray paint your styrofoam balls first with a similar/coordinating color...if I had done this I would have worried lest about the gaps.  Leave enough room blank for you to insert your dowel rod.  I also suggest you turn on a Real Housewives marathon because it can take awhile.



3.  Using dowel rod (after its dry), push into styrofoam ball. Remove the rod.  Pump some hot glue into the hole that the dowel rod left behind.  Put hot glue on the dowel rod.  Insert dowel rod back into sytrofoam ball, put some more hot glue around the outside of the dowel rod to seal it up, and let dry.

4.  Finish filling in blank space with sparkly pom poms.

5.  Cut length of ribbon long enough to make a good sized (but proportional!) bow.

6. Put a little hot glue on one side of the dowel rod and press ribbon onto the glue.

7. Tie bow.

8.  Admire your product!

All in all, it took me several nights to finish the lollipops (I made 2 large pink ones and 4 of the smaller green ones), mainly because I ran out of sparkly balls and had to hunt them down at several different Michael's (NoVA craft stores are NOT well stocked).  BUT it allowed Mr. 3 and I to spend a bunch of quality time together...as I watched Swamp Loggers and Sons of Guns with him while I hot glued my brains out...and all that lovely time spent in the car driving out to the burbs in search of supplies (BTW: Mr. 3 gets total credit for me accomplishing this project.  The sales people at Michael's were not helpful and he wandered around until he found the supplies.  He also held the ball for me so I could hot glue (all while working on some of his own IT projects)...he's quite the multi-tasker).

My main take away from this is...I now understand why pomander balls are so expensive to make (so time consuming!) and always buy more supplies than you think you will need!

What craft projects do you have going on?  Let us know and send us pictures!