The Secret Life of Bees: Potion Edition

Well, Hive, we did it- we got married!  And now that we are far away from the internet on our epic Disney honeymoon, I am reasonably safe from ridicule for what it is that I'm about to post.

That's right, I'm putting on some Gryffindor courage to share a big, embarrassing secret with y'all in a Secret Life of Bees post.

Deep breath.  Here goes.

I...am a Harry Potter fan.

I know what you're thinking- "um, duh, we saw your invites"- but I don't think you quite grasp what I'm saying.  I'm a Harry Potter fan.  As in, fanatic.  As in, borderline unhealthy obsession.

Unfortunately (well, okay, fortunately for my mental health) I'm not quite as obsessive as I was in high school when we were still in the thick of book releases, but I did dress as Hermione for a Halloween party...at work.  Last year.  As in, during the workday.

yup, this is a 23-year-old // {personal photo}

I don't think I'm really getting the point across here, though.

For every movie release, I held an epic party at my house.  We would take at least 20, if not more, people to the theater, in costume, and most of the girls would spend the night at my house afterwards.  I would turn our kitchen into Honeydukes, complete with homemade chocolate frogs, cauldron cakes, and pumpkin pasties- one year we did root beer floats and called them butterbeer.  When the first movie came out, we weren't able to pre-order tickets online (at least not for premieres) so my mom actually had to go to the theater in person to purchase 25 tickets (1 month in advance).  She was interviewed on the local news because she was the first person in line.

Nope, still not emphasizing the insanity here.

I was really, really into the online fandom.  Like, really.  Mostly as just a lurker, not really posting anywhere, definitely not a BNF.  (Big Name Fan, for all you n00bs out there.)  But I used to read the articles on the original version of Mugglenet, I followed the theory conversations on the boards over at The Sugar Quill (and was totally pulling for the One Big Happy Weasley Family theory even though secretly I knew, all along, that a Weasley would have to die.), I listened to the very first Pottercast, I waited in line at midnight to purchase book 5, 6, and 7 and would not eat, drink, or sleep until I'd finished reading.  I've never been to a Con (yet!!) nor have I met a BNF, but you guys...

I wrote fanfiction.

And it was on the internet.

And in the interest of full disclosure, I'll even give you my penname so you can try and hunt it down and mock me fully (if the crap stories even exist on the internet anymore):

Drezella Eleanor Winesap.

(Variations: Drezella_Winesap, Drez, drezwinesap, drezella)

*phew* Glad I got that off my chest.

Anybody else into internet fandoms?  I've dabbled in other fandoms but nothing will ever be to me what Potter was.  Please tell me I'm not the only weirdo here...

The Big Day

About two weeks ago, I realized I was in a state of Not Looking Forward to the Wedding.

I'm not saying that I was just not in a state of Looking Forward to the Wedding...rather, I was actively not looking forward to the wedding.

I won't go so far as to use the word dread, but...

As much as I desperately want to be married to Mr. Potion, to be his wife, to have a life with him, I did NOT want this wedding anymore.  Oddly enough, this feeling was  not because I'd reached the Fuck It phase so many brides describe; I still desperately cared about every little detail.  However, I cared about them in that if we had to have a wedding, things were going to look the way I wanted them to look, gosh darn it.  I just didn't want to have a wedding.

Mr. Potion and I had several discussions on the topic, each time re-assuring ourselves that this wedding is not so much for us, but for our parents, and therefore we need to go through with it.  The most recent occurred Thursday night, on the phone, while he was at the hotel with his mom and I was in my parents' living room.

I had spent all day being so stressed as to be unpleasant to...pretty much everybody.  I was snapping at people, playing a game of snark with my dad- who is programmed just like me and was intent on teasing me even in my frantic state- and things- namely, computers- just were not cooperating.  I snapped at Mr. Potion one too many times, and he was now pissed, too.  So on the phone, we talked it out, and I had a good cry.

I realized that the initial reason for these feelings about the wedding stemmed from the fact that it was so much effing work and that work was getting to be really, really hard, even with Superstorm Sandy's built-in 2 days off of work with no actual harsh weather near my apartment.  But as I started to realize that I was having negative feelings towards the wedding, I started dreading these feelings.  I did not want to be the bride I keep reading about that doesn't fully enjoy her wedding day- the bride that cries that night because it went so wrong, the bride that is emotionally distant because she just doesn't give a damn anymore about the events of the day, the bride that wakes up the next day So Over her wedding and never wants to write her re-cap posts.  I'm not saying any of this to criticize any of the wonderful women here who write about their weddings and the feelings associated with them- those posts just always make me really sad, and I feared I was in a downward spiral towards that moment.

So really, I wasn't dreading the wedding, I was dreading that I may be dreading the wedding.

I guess crying really does make everything better, because once I finally got that all out, the next day (yesterday) was much, much better.  Things got done, the rehearsal went swimmingly, a few things went wrong but no biggie, and everyone generally enjoyed themselves.  I even managed to get about 3 hours of sleep!  Woohoo!

Would I rather just sneak away from my parents' house now, go get Mr. Potion, the priest, and a witness, and get married now, then run away to Disney World before anyone is the wiser?  OF COURSE I WOULD.  But you know what?  Having a wedding doesn't feel like such a bad idea anymore.

Dare I say it?  I think I'm looking forward to this thing.

I'll catch you on the other side, Hive- pending any major disasters, I think I'm going to be extra eager to write my recaps ;)

Not Losing, but Giving

Sex.

This post is going to be about sex.

Phew, I said it.  If I can say that so bluntly, then this next statement shouldn't be too difficult, right?

I'm a virgin.

You know, for one more day, anyway.

Wow, okay, turns out that was difficult to write.  Like, really difficult.  Like, as I type these words, I'm considering dumping this post completely because who on earth would want to read this unless they plan to mock me mercilessly about it?

But no, I'm not going to delete this, I'm going to write it- not because I think you need to read it, but because I need to say it.

I could give you a really in-depth look at all off the reasons why I've decided to wait until marriage and all of the reasons why Mr. Potion has made the same decision, but there is literally no way to write such a post without it sounding preachy or judgmental, no matter how hard I try to avoid such overtones.  (Trust me, I just wrote it three times.)  I'll share part of it, however, and try my best to avoid the preachy-ness:

When you love someone, you want to give him things- you want to cook his favorite dinner and surprise him with a copy of that video game he's been looking forward to and take him to your favorite museum.  You know that you really love someone when you want to give him everything, and you don't expect anything in return.

Having sex with someone is giving him everything. 

Sex is sometimes referred to as "the marriage act" not because it is an act which occurs within the context of a marriage, but because it is literally the act of marriage itself- the exchange of rings is just a symbol of giving yourselves to each other, but having sex is quite literally giving yourselves to each other.  It is the purest, deepest way to express your love for someone- to surrender your body, your emotions, your fears, your needs, your desires to that person, and to receive those things from him in return.  This would be an utterly terrifying and in no way pleasurable experience if you didn't whole-heartedly trust this other person- if you didn't love him with all that you are.

That kind of a gift- the gift of yourself, in every meaning of the word- is only truly meaningful if it's only given to one person.  If sex is the act of physically marrying someone, it's not quite so special if it's done with just anyone, or if it's done with a ton of people- if I marry everyone I meet, and turn marriage into something that happens every day, then when I finally Get Married the word has lost its meaning.  When I've finally met the person I love with all my being, if I've already given all my being to another, or many other people, what makes this guy any different?  What makes my love for him better than my mere esteem for someone else?

Not gonna lie, it's been tough holding this viewpoint.  In high school, I was That Girl whose boyfriend dumped her because she wouldn't "put out"; the day after the breakup, this was the reason our mutual friend gave for why he so abruptly let me go, and I had to ask what that phrase meant.  Yeah.  In college, I felt like I had to preface nearly every flirtatious encounter with, "I'm a virgin, so..." just to keep his expectations in check and give him an easy out so he wouldn't have to waste his time on me if he wasn't going to get what he wanted.  On the plus side, this frankness helped to weed out the real jackasses before I wasted any time on them.  On the minus side, one said jackass took this conversation as a challenge rather than a rule, and his persistence coupled with my naivete to put me in what turned out to be quite the terrifying situation one slightly-drunken night- I'm almost certain that if he'd had one more beer in him, he would've quite violently forced what he wanted; as it was, I had to result to crossing more boundaries than I was ready for as a sort of peace offering when my "no" wasn't being accepted.  And then I finally found Mr. Potion, and the difficulty comes from restraining myself!

As hard as it's been at times for me, I know Mr. Potion has had it 10 times worse; whereas a woman may still be desirable nowadays if she is a virgin- as with the douchebag described above- a man is scorned as a failure by society, his peers, and his love interests if he's chosen to wait until marriage.

For all the negativity we've had to put up with, there are certain negative side-effects we've never had to experience- unplanned pregnancies, STD's, and awkward mornings filled with hungover regret.  (I mean, sure, we've both been hungover and regretted events of the night before, but not that kind of regret.)

Anyway I think maybe I failed at being not-preachy, but what I wanted to say is that tomorrow, I'm not losing my virginity; tomorrow, I'm giving everything to the man I love more than anything- I'm marrying him in word, in symbol, and in action.

The Somethings

Woooooo, just one more day until The Big Day!  Let's see, what do I have left to talk about...

Ah yes, The Somethings!

(Side note: if I'm ever in a band- as trampoline player, as I have no musical ability whatsoever, aside from good rhythm- we're going to be called The Somethings.  I like it.  It's catchy.)

Something Old

I've always interpreted "something old" in the poem to mean something you already own, not something that happens to have been made a long time ago, so my something old will be my faux pearl stud earrings I've owned for-like-ever, as seen at my epic bridal shower.

{photo by Mr. Potion}

Something New

I've also always thought it's sort of cheating to count your wedding dress as the "something new," so my new object will be my new pair of shoes that I love so so much!

{photo by Mr. Geek}

Something Borrowed

I have a few somethings borrowed, and they'll all be making an appearance in my bouquet.  I decided to make a bouquet from vintage and hand-me-down jewelry, including pieces loaned to me by my grandmothers.  I realize this is another one of those trendy, over-done elements in our wedding which will make our future children scoff and say "That was so 2012!" when looking at our pictures, but you know what?  It was really fun to make this, and it's really special.  I'll get to keep this bouquet forever (with the loaned pieces clipped out and given back, of course) and although this idea may be over-done in the blog world, I'd wager 90% of our guests don't read wedding blogs and therefore won't realize this is a trend, nor will they have ever seen it at another wedding.

{photo by Mr. Potion}

I also realize that this bouquet is far from perfect; it's not like the ones that grace the digital pages of Style Me Pretty or Martha Stewart.  It's a little lumpy in places, not a perfect dome, and for that matter, it's little.  The pieces aren't all a uniform metal and some are definitely showing their age, but I love it.  I love that it's so colorful, and that each piece has a story, even though I'm not sure what all those stories are.  I'm actually pleased with how small it is because this sucker is heavy and I can't image I'd be able to hold it for very long if it were much bigger.  I can already imagine a photo with my bridesmaids holding their baby's breath bouquets in a circle all around it...

{photo by Mr. Potion}

This heart-shaped piece has the most history of all the borrowed bits in this bouquet.  It was loaned to me by my Mammaw, and it was passed down to her from her husband's family.  My Papaw is no longer with us, but this is one of the ways we'll be remembering that he's watching from Heaven.

There are several butterflies fluttering around this bouquet, and I love the depth they bring by being layered over top of other colorful pieces.

That winged key?  It's actually a doorknob I found at Michaels of all places.  The image reminds me, of course, of Harry Potter, and the piece itself is sturdy enough to act as a good base to connect everything else to.

{photo by Mr. Potion}

I spy a Mardi Gras mask!  This is another something borrowed and another reminder of family history.  You may not know this, but we've been celebrating Mardi Gras in good ol' Mobile, Alabama for longer than those folks over in Nawlins, and, in my opinion, we put on better parades.  Mardi Gras krewes are a huge part of society in Mobile, and I've got a few family members who have been involved, including my Grandma Bootsie, who until very recently was an integral member of the Order of Athena.

{photo by Mr. Geek}

See that elephant hiding under there?  He's the last of my somethings borrowed.  In Alabama, football- especially college football- is a religion, and if you live there, you must pick a side in the great Alabama-Auburn rivalry.  Guess who my family cheers for...

Something Blue

You're not getting a picture of this one, as it's also a something unmentionable, and I'd really rather leave it up to your imagination.  Suffice it to say- I'll be wearing something blue, you just won't be able to see it :)

What were your somethings?

The One with All the Pie Charts

So, I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but we're getting married this Saturday.  Holy crap, you guys.

Now that we've established that...

Let's take a look at the RSVP breakdown!

The guest list for this wedding was MASSIVE.  Originally, Mr. Potion and I had imagined inviting 100, maaaaybe 150 people, with about 50 people actually showing up because of the rather inconvenient location (Middle-of-Nowhere, Alabama, though it's Middle-of-Somewhere to us).

And then the church told us that, technically, they could sit 300 people.

And then my mom checked out reception venues, and the winner told her they could accommodate 200, or maybe even 250 people- or, if we utilized the outside space, as many as we want!

This is a dangerous thing to promise someone like my mom.

photo taken by Mr. Potion at The Most Awesome Bridal Shower Ever

See, my mom is one of the sweetest, most loving people in the entire world, and family is very important to her (so therefore family is very important to me, too).  Since it seemed there was no limit to how large our guest list should be, she wanted to make sure to invite EVERYONE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD who is in any small way related to me, even if we haven't seen or spoken to them since I was an infant.

Perhaps this is a trait common to all moms, as Mr. Potion's mom did the same.

How many people do you think we ended up inviting?

Go ahead, guess.

If you guessed a whopping 278 people, you would be correct!

When I was addressing the envelopes, I wanted to make sure I had spelled everyone's name correctly and that we were 100% sure the addresses were right.  A few times, I'd come upon an odd-looking name or an address that just didn't quite seem complete, so I'd ask Mr. Potion if he knew whether or not it was spelled right, assuming the guest in question was from his side.

"How should I know?  I don't know who that is."

Yeah, that exchange happened more than once.

Usually we were able to figure out what side the guest came from (not that it mattered for invitations, we just wanted to know) based on the state they lived in, but in some cases we had to call up our moms to double-check.  We think we finally were able to establish which of us is related to all the strangers on the guest list, and were therefore able to compile the following pretty charts!

Out of the 278 invited guests, 70 RSVP'd yes.  Many of the 208 "nah..."s are actually just presumed "nah..."s, as we were never able to track down a definitive answer for many people.  (The number we gave the caterer is nicely padded juuuuust in case we get some unexpected arrivals.)  I wouldn't say my online RSVP experiment failed- we sent out 127 invitations, and 62 parties used the website to RSVP, whereas a handful called in their response- I'd just say that it's not a foolproof way to ensure that everyone sends in a response.  I'm convinced that, no matter how convenient you make it, some people are just too lazy to tell you that they're not coming- they just assume that you'll just assume that they don't want to show up.

Anyway.

The invites themselves were nearly evenly distributed between the two of us- 168 people on my side, 110 on his.  I have a really, really big extended family, and, like I said, EVERYONE had to be invited.

Out of the 70 people who RSVP'd yes, however, a large majority are from my side.  I suppose this has to do with the fact that most of my family lives in the state of Alabama (or very near it), but honestly, we both expected more of Mr. Potion's friends and family to make the journey for The Big Day.  While we've said from the beginning we'd rather have a small wedding, and while we know that fewer guests means we'll have time to really interact meaningfully with everyone that day, it was still a little heartbreaking to watch the "no's" trickle in from his side.

This bride's side - groom's side breakdown could make for one very lopsided church...so we're just going to ignore the concept of "sides" and ask people to sit wherever they want. 

That's right folks, it's time for another sign!  (This is probably the last one.)

{personal photo}

This sign will be on display at the front of the church next to the basket of programs.  Aside from our immediate family members and the bridal party, the ushers will be instructed to seat people such that the church fills up evenly, without asking "bride's side or groom's side?"

What percentage of your invited guests actually RSVP'd?  Was your guest list evenly distributed between the two of you, or did either one invite significantly more people than the other?  Are you having your guests sit on "their side"?

*all graphs created in Google Docs*

Presents for Our Parents

This weekend, before the pleasant rain shower known as Sandy drizzled by, we started working on presents for our parents.

Just to make sure nobody peeks...

I Saw the Sign, Part 2

I made some more signs for the reception with stamped letters on vintage maps!

{personal photo}

I went ahead and decided to not paint the frames for these signs, a decision largely driven by the ever-ticking clock, but also influenced by your suggestions :)

I found this 2-sided frame at Goodwill that I plan to place at the bar; on one side, it will say "eat, drink, and be married!" and on the other will be a list of alcoholic beverages available to encourage dancing.  Observe:

{personal photo}

{personal photo}

Did you make menu signs for your bar?

Something Something Corsages, Part 2

The last time you saw the corsages, they looked like this:

I finally got around to finishing them!

Originally, I wanted to find stretchy beaded bracelets, have each woman wear 3 or 4 of them, and attach the flowers to the stacks to create the illusion of single bracelets with multiple loops.

Only I couldn't find stretchy beaded bracelets ANYWHERE.  Maybe I didn't look too hard, or maybe I didn't look long enough, but I couldn't find them!  No matter- I decided to make them myself :)

I have a ton of floral wire for a project you haven't seen yet, so I set off to my good friend Michaels and snagged some jewelry making supplies.

This is a big ol' container of pearl-like beads in various sizes.  I bought 2 of them.  Turns out, I didn't need that many...no matter, it's better to have too much than not enough!

I finished each bracelet with a clasp, a jump ring, and a length of chain, to make it adjustable.

Well, okay, so maybe 'bracelet' isn't an entirely accurate word.  See, the process of attaching the aforementioned closures was, well, tedious, so I didn't want to have to do it 20 times.  Instead, I created essentially necklaces that can be worn as such or wrapped several times around the wrist to create that layered look I'm going for.

I was really going for random with these- I didn't want there to be any discernible pattern in the way I strung on the various sized beads, I wanted to literally just grab beads out of the container without really looking and put them on in whatever order I grabbed them in, so that each piece of jewelry was completely unique.  Turns out, I really am slightly OCD and my brain has a really difficult time with the concept of random.  I was singing along to Adele while I worked to make the whole process slightly less tedious, and I would look down at the end of a song and notice that I had, indeed, been stringing beads in a pattern- 3 little, 3 big, 3 little, 3 big, or something like that- without even noticing!  I didn't undo anything, but at such a point I would purposefully choose a bead to screw up the pattern and try to force myself to un-pattern the rest of the design.  Apparently being random is a lot harder than it sounds.

On one of my pretty much weekly trips to Michaels, I stumbled upon this spool of amazing ribbon.  It has maps on it- just like our cardbox and ring bearer book!- meaning it fits perfectly with the "adventure" part of A Geeky Adventure.  Clearly, I needed this ribbon.  I didn't have an exact plan for this ribbon quite yet...but I needed it.  No worries- I've found a use for it!  After all, I need a way to connect the flowers to the bracelets...

Raise your hand if you watch Project Runway.  C'mon, admit it, you totally do- even Mr. Potion watches it with me, though he calls it Project Runaway in an effort to retain his Man Card.

You know how there's always that contestant that has ridiculously complicated designs, and when Tim comes around just before the end of the day, she's got gorgeous drawings and a bunch of fabric pinned together on the form?  And Tim lauds her for where it's going but points out that something's missing, and she says, "Oh, well I'm also doing a blazer, I just haven't started it yet."  And all Tim can say is

{image from Lifetime}

Inevitably, the next morning, our hapless designer does not have time to sew together her gorgeous blazer, and she has to result to the dreaded hot glue gun in lieu of a sewing machine.  A snooty competitor will scoff that "this isn't a craft project" and be shocked when she isn't sent home, but, in the end, the judges will admit that this is a design competition, not a sewing competition, and said snooty competitor will find himself resulting to the glue gun before the season is over when he, too, is down to the wire.

Why am I recounting this scene we see time and time again on one of my favorite competition shows?

Because I, too, am resulting to the dreaded glue gun instead of putting on my big-girl pants and dragging out the sewing machine once more.

the offending tool

Screw it.  Nobody will know the difference.

I cut a length of this awesome ribbon, and where I should have run a line of stitches, I used hot glue, instead- this way there's no scraggly ends.

To attach the ribbon to the flower, I once again relied on the dreaded hot glue.  WHATEVER, Y'ALL.

And here's ANOTHER cheat- these amazing little velcro dots.  They're technically not recommended for use on fabric, but again- WHATEVER, Y'ALL.

To assemble the corsages, I simply wound the bracelets into three loops, then slipped the ribbon in and closed the velcro.

Here's how the finished product looks.  I love that these are completely adjustable- there's a length of chain for the clasp in case it needs to be tighter, or it can be wound a fourth time for particularly skinny wrists (like mine!).

What do you think?  Did you have corsages for the special women in your life on The Big Day?

Geeky Bout-tourial, Part 2

The last time you saw our boutonnieres, they looked like this:

{personal photo}

I know you've been DYING to see these things finished, so I'm finally happy to be able to oblige :)

I wanted to attach the LEGO minifigs to the center of these flowers, but I didn't want it to be permanent- once The Big Day is over, you should be able to take the little dudes off and play with them!  So rather than reaching for the hot glue gun, I decided to use something I have spools and spools of around here, leftover from another project: floral wire!  It's thin, light, and malleable, so it'll do a good job holding these guys in place without looking bulky, and when everybody goes home they can simply snip the wire and remove their LEGO.

{personal photo}

First, I poked a hole in the center of the flower with an awl (a pointy thing you use a lot in leather working).  If you don't have a pointy thing, you could always use sharp scissors.

{personal photo}

I cut a length of floral wire and wrapped it around the minifig until I was satisfied that it would be secure.

{personal photo}

I passed both ends of that wire through the hole in the center of the flower.  To turn these flowers into boutonnieres, I purchased some of these pin backs on a craft supply shop on Etsy because I could not find them ANYWHERE in craft stores.  (This is the first time my dear friend Michaels has ever let me down!)  Those holes are a convenient place to pass the ends of that wire.

{personal photo}

Those holes are also great for hot glue.  Once everything was lined up, I lifted the center of the pin up a little and shot in a bead of hot glue, then pressed the pin firmly against the fabric.  The hot glue smooshes between the pin and the fabric, creating a connection, but it also seeps through that hole and eeks onto the outside of the pin back.  Once the glue hardens, you've got not only the sticky bond of the glue, but also a mechanical link created by the solid piece of glue.  Observe this cross-section:

engineering + Paint = knowledge

So this is hardly an unbreakable bond, but it is pretty darn sturdy.

All that's left to do is twist the ends of the wire together tightly, snip them short, and bend them flat against the pin.

{personal photo}

Want to see them all together?

{personal photo}

Before I started this project, I asked Mr. Potion to pick out a LEGO character that represents the personality of each of his attendants.  Instead, he sent a Facebook message to everyone and asked them to choose a character.  *facepalm*  Just a heads up to anyone who wants to reproduce these- you canNOT buy individual characters at LEGO stores, though they do have little bins where you can assemble your own minifig with a limited selection of bodies, heads, hair, and accessories.  We scoured Amazon and E-bay for these guys, most of which were $5 or less- but a couple were upwards of $15, depending on how "rare" they are.

So we have, starting from the top of the pyramid:

Han Solo is the groom, because Mr. Potion is just so effortlessly cool :-P Mainly it's because he has a tendency to respond to "I love you" with "I know," because Star Wars is awesome, and because if I'm a headstrong princess, he's the only person that will tell me when I'm being a pain in the ass.

"Lizard Man" is GM L, because...he has a pet lizard.  This is literally a little man in a lizard suit- there's a cut-out in the jaws of the lizard for the dude's eyes.

Indiana Jones is GM E, because he, too, is a pretty awesome teacher- only he teaches science classes at a magnet high school in Louisiana, and as far as we know he's never done any treasure hunting.  (He does take some pretty awesome pictures, though.)  It's appropriate that he and Mr. Potion would both be Harrison Ford characters, as they look alike and could be mistaken for brothers.

Next we have "Jungle Boy" for GM J because...I honestly have no idea.  This is what you get when you have goofballs making decisions.  I guess that's why he went with this one, though- because he's a goofball.  If you can't tell, Jungle Boy is wearing a loincloth and holding a monkey.  Yeah.  (J is a super fun guy ^_^ I'm hoping he leaves the loincloth at home for The Big Day, though...)

Hermione is Mr. Potion's honor attendant, which is definitely fitting, as she'll have to wrangle these boys for me and keep them in line all day.

Iron Man is GM C, because he's a pilot, and who wouldn't want to be Iron Man?  The moment Mr. Potion asked people to pick their characters, C claimed Tony Stark- the guy takes his super heroes very seriously :)

The last row starts with Luke Skywalker as my dad because he, too, is a pilot in his spare time, and he's been known to save the universe when necessary.

The nurse (well, technically the character was labeled a surgeon, but don't tell anybody) is Mr. Potion's dad, because...he's a nurse.  Boom.  Done.  I love that he's holding a little syringe and x-ray!

The baseball player is for one of the tiny attendants, my baby cousin A.  His dad, my uncle, played baseball in college, and A has a good arm on him, too :)

Finally the race car driver is for Mr. Potion's other tiny attendant, his nephew J.  Little J loves the movie Cars- at least, he did when we bought these.  Kids' favorite things change on almost a daily basis, but I'm hoping race cars are still cool in his eyes on The Big Day.

So...what do you think?  If you had to pick a LEGO character to represent you, what would you pick?  (Check out the characters on the official site!)  What are your groom and his attendants wearing on their lapels on your wedding day?

War Paint

So, this happened this weekend:

{personal photo}

That's right- I splurged.  Oh boy did I splurge.  There's always one item you go a little overboard with when wedding planning, and I decided make-up was an acceptable item for a bit of ridiculousness, for several reasons- I'm doing my own make-up on The Big Day, meaning I need the best quality equipment to ensure a good job; I've never owned real make-up brushes before, so I might as well grab some of the best; and make-up is something that I can actually use after the wedding day is over, so I'm looking at it as more of an investment, not just a splurge.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

{personal photo}

So here's my fresh face.  Well, sorta.  My fresh face with some awesome airbrush face paint at Busch Gardens!  I have mild-ish acne which really only flares up around that time of the month, but otherwise I have your typical combination skin- oily T-zone, dry cheeks.  Make-up tends to look shiny on me by the end of the day, and eye make-up typically gets all creased and nasty.

Lately I've been using Maybelline Fit Me! concealer, blush, and powder (I don't use foundation typically).

Maybelline products // image via Miss Makeup Lover

To solve the creased eyeshadow problem, I've been using Revlon Colorstay shadow and IT REALLY WORKS, Y'ALL- especially when I use a dab of concealer as a primer.

Revlon products // image via Vampy Varnish

My everyday look is a bit of concealer (mainly on my crazy eye-bags), all-over powder, and enough blush to give some color to my vampirish pale skin.  Most of the time, the only color that goes on my lips is a Chapstik with a subtle sparkle to it- but sometimes I go with a nude or pink lipstick.

{personal photo}

For fancy-times, I add the eyeshadow- I use the pink and black palette and apply it exactly like the directions say on the back.  (I'm no artist, but I can follow directions!)  I really dig the retro look, so I only line my top lid, and I go for volume as opposed to length with mascara.

{personal photo}

So, Sunday afternoon, I had an appointment at Sephora for a complete consultation which lasted a good hour.  The consultation was free, but I had to purchase at least $50 in products or gift cards- which was obviously not difficult to hit.  I described what I was looking for in the make-up itself- something that wouldn't make my oily skin too shiny, something that would last a good 8 hours, mascara that gives volume (as I'm not confident in my ability to apply false lashes myself)- and what look I was going for- something that channels the '40s with a cat eye and a bold, red lip, but otherwise a subtle color palette because it's a daytime event.

Here's what I got:

{personal photo} // outside, in the shade, with flash

That is a RED lip if I ever did see one.  AND I LOVE IT.  I also love what the foundation does to my skin tone- it's beautifully even, no pores, no shine.

{personal photo} // outside, in the shade, with flash

Here you can see how very painted on that lip is.  I do like the definition that the lip liner gives, and I like how big and pouty it makes my lips, but I think on The Big Day I'm going to stick to the natural shape of my lips instead of exaggerating them quite so much.  My top lip does tend to disappear when I smile, so I'll probably define the bow like it is here, but I won't make the bottom lip this full.  This is a beautiful stain that all the sales ladies were crazy about- I believe the brand is called Hourglass, and the liner is Urban Decay- with no gloss.  Should I add a gloss, do you think?  I kind of like the matte color.  I also really like how this picture shows the way the blush makes my cheeks look like they're glowing, and not like I'm wearing blush.

{personal photo} // outside, in the shade, with flash

Although the concealer and highlighter make my skin tone beautifully even, it was applied a little heavy-handed.  She told me I don't need to use quite this much for everyday wear, but that a crazy amount is necessary to look good in pictures.  It certainly didn't feel like a lot of make-up- this stuff is light as a feather- but in the mirror I thought it looked like an awful lot.  I can't decide now, looking at the pictures.  My gut reaction was to go lighter for the big day, but now I'm thinking it doesn't look quite so thick on camera.  What do you think?

{personal photo} // inside, with flash

(We went back to my place after the appointment, I changed, and we went to dinner and a movie.  I figured I should use this face for a proper date night!)

The eye make-up though...

I like the subtlety of the shadow- it's all browns and creams, and I only ever use greys and whites, so that's a nice difference- but the liner is a little intense.  I'll probably skip the bottom line- or at least go not-so-dark- and while I absolutely adore the cat eye, I think I'll make it thinner.  Mind you, my attempt at a cat eye with a pencil liner looked like crap in our e-photos:

{photo courtesy Emile Frey Photography}

so it's going to take some practice to get to something this professional looking, but I still think I'm going to go for a thinner stroke to lighten things up a bit.

Finally, here's the end-of-the-night shot, after a good 8 hours or so (and a delicious turkey burger at The Counter and Argo which was a FANTASTIC movie, you should all go see it!)

{personal photo} // inside with flash

So, I got a little shiny.  The eyeshadow stayed put and didn't run at all, though.  The biggest disappointment was the lip stain- it started wiping off the moment I took a bite of my burger.  That will definitely need to be re-applied throughout the festivities!  It didn't get all dry and cracked like other stains do, so I appreciate that.

All in all I'd say this make-up trial was a success!  Now I'm just going to need to practice a few things before The Big Day...

Did you do your own wedding make-up?  Did you let a professional teach you how?  Are you more of a bronzer or blush kind of gal?  How do you feel about bold red lips?

Gifts for My Girls

Yay for three-day weekends- they were made for wedding planning.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a whole lot of crafting done this time around- but I did tackle one project.

But first- Potion Gals, don't read this post!