US meets UK

My friends entered this contest and they are so close to winning. It’s quick and easy and you’ll really change her life! Please don’t let my friend Dana down!

It only takes 2 seconds and the contest only lasts till 11:30pm est!!! Please! I’m begging you!!!!!

here is the link : http://www.treesinstead.com/Green_Wedding_Contest.html

Names & Last Names of Couple: Dana LaRue & Hunter Stiebel

Wedding Date: 5/24/2009

What is more original for Valentines Day as a gift:
Chocolates / or an acre of trees dedication? An acre of trees

Our Valentines day giveaway has 2 prizes a $250 amex gift card &……..? One acre of trees

From what city are you voting What is your first name & what time is it? Where ever and who ever you are

Would you like to have a tree dedicated in your name for your next b-day? Whatever you want – I’d say yes

I really am begging you to vote, if you could forward this to a few friends I’d be ultra grateful!

This is the last day to vote – so you’ll never get a post like this from me again!

I made the mistake of wearing my new heels to Leeds and we both knew they weren’t going to work the second I stepped off the train. Our first adventure was an hour or so in BHs (or as I say BH’s) spent looking and finally purchasing a very comfortable pair of black boots. Nick knows shoes are the way to my heart, followed by food. So we headed to breakfast in BH’s because we were starving and literally couldn’t wait to walk around and find a pub.

Shopping in Leeds is 1,000,000,000 x better than Lancaster. They have a genuine high street; I deem a true high street as a street with stores I can only window shop in, like Rodeo Drive in LA. Victoria Station is very pretty and very expensive but lovely to walk around in and escape the chill while looking at pretty things. I’ve been stalking Waterstones ever since I saw this post on Design Sponge * and these books are harder to find than you think! Actually, only one is difficult to find – Pride and Prejudice. I’ve been trying to slowly accumulate the books so we don’t spend too much money on books at one time (which I could very very easily do). Ta-daaaa!

I also found an Urban Outfitters (how American) in Leeds and we got the cute little salt shakers above and below. Yes, the salt does come out of their eyes

Unfortunately you couldn’t mix and match them, so we went for black and yellow. Here are two city shots of Leeds I took as we strolled around the city.

The return trains were at odd times and we opted for the 2:30pm train instead of the 5pm. The train was nearly empty and I slept on the way back to Carnforth. I think we’re heading to Ikea in Manchester this weekend. Yes, I am very very excited to go to Ikea, more excited than when we went to Pizza Hut.

Miss Rye Bread – you’re onto me (and my sister); this is what you said in a comment on my Bad Bride post:

“…I’m also “that sister” who didn’t ask her only sister to be the MOH. Are you asking her to be your MOH? We’re such different people, I feel like she hardly knows me. I absolutely want her by my side on my wedding day, but I felt my closest friend would be able to anticipate my stresses / “get what I mean” when it comes to weddingness. At least for my sake, don’t judge her so hard. Maybe talk to her about it some time. If my sister’s ever upset about anything, I find out about it through my mom. She said she’s happy being a BM, but I don’t think she’d ever say what she really felt.”

For the majority of our lives my sister and I have been very different people. Very different people that fought with each other almost constantly. I wouldn’t say I assumed I would be her MOH, but I did expect a conversation about why or why not. To me, I really wanted to put the past behind us and help her plan her wedding. She’s very laid back and has difficulty looking at either the details or the big picture. Whereas I am a planning nut job. She chose her dress and her photographer and that was pretty much it. She expected our mother and I to pick up the slack on everything else.

Her MOH was nowhere to be found during any of the planning and told us all about the bachelorette party the day of! Then around 1 am before her morning wedding my sister and I were up folding programs and loading nerf guns (yes nerf guns) and I snapped. I don’t remember all the details but I remember crying and screaming at her and leaving her downstairs to mull over my unintelligible shriekings.

I couldn’t sleep and felt terrible about it (I still do today!). I woke up extra early and baked her scones, apologized and did her make up. We’ve talked about it since and our relationship has really grown as a result. I now understand that different people need different MOH’s, my sister needed one that would calm her down instead of wind her up; she needed someone as laid back as she is. It also gave me an out, because I need a MOH as on top of things (if not more so ) than I am.

I’m excited to have my sister by my side at my wedding and I’m glad we’ve grown closer over the past few years. She’s been incredibly supportive and helpful during the planning for my wedding and I really can’t tell you all how grateful I am to have her in my life. We may always have been sisters but I’m glad we’re friends now.

Anyone else deal with bridal party politics? Or the sister MOH/sister BM business?

Katiemax asked a great question after my “Remembering to Delegate” post. I started to write a reply and then realized it was getting way too long for a comment!

As a fellow control freak I find delegating to others very difficult. My life could be summed up by the When Harry met Sally quote ” I just want it the way I want it”. That being said, the sad, mathematical truth is that those who delegate well get a million more things done. Delegating for your wedding is a bit different than delegating for work though. Let’s be honest, a project for work that you were supposed to delegate for turns out 85% correct vs your bridesmaid dresses turn out to be magenta instead of pale pink? Which matters more to you?

You do relinquish a bit of control when you delegate, but as long as you’re upfront about what you expect and the person accepting understands their responsibilities you should be on the right track.

Our skype discussion that lead to Mr. D being in charge of catering?

Mr. D: You seem stressed, are you okay?

Me: Of course I’m stressed, this is stressful.

Mr. D: Planning a wedding is fun not stressful! What’s stressing you out the most? I’ll take care of it

Me: Catering. You’ll take care of catering?

Mr. D: ummmm, okay?

Me: Great, here is a link to several caterers at the venue. K, thx, bye!

If I could start planning all over again I would have dealt with delegating a few tasks very differently. I clearly needed help planning and Mr. D was a natural volunteer since he (obviously) has a vested interest in the event. I wish we had discussed which aspect of the wedding he was most interested in helping with and gone from there. After the whole catering nag-fest I found out he was ultra excited to design the invitations and I wish we had started there. But lets say for the sake of the example that Mr. D actually WAS interested in the catering.

We would have discussed what finding a caterer would have entailed and outlined a vision for it. What do we want to serve? Buffet or Plated? What colour for the linens? We would have had equal input on the details and written out a plan of action. Mr. D would have created his own methodology, instead of me shouting one night ” How hard is it?!? you email X amount of caterers and set up appointments for M – Th after 7:30 pm!?!?”. Mr. D also likes deadlines, so he would have created a more specific one than my sniping “sometime before we leave for England” at him.

I think quality delegating can be distilled to this:

Make sure the standards and expected outcome are clear. What exactly needs to be done, when is the deadline and to what degree of detail?

Other tips? Delegate to the right person, perhaps my mother would have been better for the caterer task? It’s best to delegate the objective, not the methodology. Just because someone might take a different route to the same destination doesn’t mean its wrong. The most difficult part is letting go and trusting someone else to get it done. With guidance from you (inspiration photos can’t hurt!) your trusty team will be well on their way to solving your planning woes.

After all, when you hire a vendor you’re trusting them to handling part of your wedding. You wouldn’t just hire a florist without giving her guidance right? So choose wisely, explain well and relax! Besides, according to Mr. D “planning a wedding is fun, not stressful”.

What are your best time management tips for wedding planning?

Hi guys!

My friend Miss Meatball has entered a contest to win a free Costa Rican Honeymoon. She’s in second place and so close to winning but she needs your votes! It’s ultra simple and you don’t have to register or anything! Thank you so much for your help!

See how pretty she is? She so deserves to win this!

All you have to do is go here: http://www.treesinstead.com/Green_Wedding_Contest.html

And enter in the appropriate information when prompted. Here are the answers to today’s questions. I’ve highlighted in bold what you need to copy and paste.

Here are today’s questions/answers:

Name: Dana LaRue & Hunter Stiebel
Date: 5/24/09
Title of the Mother’s Day Tree Dedication Page? Go Green on your Mother’s day Gift
Title of our Valentines Day Page? Go Green for Valentine’s Day
Name of Location for the Reforestation Project in Israel: Moshav Nehalim
Complete this based on title on our memorial trees page “THE MOST THOUGHTFUL & UPLIFTING……….GIFT”: Sympathy

Thanks again guys! You’re the best!!!

<3

Christiana

are really hard to find. Well, feathered fans are actually easy to find, but the perfect one’s I’ve imagined in my head for my girls to rock instead of flower bouquets? Not so much.

I’d like a feathered fan that is ideally 11 x 15, or 15 x15. Most of the feathered fans I’ve found are larger; about this size:

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Those fans are about 29 inches wide, and 15 inches in height. The problem is that I don’t want them so big they obscure the dresses or the waists of the girls. I’ve seen ton’s of burlesque fans, the Sally Rand kind that come in pairs whose purpose is to cover the body. As you can imagine those are a bit too big…

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Nor am I looking for the wooden handle style fan, because while they’re very pretty and the proper size, I’d like some snappy sass from those fans. So sadly the wooden handle fans are out of the running.

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My other beef with the fan’s I’m finding? The plastic staves (the functional snappy part of the fan) tend to come in white or ivory.  For some reason I really don’t like the look of them.

(source)

Then I learned about bamboo staves that are (duh) made out of bamboo and have a nice dark wood look to them – PERFECT! That is, it would be perfect if I knew how to make a fan and could find the proper stave size to create these mystery fans

I’ll keep up the hunt for medium sized, bamboo staved, white feather fans; if I can’t find them I’ll try my hand at making them.  This could mean you’ll be seeing a tutorial post from me covered with glue gun burns and feathers.  I’ve seen websites where burlesque dancers make their own fans, so I might just contact those saucy ladies for some tips on feather fan creation to pass along to you! Wish me luck!

Have you had a wedding detail you created in your head you just couldn’t find?

Nick and I actually do things outside of wedding planning! I should probably show you what we’ve been up to lately.

Last night I went to a fondue party with Helen and it was ultra delicious.  ultra ultra delicious.

After all that deliciousness I needed to take a walk.  The next day Nick and I headed to Ambleside which is a bit north of where we are.  It was a pretty drive of less than 30 miles and we saw neat things like…

WIND TURBINES! yessssss!

We had a lovely lunch and walked around the village.  There are tons of great walking/hiking trails and we’ll definitely head back wearing the proper footwear and outdoor gear.  You can see the snow tipped mountain/hills in the backgrounds of the photos.

We also saw the priest’s hole…

mmmm…we didn’t eat there though.

We ambled around Ambleside taking pictures of things that interested us. As you know I mostly favor flowers, odd textures and city scenes.

In addition to the usual cafes and pubs there were bunches of quaint bookstores and a serious over abundance of outdoor apparel/equipment stores.

I’ll have to do a proper tour of Lancaster for you all, I’ll be sure to highlight the castle/functioning prison…

Hey UK brides! I thought it could be really fun to do a meetup! What could be more fun than a meetup? A meetup WITH a bridal fashion show!

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So here are the upcoming options:

London:

13-15 February-Battersea Park – The Designer Wedding Show Tickets are £16 in advance and £18 at the door

20-22 February-Olympia – The National Wedding Show Tickets are £14 in advance and £16 at the door

Birmingham:

13-15 March-NEC- The National Wedding Show – Tickets are £14 in advance and £16 at the door

Or we can all meet for a cup of tea and a chick flick!

Comment below and let me know what days/times work best for you!

I’m not dirty you see, I like things germ free. I’m just very very messy. A pair of socks here, 10 pairs of shoes there, 4 sweaters over the chair…a towel on the floor. Yeah, I’m only telling you half the things I see as I look around.

(Not our room)

Now being a slob is fine when you live by yourself, or if you slob it all up in your room and leave the common spaces neat for your roommates. But living with Mr. D I’ve found it much harder to slob it up in our bedroom because apparently we have to share our space. What’s all that about?

So although Mr.D and I made joint resolutions for the new year (buy local, use our reusable bags EVERY TIME and no more swearing) I wanted to make one of my own. For me, its time to get neat, while I may be good at keeping bathrooms germ free I really need to work on picking up after my self and others. I even found this snazzy blog : The Hyper Homemaker.

Now you might think the Hyper Homemaker has always been as such, but really she used to be like ME! She confesses that she too was once messy AND she hated doing the dishes (me too!!!). So I figure, if she can do it, so can I! She gives helpful tips on how to have a “Simply Organized 2009″ by helping you to make a plan. She selected specific days to do specific areas:

Monday: Outside / Garden
Tuesday: Kitchen
Wednesday: Bathrooms
Thursday: Living areas
Friday: Bedrooms
Saturday: Laundry
Sunday: Off

Where am I starting? In our closets or rather lack of closets, because in our house in England we don’t have closets. We’ll pick out things that we can give away to charity and things to throw away or sell. I also enjoy her “Works for me Wednesday” and “Fifteen Minute Friday” features which help me to stay on top of things and also give me new ways to stay organized. I hope I can keep my personal resolution because once MR. D and I have a place to call our own I’d like to be able to find our cats again.

Any of you co-habitators out there try to bridge the gap between messy and neat? What are your favourite tips?

My modern dance class was canceled last night, so instead of being discouraged I came home and made a new friend. Her name is JILLIAN and she drives a hard bargain.

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I give her 20 minutes of my life and she takes me as close to death as possible. After reader sunflwra posted on the boards about the shred I knew I had to get it in gear. I’m not going to lie to you guys, a bit more than halfway through I took a break for more than 5 seconds. I went to get a glass of water because I was about to pass out.

Writing this post isn’t easy for me because I used to hang with girls like Jills. 20 minutes no problem, in college I was a rugby playing dance major. I would have danced circles around level two. 2 years ago I tore my left ACL, destroyed a fair amount of my meniscus and had to have very painful surgery I haven’t fully recovered from. In the past year I’ve also given myself a very bad ankle sprain – TWICE. What can I say, once I pop I just can’t stop.

I really lost the will to treat myself with the respect I deserved. At the time I tore my knee I also had gone through a pretty tough break up with a boy I had dated for 4 years. For several years I had identified myself as that person’s girlfriend, a rugby player and a dancer and in a couple of months all those things had changed. I gained over 30 pounds in 2 years. It may sound pathetic, but it took this relationship with Mr. D’orsay to get myself ready to turn around and ready to “shred”.

I want to start our marriage off with respect, with respect to each other and also respect to ourselves. I deserve to feel good about the way I look again and I deserve to not be paranoid about Mr. D’s hand on my stomach. Although he loves me the way I am, I’m ready to admit I don’t and I’m ready for a change. This will be the last time I look at the photo below. It’s a photo that was taken a few weekends before I tore my ACL. Similar photos have been my computer background for several months and it hasn’t been helping. Instead of working back to the body I had in the past I’m going to work towards the body I will have in the future. Here is my old body, may she rest in peace:

ps. Finding Nemo is one of my favourite movies

Anyone out there feel my pain? Its tough to get back on the horse after an injury (physical, emotional or otherwise), how did you all get back on?