anything but ordinary

i feel like myself again...

I cut my hair!!! I had ben growing it out since October of 2006. I had always wanted to see if I could grow my hair out long again (once upon a time it was down to the middle of my back), and this seemed like a great time, so I could have long hair in time for my wedding this May.

Well, it seemed like the longer my hair would get, the more I would "disappear." Seriously...I think my "mojo" was in my short hair. I was unhappy with the way I looked on a dy-to-day basis. Everyone told me how beautiful long hair was, but it just wasn't "ME."

Anf yes, I could just have a short hairsyle on my wedding day...except for the fact that I am wearing a voluminous gown, and my head is kinda small. Short hair + big dress = tiny looking head. not cool. I thought I might be able to use hair extensions, but kept getting quotes of them being kinda pricey.

But then I realized that not only was I gonna be seen on my "big day," but there was the Vegas trip, couple's shower, and engagement photo session to look forward to... hmmm... I needed a "fix."

So, I went and saw my hairstylist Sefe, who I've been going to for about 5 years now. She's awesome and she fixed me right up! We chatted for awhile, and she made me feel SOOOO much better about everything, even taking the time to explain different ways to style my new 'do.  We talked wedding for a while, too, and she is giving me a GREAT deal on clip-in hair extensions, so that gives me one less thing to worry about. Seriously, she is amazing. I should have just done this a LONG time ago.

I feel SOOOOOO much better. 

surviving the first wedding registry

Tony and I BEGAN our wedding registry at Macy's yesterday. And I say "began" because we didn't get very far.  Let's start with the fact that Tony thought we'd be in and out of there in 15 minutes (hahahahahaha!!!). And then add to that the fact that I told him we'd be done in an hour (double hahahahahah!!!). Neither of us knew what we were in for...

We checked in at the bridal office and claimed our scanner. The person helping us made some sexist remarks about how I can choose what we get and Tony can play with the electronics (scanner)...I get to buy and he holds my bags. Um, no? At least the woman said a remark stating that she knew she was beig sexist. (And she works in the wedding department? Way to dispel all those myths and lead the way for women's rights...)

In any case...we got our scanner, I got my "goody bag" (which was nothing but a canvas bag filled with Macy's catalogs), I took out my lists I had come prepared with, and we were on our way...wandering in circles...not sure where to start or where we were going...

It went something like this: "o-kay...let's pick some nice towels...here is the towel section. oh, wait, there are some more towels over there. wait...there are some more over there... um, we're in the bedding department now somehow, so let's just pick out a comforter while we're here. ew-that one looks like raggedy ann threw up all over it. oh wait-so does THAT one. hmmm...doesn't this place make ANY solid colored blankets? is this design MEANT to resemble a coral reef? hey...weren't we after towels? where did they go???"

Getting frustrated because we hadn't scanned anything yet, Tony suggested to just start scanning something...ANYTHING. I vetoed that idea cuz I didn't want to end up with 10 random crytal vases for no apparent reason. So I found a cute picture frame and did a vicorious happy dance when we scanned our first item. Right. One item...score!

We wandered around aimlessly from floor to floor...this was a HOME STORE only and there were THREE stories to this store).  All my "prep" work that I had done with my matron of honor went right out the window...the layout of this store was different from the one we had visited before and I couldn't find anything I had liked from before.

It was like a hunt...we saw couple after couple carrying the red "goody bag" that signaled that they were in the same situation as we were...and heard nothing but the constant "beeps" of other scanners around us. Passing other couples, we almost wanted to give them "the nod" as we passed, feeling united with them somehow. However, Tony noticed a trend...most of the other couples had the girls leading the way, scanner in hand, and the guy just following along cuz he had to. Now, I'm not saying that Tony particularly enjoyed shopping for registry items (heck, even I was done at a certain point), but he is a great shopper...he has great taste, has opinions on items, and actually speaks up with those opinions and helps make decisions. Nice.

But, after a certain point, we were ready to just play laser-tag with the scanner instead. Sigh. We found a couple more things on our "list" so there was more than a few pitiful items on there, and then call it a day. We decided to call in reinforcements next time we go back... on Saturday, we're bringing my matron of honor/Tony's sis back with us so we can speed right through the place. Woo-hoo!!!

update, update, update...

It's been awhile since I've updated here...sorry. (Bad little blogger!)

So, here's a quick "catch-up" of my life lately...

On the wedding front, my matron of honor (and Tony's sis) has outdone herself, yet again... she's doing a LOT (most of the handmade stuff, actually). She (and her mother) are sewing 120 slipcovers for the chairs for the ceremony and are almost done with that. She has finished ironing the chair covers for the reception. She is starting to create the design on the aisle runner this week. She put together a few samples of silver ladybugs for me to use in my bridal bouquet. And here are a few more items:

these are the baskets for the flowergirls; they were painted silver and then satin material was added to the bottom of each basket to soften the look a bit. I LOVE that the baskets have SWIRLS in them to match the rest of what turned out to be our "motif."

These are the finished flower arrangements to be used for decoration on the gazebo that Tony and I will be married in front of.

This is one of our tablecloth overlays,  also made by Maria. These are all done.

I went with Maria to Macy's...to get some ideas of registry items to select before Tony and I actually registered for real. I totally fell in LOVE with these dishes, and Tony gave his approval...he wanted to get something simple and white, where I wanted some kind of design. So these were a perfect compromise...white with a platinum ring, and cooridnating dessert plates with a pattern. Well...it figures...the set turned out to be a "seasonal" item and it looks like Macy's no longer carries the dishes. Bummer. Back to square one... we're going to start our in-store registry TOMORROW, actually...so we'll see if we find something we both like (that doesn't cost an arm and a leg...)

IN OTHER NEWS... (moving right along from wedding stuff...)

I started teaching myself how to play guitar. It's something I'd always TALKED about doing "someday" but never got around to doing it. It always seemed like such a daunting task. Well, inspiration struck... listening to my brother and Tony play the guitar together, and then playing the video game "Rock Band" where I played the guitar...got me thinking. And I've been listening to more and more poetic, raw music (where the vocals aren't processed, and the main instruments are piano, guitar, bass, simple drum, etc...). That kind of music gives me a DRIVE to do this stuff myself, you know? And it helps that I've found a few cds of musicians that are CHICKS...so the songs are in my range and stuff I can easily sing (Ingrid Michaelson and Anna Nalick are my new sources of inspiration). SO, I came home one night and looked up the guitar chords to the song "The Way I Am" by Ingrid Michaelson... only 4 basic chords used in the song; a good starting point. SO, for now, I have this one song I am learning...trying to toughen up my fingers to push hard enough on the strings for a pure tone; practicing moving my fingers from chord to chord quickly enough. It's more difficult than it looks...but it's worth it. And I am DOING it.

SUPER TUESDAY...

I actually voted. No, really, this is a BIG thing. It's only recently that I've taken such an interest in politics and made the decision to make my little voice heard. It was a bit intimidating, and I think that the people in charge of the actual polling places need to do some work. The automated voting booths they have in place now are NOT the simplest things to operate. I consider myself to be somewhat computer savvy, but found the number of knobs and various instructions posted all over the place to be a bit much. But I cast my vote successfully, double and triple-checking that it was done correctly. I was proud to get that little sticker that says "I voted."

And one more AWESOME thing that happened recently:

I WON an XBox360!!! I had entered an online contest in December, sponsored by channel 5 news and the movie "The Golden Compass." The grand prize winner won a cruise, and there were 5 XBox360s given away as other prizes...and I GOT one of them!!! I received an email a few weeks ago notifying me that I was the winner. I thought it was fake, but nope! After confirming that it was real, I waited (impatiently at times) for the gaming sytem to arrive. It came via FedEx on Thursday night. It came with an "arcade" game (which has 5 games in it, including PacMan...yup...brand new system and we were still sitting there playing PACMAN!!!). Also came with The Golden Compass. And my brother's roommate let us borrow several other games... FUN FUN FUN!!!

Tony and I also talked about Valentine's Day coming up...we're staying home for a nice romantic dinner together instead of eating out like (most of) the rest of the world.  And we decided that we didn't want the other to spend a lot of $$ on a gift for us...and after more discussion, we decided to take whatever $$ we would have spent for a present and put it towards a new XBox game. woo-hoo! We went to a store earlier and found a few games we liked, and since they were used (which means less expensive...) we ended up buying them both...Pirates of the Carribbean and a new Tomb Raider game. Happy Valentine's Day!!!