Thursday, October 28, 2010

Chillin' Villians

At work tomorrow, we're having a "Chilin' Villian" contest, where we all have to dress up as villians and there's a chili cook-off.  I'm not making chili, but after much laziness, going back & forth about whether or not I'm going to do it and finally deciding that I'm not, I was hit with inspiration.  Not being one to ignore inspiration, I took it and rode with it.

And that is how I came up with my villian costume that I paid $0.00 for.  That's right folks, I had all the pieces between my apartment and my parents house.

So, which famous villian am I being?




































How about that snarl?  Recognize me? 

If not, maybe this will help . . .























Still need help?  Lame.



















Hell yea.  I am totally Scut Farkus, the bully who got his tookus beat by Ralphie in "A Christmas Story"!












Oh, and yea, I not only had a coon skin hat (which was a little small on my head) but I also had one of those fur Russian hats that sat easily overtop of the coon skin hat.  Score!

What do you think?  Do you buy me as Scut Farkus?

What Happens in Vegas . . . Part III

We started Wednesday off low key.  We got breakfast and received a text message from my brother telling us to be in our rooms by 4:30 p.m. for a special wedding present.

Instead of sitting by the pool, we made our way to the Siegfried and Roy Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat, which was connect to the pool area in our hotel.  The first part of the Habitat we came upon were the Dolphins, and we happened to enter the pools when they were doing a dolphin training.  We sat back and watched for a bit and then headed under ground to watch the dolphins through the tank.

After we got our fill of dolphins, we headed to see the Secret Gardens, which was essentially a small area with lions and tigers.  There were some tiger cubs though, which were cute, although difficult to get a good view off since a majority of the people in the place stood right in front of their cage.  I kind of expected more from it but whatcha gonna do?

After we left the Habitat and Garden, we decided to resume our casino tour.  We went to Treasure Island, the Wynn, the Venetian, the Palazzo, Harrah's and the Flamingo before heading back to the Mirage for our treat.  Word to the wise, there is a complimentary shuttle service from the Mirage to Treasure Island and back.

After we completed our tour, we went back to our room to relax before our surprise.

At 4:30, we heard a knock at our door and opened it to find 2 masseuses with fold out tables.  Our surprise was a private hour long massage from the Mirage's spa.  Sooo relaxing!  And, as soon as the women left, we heard another knock at our door and when we opened it, we were presented with a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries.  YUM!

After we enjoyed our strawberries and champagne, we headed to Caesar's Palace to dinner.  M. and I wanted to eat at Bobby Flay's Mesa.  However, the wait was much longer than we anticipated.  Hungry, we wandered Caesar's until we found somewhere without a wait.  We settled on Spago, which was delicious.  I was totally OK with skipping out on Mesa.

Afterwards, we went back to the Mirage to drink, gamble and take funny pictures with the Beatles silhouette outside of the Cirque show, Love.

By the way, I was a winner . . . and we went to bed happy!

And that's a hot picture.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

An Early Evening Smile

These made me chuckle a little bit.  I feel bad for the humiliation these dogs went through, but appreciate them for making me smile!





















See more here.

What Happens in Vegas . . . Part II

Day 2 of Las Vegas started at the pool.  A word to the wise, if you stay at the Mirage, the pool gets packed by mid-morning.  It opens at 8 (I think) and we were down there by 8:30 every morning.  I know, we're wild.

The pool was pretty awesome.  They had a few small waterfalls that M. and about 95% of the men at the pool were fascinated with.  It also didn't hurt that there were servers taking drink orders.  Yes please, screwdriver and bloody mary!



















































After M. got sick of sitting by the pool (usually by 11 every day), we went up,  laid around and bit and then decided on what we would do that day.  I suggested doing a bar crawl down the strip, which involved a drink in as many casinos as we could possibly hit.  Our proof would be a picture of a cocktail napkin at each casino with our drinks.  And so began what was probably our favorite night in Vegas.

So, how far did we get?  We started at the Mirage, worked our way down to Luxor and back up to the Flamingo before crossing back into the Mirage.  We did skip the Tropicana and Bally's because the entrance looked like more of a walk than we felt like making.  Also, the map below doesn't show Aria, which is a newer casino before the Monte Carlo.  I believe that made 11 casinos that we visited.  I wish I could find out how far we walked because, whew were we tired!

Here's one of the same shot we took in every casino, just swap out the name on the napkin.  We spent a lot of time in Caesar's the whole trip, mainly to cut in and out of the Bellagio.


In the Monte Carlo, we went into Minus 5 Degrees bar, which I believe they also have at Mandalay Bay.  The bar is made entirely out of ice, including the cups that you drink out of, and it's minus 5 degrees (duh).  You pay a flat fee to enter the bar and have a complimentary drink.  They provide you with a warm jacket, gloves and Uggs to wear while in the bar, because it's too cold in regular clothing.  Inside the bar, the have an ice luge, pretty neat etchings in the ice of Mt. Rushmore & other things and benches to sit on.

M. and I enjoyed 2 cocktails in there and ended up purchasing a suvenior photo.  Honestly, it was all overpriced but a really cool experience.



 I got a little excited when we hit New York, New York, and M. did too once we found out that they sold Nathan's hot dogs.  MMMM!



And look who made an appearance.  He was in one of those win a stuffed animal games.  M. tried to win him for me, but he failed!

For some reason we turned around before we hit Mandalay Bay, which we kind of don't understand because it was the casino next to the Luxor, which we went to and it was the last one on the strip.


The MGM was pretty cool because we got to see the trainers with the lions as we entered.

As we exited MGM, we got a little turned around - we exited by the valet and ended up behind the casino, so we did about a 10 minute walk to get back to the strip.  Not fun when you're tired and tipsy.

Here's the view of Planet Hollywood from above, when we bought tickets for Peep Show.

We then went to Paris, where we planned on riding to the top of the Effiel Tower.  The wait was over an hour, which we nixed.  So, we ate at a little bistro in the casino, which was terrible and a pretty bad way to end the evening.

We went to the Flamingo and had our final drink on the strip before heading back to the Mirage.

When we got back to the Mirage, we did some final gambling.  According to M., I disappeared from him & he found me betting $10 on penny slots.  I won $80, which was the most we won the whole trip.

We stumbled back to the room after I made my big win with sore feet, tired legs, full bellies and smiles on our faces.  We had a truly memorable second day in Las Vegas.

More to come tomorrow . . .

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

A Halloween Scrooge

I love Halloween.  I like to say that it's my favorite holiday and each year I put a ton of effort into putting together a cute, unique and fun costume.  However, this year I feel like a Halloween Scrooge.  My ideal Halloween night would involve maybe doing a corn maze or something cute and fun in the afternoon, finding a house where I could hand out candy to kids and sitting on the couch to watch old school horror movies.

M. disagrees.  The man hates dressing up and really Halloween as a whole, but he wants to go out.  Unfortunately, nothing that our friends are doing sound particularly appealing to us.  Maybe because we know that wherever we go, it's going to be packed and rowdy.  I wish we could find something in the middle, but my online searches of Baltimore Halloween activities are coming up with a whole lot of nothing.  I somehow ended up on a blog of kids activities for Halloween, and it all sounded so much more appealing to me than going out.  In the words of Snooki, "WAH."

Here's my costume.  Fortunately, I have most of the pieces, except for the knee socks.  I am going to ask my dad to drop me off the highest pair of socks he owns & I'll make it work.  "WAH."

PS - these are the senior girls from "Dazed and Confused."  Shorts, check; sweatshirt, check; tennis shoes, check; high socks, NOPE!























Obviously, I'm trying to invoke Darla, because she's played by one of my favorite actresses.














I might end up walking around my neighborhood yelling, "Air raid" or telling people to "wipe that face off your head."

Ok, I'm done.

Help me find something to do!

What Happens in Vegas . . . Part I

So, while I am waiting to really get our pro pics back, I figured it would be a good idea to recap our honeymoon.  After the wedding, we gave ourselves a day of rest before traveling to Las Vegas.  Basically, Vegas would be our "mini-moon" until we head to our true honeymoon destination of Greece in June 2011.

When it came to choosing our mini-moon location, we looked for a few things - 1. Southwest had to fly there (we used my mom's buddy passes and flew for free), 2. We wanted it to be warm, 3. Our hotel had to have a pool and 4. In addition to drinking & eating, there had to be stuff for us to do.

We threw out a few options that included New Orleans, Niagra Falls and Las Vegas.  New Orleans was actually our #1 option, until BM DG pointed out that we would be going during hurricane season.  Yea, I wasn't down with that!  So, Las Vegas it was!

I had been to Las Vegas once before with my parents and brother for a family trip that included white water rafting down the Grand Canyon.  Since I had experienced the city before, I was deemed the planner of our honeymoon. 

We had stayed at the Mirage on my first trip, so I decided to just go ahead and book it again.  I knew I liked it, I knew it had a pool and I liked it's location on the trip.  Their website has deals for overnight trips and when I found a price for less than $100 a night, I went ahead and booked up for 5 days.  I am really happy I made the decision to stay with what I knew because we really loved staying at the Mirage.  I'd recommend it to anyone.  We liked their restaurants, we liked the pool and we liked the overall appearance of the place.  Plus, the price wasn't terrible.


















Our first day in Las Vegas was very low key, mainly because we were exhausted from traveling.  So, I took M. out and onto the strip to wander.  We didn't go too far, just to Caesar's Palace (which is next to the Mirage), the Bellagio, the Wynn and the Venetian.  One stand out was the conservatory in the Bellagio.  The time before, it was decorated with a 50 states theme (I think).  This time, it was all about fall!  Lots of tree, pumpkins and beautiful fall colors.  If you go to Las Vegas, make sure you walk through the conservatory.  It's right off the hotel lobby and is small but really lovely.  And look up at the ceiling when you walk through the lobby.























We gambled, had a few drinks and explored.  Really nothing exciting, but I suppose we were relaxing for our next night . . .


















More to come tomorrow  . . .























** All the pictures were taken in the Bellagio, except that sign of the Mirage

Monday, October 25, 2010

A Picture in Taffeta

Rumor has it, my brother's dog, Bugsy, is gloating over the fact that he made it on the blog.  The other dog, Max, is not pleased.

So, this is my dress.  My beautiful, beautiful dress.  It is 100% absolutely not like anything I imagined I would wear on my wedding day.  It had a big heavy skirt, no lace, beading, was strapless and had a corset.  My ideal dress going into the store was not strapless, lace, flowy, almost bohemian.  So yea, more proof that when you put on the one, you'll know.

I did purchase the bolero that went with it and wore the bolero during the ceremony and half of the pictures.  We also had removeable straps added, which went missing as we dashed out of the house to get to the ceremony.

And now it is sitting my my old bedroom at my parent's house, just waiting to be stored somewhere.

If anyone is interested, it's the Rachael by Maggie Sottero.  I loved it because it emphasized the positives (boobs and waist), de-emphasized the parts that I like least (butt and thighs) and just made me feel elegant.  I think it was in ivory.

Photos by Procopio Photography.  If you know what's best for you, hire them for your wedding (or any other special event).  You won't regret it.

Friday, October 22, 2010

A Wedding Song

M. and I shared our first dance to "To Make You Feel My Love" by Adele (originally sang by Bob Dylan (which I did not know until after the wedding, terrible Bob Dylan fan I am but first heard by me when it was covered by Garth Brooks in the film "Hope Floats").  I love that song, it gives me goose bumps and is beautiful.

But, tonight M. and I were watching a PBS special on Peter, Paul & Mary (don't hate on our awesome Friday night) and I heard the prettiest wedding song.  I think anyone who reads this & is looking for a less known, non-country, simple & beautiful first dance song, should go with "Wedding Song: There is Love."  Listen to it & enjoy.



Here's the lyrics:

He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts

Rest assured this troubadour is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits, here, has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is Love. There is Love.

Well, a man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home
They shall travel on to where the two should be as one.
As it was in the beginning is now until the end
Woman draws her life from man and gives it back again.
And there is Love. There is Love.

Well, then what's to be the reason for becoming man and wife?
Is it Love that brings you here or Love that brings you life?
Or if loving is the answer, then who's the giving for?
Do you believe in something that you've never seen before?
Oh there's Love, oh there's Love.

Oh the marriage of your spirits here has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is Love. Ah there's Love.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

A Sneak Peek

Yesterday our photographers posted a sneak peek of our wedding pictures.  For some reason it didn't appear on my Google Reader (who knows what else my Google Reader is hiding from me?!?), so thanks for Facebook and BM DG, I was figured out that they were up!

















LOVE.

Take a look at Procopio Photography's Blog.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Happy Un-Baby Shower

Tonight my girlfriends and I are throwing what I like to refer to as an "Un-Baby Shower" for our friend, JH.  There's just going to be a small group of girls eating ice cream sundaes, drinking non-alcoholic drinks, decorating onesies and playing "What Sex is it" games.  Basically everything that our 4 months pregnant friend, JH, enjoys or will enjoy.  Considering that since she got knocked up, she's had to endure a bachelorette party, wedding, housewarming party and many other celebrations in which lots of alcohol present, I think it's only fair that we return the favor!

My responsibility for the party is bartender and I tell you guys what, I found the coolest non-alcholic drink book.  It's called Preggatinis and I might be slightly obsessed with it.


















The book is broken down into categories like "Pre-Pregnancy: Procreate" and "Second Trimester: Proclamate."  In each section she has drink recipes that match what you might be craving at the time (yes, there is a chocolate and pickle milkshake), what vitamins you might need and just how to celebrate.  One sections tell you how to order non-alcoholic versions of your favorite drink for when you go to the bar, and every recipe tell you how to make the drink alcoholic when you're permitted to imbibe again.  So, it's great for before getting pregnant, while pregnant and after!

I selected 2 drinks from this book to make today, both of which have ingredients easily accessible at the grocery store (I went to Safeway).  Some of the recipes have more obscure ingredients, but I feel like so many grocery stores these days have stepped up their game and have a wider variety of items.  I was shocked by what I found at Safeway that I didn't think they would have, like Lemon Bitter and Blueberry Pomegranite Juice (both required in other recipes).

What I selected for this evening was the "Madras Mia" and the "Miami Mommy Mojito."

I'll be kind and give you one of the recipes, but I seriously recommend getting the book. 

Miami Mommy Mojito
1 heaping tbsp of Strawberries
1 tbsp torn Basil
1 lime, cut into small chunks with the peel on
4 ounces Fre White Zinfindel alcohol-removed wine
Splash lemon-lime soda

Muddle strawberries, basil and lime in the bottom of a tall glass.  Add ice.  Fill with alcohol-removed White Zinfindel and finish with a splash of lemon-lime soda.

I'll let you guys know how the cocktails taste after tonight.  It also looks like the author has a blog for those of you who might be curious to check it out!

We also had a brilliant idea for her baby shower gift that I am so excited to share.  I just need to check with JF to make absolute certain that JH never makes her way onto this blog.  I am certain she doesn't, but I just want to be safe!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Switching Things Up

Things have been quiet over here lately.  But truth be told, between the wedding, honeymoon and California (for work), I am just now really getting settled in from everything.

I'm hoping to do a honeymoon recap later this week or early next week.  Until then, I am just waiting for a sneak peek of the wedding from my photographer and desperately trying to find new decorating/craft/inspiration blogs to fill up my Google Reader since I've deleted the many wedding blogs that I had been following for the last 3 years.  M. and I keep saying that it's such a weird adjustment to go from planning a wedding for the last 9 months (and more if you count us talking about it pre-engagement) and one day it's all over.  I was ready for it to be over, but it felt so weird to me when I started deleting those blog and got rid of all my inspiration pictures saved on my computer.  Now it really is time to move on from wedding planning and get on with other things.

Maybe now I can finally make those wire wrapped bracelets that I bought $50 of beads for.  I already have an idea for the large mason jars we used as luminaries for the reception . . . I just need to not be lazy and start crafting!

We did do something big this last weekend . . . we bought ourselves a couch and a new bed.  Thanks to all you folks who gave us wedding money, we were able to replace a bed that has been used for over 10 years - first used by my sister-in-law, then her & her husband when they combined and then me & Mike.  It has now made its way back into her house and is sitting in her guest bedroom, just waiting on someone new to sleep on it, although my money is on the first guest in that bed being me & M. 

Our lovely couch is replacing one that my aunt gave us, that had been sitting in her basement in storage after being used to many years as the family sofa.  It was red & green checked.  Very comfortable, but after we decided to forego our gray slipcover (it was just too much of a bother), it never went with the decor.

Besides our car, this was one of our first big purchases we made and one that we made with the future in mind . . . these are going to be pieces in our new home one day and the couch we'll sit on when I nurse our children one day.  Not just throw away pieces that we gathered from other people.  And knowing that made turning over our debit card much more exciting than I thought it would be. 

Now, we can't have a post without pictures . . . . so, here's the couch in its new place.














Now, the tan still doesn't match the decor (even though it does better than green and red check), so we're going to do a little repainting and new artwork.  We're going from gray, yellow and blue to tan, brown, orange and green.  I am really excited to revamp the living room a little bit with a few easy and affordable fixes.

The design below is the fabric we're putting on our pillows.  We're going to paint the room a bright pear green.  I've designed a scrabble tile-inspired print with the first letter of my new last name and the new orange candles that I brought it for Halloween but M. decided should just stay.

















I really can't wait to get started this weekend!  Living in an apartment, I feel like it's difficult to want to redecorate or put in the effort to switch things up because I'm eventually going to leave all that work behind, but I have been itching to change a few things in the apartment and think this will do the trick!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Heading to the Hills

I am heading to California for a work conference this week.  The conference begins on Sunday, but a co-worker and I are heading there on Saturday to explore a little bit.  My co-worker is renting a car and we're going to head to L.A. or Beverly Hills and just get lost there for a little bit and maybe catch a few celebs and pretend like we're fancy.

So, I know what to pack while working, but I have no clue what to wear while in L.A.  I want to look like I fit in a little bit and not like I'm a silly tourist.  I know East Coast fashion (although I might not always adhere to it) but West Coast fashion I'm clueless about.  All I know is what I see in People Magazine and I don't really have it.  As of now, I hate my closet.

I emailed my fashionista friend, Anne (who is also a wedding planner in Charlotte, the girl is brilliant!).  She suggested black leggings with boots for day and heels for night or skinny jeans with a cute top with flats for day and heels at night.  She also told me that she generally looks to Jennifer Aniston's style, since she's pretty much a quintessential all-American California girl.  This is how I feel about Jennifer Anistons though . . . SNOOZE.

Now, with my thick legs and round derriere, I usually shy away from leggings.  But, I took Anne's advice into serious consideration and started Google Image searching one of my favorite California girls . . . this is so embarrasing . . . Lauren Conrad.  The girl is right in line with Anne's recommendations of leggings and skinny jeans for California style.

Poor L.C.'s head got cut off when I put together this board.























But, I can do this!  I have skinny jeans & cute casual tops & I have a maxi dress!

Tonight I am going to raid my closet and put together a kick ass hanging around L.A. outfit a la L.C.  Maybe I'll post pictures.

My slight love of her is definitely a guilty pleasure.  Considering that I lost brain cells whenever I watched "The Hills," I have no clue why I do.  Maybe because she always seems so normal and I always thought she looked so cute (so was Heidi before she became a monstrosity).

And, look at how cute this picture of her with her BFF, Lo Bosworth is.  Their shoes even match.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Ch-ch-ch-Changes!

Now that I am a Mrs. and am changing my name, I decided to make a move and change my email address to pass.  Since I didn't want to lose all the emails in my old account, I am slowly transferring them over to my new one.  Gmail makes this easy on me by doing it through the click of the button (I was also able to easily move over my contacts & items in my Google reader from one account to the other).  Now, as my old emails enter into my new address, I still need to archive them.  It's a bit of a pain, seeing as though I've had my Gmail account since 2007.  There are a lot of emails. 

It's been kind of cool seeing where I was when I first started my account - single, in New York with my first real job - and where I have come.  I have emails from when good friends have gotten married or moved or moved on.  Emails from when I was so broke that I had to ask my parents for money.  Emails from when I moved apartment in New York and when I moved back to Maryland.  Hundreds of wedding inspiration emails archived from when I first decided that I would marry M. (about 2 - 3 years before we actually got married. 

My favorite emails to look at though are the sweet romantic emails M. wrote to me during the year and a half that we dated long distance.  I'd frequently come to work to little poems or emails that we called "Easter Eggs" - brightly colored, large fonted declarations of love.  We were a couple who really thrived while dating long distance, and these special emails are a reminder of why.  We were never short on love for each other and we never shied away from showing it.  These emails made me smile then and make me smile now as I click through and save them to special folders.

Here's one of the emails, and since I'm checking in . . . a tiny peek into our wedding day. 

I'm taking a moment out to look over our cocktail hour and to enjoy a delicious snowball . . . yes, we served snowballs at our wedding.  We're that awesome.























Reckless Adventures in Love
Over a year now for Kate and Mike
sharing a love that is dreamlike
and not a thing can part
the bond of their hearts
much like Nicholas and Smike