Bridesmaid Jewelry aka Will Work for Nut Butter

This weekend I went to the awesome wedding of Curly J.  I will give you some more details about the wedding later this week.  But first, let's talk about my big project...

J decided she wanted some "fun" jewelry for the bridesmaids to wear.  She showed me some pictures of things that I didn't really know how to make but I said if she picked out all the beads, I would string them together for us.  She had some flower beads made by a seller on Etsy (whose name I cannot remember right now).  Then we selected other beads that we thought would go well with them and then I attached everything together.  I though they ended up looking pretty good.

Each necklace was little different which I thought was nice.

As my reward for being a jewelry consultant, Curly J got me this awesome gift basket filled with some locally made nut butters and accompaniments (crackers, apples, chocolate, etc).  The nut butter was made by Big Spoon which is a local roaster and nut butter company in Durham.  This stuff was good.  We had cashew, almond and peanut.  I enjoyed the peanut the best.  It was just a little sweet and had a great nutty texture.  I liked putting some of the peanut butter and some honey on a graham cracker as a snack.

I'm still recovering from all the food and dancing this weekend, so I will get back with you on more details of the wedding soon.

What do you think of the bridesmaid jewelry?

Have you ever had fresh nut butter?

Bachelorette Party T-Shirts Round 2

If you make your friend T-shirts for her bachelorette party, she will love you.  And it's not that hard.  Come on people, let's do this.

1-Buy some t-shirts when they go on sale.  (This time I bought mine from AC Moore and they were on sale 4 for $10).
2-Then con your friends/co-bridesmaids into t-shirt making craft day. 
3-Bring some puffy paint and anything else you have on hand.
4-One of your friends will have much better handwriting than the other two.  Get her to write the theme or slogan on all of the shirts.  Go for something simple, like Team (insert Bride's Nickname).  The other two bad handwriters will then decorate the shirt with drawings, quotes, and designs.  Be sure to draw a life-like picture of the bride on her t-shirt.  Include any accessories that the bride can't live with out.  For example if she is really into texting, then include a drawing of her cell phone.

5-If the bride's sister is prego and will be attending the shower be sure to make her t-shirt say something like 'Baby Mama' with an arrow pointing to the belly area.  Very classy.

6-If your friend lives in Las Vegas and can't attend, then make her a shirt too, but make it more inappropriate than the others since she won't actually be wearing it out with you to the nail salon.  I "lost" the pics I had of Mo Young's T-shirt.   Ooops.

So that's pretty much it.  You can make the bride put on her shirt as soon as you arrive at her house to kidnap her for the evening (that's what everyone does, right?)

Happy Paper Anniversary to Me (and B)!

What is that up there?  Oh that is a delicious Hawaiian cake that I have been binge eating for the last two days in honor of my 1st wedding anniversary.  Did we save the top tier of the cake at our wedding?  No, we ate it.  So I went and bought us a mini cake from the place we got our wedding cake (a bakery named Delicious by the way).  It is delish and probably much better than if we had frozen the top layer last year.

So traditionally the gift for the first year of marriage is paper.  So I got a lot of paper for my first anniversary.  My husband has semi-secretly been making me my gift all week.  He told me to keep my expectations low as Arts and Crafts are not his forte.  We even went to Michael's together to get supplies (although he wouldn't let me see what he was buying).  So what did he make me?  He made me some frames with the readings/poem we had at our wedding and pictures from our wedding?  I liked it.  A lot.  I made the number thing with photos I took of numbers at the beach (I might have stolen this idea from Shanzie.)  That's the day we got married.

We also got some hand made paper wedding cards from L-Fab and Mo Young.  Thanks guys!

And a special shout out to L-Fab for really pulling through and making us a DVD of all the wedding footage she took last year on her video camera.  I didn't even know we had that.  (Mo-it features the push up competition!  Yeah there may or may not have been a push-up competition at the Rehearsal Dinner after party.)

Happy Anniversary B!  Only 59 years to go until we get to the 'Diamond' anniversary.  Can't wait!

So even though my sister mocked how I write questions at the end of my blog a lot I'm still going for it.....
If you are married did you give your husband paper for your first anniversary?
Do you like pineapple cake?  (most people I know are not in to it)
Have you ever witnessed a push-up contest at a Rehearsal Dinner?

The Acorns Get Married-My Favorite Wedding Details

One of my best friends and former post-college roomie got married this past weekend (which you probably already know if you have been reading this blog).  Mrs. Acorn and I lived together after we graduated from college and both ended up moving back to our home town.  I moved back home (with my parents) because I made no life plan for myself while in college and therefore had no job.  Mrs. Acorn would call me every day and force me to update her on what I had done that day to secure myself employment.  After all, I would need a job before we could move out of our parent's homes and live together.  A loooooong 6 months later (no offense Mom and Dad) we found a cute little rental house and Mrs. Acorn, her giant dog Barkley, and I moved in.  It was a time of ups and downs.  I think after college we both had expectations of getting married, making tons of money and being super happy.  Instead we were both working at unexciting low paying jobs and were not having huge successes in the relationship department.  We also got robbed and discovered that killer bees (ok maybe not killer, but giant) had infested one of our walls.  We did have some awesome times though, especially after Beezus5 and Curly J also moved back to the Boro.  Eventually we both decided to move away.  Mrs. Acorn moved to Chapel Hill for grad school and I moved to Maryland to be with my now husband.  After her first year in grad school, Mrs. Acorn started dating Mr. Acorn.  Her whole outlook on life seemed to change for the better and I was super excited when they got engaged last December.

Now, my favorite wedding details.......

The wedding was held at The Hayloft in NC.  This place is really cool.  Mrs. Acorn's Sister-In-Law's family owns the place and restored it a few years back when Sister-In-Law got married to Mrs. Acorn's brother.

Some beautiful bridesmaids (and bride) in their beautiful bridesmaid jewelry standing in front of some hay after drinking some champagne (the bridesmaid jewelry did not ruin the wedding btw)...

Sister-In-Law/Wedding Coordinator made our bouquets and all the other flowers...

The cutest cake topper ever (featuring my old roomie Barkley and his new sister/wife Dixie).  This was custom made by Etsy seller Lynn's Little Creations...

The homemade hot sauce favors made by Sister-In-Laws family.  I took like 6 of these and am excited to try them out....

My favorite/exciting moments included.........

-Right after we hung up the wedding dress it fell off the hook and all the bridesmaids screamed and slammed the door shut so Mrs. Acorn would not know.  (All's well that ends well, right?)

-My shoe fell off right after I walked down the aisle and I had to struggle for about a minute to get it back on.  I could see my husband laughing at me.

-A bee jumped on my head during the scripture reading and I kept myself from screaming.

-The Minister's speech about the bride and groom being best friends.

-Mini Ham Biscuits!

-Mo Young gave my bouquet toss a shout out in her Maid of Honor Speech.

-Curly J, Beezus5, Mo Young, and myself somehow convinced Mr. Acorn to lay across our laps for some whimsical photos.  I really need a copy of this $hanzie!

-The Cake! It was strawberries and cream and quite tasty.  My husband had two pieces after getting approval from the bride

-This photo that I made my Dad take of me and B.  It started as a joke but then my dad seemed game to take the photo so I went with it.  Check out the cool corn fields in the background.

All in all a beautiful, hot, fun day of love!

Pre-Wedding Activities-Nails, Rehearsal, Brunch and the Tale of How Beezus5 and I Saved the Day.

When I found out that Mo Young was coming in to town on Thursday night for Mrs. Acorn's wedding and that Curly J was taking Friday off work to get her nails done and such, I knew that I too would have to take Friday off as I did not want to suffer from the dreaded disorder known as FOMS.  Fear of missing something (or stuff).  Beezus5 taught me that word.  It pretty much involves all of your friends hanging out together while you are somewhere else like work or at a family function.

So the Acorn Wedding Weekend of Fun began for me on Thursday evening when I picked up Mo from the airport.  As I had expected her suitcase was quite large and quite heavy.......

Remember how Mo's husband, J (aka Triangle Head) got us a bunch of free stuff in Vegas?  Sure you do.  Well I wanted to be a good host to him and Mo.  I don't really have access to free hotel rooms and comped dinners and mini bars and such so I decided to just make them a mini bar at my house.....

On Friday, Morgan and I had the most important task of the wedding.  Delivering the wedding dress from the bridal shop to the wedding venue.  Well they kept calling us and saying that it wasn't ready yet.  It was still being steamed so we went ahead and went to Chick-Fil-A to have the new Spicy Chicken Sandwich.  Mo misses Chick-Fil-A since Las Vegas is too sinful of a city for Chick-Fil-A to be associated with.  The spicy chicken sandwich was "quite a treat" just like the dude who rung up our order told us it would be.  We then headed out to meet Mrs. Acorn and Curly J to get our nails done.  Beezus5 had to suffer through FOMS as she was working......

We finally delivered the dress.  The bridal store made us wrap it in a sheet instead of the garment bag.  Not sure why.  It was super wrinkled still.  We were scared.  So we took it to the barn (an old renovated barn where the wedding and rehearsal were held) and hung it up and went back home to get ready for the Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner.  The rehearsal went well and the dinner was great.  It was BBQ from the bride and groom's favorite BBQ joint in Durham.  My favorite was the beef brisket.  The groom baked a cake for dessert.  How cute is that?

We also got our sweet bridesmaid gifts...Monogrammed Vases...

  

After the RD, Mrs. Acorn decided that her wedding dress was important and that it should not be wrinkled on her wedding day.  We all agreed with her and offered to take it to my alteration lady in the morning to have it professionally ironed.  During this time things were getting tense but I knew one day we'd all laugh about it so I took this photo...... 

I then had Beezus5, Mo, and Curly J put my hair up in the bumpit.  I mean Mo Young did spend what I assume is tons of money to buy it for me.  I also assumed it would provide some laughs at the Rehearsal Dinner after-party.  I stayed strong and had only 1 drink.  The boys did not so much.  My favorite part was when they (pretty much B and Mr. J Young) plotted a very specific plan on how to steal the bride's (giant) dog from her mom's house, dress him in a tux and bring him to the wedding because that "would be her dream come true." 

The next morning we had a Bridesmaid Brunch hosted by the Aunts of the bride.  Beezus5 and I decided to take the dress in so Maid Of Honor Mo Young could be with the Bride at the Brunch.  Beezus5 and I got to the alteration place and sat on the curb and waited for it to open.  We pretty much jumped on the lady and told her we had an extreme emergency and asked if she can help us.  She said yes...maybe!  This is the nicest alteration lady I have ever met.  She sort of kicked other people out (in a nice way and without them really knowing they were being kicked out) so she could work on our dress.  Forty-five minutes later we arrived at the brunch with the dress to a heroes welcome.  Mrs. Acorn thought it looked great.  We saved the day.  Plus they waited for us to get there to eat.  The food was awesome and featured cheese grits, shrimp, danishes, quiche, breakfast casserole, fruit.....pretty much every breakfast food you can imagine.  Plus we each got a mini parfait and some mimosas.  A lovely time was had by all....

So we dropped off the dress one last time and Beezus5, Wunka and I headed back to my house to get ready.  I took a power nap and then worked on my hair.  It did not go as well as I hoped but B got us all coffee so that was a bonus....

Then it was off to the wedding.......

Have you ever heard of FOMS?
So is Mo's bag big or do I just pack light?
Do you want to come stay at my house so you can get your own personally tailored mini fridge bucket?
Do you think B5 and I saved the day?
Did you have/witness any wedding dress mishaps?

Bridesmaid Jewelry

So I finally got my big break as a jewelry designer when my friend Ms. Acorn asked me to make bridesmaid jewelry for her wedding this weekend.  I sent her several photos via email and she decided she wanted something pretty simple. 

So I present to you....photos of me modeling the bridesmaid jewelry...

What?  He wanted to be in the picture.

I am also practicing my breathing.  The dress in my size came with normal sized stomach area and giant size boobage area.  So I had to get this taken in.  The alteration lady told me if I was not going to wear straps then she would have to make it tight.  Apparently that meant tight in the area where oxygen flows to my lungs cause I'm having a bit of trouble breathing normally.  I'll work on in though.  I'm also practicing walking around in my new silver heels.

Ok so here's some close ups of the jewelry.  I used some crystal beads, silver beads, and sterling silver ear wires and chains to make these.

So I hope the other Bridesmaids like them or at least pretend to. 

Also in Hair news, I have purchased a new gadget and am practicing with it this week to see if I can make a low loose bun for the wedding.  My backup plan is a hot ponytail.  Has anyone ever used the Goody Simply Style Spin Pin?  I kept seeing commercials on TV so I decided to go ahead and pick one up.

I'm super exciting about the wedding this weekend!  Go Team A-Corn.

Do you think my bridesmaid jewelry is acceptable?

Or do you think the jewelry will ruin the wedding?

Should I take Hobie as my date because we look so good together or should I let B come with me?

Do you like weddings?

Making Myself have a Hott Bridesmaid Hairstyle!

This blog is mostly supposed to be about making stuff.  (It is obviously also about tv a lot if you have noticed).  So anyways, does creating a Hot Bridesmaid Hairstyle for myself for my friend's upcoming wedding count as making stuff?  I think it does. 

(getting 150 bobby pins stabbed in to my head circa 2006)

Ms. Acorn sent me an email a few weeks back asking if I would like to have my hair professionally done for her wedding as she is having a hair stylist come out to the venue to do her hair.  After much thought, I decided that I would do my own hair.

Reasons.....

1-I usually hate how my hair looks right after it is professionally done.  I got my hair done for my senior prom, came home, took it all down, and re-did it.

2-My hair is realllly thick which means when I get an up-do they have to put over 100 bobby pins in my hair.  How do I know that it's this many?  I have counted them upon removal.  Plus after about an hour, my head is not feeling so great.

3-Hairspray Asthma.  I actually had to go to the doctor one time after I had my hair done when I was a bridesmaid to get an inhaler b/c I got hairspray induced asthma from being in a closed up room with ridiculous amounts of hairspray for a long period of time.

4-Chance of accidentally getting the Beehive.  When Ms. Acorn got her hair done for Mo Young's wedding it pretty much ended up being a beehive style.  It actually looked pretty good in photos but we have made fun of her for years for wearing a beehive to Mo's wedding.

5-Dolla Dolla Bills Yo-From my past experience as a professional bridesmaid, getting your hair done can cost anywhere between $50 and $100.  I will save that money to buy more craft supplies.

So anyways, why am I writing this blog now?  Well I was hoping to get some suggestions or pictures of easy bridesmaid hairstyles that I can give myself.  I think maybe I should pull my hair up because it's going to be super hot that day but I'm open to ideas.  I have a hair straightener, a curling iron, some headbands, a bunch of bobby pins and rubber bands, and a hair brush.  My hair is thick and a little past my shoulders. 

And just for fun here is a picture of me with my best youth hairstyle ever...the short haired perm.  Geez mom.  No wonder I was never the coolest girl in school.

Hair ideas?  Do you like getting your hair done?  What's your favorite style?  Do you like my koosh ball earrings?

Mo Young's Guide to Planning "Special" Bridal Shower Games.....

Um, why are MoYoung and I holding up a giant face photo of our friend's fiance?  Well I'm going to go ahead and let MoYoung tell you about that.  Take it away Mo.......

With the help of JMJE I think A-Corn’s shower had the most original if not the best games ever! Here’s what we did …

The first, and technically last, game we played at the A-Corn shower was called “Don’t Cross Your Legs.” Here is how you play: Each guest takes and wears FOUR necklaces. Then, the guests are told to NOT cross their legs throughout the shower. If they are caught crossing their legs, then they lose their necklace to the person who caught them. At the end of the shower the person who has the most necklaces is the winner. There was a tie for winning this game – $hanzie and cousin of the bride to be. I had predicted that Beezus5 would win the game, but she actually forfeited early on. Oh Beezus5. I chose this game because it was played at Dorothy’s bridal shower on the Golden Girls. Due to Mrs. Acorn’s appreciation of the Golden Girls, I thought it was only fitting that we play this game. And in case you missed this episode, Blanche won the game by a landslide. (ps-from JMJE, do not google Golden Girl Shower Games, you will get inappropriate results, trust me)

We also played a game entitled “How Well Does Future Mrs. Acorn Know Mr. Acorn.” I chose this game because it’s always interesting to see how in tune couples are – plus it ranked well on all the bridal shower websites. Mrs. Acorn later told me that her Grandma really enjoyed the game too. I had previously e-mailed Mr. Acorn some questions, which he was good enough to answer. Then, I typed up the questions and answers on slips of paper and handed out the questions to the guests to read to Mrs. Acorn. Mrs. Acorn was read each question and then she had to answer what she thought Mr. Acorn said. She did pretty well – probably getting 75% of the questions right.  (PS from JMJE-apparently there was some ambiguity about what actually constituted their first date) I was impressed, and I agree that XXLarge night shirts aren’t the sexiest PJ’s around. A key thing to remember with this game is recognizing your audience and filtering out any embarrassing answers. One of the best, and definitely the longest, questions was inspired by the show 90210 – NOT that new cast but the original, with Dylan. JMJE did a stellar job reciting Donna and David’s wedding vows, and I was impressed that Mrs. Acorn recognized the vows! She gets an A++ for 90210 wedding trivia.

The grand finale of games was “Feed Mr. Acorn.” JMJE and I had long since decided that we would like to have a giant picture of Mr. Acorn at the shower. We thought it would be funny – and a great gift for the A-Corn's. I expect the picture to be mounted above their mantle! So, in order to incorporate our love for Poster Mr. Acorn, I decided that we would play a game called “Feed Mr. Acorn.” Since the theme of the shower was “kitchen stuff,” this game completely fit! It’s like pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, only you try to stick a spoon in Mr. Acorn’s mouth. First we printed off a 30x20 picture of Mr. Acorn – with a hint of Mrs. Acorn in a low cut blue dress on the side. Then we mounted the picture on hard poster board. It was a beautiful sight. Everyone was a good sport and donned the eye mask, spun around, and then tried to stick a plastic spoon in Mr. Acorn’s mouth. The winner was Mama Robin! I recommend this game for any shower, as life size photos of people are not only fun conversation pieces but super classy!

Thanks Mo and if you are interested in finding out more information about Mo you can read her answers below to my very important guest blog survey.

Why do you think JMJE refers to you as MoYoung in her blog?

MoYoung = Morgan Young. Since I comment on MSIF via “Anonymous,” I decided to shorten my name to MoYoung in signing my comments. So exciting! (JMJE says, I like to spell it MoJung sometimes)

What is something you like about JMJE?

Her craftiness – MSIF is quite entertaining! Plus, she can drink with me into the late hours of the night. This is not always a good thing the next day, but it definitely makes for some good times.  (JMJE says, at this point it has become baking into the late hours of the night while slowly nursing one glass of wine.  Mr. and Mrs. MoYoung were, however, the last people up with us at our wedding after party.)  Plus, I admire her patience and loyalty, as she let my now husband live with us for six months while we were roommates at NCState.  (JMJE says, I never did the dishes, it evened out somehow, well maybe) We all love JMJE!

Name a character you relate to and why from one of the following tv shows? The Office, Lost, Saved by the Bell, How I Met Your Mother, or Friends?

Since I am not as much of a TV aficionado as JMJE is, I’m just going to defer to my favorite show from above, Lost. Overall I identify with the central themes – escapism, redemption, survival, and love! But, I remember years ago I was talking with JMJE and she asked me which character was my favorite. I said, “Sun.” I suppose I can relate to Sun as she is very guarded with her personal matters and more capable than many initially believe possible. However, I can be quite indecisive – so I do not like this question JMJE! – as I relate to many of the characters. This may be why I adore the show. (JMJE says, looks-wise she reminds me of a lighter haired Kate)

What is your favorite color?

Blue. So I am excited about prancing about in cornflower blue on 6/19/2010.

If you could have any job in the world what would it be?

If I could answer this question then I probably would have had a focus in college! Perhaps a writer for a travel magazine … or a professional volunteer. Yet I’ve always been scared of making something I truly adore a job as I would hate to one day wake up and view a passion as “eh, just work.”

So what do you think of our Bridal Shower games?
Is feeding the groom a little too weird or totally worth it just to have a life size photo to give your friend?
Mrs. Acorn was a pretty good sport as I'm pretty sure I banned shower games from my bridal shower.

PS-THE OFFICE IS NEW TONIGHT!  Office Thursday got cancelled for MoYoung Thursday but you should still watch The Office tonight.