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?

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?

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?