Posts from — June 2011

sometimes, when i feel cute, i will take a picture of myself on my computer and send it to spencer… you know, so he won’t forget what i look like.

my mom has been visiting the past week, and every once in a while she will catch me smiling at my computer and ask what i’m smiling about. i never know how to respond.

so embarrassing.

it’s even worse when someone catches me smiling at myself as i pass a car window or large mirror. i think i have a disease! you know, the i can’t help staring at myself when i pass a reflective surface disease. please tell me i’m not alone!

guys, i forgot to tell you… it was my birthday on monday. hooray for getting older!

i woke up at 4:45am and hopped on a plane back to utah to spend the day with my favorite fiance. here is the e-mail i received upon landing:

Dear Jana,
Happy Birthday.  I know how you hate surprises, and I know I don’t like you dropping hints all the time because by doing so you ruin my surprises.  With that said, I have made an agenda.  I reserve the right at any time to alter this agenda as needed.  Please adhere to the times scheduled for I run a tight ship and we need to keep it moving.  Thank you and have a wonderful birthday.

Love,
The Birthday Architect

9:30 am – pick up Jana from airport
11:00 am – be in session at the SLC Temple
2:00 pm – lunch at Jana’s place her mom takes her
3:00 – 4:30 pm wedding dress shopping
4:30 – leave for Provo to pick up check
5:30- deposit check
6:00 pm – surprise (don’t bother asking I’m not going to tell you anything)
7:00 – head up to Thanksgiving Point for X-men
7:30- X-men
10:00 pm – take Jana home
10:15 pm – Spencer goes home because he is tired.

spencer was magically able to fit in ALL the items that i had subtly requested we do [like going to the temple, wedding dress browsing, and picking up my check from work] and STILL managed to surprise me [like taking me to a fancy restaurant that i love]! isn’t he the best?

maybe one of these days spencer will go back to making more frequent appearances on this here blog. but until then, you guys are stuck with me.

today, i will be sharing my wedding dress dilemma woes. i’ve been getting all of these emails and texts and comments begging me to divulge more of our wedding plans, so i thought i would oblige. ok, that was a lie. but feel free to indulge me anyway.

now, the rest of of this post is going to be a little narcissistic. sorry. i warned you though so no one yell at me, ok?

i thought wedding dress shopping was going to be really hard. i am not very well-endowed in the hip area, and thought that most dress styles wouldn’t really flatter my figure. particularly not anything drop-waisted, which are, of course, always my favorite. turns out wedding dress shopping IS hard, but in a completely different way than i had anticipated. i could never have imagined that EVERYTHING would look good on me. see, i told you it was going to be narcissistic. feel free to roll your eyes. i won’t be offended.

really though. those wedding dresses suck in your waist like you could not believe and actually make it look like i have hips! it’s a miracle! really though, wedding dress shopping has been a very self-esteem boosting experience for me thus far.

now, i know what you’re all thinking… jana it sounds like you are really in love with yourself so what is this dilemma that you speak of?

here it is: i’m torn between two dresses. i wish i could post pictures of them and have you vote, but that isn’t really an option. so you are going to have to give me the best advice you can muster under the circumstances.

dress #1 is what i thought i wanted. it is a little more modern and whimsical. but very very pretty. very vera wang-esque, if you can conjure up that image in your head. as soon as i tried it on i thought, “this is the dress.”

dress #2 is exactly what i thought i wouldn’t want. i knew spencer would like it, so i figured i might as well try it on so i could say that i made an effort. turns out, i am in LOVE. it has a similar shape to dress #1 which i love, and the fabric choice + texture is much more traditional and classic. so not only do i know spencer would love it, but i feel like it wouldn’t be quite as dated as dress #1. the downside: it isn’t white, which means my mom doesn’t like it. the other downside: it’s about twice the price.

ah! what to do? help me!

ps. that dress above is no longer in the running, so i don’t feel bad posting it. my mother was SO embarrassed when i wrote about this sleeveless number and didn’t mention that it would need to be altered because we are getting married in the LDS temple… so i photoshopped sleeves onto the dress above so she would be happy. wasn’t that nice of me!

i know it’s a little ridiculous, but i was having an insanely hard time deciding what our invitations should look like. what color writing should they have? what about the colors for the outer envelopes and the inner envelopes and then what color of writing will be on those? a million little decisions that i simply could not make.

i asked a friend of mine what she thought and she replied, “am i allowed to say that i have to opinion?” she then went on to say that anything i picked would look great and i just needed to decide and stop being a crazy.

so i decided. and went to the envelope store to make some purchases. and you know what i decided? martha stewart is a liar. she posts these pretty envelopes and acts like you can just buy them anywhere. guess what? you can’t!

envelope stores have really limited selections. and if they have the color envelope you want, they don’t have it in the size you want. and shopping online isn’t any better… have you ever tried to find nice big pretty-colored envelopes with those fancy v-flaps? NOT EASY.

and then once you’ve had to change your mind a million times to find decent envelopes, just go ahead and try to find patterned papers and wrapping papers that will look good as envelope liners. again, martha stewart is a liar. more like a misrepresenter, to be fair.

but i am happy to report, that after 10 trips to the paper store, a few trips to michael’s, a few more trips to every store i could think of to find wrapping paper, and one special order… i have 2 pretty boxes of envelopes in my possession. and when i post the finished product, i will disclose EXACTLY how hard it was to pull everything together. unlike martha stewart. who lies and makes everything look like a piece of cake.

ps. sorry for the week+ of radio silence… i hope you guys are still listening.

you guys, weddings are a tough business. i thought, with my creative background, this whole planning process would be a walk in the park. SO not the case.

today, spencer and i ventured to the paper supply store to pick out some envelopes so i can get started on being my calligrapher-self and get those babies addressed and in the mail. turns out, picking colors for your wedding envelopes is REALLY hard. spencer said it probably wouldn’t have been so hard if i knew for sure what our wedding colors are. rude. AND he laughed at me when i was comparing envelope colors to the nail polish on my toes. double rude.

i think these envelopes from martha stewart weddings are absolutely darling, but when it comes to nailing down all of the individual details that go into the invitation, i am having the hardest time!

someone help! or at least bring me a lemon sugar cookie!