I need opinions, people!

So I had headshots done today for my new career in modeling business cards and website. Once again, my photographer worked his magic, giving me way too many great pics to choose from. As someone who is hyper-critical of how she photographs, that's saying a lot ;)

I managed to narrow the choices for cards and website down to 3 each. Now I need your help to pick the winner in each category. And pick a good one. Don't forget how much I hate my current professional pic. We don't wanna go down that road again...

Let's start with the choices for my business cards:

Now onto the choices for my website.

Call them 1, 2 and 3 in each category. Humor me... tell me what you think. (And feel free to be brutal... I can take it) Please. And thank you.

Wedding Invitation DIY

*Disclaimer: These pictures were not taken with the intent of being published on a blog. We had JUST moved into the house, which explains the lack of window treatments and the empty picture frames. It also appears as though I had not showered that day. Such is life.

So my sister-in-law-to-be called me the other day asking for details on my homemade wedding invitations. Yes, I made them myself. True story. I really don't consider myself all that crafty or creative, but I gave myself a nice, big pat on the back after whipping these puppies up.

Anyway, future sis-in-law wanted to know how I made them. Then I thought, "Gee, my blog is pretty boring. Maybe I can spice it up by sharing some (money saving!) creativity with the world." Lucky you.

So. (Here we go again.) Here's a brief overview of how to make your own wedding invitations.

What you'll need:

1. paper (we used 32lb linen paper in black and ivory)
2. a rubber stamp (if you're into that sort of thing... I thought they looked pretty boring without some sort of flair)
3. an ink pad in whichever color you fancy
4. spray adhesive (apparently I'm one of the few who has heard of this stuff... I used it ALL the time in college for my design projects. It's pretty awesome. Find it in the glue section of your craft store.)
5. 1" to 1 1/2" wide ribbon
6. wine
7. patience
8. a friend or two (with a little bribery, bridesmaids and fiances work perfectly)
9. did I mention patience?
   

I thought about going through the process of actually creating the invitations step by step, but I'm not very good at that. That probably explains why when trying to follow a recipe, I haphazardly throw ingredients together rather than actually doing what I'm supposed to do.

And seriously... it really wasn't hard.

Measure your envelope and cut the invitations to size. Cut a smaller top layer (we used black on the bottom and ivory on the top).

Print your text onto the top layer (if you're as anal about perfection as I am, this will take you FOREVER. Or maybe it was just the wine.)

Stamp the top layer. Or leave it plain. Be a rebel. Adhere the top layer to the bottom layer (note: Goo Gone will become your best friend. Spray adhesive goes EVERYWHERE.)

I used the same ivory paper and rubber stamp to also make the response cards and reception info cards. I found it was easier to print as many of these as would fit on one full sheet of paper and then cut into individual cards rather than try to feed tiny squares through my printer.

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Here are the three pieces. Invitation, response card with envelope, reception info card.

And to make even more work for myself, I bundled them together with a complementary ribbon, adhered to itself with double-sided tape on the back of the invitation.

I'm pretty much in love with the outcome. And I saved at least a grand. Which we spent on more important things. Like an upgraded rental car on the honeymoon ;)

Whatcha think? Are they theknot.com worthy?

Excuses.

I'm full of 'em. Ask me why I haven't worked out AT ALL since last Monday and I can probably come up with 15 different excuses. All valid, of course.

I'm starting to think I need to become one of those crazy people who gets up at the crack of dawn to work out before work. Eek! That probably won't happen. And in that case, it's highly likely that I won't be burning any extra calories until at least next week.

Wanna hear my excuses? On top the normal "working for a living" thing, I have a ridiculously busy schedule this week. I can't help it if I'm so awesome that my social calendar is always full ;)

Tonight: Exclusive Barenaked Ladies concert at a small restaurant. Not really sure what this is all about, but we were given tickets and shall go.

Tuesday: Ahh, a night off. I should probably be productive, but chances are, I'll need the evening to recover on my couch.

Wednesday: Wine school. This week's class: Cabernet!

Thursday: Dinner at a girlfriend's house. This will no doubt include much food and wine consumption.

Friday: Taste of Compassion, a wine tasting charity event. The husband is the Honorary Chairman, which means I get to get all dressed up and do one of my favorite things: play Social Hostess!

Saturday: Surprise 30th birthday party for a friend. Party starts at 4, but it will undoubtedly go all night. That's how we roll.

By the time Sunday rolls around, I might need somebody to take me to rehab. If you count last night's restaurant holiday party (like I've mentioned before, we like to make the holidays last as long as possible around here) I will have had more alcohol-filled nights than not this week. Count: 6 to 1. Ugh. Please pray that I don't die ;)

And stay tuned for pointless updates of this week's festivities. You know you can't wait.

THE wedding incident.

What's this, you ask? Hmm... to me it looks like a happy wedding party having a grand old time in a comfortable, luxurious party bus! Oh yes, that's right. It is.

Question: What's a good way to turn a relaxed, elated bride into a screaming-obscenitites-at-the-top-of-her-lungs, red-faced, infuriated bride?

Answer: Have the party bus break down on the side of the highway on the way to the reception.

Question: How do you get the relaxed, elated bride back?

Answer: Pour champagne down her throat.

See, that's me. After lots and lots of champagne, somehow enjoying myself (and dancing like a fool in the aisle) on the back-up (think dingy, high school class trip type) bus.

I think you get the gist of what happened. My blood still boils when I talk about "the incident" so to keep myself from needing a glass of wine in the middle of the day, I'll keep it brief:

Bus broke down 25 minutes from reception site. Driver said "new bus will be here in 10 minutes". Gee, that was a long 10 minutes. Oh wait, that's 'cause it was 45! New bus arrives, new bus driver rocks. Arrive at reception 15 minutes later. Bridal party misses ENTIRE cocktail hour. Bride not happy. More champagne poured down bride's throat. Remainder of reception goes off without a hitch.

Question: What does a semi-drunk, LARGE wedding party do for 45 minutes while waiting on the side of a busy highway?

Answer: see below.

Now, remember, I was busy intoxicating myself, so I don't know if this shot was staged, or if they really all did have to pee. I'm surprised they didn't cause any accidents.

And here are my beautiful bridesmaids attempting to hitch a ride. Now I'm really surprised we didn't cause an accident. How could you drive by and not steal a glimpse of these lovelies?

Sorry boys... I don't think you have the effect on passers-by that the girls do.

And here's bus #2, ready to take us on our merry way.

Now you'll have to bear with me as I bring out the bitch. Just for a moment, I promise. It wouldn't feel right ending this post without the following information:

Please think twice before hiring Unnamed Transportation Company* in Albany, New York. I won't go into detail, but they were not the most pleasant to deal with after "the incident". Just imagine getting a phone call expecting an apology and instead getting a demand for credit card number to pay the balance. Then you'll know how I feel.

Hopefully some year I'll be able to look back and laugh at this. Not there yet. (But please feel free to laugh all you want at the pictures. They are pretty classic.)

Maybe somebody should share a worse "wedding incident" story with me. Please? Make me laugh.

*After being physically unable to hit the publish button, I regretfully deleted the company's name. I just couldn't do it. The angel on my shoulder overtook the devil. If you're curious, shoot me an email and I'll give you the name.

Poor Brittany.

Disclaimer: I promise not to turn this blog all TMZ-like. Just wanted to say a few words about this lovely young actress's unfortunate end.

I'm really not one to care about, pay attention to or even discuss what goes on in the celebrity world, but did anyone see Brittany Murphy's mom on the Today Show this morning? Ugh. She was a hot mess.

Granted, her daughter died a month ago so she's allowed to be slightly out of sorts. But she was clearly on something -- lots of something -- during her interview this morning. And what got me was how adamantly she stated that Brittany's death had nothing to do with drugs. A little ironic, no? It was seriously one of those interviews that was painful to watch. Picture one of Anna Nicole Smith's famous "speeches" with the slurred speech and dazed look. That was Sharon Murphy this morning. If Brittany's husband wasn't there to interject and make sense of what she was saying, I would've turned the TV off.

Long digression. Onto my point:

Regardless of how Brittany died and of how embarrassing her mother was to watch on national TV today, I'll always hold a spot for her in my heart. And again, I'm one of the last people to ooh and aah over celebs, but this one touched me personally a long time ago.

1995 to be exact. The year I first saw the movie Clueless.

I loved Brittany's character so much in this movie and I completely related to her situation (grunge attire and all... it was the 90's, what did you expect?). At that exact time in my life, my parents were contemplating a move. Not just a move to a new house across town -- a big, life-altering, scary move across the country. My father was considering two new jobs. One in St. Louis, one in Los Angeles.

As a shy, ugly-duckling of a 15 year old (with no fashion sense, mind you), the thought of moving from a small town in upstate New York to Los Angeles TERRIFED me. Then I saw Clueless. If Tai could do it, so could I. I dreamed of having my own Cher, complete with automated closet and hot older step-brother, to make me over and turn me into the most popular girl in the school. A girl can dream, can't she?

Back in reality, we ended up moving to St. Louis... a decision I'm SO thankful for. I really don't think I would've acclimated to the LA lifestyle as gracefully as Tai.

Long story short, thanks for making that movie, Brittany. It helped me get through some of those awful teenage years. Hope you're resting peacefully up above.

Wine appreciation.

Forgive me for boring you all, but I wanted to pass along the following info. And shamelessly plug the husband's restaurants ;)






The husband is such a smarty-pants when it comes to wine that he's achieved sommelier status. But I prefer to (lovingly) call him a wine geek.



Anyway, my wine geek came up with the most fantastic idea. He's offering weekly wine appreciation classes at the restaurant for the next 9 weeks. Each week features a different varietal. I missed the introductory class last week but am so excited for tonight's class. Champagne!

So. If you're an Albany local, please join us. I promise you'll have a good time. And maybe even learn something! $35, 6:30pm. Below is the lineup for the next 9 weeks. More info available here. Restaurant info available here. And here.

1/20: “Champagne, not just for breakfast anymore”: This class will offer information on sparkling wines from around the world including Champagne, Spain, California & Australia.

1/27: “Life is a Cabernet”: Learn about the king varietal of reds with expressions of Cabernet from around the world.

2/3: “ABC = Anything But Chardonnay”: Enjoy great white varietals from around the world that are great alternatives to Chardonnay

2/10: “Forgive me father for I have Zinned”: In an depth look at California’s signature juicy, jammy unique varietal.

2/17: “Under a Tuscan sun”: Breaking down and exploring the varietals of Italy’s most famous wine region.

2/24: “The Sideways Effect”: Learning all about Pinot Noir all of the world’s major producing areas.

3/3: “I bless the rains down in Africa”: This class will explore the Southern Hemisphere wine producing countries including South Africa, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand & Australia.

3/10: “Que Syrah, Shiraz”: Enjoy the many faceted sides of Syrah from around the world and appreciate the differences in terroir between the Rhone Valley, Australia & California.

3/24: “The Spanish Inquisition”: Exploring the classic regions and not so classic varietals of Spain.

THE wedding post. Part 2

The ceremony.

Seriously, it was beautiful. It definitely didn't hurt that the church itself is gorgeous and dates back to 1797... really adds to the romantic feel of a wedding... but our wedding was truly heartfelt and very us. You know those wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am ceremonies where there's really no emotion? Yeah... not a fan. Ours was perfect. But then again, I'm biased.

The emotion comes through in our pics though... although that probably had more to do with our amazing photographers than it did us.

Take a look and tell me what you think.

My bro (left) and Dennis were terrific program hander-outers.

Gabe and Ryleigh. Hands downs the cutest couple there. They took their duties so seriously.

A little emotion from the groom as the most gorgeous bride ever enters the church.

Told ya ;)

Love this shot of my parents and groom.

Seriously, how incredible is this architecture?

The vows.

I heart my mommy.

He dipped me during the kiss at the rehearsal... the priest forbid him from doing it again at the ceremony. How boring.

Ah, all done. We're finally Mr. & Mrs. P.

All photography credit goes to Joe & JP Elario.

A Little Overdue Christmas Post

I know, I know, it's January. I like to drag the holiday season out as long as possible... although, my tree did come down before New Year's this year. How sad.

Onto the pics:

~OUR FIRST ANNUAL CHRISTMAS EVE BASH~

Mr. & Mrs. P, in front our gorgeous tree :)

This party was specifically designed for those of us who don't yet have to play Santa and have the kiddies in bed by 8 to put the presents under the tree.

Me and Sissy (in-law)

We had a fantastic time. What's not to love about food, liquor and a little Christmas cheer?

Note the picture of the bar taped to the wall above the, um, bar. It was scheduled for delivery the day after Christmas. Go figure.

Nunz thought it appropriate to tip me, as my "shot girl" skills were top notch.

Two of my favorite girls.

~CHRISTMAS MORNING~

Please try to contain your laughter. I don't photograph well to begin with... glasses and last night's makeup only make it worse.

My beautiful new watch (courtesy of Mom) and ring (courtesy of husband). I could be a hand model, no? ;)

The pups, playing with their Christmas presents. They obviously hate them ;)

The aftermath. Ugh. Even at almost 30, we can't open presents neatly.

The piece de resistance, finally out of Crate & Barrel's warehouse, put where it belongs. Don't judge. It had to be filled and photographed before we even thought about cleaning the floor around it. Alcohol takes precedence over cleanliness in our home ;)

So that's that. Christmas 2009 is over. Hope everyone got (and gave!) everything they wanted!

Maybe I'll start decorating in October next year...