Miscellaneous Monday

1. When I saw my wedding DVD box sitting at the bottom of our stairs, I nearly threw Henry to the side and somersaulted myself down to the bottom. It's here....the day we've awaited for almost a year [not to be too dramatic or anything.] We've saved and pondered and anticipated the arrival of these beauties. Feast your eyes on this!



2. You know what that means, right? I'm TOTALLY fiddling around on Photoshop tonight with my hi-resolution images. Now that we have the pictures, all that's left is the wedding album and my ideas are ever-changing. Initially after the wedding I vowed to get the $1200 Graphi studio album because "it's the best, highest quality album you can buy." Yeah, well, spending another $1200 on the wedding.....which was a year ago.....doesn't sit well with my inner tight-wad. So then I convinced myself that a nice $600 from another St. Louis vendor would be just fine. It would still be a high quality flush-mount album but for half the price. Well, now I'm shrinking away from this idea, too. You see, Blurb allows you to make albums yourself. For $50, people.

I'm not stupid, I know you get what you pay for in this world. But honestly, I think a nice hard cover coffee table album from Blurb would be fine. Who cares if the cover isn't made of leather and the pages are much thinner than the bad boy albums? Does it really matter that much?

If I use Blurb I can design it all myself because some kind bloggers pointed me to this blog. And we won't blow our "eternally saving for a down payment fund." What do you think? Totally naive of me to think I'll be satisfied with a Blurb album? I mean, if I hate the quality it's only $50 lost and I could still do the higher quality album. Thoughts, please.

3. It's amazing how much I've changed in a year. I think I've grown up and gotten more realistic, huh? Because there is no way in hell I would have considered this option a year ago.

4. Thinking about album design has me really excited to scrapbook again. And I STILL want to try my shot at a little side business. So if I master Photoshop for digital design, be prepared for a lot of posts about it! And those of you who were interested in my services, gear up!

5. Speaking of wedding photos, I have a confession. I did something very bad. I read a few posts from other bloggers about this little contest they have on The Knot and I could not resist temptation. Now, just so you know, I am a self-confessed recovering addict from The Knot and other chat boards like it. I don't even have them bookmarked anymore! So typing in the address for the website which stole my life away while planning the wedding seemed a little naughty. A little bit like going back to my drug of choice.

Even worse, the contest: it's called "Real Wedding Awards" and it's the first annual, for girls married in 2007. That's me! I have fab wedding photos! And why not post a few of our favorite pictures, right?

I mean, I'm not conceited enough to think my wedding was seriously the BEST wedding of the entire year. Of course, to us it was the best day of our lives and I was quite fond our wedding. But I did not have the $10,000 photographer. At the beach. With the most stunning sunset in all of the Caribbean for a backdrop. In any case, I figure 'What the heck. Why not?' and posted our wedding.

Wanna see which 7 photos I [painstakingly] chose? Check it out here and don't make fun of my stupid title. I had a brain fart, okay? While you are there, why not vote for me as you wish. I think it goes by the number of starts per picture or something? And what are you other 2007 brides waiting for? Get to it!

6. I don't really understand what you win if you do, in fact, have the best wedding of 2007. I think you might be featured in The Knot magazine, website, and so on. And maybe you get trip to Africa. When I confessed my sins to Nate last night he said, "That's all we get if we win? Who cares, then?" True, honey. But a safari wouldn't be bad.

7. While tinkering my night away on Photoshop I also plan to watch The Hills. I wasn't aware that the season opener is on tonight! I swear this move killed my inner TV Queen. She's gone, dead, and never to return. Mostly because we no longer have DVR so I can't stay on top of my shows. It's kind of sad, really. I'm such an old hag.

8. I just realized that I'm shivering because our thermostat is set to 60 degrees. Normally it's a crisp 62 but for some reason we dipped down a bit too low. And now my fingers are purple. Why is it necessary to freeze both inside AND outside in this freaking state? I know it's our fault but I'm blaming Nate and my inner tight-wad. She can be a psycho sometimes.

9. Henry is going through a really crappy phase [no pun intended]. Prior to moving he hadn't crapped inside for months, if not a year. Now? Well it's just one big poop fest around here. Henry managed to squeeze out not one, not two, but THREE massive deuces in the house during the past two weeks. The first time I blamed myself for being too lazy to take him outside. But now I'm blaming him because he's gotten so freaking impatient with us! It's like, "Hey guys I have to go right this second or else I'm dropping bombs immediately." He threatens us, you guys. Before we can grab the leash all hell breaks loose.

It's not truly this dramatic but it makes for a good story, right? He's fine, nothing is seriously wrong with him. He is just going through a phase [note how I'm convincing myself here?]

10. Project "get my butt on the treadmill" is going much better, thank you. This whole marathon thing is for real and I can't hold out for nicer 'outdoor running' weather forever. It's just not happening and my bare minimum is 50 degrees. Which, apparently, makes me a wuss in these parts. But whatev. Nate used his REI rebate money to buy us a Garmin. I don' t fully understand what it does but something about GPS and me not getting lost in Milwaukee while running. Sold!