Well well well, long time no see!

This is how it usually goes for me. I blog for a while, then I disappear, then I try again. I fell off the 365 wagon during April. April was ca-razy for me! Our families came down for Easter, work was insane, lots going on. Life in general has gotten a lil busy, and we're not even in the full swing of wedding stuff. I'm working on a better time management schedule for myself. 1 or 2 hours a week doing wedding stuff, 1 night a week editing photos and playing in lightroom, and then working on my hybrid assignments for SSD and the other crafty things I want to do. We'll see how it goes. I did pretty well last week, we'll see how this week goes. We're working 4-10's so we can take friday off to go to Jadyn's college graduation. That cuts into "my time" every night by 2 hours, but we'll see what happens.

Anyway, I figured a good old "From Our Blog to Yours" from SSD would be a good way to get back into the swing of things. So, here you go. My Star Wars name.

Your Star Wars Name Is Colbr Mabro

Your Star Wars Title Is Ydacho of Nadroj

What Is Your Star Wars Name and Title?

We're officially less than 5 months away from the wedding, which is NUUUUUUUTS!!! The bridesmaid dresses have arrived which is SUPER exciting. I need to call the bridal store and find out when my fittings will start, but they've had my dress and veil for a few weeks now. So all that is wonderful. Jordan's mom called last night, and there is potential for a problem with the hotel block we set up, so I need to take care of that this week. I'm working on a mock-up of the favors, and will be ordering the final pieces this week as well. I have half of the pieces of the invitations put together, which is awesome. They don't take long to put together, but I think it'll be easier if I put the different pieces together, and then put the entire invitation together. I just LOVE the invitations, I'm so happy with them.

I think that's enough for now. Hopefully tonight I'll get some more photos from the last few months edited and online so I can share. :)

Have a great day!
~Col

Rambling Tuesday

So, I'm getting sick. I can feel it. My throat hurts, my back is achy and my stomach has been acting up for a few days. So NOT how I want to spend Thanksgiving weekend and 10 hours in the car (give or take). I'm drinking tea and sucking on Halls like my life depends on it.

This weekend I finally finished a hybrid project I've had in the works for what seems like forever. It took a long time to paint it (2 coats) and then it took forever to finish it off (waiting for the mod podge to dry). But, I love it. I'm probably going to make a few more and give them to friends with little girls as christmas presents. It's small, but perfect for little bows and hair ties and barrettes :) I couldn't get all the yellow tones out completely in post processing, but it's a cream colored paint. I used the new kit by Kristin Cronin-Barrow and Susan Bartolini, called "Live.Laugh.Love."




Since Thanksgiving isn't over yet, I have not done anything in terms of Christmas. No listening to Christmas music, no decorating house, nothing. I HATE that right after Halloween the stores started pimping their Christmas schtuff. I love Christmas as much as the next person, but come on! Give Thanksgiving a CHANCE! My designers however, have had Christmas on the brain for a while. So here are 2 LO's using recent releases.
"Tis the Season" using Arose Such a Clatter by Julie Billingsley:


And "Where are the Presents??" using And to All A Good Night by Traci Reed and Meg Mullens:


I'm looking forward to decorating the house for the season. I love the smell of the tree (which I'm sure will be 3 times bigger than necessary since Jordan goes and gets it while I prep for it's arrival), the look of the house with the lights on, and all the little details. I'm thinking of starting one of those little villages on our buffet in the dining room. My moms parents had a huge elaborate one, and I always remembered that about their tree. Grandpa built a special platform for it to sit on and everything was laid out (to perfection as that is Grandpa's way) so that all the cords were hidden underneath and out of the way. I did go ahead and buy some pretty new stockings from Pottery Barn a few weeks ago (did I mention that? I can't remember). They're going to look so cute hanging up under the cutout in the kitchen wall. I have the BG ornament set (I can't remember if it's from the Dasher or Figgy Pudding lines) so I want to get those made to hang around the house. I have so many projects I want to do! LOL! Not to mention all the gifts I want to make. I need to put on my Uber-Productive hat in the next few weeks! At least I can knit my little hands off in the car all weekend.

We're leaving for Pittsburgh on thursday morning (to try and avoid traffic). Doing random stuff on friday, including taking one of Jordan's sisters to try on the bridesmaid dress so we can order the right size. I'm hopefully meeting up with my girlfriend on friday at some point to hang out. Saturday we're driving to central PA to visit more of Jordan's family. We're either coming back that night, or spending the night there and coming home on sunday. Phew. It's a lot of car time. Thankfully we're taking the comfy new car and this time I'm riding shotgun :)

Oh! And we found a wedding photographer! After much arguing and disagreeing between myself and Jordan, he made the wise statement "Whatever you want." I think he's learning ;) We're going to go with Roy from Black Dog Photography. Friends of ours recommended them, and I'm confident they'll deliver the photojournalist style that I'm looking for, mixed in with traditional posed shots. We're having 1 for 5 hours and 1 for 8 hours. It was really important to me to have a second shooter. I want to have pictures of the guys getting ready, as well as some different angles of shots from the ceremony and then an extra pair of eyes at the cocktail hour. After the cocktail hour, Roy will probably take off, and the second shooter will stay until around cake cutting time. Just thinking about it all gets me so excited! Lol!

Well, I think I've babbled enough for today. Tomorrow I'll stop in with one of my other holiday projects (which is kind of 2 combined into 1). :)

Have a great day, and if I don't see you tomorrow, Happy Thanksgiving!!
~Col

New Hair, New wedding photographer, new new new!

It's amazing the effect an hour or two of pampering has on the soul. I went and got my hair done yesterday, and today I'm on top of the world! Jordan is not so happy with the haircut though. He didn't talk to me for like an hour after I got home. He doesn't like short hair on women at all, and we went a little shorter than normal this time. I kinda feel bad that he hates it so much, but I really like my hair short! He'll get over it I suppose, but I'm thinking of growing it out for the wedding now. It won't be nearly as long as I would like, but we'll see. I don't have to make a decision for another 3 months when it's time to get the highlights redone, LOL! Now if only I could stop biting my freaking nails, we'll be set!

We've been having a really good few weeks. We got into an arguement about 2.5-3 weeks ago about our living situation. But then we talked again later that night, and I feel a lot better about the whole situation. We still disagree, but at least I feel like he understands where I'm coming from now. So we'll see what happens in the next few months. The best part though, is that since we had the arguement and discussion, we've been better than ever. We've been extra snuggly and lovey dovey, even at work. I think I get more excited about the wedding every single day. :)

Shutterfly is having another card sale, so I'm hoping to get our Save the Dates done in the next few days and get some of them ordered. The Christmas cards came out awesome, so I'm confident I'll be happy with the Save the Dates too. I want to do cards since so many ppl are coming from out of town, I'm going to make up an information type packet to send with the save the dates. Places to eat, things to do, stuff like that. Since we're having the rehearsal on friday night and the wedding on sunday, everyone will have saturday free to do whatever they want. Which I think is going to work out really well. Or at least I hope :P

We also have to find a new wedding photographer. We were going to use a family friend, but some drama-rama has erupted. I would rather find a new photographer now, than worry and stress about it for the next 11 months. If things work out, the family friend will come as a guest, no big deal. Thankfully, we're still 11 months out, so we shouldn't have too much trouble booking someone. Plus, now I can find a photog who matches MY style, which will make me that much happier with the final product. I started searching yesterday and found some good prospects, so I'm excited to make contact with them and get the process started.

SSD is down for the next 2 days while they revamp the site and switch the store over to x-cart. I'm going through withdrawls, it's pathetic, LOL! The only good thing is that the designers are putting out tooooooooons of great products for the big reveal on saturday :) I've gotta goodies coming out of my ears! Lol! My mojo is still kinda missing, but Bree's templates save the day.

I've got serious craft ADD at home lately. Saturday I woke up and started working on a paper album. After breakfast I decided to finish sewing the 2nd curtain for the spare room upstairs. Then I started a digi LO. Then I finished the curtain, and started painting things to prep for hybrid projects. Then I started knitting 2 different projects for Christmas presents. I might officially be insane.

Today is rainy and gross. I forgot to bring anything for lunch, and we're out of lunchmeat. Fast food here I come! Lol!

Have a great day everyone :)
~Col