Best Man, Best Moment... BFF?

Ok cutting into my (lame since I barely took pictures) honeymoon recaps to share a hilarious wedding photo with you all. But before you see it, here's some background.

Mr Pug had some amazing wedding party dudes. I have great friendships with them all individually, and love them all for different reasons. Many of Mr P's besties have been a huge part of my life in Indy because I moved here knowing NO ONE with NO FRIENDS.

One of the best men, D, is no exception. He is practically unreachable at times - and lives in Chicago, so we don't see him often - but when we do see him, he's unstoppable. D went to college with Mr P, and I was anxious to meet him after Mr P and I started dating. A few months into our relationship, we had planned a trip to Chicago. D called Mr P and started the convo with "what color underwear are you wearing?" If you knew him, you'd laugh at that. Naturally at first I was like.... "who is this weirdo?" Then I met him and instantly adored him. He came up to me when we first met and said something purposely awkward like "Your eyes are striking!" and then we were all besties.

In his speech at the wedding, D mentioned the first time we met, and asked our guests "...did you know she talks?" Yea I talked his ear off that night. It ended with us doing the Kid n Play dance in the middle of a bar...

(The dance I speak of is more easily viewed here, the part we did starts at 1:16.)

Later that night we strolled the streets of Chicago screaming Rhianna's Umbrella song. It was instant friendship!

He came into Indy a year and a bit later in August 2008... we enjoyed fun times again. He is goofy and hilarious and always brings a great time.

And his next Indy visit in August 2009...

Let's just say he's a REALLY, REALLY good friend to Mr Pug. And is no longer a fan of Indy.

But he's definitely still a fan of us!

Ok onto this awesome moment. So he drove with Mr Pug and I from the church to our reception. The dinner at Buca was downtown, and we had to park in mall parking. (Indianapolis' downtown mall is intermingled throughout the buildings downtown and sort of "hidden.") While walking through the mall to the street, we passed a photobooth. I was giddy with happiness and really just enjoying the moment of being married, finally. And the three of us decided to hop in and savor that moment!

I wish it was bigger on here!!!!!!! We were wacky and goofy and it was such a fun moment from the wedding. A lot of the time that day, I focused on stress and things going wrong (for example- someone may or may not have worn white to my wedding?) and having a carefree moment was exhilarating! I can definitely say that that moment was one of the best moments of the day. Oh and now we're all BFF... 4L.

Yes I realize this is borderline stalkerish to do a post about someone who was Mr Pug's friend first. But he's always been such a good friend to my hubs, and is now a good friend to me too, so it needs to be mentioned! Does your significant other have a friend who has become a friend to you too?

The Honeymoon: Ouchies!

Flat out warning you that there are GROSS pictures later in this entry. Fair warning!!!

Alright, my honeymoon recaps are going to be pretty lame since we never left the resort and spent the majority of the time just flat out RELAXING. We are not excursion people. Although, any other time, we may have taken a booze cruise or something. What stood in our way? The burnnnn.

The first full day (Tuesday) we both didn't sunscreen our legs. I'm fair, but I still tan a lot better than Mr Pug. See? This was a day or so after the burn went away.

Below is Thursday morning. Mr P's legs weren't as purple as they had been but you can see the AMAZING redness and swelling.

Yea the above picture I was startled by the elevator but here's a centered one:

Note that he's holding up his shorts, not wearing short-shorts. I died laughing a little after I took that picture.

Later Thursday yellow blistering developed, proving that Mr Pug saying he had 2nd degree burns was correct. Here are his legs the day we left (Sunday)... the right leg is rippled with blisters.

Dry, burnt, blistered.

Then we fly, and get to our connection in Philly. And we're picking up our luggage (who knew you had to pick up luggage before customs then re-check it if you have a connection coming back from international travel?) and I all of a sudden am like... "Oh.My.Gosh."

YEP massive yellow blister. Which drained. A lot. And still does. Drains then refills. Constantly. Sorry that's TMI. I warned you though!

See how much worse it is today?

I draped him with a ruler thing to show that it's bigger than an inch across. It is so intriguingly gross.

Just let this serve as a lesson to you future honeymooners.... SPF 50 ALL OVER. IF YOUR LEGS DON'T NORMALLY BURN, STILL SPF THEM. Or you could get 2nd degree burns. For reals.

Ok back to trying to convince the hubs to go to a freakin' doctor!

Blogged!!! (or, "Hi from Jamaica!")

Ok yea, here I am, on my honeymoon with my HUSBAND!

...who is half Irish and tans like it, and the poor dear is so sunburned on his legs that they're nearly purple. From Tuesday. So yes, internet was necessary in our recovery/shade/"ohmigodnotsunnnnn!" time.

Your sweet comments have literally made my day(s) while I've been checking them! And I'll make you all happier... we've been blogged! Our photog is SICK and posted 45 pictures on facebook (friend me bitches!) and did a great blog post. And yea, now you'll know my last name... oh well. I don't care, it's so worth it.

Sick-amazing-awesome pictures by Erin Hession Photography!

Please comment here AND on her site, show some love for my RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME photog, and stay tuned!!!! So much more awesomeness to come!

(Seriously, how do you all do recaps? There are insane amounts of details!)

Ok, back to put a little aloe on my so-so leg burns and nurse the hubby with some ibuprofen and SERIOUS aloe applications. Say a little prayer for us that, unlike cockroaches and vampires, we can emerge from the shade tomorrow.

ps- someone remind me that "all-inclusive" doesn't mean "eat your own body weight in food & drink until you get your money's worth."

Soooo I'm MARRIED!!!!!

I'm married! Here are a FEW pics...

This one from my friend's blackberry:

Gang signs!

Then at the end of the night, my photographer printed a folio with eight pictures. Here are a few:

The folio:

Then today, my hairdresser came to the hotel for my post-wedding chop:

SHORT AGAIN! WOOHOOOO!

And just cause I KNOW you wanna see the bling...

They're all soldered! Like us, they will never part :)

It was AMAZING!!!! So many stories... but now it's honeymoon time!!!! I'll update you all soon!

Three days? Holy (#*&$%!

I had a wedding miracle. I ordered 5 tiny ceramic pugs from this etsy seller (nuudee, she's out of Thailand, but yes that made for an interesting "what did you buy from... NUDE?" conversation when I purchased them.) With the shipping from Thailand, I had a really open window as far as when they arrived. The miracle was them arriving 4 days before the earliest supposed arrival date! Here they are... naked ceramic pugs. They look creepy because of the blank eyes.

I spent the evening painting first, due to the gorgeous weather. I finished up the birdcage card box...

...did an antique white finish on our program basket... (antique white aka "I don't have enough spray paint" white...)

Not horrible...

Then I got back to programs. I had only glued 20 into their green cardstock backings last night. While I was working, FMIL Pug came over and told us great news - she's going to move up to Michigan to be with her partner!!!!! - and hung out with and drank some beers while I crafted. She also gave Mr Pug a hair trim (she cuts his hair) so it would be fresh for Saturday. Meanwhile... the pugs were VERY happy to see her.

I did gloss coats (a gloss spray) on the pug cake toppers after painting them. I didn't have great brushes (buying a 99 cent brush pack = poor decision in retrospect) so the paint job wasn't as great as I'd hoped. I'll add their headpieces as soon as I finish them.

The bug eyes kill meeeeee!

Like my lipstick!?

These are B-TOTs aka "Black Tip-of-Tails." I adore the puggie B-TOTs!

OOT bags are tomorrow!!!!! Everything is bought I just have some putting together to do. Also Mr P and I finished gluing the programs into the green cardstock and punching holes... just ribbon to add. Goodness gracious we're almost done!

More programs....

So... sick... of programs.

Today was the next step... gluing the 4 pages together. I used a basic glue stick. I'll use better glue to glue them in the green cardstock and further secure them with the ribbons.

120 of these suckers.

Programs... I officially hate you.

Well there you have it, my brain is mush. Tomorrow is Mr Pug's 28th birthday so give him a shout if you could! I love him so much and can't wait to put wedding stuff on the back burner and celebrate tomorrow!

PS- our rings are ready at Shane Co! I knew Tom would pull through. Celeb status pays off. (J/K... obv.)

Less than a week! Productivity continues!

Seriously people, I had such a productive weekend! I started out on Saturday morning at Aunt P's. FSIL and I went over there to make the cookies. We did half in green and half not-colored (white?) Here's FSIL rolling out the green dough.

We then used royal icing to put dots along the edges and other decorations. We did green on the plain cookies and white on the green.

I left around 11:30 (we got there at 9:00 am!) to get my hair highlighted. I was about 3/4 done getting the foils put in when I get a frantic call from Mr Pug. His task for the day was to take two of our pugs, Dixie and Harley, to the vet so they'd be cleared for boarding while we were gone. (Sophie went a week or two ago.) He went to get gas and while his car was on, he somehow got locked out... with the pugs in the car! He wanted me to come let him in with his spare key (on my keyring.) I tried to explain that I had chemicals in my hair and couldn't leave til they were done. Clearly that didn't make the situation any better. We couldn't find anyone to come pick up my key and bring it to him, so I just took off right after she washed my hair (soaking wet!) to try and help him. By then though, he had a locksmith come and open the door for him. Luckily his car and the pugs are ok, and they made it to the vet. We took some much-needed together time that night.

Today we went to church and then a church fundraiser luncheon. After that, Mr P and I went tanning! I got him signed up so we could get his Irish skin a bit of a base before our sun-filled honeymoon.

After tanning I went to Michael's and Jo-Ann's for some craft items. The first thing we did when I was done shopping? Spray paint!

I got the most boring basic white birdcage card box at Jo-Ann's, but black spray paint gave it a new lease on life. I also got a basket for programs (I need to buy more spray paint for it) and used the spray paint for a business card holder as well. It'll hold our photo request cards.

Aunt P bought this cute little clip stand at Crate & Barrel and I made this sign to put near our cookie favors.

I also made a sign for the birdcage.

I did the linen paper for the wording, then the green cardstock, then black cardstock, then added the ribbon, then finally white cardstock. I think it'll look nice against the black birdcage.

Next up was what I dreaded most. The programs. I went to Kinko's and first got the green cardstock cut in half (less than $2.)

Jumping ahead- when I got home I used the perforation blade on my paper cutter (makes an indent for easy folding) 1-inch in on each 1/2 sheet of cardstock.

Ok, back to Kinko's. While I was there, Mr Pug cut the ribbons I had purchased at Michael's. I loved how much he helped me today! Meanwhile, I was cutting our programs. Each sheet had two program pages on it. Each program was four pages. Which meant I had 240+ sheets to cut, with seven cuts per page. Not fun. It took me more than two hours but I did it! Yes, Kinko's centers have a big industrial paper cutter you can use. Some are good, some aren't. Luckily when mine started to rip up the paper a bit, they brought out the brand new cutter which had come in the day before. Great timing, right?

An overview of the day's projects:

The gorgeous ribbon I got for the programs, cut by Mr P!

The card sign for our birdcage card box.

The piles of pages! I seriously am amazed that I got them finished already. I have cutter's arm now though (paper cutting equivalent of tennis elbow.)

Such a successful day! I seriously cannot believe I'm going to be married to Mr Pug in less than a week!! A week from right now I'll be finishing packing for our honeymoon! CUE FREAKOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even MORE Progress (and a permanent milk mustache)

Yesterday before my dinner I went tanning. My normal, the stand up beds, yada yada. I heard RAVE reviews about the tanning booth teeth whitening system, Twilight Teeth, so I got it. The good news? My teeth are a bit whiter. After tanning next week I should be great. The bad news? The mouth-guard thing you use (it holds your lips back to expose your teeth) during the process? Um it is slightly larger than my lips apparently. Today at work I looked at myself in the bathroom and realized...

I have a permanent milk mustache. Oh, and HOLY PORES.

(Yes I am the bravest person ever for posting that pic, I know.)

Basically the guard-thing covered the areas above the corners of my lips, thus blocking them from tanning. I guess next time I'll just have to adjust it better. Seriously this picture does my milk mustache no justice... it was SO BAD all day. Darn these thin lips! (I am SERIOUSLY puckering them out in that picture. Just FYI. I have thin-lip-itis.)

SO I get home from work and Mr Pug headed out to see a groomsman who couldn't go to his bachelor party (his was last weekend as well!) and I was all, what to do, what to do? And decided to contemplate programs. For the millionth time. I start it off tonight by looking online at Staples for printer ink and - behold - they have mine in-stock!

I run to Staples and buy the ink and a 500 count box of the same linen paper I used in another DIY. I only needed like 250 but the 500 was only like a buck and half more. Well let's just say I'm glad I got it...

Turns out, it took me 23984739 tries to figure out how to print it to scale. Photoshop printed it too small, preview printed it too big. I felt like Goldilocks. Finally I just played with the % until I got what I needed. So I print 40 full programs and realize... a groomsman's last name is spelled wrong. Adding insult to injury? His sister is on there, as a speaker, and HER last name is spelled right. So that was embarrassing. I just printed up more of those and moved on. Sweet paper down the drain.

I'm finishing the 90th set as I type! It will be nice to have these printed as the weekend begins so I can cut them allll week. Friends, it will suck. So, so much. But I have faith. Faith that I will never have to even look at my paper cutter again after this. Faith that my days of failed, pricey, DIY disasters are behind me. MARCH 21 I BECKON TO YOU! FREEDOM I SAY!

Ok, clearly I've lost it. But I really am happy about the progress. I must end with some bad news though. I mean, what would a Miss Pug post be without some complaining, right?

I got a call from the one and only Shane Co today. They left a voicemail. (I failed to mention that on Tuesday or Wednesday, I took our rings in- mine needed to be dipped and soldered to the two bands, and all needed to be sized up 1/4 size. Mr P's was getting engraved and sized up as well.) So I get this voicemail that they're "calling about my ring repair order" or something like that, no details, nothing. I was sure that I'd hear "we lost your rings" when I called. Well, it wasn't that bad, but bad nonetheless. Apparently both their jeweler dudes (technical term) who do the jewelry-fixin-stuff are out sick. And apparently it's stage 7 swine flu or something because they are super backed up. My rings were supposed to be done Sunday... they said it could be as late as THURSDAY. I was all... "I guess you're not asking me anything? So I guess... thanks for telling me?" I did reiterate that my wedding was SATURDAY, as in, you know, two days after THURSDAY. She assured me if something was wrong with them they WOULD have it fixed by Saturday even if we got them back Thursday. I kind of felt bad for her, she said it was, and I quote, "the worst day of her life" and that "not everyone was being quite so nice." So I am putting my trust in Shane Company. My friend in the diamond business. Jeez don't they realize I'm on a commercial? Us celebs have it so hard!!

Up next? Cookie decorating with Aunt P and FSIL in the AM and then a hair coloring appointment!