Bachelorette NYC Weekend {part 2}

We left off right before we left! We hopped in some cabs and head to Suze's place. She had some wine, beers, and snacks, along with crazy 80's music! Here I am with my FAB sisters M (left) and R (right).

Friends started to arrive! Here's BM L!

Two of my sorority sisters Dev and Kiki came... Dev from NJ and Kiki from NORTH CAROLINA!!!! We may or may not have chugged and sang a Sigma Kappa drinking song later, along with fellow SK Mel who arrived later.

A lot of my family members came. Here's Aunt Mo, me, and Aunt Sue.

One of the funniest arrivals was BM H (right) and her sister Tori. Wearing thong leotards. They had to pregame before getting on the subway to get there.

Here's my happy Family!!! R, Mom, me, and M!

Some of my BESTS were present. Including Em (wedding greeter, came down from Chicago), Riss (came up from Baltimore), me, BM L (came from Boston) and "G" who yes, goes by G in real life.

I made a deal with my sister M's boyfriend that he'd put on his 80's outfit at 9:00pm. At 9 on the dot I started to stare him down until he caved. Behold:

Yea he wasn't messing around. Check out BM H and Tori in the background above!

M and her boyfriend cracking up. I love them.

Seriously aren't they so cute? I convinced him he needs to come to the wedding. He's already booked his flight.

In case you wanted to check out H's butt or my DIY veil, here ya go!

We cabbed it up again to Brother Jimmy's and took over their basement. Here is a pic with ALL BRIDESMAIDS! Top: A, R, me, H, M, bottom: S, L.

This dude was all over my friend Linds but she wasn't having any of it. I tried to play matchmaker!

We all danced and had a great time, especially K-Buzz.

Things got a little crazy. There are a ton of pictures like this.

You've all seen this one...

They don't call me drunkeyes for nothin'. I was telling M we needed to take R home because she was a mess, R was telling M that they needed to take ME home because I was a mess. Needless to say we went home and passed out. Four people in a studio. It was lovely.

I woke up, got bagels with the fam, and then left! It was such an amazing weekend away and I loved loved loved seeing my friends and family. To all of you: Thanks for coming out for the party!!!!!!

So that's it for the recaps. A whopping two :) Hopefully things continue to come together for the wedding so I'll have MANY more recaps after March 20!

Bachelorette NYC Weekend {part 1}

Thursday I departed for the wonderful Indianapolis airport for my trip to NYC!!!! I found my fave popcorn place had a shop in my terminal... it's called "Just Pop In!" and I think I'll do something from them in the gift bags. This mix is the Indy Mix and it's caramel popcorn and cheesy popcorn mixed... sounds gross but is SO yum!

Oh and here's my ghetto broken suitcase.

I got to NYC around 8pm and met my sister outside her place. It takes moments like that, running towards her on the street and then having her pull out my broken suitcase handle - like straight out of the bag - and having us both laugh so hard we can't talk, that makes me realize how much I love her and miss her. She ordered me REAL AMAZING ITALIAN NYC/NJ FOOD... they forgot to add the bacon but it's fine, I'll take a penne vodka anyday.

We snuggled (since in her 5th floor walk-up studio the only other option was her foamiture) and she let me sleep in. I woke up to a note, which cracked me up.

The bottom says "PS- How much better are my notes than ma's... no chores!" which is making fun of the notes my mom would always leave us in the summer/on weekends, saying to "have a great day but make sure these chores are done before I get home," followed by at least 12 challenging chores. She's tough.

Here's the lovely view from her place:

And her studio! I love it! Part of me was a little sad/jealous that she's doing two things I never did but always thought I would: live in NYC, and live alone. Then I remember her rent is more than my mortgage and start to like my little house a bit more!

Here's the other half! It was a really nice layout for a studio!!!!

I set out on an adventure. I get a lot of anxiety in NYC when I don't know where I'm going so she gave me great directions. I walked to Sephora to pick up a few items, then took a subway to Buttercup Bake Shop, an old favorite of mine from when I worked in NYC. I got a red velvet one and promptly diedddd.

I brought my sis and her coworker (the one with the pashminas) cupcakes to their work to thank them for all the pashmina work. I also got to meet my sister M's boyfriend!!!! I vastly approve. You'll see in part 2!!!!

After randomly running into an old friend (I was all sweaty from walking, ew, how embarrassing) I then went and met up with my Aunt C. It was her 50th birthday celebration weekend with friends! She shared a mimosa and we went to the Museum of Natural History for the butterfly exhibit. She had a blinking "50" pin that butterflies LOVED to land on!

My mom got into the city soon after and we walked around. She also wanted to go to Buttercup and they said "back again?" Seriously, so embarrassing. We stopped into some stores and leisurely enjoyed NYC. Check out the three dogs on a vespa/cart of some sort. I died a little again.

We met up with my sister M and her boyfriend for dinner and then Mom and I picked up sister R at the airport. It was so great to see her!!!! She's so hilarious, coming from South Carolina, and complaining about the cold. Meanwhile, we're all enjoying the amazing weather!!!!

We spent the night at my mom's new condo in Jersey. She moved farther south and R and I LOVEDDDD her new place! It's so much easier for her than our house was. We relaxed and watched Kardashians Saturday morning then headed back into the city. R and I picked up the cupcakes we ordered for the party (from, you guessed it, Buttercup) and then went to M's. My cheapo Wal-Mart "uggs" were so stinky from all the walking around that they found their spot outside...

My mom went over to her friend Suze's (the party host) to help set up and my sisters and I got to hang out. We decided who was which Kardashian (Kourtney = me, Kim = M, and Khloe = R) and watched The Hangover twice (I'm Stu, M's Alan, and R's Phil.) We laughed and reminisced. Luckily I convinced them (and M's boyfriend!) to come out to Indy for the Indianapolis 500 and the hog roast party we have the day before... I'm excited we'll have more sister time soon.

Then it was time to crimp & primp...

Oh yes, I went 100% crimped out.

I crimped M & R's hair a little (they didn't go all out) and we all did some crazy makeup. Here's R working on her neon eye makeup.

We were all 80's out and ready to party!!! And that's exactly what you'll hear about next!

Overwhelmed.

Ok guys. So I just started my new job yesterday - and I'm so busy learning and training, plus right in the view of everyone, so no internet funsies at work. So no wedding tasks or tweeting or blog reading during the day. Add that it's oh what 11 days til the wedding and I am endlessly stressed. I'm feeling VERY overwhelmed and feel like I am doing a lot, all on my own. I have too much to do. I have a feeling this weekend will be hell.

I am at that point where I'm so overwhelmed that I want to just do nothing. Last night I forced myself to do something. So I took the Uprinting stickers I won from Miss Mojito and cut them.

Here they are pre-cutting... the smallest stickers I could get from the giveaway were the 3 inch square ones, so I just did four per sticker.

They didn't all come out perfect. OH WELL. I am so over it at this point.

I probably cut 1/3 to 1/2 of the 250 stickers. Which will be more than enough to seal the bags for our favor cookies. I can also use them for out of town bags (ha. I haven't done anything for those...) and sealing thank you notes.

PS- bachelorette weekend was FABULOUS. I don't have the time or energy to recap just yet but pics are on facebook for my fbook buddies, and I will give you a teaser...

Yes, it was that good.

Stay tuned for more. PS supportive texts/emails are welcome... it's times like right now that I wish my family and friends were here :(

Veil tutorial... 80's style

Well, I am actually DONE with my current job! It worked out really great for me- if you want to hear the hilarious story, you know where to find me.

Bad news is I'm still sick - today I've been super foggy and stuffed up - I feel hot but my temp is pretty low. Never good the week of your bachelorette party!

Since my bachelorette party is 80's themed, I really wanted to do a neon veil. So I decided to DIY. And hope that through my sick stupor it turned out better than past attempts. Luckily it did. Here's your lackluster DIY instructions...

I bought a yard each of pink and orange tulle at Jo-Ann's and cut them in half. I also got a comb for the veil from their bridal section. Probably spent too much on it (I think it was around $6!) but time was of the essence. I also got pink embroidery thread and re-used a thick needle I had from this (failed) project. When I got home, I broke out the glue gun.

That's right, set it down on a KFC menu. Why the heck not.

I glued the left corner of the tulle (all 4 layers) to the left corner of the comb. The glue went on the part of the comb that would rest on your head, and the tulle wrapped over it.

Great picture, right? Sicky couldn't break out the macro? Ugh, pathetic.

Then I did the same to the far right side, and then the center.

I continued gluing until it was all attached. It was still too poofy though, and that's where the thread comes in. I threaded the needle around the base of the comb.

I went right to left then criss-crossed left to right.

I tied off the end and secured it with a dab of glue. At this point I also realized that the macro might help. Finally!

I figured you'd all want to see it on. But remember, I'm sick. No makeup. Hot & cold. I put in the thermometer for effect.

Ok so minus the sick bride, it looks so awesome!!!!!

The tulle was super cheap- less than $2/yard - so if you could find an affordable comb this would be a great thing to make for a bachelorette. You could do white, their wedding colors, or something to go with their theme. I know a lot of bachelorette parties do black and pink decor, and I think black and pink would look awesome in a veil!!!

And yea, I know it's weird that I'm making this for myself. But I just HAD to!!!!!!!

What color would your veil be?

PS- if any of you bloggers are going to be in NYC this weekend, let me know!!! Because I will make you attend!!!

And back to blaughhhhh. Oh and Cake Balls AGAIN.

Today started out great. I went to my first dress fitting, and we planned Mr Pug's fitting to be later today. We also got Sophie (our fawn puggie) all set on her shots - 1 down, 2 to go!

Then we were let down majorly, again, by family members. I won't go into it, I'm not going to bash or bitch or complain. I do enough of that. This process has shown Mr P and myself a lot about certain peoples' character. I'm hoping that the day will get better, we'll have apologies and reconciliations, and all will be well. Basically if you want to know more, you're probably following me on twitter or gchat me already, and I suggest you do just that.

Since we're on a negative note right now, I'm not in the mood to post about my dress and the tuxes. But I have a few negative-nancy-type things to discuss so now or never, right!?

First of all- my worst nightmare happened. And probably your worst nightmare too... invites not getting delivered. I got my sister M's back right away, and that was understandable since she had just moved into her Manhattan apartment. Fast forward, our RSVPs were "due" last Friday, and I started contacting friends last week to check if they were coming. One of my sorority sisters responded saying: "We received your adorable Save the Date but I wasn't sure if there was an invitation coming. I want to apologize if you have been waiting on us." What a kind and eloquent way to put it, I give her credit... HOW EMBARRASSING! The invite never got delivered to her and never came back to me. (I double checked my label documents, and there was one printed.)

Then yesterday, I got a "return to sender" from ANOTHER sorority sister! Sent January 12, returned February 26?

Postal WTF FAIL. Something to keep in mind when catching up on non-sent RSVPs.

Another thing that's been heavy on my mind: Mr Pug expressed last week that he's worried about people judging or talking badly about our wedding. I understand... all his friends are having and have had beautiful great weddings, and we aren't offering near as much to our beloved guests. Of course they all know the story of what happened, and aren't judging US. When Mr P shared this fear, I brought up a recent wedding of a friend, and asked him if he would have gone if they didn't have a reception. He said of course yes, and that he'd be happy for them. (Which I assume is how any normal person would feel.) I don't blame him for feeling pooped about the wedding. The whole process has been kind of a huge let down and disappointment, and it's hit Mr P especially hard. His bachelor party is this weekend and I hope it'll pump him up about how fun our wedding can and WILL be. It makes me mad that we have to feel these things because of other peoples' thoughtlessness.

I do have SOME good news to share... Mr P's co-best man, A, will turn 28 during the bachelor party next weekend. We decided to throw him a surprise party last night! He is obsessed with cake balls and is basically the reason I bring them around so often. So his girlfriend and the couple hosting the party helped me make them on Thursday night.

Mr P and I arrived early last night and made A a "cake ball cake!" I made those little flags in photoshop. This was just a Styrofoam cone, stuck on cardboard and covered with tin foil. The cake balls are stuck in with toothpicks.

I love it!

A's girlfriend and I shoved in some candles so we could sing and make it really "birthday cake"- like. I wish I had a picture with the candles lit.

It was a great party with wonderful company! A was absolutely shocked.

My last happy announcement is that I gave notice yesterday at my job. I am starting a new job in a week! March 8 will be my first day. It's a much more stable, national company - with benefits! I am excited to start my new job and get two weeks down before my honeymoon. They're very eager to get me started and are being really flexible about time off for my honeymoon. I'm really lucky to have such a great opportunity come through!

Mr Pug is on the phone dealing with more of said drama. :( Off back to crazyland and hopefully I'll have a happy post soon!

ONE MONTH & Some Goodies

Saturday (aka yesterday) was the ONE MONTH mark! Your supportive emails and comments have really helped, and I haven't thanked everyone enough. Especially thanks to Windi for the email and Stephanie for planning our trip for Wednesday.

Yesterday was too busy for a post- we started the day by visiting Mr Pug's grandma to give her a wedding invitation. She is in a nursing home-like facility (not sure what is the correct term) and has Alzheimer's. His Aunt P visits her daily and met up with us there. I made her a larger-print simple invitation with our picture, since I knew that the small print and tons of wording on our invite would be too much for her. She was very alert and excited!

We then went to our friend's birthday party, which was a Vegas murder mystery! We all got parts ahead of time and had objectives and secrets. It was amazing... everyone got in character and really dressed up! I was "Hot Slot Sally," who was a big winner on the slots and high rolling gambler. Mr P was Jim Beam, the bartender.

I wore the red lipstick from Halloween and kind of liked it! I might have to get this lipstick in a more wedding-appropriate color for the wedding, since I could barely tell it was there. It was Maybelline's Superstay Lipcolor, I think in red or cherry. What color would you pick for me for the wedding? I'm horrible at picking lipcolor!

So about 10:30pm I slipped into a horrible blackout... you know the kind, you don't realize how much you're drinking and BAM - all of a sudden I'm throwing a 2 year old tantrum at 11:30 because I want to go home. Great reminder to monitor my drinking for the wedding... I'm a drinker in general, be it water at a restaurant or work, or drinks at a party. I just need to always be DOING something! (The same goes with food... my poor thighs.) That led to a miserable Sunday morning for me. At noon, I met up with Aunt P though for some SHOPPING! I don't know if I have mentioned this, but for $50 we were able to use the church's gallery area for a small appetizer gathering after the service. I think it will be great so we can mingle with all guests, especially since not everyone will want to go to the after party. Aunt P has been instrumental in helping with this. It will be probably considered tacky but in reality, I don't care... all I care about is seeing our guests and thanking everyone for coming and CELEBRATING BEING MARRIED! Our ceremony will likely be over at 4:00, and we'll have this til around 5:00 (maybe running a little later but the wedding party and family will leave at 5:00 to get to dinner.)

We went to the Factory Card Outlet in town (basically a party store) and I freaked out... they have basic plates/cups/napkins in EVERY COLOR, but also some in those colors in a flourishy pattern! (I couldn't find the flourishy ones on the website but I guarantee they had them for all colors listed.) The green ones with the flourishes looked AMAZING but we decided to do green tablecloths. Instead, we got the black and white flourishy napkins and plates. We also got tons of trays for serving the food.

Check out our cart!

Here's a picture of the plates with the flourishes. They literally came in every color. If you are throwing a shower or party they'd be great. I will likely use them for our summer parties.

Most amazing part was that Aunt P refused to let me pay a cent. I couldn't believe her generosity. She cares so much about us and our happiness, and wants to help us make the most out of our special day. I strive to be like her... she's such a happy, generous, sweet person. I had a great time and she helped me forget my hangover :)

So a few things crossed off... we're getting there! Did you have a productive weekend? What people have helped you out along the way?

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changesssss...

This is such a hard entry for me to write!

Thanksgiving was, well, a bust. I won't even go into the family drama but there were fights- about everything and anything, between the whole family and between just one or two people. Mr Pug was angered and made comments about how frustrating being around his family was, and that he wished we were just going to Vegas instead of having a big wedding that they would attend. FMIL pushed the issue, as if that was a good idea. Long story short, she told us she was not going to be giving us the monetary gift towards the wedding that she and her partner had promised. (I wrote about it on Weddingbee here since I wanted to vent but couldn't blog until I notified guests... just have to shout out for the support I got from the girls on there.)

Why the "take-back?" It's not clear. It's not that she doesn't "want to," but it seems to be about finances and personal issues. It's not right that she waited until 112 days before the wedding to tell us, after the STD's went out, and after some people had booked flights. Some things were said that made me upset but ultimately, Mr Pug and I had to and have to deal with this. Without the money we were promised, we knew we'd be unable to make ends meet for our wedding.

On his end, there was a lot of anger, frustration. Partly with his family and partly with the stress brought on by the wedding. On my end, there were lots of tears. And a lot of this:

I frantically searched for other options, VFW halls, Lions clubs, anything. I used my master spreadsheet for our reception venue to cut things. Even cutting the decorations and open bar wouldn't make it affordable. Part of it was frustrating though, because of that. Why should we have to pay the 20% and then sales tax on a meal? It makes sense I guess, but in our situation, it doesn't. Finally Mr Pug had an idea, that led to an idea, that led to an idea, and within a half an hour we had it figured out.

Our New Plan:

We are still having our ceremony as planned. Dresses, makeup, flower bouquets, PHOTOGRAPHY, organ playing, wedding party (hopefully!), and the works. After that... nothing.

Now, technically, we are planning to take our family and friends to dinner. But it won't be fancy and it has to be SMALL. We're not really openly sharing this news about the dinner with everyone. Our closest family and friends who can afford to will come to the ceremony, and then after RSVP's come in we'll invite the people closest to us to come out to dinner. It will be somewhat intimate and fun. Best of all, after that, we are inviting EVERYONE to hit the bars with us.

We're also letting people know that we'll have two casual, backyard celebrations this summer: one in Indianapolis, and one in New Jersey. That way, everyone can be involved this summer, and we can still celebrate with our guests. And... I get to plan two fun casual summer parties!

We had this idea on Monday, and then sat on it for a little while. I talked it over with my Mom (aka Wonder Woman, aka my ROCK) and she drafted an email to send family to let them know the change ASAP. I then worked off that and emailed my friends a similar message. Mr Pug will notify his family and friends soon as well, though they are much less affected (effected? whatever) by it as most of them live here or within driving distance. At least then they'll know that most of them won't be attending any sort of meal after the ceremony with us, and maybe some of them can make plans to go out to dinner together or to congregate at someone's house to continue the celebration before the after-party.

It was hard to email my friends... I feel horrible. It feels NASTY to say "oh we're having an intimate dinner after with pretty much just close family and the wedding party" (which I feel like could read as "we're doing something and NOT inviting YOU!") I also feel badly for those who booked flights and now may want to reconsider attending the ceremony, and would prefer to attend one of the summer celebrations. But I guess I can't let myself worry. If people want to come, and people can afford to come, they will. To something. And it will be because they care - which is what matters.

So is this still Miss Pug's "pawfect" wedding? Yes and no. It's not what I dreamed of as a little girl. In fact I haven't read wedding blogs since Saturday, it's too upsetting. A post about "which toasting flutes should we pick!?" made me want to throw the computer in jealousy. But we refuse to go into debt over an event, and we don't want to start our marriage out in debt. We already have student loans! We made a decision, and I'm trying to look on the bright side of things (like, perhaps, a casually Tuscan backyard celebration in NJ with limonata and lemoncello? Oh this is getting good! More planning!)

Up next? My super-wonderful crazy amazing invitation & STD designer Laurel whipped up a new "invitation" for me in like, hours. I can't wait to show you all!

Rehearsal Dinner Drama

We have probably played around with a zillion rehearsal dinner spots. (Rehearsal dinner hereby to be known as "RD" because I am lazy.)

We aren't formal people by any means, so our RD is not going to be a formal affair. Some RD's end up as fancy as the wedding, and that is NOT what Mr Pug and I want. Before I give you our "options," here's some background. One of our hotel choices is downtown, since many guests have not been to Indy and will be tourists while not doing wedding things. Our church and home are in the "Broad Ripple" area, which is northeast of downtown. There are fun bars in both areas, but we always go out in Broad Ripple. Our church is in Broad Ripple. Ok, debrief done, moving on.

Our first and favorite option was the Slippery Noodle Inn, a historic Indy landmark.

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Located a block or two from the downtown hotel we have reserved, it's a fun Blues bar with great music. However, it's icky and smoky. But our non-RD guests could meet us here after and we could all enjoy some music and drinks. So... I called them.

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Big N-O from them. They do private parties, but no one under 21 is permitted. MOH R and groomsman J (our siblings) will be 19. So that won't work! He said though that they'd drop the 21 part if the smoking ban passes in Indianapolis. Which he assured me it would, and soon, since we are preparing for the 2012 superbowl here in Indy. Mr Pug, however, heard the mayor on the radio this very morning saying he would veto it if it made it to his desk. So... let's not bank on this one, I guess.

Mr Pug actually was pushing for a Broad Ripple area restaurant. While it would be less convenient for our out of town guests (not walking distance whatsoever) it is a very short cab ride. It is also very close to our church and where we normally hang out. One of our favorite restaurants, Bazbeaux, is located right where all the bars are. Parking sucks, but it's a fun area.

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Bazbeaux serves wonderful original pizzas. We could just pick a few, order a bunch, and everyone is happy! Right? Wrong. No private parties, no reservations. Thanks a lot, Bazbeaux. I will miss sharing my BOT with everyone...

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Yes, that is my favorite pizza above. The BOT... Bacon, Onion & Tomato. Le sigh.

Mr Pug and I pondered what to do while at Cancun, a Mexican restaurant on a main street right next to Broad Ripple. That we visit so often they know us. And then a lightbulb went off... we could have it here! So I pulled aside my waiter and asked. He said they've done parties of 100 before... you just need to call the day before. So that makes me a little uneasy, but you know that they'll shove as many people in those restaurants as they can when necessary! (Have you ever been to a Mexican place on Cinco de Mayo? Then you know what I mean.) There also are not private rooms, but we're not doing it formal, so really, why do we care? We are just out to thank our wedding party members.

Since they don't have a website, I pulled a photo of what the food would look like... you know what you're seeing, delicious cheesy, meaty, corny foods... tacky tile tables and weirdly upholstered booths... a large strong drink...

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Although we'd stick with pitchers of these, we wouldn't want anyone to be too toasted!

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I can't decide if we should keep looking or stick with Cancun. It's amazing delicious food... but feels like a risk! I want to include information about the RD in invitations (for those who are invited to the RD) so I need to decide in the next month. I asked for suggestions on the Indiana board of The Knot as well. What would you do?