Annapolis: In Pictures

I mentioned a while back that the husband and I (ok, just me) really want to make an annual tradition of having a professional photo shoot each year around our anniversary. The idea is to capture our family as it grows - this year it'll be just us and the dog; who know's who'll show up next year!

The search has begun to find a photographer who will take the fun pictures we're looking for without the arm-and-a-leg price tag. I've got some feelers out, but I won't post on that till we've confirmed. What we do have confirmed is a location - beautiful downtown Annapolis, where we were married. I can't wait to have photos of us with this gorgeous background:

The brick roads, the little shops, the light posts, and the State buildings peaking above the skyline... I heart Annapolis so hard.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4,

FML: White polo not so white any more.

In a mad dash to get laundry done, clean the house, pack, and watch all of the Michael Jackson recaps possible, I wasn't 100% paying attention to what I was throwing in the laundry.

Disclaimer: I never pay attention to what goes in the laundry. I wash everything on COLD all the time. Hot water scares me, as does bleach. So it's all cold, all dye-free detergent, ALL THE TIME. Never in my 9 years doing laundry have I turned a shirt pink.

So today I threw in a select few shirts into the washer. Cold water. Dye-free detergent. Gentle cycle. In went: a teal LOFT shirt, a grey and white striped v-neck tee from Old Navy, a white Under Armour STAFF POLO SHIRT (!!!!!!!!!!), and a purple maxi dress from Target (that I bought for the honeymoon), and a black staff polo.

25 minutes later I went to switch the laundry and out came a teal shirt, a black shirt, a purple dress, a LILAC Under Armour staff polo shirt (FML) and a LILAC and grey striped v-neck tee.

I was stunned. Never have I EVER fecked up a load of laundry.... and the first time it happens it's obviously my favorite staff polo shirt that gets shot to shit. Honestly. FML. I was so surprised that I just threw the polo back in to run it again - I would have taken a picture for you all, but I wasn't thinking. Now, I understand how the laundry works, and I know that my white polo won't ever be white again. But I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that it magically comes out white again.

I can bandwagon with the best...

It's true: almost 8 months post-nuptials and I'm still enthralled with all things wedding. The dress, the decor, the perfect day of love between two people... I can't get enough. As such, Weddingbee is my Bible, and I've been known to lurk around ProjectWedding while I should be doing work. I like weddings; so sue me (or let me help you plan yours!). And of course, I'm still in love with my wedding....

I first saw it on That Wife's blog. Then it popped up on Weddingbee. And then I jumped on the bandwagon and went ahead and ordered a BlabLover5 original (via Etsy) as well...

That's right - I got a custom portrait of my wedding gown. And it's freakin' awesome. Here's the photo I sent to BlabLover5:

And just a few days later, this picture of the the painting showed up in my email:

How amazing is that?? She got the folds of the gown and everything... and included my bouquet. That is 100% my gown. I am seriously in love with this painting, and am pretty thrilled that I jumped on the bandwagon. I was even more happy when it arrived in perfect condition this afternoon.

And just because my bridesmaids are the best, here's the photo from above in all it's un-cropped glory:

In love...

How absolutely adorable is this poster:

I heart Stinkerpant Designs so hard.

I'm thinking it would be extra sweet hanging in a nursery, and would coordinate beautifully with a single initial above the crib:

Obviously I found this on Etsy.

I'd say about half my day at work is spent finding cute things (that I don't need) online. Of course, if I were pregnant, my days would suddenly become much more productive (seeing as I would actually need these things).

Weekend Wrap-Up

First of all, if you haven't seen The Hangover - get yourself to a theater STAT. We tried to go on Friday night but everything had sold out mid-day. Damn us for not using Fandango like those crafty paperbag puppets. We ended up buying tickets for Saturday night about an hour after I finished my shift at the mall (how cool, I'm 27 and work at the mall).

Note to self: Eat more than a high fiber english muffin with some egg beaters before standing on your feet in heels for 4.5 hours. I have no idea how strippers do it - my feet and back were killing me, and my heels were only about 2.5 inches high. I couldn't do it in 4+ inch heels!

Anyway, the movie was hysterical - the whole audience was laughing through about 75% of the movie. The other 25% was spent with jaw open thinking "Did that really just happen?". Amazing.

Second, I was at my second job, mindlessly folding stacks of t-shirts when I see a mom, dad, and teenage daughter walk in. They walk to the racks where I am, and it becomes clear that the mom is looking for pants. The teenage daughter holds up a pair and says "What about these?". The mom shakes her head and says "No, those'll make my legs look fat."

The daughter (who is old enough to realize she's going to get the silent treatment from her mother following this statement) says: "That's because you are fat. Go for a run or something."

Hmmm. The mother promptly got pissed off and walked out of the store. Happy Fathers Day, Dad. He looked like a deer in the headlights as he followed his wife out of the store.

OH - and of course, if you missed last night's J&K+8 (like I did because I was working at Job #2), here's the official news..... d-i-v-o-r-c-e. But no worries; they didn't make enough money yet from the show, so they'll continue to do it. Kill yourself. (I'll still watch.)

It's Tuesday already.... work late (at Job #1) tonight, work tomorrow, then off on Thursday and Friday to head to NJ to prep for my brother-in-law's wedding. Counting the hours till the eyebrow wax I have scheduled on Thursday morning... the area between my hairline and bridge of my nose is officially a disaster zone.

Happy Tuesday - leave me something fun below (otherwise I may kill myself at work today)!

What does it really involve?

I like to check my Google Analytics account every morning to see how many people are visiting (thank you for reading my crap!) and how they end up finding me in the first place. This morning I checked the "keyword" feature, and found that right after searching for "Bless This Nest" (which is the name of the blog), an overwhelming number of people actually land on my blog by searching for "bridesmaid porn".

The evidence:

I am truly wondering exactly what "bridesmaid porn" entails.... and I am a little sorry all the folks just landed on a post about shoes, when they were expecting, um, a bunch of girls all dressed up in over-priced satin gowns? Please enlighten me.... bridesmaid pon - what does it involve?

The Hangover

I've heard rave reviews for The Hangover, and we tried to go see it last night.... sadly, we got there and it had been sold out for quite some time. Instead, we went to Rita's for Italian Ice, and then to Target to see what was on sale.

We're going to give it another try tonight - we ended up buying tickets for tonight's show at the theater last night. So I'm hitting up Job #2 (retail.... at the mall... because everyone with a full-time job wants to work at the mall) in a little bit, then we're headed to the movies.

I'm going to see how many light-weight knit sweaters I can sell today. Kill me. (OK, in actuality, it's not terrible at all... I'd just rather be sitting on my ass all day.) I just started last week, and I'm wondering when I get paid... that would really make this better.

J+K announcement?

Just saw a commercial for the new Jon & Kate Plus 8 (Monday at 9pm) hour long special.... J+K have an announcement? According to the numerous blogs and gossip sites, the only possible announcement for these two is d-i-v-o-r-c-e.

I'm going to open a can of worms here (and I know it), but I'm sort of interested in what people think about this. On one hand, I can see how some folks might think Kate Gosselin is a huge bitch. But, to be fair, she didn't get like that over night.... she didn't force Jon to get married, and she certainly didn't mean to have 8 kids. Similarly, it takes two to make a baby (or 8), and I assume that Jon must have signed some sort of contract with TLC, knowing full well that once your face is on tv, your life will never be the same. Oh, and cheating on your wife is never ok. On the other hand, I can see how Jon might not appreciate the way Kate talks to him sometimes, and I can understand that he's not so much into the media spotlight. But I still can't be ok with the cheating, no matter how heinous your wife treats you.

::sigh::

The whole thing is just sad. The kids are all so cute (except Maddy - she's a bitch), and at the very start of the show, you could tell that J+K really were in love; overwhelmed, but in love. Five years later, not so much. I assume that the show exacerbated the whole situation, and I wonder if it'd be different if they still lived "normal" lives. I also wonder how many people get married and have kids and then start to hate each other. Damn you, TLC. You give me nightmares.

Thoughts on Jon and Kate? Keep in mind that any comments made below I deem unnecessary will be deleted; divorce is a touchy subject 'round here. That being said, I don't have any real stance. I know there are some avid Jon supporters out there, and some (apparently not many) Kate fans...

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Edit 6/19/09: This article was just brought to my attention.

Magic Email.

Got this in my inbox today. I opened it, since the title was pretty clear in what would happen if I didn't. Just in case you can't see the title of the email, here it is enlarged for your viewing pleasure: Glad I was able to not get AIDS today.

Because who doesn't love a good Turnpike story...

Thank you, Flying Fish. I always wanted a beer named after my favorite NJ Turnpike exit.

Bar. Bathrobe. The Deadliest Catch.

It was Tuesday night in San Diego. I was relaxing in the hot tub with some folks from the conference. With beers. In a bathing suit. One minute we're laughing about stupid things people do at our jobs, and the next I'm being asked if I want to go to a bar real quick to meet the cast of The Deadliest Catch.

Um, yes please.

Disclaimer: There wasn't enough time for me to run upstairs and get changed into real clothes. There just wasn't. In my infinite (read: slightly drunk) wisdom, I decided it would be good enough to just put a bathrobe over my (very) wet bathing suit. The following pictures are sooooo not attractive, but I learned my lesson in 8th grade when I met Michael Jordan at a resort in Hawaii and didn't take any pictures.... and now no one believes I actually shook MJ's hand. Always get photo proof, people. Even if you look like hell.

And now on to the pictures. Here I am explaining to the crew of the Time Bandit why I am at a bar in a bathrobe:

The guys were totally cool and we sort of took a million pictures. I am grinning like a jackass in every single one.

The captain of the Wizard joined us for a photo op (far left):

Then we went into the bar and met Sig Hansen, captain of the Northwestern (far right):

And this is Mike from the Time Bandit:

For reference, you can check out crew photos from The Deadliest Catch here. I wish I had some huge story to go along with this, but that was really it. The guys were all super nice and let us take a ton of photos. Someone (me) asked about Mike Rowe, but apparently he doesn't do the narration with the crew (duh) so he wasn't there (they had just finished taping the new season). So no Mike Rowe, but guess who made a surprise appearence? Ben Bailey, hottie host of Cash Cab:

So that's the story, folks. Always carry a camera and always ask for a photo... even if you look like absolute hell. Trust me... I still kick myself for being too shy to ask for MJ's photo and that was almost 15 years ago. (DAMN, I am getting OLD)

Sunset over the Pacific. Lame ending included.

Watch the clip. Turn up your volume so you can hear the people talking. Then scroll down.

Yes. My memory stick ran out of space just as the sun was disapearing. And yes, there was a slight green flash. Kill me.

Back. With Pictures.

The last 2 weeks were redic. (-ulous if you want to be specific about it). First, there was the Zooma race on May 31. It started at 7am.... in the pouring rain. Weirdly enough, it was a friggin' blast. The following weekend, our friends from college got married (in a state that is different than mine, so much traveling ensued). The ceremony was beautiful, the bride was gorgeous, and many, many rum & Diet Cokes were consumed on the dance floor. Oh, and my husband does a mean dip. Exhibit A:

The next morning was a little rough, as was the 5.5 hour trip back to the homeland. I spent the evening taking cat naps in between packing, because what's the point in going to bed when you have to leave at 3:30am for a 5am flight?

Know what really rocks my socks, though?

The sun setting over the ocean (um, land only on the East Coast, folks). I can't even begin to tell you how much I heart the ocean... maybe one day my wonderful husband will let me live within driving distance (45 minutes, tops) of a beach? On the East Coast? Where sunsets over land are just as (almost as) pretty?

Oh, know what else happened? I met celebrities. At a bar. In my bathrobe and a very wet bathing suit. But I'll save that for tomorrow.

Here for a hot second.

Took 5.5 hours to get from North Jersey to central Maryland today. Let's just say I am not thrilled to be packing to be heading to San Diego in just under 6 hours.




A quick shout-out to the newlyweds - congrats!!!! I'd post a picture or two, but can't find my camera cable right this instant. How about a raincheck on that?


And now, a quick shout-out to San Diego....


Dear San Diego,


I've never been to your city before, but have heard that it's quite nice. I was really looking forward to laying by the Pacific (something us East Coast folks don't get to do a whole ton) in a bathing suit that is probably really only appropriate someplace you need a passport to get to - I even called up the hotel front desk last Wednesday to get recommendations on places for surf lessons! Then, just before I started packing, I hop on to Weather.com and see this shit:

I'm flying out for a conference a freakin day early and the best you can do is cloudy and 66? On my sight-seeing day? On my "lay by the pool and drink rum & Diet Cokes" day? You must be joking. The rest of the week is tolerable, but while we're on the topic - you couldn't spare 10 more degrees? Would 75 degrees really be too much to ask? It's not like I'm asking for 85 (well, I am, but I'll take 75).... damn, San Diego. You're killing me.

Seriously, San Diego. I thought we were friends.
Love,
Kate

And finally, a shout-out to my readers - I'm away all week and didn't have time to get any posts together to put up while I'm away, so you'll have to suffer through your week without me (ha, I'm sure it won't be hard). Hopefully I'll have some pictures from the wedding this past weekend and from San Diego for you when I return! Have a great week!

Random.

I have a ton of stuff to talk about, but I guess it's going to have to wait until after this weekend. I've got a to do list a mile long and can't sit down for more than 5 minutes to even knock out a real post. Sorry about that. Hope you'll come back and see me soon....

Oh, I have a 5:30am flight to San Diego on Monday morning... so I guess I won't be back until the 15th. Damn.

A run down of my life for the next week and a half:
Thursday - orientation at my second job (Hi, I'm 27 and I work at the mall), pack, drive to NJ, dinner with BFF, drive up to North Jersey
Friday - wedding stuff, rehearsal dinner
Saturday - wedding
Sunday - get back home, pack for San Diego
Monday to Friday - San Diego

Kill me. I aologize for the lack of posts.

Buy Baseball Tix - Check!

We planned on getting tickets to see the Yankees while we're in Chicago, but had been putting it off because the tickets were f'ing ridiculous not cheap and with the weddings we have coming up money is tight. But the other day, Ryan got an early birthday check in the mail and decided he wanted to put it towards good seats at US Cellular Field.

So last night we bought some kick ass seats. To show you the awesomeness of our seats, I've taken the seating chart from Ticketmaster.com and put in some key locations:

Ryan wants to catch a foul ball. I want to see Derek's butt and get a couple Chicago-style hot dogs. We want to thank our Southern Aunt & Uncle for helping to make this happen for us :-)

Best. Shoes. Ever.

I have been in love with these David's Bridal shoes since I saw them last year while searching for bridesmaid dresses for my own wedding:

How insanely cute are these? Sadly, I never really had the need for $65 floral peep-toes... until now, of course.

I've been searching for a dress to wear to my brother-in-law's wedding but to no avail. I needed something that I looked good in, obviously, but had to be the perfect balance between wedding guest and bridal party member. I'm not in the wedding, but Ryan is and I assume I'll be in the family photos, so it had to be cute, but not over the top. Oh, and did I mention that it's a Sunday afternoon wedding in June and that I didn't really want to spend more than $100 on a dress and shoes? Yeah, exactly.

Well, enter David's Bridal and my newly thin sister, who happens to ALSO have a Sunday afternoon wedding this summer. While she was in town this weekend, I pitched the idea of heading to David's Bridal to try on a super cute dress that I thought we'd both look good in - the plan was to buy one dress and split the cost, with me wearing it in June and her wearing it in August.

We hit the friggin jackpot on this one. We bought this dress in a size 8 in this shade of blue:

Somehow it fits both of us like a glove, even though I'm a little bigger on top. The dress material is cotten sateen, so it's elegant, but summery and doesn't scream bridesmaid. And the shade of blue SCREAMS "Buy the blue floral peep-toe heels!!!".

Thankfully, my sister also fit into the size 8.5 heels I've been dying to buy for seriously the past year, so we sprung for the shoes to match the dress. Since I need the gown by June 20, we did have to pay for rush shipping, but when all was said and done, the total cost for the dress and heels was $233.80. Split between the two of us, it came to $117 each. Not too bad for a dress and heels! I would have ended up spending more if I'd gone to Macy's - or had ordered the Jcrew/Ann Taylor Celebrations dresses I'd posted about a while ago.

Can't wait to post pictures of us in the dress (at our two seperate Sunday afternoon weddings - who knew Sunday was so popular?)!

Mission accomplished. Photos sourced from HERE and HERE.