I was pretty sure I didn't want a veil, but then I remembered that feeling of trying on dresses and when they put on the veil it kinda just made me feel like a bride... I think I found the perfect one too!  Really simple but with a little bit of bling!  I wanted to add some bling to the top of my dress, but I think this will add that touch I was looking for without having to do anything to the dress. 
I'll probably only be wearing it for the ceremony but I am actually excited for it.  Sean's Aunty Bet was so nice and generous and said she wanted to buy my veil for me, so we went this weekend back to see the one that had caught my eye before and she bought it for me :)  So sweet. 

Time is ticking!  It'll be here before I know it!

I also worked on the girls jellies this weekend.  Put the rhinestones on and it looks cute.  Hopefully they stay! 

Here is a summary of the weeekend.... pictures to come...

Friday- got to the airport with Tara and Sam.... Sam gives me a cute veil to wear and it says "I do" in pink in the back... she also made an itinerary for the weekend, and I got to see it because I really had no idea what aws on the agenda...but she made it so cute with all these scrapbooking stickers and everything and then Alanna wrote a poem for the invitation and so Sam put it on there, it was really cute...we get on the plane and as we are taking off the flight attendant announces "Ok we are looking for a Lauren...Lauren celebrating her bachelorette party, please raise your hand!"  I'm like OMGGG how do they know this?!  I look at Sam and she's like "noooot me!" So then I'm like whaaat?!  She brings over a bottle of champagne, drink ticket and a note saying "Have a great bachelorette weekend, sorry we couldn't be there! - Tana, Whitney & Laura".  I could have cried it was soooo sweet and thoughtful!  So that was a great start to my trip...   We get in to our hotel at Vdara, it's super nice.  It smells awesome... we hang out for a bit then decide to walk around the hotel and aria next door.  Oh, and at that time Sam surprises me with this huge basket full of bachelorette stuff-- a T-shirt with "advice for the bride" that everyone had to sign, a bride's mug that lights up, a huge light up diamond ring, a hot pink sash, a pink tiara, pink bubbles... and a white bathing suit with pink sequins!!!  I'm very excited about this obviously and then all of a sudden, everyone disappears and then comes back holding up their green sequined bikini's!!!!  This might sound sad, but it made me extreeeemely excited and I was like ok, anything that happens this weekend is going to be hard to top this!!!!  It was the best surprise ever!  And then she got all the other girls little bachelorette party favors- pink and white plastic bachelorette party cups, pink light up diamond rings, bubbles, candy...sooo cute!   Tiffany also made me a bachelorette weekend scavenger hunt necklace with index cards that were pink and green and hanging from a bedazzled necklace chain!

SO then we all get ready and head over to Sushi Samba at the palazzo....with red cups in hand... yes, that's right, we are that ghetto!  No, but it was so strange, no one told us to get rid of them or not bring them in or anything!  It was so weird!  Sam had what we should order on her phone per suggested by our friend Ken.  We got edamame, these fried tempura green beans with black truffle aioli-- that sauce was amazing...and shishito peppers... then we got the rock shrimp tempura which was super good-- tasted a lot like the one from katsuya and sushi roku, but always a favorite of mine.  The miso marinated seabass was my favorite by far...they were on skewers and they were to die for!  Just melted in your mouth!  We also had a tri meat plate... hanger steak, ribeye and pork.  The hanger steak was SUPER good, the ribeye I tried but was too fatty for me... and the pork was OK.  Also tried peruvian corn which was interesting... first time I've ever had that.  The only thing I could think of was how corn doesn't really digest and how huge those things would be...but then thinking about it more thoroughly I realized that you had to chew these because they were so big as opposed to normal ones that you probably just swallow.  Then we had a few sushi rolls too... they were all pretty good.  Best part was that Sam tried her first roll-- a cooked lobster roll and Jenny also tried one too-- a cooked salmon roll.  Margo bought a bottle of champange on her and toasted the weekend with a nice speech, so that was really sweet of her.  And then they brought us these complimentary cucumber cocktails which was really nice, but not very good hahaha... so we ordered beer and sake.    Then we were off to Encore.  Sam's contact didnt' answer his phone which was kind of annoying but turns out we didn't need it anyway!  We waited for my cousin and Sarah and then walked over...they said the line was really long which it was, but then all of a sudden someone said oK, some guy is getting us in and we all follow him over to what looks like a shorter versioned line, and then all of a sudden we step to the side and walk right in!  We literally waited maybe 3 minutes and then just walked right in.  Got a drink, then the guy who got us in was like "why aren't you guys at a table?  Find a guy who says he has a table, go over with him, have a few drinks the get the hell outta there!"  It was pretty funny.  So we followed him over to a bachelor party table, some of the girls talked with some of the guys, my cousin especially made some friends it seems like, then we all decided to go dance.  Unfortunately it was super duper packed and the music SUCKED.  Every song sounded the same....and house/ techno is really not our forte so that kinda killed the mood.  Casie decided she wanted to go take her shoes off and stand in the pool, so we all followed her and it was amazing!  Got to take our painful shoes off and dance in the pool for like an hour.  Such a great idea.  We left around 3 and went home and ate and went to bed.   

Saturday-- Got up the next morning and went over to aria's brunch buffet.  Becky was so sweet and treated me to brunch, even though she shouldn't have!  It was really good, I was just disappointed that I really couldn't eat as much as I normally can.  I had eggs benedict, eggs, sausage, french toast, corned beef hash, hash brown... I think that's it...and then some espresso ice cream.  Then we headed back over to our hotel for our cabana!  IN OUR MATCHY SWIMSUITS yesssss.... it was really fun but it was super windy, wind like you've never seen before... and then like half an hour later they said they had to shut down the pool area for safety reasons, which sucked, but at least they refuded everyone back their money... so then we had to decide what to do (which is harder than you think with a big group of girls) but then we decided to just walk over to aria's pool because they'd let us in there... well instead of the regular pool, we ended up getting into liquid which is more the pool party scene and I'm so glad we went!  It was kinda crazy and everyithing but fun to be at... we set our things down on the side and just got in... well actually I got a lava flow and was kicked out of the pool, so I got out with Laura, Tiff & Tara, we finished our drinks then got in... we definitely people watched a lot hahaha... then around 5 we went back to the hotel, I showered and went downstairs to the spa to get my make up done (present from Samantha, she's the sweetest ever) and the girl who did my make up said her name was Maile... so of course I asked if she was from Hawaii, which she was...and we talked and figured out we knew some mutual people- not that shocking, but when she said she went to Moanalua, I asked her if she knew my friend Marci and turns out she was best friends with Marci's sister Kristi growing up!  Anyway, so that was neat-- I went back upstairs then we all took the tram over to Monte Carlo to grab some food at the food court.  Brought it back to the room, ate & watched TV, got ready again and then played some drinking games.  Tiffany had a "girls night out' game where everyone just had to answer questions, and then Sam had a "How well do you know the bachelorette" game and whoever answered first didn't drink, while everyone else did.  That was pretty funny and fun to see who knew what answers.  But then there was one that Sam passed over and goes, ok that's sad.  And my dumbass goes, "what! read it!"  It read: Where do you see the bachelorette in 5 years?  So then I look over, Casie looks a little teary eyed, Tara is crying, Sam is getting teary eyed, Jenny says "with my neices and nephews in Hawaii... and then I start tearing up and I'm like "Damnit!!!"  And Sam is like "I TOLD YOU!"  Hahahahaha   So then we go downstairs, a mini limo shows up and tiff negotiates with him so we take it back over to Encore and meanwhile Roenicke is texting me asking what we are doing and where we are and stuff and turns out he is going to Surrender too.  Oh, and we had a few options because the guy that got us into Liquid was a promoter at a club and said he could get us in somewhere too, then some guy said he could get us into Bank, then Tiff had another friend I think at Rain with a table... so we had a lot of options.  Anyway, we get there and some guy asks Jenny what we are all donig and she says "trying to get in here I think" and all of a sudden we are chugging our drinks because we are beign let in!  Roenicke finds us, says HI and is like "when did you get here?"  I say "2 minutes ago..." and he is like "well the line is back there--" nope not for us!  I guess it's been so long since I"ve been to Vegas with all girls I forgot how awesome it is!!!  We got in everywhere, no problem, no charge, it was pretty freaking amazing!  So we get in, and it's HUGE... like super huge and open space all around the pool and the cabana's are the "tables" which is neat and it's just really ginormous.  We go over to cabana 150 because Tara's coworker is there and we meet him and his friends and they give us free drinks all night!  It was cool because none of them were creepy or trying to hit on any of us, they were just nice and whatever.  So we just dance the whole time, mostly just us girls which was awesome.  I took my shoes off immediately so my feet weren't in pain again and that was great!  The music was like 99% hip hop and rap so that was awesome too... we just danced and sang and drank til about 3:30 or something and it was just sooooo much fun!!!!!  Everyone went home after that other than me, becky, jenny and tara... we took a cab downtown and went gambling.  We gambled til around 5, 5:30... I won around $40-50!  So that was great :)  Then we went home, ate and went to bed!!! 

Sunday-- got up, showered, packed, checked out...went to have brunch at the cafe at Aria, then it was time to take a cab back to the airport.  Laura, Becky, Sam and I were all on the same flight home... soooo exhausted now but it was so worth it.  Greatest weekend ever thanks to the girls and thanks to Sam my MOH for planning it all! 

Also-- so sweet.... Laura came in on Saturday and brought a card from Kendra and Marion with $$ to buy drinks for the weekend since they couldn't make it, Tara bought me Victoria's Secret Pink PJ pants that say "Up All Night" in Bling...and Jenny and Becky got me the cutest picture album that says Lauren's weeeknd with her girls 2010 and VS gift card.... so generous and thoughtful of everyone!  I have the best friends ever I am so lucky!

P.S. forgot to mention, you will see in the pics, but I was in white all weekend-- the girls wore all black on Friday night (which I finally realized once I saw everyone dressed haha... ) and Saturday was bling night so we were all blinged out in sequins... I loved it!

Just wanted to share my excitement... got all my outfits planned, bag packed, mani pedi done...I'm ready to go!!! :)

So good news first-- Sam sent me a picture of the shower invitation from my mom.  My Aunty JoAnn created it and it is absolutely adorable!  Pictures to come...

I also got my "new Aunties" shower invitation in the mail yesterday and it is oh SO cute!  "It's all about the shoes"... pictures to come for that too... I just love both of them! 

Bad news is... after all that with the favor boxes, they wrote back and said that it was on clearance and they don't have it anymore... argh!  Why don't they update their website?!   I placed the order and confirmed my address and everything...then this happens now.  So annoying!

Ook, so I've been doing a lot better... forced myself to take a break from wedding planning a few days and then just took things slowly and things are going fine.

Went with Casie on Saturday to Marilyn's and she tried on her dress again.  We were able to make it zip up fine and Marilyn is pretty sure she can adjust the straps to make it fit and then let out the skirt some.  Becky tried hers on again on Saturday and it looked great!  I think I'll feel so much better once Alanna sends hers back to be fixed and Jenny tries hers on.

As far as favor boxes, I did a bunch more research and found ones that were like half the price of even the ones downtown, but they only came in pink and blue... I wasn't sure how keen Sean would be on the pink but I told him it was half the price and he was fine with it.  However, when I went to check out, the price for shipping was the same price as all 250 favor boxes!  Aiya!  So I continued my search.  I tried calling the company to see if they had any promotions or shipping discounts but the lady said NO.  Funny thing is though, I got an email from the website "Favor Online" asking if I needed help purchasing the items in my cart.  I wrote back explaining the horrendous shipping charge (and this charge is to ship to CALI, so it doesn't even have reasonable explanation like the Hawaii shipping charges)-- I got a response saying they would discount the shipping 20%.  So I ordered them!  It never hurts to ask!  And now there's one more thing I get to check off my list :)

On other wedding related news-- I went to Chelsea Sjoblom's (my old college roommate) wedding this saturday.  It was really beautiful.  It was held in Calabassas at her family's home.  Her grandparents built the home and it was always her dream to get married there.  There is a ton of open space and her family along with her now husband's family, transformed the space over the last year.  Sounds like it was a ton of work but it sure paid off.  She was absolutely glowing the entire night, she just seems soooo happy; it was really wonderful to see that.  We sat at a table with 2 of the flower girls who were twins.  They were soooo cute and just really beautiful little girls.  We talked to the parents and the girls do softball and soccer-- even better!  They were just seriously adorable.  So yay-- congrats to Chelsea & Jaime!!!

Sunday, Sean and I finally found "khaki's" we want for the boys.  We have seriously searched a bunch of places... Express, Gap, Old Navy, Banana, etc.  Finally we went to Kohl's and found some great dockers that are a good shade for the shirts.  Sent out the email to the boys to figure out if they want to try them and buy them on their own

I get about 2-4 reply cards a day, I'm sure Sean is happy because before he grumbled that he was the only one grabbing the mail, but I definitely go every day now :)

2 days til my bachelorette party in Vegas... I'm starting to get really excited!

Ok, yesterday was a wake up call...

I went to get my hair cut and highlighted and my hairdresser says to me "umm Lauren, I just found something I've never seen before... white hair!"  I was shocked!  She said she found like 4 white hairs on the back of my head... it really just shook me because I don't have white hairs!  My MOM doesn't even have white hairs yet!  It really was proof that I've been way too stressed over the last few weeks... I mean first the pimple, now white hairs?  That's not OK!  I know I"ve been crazy stressed but this is unhealthy!  As the appointment was nearing an end she asked me if I wanted her to be honest, which of course I said yes... I in fact had more like 10-15 white hairs, not 4... HOLY COW.  So yeah, I am going to take it upon myself not to do any stressing or crazy things... as long as I can anyway... just take it in stride.  I am a stressball naturally, but this much is too much!  How do I make myself not stress though?  Thinking about that stresses me out!

Ok anyway, I'm done talking about this, hopefully I will not be back to "vent" in a while.  I'm off to put my mind into other things now :)

To say I was stressed last week is a huge understatement.  Luckily I am finally breathing again.  Saturday morning I woke up from a voice text from Sean's mom.... I tried to go back to bed but I knew what she was calling about-- the dresses.  So I listened to the voicemail and then couldn't go back to sleep.  I had planned to pick up Taryn at 11 to take her and the dress to an alterations shop to see if there was a fix so now I had like 3 hours to kill.... so I went to the gym!  I needed to get some aggression out hahahaa.... well luckily Marilyn sounded confident that we could fix it, so Taryn & I went over....with both of us tugging and zipping simultaneously we were actually able to get it to fit....PHEW!!!!  And she said it was a little small around the armholes but that she was fine and comfortable, just couldn't get it zipped herself.  So that was kind of a relief.  Last night I went over with Becky, whose dress really didn't fit either but we were able to get her zipped up in it when she didn't have her arms in the holes.  Marilyn seamripped the shoulders and is going to elongate that area.  Good thing is the body fits so with that adjustment it should be ok.  Casie is coming up on Saturday and I'm really hoping the same will go for hers.  Alanna got her box from me and said it didn't fit either but I emailed her with the instructions on how to make it fit and hopefully that will work and we can just make the armholes bigger on hers too!!!!  Keeping my fingers crossed until we have a solution for all the girls...but at least I feel so much better now.


Found the favor boxes we want to use...they are a little expensive at Party City so yesterday we went downtown to look and they have it there for $2 cheaper each dozen.  Sean tried to bargain with them but they wouldn't budge.  I'm going to do more research online but if I don't find anything else at least we know we can go back there.


There are actually a ton of wedding stores downtown.  I found this really cute one with tiara's, veil's, jewelry, and all kinds of accessories.  Aunty Bet offered to buy me a veil last week which was soooo sweet of her.  I found one that I like a lot yesterday but figured since it was the first time trying one on, I should probably shop around before deciding.  It was pretty though!!!


Oh, almost forgot-- the boys shirts are finished!!!  I picked them up on Saturday, all that's left is to sew on the buttons :)

I am starting to feel as if it's not one thing it's another.  Once I feel like I'm ok something else pops up!  I want to scream!  The bridesmaids dresses came in and they DON'T FIT.  Freak!  They are all super tiny in the armholes and boob area and 2 of the girls out of 2 who have tried them on don't even zip up!  I could tell looking at them, especially Alanna's that the armholes were extremely tiny.  THis just seriously stresses me out.  We had them made to save money, but now they either won't work at all or to fix them will cost just as much as buying expensive ones.  The whole point was for me to save them some money but I guess that's down the drain.  I just can't believe it!  Everyone tells me not to worry something will come up or we'll find new ones, etc and I know they are only helping me and trying to calm me down but I can't help stressi

It has been invitations non-stop for the past 5 days...
Friday night Samantha, Casie, Laura, Taryn and Jun came over to help with the invitations.  We had some dinner first... salad, shoyu chicken, rice and asparagus.  Taryn brought over some wine so we cracked open that too.

Everyone had a job... Taryn had the embosser and did all the envelopes... Casie put stamps on all the envelopes... I glued all the invitations and Sam assembled them on the enclosure.  Jun and Sean were in charge of putting the rhinestones on the flowers.  I also got recruited to rhinestones when Jun & Taryn left and Sean took a "halo break".  Laura came over afterwards too and was also on rhinestone duty.  Meanwhile, Sam and Casie numbered all the reply cards and put them in order. 

I had read a handy tip on one of the websites saying that many people forget to write their names on the RSVP card so it's a good idea to pencil in a number and keep a list with the coordinating names and numbers for reference when you get them back.  Hopefully this will be a God-sent because it definitely took some extra time to do and have organized!

That night after everyone had left and gone to bed, I started folding the vellum and taping our monogram on it to hold the enclosure in place.  I did the first stack of 30 then was off to bed.  Saturday, Sam and I went looking for our pink tank tops for the girls and still had no luck :(  You would think this to be a really easy task but we are just not having luck anywhere!  SO puzzling! 
When I got home from dinner I worked on a few more then took a nap with Sean.  I got up around 10:30 pm and worked til about 2 am , finally finishing all the vellum wraps. 

Sunday, Sean and I went to pick up some calligraphy pens and headed over to his parents house.  Marily was to teach me to address the envelopes!  Well, she gave me a little example and then got started while I practiced on a sheet.  I figured I should just dive in as we had 150 to do... I got started around 3 pm and worked non-stop.  They went to dinner around 5:30 and before I knew it they were back and I was still in the same spot.  I literally worked from about 3 pm- 11:15 pm, minus a 10-15 minute break to scarf down some Thai Curry that Sean went to pick up for me.  We called it quits at 11:15 even though I was determined to finish.  Instead, we headed back over around 7 pm yesterday and finished addressing everything and then stuffing each one into the right envelope, cross referencing our list.  I did have to order another pack of enclosure and envelopes and am waiting on that... hopefully it does not take too long to come in.  Today I finished with all the envelopes that I had and took them all in to the post office.   Once I get the other stock in the mail I can finish Kyle, Jenny, Scott and the Smiths... I think that's it. 

Can I also just ask WHY the post office people are always sooooo rude and grumpy?  I was so nice to the lady because I knew I was going to be asking a favor, but she was just so short and rude and snippy!  So annoying!  I had a few questions about postage to Japan and increments of stamps and it was always a snippy comment like "that's what I just said".  Not to mention she was wrong twice!!!  I asked her nicely if there was any way to hand cancel the postage (I read that in my wedding book by Mindy Weiss so that it doesn't smudge all over my nice envelope and stamp) and she replies "I can leave a note that's it" and walks away for like 5 minutes when we're not even done yet!  I brought a box of candy to kinda bribe them to do it and when I leave it she's like "ohhhhh thanks"... HUMPH you grump!

I'm so exhausted... I just want to lie on the couch all week and never move... I think I'm skipping my work out at the gym today.  I've been good...