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Classes, and Name Changes

Week one of the semester is over. That's 1/15th checked off of the last semester of my graduate program... that does not sound as positive as I thought it would. Moral is: I'M ALMOST DONE!!! Which means, I've got to get a job... hmmmmm.

This week I spent a lot of time getting the official documentation to get my name changed, and everything that it entails.

Thursday I went to the social security administration office to get my name legally changed to Emma Willa Moores. The social security office is a lot like the DMV, but less structured. I forgot to bring my school book in, which was a big mistake, so I just half slept the whole time. Except for the part where this weirdo guy who was there with his mom was pseudo hitting on me.... It was all very confusing. His mom was sitting next to me, but he kept leaning forward (even though I was feining sleep) and would ask me about why I was there, what I did for a living, where I was from... Yeah. It was weird. Especially when he didn't take my cue of: "I'm here to have my name changed." Guess I should have been more blunt.

Today I got my license changed, and opened a Virginia bank account. (Apparently BoA uses different systems in Washington, which has made most banking over here a pain for the last year.) I also got my Virginia state inspection for my car, which was actually overdue, but I didn't realize it. Good thing I didn't get a ticket. That would have sucked.

While I was out and about I also got a new purse from Target, which I'm pretty excited about. I wanted something smaller but classier than my beach-type handbag that I got last time. Unfortunately when I took it home I realized that my wallet doesn't fit in it, so while I was at the DMV I stopped at Icing and got a little metal credit card case so that my stuff doesn't just have to rattle around in the purse. It's cute and slim. I've been wanting one of those metal card cases for a while, so I'm glad I finally had an excuse (sort of) to go out and get one. It's a brownish metal color and the front is black with a metallic brown and white cherry blossom tree on it. It does get fingerprints on it like no one's business though, which sucks... In all I felt pretty cute today, what with my new haircut and a super cute outfit- I have decided to call the entire outfit my "Jessica" outfit, in honor of the awesome girl who gave me two of the pieces that make it such a cute outfit.

Jessica was getting rid of some clothing and had me try on a few of the things before she got rid of it in case I wanted it... and boy howdy am I glad she did, cause check out my adorable "first day of school" outfit I got to wear!

First Day of School by Emmuh featuring Steven Alan

So that's not actually the jacket Jessica gave me. I couldn't find an image of it, but it's a super cute wool (I think) jacket by club monoco that has three-quarter length sleeves that you fold up, and an interesting cut across the back that gives it a super chic and cute shape.

The jeans are also from Jessica- they're Joe's, which apparently is awesome, but I am fashion-ignorant and had no idea. I don't know what style they actually are, but the image I think is close. Actually my undershirt is also from Jessica, so that's 3/6 parts that are thanks to Jessica. hahaha.

The rest of the parts I put together, which I think is apparent in the bright color-age. I think it works though.

The shirt is from Kohl's and it was on sale, and it is AWESOME. I am thinking about going back to get another color or two in it. Especially since it was on sale. It was still $25, but it's that good of a blouse.

The shoes I got in a moment of need from Payless because I needed comfortable shoes that I could wear with a dressyish outfit while I was in Seattle. They were $10, and they still feel cute even though they're supposed to look worn, and they're just junky flats.

And of course, that's the purse I got from target. And of course it is green. Actually I was looking for a shiny black and metal purse so I could feel all classy, but I didn't like any of the ones that fit that description at Target. The black purses were either a dull black, or a ridiculously fake shiny black. Wasn't into it.

Yup. It is great feeling cute. I need to go shopping more.... which means I need to get a job...

It is Done

Well, after almost a year of non-hair-cuttery, the deed has been done. I've been thinking about going back to my high-school length hair for a while now, but I didn't want to make any major changes right before the wedding. So, now that the wedding is over, I figured Patrick is stuck with me and I can really let myself go...errrrrrrrr I mean, really wanted to look as cute as possible for my hubby..... and got myself a haircut.

The stylist dude blow dried it straight, which I can honestly say I will basically never do. I might try it once or twice on a weekend where I don't have to be seen in public, but I've gotta tell ya, I have never had success blow drying my own hair. It always turns out suuuuuuuper fried and poofy. Here are the pics of it all straight:

The mock-sexy pose:

The normal pose (for me):


Hopefully it'll be just as cute with my natural curls and some air-dryin' action.

Wedding Details Part One

INTRO: So I have several things that I would like to post about now (before the wedding) that I realize would spoil the surprise for some people who read this blog occasionally. So instead, I am writing this now, in July, but won't publish the post until after the wedding. I have a feeling there will be more similar posts, so I am naming this Part One, of the Wedding Details series.

Bridesmaids gifts!!!

I finally feel like I have a pretty good line-up of gifts for my bridesmaids, and a few other ladies at the wedding.

I got these clutch wallet type things a long while back off of Etsy.


I got one for each of my bridesmaids (my sister Hilma, my high school friends Kim and Tori, and my college friend Jessica), one for each of my friends from here in Virginia that are coming out for the wedding (Katie and Dani), and one for my adorable flower girl slash future niece (present niece by the time I post this) Rylan, and her mom Mellisa.

Bath and Body Works was having one of their usual big sales, so I stopped by after work one day and picked out my favorite scents in lotion for the bridesmaids and bubble bath for Rylan and Mellisa.


So before I go on, Rylan is about 2 and a half. I KNOW 2.5 year olds probably wouldn't give a crap if they got bubble bath and a clutch wallet for a present, but I figured if I was giving it to her in the context of all the other ladies getting similar stuff, I wanted to make sure she felt like she was a lady like all the other grown-up ladies. I was looking for the kiddish section at Bath and Body Works- they used to have one. There was like little kid lipgloss and stuff that they could accidentally eat and it wouldn't be harmful. But apparently they did away with that. ANYWHO, I figured little kids have to be entertained in the tub, so bubble bath might be a hit.

Right, so that was my justification on that one. We'll see how that goes over with her. I guess I'd better get her a stuffed animal or something too so she doesn't totally hate Aunt Emma's presents for the rest of her life.

Ok moving on. I found these colorful scarves at Five Below (which is basically the Dollar Store, but sells things that are $5 or less. These happened to be $1 each). I thought they would at the very least make for a festive present and add to the colorfulness of the whole package. I actually also got enough of a variety that I was able to more or less color coordinate them together, so I folded them up and put them inside their cooresponding clutch.


I picked up loofas from there as well in various colors, which I initially bought because I got Rylan and Mellisa the bubble bath. Then I thought I might as well get 4 more for the bridesmaids- plus there were 6 colors... Really liked my idea of colorfullness I guess.


I also picked up some very cute green and black damask gift bags that were on clearance at Michaels. I got 4 of those- one for each bridesmaid. Then I was back at Michaels and they were discounted even more, so I got 4 more. hahaha.


Right. So then I realized my Virginia friends didn't get that much of actual stuff, BUT, I made them something special that I hope they deemed comparable. I made them a "tour guide" booklet that fits inside the clutch, which was basically a mixture of short articles about Seattle-specific things (the Freemont Troll, the Space Needle, Pike's, etc.) and several quizzes to name famous Seattle things (bands, movies/TV shows, companies, etc.)


Then I was worried that the bridesmaids would feel like their presents weren't big enough for them being my bridesmaids, so I got them some pearl-looking dual strand bracelets and wrapped them in the scarf.


I figured that all together it made for a pretty good gift package. Still unsure as to how to put the clutch in the bag, and still need to make decent name tags. Other than that, I'm pretty proud of what I came up with.

More Wedding Deets!

I've been checking off a ton of stuff on the Wedding to-do list, and thought I would share just one today. (with only 33 days left on the countdown, I guess I'd better be checking these things off, huh!)

Today's deet: My hair thing. It's actually called a fascinator I guess, but whatevs. I got it off of Etsy because I couldn't really find one that looked as elegant for the price I got it for. Which is weird, because I think Etsy is probably more expensive most of the time. No matter, it is mine now, and I am excited to wear it on the big day. It'll make my 'do look a lot fancier, which will make up for the fact that I'm not getting my hurr did for the big day.

So here is the basic look I'll be going for. My main idea was that I would do a French Twist, which I can more or less do myself (although, normally I use this big crocodile clip thing to keep it from coming undone- I am trying this side comb thing out for the wedding because it'll be mostly hidden in my hair and won't detract from the pretty fascinator).

(Sorry for the bad self portrait)


I'll definitely need the help of my bridesmaids to make it look a tad more refined, but considering I'm only using the side comb dealy whopper to hold it all up, and zero product or spray or whatnot, I think we have a good thing going.


It is super pretty. I like it.


I've got a veil for the ceremony, so this'll be just for the reception and the photos. I'm pretty excited about it.

Shoooooooes!

So I've been trying to find shoes for my wedding. I've looked a little bit in department stores and stuff, but to be honest, I've mostly been looking online. Because, ya know, it's easier.

I was hoping to find something green since I'm a fan, it's my wedding color, and my dress has green in it. I wanted something with a tall heel, since Patrick is 6'5" and all, needed to be able to walk in them (narrowing my choices significantly), and still wanted it to look good with my dress.

Anyway, I finally ordered a bunch of candidates off of Endless.com since they had free return shipping. I found several options, but actually had trouble finding the ones I liked in my size (9). I ended up getting a few of them in sizes close to mine just to see what they looked like anyway.

First I tried on these. (Luichiny Ripple Sandal, Green, 8M):


The size was too small (I'm a 9 usually) and the gold was much more intense that I was expecting, otherwise I thought they were pretty good. The height was great, and they were surprisingly not that bad in the being-able-to-walk category.

Next I tried these. I immediately thought they were all wrong, but I tried them on anyway. (Punkrose Chainey Pump, Green/Silver, 8.5M):

Ya, not a fan. They were too small, were uncomfortable (partially due to the small size), and not exactly what I was looking for in a bridal shoe (even though I'm not looking for a traditional bridal shoe).

Ok, next I tried these. (Dv by Dolce Vita Skye Pump, Lime Patent, 9M):

Ya, kinda cute, but I didn't like the shape of the toe. For some reason I've never been a fan of shoes when they show "toe-cleavage," if that makes any sense. So, back they go.

Okiedokie, next up is one that I thought was a pretty serious contender, since it looked like it was a pretty close match to my dress color. Unfortunately they only sold it in size 8, so I wasn't sure how it would hold up. (Bella Vita Lola Dress Pump, Celery, 8M):

Cute shoe for a wedding. Definitely too small. Not something I would wear again even if I did wear it for the wedding. Patrick liked it better than all the earlier ones, so I wasn't going to rule it out, even though my heel kind of flopped over the back of it.

This next one was cute, but I immediately thought it would be too dark for wedding shoes. (Mia Mable T-Strap, Hunter Green, 8.5):

Super cute, comfortable, fit pretty well, but the color just wasn't going to work. I'm deciding to keep them anyway though so I have another cute pair of shoes!!! yeeeey shoooooooes.

And now.... I was very hopeful for these babies... I thought they were subtle enough to be wedding shoes while still having the spunk to be MY wedding shoes. Unfortunately they were out of my size in this color, and only had a half size up. (Laura Brandon Panama Pump, White/Green, 9.5M):


TA-DAAAAA!!! Done and Done. I love them. They're not too big. They're subtle, they're flashy, they have GREEN (without being greeeeeeen) and I love them. They are mine. They are my wedding shoes.

All in all, my first experience with shoe shopping online was pretty fun! Lookit all my green beauties:

Now I'm sending back all but the dark green ones and MY wedding shoes! Hopefully it won't be a hassle- if it is, I'll let ya'll know. So far though, I am a fan of endless.com.

BTW, the dress I'm wearing in the pics is the one I blogged about earlier that I got from Target that I'll be wearing for our engagement pics and the rehearsal dinner. It's kinda wrinkly, but you get the idea.

Fashion + Organizing = Neato

...Annnd probably too much work for me to keep up with. What I'm talking about is Polyvore. I've seen it referred to around the internet-o-sphere and thought I'd have a go. Also I've made a few purchases recently that I'm pretty excited about and wanted to share, so Bing Bang Boom, I've done it all at once:

Practice by Emmuh featuring dollhouse shoes

So the dress on the left I got from Target for my rehearsal dinner dress and I am super psyched about it. The one I have looks more ivory than white, but I couldn't find a pic of that. The top of it has a cute lacy texture, and the bottom is just plain, but it cut a flattering look on me.

The shoes on the top I got today from Nordstrom Rack and I am extremely excited about them. I don't really need them since I've had a cool pair of brown heels that I wear with my work clothes (those are them at the bottom- thanks for the xmas present mom!) but they were the only comfortable shoes I found at the Rack, and they were 17 bux! (That's down from $89.99 people!). So I was sold. I was supposed to be looking for shoes to wear for the wedding, but oh well... I'll find those eventually.

Anywho, that's my first venture into polyvore. We'll see if I keep it up at all.

{Wedding Update}

So I realized that since I am all all the way over here on the East side away from my family, not many people are in the know on what my wedding plans are looking like right now. So, I thought I would post an update on what I have planned so far on the wedding front!

Here are the things that have been decided
and checked off of my to-do list:

Venue: As most of you probably know, we'll have the ceremony and reception at the Kitsap Conference Center, which is located in a beautiful place right next to the Bremerton Ferry. I'm very glad that we aren't having the reception at a separate site, and am happy that things like catering are done by the same place. Even though my options are limited I guess by having it all from the same venue, it is one less thing for me to actually decide.

Music: Thank goodness for my musical family! My dad's swing band, Swing Fever, will provide the dance tunes for the reception. I'm so fortunate to have this as an option! I'm also having family friend and father of one of my bridesmaids play piano for the ceremony itself. He's an exceptional pianist, and graduated from the University of Washington studying music himself!

Photographer: We booked Yuen Lui for our wedding photography! I was slightly agonizing over this one because photography can be one of the most expensive parts of the wedding, but then again, it will be the longest lasting, so it had better be good! I almost caved and went with this super cheap vendor that gave me a pamphlet at the Seattle Wedding Show, but thanks to some level-headed advice from the future brother and sister-in-law, I decided to stay away from amateur wedding photos. Luckily for me, I got a pretty sweet deal with Yuen Lui after all, so it was a win-win for us!

The Dress: Also thanks to the Seattle Wedding Show, my gown is one less thing for me to worry about finding. It is gorgeous, and no, sorry, I'm not posting a pic here. Patrick is not allowed to see yet. (He's pretty sure I'm making up these rules.)

I looked into getting it fitted once I'm over in the area (just over a week before the wedding), so first I called the lady who sold me the dress. Unfortunately, she sounded pretty uncertain that a week and two days would be enough time to get it fitted. She literally told me, "well I guess you can risk it..." Seriously? Not something you tell a bride. Even non-crazy brides like myself.

So, I called some seamstress places in Bremerton, and there's one right by my sister's place and the wedding venue that said they could get it turned around in 3 days, plus it was cheaper, so phewf. Not that I really need that much done to it- it fit pretty well originally, but it'll look that much better if it fits me just right. I'm also going to see if they can put a bustle on it, or at least something so I can pick up the train and not trip over it all day- it is a pretty long train.

The Invites: Already (mostly) sent out, the invites I threw together myself turned out pretty well. I used a Fiskars border puncher dealy (the "All A-Fleur" one) to make a pretty edge on the bottom of a half sheet of Celery colored parchment paper. The invite text was printed onto clear vellum, tied together with a silver ribbon. Directions were printed on shiny silver card stock, and the RSVP and Registry info was all tucked inside an ivory colored envelope, sealed with silver wax with an M seal. Still waiting on some addresses from Patrick to finish sending them out, but they're all made and ready to go. Oh, and I hand wrote the addresses, which I'm proud of, even though my handwriting isn't super great.

The Bridesmaids' Dresses: This was just decided yesterday! The girls got together yesterday and tried on dresses and decided on this one from J Crew. My Momma will have some altering to do it sounds like, but I think they are happy about it. That's the best part- I want my Bridesmaids to be comfortable and happy! I hope they don't hate me for making them wear green!! hahahaha. My MOH and sister, posing in the selected dress:
Even though it would have been a fine option, I've decided to scratch the original dresses. They don't go with my dress and I was getting some vibes that the bridesmaids weren't super enamored with them anymore either. Instead, I've asked the BMaids to get a black, knee length dress of their choice, and we'll coordinate them with a matching green sash. I'll keep Hilm's pic in the old dress tho cause it's cute:

The Flower Girl's Dress: My future niece Rylan is going to be the most adorable little flower girl ever. To help make her even cuter, my wonderful madre is going to be making her dress! My mom already picked out the pattern and fabric. The dress will look something like this, in ivory and light green (matching my dress!):

And now, things that I am in the process of figuring out: (advice/input totally welcome!!)

The Flowers: I am going with costco.com. I've heard nothing but great things online and from people that I actually know who used them. Since I'm not exactly a pro flower arranger, I'm making it easy on myself and will only have 2 flower types. At least that's what I'm thinking right now. There'll be basically all Calla Lilies (gorgeous, huge, elegant, and sturdy), and then I'll be getting a bunch of stems of "fillers and greens" that will embellish the centerpieces. I really have no clue how many I'll need- the Calla Lilies are pretty large flowers, but I'm not sure how many it will take to make a full looking bouquet on their own. Right now I'm planning on buying 150 stems of Calla Lilies, and 255 stems of "fillers and greens." I'll use just Calla Lilies in the bridesmaids' and my bouquets (I'm guestimating 10 stems for each of the four bridesmaids, and 20 for mine). I'll use Calla Lilies along with the greens for along the aisle at the ceremony and the centerpieces on each table at the reception (12 tables is the estimate right now). I'm not sure about the boutonnieres for the gentlemen yet, but I think I'll just pick up some white roses from the store, add some of the "fillers and greens," and vooalah, done. BTW, the "fillers and greens" are Leather Leaf, Baby Eucalyptus, Ruscus, and Baby's Breath. If anyone out there knows whether that sounds like a decent amount of foliage or not, input is appreciated!

Also in the flower category, I'm figuring out the petal options. I'll have an adorable little flower girl to throw petals, and depending on how many I decide to get, I might use them to decorate the tables at the reception too. I'm looking into these freeze dried petals at this place. The other option is to just get some fabric ones, which would probably be just fine too, but I probably wouldn't put them on the reception tables, cause they won't be as pretty.

I also figured out a GOLDEN little gem for the centerpieces. The Dollar Tree. Sooooo great. There's a lot of stuff for weddings there actually, but unfortunately you don't get much choice on quantity, and so far the vases were the only things that came in the amount that I could actually use. These little beauts are a goodly sized vase which will accommodate the equally substantive Calla Lilies. Originally I was going to go for these vases from CB2 since they seemed cheap and still cool looking. However, it would only hold like one stem (which might have actually been a better idea: less flowers=less$$$) but I decided it would just look too puny.

Last flower detail: I'm planning on buying some green ribbon to adorn the cute li'l vases and "tie" in (heheh) the green theme.

Favors: I have no idea what the favors should be. However, to hold them, I think I'm going with a simple cello bag here, tied with one of the many green ribbons that will show up at the wedding. I'll also have the usual bubbles available to send me and Patrick on our "marry" way (I am so awesome). The Dollar Tree has bubbles for much cheaper, but you have to buy a zillion if you buy online, and since each dollar store's inventory varies, I'm just going to get these ones from JoAnn Fabrics. They are cooler looking anyway.

Cake: Not super sure on this one yet. Probably will go with one of these Safeway wedding cakes, but I still need to find out if it's a better idea to get just a tiny wedding cake for pictures and to feed the bridal party and then a sheet cake for the guests, or if it's not too unreasonable to just get one wedding cake. (I also have a scheme brewing for a surprise groom's cake!!! We'll see if it comes together.) I've officially decided on going with Safeway for the wedding cake. There is one right nearby and the price is right. The one I'm getting is below. (I also talked to them about my little scheme for the groom's cake and it's a go! Won't be that big of a deal, but I am excited.)

Other random ideas that I'm hatching:

Photo Booth: I am going to steal this idea for a fun/cool/entertaining thing for the guests to do during the reception and us to enjoy for years afterwards! Another blog about a diy photobooth is here. There are vendors that try to sell you a "photo booth" that the guests can have fun with, but they are a little ridiculous in the pricing. So the idea here is to set it up yourself! The guests won't get the instant gratification of having and holding the little goofy image of themselves immediately, but it still sounds like it'd be fun.

Basically, the plan is that I will have my dad rig up a tripod and remote (they don't actually make those for my camera, so it'll just be a timer) for my digital camera, set up a sheet of fabric for a backdrop, and have a box of props for the guests to use or not, and have a card with directions on how to use the remote timer. Then, the guests have at it and do their own little photo shoot. I'm planning on giving everyone a URL to a website to visit after the wedding which I'll upload the pics to so that they'll get to see their handiwork, but I haven't figured that one out yet.

That's about it in terms of what's going on in my little pea brain about the wedding. Some other stuff here and there, but those are the main decisions so far.

Inspiration Board

I follow several design blogs (among the other random blogs I check in on frequently) and saw a reference on one of them to an "inspiration board" to help get ideas, which I thought I would use for my wedding planning. Not really sure what is going to come out of it yet beyond just having something pretty to look at and to remind me to get crackin on wedding planning. So I went through the wedding magazines that I originally dog-eared pages on, and cut those images out instead, and put them up on a cork board.

Enjoy what I have so far as ideas on my new inspiration board:

The Whole Board


Top Left= Flowers

Top Right = Table Settings

Bottom Right = Cakes, Favors, Vases

Bottom Left = Bridesmaid Dresses

Then, I also decided to make another version for the pretty stuff I see on blogs and things that Jessica (one of my bridesmaids that is providing me with a ton of good ideas) sends me, so here is a .jpg of what I have so far on that front. I had captions at first but then thought it detracted from the prettiness, so the first section is flowers, then hairstyles, then makeup, then cakes, then bridesmaid dresses, then favors, and finally accessories. (click to enlarge)