This is slaglebagel05's Chocolate Wedding!

Backstory: I'm scared of bees... like... I freak out and start crying from the stress of hearing a bee buzzing, or seeing it flying. I dont' know why this is... but I just.. can't handle it. I hate flowers because of it. And most of the time I wish I didn't have to go outside

So, as you can imagine, flowers at a wedding can be nerve wrecking... So we're not doing it. We're saving what could potentially have been a lot of money. I was really worried about flowers looking right too. Since we're not doing flowers (period), we're using apples!

Well, apples for our cake alternative (we don't like cake either) and for decoration in our fall-ish atmosphere. But the bridesmaids and I will be carrying a handmade clutch (either done by me or someone else... they're just seeing if it's possible before I attempt it).

If you can't tell where I'm headed with this, I'll just spell it out like a sane person... What am I going to toss for the "boquet toss"??!!

I can tell you what I'm NOT throwing.. lol. My clutch, or apples. Ow! I guess I could see if another clutch could be made and then I can throw that... Or I can have a "garter-like" thing from Craig... but I dunno what that could be.. men's underwear? a leopard print thong? (yeah, my mormon family would enjoy that. I can see my grandma's eyes bugging).

Does anyone have any other ideas?

I remember thinking and saying... "Oh heck no! He's not seeing me until I'm walking downt he aisle!"... But as I think about it more, I may need to take the pictures before the ceremony. Of course, we'll do a few right afterwards ones so we catch that glow of happiness, but the majority of it will be before hand.

Based on how we wanted to thank everyone for coming (receiving line for us--going to each table is awkward), and that we'll be outside the Village at the resort. And the Village is so pretty, I want to make sure we get pictures of it!

So.. when are you taking pictures? Before/after ceremony? Is my reasoning enough to change YOUR mind? If you're taking it before, are you inviting all your family to take them with you? Most of the people coming are family (about 98%).. so it'd be like a prewedding party... which might be good because I don't like spotlight when I'm trying to be girly (even though I ran in some Scholarship Programs *pageants*) and happy. Happiness is awkward to me. lol. Well, the cheesy happiness. So for everyone to be relaxed at the ceremony might be nice...

Yayness! I got an email yesterday confirming that one of my bridesmaid dress' is in the process of being made! We all ordered them from www.perfect-bridesmaid-dresses.com since they were 1/2 the price (it's not the designer that makes them)!! I really want to buy one for myself!!

So in case you were wondering, C & I enjoy dark and dreary and sometimes depressing music (it reminds us of the rain in Seattle ;)-). But I'm having troubles figuring out what song to dance to first. We've narrowed our choices down to 2 solid ones. Though we keep changing our minds on which to go first and/or finding new music we love just as much.

Our one constant love is Opeth (a Swedish metal band). But we keep having these passionate love affairs with a Finnish cello band called Apocalyptica. We can't make up our minds. Opeth is our longest love that we'll never cast aside and can always count on having open arms to welcome us back, more in love than before. But there's strong lust for Apocalyptica. To the point where we just want to rip off their clothes and pin them against the wall of an alley (okay... thinking of a romance novel... sorry!).

Problem:

Opeth's lyrics... will probably offend people. Not that it's crude or anything, it's just, not love inspired. Most of the time it's dreary feelings and death, it's not something someone would think to hear at a wedding. Especially when they growl. **mmmm, growl for me Mikael** So the song we chose is non-lyrical, but... it doesn't get the same feeling from us as the song we LOVE LOVE LOVE of Apocalyptica.

Apocalyptica... I don't know or care about meanings behind books/music/shows/movies. I just don't care. I don't take something I enjoy and make it painful for myself. I just enjoy it. So I don't know if the lyrics are ... bad? What do you think?

Lyrics:

I'm givin' up the ghost of love
Endure shadows cast on devotion
She is the one that I adore
Queen of my silent suffocation

Break this bittersweet spell on me
Lost in the arms of destiny

Bittersweet
I won't give up I'm possessed by her
I'm bearing a cross
She's turned into my curse

Break this bittersweet spell on me
Lost in the arms of destiny

Bittersweet, I want you
I won't let you go
And I need you
How I needed you
Break this bittersweet spell on me
Lost in the arms of destiny
Break this bittersweet spell on me
Lost in the arms of destiny

Bittersweet.

******

It reads like a love song.. sorta.. like a dramatic love song.. to me anyway, but it's performed in a way we ... *breathe* I dunno.. in a way we'd jump them in the alley. haha.

Tell me what you think?

Opeth - Patterns in the Ivy (non lyrical)




Apocalyptica with vocals by Ville Valo from HIM and Lauri Ylonen from The Rasmus:




We don't like HIM or The Rasmus (bummer, b/c they are the best in this video/song), but we don't hold back loving great music. I don't write the best ever every day (<---obviously), so I don't expect myself to appreciate someone's music 100% of the time...

Anyway, we're not going to do the traditional "I'll always love you. forever and ever and ever with little hearts and bows and frog kisses" kind of songs. (What's frog kisses???) Or really anything all that traditional... sorta. I dunno. We're not doing specific music that way. lol Trust me, our "song" used to be Amazed by..... Lonestar? It hasn't been that for so long... like 4 -1/2 years!

I'm kind of leaning more towards Apocalyptica first song and Patterns in the Ivy as the last song. My aunt (not very.. "in" to metal music) says that Bittersweet isn't her cup of tea... ugh! What do you think? And PLEASE! I KNOW that it's our wedding and whatever we choose will be great, but... why would I be asking if that's the answer I'm looking for? Be as honest to me as I am to everyone please?! That's why I am the way I am... A whole different topic for later!! lol.

HELP!?

Hey Everyone! I heard about this on my favorite Seattle radio station (KISW) and was absolutely apalled. So I thought I'd share it with you, that way you're aware too!

According to an MSN Article (http://glo.msn.com/relationships/beware-the-husband-hunter-1533311.story?icid=LIFESTYLE1>1=LIFESTYLE1) there's a new brand of single women that have given up on finding a single man to date. That's right, they're after already commited men! In the study they conducted, they found that if the women knew that the man was married or in a committed relationship, they would be MORE LIKELY to pursue him than if he was single.

.............................................Is anyone with me when I say WHAAT!?! Who thinks it's okay to do that? I'd love to meet that special brand of idiot-women so I can claw her eyes out... with my really short fingernails... Of course this doesn't include those that are planning in an open relationship--which my BF and I have talked about before, so I'm not saying it's a horrible option (we're still .. nah to the idea, don't worry! haha). But for those that are actually trying to go against natural biology and be in a committed relationship... whores are trying to ruin that! I dont' know any other way to put it, and I definitely don't want to be nice about the type of women they are ;).

They find themselves "superior" if they can lead a man astray from his wife and family. They think that the husband is already in a committed relationship, so they can commit again. What they don't realize is that he's only using them for sex. So where she thinks that this is a budding "love" relationship that'll eventually lead him to get divorced and marry her... it's really not. I know I don't run along the same lines as most women do--in fact, I have more of a guy-logic--but, "true love" doesn't lie in the sex.. it lies with the fact that he's living, caring, paying, etc with/for you. He can have sex with anyone, but he can't enjoy everyone's company enough to be around them all the time. I'm not excusing it! Just pointing out the difference in what the stupid "husband hunters" believe is happening and what the hunted husbands are thinking.

Wanna know why these dis-honorable women think it's okay? Because they're not the married ones, so they can do this all with a clear conscience. They can even blame it on the chemicle Dopamine that gets released for doing this type of thing if they want. According to the research, the conquest of wrangling in a married man is majorly intoxicating. And addictive. What I find funny is that they don't allow the chemical reaction in a male be excusable (men really don't think clearly while aroused-scientific fact also).

UGH! based on my last post, I'm sort of dealing with this... but she's the married one. It's frustrating beyond belief and I want to make her cry (hitting/hurting her wouldn't be as detromental as attacking her self-esteem or feelings)..

**update on that: we went to a theme park in a group (we're in the same friend group, so it's hard to get rid of her) of like 8 on Sunday. FYI: her husband's name is the same as my BF: Craig. So, we were standing in line and she said "Hey Craig, wanna make out in line?" ... while looking at my Craig... (AAAHHH!!) So of course I make a big deal out of it, very loudly. I practically yelled:"did you just ask MY bf to make out with you?". She replies with "No! I was looking at you!" ... ... ... ... ... I would have said more, but Craig asked me not to by wrapping his arm around my shoulder. But she definitely looked guilty and was quiet for a while. Her husband noticed it too, and he was also quiet for a while... I hope she got in trouble, but I don't see them talking about things below the surface.**

So I ask that you **please** watch out for this. Make sure that your BF/future husband/husband knows about this too (it allows them to be prepared, especially if at a bar/club). And I also ask that if you know someone like this... set them straight (I would call them idiots and ho-bags.. because that hits closer to their self-esteem than most things will. And for women, that's kind of where you have to hit them).

HOPEFULLY I'll go back to writing about fun wedding stuff soon!! :D

So I can't really post this on my regular blog for family, since this person I'm going to talk about reads that blog.... And I wanted a totally objective view.

My bf (fiance), Craig, has a few friends at work, and I met them a couple of months ago. One has a wife, who was my first girl friend in our new city, and state really. At first glance, she's really nice, loud, and easily excited. But after almost 6 months of knowing her... I'm starting to go crazy. Not from her gf talk. But from how she acts around Craig.

She flirts like CRAZY! with him. In front of her husband. And I know it's kind of in her nature to be bubbly and stuff, but some of the things she says and does are a little too far. I'll try to remember a lot of examples for you.

1. The whole group of us were remembering what we thought when we first met each other, and she singled out Craig and claimed her husband (jokingly) thought: "wow" (in a dreamy voice). Mild... so I brushed it off.

2.She calls Craig babe... I said, "hey, he's my babe, not yours" back to that. she just laughs it off... every single time

3.Gets extremely jealous that Craig and I hold hands in public. Her husband doesn't And she makes her jealousy very known. One time I saw her staring at our joined hands with this jealous/determined/fury in her eyes as she tried to grab her husband's.

4.She gets really physically close to him.. one time she was within inches and had a hand on both of his forearms (down at his sides) to say something random. It lasted like 5 seconds, and was in front of everyone... but.... the only woman allowed to get that close to him, is me. Or his mom.

5. Asked for his number when she already has mine and her husband has Craigs. Which goes past the girl/boy code. I don't even have my very bestest friend's husband's number. sure, we're friends on FB, but I never message him. EVER. Any interaction we have is with my BFF in the room, or publicly (on his FB wall or something). But even then, it's rare.

6.She was planning for a trip for us to go to a theme park, and she tried to guess his WORK email address to send him the info & question. When it didn't go through, she texted me for my email. Then she said that she was too lazy to ask for the information to begin with... (but not too lazy to guess an email address?????) So, on my returning email I pretty much told her that it was "okay to just email me since Craig doesnt like personal emails at work." ...She replies with an "I agree, I try not to send them to work emails but oh well. Just this once hahahahah"... ... ... ...

I'm afraid that she's going to go further in the contacting thing and start texting him, or emailing him (since one of the people who got the email told her what she missed with Craig's). Or even calling him without going through me first. Or keep calling him "babe" or getting way too close to him. I'm not worried about him AT ALL. First of all, and most shallowly, we're in different leagues. She's in the "yeah she's cute" field, and I'm more of the "I'd totally do her" one. Secondly, Craig finds her absolutely annoying. Plus, I know the kind of girl he's attracted to... it's not her. There's a lot of other girls he thinks are attractive, hell, we have mostly the same taste, but she's not in it.

So, am I reading too much in to it? Is it just a west coast thing to follow the girl/guy code? And the girl/guy code is that the girls text/call/contact the girls, and the guys text/call/contact the guys. The only reason to contact the other gender is if it's an emergency and the guy is not available to contact the other guy, or vise/versa. Or, if you've known the opposite gender for about 5 years longer than the same gender... and if they're in a serious relationship (ohh... 1 year at least) then you switch over to contact the girl instead...

And what should I do if she does go in that direction? I don't understand why her husband and her are together, she doesn't seem to be very happy in it. She tries to validate the passion between them for us through "sweet" stories. And it just doesn't seem geniune. I feel so bad for her... but I can see her cheating on her husband. And I don't want her to try that with my man. Because imagine the awkward situation he's put in, and then our friendship... ugh. I only have 1 other friend down here, and it's still a new friend. And we all hang out together. So I'd prefer to nip this in the butt before anything happens.

I'm trying to prepare myself for another minor incident so I can stop it sooner than later.. I'll be nice about it.. but, I feel like I can't let it go on.

Help?!

Yup! That's right! We got engaged February 14th, 2010. Which btw.. before you say anything... is just another day to us. We have celebrated V-day in the past, but this year I decided NO MORE! It's one of those holidays that girls expect WAAAY too much and there's that unnecessary expectation put on the guy to do too much. Where EVERYTHING needs to be absolutely perfect or you have lost the love of someone you love. or respect.

So I told him no way are we celebrating it. So here's what happened:

Craig and I have been talking about getting married for quite some time. We even went to look at rings starting back in November 2009. I knew that if he didn't have an idea of what I wanted or liked, he would put it off even longer than he did. After searching high and low for the perfect ring, we found Scott Kay's Nexus from Helzberg Diamonds, then it turned to a matter of when.

I thought I would be able to tell when he at least bought it, but looking back, he did an awesome job hiding it. Craig bought the ring when I was out of town to see my newest baby cousin. It was also the same weekend he set up a new bank account so he could deposit checks (both our banks are in WA). We usually go over our bank statements online, at the very least, every other week because he's always worried (erm... me too), but we didn't look at all for the two weeks since he bought the ring.

When the ring was done being sized, Helzberg Diamonds called him. I was standing right next to him when he got the call, so he had to make the split decision: hang up, or talk. He said later that he was going to hang up but the lady on the phone was really loud so he didn't know if I heard it was a female, and if I did & he hung up, I'd start asking questions and then I'd ruin everything. So he kept going with the conversation and claimed it was the new bank calling to tell him his checks were available for pickup. He didn't ever want to go pick them up while we were out, then when we received them in the mail I didn't think anything of it.

Fastforward to two weeks later (yes! he waited 2 weeks!): Craig was so bored and calm all day. He read, wrote, watched tv. He was completely calm, cool, and collected... until we started making dinner. He got really antsy, walking from room to room, chasing kitty, etc. All common things since he'd been sitting all day; at least that's what I thought until afterward. We made a really nice chicken & steak dinner (chicken for me, steak for Craig). We finished cooking, ate, and Craig dug the ring box out of the shoe next to his chair and came over to me. I believe the first thing I said was "Craigbear.... what are you doing?" in a freaked out voice, and I know my eyes were huge and scared looking to match.

He did get down on one knee, and he did say "will you marry me?" but otherwise I don't remember anything else besides me saying something like "yes" or "okay" or... "yekay"

**sidenote**

Craig said that when he went in to go buy the ring, the Helzberg representatives said he was the calmest guy they've seen. He wasn't sweating bullets, didn't need water, or step outside to breath because the nerves were overwhelming. I thought that was really special and worth sharing because he was so sure. It's probably due to the fact that I told him what I wanted so he didn't have to worry about me liking the most expensive purchase he's made in his life so far...


I wish I had a decent picture of our ring on me. I'll have to update it at home when I upload our engagement pictures :D

We hate cake. We don't eat it for birthdays/weddings/etc. We also don't really like pie. Well, I like it enough, but Craig doesn't. So! We've decided to go with Apple Squares + ice cream. Using my Grandma's recipe of course ;).

That, and we decided to use Apples as our theme tie-in. (Apple Slice color from Dessy, Carmel Apple favors, apple ish invites--DIY of course--and anything where flowers would go, we're putting apples). Because I was literally freaking out over the flowers + bee combination. I had nightmares about it.

So, though I know it bummed people out about no cake... why serve it/spend so much more money on it when we're not going to enjoy it. Plus, Apple Squares are sooo easy to make! My mom can make 3 batches in just a couple hours and be done with it. It would cost maybe............$75? or less. Probably much less since all we would need to buy are the apples.

And $75 vs $800+...... really? Who really needs cake when there's an alternative that helps your theme and tastes tremendously better?! Not I!

Is it just Craig and I, or does everyone else try to sabatoge their own wedding?? (Or non-wedding in our instance). We're not quite sure if we want to do a dorky-romantic song like: "As Beautiful As You" - the Wayne Brady version. Or take a song from our favorite band? Which happens to fall in the progressive/death metal genre. They have a lot of VERY pretty sounding songs, but the lyrics are a tad dreary...

So then of course we both think it'd be so awesome to freak the Mormon half of my family out with sudden heavy music (his friends would LOVE it) in the middle of our dance. Add some beautiful growling by Mikael Akerfeldt (lead singer/guitarist/lyrical & musical God of Opeth--the band) and it'd be our version of perfect..

Then we found an even better song that would probably cause the Mormon half to leave, and yet, we'd have so much fun from the look on their faces that it's VERY tempting. It is by an.... artist (comedian) that we've seen twice in the last 5 years that he's gone to Seattle... so we do love his work.

So here's our list:

"Hours of Wealth" by Opeth
"Hallelujah" by Stephen Lynch (we'd cut it off right before the chorus... right after it's no longer sweet... you'll know when I mean ;). )
"As Beautiful As You" by Wayne Brady.

IF we do the Stephen Lynch song, we'd cut it off and go to Wayne Brady as a "jk! we really have a sweet song picked out" But then, I've always wanted to dance to Opeth as my first song with my Hubby... and if I don't do the Stephen Lynch song for the first dance, it'd be an "our little secret" to play it as background music while guests are filing in from the ceremony.

All of this is a far reach from our very first song (Amazed by Lonestar) from high school. But it is more of who we are now. I only have 1 friend from HS anyway, so it's not like we're holding on to our "good 'ol days".

I think in the end, we'll stick with Opeth and just use the talk of sabotaging our own (non)wedding as a way to still laugh and joke with each other throughout the whole process.

Since the theme is Books and Coffee (still no cute slogan) I wanted something both whimsical and elegant. Something that says "Hey, we may be young"(or... old in the eyes of half the family...like an old maid with lots of cats.. Though 23 is still really young.)"but we're growing up!"

That and I definitely wanted stories galore--everywhere. Fun, entertaining, awesome stories. Something that will keep them entertained for a solid 10 to 15 minutes. And to the point where they were glad that they read that much and they wish they had more.

And THAT is why these are absolutely 100% PERFECT! A++++. Perfect SAT score... um... just REALLY good.

If I do this, I'll be enlisting the help of my MUCH more talented family (Aunt/MoH, MoB + MoG) to assist me. Well, they'd probably do most of the work at first since I totally stink at these things--my invitations I tried making were horrid. And I wish that was the truth, because they were much worse than that. But, I'm okay with writing up the stories to go in it--since that's what I want to do for the rest of my life.

;)

Awesome? Yea/Nay?