Beauty Roundup-Face

When you are getting married, the pressure to look good mounts. But I, like most women, spend time and money trying to look good on a regular basis so I don't think I need to change my beauty routine. I love talking about skincare products so I thought I'd share the products that I'm currently using.
I'm going to start with my facial products. I kind of see this as a regular kind of post.
I've been using Cetaphil as my cleanser for over 8 years now. I used Noxema for years (my mamma used it). But I found it made my skin tight. I tried some other fancy products like Orgins. But after reading so much about Cetaphil, I decided to try it. I love it. It's cheap and very effective. I have pretty normal skin. I break out infrequently. Cetaphil cleans just enough and never leaves my skin feeling tight.
As a night cream, I've been using Murad's Essential-C Daily Renewal Complex. I got this from my coworker who works part time at a beauty superstore. It's very light and sinks in so quickly. It makes my skin feels so soft! I doubt I'll actually buy it since it's $90. I'll probably go back to my regular night cream, cheapie St. Ives Collagen Elastin Facial Moisturizer. I think a 10 ounce jar was $5. It's not as wonderful as the $90 stuff but it does a decent job.
I put eye cream on every night. I'm not loyal to any one brand. Whatever is on sale, what I ever I feel like buying. I do have dark circles under my eyes. This is my biggest concern. Although one time I bought a cream to fix that and wound up with puffy, swollen eyes. I think dark circles are better. Right now, I'm using Nivea Visage Wrinkle Reducer. I've been using it for about 3 months. I don't see any new wrinkles. I didn't do anything for my dark circles but that's not what it's for.
As a day cream, I've been using Murad Essential-C Day Moisture with SPF 15. It came with the night cream. But I'm kind of nervous about using so much of the Murad product together. It seems that it's supposed lighten your skin. I don't really want to get lighter, so I'm trying not to use them together. So I have Cosmedicine's Primary Care Multi-Tasking Moisturizer SPF 20 which I also got from my coworker. I tried it this morning. A little thick, but felt nice. Maybe I won't put so much on tomorrow!
If you have an eye cream you think is good, I'd love to hear about it. I'll blog about my hair care products next week.

Idea for Trash the Dress shoot

Since we're getting married on a campground, I have tons of ideas of interesting non formal pictures. Essentially Trash the Dress pics.
(Stolen from the University of Boulder). Can you imagine me doing this in my wedding gown? Mr A thinks this would be a funny picture and I can't help but agree.
I want to take some pictures on the rocks by the river. I would even be willing to wade into the river if it meant some beautiful memorable shots.
(Stolen from Manolo for the Brides). I know someone with a paint ball gun that resembles this gun. I could totally pull that off. I could send it to some of friends from college. They would get a kick out of it. They always said I was white trash!

Stolen from Rich Johnson's flickr set). I would love to have some of us climbing trees. If we could get the bridal party into it. I think it would be a lot of fun. I could just see some of the guys hanging from the branches. It would make me laugh.
(Stolen from stonesinthegarden's flickr set). There are some really cool trails in the park and I would love to wander around a find some great shots like this. BTW, I love her sandals.

Wedding Saving Tips #1

I know it's helpful for me to find other people's cost saving tips, so I thought I'd pass a few along.
1. After I got engaged, I said I wasn't going to buy any bridal magazines. Everything I could want is available on the Internet. Besides, my days of reading magazines and watching tv have gone out the window. Mr A hates it when I do that. He cannot understand how I can watch and read at the same time. If he thinks I'm not paying attention to a show, he'll quiz me on it for reassurance.
Not being bridal magazines is easy. M does get a wedding magazine that she passes on to me. If I want to read a magazine I'll go to B&N and peruse the selection but I usually get bored of them quickly. Also I use my library for all wedding books. I can see if it would something worth keeping. If not, back to the library it goes. If I think it will be useful, I head to Half Price Books to find it.
2. Don't be bound by tradition. Look for alternative ways to accomplish the same thing. Anything with the word wedding on it is more expensive. The wedding aisle of my local craft store has a load of crap. But I can usually find some beautiful things in other parts of the store. Look everywhere for inspiration for your wedding.
3. My new favorite word is repurpose. The wicker basket I'm using for magazines at home can hold a centerpiece at the wedding. After the wedding it can go back to it's original purpose. Everything can have multiple purposes. Don't feel like you have to buy special things for the wedding. Include some of your everyday things in your wedding. It's an easy way to save money and to show your own personal style. Use the serving platters you already have. Ask your friends if you can use theirs too. Create an eclectic arrangement with objects you already own.
I went to a bridal shower once where the hostess gave prizes to people who won the games. The prizes were tea pots that she collected over a few months. Each one was different, but interesting at the same time. She also used them as decoration during the shower. Each had a small potted plant inside too. Very creative. Guests were clamoring to win the games to get their pick of a tea pot!
Having any event (wedding, birthday party, or holiday gathering) can create more waste than necessary. Try not to buy new items. If you do find ways to give them away after the event is over.

I am so Freaking Lucky!!!

I just won my wedding dress on eBay. I'm so excited! There was fierce bidding competion. But I knew I wanted that dress. It matched so many things I wanted-no train, all satin, the beading on the bodice, and no train! I had to have it!!!! And the best thing is that I paid $120 with shipping. I cannot wait for it to arrive.
I am also lucky because Tiffany, a girl at work, offered to be my DOC at the wedding. I'm so happy. Tiff plans parties at work so she's used to setting up and organzing. She's got such great personal style too. She'll be able to really help me get everything done. And the best thing is that she offered to do it for free. For free! I'm going to get her a nice gift-dinner at a nice resturant-but so thoughtful. I cannot believe how lucky I am.

Lessons Learned From Kid Nation

Mr A hates reality TV. He makes fun of my obsession with American Idol. He'll watch it with me but never gets into it or demands to watch it.
A few weeks ago I wanted to see where in China the new season of Survivor was. Since it was On Demand, I figured that I could watch a few minutes, fast forward passed anything annoying and turn it off. Mr A was watching Jackass as usual, so I asked if I could watch a few minutes of Survivor after the show was over. He scoffed, but ok as soon as this show was over I could watch but he did not want to watch. So I snuggled on the lovesac with him until Jackass was over. Since he was comfortable he choose not to leave when I turned on Survivor. I saw that they choose a remote location of China for Survivor, met the cast, was unimpressed and reached for the remote to turn it off.
"Aren't you going to watch the whole episode?" Mr A asked.
"No remember I just wanted to watch the first few minutes. Did you want to watch it?"
"No, I hate reality TV. This is stupid."
Ok, so I turned it off and I think we watched Good Eats instead. I love Alton Brown!
A few days later I came home and there was Mr A watching Survivor! He got sucked in. He has his favorite cast members and has some he despises. But in watching Survivor he found another show that sucked us both in, Kid Nation.
If you don't know the premise of Kid Nation, go here. But wow, what an amazing show. Some of these kids are amazing. Some parents should win a prize because these kids are wonderful. Hard working, up standing, resourceful little people. And it doesn't matter the age. Some of the kids are nine or ten and really know what they are doing. Some are older and are useless.
The worst is uberbrat Taylor. She annoys me so much. Her motto is deal with it. I imagine her mom says that to her all day. Her parents should be ashamed of her behavior.
I know they probably edit the show to make some kids look worse than others, but Taylor takes the cake. I never see her do anything redeeming and she makes life harder for the other kids.
I also I forget that racism and prejudice are born at home. Some parents are teaching their children to intolerant of other cultures. I forget that it's ongoing struggle to educate people of all ages to accept others. I'm so used to dealing with intolerant adults I forget that children aren't being taught tolerance. I picture children as kinder and more loving than adults. I forget that they can be just as mean as adults. Thanks, Kid Nation for reminding me!

Perfect

I cringed each time I hear that word, Perfect. Mr A usually mocks me with it. "You want everything perrrfeccctt." Ugh, no honey, I don't want anything perfect. Perfect is straight corners, crisp lines, and tons of hairspray. If you could see our apartment you would know perfect ain't my style.
I am incapable of doing anything in straight lines. Our couch is crooked. There's hair on the floor of the kitchen-yuck, I know. I have shirts with stains. I never iron anything. I love that our plates have chips in them. Why should our wedding be any different than my normal style.
I want fun, casual, exciting, silly, and relaxing. People will be sitting a picnic tables, eating. Music will be playing. People will be dancing, enjoying themselves.
But still our day will be perfect because we're getting married. Duh, that's what makes it a perfect day. A day spent with the man I love, with the people I love, that's what makes it perfect.
I fully expect someone to cause a scene. I fully expect to not look like brides in the magazines. I fully expect Mr A to do something outrageous. I fully expect something to go horribly wrong. I expect to miss my mother, for Mr A to wish his folks were there. I expect to cry, sob even, at least once a day. I also expect to remember this day for the rest of my life, good, bad or ugly.

I Don't Need No Stinkin' DJ!

While reading Indiebrides, I found that several girls had luck using their iPods in place of a DJ. Plus I found places that will rent DJ equipment for a pretty reasonable fee (around $200) so I'm a little less worried about that now.
Thanks to Miss Hummingbird of Wedding Bee, I found Vitamin String Quartet. Yeah, thanks a lot Miss Hummingbird. I want to use contemporary songs for the actual ceremony processional rather than stuffy wedding marches. But I kept having a hard time finding songs I liked with appropriate lyrics. I love Evanescence, but their songs are not love songs. But the melody is so beautiful. So I headed over to iTunes and found over 300 songs to choose from. They have everything from Madonna to U2 to Nine Inch Nails. No more worries. I can choose from their wonderful selection! Yeah. Oh, boy I'm going to be giving a lot of money to iTunes!
I also found 2 dresses on eBay. Cross your fingers. One is a pickup skirt like the one at David's. A lot less beading than I wanted but it's ok. And the other one is adorable and pink! Yeah for non traditional colors!

Counting Down

With about 9 months to go, I'm starting to get nervous that we won't have anything to feed our guests or a photographer to take photos of our wonderful day. Money is just too tight for me to feel free to start looking seriously.
I'm nervous about finding a dress. My budget is tiny and my body is not. I've found some acceptable choices so if push came to shove I could get one of those. Or I could stumble over a bag of money and buy that beautiful one I saw at Victoria's Bridal.
This is a once in a lifetime event and I feel like I can't give it the proper attention cause I'm so broke. I'm sure I'll feel better once Mr A finds a job. Being unemployed makes it hard to really plan a wedding. But we're not just planning a wedding. It's the day our marriage will start, officially. I want it to be a fun, memorable day. I want our friends to have fun. I want to look back, see our pictures and smile. I do not want to think I did not get everything that will make me happy. Although being with Mr A makes me very happy.
I keep saying I shouldn't worry until the new year. If we're 4 or 5 months away without a dress, a suit, a caterer, and a photographer, then I can panic. Right now, it's not worth it. I should focus on the things that I can do right now. It's just so hard!

Gimme, Gimme, Gimme!

Things have been a little slow on the wedding planning. I'm still looking for the right dress, a caterer and a photographer (in case JT's brother in law can't do it). I'm working on the save the date cards but that's moving a little slowly since I've been kind of busy. One thing I have been working on is our registry.
A lot of brides on the knot keep worrying about their registry. There's two camps. Do it immediately and do it sometime before the wedding. I was kind of anxious about the registry. I wanted to register at a few places but didn't want to look greedy. I choose to use thingsiwant.com. I can ask for gifts from a bunch of different places. People can check off the things they buy. It's really easy to use.
Our friends have started to ask us what we want for the holidays. Mr A told them to look at our registry. Mr A also feels that they can use that list for our birthdays as well. I agree.
Registering is a great idea because I have some friends that are sucky gift givers. I love a registry cause you can look for a gift that the person wants and find something appropriate in your price range. Trying to find gifts in all different ranges is difficult though. We have a lot of big ticket items (a flat screen tv, a vaccum cleaner). I'm hoping my family will pick up those items. But I did register for lower priced items like spatulas and oven mitts.