Update

All has been quiet on the Sea Pig Front lately. Why, you ask? It seem that the main contributor--and I won't mention her name for anonymity's sake--has become addicted to World of Warcraft. That's right, I'm calling her out.

Please stand by because we may have to stage an intervention shortly. I'm getting worried. She has attached fake ears to herself to more closely resemble her Elfin character in the game*. Occasionally she will attempt to cast spells on me**, which, as of yet, have not been successful.

We may or may not be able to pull her away from the computer long enough to finish wedding plans. Stay tuned..



*ok, so that it hasn't gone that far just yet
**I can neither confirm nor deny the accuracy of this statement

This is America the Way It's Supposed to Be

All photos courtesy of the Huffington Post

"Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure. "

"My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth."

- Abraham Lincoln

What Are You Doing Today?

Polling Place Photo Project

I'm kicking myself for not posting this earlier. The New York Times is doing a cool polling place photo project!



Here is a bit of info about the project from the NY Times site:

The Polling Place Photo Project is a nationwide experiment in citizen journalism that encourages voters to capture, post and share photographs of this year’s primaries, caucuses and general election. By documenting local voting experiences, participants can contribute to an archive of photographs that captures the richness and complexity of voting in America.

We are especially interested in photographs that document your voting experience, including what works and what could be improved. If you are wondering what to photograph, take a picture of that! We're looking of photos of interiors, exteriors and other views that are part of your voting experience. Obviously, you need to follow the rules at your local polling place, and you should be respectful of other citizens who may not wish to be photographed.

On a related note, if you have any voting related questions or need help, please visit the National Association of Secretaries of State website. This nonpartisan site was created by state election officials to help eligible voters figure out how and where to go vote.

Have fun voting tomorrow!

Photo to Comic Effect

Happy November! I hope everyone had a fun Halloween. Matt and I saved our energy for playing Rock Band tonight at a friend's house. I'm going to try making mulled apple cider. I bought mulling spices from Penzey's (warning: the store will convince you of the need for spices you've never even heard of). They recommend heating a pot of 1/2 apple cider and 1/2 cranberry juice with 1-2 tablespoons of mulling spices. You can also add a splash of spiced rum or brandy. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Let's jump subjects and talk about Photoshop again. I have the 7.0 version and I love it (thanks Dad!). I recently found a tutorial on how to turn a photo into a comic book panel. While I was working on it, I got to thinking how cool it would be to make a comic book with photos of how Matt and I met, and what our life together has been like. It would be a neat way for guests to get to know us better.

Then I mentally slapped myself (yes, I can do that). I think DIY has turned into DIYUYD (Do It Yourself Until You're Dead) for me. If I do all these projects I have sitting in my head, Matt and I will wind up having to get married sometime in 2088.

But that doesn't mean someone else can't do it. Here is the picture I used for the tutorial before the modification:



You can't tell, but Matt has black and red hair in this picture. These were his rock and roll glory days before becoming a responsible adult (no sniggering). Here is the end result:



Nifty, huh? Most printing companies should be able to take your modified photos and print them in a comic book format. If anyone winds up doing this, please let me know so I can look at it and feel insanely jealous.

Here is a link to another comic book effect tutorial for a slightly different look.

Oh, Young Love...

Ummm, I'm not quite sure what to say about the wedding I'm going to show you today. All over the internet, you can find elegant, beautiful, inspiring weddings. This is not one of them. I figured other blogs have the market cornered on those. Let's spice things up a little.

Meet 16-year-old Missy Quinn and her husband, 17 year old Thomas Moghon, both from the UK. Click here to read an article about them from Closer.





Her dress weighed 336 pounds!!!! This completely blows my mind. I assume it's due to the glacier attached to her rear end. Missy accessorized her dress with a £500 crystal bouquet, sparkling choker, tiara, belly-button jewel, hair clips and garter, plus fake tan, false eyelashes and body glitter. Whew, I'm a little impressed.

Oh, but it gets better my friends. Meet her bridesmaids:



This gives me all sorts of ideas... *evil smile*

Want to meet some guests?





Yes those are fur coats, Chris Hansen would be alllll over this.

Maybe you're wondering how these kids came to have this particular sense of style? Meet the parents:



I might have to copy that little boy's suit for Matt.

Want another example of why people should not get married at such a young age? Here is a quote from Missy, “Thomas might expect me to cook and clean, but I’m not going to. He can look after me as far as I’m concerned!”

Breaking News - Drop Everything!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have had a Palin sighting. Please keep your voices down and no sudden movements- she packs heat and has "palled around with" Cheney.



Here again is her best bud Obama:



Brings a tear to the eye...

The Great Pumpkin

Occasionally I would like to post something non-wedding related. Especially since I think this blog will remain in use once the wedding is over.

Last night Matt and I went to an awesome pumpkin carving party at our friend Tamisha's house. Every year she has a get together with fantastic chili, cold beer, and lots of candy. However, I should mention that this is a very serious event for Matt. Last year he discovered the joys of pumpkin carving. He attempted an ambitious pirate ship design that turned out looking pretty cool:



This year he stepped up his game. Here he is at work on his masterpiece:



Another shot:



Finally after a little more than 2 hours of work, here is this year's pumpkin (get the smelling salts ready):



Here it is at night, the "I Can't Believe I Spent 2 Hours Carving a Pumpkin" pumpkin:



Here it is posing with its pumpkin posse:



No, you are not hallucinating. Senator Obama graced us with his presence last night. It was uncanny how much this carving looked like him:



A Sarah Palin pumpkin is rumored to be in the works, we will keep you posted and alert the AP to any developments.

Matt even won a much coveted prize for his pumpkin skills:



Yep, a new t-shirt.

The Dress (Options)

I've been asked by more than a few people if I have gotten my wedding dress yet. The answer is no. Procrastination is a beautiful thing people!

But of course I have been looking into what styles I like. I refuse to spend a ton of money on a wedding dress (if you've gotten married recently you can stop laughing now). There are actually lots of options available.

I'll start with the ubiquitous David's Bridal. I won't lie, I went there with my Mom a while back and it creeped me out. It was crammed with cranky brides and their crankier families. Girls in wedding gowns stood on carpet covered platforms that marched in rows down a hallway that reminded me of a back storage room in a warehouse. It must be what Wedding Barbie feels like at the Mattel factory.

But whatever, a dress is a dress right? Here are some I liked:


Very pretty. I think it's one of those dresses you have to try on to see how you really feel about it. It's style ST9505 - no name, they're sentimental like that.


This dress appeals to me much more. I'm into the Grecian, flowy look since I'll be outside all day. I'm really digging the back. Style is SRL9499.

Moving along now, lets look at Alfred Angelo. There were a lot of his dresses I thought I liked, but getting ready to post them here I realized that they didn't do anything for me. Only one dress really did it for me:


This dress makes me swoon (do people still do that?) I might have issues with the neckline, but we'll see. This is style 755.

Now lets play the alternate universe game where if money was no object, what dress would I wear? The answer is almost anything from Manuel Mota Pronovias.


If I could design the perfect dress for me, this would be it. This is called Salem, and it gives me the angels singing and heavens opening moment. It's also around $3000.


This dress is called Selene.


This is the Silueta.


And finally, this is Sadur. *Sigh* Now I need to find a rag to wipe the drool off my keyboard...

Heehee

I found this on SomeECards. I wonder if I can make this our page banner...

Slap Some Candles Down and Call it a Day

First off, sorry for not posting in the past week. I'm a financial advisor, and the market has decided it wants to turn all my hair gray before I hit 30.

Anywho, lets talk centerpieces again. My thoughts on this have run the gamut from, "I'll do all these gorgeous, extravagant decorations by myself, how hard can it be?" to "Forget this nonsense, I'll just hire someone", which led to "You want HOW much?!?", which has now led me to "People sell sacks of flowers right? What if I just dump a sack of stuff on the table, slap some candles down, and call it a day".

It turns out that this last idea of mine can actually turn out looking quite pretty:



Super easy and it actually has a beach vibe too. Here is a night shot:



The only change I think I'll make is to have light blue petals instead of white.

Unsurprisingly, I got this idea (and photos) from the lovely Mrs. Lemon over at Weddingbee. The photos were inspiration for her own centerpieces:



She used plumeria blooms instead of petals, which I imagine must have smelled amazing. Does anyone know of light blue flowers that smell fantastic?

Hey Crafty Lady

The crafting bug has not just bitten me, it's clamped down with steely jaws and I'm afraid there is no escape. In one of my more and more frequent periods of wedding insanity I decided to make our wedding invitations. Yup, by myself. By hand.

Thankfully there is a lovely site called Weddingbee. More to the point, an awe inspiring blogger named Mrs. Lemon (all their bloggers are named after foods). Mrs. Lemon is a crafting goddess. Seriously, I'm convinced she has crafted her way to deity status. She has also convinced me I need an embosser. That's one of these babies:



She got hers from Wilshire Graphic Press. You can submit your personal monogram (easy to do, just see my previous post) and they will turn it into an embossing plate. Here is Mrs. Lemon's:



Here is the result:



The embossers are $49.95 each, which includes both the embosser itself and the plate that you design. The custom embossing plate is only $10 more ($59.95 total). Additional plates (I'm thinking our return address) are an additional $29.95.

Monogram Goodness

Well. Well, well, well. I'm feeling rather smug at the moment because I finally learned how to work Photoshop. I found some awesome monogram tutorials on the web, so I gave it a whirl and this is what I came up with:

I really can't take any credit since I just followed the tutorial, but I can give credit to an awesome blogger who showed me how to do this. Go check out Brianna Nichole's blog for amazingly easy instructions on how to make your own. Here are some other sites that offer monogram tutorials:

Weddingbells
myJanee

I'm going to print my monogram on blank labels and use them on the backs of my invitation envelopes.