Whirlwind Wedding Weekend

*Keep reading to the end for a lovely little surprise....*
Well, this weekend was, simply put, AMAZING.

Everything went off flawlessly. Except for a couple of things.

1. Hair. All of the 'maids went together to get our hair done. There were 2 different women styling our hair. Let's just say that one of them shouldn't be doing hair. One of the other bridesmaids ended up brushing her hair out in the car and calling her sister for backup. Yikes.
2. My dress. Remember how I said my dress was tight? Yeah, it was. I thought the main issue was going to be my thighs, however, it turns out that the top was the problem. While bending over and doing the junior bridesmaids' makeup, I popped the hook and eye and - yikes. Thank god the bride's grandmother is a seamstress, so she just sewed me into my dress. Which was great except it was SOOOOO tight. Once midnight rolled around and I got that dress unzipped, I was sooo glad to take a deep breath.
3. While on the stage, I had a serious case of heart issues. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but on occasion my heart goes all out of whack and starts beating super-hard and really won't quit until I sit still or lay down. During the ceremony, I bent straight over to fix the bride's train and BAM it hit me. It beat through the entire ceremony and straight up until I processed out and then sprinted to the bathroom where I swore I was going to be sick (but wasn't).
4. The tornado warnings and 50 mph winds. After the ceremony, we went to this old mansion to take pictures with the Christmas lights on the porch. And it rained and poured and we all got wet, even though we were on a covered porch. Ick. Did I mention that it's December? Weird.

But once we got to the reception, things were great. Before I gave my toast, the bride's father gave a toast, which of course set me off crying like a baby. My maid-of-honor speech or toast was beautiful. I think it went really, really well.

I framed the speech by talking about the things she has 'taught' me over the years, which I thought was fitting since we got to know each other at school.

After I finished my speech, the bride and her father danced which made me cry pretty much uncontrollably. I seriously had to leave the reception because I had to get myself under control. I was such a mess!

And now, I'm just going to post a lump of pictures because it seemed too tough to intersperse them with all this wordiness.

The beautiful bride getting a touch-up. Isn't she beautiful?? Me and the boyfriend. We caught the garter and bouquet at the wedding. You know what that means, right? The 3 best friends from high school (missing the bride...). We really should have got a pic of the 4 of us... sigh. You can see here how TIGHT my dress was... eek! The big girls and the little girls playing before the ceremony. At the reception...
The bouquet, with something old, borrowed, and blue. That pin was my mom's and I think she got it from her mom. And the blue ribbon added hastily because SHE DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING BLUE!

Ok, I promised a surprise. At the reception, 3 of the other bridesmaids and I busted out in a little dance tribute to our best friends. The video's not that great, but at least you can tell we put in some effort on this little routine. I'm the 2nd from the left. Please, leave a comment and tell me how amazing lame my dance moves are. And how they made you laugh so. Pretty please? I need that comment crack to get me through all this business I have to take care of before I go back to school

Seriously though, the wedding and reception were amazing. I can't believe my best friend is MARRIED! It makes me feel soo... old? Lonely? It's the weirdest feeling, for sure.

I can't wait to hear how her honeymoon went... can't wait!

Holiday Exhaustion, A Recipe, and A Trip

So, I'm tired. It's almost Christmas. Blah blah blah. Have you read this exact same bundle of phrases on about 1232 other blogs today? Ok, moving on.

First, I tweeted about these delish cookies yesterday but was too damn lazy to post the recipe. Soo... if you want to gain ten pounds (hell yeah) then you should probably bake them YESTERDAY. They aren't holiday cookies by any means, but they are really truly delicious.

Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies
1. Cream together 1 cup butter (soft) and 1 cup shortening.
2. Beat 4 eggs into mix.
3. Sift together 4 cups flour and 1 tablespoon baking soda.
4. Add 4 cups quick oatmeal and the flour mixture into the mix.
5. Stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla.
6. Wrap mixture and chill for one hour.
7. Pinch off dough and roll into very small balls (maybe 1/2 TBSP).
8. Place balls on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
9. Bake at 350° for 7-9 minutes. Cool completely.

Cream Filling
1. In a saucepan, combine 1/3 cup flour and a dash of milk to form a paste. Add a total of one cup of milk slowly. Cook over medium heat stirring occasionally until thick and smooth. COOL.
2. In another bowl, mix 1 cup soft butter, 2-2 ½ cups of powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, and a dash of salt. Cream until light and fluffy.
3. Add in flour/milk mix 1 tablespoon at a time. Beat until smooth.
*This recipe makes about 100 cookie sandwiches – may want to cut in half.*
*Make sure to use butter where stated*
Yes, these cookies taste even better than they look. Get thee to a grocery store for the instant oatmeal. You won't regret it (unless your clothes don't fit, because I can totally relate to that one...).

A couple of times I may have mentioned that on Saturday, I am going to be the maid-of-honor at my best friend's wedding. I am super excited for the wedding, but overwhelmed with the stuff I need to be helping out with. I can't even imagine how stressed she must be.

Although, I have to say, the bachelorette party was amazing. Things were a bit rough at a couple of different points - but overall it was great.

Tomorrow I have to make a trip to get the dress that I am hoping to wear to the rehearsal dinner. I had planned to wear the dress, but then my friend asked to borrow it. I didn't know what to say, since I wasn't dead-set on wearing the dress, so I said yes. And then I shopped for several hours today looking for another dress, but no dice. The friend lives an hour away, close to a mall that I could do some damage at... so I will. And retrieve the dress. And then probably end up with a new outfit which will negate the need to go pick up the dress. Oh well.

A Maid's Honor

So, a week from tomorrow I will be walking down a church aisle in this little getup: That's right - my best friend is getting married on December 27th, the Saturday after Christmas.

I'm really excited about the wedding, although I have NOT been eating like I should and am therefore slightly concerned that I am going to have to hike up my dress to walk down the aisle because the damn thing won't fit.

On another note, I got my hair highlighted last night for the first time since July. July, people. Can you say roots? Yeah, me too. I didn't take a picture, but it actually looked surprisingly like this: It's just a bit longer than that photo because I haven't cut it since JULY and she only took off about a centimeter tonight (so I could keep it long for the wedding).

Today is the Bachelorette Party. That I'm throwing. And I basically don't have any plans yet. And it's almost 8 am. So, yeah, I'm flying by the seat of my pants. You see, it's been a very busy and stressful week (hence my lack of posting) and I just didn't have the brainpower to pull something together.

I barely sent out the invitations on time, slacker that I am. And they looked awful, which I feel bad about, considering my sometimes-craftiness.

Anyway, tonight I'll be celebrating the last week of freedom for my best friend. What will you be doing?

Happy Friday!! (And seriously, TGIF!!)

Inch Be Gone!!

Well, this happened several weeks ago but I completely forgot about it!

You see... I got my bridesmaid dress fitted. Did I mention that they ordered it a size or so too small? Yeah.

And there's not enough time to get another one ordered. Oh well.

The good news is, I only need to take an inch off my thighs and stomach to be able to walk in the dress. Spanx, anybody??

And of course the fitting would not be complete without photos...

A group shot of three of the 'maids... A shot from the front (note my nervous hands...) Umm, booty shot? Is it inappropriate to post a bridesmaid booty shot? I don't know! (Let's play a little game called 'can you see my panty line?') And... what bridesmaid fitting trip is complete without a trip to Hooters. I don't know...

Well, that's all the exictement for today.

If anyone has the solution that will take inches off my thighs, I will pay you. (Note: This plan includes lots of ice cream, sour gummy worms, and Mountain Dew... right?)

Happy Wednesday!

love,

MOH Dress

Well, I finally had a chance to go and get my Maid of Honor dress for my best friend's December wedding.

Along with the other bridesmaids, we pored over all the designs in the store and tried on every single style available. I ended up picking out the dresses of all of the other girls; it was determined that I had a good eye for picking things out based on body types. Who knew? (Actually, I did, but I didn't want to be immodest.) Anyways.

So of course, I pick the only dress which is form-fitting on the lower half of the body. Which happens to be the largest part of my body.

The dress:
Sassy, I thought. And the size: 10 on bottom, 2 on top.

Might need some alterations.
Go figure.

Until the wedding in December, I'll be on the treadmill if you need me...

love,

Virtual Bridesmaid

Virtual Bridesmaid

I am currently facing a dilemma.
Over the summer, one of my very closest friends from high school got engaged. We have several close friends, so I was completely surprised when she asked me to be her Maid of Honor. I was (and still am) so completely excited and just thrilled to death for the wedding and all that goes along with it.

The problem is, I am basically a virtual bridesmaid. She is away in West Lafayette going to school, and I’m up in South Bend being busy. I have SO many responsibilities at school (I’m an RA, in way too many clubs, and take on any random responsibility that comes my way). Hi, my name is Sarah and I’m addicted to responsibility.

So the problem is this: basically, I’ve been the worst maid of honor ever. Because of the timing of her engagement, I believe she just had a small engagement party with her and his family. We went dress shopping together – tried on brides and maid dresses. I changed her mind from burgundy to black for her after-Christmas wedding; I love burgundy, but half the bridal party would’ve looked like corpses.

Anyways, so far she’s: sent out save-the-dates, tried narrowing the guest list, picked the chapel, booked the reception hall, purchased a dress, and who knows what else. All without the support of her Maid of Honor.

So what do I do? How can I be there, when obviously I’m here? I wish these things didn’t keep me up at night!! I am possibly the worst maid of honor ever.