Saturday, October 29, 2011

I got crafty!

Occasionally I'll try and save a little money and try making things that would normally cost $60 or more.  It all started when I picked up my milball dress from the tailor.  It looks amazing and I can't wait to show you all!  You have to wait until after the ball to see it though, I'm being sneaky.

I had the dress made into a sweetheart neckline, and was considering adding a brooch or something to the top, but decided against it because I love the simplicity of the gown.  So, I wanted to find some sort of hair accessory.  I looked at some bridal shops, and most of the hair pieces I loved were about $60.... ouch.  That was more than the alterations to my dress! I did manage to find a brooch for $15 at David's Bridal and thought I could convert it into a hair comb.  So, here is how it turned out.

At the start.  The brooch before.
My wire and hair combs I bought for $2 each at Hobby Lobby.
Once the wire was wrapped around I kept going.
Finished product from the back.
Finished front view.
How it looks in my hair.  I'm pretty satisfied for $20!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Another one bites the dust!

Why yes I am referencing my friends that are getting married left and right :) Hence why I dropped off the face of the planet, I was busy doing school work so I could enjoy the weekend and all the driving around.  It was a 6.5 hour drive each way, but thankfully I had good company with another military gf in the car.  She's a Navy girlfriend, so it was interesting to hear more about a different branch. 

The bride this weekend is active duty Army, as is her husband (whoa weird to say husband).  It was nice to see them together, I had never met her husband until the wedding day but I'd heard all about him for the last 3 years.  They've been through opposite deployment schedules, living on opposite coasts and now they are finally married!

I officially survived my first catholic ceremony, all 2 hours of it.  Mostly that was due to the priest translating everything into Vietnamese as well as English.  So, it was quite the eye opening experience.  The dinner was fabulous, and we danced the night away.

I got the bouquet by default, they started playing "single ladies" and asked for all the girls to come forward, and I stood up and slowly realized I was the only one there.... cue awkward laughter.  The bride laughed her butt off and said, "hmmm, I wonder who this is going to be for?" and proceeded to chuck the bouquet my way.  At least we had some fun with it!  I just had to laugh, that made it the 2nd bouquet I've caught in a row... yikes!

On the trip back I managed to stop and have lunch with a bestie in STL and catch up with her for a bit, I've missed her so it was much needed.  I also got a Panera fix, which is always a fantastic thing.  Love some broccoli cheddar soup with a panini- perfect lunch!

Some photos from the weekend:
LOVE her dress and bouquet.

Beautiful church.

I believe this is the part where the priest forgot the "you may now kiss your bride"

First dance.  I teared up a bit.

Bride and I.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Ball Season!

I'm so excited, I just found out I have about a month until I get to go to my first non-ROTC military ball with boyfriend :)  You may remember the dress I bought this summer (photos can be found here), for a steal of $25!  Well, now that I have a place to wear it, I'm finally getting it altered. 

I'm having the neck line changed to a sweetheart, adding a brooch I have from an old dress, taking in the top a bit, and having the drop waist taken up to look more proportionate with my torso.  All in all, I think my $25 dress is going to change to a $80 dress... still not too shabby.

Now I just need some input on hair.  This is what I did on a Saturday night instead of studying or doing something productive, haha.  So, I came up with two possible styles, I'm unsure which one I'll end up doing, but I'm leaning toward style one.  I recent cut my hair much shorter than it's been for awhile so I didn't think I'd be able to do much of anything at all.  In a few weeks when it's actually ball time it'll be longer too so the curls might be more defined.

Style 1, curled and pinned back.

Back view. I need to find darker bobby pins.

Side view, again need different pins.

Style 2, very poofy. 

I call this, the "my hair is so big all I'm missing is the Ms. Something sash".

Very poofy.

I don't think I'm going to use the headband, but I'll be picking up a hair accessory of some sort.  I have a few things to get taken care of, but it'll still be cheaper than paying someone to do my hair :) Let me know your thoughts, and I'll be sure to add photos once we go to the ball!  Here is to hoping for the best!

Friday, October 14, 2011

Baking Adventures

After a crazy week of midterms, what's better than baking and drinking with friends? Honestly, I can't think of many better things to relieve stress! My fellow mili gf down here and I have a standing Thursday night tradition of drinking wine, trying to bake yummy things together, and hang out.  It's fantastic and a great time to complain about school and long distance relationships.  This week we elected to make cake pops!  We didn't have the candy melts though, so we improvised with chocolate chips melted with a little milk.  Here was the inspiration:
From Pinterest.
And here was our process!  We made the cake, added the frosting and let it chill.  We then rolled it into balls and dipped it in the chocolate.  The chocolate was a little thick, so they needed some more milk.  Overall, they turned out amazing! They taste even better after they've been chilled overnight :)
Who doesn't love a wine called Menage a trois? It was delicious by the way!
Having too much fun shredding cake.
Cheesing together.
Finished products.
I think next week we are going to see if we want to make something else, possibly attempting a homemade dinner.  Thanks to pinterest for the inspiration.
Link to the recipe.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Sometimes, I need some good trashy reality TV

After my awful midterm today, it is certainly one of those nights.  I'm working on a take home exam while getting caught up on Teen Mom, Dance Moms and other guilty pleasures.  Hey, sometimes I like to not think about what I'm watching.  A good trashy TV show does wonders for the fried student brain.

I meant to blog this weekend, but a little distraction arrived thanks to a 4 day weekend!  Boyfriend managed to squirrel away for a few days and help me to relax.  He was only in town Friday evening until Sunday afternoon, but we definitely made good use of our time! Friday we just had a chill evening in with a Redbox and a surprise for his place.  I was planning on sending a care package, but he told me he was going to come to visit, so I elected to wait until he came to give it to him.  So he got some cute new photo frames and pictures to go in his new place.

Saturday, we did it all. We woke up early-ish, went for a 2 mile run and had fun looking at all the changing leaves.  He kept remarking how much he missed the fall leaves last year.  It's funny to keep hearing him say. "I haven't done that in so long" and realize it really has been a long time since he's gotten to do a lot of things.  Poor guy also had a firecracker incident that showed the effect of a deployment.  Needless to say, I think my neighbors are royal jerks for lighting them off at 1:30am.

We went for a picnic on Saturday at a lake outside of town to get away from campus for a bit.  We went hiking, walked around the park and just cuddled up on a blanket and talked for a few hours.  It was a nice few hours to get away from it all.  We also made the journey to the local apple orchard, which was crazy crowded! Needless to say we high tailed it out of there after picking up our treats and picking the perfect little pumpkin. Later we did date night at a fabulous little Italian place and Lion King 3D!  Perfect date night for sure :)

Sunday was just lazy and spent sleeping in and making apple pancakes from the apples we bought.  Fabulous weekend before the reality of midterms came crashing back.  One down, 3 to go! I should be typing away at my two take homes but bed is calling me after my shows are finished up.
Some photos from the weekend!  I really need to start asking people to take photos of the two of us or start making boyfriend use his long arms, I promise I was there all weekend!

Beautiful day for a picnic, eh Boo Boo?
Someone was being dramatic about the little pumpkin.  I believe the was the face made after saying "it's just a little fella!"
Why you should never mention punkin' chunkin' in front of a soldier, they will want to try it.
Pumpkin was not chunked, and is now two face! His creation.
And hers!

I elected not to carve my pumpkin because I have a feeling it would get smashed pretty quickly if left alone on a college campus.  I elected to color it instead with paint markers :)

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Never fear!

I am still alive, just getting swallowed by midterms this week and next. I'll be back next week, so please forgive my absence.  I have a paper calling my name, so here is to hoping I can crank out another 6 pages and get to bed by midnight tonight.  Here goes nothing!
But before I take off, a photo to share:

A photo from a recent football game.  My mom drove down and we had a blast!
Big thanks to my Dad's coworker for the amazing free seats :)