My SUPER long tresses

I have a slight attachment to my hair.  If you know me in real life, you will know that I've had my ups and downs with hair cuts.  When I was in sixth grade, I cut my hair to be chin-length and loved it, but I couldn't pull it back to play sports, so I needed to grow it a bit longer.  In eighth grade, I made a new friend who had layers cut in her hair, and it looked great, so I told my mom that's how I wanted my hair cut. So, the day before picture day, we went to the salon and had my hair cut. Worst decision ever. The haircut came out terrible. It seriously looked like a lion's mane. And it's captured in my eighth grade picture. Awful. And embarrassing. But at least now I can look back at it and laugh - but that doesn't mean that I'm going to be posting pictures of it.  Sorry!

Anyway, since then, I haven't really done much with my hair, but mostly because I'm afraid to let anyone touch it. Even family, because my mom cut my eyelid open trying to trim my bangs when I was in fourth grade.  Yeah, I'm not making this up - I really have had bad experiences.

I did go a few more times to get my hair cut, but the nice thing was that my hair was starting to get curly.  My dad used to have an awesome Napoleon Dynamite fro in high school, and my mom has very fine but curly hair, so I figured that I would end up with curly hair at some point, but up until high school, my hair was pretty straight.  I had my hair cut my senior year in high school, and it looked pretty good, and this cut actually made my hair curlier, which I liked a lot.

Senior High School Picture Circa 2003 / Courtesy of Mare Studios

When I went to college, I started playing field hockey, and with having my hair tied back all the time, I didn't really care to get it cut.  So, my hair got pretty long, as evidenced below:

Long straightened hair, driving my remote control Hummer, which had a camera on the dash so I could see where I was going on the remote - This thing was awesome, and I used to drive it into other people's dorm rooms and freak them out. Hilarious. / Personal Picture

My sister, MOH E, decided to go to cosmetology school after she graduated high school, and so to practice, we decided to dye my hair blonder, using a box color.  This was a terrible idea, and I ended up wearing a hat for an entire week, as parts of my hair were blonde, some were white, and some were orange. It was a week before Thanksgiving break, a few weeks after the above picture was take, so my sister picked me up from college and brought me to the hairdressers to get this mess taken care of.  Here is evidence of the box color:

Super blonde fake almost orange straightened hair with my yellow lab - we match...wow. / Personal Picture

So, I got that fixed, and since then, I've only done a few things to my hair.  That was the only time I colored my hair, and since then, all the color has grown out.  So, my hair has been long forever - in fact, FI has only known me with long hair.  Right now, after cutting seven inches off this past Thanksgiving, my hair is currently down to the top of my pants, length wise.  I am starting to think about different hairstyles for the big day, and while I have some in mind, I'd like to hear your opinions.  Do you think I should wear it up or down? Curly? Done nicely or somewhat loose?

Gracious Gifts

Registry registering. That is what this post is about.

FI and I originally wanted to to a honeymoon registry, even those though are frowned upon in the wedding community. We actually came up with the idea before most of the wedding registry websites were available to use, and thought that we could notify our guests that we were looking for honeymoon location suggestions and ideas, figuring that if they had been anywhere, they could share their favorite spots for us to check out.

After reading many different viewpoints, we figured that this may not be for everyone, and there will be some guests invited that will want to give a more traditional wedding gift.  FI and I have lived together for almost five years, and have a lot of what we need. In addition to that, we are not currently living in a place we own, so decorating for the space is difficult, and doing so would not be something I would like to invest pieces in that I may not like in a different room.  Therefore, we didn't really think that having a traditional registry was something we wanted.

Along these same lines, I hate being the center of attention. I really, really dislike being in the spotlight. In fact, even though I was a music major in college, my least favorite thing was performing solo.  So, having a bridal shower, and being the center of attention is not something that I want. And I have already voiced my opinion about this, stating that I don't want a bridal shower, but then that brings up other questions about how people give gifts.  The thing is, FI and I aren't expecting people to give gifts, although it is pretty likely that they will.  We are inviting these people to our wedding to celebrate with us and because we want them to be with us on this special day, not for the gifts they are giving.

So should I just suck it up and have a bridal shower? Or find an alternative means for people giving gifts? Am I being selfish, or am I being reasonable.

Yet another project...

I've been big into sewing my own clothing for a little while now, and I've always been pretty crafty, so I have quite a few DIY blogs that I follow, not to mention all the little projects that pop up on Pinterest all the time!

Recently, I came across these posts for rag rugs, and they really caught my eye.  I thought that it would look beautiful in a house, but we don't have one yet.  So, I decided to think about what else it could be used for, and thought about the wedding. I mean, come on, like any other bride finding a new DIY idea doesn't think about how she can incorporate it into the wedding.

Then, it hit me.  The ceremony space is in one of the greenhouses at the Botanical Center, but the thing is that the ground is concrete.  Given the way that the fountain separates the center of the space and there are actually two aisles that go around the fountain, that would be too much to decorate, never mind the fact that that is where all of our guests will be standing.  So, I have decided that since it's just concrete that we will be standing on, that a little rug for the two of us would look cute.

Unlike most rag rugs, however, I chose the colors that I wanted, and didn't just use rags that I had laying around, because honestly, I don't just have rags laying around.  So I went to the store, and bought 6 of the cheapest king size sheets I could find.  And then I washed and dried them, then ripped them up.  Yep, and then with one single continuous strip of a single king size sheet, I made a giant ball, and threatened to play bocce in the house. FI loved that idea, and it may have happened.

But, now, I have to braid one of each color strip together, and that could take a really long time.  Since I don't have any pictures quite yet, I'll leave you with some of my inspiration pictures, and I'll be back shortly with a DIY, because I know you will want one as soon as you see how it comes out.

Image via The House That Lars Built / Chevron Crochet Rug

Image via Fine Craft Guild / Eco-Friendly Bath Mat

Image by Craft Passion via Curbly / No-Sew Rag Rug

Beautiful, right? Can you see us standing on a rug like this to jazz up the ceremony space just a bit?

What programs?

Since we are having such a short ceremony, and also have a small bridal party, we are not making ceremony programs.  While this may also be part of the recent trends that are going around, I also think that they are a good idea to use because they give your wedding guests a feel for who is important to you and who is taking part in celebrating your special day. I also think it's a great way to honor those that you love, by including a sweet note to them.

So, I am looking for some way to be able to express our thanks to our immediate family - thanks for supporting us and being there for us along the way. I don't want to just do this in the speech we will likely give at dinner, either, because I feel like that is kind of expected, and won't really mean as much as we actually mean it.  I'm looking for suggestions on how we can really make it known to our family how much they mean to us and how much we appreciate all that they have done for us.

Are any of you doing something extra to show those you love how much you appreciate them?