From Miss to Mrs: A Night on the Town

The Friday night before the wedding was when we planned for my Bachelorette. In a perfect world I would have loved to have it a few weeks before (maybe to make sure I wasn't recovering from it so close to the wedding...or maybe so I could have attention on me at more points throughout the year), but with my bridesmaids living around the country that was the easiest way to make it work.

The original plan was to go out in New Orleans, put with so many roads closed between Baton Rouge and New Orleans we went for a change in venue. As it was my MOH drove from New Orleans to Baton Rouge on Friday (along with her mom, my grandmother, and my godmother) using an alternate route and it took double the normal time. But she made it as did my other bridesmaids, so we were ready to celebrate!
My MOH bought me this cute pink shirt (hard to read but it says "He Put a Ring on it,") and most of the girls had matching black ones. She also gifted me to sash I'm wearing, and had buttons for everyone. (I think I'm wearing mine here, it's just covered by my hair.) Finally she bought me a mini-veil to wear.
We wound up at IPO, which is a new-ish restaurant that opened in downtown Baton Rouge. It's a tapas style restaurant so we all got a few dishes to share.
Would you beleive the only photos I took the whole night were of the food? The photo above is the crawfish pot pie I ordered.
This is the bruschetta my MOH ordered. Photo still by me, although all the non-food photos are by her.
And one more food photo, this one ordered by one of my co-worker friends, grits with a fried quail egg on top.
We also started drinking at IPO. Here I am taking my first shot of the night, a lemon drop. From dinner we started off on our mini bar crawl.
Here is the whole group of us at the first bar of the night. You can also see the matching tank tops here, as well as the buttons everyone's wearing (although not very clearly I know).
I did drink quite a bit, although drank a ton of water too. I think by the time we left this bar I has completely switched over to water. And while it might be a bit foggy, I definitely remember wanting to enter the next bar with a to-go cup of water. While they wouldn't let me bring the to-go cup it, they were nice enough to transfer my water to a new cup. Not that I couldn't have gotten a brand new cup of water there anyways.
I don't remember exactly what time I made it home, but I do remember being on the couch watching reruns of The Hills waiting for the boy to get home from his bachelor party. He didn't keep me waiting too long though, since I'm pretty sure I didn't even get through an entire episode of The Hills.

How close to the wedding did you wind up having your bachelorette? And did anyone else know that MTV replayed episodes of The Hills late at night? I think I might have to start staying up late just so I can watch them every once in a while.

Miss a Recap Post?
From Miss to Mrs: The Calm Before the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: There's a Hurricane Coming?
From Miss to Mrs: Here Comes Isaac
From Miss to Mrs: Weathering the Cane
From Miss to Mrs: After the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: Trials and Tribulations
From Miss to Mrs: The Last Errands

Back From the Dead

Frankenweenie
Growing up my mom and I used to love watching Tim Burton's original Frankenweenie when it played on Disney channel. My mom even recorded it so we could watch it whenever we wanted. So we were both excited when we heard that Tim Burton was turning his short into a full length animated movie a la Nightmare Before Christmas, which was another favorite in our house.

Last November Entertainment Weekly posted one of the first images from the movie, and I couldn't wait to talk with my mom about it. Except at that point my mom was in the hospital and I couldn't talk to her over the phone. I thought about asking my dad to make sure she saw it, except never did. I guess I just didn't think it was that important. After all she would soon be out of the hospital and we'd have plenty of time to talk about the movie. Except if you're familiar with my story you know that isn't the way it turned out.

With such history there was no way I wasn't going to see this movie the weekend it came out (even with Pitch Perfect and Taken 2 coming out this weekend). And knowing my back story with it no matter what it was going to be emotional for me. But there's this small detail that this movie is about a boy loosing his pet dog and bringing him back from the dead. So is it any surprise that I wound up crying at 3 or 4 different parts in this?

Emotions aside, I really did like this movie. While I do remember loving the original, I don't remember all the details, but the movie did hit the parts I remember. Being a cartoon it is a kids' movie, except it definitely is for more mature kids, which makes it difficult for it to find an audience.

If you loved the original, than I think you have to see this. Or if you're a fan or kid-type movies, than I think you'll enjoy this one as well. For me, I do think this is one that I'll want to own when it finally makes it to dvd.

Gone But Not Forgotten

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
It feels like everyone has been reading this book lately, and here am I jumping on the bandwagon. If I was writing this review for only those that have read it, I feel like there's so much I can say. But since I know most of the world hasn't read this yet (even though it feels like they have) I'm somewhat limited since I hate giving spoilers.

There are just so many twists and turns in this that it's hard to write about it without giving something away. The book does remind me of The Deadly Sister by Elliot Schefer, except just a much more adult version. But even though there are similarities between the two, there are so many more difference.

A lot has been said about the ending, but in a way I kind of like it. I'm not a fan of the final few words though, because they definitely create a cliffhanger that I don't think is ever going to be solved, since I don't see any type of sequel ever happening.

If you haven't read this yet, and you're even thinking about picking it up, you need to do so sooner rather than later. Not necessarily because it's an amazing book (although it is pretty amazing), but more because you don't want anyone to ruin this for you.

5/5

Today I'm linking up with Blonde Undercover Blonde for Book Club Friday!

Greetings From the Oval Office

About a month and a half ago I posted about the response we received from mailing our invitation to Disneyland. Although it's the only response I posted about, it wasn't the only celebrity invite we sent out. We just didn't hear back from any of the others. And since our wedding is officially past I didn't think we'd be hearing back from anymore. That is until I received this in the mail.
Yes, that does have the return address of The White House. While it hard to tell from the photo our names were handwritten on the envelope. Obviously not by the President himself (although wouldn't that be something), but I'm sure from some intern with pretty handwriting.
The card inside the envelope wasn't personalized, but it was still far better quality than our Disney postcard. And considering someone did take the time to hand address our envelope I know at least someone put quite a bit of effort towards our mail.
Assuming you mailed out celebrity invite, what type of response did you receive from them? Or if you could invite any celebrity to your wedding and actually have them attend, who would it be?

From Miss to Mrs: The Last Errands

After my hair trial I had to run the last few errands before everyone started arriving. I picked up black ink at Office Depot because I needed more ink to print off more programs. (It feels like every post I'm mentioning these things. I guess I'm trying to increase your excitement for the final reveal, because I've still yet to post about them.) Then I stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up a ton of random pieces.

Now normally I try to avoid shopping at Wal-mart. I'm just not a huge fan for a variety of reason, and will instead go to Target. But in order to get to Target I'd need to get on the interstate, Wal-Mart was on the way home from the salon, and I was running out of time. So to Wal-Mart I went.

As for what I picked up, as I mentioned before it really was a bunch of randoms. There was snacks for the wedding day (cheez-it party mix, tapanades, luna bars), individual bags of frozen drinks (I beleive pina colda, mango daiquiris, and strawberry daiquiris), moleskin & heel pads for my shoes which were slightly too big (I even pulled up this post in the aisle to see what everyone suggested I use), gum & Altoids to go in my day-of emergency kit (which didn't actually get opened until after the wedding), wine glasses for the ceremony (yes, the ceremonial wine glass we smashed and the wine glass we drank out of were both $0.97 glasses from Wal-Mart. And while I brought the smashed pieces home, I left the other one at the venue. But I guess for $0.97, it's replaceable). I'm sure there were a few other odds and ends I picked up, but you get the idea, and why Wal-Mart was probably the most convenient place to find it all.

Once I got home the boy suggested we should probably practice our first dance, since we hadn't yet. According to the boy our first dance song was meant for a two step. So two days before the wedding the boy was trying to teach me to two step in our living. It was pretty much a disaster, but even if I had devoted months of practice I don't think I would have been able to master it. (I even took a ballroom dance class back in college, and was a disaster then, so I wasn't hoping for much.) Unfortunately we couldn't spend all night practicing (again not that it would have really helped), because that night we had our respective bachelor & bachelorette parties.

How long before the wedding did you practice your first dance (if at all)? And would you consider yourself a good dancer?

Miss a Recap Post?
From Miss to Mrs: The Calm Before the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: There's a Hurricane Coming?
From Miss to Mrs: Here Comes Isaac
From Miss to Mrs: Weathering the Cane
From Miss to Mrs: After the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: Trials and Tribulations

From Miss to Mrs: Trials & Tribulations

I missed my initial hair trial since it was canceled due to Isaac, but by Friday everything was starting to get back to normal and since the salon had power back, I went in for my appointment.
I think I look pretty horrendous in this photo, but at least it gives you a true before. I had my hair up in a ponytail and quickly took this shot before going in (after putting my hair back in a pony, of course). I didn't think to bring my inspirations photos, just told her I wanted my hair half up and in curls. But even though I hadn't brought them with me, here are the images I was hoping to emulate.

Source: via Mrs. Doe on Weddingbee via Shoshanah on Pinterest

Source: Again via Mrs. Doe on Weddingbee via Shoshanah on Pinterest

Source: via Mrs. Hawk on Weddingbee via Shoshanah on Pinterest

Source: Via Mrs. Cola on Weddingbee via Shoshanah on Pinterest

And even though I didn't bring her a single photo of my vision she came awfully close to creating it.
Yes I realize my curls have almost fallen at this point, but this was after I had run to my car in the pouring rain. (You can see the sheets of water on the windshield even.) And I even managed to get a shot of the back. (Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a photo of the back of your head in your car? They was actually my first try and absolute luck, because in my attempts to better it, I completely missed my head.)
How close did your hair trial come to your inspiration? And when you go to your hairdresser do you actually remember to bring inspiration photos?

Miss a Recap Post?
From Miss to Mrs: The Calm Before the Storm
From Miss to Mrs: There's a Hurricane Coming?
From Miss to Mrs: Here Comes Isaac
From Miss to Mrs: Weathering the Cane
From Miss to Mrs: After the Storm

Monday Movie Review

Looper
This movie really wasn't anything like I expected it to. Except that made me like it a lot more than I had anticipated. The boy on the other hand probably would have liked it more if it was as action-y as the previews made it out to be.

Being that this is a time travel movie, there are a few paradoxes that make less and less sense the more you think about it. But for a movie like this to really work, I think as a viewer you just have to ignore and accept, which is hard for me to do.

I don't always say this, but I do think it would be a fun movie to watch again. There is a lot going on here, and while I was confused for a lot of it, it all made sense by the end. I will warn you that there's quite a bit more thinking involved in this movie that the previews tell you. But as long as you're not expecting a crazy action movie full of chase scenes, which is what you'd expect from the previews, I think you'd really like this one.