My friends are the bomb, yeah I said "the bomb"

I have been too overwhelmed to post much in the past few weeks. My brain has reached a point where it says 'stop. overload. please hit me with your new info in...about a couple weeks.' Seriously, I can't even remember my computer password at work. Source of overload: mega-work-busy-ness, major movement on the house-buying front (which is exciting and scary and super complex), my birthday (and A's), my awesometastic bachelorette festivities, oh and this wedding thing coming up in less than two months.

Weirdly, everything is just HAPPENING at the same time and I have been very relaxed this week, which is shocking, considering my track record with managing stress.

Last weekend my amazing and hilarious friends planned some bachelorette festivities for me in Austin. I just showed up and laid (layed? ug i hate that one) by the pool and drank pretty drinks and ate good food. All of my friends meeting each other was awesome! I was like 'whoa, you don't KNOW each other? But I know you all! Worlds colliding!'

Austin was a great destination bachelorette party location and I am so ecstatic that many of my friends made the trip from as far away as San Francisco, New Jersey, Chicago, Virginia, and Tennessee!

Let's see a few pictures from the suprise lingerie shower! I was so surprised!

After the shower, we headed out on the town, with my lovely DIY wedding-color-coordinated veil--thanks Amanda!!! Many people commented that we were a 'classy' bachelorette party, which I have to agree :)

SuziQ

My maid of honor is married but we are both (thankfully) in agreement that the word matron is tragic. It does not say chic and young and awesome AT ALL, which she is. So it's settled.

She will be called maid of honor, which really doesn't sound that great either, when you think about it (right?), but it is way better than matron. Uck.

Susan and I have known each other since middle school and we have our own slightly gangsta lingo, which we still use around each other, like it's normal. Suzi looks adorable in our bridesmaid's dresses, don't you think? I am in love with this color and am so glad that we decided to go with these JCrew dresses. They will look awesome with the bright iguana green bridesmaid's bouquets we are planning.

In other news--invitations go in the mail tomorrow!!! That means we are two months out! These invitations were a labor of love (with extra love from Mom)--I will let you know how we made them later. Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise...

From Russia with Love

Excuse the blurry picture. This is my recent makeover attempt, with Clinique. Although I normally wear hardly any makeup and have mimimal makeup-application skill (despite my collection of makeup and beauty coffee table books) I am tackling DIY wedding day makeup. I've made this decision mainly out of fear. Fear for looking like a Davy Crockett High School prom (sorry for the East Tennesse inside joke) at the hands of a mystery makeup artist. I know I could do a 'trial run' with someone but the idea of saying 'sorry, I think you're terrible and I won't be seeing you again' makes me jittery. And I think I would probably hate it, given my history with makeovers.
My lovely maid of honor did her own makeup for her wedding and it turned out great. So, I am copying her by visiting Clinique and MAC to get some instruction and products.
I was fairly happy with the results at Clinique. And the older Russian lady who was helping me was absolutely adorable--she had an endearing way of alternating between chastising me for my makeup/beauty habits (you must drink more water--no more Coke! you wash your face morning and night!)and showering me with compliments that was hilarious, especially in a funny kind of Russian-English.
So, I bought some foundation (yikes!) and some other fun products like liquid eyeliner and am practicing every day. I am looking forward to going to MAC tomorrow, to see what they suggest for my eyelashes (am hoping for a greenlight to proceed with fake eyelashes!)

Money in da Banq

Our reception venue, Banq, is a recently renovated 1920s bank building. Everything is very very new and super cool on the inside. When we visted the space in July it still smelled like paint and several things were still under construction. They just opened up for events within the past month and they had their first wedding reception last Saturday. I am dying to call them (clearly I am a stalker) to see how it went--more info on that later in the week, hopefully.

In the meantime, I am pumped to see this jazzy little YouTube video they've put together (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQsy1S7y3BY). Can't wait to see how it will look with all of our lime green and blue accents!

PS the bathrooms are kind of amazing. I enjoy high end bathroom fixtures :)