Changes

The scare last Thursday (and Friday) have resulted in some changes that Justin and I are taking to make our house feel more like a home (as well as add some additional security).

Justin, I must report, is doing much better at checking and double-checking to make sure he has locked doors (with me triple checking). We leave far more lights on at night (with little regard to how this will effect our electric bill). I am now known to open the shutters for all of the windows to make it much easier to see out. (Justin had said it let's people see what we have/don't have, so he doesn't really understand why it's important for me to see who is seeing into our house and what is going on around it.)

The house still makes tons of creepy noises (as most older houses do) and with the electricity flickering when things come on or go off (as is normal for this particular house), I still get a bit unnerved.

In the past few months, Justin and I have been trying to spend as little "extra" as possible with regard to ourselves. We have a very limited budget with the majority of my paycheck going directly into savings. However, after some discussion, Justin and I have decided to splurge a bit (if possible) and buy things to make our house feel more like a home (and less like we've just moved). A rug in the living room, curtains, and more comfortable seating are just a few things we are considering. Unfortunately, all of these things cost money... and we are coming up on the season of giving. *sigh* Maybe one day we will have it all figured out!

In the mean time, I wanted to give a shout out to the following:

a) Georgia Power: While I did not appreciate the scare on Friday, I do appreciate the "public apology" via twitter. I appreciate you looking into the problem... and the fact that you will not be changing our meter again in the near future.

b) City Police Department: You guys have been SOOOO AWESOME! From arriving within minutes of us discovering my car had been broken into, to taking fingerprints, and having an officer come out to search my property with me, I truly appreciate how awesome you are! It definitely makes me feel safer living in this area!

c) DDS: I do not agree with how you update licenses, but I am ecstatic that the process has been as painless as it has been! (And only cost $5!)

d) Our Bank: You also have made this process as easy as possible. We truly appreciate the time spent working with us to get our accounts in line. Sometimes I am so glad I am not with a big banking company like Suntrust! Eeek!

e) My husband: who has been supportive, helpful, and awesome.

f) Our landlord: who also has been super helpful and is so awesome for agreeing to put a security system in for us!

Programs

Honestly, this was one of my FAVORITE parts of the wedding planning process. I spent sooo much time planning out the invitations and save-the-dates that it almost makes me sick. Do you know how little time I spent planning the programs? Do you know how much more proud of the programs I was than any of the other wedding paper products?

First we started out with paper. Thick paper. Program paper. 

Or maybe we started with the actual program. I don't remember.

Not being Catholic, I had to spend a lot of time on the wording and researching other Catholic wedding programs. Originally we were working with Father Tim, but he ended up having to do something for the archdiocese on the same date as our wedding. It was sad, but we scampered to find another priest to fill in. We ended up not even having a priest officiate which worked out quite well for us.

Point being... I had to e-mail him and the church coordinator about the wording and events within a Catholic wedding (that did not include communion). I needed to make sure I included all of the prayers and everything that needed to be said since only a few of Justin's friends and my dad's side of the family were the only to have ever experienced Catholic mass before.

Meanwhile, the wording for Catholic mass got changed as we were planning the wedding making things even more confusing. Ahhh!!!

So anyway, the program was double sided beginning with a cover page (including our names, the church name, the date, and the time) and ending with our thank yous and remembrances. We also made sure to include the names of everyone involved in the wedding mass including readers, singers, and ushers that were not necessarily standing with us at the front of the church during the mass.

I used a similar type to that which had been used on our invitations and save-the-dates.

My favorite part was the outside of the program. Justin had sifted through and bought a bazillion(!!) blue flowers from Ikea for our floral arrangements that I had NO IDEA what we were going to do with them! In January, I had bought a TON of ribbon from Hancock Fabric on sale that I also did not know what I would do with. So it came together. My mom and I spent 2 days cutting flowers, ribbon, and using a glue gun. *ugh* SOOOO TIME CONSUMING! But it looked so pretty, and I was sooooo happy with it! I was really afraid that all of the programs piled on top of one another would lead to flat flowers, but luckily this did not happen. On top of it, Justin (yes, Justin) had to teach my mom and I how to tie the bows so they would lay pretty. (Justin knows how to do everything! It really is scary occasionally. Apparently he learned this skill on a "How to Correctly Tie Your Shoe" website. Go figure. lol.)

At the same time as we were gluing flowers and tying ribbon, we were also poking holes in the pages of the program and sewing the books together. (Also very time consuming. So glad my dad was able to help!) Finally, we glued pockets inside the program covers to hold the map and information about the reception site. (The church coordinator had suggested the use of pockets to make church clean up easier. She said inserts typically get left at the church in the pews as they fall out of the programs. Then you have guests that can't find their way to the reception site! It probably didn't help that I had left the reception site as a surprise to everyone except out of town guests, immediate family, the wedding party, and the vendors.)

The one thing major that we did to the programs, that was even a surprise to me, was include two birds and a heart sitting on the ribbon that went around the back of the program.

My mom used to joke when I was young that if we saw birds sitting on a power line that they were having a meeting. I had a bird hole punch I bought for the wedding not knowing if I could use it. (Yes, they are technically black birds that I punched as blue.) Anyway, I was just playing around and being silly when I discovered that this could be a fun and unique way to personalize our programs without losing the class I was hoping to achieve. So my mom cut out approximately 300 "blue birds" on some thick blue paper while I used my Silhouette Cameo to print 150 hearts. Then my mom got to work gluing. I figured not many people would notice, but I was amused... Justin was amused. Everybody who knew anything about this little touch was able to notice and be amused.

Overall, I was so proud and excited for my guests to see our wedding programs. A lot of time and love went into them. I felt involved in every detail... and yet I felt like everything just came together.

I don't really have any suggestions for creating your own wedding program except to have fun. The minute you start worrying about copying somebody else or not being creative enough, you will probably get locked up and not be able to imagine what it is you want. Worst case scenario: call me.

Thursday

On Thursday morning Justin and I woke up to find the trunk open on my car. Upon further investigation, Justin noticed that nearly everything in my console was gone and everything in my glove compartment had been gone through. Lovely way to start the day, yes?

First I checked with my bank to make sure no money had been stolen or used -- it hadn't. Then we contacted the police. Within 10 minutes, we had 3 police cars in our driveway. (It's nice to have such efficient service!)

Unfortunately, Justin had either forgotten to lock my car and/or hit the unlock button unknowingly from inside the house creating the perfect "crime of opportunity". Also, unfortunately, I am a very forgetful person, and I had shopping cards (i.e. Kroger), gift cards (such as the ones received from our wedding), a little bit of cash (in case of an emergency), my license (You don't know how many times I've driven off without one!), Health insurance card (Justin put it with my ID), and debit card in my console. Of course the thief, not having time to go through and pick out what s/he wanted, took all of these things. As well as a switch for Justin's truck and a motormount for my car.

I'd like to say I've learned my lesson, but it really was random of me to have giftcards and car parts in my car. I had no intention of having my health insurance card with my ID until Justin put it there. I'm also really, really picky about locking my car. I double/triple check every time.

Anyway, the point is not whether or not I lock my car or what exactly I keep in it. The point is that now I find myself afraid. I'm not afraid of what has been done. The thief can keep the gift cards, my license has been reported, my credit frozen, and my bank accounts blocked. I'm just afraid of the thief coming back again. I'm afraid of someone thinking that the car was an easy target so why not try the house!

In over 10 years, I have never had a problem with what I keep in my car. I do not keep what I have out and visible. I regularly clean out my car. In fact, I get embarrassed easily when my car is a mess (i.e. not vacuumed, trash in the car from children, mud on the seats, fingerprints on the glass).

But it also makes me feel uneasy that my husband is forgetful and does not always think to lock my car. It makes me almost afraid to go anywhere with him in it... that maybe he will forget to lock it again.

I know I shouldn't blame him for my things being stolen. I knew the risk of keeping things in the car. I took the chance knowing how forgetful I am. That is my fault. I just hate that a decision was made (or not made) that made it easy for someone to break in to my car (possibly encouraging future break-ins in the future).

This break-in has truly had a negative effect on me making me want to move. There is no garage for me to safely secure my car in. I feel like even seeing my car outside the house is enough to encourage the thief to come back for more. I wonder if moving the car even closer to the house provides more protection? Would having a camera as well as a motion sensor light scare a thief? Do we need to get to know our neighbors better? Would that even matter at 2AM in the morning? And what did I hear at 2AM in the morning? Was that the person going through my car? Were they going through anything else? Was it an animal? Would it have stopped the person if I had turned on the light rather than not wanting to wake up my not-sleeping husband? Is there anything I could have done? Anything that I should do in the future?

Last night we slept with the lights on in the front room... just because. I felt like someone walking by the house may not know if we are awake or asleep and decide it wasn't worth the risk. I don't know if that is logical or a waste of energy. And the thing is... I really hope I never find out.

I'm hoping as the days go by, I can begin to feel more comfortable again. I'm hoping my husband has learned his lesson. I'm hoping we can take whatever measures we need to make the house more secure.

I think the thing I am most saddened by is the fact that we lost wedding gifts that our friends and family gave us. I feel like we have wasted their time and money rather than doing as I intended... helping it to go as far as possible using coupons to get great deals. That and the loss of security I once had.

Justin says the 'quick fix' may have deterred the thief from stealing something more valuable or attempting to break into our house. I hope s/he enjoys their wedding gift cards and car parts. I guess whatever makes a person happy is fine by me...

By the way, as a side note, Macy's was absolutely awesome when I called to explain that my giftcards had been stolen. They offered to send us a complimentary $25 giftcard which I accepted happily! So Macy's... I <3 you! Thank you for being awesome!

Anjolee Jewelry Review

Last Thursday I received a surprise in the mail. It was a box containing the Anjolee heart pendant I had won earlier this month. I was thinking to myself if I could wear it to the Fox with my newly acquired native birds dress, my day would be made!

Anyway, the necklace was shipped via UPS in a bag that contained a white box that contained a very pretty wooden jewelry box containing my very pretty pendant on a gorgeous silver chain.

I believe it took the necklace approximately 2 weeks to find itself on my doorstep.

I really enjoyed wearing this necklace the last two or three times I've worn it. I was worried about the pendant being too big, but it wasn't! My only complaint is that the pendant would get stuck on the chain... always right next to the clasp... and it would take me forever to move the clasp back to the back of my neck.

Overall, the necklace was really pretty and fun to wear. Obviously I do not have the diamond version like what you might order on Anjolee, but, based on what I have, if you are looking for a simple piece of jewelry to go with a dress or even a pair of jeans, this necklace is definitely a fun addition. I'm not sure I would pay upwards of $500 for it, but I don't have the real necklace. It makes it hard to determine the value. Just know that Anjolee does an awesome job at making sure whatever you order from them gets to you and the presentation in it's beautiful wooden box is just the icing on the cake!

Etsy Dress Finds

Knowing how expensive and time consuming dress shopping is for one's wedding, I decided to share my wedding 'find of the week'. I am absolutely IN LOVE with these beautiful 1950's vintage dresses I found on Etsy.

If you are as much in love with the 1950's style dresses as I am, I would suggest going to check out the Mill Street Vintage shop on Etsy for even more options! Also, try searching Etsy for more vintage/unique/handmade options for your wedding. You never know what you will find!

Music Compilation

I know that when I was getting married I had a hard time finding music that would fit the moment just right. Check out this list of music choices from Project Wedding if you need some help. While I don't agree with all of their choices, it is something to get you started. (See my post here on my music pet peeve.)

A Busy Week...

Last week Justin and I had a very busy week including a meet-up on Wednesday night with the creators of the NPR radio show How to Do Everything. I don't know what exactly we were hoping to learn how to do. However, we did learn how to eat fried donuts as dessert with caramel on top. Yum!

That particular night at the meet-up Mike Danforth offered Justin and I (as well as a few others) some free tickets to the Thursday night recording of Wait, Wait, Don't tell Me at the fabulous Fox Theatre. I had already agreed to babysit on Thursday night, so while we were able to attend the show (Who wouldn't want to go to the Fox?!), we were almost an hour late. :(

Afterwards, we went to Brickstore for some salad and bread. (Not your typical after-show dinnerfare location or even the typical food to be gotten at Brickstore.) We enjoyed our time of calm.

Finally, on Friday, we found ourselves watching my favorite children ever. Justin had them baking French bread and watching Alton Brown use sock puppets to explain how bread was made in Good Eats.  (Can you imagine kids watching a cooking show?!) He tried to get them to watch Julia Child, but she didn't use sock puppets (i.e. she was boring).

Other things we did over the weekend included cleaning, organizing, bug-spraying, and Justin cooking chicken and dumpling soup (among other things). Can you believe we are still organizing nearly 6 months after moving into this house? Yet we are. I blame our newlywed status and inability to really afford anything.