Showing posts with label weddings. Show all posts

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Is this thing on? Summer recap

Well, hey there! *crickets*

So um, it's been awhile? I'm thinking I may have lost any readers I had when I stopped blogging regularly. But I hope there's someone out there still.

Seeing as how I haven't posted since July 3rd, it's about time I caught up on my adventures with a little summer recap. So let's see...

In July I...

Took Billy to check out a nearby town called Georgetown, with the cutest town square. We happened to visit during one of their Saturday Market days, in which there were vendors and a sort of craft/farmers market thing going on. We enjoyed shave ice, and had lunch at Burger University. I ordered the fried chicken sandwich and oh Lordy, was it good.

Late July I headed back to California for 11 days. I worked a beautiful wedding in the Santa Cruz mountains, spent a few days working at the salon, had a tea party with girlfriends, rented a fantastic Yet mountain bike for a thrilling ride through the Soquel/Santa Cruz Demonstration forest with Matt and Chris, who told me I had just experienced TRUE mountain biking, ran the Wharf to Wharf race, snuggled with my nephew Tyler, and surprised Billy's family by having him join me for the last four days.

Hopefully those videos will play correctly, if not, sorry! Do know Billy's family were so emotionally excited to see him back in CA for the first time since he moved to TX.

In August I...

Started a new job at West Salon in Austin. It's the first time in five years I have worked for a salon, instead of renting a booth and running my own business. It's a brand new place, with a lot of potential and opportunities for growth. It's different, but good. The only thing I am having trouble with is the hours- I work five days a week now, and suddenly have way less time to putz around or do my thing, so I have to budget my time and make it work. One awesome positive is that working in a salon again, I am given ample opportunities to wear a lot of cute dresses! The one below is LC Lauren Conrad for Kohl's.

I made another trip back to California for a short few days of working at the salon. What can I say? My clients demand my services, and who am I to deny the people what they want? When I got back to Texas, I helped throw a surprise baby shower for my friend Kate. She just thought she was coming over to my house with some friends after helping them move. She had no idea we had been in cahoots to have a taco bar and game night! I even had an opportunity to meet up with a Canadian blog friend, Leslie, while she was in Austin. Seriously, I love meeting friends I have met through blogging! If you are ever in the Austin area, I'd love to meet you too!

In September I....

Spent Labor Day weekend in the Detroit Metro area, visiting another blog friend turned in real life friend, Megan, for her wedding! It was seriously so much fun to hang out with her and also other blog friends, Julie and Erika! When I arrived on Thursday, we ran a bunch of errands, had the rehearsal. Friday was the big day, with hours of bridal hair and makeup prep, then the beautiful wedding at which Roary, the Detroit Lions mascot, showed up to the rehearsal! Saturday we did a little sigh-seeing, and even made it to a German beer garden in Ann Arbor. Sunday Megan introduced me to the most amazing fall tradition- a cider mill with fresh donuts and apple cider slushes! Texas needs to get on this tradition. So good.

The following weekend, I was in Georgia working a wedding for a friend of mine, RoseAnne. I know, so much traveling this summer!! RoseAnne's family lives in a suburb of Atlanta, but we stayed in Helen, GA, which is a super cute Bavarian town in north Georgia. The wedding itself was in Cleavland, at a beautiful venue called The Ruins at Kellum Valley Farm. The fun part of this wedding was that RoseAnne is the cousin of some of my good friends from CA, so I had the pleasure of their company all weekend. Seeing my friend Sarah's daughter Cameryn is always fun, too.

I ran the Oatmeal's Beat the Blerch virtual race a week early, because the next week I was on vacation, happily letting the Blerch run rampant. If you're not familiar with what the Blerch is, you should definitely read The Oatmeal's comic about why he runs.

Most recently, Billy and I jetted off to Mexico for a 5 night stay at an all-inclusive resort in Playa Del Carmen. I plan on writing a post dedicated to that lovely adventure, but here's a little peek! I miss it already. Neither of us wanted to come back to reality.

And that concludes my summer recap! If you read through all of this, you are awesome and I love you lots! Leave me a comment letting me know there are more than crickets around these parts. Also, please follow me on Blog Lovin so you don't miss out on possible posts!

Detail: Is this thing on? Summer recap

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Some wedding love

Happy Monday, loves! I have a picture heavy post for you today, to ease you into the work week.

While I am crazy-busy with wedding season, I still love it. I love being a part of a bride's big day in such a simple behind the scenes way, that has a huge impact.

Braids, lots of texture, and side swept styles are STILL going strong and show no sign of stopping anytime soon. I don't mind, I love all of those things!

Here are some collages of trial looks I have created over the last few months to keep your wedding loving brains happy.

{this was two different looks to see which the bride preferred. She chose the top look!}

Detail: Some wedding love

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Catch up for your Friday

Well, hey there party people!

Sorry I've been so sporadic with the posts, and mainly MIA. You probably guessed where all of my creative writing energy is going--to editing the book. You guys, editing is hard. Like so hard I don't even want to do it, but I have to. Each revision I make to the manuscript makes it better, even though it feels like pulling teeth to get there sometimes. Each pass through shows me just where my weaknesses are are, and I have to figure out a way to make them better. It's not a particularly ego-inflating feeling, seeing how much I suck, but it makes me happy when I can work through a problem area and make it shiny.

Wedding season is making me a crazy person. You could tell Billy I need to be locked away, and he would probably agree. Tomorrow, August 10, I will be working my 28th wedding of the season up in Sausalito, CA {across the Golden Gate bridge from San Francisco}.

That wasn't a slip of my fingers hitting the wrong number on the keyboard, either! I have already completed twenty-seven weddings. I have 19 more booked, and counting. Saying I hate my makeup brush belt and curling iron is an understatement. Really, I don't, but I would love to not have to pick up the tools of the trade for a weekend. I'll share some pretty pictures from trials soon!

Speaking of weddings, one of my very good blog friends just got engaged yesterday!! Congratulation Megan and Ryan! If you have extra room on your guest list, I call dibs! I have always wanted to visit Michigan and see the mitten state for myself ;)

I completed my 6th and final egg donation almost two weeks ago. I donated 21 eggs this time around {a far cry from the 34 they got back in January!}. It was a bittersweet feeling, walking into the office for my post-op appointment for the last time. I'm glad I got to say goodbye to my amazing coordinators, my favorite NP and all of the medical staff, though I didn't see any of the doctors that trip. I have threatened them with random pop in visits with the excuse of bringing in baked goods just to see them all again. I am so thankful to have found such a loving and caring practice to be affiliated with. They treated me so well the last 4 years, and really made me feel cared for and appreciated.

If egg donation is something you are interested in or just curious about, let me know! I would love to answer any questions you may have. Donating is NOT for everyone, and I respect those who say they could never do it for any number of reasons. If it's something that strikes a cord with you, research a little, and contact your local fertility clinics. You won't be sorry you were able to help someone start a family. Life is a huge and amazing gift you can give someone. I know so many people who have struggled with some facet of infertility, and the painful, emotional path they walked is hard to hear about. Knowing I was able to help someone who went down this same path brings me incredible joy.

Billy and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on Sunday August 4th! I can't believe it's been that long. Sometimes it feels like longer {in a good way!}, and other times I feel like we just got married! We were true to ourselves and didn't celebrate in any way. I think we both forgot to even mention our anniversary as we got ready and headed off to work that morning. Some people love celebrating anniversaries, and I don't fault them, but for B and I, it's not important. We plan on having many, many anniversaries together, so we pick the big ones if we want to celebrate. Looking through these photos makes me miss Lake Tahoe! No time for a vacay up there, though.

We may not get a chance to go to Tahoe anytime soon, but we are ARE heading to Texas to visit Dallas.

I know. Texas in August.

BUT, there is a warehouse location that Billy is applying to in Plano, which is just north of Dallas, and he sort of has a shot there, so we want to get a feel for the area. Y'all, {getting my TX speak ready} traveling is expensive. Airfare especially. I'm trying not to dwell too much on the cost, and just look forward to visiting the big ol' state of Texas for the first time. I will finally be able to say with authority that I know what Texas hair is.

Maybe I can write the trip off if I chalk it up to research for work....

If you have any suggestions for things to do and see while we are in Dallas, let me know! We have no clue what to do out there, so the more help, the better!

I am still going to Combat Circuit and loving it! I took measurements the last day I attended class on July 25, before a two week break for my egg donation, and wow was I impressed. I started class on July 2, attended 12 classes, and ended up losing 4lbs and 9 inches overall in that time period. When I say overall, I mean I measured my bust, under bust, waist, hips, lower hips, legs, arms to get all those inches off. I can tell by my slowly whittling muffin top and the flattening of my belly, which is the hardest place for me to lose. I couldn't be happier!

I really wish this was a nation wide class that was easy to go to for everyone out there, because it is seriously my saving grace. My weight had sort of stagnated, then I lost a little while writing my novel and picking up my marathon training. Combat Circuit is amazing for me, in that I have lost the 2lbs I gained during the egg donation, and a 3rd lb just from the 4 classes I attended this week. You hear that, Nate? If I move to Texas, you and I are going to have to figure out a way to transition Combat Circuit there as well!

Annnnd I think that catches you all up in this Happy Girl's life!

Detail: Catch up for your Friday

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The weddings are coming!

Weddings are here!!

Oh boy am I pumped! <--- That's what I would be saying if I weren't so freaking worn out from a long day of wedding hair and makeup, hour long drives to and from the wedding site {that I forgot to collect my travel fee for}, and another 5 hours at the salon on my regular clients! Currently, I am struggling to stay awake and focused long enough to type out this post so it's all ready to go for Monday. Please forgive me if I make little sense, have silly spelling or grammar errors, or struggle with run on sentences and general running on of the mouth. Thank God for spell check at least...

From Linh's Pt. Reyes elopement 1/5/13, my first wedding of 2013!

Sunday marked the official start to Wedding Season. This is a time of the year where my life revolves around all things wedding related, but mainly the hair and makeup that I provide for brides and their bridal parties. Engagement sessions, trial run appointments, and the actual Big Day keep me busy from late March through October with some add on weddings on either side. Seeing as I have had already worked 5 weddings this year {including Sunday's} and have 23 more booked with another 13 on tentative hold, you can imagine what my life will be like through October. Busy.

Kristine at her trial run for a Winery wedding

Kristine on her wedding day 3/24/13

I see every bride at least twice. Once for her trial appointment where we nail down the style she would like to see, and then again on location for her wedding. Let's say I do end up working 41 weddings this year, {not unusual, as I worked 40 wedding in 2012} I will have seen brides 82 times. Now let's say a bride here or there requests a second trial, or would like a trial for her mom/maid of honor/ sister etc., and you get even more bride face time. Now let me also remind you that I have a full clientele who I see regularly at the salon for their cuts, colors, and styles, and you can imagine my little 3 day work weeks get awfully crowded. Today I was on the road by 8am, and came home around 8pm. I actually had an hour long break between my wedding and my salon clients, so today wasn't even that bad. A typical busy weekend will be weddings on Saturday and/or Sunday with salon clients booked whenever I am finished, then coming home to crash on the couch exhausted with swollen feet, burned fingers, new color stains on my clothes, and inevitable cuts on my fingers and hands from sloppy scissor handling.

Photos from Katie's wedding 1/12/13, my 2nd wedding of 2013!

After 3 years of weddings, Billy is a pro at handling me in ~~raging bitch mode~~ the delicate condition a long weekend of wedding work will leave me in. He starts early the day before a wedding by folding laundry, emptying the dishwasher, hand washing dishes, walking the dog, and feeding himself without me having to ask. Then on the day of, he makes my life easy by making his own breakfast and lunch for the day, staying out of my way while I am getting ready to leave, then having food readily available when I am home, taking the dog out, keeping his video games or TV quiet so as not to disturb me, and giving me a Melatonin to help me sleep. He will ask multiple times just what he can do for me, and even make suggestions to help my addled brain decide, if I even want to be given decision making authority at that point. Mainly, he reads my mood and is the best hubby ever. He learned to do this through trial and error, so don't expect your husband to automatically do any of this for you in your time of weakness. There have been many, many phone calls where I yelled unintelligibly about not wanting to have to make a decision about what to eat, I-am-starving-and-you-better-just-feed-me; times where I freak out and tell him not to ask me hard questions like how was your day; and times where I come home to immediately blow up at him for not reading my mind and doing all of the little chores around the house that now fall on me to do.

You guys, he's amazing and I can't believe he's stuck with me so long when I can be a such a heinous monster if I become overly hungry, have to get up early and work all day, when someone was mean to me, or I get my confidence shaken when someone hates their new look I just gave them.

Love that man.

Now, I think I will show you some of the trials, engagement sessions, and wedding day photos I have taken recently!