DIY Bridesmaid Bags

Fun Way to Ask Your Girls. . . 

Among all the wedding planning the boy and I had to sit down and come up with our bridal party, which wasn't an easy feat. Having four younger brothers himself and each of us having best friends that were the opposite gender made it a little difficult. We're having an intimate wedding so it didn't make sense to have five or six up on each side, essentially that would be a third of our guests! We decided to  only include family or friends that had been apart of most our lives to help narrow down our list. We wound up with three each, three ushers and two younger ones being included. We also decided to ditch the traditional route and have a mix of girls and guys on either side.  This forced us to have some creativity with the names of each bridal party member. Here's what we came up with:

The Boy's Side:

Best Man

Best Woman

Coolest Groomsman

My Side:

Maid of Honour

Man of Honour

Best Bridesmaid

Butterfly Girl & Ring Security

So all that left was how to ask each of them in a fun way to be apart of our wedding.

Here's what we came up with for the girls. . .

I put together a little nail care kit with nail clippers, toe separators, nail file and cuticle stick all in one of the colours of our wedding. I got each of them nail polish that would go with their bridesmaid dresses (I picked nude it's one of my favourite nail colours and think it always looks so fresh and gave my butterfly girl coral to match the big girl's dresses!) and threw in a fun matching lip gloss in there as well. I made each of them a manilla tag that said Will You Be My (or Our) ___? I tied it all together with some twine.

Next I made little notecards on card stock, one asking them to be apart of our wedding day and bridal party and giving some brief information on the wedding like the day and location. On the next one I told them our wedding colours which are: Coral, turquoise and touches of yellow. I went to Home Depot and picked up paint swatches in the colours I wanted and cut out little squares for each one. 

The final card was for just the bridesmaids with details about their dress. Again, I went a slightly more non-traditional route although it seems to be a catching on trend. I'm allowing the girls to pick their own dresses. Not only do I have three girls of varying height, skin tone and hair colour but completely different tastes in style. They manage to dress themselves adorable any other day so I'm not sure why my wedding day would be any different? I included that I wanted them to all be knee length (except the maid of honour) and pasted on an array of coral colour swatches for them to choose from. This way they will all coordinate but be comfortable and happy in what they're wearing, this is also a great way so they can buy a dress in whatever price range they're comfortable with! I asked for them all to wear nude shoes to tie everything together. I'm really excited to see what they come up with! 

I wrote on the bottom the link to one of my Pinterest boards where I've been pinning the cutest coral dresses so just in case they are stuck they can go here for inspiration and really get an idea for the feel of my wedding I'm trying to create! Gotta love Pinterest!

I used craft scissors and cut brown lunch bags in half, taping the bottom together so they would lie flat with turquoise duct tape. I stamped each of the girl's names on the outside and put all the cards and the goodies inside. I used a flower hole punch at the top of the bag and hot glued on pieces of lace on the inside flap. I laced the lace through and tied a big bow to keep everything secure! They were complete!

I mailed them in bubble wrap lined envelopes just to make sure they made it intact, especially because one had to go completely across the country to my best friend!

Next up will be the boys. . .

100 Days

Making it Happen

According to How Stuff Works it only takes 21-30 days to make or break a habit! That's really not that bad if you can just force yourself to power through the first part then you're in the home stretch, right? Well knowing that and with my wedding date looming in that awkward 'oh there is still plenty of time' and 'it's going to be here before you know it' phase I decided to get in shape. Ok, you can stop laughing, I'm serious this time! Ever since my twenties I've always eaten healthy (I seriously just like it!) but working out has always come and gone in phases. I can't promise after the wedding bells have silenced that I'll keep it up but hey some time is better than never at all…

Check Out Give it 100, it's a really cool new website where people, like me, are trying to over come something (mine is pure laziness) or simply learn something new and are taking on the challenge for doing whatever it is they have chosen for 100 days. They upload 10 second videos from each day doing whatever they're doing and you can watch people progress and get better as the days go on, thought it was a pretty neat concept and talk about motivation! 

I don't know if I can commit to uploading a video every day but I did take before pictures, measurements and weighed myself. I never weigh myself so I'm only going to do 'check ins' every 20 days to map my progress. Working out every single day already seems like a daunting task but I'm only calling for working out at least 15 minutes a day. So the days I'm busy it'll be hard to make an excuse to not get in at least fifteen minutes, but the days I have more free time or on the weekend with the boy I can workout for longer. But fifteen minutes is the bare-bones minimum. I started this past Monday so I'm currently on day 3. . . only 97 more days to go. I'll post the progress and if I stick with it and it works I'll blog about the process and the results in the end!

100 Day Challenge Check In:

Day: One
Weight: 123 lbs
Bust: 32"
Waist: 24"
Hips: 36"
Arm: 10"
Thigh: 19"

Mood?: A little nervous, but excited to get in shape for the wedding

How Do You Feel?: Like I should have started this a long time ago

Notice Any Changes?: Haven't Started!

Wish Me Luck!

12 Months of Christmas

Paying it Forward

This Christmas at the dinner table as we were all talking about how thankful we were to all be together as a family and enjoying the holiday, my mother came up with a challenge for everyone. I'm calling it twelve months of Christmas. The surge in charity donations and volunteers in the months surrounding Thanksgiving and Christmas is astounding, which is wonderful, but what about the rest of the year?

It seems the world is cheerful and comes together but once a year, and the remaining days people are often left to fend for themselves. We all have so much to be thankful for and are not in 'need' of anything, and I think many people in the same situation take that for granted. I'm not talking about who has the latest video game, the most expensive designer purse or who has gone on the most exotic vacation. I'm talking a roof over your head (no matter how big or small), food in your belly and being surrounded by ones you love. Some people are not so lucky. We may not be able to change their fortune or their situations but you have the power to change their mood, their view and even their day. Just letting someone know that they aren't alone or that someone cares about them may be the biggest change of all. 

My mom challenged us to pay it forward this year. 

Twelve good deeds. Twelve touched lives, big or small.  That's only once a month.

I want to start a ripple effect. Here. Today. 

I challenge you to do the 12 months of Christmas with me! 

You don't even have to celebrate Christmas to be able to join in! Blog about it, Instagram it #12xChallenge, Tweet it, Facebook it, Share it with your friends, or do it in secret. If everyone did twelve selfless things this year and touched twelve new lives we can create a ripple effect by paying it forward. Post links to your blogs, pictures or pages. I'd love to hear some things you've done to pay it forward or ideas you plan on doing in the near future. 

Pay It Forward.