Picture Time

Yesterday afternoon was my bridal portrait session at Mansion on Judges Hill. I was a little worried that we wouldn't be able to do them since Austin experienced the most snow on Tuesday that I've ever seen and I've lived here just about my whole life. Gotta love Texas weather. It was almost 80 degrees on Sunday and then out of nowhere, 4 inches of snow and sleet two days later! Other than still being a little chilly in the shade, the weather was gorgeous for the pictures. The sun was out and not a cloud in the sky. I loved that I got to see the dress with the veil, the shoes, and jewelry. Everytime that I've tried my dress on at my mom's house, I'm usually looking a bit rough so it was great to see the full effect. I didn't have much time to do my hair but it looked okay and at least I know that its going to take me a bit longer than I thought for the wedding. We also realized that my veil is going to need a little reinforcement in order to stay on. Its sooo long and I think if I don't get another kind of clip or clasp, I'll lose it halfway down the aisle. Overall, I think the session went great and I can't wait to see the pictures.
on a side note... yesterday was t-minus 2 months. Its coming quick!

Smashbox

So, I get made fun of a lot for being so "thrifty." At the last wedding I was in, I was basically chastised for still using a Caboodle and for all the grocery store makeup it carries. I will defend my Caboodle, but I have to admit that I am cheap when it comes to makeup. The sad thing is, I had two Caboodles up until about a month ago. The one I finally retired to Goodwill had to be at least from 1988. It was the most organized first aid kit in the world but pretty beat up. Anyway, since I am taking my bridal portraits today, I decided to go to Ulta last weekend and pick up some fancy makeup. I mean, can it make that much of a difference? I couldn't bring myself to splurge on a ton of full size products until I figured out which ones I liked. I found this set of Smashbox goodies and decided it was worth a shot. I was most eager to try the photo finish foundation primer. Its supposed to zap all shine and absorb any and all greasiness for a matte finish. This stuff is a miracle. It gave my bare skin a great base for applying my makeup. The lip gloss is good, but I wouldn't say its better than anything I can get at a drugstore. The blush is a great natural color but again, nothing spectacular. The eyeshadows did show up really well which I have to admit is a big difference. With drugstore brands, it usually takes a cream shadow or a heavy hand with regular eyeshadow for it to really show up, especially in pictures.

Silver paper...pretty-yes, practical-not so much

I LOVE how my invitations turned out. I think I got the right fonts to work just right and all the details turned out great. Then it came time to address them. The envelopes are really shiny metallic silver. I thought, no big deal, any black pen should work, right? Wrong. I tried everything I could find in my house. I had rollerball pens, fine tip sharpies, ballpoint pens, etc. The only thing that I could get to remotely show up was a very fine tip ballpoint pen. If you looked at it when it wasn't in direct light, then it was okay, otherwise they just looked blank. However, I had addressed them all so I sent out two of them to see if the recipients would get them. I got emails yesterday that said they had both gotten them, but were both shocked because they were so hard to read. I was tempted to just send them out anyway, but I was really worried that anyone outside of Austin/Dripping Springs may not have nice postmen and then would be dealing with lost invites, etc. Then, I found the perfect pen. It was one of Clay's black gel pens. Man, I wish I had found that about a month ago. It worked like a charm. So, I sat at the dining room table and traced over the addresses on all the invites and am sending them on their way today. So, just for reference, if you have metallic paper, gel pens are the only way to go. Lesson learned...

Ok, for real

I FINALLY got a place that wasn't outrageous to take my bridal portraits. Looks like we will be taking them next Tuesday. I kept trying to think of places around Austin or Dripping Springs (where I grew up) that would either reflect growing up in the country or now living in Austin. The place in Dripping couldn't make up their mind if they wanted to offer opening their venue for portraits only and several in Austin wanted to charge around $200 for the session. Then, it came to me...The Mansion on Judges Hill. Duh! I don't know why I didn't think of this one first. Its been in Austin for exactly 100 years. In those 100 yrs, it has been a personal residence, a drug treatment center, student housing, and then was converted into a hotel in 2003. It oozes southern charm. I can't wait to see the pictures! The possibilities are endless at this place.

A Wedding Whirlwind

Wow, its like a wedding hurricane just hit around me. This coming weekend, I'm the maid of honor in my best friend's wedding. Then, I talked to my sister Emily this morning and she got engaged last night. Looks like they may be doing a summer wedding. Holy moly!