OK, I wasn't going to post the winner until I could get home tonight and post, but our server went down this a.m. and I found myself strangled to a blinding stop by the IT department. I had neither my email or the Internet (*gasp*) so did a manual random draw of all the winners.
Last night, I wrote down everyone's name who entered and then ticked off how many entries they had. I had that list in my purse this morning (when did I do that?). So what I did was I assigned a person a number and entered that number the number of times a person had an entry. For example, Miss Sarah Elizabeth was #1 and had five entries because she commented, blogged, tweeted, follows moi and now follows Rachel. Five entries, five little number 1's. I did this for 22 different people. I put the numbers on an Excel spreadsheet and printed them out and cut them into tiny strips.
Then I put all the numbers in a bag and gave the bag a good shake. Kind like I wanted to give to Bitchface and Dickhead this morning. *See previous post.*
Then I closed my eyes and picked a strip of paper. I don't have a photo of this because my eyes were closed. Duh. Here's the number I picked:
And here's the name that the number two corresponds with (please disregard the psychotic chicken scratch, also known as my handwriting):
So the winner of the 100 FREE Custom Save the Dates is BRITTNEY!!!!! She's got a blog too! It's Sand Dollars and Sunflowers! Miss Brittney, please email me at thethirtysomethingbride@gmail.com so I can give you the super secret password identifier code to share with Rachel.
But wait, there's more! I got an email last night from Rachel and she's decided to offer another incredible opportunity for all of you who entered, but didn't win.
If you entered the contest, place an order with Rachel by August 31st and she will give you 10 % off anypre-designed invitation set (customized with your colors)! Rachel's pre-designed sets run about $415 for 100 invitations, RSVPs and coordinating envelopes! Contact her now before she books up! racheljasperdesign@gmail.com
Thanks to everyone who commented, follows, tweeted and posted! It was a great contest! Thanks to Rachel too for the incredible contest!
This post is not wedding related at all. However, it is very Thirty-Something Bride-ish. A little peek into what kind of woman The Thirty-Something Bride is, if you will.
For the last two years, we have been getting phone calls at home for a guy who does not live with me and The Candyman. We have a cat, but there is no similarity in names there. In order to protect all identities of all people, I’m making up names. We will call the guy people are calling for The Big Spender. Now Big must have gotten himself into some financial strains. How do I know this? Because collection agencies have been calling the house for (like I said) TWO YEARS. Now, let’s just pretend that my name is The Thirty Something Bride Notabig Spender. Let’s also pretend that The Candyman’s name is Big Candyman (perhaps a name I call him privately, but not his name at all). You might be able to see why people might think that The Big Spender lives at our house. Well, he does not.
This is a fact that I have been sharing with these multiple collection agencies for the last TWO YEARS. Have I mentioned that yet? Two. Years. I have threatened these people who call me on Sunday morning at 7:30am (oh yes, they do). Or Saturday at 8:30am. Or 6 or 7 times during the day (so says the caller ID). I have threatened them many times with the wrath of my anger. I have called the numbers back and threatened. I have been sweet. I have begged. I have yelled. These people totally suck.
So there was a message this week from some law office and they left a phone number and extension.
I called this number on my way to work this morning. I spoke to a woman. Here’s how the conversation went:
Me: Hi, my name is The Thirty Something Bride Notabig Spender. I have been getting calls at my home for the last two years for The Big Spender. There is no one here by that name.
Bitchface: What is your name?
Me: The Thirty Something Bride Notabig Spender. Listen, you guys are not calling the right person. You keep calling me at horrid times and I have called and called and…
Bitchface: What’s your phone number?
Me: Listen, it’s 555-555-5555 but I’ve been down this road before! Can I please talk to a supervise….
Bitchface: ‘Click’
Whoa. Really? Noooooo, she didn’t just hang up on me. Did she? Well, let’s call back and find out.
Me: Hi. This is The Thirty Something Bride Notabig Spender. I was just speaking to someone about an issue I have.
Bitchface: Yes, mam. We probably just got disconnected.
Me: Oh, OK. Listen, you guys are not getting this right. There is no one in this house or in my family or anyone’s family of anyone I know named The Big Spender. Can you….
Bitchface: ‘Click’
Oh. Really? Really? This time I call back and I don’t enter the extension, but dial zero.
Dickhead: Hello, this is Dickhead, how may I help you?
Me: Yes, hi. I would like to speak to the Customer Service Manager, please.
Dickhead: Yes, mam. I can help you with that. I’m a manager.
Me: Great! Listen, I was just talking to a woman and I think she hung up on me because I’m frustrated about you guys calling me all the time.
Dickhead: ‘Click’
*Slow, menacing smile* Now. Now, we will have some phone-fun.
Me: (after Dickhead answers) Really? Really? Is this where you want to take it?
Dickhead: I am so sorry, mam. I think we just got disconnected.
Me: Really? I need someone who is going to listen to….
Dickhead: ‘Click’
Dial.
Bitchface: DO YOU NOT HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO WITH YOUR TIME!?!
Me: Actually, right now, no. I really don’t.
Bitchface: ‘Click’
Dial
Bitchface: HAVEN’T YOU EVER DIALED A WRONG NUMBER BEFORE? I TOOK YOUR NAME OFF THE DAMN LIST!
Me: Sure, I’ve dialed a wrong number before, but not for TWO YEARS. What are you, a fucking idiot?
Bitchface: ‘Click’
Dial
‘Click’
Dial
‘Click’
Dial. This time it went directly to voice mail.
Me: Yeah, you know I had to call you back. You know it. Have I made my point clear? ‘Click’
Now, I am probably going to have to unplug my phones for the next week or so as they might retaliate. I mean, they do have my home phone number.
P.S. Winner of the big contest to be announced later today!
I made the list last night. The list of crap left to do. I tried to be as specific as possible. Whoa. Let's not go there today, shall we?
I've got a few things I've forgotten to mention along the way, so I'll just all caught up on that instead of re-living the dreaded "to do" list.
A couple of weeks ago I went grocery shopping solo (this is actually an activity The Candyman and I enjoy doing together) and hit the Super Wal-Mart near our house. We hate the SWM. Hate it. We prefer the Publix because they play fun music we can dance to in the aisles. However, SWM is cheaper and since we are still on Wedding Financial Lock Down, SWM it is. Boo.
As I was meandering up and down the aisles wearing my iPod (it drowns out the screaming children), I found two more goodies I'm planning on doing something with. I can't even remember how much I bought of these! They might go in the OOT bags, or on the Kid's Table. The old school Cracker Jacks were $.99 for 3 boxes. I can't remember how much the mini Moon Pies were, but I didn't care. Moon Pies are part of the Southern Culture. They are made in Tennessee! In the lovely town of Bell Buckle (about an hour south of Nashville), they even have a RC Cola and Moon Pie Festival that includes a 10 mile run! For my fellow runners out there, you know how good that would taste after a long run!
On to other updates. Panties. Yes, that's right, panties. Or, more specifically "thong-tha-thong-thong!" Yes, indeed. I am going to blog about panties and you can't stop me. I am generally a commando kinda girl (I know, TMI, but hey - you're still reading, right?), but for some reason that just doesn't seem "appropriate" for my wedding day. Besides, there are going to be people helping me get dressed and I really don't think flashing them my parts is something they signed up for. So, off the Victoria's Secret I went, armed with a recent $10 off coupon I got in the mail (you know I loves me my coupons). This shopping excursion was during our tax-free weekend, so I saved an extra 9.25%! I got three pairs of potential wedding panties and a few pair of post wedding/honeymoon fun-things. See!
Did I ever mention to you guys that I'm a Featured Bride on The Wedding Chicks blog? Well, I am. They offered us bloggers 50% off their store and I bought this cute T-shirt that is just like my OOT bag that I knocked off from them. I love it! The quality is really good and they are on sale now. You should get one!
Last, but certainly not least - make sure you enter the 100 FREE Save the Date contest here!
P.S. Did you guys know that Micheal's will accept JoAnn's coupons? Why am I just finding this out now?
Oh, the wish is easy today! It's for TIME! The tick is tocking, and I do not mean the one associated with babies!
I had abandoned the idea of DIY personalized match boxes, but I'm rethinking the idea and I'm placing that blame on The Graphics Fairy. If you aren't familiar, you should be!
She has awesome FREE graphics for personal use. There are limitations, so just know her rules before you download, etc.
I found this super-cute antique style frame that I added my own text to. I dropped the image into a template I made in Word that will fit and cover the match boxes. I'm not totally loving it, but it's close. The font needs to be bigger and I might rotate the whole thing. The date falls on the spine of the match box and then the other text on top and bottom of the box.
I am officially at the two month mark. On October 11th, I'll be meeting The Candyman "down front" at Owen Chapel.
I feel like there is so much to do and no time to do it! I'd post a "to-do" list, but I think it might freak me out a little if I saw it all in writing.
I have had a few thoughts as of late. I'll share.
I have to thank my MOH for the recent, sweet email.
I have to thank Tabitha now for all that she is doing to help me for free. I had a recent mini-crisis (OK, not a crisis, but perhaps a change of direction) and she stepped in today and just took care of shit. Thank God.
I have to thank Alecia for her humor and love and support. Good friends are just the best.
I want to thank my blog readers for their support and feedback. You are an incredible group of friends, family and total strangers who make my days brighter with comments, comebacks and witty repartee.
I love The Candyman something fierce!
Off to bed I go! I've got some great updates coming as soon as I can get the time to write them! Why, oh why, must my job interfere with my blog-world? Sigh....
Oh - and don't forget people. You need to enter my fabulous contest to win 100 FREE Save the Date Cards from Rachel Jasper Designs. Have you entered? No? Then go here! This is group participation, people!
So you know how you can totally get lost in the blog-o-sphere? I do it all the time and it's a total time-sucker. I read about something cool and click on a link. Then I see something else on that site and then click on another link. Suddenly, I feel like I'm in the 70's Fabrege Shampoo commercial (and so on and so on and so on). Blogs are the worst. I mean, come on! They really are. I follow 80 bazillion blogs and want to read each and every post on every single one but I simply do not have the time. Especially now that I am in wedding crunch time, coupled with the fact that I'm working double-time to help keep my company afloat so that I can pay for said wedding! I just need a "pause" button for about a day. Maybe two.
I'm totally off track here. My point is that I got lost on the Internet the other day and found the cutest Etsy shop. It's called Natalie As Is. She doesn't have many item, but what she does have rocks. Hard.
look at the gorgeous handmade sketch books! I think these would be perfect for a registration book - or simply a wedding gift. Maybe for a bridesmaid? The paper is acid free, so could be used as a photo album too. Lovely. Just lovely.
The other really interesting this she has for sale are Cupcake Pamphlets. Uh, come again? What the hell is a cupcake pamphlet? This is:
She has 2 volumes of 3 eight-page pamphlets contains the illustrated recipes. The first volume has:
~ Marbled Lemon-Berry Cupcakes with lemon Chantilly cream
~ Earl Grey Cupcakes on pâte sucrée with dark chocolate filling, earl grey Italian meringue butter cream
~ Walnut Browned Butter Cupcakes with browned butter & Scotch pastry cream filling, white chocolate walnut glaze
These are handwritten recipes that are accompanied by watercolor and graphite illustrations. Ingredients are given in both weight and measure. The pamphlets are ink jet printed on 28 lb acid free paper and hand bound in a vellum jacket. So cool! I headed over to her Flickr page and found these examples of her mad baking skills!
Who else gets lost in the Internet? Do you find as many interesting things as I do?
I am so jazzed about this give-away! Seriously, this little baby has been in the works since I was overseas! I found Rachel's work featured on our local go-to Ashely's Bride Guide. I have been dying to do an invitation related contest, so I was over the moon when Rachel said she was game! At the time, she was in the middle of some new designs, so I not so patiently awaited their completion!
You might recognize the invite from my finalist inspiration board on Style Me Pretty!
I just love Rachel's style and so wish that I met her prior to my own invitation production. No matter though, because I get to share her loveliness with my fabulous readers! Rachel is offering 100 FREE Save the Dates to one lucky winner! Now, this isn't any ol' Save the Date give away. Rachel will customize the Save the Date to your favorite design! How exciting is that?!?! Go check out her stuff at her Etsy shop, on her blog and on Flickr. You can also become her friend on Facebook. Here are a few of my favorites.....
So, how do you win? Here's how to get multiple entries into this awesome contest!
1. Post a comment here. Tell me your favorite design! 2. Become a follower of my blog or tell me you already are a follower. 3. Become a follower of Rachel's blog and tell me about here. 4. Re-post this contest on your blog and get another entry. Tell me about it here. 5. Tweet this contest on Twitter and get another entry. Tell me about it here.
That's FIVE chances to win per person! Hop to it and win this awesome contest! I'm running the contest from now until midnight on Thursday, 8.13.09. 100 Save the Dates is nothing to sneeze at folks. Enter now!
I am an independent, outgoing, outspoken woman with too many interests and too little time. I travel the world extensively for my job (China, India, Vietnam, The Philippines). I'm high energy, controlling and slightly neurotic. Oddly, I met and fell in love with a man who can not only handle the crazy, but loves it too. How could anyone not love back? After a solid decision made years ago to never marry, The Candyman proposed. I couldn't help but say yes. I think I swooned too, but please don't tell anyone. It would ruin my rep. ;)
I'd love to hear from you so feel free to contact me at thethirtysomething bride {at} gmail.com!
Then I closed my eyes and picked a strip of paper. I don't have a photo of this because my eyes were closed. Duh. Here's the number I picked:
And here's the name that the number two corresponds with (please disregard the psychotic chicken scratch, also known as my handwriting):
So the winner of the 100 FREE Custom Save the Dates is BRITTNEY!!!!! She's got a blog too! It's Sand Dollars and Sunflowers! Miss Brittney, please email me at thethirtysomethingbride@gmail.com so I can give you the super secret password identifier code to share with Rachel.
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