After "I do": Living Together

As most of you already knew, Marc and I did not live together before the wedding so the last two months have been quite an adjustment.  I haven't shared a bedroom since one semester abroad in college, and before that, probably since I was in the single-digit age years.  As much as I may think that I am the model roommate, I took inventory of some of my "habits" that I have had to change (read: completely get rid of) since we've been married:

1.  Sleeping in the middle of the bed.  I used to have a queen sized pillow-topped mattress all to myself.  All mine.  Not only did I sleep completely sprawled out in the middle of the bed like a giant starfish, I also always had heaping piles of clothes and stuffed animals strewn about on top of the comforter just to keep me safe.  I am now confined to the left side of the bed, although I occasionally find myself wandering to the middle for safety in the middle of the night.

2.  I have about 30 items on my bathroom counter (face wash, toner, SPF, anti-aging serums, daytime moisturizers, nighttime moisturizers - yes it's necessary to have both as they serve different purposes, face masks, hairspray, hairbrushes, leave in condition, and a variety of other concoctions that I simply MUST have to look my best).  This doesn't even include the most foreign type items that most guys don't even know what purpose they serve or what the can do (i.e. eyelash curler, bags of hair extensions, false eyelashes).  Although I haven't had to "get rid" of any of these items, I have had to make the effort to neatly stow them away in a drawer.

3a.  I don't have a bedtime.  Instead, almost every single night, I "do do do" until I am so exhausted that I can't even keep my eyes open.  There's almost no wind down time for me.  I call them "sleep attacks" only they happen every night around 12:30-1:00 a.m. 

3b.  On the off night that I don't go to bed by "sleep attack" I like to read e-books, doodle around on Facebook, or in general, do anything on my iPad.  Unfortunately, Marc is a ridiculously light sleeper and even with eyes shut, and the iPad brightness on its lowest setting, it disturbs his sleep.  Hence, I have to either iPad in another room and then wait for "sleep attack," or go to bed and wait to fall asleep like a normal person.

3c.  As a result, I am a horrible morning person.  I used to snooze for an hour before I could even imagine opening my eyes to start my day.  Now, for the most part, if Marc is up and getting ready for the day.

4.  Keeping the thermostat below 80.  It's August and, if Marc is home, I'm wearing a sweatshirt or wrapped up in a blanket.  Apparently, my comfort temperature is much higher than his.   

5.  Leaving my unfinished projects all over the house - this is the habit Marc would like me to fix most, and I've been the worst at.  But it's all wedding related. I'm still not entirely done wrapping up the wedding chapter of my life - mentally, emotionally, logistically.  I still have unwrapped gifts, thank you notes to write/send, photos that need frames, and a dried out bouquet that I just don't have the heart to throw out but aren't sentimental enough to keep/preserve.  I swear, I'll get there soon.  I want to host parties without being embarrassed of the KitchenAid mixer, food processor, crockpot, and ice cream maker that's stacked up to the ceiling in a corner of our dining room (sorry bookclub friends).  Perhaps that'll be the goal of September.

It has certainly been adjustment living with someone, but there are certainly many wonderful things that have come along with it:

1.  Having someone to talk to all the time.

2.  Cooking for two.

3.  Learning to be more other-centered and less self-centered (sharing the iPad, folding laundry, feeding the the step-dog).   

4.  Living with my best friend.  

Happy Friday!

Pandamonium!

I'm Walking on Sunshine (whoa oh)...

Our wedding date has finally showed up on www.weather.com's 10 day forecast.  Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day!!!

10-Day Forecast for Pasadena, CA

High / Low (°F)

Precip. %

Fri Jun 22

Sunny

80°/60°

0 %

Sat Jun 23

Sunny

80°/61°

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Sun Jun 24

Sunny

80°/60°

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Mon Jun 25

Sunny

79°/59°

0 %

Tue Jun 26

Sunny

80°/60°

0 %

Wed Jun 27

Sunny

82°/62°

0 %

Thu Jun 28

Sunny

84°/63°

0 %

Fri Jun 29

Sunny

84°/64°

0 %

Sat Jun 30

Sunny

84°/63°

0 %

Respondez S'il Vous Plait - Pretty Please?

Next Tuesday is a big day for us - the RSVP deadline.  Although there's technically a week left until our RSVP deadline, I'm starting to panic because we only have 65 percent of the responses!  After the initial burst of beautifully letterpressed and stamped envelopes by yours truly, there came a lull.  I know there are a few of you that can't make it, and I know there are many of you who will definitely be there.  Please friends and family, regardless of your answer, I'd still like to see that RSVP card I worked so hard on to find its way into my mailbox!

The Making of the Wedding Invitations: Part II

Once the design was finalized and plates created, I made an appointment at LaLa Press in Silverlake to rent studio space and print my invitations.  I blocked out an entire Sunday from 10-6 to do the actual pressing.  Mabel runs LaLa Press, and let me just tell you, she's amazing!  She has such a wonderful spirit, truly loves the art of letterpress, and is a former-law-school-candidate-turned-stationary-business-owner.  She is pretty much my idol.  Not only was she incredibly helpful, she was such a pleasure to spend the day with.

Lucky for me, the ink color I chose came ready out of the ink can, which saved me the time and trouble of mixing inks!

Letterpress plate with Pantone color guide

So the first thing we did was cut up all our paper into roughly the size of the invitations.  When I was at the Irvine Fine Arts Center, all we had was a regular cutting board, but LaLa Press has this incredible  guillotine cutter which cuts several sheets at the same time!  I wish I had a picture of the cutter because it was so old, but so incredibly efficient with safety levers and everything!  Basically, it took two hands at once to get the machine to cut so that your fingers would never be under the blade!

Polymer plate mounted onto bunting base.

Once the paper was cut, we mounted the polymer plate onto the bunting base on the letterpress machine.  In my case, I used a Vandercook Universal I.  Her name is Maddie.  She was my dancing partner and we did the side-step hundreds of time that day.

Me feeding envelopes into the Vandercook

Me and Maddie

As I wrote in a prior blog entry, every color is it's own run on the letterpress machine.  For my invitations, we had to do two runs - one for the inked portion, and one for the blind impression.  I made approximately 120 invitations so that means for the invitations (2 runs x 120), rsvp card, directions card, return address on the envelopes, return address on the RSVP address, I had to press (do the side step twirl with Maddie) at least seven hundred and twenty (720+) times!!!  At the next day, I was so exhausted.  I had a blister on my hand and my shoulders were super sore! 

First complete invitation! I almost cried.

Pre-trimmed, but already still so pretty.  Just look at that texture.

Once everything was printed, we did final cuts on all the prints, and shrunk wrapped everything for me to take home!

And here's a little video on the whole process that I found on YouTube:

Next, I'll talk about assembling the finished product!