Show Us Your Life-Wedding Party and Flowers/Ceremony

Today on Kelly's Korner, she is featuring "Show Us Your Life-Wedding Party and Flowers/Ceremony". Last week, she featured our wedding dresses. I'm so glad that I picked the wedding dress that best represented my personality.

Our wedding party was very small. Angry Husband had his dad as Best Man and I had a friend as Maid of Honor. I will not mention that friend's name. I'm sure that I will read many happy stories about people's weddings on this carnival. My wedding was very happy. But my Maid of Honor and I, are no longer friends. I wonder how many people are still friends with their Maid of Honor or people in their wedding party? After eleven years, people and situations change. Unfortunately, life is not always rainbows, sunshine, and unicorns.

My friend and I had known each other since Junior High. We had one of those off/on relationships. Sometimes, we were friends, and sometimes we didn't talk. This was one of my more stable friendships when I was getting married, so I picked her. We had a small wedding, so I didn't want a ton of attendants. A few years after I got married, my friend ran into some problems. She got fired from her job, went back and forth on some temporary jobs, and ended up getting kicked out of her apartment. She came to live with us for a few weeks and drove me crazy. I finally had enough and kicked her out. She had family locally, so she went to live with them. I think the last time that I saw her was at our 10-year high school reunion. I know several people who never talk to their Maid of Honor and/or Bridesmaids. Life gets in the way and you part. That's what happens with friendships. Some times you don't have anything in common anymore.

Now back to the happy. My theme was red. My Maid of Honor wore a red dress. Since she was the only person in my wedding party, I let her pick out the dress. She chose a simple red dress. The Best Man, Angry Husband's dad, wore a tux. My flowers were tulips. I love tulips. Although it's pretty hard to find tulips, in Las Vegas, in December. But they did it. They were beautiful until they started flopping, as tulips do.

Before the wedding, I had my hair done at the hair salon in the Hotel. Big mistake. I just had a simple up-do, which in reality was a teased ponytail. They charged me $120. My Maid of Honor had a lot more done to her hair (curls, up-do, etc.), they charged her less than $50. I know I was the Bride, but seriously, $120 for a pony tail. We went and had our make-up done at the mall, at the Clinique counter I think?

We had a simple ceremony. I think we invited less than 50 people, so it was over pretty quick. Before the ceremony, I had my usual squabbles with my mom, etc. I'm a pain in the butt, would you expect anything less.

i have pictures with my Maid of Honor, but I really don't want to include them in this post. It makes my stomach hurt. There are so many more stories about this friend, but I don' t want to turn it into a nasty post.

I'm going to include a picture of myself, and my grandmother. She passed away in 2004, about a month before I found out that I was pregnant with Angry Toddler. It's not a great picture, but hey, you can see my flowers.

Angry Julie on a Budget-Saving on Electricity (Guest Poster)

I still haven't recovered from BlogHer. I have clothes all over my bedroom, the garage floor, and the bathroom. My computer is on the kitchen table, surrounded by business cards, and notes. I'm trying to visit all the new sites that I've discovered. I will get to you all by the end of the weekend, I promise.

My best friend, Stacey, offered to write a guest post for me. One of these days, I will write my own stories about being on a budget, saving money, etc. Stacey has cut her electric bill drastically. It's so low, it's scary. And we live in Southern California.

I'm adding a wonderful photograph I took of Stacey, Angry Toddler, and her daughter, Stella. Stacey was "parenting" via her iPhone.


From Stacey:

I’ve been budgeting a lot since I decided to open my own business about 2 years ago. It’s hard to go from a decent salary to no salary at all. My husband suggested we just try a little to save on energy. It started small by just replacing our incandescent light bulbs as they burned out with Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFL’s). I loathe the way the spirally ones look in recessed cans. We have recessed lights throughout our house, but they have CFL’s with the traditional glass casing around them so they look “normal”. I bought a whole bunch of dimmable and regular CFL’s at Costco. Go here for a funny story about me changing a light bulb. They aren’t much more than regular recessed lights. I think the non-dimmable lights were $14 and the dimmable are $18. I would say that about 75% of our lights are CFL’s now and it’s made a difference in the electric bill.

The other thing that has helped our electric bill is only doing laundry with cold water and during off peak hours. You can look at your electric provider’s website to get a list of their off peak hours. I do all our laundry (between 5 and 8 loads a week) on Sunday. When I started doing this my electric bill went from $170/month range to the $130/month. I liked that so I tried to see what else I could do.

I started turning off some excess junk not being used. You know that little red light on your DVD player that’s on while you are NOT using it? It eats up power. So we started small by just turning off the power to the TV, amplifier, DVD and cable box, as well as completely shutting down the computers and monitors every night. The next bill was $100. Hmmm, me likely..so then I started turning everything that was not necessary bill, our bill was $64.

Here is the list of what we do:

*Unplug everything in kitchen when not in use (coffee pot, margarita maker , toaster, kitchen aid mixer)
*Every night we turn off the power button on the, cable box and amplifier. I don’t need the glow of the power button. I have suggested putting a surge protector on there but I’m afraid all the stuff on my DVR will disappear and I still need to watch like 14 episodes of Heros.
*Turn off ceiling fans and lights when we leave the room.
*Turn OFF your computer and monitor every night (off, not power save mode)
*Unplug the laptop cord from the wall. It does not need to charge all night.
*Unplug your phone/camera chargers when you aren’t using them.

I know a lot of you are probably freaking out by a $64/month bill. Our lowest bill ever was $53.88. I do have kind of a small house, it’s a condo that’s just over 1400 square feet. We have a plasma TV and all the media junk that my husband says has to come with it. We have 2 computers and I think we have a pretty normal lifestyle. My house is only 5 years old, so I’m sure some of the newer building standards helps out.

also..

I was watching this Living With Ed episode where he installed a green switch to eliminate all "phantom power" while you are away. With the flip of one switch you can turn off ALL unnecessary power when you are away from your home. It leaves things like refrigerators, answering machines and alarm clocks on. But, it completely kills the phantom electrical feed to all other unused power sources while you are gone. Apparently, most homes can be outfitted for between $500-$1000 but there are estimates that 45% of power use is actually phantom power.


Now if we could just get the cable company to lower their prices!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Welcome Back to California

I went to BlogHer and all I got was this t-shirt

I'm totally kidding. I was trying to think of a good title for this post. I didn't want to start it with "BlogHer Recap, My Story...." because that's been done before. I know, I've seen it. But really, isn't this BlogHer 5K t-shirt fabulous?

I started off my trip to Chicago with a flight detouring to Dallas, TX. Well I really wasn't detoured, my flight was not non-stop. I meet some fabulous people while waiting for my connecting flight who just happened to have the seats next to me on the flight to Chicago. {Hi there!!! You know who you are!!!} I was able to manage my flights due to my new little friend. I like to call him, Mr. X. I arrived at O'Hare and met with my roommate, Shannon. This was our first time meeting. We actually "met" on a parenting forum, awhile ago. We hopped in a cab and made it to the hotel, in horrible weather.

Shannon and I then began our hectic weekend. I attended these functions, if you really want to know...cause I know YOU do.

*Mom Central Cocktail Party
*MomDot Dinner Party
*Room704 Party
*BlogHer 5K
*EA Sports Party
*Mommy Needs a Cocktail
*MamaPopRocks: Sparklecorn
*BlogHer Cocktail Reception (Saturday)
*BowlHer
*CheeseburgHer Party


I walked away with some great swag. I didn't fight for it though. Really, the swag fighting was kind of entertaining. I walked into the Room704 party late, and all I heard with women bitching about "the free stuff" being gone. But my only thoughts were, "Holy Crap, is that "The Nap Warden" and "Scary Mommy"? Did I just see a naked woman walk by? Yes, yes I did..it was Naked Jen. Seriously, I lost all conversation when I saw Jen walk by, in her nakedness. I knew it was time for bed.

I got up at 5:45 the next day (Friday) to do the BlogHer 5K. I strapped that Garmin of mine on and ran with my ladies. Yay for the Garmin, because I was able to track our distance. I met some awesome Fitness Bloggers too. You know who you are. I actually felt better after doing that run. Perhaps, it was the Walgreens I ran into, to get my Monster. I got back to the room, ate some food, and attended some sessions.


Friday night, I wore two outfits. I rocked The LBD "Little Black Dress", but I really don't know how little it was. Then I changed into my MamaPop gear. A lovely personalized "Angry Julie Monday" shirt, some knee socks, and a jean skirt. I was intensely fascinated with that cake. I also wanted some fruit with my alcohol. I may have gone to the bar with one of my "blog crushes" Jennifer and ordered a very expensive drink. I may have gone to another bar after the event. I returned back to my room with some Legos from BusyDad. Oh, and I met my night time Twitter Family @onlyaman and @churchpunkmom.

Saturday, I was barely functioning, but made it to one session, "Vaginally Challenged Bloggers". I loved it. And I'm glad that I pushed my way to the front. I'm more used to hanging out with guys than girls anyway. I work with mostly men, or boys as I like to call them. After the session, I was ready for some food. Food came, and then went. Yep, I got sick, took a nap, and almost missed the entire day. I scrambled to get myself together and got dressed.


Shannon and I headed to BowlHer, and then back to the Hotel for CheeseburgHer. I assembled a beautiful paper bag hat with my blue flower attached.


After stuffing down McDonald's cheeseburgers, I headed back to the room with Cynthia. We had a great discussion about blogging, etc. In reality, I was holding her EA swag bag hostage. We said our goodbyes, she left with (2) bottles of Cuervo, and I checked my e-mail.

I finally crashed after a very very long weekend. I woke up the next morning to the sound of Shannon packing and getting ready to leave. Sigh, I knew it was over. We said our goodbyes and she left. I headed down to the coffee shop at the Hotel for some breakfast. I ate a $25 omelet. YES, with tax, tip, and everything, it was $25.

I left later that afternoon for the airport. I didn't share a cab with anyone. I was ok with it. I was totally over-stimulated and needed some quiet time. I made it to my flight check-in and had a bit of a problem. My suitcases were overweight. I had to re-arrange some shoes things. But I finally was able to check in. I flew home by the way of Atlanta and then Orange County. I was very excited to see Angry Husband and Angry Toddler at the airport. I think Angry Toddler missed me. Angry Husband probably did too.

I just wanted to give a HELL YEA to all of these people! Because you made my weekend ROCK!! If I missed you in my shout out, I'm sorry. Forgive me. Yell at me in a comment or something. If you have pictures of me, let me know. I'm starting to see them pop up.


ForTheMommas, Twenty Four at Heart, Nap Warden, OnlyAman, Churchpunkmom, Picnik, Piper of Love, Playgroups are no place for Children, Undomestic Diva, @amysho, Workout Mommy, MizFitOnline, Ecostore USA, Kevin Burke, The Unlikely Housewife, @mumby, Looney Tunes, Scary Mommy, Sarah Bellum's tales of wit&charm, Blogfully Yours, Bizzie Mommy, and of course my @EmmieJ.

You probably wanted to read about nastiness, didn't you? I had no issues at BlogHer. I worked the room. I loved everyone. I miss everyone. I approached everyone. I'm not shy!

and YES, I was dehydrated. I paid $5.95 for one of those crappy water bottles in my room. Please let BlogHer 10' be sponsored by a water company!

YES, that's right...New York, here I come! I bought my ticket already for 2010!

Welcome New Readers

I'm sure that there are a lot of you just reading my blog for the very first time. I met hundreds of people last weekend at BlogHer. I've made some many new friends. But alas I got home at 10pm on Sunday night.

I got reaquainted with my husband today, unpacked my crap, ate some breakfast and left for work. I want to tell my story of BlogHer. It's a good story. Because it involves swag, naked people, running, and Legos.

But...

I'm at work tonight. Yes, this idiot named Julie forgot to take the night off. I was trying to text my co-workers last night to work for me. But they were all busy. So here I am, sitting in the navy blue uniform. trying to re-adjust to working for "the man" while thinking of the "perfect recap post".

but...for now...enjoy some pictures taken today...


PANCAKES. Didn't I just talk about pancakes in my last post? But, seriously, these were from the Original Pancake House in Orange. My lovely friend, Suz, told me that I NEEEEEEED to go there. I decided that today was the day!

and Monster Energy Drinks!!! I only had one in Chicago. Maybe that's why I was cranky? Seriously, I needed my Monsters. No, these weren't all for me. That blue one was for Angry Husband. He's such a whimp with the Lo-Carb one. I found a store that sold Monsters on Friday, but that was on the way back from running. Yes, I ran to find a Monster. I think there is a shortage of Monsters in Chi-Town!



hopefully, my OCD will take over tomorrow.. I will be able to run, meet a friend for breakfast, do laundry, Tweet, and get my damn BlogHer post done!!