by Blue-Eyed Bride on September 30, 2008
I am so so so excited about this October giveaway! As a recent bride and now a newlywed I understand the importance of preserving images and keeping all of your photos organized. I also love to blog and have considered putting all of my posts in a book. Someday we’ll have kids and I’ll want bound books of my photos of them. For our wedding, we created a guest book with our photos printed in it and left blank pages for our guests to sign. I wish we’d had a vendor that could print the photos on the page and create lines for our guests to sign the book.
I have found the perfect place to do all of these things; http://www.blurb.com/. The folks at Blurb contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I’d be willing to host a giveaway for their products. After looking through the website and creating a huge list of books I’d like to create for myself and for gifts, I immediately agreed!
Blurb is a creative book publishing platform that enables anyone to produce their own bookstore quality book. Blurb’s BookSmart software is free to download at http://www.blurb.com/ and includes a huge variety of professionally designed layouts. Relatively new is the option to produce an ImageWrap hardcover book. This prints your cover image directly onto the book for a matte, sophisticated (and durable) finish. You can still have the options of softcover and hardcover with dust jacket. Books start at $12.95 for a 7×7” softcover book. Other sizes include 10×8”, 8×10” and 13×11”. Looking for some inspiration? Check out the books in Blurb’s Bookstore at www.blurb.com/bookstore.
It’s free to create the book and the prices for the purchase of the book vary depending on your choice of size.
I’m so excited to be able to offer a giveaway for 5 readers! I will be giving away five (5) $54.95 bookmaking codes that will be redeemable for a book you produce using Blurb.
Here’s how it works:
Leave me a comment saying you’d like to be entered, then email me a photo that you would like to use as the cover of your book. I will simply select the five photos that I like best and award those five readers with bookmaking credits from Blurb. {This will definitely be hard for me!}
To announce the winners, I will share the five winning photos and runners up (with permission) on my blog. The photos do not have to be professional quality. They just have to be a photo that you took yourself.
I hope you’re all interested in playing! If you are a winner, I will email the code for Blurb to you. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, October 7, 2008.
Email your photos to me at erakin11 {at} hotmail {dot} com.
by Blue-Eyed Bride on September 29, 2008
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about selling my wedding dress. I love my dress and I’m definitely attached to it, but I will never wear it again. I’m not sure I could ever fit into it again! Mojito Maven posted today that she sold her dress and she told me the avenue she used to sell the dress. I’ve read about other bride bloggers who purchased a previously worn dress and some who sold their dress.
I paid a strong amount of money for the dress and think that I could get some of that back. It’s just a dress. I got my wear out of it. I’m not naive enough to think that my daughter (if I have a daughter) will wear it at her wedding. I would never ask my daughter to wear it at her wedding. I’m going to keep my veil. It’s so timeless and the lace is stunning. It could easily become an heirloom piece.
I have lots of wonderful pictures by
Kelly Moore of me in the dress and the pictures capture every possible angle of the dress. It will be forever preserved in my memory and in photos.
The dress is a Carolina Herrera from the 2006 collection. It’s a size 4 and has been slightly taken in. I’m 5′8″, so it’s unlikely that the purchaser will be taller than 5′8″ and not have enough length on the dress.
My question for you, dear bloggers and readers, is, “will I regret selling my dress?” Did you sell your dress? Did you purchase a previously worn dress? Who is the best seller?
by Blue-Eyed Bride on September 29, 2008
I checked my Google Reader this morning and it said that I had 140 unread posts! Hello, overwhelming. So I’ve finally finished reading all of your updates and think I’ve done an adequate job of commenting. You all have so much to say over a two day period!
Our trip to DC was a lot of fun. Todd and I didn’t get to Fredericksburg until about 2:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. We spent the night and got up early to drive into the District. We checked into the Ritz, met my parents, had some lunch, and got dressed for the 4:00 ceremony.
There were about 20 of us there from my family, so that was a lot of fun. We always have a great time catching up. We’re all in our 20s now, so that really helps. Growing up, someone was always left out because they were too young to ride a rollercoaster, too young to drive, or too young to drink. Now we’re all in the same age group and it’s so much fun!
I didn’t take a single photo of the bride or of the wedding decorations, but I managed to get these photos after we walked through the rain to the reception. Pardon the frizz.
Todd and me
my dad and me
I’m not sure why my mom didn’t make it into any photos, but I promise she was there.
On Sunday morning we ate breakfast at The Front Page with the whole family and the bride and groom. Then we decided to go to the World War II Memorial since none of us had seen it yet. You just appreciate things a lot more when you get older. I hadn’t been to DC since high school and everything looked so different to me this time and I definitely appreciated things a lot more.
We drove back yesterday and the most eventful thing that happened on the drive was our fear of not finding a gas station that actually had gas when we needed it. We ended up finding gas in Florence, SC when we were just an hour from home. I can’t believe how bad things have gotten. I know Atlanta and Charlotte have it a lot worse, but I’m just conserving as much as I can. I’m hoping it will cool off soon and I can start walking to work.
I hope everyone had a great weekend! I’ve got so many things I want to talk about this week!
by Blue-Eyed Bride on September 26, 2008
We’re leaving tonight after my last event and we’re driving to Fredericksburg, VA. We’ll stay the night there and drive the rest of the way to DC tomorrow morning. So excited to see my parents and all of my cousins at the wedding!
Have a great weekend! I’ll be back Monday with pictures and stories.
by Blue-Eyed Bride on September 26, 2008
I’ve got to give some mad props to Mojito Maven and Mr. Mojito of Make Mine a Mojito for helping me perfect my three column blog layout.
I followed the instructions that Monograms and Manicures posted the other day, but my middle column was still too wide. It didn’t look right. Mr. Mojito himself went in to my blog last night and changed it to perfection for me!
I owe you a mojito.
by Blue-Eyed Bride on September 25, 2008
My husband ran out a few minutes ago to grab supper. Right after he left I got a picture text message from him and the subject said “something to blog about.”
This picture was attached.
So while I have a serious case of OCD, my one contradicting habit is that I don’t replace the toilet paper roll. In fact, I leave the cardboard on the holder! {I’m blushing with shame as I type this!}
We try to keep multiple rolls in each bathroom so it’s easy to replace the roll, but when replacement rolls aren’t around, it takes me a while to get to it. This drives my husband crazy!
I wonder if it drives him as crazy as I was when I found out that he had not yet made our hotel reservation at a random Hampton Inn between Columbia and DC for tomorrow night. We’re driving to my cousin’s wedding in DC this weekend, but we can’t leave until I finish with my last event for the day, at 6:00 p.m. We decided not to drive all the way tomorrow night and to go just past Richmond so we don’t have to pay big city hotel rates. We’re staying at the Ritz in DC the night of the wedding. This afternoon my sweet husband finally made our hotel reservations for tomorrow night! “Procrastination” is his middle name.
And “impatient” is mine.
Which of your significant other’s habits drive you crazy?
by Blue-Eyed Bride on September 25, 2008
A couple of days ago I was at my doctor’s appointment. It was one of those appointments that is supposed to start at 10:15, but you get to leave the waiting room around 10:30. Then you go to the lab and take care of the blood work and everything else there. By the time you leave the lab it’s 11:00. You go to another waiting area and read some of your favorite blogs on your Blackberry while you wait. A woman comes in around 11:20 to escort you to your room and tells you to get changed. Then you just lie there in silence in a horrid robe and wait. For twenty more minutes.
The doctor comes in and the first thing she says is, “Wow! You have a huge bruise on your shin. And… oh my! You have another huge bruise and gash on your knee cap!” Yes, that’s the first thing she said to me after more than an hour of waiting to see her.
Rewind about 4 days.
It was a really busy day. We had an important guest in town and we had a couple of events going on that day. I was frantic. My fantastic coworker and I decided to walk to grab a quick lunch. We had just left our building and were about to cross one of the busiest streets in town. We walked up about four steps and my super high heel of my left pump got caught in the cuff of my right pant leg. I toppled over. I slammed my right knee cap into the ground and my left shin hit the corner of the step. A couple of people saw me, of course.
I popped up and immediately checked to see if my new pants had a hole in them and then checked to see if I was bleeding. No blood. No holes. Just a swolen knee cap. We walked on to lunch, sat down, and ate. On the walk back, I noticed that I was in excruciating pain and spent a good part of the rest of the day with my leg propped up and iced until the event started.
If it’s an important day and important events are going on, I’m going to fall. I think I start thinking too fast and forget to put one foot in front of the other. I am definitely my mother’s child. Except she locks her keys in her car quite often and I don’t ever do that. (knock on wood)
I fell down two days before the wedding. I tumbled down the stairs about a week before the wedding. Boudreaux chased a squirrel down a hill, pulling me flat on my face and causing me to sprain my ankle on the day of a very important event.
I think I can dance well. At least I’ve got rhythm and I’ve always been able to learn choreographed dances quickly. I’ve got decent coordination. I just can’t walk.
ETA: Three events today. Just slammed my finger in my drawer. It’s blue and swollen.
by Blue-Eyed Bride on September 24, 2008
I love fall dresses. Especially turtleneck dresses.
This dress from BCBG is so work appropriate, but perfect for nights out in the fall or winter. The skirt is so wonderful. The price tag is not.
by Blue-Eyed Bride on September 24, 2008
My friend, Cyndi at Southern Daze posted about this today and I couldn’t wait to try it!
She got this idea today from the Scoop.
1. Inspired by Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl, 2. French Fried Potatoes Take Two, 3. Yorktown Tiger, 4. Colors of spring, 5. 12, 6. Untitled, 7. OIA, handmade houses, 8. Red Velvet, 9. 2/366 lets plan a wedding, 10. My family, 11. Playful, 12. Beignets and Cafe au Lait
Answer the following 12 questions about yourself (my answers are in parentheses after each question):
1. What is your first name? (erin)
2. What is your favorite food? (french fries)
3. What high school did you attend? (yorktown high school)
4. What is your favorite color? (green and yellow)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (jake gyllenhaal)
6. Favorite drink? (gin and tonic)
7. Dream vacation? (greece)
8. Favorite dessert? (red velvet cake)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (wedding planner)
10. What do you love most in life? (my family)
11. One word to describe you? (playful)
12. Your Flickr name? (erakin11) — this one won’t work because I haven’t uploaded any pictures, but I’m choosing to search for “beignets” because I love them and I love Louisiana!
All you have to do is type your answer to each of the above questions into Flickr’s search. Using only the images that appear on the first page, choose your favorite and copy and paste each of the URL’s into the Mosaic Maker (3 columns, 4 rows)… Have fun!
{I got my instructions from Cyndi.}
by Blue-Eyed Bride on September 24, 2008
Don’t you just love Wicked? “Popular” is without a doubt my favorite song from Wicked and that’s how I feel today. I’ve been “tagged” today more than a slow runner in a game of duck duck goose!
Wearing Mascara and Learning to Be a Wife both tagged me.
Here are 7 random/weird/possibly unknown facts about me:
1. I have lived in three states, but have had 14 street addresses in my lifetime. We move around a lot!
2. My pinkies are permanently crooked. I was born missing a tendon and I’ve never been able to straighten my pinkies.
3. I still managed to play piano for 13 years despite my finger disability.
4. My cousin was Miss America 1987.
5. I was into musical theater in middle school and high school. I played Maria in West Side Story and dyed my hair jet black. It was horrible. Two years later I played Tuptim in The King and I and refused to dye my hair. I bought a black wig instead.
6. I can’t stand for my food to touch. I would kill for those lunchroom style trays to compartmentalize my food.
7. I eat my waffles by following the lines. I cut along the grid. It’s more organized that way.
Because so many people have already been tagged, I’m going to open this up to whoever would like to do it. Tag! You’re all it!
