Haikus: Sunday in Fall at Home

windows are open

air conditioner is off

comfortable temp

football game is on
leftover pizza for lunch
sonic happy hour...?

halloween decor
fake spiderwebs and pumpkins

smells like pumpkins, too

yoga pants, tank top
no makeup and no worries
he's in comfy shorts

might take a lil nap
yawning through the afternoon
sundays are too short

#CRAFTS : Paper Banner Tutorial

I saw a banner an old friend made for her boyfriend on her blog a few years ago and thought how cute! I set out and made one, then another, and about 100 more. Here's a quick and easy tutorial to show how easy it is to bust out a 15-minute banner. Oh and my workstation today was a nightstand that we found in our complex dumpster which has become my downstairs craft storage (aka when I've been crafting downstairs and then realize people are coming over I just quick throw everything into the nightstand). 

You will need scissors, paper, string, and a hole puncher. Alternative tools: scissors & x-acto knife, hole puncher & x-acto knife, string can be thread or twine or yarn or floss or shoelaces or whatever.

For paper, I love these paper packs that have a theme with patterns and colors that already go well together. I picked this one up at Marshall's for $2.99. Lately I've been striking paper-pack gold at Tuesday Morning! Tons of different themes from holidays to rustic to baby shower. Tuesday Morning has had a great selection of the paper packs at $2.99 for 36 6x6 squares.

1. Decide how long your banner needs to be and cut your string. You want to have at least 6 inches left over on each end to tie the ends to a nail or tack in the wall where it will be hung.

You can be really precise and measure, or you can be like me and just guess.

2. Select your paper

If you have paper packs, it's super easy. If you are going through your own paper supply and digging through scraps, it's a little harder.

 3. Cut your paper into the shape you want

Triangles are pretty difficult to screw up. Circles can be a good option, but if you use circles it's best to use paper that has color/pattern on both sides. The paper I'm using has pattern on one side and white on the other. I've found that when I cut circles they flip and twist and then the non-patterned side will show up and it's not so cute.

 4. Now punch 2 holes in each piece of paper

I like the Fiskars puncher that punches these rectangular holes better than regular circular hole punchers. If the hole is too big, the paper can slide around (depending on the string type) and I like to space out the shapes equidistant and have them stay the way I put them. FYI the Hobby Lobby version of the rectangular punch is AWFUL!!! Jams and gives ya blisters. Spend the extra dollar or two and get Fiskars!

 5. Arrange your paper pieces

When I arranged these pieces, I just wanted to make sure that the mostly black pieces were not next to each other and that the orange pieces weren't next to each other. I thought the colorful ones popped more when they had black pieces on either side.

 6. Tape the end of your string

Using twine, sometimes it is difficult to get the string through the little hole because the twine starts to separate. I put a little piece of tape over the end and it acts kind of like a needle, makes it easier to weave in and out of the paper,

 7. Start stringing the pieces

You can choose to start stringing with the string in FRONT of the shape or BEHIND the shape. It just depends what you think looks best. Today I opted to start stringing behind the shape.

 8. Space out the pieces

Depending on the look you're going for, space the pieces out as you wish. I kept mine pretty close on this one.

 9. Add some embellishment, if ya want

I bought a pack of 20 ribbon/bakers twine spools at Tuesday Morning for like $9 a long time ago. I used some polka dotted ribbon and tied little bows in between the pieces. This is also a time when Washi Tape can come in handy. That stuff rocks.

THAT'S IT!

You can hang up your banner by tying it onto a nail or tack or using (strong) tape to hold it up. Word of advice, do not hang your banner near candles or near a stove. I just lit this candle so it would look cute in the picture. Blew that sucka right out afterwards. #FireSafety

Shoutout to RG for giving me the creative license to hang up all the banners I could ever possibly want to hang up in our living room. We're only at 6 or 7 right now, but there's always room for more...

HAPPY CRAFTING!

It's Coronation Day! Except It's Medical School

This was 8:02 a.m. on match day in February when we found out that RG got into med school at UTMB. It was an awesome day. All day I just kept saying, "It's over!!!" because I was so stoked I would never have to think about the MCAT again. In retrospect, LOL. It's only just begun or whatever.

All those days in winter of 2011 where RG was driving from San Marcos to Austin for MCAT prep from 9-12, then back to San Marcos to work, and then back to Austin for MCAT prep from 6-9, then back to San Marcos to study... and deal with a needy girlfriend texting passive aggressively and demanding attention and pouting (spoilet alert: that was me & I was the worst)... and then wake up and do the whole thing over again for 4 weeks straight... those days sucked so much. I have too many bitter and angry thoughts about the way the med school application process is structured. Honestly, it's just a rude system and emotionally & mentally abusive #IMHO, but that's another story for another day. This morning I'm just celebrating how long gone those days of acceptance uncertainty are and how grateful I am for the opportunity that Ryan was given and the awesome place that it brought us to now. I keep saying that we couldn't have planned this outcome or this timing any better than it worked out, and it's true. UTMB! OMG! It's real life. It's kind of hard to believe that today, RG started medical school. #isthisreallife

Since seeing Frozen in February, whenever a really good day arrives I just feel like Princess Anna on Coronation Day. She wakes up, looks like a hot mess, and then realizes what day it is and just explodes with joy and bursts into song. Today was Coro-freaking-nation Day in the Gates home. I went to bed at 4 a.m. (#oops #crafts #netflix) but woke up at 6:45 like a mad woman. I look so bad right now, to channel my inner Princess Anna hot mess mode, of course, but making RG breakfast this morning was my own rendition of "For The First Time In Forever" with a little less dancing and a little more coffee. It's Coronation Day! It's the day that RG has been dreaming of his whole life and the day that I've been dreaming of since his dreams became mine, too.

I feel really lucky that I had a sweet friend to go through the SOMSWP with. What is SOMSWP? It's the Significant Other Med School Waiting Process. I made it up 5 seconds ago. It's the process that a significant other goes through after they say to their med school applicant beau, "Where you go, I will go! Where you stay, I will stay! Your dreams are my dreams!" That sweeping declaration of support basically guarantees two things: 1) that said significant other is supportive and awesome & 2) that said significant other may cry a lot off and on for a few months and have to develop super-patience and super-trust and super-flexibility. It was the luckiest thing to have someone who experienced a similar situation that I could vent to and share the frustrations with. Both our guys got in and everything rocks now, but it kinda sucks to love a really awesome and brilliant and compassionate guy and have to sit idly by for weeks and months while schools don't recognize his awesomeness. Fortunately, schools came to their senses and now my fellow SOMSWP veteran, Iliana, and I are significant others of two very handsome and promising future physicians. I still remember exactly where RG and I were walking in front of my hospital when I saw on Facebook that our friend Logan (Iliana's future doctor boo) was accepted. Felt so relieved and happy for Logan and for Iliana... it was all over/just beginning! It's crazy how one little email can just change everything. I'll never forget our match day moment or that huge exhale after the good news sinks in and settles. Thank God it's behind us and RG's dreams are before us. That SOMSWP, though... it's an emotional rollercoaster There really should be a support group. If you're in the SOMSWP, my advice to you is to hang in there, Joan.

hang in there, Joan!

So now I begin day one of my week off between my internship ending and my job beginning. Today I will be grateful for the opportunities we've been given, the time we've had to just chill together this summer before RG started school, that we ended up in Galveston, and the chance to have a self-care week before becoming officially official at my job.

Proud of you, student doctor RG! xo

"How's Married Life?"

I have sounded like a broken record the past few weeks. Seeing old friends, meeting new ones, and catching up with family, the same question comes up: so how's married life?! I have asked that question so many times to my newlywed friends in quick conversations, but never expecting an honest or heartfelt answer. It's such a small-talk question. As someone who has been married for 4 months, I hate answering it. Am I wrong for that? Maybe. I appreciate the thought behind the question but I hate coming up with a quick conversation-satisfying answer.

My general responses to the how's married life question has been a combination of the following:

• great
• so awesome
• it's like being engaged except we live together and don't live with anyone else
• it's like having a sleepover with your best friend every day
• so fun

While all those things are very true, a more thorough answer might sound something like this:

After being married for 4 months, married life is everything I'd hoped it would be. It is joyful, exciting, and challenging (how do we merge our USAA accounts?!). The way I feel when I think about how this is actually reality and I am married to RG is like when you've had a really long day and you're sore and tired and then you get home and throw yourself onto the couch and take off your shoes and let out a big exhale and then you find out that you're having something really delicious for dinner... and it's already prepared so you don't have to cook! When that comfortable feeling of home can be found with a person- it's just great. Being married to RG is so comfortable, chill, and relaxed (keep in mind, med school hasn't started yet #calmbeforethestorm). I loved Ryan 3 years ago when we started dating and while we were engaged and I love him now that we share a name and a home. 

Thinking about what "married life" has been for us reminds me of this story that I've seen on FB and email forwards. There are a bunch of rocks in a jar and people say, "yeah, it's full." Then someone pours in a bunch of sand and everyone's like, "oh... guess it's full now, but it wasn't before." Then someone pours water in and everyone's like, "OH, okay now it's full."

That's how it is with RG and how our relationship has changed since getting married. Imagine that I have a love jar - I think I love him all I can, and then he does the dishes when I've had a long day. Then I think I really love him all I can, and he asks me how my day was and really listens to every detail, showing me that I was wrong and I can love him even more. It's fun to be wrong in this situation. So basically, married life is what it is because I've got a great partner. Married life is as good as the partner is, in my novice opinion.

I'll probably continue to answer the how's married life? question with "great!" and "awesome!" and my typical responses for the sake of time and small talk, but the past 4 months have taught me a lot about RG and about what our future might look like and I'm so excited to one day look back at this post after having gained years and years of marital wisdom and think about how young we were and how little we understood...and probably think that it was pretty funny that I thought my love jar was pretty full after 4 months.

Here's to another 4,000 months, RG. Married life is what it is because of your kind heart, respectful nature, and excellence with a crock pot. So glad that our fights are dumb and our rebound rate from frustration is top notch. XO

What Worked For Us: Wedding $aving Tips

I've been meaning to put together a list of all the ways we saved money/found deals for our wedding but hadn't yet gotten around to it so, 3 months later...

What Worked For Us: Wedding $aving Tips*

*I call it "What Worked For Us" because these are things that helped us out, maybe they won't help anyone else. In the off chance that there are any other frugal, DIY-loving, clearance-shopping Maxxinistas out there that just can't accept that a wedding dress has to cost a few months worth of rent or that a cake has to cost a few weeks worth of groceries...here's how we managed! 

MY DRESS(ES): A few days after getting engaged, I stopped by the San Marcos Outlets. Didn't expect to find the dress but I did...and it was on clearance for $184. I went into the Neiman Marcus Last Call and checked the evening gown area, which was pretty sparse, and grabbed all of the white dresses that were under $300. Second dress I tried on was the winner. About 5 months later, I found that my dress was kind of snug and I could not dance in it, but since I loved it so much I still wanted to wear it at least for Mass. Instead of spending $$$ having it taken out, I just went back to the outlets, left RG in the car, walked into Saks Off Fifth, and came out 15 minutes later right with a second dress that was shorter and easier to breathe in.... and it was on clearance... with an additional 25% off... for $107.
 TL;DR: Check the outlets! Check anywhere that you can find a prom dress, basically. I saw a really pretty white dress at Marshall's a few weeks ago that would have been beautiful as a wedding dress. Outlets may be hit-or-miss, but if you do hit, you're in luck big time.
AVERAGE COST OF WEDDING DRESS: $1,281
MY DRESS #1: $184
MY DRESS #2: $107

PAPER GOODS: Save-The-Dates, Invitations, Programs, Thank You Cards... this stuff can get very expensive. We cut costs by designing our own everything. Problem is that this is time consuming, but I felt that it was so worth it. Made everything feel very personal for us. Also I love that stuff so it gave me some creative time to play. Our secret weapon to cheap paper goods: Vistaprint and Local Printing Centers. Vistaprint allows you to use premade designs or upload your own original design. Vistaprint is awesome because there are always coupons. If you're lucky, you'll even find a Vistaprint Groupon or LivingSocial deal. Local Printing Centers, like Office Depot or on campus printing centers, sometimes have great prices, too. Texas State's printing center has awesome prices. I used to work there and would see a lot of wedding paper goods come through there. Very smart.
TL;DR : Check Groupon and LivingSocial frequently for deals like "$25 for $50" for Vistaprint. Always Google: "coupon Vistaprint" before making your purchase. Also check out campus printing centers and Office Depot for quick turn around time. If you have any creative energy and some spare time, save money by designing paper goods yourself.
OUR PAPER GOODS: < $175 (not including stamps. Side note: stamp costs add up!)

suits look like a million bucks! but they were sixty-eight.

SUITS: I don't have too much to say about this, but basically Jos. A. Bank is hella cheap. Are they the finest quality suits? Doubt it, though I wouldn't know the difference between a great suit and a bad suit. The fact is that a three-piece suit for $68 is awesome. I had my bridesmaids pick out their own dresses because it feels wrong to tell someone to pay $$ for a dress they may not like and may not wear again, so when RG was looking at suits and trying to find reasonable prices, we were elated to find coupon codes and clearance suits on the Jos. A. Bank Factory website, along with additional X% off sales that brought a good looking three-piece suit down to $68. That's the same price that it costs to rent the cheapest tuxedo at Men's Wearhouse. 
TL;DR : If you aren't a suit snob and you care about your groomsmen's wallets, go the Jos. A. Bank route. Keep an eye out for special sales, e-mail coupons, etc.
COST OF THREE-PIECE SUIT: $68

FOOD: I love spaghetti and RG loves barbecue. We had spaghetti for rehearsal dinner and it was insanely cheap. A quick Google search to find out what the average rehearsal dinner cost was left me feeling nauseous (seriously???) and also really glad that my MIL and aunts-in-law were so gracious to cook for us. Our reception was catered by a local family-owned barbecue restaurant which was very reasonable and very sweet to work with. Shout-out to Fuschak's in San Marcos! The last thing that I did not care about was cake. Wedding cakes are pricey and fondant is gross, IMHO. So RG and I agreed on getting wedding cake from HEB and I made a cake topper at home. The cake was delicious! We ended up with too much cake and brought home 1.5 out of 5 cakes. TL;DR : If you want to save money, go with pasta and have family do the cooking. Barbecue is a great option for spring/outdoor wedding vibe. HEB cake is delish and cheap! Keep it simple.
COST OF 5 CAKES: $100

 

DECOR: My favorite category. My advice regarding DIY projects and wedding decor is to start ASAP. I felt like "oh there's plenty of time!" and kept adding things to my idea list and pinning things to our "Wedding To Make" board, but there is never enough time. Also, find friends whose sense of creativity is compatible with yours and enlist their help. Goodwill is always a good option for a good repurposed something-or-another. Our best random decor finds were on online garage sale sites. People are always getting rid of slabs of wood, tiles, vases, candles, Christmas lights... take advantage of that. Use Pinterest, but don't pin everything. Have an "oh this is cute for a wedding" board and then have a "but really, these are things that we will do for the wedding" board. Also, if you must buy things that are not on sale at Hobby Lobby, bring a team with you. When it comes time to check out, pull up the 40% off coupon and split up the transaction. Years of practice with my mom and some Sugar N' Cream yarn taught me well. Oh and NEVER pay full price for a frame at Hobby Lobby; they're 50% off like every other time I go there (and they're overpriced to begin with). Frames from Dollar Tree + Spray Paint = great decor & that way you can use a color spray paint that fits your theme. Other places where we found great deals on wedding items/decor: Marshalls, TJ Maxx, and Ross. Also GREAT places to find cute ring bearer/flower girl attire. Ross has really cheap tea lights and cheap frames. Want custom wine glasses/beer mugs for your people? Buy the glasses cheap and paint them yourself. Save scrap craft paper. We made heart shaped garland out of all of my reject-scrap-cardstock. Cost about $0.02. Well, maybe a little more than that overall but it was going to be trash anyways. I put RG to work punching out hearts from the paper for an hour or two and had him tape the hearts to string. So easy.
TL;DR : To avoid having spray paint stains on your arms on your wedding day, start crafting early. Hobby Lobby's 40% off coupon = the best. Michael's craft stores accept Hobby Lobby coupons. Don't go Pinterest crazy. 

frame: came in a set of 20 different sized frames at Ross: $11 clearance, $1.81/each
G book: $0.99 book at Goodwill, Ryan sawed the books into G's. Anthro cost: $25, our cost: $0.99
paper flowers: made at home
vases: Hobby Lobby $3.99 + 50%: $1.98/each
candle holders: wedding hand me downs from a recently married friend: free!
placemats: bought at Marshalls in sets of 6. $1/each
succulents: free because my dad grew them!
Total centerpiece cost: $5.78
....and now we have enough placemats to last us forever!

Other recommendations/deals:

• Koozies $84 for 200 koozies (including shipping)
• Amazing photographer in Austin who did our engagement photos
• Best. DJ. Ever. Also, my favorite redhead best friend's brother, Kevin. Rocked da house.
• Bought tablecloths for $5/each ...instead of renting for $15/each #crazy. Google to find coupon codes!
• Sometimes Twin Liquors has this thing called Dollar Days where they "drop the price to rock bottom and add a buck." If you are going to buy liquor for rehearsal/reception, this is the time to buy (IMHO). Get on their email list if you want a heads up.
• We used The Knot for our wedding website. On your website, you can make a map of ceremony/reception locations. Don't assume everyone has GPS/smart phone access. It's helpful to print out directions and have available after ceremony for the technologically challenged who can't make it to your knot.com site on the day of the wedding.
• Check clearance everywhere you go. You never know what you might find! This is how we found Ryan's groomsmen's ties at Macy's for $7 each.... it was madness.
• Go into Anthropologie. Look around at the pretty decor and window displays. Sneak a few pictures on your phone. Then get the hell out of there and figure out how you can make the same decorations yourself. 
• If you're doing ANY online shopping at a major store, use eBates. RG is currently obsessed and we "earned" eBates rewards through some online wedding purchases we made.
• People make a big fuss about wedding shoes, but if your dress is long there really isn't much of a point to breaking the bank (IMHO). If you're partying right, you'll end up in flip flops anyway ;) If you buy practical shoes, you can re-wear them and think about your wedding every time you do! I wear my nude LifeStride heels at least once a week. SO COMFY. Awesome shoes.
• If you register at Target, they send you a coupon in the mail after your wedding that gives you 15% off any items left on your registry! Can only be used one day (on as many items as you want). Between that and the (amazing) Red card... such good deals!
• We didn't hire a wedding planner, but we did hire a friend to be our "wedding helper" for the reception. She was amazing and it was awesome to have someone we love/trust to help us with little details all night (where are the bridesmaid gifts? where is the camera? is the salsa out? where are the cakes? #THANKSBRITTANY). Oh and if you need to sign up for a Red card (mentioned in previous bullet), hit up Target's best employee, Brittany, and she'll hook you up. ;)
• 

Here's what RG has to add:

• If you're looking to get married in the Austin/San Marcos area, Three Dudes Winery is a great venue that's reasonably priced, and their event coordinator, Angie, is wonderful to work with.
• Seriously- as Sarah said, eBates is the best thing ever, for all online purchases... If you're not using ebates you're missing out on free money for online shopping that you're already doing!
• These customized flasks made for a fun groomsman present. I liked these better than the stainless steel engraved ones, because while less elegant, I found them to be a lot more fun. After shipping, they were about $10 each when I purchased them.
• Google docs spreadsheets worked really well for us to be able to collaborate on different things for the wedding, especially since we were able to access that information from anywhere. We used it to store all of our guests' addresses (and now we have that info stored future needs i.e. Christmas cards), and also to keep a running budget.
• One of my favorite new apps is something I discovered just a few weeks before the wedding when I was frantically looking for large tents in case it was going to rain. I was also at work during most business' hours, so I was unable to call them to figure out if they had any tents in stock. TalkTo is an amazing website & app that is almost like texting the business, and its completely free (I have NO idea how they make money...). I literally had TalkTo call about 10 local equipment rental places while I was at work, and I got 10 responses within 20 minutes. If you have a question for a company/restaurant/store but don't feel like talking to a human, check out TalkTo! I still use it often, and again its completely free, and most responses come back in less than 5 minutes. Its amazing!
• Thats about all I can think of- Sarah's craftiness and graphic design skills, combined with my organization and logistics mindset made for a stress-free 6 months of wedding planning, all on a tight budget :$ 

Hope some of this helps someone someday! Any questions about "where can I get the cheapest ____?" feel free to ask, because the odds are that we've asked ourselves that question during planning at some point. Happy planning!