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the renegade bride

“the wild, wacky adventures of a bridal industry insider +newlywed + new homeowner and (in practice)renovation-maven. Whee!”

Category Archives: Uncategorized

December 14, 2011 More goodies from our Wedding

Our Photog blogged our wedding today (including the first attempt at the pool jump) so you should go on over and check it out: 
http://hassasphotography.blogspot.com/2011/12/hawaii-wedding-photographer-hillary-and.html

 

December 7, 2011 Woohoo! We’re on Style Me Pretty

I can finally commence with the recaps, now that our wedding was on Style Me Pretty today! Please check it out 
http://www.stylemepretty.com/destination-weddings/2011/12/07/kona-wedding-by-hassas-photography-brocade-designs/
 MORE, MORE, MORE from me soon. I’ve been holding back and holding my breath for this very post!!

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October 26, 2011 Where oh where oh where…

Ya’ll. Ok! First of all, I’m ALIVE. yes. I know. I’ve not blogged and I’m a bad, bad girl. But I have excuses. I was really busy (wedding season and all) but this next week I promise to make it up to you. Big time. First off, I have a really revealing tell all type post where I talk about how Birth Control made me a monster like creature, and that I had to quit taking it. I also have WEDDING PICTURES. Yes. Much like porn, wedding pictures. We got them earlier than planned (score) and I’ve submitted them to an editorial blog I’m waiting to hear back from, but I think it’s safe to post just like, one, right? One tiny one.
So one picture and then a promise: I’m back next week. and it’s sooo on!

October 26, 2011 The most perfect day

The most perfect day

image by sam hassas

September 8, 2011 Total Selfishness. Woo.

So, I totally failed at Labor Day Challenge. Go ahead and judge me, but I only somehow managed to accomplish the sketch of the garden (check out the brocadenashville.com post on bulbs and whatnot if you are so into learning about that kinda stuff) and make dinner for the hubs and mother in law.  Our gutters were full of sludge like stuff that Don said was leaves (it looked like something primordal) and we had to clean them before it “came a monsoon” as they say here in the south. And I was tired on Sunday after the wedding Saturday and all I wanted to do was soak in the bubblebath and read Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park as the night before I’d finished watching Lost in Austen on the Ovation Channel (Tivo’ed) and I was remembering how AWESOME Jane Austen was, and I never read Mansfield Park so I wanted to do that, and thusly, I accomplished less than nill. I did, however accomplish drinking some wine (whee) and meeting some cool people and having a nice time with the mother in law, and then went to some neighborly friends for Labor Day eve and ate steak with Chimichuri (so good) and had Bourbon Slush Punch, so that was pretty great. All in all, a pretty fairly decent first Labor Day as Married People.

I guess that would really come down to describe my total and utter selfishness, but no– wait, there’s more.  I have a lot of work to do (read: I am way behind on EVERYTHING that I am supposed to be doing for work, life ,etc– the Labor Day list being but one sad example of my overextended calendar, and I really, really, really need a robot assistant to help me do things. But add to it that there’s new stress that I have to find a new location to operate my business out of in the next six months and there’s no free time to like, sleep really, and I want to whine about that, a lot, because I am a whiny-type person that really gets a kick of out complaints. Just now, to break my tedious whining I Googled “Robot Assistant” and found the following picture:

How awesome is that?

But in my need to do all this other stuff, I just increasingly WANT To do one thing: get a pedicure. I think that pedicures are my Achilles Heel. I honestly would get 3 pedicures  a week if I could somehow manage it financially and time-wisely. I would go and sit in that magical, magical chair and have them take care of my poor, abused, sad feet. Right now, it’s been over a MONTH since my last one, and my toes resesmble something like I’d imagine an Ogre’s toes to look like. It’s pretty gross.  But after a pedicure…well, they will look like new, happy toes that are full of grace. Like the below image, though I’m pretty sure I’ll imagine the rose petals.

My husband does not comprehend or appreciate my love for the pedi action. I dragged him along once and I don’t think he had nearly a good time, because he got a guy doing his (in my opinion the guys are best at the pedicures– they really get in there, and they are precise about the polishing, but I digress) and he said a bunch of “I don’t want a dude rubbing on my feets” which I told him was kind of homophobic, and he said it had nothing to do with that, he just didn’t like dudes rubbing on him. Personally, I don’t care if it’s a pedicure-giving zombie rubbing on me, I have a pretty lax attitude about who can massage my feet (read: anyone with fingers).

So, in selfishness, I am going to plan a pedicure date soon to make my toes (and self) happy.  It’s a small thing, right? I mean, come on…we’re all entitled to a little foot rubbing love. Even if we don’t truly deserve it since we didn’t finish our to-do list, but whatev….

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August 3, 2011 I kissed an i-phone (and I liked it)

DISCLAIMER: this post has really nothing to do with my wedding or my reno, and mostly is me squeeing about my iphone. Read on with the knowledge that this post might not really enrich or help your life in any way, unless you seek some proof that you need an iphone (you do) or that buying one was a good idea in the first place (it was)

So, randomly, last night at dinner, I am attempting to do something on my phone (update the social networks with a pic of the new hair, which you can see below) and my phone won’t work. I have a hate-hate relationship with my phone, a beleagred and sad HTC Hero from the archaeic dark ages of the Android. HTC stopped having updates for my phone and it subsequently all went downhill from there.  My contract with Sprint is up in just a few months and I was going to hold out until it was over to switch carriers and get the iphone of my dreams. But then, husband says “well, why don’t we just go over and get you an i-phone”. I think it was the hair:

(aren’t thehot rug behind me and my unpainted walls just the epitome of sexy? yes, yes  i know). And i need to learn how to take a camera phone pic without it looking like a camera phone pic. Learning challenges.

Anyway. So…yeah, I got the iphone. Don is going to hold out for the I phone 5 but who knows when that is going to get here so I gladly got the 4. I’m sure the five will change his life and world, but for now the 4 is currently doing a pretty ok job at that for me, as I am queen of the world with happiness. I spent pretty much all night in my world of app downloads and wireless internet-ing and sending emails and geeking out over all the awesomeness that is the iphone. It’s way better than my HTC. Way, way better. Sorry, HTC, and sorry Android, but the iphone kind of just blew my mind and proved, once and for all, that the android isn’t even close in terms of a viable platform for smart phone butt-kicking. But I digress.

I got the white one. I love you, i-phone.  I know it’s crazy to love something that is a piece of technology, but seriously. I have been wanting/lusting after one of these babies for a really long time, and with the husband’s awesome discount through work and their $100 off with smartphone trade in, I got it for like nothing compared to what I thought it was going to be, so that was pretty much icing on the little cake. My i-phone cake.

And as a sidebar: I love our i-Pad (1, we don’t have the 2 yet) and I love the i-phone and now I wonder, dude, are we missing out by not having i-everything. Like would our lives be that much happier and easier and great? Because this phone works like a phone is supposed to. And our ipad has never glitched out on us. My husband will beat me for saying this (figuratively, not literally) but it does beg the question…is Apple just BETTER?

ANYWHO…I am seeking great (free or less than $3) apps that are “musts” for my phone. I am not a game player (so I will not be buying “Angry Birds”-) but I do like Words with Friends and am seeking friends who want to play some of those words with friends kind of games with me. I downloaded twitter/facebook, tweedeck, pandora, yelp, and pinterest (of course!) but I don’t really know what else to download. Anyone have some great reccs? Since half the people I know have i-phones, I’m hoping for some awesome suggestions.

Oh, and I am extending the DIY magazine giveaway announcement to August 5— so please, if you want to win, leave a comment! 
http://renegadebride.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/who-wants-a-subscription-to-diy-magazine/#comments
 I think the first issue in the subscription will probably be DIY holiday crafts, and WHO doesn’t LOVE holiday crafts (no one. NO ONE)

 

 

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July 22, 2011 I got my Ring Back!!!

Last friday, I got the call that I’d been waiting for….my ring was back. It’s been gone awhile (almost 4 lonely months) but it is back and better than ever. And while I will promise to actually put decent pictures on here when I get some, I have to share my lame phone pictures because my battery on my regular, decent camera is dead and I can’t find the battery charger in the sea of boxes that line every random space inside of my home.

In case you don’t remember the previous ring, it was basically this:

And now it looks like this:

I honestly couldn’t be happier. It’s perfect now, and I love it so, so much. Getting it back after the wedding was like an unexpected Christmas Gift in March– it’s a delight, and it makes you feel all glow-y and special. Yay!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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June 22, 2011 I’m married! What the…

It’s true. I’m wed. And my wedding day– perfection, people, total freaking perfection. I’d daresay it was the best wedding ever, but then I’d sound all pretentious and full of myself, but seriously, with the risk of sounding vain and self-absorbed, it was THE BEST WEDDING EVER!

We had an amazing time in Hawaii. I have a few important tips I’d like to share before going through a full on series of posts about, well, everything, including tips for Hawaii on your honeymoon (I have lots!) but here’s a few key things I learned in the days leading up to my wedding that I feel are little pearls of important wisdom I must immediately share:

1. If you are flying more than 5 hours, go first class. Trust me on this, people. In standard cargo hold loser lower class, they cram you in tiny ass seats you cannot manage to deal with after about 3.5 hours (you feel like crying or scratching your eyes out or finding a cigarette to light in the lavatory so they will land early and you can GET OFF THE DAMN PLANE) and they don’t feed you anymore. Not even comped peanuts. On our flight out they were kind enough to sell 10 dollar sandwiches, but on the return flight they were like screw you bitches, we’re gonna play you an in flight viewing of Rango and let you starve to death, after you go crazy and claw out your eyes.  I even developed some random ankle problem from sitting wedged in the middle on a tinyflight ™ from paradise and now I can’t walk properly. I blame the plane. Sure, it could be other things (the interwebs tell me it’s “Marsal Tunnel Syndrome” or something, but I blame that tiny plane where I starved and went crazy watching RANGO.)

2. If you can manage to rob a bank before your honeymoon, I can’t recommend enough to STAY AT THE FOUR SEASONS. Our wedding was at the Four Seasons, and we had nearly five blissful days there in paradise in the nicest hotel ever. It was amazing. It was life changing. I am naming our first child “Four Seasons Yeager” I love the Four Seasons and I can’t tell you enough that if you spring for this luxury, you will be writing me a thank you note. To put it in perspective, our Honeymoon on Kauai was a Four-Seasonsless land and we stayed at the Marriott and it sucked it hardcore. More on that later.

3. If you are at the stage of your planning where you want to go run screaming and eloping is a viable option, then I’m gonna make a really big, bold recommendation: do it. I have been a part of over 150 weddings in some way or another, as a vendor or guest, and I’ll tell you what, in my opinion, destination weddings rule. It’s so chill, so laid back, so relaxed and comfortable. I spent the morning of my wedding relaxing by the beach, leisurely sipping coffee and not doing a damn.thing. When I got my hair done, it was totally zenlike, peaceful paradise of sweet solitude. And I spent my entire wedding ceremony wrapped up in the total feeling of pure, amazing bliss with absolutely NO STRESS. So if you want a no-stress awesome day, then consider running off and leaving that big wedding behind. It’s not for everyone, but if you feel miserable planning a big shindig and you want to go somewhere sweet and totally you guys, like we did, it is so worth it. Listen to your hearts.

Ok, so that’s a little quick note to let you know A) I’m married! B) I’m going to post more, and C) I should be packing right now since we are moving, but whatever. Whatever… More from me soon, darlings! I wish people we knew would facebook some pictures or something (hint, hint to those we know reading this. Jessica. Ahem.)

 

June 7, 2011 The Week of the Wedding (WHAT?!) Vol I.

Hello, friends!

So, here’s a few quick updates for those that want to know:

1. The cake stand I ordered was marked as shipped and then my order got cancelled. I was tragically heartbroken, but went with a Pottery Barn one instead.

2. After a bit of a nailbiting week wondering if my things that I shipped to hawaii (including a collectors bottle of whiskey for our signing bottle) I found out yesterday that everything made it! YAY!

3. I went to the tanning bed (yeah, i know) and I now itch a lot. I don’t really care for it.

4. I think I’m getting gel nails today, because I seriously have the world’s shortest fingernails right now. I hate fake nails but I hate tiny stubby nails even more

5. I AM GETTING MARRIED ON FRIDAY. Woah.

Ok, not sure i’ll be able to post again, but if I do I’ll share more deets, If not, see ya when I’m wed!!

 

May 26, 2011 Two weeks and one day, holy crust!

So. Two weeks, one day until the wedding. Am I freaking out? Yes. I am freaking out. Do I have shoes? No, I still don’t really have shoes.  I’ve encountered a few obstacles….from the napkins I ordered that looked perefect online coming in the shade of brown yuck to being indecisive about my place settings and trying to determine if I need new napkins…but the most pressing issue at hand: what is my groom going to wear?

Originally, we planned to rent a suit from a local place and just be done with it. But the dumpy way those suits fit (you know what I mean, they either are too tight, too short, or just not…right) it seemed more logical to bite the bullet and buy one. Especially considering the timeline (disclaimer: I am totally aware this is last minute, but hey– buying a house + a VERY busy wedding season + wedding planning on the side = no time to do anything, and time thus gets away from a person) and the fact that if we were to rent something it probably would cost the same as just buying one, we went on the big search of finding a suit tonight.

We started at Men’s Warehouse.  After my beau was measured, we tried on a few suit jackets. Some fit great (Calvin K.) some fit crappy (Everyone else) but the suit was $500 pre undershirt. And, it wasn’t really perfect. So, we went to the only other place we could think of: Dillards. There, we found the perfect suit, like seriously perfect— the jacket is a dream— and it’s from Ralph Lauren. The problem: the jacket fits like a perfectly sewn glove, and the pants…well, they leave much to be desired in the roominess department. To make them work, they’d need a serious round of heavy duty alterations.  Alterations that would need to be completed in less than 2 weeks.

We retreated home with tail between legs and started looking for options online. Coming up empty, I feel hard pressed to call around and find someone who can get the alterations done in time, if they are even possible. Moral of this story: don’t wait until the last minute if you want a suit…alterations are kind of part of the process. Sigh.

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