The Day I Wore All the Makeup - A Hair and Makeup Trial

Helloooooooooo!

It's been a month... or two. Oops. Let's just get back to it like a day hasn't passed.

Yesterday I had my hair and makeup trial. I really wanted to do a trial because I rarely get my hair done (do trips to Dry Bar count?) and I have never had my makeup done professionally. My mom and Joel both say I don't need professional makeup on the wedding day, but uhhhhhh.... they aren't me and they don't get to decide, so there!

The MUA (that's makeup artist, as I learned) and I had several emails trying to schedule a time and place. It is a busy wedding season and she works in two locations. At the end, she offered to come over to my house, which was very convenient for me. We discussed some of my inspiration for hair and makeup. I explained that I wanted my hair up but Joel wanted my hair down, so that logically led to a half-up-half-down style (I love when logic wins in the end). For makeup, I said I just wanted a soft, bridal-y look and something to minimize my huge monster nose. I'm so charming.

Here's some of my makeup inspiration:

c/o Flawless Face blog

I loved the eye here, smoky but not like, raccoon-next-to-a-smoky-campfire smoky

c/o Colin Cowie Weddings

Dianna Agron's makeup looks classic, sun-kissed, glamorous, all things I want to be on our wedding day!

And some of my hair inspo:

from a pin, c/o +DressYourFace 

c/o WeddingPartyApp c/o JAC Photography

Here's how it turned out on me. Let's get to the pics and then we can discuss, right? First, here's the before. No laughing.

Zits and all. There's a reason I wear at least mascara every day... also, I'm watching Four Weddings in the background

And here are some a lot of the afters:

the pomp and an attempt to show the braided back

 makeup in bathroom light. also, our bathroom! like our towels? they're from our registry : )

 the back! she did a pomp and then braided two pieces on each side of my head, then crisscrossed them in the back.

 the back. obviously, I need some frizz control or something...

 make-up. so much makeup.

makeup in natural light and hair. 

 SCARY EYES.

my eyes! so. much. makeup.

Obviously, I'm not used to wearing so much makeup. When Joel got home, he was a bit shocked as well, saying, "But you don't need to wear that much!" We actually babysat for a friend last night (I was the fanciest babysitter ever) and I told her I felt like a total clown and she wisely said, "Yes, but you're going to be photographed all day and the makeup will settle and while it may seem like a lot now, it's going to look natural and great on camera." I don't know if I will look natural on camera, but the above pictures do look a lot less severe than just me looking in the mirror. When we got home after running around after a one year old for a couple hours, my makeup still looked good, but had definitely settled. 

And my hair? I don't know. It looked so good the instant it was done, but the bottom curls fell out in like, 15 minutes. I wish my hair was a little bit longer (I wish I was a baller, I wish I had a girl and if I did, I'd call her...sorry) and I wish she spent a little bit more time on it... my makeup took at least an hour, but the actual styling of my hair took 20 minutes? Joel really liked it, but I want my curls to be more curly, without looking like I'm gearing up to head out to prom. While I love the braids, I don't know if it's too juvenile or trendy... other than those few observations, I liked the pomp height (not too low or too high) and my bangs were bangin'. The MUA definitely seemed interested in making the hair more fit to my needs after I told her my comments and I know she'll probably spend more time on the day of the wedding. Plus, Joel liked it and said, "That's your hair, that's how you're gonna wear it." If that isn't a nod of approval, I don't know what is. 

Whew! That was my makeup and hair trial! At the end, did I look like a model/celebrity/Pinterest girl? Nope. Did I look like the best version of myself? I think so! With some tweaks to the hair, I think we'll be there! 

How'd your hair/makeup trial go? Did you go the professional route or go solo? Any advice on how I can improve the above look?!?

Our Engagement Pictures

When we booked our photographer, I was really excited about having our engagement pictures taken. An hour of glamour shots of me and my boo? Um, yeah, count me in. I quickly booked us an hour shoot in Santa Cruz on Joel's 29th birthday on a Thursday evening during my spring break. I didn't know exactly where we were going to take pictures or what I would wear or what Joel would wear, but I was very excited nonetheless.

Then... the terror struck. What would I wear?! What would Joel wear?!?! Where would we take the pictures?!?!? How would my big, ol' nose photograph?!? The day of the shoot, I actually had stomach pains I was so nervous and the first 5 minutes was spent nervously giggling and acting like  a straight-up fool... getting pictures taken in public was pretty awkward and I probably came off as a giant idiot to our photographer. Eventually, I defrosted a bit and started to get the hang of taking pictures: getting awkwardly close, nose to nose, laughing on command and lots and lots of kissing. I'm not one to shy away from PDA, but doing it in front of a camera was surprisingly challenging.

We kissed, we hugged, we walked around Santa Cruz and we even changed outfits (note: if I were to do these pictures over, I might not have changed outfits. It was a huge hassle in the car and I think I flashed our photographer. Sorry, Michael!) Not even 24 hours later we had our engagement pictures and they are stunning. Who knew we could be so freaking hot? I love them, Joel loves them, our family loves them...we're so happy with them and can't wait to use them everywhere in our wedding. For example, we weren't going to have save the dates. Now? Well... they're already ordered! I'm also thinking we'll have a photo guest book... how about giant life-sized posters? Kidding. Here's the pics:

one of the first pictures we took & an example of my nervous laughter. note: joel was much more composed and comfortable in front of the camera, he's my male model!

we took photos in 2 locations: the first was an abandoned moon temple i used to live behind in college. freaky then, but cool now.

one of my absolute favorites

the cool moon temple gate

after our outfit change, we walked a block to the cliffs to take some pictures. 

gah, look at him! how did i get so lucky. i think you can see it on my face too... i'm kind of obsessed with this guy

all images c/o Michael James Photography

Our photographer Michael is amazing. Joel and I are still in awe of his incredible skill and ability to put us at ease. He was so easy to talk to and directed us without making us seem like idiots. I'm glad we got to spend some time with him (way more than the hour he booked us for!) before the wedding and I can't wait to see his pictures in February!

My Last Name, My Identity?

...do I have to change my last name?

When I was a kid, I HATED my name. My poor mom. I constantly asked her why she had to give me such a terrible name: it is VERY French and SUPER Catholic (two things which I'm REALLY not), it rhymes with nothing, and people mispronounce both my first and last name all the time. Heck, even I mispronounce my own name from time to time (which is why I never correct people. People like phonetics and English, who am I to say otherwise?). But then I got older. I grew to appreciate my unique name and what it stood for. 

My mom, whom I am especially close with, raised me as a single mom. I have her last name, not my father's. I share my last name with my grandfather and grandmother, two of the most special people in my life. My grandmother was a beloved elementary school teacher for many years. When she died in 2010, some of her students attended her funeral, remembering her as a teacher who truly changed their life. Now I have my own students calling me the same name of my grandmother (albeit I'm 'Miss' and she was 'Mrs.) It's a really special connection that I think about all the time. My last name gets all kinds of compliments and when people do say it right, they feel so proud of themselves, "Did I say it right? I did?! YAY!!" I love giving people that gratification. Plus, my name is alliterative, like Peter Parker or Mandy Moore! Gotta love that!

  

great alliterative names: Peter Parker, Mandy Moore and MINE!

Now it's time for me to consider what my new married name will be. Historically, women have given up their last name and adopted their husbands, we all know that. Every other woman in my large extended family has taken their husband's name. But if I give up my name, I feel like I will be giving up a huge part of my identity: my connection to my mom and grandparents, my cool teacher name, my talking point with strangers, my alliteration. However, I always thought I would share a name with my husband and my new family. Joel's last name though... it's no MY last name. My unique, one-in-a-million, very French, very Catholic last name. The name I've been known for my entire life. The name on my degrees. My identity.

Lots of colleagues have talked at the lunch table about the importance of taking your husband's last name: it's a way to be connected and establish your family. Their point is pretty convincing. They would then turn to me and ask my plans, and I would sheepishly say, "I was thinking of keeping my name?" and then they backpedal like crazy, "Oh no, you should totally do that!" ...thanks, guys. So helpful. 

It's hard for me to think that a majority of our society thinks that women need to give up a part of their identity in order to establish a family. It feels like I would literally be ripping off an appendage if I had to give my name up. Of course, Joel isn't forcing me to give up my name. He loves my current name, and he doesn't want me to feel like I have to change it. I appreciate his support, but I am still struggling because I feel like I'm surrounded by name-change encouragers! 

It's a crazy difficult decision to make! I know I'm not the only one struggling with this decision. As more and more states overturn bans on gay marriages, there are more and more couples navigating the tricky name change waters. On gaymanners.com, one woman asked about the "new" traditions around gay and lesbian couples working through the whole name change process. Here was their response:

read the whole article here

The Gay Manners website totally helped me think with a whole new clarity on my name. Basically, I feel like I'm picking between the first two options. I'm either going to...

• Keep my name (no change at all) 
• Hyphenate (Mrs. Marie Mylastname-Hislastname)

If I go with the second option, my new last name would be 16 letters long - yikes! But I think it may be worth it to keep my name a part of me while also establishing a connection with Joel and his family. When we have kids, we may have to have another difficult conversation about names (I'm also the last of the grandchildren who can have a boy and carry on the name), but we have some time before we worry about that. 

What did you decide to do about your last name? Change it immediately, pull a Sarah Michelle Gellar and change it in 5 years, kept your name? Let's hear about it! I need more options! 

My First Wedding Craft: Cupcake Toppers

Summer's here, and I've got time on my hands, baby!

However, that freedom won't last forever. Similar to my students, I have a busy couple of months ahead of me. Soon my summer will be filled with professional development and summer school teaching. However, right now I'm in recovery/relaxation mode. Taking care of myself, sleeping in, reading, running, BLOGGING, and doing some of the wedding chores I need to do. While writing checks and making phone calls is productive, I wouldn't call it fun. So while I had a free afternoon in front of me, I decided to tackle one of the crafts I had my eye on for the wedding: cupcake toppers.

 

onewed.com

 egala.com

 

Since we're planning on having cupcakes at our wedding, I wanted to do something to jazz up the plain  frosting on each petite cake. Browsing around online I found a ton of cute cupcake toppers, but I wasn't eager to spend a ton on something that would inevitably end up on some table at the end of the night: no one wants to take these puppies home, I'm sure... 

bhldn.com

I loved the look of these 5 gold sparkly hearts from bhldn, but I didn't love the price. Plus, there were only 5 of the toppers, and I'm still not sure if we're even having a cutting cake or just cupcakes, so the size wasn't very practical. What's a girl to do? Craft it myself!

 

Now, this craft is far from rocket science. My materials were flippin' simple:

• Martha Stewart heart paper punch
• Glittery scrapbook paper
• Mini wooden dowels
• Glue gun

All I did was punch out the hearts in rapid succession over an empty box, glue one side, slap a dowel down, place another heart on top, squeeze and then, boom! Cupcake topper. (Sorry my instructions are lame, but seriously? This project was too simple.)

Of course, I was also mixing up the paper and using this really cool, extra sparkly paper that the paper punch just could not handle, so I've somehow already jammed the thing. The punch will be going back to Michael's tomorrow, because I have 27 of these babies ready to go, but I'm aiming for one on each cupcake, so 98 more to go, at least!  

My next craft looks like it is going to be a disaster (a gold glittery initial letter for a table). Looks like I'll just be hiding it somewhere in the decor! What was your first wedding craft project like? Simple or complicated? Success or failure?

Juicey Juice

I'm all about trying new things. Just kidding. New things are the worst and I hate change. But I am a bit of a bandwagon hopper when it comes to fitness, and all of the juice cleanses out there have definitely intrigued me. There were many purported benefits such as glowing skin, more energy and focus, and a jump start for your metabolism. A few of my coworkers decided to do a cleanse (the same week of writing report cards) and I decided to jump on board!

I knew a juice cleanse wasn't going to be a cure for my quest for weight loss. Sure, I'd lose some weight, but as soon as I took a bite of anything all that weight would jump right back on, but I was eager to get a jump start on eating healthy and being more mindful. Read on to see if I achieved my goals...

my meals (x3) for three days

The juice cleanse was three days long. Each day I got to drink 6 juices, including: green dream (kale, romaine, apple, celery), PAMP (pineapple, apple, mint, pear), beetastic (beets, apple, ginger), lively lemonade (lemon, cayenne, agave), tropical dreams (greens, cuke, cilantro, pineapple), and cozy cashew milk (cashew, cinnamon). 

The BEST juices:

-The green ones, which were pretty savory, were delicious and satisfying

-PAMP. Seriously so delicious and refreshing. Would have been more delicious with tequila in a salt rimmed glass and some chips and guac...

-Cozy cashew milk. Nights would have been very sad without that delicious, milkshake-like drink!

The WORST juice:

-Beetastic. Decidedly NOT beetastic. I struggled to get through that drink every lunch... I'm so not a beet girl, unless they are in a salad with goat cheese. 

I felt pretty good throughout the cleanse. I didn't cheat once, which was the surprising part for me. I'm a pretty mindless eater and I tend to just grab snacks throughout the day without truly thinking if I really am hungry or just want to eat... I drank a lot of water with lemon and cucumber and herbal tea to stay hydrated and I had each juice 2-3 hours apart. I got a lot of sleep too. During the cleanse, I went to bed at 9:00 on the dot each night, and got up a little later (5:20 in the am, whoa watch me sleep in a whole extra 20 minutes!) since I didn't have to worry about making coffee, breakfast or lunch. 

On Saturday at 12:00, I had my first bite of food and sip of coffee in over 90 hours. I had oatmeal and it was so delicious. I wanted an almond croissant, but thought of all that hard work I just put into my body, so I settled for the oatmeal and I really have no regrets. Well, I still want the almond croissant, but the oatmeal left me completely satisfied! 

Would I do another juice cleanse? Probably. It was rejuvenating and left me feeling lighter, more focused, and I got great rest during it. I'll be interested in seeing whether I am able to continue making better food choices or I will fall back into my mindless-eating ways. Overall, I highly recommend it (expect the beet juice. I'm going to need something other than beet juice in my next cleanse!)

Reintroductions

Well, just about 2 months has flown by since the last time I've posted. Work has been extremely busy and planning a wedding hasn't been at the front of my cortex. So in case you might have forgotten...

I'm Marie. I'm a teacher in the Bay Area. When I'm not in the classroom (and I'm in the classroom a lot), I enjoy running, wine tasting, yoga (especially the hot/Bikram kind), cooking, reading, watching home improvement shows and model house hunting. 

this is his way of 'rebelling': standing on the closed side

My future husband (!!!) is Joel. He's a technical support rep for a cloud-based healthcare something something company. (Remember how no one on Friends knew exactly what Chandler did? Kind of the same thing over here...) Joel loves many things passionately: me, the Beach Boys, Giants baseball, comic books and super hero movies, and local history. He also likes to eat my cooking and look at model houses too.

after my first half marathon, 2010

We started dating in November of 2005. We lived in the same dorm: I was on the second floor, he was on the first. We actually saw each other for the first time at the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz: it was the first week of school in September and I saw him hanging out with a bunch of the girls from the dorm and thought I had no chance. It was a terrible night for me! Joel saw me all alone, and he thought I was beautiful. He made every effort to get to know and woo me when we got back to the dorm. Right before Thanksgiving break we were official! 

our first Giants game together (and my first game ever), 2006

We've done a lot of growing up together in the 8.5 years we've known each other. He supported me through several difficult deaths, gave me wine, snacks, and encouragement as I earned two degrees, was by my side when I hunted for my dream job, and helped me carry my mattress through city streets as I relocated during my junior, senior, and grad school years (staying sane during a move is no easy feat, and we've had some stupidly difficult moves). 

I've been there for Joel as he pursued his dreams, worked with him on his various projects both in and out of school, supported him through many tough job searches (graduating in 2007 right as the economy collapsed was not easy!), and celebrated his many successes.

We moved in together in August of 2010, when we both found jobs that would give us some stability. While marriage was definitely on our minds, we both wanted to wait until our careers were more stable: Joel was a contractor rather than a full employee and I was an assistant teacher rather than having my own classroom. 

Three years later, in March of  2013, Joel was offered his current position. Ooh, I was getting so excited! We were very close to landing dream jobs which meant marriage was on the horizon. I toiled and fought for my dream position at the school I was currently working at. After a rigorous interview process and 3 month long wait, the position was mine! By October of 2013 we were seriously perusing rings. Then in November, 8 years after we became official, Joel quietly asked me to marry him in our bedroom, after I helped him change his windshield wipers (you can't let go of a girl this talented!) 

We're currently procrastinating planning a fun, bright, romantic and casual wedding for 100 guests at the place we first laid eyes on each other: the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz. Planning has been a wee bit stressful as trying to stay within budget in this area in California seems to be near impossible, but I'm determined to keep things easy and breezy. Hopefully this post won't sit here alone for a couple of months and I'll be more regular with the updating!