Silicon Valley Bee Meet Up - September recap

Aloha, Hive - I'm super excited to share this month's meet up in San Jose with you. You may remember our last meet, and the group is adding new members and celebrating our first bride to return as a newlywed Mrs. Yay!


First off, I want to extend some love and appreciation to our informally designated meetup coordinator Miss Godiva. She is the driving force for scheduling our outings, posting them on the boards, and following up via PM to remind us of the upcoming event. Thanks, Godiva!


We kept with the tradition of dinner at Pasta Pomodoro in Santana Row...though the location may switch in the near future. Here's a group shot of all the lovely ladies.

Back row: teacup, cutexkitty, breezybri19

Front row: sparkedlove11, jbug, Miss Godiva

Doesn't sparkedlove11 look absolutely blissful? She was the picture of serenity and newlywed love. I won't lie - I felt a twinge of jealousy in my pre-wedding stressed out self.  I totally can't wait for my big day if I can look half as lovely as she afterwards! Sparkedlove11 exuded peaceful beauty. I know I'm gushing, but she was positively a gorgeous new wife. Congrats, we are all so happy for you!

An emerging tradition for us is to dress our upcoming brides in designated gear. Sparkedlove11 passed along her sash and provided a veil for October date twins cutexkitty and me to sport that evening. You can imagine the interested strangers on the street who don't understand that we are ALL brides-to-be. So fun!

cutexkitty, breezybri19, jbug, Miss Godiva, and sparkedlove11

We made our parade down Santana Row to Pinkberry after sadly discovering the closure of Ben & Jerry's. The flavor debate now compares the merits of peanut butter fro yo vs. the retired salted caramel. 

A final word to say some of our past attendees were definitely missed - pengoala, nonapkns, and Entangled. Hope to see you again soon.

We welcome new bees to join in the local fun. It's a great group to talk all things weddings and we are looking for more future wives to celebrate with. Join us on Wednesday, October 5 - details can be found at the bottom of this thread on the NorCal board. And if you aren’t in our area, head to your local board to see what’s happening close to you!

A Great Day to be a Kid - $1.41 DIY Activity Bags

When super excited, I relax my Midwest sensibility and default to West Coast vernacular. Forgive me, but to properly start I can't help saying...

DUDES! 

The DIY project I'm about to share was hands down the most fun, affordable and quick to assemble. I'm talking about providing entertainment for the 20 or so children we expect as guests. 


A few Bees from past generations shared their cute ideas for kiddie activity bags, including Mrs. Lox, Mrs. Toucan and Mrs. Martini. For ours, I'll begin with the price.


I spent $34 to create 24 of these fun little surprises. Yay for the budget! No lie, each completed bag cost a whopping $1.41 each. That's right, one dollar and forty-one cents. Can you even get a cup of Starbucks drip coffee for that price?

Easy peasy and cute to boot!

Inspiration struck while browsing Michael's last week. They have an aisle of "Fun Finds" that were on sale for 70% off. Most of these party favor toys retail for $1 and I looked for packages with multiples to stretch my 30 cents to the max. I love a bargain!

Sunglasses 2pk = 15 cents per pair

Couldn't resist testing them out. What can I say? It was a late night.

3-D puzzles, 6 per box. I broke them up and put 3 different puzzles in a bag = 15 cents each

Kazoos. I love it when kids make noise! 4 pk = 8 cents each

Activity books, 6pk = 5 cents each

Sticker books, 12 pages per book. On clearance for 79 cents = 7 cents a sheet

64 crayon box for $1 = 2 cents each

Smaller sized kraft bags, $4.99 for 13 = 42 cents each

Notice Ollie in the background inspecting my assembly. He's an excellent supervisor, just ask him. And the surfboard in the background is actually wedding related. You'll have to wait until my next post to hear about that...

Back to the bags, we're almost finished. A quick stop to the Dollar Tree rounded out the loot.

Krazy Straws, 6pk = 17 cents

Mini pinball games, 8pk = 13 cents each

(I neglected to take a photo, oops)

Cinnamon graham crackers, 6pk = 17 cents each

Token photo of furry cuteness, Ollie feels neglected!

Mr. Hot Tea and I come from extended Filipino families, which meant that an adults-only reception was never an option for us. Kids actually make up 10% of the guest list. I'm happy to be able to provide them with an unexpected present to keep their attention occupied (at least through dinner) and hopefully avoid any early munchkin meltdowns.


Were kiddie activity bags part of your DIY project list? Maybe you're contemplating adding them now? Feel free to share your enthusiasm or at least tell me you're running to Michael's to scour the Fun Find bins. Happy hunting!

Oh, Drama Llama

Aloha, dear Hive! Oh, how I've missed you. The past couple of weeks have been stressful at best. I've been trying to maintain a sunny disposition and not let wedding planning get the best of me. But, it has. It sure has.


We all have our fair share of family drama, vendor drama and life drama. If I had one wish it would be to declare our wedding a "drama-free" zone.

Image and art via RJH Graphics

I'll spare you the gory details, venting would only make matters worse, leading to more hurt feelings and unneeded regret. My mom came to the rescue and gave great advice from 2,000 miles away. She said, "Unless you are ready to call off the wedding, rise above it and be the better person." I wanted to pout and throw a tantrum bridezilla-style. Instead, I admitted she was right and moved forward out of my funk.

Until she set me straight, I was stuck. I attempted to write about happy stuff to divert my attention from the trouble -- the bachelorette party, cake tasting, ring bling, shedding for the wedding. Nothing felt right, the words were forced and distracted. And then the guilt set in, I was failing in my WB obligation. Couldn't anything go my way?

Over this past weekend, I got a PM from someone who shared that she liked reading about my journey. Her kind words propelled me to be here writing to you now. I'm unstuck, open and ready to share again. Thank you, you know who you are :)

I also want to take a moment to tell you about Mr. Hot Tea's unwavering support through all the crap. He's listened with compassion and defended my position to anyone who tries to pick an unnecessary wedding-related fight. He remains the reason to endure the drama. In the end, we will be married. And knowing that our wedding will be one of the best days of my life keeps me in the game for these few remaining weeks.

Let's just home I don't find one of these at my door! So not cute.

Image via Cheezburger // Credit: Kivuli

All Rise: Time to Judge my Beauty Trial

Hello, Hive! A fever pitch is on the horizon with W-Day less than a handful of weeks away. I've completely focused all effort and energy to crossing off to-dos and making the last decisions to impact the look and feel of our wedding. No more time to change my mind, it feels good to find some final answers!

Case in point, my beauty trials. From my initial hair inspiration, Anne Hathaway's glamorous locks clearly won out.

Image via Real Beauty

And as it has been throughout the planning process, my style turned out nothing like the original vision. This time it was totally my own fault - I fell in love with a rhinestone hair ribbon necklace from Untamed Petals at The Collection Event Studio booth during the Fizz & Frills event in San Francisco. I wore it for the entire two-hour drive home, it makes me feel so pretty!

Last week I met with my fabulous hair stylist Cathy at Euphoria Salon in Monterey. She's my go-to girl since my first Japanese straightening three years ago. Cathy took one look at the hair ribbon and suggested a style she's been dying to try since seeing it on YouTube.

Video via YouTube / Posted by Lilith Moon

And so we tried it! Keep in mind that it was her first attempt and she promised to practice between now and the wedding to get the twist down just right. Before I reveal the look, let me also share a quick word about makeup. I was lucky enough to have both my trials on the same day!

Belinda, owner of Heaven Scent Salon in Hollister, referred to my inspiration photos and got to work. I wanted to look natural and fresh with a 'bridal' glow. Here's the main picture on which she chose to base my look.

Image via Health Beauty Spot

Belinda shared these snaps from her phone after my first round of hair and her awesome makeup job! You can get a good look at the hair ribbon in these photos. And I'll apologize for not remembering to take a picture of my 'before' look. 

Cathy and I both agreed the hair looked a little flat and she re-did the 'do after Belinda finished her makeup magic. The next photos reflect some self-portrait action courtesy of my iPhone. Be prepared for lots of Teacup mug shots.

{ Are the falsies to spidery? }

{ Lashes looking good from this angle, I want more twist to show in my hair though }

{ Bump it, baby! The twist looks a little better on this side }

{ A look at the back, not an easy shot to get of yourself - ha! }

And hold on, we're not quite done yet. I took advantage of my trial to set up a test run with my awesome photographer John Kammerling. You've seen a preview of his work in our e-pics. He's slammed with the height of wedding season and yet sweetly offered a quick shoot after I explained wanting to preview my overall look in front of his lens.

Ladies, even if you don't go all out for bridal portraits, I highly recommend taking some test photos. I donned all my wedding gear and the resulting pictures were reassuring. It also helped me decide to slightly up the earring bling factor.

For now, I'm only providing head shots. I promise I will reveal my dress to you on W-Day after Mr. Hot Tea has gotten his first look! 

Photo courtesy Kaemmerling Photography 

Photo courtesy Kaemmerling Photography

Notice anything curious? Yeah, the hair didn't hold up on one side and after several attempts to recreate it, I had to scrap it for the test photos. On the other hand, the makeup lasted all day and night until I removed it with cleanser. Happy dance!

So now I'm ready for your feedback. Feel free to be honest - especially regarding those eyelashes. And know that there is zero tolerance for falling hair, it MUST hold all day!

Image via LOLcats / Photo: PancakeMomm / Caption: FurryCorona