Mr. Meerkat Gets A Wedding Band

For the last few months we have been wrestling with trying to get a wedding band made for me. While that's  a story for a whole other post, lets just say it has been painful. So when it came to Mr. Meerkat's ring my first thought was "please, no, not another jewelry store". We only have a little less than a month until we get married and it was high time we went to get Mr. Meerkat his ring. So this past weekend that is exactly what we did. 

Luckily Mr. Meerkat already knew basically what he wanted. He wanted a light weight, scratch resistant ring. He wanted a tungsten ring. I thought it was going to be hard to find but was pleasantly surprised that every jewelry store in our local mall carried tungsten rings made by either Art Carved or Triton.

We shopped for less than 1/2 an hour and Mr. Meerkat found four rings he liked:

The first two photos were Art Carved rings and the last two were from Triton. 

The rings were all about the same price but the first two were having 20% and 30% off sales. I was sure that Mr. Meerkat would go for one of the ones on sale cause he is money conscious like that but he didn't. He narrowed it down to the ones in the last picture. 

We stood there for about five minutes until he decided he wanted the silver one. When I asked him how he decided he said while he really liked them both but the black one didn't match his other jewelry like his watch. I just laughed and thought how much I love this man. I never would have thought that far ahead but he does.

Seriously, how is it so easy for guys to pick out their rings but its taken me months of problem to get mine? Was it this easy for your fiancé to find his ring or is Mr. Meerkat just easy? *grin*

Etsy - How Not To Get Burned

Recently I was burned on Etsy (as in never got my purchase) and let me tell you it SUCKS! In an effort to help everyone else not get burned I thought I would write up a few guidelines about buying on Etsy. First lets start with the story of what happened so you can see where I went oh so wrong.

This summer I purchased a custom parasol from Michelles This and That on Etsy which was scheduled to be painted Mid-July. August came, no parasol. I messaged the seller to find out where my parasol was and she told me she was just getting ready to start it. At this point my spidey senses were telling me there was danger ahead but I brushed them aside.

September arrived but still no parasol. When I messaged her again I was assured she was sending it out right then and she sent me a delivery confirmation number. The package never got delivered no matter how many times I desperately clicked the refresh button on the USPS tracking page. When I inquired back to the seller she said it must have been "lost" in the mail. She then offered to make me a new one and I once again ignored those darn spidey senses.

I spent most of October messaging the seller with no response. When I finally had had enough and asked for a refund she responded within 10 minutes of my message. She said she was waiting for me to respond to her message asking for address confirmation (a message I never got). At this point my brain was screaming at me "Danger Will Robinson. Danger!" but once again I ignored it cause I REALLY wanted this parasol. I confirmed my address and she sent another USPS delivery confirmation number. Two weeks later still no parasol.

At that pointI decided to take a look at her feedback only to see that two other brides within the past two weeks had left negative reviews for undelivered parasols. It is now the middle of November, I have no parasol and there is little chance I will ever see it or my money again.

So lets go over the mistakes I made so you can avoid getting burned:

1.) 45 days is the limit for paypal disputes
If the seller quotes you a date that is more than 45 days from the date of purchase ask to wait to pay until the seller is within 45 days for completing the project.

2.) Pay half down and half when the product ships
I wish I had asked to pay half down to cover supplies and half down at time of shipping. At least this way there was a chance that the second half of my payment would have been made within the 45 days I could dispute it.

3.) Keep an eye on the shops reviews
When I ordered my parasol I saw nothing in her reviews that worried me. Once I purchased the item I never went back to look at her reviews. Had I kept my eyes open I would have seen her reviews slowly getting worse and worse.

4.) Report abuse to Etsy

If for any reason you think a seller is doing something wrong like this you can report the issue to abuse@etsy.com. I included full documentation of conversations with the seller and copies of her other negative reviews showing the same issues.

Any other tips I am forgetting about?

Planning A "Wicked" Bachelorette Party

I in no way, shape or form am a party girl. On a typical Friday night you can find us Meerkats at dinner with friends and then out to a movie. We like the simple life. And that simple life doesn't involve what most people would do for a "typical" bachelorette party. I want nothing to do with bars, strippers or penis shaped cakes.

Sorry MOH Meerkat. I know you were hoping for an all out flash-back-to-the-college-years style debacle but I want to do something I will be able to remember the next morning.

Sister Meerkat started off the brain storming process to find alternatives to the traditional party. Her first thought was to get dressed up all sex in the city style and head out to one of the local casinos.

thecia.com.au

I think that idea lasted about three weeks until it was replaced by the idea to hop the train and head into Chicago for the day. Only problem was that we would only be in Chicago from 11am - 5pm and we couldn't come up with a single thing that we could do in that time frame as a group other than eat and shop. Which is fine but I don't know, something was missing.

Now during all this we found out that the musical Wicked was coming to Kalamazoo.

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ZOMG, ZOMG, ZOMG! Mr. Meerkat and I have been DYING to see this but the tickets were ranging from $65-$150 each. Neither one of us felt right about spending that much with the wedding so close. Then I started thinking what if instead of buying a train ticket to Chicago we got tickets to see Wicked? When I proposed the idea to everyone I got a resounding "we have been dying to see that too!"

Everyone loved the idea so now are going to get all dressed up, go out to an awesome dinner just us girls in downtown Kalamazoo and then meet up with our guys to go see Wicked. Done and done! While it felt kind of odd suggesting the idea for my own party I am really glad I did.

I am dying to know if I am the only one out there who isn't into the whole bar/stripper/penis cake scene? What did you end up doing for your party?

Rocks, Rocks And More Rocks

You have read all about our venues and the ceremony decor but I have not talked at all about the reception decor. Well there is a good reason for that. Up until a couple days ago I had no idea what it was going to look like. Total fail, I know. Isn't this like one of the things you should figure out at the beginning of your planning?

I think my problem started when all the photos I found while researching were elaborate, flower filled tables. I am not into flowers. I wanted something simple. Then a few days ago I came across this photo:

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And it got me thinking. Wouldn't it be cool if we could have a unifying element that brought all the things on the table together. Why not use the rocks to do that?  So I started researching a little more and found some inspiration for centerpieces with rocks in them.

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But when I saw this photo I did a little victory wiggle in my chair because I knew this was perfect!

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Add a table runner, some small votive candles and a few rocks scattered around:

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Plus perhaps a Martha Stewart style I-Spy game for the table. Our very own HisPookie created a great example for her wedding:

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And you end up with something like this:

Yea OK my Photoshop skillz are not the best but what do you think? Does it fit with the rustic-chic feel we are going for?

Engagement Announcements - A How-To

Emily post is probably rolling over in her grave right now with me writing my own engagement announcement. Traditionally the mother of the brides writes the engagement announcement but Mama  Meerkat has enough going on she doesn't need to have one more thing on her plate. So I wrote ours:

I really had no idea what I was doing when I started but after a bit of research I found out there was four main parts.

1. Introduction

This part is very similar to the start of a wedding invitation. There are a few different ways to do this. The brides parents can announce, grooms parents can announce, bride and groom can announce or family member of bride or groom can announce.

2. About the bride

Typically you list your educational background but this can be omitted if you have been out of school for a long time. List your occupation and/or employer. You can include any other information that is relative about you.

3. About the groom

Same as #2 but about the groom.

4. Wedding Information

Most of the time just a date is listed. You can list location and time too but just remember that you might have some unexpected guests show up.

Not all papers will have you write your own. We submitted a total of three and only one of the papers had us write it. The other papers just collected the information above on a form so they could write it. I am really curios though if anyone else had to write their own engagement announcement?

Project Self Improvement

I am using our wedding as the motivation to do a little Meerkat self improvement.

I told you about how I learned to put on makeup (which I wrote about here and here). I did a little hair therapy to bring my hair back to its normally healthy self. I also started dieting and exercising which by the way is going fabulously!

But for my biggest (and longest) self improvement project, I had to get some professional help:

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Yep I got me a set of braces. I knew from an early age that my teeth were too large for my jaw size and I would need braces. No matter how many times the dentist told my parents I needed braces I refused to get them. There was no medical reason then to have them done (just cosmetic) and even as a kid I knew I wouldn't feel right letting my family pay that much for something as superficial as a straight smile (read: no dental insurance).

Fast forward to a couple years ago when we got engaged. I had pretty good insurance through work and the crowding of my teeth had become much worse with four impacted wisdom teeth so I set up a consultation to see an orthodontist. BEST. DECISION. EVER.

Now I am not going to lie and say that braces as an adult were all fun and games but you know what, it wasn't really all that bad. First I ended up having to have two oral surgeries to remove my wisdom teeth and four other teeth to make room in my mouth. In all honestly the oral surgeries were a piece of cake. I never took a single pain killer except Tylenol.

Next I had the braces put on my teeth. Easiest part of the whole process. Every couple weeks they would replace the wire with a different size to "twist" any teeth that were currently twisted the wrong way. After that they put these niffy rubber band chain things on to close any gaps (like where they removed teeth from) and also to pull in my overbite.

And thats it! Really it was that simple. It took 1.5 years and was worth every second. Did it ever hurt? Kind-of. The little pain I did have happened for about 24 hours after each appointment where they did an adjustment. My gums/teeth would be a bit sore but a couple advil or motrain took care of it.

Want to see the final result?

All the time and money were completely worth it to have a carefree smile on my wedding day. Any of you have or are getting braces as an adult?

Showered With Love: Day of the Dead Style!

Halloween weekend was FREAKIN' AWESOME!

Bridesmaid K and Sister Meerkat decided to throw me a untraditional bridal shower that totally suits my personality. They themed everything around Día de los Muertos which translated means Day of the Dead. Contrary to how the name sounds it is a VERY joyous celebration in Mexico where loved ones who have passed away are remembered with lots of great food and celebrating.

There were really only two things that Bridesmaid K and Sister Meerkat incorporated that were not part of a traditional Day of the Dead celebration; Halloween costumes and a piñata.

Here is Bridesmaids K as the cop, me as a hippie and 

Sisiter-In-Law Meerkat as one of the pink ladies from Grease. 

Intrigued yet? Keep reading your going to love this.

So first off that darn fail blogger bride struck again cause she forgot to get photos of the Mexican food, the place mats Sister Meerkat made explaining day of the dead or the games we played for the first 1/2 of the shower (which included a prize for best costume). The one thing I am really sad I didn't get was a photo of Mama Meerkat & Mama-In-Law Meerkat showing us their best Mexican hat dance.

I did get my little blogging butt in gear though and passed the camera off to Sister-In-Law Meerkat before we headed out to beat the stuffing out of a piñata.

Ignore the shorts sticking out for under my costume. I added some layers to keep warm.

One thing Sister Meerkat and Bridesmads K didn't think about was that I am a softball player. That poor piñata didn't stand a chance:

Then we all proceeded to collect the candy I had bashed out of the poor piñata. Sister Meerkat gathered the most candy of any of us. (She really is as much fun as she looks in this picture.) 

Some of the candy didn't survive my assault:

Then we headed inside for some cake and to open presents. Everything started out very light hearted like the rest of the party:

I must have been really excited about that garlic press.

But then I got to Mama Meerkat's gift and she went for all out pull on the heart string shower gift. I should have know something was up when I opened the card and she signed it mom AND dad. I opened the bag to find a framed photo of her and Father Meerkat with a poem in it called At Our Daughters Side:

Tomorrow is a lifetime away, now suddenly its here
How did it happen so quickly? The wedding drawing near.
How can we act so happy? On this most glorious day?
When soon is just a short time, we'll give out daughter away!
We wish we could grasp a moment and make the clock stand still
So we could let our hearts catch up but we know they never will.
All of the worries of being a parent, all of the battles won
No one warned us of the day our job would be finished and done.
Yet, there is another side, where our heart is not as sad. 
When we look in our daughter's eyes, we can't help but be joyful and glad. 
This day she has dreamt about, for just about all her life. 
She's going to be such a beautiful bride and a loving, caring wife. 
We'll clasp out hands tightly and manage to smile
With tears full of joy at the bride in the aisle
And we will think of the girl we were blessed to watch grow...
This beautiful young woman that we both love so
And whenever she needs us we will be there with pride
As always with love at our daughters side.

Seriously I couldn't even get through the first couple lines without crying. Bridesmaids K took over and read it for everyone.

After everyone ohh and aw'ed over the poem, the party got back to the fun, joyful atmosphere it was before. (The margaritas helped too I am sure!).

Well there you have it. A quick look at my Day of the Dead bridal shower. Anyone else deviate from the norm for their bridal shower?