"Let's Talk About. . ." Part Two

Firstly, I have to say that you guys were totally right. Let's Talk About Sex is by Salt 'N' Pepa, not Madonna. Funny enough though, Madonna has a line in a song where she says she can't talk about sex. Anyway, sorry about that! Apparently 80's Trivial Pursuit has taught me nothing! I mean, that game is really hard. I only get the Full House questions right (source).
More importantly... Wow. The comments you all left on my previous post left me speechless. The amount of love and support in this hive is really unbelievable. I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous to, y'know, announce my virginity to the internet, but I'm glad I did.

I read every comment and appreciated them all so much . . . even the one with certain specific tips, despite that it had me blushing hardcore.

I have to say, I'm impressed by how much I learned from those comments, and naturally, I'm going to share my information with the hive. Here goes nothing!

1) Waiting girls (or guys) - you are not alone! I know I often feel like I'm the only person left -ever- whose not cashing in her (or his) v card until the wedding night, but apparently it's not true. A lot of you reminded me to be proud of my decision and I'm passing that same statement right back around. As we all know, it can be a tough choice, but if you've made the choice and stuck with it, then I'm cheering for you. I'm waving my "waiting" flag and celebrating for all of us. As a wise bee recently told me, this makes us special.

2) Waiting is not easy. (Neither is pimpin', or so I've heard hehehe). I think a lot of people assume that if you're waiting until marriage, that's the end of the story, but there's so much more to it. The guy I'm marrying? Dead sexy. Are there times I would love to tear off his clothes and jump into bed with him? Of course! Physical attraction is important in any relationship, because of the necessity of physical intimacy, and those of us who are waiting feel it too. Once again, I'm cheering for us here, because there are times that it's not easy for a billion reasons: our super hot fiances, having sex shoved in our face from every possible media outlet hundreds of times a day, pressure from pretty much everyone we know to just "do it" all ready, the fact that you don't want it to be a big thing, but by not doing it, you're making it a big thing, etc. Regardless, cheers to us, guys! ... oh, and hold onto that will power ;-)!

3) It's worth it. I've got to say, I was surprised by the number of people who had waited. Many many hive members told me that they waited and that it was totally worth it. Awesome. Good to know! I'll admit that I have wondered about it before; like why wait? If I know I'll be with Mr. G, what's the difference if we do it now, 4 months from now, or 2 years ago? I'm glad that you guys say its worth the wait.

4) Don't listen to people. Okay, I'm sure there's a more eloquent way to put that, but I kind of mean it. People get weird and ridiculous about sex, and even more so when the V word comes into play. People have tried to tell me over and over that I'm making the wrong choice by waiting because 'what if it isn't good' and 'sex is too much of an important part of a relationship to risk having a bad partner'. I think both of these lines are BS and I'm happy I'm not the only one that feels that way. I'm sure that, in time, Mr. G and I will figure out what works for us - no matter what anyone says.

5) Don't stress about the wedding night. I think this is a great point for all of those waiting. I think a lot of waiting girls think that since they've waited so long, that their wedding night has to be 100% perfect. I could see where this would stress people out.

6) Waiting isn't for everyone. Word. I totally understand this. I mean, honestly, your sex life is no one's buisness but you're own. It's a super personal decision what, when, and with whom you do it with, and I'm certainly not going to judge. If you're not waiting, well then I certainly hope you're having fun!

7) The first time is awkward and magical and rainbows and funny and wonderful and interesting and fun. Plan accordingly.

8) Pee before and after. Ahem... that's all I'll say about that. I apologize if this one is a little TMI for you guys.

Whether you're "3 Date Reid" or waiting until marriage like super hot Victoria Secret Model Adriana Lima, thanks for letting me lay it all out there for you guys. (source 1, source 2)

You all are the best! Thanks for listening!

So Hive, Waiting or not waiting? And how did you make the choice?

In the words of Madonna, "Let's talk about. . ."

Sex.

There I said it. It's out there in the open for all to see. You see, hive, this is a "touchy" subject (pun intended!) and I've spent quite a long time trying to figure out how to word this correctly to say what I want to say and to come across all hip and cool. Mrs.Cheese talked openly and candidly about "Twister" and, let me tell you, I read all her posts and appreciated her honesty.

That leads me to where I am today, and, boy oh boy, am I going to be honest with you all. I mean, if you can't be honest in an open internet forum for all the public to see ;-), where can you be honest?

When I applied for Weddingbee, and even before that in the "What if I'm a Bee" moment, I always knew I wanted to shared this post (possibly more than one post?) with the hive.

You see - drum roll please - Mr. Giraffe and I had not had sex.

. . . (That pause for for cricket noises, FYI).

Phew. Now that that bomb shell is out of the way, let's move on!

The fact that we haven't played twister, slept together, did the horizontal polka, etc, is not a secret. The face is, I'm pretty open about it. All my friends know, my parents know, and I joke about it pretty often. I mean, sure, it's not the nicest thing to do to tease your fiance about not getting any in the last 5.5 years, but so what :-D? That's just the way it is. When you tell your bffs that you don't plan on doing much besides each other on the honeymoon, it's pretty hilarious.

When I met Mr. G, with the love at first sight and all, I was honest with him. I told him that I wasn't going to sleep with him. . . This was three days after I met him. It makes me laugh to image the poor kid; we've just moved away to a big campus, it's still a few days until college classes begin, and Mr. G finds probably the only ISU girl who doesn't drink or have sex? Yeah, right?! What are the odds!

Anyway, I think Mr. G and I are unique in this aspect. See, I'm waiting; as in waiting until marriage. I've always been that way and I kind of made the decision a lot time ago. In high school, I said I was waiting, but looking back, I don't know if I was conscientiously waiting until marriage, but I knew I definitely wasn't ready and it was an easy way to not force the decision or worry about it. When I met Mr. G, I didn't really think about waiting until marriage and, as ridiculous as it seems, I set a time frame of 2 years in my mind say we'll do it after that. Well as two years came and went, and I still didn't feel ready, and I knew it was because I wanted to wait until we were married. Pretty simple, right?

Well, this is where we reach the unique part. See, I always assumed couples that decided to wait for marriage, made the decision together, but that's not the case with us. In more or less words, Mr. G is waiting for me. Mr. Giraffe has not held onto his V Card, he actually slept with his senior year girlfriend in high school. (source)
Yeah, it was only one girl, but I'll still be #2 on his list. This bothered me a little bit 4 years ago, but not any more. He didn't know me then and he says if he knew what he knew now, he wouldn't have done it with her. He may have asked me nicely ;-), but he's been nothing but supportive of my decision.

Really quick, though, I have to go all after school special and clear something up for you guys. Being a virgin (I hate that word) doesn't mean you're a lame-o, that you're not attractive or anything like that. I mean, look at me, who could resist me? I could totally get some if I wanted to. If we've learned anything from Steve Carell in that one movie, its that choosing to be a virgin or choosing to have sex is a personal choice. People shouldn't judge you one way or the other. In the same way that I totally cheer my friends on when they go home with a guy, I expect them to cheer for me when Mr. G and I snuggle up together and that's all that we do.

I do think that waiting, at least for a little while, is good for any couple. It's very easy to mistake lust for love or physical and emotional feelings and waiting until you know is all right with me.

Part of my confidence in the relationship I have with Mr. G is based on the fact that I feel like we're emotionally strong enough to withstand anything. And, I'm not at all worried about our physical relationship. Practice makes perfect, right? Just kidding! But really, I know that I'm physically attracted to that stud muffin of a Giraffe, and we've talked about sex/sexual (or lack there of) relationship plenty enough that I know we'll be all right.

So why am I sharing something so personal with you all? Well, for a number of reasons. Firstly, I mean, this is kind of a big part of our wedding. I mean, our wedding night will be the night and we're both very excited (okay and maybe I'm a little nervous too haha). Secondly, I don't really know anyone else in my situation. Being a virgin at 23 isn't the 'coolest' thing in the world so I don't really have anyone else in my same position (position?! pun intended, again!) to talk to about this, and I figure there's got to be other girls like me. And, thirdly, of course, I've got to keep it real for the hive!

I don't even know what to ask you here hive, so I'm just gonna ask that you guys be little extra sensitive with your comments, as this is a super personal subject.

Last Minute Gift Ideas for the Happy Couple

There's a possibility that not everyone has finished their shopping yet (as show by Future Little Sister in Law Lizzy asking me what Mr. G wanted last night), and I was thinking about how after you get engaged, couples often start to get a gift that goes to both of them, rather than just getting indidivual gifts.

It's actually kind of awesome because you feel all part of a unit and grown up and stuff. (Feeling grown up is optional, by the way).

As a long engagement bride, I'm officially approaching my third Christmas as an engaged lady. If you're looking for a good gift idea for yourself - or anyone else in the midst of wedding/planning/craziness/whatarewedoing, here are some things I got last Chistmas that I've gotten a lot of use of out of the last year.

Picture frames! Mr. Giraffe & I received a very nice one last year from our friend Justin. It's very fancy so I've put it in the wedding pile for a future wedding photo, but it was just about the sweetest gesture ever and I seriously cannot wait to use it.
Santa got me this book for Chirstmas last year, and let me tell you, I've gotten a lot of use out of it. I'm definitely wedding stupid about a lot of things and this book lays everything out nice and clearly for even the novice wedding planner. I'd recommend it to anyone!
Bridesmaid Marie got me this Cricut cartridge for a Christmas or a birthday, I'm not sure which. It has a ton of cut outs for engagement/shower/wedding things so you can use it all the way up until the wedding and then after of course. It's seriously one of my favorite cartridges everrrrr.

Mama Giraffe got me a new digital camera for my birthday last year. See, I have a DSLR that I love more than most other things, but it's large and hard to carry around. It was never in my purse when a really needed it, unlike my little NikonCool Pix that I just leave in my bag. That way, at cake tastings or venue visits or anything else I want to blog about, it's always with me to take photos.
Ornaments! Bridesmaid Marie & Groomsman Mike got this for us the Christmas after we got engaged. It was just about the sweetest gift ever! I've been hanging it on my tree at home, but pretty soon it'll move to a new home with me and Mr. G! It's one of my favorite ornaments, ranked right up next to my Spider-man ornament from three years ago and my Wolverine ornament from last year.

Anybody else asking for holiday gifts that are wedding related?

David's Bridal Spring 2011 Line

I know I owe you guys photos of my finished STDs (which I can't wait to share), but you'll have to hold off a little bite longer. . . until I can find my missing camera cord ;-).

I got an email yesterday from David's announcing that they had new styles available. Now, I'm not trying to start a David's debate, I know people have very strong opinions about the store. I personally had a fantastic David's experience, but from what I gather it really depends on what store you go to. Either way, I plan on talking about it a lot more after the holidays so let's wait until then :).

For now, I'd love to share some of these dresses with you guys! I was pleasantly surprised when looking over the 2011 line. There are some very fashion forward dresses and a few that I like quite a bit (but not too much - not more than my dress of course). If you guys are in the midst of dress shopping (good luck!) and haven't given up yet (just kidding), you might want to look over a few of these lovelies!

All photos are screen shots from the David's Bridal web site.

Here are my favorites. The entire line can be seen here.

Anybody else secretly look at dresses after they purchased theirs?

Omg omg omg Nicole's Wedding Dress!

So, I'm freaking out right now! ! Ahhhh!!!

I don't know if you guys know this, but photos were just released from Nicole Richie and Joel Madden's wedding. See? Freaking out! Ahhhh! All of these photos came from Stylelite.com.

But enough talking; here are the goods! (Again, ahhhhhh!)


Oh. My. Gosh. I. Die!!!

Ahhhh! I'm so excited about these! How amazing is the fact that she got hers & Joel's name embroidered in the lace of her dress? Soooo pretty!

Please tell me someone is as excited about this as I am?!?!

Team Giraffe

Today's the big day! . . . No, silly geese, not that big day. A different big day! (source)

See, Mr. Giraffe graduates today. Main main squeeze will finally have his B.M.E and be able to teach music and be a real boy and all those such things. (source)

Words cannot even describe how proud of him I am. There were quite a few times that I thought I'd never see this day. Mr. G struggled with a few classes in college, especially when he first began teaching students, and he's the type that when he gets discouraged, has a very hard time motivating himself to get through what ever he's doing. He had a hard time for a while, but once he got back into it, he's definitely finishing strong.

My happiness over this big day got me thinking, though. . .When the boy/girl that you're just dating turns into a serious relationship, or when you get engaged, or (I assume) married, it really starts to feel like you're on a team.

(Not really an appropriate image for this, I know, but it was too good to pass up - I'm on Team Eric if you're curious.)

I think it's interesting that I'm just as excited about his graduation as he is. I mean, I'm legitimately excited. It feels like we've both hit a milestone, even though I'm not the one graduating. I'm proud of him and happy for him and he's happy that I'm happy for him and so on and so fourth in our never ending happiness cycle.

When you've joined a team, its interesting how your team mate's accomplishments become yours, and vice versa.

And, you know what hive? It's kind of awesome. I know that no one (even though Mama Giraffe comes close) will support me like Mr. G does. And, in the same way, I will be his biggest cheer leader. When bad things happen to one of us, it'll affect both of us, but I know we'll work together to get though it, because that's just what we'll do. We're always going to be in each other's corner and have each other's back for no other reason than that we're on the same team.

I would pick Mr. G first every time, and I'm going to be cheering loud and proud for Team Giraffe for the rest of forever.

When did you know you were on the winning team?

How to Plan a Wedding Without Loosing Your Mind

Things have been stressful as of late, and I'm sure everything will come together in the end, but right now I'm going to think of something else (Anything aside from omgomg5monthsawaythrowupandwetmypants) and I encourage you guys to do the same! Sometimes the best way to plan a wedding, I think, is not to plan.

Here are my tips for not going crazy amidst this crazy planning process.

1) Make time for friends. Bonus points if you and said friend (or in my case best buddy/bridesmaid Mang) make time in a child's size corn box. . . .Or you could go see a movie or something, either way works.

2) Watch dumb (and by dumb, I mean amazing) videos on Youtube. Sure, this sounds a little silly, but before I started wedding planning, over 2 years ago, I was a regular old college student. What did my room mates and I do during our free time? You tube! And lots of it! It may seem like a waste of time, but it'll make you smile every time. For realsies.

Play it again, Keyboard Cat!

3) Think about someone else's wedding! For serious, when your wedding gets stressful, it's way more fun to think about someone else's. Right now, I'm ridiculously excited about Bridesmaid Marie's & Groomsman Mike's wedding! I've never been a bridesmaid before so I can't wait for the big day. I'm saving her date for sure. I wonder what colors she's going to pick? Maybe hot pink?! See - way more exciting than my wedding right now.



4) For those who celebrate the holidays, work on your holiday cards! It's fun, exciting, tis the season, and how great is it to put something in the mail that doesn't say "save the date". I'm not kidding, I really enjoyed doing my holiday cards this year (. . . which haven't been sent out yet, but will be as soon as I get stamps!)

Also, it's a breath of fresh air to browse holiday card designs online instead of browsing wedding invites 24/7.

source

5) Remember your hobbies! Believing or not, your favorite hobby might not be wedding planning. Sometimes I think it is . . . and other times, no so much. Don't forget the things you love to do when you're not knee deep in wedding crazy. (Especially remember your hobbies if they include collecting ampersands and you happen to see a new one at Hobby Lobby for 50% off.)

my bad for the bad photo!

That's all I've got for now, Hive! How are you planning your wedding without loosing it?

DIY Save The Dates: Step Two, Card Making

Firstly, I designed a million Save the Dates, and then I finally decided on one, meaning we officially had a magnet, which made me just about as happy as a clam (... or giraffe).

Now that I got that out of the way (finally!), I needed a way to package or send off that little guy. I went back to my inspiration pics and remember the STD I saw that came with a post card. (source)
I loved the idea of sending our STD with some sort of card, but wasn't sure how it'd work out. I was still kind of stuck on the idea of using a rack card, so I thought that maybe I'd attach my magnet to the top of a 4"x9" card. . . but then I didn't know what else would go on the card if I had all that space.

Then I decided to keep it simple, and use a regular sized post card.

Unlike our millions STD designs, I pulled this card together quickly without very many revisions.

The design looked like this:
Funny, that looks like it could be a magnet on it's own, doesn't it? Ahhh, oh well ;-).

I mixed small caps, lower case, and sentence case letters from the typeface Mrs. Eaves by Emigre. Our names are in Veer's popular Feel Script.

Then I tried using it vertically.
Which I didn't love . . . so I tried it horizontally and then kind of loved it.
And then, being the smarty pants Giraffe I am, I decided I should include some sort of marker on the postcard so I would know where to place the magnet when the time came. I also thought it needed a little something extra.
And there is it!

I'm going to be totally honest with you guys, I love it! Just wait until you see the whole package, you guys will love it too!

How did you package your STD magnets?

How to Customize your Chuck T's

Hey Hive, I received a few questions about the shoes we wore in our engagement photos and almost on our save the dates.

The shoes in question (photo by our super super amazing photographers, Miller+Miller):

We actually bought the shoes from Shoe Carnival! It was so nice of you guys to all think that we ordered the shoes like that, but nope! They just had an "I heart" followed by a dotted line. I also saw black high-tops at other shoe stores. (source)

It was actually Mr. G's idea to buy the shoes. We saw them in the store and he mentioned that we could wear them for our engagement shoot. He doesn't really like Chucks normally, but he knows I love them, so it was kind of awesome and I was really happy he had thought of it!

I knew that the "I" was in Cooper Black, so I just typed my name in that font on my computer and tried to re-create it with a pen. I used a white paint marker (from Michael's for like $2.50) on the black shoes and a black Sharpie on the white shoes. (also - funny story, I took photos while doing this thinking that "If I ever blog for Weddingbee. . .")

A helpful tip - if you do buy these shoes to do this, make sure you go over the white writing with the pen an extra time, otherwise it won't look as opaque.

At first, I was a little disappointed that I couldn't really get the letters perfect, but I got over it and was really happy with how they turned out.

Anybody else do something special for their epics?

GIY Save the Dates: A Magnet Decision

We last left off here, where I had made a million magnet designs for our save the dates. My inability to make decision was biting me in the butt ;-), but I had finally made a decision to go with this guy.

Mr. G liked it when I emailed it to him, but then when we were hanging out the next night and looking over all the previous designs and he stopped out of no where, was all "Why don't we use one with my guitar?"

I reigned in my inner crazy that was threatening to rear its ugly head because I had designed for six hours the day before and was all, "What?"

Mr. G just went on saying that, "My guitar. It's our thing."

Okay, I guess it seems like my fiance, the classical guitarist, would have his guitar be his thing, but looking back, maybe it was both of our things. I mean, the night I met Mr. G was also the night I fell in love with him, and what was he doing? Well, he came up to the floor of my dorm and played his guitar for three hours. I mean, most nights in college were spent with me working on art projects while Mr. G practiced his music. I get that, and I actually thought it was pretty sweet of Mr. G to want to include it on our STD.

Knowing I wanted to use the pic of us with Mr. G's guitar, I looked back over the other designs. Something wasn't right with any of them so I went back and looked at the inspiration photos I posted. It was like a super bolt of inspiration. I loved STDs that including calendars! Whoo!

So, based a little off the STD at the top of this post, this STD came next.
I think by looking at that one, you can definitely tell I didn't know what direction I was going in. I tried to reign it in a little bit with the next one.
I didn't like the giant calendar in that one so I broke it up a little bit.
That was was FINALLY starting to feel right! I just had to swap the position of some things.
There! I kind of loved this one. The typefaces fit, the colors were right, the layout felt good! For some reason though, I decided to change the photo. I wanted one that looked a little more candid and a little less pose-y (although I do adore all our e pics!).

Double there! One of my ultimate favorite epics? Check! See, I loved this design so much and I was so happy with it and it made me all warm in fuzzy inside. I was sure this was it . . . but, the more I looked at it, the more I was distracted by all the stuff going on in the background of our picture. No worries though, it was nothing a little Photoshop couldn't fix.
There it is folks (finally)! I love it! I am so happy with how it turned out, and it was totally worth all the time and effort.

But wait, there's more! Up next: What to do with that magnet,

Anybody else's fiances weigh in on their STD designs?