Netflix is... interesting

Apparently modern children's programming is a lot edgier than I realized

Spirited Away Spa Day - Part 2

Today we finished our "Spirited Away Spa Day" by going to the actual Korean spa and getting naked in front of strangers. For obvious reasons we couldn't take pictures inside the spa, so instead here's an 8-Bit version of Spirited Away.

Spirited Away Spa Day Part 1

In preperation for the wedding this month, I wanted to do a classic "spa day". I love themes, so I picked the Studio Ghibli film "Spirited Away" because it takes place at a spa.

 

For various reasons (including an epic heat wave) we postponed the actual trip to the local Korean spa. But we were able to find time to watch the movie, eat some sushi, and slather our faces with awesome incomprehensible mud masks from Korea.

Milky Piggy

Glitter Shoes - We're Not Melons

I'm terrible at taking step-by-step pictures during a project. But I basically followed this tutorial anyway.

This picture does not adequately demonstrate how BRIGHT these are in direct sunlight.

The shoes are my old gray Converse. Already fixed once with ShoeGoo. I used blue normal sized glitter, and tiny tiny white glitter to fill in the small gaps. Obviously our apartment is covered in glitter now. But it was worth it. 

Sprinkles!

A giant box of assorted sprinkles. It comes with a small wooden scoop. It makes me very happy.  

Sprinkles!

Officially I bought them for the wedding reception in July, to go on top of the doughnut holes... they might not last that long.  I might have eaten more than one scoopful dumped directly into my mouth.

Sprinkles cheer up sunflower-butter waffles. 

Wedding Deals - We're Not Melons

We've made out like bandits with all the deals we've found with our wedding. Thirty bucks a night for a room with attached private bathroom in Portland. 

(Picture from their airbnb listing)

Less than ten bucks each for our rings on Amazon. 

My dress was custom fitted from eshakti.com. After a first-timer coupon the total came to less than thirty bucks including shipping and custom fitting.

I scrounged Groupon for the last month looking for interesting places in Portland. I found an almost all night gyro food truck, a doughnut shop (because we'll totally need more doughnuts after the wedding at a completely different doughnut shop), and a cider tasting for two with eight 3oz glasses of cider each and an empty take home growler. I could easily have planned all the food we'd need for the four days we'll be in town, but there were specific places we want to try and are willing to pay full price for.

If you have the time to plan in advance, and are flexible about what you're looking for, there's a TON of ways to save money on the things you want for a wedding.

"I Go Up The Hill, And Come Back Down"

We have a big hill near our house that's perfect for exercise. It's almost exactly one mile from our front door to the top. Due to my health issues I can't always make it to the top, or anywhere near it.  Consistency is really important if I want to get anywhere. So sometimes just walking out the door, across the street, ten yards up, and then back down again is all I can muster. I don't feel badly about this, it's the best I can do,  and it's much better than doing nothing at all. But I can't help replaying this commercial for Planet Fitness every time I go. "I go up the hill and come back down..."

Victory Over Death

Hearthstone matches you randomly with another player at or near your level of expertise. This match was between me and a player named "Death" (You can see their name in the upper left corner.) I have now beaten Death, and so assume I am now immortal.

Wedding Reception Invites - We're Not Melons

I bought a ten pack of blank brown folded cards and practiced in window's paint with fonts until I found a layout I liked. Then I hand drew them out in pencil, and went over them with marker. I used a dry-erase marker because it didn't bleed through the paper.

I used a metallic sharpie on the back, for the shiney-ness and because they don't bleed through the paper either.