Author Archives: Kara

WTW: 3 Months and a Budget

Posted in Money, Wedding-Talk Wednesday by

I’m getting married in about three months. THREE! Gaaah! The crazy dreams have started. Tuesday night is was my dress getting lost and me wearing a black slip dress down the aisle and a Welding Convention happening at our reception venue. At least it was on a beach? Last week it was the guys showing up late, they were wearing Carhartts and it was SNOWING. Oh lordy.

In the next three months we have to: make the favours, make the table number holders, buy stuff for centerpieces, get my gown fitted (which still hasn’t arrived!), get the guys measured up for the their tuxes, pick the rest of the music, buy the marriage license …. I’ m pretty sure this list could go on forever!

Now, onto the budget. I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to display how we worked everything out. Really, we didn’t have a set budget. There was a bit on the news the other days that said that average cost for a wedding in Canada was about $25,000! Luckily, our total thus far is was under that – about $11,000! Not too shabby, right?

We’ve been using Microsoft Excel to keep track of everything:

Wedding Spreadsheet

Basically what we did was list everything that we needed and tried to figure out how much we wanted to spend on it. There were fixed costs, such as the marriage commissioner and license, that we have no control over, but everything else was somewhat flexible and under our control. From there, it was all estimates.

We budgeted high for everything, hoping that we’ll come under budget on most things, especially the liquor and decorations. And another important thing was making sure we included what we’ve already put money towards and how much we still owe on things, such as my dress, photography and the DJ.

Really, I’m horrible with budgeting and numbers, but having everything laid out in front of me like this really helps me remember where we are and what still has to be taken care of. Please, if you have ANY questions – ask! I’ll be more than happy to share any details on how we budgeted without budgeting. (Like the limo? Totally wasn’t on our list originally but we’ll be oh-so-gangsta! lol)

How do YOU budget for events?

Ten on Tuesday

Posted in Ten on Tuesday by

1. What type of cell phone do you have and how would you rate it?

I have an HTC Desire Z and I love it! It’s pretty fast, has a touchscreen AND a full QWERTY keyboard. So lovely! (You can read a bit more about it in my post here) My only gripe? The battery life is not so great. I definitely can’t forget to plug it in at night or it will go dead.

2. What has been your most serious injury?

A dislocated shoulder. x8. Have I ever told this story? Maybe I should! Anyway – I was going to have surgery in January to have it repaired, but I opted out of it. I’m such a baby and the word “Surgery” scares the crap out of me. I can live with a shoulder that’s a little wonky!

3. What is one movie you hate and why?

I don’t think I hate any movies! There are movies which I thought were bad, but I don’t hate them. Don’t Mess With the Zohan was bad (Please, Mr. Sandler, just STOP making movies!), but I don’t hate it. Hmm … I do hate the hype behind all the Twilight movies. I’m sorry, but they’re just vampires. Buffy and Angel rocked a relationship years before those two kids were getting it on. Yeah, and they had a werewolf too – HE had to lock himself in a cage during full moons or he’d eat his girlfriend./tangent

4. How many email addresses do you have?

Three. I have my day-to-day Gmail account, and then I have a Hotmail account just for MSN/XBox (the emails are forwarded to my Gmail account). And then I have my work email, which I think is fabulous and makes me feel oh-so grown up! lol

5. What website do you waste the most time on?

Probably Facebook. Who doesn’t waste time on there? I also enjoy wasting time on People of Walmart, Awkward Family Photos, and Lamebook.

6. Which mexican restaurant makes the best salsa?

I have no idea. I don’t think I’ve actually been to a Mexican restaurant here! Although, we used to get free Taco Del Mar when I worked for the university newspaper, and their salsa was pretty awesome. Fresh is Best is probably my favourite though; it’s not from a restaurant, but it’s local and delicious!

7. What is your dream car?

Are we talking practical or total dream car? I’d love to have a Ford Escape as my next vehicle, but they’re so super expensive! I really love VW Jetta’s too, but again – expensive!

8. If you could spend up to $100 with no strings or restrictions or guilt, what would you buy?

Probably clothes. I need new work clothes!

9. What is your favourite board game?

I love me some Pictionary! No one will ever play with me though!

10. How often do you change your hairstyle?

Not often at all. It’s either long or short with some layers. That’s it, that’s all, no more! Right now I’m going long for the wedding. :)

Battling the Enemy

Posted in Appearances, Growing Up by

As a woman, I am cursed with society’s view on body hair – Shave your legs, shave your armpits, pluck your eyebrows! Luckily, those things are easy to maintain. They take all of five minutes to do and very rarely are you ever teased about them. Unless, of course, you like your uni-brow and let it grow wild. Anyway…

I am also cursed with lovely upper lip hair. It’s not that thick, and it’s not that dark, but it’s there, and I notice it, and it bothers me. A lot. Growing up, I was teased quite often about it. Yep, Kara’s a boy. Yep, Kara has a moustash. “Moustashio” I was once called. It hurt. A lot. No one likes to be teased, especially about something that you can’t help at the age of seven.

Come high school, I would use Nair to remove it, but I would always burn my skin and it would leave dry patchy rashes.. I tried having it waxed, but that would cause me to break out. Add that to the redness, and it almost made it worse. I eventually gave up and just tried to deal with it. Until today.

Today I went to a local laser treatment clinic, where they do everything from Botox to microdermabrasion. I made an appointment for laser hair removal last week and at 9:30 this morning, I began my treatments to get rid of my horrible upper lip hair once and for all.

Let me tell you – It hurt like hell! There’s still redness from the procedure, but if I don’t break out with little zits and it doesn’t burn up my skin, I’ll deal with it every 6-8 weeks. The technician who did the procedure was super nice and made me feel comfortable about everything, not embarrassed.

I know I should love myself for who I am, and I do, but sometimes you just have to do things that help your insecurities. I look forward to being able to stand in front of someone and have a conversation without wondering if they’re staring at that space between my lip and nose.

And let me tell you this – It took a lot for me to share this with you guys. In real life, only Kyle and my mom know I’m doing this. That’s how self conscious I am about it all.