riokayak

Ur2much, This is an older post, but when I found the books at Target they were in the dollar bins at the front of the store.

I have this book and its really been a great education tool. It has made me so much more aware of what is happening with my body each day. I highly recommend it. I definitely am too lazy to do all 3 steps, but I did the temperatures for 2 months which really made me more aware of the length of my cycle. Also, once I got past being uncorfortable discussing cervical fluid, it made it super easy to figure out what days I was fertile. My husband is pretty anti pill, so I feel pretty lucky that he is so supportive and concerned with my reproductive health. :-) I think our generation just expects that we should be on the pill and that it is safe and it's OK to be on hormones for so many years. It's nice to feel like I have an alternative.

I try to be a runner. I've done many 5ks and will hopefully do my 4th 1/2 this November. I'm newly preggo, so depending on how I feel, that will be my deciding factor. My goal for next year is to do more trail races. That's usually where I do most of my running, but all the courses I've done are road courses.

Daily Spanish books are sold. Everything else is still available.

I have a few left over items for sale. Prices do not include shipping. I'd prefer to do U.S. only shipping. 20 - Daily Spanish for Dummies - $10 3 - 6"x25 yd Turquoise Tulle - $5 Bridal Bargains Wedding Planner - I used a few pages in pencil and have erased everything - $8 All the best from Mexico 2CDs 40 songs - $10 Wedding 25 Favorites CD - $7 Traditional Wedding Music CD - $7 I'll see what else I can find. I also have 2 Crystal Organza Sashes (9"x108") and 2 turquoise organza table clothes (7'x7') probably not worth more then what the shipping would be. If you are interested, let me know.

I'd try to move toward having the 4 friends do something else. It could be usher, it could be video the ceremony, sing, or whatever. Do they have any talents? We had one of my husbands friends sing the song during the ceremony, one of my best friends handled the video camera, another performed the ceremony... there are all kinds of things that having a friend handle makes the day more special. As a disclaimer, my husband wanted 3 people on each side... and that's what we did. I didn't have my heart set on a number though.

The quote we got was for 200 pesos ($15) per page. When it came time to actually get it done we couldn't get a response from the translator... so take it for what it's worth.

Here is what our tables looked like. We went with 2 on each table.

I hope they post it on hulu! Is there anywhere else to watch it online?

I totally liked him until he wouldn't get rid of Vienna... but now... I too want to vomit.

I just watched an ET video and Jake said when we get married "in a couple years..." so we won't have to see it anytime soon... :-) I didn't sense he was too confident. She seemed really unsure and he got teary eyed when he talked about Tenley.

We had just over 30, so a little bigger but Iour schedule was something like this: 2PM Wedding (actually started at 2:30 since MIL was 20 minutes late) 3:00-4:30 Social Hour with Mariachis, we took pictures during this time 4:45-6:15 Food, toasts, thank yous and cake 6:30 or so - we watched the sunset from the room of the house 7:00 or so - we all hit the pool and hot tub We kept it super simple... I was worried about having a father daughter dance, cake cutting, all the other traditional things people do, but we really only had a little push back from MIL when we didn't cut the cake in front of everyone. I think the key is to keep things flowing. People liked that it wasn't a traditional wedding.

I think everything moves slower in Mexico. I had a few slow responses, some were based on the language barrier and others were... who knows? I know I sit at a desk all day and respond to emails immediately... I don't think that happens as much down there. Some people you won't hear from at all. I just kept resending.

I tried really hard to not see anything about the bachelor today... and finally Yahoo ruined it for me. Once I saw it was Vienna, I don't think I'll waste my time watching. Blah. Ali as the Bachelorette is fine... I probably won't watch much of it.

We maded it back and I did my best to find flowers... with no real luck. There isn't a florist in town. There was a fake flower place on the same street as the bus station, but no real flowers. I knew I should have written it down, but I swore I'd remember it... but I think this place CallaCo, the Calla Specialists - growers, shippers and hybridizers of specialty cut callas for the wholesale market has a wholesale place where you can pick up flowers in Pescadero. I was content with the fake flowers we had and didn't want to make people run all over. So I didn't actually get any flowers. We were also told there was a place (a lady) just out of town towards La Paz that has sunflowers that she sells... again, we just ran out of time and I didn't check either out. So hopefully my lack of knowledge is helpful to let people know to plan to bring your own, get them in Cabo or not be picky with what you can get. :-)

I think my first appraisal was around $50. If it makes up the $1000 for you its definitely worth it. The link to the article I posted said you may be able to just use the sales receipt as proof, so that might work for you too.

I totally agree, but after that article I'm feeling a little defeated! I'm getting a second appraisal on mine just to see how much the 2 vary. Good luck!

I tried to be a bride on a budget... but didn't do too well! Hopefully you'll do better than I did. :-) Good luck and happy planning!

I totally still take my ring off and leave it places... I probably need to remember to get it on my homeowners... :-)

This is lengthy, but it touches on over appraising and under appraised values. So I did a little Google searching and found this article from a few years back that Dateline did. Diamonds are appraised on the four C's (Carat, Cut, Clarity and Color). Some diamonds come with certificates that spell out the 4 C's for the diamond and some of these certificates also include an appraisal amount. In the diamond grading industry there is a margin of error allowance that is refered to as "tolerance". So your diamond maybe appraised 2 times by the same appraiser and get a slightly different grade that is with in the tolerance. However a grade can mean the difference of thousands of dollars. So the certificate is used as a marketing tool, while the appraisal is in no way a scientific process. Here are a few paragraphs from the article and the link below. “I think it’s probably one of the more shameful things in our industry — appraisals used as marketing tools,” says Don Palmieri, a senior member of the American Society of Appraisers. “You get a high appraisal, you walk out thinking you just got the last great deal. But you just got misinformed with that document.” "Again, just read the fine print, which has lines like: "appraisals are bona fide opinions..." and “these values are not for investment purposes, nor are they an endorsement of the price you should pay."" "Will this cost you money? Relying on any appraisal that’s substantially more than you paid could end up costing you money if you pay higher premiums when it’s time to insure. Kelly McDermott paid $8,200 for her ring but was convinced it was really worth $15,000 based on an inflated appraisal from her jeweler. And so she paid the insurance premiums based on that assumed $15,000 value. But when she lost the ring, the insurance company said it would replace the ring or give her a check for what it would cost them to replace it — $8,900. “Five years, I’ve been paying these inflated premiums and it makes me angry, because I should have the ring insured for what it’s worth,” she says." Diamonds: Is there such a thing as 'a deal'? - Dateline NBC- msnbc.com

I like the flip cam idea! We bought their Cubavera shirts, pants and flip flops for the ceremony, paid for their rental house and got them each a piece of Mexican pottery.

That doesn't sound right. I know my sister's appraised for way higher than what her husband paid, he did a lot of research and got a great deal on a beautiful diamond. I just got mine appraised, but have nothing to base it on since it's a family ring from the 20's.

Congrats, that's coming up quick! Your date will be here before you know it!

Testing.... come on

Wow, it looks great!