Who am I kidding? I have been planning this wedding since I was five years old! But now its official. This is the year i’m getting married! I was so excited when came home to this package sitting on our counter. I thought “OMG its official. The save he dates are here! Now I’m really getting married!” When I was thinking of ideas for our save the dates I knew I wanted a magnet so people would keep it and not just toss it after the wedding. Seriously who throws away magnets? I also knew I wanted a picture magnet because we had so many amazing engagement photos. My photographer rocks! While doing research online I quickly found out that picture magnets are not cheap! I had a budget of around $80.00 for our save the dates and for the number we needed it was going to be something around $250! So on with the search I went. Then I stumbled upon MagnetStreet.com. They let you custom design your magnet with whatever colors and pictures you want. They even allow you to order a proof to make sure you like it before you order the whole batch. After a few hours playing with the sight here is what came out.
This picture really doesn’t even do it justice! I’m so in love with them I can’t even tell you. I chose to make them black and white because I wanted it to look timeless. For a batch of 75 we only spent $122.00. Over budget I know, but I think it was worth every penny! Plus the magnet looks really classy next to our beer bottle opener. Haha! 🙂
If you noticed on the bottom I put the link to the wedding website I created so the out of town guests could get the information on our wedding. I made the website private in order to protect all of our personal info. This meant I had to come up with a way to give the guests the password without having to call everyone. So I went to Michael’s to get some ideas.
When I saw this whole puncher I instatly snatched it up! I plan on putting touches of Fleur De Lis throughout the wedding as New Orleans is the city where we fell in love. Aaaaaaaaw! Lol I know ick right? So anyway….I thought it would be a good idea to get little cards, write the password on them and punch them with the Fleur De Lis puncher. I had no trouble finding cards small enough but I ran into a snag when I tried to make my handwriting that of an expert calligrapher.
Didn’t work so well. I was getting frustrated because I really did not want to pay for someone to write on little cards. So that’s when my awesome fiance came up with an alternative. He suggested that we go to Office Depot and have plain business cards printed up with the password on them. That way I could still use my little Fleur De Lis puncher.
I love how it turned out! The cards costed something around $25.oo. I was really reluctant to spend more money on the save the dates but my fiance said he considered it to be a present to himself. Happy wife happy life right?
Lol. I got a little bit of any eyebrow raise from the fiance the other day when I came home with three shopping bags on a random Tuesday. Especially after how much I got spoiled for Christmas. But the beauty of this shopping trip is I didn’t spend any money. And look at all the goodies I got!
I had a bracelet from Charlotte Russe that I was going to use for my Jingle Jam outfit but never did so I figured I would return it for something else. They had all of their stuff 75% off after Christmas so I got that shirt for like $2.00 and the earrings for 99 cents. I also had another bracelet that I got at Charming Charlie’s for NYE that went unused . I paid $14 for it so I wasn’t going to let it collect dust (and space) in my jewelry box. They also had an after Christmas sale going on so those glasses were marked down to $5.00 and those cute flats were like $7.00.
I always have an issue with buying flats because I’m such a stiletto girl so these were a good score.
I also put together a cute little outfit with the shirt and shoes and some stuff I already had. I’m loving new new found sense of closet recycling! My next buy was a little sad for me because I had to return a gift my fiance got me for Christmas. He bought me this beautiful Juicy Couture satchel to put my laptop in but because my laptop is a huge old piece it didn’t fit. He gave me his full blessing to return it so off to Ross I went. And look what I found!
I needed a basic black purse and this Anne Klein one was perfect! The leather on it is so nice! Plus it retails for $99.00 and Ross had it for $49.99.
I still had money left over so I looked around and found this cutey.
It’s a Kathy Van Zeeland and it retails for $99.00 but I got it for $27.99!! YEA!
I have had a few of her purses and I love their funky detail. Not to mention anything with a Fleur De Lis makes my heart go pitter-pat! The grand finale of this shopping excursion left me with like $25 bucks left over so I’ll be going back for more!
I am a tad bit obsessed with the Coach purse my mom gave me for Christmas! I know I’m a little spoiled 🙂 The best part of this purse is the inside lining….
Its purple! My mother knows me so well! I was changing out my purses today when I noticed that my mom left the price tag on it so I had to take a peek.
This purse retails for $388.00 but she only paid $259.99! Nice one Mom! I bet she got it even cheaper because knowing my mother she probably bought this on a day that they were having an extra percentage off. She was after all the one that taught me my Cheap Diva ways.
I know this is sad but I was in my closet staring at this hamper thinking…”I could get three more pairs of shoes in that space.” I had all of my scarves tucked away in that hamper and was considering making shelves for them, but that would require the help of the hubbs-to-be. The less time he spends starring at my shoes the less I’ll have to hear about how I have too many 🙂 I’ve become completely obsessed with Pinterest and the other day I was randomly pinning stuff when I stumbled upon this….
Bingo! You put shower curtain rings on a hanger and place your scarves on them.
I went to the dollar store and picked up some cheap curtain rings and tried this little craft out.
Mine isn’t as pretty as hers but oh well. At least now I have more shoe space! Happy Pinning!
Hahahaha! The fiance will be tickled pink that I quoted Starwars! But you have to admit that I seriously resemble Darth Vader when I use my blow dryer. As silly as I look in this its the best present (next to my engagement ring) that he has ever given me. I have really kinky curly Latin hair that has all but fallen out after too many years of torturing it with all the dying and flat ironing and chemical straighteners. For my wedding I want my hair to grow out and be healthier but I don’t like my hair curly. So after seeing me struggle with the blow dryer and round brush too many times my sweetheart of a fiance bought me this for my birthday.
You can get it at Sally’s Beauty Supply. If they don’t have it in stock they can order it from site to store. He got it on a holiday sale and paid like $80 for it but I think they usually run around $150.00. Worth every penny if you ask me! To get it straight I put in my normal styling products and use old lady rollers….
I use the larger ones for the top of my head because that is where my hair is the most wiry. Then I sit underneath the dryer for about 30-45 minutes. To be honest this is my favorite time of the week. I get most of my best blogging done under that hair dryer. And I may be strange for this but the sound washes everything out and is soothing to me. When i’m done under the dryer I hit it up with my trusty flat irons.
I use the red Chi on for straightening and then the pink Baby Bliss pro for a soft wave. Happy hair drying!
Check out these pretty earrings I got on Ebay for $3.00 with shipping! I really like the detail on the top too!
When it comes to buying costume jewelry I tend to sway on the cheap side because I always want something new when it comes to dressing up. But come to think of it the ONE time I decided to recycle my closet a little I loved what I came out with!
Ok, time to go Couture fishing in the Riley Sanctuary…..
Well looky what I found. My dress is Ivory so I wanted to add a pop of muted color with the pearls. I got those at Forever 21 back when time forgot for like $4.00. The rhinestone bracelets I actually have on in the picture above. They are a good staple accessory to have in both gold and silver. I’m thinking i’m going to do sort of a cranberry look for the makeup. Now if I can only decide on the shoes.
Should I wear these glitter platforms. Or……
Or these Rhinestone gold pumps? What do you think? Happy New Year!
Ok. I take full responsibility for my shoe obsession. But trust me when I feel it is getting out of control I will stop. Mind you my idea of out of control may be quite different from that of the normal person. My fiance (who usually understands my heel fetish) walked into my closet as I was rearranging my shoes to fit another pair and said…”Geez boo. That’s a lot of shoes.” My response was Aaaaannndd??? I was in the mall tonight after work shopping for jewelry for my NYE dress when I meandered into Forever 21. This is always dangerous territory because I always end up fighting myself not to buy something. I saw these and almost had the will power to shut my eyes and keep going when……
OK THAT’S IT! The shoe gods have spoken! They were cheap enough at $24.oo, but atonly $16.00 there was no walking away. MINE! I guess those shoes I already bought for NYE will have to wait 🙂
How cute is my little puppy in the background! She’s giving me that stank face that she does any time there is a camera around. I guess she doesn’t dig paparazzi around when she’s trying to get her beauty rest. LOVE THAT DOG! So yesterday I posted about how I have been obsessed with finding the perfect false lashes for my wedding day. After a few glasses of wine I decided to have a random makeup session and give the individual lashes a try.
To be honest these suckers are kind of a pain in the arse to put on. You have to get out the tweezers and stick each one into the glue and then apply to your lash line. Plus for the look I wanted I had to use almost all of them. However I did really like they way they looked!
Closeup…..
Eeeeh….I need to start using my under eye cream a little more. But anyhoo you get the picture. Oh and just a tip if you plan on trying these….get lash adhesive remover. That glue kinda hangs onto your eyelid and it doesn’t tickle when you pull of the lashes. Had to learn that one the hard way.
I have found my new obsession….FALSE LASHES! Actually I have pretty nice natural lashes so I never considered wearing the falsies until I started thinking about my wedding day makeup. You see I’m not too keen on waterproof mascara because it never seems to give me full look that I like, and it’s impossible to get off even with makeup remover. On my wedding day dramatic yet natural looking eyes are must. Thus let us begin the search for the perfect lashes.
First I tried these guys by Kiss (don’t remember the style #) but they were a little too heavy towards the outside. I have almond shaped eyed so they were a little too wingy. I still liked them but more for just going out than a special occasion like my wedding.
Next I went for the ARDELL 117’s. I liked these alot. I took this pic after a night out and they still looked pretty good even if it was 12:30 am.
Even though I liked them I wanted to look for something with a less defined line. LOL I know I’m a picky little princess sometimes. 🙂
I watched a few makeup tutorials on YouTube and a lot of the professionals seem to use MAC 36. I loved the look they gave once applied but I wasn’t going to drop $15.00 on these until I knew that they would look good on me. I googled their alternative and apparently the ARDEll Demi 120 lashes are pretty similar.
This afternoon I went to the to local beauty supply store and they were only $2.99 so I figured they were worth a shot. Then I sort of went on a lash buying binge.
In one of the lash tutorials I heard that there Ardell 103 lashes a are great for a dramatic night time look. But they are also short enough that they won’t achieve drag queen status.
These Almine number 4158 looked they would be good for a natural daytime look. Plus they were only $1.99! Being that they were so cheap it couldn’t hurt to buy just one more pair right? Haha, you see why I say this could be becoming a problem…..
One of my friends who is a makeup artist once said that the individual lashes look the most realistic. She said they take awhile to apply but I’m bored tonight so I think I’ll give it a shot. I’ll post a pic later and let you know how it turns out. Oh, and if you have a favorite lash leave a comment and let me know what it is!
Hi, my name is R!LEY and I wear Spanx. Haha! Well actually New Years Eve will be my first time trying them out. If Lindsey Lohan can wear Spanx then I can too! Not that I admire Lindsey…. AT ALL. Just pointing out the fact that she’s small and still needs a little body squeezing on occasion. Believe it or not I fell in love with the first dress I tried on which never happens to me. The only problem is its white and has ruching so the way it drapes made my booty look a little sad. I swear I am the only Puerto Rican in the world that pretty much has no arse! I wanted a body shaper that would spruce up the booty and maybe hug my thighs a little but the name brand Spankx were $62.00. I didn’t even pay anywhere near that for the dress (post on that to come). Off to Ross!
Found these knock offs that made me feel like JLO for a measly $6.99! Ok maybe not exaclty JLO but I did feel more booty-liscious! In retail stores these cost $20.00! I love a great deal almost as much as I love my shoes…..ALMOST.
Is it strange that I love that they have little butt grooves in the back? I’ll show you the pictures of me and my new booty in 2012!! Happy New Years Eve shopping my loves!
Didn’t work so well. I was getting frustrated because I really did not want to pay for someone to write on little cards. So that’s when my awesome fiance came up with an alternative. He suggested that we go to Office Depot and have plain business cards printed up with the password on them. That way I could still use my little Fleur De Lis puncher.
