The wheels in my head have been turning...Jeff and I are beginning a list of possible wedding locations (well, more like I am beginning a list and am mentioning places to him as I go along ;) ). We both love penguins, and the New England Aquarium in Boston has 3 different penguin species, so that's at the top of my list right now. I love some of the venues available at the Sea World in San Antonio, but I think Boston would be better and less expensive travel-wise for us. Also, I have a TON of familly in Connecticut (where I grew up), so they would actually possibly be able to go if we did the deed in Boston. Sea World is still on my radar--it would just be a smaller group.

Then there's the idea of a hot air balloon. It seemed a little cheesy to me at first, but Jeff thought it sounded fun, and I agree. Plus, we really wouldn't have to worry much about what we're wearing since there wouldn't be much of an audience for the ceremony.

I was thinking about the National Zoo in DC, but I'm not sure I'd want to have an event at such a smelly place :p I love animals, and we live 10 minutes from DC, but being at a zoo, I don't think I'd want to wear much of a fancy dress :dizzy:

I'm also going to look into places like Jillian's and Dave and Busters (never been there, but I hear it's similar to Jillian's).

Oh, and I get to ge get the diamond for my engagement ring tomorrow, and I will pick up my perfectly sized setting today, so I should finally have a complete engagement ring by Sunday :D

Originally Posted by jillybean720:
The wheels in my head have been turning...Jeff and I are beginning a list of possible wedding locations (well, more like I am beginning a list and am mentioning places to him as I go along ;) ). We both love penguins, and the New England Aquarium in Boston has 3 different penguin species, so that's at the top of my list right now. I love some of the venues available at the Sea World in San Antonio, but I think Boston would be better and less expensive travel-wise for us. Also, I have a TON of familly in Connecticut (where I grew up), so they would actually possibly be able to go if we did the deed in Boston. Sea World is still on my radar--it would just be a smaller group.

Jill,

I love penguins too! I didn't know about the aquarium in boston. DH and I plan to go to NJ to visit their aquarium sometime soon because they have penguins.

I also want to see them in the wild, particularly in Patagonia (either Argentina or Chile) and New Zealand.

Originally Posted by nelie:
DH and I plan to go to NJ to visit their aquarium sometime soon because they have penguins.

The one in Camden, right across the bridge from Philadelphia? Been there! They do have a good penguin exhibit--they have the cute little African penguins. That's actually where my avatar photo was taken--it's small and blurry, so you can't really tell, but I was standing in front of the penguin exhibit in that photo.

I want to see them in the wild, too--there's an island in southern Australia where the penguins apparently walk along the beach each evening. I don't remember what it's called--I'll have to see if I can find it again.

Edit to add: Found it! Phillip Island, Victoria. http://goaustralia.about.com/cs/vics...a/phillip1.htm

Originally Posted by jillybean720:
The one in Camden, right across the bridge from Philadelphia? Been there! They do have a good penguin exhibit--they have the cute little African penguins. That's actually where my avatar photo was taken--it's small and blurry, so you can't really tell, but I was standing in front of the penguin exhibit in that photo.

I want to see them in the wild, too--there's an island in southern Australia where the penguins apparently walk along the beach each evening. I don't remember what it's called--I'll have to see if I can find it again.

Edit to add: Found it! Phillip Island, Victoria. http://goaustralia.about.com/cs/vics...a/phillip1.htm

There is a city in New Zealand that has a penguin crossing sign on the roads! That is a place I need to be. Here is their website:


http://www.penguins.co.nz/

Such neat, unique location selections! Gosh, how much fun would a wedding at a zoo be? Our location is pretty, but not really unique - ah well. We loved it as soon as we stepped out of the car, which has to be a good sign, right?

People are signing up for the shuttle (affectionately named "The Booze Bus") like crazy - makes me feel better, because I want everyone to be safe and get home OK. Lots of people are even taking public transit from San fran or other nearby spots and catching the bus - makes the money we paid for it worthwhile. I am thinking of doing a little welcome video for them to play on the bus ride up - a slideshow of pictures of us with a little voiceover welcoming people, saying how glad we are that they could join us, etc. I think it'd be cute - I just have to decide if its too much work. It shouldn't be too bad - assemble pictures, put into an easy powerpoint template, write and record a script for the voiceover...I might be crazy, but it seems do-able at this point.

Our lucky bamboo is due to arrive today - my house is going to be -filled- with green plants for the next month. We also have to go buy the wine this weekend, as well as snackies and water for the folks who are staying in hotels.

Honeymoon shopping is going well...and boy, do I like the built in budget/excuse to buy new clothes! But I don't have -any- clothes that fit from last summer, when I was a sz 18-20...so we are literally starting from scratch. I did get some fabulous formal dresses on ebay - the "formal nights" on the cruise could have killed our budget, as formal dresses often run into the 100.00 range, but with ebay I got both dresses I needed for $50.00 including shipping. Still, we're lacking in "nice casual" clothes for the other dinners. They say to wear what you would wear to an "upscale restaurant" - and we don't have much of that, mainly because with me working at home and Sarah working at a floral shop, the clothes we've purchased as we shrunk sizes have been almost exclusively casual...jeans, sweaters, t-shirts, etc. And I -love- to shop, but buying an entire new wardrobe has been a little exhausting. We're almost all set now, but we still need to pick up some last minute stuff this weekend.

Mandalinn- Glad to hear your "booze bus" is going well. I hope you don't drive yourself too hard with your introduction video, but it does sound awfully cute it you decide to do it. Sounds like it's all coming together, less than 4 weeks, wow!

Jilly- What a pretty ring! You must be thrilled to have it on your finger. You mentioned the garter and bouquet toss, and I thought I would mention what we are talking about doing. Neither of us likes those traditions, so we decided to toss them. The whole idea of me sitting on a chair and him going up my dress for a crowd just doesn't do it for me. Anyway. We are completely forgetting the garter toss. And, I read this idea somewhere, and once I heard it, knew I wanted to do it. With my bouquet (or a bouquet, the bouquet is a whole 'nother story) we are going to figure out which couple in attendance has been married the longest. Then Micah and I will present the bouquet to that couple to honor them. I thought that was so sweet.

For us- We went to a local jeweler on Friday, and talked with him about designing a ring. I'm excited! It does mean I probably won't have a ring on my finger till mid-May, though. I guess having a unique ring for the rest of my life is worth waiting a few weeks. ;)

Christine, I have read about doing that with the bouquet online as well. I think it's a great idea if you've got a bit of a crowd, but I'm thinking we will end up with 50 people or less at our event. I don't think we're going to do anything with the garter/bouquet at all.
A unique ring is definitely worth the wait. That's why I picked the one I have now--sure they sell it at Kay and Jared, but we actually went to 4 different Jared stoes, and they only had it in 1 of them. I've never seen anyone else have the same one, and when we went to the jeweler where we got our diamond, he said he could custom make a ring for me, but I had fallen in love with this one. We flipped through literally over 500 pages of engagement ring settings in the books from which they order (figure at least 10 rings per page, so yeah, you do the math :dizzy: ), and we couldn't find ANY like mine. They offered to custom make it for me but said it wouldn't be much cheaper than just buying it at Jared, so that's what we did. Maybe I'd have a custom ring if I had any idea what I wanted, but I didn't, and then I fell in love with this one when I saw it. Of course, now I have no idea what to do for a wedding band, but we've got some time to ponder that :p

Alright, back to drinking lots of water and healthy eating--I've got at least a year till we tie the knot, and I want to have a much smaller figure than I do now when the time comes! I don't have a specific goal in mind--just to make some progress in the right direction ;)

Jilly,
Your ring is beautiful :) With my bouquet, my first thought was I spent $75 on it and I'm supposed to throw it? I think not :) I think a nice brunch or dinner without dancing is really a nice way to do a smaller wedding.

We have three engaged people coming to the wedding - we are debating just gifting our bouquets to the two with weddings coming up next (a cousin and a friend). They are going to be really gorgeous, but we're not going to be able to get them preserved, so we figure someone ought to enjoy them.

The intro video is done and actually pretty cute! It only took a few hours and it makes me feel a lot better...starting off people's experience with a personal touch. We are trying really hard to make the whole wedding unique and special with all of these little touches, so hopefully it all works out in the end.

We had a CRAZY wedding weekend - so much got done! This is a very good thing, because there was a LOT to do, but most of the items on the list got checked off and its looking like we are in pretty good shape. We also have the guest list finally nailed down - it looks like we have 68 guests attending. I think thats the perfect number - a big party, but not overwhelmingly huge.

The lucky bamboo got delayed, which is a bummer, but I'm sure it will get here in time. We finally nailed down the schedule for the big day, down to the last detail, and got the song list to our DJ. We also FINALLY wrote our ceremony, which we had been way behind on, so thats a major relief. Now we just have packing and some minor detail work to do (printing wedding programs, assembling the favors, packing for the honeymoon, and prepping for my sister's wedding shower, which is the weekend before our wedding). All in all we're in MUCH better shape - and better yet, we're actually right on target budget-wise, so thats good.

Jilly - what a GORGEOUS ring. Its so nice to have something unique!

Once I get an idea in my head, I run with it.

I have the slideshow up on youtube if anyone wants to see it...of course, its like 10 minutes long and probably not all that interesting if you don't know us...but I thought i'd offer anyway.

I will post the link if anyone requests.

Hi Mandalinn

I would love to see your video if you don't mind me watching and possibly stealing ideas. :)

So glad to hear it's all coming together.

Sometimes I get a little bit over-the-top with showing people pics/videos/etc when it comes to the wedding, so wanted to make sure someone was actually interested before i posted the link - hehehe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARzd7Bx6Jww

Jill, your ring is just gorgeous - you must be thrilled to finally have it! I still catch myself looking at my diamond all the time! I really like the setting of the sapphires - very unique!

Nothing new to report here - been doing a lot of online catalog searches for bridesmaid dresses - found a couple I like at Newport News, and one at Chadwicks. If the quality is ok, these would be much more reasonably priced alternatives to something from a bridal shop. One challenge I have is that one bridesmaid, my sister, is 41, and the other, Pete's niece, is 16. It's hard to find a style and a color that will work for both.
Cindy

hi all,

i personally do not like the whole garter belt thing either, esp. in front of my grandparents!!!!! I think its kinda tacky, but that may be a cultural thing. Anyway, my fiance wants to have it, I told him he could wear the garter. As for throwing the bouquet, i was thinking about putting a gift certificate into some flowers and throwing that instead. Right now I'm trying to convience my fiance that having a wedding on a Friday is not illegal and that its okay have the ceremony and reception on two different days...siiigh...i have a loooong road ahead of me. Good luck to everyone else.

Jill – What a gorgeous and unique ring! You must be thrilled to have it on your finger after all that searching.

madalinn – You sound like you’ve got things just about all set. That slideshow is such a fun idea, I bet your guests will love it.

That gift certificate in the bouquet is a great idea. I think I’m going to have a smaller “dummy” bouquet made for the toss. And then lob it directly at my cousin who has that whole rapidly-approaching-30-must-find-a-man-to-marry-now syndrome. I don’t get it myself, as I would have been prepared to go my whole life without getting married if I never found the right person, but I know it would make her happy to catch the bouquet.

I got myself measured for my bridesmaid dress for my friends’ (my maid of honor and my fiancée’s best man actually) wedding in the fall. Another chocolate brown dress I will probably never wear again, but oh well. It is quite cute but strapless so I really gotta start being more consistent with my lifting, must firm up my “flying squirrel” arms.

We put out deposit down on our ceremony site, so I feel like it’s really official now. Our date is May 25, 2008. I’m glad we’ve got more than a year because I think I’m going to need it!

Despite my crazy and stressed/busy state over the last couple weeks the scale is actually on the lower end of the range it’s been fluctuating in lately, so that’s good. I’ll feel better once I’m consistently weighing in the 160s again.

Shan!! May 25th is my birthday :) I'll definitely be thinking of you :)

Jill - Your ring is GORGEOUS. You must be so thrilled with it! I have never seen one like it, you're right. And you know, the unique shape of it would allow you to do some pretty fun things with a wedding band, if you don't mind getting it custom made..... I'm just looking at the shape and I think it would look really neat to have a wedding band that nestles up in the little triangle-shapes made by the rotated sapphires. Maybe rotated square-cut diamonds in the band so that it kind of "locks in" with your engagement ring and works as one unit? That would look really neat, I think :)

Mandalinn - wow, you are really almost there, aren't you? You've accomplished a lot! I felt like I had done well by just calling and making hair appointments for me and my bridesmaids the other day :lol: Of course, I still don't have an officiant, but eh, what does that matter? :p

re: garter toss: NOT doing it. Creepy. Don't want people watching my fiance travel up my leg under my dress like that!

re: bouquet toss: can't decide. I don't have a whole lot of single friends anymore anyway... The gift certificate idea is actually really good, though instead of hiding it inside I could toss my bouquet and then whoever catches it can give it back to me and I give them a gift certificate :) I don't really want to give away my bouquet!

I finished my gift registry yesterday.... Which was a bigger task than one might imagine. Seeing as how Leo's not here to help, and I'm generally an indecisive person, it was hard! I'm really happy with what I've selected, though. I was planning on not making a registry and just asking people to pick things out themselves, but we met with SO MUCH resistance to that idea that I broke down and registered. I guess people want to be sure that we'll like what they pick!

Hey gals - britomart brings up a question I have: What are you doing for registering?

I ask because I am 43, and really don't need a lot of stuff. I've been living on my own forever, and have a fully stocked kitchen. I have a few neat items I want from William Sonoma, and I need silverware, but beyond that I'm stuck.

Do you gals have any suggestions for me? I wouldn't worry so much if it were just the wedding, but I am having a shower, and typically people don't give $$ for a shower.
Cindy

Cindy - you can register for just about anything these days. Major stores have like Target, which carry just about anything you want, have registries where you can add all kinds of things. Also, you can set up a honeymoon registry through several travel sites - pick your location and things you'd like to do, and guests can buy you each experience. You'd register for things like "sea kayaking and snorkel trip" and someone would pay the website the amount that thing cost - your vacation experience would then be pre-paid!

We also had much of our stuff, but we're still pretty young and a lot of it was hand-me-down or cheap college purchases, so we are mostly upgrading our equipment and then having a garage sale to sell the older items. We also registered for some furniture, including a new wine cabinet, to replace older items.

Oy, drama.

Sarah's mom will be attending the wedding as a guest, but won't be in any of the family photos, because she doesn't agree with the gay thing. So on her wedding day, my beautiful, loving partner won't have her mom with her. She just spent about half an hour throwing up from a stress migraine, and I am basically ready to kill someone.

Oh, by the way, two years ago when her mother got married, we disagreed strongly with her choice (he's pretty much an alcoholic, and super-controlling, and the second time we met him he got so drunk he peed all over Sarah's dads floor). We both attended the shower, even though we had to fly on a just-out-of-college budget. Sarah drove down with a car-full of flowers and did all the flowers for her mom's wedding. We went to the wedding, and even though I was engaged to her daughter and had been with her for 4.5 years, I wasn't in a single picture, even the big one with all the sisters and cousins and whathaveyous. She put me as an "And Guest" on the invitation (and again, we'd been together 4.5 years). We were there early to set up the flowers, we were there to take the pictures, and we generally smiled and acted jolly and never gave a hint of the fact that we didn't think this was a good idea.

Fast forward to now - she doesn't come to the shower, she is coming essentially as a "guest" at the wedding and isn't going to be in the family pictures, and is acting like we should be grateful she is showing up at all.

Sorry to vent but I'm really upset at the moment.

At least the lucky bamboo arrived?

Aww mandalinn :hug:

That is a shame. There was some drama at my wedding as well. DH's sister (her BF specifically) and his parents weren't getting along so they did the whole "I'm not coming if so and so is coming" thing. So DH's sister ended up not coming. It was a shame but there had been friction months before but they started the drama stuff about a week or 2 before the wedding.

Oh and about registering. We didn't register. We ended up getting some nice gifts as well as gift cards and money. We basically have everything.

Jeff and I have everything we need right now (since we've been living in our apartment together for a year and a half, and we'll be moving into a townhouse *hopefully* in the fall), but I want new stuff. Like others have mentioned, practucally everything I own is second-hand (or third or fourth) from friends and family. My dishes are so old that the blue design pattern around the edges is rubbed off in most spots. My silverware is an, hmm, eclectic collection of pieces from many many different styles, my crock pot is probably about 20 years old (that nice dark gold colored pot with the fake wood grain brown on the outside), my microwave is one my parents were going to throw away but gave to me when I went to college (7 years ago...)...you get the idea. Everything is functional enough, which is why I haven't replaced them, but I want something NEW and all my very own for once, ya know? :D

I've got quite a while before I get to think about registering for anything, though--I think at the earliest, we'll be tying the knot late spring 2008.

I’m sorry mandalinn, that really is a shame. I hope it doesn’t bring you down too much on your big day. Unfortunately we can’t control how family will react to our choice of partner.

Our wedding will be the first time my family will meet my fiancée’s dad with his partner, I’m really hoping it doesn’t get too awkward. His partner a wonderful and kind man, but being that he’s Iranian, Jewish, and let’s just say flamboyant, he’s kind of “out there” by families white, Catholic, midwestern sensibilities. I’m not sure how/if I should preface the situation before the wedding. What do you say? “By the way, df’s dad is gay, please don’t embarrass me by acting like small-minded bigots”?

Jill – I’m in the same boat with you regarding the registry. I can’t wait to have silverware and china that match! I’ll be making a few trips to Goodwill with donations after the wedding. :D

Aww, Mandalinn, I'm sorry. I hope for the best in your situation.

About registering, we are really saving in order to buy a house. We would prefer money, but there are some things that we need. We have both lived on our own, so we are going to prioritize with some of the things we really want (nice knife set, kitchenaid, matching towels...) then hope when those run out people will give money.


Okay, opinions about a dress, anyone? I am trying to save money wherever I can, and I have been looking at dresses for what feels like a long time, 4 months. I have a pretty good idea of what looks good on my body, and I found one on Ebay that I really like, for only $100. Here comes the big question: It is about a size and a half too small. 4 months to go. Should I chance it? It would require me losing about 2 inches off my bust and 2 inches off my waist. To me that sounds doable, but I don't want to drive myself crazy. What would you do?

Oh, don't chance it. There is enough stress without knowing you have a dress to fit into and you have to lose X amt of pounds. It may cost a little extra money, but the piece of mind is WORTH IT to know you have a dress that needs to be taken in or fits perfectly.

Just agreeing with the ladies here, I wouldn't chance it! Buy a dress that fits and you know you'll feel fabulous in. :)

Update on the mom situation - its all up in the air. She and Sarah talked yesterday and things appear to have calmed slightly, she may not come to the rehearsal dinner if she does the pictures, but Sar made it clear to her how important it was that she be there for the photos, so we're hoping that'll sink in. Everything calmed down a little bit, which is good.

On the negative side, this is how I spent my evening...

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...uckybamboo.jpg

Jilly, you said you might steal the lucky bamboo idea, so here is a pic of how they turned out - we got the stalks (1 straight and 1 spiral per favor) from: http://www.kaptivaimports.com. Total cost for the whole shipment of 100 stalks of each was about $250.00, then the glassware and river rocks at Wal-mart (99 cents for a bag of rocks that is enough to do 3 favors, 99 cents per glassware piece). Total cost per favor was about $4, which we think is reasonable considering its just a touch more than "standard" favors of candy, etc. once you add in packaging, ribbons, monogramming, and what have you and we like it a lot better.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...ckybamboo2.jpg

Okay, thanks for all the input. I will probably listen to reason. :)

Mandalinn, are you done with your honeymoon shopping?

Oops, we posted at the same time mandalinn-

Wow, I really like the bamboo a lot. They look great. I'm sure your guests will be thrilled. How many hours to assemble them?

Oops, I forgot
 

Hehe! I am posting a million times. I thought this was hilarious, and if anyone else has played a Wii, she might think so, too.

http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=...UserId=5696848

mandalinn, those look awesome!! For my small wedding of maybe 50 people (probably less), I'm sure it would be a snap (especially when I recruit my mother and sister to help me put things together ;) ). Definitely worth a slightly higher per-piece cost than candy or something, IMO.

NewDay, I'm not going to torture myself by clicking on that link since we still can't find a Wii around here :p The wii-seeker website doesn't even get updated anymore (not that I can just go hang out in line in front of a store for opening time even if I knew they were getting some since I work at 7am). If I were impatient, I'd pay the $350 going rate on ebay, but I'd rather save my $100 and pay the normal retail price when they're actually more widely available. I keep hoping Jeff's mother will be able to get us one since she lives out in the middle of nowhere.

Well, those little ballerina bows are taking a long time for Sarah to do, but a regular bow on them would work just fine...Sarah is just a perfectionist because its a flower-related item and she is OCD about the flowers. It took me about 3-4 hours total (just one person working) to assemble all 75 of them - which includes unpacking the bamboo, arranging it in the bunches of 2, putting them in the glassware and holding them there while pouring in the rocks to hold them in place, and adding water (plus boxing them up for transport). So not too bad - maybe 25 favors per hour per person, and they are easy to do with no floral arranging experience. Added bonus - apparently two stalks of lucky bamboo symbolizes luck in love, which we did totally on accident but is a nice touch. Sarah's bows, however, take considerably longer - she'll spend probably 6-8 hours or so tying them (although she says she is going to teach me how, which will reduce the time somewhat, but not much as I am -not- crafty. When we were tying ribbon around the invites she got so frustrated that she just did them all herself...heeheehee). Even easier than tying a ribbon bow would be using silver twist-ties to hold the two stalks together, which is how most people do it - you need two twist-ties per arrangement.

We also had them ship us some extra bunches of bamboo, and arranged those into one big arrangement in a $4 glass dish garden container for a nice big buffet table arrangement. I think it will look really nice, and the added cost was minimal because they were already shipping us the bamboo and the container/rocks for it only cost about 8 dollars. We just grouped the bamboo in bunches of 5-6 stalks, tied them together, and put those in the large round container. Not only will it look nice and contemporary on the table, but its a nice arrangement for someone to take home, or in your own home after the ceremony is done - lucky bamboo does really well in bathrooms and other dark spaces because it hates direct sunlight, and its a fairly hard plant to kill.

Honeymoon shopping is done, which is nice...we also have dresses picked for all of the pre-wedding events. We have a couple more items that are shipping and should get here next week, and then we'll be ready to pack everything up. I am a little worried about my rehearsal dinner dress because it is strapless and I've shrunk a bit since I bought it, but hopefully I'll be able to wear it without worrying about wardrobe malfunctions.

I'll have to try to get pictures of the arch my dad is building for us this weekend if he lets me see it - it is quite an endeavor!

Oh, and if any of you have handy dads or dads that build things, we found the cutest father of the bride gift for mine! Just to give you background on my dad, he suggested he wear a tool belt instead of a cummerbund with his tux, because he has to assemble this giant arch that he custom welded. So for his FOB-gift, we bought him...working level cufflinks! On the card we wrote something to the effect of "we would never ask you to wear a tux without at least giving you a new tool to play with".

http://www.cufflinksdepot.com/pc/16L...Cufflinks.html

They have them in all kinds of colors to match many wedding themes, so if any of you have the type of dad more comfortable in a toolbelt than a suit, you might want to check them out.

Hope everyone is doing well and the planning is moving along!

Mandalinn – Those cufflinks are a hoot, I love them! If I had known about those I would have gotten a pair from my brother in law. He’s quite the craftsman, he built the bench that he proposed to my sister on in his woodshop (so sweet!).

I love your bamboo favors, those bows may take some time but they sure do look nice.

I’m going to see my family for the first time since the engagement this weekend. Can’t wait to show off my ring. ;)

Hey all....haven't been able to read everything and I am joining the game a little late, but I am a groom to be in just a little more than 3 months. I've got quite a ways to go in terms of my goal weight for the wedding, but at the same time I am looking at the bigger picture of losing weight for life and not just for the big day.

Anyways, if any of you have some wedding advice or want a man's perspective, I am going to be popping into the discussion if you don't mind.

Ballznpucks! Welcome! I'm trying to focus on the bigger picture too, which is why I'm OK with not being quite at goal for the wedding. I'm in this for life, not to look a certain way on that day (it is a nice bonus, but not what I'm here for).

Give us details on the big day! 3 months is SO SOON, it goes so incredibly quickly (says the girl who has under 2 weeks left).

I realise you all are on page 8 (and now I am as well) but add me to the list :)

While I don't want to lose weight just because I want to look da*m fine on my wedding day, I also don't want to be a chunky bride (and I mean no offense by that, it's just I, *myself* am not comfortable at this weight and I don't want to get married this way either).

We're looking at October 2008. Destination wedding. Just me, my guy and his kids (*my* kids - love them!). Probably Croatia or Greece. No idea yet about anything else! I don't even have my bling yet! :D

Welcome also to Velveteen! There are so many good ideas here being bounced about.