Goodbye to Hoops
November 15th, 2006 @ 11:57 am by Mrs. Kiwi
When I turned 18 I got two things - a tattoo of a ladybug and a navel ring. Almost ten years later, I still love my tattoo and piercing. And while I have two holes in each ear, I usually wear one earring in the bottom holes only. While I couldn’t tell you why I got the belly button ring - other than because I could - I think it’s time to take it out. I’m a mild mannered bookkeeper, my tattoo is hidden from sight, my earrings are Mickey Mouse ears and the belly-button ring is hidden as well (and people all over Los Angeles are thanking me for hiding it!).
After seeing my cousin’s navel ring through her satin bridesmaid dress, I promised myself and future hubby that I would remove my ring before our wedding. A couple of nights ago, I decided what the hell and took it out. It’s not sexy on me anymore, and heck, even I don’t want to see my tubby ass with this piercing.
Still, as I lie awake that night, imagining the hole closing up for good, I panicked. My god, my ring is a security blanket! I need it to feel okay! I thought back to the times I actually notice my ring is there: the times it gets hooked on my jeans button (TOTALLY remember that it’s there when I’m screaming in pain) and when I’m nervous and I fiddle with it. This fiddling is almost like sucking my thumb. Because I have a barbell in there, I circle each bell with my finger (in a figure eight) and it calms me down. After having spent an hour that night talking about the new, piercing-free Miss Kiwi and how grown-up I was, I snuck out of bed and put the ring back in. The shame. The addict went back to her drug.
First Night as Marrieds?
November 14th, 2006 @ 5:56 pm by Mrs. Kiwi
I wonder if the mystery and allure of the “first night together” has gone the way of 8 tracks and pet rocks - the age of excitement over the first time together has passed for a lot of us. In the past, wedding night lingerie consisted of teddys, negligees and silk. It was all about being pleasing to the eye of the new hubby, because this would be the first time he’d see you in all your nude glory- and the women wanted to look good!
Now, more couples are living together before marriage, and most likely than not, sex is a part of that. When Mr. Kiwi and I first started dating, I wore the push up bras, sexy undies and garter belts. But once we began living together though, I started leaning more towards the comfortable cotton and soft jersey materials, letting the lacy and the string-like stay towards the back of my drawer.
I always thought my wedding night would be an extravaganza of silk, satin and lace, but was shocked when I realized I wanted to be comfortable, not pinched by wires and things. Sadly, I plan on wearing a corset so I can squeeze myself some hips, not to be sexy.
I Walk the Line
November 14th, 2006 @ 11:02 am by Mrs. Kiwi
The weddings I’ve attended recently (meaning while I’ve been planning my own) have all been completely different. There was the shotgun pregnant cousin wedding, the semi-formal hotel ballroom wedding, and the odd formal ceremony/uber informal reception wedding. In all three of these, there were no receiving lines.
The shotgun wedding had the bride standing up to thank everyone for coming, and the ballroom wedding had the couple going from table to table. The haphazard informal reception had the bride and groom so drunk they were unable to thank people by the receiving line or table to table. They did thank everyone via microphone, but because the wedding was so poorly planned, (people were freezing on a mountain top, huddling together for warmth) there were many early departures. So I guess I don’t really know if they did a receiving line.
A person on a forum I visit laughed when I asked the question, “Do I do a receiving line, or go from table to table?” Although I thought it was rude to have scoffed at the question because the person who laughed had done both, it made me think: What IS right? Our ceremony venue will most likely be at our reception venue, so it doesn’t make sense to me to have both.
More Things Done, Less Work For Me!
November 13th, 2006 @ 3:15 pm by Mrs. Kiwi
Our wedding is forming, and a few things have been done and some decisions have been made.
I’ll start with the centerpieces: my loving aunt has bought our glass cylinders for the reception tables. Fifteen in all, they are clear with footed bases. We are planning on filling them with candy corn but as of yet, I haven’t decided whether or not to add flowers or candles. I wouldn’t mind doing both, but Mr. Kiwi won’t hear of it. “It’s too confusing” he said. What’s confusing? So that’s one less expense.
The same aunt has also purchased us a guest book and a matching pen, and I’m using a handkerchief from her as my “something borrowed” so I can do this:
My Greatest Fear
November 13th, 2006 @ 11:32 am by Mrs. Kiwi
A lot of brides worry about sane things: will their photographer be available, will they lose enough weight to fit in the one-size-smaller than usual wedding dress, how will they cut down the guest list? I worry about these things, I do. My biggest fear though, is will we have enough people needed to get the ballroom of the venue we have booked?
To get the room, we need 150 people. At first, I thought, “Psssh. No problemo, that’s FI’s side alone.” Then we started going over the guest list and we are barely at 132! After hearing about 20% of your invites are “no”s, and some are no-shows, I’m afraid for us. I’m going to have to start going door to door to solicit friends! 
Still compared to everything else, after the whole “having enough money for the reception,” this is my greatest worry.
What are your fears? Do you ever worry about this, or is it just me?
Musings Regarding Engravings
November 10th, 2006 @ 5:47 pm by Mrs. Kiwi
On my first dance song post, I wrote about the song that’s too sad to dance to at our wedding. Mr Kiwi has since rejected the song, and is tossing around some of his own song ideas. It’s nice to have a fiance who will discard your ideas with some helpful ideas of his own. 
Not sarcasm, I promise. Anyway, I still want to work that Death Cab song into our wedding. See, although it’s a song, and songs come and go in popularity, the words spoken in this song just say so succinctly what I feel for Mr. Kiwi.
Even though our lives are just beginning, I still feel that I have been so blessed for knowing him (and I’m not a religious person). And if it were to all end tomorrow, I would be happy. Now, this isn’t the most upbeat of things to say or feel right now with less than a year to our wedding, but when I hear that song, I feel like something is working out for us. Perhaps that’s why I was so attached to the song - the melody was lovely, but the words could have come out of my own heart.
This has lead me to think about what to engrave in Mr. Kiwi’s wedding band. I’ve always wanted something meaningful, something for the two of us to get. For ahile, it was “I choo choo choose you,” which is a line from a Simpson’s Episode. Another was a slightly embarrassing inside joke, “Look What I can Do!”
Our Monogram
November 10th, 2006 @ 3:01 pm by Mrs. Kiwi
Miss Lime’s post brought to mind our monogram. It’s a lot like a few of hers, but “colorful.” My friend Laura designed it for us, completely unasked! I am so excited because from the very start of our engagement I’ve wanted a monogram - our very own blending of initlals. I’ve tried to make my own, and failed miserably. Why is something like that so hard?
So, in telling Laura about my search to find a decent monogram, she informed me about her idea to get into graphic design. One night I checked my mail and not only did she send a monogram mock up but she also sent an STD mockup! Now, the first monogram was okay, but Mr. Kiwi had a problem with his letter. So, feeling eternally ungrateful, I asked if she could maybe make it the color of the STD , and change the “P.” This is what she sent:
I was so excited I screamed! Mr. K was alarmed and asked me what the hell I was so excited about. I showed him and he said, “Wow, that’s great!!” So, we have a monogram. And I LOVE it. It couldn’t be more perfect. Thanks, AGAIN, Laura!
First Dance, Death Cab?
November 10th, 2006 @ 9:33 am by Mrs. Kiwi
Okay, so we had our first dance allll picked out. It was to be Allison Krauss’ When you Say Nothing at All. Nice song, but not really our song. Our song is another Allison Krauss song called Now That I Found You, but it’s kinda depressing when you see the lyrics have something about leaving. So, moving on. The other day I saw a video on Youtube:
This is by Death Cab for Cutie, and while normally not a fave band of mine, the song just struck a chord with me. No pun intended. When I read the lyrics, I was a little sad. Despite the title, “I Will Follow You into the Dark,” I honestly didn’t realize it was about death. After reading the lyrics more thoroughly, I feel the lyrics are, while a bit morbid, beautiful.
Cake Toppers
November 9th, 2006 @ 4:34 pm by Mrs. Kiwi
Since I was a little girl, I’ve always dreamt about my wedding. The flowing veil, the bouquet of flowers I would carry, my Dad walking me down the aisle… hopefully not saying anything too embarrassing, and of course my cake.
A sugar-holic from day one, I always imagined my cake. But what am I going to use as a cake topper? Coming from a long line of unmarrieds and shotgun weddings, we don’t have much in the way of heirloom wedding items, as much as I’d like to use an antique topper. Two facts remain: 1) I refuse to pay mucho dinero for someone else’s old cake topper, 2) If it’s someone I don’t know, the “something old” tradition doesn’t apply, right?
Whilst “cleaning” out the closet (moving the crap from one closet to another), I found this: (this actual one found on plumparty.com)
Wedding Queen?
November 9th, 2006 @ 11:04 am by Mrs. Kiwi
Do you remember high school? Constantly striving to be in the “cool group” and to be included in all the things you thought were the essential “high school” experiences - prom, football games, going to the mall on weekends with your friends. It was all about competition - who was “cooler.” Now, planning our wedding, I’m finding it hard to get myself into the “cool group” once again.
I am a member of a few wedding forums and blogs. As I peruse the different threads, I am often struck with the fear of how un-cool our wedding is going to be. It seems that on a lot of these popular sites, people have weddings that ours could never compete with - $10,000 dresses? A veil that costs more than my dress? Stuart Weitzman shoes? Invitations that cost upwards of 5 dollars per person with hundreds of guests?
It saddens me to know that high school may be over, but we never stop competing. We will always compare ourselves to others, whether it be our upcoming weddings, our jobs, who had children first, whose children are smarter, which child got into the better school… it never ends.
Mrs. Kiwi, Los Angeles
Age and Occupation in 06: 27, Bookkeeper
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, P.E. Teach/Coach @ private schools in LA
Engagement Date: March 31, 2006
Wedding Date: November 3, 2007
Venue: Radisson Hotel
About Me: I'm a bookkeeper who failed high school algebra. I'm currently living in Los Angeles, literally a street over from where I grew up with Mr. Kiwi, my honey of three years. We have a jumbo mini-dachshund (seriously, he's huuuuge), and we're planning an autumn themed wedding on a shoestring, paid for by ourselves. The wedding date is my late grandma's birthday, I needed her there somehow, and that seemed like the best way for us. I can't believe I'm a Bee! I couldn't be more proud!
