Planning a Big Fat Greek Wedding, Part 1

Stage 1? Panic! Stage 2 - take a deep breath, write a gazillion lists and stay calm. Just less than 18 months to go!! At the moment, I'm looking at wedding stefana as we will be married in the Greek Orthodox church.

Stefana are a crucial part of an Orthodox wedding, as follows:

In a traditional Greek wedding ceremony the bride and groom are crowned with Stefana. Stefana being dual crowns; each crown being linked together with a single length of ribbon symbolising the joining of two souls and the creation of a new household. It is a symbol of combining two people as one. As a married couple they become the king and queen of their household. These crowns represent the signs of wisdom, justice, intregity, glory, honour when the king and queen are crowned. After the wedding the wedding crowns or Stafana are kept in a safe place representing the couple's commitment. Stefana or wedding crowns are intended to be kept for life forming eternal memories for the bride and groom

To me, they represent the most beautiful part of a wedding ceremony, linking man and woman into husband and wife, like a beautiful bond.

When M & I get married, we will not purchase our Stefana, as this will be done by our Koumbara (wedding sponsor). I am a control freak, and usually can't stand the thought of someone buying something for me if

Back in my parents day, Stefana looked very 1980's. My grandparents would have used something basic, white and beautiful. My great grandparents (although I have never seen a picture) would have worn Stefana that would have been very basic, functional and plain. But this does not take away from the symbolism.

Here are what they look like, and what I like, but this is for "research purposes".










My precious!!




Beautiful!
 



Old school as!


Basic, but gorgeous!

I should make this a series! Weddings are an interesting thing to plan while renovating...

My Mia arrived!

My Clarisonic Mia 2 arrived today while I was at work. I ordered last Sunday, a day before a public holiday (Saturday in the US). It arrived today! It came to my desk via a colleague, I was so stoked to see it!

It's smaller and prettier than I expected. I was bummed to see "International Charger" means American only...

On the plus side, free samples! A Clarisonic face wash sample and some moisturiser from the company that sells the Mia 2.

Here are the pics of me opening it (or packing it up, if the photos are shown in reverse!). Will edit with a review when I get a travel adapter tomorrow.

 
EDIT: I have used it, with the remaining battery life (I was never one for instruction manuals!). My skin feels amazing! I got a bit of reddening, but that's expected with my sensitive skin and all. I used the Clinique Liquid Facial Soap, and while not applying liberally enough, I think it was a good amount for my skin.

Using it was super easy. It gives a buzz every 10 seconds, which is good as the manual tells you to focus for 20 seconds on your forehead, 20 on your chin and 10 seconds on each cheek. My skin looked and felt clearer straight after using it. Then I realised I'd forgotten my nose. My nose with the huge pores and black heads - gross! So I thought I'd use the second setting. WOW! While it didn't remove all the blackheads, it did such a good job! I finished off by patting my skin semi-dry, using my Clarifying Moisture Lotion 2 and finishing with Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion. It glided onto my skin sooo smoothly, it was almost like silk.

Colour me converted!

Clarisonic Mia 2

After reading how my favourite bloggers (and the Internet in general) were falling in love with the Clarisonic Mia, I thought, wow my skin isn't in the best shape. I do have a Clinique 3 step, and love it. I have considered peels or microdermabrasion, but with sensitive skin, I don't want to chanve inflammation and red, raw angry skin.

So, off I went, researching prices (and colours!!). Started off with the usual Aussie sites. Til I realised I would pay $149 no matter where I shopped. One department store offered the colour I wanted, but I don't appreciate feeling pressured into buying something at only one retailer.

Then I googled it. OMG! 10 colours to choose from, including 1 in animal print? So instead of a choice of 3, the internet is spoiling me! And it was US$119... Wait a minute. That's cheaper than here. You know why? The Clarisonic Mia 2 has just been released for US$149.

So, I visited an Australian department store, to which I had some gift vouchers. I went to one of their bigger stores. And there was nothing. How disappointing? Why would I then buy it on their online store and pay $10 for postage. I sat on it a bit longer, until this morning. I found a site in the US, which gave me $20, then $20 for shipping. This will now cost me $139 for the Clarisonic Mia 2 in Island Coral (yay!) with postage to Australia. I am so stoked! Now that I've ordered on a Sunday, I have to wait for it, but I am happy to do so, for a bargain! Will post more when I receive it!!!

Now if only I could get this excited over dieting...

Self Esteem

This week I've been feeling really crummy.

I've been taking Vitamin D, and thought it was something that would be like a miracle cure. It was great in the first fortnight of taking it was great, but I feel it leeching out of me and I've been feeling depressed. To the point of stopping myself from crying at work, multiple times. This is bad, people! I've only ever felt like this once before, and it's when my extended family fell apart. And I was hiding in a toilet!

So I hit the usual suspects; Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Everyone is posting things that made me feel really shitty, and I hated it. 2 people in particular with their money spending ways. I used to be a spendthrift, and I've had to cut down on my spending since I've bought my unit. Which is THE best money I've ever spent, mind you!

But lusting after pretty, sparkly things got me down. Until I realised, 2 days later...

IT'S A SELF ESTEEM THING!!

Now, I'm a bit up myself, and I think people must think I have tickets on myself. I do, sometimes ;) but these girls have so little self esteem, they're taking to social networking to VALIDATE THEMSELVES! Oh my God, once it hit, thanks to my colleagues, I felt so relieved!

Anyway, back to me thinking about how awesome I am! Cause I AM!

Laters