how could i forget?!

we booked our honeymoon!!!!
ok, well, not the WHOLE thing...
but we've put our deposit down on the cruise and have payed for our hotel!

ok, here's the plan...
we definitely wanted to go on a cruise, but with the way the one we wanted to go on was set up, there was no way we were going to make it in time to get down there in order to catch the cruise unless we didn't go to sleep on saturday night and left at like 2 or 3 in the morning. i'm sorry. it doesn't work that way, people! i wanted to be able to get up, and just get down there whenever we wanted to... well, unfortunately, the people who set up flights did NOT like that idea. come on, people, it's our honeymoon...everyone should be at our beck and call. ok, maybe not ;)

anyways, here's a bit of a backstory for you -
when i was 13, i went to disney for my first and only time. when we were walking through the streets, there was a couple where the man had on a black top hat with mickey ears and the woman had on white minnie ears with a veil. ever since then (no joke!), i've wanted to honeymoon at disney. cheesy, i know. but it's the truth...

ok, back to now...
since we didn't want to be rushed the sunday after the wedding, we've decided to drive down to orlando on sunday - i tried to convince tom to only drive halfway, but he has insisted that he wants to go the whole way on sunday. but that way we don't really have a specific timeline - just to be there on sunday at some point! :) we are staying at the omni hotel - it's awesome! with a 850-ft lazy river!! i know what i'll be doing after hitting up the parks...relaxing on that river!

so we are going to stay there for 7 nights - hitting up disneyworld & seaworld (tom has never been to seaworld!!!!) and doing whatever the heck we want to until the next sunday.

and then...we are going on the cruise that we wanted to go on in the beginning. leaving out of port canaveral in orlando and heading to the bahamas for 4 more days of awesomeness!!! :)

i'm so excited about it! i know it'll most likely be the last 2-wk vacation we'll get to go on for a while, so i'm hoping it'll get here soon...even though i have a TON of stuff to do before then!

hopefully i'll have a chance to share my new years resolutions tomorrow...
whoohoo for 2010!!

still slacking!

what is wrong with me?!
maybe the holidays have brainwashed me to forget about the blog for days on end...
new years resolution: keep up with blog + 3 other resolutions that i have determined to take on.

there's nothing really new on the wedding planning front, but it's been a couple of weeks, so here are a couple of updates about life in general:

• many many christmas parties - ok maybe only 3. ha!


• 2nd annual wrapping party @ laing's last friday - pizza, wrapping, caramel popcorn, and snl's gilly christmas - fun times were definitely had by all


• we had the dc girls christmas party sunday over at keri's house which was awesomely decorated as always - she is one of the neatest girls that i know and so creative with everything! i got some fabulous ornaments to hang on my tree next year! AND keri was so nice to let us have one of her extra christmas trees for FREE!! i was definitely excited about this...we were planning a trip to find the cheapest tree on the day after christmas, but now i can probably go solo and find ornaments/decorations that day. ;)


• yesterday, i went to chuy's with savannah, and let me just say that i really don't quite understand why everyone hype's it up SO much, but it was really good. best part? the queso dip - i think we are going to start a love affair. sorry, thomas. ;)


• and last night, i had my first (but definitely not last) experience at sips n strokes and it was definitely a lot of fun...the painting was relatively simple, so i would like to go when there's a little bit more difficulty involoved, but i LOVED the way mine turned out! it's definitely one more decoration that we can hang up for christmas next year!

and now for upcoming events:

• tonight is christmas with my immediate family
• tomorrow is christmas with tom's immediate family
• thursday is christmas eve with my extended fam
• friday is christmas with everyone!
• saturday is shopping til i drop because i NEVER get the day after off - yay saturday!

so all in all, it's going to be a busy couple of days, but i promise that i'll keep it up soon. plus, after the first of the year, i've really got to buckle down and get some of these wedding projects done + dress shopping + planning everything else! oh lord! there's only 291 days left!! ;)

wow. i'm slacking...

ok, so i've been slacking a little bit lately...
maybe it's the non-wedding planning that i've been doing...hmm.
i've replaced it with christmas shopping for the time being, but now i'm done! whoohoo! i'm not sure that i've ever gotten done this early before - but now i have to wrap everything.
anyone want to volunteer to help?

so - in wedding news:

• we have a place to stay the night before the wedding - and when i say we, i mean all of the bridesmaids, groomsmen, and some of our amazing friends, along with us of course! :) we rented 2 of the brand new renovated villas at montgomery bell - they are really really nice! check out the pics online! Montgomery Bell Villas
• i received our return address stamp fm the fabulous gina over on etsy.com! it looks great, and she totally customized it the way i wanted it...i'd totally recommend ordering fm her if you like any of her designs! i KNOW that once we get a place of our own, i'll be getting another one! check her shop out - lettergirl on etsy
• 2 days ago - on groupon.com - i got an amazing deal (thanks, laing!) for a hour session and a 30-pic cd that we can do whatever we want with for $65 for our engagement pics sometime next year. and the photographer takes amazing pics! definitely excited about that one! it's a package worth $650 - so we are totally saving money there!

i think that's about it - and i promise, once the holidays are over, i am hardcore saving and will be in wedding mode! but it's all starting to come together... :)

black friday...

...they should really call it red or pink or blue friday.

today, laing and i got out in the madness, not really to fight the crowds, but because tom went in at 5:30 this morning, and i didn't really feel like going to dickson just yet this morning when i left his parents' house.

shockingly (and pleasantly), the crowds were really NOT that bad! seriously!
pretty decent parking spots, great company, and saving $$$...fun times!
i haven't gotten back out on black friday since i quit working retail, and i still feel sorry for all the folks having to get up at the crack of dawn to serve the crazies that come out, but as far as the shopping goes, it was actually quite fun. AND...i got most of my christmas shopping done! yay! and i might have gotten a couple (or ten) things for myself. ha!

i was (hopefully) able to get all of the christmas lights for the wedding reception that i need too fm home depot today, so some of this is about wedding planning! ;)

i also bought our first ornament for our tree next year!! :)

happy holidays, everyone!
hope everyone had a great thanksgiving!

new section...

ok, for the record, i am a nerd. a big one.
so i decided that i wanted to keep track of all of the books that i read fm now until, well, who knows. so i've added a section on the blog where i can keep up with it :)
i have a feeling that it'll be pretty sparce this year with the wedding and everything, but it's still something i've been wanting to do for a long time!

i know, i know...

i'm being lazy when it comes to the wedding planning...
hoping to get on the ball after thursday.

so, just give me ONE MORE WEEK, and then i'm back...i PROMISE! :)

lucky...

so i realized this week/weekend how lucky i actually am...
i have the greatest fiance that a girl could ask for. do i take him for granted? yes, way more than i should...tom, if you end up reading this, know that i love you with all of my heart and i really truly can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. our 2 year anniversary is tomorrow, and to just imagine that someone could put up with me for that long (and beyond) is a mind bender!

second, i have the most diverse yet greatest group of friends EVER. friday i spent all day with some of my best friends up at christmas village in nashville followed by lunch at cheesecake factory and other random errands downtown. we had the greatest time! i had such a blast just spending time with them! :) and saturday we spent the evening in cookeville with jen & ryan doing dinner and a movie and it was a riot! i'm so glad that we met them at abigail's wedding! i'm not sure i quit laughing the entire time unless it was during that horendous movie - the box!

i haven't really done any wedding planning the past couple of days, so i have nothing more to include on that front. but more to come soon...or let's hope so! ahh!

so for the moment i continue to watch a bridezilla marathon while thinkin if tom shoves cake in my face at our reception, i might be a widow before we leave the park...ha! ;)

envelopes...

i got my envelopes in the mail...

see previous post if you need to but i know that it's a little early, but when you're hit with a good idea and you have MY memory...jump on it! so after laing found them online for me (thanks - LOVE YOU!) i ordered them a couple of days later and received them today. they are absolutely PERFECT...need me to say it again? P-E-R-F-E-C-T!! they match the darker yellow color on the invites perfectly! so now i have 500 envelopes sitting in the extra room dying to be used soon. :) (just to clarify, 250 for invites/extra and 250 for rsvps/extra - we are not having 500 people at our wedding!)

just a quick update...now to finish top chef and off to bed.

PS - i really want to see pirate radio when it comes out in a theatre near me. random though for the day. ;)

accomplishments...

so here's what i've accomplished this week:

• made awesome pecan pancakes! another item to add to my (very short!) list of cooking successes
• i now KNOW that i can survive without my phone for about 3 days. but no more than that!
  
• REcut 1/2 of my invitations...to make them bigger and they look awesome. i like them so much more than the others
• ordered my sunflower yellow envelopes (i know it's still early...but might as well do it now if i'm going to have to do it later, right?)
• realized how funny 'modern family' is...i've watched all the reruns online. LOVE IT!
• reconnected with some old DCHS crew at abigail's wedding which was an absolute blast...so beautiful! :)
• hopefully found the place where the rehearsal dinner will be held
• looked at silverware that's on clearance at macy's for our first shower gift
• realized how good my future husband looks in a sportcoat...
• i think that tom has convinced me that MAYBE i do need dance lessons due to the fact that he tried to spin me in the parking lot and i almost ate pavement.

it's been a pretty random eventful week!

new week, new post...

ok, so it's wednesday, and i just realized that i haven't posted anything for a week...
i apologize, my friends...fm my previous post you can probably tell that i've been crazy busy lately!

halloween was chaotic but all in all the entire thing was a pretty big success! there was just SO many people and not enough people to wrangle the crowds! but you live and learn and hopefully next year will be WAY more organized! :) i had a great time spending time with jackie, beckie, and rachel along with some of the old park crew fm my days of working there...

so any progress in the past 7 days?
actually, YES!

i was able to cut all of the invitations on sunday night...nothing like some quiet time along with season 1 of desparate housewives and an industrial cutter to get the job done. i was done in about an hour and a half. so once the invites are done, we'll move on to the rsvp cards and the map/directions cards - but, for now, i'm happy that the invites are cut...

along with cutting ALL the invites, i've printed the wording on about 50-ish of them. and i must admit they look pretty darn good. i actually painted up one and brought it to work today to show some of my work bff's and gather some opinions - all postive! whoohoo! tom and his parents really liked it too, so that's always good!

one other thing accomplished was that i figured out/estimated the size of the tables in the dining hall at the park. 5' x 4.5' - so i've been thinking about making my own tablecloths (thanks, laing!) so i've got to go check out joann's with my 50% coupons that i get in my email every couple of days and see what i can figure out!

other than that, i've just been trying to keep up with work...it's been a little stressful the past couple of days and will just continue to get worse until march or april probably. fun fun.

until next time. :)

blank...

as in - wedding planning. my mind is blanking out on any wedding planning currently. i think it'll get back into the routine as soon as halloween is over. the past couple of weeks have been absolute chaos, and i'm not really sure why. i guess it's just hard to live an hour fm just about (not all!) everything that you consider familiar - friends, fiancee, places you like to frequent.

so when i get a chance to catch up with any of my friends that i haven't seen in forever, i'm game! so the past couple of weeks (since last monday) have included: (warning! lots of unhealthy food involved...not good!)

• skipping carpool many days,
• dinner at applebees one night catching up on the past year (we canNOT wait that long next time, laura!),
• dinner with fabulous fruit tea and desserts with the future in-laws,
• ordering a david's bridal dress for engagement pics (i know, i know - way too early! but i LOVE the dress!!) picture, anyone? granted the one they had at the store was WAY too big, but this is a picture of it (it's better than the pic i took of the dress in the magazine!)

• dinner at logan's with one of my friends who is also a fellow engage-ee (i'm going to be one of her bridesmaids!!) discussing wedding plans
• dinner at capt d's with my park bff jackie to discuss halloween plans and then went to see vampire's assistant (totally recommend it!) and then for pumpkin lattes afterward (if you don't like coffee, i do NOT recommend)
• hanging with thomas just doing nothing and absolutely loving it
• seeing a real life bayonet that should have been used during wwII
• purchasing stuff to create a homemade halloween 'witch' costume
• slumber party at my MOH's house just hanging out and eating homemade pizza! yum!
• eating lunch yesterday with an old old navy friend and her new hubby at crack baby
• dinner tonight with one of tom's greatest friends and his wife
• dinner and a little shopping with my newfound friend (she was tom's friend first) natalia! :)
• treat day at work on thursday - must remember COOKIES!!
• halloween at the group camp setup on friday after work
• saturday - HALLOWEEN at montgomery bell!! it's free! bring everyone...starts at 6 o'clock!

so, hopefully after ALL of this, things will be semi-back to normal and i can resume wedding planning! and not running myself ragged! :) but i'm so blessed to have such great friends that i can keep up with - granted it's not usually on a very normal basis - but that's what makes it so much fun!

so, hopefully after reading all of this, you'll understand why i haven't been posting EVERYday! ;)

halloween

ok, so ready for a post that is non-wedding related?
yeah, me neither...haha!

but it must be done! for the past couple of days i haven't really done any more wedding planning-ish stuff, so other things must be discussed! i'm sitting here listening to the wedding singer soundtrack thinking about wedding songs, but should be worrying about other things.
journey 'don't stop believin' or quietdrive 'time after time'? opinions?

this saturday, for halloween, i'm helping my great friend jackie at montgomery bell with her witch house that all of the community is invited. i know there are going to be a lot of the cabins decorated as haunted houses, and also stuff for the smaller ones as well. :) should be a LOT of fun! we did it a couple of years ago, and it was definitely a blast.

i love it when others dress up for halloween, but i, myself, can never seem to come up with anything quite creative enough! as crafty as i am, you would think that i could pull something off. i've NEVER been able to do this... maybe it was fm growing up always spending halloween at our church and dressing up as either a hobo or a cat every year because that's what my mom could do with her eyeliner...who knows. you would think as crafty as i am, i could! jeez! one year, i will...i promise...maybe. haha!

353 days...

...aka WAY TOO LONG!

anyways, back to the subject at hand:
many of my friends, recent and older, have gotten married in the past and as i watch them grow in their relationships with their husbands/wives, it makes me realize how much i can't wait for a year to go by!

i'm not stressed or worried about it even because i know they we have a place ready to go and that my pastor will be there, so as long as we can get ahold of a marriage certificate, we're good to go! :) although i really want all of our my family and friends there, of course! i just can't wait to start our life together...tom, i hope you're reading this!

it's really hard to only see each other on saturdays and sundays and on rare occasions we get to eat dinner together during the week. i can't wait until we have our own place where i can just look forward to coming home and just being. right now, without the wedding planning involved, i come home and try to plan out a schedule so that i get to catch up with my nearest and dearest friends, see tom on a semi-regular basis, and still make time to keep up with laundry...OH, how i abhor laundry! and the higher the pile goes, the more i don't want to do it. and after going, going, going all day, i just don't want to do it.

anyways, back to the point, i keep looking to that day where we get to just come home to each other on a daily basis instead of jumping through hoops to try and see each other. i greatly admire those who have long distance relationships and make them work! i live 40 miles fm tom, and sometimes it feels like a different world.

ok, off my soapbox for the evening...it's time to finish watching top chef and go to bed!!
by the way, i <3 tom colicchio!
(so i leave you with a picture of my favorite judge EVER)

the wishing wall!

don't you just love it?! i do!!

it's definitely something i can say that i've never seen at a wedding!

yet again, let me say that i <3 uncommongoods.com - they have the neatest stuff!

one, two, three, BREAK!

ok, so i'm going to try my hardest to take a break fm all of the crazy wedding planning madness long enough to enjoy my weekend! :) tom is planning on coming down on saturday where eating somewhere really good and potentially watching a couple of movies (one of them being one of my absolute favs - the usual suspects!) but that means we still have tonight and tomorrow to get some stuff accomplished, right? yeah...so i might just take a break tonight too. ;)

sara (my moh and sister) and i are ordering pizza and watching thursday night tv - which is my favorite night to watch. it kind of stresses me out because there's SO much to see. ha! fringe, flashforward, the office, grey's, private practice, csi...good lord, there's way too much. the dvr at our house even gets stressed out!

speaking of tv and the office, even if you are NOT a fan, you should watch jim and pam's wedding. i haven't seen it more than once, but i really want to. it was GREAT!! so much better than i expected and such a throwback to the comedy of the way the show used to be. watch it!! i even got tom to watch it and he admitted that it was cute...

ok, i promise i will post pictures of the massive wishing wall soon! maybe even in a little bit.

OH!! totally forgot, i did have a convo with an etsy seller for a customized guestbook. it's really really cute. and i need to post that too...ok you twisted my arm :) it'll most likely be a dark grey cover and have grey and yellow accents throughout the book - i love that you can put pics in it as well!
opinions?

ok, well the pizza's here, so i'm off to eat then watch tv!
until tomorrow!! :)

so excited!!

for two (main) reasons...

1) my wishing wall is at my front door! already! i can't wait to rip open the box and see what it looks like. i might even take pictures of it to put up here! :)

2) my homemade invites. they're going to work!!!!!! i printed out a rough draft of the wording to see if they would fit in with my pattern, and it looks so good (if i do say so myself). i've got to find some cool fonts to use, but overall it's going to be awesome. i can't decide if i want to post a picture or just keep it a suprise, but i know everyone will love them. or even if they don't, i do (and tom and our parents and my friends that i've shown it to), and that's what matters! :) now i'm just anxious to get it right and get to work...any volunteers to help? ha! we have 180ish invites, rsvps, and programs to work on...whoohoo! <---- THIS is why we are starting now. it really means a lot to be able to put my crafty-ish-ness to work and be able to do something special (+15 other projects...haha!) that everyone will be able to see/keep.

i just want to say that i love my friends and family for dealing with my picture sending madness the past couple of days...especially my BM's because they will have to put up with about 11.5 months more of it! :)

third time's the charm?

ok, so here's the latest result of operation stencil:

i LOVE it!

i just hope i can recreate it about 200 more times perfectly...

it took me 3 tries to get it to look like this. i didn't really realize that acrylic paint had a lot of water in it. so i have to remember to use the paint very sparingly. but with this being the end result, i think i can handle it...

other opinions?

oh, and i ordered the wishing wall today!!! and it's already been shipped!

i <3 uncommongoods.com

operation stencil continues...

ok, so i wasn't really all that happy with the outcome of the stencil that i made the other day. yes, it took me forever, but i really don't like it enough to take the time to include it on 200ish invitations. so the search continued...

well i found another idea that i really liked and decided to try (actually i found 2, but one turned out to be an epic failure). as soon as i completed cutting it out and then used the only ink that i had bought that i actually liked - the way it went on the brush not the actual color (the pepto bismo pink), abra cadabra, i was in LOVE with it...

so what do you think?

of course the colors will be different, and i'm trying those out tonight - tom took me out to lunch and like the fabulous fiancee he is, drove me over to michaels to check out the colors. side note: let me just say that i love him so much, and even though i know he doesn't really like all of these wedding decision-making issues that i put him through, so far he has persevered and hopes to continue to. ha! ok, back to the issues at hand: i found some fabulous yellows that i'm hoping to try out tonight and post a picture tomorrow of what it should actually look like. in my head it looks absolutely fabulous, but usually when that happens, it doesn't work out so well in real life...

more to come, fo sho! :)

progress!

hello, blog world...i'm back!
so i haven't really had much of a chance to post anything this week...usually this happens at work, but this week has been awfully crazy, but guess what?! training is OVER!! anyone who knows me knows that i've gone through 5 weeks of training at work for a new job, but now it's OVER! yess! i cannot tell you about my excitement... some of my dearest friends heard me exclaim it pretty loud over dinner though as we went out to celebrate two things: a) training being over and (more importantly) b) it was tom and my's -1 wedding anniversary (silly, i know, but i got him a card and a kit-kat anyways!) i can't wait til this time next year...the leaves look awesome outside. the weather was not so great yesterday, but i guess that's ok...here's to hoping it'll be beautiful next year!

so, as far as wedding plans go:
-i've finished the stencil...here is the finished product of the actual cutout:

-here's the test run of the stamp. i really like it, but i hate the stamp ink that i bought. i think i'm actually going to try paint this time...we'll see. i'm going to go to michael's on monday and try something new...hello, coupons! what do you think? i really really need opinions...

-my wishing wall that i was going to order this week (see below if you haven't seen the post on it yet) is on backorder...along with my t-shirt scarf that i wanted. nooooooooo! :(
-we decided we're going to have the rehearsal at 4:30 friday evening...that's a step in the right direction too, right?
-there are a couple other things that are a current work in progress...

the official countdown has now begun... :)

invite update...

i'm going to go check out michaels in the morning to see what i can find in terms of stencils and ink and get some price ideas...

i'm thinking some kind of flower (zinnas, maybe?) and some sort of monogram for the envelope.

will definitely post what i find.
maybe even pictures! ;)

invitation ideas...

so far this blog has been just a place to bounce ideas around. i have a lot going on in my head, and i talk about them frequently, but if i don't write them down somewhere, they'll be forgotten faster than i can remember what i was even thinking about. and since i type MUCH faster than i write...well, ya know. :)

so we went to christmas cottage this weekend, and i ran across a booth that this one lady had with stencils. ok, let me back up. i always liked the thought of maybe creating my own invitations (yes, i know...VERY time consuming) using some kind of stamp. well, i just don't want them to look cheap if the ink isn't correctly balanced or i can't get them correctly centered - stupid stuff like that makes me nervous. ha! anyways, this really nice woman had these stencils, using the same ink that you would for a stamp. any color, of course. and with this stencil she took a paintbrush, dabbed it on the ink pad, and then filled in the stencil. they were so cute!! i'm thinking about giving it a try. i know that i could get the ink fm michaels or somewhere of the sort, and i could potentially order the stencils online if they don't have those too. it's worth a try, right? i guess i'd better get started now if that's what i want to do because goodness knows how long it will actually take to get them done, but also how much money i could save in the process. which with the budget we're trying to be on then any money saved is a good thing! even just to do a monogram or a heart on the envelope would be cute, i think. we will see! more to come when i actually put some of these ideas into practice...

on another note, i had a absolutely fabulous, well needed weekend. first, i found out one of my dickson girls is pregnant, so congrats!!! and it was great getting to hang out with my dc ladies friday night. long overdue and tons of fun. and then last night tom took me out to dinner at the fabulous mere bulles in brentwood. it was so nice to just get out and enjoy being together. we definitely don't get to do that often enough with full-time jobs, carpools, opposite schedules, and busy lives. today has involved lots of wedding contemplations, episodes of the first season of fringe with my sister, and just enjoying life.

to do:
-get MORE supplies for stenciling project
-cut tissue paper sometime soon for test project
-find cheap yellow plates to make stepping stones for the ceremony (anyone have any they want to get rid of?)
-figure out a list of stuff i need to start working on!

until next time.

owd - operation wedding dress

so a lot of my friends have already heard me talk about owd, and some of you have not. operation wedding dress (owd for short) was contrived one evening when i realized that there were just not enough hours in the day to get everything done that needed to be done, including working out in order to fit into a gorgeous white dress that will make everyone ooo and ahh.

and since i'm living at home until we get married, it's hard to work around everyone's schedule to be able to walk on our treadmill which was at the time housed upstairs above my sister's room. every saturday morning i would walk around 9 am, and, man, i would hear about it when she finally woke up about 2 pm about how i woke her up... now trying to be the peacemaker in the household (i'm sure mom and sara will laugh at that) i decided to beg, plead, cry, negotiate, and manipulate (just kidding to 3 out of 5 of those) to get them to let me move the treadmill downstairs to our den. in the den, i was pretty sure that i would disturb no one while walking at any hour of the day. once they gave in, and my dad and i hoisted the humongous thing down the stairs and in the den - operation wedding dress was born!

i've decided to get up every morning (ok, maybe not EVERY morning) at 5 am, walk for an hour (while watching previously taped programming since nothing but saved by the bell episodes that i've honestly seen about 200 times each is on - thank you, dvr), cool off for a few minutes, take a shower and get ready for work, and then carpool my happy little butt to work. i LOVE the fact that when i get home in the evenings, i dont' have to worry about walking another mile or feeling bad for not doing anything because i have!

some days i have a hard time getting myself up in the morning, but with the help of my fabulous fiancee (who i call EVERYDAY at 5 am in order to wake him up for work), he helps to motivate me out of the bed that early. i'm still working on making it a daily habit, but i'm going to try as hard as i can between now and march (when i am finally going to allow myself to be able to browse and try on wedding dresses)

cute ideas?

so i've got a couple of ideas i'm pondering...

one, i found this thing on uncommongoods.com (or actually fm the catalog that i received in the mail) called a wishing wall. it's a framed-type cardboard thing that people write their wishes on little colored pieces of paper, roll them up, and then put them in little sections throughout this 'wall'. i wouldn't really want to do this in lieu of a guestbook like some of the reviews suggested that they've done, but in addition to, i guess... here's what it looks like.

i think it's a cool idea, and it's something that we can keep for forever - or at least until our house gets flooded and the cardboard is ruined! ha! someone even suggested covering the frame in a fabric that you like to make it even more awesome...

next, is that instead of a dj/band that we will spend a ton of money on that we cannot really afford - and i'm not even sure that our guests will utilize (our friends - yes, our families - who knows) - i think we're going to rent a digital jukebox that we can choose up to 70 songs (including the first dance, father/daughter dance, etc) of our choice and then there will be 100 or so others. it's actually really affordable, it comes with speakers, will sit on a tabletop, and is touchscreen! so all of our friends/families can pick the songs that they want to hear/dance to! :)

i've got plenty other crazy ideas running around in this head of mine, and hopefully eventually will have time to get them down. so we'll soon see...

we're almost to the one year mark!! :)

step uno - place/date

ok, first big step?
well, minus the whole getting engaged thing…
CHECK!

i sent off our deposit for the wedding/reception site today!
shocked? me too!!

we’re going to be having it at montgomery bell state park - group camp on:

October 9, 2010.

exact time to be determined later.

mark it down or just remember to figure it out later when the calendars for 2010 actually come out!

many more details to come later!!

where to begin.

hello, fellow internet users:

i have no idea where to begin this thing... i knew that i wanted to put a lot of my thoughts down somewhere, so where else...a BLOG! yeah yeah, i know. it's the cliche thing to do these days, but it's so much faster to type than to write all of these things out.

so, here i am, engaged and feeling underage. i feel like i've been spending all my life looking for 'the one' along with every other girl alive. now that i've found him, it's strange to think that i'll become a wife in a little over a year. VERY strange! i know nothing about planning a wedding, cooking, ironing, or any other 'wifely' duties that most (ok, maybe not most) know going into a marriage. i know that there are many out there like me, but still feel alone sometimes when i hear about my friends constantly cooking dinner for their husbands or taking care of children. am i really cut out for this? as long as tom understands that i'm not perfect and life will not be like that, then we're good, right? let's hope so... what matters is he loves me!

so join me on my journey - as i travel through engagement and beyond...