Food for Thought

Your best friend is getting married....you're a bridesmaid...and she asks you to wear this...

what would you say??

This is cute though...

Very warm and fuzzy for a fall wedding :)

Spring

So I know I don't post as often as I used to, things have just been so busy with school and wedding planning and life in general. I work, I do homework, I sleep, I try to squeeze in phone calls here and there for wedding related things, send out some emails, check my wedding blogs every now and then when I get a chance.

I saw this flower arrangement by The Vines Leaf and fell in love. How pretty is this? You can't help but being in a good mood when you see the pretty colors and beauitful arrangement. Makes me want to become a florist...after I become a photographer...someday I'll get to just look at pretty things all day long :) for now, I can dream...

i heart etsy

So I think I get on Etsy everyday. I'm obsessed. I just love looking and checking out everyone's crafts!

Check out this adorable sign:

How cute would that be outside of the reception?

I also have a weird obsession with necklaces with flowers on them. Is that normal? Maybe it's just me...

and isn't this a cute idea?

I love etsy. I may or may not end up spending a fortune on etsy by the time this wedding is over and done with. But I love that people can be so crafy and come up with such cute ideas. Mostly because I'm not crafy and creative probably. But I love looking at stuff and coming up with cute ideas! :)

Home decorating?

Tom and I moving in together has made me want to start decorating. We have a lot of restrictions. We are renting a house right now...mostly because by the time Tom's roommate moved out and I moved in, we were thinking we had less than 2 years in Florida before we got moved to who-knows-where. So while it's a buyers market right now, we couldn't really consider buying a house with such a short amount of time left and dealing with the stress and then just turning around and selling it so soon after. Way too much. It wasn't even an option. haha Maybe next move we'll look at buying, especially if the housing market is still like it is today.

Anyway, so we rent a lovely 3 bedroom home, which before I had lived there, had had many guys moving in and out and every which way. There was so much furniture just sitting in the back porch, making it unusable. Tom had nailed a towel to a window where a lot of sunlight came through rather than putting up a shade. It was bad. Smelled bad, looked bad...just bad haha

Then I came along and the place looks completely different! We added some pictures, moved the furniture around, cleaned up the video games that were laying around everywhere, got rid of the moldy disgusting furniture just sitting on the back screened in porch. We actually got a table to put out there so we can have people over. I put the drums away, moved the bikes out of the bedroom. You get the point...there was a lot that needed to be done. And there are SO MANY changes I want to make, but when it comes down to it, we're renting, it's not worth putting money into the house when it's not ours and we can't take the changes with us. It's killing me. I want a light and fan on the back porch to brighten it up and get some air moving so it's cooler in the summertime. We bought a few tall lamps that we put out there when we have dinner or something out there, so it helps but still...not what I want. We put up some cheap blinds in the living room to get rid of the towel, but I still want to put up more window treatments. Really badly actually. But I keep telling myself it's not worth the money when we're moving...but really...we can take the poles and curtains with us right? So I'm starting to look at pictures, prices, stores and really considering putting some curtanis up in the living room and our bedroom. I think it would make the whole place look so much "homier"! So when Tom leaves for the longest TDY in eternity (ok just a month or so, but still) my project to keep me entertained while he's gone is going to be windows!

Tom leaves next month so I've been thinking about ideas and looking at pictures and getting excited to have a project and a big surprise when he comes home! (he knows I'm doing this, just I think part of him thinks I won't do it and he doesn't know what I'll pick out so he just has to hope he likes it! haha) So here are 2 pics of the living room. There are 3 windows in here that we put blinds up in but I really want curtains to add somethign more to the room.

The bedroom blind is practically see through and we have a high fence so our neighbors behind us would pretty much have to be right up against the fence looking through the holes to see us changing, but I think it'd make the bedroom look a bit prettier with curtains. There's also a dining room with a big window that has no blinds, absolutely nothing on it. It goes out to the screened in back porch so it doesn't get a lot of light through it, but again, just to add some decoration, I think I want to put something up there too.

 So any ideas? Words of wisdom? We'll probably stick with pretty neutral colors, no dramatic changes, but anyone who has good ideas in dressing up a house please let me know!

199 days

Things have been crazy at work. Crazy making plans. Tom's job has been crazy. and every second we think we have a free minute or a free evening it quickly books up.

Last week we started the week just dying of excitement for a weekend with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO! that might not be much for you, but after all our visitors and craziness lately, we were pretty excited just to relax, clean up the house, and spend some time together. Well by Monday we remembered on Friday night we had a promotion party. Then our friend asked us to go to Pensacola and do the McGuire's St. Patrick's Day 5k Saturday morning. We did the race last year and had a lot of fun so we signed up and agreed to do it! (Note...this friend...cough cough...later bailed haha but we had fun ourselves running and drinking some irish wakes at the end). Well so Saturday morning...we still had the rest of the weekend to relax right? Then my friend decided to have her birthday party on Saturday night. She made it Talladega night themed...so obviously we couldn't miss that. 

So Friday night, we went to the party, Saturday morning we woke up early and drove to Pensacola for the race. Then we ran some errands in Pensacola and went home. We had to dress appropriately for the party so we went to Wal-mart before the party to get some nascar gear :) No joke...I got Tom to wear a flannel plaid shirt and a nascar hat. It was great! I rocked some cut off shorts and a kind of country top, so we made quite the pair! I wish we had pictures but sadly, we didn't take any :( I know. I stink! Then the friend who bailed on us for the McGuires race invited us over for dinner on Sunday! So needless to say, we only spent Sunday morning doing "nothing" and even then, we decided to make a cake to take to our friends so really..it was a pretty busy weekend! Yikes!

Everyone thought my cake was pretty ridic. I enjoy daylight savings time in the spring because it means more sunshine in the evenings after work...so I decided to celebrate. They had actually started to cut the cake and then suddenly was like "Oh wait! we HAVE to get a picture of this!" So here is my beautiful cake :) with a little cut and a few pieces under icing from almost cutting up the cake before a picture was taken!

You know you're jealous ;) haha

So today is officially less than 200 days to go til the wedding! We're doing some wedding things this weekend! Hopefully picking out invitations for real, for real, and maybe getting them ordered so I'm not stressed out come May and June to make sure they're ordered in time and get them addressed all pretty and in the mail by early August! Crazy how time flies! I can't believe we're halfway through March!

On another fun note: Happy St. Patrick's Day! Tom and I are getting married in St. Patrick's church in Newry, PA (I don't think you get much more Irish than that) so this holiday definitely deserves a mention in the wedding blog! I went to elementary school at the church we're getting married at and St. patrick's day was the biggest holiday of the year so I've always loved celebrating! I just wish it wasn't on a Wednesday so I could REALLY celebreate ;) I hope everyone enjoys the green beer and has a few irish car bombs! :) Especially you kids still in school! I wish I was still in college so I had an excuse to drink on a wednesday again...sadly, in the adult world, people actually judge you for going out on a wednesday night and being hung over on Thursday at work...darn real world! :-P hehe :)

How Sweet It Is

Is there ever a time that stalking is an ok thing? I think so. Or maybe I just tell that to myself to make me feel better. I obviously have issues...please see previous blog for an example.

But I stalk Amy Atlas and I am totally ok with saying it. I LOVE when I see her parties and dessert tables in magazines or other blogs. I read her blog almost as religiously as Style Me pretty. She is a true inspiration for any event planning. Every design she comes up with just wows me. How awesome would it be if she designed a dessert table for your wedding??? I don't even think I could handle it if I were 1 of the lucky people she helps design parties for. How amazing is this yellow and black table?

I'm also obsessed with this Alice in Wonderland themed party she showed on her blog.

Even if it's not her design, she just has an eye for pretty and style and I'm completely jealous.

So I'm refocusing my dessert table idea. For you PA people, the cookie table is going to have to be a little more modern and funky. The cookie table has just gotten a little sloppy at weddings I've been to lately. Just piles and piles of cookies looks like a mess. I want the cookies to add to the wedding and design and be a little detail people remember for a good reason, not because it was a mess. I want all the details of the wedding to fit and to flow and to add to the wedding. So I'm channeling my inner Amy Atlas (if there's any part of her amazing creativeness in me at all) and we'll see how things turn out come wedding day!

The Bachelor reached new lows...

Reality tv is my guilty pleasure. Tom teases me relentlessly for my obsession. I just can't help it! If you have 19 kids, pregnant at 16, like to fist pump on a beach, or are looking for true love in the most public way possible, then I'm suddenly infatuated with you. It's not healthy. I'm working on it. In my defense though (denial...a way to know for sure I have an unhealthy obsession), I only watch these shows out of the pure ridiculousness of the lives they're showing and how insane and just plain stupid reality tv producers can make people look. They can take a somewhat normal every day situation and make it the most dramatic event in TV history! I love it.

Anyway...naturally I'm in love with The Bachelor. I loved Deanna after she was heart broken. Thought it was the most ridiculous thing ever that she picked Jesse over Jason. Naturally then I had to watch to see if Jason could find true love. I thought Melissa was perfect for him and was crushed when he dumped her for the wilder, a little riskier choice of Molly (just like what poor Jake did in picking Vienna...I'm still bitter over that one). But Jillian I loved so then of course I had to watch Jillian end up with Ed (1 of the few Bachelor/Bachelorette couples that I was happy with). I thought getting rid of Jake was a good call though, so I can't say I was quite so obsessed with this past season, but I was still curious and after the crazies in the beginning of the season, it just hooked me to keep watching. Darn you producers!

So a year later (one year, after Melissa got dumped and Jason makes out with Molly 5 minutes later... classy) Molly and Jason got married! I had to watch. I made myself an angel food cake and strawberry dessert, cuddled up and watched every second of the commercial that they called Jason and Molly's wedding. If there was 1 more plug, I threatened to turn it off, but Tom knew better than to get his hopes up for that. As it got more and more ridiculous, I kept watching. As Chris Harrison mentioned the rain for the 60913568019358 time, I kept watching. As the rain poured and Molly, having no idea what she was talking about, went on and on with her vows (I probably would have cut it short or atleast asked for an umbrella at that point so I could actually see the guy I was saying my vows to), I kept watching. Just waiting for that next ridiculous moment.

Atleast I find the humor in reality tv right?

Now there were some positives...I LOVED molly's dress.

I still can't help but laugh at all that rain and how positive they acted about it. No back up plan? Who does that? and laugh about it? Not 1 part of her wanted to be a little upset her Monique Lhuillier gown was absolutely soaked. Rumor on the block is between her jewelry and dress (and I'm sure the  Manolo Blahnik shoes added a few dollars), Molly was wearing about $45,000.

Another great moment was seeing Deanna with Michael's twin brother (from Jillian's season). Seriously? I mean, no one expected her and Jesse to last but the twin of another Bachelor wannabe? I'm not sure if I feel sorry for Deanna or Michael more...because he's not cool enough for a chance with her, but his twin brother is.

Let's not forget the camera guy who got put in a head lock and carried away. I was dying laughing.

And my fav line of the night: "Out of all the women you've proposed to...Molly is the best!" Wow, that's awesome. That's all I can say about that.

In all seriousness, 1 cute moment of the night...Molly walking down the aisle to "Somewhere over the Rainbow" with a rainbow and the sun ALMOST breaking through. Very sweet.

I can go on, but I'll stop there.

So overall, I think it was outstanding. It took ridiculous to a whole new level and I, yet again, am amazed by reality tv producers and would like to beg them for their job.  How much fun would that be? I'm sure everyone wanted Melissa to make a camea. But she is far too classy for the ridiuclousness of The Bachelor. She's moving on to bigger and better things. Good for you Melissa!

I'm beyond excited for the next Bachelor/Bachelorette wedding! I'm glad they're actually making some lasting couples now other than Trista and Ryan. Although, the failures are pretty funny too.

Veils

So I've realized I have no idea what I'm going to do with my hair, jewelry or veil. All I have is the dress. So definitely the biggest part done, but I have no idea about everything else! I've seen some hair ideas that I like, and I can wait until the week before to figure out the hair when I meet with the girl who's going to do my hair for the wedding for a practice run. But do I want a headband? Tiaras are just out (I had a bit too much of tiara's during my dairy princess days).  Simple is good. My mom and I found some beads and things for hair and jewelry at Michael's...no plan on what to do with them yet, but for $3 we figured it wasn't a huge waste if we didn't use them. If we didn't get them and then decided later we needed them, we'd never be able to find them...or maybe it's just us that has issues with finding things that you want later on.  And then there are veils! Let's start here...do you know how expensive veils are? For as little they are, it's mildly ridiculous. And how do you know what looks good on you or with your dress? Is it all just personal preference? Does your hair style matter? Why are there no blogs or websites out their that have any information to tell brides about how to accessorize properly? haha It's hard! And every time I see some beautiful celebrity in some beautiful wedding dress, I rethink all the style decisions I'd previously made and my mind just keeps changing every day!

When In Rome COMPLETELY changed my mind about veils. If you haven't seen it, it's very cute. I dragged Tom along and he even admitted to thinking it was funny...not liking it, because that's a stretch and something he'd kill me if I admitted in public, but he said it was funny so it gets points for that. But Kristen Bell's Amsale gown in the end was amazing. Loved it. And I LOVED her veil. SOOO naturally, now I'm looking at longer veils, but would that look ok with my dress? or my hair? and then what do I do with my jewelry? And I think I need a personal consultant for these things. It's crazy! So...I'm working on it. Luckily I have time, so no need to stress just yet, but I do need to make a decision and actually stick with it even after I see other styles I like. I'm working on it. Baby steps.

Rock Candy Cake

Is it weird that I totally love this rock candy cake? It's very simple and fun and cute :) I love it.

The cake was made by Cocoa&Fig. It's on Style Me Pretty today, along with a really adorable "Inspiration to Reality" photo shoot. Lots of fun, lots of candy. Super sweet wedding ideas :) So all you brides-to-be out there who are thinking about a whimsicle wedding, this is definteily something you should check out! :)

Pre-Wedding workout

Does anyone know any good pre-wedding workouts? I see alot online but they seem to be for people who don't or haven't really worked out before. I've been doing some P90X, light weight lifting, I know I need to step up the cardio, but I don't care what you Northerners say...it's been cold in Florida! I went to the gym last week for the first time since I moved to Florida! Something I probably should have done long ago, but when the weather's nice we have a nice trail by our house to run on, we have lots of weights and workout dvd's at our house, so it's been just as easy to work out at home. But I think there's something extra you get when you see other people working out and when you know other people are watching you...and judging you (you know you do it too haha). So it's getting to crunch time and I really need to focus on diet and working out or I will not be happy with how I look on my wedding day!

So any suggestions, I'd love to hear them! Pretty much I just need to slim down from the waste up ;) my bottom will be hidden under many layers of satin and tulle. My arms are my biggest concern, especially with the strapless dress. I'm not known for having small slim shoulders haha so anything I can do to trim my upper half down a bit would be a lifesaver! :)

Save the Dates!

Save the dates are designed, figured out, and officially ordered! I'm beyond excited to get them in the mail and see how they come out! More excited to mail them and see how everyone reacts! I don't want to give away how they look, so all of you out there can just be dying of anticipation, but I will say...the pictures we got from Sarah were awesome and they really made the save-the-dates possible :) So yay yay yay! Expect the save-the-dates in the next month! It's getting closer and closer and more and more official and I'm getting very excited!! I'll leave you all with a little picture teaser from our engagement session...and fyi, this picture is not on the save-the-dates so it really doesn't give anything away ;)

What does your wedding day say about your wedding?

Now according to an aol.com article, the date you choose for your wedding can say a lot about your wedding and marriage?

Side note to this blog: I don't believe in astrology...at all. Every "fortune" or horoscope I have ever seen has been so general, it seems a bit of a waste. And I think reading a horoscope in the morning that says it's going to be a gloomy day so watch out, almost makes me LOOK for something bad to happen, which, inevitably, it will..and ruin your day...all because of that horoscope. You can turn any day into a good day if you want, so put the horoscope down people.

So moving on...here is what that article says about our wedding date (October 2,2010):
Libra Weddings (September 23 - October 22)
The romantic spirit of Libra is like no other. The whisper of chillier winds is instantly warmed by the bright colors and happy moods of people reaping the bounty of the harvest. Couples searching for richly hued backdrops and quiet, peaceful moods will enjoy getting married during this time. The Libra marriage will probably be marked by many discussions and controversies between life mates; but arguments can always be settled with true compromise.

I don't think any of that was running through my mind in picking a date. I admit, it's a big decision. You have to consider season, availability of important people, availability of location and vendors, weather, and most girls can't say they don't consider colors in picking their date. If pastel purple is your favorite color in the world, you probably wouldn't want to get married in the fall. Luckily for brides, I think the color stereotypes of weddings are going away. You can pull off pastels in fall and richer colors in spring. You can also have more than just 2 dominant colors, which has been very fun to include all the hues of fall into the wedding but still keeping things from getting too color crazy.

I don't like that it says our marriage will be filld with discussions and controversies. Does any marriage not involve these things? I would say all relationships involve discussions. Most people have controversies, especially in a marriage when your'e taking 2 completely different lives and molding them into one. Bank accounts, raising kids, religion, what's for dinner....I think that's assumed, not some great prediction for our marriage. And compromise...well that's just a part of life and making relationships work. There are things that are top priorities for Tom, especialy in planning the wedding (for example, tux vest and tie color...one of the only decisions Tom has made freely and on his own, with very little discussion). For just wanting to be involved in those few things, I've pretty much given him creative freedom. If he wants a maroon vest and tie, he can have that maroon vest and tie and I won't complain one bit. Flowers and decorations though...Tom could care less. So he pretty much lets me do whatever I want. Food is something we've both taken an interest in, but he picks one meal, I pick the other, and we've got our dinner choices done! So we've worked out a compromising system. It's not all about what I want. It's not all about what he wants. It's worked out well to turn into the wedding that WE want :)

So horoscope...waste of time. Figure out life for yourself and I think things will work out just fine :)

7 months

So I was looking back on my blog. I started this blog when it was 1 year and 2 days until the big day. I can't believe we're already at 7 months to go! and I'm an awful wedding planner...I get in streaks when I'm knocking out 1 detail after another...then I do absolutely nothing for a few weeks. ha.

Now in my defense...my brother is visiting this week so wedding planning isn't really a top priority. It's been more beaching and exploring the area some more. It's amazing that I've lived here for 7 months now and half the places we went this weekend I'd never been or only been to briefly so didn't really know what all there was...for you Destin lovers, The Village at Baytowne Wharf is way over prices, but fun to hang out and we did manage to find the 1 place that has $1.00 beers. We also went to Turkey Creek which I drive past every day. Tom has refused to ever go there, and his excuse was ALWAYS alligators. So we went, risked the alligators, being February and still cold, we figured we'd be safe. We didn't see a single alligator, much to my brother and his friends' dismay. So we jumped in the water (yes, on February 28th, in turkey creek...you have no idea how cold it was haha) to prove we weren't scared of alligators haha So we get home...Tom didn't come because he was doing some work on a grad school class he's taking...and Tom insists the reason we didn't go there was not because of alligators but because of water moccasin. I've never heard him complain of water moccasins, so I'm calling him out on that one haha Pretty much, I think he's going to run out of excuses someday and have to jump in the water. Big baby haha I actually will state here, in a public site, that chances of Tom EVER going in the water at turkey creek are slim to none...very similar to the chances you'll ever get him to watch a scary movie. Yes...I'm marrying a whimp ;) and when he writes a blog, he can poke fun at me, but since I'm the only one who keeps up for thsi...I can tease him all I want :)

So wedding planning...back on track...we're meeting with the lovely Sarah of Bella Raema Studios to check out the rest of our pictures that she edited tonight. I'm super excited. She's also helping with the save-the-date cards...so doubly excited to kill 2 birds with 1 stone hopefully!  I've also decided I hate invitations. I love looking at them, but to actually make a decision...well it may be a last minute decision because I'm just bad at invitations. I either love them and they're wayyy too expensive or want to change some little detail about the, but can't.

I ran across these beautiful invitations though and by Laura Hooper and almost decided to change my wedding colors. Aren't these adorable?

So someday...this wedding will be done...and I will have no idea what to do with my free time or blog about. But I'll be married to a pretty cool guy, even if he's scared of scary movies and jumping in creeks that may possibly have wildlife in or nearby (gasp!).

Dream Wedding

So while watching Platinum Weddings or one of the 800 other reality shows on about weddings ...(you can't act like none of you share the same guilty pleasures as me ;) haha and The Bachelor finale tonight...who's excited?)...I start thinking how much I would love to have some of the big crazy weddings.

I mean...who wouldn't love something crazy like fireworks at your wedding...ok maybe a little tacky unless you're getting married on the 4th of july...

but as I see the total for the wedding getting bigger and bigger I have to keep reminding myself, it's not about some lavish fancy affair. My dream is just actually getting to marry the guy I love and want to spend the rest of my life with :)

so you might just have to settle for sparklers instead...especially ones we get on sale right after 4th of july ;)

because really, it's not how crazy the floral arrangements are or what crazy beautiful location for the reception, or big fancy church...you don't need all of that to have some fairy tale wedding.

Once in awhile,

Right in the middle of an ordinary life,

Love gives us a fairy tale.