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Rehearsal Dinner

This morning started off a little chaotic.

With help from family and friends, we made a big trip downtown to SunTrust (where the reception is going to be held) and dropped off everything that we could possibly need to make the reception run as smooth as possible.

After that big trip we went to get our nails done.  This was a very relaxing thing for all of us to do because they gave us a generous amount of wine, which really helped to take the edge off!

After nails and lunch it was time for a quick nap before what proved to be a crazy couple of days.

The rehearsal went so smooth and dinner afterwards was amazing.  It felt so good to be surrounded by our closest family and friends who were all there to support Matt and I.

Running Around

Well...I tried....

I tried all week to wake up early and stay up till 2:30am to get stuff done, and I did.  The reality is that there just isn't enough time to get it all done.  Today I have some errands to run followed by putting together kid's bags, making a trip downtown to pick up chocolate for welcome bags, putting together welcome bags, and possibly picking my sisters up from school early (love being the cool older sister).  haha

Tonight we're going to the church to decorate, so I feel like then it will finally start to set in.  The excitement, the butterflies, and the nerves...ok...we'll try to keep those away until at least Friday afternoon!

So today starts the final sprint to the finish line...sorry if posts become short (or maybe even non-existent) but I'm sure everyone will understand!

Final Wedding Wednesday

Here it goes - my final Wedding Wednesday post.

Unfortunately I haven't got many pictures to share of all of the projects that my sisters and I have been working on because I don't want to ruin any surprises.

Lets just say that last night looked a little like this...

I am terribly sore from bending over and powerwashing 60+ mason jars.  I am proud to say that we only had one casualty out of the whole lot of jars.  Not too bad.

Yesterday was my trial up-do for the wedding.  Think loose curls, romantic, young and somewhat casual.  The trial run went better than I could have imagined, lets just hope that on the wedding day my hair decides to cooperate again!

I'm slowly checking things off of my to-do list and getting it all done.  The hardest thing is the amount of errands I've had to run (mainly to Hobby Lobby, Michaels, or Target).  I'll get the wrong size or color of something and it's driving me nuts how many duplicate trips I'm having to make!

Hopefully Thursday will start the wind-down stage.  My to-do lists will be rid of crafts, tying, gluing, cutting, wrapping and running errands and full of take decorations to church, deliver stuff to reception venue, get nails done, hair appointment...etc.  So excited to start that phase and get in to the exciting mood for everything that the weekend has in store!

Bathing Suits

I love my new bathing suits!  Just thought I'd share one with you!

Source: FabCrush

For some reason I've been feeling very vintage-inspired recently.  This bathing suit nearly jumped off the rack in to my hands the other day because one thing I look for when I go bathing suit shopping is ruching.  This Jantzen suit is a one piece, which I didn't think I'd be able to pull off, but at the urging of the girls I was shopping with, I went ahead and got it.  The thing is so comfy, I can't wait to wear it and soak up some rays.

My second purchase was also a Jantzen suit.  I love the way this brand fits me.

Travel Monday

In an attempt to keep myself calm, I've been trying to check things off of my to-do list.  I happen to already have one for the week between the wedding and the honeymoon.  It includes doing 3+ weeks of my laundry (and Matt's too, I'm sure), thank you cards, cleaning, unpacking presents, more thank you cards, going shopping for the Honeymoon, looking up all of the details for the honeymoon, getting sunsreen and bathing suits and packing for the Honeymoon.  (Along with many other things).  Yesterday I was able to find 2 great bathing suits for amazing prices.  One retails for $98 and I got it for $20.  Heck Yeah!  I know a good deal when I see one!

 
Anyways, it got me so excited for our trip to Antiqua!  I know that I've done it before, but I thought it would be fun to look at some pictures of the resort we'll be staying at in just a few short weeks!

 

 

Tired

I officially tired out 3 out of 4 of my sisters today.  (Pretty sure I tired the other one out too, she just doesn't live at my parent's house so I wasn't able to hear her complain like the other ones did.)

I took my sisters to get hair cuts this morning then met one of my bridesmaids and closest friends for lunch at Baker's Crust in Short Pump.  Tomato Mozzarella Panini...yum!

After a good lunch, Shannon joined my sisters and I on a last minute shopping trip all over Short Pump.  We were looking for rehearsal and brunch dresses, strapless bras, shoes, bathing suits, and everything in between.  It was a great afternoon spent with girls that mean so much to me.

After shopping we felt like we needed a much deserved break and headed to Gelati Celeste.  This is hands-down the best Ice Cream...EVER.  It's about 1 minute from my parent's house and is a local place that you can't possibly go to without seeing someone you know or recognize.  Their new flavor today was Rainbow Cookie Ice Cream.  If you are from Richmond, VA or have ever been to a Ukrop's then you know how amazing this combination sounds.  I can't say that I was disappointed, but it wasn't quite as good as I thought it would be.  I'll stick with my usual favorites next time.

Once we got home we all kicked it in to High Gear and worked on wedding stuff.

It looked a little like this...

All of these jars had to be powerwashed, rinsed, dried, and have ribbons added.  We got through washing 30 out of the 50 that we have.  It was fun to get in to old clothes and go out in the sun on the back patio with the hose and my sisters.  Tomorrow promises to not be any easier since we have 20 more jars and many other projects to wrap up!

We're a mere 6 days away!  Woo Hoo!!!!

Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea

This whole week I was so mad at myself for offering to work when I have so much to get done.  Tonight at work (as I was closing) I was vacuuming the back hall when it hit me.  I've been working at David's Bridal on all of my school breaks and other random weekends for 4 years now.  I've laughed in these hallways, I've cried in these hallways (it's tough working in a bridal shop and seeing everyone so happy when your relationship is in a rough spot).  I've made memories here.  From crazy people, to heartwarming love stories that you were sure were only true in fairytales.  I've loved my time there.

After work I went to spend some time with my grandparents.  The reality is that when I was little we traveled to PA multiple times a year to visit all of our family there.  I remember weeks spent with my grandparents over the summer and never wanting to go home.  When I was in elementary school my Dad's parents moved to Richmond.  Looking back I can say that this is one of the decisions that has had one of the biggest impacts on my life.  I grew up as close to my grandparents as I was my parents (even closer sometimes because I could vent to them about my frustrations with my parents).  Whenever I was away at college I missed them just as much as the rest of my immediate family (like the ones that I lived at home with).  There is no doubt in my mind that I would have been close to my aunts and uncles, but I often think that our closeness is a direct result of my Grandparents being in town too.  My Mamie and Pop-Pop always had everyone together for birthday dinners as well as random impromptu dinners too.  My family is the exception to the rule.  We're all so close and often it is something that I don't think twice about because it is so normal to me.  Moving away to WV won't only be hard because I'll miss my parents and sisters, but I will also miss the rest of my family that is now in VA because over the past 23 years they have all been my support system.  I roll deep...what can I say?

I got some quality time in with the grandparents then headed over to my sister's house.  She's making cookies for the wedding (yum!) and since I hadn't had dinner I got to taste test some of them!  So excited that she wanted to undertake this huge task!

Finally the night ended over at my neighbor's back deck.  Let me set the scene for you.  The neighborhood that I grew up in was the West End of Richmond for my parent's generation.  So most of the people that live in this neighborhood are my Grandparent's age.  Except for two houses which are diagonal from each other (and happen to have almost the exact same set-up).  We have five kids, our neighbors have 4.  The craziness that ensues from that alone makes up for the fact that most of the rest of the street is 75+ years old.  There have been couches and chairs moved from house to house.  There has been laundry done at their house when our washer broke, and their laundry dried at our house when their dryer breaks.  Casseroles have been baked in both ovens at the same time for an event at one house or the other, and it is not out of the ordinary to get phone calls on nice spring and summer evenings saying "I've got the meat for the grill" "ok, then I've got the sides and drinks".  Somehow we manage to eat together on a regular basis.  It was a great way to end a crazy day spending time with fun neighbors!

Finally Friday

What a crazy week it has shaped up to be.  I didn't let myself write a to-do list because I knew that I would stress myself out.  Until tonight.  I broke down and did it.  Knowing that I only have one more day until wedding crunch time, I thought that I might as well put on paper everything that needs to be done.

This stressed me out a little, but many hands make for light work and with my sisters so willing to help, I know I'm not in this alone.

And I ended the night with more dogs in my bed than I am used to...

I know I'll miss these nights, when I try to get in bed and go to sleep and end up staying awake an hour more than I wanted to because these kids keep me up.

running together

Do I consider this a late night or an early morning?

Technically it's Thursday at 12:15 am.  But I feel like I didn't get as much accomplished on my Wednesday to-do list as I wanted to.  Time to step back and get some shut-eye. 

I did however want to take some time to write about some of my work stories from the day.  Every time I leave work Matt always calls and asks how work was.  Usually I brush it off and say miserable, boring, tiring...whatever.  Today I decided to tell him what it was really like.

About the girl who had an entire wedding planned for February 2012 but found out her fiance won't be around then because he is in the Marines.  When she wanted to move it up they decided that wasn't possible because there was no way her fiance was doing anything other than hunting during hunting season (I had a little laugh at that one).  So they have to re-plan the entire thing for a Spring wedding of next year.  I took a moment to step back and count my blessings.  The stress I'm feeling right now is a welcomed, I'm never going to feel this the rest of my life, I'm planning an amazing night with my closest family and friends so my fiance and I can start our lives together stress.  The stress she is feeling is the lets get this thing over with, it won't matter if we're married or not because I'm not going to see him once he's deployed stress.  Moments like these make me realize how lucky I am.

Oh then there was the family (literally with like 8 kids that seemed like they were all the same age) who spoke little English.  I took Spanish for  3 years in middle school, 3 years in high school and a semester in college.  I can understand Spanish pretty well.  I am not, however, confident AT ALL in speaking it.  So when I get a family that speaks Spanish they probably think I am psychic.  Because I hear them say things then will agree with them or ask them a follow up question (in English) to what they were saying in Spanish.  It works to my advantage.  I have to make sure not to let on too much because I have this fear that they will start speaking to me in Spanish and expect me to respond back.  Not gonna happen.  Today my favorite was a woman who walked up to me and said
"what is this called?"
my response - "That is a scarf"
her response "ascarf"
my response "no just scarf"
her response "oh!  juscarf"
my response "scarf"
her response "juscarf"
That went on for about 5 minutes before I gave up.

Then there was my bridesmaid that had paid for a dress and the wedding was canceled.  Ooops

Oh, and my prom girls that came in with a little puppy like it was their accessory...no you are not Paris Hilton.

I also had the usual prom girl come in with her date's tie looking for a dress that matched it perfectly...for the dance...this Saturday...not going to happen!

My stories can get pretty crazy...but those were just a few from today (yesterday?)  whatever...it's bed time!

I keep telling myself one of these nights I'm going to sit down and take some time to really blog.  Then it hits about 12:30-1am and all I can think about is getting in bed, and when my alarm goes off in the morning all I can think about are those precious 5 extra minutes my snooze button gives me.  Exhaustion may be setting in, but I'm pushing through.  Also, I'm very detail oriented and want everything to be perfect.  I was wondering when the time would come that things would start to mess up and I would laugh.  It was yesterday.  So thankful I've turned the stressed out corner and now mistakes are funny to me.  Hopefully I'll be able to keep this attitude the rest of the way through.  I'm thinking I will.  From losing my shoe in London (and doing a walking tour barefoot) to standing in front of my family in Disney World and singing I'm a little tea pot because I didn't finish my dinner at Disney's Prime Time Cafe, I've never been one to stress when things don't go as planned.

Good Idea? Nope!

I'm not sure why I ever thought that working 2 weeks before the wedding was a good idea.  I feel as though I have a to-do list approximately 5 miles long, yet a few days ago (in a moment of weakness) I told David's Bridal (my off and on part-time job) that I would be glad to give them a few hours.  I ended up getting scheduled for 36 hours in 5 days...that's more like a full-time job if you ask me!

I think I was thinking "I don't have a job in WV, I need to get in as much work as possible before a summer of unemployment...I've never been without work...I usually work 2-3 jobs...freak out...call David's Bridal and tell them you'll work".  Flawed Logic...

I will be thinking of everything I could do other than working today...

I'm off to work...wish me luck!!!

Monday Mayhem

Travel Monday will have to be postponed this week!  I started this blog to chronicle wedding planning and my life in general the three months leading up to the big day.

Today was pretty packed with wedding details.

This morning we had the final meeting with SunTrust (our reception venue).  It was all about the details.  The set-up of the room, tables, cake, decorations, etc.  We also had to discuss alcohol options and finalize the menu.  It was altogether a great meeting and got me really excited for the big night!

After our meeting with SunTrust I went home to work on some seating stuff for the rehearsal and the reception then I met with my fiance's mom to discuss the seating arrangements.  I can pretty much figure it out for my family and our friends, but I definitely needed a little help with Matt's family.  Hopefully we got everything worked out and it was great to spend some time with my future Mother in Law talking about everything and getting nervous excited for everything that we have going on in the next week and a half.

After a few rainy hours spent at my sister's softball game (they won - go Cass!) it was time to head home and crank out some pew decorations.  With the help of a bridesmaid and all of my sisters we got almost half way done with the decorations!  One more night and we'll have them finished!

More fun videos to pass the time!

Once again I'm back under the same roof as my sisters.  While I've spent today at dance lessons, running errands, and folding programs and other booklets for the wedding...I've also managed to get a few laughs in.

My sisters always say...I want to show you this video...usually I roll my eyes because about half of the time I can't understand why the video is that great and they are laughing hyesterically.  I file this under "get used to it, you're getting older and don't find that crude humor amusing".

Today they had some pretty good videos for me to watch and I thought I would share them with you!

First Kiss...so Cute!

Little Girl Playing with a Dead Squirrel

Boys will be Girls

Graduation

Today I graduate, again!

Here is a look at last year's graduation!  This year the post-graduation festivities aren't so fun...they will include packing up everything from my kitchen in my Farmville apartment, and loading up the rest of my junk to move back to Richmond!

Myself and the best friend

Me and my sisters 

 Matt, Me, and my future in-laws!

The next two are Matt and I

Me with my parents

 Finally the whole fam!

Blog Trouble

Apparently blogspot was down due to technical difficulties.  I usually do my posts for the next day on the night before then schedule them to automatically post the next morning.  Unless it is the weekend, then I like to let the day go by and blog at night about what happened that day!

(And some other days I like to do that too...I guess it depends on whatever mood I'm in.)

It looks like my post from yesterday never went up and when I tried to log in to do my post for today (this morning at about 7:30am) blogspot was down.  Hopefully it's back up and running, so these posts are actually showing up!

Anyways, today Matt and I are leaving for Farmville (in like 2 hours...guess I should finish packing?).  Tomorrow I graduate with my Master in Education degree.  Crazy, I know.  I can't believe how fast the last year has gone by, and I'm sure the next year is promising to do the same!  Sometimes I just want to hit a pause button and live in that week for like a month.  This week being one of them.  Every night I made a to-do list about 2 pages long for the next day.  I would get up when Matt left for work (anytime between 5:30am and 7:30am) and go non-stop until he got home.  Sometimes I was doing stuff for 2+ hours and I would go to check it off of the to-do list and realize it wasn't even on there (like laundry, vacuum, clean bathrooms, take out trash, wash dishes, etc).  So what did I do?  Wrote them on the to-do list, just so that I could check them off!  haha  (just a little self-gratification technique I like to use)

Now I'm off...I only have 2 hours-ish to pack for the next 2 weeks (including through the wedding/rehearsal clothes/day after the wedding outfit...all of the wedding stuff that is at Matt's apt. that needs to make it to Richmond).  Oh, and I have to pack Matt as well!

And I know I've talked about hating this car ride before...but seriously...beautiful weather for an entire week, then we wake up to overcast/rain/fog today for the car ride!  Of Course!

Cooking

This week has been fun because Matt and I have somehow managed to cook together almost every night.  (Except for last night because we were in Morgantown.)

We went out to eat at Cheddars which is a yummy restaurant with great drinks!

I don't remember what exactly my drink was, but it looked like this and was delicious!

Ok...back to Matt and I being able to cook together.

For my bridal shower, one of my closest friends got me this.

It has recently become my go-to cookbook and seriously I'm in love with the advice/healthy cooking that is inside.  If you are young (bride or not) go get this cookbook.  It tells you everything you need to know...from how to tell if veggies and fruit are ripe enough to buy to which cuts of meat come from what part of different animals (diagrams and pictures included).  It is like the idiot's guide to cooking.  

We've had gorgeous weather here in WV so to the grill we went for our dinner.  We made lemon/garlic rubbed pork chops, teriyaki turkey, and steaks and potato kabobs.  YUM!  Of course every night we pair our meat with some veggie (our current favorites are asparagus, corn on the cob, side salad, steamed mixed veggies) and usually some type of bread (bad, I know...but it's a habit we can't kick).  

Also Matt and I have found that about 1-2 hours after dinner we always crave something sweet.  In college (it seemed like every other night) I would make a batch of fresh chocolate chip cookies and take to his roommates and him (or keep them in my apt. for my roommates and myself).  

Well that habit had to be broken, so this past year I moved to these 90 calorie treats.

Then on my grocery trip the beginning of the week, I had a coupon for these and decided to give them a shot!

They happen to be delicious!  They satisfy that late-night sweet-tooth and are only 60 calories!  Not too bad!

Things I'm excited about

These past few weeks have been pretty stressful and the next two weeks promise to be the same.  Instead of getting wrapped up in all of the small stuff I wanted to blog about some things that I'm really excited about right now.

1) I'm leaving WV tomorrow and the next time I come back, Matt and I will be married!

2) Wedding details are finally falling in to place.  Matt was nice enough to help me put a big dent in my to-do list last night which included...

Finish table info.

Wrap presents

Finish Richmond booklets

Get day-of insurance

Print programs

Make final payments

Finalize Ceremony/Reception Music

3) We bought sunscreen for our honeymoon.  I'm thinking about the wedding so much that I have managed to forget how excited we are for our trip to Antigua!

source

4) The apartment always felt like a place that I visited.  Now it feels lived in to me.  There is a place for everything and the move is finally complete!

5) Matt and I have a dance lesson this weekend which means we get 1 hour to just be together and focus on helping each other out.

6) Our good friends just had a baby and we may get to meet him this weekend.  I love the smell, feel, and cuddle of a newborn baby!

7) I'm so excited that I have blogged for the three months before the wedding, because I really am at that point now where I'm thinking "where have the past few months gone?"  Time seems to continue to fly by and since I can't make it slow down, I'm at least happy that I have some way to go back and look at what I was doing and what was going through my head each week!

Wedding Wednesday

I'm happy to report that the making of the church decorations is starting.


I am not so happy to report that I can get through punching 2 papers worth of flowers before my hand cramps so bad that I can't hold anything anymore.  Needless to say, I have enlisted some help from Matt on this task.

The finished product is so cute!  Thanks Mal for the inspiration/helping me find everything/and your help next week on making many more of these!

My other crafts that I have been in the process of making are the signs for outside of the church.  Yesterday Matt gave me the arrows that he cut out and I finally did all of the painting and put on all of the letters.  When we were procrastinating moving furniture last night, we finally finished the signs.  These pictures don't do them justice (in my opinion).  They are so cute in person...so cute that even Matt (every time he walks by them) tells me how good they turned out!  So excited to put them out in front of the church!

Moving in!

This apartment is starting to feel like home!  This morning I did the first load of laundry where my clothes didn't go immediately in to a suitcase, or in a pile on the floor.  Last night we picked up my dresser.

We put it in the bedroom and realized that where we thought it would go, looked weird.  So we decided to make dinner (it was 8pm by this time) and come back to it.

Yum...we opened a bottle of wine that I got at a wine festival last fall and it was delicious!

After dinner we went back to the furniture and still couldn't make a decision...so we decided to practice dancing (Matt was hilarious...I think this is thanks to the wine).

After dancing...we sat in the bedroom for what seemed like 5 hours (really about 1) discussing what our different options were.  We made a move (we didn't know if we liked it or not) and I finally got to put all of my clothes away!  Luckily we woke up this morning liking our furniture decision more than when we went to bed.  Oh the exciting life of about-to-be-newlyweds.

This morning Matt had a conference call at home so I got to make him breakfast and hopefully he won't have a crazy day today so we can make a dent in some of this wedding stuff.  Details to come in tomorrow's Wedding Wednesday post!

Travel Monday - Budapest, Hungary

Back in 2008 I was lucky enough to travel all through Eastern Europe.  It was an amazing trip that has changed the way I see a lot of things.  Many of these countries are just now hitting their prime developmental years and it was so neat to see the history tied in to current modernization.  I don't have much to say about Budapest other than the food was amazing, the beer was delicious, and the views were breathtaking.  Here are some pictures to prove my points.

Our first stop was at a local market inside of an old train station.  The food was so fresh!

And like I said, the beer was plentiful and yummy!

A very different taste than what we are used to here in the states!

Beautiful architecture throughout the entire city.

Just to prove I was actually there!

Open-Air market with great souvenirs.

Such pretty views!

Possibly one of my favorite sights from the whole trip.  In the train station.

Dance Lessons

Today Matt and I had dance lessons and it was so much more enjoyable than either one of us thought it would be!  We had so much fun and got a couple of good laughs out of tripping over each other's feet.  A memory we will have forever!  Our final lesson is next weekend and before that Matt has made it known that we will be practicing at least one hour each day.  (Clearly the competitive side has come out in him...haha)

source

After dance lessons and spending time with Matt's family.  (Today is his niece and nephew's birthday...I can't believe how fast they are growing up - such amazing kids!!!)

When visiting was over it was time to head back to WV.  Lets just say that old habits die hard.  For the past 5 years whenever we leave Richmond on a Sunday night, it is usually to go back to Farmville.  Even over the past few months, Matt has left Richmond with me on Sunday evening and we've gone back to Longwood for the night.  You take 64 west to get to both places, but to go to Farmville you have to get on 288 whereas to go to WV you just stay on 64 (literally the whole way for almost 5 hours).  Last night without even thinking Matt started heading towards Farmville.  I asked him "did you just get on 288?"  His response..."I'm glad you noticed, because I wouldn't have...this whole taking you to WV with me is going to be hard to get used to."  That's when it hit me...we've finally started to feel like our lives are changing.  So excited for what the future holds!

Mother's Day Festivities Part 1

Happy Mother's Day weekend!

Today started when I went shopping with my grandmother for her outfit for the wedding.  She ended up with a black and lace dress that I thought was so beautiful and perfect for her.  Almost exactly what she was looking for.  Short, but not too short...short sleeves with an option of a sheer jacket for more coverage...something flattering...check, check, check...we covered all of our bases.

After dress shopping we all headed out to watch Cassidy's softball game.  Right after the game I took my three younger sisters to run so errands then we went home to start getting ready for dinner!

We had all of us together (my parents, sisters, brother-in-law, Matt, and my grandparents).  It was a delicious cookout and a great way to spend a beautiful evening outside.  Plus, we surprised my mom with her Mother's Day gift and all went out as a family for dessert at the Melting Pot.  Yum!

I felt the need to celebrate Mother's day with my Mom and family mainly tonight because tomorrow I have wedding errands to run, dance lessons, and spending time with Matt's family before we hit the road for WV again.  I can't wait to wake up early with my sisters and make Mom breakfast in bed...it is a tradition that I can remember doing as far back as elementary school when I would go outside and pick a flower to put on my Mom's breakfast tray!  Can't wait to "surprise" her with breakfast in bed!

Something Borrowed

I have to do the shameless plug!

Today one of my favorite books came out in film form.  It was so cute!  I would definitely recommend it!

Something Borrowed

Wedding Craft

A few months ago my older sister said that she had these cute glass blocks at her work that I could personalize and use for reception decorations.  There are a lot of random ledges around our reception venue so I thought they would be cute little accents.

First you start out with a glass block (can find them at Michael's or Ben Franklin)
We are using the plain clear ones!

Source

Next to personalize it, I went to etsy.com and found cute vinyl clings in our colors.  

You can find the ones I used at Byrdie Graphics.

 

Next you peel off the backing and place the vinyl on the block.

Now there are a couple of options as to what you want to do with the blocks.  Most people put a strand of white Christmas Lights in them.  This is very pretty, but I was concerned that there would not be an outlet at every location that we wanted to place the blocks.  Plan B was to get lights that have a battery pack.  These are on green string and I think they look funny.  To camouflage the green string I bought shredded paper (can be found at Hobby Lobby) in our wedding colors.  the problem is that the lights don't shine through the paper.  Since the opening is so small the lights/paper idea just ends up being a nightmare.  I took the lights out and just liked them plain like this.

I also got clings that are our wedding colors and I was thinking about taking the stand of lights out of these blocks and leaving them empty.

They are pretty and I like them, but I am open to suggestions if you have any as to how to light them up!