Green Mountain Coffee- Fair Trade

I never realized how much of a positive impact coffee can have when it comes to choosing a responsible one. I decided to make the change and not look back. I would much rather have a coffee that is a positive influence. Green Mountain is the brand that I got more acquainted with. I trust it and know they do things that are responsible in how they raise and sell their coffee. Think about trying and switching! The taste is amazing as well!

Well a little over a year later and we have our OWN house!!!! It seems like a palace in comparison to what we lived in before. It has 4 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, an attic, basement, living room, music room (den that is where I give my private music lessons), dining room, kitchen, garage, and little nooks and crannies for storage. It is an older house, so with that comes some quirks, but we are embracing the quirks. Shortly after we moved into our house we found out that we are expecting our first baby! We are beyond thrilled and the craft/exercise room quickly became the nursery :) We already had our first annual Fourth of July party/Housewarming/First Wedding Anniversary in the backyard. It was a great success with over 50 people attending! We were very touched. I just had to update with the big news for our small family!

Well life goes on

     We are almost settled into our humble abode. It's a tiny apartment located right in town. It's a white bungalow with a big front porch where my white wicker lives. We live on the first floor and the landlord is up top. There are five rooms on our floor. Bathroom, kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms with one being our office. The hardwood floors are very nice as are the doors. The rooms were freshly painted when we moved in and almost everything was spotless. We have basically decorated with hand me downs or the few things that we already had that were nice.

      The kitchen is big enough to cook in and that's about it. We eat in the living room or outside on the porch. I will miss doing that come winter. Everything else is pretty roomy for us for the time being.

      In the office we have a futon for future guests to sleep on and our two desks. Both are beautiful wooden desks that we got for free from two different businessmen.  Karl has the guest room closet for work clothes. I found a clothes organizer at the Dollar Store for him to put the work clothes in, it's lime green and zebra print. Hey, that's all that they had. Our closet has a hot pink and zebra striped one. I still have to bring the rest of my clothes down. I have been putting it off because we already have a ton of clothes and they are just Karl's: work, casual, dress, random. For a simple guy he has a lot of clothes!

       I have my one great grandmother's piano in the living room where I give music lessons. It's a beautiful focal point. When we finally get back the tv we will be able to enjoy movies and tv shows in the living room. For now we have to in the bedroom because Comcast blew up our other one.

       That gives you all a brief idea of what the place looks like. I'll try to take some pics and post them :)

      

The hair

I promised to include some pictures. So to stay true to my word I wanted to include a picture of my wedding hair. Well, the trial run. I had originally imagined lots of curls cascading down my back. Being that I have thick hair and long hair and the wedding being in June it was decided to have the hair up more and just a few curls. The outcome is a victorian/romantic style that I quite like. Enjoy!!

Well....

I've been meaning to update this. Lots has happened since the last post.

We were going to buy a house and then a lot of things pointed to not getting it. So, so be it. Needless to say it is still a bitter pill to swallow. Moving on. We do have an apartment picked out. It's a little one. Think a white bungalow style. We have the second floor and the owner is on the third, the other floor is a garage. It has 2 bedrooms, small kitchen, small bathroom, and a living room, but a large porch out front! It comes with the large appliances and thankfully a washer/dryer! We will be moving in after the wedding, Handsome will probably start to move in before.

I have already been fitted 1x in my dress and the changes are being made. Just taken in, a bustle put on, and the dress shortened. I picked out a veil too! It's similar to a mantilla. Thankfully it was on sale for $75. Yay! It will be placed at the top of my hair do with an attached comb. The hair will be somewhat victorian looking. It's not really what I pictured, but it looks great. Lots of swirly curls attached to my head and some curls hanging down. Had the trial run for that last week. I'll post pictures later.

I am now concentrating on the favors. The favors are what are stressing me. I think I found what I want. I am obsessed with something and they will work perfectly. :) Surprise to you!

Found my guestbook. It's a Lilly Pulitzer of course. Havana style, but it has the pink and green colors in the flowers. I found it on Ebay and it came with a small photo book. yay!

Just had to update a bit. I'll be better I promise :)

Wedding Rambles

It is SOOOO easy to get caught up in the fluff and huff of a wedding. I keep getting sucked into that and then I shake my head and step back. If I get sucked in I become stressed and worry about the minute things that do not matter. The control freak pops out. Go, go back in the box, Now.

On a serious note I am almost worried that I will not be putting enough effort into our marriage and preparing us for a life as one as I am a wedding. Maybe that is why I am dragging my feet (only metaphorically speaking and mentally dragging because I have put together a wedding in just a matter of weeks) because I don't want to be one of "those" brides. It's not all about me, yes it is a wedding mainly for a girl, but I have talked to my fiance about what he thinks and what he likes. I gave in on him wearing his cowboy boots and a few little things. This is what makes me happy. If anyone truly knows me I like things to not be all about me (there are very few people that realize and know this because I have been accused many times of being self centered etc.) I love to make others happy and keep things on a lighter, happier note that involves others and makes them smile. This has proven to be a huge struggle. The minute I was engaged things started to pop up. Don't mistake my pleasing others for being weak, when it comes down to it I can be very strong in my stance and opinion. I just wonder sometimes how hard could it be for others to see my way and to allow me to do it my way?

It's almost like with so many people excited it might come out in different ways than they anticipate. I have enjoyed the excitement of those close to me and those that care. I like having people send me messages with links about dresses, veils, bridesmaids dresses, and just other ideas. I even have my honeymoon agenda printed off from my Auntie. That was such a cute touch! There are some ways that the caring aspects come out in ways that just move you and make you smile and feel all cozy.

With all that said I am meeting about flowers tonight. My bridesmaids dresses are Azalea and the colors for my wedding are pink and green (like Lilly Pulitzer) so I was thinking what about having Azaleas and some green flower for them and then a mixture of green and pink flowers along with some rusticky weedy looking flowers. I like the more natural looking bouquets and flower arrangements for weddings and functions.

Invitations

I love a little bit of old-fashioned charm. I'm not sure what I was thinking of having for my invitations, but I fell in love with these.

I realize these are showing they are for a 50th wedding anniversary, but I truly do not care. I'm hoping to get these, but we'll see. I just love the flowers and old feeling or a card that is from years before.  I think it goes well with it being my Great-Granny's wedding anniversary date too!