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!

$$$ Budget

I just was working on the first of many budgets for our married life. It's depressing and exhilarating at the same time. I have taken Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class and what a fabulous finance class thing. It is Christian based and really gets you on the right track to paying off debt if you have it and/or saving and living. I made us a budget with some of the budget forms that are available on Dave's website under tools. You can get them or at least look at them for yourselves here! Use them to make your own budgets. There is also the gazelle budget which is a super fast and super simple budget that let's you see your budget results immediately. I think it's important to do a budget. As much as I fight it tooth and nail it truly helps.

Guess Who?

I know most of you can assume who the cuties are in the blog header. Of course it's myself and handsome. I think we were some of the cutest little kids ever! Yes, I'm biased and proud of it. But, truly how can you not think that those faces aren't cute?! You'd be mad! I can't wait to see what our kids will look like...my good looks or ummm yeah um, my good looks.... JK! I just smile every time I look at those pics together. One of has not changed much....guess who?

Little Changes

Well lots of things change or get tweaked. I am pretty flexible. I know what I like, but I know what is important to me as well. Some people I know want these big lavish weddings and all I can think about is, that's a down payment on a house. The amount that they are willing to pay... it boggles my mind. Anyway I'm doing what matters to ME. Handsome holds the same opinions and thoughts or at least ones that are about the same.

I decided to just go with the Azalea dress color for the bridesmaids. I didn't know who to put in the Kiwi/Apple and I was just not feeling it. The flowergirls will also be in the Azalea, but in their style of dresses.  We ran into a tiny snafu with the bridesmaids' dresses. They had to go last week so that they would be ordered in time. It's because I'm having such a quick wedding and they want to make sure they are back in time and the right alterations, etc. They will also be wearing cowboy boots with the dresses. 

These are just a few examples of what has caught my eye in regards to the bridesmaids wearing cowboy boots. I like the brown and think it would go well with their dresses. It will also be a sweet little surprise for handsome. I'm all about the rustic chic look!

I have my meeting with the florist this Friday after work. Cake tasting this Saturday: thinking vanilla with lemon icing. I still need to commit to the photographer. There's a few more things that I cannot share at this moment, but I will as soon as I can! :)




Good news, I will get to wear my Great-Grandmother's wedding band on my wedding day. It will be on my middle finger (she had much larger hands than myself), but it is special because June 18th is her wedding anniversary. I know she will be looking down and be she will be so proud.

THE veil~~

I have had my heart/mind set on getting the perfect veil for me! I never knew what it was called, but had the image in my mind. I wanted something (how I describe it) that looked Catholic and Traditional and had lace and sometimes beading. I know pretty vague huh? Sometimes those are the descriptions that I provide. After talking and asking around I found out that the style that I wish for is called Mantilla. I have yet to wiki or google how that name came to be, but I suspect it's pretty old-fashioned. I love it! To me it looks ever so classic. It just sits around the crown of your head and flows down onto your hair. I want one that is about middle of my back length, or slightly below. 

Here's an example of a Mantilla Veil. You can see the intricate work along the sides. 

I like how the hair can be down and look like it is flowing with the veil on top. I think I'm going to go for some curls with my hair pulled back and down. 

Immediate Planning

When you're in your later 20's you pretty much know what you want, or at least I do. That goes for life. I also know what I want for a wedding. I have dreamt of the big/extravagant wedding like most little girls do, but then I also realized that a wedding shouldn't be the focus, the marriage should be.


Both handsome and I come from divorced families. We don't harbor ill feelings towards our family members, because in both cases it was the best thing, but we want to work hard at not repeating that. We realize how hard it is on the kids. We are marrying for life.

The planning began immediately after I was engaged. We had talked about marriage before because we "just knew" we were meant for each other. When the two of you finish one another's sentences, have the same ideas and one person says or acts on them you just have a special bond. It's the first time I've ever had this.

I had wanted to get married on my great granny's wedding anniversary June 18th. Don't ask me for a detailed explanation, I don't have one. I just feel it and feel a connection to it. Maybe she wants it from heaven... I have always loved looking at the one framed picture from her wedding. I checked to see if that date was available at my church and ran with it. I figured if it happened to be randomly open, then it was meant to be.

The next step was to figure where the reception would be and what was available with only 4 months till the date.  I called around just to have options, ha, only one was open on that date and it was the one that I wanted! What luck and blessing!!!

The next step was to get a wedding dress. We went the next Saturday after the engagement date. After a choir rehearsal at the college and a lunch date with the grandparents and mum we went to Bridal Lane, which then I was adamantly informed that no one calls it that, it is M'Kaysha's. I started to just pull dresses that caught my eye and budget. Of course I kept going for the 1k+ dresses and that was not reasonable to me. I pulled ones from $400-oops a 1200 one. The first two fit wonderfully and were in the top group, then a no, then I tried on THE DRESS and found it. I felt like a cake topper, but in a good way. It was ivory taffeta that gathers all around with several layers, strapless with a beaded bodice and then random beaded designs here and there, and beading around the train ends. It fit me almost to a T. The lady said that it only needed a little taking in at the bust and then some alteration to the bustle. I thought I bet this is the $900 one....well we'll make it work. I asked the lady how much is this one and she checked, here it was on sale for $300!!!! What a deal. It had originally been $980. That day they had a special for the weekend where you saved 10%. $270! SOLD! By then I was so tired and excited I went home.

The store gave me some catalogs and websites to pick out my bridesmaids dresses and the flowergirl's dresses. That was the next step. I picked 2 of my bridesmaids and was having trouble picking the third because my maid of honor would have been my cousin Bethany, she passed away April 2, 2004 when a drunk driver killed her. She was 19 and like a sister. I am an only child, so this was huge to me.

My Bethany a few weeks before her passing. She asked her mum to have a photo session with her. Some of the most precious and cherished photos that we have of her.

I fell in love with these cute bridesmaids dresses that look like fun cocktail dresses. They have a ruffle around the collar/bust and then flair out. They will be in Apple and Azalea because my colors are pink and green. I think the perfect colors for a Summer wedding! Think Lilly Pulitzer.

 The bridesmaids dresses in Apple and Azalea.

The flowergirls' dress. In the bridesmaids' colors.

The bridesmaids are all friends of mine and the flowergirls are Karl's first cousin's two little girls. They are 5 & 6 years old. When I asked them to be in it they said oh we've done that before. lol so they are old hats at weddings.

Handsome has his best friend, brother, and a good friend as his attendants.  The ring bearer is Karl's first cousin's oldest son. He is 12 and just seemed like a good choice.

Even though we basically knew the reception would be where I wanted it, we had a meeting with the banquet manager, who was actually a great guy that I worked with when I worked at The Tavern back in my waitressing hay day. He had told me when I worked there, when you get married I'll give you a deal on your wedding if you book it with us. Well, lo and behold I actually did that. When he had said that I was around 21/22 and thought no thanks, I'll have it at xyz. XYZ went under and things change :) The location is an old barn. When I say barn you will conjure up the wrong idea. Think shabby/rustic/chic. It's gorgeous inside. The wooden beams, the old style doors, just the feeling of a fascinating story that once happened there is so mesmerizing. It has great energy.

This is the interior of Millcreek. You can see the beams going down and then if you look carefully the upper part of the barn. 

I have the musicians lined up. I will have the church organist play and my cousin play trumpet at the ceremony. For the reception our friends from church own a DJ business so they will be keeping it going with music. 

The cake will be done by the lady that did my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. I'm thinking Vanilla and Lemon. Something light for that Summer feel. 

I will be looking into flowers, accessories (my veil which I want a Mantilla one, shoes, and anything else), photography, etc.  

House Keeping

I am beginning my journey of being a new fiance, a future wife, and looking forward to the new life with the two of us.

The fun began February 4th 2011. I realize that it hasn't been that long since the engagement, but for some reason to me it feels like close to forever.


Friday, February 4th handsome proposed to me. We had tickets to see the Opera, Rinaldo in the city. We both got all dressed up and were very excited to experience this. We normally go to the Symphony, but had to switch it up. It was an interesting symphony and by the time we left it was getting late and I decided that I just wanted to go home and skip any of the other excitement still going on in the city. When we were heading back handsome stopped me and asked if I wanted to make it an even better/more memorable night than it already had been and my response was no I want to go to the car and go home. Mind you it was freezing out and I was in a cute strapless bubble black bubble dress, a ruffle sweater over top and then my black winter coat along with tights and high heels with a feathered headband to top it off. He kept persisting and I kept shooting him down because I thought he wanted to go to the dance club right across from us or out to a bar. Finally he said are you sure and pulled out a box. I was so in awe as he got down on one knee on the sidewalk, opened the box, and asked me if I would marry him. I was so excited that he was doing this and to see the gorgeous sparkly ring in the box. I said yeah, because we had wanted to get married for awhile and it was almost as if it was a silly question. OF COURSE I will marry you! The only people to witness this were the cars passing by and one suv honked. The rest of the night I was so excited and giddy. I kept looking down at my finger.

I still catch myself looking down at the ring. I wore a fairly cheap, but nice ring for the longest time on that finger just to show wandering eyes that I was happily taken. I have worn the ring ever since. I even sleep with it on. To me it's more than just a ring, it's the beginning of our life together.

*~We were meant for each other~*