From Miss to Mrs.

2 Big changes.....

2009-05-04T07:03:00.000-07:00

First of all, Brandon and I have added to our family. We are now the proud ma and pa of an adorable Chinchilla named Chilly!! He's precious and soo much fun to watch. Totally skiddish around us kinda right now, but everyday he seems to be getting more and more used to us. He's a black velvet colored chinchilla (there are apparently several different colors that these soft guys come in) and I wish I could just hold him and cuddle him all day. Chinchilla's are not cuddlers, well atleast I don't think so.

This weekend we spent alot of time with him just letting him roam around one of our rooms while we watched him and talked to him (yes we talk to him in our silly voices, doesn't everyone??! ) I feel like he was trusting us more cause he would just come up and jump on us, sniff us out. I was laying on the floor on my stomach and he would run up leg, up my back, climb onto my head, stand there for a few second, Brandon would hold his hands out and he would jump into his hands!! Totally cute!!!

Also these guys can apparently jump REAALLLY high. He would run towards the door and like jump up the door about half way. He did this several times in a row and it was sooo funny and random. Another thing these guys do that's funny is take dust baths. They have super dense fur and with 50 hairs PER follicle, they cannot get wet with water. It could cause them to get hyporthermia. So what do they do to clean? They take dust baths. The dust is made of volcanic rock and some other stuff but they LOVE it. We got a really big round fish bowl and he can jump on top of it and go into the hole and he roles around in the dust. It's the funniest thing. They just go nuts with this stuff!!!

He likes to hop over and crawl under our table and chairs in our kitchen.

Chilly in his cage...chilllin :)

We also got him this huge ball to roll around in to get some exercise. It's taking some time for him to get used to it, but he's getting there. He's better at reverse than forwards, but he's soo cute to watch in that thing!!

Other change is that Friday I went and had and IUD (Mirena) put in. It hurt for like 1.7 minutes and then it was just cramps. We've decided to go this route because A.) I hate taking a pill every.single.day B.) this is a one time $50 and insurance covers the rest as apposed to paying for my BCP once a month for the same amount C.) we aren't planning on having kids for several years and this can stay in for 5 years. It just seemed like the best decision to do!!!

I asked my doctor about the many horror stories which I had read on the internet and she disclaimed all of them. She said most of the hormone changes (severe mood swings, stress, depression, anxiety, etc) are because there body is not getting the hormones that they were getting from the BCP. With the IUD you get a TINY percent of progesterone which is only for the Uterus, it apparently does not go into your blood system at such a high rate that BCP does. SO therefore you aren't getting all the hormones that you were. I don't think I'll have a problem like someone had with all that stuff. The first 4-6 months my body will be adjusting to it and thickening up the uterine wall and fun stuff like that, YAY! But we shall see. Hopefully this journey will be successful and no severe problems will come from it!! I'll keep my blog updated with it, cause I'm sure your just dying to know every detail :)

OK, for real this time.....

2009-04-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

I'm back. I've been neglecting you like the plague but seriously this time I'm back. Life has been good. We just celebrated our 2 month wedding anniversary (with mexican food and margaritas no less) and things are great!!

Quiky updates:

Brandon is still in the process of getting hired on with Harris County Sheriff's Department. He passed his polygraph back on April 1, and today the detective is coming to do a house inspection. I'm assuming to make sure we have no bodies or drugs lying around :) He was supposed to come yesterday but the weather in Houston has been crappy and he wasn't able to make it out.

I restarted working for Macy's again. I however am working in the Estee Lauder counter and it's soooo much fun!! I mean make-up is every girl's dream right? So I get to play with it every night I work!! I really love it, even more so than my real job?? I would love to be able to move up in the world of Lauder and be a big wig!! THat would be SUHWEET!!! I'll be posting on here some of my fav makeup that we have as I try them out!! Here's the first to meet the blog. It's our new Double Wear Creme eyeshadow. This stuff I swear sticks to your lids for 15+ hours. I put it on one night, fell asleep with it on and it looked like I had just put it on. This stuff is awesome!! It comes in a variety of colors, and did I mention the shimmer factor?? It has TONS!! I love my eyeshadows that shimmer, and this has it full force!! Best to use a concealer brush to apply it and blend with your finger. I'm not used to creme shadows so this takes a little getting used to but it's an amazing find!!

Other happenings in our lives.....nothing too much. Just trying to settle in and get this married life down pat! hehe I mean that in the best way possible, I SWEAR!! I'm just having a hard time figuring and sorting out coming home and cooking supper, doing laundry cleaning up. Things like that. Hubs helps out which is good, but I really want to cook for him. I just have to get my routine down and now going back to Macy's puts a damper on that, but we'll figure it out. We are the best team and work great together.

Both of my Sister in laws are having babies within a month of each other!! I'll be having 2 littles nieces a month apart!! I cannot wait!!! THis should cure whatever ounce of baby fever I have in me for sure!!! :) We had Brandon's sisters' baby shower this past Sunday and it was a success!! I made my infamous spinach dip and everyone loved it!! She got alot of adorable baby clothes and the hostesses made a big basket of neccesities for her as well as $300 to put towards a crib.

I know one thing. I am in dire need of a vacay. I just want to get out this town for a while and see some new scenery!! My wish may come true if all goes well with Macys and I can get off the last weekend of May. Brandon has a friend that lives in Point Pleasant, WV and we may be road tripping it up there. I have off from my real job, just have to get off from Macys. Apparently getting a weekend off from there is a big deal, but we'll see how it will work.

I'm really also wanting us to go to Europe. I know not anytime soon would be doable but maybe for our 1 year anniversary?? We are just dying to go to Germany and Czech Republic. I want to take train rides back and forth and get to see the beautiful landscapes and mountains and scenery. Hopefully we can work something out and save up our money and go. I was pricing tickets just for the fun of it and it may not be too too bad. We'll just have to see.

Other than that, nothing too too exciting. Being married is great and we love every second of it. It seems like we have been married for forever but then we still find it funny to call each other husband and wife sometimes, in a good way, I didn't mean that bad at all!! I just feel soo lucky to be married to my best friend and I get to spend every day with him. I am truly blessed to have him!!

It's Official......

2009-03-05T12:39:00.000-08:00

I'm a MRS.!!!!!! (and funny thing, MRS is now my initials, heehe) but yes, as of 4 o'clock this past Saturday, February 28, 2009 I became Mrs. Brandon S.!!!! I am soooo excited!!! My husband was too totally handsome and when I saw him for the first time while heading down the aisle, my heart skipped a beat and I fell in love with him all over again. I knew at that moment I was at the exact spot I should be in. I loved our entire ceremony, it was soo romantic, sweet and very personal to us. The music that we had chosen, the scripture that was read and the vows that we wrote just made the ceremony, our ceremony. I could re-live the whole ceremony over and over again, it was so magical for me.

I have a few non-pro pics taken by my cousin and sister in law. Here's the link:

http://meganandbrandonwedding.shutterfly.com/21

I'm hoping some people took our picture share cards and will upload there pics to our website!!!! I'm dying to see more pics!! Our photog should have all of our pics to us by tomorrow or saturday, I HOPE!!!

Blubbering mess.....

2009-02-20T07:57:00.000-08:00

I think everything is starting to get to me. I started secretly wigging out last night because FI is having a bachelor party and I dont' know why I was getting so upset. I totally trust him, I know he won't do anything stupid, I totally know that and believe that. We both said in the beginning that we didn't want one, and now his Best Man is giving him one, which is totally fine. I guess all my old insecurities just got the best of me. I've been griping at him lately about stupid crap and I feel horrible about it, it's not his fault. The other day I apologized to him about it, but he understands, he knows I am busy and I don't mean it, cause I don't. I don't realize that I'm doing when I do, but later on I realize that I am, and I feel just horrible. I hate that. I don't want to be like that towards him especially with this being that last few days that we are an engaged couple.

I'm totally over it now. Totally done and over being upset about his bachelor party and all this other crap too. And this sounds soo dumb, but I was looking at this amazing wedding photographers blog, http://www.nicolechathamphotography.com/ and just looking at the pics of her weddings and the couples and crying my friggin eyes out, just made me realize, this other crap doesn't matter. Who cares that he's going out, we are going to be married and that's all that matters. Who cares that my mom is stressing me out more than the actual wedding is. Who cares that we have soo many programs to make and I don't feel like doing it, and that everyday my mom keeps adding more and more shit onto her list. I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!!!!!

The only thing I care about is being Brandon's wife. I am in love with an amazing man, and I don't deserve him. He gives me more love than I could ever ask for and he's the bestest friend that I've ever had and ever will have. I can't wait to begin our lives together. I cannot absolutely wait to have a family with him and hopefully our children will have his beautiful blue eyes and wonderful laugh and thick hair =) I think I am just over come with soo much joy and thankfulness right now. Next week is the beginning of our wonderful life together. I am just soo ready and have been sooo ready for this journey to begin. It's going to be magical, it's going to fun, it'll be a rollercoaster, but we will be on it together, side by side, as one.

T-minus 10 days....and counting

2009-02-18T08:51:00.000-08:00

Sooooo the wedding is 10 day, 10 DAYS AWAYS!!!! All the big stuff has been done. The last bridesmaids dress was purchased last night, HALLELUJAH!!! We are now finishing up the programs (150 done, 40 more to go!) and our aisle runner needs to be done and gifts need to be bought and bagged and thats pretty much it!!! I'm getting soo excited even though my mother is stressing me out. I love her to death but good lord she knows how to stress me out waaaay to much!!! I can't wait for this all to be over with and everything goes back to normal!!!

I still do need to get a card for Brandon for the wedding (i'm contemplating making him one, or going with a hallmark one, he loves it when I make him stuff, so I may just do that!). I also need to get a card for my parents and for my aunt and uncle who are doing our rehearsal dinner!!

I'm really nervous about the rehearsal. I hope that everyone pays attention and listens to what we want to have done. We ahve soo many people in our wedding party (mainly kids) but luckily their parents will be there, so hoepfully they will control their children, hehehehe :)

I still need to see if I can get brandons grandma to fix my petticoat. when I Had my bridals done a few weeks ago, I noticed that the hem was unravelling and it was all a hot mess!!! Soo that needs to be tended to, not that anyone would see it, but I would just feel better about it.

I feel bad lately cause I've been feeling like I've been griping at Brandon non stop, and I don't mean anything by it, I think I'm just stressed, and I'm gonna try to pay more attention to what I say to him. I don't want him to end up hating me after all this!!! hehe Not that he would. He does understand that I'm stressed out, thank goodness. He's such a great guy!!! I honestly feel like the luckiest gal in the world!!! I can't believe that I found someone that loves me as much as I love them and wants to be with me for the rest of our lives!!!!! It still amazes me everyday, and I just feel soo utterly blessed that we found each other, and are going to spend the rest of our lives together. We cannot wait!!!

Much needed update.....PICS

2009-02-16T09:20:00.000-08:00

OY!! I have been soo busy, living, breathing, eating WEDDING!!! Accckk!!! It's almost here (12 days) and we absolutely cannot wait!!! WOOHOO!!! Just to let you in on some progress we have made, i'm posting pics. That's pretty much what this whole post will be!! ENJOY!!

These are our hershey miniatures wrappers that I designed. We printed them on the paper that we used for our Save the Dates. It was kinda tedious, but we really like them!! I couldn't get a good shot of it, but on the other side where the ends of paper meet, it says "Est. 2-28-09"

Our "I DO" letters obviously. These were pretty easy. I painted the sides chocolate brown and then painted the tops our red color. FI went back over them and dry brushed them with the brown. I love how they turned out and I'm kinda thinking about adding some of the pearls we used from our cake topper, but not sure. We'll see! Our invites. These babies certainly were a labor of love, but we've gotten soo many compliments on them!! I did print them one at a time, because I was worried about something happening. It probably took longer than usual, but oh well. The hardest part was printing out the address labels. I don't know if it was our

printer or what, but they were giving me soo much trouble!! But overall, I love how they came out and loved our invites!!

Our napkins!!! At first we weren't going to do the personalized napkins, but then they kept going on sale, so we gave in! We only ordered 100, and we are going to get brown napkins and mix them together. These will be for the two cake tables. Our bell ringer bell (old school teacher bell)
Flower Girl baskets! Got these for a steal at Hobby Lobby during their infamous 50% off wedding stuff sale!! We have 4 flower girls, so we got lucky finding 4 that match! These are the bags that will be for our kids table at the reception!! We just got regulary brown plain gift bags. I designed a lable to go on them. We are putting in the bag: pb&J sammy (cut into a heart), goldfish, gummy snak things, crayons, a personalized coloring book and a little toy.

Our Programs!! These turned out to be pretty easy to design, the only tedious task of it was putting them together!! I just downloaded a skinny program template from www.gartnerstudios.com and used it to help me format my program. We ordered Stardream Metallic Paper in Mars from Anchor Paper (100 sheets for $25, and they send you the scraps with too which we are going to use for another project). My dad fixed our hole punch to do two holes close to each other. My mom cut out the individual pages and then I went back and trimmed them. Then we did the bow type thing (not an actual bow tie). We really like how they turned out and how they incorporate all of our colors.
Ceremony page

Wedding Party Page

House Party Page

Our Thank Yous!

Bags I got for my BM's and also for all the people helping us out too!!! They were cheap, came in quick and I really like them!!! Ebay seller, trotter06. They will also have in the bags, their pearl necklace, bracelet and earrings for the wedding, a manicure set, a heart shaped keychain, and personalized notepad and pen,

and some bath and body stuff! I hope they like it!

Our candy buffet containers. Just a mix of stuff, I didn't care what they looked like, we need one more though!!

Our bags for the candy buffet!! I love our stickers!! =) Our Cake toppers!!! We ordered our cake toppers from Crafty Eddy and we got the "S" in 5 in. and the "M" and "B" in 3 in. We painted them in pearl ivory (which you can't really see the pearl anyways, lol) and then we used flat back off white pearls (3mm, http://www.dreamtimecreations.com/) and then 3mm crystals and glued each and every single one on there. This has been the most tedious task, i think more so than the invites, but we did them and we love them!!!

Our 160 packets of bird seed. This didn't take us long to do, i just dread getting smacked in the face with tons of sunflower seeds and having to pick that crap outta my hair for weeks on end. This was FI's idea, and I swear if I hear him complain about it, he's gonna get it!!! hehe =)

Our glass cake cutter. It's a Dur-X fruit and cake knife. These were made between the 1920-1940's. People used them mainly to cut acidic fruits, and the acids from the fruits wouldn't stain the knife. My mom is nervous about this being glass and that it'll get broke or something but I just have to reassure her that thats not going to happen!!!
Our wedding mess at my parents house!!!! I know my mom is sick of seeing all of this crap!! hehe

Good Lord....

2009-01-21T06:36:00.000-08:00

I want to apologize severly on my lack of blogginess (i just made that up! hehe) I have been soo darn busy the past two months, I've barely have had time to breathe!!! AAACCCKK!! Anyways, sooo I'll try to give ya'll a quick run down of what all has been going on!!

1. The week after Thanksgiving I got a second job at Macys, to which as of right now I am still working, but trying to quit, but no one will answer the damn phone!!! =) That is seriously what has taken up my precious time and energy, but the weekly pocket change pay checks are always nice! =)

2. Brandon and I got a apartment!!! Well duplex really!! It is super cute and I will absolutely post pics!!! I moved in the week of New Years, and we just love it. He officially moves in after we are married, but of course he has his WWII museum all fixed and everything!

3. Christmas was an absolute blur!! It was a fantastic one though!!! Santa brought me the most beautiful Empire Red Kitchenaid Mixer I have ever seen!! I really cried when I saw and screamed too!! I named her Rita after Rita Hayworth!!

4. FI and I purchased our first firearm. He went to a gunshow and bought a .45 calibur. It's quite HUGE for a pistol, but that is what he wanted, and so now we have protection for us, you just never know what could happen. And no we don't live in a ghetto or anything, hehe. I'm wanting to get this cute little .38 something or other that is silver and has pink pearl hand grips. Of course, I only want it cause it's precious, but whatever =)

5. The wedding is coming around!! The invites were sent out The second week of January I think? lol and of course we still have some stragglers that we are getting out. We have so far invited 408!!! OMG!! WTH!! But alot are out of town, so who knows, we shall see.

6. I had my bridal shower this past weekend!! It was absolutely wonderful!!! My hostesses were amazing and put everything together soo nicely for me!! I loved it!! There were a few things that could've gone better, i.e. the grooms mother and sister could've stayed longer than 25, minutes, but other than that it was great!!! We got soo much stuff!! I'll post pics of that too in a bit!

7. My dress is finally getting there. I took it to have a corset put in and bustle and have her add my moms veil to mine for my blusher. I absolutely LOVE IT!!!! It's still at the alterations place cause she had to take some boning out of the bodice because it was sticking up, but other than that it's perfect!!!

8. Brandon and I took our e-pics back in December. We took them on the Battleship Texas!! We had a blast doing it and we love our pics!! Lol Will also post those in a bit too!!

9. My wedding check list is finally dwindling. I have made soo many checks it's not even funny!! I guess I need to regroup and come up with a new list! My mom's friend Debbie has been staying at my parents house every monday night so she doesn't have to drive over an hour to go to work the next day and she has been helping us out tremendously!!! I'm wanting to get as much done now so that the last week I can relax and not worry about a thing!!!

Well I think that is all for now for my recap. I'll repost again with some pics of stuff for everyone to see!!!!

Corsets, bustles, nutcrackers and more!

2008-11-17T07:50:00.001-08:00

Ohh my this weekend was pretty darn fun!!! We didn't do a whole lot WR but what we did that was WR, I feel like are big things to me!! =)

Friday night, FI and I just relaxed and chilled out. The week at work had been a hard one for me and I was just exhausted. (My co-worker was out all week so I was doing both of our jobs and I was TOTALLY stressed out. I had gotten my performance review and it was a VERY good one. My boss told me that most people don't score as high as I did after just a year!! YAY ME!!! )

Friday night we just relaxed, watch a movie and ate some wonderful beef stew that FI's dad had made. I was good though and didn't eat any cornbread!! =) OH, I also spoke with my photog about when to do Bridals and e-pics. They said we still haev PLENTY of time for both, which was a totally relief to me. The place that FI and I originally wanted to do e-pics had been damaged severely during the hurricane, but they are making progress as to getting it back on it's feet. They are hoping to re-open in a few weeks. My photog really wants to do our pics down there, so I just need to call and see when they are going to be back up and running and we'll go from there!! =) We'll just do my bridals whenever hopefully the weather is still good, hopefully before the end of december, january weather down here is nasty.

Saturday my mom and I were going to the alterations lady in Houston. I have unfortunately gained some weight and decided that I needed to put a corset in my dress so that I would be able to fit ok into my dress on the day of. My mom was pissed at first at this decision, well mainly because I had gained weight but whatever. So mom and I went. I put my dress on and I tried it on with a petticoat I had ordered that had 3 hoops in it (i had gotten it because I wanted my skirt to be really full) well it ended up being WAY to full and so we took it off. I'm just going to stick with my original one I had gotten when we got the dress.

One thing that rocked was that the lady was actually able to zip me up in my dress!! I was sooo excited!!!! My mom hadn't been able to earlier in the week ( i think she was being to careful) but the lady (dana) didn't ahve any problems!!! THis made me happy. Well I was glad that she was able to do that BUT the bodice didn't lay flat, it was kinda bunched up in the back and the front was kinda wrinkly. So she gave me two options, either she can let it out OR she can put the corset which she'll also have to take the bodice in too. We decided to go with her putting the corset in and taking the bodice in. I figured this would be the safest thing to. The corset cost $95 and taking the bodice in cost $85.

We also are getting her to do my bustle. My train is FOREVER long and it's going to take 10-12 pickups for her to bustle my train, but it looks OH SOO PRETTY!!! =) I LOVE IT!! And she does the color coding ribbons which will be soo easy to do!!!

This isn't my dress, but (I THINK) this is what my bustle is going to look like!!!

She will also be taking a piece from my mothers veil and adding it to my veil so that it will be my blusher. I'm really excited about this and it means soo much to me. I talked to FI and he wants to lift my veil, so that is settled to!! I think it's cool that the same veil that my dad lifted over my mom will be the same way FI will lift over me!! =)

After the alterations lady, we headed to Sams. We wanted to check out prices of candy for our candy buffet. They had some really good prices for the bulk stuff and I know we will be getting some of the candy from there for sure!! We also looked at cheesecakes which we will be having at our RD. We decided to get 3 plain and then have different kinds of toppings that you can put on it (blueberry, strawberry, cherry, chocolate) mmm it will be good!!!

After Sams, FI met us and picked me up and we headed to the nutcracker market at Reliant. OMG, I was in Christmas decoration HEAVEN!!!! Soooo many many things, that I had a hard time containing myself. Christmas is my most fav time of year, I LOVE decorating, I LOVE the smells, I LOVE christmas trees and just the whole ambiance of it, just makes me sooo happy!!! Well this place ahd everything. Booths were EVERYWHERE!!! We didn't get to see nearly everything we wanted but we did get a few things. I've become very big on personalized stuff for us so we got a Christmas plate that you can write on with a dry erase marker and you can whatever you want to on it. We got a cheese plate thats christmasy that has an S on it. We got a white cup towel with and embroidered S on it. We also got some other things like a sign to hang that says "Keep Christ in Christmas" and a big metal christmas tree that you put a pillar candle at the bottom of. They had this company there called Paul Michael and they had some fantastic prices on stuff. I sooo could've bought more but the wallet didn't allow that. But thats ok, I believe we are set for christmas when we finally get to have it at our OWN place!!! =)

After the nutcracker market we went and had mexican food, then went home and watched National Treasure 2!

Sunday, FI and I went to church. They had the little toddler kids sing a song and they were precious!! i wish I had taken my camera because they were just too cute!!! This couple that sat next to us had their new born baby in church with them, and they were just holding her and loving on her. It's moments like that when I get teary eyed and makes me want to have kids NOW!! =)

After church we went to Kohls and registered. I was pretty impressed with the selection of stuff there. It only took us an hour, I think becuase we weren't debating everything this time like we had before and we just kinda went nutz with the scanner!! OH well, it was fuN!!! =) But now I've gotta go and take some stuff off our other registry because we liked some stuff better at Kohls that at BBB.

After Kohls, we went to Conns too look at some furniture and a tv. The furniture that we had seen in the ad and online did NOT look anything like what was pictured. It was cheap looking which bummed us out. OH well. We did find a table and chairs that we REALLY REALLY like and it's only $300, so that's a possibility. We also found a tv that we like and may get, it will be our christmas and wedding gift to ourselves if we do get it, cause it's pretty expensive. It's a 50" plasma HDTV. It's soooo nice and somethign I never would've thought of us getting, but of course we do need a tv and why not??!!! but we shall see if we get it or not. Of course FI is like yeah lets get it and i'm like a nervous wreck like OMG thats alot of money. We are hoping that the day after thanksgiving they will have a HUGE sale and maybe we could get it then =)

Well that was our weekend in a nutshell. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!!! =)

Can't sleep

2008-11-11T08:18:00.000-08:00

I couldn't sleep last night for the life of me!! I kept thinking of all this stuff for the wedding I've got to do, then I started thinking about little stuff about the wedding that was worrying me. Like I was thinking about when we are leaving the church and getting into our little get away car, is there any lighting out there for people to see us?? Our Ceremony is at 4 and that will be like 20-25 minutes and then take pictures, reception is up stairs at church, that will be like an hour-an hour and a half, and then we'll be leaving like 630ish or so?? not sure, but It will probably be dark by then, cause the time will still be like it is now, and it's getting darker at 530ish or so.

So many little petty things I keep thinking of. I need to do some DIY stuff so I can just be done with it!!! =) I started working on wording for the invites. I'm not wanting to do the typical stuff, I wanted like a cute little phrase before it and then go from there. but we'll see. I can't fit much on our invites, well according to our template I can't. OH well. I'll figure something out.

OH! The first weekend of November, I went BM dress shopping with 3 of the girls!!! SOoo excited cause they all tried on and picked out their dresses!! Two are being bought off the rack (put on lay away) and just one needs to be ordered!!! YAY!!! Here's the dresses they picked out:

This is FI's sisters dress

This is my SIL Ashley (bros wife) and FI's niece Ryan's dress.

Fi's niece Drew, this is her dress

These are my shoes!! Ordered them from Davids Bridal in Champagne, the style is Chloe which is awesome since that's FI's familys dog name!!! =)

Another thing that has happened, that I do not think I have written about is that my Aunt and Uncle have generously offered to pay for our Rehearsal Dinner!!! When they told us, I was THRILLED beyond belief!!! I couldn't believe it!!! So now we are planning that. We are just doing something simple. It will be catered and will be at the Community Center down the street from FI's house. It's a whole lot cheaper for us to do it this way than having it at a restaraunt in town. We found some really cute tableware and stuff to use, and we've already thought about what to do for the invites too!!! My mom even ordered some little party favor cars (they look like old time cars) and we are going to put candy in them!!

We will have italian food catered from an italian restaraunt in town, and they have the BEST food!! =) I just hope that everyone likes it!! I'll be nervous cause I'm pretty sure we are supposed to say something at the dinner. I may even be crying too, who knows!! =)

My aunt's sister does embroidery, so my mom is going to order some hankies offline and get her to do them for free!! Just have to buy the thread and that's all!!

I guess another thing I've been thinking about alot is Christmas. It is FAST approaching!!! I can't believe it!!! I'm trying to convince FI that for he and I, instead of buying individual gifts, for us to put our money together and get a flat screen tv. We are going to have to get something cause when they switch over to whatever it is in February, we wont' be able to use either TV we have, but hopefully we can get the box for those too.

This weekend I am hoping that FI and I can go finish registering (i'm thinking Sears and maybe Kohls or Macys). I may have to bribe him with Mexican food but that's fine. Just as long as we can get that done!!! =) I wish there was more than one Crate in Barrel in town(just in Houston), I love that store and I would register there, but since there isn't one that is located close to people, we will refrain =( I wish (and this sounds absolutely horrible and bratty of me) that we were having my shower or getting married before christmas, so that we could register for christmas decorating stuff!!! haha i'm kinda kidding about that =) I wouldn't though, and I doubt the FI would let me!!!

But I absolutley love christmas time and decorating for it!! i cannot wait!!! FI and I bought a whole BUNCH of stuff after new years last year, all christmas decorating stuff and I can't wait to put it out!! I just wish we had our own place to put it out at =( oh well, thats ok, it'll still be fun!!!

Sorry this post is bouncing around from subject to subject, that's just how my mind has been lately, blah!!!!! But I will leave you with some vintage inspired christmas decorations!!

Halloween Fun!!

2008-11-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

Well I know this is a little late, but I just had to show off the jack-o-lanterns the FI and I made for Halloween this year!!! They turned out soo good!! We had a blast doing them and both agreed that we would do this every year! (YAY for traditions!!) In conclusion, here are our first ever jack-o-lanterns that we did together!!!

All of our pumpkins together: FSIL Ashleys, FI's and minePumpkins on the porch!

This is Fi's pumpkin!! The dog on the right he did to look like Chloe =)
This is my pumpkin, ol snaggle tooth, and yeah i did use the stencils, there is no way in this world that I could do this on my own!! =)
This is Fi and Chloe! We dressed her up for Halloween!! She didn't care to much for the witch hat, but we thought it looked soo cute on!!
This is how Chloe begs when she wants some food =)

Happy Halloween!!!

2008-10-31T09:17:00.000-07:00

FI and I aren't doing much today for the holiday except watching some ghost hunters and handing out candy the trick or treaters around the neighborhood. I hope we get alot this year, last year we didnt and that kinda sucked, but oh well. Last night we carved pumpkins, I'll post pics of that later tonight after we light it up!!! =) I was just going to post some pics i have about Halloween, ENJOY!! I thought this halloween wedding cake was quite interesting!!! =)

Who says dogs can't go trick or treating, huh???

Weddings and Airshows

2008-10-30T13:20:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was SUPER busy!!!! My cousin Wendy got married and had a BEAUTIFUL wedding!!! Everything started Thursday night. My Nana came into town and my family (including Fi of course) and my uncle and aunt and two cousins and my Nana went to eat at Pappasitos. It was soooo good!!!! Fi had the juiciest thickest steak smothered in onions and peppers and cheese. It was sooooo darn good!!!

We had a great time getting to visit with everyone before the wedding!! It was great!!! This was also the first I had seen my Nana since July =( She lives 4 hours away, and we don't get to make it up to see her very often. Everytime I get to see her is a real treat!! =)

The next day, my mom, Nana, and me went with my aunt my cousin and her bridesmaids to get a manicure. We had a lot of fun just sitting and talking with one another. My cousin Wendy who got married, just moved out to Vegas back in May. She graduated from A&M with her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine....yes she is the prodigal child of the family =) Which is fine, i'm just as happy with my associates degree as I could be!! hehee

Anyways, that afternoon FI and I went to go get him shoes for the wedding and then he went and got a haircut. I had to get ready for the Rehearsal Dinner and get all schnazzied up =) We went to the rehearsal dinner at a local mexican restaraunt and it was sooo good!!! They had fajitas for everyone and they were super yummy!! =) Both sets of parents gave the couple lovely gifts. Her MIL gave them a quilt that she and her quilting friends had made and it was beautiful. They also recieved a crocheted blanket in A&M colors. The bride and groom also gave out presents to everyone. All of the ladies recieved a hanky with the bride and grooms name on it and their wedding date. They were sooo cute!! I'm soo glad that I got one!! =) Her aunt has an embroidery machine and so she is also going to embroidery some for me too!!! Here's a pic of FI and me at the RD!!

That night after the RD, FI went back to his house and I headed to my house to get to working on my cousins programs for the wedding and also the favors. With the help of a few bridesmaids and the dads and my nana, we finished assembling all 120 programs around 12:30!!! NOT GOING TO BE DOING THAT FOR OUR WEDDING!!!!! NO WAY!!! After that, I was wide awake, so I went to FI's played some Madden 09 with him and then went home and went to bed.

Saturday was wedding day. My mom and I both had hair appointments that morning. Her's at 10:30 and mine at 11. My mom hated how her hair turned, but I absolutely loved mine. I showed her a picture of Katherine Heigl from 27 dresses and she did exactly that!! i was sooo excited with how it turned out!!! And of course, I didn't take any 360 degree pics of it, oh well. It looked good.

After I got my hair did, I had to go run a few errands, then I went home to get ready. I had to be up at the church at 3. My job for the ceremony was to light the candles that were in the windows and to pass out programs and to meet and greet people. I also got to check out the beautiful flowers arrangements at the altar. The flowers in them were just stunning!!! THey were soo huge and deep in color. Here's a far away view of them:

The picture is crappy and I apologize for that. The flowers were 3 different types of rose. The big deep red ones had been grown to where it looked like the petals were folded back and they were HUGE!!! THe florist had also put some hydrangea in there, and I was extactic to see the colors of the hydrange, light blues with purple on the ends of the petals!!! SOo beautiful!!! I just adore flowers and seeing them like this just amazed me.

Well the wedding went off without a hitch. I cried, FI made notes about what he liked and didn't like, and FI and my brother wore almost the exact same thing. The photographers called them the DOuble mint twins, it was the joke of the evening =)

Here's some pics of me and FI and my fam from the evening:

I know you can't see them well, but I'm wearing the cutest red satin shoes ever!!!

I got them at Target, and they even have a little bow on top by the peep toe!!!

I decided to kinda keep my theme (just for myself) kinda 40s. They hair was pretty much from that time,

and so I wore the pearls and of course the red lipstick which also helped with my shoes, since my

red purse situation did not work out so well for me =(

(I bought a purse on ebay, thinking it was red, it ended up being burgandy)

After the ceremony was over, of course we all took family photos with the photogs, who were hilarious. I wish we could've had them for my wedding, but they were waaaaay over our budget. After the photos FI and I took the flowers from the ceremony out to the reception. One bad thing about having a reception thats far away from the ceremony, it just takes a long time, and when we got out there, alot of the guests had already arrived and we were carrying in the flowers (they probably didnt care, but oh well, it just kinda bothered me, I would've rather the flowers had been there already before the guest arrived, but it happens alot i'm sure and I know it will happen at mine! )

Anyways, the reception was decorated beautifully. All the tables either had a hight floral centerpiece or alot of candles on a mirror. THe lighting was low, and it made it very romantic. My cousin and her husband had choreographed a song, i'm not sure what kind of dance it was, something slow, a waltz kinda like, but not a waltz, it was very pretty and I of course cried!!!

The dinner was absolutely DELISH!!! THey had garden salad, glazed carrots, green beans that had been cooked with bacon(they were soooooooo good) and then smoked chicken with bacon wrapped around it and stuffed with broccoli cheese rice casserole. OMG it was soooo GOOD!!!!

Here's a few pics from the reception:

Me and my DADDY!!!! I heart him!!! He's my friggin hero!!! =)

This is me and my cousin Cathy. She is Wendys sister and she was also maid of honor too.

Me and the FI. I had just dragged him out to dance (he's not a big dancer, hehe)

Me and my Mommy and my sweet sweet Nana!!!

(go ahead and say, "you look like your mom!", hehe)

This is my favorite one of us that night

Well after the reception and we blew bubbles at the newly weds (which the FI has now decided he likes), we helped pick up stuff that needed to be taken to my aunt and uncles house. We also got all of the centerpieces (floral) and the head table flowers (which were the altar decorations at the ceremony) and loaded them up in the car, my aunt wanted to take them back to the church in the morning so that they could be used. We got to keep one of the centerpieces and it was just georgous, heres some pics:

Sunday was a big day for the FI and I. It was the annual Wings Over Houston Airshow!!! This is like the biggest thing that happens once a year that FI looks forward to everyyear. He's soo cute too, he's like a little kid at the candy store. It was a perfect day too for the airshow. The sky was blue, not a cloud in the sky, and the temp was around 70, just perfect!!!

We got to see all the old warbirds that we just absolutley LOVE!!! They did their heritage flights and we even got to see FI's fav warbird, the P-38 Lightning named "Glacier Girl" fly. I've never seen a P-38 fly and it was absolutley AMAZING!!!! It's a twin tail, two engine plane and it sooo bad ass!!!! I was in awe as I watched it do it's thing in the sky. I LOVED IT!!!

The main act for the day was teh Thunderbirds. They were awesome!!! I was soo jealous that the lead solo pilot was a girl. I want to fly a plane soo bad!!! And seeing that a woman could fly like taht just encouraged me even more!!! Hopefully, before we have kids, FI and I can get our pilots license!!! All in all the day was PERFECT!!!! I will never ever forget it!!

Don't laugh at my visor, hehe The sun was in my eyes Channel 2 was giving them out free =)

All in all, the weekend was the best I had had in a long time but I was glad when the weekend was over. I've been exhausted all week trying to recooperate from it!!

The past two weeks

2008-10-23T10:10:00.001-07:00

have sucked major ass hole!!!!!! Fi's mom went into the hospital on the 13. She was throwing up blood and they found a tear in her esophagus and a blood clot in her stomach. A few days later they found a huge varicose vein in her stomach, no bueno. I feel soo sorry for her. She's supposed to get released today to go home. She had a procedure yesterday where they put a shunt in to bypass the flow of blood to the varicose vein so that it will go down in size. I hope to god it works.

I've just super stressesd about that, and worrying about FI and how he's handling all of it. He doesn't talk about it and when I ask him he doesn't want to talk about it. So I just leave him be. I just think it's better to discuss it if something is bothering you, but apparently not him on this subject. ANy other thing, he'll tlak about but not this. One thing that worries me about him is that he doesn't tell his mom he loves her. She'll say it to the both us and I'll say it back, but he doesn't. I know he does, but I guess he's just not one to say it to his family. He says it to me all the time which I love,but I dont' know why it's soo hard for him to say it to them?? And I don't know if this is something that should bother or if it's something I should confront him about. He doesn't even give them hugs or anything he never has. His grandma told me he's been like that since he was little. I don't know why.

The wedding stuff is getting to me. I'm not doing boudoir pictures anymore which I'm really sad about. I just don't have that kind of money to spend when we need it for other stuff. Like rehearsal dinner, caterer, decorations, gifts for people, favors, invites, things like that. PLUS finding a place for us to live!!! UGGH a nightmare!!! I think we are just going to get an apartment in baytown and be done with it. Rent is sky high, but what can you do?? I woudl rather have a rent house, but they are sky high as well too. It friggin sux. THis economy sux, no one can buy houses so they have to rent which in turn allows the rentee's to put whatever type of pricetag they want to on the rental property!!! It's stupid and dumb.

FI and I did drive out to Liberty this past weekend, and we totally want to move there. It's the cutest little town that actually has a main street that surrounds the court house and then it also has the most adorbale homes ever!!!!! That's exactly what we want too!! it'll make my commute longer, but I don't care, i already drive 40 miles there and back, whats an extra 20?? Maybe by the time we move out there, I'll be working somewhere else anyways, who knows.

I'm sad I haven't barely been able to read any of my book I started a while back. I'm probably gonig to have to start over from the beginning so I can remember everything that I've already read.

I want to start on my DIY projects now. I want to get them finished and just be done with them. I think the reason I keep putting them off is because I keep thinking "oh i have time" blah blah whatever, stop procrastinating DAVIS AND JUST DO IT!!!! =) I'm a horrible procastinator, but God help me, I get my stuff done, even if it is last minute. but I don't want to be like that for the wedding. I want to have everything done so that I can enjoy it and not be stressed out about having to hurry and get stuff done!!!

I've got to get my happy butt back into a workout routine. I totally blame IKE for messing it up. I was doing sooo good!! Jogging like 3-4 times a week!!! I had even gotten up to 4.2 miles!!!! And FI was noticing and thats a HUGE plus to me!!! I have got to get back on it!! and it sux!! i'm stressing about how my dress may not fit, I am considering getting a corset put in the back so it'll be like that instead of zipped up. Maybe that iwll also help with the back fat issue too!! =)

Ok, i'm done =)

To Do's

2008-10-23T10:03:00.001-07:00

Oh lord, as I sit here trying to make an honest to goodness to do list, I want to just go on vacation. I have soooooooooooooooooooooooo much to DO!!!! EEEEK!!!! OK, here's thus far my to do list in no particular order I don't think!!

To Do list

BM Dresses- have them pickout and order
Finish Guest List- need rest from FI’s side
Finalize cake look- take pic of wedding dress to Mary so she knows what I want
Finalize catering menu- make appointment with Debbie to go taste
Finalize decorations- can be done on tasting appointment with Debbie
Finalize floral order with florist
Take Bridal pics
Take Engagement pics
Order Tuxes –can be done a bit closer, but I have a $25 off coupon that must be used by 12/26
Bridal Party Gifts:
Guys- no clue, I love the pocket watches or maybe just get different for each guys taste (also like embroidered coolers with their name)
Girls-have their jewelry, need to decide if I’m going to get them embroidered bags with their name or just a makeup bag or robe with their name, and also what else is going to go in it, Bath and Body Stuff?
Need to order comb for my hair
Need to decide on my earrings
Order my shoes (DB)
Get mom’s veil and attach it to mine for my blusher –something Old
Finish purchasing invitations (Michaels)
Work on wording for invites
stuff and send out invites
Need to do our counseling sessions with Brad
Book mini-moon: wedding night at Hotel Icon and then hangar hotel in Fredericksburg for a few nights
Buy favors for wedding (cookie cutters at Michaels, hearts)
Work on and Complete Aisle Runner
Work on and Complete Table Runners
Work on and Complete Flower Girl baskets
Work on and Complete Wish cards
Work on and Complete Wedding Programs –already working on wording
Decide on Music for Ceremony
Decide on Music for Reception (see list)
Decide on readings for ceremony
Purchase or borrow Kerri’s cake cutting set
Something Old- mom’s veil
Something Borrowed and blue-my mom’s sapphire ring
Something new-my dress, shoes, earrings, everything else
Order garters from gartermaker.net
Order Dress label from gartermaker.net
Order Bouquet wrap from gartermaker.net
Work on and Complete Unity Candle
Finish buying candy buffet containers
Decide what candy we want (already have twizzlers)
Gifts for parents- NO CLUE!!! Maybe hankies for the moms!!
Finalize plans for Rehearsal Dinner-can’t book community center until mid November, talk to Antonio’s about catering (should be inexpensive)
Invites for RD
Finish registering for gifts (kohls? Sears? Macys? Not sure? =) )
Buy wedding bands!!!!!
Embroider my hanky for me
lingerie for honeymoon
Find a place for us to live
Move into place for us to live-yayay no more having to pay for storage building!! WOOHOO!! =)
Alterations for dress!!! Possibly getting a corset put in?
Go dress shopping with my mom for her a dress!
Need dress for RD and shower
Put shower gifts for hostesses together (lotion and soap from B&B)
Make favor tags to put on our favors!
Get candy buffet bags
Get stickers to put on our candy buffet bags
Need to get more scoops for candy buffet (Michaels)
Finalize with Dave about video for wedding

Books, Books, Books....

2008-10-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

So I just finished my first book in a long time. It was highly recommended by a fellow knottie and Blogger. When she had said what it was about I knew I'd be hooked, and I was. The book is called "Dream When your Feeling Blue" by Elizabeth Berg. It's about these three sisters, The Heaney sisters and how they dealt with life and times during WWII. It was a wonderful book and I totally recommend it. I get so fascinated and caught up with peoples lives back then. I mean, the best paying jobs were working at the factories, which was hard grueling work, making 60 cents an hour, which apparently was verrry good money for then.

When it talked about the girls going to the USO dances and getting all dressed up, I just could imagine those were sooo much fun!! I would have loved to live back then!!! The lifestyles, the cars, the clothes, the jewelry, the way of life itself, is soo different than today and soo more real. People actually sat down and had family dinners EVERY NIGHT. Communities came together, to do what they could to rally the troops and support them in every way possible. They made victory gardens, donated bumpers from their cars for metal to make anything needed. Groceries were rationed, gas was rationed, everything was pretty much rationed. If you wanted a cake, you sometimes had to wait a week or so, cause eggs and flour just didn't come that easy.

I don't know if our country that we live in today could handle going through what the people of the 1940s went through, or even '30s for that matter. We take too many things for granted in todays society. Life was harder back then, I know thats true, but people learned to cope with it and move on and pull together. I sometimes imagine myself living back then. I know my FI would give anything to have gone and fought in that war. And I'm sure I would be one of the many woman, going to work in, dare I say, "slacks", working at a factory, or volunteerring at the hospital to take care of the wounded or joining the Women's Airforce Service Pilots(a.k.a. WASPs)....that's really what I would've loved to have done.

I would've loved to have flown for the WASPs back then. That would've been soo amazing. There were only a little over a 1,000 women who actually were WASPs and earned there lovely diamond wings. They had the cutest mascot too. Her name was Fifinella or "Fifi" for short. She was a character created by Disney (who in that time created many mascots and what not for the war, they can be seen on all types of patches for the men in the armed services), and she was sooo cute.

Anyways, I've realized now that I've gotten waaaay off subject. I always do that. Oh well, it's my blog! =)

I hope that I can find more books like this one. I love reading about life back in the 40's, during the war, and just hearing the stories from them, it just amazes me. If anyone knows of anymore, please let me know!! I would truly appreciate it!!!

The book I just started last night is about a jewish-german immigrant girl, who basically is on a quest to find out the truth about her families life before they came to America. I just started it and I haven't gotten very far, but I anticipate it to be wonderful!! =) I'll let ya'll know!!

Hair Trial Pics!!!

2008-10-06T13:03:00.000-07:00

So Thursday evening (10/2) I went and had my hair trial with Marissa over at Uruku in Baytown. She did such an amazing job and I'm sooo happy with how it turned out!!! I bought the extensions for my hair and she put those in first. Then she curled all of my hair all over and then styled. It took about an hour and a half. I'm soo happy with the final product and I LOVE how my curls look with my veil on!!!! YAY!!! ONe good thing that's gone right thus far!!! WOOHOO!!

Here are my pics( my mom took the pics, God help her, and so they are not that great, and I don't have a good one of the back of it at all but I tried):

I like how my hair looks with the veil on, teehee :)

Back of hair with veil on

Updates!

2008-10-02T13:53:00.001-07:00

Ok, now fully recovered after Ike, here's the latest!!

Tonight I am going to get my hair trial done with Marissa!! I am soo excited!! My mom and I had met with her this past Saturday, I was not having a good morning and I felt like my mom was constantly making funny of me and making me feel ugly and I friggin cried there in the chair (i blame PMS and mr. STress on that too). My mom is wanting me to get a body wave done so that my hair will have more body for the big day and also hold the curl better. I have virgin hair , and have not put any harsh chemicals on it in like 3-4 years. Well anyways, Marissa thinks we may be able to get away with not having to get a body wave, but if not I will get one and suffer through the agony of frizzy unwanted curly hair for the next few months until I can grow it out!!!

Mom and I also went last Saturday to look at extensions. We went to Sallys, and were sticker shocked!!! I didn't realize how expensive they were!!!! Well we didn't get any that day but I bought some pretty little bobby pins for the trial just for her to play with since I haven't found "the right ones" yet!!!

Sunday, FI and his dad and I took a couch that FI's grandma gave us (a sleeper sofa) up to my storage. We had to completely rearrange all my stuff in there (you'd be amazed at what all you can cram into a 10x10 space!!! Luckily it all fit!! YAY!!!

Last night I finally decided that duh, I need to go get my extensions. SO I first went to another beauty supply place that just had massive rows upon rows of extensions. The only affordable kind they had though were ones with out clips. I called Marissa and she was like you need to get the ones with clips. SO then I left there and went BACK to Sallys to see if they had soem that matched my color in the 18" length, and OMG they did!!!! It matches soo much better than the dark ones!!! Sooo I got them (they were $79.99) and I had a $5 off coupon that I had gotten Saturday when I bought the bobby pins so I used that plus my sallys card. I also got some fake eyelashes and a barrel brush blow dryer (which I'm not to pleased with by the way).

I did try the fake eyelashes on last night and they ROCK!!! I got the natural looking ones for the day of and they blend in sooo good!!! They just give my eyelashes I have now more body and volume i think!! I LOVE THEM!! and they were cheap too!! like $3.49 or something.

Last week (Thursday) Carrie and I met up for the best lunch ever!! We dined at Cafe Express and then went to Cacique to look at lingerie. We both tried on several adorable outfits and then decided we both liked the same one, so we have matching lingerie!!! hehe We both look great in it and it will be perfect for our b-pics for our guys!!! =)

This was great after finding out some horrible news. The Lone Star Flight Museum, which is the museum in Galveston which houses many WWII airplanes and also has a Hall OF Fame, full of priceless artifacts and memorabilia, was pretty much destroyed. I was heartbroken. This was the place for our first date,one of our most fav places to go and also where we were going to have our e-pics at. We were both sooo saddened by it. Now we have no clue where we are going to take our pics at. We wanted the museum because it represents us sooo well, and we were going to wear our 1940s outfits and everything. I just wanted us to be different and not take them in a garden like everyone else or around Rice or something, no offense, those places are georgous, but they just aren't really us. OH well, we'll see. So now FI and I are going to volunteer in the restoration project. We are going over there on Saturday and I cannot wait!!!!!

I just wanted to do a quick update, I'll post pics later of my hair trial!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!! =)

Ike Aftermath Pics

2008-09-23T10:15:00.000-07:00

As promised, Ike aftermath pics....I hope you like!! These are all taken by me with my Canon Eos Rebel DSLR camera, it's my baby, I'm no pro, but they aren't too too bad!!!

These photos are from around town (I'll caption them so you'll know what you are looking at!!):

These are of a Taqueria on North Main in Baytown

These are pictures down on the north end of Garth Road (one of our main roads in Baytown)

This is a medical office building that was in the process of being built.

It was 3 stories high....it completely collapsed on top of itself.

Leaning power lines

This is Texas Ave., the more historical part of our city

These are pics from the other side of town on another main street, Alexander.

These are from a body shop on Alexander

Gas Station in front of Krogers

Conns on Alexander

Citgo on Massey Tompkins

This is a cemetary down the road from our city park. Goose Creek (which is one of our big creeks) runs right along side of it, and just like everything else gets fed from the Bay, the creek was up the highest I've ever seen it too.

This is Goose Creek which is right next to the cemetery

Cemetery

This is on the road headed towards the cemetary and Goose Creek (above).

It wasn't all flooded, just this part of the road was. This street is also

right in front of our city park (shown below)

The following photos were taken on Ferry Road in front of Cedar Bayou Methodist church. Ferry Road is known for flooding in heavy rains, but I've never seen it like this. You can see in the first picture the water rescess line (where all the debris is) and that is how high it got. About 6 or more inches got into the church. They are having to tear up the floors, pews and sheet rock in that beautiful church. It just breaks my heart.

The following four are from our town park, this is where we have our 4th of July Fireworks and stuff, the college I attend is in the background.

The following pictures are from FI's neighborhood:

The following is from a neighborhood out on the bay that feeds in from the Gulf of Mexico, they have high elevation for being on the water, but the water still rose up ALOT!

Ike Ike bo bike......

2008-09-19T08:10:00.000-07:00

Soo I have neglected my blog the past few weeks and I feel horrible about it. Anyways I wanted to post about my most recent exciting, overwhelming, tragic experience known as Hurricane Ike.

Living in the Gulf Coast, this time of year is always scary due to the fact that hurricanes love the month of August and September. We've had several this year unfortunately and we just got hit with a pretty big one, Ike. Several weeks ago we just had Gustav hit Louisiana, so I guess this time it was our turn.

The reality of it really started to set in on Tuesday before the hurricane. My family was discussing what we would do, should we still be in the path of Ike as it made land fall. We decided that we would evacuate to my cousin Eric's house in Palestine, Tx (north east and about 3-3 1/2 hours away). I believe (this is all blurry to me now kinda) on Wednesday people were starting to evacuate from Galveston heading up north. My dad and I boarded up our house and started getting things out of the yard that could be projectiles and cause damage.

Thursday came and Ike had moved more towards our direction (it was looking to hit more along Matagorda bay, but now it had turned pretty much dead on to Galveston). They had mandatory evacuations for certain zip codes and we were one of them. I left work early on Thursday and went home to start packing. We were ready to go and then got a call from FI's family that they were staying. We felt like we needed to stay so that we could help them get ready for the storm. I called my parents (they had already left) and they were ok with it. My mom of course was worried, but dad knew I was in good hands, and plus I would be there to be able to access any damages afterwards. So Thursday afternoon we go to Home Depot which had just gotten a huge shipment of plywood in and luckily we were able to get plywood for FI's family's home. The line there was ridiculous and it was just the beginning of the mayhem.

We got all the windows boarded up and kept our eye on Ike. We watched the news like it was going out of style, hoping to hear updates that Ike had turned, but nothing. Early Friday morning I had gone home to get more things from my house to take to FIs. For some reason, I felt like if it was with me, then it was safe (silly I know, but that's how I am). I had sent my beloved wedding dress with my parents which was a big relief to me. I don't know if I was crazy when I was packing up more stuff to take to FI's but of all the things I could think of to take, I took my over 100 DVD collection. Soo silly, but oh well. =)

Later Friday, FI and I drove around looking around to see what all was open and closed. Just about everything in Baytown was boarded up. Of course Hartz Chicken, Popeyes and KFC were open, I guess tehy wanted to get rid of the chicken so it wouldn't get bad =) we weren't about to wait in that line though. We found a Texaco down the street from FI and went in and bought some snack'ums =). Throughout the day we continued to watch as the waters were rising in Galveston and already covering the streets. Yeah the waves already going over the 18 foot sea wall and the storm hadn't even come yet?? That was pretty crazy. I know our bayou had already started getting high from the storm surge early Friday, and that was pretty scary since it runs behind our house!!

Friday night was kinda just a wait and see type thing. I fell asleep I think (just a nap) until the power went out and then it was on. Winds were howling, rain was pouring. We were camped out in FI's parents garage (his dad had parked his truck long ways against it, so we were kinda protected) but we could see the winds just blowing, Tranformers blowing up, and the eerie noise of what resembled a whistle blowing in the distance. We got battered pretty good the first go around. Ike managed to knock over a tree in FI's yard and part of their back fence. The eye passed over us and it was creepy calm. FI and I had parked our cars in the neighbors across the street drive way and we went and looked at them and they, luckily, were just fine!! I was worried soo much about our cars. We were kinda walking down the street to look at some other houses to see if we could see any damage but couldn't really. A electrical tower that was across the street and in the field was sparking all up and down and that was VERY scary.

We decided we should probably get back inside before the second wave of stuff came around. Around 5 in the morning I somehow managed to fall asleep on the couch, but woke up at 7 to the sounds of the wind banging the windows and howling. I can still remember the sounds of it and I will never forget it. It was the creepiest scariest noise, and mother nature sounded soo pissed. It was very unnerving to see the wind doing what it was doing since there was more light outside. FI's family lost all of their fence now and had lots of branches down in there yard.

Brandon's front yard tree that fell

Finally fell back asleep and woke up at 1030. The storm had now been over for about 20 minutes. First thing I wanted to do was go to my house. I left fi's, it was still raining but the winds had died down. As I started driving down the road, I could see the damage that had been done. Trees everywhere, debris scattered about, it was a mess. As I crossed over the bridge that the bayou ran under my heart sank. Seeing how high it had risen was just alarming.

This is the bayou that runs between my neighborhood

and the neighborhood next to us. This is the first time

in 22 years that I've seen it this high.

As I drove through the first neighborhood before you get to mine, I started balling. I saw pine trees on top of houses, huge branches everywhere ( I was too busy looking that I forgot to snap some pics), and I immediately thought that our house didn't make it. My yard has 7 pine trees alone in it plus some oak trees (one of which is a leaning tree, that the kidss love to climb up).

I could barely drive because I was crying soo much. The devastation that I saw that Ike left was unbearable. I finally reached my street. I couldn't drive down it becuase a tree had fallen across the road, blocking it.

These are pictures looking out at my street from my house,

the top one is of the tree that fell across the road.
Our sidewalks were flooded as was my driveway. Luckily to my surprise we had no trees down. Just some huge branches! Our back and side fence were down also, but we kinda figured that would happen.

The creek that runs behind our house (which you can see in the above picture) was as high as I had seen it. After I inspected our house, I went inside and luckily our land line was still working (which was amazing cause we had a huge branch fall on our phone line). So I called my dad, bawling still and he calmed me down. He had me go throughout our house, looking for any leaks that we might've gotten. We didn't have any, and that was really good, then I went to the attic to check it out, cause our chimney leaks, there was a little bit of water that was dripping (my dad had tried to repair prior to Ike) but it wasn't anything horrible. I drove around my neighborhood and took some pics and here is what I took: This house is on the corner right down the street from my house. The

tree that was by their front porch fell over and the sidewalk that was

around came up with it.

Sorry this one is blurry

I left my neighborhood and went back to FI's house to wake him up. I wanted to drive around town and take pictures. So we left his house and went driving around his neighborhood to see all the damage. (I've decided I"m going to post all of the rest of my pics in a seperate post becuase Blogger is dumb in how you put the pics in your post and it's getting on my nerves!) So we drove around town, it just looked horrible. We were in total shock the whole time. Baytown just didn't look the same. What saddened me the most was a church that we have in town. It sits right on the edge of a HUGE bayou that feeds in from the bay. The church got 6 inches of water in it. When we pulled up to it, the entire parking lot was still flooded. The church has a cemetary behind it and all of the head stones were covered with water (like headstones from the 1700's and 1800's) it was soo sad. My best friend had gotten married there and my uncle is the sound guy there. It was a beautiful church with stained glass and pipes in the sanctuary. My uncle told me that they had to tear up all the flooring, the pews, the sheetrock in it. THey aren't sure if insurance will cover it for them to fix the problems or to just rebuild in another location.

Well for the first time ever, I got to experience what it was like to live off of a generator and no a/c. It was quite an experience. Every two hours we would be refilling the generator with gas cause it would turn off (and yes this included in the middle of the night and that was not fun). Standing in line at the FEMA P.O.D.s (Points of distribution) was interesting, and waiting for hours in line for gas like you would never be able to get gas again, was quite entertaining, after all, I did see a fight break out! And also being told that there was no more gas when you were the next one in line after waiting for two hours, yeah that kinda sux.

After going through all of this, I realize that I am lucky. I am lucky to have my house, to have my loved ones and everyone around me safe. Not everyone in this storm was that lucky. Many lost everything, including family members, and I cannot bear to think what that felt like. Who cares that we don't have power or cable, atleast we still have our home we can go to, soo many do not. My heart just goes out to those who are sifting through remnants of belongings and knowing it will never be the same. I pray that they find a light at the end of the tunnel and know that God has a plan for everyone and he will help see you through it, you just have to trust him.

Ok, I think I have written enough. I just wanted to get most of my experience out into the open, it felt all bottled up inside. There is still soo much I could write about, but for now, this should be plenty. Thanks for letting me get it out!! =)

And just to reitterate....

2008-08-28T12:42:00.001-07:00

I'm soooo super excited that today is our 6 month mark!!!!! I can't believe it's actually here!! It seems like just yesterday was our 1 year mark!!!! My goodness time does fly!!!! I have soooooo much stuff to do, lemme try to break it down, and maybe I can use this to keep track:

Go pickout and order BM dresse
Buy invitations(can do now)
Mail out invitations(won't be until January 1 probably)
Get MOB dress
Order Flower girl dresses
Order tuxes for ring bearer and bell ringer
Make baskets for Flower girls
Get bells for Bell Ringers
DIY Aisle Runner
DIY unity candle (have stuff, just need to make!)
DIY Table runner(s) (have stuff just need to make!)
Programs
Candy buffet (needs jars and candy!)
Candy Buffet Banner (Need to get supplies and make, have image of what I'm gonna do)
Take E-pics
Take Bridal Pics
Take Boudoir Pics
Buy lingerie for mini-moon and for B-pics
buy my shoes, jewelry, etc.
order garter, bouquet wrap, and dress label
Meet with cake lady to discuss the cake (she's already booked
Meet with florist to finalize what we want
Meet with caterer/decorator to pick out centerpieces and other details
Buy BP stuff
Write vows
Meet with pastor for counseling
Hair/Makeup Trial with Marissa (trial will be done for bridal portraits so we dont' have to pay for an extra time)
Candy bags for buffet
candy scoops for buffet

I'm stopping, this list is making me depressed but also excited at the same time!!! I see it as a challenge and I'm gonna take it!!! hahaa =)

WRITERS BLOCK SUX!!!

2008-08-28T12:28:00.000-07:00

Soooo I'm usually writing FI poems for special occasions that happen in our lives. Today is our 6 month to our wedding anniversary and I wanted to write him a poem. I wrote him one for our year to our wedding anniversary and he loved it and wants to frame it and hang it up in our house.

Well, I just wrote one, it's not as good as I usually do cause I didnt' want to be repititve. It's not as long either, but oh well. I have soo much on my mind with other things I think that's what is causing my problem. OH well. Well here is my poem I wrote:

6 Months from Today

Today I look ahead
To one of the most cherished days of our lives,
When you become my husband, and I become your wife.

This feeling is so surreal,
As if it is a dream,
But I cannot wait until we become the Mr. and Mrs. S**** team!

I love you with all my heart
And that will always be true,
Even when you are sick, snotty, and even have the flu.

Our wedding day will be most memorable,
From the first look, first touch, first kiss,
A day that we can always reflect on and give us eternal bliss.

I got some pretty paper from Hobby Lobby and I'll print it on that and got some rose petal cardstock to go on the front too. He'll like it, I hope!

blah

2008-08-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

Sooo I'm just feeling kind of blah right now and for the stupidest pettiest reasons. For one, FI is working a shutdown starting Friday, and he will also be working nights, which means that our schedules will pretty much be opposite. I don't know why this is freaking me out soo much, well not freaking but more like OMG i'm gonna miss him soo much. We've been together for nearly a year and 3 months, and have never spent a day apart. I know that's probably ridiculous to most, but that's just us. But thank god this shutdown is only 9 silly days long. I can cope with it, but I don't have to Like it. He will be making .50 cents more an hour though!! Anyways, I should be thankful for it being only 9 days instead of like several months, you know?

Sometimes in life we get so discouraged by things, that it's hard for us to look at the bright side. Like I mean atleast I'll still get to see him even though it won't be for as long as we are used to and atleast we live close to each other that we are able to see each other everyday. I know what it's like to not get to do that, and from going from that to this, I would never go back. I used to be in several long distance relationships, one lived in chicago, one lived in georgia, and the other only lived a little over an hour away but still. Sooo from going from that to this, is just like WOOHOO!! AMAZING!! Anyways, I think I lost my point, shit. Oh well. I guess basically what I was trying to say was that even though I'm not looking forward to him going on this shutdown, atleast it's not forever and only a few days, and I need to focus on that and be thankful for that instead of the negative. Right? Right!!

Ok, my cousin Eric is currently in the hospital with a gallstone that is between his gallbladder and liver. He hasn't eaten since last thursday, he cannot hold anythign down and is the color yellow. They at first thought he had hepatitis, but then discovered the stone. They are today taking the stone out. Then I think Friday taking his gallbladder out. Thanks to my wonderful friend DrRenea on the knot, she stated they are probably doing it this because with the stone it has probably caused inflammation and they do not want to remove a inflamed gallbladder, so that is why they have to wait. ALthough the docs told my mom its because it's Palestine texas and that's how they do things.

Well my cousin's family is also moving into their new house this weekend and they have to be out of their rent house by this weekend too because there are going to be new tenants moving in on monday. Soo with my cousin on the surgery table, and my mom up there trying to help out, I felt compelled to go. No no now at first I was like do i go, do I not go. i consulted my girls on my board and they said no and then I was talking to my dad and he was like well no is askign you too, but they could use the help and i'll pay for your gas and you can take the truck, sooo UGGGHh ok, I'm going. I also asked Fi about it and he said that well this is probably the best time to go since I'll be working crazy hours anyways and they probably could use you up there. I had soo many things I want to do this weekend too. uggghhh oh well, I'm trying not to be a martyr but I think I am, boooo to that!

Well anyways, thats my bitchin session for now, tune in next time!! Hoepfully it wont' be bitchy!!! =)

Monogram oh monogram

2008-08-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

OK, soooo Monograms have become like a favorite past time for me, hehe. I absolutely LOVE to create them!!! They are soo much fun and simple for me to do!!! So I just thought I'd show off a few of my creations and let ya'll see. We've also got to decide on which monogram we want for the wedding!!! I mean you can have more than one (i'm assuming, I wouldn't think there would be any kind of rule implicating otherwise) sooo it's our wedding, we can do what we want!!!! hehe

Without further ado, here are the monograms for FI and me.

This one I think is a possibility for our aisle runner, but I think it needs a little something extra on there.

I like this one cause it combines the first letters of our first names (overlapping the text boxes)

These are just a sampling of a few I have done, I will add more as I do them!!! =)

Weekend Re-Cap

2008-08-25T08:36:00.000-07:00

This weekend was pretty good. FI and I just wanted to relax a bit. He's about to be working 2 and half weeks for 12 hours each day sooo we just wanted some quality US time!!!

Friday night we went to one of our fav mexican food places (mexican food is like our favorite food, it's just soo good and of course the margarita's are AWESOME!!) We had a few drinks, ordered this humungous dinner (it was one of those dinner's for two) and it came with a table full of food!! We barely touched it all so we took it home for dinner the next night! That night we watched Drill Bit taylor, it was pretty funny. Not as funny as You, Me and Dupree, but Owen Wilson cracks me up!

Saturday, I got up early and went jogging. Now normally during the week I jog at like 630 in the morning, but on Saturday it was like 930 and the temp and humidity is complete different. I could barely breathe cause it was sooo humid and hot soo I didn't get to jog as far as I have been, which totally pissed me off!! When I do things like that I feel like a loser, but then I get over it, but I tried pushing myself, but I just couldn't breathe. Oh well. Then after that, I got to work on our Save the Dates!!!! Our Save the Dates are made to look like Western Union telegrams and the envelope does too!! Soo I printed out the telegrams and envelopes and got to stuffing them. We also have magnets that I got through Vista Print (THE BEST PLACE EVER!!) and we attached them to the back of the telegram. I ran short on magnets and I'm having to order some more, oopie!! =)

The rest of the day Saturday was spent doing random things. FI and I went to an antique store and he got two WWII era newspapers and I got an old glass jar that will be a container for our candy buffet. After that we went to Old Navy, and they had their denim for $12!! We got FI 3 pairs of jeans and 3 shirts!!! He needed them soo bad. I told him I get to go shopping next!! haha Then after that we went to Fi's and played Mario Cart a bit and then just chilled the rest of the night.

Sunday, we went to church. I was worried that FI wasn't going to make it, but he did and I'm sooo glad. Since he's starting going with me, when he's not there with me, it's just not the same. And I know the next couple of weeks he won't be able to go soo I'm soo thankful that he did yesterday!!! I LOVE HIM!! After church we went to a wonderful BBQ place and then we went to FI's and took a nap and watched 2 movies then we made some Crunchy Taco Hamburger Helper for dinner for his family. I didn't eat cause I wasn't hungry for some reason, but oh well.

Then we worked on FI's resume to give to his safety guy at work. He may get hired on as a safety out at where he works and OMG it would be a HUGE bump up in salary (like $11!!) soo we got his resume together and the printer wasn't working soo I'm printing it today at work.

Anyways, thats our weekend in a nutshell!! I hope everyone else had a wonderful one as well!!! =)

Another Hobby Lobby Lunch

2008-08-22T13:07:00.000-07:00

So I went to Hobby Lobby and they were having their wedding stuff half off. Almost got the aisle runner but it had a print on it, and I was scared that I would not end up liking it, so I didn't get it. BUT I bought some material to make my DIY table runners that I'm going to paint our monogram on it!! The material was only $1.87 a yard, I got it in a cream color and got 4 yards. I also bought some medium sized dark red satin ribbon to put along the side of it!!

Now I went to go pick out the paint. Why in the world was this the hardest thing I've ever had to do! None of the color reds were right!!! I opened up like every single one and they were all super super bright!! ugghhhh finally I decided that i'll try mixing some and seeing if I can get the color I want, blaaahhh that's silly getting stressed out over paint! =)

I forgot to get some stitch witchery or something to be able to attach the ribbon to the material, but that's ok, that can wait. I just want to get to painting!!!! =)

Uggggghhhhh f'n credit cards....

2008-08-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

I hate them, I hate them, I hate them. (this is about to be long cause I have to get it out). Sooo several years ago, I was like 21 or 22 and got the notion that I needed to collect every single Boyd's Bear that was ever invented. If you don't know what they are I'll tell ya.

Boyds Bears are these really cute bears and they are collectibles. They are all named with different names, have the cutest outfits and come in all types of furs and sizes. WELL I got hooked. I felt like I had to get every single boyd bear known to man. The thing is the only way I could get them was CREDIT CARDS. I worked a minimum wage job part time and went to school full time, I couldn't cover the costs of them on my own wage. Well I got, at that time 8 or 9 credit cards?? WTF was I thinking..oh that's right I was super depressed and buying things (boyds bears) helped me deal with my grief. I was buying these things, packages were being shipped to my house, my parents weren't saying anything to me (even though they saw all the packages), and I was hiding all these damn boxes under my bed. I finally got three HUGE rubbermaid containers for them. I had even collected an entire resin village, that to this day hasn't even come out of the boxes!!!! Needless to say I am currently suffering from my need to have to buy things to fill the hole in my heart from many years ago. I had gotten a loan from my bank and had settled with most of my credit cards except for one which was current which is why they woudln't settle with me. Well now that one darn credit card (and my lack of paying on time) is causing me greif. And here's why.

FI and I went this past weekend to look at that house I posted about below. We adored the house soo much. It had a few things that we liked and a few things we would have to change but overall it was precious. Then Sunday we were looking and found another super cute house. It's cheaper and honestly wouldn't need any work at all!!! The backyard is awesome and sooo cute!!! My most favorite part (and this is dumb) the number of the address is 1010 which is mine and FI's lucky number (well just the single number 10) and when we saw it, it just seemed soo perfect!!!

Well soo now we are trying to work with this loan lady about getting pre-approved and booo to that damn credit card. Sooo I'm short a few points of being able to even start the loan process because of this credit card. Soooo I'm having to make like 3 payments this month to get it caught up (which yes I know will be for the best in the end) but now we have to wait like 30 days for the loan lady to pull my credit again to see the improvements in my score!!! i'm super bummed!!!!! what if this house gets off the market?? I guess that means it wasn't meant to be, or something, I don't know.....fffffff I HATE CREDIT CARDS!!!!!

I guess in the mean time we can save up some more money for our down payment and that always helps but I'm sooo scared of the house getting snagged up!! It's just in the perfect area, the grocery store is right across the street, a gas station is too, right down the street from getting up on the highway, I mean it couldn't be more perfect!!! And I also would feel comfortable jogging in the neighborhood it's in, which is important to me and FI. So we shall just see.

My parents are also having reservations about us looking at houses. My dad thinks we are getting the cart before the horse. Ok I might could understand that if we weren't getting married, but we are getting married in 6 months!!!! WTF!!! He said well couldn't ya'll live in an apartment for a few months after the wedding and then get a house?? WHAT??? And just throw that rent money away for nothing?? That's not wise in my opinion!!! Why would he even say that?? I think he is just nervous about us getting something and then not being able to afford it. I think thats the real issue. FI is going to be taking a test in like 3 weeks in order to get a better paying job ($9 more an hour!!!!) and that will help TREMENDOUSLY!!! PLUS we aren't looking at houses over 90k, we are looking at the ones in the lower 80s and the mortgage on them is cheaper than an apartment!!!!

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that everything will work out and we can get our house and that will be that!!!!

House Hunters???

2008-08-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

Sooo the FI and I were looking for rent homes in our area and we couldn't find anything, so we came across this adorable (IMHO) house!!! Here's the link to it . I think it's perfect for us. I do wish it had a garage, but ehh we can live without it. I called the realtor today and left a message, I don't think she was in the office today. If we could get a house like this, I would much rather do this than rent, but we'll see. It's scary and exciting at the same time. FI and I just keep talking and talking about what we would do to it to change it up!!! Hopefully something good will happen and if we are meant to have it, we will get it!!! =)

This past weekend we also went and registered for our stuff!!! We went to Bed, Bath and beyond and had quite an experience. First off the store was SUPPPER crowded, we couldn't even really look at stuff, so we skipped alot and are gonna have to go back. Then our scanner thing had a low battery after we started. So they gave us a new one and we went and registered for the rest of the stuff. When we were done we went to go talk to the girl and she printed out our list and we were looking over it and we were like where is our stuff!! So turns out when they switched our scanners, they put in the wrong registry number and soo all of the stuff we had registered for got put onto another registry!!!! So then we had to go through another couples stuff and pick out all the stuff that we had registered for so the girl could add it back to our registry. Then this past monday, I got to another BBB to look at our china and actually hold it and see what it's like. The guy tells me that the china is discontinued and there is only soo many pieces available!!! I was like OMG!!! ANd the girl had even shown us these from the book, like this was the only pattern we looked at and we loved it from the get go!!! I couldn't believe it. So now we have to go back and pick out new china. Oh well...overall it was a good experience and I still LOVE BBB, and am excited to be using them for this!!

OH!! Here are my hair and makeup inspirations for the wedding:

It's been a few days....

2008-08-07T18:04:00.000-07:00

Soo this week has been interesting... we almost had a hurricane down here, just stayed a tropical storm but we got tons of rain!! I had to go in to work and face the elements while the rest of my family got to stay in and sleep ....oh well.
Work has been ho-hum lately, I just don't feel motivated anymore at my job which I hate saying that. We did a get a bonus which was really nice so I was happy about that. I just want to finish school and move on. Speaking of school we have our final Monday and then we are done!!! WOOHOO!!!I'm excited about that. Then I'll have like 2 weeks off then I'm back.
Wedding planning is going along. I went tonight and talked to chick about doing my hair and make up for the big day! I'll post pics of it later. It's gonna be really pretty I think. We are going to do my hair trial when I get my bridal portraits done, probably in November (it's just tooo hot to do them any sooner and my dress weighs a ton, I don't want to be sweaty looking in my pictures!!)
This weekend, FI and I are going to go register and Bed, Bath and Beyond!! I CAN"T WAIT!!! We were going to decorate the kitchen 50s style, but we've decided against that and are going to go for a more European German look. We found these adorable Pfaltzgraff plates that will go perfect and they just look like they belong in the kitchen of a little german home in the countryside!! =) I just hope FI gets excited about doing it, I'm sure he will though once he gets that little gun in his hand!! hehe
My mom also bought us a patio set!! It's adorable!! It has two bar stools and then the table is bar stool height!! It was on sale at Kohls plus her coupon (like always) soo she got an awesome deal on them!! =) She also was informed that the people who are going to throw our shower are going to do it in January, which I think is great. It'll give people enough time to be done with all of the christmas hooplah and everything!! I can't wait!!!
As far as the dieting is going, it's going. I've jogged the past two days, 2.8 miles each soo I've been feeeling good about that. I couldn't go Monday or Tuesday because of the weather. I've been eating good too I think. Pretty much a slim fast in the morning, then my apple, for lunch a lean cuisine or lean pocket and then for supper I'll have whatever has been cooked which mostly has been healthy. My mom started going to a "fat" doctor and soo she's cooking all healthy healthy recipes. Pretty much either chicken or fish, no carbs. She can't have fruits or dairies or beef, which sux for her. I have to have my fruit, I just love it!! Especially on hot days, it's sooo good to have some cold watermelon or cantoloupe!!
Ok, thats all for now...tah tah! =)

OH! Quicky Diet Check IN and other schtuff

2008-08-01T13:24:00.000-07:00

So I got up today with a horrible God-awful crick in my neck, but still went jogging!!! I jogged my 2.8 miles!! YAY This is my third time this week, and even though I feel tired now (its 3 something in the afternoon, your suppose to feel tired this time of day at work on a Friday) I just feel good about my body as a whole.
I can definitely feel my work in my hamstrings, they are tight a bit, that's fine though. I do not mind at all being sore from a work out of any kind, cause thats a good hurt! =) I'm hoping I'll wake my butt up manana and go jogging again, hopefully I can.

In wedding related news: I'm working on trying to finish up the STDs this weekend, hopefully I can get that done! YAY!! I called my dress store today and asked about me returning my petticoat, because I do not feel as if it giving off the fullness that I am wanting, well since I got it at a consignment store and the petticoat was a consignment piece, the only thing I could do is sell it again on consignment, which I don't want to do, bah!!! Sooooo I don't know, Maybe I can sell it on the knot or something or Ebay, get that money and apply it to the petticoat I need.
I also called Davids Bridal yesterday to ask about my BM dresses. I am wanting to pay $25 towards each gals dress and how could I go about doing this. Well they told me that what they would do is keep my credit card number on file and then whenever each gal ordered her dress, they would also charge me $25 and then the gal would only owe the balance or something. I don't know if this is is such a fool proof plan. I may need to investigate more into it. =(

Motivational Pic o' the day:

Windshields..

2008-08-01T13:21:00.000-07:00

You know they make these things, obviously to protect us from flying debris on the highway, roads, other drivers, but why can't they make something to protect it?? I would say within in the past, oh 5 months, I've gotten 3 HUGE rock cracks on my windshield!!!! WTH!!! Why my windshield?? Why not the dude next to me? Is my car a target for rocks?? Do they spread the word that my windshield is fun to hit and that it pisses me off?? I don't get it. My windshield looks like trash now and with the heat we have down here, I'm sure those cracks are bound to spread...ugghhh whatever

Bill collectors

2008-07-31T12:34:00.000-07:00

ARE THE DEVIL!!!! Ok, I set up 6 months worth of payments to those assholes and they wanna call me today and tell me that the payment I just made wasn't sufficient enough to cover for my July payment!!! SCREW YOU!!! They should've said something to me about it when I was setting up payment arrangements. I told her, you can have the money that you are asking for next Thursday no sooner, and she has the f'n nerve to tell me, "well it's your credit." BITCH I know that, I mean I don't think me being a week late is going to drastically screw up my credit anymore than it already is!!

whatever....i Hate them, i wish they all would die =(

Diets, Diets, Diets

2008-07-31T08:37:00.000-07:00

Soooo in order to look absolutely FAB for the wedding, I of course am trying to lose weight. UGGH this seems like a life long on going dilemma with me. When I was little I remember my mom always obsessing about my weight. Diabetes ran on her side of the family and of course she was worried about me. I wasn't the fat kid in the class or anything, but with her worrying about it of course always made me worry about it, and therefore ultimately I felt like the fat kid in the class. My mom would have her moments, like telling me to go weigh myself after I had just eaten supper, and me screaming my head off about how it wasn't fair that she would make me do that, to the moments when she told me that she was embarassed when her friends asked me what size clothes I wore.

Needless to say, worrying about my weight, seems to be neverending thing. Last spring (2007) I lost 40 lbs with my works Biggest Loser contest. I was sooo excited!!! I hadn't lost that much weight ever and to do it in 4 months was HUGE for me!!! I felt sooo good about myself and had soo much confidence!!! I have been able to maintain that weight loss (well maybe just plus a few pounds) but for the most part I have, but I am still not at my goal weight. I would love to be at my goal weight for the wedding, but I don't know if that's possible. Well NO it IS possible, but I've gotta make lots of changes.

My motivating factors are:

* My boudoir picture session I'm having in December, I have to have to have lose weight for these, I don't want to be bulging out places, that's not cute!

* So I'll be able to fit into my dress!!! When I bought my dress it fit perfect, and didn't need any kind of alterations at all, and I don't even need to wear a bra or corset or anythign to hold me in, its just perfect. The only thing is that the material bunchs just a little on the bodice and that bothers me and I want it to be flat.

* For my own confidence and self esteem, and to show my FI that he is marrying a strong, sexy woman!

* I want my FI to be able to carry me across the threshold. I'm a traditional bride for the most part, and this is something that I've been dreaming about since I can remember, and it would just make me the happiest girl in the world if that could happen. (makes me cry just thinking about it)

OK, so with all of that said I think I'm going to also use this blog as a diet log too. My favorite excercise that works the best for me is jogging. I love jogging. I aspire to run a marathon at some point in my life. Back last spring when I was running alot and I had lost my weight, I was running over 5 miles a day (without stopping) I just love it, and it's a great stress reliever for me too!!

So far this week, I ran 2.6 miles on Monday, 2.8 miles today. I'm hoping to run again tomorrow and then maybe Saturday also, we'll see. I'm trying to limit my calorie intake also. I'm drinking a slim-fast in the morning, then a apple for a snack, then for lunch either another Slim Fast or a lean pocket with some baked Cheetos and then either an apple or yogurt for a snack. For supper I usually just eat whatever my mom cooks (which is usually healthy), or whatever FI and I fix for ourselves or what his family has at their house. I am also TRYING to be better if we go out to eat. I try to eat a salad at mexican food restaraunts (thats our FAV food!) and I try limit myself to only 1 margarita, but my weakness is those damn chips and salsa, it's hard for me to say no to that!!! I may eat some, but I try to watch how much I eat.

Needless to say, daily I will be tracking and keeping record of what I eat and excercise that I get!! Hopefully by writing (or in this case typing) everything out, it will help keep me accountable for my actions!! I've already gotten to the point where I feel horrible if I don't go jog in the morning, soo hopefully that will stay with me and I can get my regimen back up and going!! YAY!!

My motivational pic of the day:

This is WWII Air Crew member Harold Stone of the 418 Squadron for Australia and his new wife "looking for a threshold to carry my bride over." I love this picture.

Well Here I go....

2008-07-30T10:46:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to create a blog for sometime now, just to get my feelings out, my experiences, and maybe also to help me stay organized?! I'm a soon to be bride, getting married in a little less than 7 months and I'm sooo excited!!!! We have been engaged for 7 months and some change already. Thus far I have gotten alot accomplished!! I have booked my photographer and cake lady back in January. I bought my dress, veil and petticoat in February (I would post pictures, but since the entire world can view this, I best not.) We have our caterer/decorator, our church and reception hall (which is at the church) and I don't know if I'm forgetting any of our other major things.
We are doing our wedding on a budget. I'm trying to be super practical in everything I choose for it. My parents are graciously paying for it and I'm not wanting to blow their pocket books, and with that they are super thankful!! hehe To me I don't see the point in spending a ton of money on a wedding, but thats just me. I personally would rather use the money my parents are spending on the wedding and put it towards a house, but they want a wedding and deep down I would probably regret if I didn't have one. Planning our wedding has had it's ups and downs and near stops, almost, but I'm thankful that as of right now we seem to be on track with mostly everything and are moving full steam ahead!!! I'm also trying to incorporate as many DIY projects as I can in order to save money too. They are what I'm most looking forward to!! I will be posting them with pictures as I go along for reference for everyone.
Just to give you a little insight to our wedding, here are some things we have decided to do for it. First of all our colors are ruby red, chocolate brown and ivory. We will be getting married in our church, which is also the church I grew up in. We are still deciding on if we want to use the HUGE sanctuary with the beautiful pipes and stain glass as our back drop, or our adorable quaint chapel that is lined with stained glass windows and a huge stained glass window for the back drop. It's all going to depend on the numbers of people will be coming. Our chapel seats 200 comfortably, our sanctuary seats like 1,500. lol We definitely won't be having 1,500 but we may have over 200, we are just going to have to see. Our reception will be in our fellowship hall. Yes, I know it's not at all fancy or anything, but again, I'm a bride on a budget, and you can't really turn down a $100 fee for a HUGE room and plus our guests won't have to drive to another location!!! It will be fine and it will decorated beautifully by our very talented caterer/decorator!!
FI and I still haven't decided on our honeymoon, well we have but just not sure how we are going or when we are going. We are planning to do a roadtrip the weekend after our wedding up to Louisville, KY and then over to Williamsburg,VA and then back down to Fredericksburg, TX then home. But that will also be in the middle of winter and there will probably be snow up there in KY and VA, and needless to say, we are Texans and driving in snow is not our Forte, sooo we may fly in or just wait til April or May to go.
OK non wedding stuff: I have 3 more classes left this summer semester until my final in my Technical Drawing Class. I can't wait!! I'm going back to school to get my CADD degree!! I only needed 11 classes to get the degree when I started looking into it and thought, hmm why not!!! I'm kinda tired of what I'm doing (previous job before the one I'm at just completely drained me I believe of any type of likelihood of me staying in this type of field). PLUS with my CADD degree, I'll be making pretty much double what I am now, then FI will be able to go to school full time, I'll be bringing home the bacon, and he can get his degree sooner!!! That atleast is our plan as of now!! FI just started a new job as a Pipefitter Helper. This is his second week there and it's been tough. He had a heat stroke yesterday, poor thing. They have to wear Nomex (fire retardent suits) and they are HOT! plus a hard hat, goggles, gloves, huge boots, and then be in this God awful heat, I dont' know how they do it!!! It's horrible!!! He's making good money though,but still, it's soo hard. He's a tough guy, and he likes the people he works with, which is a BIG plus soo hopefully everything will work out.
Ok, that's all I have for now.