you are invited

So much for that posting-every-day thing. Sometimes life just gets busy, right?

This month has flown by. I cannot believe Christmas has come and gone already! Today I realized that we have 146 days until the wedding. [Insert panic mode here]. We have had such a long engagement - it has always felt like the wedding was so far away. I swear it was just yesterday that we hit the 9 month mark. I wrote down all of my 'to-do' items in one place yesterday and the list is a little overwhelming. I am DIY-ing a lot of things (invitations, programs, favors, table names, place cards, etc) so I need to get my butt in gear as far as starting all of those projects. My goal is to have all of my DIY items completed one month before the wedding - which only gives me a little under four months.

I am not a very crafty, creative person by nature. I totally missed out on the artsy gene in my family. I like to scrapbook but I get frustrated with my boring layouts and design ideas. I am never sure if my color combinations or fonts fit well together. I've been ordering paper samples from this website to try to get a feel for what works well together within my color scheme. Now I need to bite the bullet and order the supplies - these invites need to go out 3 months before the wedding which is fast approaching.



This is my inspiration design-wise. I like the pocketfold and the option to insert enclosures with additional information. Having a destination wedding is a lot of work - coordinating 40 people's vacations is quite a task! These enclosures will be a nice way to include information like things to do, places to eat, etc. I think I'm also going to have one enclosure with an itinerary for the wedding weekend so our guests will know where they can meet up with us if they'd like to. I can order the pocket fold from C&P, and then go to a local craft store to get cardstock for the invitation and enclosure portion. I'm excited about picking out ribbons and accessories to spruce them up a bit. Hopefully they don't come out looking like a 3rd grade art project. This is why I need to give myself a good six weeks to work on them!

Anticipate

As I read more about Reverb10, I found that the same challenge was held last year, so I've decided to combine the two and choose whichever prompt inspires me more.

December 1 – One Word. Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?

Trying to sum up a whole year in one word is not easy. There are so many big and little things that happen over the course of 365 days - things I have forgotten and things I will always remember. There is one major theme that sticks out to me from 2010 - Wedding Planning. I have spent this year scouring the internet, bridal magazines, and Disney forums gathering inspiration and ideas for our wedding next May. I have daydreamed and imagined time and time again what it will be like to finally walk down the aisle, to dance with John for the first time as a Mr. & Mrs., to spend a week of bliss with the people who mean the most to us. I remember sitting on a bench in Epcot in January with John right after we met with our Disney sales consultant talking about how long we had until the wedding. 2011 seemed so far away, and now here we are less than 6 months from our big day. It doesn't seem real.

So, I think it's fitting to choose anticipation as my word to sum up 2010. I've spent the year waiting, dreaming, and planning for one very important day. According to Wikipedia, anticipation is an emotion involving pleasure (and sometimes anxiety) in considering some expected or longed-for good event. That's about right, don't you think?

Resurrection

Hi, my name is Emilie and I haven't posted a blog in....months.

I wanted to make blogging part of my New Year's Resolution for 2011. I want to capture all of the fun wedding plans that John and I are coming up with, and I also want to write to stimulate my mind because let's face it: not being in school anymore makes me feel like I am losing my integrity. I can't afford to take any classes just for fun, so maybe trying to be creative and keep this thing going will help me feel better about my state of mind.

I came across my friend K's blog (did I also mention that in my own blogging hiatus I also stopped reading everyone else's blogs? I did.) and the prompts she is doing for the month of December. I thought that would be a pretty neat way to get myself back into writing and also a good way to reflect on 2010. I may not get to it every day, but I would like to make it a goal to do each of the prompts, even if that means 2 posts in one day.

It's already December 7th so I am a week behind. Guess that means I will be back tonight!

you lifted me higher than my doubts and fears

Music has always been an incredibly important part of my life. I grew up always having music around me - my mom is a huge fan and always had the radio on or a CD playing. When I was in 8th grade I fell head-over-heels in love with Lifehouse. They saved my life in high school with their album No Name Face. The lyrics spoke to me and I felt like every single song was written specifically for me. As I grew older, they grew with me. The albums that followed could not compete with the amazing-ness of No Name Face but I loved them anyways. Now, nearly ten years later, the band has gone through record label changes, stylistic changes, lyrical changes - you name it -but still I feel as though I owe a part of myself to them. Their music is different now. More commercialized, more mareketable. Even though they do not write lyrics as deep and meaningful as they did before their rise to stardom I still get butterflies if I hear them come on the radio.

With all of that said, I have always felt that I wanted a Lifehouse song for the first dance at my wedding. I felt this way before I met John - but now, after being together for three years and going to many Lifehouse concerts together, he suggested on his own that we use 'Everything.' I was surprised; I never thought he would genuinely want to use a Lifehouse song for our first dance. I do not really want to use that specific song because a lot of people use it - I wanted something that fit our relationship and would be unique to our wedding. I thought about using Jason Wade's cover of You Belong To Me, or acoustic versions of Take Me Away or Breathing. As I searched through my Lifehouse library I came across a song that was never released on an album or on the radio. A song that speaks to true love. A song that gives me goosebumps. A song that reminds me of John, that I can actually see us dancing to at our wedding next year.

The song I am leaning towards is You Can Shake The Mountains. What do you think?

Nala

Yesterday John and I celebrated our third anniversary together. It's hard to believe that three years have gone by since we started dating. Life seemed so carefree three years ago - he had just returned from his deployment to Afghanistan and was not working, I was still working for Disney and in school, we both lived at home and had virtually no bills.

One year later he was working as an independent contractor for Fed Ex and I was just starting my new job with a construction company and we had a nice little routine of spending our weekends together. Our first year also brought us Milo who quickly stole our hearts and became our gentle giant.


Our second year started off with an engagement ring and our first apartment. I was finishing up school and John was working as hard as ever with his route. It was an adjustment to live together but it was an exciting time to be thinking about our future together and booking our wedding. This year also brought us our spunky little Marley who continues to melt our hearts everyday.


This year did not bring any major milestones. Not much has changed in our lives; we still work at the same jobs and we still have too many bills to pay each month. John likes to spend his free time with his new X Box while I like to experiment in my new (and bigger!) kitchen. We don't have a lot of extra money since we are planning our wedding that is less than ten months away (!!!) so John decided we should spend our anniversary wisely. Instead of fancy gifts and an expensive dinner, we paid a little donation to the Connecticut Humane Society and brought home this beautiful little girl:


I swear it wasn't even my idea to get another cat - John was slow at work one day and stopped into a humane society and saw how many little kitties were without homes and being the softie that he is, he came home and told me that we should get another one for our anniversary. We were both a little hesitant at first. We didn't want to disrupt Milo and Marley who got along so well - Milo was John's baby and Marley was mine. What would a third cat bring to the table? We went to one shelter and no one really stood out to us. (Of course, in a perfect world I would just love to give all of the homless kitties homes). We didn't want just anyone, we wanted someone who would complement our boys (and I secretly wanted someone who would cuddle with me). We left the first shelter convinced that getting another cat just wasn't for us. As we continued on with our day I remembered that there is another shelter near the curtain store where we were headed. We stopped in there not expecting to find anything as it is much smaller than the other shelter. We got to the last row of kitties and John spotted her. She was in a separate room because she had a cold and she was also recovering from hernia surgery. We instantly fell in love and asked one of the workers how we would go about adopting her. Less than an hour later and we were in the car heading home. Needless to say, we did not get curtains that day!

She is such a love. She sleeps in between us every night and she loves to curl up on my chest if I'm laying on the couch. She has a ferocious appetite - we think her previous owner failed to feed her enough everyday because she is VERY small. She wants her brothers to play with her but they are taking their sweet time getting used to her. I think with time they are coming around - Marley already plays with her once in a while and today I even caught him sleeping near her on our bed. Milo is his laid back self as always, observing from a distance and keeping an eye on things.

I can't think of a better anniversary gift.

home, sweet home

Nothing compares to walking up the sidewalk and onto our front porch, opening the front door, and walking into the house. It sure beats parking in a parking lot, walking into the lobby, up the stairs, into the wide, dark hallway, and opening the heavy industrial door into our old apartment. It's one of many reasons why I am so much happier here.

When you walk up the stairs, you are greeted by a fabulous whiteboard that calls to you - what silly phrase can you write today?



At the top of the stairs, you'll see our proud little shelf that displays the pride we feel for our country.



Our adorable dining room can fit more than two people like the last one, so we were able to put the leaf into the table to make it bigger. I can also fit some of my nicer things into the built in hutch that I LOVE.



Past the dining room is the kitchen, complete with it's old cabinets and porcelain sink. I love all the character that it has, even if the cabinets are so old that the doors don't always shut.





Next comes the Man Cave, decorated with all of John's Army memorabilia and awards. We bought a futon so people have a place to sleep if they stay overnight, and John covered it with a blanket that he got while he was deployed in Afghanistan.



Finally, we have the living room. The bay window is what sold me on this apartment - not to mention how spacious and bright it is compared to our last living room. Two big closets add a lot of much needed storage.



I know of a couple boys who really love the windows...




There are no pictures of the bedroom because it's so boring. I have nothing on the walls yet (there is a LOT of wall space) except for this:



I think that is going to hold very true here.

busy, busy, busy

We've been living in our new place for a little over a week now and I think it's safe to say WE LOVE IT. I haven't gotten around to taking photos of it yet but I'm going to try to do that this week. We've been really busy since the move because John's best friend is home from Afghanistan on his two week leave so of course we have been spending all of our free time entertaining him and a couple other friends. Oh, and watching Milo and Marley learn how to navigate those big, scary things called stairs.

We had a great 4th of July filled with bonfires, pool volleyball games, s'mores, jello shots, and of course, fireworks. The weather was perfect - in the 80's and sunny all weekend long. Today is another story - it's going to be 102 degrees with humidity. In Connecticut. We haven't had temps this high in four years. So of course, I am all worried about John being out working in this heat - mostly because he got SO sunburned during our volleyball game yesterday.

I have also been assigned my wedding planner - yay! I'm excited to finally start planning out some details of our day, but it will probably have to wait at least a couple weeks so we can get settled here. Oh, and we scored AWESOME prices on our flights to Florida and back - we got both of our round trip, non stop tickets for a total of $378.00! How amazing is that?! We were shocked and so excited to get that out of the way.

365 days

My little man, Marley, turns one year old today!

We actually know Marley's real birthday since we bought him from a pet store, unlike Milo who was rescued at 4 weeks old from mean people who were going to throw him out on the street - we just picked a random day during the week he was born to call his 'birthday.'

I cannot believe he is a year old already. It seems like it was yesterday that we stopped by the pet store on our way to Radioshack to buy John a new cell phone charger. It was impossible to resist his adorable face looking at us through the window. It took a little convincing to get John to let me take him into one of those cubicles to play with him - and even MORE convincing to let me take him home. (Actually, it was more like begging and pleading, but hey, whatever works!)



Here we are, ten months later, and Marley has become one of the family. He and Milo love each other to pieces - we find them snuggled up together on our bed or on the couch, and Milo loves to give his brother kisses. Marley is definitely a bit friskier than Milo was and he LOVES to scratch up anything he can get his little paws on. I cannot imagine life without him and even though I get made fun of A LOT for being a cat lady, I think he is one of the best decisions we have ever made. DEFINITELY worth the $200.00 that he cost us :-) Happy 1st Birthday my little man, your Momma loves you SO much!

changes

We are moving. In 5 days. My apartment is in a state of disaster - boxes everywhere! I went to pour a bowl of cereal today and realized I have no bowls left. Milo and Marley are loving it - boxes to climb on or climb in.

I can't wait to post pictures of our new place, it is adorable. It's the second floor of an old house built in 1889. It's got bay windows, built in bookshelves, a corner hutch in the dining room, and a giant whiteboard wall in the stairway (John is particularly excited about that).

Let me just say - I do not want to move again until we buy a house. Hopefully we won't have to...I hate the process of moving.

it's real

On Thursday, my wedding consulant faxed me our Letter of Agreement (aka, our contract with Disney). I have been waiting for this for months - this means we are officially getting married in Disney! (Not that there was any question before...it's just all official now and our guests can start planning their trips).

On Monday May 23, 2011, at 12:00 in the afternoon, I will walk down the aisle of Disney's beautiful Wedding Pavilion to become Mrs. F---, to marry my best friend in the entire world. It is crazy that it is set in stone now - deposit will be sent tomorrow, wedding planner will be assigned in the next couple weeks, and OH MY GOSH I'M GETTING MARRIED! When we got engaged almost a year ago, May/June of 2011 seemed so far away. Now we are 351 days away from the start of our happily ever after and I could not be more excited!

I feel like there are so many things I should be thinking about. We now have all of the major things checked off our list: venue, photographer, videographer, hair & makeup artist, the wedding dress!, and bridesmaid dresses. Oh, and my awesome newsletter went out to all of our guests on Saturday! (If you'd like to see the PDF version let me know - I can email it to you!). In the next few weeks I am hoping to get John to go to Men's Warehouse with me to look at different suits and get prices for renting/buying them. I'd also like to go to a craft store that is about 30 minutes away to look at some silk flowers so I can decide if we'll be making bridesmaid bouquets or if we will use live flowers through Disney Floral.

I am so excited for this coming year. It is a bit surreal that we are getting married in less than a year - holy cow! This time next year I will be a Mrs.

graduated

Yesterday marked the END of my undergrad career! Technically it really ended in December, but my school doesn't have December graduations anymore so I had to wait until May to actually graduate. I had an award ceremony to go to on May 13th because I graduated Cum Laude (like 0.05 points away from Magna Cum Laude, I was so mad!), and then the ceremony for the 1400 graduates was yesterday at the XL Center in Hartford. It was LONG. I was disappointed with the commencement speaker (one of CCSU's History professor) - she didn't really say anything that stuck with me. The Class of 2010 President spoke and it was kind of corny. I almost wasn't going to go because I didn't know anyone since I commuted for 4 years, but now I am glad I went. It took FOREVER to call everyone's name, but it was worth it to actually feel like I graduated. I'm glad that 1,000 students chose not to walk because that would have made it even longer.





Afterward, I tried to find John and my parents but there were SO many people that it took 30 minutes to find them! It was insane. The XL center was packed - there were more people at graduation than there are at the hockey games we go to! It was crazy. We went back to my parent's house after because Erin's senior prom was held last night also! In typical fashion, we took 648 photos to commemorate the day. ; )










Didn't Erin look STUNNING??

priorities

When it comes to the wedding, there is an endless list of enhancements/add-ons/extras that Disney can do for us. I would love to be able to take advantage of all of them but unfortunately, I do not have an endless supply of cash. There are some extras that I can say "no" to right away - like using Cinderella's Coach to bring me to the Wedding Pavilion - totally not worth the $2,700.00 that it costs for a whopping 2 hours. I'm not even that into the idea of confetti canons that can go off during the staged exit after the ceremony. Don't know the price for those - not sure I want to know! There are, however, several things that I DO want. Not all of them fit into the budget so I'm trying to cut where I can to save money.

1. Photography This is a MUST. I am obsessed with pictures. One of my favorite things to do is look though old photo albums at my parents house. I think it is invaluable to be able to look back on special moments and memories that would otherwise be lost in the shuffle of everyday life. I want to be able to show my children the photos from our wedding. I want to be able to relive this day for years to come - you only get one wedding day, right!? I was not familiar with Orlando photographers when we decided to go with the Disney Wedding, so it took a bit of research before I was able to find one that had a good reputation and took amazing photos. I scored my photographer for the entire wedding day (no limit on the # of hours!) for a fabulous $1600.00. This includes a DVD with all of the images and some printed images. I am free to print them however/wherever I like, and I also have the option to have him print my album.

2. Floral I have a hard time justifying dropping loads of cash on flowers/boquets/decor that will die in 48 hours. I've been toying with the idea of making silk boquets - I just have to find a place where I can get nice silk flowers for a reasonable price. I'm also thinking about doing non-floral centerpieces for the reception - something beachy but simple. Something like this:

Non-floral centerpieces through Disney are much cheaper than using live flowers. Bridal boquets run upwards of $200.00 and bridesmaid boquets can be as much as $150.00.

3. Dessert Party This is a no brainer for me. I have to have this. It is something unique to Disney Weddings. It is fairly self-explanatory: it is a VIP dessert party with lots of incredibly yummy treats right in the middle of EPCOT during the Illuminations fireworks show. For those of you who have been to Disney, we are most likely going to hold ours in the Italy Pavilion in World Showcase:

We will be escorted into the park (yes, in my wedding dress!) We will eat dessert (of course) and watch the incredible fireworks show. I think it's going to be fantastic and a perfect way to end our wedding day.

4. Videography At first, I didn't even consider this element of the wedding day. The more I think about it, the more I want to have a video to remember this day by. Everyone says how quickly it goes by and how much you (bride & groom) miss because you are so focused on other things. And I also think about how much I love home videos - I love watching them. I love being able to relive the best moments of my life. The more I think about it, the more important this seems. I found a great videographer who will provide ALL DAY coverage for $1495.00 - including 3 DVDs of the final video (and I asked - it can be as long as we want it to be!). We can upgrade to BluRay for $150.00 more, and we can purchase the raw footage for $100.00. Oh! And we can have our ceremony broadcasted LIVE via webcam! I think that is so neat. I really want to find a way to make this work with our budget.

5. Magic Kingdom Photoshoot Okay. I REALLY want this. It costs $1,100.00. It includes 1 hr in the Magic Kingdom before the park opens in our wedding attire. I gush at the thought of having photos of John & me by ourselves in the Magic Kingdom, on Main St USA, on Cinderella's Carousel, on the Tea Cups...it just seems so exciting! I really want to do this, even if the cost is a little steep for just an hour. It includes a proof book, a 12 print album, and 4x6 prints of all the photos. I need to decide which is more important - this or the videography. Decisions, decisions.

I am sure I will think of other elements as I get further into the planning, but right now, these are the things I am really focusing on. I hate being on a budget!

summertime

We've had an unusually warm spring this year. Flashback to last spring when it was in the 40's until May and it didn't get above 70 until late June...and then it was cloudy practically ALL summer long. It was miserable. But this year Mother Nature seems to be making up for the pathetic excuse for a summer that we got stuck with last year.

Last Saturday, John and I took the boys to my childhood elementary school to play on the playground. It was warm - in the 70's - believe me, that is warm for April! We played on the swings, climbed the monkey bars, played four-square, and of course, we slid down the slide a hundred times.






Yesterday we went to Gabriel's baseball game and then had a cookout at John's sister's house. She made an amazing salsa to go on top of grilled chicken - it had fresh papaya chunks, avocado chunks, and chopped red pepper in a tangy/sweet sauce. It was delish! For dessert we had a super yummy peanut butter pie that wasn't exactly on my diet but it was too good to turn down.

And tonight we are headed to my parent's house to discuss the wedding budget/guest list and to enjoy some chicken on the grill. Hopefully they will be opening the pool soon and then it will officially feel like summer has arrived!

the DRESS!

Remember the time I said I was getting married in Disney World?

Well, I found the perfect dress for a fairy tale wedding.



I feel like Cinderella in the dress. It sparkles, but not too much. It's poofy, but not too much. It's comfortable, not too heavy, not too hot ... it's perfect! It's hard to see in photos, but the skirt part has a bunch of crystals that sparkle every time I move. The veil I got has the same crystals and they go together so well.

My latest venture has been trying to convince John to book a Magic Kingdom photo shoot. It would be a couple days after our wedding and it would be very early in the morning (6am-ish!)because it has to be done before the park opens. BUT, it would mean we'd have wedding photos in front of the castle, on the teacup ride, on Cinderella's Carousel, Main St USA...aka totally awesome photos!. Go to Google and search "Magic Kingdom Bridal Portrait" - you will see how incredible the photos are.

I also found a potential bridesmaid dress!



I'm still debating colors...I love the pale yellow and I was thinking of blue hydrangea bouquets to incorporate my Swedish colors. One of my bridesmaids doesn't want a yellow dress so I'm having a hard time picking the color...I really want yellow but I don't want to deal with her complaining about it. I'm not sure if that style of dress goes well with my wedding dress, I keep thinking it is too informal.


Are those flowers gorgeous or what!?

and dance forever

I've been MIA lately.

I got sick of wordpress because I am not computer savvy and couldn't figure out how to make my blog look pretty. If it's not pretty, why bother posting, right? So, I decided to move. Again.

It took me a few days to make my new blog (really, I'm just moving BACK to my original blog - but I obviously had to pretty it up first). Then I got side tracked with the Surprise Party of 2010. Then John's dad got very sick. And life just sort of got a little crazy, so the blog had to wait.

But now! The party is over and I am anxious to start blogging about the wedding so the blog HAD to be finished. The laundry that has been piling up for two weeks? That could wait. So I finished everything this morning. Voila! Welcome to my new blog.

something new

Today was my appointment at The Wedding Dress. I was not looking forward to it - I have not lost a significant amount of weight yet and I had no idea what I was looking for! Thank goodness for fat-suckers...they make you look so skinny! Plus, I think many wedding dresses are very forgiving.

Things I learned:
-I do not like shiny material.
-I do not like a ton of lace or a ton of beading.
-I DO like some sparkle - see Dress #2 if you look through the dress pictures.
-There are a lot of styles I love - which makes it even harder to narrow down the list!
-A big, poofy, princess dress does look good on me!
-Having hips does not mean wedding dresses won't look good on me - even I was surprised at how nice I looked in some of them!
-I wanted to cry when I put on dress #3 - which my gut tells me is "the" dress.
-I am so lucky to have family and friends that can go with me on these appointments.

I put pictures of the dresses on photobucket - can't post them on Facebook or on here in case John peeks. If you want the link to see the pictures let me know and I'll send it to you - I definitely want feedback because I am having such a hard time deciding between all of them. We have an appointment to go back on April 10th and I think I'll try to hit up a couple more stores between now and then to see if I find anything else I like. I don't want to look back and regret not trying on more dresses, even though I really think dress #3 is the one for me.

When it rains...

...it certainly pours. Family drama is exhausting, especially when it is not your own. I hope this storm passes soon.

There was a fire at our sister complex today. 20 units burned. It really makes me want to move when our lease is up - preferably to a landlord apartment rather than a complex apartment. I love our apartment here but I hate relying on other people to not be stupid and cause fires. This is the third one for our complex in the last few years. We'll see where things are at the end of the summer...because the family drama also makes me want to move far, far away. I am really terrified of fires though. I was so scared that there would be one while we were in Florida last month that I cried when I had to leave my kitties. I don't care about material posessions but the thought of a fire happening when I'm not home to save my babies is enough to send me into a major anxiety attack that comes complete with tears and heavy breathing. That just makes me a devoted and loving cat-mom, right? My brother thinks it makes me crazy.

The weekend is almost here and I am so glad...it is incredibly slow at work right now and the day just draaaaags. I will probably have to take some time off next week because John's grandma died and the wake is Monday and the funeral is Tuesday. I feel incredibly guilty for being excited about getting an afternoon off considering the circumstances but like I said...family drama. There haven't been any tears shed in our house over this. John has (or had, I guess) no emotional attachments to his grandmother and is not broken up over this in the least. But apparently having that sort of reaction when your grandmother dies brings lots of "how could you not feel sad?!" types of questions.

You know what I say? Better to be honest and feel what you really feel than to fake feeling sad to please someone else. Honesty is the best policy, right?

dreams do come true

Disney's Wedding Pavilion

Remember the time I said I was getting married in Disney World?

I am so excited about it. We won't officially know the date until September because Disney has difficult policies. We can't book our ceremony until 12 months out and we can't book the reception until 8 months out. Since we know where we want to have the ceremony and the reception, and we are (I am) very adamant that both of them get booked, we are going to be flexible with our date. So, I'll still book our ceremony at 12 months and cross my fingers that the reception venue will still be available at 8 months. We're hoping to get May 24, 2011 as our date. At the very earliest, I could officially have my date on September 25 of this year and THEN all the real planning can begin.

We want to have the ceremony at the Wedding Pavilion, which is right in between the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and the Polynesian Resort. We're hoping for a 12:00 or 2:00 ceremony. The reception would follow at the Whitehall Room at the Grand Floridian. It's an adorable octagon room that opens into a gorgeous outdoor patio. The patio would be exclusively ours for the day, which will be perfect for John's nephews to run around in. The reception would start at either 2:00 or 4:00, depending on our ceremony time, but a pre-reception would go on directly after the ceremony while we are having pictures taken.

Following the reception we are going to have a private dessert party on Sago Cay, an area of the resort that is right on the lagoon, to watch the Wishes fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom. (The Grand Floridian Resort is right on the lagoon that overlooks the Magic Kingdom). They will rope off the area so that only our wedding guests attend, and they'll have dessert tables set up for guests to choose from. The soundtrack to Wishes will also be piped in to Sago Cay.

Aside from that, there's really not much to report. I will get my wedding planning kit once we book the date and send in our deposit. Next weekend we are going to try on wedding dresses...so that will be fun! I'm not sure what I'm even looking for. We are doing a fairly casual beach theme, and John and the guys will wear Khacki's with nice (read: non flashy) Hawaiian shirts and sandals. I am almost positive the girls will be wearing tea-length pale yellow dresses, just not sure of the style yet. So, I can't go too crazy with my dress - which is fine because I do not like super elaborate dresses anyway.

Oh, and I think I want calla lilies for my bouquet. Other than that, I'm still looking at things. I have a while before the big day, and it's hard to plan anything without having a date! Send me suggestions! (Especially for dresses!)

wishing for warmer days...

I am officially sick and tired of winter.

The below-freezing temperatures and constant gray skies are incredibly depressing. I get home from work, make dinner, clean up dinner, look out the window at the dark, cold skies and completely lose any gym-motivation that I mustered up during the day. Bundle up to walk the 50 yards to get to the gym - or - curl up in my fuzzy pink robe on the couch for American Idol? Do you see how this could impede on my efforts to get to the gym?

I so miss the long endless days of summer when the sun doesn't go down until 9:00pm, when it's so warm that I look for reasons to get out of the house. Winter zaps all of my energy and motivation - all that is appealing right now is wrapping myself up in my old quilt and cuddling on the couch with the boys.

Tomorrow is the first day of February, which technically means there are only about 7 weeks left of winter. In these parts, though, it stays cold until the end of April. We will be lucky to have temperatures in the 50s during April, but I will take that over the 13 degrees that we have right now. Hopefully, if there is a weather-god out there, we will not have any snow after March 1st.

Seriously...I am going to make a concrete effort to drag my cold butt to the gym three times this week. And do my pilates dvd three times too. I've lost 3.5 lbs in two weeks so I am off to a good start!

feel the burn!

Last night I did 30 mintues of Pilates for the first time in... oh, a year.

Tonight I went to the gym for the first time in over six months.

I have learned that it is a lot easier to do pilates when my butt is not screaming in pain. The difference my surgery has made is incredible! Even though the recovery was excruciatingly painful, I am really glad I did it. It is even easier to work out on the treadmill and elliptical now. I must admit, I am very out of shape - I guess being nearly 100% sedentary for five months will do that to you. It felt so good to get my heart rate pumping, and although my legs were screaming at my by the end of my 35 minutes, I enjoyed moving again.

It's so nice not having to pay for a gym membership. Our apartment complex has a small gym (3 treadmills, 3 ellipticals, 1 stationary bike, a couple weight machines) but it's got everything I would use at a real gym anyway. My goal is to do some cardio at the gym 3x a week, pilates 3x a week, and a long walk on the weekends. My job is so sedentary - the most activity I get is getting up from my desk and walking 10 feet to the copier and back. I really need to make time for exercise - I always feel better when I do.

Off to snuggle with my boys before bed...Marley is still getting over his scary visit to the vet to lose his manhood. He adores Milo, he follows him around everywhere and loves to snuggle up with him when they nap. My little man is growing up so fast!

 

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well hello there 2010

Have I really not posted since November 12th of last year??

I suppose there's a bit to update on.

I had surgery on November 19th that put me seriously out of commission for a month. I'd had a cyst on my tailbone for ten years and since September '09 it was constantly getting infected. I had one ER visit and 3 different antibiotic prescriptions in three months, so my doctor recommended having it surgically removed. He said it would be really painful but I honestly was not expecting it to be as bad as it was. The first week was hell on earth - I have never been in so much pain in my entire life. The intensity of the pain kept me awake for over 48 hours and made me feel so incredibly nauseous. I think I cried myself through those first 48 hours, it was really that bad. Luckily my surgeon was able to prescribe me a much stronger narcotic that took the edge off and I was able to get some sleep. Still, it was very uncomfortable for the first week...I needed help walking and going from laying down to standing up and vice versa. I couldn't sit down for well over a week and couldn't lay on my back for three weeks. Now that is has been two months I am glad I had the surgery, but I would not wish that pain on anyone.

About a week after surgery - that donut pillow came in handy.

December brought my very last weeks of college. I graduated with a 3.52 GPA and got a 3.8 for that semester. Considering I missed so much school due to surgery and ER visits, I am really proud of that GPA. 3.8! I also got an A on my senior Thesis on the Holocaust. Yes, an A. I never in a million years thought I could get an A on a 35 page thesis, but I did. I don't know what to do with myself now that school is over. I admit that I'm a little afraid that my brain is going to become dumb. Ohh, but I won't miss homework or papers or exams. Is it terribly selfish of me that I am a little bummed that no one is throwing me a graduation party? My university eliminated December graduation ceremonies so I don't really feel that I graduated or got an recognition for graduating, as childish as that sounds. I am proud of myself though!

Christmas was low-key, we didn't really have the money for gifts this year. We had the usual Christmas Eve with the Swedes and John's family came this year, so that was nice. We saw my parents on Christmas morning and went to his sister's house for Christmas dinner which was delicious. The kids (and John) all got remote helicopters and they kept everyone busy that afternoon. We didn't do much on New Year's Eve, went to dinner and watched the ball drop on TV. Well, John watched. I was asleep before it dropped.

Cooper and his new bone on Christmas morning

Then, of course, we headed off to the land of sun, fun and magic...Disney World! This year was a lot different because it was SO COLD. We had record low temperatures and spent a couple hundred dollars on sweatshirts and jackets because we were not expecting 30 degree temperatures. It was still fun - it was our first trip using our Vacation Club so that was exciting. We also got to visit the Wedding Pavilion and the Grand Floridian where we will be HAVING OUR WEDDING! Yes, we have changed our plans. This will have to be another post because there is lots to talk about. The trip was fun, albeit cold, but the drive home was not so fun. John got the flu and was sick the whole way home, leaving me at the wheel. Remind me to never drive again!

Now we are home and settling into a routine. Life should calm down, with me being done with school and the holidays having passed. Tomorrow my pre-wedding diet begins with the goal of losing 20 lbs. I should be able to do that in one year...if John stops bringing me chocolate once a week!