Just a Small Town Bride

RSVP Reactions...

2009-08-04T13:36:00.002-05:00

I may have mentioned this already, but with our invitations, we only sent RSVPs to our out of town guests. With a big wedding in my hometown, we expect 90% of the hometown folks to be at the reception, so we didn't feel it was neccessary to send RSVPs to them.

The OOT RSVPs have been trickling in, most with the responses we expected--some yes, some no. A few though, have really struck me. Some of the people we didn't expect to come will be in attendance and we will be dearly missing some very important people who will not be able to make our special day.

The responses have really got me thinking about who I really want and need to be there...

Family... I expect most of mine to be in attendance because of proximity, but I already know my cousin Tommy & his new wife, Amy will not be making the trip from North Carolina and my grandfather will not be coming due to complications with Parkinsons. CityBoy's on the other hand, is really hard to predict.

CityBoy's parents are divorced and his mom & step-dad and grandmother live in suburban Detroit and his dad & step-mom (along with all of his dad's family) live in Daytona, Florida. CityMom & Step-Dad are planning on making the trip into a Texan vacation along with a cousin and her husband, but CityGrandma will not be coming. The Florida family is still a mystery. Plane tickets aren't cheap and because this is CityBoy's 2nd wedding, we aren't sure who will be making the trip. We would love to see all of them since I've only met them once almost 2 years ago, which is the last time CityBoy has seen them as well.

Friends... Its strange how friendships rise and fall like the tide. Over time, some friendships strengthen and others fail, and I found myself banging my head on the table when drafting our guest list. Do I want the toxic ex-friend I used to count among the best friends I've had in my life at the celebration of the relationship she fought so hard against when it was new? Should I include new friends I've known for what feels like moments? What about the friends I haven't spoken to in years?

In the end, I included some people I'm sure won't come because of various immature reasons. A little soul searching led me to the conclusion that at one point they were important to me and out of respect for that, I included them.

Coworkers... CityBoy and I have been in the Big D for just over a year now and neither of us will be inviting our coworkers to the festivities. Although I have formed a good bond with several of my fellow auditors, I don't want to cause any issues. It was all or nothing and we went the way of nothing.

HOWEVER, we will be inviting former coworkers from when we lived and worked in Lubbock. Many of our mutual friends are former coworkers and they were all there from the start of CityBoy and I and gladly, they will all be in attendance to help us celebrate.

Who are the important guests on your list?

And the countdown begins!

2009-08-03T15:54:00.002-05:00

With just about one month left, my brain has officially entered countdown mode. This morning at our biweekly Audit department meeting, I couldn't help but stare down at my copy of the schedule, realizing only 2 401(k) plans and one of my favorite clients stand in the way of me and my upcoming nuptials!!

The one annoying part of being so close to the wedding is that everyone and I do mean EVERYONE, including partners at my firm, has been asking the same question--"How's the wedding planning coming along?"

I always struggle to find an answer, but it usually ends up being something along the lines of--"Good, just little details left!" Do 60-year old CPAs really want to know that my list consists of things like dance lessons, rolling napkins, and calling the members of my house party?

Another question I've gotten alot is "Are you nervous?" And I can honestly answer "No." I'm really not nervous at all, I'm ready to marry CityBoy and start our life together and be done with lists upon lists of things to do for the wedding. Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying planning my wedding, but I'm ready to enjoy actually being married!

This weekend I did get one good laugh at a wedding related response. My cousin/Usher Marshall took the opportunity to tell me it wasn't too late to call the whole thing off and stay free and single! He's been married for almost 2 years and I'm sure his wife, a friend of mine from HS, doesn't enjoy his shenanagins, but I sure did!

So, how's the wedding planning coming?

The Perfect Head Table...

2009-07-28T13:31:00.005-05:00

At small town weddings, there typically isn't assigned seating and I prefer it that way. The locals have their own way of segregating and finding people of interest to sit with. At most weddings back home, we find ourselves sitting with the same gang and having an absolute blast.

There is one table (or group of tables) that is assigned, however, and its usually for a large group of people--the bridal party!

At our venue, I've seen the "head table" done many ways--a U-shaped arrangement on the dance floor, round tables on the dance floor, rectangular tables on the dance floor--but it is almost always ON THE DANCE FLOOR. This means that after the meal, the head table is cleared and removed, leaving the Bridal Party without a table to call their own.

At our wedding, we will be placing our head table just off the dance floor. It will be made up of 8 rectangular tables in a 4x2 arrangement to form a BIG rectangle. My BFF/Bridesmaid Sara had a head table like this at her wedding and since it did not have to be moved for the dance portion of the evening, we were able to stay sitting at our table with the other members of the bridal party.

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Since we had figured out the configuration of the head table, I sat down one afternoon back in April or May and made our seating chart including the following people:

SmallTownBride & City Boy
BestMan Mikey
Groomsman Bryce
Groomsman/Brother of Bride Jared
MOH/Sister of Bride Cara
Bridesmaid Shelby
Bridesmaid Sara & Hubby Freddy
Bridesmaid Bekah & Hubby Edgar
Bridesmaid Whitney
ST Mama & Daddy
City Mom & StepDad
City Dad & StepMom
Pastor & Wife
Usher Aaron
Usher Marshall & Wife Courtney
Reader Jennifer

That's 24 people...perfect for our table.

So, I set about arranging everyone so that they'd have a good group to talk to; I put Shelby next to Bryce because we'd worked with both of them back in Lubbock, I put ST Mama & Daddy between the City parents to avoid any awkwardness, etc.

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Fast Forward to Today...

Best Man Mikey & Bridesmaid Shelby are now in serious relationships and will be bringing significant others to the wedding and no matter how I rearrange my perfect head table, I can't seem to fit everyone in a logical way!!

Any ideas?

I'd really like them to be included at the head table since I've been in weddings where CityBoy has not been able to sit with me and its just not fun...

I've considered bumping the Ushers & Reader to an adjacent reserved table, but I don't want them to feel like they aren't included, what to do????

Thoughts on a Honeymoon...

2009-07-26T22:10:00.003-05:00

Sometime before we were even formally engaged, CityBoy and I started dreaming about where we would go on our honeymoon. Immediately we dismissed the popular all-inclusive Mexican beachy resort...then we debated on if we wanted to go out of the country or stay here...evenutally one night while watching Breakfast at Tiffany on HBO, we decided on New York.

And, we were set on NYC as our honeymoon destination until the last week or two.

About a month and half ago, my beloved 2001 Ford F-150 (yep, I drove a truck in true Small Town style) kicked the bucket. I was driving back from a client in Plano and my temperature light came on, so I did what any girl would do--I called my daddy! He told me to pull over at a gas station and put some coolant or distilled water in the radiator and at least make it home. I did and made it home in one piece despite ruining a white shirt by leaning over my dirty dirty truck.

The next day, I took it in for a check-up and discovered I had a leak in my lower intake to the manifold (greek to me!) and the estimate to repair it was over $2k...and my heart sank. I drove my sweet little pickup back to the apartment and there she sat while CityBoy and I struggled to share his truck for the week.

Friday rolled around and we'd had enough, so we took the day off, went shopping, and bought me a Jetta. Our small joint nest-egg went into a down payment and I was back on wheels.

Fast-Forward to the last few days and we've found that the added car payment, insurance payment, and wedding expenses have left us sitting in a rough place. We are by no means struggling, but we sat down and really evaluated if we were in a place to spend a few grand on a trip to NYC right now. We went back and forth a few times and decided NYC was still on.

We plugged numbers in true Accountant style--if we dropped HBO & Showtime from the cable bill, if we take sandwiches for lunch everyday, if we pay the minimum on the credit card--and we could have made it work, but decided it wasn't worth it for the trip.

We both have an entire week off of work following the wedding and we don't just want to come back to Dallas and sit in the apartment all week, so we're looking at places in Texas with no plane tickets to worry about. We're giving ourselves a $1,000 budget including our wedding night at a hotel in Austin.

Right now our options are: San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Port Aransas or just staying in Austin.

More to come on what each of these options holds for us...

Are you going on a full-blown Honeymoon or settling for a Mini-Moon?

Rehearsal Dinner/Birthday Party...

2009-07-22T14:44:00.003-05:00

CityBoy and I are getting married 8 days after his birthday and 1 day after mine, so our rehearsal dinner is going to be held on my 25th birthday. According to my sister, I am selfish for wanting the rehearsal invites to say "/Meagan's Birthday Party" but c'mon, 25 is a big year!! I may not be able to talk her into putting it on the invitation, but there is NO WAY I am going without a birthday cake!

We will be rehearsing at the church around 5:00 then heading over to my Aunt Rachel's house for dinner. She graciously offered her house for the rehearsal--we think its so she could talk her husband into doing yard work--but we're in charge of picking out the menu.

If you remember, we'll be serving BBQ at the wedding, so we thought it might be a good idea to serve Tex-Mex at the rehearsal to give all of our Michigander and Floridian guests another Taste of Texas.

Tacos? Burritos? (I could finish a funny a funny chant we used to do in Swim Team here, but I won't...) Enchiladas? Fajitas? TOO MANY CHOICES!

I think the winner right now is a Fajita Bar!! We'll throw some Beef & Chicken on the grill along with some Peppers & Onions, pick up some tortillas from one of my favorite Lubbock restaurants (which now has a location in College Station) and my aunt volunteered to make her AWESOME salsa.

Now for drinks... I love a good Margarita, but a nice Sangria or Dos Equis sounds pretty dang good too. I'm not sure which route we'll take here, but I can whip up a mean Strawberry Margarita in my Magic Bullet Blender, I had LOTS of practice in college--Margarita Mondays!! Here's my recipe:

Meagan's Margarita Madness
(For the Individual Bullet Cups)

Frozen Strawberries (or fruit of your choice, I love to mix Strawberry & Pineapple)
1 oz Tequila
1/2 oz Triple Sec/Grand Marnier/Cointreau
Sprite
Margarita Mix

Fill the cup with Strawberries, add Tequila & TripleSec to your tasting...I rarely measure! Then top off the cup with a splash of sprite and margarita mix, I prefer On The Border's mix.

Put on the lid and blend until smooth. If you use whole strawberries, you may end up with funny strawberry balls, but they're tasty! I like to use sliced strawberries, but sometimes they are hard to find.

The frozen strawberries take the place of the ice, so it tastes more fruity AND you get a serving of fruit, bonus!

What will she do after September...

2009-07-20T20:33:00.006-05:00

Sometime back in April or May, my sister sent a picture of a fabric flower to my mom and me. This picture (which I can't find now) started the wheels turning in my mom's head and one night when my dad was out of town, she got out some silk and tulle and started playing. After a little tweaking, she came up with a design to make gorgeous silk & tulle flowers.

She starts with squares of Silk & Tulle. The silk here is left over from my bridesmaid dresses and we bought red tulle.

She cuts the shape of a flower with rounded petals out of the silk & tulle.

Then she wired each layer together to create a flower and fluffed it out.

To keep the metal wires from poking out, she wrapped the wires with floral tape.

And voila! A flower!

She made about 20 of these, which we'll be using as corsages for my house party. Yesterday, my dad had to go check on some things for work near Dallas, so mom rode back with me and worked on attaching Orangy-Pink ribbon to the flowers (I forgot to take picture).

Maybe my favorite application of the flower was on my shoes!! I was having trouble picking a color for my shoes and the bridal shop said they could match pretty much anything, so we gave them the swatch of my bridesmaid dresses...little did we know we'd be attaching a pink silk flower!

Talk about luck...the shoes were free with my dress, the silk was leftover and the tulle was super cheap, but I ended up with gorgeous custom wedding shoes.

Mom worked on the silk flowers at night when she was home alone...I'm starting to wonder what she's going to work on after the wedding? I keep telling her she needs to start an Etsy Shop, what do y'all think?

Just Say No to Flourescent Lights...

2009-07-20T14:19:00.006-05:00

Our venue is lighted mainly by fluorescent tube lights on the ceiling with the exception of can lights in one area and 9 hanging lights over the dance floor. I am NOT a fan of fluorescent lighting if it can be avoided and the hall with only the can lights and dance floor lights is a little dark, so I requested additional lighting from my handy-dandy parents.

We originally wanted to criss-cross light strands with round lanterns across the entire hall, but that idea was quickly dissolved when we discovered we would not be able to hang anything from the ceiling at our venue. Our next idea was to create stands to hold a group of differently sized lanterns and place those around the hall.

My Engineer-In-Training brother and my parents started brainstorming designs for the structure to hold the lights and bought torch lamps from IKEA (Not Floor Lamp $6.99) to serve as the basis for the stands.

We had ALMOST nailed down a final design when I stumbled across this picture via Martha Stewart:
I immediately fell in love with the simple, yet elegant look of the towers of lanterns. I emailed the picture to my “wedding planners,” AKA my mom and sister and they too fell in love. My sister even did a web search and came across the Holy Grail—a How-To posted right there on Martha’s site!

My parents adapted their design and were still able to use the torch-style lamps they purchased at IKEA. To make the light stands, we wrapped each lamp base with several strands of Christmas Lights (bought 75% off in January from Wal-Mart) and purchased new light socket adapters which have 2 electric sockets along with the socket for the bulb. We will be leaving a 60 watt bulb in the top of the lamp to give a more intense light at the top of the tower.

The only thing left to do to the light stands is add the lanterns. We ordered 3 sizes of white paper lanterns online and will be randomly stacking the lanterns rather than using a single size like our inspiration photo. I believe the sizes we ordered were 12”, 14” and 16”, but I’m not 100% sure.

The plan is to have 6 of these light towers placed around the hall to create ambient lighting and draw the attention away from the drab interior of our venue. Following the wedding, my sister and I have already called dibs on one for each of us to put in our living rooms, and my mom plans on keeping the remaining 4 and renting them out for future weddings at our reception venue.

Reddish-Pinkish Dresses...

2009-07-20T00:45:00.005-05:00

One of the first things we checked off our list for the wedding was bridesmaid dresses. I think we actually may have found our inspiration before I had the bling!

Just before CityBoy assumed the one-kneed position, my sister was in town and like the rest of the family, knew the ring was coming. A few days before she headed back to Wisconsin, she was moping around the house complaining about how she was going to miss dress shopping and planning for the wedding, so we decided to take a trip into Austin to look at dresses.

The wedding dress part was easy, I ultimately chose the first dress I tried on, but we had a rough time finding a bridesmaid dress we loved. Belle Saison, Alfred Angelo, David's Bridal--no luck. We weren't worried since I didn't have a diamond yet, but we knew it was going to be hard. Me, my mom and my sister/MOH have very different tastes, but somehow we all fell in love with one dress from one ad in one of the MANY bridal magazines we bought that day and flipped through together on my mom's bed.

The design has been through a couple brainstorming sessions and one test dress and has changed slightly, but we love the new design even better than our inspiration!

Mom started production on the dresses a few weeks ago and managed to get all 5 girls' dresses hanging together and the girls have started to filter in to her sewing room at our house to have their fittings.

The material for the dresses is a "strawberry" silk dupioni. Back in the fall, we hit every fabric store in Austin looking for the perfect silk for the dresses. Ultimately, all of the silks in store were either too pink or too red or just not right, so we ordered swatches from an online wholesaler, The Silk Baron. I think we ordered every pink, red & orange silk they had!

The test dress had two different bodices. The first was more like the inspiration photo, straight across with spaghetti straps, and the second was like bodice shown below. My cousin/bridesmaid W, served as the dress model for my mom and looked absolutely adorable in the scoop neck style, so our minds were made up.

None of the dresses are 100% done, but most are only lacking side seams. I actually brought back the dress for bridesmaid S, who lives in Dallas across the street from me, and I will be attempting to fit the dress on her and deliver it back to mom pinned in all the right places! I'll let ya know how that adventure goes...yikes!

I think they're turning out amazingly and I'm so glad I have such a talented mama!! Wait til you see the smoking number she made for herself!!

WHAT A TEASE....

2009-07-19T21:45:00.003-05:00

I want to write about 50 posts right now, but I have some serious unpacking to do, so I'm posting a few teaser photos of the projects we have going on...

Stay tuned for more info on what the heck it is you're looking at up there ;-)

A Working Weekend...

2009-07-19T20:51:00.004-05:00

I may have gotten off work Friday around 5:00 (okay, okay it was 3:45, but I left happy hour at 5:00), but the real work started as soon as soon as I pulled out of the parking garage headed down to my parents' house toting our newly printed invitations, a box of goody bags for the kiddos, and a party dress for the wedding we had Saturday night.

Saturday morning, our first project to tackle was the invitations.

My mom ordered Envelopes for the Invites and RSVPs online during Paper Source's fabulous 20% Off online sale and I picked up their Strawberry & Poppy colored oval labels in the store.

I printed our beautiful invites, RSVPs, and maps at FedExOffice on their heaviest cover (110 lb, I believe). We were very, very impressed with the quality of their printing after our STDs and ThankYous and we were able to print a full-color design for less than we could have printed a 2-color design with the printer my sister likes to use.

After a hearty breakfast, we set right to work.

I started with our OOTers. Each of our out of town guests received the Invitation, RSVP and Map. Because our wedding is so large and we believe most of our in town guests will be in attendance, we opted to only send RSVPs to the guests who would be traveling to the wedding.

Thanks to advice from the web, we numbered the RSVPs (35 in total) in case some come back without names.

All together, the invitations took about 2 hours to completely assemble. In addition to the actual stuffing of the envelopes, we had to cut our RSVPs to size, stamp my parents return address on all the envelopes and stick on labels and stamps. I figure 2 hours isn't bad for 158 invitations!

So, they're off!! I can't wait to start getting RSVPs back, I hope all of our guests can make it to the wedding.

Why we have no little people...

2009-07-18T10:45:00.001-05:00

Our wedding party consists of 5 bridesmaids, 3 groomsmen and 2 ushers. That's it. No munchkins.

I have nothing against kiddos, but we decided we didn't want a Flowergirl and Ring Bearer at our wedding out of simplicity. Neither CityBoy nor myself has any younguns that we're extrememly close to and we just didn't want to pick a random kid to be in the wedding because convention told us we needed to.

Plus, I've been to too many weddings where the Ring Bearer cartwheels down the aisle or the Flowergirl tries to pick up the petals she's dropped!

However, if we did have a flower girl, I'd love to see her in something like this:

J.Crew Alison

Are you having little people in your wedding?

Just when we thought we had "The One"...

2009-07-17T10:30:00.001-05:00

So, I lied in the last post. The final design I posted wasn't "The Winner" afterall.

My sister wanted to do one final edit on the design to change the colors slightly and pulled a switcheroo on me!

She came across a great font she thought would like great in my invitation suite:

What do you think?

Invite:

RSVP:

Map Front:

Map Back:

**Sorry for the nasty white-outs, I don't want any creepers showing up at my wedding!!

All In The Family, Part I: Graphic Design...

2009-07-16T22:05:00.001-05:00

One of the most unique things about my impending nuptial celebration is that we're keeping it "All in the Family"--my Mom is my Wedding Planner, two of my favorite aunts will play DOC, another aunt is making my cake, yet another aunt is a florist and will be doing my flowers, and my sister is my graphic designer. Each one of these people is playing a very important part of my special day and I'm so lucky to have each of them!

My sister's graphic design hobby began in high school when she worked on the yearbook crew and only grew during her 4 years in the Journalism department at Baylor University. Upon graduation, she went to work as Editor-In-Chief of a small magazine and as part of her day-to-day job, she designed Ads to be featured in the magazine. Now she's living across the country doing nothing journalism related professionally, but there was absolutely no questioning her role as the graphic designer for the wedding.

We sat down and fought through everything from the wording to the size of the paper and managed to nail down a basic idea. Since I'm a super visual person, I told her the best way for me to express exactly what I wanted was for her to make up some drafts:

As soon as I opened the file, I knew the background design was a little too busy. I loved the circular design, so we nixed the lines.

A little less busy, but the ampersand was really really driving me and CityBoy nuts, so we requested a slight wording change nixed the "&" altogether.

FINALLY, a version we loved!!

Well, we loved it until we got it test printed and realized the design was a little small and the bleed wasn't going to work the way we wanted with the circles going off the page, so I called up my sister for a rework.

WE HAVE A WINNER!!

The Perfect Little Sundress...

2009-07-15T20:38:00.001-05:00

Awhile back, one of the items on my To-Do list was "Find Dress for Shower" along with "Find Dress for Bekah's Shower," "Find Dress for Rehearsal Dinner," "Find Dress for Bekah's Rehearsal Dinner," "Find Dress for Bachelorette Party"...WHOOO!! I'm exhausted just typing it, little less actually shopping!!!

After I had the dresses for my cousin Bekah's wedding out of the way, I could focus on the dresses for my wedding events.

I live .63 miles from a mall, a good mall. I frequent this mall at least once a week and I love it! I grew up an hour from the nearest mall and even when I moved to a "bigger city" for college, the mall was across town and lacked some of my favorite stores--including J.Crew--so its no surprise that on a weekly basis I stroll in through the Nordstrom's shoe section and make a bee line straight towards the "good stores" on the 1st floor (this mall is arranged by level of luxury, with the good ones on the bottom...best exemplified by its anchor trio of Banana (1st floor), Gap (2nd floor) & Old Navy (3rd floor)).

From the moment I laid my eyes on Lorelei, I was in love.

The Papaya fit perfectly with wedding's warm color scheme and the white just screamed bridal! I strolled right into J.Crew and after seeing her $110 price tag and realizing I needed numerous dresses for the wedding and I'd already spent my clothing budget for the month, I walked out without her.

The next week and the week after that and the week after that, I gazed longingly in the windows of J.Crew and waited and waited for Lorelei to move to the sale rack...but she never did.

I finally bought her at full price a few days before my shower and she was worth every penny, like she was made for me. (I'll post pictures from the shower soon!)

A few days after my shower, J.Crew sends me an email about their "Final Sale" and lo-and-behold there is my precious Lorelei marked down to $78!! Just my luck!

I'm not bitter, in fact the dress worked so perfectly at the shower and looks so "bridal" that we've decided it will be my "September in Texas Emergency Dress" for when I ultimately get too too hot in my wedding dress and decide to change so I can continue to shake it late into the night.

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Today, I got yet another email from J.Crew announcing new additions to their Final Sale, so I surfed on over and saw these beauties:

Lorelei - Daffodil $49.99

Lorelei - Sea Green (available in other solid colors) $78

I know from watching too many episodes of "What Not To Wear" in college that owning multiples of the same article of clothing in different colors is BAD, but I love this dress so much, it couldn't be THAT bad, could it?

I do need cute dresses for our Honeymoon in NYC!

Co-Habitating...

2009-07-10T20:40:00.001-05:00

The Jig is up!

CityBoy and I live together and have been living together officially for the last 11.25 months.

There are black and white opinions on living together before marriage and on most fronts the opinion is that its HORRIBLE, but I totally disagree.

Our reasons for moving in together in the first place were:

1) I was moving to a new city and CityBoy was moving to be with me.
2) Rent on 2 1-bedroom apartments was WAAAY more than 1 2-bedroom apartment
3) If we didn't live together, we'd NEVER see each other

Now that we're approaching 1 year living together, I've started to reflect on how we work as "roommates" and overall, I think we're pretty awesome roomies.

We each do our share of the "chores" and we've never really fought about the house being messy or stuff being left out, although CityBoy did compare our apartment during busy season to a particular scene from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

We have a household budget that we've managed to stick to pretty well and we discuss all big purchases before we make them. We've also committed to putting a certain amount into savings each month and it really came in handy last month when my trusty pickup decided to kick the bucket and I had to buy a new car!

We're parents to the cutest 2 1/2 year old, 2 1/2 lb chihuahua and we share the responsibilities of taking her out to potty pretty equally with only a few grumbles. Okay, maybe we grumble everytime, but one look at her cute face and the grumbles stop.

We stay out of each other's way when we need to, like when CityBoy comes home from a client at 7:30 PM, scarfs down whatever meal I managed to throw together despite only getting home 15 minutes before him, and barricades himself in the office to work another hour or two while I set up camp on the couch with my laptop to multitask work & clearing out my DVR!

I think the only real snag we've hit as roommates is our sleep schedules. CityBoy goes to bed between 10 and 11 and as soon as his head hits the pillow, he's out. I, on the other hand, don't even think about sleep until somewhere around midnight and can sometimes lie in bed for over an hour before I finally fall asleep. Usually on the nights when I can tell I won't be able to sleep, I'll just plan on sleeping on the couch so I don't make both of us have a bad night.

Despite ALL the good reasons to live together and how well its going, we still had to face the facts during our first marriage counseling meeting with my pastor back home. It was the first question out of his mouth and even though I'm confident we made the right decision, a part of me still feels really guilty...

Do you feel guilty about co-habitating before marriage?

The DIY Professionals...

2009-07-08T15:11:00.001-05:00

My parents amaze me.

When I was a kid, my dad designed and built a 2 story playhouse for my sister and I, complete with a fireman's pole and monkey bars.

When I needed tables for my apartment, my mom and dad made tiled tops and welded iron bases to make the most gorgeous tables.

Now that I am getting married, my parents have gone DIY crazy!

Here is there "Wedding Construction List"
Bar Height Tables (x4)
Light Stands (x6)
Light Tree
Cake/Photo Backdrop
String Light Stands (x4)

They started with the Bar Tables. At our venue, there is a "bar area" where the Beer is served and at every wedding, it ends up being a place where people stand and mingle, so Mom decided to make several tables to put in the area for people to gather around, set their drinks down, and have snacks.

I don't have photos of this because I wasn't around for the construction, but they started with unstained wood tops, found at any big-chain hardware store (Home Depot, Lowe's, etc). They tossed around ideas of staining the wood Red to match my theme or painting the tops, but ultimately, they just stained them a lightly and coated them with polywhatever to make them look like actual bar tables. For the bases, they found 4 used bases from actual bar tables from the bar my grandparents used to run (the tops were rotting from sitting in storage in the barn at the farm too long).

The tables turned out perfectly and have already been put to use at the outdoor hometown reception for my cousin and his new wife!

More on the other projects to come!

Our "Groom's Cake"...

2009-07-08T14:51:00.001-05:00

The Groom's Cake has been the source of much discussion lately. Our original plan was for our Groomsman, Bryce, to bring one from his family's bakery outside of Lubbock. Once plans for the Bachelor Party were set in place, it became almost impossible for Bryce to make it to the evening festivities and tote a cake down to the wedding, so we were back to square one.

Small Town Mama called her contacts, I called mine and we just couldn't decide.

I was about ready to give up on the whole idea when inspiration struck in the strangest way. I was strolling through my favorite grocery store, HEB's Central Market, coincidentally discussing Cakes on a conference call with STMama & my sister in Wisconsin when the words "Groom's Cake" catch my eye in the Ice Cream section!!!

I instantly knew this was a sign from God. Blue Bell Groom's Cake...its all too perfect!!

Luscious chocolate ice cream with chocolate cake pieces and chocolate coated strawberry hearts, surrounded by swirls of strawberry sauce and chocolate icing... *drool*

I snatched one up and took it home for a test with City Boy. We were sold!

I grew up a mere 30 minutes from the Little Creamery in Brenham, Texas and ever since my 1st Grade field trip to the creamery, I've been a diehard Blue Bell fan!

CityBoy jumped on the Blue Bell bandwagon just before we started dating. He was working on a client near Brenham and I suggested they stop by the creamery's scoop shop for some Ice Cream! Somehow, they managed a tour and I can still remember him coming to my cube the next week at work wearing his Blue Bell paper hat.

The next day, I got on the phone and dialed up Blue Bell's Sales Office. Unfortunately, since Groom's Cake is a new flavor, they aren't sure if it will still be in production in September or if it will come in the 3 Gallon tubs I became good, good friends with scooping ice cream at church picnics back in the day, but I'm confident everything will work out. If not, I know a few guys at the Creamery...

Are you doing a non-traditional Groom's Cake?

Kids, Kids, Everywhere...

2009-07-08T11:51:00.001-05:00

Included in our guest list of 350 are 50 kids...you read that right...FIFTY KIDDOS!!

In order to give the kids something to do besides slide across the dance floor and run around in stocking feet, we'll be having 2 kids tables; one for girls, one for boys.

The Girls Table will feature little pink buckets with shiny new Crayola crayons (purchased for $0.25 for a 24 pack at Wal-Mart, thank you Back to School!!), Coloring Books, and *if I can find my old collection* Paper Dolls.

The Boys Table will be covered in paper and, with the help of my 7 year old cousin Bo, will feature a city scape of roads handdrawn by yours truly for the Boys to drive toy cars around!

Prior to the Bouquet/Garter Toss, CityBoy and I will be handing out Goody Bags to the kids. I came across Red Lunch Sacks at Target, and we'll be filling them with Salt Water Taffy and a Glow Bracelet.

I have several options on how to seal the bags:

Option 1: Aqua Ribbon, Whatver you call that closure...

Option 2: Pink/Red Ribbon, Knot Closure

Option 3: Aqua Ribbon with Loops, Bow Closure

Which Ribbon and Closure do you like best?

I love Martha...

2009-07-08T11:31:00.001-05:00

One of the first things that was decided in my wedding planning was the color scheme. I've always loved the color Red and its fellow warm compadres Pink and Orange, so it only made sense to use those colors to adorn my wedding.

So Small Town Mama, Sista, and I got started gathering our ideas in these colors. We found gorgeous strawberry colored silk for the Bridesmaid Dresses, Red table runners, Paper flowers in Reds, Pinks and Oranges and our vision began to take shape.

Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with the Aqua & Poppy color scheme and brought up the idea of introducing Aqua into our color scheme. I was quickly vetoed, the consensus being that the aqua would just not fit. So, I settled for having Aqua & Poppy as the colors for my new kitchen.

***Fast Forward a Few Months***

Monday, 4:00 PM

*Ring, Ring*

Mom: Hi, Sweetie, you need to go buy the new Martha Weddings, NOW!

Me: Hmmm, there's a new one, I'll have to drag Derrick to B&N tonight so I can flip through it for free (I read magazines at B&N all the time, I'm not ashamed...)

Mom: No, you need to buy this one.

Me: Okay, Okay, I'll go now!

Mom: Good, because there is a wedding in there you will LOVE, its your colors but with a splash of Aqua thrown in, I just love it!

Me: Wait a second, that was my idea and you hated it, but now Martha features it and you like it...

So, I bought the magazine and the bride is a girl after my own heart!!!

I am LOVING these Red Balls... the Bride spraypainted Styrofoam Balls and strung them on fishing line! Mom checked out Styrofoam Balls to use for our Cake Backdrop, but I think we have another idea...

Super CUTE Goody Bags!! We'll be giving the kiddos at our wedding goody bags, I'll post on those later!

And the piece de resistance... The GORGEOUS bouquet!! I am loving this entire bouquet and this is definitely what I was envisioning for myself to carry! My mom went right out and bought Aqua ribbon!

So, we've added "touches of aqua" to the wedding: Groomsmen ties, a few Table runners, Ribbons on bouquets.

Any other suggestions on how to subtly add Aqua without having overkill?

A dollar to dream...

2009-06-26T14:55:00.001-05:00

So, this isn't a wedding post, but I've been sitting at my client daydreaming all afternoon...

This morning, I was depressed, I was frustrated, I was thoroughly DONE with Dallas. I was ready to pack up everything CityBoy and I own and toss it into a U-Haul and get the heck outta Dodge... In my momentary dispair, I shot an email to my sister and CityBoy telling her them were moving to Chicago or California, effectively immediately.

My sister's response--Chicago - it snows, California - plane tickets are expensive.

And I plummeted back down to reality.

CityBoy's texted response was a little more optimistic--"Need to win the Lotto for Cali"

...

So, at lunch I stopped in at the nearest gas station and along with my Coke Zero, I purchased 1 ticket for Saturdays drawing and 3 Weekly Grand scratch offs.

The scratch offs are sitting my purse gazing up at me with their purple shimmer (on a side note...when did Weekly Grands change color again, they were Silver for years, then Neon Green, now Purple??) begging me to scratch them, but I think I'll dream a little longer.

If I were to win the lottery, I would:

Pay off our Credit Cards
Pay off our Car Loans
Pay off our Pesky Student Loans
Pay for everything for my wedding

Now that the boring Paying Off of things is done, I would:

Buy a Charming Older House that we could fix up
Buy CityBoy a couple of his dream Cars
Buy the lot next to our cute charming house to build a garage for CityBoy's cars (whoops!)
Buy some land near my parents
Build a "weekend house" on said land

I guess after all that, I'd put the rest into a savings account and keep living our lives like we do now...budget and all! I guess if I buy CityBoy a Ferrari, people would realize we'd happened across some extra cash, but other that that and a new house, I'd want everything to be the same and nobody to know we had won... Money changes people.

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Back from a Hiatus...

2009-06-24T10:49:00.001-05:00

So, its been about 2 1/2 months... and I haven't really taken a planning hiatus, but I have taken a blogging hiatus. I survived my first busy season in Dallas and I'm down to the 2 1/2 month mark before the wedding.

Since I left you last, a TON of planning has been done!!

We've nailed down the reception hall layout, all of our design elements and tabletop decorations, a final design on the custom bridesmaid dresses, the cake, the "grooms cake", the menu...the list goes on and on!!

So be expecting posts on each of these things in the next couple weeks!

You're Invited...

2009-04-08T13:26:00.001-05:00

A few months ago my mom, my sister and I were sitting on my mom's bed (our favorite place to congregate at my parents' house) discussing invitations. We pulled out my parents' wedding invitation and numerous samples from various magazines to come up with the perfect wording.

I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty picky about wording. I'm not really a "wordy" person, I like simplicity. I'm not a fan of "oclocks" and "two thousand nines," gimme 4:30 PM and 2009 and I'm happy. I guess its a product of being an accountant, I like things simple and numeric!

We thought we had it down to the PERFECT wording, but there a couple of small changes that could be made.

Option 1:

Small Town Dad & Small Town Mom
welcome you to join us at the marriage celebration of

Small Town Bride &
City Boy

Saturday, September 5, 2009
at 4:00 PM
Small Town Church
Small Town, Texas

Cocktails, Dinner & Dancing to follow
Small Hall
Small City, Texas

Option 2:

Small Town Dad & Small Town Mom
welcome you to join us at the marriage celebration
of our daughter

Small Town Bride to
City Boy

Saturday, September 5, 2009
at 4:00 PM
Small Town Church
Small Town, Texas

Cocktails, Dinner & Dancing to follow
Small Hall
Small City, Texas

Happy Anniversary...

2009-04-07T09:11:00.001-05:00

Saturday marked 2 years since CityBoy and I had our first date and I realized I never posted about how CityBoy and I became an US. So, I'm going to combine our story with our e-pictures by the fabulous Jenna Cole.

Doodly Doodly do.... Spring 2007...

I was a cute, young intern at an Accounting Firm in Lubbock, Texas, working long hours, travelling all over Texas, New Mexico & Arizona... CityBoy was a Junior Associate in the Audit Department, working long hours, travelling all over...

I can't really recall our first meeting, but CityBoy remembers it perfectly. On the second week of my internship, we all went out to lunch, and apparently I talked about my roommate's illegal pet being caught in our apartment and us being fined, but that's beyond the point. MY first memory of CityBoy was in the Bullpen when he was introduced to me as "the guy that plays crazy music in the afternoons to lighten everybody up." His favorite -- "Its Raining Men."

My internship was a quick blur. Every week I was in a new town (nowhere exciting...unless you think Willcox, Arizona and Bandera, Texas are exciting), and in every now town, me and the other members of my audit team found a new bar. Over the course of my internship, I became fast friends with my fellow interns (one is a bridesmaid!) and the junior and seniors at the firm. We played poker, we had Happy Hours on Fridays when we all managed to trickle back into town--CityBoy puts it best when he says it was like we had all been to war together.

Somewhere between the out-of-town jobs and the Happy Hours, CityBoy and I started talking to each other with increasing frequency. We talked about our problems and things that were going on in our lives and ultimately, we decided to try things out together late one night while I was in Flagstaff, Arizona.

We made plans to get together on April 4th, 2007, the night I got back from Flagstaff, and the rest is history. CityBoy came over to my house while I unpacked from the trip and we've pretty much been inseparable since then. We both instantly felt the connection we had and the very next night, CityBoy came over to the house to hang out again, this time while I packed to go to my parents' house for Easter, and we stayed up all night talking.

We still stay up all night talking sometimes, and I'm always reminded of our first days together. Everyone always told me that the person I will spend the rest of my life with should be someone I'm never bored with. That's certainly true of CityBoy and I'm so glad we decided to take things to the next level. He has most definitely been the best thing to ever happen to me.

STW: The Food

2009-03-27T20:35:00.001-05:00

Okay, so I inadvertantly abandoned my plans of describing the charm of a Small Town Texas Wedding, but fret not, ITS BACK with my favorite part of a Small Town, FOOD!

For most people, finding a caterer & tasting food for the reception is a big part of planning a wedding. For us, we knew right away what food we would be serving. Weddings in my area are fondly referred to as "Beer & BBQ weddings" because they serve just that--cold beer & tasty barbeque! Lately, more weddings in the area have been straying from the traditional "eats" and serving Chicken Fried Steaks or Mexican Food, but the meal is still served buffet style.

Barbeque is such an amazing part of where I live...just down the street is Texas Monthly's #1 BBQ in the state of Texas, Snow's BBQ and another local made the top 50!

The grub at our reception consists of:
Barbeque Beef, Pork (& maybe Sausage)
Noodles **see below
Green Beans
Hot Potatoes
Plus the requisite fixins': Bread, Pickles, Onions, Peaches (its a Texas thing)

My mom personally didn't want to do noodles & potatoes together, but when she mentioned dropping noodles from the menu, CityBoy demanded to have noodles!!!

Noodles in my neck of the woods are phenomenal and are a very tasty part of my heritage.
doodly doodly do do doodly dodo doodly (going back in time)...

In 1854, a ship docked in Galveston, Texas holding 500 immigrants from Lusatia, an area in Germany comprising parts of Saxony and Prussia... The Wends. Now, I'm sure 99.99% of you think I'm making up a group of people, but they existed. The Wendish Language is now considered a dead language but in those days was a trigger of persecution. The Prussians insisted the Wends speak and use the German language, going so far as to Germanize many Wendish names. The Wends were also required to join the Evangelical Reform and abandon their pure Lutheran faith. Rather than abandon their language and faith, they made plans to immigrate to America.
The Wends settled in Lee County and built a church in Serbin, Texas (just outside my hometown). This church is one of the oldest churches in America in continual use since its construction. PS--its gorgeous. My great-grandparents are buried at the cemetary there.

Fast forward to today. One of the most present aspects of Wendish culture through our community is Noodles. Although the Wends most certainly did not enjoy their Noodles with BBQ, I've grown up eating the Noodles of my ancestors with some of the FANTASTIC Texas BBQ in our area! In fact, my hometown is the home of the State of Texas Noodle Cook-Off!!

Here's a recipe for Noodles from the Texas Wendish Heritage Society:

Wendish Noodles

One egg
One half egg shell of water (about 3 tablespoons)
One and one-half to two cups of flour

Beat egg and water together. Add a sprinkle of salt and enough flour to form a stiff dough. Roll out thin on a pastry cloth. Let stand to dry, turning over occasionally. Cut into thin strips when dry but still pliable. Cook in a rich chicken broth until tender. Chopped parsley, chopped green onion tops, and a dash of nutmeg may be added for flavor, if desired.

PS-- The Wends are also known for making these Gems...

Just a Quick Post

2009-03-25T12:22:00.001-05:00

My Personal Favorite.... I love this kid.

I love you, Sister!!!

2009-03-18T17:42:00.001-05:00

Today, after a wonderfully short day at work (we had a firmwide happy hour 3-5...I bartered for more drink tickets and realized way later that a 5th margarita would mean I couldn't drive myself home....needless to say, I'm fuzzy), I got home, threw on some flip flops and trotted down to get the mail with Mia in tow.

I recently went on an ordering spree, I seriously don't remember what all I ordered, but I was expecting things....so I opened my tiny mailbox and saw a package!! I hastily pulled it out and saw my sister's name in the return address!! UNEXPECTED package, yay!!

Mia dragged me to the "potty spot" as I struggled to hold all the mail and my keys and my cell phone and Mia's leash while opening the package....

Inside I found a Box of Chewy Lemonheads, a CD, and a card...

Hello Sister,
This is your Valentine card, with a "Busy-season" care package. Also includes engagement pictures!! Enjoy! And, I'll see you soon-ish.
Love,
Cara

Wahoo!!! Not only did she hit the nail right on the head with the Lemonheads....I bought the same exact box over the weekend for movie night, but Engagement Pictures!! Yay!

I waited for Mia to do her thing, then dragged her as fast as possible to the front office to pick up my expected package, and headed home to look at the pictures!!!!

Expect pictures tomorrow!!

AND MORE pictures sometime in the coming weeks!! Mrs. Avocado of Weddingbee fame is going to be taking some pictures of CityBoy and I this weekend, I'm super excited!!!

Thank You Gods of the Accounting World

2009-03-13T16:19:00.001-05:00

I miraculously received an email today:

Students

Due to the change implemented by the TSBPA the course has changed.

I will be posting the syllabus sometime next week on Spring Break.

There will be a group research project and individual projects. We will meet one time, that is the last class day on Sunday to take the final exam.

Please look for the syllabus online by Wednesday.

Do not come to class tomorrow or this weekend. We will meet on the last Sunday as mentioned. The final exam will count 40% of the grade.

I'm not sure which change implemented by the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy means I don't have to give up SIX Saturdays & Sundays, but I'm thinking it means we're going to be doing ALOT of research for those group/individual projects...bummer.

Regardless...this definitely alleviates some of my stress and I'm planning on using my Saturday to work on STDs, yay!

Dance Party!!!!

2009-03-12T21:47:00.001-05:00

We are funny people.

We laugh.

Alot.

So, it only makes sense that when we're stressed out, we get REALLY goofy! Last night, immediately after my stressed out STDs in the Middle of Busy Season post, CityBoy starts rocking out to some Bob Marley and dancing around our apartment.

He managed to get me up off the couch and into the office, which was CLEAN thanks to my sickday on Monday (I can't sit still)... where we were reminded of one of our favorite pasttimes...DANCE PARTY!!

doodly doodly doodly do doodly do.... (...that's the flashback noise)

City Boy lived in an absolute HOLE back in Lubbock. But, I guess if you're a single guy and your girlfriend lives in the "Trendy College Townhouses," you get your fill of the amenities and you can shack up across town in a 1 bedroom apartment...

I HATED that apartment, but it was cheap and CityBoy was out of town or at my place alot, so it worked. This place was the classic bachelor pad, furnished only with a Big Screen TV, a Desk for his computer and a Futon. The bedroom? One GIANT closet/storage room.

One day, I decided to clean the "bedroom" and CityBoy was so excited when he got home!! He just stood in the middle of the room and said "Man, we could host a Dance Party in here..."

After that, we had lots of bedroom "dance parties" and danced around to CityBoy's strange iTunes mixes. I was starting to miss those crazy moments...its good to know we can put Busy Season on the backburner and let our hair down...

Thanks Babe....I needed a Dance Party...

Things are gonna get worse before they get Better...

2009-03-11T20:20:00.001-05:00

....Man oh Man is that true for me!

In the midst of the busiest time of year, I decided to enroll myself in a weekend class!! When I signed up, I was blissfully unaware of how downright TIRED I would be after a hard week pounding out financial statements, but here I am, totally wiped and I'm giving away the 2 days a week I don't have to spend in front of my dual monitors and 10-key!!

To make matters worse, I just passed the big 6-month mark and Miss Manners says STDs should be headed out the door! 1) Our STD is stuck in the design phase (the one con of having a graphic designer for a sister, when you don't pay, you don't make demands) 2) CityBoy STILL hasn't talked to his Mom/StepDad and Dad/StepMom to get their additions to our guest list and 3) My mom still hasn't sent me the elusive Excel file with everybody that matters' addresses!!!

I feel like I've smacked into the planning wall. The big stuff is done and I can't seem to get anything else done... Anybody else feel like they've hit a Wall at some point in their planning?

Stamped!

2009-03-06T11:29:00.001-06:00

Ack...well, its Fuzzy, but this is the Proof of the Stamp we're ordering from Paperwink for our Thank Yous! It looks so weird to see our names together with my future last name!!!
We also ordered one for my Mom & Dad for the Invitations and one for my sister since she found them!

As soon as it comes in, I'll test it for y'all and post some pictures!

Dress Love...

2009-03-05T16:40:00.001-06:00

Everytime I walk past J.Crew or Anthropologie, I fall harder...

Now that its getting warm outside, my favorite stores are starting to display the most adorable sundresses and I'm dreaming about the perfect rehearsal dinner dress!

I found this gorgeous dress from J.Crew:

In pink with polka dots? It also comes in Ivory, but I'm thinking white or anything close to white at a Backyard Rehearsal Dinner is probably a bad idea! I am loving the Citron color above though, I have a shirt that color and everytime I wear it someone comments on it!!

I apologize in advance for the tinyness of the dress pics from Anthropologie. I absolutely LOVE Anthropologie and these dresses are exactly why!!

I loooove this strapless Teal dress! As a "Busty" girl, empire waist things look great on me and I'm loving the bow!

Another Anthro beauty! My only concern with this one is the horizontal stripes...yikes!

Okay, so this final Anthropologie dress isn't really one I picked out for me, but rather one for my MOM! My mom is super cute and trendy and a traditional MOB dress would NEVER do her justice. I hope she doesn't wear shapeless "old lady dresses" even when she's 90!!

Do you think a Mother of the Bride could pull this off??

Aruba, Jamaica, Oooh I wanna take ya to ?????

2009-03-04T13:31:00.002-06:00

Over lunch with my client today, the Partner on the job started talking about traveling. The more everyone at the table started discussing where they had been and their experiences there (the Controller at our Client had recently gone to New Zealand, how fun! I wonder if he ran into Bret & Jemaine?), and I realized how little I have traveled!!

The travel discussion of course led to the inevitable question of "Where are you going on your Honeymoon?"

Our PLAN (nothing definite yet) is to go to New York! However, I think if we had unlimited resources and maybe a little more time, we'd love to travel somewhere exotic and not so...domestic. Don't get me wrong, neither of us has been to New York and we LOOOVE Chicago and cities in general, so it seems like a perfect fit. I can dream though, right?

If I could go ANYWHERE, my top 3 Honeymoon spots would be:

1) London, I have ALWAYS wanted to go to London! I think realistically, I'd like to combine it with a whole European excursion though!

2) Somewhere Tropical (BESIDES Mexico or Hawaii), maybe Fiji...

3) Japan. I am fascinated by Japanese culture and I think it would be very interesting, although the language barrier does scare me a bit!

Where would you go if you could go anywhere?

We're lopsided!

2009-03-03T20:06:00.001-06:00

There are many pros to CityBoy's family being far away (good excuses to travel...no fights for where we spend Christmas (I'm selfish)), but the biggest con we've run into for the wedding [outside of his family have to travel across the country from Michigan & Florida to Rural Texas] is the bridal party!!

I probably could have expanded my bridal party to 10 girls or more, but when it came time to shorten the list, the smallest I could get was 5...the 5 ladies I'm having are SUPER important to me and are people I want to stand up for me in my wedding. However, CityBoy was having a hard time rounding up 5 guys who would have the time and money to travel to Texas for his (second) wedding!

So, CityBoy will be having 3 guys...5 girls...doesn't add up!

For the processional, the guys will be at the front with CityBoy and the girls will walk in separately, but the problem we're having is: Do we go for a lopsided look and have 5 girls on one side and 3 guys on the other or do we have MOH and Best Man on our respective sides and then a strange conglomeration of BMs & GMs on both sides?

My mom seems to think the strange conglomeration (with a groomsman and two bridesmaids next to the MOH or Best Man), but I think lopsided won't look horrible... Thoughts?

On the way out, our MOH and Best Man will walk together and then the two Groomsmen get to be pimps and have a lady on each arm!! They love that idea!

Bride-mares!

2009-03-02T18:02:00.001-06:00

So last night, I definitely had my first Wedding-related Nightmare! I don't remember everything, but I do remember it was the day of my wedding and I couldn't get ready at home like I'd planned, so I was getting ready at my grandparents house surrounded by family and everything was going wrong!

First of all, I'd forgotten to ask people to be Ushers & House Party so our ushers showed up in Jeans & T-shirts and I was freaking about who was going to serve cake! Then, I'd had my hair done in an updo (which I don't plan on doing) and it started falling minutes before the ceremony, so I was rushing to fix it!

I woke up from that dream so freaked out I couldn't fall asleep for quite awhile!! So, I've decided first thing this weekend, I'm going to call up our Ushers & House Party and clue them in to their participation (okay, okay, I'm going to ask nicely, but I'm hoping they all say yes!)

Has anyone else had Bridal Terrors??

Gettin' our Drink on...

2009-02-28T17:43:00.001-06:00

The normal wedding in my hometown features one beverage choice--Beer! The classier events offer wine, but beyond that, there isn't much drink variety. We aim to change that for our wedding!

We'll of course have beer, most likely MGD 64. We tossed around a few beer ideas including Michelob Ultra Amber (my mom's favorite), but my dad has always been a Miller drinker and in college, I was in a community service that was founded in 1977 by Miller Brewing Company--MILLER GIRLS!! Granted, the organization disaffiliated with the Brewing Company in the late 80s, I still love Miller Beer! I have a large collection of Miller Pub Glasses & other paraphernalia to stock a future bar in a future house! Its perfect :-D

We'll also be serving some of my Grandfather's wine. My grandfather started a winery 5-6 years ago and recently decided it was getting to be a little too much work for him, so he's begun the process of selling his machinery :-(

We're stealing this idea from my sister's college roommate, but after realizing we had 3 of the 4, we have decided to Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue for our drinks!! The wine will be our Something Old since it is my my Grandfather's old family recipe.

Next is Something New. We'd been thinking of a good Mixed Drink to serve at the wedding for awhile when I stumbled across Miss Spring Roll's post about the Perfect Pear on Weddingbee.

My absolute favorite bar drink is Sprite & Vodka, so this mix of Sprite & Pear Vodka seemed like a great twist on my fave, so I headed off to my neighborhood liquor store and came home with quite a collection of flavored vodka!

Okay, so I already had the Big Bottle of SKYY (we love it) and the Stoli Vanil, but I purchased the other 3 for sampling purposes (man, I look like an alchie!)

First, SKYY Passion Fruit. I couldn't really tell you what Passion Fruit tastes like, so I was intrigued... (plus, I love SKYY vodka)

Second, Grey Goose La Poire. My mom was in Specs (a fantastic liquor store in Austin) and the buyer recommended Grey Goose's Pear Vodka over Absolute Pears!

Finally, Svedka Clementine. The Spec's buyer told my mom that most Orange Vodkas taste similarly and Svedka is reasonably priced, but still quite smooth and tasty!

So, I used my trusty Jigger and precisely measured 1/2 ounce of Vodka into each glass. Excuse the Pink Ice stirrers, I received those as a gift like 3 years ago from a roommate and recently stumbled across them still in the package...and decided to use them!

The results:

SmallTownBride:

1) Pear!

2) Orange (Not quite Orangy enough with just the 1/2 ounce, with a little more Vodka, it was perfect)

3) Passion Fruit (tasted like a Starburst, not quite what I was going for)

CityBoy

1) Pear

2) Orange

3) Passion Fruit

(we totally think alike!)

My mom and dad had their own tasting at home with the La Poire & Clementine and they picked the Clementine as their favorite, so we're expanding our test audience! I invited Bridesmaid S over for drinks one night next week, so I'll let you know her decision!

Something Borrowed was easy. For as long as I can remember, every Christmas, Domino Night, random Tuesday, my dad has made the same drink for himself. Sprite & VO with a Marascino Cherry & a splash of the juice from the jar of Cherries!!

Something Blue is the hard one...Blue doesn't really go with our theme and I don't want another alcoholic drink, so for now our solution is Blue Lemonade for the kids (yes, we will have kids at our wedding, LOTS!)

What drinks are you serving at your wedding?

Ahhh, the weekend!

2009-02-27T20:37:00.002-06:00

I have been daydreaming about 40 hour weeks lately and although I have to trek downtown to the office tomorrow for a meeting and a few hours of work, IT IS THE WEEKEND!!

CityBoy and I picked up PeiWei and were set to cuddle up on the couch and watch a movie until our good friend/groomsman, B, called me. I chatted with him a few minutes about the newest goings-on in his world and then passed the phone off to CityBoy (who had by this point started pouting and demanding I give him the phone!)

That was over an hour and a half ago and they're still yaking! What a bunch of girls? From the bits and pieces I'm overhearing they're talking about work...FAS this and GAAP that...ITS THE WEEKEND!

I'm debating what on my long list of Wedding ToDos I should Do this weekend... Here are the things I hope to get done:

Finish the Guest List
Call/Email/Facebook all our friends in LBK for Addresses
Start compiling our OOTer Things To Do list

A modest list, yes, but probably one I won't even get through...ugh.

Oh yeah, B, he was calling to tell us he's coming to visit next weekend, so add clean house to that list!! (Our apartment is a wreck, CityBoy compared it to the Flamingo in Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas....YIKES!)

Any good ideas on how to get stuff done when all you do is work?

I hate Unity Candles... and I really hate Unity Sand...

2009-02-26T14:39:00.001-06:00

I have serious issues with Unity.

The first decision I made regarding my wedding was that we would ABSOLUTELY NOT have a Unity Candle (or worse, Unity Sand)! CityBoy agreed after sarcastically suggesting we mix various ridiculous things.

We also don't really want a Soloist. Neither of us really see the point in sitting around listening to someone sing unless its a very important song to us and none of the songs we'd want would really be church appropriate.

That leaves us with a) a really short ceremony, b) a really long message, or c) add something else. After some research and discussion, we decided to have one of my childhood friends do a reading during the ceremony. While my friend is very religious, I didn't think a religious reading was most like us, so I found some that I think would work well...

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving
but this, in which there is no I or you,
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.
Pablo Neruda

You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry. From that moment of yes to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making promises and agreements in an informal way. All those conversations that were held riding in a car or over a meal or during long walks - all those sentences that began with “When we’re married” and continued with “I will and you will and we will”- those late night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe”- and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding. The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “ You know all those things we’ve promised and hoped and dreamed- well, I meant it all, every word.” Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another- acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, and even teacher, for you have learned much from one another in these last few years. Now you shall say a few words that take you across a threshold of life, and things will never quite be the same between you. For after these vows, you shall say to the world, this- is my husband, this- is my wife.
Union by Robert Fulghum

I love you
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you.
I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what
You are making of me.
I love you
For the part of me
That you bring out;
I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can't help
Dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out
Into the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find
I love you because you
Are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life
Not a tavern
But a temple.
Out of the works
Of my every day
Not a reproach
But a song.
I love you
Because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done
To make me good.
And more than any fate
Could have done
To make me happy.
You have done it
Without a touch,
Without a word,
Without a sign.
You have done it
By being yourself.
Perhaps that is what
Being a friend means,
After all.
Love- Roy Croft

THOUGHTS?

Make-Up Test Run

2009-02-23T18:48:00.001-06:00

So, this weekend after the lovely Free Wedding Demos at Paper Source, I wandered around North Park Mall. I decided to wander into Sephora and ended up getting a make-up artist to test some makeup out for the wedding!!

(I have pictures on my camera at home, but I'm STILL at a client at 7:00 PM!! I'm taking a short break so I don't go cross-eyed looking at a Fixed Asset Rollforward!)

Anyway, I have had crazy dry skin lately, so she started with Philosophy's Hope in a Jar for Dry, Sensitive Skin (totally me!) and generously slathered it all over my face, I'm usually apply moisturizer sparingly.

Then, she used Make Up For Ever's HD Invisible Cover foundation and MUFE's HD Microfinish powder (I requested this makeup, I've heard great things!) to create a flawless finish!

She topped that off with NARS blush in the ever-so-famous Orgasm, eyeshadows from Benefit's Smoky Eye kit & Dior Show mascara!! (I think the eyes were wrong for me, but very alluring!)

So, I headed out of Sephora feeling much more presentable than I did when I walked in sans makeup. Surprisingly, I got complimented on my makeup in Anthropologie!! WOW!

I gave it the entire day for a test-run and I was very pleased with the results. CityBoy loved it and it looked natural and lasted all day!

I'm going to test a few more before I shell out the cash for fancy makeup, but I definitely liked MUFE's HD makeup.

What makeup are you wearing for your wedding??

Twitter

2009-02-19T17:18:00.002-06:00

Follow me on Twitter:

SmallTownBride

I'll follow you back...Twitter is my new obsession!

I don't want to think today...

2009-02-19T13:05:00.002-06:00

I'm having a BAD day. I stayed up way too late last night watching junk on TV...

We decided to add premium channels since we won't have time for any outside entertainment between now and May! Instead of going to the movies or out for drinks, we'll be sitting at home on the couch cranking out financials in front of the TV watching HBO!!

Let me give you a rundown of a traditional evening at our apartment...

We both roll-in sometime between 5:00 and 6:30, usually me before CityBoy. I change out of my work clothes, take Mia out, get the mail, and start dinner. We eat dinner at our bar, while watching TV, then CityBoy disappears into the office to read Wikipedia, CraigsList, etc. This leaves me with full control of the remote!!

LATELY, however, I've been getting home between 6:30 and 7:30...after CityBoy. The last couple nights, I've walked in and found him watching some bizarre movie...which delays my delicately planned TV schedule and has ultimately made both of our bedtimes later and later...not good.

Hopefully, we'll find a compromise...or else Showtime has got to go!

Anyway, I don't wanna think today, so I'm stealing this post from ThisCasita, with some modifications....enjoy!!!

Here's a chance to see how well you really know your Man.
Cut, paste and fill in the answers, then forward. The real challenge is to send it to your Man to see how right you really are.

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen?
Some bizarre movie, Top Gear, Time Warp

2. You're out to eat, what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
CityBoy doesn't eat Salads

3. What's one food he doesn't like?
Mushrooms

4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order?
Ribs and a Coors Light

5. Where did he go to high school?
Livonia Stevenson High School, Trenton High School

6. What size shoe does he wear?
10? I dunno?

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich?
Turkey with Avocado & Bacon...no Cheese

9. What would this person eat every day if he could?
White Castle!

10. What is his favorite cereal?
Hmmm...he doesn't eat his cereal with milk, but I'd say his favorite is Fruity Pebbles

11. What would he never wear?
Clothes I picked out for him...

12. What is his favorite sports team?
Detroit Red Wings

13. Who did he vote for?
Obama

14. Who is his best friend?
Besides me? Mikey

15. What is something he does that you wish he wouldn't do?
Leave his shoes in the front hall!

16. What is his heritage?
A little bit of everything, some Irish, some Portuguese

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday, what kind of cake?
Ice Cream Cake!

18. Did he play sports in high school?
Nope

19. What could he spend hours doing?
Playing on the Internet or Looking at Cars

20. What is one unique talent he has?
He knows everything there is to know about cars, and punk music

A Valentine's Tradition...

2009-02-14T13:36:00.001-06:00

Last year for Valentine's Day, CityBoy was out of town for work, so we planned to have our Valentine's Day a few days later. To my surprise, he called me mid-afternoon on Valentine's Day to tell me he would be back that night!

I had instructions to meet him at his apartment that evening and when I showed up, he greeted me with a Heart Shaped Pizza (I can't find my pictures of it!!), Half Pepperoni (his) and Half Mushroom (mine)!! His sweet gesture and a great chick flick made for a fantastic Valentine's Day!

This year, we both have audits to wrap up this weekend, so we decided to do V-Day low-key, but that didn't stop CityBoy from disappearing this morning before I woke up and returning with Dunkin' Donuts (and all my favorite donuts) and little presents for me!!

So, I decided to surprise him for lunch by going to Krystals (the Southern White Castle...he LOVES White Castle) and bringing them home for lunch and going with our Heart-Shaped food tradition, I used a heart cookie cutter to cut them into Hearts!!

HE LOVED THEM!! I think tonight we might order pizza??

How are you making Valentine's Day special??

Sadness...

2009-02-12T19:59:00.001-06:00

I got home today after a long workday, a quick trip into target & a stop to pick up dinner and lugged in my laptop, target bags & dinner in one fell swoop. I plopped everything down in the front hall, unpacked dinner for CityBoy and went to change out of my work clothes.

I was simultaneously pulling on jeans and taking off jewelry when I realized my College Ring wasn't on my finger!! My fingers have been getting smaller lately, but I didn't think my rings were that loose!! I'm hoping it didn't slip right off my finger and that its safely sitting on the conference table at my client, but I'm starting to think its gone forever!!!

I tend to play with my rings (CityBoy always yells at me), and sometimes my jewelry bothers me when I'm working, so I'll slip off my watch & bracelets and sometimes my rings!!! I know I had my bracelet off at the client, but I think I would have seen my ring laying there...

Tomorrow I'm duct taping the diamond to my finger!!

Budgeting our Time...

2009-02-12T12:28:00.000-06:00

Last night, CityBoy and I both had a guap of work to do. So, we retreated to our separate corners of the apartment and started ticking and tying ourselves into a frenzy of auditing!! Even though we were both at home, we hardly saw each other outside of scarfing down the yummy Chipotle I managed to grab on my way home.

I'm still trying to decide if it is a Pro or a Con that CityBoy and I are in the same profession and therefore have the same Busy Season...

Pros:

He understands when I'm at work until 8:30 PM one night and 6:00 PM the next
He doesn't expect dinner on the table
When I'm working at home and ready to beat my head on the table, I can ask him for help
He isn't out doing something fun while I'm stuck in the office on Saturdays

Cons:

When I have a free evening, he's working
If I want to do something fun on a Saturday, he's working
HE'S ALWAYS WORKING!!

We keep making promises to ourselves--"we're going to have dinner together every night" or "we're going to put work away at 9PM"--but, we haven't kept any of them! Some nights, we do our own thing for dinner, work til 11PM and don't even go to sleep together!

Last night, we had a chat about spending time together. It always seems like in the middle of the day, I'll suddenly, overwhelmingly miss him. We may live in the same house, but its like we aren't even there together. I was happy to discover he felt the same way, so we decided to do something about it.

We didn't come up with a resolution outside of hanging out together on Sunday just yet, but this is my best idea so far:

In the spirit of 2 accountants, we need to budget our time at home like we budget our time on engagements. In addition to the work we have to do at home, there are other little chores and things to do such as: unloading the dishwasher, doing laundry, making sure our DVR doesn't get full and start deleting our shows (AKA watching TV), showering (this can be a chore when you're really busy), working out (always the first thing to go!) and most importantly, SPENDING TIME TOGETHER.

So, I'm gonna pitch the idea to CityBoy of planning out our days using this budget... I haven't worked out all the logistics yet, but something has gotta change b/c I miss that BOY!

ANOTHER First Dance Song...

2009-02-10T16:40:00.001-06:00

I was just doing my daily blog-stalking over at Weddingbee, and read Mrs Sea Breeze's recap post and they played this song by Colin Hay:

I LOOOOOVE this song. My friend B (also a Groomsman) introduced this song to me and I think I listened to this song a million and one times while I was in my last semester of college, getting ready for my "real life to begin" I am picturing this as our first dance song now too...or maybe we'll just play it during our Cocktail Hour music??

New Blog Design

2009-02-10T14:39:00.001-06:00

Thoughts? I think it might be too much, but the birds are super cute!

UPDATE: I ditched the birds & just updated my colors, I like a simple blog!

A Case of the Mondays...

2009-02-09T16:11:00.000-06:00

I hate Mondays.

I have always hated Mondays.

I ESPECIALLY hate Mondays now that I have meetings every Monday at 8:30 in the office!!!!!!

This morning, I woke up, scrambled to throw on something a) clean, b) not wrinkled, c) business professional, ran the Chi rather haphazardly through my hot mess of hair, slapped on some makeup, took the pup to potty and ran out the door (in under 15 minutes, I'm a speed demon)... 20 annoyingly traffic filled minutes later (why is it that I can get to the office at 8 or 9 with no problem, but 8:30 is a nightmare??) I'm sitting in my 30 minute meeting just to say "I'm wrapping up at ABC Company today and tomorrow, helping out at DEF the rest of the week and at GHI next week."

This particular Monday was particularly terrible because immediately after our meeting, I headed out of the office to meet the Principal on my current job at the predecessor auditor's office...LITERALLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM MY APARTMENT!!!

After reviewing some workpapers, I grabbed a quick lunch at home (the one sunny element of the day), and headed 30 miles away (back past the office...grrr) to my client. So, I have driven a grand total of over 50 miles so far today, about half of that for no good reason...

Okay...Rant Over...

In order to make my Monday a little better, I'm taking a break from ticking and tying to share some Etsy lovelies I came across at lunch!!!

My sister has been talking my ear off about invitations and her inspiration and I sent her this invite and she agreed, this is sorta what she's picturing!!

I looooove Paloma's Nest. This bowl would be so cute on the dresser in our bedroom...

My mom want's to do button magnets at our wedding. I wasn't too keen on the idea until I saw these fun buttons!! I guess I'll just have to get mom to make cute ones :-D

Finally, I saw this hairpin and decided my mom totally needs to open a shop on Etsy!! She loves making jewelry and this is right up her alley!! I wish this hairpin was in Red/Orange/Pink so I could buy it for my hair!!

Dancin' the Night away!

2009-02-04T19:37:00.001-06:00

I've been thinking for a long time about the song we will dance to as our first dance as husband and wife.

I remember dancing with my Dad as a little girl, standing on his boots in my stocking feet. Now that I have grown up, dancing comes naturally to me. CityBoy, however, is clueless! But its okay because sometime this summer we will be partaking in lovely dance lessons!!

Now...on to the songs!!

First, Jack Johnson - Better Together! I love this song, its so fun and it makes me warm & fuzzy when I hear it, but Bridesmaid SA and her hubby danced to this song and I'd feel like a thief!

Next, Jason Mraz/Colbie Caillat - Lucky. I hear this song on the radio and swoon, but it doesn't feel quite like us!!

Michael Buble - Everything...Can't go wrong with Buble, but CityBoy wasn't havin' it!!

This next one is the theme song to our relationship...and my blog!! But, its not really first dance material. But don't worry, Journey's Don't Stop Believin' will definitely be played and we will definitely dance!!!

Honeybrowne's Texas Angel was the finalist for quite awhile, but after listing to the lyrics over and over and over, I realized its kind of about breaking up...

Soooooooooo...

We're going with a song that we both like, that has a connection to us, and is shor & sweet....

Without further avail, our song!

Buddy Holly's Dearest!!

This song definitely fits the bill because its a little bit funky, Buddy Holly hails from the city where we fell in love, LUBBOCK, and 2 minutes leaves very little time for us to be the center of attention on the dance floor!!

What is your first dance song?

STD Teaser

2009-02-04T12:12:00.000-06:00

Here is my fabulously talented sister's first mock up for our STD!! My sister took these pictures when she was in Texas for Christmas. This picture was actually taken at Addison Circle (near where we live) with the big blue sculpture thingy in the middle of the circle! (More pictures to come as soon as I get them!!)

SmallTownSister has another design up her sleeve that I cannot wait to see!! I'm not a "wordy" person when it comes to design, so the less words on an invitation/STD, the better. The new design is going to be a play on CityBoy & I both being Accountants! It will say "SmallTownGirl + CityBoy = 9/5/09" plus the relevant details below that in small print. I hope it turns out like I'm picturing!!

Don't Stop Believin...

2009-01-30T12:50:00.001-06:00

Just a Small Town Girl, Livin in a Lonely World...

Just a City Boy, Born & Raised in South Detroit...

One of our first dates! Out & About in Lubbock, Texas!

I took CityBoy to meet one of my best friends (Bridesmaid SA) in San Antonio!

Our first Christmas as a couple, at my parents house with Mia (our furbaby!)

In Amarillo, I went to pick him up from an out of town job to go...somewhere, I can't remember where, but it was important...Bridesmaid SA's wedding maybe...Easter??

Easter at my Parents' house!

At Bridesmaid SA's rehearsal dinner! Doesn't he look thrilled?

On the Beach in Corpus Christi!

Celebrating my graduation from Texas Tech!!

I love this guy!! I always look at pictures of us together and remember some of the happiest times of my life and I honestly can't wait for all the happy times to come!!!!

STW: The Venue

2009-01-29T18:17:00.000-06:00

In my own small town, there are 2 standard venues for wedding receptions—the Sons of Hermann Hall or the American Legion Hall. Both spaces are relatively large, open spaces with the requisite dance floor in the middle. The Sons of Hermann Hall is a little larger, but both spaces generally offer the same features. A kitchen for the caterers of your choice, a “Bar” consisting of a couple spigots for a Keg or two or ten, a stage for the band or more common DJ, and a fantastically undecorated interior—Standard rectangular tables and metal folding chairs included.

Almost all weddings in our area are held in these halls. The same goes for the surrounding towns. My cousin B’s reception will be held in the KC Hall (Knights of Columbus) in her hometown of Schulenburg and two of my close friends (C & C) who were wed last summer held their reception at the SPJST Hall in nearby Dime Box.

This type of venue literally opens the door for creative decorating. At C & C’s wedding in Dime Box, they created a drape over the center of the dance floor centered around the venue’s gorgeous antique chandelier. Many years ago, when my cousin B’s sister, K, was married, they created a gazebo in the center of the dance floor using a PVC pipe structure covered in Tulle.

My cousin A got married this past summer as well and her now-husband’s mother, who is a caterer, brought in round tables, pretty chairs, and ice sculptures and wowed the local crowds who were used to the rectangular tables and folding chairs!!

We will be holding our reception at the Sons of Hermann Hall. I’d always dreamed of a reception somewhere fantastic, not just the Hall like everyone else, but after researching venues within a 50-mile radius, I determined that any space that was large enough to hold my large reception would A) break the bank or B) require my guests to drive 45 minutes. I decided the Sons of Hermann was something we could work with. My immediate family is the most crafty/handy/creative group of people I know.

The Sons of Hermann Hall does not let you hang anything from the ceiling or the walls, so this was my mom’s first decorating hurdle. She cleared it with ease by enlisting my dad & brother to design and create metal stands to anchor strings of lanterns strung across the room. (The stands are still in the design process…when my family takes on a project, they do it right. I’m talking exact measurements, levels & t-squares, and perfect craftsmanship. My brother especially, a few years ago, he built a trailer sprayer (farm thing) from scratch and won prizes all over Texas for his work….but enough about that, more to come later).

My mom may be the only person who notices, but against the back wall of the hall, there are very obvious air conditioning units (added after the hall was built, this place is old…my parents had their reception at the same place). Mom has taken on the challenge to hide them by enlisting Dad & Bro again to create a framework to hang vertical strands of clearance Christmas lights (we definitely hit up the Wal-Mart 75%-off Holiday Sale) to hang in front of the units. Always a thinker, Mom found a way to make the units less obvious while still allowing airflow to cool the hall in early September, way to go MOM!

Instead of using the traditional rectangular tables in the usual way, lined up in rows, we will be using the tables in pairs, pushed together into squares. We also plan on using several round tables, borrowed from a family friend.

STW: The Church

2009-01-28T21:53:00.000-06:00

After a few confused stares when I start describing my wedding (in particular, the BBQ Buffet, the Venues & a few Cultural things), I've decided to feature a series about STWs (Small Town Weddings)!

Part I: The Church

In small town Texas, the church is the foundation of the community. In the "town" (I use that word loosely) my parents live in there is a Post Office (that closes at lunch so the 1 employee can go home and have lunch with his wife), a Gas Station (/grocery store/beer joint/restaurant), and a Church.

This is the church where my parents were married and where I was baptized and confirmed. I grew up in this church, sitting in the 3rd pew. Although I moved away from home 5 1/2 years ago, I still know everyone in the congregation.

A third of them are family. My great-great grandfather is buried in the cemetery out in the pasture behind the church, my great-aunts and uncles and my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all grace the pews on Sunday mornings. Another third of the congregation might as well be family.

I have always known I wanted to be married in my church. Its simple elegance has always been the backdrop to my fantasies. Although the church has changed since those first daydreams...the picturesque front porch with concrete that showed the wear of generations has been upgraded to include a ramp (neccessary, but still heartbreaking), the deep regal red carpets have been replaced by light blue, and perhaps most sad, the golden stained glass windows that made everything seem to glow have been replaced by cool-toned stained glass images. The church is still gorgeous, but its very different from the church where my parents were wed.

In the small town church, a community showed its respect to the Lord by dressing his house. In my own church, the soaring wooden ceilings & arched stone work reflect the craftsmanship of simple farmers who still pray for rain. Just down the road at the church where my cousin will be wed, the Czechs created one of the gorgeous Painted Churches of Texas, with elaborately painted ceilings and adornments from their Mother Land.

There is a feeling in a small town church I have never gotten in larger sanctuaries. I know that on my wedding day the pastor will give a message meant just for us (he's known me half my life!!) and there is nowhere I would rather speak my vows and promise to spend the rest of my life with CityBoy.

Baby its Cold outside!!!

2009-01-28T09:26:00.000-06:00

Well, DFW has fallen prey to the elusive ice storm! A whie back, I PRAYED for an ice storm so I would get a free day to sit on the couch and now here it is and I'm on a client that I could probably walk to from my apartment...just my luck.

However, the client wasn't there this morning, so we're trying again at 10:00, but I'm secretly hoping they all just decided to stay home for the day so that I can too!! Expect some blogging if I do get to stay home!!!

All you DFW drivers out there, be safe!!

ARTx52

2009-01-25T23:20:00.000-06:00

Have I mentioned that my sister is AMAZING? Well, she is!

Her New Year's Resolution this year it so do something crafty every week (x52) and to keep herself honest since she's in Wisconsin and most of her "people" (namely me & Mom) are in Texas, she has created a blog to showcase her ingenuity.

You can check out her beauties at artx52.blogspot.com!!!

I'm sure more than a few will be related to my wedding since she's my Go-To-Gal on ePhotos, STDs, Invitations, Programs, etc etc etc!!

DFW Weddingbee Meet Up

2009-01-24T20:36:00.000-06:00

I'm a very obsessed Weddingbee reader. Today I met up with Mrs. Hydrangea & Mrs. Avocado to watch Bride Wars. After the movie, we got to know each other over lunch at The Mermaid Bar in Neiman Marcus. It was great to meet two fabulous women who planned gorgeous weddings!!!

And I thought Happiness was Lubbock, Texas in my rearview mirror...

2009-01-23T17:06:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I got to hop on a puddlejumper (note to self, never let the Firm Recruiter book us on American Eagle again, I love Southwest) and head back to my alma mater, Texas Tech, in lovely Lubbock, Texas!!

Immediately after landing and heading into town (the airport is sort of out in a cotton field...), I knew I wasn't in Kansas anymore!! Lubbock has changed by leaps and bounds since the Fall of 2003 when I moved there. Any Lubbock-ites or former Techies out there are probably familiar with Overton Park, the former "Tech Ghetto", which was bulldozed and is being rebuilt. This neighborhood is directly across the street from Tech and the only remaining tenant in an entire ginormous chunk of city blocks is a Lubbock landmark, Spanky's.

I thought it was amazing how much they accomplished while I was there, but since I left in June and even since I was last there in August, SO MUCH HAD CHANGED!!! In my old 'hood, the aforementioned Overton Park area, there is a brand spankin' new high rise hotel in the works, a huge apartment complex nearly completed and NO LIE 25-30 new houses!!! It was so bizarre...

Back to the post...I spent about 3 hours schmoozin' with Tech Students at Tech's Accounting "Meet The Firms" event. I've definitely decided Accounting Recruiting was so much easier when I did it (not even that long ago), I saw their schedule for this year and basically they have Information Meetings, Social Events, and Interviews with firms 4-5 days a week from now until March or April!! YIKES! I met some great candidates, talked up our Audit Department, and chatted it up with some former coworkers.

Afterwards, I took the Rental Car & visited a few people and took a spin around the town where CityBoy & my love blossomed. I swung into the "new" Wal-Mart they built near my apartment 3 years ago and got a phone charger so I could talk CityBoy through my drive down Memory Lane (and Glenna Goodacre Boulevard).

Driving around and seeing the places we frequented when our relationship was new made me realize how easy it was at the beginning. I'm not sure if its the new city, our new careers, or US that has made things harder, but I long for the nights when CityBoy would come to my apartment after work and we'd take the furbaby (our chihuahua, Mia) on walks around campus or the drives we'd take to go visit every car dealership in Lubbock. We have so much more to do here in Dallas, but it seems like we're both so wiped from work that on weeknights we stay at home and don't do things like take Mia on walks or go get Ice Cream. On weekends, I feel like all we do is shop (not good for the budget), so I need some ideas on how to enjoy Dallas.

What are some good Dallas Date Ideas? Actually, any "City" date ideas are welcome!!!!

Cello-ist...

2009-01-15T16:19:00.000-06:00

I know, I know, its Cellist...

Anyway, just jotting down a quick thought. I love Cello.

I'm seriously considering a cellist for the ceremony, any ideas on arrangements that are gorgeous on cello for weddings?

I'm listening to Yo-Yo Ma's Cello Suites, amazing...

If you don't have something nice to say, come sit by me!!

2009-01-15T15:59:00.000-06:00

Bonus points if you know what movie that quote is from ;-)

My sister's best friend/former college roommate is getting married here in Dallas this weekend, so C flew in last night and will be staying with me until Sunday!! I snagged her from the airport (relatively painfree although I was sure I'd be cursing traffic) and we went home, scarfed down some dinner and got straight to business!

C is hosting the bachelorette party/lingerie shower at my apartment tomorrow night, so we hit the ground running to pick up the large/heavy/perishable/otherwise-not-able-to-be-packed-from-Wisconsin items. First stop, Hobby Lobby.

My sister's trademark wedding gift is a framed photo collage thingy of the couple's last name. My sister is always on the look out for letters naturally (or man-made but unintentionally) occuring in the world around us, and she takes photos of these "letters" and uses them to spell out the names!! I have my first name spelled out and I'm sure I'll get my new last name as a wedding gift!!!

So, after getting the mat custom cut to C's specifications and picking up a 50% off Frame and some Hot Pink crepe paper streamers, we headed to the mall so I could pick out some snazzy lingerie for my other "big sis" at Victoria's Secret and some nifty bath goodies at Lush.

Anyway...long story short, C and I started talking about how we love going to weddings to see different ways of doing things!! Well, as C put it, "criticizing other weddings*" (hence the title).

So, plan on seeing a nice long bloggy about this weekend's event ;-) Hopefully there will be little to criticize and maybe we'll come away with some good ideas!!

((*Note, I'm not a super critical person, its more of a "I'd have done that this way..." etc.))

tooBUSYforlove SEASON?

2009-01-12T21:46:00.000-06:00

CityBoy and I are embarking on the 3 1/2 month period all accountants dread...BUSY SEASON! At my firm, we're required to work a minimum of 50 hours a week, but word on the street is I'm really looking at 55-60 hour weeks...that's an extra 20 hours a week I won't be at home with CityBoy!! I'm definitely not looking forward to it!!

I survived a busy season on my internship, but that firm was SO different from my current firm. Then, I was out of town Monday-Thursday, staying in some small town, working about 50 hours and racking up some serious Rapid Rewards points! But then, I was single and my coworkers were more like friends and our nights out of town were more fun that I probably would have had going back to my own place at night.

I survived a busy season with CityBoy (who worked for the firm I interned with) out of town Monday-Thursday for weeks on end, but we talked every night and when he came back into town, he was all mine! Plus, I was in my last semester of college, so I was living it up!

Now, we're both facing off with 60 hour weeks and loads of work and increased stress and all that stuff that leads to workplace depression or whatever...so what does that mean for our relationship?

I'm making a Busy Season Resolution to make our time together quality. Instead of doing what we do now when we're both at home...CityBoy in the office playing Xbox or tinkering with his RC Truck or surfing the net and me in the living room watching DVR'd TV or *gasp* reading wedding blogs or surfing facebook...we're going to do things together.

So, if I'm not around much between now and April 15th, I'll be with my baby! Consider yourself warned!!!

What's a MOH to do?

2009-01-06T18:57:00.000-06:00

Whooo...what an exhausting weekend!! I had the day off last Friday, so I slept late, leisurely packed some stuff up and drove to my parents' house for the weekend!!

Our weekend got kicked off with GIRLS NIGHT!! My dad and brother headed out to the deer lease for the weekend and I left CityBoy back in the city, so me, my mom and my sister had the house to ourselves! We headed into town (yes, I don't even live in my namesake small town, but 10 minutes outside of it) to pick up a couple Pizzas and movies. After ordering our pizzas, we decided to run to Wal-Mart and walked out with so many discount leftover Christmas lights, we could decorate our house Griswold style! YIKES! But, at 75% off, even if we don't use the lights at the wedding, they were a steal. So, after picking up the Pizzas and movie selections for the evening, Mamma Mia and The Dutchess, we headed back out to the farm.

My sister is a bridesmaid/unofficial MOH, for her old college roommate's wedding next weekend and will be hosting the Lingerie Shower/Bachelorette Party at my apartment a week from today! As part of the swag for the party, my sister bought wine glasses and glass paint and wanted to handpaint glasses for each lady. Mom and I somehow got recruited to be on the decorating committee, so we set up a table in the living room and painted glasses while enjoying Mamma Mia! The glasses turned out SUPER cute and I've already picked the one I'm gonna snag at the party.

The next day, we headed to Austin for a day filled with Bridesmaids Dress shopping with my Aunt, Cousin K, and her daughter, M!

First stop, Alfred Angelo. We tried on a few and FELL IN LOVE with this one. It looked good on us "busty" ladies and we loved the purple color:

However, the Bride, my BM, wasn't too keen on purple and insisted on brown! So, we ultimately ordered this dress, but not before we tried on every imaginable dress in Austin!!!

Details, Details, Details!

2009-01-02T11:02:00.003-06:00

First of all...ITS HERE!!!! My dress came in during my Christmas Vacation, so me and my mom went to pick it up! I'd been having some nightmares about it not fitting because I ordered the size I tried on in the store and the sample had been tried on so many times, it was 3 sizes larger than the tag (crazy, I know), but that was not the case, its PERFECT!!!

Also, my Christmas gift came in!! My mom ordered this beauty from Anthropologie and I told her since they're paying for a wedding in the next year, this could double as my Christmas gift!! Unfortunately, one of the glass balls was broken in transit, so we had to send it back, but I did get the opportunity to try the necklace on with my dress...GORGEOUS!!

The material featured above with the necklace and below is the material for the Bridesmaid dresses!!! Its called strawberry and its a deep pinky red and I love it!!

We debated on shoe color and finally decided on red and I sure am glad we did, it looks GREAT with the material!! These are the shoes my sister ordered from Zappos:

Finally, I mentioned in a previous post about my "something blue," and here she is!! My dad gave my mom this star sapphire & diamond ring and she's giving it to me!! It fits my pinky right now, but I plan on having it sized to wear on my right hand ring finger for the wedding and every day after!!

FINALLY: Here's a ring shot I took after being inspired by Wedding Bee's Reader Ring shots! CityBoy & I are both Accountants, so the calculator seemed like the best backdrop for a great shot of Miss Tiffany!!

A weekend filled with Weddingy stuff!!

2009-01-02T10:24:00.001-06:00

I'm about to begin my exodus from Dallas just as all the other Red Raiders are converging on this great city to kick some Ole Miss booty!! The Cotton Bowl is today, but I can honestly say my vacation day today is going to be better spent by sleeping late, missing traffic, and hanging out with my sister!!

I'm headed to my parents' house today for a weekend of wedding planning!! Tomorrow, me, mom and my sister are going shopping with my aunt and my cousin for my other cousin's wedding...confusing...yes! B, who is one of my bridesmaids, is getting married in June and I'm her MaidOH along with her sister, K, who is her MatronOH!! We went dress shopping back in September or October and B and I both managed to purchase our wedding gowns, but we some snaggles with the BM dresses. B found her dress at David's Bridal and we found a BM dress that we absolutely loved, only to discover brown....ahem..."Truffle" was too popular a color and they couldn't order the dress we wanted!!!

So, the goal of tomorrow's shopping extravaganza is to nail down a BM dress!! K and I are both--how do you say...BUSTY! So dress shopping can be quite a pain, but do or die, we will find a dress tomorrow!!

B actually found this one on David's Bridal's website and we all love it, so FINGERS CROSSED, it fits!! Its from their new spring line, so we're hoping they have it in the stores!

Reflections on 2008

2008-12-30T12:38:00.001-06:00

With 2008 drawing to a close, I have been thinking alot lately about the happenings of my life in the last year... 2008 was a big year for me! College graduation, engagement, moving to a new city, cohabitating with CityBoy, starting my "Big Girl Job," being promoted super early in my career, and in general beginning my "Real Life."

This time last year, I was happily dating CityBoy and preparing for my final semester in college. If you had told me that 1 year later, I'd be living in Dallas with CityBoy, working for a great firm, wearing a big diamond on a certain finger, I'd have probably thought you were crazy! Yet, here I am!!

I am so grateful for the blessing I have been given in 2008.

I'm thankful for the education I received that allowed me to have my fantastic career and for my parents who supported me through several changes of my college major and all of the bumps I encountered in the road to my degree.

I'm thankful for CityBoy. Without him, I can honestly say I would not be the person I am today. My relationship with him gave me incentive to grow up--I'm no longer the irresponsible young woman I was when we met. He loves me unconditionally, even when I'm cranky and bitchy. I can't explain the way he looks at me, but it is one of the best things about him.

I'm thankful for my job. I felt at home instantly with my current firm. I interviewed and had office visits with them over a year ago, 6 months before my graduation. I didn't plan on interviewing with firms or accepting a job so early, but I "tag-teamed" the Fall Career Fair with S, one of my bridesmaids, who was graduating in December. I am so grateful I found a firm where I can truly be myself and enjoy working! I'm extra thankful for the recent promotion I received!!

I'm thankful for Dallas. The city can be trying, but we're enjoying it so far! CityBoy has had a few bad traffic days, but all in all, we love it here! After growing up in small town and going to college in a BIGGER small town (Lubbock, Texas...go there, you'll see), I'm loving the opportunities Dallas has and the myriad of restaurants, stores, and activities right in our backyard!!!

I'm thankful for my Family! My immediate family is incredibly close. I'd rather spend time with them than anyone else! CityBoy loves my family too, so that's an extra thing to be thankful for, since his family is hundreds of miles away! My mom and sister have proved to be excellent wedding planners and I'm grateful for their fantastic ideas!

I'm thankful for my friends. Now that I don't see most of them as often, I'm beginning to realize who my true friends are. The ones that are true are so precious to me and I can't imagine my life without them.

I can only hope for 2009 to be as great as 2008 has been.

Seating Charts, Servers, Real China, etc.

2008-12-19T11:10:00.000-06:00

The title refers to things we WILL NOT have at our wedding...

To understand this choice, you have to understand the culture in my hometown. Texas truly is a "whole 'nother country," especially when you are in Rural Texas. My hometown is home to just over 5,000 people--most of whom know each other, and although it is within 2 hours of several of Texas' thriving metropoli (metropolises?) including Austin, Houston, and San Antonio, I can't imagine making my HUGE family travel even an hour to attend my wedding. I can already picture Uncle Jim Bob (no, I don't really have an Uncle Jim Bob) having himself a "good ole time" at the wedding and trying to drive home and ending up a pancake on highway 21!!!

(Note: CityBoy's family is from Detroit, MI and Daytona, FL, so either way they're going to be travelling to our wedding, but his family numbers pale in comparison to my Big German Family...yikes!)

My hometown leaves few options, but I have faith in our creativity! Our ceremony will be held at the church I have attended all my life. I know each and every one of the 300ish members personally and a good chunk of them are family and most of the rest might as well be ;-) My parents were also married at this church and although the church has had a few facelifts (several not to my liking), it is still a very gorgeous country church.

The reception locale is a tough one to describe--we will be having our reception at the Sons of Hermann Hall. This space is the traditional reception spot for most anyone who gets married in my hometown. Its a large building with slightly industrial features including some horribly large & obvious airconditioning units against one wall (don't worry, we already have a plan for covering these babies and still getting air flow!!), polished concrete floors (not the trendy type), and absolutely no aesthetic value to the outside or entry of the building!! We have some great ideas for decorating, to be shared in a later post!

Considering all this, our reception will be Free Seating, Buffet Style (Beer & BBQ as my sister affectionately refers), and as CityBoy described after his first wedding there, a great party!! It may not be 100% classy, but this is the type of wedding I grew up attending and one that I know I will enjoy!

Red Shoes...

2008-12-11T21:51:00.001-06:00

My bridesmaids are wearing "strawberry" colored dresses, so we discussed silver, gold, and champagne for shoes, but I was really not digging any of them. True to my Red loving self, I held up my lovely red patent purse up to the dress and TA-DA, perfection!! So, my 'Maids have free reign to choose whatever red patent beauties they want!!

Here are some of my favorites!!! (the first 2 are from Macys and the last 5 are from Dillards)

ePhoto shoes & outfits!!

2008-12-09T21:01:00.000-06:00

It basically just hit me today that my sister, semi-pro photographer-extraordinaire, will be taking our Engagement photos in less than a month! I have a basic idea of the "vision" for our photo session, but I'm at a loss for how to achieve it.

I want the photos to be edgy and represent CityBoy & I's unique personalities. I'm not worried about CityBoy's wardrobe--he has a style all his own. Skinny Jeans, cowboy boots, and a Joy Division T-shirt and he's set. So, how do I put Plain Jane blue jeans, flipflops & solid tee ME next to his funkiness? I don't really dress to my style much, so I gravitate towards basics. But--I want to jazz up my basics for our photos and really do something fantastic with my hair. I used to have a long sweep side bang and I've let it grow out recently, but I think I'm going to bring that back if I can manage a haircut sometime this week or next.

Our ideas for photo spots are pretty diverse.

My brother and I found a Typically-Texan ranch driveway with my soon-to-be last name above the road in my hometown that I can't wait to take some Anthropologie-esque photos under! I'm already picture CityBoy in dark jeans & his So-CityBoy Black Cherry Luccheses (Boots on a Yank...its great) with this great black funky pearl snap he managed to find at Sheplers that looks nothing but western. For me? I'm drawing a blank! The closest thing to my vague vision is dark jeans--possibly trouser style--with one of my great basic tees and a cute jacket with CUTE heels & some cute jewelry... One problem. I don't own half of that stuff!!!!!! YIKES!!!

Next, my grandfather's winery. The winery is housed in the house my grandfather grew up in and the house itself has gorgeous arches on the porch and they've been a family photo favorite! I actually took some of my graduation shots there, including a close-up in a strapless dress where I look stark naked b/c you can't see any clothing! For the winery & the next location, I want very casual clothing. I'm picturing CityBoy in Jeans & Tennis Shoes with a plain Black V-neck and myself in Jeans & maybe a black top too, but with colorful flats??

So, the next location (also featuring casual wear) will be my parent's backyard!! I cannot wait to take pictures with CityBoy on the swings in the backyard where I grew up!! I was thinking a sundress would be great for the swings too, but its December!!!

Finally, we'll be taking some pictures in SmallTownGirl & CityBoy's new hometown, DALLAS!!!! I'm most excited about taking these because I absolutely love Downtown/Alley/Street pictures!! I also want to take a few shots at Nasher Sculpture Center!! I've spent the last 3 weeks auditing their Financials and everyday when I take a potty break, I dream about the great photos I could have...I just have to ask if I can take them there?

These are my thoughts...for now... My blogging is losing steam as I'm looking at photogs and trying to watch TV while procrastinating a shower before bed!!

Bubbles!

2008-12-08T19:57:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago, during one of our nightly marathon phone conversations, my mom clued me in on the PERFECT necklace to go with my dress!! I haven't put up pictures of my dress in case CityBoy goes snooping, but I will show pictures of the necklace (its on our fridge anyway)!!!!

My sister briefly moved home after college and started getting all sorts of fun, trendy catalogs...which, although my Sis moved to Wisconsin, are still being delivered! So... Mom is flipping through the Christmas Anthropologie catalog and happens across page 39 where she finds the Ephemera Necklace!!!

I must say...I'm in love!!!!!

So, Sunday I ventured out of the apartment and into Anthropologie--they didn't have it in the store, but referred me to North Park. Luckily for me, another Sales Woman overheard me asking about the necklace and interrupted to tell me that she knew the designer!! So, I may not have walked out with the necklace, but I happily surfed to De Jarnette's website to check out these beauts:

I think the Anthropologie version is still my favorite... Which do you like best??

Thoughts on Love...

2008-12-05T22:03:00.000-06:00

Over the weekend, while searching for the poem my grandmother loved and wanted read at her funeral, I got the opportunity to read some amazing things in her journal. She had bible verses that touched her, quotes that made her laugh, quotes that made her think... Reading her thoughts on Life, Faith, Maturity and Love helped me to remember the wonderful woman she was.

The pages titled "Thoughts on Love" really stuck with me. Some thoughts from Beema:

"A husband is like a fire--if left unattended, it will go out."
"Love does not consist in looking at one another, but in looking together in
the same direction."
"Marriage, n. A community consisting of a master, a mistress, and two
slaves, making in all two."

Beema's thoughts on love got me thinking about love, so I researched some quotes of my own...

"Infatuation is when you think he's as sexy as Robert Redford, as smart as
Henry Kissinger, as noble as Ralph Nader, as funny as Woody Allen, and as
athletic as Jimmy Conners. Love is when you realize that he's as sexy as
Woody Allen, as smart as Jimmy Connors, as funny as Ralph Nader, as athletic as
Henry Kissinger and nothing like Robert Redford - but you'll take him
anyway." ~Judith Viorst, Redbook, 1975
"I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where, I love you simply,
without problems or pride:I love you in this way because I don’t know any other
way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your
hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your
eyes that close." ~Pablo Neruda
"You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an
imperfect person perfectly." ~Sam Keen
"You don't marry someone you can live with, you marry the person who you
cannot live without."
"The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and
not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the
reflection of ourselves we find in them."
"I don't pretend to know what love is for everyone, but I can tell you what
it is for me; love is knowing all about someone, and still wanting to be with
them more than any other person, love is trusting them enough to tell them
everything about yourself, includingthe thinkgs you might be ashamed of, love is
feeling comfortable and safe with someone, but still getting weak knees
when they walk into a room and smile at you."

For me, love is being able to be myself, to enjoy sitting in the same room doing different things still feeling together...love is looking past the imperfections and being what the other person needs... Love is midnight coffee runs...gotta go!!

A love like that...

2008-12-03T14:00:00.000-06:00

This weekend was a sad one... my grandmother passed away. The world will be a little less bright without Beema in it. She was a beautiful, wonderful woman and someone I have always looked up to and admired. More than anything else, I will remember the love she had for my grandfather. She and Poppey had been married for 63 years and up until the end, the love they had for each other shone brightly.

I want a love like that...one that lasts and lasts, one that sees me & CityBoy through the greatest and worst times of our lives, through today's economic troubles and whatever tomorrow has to bring. I know that CityBoy is "my Poppey," he is my soulmate and I can't wait to see where our love takes us... I can only hope that in 63 years, CityBoy and I will still have the same sparkle in our eyes that my Beema & Poppey did for each other...

What comes before Part B?

2008-11-25T21:48:00.000-06:00

PART-A as in Wedding Party!! My fiancee is an expatriate Yankee in Texas, so many of his friends will not be able to make the trek to Texas for our nuptuals, so he will only be having 3 groomsmen. When left with the challenge of limiting my bridal party to 3 of the wonderful ladies who have graced my life with their presence...I found the task impossible!

After much thought and a few diagrams (I'm an accountant...I need flowcharts!), I decided on 5 bridesmaids. Since the ladies will walk in separately from the dudes, that's not an issue, but for the recessional, its another story... My MOH will recess...recede...LEAVE with the Best Man and then the remaining 2 groomsmen get a BMaid on each arm!! We'll be a little lopsided at the front of church, but I am still deciding if I want the guys on CityBoy's side and the girls on mine or if I want the Best Man & MOH on their respective sides and then a strange conglomeration of Bmaids and Gmen to even out the sides...

Anyway...Each of my 5 Bridesmaids represents a very important part of my life:

My big sister, C, is going to be my MOH. She was a shoe-in... As long as I can remember, we've had our skirmishes...one time she KICKED me in the eye right before we went on vacation and I had a shiner at the beach. By the time we reached high school (I was a Freshman, she was a Senior), we could hardly stand each other! When she graduated and moved to college, we learned that absence really does make the heart grow fonder...distance didn't hurt either! When I graduated and moved even FURTHER away, we just got closer. Now she's a half-a-country away and we talk everyday! She's my wedding designer ;-)

Next is my friend, S. She represents my crazy college years. She and I interned together and over the course of a few months became fast friends and had some of the wildest times together including a Monday night on 6th street that ended in us walking down the street barefoot (YIKES!). She knew CityBoy and me before we really knew each other!! S has been a great friend to me and I know no matter where our lives take us (we're just down the street from each other now), we'll always be able to pick back up and be crazy together!

My friend, SA (too many S's!!), has been around since I was just a kid. We did SO much together...swim team, band, UIL academics...and we've always been the best of friends. We may not see each other often, but I know she'll always be a part of my life! She's the most amazing person I know and I am so proud of her...ANYTHING she puts her mind to, she can do. I know she's going to do AMAZING things with her life and I can't wait to see where she goes.

I practically grew up with my cousin, B. Our mom's are sisters and we were born only 4 months apart, so we've gone through everything together, including matching pink & black dresses, our obsessions with My Little Pony and Hanson, and planning our weddings!! B got engaged a couple months after me and will be getting married in June!! I'm so glad we get to go through this together and be a part of each other's big day (I'm her MOH)!

My 5th Bmaid is my cousin, W. I was the flower girl in W's parents wedding and I was very, very close with her parents as a kid...as a matter of fact, I was their "test child" before their first child, my cousin D, was born. W has lived within walking distance of my childhood home since she was 3, so I watched her grow up and she's more like a little sister than I could ever explain! She's 17 and I still see the little girl who would ride banana seat with me on my bicycle!!

I love all 5 of these ladies and I'm so glad they'll be standing up with me on the most important day of my life!!

My New Grown-Up Kitchen!!!!

2008-11-10T13:52:00.000-06:00

So, lately, I have been thinking about decorating and my wedding registry. I love the color Red, but I've decided I need to stray from my Reds/Pinks/Oranges in my decorating style. I did a really great job with our bedroom (in an effort to de-feminize it for CityBoy) by going with super cute curtains from Anthropologie and a Lime-ish Green DKNY bedspread!! There is some deep red in the curtains, but the colors we've chosen to focus on are the Lime Green, Navy, and Turquoise blue! I have to say its not what I would have first chosen, but now I LOVE IT!!!

Here's a photo from awhile back, its taken on my iPhone, so its sorta fuzzy, but its a good general idea!!!

Anyway, so back to the point of this post.....

I'm trying to decide the direction I want to go with my kitchen... Right now, my kitchen is rather small and not a very good canvas for decorating, but since we're registering, I want to keep future kitchens in mind!!

My current kitchen is full of hand-me-down dishes, including Mom's tricked-out-70s-style Corelle featuring Orange and Teal flowers!

I'm definitely ready to have my own kitchen style!! I had thought about going with black & white for my kitchen with red accents, but after I saw this gorgeous piece of kitchen machinery, I changed my mind:

RED & ROBINS EGG BLUE!!! Um, yes!

I have 4 gorgeous Red Glass canisters from my mom that I would love to keep in my kitchen, but Red & this gorgeous-almost-Tiffany shade of Blue go PERFECTLY together!!!!!

Busy Busy Bee!

2008-11-10T12:39:00.000-06:00

I've been amazingly busy with work lately and the absolute last thing I want to do when I get home from work is be near a computer, so its been awhile. In addition to the busyness of work, I just started a weekend class (9-5 Saturdays & Sundays) for the next 3 weekends!! I'm about 12 hours shy of the requirements to sit for the CPA exam, so I'm trying to bust through those as quickly as possible so that I can use CityBoy's study materials before they are too terribly outdated!! I'm also planning on taking a Winter Term online course, so that maybe I can be eligible next summer!!

Anywho...I've been very, very, very addicted to WeddingBee lately, so I waste plenty of time there on a daily basis. I love the way they have so many Brides-To-Bee and even Newlyweds and Not-so-Newlyweds contributing!! I love the different ideas each of these lovely ladies have and they really inspire me!!

One of my favorite ideas was this cake topper from Miss Fondue, I really think we might order one of these, maybe not for on top of our simple wedding cake, but maybe for next to it???:

In addition to all of the cool things these ladies have tipped me off to, they also talk about some great wedding topics, such as wedding trends, name changing, and vendors!!

I'm in love...and spend WAAAAAY too much time on this site!!

Also, I've recently found CakeWrecks, also a good time waster and pretty dang funny!!!

Back in Texas!!

2008-10-31T09:45:00.000-05:00

After a full 8 hour day of travelling yesterday, I'm finally back in Texas!! I came into the office for a brief half-day to attend a training session on our Staff Review/Goal Setting software, then I'm outta here!! On tonight's agenda: Nascar Truck Series @ Tx Motor Speedway with my CityBoy & little brother! We managed to score tickets in the luxury suite compliments of my Dad's boss, so we'll be up there schmoozin' with some real grown ups and having a great time!!

Portland was fabulous, here are some of the photos I managed to take on my iPhone (I managed to forget my camera b/c I pulled it out of my purse to charge the battery!!):

Greetings from Portland

2008-10-28T22:41:00.000-05:00

I'm in Portland, Oregon for Training all week!! It is GORGEOUS here!! We're kinda stuck out in the 'burbs of Tigard/Lake Oswego for our training and my firm said "y'all are just down the street from the training facility" and wouldn't approve a rental car, so we've spent about a gazillion in cab fare when we probably could have gotten a rental car pretty cheap. Our instructor got his for $95 for the whole week!!!

Its killing me being stuck in the hotel...I am definitely my dad's daughter b/c I, like him, want to drive all over the city and see the sights. Everytime we go out for dinner, I can see the pretty tree covered mountains and hills and I want to see MORE!!

Tomorrow our training is finished at 2:30, so we're taking the bus downtown and spending the afternoon/evening seeing the sites and doing Portland-y things!!! We have a list of things to see, so I'll take iPhone pics (I forgot my camera in Dallas, I took it out of my purse to charge the battery and realized Sunday at the airport that it was still sitting on the dresser...bummer) and post some!!!!!!

Staring at Ikea all day...

2008-10-15T17:47:00.000-05:00

This has been a busy week, I'm no longer in the office twiddling my thumbs. I don't have time to blog while I'm at a client (I figured out how much it would cost the client if I billed even 15 minutes of blogging time and I felt guilty) and I don't wanna be near a computer when I'm at home, so the blog has and will be neglected for the next 2 weeks!!

Anyway, the client I'm at is directly across the highway from Ikea and everytime I go to ask the client a question or go to the bathroom or get a coke, I see the giant Blue & Yellow IKEA sign out the 6th floor window and it makes me die a little inside b/c I'm stuck in here and not over there shopping.

Anyway...my parents flew back into Texas last night after being in Chicago/Madison for a week and they stayed at my apartment last night. This morning, on my way up to lovely Frisco, I passed them and I just KNEW they were going to Ikea (my mom loves that place)...sure enough, Noon rolls around and I get a phone call. They were just getting done at Ikea and wanted to know if I wanted to meet them for lunch! OF COURSE! Who says there's no such thing as a Free Lunch? So, Mom suggested just eating at the Ikea cafeteria (they were there, I was close, it worked...food wasn't bad either), so I ventured over.

After enjoying my Swedish Meatballs, we did a quick stroll through Ikea to grab some Euro Pillows for my "Big Girl Bed" (I had to get rid of the girly collegy bedding) and Mom pointed out all of her wedding ideas in the "Pretties" section, so I'm posting a few of her thoughts!!!

I'm not sure I like the really dark red candle, but I think once its lit, it'll be a brighter red, either way, they're $2 a candle and already in my colors (kinda)

Mom and I both like these lights for Decoration. We want to use the lights to hide some of the less attractive areas of the Sons of Hermann Hall where I will be having my reception (its a small town with few venues...its the best we can do...plus, my parents had their reception there and its HUGE!!)!

I also like these Ball Lights b/c they kinda go with our Geometric theme. We will be using Chinese Lanterns in white, reds, pinks, and oranges through out the hall and most of the other decorations will be very geometric (my sister came up with the "theme").

Anyway, those were our finds for the day on our quick run through Ikea during lunch!!! More to come...I love Ikea!

Small Town Modern

2008-10-11T16:54:00.001-05:00

I'm getting married in my very small hometown. Weddings in my town are quite an experience, as my Fiancee can tell you. He referred to his first Lee County Wedding as a "frat party"... Beer, Barbeque, Dancing, and a few traditions an outsider may find disturbing...

I'd always thought of ways to escape the Beer-N-BBQ wedding, dreaming of a small wedding in my parents backyard or a destination wedding or something else unique, but now that I have the rock on my finger, I find myself wanting the traditional Lee County Wedding...BBQ and all! This might have something to do with the fact that D loves BBQ...as a matter of fact, we were talking about the "menu" and my mom said she prefered potatoes to noodles as a side dish and D put his foot down and said "NOODLES!" He's such a dork.

So, I'll be having the traditional wedding for Lee County, with a few modern touches. We'll have the Beer & the BBQ, the DJ playing late 90s Country Classics for our guests to scoot their boots to...but we'll also have an iPod playing OUR music, an amazingly tasty cake, gorgeous decorations & little touches of US everywhere!

SPRINKLES!

2008-10-10T13:27:00.000-05:00

So, I'm very into clean, simple lines. I like modern, architectural, non-fufu things. For my wedding cake, I went with these likes and my bridal committee and I decided on a 3 tiered whtie fondant covered cake as a palette for my Aunt L (my florist) to decorate with whatever gorgeous flowers she chooses...

Now...I am pretty much ADDICTED to the food network (maybe not so much now as I was in college, but I still love it) and I have watched every Cake Challenge and every Ace of Cakes and I know that I could rollout some white fondant and cover 3 tiers of cake... So, Mom and I decided to ask my Aunt D (a fantastic baker) to make my cakes!!

Mom & Aunt D are both very planny people (who both have daughters getting married in the next year) and back in August had already started thinking about wedding cakes! My mom ordered several different pre-made fondants online and since we were having a birthday party for my dad, she made a "test cake" for the whole Fam to try!!

I absolutely love all things citrus...Oranges, Lemons, Limes, Grapefruits...so we decided to go with an orange flavor scheme for the cakes! Mom made a white cake (with some orange zest), homemade buttercream (with Patron Citronge, an orange liqueur), and flavored the fondant with Orange as well! The result was FANTASTIC!! I ate like 4 pieces and the cake was GONE by the end of the night!

Well, since we're doing the family-made cake and already decided on a flavor, we are missing out on CAKE TASTING!! Soo, I staged a cupcake tasting for Hubby-To-Be and I last night. I get Daily Candy Dallas's emails everyday and yesterday's email featured Sprinkles Cupcakes for the UT-OU Red River Shootout benefiting Children's Medical Center Research...so I decided to stop in on my way home and pick up a few!!

I picked a few I thought Hubby-To-Be and I would both like: Red Velvet (okay, this one was all me), Banana, Lemon, and Cinnamon Sugar. I surprised him with them after dinner and instead of letting him tear straight into them, I cut each cupcake into quarters and we each got one quarter of each flavor, a la cake tasting!!

Dallas Photo Ops!

2008-10-09T16:18:00.001-05:00

My Sister (a Baylor alum) has always been in love with the Suspension Bride in Waco and after seeing this shot by Lubbock-native photographer, Lauren Clark, she decided she wanted to take some of our engagement photos there (Sis is doing our Engagment Photos)...

I brought this idea up to Hubby-To-Be and he said "That Bridge is so Cliche and we have absolutely NO ties to Waco!" (a friend of ours proposed to his FIRST (of two, both cheated on him before the wedding, poor guy) fiancee on that bridge...)

So, since we all 3 (my sister included) like the architectural look, we've decided to take some of our e-photos at Home (my parents house and my grandparents winery and the general "country") and some in Dallas!!! So, I need to scout out some great photo spots in Dallas for our Christmas photo shoot!! Suggestions are WELCOME!!

Old, New, Borrowed & Blue...

2008-10-08T14:26:00.001-05:00

Something old, something new,
Something borrowed, something blue,
And a silver sixpence in her shoe.

I think I have most of my "somethings" figured out...

Something Old
My More-Grandma's Handkerchief. My mom and aunt and older cousin, Kassie, all carried this in their wedding bouquets. It is very old and delicate and disintegrating in the center from being folded for so many years, but when tucked delicately into a bouquet, its ruffled edges have the appearance of a butterfly. My cousin, Bekah (Kassie's sister), is getting married in June and she will also carry the hankie.

Something New
Probably my Dress? I haven't decided if this is going to be for sure what I consider my "something new," it kinda feels like a cop out to me?

Something Borrowed
This is the one I'm still not sure on...

Something Blue
The Star Sapphire Ring my dad gave to my mom. My mom is giving me a gorgeous star sapphire ring that my dad gave to her. Sapphire is my birthstone and I've always loved the ring. I almost cried when my mom said she was giving it to me for my something blue. I will probably have it resized, I have, as my aunt puts it, "sausage fingers" and although the ring fits on my pinkie, I'd like to wear it on the ring finger of my right hand.

...and I said "What about Breakfast at Tiffany's?"

2008-10-07T10:58:00.000-05:00

Holly: I don't want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together. I'm not sure where that is but I know what it is like. It's like Tiffany's.

Paul: Tiffany's? You mean the jewelry store.

Holly: That's right. I'm just CRAZY about Tiffany's!

I managed to find the most amazing man on the planet. He treats me like no other guy ever has, like I'm everything in his world. We argue, but 5 minutes can't pass following an argument before we're apologizing to each other. We're both Virgos, and that makes us similar in so many ways, but it works perfectly. He's my Tiffany's. He puts me together.

And...as if he wasn't already the perfect guy for me, he bought me a gorgeous ring and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him!!

So, my sister gave me some busy work for my boring day in the office today to come up with some ideas for a Sex and The City themed Bachelorette party for her college roommate who is getting married in January! The party is gonna be at my apartment, since I live in the city where the wedding will be and the party will take place the night before the wedding since my sister is flying in from Wisconsin!! Well, this got me thinking about ideas for my own bachelorette party, my sister wants to do a Tiffany themed party...and THAT got me thinking about wedding bands to go with my bling!!

Those are my 3 options on Bands to go with my ring. I think the one I am leaning towards most is the simple platinum band. I've always loved the simplicity of my mom's ring...a simple diamond solitaire with a simple gold wedding band. To me, the simplicity of one diamond and the simple wedding band is more representative of my relationship with my fiancee...our relationship is simple, perfect, and unpretentious.

Thoughts?

My Favorite Mr. & Mrs.

2008-10-06T12:26:00.000-05:00

I was looking at more invitations and stumbled across The Future Mrs Darcy! and absolutely fell in love with a couple of their designs, but more than that, their designs are named after famous couples...Elizabeth & Darcy from Pride & Prejudice, Holly Golightly & Paul Varjak from Breakfast at Tiffanys and so many others! Which got me thinking about famous couples... I have a lot of favorite love stories, here's a list of some that I love:

Love Story (classic...I'd never seen it before I met my fiancee, he rented it and brought it over right after we started dating when I was at home sick)

Pretty Woman (so, she's a hooker, it has a happy ending)

Sex & The City (The series and the movie...Carrie & Big's love story is a bumpy, but great one)

Breakfast at Tiffanys (Don't we all feel like Holly Golightly sometimes?)

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite designs from TFMD:

Ferris & Sloane....man, I love Ferris Bueller's Day Off and this invitation!!! I'm really into non-traditional (read: stuffy) invitations, so this one is right up my alley!

Okay, Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall is a little more traditional, but what would you expect from Casablanca?? I really really like this style and can already picture it with our names in the places of these famous lovers!!

Okay, so this one isn't really practical, but my Fiancee and I are the HUGEST office fans ever!! I think of any of the lovers that TFMD has invitations for, we're most like Jim & Pam!! I definitely can't wait until Thursday...I'm still a little pissed that the VP debate happened on a Thursday and caused me to miss The Office & Grey's Anatomy...

Bling!

2008-10-05T20:41:00.000-05:00

I'm really not an everyday jewelry wearer, my daily jewelry consists of my gorgeous Tiffany engagement ring, my watch & my college ring. That's about it. Every now and then I'll feel zesty and wear a cute necklace or cute earrings, but I don't own that much to choose from... and I can't see myself remedying that problem b/c I just don't think about jewelry for my outfits...my mom and sister, on the other hand...

My mom is a fabulous jewelry maker, I love everything she has made for me and anyone else, so she's going to be making jewelry for me and my 'maids (and I'm sure something perfect for herself as well)! I think that I want something a little outside of the standard CZ necklace & earrings, so we're going to go with Long, Pink necklaces for my 'maids and something long and funky for me!!

Here are some things that inspire me:

This beaut' is by Tarina Tarantino. Most of her stuff is a little outside of my style, but some of her stuff, I'd die for. I think this necklace would be great for either my maids or me! Red necklace with a wedding gown? I'd do it!...

So, this one is probably the closest to what I'm imagining for myself. Its also by Tarina Tarantino.

STD is not an appropriate acronym for Save the Date....

2008-10-02T11:55:00.001-05:00

I've been thinking lately about Save the Dates...I'm getting married in September 2009, so my sister (my paper guru) and I decided March would be about the time to send them, so I'm a little early, but it never hurts to look!!

My sister is a super hero when it comes to paper goods, she is the go-to-girl in our family for invitations, she makes her own handmade Christmas cards every year (last year with her Gocco printing machine thingy...which I'm clueless about), and she's also a Fabulous photographer! If I didn't actually want her IN some of the pictures and not behind a camera all night, I'd have her as my photographer in a heartbeat!!! Luckily, I know another great photographer, Amy Blackburn!!

I can't find any pictures of invitations my sister has done, but here are some ideas I like:

Invitations By Nature

Minted

The last minted one is probably my favorite! My sister is taking our engagement pics when we're both Home at the 'rents for Christmas, so depending on how fantastic the pictures turn out, I'd love to use one with our STD ;-)

Love this Photographer!

2008-10-01T15:17:00.000-05:00

I think I may have had my photographer picked before I even started dating my fiancee seriously!! The photographer I'm using is a friend of my older sister's from high school and someone I've known since I was a kid. And, did I mention, she's AWESOME!! Here are some of my favorite Wedding/Bridal pictures by her.

The courthouse in my hometown, absolutely gorgeous...

Amy loves shoe shots and SO DO I!! I can't wait to pick out fun shoes for my dress!!!

Can I bill for wedding planning?

2008-09-30T14:28:00.000-05:00

Sitting in my cube for 2 days unassigned and not having any pending clients, I have been doing lots of wedding shopping!! I am absolutely in love with Wedding blogs (in particular We Met in a Bar, Brooklyn Bride, Something Old Something New, Handcrafted, and many others I've visited lately), so I decided to make one to show my bridesmaids, who are scattered across Texas & in Wisconsin, all of the things I've found that I like or that inspire me!!

I am absolutely in love with these shoes! My Bmaid Dresses are "strawberry" and knee length, so my bridal committee (me, my mom, and my sister/MOH) decided after numerous conference calls that we think Red Shoes would be best, but these might possibly be the perfect match!! My only issue...the 3 3/4" heels!! I'm pretty confident some of my bridesmaids will be able to pull them off, but my sister is the biggest klutz I know, and a few of the others probably aren't used to heels this high!

My bridesmaid dresses are going to be custom-made by my Super-Seamstress Mom, and they were probably the easiest thing that I picked for the wedding and one of the few things that is really set in stone so far!!

My inspiration for the dress we're making came from an ad for Bella Bridesmaid in one of the many many many bridal magazines I bought right after getting my bling! We researched the dress and it is from Simple Silhouette's Simple Collection. I fell in love with the box pleats and somewhat simple design of the dress, but I want to tweek a few of the details!!