cass + adam

Wait, What Month Is It?

2010-09-17T21:16:00.001-05:00

I've been slacking. I know, I know.

I have NO CLUE where the month of August went. Or September for that matter. I promise I will play catchup soon. These past couple months have been a really fast and really big blur...SLOW DOWN!

Bridal fair this weekend. To reiterate just how fast these months have flown by us, we had no idea the bridal fair was coming up so quickly. It just appeared all of a sudden and we feel incredibly unprepared. Basically, our new walls are drying RIGHT NOW in the garage...and we set up tomorrow. I am hoping we have enough postcards and business cards to pass out since we had no time to order any. Eeep

On the plus side, fall is almost here! October is a couple weeks off and I am so excited. Mmmm fall leaves and apple cider. Oh yeah, and we will have been married ONE WHOLE YEAR! Still cant believe that one. :)

Off to bed, photo shoot at 6am (yikes, remind me what possessed me to sign up for that on the day we have bridal fair setup?). Then fair setup until 6. Then Sunday our lives are parked at the convention center from 6am to 7pm...or whenever we finally get to load up the uhaul...only to turn around and unload it. Sleep Monday! Yay for a day off! Well, kinda.

HANSON!

2010-08-09T15:35:00.000-05:00

So Saturday was the Hanson concert and I am certain that Adam is crazy happy that it is finally over, since it was all I talked about all week. Not to mention I made him stand in the heat for 3 hours in line (hey, I wanted good seats!).

I had planned on doing the Walk that they host in every city, which is where they meet fans (and anyone else) in front of the venue the afternoon of the concert and host a 1 mile walk (yes, they walk with you!) to raise awareness for people in the world who don't have shoes (you are technically supposed to do the walk barefoot to get the full effect). They have walked the equivalent number of miles (and moreso even) that it takes to circle around the earth- pretty impressive! The other cool thing, for every person that takes the walk and fills out a form, the band will donate $1. Pretty neat cause, and they have been doing it every concert date, in every city, for the past 3 years. And combine that with the fact that they walk with you (meaning, you can talk to them) makes it all the more better.

In any case, back on Friday I had looked up the meeting time for the walk on Saturday and saw it was at 3pm, so I was determined on dragging Adam out in the heat for this 1 mile trek (and yes, it was well over 100 degrees with the heat index on Saturday).

That morning we drove out to Independence, where the animal shelter there was hosting an event offering $10 microchip and $5 rabies shots. Annabelle got chipped and Minnie got chipped and a shot (she was the only cat there...I think the people thought we were insane. But hey, it didnt say it was dog only and she needed her shot! And it was cheap!) and we took them back home and I changed and got ready for the show. At around 1:45, Cassy (who had flown home to Omaha from DC just for this weekend of shows) texted me and asked if I was doing the walk. I said I was and I would be there at 3...well, she sends me a text at 2:12 saying that Zac was looking pretty good, and I thought "Well, that's cool they are mingling with fans 45 min before the walk..."

We rush down to the venue (I'm running late...hey, what's new?) and get there right at 3 only to sadly find out the walk had started at 2...what?! I get on my phone and look at their site- determined I had seen the start time for 3- only to find out that it DID in fact say 3pm start... EASTERN time. Yeah.

So we hung around for a few minutes until the group (which was probably a couple hundred people at least) came back from the walk and got a prime spot where they would stand to talk about it.

Taylor has his trusty megaphone, though it has gotten progressively more fancy over the years (it was decked out in red paint with logos and whatnot on it). I swear, he is a bit too much of a fan of that thing, seeing as I have never seen any of the others use it. But anyway, he said some things about the walk and what its purpose was, and then they were off for down time and their sound check while us fans waited in the heat. Isaac was also there with Taylor, though he didn't say much. Zac, on the other hand, must have a problem with the heat (similar to Adam, who just about dies every time we step out the front door) since he was at the back of the line of walkers, and instead of standing by Taylor and looking supportive, he went straight to the tour bus, allowing me to catch only a slight glimpse.

Let me re-iterate the fact that I find Zac incredibly good looking- much to the irritation of Adam. Adam knows this (and has since we met) and therefore pretty much hates Zac's guts...even though they have never met. So he was smirking and quite amused that the reason I had made us get to the walk in the first place was so I might have a chance to say hi to him...and not sound stupid like I did 3 years ago at my first walk.

ANYWHO, I told Adam we could sit in the car until the line got to be insanely long so he could have the AC, so we sat there watching the people suffer in the sun before we headed to a coffee house next door. Then it was back to the car where we watched Hanson's sisters walk around the tour bus looking like they would probably rather be anywhere but in Kansas City in August. Ha. We also got a glimpse of Taylor's many kids...SIDE NOTE: I have NO idea how they can ALL travel the country in the same bus like they do. Yes, their entire families travel TOGETHER in one bus. We're talking the 3 of them, their wives, their kids (of which they have like, 6 soon to be 7 of between them. They might have more.), their mom and dad and their siblings (3 sisters and a brother). Heck, there's probably a few dogs on the bus too for all we know. But they ALL travel on the SAME bus...every day. The bus is big, but it isn't THAT big! How they do it without wanting to kill each other...no idea. And props to their wives for not going insane either. Especially Zac's wife, who is very pregnant.

ANYWAY. At around 5 they opened the gates hustling us around to the back of the building where we had to stand for an hour before they let us inside. Adam was not a happy camper here, since we were all crammed together in a narrow alleyway behind the venue and it was hotter here due to lack of air. He was also one of only a handful (and by that I mean I think I counted 3) guys who were in line this early (also with their girlfriends/wives). Ha. But we made it in at 6 and while I could have gotten quite close to the stage, I opted to take one of the 6 seats on the side of the stage next to a rail. Partly so Adam could sit down, partly so I could sit up on the rail once the show starts and therefore have a better view than if I was in the middle of the giant crowd (hey, I am SHORT!).

They had 2 opening acts, one of which was the local contest winner. Another thing they do in every city is hold a contest for local bands and the winner gets to open- pretty cool. Sadly the winning band from KC kind of sucked...but they only performed a handful of songs so its ok. Rooney was next, and I actually really enjoyed them. They were fun and got the crowd going. The place was pretty full (and yes, many more guys had shown up by now).

Hanson finally came on a little before 9 and played until close to 11:30. They always play for a long time- one of the reason I love their concerts. You definitely get what you pay for and more. They were amazing like always- even though I think they must have had a fight or something earlier that day because they didn't talk to each other or interact with each other ONCE during the show. In fact, they stayed pretty much as far apart from one another as you can get and didn't even shake hands at the end of the show. And let me tell you- I've been to see them many times, and they ALWAYS interact with each other- a LOT. Not this night. Even Adam noticed the difference. I chalked it up to spending all that "together" time on the bus... Ha! But they were still great none the less and played a lot of my favorites.

I swear though, they need to put Zac a little bit closer to the front. EVERY concert I go to I am always stuck on the side, and unless you are smack in the center, you dont see him at all during the show. This time we had a very nice view of Isaac, and when he moved I could catch a glimpse of Zac back there on the drums, but I just wish for once I could have a clear view. Adam, on the other hand, was quite happy that I couldn't see him. He is such a great husband to let me goggle over another guy for an evening- and come with me to let me do it! :D I love him for that!

He looks SO happy doesn't he?! Haha.

Best picture I could get of him playing the drums :(

This was during their acoustic part of the show. Too bad it isn't in focus!

My camera fails at taking night pictures, so these were the best I could get. I couldnt bring in my fancy pro camera (believe me, I would have) but these are better than nothing. I was sad I didnt get to go to the Omaha show the next night on Sunday- it was the first time EVER that they performed an actual concert in Omaha (aside from the radio promo they did back in 1999 which wasn't a concert just a stop to interview at the radio station where they played 3 songs) and I was really hoping to get to go. I would have went if they weren't in KC, but for once I didn't have to drive a few hours to see them so I just settled for the one here (ironic that I have ALWAYS driven to KC to see them, and the one time I dont have to, they actually play a show in Omaha. Ha.). I did hear that the Omaha show was SOLD OUT- so YAY to the Omaha fans! Maybe that will make them come back there now!

Craigslist and Coffee

2010-08-06T14:23:00.000-05:00

Yes, I found more!

While searching through the gems, I came across someone giving away a bunch of empty CD/DVD cases. Well, they were the exact same ones we use in our business (and are kind of $$ when you have to buy multiples!) so I was super thrilled when the lady said she had them. So I headed down to pick them up, expecting there to be a handful. I came across a GIANT bag full of them- over 30! All in perfect condition. Totally worth it!

And to make matters even better- I have been absolutely craving a coffee drink from Gloria Jean's coffee, ever since I found out we had one locally. I haven't had a chance to pick one up since finding out, but since I was in the area to pick up the cases, I figured "Why not?" and got myself a big one. Absolute heaven. It tasted the same as it did 8 years ago when I had my last one before the shut down the location at Westroads in Omaha. I had my first ever coffee drink there...ahh memories.

Road Trip!

2010-08-05T14:00:00.000-05:00

So for the past couple of months Adam and I have been debating on what to do for our anniversary this year. Since Adam actually has PAID time off now, we can actually go somewhere without worrying about how to make up his lost paycheck. So we have been debating on what we wanted to do.

About a month ago we were contacted by the people we ate dinner with on our honeymoon. They were a nice couple from Baltimore and we gave them our card on our last day and told them to keep in touch.

Well, they sent us an email saying they were going to go on a Mexican cruise sometime and wanted to know if we would be interested in going. We definitely were, but after looking through the prices of the flights and accounting for some money to actually DO things on the cruise instead of just sitting on the boat like we had to do for the honeymoon, it came out to be quite a bit of money, especially since we were also going to go to New York at the end of September.

Well, it has always been a dream of mine to get to see New England (and I mean REALLY SEE) in the fall- I just love the fall and the colors and have heard such great things about the peak time up there that I have just always wanted to do something like that. Adam has always wanted to see New England as well, so we came up with the idea of sort of "combining" our trip to New York with our anniversary trip- thus saving on having to buy 2 different sets of flights within a few weeks of one another.

At first I was a bit bummed, because I had really wanted to be on our trip ON our actual anniversary. But then I realized that we had a wedding on the 16th, in Omaha, anyway, meaning we would be working and driving back home on our anniversary anyway, so even if we left we couldnt leave until our actual anniversary DAY, and I really didnt want to be traveling on that day!

So we decided to extend our couple day New York trip into a weeklong roadtrip of New England. It involves a lot of driving- something Adam and I have NEVER done is take a full on road trip, I think 3 hours is the most we have ever driven!- but from the way we have it planned, we are going to see so much beautiful scenery and spend a lot of fun time together.

Because Adam turns 25 at the beginning of September, it now becomes incredibly cheap to rent a car, making this entire situation all the more appealing. So we will fly into New York, see the Boston/Yankee game and spend a couple nights there, rent a car, and start our journey.

While most of our trip involves seeing beautiful scenery, we do have a few specific destinations in mind. We'll leave New York and drive up through Vermont, crossing the Canadian boarder, and ending in Montreal. We'll spend a couple of nights in Montreal, before heading back down through beautiful New Hampshire to Portland, Maine. After seeing Maine, we'll drive down the coast to Boston, staying outside of the city in Salem. We will spend a day sightseeing Boston (though not getting to see as much as we'd like) and making a stop at Fenway before driving to through Rhode Island hitting Providence and Newport and making our way along the coast to New Haven, CT. We'll spend the night in CT before making the hour and a half drive back to New York and flying out the next day.

We're avoiding interstates (except in the big cities, of course) and taking the scenic routes up through Vermont and New Hampshire and taking the coastal roads as we trek down from Maine. It adds length to our drive time, but we actually get to SEE things and stop and take pictures along the way. I am incredibly excited, and Adam and I are already planning different cameras and film to take with us (remember that 216 rolls of film we got off Craigslist a couple weeks back? Oh yeah, it will be put to good use here!). Since we will have a car for all but the New York portion of the trip, we can carry everything along with us.

It involves a different hotel every night and will involve a lot of time together in the car (something we still aren't 100% sure is a good idea...ha!) but I think it will be an incredible experience. We have it broken down so the max we are driving in one day is under 5 hours, which still allows us to have time to do things. We will have to get up quite early each day, but I think the things we will get to see will make it worth it.

We also found out that the last week of September/first week of October are the the "peak" fall foliage time up there, which makes me REALLY excited!

We booked our flights and have been working on getting hotels booked. So far we have a hotel booked in Burlington, VT, but we are still planning. I spent a good chunk of time planning our route yesterday, and it looks like so much, but we are really excited!

Nintendo 64

2010-08-04T20:53:00.000-05:00

So I have made it very clear in the past that I married a toddler. Adam is the biggest kid I have ever seen and I find it absolutley adorable.

Now that that is out of the way, Adam has been on this kick lately to bring back his childhood in the form of the old school video game systems. So he has been searching high and low for the various gaming systems that we grew up with and he is determined to have a collection of them all. I am happy to oblige, as I loved the older video game systems and think it would be something fun to play together once in a while.

We already have the original Nintendo as well as the original Sega Genesis, so Adam's next conquest was obtaining the original Nintendo 64. We searched high and low, and I was finally able to snag an incredible deal on Craigslist (again, Craigslist is amazing. And I am now a pro at bartering.) complete with system, two controllers, and a variety of games for the low low price of $20. Yes, I'm just that good.

We came home from getting the system and while I went to make myself dinner, Adam went straight to the TV. I walked in a few minutes later to see him playing Mario, with complete and giddy joy on his face. It was adorable, and totally worth the $20.

He says he is going to play Mario Kart with me soon!

Tickets Are Here!

2010-08-02T13:48:00.000-05:00

I finally made the trip to the local Ticketmaster and bought my tickets to see Hanson next weekend! Since I procrastinated on buying them, if I bought them online I had no choice except to print them off at home, do will call, or pay an insane amount for them to UPS them to me. Well, since I wanted a tangible ticket and am afraid of will-call losing my tickets, I decided to opt for the personal route and went to the grocery store and bought them. I was incredibly excited as now I have the actual, physical tickets in my hand! The only bummer was that before they would give them to me, I had to initial the actual ticket so that they would know I looked over the tickets and made sure it was the correct show. While I didnt want to mar up my beautiful ticket, I also needed them to give it to me, so I reluctantly signed. So although they aren't shiny and perfect, it is much better than a printout that the venue will take or paying double what the ticket costs to have it shipped.

Now I just have to wait a week! Eee!

Photo Love

2010-07-27T21:37:00.000-05:00

Again I will mention how much I love Craigslist. Today while searching for random goodies, I came across a posting of someone giving away various darkroom equipment. Well, I know Adam likes darkroom photography, and I would like to learn how to develop film, so I emailed the people, and when I found out it was available, I was super excited.

Adam, not so much. He wasn't too thrilled to have to jump back in the car right after getting home from work, but I promised I would get him dinner, so he reluctantly joined me.

We ended up meeting one of the nicest ladies ever. She was an avid hobby photographer and had her own darkroom set up in her house. Well, she was moving, and in turn, was giving away 90% of her photo equipment. She gave us basically everything we could ever need to start our own darkroom, and also showed us a bunch of helpful tips and tricks for various photos.

Her house was gorgeous in that everything on her walls was done by her and personalized in some way. It was exactly how I want our home to be one day, and I was really inspired. She showed me how to do hand coloring, and I am really excited to get the opportunity to try that out one day. She is into digital now, but is still an avid supporter of always printing your pictures. She pointed out that in this day people take so many photos, but yet none of them actually get printed and they sit on a computer where no one can view them. She makes simple scrapbook photo albums and showcases her work. She prints and hangs prints. Anything to get the image off the computer screen and into a tangible format. I loved it. It made me want to sit down and just bring out all of my old pictures.

It also made me realize that I really, really need to start taking some time and just enjoy photography again. Don't get me wrong, I love taking pictures. But I find that I spend so much time capturing other people's moments and joys that I forget to take pictures of things that bring ME joy. I tend to put those aspirations and feelings to the side and have made photography solely a JOB instead of also something I just love to do. It reminded me that I need to take some time and not WORK. Just have fun taking pictures, and printing them and hanging them around the house.

So again, I am thankful for Craigslist. And we ended up with an entire car-ful of things. Adam was thrilled. Now, I just have to find a place to KEEP all of this stuff!

This is ALL paper. Yes, photo paper. All sizes. I am so excited. And the best part? It was ALL free!

Giant Fork

2010-07-26T13:31:00.000-05:00

We went to visit my mom this weekend to pick up Annabelle and we FINALLY got to see the fork! Haha. Everyone always talked about this darn thing, but yet in as many times as I had been down there, I had never seen it! So we finally got to drive to it. My life is now complete that I have seen this giant piece of steel goodness.

Adam was so ashamed of the fork. He wouldn't even look up for a picture. Pooper.

We also had "game night" that turned into the World Longest Monopoly Game. Seriously, there are some competitive people in our household! And I found out that once Adam loses, he conspires with other people in order to bring down the people who once turned on him...but once they start winning, he conspires with someone else. So, basically, don't trust Adam. And I don't even care, but Kelsey and I have the best strategy for Monopoly, even though everyone else (*cough*Adam*cough*) hated it.

This Is What 216 Rolls of Film Looks Like...

2010-07-23T05:57:00.001-05:00

You heard me. 216 rolls. Did I mention just how amazing Craigslist is?

Total cost? $30. Yeah, that's right.

Relief.

2010-07-23T05:39:00.001-05:00

After 21 days in the heat, 3 different hotels, and numerous calls to our agitated landlord, we were finally given back our air on Wednesday. It was definitely a welcome relief, seeing as we had been living in and out of a hotel for a week and the night before, a storm knocked out power to the hotel we were in, causing there to be no air (or lights) again for us...so much for paying to get a good nights' sleep.

After waiting most of the day Wed for the house to cool down, the thermostat FINALLY climbed down from the 97 or so it had been sitting at for days.

This weekend we are looking forward to picking up Annabelle, the house has been very quiet without her. And we can finally celebrate her birthday! That puppy IS getting a cake!

Love

2010-07-23T00:28:00.000-05:00

My husband loves me. He brought home chocolate lava cakes. Yes, I had to take a bite even before the pictures was taken.

Happy Birthday Annabelle!! Oh yeah, and it's still hot....

2010-07-18T19:27:00.001-05:00

Day number...16 now? I think that is how long it has been since we have had ac. Landlord finally agreed to prorate the rent (although, only sine this past Friday and only through today, so 3 days...) so we used that money to book ourselves a cheap hotel for the weekend, since we have been under excessive heat warnings all weekend. We got a really great deal on priceline for only $23 a night and ended up with a Holiday Inn which is actually pretty nice. Mom drove halfway and picked up the cats and Annabelle since they cant stay in the hotel but I think were getting heat stroke. I am really bummed though, because today is Annabelle's birthday and we had planned this big deal with a puppy cake and a steak and all. Adam promises we can celebrate it next weekend but I am still bummed. I know she is much happier though, mom said she got special food and hasnt been panting at all since getting there.

Hopefully they get the air fixed tomorrow, though my hopes are pretty low. I would really like to get back to my normal routine and be able to work again and not sit in my house without breaking a sweat. We shall see I guess...

Day 6

2010-07-09T04:57:00.001-05:00

Yesterday our landlord finally brought a maintenence guy out to fix the AC. He was there for close to something like 5 hours and in the end, told us the system was working and we were good to go. Super excited, we closed up the windows and headed out to the store, hoping to come back to a nice and cool house.

He didnt fix it. We came home to a nice 85 degrees on the thermostat and called our nice irritated landlords who said we'd have to wait another day. Yippie.

So today the guy comes back out for another few hours, only this time he left with the system blowing nice cold air... FINALLY! Hopefully it lasts, but at least not the temperature is slowly going down!

Could this finally be the end?

Day 5

2010-07-06T12:59:00.000-05:00

Day 5 and still no AC.

The nights are the worst...for some reason our bedroom feels like the inside of a furnace even when the rest of the house is halfway decent. Even combined with the fact that we have 4 fans going and the windows open in that one room alone. Other than that and sweating with any sort of physical activity (I'm talking, walking into another room makes you sweat) it isn't so bad...if you like being confined to sitting directly in front of a fan all day.

They told us it could be next weekend at the earliest before it gets fixed...even though the repair guy who came out on Sunday told us it could be fixed that day. Let's just say, we have cheap landlords who don't want to pay. Even though if it were their house, it would have been fixed back on Friday.

I figured having a couple of days off work to relax, catch up on some sleep, etc would be nice...but no. It's not. It's been far from relaxing...

Ugh.

Even Annabelle is miserable

Craigslist is Amazing

2010-07-06T00:03:00.000-05:00

I know I talk a lot about how much I love Craigslist, but I really just can't get over it.

I mean seriously, Craigslist is just pretty much the most amazing thing ever invented.

Today I'm scanning the listings and come across someone giving away free camera film. Sweet, a couple packs of film would be awesome to play around with, I thought. Even better, they were medium format! Holga time, anyone? So the girl tells me she has them, says she's setting it outside on her porch, and I pack Adam up and we head down.

I expect one or two packs of film...and what do I see??

Yeah, we're talking 3 decent size BOXES...FULL of film. Brand spankin' new. Good film, all kinds. We're talking Ektachrome...stuff not even in existance anymore. And she had it refrigerated. I think I just had Christmas in July.

And it was free.

We set up my old mini-fridge from my dorm days and it filled it to the brim. Yes, there was that much. I am so excited. It's chilling nicely, just waiting for the day when we break out the Holga gear.

So once again I will shout my praises for Craigslist. Love it!!

So hot

2010-07-03T20:33:00.000-05:00

This weekend has not started out too well.

Yesterday I wake up from my nap earlier than normal because I was ridiculously hot...turns out the AC decided to die. So instead of sitting in Rosenblatt right now watching the last 4th of July celebration before they tear it down, I am laying on my bed under the ceiling fan in shorts and a tank top sweating to death while the AC man takes his sweet time coming to pay a visit. Our landlord couldn't get anyone last night, so we spent the night tossing and turning from the heat, although thankfully we had a nice breeze towards the middle of the night and were able to open the windows. Today we hear she found someone around 10:30 this morning...so I waited.

And waited.

And I'm STILL waiting. It is now 6:37pm.

Needless to say I'm a bit annoyed. And hot.

The 4th is my favorite holiday all year, so I am hoping that things pick up. The cats have been sprawled all over the floor all day and Annabelle has claimed the spot right under the fan. It's currently mid-80s INSIDE.

Not good. I'd like to leave the bed, but it is so hot...

Twilight

2010-07-01T20:00:00.000-05:00

Yes everyone out there, my HUSBAND wanted to be first in line at the midnight showing of Twilight. He's a bigger fan than I am of the movies, and I heard about it quite a bit in the days leading up to its release.

Now, I wouldn't let us go to the midnight showing, but I did give in and say we could go opening day, after he got home from work. So we headed out, got in line behind a bunch of teenage girls, and Adam was giddy and happy. Ok, so he hid his actual giddiness, but he was grinning ear to ear the entire time. ;)

The movie was good, better than the 2nd. And the trailer for Harry Potter in the beginning was exciting, though it sucks that doesn't come out until November.

I was crazy tired all day today from being up late to see it, but I suppose 2 hours of Taylor Lautner's shirtlessness was worth it ;)

Royals

2010-06-28T17:52:00.000-05:00

Adam called me earlier in the week last week and had asked if I wanted to go to the Royals Game that next weekend because someone at his work was giving him tickets. I said sure, we haven't been out to a game yet and it sounded like a fun Sunday. He had no idea who they were playing, but we didn't much care.

Come to find out this weekend was the biggest series of the year...it's interleague play vs. the Cardinals! So we got to see some good old Missouri Rivalry going on. Luckily it wasn't as hot as it has been here the past few days, and even though our seats were really high up, there was a nice breeze and we were right behind home plate.

It was crazy to me how many Cardinal fans were in the audience. In fact, there were so many people in red that it was hard to tell that the Royals were actually the HOME team! I felt kind of bad for the Royals, ha. Especially when we walked out to grab a drink and the ROYALS gift shop was selling CARDINAL appareal and gifts. I mean, really?! When you go to a Yankee game when they are playing Boston I HIGHLY doubt that they are selling some Sox gear!

But we did have fun. I went in with the intention of rooting for the Cardinals, since they are in the Reds division and all (and have a couple of formal Reds players!) but after seeing the crowd, I felt bad for the Royals and decided to root for the home team. I mean, when they sang the Take Me Out to the Ballgame song, it wasn't "Root, root root for the ROYALS" it was a complete mash...truth be told I heard more "Cardinals" instead of "Royals".

Luckily the Royals ended up winning 10-3! Yay!

See all of the red?!?

Yay For Coupons!

2010-06-26T17:49:00.000-05:00

So I found this app on my Droid that is basically a coupon app...it finds all of these really great coupon codes and updates the app daily with the new deals. The other day they had a deal for a free meal at iHop- score! So Adam and I both signed up and each got our free meal and headed up the other day. Yum!

They are in the process of promoting some new Pixar movie now, so they have all of these new meals and promo items with funny names, and they had this strawberry lemonade I decided to try and it was amazing...and it had sprinkles!!! You gotta admit, this is a pretty sweet looking glass of lemonade.

Puppy Haircut Day!

2010-06-25T22:45:00.000-05:00

Annabelle got a hair cut today! Everyone there thought she was a puppy, they were so surprised when I said she is actually almost 3 years old. She's just tiny!

But she looks so cute. It's insane. We always forget how cute her eyes are after her hair has grown out...though the little rascal wouldn't leave her bow in long enough for a picture! In fact, they called me to say she was finished, I pick her up 10 minutes later, and she had ALREADY gotten the bow out. Darn Annabelle! It was a cute 4th of July bow too. Would have looked quite nice with her white hair, but nooo. Oh well, she's still pretty darn adorable.

The bow she refused to keep in!

Pretty!

2010-06-18T07:21:00.001-05:00

Last night we went to good old Office Depot to get power chords and got caught in another of our massive downpours that have been oh so popular lately. Only this time, after leaving, we came out to this- the most brilliant rainbow that I have probably ever seen in my life. You could literally see every single color. We took a ton of pictures, though this is the best one that showed up on my phone

I know you can't get the full brilliance of it, but you get the idea!

FINISHED!!!!

2010-06-18T06:54:00.001-05:00

It's done!!! After another insanely long wedding on Saturday and meetings on Sunday, we finally got a chance Sunday evening to finish up the desk. It took us until after 10 to get it all finished, but it was totally worth it and it is FINISHED!!

I love my hubby. I took a glance at those instructions and boy, there is NO way I could have even attempted that. And he did it all by himself!

Now we have to go get longer chords and a power strip so we can actually plug everything in, haha, but it is set up and it is so pretty!!

Chinese

2010-06-11T19:20:00.000-05:00

Let me start off by saying that I've never really been a big fan of Chinese food. I think it may be all of the seafood involved, but I just would much rather prefer a giant pasta dish over something called sweet and sour any day.

Well, Adam on the other hand, loves the stuff. We got a flier in the mail for a local place near us that had some really cheap lunch specials, and after Adam hinting multiple times that he would like to go, I gave in.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the particular dish I got was really good! Not to mention how ridiculously huge the portions were! Haha, I think Adam was really happy, since that means we will probably be back there more often!

Progress!

2010-06-07T20:17:00.001-05:00

We had a busy busy weekend, which for me started early Friday with a quick trip up to Omaha. My good friend Catie is having a baby and was having her baby shower back on Friday evening, so even though we had a wedding in KC on Saturday, I wasnt going to miss her party. I headed up and checked into my ridiculously small hotel room and headed to the shower. It was fun and she got some really cute gifts for baby Finn!

After a quick night, it was a bright and early drive back home to get ready for the wedding, which was actually a good hour away from our place. It was a ridiculously long day, especially after sitting in the car for that long. But we did get some fun pictures, so that's always good.

Sunday was the big day though, even though we were really sore from our wedding (dont let anyone tell you photographing a wedding isnt a workout) we really wanted to get the desk set up. Adam spent close to 8 hours building it, but it is finally done! We still need to build the hutch, so it isnt fully complete, but the desk itself is done and it is AMAZING! It looks so pretty and I cant wait to start decorating and finally getting to have a proper workstation. I am so proud of my handy hubby!

More pictures from the shower and the desk building process soon, but in rearranging everything we somehow managed to knock out our internet...now the cable guy has to make a stop tomorrow! So for now I am utilizing this amazing Droid, so I get to include the happy one pic! But hey, one is better than none! This is of the desk right after we got it set up. Nothing is organized yet, but doesnt it look nice?!

It's Here!!!

2010-06-04T22:11:00.001-05:00

It's here it's here it's here!!!

I'm so excited!

Now if only the hubby would put it together....

Yum, Spicy!

2010-06-04T22:08:00.001-05:00

Last week I came across a link on someone's Facebook page for Chik-Fil-Et, a fast food place here in town that has delicious chicken. Apparently they are coming out with a new spicy chicken sandwich, and to promote it, were giving away free coupons for free sandwiches. Um, free food? Sign me up!

So Wednesday was our day to try the deliciousness, and we happily showed up and ordered our free sandwiches. Yum! It was delicious. And by delicious, i mean absolutely amazing. And spicy. Yum.

I think I am going to log on to that site again and see if there are any more coupons, I mean, you cant beat free food!

More Whips

2010-05-31T17:42:00.000-05:00

So as promised, more amazing pictures of the Whip. Yeah, it was that good that it deserves more than one post. Try one, and you will understand.

Ok, this picture is hilarious. We went back another day before we left for another whip, and my mom was determined to get a picture of Adam and I holding one. Well, apparently she didn't realize that her finger was in front of the camera....and she tried this 3 times! This is the only one where I am even partially visible... I think it is hilarious.

Whips

2010-05-30T11:58:00.001-05:00

Springfield weekend! So much food already and we've only been here one day. I think my mom is trying to make us fat... but it's sooo good! Ha.

Anywho, we are doing Kelsey's senior pictures today (I still can't believe my little sister is a senior!) which should be fun. And hopefully we will stop and get another of these amazing little gems called a "pineapple whip".

Yes, the whip. Apparently they are these little hidden gems of Springfield that have been featured on the Food Channel and everything. Is it ice cream? Is is sherbert? Apparently neither, though they won't tell you just what they are. Well, whatever they are, they are amazing. And now that I have had my first, I want more. And more. Mmmm whip.

I attached a picture of the stand, it doesn't look like much does it? But I guarentee you that enclosed in that small trailer stand is a world of goodness.

One drawback to this app on the Droid is the lack of ability to attach more than one photo to a post. I have many delicious pictures of us enjoying the whips, but unfortunately can only inclue one. Ah well, we can't have everything I suppose!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

2010-05-29T23:56:00.000-05:00

Today was my grandpa's birthday, so my mom made him a cake and we headed over to give him his presents. Skye made him a card, but it basically just had 80s all over it...I don't think he was quite as amused to see his age all over it as she was. Ha!

Of course there were monkeys! There are always monkeys involved...the reason we still have yet to understand...

For some reason I REALLY enjoy the looks on their faces in this picture. It makes me laugh!

Moving on Up!

2010-05-28T06:17:00.001-05:00

I am so incredibly excited!

So earlier this week I was in Office Depot to get printer ink. I decided to take a slight detour and stop by their furniture department. I had seen a flyer when I walked in showing they were having some sales on desks, so I decided to take a look. Granted, I always just assumed when we bought a desk it would be from a place like Nebraska Furniture Mart, since that was the only place I assumed sold nice desks.

Imagine my surprise when I wandered into this little gem? (Literally, I walked right into it while gazing about)

Imagine my even greater surprise when I saw the price- $399! "Hm..." The wheels started turning, and my desperate desire to have an actual desk for our office left me wanting.

But wait, it gets better.

Because of Memorial Day, apparently the store was having some special deals (remember the flyer?) and this desk was included. Sale price? $299.

AND free delivery?! I was getting more and more tempted....

I snapped a quick picture and sent it to Adam and headed home to look up any on line reviews. After all, I didn't want us to end up with something crappy regardless of the price.

So I'm on trusty Google looking up reviews while I get a text from Adam saying we should get it. Reviews were perfect. I'm thinking this needs to happen.

As if to confirm this, the gods decided I needed to have my computer accidentally redirect to Office Depots home page, and there in shiny lights- a $45 off a $300 purchase.

Yeah, I know, right?!

We bought it last night. It took a very long time and was very frustrating (apparently the manager doesn't know how to do simple math) but our brand new pretty will be delivered Tuesday. Adam now has many hours of building ahead of him, but from the reviews I've read- it's worth it!

New Phone!

2010-05-27T05:54:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Verizon's nice "Buy One Get One Free" sale, Adam and i are now proud new owners of two very pretty and very shiny Droids!

I've been having quite a fun time playing around and learning the frustrating world of the touch screen, as well as exploring the thousands of apps the Android market has. Well, one thing that i always found frustrating about the Blackberry (among other things) was the lack of ability to update my blog. I searched for an app to be able to do this, but could never find one. So i was pleasantly surprised when I searched and came across not just one, but many options to allow me to post my all important thoughts instantaneously. To say the least, i was quite the happy camper as my newfound app was downloading.

How does it work? Well I'll give you a hint- I'm not at home right now!

I'm becoming quite the happy Cassie.

Weston

2010-05-23T12:02:00.000-05:00

Last fall Adam and I shot a wedding in a little town near us called Weston. We heard about the greatness of this town from that couple and a few others, and ever since then I've wanted to spend a day there. Since this is our last wedding-free weekend until July, we decided now was as good a time as ever, and went to explore this quaint little city.

I had heard that a must-do was the Pirtle Winery...apparently this little winery built in the basement of an old church is something special, so that was our first stop. We were greeted by a free tasting of every one of their wines...yum!

They also had this super cute little garden area where people could drink their wine and share a picnic basket, and well, we were all into the picnic basket idea! Warm sourdough bread, summer sausage and 2 kinds of cheese...yummy! Although we skipped the wine part (we did buy a bottle of the yummy bubbly blueberry wine to take home, though!) the basket was pretty darn good.

It was ridiculously hot yesterday, especially for May. Think 90's, but super humid and muggy. But we managed to wander around to a few of the stores and antique shops here and there . I found the cutest coin purse- made out of a sock!!

We really wanted to eat at the popular Irish Pub for dinner (that's where we had done the wedding last fall) but we weren't hungry yet, so we headed back into town and stopped at Old Navy...yesterday was the annual $1 flip flop sale. Even though it was only afternoon, our store was completely sold out. Bummer.

After a couple hours we headed back to Weston for dinner, and they had the best burgers- ever! It was so huge...I didn't eat near all of mine but was so ridiculously stuffed it was insane. And their Cheddar & Ale soup was also amazing. I'd totally go back!

Waiting for food! I didn't carry my camera in here and it was INSANELY dark...and well, my phone doesn't take the best pics to begin with...

YUMMY Cheddar & Ale Soup!

Best. Burger. Ever!

It was fun, and I think we are going to make a point to go back sometime and stay in one of their cute little bed and breakfasts that the town is known for. That, and there were some shops I didn't get to go into- so that alone is worth another trip back!

Craigslist is Pretty Amazing

2010-05-21T21:22:00.000-05:00

I am always amazed at some of the things that people choose to throw and give away. I have this habit of checking the "free" section on Craigslist a couple of times a day. Most of the time it's junk, but every once in a while you find something that you just have to think "wow, why would they just GIVE that away?". Most of the time when I see one of these amazing steals, it's for something big- like the one time a big game room downtown was getting new floor models in so they put their big arcade cabinets and jukeboxes out near their docks and said "Hey come and get em". Do you know how BADLY I've always wanted a jukebox?! Working or not (and these were WORKING none-the-less!) I've always wanted one, just because I think they look pretty amazing and have always thought one in a basement would just be amazing. Problem? We don't have a truck, and I doubt a full sized jukebox is going to fit into the back of either of our cars any time soon. We also dont know anyone here, so we can't simply call up a friend and have them come help...so when I see these amazing free deals, I have to either justify renting the truck at Home Depot and shelling out the gas, or let the amazing deal slip away. Most of the time letting it slip away tends to win.

But then every once in a while you find a smaller item for free, only down here, it's a cut throat process...unless you see the free posting IMMEDIATELY after it has been placed, you aren't going to get it. I think some people must just sit on Craigslist hitting refresh constantly throughout the day, since I never seem to get anything even if it was posted a mere hour beforehand.

Today though, I got lucky. Maybe it was just lucky timing, but I was doing my daily checking of the listing, and I happened to click on a post. It was junk, but when I went back to the main page, the listings had updated, and a new post popped up offering designer pillows. I thought "Hey, pillows are expensive, let's see" and came across these gorgeous designer pillows....3 of them matching, and one that was different but still went with the set. I sent the email, expecting to get beat out. About 15 mintues later, I get an email from the lady saying I was the first to inquire and if I could get there by tonight, they were mine! I was ecstatic! I wrote back saying of course, and I got another back asking if I wanted the candles as well, since apparently she'd gotten tons of emails from people wanting both the pillows and the candles. Candles? I hadn't seen any candles? So I hopped back on CL and apparently while I was emailing the posting in such excitement, she had posted another listing for a bunch of free candles. In the picture I thought they looked alright, but Adam and I go through candles like it's nobody's business, so I said "Sure" and later I told a very confused Adam we were going out to get these and we were off!

What we ended up with were 3 super beautiful decorative pillows, and 4 brand new, huge, great smelling decorative candles! So excited. And to top it off, while I was picking them up, the lady asked if I wanted these decorative flower things...said she got them at Crate and Barrel and just didnt need them anymore, but they go with the colors of the pillows so she thought she'd see if I wanted them. Um, yes! They would look great in a tall vase in our main room. So I totally scored tonight, and even after Adam saw them he said "Wait, you got these for FREE?!" and was pleasantly surprised.

Ignore the ridiculously messy table. I hadn't cleaned up from work yet... And the blurry cell phone pic doesn't really do it justice, but you get the idea! There were 3 of these!

The brand new, HUGE candles, complete with pillars! The white one is from Bath & Body Works and smells soooo good!

Pretty branch flower thing. It's HUGE! And there are 2 of them. They'll look great in a tall vase.

Yay for Craigslist!

No More Shows

2010-05-21T21:11:00.000-05:00

Note to self, again. Staying up to watch finales when you have to work ridiculously early in the morning is PROBABLY not a good idea.

Like I said, I took the bait again last night and stayed up. Recap, Bones sucked, Grey's rocked it.

I was totally disappointed in Bones. That's my absolute favorite show out of the handful Adam and I follow and the second half of this season has been really, well, depressing. Every episode is just so...sad. I had expected at least a little bit of...well, SOMETHING out of the finale...but what did we get? Just more sadness. It was frustrating and just left you with this sad feeling...almost like a SERIES finale instead of a season. Fox did announce they are bringing the show back in the fall, so no worries about it unintentionally being the series finale, and of course I'll watch it when it comes back, but that show is frustrating me to no end!

As for Grey's last night...my GOD. That was probably the best finale I've seen, ever. And I mean ever. Out of any show I've ever watched or followed. It was a 2 hour show, and Adam and I were on the edge of our seats every minute of it. It was intense. I've gotten into shows before, but never actually sat on the edge of my seat gripping Adam's arm before. Yeah, that intense. And with the way my Facebook friends' status were lighting up throughout the show means I was not the only one feeling that way. Good thing, no big cliffhanger. Just a GOOD 2 hour episode with really, really great performances by the actors. Makes me excited for fall, but left me feeling like this episode was just so good that it's ok to wait. Only bad part of the show? I couldn't sleep for the life of me when it was over, and that made for a nasty day at work.

Now all of our shows are over and that makes me sad. Even though (with the exception of the finales) we never watched the shows on time, it was still something I looked forward to. Adam and I always had that hour or so to watch them together and it was nice. None of the summer shows look interesting, so looks like we'll just have to count down to September!

I feel like the past week has turned this blog into one of those TV show review sites...ha. Totally not intentional. To be honest, aside from those 4 shows that we watch together, I never watch TV. So I'm not usually all into it like this. I guess that's the point of sweeps month though, eh? To get people involved and talking?

Lacking the Motivation...

2010-05-20T17:53:00.000-05:00

I'm totally lacking the motivation to be productive in, well, anything lately. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm blaming the rain. It's rained EVERY DAY pretty much all month. We had one sunny day this week, and now it's back to the rain. It just kind of makes me want to stay inside. In bed. And do nothing.

Tonight is the season finale of my favorite show, Bones. Remember how I said I hated May? Well, I'll probably hate it alot more after tonight. This show is probably the most frustrating show I've ever watched (all you Bones fans out there, you know why) and I have a feeling that this dang finale isn't going to solve or accomplish anything except to give me more frustrating. Ugh. The writer/creator of the show said that it will create a "pronounced reaction among the fans". Yeah, that can never be good. It's also finale night for Grey's Anatomy, and I'm a big fan, but not as attached to the characters as I am on Bones, so while I know there's going to be a massive cliff hanger in that show, I'll live.

I don't have any related pics to post today, but I snapped this on my phone earlier today and thought it was ridiculously cute. I'm a total slacker when it comes to unpacking after a trip...in fact I tend to just unpack by taking things out when I need them, and then on laundry day...ha. Well, I had my bag from Chicago still laying on the couch, and I turned around earlier and found Annabelle sitting inside. Apparently next time she wants to make sure I don't forget her...

Oh Miley...

2010-05-19T17:23:00.000-05:00

I think we get it...you aren't on Disney anymore...

Yum

2010-05-19T10:46:00.000-05:00

While in Chicago Sara and I needed a place to eat one night and ended up at the Dunkin Donuts near our hotel. We found out that they have the most AMAZING hash browns, and since the trip I have been massively craving these little round pieces of joy. So after work today I totally drove all the way to the Dunkin Donuts just to get these. They were just as amazing as I remembered...

Yum yum yum. I miss Chicago!

New Layout + Why I Hate May

2010-05-18T18:46:00.000-05:00

I decided to make a few changes in the blog world layout-wise. I just wasn't feeling the other one anymore, and I really wanted to make it more photo-friendly. I'll stick with this for now, though I'm not totally sure I am set on the yellow...it's a bit more cheery than I'm used to! Ha. Perhaps it was because today was the first sunny and non-rainy day all month?

Anywho, as a side note, I hate the month of May. It rains a lot, the yardwork starts needing to happen, and my biggest peeve- it's the season finale month for every show on the planet. Well, the ones I watch anyway. It always leaves me annoyed and then I'm without my shows for the next few months.

Adam and I have become big fans of the show Castle during it's past two seasons and the finale was last night. I took the bait and stayed up late to watch it, to be honest I dont think that I have stayed up to watch this show at the time it was on since it came out, but I REALLY wanted to see the finale, and what ended up happening? I was annoyed and frustrated in the end and couldn't fall asleep. So work today was rough, and my point of hating the month of May was once again reiterated.

Just made the hubby dinner and now we are off to watch the finale of Desperate Housewives that was on this past Sunday...yes we are a bit behind. Eh. I hate May.

BRGR

2010-05-17T10:52:00.000-05:00

Sunday Adam and I were trying our best to figure out a place to eat that was cheap, and we remembered all of our friends RAVING about this place called "Cheddars" that they ate at down in Springfield at the wedding. Well, we found out we have a Cheddars here, so we decided to make the drive out there to see if it really did live up to the hype. Well, on the way we had to swing by the bank, and at the particular branch we stopped at, there was a strip mall nearby and we saw this intriguing place called "BRGR" and decided to stop over and see the menu. It was filled with different burgers, and we both thought that sounded good, so we detoured from Cheddars and ate at this unique little shop instead.

It was very different inside, metal chairs with a super rustic charm. We ordered a couple of waters, and they bring us back this bottle, it made me laugh!

All in all the place was pretty good. I liked my burger and Adam liked his, though I kind of wish we would have done Cheddars since we drove all the way out there! But it was definitely good. Yum.

Chicago!

2010-05-16T15:27:00.000-05:00

So earlier this month Sara and I took a weekend trip up to Chicago. She had never been there and I have only been once, but it was a few years ago and we went up and back in two days and spent the time looking for an apartment for our roommates at the time, so we didnt get to see the city. So I was really excited, and the city was so much fun! We were total tourists though, even paying for one of their "hop on, hop off" tour bus deals. But we got to see pretty much everything we were wanting to, and had alot of fun seeing all of the different things. We figure next time we can spend time doing more "Chicago" things, as opposed to the touristy attractions. Haha. Anywho, we stayed at a super fancy hotel right near the water and had fun seeing the different museums and shopping down on the Mag Mile. Now that I know more of what is there, I am excited to get to go back!

It was super cloudy and windy our first day, but the Buckingham Fountain was still super spectacular.

It cleared up a couple days later and the water was so pretty!

We had wayy to much fun taking pictures at the Bean!

2nd largest department store in the WORLD!! This was one GIGANTIC Macy's!!

I can't wait until we get to take our next trip in a few months!!!

Happy Hour!

2010-05-12T15:10:00.000-05:00

So Adam had a conference deal through work where he had to go to some fancy pants meeting thing at a hotel downtown, which meant he got off a couple hours earlier than normal and we were FINALLY able to take advantage of one of the restaurant's happy hours here in town. We went to La Bodega, a little mexican joint down near midtown, and it was delicious (and cheap!). It was so much fun to be able to go out together during the week and get some cheap yummy food at a place we probably wouldnt normally get to go. It sucks that there isnt a happy hour on the weekends!

Yum! And we got Sangria! Mmmmm!

We also went and saw Iron Man 2 at a sneak preview- another thing I LOVE about living in the big city is that we actually have screenings for all of the big movies coming out. And we usually get passes for free to go see these movies, so we get to go see the big hits for free and before they even come out. Love it! With the prices of movies so dang high now, we never get to actually GO see a movie, so this way we get to go and we are seeing a big movie. Sure, we have to stand in line for an hour or so, but it's totally worth it! Iron Man, however, not on my list of top faves. Adam loved it, but I just wasnt a fan...could be because I didnt see the first one? Who knows....

Goodness, it's May?

2010-05-11T14:33:00.000-05:00

Wow, I can't believe the last time that I updated this sucker was back in March. I feel like these last few months have just been this big huge blur...I'm in awe that it is already May. Actually, it's over halfway through the month now so technically it's almost June. CRAZY!

Anyways, not too much happened in April. We've been decorating our place and working on things for the business, combined with everything else I feel like we have little time to do much else. We've been driving back and forth to Omaha all the time for work and that's starting to take it's toll...it's not a bad drive or anything, but when you do it EVERY weekend, it starts to get a bit boring and long.

This is what I see on our drives. Adam sleeping, Annabelle on his lap. I'm left to drive allll alone!

Tina graduated from college a couple weeks back and I went up to watch. I'm so incredibly proud of her! She always has been my best friend, and I totally had tears when she walked in all dressed in her cap and gown. She's going to do so many great things in her life, and I can't wait to be a part of them!

Tina and the hubby! I still can't believe it's been almost 2 years since she got married!

Billy, Tina and I at Tina's graduation party! I can't believe we are all college grads!

More later!

March...

2010-03-30T15:32:00.000-05:00

I feel like this month has flown by insanely fast. My birthday came and went (wait, it was my birthday?) the bridal fair is finally done, our house is clean (yes, finally, after living here for as long as we have we have a clean house) and things are finally calming down..well, ok, not really calming down but at least we arent stressing about the fair.

This month has kind of flown by in a big blur...I can't really remember anything except the fair.

Last weekend we went to visit my mom and sisters. That was nice, since it's been a really long time since getting to see them. Even though my mom was just getting over being sick, it was still nice to see them even if it was only for a day.

The weather is so nice out this week, it's so great to be able to have the windows open and have fresh air in the house. So nice. I wish it would stay like this all year long and not become so insanely hot like it's going to!

Bridal Fair!!!

2010-03-22T15:26:00.000-05:00

Alrighty! I've finally gotten caught up from the bridal fair last weekend. I've spent the past week emailing all of our amazing brides from the fair and setting up meetings and consults with everyone- it's been alot of work but we are so excited from the response we have been getting!

I'm finally able to post some pictures from our fair setup- we are SO happy with how it ended up. I have to admit that it was ALOT more work than we originally anticipated, but everything turned out great and we are so happy with the final setup. We had some help from some great friends here in town and everything went off better than we could have hoped. We were incredibly sore on Sunday and could barely walk- but it was definitely worth it!

Forgive me, most all of these pictures were taken with my little handheld, non-pro camera. There was so much going on it was much easier to just whip out this little guy and take pictures then setup the big baby! So alot are blurry- we were working fast and I apologize!

Everything is inside!

Walls are going up!

Walls! We got help from Darryl and Ryan from the station, without them we would have had a REALLY hard time putting them up!

Putting up the logo! The printing place we used was very disappointing and printed the wrong colors...actually reversed them...but there wasnt enough time to fix them! Oh well, I dont think many noticed...

Hanging the canvases! They looked so great!

The FINAL setup!!! We are so happy it looked so great!

We loved these chairs!! They were exactly what we were looking for. And the zebra chest was AMAZING!!!

Our giveaway table

Our favorite album! It was so big! I was SO happy with how the silver snakeskin turned out!

We are so happy with how everything turned out and the great response we had! :D All of the hard work was worth it and we can't wait for the next one and for all of the great bride's weddings we have coming up!

Bridal Fair Planning...Adam With Tools!

2010-03-22T14:30:00.000-05:00

As promised, pictures from the last few months of bridal fair setup! All of the months of stress and everything leading up to it were worth it. We decided to keep everything under wraps until the Big Reveal at the fair because we really wanted everything to be a surprise. Alot of the decorative things and the overall design for the fair has actually been in the works since last March- we've been picking up things here and there (zebra chair! That was one of our first purchases that we sort of based the theme around!) and it all came together. Adam built our walls on a nice weekend and although we had alot of troubles with them, in the end they looked great!

This was one of the happiest days!!! Aside from the day the canvases came (I think the Fed Ex man was outside for literally 20 minutes carrying in all of the boxes!) this was the BEST day! I came home to these- our albums!!!! Apparently our cat, Minnie, was just as excited as I was to see what's inside!

One of our albums- the packaging was so cool! This was the first major order we placed with this company after going back and forth between many others over the past year. We finally took a chance on them after liking their variety and we couldnt be happier!

Our massive 8x20 flipbook album!

One of our other great albums!

Another awesome day!! Prints arrived!!!

We spent MANY days here over the past year....many trips back and forth for this and that....I think they knew us by name at the end!

And many trips with this handy guy! Ha, this is what happens when you have very small cars! Good thing we lived close!

Starting the wall building process! We used so many of these screws!

My amazing and handy Husband!!

He did such an incredible job!!

These are just some of the MANY many pictures I collected over our building/planning/designing process. I took pictures of EVERY item-- I think I was a bit camera happy with every new purchase and every new box that arrived. Haha, I wont bore everyone with EVERY picture, but these are some of my favorites.

Luckily we wont have to go through this huge process for the next fair this fall. We are really happy though with all of the work and everything came together perfectly, despite my negativity that it wouldnt! :D

2 More Weeks...

2010-02-27T17:20:00.000-06:00

Today was the first day in a long time where we could actually go outside and not freeze! The sun was shining and we actually had the window down in the car (as did most people out driving about). It WAS almost 40 degrees for cryin' out loud! Haha. Yes, compared to what we've had lately, 40 is a heat wave, and it felt outstanding!

So today we made our way to Home Depot to get supplies for the bridal fair. I swear, this fair is stressing me out something crazy- I can't wait for it to be done. I'm excited for it, dont get me wrong, but it's just been alot of work (and money) and I hope it pays off.

Our prints came in yesterday! I was super excited since I wasnt expecting them until the first part of next week. They are awesome, and they are making things look like they are actually coming together. Once we finish everything else up tomorrow, then aside from a few last minute details and waiting on that last dang album to come in, we are good to go!

As much work as it's all been, at least I know that next time the fair comes up in October, we wont have to worry about as much since we will already have everything. This time consisted to making/designing/ordering/building/etc but now that all of that is finished, we wont have to worry about it any more and the fall will just be touch-up and then resetting up.

I'm so sleepy! I really should be cleaning right now, but I have absolutely no motivation or energy to do it. I wish I did...but it just seems like the only time I ever feel like cleaning is in the day during the week, never on the weekend which is when the cleaning SHOULD be done. Bleh.

March? What?

2010-02-23T17:46:00.001-06:00

I feel like I should update this more, but sadly the posts would be the same every day-- it's cold and nothing new is going on!

I can't wait until spring and warmer weather. Dont get me wrong, once summertime hits I will be complaining about the heat, but gosh darnit, I HATE being cold! Leaving when I have to for work is just brutal, and it takes half of my ride in just to get a bit of my body defrosted. And then it's so gosh darn cold INSIDE work that I am in my coat until I get home. So frustrating.

Anywho, as for life, we've been hitting it hard with the bridal fair, getting things together there and designing the booth. Our albums actually FINALLY came in TODAY and they are outstanding! Better than I anticipated, and I love all of the extra goodies that we ordered as well. Makes the *cough*waytomuchmoney*cough* we have spent on the fair actually look like it's doing something. Now hopefully it all plays out and we book alot of amazing couples from it!

Aside from that, I feel like this entire month has gone by in this huge blur. I can't believe it's already almost March- where did February go?! I feel like it was just January. Next weekend is Sara and I's birthday party, which I am really excited for. Sadly, because of the bridal fair and a wedding, I wasnt able to make it to Omaha the actual weekend of our birthday, and Sara is going out of town the week after, so we have to celebrate it early. Should be fun though, I'm excited for a night out! I feel like I've been in this little hole all month sitting on my computer editing this and ordering this-- I need a break!

Right now I am insanely hungry. These hours have my eating schedule all messed up, but because I stay up until after Adam gets home every day so I can actually SEE him, my day is incredibly long, meaning that the normal 3 meals a day thing just doesnt pan out. When my breakfast is at 3am and lunch at 10, I am so hungry I have to eat during the day! But then when Adam comes home I always eat when he eats dinner...which constitutes to wayy to much food! I'm trying to cut back and eat smaller meals more often, but my tummy isnt a fan of that. :( Luckily Adam is home any minute now and dinner will be soon! I tend to get a bit cranky if I dont eat....

I think I hear the car now! Yay!

Valentine's Day!

2010-02-15T19:06:00.000-06:00

Valentine's Day!!

Adam and I decided to forgo gift giving this year. Since this is the off season for weddings all of our extra money has been going to setting up and getting ready for the bridal fair, so instead we decided to make our "gift" going out for a nice dinner!

Gift from Mom! Yes, she stuffed this into a box and mailed it. It was SO big! I put it on the bed...Adam was a bit scared! But I think secretly he was sad that it wasnt his.

We decided to go to our new favorite place...we actually found it by accident a few weeks back when we were debating on were to go to use our handy gift card my grandma had gotten Adam for Christmas. We were actually trying to get to Olive Garden, but pulled into the parking lot of this place to turn around and the sign said "All You Can Eat Italian Feast"...we were intrigued. We decided to check it out and compare it to Valentino's back home in Omaha. And, well, how can I put this mildly? It kicked Valentino's butt...and stomped it into the ground...about 10,000 times. Yes, it was really that good. I could go on and on about it, but I'll spare you. Needless to say, we were hooked. Sadly, the pricing is a bit on the high side, and without the gift card we wouldnt have been able to eat there, so it has to be saved for special occasions....like Valentine's Day! We were so excited! And it was just as delicious as before. My only complaint is that I get full too easily and there are so many delicious things that I dont get to eat...grr! Now I'm looking forward to my birthday, hopefully we can have it again then!

We had planned to take a trip to the Plaza with Annabelle and walk around, maybe get some coffee, but unfortunately it decided to snow. We were still planning on going, and we got Annabelle all dressed up and headed out, but we didnt make it to our car since she decided to run and play in the snow in the yard, so we just figured we'd take her to the backyard and let her run. Good thing we did, because it was bit cold!

Isn't she cute?!

She was COVERED in snow!

Finally, to top off a great Valentine's Day, Adam made me homemade chocolate lava cakes!!! It is my absolute FAVORITE dessert, and he completely made my day! They may not look the absolute prettiest, but they sure did taste AMAZING! Yes, I have a wonderful husband!

Mmmmmmm!

Such a nice Valentine's Day!

Catie & Jake Visit!

2010-02-15T16:23:00.000-06:00

Friday night our friends Catie & Jake came into town for a little mini-vacay and they called us up to see if we wanted to hang out for a bit! We were really excited, it's not every day we have friends actually come to US for a weekend, and we were super excited to get to go out!

It was incredibly busy downtown because of the various events going on, but we finally managed to find a parking spot and headed to their hotel. We ended up eating at a really good brewery in the P&L that Adam and I had eaten at back when we had first moved here. It was a long wait, but it was nice to get to catch up with them and hear all about Baby! I'm so excited for their little one! Since Adam and I dont want kids, we get to spend all of our energy on our friend's little ones, and since Catie and Jake are the first of our close friends to become parents, we are so excited! Catie showed us the pictures from the first ultrasound and it was just unreal to think of the little person inside her!

Unfortunately, because Baby has been making Catie extrememly sleepy, we didnt get to do much after dinner. It was still great to see them though, and I hope they can make it down more often! It was nice to get to get out and explore the city with people we know!

I'm so bummed that I didnt take any pictures. I even had my camera with me! I always get irritated when I mean to take pics and forget.

Happy Birthday Tina!!

2010-02-13T19:30:00.000-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TINA!!

I love today! I always look forward to Tina's birthday because I know that where ever we are in the world or whatever it is that we are doing, I'll get to talk to my best friend.

For 11 years now Tina and I have made a point to always call the other on our birthday. Even if we only get to say a quick hello, we always make that point to call one another. It always makes me so happy to get to talk to her. We dont talk nearly as much as we should, so getting to have that few minutes of "Tina Time" really makes me happy.

This year she wasn't feeling too great, but we still spend almost an hour and a half on the phone talking about anything and everything. Her hubby, Chris, is serving in the military and has been overseas since last summer. I'm so happy because she found out he will be home in the next 2-3 weeks! He left shortly after they got married, and she's been by herself with school and everything and I am so glad that he is finally getting to come home. They are going to take a nice, long vacation and I'm so happy for them!

I thought I'd share a picture from way back when. This was from when we were in 6th grade...gosh that seems like forever ago! I can't believe how much time has passed. We're holding our twin "note" frogs...we used to put a barbie backpack on them and stuff notes in them and pass them back and forth in class to one another that way...yes, we were sneaky! :D

Ahhh back when I had braces...lol those were the days!

I miss my Tina! Happy Birthday!!! I hope you had a great day!

Another Pretty Snow

2010-02-08T18:35:00.000-06:00

I HATE snow. I would much rather live in a place that had no snow at all. But even I had to admit that the snow today was really pretty. It was one of those heavy, wet snows- terrible for driving, but super pretty on the trees.

Luckily, it will be gone soon since it's supposed to be above freezing!

Catch-up

2010-01-30T18:32:00.000-06:00

So I think today has proved to be the laziest day in quite a while.

Adam and I spent the entire day in front of the TV catching up on all of our shows...we were rather behind. And neither one of us left our robe or slippers all day...(thanks grandma & grandpa martinez!). It felt odd...yet wonderful at the same time. All day I kept thinking "I should do this" or "I should do that" but it was nice to just take a break. I feel like I run non-stop throughout the day, it felt good to just stop!

TGIF

2010-01-29T15:11:00.001-06:00

I am SOO glad that this week is almost over. For some reason all week I have been a day ahead...so imagine my disappointment on Wednesday when I was determined it was Thursday and I found out the week was not almost over. Sigh. It's been such a long week and while I know I DID accomplish alot, I dont feel like I did, and I just want to sleep!!

I have a wedding tonight, though it is pretty short so I should get home at a good time. And then we are actually free the rest of the weekend, and I plan on actually taking a BREAK and not opening photoshop or lightroom or final cut all weekend!

On a higher note, we had free passes to see Dear John last night at the advance screening- I was SO excited to go, that is one of my favorite books. Adam was probably one of like 10 guys in the theater, but secretly I think he was excited to see the movie...ok so he really wasnt, but he went (yes, talk about love!). It was kinda disapointing as far as movies go, but I was still happy we got to see it- and it was free!

Bridal Fair Teaser...

2010-01-27T19:14:00.000-06:00

YAY!

First display item for the fair arrived today!!! I'm so excited! We were wondering what this would look like in person, but it's so much better in person!

It's like they are torturing me...sending one item at a time!

So excited!!!!

Big News!!

2010-01-25T18:49:00.000-06:00

AHHHHH!!!

So I found out some GREAT news this morning! One of my great friends Catie is having a baby! She's due the end of August so she's got a ways to go, but this is such exciting news. Catie and Jake will be awesome parents and I'm so excited for them! I cant wait to hear all about the pregnancy throughout the next many months and I can't wait until August to get here to greet the little one!

Congrats guys!! Adam and I are so happy and excited for you both! :D

Just a bit longer?

2010-01-24T23:41:00.000-06:00

This weekend went so incredibly fast. Why can't weekends last a couple extra days? I never seem to feel like we get a break.

The shoot yesterday went AWESOME!! Much better than I anticipated and it was nice to have a different style shoot than we are used to (ie, studio with lights and backdrops). The studio was in a loft downtown and we are so lucky to have found it. The owner is super nice and said that we can use it for sessions any time! And they are really reasonable to rent- and they have rooftop access for when it gets nice out! Super excited!!!

We spent Saturday night playing Monopoly...yes we spent the weekend playing a board game! Haha. It's the only game we have and we didnt want to go out, and it turned out to be super fun!

I am not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. More bridal fair work this week as well as some sessions and more weddings to work on. The work never ends!

Weekend Time!

2010-01-22T18:38:00.000-06:00

This week has been so crazy and stressful I am SO looking forward to this weekend!!

We found this awesome looking studio downtown that rents out by the hour, and we convinced some friends of ours to have a portrait shoot this weekend! Yes...we are dorks. But I am excited! And no wedding or traveling, so we actually get a weekend to relax- and SLEEP!!

Eeee!!

2010-01-21T18:33:00.000-06:00

First box came today!!! That was so fast. Even though it's only a swatches palate, I was still SO excited!

Now I REALLY cant wait until the actual stuff gets here!!

So much work!

2010-01-20T18:22:00.000-06:00

Such a busy week!!! I've spent the entire week working on our sample albums for the bridal fair and getting all of those ordered. Even though the fair isnt until March, we have to have everything ordered this week because they take so long to come in. Now that they are made, I'm anxious to see them- I really hope they turn out! I always get to paranoid.

Canvas prints arrived this week- they are HUGE! I wanted to get a picture of the big boxes outside of the house, so when the FedEx guy arrived I watched out the window while he gave super confused looks as to where to put everything. It was pretty amusing- I think he was in front of the house for almost 15 minutes!

And this was only SOME of them!

Definitely a bad idea AFTER the fact, since it took me FOREVER to get them inside, and they were SO heavy! I regretted not having him just bring them inside...but it was worth it to get that picture! Haha.

The boxes were taller than me when I stood them up!

I dont want to give away all of the goodies- but this is one of the smaller ones (and it's still over 3 feet tall!). I'm pretty excited with how they turned out!

Once everything gets ordered I'm going to go crazy waiting for everything!

More Christmas!

2010-01-18T18:11:00.000-06:00

More Christmas!!!

This weekend we finally got to have Christmas with Adam's family. We also had a wedding to shoot (yay winter wedding!) but among the work time, we finally got to have some family time. It was so great to see his grandparents and everyone again! We got more goodies (YAY blu-ray!) and even though we didnt have a ton of time, it was still fun. I really like his family- I got so lucky with having great in-laws! Josh was in town too which was great- I dont think I've seen him since the wedding, he's been out of town for training for his new job and we happened to be in town on one of his breaks before heading back. I love having a brother finally!!!

Living in the Midwest my entire life I've seen my share of snow...but I have to say that its been a LONG, LONG time (like, back when I lived in Wisconsin long) since I've seen snow like what Omaha got. We pulled down his parents street and were just in awe at the sheer amount of snow they had...it was INCREDIBLE! And his dad said some had even MELTED!!!!

I just had to take pictures...these are people's YARDS!!!

Yeah, that guy's YARD is taller than ME!!!! Aboslutely insane!

I mean, we had drifts like that- but only in parking lots where plows dumped the snow from the streets! Not in people's YARDS!! And most of our stuff is already gone!

So crazy!! I've got a busy week ahead of me- we've got alot of planning to do for the upcoming bridal show and alot of weddings to catch up on!

More snow...

2010-01-07T18:09:00.000-06:00

Ahhh this weather really needs to stop! I hate the cold! And the snow!

Christmas Time!!!

2010-01-05T17:31:00.000-06:00

We finally got to have Christmas! We finally made it down to my mom's, all the way Adam trying to get me to tell him his presents and wondering when he would get to open them. He's just like a little kid with his presents!

Present time!

My husband is such a kid!

I'm so excited!!! So many goodies!!

THE BULLET!!!! Adam and I have wanted one of these since we saw an infomercial on our honeymoon (yeah, we watched an infomercial!). I'm so excited to get to use it!

I GOT A HOLGA!!! I REALLY wanted one of these and I am SO excited!!!!!!

Ahh! I wanted THIS particular doll when I was little- but I never got it because it was too expensive. Well, I found out earlier this year that they were retiring this doll (and this one only!) and it was the last year to get one. I hinted to Adam all year I wanted one (he thought I was crazy) but I had no idea I'd get one!!

Annabelle got a snuggie for dogs!

She's modeling her snuggie for Zac.

We make messes!!!

After present time we had food!!! My grandma and grandpa came over and my mom made another turkey! Adam and Grandpa had a difficult time trying to cut the bird...it was pretty funny!

I'm so happy we finally got to have Christmas! We get to have the Martinez side soon!!

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-01T12:23:00.000-06:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

2009 is over (already!)! Yay for 2010! I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve and you were able to party it up and enjoy it!

Today we finally leave to visit my family and have our first round of Christmas! We are super excited. There will be way to much yummy food and present time! Yay!

Christmas Blizzard of 2009

2009-12-26T17:44:00.000-06:00

The snow has finally stopped, but the roads are all closed and our cars are still burried in the snow. Unfortunately, it looks like our Martinez Christmas is going to have to be postponed, as much as that bums us out. I'm actually really upset- I was looking forward to seeing everyone and getting to spend an actual Christmas with them. Before we got married, we always split up on the holidays to go to our respective families, only ever seeing the other for a few hours or so. I was excited to finally get to spend a full Christmas over there, and am sad that we arent going to be able to make it there this weekend. Unfortunately, the roads and interstates are still closed and it would be physically impossible with our cars to manuever that far, and getting stranded does not sound fun, especially when the police are refusing to help stuck people and banning all towing companies to venture out to help as well- as if to say "You were an idiot and drove, so you have to be stuck".

So looks like we are back to watching Castle until the roads clear enough for us to head out at least for some food. Thankfully, Pizza Hut is open today and we can get something other than Chinese!

See everyone, presents are wrapped and ready to go!! I wish we could bring them to everyone now!

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-26T00:27:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas from the snowed in couple!

Yes, we got hit by the Christmas Blizzard of 2009...and we got hit pretty hard. Unfortunately for us, mother nature decided to dump a pretty substantial amount of snow on us, causing us to basically cancel Christmas and all of our plans.

To start the holiday, I venture out to head to work only to find my car stuck in the driveway. After a good portion of an hour trying to push my car out of the driveway and Adam having no luck, we decided that work just wasnt going to happen. We finally got the car back INTO the driveway (a very difficult task) and headed back into the warm house.

Being the smart people that we are, we didnt go grocery shopping before the storm hit, meaning we had no food. And of course, the pizza places are closed, along with every other delivery place, so we spent the better part of the morning trying to find a open place that was actually out delivering in the snowy mess.

Thank God for Chinese Delivery! We finally found a place open and willing to brave the blizzard to bring us food, so instead of a home-cooked, yummy family meal...we had Chinese takeout!

They even brought us a calender for the new year...how nice!

Our fortunes!

So now that we were full and had nothing else to do, what else would any people stuck inside do?! We watched a marathon of Castle! Oh yes, you heard me.

Exciting Christmas, wasnt it?? We are going to try and make our way to the family tomorrow, provided it stops snowing, which it has yet to do...

Annabelle in her Christmas shirt

Minnie decided to climb the cabinets in the kitchen...

Merry Christmas everyone! Hopefully you all had better luck than we did with our snowy holiday!

Merry Christmas Eve!

2009-12-24T23:02:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

We're gearing up for the big snowstorm heading our way- got all of the last minute gifts bought and wrapped (well, the Martinez side is wrapped!) and ready to head over there this weekend (provided we arent snowed in...blah!). Although that's about the extent of our holiday-ness, it's still a start. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve with your families! I'll leave you with a copy of our Christmas card for this year...

6 Years Ago

2009-12-20T00:00:00.000-06:00

6 years ago today I was a junior at Roncalli. About 4 months prior I met this incredibly nice, way-too-good-looking-to-be-in-my-league guy at work. I talked about him all the time- I'm sure I was pretty annoying to all of my friends actually, since it was THEM who finally called HIM and got me our first date.

6 years ago today that boy and I went to the mall to get some last minute Christmas shopping done. We got each other our first gifts to one another (I got him a hoodie, I got an outfit- both from Pacific Sunwear...how many years has it been since I've been in that store?!). When the mall closed we walked around outside, it was cold and there was snow on the ground. We ended up sitting in the bus stop- this was before they had the fancy "bus depot" they have now. We met the crazy lady who told us to never leave home without a knife, and just enjoyed the night.

After acting a bit nervous he asked me to be his girlfriend, with the premise that he'd be leaving in the summer, but we could see where this led. In our heads, neither of us really thought it would last more than a few months anyway.

Obviously, we couldn't have been more wrong.

Even though this is no longer our "anniversary", it's still an anniversary of sorts. It's the day we decided to try, and so to me, it will always be a special day. I love you, Adam! :D

The very first picture ever taken of us together, at Village Inn after the play- hence my crazy makeup and scrubby clothes!

Wedding Ornament!

2009-12-14T17:21:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited! Ever since the wedding I've wanted to get a Christmas ornament this year that has the year on it and everything. I've been looking for just the right one and yesterday I came across this!

It's perfect! It's not cheesy like most of them and it's a wedding cake- how perfect! And lucky for us, it was sold at Bed Bath & Beyond- where we have a gift card from the wedding! Combine that with a 20% off coupon we got in the mail and I was ecstatic. So we hopped in the car yesterday to the nearest Bed Bath & Beyond and they had it! I'm so happy. Now we just need to get lights...and other ornaments...since our tree right now is standing, very bare and lopsided, in our kitchen area.

New Traditions!

2009-12-14T17:07:00.001-06:00

Christmas!

Ok, so not yet, but Adam and I actually had a rare free weekend this past weekend and we were able to finally spend some time getting Christmas-y.

I was super excited, because we found a place near us that was offering Santa Paws pictures- pictures with the animals and Santa to raise money for the humane society. I was super excited, and spent Saturday morning giving Annabelle a bath and picking her our a festive outfit.

We met Dion and Evan at the place and Annabelle was so excited- she was running around to everyone and it was so cute. Our picture turned out really great, and we paid for the copyright too, which means we will be able to get them printed and made into Christmas cards! Once the picture is emailed to me I'll post it up.

After our exciting morning with Santa, we headed out all the way to Lawrence to get our first ever live Christmas tree! I've always wanted one, so Adam and I decided this year to start our own tradition of going to get one. Since we've never done this before, we were a bit out of the loop when we got there and of course the selection was basically gone because it's only a couple weeks before Christmas, but we still had fun!

Baby Christmas Trees!

At first we got stuck in the pre-cut sections- we were already so confused!

Finally after walking through the nearly empty field, we came across this little guy.

Looking at it now I realize that it has alot of gaps in it. And it rather scrawny looking. But at the time it looked really perfect!

Dont let him fool you, he didnt cut it down. I wanted to cut it down, but NO, Adam didnt want to!

It fit in the car!

Pit Stop! Haha, yes, I made him pull off of the interstate specifically for me to take a picture with the Jayhawk bird. You know you are jealous.

Wrestling the tree

I enjoy our new tradition!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-30T16:58:00.000-06:00

Adam and I decided that now that we are married, it's time that we divvy up the holidays, since we were used to splitting up on the major days and each going to our separate families for the main part of the holiday and meeting up for bits and pieces.

After much arguing and debate, haha, we finally decided to give my family Thanksgiving, since I've missed getting to do the Black Friday with my mom and Kelsey since they moved. So Thanksgiving day after I got off work we headed down to Springfield and got there just in time to eat...and eat some more....yum.

After food we scaled the sale ads, planning our route for Black Friday shopping. We were hoping to get all of our gifts done in one day with the good sales, and hopefully have the deals be at the place we had wedding gift cards to since the wedding took most of our money for the year.

We planned our route for the morning and my mom, Kelsey and I headed out bright and early...well not so much bright, seeing as the sun wasnt up, ha, but we headed out early and left Adam to sleep and watch Skye. We hit up Kohls, Target and Kmart before the morning was done and braved the insane crowds, but came out with every item we went in for so it was worth it.

Saturday we headed to Branson to Silver Dollar City to see the Christmas lights- apparently they are ranked in the top 10 in the nation, so we had to see them. They were pretty neat, and it wasnt freezing cold, so we were able to enjoy it.

Back home Sunday with a ton of leftovers!

Freeport, Bahamas

2009-11-25T22:31:00.000-06:00

Last stop on the cruise was in Freeport, Bahamas. It was alot calmer than Nassau and definitely much smaller. They also had a straw market, but nothing at all to the extremes of the day before.

We were only docked here for a few hours, so we spent the time walking around the area and getting tiny souvenirs for people. There wasnt much to do here, but it definitely was pretty!

It was the last day on the cruise, and we were bummed to have it be over. Although we didnt get to do a whole bunch while we were there, it was just so nice being able to relax and not worry about work or getting up early or really anything. Next time we are definitely saving anough money to do an excursion though- I want to go snorkeling!

Bahamas!

2009-11-25T16:14:00.000-06:00

Our second stop was in Nassau, Bahamas- home of Atlantis! While we only saw Atlantis and didnt actually go there, Nassau was very pretty...and very different. The people there are very, well, pushy and we couldnt walk two feet without someone trying to sell us something!

Aside from admiring the crystal blue waters, we braved the straw market, which is like this massive craft fair type thing where tons of people try to sell you knock-off designer purses. It was really crazy, people trying to get you to buy something left and right and bartering prices and wow. It was a bit overbearing.

Again, we didnt do any excursions but we had fun walking around and seeing all of the touristy shops and taking in the sun. It was all so pretty!

Cape Canaveral, FL & Rocket Launch!

2009-11-24T22:22:00.000-06:00

Our first stop was in Cape Canaveral, FL- home of NASA! And lucky for us, NASA was actually launching a rocket the very same day- and it just so happens that the cruise port is prime viewing area! We were super excited- Adam and I both love space and NASA and were actually bummed that we werent able to do any excursions- Kennedy Space Center would have been high on our list. Lucky for us, they actually cancelled all of the excursions to the Space Center that day because of the launch, so we didnt have to feel too badly. :)

So we stayed on the ship for a while to catch the rocket launch and unfortunately for us and everyone else on board, the launch was delayed...and delayed....and delayed. It was rather frustrating (and annoying). Finally, just when we thought the window of time would run out and we would miss our shot to see it, there it went!

This strip of road was FILLED with cars by the time the rocket went. Apparently this is a popular spot because the view is unobstructed!

Waiting for the rocket. Sooo hot outside.

Obligatory picture waiting for the rocket.

Rocket!

It was so cool, definitely worth the wait, and the heat. Speaking of heat....who knew that Florida was THAT hot?!?! Sooo hot.

Anywho, after the launch we hopped off the boat and took a shuttle to the area Wal-Mart and FINALLY got a new digital camera! Now we could stop carrying around our pro one or taking the crappy cell-phone pictures. I was very happy.

That was about all that happened in Florida, haha. Since we didnt do any excursions there wasnt much else to do around the port, so we stayed at Wal-Mart for a bit and then headed back to the boat to relax.

Cruisin' Time!

2009-11-24T17:46:00.000-06:00

After spending a few days in Baltimore we were super excited to finally be getting onto the cruise. It didnt help matters that the last couple days we were there it was cold and raining- we were definitely looking forward to the warm on the boat.

We got to the checkin pretty early, expecting the line to be ridiculous. It was long, but we got through it pretty quickly and they actually started boarding early, so we didnt have to wait too long to actually get onto the ship. We were happy.

Once we got on, we had about 3 hours or so before we could actually get to our room because they were cleaning them and getting luggage ready and whatnot. So we headed to the FOOD! Mmmm, all you can eat food.

Then we headed up to the deck, Adam REALLY wanted to try one of his cigars (ew) and sit on the deck in the lounge chairs. So we spent the next couple hours or so just relaxing on the deck. It was pretty amazing.

Finally we got to head to our room!! It was alot bigger than we expected it to be, and the first thing Adam wanted to do was go out to the balcony. Haha, yeah, it WAS pretty cool.

Then we were off!

Bye Baltimore!!

We had alot of fun on the ship. Adam's favorites was the formal nights, he really loves getting dressed up! Haha. I was a fan of BINGO! Yes, BINGO! And The sunsets over the water were really pretty. I'm definitely happy that we had a balcony room!

Here's some pictures from the duration of the cruise. I'll put our ports in their own posts!

Dancing Waiters! At dinner every night they would all stop and dance to a song. This was our girl.

Day Trip- DC!

2009-11-23T17:17:00.000-06:00

One of our days in Baltimore we decided to take a day trip to Washington DC. It was only about 30 minutes or so away and Adam had never been there- plus, there is alot to do there that is free, haha, so we happily paid the $7 apiece to take the train to DC.

DC was so pretty in the fall- when I had went before it was in the middle of July, so of course it was ridiculously hot and filled with tons and tons of people. Well, since it was now the end of October, the crowds were thinner and the trees were BEAUTIFUL, and the weather, although overcast, was really nice that day.

Adam really wanted to hit up the Smithsonian Museums, but because of time (and the fact that he wanted to do, well, everything else in the town as well) he had to limit it to one of the museums and his number one choice was the Air & Space Museum. I was excited- this was the one I wanted to go to before but didnt get to. So we went in and learned about the planets and the astronauts, Adam had fun looking at the planes. Ha.

After the museum we started walking towards the Capitol. We didnt walk all the way, but we got pretty close and took the obligatory pictures, and then my camera fell on the ground. Luckily it wasnt our pro one, but it was still the only camera that we had brought to DC, and this was early on in the day. Needless to say, I was pretty bummed, and although I took pictures with my cell, the pictures definitely lack in quality.

(Camera Broke After That Last Picture)

Anywho, we walked down past the Washington and to the Lincoln and Adam got to see all of the major tourist-y spots. I wanted him to get to see the White House, but Adam really hates walking, and, well, DC involves alot of walking, so he was pretty tired and we still had to make the relatively long walk back to the subway. So we ended up just walking back to the subway and finally made our way back to Baltimore.

DC is definitely one of my favorite cities- I just love the atmosphere there and getting to just look around you and see all of these historical landmarks that you learned about in school. The city itself just seems like a really nice and easy city to live in. Adam and I both agreed that we liked it better than Baltimore- it just seemed more friendly.

Crusin' Time!

2009-11-23T14:59:00.000-06:00

Then we headed up to the deck, Adam REALLY wanted to try one of his cigars (ew) and sit on the deck in the lounge chairs. So we spent the next couple hours or so just relaxing on the deck. It was pretty amazing.

Finally we got to head to our room!! It was alot bigger than we expected it to be, and the first thing Adam wanted to do was go out to the balcony. Haha, yeah, it WAS pretty cool.

Then we were off!

Bye Baltimore!!

We had alot of fun on the ship. Adam's favorites was the formal nights, he really loves getting dressed up! Haha. I was a fan of BINGO! Yes, BINGO! And The sunsets over the water were really pretty. I'm definitely happy that we had a balcony room!

Here's some pictures from the duration of the cruise. I'll put our ports in their own posts!

Dancing Waiters! At dinner every night they would all stop and dance to a song. This was our girl.

Next Stop, Baltimore!

2009-11-22T19:47:00.000-06:00

Wednesday was finally the day that we left for Baltimore to "officially" start the honeymoon. It was a long day of traveling, we flew out of Branson's new airport and got into Baltimore just as the sun was setting. After a bit of a wait for the light rail (and Adam's fist experience at public transportation in a big city, haha!) and a 3 block trek with our luggage through downtown Baltimore, we finally found our hotel.

We got all checked in, and the guy at the counter upgraded us to the Club Level when he found out it was our honeymoon! The Club Level was on one of the highest levels of the hotel and accessed by key card only. They had a free hot breakfast every morning right there, and free appetizers and wine/drinks every evening. Talk about fancy!

This was the hotel I was really looking forward to- they had one of the Sleep Number beds!! Ahh, they really are as great as they are played up to be. It was pretty amazing, and I didnt want to leave because it kicks our bed at home's butt.

We spent the next few days exploring the downtown area of Baltimore and the Inner Harbor. It was definitely a really cute town. I liked the big city atmosphere and being right on the water was definitely neat. We saw alot of fun areas, and even walked to Little Italy, which was an entire part of town with tons of authentic Italian restaurants...every one of which would be amazing. We found one that had some great reviews and decided to seek it out- it was definitely worth it. Yum. Some great food!

All-in-all I really liked Baltimore. it was fun getting to use the light rail and I enjoyed getting to walk around the city. Adam wasnt exactly a fan of the walking part, but I thought it was relaxing getting to walk down the water and see the fancy part of the big city.

Day 2: Eureka Springs!

2009-11-21T18:32:00.000-06:00

Day 2 we decided to take a day trip down to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I had been there before, but it was many years ago and I didnt remember much about it at all. I had looked up all these things about it and it was suppossedly one of the most romantic places in the midwest and all of these honeymooners and couples flocked there, so I convinced Adam we had to go and we made the hour and half or so drive.

We went through all of these little tiny winding roads with towns that you can only see in Arkansas, ha, and got to experience the actual Ozark Mountains. The hills and trees were absolutely beautiful, and after going through these small towns in the middle of nowhere, we all of a sudden ran into the town. It was pretty, in a different sort of way. Haha. The buildings were pretty and the shops were unique, but it was just a...different sort of town, haha. The town had a sort of errie quality to it and we found out that it has alot of supossed 'haunted' places- they were givng ghost tours all over! The most popular hotel there was the Crecent Hotel, and supossedly it is super haunted, it's been featured on all of those ghost tour shows, but all of these honeymooners go there! It was creepy! Ha.

We ate at this really cute little Italian restaurant that was portrayed as one of the best in the midwest. It was a little house that was converted into a restaurant, and they had a line outside on the porch before they opened at 5. It was good, different, but good.

Honeymoon Day 1: Branson!

2009-11-20T17:31:00.000-06:00

Day 1 of our trip would have technically began in Springfield, since we stayed there for a few days after the wedding before actually leaving for Baltimore. We took the day after the wedding to just relax, we didnt do much of anything, mostly slept and relished in the day before. We REALLY wanted the leftover food from the reception, but unfortunately, in all of the hustle of the wedding it was left at the Tonic, and even after calls and emails to the place, we never got a reply back about picking it up, so we never did get to eat the rest of the food! It still makes me sad- it was so good!

Anywho, the day after we went back to my mom's and opened gifts and all. We went to Branson on Monday and walked around the Landing. We splurged and ate at the fancy Mexican restaurant there and watched the fire show.

It was fun, a bit strange because we entered to win some prize deal at Bass Pro and the lady asked us if we were on our Honeymoon, haha we didnt know what to say- technically yes since we had just gotten married, but it was just Branson haha and we werent actually on our TRIP yet. It was still fun, and everything was so pretty with the trees.

Wedding Re-Cap!

2009-11-16T17:24:00.000-06:00

Like I said, the wedding was pretty much amazing. Everyone made the long trip down (a million THANK YOU'S to everyone!), the church was beautiful, it didnt rain, and it wasnt so cold that we couldnt do anything. In fact, the sun peaked itself through to tell it us was there, but didnt fully come out since it didnt want to ruin any pictures, and (for the most part) all of the vendors did what they were getting paid to do and everything turned out great.

I'm a bad bit bummed because I dont think anyone got any pictures from the rehearsal, so I cant show off Adam and I getting spiffed up the night before or of the awesome ribbon bouquet from the shower that did, finally, get put to use. But the rehearsal did go surprisingly well, despite us being a whopping 45 minutes late--UPS was delivering the lights for the videographers and they hadnt come yet by the time we were suppossed to leave. So we were arguing on what to do, since we HAD to have the lights, and SOMEONE had to stay and sign for them. In the end, a neighbor watched for the truck and ended up signing for them (made me nervous, I was so worried they were going to miss it), but because of the construction and rush hour traffic in Springfield (good Lord, it's worse than a big city!) we didnt end up getting out of the CITY until the time we were supposed to BE there, and we still had another 45 minutes to go. Luckily, nobody was too up in arms over it (well, actually, I'm sure they WERE, but no one made a big deal about it to US, so I'm thankful) and aside from that hiccup the rehearsal itself went rather well.

It was kind of unreal, though, like we were practicing for something that wasnt actually happening. I think the rehearsal was more for the bridal party and parents, because honestly to me, I dont remember much of anything- as I was trying to not let myself think about it too in-depth because I didnt know exactly what my emotions would DO. It's a big blur, I know I just kept laughing...and that I didnt wear shoes for half of it because stupidly I wore heels. And that it seemed weird to me to see all of these people that I knew so far away from the elements I was used to them in...

The rehearsal dinner, though it itself went rather smoothly, was a bit of a disappointment. We booked the place sight unseen, which was a mistake but when you live out of town and dont have a time to go in and see places, you take the website's word that they are good. They were on Branson Landing, which was important because we wanted people to see the nice side of Branson, and it was in the Hilton so we thought we would be safe- they had a private party room for crying out loud. But in fact, they only had 2 printed menus, we had to order from the counter up front, the girl at the counter was incredibly rude to 90% of everyone, and they brought out the wrong meals to people multiple times. Adam was pretty upset- he had wanted a nice dinner, but everyone took it in good stride and I figured if that was the worst thing of the weekend- we could count ourselves lucky! The food was pretty good, and we got to celebrate Josh's birthday with a delicious ice cream cake- so I count it as a night well spent.

To be honest, I remember more from the rehearsal than I do from the actual wedding. It really is true that it goes by incredibly fast. Everything is this big blur of activity with small instances poking through- sitting in the chair getting my hair done, standing in the bride's room with just my mom while the music had started and trying to remember to tell myself to breathe but insisting to myself that I wasnt going to cry YET. Standing behind the doors seconds before they opened them and the security guard, of all people, telling me a random story about God know's what, and then the doors opening, seeing Adam at the front (crying- he had said he wouldnt, but oh, he totally did)...that PICTURE that I see at EVERY wedding and can only imagine what the bride is actually feeling right then- laughing myself to the front of the church because I was already crying, thinking 3/4 of the way down that we walked too fast and I wanted to walk slower, jumping to the pastor calling Adam Andrew and asking him a question not on the script.

Then it was over, and we were letting go of the Doves, which as much as I hadnt thought much of them beforehand, were so beautiful because of where we were. I remember feeling badly because the pastor had written something for the dove release but in the end we just let them go without him saying anything and I didnt want his words to go to waste...then it was pictures and then the bus, I remember regretting so much that we didnt stock the bus the night before and everyone was so bored at first and even though I wanted pictures I wanted to get to a gas station worse, and then the sheriffs at the gas station, haha, and then picture time and dancing on the bus and it's all a blur and then we were at the reception, and we did the sparklers but it was so fast I dont remember it. The reception, we walked through it so fast I didnt get to take it all in but it was beautiful. Then we were announced, and everything was so pretty inside, and the head table and everything was just how I envisioned it to be. The food was amazing, even though I only ate a very little. Before I could take a breath it was time for the first dance, and I remember not knowing how to stand during that...and then we were cutting the cake, and then the garter and bouquet, and then we took a breather and went outside for some pictures. I remember other brides outside, saying something cheesy like "Nice date" or something to them, but just enjoying being outside and away from everyone. And then it was time to leave. I wanted to stay longer but my dress was making it hard to breathe and I could barely stand up and it hurt so bad and even though I wanted to stay and dance and hear the songs I requested for mom and dance with her it just hurt so bad and I wanted to leave before the pain wouldnt go away!

Then we were in the car and then we got locked out at the hotel, and we had to walk around all the way to the front, and by the time we got there we ran into the shuttle taking everyone back to the hotel so we had to talk to everyone again...and it was crazy because the night was over. We couldnt even talk about everything because it was so overwhelming.

The next morning we went down to eat and were greeted by, well, everyone who was at the wedding. That was pretty neat, in a strange way. Everyone talked about how much they liked the wedding and how perfect it all was...it was nice to relish in that even though we couldnt remember much of it. Haha. And this informal gathering made us SO HAPPY that we didnt opt for that dreaded "Morning after brunch". This was so much nicer- everyone was still in their PJs and it was just nice to see them all together (alot of our groups of friends hadnt met before the wedding, and I'm so happy they seemed to get along) before they headed back.

There is so much from the day that I'm just so happy went well. I feel badly that I didnt get to talk to everyone who came, but believe me I am so happy that they were all there. They made the wedding perfect, and I hope that the drive wasnt too bad and that it was worth it at least to get to see the scenery!

I will put up more pictures soon, I've been so busy trying to catch up on work since being back that everything has just flown by. Thanksgiving is coming up soon and then Christmas and that is just incredible to me! We've already been married almost a month and that's insane because it feels like the wedding was just last week.

As for the honeymoon, it was also incredible and I am so thankful that we got to go on one. I'll update on that and relive it soon, since I'm sure some day I will look back on it and regret it if I dont, ha. But for now I have to finish some work and then it's dinner time!

I'm a MRS!!! :D

2009-11-12T20:08:00.000-06:00

Guess what?!

I'M MARRIED!!!

Yes, we are finally back from the honeymoon and I'm officially a MRS!

It was absolutely amazing and everything that we could have hoped for. Everything turned out perfect and it was, simply put, the best day of my life. I have much to relive from that day and from our amazing honeymoon, but it's late and I need to go catch up on some of our shows that we missed with the husband. :D

But I am alive and I promise to relive it all very soon. :)

TOMORROW!

2009-10-17T01:24:00.000-05:00

AHHH!

I'M GETTING MARRIED TOMORROW!!!!!!

Rehearsal was kind of stressful...Adam FINALLY showed up into town at 3, when he was supposed to be here at 10am, ahh! Combined with traffic, we were like, 45 minutes late to the rehearsal. Ha. But it went well and the dinner was fun. The place was NOT what we expected, but all-in-all it was good and everyone is here and in town and I'M GETTING MARRIED IN THE MORNING!

The nerves are a bit heavy now...

cooking time!

2009-10-15T11:05:00.000-05:00

So much food!

We've spent the day yesterday cooking all of the deserts and it's been crazyy! I have powdered sugar in places powdered sugar should not be! Ah!

But everything looks great. The apples are done and in their baggies, the puppy chow is bagged, my grandma is doing the caramel corn and peanut butter balls, and my mom is finishing up the cookies this morning. Her dining room is filled with all of the things ready to go tomorrow to the rehearsal and it's a bit crazy. We are getting our nails done today and then Adam should be here tomorrow and then the craziness starts...ahh! Its actually here...everyone keeps saying how calm I look, but inside I'm jittery and honestly just feel like it all isnt real...eep!

I hope I remembered to pack everything...

almost...

2009-10-12T18:01:00.000-05:00

So many last minute details!

I've been super busy trying to get everything together before leaving for Springfield...ahh! I am so looking forward to spending the time off work and just being able to relax...though I really dont know what I will do once I dont have a wedding to plan anymore!

I hope everything comes together...

AH!

work!

2009-10-12T01:04:00.000-05:00

Finally done with work!

Well, with the photography part, anyways. We had an insane weekend, 2 weddings and 3 engagement shoots...but they all went well (though it was cold). Now just a few more days of other work, and then off to get married!!!

bachelorette party!

2009-10-06T11:49:00.000-05:00

This weekend was crazy and fun and exciting and OH MY GOD I'M GETTING MARRIED!

Yeah, it hit me. 12 days before the wedding. Haha!

Maybe it was all of the "Congratulations" I got walking around downtown Omaha in a blinking sash? I dont know, but for some reason I woke up on Sunday morning absolutely giddy because I'm getting married in less than 2 weeks!

Anywho, the party. Yes. Us girls started out at Spaghetti Works (yummm) and then went back to the hotel where I got decorated up...I felt like a ridiculously pink barbie! I loved it! Then it was present time, and I had no idea that so many different...items...existed, hahhaa. I wont go into detail, but it was insanely fun!

All decked out! See, pinkkk!! If it wouldnt have been FREEZING, I would have been entirely pink since I would have went without the sweater!

An awesome glass that is most definitely coming to the wedding.

Renae trying to open the bottle...

Then we headed out to start the scavenger hunt that Sara had made, which turned out to be so much fun! We ended up all over the downtown, and of course, Team Awesome won. Because I was in it, obviously. Hahaha. Then it was back to the hotel for Fondue (mmmmm) and then after most people left, Sara, Biddy and I went to the casino! Sara knows WAYY too much about that place...hahaha...but it was fun. That was only the second time I had ever been there, and of course the first time Adam and I were only there for like, 10 minutes because we had no idea what we were doing.

Elevator picture...my thumb looks creepyyy

I was really facinated because I was blinking like a traffic hazzard sign.

One of the first items on the scavenger hunt- street musician!

Another thing on the list, some stranger had to kiss me on the cheek. It was awkward and he smelled funny!

Sara also had to fake propose to a random stranger. I believe he was in the process of saying "Absolutely not" in this picture. He was not very...coherent...

On our way back to the hotel we had to take an annoying detour, because apparently they dont want you to get back into Nebraska from Iowa and they had the ramp closed for downtown. So we had to take a creepy dark detour, and we ended up hitting a deer...scariest moment of my life! Luckily we were all fine and no (major) damage to the car. We finally made it back at almost 4am, and Sara and I slept until checkout.

As for the boys, I really have pretty sketchy details of what happened, HAHA, but from what it sounds like, and from the shape Adam and his brother were in on Sunday, they looked like they had tons of fun (perhaps a bit too much...hahaha!)! I'm glad that the boys had a good time ;)

And now my neck is stained a bright hot pink from the feather boas...and after 4 showers of intense scrubbing, it's still there. Hmm...let's hope that vanishes before the wedding...hahaha! Luckily it is mostly off of the front...but on the back of my neck it is still quite pink. Who knew feather boas dyed and stained things?!?! They are SUPPOSED to go around your neck! I dont understand. Oh well, it was worth it, and because I didnt have the party the night before, I can laugh about it. :D

The group!

YAY! LESS THAN 2 WEEKS!!!

excitement

2009-10-01T11:45:00.000-05:00

I am SO excited for this weekend. The planning is really starting to stress me out- I keep worrying about everything coming together and worrying about missing or forgetting something super important and its just very overwhelming. Haha. I am excited for the weekend- I'm driving in early so I can FINALLY get my hair done with Lisa (ohhh how I've missed her!) and then we have a wedding but it's a short one Saturday, and then it's the Bachelorette Party!! Super excited. I get to see everyone and I know it will be so much fun!

cider!

2009-09-29T23:57:00.000-05:00

Today I ordered our favors. They are super simple, but I think given the theme and everything of the wedding they will look really good. Once they come in I'll give more info on them, since I have to make sure they are going to work first!

Now I'm on the lookout for gifts for the bridesmaids...hmmm....

Also, my mom found a great deal on the cider for the fountain at the reception! She picked that up last night, and now her kitchen is filled with cider. Haha. We just need to get the ingredients for everything to cook for the dessert bar and then we will be good to go with the food aspect.

Haha, I also found this really cute hoodie jacket on Ebay from Victoria's secret. It matches my "Bride" one, and I thought of Kelsey...I didnt know if she'd like it, but I asked her and she really wanted it. So we will match while we are getting ready! Haha, it will make for a cute picture at least.

Now I need to order the engagement pictures, start on the slideshow, and figure out the menu situation. Sooo much to do!! But Bachelorette Party this weekend and I am so excited!! YAY!

rings!

2009-09-28T16:52:00.000-05:00

We got Adam's ring! Which means that the wedding bands are officially gotten and ready to go. They are perfect! Adam loves his, he kept trying to wear it....I made him take it off. It is really nice though, and it fits, so everything is ready to go. Now I just have to remember them when I head down to Springfield!

We also mailed out the "new ceremony" location cards, so everyone should be getting those soon.

The toss garter also came in the mail, and it's simple but really cute. Now we are just waiting for the decoration things and the rose petals to come in the mail.

This week I need to finalize the linens, book our flights for the honeymoon, get our engagement pictures and start our slideshow. I'm starting to feel a bit overwhelmed and since the wedding is coming up so fast, I feel like there is so much more that I WANT to do but dont have time for and it's making me crazy! I need to just calm down and trust it's all going to be great.

toledo weekend

2009-09-27T23:51:00.000-05:00

We had one of the busiest and quickest weekends we have had to date. We flew into Detroit early Friday morning, and after getting our bags and about an hour drive to the hotel, we were exhausted already. We had a quick couple hours of relaxation (basically, hanging up our dress outfits, uploading pictures, and plugging in batteries) before heading to Sara and Joey's rehearsal and dinner.

Surprisingly, I really liked Toledo. It seems alot like Omaha, both size-wise and look-wise. The layout just felt familiar...except there were trees- EVERYWHERE! Haha. But their downtown was similar in size and all (I think Omaha's is actually a bit bigger having the Qwest Center and all, but it's similar) and right on the river. They had their dinner at an adorable and super yummy Italian restaurant (apparently the place he took her the night he proposed...aww!). It was really good, but we were exhausted after the salad course! Ha.

It was a long night, and we didnt get much sleep since we had to be ready to leave for the salon at 8:30ish, but it was good. The wedding day went really well, and we got along really great with a couple of their friends who basically had to drive us around the entire weekend. They were really fun people- and it sucks they live all the way in Portland! Which, by the way, did you know it is illegal there to pump your own gas? How ODD?!?!

Anywho, the wedding was good, Sara was beautiful and they looked like they were having a great time. Nothing major went wrong and everything was super smooth. The rain and clouds even cleared up in enough time for pictures after the ceremony! It was also a long day and we had to leave for the airport this morning at 8:30ish. We spent the day in the airport, having pretty long layovers and having to get to the airport about 4 hours early since Marissa and Joe's flight back to Portland left earlier than ours. And then we had a 3 1/2 hour layover in Chicago. It wasnt too bad though, but we were happy to get home!

I'll get some pictures up from their wedding soon!

Now I just cant wait for our our wedding, it's less than 3 weeks away!!!!!! AHHH!!

license!

2009-09-24T22:59:00.000-05:00

Today we made our way down to the courthouse to make it official!

Ok, well, the first step in making it official anyway. We finally got the marriage license!

It was actually a bit nerve racking! Ha, I think we were both a bit nervous...perhaps it was because we were both in an actual courthouse? I dont know, but we laughed throughout the entire process. Haha, it was a bit amusing. I think the lady was a bit confused. Especially when we couldnt stop laughing after having to sign off that we werent related.

I wanted to take more pictures, but even though there were no signs, I still figured we might get in a bit of trouble...I mean, taking pictures inside the courthouse has got to be like, illegal...right?

The Courthouse! It was to tall to fit it all in.

After getting it! Ha, he wouldnt let me take a picture of both of us together.

Anywho, step 1 is done! Now we just have to make sure we dont lose it...it's so much to remember!

We are off to Toledo for Sara and Joey's wedding tomorrow. Hopefully all of that goes smoothly- when we come back we will be less than 3 weeks away! Ahh!!

cake server!

2009-09-22T14:44:00.000-05:00

Cake server came in last night! I am so relieved. While it isnt anything compared to the $75 one we wanted, it is actually really nice. It has a neat victorian style look to it, and I actually am a big fan. It's definitely nicer than anything I thought we would end up with, and Adam seems satisfied, so for what it's purpose will be, I think I'm really happy we didnt shell out the money for the nicer one, since this will be cleaned and stored back in it's box forever. Ha.

My flash drowns out all of the detailing, but they really are pretty!

So I'm happy with them! Yay! Yet another thing crossed off my list.

random goodies

2009-09-21T18:46:00.000-05:00

Because our weekends are packed with weddings and other photo shoots, I like to take Mondays (if I can) and use it to plan for our own wedding. So today I spent the day scowering Ebay for various goodies for our dessert bar. I ordered our cellophane baggies for the dessert bar, I actually found some pretty ones that are clear with gold detailing, so I'm hoping if we tie them with a rose color or brown ribbon they will work good. And they were the cheapest- which makes it even better! So those are on their way (or will be soon) which makes me happy.

Now I just need to wait until Hobby Lobby has their ribbon 50% off so I can get the ribbon for the baggies and for the napkins. We are going to head to Sam's later this week to try and get the plastic plates and cups for the cake and whatnot, and maybe I can pick up some of the ingredients we will need for the various goodies at the dessert bar. I've been picking up things for it here and there and freezing them, so I'm hoping that there will be many yumy goodies! Now we just need to get some serving things to put them all on and make the display pretty!

I also got a few other table decoration goodies and I FINALLY found an awesome deal on the rose petals for the aisle!!!! Who would have thought that white petals were more expensive than the colored ones?! But in any case, I worked my Ebay skills and got 6,000 petals to line the aisle for the church (yes, you heard that, 6,000 petals!) for under $30, so that makes me VERY happy since a case of about 100 at Hobby Lobby is $10. They are on their way from China, haha, and will be here in 2 weeks, but they are ordered and I am happy!!!

Hopefully they will look something like this. Only we wont have a runner, and they will be much thicker on the sides.

Again, much thicker, but we are doing this tulle thing, so you kind of get the idea.

Also found my toss garter, I was trying to find the cheapest but still halfway cute garter out there, and luckily Ebay to the rescue again, and I got a cute white one for the toss for $3-- INCLUDING shipping! Yay! So I am happy.

So today was pretty productive. It's getting down to the end! I can ALMOST see the light...now let's just pay off the linens and my hair/makeup, and we will be done!

27 days!

2009-09-20T21:23:00.000-05:00

This was an insanely busy weekend. We had a wedding in Weston on Saturday, and then got a few wedding details of our own accomplished too. We finally got our rings in after searching all around town for a jeweler, and I'm now sans my e-ring until Wednesday- it sucks! I never really realized what it was like to be without it, I've been wearing it for over 2 years! Though at least it will look super shiny and pretty (we are getting it replated for the wedding!) when I get it back, and it's only for a couple of days, and not weeks. So that is good. Adam's ring is in to be sized too, so that's a relief. Once we finish getting these all done, we should be done with the rings!

My cover-up came in too, and I love it! I hope it will go with the rehearsal dress ok. I havent tried it on with it yet, but it looks like it will go ok so I hope so. I love it! It is so soft and elegant. It came all the way from Italy! How cool!!

Now we are just waiting on our cake cutting set to come in. While it's not the one we WANTED (that one was $75!) I still think it will be ok. It's brand new, and we only paid $25 for the set, and it's actually a super nice one from Things Remembered, and after looking online everywhere the only ones in that price range were cheap plastic or cheesy ones, so we will make this work. We didnt want to have to spend a ton on this when it will only be in a few pics and just be used for the couple seconds when we cut the cake! So hopefully those will turn out and be pretty in person.

Ahh, we are only 27 days out!!! That is so crazy. This week we need to get all of the little last minute things, like the baggies for the desesrt bar and the plastic plates and cups for the cake and the ribbon--the stuff that will be used for the food making the week of the wedding! Aside from all of that, I think we are mostly done! Yay!!!

I love the planning for everything, but I have to be honest, I am going to be so relieved when this is all over! I am just so excited to be married. I know the entire day is going to be amazing, but the moment I am looking forward to more than anything is the ceremony...I am just so excited to be saying our vows and am SO glad that Adam finally agreed to write our own. I know he is not looking forward to this at all, but it was really the most important thing to me and after much, much convincing he finally agreed to do that. I am just looking forward to that moment more than anything.

yay!

2009-09-19T14:58:00.000-05:00

Our toasting glasses came! They are absolutely perfect. I have to be honest, I was worried about them after we actually ordered them, mostly because they are really different, and even though Adam liked them, I was still worried that they wouldnt look as good in person. But they are gorgeous! They are really really elegant, and i am really happy with them. And the engraving turned out really nice too, which makes it even better!

My RING also came in! It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Now we just have to take it in to be sized, hopefully we can get that done this weekend. Once we get that done to mine and get Adam's sized too, we will be good to go with the rings. Yay!

dress fitting

2009-09-19T00:03:00.000-05:00

So I made the drive down to Springfield today for my dress fitting. I was so nervous going down there, which already put me into a sort of bad mood, and then I had to go straight from work, which means I looked like I had woken up at 3am and rolled out of bed. So to make a long story short, the fitting didnt really go all that well. It has to have more changes done to it and I wont get to see it finished until the wedding, which makes me really nervous...if it doesnt fit on the wedding, well, that's not exactly a good thing. Everyone assures me it will be fine, but being 4 weeks from the day, I'm slightly freaking out. Ughhh. I'm so worried that my hair is going to be crappy and then my dress not fit right and guh. Not a good feeling. Guess I just have to be optimistic...

Good thing, my veil does look really nice with the dress!

honeymoon!!!!

2009-09-15T18:51:00.000-05:00

And I have some amazing news!!!

We got a little help, and after an awesome turn of events, Adam and I get to take a HONEYMOON!

We are so thrilled. We officially booked last night, and we are so excited it's pretty much made us giddy.

So where are we going? Well, we had originally wanted to take a "different" type of honeymoon, something not typical and something different from what everyone else does...but after looking around, we realized just WHY everyone takes a similar honeymoon...the prices are unbeatable! So we are going to the BAHAMAS! We decided on a cruise, mostly because everything is included. The particular one we picked has more than usual of the "Days at Sea" which we thought would be good since we can relax and enjoy our time on the boat.

It also leaves from Baltimore (go figure that one out!), so if we can swing it (we wont know until probably the week before the wedding) we'd like to go up early and spend a few days in Baltimore and head up to Washington DC, which is like 35 miles away. Adam's never been there, and he would really, really enjoy it, and plus, New England in the fall---incredible! So hopefully we can swing a few days there, but if not, at least we have the cruise! It leaves the 25th, so we will have a few extra days to spend in Springfield, and we will probably take some day trips to Northern Arkansas (yes, Arkansas. But it's super pretty in the fall, and they do have some neat little towns- plus, what else is there to see?) since the drive is super short.

See, Northern Arkansas in the fall--soo pretty!

Eureka Springs, Arkansas- cute little town with cute shops!

We are so excited! Adam really wants to go snorkeling, which I got to do in Puerto Rico and was SO FUN, so we need to make sure to do that! Our boat looks AMAZING!!! I need to just make sure to get some motion sickeness medicine! Boy wouldnt THAT suck.

This is our ROOM! It has a BALCONY!! Soooo fancy!

Big big boat!!!

This is the "Grand Entrance"...wow! I like the art theme...

Fancy dining room!

Another fancy dining room

One of the many lounge/clubs on the ship!

Then because I am just SO excited and want to make this the longest post ever, here are some pictures of the cities we will get to see!!

First stop- BALTIMORE!

Then we hit ORLANDO!

NASSAU Bahamas! This is Atlantis!

More Nassau!

And another pic! So pretty!

FREEPORT, Bahamas!

The water is so clear! I hope it really is like that!

So if you cant tell, we are pretty darn excited! YAY!!!

33 days!

2009-09-15T17:53:00.000-05:00

My veil is here! I am super excited. I dont have pictures yet since the veil is down with my mom, but I will be seeing it on Friday and I cant wait! She says it's pretty so let's hope! I'll get a picture of the case, haha, since no veil pics since Adam cant see! ;)

Garment bags came yesterday and they look like they will fit...they are HUGE! Haha. I never thought they would be so...well...big! So I'm assuming that they will fit the massive dress.

We are going through our engagement pictures, hopefully tonight, to pick our first handful that we are going to get. And by handful, I mean, like 5. We really want some for the reception for our pitiful gift table, haha, and for the slideshow, so we figured we'd buy a couple now (since we are buying the digital files instead of just prints they are more $$) and then we can always get the rest later. I wish we could get them all now, but I guess we never anticipated that we would like the ALL so much, and that they'd be a bit pricey for the files.

I got this coverup from Etsy (I find so many nifty things on there!) for my rehearsal dress, so I am hoping that it goes ok. If not, it's still super cute, was cheap, and will go with many other things.

It's being shipped all the way from ITALY (woo!!) so I havent gotten it yet, but hopefully it will come soon! I'm hoping it gets here before Friday, along with the toasting glasses, so I can take them down to mom.

Speaking of Friday--I am so paranoid that I'm not going to fit in my dress. I mean, I dont THINK I've gained weight in a month, but I'm just to flippin paranoid and wouldnt that SUCK. Not like it can really be RE-altered in this less amount of time! Crash diet before Friday?! Yeah. Right. I like my food too much. Let's just cross our fingers and hope I suppose!

changes

2009-09-15T17:51:00.000-05:00

So yes, I wait until 33 days before the wedding to update the background on the blog. Ha.

And yes, it's not exactly "manly", but has Adam contributed to this blog? No. Therefore he makes no say as to what color the background is.

Let's see how long it takes him to figure it out. :)

rehearsal dress!

2009-09-13T18:02:00.000-05:00

After searching for literally HOURS for a decent white dress that was neither too dressy or too casual for our rehearsal/dinner I FINALLY came across this one!

It is super cute and casual, but still dressy enough. That and it looks super comfortable and I love the back! My luck it will be freezing that night though, and since we will be in a church, I'm going to look for a little bolero jacket thing. Hopefully I will find something that goes!

And the absolute BEST thing about the dress??? INCLUDING shipping, it was less than $30. Yes. That was the best part. It arrived in the mail today and it FITS (yay!!) and is actually just as cute on as the website pictures. I showed it to Adam and he seemed to like it (wait, is it taboo to show your rehearsal dress before the rehearsal?! Let's hope that's just wedding dresses...) so it's a winner. And it's super soft and flowy so it will be comfortable. Now I just need to decide what color shoes I want to wear with it!