So long, Summer!

The last time I posted was at the beginning of June. It is now near the end of August. I know, I know... there are three months missing! What is going on?

I've been a little busy... that's all.

For starters, I've been working almost nonstop since school ended last semester. There have been a lot of personnel changes at my job, and it's been crazy keeping up with everything that is now different than it was. There are lots of new people to train, and lots of old ones to deal with (you know who you are!).

I've also been busy working on the wedding! 142 days to go, and boy, is it going by fast! It's almost down to four months left of this craziness!

What have I done?

Matthew and I have almost finished all the "big" things that we need to plan. A few weeks ago, I took my bridesmaids dress shopping, and I picked out their dress. Let me tell you, I have the absolute BEST bridesmaids EVER! For one, they were all sweet enough to show up to try the dress on at the same time. A special thank you to my sister-in-law Sarah who came all the way down from Minneapolis to go with us! Second, my girls are the best because they all told me they liked the dress... which was a big relief! Third, we were in and out of the store within an hour! It was the most pain-less dress shopping experience of my life... I am blessed to have such wonderful girls standing up with me!

Here are all my beautiful ladies trying on some dresses:


My gorgeous maid of honor, Abigail!



This week, Matthew and I also finalized our guest list (I think!). That's a big relief! Now we just need to compile addresses....

Finally, this week, Matthew and I started our registries! It was so much fun going into the stores and picking out the things for our future home. Also, the gifts and coupons that we got for setting the registry up wasn't bad either!

Here is Matthew having fun with the registry gun:




On Sunday, we are going to go pick out the suits/tuxes for the guys, and help Matthew figure out what he wants to wear!

Also this week, I hopefully will be able to finalize what I want to do with the centerpieces for the tables. I'm working on a vase situation (will they be big enough for what I want?!), and I'll keep you posted.

That's all for now... I promise that my updates won't be so far apart from now on! The big day is coming up soon!

weddings and shoes and dresses... OH MY!

Hello everyone! It has been a busy month! I can't believe it's already June 6th! 215 days to go!

So much has happened since the last time I updated you. I don't know where to begin!

First, a huge congratulations to my friends Dana and Dan who got married over the weekend. They've been together for over 10 years! I am so happy for you two, and I hope you have a long and happy marriage! Here is a pic of me and my girls from that day...



It was a wonderful wedding, and I felt very honored to be a part of their special day!


It's crazy how time is going by so quickly... within the past month, Matthew and I have actually worked on quite a bit for our wedding! We purchased invitations (thank you Michael's coupons!), met with the photographer we want, and started counseling... but that's not all!

I have been looking for the perfect pair of shoes to wear for months.... I wanted something that was closed-toe (winter wedding!) and did not have an extremely high heel so I could be comfortable all day. Finally, I found a shoe that I loved, but it was in black in the store. So I decided to take a look online to see if it came in white. Not only did it come in white, but it was $30 less to purchase it online than in the store! Combine that with a 20% off coupon that I got for giving out my email address, and my shoes came to 50% off what I would have paid in the store... including shipping! They arrived last week Thursday, just in time for me to go dress shopping this past Saturday!

Which brings me to my last piece of big news... I found my dress!

Maybe I didn't say it loud enough...

I FOUND MY DRESS!!!!

After trying three different stores and dozens of gowns, I finally found it. It's very different than the first dress that I thought I loved, but it's so much better. I am so excited! Here is a picture:



Ha! Did you actually think that I would post a picture of my dress? You're crazy! I will tell you that the dress is under this giant white fluffy cape, but you won't see it until my wedding day! Nevertheless, let me assure you that I am so excited and happy with this dress! Once I put that one on, I didn't want to take it off! I can't wait for it to arrive so I can wear it again! I also feel a huge sense of relief off of my shoulders now that I have a dress. Everything else can fall into place.

Next on the list? Bridesmaid dresses... ;-)

P.S. Happy birthday to my bff (and bridesmaid) Lisa! (She's the girl in the blue in the first pic). Love ya!

Much Ado...

Hey everybody!

As you can tell by my last post (and by the history of my Twitter updates), I'm a Packer fan. They're my team. While I might not be crazy enough to go and paint my face green and gold and wear a wedge of cheese on my head, I still cheer for them and watch every game. And as you probably know, the Packers won the Super Bowl! We are the champions!

What? I didn't hear you!

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!!

(suck it, bears and viqueens!)

Ok, in addition to watching the Super Bowl with some pretty cool people (my future sis and bro in law who were in town from MN), I also got to meet my nephew! Here is me holding baby Andrew!



So what else has been going on? Concerning the wedding, so much has been going on! Just under eleven months to go! This week, Matthew and I booked our reception site! I feel so relieved that we've locked down the place we wanted. We had gone to see it over the summer, and nothing else compared with what we wanted look-wise and budget-wise. Also, Wendy, the lady who we will be working with, is super nice. She was the only person who actually asked questions about me and Matthew when we were looking! I am very excited to have one less major thing to worry about on the wedding checklist!

Like I said before, I found my dress, but still haven't gone back to purchase it yet. Maybe soon! I'll keep you updated.

Elsewhere in my life, school started up again for the semester. (Yes, I know this is old news, because it was, like, three weeks ago, but it still feels like the semester just started.) In addition to some very interesting and informative English/Education classes, I've also journeyed into the world of online classes. I'm taking two this semester. So far, it's going just swimmingly. It's hard to remember to do the postings and tests/quizzes, but I think it can only get better... right?

Finally, I registered for the Praxis II today... I'm taking it in March, so I have a little over a month to cram! I need to take and pass this exam to be able to student teach in the fall/spring semesters of next year, so then I can graduate (finally!) and be done! Wish me luck!

I guess that's about it! Thanks for reading and at least pretending you're remotely interested in all of this!

P.S. Shoutout to Juan Carlos who always awaits my new blog posts and asks me about when the next one is arriving. Thanks dude! :-)
xoxo