Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Busy, busy, busy!

Wow, where has the last couple of weeks gone? Forget that, where has 2011 gone? I feel like I'm flying around like a crazy woman - not because I'm not ready for Christmas, because I was a while ago, with the exception of baking, which I plan to start on tonight.

With Noel only home for a short time we are trying to enjoy the holidays and plan our wedding! I would love to have something booked in terms of a wedding site ideally before he goes back to work, which isn't too far away now. This would be made much, much easier if people would get back to me! Argh! It is very frustrating actually. All of our current decisions hinge on hearing back from the venues and people we have left messages for.

We are looking to get married in Hawaii hopefully next September-ish, followed by a reception back here at home. We are still wading through the guest list (oh my was that ever NOT fun)! We seem to have two different ideas of who should and should not be invited. Going into planning I decided right away that I would pick my battles so to speak, but the guest list is something the neither of us are giving up on. I know it will all work out and we'll both be happy campers at the end, it's just tough trying to get there.

Anyways, so that is that for now. Nothing else is really new. I'm super excited for Christmas as my sister, her husband and my niece are coming. It's my niece's first Christmas (she was born in January), so it makes it all the more special!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

What I'm lovin' today!

There are many things that I am loving and thankful for today, but my biggest love is that I found my wedding dress on the weekend! I feel a sense of relief, excitement and even more realism that I am actually getting married!

After a not so successful first trip to a local bridal store, where the consultant may or may not have been pushing her side business of wedding planning on me the entire 90 minutes, I left feeling a little defeated. I didn't love any of the dresses I had tried on and there were many that I didn't even like. Wedding dress shopping fail.

So on a whim, my mom and I decided to shop on Sunday. We went to a second bridal store and it was a totally different and pleasant experience. The consultant asked me what I liked and what I didn't, how I envisioned myself on my wedding day, my budget, etc. None of these questions were asked at the first place and my mom, former dance teacher and I had to pull all of our own dresses! Anyways, at the second store, the consultant pulled everything for me and she hit the nail on the head with every single dress.

Funny side story - after my first failed experience, I was online looking at a photography blog and came across a dress that I saw that I immediately fell in love with. I emailed the picture to my mom and told her that was exactly what I was looking for.
Well low and behold, the bridal store we went to on the weekend had the EXACT dress and it looked great. I felt great in it and it's definitely a "me" dress!

I am so excited that we have made the big purchase! I can't wait for it to come in and actually fit me! :)

Other things I'm loving today are the guy at the grocery store telling me to get Chinese Christmas oranges and not the Japanese ones because they are much tastier right now. At $9 a box I would have been disappointed if I got home and none of them tasted good.

I'm also loving the warm weather we've been having!

I'm loving that Noel has been home the last two nights (although he has a nasty cold that I'm not loving!)

And finally, I'm loving that my house is being cleaned today! Yay! I love when the cleaning fairies come every couple of weeks!

Hope you all have a great day!