Grumpy Pants...

I'm not sure what happened in the past 48 hours, but I have become quite the grump!

It doesn't help that it is 48 degrees outside, dark, rainy and miserable. I am NOT ready for this kind of weather. Fall is a beautiful season here in Michigan, but I'm just not ready. And has anyone realized how early it is getting dark at night and how it is still dark until late in the morning. The time change associated with this time of year just kills me.

In addition to this horrible weather I feel like I haven't seen my fiance in a coons age! It's literally been almost 2 weeks since we have spent one night/day together. Granted, we do live together so at some point in the night we are both sleeping in bed and I wake him every morning before work, but that's been the only "us" time we have had. We are just so busy doing different things during the week and then last weekend I was out of town.....uurrgghhhh! As of right now it looks like Sunday will be the day we can spend some time together. That is until one of us commits to something else......

Weight Watchers is still going great, in leiu of the fact that I gained 1.8 lbs this week after losing almost 4 lbs last week. I'm on this roller coaster for the past 4 weeks and I just wish I could keep losing instead of going up and down, up and down on the scale.

Work is.......well, let's just say that if I don't get a vacation soon I'm going to lose it! And I'm pretty sure that none of us want that to happen!!

Money has become another big stress! We have done so well saving money for the wedding and we should have most of that paid off the first of the year and of course we have cut down on our home improvement projects until after the wedding to save money.......but, Christmas is right around the corner! How did we forget to budget for the holidays??? I just can't even think about it......Where are we going to get the extra money? We are stretched to the max right now with our income and holiday spending IS NOT INCLUDED!!! Will we have to take it out of our savings? Will we have to take it out of our grocery money? Can we skip Christmas this year?

And last but not least........Here's a little story (with a little background history) about something that happened to me last weekend. It's a little reminder that not everyone has class and not everyone understands the true meaning of love..........
As unfortunate as it is, my fiance is in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down, as a result of a car accident a few years ago. But the fact that he is handicapped, does not take away the fact that he is the love of my life. That he treats me better than any person on this earth has ever even attempted to. That he has the most amazing strength and character and I feel blessed to share my life with him. Knowing all of this about him I hope you have the same reaction as I did to what I am about to tell you..........I went back to my hometown this past weekend and had someone come up to me and mention that they heard I was engaged. When I replied that "yes, I'm getting married and I'm so lucky" this person responded with "Lucky, I heard you were marrying a cripple!" Yes, people....you read that right! Someone actually had the audacity to call the man I consider my hero, A CRIPPLE!! I've got to believe that most of us know that you JUST DON'T SAY THAT TO PEOPLE but obviously not everyone does.

And on that note.........I must say good-bye! I'm still so angry about the previous story that I can't even think straight or type because my hands are shaking. We will talk again soon....and hopefully I've taken off my grumpy pants by then!

Wedding Blah's.....

"The Knot" tells me that I am 284 days away from my wedding! I think that gives me a good enough excuse to take a break from wedding planning. Don't get me wrong...wedding planning has been the funnest thing ever, but I'm tired. I need a break. It's probably going to be a small break, but as long as I can rest long enough to get my "second wind".

Next week is my one year anniversary of our engagement and I have been wedding planning this-whole-time. If you'll remember here, here and here, I changed my wedding plans earlier this summer and had to start over from scratch. It has been a blast....but I need to rest.

I feel like I'm ahead of schedule with the planning anyway, so a little time off to re-group shouldn't do any harm. Wish me luck!

And before I forget.........MY WEDDING DRESS IS IN.........So much for taking 6 weeks, it was only 9 days and that baby was here. I've yet to pick it up yet due to the fact that I just don't know if I want it in my house. I'm not sure I have the will power to stay away from it. I want to wear it ALL.THE.TIME

I Heart Darius

So last night my good friend Kerri took me to see Darius Rucker......I think I love him! He moves like nobody I've ever seen before. His hips, his feet...it's mesmerizing! Not to mention his voice....it is so smooth and soulful.


Here are some pics from the concert. In addition to playing his new songs off his debut album, he also sang 3-4 Hootie & The Blowfish songs, along with one of my favorites by Jayme Johnson, In Color and even a Prince song. What a talented musician!

After the first encore everyone started clearing out when all of a sudden he came back on stage for another song! Kerri and I quickly made our way to the front of the stage and were able to get front row....it was awesome, but hard to take pictures with all those people around you.

After his 2nd encore Darius signed his baseball cap and threw it out into the audience. Look at that bald head....Yummy! At one point he came over to where we were standing by the stage and Kerri held out her cowboy hat for him to sign, but no luck....bummer!

We had a great time and I'm still dreaming today about that soulful voice of his!!

I'm a Country Girl....

Yes, ladies.......this girl is going to see Darius Rucker tonight. I couldn't be more excited!

For those of you not familiar with Darius he was the frontman for Hootie & The Blowfish.

His evolution into country music has made my heart pitter-patter! His voice is so unique and his debut album has won me over!

I love you Darius!!

Master Bedroom Dilemma

There is just something about our Master Bedroom that we don't like. After numerous conversations with fiance we decided that maybe we needed a headboard or some type of new bed frame. Of course, I was all for this.....any excuse to go shopping is okay by me!

After countless hours on the internet and searching a few stores we ended up at ArtVan last night. I'm attending some decorating classes there and they had given me a 15% off coupon so we thought what the heck, it's worth a shot.


Well, we started off in the clearance center and we found a couple bed frames we liked, but the headboards were both damaged and even with the clearance price it wasn't worth spending that amount of money on something in that poor of condition. After almost giving up our search the sales associate asked us if we had seen the new models that they just got in. Of course, in my mind I knew we could never afford them but agreed to take a look anyway.


As expected, I fell in love with one immediately but was scared to look at the price. The tag had gotten flipped over from a fan that was blowing on it so you couldn't see the price and I just couldn't bring myself to walk over and take a peek. Well after 20 minutes of talking with the sales associate he stepped away for a minute. Fiance and I kept talking about the bed, but neither one of us wanted to look at the price. Finally, we agreed that if by a miracle it was priced under $400 we would buy it on the spot (considering the prices of the ones in the clearance center that were damaged were over $200). I quickly turned over the price tag and gasped......this was a $1000 bed frame that was 50% off. And don't forget that I had a coupon that I could use toward 1 sale item of my choice. And this was definitely my item of choice. We quickly did the math in our heads and figured out that the discounted price should be around $425.


The sales associate came back just as we realized this may be in our reach and we asked him to please do the math and let us know what our final price would be. Just as we had figured $424.99......oh, the dilemma! I knew I wanted the bed, but I wanted to make sure that fiance was on the same page. The sales associate stepped away again and as soon as he was out of sight fiance turned to me and said "we've got to have this bed. I've never had a bed frame before and wasn't sure I wanted one, but we have to get this". And that my folks, is how we became the owners of this pretty little thing

Edit: Sorry the picture is so big but you get the general idea!

I Did It....

....I bought my wedding dress!! And I love it....I wish I could wear it every day!!

I ended up with a dress that isn't ANYTHING even close to what I thought I would like, but once I put it on I felt amazing. I've never felt so beautiful in all my life.

I know I have found "the" dress, but I wish I could try on more...it was so much fun! I never anticipated buying my dress on my first time out. But, I guess you know when you have found the one, and I definitely knew.

Bridesmaids....My Besties

I thought when I got engaged last October that my most favorite part was going to be picking my bridesmaids, asking them in the most creative, meaningful way to stand beside me and then life would be perfect and the wedding planning would begin! Well, to be honest.....choosing my bridesmaids was the hardes thing I've done so far. I have been fortunate in life to come across an amazing group of girls who have touched my life in ways words cannot describe. I would have been honored to have them all stand beside me on my special day, but once we started the actual wedding "planning" I quickly came to realize that it wasn't going to fit into our "plan" to have that many bridesmaids. My heart was crushed and I stressed over this for months. Almost 8 months to be exact! Until finally it was time to bite the bullet and finalize the wedding party.

I am in no way upset about my decision, but there are days when I wish things could have been different and I could have had all my "besties" standing up there supporting me. I wonder if this will ever settle right in my heart or if I will feel a little regret over my decision up until my wedding day?

I am moving forward and ready to introduce my BRIDESMAIDS to the blog world:

Matron of Honor: Rachel, my older (and much wiser) sister who has been my rock for as long as I can remember. I can't even begin to imagine how my life would be different without her. She keeps me pointed in the right direction when life tends to throw me off path and she is one of the most creative people I know.

Bridesmaid: Sarah, the friend I've had the longest. She has shared more of life's challenges with me than anyone else. We went to school together since kindergarten and everyone has always mistaken us for sisters. In college it was hard to convince people that we were not related. She is one of the funniest people I know and there is never a dull moment when she's around.

Bridesmaid: Megan, another friend who I have known since early childhood. Megan is another hometown friend who has become a "necessity" in my life as I have gotten older. We were friends growing up, but the past few years she has become that friend who you cannot live without. She is one of the most intelligent woman I know and I look up to her for more reasons than I can list on this here blog.

Bridesmaid: Lindsey, She has been with me through almost everything I've ever experienced in life and she has taught me so much (even though I'm the older, wiser one..haha). Her friendship to me isn't one big thing - it's a million little things. She is my key to sanity in an insane world. I can't imagine my life without her by my side.

Bridesmaid: Kerri, who wasn't introduced to me until my adult years, but has been an important person in my life since. She is so outgoing and always comes up with these fantastic ideas about how to have fun. She is strong-willed and I love her for that. She is the friend who will tell it to you "like it is" and won't sugar coat anything. Everyone needs somebody like Kerri in their life.

And there you have it........my bridesmaids! What a fantastic group of girls to have standing beside me on the biggest, most important day of my life!

All the Single Ladies.....

I think I have already shared that I will absolutely not be hurling my beautiful bouquet across the room and really would rather not isolate all the single ladies in an attempt to catch said bouquet. I have been put through this awkward and uncomfortable tradition too many times and the only thing that ever came out of it was me making more trips to the bar in order to blur any memories of the humiliation that accompanies said tradition.

Well, in speaking with a customer on the phone today I was informed of a Turkish wedding tradition that says to have all your single female friends sign the soles of your wedding shoes before the ceremony. It is said that the name which has worn away the most after my trip down the aisle and my signature moves on the dance floor, is the next woman to get married.

Maybe this is something I could do at my bridal shower and/or bachelorette party (although, at this point in my life I don't really have many friends/relatives that are still single. I'm one of the last ones to get hitched). Anywho........what are your thoughts?

Tuesday Blues

I don't know what it is, but I'm having a horrible day! Nothing is going right....how can I come off a 3-day weekend like this? Today was supposed to be a good day...it's Tuesday. Not Monday...Tuesday! A short work week and I'm starting it off like this....totally unacceptable!

I Must Have You.....

During my lunch hour today I began browsing the Target website and stumbled upon these beauties!!

I must have them.....one of each please!

Okay, Okay, I know that's a lot to ask, so maybe just this one for my living room....mmmkay?

Weight Watchers - Week 13

I almost forgot to post this week.......Good news, I lost 1.4 lbs this week. That puts my total weight loss at 19.8 lbs. I JUST WANT TO HIT THE 20 LB MARK AND IT'S KILLING ME!

When I first started WW my fiance asked me how much weight I thought I could lose and how much I planned on losing. The first thing that crossed my mind was "I want to lose 20 lbs" I wasn't very convinced that I could do it, but it sounded good when I said it. So here I am .2 lbs away and it's killing me! I mean come one...what exactly is .2 lbs anyway? I think my engagement ring weighs about .2 lbs....OMG, why didn't I think of that? I need to start taking off my ring before weight in!

Let's hope this holiday weekend doesn't do too much damage because I'm going to hit the 20 lb mark next week if it's the last thing I do! Bring on Week 14.......and bring on the hot dogs, macaroni salad, pie, pasta.......errrrr wait a minute....that's not going to help me lose weight at all!

Wedding Industry Can Suck

I've talked numerous times about how happy I am with our revised wedding plans. And still to this exact moment I'm more excited than I ever thought possible. I'm still okay with the fact that my wedding will not have grand chandeliers, a gigantic dancefloor, and a ballroom that is picture perfect. It's the meaning behind our new wedding plans that make my heart flutter.

In the beginning stages of my wedding planning I stalked every wedding blog I could find, I over-saturated my senses with inpiration photos. It seemed like we were planning the perfect wedding with perfect details because that's what the wedding industry had led me to believe. Don't get me wrong, I'm still detail oriented and I know our wedding will be beautiful. But, it will look like us, not like it came straight out of a magazine.

And as far as our wedding budget is concerned, I'm content with what we have spent so far. I'm content that we are concentrating more on why we buy certain things and not listening to the wedding industry who is telling us what to buy. The wedding industry also encourages you to buy, buy, buy like there's no tomorrow....because you should, because you have to!

Hopefully five or ten years down the road we will still reflect on our wedding and not have any regrets. I hope we will still think our "simple" centerpieces were cool and our cheap (but creative) favors were awesome.

And this is why I'm loving every minute of planning our non-budget, casual, backyard wedding.

My New Favorite....

Yes, I'm still stalking wedding dresses.......here is my new favorite! Go here to see details