Wedding Recap #1

It's so funny because I've been following wedding blogs for almost 2 years now and after each bride got married I read their posts explaining how difficult they found it to start their wedding recaps.  I never quite understood why they were having a problem.  Start with the beginning and move forward...seemed pretty simple at the time.

And yet, here I am 13 days after my wedding and I don't have a clue how to begin putting into words the sheer magnitude of what took place and how I felt (and still feel).  So my apologies if my wedding recaps seem a little scattered, out of order, and filled with a ton of pictures.  I will also apologize right now for the sheer amount of posts that will soon follow.  There are SO many things I want to talk about (and so many pictures to post).

So, as I patiently wait for our professional pictures to come back, I will start with the days leading up to the wedding and will then move onto our rehearsal.

Our wedding took place outdoors at my mom and step dad's house so I spent nearly every waking hour in the weeks leading up to the wedding working in their yard.  And when I wasn't spreading mulch or laying down flooring under the tents I was finishing centerpieces and the other gazillion little details that needed to be done.

Besides all the "physical" work and the sore muscles I encountered, I would honestly say that the most difficult part of the entire process was when I finally had to open myself up to the idea that I needed help from family and friends in order to pull off this shindig.    It was terrifying planning this huge party by myself, but for some reason in my mind I found it "more" terrifying to have to ask for help in doing it.  And to my surprise, the moments in the days before the wedding where I recognized and accepted this as a necessity, will remain some of the most important and most memorable moments of the whole wedding process.

On the Friday before the wedding, my family, wedding party and close friends pulled together as a team.  We had people hanging paper lanterns, stringing lights, ironing the linens, setting up centerpieces, folding napkins, putting final touches on our photo wall, pulling weeds and blowing leaves, and so much more!  It was such beautiful chaos and it brings tears just thinking about it.

Centerpieces waiting to be distributed

200+ Paper lanterns

Brother in Law working on the photo wall

Grandma ironing the table linens

Best Friend Kevin blowing leaves off the "wedding aisle"

Bride to be with Mother in Law hanging Lanterns

As soon as everyone arrived and we started setting up and I could really see things coming together, it was as if someone waved a magic wand over me and all the pre-wedding anxiety was gone.  I absolutely, without a doubt, loved this day just as much as my actual wedding day.  Totally AMAZING!!!

Whirlwind...

The last couple weeks have been a whirlwind...so much personal stuff going on with my family and also fiance's family! Not to mention we are 45 days away from the wedding so we have switched our minds into another gear entirely.

In the past 2 weeks I have had my makeup trial, my hair trial, and tonight is my final dress fitting!! Talk about being pampered :)

My makeup trial went great! I'm not sure I thought I could be that beautiful...amazing what a few good products will do for a person! Fiance even loved it. The first words out of his mouth were "Holy Cow! You look 10 years younger!" At first I took that as a compliment, but the more I think about it, I wonder: Do I really look that bad to begin with?...LOL

Here is a pic of the makeup trial many hours afterwards and also taken with my iPhone so not the best quality. (Note: I had already removed my lipstick and taken the false eyelashes off)

My hair trial was next and to be honest...I had literally no idea how this was going to turn out. Granted, I love love love the girl doing my hair (love ya Morgan) and have full confidence in her, but my hair really isn't that cooperative and due to the nature of my haircut, my options are limited. But, as usual, Morgan is amazing and she was able to make me look gorgeous! We are opting out of using my headpiece and I didn't have my veil with me, but this is the general idea of what we are going for (just imagine the veil clipped into the back of my head)

(Note: the picture taken of me from the front angle did not turn out so you only get my sides and the back view)

My dress fitting is in a couple hours and I'm more than excited. I can't wait to have the dress on again. And this time to have it actually fit me! Well, lets hope it fits me...I've gained a few lbs the past couple weeks so I'm praying the dress will zip up!

Bridal Shower Pics

Bridal shower pics can be seen here

Engagement Pics

Go here to see a preview of our engagement pics.

Valentines Day Movie

I really want to go see "Valentine's Day". Can you believe the all-star cast....Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, George Lopez, Julia Roberts and Taylor Swift (just to name a few).

The movie shows how love was approached from different angles and different generations - from the 10-year old boy with his first crush, to the thirtysomethings dealing with their relationship, all the way to the older married couple looking back at their journey of love they have taken together.

I'm a sucker for a good love story type of movie!

Now, my problem is this....1) fiance doesn't typically enjoy these types of movies 2) I'm sure the movie theatre is going to be packed all weekend with couples celebrating valentine's day 3) the reviews from this movie have been horrible (see below).

• The Chicago Sun said "Valentine's Day is being marketed as a Date Movie. I think it's more of a First-Date Movie. If your date likes it, do NOT date that person again. And if you like it, there may not be a second date"

• The New York Times said "This might not be the Titanic of romantic comedies (it’s tugboat size), but it’s a disaster: cynically made, barely directed, terribly written. But quick: there’s still time to escape!"

• USA Today said "The film feels as calculatedly sentimental as one of those bland pink candy hearts."

What's a girl to do??? I guess I could always wait until it comes out on video.

Moving Fast....

I feel like 2010 has already passed by in a blur. The days are moving by so quickly and I don't feel like I've cherished one moment so far.

I feel like my days are like a record stuck on repeat....go to work, make dinner, workout/clean, go to bed. I realized today that it's been weeks since I've had a "real" conversation with my fiance. Of course we talk every day, but it's either me complaining about my job, discussing what's for dinner, then complaining how tired I am and how little I've accomplished on my to-do list. I don't have a clue what he's been up to lately. I almost feel like when we are together I'm just too tired to even strike up a conversation.

I need to slow down and "smell the roses" once in a while. I need to reflect on the "important" things in life and make sure I'm taking the time to enjoy each of those moments. I've always believed in the idea that FAMILY COMES FIRST but lately I've been putting my job and my stresses in front of everything else.

This means I need to stop stressing out, over thinking, or complaining and put my troubles in perspective and try to enjoy the short time I have here with my loved ones. I need to savor and appreciate each moment because you can't go back. I need to appreciate life and cherish each moment instead of rushing from Point A to Point B.

I need to learn to do this quickly as I can only imagine how hectic and crazy life will become once the wedding date approaches.

Surround Sound

My fiance is not an easy person to shop for. He is really picky with his clothes/shoes, which is about the one thing that I'm really good at shopping for. I've been really thinking hard lately about what to get him for Christmas and the only thing I can come up with so far is a home theatre system. Day after day after day he is consistently taking about how he wants surround sound and how this movie would be so much better with surround sound and the music on this channel would sound so much better with surround sound.......yada, yada, yada!

Well folks......here's my dilemma: I have no clue where to even begin shopping for this item. Do I have to go to a store like Best Buy or maybe a department store like Sears? Or would someplace like ABC Warehouse have this? I am stumped. And my next question is....how much does surround sound even cost? I might be in way over my head here!

Holiday Inn Dayton, OH

So we took off on Friday to head down to Dayton, OH for my cousin's wedding. I was beyond excited. This was going to be the first trip that my fiance and I had made together. He doesn't travel much after the accident but he was excited as well. We booked a nice handicap accessible suite including a sitting room with couch, bedroom with king size bed and kitchen with a fridge, microwave and wet bar. We were going to have it made.........that was until we got there and the front desk told us that we did not have a reservation for the handicap suite but instead they had reserved a "regular" room for us. We had just traveled over 6 hours and she was about to mess with the wrong person! Regardless of the fact that I reserved the room by calling the actual hotel and speaking with them about our "special" needs and not using the general 800 number for reservations.....and I had a printed copy of my confirmation stating the exact details of the room I reserved, but she insisted that there was NOT a handicap accessible suite in their hotel. After a few minutes of me trying to rip this ladies face off she finally admitted that there WAS a handicap suite but it had been double booked and the other party was already checked in. She then proceeded to tell me that they didn't have anymore wheelchair accessible rooms available in the hotel.....If you know me at all, you know that at this exact minute I lost it......I was NOT going to go back to the car to tell my fiance that we had just traveled this far and had no place to lay our head. Traveling is not easy for him and I was not about to make the journey even worse! Needless to say, after a few select words from myself, the front desk was able to miraculously find us an available handicap room for the weekend. It obviously wasn't the suite we had intended on, but it was good enough! There was a king size bed, but most importantly there was a wheelchair accessible bathroom.

And this was just the start to our lovely weekend.....it only goes downhill from there!!!

FYI ~ Holiday Inn - Dayton (North) is NOT ever going to get a recommendation from me.

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!

Happy Birthday Love...

Happy (belated) Birthday to the most wonderful man I know.

We had quite the birthday weekend. Saturday we got together with some good friends for a night out and Sunday we hosted a cookout for Don's family.

I must say...I'm a wee bit tired this morning after the weekend events.

Thankful.....

As most of you know, my fiance is a paraplegic as a result of a car accident. The accident happened before he and I knew each other so I've been lucky enough to only know the man he is today, the man that I am deeply and totally in love with. We have briefly discussed the accident, but more about the details and never really about the emotional aspect of it all. For some reason, lately he has been discussing with me more and more about the emotional aspect of his situation. About the accident itself and how his brother will always live with the fact that he was the one driving, how his family, especially his mom, coped during the months he was in a coma, about the emotional state he was left in when his wife couldn't deal with the situation and divorced him, how every aspect of his world was turned upside down and inside out.

I know those memories are not easy for him, but the fact that we can finally talk about them after all this time brings a smile to my face. This may sound weird, but I am so thankful for that accident. It has made him stronger and I truly believe that there is nothing in this world he can't overcome. No matter what life throws at him (or us), we will be able to come out on top.

And as I'm driving to work today I reminded myself how lucky I am. I am so thankful for all the happiness he brings to my life, but most of all I am thankful for him!

I just found this blog today and I couldn't help but to compare my story with hers. Obviously the characters are different and the exact details aren't similar, but the way this husband and wife are still so much in love after such a tragic accident leads me to believe that my love for my fiance will withstand the test of time.....and only one word describes my feeling about that.....THANKFUL!

Weekend Recap....

Can you believe we had a 3 day weekend? Why does the time fly by so quickly? Although, it's nice to know I only have a 4 day work week :)

I can explain my weekend in 2 words YARD WORK.......I'm pretty sure I've put in about 12-15 hours into the corner of our back yard. Finally yesterday we got all the small trees cut down, all the leaves/brush cleaned up and I was able to use the rototill. We have 23 lawn bags sitting at our curb waiting for tomorrow's pick-up. That number doesn't include the 40+ lawn bags that we have already put out this season. I guess that's what you get when you buy a house with over a foot of snow on the ground.......it's a risk you take of what lies beneath that snow. In my case, it was about 1-2 feet deep of leaves, sticks, tree limbs, garbage, etc.

After all of the work I have done I wish I would have taken "before" pictures so I could remind myself of how far I've come in just a short period of time. It makes me feel good though that a couple of our neighbors came over to comment on all the work we have done and to tell me how good everything looks. We just L-O-V-E our neighborhood! I am so lucky.

It was funny..... while I was covered head to toe in nothing but dirt, with bloodied up arms from cutting down some pricker bushes and sweat literally rolling down my face I had the most sentimental moment. I was getting very tired and was ready to give up....i was battling the yard and the yard was winning......and then it occurred to me! "I was doing lawn work in MY OWN YARD!! I own this yard. I own this house!" It was the first time since I bought the house in January that it really struck me.......I am finally a homeowner!! And I live here with my fiance!! It was at that exact moment that I was able to reflect on how far I had come the past few years. Five years ago if you had asked me if I would have either (house/fiance) I, along with many family members and friends, would have laughed in your face. Five years ago I was in debt pass my eyeballs and barely surviving one terrible relationship after another until one particular day when the "light bulb" finally went off and I decided that I needed to change my life. I managed to pay off my debt in just over 2 years and I rid myself of anything that even remotely resembled a relationship. It was during these 3 years that I was single that I think I truly learned who I was and what I wanted out of life. Even though I was teased by family/friends about being "single" for so long I wouldn't change it for the world. It was that decision that led me to find the man of my dreams. Looking back, the road I have had to travel is worth it's weight in gold for the outcome it has given me. I cherish my life and know that it was all the bumps in the road that led to where I am today and I will be forever grateful.

Okay, I just realized this post has gotten much longer than what I had intended. My initial post was supposed to be about some gardening questions I have and somehow it got all sentimental and boring.........now I'm out of time so I guess my gardening questions will have to wait.