New Blog!

Hey guys! I started a new blog a long time ago and forgot to post it on here, but then I ended up letting it go anyway. But now I've moved across the country AGAIN and I'm starting another blog about new beginnings! Check it out - it's called Midwestern Paradise. :) Love, A

Update: Married Life :)

In honor of our one-month anniversary, I've decided to post one last blog entry on here to update you all on life after the wedding.

To start with, we had an amazing honeymoon in Mexico! We stayed at El Dorado Casitas Royale, an all-inclusive resort in the Riviera Maya, and it was fabulous! I would highly recommend it to anyone, especially honeymooners. The resort and the beach were beautiful, the gourmet food was amazing, and the weather was perfect. Most days we spent either at the beach or the pool, but we did do a few activities. We went snorkeling twice - once at the resort and once in Puerto Morales, the second largest reef in the world. We also did zip lines in the jungle in Selvatica, we went on a catamaran cruise at Maroma Beach (considered to be the prettiest beach in the world), and we explored Playa del Carmen on our last night. It was a blast! The only downside to the trip was the topless old women lounging on the beach...

Moving on to life in Connecticut. First of all, New England is GORGEOUS, especially now that the leaves are changing! The weather is wonderful - slightly chilly and overcast every day - textbook New England fall weather! In career news, I have a job now AND I got a promotion! As of tomorrow, I will be working as the PINK Category Supervisor at Victoria's Secret for the holidays. I'm still in search of that career job (the one I got the degree for), but for now, this is a good solution. I am also a cook in training... I'm definitely a novice in the kitchen, but my skills are steadily improving now that I have a hungry husband to feed every night and pretty much a professional kitchen to work in (thanks for the wedding gifts!). I actually enjoy cooking, too, or at least I do when Collin isn't hovering around and distracting me. What I've mainly learned so far is that lemon pepper works for all poultry. For instance, tonight we had lemon pepper tilapia with a side of broccoli. I also made pico de gallo for the first time tonight, and it was delicious! My next project is chili... It's perfect for fall, and it's outside of my comfort zone of meat and pasta, so it's something of a challenge.

I'm thinking about starting a blog of my cooking exploits... I have three cookbooks full of recipes to work through, and I'm so excited to finally be teaching myself things I thought would just come naturally as part of my woman's intuition (let's hope childraising is a little more intuitive than this). Every time I cook dinner without setting off the fire alarm or burning myself, it totally makes my night!

In other news, life with Collin is wonderful. :) It's so nice to have someone who is always there... I'm never lonely, which is an amazing feeling. Of course we're noticing more of each other's idiosyncrasies now, but in a way, it's endearing. I love Collin in spite of (and secretly, including) his weird throat noises and his uptightness, just like he loves me even though I have no sense of time or direction and will blow up in his face if he goes near the kitchen while I'm cooking. One thing I'm not sure if I will ever grow accustomed to is the farting. I know guys are gassy, but seriously! Not his most loveable quality. Lucky for him he's cute. ;)

I think that about sums it up... In a word, married life is: bliss. Stressful at times, unglamorous most of the time, yet perfect bliss. I wouldn't change my life for anything.

I'll post a link on here to my new blog should I decide to create one, so stay tuned! :)

Love,

C & A

Good News, Bad News...

Ok, so A LOT has been happening lately as you can imagine. I don't have time to go into details about everything, but here's a quick recap:

Good News: I got a job!!! :)
Bad News: It's in retail. But it's at Victoria's Secret, so I could definitely do worse. Plus, it will be nice to come home smelling like flowery perfume as opposed to meatballs.

Good News: I had my bridal shower and bachelorette party this past weekend! They were both really fun, and I had an awesome turnout at the bachelorette.
Bad News: The shower was at a really inconvenient time (partly my fault, but mostly outside of my control), so the turnout was not as good as I had hoped. But we still had a great time, and I got lots of great stuff at both events. :)

Good News: My dress came in!!!!!!!!! It is BEAUTIFUL, and so is the veil - both of which Caitlin made, and she did a fabulous job; I can't stop staring at my pretty dress. :)
Bad News: If you could call it "bad news," I still need to get the dress altered some more by Edith, my Nashville seamstress. I wasn't satisfied with the shape of the dress before and didn't speak up about it (dumb, I know), so now I'll just have a couple days to get it right before my bridal portraits. Let's hope Edith and I can make it happen!

Good News: Collin and I are all set for our honeymoon - we booked a private transfer and made all our dinner reservations at the hotel. :)
Bad News: I lost my passport. Like, seriously lost it. I've searched my entire house and storage unit, and Collin searched through my car and all my stuff in CT. The thing has literally disappeared. So, I'm a little stressed about it, to say the least. I'm trying to find a way to expedite a new passport, but it's not going to be easy (or cheap). Wish me luck, please...

In OTHER news, I finally figured out the programs! I came up with a design myself (thank you very much) and have done a couple test prints already at Kinko's, so now it's time to print them! Other recent accomplishments include: assembling favor boxes (with some help!), finishing the seating chart, (almost) finishing the escort cards, and wrapping up my vendor meetings. I've still got a lot coming up this weekend - dress alteration / final fitting, wedding hair trial, makeup consultation, more crafts, etc...

With this passport dilemma now, on top of other drama that I don't care to expand upon, I'm really feeling stressed. Please keep me in your prayers... I'm trying as hard as I can to keep a positive attitude, but it's getting tougher as more and more things keep piling on (not all of which are wedding-related). BUT, the good news is that Collin and I are getting married in TEN DAYS!!!! And that's the best news of all! :)

Love,

C & A

Job Update & Stationary Stress

Good news on the job front! I had two interviews last week! :) One was at Victoria's Secret, the other was at Macy's, and both were for Sales Associate positions. Not exactly the glamorous NYC publishing job I've hoped for (and applied for constantly), but it will do for now. And at least it's not in food service... After 4 1/2 years, I'm definitely over that line of work. Thankfully, I think I rocked both interviews, so I'm hoping for a phone call soon! Please keep me in your prayers; I definitely need to find work ASAP.

In wedding news, I am finally starting to feel some stress... Nothing major, just the occasional freakout. No nerves, thankfully, but all the last-minute details are definitely getting to me a little. We FINALLY finished assembling the escort cards tonight, which is a major accomplishment; they took us over a week to finish! The next big projects looming ominously ahead are programs and the infamous seating chart. After much debate (and stress on my part), we've decided to make the programs ourselves - or rather, I will be making the programs myself. I was terrified at first since I haven't the slightest clue how to make a wedding program without using Microsoft Publisher, but I'm figuring it out on Word. In fact, I should have a draft ready by tomorrow, so yay! (And before you think it, they don't look thrown together; they look almost professional. I think.) Check out the program design I found (and almost purchased) on Etsy that is now serving as my inspiration. I'm hoping the seating chart won't be quite as much of a struggle as I've always heard it is... We're not seating guests individually (thank goodness), so that should help speed things along.

18 DAYS!! (Almost 2 weeks... OMG!)

Love,

C & A

20 Days!

We are really getting close now. The wedding is less than 3 weeks away!! How crazy is that?? Thankfully, I'm also getting a lot done. Here's what we've been up to:

• I FINALLY bought my shoes!
• I also bought my jewelry :)
• I've narrowed my hairstyles down to two possibilities
• We're making progress on the escort cards
• Table cards and bridesmaid gifts are in!
• Favors/containers are being shipped
• Mom is working on welcome bags
• I'm filling up my schedule with appointments right before the wedding

Next up on the agenda:

• Programs
• Seating chart
• Makeup
• Setting more pre-wedding appointments

Also, plans are under way for my bridal shower and bachelorette party, both of which are next weekend! I'm very excited for both. :)

That's all for now! I'm still not feeling as much stress as I feel like I should, and I hope that doesn't change anytime soon...

So excited!!

Love,

C & A

Wedding Stationary :)

As promised, here are a few pictures of our invitation set, which was designed by Collin's sister, Caitlin. I got the amazing cardstock and envelopes from Paper and More, and I had everything printed and cut at FedEx Office. Though it was definitely more work to make the invitations ourselves, I couldn't be happier with the final product. Plus, it was half the cost of professional stationary! I would definitely recommend it to any bride.

Here are some more pics of two other invitations - my MN bridal shower invitation (also designed by Caitlin) and my online wedding invitation to my sorority sisters (designed by the talented Kirstin):

As for the rest of the wedding stationary, escort cards and table cards are in the works, and programs are next on the agenda. I'm going to forego the menu card for what will hopefully be a cute (cheap) alternative - a menu board! At least that's my plan... I'm having the table cards made, but I'm working on the escort cards myself. My crafting skills are somewhat limited, but I'm actually impressing myself with how they're turning out. They look really good!

Still need shoes, though.

26 days!

Love,

C & A

28 Days!

Collin and I have had a very productive week! Here is what we've accomplished as of late:

• Booked the limo - white hummer stretch to the reception and silver jaguar to the hotel :)
  
• Bought our wedding rings!! We went to Jared! ;)
• Ordered our homemade guest book from Etsy
• Ordered our homemade table cards, also from Etsy
• Ordered the wedding favors
• Ordered (and received) our sand unity ceremony kit

In other news, guess who is learning to cook?? :) Since moving up to CT, I've attempted (successfully) two dishes courtesy of Collin's mom - turkey stroganoff and chicken enchiladas - in addition to cooking pork, chicken, pasta, etc. They were delicious! I also have a bunch of recipes that I received as a shower gift, so I'm excited to try those, too!

We have also been making smoothies on a regular basis, since I have a pretty intense sweet tooth but want to stay within dress weight... They are an amazing healthy option for dessert. Our favorite is strawberry-banana. We use Stoneyfield Farms low-fat yogurt (french vanilla), fresh strawberries and a banana, ice, and a little bit of honey. So good! One of our concoctions didn't turn out so well, though... I didn't know it was possible to fail at smoothie-making, but believe me, it is. We ran out of yogurt, so we tried to make a blueberry smoothie with only milk and honey. It was disgusting. I don't recommend honey with blueberries...

Anyway, back to movie night with Collin and Molly. :) See you all soon!!

Love,

C & A