TV Commercial - "Their Wedding"

Seems about right! :)

A couple things I'm looking forward to

Sorry for the lack of posts. Life is has been incredibly busy lately! But I wanted to share a few things I’m looking forward to over the next few weeks. First up is Thanksigivng in Nebraska with Jay's family. But let me also say, I'm going to miss my family while I'm there!!! This is my first thanksgiving away from home and it's going to be quite a trip for me.

I’ve never been to the Midwest before. I’ve visited Minnesota and Illinois but never been to the real middle of our country. I’m looking forward to seeing Nebraska, after having heard so much about it. Also excited to see a football game.

I’m also looking forward to meeting Jay’s grandmother. I am so blessed to have the world’s best grandmothers. I really appreciate all that grandmothers bring to the world. I love my Nanny and Tulla!!!

I have to move on to the other things I'm looking forward to or I’m going to sit here and cry and think about my family too much. So... I’m also looking forward to the holiday movie selection out in theaters. The last movie I went to was sometime this summer. The top of the list?  Twilight, duh.

And after all these things happen, then it will be time to start looking forward to Christmas. This is going to be a very special and merry holiday season!

Hope everyone has a Happy Holiday season!

Happy Friday

TGIF! Kate and Will have been absent on my blog for a while. Let's fix that, shall we? Here are a couple shots from their most recent outings. How awesome is that red coat and belt?! I’m so happy to see new photos of the newlyweds. They set a good example of a real marriage. I'm glad the younger generation has them to look up to. The Kardashians are a shame! I can't believe people pay them any attention. They are a mockery and their values are so out of whack. Come on America, just ignore them and they'll go away. On to the Duke and Duchess and charitable outings....

Beautiful! Classic, elegant, fresh! How does she (her design team) do it?!

Until Last Night...

I love watching Antiques Road Show on PBS. I could watch it for hours. I love seeing people from all over the country, listening to their stories, and seeing what they have brought in. I also love the appraisers; hearing what they have to say and discovering which gallery or auction houses they work for. Right out of college, I worked for McColl Fine Art. Coolest first job, ever. I worked with people like the appraisers on this show. I also spent some time working with auction houses and attended a few art and antique shows. I miss that world! And the road show brings me back a little...Love it.

    

But this is usually the only thing I watch on PBS. Until last night! The show “The Fabric of the Cosmos” came on right after Antiques Road Show. I was pretty much hooked from the title line. This show made me wish I had paid more attention in science class in high school. Wow. I had heard some of Albert Einstein’s theories before but never really grasped them…until last night! Probably, because they had never been properly explained to me. This show does a great job of explaining very complex ideas in way that a non-science oriented person can understand.

And the show went on to explain the theories that were developed after Einstein. The work of Peter Higgs for example and the amazing work that is being done at Cern. Let me just say, I was fascinated! Particles are everywhere!

Anyway, hopefully this is a series. I want to learn more! I know this sounds nuts, but all the sudden I’m interested in Nuclear Research. What?! I think I am going to start my new journey of learning with an Albert Einstein biography. Seems like a good place for me to start. I'm pretty sure diving into equations and theory wouldn't go so well. Not without a teacher anyway...

This one sounds pretty good! Who ever would have thought science would have captured my attention like this! I love being inspired to learn new things. Doesn't happen often, so I'm just gonna go with it. As Albert Einstein said "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing".

“To Infinity…and beyond!”

Happy Halloween

My sweet mom sent me this picture and wished me a “Happy Halloween”. There is something I wanted to share about this photo that makes it so special. My mom has had the “scarecrow man” that is on their front door since I was 2 years old. Every Halloween “Mr. Scarecrow Man” gets hung up on my family’s front door to greet the trick-or-treaters. It’s such a sweet tradition in my family and it makes me want to run home and give my mom a hug.

Almighty Transportation

Hallelujah! I have a found an airline that doesn't feel like a death trap. Virgin America, thank you for making me feel comfortable and relaxed while flying through the air at 30,000 feet.  Your interior design, courteous staff, leather seats, deluxe TV screens, snacks, and adult beverages made our 5 hour flight pleasant. And I barely noticed any turbulence. I don’t know how you do it Virgin America, but keep up the good work.

And tell your competitors they need to get a clue. I probably spent $60 extra bucks on the plane between the movies and drinks. I would do this on any airline that offered such goods. I think it would be easy for other airlines to be more profitable if they had a better product. Hello! It’s not rocket science is it? You need to sell something that’s worth selling. A+ Virgin America. You restored my faith in the notion that air travel can be something other than a nightmare.

And National Car Rental, I’ve got a few positive remarks for you too. I love picking out my own car from the lot. I love it even more when the lot we reserved was sold out and we were told to pick any car from the “premium”, "members only" lot. Free upgrade? Thanks! Instead of a regular midsize sadan, Jay and I got to cruise through Sonoma in a sweet sports car. The 2011 Hyundai Sonata. I’ve been slightly intrigued by their commercials. Jeff Bridges is selling that car and making it sound awesome. And after spending the weekend with the car, I can say, I want one! It felt sporty, luxurious, roomy, practical, and fun. I even liked the white. And the black and tan leather interior and XM radio were another bonus.

All in all, our travels went very well this past trip. Woohoo.

My Suitcase...

and I have become quite good friends. I love my suite case. I got this one right before my first trip aboard, when I went to London. And we’ve been good pals ever since. We've been pretty busy this summer.

I thought my suitcase looked quite distinguished this morning while waiting for the metro. The morning light was pretty strong today. So I snapped a photo. A nice little portrait of my traveling buddy. He looks strong and proud, right? I do realize my suitecase has now been referred to as a person. And I think that's OK. I think I'll name him Eddie. A solid name, chosen after his creater, Eddie Bauer. Maybe Eddie can start a journal? Maybe.

And later today, along with Jay (my other favorite traveling companion) we’re headed to Sonoma. Woo hoo!

TOMORROW

Jay and I are off to Sonoma, California!

We are going to celebrate Jay’s good friend Eric’s wedding. Jay is a groomsmen and I'm so happy Jay gets to be part of such a fantastic love story. We’re excited for Eric and can’t wait to meet his bride, Christina!!! I stole this cute photo of them from their wedding website. They seem so happy and I can't wait to be part of their party!

I also can’t wait to see Sonoma and take in some of this scenery…

And I can’t wait to drink a lot of this….

And I hope I get to see some grapes on a vine. Not sure what season the grapes "bloom" or if that's what you call it when there's grapes on the vine, but either way, I'm pretty excited about it.

We can’t wait to get there!

Realization

So I realize the blog has been a bit heavy with wedding content. My apologies, but it’s kind of tough to get off the topic. As of today, were getting married in 157 days! Crazy if you ask me. But I’m getting excited and there’s lots of planning left to do. Due to the wedding planning, our home improvements, which I use to blog about, have slowed down quite a bit. But hopefully soon, we will get back to work on our home. We did buy new a over head light for the kitchen. Maybe we can get that installed this weekend.  And I promise that when we get back into our house work, I’ll be sure to put up our before and after photos and our stories of triumph over such things as electrical wiring and IKEA instructions.

But in the meantime, this is where we are. I get daily emails about things like this:

There is so much wedding "crap" out there. I got this in an advertisement this morning. First of all, they got our date wrong. We're getting married March 24, 2012. And not sure we’re going the whole “our names on napkins” route, but it is kind of cool seeing our name on stuff.

How great is this?!

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/building-lights-assist-marriage-proposal/20o1jt86

I love the pop chips that he pulls from her hand! But it does make me wonder if this whole thing was sponsored by the great chip company. Hmmmm. Either way, I love it.

It also makes me think of the day when Jay and I got engaged. Probably one of the sweetest moments of my life. It's one of my favorite memories. Here's a couple shots from our day. We were painting in our new condo on a sunny Sunday afternoon, when Jay surprised me. It was very unplanned and natural and surprising!

And then he gave me the most beautiful ring in the world. No kidding. I couldn't be happier. I have never loved a material item more than I love this ring. It's very special because the center diamond belonged to Jay's great grandmother. I really like thinking about his greatgrandmother wearing this exact stone on her finger. I like thinking about how she got the ring, what her husband was like, and how much she probably loved this diamond too. I feel very blessed and I'm very thankful for Jay and everything he brings to my life!

There's a silver lining for you! :)



Our Engagement Photos!

Here are our engagement photos. We loved our photographer. Thank you Willa J Photography! I think the resolution of these photos on my blog aren't as great as on the CD but you can get the idea. All the black and white photos are also available in color and are lovely.

Thanks for looking!

Hello Again!

It’s been a couple weeks. I've missed blogging on a regular basis. I'm going to try and get back to posting a couple times a week. I'll start with a little catch-up. Here’s a photomontage that explains where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to the last couple of weeks. Be prepared for some wedding talk.

First off, we have made a couple trips down to NC to visit with my parents and do some wedding planning. Apparently, planning a wedding involves making a lot of decisions. The more time I spend in NC, the more I miss my home state. It really is a wonderful place!

This is how our wedding planning started. Sitting at the dining room table, making a note card for everything that has to be done, and then putting that into a timeline with due dates, assignments, and dividing up the tasks between everyone involved.

 My Dad is a great organizer (thank goodness).

And after careful deliberation and a few close calls, I found my wedding dress. This process was not easy for me. I really liked so many dresses and all of them were so different. I have never been one those of girls who was always dreaming about my dress so that made it difficult when I was presented with one beautiful dress after another. But I finally found the one, and I look forward to every time I get to put that dress on.

Football season has also started. Which means I hear the sounds of commentators, fans cheering, and Jay yelling at the TV a lot more in our house. Is it me, or is there always football on TV?

And last weekend we got some professional photographs taken by Willa J Photography. The photographer, Emily was so great to work with and I absolutely love her work! She was able to get some really nice shots of me and Jay. Our hope was to get a nice photo to put in our home town newspapers and I think: mission accomplished.

And this weekend we’re heading up to Chicago. My college roommate, Dorothy is getting married!!! I can’t wait to be with my Salem Sisters and meet Dorothy’s hubby to be! Aren't they cute?!?! This wedding is going to be so fun! Love you, Dorothy!

Another reason to love Target

Just found out Missoni is sponsoring a line of clothes and home items at Target Sept. 13 – Oct. 22!!! Must go to Target and check it out. And apparently, this is such a hit the Target website has crashed! So I’ll be hitting Target up sometime this week to see what’s available. Woo to the hoo.

Must check out deals. Can’t wait and really wishing the Target website was functioning! Missoni has always been a bit wild for me, but I think having one piece would go a long way. Maybe a fun bag, pair of shoes, or scarf!

Busy Bee

Been busy lately. Pardon my absence. But I’ve been missing my blog. I promise to back be soon with a post!

Prepping for the weekend

This has been another one of “those” weeks at work. Ya’ll know what I’m talking about right? But it got a little better yesterday when my boss gave my 4, 2nd row tix to a Red Skins game tonight with free parking! Sweet. That makes this week a little better and I’ll be totally ready for the weekend by tomorrow after a good time tonight at a football game! Whoop.

A few of my favorite things

I was inspired by another blogger who listed some of her favorite things. Here are a few things I have been using for years. Literally. Years. I’m going back to middle school/high school for some of these things. Hey, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Right?

First, I've been using Clinique’s eye make-up remover forever.  I love how it works. I feel like it removes all my make-up while also moisturizing my eyes. It's also never irritated me eyes. Bonus, I love the color and the bottle. I just love the way it looks! 

I can’t remember the last time I did not have nail polish on my toes. Not kidding, I always have polish on my toes. Not sure why or how this developed, but I just like painted toes. I’m not fanatic about it or anything, I just always seem to get pedicures once a month; although sometimes I’ll go six weeks between. This is a little luxury that makes me feel relaxed. I generally get colors in the pink-to-burgundy range. I do switch it up sometimes, but not often.

This stuff is just awesome. Carmex. I use this every night before bed. Keeps lips super soft!

Best. Snack. Food. Ever. BBQ Baked Lays. If a bag of these are in our house, I cannot be stopped. Which is why we don’t get these often. Jay loves these too, so these bags really only last a couple days if we get them. My favorite are the single serving bags. That way, I can’t eat too many.

Halogen cardigans from Nordstrom. I have 5 of these in multiple colors. And I plan on getting a few more for the fall in some lovely jewel tones perhaps! They are durable, go great over cute tops for work, and aren’t too expensive. Love them. And I throw them in the washer and the dryer and they still seem like new. They’re great.

And last but not least, the Longchamp “Les Pliage” large tote bag. I’m on my second one in 3 years. First I had the “bilberry” one. I replaced that one last week with this new "deep red" one and love it! The new color fall colors they have out are great.