Weekend Recap- Wedding, House Hunting, Party

I can't believe the weekend is almost over. It went by so quick. Here's a recap of highlights of my busy weekend.

Friday- Wedding!

Friday night I went with one of my bridesmaids, Jen, to her cousin's wedding. I have to say I think I like being a guest at the a wedding more then being the bride. You get to let your hair down, and just enjoy your night with friends and family.

I have to say this was the most beautiful wedding I had ever attended. It was in an old mansion and I love that it was a one party venue.

I used to work at places that were more like wedding factories. We could easily have 5 wedding going on at once. To me your wedding day is one of the most special days in your life, so I've always felt like it would seem less special if you knew you were sharing it with 4 other brides.

However, having your own personal venue often comes with a higher price tag. But can you can really put a price on a brides happiness? Sometimes it's ok to splurge for special occasions and this wedding defiantly did.  The best example- the 12 person band that played during their reception.

Very cool, but I'm glad I'm not paying that bill. All and all it was a great time, and I'm glad I got to spend it with some really great people.


Saturday- House Hunting!

Sam and I met up with our realtor, and we went and looked at five different house.

House #1-
3 bedroom, 2 bath, split level house, corner lot, tiny backyard.

House #2-
A big NO.  It had a lot of work still be done, and we aren't going to do it.

House #3-
Same as house #1, it had the best location, but a lot more updating that would need to be done

House  #4-
3 bedroom, 2 bath- just remodeled, just remodeled kitchen (so pretty!), but not a good location for Sam to go to work. (We are still keeping it on the "Maybe" list because I really liked it)

House #5-
3 bedroom, 1.5 bath, 2 story house, needed some updating, odd lay out.

Sorry no pictures to share from this trip, but our hunting adventures just begun. Sam will be going out again on Thursday (without me) to see a few more place. If he sees something he really likes, then I'll make a trip out to see it later. If that isn't trust- I don't know what is.


Sunday- Party!

December seems to be a big month for birthdays for my family. So today we had a combined birthday party for my brother (in-law) Jimmy and his cousin Josh.

It was nice to see some of the family again. I know I didn't even really get to talk to anyone at the wedding so it was nice to catch up with everyone.

Plus, the food was AWESOME! Did I mention I married into an Italian family. I had 3 helpings of pasta with pesto, shrimp, crab meat, and mushrooms. Also that cake was pretty tasty too.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend and has a good week ahead!

What I found... in the kitchen sink

Before I tell you about what I found in the kitchen sink, first you need to understand the importance of the penny.

Call me crazy, but I completely believe that our loves ones who have past away always are looking out for us. And for me the proof is in the penny.

My grandpa was that guy who would stop in the middle of the road to pick up a penny. I will always remember my grandpa as "the guy who picked up pennies". And every since he past away, each time I see a penny on the ground I have to pick it up, and it always make me think of him.

We have this little joke that any time you see a penny on the ground that grandpa put it there for you to find. I know it may sound crazy, but a part of me really believes that my grandpa does have something to do with every penny I find.

I know it sounds crazy but the very first day I moved away to college I found 27 pennies that day. All of them were laying by themselves and I found them throughout the whole day. Seriously, what is the likelihood that you would find 27 pennies in one day?  I'm going to believe that my grandpa put those there so I knew he was looking out for me. 

So tonight I went shopping and I saw a penny on the ground, but it was so cold and I was walking so fast that I didn't stop to pick it up. Then I thought of my grandpa, and felt guilty so I went back to try and find the penny. But I had no luck finding that penny, so as I walked to my car I thought of how I should have picked it up when I saw it, but oh well.  As I was having that thought, I got to my car and right next to my driver side door was... you guess it, a penny!

So I thanked my grandpa for the penny, got in my car and went to my mom's. At my mom's I wanted something to drink, so I went to the sink to get some water and this is what I found...

 What the heck is in the bag?  That's a good question- lets take a closer look.

If you guessed ketchup covered pennies- you would be correct!

When I was little my mom talked about how ketchup is really good at cleaning old nasty pennies. We had this random bag of pennies that has been around of house. No one wanted to cash them in because they were so gross, but I guess my mom felt it was time to clean the pennies.

Question: Do you or anyone you know have a strange way to clean something? Do you know any better way to clean pennies (because I have to say the ketchup way is pretty gross and messy)?

License to Wed- It's Official

Just saying the words "I do" doesn't make you married. Well, maybe in the eyes of God, but not to the state of Illinois (or any other state for that matter).

There is paperwork that has to be filed and requests that need to be made to get a copy of your license. But it is really official - our license is here and we are a married couple!

 
Now with this license we can start house hunting, we can put each other on our insurances, and if I wanted to I could start the name changing process (but that won't be happening for another few months). 

I have to say seeing our marriage certificate kind of made this whole thing feel real. I've seen many pictures from the wedding, and I'm currently working on sending the thank you notes, but this little piece of paper really makes it "official".  We're married and officially our own little family. Crazy! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I don't think I could ask for a better Thanksgiving- great weather, great husband, and a over all lazy day!

For the past 5 Thanksgivings, I worked as a banquet server at a hotel where I served Thanksgiving dinner to happy families while working kept me away from my own family. The closest thing I came to a family dinner for the last 5 Thanksgivings was when all the servers would sit down and eat off the buffet at the end of our shift. I really did miss spending time with my real family, but when you are in college you do what you got to do to pay your bills, which in my case included working almost every major holiday.

This year I have soo much to be thankful for. First, my family (well both my families). After the big scare with my dad, it makes me really thankful that my dad was able to walk me down the aisle. I know that was something that he had been looking forward to do for many years. 

 (Look how big that smile is on his face- what a happy day!)

Second, I very thankful to even have a job. I'm even more blessed because I have a job that I been working towards since my sophomore year of college. 

 (My office- I'm working on adding my touches to it but I only been 3 months)

I know that so many people are struggling with unemployment or underemployment. I feel so lucky to be in a place in my life where I can start the house hunting process. (Which just seems crazy to me.)

Finally, my husband. After 10+ years together, we still have a love as sweet as when we were in high school.

(Picture for our first high school dance together- Feb. 2002)

I love that I married my high school sweetheart, my best friend, and the person who can always make me smile. I'm so excited to get to spend our first official "family" Thanksgiving together.

Hope you have a great Thanksgiving! And don't eat too much (or do- it is Thanksgiving!).

Recap: The Night Before the Wedding = Stress

I can't believe I've been married for almost a month. Time has that funny way of just slipping right by you.

So Sam and I have come to the conclusion: We had a pretty awesome wedding. However, that awesome wedding came with its share of stress leading up to the big day.

The night before the wedding was pretty crazy; and I have to say I was feeling completely stressed out until the very last detail was taken care of.  I was so stress I didn’t even eat or barely talked to anyone at the rehearsal dinner. I apologize to anyone at the rehearsal dinner because I was being completely anti-social, but I just couldn’t get my mind off everything that was still left to do. But I have a great set of friends who stuck it out with me until almost 1:00am making sure everything was taken care of.

So what had to be done that was making me so stress- 

1.            All of my “fish bowl” centerpieces still had to be made. This included spray painting the base that holds the feathers and the silver ball-thingy (Yes- that the technical name for it). I completely end up with black fingers from this fun project.

2.       I had to make the whole candy buffet.

First, we had to find enough bowls and baskets to hold all the different candy, chips, and cookies.  This included my mom going to the store that night at 9:30pm and buying 7 more bowls for the candy.  (For the record- this is only the chocolate candy pictured.)

Second, we need to make all the bags of chips and cookies look pretty in the baskets, and fill the bowls with the different types of candy. 

Finally, we had to find a way to pack all the bowls and baskets, so they could be brought to hall the next morning.

3.       On top of packing up the candy buffet, all the centerpieces needed to be packed and ready to be brought to the hall.

4.       Finally, I had to make sure I had everything I needed. This included my dress, shoes, veil, bra, underwear, and the under-slip (the thing that make the dress puffy). Because I was getting ready at Sam’s house I needed to make sure everything was moved that night.

I wish I could say the wedding stress stopped there at my mom house but it continued on when I reached Sam’s. 

The list to do when I do to Sam’s was smaller, but it included:

1.       Making the sign for our gift book “thumb print” tree. It said "Please leaf your thumb print"

2.       Making the sign for our cake table.

3.       Making a sign for our “Memorial Table”. This was a sign that just list the names of our guests who couldn’t we with us because they had passed away. It included some of our grandparents and some of the parents of our bridal party.  

However, once all of that was finally done- I just felt a huge weight come off my shoulders. And believe it or not, I had no problems going to sleep that night. (But if you know me- I never have a problem going to sleep. I’m a sleeping champ!) Plus, I know it’s against tradition, but it was nice getting to sleep in the same bed as Sam.



Long Time- No Post

I understand I'm a "bad blogger" because my post are so hit and miss... and I am sorry. Well, kind of sorry. I been enjoying the lazy life after all the wedding craziness; so I'm not too sorry but I'll try to do better.

Also, with the wedding behind me what will I be posting about... I guess that is yet to be seen, but I still have a few wedding things I can still post about.

I know I haven't really shared any wedding pictures or stories, so there's that. I also just had my second reception last Sunday, so there's that. And of course there is still the honeymoon to come. Like I said it's the wedding that never ends.

However, I think this blog is going to refocus on why I stated it in the first place, it will be a place just to share stories and keep memories. Now, I may lose a few readers when this blog loses it's wedding focus, but I asking you to hang in there with me.

There will be big things that will be happening in this blogger's life, starting with the house hunting process. Let me tell you the idea of buying our own house does scare me, but it's exciting at the same time. Scary because of the cost, but exciting because this be part of the next chapter of our lives.

Like my title says, I'm just going to continue "living, laughing, and loving my life", and I hope you'll be there to join me.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

One Week of Married Life

Can you really feel like you’re married if nothing has changed other than a second ring on my finger?

Life has pretty much gone back to normal since the wedding.

I’m still spending 3 nights at my mom’s and 4 nights at Sam’s.  I’m still living out of duffel bag and have two sets of my bathroom needs (hair brush, toothbrush, tooth paste, shampoo & conditioner) in two different places.  I’m really thinking this whole marriage thing will hit me when I start changing my name (which won’t happen until February), start looking for a house, and finally sleep in the same bed every night.  

However, my wedding is the wedding that never ends because we are having our second reception this upcoming Sunday in Michigan. I hope this one will goes just a smoothly as the first one did.

Yesterday my mom and I went to the store and bought more candy for a candy buffet (got to love after Halloween that there 70% off candy sales) and rounded up the last of the Chinese food boxes for my Michigan guests.  Hopefully there will be enough to go around this time. 

Additionally, I bought 150 “Thank You” cards that will need to be sent out to all my wedding guests. I see a lot of writing (maybe typing) in my future.

Question: To write or to type- my thank you notes? I know writing is more personal but I can get them out a whole lot faster if I type them… decisions, decisions.