I'm Baaaaack!

Hello!  After a very long hiatus, I am BACK!  It feels good to be back blogging!  With wedding planning, working full time, keeping up the house and everything else in life, something had to be put on the back burner and unfortunately, it was my blog.  The months and weeks leading up the wedding were absolute craziness - I was traveling a lot for work, tons of decisions had to be made and life was quickly passing us by.  The week of the wedding, the wedding and honeymoon were PERFECTION -- but more on that in a different post still to come!  I have just been floating in the clouds it seems, I am so happy with my life and everything that's going on and marrying my love has really just been amazing!  

Now that the wedding/honeymoon are behind us, it's time to jump right back into everything else and tackle some things that have been lurking in my mind!!!

I've got some wedding crafts, organizing projects, house things and other stuff I want to post, but I have to slowly get back into this or I could make it a 234923 page blog post :)

So, in the meantime, here's a little glimpse of what's been up!

My mom took most of the flowers home after the reception to put on my grandpa's grave

 

Honeymoon!  Top is Tahiti, Middle is Moorea, Bottom is Bora Bora!

More to come! 

Minus 4 Wisdom Teeth

Last Thursday I had the joy of having all 4 wisdom teeth removed.  I had them give me a Valium to take before I even got there so I was semi-relaxed going into it.  They knocked me out and it felt like I woke up within minutes.  When I woke up, I actually thought they hadn't even done it yet and then I realized I had a mouth full of gauze.  They moved me to recovery where I had to wait about 20 minutes before I was able to leave with Mom.

 

I was so paranoid I was going to be loopy and saying crazy things but I was completely wide awake and totally with it.  So weird.  We picked up my prescriptions and some ice from Sonic and headed home.  I was never really in tremendous pain, just still have pain down in my lower right jaw.  The whole thing is just uncomfortable more than anything.

 

Mom and Adam held me hostage on the couch and while I was hoping to finally catch up on some sleep.. I was wide awake.  I didn't sleep until about 5am Friday morning when I finally took some Motrin PM in the hopes of knocking myself out.  I had some type of reaction to the pain medicine and it just made me stay wide awake and itch like crazy.  While being held hostage I had my iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, work laptop and tv remote!  Could have been worse I suppose! 

 

Mom and I spent the weekend finalizing a few wedding details and semi-resting up.  I had a wonderful nap Saturday afternoon!

 

Things accomplished:

1. Altered tux order - much happier with these decisions! 
2. Finalized linen rental order and paid deposit
3. Picked up Adam's wedding band -- love it!
4. Met with printer
5. Went to post office to find out about postage for my invitation (yikes! is all I have to say about that little finding out!)
6. Bought the ring pillow and flower girl basket
7. Finalized the wording/design on the invitation and program
8. Ordered paper for invitations and programs

I'm sure there was more but that's all that's coming to mind right now!

Choo Choo Dive

Throughout the craziness that is my life right now, Adam & I decided to take scuba classes to get certified for our Honeymoon.  Well actually, so I can get certified, he got certified in college.  We finished up the pre-scuba classes last night with our first "pool" dive.  So bizarre to breathe underwater!  I wasn't sure how I would feel about all of it but I got good reviews from our teacher and I felt more calm than what I thought I would.  It worked out that Adam and I were the only students last night so we had plenty of one-on-one instruction.  I'm not someone that goes out of my way to get my face/hair wet in the pool so this whole submerging myself underwater thing is completely out on a limb for me.  

We have to decide how we want to tackle the certification course now -- we can either go twice a week for 6 weeks or suck it up and do one hardcore weekend long session. Timing wise, it's looking like the hardcore weekend is in our future.  

Love that we have a new adventure we can do together -- let's see if I still feel that way in a few weeks!   

Wedding Day Countdown... 96 to go!

96 days!  Where did they go?!  I keep meaning to blog .. to blog about ANYTHING.. but life is happening SO fast and in SO many directions! From 6:45am to 11:30pm my day is nonstop craziness.

 

I've made a lot of progress on the wedding front but now I feel the pressure of time running out and a whole lot of decisions still to make.  The BIG ones are out of the way but now I need to go back and finalize everything with each of the vendors.

Here's a quick rundown:

•  I got my passport back over the weekend now we just need Adam's back!
• My wedding band came in and we've ordered Adam's.  Should be in sometime next month.  It's a really pretty cobalt band.
• Decided on using my current hair girl for everyone's wedding day hair
• Ordered shoes for the bridesmaids and they came in this weekend, love them!
• Mom ordered her dress
• Booked hotel for wedding night and the next night before we catch our Honeymoon flight
• Picked out all the pictures for the wedding slideshow
• Booked ceremony/cocktail hour musician
• Started pre-marital counseling this past weekend
• Made a rough draft of the program
• Ordered half of the paper for the invitations
• Met with printer for invitations
• Assigned rooms at the bed and breakfast
• Got rates for courtesy blocks at several hotels
• Bachelorette trip booked!! FL here we come!
• Ordered the cake
• Signed contract for florist!

 

I'm sure there's been tons more but that's all that comes to mind right off.

 

This week's wedding to-do list entails:

1. Exchange a pair of the bridesmaid shoes
2. Order remain items for bridal party gifts
3. Find different tie for groomsmen
4. Check out some make up options
5. Finalize wording on invitations and program
6. Order invitation and program paper
7. Meet with printer

This week's to-do list also includes getting all 4 wisdom teeth removed Thursday.  I've put this off for several years but apparently, I can't wait any longer.  I am SO not looking forward to it!  Mom's coming down to take care of me and to help with my to-do list.  Hopefully I feel up to it because I definitely don't have time to take a break right now!

 

I also just saw a commerical for Season 5 of Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta which starts Friday night.  Fingers crossed my footage never sees the light of day!!!!

 

Last week, we had our division HR meeting here in TN.  One of our group activities is something I've always wanted to do - wine and painting!  The only downside was we didn't get to pick the painting so I was stuck with a landscape.  It was a fun time and something I'd like to go again with my girlfriends.

 

 

 

 

1000 Places to See Before You Die

I came across this book last night when I was putting away some things and got side-tracked... my attention span has been about that of a goldfish of late. I was tickled pink to see that Bora Bora and Moorea are both in there and then I got curious how many other places I've been that are on the list...

1. London, England
2. Oxford University
3. Stratford-upon-Avon
4. Blarney Castle
5. The Book of Kells
6. The Ring of Kerry
7. Vienna, Austria
8. La Grand Place - Brussels, Belgium
9. Paris
10. Chateau de Versailles
11. Brandenburg Gate
12. Sans Souci
13. Pompeii
14. Rome
15. Sistine Chapel
16. Cinqueterre
17. Milan
18. Il Duomo
19. The Last Supper
20. La Scale Opera House
21. Florence
22. Lucca
23. Asolo
24. Venice
25. Verona
26. Anne Frank House
27. Canal Cruise - Amsterdam
28. Red-Light District
29. Castle District, Prague
30. Charles Bridge, Prague
31. Old Town Square, Prague
32. Kronborg Slot, Denmark
33. Sydney Opera House
34. Great Barrier Reef
35. Grand Canyon
36. Hotel Del Coronado
37. Mark Twain House
38. Kennedy Space Center
39. Key West
40. Walt Disney World
41. Savannah Historic District
42. Oahu
43. French Quarter
44. New Orleans Restaurants
45. Mardi Gras
46. Freedom Trail
47. Cape Cod National Seashore
48. Martha's Vineyard
49. Mackinac Island Grand Hotel
50. Natchez Trace
51. Bellagio
52. Las Vegas Strip
53. Route 66
54. Carlsbad Caverns
55. Roswell
56. New York City
57. Historic Downtown New York
58. Biltmore Estate
59. Great Smoky Mountains National Park
60. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
61. Cliff Walk
62. Charleston, SC
63. Badlands
64. Black Hills
65. Graceland
66. Nashville
67. Monticello
68. Colonial Williamsburg
69. National Mall and it's Monuments
70. Smithsonian
71. Greenbrier
72. Yellowstone National Park
73. Niagara Falls

It was so fun to look through the book and re-live the memories/trips that took me to these places! (Also, to make a list of all the places I still want to go!!) I can't wait to add 74 and 75 on the Honeymoon! What about you?  How many have you checked off your list?! 

Closets thru the Years!

I confess... I have a deep burning love for CLOSETS!  Well, storage in general, but especially closets.  I thought it would be fun to take a trip down closet memory lane.  I could kick myself though, I don't have very good closet pictures at some of my houses so we'll have to make do with what we have.  I'm also not including my "current" closet because I have some changes in plan for it (minor ones) but it's still not photo ready!

First up, my college apartment closet:

Unfortunately, this was move in day and I never took another picture of my closet the other 3.5 years I lived there!  I do remember thinking that was the smallest closet EVER and got pretty creative with storing TONS and TONS of stuff in it through the years.  Plus, I can recall at least two times that the stupid wire shelf pulled loose and everything was in a heap in the floor.  Enter mom (remember her alter ego Shelf Expert) and we re-did the shelving and it never came down again!

After college, I moved into my first house in Cleveland, TN.  I may or may not have bought the house for the closet.  It was ah-ma-zing.  Again, I didn't do it justice with my pictures!

 

I loved that it had the little room (where I had a spot for ALL my jewelry) and then it went right into this awesome space with hanging on both sides!  I bought the shoe cubes that have been with me now at 3 houses and still really like them for my shoe storage.  They can be used like this or stacked (below).  Love love love this closet.  My first house had a lot of awesome storage in general.

Next up on the closet tour, Baton Rouge.  I wasn't so sure about these closets in the master bathroom at first but I ended up really liking this set-up.  There was one larger closet that had a lot of shelving and hanging space and then another smaller one with shelves and double hanging.  I'm not a big "folder" so I didn't think I would be able to utilize the shelves (at first) but have no fear, I filled those babies up in no time. 

I stored empty storage baskets on the top shelf, winter pajamas/boots below that, lighter weight pajamas, then purses and more comfy clothes, then jeans, shorts and some more purses and finally, on the bottom shelf, in the pink bins I had bathing suits, house shoes, tights/slips, etc.  The shelves ended up being awesome and I loved having my purses so easy to get to.

The before...

And the after!  Pretty self explanatory.  But, this is only my warmer weather clothes.  Didn't need many winter clothes in the B. Rouge!

This was the other closet off the master bath.  I ended up storing all my books on these shelves and it worked out great. 

These hanging rods housed all my cooler weather clothes.  Loved having a closet just for my winter clothes that wasn't completely accessible!

 

Bathroom Cabinet Redo

Our master bathroom has basically zero storage.  When I first saw the house, I knew this would be a problem, especially since my house in Baton Rouge had AMAZING storage in the bathroom and I got totally spoiled from that.  As part of the deal, I had the builder add extra cabinets in the master bath and the laundry room.  Over the last 2 years my cabinet hasn't stayed as nice and neat as I would like.  So, I gave it an overhaul.  I found these cute little baskets at Michael's and even snagged them when they were 50% off.  Win win.  The top shelf still looks a little messy but it's actually organized up there.. promise :-)  

With the 4 baskets across it's a perfect fit but still a little snug for my liking.  

The before... because who doesn't love the "before" pictures?

The after!  Well, the almost "after"

These baskets are the perfect size for corralling all the odds and ends

Yes, I have a love for little "purse" soaps and a hate for germs. 

The baskets felt like they were missing something so I added a cute little label with an even cuter little clothespin!  Who doesn't love a bling-ed out clothespin?!  I got these at Michael's -- they were only $2.99 for 12.  Score.

The finished product!  Makes me smile every time I open the door!

Close up of the adorable label/clothespin