Oh the weather outside is...

SNOWY!!

Well, not anymore-but shock of all shocks, we had a lot of snow here in Georgia yesterday!

It was so gorgeous.  For you folks in snowy places, you have no idea how exciting it is for us to get snow!

We took a walk behind our apartment.  It was beautiful with everything absolutely covered in white.

 I seriously feel like a little kid when it snows.  It makes me so happy!

Of course we had to have a snow ball fight.  Vince had no idea what was about to happen...

Vince and I were talking about how we cannot wait to have kids.  The only thing that would have made yesterday better is if we had some munchkins of our own to run around and play with!

A Valentine Recap...

What a great weekend!  

On Friday my sister came home from school and we took the kids to the park (I'm a nanny) to take some Valentine's Photos for their parents.

This is Tyler after coming down the slide...

Here they are together.  Aren't they cute?!

On Saturday afternoon, my sister and I went over to my Aunts house to have a fun lunch with our cousins. 

I'm in the middle, and my sister is on the far right.  The others are my fabulous Aunts and cousin!

Aunt Susie made us wear these hilarious red cowboy hats.  She is always coming up with the funniest themes for parties. 

After the cousins lunch, I went home and Vince had candles and rose petals all over the apartment (I later started a small fire in the kitchen because of one of these candles!)

He had written me the sweetest letter I've ever read on stationary from our hotel in Paris.  Then he framed it with our plane tickets and sweet memories of our trip.  It was so great.

We had some champagne before heading over to my parents house for dinner. 

My dad's birthday is Valentines day, so we usually do something with my family.  My family is awesome and we have so much fun together.  This is my dad wearing the cowboy hat and my  aunt told him he could be "broke back Gary".  He didn't like that!

We got TWO sets of our china at our engagement party from a family friend, and it finally came.  We opened it and I am SO happy we registered for it.  It's just so pretty!

The morning after Valentines day I made us a yummy brunch (with Trader Joes multi grain pancake mix.  It's awesome!)

After brunch I went to see "He's just not that into you" with my family.  It was so great!  Every girl in the world (single or not) should see it.  I loved it so much that I made Vince go see it with me again later that night!  I have been known to see the same movie twice in one day.  

I have never ever ever liked Scarlett Johansson, but I dislike her even more now.  

UGH.  Just see the movie and you'll understand.  WHAT is with her obsession with nasty colored lipstick?!

Check it out!!!

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/28757125/

I can't believe our story was chosen!!!

New Year Resolutions...

So after reading Heather's post I decided I wanted to blog about my resolutions this year...

I never truly believe in resolutions at New Years.  I don't believe you really stick with them and I think bettering yourself and challenging yourself should happen throughout the year, not on one day.

With that being said, I feel very strongly about a few things this year and since it's been such an eventful few months, I feel inclined to make some RESOLUTIONS for the following year....

1) LOSE THIS WEIGHT.  STICK WITH WEIGHT WATCHERS.  GO TO THE GYM.

2) BE RELAXED ABOUT WEDDING PLANNING.  REMEMBER WHAT IS IMPORTANT: I AM MARRYING THE LOVE OF MY LIFE.  MINOR DETAILS ARE IRRELEVANT AS LONG AS THE END OUTCOME IS BEING MARRIED TO EACH OTHER.

3) SAVE.  SAVE.  SAVE.  SAVE.  SAVE.  SAVE.  SAVE.  SAVE.  

4) BE A BETTER SISTER AND DAUGHTER.  REMEMBER THAT FAMILY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING AND BE THE BEST SISTER AND DAUGHTER I CAN BE.

5) REMEMBER HOW LUCKY I AM TO HAVE SUCH AN INCREDIBLE MAN IN MY LIFE AND TREAT HIM WITH THE LOVE AND RESPECT HE DESERVES.  EVERY DAY.

Happy New Years, friends!!

Merry Christmas to ALL!!

Hello friends!

I hope everyone is having a relaxing day after Christmas.  I am so cozy on this rainy day in Georgia, and I thought I would blog about our Christmas!  

We had a great time with family, and I have to say-it was so much fun being engaged over Christmas.  Every time I look at my hand and see my ring, I just feel so overwhelmed with happiness and excitement.  I cannot wait for all of the planning and spending time with family over the next 10 months.  It is such a fun time of our lives!!

This is me and my wonderful Momma at my parents house...

Me and my FIANCE!!!!

This is my awesome Uncle David.  He and his son, Nick, came up from Florida to spend Christmas with us.  Uncle David and I have a shared love (obsession) with cooking, and we had such a great time making eggs benedict on Christmas morning.

This is sweet Abigail, my parents God Daughter, and my favorite 5 year old in the world.  She got lots of makeup and nail polish this year, and Vince (being the amazing man that he is) let her do the works on him.  Nails, toes, and even makeup!  She loved every second of it.

My adorable Dad reading us The Night Before Christmas book...

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday and enjoyed time with your families!

Home from Paris...

WOW!  What an incredible whirlwind this week has been!  

We arrived home from Paris late last night.  It was the most surreal 3 days of my life, and I truly think I'm still in shock.  

Here are some pictures from our amazing days...

At the Luvre in the FREEZING COLD!

It was beautiful so we didn't mind being cold at all...

After we walked around Paris for a while, we went back to the hotel to get ready for our fun night Vince had planned for us at Moulin Rouge.  It was AWESOME!

We had no idea the girls would all be topless, but it was so classy-and not trashy at all.  The girls were in fantastic shape and the costumes were unbelievable!

I took these pictures off the internet because there were no cameras allowed inside.  

The CANCAN!!!  So cool!

On our way home, we tried to do a photo shoot in the plaza..here are a few of the results!

I made Vince do the pose with me.  He was so cute!

The lobby of our glamourous hotel

One of the most amazing things about the trip were my very special letters.  Vince had each of my family members and a few of my friends write me letters expressing how happy they are for us and how much they love me:)

He let me read one at different spots we visited in the city...this is from my Mom and I read it at the Eiffel Tower...

Right before we left, we went back to our ferris wheel to get a picture of us together!

Now we are home and back to reality.  

I made special cards today to give to my future bridesmaids...I will post them after I give them all out!

Words cannot express..

So here goes...

This is us on the plane about 30 minutes after I found out we were going to Paris...

The first glass of champagne in Paris...

Tonight, Vince said we were going to explore the city.  We had been walking for about 10 minutes when I saw this.  I knew what it meant the second I saw it.  Three years ago we went to see Christmas lights at a place called Lake Lanier.  At the end of the light show they have a big fair with a ferris wheel.  I told him that night that I thought it would be absolutely amazing to get engaged at the top of a ferris wheel in the middle of all those lights.  As soon as I saw this I knew what all of the planning and secrecy has been about.  He never forgot that I wanted to get engaged on a ferris wheel.  He just kicked it up a notch and found a ferris wheel in Paris.

The ferris wheel overlooked the Eiffel Tower, Parliament, and the Arc de Triumph.  Unbeknownst to me, he begged the attendant to let us have a booth to ourselves (they were enclosed and seated about 6 people) thankfully the guy was a romantic and let us on alone!

At the very top of the ride, Vince said the most amazing things to me.  While we were looking at the Eiffel Tower, he got down on his knee.

I said yes.

Afterwards, we went to a romantic dinner with steak and FRENCH fries!!!

They are so fancy in France.  They have sparkly chandeliers in the STREETS!!  I want to live here!

So thats the end of my incredibly anticipated, and unbelievably romantic engagement to the most incredible man of my dreams.

Au Revoir!!

holy crap

hahaha!  I'm sure I confused a few of you with my holy crap title and no blog post!  I was actually on the plane trying to blog from my iPhone, but we took off and I didn't get to finish.  I didn't realize it would post... 

Anyway, here is the reason for the excitement...

I am in PARIS!!!!!

I can hardly believe it, and I couldn't wait to fill you all in so here goes...  

Yesterday morning, Vince and I were packing to go to his dad's house in Tennessee to see his wife and him for Christmas.  I had had a few suspicions leading up to it, but my parents and Vince did such a great job convincing me, that I really thought we were going to his dad's!  I was totally grumpy when we got in the car and I realized we were not taking the highway to the airport, but we were in fact taking the route to his dads.  About 30 minutes into our trip Vince told me to look around in the back seat for something he meant to bring to his Dad.  I was totally oblivious (and figured out later) that he was trying to keep me from looking at the road signs to see that we were almost to the airport!  When I finally realized we were pulling in to the airport, I was freaking out, and asking him what the heck was going on.  He told me the airline had lost his bag on his last flight and we had to pick it up.  At this point, obviously I didn't believe him, but he wouldn't tell me where we were going.  We checked our bags and throughout the entire process, he told everyone in the airport who had to check our boarding passes that I didn't know where we were going, so please don't say anything about our destination.  I was going CRAZY because I wanted to know so badly!  

Finally we got to our gate and he told me I could guess where I thought we were going.  I had already seen our passports when he showed them at check-in, so I guessed the first two romantic places I could think of: Paris and Italy.  He just smiled and said, "we're going to Paris!"

So here we are.  As soon as we checked in to our GORGEOUS hotel, we went to get a bite to eat (cheese, bread and champagne of course!!).  When we got back to the hotel, Vince had set us up to get a couples massage by the indoor pool.  It was AMAZING and so relaxing after a long flight.  He is napping right now, but I'm too excited to sleep.  I'm going to get cute and warm and walk around the city.  We are 10 minutes from the Eiffel Tower, and surrounded by great shopping and parks.  Here is our hotel

From the outside...

Our room EXACTLY...

Just a hop, skip and a jump to here...

Our bathroom.  I love hotel bathrooms.

Where I got a rub down from a very cute Frenchman...

So I have no idea what's next.  Vince arranged this with my bosses, and my sister is working for me while we are here.  I cannot believe how much he has planned.  He says over the next two days, I will understand why he chose this place and what the significance it is for us.

I will write again as soon as I can, lovelies!  

Let me paint you a picture...

This was my life last night:

Stayed up with a friend and worked on my research paper until 11pm.  

Emailed said paper to professor with a huge rock in my stomach.

Tried to go to sleep.

Tossed and turned for 2 hours with thoughts of failing the class and not graduating.

Called Vince.

(Perhaps I should tell you that when I cannot sleep, there are two sure-fire ways to help me

1) give me 3 cocktails

2) Vince plays guitar and sings me my favorite lullabies)

Vince (who is in Nebraska on business) was in the car with a coworker on the way home from dinner.  With a whiney voice and tears in my eyes I told him I couldn't sleep because I'm so scared about my paper.  

He asked if I needed him to sing to me.

I said yes.

So he did.  He sang two lullabies to me.  While in the car with a coworker.

And then I slept like a baby.

I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

Please pray, send good thoughts, do a dance, or whatever you do.  I have to pass this class and it all hinges on the paper.  

Gonna smile cause I deserve to....

Three things today that make me so happy....

FIRST: I ordered these awesome earrings from dangsworld on etsy.  I got them in four colors, and I cannot wait for them to get here!
SECOND: I worked on making our Christmas cards.  I know it's early, but I LOVE sending out cards every year.  This will be the third year we have sent them out, and I can't wait to order them!  These are three options from kodak that I really like.  I LOVE the cards on minted, but they are kind of out of my price range.  I'm trying to justify it, but I just don't think I can.  


Which one is the best one?

THIRD:  I came home to this in the wreath on the front door.  Vince worked from home today and when I walked in the apartment, it was SPOTLESS!  He is such a darling.
Even though it wasn't the best day at work (the dog is sick and I cleaned up a lot of poop) it was all in all a great day!

Tee Hee Hee...

Look what I got last night for no reason at all!!

I'm so lucky.  

You can't always get what you want..

But if you try sometimes, you just might find....you get what you need!

So, we have been back and forth about the home buying situation.  To buy or not to buy.  To rent or not to rent.  To stay in a tiny apartment that we barely fit into and I can't entertain or decorate the way I want to and we can't store anything here so I can't BUY anything for our house one day....or...uh..not to.

We have to let our apartment know by next week what we are going to do when our lease ends in December. 

Here are the options:

*Try to get 100% financing and buy something by December.

*Sign another lease and save for a down payment for the next 6-12 months (whatever we decide to resign)

*Rent a house in December and try to find one that is roughly the same as our rent 

*Lease purchase a house in December, and hope the market doesn't get even worse.

*Move into my parents basement (haha)

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!

 

So much of me wanting to do the (I think) irresponsible thing and get 100% financing is because I want a YARD.  I want a big KITCHEN.  I want a place to BE that isn't a tiny apartment.

Tonight we got out of the apartment.  We made mashed sweet potatoes and caramelized  onions.  We marinated chicken and put everything in a bag with a candle and an iPod, and we went to the picnic table/grill area near our front door.  It was great.  We felt like we had our own backyard.  Of course there were people walking their dogs through it, but we didn't mind :) 

So, since we can't have what we want right now, I think we will make the best out of it.  Be happy that we have so few walls to separate us from each other.  Be glad that if something breaks, we just call maintenance.  Be happy that we have each other!  Be glad that we have a place to live!  There are always things to be grateful for, and it's important for us to remind ourselves of that.

The Dream Venue

Seriously.  These pictures don't do it justice, but this is where we will get married...and I'm going to book it just as SOON as we get engaged...

It's called Neverland Farms   and I have been in love with it for a year now.  I have even been in touch with Suzy, the owner of the farm.  If I wasn't already sure it's the perfect place for us, she certainly won me over.  From the first time I emailed her asking for more information, she has been my biggest cheerleader.  We email often back and forth and she is always so wonderful!

Today when I logged into my email, there was one waiting for me from Suzy.  Just checking to see how things are going and to let me know she's thinking about us.  I mean, we're not engaged, I have given her no sort of deposit, and I have never met her in person, but she is SO kind and thoughtful that she just wants to check in.  If she is this attentive when I'm not even planning my wedding with her yet, can you imagine how wonderful she's going to be when we are?? 

The above picture is courtesy of Altmix Photography

Isn't it gorgeous?  My dad grew up on a farm very similar to this one, so it just means so much to everyone in our family.  It is the perfect place for the laid-back, fun blast of a wedding we hope to have.