Wedding Update

This past weekend we went dress shopping for the moms. Donna (Eric's mom) had gone looking at department stores and was not having any luck at all. So we decided to go shopping on Saturday while I was in town. We being my mom, Donna, Eric, and me. Yes you read that right Eric went with. He was actually a big help and told us his opinion. I'm so lucky to have a fiance who is involved in the wedding planning.

We decided to go to Terry Costa over off Preston and 635. It is a huge bridal store, and I figured this would be a great place to start. We weren't quite sure what color we wanted them in. I was thinking a shade of teal would be ok, but Eric didn't want that. He thought if they were in a shade of teal that didn't match, it would look bad. We did not want Black since we are not mourning the union of the two families. We decided silver was good. My mom fell in love with the 2nd dress she tried on. I loved it too! Donna took a little longer. She just wasn't liking anything she tried. Then she found a separate top with jacket and black skirt. The top and jacket are silver with a pattern. Very elegant! They were both so excited to have found their dresses.

Then we went to hobby lobby. OH MY! We went to the one off Preston and looked at vases for the centerpieces. Then we decided we can find them cheaper at a wholesale vase store in Addison. While we were at Hobby Lobby we bought the guest book, matching pen, and a matching pillow for Jordan. Then I remembered these really cute hat boxes I saw at the HL in Garland, that would be perfect for a card box. So I walked around the entire store and could not find them!

After lunch we decided to run to the vase store, they're closed on Saturdays. Then we went to the Hobby Lobby in Garland to look for the hat boxes. I found them after searching the entire store and stomping my feet haha. Eric was laughing at me. I was getting frustrated because I knew I saw them at Hobby Lobby, and I figured they're thinking I'm going crazy now.

After we dropped the moms off at their cars, Eric and I decided to go ahead and get the vases at HL. I looked on his iphone and the wholesale place had them for $12 a piece. HL was having a 50% off sale, so they were only $10 a piece. We bought the 2 at the HL in Garland, and then drove back to the one off Preston and got 4 more. I have 6 large vases to go on 6 of the tables to add some height at the reception.

I'm going to put these 47" tall branches in them below. They come in black, white, and gray 80-100 sticks per pack. I'm going to spray paint the gray ones silver and the white ones teal. I will put one pack per vase.


Then I'm going to put these curly sparkle ones throughout each vase to add a little texture and curly. They are 27" tall and 32 per pack. I was thinking about putting 5-6 per vase just to add a little something.

The vases cost me $60. The twigs above will cost me $30 (for 6 packs), and the curly ones will cost $9.

I'm so thankful that Eric put up with the wedding nonsense this weekend :) We also finished designing our invitations, rsvp card, hotel card, and map card. I love the design :)

November

This past week has been crazy!

First off Randy and Genny got married last Saturday. Randy is a groomsman in our wedding, so Eric flew me home for their wedding. It was a beautiful wedding! I didn't take pictures except for a picture of Eric and me. The wedding just made us that much more excited about our wedding to come in only 82 days!!!


We met up with my parents for lunch while I was in town for the weekend as well. They had my nephew Jordan for the weekend, so it was so fun to see him. We at lunch at La Hacienda which is where our Rehearsal Dinner will be. OH so yummy!!! We love their fajitas.

Jordan, Aunt B, and Uncle Eric!

Traditions

Ok so I want to hear what type of traditions/routines you have with your spouse.

I thought about Eric and I having a Saturday breakfast. With boards not long after our wedding, I will be spending a lot of hours studying. I was thinking that no matter how crazy busy I am with school, taking an hour out of my Saturday morning to make breakfast for my hubby would be fun. We could make breakfast together and then enjoy it with a nice cup of coffee before I hit the books for the day.

Do you and your spouse have anything you do weekly such as Tuesday date nights, or Thursday game nights. I want to know what yall do!

The Church

Alright so our wonderful photographer, Jessica, photographed a wedding at the same church Eric and I are getting married at. Here is a picture she took of the gorgeous church. OMG I'm so excited!!!!

Also, Eric and I drove by the church Saturday morning on our way home from the mall. I was just like that, that, thats the church we're getting married at!!! Just 90 days left :)

Flights!

Alright so lastnight Erin, Annie, and I all three booked our flights to Dallas for the wedding!!!! WOOHOO :) We will get to Dallas Thursday February 18th at 7:45 pm. That will leave us all day Friday to get any last minute wedding stuff done. These two girls are great! I'm so excited to have them come to Dallas to celebrate this special day with us.

They will each be doing a reading during the ceremony. Now I just need to find the readings :)

Rehearsal Dinner: Check!

This last weekend, Eric's parents booked the rehearsal dinner. Since we are going to Mexico for our honeymoon and we both love mexican food, why not have it at a mexican restaurant. YUMMY!!! I'm so excited.

We will be eating at La Hacienda Ranch over off Preston for FAJITAS!!!! They have a backroom that way we can be private. The rehearsal dinner is going to be small, 25 people. It is only going to be those that are in the wedding. We wanted it to be small so we can really show our appreciation to those who are standing up there with us on our special day.

You must go try their fajitas!!!

100 Days!!!

Today marks 100 days until Eric and I get married!! :) After today it's double digits!!!

The picture above is from the moment I knew Eric was the one God created to be my husband. Some of yall know that Eric and I dated while I was in highschool. It wasn't God's timing then, and we broke up when I went off to college. We were no where ready to try the distance. We talked maybe two times in the next two years, but that was it. We went our separate ways. No big deal, I thought things were over.

Then in July 2006 he sent me a text asking to talk. I called him to hear what he had to say, but I wanted nothing to do with him. I had been trying so hard for the past 2 years to get over this guy. I straight up told him I was in a serious relationship with the guy that I thought I would marry (ha boy was I wrong). He simply apologized for the past and said he wish he knew back then that the little things I did was because I loved him. That was the end of things.

Every now and then Eric and I would chat on AIM but that was it. Eric simply just wanted to be my friend which I appreciated. He never once mentioned anything about trying to work things out or get back together. He knew I was in a serious relationship and respected that. Well things with the guy that I thought I loved started to get rocky. He didn't want anything to do with my family, hated driving to Wylie to visit with them. Didn't show that he cared. I remember talking to Eric on AIM about a rocky Thanksgiving situation and all Eric did was apologize. He said, "I put you through enough in High School and I'm sorry to see you get heart broken again." Still Eric never said anything about having feelings for me.

I then realized I was settling for this guy that I thought God had for me. I found this Christian guy that I thought was who God wanted me to marry. I was not happy. I wanted someone who loved me and my family and showed me they cared. I read the book Boy Meets Girl and it was so true. I was hanging onto something that I didn't see going anywhere. We broke up December 2006.

I went on a mission trip to New Orleans with my church January 2007. That was the first time Eric and I had spoken on the phone since our conversation in July 2006. He simply sent a text asking for me to let him know when I made it to New Orleans, he would send me a text in the evening to ask how the mission trip was going and that was that. He just wanted to see how I was doing. He then called me one night to talk on the phone. We just laughed and really caught up on old times. Thats when our friendship really began to grow.

The picture above is from Eric's first trip to Nacogdoches. I was skeptical about this guy. When we dated before, I was his girlfriend when it was convenient for him. He said he wanted to drive out to Nac (3 hours away), I told him I'll believe it when you're here. I wasn't getting my hopes up at all. February 9, 2007 Eric drove to Nacogodches after work. I remember I was leaping for joy the closer he got. When he pulled up in the parking lot at my apartment complex and got out of the car that was the moment I knew he was THE ONE! We had such an awesome weekend, and I enjoyed showing him around town.

Whenever we are together we are always laughing and smiling. I thank God every single day for working in each of our hearts and allowing us time to grow. I'm so in love with Eric and can't wait to call him my HUSBAND!

Working Out

Alright, so I've been working out and trying to get tone for the wedding. My bestfriend called it the LGN Diet, Lookin' Good Naked! haha too funny.

So here is my progress so far. I have lost 13 pounds since August. WOOHOO!!! I use myfitnesspal.com to keep track of food and exercise. It's great! Based on my current weight and goals, it calculated my caloric intake, protein and carbs. They have a great database of foods to add to your food diary. Now I'm just trying to tone everything up. Here is my workout feel free to join with me and we can keep each other accountable.

Mon/Thurs 30 mins elliptical, 30 mins weights: chin ups (10), bicep curls (10lb x12), tricep kick backs (10lb x12), standing row (10lb x 12), dips (10) REPEAT 3x

Tues/Fri 30 mins elliptical, 30 mins weights: lunges (24lb x 10 each leg), squats (12lb x 25), lateral block step up (12lb x 15)

Wed/Sat 45 minutes elliptical and an ab video that I do at home.

If you have any other suggestions for workouts to change things up let me know.

Invitation

So Eric is designing our wedding invitations. I need your help; I can't decide which one I like better. The wording and fonts are the exact same. The difference obviously is just the design on the left. Which one do you like better? I still can't believe we're planning our wedding! OMG so excited and ready for February to be here already :)

Missing Him

Alright so Eric and I started the long distance almost 3 years ago. We did 3 hours when I was at Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, and now we are 8 hours away in Kansas City. With the Nac distance, we could just jump in the car for a weekend trip. An 8 hour drive is not feasible for a weekend trip. Plane tickets are $150, but you have to book them out 4 weeks early. I so wish I could just jump on a plane for a weekend trip, but I don't have that kind of money for every weekend :(

The long distance hasn't been bad at all. Our relationship is PERFECT!!! It seems now that we know the distance is going to end in exactly 105 days, the distance is the hardest its ever been. I have great friends up here in KC. It's just different. There are so many times I wish Eric could be here just so we could have quality time together. I would love to just sit on the couch in the evening watching TV with him or just having meaningless goofy conversations laughing together. Oh how I can't wait to see Eric in 2 weeks! I'm so ready for Thanksgiving break and then Christmas break for 3 weeks :)

I am just so excited to see what God will do with our lives when we are finally together and married. Oh how I love Eric!

Sorry for this sad post I just needed to get it off my chest.

Centerpiece Idea

Ok so I've been thinking about making our own centerpieces. Let me know if you think this will look neat on the tables? I want to add some height to some of the tables.

Here is my idea:


We will have 15 tables roughly. 6 of these tables will have TALL centerpieces. I didn't want to do all 15 tables like this because it might be too much.

6 TALL Centerpieces:
120 branches of willow branches, 20 branches for each tall table, each branch is roughly 28" tall
6 20" x 5" cylinder vase
Gems in the bottom



How To: I was thinking about buying a can of silver spray paint and painting the willow branches and possibly sprinkling some glitter on them to add a sparkle. I will fill the bottom of the vase with some gems just to add some color. I will adhere a 3" ribbon about 2" from the top of the vase in our color, Teal.

9 tables with candle centerpiece
9 6" cylinder vases
9 10" cylinder vases
9 12" cylinder vases
(these vases come in a pack of 12 so I thought we could use the extra 9 elsewhere to decorate)
Floating Candles
Gems in the bottom



How To: I was going to group one of each size vase on the table. I thought about adhering a 2 inch ribbon on each vase at different heights. I will put gems in the bottom of each vase to add color. Top it off with a floating candle.

Here are my websites I'm using to purchase in bulk.
www.dfwvases.com (glass vases)
http://www.save-on-crafts.com (gems, willow branch, candles)

Let me know what you think of this idea. It looks like it will be roughly $20 a table.