Engagement Photos: Sneak Peak

Sparky and I had our engagement photo session with our photographer Aimee Adams this past Saturday morning at 7:00 in the morning.  Our sunrise session was so fun...and windy.  She sent over a couple of pictures straight out of the camera as a little sneak peak of what is to come.  I'm so excited to see the rest.

 
Keep on Keepin on.

Love in Europe

One of the funnest parts of planning a wedding is...planning a Honeymoon!

I'm so excited to report that Sparky and I just put our deposit down on a romantic trip to Rome and Paris in July.  I know it's a 6 month delay, but I could not let us a plan a trip to France without attempting to be there during the Tour de France for my sweet Sparky!

The Tour de France ends in Paris on July 24th..eh hem...aka my birthday!  So we have triple reason to celebrate that day:  our marriage, the toure, and my b-day!  This will be the most amazing trip/b-day with my new hubby!

I've never been to Italy so I'm so ecstatic to visit this country...AND I have family that lives in Rome.  Summer can't get here any quicker.

 We'll be making a trip to the Vatican museum (which probably makes my mother so very proud and jealous all at the same time)

The Colosseum

and I'll get to re-visit the Eiffel Tower now with my new hubby.



and venture back to the Notre Dame de Paris



me lighting a candle at Notre Dame in March 2008



I'm so excited for pasta, baguettes, history, culture, and of course spandex (cyclists)...and of course Sparky!

Keep on Keepin on.

Picture Wall

I mentioned a while back about the empty wall in our front living room that was to be dedicated to a few of my piddly photographs.  I actually had the photos up shortly after that post but have yet to post about it. 

I had made a random trip to the local Target, probably out of boredom, and stumbled happily upon some picture frames on clearance.  They were wood frames already matted to 8"x10".  I can't remember now, but I'm pretty confident they were discounted to somewhere under $10 each.  Which was great because I was looking for 4 total!  And 4 frames they had.  I also got a 5"x7" frame that matched.

This is the bare wall before (ew)

 And here are some "After" shots.  (I really need to work on my indoor photo skills.)

Each of our dogs are in a row with a photo of Sparky and I in the middle. awwwwww.

View from my "spot" on the sofa.

And if you didn't notice, I went ahead and splurged on two pillows I was stalking at Target.  I was hoping they would go on sale, but they never did.  I gave in...willingly. 

Keep on Keepin on.

Bree's Shower

A few weeks ago, a few friends/co-workers hosted a baby shower for another friend/co-worker over at my humble abode.  I'm super behind in posting pics because I haven't had the time to pretty them up.  The photos I took were seriously lacking.  It was a combination of the bad lighting in my home and my bad bad bad camera skills when it comes to indoors and bad lighting.  But I just need to get over it and share the baby shower love anyway.  AND...since Bree is scheduled to be induced this upcoming Friday (if she doesn't go into labor between now and then...crossing my fingers) I figured it was the perfect time to share.

One of my favorite things for showers are GAMES.  Games are actually one my favorite things ever but for showers they are especially fun.  They are a great way to break the ice and for strangers to interact with one another.  For Bree's shower, I made a memory board game (top left of pic) to play.  We also played "guess that baby food" and the "Don't say baby" games.  Super fun in my opinion.  Plus, it's a good excuse to give prizes to guests for coming.

My living room.  This is where people sat to enjoy their food goodies, play some games, and watch Bree open some gifts. 



Bree is having a little baby boy and his name will be Jaxen.  I cannot take any credit for decorations or anything remotely crafty in all this wonderfullness.  I supplied the home and the other girls took care of the details so well!  The home was adorned with blues, blacks, reds, little "J's", and photos of Jaxen from his ultrasound.

This was the baby tree done by one of the hostesses, Natalie.  So cute. 

 

Food table.  The food consisted of delcious warm turkey sandwhiches, tortilla rolls, chips & dip, "uncircumcised weenies", and cheezes. The centerpiece was a large glass vase filled with blue and black ornaments, sports ornaments, little J's, and photos of Jaxen.



This close-up of the center of the table shoes you the detail that Miriam and Natalie put into the decorations.  How gorgeous is this?!

I so wish I had gotten a better photo of the dessert table.  Natalie, Shelleye, and Miriam did a gorgeous job with the fruit kabobs, cupcakes, and baby food (kick-ass chex mix).

Of course there had to be some OU. 

This is our friend Julianne who just had little Miss Piper six weeks before this photo was taken.  LOVE.

Bree received so many genious and adorable hand-made personal items, like this J.  What's in the box?  The cutest thing ever I tell ya!

Natalie is so super genious and crafty.  Natalie put together this cute cupcake box filled with onesies and other baby items shaped like cupcakes! 

Jaxen will be styling in these skull shoes. 




adorable!

Let's play guess that hand!  Just kidding.  sorta 

Uncircumsized weenies!  or you can just call them croissant wrapped weenies or pig in a blanket.  I thought the festive baby boy reference was fun.


Keep on keepin on.

Our Wedding: The Photographer

The one item Sparky and I agreed to splurge on for the wedding is having an awesome photographer.  Even if everything goes completely wrong on our wedding day, I at least want a great picture of me either crying or laughing if off.  As long as the true memory is there and documented beautifully. 

There are so many wonderful and incredibly talented professional photographers in this world and it was very difficult to decide.  I had searched and searched and contemplated for a while for the perfect photographer for us.  I had been torn and confused for awhile.  Then, magically, a friend e-mailed me the link to a photographer used by another friend.  I instantly fell in love.  It was definitely love at first sight and my decision was made. 

We are still working out the logistics but we will be using Aimee Adams photography aka Lovebirds Artistic Weddings.

We have a fun sunrise engagement session scheduled for next weekend and some goodies for the actual wedding day!  I am so excited and so looking forward to working with Aimee.  You must must check her out!

Keep on Keepin on.

We Must Be Crazy

So after pondering, thinking, eating chocolate, discussing, contemplating, eating chocolate, and having internal battles...Sparky and I changed up everything about our little wedding.

Instead of a September 10, 2011 wedding day, we decided to be even more uncoventional and purposely move up our wedding to January 22, 2011.  Two months from now.  I know we must be crazy.

We had talked about it before and flirted with the idea, but we kept convincing ourseves that it was either going to be bad weather, really cold, short notice, and just a plain bad idea.  Even with all the cons, we knew in our hearts that it was totally for us.  Here's why:

We just want to be married.  We don't want to wait.
We hadn't planned on having a huge extravagent wedding anyway.  We have the perfect venue at our house so the date was up to us.
We seriously LOVE the song January Wedding by The Avett Brothers.
I'm incredibly impatient once I make up my mind.  (The problem is getting myself to make up my mind.)
This would prevent us from eloping or just going to the courthouse which would have probably upset some important people.
We like a challenge.
I think Winter is beautiful.  I'm kinda hoping that it snows.  I think it's romantic.
Most people have a Spring or Summer wedding.  Some have Autumn.  Winter weddings are so rare.
We want to keep it as simple as possible.
The less time I have to spend money is better for the budget.
Did I mention that we just want to be married?

Here are some inspirations that have made me love this new decision:

Let's see if we can pull off a small, intimate, casual and romantic wedding in two months and within budget. 

Keep on Keepin on.