Photo challenge debacle

Free advise: Do not start a 30 days photo challenge the month of your wedding or another major life event. It's a silly idea. Project officially postponed until the new year.

But, for now, how about I share a few of my favorite pictures from our honeymoon in Seaside, Florida? Will that do? Can we still be friends?

This is us on the roof deck of the house we stayed in. Roof deck, people. Roof deck.

The above mentioned roof deck. Yes, those are raspberry martinis. Yes, this was the perfect happy hour.

The house came equipped with a dream kitchen. This Le Creuset pan was rarely left in the cupboard.

Sugar sand!

#21: Pretty Pattern

This is the most beautiful pattern on the most beautiful dress I've ever seen.

Yesterday, I wore this dress and married the most amazing man I know. I can't wait to tell you all about it!

#11: Something fun

Fun = Quality time with Chey, bridesmaid and my hair & style guru. Friday I picked up two giant caramel macchiatos and spent a few hours talking travel, hair, and wedding prep with one of my favorite gals.

Day 7 1/2: Something new (part 2)

Sierra Nevada by Shabby Apple

I've been hunting and hunting for the perfect Rehearsal Dinner dress. After hours of wondering the mall, I found it online at The Shabby Apple. I fell in love with it. I ordered it and I've been waiting on pins and needles for it to arrive.

Packages in the mail are great.
Packages with pretty dresses in them are the best!

And, today, on Something new day, it's here! It's beautiful. It's better than the pictures. I can't wait to wear it in eight days!

Day 7: Something new

This week I got 200 brand new kazoos in the mail.

I'll give you one guess as to what they're for...

Day 4: Favorite Color

My favorite color is teal. Also green. When we started planning our wedding last spring it was really hard to choose between the two. But teal won out. So, today's photo is both my favorite color and a wedding sneak peak.

Last weekend while Justin was away on his bachelor party I went to town with my brand new glue gun(!!!) and finished up some of our wedding accents - all of them are full of that beautiful teal blue color that I love.

October!

It's here!

It's here!

It's finally here!

Do a little dance. Make a little...ahem...let's get down friends, it's 

October!

Wedding month has arrived. Woo Hoo!

Pizza & Plates

Last night we ate some very delicious end of summer pizza on our new plates!

Goat cheese. Yum. Yellow Zucchini. Yes, please. Sliced cherry tomatos. The perfect pop of color. Not only was it tastey, but also so pretty on our fabulous and newly gifted white dinner plates (Thanks Sarah, KC and Mel!).

Summer Setting

This is it. The last official weekend of summer. Can you believe it's already here? Me neither. I've always looked forward to the fall. A fresh start. New school supplies. New beginnings. This year autumn brings with it the biggest new beginning of my life - our marriage.

Our wedding is just a few short weeks away. I'm unbelievably excited. I can't wait to wear the gorgeous dress that's hanging ready and waiting in my closet. I can't wait to stand in front at the front of our church and vow to live my whole life before God with my husband. That's amazing. Sometimes when I think about it I can't breathe from the sheer wonder of it all. I mean, marriage seems a pretty daunting task when I forget that the glory of Jesus is the point, the Holy Spirit will be always with us and that God is out for our good always. This isn't about two people making a marriage work. It's about the most incredible picture of God and his church and his faithfulness towards us.

It's about to get crafty.

Fifty seven days to go. Let's get this party started.

My first wedding project (other than stamping and mailing 200 invitations - yipes!):

Flip-Flop basket for the dance floor.

Happily Ever After.

My future sister-in-law (64 days!), Natalie, gave me this print for my birthday. I'm in love with it and can't wait to find a way to work it into our wedding day! After the wedding I think I'll try to hang it in our kitchen because real life happens in kitchens and it's the real life that is our happy ending beginning!

Double Digits

Only 99 days left until we get married!! Awesome.

Countdown paper chain from my friend Kim.

Five.

Five months...
152 days...
3,648 hours...

until...

We get married!

A Royal Morning

It's not often that my alarm clock goes off before 5am and it's an even rarer occurrence that I get out of bed without grumbling when it does. But, this morning, the royal wedding had be brewing a pot of coffee before the sun came up. My friend and soon-to-be neighbor, Kara, joined me to ooo and ahhh over the hats and dresses.

Our wedding day is drawing closer by the minute and I can hardly wait. This morning while I was watching I couldn't help but make a few comparisons between the royal event and our plans for this fall. I didn't find too much in common. Our wedding won't involve heads of state or carriage rides through London, but it will be wonderful and beautiful and real. But...maybe we could arrange for some hats, because, let's face it. Those hats were fantastic!

If only I had a place to wear this. Gorgeous!

Picture Perfect

Last weekend in Nashville, TN our good friend Matt took our engagement pictures....and....they are AWEOME!

These are a few of my favorites. I think we're pretty cute.

Just in time

This weekend we're heading to Nashville to visit some fabulous friends and have our engagement pictures taken. I ordered this little navy dress and some similar mustard colored shoes for the occasion. I was worried that they wouldn't get here in time, but they made it!

Now to figure out what else I need to pack....

A Woman's Touch

Shortly after I had this beautiful diamond ring on my finger I started making myself a little more at home in my fiancés house. Usually, when I'd help him straighten up his space before people came over I'd just do a little dusting here, a little pile straightening there, nothing extensive, nothing game-changing.

The weekend after our engagement the shift began. I was dusting in the living room and moved some books from here to there, found a new home for a picture frame, altered the angle on some stereo speakers. Little things.  When I was finished I went into the kitchen where he was cooking up a yummy meal and his roommate was leaning against the counter eating Raisin Bran. I told him that I may or may not have moved a few things around. He looked at me a bit aghast and, as his roommate noted that he knew this day was coming, said "Have you been holding back with the organizing!?!? Don't hold back! Organize!" While I was relieved, I shouldn't have been surprised. One of the first things that he invited me to do back when we were figuring out this whole dating game was to come over and organize his kitchen.

Our dishtowels

Now, I'm full of ideas for little touches here and there. We recently picked out new flooring for the kitchen and between that and registering for pretty kitchen towels, I can't wait to move in this October.

Spring Flowers

Spring makes me think of flowers and, currently, flowers make me think of wedding bouquets.

I am in love with this bridesmaids' bouquet:

Preparation

There's a lot of preparing going on around here.

Preparing a house to be our home.
Preparing for a huge and awesome party to celebrate our wedding.

Fun things, but not the most important things.

I went out with a friend last night who is an awesome, wise, kind, godly lady. I loved hanging out with her because, even though we chatted about the fun stuff like wedding dresses and new kitchen tile, we spent most of our time talking about the real stuff. She told me about her family, about being married and loving her husband. She asked me great questions about how I'm preparing to be a wife.

That's what I'm most excited about, not the wedding, the marriage. I left excited and feeling a little like I better do some studying or something, but also remembering that we're not alone in our preparation. We have an entire community here to love, counsel, guide and encourage us as we go. Number one on my list: pray. Also, read Sacred Marriage (a suggestion from another wonderful wise lady I know and love).

Any other book or resource suggestions for an engaged gal like me?

Too Full

Turns out that I'm one of them. Those crazy girls who loose their minds when they get engaged. All of the sudden I can't find my keys...ever. I forgot to return a few emails. I was late to meet my friend for breakfast. It's ridiculous. My brain has just been too full.

The details are swimming in my head and there aren't enough post-it notes in the word to rescue me. I admit that even though I don't want to be a freak of a bride, I had my first melt down the other day. A fabulous party for 300 people on a budget had me worried. Never to fear. I did want any girl would do. I called my mom.

Mom to the rescue! She met with our first choice reception venue this morning and sealed the deal! One major detail is off my plate and out of my brain.

October 21, 2011 is going to be a great day.