Memphis Trip

We went back to Memphis this weekend for a couple of reasons. We had to pick out a wedding band for me and we had to finish up our dance lessons for the wedding.

Shane got my engagement ring through a jeweler that a lot of the baseball players, who are in Memphis at the time, go to for their girlfriend/wives jewelry. I wanted something simple to go with my ring - not to take away from the main stone.

That's the best picture I can find of my ring so I went with something really simple to go next to it... It sort of looks like this..

I think the diamonds stick up a little bit more though. I think it's a really pretty ring on it's own so if I go running or something I can just wear it without the engagement ring. Anyhow I'm not really picky so it didn't take too long for me to pick it out. Afterwards we went to our dance lessons.... 

(First pic from my new camera!!) We are learning a "rumba" dance to Michael Buble' song- Sway. ...We were supposed to be learning the dance in 6 different sessions when I came to visit Shane during the season, but since he got hurt and came home for the season we went up for one weekend and tried to put something together all it once. It was exhausting! I did a lot of twirling in my free time...

Our dance instructor was a huge "Chatty Kathy;" he had a story for EVERYTHING. Poor Shane..

I don't know what I was thinking when we signed up for this...you'll see. Maybe it's bc he took this video on the second day, but I keep doing this thing with my neck and Shane looks like he's not into it at all and I'm dragging him around. Sort of embarrassing.. We have a lot of work to do if we are really going to do a dance for the wedding. Here's a preview... Don't laugh too hard.

NEW CAMERA!!!

I've been absent for a little bit, but for a good reason. I wanted to come back and be able to show you pictures from my new....

My fiance' surprised me last week with an early wedding present. He said that he didn't want to wait till the day of the wedding so that I can learn how to use it before our trip to Maui. The first thing I did, of course, was order this to go with it...

Shane knows that I read Kelle Hampton's blog religiously and so in the spirit of being just like her I ordered the same camera strap, but in a different color. Her blog has made me laugh, cry, dream and certainly inspires me, so now with my new camera I feel like a whole new phase of life is coming on...

I can't wait to show you some of the pictures I've been taking! I'm really not any good at it yet, so any websites or advice you wanna direct me to feel free!!

We went to Memphis this weekend to work with a dance instructor from Fred Astaire dance studios for our first wedding song. (I'll post that video later today...) We have a lot of work to do on that...but,

One of my favorite parts of the weekend?? Eating at the Blue Plate Cafe'. It's one of those..." If you ever go to Memphis, you have to....!!! " places. I had chocolate chip pancakes; they were so good!!

Bachelorette Surprise Party - What to wear??

Soooo...my best friends have been putting a bacherlorette party together for me for a long time now and have yet to disclose the locataion. The party will take place the weekend after next. I'm super excited and even more anxious. I would LOVE to know where we are headed because I can't figure out what I want to wear yet....

I'm thinking I definately want to wear something in the white family. I NEVER wear white dresses because I have this weird idea they are supposed to be for a bride only... (Or maybe I just know that when I wear white - murphy's law always kicks me in the butt and makes me drop something red all over myself...)

But, since I'm going to be the bride that weekend I've taken a couple looks at some white dresses...feel free to share your opinions...

Dress #1

Dress #2

Dress #3

Not going to lie... I think I'm leaning towards dress #2.

Weekend with the BFF - Vintage Finds

This weekend while my future hubby was off catching these

He decided to try and surprise me and send up my best friend for the weekend.

(Really old pic)

Buggers and I waited all night for her to get to Atlanta...

The plan was to do as much wedding stuff as possible. So Friday night I showed her my dress and all of my cool wedding finds. Saturday we went to Roswell and found an estate sale. Wow! I have never had so much fun going through someone's house in my life!

I got an old camera with some really old weird film to go with it. I also got a ton of old wooden thread spools with threading needles and and a really old tape measure. I will use all these for the vintage decor at the wedding. How much did it all cost? 5$!!!! Vintage themes are the best! .....Well certainly one of the cheapest.

After the estate sale we headed up to old Roswell to look in some antique shops. We didn't have much luck until I stumbled across this guy...

It's a sewing table that was made in the early 1800's. Originally it was marked at 180 or + dollars. I saw that it was on sale for 60$, but that particular booth was having a 60% off sale. I don't really think the 60% off was supposed to be on this table, but the lady at check out said it was. I ended up paying only $25 for this really rustic vintage amazing table!

To celebrate we went to Party Chic. I have been wanting to go there for a while since my sister-n-law told me about it. It started as a cake bakery and since then now serves lunch and host adorable parties. It's the girliest place on earth and I loved it!

Lauren's sandwich was a little on the tough side though and I've never laughed harder watching her try to eat it. The food (other than her brick hard sandwich) was amazing - espeically the cookies!!!

We came home and our friend Erin tried to curl Lauren's stick straight hair as a test for the wedding. I'd say it turned out to be pretty successful. We'll see if it works out for the big day.

Thanks BFF for coming to visit me in Atlanta! I had a great time and I miss hanging out with you! See you soon!!!

Seeing a Need

The Blindside - I'm probably the last person on earth to watch this movie and its because I knew what it would do to me. I have a headache from crying so hard. I can relate to Sandra Bullock in this movie because I too share the same compassion.

I thank God for the gifts He's given me and especially the gift to see a need. I'm not trying to toot my horn or anything like that, but in a humble state of mind I'll tell you that being able to help someone is one of the most joyous things I've experienced in life. The other day we were doing some shopping for our wedding and I saw a little girl sitting at a table playing with an empty carton that had pretzel cinnamon at the bottom. How did I know it was cinnamon? Because the next thing she did was pour it all over her face..

I immediately searched the crowd for her mom or dad or siblings. I noticed a lady in front of us and saw her call out to the little girl. Not wanting to give up her sacred spot in the pretzel line she let the little girl get extremely dirty and pick up and throw all of the trash around her. The little girl had special needs. Special needs that in my opinion were not being met. I think the little girl's grandmother was taking care of her. I'm thankful for the family the little girl has, but my heart was broken. No sooner than I looked at Shane to see what he was thinking about the little girl she fell. And as a line full of people stood there and watched her try and get back up no one offered her a hand. She fell a twice more before I shoved my luggage  purse in Shane's hands and lunged forward to pick her up. She looked at me and smiled as I brushed the cinnamon off her face.I gave her a hug and sent her back to her Grandma. I cannot get that little girl off my mind. I always wonder where she is now and how she is.  I pray that God keeps her safe and meets her needs.

"The Blindside" touched my heart in so many ways. I keep joking with Shane that we too are someday going to end up with someone else kid. This movie, like many others, has sparked a fire in me. In this case I don't think that's such a bad idea.

I am thankful for opportunities to help others and look forward to finding more. I understand it's a selfish thing too because it feels so GOOD to put a smile on someone's face. What Mrs. Touhy did for Michael Oher was very inspirational. Anyone can change a life and I hope to change many, but one would be just fine. She said during the movie that she was happy. Just sooo happy and it was because of him. I want to feel the same way. I want to draw my happiness from others needs.

Thanks for reading my heartfelt post! I hope you can also find some small way to change a life or help someone- bc it feels that good. :-)

Photography

When it came to choosing a photographer my choice was very simple... my friend Mrs. Bear introduced me to Addilay Photography when she was planning her wedding in Destin, Fl. She had amazing pictures such as these: (Thanks in advance Mrs. Bear for letting me borrow your pictures ;-)

Check out more about Mrs. Bear here.

After I saw her engagement pictures my draw dropped and I had to have the same photographer. Yes I was a copy cat. See I saw her pictures before I was even engaged so as soon as he did propose the first thing I said was, "CAN WE GET OUR ENGAGEMENT PICTURES NOW?!!" No - I didn't really say that first. I said YES first and then I asked. Hahaha. (no not really...geeze.)

Anyways, Susan at Addilay Photography is one of the sweetest people on the earth. When we did our engagement shoot it was about 30 degress out and extremely windy. She and her husband were so generous with their time and really made us feel at home with what we did. I was pretty nervous because I'm not the most photogenic person in the world, but I was ecstatic with the turn out...

If you are wondering about the 30 degrees I mentioned with my choice of attire... no I didn't feel my toes for the next several days and it was well worth it. Beauty is PAIN!

I'm in the process of having many of these framed for the wedding so consider yourself lucky for seeing them ahead of time. Susan is available for travel (She's coming to Atlanta for my wedding) and HIGHLY recommended. She is a top vendor on my list! Check her out!

Ok I"m off to go running for the evening!
P.S. I tried to go to bed at 9:30 last night as apart of my whole becoming a morning person problem, and I rolled around for 3 hours and think I actually lost sleep - so that's not working....

Eyelashes

"Memory Note" from a loving aunt - because I never want to forget the eyelashes of the century - introducing my NEPHEW! haha, this little guy has eyelashes for days!

I keep joking with my sister n law that would should take him to the barbour to get his eyelashes cut, however, we'll keep the cute little curls...

I love you little man!

...food in your mouth and all :-)

Need to reset my clock...

Everyday this week I have been so tired! My little buggers (AKA Hershey, my adopted dog) crawls out of the end of the bed and looks around wondering if it's really time to get up. He sits there the whole time I get ready and when its time for him to go out he goes back under the covers.... sweet - I wish I could do that!

So the plan is to reset my clock this weekend and start going to bed earlier in hopes of waking up earlier. I feel like I am just not a morning person! Has anyone else had the problem adjusting from college life to working life? How do I become a morning person?!

Flowers

This was the inspiration board I made before I met with any florist to decide on the floral arrangements:

I used a picture of the bridesmaids dress, a pretty lace wedding dress from Jim Hjelm, and bouquets that I had found all over the internet (mainly greenweddingshoes) to show her my wedding taste. I want something soft, but with some sort of substance. I definately want something different. I met with Jill from the Flower Post and immediantly fell in love with her style. She would rather do something completely unordinary than a bouquet of red or pink or white roses. I thoroughly stalked her website before I met with her. I found these beautiful peices...

She's one of those people that have an amazing eye for something fresh and unseen or at least you don't see it every day. Before we met she asked me what kind of flowers I really liked because she said she would order them or make sure they were in the store so we could see what everything was going to look like. I choose flowers like these:

Green/white hydrangeas, dried lavendar, garden roses, and balsa wood flowers (haven't actually told her about the last one yet.) 

Ok to be honest every time I go to the store or drive through neighborhoods I find another flower that I like and think would be perfect for the wedding. Hopefully Jill doesn't want to shoot me because I think I've changed my mind a trillion times. But for now, this is what I like. I think it's pretty unordinary and in the picture I think they look great together.

What do you think?

My bouquet is going to be a bigger version of the bridesmaid bouquets. I told her I didn't really mind too much what the groomsmen's flowers look like. She is making mismatched table arragangments with these colors and then she also making a couple of custom peices... like these moss letters of our initials:

She's also making a handcarved wood sign with our initials. Underneath it will say "Est 2010." She said she would carve in something else like maybe a fish...I'll have to figure that out. In the meantime I'm extremely anxious to see the final product!

Picking the Venue

When I first got engaged I can honestly say picking our venue was one of the most difficult parts. I didn't feel like I could plan anything else before I figured out that tiny detail. My fiance' and I are both from Florida so there was a lot of pressure to get married  back home. We thought about a few places, but ultimately decided it was too far.

So, we started looking in Georgia. We looked in magazines, websites, and asked around - hoping to find a venue that just seemed right. One night I finnally came across the Lake Lanier Islands Resort and was sold! They had an incredible outdoor enviroment that was rustic and comfortable.

The place is absolutely gorgeous! Everyone there is extremely kind. However, the prices are outrageous!! We were looking to pay a base of 14k for just 100 guests. They had a different "package," than they do now where everything was "included". Well after we started working out a contract with them - their prices, menu, and package changed. Everything was no longer included. The site that we wanted to get married at wasn't even close to be constructed and the last straw was the food tasting.  There was no way I could pay $145 a head to eat the food they were serving at their tasting. I was heart broken, but knew it wouldn't be a good decision to spend so much money on a wedding there.

So we started our search again. This time we had some requirements:

1. Affordable

2. Located on some kind of water.

3. Not in the city

We found a couple of places on the Chattahoochee River. There is a clubhouse that host weddings litterally feet away from the water. It was pretty cute, but not anything close to Lake Lanier... a little dissapointing.

It required a lot of work and a lot of decor, so we kept looking until finnally we stumbled across The Chimney's at Big Canoe...

Big Canoe is located at the foot of the North Georgia Mountains. It's about an hour from the ATL airport. Although some what of a drive, we thought it was perfect for what were looking for and for our taste in venues. The prices were much cheaper than what we had looked at before, the caterer associated with the venue is top rated in Atlanta, and the site coordinator is the sweetest lady ever! I was sold again and this time it was final. We signed a contract with Big Canoe within a week. I'm so glad that part of the wedding planning is finnally over!