the luckiest love

Thankful.

2010-06-04T18:49:00.000-07:00

Purchasing a house is seriously the most nerve wracking thing I've ever been a part of. Is it going to be worth it? Yes. It will all be worth it on Monday. If you remember, we were supposed to close today. TODAY. We would be spending our first night in the house tonight. But alas, mortgage companies wait until the last minute to do things and they came up with a reason to say, "MMMM... waaaait a minute. We don't know if we really want to give you this loan." over a minor detail that they just completely missed the entire time at no fault of our own! So for about a 24 hour span between Thursday and today we had no idea if we would completely lose our house. The house we had built, the house we picked the colors for and had made completely to our taste- on the lot that we picked, by the pond.. that we heard "sooo many people" wanted. The thought of losing all of our hard work and time was devastating. To get THIS FAR, the day before closing- and have one person decide that they didn't think we deserved our house. Just, didn't seem possible. Fortunately, we had many people going to bat for us (including Nate's bosses) with letters and good words- and we wrote our own plea. And it worked. We close on Monday. We had to reschedule all of the deliveries and installations for later dates.. but at this point.. I don't care. I just feel so blessed to have my home. I haven't cried once in the last 24 hours- I haven't had something happen to me like that where I didn't cry in so long. I cry over every.little.thing. But I can't cry over things that sort of paralyze me. But it's over now. :) Monday can't come soon enough.

Second To Last.

2010-06-01T18:44:00.000-07:00

I honestly don't have the time to be writing this right now but if helps me to organize my thoughts and breathe a little then- I'll make time for it!

Today was the second to last walk-through for the house. Nate had to work so his Parent's and I went and met our realtor and the company reps out at the house at 8:30AM to go through every.single.inch. of the structure to pick out any and all flaws and things that need to be fixed. There were tons of little things, but all very minimal- like dings in the walls, nail pops, and the hot & cold reversed in the showers- ha. However, the sod/grass still wasn't down and this has kind of frustrated us for a while because most of our street (all new construction) got their grass put down before their drywall was even hung. So the builder footed their water bill and made sure their grass didn't die for a month or so while we wont end up getting that luxury. They would've put ours down today- 3 days before closing- but, we realized that during the time that we're gone for the wedding/honeymoon our grass would be left to sit un-waterd for about 2 weeks, and consequently it would just die. SO, we are waiting to have it put down until AFTER we return from Hawaii just to be safe. It's kind of annoying but it's better than dead grass and an expensive re-sodding endeavor. So in the mean time it will look like we live in the desert! Hooray! (not.)

I'm exhausted- Nate and I both are. It's an exciting and extremely fun time but man, oh, man is it exhausting! I keep envisioning myself laying face down on a pillow made of towel, on a beach chair, by the ocean, in the Hawaiian sun. The wedding is going to be wonderful, but relaxation is really going to be the payoff!

And before I pass out for the night- check out the flower girl baskets, the ring-bearer pillows, and one of the signs that our little 2 year old nephew is going to hold! (no kids will be left out!) Nate's Mom made them all. :)

Happening. SO. FAST.

2010-05-28T19:45:00.000-07:00

Oh HI. I know I've been super MIA lately- I'm so, so sorry!!! I bet you all are wondering what the heck is going on- that is if anyone actually still visits this little website! So, let me tell you what's been up! First things first- we close on our house THIS. COMING. FRIDAY... yeah, I'm totally serious. The last picture I posted here was pre-drywall. So I know I've really failed at updates. Good thing is, most all of you follow me through Facebook and/or Twitter so I don't think anyone has truly been left without a clue! But yeah, this Friday- I'm all like, "IS THIS REAL LIFE?"

We just purchased our dining room table/chairs tonight:

I'm super excited about it! Last weekend we purchased a refrigerator, washer, dryer, grill, and lawnmower! It seems absolutely insane to me that we are buying all of these things. It just still doesn't seem real. WE are HOME OWNERS. US.

And in a few more weeks we will be Husband & Wife, and a day later we will be in Hawaii. :) Ohhh bliss!

I think I will wait on a picture update for the house because, I think if I've waited this long I may as well wait and do it up right with a video tour of everything completely finished. :)

This weekend is going to be spent finalizing wedding details with my coordinator, putting programs together, and packing! I am getting my hair done tomorrow for the last time before the wedding. OH, yes- hilarious story about that. Nate's Mom and I go to the same salon out of town and we got a call today from said salon saying, "OH hey, yeah both of your hair stylists are GONE... yeah so you're appointments tomorrow.. yeahhh.. we don't know." AND I'm all, "EXCUSE ME? The girl who has been doing my hair for over a year and knows what I like is GONE on my last appointment before me wedding?!", and if I would've been the one to answer the phone I might've gone all bridezilla on someone but .. yeah. So we have appointments with some random person we don't know.. with the same person.. so it's going to take twice as long. Yada, yada. If my hair gets screwed up, someone's gettin' hurt! /End rant.

Bridal Accessories!

2010-04-26T19:00:00.001-07:00

Etsy.com is my best friend right now! I just purchased THIS from Sew Unique Wedding Garters:

And I'm in the processes of having this customized a bit for my measurements by Archeress Arts:

I am beyond excited about this necklace!!! Now, what earrings and bracelet to go with? Hmm.

Here are a few other things I am drooling over on Etsy for the wedding made by Inspired By Marie:

A "Peacock Wood Burned Wedding Guestbook".

And a "Peacock Feather Wedding Signature Mat".

The prices are a bit on the steep side, but I think the detail in the artwork is definitely worth it! They're just beautiful. I guess we'll see wont we?

And of course I'll need something like this (by Designer Shindigs to go with the guest book!

I want it all! ... I need to do an update on the house soon! It is completely drywalled and looks completely different! So excited to share the pictures with you all!

Living Room Furniture!

2010-04-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

We had our pre-drywall walk today and it went great! It was just a typical walk-through, explanation of light switches and outlets. We were able to ask questions.. that sort of thing. It already feels like home just because we've been out there so much! Everything is up to code and passed inspection so now it's time for drywall! We should have a closing date in late May, early June- if everything goes as planned. skjdhfkjhs.

After we left the house we grabbed a bite to eat at Steak & Shake and then headed over to Bed, Bath, & Beyond to add a few more things to our registry. So far Bed, Bath, & Beyond is my least favorite place we've registered .. out of the two, I guess. Haha. I'd like to register at JC Penny's too just because it's another place in my home town that people can go to buy gifts.

Annndd *drum roll* .. we ended up at Value City Furniture a bit after that. After much searching for a living room set that would make me faint with happiness- we found it!

Here are a few stock images from the website:

Couch- that microfiber suede material. This is by far the comfiest one that I've sat on, and I LOVE all of the pillows.

And this CHAIR. I can't explain the awesomeness that is this chair. It is so plushy and wonderful- and it spins/swivels around. I threw myself into it dramatically around 5 seconds after laying eyes on it and began hugging a pillow and rambling about how I had to have it. So, there you go. I pick out furniture like a 5 year old picks out a stuffed animal.

Pre-Drywall Walk Tomorrow!

2010-04-13T19:40:00.000-07:00

We have our "pre-drywall walk" tomorrow at 3pm! This picture is from today. This is the first time we've seen it with a driveway and side walk! It's just getting more and more real every time we drive out there to see it.

More updates soon!

Bricks, Shingles, & Windows

2010-03-26T17:23:00.000-07:00

They're up/on!

So, I think I'm sort of like a Mother-To-Be about this whole house thing. It's all I can talk about and I'm afraid everyone may be a little sick of me at this point. ;) It's just insane to me how fast this whole process has been moving along the past few weeks, so every time there is a new development- I MUST SHOW YOU. And even if no one is reading this, I will love looking back at it.

(And just to clear this up- I love hearing Mothers-To-Be ramble about their protruding bellies so maybe (hopefully) other people aren't annoyed by my house-baby ramblings. lol.) OH and be sure to keep up with my Flickr (here) if you want to see other pictures or the descriptions that I post. I don't usually post them all here.

Take A Tour: Vlog! :)

2010-03-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of progress on the house! Take a look! =)

Building Our Home from Stephanie Lynn on Vimeo.

And, our first kiss in our living room. ;)

We put the wedding invitations together and will be mailing them out by the end of the week! We've also started the cleaning and packing process. I have taken pictures of pretty much everything we've done and will flood you with them soon enough. I'm back in the blogging mood and it feels good. :)

Bridal Shower Thank Yous!

2010-03-10T12:32:00.000-08:00

Finally found the perfect "Thank You" notes at Target. =) *stares at the box* Do you think that they'll write and send themselves? ;)

Just kidding! I'm excited to let each and every person who bought us a present know how much it means to me (and Nate)! Speaking of Target, they have some things that they didn't have when we were in to do the registry and we need to put some more things on! Can't wait to scan some more home goodies. :)

Building The House

2010-03-09T17:02:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure what I last updated with on the progress of the house so I thought I would share a few photos that we've taken out at the site! The last visit we made was on Sunday afternoon and it was absolutely beautiful! We walked out in our "backyard" and went down to the pond that's about 3 minutes walking distance from our lot. It looks like they're just about to pour the foundation- they've done a lot to the land but since we are not construction workers we're not exactly sure what has actually been done. There are little "trenches" .. for plumbing and such? Hah... yeaahh.

Looking out into our future backyard..

Looking toward the street and our future across the street neighbor's homes.

Nate trudging through the dirt. (my shoes were real sad after a few minutes of walking out here!)

This is "our pond". I envision many Summer days spent beside this pond. :)
**I took this picture through the lense of my sunglasses! Cheap photography tricks, yall. ;)

Here is a lovely picture taken by the pond. A reminder that Spring is here!

..and the same flower in a different view!

Apparently this area between our back yard and the pond used to be a corn field!

I could just lay here all day and stare at the clouds passing by!

And lastly, I love the lines in this one....

And there you have it. :) I will keep you posted on the progress! I'm excited to take pictures of every stage. It will be neat to look back and see what used to be just a piece of dirt and how it has transformed into our home. <3

Bridal Shower Recap

2010-03-03T17:18:00.000-08:00

Right so, I wanted to type up this whole blog about my amazing Bridal Shower- and the thing is- it was amazing. But I can't really put it into words! Because if I do it goes something like this- "OMG, it was SO GREAT. Friends! TEA! PRESENTS. asjdlkkajsd. PRESENTS AND FRIENDS AND TEA. And PINK. And.. flowers! PRETTY flowers!!! ... and so many presents. AND so much fun! OOohhhhhhh... perfect!" Yeah. That's what this day looks like in my head and I wont subject you to that so just look at the pictures, kay?

The overall Tea Party set-up!

Would you like some noms? (I had to say "noms" because apparently I say that word a lot and it makes people laugh.)

My Mom & I- we don't look alike at ALL do we?

Tea time up front!

The "littlest" tea party going on in the corner! <3

My soon to be Sister-in-Law, Erin (party planner extraordinaire) playing with my Niece Bella! Love her tutu!

The daunting present corner!

Playing "The Price Is Right" with the gals! They had to figure out how much my basket of stuff was worth!

OH look how lovingly I am staring into the handheld mixer's eyes!

These salt & pepper squeezey things rock my face off! They're magnets and you SQUEEZE them instead of turning them like normal salt & pepper grinders.

My kind of cooking- put it in and WALK AWAY. ;)

SO excited about this rice cooker and vegetable steamer! MMMM!

Embroidered oven mits and towels! <3 LOL at some of my friends wondering why someone would embroider my current initial onto my wedding present. (My initial isn't changing, HAH. The first three letters aren't even changing!)

And one last present picture. There are a million, thanks to Ashley!

Wait I lied - I can't forget the SPOONTULA!

My little Ballerina!

My beautiful cake made by my other soon to be Sister-in-Law, Kristi!

My two wonderful girls, Tabitha & Ashley!

More pretty-ness~

Mom & I!

Self portrait!

Surprise!

A few boys that snuck into the party! (Nate and my soon to be Father-in-Law!)

And lastly- all of my beautiful girls! Love, love, love!

Bridal Shower, TOMORROW!

2010-02-19T18:33:00.000-08:00

My Bridal Shower Tea Party is tomorrow at 2pm! I am so excited and I absolutely cannot wait! I've gradually gotten more and more excited over the past week, but now that it's here- I can't contain myself! This past week has been full of craziness! Tuesday night we went to selections and picked out our floors, cabinets, colors, counters, etc. - all very, very fun! Here is ONE of many pictures I took with my phone, but I haven't uploaded them yet!

The wood will be in the kitchen/dining area and the entry. Love, love, love- favorite thing I got to pick out!

On to Wednesday- my parent's flew in around 3:45PM. I was still at work and once I got off of work Nate picked me up and we went straight to our appointment with ADI to select appliances at 5PM! Thursday at 5pm we had our lighting appointment with Breckers! *spins around in circles* And to add a little more fun to the mix- our Real Estate Agent is helping my parents look around at possible houses AND she's going to help them get their house sold. WHEW. Needless to say, we've been busy! But I did manage to get off around 1PM on Thursday, so there was plenty of time to do some damage at the mall! ;) We've just been browsing all of the shopping and eating out- I like it when my parents come to town! Tonight was spent eating at Johnny Carino's and viewing a possible house for them!

I think I know exactly what I'm wearing tomorrow- but I think I need to go stare into my closet for a while to make sure. I'm really scatterbrained right now so I have a feeling this post is going to sound all over the place- like my brain! I'll leave you with a few picturs I took of snow today.. before it started to melt. Today was the FIRST day I've seen sun and blue sky in ages! I'm hoping we get just a *tiny* bit more snow before my Mom leaves- she's seen plenty on the ground but I want her to see it fall from the sky! ;)

Just An FYI For Travelers..

2010-02-15T16:17:00.000-08:00

I am working on finding out exactly how to go about blocking rooms. I'm not sure how I can possibly know how many rooms to block considering that many of you may not want to stay at our wedding site hotel, so please bare with me while I figure this out and look for other hotel options for anyone interested in staying somewhere else! Thank you!

Fortune Cookies :)

2010-02-14T18:32:00.000-08:00

Mine: Right on the money! Here we come Hawaii!

Nate's: *crosses fingers* If the first one is true, maybe this one will be true!

:)

Initial Here, Here, Here.. and Here

2010-02-06T08:35:00.000-08:00

We met with the agents again last night at 6pm to sign the contract on the piece of property we decided on! It's real now. We own this piece of property! This really doesn't make much sense to me because like, when it comes to what I feel "old enough to do" I have the list of things that a seventeen year old is "allowed to do" in my head. While we sat there I kept thinking how silly I must look in there with those "adults" .. signing papers and reading contracts- with a flower headband on my head. Haha! I know I'm being crazy, but it's really just a weird feeling when you realize, HEY I really am THIS grown up now! Weird!

So yes- we own the property. It's OURS. We have an address! We answered some questions about the structural things that we definitely wanted to add on as upgrades so that once all of the paper work goes through the city, they can start building! We decided against the fireplace because it was quite expensive and we had to really evaluate how often we'd use it. It's definitely pretty but, just something to hassle with and maintain (since it would have been wood burning). Plus, all of our electric wiring and such is underground in our community, meaning an ice storm can't take it out on us! I think I'd rather have a generator heat a good portion of our house with space heaters than sit a foot away from my fireplace for days on end, anyway. (I'm trying to talk you and myself into the whole "the fireplace is pretty- not a necessity" idea. How am I doing?) We also decided to go with the 9 foot ceilings- that is definitely worth the money to me, even on the resale side of things. In addition to those we decided to add the attic storage package and the garden tub/separate shower. I think those were the only things we really needed to decide on last night. Everything else is cosmetic, and you already know how excited I am to pick those things out! I believe we'll get to do that sometime next week, but we'll be able to go back a few times if we'd like just to make sure we really KNOW what we want.

Nate and I have been really in-tune through this whole thing for the most part. The only thing we've really "disagreed on" would be my interest in having wood throughout the living area- he wants carpet. But, where-as he is strongly against the idea of that much wood, I could do either and be happy so it's really not even a disagreement. I will most likely end up with wood in the kitchen/dining area and entry area. We will see! On the 16th there are going to be a ton of open houses put on by our builder so we are going to visit a handful to get ideas and see the actual floors/counters/cabinets in "real life" to figure out what we truly want.

So I guess I should show you a few pictures of the model of our home, huh? :)

Here we are standing outside looking at the front (in the dark!). Ours will actually be flipped due to the property we're on and the houses going up beside us.

The front door straight ahead. Door to the right (or left when you enter the front door) is a half bath. Door that you cannot see opposite that door is a nice sized closet under the stairs. The opening right after the half bath is to the door to the garage.

Looking up from the bottom of the stairs.

The desk/book shelves that you see here are an upgrade that costs way too much! We can get the phone jack, electric outlet, etc installed here and then put our own desk there or whatever we would like to do with that space. :)

Looking to the right, the kitchen! It's such an open floor plan.

The kitchen and the dining area!

And like I said, no fireplace. But this will give us more options for furniture placement!

Going up!

The doors you see on the right = the laundry closet room area.

Master bedroom. Standard ceilings. <3

Inside the bathroom... oh and yeah, that is my closet. <3 Nate gets his own closet too!

Garden tub! And that window with the block glass costs extra so we're going with a regular window. I will put gorgeous wood blinds on it and it will be just as wonderful!

Double bowl vanity!

So there you have it! There's a lot that I left out but I'm thinking you've got the idea! :) I can't wait until it starts going up and we can go out there every weekend to take progress pics. Fun, fun, fun! *stares around tiny messy room* ... I think I'm going to clean. And then, I'm going to go to the party store and pick out wedding invitations. I like the peacock invites that I picked BUT at this party store they have the entire book of that brand and collection of invitation and I found a few that I think I like MORE. Plus, my photographer got back to me and he can get them at a very reasonable price so! It's time to pick!

A Productive Three Hours

2010-02-04T19:46:00.000-08:00

We had a meeting tonight with the realtor and an agent that deals strictly with new home builds to go over our interests in the different floor plans we had seen. He told us something that we didn't think was possible and I nearly fainted- we have the time to build a brand new house from scratch!!! SO we went from only looking at a few floor plans that were already in the process of being built to fit our time line to looking at ALL of the floor plans in our price range. After muling over what we had seen and what we would like to see - we decided that there was a particular one we hadn't seen that we definitely had interest in. Our realtors being the "go get 'em!" type of people that they are were like, "WELL - let's go look at one right now!" So after we spent a few minutes in the spec room looking at all of the possibilities of flooring, cabinets, colors, outside brick.. and swooning over the fact that I get to pick these things (within price range, lol)- we hopped in the car and drove out to see the model home! It was love at first sight- LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.

I'm beyond exhausted so pictures will have to wait (unless you're my friend on Facebook where I've already uploaded them!). But bottom line- we've picked our house, and we even drove out to see the lots we can chose from which we have pretty much already done! The lot is pretty secluded, near a beautiful pond, backyard opening up to a huge field that has no plans of being built on for a very long time if ever, close to the i-state for Nate, and 5 minutes from my work. UM, perfect? Yes.

I would say tonight was a very productive evening, wouldn't you!?

Our Story: Part 2

2010-02-02T23:35:00.000-08:00

So you want to know how Nate & I met, huh? Well, if you've read part one, you're probably guessing that Ashley introduced us- and you'd be right. But how? Strangely enough (or maybe not, in this day and age!) we have technology to thank for most everything. Ashley and Nate had actually seen each other's profiles on Myspace and then happened to recognize each other at a UK football game. I don't think they talked that day in person, but I believe one of them messaged the other on Myspace like, "Hey! I saw you at a football game!" and I'm pretty sure that's how their friendship got started. So, when Ashley started talking about this Nate guy and how they were going to hang out I, of course, was in Florida admiring his Myspace pictures and feeling happy for Ashley that she'd met a nice and very good looking guy. ;) I got pretty used to hearing about Nate and his crew of friends as she hung out with him more, but for the most part there wasn't much indication that they thought of each other as anything more than friends. It's funny because the first time that I ever spoke to Nate on the phone, I angrily hung up on him. ;) He and Ashely were out with their usual group having dinner and I called her to rant about whatever usual drama I was going through in my 18 year old life (honestly, everything was a crisis). Nate, unsuspecting and having talked to me on AIM (internet chat) only a few times, thought it would be funny to answer the phone. After hearing a strange guys voice answer Ashley's phone and a bunch of laughing in the background I demanded to talk to Ashley and when that didn't happen I made some sort of unhappy noise (if you know me well enough, you can hear it in your mind I'm sure) and hung up. Nice, right?

So, Nate and I began to chat more online during this time- conversations consisting of: "Haha, I'm sorry I hung up on you.", small talk about music, and probably whatever drama I was experiencing (poor Nate!). This was in the beginning of 2006 and we were fast approaching Ashley's birthday in March. Somewhere in that time we decided that it would be TOO MUCH FUN to surprise Ashley with a visit from me for her birthday and we went to work on the plan! The day that I decided it was definitely going to happen was the first time we ever truly talked on the phone. I was so nervous, but I remember everything about it clearly- sitting at my desk in my room and playing with the sunglasses in my hands... and the fact that I had to go to work at Bob Evans in a few hours. We worked out the details with my Mom and Ashley's Mom, he helped me with the ticket, and it was done! I ended up flying there a little bit after Ash's birthday - March 21st, 2006. Her birthday is the 17th of March. It was great because she had absolutely NO idea and I think to this day this particular secret is probably the only one I've ever successfully kept from her. Her parents and Nate came to pick me up at the airport in Louisville that day while she was at home without a CLUE. I remember seeing Nate for the first time there in that airport- everything about it! And before we knew it we were in the backseat of Ashley's parent's Jeep and on our way! I don't remember a lot about the ride but that's probably because I acted awkward and stupid. ;) And you know how I know? Because I take pictures when I want to distract myself from being a moron.

Thus- the picture of Nate and I that was taken literally like 30 minutes after we met with my camera phone. <3 Love it so much!

In part 3 I will tell you about Ashley's reaction to her surprise, continue on with the story, and post more pictures of us where we look twelve! (This is turning out to be long, whoops! I just keep thinking of more details!)

Whirl Wind!

2010-02-01T17:48:00.000-08:00

Okay- so let's see if I can recap our first time out looking at houses! Honestly, my brain is a little fried because I've got about a million and one things going on right now- bridesmaid dresses, flowers, cake, invitations... etc. I'm really trying to jump on-board with all of the wedding planning details because I've kind of just been doodling through the past few months like, "Yeahhh.. that'll get done." and now I'm all in house buying mode so that's making it even worse. Let me just tell you - I am a scatterbrained person with like a two-second attention span - so this is all QUITE overwhelming for me. Doesn't a fish have a two-second attention span, also? ....SEE WHAT I MEAN? Okay, right! Back to house hunting!

Our Real Estate Agent picked us up at 1:30PM on Sunday and we seriously didn't get home until around 7:30PM. It was awesome, but beyond exhausting. We went in around nine houses, hitting the one I blogged about a few posts down near the end of the list. The others we looked in- some were just okay, some were absolutely perfect until I realized it sounded like there was a race track in the living room and looked out the back window to see the interstate staring me in the face. There were different things in different ones that were definite deal breakers- like my second favorite that I had picked to go in that we found out was in foreclosure, had a lot to be upgraded/redone/cleaned due to being in foreclosure, and after spending a few minutes in it I noticed a familiar smell of smoke (gross & no thanks!). That was really disheartening considering the outside of that house is absolutely gorgeous. See?

Anyway, back to the house that I blogged about recently! I was ecstatic to go into it and it was mostly everything I had hoped for! The listing raved about the whirl pool tub in the master bathroom and I have to say- that is a joke! LOL. They have redone A LOT of things in the house (it's 14 years old) but.. the master bath has obviously not been touched. We would need to rip out most everything in there and start over. The tub is incased in this horrible (old) white tile .. and the tub itself is really old and small (and gross) and just- no. The declared master bedroom (on the first floor) is actually smaller than one of the bedrooms upstairs that has a very recently redone bathroom so, that could always be the master but- it's just a regular ol' bathroom - except for the sky light! ;) The "loft" area upstairs would be where Nate would have his "man room", however, that might be kind of bad considering it's completely open to the downstairs and this would defeat the purpose of him being in a separate room to do his sports watching/yelling or whatever he wants to do. We would definitely be doing battle with the TVs and any sound! There would just be a lot of things to consider with that house- but I'd still put it on our list as of now!

After that we went out of town to look at a brand new house because there isn't a finished version of this house in our area and our agent thought we might really like the floor plan in this one. It's HUGE, very reasonably priced, and of course it's brand new. I liked it but I'd say most of the things that I LOVED about it were cosmetic details that happened to be in that one but might not be in the one that's currently going up in our area. Our agent isn't sure exactly if we could get in there and make sure (for example) that I had the dark wood floors in the kitchen that I loved so much in the one out of town. This particular one is also near the interstate but not backed up to it. It's not a deal breaker but it is a little noisy and I'm not insanely impressed with the backyard. So, I just don't know at this point. Nate loves it, and I just like it.. at this point.. but I've almost forgotten it already. I'm going to need to go back in the last two again. We'll be going in two more houses on Wednesday to check out the floor plans in THOSE and I have a feeling that I might fall in love with one of those! I just .. have a feeling. :)

This is the huge, new one:

This is the new one that we will go in Wednesday that I think I might LOVE:

I know these little gray pictures don't say a lot but at least it's something. ;) So our outting was very exciting and informative. We learned a lot and even though this is stressful, we're having fun! If we're going to pick one of the new houses we have to act pretty fast based on some incentives that are going on right now, so I'm hoping that I walk into one on Wednesday and love every detail. *fingers crossed*

In Ten Minutes

2010-01-31T10:20:00.000-08:00

At 1:30PM- in ten minutes - we will be picked up by our Real Estate Agent to go look at a few houses we've picked out and a few that she's picked! I can honestly tell you that this is somewhere near the top of my list in the most exciting things I've ever gotten to do that will change and shape my life. Yay!!!

We're On Our Way!

2010-01-27T17:49:00.000-08:00

Yes- we are on our way!! To? Becoming home buyers! We have been pre-approved AND our real estate agent just called- we will be meeting with her most likely tomorrow or Friday (and she seems really nice)! It feels like this is all happening so fast that it doesn't even seem real! I guess I kind of thought that this would be a painfully long and drawn out process and by the time that we got pre-approved all of the houses we'd fallen in love with would be sold and long gone. But I don't think so! I can see myself walking into that house that I mentioned a post or two ago and loving it more than I do already! I still know that this may not be the case (I'm trying to be a realist, give me some credit!) but I'm crossing my fingers.

My Mom is going to be meeting with a florist tomorrow to come up with bouquet ideas. :) Things are getting done. I'm getting excited. OH and, speaking of things that don't seem real. Hawaii? Honeymoon? Seriously? Still don't believe that one.

That's the view from a room like the one we will have. Our "living room" will be a bit smaller.. but that's the view. Yeah. I know...

Our Story: Part 1

2010-01-26T18:01:00.000-08:00

Falling in love is usually pretty predictable in the sense that you'll most likely meet someone near or around where your every day life takes place. I mean, generally that's how it usually happens, right? School, work, mall, movies.. family members who mean really well. ;) That's just how people meet- especially in a small town like mine. The chance that I would marry someone I (or my family) had known or known of most of my life was pretty high.

But then- I met Ashley. Now, this is the deceiving part of the story where it almost sounds like I'm about to tell you that I'm marrying someone named Ashley. But don't worry (even though there are guys with that name!), I'm not. She's just the first piece of the puzzle! This is some much needed backstory, so bare with me! I met Ashley on vacation in Sarasota when we were about twelve. Twelve or thirteen? It honestly seems like a lifetime ago. I (obviously) lived in Florida with my Mom and that year was the first real vacation that my Mom and I ever took. So we went to our favorite place- the beach! It just so happened that Ashley and her parents vacationed to that beach for a week or two once a year and we all ended up at the same hotel! Now, if it had been up to me I probably would've never spoken to Ashley. I am naturally shy and anxious. I stutter when I talk to people I don't know well and make a fool of myself. Luckily for me, when Ashley noticed a snotty little blonde girl in her own world floating around on a raft trying to do the impossible (get a tan)- she decided I looked friendly, swam up, and asked my name. I don't remember much about that day- just that I was really impressed with her ability to swim underwater with her glasses on without losing them. LOL. We were inseparable after that. So when vacation was over and it was time for my Mom and I to leave we exchanged emails and AIM names and continued our friendship online. We talked constantly online and on the phone like normal best friends, and then we'd meet at our beach every year. It was always bittersweet and I would tell her all the time that I was going to move to Kentucky one day!

In June of 2005 my Mom and my Step-Dad got married on the beach where Ashley and I met. Ashley and I conjured up a plan where we decided that they needed to have their honeymoon time and they would HAVE to let me go home with her to Kentucky for part of the Summer. And it worked! ;) It worked out really well actually, and we had a great time! But it was pretty much over in a snap and back to Florida I went on my very first plane ride, all by myself! Little did I know that I would be returning to Kentucky and seeing her again before I'd be seeing her again at the beach!

Because of who? WHO? I wonder!!! And for Part 2 I will tell you how we all met! .. this would be more fun if everyone didn't already know this story for the most part but, hey, I'm having fun. I'm just too tired to write it all at once! Stay tuned. It's like watching a re-run.. it's still enjoyable.

Rainbow Bright

2010-01-25T18:12:00.000-08:00

So- I love my beautiful white wedding dress. But, I can't help but drool a little over this very.. rainbow.. wedding dress. ;) I believe Nate's Sister Erin showed me this a while back and I just stumbled across it again in search for wedding bouquet ideas (I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I WANT- anyone have suggestions? heh).

Isn't that gorgeous? A little non-traditional, yes, but you can't deny that it's beautiful! And I do adore her bouquet!

I'm really at a loss for ideas on the flowers. I want something that will go with the peacock theme I guess? Just as long as it matches. I just don't really have a real picture in my mind. Flowers are flowers to me. I keep searching google for bouquet ideas and I've found this:

But that seems a little bland. I want something that will pop well against the Oasis bridesmaids dresses. Do the bridesmaids bouquets and my bouquet have to match? What an amateur bride I am. ;) *googles some more*

House Hunting

2010-01-24T17:56:00.001-08:00

We went out and about looking at houses yesterday. We've filled out the paperwork to prequalify for a loan and are waiting to hear back so we just went out driving around again. The last time we went looking I fell in LOVE with a few houses. We went and found a couple that are still for sale and I drooled. BUT, we got online tonight to look a little more into those few houses and found MORE houses.... and then... we found THE one. I know that so many things could happen between now and when we can actually make an offer but, God willing, I want THIS house. I suppose the pictures could be deceiving and I could walk in and hate it but I don't see that happening. I'm trying so hard not to get my hopes up.. but .. here, have a look!

It has a deck AND a gazebo in the backyard with actual YARD surrounded by a privacy fence. It has a whirlpool tub, too. It's perfect. I keep praying that God will let this be our house, but I also continue to add in to that prayer that I know he has the perfect house in mind for us and if this isn't it I know there will be something better. But at the same time- PLEASE, let this be it! ;) Waiting patiently is going to be hard from here on out!

Registering For Gifts

2010-01-23T19:46:00.000-08:00

We have registered for gifts! We're not done YET and we're still tweaking and adding but so far we have registered at Target and Bed Bath & Beyond. We got up early this morning (ready by 11AM - that is early on a Saturday!) and led Nate's Mom around the stores while we picked things up and said, "What about this? Do married people need this?" I picked up a lot of things that I would've always wanted as a teenager but never had- like Roxy brand bathroom decorations - and then I would wisely announce that I AM A GROWN UP NOW and place it back on the shelf. .. but you know, I still want one of those mosquito net things that hang over the bed. I don't care what anyone says!

But anyway- we've started registering! People have been asking, and I'm finally able to say we've started! =)

First Post/New Blog Home!

2010-01-23T18:29:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to our little corner of the internet! You may remember that Nate and I had a wedding blog already BUT I was never able to customize it quite the way I wanted and that caused me to never update. I wanted a fresh start- so here we are! Feel free to follow us (see the sidebar on the right) to keep up with our updates! We also have a twitter dedicated JUST to our wedding. ;)

For those who don't know- Nate and I are getting married on June 12th of this year! I can't believe it's finally 2010. It seems like it took us forever to get here, but at the same time it seems like just yesterday that he proposed to me (April 4th, 2009)! I know that the wedding will be here in a SNAP! We are finally getting a lot done. For example? We have the invitations and bridesmaids dresses picked out. I'm currently waiting to hear back from my photographer on the invitations because he gets a discounted rate on them and so I'm crossing my fingers for that to work out!

Another accomplishment? Engagement pictures! I went to Florida for Christmas and Nate met me down there after Christmas. We had our engagement pictures taken in my hometown. I have yet to purchase them but here is a nice little sample of one of my favorites!

I am really excited to keep up with this blog and use it as sort of a planning tool! I'm going to add the story of how we met and our engagement story soon! Most of you already know the stories but hey- I'm going to gush all I want! :D Stay tuned. I'm going to be blogging like crazy I'm sure!