Week one

All the planning is done; the wedding is over…now what?

Well for us just spending some much needed relaxation time together. We couldn’t go on a honeymoon right after the wedding because well let’s face it we are dirt poor right now. Well maybe not that bad, but we both just started new jobs and moved into our first apartment together so things are pretty tight with the Brewer family now. Speaking of Brewer, I was called Mrs. Brewer today!!! So freaking weird! I was on the phone with comed to start up our electric today because I need a bill in my new name to be put on his insurance.. Anyway it is weird that I am no longer a Rasmussen!

Being a newlywed couple feels no different now compared to before, well except for the fact that we live together, and can sleep in the same room with the door closed if we want(that’s a big one for me). I mean it’s different coming home to an empty apartment at night, because I am used to always having someone around and he works night shifts, so I am home by myself A LOT. On the plus side to that I eat less and can now workout to my zumba tape alone, and not feel like a total idiot because I know I suck at it.

The wedding was AMAZING I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better day. I mean it felt like hell froze over because it was so cold, but other than the freezing weather the day was perfect. My girls looked amazing, the flower girls were so cute in the tutus and toms, the guys looked pretty handsome and Jesse cleaned up pretty good. I had fun and danced my butt off at the reception and considering how much cake I ate after the wedding it was a good thing. Our best man gave an amazing speech to us and the overall night was perfect. Jesse is so funny too; he asked me if we could get a divorce so we could do it all over again. Can you tell he didn’t help plan much? But if we could I would because the day was perfect! Once we get our wedding pictures I’ll do a post with all pictures.

Our plan for the future, just have fun and spend as much time together as possible. We both want kids, but we are in no hurry to start popin em’ out. We are going to try to save money to go on a “one year/ honeymoon” trip next year, but who knows maybe it will happen sooner. For now we are fine just like this, and enjoying being married. Now it’s my cousin who gets to deal with all the crazy wedding stuff!

Pictures coming soon I promise!!!

3 days to go!!!!

Hey everyone! This will be the last wedding blog I do, at least for pre wedding stuff because the wedding is 3 days away!!!!!!

Crazy right!?!?! I mean this past year has flown by. Jesse and I both started new jobs, got a new car, moved into our first apartment(still in the process). My best friend got engaged, little cutlet(other best friends baby) will be one in 2 months ,and the list goes on and on. I mean seriously it went by so fast!

Today was my last day at work for the week (thank god). I have so much stuff that still needs to be done before Saturday and its so dang stressful planning a wedding! I swear someone should make a book about how stressful and time consuming planning a wedding really is.

Any who, lets just do a quick run through about everything. I just finished my wedding programs tonight. Picked up candy scoops and bags for the candy buffet, making chalk board signs tomorrow, ect…just trying to get all the last minute stuff done. Tonight after work my grandma and I went an got a pedicure and let me tell you it was so overdue I couldn’t stand it. This week (well Monday and Tuesday) sucked! With a capitol S! this pedicure melted the stress away and relaxed me so much. Friday my best friend and I are going to get our nails done, and then Friday night is the rehearsal, and dinner at our house. We started “construction” on the living room and painting the whole downstairs about 8 weeks ago and its not done yet!!! OOPPSSSS!!!!! I try to stay busy so I don’t have to be home dealing with the stress of putting the house back together right now. I have spent a lot of time at the new apartment this past week just trying to unpack and put all our stuff away.

It’s funny, I know I am getting married, but it didn’t really hit me until the other night in the car driving to our apartment. The song we picked for our first dance came on and I couldn’t help but tear up, because it’s all went so fast and I can’t believe it’s here already. I am so full of all kinds of crazy emotions right now its ridicules because I am so happy to be starting a new life, but at the same time sad to be letting go of the old. We both have been so lucky  and have made so many changes to get where we are today. I couldn’t imagine it being any other way. We are so blessed with the family and friends that we have been given and I just have to say THANK YOU to those family members and friends who have been there all along with us.

It’s late, and I don’t think I have much to say right now about the wedding. This is the last post “before” the wedding and then the posts will be about our new life together and the journey we have ahead of us from here on out! Thanks again to everyone who kept up with the blog an the journey we have had so far!

-Ashley

35 days

Hey everyone, just a quick update as of today there are only 35 days to go..

I am starting to get nervous that’s for sure. A lot has happened these last few weeks. I started a new job, my best friend got engaged (I am beyond excited for them!), starting to look for a place to live (we are late on this I know, but we have been busy). I went last weekend and had my bridal make up appointment and 1^st dress fitting. Next Saturday my dress will be done. We finally looked at candy and got all the jars for the candy buffet. We still need to order the candy, and get bags to put them in but I’m not really worried about that. Tomorrow I have my bridal shower at church to go to, and then tomorrow night my mom, grandma, and hopefully my future mother in law are going to find a dress that they will wear for the wedding. Nothing new besides that really, just starting to get really stressed out...

Have a great weekend everyone!

DIY wedding invitations

So it’s crunch time! The wedding is 8 weeks away as of the 27^th, it’s crazy! I mean this year has gone by so fast and we have been so busy with wedding stuff its unreal. I decided to save some money we would make our own invitations. It was so easy! Well we sort of made them. I ordered our paper and pocket fold invitations from a website. I also took them to office depot and had them printed, and cut for me because well that’s a lot of work and time that I just don’t have right now. Anyways I will put pictures and our measurements on here in case you love them so much you want to diy your own as well.

Materials:

·         Pocket folds( we used the Retangolon style in purple, purchased from Cards and Pockets )

·         Card stock( we used turquoise and cream purchased from Cards and Pockets, it is 8-1/2” X 11”)

·         Adhesive tape (make sure it says permanent! Purchased from Wal-Mart)

·         Ribbon(we used turquoise ribbon from Michaels 5/8” width)

·         Hot glue gun and glue

Assembly:

Invitation & Inserts:

I designed the invitation and all the inserts. I designed them on Microsoft power point and then once I finished and I made all my corrections and what not I just moved them to MSW (Microsoft word). I knew I was going to have them printed so I called around and got prices for printing and cutting, and office depot was the cheapest. So I called and they told me to say my file as a PDF onto a flash drive and bring it in. I had all the paper printed and cut in about 4 days.

Sizing :(I put my measurements in decimal form because I entered all the information on sizing into my computer)

·         Pocket fold center: 7” X 5”

·         Mat(turquoise card stock):     H-4.750     W-6.375

·         Invitation:                                H:4.5”        W:6.125”

·         Directions:                               H:3.812”    W:6.75”

·         Reception:                               H:3.00”       W:6.75”

·         Accommodations:                   H: 2.562”    W:6.75”

·         RSVP:                                        H: 3.75”       W: 4.875”

I started with attaching the cream paper to the turquoise paper with the adhesive. I used four strips for each attachment. I then attached the paper to the pocket folds using four strips again.

I then put all the inserts in to the pocket. I did mine large to small(directions, reception,& accommodations) so you could see the top of each card. Once I put those in, I added the RSVP card and envelope.

 

For the outside of the pocket fold, to keep them closed I added ribbon with a bow (I hand tied all the bows) to all the invitations. I glued the bows to the ribbon to make them stick. The white you see in the picture is some paper before I hot glued the bow.

That’s all there was to it. They are very simple and look really good, but if it wasn’t for friends and family it would have taken me forever to get these done all by myself.



My mom and grandma helping "stuff" the invitations.





For Grandpa!

Growing up my dad wasn’t around much, I mean he was there but he was gone A LOT. My parents fought and as a result we moved in with my grandparents. That was 12 years ago. Growing up, both of them have basically been another set of parents to my brother and me. It was both a blessing and a curse at once. My grandma has grown to be one of the people I feel I can talk to about anything and everything. We may fight and disagree, but She has always been there and believe me God knows I didn’t treat them the way I should have.

The real purpose of this post is for my grandpa. He has truly been one of the most important men in my life growing up. Without him I wouldn’t be where I am today. He means the world to me, and I would be lost without him. He is by far the most caring and giving man I have ever met. Growing up he would give me rides to and from school, he always encouraged me to do my best at whatever I put my mind to and always believed in me. Throughout the years he has help me countless number of times with whatever I needed. He has helped friends of mine, heck he even helped out Jesse.

He has always had my best interest in mind no matter what. I don’t thank him as much as I should, or say I love you as often as possible but i wouldn’t have made it this far in life without him. When it came to actually telling people I was engaged I was more nervous about telling my grandpa then my dad. I am so excited to get to share a special dance with my grandpa at my wedding. I couldn’t picture anyone else who I’d rather have a dance with. He means everything to me and I am honored to call him my grandpa. I love you grandpa!

Just waiting

Hey everyone!!

Alright so I want to start by saying there are only 90 days till the wedding!!!!! 90 flipping days, I am beyond excited and really starting to get nervous about everything coming together like I hope it will.

Last Saturday was my bridal shower, and we got so much stuff that it had to be put into storage for now. The shower was amazing thanks to my MOH and my aunt, it was a good turn out too…I got a picture of most the stuff but my computer is acting up so I might have to put up pictures from the shower on the blogs FB page.

I just got measurements for the flower girl dresses, and we are getting paper and other stuff to make the invitations next week I think!? Not sure yet when we will get them done, but I will put up pictures because they are DIY whenever we actually get to finish them.

I have 2 weeks of school left for now so that will give me more time to do wedding stuff and actually get on the ball of things.

Jess started a new job so he’s been extremely busy, but he loves his new job so we are both happy about that. The only downfall is he works the night shift right now so we only get to see each other on Sundays usually unless he gets a day off.

Nothing new for now, but I am sure as it gets closer to the wedding I will have more new…90 days…I can’t believe it’s at the 3 month mark already : )

Home..

Hey everyone!

Ok so some of you know Jesse and I went to Ohio this past weekend for my grandma’s walk. It was so much fun! We got there on Friday night, and we were able to see my aunt and her family and one of my cousins. Saturday we went to the zoo and spent most of the day there…ill try to put the pictures on the blogs FB page…most of them are on the camera, but a few I got on my phone (I didn’t realize my phone took such good pictures) so that means it’s going to take longer to put them on to FB from the camera, because I am just too lazy to actually take the time to do it! Ha!

Sunday we went for the walk..And I was able to see most of my family that I hadn’t seen in awhile, and hang out a little bit with everyone.  They had a really good turnout for the first walk!

After the walk Jesse and I went four wheeling with my dad at one of his friend’s house…it was so much fun! His friend has chickens and one of them is called a lap chicken (I have no idea if those are even real) but she came and sat in my hand! It was so cute, she was so so soft and really mellow. After we got done we figured we would head home it was about 7 hours from where he lived so it was a long drive, but I was so happy to be home! I will put pictures on FB tomorrow probably…Jesse is yelling at me to put my laptop away because I am supposed to be watching the newest transformers movie with him right now!

Step out 4 Lillian

Hey everyone!

Ok so if you are friends with me on FB then most of you know I will be going to Ohio next weekend!!!! I am so excited!

Anyways I am going for the Step out 4 Lillian event. The event is going on to raise money for the Stepping out for Scleroderma foundation. My grandma died of scleroderma January 24, 2011 and we (the family and friends) are raising money for the walk. I started a page for fundraising today and anyone can donate and I will post the link below. Please don’t feel obligated to donate; if you do donate know that the proceeds will go to the Scleroderma Foundation Ohio Chapter.

Thanks everyone!

If you would like to donate, click the link below and it will late you to my page!

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/ashleyrasmussen

I am going to need help!

Hey everyone! Ok so sometime next hopefully..I will be making some wedding centerpieces..but I have a few different choices in mind so I will be doing a poll with pictures hopefully if I get time and I need every one to vote on which one they like best. It would be super helpful if people would actually vote and give input!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Summer time

Happy summer!!!

Summer is finally here and I am so excited! Flip flops, shorts, tank tops, tans the list goes on and on. Summer does come with a price though…school tomorrow! Excited and not so excited all at once that’s for sure. I am so happy to finally start, but that means I don’t really get a summer because for those of you who know I work at night. So school 12 to 5 and the work 8 to 3am…not much time for anything but sleep which sucks big time, and my not so tan skin is already suffering from it.

I do however get to spend time with one of my best friends and her amazingly cute daughter. The best thing about being in a “couple” is “couple” friends.  I love getting to spend time with Jesse and our friends who are together and have kids. Like tonight the four of us took the kids to get ice cream and honestly it was the most fun I had all week : )

Earlier in the week Becca and I attempted to make this mac n cheese….kind of a bust, but it was fun while we did it. Oh and cupcakes too, those turned out way better then the dinner part of the night.

Bridal shower is in a little over a month so that means on the 27 four months till the wedding!!! I am getting super excited. We are having the shower a little early because of vacations and school starting in the fall for some people, but who cares.

Alright so I have a problem with wanting to just put my wedding dress on and whatnot, but 2 weeks ago I tried it on and it was too big! Best feeling EVER! I mean the part for my boobs didn’t even fit, I almost cried when I put it on because I was so happy that it didn’t fit right anymore.

One more thing before I go, we are having trouble deciding on what favors to use for the wedding…any ideas??

Don’t forget to like us on FB

Facebook page

Hey everyone, I made a FB page for the blog. I am currently trying to figure out how to add a “like” button or a “follow us” button to link the blog and FB together, but I am a little pressed for time right now. I might just let Jess take my laptop home and do it for me : )

Anyway I will put the link up to FB so you guys can like it and hopefully I’ll be able to keep everyone up to speed with the wedding on FB. So just click the link below and it will take you to the blogs FB page where you can like it and stay up to date with blog postings and whatnot.

http://www.facebook.com/TheJourney1027

What to do ?

I am a little torn, I’ve always wanted to blog which is why I started The Journey…..but lately the only time I can find time to actually sit down and write is about 4:30 in the morning when I am getting off of work.  I was thinking about starting a vlog instead?!?!?! I would love input from people, and basically it would be the same as now and I would still keep my blog I would just do video blogs more.

The main reason I want to vlog is because I got a new phone, for those of you who actually read my blog and are on FB with me know that on Tuesday night I put my phone in the washer with my work cloths : ( I was so upset I almost cried. My phone has my whole life on it! I mean I felt like I lost a friend lol! Ok well maybe not that extreme, butttttt it sucked big time. So because I was an idiot I had to go and buy a new phone. My new phone is AWESOME! And I can make videos on it which is why I want to start volging. It would just be easier for me because I don’t always have my laptop with me, and there is stuff that happens during the day and it’s just hard to sit down and take the time to type it up.

So I guess my question is how many people would actually watch it? And I may or may not end up starting a vlog, but I would love to know what ya’ll think.

Ok so now I can tell you about the bridal expo I went to with one of my bride’s maids. It was a blast! I am not sure if it’s just because she was there or what, but it was so much fun. We took pictures in a photo booth (you can see them on FB), ate cake, signed up to win stuff, etc. anyways I win something every time I go there. I feel bad though, because I won these things called wrap it! I am still not sure what they really are or how they actually work but, I won them and Becca didn’t (she’s the one who wanted to win that). I just got them in the mail today and still haven’t opened them; I might try it and if they work give the rest to her. I also won 2 free personal training sessions with a local gym. I am not sure how I feel about that because I like working out, but I like to do things like Zumba or a cardio class….not personal training. So I have to call them to set something up, but I am not exactly excited about winning that one.

We have a date picked for the bridal shower now, and I started looking at stuff for the reception. Jesse and I have completed 3 pre-marriage counseling sessions, so that means only 4 more…..yay!! haha the sessions really aren’t that bad though. Sunday night we had date night, and we went and see The Avengers!!! The movie was AMAZING! Chris Hemsworth, and Robert Downey Jr. are Gorgeous, and both of them in this movie together!! Ahhhh it’s a dream come true. I am beyond excited for the second one to come out.

Ok so we are all up to date with wedding stuff right now but, I would love to know what people think about the vlog idea. Only 5 more months!!

Geeked for school! : )

Alright, so I think I am just a little too excited about starting school in June! I mean I HATED high school and my semester of college, but now I can’t wait. I was going to take a CNA class back in October, but I ended up not going because I was planning on working full time at the bank. Then I got fired (long story, that I am so over now.) so I didn’t go, and I hated myself for not going. Well now its May, and I am BEYOND excited to start.

Last night at work made me realize how badly I hate my job. I know it could be worse, but I really, really hate it! The hours suck and the pay is even worse. Not to mention, all the drunk and just plain rude and ridiculous customers that come to Taco bell so late at night! I mean who honestly needs $40 in food at 2 in the morning!?!? Anyways, back to school. So I went out and got my scrubs and shoes for class already and I seen these owl scrubs and I fell in love with them, so obviously I had to buy them. For anyone who doesn’t know I LOVE owls, at least the cute ones anyways.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about what I want to do when I grow up, and there are a lot of options out there. I keep thinking that I would want to be a Labor and Delivery nurse, but now I am not so sure. I know I want to work with women and babies, so now I am considering becoming a midwife, or something along the lines of that. I have plenty of time to think about it, and I have a lot of schooling to do before I can do either. I figure why not start now and start looking into classes and what requirements I need to complete to do anything.

For now I will take it one day at a time, but one thing is for sure I am so over working in fast food. For now it’s a paycheck and that’s about it. I will for sure be keeping up with posts and updates on the wedding and my schooling!

Ahhhh! I LOVE them!!

Tattoos

So I promised a tattoo blog, but I don’t have much to say about tattoos. I like tattoos, I have tattoos, and that’s about it. I think tattoos are a person’s own choice, and they have the right to get as many as they want. I don’t care if you don’t like my tattoos, get over it. They are MY tattoos and each one has a different meaning to me. So I will put a little description with each picture.

Ok so this is the first tattoo I got. It is a dove with the olive branch in its mouth and it says never lose hope. I didn’t have an easy life, but it certainly wasn’t the worst ever. I got the dove with the branch in its mouth because God sent Noah the dove with the olive branch as a sign of peace or hope, which meant the same to me. Never lose hope, No matter how bad the situation.

This is the second tattoo I got. It says living without regrets. It is in Italian, I had it written in Italian because I am part Italian, I think everyone should live without regrets.

The third tattoo I got with my best friend Alyssa. She HATES butterflies, so it’s kind of funny that’s what we ended up getting. Basically it’s just a best friend tattoo.

My fourth tattoo is my Christian fish, with a cross for its eye. I always wanted to get a cross or fish tattoo, so I figured why not get both.

My fifth tattoo is a stargazer lily. The stargazer lily is my favorite flower, and purple is my favorite color. I always wanted a flower tattoo. When I visited my aunt one summer she had a gorgeous garden and I took a picture of one of her flowers and that’s what my tattoo is of, except its purple and not pink.

And my newest tattoo is for my mom. We got matching tattoos for her sobriety. It meant a lot that she finally stopped drinking. I promised her we would get matching tattoos once she stopped drinking.

Most of my tattoos have a bit more meaning then what I wrote, but I don’t feel the need to explain why I have them. And some of the reasons are personal. So there are all my tattoos for now.

Oh Jesse

So lately I’ve just been missing Jesse like CRAZY! Man it’s just hard sometimes, because we used to spend everyday together, and now I’m lucky if I get to see him one day a week. So I guess writing or blogging helps me deal with everyday issues.

Jesse is just amazing! And I am sure every girl thinks her guy is amazing, but I mean I am really lucky to have him and to be able to call him mine. I honestly can’t wait until I can be his wife. He treats me like a princess, and everyone in my family can vouch for that one. I don’t deserve a guy like him, and sometimes I just find myself staring at him, and thinking boy am I lucky. He is just amazing.

He is my best friend and I couldn’t imagine life without him in it, and I wouldn’t want to either. Next month it will be 4 years that we have known each other, and looking back I never would of guess that I would be marrying him! Don’t get me wrong, because I wouldn’t change it for the world. I mean I was dating my first boyfriend when I met him and its funny because he would joke around all the time with me asking me when I was going to leave my ex and to start dating him. I thought he was crazy and just kidding around.

Then one day I gave him a ride home and he kissed me in his driveway! I couldn’t believe it. He was the second boy I ever kissed. After that we would flirt so much, and then he FINALLY asked me out after a year of just flirting. Ughh it drove me nuts that it took so long for him to finally ask me out. He says it’s because he was too scared that I wouldn’t have went out with him. Little did he know, I had been hoping he would ask me out for almost a year.

I remember it took him a year after we started dating to actually joke with me. I mean now we joke around all the time. Like yesterday he watched a veggie tales movie with me and once it was done he thought it would be funny to tickle me until I couldn’t breathe. He lets me be a little kid with stuff like that, and laughs when I “dance” in public. I love that I can be myself with him and he doesn’t judge me at all. We have so many inside jokes, and I love that I don’t even have to say anything to him I can just look at him and he understands what I mean.

This kid is my best friend and the majority of the time, my better half. He makes me a better person. He has changed my life in so many ways. He drives me nuts all the time, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I can’t wait until I will be Mrs. Brewer! The wedding is so close now and I am finally getting excited and nervous because the time is just flying by.  187 days to go!



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Our first picture EVER together! back in 09'



Just an Update

Alright so just a quick update on wedding planning and our life right now….

This past Sunday was Easter so we spent lots of time with the family, and went to church. We decided on center pieces for the wedding and started looking at cake designs and flavors we would want and blah blah blah, lol. I think I am starting to get nervous about the wedding because Saturday night Jesse and I were talking and I started crying about nothing, so I am taking a little break from worrying about the wedding right now and just enjoying spending some time with him and our friends.

On a not so stressful note, we bought a new car!!!!! YAY!! Lol : )

I am so excited that we got a new car. I mean I was a little sad to get rid of my car, but this one is way better. Its our car, but I get to drive it the majority of the time. It’s a 2010 Mercury Milan, but it reminds me a lot of the new Ford Fusions. It’s really good on gas, which is a big plus with gas going up in price. This will make a nice family car once we decide to have kids too, because my car was too small for anyone to even ride in the back seat.

We don’t have any other news right, but there are only 199 days till the wedding!

"Wedding to-dos"

We are officially all caught up on our “wedding to-do” list!

This past weekend was very productive for us. We met with the DJ and started to talk about how the reception will go. He is very nice, and I can’t wait for some of the things to happen that we talked about.

Saturday my mom and I met with the florist who I won the gift card to at the bridal expo back in January. She is so funny! She is full of energy and was beyond excited to do our wedding. She was very reasonably priced too, thank God!

After the meeting with the florist, we went and started our registries at the stores. My gosh! I didn’t realize all the stuff we would need for our house, and how much everything costs. We ended up sending half the day walking around the stores registering for stuff and to be honest I don’t think we even covered half of the stuff we need. Not to mention some of the ladies at one of the stores was extremely rude and stuck up. So by the end of the day my head was hurting, and I was so tired I could a fell asleep in the car on the way home.

Sunday Jesse and I had our first Pre-Marriage counseling session. It was…interesting….ha-ha. We will need a total of 6 more pre-marriage sessions and one post marriage session.

I already booked my hair and makeup appointments, and booked the bridesmaids makeup appointments too.

Today I will be ordering our paper so we can start making our invitations! I am beyond excited with everything, and now that I am all caught up on my “to-do” list for now I can breath easy for a little but!

Have a great week everyone!

Wedding update

Ok so just a quick update on wedding stuff……

Friday night I have a meeting with the DJ…FINALLY! Lol

Then Saturday I have a meeting with the florist, and then relaxing the rest of the weekend.

We finally decided to make our own invitations. So we are ordering the paper, and other stuff needed to make them. I am not exactly looking forward to making all of them by hand BUT I have my wonderful bridesmaids who said they would help.

We are starting to pick songs for the ceremony and reception now, and we finally set up our first marriage session with the church.

There are exactly 219 days until the wedding! That means only 32 Saturdays until I will be a married woman J

Nothing new wedding wise that I can think of, but I did finally get my NEW Zumba workout DVDS in the mail so I will be able to Zumba in the comfort of my own home lol!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Its finally March!

February is finally over! This past month just seemed so stressful and long. Birthdays, wedding planning, work, and trying to find time to still hang out with friends. There just isn’t enough time in the day. There are exactly 235 days to go until I will be a married woman! It seems like a long time away, but it going super fast.

For Jesse’s birthday we went out of town to get pizza. Our best friends and their baby Kylie came with us which is nice because we don’t get to spend much time with them anymore.   

On February 25 my mom and I drove to Rock falls to see my great grandma. My mom cleaned her house, because on the 26 was her 90^th birthday and people were coming over for a surprise party. Well Saturday I went and got the rest of the dishes and other stuff she was giving us for after we got married. I didn’t realize how much stuff she was giving us until I started to pack everything away. We got enough plates and cups for 24 people, along with bowls and other kitchen stuff. The dishes are dated, but I think they are pretty to use for holidays or family get togethers when our everyday dishes aren’t enough.

We have cups and bowls to match this plate.

Just some coold glasses we got from my Great Grandma.



I love these glasses. They have news paper articles on them.

Saturday the 25, my mom and I finally went and got our matching tattoos! I was beyond excited when she suggested we get them done that day. This tattoo means a lot to me, because it’s a symbol of her sobriety. This tattoo was number 2 for her and number 6(I have actually gotten 7, but one of them is a cover up so I really only have 6) for me. This Saturday we are going to get color put into them, I let her pick the color and where they were going. I will eventually do a blog on my tattoos and why I got them and what they mean to me and put pictures of them up.

Sorry about the flash, but it says 9-22-10 which is the date of her sobriety. the symbol is a triangle in a circle which stands for unity, service, and recovery. Pink will be added to this on saturday.

I wear glasses ALL the time! I hate my glasses and contacts just aren’t my friends, so I have been thinking about getting the laser eye surgery done. Not sure when or if I even will, but I will definitely be giving it some serious thought.

Saturday was my little brothers 17th birthday...time is going too fast and before i know it he will be 20! kinda sad haha!

Sunday night was a date night for us! We just went and seen a movie. Jesse took me to see The Lorax! I LOVE Dr.Seuss. I always have, I mean even on our save the dates we used a Dr.Seuss quote. The movie was super cute, and surprisingly Jesse liked it too.

Before I forget I will be taking a CNA class over the summer, and hopefully getting a new job before fall!

Nothing new other then what I wrote, I will hopefully do a tattoo blog by the end of this month.

Perfect Two RIP Brenda & Tahlia♥

Over this past weekend two beautiful young girls died in a car accident. I didn’t know these girls, but that doesn’t make this tragedy any less sad. From what I have read and seen about these two, is that they were as beautiful inside as they were on the outside. Brenda and Tahlia were best friends and always together. They made a video to the song Perfect Two by Auburn, and the video is very cute. When I watched I couldn’t help but cry because they were too young to die.

People have no right to be jack asses about this. The roads were bad out that night, and it could have happened to ANYONE! Kids at the local schools wore black today and tomorrow they will wear white in honor of the girls. I have seen a few different videos about the girls and they are all wonderful. They made me think about my life and it does make me realize that life is too short. You should live everyday like it’s your last no matter what. There isn’t much I can say about this other than I am sorry the girls died. My deepest sympathy goes out to the friends and family of Brenda & Tahlia. When I first heard about the death of the girls it made me think of some lyrics of a song by Kenny Chesney called I go back .

“And I go back to the loss of a real good friend
and the sixteen summers I shared with him
Now "Only The Good Die Young" stops me in my tracks
Every time I hear that song, I go back, I go back”

I heard today that the girls will be buried next together, and I couldn’t help but think how wonderful that was. The girls were always together, and they didn’t die alone, and now they will forever be together. In the video near the end was a clip from a facebook post by Brenda that said “If you want me to stay, I’ll never leave-with Tahlia” she tagged Tahlia in that post only 7 days before they passed away together. Brenda & Tahlia I never knew you, but you will NEVER be forgotten. You were the “Perfect Two”. I will be praying for your friends and family.

When a friend of mine died in high school, someone gave me this verse and it was very comforting.

^“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Revelation 21:4

Rest in Peace Brenda and Tahlia, you will be missed very much.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-meUL_GOphU&feature=related

Saving Grace

Well I have a cat, and her name is Grace. I adopted her in May of 2010. She was abused, but i wont get into the long story on here.

I love this cat, she cracks me up! Sometimes I swear she thinks she’s a dog. She plays catch, and goes to the door to greet you and does this weird roll thing. Anyways she likes to be with people. I mean if I am home alone she is right next to me and when I go to the bathroom to shower or get ready or whatever she is right there with me. I have to leave the door open or she will sit out there and meow and put her paw under the door until you let her in.

She loves to be in the bathroom when I take a shower, but when I turn the water off she starts meowing. She loves to look into the toilet right after I flush it. This cat is so strange. She absolutely LOVES Jesse! No matter what she is doing or where she is at, if she knows he is here she comes running and won’t leave his side. my grandma feeds this squirrel every morning, and she named him pudgy. Grace sits at the kitchen window when pudgy is outside and just glares at him! She knows when it’s feeding time and it’s almost like she is jealous of pudgy. Grace is so funny sometimes. Anyways I will put a few pictures up of my cat, because sometimes she is a camera whore lol!



They always take naps together lol!



Yes, she is in my underware drawer. She does lay in it often



This is pudgy on the back deck eating breakfast. And yes I did take this pucture





Birthdays, Tuxes and more

So it is now Saturday, and it is 7:53am. I am so tired I could honestly pass out, so forgive me if some of this is rambling on. I worked last night and didn’t get home till 5:30am and then made a little picture book on Shutterfly.com and it took longer than I thought it would.Anyways, this was a busy week for us. Saturday the 11^th I met with a photographer and I am happy to say that we now have our photographer booked! Our photographer’s name is Melody. She has just a little photography business, and is just starting out, but her pictures are beautiful! I am super excited to have her photograph our wedding day. We are still looking for a DJ though…ughhhh…haha. Planning our wedding is a lot harder then what I thought it was going to be.

Monday was my 20^th birthday!! YAYY!!!!! That means only 360 more days until I am no longer a child as Jesse likes to put it : )I didn’t get to just relax and have fun on my birthday, I really wanted to get a mani/pedi because the last one I had was back in October ( thank God it’s not flip flop season yet). To begin my day I woke up with lots of text messages from friends and stupid notifications from FB telling me Happy Birthday. I did get to sleep in, but we had to go to Men’s Wearhouse so Jesse could get fitted for his tux, and to try to set up appointments for the rest of the guys to go and get fitted too.

We finally decided on our colors for the wedding, well I decided haha! I kept changing my mind on what colors I really wanted, and then I figured I should do my favorite color. My favorite color is purple btw. So I am 100% sure that Regency(DB color purple) is our main color for the wedding. I was trying to figure out if I wanted to do another color with the purple and I thought of doing purple and champagne…I am not sure if we will just have some accents of champagne or not yet, but Regency is for sure our main color.

Monday night Alyssa, Becca, and myself all went to DB for them to try on dress for the wedding and I am pleased to say that after about 20 or so dresses we finally got the BM dresses. I am so in love with the dress I kind of want to order one for myself! I was going to bring my flower girls with us, but I figured it wouldn’t be the best idea because I held Kylie the whole time the girls were playing dress up. I promised the girls I wouldn’t put pictures on of them in the dresses, but I will put the picture from DB at the end.

Tuesday was Valentine’s Day, and I wasn’t expecting to do too much because I felt like crap because of my medication. We didn’t end up going to dinner until 7:30 and when we got to Outback we waited an hour before we even got a table. The food was so good; I didn’t mind waiting all that long. After dinner Jesse took me to see The Vow. I am so happy I put an extra pack of tissues in my purse because I used the rest of one pack and started the new pack. The movie was so good though I don’t care I cried for about half the movie. I definitely recommend going to see this movie.

Wednesday night I worked, and then Thursday I went to the doctor and she said the medication seemed to be helping. She upped my dosage, so I have been best friends with my toilet again lol. She talked about this medication she wanted to put me on called Clomid. I did a little research on this medication, and basically it helps your body release eggs. The only down fall or blessing to this medication depending on how you look at it is you can end up with multiples. I told her I did NOT want to start this medication right now. I lost 10 lbs. I knew I gained a few back, but not a big deal. She said 10lbs in 3 months is a healthy amount of weight loss(I wish it would have been more, but I am proud of myself). I don’t have to go back for six months and then she said we will most likely start the clomid.

Well that’s about all the news for this week, not too exciting. Next week is Jesse’s birthday, so I will probably make him a cake or something and I am talking him to get pizza in Freeport. The pizza is DELICIOUS! So I am sure another pound or 2 will creep up. No more birthdays or holidays for me to gain more weight haha!

Hope everyone has a great weekend and week!

The link is for the BM dresses...the color will be Regency!

 http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_Long-Sheer-Chiffon-Dress-with-Beaded-Neckline-F14867_Bridal-Party-Bridesmaids-All-Bridesmaid-Dresses

Busy as a bee!!

I have been neglecting my blog for some time now, and I am very sorry. I have been so busy with work, and figuring out if I am going to go back to school, planning the wedding, bills and blah blah blah. Anyways I am going to try to post at least once a week. Even if the post isn’t much, just to try and keep everyone up to date with planning the wedding and everyday life.

My grandma had knee replacement surgery on January 31. She is currently in a nursing home for therapy, because we have so many steps in our house. I have been trying to get up there every day to see her, but with work and everything it is hard. She is doing great however, and on Monday Alyssa and I get to watch our weekly shows with her.

My 20^th Birthday is Monday! Super excited for that. The only down side to the 13^th is that I planned dress shopping with my brides maids on Monday, and for Jesse to try on tuxes that day too. So rather than relaxing and doing what I want, I get to do stuff for the wedding ALL day. Valentine’s Day we don’t have any plans that I know of, but who knows what he has planned. I do know that we are going to see The Vow next week sometime! YAYYY!!!!!

The 16^th I have my doctor’s appointment. I am so not looking forward to that, but hopefully ill get some good news back.

The 19^th is our birthday party. When I say our, I mean my cousin Alyssa and I. every year we have a birthday party together because we were born 12 days apart, so it is just easier on everyone if our parties are together.

The 22^nd is Jesse’s 25^th birthday! I am hoping to get him a surprise gift. I would say what it is, but sometimes he likes to look at my blog posts. I plan on making him a cake or something along those lines for him, and then take him out for steaks one night.

The 26^th is a surprise party for my great grandma. I will be posting pictures of some things that she gave Jesse and I for us after we get married. I LOVE the dish set she is giving us. She also gave us 2 flutes for us to drink out of at our reception. I am planning to etch our names and wedding date onto them sometime soon.

February is a busy month for us! We are supposed to meet with a photographer sometime this month as well, and a DJ. Ughh wedding stuff is very stressful!

For all my Ohio family, I would love to send you all a save the date, if you want one….if so send me a message on facebook with your addresses. If not, don’t feel like you have to take one. I am hopefully going to scan some of our engagement pictures onto my laptop soon so everyone can see them.

So I will be making a few posts this coming week, and TRY to stay on top of my blog and updating everyone on wedding plans! Only 8 more months!!!!

Beautiful inside and out?

I decided to take a shower this morning rather than tonight just to get it out of the way. Most people have mirrors in their bathrooms, and ours just happens to be right in front of the shower; obviously I look in it. Well most people would think given my size that I am really unhappy with the way I look. That’s not the case I don’t hate the way I look. If you would of asked me how I felt about the way I looked 6 months ago, I would of told you I hated what I saw when I looked into the mirror. I didn’t really make any drastic new year’s resolutions this year because it’s honestly pointless. Most people can stick with them for MAYBE 3 month’s tops. So I decided to make only a few, and I didn’t really announce it to anyone because it’s not really a big deal.

The first one that I made was to simply love myself for who I am and what I look like. I realized that I will NEVER be a size 2 no matter how small I am or how hard I try. God didn’t make me to be a size 2! My family mainly on my dad’s side is big boned. Nothing you can change about that, you just have to accept it. That doesn’t make them or me any less beautiful. If someone doesn’t like the way you look oh well! It is not the end of the world. For a long time I have struggled with my weight.

When I went to the doctor in November I was at my heaviest weight EVER. I cried after I left my appointment because I was ashamed at how big I had let myself get. Yes that’s right I LET myself get that big. McDonalds didn’t force those fries down my throat; Taco Bell didn’t put a gun to my head to make me eat an extra taco. I ate too much food. Why? Because I LOVE food. Having PCOS didn’t make me fat. Having PCOS just made it very hard for me to lose weight, and believe me I have tried many times before.

I only made 2 this year because I didn’t feel the need to make more. I know I am only writing about one, but the other one is just a personal one that I don’t feel the need to share with everyone.  My ultimate goal is to be 130lbs, but I do have a long way to go before I am that small. My goal for right now is for my wedding dress to be too big. I know its sill, but it would mean so much to me, when I go in for my first fitting and for it to be too big. I am not changing for anyone but myself. If you don’t like the way I look just keep it to yourself. I don’t need negative feedback from anyone. Jesse loves me for me, no matter if I am 100lbs or 300lbs.  Up until now I haven’t been ready to face the fact that I am fat. Not chubby, chunky, heavy or anything simply fat and I know that. But you know what I am ok with that; for now. Sense November I have lost a total of 15lbs. it’s not much, but it’s a start, and I am so happy that I am finally able to lose weight.

 I am starting a new diet that my doctor recommended next week (it’s stupid to start a diet in the middle of the week) so hopefully by October I will be smaller. I don’t have a goal weight for October because if I don’t achieve it I won’t beat myself up over it. As long as I keep losing it I will be happy even if it’s one lb a week. Roam wasn’t built over night, and I won’t be a “bombshell” over night either. The number on the scale DOES NOT make me who I am, or determine my beauty.

I found this on Pintrest and I really liked it alot!