Cary and Kelly

Our Trip

2012-02-12T21:30:00.000-05:00

Back in January we took a trip out West to Park City and Las Vegas. We went with a couple friends, Brandon and Kathryn and had an awesome time. Luckily, Kathryn took a ton of photos and shared them with me (most of the ones on this post are hers).

As our luck would have it, Utah was experiencing the driest winter on record. There was very little snow in the low-lying areas. Luckily, the guys still found some good runs.

While the boys skied, Kathryn and I enjoyed the spa, explored Utah and found the HGTV Dream Home.

We found this wolf, I mean dog, outside a store in Park City. Luckily, he turned out to be very friendly!
The boys grew "mountain men" beards...even scarier in person.
Cary and Brandon skied Park City Resort and Deer Valley.

The Dream Home wasn't open for tours, so no, we did not go inside. The security guard was very nice, though and answered all of our questions. Wonder who the lucky winner is?!

We also ventured to the Olympic park which is now a museum as well as a training center. We were tempted to try the bob sled run, but decided to let the boys be the dare devils during this vacation.

The second leg of our trip was in Vegas. We spent some time at the tables, went to a Cirque du Soleil show and climbed Red Rock Canyon (plus found some burros).

Packing for two different climates can be a challenge...luckily, it all fit!

We stayed at the Palazzo Hotel, which is next door and connected to the Venetian. All of the casinos were decorated for the Chinese New Year, with a Dragon theme (this is the year of the dragon, by the way).

Kathryn and me at Caesar's Palace. The casino was decorated with flowers, plants and all sorts of Chinese lanterns.

We couldn't miss the fountains at the Bellagio. Gorgeous!

The Eiffel Tower lit up for the evening.

Red Rock Canyon

Possibly the best photo of the trip:

***Thanks Kathryn for the photos!

Organizing the Garage (Part 1)

2012-02-05T10:00:00.001-05:00

Sorry we've neglected the blog for so long. We've been busy tackling home improvement projects around the house and keeping up with Asher. One of our first projects was organizing the garage.

Although the garage is great for storage, there is only so much floor space. Plus, Kelly and I are bound and determined to actually park BOTH of our vehicles inside our garage. So we are combating the clutter with "shelving units" made by Rubbermaid. They are called fast tracks and are a system of tracks and hooks that anchor into the studs and drywall. You can find them at Lowe's or Walmart.

This is part one of the garage organization project...check back for part two.

Asher

2012-01-26T19:30:00.003-05:00

Here he is, Asher, the newest addition to the West household!

We adopted him this past Saturday from a local rescue organization that was at Petco.

He's a lab mix and almost solid black. He was 9 weeks old on Saturday. He hasn't finished all of his puppy shots, so he can't come out and play with "friends" just yet.

He is sleeping through the night (yay!) and learning to only potty outside (just a couple accidents so far). He is very playful and loves to explore. We've bought two squeaky toys and tennis balls to give him plenty of things to chew on. He loves the backyard...it is like a big playground to him. We really enjoy watching him discover, play, and grow.

Bye Bye Student Loan

2011-11-06T09:00:00.002-05:00

After working for just over a year, we are so glad to have paid off our student loan. One of the main financial goals we set for ourselves was to eliminate this debt as soon as we could.

When meeting with a financial planner early in our marriage, we wanted to handle our finances in a Biblical manner. We know that scripture states: "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender" Proverbs 22:7. We wanted to stop being slaves to Sallie Mae who took most of our expendable income for the first 15 months of our marriage.

image source

We have listened to many radio shows and podcasts by Dave Ramsey, and we are huge fans of his ideals. As he says, we've kicked Sallie Mae out of our house, and we now have more financial freedom.

Beautiful flowers

2011-11-05T16:00:00.000-04:00

From my wonderful husband...Love him.

My new best friend

2011-09-25T08:00:00.001-04:00

After several hours of sweat and frustration while trying to replace the heating elements of our water heaters, a family friend recommended trying a tool designed specifically for the heating element. Channel locks worked for 3 of the 4 elements but the 4th was too stubborn. I prayed that God would give me the strength to remove the element, but instead God gave me an $8 tool.
We've now spent 10 nights in the new home, and we are very thankful for hot water. We'll continue to post about the process, the move, and updates on the new home for the next few weeks.

The keys to our new home!

2011-09-12T18:30:00.001-04:00

Yep, those keys unlock the door to our new home. We have been bursting at the seams keeping this under wraps, and now we are happy to share it with everyone. We have been searching for and praying about a home for months, but just couldn't find "the one." Then this beauty came along.

Actually, we stumbled across it about 6 months ago but the timing was not right. Even then, we weren't impressed by the photos in the listing and almost passed it up. I'm so glad I made Cary drive out to see it, because we both really liked it. We are so excited to make it our own.

It has been a long process with tons of excitement, dozens of questions, and quite a bit of stress, but in the end, God blessed us with a house. We are looking forward to turning it into our home.

Stay tuned for some more posts about the home buying process.

Tough Loss!

2011-09-05T18:12:00.004-04:00

What a tough weekend for the Bulldog Nation! Cary and I traveled to Atlanta for the UGA/Boise State game this past Saturday. We spent the entire day tailgating with friends outside the Georgia Dome (notice the sunburn below). Even though it was a rough game, we enjoyed spending time with friends and fellow fans.

Hopefully, next week will go better against our SEC opponent, South Carolina. See ya in Athens!

Countdown to Kickoff

2011-08-28T07:39:00.008-04:00

It's been a couple of weeks since we last posted but we've been busy with some exciting times recently. We'll be posting about that in a couple weeks.

As I woke up this morning and watched the hurricane update, I flipped it on ESPN to check the latest sports and realized a week from now, I'll be watching the college football updates. An exciting time for sure.

Next Saturday, we'll be up early, putting on our red and black, and heading to the dome to watch UGA-Boise St. And Georgia will be putting on red and well, mostly just red. They will be debuting their ProCombat uniforms, pictured below. It's gonna be another great football season!

image source

I personally like the black uniform option better, but I also remember being down 31-0 at halftime and hearing a Bama fan chant "Knowshon...No Yards!" over and over. Maybe we should stick with red.

What's for Dinner?

2011-08-14T08:00:00.002-04:00

What's for dinner? That's a common question heard in this household! Sometimes the last thing I want to do after a long, exhausting day of work is cook dinner. That's why I LOVE my crock pot. Call me old-fashioned, that's fine, but it is the. best. thing. ever.

Here's a picture of this miracle invention in action:

I love being able to set up a meal in the morning and show up in the early evening, after work, to find that all the labor is done, and dinner is ready! How awesome is that?

(That's a crock pot liner in my crock pot...quite possibly the next best invention when it comes to slow cookers. It makes clean-up SUPER quick and easy.)

Here's the final result:

That's a blended peach margarita we're drinking (which wasn't sweet enough and needed some extra flavor, so I won't be sharing that recipe). The other great thing about crock pot meals is that it feeds a ton of people. We have leftovers for quite a few meals. Here is the recipe I used:

Crock Pot Fiesta Chicken
Ingredients:
1 can, 15 oz. tomato sauce
2 cans, 14.5 oz. each, diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 cup whole grain or white rice
1 can, 14.5 oz. chicken broth or water
1 can, 15 oz. black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can, 15 oz. whole kernel corn, drained and rinsed
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 packet taco seasoning (mild or hot...how spicy do you want it?)

Instructions:
Combine all of the ingredients in a crock pot, set to low and allow to cook for 6 to 8 hours. In the last hour of cooking, tear apart chicken breasts with fork. Continue cooking on low for another hour (totaling 8). Serve with tortilla chips as a dip or eat as a stew.

I'm not sure where I found the original recipe, probably a Google search or something. The original recipe did not have corn and called for pinto beans instead of black beans. I like to change it up and try different things, though. I also like to rinse canned veggies to try and get as much sodium out as possible. Use low sodium taco seasoning, too, to cut the salt. Try out the recipe, and let me know your changes and your thoughts!

Coupons Part 4: Practical Ways to Apply

2011-08-07T09:00:00.003-04:00

Buy a Sunday paper (during a non-holiday weekend). That's a great way to start. Pull out the coupon inserts and start looking through them. You don't have to cut every coupon you come across, just keep the ones for products you know you need or buy often. Put them away in an envelope.

Now here's the hard part.

Wait.

Yep, wait. Wait until the product goes on sale at your grocery store. Whether it is Publix or Kroger, the product will likely go on sale before the coupon expires. Check you grocery store's local ad, online or in store, and see where you can save.

If you want to expend even less energy, let Southern Savers do the investigative work. Simply keep coupon inserts saved away and check the website. As explained earlier, the website will tell you what coupon insert has the coupons you need for a great deal in your chosen grocery store.

It may sound complicated, but once you get into the practice of it, it becomes easier.

If you are ready to take it to the next level, here's how I gain multiple coupons: On occasion, we will use Coupon Clippers to purchase coupons. The same Smart Balance coupon mentioned in the previous post sells for 15 cents. The site requires a minimum of $3 in coupons and charges a 50 cents fee, plus 44 cents shipping. Unless there are multiple coupons I want or multiples of a specific coupon (Ronzoni pasta $1 off which commonly sales for 50 cent-$1 when on sale), I don't use that site. Most of the pasta we have we actually received credit towards the balance. I may have paid $4 for the coupons (20x.12, 60 cents for others and fees), but for each box of pasta (50 cents at Kroger), I applied the other 50 cents towards other groceries, so I actually made about 30 cents on each coupon that I bought.

Here is a list of some of the deals we've gotten since we started this series:

Kraft homestyle maccaroni: Regular price 2.59; our price 30 cents

Tyson frozen chicken nugget appetizer: Regular price 5.99; our price 99 cents

John Freida root awakening shampoo or conditioner: Regular price 2.99; our price: FREE

Tampax Pearl x 2 + Crest toothpaste: Regular price: 8.48; our price profit 52 cents

YoPlus 4 pack: Regular 1.99; our price FREE

Voskos greek yogurt: Regular 1.49/ea.; our price 15 cents

Smart balance milk (1/2 gallon): Regular 3.69; our price 69 cents

Tostitos scoops (family size): Regular 4.99; our price 49 cents

Kraft shredded cheese: Regular price 3.49; our price 67 cents

Splenda (200 pk): Regular 4.35; our price 17 cents

Honey nut cheerios: Regular 4.09; our price $1

Dove soap (6 pk): Regular 6.99; our price $1.49

Caribou coffee: Regular 8.99; our price $2.99

Aquafresh Xtreme: Regular 3.99; our price 59 cents

Blue Bell ice cream: Regular 5.99; our price $2.39

Snuggle: Regular 4.99; our price FREE

Whether you want to just clip a few or fill up an entire book with coupons, it's a great way to save some money. We hope this series has helped encourage you to give it a try.

Coupons Part 3: How We Do It

2011-07-24T18:00:00.003-04:00

This is probably the most important, yet complicated part of the process. I don't have the room and don't want to bore everyone, but I'll try to make this as comprehensive as I can without putting everyone to sleep.

When Sunday mornings arrive, I grab the sunday paper outside our front door, and I will briefly check the Kroger, CVS, and Walgreens ads as well as the coupon inserts (Smart Source, Red Plum, P & G). I also try to briefly browse the Southern Savers website which lists deals for all kinds of stores. Many times the website will have links to printable coupons so you can get deals even without a paper using smartsource.com, coupons.com, redplum.com to name a few. I stress the word "briefly" because I try to gauge whether I should buy another paper on the way to church at 8:30 AM. If the coupons have items we commonly purchase or if there are obvious good deals, we'll decide to purchase a couple extra papers. I've gotten much more efficient with this process and can complete it in about 15-20 min. (FYI: Publix changes their sales every Wednesday, so I don't check their ads on Sunday).

After church, I will cut coupons and Kelly will file them for items that we commonly use. We keep the actual coupon insert for about 3 months because the Southern Savers website will reference the weekly insert in which a coupon is located for a specific deal. For example, Chex Mix may have a coupon in last Sunday's paper. When Chex Mix goes on sale at Publix three weeks later, Southern Savers will remind us of that coupon from the coupon insert sent out three weeks ago. We then go back to the stashed inserts and find and cut the coupon. Since coupons do not expire for 2 or more months, this process works well. Plus, I don't have to memorize the coupons in each week's paper. A website does it for me.

In general, we plan our grocery list on Tuesdays and try to go to Publix on Wednesdays. If there are specific deals during the week, we'll stop by another store, but only if it is worth our time. Here is an example. This week, we saw that Smart Balance milk is on sale for $ 2.50/half gallon at Kroger. We have 4 coupons for $1.50 off so we'll buy 4 at $1 each, one day this week.

Here is a non-food related example. Our church is doing a backpack ministry for local school kids, so we started checking the sales ads for school supplies. Sure, we could have gone to Target and bought everything there for $40, but we wanted to be responsible with this just as we are with our other spending. If we can donate two back packs instead of just one, we've maximized our giving and helped two children, for just a little extra effort. For example, we saw that glue sticks were available for 28cents with the deal below. Scissors were on sale for buy one get one free for 1.99 (or $1 each). We used a $1 off coupon for each to get them both for free. Back packs were on sale for 3.99 at Walgreens.

The take home message:
1. To maximize your savings, buy items when they are on sale AND you have a coupon.
2. Save your coupons and obtain extras for good deals that you know about.
3. Utilize couponing websites to alert you of deals so you don't have to do all the leg work.
4. Stock up when you find a really good deal on items that won't go bad

Hope you found this useful, and stay tuned for the final part of our couponing series: Part 4 Practical Ways to Apply

Coupons Part 2: Why We Do It

2011-07-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

Many people tell us that they don't have time to cut coupons, and it is "too much of a hassle." So why exactly do we bother doing it?

The main reason, and probably the obvious reason, is that we want to save money. As some of you may know, we have a pretty hefty student loan to pay off from grad school. We made a big commitment to pay off that loan in a little over a year {and it is almost gone!}. We knew that in order to put so much money towards the loan, we would have to save a great deal of money in as many other areas as possible. And well, couponing and shopping sales is a great way to save money {if you don't believe it yet, hopefully you will by the end of our series...or at least consider trying it a couple times yourself}.

image source

On another note, coupons allow us to get the name brands we want at a bargain price. Most of the time, when on sale and with a coupon, the name brand is cheaper than the store brand. Often, you can get an item for free. Right now, we have about 45 boxes of a variety of Ronzoni whole wheat pasta. Since pasta lasts for almost two years, we are well stocked for whenever we want to make lasagna, spaghetti, or any other Italian dish. We also donated another 20 boxes of Ronzoni spaghetti to a church food pantry. Saving allows us to give more to church-related ministries, something we feel called to do.

Lastly, Cary views couponing as a game. It is him vs. the grocery store. He enjoys trying to make the end balance of that grocery bill "zero" and the percent saving as high as possible. I think it is kind of like taking a test. You can go in and "wing it" or you can study up and rock it. Once Cary gets home with all of his purchases {and I try to hide/store them throughout our tiny condo}, I like coming up with meals and then reminding him how little it all cost. Just last night we had a pasta dish with tomato sauce and sauteed veggies for less than about $2.

So hopefully that explains why we are so coupon crazy. I have to admit, I never thought I would be cutting out coupons and filing them alphabetically in a baseball card holder, but it is something that grows on you. Especially, when your grocery bill is in the double digits for the month!

Coupons Part 1: Barriers and Dispelling Myths

2011-07-10T09:00:00.004-04:00

It's been a few weeks since I alluded to the couponing series, but here goes. I wanted to do a series on couponing for several reasons: 1) a lot of people ask me questions about it; 2) I commonly hear "I don't have time for that"; 3) I told some co-workers I would. Over the next few weeks, we'll complete a 4 part couponing series. Yes, I said we, so Kelly will write a couple of the posts.

image source

Here are 3 common reasons I hear why people don't coupon: 1) I don't have time; 2) I don't get a Sunday paper; 3) I am particular about the brands I buy.

And to dispel those myths...
1) Couponing doesn't have to take up all of your free time. It is like most anything though, if you want to be good at it, it does take a little practice. The good news is that many people do the leg work for you. We commonly use several websites that will find and describe the deals for each week. So the only thing you have to do is just to go to the store with coupons in hand. We most commonly use Southern Savers, I heart Publix, I heart Wags.

One of the best ideas I've learned to save time is regarding the coupon section in Sunday's paper. My aunt recommend that I cut coupons for products that I know I use and to keep the ad filed away until it expires (usually 3-4 months). This saves time; plus, Southern Savers references which ad to get coupons from when new deals arise. You simply go back and pull the ad, clip the coupon, and you've got a great deal.

image source

2) No Sunday Paper? Well, that's a hurdle tough to jump. You can use online websites for coupons (coupons.com, Red Plum, Smart Source, and multiple manufacturer's site like Proctor and Gamble), but you will be limited in your ability to take advantage of the weekly deals. Many coupon classes will recommend getting 3-5 papers each week. The Augusta Chronicle costs $1.25 on Sundays but I purchased a Groupon deal for daily delivery at 94 cents/week. Many newspapers offer a discount if you purchase multiples. The Chronicle will sell them at $1/each if you purchase 5. That may seem like a high initial investment, but the return will show up.

3) My Brand is never on sale! This is the easiest myth to dispel. Whether food, toiletries, snacks, household cleaning supplies, or a multitude of other products, there is not only a discount but probably a coupon for the brand you prefer. A couple of examples...Kelly like YoPlus Yogurt. You might have seen my post regarding the regular deal on this yogurt. It's normally $2 for a 4-pack, but Publix sells is buy one get one free ($1/each) and there is a coupon for 50 cents off which will double. In the end, we only pay food tax for her favorite yogurt. We both like Cottonelle toilet paper. It's normally $8 for the double layer 12-pack. It routinely goes on sale for 5.99. When I use a $2 off coupon, we pay half price. Now, I'm sure there is some obscure product that rarely goes on sale or does not have a coupon, but for the most part, most products will have a coupon at some point.

NYC Part 4: Getting Around

2011-07-03T09:00:00.009-04:00

In NYC, there are 3 main options for getting around the city: 1) Subway; 2) Taxi; and 3) Walking. For some, driving would be considered another choice, but definitely not for us. We did a combination of walking and taking the subway, but we never tried a taxi. We had heard good and bad stories about New York taxis, but it was hard for me to justify paying $40 for something we could pay $5 for.

I tried to research on the MTA website and found that the shortest unlimited pass is for 7 days at $29. Instead, we decided to pay per ride, which is $2.10. We correctly assumed that this would be the cheaper option since we would probably not need 14 rides during a 2 and half day trip (although going the wrong way on 3 separate occasions put us awfully close). I've been on the T (Boston), Tube (London), and MARTA (Atlanta), and the NYC Metro is definitely the most confusing. Just when we though we had it figured out, we would realize we were going the wrong way and have to switch to the other side of the street at the next stop.

Similar to some European countries, many people walk in NYC. Whether walking to a subway stop, from a stop to our destination, or touring the city, we spent a great deal of time walking. Good thing there is lots of scaffolding overhanging the sidewalks since it rained each day. And I would definitely recommend some comfortable shoes. I think both of our feet hurt after day one.

All in all, due to the size of NYC, the subway provides an efficient access to the city and a fairly quick way of getting around. Once you are close to your destination, then you can either walk or grab a taxi. Do your research and don't hesitate to ask the locals, they were more than happy to try and help us get around the big city.

An anniversary tradition

2011-06-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

~~We interrupt the NYC trip for a little celebration~~

After returning from NYC, we wanted to celebrate our anniversary in a traditional way: eating the top layer of our wedding cake. We were a little nervous with how it was going to taste, especially when Cary unwrapped the foil and we saw the actual cake.

It looked pretty misshapen, as you can tell. Plus, we didn't know what flavor it was going to be. Our wedding cake was five tiers, with each tier being a different flavor. Neither one of us could really remember what we chose to be on the top.

And it's lemon...

Surprisingly, it wasn't bad. It was still pretty moist and actually tasted pretty good.

And one year ago:

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T16:59:00.003-04:00

We love our dads!!

NYC Part 3: Sights and Sounds

2011-06-12T08:00:00.000-04:00

As I've said before, New York was a whirlwind. Our weekend visit was very hectic and fast-paced. We tried to pack in as much as possible while still enjoying the trip. The following are just a few of the things we saw while in NYC. The city is very busy and there is something going on at every turn. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Starting off our on-off bus tour in Times Square
The Empire State BuildingThe largest department store in the world

The U.S. Post Office

The Plaza Hotel

Just FYI: Every hotel in NYC must offer public restrooms. So if you need to go to the bathroom, skip the McDonald's and visit the Plaza.Central Park

Probably my favorite shot from the trip...an artist in Central Park

Possibly my second favorite photo from the trip. Using the lamp post to re-charge your scooter...what a brilliant idea!
Trump Tower...inside the walls and floors are made of copper.Of course, we had to stop in Tiffany's & Co.

Thanks to one of the sweet employees, I tried on a sapphire and diamond ring worth $75,000.The Financial District:

The Charging Bull near Wall Street

Outside the New York Stock Exchange

NYC Part 2: Food and Drink

2011-06-05T16:00:00.001-04:00

To me, one of the best parts about being on vacation is enjoying the local food and drink. I'm the type who refuses to eat at McDonald's or any other place that you could eat while back at home.

A McDonald's in Chinatown, on our way to the Little Italy section of NYC.

We spent our first few hours in New York exploring Little Italy. Since my favorite food is Italian, I was pretty excited to try some pasta that night. We had an early dinner at Positano where we ate calamari, chicken Parmesan, and spaghetti with kalamata olives and anchovies.

(I was a little late in getting a picture of the chicken, sorry!)

Our weekend in New York was quite the whirlwind. We were pretty much non-stop the entire time, but we always found time to eat or stop into a local bar for a quick drink (and to wait out the rain).
After dinner, we took the subway to Rockefeller Center to pick up dessert at the famous Magnolia Bakery. The line was quite long, but the wait was only about 15 minutes. I doubt many bakeries have a doorman controlling who comes in!

Once inside we had to choose from the cupcakes of the day (hummingbird, smores, German chocolate or Japan) or any of their other tasty treats like banana pudding, cakes, and tarts.

Since they were out of Hummingbird cupcakes, we settled for the Japan cupcake which was vanilla with butter cream and a raspberry on top. One dollar from each cupcake benefited the Japan earthquake disaster.

It was yummy. If you are ever in NYC, definitely try Magnolia's.

For breakfast the next day, we ate at one of the many, ok, hundreds, of Starbucks in NYC. There really is one on every other corner. Later, we headed uptown to pick up our on-off bus tour tickets. After navigating the subway and getting turned around a couple, ok, hundreds of times, we decided to get some lunch. A co-worker of Cary's had recommended Carnegie Deli, so since we were in the area, we decided to try it out.

This line was even longer than the last one at Magnolia's. We probably waited around 30 to 45 minutes. They like to keep the tables completely full and pack you in. You may be sitting with another party of 4 or 6 depending on the table and the seats available.

Carnegie Deli is known for their enormous sandwiches. Meat selection includes pastrami, ham, roast beef, salami, turkey, and bologna to name a few. We split the "turkey dear" which is a turkey sandwich with bacon, lettuce and tomato on white bread (no substitutions).

The sandwich cost us $23.95 plus a $3 split charge. By the way, Carnegie Deli only accepts cash. Thank goodness our bank pays ATM fees (which in NYC can be up to $5)!

We also tried the famous cheesecake, which was literally THE BEST I've ever tasted. It probably helped that strawberries are in season, but it was soooo good! Well worth the $10.95 price tag.

Our last stop during our whirlwind New York tour was to Lombardi's Pizza. This famous restaurant had also come recommended by one of Cary's co-workers. Again, we waited, this time for over an hour, but this is a trend that we realized is the norm in NYC.

We took some pictures while waiting for our pie to bake. We also struck up a conversation with a New Yorker. We thought it was a pretty good sign that the locals eat their pizza here, too. Again, bring cash because no credit cards are accepted.

The pizza is baked in a coal-burning oven, and it was very good. The crust is thin and all of the ingredients tasted very fresh. There were no leftovers.

(a photo from Lombardi's website)

Hopefully, I'll be faster in writing the next part in our New York re-cap. Next up, sights and sounds.

NYC Part 1: Left Behind

2011-05-23T21:40:00.001-04:00

Our inspiration for the title comes from the series alluding to the end of the world and being left behind. Well, the world didn't end on May 21, 2011, but many things were left behind. Kelly has often reminded me during our first year of marriage that if my head wasn't attached, I would forget it. Unfortunately, that forgetfulness served us poorly for our New York trip.

We should have realized very early in our trip we'd forget things. Our friend Tim dropped us off at the airport, and I quickly realized I didn't have my cell phone. No big deal because it's a lame flip phone, but Kelly looked through her purse and then stated she'd left hers at home, too. I asked a random guy to borrow his phone and despite his reluctance, he allowed it. I told him "you don't have to let me use it; I can ask someone else." I was able to call my own phone which Tim answered and within a few minutes Tim came back with phone in hand.

After getting through security, we were talking about forgetting the phone, and I realized that was not all we had forgotten. We had left the show tickets and Yankees-Mets tickets on the coffee table at home. We didn't have time to go get the tickets and thanks to free wifi at the Augusta airport, I frantically attempted to come up with plan B. I exhausted all efforts...I called the seller (who was on vacation), Ticketmaster, ebay, I even called the Yankees! And in a final attempt I called AMEX and inquired about the purchase protection policy...tickets are excluded.

So in summary:
What Cary forgot-cell phone (initially), rain jacket or umbrella, show tickets, baseball tickets
What Kelly forgot- cell phone
Luckily, I was able to re-print the show tickets online so other than the rain gear (it rained every day) and the baseball tickets, all was salvageable. We went to see Chicago starring Christie Brinkley and it was a great show. We sat on the 2nd row and other than the guy in front of me telling us he got his tickets for much less, all was good. I guess it turned out OK we didn't go to the Yankees-Mets as a repeat scenario may have occurred.

Keep reading over the next couple of weeks for the next 3 posts on NYC.

The Empire State Building

One year ago today...

2011-05-22T08:00:00.001-04:00

...I put on a beautiful white dress.

...I smiled for photos with my best girl friends.

...I shared a moment with my mom.

...I took my dad's arm,

and he walked me down the aisle.

...I said "I do" in front of friends and family, and made a life-long commitment.

...I vowed that God would always lead the way.

...I married the man of my dreams.

Now, I look forward to many more happy years that are just are wonderful as the first.

Happy Anniversary, Cary! I love you!

Goats, Braves, and Couponing

2011-05-09T19:36:00.000-04:00

I know it's an odd title, but it seemed to encompass the topics well. First off, Happy Mother's Day to our moms. They have been an encouragement to us and helped model love for us.

If you've followed our blog much, you probably have seen at least 1 post about goats. If not, I'll catch you up to speed. About 2 years ago Kelly's dad lost all but 1 goat due to a pack of wild dogs. As a birthday/father's day present, we bought him 4 additional goats which have since become 10. They are fenced in 10 acres so have plenty of room, but 1 billy continued to want to get out. Last year he ate the corn crop and we decided to be proactive in preventing that this year. I listed the two-year-old male Boer on Craigslist and after 2 weeks...nothing! Then, I listed him in the Iwanta online ads and received 15 phone calls within a few days. Catching, and loading up a large billy goat was quite an experience. I wish Kelly had shot a few pics or video, but the short version will have to suffice.

Kelly and I went to Atlanta last weekend and had a wonderful time. We had been planning to go to the Braves game for several weeks and chose the weekend series vs. the Cardinals. It worked out where my brother was also there so we enjoyed seeing him for the game. Following the game, we enjoyed a night out with some friends in the city. On Sunday, we attended Buckhead Church where Andy Stanley had started a series titled The New Rules For Love, Sex, and Dating. Not only was the message entertaining, it was very practical. I recommend listening to a podcast.

Lastly, when we get back from New York, I'm planning to write a 4-part series on couponing. Several people have asked me why I never wrote about it so here is my chance.

Hope Uncorked

2011-04-17T07:30:00.000-04:00

We spent Friday evening at an event benefiting the Alzheimer's Association in Augusta, GA. It was held downtown at the River Room and was called Hope Uncorked, A Night to Remember. The following pictures were all taken by Ryan Wehmeyer.

photo by Ryan Wehmeyer

We tasted many different wines, from Australia, France, Argentina and California, and lots of good food.

One of the wine stations, photo by Ryan Wehmeyer

The kabob station, photo by Ryan Wehmeyer

They held a silent auction throughout the night with items ranging from a golf cart to jewelry to a black lab puppy. We really wanted to bid on him because he was soooo cute, but we just don't have room for a dog.

photo by Ryan Wehmeyer

At the end of the night they had a live auction for this artist's work:

photo by Ryan Wehmeyer

His name is Richard Worth, and he is one of the artists whose talent is featured on the Augusta Water Works' walls. Cary and I really liked his work, and we are thinking of getting him to do a piece for us.

personal photo

We had a great time, and if you want to see more pictures from the evening go to the "Spotted" website.

Preserving my wedding gown

2011-04-11T19:30:00.000-04:00

I finally had my wedding gown preserved. I had been dragging my heels on this, I know. Everything I read recommended having your gown cleaned as soon after it was worn as possible so that the stains would not set in {oops!}. And while my gown wasn't horribly dirty, it had a big stain on the under side of the train (from being stepped on during pictures I think), and the hem was spotty {I just couldn't wear those shoes all night!}

I checked around town a little bit, but was skeptical about handing it over to a regular cleaners. I finally called a local fine fabric store, called B&B Fabrics. She quickly told me, No!, don't send it to a dry cleaners...or any local cleaners. She has heard horror stories. She actually has a service in her store. The company name is Wedding Gown Preservation Co. They are located in New York and claim to have over 90 years of experience in the wedding gown preservation business. You go by a participating store (several carry them...check out the website), pay for the kit, and that's all. You do the rest.
The kit includes a pre-paid label and box for the gown. Carefully look over your gown and mark any stain with stickers that are provided. They will of course inspect the gown, but this ensures that nothing is missed. You then stuff it into a bag that also comes in the kit, tie it up, and place it in the box. Then just drop it off at your closest UPS. You can also include other items in the bag such as your veil, garter, etc. (for an additional charge).

Turn around time is anywhere from 2 to 13 weeks depending on how busy they are. I received mine in about one month. It comes back in a "window view" box, on a bust, with the bodice showing through the front. The box is sealed tight, so I don't want to take it out and expose it to the air and all...even though they send plastic gloves {much like the lunch lady wears} to use to inspect the gown. I just am going to have to trust that it is clean, I guess.
While I know it will probably be out of style by the time my children or grandchildren get married, I like knowing it could be worn again if anyone wanted. Or maybe I can have it made into a Christening gown for my daughter (assuming, of course...). They have a 20 year guarantee against yellowing of the dress...so we don't have to be in a hurry to have kids, huh?

Sunday Dinner

2011-03-27T19:56:00.007-04:00

I am always skeptical of new cooking products on the market. For example, the Recipe Inspirations from McCormick's just seems silly to me. Of all the spices in my cabinet (most of which I never use), why would I buy more? I'm sure I can find something to use or substitute.

So when I saw the new product from Philadelphia Cream Cheese, cooking creme, I thought, I'll just add sour cream or half and half and achieve the same thing...why buy something with just one purpose? But of course, Cary found a coupon, and then the product went on sale, and then the grocery store decided to just give him the product since he was gonna get it so cheap anyway (just kidding on the last part...kinda), and I thought I would give it a try.

So tonight I used it for our Sunday dinner. After church, we picked up some chicken from Publix (on sale, of course). I decided to try the chicken bruschetta pasta recipe which I got from the Philadelphia Cream Cheese (via Kraft) website. I followed it mostly to the letter, but didn't add the fresh basil. I put in my own seasonings...all dry, all Italian, already on hand.

Cooking the chicken

Preparing the tomatoes...I used heirloom grape tomatoes in red and yellow. The yellow ones are milder but I like the difference in color.

Adding the creme...then adding the pasta:

And the finished product:

Overall, it was good. Very filling, very creamy, very yummy. I think if I make it again, I'll add some broccoli or asparagus. It really needed something green. Plus, another ingredient or two would give it more depth. Cary liked it, so we will probably use it again...when it goes on sale, of course.

Yes, I know, I'm no food photographer...just bear with me.

The Masters

2011-03-20T20:03:00.003-04:00

Just a few more weeks...

A tradition unlike any other.

This year will be a little different for us because we are no longer in school. Master's Week always coincided with spring break, giving us the week off. But this year, we have to work. To everyone who doesn't live here, the Masters is great and vacation-like, but for those who live in Augusta, work and life still go on...with a lot more traffic and a lot higher prices at the restaurants. We will be renting to the same family as the past few years, but we'll be staying with Kelly's parents and making the commute for the latter part of the week. We'll be going to the tournament on Sunday so maybe we can see some of you there.

Happy Birthday, Cary

2011-03-06T07:14:00.001-05:00

Even though this is a little late, just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my Husband!

Our parents joined us for dinner at a local Japanese restaurant. After lots of shrimp, chicken, and steak {and a little sushi for me}, we went back to the apartment for Cary's favorite dessert, ice cream cake.

Sorry the following pictures are really bad...they are from my blackberry.

New York here we come!

2011-02-16T18:26:00.005-05:00

That's right. We are planning a trip to New York for our first wedding anniversary. We have booked our flights and hotel (we will be staying in the financial district), thanks to my travel agent, Cary. While we still have a few months until we hit that one year mark and fly to the big apple, we are trying to plan well so we can maximize our three day vacation.
So, if anyone has some advice or suggestions for New York, please let us know. We need suggestions for restaurants, attractions, shows, stores, sights, and whatever else is a "can't miss" in the city that never sleeps!

~~~

Also, this is our 100th blog post....thought that was pretty cool!

My birthday weekend

2011-01-30T17:45:00.000-05:00

For my birthday a couple weekends ago, Cary and I decided to get out of town and celebrate with a long weekend. We spent the first two nights at Hotel Indigo in Athens, Ga. It is a new and "green" hotel located in downtown.

(From their website)

The trash cans were labeled for recycling (paper, plastic, etc.). The toilet was similar to one on an airplane. It flushed with force more than water. All of the lighting was compact fluorescent, and the window was large to allow for lots of natural light. (The picture above is similar to what our room looked like.)

We were in Athens the weekend after the big snow/freeze here in Georgia. There was still snow and ice everywhere, but the roads were mostly drive-able (except for our taxi driver's van which struggled to get us to Porterhouse for dinner). After breakfast and a little shopping downtown (Cary was such a trooper!), we walked around North Campus (mostly so I could take a few pictures). The President's Fountain (above), located next to Old College was completely frozen.

"Our bench" where Cary proposed.

This fountain on Herty Field was frozen, too.

Our next stop was Chateau Elan in Braselton, Ga. We had stayed at this inn and winery before for a friend's wedding, and I have always wanted to go back.

The winery at Chateau Elan

The view from our room...the pool was definitely not getting used that day.

Extreme Couponing...Cary Style

2011-01-23T19:00:00.000-05:00

Many of you may have seen the recent series called Extreme Couponing on TLC. I participated in my own version this past week and thought I'd share. Yo-plus is normally $2 for a 4-pack. It recently went on sale buy 1, get 1 free. I bought four 4-packs with four $1 off coupons, each totaling ZERO (Other than food tax)!

My coupon tip of the week: Don't just use coupons when you have them. Wait until the item is on sale, and you can take advantage of both.

Update on the kids...

2011-01-22T09:00:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to share a few pics of the baby goats from last weekend.

(I love their ears! Don't know what it is, but I think they are the cutest!)

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T06:45:00.002-05:00

Wishing you and yours a happy new year!

Merry Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T09:17:00.006-05:00

Wanted to share pictures from a home near us in Augusta that is decorated for Christmas.

Santa's Camper

And those are poinsettas planted along the walkway.
I think they've got the Christmas spirit! Hope you do, too!

Baby Goats

2010-12-19T19:50:00.000-05:00

There were 2 new baby goats born in Camak this week. Due to the rain on Saturday, we were limited in our pictures and only able to tell the sex of 1 of them (a female). Below are the pictures we have so far.

Crazy Time of Year

2010-12-19T09:08:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that Christmas is almost here! Now that Cary and I are working full time, it makes for a different holiday season. We no longer get weeks off for finishing finals. Nor do I have plenty of free time to shop. We will be working right up until Christmas like the rest of the real world.
This past week, Cary and I attended some Christmas parties with friends, family, and co-workers. First up, Our small group from Stevens Creek Church held a tacky Christmas party. We all donned our favorite tacky sweaters/Christmas wear and got together for some food, karaoke, and fellowship.

The crazy gang {love ya'll!}

We all exchanged gifts...

And J.T. even fit in a little time for exercise...

Friday night was busy as we stopped by my "office" party and also Cary's party for his department. We spent Saturday between two parties as well. The early afternoon was spent at my parents' house with my Mom's side of the family. In the evening, we traveled back to Augusta to my brother and sister-in-law's Christmas drop-in. We aren't done yet with family get-togethers. Christmas day will hold a lot of traveling for us! It's been a crazy week, but a ton of fun.

Our First Christmas Tree!

2010-12-06T06:57:00.001-05:00

This past Saturday we took a trip to Gay's Christmas Tree Farm in south Augusta. The owner is the father of one of our small group members. They grow several different breeds of Christmas tress...you can walk out to the field and pick and cut your own.

We could have chosen to cut our own tree, but instead chose an 8 ft. Fraser Fur from the pre-cut ones {Fraser Furs are native to North Carolina and only grow at high elevation, by the way}.

This is Cary's first year of having a live Christmas tree.

Mr. Gay is shaking out the tree, getting rid of any loose needles. And I can attest, that little shaker machine works! We did not drop a single needle in the apartment putting that tree into our stand.

Up and in the stand {hopefully safely secured} and full of water!

Now to decorate...
We decided to decorate the tree with our ornaments from childhood. So every ornament on the tree was either handmade by (or for) us, given as a gift, or acquired over the years.

Oh, yeah. What do you think of the tree skirt? It cost me $1 from the Dollar Tree. Ha ha!

The first ornament to go on the tree was a gift from my Mom and Dad {the Lenox Wedding Cake ornament}. It says "Our First Christmas Together."

Adding more....

Cary helped, too...

The Finished Product:

Close up:

One of the homemade ornaments from when Cary was young:

Santa uses Shutterfly

2010-11-29T17:32:00.017-05:00

Well, I don't know that for a fact, but I bet he does!
As most of you all know, I am a big fan of Shutterfly. I have made several of their photo books chronicling our engagement, our wedding, and even our recent trip to Tuscaloosa. I think that they make great keepsakes as well as wonderful gifts for family and friends. But Shutterfly is more than just photo books and prints.

Some of their other photo products would make great gifts as well. Shutterfly’s photo calendars are easy to put together and offer an entire year of fun and memories for the recipient. We made one for a family member last year, and he loved it. It displayed pictures of his newborn babies during their first year. He put it up at his office and proudly showed it off to his friends and co-workers.

Speaking of great gifts for new dads, check out Shutterfly’s coffee mugs. You can display multiple photos on one mug, or choose a single photo to showcase. Either way, photo coffee mugs are a great way for new parents or grandparents to brag about the latest addition to the family.

Their Christmas card s are amazing. They have so many styles and designs, the possibilities are endless.

Cary and I decided to go with a Shutterfly design this year instead of sending out generic Christmas cards. We wanted to be able to include a photo or two from the wedding, and Shutterfly helps us do just that! Every card is easy to personalize and make your own. I am happy that we will be able to share multiple photos on one card and still have a great design.

This card in particular could be in your mailbox very soon!!

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T07:52:00.000-05:00

I saw this political cartoon last week and I had to post it...

Happy Thanksgiving and Go Dawgs.

Tuscaloosa Trip

2010-11-15T22:46:00.001-05:00

This past weekend, Kelly and I took a trip to Tuscaloosa to visit with our family. The timing was perfect as Thursday was Veterans Day, and we both took Friday off. We left early Thursday morning and spent the day with my cousin and the twins (our ring bearer & flower girl) for a little while. We visited the Bama football facilities on Friday morning, toured campus in the afternoon, and kept the twins Friday night to give my cousin some free time and keep us entertained for the night while gaining some valuable experience (dinnertime, bath time, and bedtime). Quite the experience!

A whole bunch of pictures of our trip below:

We asked several friends for recommendations and decided to check out Dreamland Bar-B-Q. We visited the original but chose to eat at the newer one as the original restaurant only has two menu options: half or full slab of ribs.

We also took a self-guided tour of the campus of the University of Alabama and saw the President's Mansion, Denny Chimes, and the Quad.

The fraternity and sorority houses really are that close to the stadium.

Of course, a trip to Tuscaloosa would not be complete without going to a game.

Kelly and I have both been to several SEC stadiums, and it's always a treat. It was a fun weekend with many great pictures and experiences.

(Thanks MB and Roll Tide!)

Our Wedding Album

2010-11-02T22:25:00.008-04:00

I'm so excited that our wedding album has arrived. I know I said no more wedding posts, but I just couldn't resist! I wanted to share our album with you. It was so much fun to make with Picaboo, and I highly recommend them. I also used Picaboo for our engagement photos. I love them...you can make your own page layouts and use pictures as backgrounds. They have so many features, the possibilities are endless. Let me know what you think.

Here's the link in case the one above does not work.
http://app.picaboo.com/WebView/Project.aspx?clientID=b9429efe476a024f2d193a71cfcc3b3a&version=60979

5 Months!

2010-10-22T16:54:00.004-04:00

Happy 5 month anniversary! Cary surprised me this morning with a dozen roses and breakfast! I love you!

UGA vs. Vandy Game

2010-10-19T18:39:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday, we woke up early to go to the Homecoming game vs. Vanderbilt. Georgia had another noon kick-off, making for an early morning and a short tailgate. We met up with some of Cary's fraternity brothers and their wives/girlfriends for "brunch" on Myers Quad. Then we made it to the stadium just in time for the 12:20 kick-off time.

Trying to stay warm in the early morning.

Enjoying the Buffalo Chicken Dip

Tailgating at Myers

The view from our seats.

We hope to make it to another Georgia game this year, but the next few weekends will be busy. Hopefully, the dawgs can finish the season out with more wins. Go Dawgs!!

The House Divided

2010-09-26T12:02:00.023-04:00

Well, I think I've finally cleaned up from the shower. {Sandy, I think I put your house back like I found it!} We all had a great time, and Courtney and Brian received some beautiful wedding gifts. I was able to snap a few pictures, but wished I could have taken more! I feel like that is always how it goes...I'm torn between setting up, enjoying the party, or taking pictures. I wind up doing a little bit of all three...and I only have a few good pics to show for it. {oh well}

Jill helped me with the set up. Here she's making the hamburger patties. We added a packet of Lipton's onion soup mix, and I must say they tasted pretty darn good. {one packet of soup mix to about 4 lbs. of ground beef and two eggs to hold it all together}

Cary grilled all of the meat and dogs, but managed to find some time to play a little cornhole with my brother, Brian.

I got some shots of the food and beverage areas, before any food or beverages were set out. I wish I had gotten a picture of the final product...sorry! Sandy is such a prepared hostess. Most of what you see belongs to my brother and sister-in-law. Don't you love the orange bug spray cans? {Gotta love Georgia and its mosquitoes}

The "after" picture of the candy bar:

{Thanks Sandy for helping with the styling!} I think the "House Divided" theme went over well. We had orange and red all over the place. I borrowed some tailgating things from our friends Hank and Sarah who are Clemson fans, and then added our Georgia stuff. Courtney is a UGA grad, and Brian graduated from Clemson, so they are a bit of a divided household when it comes to college football. {Luckily, the ACC and SEC do not play one another very often.}

The beautiful bride-to-be...
And Cary was also a fan of the Reese's pieces.

Time to open gifts!
{At this point, I am frantically writing down gifts and taking pictures at the same time.}

Some friends from MCG

Thanks to everyone who stopped by. I hope you all had a great time! And congratulations to Courtney and Brian. We wish you many, many happy years together!

Courtney's Shower

2010-09-24T18:05:00.016-04:00

I have been busy planning a bridal shower for one of my best friends, Courtney. She and Brian are getting married in January {yay!} and I couldn't be happier for them. Aren't they so cute together?

I spent Friday and Saturday baking, cooking, decorating, and organizing. My brother and sister-in-law let us host the shower at their home. I was so grateful to have a location, because unfortunately, our condo just isn't big enough for a good ol' shindig. Maybe one day...
Anyway, back to reality. I have a little theme going for the shower, which I will share soon. For now, I'll show you some sneak peeks.

Baking chocolate mini cupcakes. I found the cutest mini cupcake papers at Michael's. Red with white polka dots and orange with white polka dots (picking up on any sort of theme yet?)

Mmmm...they smelled so good. Now, gotta make some vanilla mini cupcakes in orange and white polka dot papers.

My organized chaos that will become a candy bar. I have been very inspired lately by candy bars for birthday parties, wedding receptions, and even casual get-togethers. So I am attempting one of my own at this shower. The picture below can serve as the "before" picture.

And I will post an "after" picture soon! By now, you should be able to figure out my theme! Any guesses?

UGA vs. Arkansas game

2010-09-19T20:40:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, we went to Athens to the UGA vs. Arkansas game and saw first hand how the new tailgate rules affected UGA's campus. Rather than tailgating on North Campus, we decided to tailgate on Myers where the rules' weight is far lighter. The biggest change I noticed was how few people were on North Campus. We saw only 1 group when we drove by at a little after 8 Saturday morning. Maybe that goes along with having a noon kickoff.
It was fun to see some friends again and spend the afternoon cheering on the dawgs. It was another disappointing game, and I'm ready for a home game NOT at noon. I guess we'll have to start winning to get better TV times. To quote Tim Tucker of the AJC, "It felt a lot like 1993 in Sanford Stadium on Saturday" alluding to the first time since '93 that we started 0-2 in the SEC and lost to Arkansas. If nothing else, it's reassurance as to how good the SEC is overall. Check out some pictures from the day below.

Our view of the field from the end zone. Not sure why there are empty rows!

We both got sunburned...it was so hot and sunny.

Our view of the band on the field and in the stands.

Thanks!

2010-09-16T21:51:00.000-04:00

We wanted to thank everyone who joined us on our wedding day! It meant so much to have you all with us. We know you traveled from near and far and took the time to celebrate our marriage...and we are so grateful for your support!

Thanks!

Cary's aunts, uncles, and cousins

My Brother and Nieces

The Nixes

Fraternity Brothers

Cary with his groomsmen

Our friends from Augusta

with my brother and sisters
Jenny, Naomi, Sarah, and Chrissie

With my girls

Mr. and Mrs.

This will be the last of the wedding posts. I hope you enjoyed all of the pictures, and again, thanks for your support at our wedding!

UGA vs. S. Carolina

2010-09-12T13:30:00.001-04:00

Kelly and I attended the UGA game in Columbia, SC this past weekend. It was good to see the suspensions served last week and most players return for SEC action. I saw this cartoon in the Red & Black newspaper last week and it made me laugh so I included it. Check out this article for a full list over the past 3 years. The Red & Black Article had a nice take on it, too as UGA is in good position to win the Fulmer Cup.
With a 12 o'clock kickoff, it was tough to get up early and set up for tailgating, but we were able to have fun with some friends for a few hours. Carolina loves playing the Sandstorm song while the student section dances around waving their towels. A fan around us commented "they really love their rave music." In the end, the dawgs couldn't get it done. However, it looks like S. Carolina has a nice chance of representing the SEC East. If nothing else, maybe saying that will jinx them.
Here's some pictures from the weekend. Hopefully next weekend will go better in Athens vs. Arkansas.

A view of the Columbia skyline (yes, we were high enough to see):

A halftime show to honor the heroes of September 11, 2001:

The Party (aka Our Reception)

2010-09-07T16:43:00.000-04:00

Our reception was held at Windermere Golf Club in Cumming, GA. We were so excited to find the venue and very pleased with the service leading up to the wedding as well as the night of the reception.

Our First Dance

We served a low country boil for dinner that included shrimp, potatoes, corn and sausage. We also enjoyed chicken, cole slaw, and fried okra...a very Southern reception.

Time to enjoy the party.

Hank starts the train...

And more people join in...

And still more...

The electric slide, a classic!

Lots of people were shagging and swing dancing.

And of course, we mingled with friends and family.

We had such a great time, and we hope you did, too!

College Football Season has Arrived

2010-09-04T14:40:00.000-04:00

As of Thursday night, college football has officially arrived. Some years, the season is slow developing, and good match ups are hard to find until later in the year. That's not the case this year. There are match-ups with Top-25 teams facing off virtually every week with 2 games in the first week. I respect Boise St for scheduling at Va Tech, but I still hope they lose. Kelly and I didn't attend any games the first week, but we'll be cheering on the dogs next week in Columbia.

100 Days and Counting

2010-08-30T18:28:00.001-04:00

We've been married for 100 days. I can't believe it...the time is just flying by. We've been busy with work, and we are getting excited about college football (and fantasy football, although Cary is the only one excited about that). We are planning to go to a few games this season, and I can't wait.
In the meantime, while we are eagerly awaiting kickoff, here are some pictures from the ceremony.

Cumming First United Methodist Church, Cumming, Georgia

Rev. Ron, Cary, and Brandon entering the sanctuary.

Weston and Julia get ready to go down the aisle.

So cute!

Going up the stairs to the sanctuary.

Down the aisle with Dad.
(I love picking out friends and family in the pews in this picture...it was all a blur when I walked down the aisle. I hardly remember anyone else even being in the church!)

A view from the balcony.

The Kiss

And we're married!

Our Attendants

2010-08-20T08:00:00.001-04:00

I wanted to share some more pictures from the wedding with you, specifically, photos of the bridal party. Here are some great shots of my bridesmaids.

Jill, one of my maids of honor

Courtney, also a maid of honor

Kelly and Kelly :-)

Sandy, my sister-in-law

And a couple of me...

Cary and his groomsmen

Cary with his best man, Brandon

With his brother, Blake

Cary and Noah

Busch and Cary

And a couple of my husband...

Thank you to our bridal party for being a part of our wedding!

Wedding Season

2010-08-12T18:29:00.003-04:00

Kelly and I went to two weddings this Summer (outside of our own). Both weddings were for our classmates from PT school and both were tons of fun. It was a good time to get together with classmates and share stories as being newly licensed therapists.

First, was Jenny and Wade's wedding, held in Alpharetta, GA.

Wade thought up a unique way to get the garter...

The Mission Impossible theme song is playing...

And Wade gets the garter.

~~~

Another classmate of ours also got married this summer. Leigh and Jason married on August 7 at Villa Christina in Dunwoody.

Of all the weddings we have been to, this was the first cupcake-cake we had seen.

(I'm on the far left in the green shirt helping lift during the horah.)

Congratulations to the two happily married couples!
We wish you many, many years together!

Cake Envy

2010-08-06T06:56:00.000-04:00

Our baker, Natalie, is the owner of Cake Envy, and she specializes in "over-the-top" wedding and special event cakes. You may remember from a previous post, that she met with us last minute in late March to design our wedding cake when Publix disappointed us.

I thought the cake was gorgeous and turned out really well. It towered over us as we cut it. So much so that when Cary and I accidentally hit one of the plastic separators with the cake knife, we were afraid it was going to topple over on us.

It tasted delicious, what little bit Cary and I tasted. But our guests told us it was delicious, too...all 4 flavors. Each layer was a different flavor: chocolate with Bailey's filling, vanilla with raspberry filling, lemon with lemon filling, and carrot cake (our top layer, which we kept, was the lemon cake as well).

So if you are in the Cumming/Atlanta area, give Cake Envy a try. Natalie does beautiful work that is delicious, too! And just for fun, here is the original sketch:

(We decided to add the last layer at the end of the meeting, so it isn't completely drawn in.)

The Bridal Suite

2010-08-04T07:25:00.001-04:00

Since our wedding photos finally arrived on DVD, I can share a few of them with you all. I really enjoyed looking through all the pictures that we received because it reminded me of the all the fun moments that just went by so quickly! It is so true what they say...it's a blur and you will hardly remember a thing! So I am going to blog about the events I do remember.

I figured the pictures of my girls and I getting ready in the bridal suite was a good place to start the wedding recaps.

My dress! I purchased it from The House of the Bride in Augusta, GA. My consultant, Beth was amazing. So patient and sweet...I never felt rushed or pressured. And while we did look at another store, the best dress (and the best price) was found at House of the Bride.

My bridesmaid and sister-in-law, Sandy, made me a beautiful hanger cover with my new monogram! Doesn't it look amazing? I think she needs to go into business with these.

Kelly (a.k.a. Kmont) helping me with my veil just before I got dressed. Then it was time to slip into the dress.

I remember being cool and calm the entire morning, but as soon as the dress was on, I immediately got nervous! It made the whole thing real.

Mom shows the girls how to bustle the dress.

Then it's time to put on our heels. I needed a little help with mine!

I wanted to say a quick thanks to my mom and my bridesmaids for helping me get ready and keeping me calm throughout the day. Ya'll were awesome, and I couldn't have asked for more!

My new truck

2010-08-02T09:00:00.001-04:00

I've been looking at getting a new truck for several months and after carpooling our first few weeks for work, we realized it was about time. I spoke (and negotiated) with 3 different dealerships and found it to be an enjoyable experience. After leaving the second dealership at which I played some serious hard ball, I commented to Kelly "that was fun." She replied "I hated that! I was sweating the entire time." Needless to say, Kelly did not attend the final negotiating session.

When looking at buying the truck, price was the primary negotiating factor. Most dealerships had multiple colors of the same package I was looking at, so for me, it wasn't about who could wow me but who could give me the best deal. And to top it off, Clark Howard recently talked about many new vehicles being cheaper than their used counterparts, which I found to be the case with mine after looking at used models from 2007-09. I decided on a 2010 Toyota Tacoma Double Cab Prerunner.

Finally!

2010-07-30T18:00:00.000-04:00

Our wedding photos finally arrived! I wanted to quickly put up a post of some of the shots from our professional photographer. They are kind of random...I just chose a bunch and uploaded them. I'll be sure to write some cohesive posts with lots more pictures soon!

Much more to follow!

Updated Website

2010-07-24T09:10:00.000-04:00

Sorry we haven't posted a new blog post in several days. We have been busy with our new jobs, looking at new vehicles, changing names and setting up joint bank accounts. I am anxiously waiting on our photographer's pictures from the wedding, at which point this blog will probably become over run with wedding posts. Just forewarning you!
In the meantime, check out our updated website. It has received a little face lift. If you have any topic suggestions as to what to do with the domain now that the wedding is over, please let us know.

Hilton Head Island, SC

2010-07-10T09:20:00.000-04:00

We spent a few days relaxing in the sun at the Mariott Resort on Hilton Head Island. It was an enjoyable way to celebrate passing the boards and officially becoming physical therapists! Guess all of the studying paid off.

Cary found some sand dollars

Part of the sand sculpture in the lobby of our hotel.

The Doctors West, PT, DPT

2010-07-07T09:00:00.001-04:00

Kelly and I have taken our boards and are now licensed PTs! We decided to take a short celebration beach trip to Hilton Head Island. Even though passing our licensure exam almost assures us a future income, and we both have jobs, I don't plan on changing my frugal ways. I used Priceline and was able to bid on and book the Hilton Head Mariott Resort and Spa for about 1/3 of the normal price! Our trip will be a restful and rewarding way for us to enjoy our last vacation for awhile.

Kelly starts work on Monday (July 12) and I start the following Monday (July 19). Time sure has flown since we started PT school over 3 years ago.

We'll post some pictures from the trip once we return, but here is a picture of the resort. Also, our professional wedding photos are finally in! Please let us know if you did not receive an email giving you access (a.k.a. a password) to them. You can purchase them through the photographer's website, too. Any size, any quantity. We were very pleased with them and will post about them soon.

At the Salon

2010-07-01T09:00:00.000-04:00

On the day of the wedding, Sandy (one of my bridesmaids) and I headed to the Salon at Cumming Station to get our hair done for the wedding. I had previously done a trial run at the salon with Jenny and loved what she did. So I was very relaxed and confident for the day of the wedding. She even commented on how calm I seemed while sitting in the chair (at this point, I was just ready to get married, and I was glad the day was finally here).

I had my updo trial about a month before the wedding, a highlight early the week of the wedding (by Kelle), and finally, the actual updo on the day of the wedding. Everyone was professional and very nice at all three of my appointments. The color was great, the curls lasted all evening, and I couldn't have been happier.

Adding the veil, which was a wrist length, single layer veil.
The finished product!
(and me with no make up, sorry)

Heading to the church...

So overall, I highly recommend doing a trial-run of your hair for your wedding. It better assures that you and the stylist are on the same page. And, most importantly, it is one less thing to stress about.

**Thanks to Sandy for taking all of the photos!**

Being Domestic

2010-06-26T15:22:00.000-04:00

I finally feel like we are getting settled into our home. We've hung pictures on the walls and we've been making some upgrades to the condo. Weeks ago, we painted the "office" (formerly the second bedroom).

Before

After

We've also been trying out a lot of our wedding gifts, like our mini-deep fryer. We fried chicken fingers for the first time. And if any of you have a great recipe for batter, please share...ours was kinda bland!

Good old-fashioned fried chicken

Making homemade mashed potatoes!

One Month!!

2010-06-22T08:00:00.007-04:00

As of today, we have been married for one month! I can hardly believe it. Time flies. We have been busy studying for our boards, which we take in the next few weeks. And if all goes well with that, we should both be employed by mid-July!!!

We are still waiting on our professional pictures (and I am getting very anxious!). In the meantime, I figured I could share a few non-pro pics as a sneak peek. Most of these were taken by my mom (yes, with everything going on that day, she found time to take pictures of her daughter on her wedding day!!). Enjoy.

Opening a gift from Cary

Blake helping Cary with his cuff links (his gift from me)

The Bridesmaids' bouquets

Sandy signing our guest "book"

Married!

Time to Eat! (the Rehearsal Dinner)

2010-06-19T10:15:00.000-04:00

Our rehearsal dinner was held at Provino's Italian Restaurant. We posted earlier about finding this great place, and we were very happy with how well dinner and the service turned out that night! Props to the manager, Jason, who helped us plan the evening and was available by phone or in person to answer questions or help with suggestions.

We had 5 options for dinner: Parmesan chicken, shrimp scampi, sausage and peppers, lasagna, and vegetable lasagna. Each table received a salad, served family style (which Kelly loved) and Provino's famous garlic rolls (which everyone loved).

Below are several pictures from the evening.

The wedding party table

For dessert we served my groom's cake, ice cream cake from the local Dairy Queen. I'm not a big fan of cake, so I've had these for birthdays growing up. One was an oreo blizzard cake while the other was a traditional vanilla ice cream cake with chocolate crunch. Outside of a few colors and lettering order being lost in translation, the ice cream cakes were delicious.

The Groom's Cakes

Cutting the cakes

With my grandmother, Mammal, who just turned 94!

After dinner and cutting the cake, we showed a slide show which I had been working on for weeks. It showed pictures of both Kelly and me growing up as well as family and friends. It also showed pictures of us since we started dating and over the three years that we've been together. Below are 2 favorites of each of us.

Kelly in her Dad's shoes

Kelly loves this photo, especially the grape Fanta in the background.

Practice Time! (the Rehearsal)

2010-06-17T08:50:00.000-04:00

We held our rehearsal at 5pm on the night before the wedding. The evening started out with rain and storms, but cleared up by the time of the rehearsal dinner. Family and friends traveled from near (Atlanta) and far (Alabama) to help us practice for our big day.

Me and Cary

Don't we look super excited? Almost giddy. I loved my bouquet of ribbons and bows from the showers. Jill, one of my maids of honor, did a great job. Speaking of maids, here they all are, looking beautiful as ever:

L-R: Jill, Sandy, me, Courtney, and Kelly

I made tissue paper bouquets for the girls and Jill finished them off with purple ribbon from all the many Bed, Bath, and Beyond gifts.

Rev. Ron is whispering instructions to Cary. We greatly enjoyed having him officiate the wedding. He gave a wonderful, thoughtful homily on the big day that had everyone laughing.

Going over all of the details!

You know how they say that your wedding day flies by (and it's true, it does!), but I felt like the rehearsal flew by as well. Our coordinator, Laurie, had everything down to a "T"! Everyone knew where to go and what to do! She was very organized, and we made it to our rehearsal dinner on time.

All lined up

I love how the guys got the blue memo and all wore blue shirts. And a big thanks to Hank, third from the left, who stood in for one of our groomsmen that night. He and his wife, Sarah, friends from PT school, drove all the way from Charleston to help us celebrate our big day!

If you remember from a previous post, Cary and I made gifts for our flower girl and ring bearer from Build-a-Bear Workshop. We gave them the gifts at the rehearsal (since the dinner was past their bedtime). Julia said so clearly, "my teddy bear" and gave it a big hug and smile. They are so smart and full of personality! And just a few months over 2 years old, can you believe it? I love all of the reactions in the background of the picture above!

Weston...still holding onto that pillow!

Julia...I think she kinda liked her bear!

The Honeymoon's Over

2010-06-14T21:10:00.003-04:00

I mean, the honeymoon blog posts are over. Don't worry, we are still enjoying wedded bliss as part of our lifelong honeymoon. I just wanted to do a final post about the honeymoon, mainly to share a few more pictures.

Before booking with the Halcyon in St. Lucia, I diligently researched all three Sandals resorts. My main resource was TripAdvisor, one of my all-time favorite and Clark Howard recommended travel websites. I highly recommend this site if you are planning a trip anywhere, it is full of reviews, tips, and ratings that are very helpful. I wanted to share my overall review of Sandals Halcyon in St. Lucia (in case any of you were thinking of going), but my review is still pending or I'd link to it. Once up, I'll provide a link and you can read my entire review as well as others, on the Trip Advisor website.

At the Halcyon
A wonderful place to relax

Right outside our room (that was our window under the floral arch)

Our view of the beach

Open-air restaurant at the Regency

Honeymoon Part 3

2010-06-11T08:50:00.001-04:00

Like Cary mentioned in the last post, we spent a lot of our time eating. As his uncle described it, Sandals is like a cruise, just on land. You have all you can eat or drink, anytime you want. While we stayed at the Halcyon, we also had access to Sandals' other two resorts on the islands, the Regency and the Grande.

At the Sandals Regency for Dinner

This is us at the Regency, about to go to dinner at La Toc Restaurant. It is a French restaurant, serving the traditional 5 course meal. Between the two of us we enjoyed scallops, shrimp, asparagus soup, salads, cheeses, wine, rack of lamb, duck, and of course, creme brulee. Cary also tried escargot for the first time.

Eating at the French restaurant, La Toc

Another night was spent at Kimono's, the Japanese restaurant at the Regency. Although we do not have pictures from that dinner, we enjoyed sushi (well, I enjoyed the sushi), steak, chicken and shrimp. We also spent an evening at the Grande where we went to the Italian restaurant, Toscanini's. This was my favorite of all the restaurants, and Cary said his steak was probably the best he's ever had. We also ate lasagna, antipasta consisting of shrimp, crab salad, Caesar salad, olives, cured meats, and mussels, as well as tiramisu for dessert.

At the Italian restaurant, Toscanini's located at the Grande

We also had breakfast in bed on our first and last mornings in St. Lucia.

Honeymoon Part 2

2010-06-07T18:14:00.001-04:00

Below are some pictures of our adventures on the honeymoon. The first two occupied a good portion of our time in St. Lucia...eating and lounging by the pool. Our next post will have more details on the restaurants, but there was plenty of wonderful food including the Pier Restaurant which is literally a restaurant on a pier. We spent our first evening there, eating lots of seafood.

The Pier restaurant

At the Pool

Enjoying the beach at the Halcyon

We did spend a morning skiing and tubing and an afternoon snorkeling during our honeymoon. The ocean was very calm on the day I went skiing...it was actually better than at the lake. Kelly and I tubed after that. It was kind of weird when you thought about being out in the ocean so far, but with the water being so calm it made for a fun time.
The only bad part about being out in the sun all day was that we're both on Doxycycline (a malaria prophylaxis) from being in Peru and even the SPF 50 didn't quite do the job.

Skiing in the ocean

Snorkeling

Thankfully, the weather cooperated on our snorkeling day, making the water crystal clear. We were able to see plenty of fish, sea urchins, sponges, and other reef-life. We didn't take an underwater camera, so sorry, no pics.

More pictures and details to follow.

Our Professional Photographs

2010-06-04T19:12:00.000-04:00

We are waiting to blog about the wedding when we can share pictures with you. It will be a few more weeks before we receive the photos from our professional photographer. Until then, please email me or Cary (or you can comment below) if you would like to have access to our professional photographer's photos as well as the wedding slide show when it becomes available.

This will also give you the opportunity to purchase any photos the photographer took that night (and I know she got A LOT at the reception, so there will be plenty of photos of Cary, me, friends, and family to choose from!).

Check out our photographer's work at the Southeast division of Once Like a Spark Photography! You can become a fan on Facebook, too!

Home from the Honeymoon!

2010-06-01T17:03:00.014-04:00

Cary and I are back home and finally settled in our condo. The gifts are put away, the clothes are unpacked, and the hot water heater is threatening to quit on us, but all and all it is good to be home and living together as husband and wife.
We will blog about the wedding itself soon, but I thought I would make my first blog as a married woman about the honeymoon! It was so much fun and such a wonderful trip, I just can't wait to share.
After leaving our reception, we took a limo to the Marriot by the Atlanta airport to spend the night before flying out the next morning to St. Lucia. Cary was able to cash in some sky miles for round-trip first class tickets for our trip. It turned out to be a blessing because we were exhausted and hungry that morning, but our seats provided plenty of room and a full breakfast. Here is a view from the plane as we made the decent to St. Lucia:

The water was even more blue in person! We landed at St. Lucia's tiny airport and stood in line with the rest of the honeymooners to get through customs. Next was the hour and a half van ride to the Halcyon. St. Lucia is fairly mountainous, and it was settled by the British, so they drive on the left side of the road. Combining both of these facts with the absence of a speed limit made for a rough ride to the resort.

We took a pit stop along the ride and got this great shot of the shoreline. But it was back into the van and more winding roads after that!

Our room was a concierge suite with easy access to the ocean and restaurants. The Halcyon was the most private of Sandals' three resorts, as well as the smallest and quietest. Our room was surrounded by coconut trees, plants, and flowers.

Our room

Our view and access to the ocean

Speaking of coconut trees...did you know that they need to be pruned? Well neither did we until we walked up on the maintenance guys near the pool one day. One guy had climbed up to the very top of the tree and was chopping down coconuts with a machete. They explained that the coconuts would eventually fall and make a mess or hit a guest and that they routinely pruned them. No ladder needed.

Can you see him up there?

How about now?

And then he climbed down...no ropes, no ladder, no harness, no problem

And we got to enjoy the coconuts.

The workers told us that coconut water is "good for the bladder," but I thought it tasted like salty water and only drank a few sips.

We will post more about the honeymoon soon!!

Only 4 more days...

2010-05-18T10:21:00.009-04:00

It's been a busy month thus far, but it has been great. Kelly and I graduated on Thursday/Friday May 6/7 and left for a medical mission trip the following morning on May 8 to Peru. We were in Peru until Sunday and are now finalizing the details of the wedding.

Below are a couple of pictures from graduation and Peru. Thanks for all your support so far and we look forward to seeing ya'll at the wedding.

Back in the States

2010-05-16T17:41:00.001-04:00

We are safely home from Peru!
And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
--Romans 10:15

Licensed to Wed

2010-04-30T08:52:00.007-04:00

We officially have "permission" to get married, according to the state of Georgia that is. Cary and I made the trip to the Forsyth County Probate Office today and purchased our marriage license. Show them your diver's license, tell them your parents' names, and have a happy life together! Pretty simple, huh? I wish the rest of the wedding planning had been that easy.

Since today is the last day of April, we have 22 days until the wedding. Wow. Time has flown by! We have been making final payments, documenting response cards, and dealing with all of the little details. I'm just ready for the wedding to be here!

Bridesmaids Luncheon

2010-04-25T20:10:00.001-04:00

Last Sunday, Mom and I treated the bridesmaids, my grandmother, my sister, and Cary's mother and grandmother to brunch at the Partridge Inn in Augusta, GA. It was a chilly morning but we braved the wind and sat on the veranda, overlooking Augusta. You never can predict the weather in April. (Luckily, they fired up the heaters to keep us warm!)

We started off with a yummy brunch of made-to-order omelets, bacon, shrimp and grits, lobster tail, and even oysters! Then, it was time to open gifts. The girls received a lunch cooler full of goodies as well as a something cute to wear in their hair for the big day!

Lastly, the girls participated in a Southern tradition called a Charm Pull Cake. Little silver charms are placed in a cake (traditionally, the wedding cake) with ribbons attached to the charms and flowing out of the cake. Each girl chooses a ribbon to pull and the charm attached represents her future. For example, pulling the wedding bells charm would mean that girl is the next to marry. Or pulling a baby carriage would mean she is the next to have a child.

I decided to modernize the tradition a little (and "rig the game" so to speak). The girls knew which ribbon color was theirs and pulled their own charm.

Kelly and Sandy each received charms of nurses.

Courtney's charm was a toothbrush and toothpaste, while Jill's was an OT charm.

Courtney, Kelly, me, Sandy, and Jill

Bachelorette Party

2010-04-23T09:58:00.002-04:00

Before all of the wedding events last week, my girls treated me to a bachelorette party. Courtney, Jill, and Kelly took me to dinner, gave me a lingerie shower, and then treated me to a mani-pedi at the spa the next morning. It was a lot of fun and a great way to start the weekend.

We went to dinner at Bee's Knees in downtown Augusta.

Then it was back to Courtney's for the lingerie shower (sorry, no pics to show). The next morning we all went to a spa and got pedicures. A perfect way to start a busy but super fun weekend!

At Dj and Co. Salon and Spa

Thanks Girls, I had a great time!

1 month to go!!

2010-04-22T09:17:00.002-04:00

I can't believe it. As of today, we are down to just 30 days until the wedding! Crazy to believe we are almost there. Just 4 more weeks, and we will be married.

We wanted to share our engagement story with you as well as most of the pictures from our engagement session. Here is a digital version of our book with all of the engagement pictures as well as a little story of how Cary proposed. Hope you enjoy.

If the link does not work, copy and paste the one below into your browser.
http://preview.picaboo.com/Webview/CoverPage.aspx?user=000000000004A37EC4&album=00000000000586A541&showHeader=1&coverPage=

Ring Bearer

2010-04-21T11:00:00.000-04:00

While the shower was going on in Augusta, I was at Kelly's parents' place taking care of our ring bearer, Weston. He is my cousin as well as Julia's twin brother. Since the bridal shower isn't a whole lot of fun for us guys, Kelly's dad and I spent the day taking care of Weston.

About to mow the lawn...

Climbing on the rocks

Coloring in David's chair

He knew exactly how to use the stethoscope.

Feeding the goats.

Flower Girl

2010-04-20T11:41:00.001-04:00

Julia was such a cutie at the shower, I wanted to share some more pictures of her. She is the daughter of Cary's cousin, Mary Beth, and she will be our flower girl at the wedding.

Julia with her Aunt Diane

While Jill and Courtney were a huge help at the shower and kept me organized, Julia was my little helper, too.

I gave Julia hair barrettes with beaded white and pink flowers. Aunt Anne helped her put them in her hair.

Bridal Shower!

2010-04-19T09:32:00.013-04:00

Sandy, one of my bridesmaids, threw me an amazing bridal shower this weekend at her home. Family on both my side and Cary's side were invited as well as family friends. All of my bridesmaids were able to come down and participate, too! We had an amazing time and Cary and I received so many beautiful gifts...I'm not sure we can fit them all into our new home!

The house was beautifully decorated and we had a wonderful spread of food and drink! We took so many pictures, I'll try not to overload you!

All the yummy food!

The gift table
With my mom and Aunts

Opening Gifts
I'm such a goober, but I'm obviously excited about Arthur Court!

Lauren and Sandy

With my sister, Lisa

With Mom and Diane

Aunt Valerie and Aunt Dot

Granny with Julia, our flower girl! (More pictures of her to follow!)

The Mailman

2010-04-16T08:07:00.002-04:00

The mailman and I are best friends! He just doesn't know it. I must admit these days, my favorite thing to do is to wait and see what he is going to bring. Reply cards (postcards, actually) have been coming in everyday--sometimes two or three, sometimes five or six. And it has been pretty exciting to see who is coming to our wedding.

(A close second is the UPS guy. You see, he delivers for that little store called Bed, Bath, and Beyond.)

And speaking of invitations...since we have sent them out, I guess I can show them on the blog now. They were a lot of work, but both Cary and I are happy with how they turned out.

This is the invitation and the front of the reply postcard.

This is the back of the reply postcard and the front of the outer envelope (the inner envelope was kept plain, didn't think I needed to show you a blank envelope!)

Thanks to everyone who has sent in their reply postcards and to all who have sent gifts. We can't wait to see you at the wedding. Keep those reply postcards coming!

It's been 1 year

2010-04-10T16:24:00.006-04:00

As of yesterday, it's been 1 year since I proposed and this wedding process started. I'm sure Kelly actually started planning before that, but it was official on April 9, 2009. I would have posted yesterday, but we went on our annual trip to the Masters. Thanks to Kelly's dad, we were able to spend the day at Amen Corner and the rest of the amazing Augusta National Golf Course.
This was our view throughout most of the day...except the azaleas were not in bloom this year like in the picture above.

Also, just a heads up for all of you coming to the wedding, you will need to bring your ID if you wish to drink the beer or wine we are offering. Despite being on Forbes Top 25 Richest Counties list for 2010, Forsyth County is a real stickler for alcohol citations. We were encouraged by Windermere to let our guests know in advance of this strictness because you will be required to show an ID at the reception if you plan on drinking. Sorry for the inconvenience, but we wanted to warn you so you could all be prepared.

50 Days Until "I Do!"

2010-04-02T14:03:00.001-04:00

That's right, only 50 more days until we are married. Kinda hard to believe. Although the wedding is getting closer, most of our energy has been focused on PT school. Cary and I have been busy studying for our boards, interviewing for jobs, and trying to finish our electives.

Wedding plans are coming together quite well. We are down to the details, confirming plans, and paying the final bills. April should be exciting. My sister-in-law has planned a shower for this month and the bachelorette party is coming up, too! Plus we have Easter this weekend, which we will spend with Cary's family. Masters Week begins next Monday, and with Tiger's return it should be interesting. So lots of things going on...but unfortunately most of our time will be spent studying for boards.

Cake Tasting

2010-03-29T09:32:00.000-04:00

As we had posted previously, we were planning to use Publix to make our wedding cake. Kelly met with a Publix baker at a wedding expo in Savannah, and together, they came up with a cake...flavors, frosting, design, and most importantly, cost. So we made an appointment with the Publix near Windermere, and took these plans with us, thinking everything would go smoothly. We were way wrong. First, the manager was not in and she was "unavailable for the rest of the morning." Next, we were presented with cake scraps, none of which were the flavors of cake we were interested in using. Finally, we were told that we couldn't use the design Kelly had originally chosen, and the prices that were quoted in Savannah were supposedly wrong.
The baker didn't even have a wedding cake order form, so she was writing all of our information down on scrap paper. And worst, we had to stand up the entire time. The cake is a big purchase...it is not just birthday cake or Dairy Queen ice cream cake (that's for the groom's cake). Then, she wanted us to come back Monday morning to see if we could do the design we originally wanted...sure, it's not like we work on Monday mornings or anything. We got a half-hearted "congratulations" as we walked out. So all and all it was a terrible experience. I'm not saying every Publix is like this. I know couples use them for weddings and have great experiences; the reason we considered them in the first place. Unfortunately, we were not one of those couples...far from it.
But thankfully our wedding coordinater at Windermere came through for us. She gave us the name and contact information for a great baker who is just starting out on her own after making cakes for another company for 15 years. She specializes in wedding cakes. We called her immediately after leaving our tasting at Windermere and she agreed to meet us the next day...with cake samples. As you can see below, they were pretty good because we kind of demolished them.

After Kelly described what she wanted, she sketched it for us and even drew in the frosting detail. It was a lot like those cake shows Kelly watches on TV on the food channel. After sampling her cakes and fillings, we decided on four different flavors, so each tier will be something new.
In the end, I guess we have a good ending to a very bad experience. It probably worked out better this way.

A little taste of this, a little taste of that....

2010-03-20T17:29:00.001-04:00

In the words of one of my favorite chefs, Yum-O! We spent this Saturday tasting the food for our reception. Mom and Dad drove up from Augusta to help us out. Who would want to miss out on this?

We headed to Windermere to make sure the low country boil was up to our standards...and it was! We approved not only the boil but also the fried okra, cole slaw, and cajun chicken. Don't worry, the food won't be to0 spicy...but it won't be boring either.

This is our coordinator, Diane. We were very impressed with the organization of the tasting and most importantly, the food!

Mom and Dad enjoyed the Low Country Boil and the great customer service!

Not sure what I'm concentrating on in this picture.

We can't wait to see what you think about the food, too!

Couples Shower

2010-03-16T15:54:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday we had a wedding shower with our friends from Augusta and MCG. Sarah and Hank, Katie and Trey, Jenn and Brice, Erin and Ray, Leigh and Jason, Chrissie, Ms. Annette, and Naomi all hosted the shower.

We gave the hosts and hostesses framed pictures.The MCG friends!

We had a great time and appreciated all of the hard work and effort put into making the shower happen! Thanks to everyone who stopped by...it was so good to catch up. We love our gifts and can't wait to use them in our home.

Giveaways!

2010-03-03T21:34:00.002-05:00

Not long after Cary and I got engaged I started searching for inspiration for the wedding. I quickly poured over magazines, websites, blogs, and books. However, blogs are my favorite...obviously I liked them so much that we started our own! Well, along with blogs comes the occasional give away. Often, the blog owner will giveaway a sponsored product or service to one of their readers. All the reader has to do is visit the product's company site and then comment on the blog post with their name and contact email. It's that simple, and it is a win-win situation. The company gets free publicity and lots of internet traffic while the blog's readers get a great prize.
Anyway, I quickly caught on to these giveaways and entered several. Although, I must caution you to only enter reputable ones...there's a lot of sketchy things on the internet, so be careful.
All in all I've won several things for the wedding and it has allowed us to keep costs down a bit. The first prize I won (and definitely the best) was our engagement session with our photographer along with the save the dates and a portrait. I also won our favor boxes for the wedding as well as favor boxes for the rehearsal dinner (and for a while there I thought I was destined to win cute little boxes!). The latter came from Origami Boxes, a cute website that sales all sizes of origami boxes in all sorts of papers. I was very impressed with their customer service and would recommend them to anyone.

origamiboxes.org

Most recently I won a clay flower cake topper. Sounds weird, I know, but visit the artist's site and you will quickly see these things are amazing! The company is called DK Designs, and it is based in Hawaii.

dkdesignshawaii.com

Mine is different than any of those because the artist allowed me to customize it a little. I would definitely recommend one as a keepsake!

Happy Birthday, Cary!

2010-02-26T14:39:00.010-05:00

We recently celebrated Cary's birthday, and I wanted to share a few pictures that I thought were cute.

Cary's parents visited my parents' "farm" and got to feed the infamous goats. We later went out to dinner for Cary's Bday.

That's George. Nuff said.

On another note, our wedding website is nearing 1,000 visits! Wow! If you haven't checked out Cary's work yet, visit our site and learn more about the actual wedding.

Bachelor Weekend

2010-02-23T18:22:00.009-05:00

Valentine's weekend was also my bachelor weekend at Winterplace Ski Resort and I have a few pictures to post. Once out of Georgia (which took over 5 hours), we were blessed with wonderful weather and fresh snow. Below are a few pictures from the trip.

Blake, Me, Leipold, Noah, Brandon, and Hank as snow falls around us
Hank, Noah, Brandon, and Me
Noah, Hank, and Me

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T09:17:00.006-05:00

Happy Heart Day, everyone! I wanted to share my Valentine's Day surprise with everyone. Cary is currently at his bachelor's party in Winterplace, West Virginia, skiing the slopes as I type. When they were planning, we knew this weekend would be best because of the President's Day holiday on Monday. It was a bummer that it was also Valentine's Day weekend. Cary and I have never been very big on "greeting card" holidays, so we were fine with being away from each other.
I figured we would celebrate the next time we were together by going out to dinner or something. So imagine my surprise when I walk downstairs and this is waiting for me:

And inside:

Thanks Sweetie! (And thanks to his parents who helped execute it all!)
And Happy Valentine's Day to my Future Husband!

100 Days to Go!!

2010-02-08T18:28:00.010-05:00

Let the countdown begin! Well, technically, I've been counting down for a while now (like since April, when Cary proposed), but now that we are down to just 100 days, it seems so much more real! That means it is less than four months until we say "I do!"

Recently, we've taken care of the flowers, the tuxes, preliminary ceremony planning, and rough draft of the programs. All of the bridesmaids' attire is finalized. The mother of the bride and mother of the groom have their dresses (both of which are beautiful). The rehearsal dinner and all of those details are coming along quite nicely, too.

However, we still lack the cake, the transportation, and the biggie, the invitations. We've decided on the cake and know where we will go to order it, so I'm not stressed at all about that. And one way or another we will make it to Atlanta that night (the Camry is always an option). But I will admit, I've been dragging my heels over these invitations. Cary and I are printing/making/assembling them ourselves...along with helpful mothers and bridesmaids who have graciously offered their assistance. Yet, I'm still behind! Actually I haven't even started. They've been ordered and are stacked neatly in a box in my room, but they are as blank as can be! Aaahhhh!

usps.com

Hopefully by the time the invitations are finished, the post office will come out with some new 44 cent wedding stamps...golden bands are not my fav.

They're here, they're here!

2010-01-30T16:12:00.000-05:00

Last month, I wrote about picking out the bridesmaids' dresses and shoes. Well, they're here! Ok, let me back up a minute. When the girls ordered the dresses back in December, the store told us that they would be in on January 27. I was skeptical. Mostly because I had heard horror stories about dresses taking forever to come in, and when (if) they did, they were the wrong size, wrong style, or wrong color. But that's why we ordered them early, in case craziness like that happened. So imagine my surprise to get a call mid-January from David's Bridal..."Your dresses are in!" I was (am) in Cumming, GA for clinical, but since I don't work on Fridays, I rushed to Augusta to pick them up. (Mom or Cary would have done it, but it was a good excuse to come home for the weekend.) The store was packed because social was coming up in Augusta, but I was promptly waited on and given the (beautiful) dresses. I look over them with a fine tooth comb to make sure that everything was perfect. And they were!

Next, the shoes. We had picked out shoes the day of dress shopping, but we didn't order them that day. The plan was to wait until Payless had a BOGO sale, buy one get one half price. The saleperson told me that there would not be another BOGO sale until January, so I checked their website everyday once 2010 rolled around. I even caught wind of a rumor that the sale would start January 18th...and low and behold, it did. So I placed the order a few days later for four pairs of cute sandals in bright pink. Not only were they "BOGO," I didn't have to pay shipping! {If you haven't heard of Payless' new line, Unforgettable Moments, check it out. They have several styles of closed and open toe satin shoes that are dyeable in 64 colors. And affordable.}

Inspiration from theknot.com

So, my beautiful bridesmaids are set! Their dresses AND shoes are in, they already have their jewelry, and I have one little surprise for them to complete the outfit! I'm so excited because I know they will look beautiful, and even if they don't "wear it again" I didn't break their bank accounts!

I've had several people ask me what my wedding colors are, and they are surprised when I say Navy Blue and Fuchsia. So, here was my inspiration:

Inspiration from theknot.com

Happy Birthday, Kelly!

2010-01-24T20:29:00.001-05:00

We spent this weekend in Cumming celebrating Kelly's birthday. Kelly's parents treated my family to dinner at Provino's (where we are having the rehearsal dinner). Her dad had not met my brothers yet, so it was a good opportunity for everyone to get to know each other.

(sorry Kyle)As most of you know, I'm a couple of days late posting, but Kelly got an unexpected birthday present this year and the timing was worth waiting to blog about. You might remember the goats we bought Kelly's dad last year for his birthday (or check here)...a mom, two babies, and one other male. Well, on Kelly's Birthday, one of the "babies" had a baby of her own. Check out the pictures below...That's the new Mom on the left. The other goats are still getting used to the baby and aren't sure what to make of her/him yet.

We aren't sure if it is a boy or a girl yet, but do you have any suggestions for a name?

Let it Snow!

2010-01-10T20:57:00.001-05:00

I'm up in North Georgia with the snow...well, what's left of it. The pictures are from Saturday morning. And while it looks gorgeous, it caused tons of problems in Atlanta and the surrounding area (like a 29 car pile up on that little road called I-285).

The pond in the neighborhood is completely frozen.

How about skating?

Saturday morning, Cary traveled the roads from Augusta to Cumming, so that we could meet with a possible florist together. Luckily, Augusta didn't get as much snow as Atlanta (none, to be exact), so the roads were not so bad. The meeting went well, and we were both pretty impressed with her. We might have one more thing checked off the list!

Back to school...

2010-01-05T17:38:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year

Kelly and I started back to school with our last clinical this week with mine being at MCG's hospital in Augusta and Kelly working at Select Physical Therapy in Cumming. I'm back in my condo in Augusta while Kelly is spending the next 12 weeks living with my parents. It will be an adjustment to once again be living 3 hours away from each other. But at least it will be the last 3 months we will have to do it. Then comes a BUSY May with 2 weddings in addition to ours, graduation, mission trip to Peru, and our honeymoon.
Looking back on 2009, I see the many changes we had after becoming engaged. I also look forward to those ahead in 2010. Over the next year, Kelly and I will graduate, get married, take boards, and start our careers. Lots of changes ahead and we'll continue to chronicle them along the way (for our own sake but also for who ever is out there reading this thing).

Rehearsal Dinner

2009-12-29T12:01:00.001-05:00

Count it!

Kelly and I spent this Christmas break deciding on the Rehearsal Dinner location. We wanted a non-chain local restaurant that could seat everyone together and accommodate AV setup. After checking out a couple of places with no success, we actually found a hidden jewel by accident. My brother won a free dinner to Provino's Italian Restaurant from school and gave it to my parents. They were so impressed with the staff and environment, they suggested Kelly and I check it out. We went on a (crowded) Wednesday night and were also impressed with the food, environment, and staff. Kelly's glad to have one more thing checked off the list.

Make that two more things, the invitations came in the mail over the holidays:

(That's only the envelopes...don't want to ruin the surprise)

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

2009-12-24T14:30:00.004-05:00

Merry Christmas!!
(a little early)

Only 149 more days until our wedding!