Happy Valentine's Day

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!!

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!

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!

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!

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...

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

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)