2 days!

Two Days.. wow! I'm pretty excited!

Last night I was supposed to work on my place cards. But instead, Alex and I took a mini road trip to Stateline and to see Nick & Laurel and go to dinner with them. We wouldn't have been late if Alex trusted me and we road around Elkton/Newark completely lost for a good half hour. But we made it eventually! Stateline was Stateline.. we got Champagne for the Limo and Alex got some beers and some glasses. Then we headed to Nick & Laurel's apartment! We decided to go to Ali Babba's for dinner. I think it was Lebanese, Israeli, and something else cuisine. They must've had some greek mixed in too because Nick got a Spanakopita appetizer and it was delish! I'm pretty sure that's kind of greek. Anyway, for dinner we all got kabobs.. they got lamb and I got shrimp. Of course this came with pita bread, hummus, tabouli salad and an awesome garlic dipping sauce! After finishing my whole meal, I wasn't even full! It was great! I did eat pita bread though, a no no.. but we were celebrating! Celebrating Laurel's Grant Acceptance! I would go into detail on that but it's pretty complicated. Let's just say, it was hard to get, a lot of people applied and Laurel got it!!

So today, it's kind of hard to focus at work and I was pretty tired this morning from being up late last night. But I keep thinking.. stay busy.. it'll go faster! And it is already 9:45, so that's good I guess? Today I need to hit the mall on the way home for Makayla's Flower Girl gift and get another pair of shorts from AE. They're on sale right now. Then I need to stop at Old Navy (which isn't in the mall, booo) to exchange the flip flops Alex got me yesterday because they were irreversibly twisted. I should've known better then to trust him.. just kidding, he tried!

Then I really want to go to Hoss's for dinner. Alex doesn't want to, but when does he?? I need to label my place cards tonight as well. I was supposed to do that yesterday but the DE trip cancelled that. It won't be too hard though. I have the labels set up already, just print and stick! Therefore I won't be going to Alex's basketball game at 9.. unless I finish my stuff before then.

Friday's going to be busy. Laurel's coming to meet me around 9 am and we're heading up to get our nails done at 10 am. Then we're going to Lunch and at 2 I have a meeting at the Navy Club to drop off all of my favors/overlays/etc so that they can be set up the next day by the staff. I will be working on directions for that tonight as well (or maybe at lunch today). Then of course we have the rehearsal at 5 and the dinner at 6:30.. that's probably when the nervousness will set in! But i'll just breathe and everything will go fine.

We were originally going to Fort Hunter for pictures before the wedding, however they have a music festival this weekend, so that's out. So now we're going to the Italian Lake in Harrisburg which i've heard is also very nice for pictures. I got parasol's for the bridesmaids to take pictures with.. and one for me, and for the flower girl! Picture props!! I really hope it doesn't rain.. Paper parasols would not hold up well! All week it said that the rain would be gone by Saturday and now it says Isolated Thunderstorms! What? Not even scattered?? Isolated! Damn!

All i've ever wanted was no rain on my wedding day! It can rain maybe while we're in the reception! But not when we want to take outdoor pictures!!! And it will probably be overcast even if it's not raining. :( Maybe I can photoshop some blue skies into those pictures!

I should get off of this because the rain is making me sad. Happy Thursday!

All I Want..

.. is a slice of pizza
.. is one peanut butter cup (who am i kidding that would turn into at least 5 more)
..is to make a fulfilling lunch (lunch is so hard for me, i would eat a sandwich everyday if it was considered healthy.. in weight loss cases anyway)
..is a job that i enjoy and look forward to
..is the world to be a little less judgmental
..is to eat and not worry about it
..is to look hot in hawaii

Being on a diet isn't easy. I'm aware that it's not supposed to be easy, and that the results drive you forward.. which, they are. 8 lbs! But when you don't see physical results.. it's a little disheartening. I've noticed that my legs have gotten a bit smaller, my arms, a tad smaller, and my face.. a teeny bit smaller. I guess maybe if i exercised more, it would accelerate things, however.. i don't currently have time to do that. This week is busy with the wedding on Saturday.

Tuesday: Dinner at my parents and to work on the programs/place cards.
Wednesday: Shopping for our Trip
Thursday: Tuxes, Champagne for the Limo, Hoss's!, Alex's Basketball Game
Friday: Nails, Lunch, going to the Base to drop off the goods, Rehearsal Dinner
Saturday: Get Married!

I can't say it's really stressful, it just keeps me really busy! And tired because I'm not fueling my body with as much food as normal. I'm still around 800 calories a day though which is good. At least I get to have a piece of cake at the wedding!

Seven Pounds

No, not the movie.. it's the weight i lost since last monday on the South Beach Diet. The weekend wasn't easy. My cousin Ashley had a graduation party with tons of goodies I could've eaten. However I stuck with meatballs and bbq pulled pork. No veggies.. but then for dinner i had a salad and some spicy chili at Conestoga. Then yesterday at Charmayne & Omer's they had strawberry shortcake. Darn diet! But it's working so i'm not complaining.

Weekend recap:
Friday: Worked a half day (love half days) then had to be home because our desk was arriving. After that had a carpet quote and headed to my parents house. In the evening I attended Ashley's Cumberland Valley graduation at the Giant Center. From 7:45 to 10:30.. crazy! Plus traffic! It was a nice graduation though. Makes me feel old.

Saturday: Ashley's graduation party. Alex was in Atlantic City for his bachelor party friday night so he did not attend the party with me on Saturday.. instead he took a 4 hour nap! He needed it though.. Atlantic City can be rough! But he had a great time, so i'm happy for that! After Ashley's party.. filled with Volleyball, Lifesize Jenga and Ladder ball, I headed back to my house in Lancaster. Alex and I eventually went out to dinner, Conestoga and then watched Saving Silvermen and went to sleep.

Sunday: I was late meeting Jen for breakfast (with Erik & Alex of course) and I felt terrible! But breakfast was good and it was nice getting to know Erik a little (soberly) before the wedding saturday. We then went to the Farm to help Alex's parents with the camera we gave them since we got a new one. Well, the camera isn't working.. what a great gift! I didn't expect to spend the whole day there, but we did. We went to the outlets to exchange Alex's swim trunks at Nike and then went over to Bass because they always have good sales and Omer needed some tan pants for the rehearsal dinner. Then we had hot dogs for dinner. I'm assuming their carb free?
All day I spent searching for kittens or waiting for kittens to come out of hiding. We got some good looks at them, they're super cute. There are 4, 2 orange ones, a cream one and a black and white one. Two are still up in the loft and two are in the lower part of the barn. Butterscotch (their mom) can't seem to get the two to come down from the loft. They sure know how to hide though. I have a picture of the two in the loft that i'll put on here then. I don't have a card reader here.

Overall it was a good weekend. I finished thank you notes last night so they'll go out today. Next weekend is of course, the wedding. It's going to be crazy! I have a pretty strict timeline to follow but once we get to the reception, everything should be fine. I get my programs and place cards today, so I'll be working on that tonight.

I'm so excited to be getting married in 5 days! I love Alex so much and can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him! :)

me and air conditioning aren't friends

Happy Monday??? Monday's are usually my fastest day of the week, so i'm not mad about it. The weekend was GREAT though.

My bridal shower was awesome.. my mother had a contest for the most uniquely wrapped gift and since it was hawaiian themed, people had some crazy/fun ideas. My Aunt Kim and cousins Jenny, Wendy and Sarah won this contest with a Treasure Hunt. I had to swim through the sea (jello in martini glasses) and dig around in the sand to find money. They also had some $ attached to a blow up crab.. which alex and I plan to take to Hawaii with us. It was so much fun! Everyone did such a great job! It's crazy thinking that it was a party just for me (and Alex) but it really helped get me used to the fact that people will be looking at me (us) all day. Of course it will be like 4 times the amount of people that were at the shower, but hey.. it's practice! And did i mention the cake? My mom hired the baker that's doing my wedding cake to create a cake with the word Aloha.. it was awesome! Like an Ace of Cakes cake awesome! She did such a great job. And my mom's the best for putting all of it together and setting up and everything!



My bachelorette party was after the shower, and we went to dinner at Cafe Fresco and then went to Scott's Grille and later Ceolta's. It was super fun. I totally love my friends and sisters.. so much!

Yesterday was supposed to be a date day, but when I got home, Alex and I just sat in the backyard for a while because it was so gorgeous outside! Then we went shopping at the outlets for a couple things and heading to Bube's Brewery since his coworkers got us a gift certificate to there. It was yummy! When I got home though, it's like the strep throat had returned, hardcore! I couldn't even talk and it hurt a lot to swallow. The doctor said that it takes 3 or 4 days to really work, and i'm sure drinking alcohol over the weekend didn't help the cause, but hopefully I start feeling normal soon.

This week isn't going to be too busy. I'm hoping to have the wedding programs in by friday and then i need to write names on placecards. Everything else seems to be in order. It's 2 weeks away but that's kind of a long time in terms of getting things done. What I really need to do this week is Thank You notes for the bridal shower. I'm going to start those tonight. Everyone is so generous.. I really am so lucky to have a family and friends like I do. They're super!

I just ordered some more clothes for the honeymoon! We also ordered a digital camera last night with a 12 gb memory card, is that big enough?? haha I think so! And I ordered some underwater disposible cameras as well, i'm sure that's cheaper then buying them there! Hawaii is going to be SO much fun! I can't wait!

Maybe you're wondering why the title of this blog?? Bc as I'm sitting here at work, in a sweater and covered in a blanket (also turning my heater on occasionally).. it just reminds me that i'm not really good friends with air conditioning, we don't get along. This is my life year round.. even in summer, I guess maybe we don't have a good heating system here bc I never feel the heat! But that's the reason!

She's a Maniac

As you can see by the lack of posting. I've been busy. And sick actually. Tuesday, after feeling great all Memorial Day weekend, I woke up with a Severe sore throat, but went to work and left at lunch time to spend the rest of the day miserable on the couch watching Tori & Dean re-runs (which i love). Yesterday I felt better, but today my throat hurts again on the right side, no swollen lymph node, but pain. I'm pretty sure I have strep throat! My boss had it for 2 weeks (untreated) and i'm pretty sure it's spread to me. Of course, i'm getting married in 16 days and can't afford to be sick, so i'm going to call the doctor at lunchtime and hope he believes my strep and sends the local pharmacy a prescription. I need to get a new doctor, since this one is still in Harrisburg and I've been living in Lancaster County for years now. It's hard though! Plus, I like him, he's been my doctor forever. Anyway, I'm headed up there this evening for a highlight touch up, so if worse comes to worse I can leave work early and stop into his office.
On a lighter/brighter note: My weekend was awesome! We found the kittens at Alex's parent's farm that we've been wondering about, by found I mean we saw them from a distance and when we went to search for them, we had no luck, they're good little hiders, well trained I guess. I'll find them next time i'm out there. I'm thinking of getting two of them and Laurel wants the other two, so that'd be perfect! Alex doesn't want a cat but they're so cute! Also, i've officially started my 18 day diet/exercise plan.. the South Beach has begun and this is the first time i'm actually exercising with it, so i'm hoping to get good results. Usually I lose about 8-10 lbs in 14 days, so maybe working out will speed this up. Plus, I need to be bikini fit for Hawaii. Super excited!

This weekend is packed full of fun as well.. Friday night i'm hanging out with the Brewing Wives Club, going to eat some yummy Thai food at Sukothai and then back to my house to play some Apples to Apples. Saturday is my Bridal Shower, yay!! And it's at Hoss's which i loooove. I'm always begging Alex to take me to Hoss's. The salad bar is out of this world, i think i wrote that in a previous post?? haha. Anyway, after that is my Bachelorette party with my bridesmaids and a couple close friends. We're going to dinner downtown in Harrisburg at Cafe Fresco and then we're going to go out for a little while.. play it by ear and maybe head back to Jess's.. I'm kinda boring so I kinda wanna keep it low key. Should be fun though! Then Sunday, Alex and I are having a date day, we're going to write Thank you notes and maybe hit the movies, probably some dinner, relaxing stuff.

Today's only Thursday, but it feels like Friday and should fly by pretty quickly. Next friday we get our new desk that my grama got us for our Wedding Gift. It's awesome! And now I don't have to hear Alex complain anymore about papers being all over the kitchen bc we don't have a decent desk to store them innn!! :)

Happy Thursday!

What a Wonderful.. Weekend

Alex and I had such a great weekend! From our triple date with Dan, Steph, Britt and Matt at Stoudt's and Zia Maria, to my cousin's super fun wedding, to staying up until 4 am talking with Phil and Ashley, to brunch at the navy base with my family and furniture shopping with Da.. it was fabulous! I was so tired though that I slept the whole car ride home, and i am not normally a car sleeper. Alex was so tired that instead of taking a nap yesterday, he left work around 10 am and spent the day napping.. that's the life. Hopefully he's doing dishes too (finger crossed) since our dishwasher blew a fuse.

At the wedding it was crazy to think that that will be me in less than 4 weeks. Facebook says 26 days but I think that's a tad off. It sure is coming up fast though. I just don't love people staring at me all the time, and I know that I'm the bride and blah blah blah but I just don't really enjoy being the center of attention. I'll just have to suck it up I guess. I hope my wedding see's as much dancing as theirs did, we danced a TON!

Back to the daily grind though.. hasn't been easy, but i'm working on it. I've decided that working just doesn't really suit me.. so maybe i'll get lucky this week or weekend and hit the $170 million powerball.. keep your fingers crossed for me, k?

It's HUMP day!

So, it's wednesday, yippy skippy. I don't have much to report on, but I will say that the rest of the week and weekend is filled with activities! Tonight we're having a cookout with Alex's parents.. makes me feel like we should get some patio furniture so we can eat outside, even though it's not going to be warm enough.. i'm thinking into the future.

Thursday night we're heading over to York to have dinner with Jim and his parents, they are awesome! And his mom is such a great cook, can't wait to see what we're having. I'm making a dessert for both occasions, strawberry trifle but only 2 layers instead of a bunch bc i actually don't have a trifle dish thing. It's pound cake, vanilla pudding, whipped cream and strawberries then another layer of the same. It's going to be DELICIOUS and really the only sugary items are the pound cake and strawberries because i got sugar free pudding and whipped cream! wahoo!

Friday we're going out with Dan and Steph to celebrate they're engagement! So exciting! I love weddings and engagements because the bottom line is parties! Speaking of weddings, i really need to go out and get my cousin and his bride a gift since that wedding is on Saturday! It's at the Capital's Rotunda (i know i spelled that wrong) and it's going to be lovely! No to mention, FUN! This is going to be practice for Miss Makayla, as she is the flower girl in this wedding as well as my own. The only difference is, she'll be running to Alex at the end of the aisle. She refers to him as her Beyonce (instead of Fiance) and i'm pretty sure she wants to marry him.. but i'm sure after Jess pulls her off and sits her with my mom, she'll probably cry.. good start to a wedding, i think!?

Sunday we're going to Brunch at the Navy Base's Officer's Club, aka where my reception is.. and then we're meeting with the Catering Manager to go over a couple more things and survey the room one last time to get an idea of what we want setup to look like. I need to get her the numbers by the end of the week, so i'm hoping that the people who haven't responded and got a follow up message from Charmayne, are planning to attend, or at least respond with a no thank you.

I worked on the programs yesterday, I just need to verify with the church that i have it in the correct order. I also made the list for the placecards I just need to find out if people arent coming and then put all the table numbers by the names. I'll probably do this at lunchtime.

More updates to come this week and the next couple, really it's insane how booked our weekends are. But it's for a good cause. I don't know what i'll do with all the free time, probably have Alex yell at me about painting. He's the slowest painter alive, that's probably why he says that. He wants to re-paint everything we painted when we first moved in.. and not change the color, just re-paint everything. We're going to get carpet when we get back from our honeymoon, and we do need to get the painting in now (or soon) but it's a little insane to repaint everything we've already painted. So i refuse. We'll see how it ends up. :)

Getting serious.. about wedding planning

So i'm getting serious now.. about wedding planning of course. Really there's not a lot of time, 37 days to be exact. Now is the time to get down to business.

Today I made some lists.. a Honeymoon Itinerary and a Wedding Day To Do list. The Honeymoon Itinerary basically outlines everything we'll be doing each day.. I need to go into more details with it though, because in some cases, it's cheaper to book activities online.. also, reservations for some activities is recommended. This will help keep us organized, trips can be so busy that you forget what your plans are and with this list, i'll have phone numbers, addresses and the like. The wedding day to do list just lists duties that will need to be done the day of, from setup to breakdown. I need to make sure all ends are tied up. I mean who's going to roll up the aisle runner with all the flower petals in it? Surely not me. ;)

We're going to be having brunch at the Hilton the next morning with some guests, but we've decided that it's not going to be another bill my parents are footing, people will be responsible for paying for their own meal. I'm not sure how i'm going to mention this yet, probably just word of mouth. We also need to figure out which of our friends are actually planning to stay overnight.

Responses are due on Saturday. I spoke with my mom earlier and she said we've gotten a bunch more in, so it should be exciting filling those names and their dinners into my spreadsheet. I'm a spreadsheet-a-holic.

One thing I really need to start working on are the Programs and Placecards. I'm thinking about having the same company print these that did my Invitations. That way, it will be consistent. The programs are going to be rolled up into little scrolls tied with a ribbon! I ordered some candle votives today as well for the table's centerpieces. I'm not sure what i'll do with them afterwards but we'll figure it out. Hopefully I get my order in from TheKnot.com.. they never email when it's been shipped and don't have tracking numbers.. not normal for a web order.

I really need to download the sheet music for our pianist.. I simply must do that tonight! It wasn't working on our little laptop, so i'll have to move to the imac.

Man, i'm excited to go honeymoon clothes shopping soon! King of Prussia sounds like a great mall to blow some cash in!

The first of many..

I'm not sure where I want to begin my blogging journey but I might as well introduce myself.

I'm 24 years old and I work as a Marketing Assistant (but I call myself a Marketing Specialist) for a manufacturing company. My job is pretty easy, I have to say. It's everything I learned about in my Marketing classes in college, so that's good I guess. I'm looking for something more though, this definitely isn't a job I plan on staying in for years (I've already been here a year and a half). I'm looking into getting an Interior Design certificate from a local college because I've always loved interior design. I even started a degree in it when I first went away to college, but that school wasn't working out so I had to find a new major as well.

I'm engaged and will be marrying my fiance in June, so that's coming up pretty quickly. Things are busy now and will only be getting busier by the time the 13th rolls around. It's exciting though, and we're going to Hawaii for our honeymoon so we're super excited about that! So many people are engaged right now, it's crazy! But I guess i've been out of college for 2 years, so that's normal. Pretty soon everyone will start popping out babies too! Not me though, I plan on waiting at least 4 years.

I have a serious dream about building a home and Alex's parent's farm provides the land, now we just need to save the money to buy some of the land and build the home! It's a pretty daunting task but really that just means I need a higher paying job so that I can save the money, the job i'm in currently is under paying me which.. I know the economy is in a recession and all but I haven't gotten a raise since i've been here, oh other then the .25 they gave for cost of living or something.. what's a quarter going to do for me? After taxes it's about 18 cents an hour!

I'm also determined to drop 10 pounds by my wedding day (shouldn't be hard) through utilizing the South Beach Diet. I lost 10 before Easter which I gained about 3 back because of the chocolate.. i really can't resist mini peanut butter cups. But I really need to buckle down since the wedding is about 6 weeks away. I need to look good for Hawaii! The South Beach Diet works though, so i'll outline all the stuff i'm doing to drop the weight, including Pilates which i'm adding into my diet/exercise regimen. Last time I took off the 10 lbs I did it without exercise, so pilates should help expedite the droppage!

Well that's a bit of a preview of my life.. elaborations to follow!