Feeling Accomplished!

With less than 3 months to go before our wedding, I have been super stressed out. But I have finally made some great headway and I think we will actually be able to pull it off by July 16th. (Cross your fingers!)

Last time I updated, I mentioned that our wedding was going to be up in Breckenridge but we have since changed the location. I was stressed about how I would get all the tables and chairs up to the Breckenridge house, and on top of that, the house was booked on the 16th and we were going to have to change the date. We just decided that it would be easier to do it close to home, and I'm so glad we made that decision. My mom's boss generously offered his home/backyard for us to use and it is so beautiful! Check it out:

The ceremony will take place under the gazebo, and the reception tables will be in the grass under the tree house. I've been to his home in the summer when it's warm out and the grass is fully green and the trees are in bloom, and I couldn't imagine a more romantic place to exchange vows. It's perfect.

So here's what I've done so far: I've secured tables and chairs, and ordered the linens. Our colors are black and white with fuschia accents. (And maybe some orange and green thrown in there to make it look more "summer" like.) Our tables will have black floor-length tablecloths with white overlays and black plates, with fuschia cloth napkins and centerpieces that include lots of fuschia flowers. The chairs are white and will have black and fuschia sashes tied to them.

The aisle will consist of white wedding chairs with the black sashes, except the chairs that line the aisle will have fuschia sashes. Then the aisle will be a white runner that I will walk down...and the best part? The 3,000 fushia rose petals I ordered to line the aisle!

We also have the linens for the gazebo, which are beautiful. Here is a picture of a wedding that took place there last summer. I love the way the gazebo turned out!

Everything is coming together great. My mom and step dad are taking care of the catering, and I have a guitarist lined up for the ceremony music. I'm still deciding what we will do for music during the reception. I sent out the "Save The Date" cards last week, and we also got my dad, Nate, and Cale fitted for their tuxes. This weekend we will try to find Nate a wedding ring.

There is still so many things on the list, but I feel pretty darn accomplished for the amount of work I have done in just 2 weeks!

Natalie.

Oooh sweet Natalie. She is my new personal trainer. And I'm in love. We had our first session yesterday but it wasn't an actual workout, it was just an appointment to work out a plan for me and take down all my embarassing body measurements. But today was the actual first workout with her and she totally kicked my butt. She knows how uncomfortable I am with the way my arms look in my wedding dress, and she promised me she would fix them before the wedding. We worked every muscle in my arms today and I feel great. I finished working out almost 2 hours ago and my arms are still twitching! Love it... Love love love!

And not to sound like a lesbian, but this chick is smoking hot. Perfect teeth, perfect hair, beautiful body. Looking at her 3x a week is enough to make me want to change myself!

So cheers to Natalie. I think I may name my first daughter after you!

The 17 Day Diet

I have 96 days to go until I am going to be photographed to death at the wedding. I hate the way my body looks, especially my arms. And since my wedding gown is strapless (except a tiny, tiny cap sleeve,) I need to lose some weight and get these arms in shape.

Overall I need to lose at least 50 lbs, but I'd be happy if I could just lose 20 before my wedding day. Still, that's a lot to lose in 3 months! I'm not normally a fad dieter, but I've heard so many good things about the super fast results of "The 17 Day Diet," so I've decided to go for it. I can do anything for 3 months, right?!

I was able to find the book at a great price on E-Bay today (since it's not available in stores,) so I ordered it right away. I can't wait to get started. I'll be updating as I go!

Getting Hitched!

So much has changed in the past week. Nathan and I have been planning to get married on the beach in Florida, just the two of us, for months. But I had been starting to stress about going on vacation alone with Cale, on an 8 hour flight, without any help and I started to wonder if we should just do a normal wedding here at home.

We were thrilled when my mom's boss offered their 8,000 sq ft home in Breckenridge for us to use! It was beautiful and I couldn't believe I'd be getting married in this amazing place. Unfortunately, the week that Nate and I both have off work is the ONE weekend the entire summer that the Breckenridge house is booked. FML. We toyed with the idea of changing the date, but I had also become stressed about how I would be able to get the chairs, tables, flowers, etc 2 hours away to the Breckenridge house, and I wasn't sure what to do.

We were blessed once again when her other boss offered us his home, which is just a few miles from our place. It is a beautiful, secluded home with a stone wall backyard, gazebo, picket fences, etc. It's perfect for a wedding! In fact, they have hosted many weddings there before. Nate and I went to look at it yesterday and fell in love!

So July 16, 2011 is the date, and we are so excited!

My mom and I went out and did some wedding shopping this weekend. Since the date is only 3 months away and I didn't have a dress, I was nervous I wouldn't be able to find one. I was thrilled when I went to David's Bridal and found one instantly! I picked out several dresses to try on, but after trying the first one on, I knew it was "the" dress and I never even tried on the rest. It is so beautiful and I'm in love with it! We were also able to choose the invitations so that part is done as well.

Here are some pictures of the dress:




Next weekend we are visiting a wedding rental place downtown to order the chairs and linens for the tables.

This wedding planning is really stressful, but with 96 days to go, I'm sure we can handle it!

Favorites.

I have lots of favorite things. I even have "favorite favorite" things and "all time favorite" things. Ha.

I have a simple life, so many of my favorites are simple. I suppose I like it that way.


Sushi

Piano Music (could you tell by my Blog music?)

Reality TV

Romantic Movies

Books that I can't put down.

Comfy Socks

Doing a new craft

Cale.

Chocolate

My Dyson Vaccuum

The smell of a rain storm.

Fresh Bed Sheets, especially when they are still warm.

Christmas Season.

The smell of Bounce Dryer Sheets

Vacations

Water Slides

Good Dreams

Memories

Saturday's

Ambitious? Maybe.

First of all, before another word is spoken...
♥HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE BOY, CALE! ♥

You are SO loved by so many people. Thank you for blessing my life for 365 days! You will always be my favorite.

Mmmkay, so I may be somewhat ambitious here, but I'm about to embark on a project and I'm not sure if I can do it alone! I've been looking for a unique way to store Cale's books in his room, since at the moment they are in a bucket on my living room floor taking up wayyyy too much space. I found some really cute ideas online, but this is by far my favorite!

It's a book sling that is held up by dowel rods and secured with curtain brackets. I think this is such a cute idea and I am looking forward to making them for Cale's room. I plan on making two of them, one on top of the other like in the first picture so that there are plenty of room for all of his books. I love that he will be able to see the fronts of the books instead of just being able to see the spine of the book from a bookshelf.

I know it seems like an easy sewing project, but I'm not exactly sewing savvy, so we will see how it goes. I think I will enlist my mom or Nate's grandma for help so it doesn't turn out as a major mommy fail.

As soon as Cale wakes up from his nap I am going to head over to JoAnns Fabrics to pick up the materials. I'm not exactly sure what kind of fabric we will use, but I plan on using a versatile fabric that can easily transition in to his "big boy" room in a few years.

Wish me luck! I'll post pictures when it's done and instructions for those that are interested in making one!

Mommy didn't know...

Tonight I put Cale down to bed for the last time as my little baby. Tomorrow he awakes as a toddler and I'm definitely emotional about it. I cannot believe that it's already been a year, and this week my memories of those first days with him have been flooding back into my mind.


It has been the hardest year of my life, and yet exponentially the most rewarding. I couldn't have imagined how little sleep I would still be getting a year later, or how tough of a newborn Cale would be with reflux, colic, and ear infections. I didn't realize how much money it would take to raise him and how difficult it would be to be a working mother. I didn't realize how my priorities would instantly change from wanting to be a professional to having an intense desire to stay home and raise him as a stay-at-home mother. I didn't realize the guilt I would feel for not being there for him every minute of the day. I didn't realize the difficulties that Nate and I would have in our relationship during this first year due to the stresses of parenthood.

I also didn't realize how intense I could love someone. I never knew that a giggle or a smile from someone so tiny could melt my heart. I didn't know that every little milestone he reached would make me so proud. I didn't realize that being called 'mama' could bring tears to my eyes so quickly. I didn't know that a hug could feel so good. I didn't know that things like poop could ever be funny. I didn't realize that I could feel complete if I only had one child. I didn't realize that my love for Nate could ever be stronger than it was....but it's all true -- I now know all of these things. My life is so rich. I really am the luckiest person on Earth.
♥ Happy 1st Birthday tomorrow, Cale.
Mommy and Daddy love you to pieces. ♥