Sorry we have done such a poor job of updating this lately. Not much has changed, so I have not had much to say.
This past Saturday, my parents and I got to go to our reception venue and see it all set up for a wedding. It definitely gave me butterflies! I was really pleased with how the place looked all decked out for a wedding, and I know it will look wonderful on our day.
John will be here in two weeks for a few days, which will be very nice, but I know it will go by too fast. We have a lot to do including selecting a tux and choosing our menu/sampling the food (yum!).
Last weekend I went to San Antonio (as is the norm these days) for Julia's first birthday. I'll end with pictures from her birthday and her party. Enjoy!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Birthday Time
With the help of family and friends, I had the best birthday I have had in a long time. Thanks, everyone!
Friday (my actual birthday), I decided to stay in Austin to celebrate with friends. We hosted an open house type party here at our apartment. I used the opportunity to try out several new recipes: a sweet fruit dip, Mexican 7-layer dip and some amazing chocolate-caramel-pecan cookies. Yum! I'm skipping ahead, though. My parents called right at midnight on Friday and sang "Happy Birthday" to me. John called when he got back from PT (around 1 am here) to wish me a happy birthday as well. For lunch, Andrew came and picked me up, and we enjoyed a delicious lunch at Hula Hut. Shortly after I got back, John had a box of Tiff's Treats sent to my apartment along with a birthday balloon. The cookies are SO tasty. They come warm! He sent two dozen cookies, 6 of each of these flavors: chocolate chip, oatmeal chocolate chip, sugar cookies and snickerdoodles. He also sent two HUGE chocolate chip brownies. Wow! We talked on the phone for our regular daily phone call, and he watched me open his other presents to me via webcam. He got me two books I have been wanting - one about music and the brain and the other is a National Geographic photos coffee table book. He also got me the BBC Planet Earth series...very exciting!!
I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and cooking. My roommates helped out so much. They also made me a carrot cake! People started showing up to the party a little before 8. Way more people turned out than had RSVPed, so I was very surprised. The biggest surprise, however, was when my two friends who got married last July and live in Houston walked through our front door (!!!). I was incredibly surprised and so happy to see them. I can't believe they came all the way from Houston to see us. We had all been playing Catchphrase, but their arrival sent us all into a crazy welcome hugging frenzy, and we never got the Catchphrase going again. People hung out until well after midnight, and once I had settled down and gotten to bed, it was around 2:30 in the morning.
Andrew came over early the next morning (Saturday), and I made breakfast before we headed down to San Antonio for the rest of the weekend. I hung out with my family and opened a few surprise birthday gifts, which included two fabulous new cookbooks, one of the pitchers I registered for at Pottery Barn (love it!) and some cloth coasters. We met up with Jimmy, Molly, Will and Julia at Alamo Cafe for some dinner.
After dinner, we went to Bed Bath & Beyond, where I ended up deciding to change my registry at Dillard's over to BBB. I had no idea they had fine china, stemware and crystal at BBB! My mom, brother and I (my dad stayed in the car) spent the next 2 hours registering for china, cups, stemware, kitchenware and bath linens. I'm so glad to have that finished!
When we got home, I had a delicious half chocolate, half strawberry cake with my family, and then I went to Jim's (the diner) to meet my friend Morgan for coffee. She surprised me with two more gifts! She made a calendar using photos of John and me. She even wrote the days of our engagement party, rehearsal dinner, wedding day, honeymoon and our engagement anniversary on the calendar. She decorated May with a transparent overlay photo of the stained glass at the back of the church we're getting married in, which was an awesome touch as well. The other surprise was what she called a "wedding planner's survival kit." It includes 4 Dublin Dr. Peppers (the ones with Imperial Sugar), energizing jelly beans (they contain vitamins!), gum, Tums, ibuprofen, a rubber chicken (to be funny), Dr. Scholl's foot gels, a HUMONGOUS Hershey's chocolate bar, chewy oatmeal bars, a mini magic 8 ball "to make the hard decisions," a little notebook with a sweet personalized note, and a Relax wine bottle labeled "when all else fails." I LOVE it!
Again, thank you to everyone who made my birthday so special this year; it meant so much to me. (Oh and by the way, I'll post some birthday pictures soon!)
Friday (my actual birthday), I decided to stay in Austin to celebrate with friends. We hosted an open house type party here at our apartment. I used the opportunity to try out several new recipes: a sweet fruit dip, Mexican 7-layer dip and some amazing chocolate-caramel-pecan cookies. Yum! I'm skipping ahead, though. My parents called right at midnight on Friday and sang "Happy Birthday" to me. John called when he got back from PT (around 1 am here) to wish me a happy birthday as well. For lunch, Andrew came and picked me up, and we enjoyed a delicious lunch at Hula Hut. Shortly after I got back, John had a box of Tiff's Treats sent to my apartment along with a birthday balloon. The cookies are SO tasty. They come warm! He sent two dozen cookies, 6 of each of these flavors: chocolate chip, oatmeal chocolate chip, sugar cookies and snickerdoodles. He also sent two HUGE chocolate chip brownies. Wow! We talked on the phone for our regular daily phone call, and he watched me open his other presents to me via webcam. He got me two books I have been wanting - one about music and the brain and the other is a National Geographic photos coffee table book. He also got me the BBC Planet Earth series...very exciting!!
I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and cooking. My roommates helped out so much. They also made me a carrot cake! People started showing up to the party a little before 8. Way more people turned out than had RSVPed, so I was very surprised. The biggest surprise, however, was when my two friends who got married last July and live in Houston walked through our front door (!!!). I was incredibly surprised and so happy to see them. I can't believe they came all the way from Houston to see us. We had all been playing Catchphrase, but their arrival sent us all into a crazy welcome hugging frenzy, and we never got the Catchphrase going again. People hung out until well after midnight, and once I had settled down and gotten to bed, it was around 2:30 in the morning.
Andrew came over early the next morning (Saturday), and I made breakfast before we headed down to San Antonio for the rest of the weekend. I hung out with my family and opened a few surprise birthday gifts, which included two fabulous new cookbooks, one of the pitchers I registered for at Pottery Barn (love it!) and some cloth coasters. We met up with Jimmy, Molly, Will and Julia at Alamo Cafe for some dinner.
After dinner, we went to Bed Bath & Beyond, where I ended up deciding to change my registry at Dillard's over to BBB. I had no idea they had fine china, stemware and crystal at BBB! My mom, brother and I (my dad stayed in the car) spent the next 2 hours registering for china, cups, stemware, kitchenware and bath linens. I'm so glad to have that finished!
When we got home, I had a delicious half chocolate, half strawberry cake with my family, and then I went to Jim's (the diner) to meet my friend Morgan for coffee. She surprised me with two more gifts! She made a calendar using photos of John and me. She even wrote the days of our engagement party, rehearsal dinner, wedding day, honeymoon and our engagement anniversary on the calendar. She decorated May with a transparent overlay photo of the stained glass at the back of the church we're getting married in, which was an awesome touch as well. The other surprise was what she called a "wedding planner's survival kit." It includes 4 Dublin Dr. Peppers (the ones with Imperial Sugar), energizing jelly beans (they contain vitamins!), gum, Tums, ibuprofen, a rubber chicken (to be funny), Dr. Scholl's foot gels, a HUMONGOUS Hershey's chocolate bar, chewy oatmeal bars, a mini magic 8 ball "to make the hard decisions," a little notebook with a sweet personalized note, and a Relax wine bottle labeled "when all else fails." I LOVE it!
Again, thank you to everyone who made my birthday so special this year; it meant so much to me. (Oh and by the way, I'll post some birthday pictures soon!)
Monday, February 4, 2008
A Bit Behind in Blogging
Sorry we have really fallen behind in the blogging world. Since I have been back, I feel like I have had nothing to do except run to wedding-related appointments, keep up with schoolwork, and keep my apartment clean. It has been exhausting, but it helps pass the time until John comes for his very short visit in March.
I need to be getting to bed soon, so I have to keep this short. I just wanted to update everyone on what has been done for the wedding thus far. (The following is why I haven't had very much free time...this was all done in the past 3 weeks.)
* meet with the coordinator at our venue and sign the contract
* meet with the minister at our church and discuss the ceremony
* find a baker and decide on bride's and groom's cake designs and flavorings
* meet with the venue coordinator (again) to go over menu options and floor plan
* meet with florist for initial consult and planning
* make THREE trips to the place we're getting our invitations...trip 3: get invitations, wedding book, and thank yous
* go wedding dress shopping
* find wedding dress and place order (!)
* go to bridal fair
* find someone to be an extra set of legs on the day of the wedding to help coordinate things
* meet with DJ and start looking at music format
* select a hairdresser and someone to do my make-up
* pick up save the date cards, stuff envelopes, address then and send them out
* create various guest lists for wedding-related events
* start and finish registries at Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma... our registry at Dillard's is ALMOST done. I just need to register for some towels and a casserole dish or two
* meet with florist again to discuss floor plan and centerpieces and cement flower and color choices
Ok, I think that's it. I really think planning a wedding should qualify a person to be a CEO.
My birthday is coming up on Friday, and I haven't been able to throw anything together. I have concentrated everything on wedding planning - yikes! I am thinking I will just do an open house type thing here at the apartment and just enjoy seeing friends. I haven't had time (surprisingly, haha) to see many people since I got back fro Germany, so this would be a nice opportunity.
I hope everyone had a good Superbowl Sunday. Yay Giants!
I need to be getting to bed soon, so I have to keep this short. I just wanted to update everyone on what has been done for the wedding thus far. (The following is why I haven't had very much free time...this was all done in the past 3 weeks.)
* meet with the coordinator at our venue and sign the contract
* meet with the minister at our church and discuss the ceremony
* find a baker and decide on bride's and groom's cake designs and flavorings
* meet with the venue coordinator (again) to go over menu options and floor plan
* meet with florist for initial consult and planning
* make THREE trips to the place we're getting our invitations...trip 3: get invitations, wedding book, and thank yous
* go wedding dress shopping
* find wedding dress and place order (!)
* go to bridal fair
* find someone to be an extra set of legs on the day of the wedding to help coordinate things
* meet with DJ and start looking at music format
* select a hairdresser and someone to do my make-up
* pick up save the date cards, stuff envelopes, address then and send them out
* create various guest lists for wedding-related events
* start and finish registries at Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma... our registry at Dillard's is ALMOST done. I just need to register for some towels and a casserole dish or two
* meet with florist again to discuss floor plan and centerpieces and cement flower and color choices
Ok, I think that's it. I really think planning a wedding should qualify a person to be a CEO.
My birthday is coming up on Friday, and I haven't been able to throw anything together. I have concentrated everything on wedding planning - yikes! I am thinking I will just do an open house type thing here at the apartment and just enjoy seeing friends. I haven't had time (surprisingly, haha) to see many people since I got back fro Germany, so this would be a nice opportunity.
I hope everyone had a good Superbowl Sunday. Yay Giants!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)