Give-a-way!

Leanne over at Elle Apparel is doing a giveaway to thank her followers.


Why this chick/blog rocks- She is so creative and has the best tutorials. You will be buying a sewing machine this week if you don't have one!  Did I mention she is gorgeous and totally fun!

The awesome giveaway....  A Socialite Skirt, made just for you (your size, your fabric).  So head over and check it out, tell her the whity wife sent ya!  :)

photos are property of Elle Apparel

our first anniversary- gifts, fashion, fun

I was planning on getting up early and making a surprise breakfast for our anniversary on Sunday.  Puppy was being loud so this was not happening.  I did still make some delicious chocolate, chocolate chip pancakes.

He went off to work and I did some crafting, went to the pool, took puppy on a few short walks, and then got pretty.  Hubby came home and got ready then we opened gifts!  I received a lovely crystal lamp from Waterford crystal.  I gave him a red sox theme set of gifts.  1) a t-shirt, it's sweet, 2) a stress-ball, 3) a pilsner glass, 4) a keyfob, 5) the big one- a huge canvas print of a picture he took at fenway

beautiful artwork can be found here at Hue and Hum!  What a wonderful giveaway to win!  Seriously check out this blog!

his gift set

my big box

my new lamp

his new art

Fashinistas here is my shout out to my outfit!  I wore a white cotton dress with tons of detail!

To dress it up I wore my wedding jewlery.  which included come CZ earrings, bracelet, and my great grandmother's necklace.

I also wore a pashmina as a cover up because I am always cold in restaurants!  And I took my purple one because that lilac color was one of our wedding colors (Lilac, Olive Green and White)

We had fun at Primavista and then went home to enjoy the last few pieces of our wedding cake, and a bottle of champagne from the wedding.

Here's to the first year or marriage!  How much longer to we get to be called newlyweds (seeing as I am 22, I think it will be a while ;)

our anniversary date!

For our anniversary we went to dinner at Primavista in the incline district of Cincinnati.  We could see all of downtown cincy and newport from our table.  The place had a wonderful ambiance.  However, sad to say, the food was not worth the price.  Totally go there for drinks and dessert sometime though!

 

It was a fun night, and after we went home, ate our wedding cake and drank champagne from our wedding.  (and yes, I love details- so there are more to come!)

some marriage music

Give a listen to our first dance song, and the song that we truly thought of the day of our wedding

Dave Barnes singing "on a night like this" and "i have and i always will"

our first year

the moment right after our first kiss

Today is our 1 year anniversary!  Yay!  We made it through the first year.  Most people say that the first year is the hardest.  We did have our ups and downs as we learned how to live with each other, but it has been a wonderful year.

What we've been through

• moving, starting from scratch with a new place (the first place of our own in our lives)
• not having a paycheck the first 3 months of marriage
• getting a puppy
• our crazy neighbors who made us want to move out before our lease was up (we did stick through)
• months and months of me student teaching during the day, him working into the night, and not seeing each other for days even though we slept in the same bed
• 5 days apart in the first month of marriage for his work training
• 1 month apart in January
• 5 more days apart in May
• ingrown toenail- which was found on our wedding night- and surgury
• knee injury (then the other a month later)
• root canal and jaw surgery
• learning to cook
• learning to clean
• buying a car
• loss of a close family member
• searching for jobs
• not finding jobs
• more searching, and more not finding
• searching for new rentals in IN and OH
• 6 job interviews (5 for him, one for me)
• learning to be less of a tight-wad
•  friends getting married
• friends getting pregnant
• My birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, His birthday, Easter- all celebrated
• my adventure as a new blogger
• puppy potty training
• obedience school
• working out differences in beliefs of family, keeping a home, and money
• nights on the couch
• many dates with movies at home (thank you red box and netflix)
• ordering pizza when my dinner didn't work out (that's the experiment part)
• walks in the park
• getting puppy in the water
• gaining weight
• joining a gym
• being the only people we knew in town for months (only knowing each other i mean)
• little arguments over things we couln'd remember an hour later
• learning what the other needs most when stressed or upset
• one car accident
• one tornado (that actually missed us)
• flooding in the house
• a leak in the bathroom
• loosing electricity
• not going on a date for 4 months to save money
• making a pact to date at least once a month, and a time for sex once a week (remember we didn't see each other for days)
• 0 pregnancy scares YAY!
• morning waking up next to each other and smiling
• thinking for months that i will wake to from this dream

our first year has been crazy.  i wouldn't change it for anything.  I am so happy to be married to my best friend.  one year down, many more to go

i love you john, i have and i always will.

Our wedding, May 29th, 2010

This was a wonderful day.  We loved every minute of it.  Instead of going through how it all went down in words- I thought I would just share some pictures.  Sorry about there being so many.  Hope it loads ;)

I should state that although I had a wonderful photographer... I still have no images.  These are from facebook, and pictures taken of our photo book.

notice the flowergirls dumping the flowers, then sprinkling them

waiting in the carriage for the ceremony to begin

 

Our act of service and serventhood- Foot Washing Ceremony

i love that my friend caught the moment right after the kiss

wedding party

the only picture we have of the flowergirls

his brother wrote and performed a song for us, as a toast

my toss bouquet broke into 8 bouquets- so fun!

My favorite picture from the wedding, me and my late great grandpa

the morning of... my wedding (and playlist)

I woke up early on the morning of my wedding.  I felt refreshed and relaxed.  I wanted to spend the morning reflecting on our love.  I sat on the floor of my room for a about an hour just with my thoughts.  My mom came in for a while and then one of my bridesmaids on her way to the bathroom.  My parents made a wonderful breakfast and then we were off to set up the ceremony site.

the ceremony site

However, before the day got under way my mom did break in with some news
Mom, "B, I have something to tell you, and I don't want you to freak out.  Everything will be ok, and taken care of."  *insert me freaking out by this comment* "There was a water main break at the mall, and I don't know if Merl Norman was flooded or not, most shops are."  I was suppose to get my make up done there.  Makeup, kind of a big deal to me on my wedding.  But it did work out

Here are a few of the happenings of the morning of the wedding:

• salon flooded, but our part was ok
• mom left the keys to the car in the door- all of the wedding stuff was in this car
• my baby cousin was almost run over by a car as she ran across a road (I have never run so fast in my life!  I was the only one who saw this, and truly thought she was about to die- she was horrified as well. poor flower girl)
• decorated the ceremony site and the reception area
• went over on my makeup appointment
• late for my hair
• late for pictures
• and a great playlist for all festivities

My playlist was deleted when I got a new computer (I am very upset about the awesome playlists I had made)  Here is most of it- and a few new songs too.  Now, in no particular order...

1. I do- Colbie Caillat
2. Marry Me- Train
3. On A Night Like This- Dave Barnes  (our first dance song)
4. Bigger than Us- Andy Davis
5. Until You Got Love- Jon McLaughlin
6. The Best is Yet to Come- Michael Buble
7. I'm Yours- Jason Mraz
8. Your Song- Moulin Rouge (Who did the original?)
9. I have and I always will Dave Barnes (our second choice for 1st song)
10. I'm sticking with you- Velvet Underground
11. You Picked me- A Fine Frenzy
12. Lucky- Jason Mraz Feat. Colbie Caillat
13. The Luckiest- Ben Folds
14. Come what May- Moulin Rouge (I like this version the best)
15. I'm your man- Michael Buble
16. You are the Best thing- Ray LaMontagne
17. Crazy Bout Ya- Dave Barnes
18. Mario Cart Love Song- Sam Hart (So good!)
19. How sweet it is- Michael Buble
20. Signed, Sealed Delivered- ??  (temptations?)
21. Chapel of Love- The Dixie Cups
22. Say Hey (I love you) Michael Franti
23. I got a Feeling- Black eyed Peas
24. Feelings show- Colbie Caillat
25. What a Wonderful World- Louis Armstrong 

a trageity on the 28th- the day before our wedding

This is part of the rehearsal story that I didn't share in the earlier post.  But it was pretty important

We got married one week after graduation.  Some people were already doing their summer thing before the wedding.  One of my bridesmaids was starting at a camp.  She actually finished classes 2 days early to get down to Kentucky.

On the day of the rehearsal she was going to borrow a car and drive up.  We kept calling to see when she would be arriving.  She wouldn't answer.  We were about to leave for the rehearsal and she still wasn't there, she was 3 hours late- and no explanation.

At this point we were pretty worried.  As we were walking out the door for the rehearsal we got a call.  She called one of my bridesmaids (we were all best friends) and was sobbing.  She had been in a car accident.  The car she borrowed from a friend was totaled.  She was in the hospital.  She was not going to make it to the wedding.

All I cared about was that she was ok- we were ready to drive to Kentucky right then!   She assured us that she was ok, they were going to release her from the hospital that night, and her mom was coming down from Chicago to get her.  She was so broken up about not being at the wedding.  this is another moment where the girls prepared for a birdezilla I was so sad that she was in pain.  

We all prayed for her at the rehearsal.  She did end up being ok, but it took an emotional toll on her.  She felt horrible guilt.  It took months before we spoke again.  She didn't even want to talk to me the day of the wedding because she felt so bad.  

Taylor, I want you to know that I still love you.  You did not ruin my wedding day.  I missed you.  More than anything else all I wanted was to be sure you were ok.  You were a dear friend to me.  I'm sorry it all happened the way it did.  


PS- sorry about the two posts a day thing... I have so much wedding to share!  (and time to write at the moment) 

rehearsal dinner

The wedding was in my hometown.  The payment plan for the wedding was very traditional.  My husband and I are very spoiled.  My parents paid for the entire wedding, and his paid for the rehearsal and honeymoon.  We are blessed beyond belief, and we do acknowledge this.  It is thanks to our parents (and scholarships) that we graduated debt free from college.  Thank you parents for setting us up for success!

Back to the rehearsal.  His parents come to down one weekend to find a restaurant for the rehearsal dinner.  This was full of drama.  His mom wanted to know all kinds of crazy details that I just didn't have yet.  She was very pushy- she was the bridzilla!  But Hubby stood up for me, and got her to back off.  When he did this it was the moment that my mom was ok with me getting married as she saw that he would take any stand to protect me.

His parents had a few places in mind.... but we lived there, and we knew they were kind of trashy.  We had to think fast about another place to take them.  Right before they left town we went to Maggiano's.

We all loved it!  Because my dad is in the mafia and knows everyone everywhere they set us up with a free tasting and private tour.  We all loved it!  And I was so happy to have this be the place for our rehearsal dinner!

There was a little bit of family drama as I did not know if my biological father was going to go or not (or have his wife and two daughters join him).  My mother-in-law made place cards for everyone... which made him feel pretty bad when he did not have a place card.  This was my only freak out moment of the wedding weekend.  But my wonderful friends made it all better as I mingled and enjoyed the time together.

Ok Picture time!

going through the motions for the rehearsal

us at dinner

me with all the men from his family (apparently blue was the theme)

some of the bridal party (the two on the left are getting married this summer, and the two on the right were married in 08)

bridesmaid, bridesmaid, and maid of honor

toasts

opening gifts

my parents- seriously, how gorgeous is my mom!

bridzilla?

The lovely ladies that made up my bridal party knew ahead of time that I am psychotic.  Thus, they spent almost a year mentally preparing for what the wedding weekend would look like.  They each decided on the role they would plan to try to keep me sane.  They expected Bridezilla, and I didn't care what I was, I just wanted it to be right.  Sounds like a bridezilla doesn't it!

The wedding weekend rolled around.  There was a ton to be done, and everyone pitched in!  I was pretty laid back about most things, and the girls admitted on the wedding day that they were really suprised by how laid back I was and they just kept expecting a breakdown/ freakout.  

The night before the wedding we were all a bit tired and decided that we should get some sleep- they kep asking if I was ok or needed anything- again, this would normally fit my personality.  I am a perfectionist and I get a lot of anxiety about big things.  

The day of the wedding I woke up before most.  I was pretty chill.  There were a lot of things that went on during that day, but I remained chill.

When it came down to the day/ weekend- I just didn't care.  I didn't care how eveything looked, I didn't care if it was perfect, I didn't care if something went wrong- because I only thought about the fact that at the end of the night I was going to be married to my best friend, the love of my life, my other half- and that was all the mattered.  It was a wonderful way to be. 

wedding dress shopping

This week all posts (ok, all posts starting today) are wedding related!

We got engaged February 28th, 2009.  We set the date in April 2009, and by July- I still had done nothing to plan a wedding.  My mom was amazing.  She did all the research and work, then would bring me a couple of choices and that was it!  It was so relaxing to choose from 3 things rather than everything that was out there, and since my mom narrowed the field I knew it was all in good taste and in our budget!

However, in July my mom got a bit frustrated that I hadn't done anything.  You see, by the time the school year was up, I had only asked one girl to be in the wedding party, and that was my then roommate- soon to be maid of honor.  We took one Saturday that spring semester to go dress shopping, and by shopping i mean looking.  I had no intention of buying a dress. 

Maid of honor and me, don't know why it won't rotate- it's not saved this way :(

momma and me

the favorite dress of the day, and I revisited this dress again in July

This takes us back to July, still no dress, still no plans.  My mom and I were sitting in the office going over wedding things.  We started to get into a little bit of a fight and the end fo that fight went like this
Mom: This is your wedding, you need to do something!
Me: What do you want me to do, you tell me, and I will do it!
Mom: You have to pick out your dress!  I can't do that for you!
Me: Fine.  Let's go right now.

And with that we left.  We were not in a great mood, but we were getting stuff done.  As soon as we got to the store our moods had changed (we never stay mad long, a 15 minute drive was enough to get us happy again).  We started placing taggers on the hangers of dresses we liked for the people to get them to the fitting room for us.  There was one dress on a pedestal.  It was champagne color.  I loved it.  But it was too much.  We tagged it anyways (never try on a dress you can't afford).

After trying on the dresses the one that was out of budget was to die for.  I loved it.  It was perfect.  The lady working with me was super nice.  She was a TU grad as well, and her Dad was my hubby's professor!  Small world.

I started to panic.  I was going to buy a dress today, and there was no one there but me and mom.  The lady told us how much we would save if we bought it that day.  But there was still one other dress that was very similar, and 200 bucks less (see picture of the favorite dress from the first day).  They let us leave, and we would return with my dad later that day.

It was a tough decision.  Especially since I make every decision based on "Which one costs less?".  My mom had to convince me that with the savings we could afford it, and I was worth the extra money. 

Dad joined us back at the store and by then the decision was made, this was my dress.  And I am still in love with it!