One Week Down

My first week in the bayou has consisted of so many things, ok not really but seriously forthe past 4 days I've been doing nothing but the following.

UNPACKING

Cleaning

UNPACKING

Cleaning

UNPACKING

oh and Cleaning!

The entire day Tuesday was spent in my closet, unpacking my 2948984693847 clothes. No really, I have the hangers to prove! Thats 100 hangers, plus the ones we had already bought the day before which makes a grand total of 150 HANGERS! Seriously, I have a problem. On a good note, I threw an entire black trash bag of clothes out, Goodwill, here they come! I feel like I've given that place my entire life the past couple of months, bags and bags and bags of junk that I owned for years. It feels good to be getting rid of this stuff but at the same time it's a little sad, sad that one person owned that much stuff! Insanity!

So after a long day of cleaning out and weeding through

my things, I knew I had to spend a few hours on the outside of these walls. So yesterday I took the day and ventured out into this unknown land. Since I've been here, I haven't been out on my own and it felt good to drive alone and take matters into my own hands hitting up the Hobby Lobby and the UPS Store. Woop Woop! Big day, huge. Along the way I began to see things, things that were literally staring me in the face, like whoa.

This one something is something that it looks like I'm going to have to start getting used to....do I have to? I get it, the Saints are kind of a big deal here, but does it need to be on display literally EVERYWHERE I go? EVERYWHERE! Who knows maybe in a year or so I'll become a small tiny kind of fan. Anything can happen, right? However, do NOT think that my car will be used as marke

ting for the team. I get it, you're team won the Superbowl and you're all happy because it's kind of like you're comeback from the awfulness of Hurricane Katrina, but really does it have to be everywhere you look? It's crazy. I may not fit in here after all. Moving on.

So yesterday fiance texted me on his way to work at 6am saying there was a Circus coming to town yesterday and today and asked if I wanted to go. First off, its 6am and I'm totally confused. Where is a Circus coming here? On the lake? Huh? And then it hit me as I drove out of the apartment complex and saw this large object.... Yes that is a giant Circus tent right across the street from my apartment.

1. I've never been to the circus before(or at least non

that I can recall) and 2. I've seen those crazy youtube videos where the animals go crazy on their trainers and then attack

people in the audience, sooo no thanks. Looks cool, but no, can't happen. UNLESS, alcohol is involved....than we can maybe discuss taking a step onto the premises.

So I hope everyone is having an excellent week! Wedding countdown is 18 days! We are getting very excited about the big weekend and all the activities that are being planned! Really? Just ready for a great vacation weekend with awesome friends and family!

Cajun Country!

Well here I am, getting all snuggled and settled in New Orleans! Finally! Last week was a long week considering I had to wait until Thursday afternoon for my final dress fitting. All week I was worried that it wouldn't be done and that I wouldn't be able to leave. However, my dress fitting went perfect and being that I was so anxious and ready to hit the road on Friday, I went ahead and left Thursday night! I stopped in Jacksonville for a few hours rest and then hit the road bright and early Friday morning for the remaining 6 hours! It was a gorgeous drive along the pan handle and seeing the sun come up behind me made me realize and think about all the things and people I was leaving behind. Charleston will always hold a very special place in my heart, it gave me some of the best friends, new family, and of course my incredible fiance! Though I was sad to leave behind those that I love, I am excited to be starting something totally new. New Orleans may not ever be what Charleston was but I know that it will give me more great memories.

My first weekend in my new home didn't really consist of a lot, which is exactly what I wanted. Not seeing fiance for 5 weeks was torture and all I wanted was a weekend locked indoors spending time with one another, which we did...lots of wine, popcorn, and movies were had! It took us two days to finally walk downstairs and unpack my car that was loaded down with luggage, clothes, large buckets, etc. Sunday we decided to finally get it all done, which turned into an all day project......that I'm still working on today...... ugh. Fiance went back to work this morning so I've been busy cleaning, putting away, and more cleaning. Its amazing how much stuff one person can actually have! And between the two of us...it's a little ridiculous.

So only 20 days more to go until we are husband and wife! I am so excited about the wedding weekend in Napa! Planning activities for 40 people in one weekend is a bit much so I'm sure things will NOT go as according to plan... :)

Thursday everyone flies in, day in San Francisco

Friday wineries while finally doing our engagement pictures

Friday night downtown in San Francisco

Saturday more wineries and spa day for the ladies

Saturday night rehearsal dinner for the family

Sunday WEDDING!

Hope everyone enjoys the new blog look. I thought it was time to change it up a bit!

Keepin up! But not with the Jones....

Check.
To deal with later...
Check.
Done.
Check.
I'll get to it...
Crap, I still have to finish that...

Ugh, these are all words that have been going through my head for the past 3 weeks. ok 4 weeks. I never thought planning a destination wedding would be so fierce. Its a lot and I am not one to keep a journal or planner to organize these details, therefore I'm currently stressing myself out and realizing that I have to get this stuff done in less than 30 days. I'm slowly marking things off of the list like earrings, brooch for hair and dress, flowers, cake and cake topper, pictures in San Fran? pictures in wine country?, officiant, musician to discuss music for the violinist and cello duet, linens(black? burgundy?)., and finalizing the menu with the wine pairing...I hate making decisions like these!!! It would be lovely if everything were just taken care of by themselves.
For the past week my head has been spinning and it's worse at night. During that quiet and comfy moment at night when I'm just about to fall asleep, all of these things start running through my head and then I'm awake for hours. So right now....I'm DONE thinking about wedding...instead I'd like to focus on other things that are going on!
Tomorrow is my LAST DAY WORKING!!!! For the month of October I have decided to take some time to relax and finish plans. Also to SPEND TIME WITH THE GROOM, who has been away for a month now. How have I handled the long distance? Ask him. AWFUL. I am miserable and a complete wreck with nothing nice to say about it. I am however looking forward to all the shopping we get to do once I'm there! There are a few things that we have to accomplish for our new home such as furniture. Between the two of us we were able to furnish an entire 3 bedroom apartment allowing us to have a fully furnished matching master bedroom, a guest bedroom that we are now calling the "George Washington room," and a computer room that holds 1300 books. yes, 1300. The groom furnished the living room with a matching leather couch and matching leather chair and created an automan for our little feetsies. So next on the list of items to buy are 1. bar stools and 2. Kitchen table oh and 3. Fall decorations!
Also, next on the list of things to do is buy plane tickets! Groom and I have been asked by my neice to be her god parents. Therefore, we have to purchase plane tickets for the first of December to fly to Tennessee for her baptism, and then plane tickets for Christmas. Since my brother-in-law has been given such an awesome time off for Christmas, groom and I have been discussing all of us flying to New Mexico. Anyone own a money tree I could borrow? Christmas in New Mexico would be an absolute blast and I'm praying it all works out for us. After Christmas we've been asked to go skiing in Breckenridge with some friends, however I'm starting to think a honeymoon is MORE important and will be necessary by that point.
Well that was my ramble for the week. Meet me back next week when I'm sitting around bored and still haven't made any phone calls to check off the wedding list....

Wedding Ticker!

Sorry peeps, I just couldn't take it anymore....I had to start the wedding ticker. Its getting closer and closer and I'm about ready to jump out of my skin with all this excitement!

Friday night I was left in charge of miss priss and could not have been happier to do so. She is just so darn cute and I want to spend as much time with her as possible in the next 3 weeks. YES...only 3 more weeks of living in Charleston! I can't believe it! I'm starting to think about all the things I've accomplished while being here. I now have some incredible friends that I am extremely sad to leave but I know the ones that will come visit me and since my family will still be in town, I'll be able to come back and visit often. A lot has happened while I've been in Charleston such as meeting and living with new roommates, loitering downtown on the weekends, summer days on the boat, beach days with family, weekly cookouts in Buckshire with the neighbors, family, and soon to be family, and most importantly meeting the love of my life. God has truly blessed me while being in Charleston and I couldn't be happier. The leaving part hasn't exactly sunk in yet, between the wedding planning and getting everything ready for the big move, my head just isn't allowing me to think about the sad part about all of this....leaving. If you know my personality you know that I'm a home-body, I've always loved being at home with the people that I love the most, my family. I've done the moving thing twice before and I've dealt with it pretty well and I know this move will be just as easy having my husabdn with me, however leaving my twin and the little miss is something that I can't bare to think about just yet. Knowing that we will be in different time zones and so far away from each other is a little uncomfortable to me right now so I'm staying busy with planning the wedding, figuring out moving/marriage stuff, and trying to take full advantage of being with the people that matter most for the next 3 weeks.

Weekend Update.

This weekend's goal was for me to stay as busy as possible. After my dress fitting on Thursday(which by the way went awesomly!) I realized that I wouldn't be able to move down to NOLA until the second week of October...why you ask? Well basically I'm an idiot and forgot that I would have to come back for my final dress fitting. DUH! So therefore, I won't be able to see fiance for a month! A MONTH!!! I dealt with it this weekend by doing the following:

Saturday: Drove down to Savannah for a much needed girls shopping trip to find my sisters bridesmaid dress for the wedding. In all of my two years living in Charleston, I had never made the trip down to see the Savannah greatness and we decided on Savannah because out of all the shops in Charleston, Savannah has a Macy's. However, low and behold the Macy's in Savannah Suckeddddddd and we ended up driving 2 hours to end up buying our dresses at a Belk. Figures.. (you can see that little lady wasn't happy about it either.)

So after our long day of travelling and shopping,

Sunday morning I slept in and then got up to do a little cleaning.....which turned into cleaning and organizing my car, driving to West Ashley to pick up the rest of my things (sadly, nothing is left there), and then rummedging through my things in my sisters garage. Fiance has been begging me to get rid of some my scrapbooking things and since I won't have room for all of it in my car ride to New Orleans, I decided he was right and went through and threw away anything and everything that I could part with. After a few hours of organizing my junk I did come across a few things that I could never ever part with....this being one. This is my uncle who passed away a year ago in a fatal car accident. He took me to my very first concert in Missouri and we ate dinner before at the Gilley cafe where he bought me this photo of the two of us, I don't remember the concert for Mickey Gilley but I will definitely always remember the dinner we had before.

Hope everyone had an excellent weekend! This weekend I'm headed to Augusta to find a matching wedding band for fiance!!!

Princess Nugget

When it comes to making decisions about...anything...I'm not your girl. I literally hate deciphering between things. I'd much rather have someone do it for me!!! So you can understand that kind of fear I'm facing when trying to plan a wedding...in 2 months. ahhhh. shoot me! For the past 2 weeks its been the hotel situation....like where is everyone going to stay? and how much is this going to cost? Well if you know Napa (which I don't) then you know that it's NOT cheap, we're looking at $200 a NIGHT people! A NIGHT! Therefore, we've opted to go with the town over which everyone says is just as nice or nicer than Napa, Santa Rosa. We went ahead and blocked off the rooms so hopefully everyone will be able to stay in one place and party harty together!
Other not so fun decisions that have to be made are the following:

Flowers: Burgundy, thats all I really care about. Make sure the flowers are a burgundy color. the end. I don't care what type they are, where they are coming from, or how they are getting there, just make sure there are beautiful floral arrangements on the tables and in my hand for the day. And make sure they are BURGUNDY. done. moving on..
Linens: Black linens with a shimmer, shiney something fabric. I really could care less.
Officiant: Since Vince and I are both Catholic and NOT getting married in the church due to a time crunch, we are opting to pick a reverend who will make our ceremony godly and loving. We are having our marriage blessed through the Catholic church once we are back settled in New Orleans. So how do you pick the right reverend? Eenie Menie Minie Moe? ugh.
And lastly the food: The culinary institute has emailed me several menus from previous marriages there but really I want to see an entire list of what they can do. I want to be able to pick whatever I want and say "Yeah, I'll take two of those, three of those and that wedding cake right there." Can that happen? It really better be that simple.

If you know my personality you know that I'm not an organized person. I semi like to plan things, for instance if I'm taking a trip somewhere....I must have an itinerary. I like knowing where I'm going and what to expect next. I really don't like picking out these certain things that are required for a beautiful wedding. Maybe it's laziness or maybe I just don't care....either way, I'd rather not have to do it. All my life I've had people around me who DO care about these small details and who have usually always done these kinds of things for me. Therefore, I trust their judgement and know that they will do a good job at making it superb. Just don't make me!!! Yes, I get that it's MY wedding and I should want to get involved and do all of these things but I really just can't......and then my procrastination gets in the way. With things that I'm not so intersted in doing, I usually wait til the last minute to do them. Unfortunately, these kinds of things cannot wait. English 101 paper, yes. Picking linens, the menu, and flowers....no...that cannot wait, apparently...

So other than the things that I need to get done and decide on, the wedding planning is all falling into place. I'm getting very excited about our day/weekend of activities. I've talked with our photographer and the engagement/wedding pictures are going to be phenomenal! I mean....can you really go wrong with pictures and a wedding in San Francisco and Napa? um, no.

On an exciting wedding note: IT'S DRESS FITTING DAY!!!! I'm so excited to put my dress on today!!!! It's the moment when I most feel like a Princess. And from what I hear...thats the exact feeling you're supposed to have as a bride. :)

A Decadent Weekend

Well the long 4 day weekend came and went super fast and here I am back in Charleston, land of the no fiance. sad. However, the weekend was perfect, lots of relaxation and lots of unpacking with a side of fairy flare. Just what I needed from all of this wedding planning insaneness, seriously? Its stressful and not fun. So Friday while Mr. Fiance was working through the morning, I was able to spend some time with an old friend and her kids. Luckily, she came and picked me up because our apartment was HOT, like smeltering hot, like NO A/C! yeah...I had to get out for a while. When I returned it was a magnificent 72 degrees, perfect climate for an afternoon nap until fiance came home and then it was nap time for the two of us. Friday night was spent grabbing dinner and a little shopping around town. Saturday was a day that I hadn't had since I was in college......an entire day devouted to PJ'S! Yeah, we unpacked and situated our things but it was all done in our pajamas...PERFECT!!! Sunday we checked out a church that we were hoping to call ours...but....thats still being debated.......we'll find something perfect for us sooner or later. After church we decided to venture down to New Orleans to check out the French Quarter and stretch out legs a little. We parked the car and started walking through the streets of New Orleans when we stumbled upon...this loveliness.....A DRAG QUEEN LIP SINGING IN THE STREET. Oh yeah I forgot to tell you...it was the Decadence Festival in New Orleans this weekend.....enjoy. So there we were standing in the streets of New Orleans being saronaded by a African American black man dressed in drag with an entire crowd surrounding him. "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore..." holy hell...this was gonna be a great city for us to play in. Can you tell? haha. We ventured more into the touristy part of the French Quarter where we stopped for a couple daiquiri's with free shots! We congratulated each other on our engagement and moved to the streets to window shop and people watch. After our intense walk around the quarter and much site seeing for one day, we decided to head back home to grab a fancy dinner to celebrate even more. Of course, we couldn't get back to the car without stopping to watch the Decadence Parade prance down the street. As we watched the half naked men bare all and the cute fairies twitter their way downt he street we finally were able to get to our car. We headed back north to our "safe zone" and napped before our big meal. We picked a place that was literally out in the middle of no where "on the bayou." It was a perfect little quaint restaurant. We celebrated over Rabbit, Duck, a perfect bottle of wine, and a serving of bread pudding. With lots of oohing and gooing over my ring from the waiters and waitresses we were rolling out the door with our bellies full. :) On our way back home, I noticed a McDonalds and knew that we had to stop and snap a picture of us with the Golden Arches. Needless to say, we crashed when we hit the front door.
Monday was spent getting more things done around the house, between the two of us we definitely have some "stuff." Trying to get it cleaned as much as possible was a task that I'm not so interested in accomplishing but since it was to make our new home nice and comfortable, I was willing to help and make the sacrifice. :) So the entire day was devouted to getting the place in order and then it was time for me to leave on a jet plane. Probably the saddest thing I've ever had to do. Leaving behind my loved one is not something I expect to do a lot of in the near future.

Now that I'm back in Charleston working, the countdown has begun. Only 17 more days of work left!! I can't believe it! And only 54 days until we wed in Napa!!! The days are creeping up on me and I love every second of it. I'm so happy to be marrying the most incredible man! God has definitely blessed our lives and we couldn't be happier to take this journey together.