5.15: church decor and the dress

Be prepared: there is some serious pretty going on in this post. Few words. Many pictures. 

What can I say about our flowers? When I told Kelly, a.k.a. Flower Genie, what I wanted she said "I know exactly what to do." Not even a moment's hestitation and my vision was transported into her brain. She knew I wanted pink + orange daisies and kept 'em clean and classy. Above is her work on the altar and the church pews.

I also have one of Jeff's pictures as my new blog header. When I showed Chad it last night he commented on the fact that it looked like the old one, but with a facelift. My thoughts exactly.

The other set of pretty shots: my dress. My white, satin, jeweled dress. I just like staring at it.

See? I just was in love with this little number.

My sis. The lace-up queen. I did it for her wedding and she returned the favor for me.

bite into it.

My friends,

Just wondering if you'll be joining me on 6.30 along with 5.1745 million teenage girls as we go see Twilight: Eclipse. Here's how my Jacob/Edward duel goes on in my brain--Jacob in the movies, and Edward in the books. (Trust me, it makes things confusing.)

P.S. I'll bring the Milk Duds...must remember bigger purse for sneaking them in.

5.15: me & the b-maids getting ready {Vol. II}

 {01. pleased as punch. 02. the hair shot...all credit for those curls goes to Ms. Sara} 

When we arrived at the church, we were pleased to find that we were the only ones there except Jeff and Jess. Laura and I dropped off the dresses and then crept down the hall to pick up the gorgeous gerbera daisies that Kelly {my flower queen} left in the fridge. After chatting with J & J for a while, I sat down in the 3rd and 4th grade room and had my aunt Deb put my face on.

So, me and the girls proceeded to share eyeliner, chat about our shoes, and fix our hair. We listened to Z100 and laughed as the same Rhianna song came on twice in the two and a half hour span we were in there. The short amount of time that we were in there was a whirlwind--people coming in and out, pictures being taken, giggling and chatter. All of which I soaked up like a sponge. I liked the  fact that I was never alone in the room. Sure I missed the fact that the girls could go out and see the boys whenever I wanted to, but I kinda liked that I was able to spend precious time with each girl.

The shoes. I didn't have any sort of demands when it came to my girls' shoes. They all knew I was wearing bright pink flats {the ones in the middle} and they took it from there. Some of the girls completely surprised me, like Danielle, my sensible and non-heel wearing pal, who sported the two+ inch heels on the far right the whole evening.

My little mr. came in to our room and kept us company while we waited for Pastor T. to come get us. Do you love that tie? I got that sweet little polka-dotted number from Me and Matilda. I gotta tell you, having a baby around you right before you get married is one of the most calming things you can have. If you are getting married soon, borrow someone's baby for a 1/2 hour. You get distracted from all the cuteness.

This is something that not many people got to see. My cute little garter. I'm a Colts fan through and through and wanted to honor them on the wedding day.  We didn't do the traditional garter toss and bouquet toss at the wedding reception, so only my maids and Chad saw my Colts pride. My garter was made by Embroidery World.

One of the best moments was when Laura came into the room with a note from my beloved. It's one of the keepsakes from the wedding that I'll treasure for the rest of my life. As you can see by my face, I am overwhelmed by his love for me. He wrote it the morning of our wedding and he shared with me his thoughts about the day and about our future together.  I have a Christian husband who will always protect and treasure our love and he made me even more confident in that with the words on this piece of paper.

5.15: me and the b-maids getting ready

{From Top Left, Clockwise: Me, Laura, Hannah, Danielle getting beautiful under the hands of Sara & Kayla.}

Waking up on my wedding day felt...uneventful. Uneventful in the sense that the biggest thing to happen to me ever wasn't only 1/2 a day away. I decided that throughout the whole day, I would just think about the next thing. So, I woke up thinking: "I'm going over to Chad's parent's house to eat breakfast and do my hair."

I did think about the significance of the day when I was leaving my parent's house and my mom gave me a hug and started to cry. I was overwhelmed with her love for me at that moment. I was her second daughter to leave home. I was her first daughter to leave home and get married on the same day.

When we arrived to the in-laws house, I was greeted with so much happiness. Everyone gave hugs and my sweet soon-to-be sister gave me a pink rose along with her hug. That morning was a perfect way to ease the jitters--having my bridesmaids around me and laughing with me was so wonderful. Sara sat me on the chair and got to work. I wasn't nervous about how my hair would look at all. Sara has been in the hair-stylin' business for a couple years and I trusted her completely with my look.

There are a few things that make me smile when I remember the first couple hours of our wedding day:

01. Eating my mother-in-law's yummy breakfast food
02. Watching a wedding show on WE and then watching America's Next Top Model
03. Debating about whether or not Jay Manuel from ANTM is gay...and going on the computer to check {He is in case you were wondering}.
04. All the b-maids and I painting our toenails bright, cheery pink. And how we rooted Danielle on when she told us she hadn't painted her toenails ever. {Danielle, we are so proud.}
05. Hearing Jane talk to Steve {my father-in-law} about the cake and how Chad was on the other side of that phone. I wanted so badly to talk to him, but we wanted to wait to see each other until I was walking down the aisle.
06. Looking out the window and seeing the gorgeous sunshine and thinking "Thank you God for giving us the perfect day to get married."

That couple hours was wonderful...being surrounded by some of my favorite people who I knew all supported me and loved Chad and I. That time was so close and intimate, we all just sat together and talked and laughed. The butterflies were starting to form when we were leaving to go to the church...

Photo Credit: my MIL :)

the wait is over.

A swell little package tied up with string arrived in my mail today. I get to share our wedding day with all of you.

Jeff captured everything we wanted....and more. Stay tuned for our words + images.

summer afternoon

Go out. Enjoy these summer afternoons and nights that are filled with nothing but the sunshine warming your face.

We're going to celebrate summer this weekend by:
*grilling some Onion-Topped Caesar Burgers tonight
*enjoy some Leinie's Summer Shandy with said burgers
*watch some baseball...what else is there to do but baseball in the summer
*clean out the garage...spring cleaning came a little late to this house
*have some quality family time on Sunday

Slow. Uncomplicated. Just the way we like it.

time for a change...

I need one. I haven't cut my hair since my sister's wedding almost two years ago. Yes, I've had trims but nothing really dramatic. I'm looking for long, breezy layers like my girls--hilary, alyssa, amanda, and kristin. I just want something easy for the summer and at all costs want to avoid the snarls that I get in the back of my head with my current non-hairstyles. Will have to post the before + after once it happens. It looks like I might want to go blond as well based on these four...maybe I'll do some highlighting along with my celebrity haircut.

in other news...

real housewives of nyc has the season finale tonight. let's watch ramona's vow renewal together.

i made my first "wife" meal tonight: chicken pasta in peanut sauce. it was a crowd favorite and comes highly recommended by c & a --having the rest tomorrow for lunch.

you want a little preview, don't you?

I can tell. You've been politely commenting on my posts about bowls & doormats, but I can tell what you really want. It's all about the wedding with you.

A little appetizer while you wait for the main course {why are all my posts food-related?}. It's coming. And it'll be epic...

hungry?

source

Here's a list of 10 tasty treats I'm eatin' up all around the blogosphere:

01. A great how-to from Redhead Recipes.

02. Just when I thought I couldn't love Zooey anymore, she goes and makes the cutest music video for 'In The Sun'.

03. Why doesn't anything this cool happen in Wisconsin? Guess I'll have to travel overseas.

04. These sweet, little "book belongs to" stickers will be perfect for future books for UJ.

05. Just when I thought I couldn't love my wedding colors {pink + orange} any more than I do...

06. Gives new meaning to the phrase "To have and To hold"

07. Hannah, this "dish" is dedicated to you :)

08. Last summer, my girlfriends and I went to the lake and hopefully in 40+ years our swimwear will be this cool

09. On Saturday, Chad and I watched "To Catch A Thief" and I couldn't help but love G. Kelly's style

10. Ree makes me want to go out and buy these 'people' colored pencils for my classroom...it was the first time that I had ever heard of something like this.

There you have it, 10 goodies from my Google archives. Here's hoping they give you ideas and inspirations like they've done for me. Hopefully, over the weekend, I'll be away from the computer and off enjoying Memorial Day weekend with my family. Oh, and starting up the long task of wedding thank-you notes.

Enjoy the sunshine, friends!

these colorful bowls of mine.

For one of my showers, I recieved this 4-pc. colorful bowl set from my godmother. It's one of those gifts that wasn't on my registry, but I'm so glad I have it. We've already used every single one and they are the perfect popcorn bowl.

It definitely livens up my popcorn + Real Housewives date with myself :)

a decor detail.

We've got our first pair of visitors coming over to the house tonight. Chad's cousins are stopping by for pizza, which means I've gotta go and make this place presentable. Before I go, I wanted to show you what they are going to see before they step into our apartment.

I got this welcome mat for Chad this year for Christmas and am so glad that I finally was able to put it out. It's everything I want people to see right before they come in: cheerfulness, color, and charm. Now, I have to find things that I can put around our house that feature the same 3 C's.

Doormat: from Modcloth. Unfortunately, it's not available anymore, but here are some more interesting mats.
Shoes: my wedding flats from Nordstrom. Find more REPORT flats here.

the one with the honeymoon recap

We're doing the wedding + honeymoon recap "Pulp Fiction" style {as Chad would say}.We'll start with the honeymoon and work our way back. We went up to Door County, WI and stayed in a charming little town called Ephraim, about a four-hour drive away from our city.

Before I start, here's a little throwback to my childhood {watch up to 0:30}:

I watched this with Chad last night, and he was giving me the "have you lost it?" look because I was laughing so hard. I used to say this to my sister whenever she would talk about her honeymoon :)

Starting off the picture reel is one of Chad and one of me, happy as clams. The whole week, you could tell we had just gotten married: we couldn't stop smiling. And it wasn't just "pose for pictures" smile that we had for some of the wedding pictures, it was "wow, we're so giddy and happy and in love" smiles.

Here are some shots of the signs around Washington Island that we saw while walking around. Yes, walking around. When we were boarding the ferry, we couldn't believe all the people that were paying 25.00 dollars to bring their cars on the ferry. Well, next time up there, we're going to be shelling out that car fee and doing the Washington Island experience right. The island is about 35 square miles and we just thought we'd go to the center of town and hang out there. The center of town consists of  the school, the senior center, and one open restaurant {which we of course ate at since the 2-mile hike there exhausted us}.  That almost 5-mile hike in nearly 8-year-old Puma sneakers caused the biggest blisters on both of Chad's feet. {Sorry if that felt like an over share, but hey, I want to give you the unedited version.}

Next I give you two of the most beautiful pictures I took there.
1st: the sun setting over Peninsula State Park.
2nd: the most calm lake I have ever seen in my life.

Note: we did more on our honeymoon than what these pictures show. We took 3 of our disposable cameras that weren't used up from the wedding, so a lot of our pictures are being developed right now. So in addition to this, I'll have to show you the most amazing pizza we ate, the quaint little coffee shop we went to, the fish boil we experienced, and the view of the trip up there.

Our four days in Door County was everything that we wanted out our honeymoon. Low-key. Relaxing. No Agenda. Jim Rome. Togetherness. Amazing views. Exactly the right time away. Fiestaware. Good Food. An easy first four days of married life.

Love,
Mr. & Mrs. H.

Amanda H. {the Mrs. version}

 Hello from Mrs. H!


My husband and I just got back from our honeymoon and we couldn't be happier about married life so far. The wedding was so much better than I imagined it all these years. I will recap our wedding in detail once I get the professional pictures, but for now, here's a shot of my groom and I walking out of the church, courtesy of my mother-in-law. I want to make sure all the details from the wedding are remembered, so you might get more information than you bargained for.

We are going to be pretty busy for the next couple weeks getting the house put away and the names changed. Hopefully, I'll be able to get on the ol' blog and share some details about life around here.

XO,
Chad's Wife :)

5 {tiny, 24-hour} days.

That is all that stands between me and the wedding day. We are rolling with any and all things that happen from here on out.  I have missed writing the blog, but I will be back with pictures, stories, details that I know we all want to talk about after the wedding.

I've been practicing writing my new name...it's fun:)