$$$ = frustration....what else is new?

One of the many pitfalls of planning a wedding is of course, paying for the weddng.

I am making our save the dates, I am making our invitations, I am making the bouquets...as in 2, mine and my matron of honor. We are having our reception at FMIL to cut that cost, and minimal decor....a late cocktail reception, but still alil costly....I am making cupcakes, I am making the centerpieces.....I am doin alot. LOL.

This stress of course is coming from the fact that I booked the chapel last week and we met with and got the pricing for our caterer....still have yet the find a dress, a photographer, and a ceremony musician......

On top of the wedding planning, I am facing cuts at my job which means a lower paycheck for double the work....and I don't want to hear "oh, at least you still have a job" bs....I mean, does it really make a difference when the bills still aren't getting paid....? Does it?!

And forget all the traditional Brides family pays for this and Grooms family pays for that. 'Cause my family? They arent paying for shit....my mother hasnt even spoken to me since I have gotten engaged and I am convinced its for this very reason. She is afraid I am going to ask her and her worthless husband to pay for something or God forbid give us money. Fiances mother has offered some tentative help, but growing up with parents who didn't give a crap about me makes it almost impossible to ask anyone for money.

So it looks like its time for that dreaded "p" word...parttime job...ugh. Even thinking it makes me want to break down into tears. I thought after 6 1/2 years of college and struggling to survive without any support from my family, after getting a "real" job, I would be done with that. I mean, in college, I worked 2-3 jobs at a time and went to school full time. It. Was. Terrible. I really am not looking forward to repeating that experience in my life, while trying to plan a wedding.....blah!

well, there is that rant....

Wedding Day!

Psych! Not ours....but our good friends, Amber and Kevin. Last Saturday, Matt and I attended their lovely wedding ceremony followed by a happening reception with lots of good food and dancing!

Matt and I had a wonderful time and certainly put thoughts of our own upcoming event, making for some mushy hugs and sappy comments to each other. We were so happy for our friends and enjoyed the day with them and our other close friends. We cannot wait to share our special day with them next year.
I even got Matt on the dance floor after awhile....and a few drinks, haha!

and of course, what's a wedding without cake?!

yea, mon!

Can I just say that Jamaica has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world? And of course I know this because I have traveled to all sorts of exotic places....as in my two trips to myrtle beach, and one trip to Toronto. LOL.....yes, I am the worldy traveler.

Before this trip, I had never been inside an airport, much less on a plane. Thursday morning, we were up bright and early and out of the house by 3:30 am to be at the airport in time for check-in and security before our 7 am flight. Luckily, we did not encounter a single line or delay! The flight was very nice, if a bit cramped with three seats to a row.

If you read my previous blog, you would know that I won this 4 night, 5 day trip to an all inclusive resort in Jamaica from a radio contest. Needless to say, we were not expecting much and I kept waiting for the "problem" to occur. The "problem" being arriving at the airport or resort to check in and someone saying "you owe this many dollars"......BUT that never happened!

The resort...in a word.....amaaaaazing. We stayed at the lovely Breezes Runaway Bay and it was better than everything we ever thought it would be. We enjoyed bottomless drinks, delicious food, gorgeous blue skies, and water so clear it was like looking through glass. I have never seen anything or been anywhere more beautiful!

Now for some pictures!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

This weekend has just begun (already half over) and already its been amazing!

Last night DBF Matt told me he would be making dinner for me as long as I picked out what I wanted to have. Well, after much thought I couldn't decide on anything, so we just decided to get some takeout chinese. We were both tired after a long work day. DBF especially as he had to drive to North Carolina and back in one day for his work to pick up some parts for a work truck. We also decided to make it a movie night and stopped by the movie gallery and picked up a couple movies.

After watching "Law Abiding Citizen" and enjoying our chinese food, it was still early so we were settled in to watch some TV. Matt went into the kitchen and I was happily plugging away on my facebook when he walked back in with a wrapped gift. Mindful that it was neither a holiday or a birthday or anniversary I asked what it was for and he said "I just wanted to do something nice for you". Aww, what a sweetie! So, I immediately unwrapped the silver paper and inside was a photo book! Going through the book were photos of us and things that we had done together in the almost four years we have been together. It was so wonderful, thoughtful and sweet I was practically in tears. The surprise came at the end of the book when the last pages was taped to the back cover of the book. I eventually got the page untaped and attached to the back cover was an envelope, I was thinking "oh how nice, a card!". So, I get the envelope open and inside was a small gauzey drawstring bag with A RING! A beautiful and gorgeous engagement ring! Matt then got down one knee and popped the question! It was so perfect and exciting!

Back cover of photo book

Beautiful Ring!

(and no, this picture does not do it justice!)

The ring is so beautiful and it is so special. Matt told me the center stone is actually the stone that his stepdad gave to his mom when they were married. Matts stepfather, Jeff, passed away from cancer four years ago and he is missed everyday, so it is very special to me that his mom trusted me with something that was so important to her and her husband.

So after a few tears and shrieks of joy, I could not wait to tell everyone! Matt made a quick call to his mom and then we were off to tell my mom, who was not home because she is currently in Tennessee helping my grandfather move, but I was able to reach both her and my grandmother on the phone. Then we were over at a friends celebrating and sharing the news. It was such a great night and I am so excited to bask in the glow of engagement and the eventual planning of our wedding.

Today we did some shopping and I found two swimsuits for our trip to Jamaica so I am ready to go! The time is getting close and we are so ready for a bit of a break from the hubbub and the cold weather around here!

On the craft front, a friend of mine showed me some very cute crochet hook organizers she found on etsy and I thought to myself "I could totally do that!". And yes, I say this to myself often and yet never make any of those things, but this was different. I was determined to make one for myself and see how I successful I was. So after about two hours going back and forth between my ironing board and my sewing machine I have this!

I think it was very successful for my first attempt! I know what I will do differently the next time and how to improve the overall design.

Well, hope everyone is also having a great weekend! Off to use some of those crochet hooks!

The continuing saga......

So we got some more snow here in Maryland...Tuesday I went to work even though I technically was not required to go. But, I figured that I would not be there today, and I was not. In fact, stated government offices were closed. I left work about 1 p.m. on Tuesday as the snow had started again, and with liberal leave in effect, was allowed to leave early to get home before all the craziness of rush hour and those in panic mode driving like crazies tryin to get home.

And this morning, oooohhh this morning. We awoke to more snow, and more falling snow, and more snow to move....but where to put it after the 30 inches we got already, this additional 20 inches.....So my bf did a bit of shoveling. We got around the car and the snow off the car. By this time, the 40 mph winds they had been predicting were starting up so we went back in the house for some hot chocolate, relaxation, and periodic facebook updates about this new blizzard blowing through.

Our day has been a sea of boredom. We have both wandered around the house like lost puppies. My bf has thoroughly beaten the super mario bros. wii game and have finished a stitching project. In fact, it's the most stitching I have done in a week in quite a long time. Must have something to do with the seemingly endless bouts of snow and the fact that I cannot leave my house to go anywhere. The picture is not great since I did take it with my phone. The pattern is "bayside bungalows" by country cottage needleworks. I started it last year when I bought it. I got the houses, sky and trees done before I put it down. In the last week I finished the bottom half of the design. I ran out of the white thread for the waves and will have to order more to officially be done with the piece, there are also four buttons I will need to sew on. I love the colors in the design and liked the summer feel. Not sure what I will pick up tomorrow since government offices are again closed and both bf and myself will be home diggin out.

After stitching, while waiting for dinner to be ready I thought it would be interesting to get outside and get some night pictures of the snow. And yes, it is STILL snowing.....

I left the flash on the camera so the light would reflect off the snowflakes, its a nice effect, but it's getting really old in real life.

Hopefully tomorrow we can get outside and really enjoy the snow and get in some playtime or at the very least go on a walk to see what the rest of the town looks like.

Diggin' Out

So I have no idea how much snow we have gotten, it's all blowing around and we are getting alot of drifts so I don't see us be able to get an accurate measurement. LOL.

Anyway, I went to bed last night and it was comin' down pretty hard. Mr. weatherman had said it would be over by 8am this morning. Well, I let myself sleep in alittle since, obviously, I wouldn't be going anywhere today. Got up about 10:30 and it was still coming down....ah well, better luck next time weatherman! I came down to stare out the front door in shock and contemplate how the heck we would get outta here while I could hear dear bf upstairs moving around getting his snow clothes on. This is what we were facing!Thats not my car, it's our neighbors, but I'm sure you get the idea! While dear bf got started shoveling like it was his j-o-b I went upstairs to dig out some snow clothes that wouldn't instantly send me inside soaking wet. I wound up wearing two pairs of pants, a long sleeve tee, hooded sweatshirt, coat, two pairs of socks and my snow boots. I'm not a gloves kind of girl, so none of those. Dear bf had a good start when I finally decided to step outside.

I stood around for a few minutes just enjoying not being stuck in the house anymore. Then bf gave me a task to start cleaning off the car. I had a good start, but, well, it quickly became boring and tedious. haha. Plus, that was the only side of the car that was shoveled, I couldn't exactly walk around to the other side. So I decided to go ahead and start the car so it would get warm and make it easier for me to clean off. Then I started to feel bad for bf who was workin so hard and borrowed our neighbors shovel to start on the other side. Finally got a path around the car and started to clean off the remainder of the car. About halfway through we decided to leave a bit of decoration on the car, figuring we are just gonna have to go out later and shovel some more it would hurt to leave some of what was already there.

MOHAWK!

After that, we were just too tired to finish so we left it. Now we are warm and snuggly inside. Bf is scheduled to work at his parttime job today but I will be surprised if they are even open for business today and if they are, he has a coworker that can pick him up in their truck.

Not sure what will be going on for the rest of the day, but I have some choices....stitching or cleaning....oh thats a difficult one.....

Snowpocalypse Part Deux!

So we are getting a massive snow storm on the east coast this weekend. I am excited and bummed at the same time. Excited cause I love some snow, bummed because I had plans to go to the movies tonight with a girlfriend and with the accumulation expected to be up to 24 inches, we decided to postpone.....booooo!

I did go to work today, but luckily was allowed to leave at 12 when it started. Now I'm home with my boyfriend and my stitching, and my new favorite mug.....my perfect weekend!