Nashville, Spring Break, and 2 Months!

Hi friends! Remember me? I realize it's been a week since I blogged last ... AGAIN. Lots has been going on and I've been super busy with no time to blog. I feel like I have a lot to talk about today!

1. Nashville visit! Last weekend I went down to Clarksville, TN to visit my bff Jenn. I took no photos, but we had such a great time! Last Saturday, we went into Nashville and ate at Pancake Pantry (seriously ... could pancakes be any tastier???), then did a bunch of fun baby stuff like pushed around strollers. Jenn and her husband are expecting their first little bundle of joy on or around July 9th (Jenn, I feel like I can out you here since you FINALLY said something on Facebook!). We had so much fun looking at baby stuff! We also found the most adorable baby dress EVER and I bought it for her, despite the fact that they aren't finding out if it's a boy or a girl. We just decided if she ends up having a boy, the dress will come back to me and we can just trade it back and forth. I can't find a photo online, but it is from BabyGap and sooooo so sweet.

2. Spring Break! I'm on spring break and it feels so good. I took Friday off and drove up to my parents' house in Michigan on Thursday night. On Friday, my parents played a recital at the Jewish Community Center for a group of retired people, and I tagged along to see them play. It went great, and was fun to see them play together! And also kind of fun to see how many people in the audience were falling asleep. Oh well, what can you do! Yesterday, I spent the day in Ann Arbor visiting my friends Adrienne and Jillian, and I also spent some time with an old college professor, John, who married Matt and me. So much fun! The day was absolutely miserable - rainy and windy - so I couldn't go walk around campus, which was a bummer. But still a great day! Today, I get to spend some time with my bff Catherine, who I haven't seen since Christmas 2008! She has been living in Mexico City, interning with the Associated Press, but her internship is over and she has temporarily moved back up to the Detroit area while she job searches. Can't wait to see her this afternoon! And tonight, my parents and I are celebrating my birthday - finally! So, that should be fun. Not exactly sure what my plans are for tomorrow yet ... but then Tuesday I am driving 10 hours to Charlotte, NC to see my sweet friend Anna and her new baby, Mae. And I PROMISE I will have photos of that!!!!

3. 2 Months! As of today, Matt has been gone for 2 months. Seriously, it seems like I was just typing out a "1 Month!" blog post. I do still feel that time is flying, although he is actually nearing the time when he will leave "for real" to head overseas and I am dreading it. I have been so spoiled, being able to talk to him pretty much every day - either on the phone, gchat, email, whatever. But I am confident that time will continue passing quickly, and he'll be home - at least for R & R - before I know it!

How are all of you doing?

Weekends!

Happy Thursday night, friends! I am really looking forward to the weekend. I ended up staying home sick today from work ... could not wake up this morning (after 11 hours of sleep!) and had some migraine/sicky feelings. Just could not shake it. This morning, I woke up and then went back to sleep for another 3 hours. Craziness. I lazed around all day and am feeling better tonight, so staying home was definitely the right call. Lots of kids to see/things to do tomorrow, though.

And then - off to Nashville for the weekend to see my friend Jenn! Can't wait. The weather is supposed to be great there (55 and sunny!!!) and I can't wait to spend some quality time with her. Then ... only one week of work left until spring break! Whoo! I am going to Michigan for a few days to celebrate my birthday with my parents, see a recital my parents are playing, and visit with some friends. And then I'll be driving straight down to Charlotte, NC to visit my friend Anna and her new baby Mae! Lots of driving involved, which I'm less enthused about, but excited to see everyone!

What are you all looking forward to in the next few weeks? Anything fun and exciting?

Home Again

We're back in Bloomington from our fabulous weekend in Nashville/Clarksville!  We had such a great time with Jenn and Ryan...photos to follow, sometime.  We forgot our camera, so I took lots of photos with Jenn's camera...of course, I don't have that, so I have to remember to get those photos from Jenn!

We arrived Friday afternoon and spent some time relaxing, which was wonderful.  Ryan and Jenn made us an amazing dinner - teriyaki pork tenderloin and yummy zucchini mashed potatoes, with a spinach salad.  Delicious!  We were so spoiled there.  On Saturday morning, we drove into Nashville and ate at the Pancake Pantry.  Matt has been talking the Pantry up since we met, and I was so happy to finally eat the best chocolate chip pancakes ever!  I was certainly not disappointed!  After breakfast/lunch, we walked around Matt's alma mater, Belmont University.  It is a tiny little college and so, so beautiful.  Saturday evening, we packed a picnic and went to Clarksville's "Jazz on the Lawn" at the local vineyard.  We had a great time eating, drinking, and making fun of everyone surrounding us.  It was seriously the best place for people watching!  Plus, we saw the fattest baby ever.  EVER.  The baby LITERALLY looked like it was wearing a fat suit.  It was terrible.

Sunday was relaxation day...lots of hours of TV and a little tour around Clarksville.  And then we left this morning!

I am sad to report that I have only gotten sicker than last week.  Boo.  All weekend, my cough just got worse and worse...now I can barely talk without erupting in yucky coughs.  Matt and I got back home at around 3:00, and he dropped me right off at the walk-in clinic across the street from our apartment.  An hour later, I walked out with a prescription.  Whew.  I am hoping that the antibiotic takes care of this nasty cough, because it is NO FUN WHATSOEVER.

Did everyone have a great weekend?  I am back to 900-some unread posts on my Reader, and I'm trying to get through them - slowly but surely.  I'm finally back to normal this week - no traveling! - so you'll start hearing from me again soon!  

One year ago...

...our best friends got married.  Happy first anniversary, Jenn and Ryan!

*all photos are completely out of order because my computer is not cooperating.  But I think you can get the general idea that it was the most fabulous of days, full of fun and love and happiness!  

Weekend review

WARNING: I may be a bit heavy on the posting today, because I have lots to talk about!

Hi everyone! Wow...I can't believe it's basically been four days since I've blogged AND since I went on Google Reader! The 453 unread posts on my Reader is a little intimidating...so I will be a little behind on my reading/commenting this week!

Our weekend with Jenn and Ryan was so much fun! Remember how I was a little stressed about cleaning on Friday afternoon? Well, when I got home from work, I discovered that Mr. Smith had cleaned. Everything. Both bathrooms, vacuumed, guest towels laundered and put out neatly in the guest bathroom, kitchen cleaned, everything dusted. Have I mentioned lately how much I love him? It was such a relief! I did some dishes and further cleaned up the kitchen, plus cooked dinner and dessert so that everything was ready when our guests arrived.

Jenn and Ryan were married in April, 2008. Mr. Smith and I were so happy to serve as their best man/maid of honor! They were all set to return the favor at our November wedding...and then Ryan got deployed a month before our wedding. Jenn was my matron of honor - and absolutely THE BEST! - but we were so sad that Ryan wasn't able to make it to the wedding and stand up with Matt. Especially because Ryan is the reason Mr. Smith and I met in the first place! Ryan and Mr. Smith went to EOD school together in Destin, Florida (when Mr. Smith was still in the Army, natch). After graduation, Ryan was transferred to Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, and Mr. Smith ended up at Fort McNair in Washington DC. About three months later, I graduated from the University of Michigan with my masters...and moved to DC for a job. My connection with Ryan was, of course, Jenn. She and I were/are grad school BFFs. When Ryan realized that one of his best friends was living down the road from one of Jenn's best friends, he decided to set us up - as friends.

I was initially hesitant - like, a lot - because I didn't really feel like getting involved with someone in the military at all - let alone someone whose job is to play with explosives. But...when I heard from Mr. Smith, we made dinner plans. That dinner ended up being about 4 hours long....and needless to say, we didn't stay just "friends" for very long!

Well, that was a bit of a sidetrack, huh? Anyway...that is the background with Jenn and Ryan. We had not seen Ryan since their April wedding, so naturally it was so wonderful being able to spend some time together -in person!

We had a very nice, low-key, relaxing weekend. On Saturday morning, we went to the winter farmer's market and picked up a few things for the weekend. Ryan is a major foodie/cook, so we took him to a few of the gourmet/hippie/organic grocery stores in town to enjoy the food and wine selection he often misses out on, living in a military town. (note: Jenn and Ryan are now living in Clarksville, Tennessee - Ryan is now stationed at Fort Campbell)

Saturday evening for V day, we cooked a great dinner! We started off with champagne, of course. Ryan made espresso-rubbed steaks and I made some carrots and butternut squash risotto. Yum! We downed a great bottle of wine, too.

On Sunday, we went out for brunch at one of our favorite Bloomington spots - Farm Bloomington. If you live anywhere around/near Bloomington, eat here! It's delish!

After some window (and actual) shopping, we went back home and just kind of...hung out. Like I said, we really didn't do much this weekend! I made chili for dinner and we watched a couple of movies. They left to go home yesterday and I of course was so sad to see them go.

Here are a couple of photos for your viewing pleasure! The first is of the four of us having dessert and drinks after Jenn and Ryan's wedding. We look TIRED! But I absolutely love this photo. The second is of Jenn and I before my wedding - enjoying some champagne, of course! I love this photo as well...just love it!

awesome photo taken by Lisa!

I hope everyone had a great weekend and Valentine's Day - it's been so much fun reading about what all of you did!

Fond memories of South Beach

**I seem to be having some issues uploading photos on here today. I apologize for the awkwardly cropped photos. And sorry, Jenn, about the one where you are completely cropped out. I will fix this, but...not tonight.**

I was thrilled to see that Lisa uploaded some photos from our Miami trip on facebook today. I thought that I would share some of the highlights with you (for those of you who aren't on facebook, of course!). We really did have a fantastic time, and looking back on these photos (and the amazing dvd that Lisa made me!) really took me back to our short, yet fabulous, weekend in paradise.

When we first got to South Beach, we immediately found a sidewalk square that had some important initials in it.I know it's hard to see, but yes - the sidewalk does indeed say "S & M." And yes, I know that our initials are unfortunate. But, I can't help it.

Here's a cute one of us celebrating our arrival in South Beach with some champagne:

Sadly, the weather wasn't quite as paradise-like as it should have been, and our one excursion to the beach looked like this:But that's okay, the water was super warm. That night, we got dressed up and looked fabulous, clearly:

This is the part of the evening when, while eating at Gloria Estefan's restaurant, I was forced to wear a veil covered on condoms. What can I say...it was a bachelorette party. And to be honest, I don't look like I minded very much. We had downed quite a few mojitos by that time in the evening.
The next morning, we recuperated with an amazing buffet brunch at the Rusty Pelican on Key Biscayne. Unfortunately, none of us felt like taking advantage of the all-you-can-drink mimosas. Oh well - there's always next time!
Thanks again, Jenn and Lisa, for a totally awesome weekend in South Beach. We clearly had the best time! Can't wait to see you again - only 14 days away!

Bachelorette recap, upcoming shower, and more!

Wow, I feel like there's a lot to blog about tonight. Let's get started!

1. My amazing bachelorette trip!

Well, it's hard to find the right words to describe our awesome weekend in South Beach. And sadly (or maybe for the best???), I don't have any photos yet to share. But that's probably good, because I'm not sure I want you to see them. Well, ALL of them. The weekend started with me driving to Clarksville, TN, where fab MOH Jennifer lives. I got to see her brand new house (adorable!) and then we left early Friday morning for the Nashville airport. We flew into Ft. Lauderdale, rented a car, and immediately drove to the Miami airport where we picked up Lisa, fab bridesmaid. It was too early to check into our hotel room, so we ate a killer deli lunch here:

Jerry's Famous Deli. Delish! I had a half corned beef sandwich and some fabulous matzo ball soup. Mmmm. I could totally go for that right now. Anyway! We walked around a bit and then drove to our hotel, The Palms. Very chic! Here are some photos from their website to tie you over until I get the photos off of Lisa's camera:

And this is pretty much the exact view from our room, a killer corner suite:

When we checked in, we spent some time hanging out in our room, drinking champagne and opening a special box of bachelorette-themed items that Lisa put together for me (i.e., I can't talk about that here because I'm not sure who is reading). Needless to say, it got a little out of hand. We then got dressed up and went to dinner at Emeril's. Yummmmy! I got a great lobster tail, and we all drank mojitos. Delish. That was an early night, as we were all tired from traveling.

On Saturday, we woke up to discover that it was raining. Not that much of a surprise, since I had been checking weather.com for the forecast about every 4-6 hours. We ordered a sumptuous room service breakfast (french toast? yes please!) and ordered a movie on our flat-screen tv (one of TWO in our suite!). We later decided to venture out into the rain, and went to the beach to frolic a bit. Then...we were too wet, and gave up on outdoor activities for the day. Instead, we got in-room massages! Lisa swore here masseuse was trying to kill her, and mine definitely slapped me around a bit, but...it was still pretty amazing. We got ready and then went out to have some Cuban food at Lario's. We read pretty mixed reviews of this place, but our concierge recommended it, so we decided to go for it. We also discovered that it's co-owned by Gloria Estefan, which was...weird. But - great mojitos, and a great Cuban steak. Yummy. Of course, I'm not sure if Adrienne would have agreed with that - we also read that Cubans think it's kind of like Applebees. Oh well. Thankfully, we don't know any better.

It was at this point that Lisa and Jenn made me don my hairpiece for the evening: a veil covered in condoms. Embarrassing! But not so much after a couple mojitos. We made lots of friends, and successfully gave all the condoms away. We also met some colorful characters, for sure - mostly at the ridiculous bar we went to afterwards, called Mango's. This was recommended by the football players sitting next to us at dinner. I did a google image search for Mango's, and found this photo. It seems to sum up what the bar is like, although I don't remember the ladies looking so much like strippers...check out the one in the fishnet shirt. What is that???After that rough evening, we woke up Sunday morning, checked out, and went to an amazing buffet brunch on Key Biscayne at a restaurant called the Rusty Pelican. Yummmmmy! They had all you could drink mimosas, but I don't think any of us even finished one.

And...that was the end of the weekend! It sure was fabulous. The only way I could possibly have had any more fun is if my other two fabulous bridesmaids, Catherine and Anna, could have made it. They were sorely missed! But, don't worry ladies, I have a small souvenir for each of you! ;) ;)

2. Indiana bridal shower
This Saturday is my Indiana bridal shower, hosted by several of my almost-mother-in-law's friends. I'm so excited! I haven't really met any of them, so this will be a great time to put faces with names from the wedding invitations. My mom is driving down tomorrow for the weekend, and Jenn is driving up. Can't wait!!!!

3. New job
So, I'm a few days into my new job now, and I love it! I know it's really early, and everyone loves new jobs at first, but I really do think it's going to be great. First of all, I have an OFFICE, so that's pretty neat. I've never had an office before! I started seeing kids yesterday, and saw a lot more today. It's been totally great so far. I'm thrilled to be working in a school, where the schedule is a little more forgiving than my last job - plus, I get to work part-time in the summer! How cool is that???

Well, I think I've blogged long enough for tonight...time to read a bit before bed.

I'm still here

I know I said I wouldn't blog until I get home from Miami, but...here I am.  Jenn told me that we can call our "fun time trip" an official bachelorette trip, so that's fun.  We recently found out that Jenn's husband Ryan (also Matt's co-best man) will be deploying to Iraq tonight.  This is a bummer, obviously, for so many reasons.  One of them is that he'll miss our wedding, which we are really sad about.  But, we kind of expected it so it's not that much of a surprise.  Tomorrow will be "cheer up Jenn" day when I get to Clarksville, and then our awesome weekend will begin!

In other news, I started my new job today.  I think I'm going to love it!  Plus, I get my own office.  I've never had my own office before!  So, that's pretty exciting.  

Okay, that's all for now.  

We love you, Jennifer and Ryan!

Shower photos and other excitement

Happy Saturday! I finally uploaded some of the shower photos onto Matt's computer, although there are some great detail pics and other fun stuff still stuck on my computer. Oh well. Hopefully soon we'll have real internet and I'll be able to share them with you! Until then, here aer a few fun shots from last Saturday's shower:

Getting ready to open presents!

What's in here???

A totally awesome little tea press!

Fancy new tupperware!

A nice shot of my mom and me with the wonderful ladies who threw the shower.

Two of my lovely bridesmaids, Lisa and Jennifer

Trying on a fun antique veil on display at the shower!

In other fun news, I was offered the job that I had the second interview for on Thursday! I'm thrilled to be employed again. I will start October 1st, and will be "headquartered" at Bloomington North High School. Stay tuned to find out how all of that goes.

I also finally made an appointment to have my wedding dress altered. It will be nice to have it out of the closet! I also forgot to mention in my previous post that when I was in Michigan last weekend, we also did a food tasting at the Village Club and nailed down the menu. If you're curious, here's the details:

The beef entree will be prime rib, the chicken will be a champagne chicken (with a champagne and mushroom sauce, cream-free, of course), and the vegetarian will be a delightful portabello mushroom thing. Trust me, it's tasty.

Oh, and did I mention that the invitations went in the mail on Monday? You probably know this already, because I think almost everyone has received them. I have received two responses in the mail, so, that's fun! One yes and one no.

Anyway, that's all for now. The next few weekends will be mighty busy - next weekend Matt and I are in Michigan for a cake tasting, meeting with our wedding planner, I have a bridal hair trial, then we're getting our engagement photos taken on Sunday AND meeting with our officiant, John Rubadeau. Whew! The weekend after that is my FUN TIME trip, and then after THAT is my Indiana bridal shower. So much excitement! Have I mentioned that the wedding is a mere 49 days away??? Lots of fun to come!

I'm alive!

Hello friends. I can't believe how long it's been since my last posting...too long. I'm so sorry. Life around here has been hectic, and for some reason only Matt's computer has internet (we're, ahem, stealing from our friendly neighbors).

Matt and I successfully made it to Bloomington last Tuesday night, and our new apartment is amazing! Last Wednesday, I had a great job interview, and I have a second interview for the same job tomorrow. Fingers crossed. Last Thursday, MOH Jenn and I drove to Michigan for my bridal shower weekend! It was fun, but also really busy and stressful. I really have tried to keep the wedding planning as non-stressful as possible, but when you are faced with what seems like a thousand wedding decisions two days after moving cross-country, things can get a little dicey. However, I had a great meeting with my florist and finally nailed down the flowers for my bouquet, my girls' bouquets, and the floral centerpieces for the reception. Phew! That's one big check off the list.

Saturday was my bridal shower! It was so fabulous. There really are no other words to describe it, besides WET! It poured rain for the entire day, which made for some unhappy drivers. Three cheers for my amazing bridesmaid Lisa, who drove 5 hours from Chicago that morning in a monsoon just to come to the shower. Due to the internet problems, I do not yet have photos I can post here of the shower, but I'll try to take care of this asap.

On Saturday night, Jenn, Lisa and I went out for dinner drinks, and they presented me with the packing list for my fun time trip (which is coming up in just a few weeks!). The highlights:
-beachware
-beach bag
-1 fabulously fun going out outfit
-sunglasses
-sunscreen
I think I'm going on a beach vaca!!! I'm sooo excited. I know that with these girls planning it, I will have a world of fun.

On Sunday, I braved more icky rain and drove back to Bloomington, and Matt and I have been unpacking boxes and trying to get things organized ever since!

One huge wedding highlight: we bought our wedding bands today! Talk about a huge check off the list. I originally planned on a band that matched my engagement ring, but the jeweler had a couple of diamond bands in the store for me to try today and I just fell in love with it. It's a 14k white gold band with ten diamonds that total just over a 1/2 carat. The diamonds match up really well with the diamonds on my engagement ring. He just has to size it up a 1/4 size, and we are getting the wedding date engraved on both of our bands (11-08-08). We should have both rings in 2-3 days! I'm so excited.

So, that's what I've been up to lately. I'm hoping we get real internet soon, so I can blog more regularly. I promise to upload some photos soon!

Last VA Blog

Our apartment is empty, except for the air mattress on the floor where our dining room table used to be.  Weird!  Today was definitely tiring and hectic.  We were up late last night, getting ready for the movers and cleaning as much as we could without all of our stuff being gone.  Up at 7 for a quick errand at the doctor's office, and then the movers came at 9am.  I've never had professional movers before, and wow, they were awesome.  All of our stuff is in boxes neatly labeled with "Smith" and whatever the contents of the box are, complete with creative spellings...we had a box in the kitchen labeled "Tubaware" but I'm pretty sure they meant "Tupperware."  Another good one - "Kitchen Floor Matt."  Haha, get it??  They meant mat, but wrote MATT, like the one I'm marrying.  Hilarious.

Anyway - they left at around 4:30 and we had two and a half hours to furiously clean the place so the landlords could inspect at 7.  Somehow, we got everything finished on time - early, in fact - and the landlords were so pleased that they gave me back my entire security deposit!  Yay!

We topped off the day with a great meal at one of our favorite spots - Southside, in Alexandria.  That is definitely a place we're going to miss.  

We plan on taking off pretty early in the morning and getting to Indiana asap.  And a hectic wedding week ahead of me:  on Wednesday, MOH Jennifer drives up from her new home in Tennessee to my new home in Bloomington.  We will put the stamps on the invitation envelopes.  And then on Thursday, we'll drive to Michigan together.  Friday morning - florist appointment, Friday afternoon - hair appointment, Friday night - food tasting at the reception site.  And on Saturday???  MY BRIDAL SHOWER!  I'm sooo excited.  Besides MOH Jenn, one of my other fab bridesmaids Lisa will be in attendance.  I'm incredibly happy that they will be there.  

So - you probably won't hear from me for a few days, because life is crazy.  But - guess what?

THE WEDDING IS TWO MONTHS FROM TODAY!

Only 100 Days!

So, the other day, I mentioned that I had received the most adorable of envelopes from MOH Jennifer, yet it specifically said on the envelope that I could not open the darn thing until July 31st.  I suspected that it maybe had something to do with our "Fun Time" trip.  Well, I was wrong - but definitely not disappointed.  Man oh man, how adorable is THIS:

I'm 100% positive that I have the best friends in the world.  Of course, I have been watching the countdown myself and saw that today was the 100 day mark.  This little card is definitely going in the scrapbook!  Well, if I had a scrapbook.  Until then, I shall display it happily!