Weekend, and Scary Pool

Hello folks! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend ... I certainly did. Lisa came to visit, and we had a great time doing pretty much nothing. It was in the humid mid-90s pretty much the entire time, so we spent as much time as possible ... inside. Watching movies.

For the record? DO NOT see the movie "Dear John." It was freaking horrible. Also, I don't really recommend "When in Rome." It was stupid, and Lisa slept through it. But whatevs.

We did have a fun time at the Taste of Bloomington, which was going on Saturday. It was so, so, so, so hot, so we didn't really last very long. But we had the most incredible bbq pulled pork (Fatman's - it was so good we went back there for dinner!) and this great watermelon and feta salad. Oh, and crostini with lemon ricotta, basil and a drizzle of honey. YUM!!!

So, that was fun.

Are y'all having a good summer? Do you have jobs that change over the summer (i.e. jobs in education), or do your jobs generally stay the same? I am so happy to work in education after working in a hospital (no vacations, ever!). While I still work throughout the summer, I go down to 24 hours a week, and it's much more relaxed. So even though I don't have my summers off, it still feels like a break.

One thing we're doing this summer is helping out at an afternoon program for teens - a safe, structured place they can go hang out, have some healthy food, etc. It's located at an apartment complex. Last week, I went with a couple kids to the apartment pool and dangled my feet in the water while they swam. Until ... we noticed 3 (THREE) ticks in the water. Oh. And a CONDOM. Puke. Pool time ended pretty quickly after that.

So ... what's the weirdest thing you have found in a pool?

Deployment in Review: Month 5

I have been in what seems like an incredibly long blog funk. I'm sure I'll snap out of it ... eventually. I think. I hope. I just realized that this is only my 2nd blog post for June ... and it's already the 18th! Oh dear. I told Matt the other day that I didn't have anything to blog about ... his suggestion was to "make some shit up." I feel like that seems just as difficult as having real, actual blog fodder, so ... I promise everything I tell you is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Etc. :)

So without further ado ... can you believe Matt has been gone for five months? I can. It feels like the first few months flew by, but lately it's just been feeling slower and slower and slower. Maybe that's because nothing much has happened?

I have very little to report for Month 5.

-I went to Michigan for Memorial Day to celebrate my Mom's birthday

-I celebrated the last day of school and am currently enjoying my summer schedule (I only work 24 hours a week over the summer)

-I went to Michigan this past weekend to celebrate my Dad's birthday (late) and Father's Day (early) and to see my Granddad and his lady friend (they were in town visiting)

-Aaaaaand I guess that's it. Hmmm. Oh, also Matt moved to Baghdad a couple of weeks ago and is currently at the Embassy.

Clearly, it's been boring around here. Sorry!! So instead of talking about stuff I've done, let's talk about stuff I'm looking forward to:

-Lisa is coming to visit today! We have a fun weekend planned.

-It's almost July!!!! If things worked out as kind-of-planned, I could be seeing Matt in 5 months! Oh dear. That means we're only halfway. Okay. Stop thinking about that.

Hmmmm okay, that's all I can really think of. My official 1/2 marathon training starts on Monday - up to now, I've been working up a baseline through 5k training. I've really been enjoying it, although I basically took a week off from running this week. It's been so hot and humid - even at 6am! - that I just ... let myself have a some days off from running. I've been doing lots of walking to try to get used to the humidity (seriously. weather.com says we have 99% humidity right now! blech!!!) and then I'll get back to running on Monday. I am a little intimidated about next week's workout - just because it is a definite step up from what I've been doing. Here's the plan:

Monday: Stretch and strengthen (I'll do yoga and strength training)

Tuesday: 3m run

Wednesday: 2m run or cross (I think I will go for a bike ride)

Thursday: 3m run and strength

Friday: Rest (yay!)

Saturday: 30 min cross

Sunday: 4m run

Whoa - did you see that?! 4 mile run! I have never run more than 3 miles, so this will be a pretty big deal!!! I will try to keep you posted. And until then ... I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

One Month!

I (finally) have some stuff to blog about (namely my AMAZING weekend in Chicago with Lisa, Jenn, and Jenny!) but today, I just have a few brief words.

It has already been ONE MONTH since Matt left! Can you believe it? I can't. It has truly flown by, and I can only hope that time keeps flying at such a rapid rate. How am I doing? To be honest...I'm doing just fine. Do I miss my husband? Absolutely. Every second of every day. But my life has been full - full of work, full of play, full of just staying home alone sometimes.

So, that's that! Happy Valentine's Day, everyone - I hope you are having a great day with your loves, whether they be significant others, friends, or family. I had a great Valentine's Day brunch with one of my favorite valentines, Lisa, and her boyfriend Randy.

Next up - photos from my fantastic Chicago weekend!

Chicago, Milwaukee, and BIG FUN

Well, I can't lie...I had a super duper amazing weekend in Chicago and Milwaukee! And now I will rehash all of it.

On Friday...Lisa, Randy and I went out to dinner at the 44th Ward Dinner Party. We all had high hopes, as it is a grilled cheese restaurant (!!!), but to be honest, it fell a little flat. We had amazing apps, but it took over an hour for our grilled cheese to come. Considering the size of the place (it was tiny!), we started wondering if they were cooking everything on a tiny George Foreman grill or something. It was weird. We had a really sweet waitress, however, who felt badly that we had to wait so long. She generously brought us a free dessert ... which had a giant hair in it. Blech.

On Saturday, I ran out to my car to grab sunglasses and saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked up, and - surprise! A coyote trotted right by me on the sidewalk. I was totally confused and surprised. For a second I thought it was a dog, and then realized that he was a coyote. How weird is that??! Right in the middle of Chicago! I am still giggling about my coyote run-in. Definitely one of the weirder things that have happened to me!

Anyway...on Saturday, Lisa and I drove up to Milwaukee and met Jenn!!!!! We had SUCH a great time. From the second we met Jenn, it was like we were old friends. We spent around 5 hours hanging out in Milwaukee, eating and shopping and just generally having fun! I can't wait until we can meet up again. Jenn is every bit as funny, beautiful, and awesome as you think she is.

We stopped at a resale shop and I managed to find this KILLER dress for the holiday party she was going to that evening.

Maroon velvet? CHECK. Green taffeta? CHECK. Asymmetrical hemline? CHECK. Sleeves that come to a point? CHECK. Sadly, Jenn later shared with us that it was too itchy to wear sans bodysuit...so I look forward to photos from the 2010 holiday party. :)

We also found these KIND OF AMAZING "fur" coats. I have a much better photo of us in them, but for some reason blogger will only load it sideways (?). Sad face. This photo caught us mid-laugh, with Jenn mid-hair tuck.

We were sad to leave Milwaukee and just had such a fun time. But...we did eventually leave and headed to the outlets in Wisconsin on the way back to Chicago. Got a few good little things...mostly socks for work (wow, fun!) and some festive holiday soaps from the Bath and Body Works outlet. Score. Oh, and a few little treats for Matt. Shhh, don't tell. They're secret. :)

SO. That was Saturday. We got home and watched the season finale of Glee (okay, I had already seen it...but was desperate to watch it again. HOW FREAKING GOOD WAS THAT EPISODE??!). And then promptly fell asleep.

Sunday morning, we woke up and went to brunch at the Serbian-owned restaurant on the first floor of Lisa's apartment building. It was delish! Then, Lisa and I headed downtown for a chocolate tour. To be honest...the tour was pretty annoying. The tour guide announced right away that she was an actress (gah) and it kind of went downhill (read: overly cheesy) from there. We did, however, go to an amazing chocolate place - Teuscher, located at the 900 shops on Michigan Ave. Teuscher is a Swiss chocolate company, and they import their chocolate every week from Swizterland! Their specialty is the champagne truffle...amazing chocolate with a Dom Perignon center. They gave us one truffle to sample and it was AMAZING. I bought a couple more to take home for Matt. Lucky boy!

The other good place we went to is called More, and is a cupcake shop. Delicious. It is located...um, somewhere in the Viagra Triangle. On Delaware I think. They gave us each a teeny tiny mini chocolate cupcake, and it was great. The frosting was PERFECT. :) Highly recommended!

After that, Lisa and I shopped around a bit more in the Water Tower Mall and I scored some super duper cheap hair accessories at Forever 21. I finally thought I should leave at 5:00 (6:00 my usual time!) when I realized I wouldn't get home until 10. Double sad face...I was tired!

I made it safely home, though, and now am counting down the seconds until around 2:35 on Friday - which is when my vacation starts!!!! It's about this time (and, okay, pretty much every day) that I really love working in a school!

I hope you all had weekends as wonderful as mine!

My New BFF: Jen Lancaster

I realize that all of you have been blogging about Jen Lancaster's books for FOREVER, but I have only recently jumped on the bandwagon. Let me just tell you...I LOVE HER! Her sense of humor is just spot on, and I find myself laughing out loud every 5 seconds when I'm reading. To the point that it's likely annoying my husband.

I am in the middle of reading Bright Lights, Big Ass and it is just so damn funny. What I love most about Jen (yes, I feel that we're on a first name basis) is that the stuff she writes is so freaking REAL. Stuff that you've thought to yourself a million times. Or maybe it's just that my sense of humor is almost exactly like hers? Not sure. Either way, I've got to share an excerpt that keeps making me giggle.

"The second prong in my revised Trinity is IKEA, the Swedish home store monolith. If you're unfamiliar, they carry every single thing you could possibly ever need to fill your home and garden at low, low prices, but in obscure Swedish sizes so those items won't coordinate with anything else you own, like, way, if you want to put a regular Target lamp shade on your IKEA lamp. Fletch thinks it's Sweden's master plan to make Americans so busy trying to construct furniture with Allen wrenches that we don't notice they've invaded us. (Personally, I think it's payback; the Swedes are pissed that we aren't buying ABBA albums anymore.) ... Except possibly Las Vegas, there's no better place to people-watch than our IKEA. Were the FBI to pay attention to my helpful suggestions (or return my calls), they'd know to set up a camera at the front door, because at some point every single person on the face of the earth eventually passes through it. I don't care how rich or poor you are, the draw of purchasing twelve hundred tea lights for thirty-seven cents is too great for anyone to resist."

Seriously...go to the library/bookstore. Check out/buy Jen Lancaster's books. I desperately want to be her real-life BFF.

In other news...I'm heading out of town on Friday (yep, again!) to Chicago/Milwaukee! I am TRES excited. I'm driving up to Chicago on Friday afternoon for a fun weekend with Lisa. On Saturday morning, a good friend of mine from Boston will also be in Chicago, so I'm going to have breakfast with her while Lisa has to work for a few hours...and then, L and I are heading to Milwaukee for the rest of the day to FINALLY meet and hang out with Jenn!!!!!!!!! I don't remember when/how Jenn and I discovered each other's blogs...or who discovered what first. All I know is that the we became fast bloggy friends, and our relationship has evolved from blog commenting to constant emailing/Facebooking/Tweeting/IMing. Yep, it's out of control. We prefer to use 2+ modes of communication at once.

ANYWAY, the point is, I'm excited. You should be too. Expect photos.

Tuesday blues

Wow, I'm tired today. I could have happily curled up in bed for several additional hours this morning! I have really noticed lately that it's starting to get darker and darker in the mornings. What a bummer. It will be winter before we know it, and soon I'll be driving to work every morning in the dark. Boo.

Last night, I made some tasty salmon marinaded in Paula Deen's peach vidalia sauce (yummmmy!) along with some brown rice and lots and lots of brussels sprouts! Up until March, I'm not sure if I had ever really had brussels sprouts before. But then, I read Lisa's post about much she loves them, complete with a yummy and simple recipe, and I thought it was time to give them a chance.

When I brought them home from the store that day, Matt visibly shuddered. He had some bad childhood memories of icky, soggy, tasteless brussels sprouts. I told him that this recipe looked tasty, but if he didn't like them, no big deal - we didn't have to have them again. I made them according to Lisa's recipe and...we both fell in love. They were incredibly tasty. Even Matt (who isn't a huge fan of any veggies or fruit) now loves them and gobbles them up whenever I make them. YUM!

So, there's that. Thanks so much for everyone's stories yesterday...and keep them coming! Becky and I are absolutely loving reading all of them. And for those of you who asked for my broccoli salad recipe...it was store-bought, not homemade. Store-bought and delicious. I'm pretty sure it can be easily duplicated, though...it involves broccoli florets, cranberries, raisins, bacon, and poppyseed salad dressing. Delish.

Last but not least...today is my fabulous friend Lisa's 28th birthday!!! If you don't already follow her over at Like a Valentine, you should. And, even more importantly, check out her other blog, Fantabulously Frugal. She's having a birthday party online from 11-3 CST, so go check it out! And make sure to tell her HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :)

Fantabulously Frugal Giveaway

I mentioned this in my sidebar, but I realized that this is way too good a giveaway NOT to post about!

Lisa from Fantabulously Frugal is giving away a HUGE AMAZING PACKAGE of over $300 worth in goodies!  They include:  

Decorative envelopes from etsy seller Adnagam

Frango Dark Chocolate Mints

Sunshine Yellow Hair Pins from etsy seller creamrose

Purple Rain Amethyst Earrings from etsy seller Sew*Cool Design

Paperchase 8 Folded Cards with Envelopes

Small change purse from etsy seller Made by Hank

Cucumber Melon Salty Soap Scrub from etsy seller Sissy Soap

Soap Nuts from Laundry Tree

Spring Flower Garden Cupcake Liners from etsy seller Layer Cake Shop

2 Vera Bradley cloth napkins

Musings Recycled Notebook in Blue from etsy seller subu

Fleur de Lis Necklace from etsy seller Bumble Beadz

Marc Jacobs key fob

Stationery and small letter-pressed notebook from etsy seller Sarah Drake

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Protective Recovery Complex

Coriander Ivory Small Cosmetic Bag from etsy seller The Sweet Sugar Beet

Smashbox Lip Gloss

Reusable Sandwich & Snack Bags from etsy seller Green Street

Reversible Coffee Sleeve from etsy seller LilE

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

OPI Nail Polish

Stick With Me, Kid Shopping Tote from etsy seller Earth Cadets

As well as MANY MORE surprises!

Holy moly!!!  What an amazing giveaway!  Get yourself over there STAT to enter.  Make sure you tell her I sent you!  

One week left...

...of Fantabulously Frugal's 31 Days of Giveaways.  Have you gone over there and said hello to Lisa yet?  No?  Well, why the heck not?  She is giving away something amazing literally every. single. day. this month.  And, the month's almost over.  You better head on over there and try to win this week!  

Are you Fantabulously Frugal?

I just wanted to take a moment to give a shout-out to my real-life friend, Lisa of Like a Valentine. Lisa has really been pouring her heart and soul into her new blog, Fantabulously Frugal. It is definitely a must-read for anyone who likes saving money, getting deals, and freebies! And let's face it...who doesn't love all of these things?

Starting Friday, Fantabulously Frugal will be hosting 31 days of giveaways! That's right, one giveaway EACH DAY for the entire month of May. I know, right? Totally amazing.

So, take my advice: go check out Fantabulously Frugal! Subscribe! Become a follower! Lisa finds the most amazing deals and discounts - I promise you won't be disappointed. One free Redbox rental a week? Yes please! Free shipping codes and discount codes for...um, almost everywhere? Yes please!

Seriously, go check it out. Just click on the Fantabulously Frugal button on my sidebar. And enjoy!

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.

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!