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.

One important shower gift to note

I initially didn't post this photo because I look so heinous. However, I really wanted to showcase the fabulous "something blue" that my mom made for me. She and I had discussed a wedding day hankie, but what she surprised me with was more than I could ever imagine:

I'm not sure how easy it is to read the embroidery, but - on the left, it says 11-08-08 (our wedding day!) and on the right, "sLm to mSm" (obviously, our monograms). I love this!!! It is safely waiting for the big day in what I have nicknamed "the wedding closet." The walk-in closet in our second bedroom is full of wedding stuff - my wedding shoes, wedding makeup, wedding earrings, Matt's wedding suit, china, toasting flutes, and...well, pretty much everything you can think of that has to do with the wedding, including some wedding gifts that we won't break out until after the wedding. My wedding dress was hanging in there, too, until I took it to the alterations place last week.

Anyway - just wanted to share!

More shower photos and detail shots

Hello, friends! Great news - my computer is now stealing internet successfully! You know what that means...I can finally post more regularly! Yay!

I have lots more shower photos on my computer, including some great detail shots that my mom took. Here they are, for your viewing pleasure.

A great photo of some of the tables set for lunch. Gorgeous!

The bride and the mother of the bride

Some shower guests and a lovely cupcake and tea tableDelicious and pretty!Clearly discussing something extremely important

So, that's about it - those were the main photos I wanted to post. Absolutely LOVING having internet on my computer again!!!

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!