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!

Saying Goodbye

Nobody ever said it was easy, that's for sure.  Matt and I leave on Tuesday for our new home in Bloomington, Indiana.  As we look forward to so many wonderful new things, we have had to say goodbye to some very good friends here in DC.  Yesterday was my last day of work; we both celebrated and mourned this by the most fabulous going-away happy hour in the world.  Saying goodbye to my fantastic coworkers - who are so much more to me than coworkers - brought tears to my eyes.  Literally.  I cried.  And then I cried again a little later, and again this morning, thinking about how I won't get to see them for awhile.

The silver lining, of course, is that I will hopefully see most of them at our wedding, which is only two months away!  Can you believe it?  

Today has been a dreary day, as Hurricane Hanna hits the east coast.  It has been pouring rain ever since I woke up this morning.  I cannot understand how it's still raining.  I guess I feel a little sad about these transitions, despite them being so positive.  

To all my friends in DC - you will be sorely missed.  Don't forget about me!

For Megan

I know that my good friend Megan reads my blog compulsively, and therefore I kind of feel obligated to blog more frequently so that she has something to do at work.  :)  She mentioned today that she always knows everything I've bought for the wedding, because I post everything here.  Well Megan, I don't want you to be disappointed!  This morning I bought a secondary pair of wedding shoes.  I plan on changing into them when my feet start hurting in my gorgeous kate spades.  I also plan on wearing them to my bridal shower next Saturday in Michigan, to go with an adorable blue silky polka-dot number from Banana Republic (can't find it online, sorry!).  So, my dear friend Megan, let me introduce you to Pair Number Two:

(photo courtesy of endless.com)

Aren't they adorable?  And, thankfully, significantly more affordable than my Primary Pair.  I had them shipped to my parents' home, so I won't get to see them until next Thursday.  I'm hoping they fit and work out okay...fingers crossed!  

In closing, Megan, I don't want  you to be concerned about missing out on any wedding details now that I'm moving away.  I promise to post as regularly as possible so you know everything that's going on!

Photos from Glen Arbor

I'm Back!

Greetings to my three loyal readers.  I'm so sorry about my absence...but I have good reasons, I promise.  Three weekends ago, my parents came for some super-wedding shopping.  We found an amazing outfit for my mom to wear to the wedding, which was a huge relief because she had been looking for forever.  We also found several dresses for me, which was lots of fun!  I now have an adorable dress to wear for my Michigan bridal shower in a couple of weeks, an amazing rehearsal dinner dress, and a day-after brunch dress (which I believe will double as an engagement-photo dress).  Two of my three dresses are not online anymore, but feast your eyes on my rehearsal dinner dress:

(image courtesy of J. Crew)

Isn't it gorgeous?  I love the color, plus it's cashmere so it feels super luxurious.  I think it's both casual and elegant, all at once, and I can't wait to wear it!  I have a great pair of black suede mary janes with patent leather bows that I think will look great with this dress.  Thoughts?

I also purchased the wedding earrings I wrote about a few posts ago from Swarovski, which are gorgeous, and some wedding perfume (Armani Code) and a few wedding-day lip products from Dior (lip liner, lipstick and lip gloss).  Definitely a shopping-filled weekend, but lots of fun!

The next weekend, I flew to Chicago and then drove up to northern Michigan with Lisa and Randy for our friends' Chris and Liza's wedding.  They got married at the Homestead Resort in Glen Arbor, Michigan, which is on Lake Michigan.  I haven't been to northern Michigan in years, and we just had such a great time spending time with college friends.  It was like a little reunion!  I'd love to attach a few photos from the weekend, but adding photos in blogger is really frustrating me.  Look for my next post, which will be completely photo-themed.

I returned home this past Monday, and on Thursday night, Matt flew back from Indiana!  He has been gone a month, and I have been crazy lonely without him.  We've had a great, relaxing weekend while we gear up for our big move to Bloomington - which is happening a week from tomorrow!  I can't believe that our time in Virginia is finally coming to a close.  

So, there it is.  My excuses for not blogging in two weeks.  I hope you will forgive me!  

Absolutely Gorgeous...

...but not my color scheme.  If I were having a spring/summer wedding, I think I would absolutely  love something like this:

(image courtesy of Style Me Pretty)

I just love the champagne/blush/ivory color palette.  It seems very refined and elegant.  I also just saw someone's wedding photos, and the bride was wearing this very same wedding dress!  How coincidental...

Anyway, I came across this color palette (also courtesy of Style Me Pretty, of course) which fits my November wedding a little better...

I love these colors.  This palette just looks so rich and beautiful.  We are using one of the above elements in our wedding...but I'm going to let that be a surprise!  I can't give everything away now, can I?