Still Busy

You think that after getting married your life will slow down and you will end up doing more with each other. Hasn't happened yet, I'm still just as busy with everything that I do and Chris is still just as busy with work.  It is nice to be in bed though by 8:30 pm.  I do laugh about it because I feel like such and old person but it's dark outside so it helps my mind set.

I'm curious what others are looking to hear from us about.  I want to include my readers into this world of ours but I want to share what you are interested in, not just what we feel you are interested in hearing about.

Feel free to let me know.

Thank you for reading
~Mary

So it begins

Sorry for the delay in posts but we are still in the process of moving everything into our little cottage and the computer is not big on our list of things that have to be moved in right now.
Everything is going well right now we are still waiting on getting my dresser over to our place so everything will be nicer and more organized.  I know I said at first it was small but now that we have moved alot of our belongings into it it is rather large.  We've also spoken with some of our other married friends, they got married in the last year or 2 and we seem to have a little bit more space than some so that's good right?
We do enjoy our neighborhood, it is very quite considering where it is located and I can't wait to get involved with the people in my ward.

Thank you for reading
~Mary

The Final Countdown

With the wedding happening this weekend we are in the final stages of everything we can do for this wedding.  This week will probably be an emotional time for me since I will be moving out of my house for the first time in my entire life.  I didn't think I would see it as this hard of a moment to get through. I'm excited to get married but I didn't expect these emotions to well up like they are. I worry about my little sister and how she's going to handle me being out of the house.  I know she always stick her tongue out at me and does her little downs speech and laughs that funny laugh of hers, how will she take all of this after losing her best friend in my oldest sister a year ago and now losing me who's been her protector over the years. Yes we are planning on spending time with her and planning 'play dates' with her but I'm still worried how she will take this.
I also worry about my dog who I won't be able to see every day and have him wake me up in the middle of the night to be let outside. He was a rescue dog so his owners abandoned him and I feel like I'm doing that to him now.  Chris and I do plan on coming by once a week to take him for walks and to play with him so he knows I'm still around and that I haven't left him completely.  You don't think these things will bother you when you are getting ready to leave home.  I'm ready to be married and start my new life and there will be changes with it and there will be growing and adjusting to each other but it is time that Chris and I stepped into that new life of ours and grow together.
I suppose I'm content with my life and getting married is the right thing for me to do, but I don't NEED to get married like some people feel they do.  I'm not putting anyone down by that because everyone's lives are different and everyone's needs are different so their reasons for getting married and leaving home are different and my reasons are different as well.

I hope to be able to post this week about everything that is going on with the final prep plans but we will see if I am able to or not.
Thank you for reading
~Mary

Not such a Fantasy

Everyone knows that weddings are stressful, it is one of those given moments that you know not to piss off a bride or give her bad news, she's stressed out enough as it is.
Well today I got that not so great news.  I've been calling Fantasy Bridal for the past 2 weeks checking on my wedding dress to see what the progress is on it.  Well last week I was rather rudely told that I would get a phone call when they were done so I just had to wait! Yes the way that is written doesn't sound rude but it was the ladies tone throughout the entire conversation.  So then I called this week, I mean I'm down to less than 2 weeks to my wedding and I still don't have my dress in hand. I got the same lady I had to deal with last week, doesn't she take a break?, And she went back and spoke with the alteration ladies.  They said they would be done with it and pressed  by Wednesday.  Then I get a phone call maybe an hour later from the same old lady saying that there is a problem.  They need to let the dress out 3 inches around my rib cage, no it was not measured and it is not one of the areas that are measured for some reason with their dresses. Well the dress won't allow for a 3 inch let out so I have to go in this Wednesday, now 9 days away from my wedding to get this fixed.  Which will probably mean that I have to pay for more material to get those 3 inches taken care of. I'm so pissed off right now and freaking out because I am getting down to the wire and I shouldn't have to pay for the extra material when this is something gone wrong with their measurements.

So I am telling people this now. Do no buy your dresses from Fantasy Bridal and please tell others not to buy their dresses from this terrible store.  The sales women are rude, they measured me in the middle of the store by the windows, yes that makes me feel secure when people are writing down my measurements and knowing that I am cared about.  No I didn't buy a full on wedding dress from them but really who says a wedding dress has to cost thousands of dollars, if it's the right dress, it's the right dress.  Then when I'm told it would be finished with alterations when it came in buy August 20 then I come back and they say it won't be ready til September 3.  You would think that with my wedding being September 8 it would be higher on the list of which dress gets touched first because of how close my wedding date was approaching. I'm not saying that I should get better treatments than other brides but really why work on a dress that the wedding isn't until October when you have ones coming up in September.

I do blame myself for this because we were planning on making the dress so all of this could have been avoided had we just made the dress ourselves rather than giving that over to a store. I hate that hindsight is 20/20.

I will keep you up to date, don't worry.
~Mary

13 Days

Well more like 12 and some change really but it is scary that we have less than 2 weeks left until Chris and I are married. I've had some panic attacks with that realization and yes I knew it would fly by so I was expecting it.
I just keep telling myself to Keep Calm and Carry On. It helps, sometimes but everything will be fine in the end.

Thank you
~Mary

Failure to communicate

This has nothing to do with Chris and I but more along the lines of my families lack of communication skills.  I know that getting married older I'm not necessarily wiser than other brides but I have gone through a little bit more of life so not everything is all polished and new looking to my eyes.  Let's face it, I've become jaded due to my line of work. 
So my older brothers family has practically backed out of the wedding.  Being older you wouldn't think it would hurt so much, yet it does.  I can't up but take it personal.  I know I need to speak to them about this and how much it hurts me because it feels like they don't want to spend time with me.  I know it's one of those languages of love thing and I feel loved when people spend time with me. So by them not spending time with me it feels like to me that they don't love me. I'm not sure if that is their intent with it or that they don't realize that that is how I feel loved by others.
I don't really have a point to this right now, it's just one of those times when you have to get things off of your chest.

Thank you for reading.
~Mary

Bridal Moment

I may have given into a little bit of a bridal moment the other day.  My dress is fine everything will be okay with it so, it's all good. 
I can now see why Brides can turn into Bridezilla, it becomes difficult to keep your composure when things don't always go according to the plans you had in mind. 

The Horrors of dresses

We have already established someplace I think that Chris is a very lucky man for marrying me. However wedding dresses are not very lucky because I have to fit into them and my stupid boobs get in the way. My advice for dress shopping.  Find one that you like and then find someone who can recreate it for you.  You won't have to deal with alterations or that it came in with a major issue that now has to be fixed because someone didn't read instructions! Yes I'm on the verge of tears right now because with buying the dress it was supposed to be less stressful than making it but I'm still feeling the stress of it. And yes alterations are expensive. 

Invitations

I am able to mark another check off of my list of things to do for the wedding.  I honestly believe it is a rather big check because it means that the invitations are now off to the printer and I just need to wait for them to come back to my doorstep so I can start planning a stuffing envelope party. Sounds exciting I know. 
It seems like a big check to me since I've been able to make my own invitations.  Yes it is one of those money saving ideas but I also have Microsoft Publisher for my home computer so it makes creating a publication so much easier. I don't think they turned out bad and when I look at the final draft before okaying for the printing of them I kind of feel like they look just as good as any professional job. But I suppose those receiving the invitations will be the final judge of if they look like a homemade job or if they look like some publishing company did them. 
Oh, I'm also going to be making the Thank You cards myself too with the same type of program and printing company.  Shoot if you can beat 500 invites for under $71 let me know. ;)


Thank you for reading
~Mary

It's a Keeper!

We decided we are going to take the apartment!!!!
The more we think about it the more we see ourselves in it.  We know it will only be for a short time, it had better be for a short time ;).  Yes it is small but my parents said we can keep whatever doesn't fit at their house in my old room. Also when I get a full-time job, see bringing in the positive vibes, we can save and pay off debt and keep our costs down. Then the sooner we pay off enough of my student loan debt then we could possibly get a condo or something and be able to bring Jasper with us then and from there move onto a house. 
I've only had like 4 panic attacks too with the whole thing of moving out, I know I'm slow but what do you expect from a Star Wars fan in their parents basement? Other than a crap load of shoes. 


Thank you for reading
~Mary

Just Looking

We checked out our first apartment today.  It isn't too bad of a place, super tiny but my parents said we can store some of our stuff here at the house since it is a super small place.  We are still keeping our options open but it is in a nice neighborhood, we won't feel like we are poor since everyone else is too. ;) Pretty much the size is the only con on the list.  We get free Wi-Fi, water is included in the rent and gas and power are usually like $70 a month year round, but we are pretty much budgeting the full $100.  It has a small stack able washer dryer combo.
This is really hard, trying to find a place that sings to you and will keep you in your budget.  It does keep me farther from work than what I would have liked but it's freeway driving so that's not all that bad. Okay that's another con on the list, it's closer to Chris' work but farther from mine.  Course I work on the other side of the valley so unless we lived outside of our price range would it make me closer to work. But we are still looking.

Thank you for reading
~Mary

Engagement Pictures.....Check

Well we finally got the engagement pictures taken.  They were so much fun, yet so tiring. We went to the International Peace Gardens in Salt Lake.  Very pretty location, if you have the chance I would check it out.  One of mine and Chris' good friends  is our photographer so she knew how we would be and no we didn't do super posey pictures because one I hate those kinds, we did pose for some and we took direction well but we didn't do some of the lame engagement ones, like when the couple looks at the ring, so dumb.  I'm sorry if you had that picture but that's really not my style so we kind of goofed off. And then there was the butterfly who decided to attack Chris. Too bad there wasn't a video camera rolling, that would have been hilarious to see over and over again.  No I'm not laughing at Chris' expense, it was really funny, possible AFV funny. 

Anyway, I need to get back to getting addresses for wedding guests. 


Thank you for reading
~Mary

Apartment Hunting

I never knew how hard it would be to find apartments that you like, in your price range and that aren't too far from work that it's pointless to move there since all of your money is eaten up in gas. 
We also have to find a place that can take Jasper my dog. My parents keep reminding me that I'll be taking him with me when I leave but I secretly think they will ask me to keep him with them since a dog that big shouldn't be in an apartment. I also think they are kind of attached to him too. It makes them feel safer knowing that something will bark and growl at people when they come to the door. 


So here is my question. What are some do's and don'ts of apartment shopping and deciding on what to get?


No I've never lived on my own, I'm that quintessential geek living in my parents basement. 


Thank you for reading and I look forward to hearing your advise. 
~Mary

Moving along!

We are finally moving forward with the wedding! I have the engagement photos scheduled.  I know a little late but really I work amazingly well under pressure. :D I'm glutton for punishment for that I know.


Chris and I did start the wedding registry tonight, we have one location done. We had to stop after an hour and a half because we were both exhausted and we will hopefully be able to pick up again on Saturday. It really is alot of fun scanning items, even though I'm told I'm holding back on picking out items.  But I have my own pots and pans set along with my own knife set so there are 2 huge purchases that don't have to be made by others. I think my most expensive item, which I doubt I will get is a Kitchenaid stand mixer in red.  It is a wishful thinking on that, maybe someone will love me enough to get me one but I won't hold my breath for it.  Oh crap I didn't ask for a mixing bowl, I need to do that I know. I knew I needed to make a list of items I wanted before going out. but we have another store to attend to so we will see. 


As for the engagement photo's current fiasco see my other blog. 


Thank you for reading
~Mary

What my kids will say

No, you did not read that wrong, I did mention my and kids in the same sentence! 
Now you can faint. :) 


This past week with being all domestic and stuff I realized I kind of like making things by hand and/or scratch. They taste so much better and you appreciate it more since you were the one who spent the time making the whole thing. While at work I had this weird though. "It would be so cool if when my kids came home from playing at someone else's house or sleeping over and they tell me "Mom! Did you know you can buy (some baked good that you wouldn't think of making, like marshmallows) at the store!" I know I'm weird that way.  Yes I do make my own marshmallows, I can't stand the store bought stuff and the homemade is really to die for. I will have to do a tutorial on that sometime closer to the holidays. 
I feel much more accomplished now that I can boil chicken, I have fears of touching uncooked meat so putting chicken into a pot and cooking it, I want a gold star for it too. It is the little things that you can do that can shoot you to the moon when you do them well. Chris' mom Carol said that I am now the official soup maker for the family because of the soup that I made. Yeah it kind of made my night. 


Thank you for reading
~Mary

I did it!

With my family away this week camping I have had the pleasure of taking on 3 roles in the house. I have had to keep the house put together for my mom, kept the yard work up for my dad and then there are my own regular tasks that I normally undertake. I have to tell you.
I am exhausted!
Having to do all three jobs and then taking care of work I would shoot myself if I had to do this every single week. I have always appreciated the work that my parents do but every time they leave I always feel even more appreciated towards them. 


But I am excited for today because I made homemade chicken noodle soup from scratch, yes I even made my own broth, kind of amazed myself. I also made up another batch of bread, this time without any help my mom and all while getting the lawn watered because our sprinklers are broken. 


I'm not looking for praise I'm just very excited that I accomplished so much when I have told people I'm not a cook, I am a baker.  Well I can now cook!


Thank you for reading
~Mary

Being all Domestic and such

Well I did it, I made my first batch of bread today. I'm really proud and excited for myself because I did it on my own.  Okay there was some help from my mom with the technical parts of it only because I didn't know what to look for in certain stages of the process. But here is the finished product of 3 hours of hard work.  

Four, what I would consider, pretty awesome looking loaves of bread. My parents are taking 2 up camping with them and that leaves one for me and one for Chris' family. I'm sure I will make up a whole new batch of loaves later this week that I can share with coworkers and that way Chris' family will get a fresh loaf of homemade bread. 

Favorite store closing

I found out the other day that my very favorite store, the only reason I would ever go to Gardner Village, is closing at the end of the month. Luckily they are still keeping their online store Anastasias attic so I can still buy the items I want but hope they keep with the same selection.  I'm really bummed about it because I was planning on purchasing all of my wedding parties gifts there for my line since we are doing a vintage type wedding I figured having vintage type jewelry would be nice.

I just wanted to share in my sadness over this treasure that will never be there again.  If you check out the site I advise buying the room fragrance satchels in Orange, lemonade and hope. they smell the best.

Excitement

Now that we are only a few months away I'm really really starting to get excited about getting married. We have almost everything planned out, just waiting on a few loose ends to come in and then we can pretty much go full steam ahead. 


I do have some questions though, where are some good places to go for engagements that won't cost us anything and do you bring more than one outfit along for them? I know I'm weird but this is how my mind works. 


Oh and Chris and I have chosen where our honeymoon will be.  We will be going with my entire family to Disneyland for a memorial for my sister that passed away last year since we weren't able to go for her birthday like we had planned. I know it isn't the ideal honeymoon to go with your parents/ in-laws but we will have been married for 6 weeks by the time we leave so I'm hoping a lot of the newness and awkwardness isn't there.  But I could be wrong and I probably will be.  What will be nice though is Chris' family is planning on joining us one weekend during the travels in Vegas to celebrate Chris' birthday.  I'm looking forward to spending time with his family there since the last time I went I didn't really see much. 


So if you know of any pretty locations that would be great for an engagement photo please let me know.   


Thank you for reading
~Mary

Wedding Updates

I hope you all are dying to hear about what updates we have so far for the wedding. 
First we found some amazing deals on invitations.  I'm not going to give it away until after the wedding so you'll have to just hang tight about it okay. :) 


Next one of my coworkers is willing to make the wedding cake for cost of ingredients so that's around $100 so that is a load off of us with that cost. 


I'm still looking for photographers, I know that is a huge part of the wedding budget and you don't want to skimp on them but I find it ridiculous to pay $750 or more for just the wedding day itself and then extra for the engagements and the bridals. If any of you know of some decently priced companies that will help us out as well if our guy ends up falling through.  I'm hoping he won't so you can also keep your fingers crossed for us too.


DJ's.  I'm on the fence about them.  I know they can make a reception fun but are they worth it as a apposed to putting together a play-list on mine or Chris' iPods.  


Flowers I'm going to end up doing myself since we still have our wholesale license to florist places and with going the fake route we can save more and get them done up labor day weekend that way they are done and ready to go. 


I also want to thank everyone who reads these posts and leaves comments.  It makes you feel all special knowing that others out there care about you and that have advice that I can use for later on in this new beginning of my life. 


Thank you for reading
~Mary

So sorry

I just wanted to put in a quick post saying that I am so terribly sorry that I have not been keeping you all updated like I would have liked to with this blog. But it has been super busy what with making wedding plans and then coaching Special Olympics.  I hope you all don't hate me too terribly much but I will get back to this on a regularish basis.

Have a wonderful fathers day weekend.

Customized dresses to order?

I know what you are thinking, how can you customize a dress online, I know it's not crazy talk but seriously this website that I came across while finding a dress pattern amazed me.  Customized dresses The cool part about this website is you can take a dress, pick your size, then put in your height, and you can choose what type of sleeve you want on most, the length and the neckline. How cool is that? Even with the skirts, you can choose the length and the separate tops you can choose the neck line, length of the top, sleeves it is pretty awesome. No I am not getting paid to tell you about this website but I just had to share it. I so want to order something, if I had the money.

check it out, you will be amazed.

First Sewing Project completed!

So my three weeks of sewing class have come to an end and here are the results of my labors.

I know the picture isn't much but I'll work on getting a better camera to take some better pictures.

I'm really glad I took the sewing class since it opened my eyes up to a world that I didn't know if I fit into it or not.  I will continue to make more items on my own, I have a coworker that wants me to make an apron for her too but before I start giving things away I need to get better at keeping my seams straight and using pins, I really hate pins. 

I'm hoping my next project will be a picnic blanket throw type thing.  Pretty much it's an outdoor blanket. I'll let you know when I start on that.

Thank you Mr. Postman!

It is official folks, Chris got his Clearance letter and we officially have where we will be married!!! I don't think you know how happy I am that we got this letter.  I would still be happy if we were turned down for it but we weren't so now I'm extra happy.  *does her butt wiggle dance* If you haven't seen it, you are pretty much missing out on it. 


Thank you for the prayers that were said on our behalf with this situation.


Now there is soooooo much more planning to do.  But I can at least start by putting everyones addresses into a workbook so I can get the labels printed for them. Yes, it is a lazy mans way of addressing envelopes but we are in a time crunch now so I'm doing what I can as quickly as I can. 


Thank you again everyone
~Mary

Who knew math would come in handy?

All through school sitting in different math classes you have said to yourself countless times, "When am I ever going to use this in my life?"  Well I finally found an application for math!! Sewing.  Who knew that sewing involved math?  Those of you who sew I know you're saying Duh! Mary how else do you know how to hem 1/4" seam? All of the people who have tried teaching me how to sew never once said anything about knowing math would help you in sewing, until tonight.
Since I will be getting married in around 4 months now. (tiny panic attack) I figured I should learn how to sew. I knew from years ago that my parents could not teach me how.  After that realization I was stuck with two options, 1) I could teach myself, I was already teaching myself how sew hair back into a Barbie head (more pictures of that will be coming so don't worry) or 2) I could pay someone to teach me.  Well the people I knew who knew  how to sew only did it in quilting, yes that would come in handy but it's an expensive hobbie and I still don't have that big of an interest in making quilts but who knows, that could change, once I get a full time job to pay for it all helps too. 
I've been looking into taking sewing classes at places like Joann's fabric and then I came across them in the Granite Peaks Community Education catalogs.  Well I had already taken a card making class from there so why not take another one.  The only problem with some sewing classes are the days they are taught.  Wednesdays are out of the question for me because I'm already busy those nights so that only leaves me with Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Well right now Thursdays are taken up with Volleyball.  Anyway to make a long story even longer I found the Basic Sewing Techniques class taught on Tuesday nights.  This time around we are making an apron.  Well I've seen some super cute aprons out there when I got the idea that I should learn how to make the apron so I can make some for the people who will be working in the kitchen and serving at my wedding!  Brilliant I know! I learn how to sew and I can make a gift for the people who will be helping me.  And who knows maybe I'll get so good at it that everyone will get one as a Christmas present. Yes I am that crazy to do it. 
In my class tonight I learned a little more about sewing machines that I didn't know before and I now see why my mom got so upset with us for messing with all of the buttons and leavers on the sewing machines while growing up.  Yeah we deserved those beatings. (no my parents did not beat me as a child, even though they probably should have) I even learned how to make a ruffle in tonight's class.  I'm kind of excited to go and make more ruffles now.  I might even be helping my sister with my nieces dance costumes this weekend.  Who ever would have thought that I would have been this excited about learning to sew? 
Let's just hope I stick with this hobbie longer than I have the last few. 

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know what you are thinking, how can this be done? Well stay tuned because it will be happening soon.  I will even post the recipe once I finish with it. 

A New Dress

Remember that whole post about trying on 17 dresses? Yeah well my mom got this great idea to checkout Fantasy Bridal.  As we walk into the store, what is hanging on a rack? The dress that we've been envisioning since beginning of March. Odds of that happening are what? Yeah I don't know them either. Is it kind of crazy? Yes it is. I'm somewhat excited about it and somewhat disappointed  by it.  Now hear me out.  I'm glad that now my mom and family don't need to stress so much about making sure the dress is right and everything yet sad because we had kind of made a little tradition in our family about having dresses made for us.  My mom's dress was made for her, my sisters dress was made for her so it made sense that mind would be made for me. But it's done so there's really not alot we can do about it right? And they can order it in and it will be in by the end of July.  Not too thrilled with that aspect of the whole thing but I'm sure if my family was making my dress it would put me into a higher stress state wondering if the dress would be finished in time. 

3 weeks for the postman to hurry

Well Chris and I met with his Stake President on Sunday and he saw no reason to hold back on the clearance so he sent his letter and all the other paperwork off yesterday to the First Presidency. Now we just have to wait 3 weeks to hear back on what the answer is. Well hopefully it will only take 3 weeks to hear back. 


Don't worry, I will be keeping everyone up to date on all the information I get. 

Best man ever!

I just wanted everyone to know that Chris is the best man ever!  I was at the Zumbathon today and he shows up close the beginning with a dozen roses.  How sweet is that?

I'm so lucky to be marrying him in September.

Mary's Stress of Losing Weight..again: Zumbathon

Mary's Stress of Losing Weight..again: Zumbathon: So I'm really excited about this coming Saturday.  My work is having a Zumbathon.  It is free and it's 2 hours of close to nonstop Zumba.  I...

Finally a meeting

We have some great news to announce.  No we did not get our clearance yet, but we are now one step closer to getting it.
Chris received a  message today from his stakes executive secretary asking if he and I could meet with his Stake President this Sunday at 2:15 pm.  Of course we can and so we are now officially one step closer to getting our temple day planned. Such a relief for me.


Wish us luck!
Thank you for reading.


~Mary


This is just me testing out the link option and figuring out how to put it into comments. New blog


See and it's even ADA compatible. Yeah I learned that form Internet classes I had to take at work. 

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone one!
With this holiday it is probably the last holiday Chris and I will have to spend as close to single as we are. Yes there are still more coming up but we've always spent those ones together.  I think Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter are the main family holidays, if you get what I mean.  Those are the holidays that if you bring someone to it then you are serious about them.  Yes Chris and I have seen each other on those Holidays but our families schedules are pretty similar to each others so that makes it difficult to celebrate with each other. 


I'm curious how others celebrate their holidays evenly with their in-laws? I don't want to step on any toes and Chris and I have discussed this to a point but we really can't make a decision until we are actually married.  Even after we are married those decisions will change once children come into play.  Crap I said children, now I have to have them. *sighs* 


I hope everyones holiday was relaxing and enjoyable. 


Thank you for reading
~Mary

Side Blog

If you are interested, I have created a side blog that will hopefully help me to stay focused through losing weight and firming up before the wedding.  Because let's face it, no one wants to look like a marshmallow on their wedding day. 

So many choices and not alot of time

We'll get back to some of the plans for the wedding now.
So we have my dress picked out now I can start planning what type of bouquet I want to hold the entire time. So I'm going to be uploading 6 pictures of the bouquets I like the best.  The only hint I'm giving about my dress is that it will be an A-line design and unique. Did you know that when choosing your bouquet certain ones go with certain styles of dresses? I didn't either.  So here are the pictures and let me know what you think of each one. 

I like the wired tied up look, since I will be doing a Bird Cage Veil I think this one makes that connection to each element.

This one is just really pretty and elegant, not sure if it will really match my theme or dress though.

Now this one is one of my top favorites since it is simple and I love the jewel aspects, where I can tie that into the guys flowers too.

Similar to the one above but I'm not sure if I like the bulk of it. 

Again I like the wired look but I'm not a huge fan of roses so yeah.

This on is really unique and I like it a lot for that but not sure if I would have that as my bouquet.

The Flowers I would like to use for the wedding are Calla Lilies and a few roses.  And the colors we are planning on are Red, Black and White.  Very simple yet elegant in their own way. I have a few pictures I will be adding in for decorations and center pieces. Hmmm possibly have a contest on how to do something.  Yes even with the 4 people that are following me. :D 





Thank you once again for reading.
~Mary

Rec Volleyball

Just really doing a shout out for my volleyball team this week.  We are playing our first rec division ladies volleyball.  I'm pretty nervous, not going to lie about it, but I'm also really excited for it.  
Our team came together because of coaching Unified Special Olympics Volleyball.  All of the partners and coaches had a blast playing, especially when we were finally taught how to play by our technical coach and so when my work had the fliers up I checked to see if the team wanted to play and they all agreed. So we are pretty excited, I might even get some pictures of it too. 


Thanks for reading
~Mary

Just a little sympathy

Ever have those periods of time where you are working towards a certain goal and when you finally see that goal in sight and you're doing all that you can to reach it, then when it is within your grasp it goes away. I had one of those moments last week. A position opened up to be an office manager, I know not really my ideal job but it is more than a foot in the door, I'm in the lobby with it.  I had great letters of recommendation from the people who have trained me and let me do what I do best, be efficient and make everyone else look bad while doing it. Also I have over 5 years experience with everything they were looking for in the position.  I practically do the job right now but for less pay and no recognition. So to say I was shocked to get the rejection e-mail after being one of the first picks for interviews as well as being recommended by many many higher ups. I was hurt and I cried a little, just a little. Then I find out on Friday that the position and place I wanted, the place that was going to make all of mine and Chris' married life bliss a little more blissful, gave the job to a swim coach. A SWIM COACH!!!!!! Not just any swim coach.  One that has had no previous experience running an office, counting money or dealing with half of the program we use to make everything run.  I've worked with him before, he was lazy and had to be babysat 24/7 whenever he was on the job and he flirted with the front desk staff.  The staff that he is now in charge of.  
I know it's water under the bridge but come on people. A swim coach, really? really? 


Due to the stressfulness of interviews over the past few weeks I've been absent and I'm sorry to those who do read my blog and are interested in what I have to say.  Or just to make fun of my funny grammar and/or the new words I like to come up with.


Thank you again for reading
~Mary 

17 Dresses later, we found it!

On Saturday my mom, little sister, older sister, sister-in-law, 2 nieces and I went shopping for my wedding dress. I know I've told most of you that I had the dress the I wanted, but I wanted to try on similar silhouettes to get the general idea of what the dress from Hong Kong would look like. I did bring the photo of the dress with me and we headed down to Orem/Provo area. 
Now I'm not really big on shopping in general for myself because you have to accept the way you look in clothes, there's no hiding it, it is what it is. And that was my biggest fear about trying on the dresses but you need a dress, not exactly kosher if the bride shows up in a t-shirt and jeans. Besides the last time I went dress shopping I ended up looking like a giant marshmallow with beading along my bust line. 
We started out at Lauren James Bridal at the University Mall. It was a new bridal store so why not try it out right? Besides I had the dress in mind and if they didn't have it I wasn't going to be too terribly heart broken since I knew I could get the one I wanted. So I tried on dresses there and it wasn't too terribly bad but because my chest is larger than my shoulders I would have to pay in alterations to get the shoulders taken in and everything else. So I they had me try on some strapless dresses, now I went through the temple over a year ago so I can't do strapless but 'you could put a jacket with it' I was told over and over again.  So I tried on the strapless, they fit better in the bust but that's about it. At least my consultant did suggest that I go to David's Bridal since her store didn't carry the real theme of my wedding. It's along the lines of the late 40's and 50's style. At least my dress is. 
So onto David's Bridal there the consultant was super nice and they at least give you undergarments to try on with the dresses. But here is some advice on how to put on a strapless bra that hooks all down the back.  Slide it on over your head. Simple right? everything will be squished into place after that. There I tried on alot of dresses.  Some I liked, some I hated. Kind of wished Beth had gotten pictures of the ones I hated and the looks I gave them. We found one dress that I really liked but it was strapless, and 2 sizes too small. :( The only I could try on the dress in my size is if I bought it and it would be in on May 26.  But if I didn't like it then I could always return it. I didn't really want to do that because I knew I wouldn't get all of my money back if I bought it outright because of restocking fees and everything else. So they had me try on longer dresses, I'd been trying on tea length dresses most of the time. (I didn't really want to try on longer dresses because my heart was set on a tea length and why buy a long dress just to have like 2 feet of it cut off?) So I tried on 2 long dresses, one happened to be the dress the girl next to me had just said she would purchase. So since those were all a bust we decided to break for lunch. I hadn't eaten anything yet that morning so I probably wasn't in the best of moods. 
After lunch I felt a lot better and we tried Allyses bridal just down the street. So I got a consultant and she took me up to the store room and we went through some dresses, they didn't have any tea length dresses but again I could have it cut to be a tea length.  So I tried on more dresses.  I even did a mermaid dress, I felt like a sausage in lace so we decided on a no on that one. Then she went up to the stock room to see if she could find anything else.  She brought down more dresses and the first 2 were okay not a lot of beading or anything that I would want to play with.  Couldn't do pleats because I wanted to put my hands in them. Then we tried on a very plain dress that you would have to accessories.  So we added a red sash, didn't care too much for that, then my sister got the idea of adding a black sash, and a red flower to the front off to the side. Then we added the veil type thing and raised the dress to the length I wanted and I saw it. I saw my dress and I pictured myself coming out of the temple with Chris by my side hand in hand and I knew it was my dress.
So while I was getting changed back into my clothes my mom and sisters were talking. The design of the dress is a very simple design and the material wouldn't be that expensive. So my mom and sister figure they can make my dress and the accessories needed for the look I want for a lot less than it would be for me to buy the dress as is.  The dress was a size too big so they'd have to take in the shoulders and bust a lot, yay for taking in the bust on me. And then still take off the length at the bottom for the length I want and then the accessories.  So just for alterations and accessories we are looking at around another $400 on top of the $374.  So the goal is to make about an $800 dress to be around $150 made. So here's hoping my aunt can help them out if there are some sticky parts and it will turn out to be how I vision it.

Girl Scout Cookies

Let me start off by saying 'Yes I love Girl Scout Cookies'.  However I do have to say that I am very glad that my mom did not purchase any cookies this year.  I sold them for 7 years, yes I am old and when I was in GS only Jr's and up could sell them but I was the cute little sister and so I was dragged along by my older sisters to help them peddle their cookies. 
Once I was a Junior Girl Scout I did one year get the honor of achieving 3rd Highest Cookie Seller in the State.  It was supposed to be 2nd but my mom gave 50 of my boxes that I sold to another girl in our troop who ended up getting 2nd place.  No, still not bitter about it or anything.

Anywho the purpose of this little rant, post whatever you wish to call it is this.  I refuse to buy Girl Scout Cookies from people who I never see the Girl Scout. On one of the boards at my work a lady had an order form pinned to the wall in the kitchen area.  Now yes I did go to my aunts and uncles work places and take around an order form.  That way they initially saw it then my relative would have the order form on their desk so people could order as they needed until it came time for me to collect the order forms.  Then I spend hours going around my neighborhood with a partner in my troop and we hit every single house.  I was determined to get the most cookies. Yes we did deliver all of the said cookies in about 2 weeks time of us picking them up from the drop off locations. So I didn't buy cookies from this lady.  We work at a rec center why didn't she bring her girls in so people could see who they were? I know I'm weird and I like to know who I'm purchasing something from. 

Call me harsh but I feel I am only asking a little bit from a fundraiser that is supposed to help the girl attend her camps. If she wants those credits that badly she will do what she can to get them.

And yes my girls will be in Girl Scouts and they will like it. :D

Side Note

I also wanted to put in a little plug about my Special Olympics Volleyball team. 
We had our first ever state games on Friday February 3 and we were placed in Division 2, for those that don't know volleyball it's the second highest group to be put in.  And my amazing team came in 2nd place.  They were freakin awesome!!

I know I should have mentioned something about it after we won but I didn't sleep the night before because of nerves and then I had to take some sleeping pills that night in order to get up for work the next morning at 4:15 am so I really needed sleep but I really wanted to update this blog too. 

And because of that amazing team some of the team members are looking to put a team together to play at my rec center in our adult volleyball league. I kind of want to be in on the team, if they will have me because after coaching volleyball I actually get it this time around.  Really wished I had a coach like Barry to teach me how to play the game for real when I was younger because I probably would have gone out for some teams while I was in school. But really I wasn't even 5 feet by the time I went into Jr. High and everyone who was on the volleyball team was, to me, close to 6 feet tall. 

But once again Yay for my awesome Hartvigsen Howlers!!!!!!

~Mary 

Student Loans

I know this is completely off topic for what our blog is about, but really it isn't because it is something that Chris and I will be discussing a lot once we are married. My lovely student loans. To be honest, I despise them with a passion.  Do I regret getting my education by all means no! I love that I have a degree and I have a job that I am slowly climbing to positions that will be full-time so I can repay my student loans, but until then I get to keep filling out forbearance requests and talking to many many lovely people about how I am only budget to work 1560 hours a year which is basically 30 hours a week. I know not a lot but I'm lucky and fortunate to have a job right now.

It is funny that you feel that you are on track with everything and then all of a sudden you get smacked in the face with new information or another bill or problem. 

Looking on the bright side, my mom, my sister, who will also be my matron of honor and my 5 year old niece will be going dress shopping/looking with me this weekend. See always something good. :)

~Mary

Changes!

Well it looks like we had to change the venue already. :( It is okay though, it happens when you have large families that only see each other at weddings and funerals. So instead of having an outside wedding we will be having an indoor one. But it will be easier on my family as well since they will be decorating the whole thing. 
They think I will be sitting at home that night getting things put together, but really people, let's think about about this.  I'm kind of a perfectionist so I will be there letting everyone know where I want what. 
On a good note, hopefully my mom and sister and I will be going to look at dresses this weekend.  I have a dress in mind but I still want to go and try on dresses.  It's the whole point of being a bride. 

Thanks for reading. :)

Budgets :(

I honestly think the hardest part of being married, yes I will probably be wrong with this but hear me out.  Is the budget. I like being able to buy something when I want it/need it. But really we have like 6 months to get it right, right? But on the bright side, my car will be paid off by the time we get married so that's something to get excited about. 
I am still currently working for full-time work and once I achieve that goal for the year things won't be as difficult for us.  Yes I want the difficulties of marriage, how else do you become a stronger person then by meeting challenges and know what it is you can handle together. But I am a worrier so I will fret about this for the next few months until I see my bills going down and more money being able to add to other bills.  I'm really looking forward to that happening. And once I get taxes finished and I get my refund I know I'll be able to pay off at least one credit card that I used to get some teeth fixed last year. No it was not cosmetic you have a root canal that kills and see how long you can handle that pain. 

Well I think that's all for tonight.
Goodnight all. :D
~Mary

And now a word from The Groom!

Well, I guess it's my turn. I am letting Mary and her mom handle all the details as far as decorating and stuff. I tried my hand at picking out center pieces but was quickly and sharply shot down by Mary. So for my own sake I am keeping my mouth shut. I guess thats it for now.....I don't have much to say on my end yet. I am pretty sure as we closer to September things are really going to get crazy around here.

Plans so far

Well I suppose that if I wish to continue with this blog and keep people up to date I should at least write something else right?

So the plans for the wedding, we've established our date, no we have not booked a temple due other things that I will probably not get into here. But we will get our date. 

I've narrowed down some of the decorations as well as a location for the reception. We will be using one of my parents wedding backdrops.  Why not right? I mean we have them so we might as well use them.  They had offered at one point to make me my own backdrop but I don't really want to cause alot of trouble or add any unneeded stress into what everyone knows is already a stressful time. 
 Our colors are what I consider classic, we are doing black and white with red accents. This comes largely because the shoes that I have that I plan on wearing are already broken in and they are the colors.  I have a dress in mind, but I still want to go and try dresses on.  It's all part of the whole getting married experience right? Besides, I have to try on dresses that are similar to in style so I know what it might look like on.  I won't know until I have the dress in hand on how it will look since I will be ordering it from Hong Kong. I also can't show the picture on here because Chris will be logging in and I don't want him to see the dress until I'm in it, on our wedding day. 

So now I just need to decide on which bouquet I want, and that really depends on the dress right? My centerpieces, our invitations, guest lists and a photographer. No we haven't narrowed down food yet.

Is there anything else I'm missing as far as planning goes? I have to ask one of my friends if she would be willing to do my hair and make-up for the day. Oh and where I will be having my bridals done.  I would love to get Abravanel Hall so hopefully my dad's contacts can get me in. 

If there are items I am missing, please let me know. 

Thank you for reading. 

~Mary

The Beginning

Yes, I created a blog for Chris and myself. Pretty exciting I tell you.  Why did we decide to create a blog? Well I'm not really good at keeping journals and Chris and I want to remember what we went through up to the point of getting married as well as keeping people in contact with us. It also helps to get other information from people who have taken the same road we have and that can help us with advice or great ideas. 
Just so people who are reading are aware, Chris and I will be posting on here and you will be able to tell the difference in our personalities by the way we will update different events.  

So I hope you enjoy our life in blog form and please leave feedback.  We will accept whatever  help we can get. 


Also if you are curious, our wedding is set for September 8, 2012