New Look

A new start deserves a new look. I hope y'all like what I did with my page :)

Right now I am thinking about getting Unity Candles for a ceremony and found a couple I liked ....

^by Leigh Ann Kline^

^by Brianna Paige Designs^

^by Leigh Ann Kline^

I thought about maybe doing a hand fasting ceremony but that might be a little more confusing .... In fact I'm not sure what our ceremony is going to be like at all. I know I don't want it long but I did want the words to be beautiful ... more research!

Getting Back On Track

I have not been very inspired lately and I apologize. I had a little set back in the wedding department this weekend when my best guy friend whom we had asked to marry us had to back out due to unforeseen circumstances, COMPLETELY not his fault. Patrick and I have decided that maybe this is fate and we are just going to hire someone for the job. Yes it is a lot more money but sometimes you just have to go that route. Thankfully we are saving a bunch of money with our rentals so it shouldn’t put a stress on our budget. It seems that every time I find a way to save money something comes up that evens it back out to what it was before. It’s a little frustrating but I know that when the day comes it will all be worth it. I have faith :-)

I am feeling like these days are just flying by! We have 15 weeks and 5 days to go! Its insanity and I am FREAKING out lol. Really I am just worried about the décor and me getting into shape, not just for the wedding but the half marathon I am planning on running the weekend before the wedding and I am training for a 10k right now that is on February 26th! I am swearing off all fried, fatty, bad for me foods until I slip into that wedding dress on the day of the wedding! This is actually very hard for me because there is nothing I love more than a delicious juicy CHEESEBURGER! It’s really horrible; I think the devil had to have invented those darn things because there is nothing better. I keep struggling with my healthy eats and my yummy delicious sweets ... I am SUCH a stress eater but I've been REALLY good about turning from the "Dark side" of the food force.
I actually cook really healthy; lots of baked chicken which I only season with herbs and pepper (sometimes I grill pork to switch it up), I don’t add salt because there is enough injected into the meat when you buy it. I get mixed frozen veggies with I sauté in EVOO and I usually make red potatoes or rice for the starch. I would love to make fish but Patrick isn’t crazy about it which sucks because I LOVE fish and it is SO good for you! Last summer I made fish all the time and we lost so much weight … I’m thinking he is just going to have to suck it up for the next 15 weeks so I can get to my goal!This year I decided instead of a New Years Resolution I would just have goals. I feel like resolutions are just for wishing and not for doing :-)

Pictures by Robert Dale

Timothy Murphy III

My nephew was born last night, January 26th at 10:50pm weighing 7lbs 3oz and 20 inches long! He is the son of Patrick's oldest brother Timmy and his wife Jess and I could not be happier for them!

It's funny because my niece, Mena was born last December in a snowstorm at night and now lil Tim-Tim was born during a big snow storm. I wish we weren't so far away in Texas but I will just have to wait till April 8th to meet the little guy. Until then I was promised many pictures to keep me sated. :)

So congradulations to my amazing soon to be brother and sister in laws! I could not be a more proud Aunt right now!

Batteries Not Included

I am extremely defensive about our guest list. We have a very strict budget and would actually like to spend less if we can because Patrick and I are paying for 2/5th of it ourselves.

The killer of every budget is the guest list … Everything is based off of how many guests you have; can you afford the caterer of your dreams with the number of people you want to invite? Can you afford the rentals and what can you afford to spend on the favors? I don’t think people realize that most receptions are per plate and when it’s at a private venue like our is, we have to rent everything, so the cost of tables, chairs, place settings and favors all goes into account, it’s not just the food. So if we break it down according to these numbers each additional person will cost us roughly $110.

Because of this we have be forced to cut people off the list, some of these people we know and would love for them to join us but are less prominent in our life as others. We are also not allowing invited guests to bring a "plus one" unless they are in a serious relationship. We have a fair amount of single friends still and that would potentially be an extra 20 people. This is a little tricky, because you have to know if people are in a relationship, but again obvuiously if we are close with you we should know if you are seriously dating someone.

Also there are no children invited. It is an adult’s only wedding/reception. Don’t get me wrong I love kids and to be honest I had always pictured having a ring barer and flower girl during the ceremony but where would they go after the ceremony? We still didn’t want children at the reception. An evening reception just isn’t any place for children, dinner won’t even be served until 8pm. Also I don’t feel its fair to allow just certain kids, if we invite some we must invite all and if everyone with kids brought all their kids there would be 18 kids.

So if we allowed all our single unattached guest to bring someone AND have everyone bring their kids it would be a total of 38 extra people which comes out to about $4,180 EXTRA.

I understand that people might take offense to these choices we have made but we did it because of our limitations, not out of spite or disregard.

You might wonder "well how are you going to make that clear on the invitations?". Well I have thought of this a LOT. Firstly the invitations will be addressed to both people in the couple. As someone in a long term relationship I hate being refered to as a "plus one". If that person is as important to our guest as our guest is to us than they deserve to be address on the invitation as well. As for people with children we are hoping that they understand that it is just those addressed on the invitation that are invited. We have also included the link to our wedding website as well for people to find additional info such as dress attire, accomadations, registry info and other various things people might need.

Dog Days Are Over

I am MADLY in love with this song and it just makes want to get up and dance like crazy and I can;t stop smiling for hours after i hear it :-)
So smile because the dog days are over!!!!

Scheduling My First Fitting

So I don't have a normal entry today but I would like to share my interesting story about my call to David's Bridal.

So they have been calling me INCESSANTLY about calling to set up an appointment for my bridesmaids to come in and get their dresses. I always feel bad telling people "no we are not buying from you" lol don' know why.

So i get another call from them today and I decide i need to call them and stop this. PLUS I really need to schedule my first fitting for when I am home in April. Why not kill 2 birds with one stone right?

So I call and get the first matter out of the way and then am transferred to the seamstress to schedule my fitting. This woman has an extremely thick Russian accent so when you read what she says you HAVE to have a Russian accent lol it just makes it funnier ... well to me anyways :-)

Lady: When is your wedding?
Me: May 21st
Lady: When would you like to make your appointment?
Me: preferably April 8th.
Lady: Noo, Noo that is to close to wedding date.
Me: Well I live in Texas and my dress and wedding are both in PA so unfortunately I can only come when I'm there.
Lady: Oh ok when would you like to come?
Me: April 8th.
Lady: What weekend are you going to be here in April?
Me: um the weekend of April 8th.
Lady: Ok what day would you like to come in?
Me: April 8th (ahhhhhh!)
Lady: Oh I have no appointments that day. How about Saturday?
Me: I don't know, I don't know what is planned for that weekend sooo ...
Lady: Thursday would really be best.
Me: I will still be in Texas. I fly into PA late Thursday night.
Lady: Ok we do Friday the 8th at 11am.
Me: That's perfect.

AHHHH hahahaha seriously lady you are crazy. It's been one of those days on the phone in general so I shouldn't be surprised lol. At least I got the day I wanted and it wont interfere with anything that happens to be planned since everything is top secret and I don't want anything to mess up any plans that were made by my girls since they simple are the best :-)

Grey is the new Black

As handsome as everyone looks in a tux, I don’t feel a black tux is the way to go for our evening garden wedding. Maybe I’m wrong here but I just love the way a grey suit looks!
I even thought all the guys should just wear vests and no jackets except Patrick who would of course wear a 3 piece suit. I know it is an evening wedding but I think because it is in the spring and not a black tie wedding that gray would be such a great alternative. When I had first decided I really did not want any black in the wedding I thought about navy or kaki. It didn’t take me long to forget about kaki ... it is too light for an evening wedding. Now Navy I love and still love but no one else seemed to love it as much so I was then turned to grey. Grey looks fantastic with purple and green. The thing is I love the darker grey suits and they are hard to come by … well affordable ones are hard to come by. I found this J. Crew suit and fell in love but I think it’s a little rude to ask the groomsmen to shell out $600+ for a suit. So this option is out. (so sexy though)
I found out that Jos. A Banks now rents tuxes AND suits (they go through Jim's Formalware) so I went on there but they only have a grey tux (the same grey tux Men’s Warehouse has). It’s definitely a nice looking tux I must say (it could be the really handsome model) but I found lots of pictures who felt this was nice as well. The thing is I cannot stand colored vests. I think its tacky and so “Wedding” lol Please do not take offense if you are having or had colored vests in your wedding it's just not my style. I know it IS a wedding but I just don’t like it. I want the vests to be the same as the suit and have the tie and boutonnière show case the wedding colors, maybe even a colored shirt. I think that looks so stylish and I adore it.

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So really I need to try and either find a darker grey suit for rent or find one on an amazing sell. I also found a lot of pictures where the groom was in a different shade then the groomsmen and I must say I do like the way that looks.So what should I do? Rent, buy, keep searching and hope something comes up in the next couple months? And everyone thought men were easy ;-)

Honeymoon Blues

First off I would like to apologize for slacking the last 4 days. I have been in a serious slump. Nothing right now is making me happy. I was looking at suits for the men yesterday and hair pieces for me and was just blah about it all. And the honeymoon has become the biggest downer. I always thought when we planned for the honeymoon it would be fun and we would find a place we loved and that would be it. No, that is not it at all. It’s stress and frustration and tears. I don’t know if it’s the full moon that is tomorrow or that the wedding is fast approaching but I feel just frozen. Patrick and I are fighting over the hotel for the honeymoon and it’s just not turning into the picture I have in my head. I just always pictured going to Hawaii and staying in this beautiful resort with sparkling pools with waterfalls and tropical gardens that of course is right on the beach and close to local attraction but also makes you feel secluded if you want to. Like maybe say The Sheraton Resort & Spa.

Patrick has a friend that has been to Maui 6 times and their favorite hotel is Ka’anapali Beach Hotel. It’s described as “the most Hawaiian Hotel” and the rooms are huge but it’s a little dated, has one restaurant and a single pool that’s shaped like a whale, a whale really? That is so cheesy to me. I really am super picky about hotels I stay. Now that’s not saying that I only stay in Ritz Carlton or Four Seasons, in fact I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in one of those hotels. I was blessed enough that my parents could afford to take us on nice vacations and stay in Double Tree and the Embassy Suits but we also stayed a lot in Best Westerns and Holiday Inns when on the road. I just don’t want to stay in a Best Western on our honeymoon. And I am not saying this hotel is in any way shape of form a dump ... just not what I imagined staying at.

It could also be because last month Patrick told me he is going to Maui in February and staying at the Four Seasons. Now I would like to point out that neither of us has ever been to Hawaii and it has been a life long dream to go there. I thought it was really special because it would be a first for both of us and really be special. This isn’t something he was invited to, he is going with someone who is invited and as much as I know I should be happy for him, I just am not. If it had been anywhere in the world I would not care and he really does deserve to go. He works so hard all year and most of the year he is working 6 days a week. It’s that it’s Maui and 4 months before the wedding and costing us $500 that we desperately need for other things.

This entire thing is making me feel like a selfish, spoiled brat and it’s depressing. I even went to my first Piyo class last night (Piyo is a Pilates/Yoga hybrid class). It took my mind of everything while I was there but as soon as I left I was back to my Eeyore attitude. When I got home Patrick and I talked face to face since all day at work it was just through email. After arguing about the hotel his friend recommends he tells me to find the hotel that makes me happy. This makes me not happy because now I feel guilty and think I should just pick his hotel because it would make him happy even though he says he doesn’t care. See how I just over think and analyze everything? It’s way annoying right?

So today was yet another day stuck in my Eeyore funk. I have been a little more up and down which I guess is a plus. I am just second guessing myself and maybe we should just not do Hawaii at all. I don’t want something as silly as this to cause added stress to our already crazy lives. I need to realize that we are getting married and nothing else should matter ... Do you hear me brain?!?!

Bee Yourself

I am an avid WeddingBee’er, so much so that I originally created this blog in the hopes of becoming a “Miss” blogger on the site. I was going to be Miss Manatee haha I have a complete obsession with manatees. I just adore them, they are super lazy, just going with the sway of the ocean and eating all day long.

After my first entry I was hooked, then I got my first followers which weren’t even people I knew and I was so excited! People who don’t know me read my blog?! Get out of town, this is fantastic! I felt like this was a place to get out everything I have on my mind about life. It’s so therapeutic.

So after 3 weeks I had enough entries to apply to Wedding Bee but I didn’t. I wasn’t so sure anymore. This blog had become my escape and release from all the stress I already have, so did I really want to turn that into something else I “had” to do? So I put it on the back burner and continued my blog.

Finally last week I decided after spending a couple hours on reading “Miss” blogs on the Bee I said eff it and decided to apply. I mean this is why I started this blog right? So I applied and waited, I said to myself if they didn’t accept me no big deal I was happy with my blog as it was. But then yesterday I got an email from the Wedding Bee. I had not been accepted, and surprisingly I was a little crushed and disappointed, maybe more than a little. I guess when you put something as personal and close to you as my blog had become to me it stings a little when not everyone likes it. But what was I so upset about? I love my blog and it’s so completely me! It’s not the end of the world, and take it as a sign that I should focus on my blog and keep doing my thing. I have a small but amazing following, two of which are my favorite blogs and I would have never found if I hadn’t started this blog and they had found me. Things happen for a reason. So thank you to everyone who follows and reads my blog! You have truly inspired me.

Mason Jar Goodness

Mason jars are just so hot right now and I dig it. I love how something that was so country and old time has been transformed into something sort of chic and elegant.
I have always had this love of mason jars … maybe it’s because when I was growing up we always use to save jars and use them as cups for us kids. In fact a lot of jelly jars had cartoon pictures on them so it made sense to just wash them out and use them; nice way to save money and my mom didn’t care if we broke one (we CONSTANTLY breaking glasses). My dad was a pilot as well and use to bring back all these different kinds of mustards which were always in cool jars and glasses, some of which look like small wine glasses and he still asks his brother to bring him back some so he can accumulate more of them. But I always loved drinking out of the jars than regular glasses. I don’t know why I just liked them; always the perfect size and they were different.

So when we decided to have an outdoor wedding I thought it would be really fitting if we served our drinks in jars. I just adore the look and they are so cheap! My caterer is also serving fresh lemonade and peach iced tea and they offered to start serving them as people arrived for the ceremony since they will be there setting up for cocktail hour and the reception. (Best caterer EVER!)

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I had the idea to make my own jar candles and it’s surprisingly cheap to do it. It costs $50 for a 50lbs bag of soy candle wax and less than $9 for a roll of wick. SO $60 to make all the candles I want … I am shying away from using votives because they don’t last long and I don’t want them going out before the night it over and having to go around and put a new one in and relight it. I just don’t want to worry about that.

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Some more mason jar goodness ....BTW I tots loves this idea for a chandelier! I am seriously considering making one if not for the wedding than for out pergola we plan on building in our backyard :)

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Dandy Invitations

I have been impatiently waiting for when it was time to start designing our wedding invitations and FINALLY the day arrived … or rather the month :) Almost 4 months to go so I decided I could not wait any longer.

DesignsbyAdj did our Save-the-Dates and knew that she would also be doing our wedding invitations as well. She has beautiful designs and it’s really hard to pick one but I LOVE her dandelion design. It’s very simple but the details in the seeds are what sold me. There are a lot of dandelion invitations on Etsy but hers were by far my favorite. She will customize them to whatever you want and is so patient and pleasant to deal with. Not to mention at $3.25 a set it’s a great deal. She also uses recycled card stock and the envelopes are 100% recycled as well.

Her RSVP cards are in postcard style which I adore and you don’t need envelopes for them! I also included on the RSVP a spot for the guests to suggest a song to be played during the reception. I really like the idea of our guest contributing to our special day.
I can’t wait to see them in person and start addressing all the invitations! We are sending our out 2 months before because we do have out of state people on our “B” List and want to give them ample time to book a flight and hotel and not have it completely last minute. Plus I really just like to have everything done as early as possible. No last minute things to stress about especially since I live 1,500 miles from where the wedding is.

Fabulous Flats

I have always had the worst time finding the perfect shoe for an outfit or dress. I end up going to every shoe store there is and can never seem to find that perfect shoe. It is beyond annoying. This is one big reason why I probably have the smallest shoe collection of any woman in the world. Don’t get me wrong I do LOVE shoes, especially boots but shopping and trying them on is just beyond irritating. Does it fit? Is it the right size? Is it comfortable? That’s the big one for me. If a shoe isn’t comfortable I won’t get it, but that narrows down the pool of cute going out shoes quite a bit. I love the way heels look but unless they are low or a wedge I can wear them for a total of 5 mins before my feet start killing me. Plus I always shied away from shoes that made me taller than I already am, especially in High School. It was hard enough try to find a guy my height without heels. Now Patrick is exactly the same height as me (but honestly he is about a half inch shorter) But he LOVES me in heels! He actually got me to be a lot me confident in them and buying some every now an then to wear out to clubs and nice occasions.

I feel like all the cutest shoes are heels though and for the wedding I do not want to wear heels. It’s going to be outside and I’ll be walking on grass the whole time PLUS I’ll be standing probably 90% of the time so I need something I won’t be dying in. I also want them to be beautiful in photographs, so I don’t want them to be boring. I don’t know if other brides think about that when choosing a shoe but it is top of the list for me.

My real problem is finding a flat or super low heel that is super adorable is harder than you would think. I swear the shoe designers hate people who don’t wear heels! Lucky for me I have an amazing MOH who LOVES shoes and knows all the best places to find cute ones. These are some fabulous flat that

Calvin Klein

Anne

Beverly Feldman

Naughty Monkey

A. Marinelli

Martinez Valero

J. Renee`

I did really want a purple shoe but there are barely ANY purple flats let alone ones that are for a special occasion.

Purple Satin

Cupcakes & Clam Chowder

Nothing better than making cupcakes and clam chowder on a snowy cold day :-)

The cupcakes are for 2 girls at work who had birthdays and promised I would make them cupcakes since they love my baking. Red Velvet and Chocolate .... both with with cream cheese icing ... all from scratch :-)

Than clam chowder for the cold snowy day ... nothing warms the body and soul better than a hot heart soup and clam chowder is both mine and Patrick's favorite! Recipe courtesy of my mom ... better than any chowder in Boston!

Clam Chowder

1/4 lb bacon
5 6.5oz cans minced clams in clam juice
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 small-medium onion diced
4 medium potatoes cubed
4 T. butter
8 T. flour
pepper and salt to taste

Cut bacon into small pieces then brown chopped bacon slowly in frying pan.
When bacon is is to desired crispness removes from pan. Add chopped onions to pan with bacon grease and sauté till onion is translucent.Add clam juice and cubed potatoes and cook 15 minutes.Add clams and simmer until potatoes are done 5- 15 minutes more.Make a buerre paste of butter and flour (melt butter and mix in flour) and slowly add to simmering soup stirring constantly so as not to clump.Add milk and half and half and season with salt and pepper if necessary (I find I rarely need to add any seasoning.)
Simmer 5-10 mins.Serve bacon on top.

Enjoy!

A Snowy Texas

There is very few things that make me happier than SNOW.
I love snow. LOVE it. This white fluffy frozen H2O that falls from the heaven to transform everything into a magical and quiet place, have you ever noticed that? Whenever it snows it is so very peaceful outside. It’s like everything stops to see this amazing thing happen; these tiny little snowflakes, not one of which is the same as another. It’s so magical to me.

When I found out we would be moving to Texas I knew I would miss the snowy winters the most about PA. So when we got the 2nd biggest snowstorm in recorded history it was GLORIOUS! I was lucky enough that it was my day off so I decided to spend the entire day driving around looking at how this usually hot land looked covered in snow. Let me just say, Texas looks GOOOOD in snow!

I went to the restaurant I worked at and sat at the window and had soup and a sandwich and watched the snow fall. Then I went shopping to make clam chowder for dinner and just drove around. It was so lovely. I never thought we would see that again … at least not for a couple years if that. But I was pleasantly surprised when the rain turned into huge big wet snowflakes and slowly started sticking as the snow got less wet and the temperature dropped. Glorious!
Snow always makes me think how I should have had a winter wedding but you can’t guarantee snow and I would only want a winter wedding if I knew that if it wasn’t at least snowing it that everything was blanketed in snow, just not doable.

Phillys in Dallas

Patrick: “What the heck is the point of these things? Are we going to use them in our wedding invitations?”
Me: “No.”
Patrick: “Our save the dates?”
Me: “No.”
Patrick: “Well than what?”
Me: “Well they are for us…. I don’t know people just do them. It’s our first professional pictures together.” That’s right I honestly have no idea why people get engagement pictures done. He had a good point.
I am really into photography. I minored in it in college and would have loved to have majored and gone to Mass Art University in Boston but I also know I wanted to teach. Teaching won. There is a certain look and style of photography I like. I was never a fan or portraits but the photographers out there now have such a creative and inventive style that I knew I wanted pictures of “us”. You don’t just get photographed in a studio or in a beautiful spot sitting or standing next to each other. These photos capture you as a couple with your personality shining through and each picture is more a work of art than anything else. I also wanted them to capture the beginning our our new life in Dallas which is why we chose to get them done in the art district of Dallas, TX. It was a gorgeous day on October 30th and I think about 80 degrees out! We got to run around my favorite area of Dallas and see a lot of things we hadn't yet get to explore. It was a truly fantastic day and couldn't have been possible without our amazing photographer Hansel Dobbs!

I know a lot of people opt to not get them done but I can honestly say it was the best thing we did as a couple. We now have pictures of us to hang in our house and give to our family. Also it really gives you a preview of what it’s going to be like for your wedding pictures. I know now we will be a lot more comfortable and natural which is so important when getting photographed.