Christmas at the Grays!

How beautiful is the image above?? It's from none other, than Martha Stewart. What I would do to make this, which I may have to for next year. This year is very exciting! With all things new, this Christmas is no different. It will be our first Christmas as the Grays :). Every year, I get excited around Thanksgiving...knowing that in very short time, it will be Christmas time which means in the Cleveland household, that Lindsey goes crazy with the decorations! Well this year, I get to decorate our house....and we already started. Our Christmas lights went

up the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

This is our house...We decided to go old school style this year, and bought the multi colored bulbs. I adore my garland over the door.

Last year I went out and got in on the After Christmas sales and bought some ornaments, a tree skirt, some beautiful vases, and other miscellaneous Christmas decorations and my plan for this year is to do the same. Although, we did manage to spend $50 on ornaments at Crate & Barrel this weekend (had a gift card, score!)

I want to go crazy now and buy everything in sight, that just isn't the smart thing for me to do. So I plan to decorate the house with what I purchased last year and this year. Then on the 26th it's Game Time! I am going to hit up all the sales for next year's decorations. So next year, will be my coming out year for the Grays...we go big or go home. What stores will I hit up?

Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Pier 1, and World Market!

I love this look for a table that will sit underneath the window, just behind our couch. Most people would use this as a center piece on their dining table, but, we have a smaller round table and I am currently in the process of finding a table for underneath the TV....right now, we have this table:

that we purchased from Pottery Barn outlet a long time ago that is underneath the TV. I want to buy a TV console and then move the other table back to the window. This look can be used all year round which is what I like to do with pretty much all my decorations, I just change the overall look up a bit by adding garland around it. Some other examples of the look that I am going for are below...all of which come from my fav store....Pottery Barn!

What to do while I have to be conservative with my money this year? Dream of the endless possibilities of decorating! By the way, super disappointment....we don't have a fire place. BOOOOO.....how on Earth will I hang our stockings?! I have thought of this since we moved in....I think I have a plan. In the mean time, isn't this picture below just so cute? I love the old rustic feel. I am trying to decide between this or the more classic look which is right below the other picture. Oh how I love Pottery Barn.

Each year, I stick with a theme of decorations. This year, Nick and I (really, I asked and he was like "sure!" he doesn't care too much but I wanted to make sure this was a team decision not just me) decided we would stick with multi color ornaments in jewel tones, white lights (A LOT!) on the tree and then around the house I would love to have the more creative feel...things that I can do myself. I just love the way this looks below...and look how easy it would be to make this?! I imagine this hanging from a window....this is also from Martha Stewart.

Another thing to do is our Christmas cards! However,this will just have to wait til next year. Which is a major bummer, seeing as I had envisioned what our Christmas cards would look like since he proposed.... Hh well, I guess that means that next year,

we will doing a really really good one!

I would love to hear everyone else's plans for decorating!

my latelies....

Lately I have...

• Registered for my next Half Marathon...and Nick is doing it with me :)


• Planned Nick's 29th Birthday....so excited! Will post details after the 18th.
  
• Figured out what our first Christmas will be like...Nick is working (booo) Christmas and the day after. So it's Christmas Eve for us!


• Downloaded just about 2,000 pictures from our wedding! So awesome and a little overwhelming as well. Trying to decide which ones I want to be printed is hard....I love all of them!


• Been thinking about how thankful I am for my family, friends, husband, home, a good job, and most importantly God.


• Become not only an Auntie, but a God Parent as well :) Tal and Michel asked Nick and I to be Kaydance's God Parents this past weekend. I balled.....of course, and Nick was overwhelmingly happy as well. Out of all the people in their lives they chose us.....we are both so honored and beyond thrilled. :) I love that little girl so much!


• And for the longest item on my lately list: I have mentioned a little bit here and hinted here that there is something that I really love doing and when the timing is right I will begin a new journey of my own. Not too many people know about it, actually only two people know that I want to do this, mainly because I always like to have everything thought completely through before I make an important decision. But after countless prayers, long runs, and discussions with the husband, I think I am ready to let a little bit more people in on our little plan.
  
  Over the years, I have developed this little creative bug into something that is now becoming more and more of a fun job if nothing else. What is this creative bug? Designing paper goods. To be more exact, designing invitations. I have a lot of fun with the unlimited ideas that come to mind when I am designing something and over the past couple of years I have been designing invites for friends and family and of course, for my wedding as well. At first this just started out as doing a favor for people, as they all know I went to school for marketing and graphic design kind of piggy-backs with it. However, the more and more I did it, the more and more I really loved it. People have asked me, why I don't do that for a living and though I wish I could, it really just isn't possible at this very moment as we just can't live off of 1 paycheck and a few little side jobs here and there.
  
  A few months back I made an action list of things that I need to start working on before this really goes "live" so to speak....Currently I am thinking of creative names to really brand this idea, and am leaning towards one in particular but haven't completely decided yet: little l designs.
  
  I am also in the works of building my own Etsy account and then will start developing a professional blog. So those are the building blocks of something that I eventually want to do as my full time job, like when we start to have kids and I need to be home more. But for now, it will be an extra side job that may provide a little extra cash as well. I thought I would post some of my most recent invitations that I have designed in the past year (I apologize that they are kind of small)...tell me what you think? Would love to hear your ideas!

Turn Your Mourning Into Dancing....

I can't stop thinking about Psalm 30 this morning....that I just had to write about it.

This week has been a very trying week to say the least but I have done my best to stay positive and to keep my head held high...I know we all have those moments, it just seems that my moment is lasting...a...very...long....time. It's one of those times, where I think my low's of the week outweigh the high's of the week; however, I will not write about them...I will only list my high's.

1. We got paid on Thursday, not Friday this week.
2. I didn't have bad traffic Thursday or Friday.
3. Lucy got another round of her shots and is looking fabulous.
4. It's Friday!
5. Lacy and I are hosting Courtney's bridal shower tomorrow!
6. Nick and I are both healthy.
7. I have a beautiful little niece that I get to see in just a short 2 weeks.
8. I got to run this morning even though, it was freezing!
9. I got a cuddle session with my little Killian this morning and I just love those moments.
10. Even though money has been tight, we have been able to pay our bills, pay our rent, and put food on the table and for that I feel blessed because I know it could be a lot worse.

I hope this blog finds you well, I know it's short but I think that it is good to remind one another to turn your mourning into dancing every once and while. Have a fabulous Friday and I promise I will blog about something fun soon!

1.53

All Done!

It's official, I'm a Gray :)

This was my favorite race by far...not knowing what to expect and being a little apprehensive about the race (bc I hadn't ran in a week) I was a little nervous, but at the same time, very excited becuase I thought I would just wing this one. We started at 6:50 in the morning and it was very dark....very dark for a oddly long time actually....The runners were off and so were we! As we both settled into our pace, we split up and it was just me and the road. Oh....and 3,000 other runners...but who's really paying attention anyways? I was feeling pretty good, enjoying the weather, and closely watching my watch to make sure I was still good for my below 1:54 goal...Lacy and I texted every now and then along the way, motivating one another and warning about hills....mile 10 was a tough one! But nevertheless, I finished in 1.53
.

The boys were perfect...taking pictures of us close to the finish and offering their jackets once we cooled down...

After the .9 mile walk and the window shopping on State Street, we did about 15 miles that day... that makes for two tired young ladies....we seriously had to question if it would be worth going to the second story of Forever 21...We did by the way, and no, it wasn't worth it....Oh well....to finish a great day, Nick and I went for sushi and I passed out about 9 pm...woke up Sunday morning, sore and stiff but felt rested, did some decorating and organizing then plopped in front of the TV all night...Nick was at work so it was just me and the dogs...

So now that this race is over, I can't stop thinking about my next Half Marathon...ummm run through wine country?? Sign me up! I think Nick is going to do it with me this time, which is HUGE because he has bad knees...I told him I would find a good training program and we will get him good shoes...I am really excited! If anyone is thinking about doing a race, I will say do it...sign up and just do it (not trying to sound like an old Nike ad I promise)...challenge yourself to something and give yourself a goal, it will be worth it, I promise :)

SB International Half Marathon

Taken at the Human Race 2008

This weekend, I will be running my second half marathon with one of my closest friends, Lacy (pictured above). We both are very active and love to run so when I signed up for the SB Half I told her to do it with me! She signed up and now we get to run it together!

We're going to take the husbands with us and will drive up there tonight where we will stay downtown for the night. Our wonderful husbands will just hang out while we are running 13 miles....no big deal! When I ran the La Jolla Half I got a 1:56 so this time my goal is to run under a 1:55....fingers crossed I get a 1:54 :) Only time will tell!

Happy Friday!!

Is it...

time to go home yet?

Hope everyone is enjoying their Thursday...

Where I Left Off: Day Before the "I Dos"

**I started this entry last week and just now got around to finishing it :) **

I find myself thinking, "It's happy hour in Maui" almost every hour in the afternoon while I am in the "real world"...sad sad day it is, we are no longer in Maui. As I said below it has been very busy but so very exciting every day :) Though, our wallets are feeling the hit that they took last month, nonetheless, we are happy and blessed. Tonight we are taking the dogs up to the high school to watch the Homecoming game...go Wolfpack! We are making our homemade pizza, and I am sure, I will indulge in some wine...love me some wine....(I can't believe I said "love me some...")

I wanted to give you all a little recap of the wedding festivities since I was in such a hurry last post...It all started October 8th with a little spa man/pedi with the ladies and of course my fav champagne :) My something blue was my toe color! I would show you my toes, but I have ugly feet (hello, I am a runner) so I will spare you. But this clever idea was all my sister's thinking. Good job Tal!

We then went home and had some yummy mexican food and started piling up our cars with all the decorations. Holy moly there was a lot! My poor house was a mess afterwards. The next day, my MOH and I went for a 10 mile run...it was my last one as a single lady and it sure felt good to spend it with my best friend. As soon as we got home I had to rush and get ready as Nick and I had a meeting with my brother in law, (he was the officiant) and we still had to drop off our rings to make sure they had one last cleaning. **Brides....don't forget to do this! I guess it helped that our jeweler was a few doors up from where we were meeting the broskie. Right after those two things, we were off to Laguna for the rehearsal! This is when it all got a little weird...good weird, like surreal weird.

We had a lot of fun at the rehearsal because it was the first time everyone was there so that was nice :) Though, it was short, we got the run down of how stuff works and went on our way! After the rehearsal, everyone kind of parted ways for a couple hours, I however, went to my room got my stuff prepared for the next day and then got ready for our rehearsal dinner. As I have mentioned before, we had our dinner at the Beach House in Laguna, this is where Nick took me for our first date. It was so nice to have everyone seated under one roof and just enjoying each other's company, as well as some wine :) The filet was absolutely melt in your mouth wonderful and the tiramisu was to die for....I think it's pretty safe to say that everyone enjoyed the dinner.



After the rehearsal dinner, everyone went home or back to their hotels while Nick and I spent some time alone so we could give one another our gifts. While I had bought Nick's gift way back in March, I couldn't believe the day had finally come! I was able to give him his watch!!

Ok, another side note: I knew since he proposed that I wanted to get him a watch as his gift...the guy is obsessed with watches. Because of his obsession, I knew whatever watch I got him, had to be a good one and one that he would never buy himself. Well he proposed back in November and since that day I spent every day searching for the right one! Finally, one night we ate dinner at a local hamburger place, Heroes in Claremont. As we were waiting for our table, there was a gentlemen seated right next to me with his arm around his wife. Nick had leaned in, and said "see that watch, that's the watch I want next!" I am telling you guys, I wish you could have seen my eyes open really wide (I'm sure they didn't but if I were a cartoon character, a light bulb would have mos def popped up over my head). I had no clue how I was going to find this watch, but I knew I would find it. It was a Citizen watch and the rest was history. I don't want to bore you how I found it, but to make it short, the same jeweler that sold Nick my rings and sold me Nick's ring had found this watch and next thing you know, it was sitting in my closet for 7 months.

Ok...back on topic...I went down to Nick's room with the box (this box was big too) I was shooting myself for not getting a card...I am obsessed with cards, but this time, I was card-less. As I walked into his room I see him putting a card on the table....I was thinking...damn! He got me a card! I walked in and sat on the bed and as we both sat nervously we both said you go first! As, I insisted though, Nick went first. He opened it up and then all of the sudden his face lit up! I knew immediately that I had a good thing and got the right watch!!! YAY!!! Below is a picture of it :) Taken in Maui of course...Check out his ring too :)

Next up? Me! Ok, so a little side note....I mentioned earlier that I am obsessed with cards...However, I didn't tell you that more specifically I am obsessed with Papyrus Cards. So the first thing I notice is that he bought me a Papyrus card...very well played sir! I opened it up and just a little tid bit of the card was sticking out...and I noticed a familiar image on it...It was the card where the little girl is crying and walking the Great Dane....great card, one of my top faves. So I stopped opening it and said "you got me the great dane card!" patiently Nick responds with, "Yes I did, keep opening it"...As I pulled out the card, a picture stuck out....this picture was like a time bomb waiting to boom....Right when I saw it I instantly bursted into tears! I pulled it out and looked at him saying "did you get me a puppy?!" He goes, "just open the card!" and I'm like "no, is this my puppy?! Do I get to keep her?!" he's like, "umm, yes, you do...read the card!" I was sobbing....full on, sobbing. Nick has seen me cry but he's never seen me cry this much! This was THE BEST present ever!!! Totally beats the Michele watch that I have been eyeing for years....Nick had written a note for the puppy (she was nameless until I set eyes on her) saying that she was at home with Nick's parents and patiently waiting for her mommy to come pick her up....he also told me that I was going to name her...which I decided on Lucy the morning of our wedding. And since we had a day in between our wedding and the honeymoon, we could go play with her! Orginally, I told Nick that I wanted to just lounge that Monday at the beach then come home and get ready for our flight. Those plans were now out the window and we were up and ready to go by 8 am! I met her Monday afternoon and was already in love with her. By the way, the picture below doesn't do her justice. This little girl is beautiful and so so so smart! I can't get over it. She knows how to open doors!! And she's only 5 months! She is a perfect sister to Killian, plays with him all the time, steals his toys, and bites his ankles.
This post is becoming way too long, so I will end it here...next up? The BIG DAY! Hope you enjoy this post and keep checking back, I promise to put up pictures.

Missing Maui

I don't have much time (seems to be the theme these days) to totally go into all the fun things that have happened within the last 3 weeks, but what I can tell you is, I am incredibly happy and love being Nick's wife more and more every day....

A little photo recap if you will:

What every bride tells you is absolutely true....enjoy the day, take it all in, and be prepared that it goes by fassssstttttt. I can honestly say that the day was the best day of our lives, as of yet and we are still talking about funny things that happened or just really great moments that we shared. I had a friend that asked me yesterday what my favorite part was of the wedding/day and I think it has to be when everyone got out and danced....it was sooo fun....Our DJ was absolutely amazing...we really wanted the reception to be about the guests and he definitely got that on the nose. We played a newleywed game in the beginning and I am still getting comments from guests saying that it was the best part. Another cool thing that they did was while Nick and I were saying hi to the tables, they played a game where they called 10 pre-selected guests to come up to the front and then had them find whatever item they called out....the winner won a quarter! haha. I am still getting teary eyed just thinking about our wonderful day...

then came Maui....

Oh Maui....how I miss you. That my friends, will get a longer post (same as the wedding) and more pictures of course. But I will say this, I enjoyed every minute of it....and I am enjoying every minute of married life as well.

Oh and guess what? I got a brand new puppy for my wedding gift...Meet Lucy :) Isn't she a doll? She is best friends with my other love, Killian :) Here is a picture of our wonderful children.


And that my friends is what I call a perfect wedding, honeymoon, puppy, and house. Stay tuned, I will write more when life isn't so busy...haha

Yes, I am Working the Week of My Wedding

and yes, I know.....I am crazy.

T -5 days and this lady is officially off the market.

How am I feeling? Well, some of the things that I have done in the past few days include:

1. starting the coffee maker without the pot being in the appropriate place (a.k.a: the coffee maker)
2. put my underwear on when I already had a pair on.
3. forget what I am doing even if it's only been 30 seconds since I started doing something new.

Those are just a few of the most recent things that have happened, clearly my head is someplace else. (However, the underwear thing was pretty funny).

I feel that the last few days...ok, last week or so, I have been in ultra-adrenaline mode where I wake up even earlier than I do normally and power through my day that is packed with countless wedding things, work, runs, and anything else that comes my way. I know that EVERY bride says they are E.X.H.A.U.S.T.E.D after the wedding, but I think I will be even more exhausted come Monday morning....seriously, I am wondering when this will hit me and I will crash....Praying that I will last through the weekend :)

It's strange to hear my family members talking about what shoes they are going to wear on Sunday or what dress they decided to wear because as Nick pointed out last night, they are planning on wearing those items to our wedding.

I got my hair trial done last week and we decided against the veil...as some of you may not know, I was going to make my birdcage veil and bought the materials months ago...but as time went by, it was harder than I had originally planned and half of it ended up in the trash can. Needless to say, I was very happy that my hairdresser said that I didn't need it :) There is however, something else that I will add to the dress that I am very excited for :)

Napkins are completely ironed....and we just need about 30 more to be sewn. I think between my mom, my sister, and her friend, Candace, it will be done in no time :) *fingers crossed.

I have to pack for our honeymoon...that one just hit me a few days ago...I had always known that we were going to Maui and I always knew that we would be leaving 2 days after our wedding. However, I never once put the two and two together and now I am slightly freaking out. This may sound weird....but honestly I put so much energy and stress into planning this wedding I never thought to plan on packing!

My dress is done tomorrow and then it's officially mine :) YAY. Linens are to be picked up on Thursday and then it's mani/pedi time Friday :)

Saturday will be my last run as a single lady so I am making it a good one :) 10 miles with hills....I am really looking forward to it. Then we will have our rehearsal, and rehearsal dinner . Oh my goodness, me=super excited for this...Then it's wedding time--Sunday!

I am not sure if I will be on here before then, so I wanted to write one last blog :) Next time I will be blogging, I will have a new last name and tons of pictures!

YAY!

10 days!

and I just might pull my hair out. This is normal right?

• My dress is completed.
• Tree is almost done.
• Seating Chart is done.
• Final Numbers are in.
• Vendor delivery schedules are confirmed.
• Hair is getting pretty tonight :)
• Nick gets his hair cut tomorrow.

And all of that just got completed within the last two days!

What's left?

• We need to finish the napkins
• I need to finalize the reception diagram for decorations
• Need to pick up the linens
• I need to finalize the intinerary for Saturday and Sunday
• We need to pack for Maui
• Laundry!
• We have to move Nick in.
• Final payment needs to be made for the venue....yikes!
• Mani/Pedi
• Alison comes in on Friday!
• Wrap presents :)

And oh so many more little things.

10 days! 10 days! 10 days! 10 days!

my prayer

I must admit, I don't really like feeling vulnerable, let alone, letting others know that I am vulnerable. However, I feel that this post will serve as just that....showing my vulnerableness...is this a word? and admitting that I have issues with this.

We are 24 days away from the big day....some may say that this is super exciting, some may ask, am I getting nervous, and some may say, it's not too late to turn back....as much as I don't like the last one, it is true that some people may say that. To be truthfully honest here, I am so excited to be married, to call Nick my husband, and to have the rest of my life with him. However, I am super nervous about a number of things.

1. Money.
2. Not enough time to get my to do list finished.
3. Not everything will come together.
4. Nick.
5. We are both so stressed about money and moving and everything else that falls within those things that we are seriously just not really flowing well.

Bare with me here as this is truely the first time I am talking about this. The past week has been somewhat of a roller coaster here. Different emotions have come out: anger, sadness, joy, happiness, contentness, fear, etc. The list above is just a sample of stuff that has gone through my mind right now and I really want to know if other brides are feeling the same way or have felt it before they got married.

We are both worried about money right now and honestly, I am soooo over it. We are both hard working individuals, make a decent living (although, his paycheck is quite larger than mine) but combined, we do alright. The wedding doesn't have a large budget, but it's not small either...some would say it's lower than the average person's budget....so where the H is this money going to? Well I will tell you, we are paying two rents right now, paying off the vendors, the small things add up, the honeymoon, plane tickets, and to top it all off we are painting, moving, and buying stuff for the house. So that leaves us at 24 days to try to skim by with barely anything and to finish paying everything that we owe. This wouldn't be so hard for me honestly if I felt that we weren't taking it out on each other. This is the biggest thing that hurts me. We are each others confidant, best friend, person we go to when we feel poopy....so why do I feel that we aren't doing that right now? I hear stories about brides who are just so sappy and in awe of their fiance and vise versa and I really wonder, do they really feel that way right now? Do I wish things weren't so straining on us? Yes. Without a doubt. Do I wonder if I am the only bride that feels this way? YES. EVERY. SECOND. OF. MY. DAY.

I do need to say one thing that is good. I realize that God is by my side and His plan is the right plan. Last week I found out that I needed almost $4,000 within a month or the wedding wouldn't happen....after crying, talking to my parents, and even trying to take out a small loan, God has answered my prayer. I now only need about $800 and I know it is very possible and will happen. I am relieved and even more, I am so thankful that my God hears me and answers my prayers on His timing not mine. Another prayer request has also been answered but this one is a little more personal and I think I may wait to share it with you...but He is good and I am blessed....

The last 2 nights I have ran and during both of those runs, I have prayed harder than normal. I know I have said in the past on here that my runs are my Lindsey and Jesus times....but these past 2 nights have been different. Though I haven't seen one certain prayer answered yet, I do know that God is working and He is bringing peace to people that need it. this is my prayer.

I texted Nick the other day saying that soon we will be back to our normal happy fun selves bc the wedding is almost here.....Lord, am I excited for that? Yes.....

Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying every second of this engagement, my plans are coming together, I finished my manzanita trees two nights ago, and the seating chart last night...I even had a dream about it...in the same dream though, I was sitting alone at the sweethearts table with two people from high school that weren't even invited to the wedding. WTF? Where the heck was Nick? And why were they at the wedding?

With all this to say, I am so happy to be with Nick for the rest of my life. However I will be relieved when everything is over and we are back to being best friends again...because right now, I just feel that we can't do anything right.

So this is my prayer, "Lord, bring peace to everyone that is going through a storm right now...be with Nick and I as we need to be a team and not be separate....Bless these next 24 days and everyone who is involved...Amen"

I apologize if this blog is a little bit more personal than normal or if I make anyone uncomfortable, however this is my only outlet and it feels good to let everything out.

I picked up my white dress....

...sing to the tune of Taylor Swift's, "Love Story".

I picked up my dress yesterday and I could not be any happier with it. I need little alterations, and when I say little, I mean, little. I just need to get it hemmed but she doesn't have to really hem it (thank God because that will be expensive) she's just putting little buttons in to pick it up a bit. It was almost perfect.

Yay :)

Me=Happy

We meet with our DJ tonight to get all the final stuff figured out. This weekend is our Bachelor/ette Party :) Wine Tasting Tour on a Trolley...How great does that sound? And then next week we pick up our Marriage License and do our Tasting.

Yipppeee!!!!!!!

new adventures

As I sit here typing I can't help but notice all the paint that I still have on my nail polish, the calluses caused from the paint rollers, and the fact that I can barely sit down without my quads burning....all thanks to my weekend of painting our house :) As of today, we have half of the master bedroom and the bathroom left to do and then it's move in time for me! I was sitting on my couch catching up on my reality TV last night thinking of all the packing that I will have to embark on coming up here....then all the unpacking that I will have after.....the overwhelming realization has now arrived not just because of moving but because in just a mere 48 days I will be a married woman.


Some changes have occured, we are no longer going to Fiji...long story there but we are now going to Maui :) I am very excited because of many things:

A) I have never been and always wanted to go.
B) I now get to swim with dolphins. This is something that I have always wanted to do :)
C) I don't have to worry about not liking the food, because in Fiji, I kinda did worry about not liking it...I kept that one to myself but I am sure Nick thought about it at least once.
D) I get to pack more than 33 pounds now....not even kidding this should be at the top of my list because anyone who knows me knows that I do not pack light.....
E) The flight is a lot shorter now and anyone who knows Nick knows that he HATES flying...his flight went from 16 hours to just a tiny 5 hours.

I get to pick up my dress this Saturday!!!! :) There was a HUGE dramastical incident that happened last week...another long story short, after 4 phone calls to the bridal boutique, the dress maker Headquarters in Atlanta, the flagship store in Beverly Hills, and 2 conversations to the owner of the bridal boutique...the delivery date for my dress that once was in July...then they moved it to mid-late August, then to freaking LATE September, is now set for August 28th. I will be able to rest better once I have it in my hands because this has been one. horrible. experience. ever.

And the newest of the news....


I was talking to my best friend, Alison on the phone this morning and we were talking about something that I just love doing and that would love to do for the rest of my life....and it hit me...I now have a "plan" and can't wait to start working on it. I will blog more about it later but I am really excited!

Until then, I will leave you all with some pictures from my bridal shower :)

Shower...

Tomorrow is my bridal shower.
Tomorrow is my bridal shower.
Tomorrow is my bridal shower.

I think that if I keep telling myself that my bridal shower is tomorrow it will hit me. And I keep proving myself wrong. It hasn't hit me.

I am very excited to see everyone...very touched and blessed that my very best friend is, as I type, driving down here from San Jose to host my bridal shower in her parent's BEAUTIFUL home. Then driving right back up there so she can be at work on Monday. My sister and her 3 week old drove down here late last night to be here and that is just enough to make my heart smile. In fact, I am choking up right now thinking about. Gosh I'm lame. My wonderful bridesmaids are plotting behind my back and organizing this event and carefully not telling me because they know that I hate secrets when people make it clear that there is something that is a secret....does that make sense?

Anyways, I am very blessed to have these women in my life and there will be post real soon recapping the fun event.



Stay tuned!

We're Big Kids Now

This past weekend, Nick and I really tackled a major landscaping job...We took down some ugly bushes, put a flag up, and planted, my favorite....Flowers in the window box! I will post more later once we are done with all the big stuff.

After 4 days of painting we have officially completed the living/dining room, kitchen, and 3/4ths of the guest bedroom. Next up? the hallway, bathroom, and master bedroom.

Then it's moving in time! YAY!

The Paper Goods

Now that I have sent out all the invitations, I can show them to you guys! I didn't want anyone to get a peek at them prior to my trip to the post office...

All along I had planned to do my own invitations which I knew would be an easy task but very time consuming. I started designing them back in November when we got engaged and keeping with the theme of the wedding...rustic simple elegance was the look I was going for. I wanted to incorporate orange into it seeing as that was the main color of the wedding but I also wanted it to have the simpleness while maintaining an elegant feel. I hope that I kept with that in the end result.

For those of you who do want to design their own invitations, I would suggest to start early. I would say I put about 40 hours + in the design part alone, mostly because I am a perfectionist and I would design, close the program and come back to it a little later and redo what I had done before. I had 3 seperate pieces to work on: the invitations, the RSVP cards, and the "more info" cards. Once I was set on the invitation design it was fairly easy to finish the rest.

I ordered my envelopes from Cards and Pockets which I found to be reasonable in price and their quality of paper was amazing. I will say in hindsight I should have ordered samples of the colors because I made the mistake by ordering the wrong color of gold the first time. But they were easy to return and I just bought the other color that I was looking at....it turned out to be exactly what I was going for. I used the 18K gold color and then the Sparkling Merlot for the RSVP cards.

The next step was inputing all the addresses in an excel spreadsheet which I have mentioned in previous posts. I then addressed all the envelopes, which I had done about a month before cutting, stuffing, and stamping the envelopes . Doing that made everything a lot easier by the way. Like I said, start early and take your time with all the stuff. I don't think I really stressed at all because I did that.

The paper that I chose for the invitations was actually sketch pad paper...it was fairly inexpensive and really gave the old antique-ish rustic feel in the end. Because it is sketching paper, it was bigger than the standard 8.5 x 11 paper. I had to cut it all done (which took tons of time) and then once I printed out the invites, I had to cut again. I would say that this took up the majority of the time.

Everything was printed and ready to go so at that point, I was ready to assemble. I had my stamps, the envelopes, each part of the invites and a lot of DVR to catch up on :)

By the way, a little word of advice to all my fellow brides. In your spreadsheet, make a column where you number each guest. Then on the back side of your RSVP envelopes, number them so that way if you have guests who forget to put their names on the cards, you will be able to indicate who is coming. This also took up some time but I think it is worth it.

**Notice the polar bear stamps? Not my favorite.....

Onto the post office I go! (there was a man outside talking on his phone, and I am pretty sure he thought I was a weirdo for taking this picture. I wanted to tell him it was for blogging purposes, however, I have a feeling, he wouldn't understand).

**Confession: I gave the lady my box of envelopes and got super emotional...this probably doesn't surprise those who know me, but it caught me off guard.**

So my box that was once full of 100 envelopes all the sudden became this:

By the way, i managed to do all this and still only have to pay $0.44 for the stamps! YAY!

Things to Make Your Heart Smile

What can I say...someone's gotta teach her how to love the finer things in life :)...kidding.... I told my niece, Kaydance Michel Musacchio, that there are 3 things in life that she should love...

1. Jeans. Can never have too many

2. Tiffanys. This will always make a girl smile.

3. Running. Just like her Auntie, it will be the best thing she can ever do. :)

Nick and I drove up Saturday morning and had to leave Sunday afternoon. I wish I could have stayed longer but since we went to Mammoth and still have our Fiji trip coming up in October, my vacay time is all filled up. Me= sad.

Anyways, so once we got there I ran straight into her nursery where I saw my mom and sister holding her. From the moment I saw her I just fell more in love with her. Look at her long fingers! Isn't she just the most adorable thing in the whole wide world? My sister was A-MA-ZING. 28 hours of labor, no drugs, and 3 hours of pushing.

Hi....Pain City? Party of one?!

Good thing we had a nice glass of wine the next day to celebrate her arrival!

Cheers!

I can't wait until I can hold you again, Kaydance. You're wonderful :)

The Red Door

Remember this post? Well, let me tell you something....God has answered our prayers. :)

For those of you who may not remember the post, let me recap a bit. Nick and I started looking for houses to buy almost a year ago...a few offers were made, none were accepted, then we thought about renting for a year or so until we found the house...we were 3 months out about ready to pull our hair out because we have no idea of where we are going to live, let alone a city in which we will live in. This is normal for most engaged couples, where they get to the point where they have to make a decision about where they will live and they have to make that decision soon. Well we were very much at that point...at least it felt that way. I think it was after our 3rd or 4th arguement where I finally got to the point where I was just giving up. I figured, if I didn't worry about it, we would magically have a place to live come October 10th. Well that didn't happen.

Finally he and I made a day where we went down to the beach to look for condos...we figured, let's live near the beach for a number of reasons, i.e. it's close to the beach and traffic to work would be next to nothing. score!

We got down there and after a few discouraging phone calls we decided to call it quits and lay out. Hey, at least we got something out of it! But at the end of the day, we still hadn't found a place to live. So Type A, Lindsey gets back into gear and starts talking to a friend through Young Life about where they are living. She and her fiance are getting married a week before Nick and I and also are looking down near the beach. We talked about a complex in Costa Mesa, it looked awesome, had everything we were looking for, after talking to Nick about it, I made the call to go look at it. Well the day we were supposed to look, something came up and we couldn't.

**side note: I was very frustrated at this point, we had to find a place but I took a deep breathe and just let it go....

we went for bike ride that evening (Thursday)....Nick had found an ad in The Courier about a "cottage" near the Village and we thought we would go take a look at it. Well it sure was a cottage and though it was darling, the owners were cool, they also used to have Shelties so that made me happy...it was just too small.

Bummer....

This is where it gets good...this is also where, now looking back, God totally had this plan the whole time.

***another side note: those of you who know me, know that I love Claremont. When I get back into Claremont after work or just being gone all day, I find myself almost ALL THE TIME, taking a deep breathe and telling myself I love Claremont when I get back into town....it's kinda sick actually....I have always told my friends that when I have kids I want them to grow up in Claremont. Though it is very pricey and liberal, it is very much me. I love the trees, the smell, the running routes, the trails, the village, 21 Choices, Claremont Young Life, etc...I think you get the point. Though I love it so much, we had never even considered it because it was so out of our price range. But I told Nick, that eventually, like 20 years down the road when we can afford a nice house there, I have two must-haves....a porch...and a red door.

Ok so we are riding back up to my house and I suggested we go up a side street so it wouldn't be too crowded....we found a for rent sign at this really cool house that was for sale a few months back....Nick had called them the next day, as it turns out it was twice as much as we were willing and able to pay but the lady had another property down the street available. So that Friday, Nick went down there, I was at work, but I google mapped it...he LOVED it, I loved the location, and I loved that he was just so excited for it. We filled out an application that night, and that Saturday I went and looked at it. I loved it!! We turned in an app right then and there...The very next Wednesday we got the house!!! Soo....guess what? I move in August!! What the heck?! It happened so quickly....

Such a God thing....I am still in awe...we are very blessed that during that whole time, God was preparing a house for us...in Claremont...and with a porch. and. a. red. door.

I don't have a creative title. (sorry)

Today is one of those days....

After dealing with angry people at work, feeling like crap as if the world is against Lindsey I saw something that made me feel a little bit better...on my cubicle wall is a note from Nick that he had sent with flowers. It's dated March 29, 2010 and the note says:

"I can't wait to marry you!! I love you forever and ever!!

I love little surprises like that...it reassures me that he is thinking about me even when I'm not around.

Makes me smile...

Who Am I?

Today has been a good day overall, I went down to Laguna with 2 of my bridesmaids, they wanted to see our venue and today worked out that the 3 of us could go.  However, despite the beach trip and the venue trip, I would be lying if I told you I didn't break down at least twice today.  #1 was when two separate newspaper machines (in different locations mind you) ate my quarters.  # 2 was just now when I let the stresses from this post get the best of me. So instead of sleeping peacefully right now, I am writing this listening to my music wondering if I will fall asleep tonight.  But something good has come out of this....I managed to stumble upon this great song....it's truly one of my favorites and after listening to it I am beginning to think that maybe God was behind those machines eating my money, and my breakdowns that I have already had and will have.  I also pray that He gives me energy tomorrow due to my lack of sleep.  I will leave you all with these beautiful lyrics:

"Who Am I" by Casting Crowns

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth

Would care to know my name

Would care to feel my hurt

Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star

Would choose to light the way

For my ever wandering heart

Not because of who I am

But because of what You've done

Not because of what I've done

But because of who You are

I am a flower quickly fading

Here today and gone tomorrow

A wave tossed in the ocean

Vapor in the wind

Still You hear me when I'm calling

Lord, You catch me when I'm falling

And You've told me who I am

I am Yours, I am Yours

Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin

Would look on me with love and watch me rise again

Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea

Would call out through the rain

And calm the storm in me

Not because of who I am

But because of what You've done

Not because of what I've done

But because of who You are

I am a flower quickly fading

Here today and gone tomorrow

A wave tossed in the ocean

Vapor in the wind

Still You hear me when I'm calling

Lord, You catch me when I'm falling

And You've told me who I am

I am Yours

Not because of who I am

But because of what You've done

Not because of what I've done

But because of who You are

I am a flower quickly fading

Here today and gone tomorrow

A wave tossed in the ocean

Vapor in the wind

Still You hear me when I'm calling

Lord, You catch me when I'm falling

And You've told me who I am

I am Yours

I am Yours

Whom shall I fear

Whom shall I fear

'Cause I am Yours

I am Yours