I just had to quickly share that my Save the Date cards arrived in the mail yesterday!

Vistaprint was having a special deal that you can get 100 postcards for free, but you have to pay for shipping. I thought these were well worth the $6.50 charge for shipping. I picked the 21 day shipping option, and they were in my mailbox 3 days later!

I was so impresses with the quality, I ordered advice cards and photo sharing cards. I will post what those look like as soon as I get them.

Also, I absolutely cannot wait for Tuesday to get here... my dress should be delivered!

My love proposed to me on Valentines day and since then I have been thinking about wedding stuff non stop. Here is an update on how things are going.

FYI, the wedding colors are black and white with green as an accent color. We plan to have around 100 guests. It will be in March of next year.

We have found the venue and booked it :)



It will be at a country club. We will have the ceremony on the 2nd story veranda. The picture above will be the backdrop of the ceremony. The reception will be inside the adjoining banquet room. Finding a place on the budget we have set seemed impossible, I looked at tons of venues around town, and this place was in the nicest location and was surprisingly the least expensive!

I have made most of the flower arrangements already. I opted for silk flowers because I would like to keep my bouquet longer than just a few days after the ceremony. (Also, the stores are selling silk flowers that are in season, if I didn't get them now I would be cutting it really close to have them done before the wedding).


(Top Left - my bouquet, top right - bridesmaid bouquet, bottom left - grooms boutonniere, bottom right - table centerpiece)

I had the ring pillow from my parents wedding, but the colors or style didn't match, so I took it apart and re-made it. (I forgot to take a picture of it before I took it apart)

Here is an unfinished picture of the wedding invitations. There are some elements of the invitation that I have not decided how I want yet, so they are not in the picture. I will post a picture once they are done though.

(The invitation closed)

(The inside of the invitation, the inside right flap has a pocket for the RSVP card, that is one of the elements I am not done designing)

Favors. What do I say... these little things can get expensive fast! I searched for an inexpensive but unique idea and came up with coasters. I followed these instructions.

The last thing I have made is a cardbox. This is the box that sits on the gift table and guests who brought cards can put them in there so they do not get misplaced.

I found a dress I love and I should have it next week, but I am not going to post a picture of it just in case my love happens to look at my blog :)

What are some of the things you did or made to keep the wedding under budget?

Oiy! It's been a long time since I've blogged! We are halfway through the year already and so much has happened. I can't seem to find a consistant time/place to write, it seems to happen in spurts.

I watched Julie and Julia for the first time a couple months ago and it made me want to really try to blog on a regular basis again. While watching the movie I really wondered how the people who were commenting on her blog found it...? The movie also inspired me to try some new recipes and learn more about Julia Child. I'd love to get my hands on a copy of her "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". While I have no desire to cook my way through that many recipes in a years' time, there were so many wonderful looking foods I'd love to try.

Speaking of food though, we are on a mission to eat healthier and loose some weight in the process. I've started going back to the gym as time permits and eating healthier, and my efforts of the first week have totaled 3 lbs gone :)

We planted a garden (corn, peas, lettuce, onions, carrots and tomatoes), and it was doing great, but we went out of town for several days and most of the garden had wilted or died. I'm doing everything I know how to bring it back to life. It also seems that the weeds grow faster than I can pull them. Our dog finally decided to stop digging holes to get into our neighbors backyard. We have a few other house projects going on as well - we are still trying to decide what our "vision" is for the front garden area, how to clean and then keep clean the shower door, and building shelving in the closets of the guest room and office.

I have so much to write about because I haven't had a chance in so long, I could go on and on but this is probably boring most of you. So I want to let you know that I will try my best to write on a somewhat regular basis. I plan to scale way back on the deal posts since those are what take the majority of my time (and they seem to be a dime a dozen these days).

6/8/10

Oh how time flies by! I'm back and will be blogging on my regular routine again. The holidays were great, and even though we tried to slow down and focus on doing things that really matter to us, it was a whirlwind, to say the least.

I was supposed to be hosting my House Party tonight, but it has been postponed until next weekend because of a number of things, but mostly due to the weather.

Nick and I sat down before 2009 came to an end to discuss what our goals will be for the next year - I will be sharing some of them and what my personal goals will be for this blog soon.

As the title suggests, I am quite excited that the year has once again rolled over - and although 2009 wasn't that bad, I am hopeful that 2010 will bring great things in every aspect of everyone's lives!

Now get ready, because I am about to open the flood gates to all the deals going on out there!

I am so excited to close on our house today!! I can't believe it's finally here We will also be moving today after all is said and done with the title company. Wish us luck everything runs quickly and smoothly today :)

We don't have an internet connection at the new house yet, so I may or may not be able to post again today. Tomorrow will be back to normal though!

It's been quite awhile since I have been on here. Let me catch you up on why I have been so silent. Back in June, I had lost a loved one, got a puppy and was robbed at gunpoint (in the parking lot of my apartment complex on the same day), moved & had a birthday all within 3 weeks of each other.

I am thankful that God was watching over us that night and neither Nick or I were harmed physically and they (there was 2 guys, both with guns) just took our stuff and ran off. They ended up with our phones and my purse and had keys to both of our cars (which is a big reason we moved the next day), but they took something from us that no amount of money can replace - our sense of security. Everyday becomes easier, but it will always be in the back of my mind. I spent many days being sad, depressed, angry, etc. and let it consume my thoughts, but with prayer and my mother to talk to, I'm able to put most of it behind me now.

After we moved out of the apartment, we temporarily have moved into my FIL's while we continued looking for a house. We looked at so many homes and there was always something about them that didn't meet our requirements. One day we went to look at a house that was in a new development in a completely different part of town and absolutely fell in love with the area but that particular house was sold the day before. We went into the model home and found the perfect home that was considerably less than anything that we had been looking at over the previous 6 months. After builder incentives and lots of money saved, we are now in the process of building and buying a home.

Needless to say, I have had some of the hardest times of my life, some of the most exciting times & definitely the longest "character building" opportunity, that hasn't quite passed yet.

I'm sure some of you felt like I vanished off the face of the Earth, but as I put my life back together and let some of the fear go that I've hung onto the past few months, I have been able to get back into the nice groove I once had going on and that includes blogging again.

Part of me wanted to just give up on this & go about my daily life, but there is something satisfying about it too. Something I couldn't quite walk away from. Hopefully during the next week or so, things around here will be brought up to speed, and you will be hearing a lot more from me. Thank you for all of your patience.