Life Lately: Busy Busy May!

There hasn't been much down time around here lately! We have been busy and filling our down time with lots of fun now that the weather isn't gross. We also are still checking items off our wedding to do list. I will be sharing list number two soon! People have been telling me lately not to get too stressed with the wedding and honestly other then worrying about money and how we will afford everything I don't feel stressed at all! We have just about five months until the wedding and I think we have a handle on everything. Just little things to do now :)

A couple of weeks ago I got the call that my wedding dress was in! I couldn't believe how fast it was- they told me it might not be in until August! My mom and I headed up there on a Saturday morning so I could try it on and then bring it home. 

It's now hanging in our second bedroom which I am referring to as "the wedding room" I will share pictures of what the room looks like after the wedding- there are just too many things in there that I don't want to share with the world until after the wedding. Also we have some gifts in there and you never know who is reading :)

Also during my dress appointment I picked out my hair piece and jewelry for the wedding. These will be shown at a later date as well :)

We've been getting Hello Fresh meals for the past few weeks and I have to tell you- they are delicious! I think it's totally worth the $60 we spend to get 6 meals. Every meal we've tried so far has been great and Tim is learning a ton of new recipes too.

I've been going to a lot of Tim's softball games and at a recent one I was able to hang out with my soon to be nephews as they played on the playground. They are such great kids!

On Saturday I got to hang out with all three of my flowers girls. This one won't even be a year old but she will be pulled in a wagon...fingers crossed!

I might be biased- but I think I have the cutest flower girls ever...

And the most amazing best friends!

Yesterday I spent mothers day with my mom, brother and other members of my moms side of the family. It was a really nice day and I always love hanging out with my mom!

I found two of these trays at HomeGoods yesterday afternoon which will hold our place cards. I am going to have sand dollars as our place card and they will be in here like a sand box. I think it will be really cute so I'm glad I found them!

What have you guys been up to lately?

Our Wedding: I Said Yes To The Dress!

This past weekend I did something very exciting... I went shopping for my wedding dress! 

I chose to invite just my mom and my MOH Rachel to my appointment. It may come as shock since I write this blog and put so much of my life out there for the world to see but I am extremely shy, easily embarrassed and very anxious. I knew that having a ton of people watch me try on my dress would not be up my ally at all! There were several people asking if they could come along but I was very firm on my decision that I did not want more opinions then the two I was bringing with me. 

It ended up working out great because I was able to listen to their opinions and they had some great ones! They knew when I was uncomfortable in a dress and knew what to say to help me through the process.

I'm so thankful to them for all their help!

I chose to shop at Alexandra's Boutique because so many had recommended it and had great experience there. My experience was no different- they are fabulous there!

Plus Rachel is the best at taking pictures and asking people to take pictures of you. I wouldn't have half the memories I do if it weren't for her!

This is the teaser photo I sent of Tim. When I said yes they brought out champagne to celebrate! We sipped on our champagne until it was time to handle the financial part of everything. After that it was time to go to Davids Bridal in Warwick to handle bridesmaid dresses!

 
Let me just take a moment to say how AMAZING my MOH is! She brought me this tote bag that says Bride on the side and two little bottles- one for sand from the beach on our wedding day and the other for sand from our honeymoon! It was so thoughtful and is a perfect gift for me- I'm obsessed! :)

Also how gorgeous does she look in the dress we chose?! I think it will look gorgeous on all the girls and 2/7 have ordered them- success!

Just a look at the back of the dress- I love the belt and color. It will be perfect!

How many dresses did you try on before you found your wedding dress?

The dress I chose was actually the first dress I tried on! I ended up trying on several other dresses just to make sure but ultimately I felt the most comfortable in the first dress I tried!

More Bridesmaid Dresses....

Good morning everybody, and happy Friday!

We're finally at the end of the week, and no, sadly there is no coupon wrapup again this week... I am majorly slacking on my couponing lately. Partly because my stockpile is pretty big right now, and I really don't need more razors or shampoo until I use up some of what I have. Also it is partly due to the fact that the deals have been lame lately. I haven't seen anything I HAVE to have that is cheap enough to run to the store and grab. Maybe I will go this weekend, I definitely need to use up my ECB's before I go on vacation!

Anyways, yesterday I had an extremely busy day- working in the morning AND at night, while in between I went bridesmaid dress shopping! As I mentioned previously I am going to be the maid of honor in my best friend Rachel's wedding next summer. In June we went to pick out Rachel's wedding dress, and also looked at bridesmaid dresses during that time. We had one mostly picked out, but it ended up being an issue monetary-wise so we decided to go back the drawing board. Rachel decided that her sisters and I should come up and try on some dresses and just make a decision in a smaller group, so we planned on spending the afternoon at The White Dress by the Shore.

After teaching my morning class, I met up with Rachel's sister Sara and the two of us drove up to Guilford to meet Rachel and her fiance Ant for lunch before dress shopping. Before we went to lunch however, we decided to drive by the house that Rachel and Ant are closing on soon!!!!

I can't believe they are actual grownups! Sorry for the not-so-great view of their house, but I obviously don't feel comfortable sharing their house on the internet...but it seems like a great house! We did creep in the windows quite a bit and it looks absolutely gorgeous inside!


After creeping in the windows, we headed to Ballou's for lunch. I had never been to Balou's before but based on everyone's advice at the table, I ordered a buffalo chicken personal pizza. It was DELICIOUS!

All of us got our own pizza, Ant and I ended up ordering the same kind, while Rachel got the figs, proscuitto, and goat cheese pizza, and Sara ordered bacon, spinach and mozzarella pizza. Everything looked delicious and I ate every last slice of mine.

After lunch, we dropped off Ant and headed to The White Dress by the Shore....

Here is the dress we finally decided on.

I tried to get a picture of the coloring on me in the above picture. I definitely preferred this pinky blush to the other blush dresses we tried on previously. It didn't make me look quite as pale as the others!

Ally holding up the dress. It is chiffon and super comfortable. I am so glad that we ended up choosing this.

It definitely looks pinker when it is not being worn..but I love it and can't wait to wear it during Rachel and Ant's big day!

Today will be far less exciting... it's laundry day! =) However, I do have plans to go to the local fair tonight so I will be back soon to let you know all about that excitement!

Have a great weekend everybody =)

Weekend Recap: Wedding Dress Shopping

Sunday was a very exciting day for me, because it was the day I went wedding dress shopping with my best friend! As I mentioned before my best friend Rachel is engaged and she planned for the entire bridal party, her mom and her future mother in law to go wedding dress shopping all together on the 30th of June.

The day started off by picking up one of my oldest and best friends, Brittni.

The drive to Rachel is a little over an hour. We had a great time chatting about anything and everything. Brittni is just one of those friends where anything goes. We laugh all the time, she is the friend that always makes laugh and completely riles me up. My mom used to pack extra napkins for when we had lunch together. I always came home riled up when we hung out together, we definitely would come up with some trouble to cause but we were so afraid of getting in trouble (still are) so the trouble we caused was always pretty tame.

Anyways, we arrived at Rachels around 10am, and were instantly greeted by Rachel and her best college friend Katie. (You may remember when I went to visit Katie in NYC with Rachel). Instantly Rachel cracked open the champagne I gave her as an engagement present and started making mimosas. I honestly always assumed that I didn't like mimosas because I HATE orange juice, but I actually really enjoyed it. I only had one because I still had half a coffee to drink and I was one of the designated drivers since I had to leave a little earlier than everyone else (more on that later) but it is definitely something I would try again.

Once another of Rachel's friends (Angie) and Rachel's future mother in law (Bettie) arrived we headed off to the vineyard where we had reservations for lunch.

The Chamard Vineyard had a cute little bistro where we ate. It was nice to spend time with friends (Rachel's other bridesmaid Kristin met us there, along with her sisters Ally and Sara, and her mom Lisa) but I do have to say that I didn't enjoy the food very much. I got the grilled cheese, but the cheese was weird, and even the salad wasn't really my taste. I prefer less fancy food for sure.

A photographer took photos of us throughout our lunch and we posed for some pictures in the vineyard before heading off to the White Dress by the Shore where Rachel was ready to pick out her wedding dress!

She tried on a ton of dresses and she said yes to the dress!!!!

Obviously I cannot share any of those pictures here on the blog, as maid of honor I am sworn to bridal secrecy! You'll just have to wait till next August for the big reveal =)

We also were able to try on bridesmaid dresses which was an interesting experience. Rachel has an idea of what she wants us to wear, and it's going to probably be a blush color which is a great choice in my opinion. I am so excited to be a part of her wedding and it was truly a perfect day spent thinking about the big event!

I ended up having to leave a little early, because I had a babysitting job to go to which kept me busy the whole night, so I definitely was exhausted by the time I headed home!

Yesterday I took the day to mostly be by myself. After a busy week and weekend I needed some time to relax and not worry about anything but just hanging out. I did clean up and organize a little bit, things got a little out of control while I was running around like a madwoman. I also managed to get some thank you notes written, bills paid, and finances organized. Today, I have to head into work for a Disney practice later on but plan to relax most of the day! =)

I hope you have a great day everybody!