Something Fun

And we’re off on our crazy adventure of a summer.

Mr. A has worked very hard this semester. On top of backstabbings and general first year stress, Mr. A also had some pretty rough health problems flare up. I think he had something like 5 or 6 small surgeries/procedures where he had to be put under general anesthesia. And that’s not even counting the 8 hour night in the emergency room and the doctor’s visits and the general not feeling well for much of the first part of the semester.

I felt he deserved a small little token of my appreciation.

I bought him a couple of his favorite cigars and some crafts beers and took him out to dinner. I wanted him to have a couple days to relax before he headed to his first summer job.

Nothing too fancy. Nothing that was a big deal. Just something small.

But that’s not the only thing we have to celebrate.

On Memorial Day, May 30th, we will be celebrating our first wedding anniversary.

I have a whole post planned for it, but it has been one heck of a year. And, I think, we both deserve a little fun and celebration.

I had originally been planning maybe going to one of the local wineries and enjoying the sun. Maybe going to a nice dinner.

But this weekend, Mr. A surprised me. He said that we would be going to STL, getting a hotel room at one of the nicer ones downtown, going to a special dinner, and then going to a baseball game on that Monday, exactly as we did one year earlier. The fun of getting married around a holiday is getting extra days off to spend time together.

Since I had an e-mail with a discount to book a hotel through one of the booking websites, Mr. A asked me to book the room. He mentioned a couple hotels- one we’ve been to and loved, and another very nice one. I started looking at prices and upgrades and what was available. And then it hit me. Why not go back to the hotel we stayed at on our wedding night?

Through the travel site, the hotel was a little more than we were planning on spending. We may want to have a nice weekend, but we can’t just splurge and spend all our money on extravagant hotel suites.

I still wanted to see if it was possible, and lucky me, the hotel’s website had a special going on and I got the room for a deal.

So so so excited. The room and hotel was amazing. And now I have a surprise for Mr. A since he doesn’t know where we’re staying.

And one other little present.

Mr. A wears suits, or at least dress shirts and ties, every day for work and will do the same for his second externship. He dresses up nicely and actually prefers dress shirts to anything else. So I ordered him some brass shirt stays and had them engraved. Nothing big, but something so he knows how much I love him.

That’s our fun for now. I have no idea where we’re going for dinner since Mr. A wants to surprise me with that detail. I think he’s just thrown that I won’t tell him where we’re staying.

P.S. We’re also getting breakfast in bed on Monday.

P.P.S. Also can’t wait to eat our wedding cake! (Hope it’s still good. It sure was delicious last year!)

P.P.S.S. Wishing we were going back to Mexico, but maybe next year…

2010- The Rollercoaster

When 2009 ended, 2010 was full of promise and optimism. I wasn’t blogging at the time, so I don’t have it all written down, but I was excited. 2010 was going to be THE year. I just didn’t know THE year of what.

I started this year as a bright-eyed new college graduate. I was fresh off an amazing student teaching experience and looking forward to finally not being a student. I was offered a last minute long term substitute job. While it would only be until April, it was like a real job. Also, wasn’t the age I really wanted (8th), but still, I found a job as a December graduate.

I was living in an apartment with 3 other girls. Nothing terrible, but wasn’t happy with it really, so I was basically living at Mr. A’s apartment. Scandal, I know.

The first three months were spent driving 40 minutes each way to work. The school wasn’t great, but I got some great experience and some amazing references for future jobs. I got called a bitch by a student. I was told I was some students’ favorite teacher. The school brought me to tears on my last day as the principal read little notes my students had written to me.

By May, school was out and wedding was all I was thinking of. Last minute details were starting to stress me out. My mom was annoying me, but she had done so much, so I tried to bite my tongue and keep my fiance from getting too upset with her and her endless questions and requests. Seating charts were studied over. Calls of confirmations were made with florists, venues, judge, wedding party, and everyone else under the sun. We dealt with people not RSVPing, people we didn’t want to invite throwing a fit, despite the fact that I had never met them.

But on May 30th, 2010 at 5pm on a gorgeous spring afternoon, we stood in front of friends and family and vowed to love each other, for better or worse, for the rest of our lives. I married my best friend. I giggled through the ceremony because I was so excited. I held my new husband’s hand as it shook from nervousness. I listened to my stepdad get choked up as he prayed and cheered as we were announced as husband and wife. Life ahead of us looked promising.

We spent a couple days with family and friends before setting off on our romantic honeymoon in Mexico. It was our first real trip together and we were excited. Even waiting at the airport, in the heat and humidity, we were light with giddiness. Our room was gorgeous and the ocean even more so. I wanted to lay on that beach all day, listening to the waves crash as we sipped coconut rum and fresh pineapple juices, reading books, and being cooled by the salty breeze and refreshing blue water. It was paradise.

And while I will always look upon our honeymoon fondly and with the deepest desires to go back, maybe as a post law school celebration, there was a stain on that trip.

Our second day in paradise, we received the terrible news that Mr. A’s granny had passed away. She was one of the sweetest people I have ever met, and since my last grandparent had passed away less than a year before, she eagerly accepted me into the family as one of her own. We were devastated. Even more so, we wouldn’t be able to make it to the funeral. We both miss her dearly, but we know she’s in Heaven, pain free and watching over us.

The summer of 2010 brought a lot of new changes. We moved into the new city where Mr. A would be attending law school, into our first apartment as a married couple. We set up rooms. Put up decorations and found new cubbies for all our wedding gifts.

Mr. A started law school. We figured out our routine. Well, he had a routine. I was in a rut.

This second half of 2010 has been full of unemployment. The term “funemployment” must have been coined by someone with a job because I will promise you that nothing is fun about it. 2010 kicked my self-esteem to the ground and stomped on it. It showed me that nothing can be taken for granted, not even getting a job. I won’t rehash the desperation, but it was a curve ball.

The last of months of 2010 have been…something. I finally got a job in retail. Retail during the holidays is hell. Also, it seems like shoppers think you’re their personal slave and must be dumb if you work at the mall. Yes, I heard someone talking about me say that I was sure to do whatever they said since I probably didn’t even finish high school. People are swell.

2011, I’m ready for you, and I hope you can beat 2010, especially the last part. You have a big job ahead of you. Hope you’re ready because I’m ready to take it on and gain some of myself back. Just a heads up.

****EDIT****

It’s New Year’s Eve, and I’m sitting in my pajamas, because not only do I have mono, which is strange in itself, but I seemed to have also developed the flu in the past 2 days. Seriously 2010? You just had to rub it all in, didn’t you?

“I DO!”

We were stashed in the back. Mark, the owner of the gallery and wedding organizer, was a nazi about letting anyone see us. I had to sneak my friends back. Even though I didn’t have bridesmaids, I do have some wonderful girl friends and I wanted to see them. Chill out Mark.

(I can’t say much bad about him. He was wonderful. His staff was very professional and made the even fantastic. They loaded things and did extra to help out. TRULY great venue and people to work with.)

I was antsy, but not in a bad way. I just wanted this to get started. I was peeking as guests arrived. I’ve never been one to keep surprises well.

(All pictures from http://www.kellymannophotography.com/)

Me and some of my favorite girls

The Moms lighting the unity candles

Coming down the stairs. I was the only one to walk down these, so the guests were expecting me from another direction. A little wow factor, I guess.

We didn’t have a videographer or anything, but I wish we would have had one for one part int he ceremony. During the entire time the judge was talking to Mr. A and we were supposed to be listening intently and thinking about the importance of this ceremony and the marriage ahead, I was not. All I could think about was how I was going to say, “I Do.” That’s it. I have absolutely no recollection of what the judge said to Mr. A, how he said it, or what the judge said to me. No clue.

I kept thinking that I needed to say it loud enough for people to hear, without shouting, and with enthusiasm, but not dumb. I succeeded int he first, failed in the latter. I said, “I DO!” with all the energy of a rabid rabbit. It was loud and sounded so goofy. Everyone laughed and I got a little bit of the giggles going. I was embarrassed, but it was a cute moment and went along with the whole day as people kept telling me how happy, excited, and calm I looked and acted. I was marrying my best friend in the whole world. Why not be a little over-enthusiastic?

And we're married, folks!

About the cake....

HA! So. Cake cutting. Seems simple enough, right?

Wrong. Very very wrong. They should teach classes on this important step. I mean, all eyes are on you and cameras are flashing. you should be prepared.

Our cake had a ribbon around each layer. Our bakers didn’t leave a spot to pull the ribbon back, at least from what we saw, and you can’t really cut through ribbon with a cake cutter.  So, my mom gave me some instructions on how to do this. For some ridiculous reason, I thought I should cut first and feed Mr. A first.

Mr. A used to work at a bakery and considered going to culinary school. So logically, he should go first. This slipped my mind.

I had a heck of a time getting that first piece out. Everyone was watching and laughing, I turned about 12 shades of red and kept saying, “This is what Mom told me to do!” We finally got it out, but this picture shows how embarrassed I am and the husband enjoying the moment, not helping at all. Go figure.

The toasts were wonderful. Heartfelt, funny, and touching.

Everyone

Best. Band. Ever.

And I’m not just saying that because she was at our wedding. Her name is Kim Massie and she is truly fantastic. She is NOT a wedding band. We were her first wedding, actually. You can find her on YouTube. She’s got an amazing voice. She’ll sing Aretha Franklin then switch to Led Zepplin and it all sounds amazing. She’s funny and got the crown involved. LOVED her. So grateful of whatever strings my dad pulled to get her.

And we ran away to Mexico...

Well, not quite that dramatically, but you get the idea.

The wedding was perfect in every way and I would relive it as often as I could, if it were possible.

My advice: Marry your best friend. And never look back.

Wedding Pictures

Here they are finally. This will probably be a picture explosion.

I know I had a freak out over the pictures. And I wish there was more variety or some more “edgy” shots, but I have what I have and I do love them. So here they are.

The date was May 30th, 2010. It was hot. Maybe not hot if you were in shorts and a tank top, but throw on a wedding dress or a tux, and it was hot. Very hot.

(All pictures from http://www.kellymannophotography.com/)

This was the venue:

Some Fun Art

Ceremony

Bar-always important

Dinner Area with my favorite lanterns and black chairs

Mr. A and I decided to see each other before the wedding and do some of our wedding pictures beforehand. When we saw each other for the first time, it was just him, me, and the photographers. No one else. We exchanged our gifts and had a couple minutes with just us. I loved it. The rest of the day was so busy and with so many people around us, that those precious few minutes was the only chance we had alone.

It calmed both our nerves and I was able to just enjoy the rest of the day and not be a nervous wreck or trying to hide from him and all that. I would suggest it for everyone, but that’s just me.

Seeing him for the first time

First meeting...

Before I go on with these pictures, let me explain something. I’m pretty sure I was the anti-bride, as I’ve said before. I was just so freaking excited, that I had this goofy look on my face. Half the pictures have my mouth open because I was laughing and just goofing around. I was incredibly relaxed and just enjoyed the day. So when I look goofy and like a girl just playing in a wedding dress, that’s why.

Exchanging gifts. I got him a really nice watch and he got me the second band, so my rings were all centered...

***My engagement ring was part of a set, with the wedding band. I love it. But, but just one band, the engagement ring looked off center and I knew it would bug me immensely. We talked about getting the other band maybe for the one year anniversary, but when we started talking about wedding gifts, I convinced him to get the band as my gift. Yes, I knew my wedding gift. But if we were going to spend that much money, we both figured it be better that we KNOW the person would love it. Ruins some surprise, but I still loved it.

There's that hand on the hip. I thought it would make my arm look smaller. SO I guess I did it for nearly every picture. Why didn't the photographer warn me?

Close up of flowers from rwdesigns.com

We took our outdoor pictures here. I had more places planned, but since we did these before the ceremony, I didn't want everyone wilted and sweaty. Otherwise, we would have gotten into the fountain...

One of my favorites. We're just silly.

"Show some leg boys!!"

Everything in this picture is important to me. The little blue ring? That was my Grandma S’s ring. She passed away last year after her battle with ALS and I have always remembered this ring. My dad and my aunt decided I could have it and I wear it everyday on my right hand. It was also my something blue.  The gold ring? It was given to my mom by her mom, Grandma R. It’s also a mother daughter ring, and it was my something borrowed. The handkerchief wrapped around the stem was also my Grandma R’s. It was very special to my mom, and even though I didn’t get to know Grandma R as well before she passed, it was special to have as my something old.

Love.

I think I’ll stop here. These were the pictures leading up to the ceremony and reception. I wish I could relive everything about that day. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Hand on the hip

Since I don’t get to see my wedding pictures until Sunday, I thought I would write, what I thought, were some helpful tips/advice for weddings and such. It would be light and sweet and funny and basically all about doing what YOU want since it’s YOUR wedding.

Until my mom called.

My mom went and picked up the pictures last night. She was crazy busy at work today, so I didn’t get to talk to her all day about the pictures. I was dying to hear about them, knowing they would be great and she would say, “I just don’t know how I’m going to choose.” You know how moms are. Their daughter is the most beautiful in the world and all that jazz. (Please don’t interpret that as I think I am the most beautiful. I don’t.)

We talk for about 15 minutes and no mention of pictures, which is shocking coming from my mother. She has ooed and ahhed over every bit about our wedding and was just itching to see pictures. But she’s talking about how our home state is cracking down on construstion zone speed limits with cameras and if you are 1mph over they send you a whopping $400 ticket???

Useful information for when I go home next weekend because I drive like a bat out of hell quickly, but not what I expected.

So I asked. I figure she had a long, hard day and her mind is a little slammed. No big. Goes like this:

Me: So Mom, how are the pictures? I’m dying to see them

Mom: (slight pause) They are fine, good.

Me: (pure terror on my face but trying to hide it) Fine? What’s wrong? Did they get messed up? (Me thinking something happened in printing the book and can be fixed.)

Then it comes out. Mom says that there is hardly any variety in poses. That many of them look the same. Not much difference.

And then she says it. The thing that now has me sitting here, having a minor panic attack, crying having cried, complete freak out.

“It’s not like anyone was going to plaster their walls with 30 pictures of the wedding, so they can find a few they like.”

WHAT THE HELL?????????????????????????????????????????????

Actually Mom, as wedding gifts, which you were there when I opened, we received two HUGE collage picture frame and my EXACT plan was to fill them with pictures of the wedding and hang them up. Not all of me or Mr. A of course, but of the wedding, and throw in some honeymoon pictures too.

Yes. That is what I was going to do.

Apparently not anymore if, according to her, nearly every picture I have my hand on my hip and look the same.

Terror. That’s what this is. I don’t even want to look at them at the moment.

And to top it off, some friends who got married right around the same time we did put their wedding pictures on Facebook. Guess what? Their’s are fucking gorgeous. The photographer had an eye and did some awesome poses and cool shots.

What the hell do I do now? Not like they were senior pictures and we can just go reshoot them. I can’t get back into my wedding dress, ask all the guys to go rent a tux again, and go take more. I guess Mr. A and I could go do casual ones, he in a suit and my in my dress, but more laid-back?

No. I want my wedding pictures to be perfect. I wanted to look over them a million times and not be sure which ones to print.

I know. I should relax until I see them. Or you will tell me that it isn’t that bad or that I loved my wedding so don’t worry.

But that’s the thing. We loved our wedding. I keep asking if we can relive it. But in 5 years, I’m not going to remember everything and that’s what the pictures are for.

And what’s more disappointing, from what I can see on my photographer’s blog, she didn’t have this problem with any other couple. Every other bride looked like a super model and they had fun and edgy pictures.

Is it because I didn’t have bridesmaids that she didn’t know what to do with us? Is it because it felt about 150 degrees outside in that dress and those tuxes, so we cut some of the outdoor shooting short because I was trying to be nice and didn’t want everyone to sweat to death before the ceremony? Should I have taken pictures after the ceremony like normal people and then we could have been as sweaty as I asked them to be? Is it me?

This is what happens to me. I fall apart. I’m getting teary eyed right now because I just wanted these pictures to turn out how I thought they would.

And looking at others, I have no getting ready pictures because I got dressed at the gallery and already had my hair and makeup done, so by the time the photographer got there, I was ready. No fun pictures of the guys getting dressed.

I can’t think about this anymore. I’ll just have to see come Sunday. Maybe I’ll just steal other bride’s pictures and pretend their mine…

No more stalling

FINALLY! Some wedding posts. I think I thought (still think?) that if I keep it to myself, then I get to hold onto it longer. But at the same time, I want to share. Is that vain? I sure hope not.

I’ll do this a little backwards. I’m doing honeymoon before wedding pictures. Figured no point to post about the wedding and then have to do it again when wedding pictures were done. I got an e-mail that our wedding pictures are in, but since I do not live in the same city as the photographer, my mom is picking them up and  I will get them on Sunday when my mom comes and brings us our wedding gifts that are stashed in her basement at the moment. I tried to say she couldn’t look at them until Sunday, then we could look together, but she nixed that idea really quick. She says she paid for them, she gets to see them. Touche, Mom. Still bummed though.

But anyways.

View from our balcony.

We went to Mexico (in case you missed that somehow.) It was beautiful, but HOT. Now, before you say, “Mrs. A-it’s Mexico. What the heck did you expect?” I know this. I knew this. But the heat was something else.  When the workers say, “Man, it’s hot for this time of year.” That’s telling you something. We took about 5 showers a day…cold showers. I think I only took one warm shower the entire time because it was just too effing hot.

We LOVED our resort. (If you want to go to mexico and want to know which one, e-mail me and I’ll get you the info.) It was perfect. Granted, had we payed a FORTUNE more, we could have been at some super ritzy place, but this was INCREDIBLY nice and from reading reviews on trip advisor, had some of the best reviews, even compared to the others.

Our resort was basically 3 in 1. We stayed at C, but we could use any of the amenities/restaurants/bars-anything at both A and T. They were all connected and had little shuttles going between places. These were the 3 lobbies:

Fountain and statue in C.

All the lobbies were open, so no doors and you could usually feel the breeze blowing through. It was very nice.

All the lobbies had these awesome thatched roofs that were just very neat. They looked awesome.

(sorry it’s huge, but wanted to show the detail.)

The resident iguanas. They were EVERYWHERE. I had never seen an iguana in real life, not at a zoo, so it was crazy to see them everywhere. And some were gigantic, like this guy. He lived in the garden area outside our building. He had a wife and a mistress. He’d switch up which one he hung out with. And they loved bananas, so we gave them our bananas from the fruit basket as we left the resort. Probably not supposed to, but we enjoyed them so much that we had to. Mr. A tried to touch one. That was a no-go.

Our room.

The super wonderful jacuzzi tub. I frequented this about every night. Filled with cold water and it was so relaxing after 113 degree days!

The food was just delicious. The buffet was really good, but then the a la carte restaurants were to die for. I'm drooling now.

They had towel animals everyday for us. I was SO excited about these. I took pictures of all of them except 1. Can’t remember which I missed, but they were awesome! I couldn’t believe how good they were. The elephant and the sea turtle were my favorites. I love sea turtles, so it made my day since we couldn’t see any.

Elephant with flower that was in my hair at the wedding. They saw it on the dresser and used it. So cute.

When we arrived, we were greeted with these!

Sea turtle. Cute that they put it next to the figurine we had bought.

There were coconut trees everywhere on the resort and the beach. I loved it. I thought the clusters were fascinating and I probably have 30 pictures of them. I wanted to get one and open it, but Mr. A told me that might not be a good idea. One day I will.

Ever see the movie Emperor's New Groove? Remember the ball game? This is what it really looked like at the Mayan villages. They played to the death. Now that's some motivation.

This was the super crazy tall Mayan ruins we saw. At this point, we had already been ziplining in the jungle, rapelling 75 feet into an underwater cave, climbing back up those 75 feet, hiking through the jungle, and walking 2 miles to these ruins. I was completely wiped out. My original goal was to climb these ruins just to say I did, but I just couldn’t. I knew we still had a 2 mile walk back and I thought my legs were going to give out they were shaking to badly. (I also learned on this little adventure that you CAN sweat from EVERY. SINGLE. PORE. on your body. All of them. Legs, arms, back, stomach…everywhere. I’ve never been so drenched in sweat in my life.

So, long story short, I didn’t do it. I still wish I could have, but it just wasn’t going to happen. But Mr. A did. I took his picture at the bottom. I turned around to walk down to the log to sit on. I figured it would take him a little bit and I would take pictures of him along the way. I was wrong. Apparently I married a monkey. By the time I turned around at the seat, he was at the TOP.  Other people were saying, “Did you see that guy run up there???” And I missed it.

At the top. He said he looked down and got a little nervous. Ha.

Glorious. The beach was my favorite part. Living in the midwest, I never get to see the beach. Lake beaches are gross and the water is brown and you can’t see what is swimming around you. Icky. But this beach. I could live here. White sand that didn’t scald your feet. Crystal clear water. Cool breezes. Little cabanas. Beach bars. How soon can I go back? It was so clean and I just loved it here.

Pier

We're dorks.

Started reading this on recommendation of Life of a Doctor’s Wife. Really like it. Not finished, but getting there.

Heaven.

This cracked me up. In the U.S., we put tiny little labels about the dangers of smoking and that is could cause cancer. Nope. Not in Mexico. Huge letters and they just put it out there. This will kill you. No doubts. Good job Mexico.

Had this little guy in our room one day. Mr. A named him Intruder. I ran away until we got someone to get it out of our room.

Last night in Mexico before dinner.

Most expensive meal.

By the time it was time to go to the airport, Mr. A and I were kind of craving some “American” food. The resort food was excellent, but we wanted some cheeseburgers. So, we went to Margaritaville at the airport to get some food. I had a yummy margarita. Mr. had a Corona (which we could never get on the resort. It was strange.) And delicious food. But this is a chain. How much could two drinks, free chips, some guacamole, a burger, and a shrimp sandwich cost? We thought maybe about $50. It was the airport so they could charge a little more. Fine. $50 was worth it. Nope. $80. Yeah. That was our reaction.

No more airport meals for a while. Geeze.

It was a truly amazing trip. Mr. A and I finally got some quality time together. The last couple weeks leading up to the wedding were so hectic that we didn’t get any alone time or time to just relax. Finally, in another country, we were able to breathe and just enjoy being married.  We did have some bad news, but we made the best of it all and loved every minute. I would love to go back.

Off to dream about when we can finally return to our little paradise. In 3 years? Better start saving now.

Pre-wedding schtuff…

Life is being stubborn and apparently does not want to give me any time to blog about this sill little wedding. I work at a summer program and today we had a field trip to the water park. I usually only work mornings, but they needed people, so I went to the field trip as well. I ended up working a 10 hour day. I know many of you do this EVERY day (and more power to you and I think your commitment is honorable), but running around a water park all day, in heat advisory weather, is very tiring. So, at 8:35, all I want to do is go to bed since I’ve been up since 5:30, but I am forcing myself to stay up and stay in touch with all of you who are quickly becoming friends.

So….I’ve decided to break this up. If I tried to write one post…no one would ever finish it because I will probably want to relive every detail via the blog since I can’t really relive it. So a few little chunks to make it more manageable. I’ll throw in the day to day stuff as well.

I have also decided that I think I am going to show my face, but still keep the names out of it. That way, our names won’t be showing up anywhere…and, obviously, any pictures that I think might be taken as questionable…won’t be up. I think I knew this would happen once wedding pictures came out…oh well. (I just hope I don’t get any mean criticism…hah)

On to the pre -wedding stuff. I know I posted a couple pictures from the showers and bachelorette party. I’m pretty sure those have been covered, so I guess next would be rehearsal dinner. I wore this dress, in this color actually:

I loved the jewel blue color. And, a good problem to have I suppose, the dress was actually too big when I went to wear it that night. I really like it, so I’ll have it altered, but I was so annoyed when I tried it on and it was baggy…my mom told me to deal. Isn’t she sweet?

This is where we had dinner and rehearsal since we couldn’t get into our actual space until the day of the wedding:

Kind of a wonky aerial view, but you kind of get the idea. It had this neat old bar that was from prohibition with the big window behind it. They decorated all the tables and after dinner and all the teary-eyed speeches, we set up a little aisle to do our run through. The food was EXCELLENT and everyone had a great time.

Hello! Me at rehearsal dinner....all smiles!

I know I mentioned that my bridal party was not traditional at all. My brother was my “Man of Honor” and my best friend since 5th grade was my “Bride’s man”. It was wonderful. My best friend, A’s dad was the judge that officiated the wedding, so it was a whole family thing. A’s mom was a riot. She brought her big, professional looking camera, and took, literally, hundreds of pictures. She would walk up to everyone in the room, not knowing most of them, and get people to pose for pictures. She took a ton of candids and just captured everything. We appreciated it so much because all of us involved, such as myself and parents, we were too busy talking and being excited to think about pictures. She did this at the wedding also,  so it has been fun to have so many pictures to look at before all of the professional ones come in.

Just another shot from inside the restaurant.

So delicious

I know fried chicken doesn’t sound classy or something you would have at a rehearsal dinner, but once you tasted this stuff…you would understand. And the peach glazed pork chops? Heaven melting in your mouth. I might be drooling as we speak.

Lots of wine and other libations were consumed. It was wonderful. This pictures says it all….

Male bonding at the bar. Nothing else more natural.

My dad and Best Friend A….the comments are endless.

Tears were shed as my parents gave some pretty sentimental speeches. Mr. A was annoyed that I wrote 4 pages for my speech when we had just found out that we had to give a speech the day of. This translated into him speaking for about 45 seconds and I spoke for about 6 minutes. Yes, I ramble in real life too.

I headed to bed early, and woke my happy self up at 7am to start getting ready.

My mom kept asking me all these questions about how I felt and everything. At 7am, all I could feel was that it was too early for me to be up and people expecting a whole lot of excitement from me. I said, “It feels like prom right now. Lots of anticipation, but not a lot happening yet, so not sure it’s even real yet.” I kept thinking it wasn’t real or that it wasn’t really happening to me. It was all sort of surreal.

Nothing felt concrete until I got my hair done. When I saw my hair with the veil in it, I knew.

Me and my wedding day hairstylist

We headed to the gallery to start getting into the dress, but we were ahead of schedule. Does that happen to any other bride but me, because all I kept hearing about were brides showing up to their weddings an hour late. If I had been even 10 minutes late, I would very possibly had to have been committed because I would lose it. To waste time, I ran around like a 5 year old in a candy store because I had never seen our dinner space set up exactly as it was going to be and took some fun pictures…

I must have thought I was cool or something. Excitement does weird things...

This had all the table seatings, guest book, and where gifts were put. Had to crop out Mr. A, but the picture was taken about a week after we started dating, and to this day, is still our favorite of the two of us. I’m hoping some wedding pictures will top it.

It was finally time to put on the dress.

Mom hiding the laces to the back of my dress.

Funny story. I have a very nervous stomach. Any level of excitement/anxiety/nervousness and my stomach goes haywire. My brilliant mother, knowing this condition and my fear of this acting up after I was in my dress but also knowing I would need to eat, packed the best food possible. A plain ham sandwich, and by plain I mean two pieces of bread and a piece of ham, bottles of water, and some multi-grain Pringles. We had to get a picture of me eating in my dress before pictures. I sure do love food…ha!

And then I saw Mr. A….

Picture Tease

I know I said I would wedding/honeymoon blog Friday. Well, we went to our future hometown to go apartment shopping, which was more frustrating than anything, so no blogging. Yesterday I had a bridal shower to go to for the girl whose wedding I will be in, in July and the car died on me and Husband had to track down a truck and a trailer, drive 50 minutes to save me, and then haul the POS car home. Today…I just have no energy. Laundry and unpacking have done me in.

But, I will leave you with a few pictures and I promise to start blogging all of this tomorrow, including how much I hate apartment shopping. Also, probably going to have to have a serious conversation with myself as to whether or not I show pictures that show my face. I will probably give in, but I know the husband doesn’t want to be shown. He’s more private than I am.

Mr. A approves this photo

Speaking of private, here he is. He approved this one because you can’t see his face. I figured he’s going to have to make an appearance on this blog at some point, but we will start small.

Bar shot at rehearsal dinner

View from our balcony in Mexico

Lobby at our resort

Mayan ruins

The gorgeous beach at sunset

Upstairs at the gallery, where we had dinner. (Kelly Manno Photography)

Little snippets from the wedding. Love the one with both of our moms on the bottom. (Kelly Manno Photography)

Tomorrow’s to do list:

-more laundry (blah)

-finish unpacking ( might hate this more than laundry)

-online apartment research

-blog about this wedding stuff…I think I keep hesitating because once I blog about it all, it’s over. I would relive every moment of our wedding…it was perfect!

Goodnight everyone!

New Teacher. New Wife.

I now introduce to you

The new Mrs. A!!!! (I almost typed out my new last name just because I’m so excited!!!)

I have been absent for a little bit. This weekend was full of lots of errands, more food than any bride to be (or normal person) should ever consume in a weekend,  friends, family and one amazingly fantastic black woman who can sing and entertain like none other. She was truly fantastic.

The wedding was perfect. Mr. A and I wouldn’t have changed a thing. All the vendors exceeded our expectations and I would recommend them to EVERYONE!!! Our photographer was purely fantastic. She has a blog and as soon as she posts the preview online, I doubt in my own abilities to keep from sharing. The gallery and the staff was magical and more than I thought we would ever have for our own wedding.

The most common comment I received was, “You sure look excited and happy!” How else should I be?? I’m marrying my best friend in the whole world and this is the most perfect day. Am I supposed to be sad or something?? Apparently I was beaming and showed much more excitement and a lot less nervousness than most brides. I guess that’s just me.

I never turned into a bridezilla. I never had a need to. Everyone was so perfectly wonderful, I didn’t have a care in the world. I got the bottom of my dress dirty during our outdoor pictures (which we took before the ceremony). I figured if people were staring at the bottom of my dress, they were looking for something to pick at. Also, they didn’t know how much fun we were having running around and the bottom of my dress was the least of my worries.

We are headed to Mexico bright and early tomorrow (3am…yuck!). I will do LOTS of updates with pictures and funny stories as soon as we return. So, until then , this was our wedding cake. I loved it and it was delicious. People raved about it. Banana cake with a light icing….I might have to go have some of the leftovers now just thinking about it!

Huge picture, but wanted to show the details.

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and I can’t wait to share more next week!

Adios!

New Teacher. New Wife.

Carrie Bradshaw and I need to have a little chat

Carrie Bradshaw and the Sex and the City girls have been the go-to for fashion, friendship, and dating advice for years. These four girls have stuck together through it all and, I think, it’s what every girl wants. Fun. Fierce clothes. The best friends a girl could ask for. Not to mention dating, and other unmentionable acts, with some of the most attractive men. Swoon.

But this new movie that I saw tonight with my mother in law was strange for me. It was good. I loved the clothes. The unapologetic attitudes about sex and not being afraid to be a strong and independent woman. The situations these women get themselves into. All of Carries shoes. (I would give ANYTHING to have those blue Manolo Blahnik’s from the last movie, which were nicely cameoed in Carrie’s closet this time around.

But the themes were getting to me.

If you have read anything I have written in the past week, you know I’m getting married in, now, 3 days. I am excited, to say the least. I can’t sleep. I’m restless. I’m antsy. All I want to do is to go over every detail and all I can talk about the this wedding.

I’m a five year old again.

I guess I wasn’t in the right mindset for this movie tonight. I won’t spoil anything, but a major theme was marriage problems and cheating while married. NOT what I want to even think about right now.

I got my first tiny taste of panic. From a movie. Lame.

I love him. I trust him. I do not need little bits of doubt about the sanctity of marriage or whether or not we will want to be around each other all 7 days of the week.

I guess this just wasn’t the movie for me. I thought maybe I should watch it later, but I feel like those themes are not something a newlywed needs to think about. I need to see a movie where love always prevails and people cannot be happier to be with their soulmate. Basically, I need the first movie again. Only, let’s skip the part where Big doesn’t show up at the wedding the first time. Another thought that I don’t need.

Oh well. Maybe in a few years I will be abel to look past those things and just enjoy the movie for the fabulous-ness of it all.

Tomorrow, we head home. A few wedding errands (tux, last minute gifts, nails, etc.). Saturday is just finishing up last minute things and rehearsal dinner.

And then Sunday. May 30th, 2010. 5pm. I will be walking down the aisle, looking at my future husband, and knowing I get to be with my best friend for forever.

Enjoy your holiday weekend and I’ll send you Mexico pictures!

New Teacher. New Wife.