THE Dress

As you know from before, I found a dress that I loved in a wedding magazine.

I tried it on and I knew it was the one. My Madre knew it was the one.

My friendoodle knew it was the one.

It was the one!

the back is the best part!

what a beautiful dress!

We decided to get a Muslin to avoid high costs of alterations.

A Muslin {if you don't know, I know that I didn't before the whole process} is basically a mock up of the dress. The seamstress takes your measurements and then has a dress made to fit you. After that you try on the Muslin and they make any other alterations needed and then they send the Muslin to the makers of the dresses and they make a dress to fit me.

My Muslin came in in July.

the muslin!

wow it was soo beautiful!

super excited!

bootylicious!

look at my mom!

it had to be taken in just a tad :-)

sooo pretty! I would be have been happy with this as my wedding gown! :-)

The Muslin went out and then in January the dress came in!

I made my plan to drive up with Sweeter for my first fitting.

I brought two lovely ladies from my bridal party, their Madre's, my Junior Bridesmaids and their Madre and of course my Madre!

I saw my dress and it was magnificent! 

It reaffirmed my thoughts and feelings that it was the right one for me!

I can't even describe in words how excited I am to walk down the isle to my Sweeter in it!

I asked my gals to bring their BM dresses so we could see the whole thing together.

It looks great, I am so excited!

seeing the dress for the first time

we were practicing bustles

how gorgeous!

my gals!

2 of my most favorite people in the whole world!

so pretty!!

trying it on with the hair

And with my spray tan...haha

Yesterday was our wedding day.

I cannot tell you all how Happy I am!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

We are driving back home on our holiday off!

What a surreal weekend!

I am ecstatic!

I cannot wait to show you all of the pictures from our special day!

Thank you all for listening/reading all about our wedding plans!

The First Picture

This is the first picture that Sweeter and I ever took together...

 

..not the best...

But that night was definitely unforgettable!

I got off of RA training and he told me to change into something warm and that we were in a rush.
I put on a sweatshirt and got my butt in gear.
We took the SFMuni to Embarcadero and started walking.
Trying to beat the clock we started running!
We ran 33 piers down the Embarcadero
(mind you, I still had no idea what we were doing)
To my excited surprise, he had booked a night time tour of Alcatraz!
We had talked about how much I wanted to go on the tour at night since I had done it during the day
This is on the cruise line on our way from pier 33.

We had a brilliantly fantastic time!
I can't wait for so many more adventures to come!
Happy Wedding day to my sweet sweet Sweeter!

The Best Marriage Advice

~Listen to each other: seek to understand when you're wrong, apologize when you're right, be quiet

~Don't tie a half-hitch knot - plan for forever

~Never go to sleep angry

~Laugh at yourselves together

~Never embarrass, criticize or correct one another in public

~Remember one of life's ironies: We are least lovable when we need love most

~Don't expect perfection - it'll bore you spotless

~On days when you don't like each other, try to remember that you love each other

~Tell the truth, and always with kindness

~Kiss at least 10 seconds every day without fail

~Examine your relationship often: know its vulnerabilities and keep it growing, together

~Be content with what you have materially, honest emotionally and never stop growing spiritually

~Never yell unless the house is on fire. Hurtful words can be forgiven but never taken back

~Be best friends, as well as lovers

~Show by your actions as well as your words that the person you married comes first in your life

~Remember that you're in love

~Never miss an anniversary, birthday, or chance to make a memory, you will treasure them one day

~Take care of business: pay bills, change your oil, call your mother

~Open your home and hearts to angels . Teach Sunday school, coach little league, feed the homeless, talk to strangers

4 days!

We got this card last week and it seriously made a huge difference and we both smiles! 

Please share this with as many people as you can!

Have a great day!

The 3rd & Final Shower

The Third and Final bridal shower was this past weekend!

My FMIL's friends wanted to throw a shower for me!

It was absolutely lovely!

 My Friends are Beautiful!

 My Handsome Bride Groom!

 I have the best friends!

 The apron!

 It was full of lots of fun kitchen items!

 The toilet paper bride!

 Love this! We didn't even plan to all be the brides!

 The FMIL, Friend and I!

My favorite ladies! Minus a few...

And then my camera died..hahah

There were a few games!

The first game was a wedding trivia game! Did you know that only 68% of women receive a diamond engagement ring? Or that the average American Wedding is $25,000??? Interesting!

The second game: A wedding word scramble! The winner got a mini colander!

The third game: I put on an apron with a bunch of kitchen items and I walked around the room. Then all of the guests had to remember what was on the apron and write them down.  The winner got a mini colander!

The fourth game: We were split into 3 groups and we were given a bag of goodies and2 rolls of toilet paper. Each team had a bride and we were made into toilet paper brides!

The games were a blast and the company was so sweet! I had a so much fun!

It was a great way to spend the weekend for the wedding!!

Wedding Countdown: 

5 days!

Can't believe it!

We are soo excited!!

The Dress

Because Sweeter proposed to me so close to Christmas, most of my Christmas gifts were wedding books, magazines, to-do calendars the whole shabang! It was great!

I opened up a magazine and I was flipping through all of the wedding gown spreads and gawking over table settings and flowers. I flipped to a Priscilla of Boston spread and my eye was immediately drawn to a woman wearing this gorgeous backed dress.

I went to the website and to my surprise, there was a trunk show. I called up my mom and my Friendoodle and we went to the salon in Downtown San Francisco. Nicole was my consultant and she was amazing. We walked into the salon and I told Nicole that I saw the most beautiful dress in a magazine and I wanted to try it on.

She told me to find the dress as well as any others. I found it and while my Madre, Friendoodle and I combed the racks and found others.

We went back into the changing room and I tried on about 13 gowns. Nicole told me not to try on the dress I came in looking for as my first dress so I could give the other ones a chance. They were all gorgeous!

Here are a few that I tried on {you will have to wait for the actual dress until a later post :-)}:

to tea-cup like...

 

I am not the biggest fan of the 1 sided thing...

so beautiful...just not for me!

so I loved the bodice of this!

not so much of the open front...

too much stuff on the top

I am not the biggest fan of the beads

not the most flattering...

I loved the top on this one, but the bottom was too floofy...haha

 I loved trying on all of these dresses!

They were all so beautiful!

The best part was watching my mom during the entire process.

She was glowing and so happy and excited for me!

Wedding dress shopping was a blast and I almost want to try on more dresses...even though I already have mine :-)

Have a fabulous day!

Wedding Countdown: 6 days!

Some Friday Love

1. Do you and your spouse go to bed at the same time?

We usually do...unless I need to go to sleep crazy early. If that is the case, he will lay in bed with me until I fall asleep :-)

2. A question for the ladies...What kind of facial hair do you like on your man?

None...haha And Sweeter can't have it - no arguments her!

3. What's the worst vacation you've ever taken?

I don't think I have ever had a bad vacation...

4. What's the first-ever blog you followed?

That is a good question....I started blogging because I would read Tracy's Blog at Then I Got to Thinking. She and I rushed the same sorority in college and were in the same pledge class. We became friends and when she graduated she moved away and I wanted to read how her life was going.

Yeah, I think her blog was my first :-) Thanks, Tracy, my retreat pal!!

5. Do you enjoy amusement parks?

I do. Sadly, I have not been to one in a very long time...

Happy Friday to you all!!

9 more days! 

Sweeter and I will be off to the Bay this weekend for Graduation and another Bridal Shower! 

Woohoo! 

September 8th

So I was reading Allie's wedding day blog post {I know..I'm late..}

I found out a couple of things.

<1> She and I share a birthday

<2> We share our birthday with the Virgin Mary.

So I text my mom...

Me:   "did you know that the virgin mary's bday is sept 8?

Mom: "thats a nice fact seeing as you were conceived by immaculate conception"

hahaha! I laughed out loud...at my desk...as work! haha!

I hope you all enjoy your Thursday!

Wedding Countdown: 10 days!

Beetle Orange!

How many of you play the beetle game?

You know, the car game where you punch everyone in the car and scream out the beetle color before anyone else does?

So I love this game!

I love it because I have made it into my own unique nice game!

I am not a violent person, not in the slightest, and I am relatively mild tempered.

I made up a beetle game that you all should try!

There are 2 versions.

Version 1: With your honey

When you see a beetle, call it out, be the first in the car. 

Now, the reason you want to be the first to call it is because the person who didn't call the beetle must kiss you and give you a compliment. 

{ie. you are beautiful.... you have the best kisses... you are so great at spotting beetles :-) etc}

Repeat

Version 2: With your friends

See above

Minus the kiss :-)

Oh and there are 2 rules...

Rule 1: Assess the situation...if the driving situations are dangerous, save the kisses for when you are in a safer spot

Rule 2: No calling the same beetle twice! No exceptions!

Tada!

It is a very uplifting game and it definitely gets everyone involved!

I mean, who really wants to get punched while driving!?

We all would rather get sweet smooches!

Have a great day!

And enjoy playing my version of the Beetle Game!

HIking

Sweeter and I went for a hike this weekend. 

We hiked to a couple of beautiful waterfalls (not a lot of water, still beautiful!)

As you can see the hike was impromptu...we were not dressed for it...at all!

We had a blast!

I woke up the next day without a voice because I had such bad allergies!

We had such a great weekend!

Looking forward to the next 2 weeks!

Wednesday we have our last Salsa Dance class and Date Night!

Saturday we are driving to SF to see my best friend graduate from college!

Sunday I have another Bridal Shower and I get to see 3 of my Bridesmaids!

Next Wednesday, I fly up to SF to start all of the wedding festivities!

12 days!

Couple Wedding Shower

The last weekend of April, my mom threw Sweeter and I a Wedding shower.

We had a blast!

We played a few games, ate delicious food and spent time with people that mean a lot to my family!

Game #1

Sweeter got panties to enjoy

That was probably my favorite picture of the entire night!

The menu

Catered by my lovely mother

Drinks

Homemade Lemon Drops
Beer and wine

Heavy appetizers Menu
Sliders
Chicken and beef skewer with a peanut dipping sauce
Artichoke dip
Cheese platter
Veggie platter & dip
Mini fruit kabobs

Dessert
Coconut cupcakes

Everything was amazing!

Thanks Mom!

 When we arrived, we got pins on our shirts and were told not to cross our legs. 

If you caught someone crossing their legs, you took their pin and did your best to collect them all.

I lost pretty early on in the night :-)

The 2nd game:

Sweeter and I sat back to back and had one of each of our shoes in front of us.

My Mom and Dad read out questions and we had to pick up the shoe of who did it.

i.e. Who is a better cook - then each of us had to grab who's shoe that went to

The Line Game:

Since I had done this at the bridal shower that my Bridal Party threw for me, my mom decided to have Sweeter open the gifts and record what he was saying.

At the end, my mom read off what he would "say" on the night of our wedding.

We had a blast!

Thanks to all of my family and friends for making this whole process special and amazing!

Santa Fe Chicken Salad

Sweeter and I made the yummiest Santa Fe Chicken Salad!

We searched a recipe for the dressing and found this recipe.

{I am not sure that it the exact one from Cheesecake Factory because of the nutritional value...seems too healthy to be Cheesecake Factory (haha).}

We seasoned the chicken with the Chili-Lime Rub from Williams Sonoma and we let it sit over night. {We got a set of rubs from Williams Sonoma as a gift}We cooked the chicken on the grill pan and the chicken turned out delicious and tender; Sweeter is great and cooking the meat! We can't wait to have a place that we can have a BBQ!

It was surprisingly delicious! Just what we wanted! :-)

3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 bunches cilantro, (rinsed well, most of stalky ends trimmed off) finely chopped

{We didn't use all of the cilantro that the recipe called for. We used about 1/2 - 3/4 of a bunch and it was plenty. We also didn't use canola oil. Just left it out.}
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoon wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup olive oil

PREPARATION:

Drop garlic cloves and ginger through the feed tube of food processor while motor is on. Mince well. Add the cilantro and process until finely chopped. Add spices, lime juice, vinegar, honey, and parmesan cheese. Process until well mixed. With motor running slowly pour the oil through the feed tube. Let process one more minute.

Additional Tips: To make the salad you will need slivered mixed greens, shredded grilled chicken breast, corn kernals, rinsed black beans, bell pepper, chopped tomato, shredded cheese and toasted tortilla strips.

NUTRITION:

55 calories, 5g fat, 1g carbohydrates, 1g protein per tablespoon.
Show more nutritional data (including Weight Watcher's Points ® and diabetic exchanges)

Buon Appetito

Seating Charts

How did all of your married ladies plan out the seating charts at your wedding??

I want to mix and match his guests with mine but I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable...

How did you do it?!

This is one daunting task!

Guest Name Cards

So, as you may know, I am using these as my guest name cards as well as a favor.

I am wondering how all of you lovely ladies told your guests where to sit?

Should I have these out with their names and they can carry them to their seats, or should I have their names written out at the front with their name tags already at their table setting?

What do you think is the easiest for guests and what do you think is the least amount of work for me :-)

Sweeter and I went to a wedding a couple of weekends ago where they had a canvas board and our names were on the tables already.

What do you think? 

I kinda like this idea...

I was thinking about looking for an antique frame and putting the tables in that and then I can use the frame for a wedding picture, or something.

Please send over any and all ideas! :-)

Happy Wednesday!

Wedding Countdown: 19 days!

Blinkers

Do you use your car blinker?

If not, do you use your arm signals? (haha)

I have noticed a big change from Northern California to Southern California...

...No one uses their turning signals in Southern California!

It is soo frustrating! 

I am not a mind reader...

...so use your darn blinker!

Happy Tuesday to Everyone!

Tanning

What do you all think of tanning??

Real Tanning?

image

 Spray Tanning?

image

Airbrush Tanning?

image

 Tanning beds?

image

So far, I have done them all!

For prom in High School I did the spray tan. 

I recently tried the airbrushing and I had a bad experience with it...it was streaky and splotchy.

Which is weird because I had only heard good things about it!

Now I am trying the bed, only a few minutes at a time, but I still am not sure how comfortable I am doing it.

Basically, I need to be tan for the wedding because I am wearing a white dress...

What do you think??