Did you know..

1. On the 25th was this blog's 2 year anniversary.. oh bloggy blog happy birthday.
2. The first year I wrote on here I only post 18 times, the second 42 and now to date (not counting this one) 71
3. I love blogging.

Tell me 3 things I don't know..

Spice it up.

I needed some change in my life.. and I am kinda loving corals right now so there you go.

As I promised I would share a little about my scrap book. I bought a kit like this, as you can see it is just the  text block and the cover boards. I bought some cloth paper in brown to do the cloth portion of the book. The Paper source website has a great how to video and the staff there is more than willing to explain it as well. I also bought some fish paper on sale and this is the end product.

(Front)

(Back)

(Spine)

I felt like the process was not very hard but you did have to move quickly because the glue does dry super fast also because of this you have to make sure you have everything in the right spot before you smooth it out. I used kraft like paper  under the fine fish paper because it is very thin.

I really like the way it turned out. What did you do with all of your wedding photos?

Life..

We all do it, the same routine day after day trying to finish what we started yesterday and not let it both us that somethings never get done.
Well, this was my last first day of class as previously posted about here and it has been full throttle since. This last semester is all about putting together the last 2 years of knowledge into one pretty package and being about to present it as so. Well that is not always plausible but in some form or another it will happen.
I have also been working on a wedding "book" scrapbook what ever you would like to call it is fine. I taught my self how to bound in with fabric and what not.. one problem? it is not flat.. oh well. Its a scrapbook and there are some wonderful memories in there. Anyways, I will update you soon with photos of that.

So long, see you later.

MORE PICTURES..

I received pictures from my now brother-in-law's fiance (they got engaged while we were on our honeymoon and are truly excited for that) who is almost like a real photographer and they are beautiful. I hope you enjoy them.

the decline of an uphill battle..

So I never thought today would come. Today was the last first day of nursing school (BSN) I will ever have. WIth that being said lets start from the beginning..
 I knew that I always wanted to be in the health care industry after knowingly know that my 6 year old cousin died and that should have never happened ( I always thought and still do that if he lived in a less urban area or where my parents live he would have ben able to go to St. Judes and everything would have been ok, but it might be that sometimes i am naive). I always carried around my playskool stethoscope and played nurse/doctor and "made people better." I decided and took on the challenge of a medical magnet high school that my mom warned me about but I did it anyway.
Well, college was a joke for me and did not take it seriously until a few years ago and this made it very difficult for me to get into any nursing program in California, I probably applied to over 10 schools in 3 years and each one was filled with more disappointment than the last. This was one reason we  moved 2000 miles away. I had heard a rumor that it was just easier and you didn't even need to finish your pre-reqs (even though I had them done already). When I moved to chicago I looked and looked but never took it too seriously and honestly I had other things to worry about at the time. Well when I moved down here I looked for every loop hole way around nursing school and just began ferociously applying (because science courses expire in 5 years and I was fast approaching that time line). I applied to the local community college, the university (with no hopes of getting in to a non-nursing program) and the LCON (the program I am in now). I didn't get excepted to the cc or the university, but I got that one letter I had been so desperately seeking that I almost through it away because I couldn't take another rejection and I didn't believe it to be real. Well.. IT WAS!!
That is not all.. nursing school has been filled with trials and tribulations especially in the first semester. I had a very hard time keeping it all together. There was one class where we had to take a standardized test (the ati) in which you had to pass (level 2 or 3) in order to pass the class and got 2 tries to do it in. Well, I didn't pass either time by one point. I spent 2 hours just crying in my teachers office and there was nothing that could be done this was policy. This was last spring and during the summer I took one class and revamped my attitude, but when I sat in that office all i wanted to was quit and I did not tell anyone this for a very long time, I felt so ashamed. Now i realize it was all for the better and has made me a better person and has given me more opportunity.
So this is why I never thought this day would never come but now it here and gone and I only have 16 more weeks left of nursing school. woo hoo!

decorations..

So the decorations were my favorite part of the wedding and mainly the only part I did not stress out about. So lets start with the office building we rented for $450 for all day. ITs an office building and we worried that it would look like it, but it didn't. We had a team of friend set up the morning of which was ran by our friend Jessie. Who was in charge as seen by the whistle. She was amazing and we really could not have done it without her.

So we (I should say she) turned our office building into this..

This is from the foyer up on the second story looking down. There are lights and lanterns strung across the opening. We had 3 very ong (40ft) tables for everyone to sit at. Each place setting had a homemade napkin and a cup. There were 3 centerpieces at each table with mason jars set sporadically in between which had candles in them. There were wine bottles with water also set along each table so guests could help them selves.

With people and the band set up and playing. The lights are on in these photos.

My maid of honor hayley, in front of the backdrop f the ceremony. 3 Wooden vintage doors hinged together. With a vase of gladiolas on each side. It was perfect. 

Card box on the gift table.

More gifts .. with pictures of us growing up in the red frames

Welcome table with note cards to say hello, etc.

Close up.

Window menu board, which was a big hit and for only $2 it was awsome.

Our band, which was a local blue grass band. They were amazing and a big hit at our wedding.

So here are some of the details if you have any questions let me know. hope you enjoy it.

so .. 9 days ago..

I got married to my best friend.

Everything went very smoothly and from what I heard it was amazing and everyone had fun.

These are my two beautiful bridesmaids

as gifts they both got tote bags with there initial, a make up bag, homemade earrings (as seen here) and a necklace. I told them they did not have to wear the jewelry but they did anyway =)

This is my dad and I. Although at times growing up we did not get along now we do and he supports me so much. I love him.

We went on a 7 day honeymoon to the dominican which was amazing (pictures to come) I will also post on decorations coming up. 

Stay tuned.

today..

I AM GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!

so no one tells you..

(Please be for warned, this is a looooooooooooong rant.)

So no one tells you its hard or that it sucks to plan a wedding. Well take it from me IT DOES! or at least for me it did. Everyone says that it is fabulous and fun, it wasn't for me.
 I am a very busy person and i love being a busy body, I am always doing something or more. I never relax and just watch TV unless I am really tired, I usually have a crochet project I am working on as well. Anyways, I love planning parties, the invitations, the appetizers, dinner (if needed), the cocktails, and the games.. I LOVE IT! Well this party is different. This is hopefully a once in a lifetime party, there are no do overs and a pretty strict budget.
Well, I am in nursing school, I love decorating my house and I work full time (32+ hours a week, except this upcoming semester).. that is enough in itself. Well add a wedding and everything changes. I can manage the other three just fine. Peter knows this about me.
We jumped into wedding planning right away. We changed our date 3x from december (2 dates) to august. So we only had 8 months to plan. In all reality that is not very much time. Luckily, I went into the bridal store and I found a dress I loved right away. I knew, just like everyone says. I went in not knowing what I wanted except a vintage vibe. I was originally looking at A-line short dresses, but that is not what I fell in love with. Two days after I went in by myself my parents and grandma came up from two and half hours away saw the dress, and that was it. There was no spectacle or huge crowd just the four of us and that made me so happy.
Full wedding planning went into effect and we started looking for a venue. We wanted something vintage, old and with some personality. In a small town sometimes you have luck and well sometimes you don't. We had a few prospects but they were costly. We were on a $10,000 budget including honeymoon. Well we got lucky. We found a neat mod retro office building that holds events and because P's company cleans it we got it discounted since the company had the insurance to cover it (this is why prices are so high for venues). We paid $450 for 24 hours for this space which was quite a pleasant surprise.
So we were off to a good start and than life kicked in. With this semester being hard  and life just going full throttle I needed help, but P did not want to be involved. I was also hosting my own wedding shower and it was so stressful. I couldn't do it all by myself, but my mom, my friend jess and p's mom came to the rescue and it all happened.
Well, everything was fine. I made the invitations with out p's help and it was crazy. We had 3 days of assembly lines to get things done. Blah blah blah things kept continuing to get stressful and I kept pushing it away. Well this led to more than one huge fight and in the beginning of  July P's mom came down to help me with stuff, but i was not ready for that. There were non-stop questions I just couldn't deal with. well P and his mom decided (while I was at work) he was going to take over now. WEll, I felt like a failed. Like a girl should be able to do this without a problem and I couldn't. It led to a few fights and things just got easy to talk about and do.
Now things are great and I am not stressed at all, but all of that process did suck. Now that we are 4 days away I could not be happier to marry my best friend. I am so excited.