I'm horrible, I know. I haven't written anything in a week! I've been so busy going out of town to visit the future in-laws and with school, I haven't had the time! I'm really loving my wedding and event planning course, though I have to say I have no doubt in my mind I don't want to plan events. I'm stuck on these two lessons that I just don't want to do! They are the last two event lessons so I really want to get through with them but they involve extensive planning and research and I'm just not feeling it. Lesson 10 kicks off the in-depth wedding planning lessons and it's killing me, knowing that I can't start them until I get through this boring stuff!
I don't know about you all but my relationship with my future mother-in-law did not get off to a good start. Rather, when I first met her, she ranted and raved to Mr. about how much she liked me (before we were even room mates) and we got along well for a while. But then Mr. joined the Army. Because I had joined prior to him, she was convinced I was the reason he did it! She blamed it all on me and told everyone in the family how much she didn't like me. She's been so nasty since. She made it a point to make a rude comment every chance she got. She's insulted my intelligence, my finances, my personal opinions. To my face, she's said that I only got promoted faster than Mr. because I'm a woman (which is the complete opposite in the military), I was an idiot for joining and my brother and best friend must be retarded for re-enlisting. Two things that are absolute taboo subjects with me: disrespecting my brother and disrespecting the military (rather, those who serve, not the establishment).
I held my tongue even though it went against everything I stand for. My response has been to ignore her. I knew that fighting with her would only satisfy her. At this point, I think she's realized that I'm not going anywhere. It also helps that while I was pregnant (I had a miscarriage early on), I told Mr. that I refused to be around her negativity. He told her to knock it off or she'd never have a relationship with her grandchild. The past few times I've seen her, things have been a bit better. She started hugging me, which after everything she's done to me, is incredibly uncomfortable. For the sake of building bridges, not burning them, I am being just as pleasant as always. This past weekend was the best visit in a long time. We all had dinner together, introduced them to TruBlood (we're addicted) and I even chatted with her for a while. I hope this signals the start to a much better relationship.
The future father-in-law, an absolutely great guy. Never had a problem with him. In fact, he's always been above and beyond helpful. He and Mr. take care of all my car problems. I actually bought my car from him and a year later, he still insists on keeping it on his insurance, so we don't have to pay! He is really a super guy. How he married someone so negative is beyond me. Maybe she used to be a different person.
Mr. doesn't know my parents as well as I know his but my parents LOVE him to death and have always treated him with the utmost respect and kindness.
How is your relationship with your future in-laws? How do you deal with any problems you may have?
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Cutesy Love Survey
I picked this up from Taryn over at Mr. Jones and Me and Sony at Bridal Bliss. Both of these blogs are must reads!
♥ What are your middle names?
a few weeks. after I served as maid of honor for his room mate, we were together every. single. day.
♥ Who asked whom out?
There was never an official "will you go out with me?", we just fell into it
♥ How old are each of you?
Me - 22
Him - 21
♥ Whose siblings do/did you see the most?
Used to be his brother, who was our room mate. Now he's off to college and my brother will be moving in once he gets back from Iraq (SOOO SOON!)
♥ Do you have any children together?
No way!
♥ What about pets?
Frank, his boxer, Molly, my weim/doberman mix and George, my big fat orange kitty
♥ Did you go to the same school?
Actually, growing up we went to two of the same school districts in different states. We never knew each other then though.
♥ Are you from the same home town?
See above: we lived in the same town twice, in two different states, but never knew each other.
♥ Who is the smartest?
When it comes to math and technology, without a doubt he is. When it comes to literature, the English language (hehe) and common sense, that'd be me. What a nice combo.
♥ Who is more sensitive?
Definitely me.
♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Definitely WING STOP! We love us some chicken wings.
♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Hmm. We both went to basic at Ft. Jackson, SC at the same time... does that count?
♥ Who has the craziest exes?
Um I'm friends with most of his exes and all of my exes. There is one girl that refuses to text or call him during normal hours--it's always around midnight! Seriously, you know we live together and we're sleeping... Get some class.
♥ Who has the worst temper?
Oh lordy, me!
♥ Who does the cooking?
Me. If it were up to the Mr., we'd eat fast food four days a week. Spaghetti the other three.
♥ Who is more social?
Me! I love people and have a lot of friends I talk to on a regular basis. He pretty much hates people. We have one couple that we hang out with a lot and he really likes them.
♥ Who is the neat-freak?
Neither. I'm a cluttered person but I don't like grime--yuck! He takes out the trash and deals with the dogs. And whatever other chore I gripe about enough haha.
♥ Who is more stubborn?
Jeez, both of us. Who wins depends on the situation.
♥ Who hogs the bed?
We take turns hogging. Recently it has been him EVERY NIGHT!
♥ Who wakes up earlier?
ALWAYS the Mr. He's in the Army and there's no way I'm waking up at 5am.
♥ Where was your first date?
A wedding actually. His room mate was a total bitch and none of her friends would come to her wedding. Being that I had a huge crush on the Mr. and I knew he was the best man, I volunteered to stand-in as her maid of honor. We were hardly apart after that.
♥ Who has the bigger family?
Me. I come from a combined family and I'm the oldest of 7.
♥ Do you get flowers often?
No I usually get other toys, like my fish tank and hopefully soon a camera :)
♥ How do you spend the holidays?
Whatever works. As of right now, Thanksgiving will be our first holiday we'll have to figure out.
♥ Who is more jealous?
I guess me. I'm pretty trusting though.
♥ How long did it take to get serious?
It happened over a long period of time.
♥ Who eats more?
Almost always him.
♥ Who does/did the laundry?
Usually me! Because I really enjoy it and I'm particular about how it gets done--and he's clueless!
♥ Who’s better with the computer?
He's pretty fab with a computer but I'm not slob myself. My dad has had me working with computers since I was a tiny tot.
♥ Who drives when you are together?
Usually him, he loves to drive!
♥ What are your middle names?
Mine - Christine
His - Andrew
His - Andrew
♥ How long have you been together?
3 years come September
♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating? 3 years come September
a few weeks. after I served as maid of honor for his room mate, we were together every. single. day.
♥ Who asked whom out?
There was never an official "will you go out with me?", we just fell into it
♥ How old are each of you?
Me - 22
Him - 21
♥ Whose siblings do/did you see the most?
Used to be his brother, who was our room mate. Now he's off to college and my brother will be moving in once he gets back from Iraq (SOOO SOON!)
♥ Do you have any children together?
No way!
♥ What about pets?
Frank, his boxer, Molly, my weim/doberman mix and George, my big fat orange kitty
♥ Did you go to the same school?
Actually, growing up we went to two of the same school districts in different states. We never knew each other then though.
♥ Are you from the same home town?
See above: we lived in the same town twice, in two different states, but never knew each other.
♥ Who is the smartest?
When it comes to math and technology, without a doubt he is. When it comes to literature, the English language (hehe) and common sense, that'd be me. What a nice combo.
♥ Who is more sensitive?
Definitely me.
♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Definitely WING STOP! We love us some chicken wings.
♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Hmm. We both went to basic at Ft. Jackson, SC at the same time... does that count?
♥ Who has the craziest exes?
Um I'm friends with most of his exes and all of my exes. There is one girl that refuses to text or call him during normal hours--it's always around midnight! Seriously, you know we live together and we're sleeping... Get some class.
♥ Who has the worst temper?
Oh lordy, me!
♥ Who does the cooking?
Me. If it were up to the Mr., we'd eat fast food four days a week. Spaghetti the other three.
♥ Who is more social?
Me! I love people and have a lot of friends I talk to on a regular basis. He pretty much hates people. We have one couple that we hang out with a lot and he really likes them.
♥ Who is the neat-freak?
Neither. I'm a cluttered person but I don't like grime--yuck! He takes out the trash and deals with the dogs. And whatever other chore I gripe about enough haha.
♥ Who is more stubborn?
Jeez, both of us. Who wins depends on the situation.
♥ Who hogs the bed?
We take turns hogging. Recently it has been him EVERY NIGHT!
♥ Who wakes up earlier?
ALWAYS the Mr. He's in the Army and there's no way I'm waking up at 5am.
♥ Where was your first date?
A wedding actually. His room mate was a total bitch and none of her friends would come to her wedding. Being that I had a huge crush on the Mr. and I knew he was the best man, I volunteered to stand-in as her maid of honor. We were hardly apart after that.
♥ Who has the bigger family?
Me. I come from a combined family and I'm the oldest of 7.
♥ Do you get flowers often?
No I usually get other toys, like my fish tank and hopefully soon a camera :)
♥ How do you spend the holidays?
Whatever works. As of right now, Thanksgiving will be our first holiday we'll have to figure out.
♥ Who is more jealous?
I guess me. I'm pretty trusting though.
♥ How long did it take to get serious?
It happened over a long period of time.
Almost always him.
Usually me! Because I really enjoy it and I'm particular about how it gets done--and he's clueless!
♥ Who’s better with the computer?
He's pretty fab with a computer but I'm not slob myself. My dad has had me working with computers since I was a tiny tot.
♥ Who drives when you are together?
Usually him, he loves to drive!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Wedding Consultation Course
I just enrolled in a correspondence wedding consultation course! When I'm done I'll have my certification :) I'm going to try to take on two weddings for free while I'm in training to get experience and put my learnin' to use! And the best part: I got it all paid for in grants! WOO!
Swoon
Yet another beautiful picture by Stephanie Williams Photography. Short post, I just had to share.
Monday, August 10, 2009
How Cute Is This?
I found this picture and I absolutely love it! It is an adorable cake topper but for those of us who like keepsakes and don't want their cake topper to be edible, they'd even make cute favors. If you make them yourself, they wouldn't cost nearly as much as buying them. All you'd need is some decorator's chocolate, some icing bags and round tips. Maybe if I get the time I'll do a tutorial. What kind of cake topper are you using?
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Getting the Groom Involved
Maybe it's not like this for you ladies, but my guy really hasn't been too involved in the wedding planning process. I'll ask him about things but his answers are always so noncommittal. And he usually doesn't remember his answers a week later. Take the following example, from a conversation we had a month ago:
Me: So what about purple, orange, and brown as our wedding colors?
Mr.: Eh, those are all too dark. I don't want three dark colors in our scheme.
Today's conversation:
Mr.: So are we still going to use brown, orange and purple as our wedding colors?
Me: Yeah, we can. Or there's other options.
Mr.: I just think those colors would look good together. What don't you like about them?
Me: I don't dislike ANYTHING about them, YOU said you didn't like them. Remember, they're all too dark?
Mr.: Oh, yeah.
Me: (sigh)
Or how about this conversation a week or so ago:
Me: So I just read that it'd be $1500 cheaper if we get married in the first week of November. What do you think?
Mr.: I think it might be too cold in November. It's fine if that's what you want, though.
Me: Oh hey, August is cheaper too.
Mr.: Definitely August. I don't think November is a good idea.
Today:
Mr.: Why don't we just get married in November instead of August?
Me: Uhh... (cry a little in my soul)
So today we had to take a little road trip to drop off my sisters, who have just left after a month of visiting. I brought The Wedding Book by Mindy Weiss with Lisbeth Levine to keep myself occupied on the five hour road trip. After we left the girls, I picked up the book to read. He asked if I was going to read while he had to drive. "Well do you want to talk about the wedding?" I asked. No response. "Okay, what else do you want to talk about?" to which he replied some utter nonsense. "Okay, look. We can talk about a real subject, or we can talk about the wedding."
This was the perfect opportunity to talk with him about the wedding. He had no TV, no laptop, no video games, no iPod, nothing to distract him from this conversation. I really wanted to figure out what was important to him because I couldn't believe nothing mattered.
So I started listing some things about the wedding like food, groomsman attire, color, music, reception, etc. After he told me some things that were important, we discussed what he pictured for those categories. It ended up being a very fruitful conversation and I learned a lot about him as well. But talking about it really wasn't going to help him remember, guys are more visual than girls. When we got home, I showed him some pictures of some of the things we discussed to get an even better idea of what he might like.
Turns out, he likes the peacock theme better than orange, purple and brown (I should've known really, blue is his favorite color). I also found out that he really doesn't care about the cake, or any of the food for that matter. He'd like to pick out the guys' attire with my help. And the reception has got to be fun (duh). We also decided to skip the boquet and garter toss after we read where those traditions originated from: way back when, people thought any part of the bride's attire was lucky. They would surge the bride after the ceremony, ripping apart her boquet and even her dress (eep!) just for some luck. Eventually the bride started tossing her boquet to keep them at bay. Think that's bad? The garter is worst. Apparantly guests would accompany the bride and groom to their room after the festivities and "encourage" them to do the deed by having the groomsmen help the groom remove the bride's garters (OHMYGOD are you freaking kidding me? Eww) at which point brides started tossing the garter to keep from being groped by a bunch of drunk men. Mr.'s response was "Somehow I don't see your brother helping me do that". Yeah, no crap. These traditions are not for us.
I'm really glad to finally sit down with him and discuss what he envisions for the wedding. It was really enlightening and I feel like we can forge ahead with a little more of an idea of where we're going. What parts of wedding planning are/were important to your guy?
Me: So what about purple, orange, and brown as our wedding colors?
Mr.: Eh, those are all too dark. I don't want three dark colors in our scheme.
Today's conversation:
Mr.: So are we still going to use brown, orange and purple as our wedding colors?
Me: Yeah, we can. Or there's other options.
Mr.: I just think those colors would look good together. What don't you like about them?
Me: I don't dislike ANYTHING about them, YOU said you didn't like them. Remember, they're all too dark?
Mr.: Oh, yeah.
Me: (sigh)
Or how about this conversation a week or so ago:
Me: So I just read that it'd be $1500 cheaper if we get married in the first week of November. What do you think?
Mr.: I think it might be too cold in November. It's fine if that's what you want, though.
Me: Oh hey, August is cheaper too.
Mr.: Definitely August. I don't think November is a good idea.
Today:
Mr.: Why don't we just get married in November instead of August?
Me: Uhh... (cry a little in my soul)
So today we had to take a little road trip to drop off my sisters, who have just left after a month of visiting. I brought The Wedding Book by Mindy Weiss with Lisbeth Levine to keep myself occupied on the five hour road trip. After we left the girls, I picked up the book to read. He asked if I was going to read while he had to drive. "Well do you want to talk about the wedding?" I asked. No response. "Okay, what else do you want to talk about?" to which he replied some utter nonsense. "Okay, look. We can talk about a real subject, or we can talk about the wedding."
This was the perfect opportunity to talk with him about the wedding. He had no TV, no laptop, no video games, no iPod, nothing to distract him from this conversation. I really wanted to figure out what was important to him because I couldn't believe nothing mattered.
So I started listing some things about the wedding like food, groomsman attire, color, music, reception, etc. After he told me some things that were important, we discussed what he pictured for those categories. It ended up being a very fruitful conversation and I learned a lot about him as well. But talking about it really wasn't going to help him remember, guys are more visual than girls. When we got home, I showed him some pictures of some of the things we discussed to get an even better idea of what he might like.
Turns out, he likes the peacock theme better than orange, purple and brown (I should've known really, blue is his favorite color). I also found out that he really doesn't care about the cake, or any of the food for that matter. He'd like to pick out the guys' attire with my help. And the reception has got to be fun (duh). We also decided to skip the boquet and garter toss after we read where those traditions originated from: way back when, people thought any part of the bride's attire was lucky. They would surge the bride after the ceremony, ripping apart her boquet and even her dress (eep!) just for some luck. Eventually the bride started tossing her boquet to keep them at bay. Think that's bad? The garter is worst. Apparantly guests would accompany the bride and groom to their room after the festivities and "encourage" them to do the deed by having the groomsmen help the groom remove the bride's garters (OHMYGOD are you freaking kidding me? Eww) at which point brides started tossing the garter to keep from being groped by a bunch of drunk men. Mr.'s response was "Somehow I don't see your brother helping me do that". Yeah, no crap. These traditions are not for us.
I'm really glad to finally sit down with him and discuss what he envisions for the wedding. It was really enlightening and I feel like we can forge ahead with a little more of an idea of where we're going. What parts of wedding planning are/were important to your guy?
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Bloggity Blog--More Wedding Tidbits
One late night in August of 2006 I went shopping at WalMart. My friend and I were renting our first house and we needed pretty much everything. As I was trolling the aisles, I ended up in the magazine section. Something possessed me to pick up a copy of The Knot. Maybe it was something on the cover, maybe it was the fact that I had just broken up with a guy I was thinking I'd someday marry. I don't know. But right then and there, standing in the aisle of WalMart, I decided I wanted to plan weddings.
I bought that copy of The Knot and I also bought a wire bound notebook of thick paper, good for pasting bits of magazine on both sides. That night I started my first wedding notebook. I decided on a Spring wedding with a sunshine yellow, Spring green and lavender color scheme. I imagined what I would want my own wedding to be like. I started collecting details from several years worth of bridal magazines.
One month later, I met my Mr... Coincidence? :)
Our wedding is two years away. For real. When I think about it, I am simultaneously relieved and bummed. There is only so much planning we can do right now due to working around three absolutely-cannot-have-a-wedding-without-them people in the Army with different deployment schedules. It's so frustrating to me.
But back to my wedding notebook. When I got engaged, I thought "Well, I have pretty much everything already planned". But as things progressed and I started to implement my already-labored-over plans, I realized that it just wasn't working. When I imagined that wedding, I was thinking about what I'd want. But I wasn't considering the groom. In my vision, there wasn't anyone to fill that role. So it was all about me, not about us. And then I found out my maid of honor would be deployed in March, our original month. So we decided to just wait until Mr. was out of the Army, that way we'd only have to worry about two deployment schedules, and we could plan a wedding for us.
I can't just be satisfied with waiting, though, so I immediately started imagining a Fall wedding. I was knee deep in color schemes and Halloween reception ideas. But, as I should've known would happen, something came up. Mr. and I have our hearts set on Meadow Lake Ranch as our venue. But we found out it'd be cheaper in August. So we're probably going with August. But again, who knows what will happen in the next two years?
So here I am, stuck in limbo. I want to blog more but I have nothing in regards to our wedding. So then I thought, why don't I blog about the other weddings I'm planning? My wedding notebooks (I've started another and am conceiving more) are filled with tidbits from tons of wedding magazines. I have been researching several wedding planning websites for years, scouring books on every related topic. Why waste all of that?
So, here we go. I'll be posting lots of other wedding inspirations and details. Look out for it :)
I bought that copy of The Knot and I also bought a wire bound notebook of thick paper, good for pasting bits of magazine on both sides. That night I started my first wedding notebook. I decided on a Spring wedding with a sunshine yellow, Spring green and lavender color scheme. I imagined what I would want my own wedding to be like. I started collecting details from several years worth of bridal magazines.
One month later, I met my Mr... Coincidence? :)
Our wedding is two years away. For real. When I think about it, I am simultaneously relieved and bummed. There is only so much planning we can do right now due to working around three absolutely-cannot-have-a-wedding-without-them people in the Army with different deployment schedules. It's so frustrating to me.
But back to my wedding notebook. When I got engaged, I thought "Well, I have pretty much everything already planned". But as things progressed and I started to implement my already-labored-over plans, I realized that it just wasn't working. When I imagined that wedding, I was thinking about what I'd want. But I wasn't considering the groom. In my vision, there wasn't anyone to fill that role. So it was all about me, not about us. And then I found out my maid of honor would be deployed in March, our original month. So we decided to just wait until Mr. was out of the Army, that way we'd only have to worry about two deployment schedules, and we could plan a wedding for us.
I can't just be satisfied with waiting, though, so I immediately started imagining a Fall wedding. I was knee deep in color schemes and Halloween reception ideas. But, as I should've known would happen, something came up. Mr. and I have our hearts set on Meadow Lake Ranch as our venue. But we found out it'd be cheaper in August. So we're probably going with August. But again, who knows what will happen in the next two years?
So here I am, stuck in limbo. I want to blog more but I have nothing in regards to our wedding. So then I thought, why don't I blog about the other weddings I'm planning? My wedding notebooks (I've started another and am conceiving more) are filled with tidbits from tons of wedding magazines. I have been researching several wedding planning websites for years, scouring books on every related topic. Why waste all of that?
So, here we go. I'll be posting lots of other wedding inspirations and details. Look out for it :)
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