My Wedding (finally!)

It's been over a month since the wedding day and i am JUST now posting a full recap, i am terrible. I have so much to write about the day, but i dont have a days worth of time to write. So here is a briefing with a few pictures I have on my work computer. And yes, they are few because we have approx 1100 pictures professionally taken that day. yes, you looked at that number correctly.

Before I begin, i will probably try to preface this post by saying-- a LOT more has been going on in my life besides the wedding. It seems pitiful that the only posts over the last few months have been about this. Actually, lots of fun things like halloween parties, house decorating, friend get togethers, family fun times, lots of good stuff. BUT first, ill get this wedding stuff up.

FINALLY!!

Honestly the day was complete blur and it went very very quickly. I remember constantly thinking about how things were planned and what was going on around me, and processing, processing, processing. YOu know what it feels like to be over-stimulated? It's that multiplied times 20. It was amazing. I remember a few minor things going wrong, but definitely nothing worth even noting. My bridesmaids were perfect, my family was amazing, matt looked as handsom as ever, everything was SO. MUCH. FUN!!!

Here goes... pictures pictures pictures!!

(In a somewhat mixed up order since I dont know how to upload pictures)

Walking from Hilton to get our hair done

Our Band

Our Cake

WE ARE UD!!!!!


Our theme was "we are lucky!" so we had casino's for our guest tables, and our favors were lottery tickets (with a lucky 2009 penny inside)

Table settings

our favors

The Head Table

OUr huge limo bus

Toasting after we got MARRIED

Bouquet Toss



Matt dove for the garter... literally. He had skinned his hands

the first kiss

walking out as husband and wife

Im laughing because matt messed up his vows ;-)

Walking down the isle

Our flower girl and ring bearer

IM BACKK!!!!! Quick wedding update but not much else

Today is my first day back at work from the BEST honeymoon in hawaii and the most beutifully perfect wedding i could have ever asked for!!! Wow, it seems like it happened in a blink of an eye, i barely remember the details and the little things and all the magical moments that seems to pass so quickly. It was truely the best day.

I dont have much time, i already have a huge and pressing deadline today at work, i cant believe it. I just wanted a quiet day to catch up. But here are a few candid snapshots i pulled from facebook this morning of the wedding. Ill post some professional pictures once i get them, i CANNOT wait to see those.

Ill post more details about the wedding and honeymoon soon... until then:

The Final Count Down

dun duh dun dun.... dun dun dun dun duh dun.....

Matt would appreciate that, he loves that song. I've been wanting to post about the absolute chaos thas is my life right now. WOw. who knew i could be this utterly busy? Thank god for great friends, and awwwesome family, i think i would be crying in a corner right now. The last minute wedding to-do list is the least fun, and MOVING is the LEEEASt LEAST fun! Packing, trying to organize, packing... car load after car load of everything i have accumulated in my apartment to make it 'mine.' Without my stuff there is it no longer my home, and it is the only home I have known while living in in Cincinnati.

It will be a little sad for me to leave-- although I am beyond excited to have a house with my little family in two weeks. However, I would be remise if i didnt mention all the good memories that apartment has given me. All the Christmas trees I have bought and decorated with Matt. The parties I had, movies i watched with my friends, boyfriend-- now fiancee, all the meals ive cooked in that cramped little kitchen... and all the meals i've TRIED to cook. Ill miss running by the river, i wont have the luxury of convenience to take that nice stroll down the RiverWalk anymore, or have tons of restaurants in Newport right across the way. I wont be able to sip free coffee and cookies when i head out the door in the morning, or peruse OLP's movie collection on tiresome Friday nights. And this morning, what I think i might miss more than anything, is the small group of regular shuttle riders in the morning. And Michael, the shuttle driver. Riding that shuttle is something i did every morning for a looong time, a little part of my routine, and I love those 10 minutes every day. Really, i did. Saying goodbye this morning as i said this was my last shuttle was sad for everyone I think. And they all said they would miss me, and it has been a pleasure over the last few years. Michael invited me as his personal guest next year for the fireworks if i decide to come back. What an incredible person he is.

I do feel a little melancholy when i realize this period in my life is ending, but I must say that thought of having a little family in that adorable house on Marburg Avenue beyond fills up my heart with excitement, in fact i am smiling as i write about it. I cant wait to decorate and make that little house my home. And I think about decorating for fall and halloween, and the Christmas Tree and DECORATING FOR CHRISTMAS!! O that thought of that makes me SO UNBELIEVABLY EXCITED!!! I am going to have a lot, LOT of good memories in that house. And I cant wait to start!!

As i pack up the trailor on Saturday, the end of single, downtown living ends and the official transition begins....16 more days until i am MARRIED!!!

This weekend is just what i needed

What a good weekend. It of course was not without stress, i spent the entire day on friday cleaning for my parents to come on saturday. But overall is was almost perfect. Friday i had the day off of work, and i woke up a little later, went to a kick-boxing class at the gym, then i went for a reeeeally good walk with F, then ran some errands, got home and cleaned WHOLE SALE CLEANED my apartment. The day was great, walking with F was like a breath of fresh air, and we have some talks that make me love how lucky i am to have some wonderful friends in my life. Seriously, we talked about everything from serious stuff to frivolous things that just make us laugh. She is truly wonderful.

My parents came down late on saturday so matt and i cleaned my apartment in the morning, went out for lunch, went swimming in the afternoon, and still had time to run the vacuum and do other random clean-up stuff before they came down. they got here and we went for a walk downtown to show them all the 'wedding sites' and how close all the locations were. Unfortunately we couldn't walk inside of of the venues because of other events were going on at the time. But we did manage to walk inside the Hilton Netherlands where out of town guest have a block of rooms reserved. As i must say we were all VERY IMPRESSED. Talk about a grand a fancy hotel. It is sure to please everyone. After our little walk we sat down for dinner outside , waiting for the rain to come and go, and had drinks in the square and at another local restaurant. We got back late and was ready for another busy day on sunday.

Sunday I had another shower with Matt's family and some local friends. It was a pure delight.! Of course, i was so stressed out, worried about those of my friends who came that didnt know anyone. Worried that people weren't enjoying themselves, worried that people didnt have anyone to talk to. O so many worries. And above all, opening presents is SO stressful because all the spotlight is on ME and how i react to opening housewares. Oy, this is SO hard to do and soooo stressful!! I Am so glad it is over. But everyone gave us such wonderful presents, everyone was SO kind and generous to me, everyone was waiting on me! It was like I was constantly thanking someone for something they did for me the entire day.

The friends that came were those that touch my heart so deeply. They are so genuine and make me reconfirm my decision on who to pick in my bridal party to stand next to me that day that i get married. I am so so blessed to have such wonderful friends. And the thing that made me almost fall to my knees is when C walked in the house. My very best friend from childhood and all time who drove ALL TEH WAY FROM CLEVELAND just to be there for a couple hours. O just thinking about it make makes me want to crumble and fall into just a puddle of gooey emotions. I just cant believe it! I feel so bad she had to drive all the way, and it was sooo unnecessary, but gosh, i just cannot BELIEVE she did that. And for me. It almost makes me weepy thinking about it.

Everyone was just so nice to me, and made me feel so loved and welcomed. And every one of Matt's family members hugged me and said how much they loved me and cant wait for me to be in the family. O and my friends, they are so generous with their time. It was exactly the pick-me-up i needed to get me over that lull i seemed to have been feeling. This feeling that i had that the wedding is so far away,. only work and money involved that gets me down. But this uplifted my spirits.

I cannot wait for the bachelorette party for the pure reason that i get to spend time with these wonderful friends of mine. I am so lucky.


I am just SO. Lucky.

2nd post in July

O man what a crazy couple weeks is has been at work. Today, for the first time since the beginning of the month, I feel like I have a sense of accomplishment. And today is much less busy since i feel like i have, for once, gotten ahead of the game. Tomorrow is my day off so I am feeling like being on easy street today. Although who knows what's still in store for me today.... judging my the coffee-- and the amount of coffee-- i just spilled on myself i think it's too soon to tell.

I have no idea where to begin to play catch up, or why I haven't blogged but once this month. I am not sure I have any interesting tales to tell. My birthday was last weekend and I was pretty good. I suppose no complaints, and I heard from a lot of my friends so that was nice. This weekend my parents are coming down to celebrate our birthdays and Sunday I am having another shower with Matt's family. I am excited but nervous at the same time. I HATE being the center of attention, and showers really have never been my kind of thing in general. But I think it will be really nice.

Tonight J and A and I are supposed to go out to dinner for my birthday and the comedy club, i hope we still do this. I miss them, we haven't hung out in a couple weeks and it feels like too long. My week nights have been surprisingly busy lately (as well as my weekends). Just this past week it seems i had stuff going on just about every night. Monday I went out to eat with matt, went to the grocery, and worked out. Yesterday I drove up to Dayton to to the Flower Factory with J to find presents for the shower hosts this weekend. And we went out to dinner. I love that girl. Here it is Thursday and already peering into all the stuff i need to accomplish this weekend.

Wedding responsibilities are increasing, all the little things are adding up now. Finding presents for the attendants and readers, finding all the extras for the ceremony, find MY bridal accessories, favors, finish invitation stuff, o there is so much. I wish the whole thing would just get here already!! I have this strange feeling like the wedding is just some abstract event way in the future, I am excited about it but it is calming because it just seems so far away. I suppose this has to be normal.

I wish had other things to talk about on here today. My body and mind are tired right now, I am still not sleeping all that well. Tomorrow is Friday, I am looking forward to a nice weekend. And hopefully some interesting posts next week.

Our Father...

So last night with met with our Priest Fr. K and I absolutely LOVE him! Yes, his homilies are excellent and everyone i know who has witness one of his officiated weddings they said he was great. But actually sitting down with him in the office wearing his shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops I love him even more!

Getting ready to meet with him was quite funny; i think i changed my clothes three times. I even made matt change a couple times because i thought his shirt was too wrinkly. Then i made sure we were NOT late, the last thing id want was starting off with him on the wrong foot! But we got there and he was so welcoming and he made us laugh and feel totally comfortable. It's like right off the bat he knew we were good for each other.

One of the things he told us was he is not there to 'prepare us for marrage,' this is something we have been doing our entire lives. He had so many neat and interesting things to say, one of which was when he asked us why we wanted to marry the person sitting next to us. Matt had so many sweet and loving things to say ( i had almost as good of things to say... matt sometimes has a way with his words). What Fr. K said was this: that as we live our lives together these things we said about each other will not be the same reasons why we stay married in the future. What a cool thing to think about. I almost wish we could have tape recorded this conversation so we can play it back to each other in 10-15 years.

Overall i left the meeeting really excited about working with him a few more times before the wedding; he is really fun to talk and really relatable. You wouldn't imagine this with a preist. This preist is actually quite young and, really the best word to descibe him, is kinda 'cool.' He was in Cincinnati Magazine last week as one of the cities most interesting people. He has quite a lot of accomplishments already and he is only 39! Earlier this year he was also in the Business Courier's Top Fourty Under Fourty... he has such a neat life. Driving home matt and I were talking about how we want him to become the Pope in like 30 year or something.... wouldnt it be awesome to be able to say the Pope married us!?!

We left with a bundle of information and lots of stuff to talk about. We did take that compatibility test but as you read the questions they are only for those 'red flagged' marriages. Like: Do you feel you future spouse is abusive, or is there certain financial habits your future spouse has that worry you? And one of my favorites, Are there certain homosexual tendencies your future spouse has that may cause a problem in your future ? REALLY? And I bet people have agree to these statements before or else WHY WOULD THEY ASK THEM? I think we are good.

We also arranged an appointment with the Music Director and got a paper to start planning our readings/readers for the ceremony. Some of the other questions involved like who is walking down with the Mothers? Where do the attendants stand? What order will they come down? How do we want to be introduced?
WHERE IS THE USER MANUAL FOR THESE THINGS!?!? Gosh, i have no idea! There is one person I have in mind that I would like to ask to be a part of the ceremony, matt has 2... I've already asked one. it's going to be interesting how we decide on these things.
BUT FUN!

Alright enough wedding talk... on to ther things in life.

Happy Hump Day!

Wedding preparation and the Catholic Church

Today is our first meeting with our priest, Fr. K and I am very excited for some reason. Perhaps excited with anticipation more than anything to see what its going to be like. This is the one time in my life we go through these kind of 'ritualistic' preparation before the wedding. I hear we are taking the 'compatibility inventory' this evening. I have no idea what to expect.

Most of me is not worried at all, I know matt and I are compatible and we have been together long enough that we can answer any question correctly about each other without a second thought. In Matt's head, he thinks the purpose of these meetings are for those couples who are young and clearly have issues with divorce written all over them. I respect the Catholic church for focusing on each couple to guide them in the path away from divorce. Matt's boss was planning a wedding in early june and after his meetings with the priest it was called off. I dont believe they ended their relationship, but the church allowed them to take a step back and wait until they were "a little more ready." I do not believe such case will happen for us, but it hopefully will make us stronger.

I have had a lot of things on my mind,things that may come up in the inventory and thing that may not. Kids, health, wealth, ambition.... deep things i suppose. OF course, nothing negative but things that are important. I am thinking about how different my life is going to be in the next few years now that i going to be married. I know matt wants kids sooner than later-- so i can see us starting a family in the next few years. These last few summers will be the end of an era, an era that allows matt and I to pick up and go whenever we want, be spontaneous, spent money a little more relaxed... these Christmas's coming up will be the last few just the two of us. This phase in my life will be just a small blip in the greater picture. It's wierd to think about.

I worry about our healths, and I try to eat healthy so matt and I can stay strong and live very very long lives. I haven't been sleeping very well at night and I reeally really wished i did. I dont know how to change this. I wake up multiple times every night. The fact that i wake up stresses me out more than actually waking up. I dont feel rested in the morning, in fact i feel worse than had i gotten LESS hours but more consecutive sleep. I am trying SO hard to get into shape for the wedding, working out five days a week (and i have kept it up for over 2 weeks now) but the sleeping issue is holding me back. In fact, when i think about it makes me so angry!

Although overall reflecting upon the Now I am happy. I am really trying to enjoy this time in my life because when i look back everything happens so quick. I cannot wait to have a bigger house, kids running around in the back yard, family vacations with little ones- craft projects, homework help, and all the fun things that get bundled with the package. This is a short time in my life, I am very luck to have what I have.... above all else, I have lots and lots of love in my life. And I am lucky.

three things:
1) I love my fiancee very very much
2) we are so lucky our future in-laws are so 'normal' and love us very much
3) we are blessed with lots of luxuries right now, and lots of good friends

Engagement Pictures are IN!

I suppose I could try to find a website to post all the pictures, i love the blogs that have a little slide show on the side-bar, but lets face it i have no idea how to do that nor do i have the time. Here is a sampling, we got a roll of 36. Now we need to find a good one for the newspaper, Save-The-Dates, and to hang-up up in our house:)

Getting these pictures was definitely the highlight of the weekend. I feel like I haven't posted in a while, last week was uneventful but o so busy at work. I was in training all last week without an ounce of time to do anything but work. On friday, we got out of training early and I went up to the old stomping grounds to meet with two old college friends. One who i havent seen since her wedding 3+ years ago. She live in Ft. Wayne... it was nice to walk around and spend some quality time with them. P (is actually in my wedding)

Here is a picture of the three of us in Humanities Plaza-- a popular place on campus to hangout on a nice day. One of the things that hasnt changed a bit.

Saturday morning I woke up at 5:15 to meet J and A (also in my wedding) at 5:40 at Perkins to head out the Harsha Lake. There we were to volunteer as Dock Masters for the scholastic regatta, a huge regatta with over 2500 crews. Waking up that early + standing on a dock yelling at rowers for 6.5 hours = one exhausted girl. I didnt do much Saturday night, and sunday matt and I spent the day at his parents washing out my car, playing with odie, and hanging out with the family.

Lots on my mind right now, ill try to start posting a little more. I feel out of touch. Hopefully it will be a good week.