Going... Going... Gone

So R and I have been packing every night this week in preparation for our move.  I wish we are ready to purchase a home but moving to a new town without kids, I think we have a ton more research to do before we make that commitment.  We are renting a beautiful 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom townhome near the triangle that will be convenient to both of our jobs.  Packing has been a nightmare....am I getting too old for all of this?!?! 

To make the job easier I've been sipping some Apothic Red.  It is amazing.

 R needed to cope as well.  He made vodka cocktails (we were gifted quite a bit of vodka from his mother when she was cleaning out the liquor closet in their beach house) and built a phenomenal box arch.

It was so much fun to knock this over!

I'm going to share some photos of our house prior to move out just because I will miss it.  R proposed to me here and I'm sad that we can't stay here longer.  The photos below were taken a few weeks ago when we still had up our fall decor. 

Goodbye house!

Planning the Rehearsal Dinner

This weekend we say down with R's mother and planned our rehearsal dinner.  She picked the beautiful Fearrington Village Granary as our location.  Fearrington is a well known farm to fork establishment and is located close to our venue and to the hotel where we have blocked off our guests rooms.  

 The dining room inside the Granary.  R's mom is ordering floral centerpieces for the table that will compliment our wedding colors.  We are hoping to re-purpose them as wedding decor on the auxiliary tables.

 This is a terrible fuzzy picture of the invitations that we have picked.  These are from Wedding Paper Divas and are listed as Beautiful Blackboard.

The bridal party and close family will meet for drinks and appetizers from 6:30 to 7:15 and will sit for three courses.  I'm not quite sure how I'm going to fit into my wedding dress the day after this meal!  I'm only listing the menu that we chose in case any of my blog followers find themselves in the Chapel Hill area hungry :-)  If not it's worth the trip and Fearrington has their own inn so you can stuff yourself silly and take a nap afterwards. R took the lead on selecting the menu, we have eaten there before and I LOVED the salmon and the chocolate cake so he was sure to include them!

First Course

Crunchy Baked Potato Soup with Smoked Bacon, creme fraiche, and green onion

Roasted Beet Salad with goat cheese, candied pecans, and sherry dressing

Second Course

Striploin of beef with potato gratin, grilled asparagus, and peppercorn cream

Salmon with grilled asparagus, spinach and seafood creme sauce

Dessert

Vanilla Creme Brulee with seasonal fruit and shortbread

Molten chocolate cake with caramel sea salt ice cream and candied orange

I'm so glad this giant task is taken care of and we are really looking forward to it!

November Wedding Chore Update

The month of December is more about holiday fun and family time than planning our wedding.  We have a meeting with the preacher for another pre marriage counseling session and we are hoping to finish our music list so we can meet with the DJ.  I was also going to purchase R's wedding gift and start addressing invitations.   I'm noticing each month that a lot of this list will be reserved for the month before our wedding....eek!..so there will be a crunch time no matter how well I've tried to plan.

Set a date

Book venue

Book photographer

Book Music and lighting

Decide on bridal party

Book caterer & bartender

Create wedding website

Register for shower

Book florist

Purchase wedding dress

Purchase bridal accessories

Rent linens

Take engagement pictures

Select bridesmaid dresses

Select groom & groomsmen attire

Send bridesmaids ordering info for dresses

Book cake baker
wedding coordinator guidebook

Buy cake knife & server

Order save the dates

Send save the dates

Book officiant

Pre-marital counseling

Finalize guest list

Obtain guests addresses for invitations

Order cake topper

Decide on videographer services

Hotel room blocks

Rent hotel rooms for March 22 and March 23

MOB & MOG dress shopping

Find wedding shoes

Find wedding jewelry

Book makeup artist & hair stylist

Reception menu tasting

Hair trim, nails, tan for bridal portraits

Take bridal portraits / hair & make up trial

1st dress fitting

Bridal portrait bouquet

Final dress fitting

Make ceremony programs

Dance Lessons

Write out escort cards

Find 10 glass milk vases

Pay venue for ceremony chair set up

Order invitations

Address invitations

Mail invitations

Order wedding cake

Book rehearsal dinner venue

Buy Rehearsal dress

Buy sparkler for send off

 Find hair accessories for FG

Decide on bridesmaids shoes

make table numbers

make cake stand

Buy groomsman gifts

Buy FG and RB gifts

Reader and coordinator gifts

Bridesmaids gifts

Bachelorette party outfits

Bachelorette party

Buy gifts for mothers
Bridal shower attire

Bridal shower

Shower thank you notes

Shop for wedding bands

Purchase wedding bands

Create wedding day timeline

Put together picture list for photographer

Buy drinking straws

Buy mason jars

Bridal Makeup trial

DIY signs for reserved seating

Engagement photos framed for auxiliary table

Book a salon for day of wedding

Makeup for MOB

Decide on setup for cocktail table décor and purchase accessories

Purchase Candles / votives

Purchase Grooms Gift

Wedding Favors

Escort card display and welcome sign

Purchase alcohol for reception

Get marriage license

Create signs for sparkler exit and favor

Book transportation from reception to hotel

Book honeymoon

Honeymoon outfits

Bridal luncheon invitations

Bridal luncheon favor

Decide who will return reception rentals

RD invitations – FMIL

Plan rehearsal dinner

Final vendor payments

Final Music selections and do not play list

Order thank you notes

Hair, nails, tan for wedding

Ring cleaning

Pack for honeymoon

Wedding announcement in News and Observer

Walk down the aisle & say I do!

Santa Baby

Our sweet lab mix, Baby, loves Christmas.  She loves a warm fire, she loves when we are cooking big meals in the kitchen, and she loves that we stay inside with her more.  There is one other thing she loves about the holiday season...

Christmas cookies.  Don't we all?  

We purchase a package of these frosted and decorated cookies for her at Petsmart around the holidays.  She has a little game of touching the cookie she wants with her nose.  We also picked up a little something for her stocking:

 this sweet little set has different Christmas rawhide snacks.  Baby doesn't get rawhides often so this is a real treat for her.  The lollipops are so cute!

And just so the public can see how spoiled our dog really is...she will be getting an actual birthday cake this month.  The ingredients in this "Pup-Pie" sound amazing...cinnamon, black strap molasses, oat flour, yogurt coating - I'm sure she will not be in a sharing mood :-)  She will be twelve on Christmas Day and we hope we can celebrate many more birthdays with her.

Holiday Home Fragrance

I love bath and body works on Black Friday.  I got 3 candles for the price of 1 ... it was difficult to pick from all of their available scents but these are the ones R and I both agreed on.

Tis the Season will probably be our main candle for the month of December.  Merry Cookie can really go all winter...it smells like vanilla frosting!  Cranberry Pear Bellini can really go all winter too, it has the least "holiday-esque" label - it smells clean and slightly fruity.  They had a great selection and I really can't ask any more for the price I paid.

Our Christmas Angel

Today we dropped our Angel gift by the salvation army...it was so much fun buying for her and I hope it makes her Christmas a little more special.  We found the motherload of deals at Kohls on Black Friday.  Here is what she will be opening (picture taken with my phone):

I found an adorable doll that has several accessories included, a plush owl, a long sleeve shirt with a printed owl, pink sweater and scarf, thick fleece pink coat with waterproof shell and hood, pack of socks, Disney coloring book, crayons, skittles, tooth brush set, and a colorful set of ponytail ties.  I wanted to find her a pair of bottoms but I didn't understand the size listed on the tag - I'm sure it was meant for boys sizing because I've never seen a little girls pant with an "H" listed on it.  Some stores carry a "Pretty Plus" for young girls who need a bigger waist band, JC Penney's is one of them but we had already left the mall when we bought her clothes.  R and I had a lot of fun choosing items for her and with Black Friday sales we were able to get more presents and still stay within our budget. There really aren't a lot of rules as long as any food products are in a sealed container and all items are new and unwrapped.

Bagged and Tagged!

Black Friday....my loot (just a teaser, no peeking)

This just happened.

Well not just...I needed a few hours of sleep first before I could post.  R met me at moms house last night around 6:30 and took a long nap before we set out to shop.  We were parked at the mall by 10:30 and waited until the stores opened at midnight.  I really thought Macys was going to open earlier...I could have sworn I saw that on one of the commercials during the parade.  I really didn't have to go to Macys so we waited by the Belk entrance until midnight.  There were a lot of people out but it never felt "overly" crowded....I've definitely had worse Black Friday shopping experiences.  It's been less of a chore since the start of Cyber Monday too.  We went to Belk, Express, Victoria Secret, and a few other shops before leaving around 3am.  Next we went to Kohls to buy for our Salvation Army Christmas angel.  Ahhh!  Such great deals!  We finished the night at Target.  I spent too much money of course but I saved a lot too.  Also (drum roll) please - I'm done with my Christmas shopping!!! Okay well almost - there is one more item to get R but it can't be found at the mall and I can really pick it up anytime.

I'll be sharing what we decided to get our sweet angel girl too.   I usually do one every year and I'd like to encourage my readers to try it if you've never "adopted" one for the holidays.  It makes me feel like Santa!  We picked a 5 year old girl this year who wanted a doll and her ticket also lists her clothing sizes.  My mom chose an 8 year old boy who loved football and wanted a bike...we purchased items for him yesterday and earlier in the week.  The deadline in most areas is the first week of December so if you are interested find your local Salvation Army tree...usually in a mall or movie theater or contact them directly.  When we shopped today in Raleigh there were still several tickets left on the tree an these children might not receive any presents from Santa!  So if you swing the extra funds this year please consider this charity - it's legitimate and most of the kids are reasonable with their requests.

New Sephora Goodies

My recent Sephora purchases...

 Laura Mercier Lip Glace in Rose.  A very pigmented pink shade that looks almost red but less harsh.  The formula is great...long lasting and not sticky.  I have another Laura Mercier gloss and it's my favorite consistency of any gloss I've ever tried.

I've wanted to try Living Proof products for a while.  I'm in a hair rut since I'm growing it out for the wedding.  I've also been getting less layers (on purpose) and even though I'm going for regular trims I'm still getting some frizz and flyaways.  This little sampler box seemed like a great way to try them out.  I'm also interested in the volumizing products but for the first round I think this is a great set for the price.  It comes with a shampoo, conditioner, styling cream, and a small sample of leave it conditioner.

And just for fun I used a code for a vinyl sephora makeup bag full of deluxe products.  I chose the "classic look" bag that included:

• Lancome Bi-Facial Double Action Eye Makeup Remover
• Stila "in the light" eye shadow palette
• Cartier Baiser Vole Eau de Parfum
• LILY by Stella McCartney Eau de Parfum
• Nars Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil in New Lover
• MUFE HD Powder
• Murad Clarifying Cleanser
• Sephora Foundation Primer
• Lancome Hypnose Star in Noir Midnight

For reference the Nars product in the swatch on top and my new Laura Mercier gloss is on the bottom.  I can't wait to try out all these goodies.  I've already paired my new Nars lip pencil with my laura mercier gloss and found the perfect, glossy cranberry lip to wear throughout the holidays!

Thanksgiving Reflection

Hello All!!!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I wanted to do a quick holiday post.  This has been the best day - I'm having thankgiving with mom this year (just me and mom) and at 3:30pm I'm in yoga pants and my pajama top.  We prepared a meal this morning fit for the royal family - turkey, dressing, all the fixings and moms fabulous butter cake with coca cola icing.  We did everything while watching the Macys Day Parade...

I made my cranberry relish...loosely following Emeril's Cranberry Sauce.  I use 1/2 cup sugar, the juice and zest from 1 orange, and 2 cups of cranberries - heat on the stove until it becomes thick.

So just to put it out there publically the top five things that I'm thankful for:

1.  My Savior who paid the debt of my sin so that I can be forgiven and live eternally.
2.  My freedom and the soldiers, past and present, who have dedicated their lives so that the rest of us can have that freedom. 
3.  My fiance, I prayed for him and I'm so thankful God brought us together, twice :-)  I've always thought it was corny when couples called a spouse their other half, but I get it now.  I'm not quite whole without him.
4.  My family but most of all my mom whose love and support made me into the woman I am.  I love that my mom will make me chocolate cake even though she really doesn't eat it and has devoted hours to helping me with wedding planning.  God didn't just give me a mom, he gave me a best friend.
5.  My fur babies!  Lilly has travelled from town to town with me during college, my internship, my first job, my second job, and my new relocation.  I would have been so lonely without her.  Since R and I have been together Baby has become more than my "step-dog" she is my sweet girl who is as dedicated and attached to me as she is to R.  A home isn't quite a home without a pet...then our household is twice as blessed to have 2.

Have a safe weekend while out shopping and attending holiday gatherings.  I'll be out at midnight tonight trying to stay warm and save some money during the Black Friday Sales!

Lights, Camera, Action

I couldn't decide if I wanted a wedding videographer or not.  I spoke with several friends who are married and asked them if they were happy with their wedding video or if they regretted not having one.  Basically I heard the same thing...if I spent the money and got a video I might never watch it but at least I'd have it.  I also heard that there are certain moments that photography alone will not capture.  So after much research I found one that wasn't booked for our date that offers a reasonable package with editing.  He called me and did kind of a phone "interview", I liked that he took the initiative to not just communicate via email.  I have not met him in person but I do know that he is a vendor that advertises with our local bridal expo (which means he is credible).  He also offers some of his work for viewing on his website.  This is the last vendor that I needed to book and I'm thrilled that I've hired a team of wedding professionals that will take the stress off of me on the day of my wedding.  I feel a little guilty spending the money, but my mom offered to gift the videography and even said she would like to have a copy of it for herself.  Now looking onward to the big wedding chore ahead....addressing, assembling, stuffing, and stamping invitations.

This is the link the the videographer I chose if there are any brides in the Raleigh area wanting a referral.  I will be posting reviews on all vendors after my wedding.

www.tedtrinkausvideo.com

10 Year High School Reunion

This past Saturday was a real treat...my 10 year high school reunion.  R and I had a great time, he already knew a few people that were going to attend because I still keep in touch with them.  I had fun catching up with people I hadn't seen in a decade.  The reunion committee decided to hold the festivities at a local winery.

 I wore a Suzi Chin dress that I purchased from Bluefly.com a few months ago.  I had to buy it one size too big because they didn't have any left in my size and a local seamstress tailored it to my measurements.  The lighting wasn't great in the winery, I really wished I'd taken pictures prom style at moms house before we left.

 This isn't my photo, I took it from the facebook page because R had my camera all night in his pocket and I forgot about it.  There were a few prizes given out - to the person who had a baby most recently, the person married the longest, the person who had traveled the longest distance to get to the reunion and two random prizes if you were sitting in a chair that had a ticket taped underneath.

 I found this picture from the same album as above.  Our MC for the night held a moment of silence for the classmates that have passed away and took the time to recognize the classmates who had served in the military.  I like that you can see the table set up behind him too...they had little foil centerpieces with balloons in our school colors.  After the welcome, prayer and announcements we had a nice dinner of chicken, carved roast beef, vegetables, and rolls followed by dancing.

A classmate took these "decor" shots before everyone started arriving.

I added this for fun - one of my classmates posted a copy of our commencement...to respect the privacy of my classmates I will not show all the pages but it was fun to read through this little document again.

In the Kitchen: Pecan Pie

So I love The Pioneer Woman like 99.9% of human beings...I relate to her more than Martha and her meals are less complicated than Julia's dishes.  I made her pecan pie recipe recently and it might be my new favorite.  I did not make a pie crust...I found two delicious looking crusts that were conveniently found in my grocers freezer and thought that it looked even easier :-)

I made two pies to take to R's grandma's house this past weekend for an early Thanksgiving and received rave reviews.  My favorite trick is to sub out the vanilla flavoring for good bourbon (I prefer Makers Mark). 

1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup corn syrup (I prefer the light syrup instead of the dark)
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup melted butter (I used I can't believe it's not butter all purpose)
3 whole eggs beaten
1 cup chopped pecans (I prefer them finely chopped and I tend to use at least 2 cups)

Preheat oven to 350*. 

Mix all ingredients except pecans.

Pour pecans into pie crusts (this is Ree's genius step, for years I've mixed the pecans in at the end when the mixture was blended and this can lead to uneven distribution in the pie crusts since the filling is obviously lighter than the nuts so the second pie ends up with more nuts).

Pour the liquid mixture over the nuts and divide between each pie.

Bake both pies on a baking sheet covered in aluminum foil for 30 minutes, I turn the pies half way through but I do that with all baked goods. 

Remove foil and bake for additional 20 minutes - I only needed 9 minutes, any longer and my crust would have been too brown.  Ree admits that her cooking times vary each time she makes it and to keep an eye on your pie (Ha!  that rhymed)

I didn't take a photo so please visit Ree's GORGEOUS site and follow her photo tutorial.  Fun fact - I pronounce this dish pea - can like I CAN pronounce "pea-can".

Our 2012 Christmas card

 

 I ordered our Christmas card last night from Shutterfly.  R really didn't want to have to dress up this year for a "family" photo and I couldn't think of when we would be able to plan a mini photo shoot in the next few weeks while we are packing and moving (not to mention our pre wedding counseling).  The plan was to repurpose one of our engagement photos for our Christmas card... until we saw this one!  We both laughed at "feliz naughty dog" and I already had a picture of Baby saved in my photos of her "shame" face after being caught in the bathroom trash can.

 

Shutterfly is having some great promotions right now on their Christmas cards and they have a great selection.  I've ordered cards from them for the past 3 years and I've never been disappointed in the quality.  Check them out if you haven't ordered your 2012 holiday cards!

My entire week in one post...

What a week!

I had a cold this week, it really wasn't a big deal during the day but the congestion made it very difficult to sleep at night so I stayed tired.   I was dependent on cough syrup and a humidifier and this stuff...

my favorite.

I helped host a coworker's baby shower on Tuesday and my task was to pick out a cake.  I ordered a cake from Sams Club (it. was. amazing.), everyone at work likes whipped icing and they had a great selection to choose from.  I chose one that had a cute fondant baby laying on a flower.

And when I got home from work I had a surprise waiting for me.

My bridal portrait disk!!!!  The photographer packaged it in a cute tin container with a bow.  I can't show you the disk because she labeled it with one of my photos:-)  Ahh, I love her!

I received an email about PopSugar's luxury edition must have box.  At $100 it was a bit of a stretch considering the holidays are around the corner.  I've been "good" all year saving money for the wedding and purchasing items that were "on the list".  I really wanted a splurge for myself so I hope it's really good!  

I also bought myself a new gadget.

I haven't used it yet but I thought it would make it easier to make my holiday bows.  Michaels has a great sale on ribbon this week and I've got coupons!  One of the fellow shoppers at Michaels was raving about her Bowdabra when I was standing in line with some other items and peaked my interest.  I've been making bows for a while looping and twisting by hand ... it's not difficult but it can be tiring and it can be hard to put 2-3 different ribbons of different textures together.  I'm hoping this gizmo will make it less of a chore.

We made a big wedding decision this weekend.  After tasting cake from three different vendors we chose our baker / cake designer....

Why was this such a difficult choice?  My future mother in law wanted us to book her favorite baker but she doesn't deliver the cakes.  If we booked her we would have to pick up the cake, drive it to the venue 2 hours away and set it up.  My cake has fresh flowers on it so some of the decorating has to be completed on the afternoon of the wedding.  I'm very picking about buttercream and R wanted jam filling instead of flavored icing.  We found one baker that offered what we wanted...she makes the cake on the Thursday before the wedding, decorates it, and delivers it.  She is super professional and I know she will do a great job.

Oh and we are moving.

This is happening.  We looked at several rental properties and endlessly searched online but we found a great townhome with lots of square footage in our price range.  I think we'll stay there for 2-3 years while we pay down some student loans and search for a home to buy.  The location is perfect our commute which will seriously cut down on my driving time.  The neighborhood is incredibly charming, and most importantly safe - oh and the landlord is super sweet!  We'll be packing for the next two weeks and plan to move at the end of the month. My Christmas tree will probably be the first thing I unpack!