Ready to begin the planning...

I have so many things i need to blog about but all the pictures i had ready to add to my blogs are on the computer that Brett took to Vegas....

Brett and I have not picked a date for our wedding yet. This is mainly because we have a lot of schedules to work around. We both want to get married in September but we're not sure if we'll be able to. Brett is very busy with weddings this summer and we have a few other people to ask and get their schedules. So with all of this going on we are thinking we may have to wait until next April :(
None the less I can't WAIT to start planning. BUT it all depends on the date... I have two different styles depending on when we have it...

September...












That wedding came from Green Wedding Shoes Blog

If it has to be in April I'm either thinking pastels or peacock feathers and pinks and greens! But i guess i could still go with what I have my heart stuck on. The wedding above...It's just perfect. I just love the details. I'm probably going to end up spending so much money just so I can have my wedding so cute down to every little detail. oh well. It only happens once. I want it to be great. Plus Brett and I have already been on two vacations this year. already. haha. We do want to go on a honeymoon so... I'm not sure.

When the time does come, whenever that may be, i just can't wait to have all of my loved ones around. As long as memories are being made it will be great.

One thing I know will be happening is a "photo booth" not necessarily the one you sit in and have your picture taken and a picture strip comes out. Although I do love those, they are expensive!

But something along these lines.....





There will be some type of area where the quests can do silly things and there will either be a person with the camera taking pictures or the guests will have a button to press that makes the camera take the picture. I think it will be so much fun.


And two of my friends are really pushing for me to get a short dress.... which I had never really thought about until i saw THIS....




It's the cutest thing I've ever seen! I'm not sure if I could pull it off BUT I still love it!!!

When in Rome...

Bon Jour no!

We're in Rome!!! We had to get power converters because the outlets are different here. So we finally got our computers charged up. Brett and I were so tired when we arrived in Rome... We waited over an hour for the person that was supposed to pick us up and take us to our hotel. Oh and just remember, almost no one speaks English ;) that makes things really fun.. Brett found someone to talk to and they said it could be up to a half hour before someone came... so we waited and we waited. Oh and we were looking for someone, out of 30 or so people, with hand written signs.... So they never came but we did find someone with the same company to get us a ride to our hotel. We were so tired that we kept falling asleep in the cab... We Finally got to our hotel and the lobby was really neat. When we got to our room we crashed! it was only about 7 p.m there (p.s. we're +7 hours) So we slept until about 3 or 4 in the morning and then we were just awake and didn't know what to do with ourselves haha.

We had breakfast and made our way to our tour bus. I was not feeling well at all. I think a small part of it was because I was a bit nervous about being in a foreign country, especially since I wasn't going to be able to call home. This tour was a "hop on hope off" tour. So wherever the bus stopped you could get off and stay as long as you wanted and another bus would be coming around again in 40 min. Brett and I just wanted to get to the Vatican because it was closed on Sunday and Sunday was our last day in Rome. So we had to get to it while on this tour. We got to see some beautiful place like the Colosseum, Enormous Cathedrals, and Statues.







We decided we'd just visit these other sites the next day since they would be open. We finally arrived at the Vatican. I was starting to feel a little better but my stomach was still upset. The reason that I wanted to go to this area so bad is because i knew that the Vatican was beautiful but in the same area is the Sistine Chapel. I have wanted to visit the sistine Chapel for YEARS. I first fell in love with it when i was in World history, my sophomore year of high school. We were learning about it and I just thought it was all beautiful! We had a student teacher who had actually been and she had pictures that we got to look at and it was even more beautiful than in our books. i loved everything about it and then we got to the Sistine Chapel. We learned about each of the paintings that Michaelangelo had done and I was in love! Then when i was a Senior I had to write a research paper. I wrote my paper on some of the most controversial paintings in the world like the Mona Lisa, the last supper, and the paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. So i learned even more about the Sistine Chapel and loved it even more and Brett and I were about to go inside to see it!

We had to walk through hall after hall of paintings and beautiful artwork and i told Brett all of these small halls were to prepare everyone for the "Real deal". We walked and walked and around every turn i kept getting more and more anxious. I couldn't believe I was about to see this in real life! We reached a sign that said no photo, and silence. I knew we wouldn't be able to take pictures because of my previous research. If half a million people took pictures of it everyday with their flash it would fade the paintings. There were even men walking around that yelled if you took pictures or if everyone got too loud. We walked in and I was almost in tears, and then the mean guy who yells started yelling at someone and kind of killed the moment or I probably would have cried. We found a seat along the wall and just stared and stared. It was so overwhelming.. I snapped this with the camera on my lap so it didn't look like i was taking a picture. I had to have a picture of it! (my flash wasn't on)







Brett kept having us scoot down the bench until we were in the corner of the chapel. I was perched perfectly under his arm in awe of this awesome place. He looked at me and said I can't believe you aren't crying. But i had gotten teary eyed twice since we'd been in there. He said, "Maybe this will make you cry" He pulled out a new iPod he had bought me because mine got lost in Hawaii. I didn't start to cry because i just felt like an idiot because mine got lost. So he asked what i wanted to listen to. I told him whatever he wanted. He had a headphone splitter so we could both listen. A song came on that i didn't recognize and I looked at him and immediately knew he had written it. I said did you write this!!!!??? He nodded.



The song begins to play......Acoustic guitar

four years have come and gone
you'd thought you'd have to wait another one
cuz i played games and lead you on and on and on
but i always knew that you were the one

i took my time, you waited patiently
i took you on a trip to italy
the place your place your heart was dying to see
i knew it was the place i'd get down on one knee and
now you see why this took so long
all those days of waiting are finally gone
and those years passed like seconds
cuz our lives start right this minute

i've got four words to say four words to say
are you ready?

i've got four words to say
four words to say
are you ready?

Will you marry me?
Marry me?
Will you marry me?
Marry me?

interlude for tears, its been waiting years...

your so cute even when you cry
I'll work my fingers to the bone
wiping tears from your eyes
you have made me the happiest man alive
and i promise to return the favor for the rest of my life


At the first line I stared to cry. By the chorus I had my hand over my mouth, eyes closed and there were streams of tears. By the time it got to will you marry me, Brett was on his knee with the ring in his hand. With the song still playing and me still bawling he slipped the ring on my finger.
We both stood up and I sobbed in his shoulder for quite awhile and he said,"is that a yes?" haha I hadn't even answered! Yes i said Yes! After we got calmed down I was able to look at the ring. I hadn't even looked at it yet! I looked and it and back at Brett with my jaw on the floor.... I can't explain to you in words how perfect it is... so here.





There is no way i'd ever be able to take a picture like that. haha Brett took it of course.
It fits like a glove and is what I've always dreamed of. I couldn't stop looking at it.
Then he showed me the back of the iPod and it said Will you Marry me?
Oh goodness....

I don't even know how to wrap this up. I hope this melts you like it did me. It still feels like a dream. I melt every time i look down at my ring...



I am over joyed. Full of emotions. I still cry when i listen to that song Brett wrote, and when i read his version of it on his blog. Which i'd love for you to also check out, Especially to see the pictures he took!
http://www.brettjarnagin.com


So very happy!

Destination Revealed!

So as you know by now Brett has brought me on a secret vacation and we are in Italy! I had no idea Brett had a passport! But i don't want to get ahead of myself. I'll tell you exactly how it happened....

We got to the Chicago airport and Brett made me cover my eyes. I thought this was ridiculous because we were just trying to find a place to park. I listened to him anyway... haha. So we get parked and he said i could open my eyes... ok we're in a parking lot. So he said he was going to tell me where we were going because there was no way that we'd make it through the airport without me knowing and he wanted to tell me. So he sat up the video camera on the dash and told me that first off i'd need this.. and he pulled out my passport! My draw dropped. He said the reason i've been so stressed is because i had to get this rushed here.. and he pulled out his passport! Then he said you need this because I'm taking you to Rome, and Florence, and Vinice! I just lost it. oh and this is all on video tape.. haha i just kept saying, "are you serious? oh my gosh are you serious?" i just cried and cried and cried. I was even shaking.
The reason i had to close my eyes when we were parking was because we had to park in the international parking lot and it was posted everywhere!

When we got inside we had to trade in all of our spending cash for Euros. That was interesting.. One Euro was only worth .63. This number changes daily and it averages around .75 so we lost some money just by trading our money in for Euros but we had to.

I called all my friends and family and then realized that our phones wouldn't work while we were there... so my mom was so sad. She gets scared when i leave. Especially when i leave the country. I told her I'd figure it out when i got there. So I have actually downloaded Skype and it's a life saver!

The flight to Switzerland was 8 hrs and 40 min. and then to Italy was another hour and 15 min. or so. A long long flight. Our first plane was super "fly" though (haha)
There was a T.V. on the back of each seat and everyone had a personal remote and could pick to watch a movie or a T.V. program or you could play games. Brett and I played so many games of Tetris against each other. It was fun. Our first stop, Rome!!! And oh do i have some stories about Rome....

Giveaway results!

Thank you to all who took a guess on where Brett and I would be going on our secret vacation! Sorry to all of you who knew that Brett didn't have a passport haha. He had several tricks up his sleeve and that was one of them. Brett and I are in....

ITALY!!!

We are going to Rome, Florence, and Venice.

So i have two of you who guessed right! Jennifer Sturgill and Amy Donnel!! I'll get ahold of you two to se which necklace you'd like.

Thank you again to all of you who entered!!

Many more giveaways to come, that was fun!

P.s. I can't WAIT to tell all of you about my trip!!!!!!

Tomorrow is the day

So tomorrow is the day that we take off for our secret vacation...(the last post tells more about it)


I think this is better than anytime to do a giveaway!
I was going to wait until after i got home but this will be fun. If someone guesses the secret destination you will receive your choice of these two items from my Etsy Shop







































Here are the clues that i have received. We are flying out of Chicago, the weather is somewhere between 40-55 degrees, and it has been raining 1 out of every 3 days since Brett has been watching the weather. I know, not much to go by... So if you guess it correctly or whoever guesses closest will be declared the winner!

The only rule is that you have to be a follower of my blog. Just click follow on the left hand side :) Leave a comment with your guess.
The competition is over as soon as Brett leaks info oh and if you already know don't say! please. I'll be doing other giveaways! haha

Have fun and good luck!!!

and we're off again...

Brett and I have been back home from Hawaii for 2 weeks as of right now. Next Thursday we will be off to a new destination... This destination however is unknown to me. Brett has planned a surprise vacation! again. He did this for me last year and is going to continue the tradition. You see, Brett can't take vacations in the summer because that's his busiest time of the year and this is why we started the "secret vacation". Brett decided he wanted to go somewhere last year and when he decided he asked if I wanted to know where we were going. I said well... whatever. because I do love a good surprise. I needed to know what to pack though so he said, "Case it's winter" so i knew it would be cold where we were going. I even drove for about 2 hours not knowing where we were going haha. I had a blindfold that i was told to wear at certain parts of the long drive. And FINALLY he had me open my eyes and we were in Gatlinburg, TN. We stayed in a beautiful cabin that overlooked the Smokey Mountains!

This trip did not start off well though.. We drove 8 or 9 hours to get there and then an hour to find our cabin.. Once we got to the cabin Brett came to my side of the door and took off my blindfold and we were standing in front of our cabin that was called "Together forever" and ya I cried. haha. So we get in a check everything out and it's awesome! Pool table upstairs, two big screens, and my favorite, a hot tub outside on the deck! So we woke up the next day and it was snowing and it was beautiful to see all the cabins with snow on their roof tops. We only had a few slices of turkey and needed to get to town to stock up on food. Since we got to the cabin at night Brett had left the overhead light on in the car. It was dead... yup dead. So i had to go to the neighbors to see if they'd be willing to jump the car for us... ya not a good start to the vacation. I knocked and a very nice older couple came to the door and were more than happy to help. So we got the car running! Then we had to venture down a very, very, i mean very, steep hill. (we are on a mountain) Since we had come in at night Brett couldn't remember how to get back to the main road and I had a blindfold on at the time so I was no help! haha. It is still snowing and we are just sliding everywhere. We couldn't figure out how to get out so we just had to park our car at the bottom of the very steep hill we came down and walk up. Still with hardly any food at all.
The next day when we woke up it was STILL snowing.. There was about 6 inches of snow on the ground which is a lot when you're on a mountain top! So still no food and I'm getting grouchy.. The very nice old woman came over and asked if we had any food and if we didn't she'd bring us something over. I immediately jumped on that offer! She gave us two sack fulls of all different kinds of food!!! We went over later that day to thank them again and ended up sitting in their cabin talking to them for a couple hours. They were so very nice. So Brett and I played a lot of pool and sat in the hot tub as it continued to snow. It finally heated up to about 50 degrees on the 4th day we were there and we got to go to town and get a cheeseburger! We were so happy to get out of there! The rest of our trip was all uphill from there and we had a great time!

Here we are at Cade's cove to look at the mountain range.





That trip was amazing and we're doing it again this year! Not to the smokey mountains but to a new secret place! Brett did slip and tell me we were flying! I hope it's not as long as the flight to Hawaii! And you know it, I'll be bloggin' as soon as we get to our destination! We leave on Thursday the 11th and won't come home until the 21st!! Oh goodness!

Creative Director

Today Brett and I are going to take Lea's 9 month pictures! She was actually 9 months on January 3rd but.... Brett and I have been busy busy bees... So we are taking them today. Brett always lets me be the creative director for her shoots. hehe. I love it. I really wish we could have done this one outside but it's 32 degrees out. I don't think Lea would like that very much. So we'll have to do it inside. My mom bought me an Anne Geddes book when Lea was born. She got it so we could have some idea on baby pictures. I wanted to make Lea a flower hat so I bought a baby hat and glued flowers to it. I had to get 2 bundles of flowers to cover the hat. I actually needed three but I made it work.

Here is the hat!






I am so proud of it! I want to make more! I'm not sure if there is enough demand that I could sell them on Etsy but we'll see.
So we bought the biggest clay flower pot we could find and painted it blue. We really should have done this a couple months ago when she was smaller but I have a feeling this is going to be pretty funny. I put it on her after I made it and I was just dying!

Here is the pot and the hat



Hopefully I can show you the finished pictures soon!! I can't wait!!!