Thursday, December 20, 2007

Yes, another flower girl!

An unborn flower girl, that is. Leslee (aka Gina) and Brad found out that they are having a little girl, Avery Lanae! I am sooooo excited! Seems like everyone I know has been having boys so it'll be nice to have a little girl around. I can't wait to meet her!! Sounds like she's already got her daddy wrapped around her little finger. I mean, come on, who buys a Daddy's Little Girl bike license plate ALREADY?? I think it's hilarious!!

So sweet

You know when you have those days and you just wake up in a crummy mood. Well, that was how today started. I have so much to do before Christmas and I'm still in school!!! It's absolutely ridiculous that we don't get out until tomorrow, the 21st!! I've also been grumpy because I just wanna go home...to my Shiner home. For some reason, I get grumpy if I stay here for 3 whole weeks in a row. Shiner is relaxing and laid back and it makes me happy. I'm happy in Wharton with Nick, but I don't get to see him much so I get grumpy. Well, just as I'm grumpily getting into my car, because he gets to stay at home and I don't get to be with him, there's a note in my car with some cash telling me to get my nails done. He is so AWESOME! He snuck it in my car last night because it needed to be moved. Of course, I'm in a wonderful mood now. He's the best guy in the world!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Happy Birthday, Jilly!

Today my little sister turns 23. Now this really makes me feel old! I remember feeling like I was getting old at 23 and now she's 23! 26 sure is going to be a doozie for me. In reality, I know it's not old, but just weird to be almost 30. This morning, as I was doing calendar with my kiddos I asked them why today was special for me. I told them it was Jill's birthday and they got so excited. We called her and sang her Happy Birthday on her voicemail.

HAPPY 23rd JILLIAN!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Happy Birthday, Nicky-Poo!

Happy birthday yesterday that is. I never made it to the computer yesterday to type a birthday post, so better late than never. I think that this had to be his best birthday ever. Even though I've only been a part of 3 of them in his lifetime, I know it was a grand one! I bought him 6 different gifts, so I made his birthday last from the beginning of December until yesterday. Every few days he got to open a present. We did this because I can't stand presents sitting around unopened! If they're mine or anyone elses, I want them opened right away! He was just as anxious as I was and went along with the birthday month celebration. I made him open the presents so that they progressively got better...mag-lite, plastic sawhorses, ladder, halogen work lights, John Deere garage stool, and a big tool storage thing. He LOVED all of them! I had lots of fun buying everything too. Usually he's hard to buy for because I have no idea what kinds of tools, etc to get him. Basically, I went through Sears and Lowe's and picked up whatever I thought was cool. Since we'll have our house soon and he'll have a workshop I figured he needed snazzy new things. We had our church Christmas program yesterday evening, which was sooooo good and then we all went out to eat at Wharton Steak and Seafood. After we ate, we went back to the house and had cake and Nick opened his gifts from his parents and grandma. Nick, Jake, Sarah Beth, and I then got into a heated game of Phase 10 Master's Edition until 10. By then it was time for bed and the last of his birthday's as an unmarried man!

Exciting Weekend!

Friday evening Nick and I drove to San Marcos and stayed in his old apartment, which is now Jake's. We got to San Marcos around 8:30pm and headed straight to the outlet mall since they were open til 10. After the little bit of shopping we got in, I took him to Logan's for his birthday. Logan's was one of our favorite restaurants in San Marcos. We stayed there til about 11:30 and then headed back to the old apartment for the first time since he moved out. It was very sad!! Since October 15th, 2005 we spent most of our time at Nick's apartment. It was where "we" started! May 29th we got engaged, the beginning of June Nick moved out of his apartment and I moved out of mine to be in Wharton. The last time we left his apartment it was empty. Even though it was an apartment, it was like our first home. So many memories! Now that Jake is there it is completely redone. We reminisced for a while and hit the sack. We woke up around 8 to get more shopping done. We hit up the bookstore to restock our wardrobe with new Texas State gear and then had lunch at Herbert's, another fave! Makes me hungry just thinking about it!

We did a little more shopping and headed to Lockhart to look at travel trailer for me. Believe it or not, we bought our first house! Well, Nick bought it for me for now and he'll move in once we are married. I'll end up living in it for about 6 months. His parent's house should be finished by June. The house on wheels is pretty awesome. It's a 32 foot fifth wheel Dutchmen with a super slide. It's not brand new, but it's good enough for what we need it for. I'm going to do some remodeling inside to freshen it up a bit. We're already talking about where we can take it on vacation this summer....Grand Canyon or Graceland.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Relieved

As Jake and I got to talking about the 76 days, we realized that there was no way that was right. We figured it up and decided that there are 108 days until the wedding. Maybe I typed the wrong date in my myspace countdown clock. I'll have to check it and fix it ASAP! Wonder why I would have put the wrong date? I guess it was a good thing that it was wrong because it definitely motivated me. I got a pretty good hunk of the wedding list done yesterday during my conference period. Thank goodness for that hour and a half break in the middle of the day.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Freaked myself out!

Last night I was doing my normal routine. Check email, myspace, craigslist, and facebook while Nick is in the shower. I was looking at my profile on myspace and freaked out when I saw that, as of today, there are only 76 days until the wedding! That's not long AT ALL! Lots of people say that a year is too long to plan a wedding, 10 months is close enough to a year, and it has flown by.

Now that I am panicing, I've decided to really get on the ball. Over Christmas I'm going to bust my tail on invitations and addresses, and try to finish up all of the decorations.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

The WORST thing about getting married....

Is finding all the addresses! It's amazing to me how advanced our technology is these days...seems like there has to be an easy and safe way to post and get addresses. If you'd like to help me out, email me your address. Or even better, if you have recently gotten married and have a list already created, email me that!

jenchumchal@hotmail.com

Monday, December 3, 2007

Happy 13th Birthday, Jaacer!

It's so hard to believe that my baby brother is a TEENAGER! Where has the time gone? I still remember the exact moment that Mom and Dad told us they were expecting. I remember rushing to school in the 6th grade to tell my BFF (at the time) that a baby was on its way. I remember the minute Mom's water broke. (TMI-I know!) It freaked me out! I remember the stressful amnio tests and other tests Mom had to go through to make sure all was well. I remember the phone call saying it was a BOY! I remember the first time I held him and when Jill freaked out and didn't want to. It's so crazy that it was 13 years ago...seems like yesterday. Sometimes I wish he was still that cute little bundle of joy, innocent and sweet! He's rotten now, but it's nobody's fault but our own. He's the baby AND the only boy. We tease that he has 4 moms along with a dad that spoils him more than we do.

This weekend Jaace shot his first buck with Dad. I'm sure it was a moment that Dad has been waiting for his entire life. The deer was really a horrible one, but he wanted to shoot it so bad. Dad, of course, gave in and let him try shooting it. He must of thought he would miss it, but instead he nailed it to the ground.


Jaace and Dad with his first deer.


This one will win the big buck contest, for sure.


Jaace taking a typical teenager photo. Notice in the above picture the tounge hanging out of the deer's mouth. You can't see it very well on here.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Christmas Goodies

The Christmas shower was sooo much fun. I laughed so much that I went home with a headache. I got lots of great Christmas goodies too. I wish I could use everything this Christmas, but I think I'm going to wait until Nick and I have our first Christmas together as a married couple.


Here's a rundown of the awesome gifts:
Alicea-metal rustic cross and 2 rustic ornaments
Aunt Judy-rustic wreath holder, grapevine garland, metal star with cranberries
Jenna-3 snowmen in sleigh
Aunt Karen-rustic metal reindeer and metal angel
Sarah Beth-wooden Santa Claus
Debbie-(couldn't make it because she is studying for finals AND she lives in Fort Worth) 4 rustic ornaments and Recipe for a Merry Christmas plate
Aunt Beverly-3 bell rustic door knob hanger
Dawn Machacek-dueling guitar playing Santa and reindeer (inside joke)
Aunt Barbara-3 rustic jingle ornaments and 3 rustic flat ornaments
Aunt Carolyn, Jennifer, and Heather-candy cane spoons, snowmen plates, and matching mugs from Williams Sonoma
Nikki Nerada and Glo Hagens-Jim Shore Santa musical figurine and box of 12 Days of Christmas Jim Shore ornaments
Mom, Momma Popp, Jamie, Jill, Mamo, Grams, and Mamaw-Willow Tree Nativity Set
-Shepherd, camel, and sheep
-Creche (nativity stand)
-Ox and Goat
-2 Metal star back drops
-Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus
-3 wisemen

Christmas Shower


My sisters, mom, and me! They have been so amazing through all of this wedding stuff. I love them all very dearly. They have made every moment so special.


Cupcake tower


Sarah Beth and me! She's my "hopeful" future sister-in-law. I love her.


5 of my 10 bridesmaids.
Jamie, Jill, Alicea, ME, Sarah Beth, and Jenna


The hostesses of the Christmas shower...Glo Hagens and Nikki Nerada.


The food was delicious. We had a couple different types of quiche, mini sausage wraps, various dips, fruit, and yummy Mimosas!


Where's Jenny? This makes me laugh! Alicea gave me a cute rustic cross and ornaments and a bag full of tissue paper!


Me and my Grannies! Unfortunately, Grandma Popp couldn't make it because she had to go to her brother's funeral.


My mommas!


Here I am opening presents. It's so much fun opening presents, but kinda weird when everyone is staring at you.


Some of the guests watching as I open presents.

BINGO!

After making the strudels we decided to all go to bingo with Mamo. None of us won anything! :( Bingo is REALLY stressful and makes me angry!


More strudel-making pictures


Nick decided to show up and help make strudels as well. He wasn't very happy with me putting flour all over him, but he got over it rather quickly and decided to laugh about it.


I think we were pretending to do be busy here. I'm sure he's making some wise comment.

Me, Jamie, Mamo, and Mom



Awww...he's so cute!


The boys hard at it. We decided that men make the best dough rollers. I didn't try, but they were better than Jamie and Mamo. (I'm gonna catch heck about that!)


Mom saved the wishbone from the turkey for Nick and I. Matthew REALLY wanted to do it so he helped me and we lost! Wonder what Nick wished for...


Matthew making his first strudel.


Little Rob making his first strudel.

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The finished product! They were super YUMMY!

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Almost forgot

My wonderful future cousins called me this weekend from David's Bridal. They were just stopping in to see the flower girl dresses and ended up ordering them. How ahead of the ballgame are they? I didn't have to do any worrying over the dresses. Thanks girls!

Nick's ring

Yesterday, after school, I drove to IW Marks in Bellaire to pick-up Nick's ring. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! We couldn't have picked a more perfect match. Nick is very anal about things, believe it or not. I've probably already said that a time or two on this blog. We looked at several places for a band for him. He knew exactly what he wanted. Sort of beveled...white gold, not platinum...not too fat or too thin. I was easier than he was...all I wanted was a round stone and NOT gold. Anyways, my engagement ring and wedding ring have millgrain on the edges. His band is the exact style that he wanted and it had millgrain on the edges too. Our rings look like they should have been sold together. The hardest thing was to decide on what to engrave on the inside. I was set on Cherished and 3-29-08, but at the last minute I decided on All My Love and 3-29-08. That's my little saying I use in cards and emails for him so it was perfect. (He'll also never forget our anniversary!) He was so surprised and ecstatic when I showed it to him last night. He was worse than a girl...he wouldn't take it off! Then he let me see my band one last time before the wedding, it was also the first time I saw it since we got engaged....6 months ago TODAY! I definitely didn't want to take it off! It's sooooo gorgeous!

Exactly 4 months til the wedding!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

We found our calling...

Saturday we made strudels for the wedding. We started our strudel baking extravaganza at about 10:30am, we all look rough in these pictures due to the long shopping day on Black Friday. After we rolled about the 20th strudel out of 40 I found our way to make millions. Being a school teacher, I'm always trying to think of something that will make me millions so I can get out of this job. We want to open up a strudel/kolache shop like Freebirds. You pick your fix 'ins and we roll it and bake it. How awesome would that be??? It would work, especially since most people don't know what "real" strudels and kolaches are. Once they'd eat ours, the word would spread like a wildfire. Here's a few pics our fun day!

First we (Robert and I) peeled the apples...I had to take a break to take photos.



Dad got in on the action and cored the apples.


Jamie diced them. The Nicer Dicer ROCKS!


Mom got all the fix 'ins ready. In the picture she's crushing up cornflakes. I had no idea that cornflakes, vanilla wafers, and saltine crackers are part of strudel filling.


Mamo got the dough ready for us.


We filled them with apples, raisins, coconut, lots of sugar, the crunchy mixture, and butter.


The final product before rolling it up...


And here's the rolling process...


I've got more pics to upload and then I'll post them.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Ralphie

I've been a good blogger, but haven't been a good picture poster. I love reading blogs, but I love seeing pictures with the posts. I'm going to try to be better about it. Thank goodness for the long Thanksgiving holiday because I can catch up. Anyways, Ralphie is our first baby! This post doesn't have anything to do with the wedding, but he's my baby! He was an orphan calf that Nick and I had to bottle feed. The momma cow died a few weeks after he was born. She was really old...you could tell she was going to die soon. I guess Ralphie was the cause of her death, he wore her out. Nick should have sold her a while ago, but he knew he was going to keep her until she died because it was the last cow of his Gramps'. I would have done the same thing. So, now I'm trying to talk Nick into not selling him. He's just so sweet. When I walk he comes to the fence and moo's when I call his name. It reminds me of when I was a little kid. Dad always let us bottle feed calves. Sometimes it's more of a hassle, but they are just so darned cute. Everyone has told Nick that he will have to give me a few hundred dollars to go shopping so he can hall him to the sale barn when I'm gone so that I won't notice. I know we won't be able to keep him forever and I know we'll have plenty more to feed. So, heres a few pictures of him. He's currently getting weened off the bottle. He's down to 1/2 of one instead of 2 a day.


Night before the shower on 6th Street


All of our goodies before we hit 6th Street.


First attempt at a timed group picture.


Second attempt...a little bit better.


Sisters! Not all of us, but we claim the blonde as one of us.


We had such a good time. Sure wish Nick wouldn't have had Ag stuff to do, again!

More shower pics





(L to R) Brooke Sellers, Abbey Niemann, Evy Grant, and Jamie Prado


Stock the Bar Shower



Finally uploading a few pictures from my first bridal shower. It was a Stock the Bar shower hosted by Beth Hagan in Buda on November 3rd, 2007. A list of who came and the gifts I got from them is attached. I figured it would be a good way for me to keep record of it.

Abbey and Matt Niemann-bottle of Bacardi Rum. I taught Kindergarten with Abbey for 3 years.

Beth Hagan-Tito's Vodka. I taught Kinder with Bethy for 2 years. She taught Pre-K the first year I was there and then moved to kinder after Pre-K was moved from our school to another.

Barbara Woods-set of crystal tumblers by Mikasa. Barbara is a Math Intervention teacher at Fuentes. We got to be pretty close my last year at Fuentes...it was her first year to help the kinder team. She was awesome!

Paige and Dana McFadden-Jenny and Nick engraved beer mugs. Paige was the same as Beth. She moved to kinder after pre-k. We got to be very close my last two years at Fuentes. Here's a funny story...our team was sitting around and talking about dating and how long people were together and what kind of trouble we got into when we were younger. Paige said that here and Dana started dating in 1982 and I blurted out that was the year I was born. I guess I should have thought about it before I said it. We all just laughed and she always gave me heck about it. Paigey and Bethy were like my motherly figures at Fuentes.

Brooke Sellers-2 bottles Texas wines. Sellers taught multiple grades at Fuentes. She finally is sticking with 2nd grade. We both went to TX State together...I remember sitting in front of her in our block classes. Somehow we ended up at Fuentes together and became great friends. She's an awesome gal.

Mom, Jamie, and Jill-Calphalon ice bucket, lots and lots of cute bar accessories. The most awesome mother and sisters a girl could ask for! They are putting up with a heck of a lot for me, but I can't wait to do it all for them one day too. Love you all so much!

Mrs. Popp-Basket full of wine, whiskey, bar accessories. She couldn't make it to the shower, but gave me a cool gift when I got home.

Evy Grant and Debbie Keitz-bottle of Chandon champagne. We're using it to toast with at the wedding! Debbie...where do I begin with Debbie?!?! She is one crazy lady. I taught kinder with her for the 3 years I was there. If you ever needed a laugh, Debbie would be the one to go to. She was the true blonde. For instance, at the shower she ran to Jill to give her a hug, thinking it was me. Fortunately, Evy joined our team my last year at Fuentes. She is a super girl! She was definitely the go-to girl to make you feel good and tell you something positive even those sometimes we just wanted her to be negative with the rest of us! :)

Jamie Burda Prado-bottle of Absolut vodka and "P" guest towels. Jamie and I taught together for 2 years. She left my last year to be a mommy and wife! Jamie is a wonderful, wonderful lady! We've got lots of hilarious stories between the two of us...we instantly became close buds since she was from Yorktown. Country girls can relate!

Julie Castillo-cash. Julie aka "Office" is another crazy woman. She has to be the most hilarious secretary that exists. We'd always get a funny call or email from her. She was the one that would call to warn us when the "Big Boss" was in the building, or the one to yell at me to take my attendance. She'd surely be someone to make you laugh if you were having a bad day.

Janice Mangrum and Nancy Villanueva-2 recipe glassses, Milagro tequila, and Margarita napkins. Janice and Nancy were the coaches at Fuentes. I must add that they were the best! You always had to watch these two because they were the pranksters. They sure know how to have a good time and put together an awesome field day.

Kathleen Hymes-Calphalon cake pan and bottle of Benzinger wine. Kathleen was the secretary to the "big dogs." This lady had her stuff together! She is a super secretary and should be making big bucks for all that she does. I love this lady! She was the one that we could tell secrets to and she'd tell us some too! :)

I miss my Fuentes Stars! Thank you all for a great shower. I love you guys! Hope to see you all at the wedding.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

House on wheels

I'm going to try to tackle our living arrangements in one post unless it gets too long. Currently I am living with Nick, his parents, and his grandmother in his grandmother's house. Here's the story behind all of it....Nick's grandparents, Grams and Gramps, lived in Boling/Pledger for quite some time. As they got older, they wanted to move to Wharton since Nick's family was there. It takes about 20 minutes to get to their old homestead, but it was easier on everyone if they lived in town. They bought a house and completely rennovated it. I'm not sure how long they lived in town when Gramps got sick, but he died on August 30th, 2005, his 90th birthday. Nick's parents had sold their house a few weeks or maybe even days prior to his death. I'm not real sure. Anyways, they were planning on renting a place til their house was built. Since his death, they moved in with Grams to take care of her. Two years passed by, Nick and I are engaged, and they were kind enough to let me stay with them until I found something to rent. Well, nice apartments and nice rent houses are hard to come by in Wharton. I've stayed with them longer than I anticipated. I don't mind staying with them at all, I just don't want to be living with Nick. Even though we sleep seperately, we still are lucky enough to be the first and last thing we wake up and fall asleep to. I really love it, but want the excitement to be there when we get married. Lots of people probably think it's stupid, but I'm sure most people understand.

Here's where the house on wheels comes in...

Nick and I are going to purchase Gram's house from her when Nick's parent's house is built. Since they are just starting their house, it will be a while until it is finished. Nick and I have tossed around the idea of buying a travel trailer so I can live away from him and so that we have a place to stay when we get married if the house is not finished. Yes, I'm already looking for some denim overalls and white wife-beaters to complete my new wardrobe. Personally, I think it's a great idea. It's a win-win situation. We'll have a "real" house sooner or later plus a house on wheels! We've already talked about bringing it to Shiner for the wedding so people can crash there and a few other adventures we'd like to go on.

Nick has been looking for a trailer everyday for the past few weeks. We've found several that we like. Today we are going to Houston to check a few of them out. If we come home with one tonight, be looking for pictures soon! :)

Monday, November 19, 2007

Boot Camp

Friday I went to stay with Jamie in Houston because Nick was at Brenham for Area LDE's. (Ag stuff) Jamie, Robert, his boys, and I met up with Dulle, James (Dulle's husband), Emma (Dulle's new baby), Karena, and a few other girls at Lupe Tortilla. Saturday morning we woke up at 7:30am to go to "Boot Camp." It's a fitness program Jamie has been doing for a while. For some reason I agreed to go with her and do it. What in the heck was I thinking? First of all, we had to run 2 miles holding some weighted PVC pipe. When we made it back we had to do all kinds of other things....squat jumps, wall sits, regular squats, bicycle crunches, toe lifts, a race pulling a tire, and etc. It reminded me so much of Athletics in high school. It was HORRIBLE! Yesterday I was terribly sore...it hurt to sit on the toilet! Today I'm a little better, but still sore. I can't believe she pays good money to be tortured like that. I know that I would never have made it in "real" boot camp.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Bought it

Last night Nick and I went to Sugar Land to spend a little time together since we hardly ever get to anymore. Our first stop was IW Marks to check out rings for him. The first time we went there was last December. It was the first time that we had looked at engagement rings. The lady there was completely rude. Nick had lots of questions...simply because that's how he is. If he is going to spend a buttload of money on something, he's going to make sure he knows every detail. Let me just tell you, since all of the shopping he did, the boy knows diamonds better than me! We left the store and I figured Nick would probably never go ring shopping again. Somehow he managed to overcome that first experience and we went to Americus Diamond in Austin. I showed him several that I liked and one that I LOVED. After we got engaged, he told me that he went there several times and spent several hours there the day he bought the ring. He absolutely loved the customer service. Back to the story...I went to IW Marks on Monday to check out their rings. They had a great selection, but again the customer service stunk. That night I went home and sent the owner an email telling them that I was unsatisfied with their customer service, but would give them one more chance on Thursday, only because they were having a great sale. We went back on Thursday and the man was very helpful and nice. It was the same guy that helped me on Monday. Maybe he got the email. Nick found one that he liked, but we left so we could think about it for a while. Meanwhile, we went to Dillard's to pick out bedding and then we ate at The Cheesecake Factory. After we ate, I decided to go get the ring. I should be able to pick it up in two weeks! I was so excited about finding one and actually buying it, but also felt kinda weird. I just can't believe this is all happening!

Monday, November 12, 2007

Favors

At Shiner weddings, everything is different than the norm. We make pin on favors and people donate money for them. The bridesmaids and groomsman who are in the wedding together go and pin them on and take the donations. It usually turns into a big competition. Anyways, people usually do those ugly gold or silver cheap, crappy wedding rings tied with ribbon. (I'm sorry if any of you are reading this and have had those as favors or are having them in the future.) I just don't like them. It was hard to come up with something different and cute so I was going to X it off the list. We would just pass the boot or do "The Dollar Dance." Plus, that was going to be one less thing for us to do. We kinda tossed around a few ideas, but still couldn't find anything reasonable enough to make 1000 of them. Well, Mom came up with something that is very different and actually cute! Yesterday we decided to get on the ball and make them. Dad did the cutting. Nick did the bending. Mom did the squeezing and hammering. I did the tying. Jaace did a little bit of hammering and Jill did a little bit of tying. I did a lot of tying and hammering. So, now my back hurts from being bent over all day. We have 500 of them completely finished. I ran out of ribbon so I'm making a run to Hobby Lobby so we can finish them this week. We have a little more hammering to do and 500 more to tie. It really wasn't as bad as I expected...especially when everyone pitched in. A big thanks for all of ya'lls help!

P.S. The bridesmaid and groomsman that brings in the most money from the favor sales will get a prize! :)

Thursday, November 8, 2007

My Hairstylist Rocks!



This is one CrAzY girl! Dawn and Jamie were good friends back in high school. I remember them hanging out a lot when they were younger, but I never got to be with them....probably because I was the pesky little sister. They were always busy riding around and chasing those Machacek boys. Jamie was actually maid of honor in Dawn's wedding 9 years ago. They have remained very close friends and have started to let me hang around them. :) Our family just adores Dawn and Scotty and their kiddos. We never go without a laugh when she is around. She has a contagious laugh...you can't help but laugh when she does. Two years ago, Jamie, Dawn, Alicea, Debbie, Shelley, and I all went to New York together. Let me just say that New York will never be the same since we've been there! The picture above is of us at the Today Show. She was actually the one that got me to notice Nick and the Bocktoberfest. She made a comment that if she was 10 years younger, she would have gone after him! I've always thought that Dawn and Scotty have a great marriage, so she must know how to pick 'em. I decided to introduce myself to him, and now we're getting married!!! What a matchmaker! Anyways, Dawn is doing my hair for the wedding. She and Scotty took the day off last Friday so that she could do my hair for my bridal portraits and of course, to party with us that evening. I must say that I have the BEST hairstylist around! I don't know if anyone else would be so willing as Dawn!

Oh yeah, Dawn and Scotty are our grand march leaders, too! I'm sure t will be a "grand" one!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

A Story for Our Grandkids...

Last night I went to a Premier Jewelry show at my friend, Lindsey's house. Nick had his LDE contest yesterday and his teams didn't do as well as he hoped. We decided that we would meet up at Los Cucos after the jewelry show. Nick went with the other two Ag teachers, Jason and GW, to have a couple of drinks. We met, ate, and started to head home. Down the middle of Wharton is a four lane highway. Somehow Nick took another road and ended up in front of me. He calls and says that he's going to beat me home. Like I'm not going to take on a challenge! I ended up in front of him because he got stuck behind some slow cars. He starts speeding up to me, so naturally, I sped up too. We're on the phone with each other at the same time. We're not going REAL fast, just about 55 and gaining speed. I kept saying, "Please no cops, please no cops!" Nick says, "OH S#&%!" I hung up. The cop proceeds to pull out behind Nick. Then I tried calling him back to tell him to eat a peppermint in case you could smell beer. Nick pulls over and the cop passes him and comes to get me! I really could only laugh because who does this with their fiance? Come on, I'm 25 and you'd think that I'd know better. We were only about a mile from the house too. So the cop comes and says he clocked me going 66 in a 45! WHOA! He asked if I had a medical emergency or if I had something in the oven I needed to get out. No sir. Then he asked if I knew the person behind me. No sir. You see, the lanes merge to one lane where we were. I told him that the person behind me started to scare me because he was gaining speed and I knew the lanes turned into one and I didn't know what to do so I sped up. "Well, ma'am, do you know that your inspection sticker is out?" Oh crap! This is going to be a hellacious ticket! I told him no, but I really did know it was. It's only out by a couple of days. While he goes to his car, I'm texting Nick about the sticker, etc. He comes back and says, "I should give you a ticket, but I'm just going to give you a warning." Whew! Thank you, Jesus.

Anyways, I was glad that I got stopped and not Nick especially since he had a few beers. I'm sure the cop wouldn't have thought Nick was as cute as me either!

We learned our lesson. Unfortunately, we really do have to grow up sometimes. I still think it's kinda funny. :)

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Oh sweet Alice and Eric!

Email from Alice:

Hey Jenny!

So I knew you'd see the blog pictures before sending you this email :)haha, you're so fast! Thanks for leaving such sweeeeeet comments! Yes,like Jamie said, you are such a beautiful bride so you made it easy for us!! I really LOVE LOVE LOVE the bridal pictures as well! They are just fabulous. You were shining that day. The place was gorgeous, timing was perfect, PLUS we got a beautiful bride. Can't beat that! :D Your proof pictures will be up soon.

Alice


Eric's blog entry:

We are so glad that our lovely bride, Jenny, decided to go to Buda for her bridal session because her secret getaway place is just absolutely gorgeous! Jenny was so sweet and so much fun to work with; we just can't wait to be at her wedding! The weather was perfect on Friday and the timing was perfect (thanks to Austin's horrible traffic :P), which helped us capture some truly amazing shots. Alice and I REALLY had a hard time narrowing down our favorites to post on the blog...

LOOK AT ME!!

Here's the link to a few of my bridal portraits.

http://blog.serendipity-photography.com/

Monday, November 5, 2007

Pics coming soon!

This is an email from Alice, our photographer.

Hey Jenny!
We had sooo much fun shooting your bridal! You looked absolutely beautiful that day. The session was very different; Eric and I just couldn't stop talking about it afterwards! The pictures came out awesome and we really can't wait to show everyone! I am working on the blog pictures "as we speak." We are going to post them either tonight or tomorrow morning so please check back!
Talk to you soon!
Alice

She and her husband, Eric, took my bridal portraits Friday at 5:30pm. I was so excited to finally meet Alice and Eric. I've been emailing and on the phone with Alice a lot! She was probably sick of hearing from me! :) They have great ideas and are an awesome team. I'd love it if Nick and I could be photographers together! Yeah, that won't happen in this lifetime! Anyways, I absolutely HATE being in the picture, I love taking the pictures, so I was a little nervous about doing bridals. It was SOOOO MUCH FUN! I felt like a movie star. People were driving by and honking. Girls would wave and smile. Then there was Alice and Eric with huge cameras in hand, snapping away! I think that they probably got tons of great photos. It's going to be so hard to pick! So, some of the pics should be posted on their blog shortly.

Here's the address so you can see me!

http://blog.serendipity-photography.com/

Lots of FuN!

This past weekend was a blast! Friday I took the day off so I headed to Shiner on Thursday. Thursday I went to Jaace's football game and then to a rosary for Dawn's grandpa (worst part of the weekend, obviously.) For those of you who do not know Dawn Raab, she is one of my bridesmaids and best friends. We went to Shiner Elementary and High School together...all 13 years! We have lots of GREAT memories together and some not so great ones. (Don't we all!) We've sat on rooftops together, made prank calls, got pulled over by cops for parking at the red lot, roomed together at UCA camp 4 years in a row, and the list goes on. Unfortunately, we had to go our seperate ways and don't get to be around each other as much as we'd like. Ok, back to the weekend...Friday I chilled at my parents house before I had to leave to get my bridals done (another post). Got to Buda/Austin for the pics, got ready, started getting pics taken at 5:30-7:15ish. Jamie, Robert, Jill, Dawn Machacek, Scotty, and I headed to our hotel in Austin. We got ready and then went out on 6th street. Saturday we laid around til noon and then went shopping. My shower was from 4-6pm. It seemed like the day drug by. Finally it was time to go to the shower! It was great to see all of my old teaching buddies. I got lots of great gifts for our future bar in our future house! I'll post pictures from the shower tomorrow.

Monday, October 29, 2007

5 Months til Wedding Bells!

5 Months to the day! If I added correctly that's only 152 days. Also, 5 months to the day that we have been engaged! Where, oh where, does the time go? I'm loving every minute of all this excitement!

I wish Nick wouldn't read this blog!

Yesterday my hairstylist/grandmarch leader/great friend, Dawn Machacek did a run-through with my hair. Jill did my makeup and we went to town to take some practice pictures. It was a lot of fun and I feel much better about being a bride. Everytime I've put my dress on, which is about once every weekend, I either have nappy hair or fixed hair and never have makeup on. With my hair done and makeup done it all came together very nicely. I'd LOVE to post some of the pictures, but since Nick occasionally reads our blog, I can't! I can email you some if you'd like....just let me know.

Here's an email from Beth Hagan after she saw the pics:

You look beautiful. Only thing is it makes you look sweet. Are you sure you want to look different?


:oP I am sweet!!!!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Shower Dates:

November 3rd-Stock the Bar Shower in Buda with my old teaching buddies. Hosted by Beth Hagan and Brooke Sellers.

December 1st-Christmas Shower in Shiner at Hagens residence. All of my bridesmaids, my aunts, and Nick's aunts are invited to this shower. Hosted by Glo Hagens and Nikki Nerada.

January 12th-Couples Shower in Shiner at Boehm Farm. Bridesmaids and lots of other Shinerites will be at this shin-dig. Hosted by a bunch of people...The ones I know for sure are...Aunt Karen and Uncle Rodney Spann, Janie and Waldo Boehm (Janie is Dad's 1st cousin.)

Come and Go Shower...one is in the works, not sure of all the details yet.

March 8th-Bachelorette Party in Shiner at Trinity Lutheran Village. Bridesmaids and other crazy gals will partake in all the craziness.

Soooo exciting! It's amazing to see how many people want to do things for us for our wedding. Makes you get all warm and fuzzy inside.

Ticked

Is the nice way to put last night. COMPLETELY P!$$@D is what I really was. So, Nick and I go to Sugar Land to do some shopping for him and for our dance lessons. We stop by a jewelry store to look for a ring for him. Then we went by Academy and Wal-Mart to get his school stuff. Everything was going wonderfully. We started to go to our danec lessons around 6:50pm. They were supposed to start at 7:15pm. I was paranoid about being late...I'm VERY SELDOM late to things. A pet peeve of mine. So I call the dance studio to get directions. My fault because I should have looked it up online, but I forgot. So I call. The lady is a complete moron. I told her that I'm going NORTH on 59. She told me that I needed to take a left and go under 59 on HWY 6. Ok, easy enough. She didn't understand the north part so I said...If I am leaving First Colony Mall and going to Houston, I take a left on Hwy 6. Yep! Then the place is supposed to be a little after University Dr. Pass a Wal-Mart and in the Kroger shopping center. We follow those directions. End up in the Kroger center passed University dr. No dance studio. I call them back and ask where it is. She said it's by the Subway, Chase bank, Papa John's. We see all of these places, but no studio. We're sitting in the parking lot with no clue what to do. Get back on Hwy 6 and drive to the next light. I told her we were at West Airport. Oh, the studio is no where near W. Airport, where are ya'll? Of course we are talking to another lady, the one that did not give us these directions so she gets the other lady on the phone. It's 7:20 now. I hand the phone to Nick because I probably would have reached through the phone and slapped her. I was SO MAD! Nick was getting frustrated because he didn't know what was all going on on the other end of the phone. I'm sure he thought I was wrong! The dumbo I talked to earlier starts to talk to Nick and she says we should have gone the other way. OH MY GOSH! You have got to be kidding me. I asked her SEVERAL times if we go right or left on 6! By this time it was 7:30ish. It was going to take us at least 15 minutes to get to the studio from where we were. Our lessons were supposed to be from 7:15 til 7:45 and then again at 9:30-10:00. She said that we could still go to the 7:30 lesson for 5 deadgum minutes! WHATEVER, lady! We went shopping to a few other places instead. We didn't go to our late lesson either. They wouldn't have been able to teach me anything because I was so irritated. Who knows if they will allow us to reschedule. Made even more mad because I didn't get to go to Hobby Lobby and could have!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Passport and stuff

Nick got his passport application sent off yesterday. I guess all of my dreams started to make him realize he needed to get it done so it would stop stressing me out. Today I have a Kinder meeting and then I'm going to register at Selections because the lady was out yesterday. After that I'm going to get a much needed pedicure. Then off to do a 4 mile walk. (FYI-As of Thursday, I lost 16 lbs.) If I have any time after that I'm going to make some chocolate chip cookies for Nick's FFA skills team. He has practice with them on Tuesday's and it's my opportunity to go eat at Mach's...my favorite restaurant in Boling. (The only one!) Looks like a busy day, which I enjoy! I hate sitting at home.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Another one and a few plans

Had another dream last night. Just like all the others, it felt so real. I dreamt that it was the day before the wedding and Nick still didn't get his passport so I was going to go by myself. What a great honeymoon!?!

Wednesday we have plans to go to Sugar Land and do our dance lessons. Yeah, this will probably be a big joke, but we'll go ahead and try it out. We're going to try to decide on a song by then so they can teach us the correct way to dance to it. I really don't see us deciding on a song until a week before the wedding, but whatever. Today I'm going by Selections in Wharton to register for our everyday china and other decor. Nick was supposed to come, but I just found out that he has to go look at pigs with Jason. ERRR! Never fails. I'm just going to do it myself. Nick wants to go and help make these wonderful decisions, but his work basically rules our life right now. I think I'm just going to stop right now because I'm sounding pretty negative. Just a Monday!

Wednesday we are also going ring shopping for Nick and updating our registry with linens and a few holiday things for the Christmas shower.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Yummy

Mrs. Kloesel made a chocolate and an italian cream cake for us this weekend. I was very satisfied with the flavor. We have a few more flavors to sample from her in the future. So far the italian cream is a for sure. I'm not a big chocolate cake fan...her's was great, but we're going to keep exploring our options. Good wedding cake is very important and I'm pleased!

Friday, October 19, 2007

Just our luck

Last weekend Jamie and I went to Dillard's in Houston. I was checking on our registry stuff and it was just our luck that our china was on sale. The lady said that the sale ends on October 21st. It's a Thanksgiving thing....they put lots of the china on sale so people can get it for the holidays. It was marked down from $110 for a 5 piece setting to $80 for a 6 piece setting. ERRRR! They said it might go on sale again in April. Well, we are getting married in March! Figures!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

So true...

I got this forward from Nick this morning....it's so true!

Men Are Just Happier People-- What do you expect from such simple creatures? Your last name stays put. The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can be President. You can never be pregnant. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park. Car mechanics tell you the truth. The world is your urinal. You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky. You don ' t have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. Same work, more pay. Wrinkles add character. Wedding dress $5000. Tux rental-$100. People never stare at your chest when you’re talking to them. New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet. One mood all the time. Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. You know stuff about tanks. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. You can open all your own jars. You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend. Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack. Three pairs of shoes are more than enough. You almost never have strap problems in public. You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes. Everything on your face stays its original color. The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades. You only have to shave your face and neck. You can play with toys all your life. One wallet and one color for all seasons. You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look. You can "do" your nails with a pocket knife. You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache. You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes. No wonder men are happier.

The latest...

The Trinity Lutheran Village is booked for March 8th for my bachelorette party. That makes me smile! :o) I've got my first shower on November 3rd. It's a "Stock the Bar" shower in Buda given by Beth Hagan, one of my old kinder teaching partners. I'm really looking forward to seeing all of my old teacher buddies there. I miss them dearly! I like my new job better than the one in Kyle...it's a pre-k and kinder campus, what more could you ask for. I just really miss my old teacher friends. I try not to think about it because it makes me sad. Why have I become this emotional basketcase? It's almost ridiculous....all who really know me, know that I'm not an emotional, touchy person, but I'm becoming that way! Wonder what it will be like when I'm pregnant? ScArY! Anyways, back to the original topic. The shower should be lots of fun...sounds like we'll have plenty to drink there. The first weekend in December is my second shower. It's going to be a "Christmas Shower." Glo Hagens and Nikki Hagens Nerada are hosting this shower. We've talked about having Mimosas and Bloody Mary's with snack type foods. Another fun shower that we can all just chill out and relax at. There are a few other showers being discussed, we just haven't settled on dates. It's really exciting to have all these fun get-togethers, but stressful as well. Who do you invite to each shower? I don't want anyone to get their feelings hurt if they aren't invited to one and not another. I want my bridesmaids to come to all of them, but I don't want them to feel like they have to bring a gift or even come for that matter. It's so confusing! This weekend I have to come up with a list for the Christmas shower and bring it to Glo. Hopefully, I can take care of it with as little worrying as possible! What's a girl to do?

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Bachelorette Party

Plans are being made for the Bachelorette Party! It's going to be an AWESOME time. Why? Because I have the most awesome sisters and friends in the world that are going to make it a blast! Right now it is planned for March 8th. It's not set in stone yet, but I'll know something for sure this evening. Jill is finding out today if she has a track meet and Mom is supposed to see if the place is still open for that day. All of you better keep that day clear...I'd imagine that you won't want to schedule anything for that Sunday either! ;o)

Last Night...

Nick and I went to Rosenberg to celebrate our two year anniversary. The weather was bad and I was feeling crummy (got a cold from playing volleyball in the rain on Sunday), but it didn't stop us from having a great time. We went to Hobby Lobby to buy a bunch of ribbon for the wedding since it was half off. We stopped by a couple of other places and then we ate at Texas Roadhouse. The food is always good and the service usually is too, but last night they were really slow. That was fine because it gave us more time to be alone since we don't get that opportunity much anymore. We went to Academy afterwards and Nick found his groomsmen gifts. It was funny and pretty cute because he got all pumped up over it. About damn time! I CANNOT get this boy in gear over ANYTHING! Not just wedding stuff....he's soooooo SLOOOOWWWW!!! It's one of the few things that irritates me about him. He still has to ask a few guys to be ushers and even a groomsman! I've decided to just let him do his own stuff and if it doesn't get done, it's not my fault. Take the passport for instance...we are ALMOST done with it. We had everything together and we were going to turn it all in....well, we have to have a different birth certificate for him. Then the lady says that we have PLENTY of time. That they are only taking 2-6 weeks to get in....DO NOT TELL HIM THAT!!! Anyways...that's my Nick! Gotta love him! Back to the main topic... after shopping and eating, he surprised me with a speaker system thingy for my iPod and an awfully sweet card. I have a wonderful future husband...I hate when evenings like that have to end!

Monday, October 15, 2007

Where has the time gone?

Today is our two year anniversary! I cannot believe that the time has gone by so fast. Heck, at the end of this month we will be engaged for 5 months! This just shows that time flies when you are having fun. All I can say is that I am truly one blessed girl to have Nick. He really does make me feel like his princess. I've never known someone so genuine as him. The past two years have been wonderful...I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him.

Nick, I Love You!

Friday, October 12, 2007

Dancing

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best dancer. I learned how to dance with Dad and he's still the only person I can dance with because he goes so slow. The main reason I'm terrible is because I worry how bad I look as I'm dancing. Nick and I are supposed to take dancing lessons if we ever get around to it. We signed up for some at the Bridal Extravaganza, but we just can't ever seem to find enough time to go to Sugarland to get it done. Well, last night I had a dream about our first dance. We were the only ones on the dance floor, which makes me paranoid in itself. Our song was some Brooks and Dunn song that was definitely NOT a first dance song...I can't think of which one it was right now. The dj was playing the wrong song, but Nick didn't want to tell him. He decided to keep dancing....we were running/dancing. I wanted to run off the dance floor, but Nick wouldn't let me! So....what is this dream telling me......HURRY UP AND GO TO THE DANCE LESSONS SO YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE A FOOL!!!

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

The church is double-booked...

Last night in my dream it was anyways. I was about to walk down the aisle and another bride showed up right behind me. We argued that it was all of my people in church. She was going to walk down after me, but I did not want to be at the altar with someone I didn't know. I woke up after that so no telling what was going to go on!

Monday, October 8, 2007

Checking my list off...

This weekend we:
1) Paid the videographer off.
2) Paid deposit for cakes and picked cakes out.
3) Paid deposit for photographer.
4) Paid the DJ off.

Can you just imagine how relieved I will be in March because all this is being taken care of ahead of time? I've been so organized that I'm really impressing myself!

Nick's cake

Yesterday we went to visit our cake lady in Moulton. Her name is Clara Kloesel if anyone is looking for a baker. She was very sweet and does a heck of a job. I haven't tasted any of her cakes, that I know of anyway, but I've heard lots of great things from people that have used her. She can make the cake I want for $1.10 a slice! The luxury of living and getting married in a small town....things like wedding cakes are cheap rather than $5-7 a slice! She really impressed me! Nick couldn't really decide on how he wanted his cake to look....his only requirement was that it have a tractor on it. BIG SURPRISE! I knew that I wanted Nick to have a big cake too. It would only be fair that way. I think Mom came up with the idea of having a barn with a tractor going into it a long time ago. So, that's all we ever really came up with. Boy are we having a barn! He's going to have a barn to feed 300 people and the barn is going to be on top of two other cakes so that the tractor can sit on a cake. I think it's going to be awesome. Mine will be white with strawberry filling. Nick's barn is going to be chocolate and the bottom is going to be italian cream. Yummmmmm!

I emailed Clara this morning, thanking her for her time and took care of a few other minor details. I also asked if I could buy a sample of a few cakes. She quickly responded with great news. She will make us samples on October 20th for no charge! She's already going to be making some cakes so it wouldn't be a problem to make a sample. Small town people rock! We'll be sampling the white with strawberry, chocolate, italian cream, and red velvet.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

The 3rd Bad Dream!

I forgot to mention my 2nd nightmare that happened while we were at the engaged encounter. I guess I was stressing about not having a photographer and only 6 months til the wedding. So, my dream was that we FORGOT to hire someone. How do you FORGET to hire a photographer? We were frantically calling the photographers in and around Shiner to see if they were available...I was desperate! We sent off our deposit today for our photographers so no more stressing about that.

Last nights dream was just as bad, if not worse. I dreamt about the entire wedding...from my dad walking me down to the altar down to us leaving for the honeymoon! I was at the wedding but it flew by so fast that I didn't get to talk to anyone. I know that day will be fast and it kinda makes me sad, especially since we are putting so much time and money into it. They should last a couple of days! Anyways, the worst part was we were in Houston at a hotel by the airport. Nick was in charge of the alarm so that we would wake up on time. He turned the alarm off and was just going to lay there a few extra minutes which turned into a few hours. We missed our flight! I finally woke up because I was crying in my sleep! Now we will be setting at least two alarms so we don't miss our flight.

We are up in the air on what we are doing the night of our wedding...we will probably leave the wedding at 11:00 or midnight. We don't know what to do next. It will be at least a 2 hour drive to the George Bush airport and we are supposed to be there 2 hours before our flight. Our flight is at 6am. This was probably a mistake on our part, but I don't think there were any flights later than 6am on that day. We have a few options.
1) Stay at the bed and breakfast in Shiner for a few hours that night and drive to Houston or have someone drive us there at 2am.
2) Rent a limo to take us to the airport.
3) Get to Houston and stay at a hotel for a few hours at the airport.

Needless to say, we are confused!

Friday, October 5, 2007

I'm in love!

Heather really saved my life! She found Serendipity Photography in Austin and I finally chose them as our wedding photographers. I'm VERY VERY VERY excited about meeting Alice and her gang and having them capture our memories to tell our story. She is such a sweet lady....she's been very patient and friendly to me through our numerous phone calls and emails. I'm mailing off their deposit today...especially after our last conversation.

Here are our last emails....

Alice,
I am SO pumped about having you guys at my wedding. I love ya'll already! Thank you so much for being so friendly and easy to work with. I fully trust you in capturing all the special moments on our special day. Can't wait to meet you and the gang!

Jenny


From Alice:

Haha, me too! I'm so excited about your wedding! I already feel like I'm going to a friend's wedding :) How nice is that! We're gonna get a lot of great pictures. I'm going to ask our other photographers to join if they can.

Can't wait to see you and work with your big familiesss! (gotta add more ses for the 1200 people)

See you soon!
Alice

Another weekend here...

The time is FLYING by. Thank God we didn't decide to have the quick 6 month engagement. I would have been a huge ball of STRESS! Nick and I will be on our way to Shiner tonight...headed for another busy weekend. This weekend we are going to start paying things off, which is exciting to me, but probably not so much for our parents. Did I mention how expensive weddings are? I think I'm being frugal, but it's still so dang much. Saturday we are planning to go to Warrenton to look for a few little odds and ends. If we get home early enough we will go to pay off the videographer and DJ. Hopefully, I'll get more invitations done in the down time. Saturday evening we will be headed to the Spann's for the annual "Dove Hunt." We won't participate in the hunting, but we'll definitely partake in the drinking and eating after the hunting. Sunday I want to go and visit with the cake lady and Father Bob. I guess I need to see if they are free before I get ahead of myself. Off to another weekend full of excitement. After all of that's done I'd really like to take a swim, but for some reason I doubt that will be happening. What happened to our summer break anyways?

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Photographer!

Major things that are done:
-Church and hall are booked
-Videographer
-Caterer
-Florist
-Have my dress
-Have bridesmaid dresses
-Bought gifts for attendants
-Cakes (partially done)
-DJ
-Decorations

Need to be done:
-Guest list..........YUCKO!
-Photograher
-Finish invitations

I think we've decided on a photographer, thanks to my cousin Heather. We just need to present it to our parents. The photographers we are looking at are out of Austin and Houston. Their website is www.serendipity-photography.com if you want to check them out. This was the hardest decision to make so far because I am so picky about photos. First of all, I want the photos to be really good and tell our story. Second, I want someone that will include the CD of pictures in the cost. It's hard to find good photographers who are willing to give you the CD so you can make pictures for your own personal use. These photographers do! I'm really excited and ready to book them. We're going to Shiner this weekend so I'll tell Mom and Dad about them then and we'll go from there! Check out the website...especially their blog. Thanks, Heather for sharing your great find!

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Funny story

I thought that this was a funny story from our EE weekend. As we were sitting and waiting for everything to kick off on Friday night we were watching the people walk in. One guy has on a John Deere cap and t-shirt and really doesn't want to be there. He starts walking towards us, and I told Nick, "Here comes your type of person." As I looked at him, I thought he looked familiar. I looked at his nametag and it said Steven Chumchal....a 2nd cousin of mine. No wonder he was Nick's type of person, he was one of me!

Monday, October 1, 2007

Drained

I'm physically and emotionally pooped from this weekend. But it was all good. Usually when I have a negative attitude towards something, it turns out to be really good. This past weekend we attended the Catholic Engagement Encounter. This was one of those instances where I was negative and it turned out wonderfully. Lots of people told me that it wasn't so bad and then there were others that said it was a waste. As we pulled into the Spiritual Renewal Center we caravaned behind several other cars that were creeping along. No one was in a rush to get there. We both wanted to turn around and go back home. However, we already forked over the $200 and definitely want to get married, so we stayed. We walked into the check-in room where we immediately had a huge sigh of relief. There were only a handful of couples that had already checked in so there were lots of nametags laying out on a table. Just glancing through them I knew lots of couples. Nick only knew one other couple from Wharton. We both were glad that we knew someone there. We both went to the car to get our bags so we could claim our beds. My dorm was Jerusalem. Another sigh of relief when I walked in and found one set of bunk beds, one double bed, and no one in the room! Thank goodness it was not one cabin full of bunks. I claimed the big bed since I was there first. The next nerve-racking thing was to see who my roomies would be. All I can say is poor Nick. He had the two biggest thugs there as his roomies. I only had one roomie, one of the thugs fiances. Neither one of them would talk to us. You hate to be judgmental at a church camp, but we were! (The other couples that we were around agreed with us, so we didn't feel so bad!) The first evening there we did 3 dialogue sessions. Basically, the whole weekend consists of these host couples telling of their experiences with each topic. They would talk for a while, the couples would split up, we'd write about the topic, join back together and discuss the topic with each other, and then go back to the meeting room and start on another topic. We did 3 of these topics the first night. Nick and I were a little emotional the first night. Most of the time you tell each other the things you love about them and things you want to work on. We always tell each other this stuff and we always give each other cards or love letters saying these things, but we got to expand on it on a different level. Saturday morning was the worst part. It drug on, mainly because we didn't know when we would have a break or lunch or how many of these dialogues we'd have to do. We had lunch and a two hour break so that really made us happy! You're not supposed to bring alcoholic beverages to this "sacred" place and you're not supposed to leave. Well, lots of people left and we did too. We went to the nearest gas station and bought an 18 pack of Bud Light for the evening! We got back and had a few more sessions. For supper, the host people made the dining hall into a more romantic setting. It was really nice...candlelight, wine, sharing of banana splits! We went back and had a few more sessions. When we got back the last time the chairs were set up facing your fiance and the lights were off. Each couple had a candle and they played some sappy music. We were to hold hands while a lady read us stuff about marriage. It was very sweet and EMOTIONAL! All you could hear was sniffling! It really made me think of being up at the altar with Nick and saying our vows as we peer into each others eyes. I always knew that I'd be a basketcase at the altar and this made me see it even more. I'm sure I'll look pitiful with make-up running all over my face. After all of that, we went to our vehicles and had a little pasture party. It was sooooo much fun! It was like we were in high school all over again. Sneaking around and breaking a few rules. (Not that I broke rules when I was in high school!) So, we're at Troy's truck and someone comes up in a golf cart. We immediately freak out...throwing our styrofoam cups of beer down and walking away. (I didn't) The lady comes up and says that we need to be quieter or go down the road a piece....where they drank when they came to the EE! She said that they (all of the host couples) are doing the same thing but on the opposite end of where we were and they could hear us. She didn't want one of the couples that were sleeping to come complain to them. WHAT? They were totally OK with our little party. We continued until about 12:30 and decided to go to bed since it would be another early morning. Sunday came and we finished up a few sessions. Another emotional day! We had to write a Betrothal, love letter/pledge to your fiance. Tears again. Then when we came back we had to pick someone to write a letter to, alive or deceased. They read an example that one couple wrote to their deceased mother/motherin-law. More tears! We started writing our letters and MORE TEARS! Finally it was lunch time. After lunch we got our certificates and a crucifix. It ended up being really great! Of course there were some low points where we just wanted to go home, but all-in-all it was awesome. Nick and I never thought we would be closer to each other, but we are and we're so glad we went!

Friday, September 28, 2007

Maid of Honor gifts

Another thing checked off the list. Jamie and Jill's gifts are ordered! I cannot wait to get them in the mail! I think I had a wonderful idea. I just hope I can keep it a secret for the next 6 months.

Diet

Saturday will be two weeks that I have been on my new diet. I've dropped 10 pounds and have walked 3 miles almost everyday. I've only missed walking about 3 days because of Bunco and running around for wedding stuff. So far it's been very good. Hopefully it stays this way. I'll be really ticked if we have unhealthy food this weekend and if I don't get to exercise!

UGH!

My tummy hurts! We're leaving Wharton today at 5 and heading to our engagement encounter. I found out that it's not like Hermann Sons camp. We have one roommate...it's not just one cabin full of women and one full of men. That makes me feel a little better, but now I'm stressing because I'm going to have to stay with some random person. That reminds me of freshman orientation at Texas State. All these bad reminders. I'm just hoping that when we get there we will know at least one couple. Everything will be fine and dandy then. I guess I need to stop typing and let my hand rest since I'll be doing a lot of writing to Nick this weekend. Should be interesting....

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Dresses are in!

Almost all of the bridesmaid dresses are in. I stopped by David's Bridal last night and 8 of them were there. I only picked up three. Jamie might pick up the other 5 today and bring them to Shiner this weekend. If not, I'll get them and start delivering next weekend. Shelley called as I was leaving David's, she had just walked out with her dress. Debbie and Sarah are the only dresses we are waiting on. I haven't heard if they have picked them up or not. That's another major thing marked off the list!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

This Weekend...

Last night Nick and I were talking about our upcoming weekend at the Engaged Encounter. I've heard lots of good things about it, but this type of stuff is just not for me...Nick either. When we were younger Jill and I begged Mom and Dad to let us go to Hermann Sons camp in Kerrville. Jamie was to old to go, but they finally gave in and let us. It was TERRIBLE! I cried everyday. Mind you I was about to be in the 7th grade. The first day Jill and I would only see each other as we walked by from class to class. We would wave at each other and hang our heads like sad little ducks. I loved the swimming class I was in, but faked having a period so I could get switched to be in a ceramics class with Jill and a few other Shiner people. When we had to go to the next class, it went back to being a horrible experience. Jaace was about a year old at the time. Mom would send us letters with his handprints on them. She'd tell us how every morning he would go look and ask for "my guls." Would that not make you cry? Makes me want to right now! I still have those horrible letters. Needless to say, when we have kids, they will NEVER go to camp. I'm sure I'll scare them out of it. They can only go if I go, and I ain't goin! So, that horror story brings me to this weekend. Nick and I will be seperated in the evenings. I'm imagining a big cabin like the one at Hermann Sons, full of bunks with community showers and toilets. This is stressful to me! This is the only bad part about getting married. I know I'll make it, it's only two nights, but I'm dreading it! I'm not even a homebody! I just like having my own room to sleep in and my own restroom to use as I please!

Great Weekend!

I finally have made some progress with the wedding. Everything is slowly starting to fall into place. Mom and I spent Saturday and Sunday in wedding mode. We went to K & K and found my headpiece, veil, and jewelry. We even found Mom a dress! She didn't buy it yet, but I think she'll end up getting it. It looked really good and matches the color scheme perfectly. It was scary it was so easy! I thought Jamie, Jill and I were going to have our work cut out for us trying to get her into something that we all agreed on. She's showing it to them this weekend and they'll make a decision.

Other things checked off the list:
I brought all the mugs to the lady to be etched.
Decided on MIB Productions as a DJ...sending off money and contract today.
Arranged my cake backdrop.
Talked and emailed pics to the cake lady.
Made some invitations.
FINALLY found a place to buy chocolate tulle...ordering today.

It probably doesn't sound like much, but it was! I've got more to post after lunch!

Friday, September 21, 2007

Music for church

I think I found THE music! I'm waiting for a demo cd. Keeping my fingers crossed that it works out. I'm VERY impressed and SOOOO excited about these people. I think I'm going to keep it a secret though. Everyone will be in for a real treat if all goes as planned!

My weekend....

My agenda for this weekend is pretty boring. I plan on having all of the chair covers and tablecloths cut by Sunday evening! Sounds like an easy task, right? Not so much when you have a HUGE roll of materal that weighs a ton and no where to really go with it. We'd like to go by the hall this weekend to get an exact count on chairs and tables along with measurements. Then we can go to town on the cutting. We only have 6 months and 1 week! Seems like a lot of time, but what happened to the last 4 months? I'm just ready for it to be here. Especially the marriage part! I'm ready to live with Nick by myself and have our own agenda. Living with his family is fine and dandy, but I'm ready for some alone time. I don't even know what that is anymore! We haven't had any since we got engaged in May! That's a huge adjustment from being in San Marcos when we were together everyday after school with nothing to do.

I'd like to also get with the cake lady and get everything set in stone. We also have to discuss photographers still. That should about do it for the time being.

I'll keep ya posted if I get anything accomplished! Sleep is also on the agenda!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

On a brighter note...

I've got my bridesmaid's and flower girl's gifts ordered! Woooo hoooo! I think they are going to be SUPER CUTE!!! We just need some ideas for groomsmen gifts.

On hold with David's Bridal

Tatiana, my bridal consultant at David's has been great so far. She has always been straight forward with me. I'm on hold with her right now about the price change in dresses. I told her my bridesmaids were upset with me! Just a little fib. Anyways, I think she knows that she is in the wrong. Here's the deal....she told me the dresses had to be ordered ASAP since they were being discontinued. She said that if the dresses were not ordered ASAP then everyone would not get them. The thing that bum-fuzzled me was several girls went when they went down to $43 and they were guaranteed to get them. When I brought this to her attention she said that they got to order them because some of the other bridesmaids already ordered them and the event already existed in the computer. So....if one bridesmaid would have ordered at $140 then the others could have waited until the price was lowered and got them. That was according to her. Then I got on the phone with someone else and she contradicted that. Everything she said was stupid. She tried to keep talking and say a bunch of nothing so that I would agree with. I'm not that dumb! I asked to speak with someone else. She referred me to the store manager, but I asked for the district manager. She doesn't have a number...hummmm. She's supposed to call me back with it. If we don't get SOMETHING out of this then I'm not getting my headpiece, veil, or flower girl dresses from them. AND ya'll better promise to go somewhere else for alterations! Really annoying!