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!!!!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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!

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?

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!

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!

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!!!

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!

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.

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!

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?

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!

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!

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!