Wedding Bells: Wedding Planner(s)

Now I do have a (human) wedding coordinator, which is super important to me, because of my busy schedule. I also have two planners, one to keep my schedule straight, (between school, work, events, and wedding planning, it gets crazy.) and one for wedding details, such as colors and venue and budget. 

First let's take a look at The Knot Ultimate Wedding Planner. It is fantastic, and I highly recommend it! It  as a section for everything, an easy spot to keep business cards, and all the vendors organized. 

It is a binder which makes it easy to carry, and nice to store. I like being able to easily add to it. 

Here you can see our two main wedding colors! Navy and a peachy coral. We are going with an Aviation theme, and I think navy and coral will play into that theme in many ways! 

Next we will peek into my personal planner, I got this from the ladies over at A Beautiful Mess, and I love it!

The front is so bright and cheery (oh, here is that peachy coral again!)

Every month has fun quote like this!

I always write in school, even though it is every day. That way when I schedule appointments I remember to schedule around the time it takes to get from school!

Have a great week!

Life on the Edge

We had the best weekend in Flagstaff with our 310th Family! (DTK) We ate some great food, and spent some time getting closer with our good friends. On Sunday everyone headed back to PHX and C and I headed up to the Grand Canyon! 

Look at that crazy man! Oh  wait... that's my Fiance. 

Of course directly after this he came hopping up to drag me out there.. and if you know anything about me, you know I am terribly afraid of hieghts, and if you know anything about the Grand Canyon you know...well...it is pretty deep. You can't quite tell, but the area he is on is a pretty steep drop off.

If there is one thing about C it's that he is good about helping me push my limits, when he knows I want to, and he is so patient with me. 

Anyways..

Here I am..!

Now, Don't let this fool you, this is a different spot, there was no way in  the high heavens I was standing on that rock. I basically had to slither out on my belly. 

Thanks for reading! I can't wait to share this weeks wedding bells with you! I will be sharing my planner(s)!

XOXO!

Wedding Bells: Planning Begins

All things wedding related are in warp speed planning mode right now! 

We have already set a date, booked a venue, picked a theme, and our colors!

My mom has a flight to come help me wedding dress shop, and I am SO excited!  

I can't wait to share some sneak peaks into planning with you guys! 

This week I am sharing our theme! The picture above is a big hint!! We are going aviation, with random plane themes, and air mail related items! 

I am so excited, I've seen it all, from Air Plane confetti and paper plane escort cards, to air mail table numbers. There are so many options for us. 

Check back in a few days for a sneak peak at my wedding planner! 

The Proposal: His Side

Ok so you have all heard her side of the story, now let me tell you his side of things.

So it was a pretty nice day as far as Upstate New York winter days go, the sun was shinning and there was only a few clouds high above.  It was my dads 57th birthday, man he's getting so old!  We decided to celebrate by going on a wine tour with most of the family on that side and going to one of my favorite wine trails along Seneca Lake.  

Going into the trip only my dad knew that I was about to ask J to join the family and be mine forever.  However when we were at the first winery I couldn't contain my excitement and let my brother in on the news as well as showed him the ring to which his reaction was just about the same as J's would be.  So along we went, on this fun filled, grape surrounded adventure.  We went to so many different wineries, some of which I hadn't been to yet even though I grew up there for the past 26 years.  The two members of the family would question me after every winery if the next one would be the place in which I would pop the question.  I really wanted to ask at our favorite winery, Hazlett, but because of the pace of the day I was unsure if we would make it there.  So I was playing by the seat of my pants and waiting to see when the perfect moment would arrive.  Let me tell all of you guys out there waiting to propose, the perfect moment will arrive, it may not be exactly as you had it in your head but when you know, you know.

So finally nearing the end of the day when most of the wineries were closing we were pulling into the parking lot of Hazlett the maker of the famed Red Cat wine!  As we stepped out into the sunny yet chilly NY air the rest of the family seemed to bolt inside the giant wooden doors to get warm.  Left outside was only my brother, J and I.  J rushed over to the pond on the other side of the parking lot.  I knew this was go time, I quickly followed suit and prepared to get the ring out as she was distracted by the scenic views all while trying to catch my brothers attention for some photos.  As J was busy trying to recreate a photo I had taken 2 years earlier I pulled out the ring.  I looked down and noticed that it was covered in lint and had a string hanging off of it.  Get out of here I was thinking as I ripped that crap off of it and quickly got down on one knee.  As J turned around her eyes grew wide and hand shot quickly up to her mouth.  "J, will you do me the honor of being my wife," I asked.  Her reply would be "Are you serious?"  Of course I am serious!  She would soon say yes and make me a very happy man.  

  

Happy 2015!

The Proposal: Her Side

What  a fun day! It was his Dad's birthday, so a group of us went on a wine tour round Seneca Lake. His step mom rented a van, his little brother was driving, and Cody, his sister and I were in the very back stuffed into a seat! We spent the drive joking and laughing, his sister and I sang along to Spice Girls, and we stopped at all the winerys you could imagine. We laughed until we cried, and l listened to his family share stories. Finally, we roll out of the van and we have arrived at my (very favorite) winery, Hazlitt. 

Side note: When we first started dating I flew up to visit him and begged him to take me to this winery, when I came up for christmas, again, begged him to take me to this winery. 

When my sister got married, thier wine was at the wedding, and it instantly became my faveorite. 

There is a pond across from the winery, and C had taken a photo in of it covered in snow. I remembered that, and walked over saying "Oh..remember that time...?" and go to take a picture. I saw him fumbling in his pocket. I didn't think anything of it, becuase I had gotten him some lenses for his phone, and figured he would be grabbing one. I started to take a picture of the pond, and turned around to see where he was. 

There he was, down on on knee, ring held out, staring at me like I was the only thing in the world he could see. I heard his little brother run up and pull out his phone to take pictures. Cody asked me to be his wife. I couldn't believe it, I had to ask him about five times if he was serious! I took the ring, put it on my hand, and yellled yes about a million times.

I knowthis is so very cliche, but I am marrying my very best friend. He is handsome and kind. He is brave, and he makes me brave. He supports me, he makes me better, he makes me laugh. His smile lights up a room, it illuminates my life. I will follow him to the end of the earth. He is my soulmate and our life together will be the most amazing, important adventure. 

I love you, always. 

/end mushy rant. So this is my side of things, keep an eye out (soon...I hope) for his side of things!

Wedding Bells, Jingle Bells

Merry Christmas Eve! Hope you are all having a great day!

We are all settled in our new HOUSE, in Az! C and I are visiting NY for Christmas! On December 22 Cody asked me to marry him, of course I said YES! I can't wait! I know how cliche this is, but I get to marry my best friend Ya'll! 

Watch this space for wedding updates!

Of course I will post the proposal story too! 

Hello Autumn: Pumpkin Roll

I love Autumn and Halloween, this is no secret to anyone that knows me. Luckily my boyfriend also loves Autumn! Most importantly, we both love Autumn food. If not for his love of pumpkin flavored things, I may never have received this recipe! 

Instead of a birthday cake last year, his Momma sent me this recipe, and the non-perishable ingredients, to bake for him! Cody mentioned to her that I have been wanting to blog about this recipe, and she so very kindly gave me her blessing to share! (Lucky you!) 

Ingredients: 

 Cake: 

3 eggs

2/3 cup solid pack pumpkin

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoons cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon salt

 Filling:

8 ounces softened cream cheese 

4 tablespoons softened butter

1 cup confectioners sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla 

 Other: 

Wax paper 

Aluminum foil 

Set oven for 350 degrees 

1. Mix the cake ingredients in a bowl. 

2. Spray cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray, cover with wax paper, spray wax paper with no. Stick cooking spray. 

3. Spread cake mix on top of wax paper in rectangular shape. 

4. Bake for 15 Minutes, cool for 15 minutes. 

5. Take a (clean) kitchen towel and cover in confectioners sugar, remove wax paper from cake, place cake on towel.

6. Roll cake up in towel. 

7. Let cool completely, use this time to mix up filling ingredients. 

8. Un-roll (gently) and evenly spread filling, re-roll. 

9. Wrap in foil, refrigerate for an hour.  

10. Enjoy! 

(Okay, this one isn't beautiful, but it IS delicious!) 

My boyfriends Mom also likes to sprinkle crushed walnuts inside on top of the filling! 

I hope y'all enjoy this recipe as much as we do! 

Hello Oklahoma!

It was recently my boyfriends birthday, so I made my way to Oklahoma to celebrate!

We celebrated his birthday a few days early by spending the day in Oklahoma City. 

We have a tradition of trying new places to eat every time we get to spend time together... Normally this is not something we honor on OKC visit days.  Normally we stop at the steak and catfish barn for lunch, but it recently closed down so the owners could move back to Italy. (Excuse me while I cry for ever). 

This opens up our lunchtime slot though, and forces us to try even more new places to eat! 

This time we went to a hot dog place!

    www.mutts-hot-dogs.com

His was a buffalo sauce dog with blue cheese. 

Mine was a Chicago dog. 

They were both delicious! We also ordered fried pickles and they passed the test too! (Disclaimer: there is no official test). 

I highly recommend them if you're in the area, they even have vegetarian dogs! 

Then we went and saw Gravity (awesome!) in a recliner theatre (double awesome!) and went to Bass Pro Shop (another thing we always do in OKC) 

For his birthday we went to our favorite restaurant Cattleman's Steakhouse! 

We finished up our evening with a stop by academy sports and then going home to carve pumpkins! 

And that glorious meal? My amazing boyfriend made som delicious pumpkin waffles for dinner one night!

What a wonderful trip! 

 

Adventure On: Fourth of July!

 

We had a Fantastic Fourth of July, and we hope you did too! We celebrated America in style, with Patriotic shirts. I may have gone a little overboard with the glasses, bandeau, headband, and shorts. Pffft, what am I saying? You can never go overboard with America! (Just wait til you see my new Derby shorts!) 

We started off our day by traveling to a town near Oklahoma City, for Fried Onion Burgers at Sid's Diner. Let me tell you, they were amazingly delicious. We also got some amazing malts and fries! Then we went to the local mall and browsed a bit, grabbing C some clothes for a photoshoot the next day! (can't wait to share!) We found we still had several hours to kill, and watched White House Down. We walked in expecting normal theater seating, and found recliners! They were so comfortable, and meant no cricked necks or bumping knees with strangers! 

Then we went to Liberty Fest, grabbed some hot dogs and hopped in the back of the truck to watch fireworks. We can't have fire works here in Colorado, so I was really happy C looked up this celebration.  The fire works were easily the most amazing I have ever seen!
I hope everyone had a great Fourth, and never forget what it is we are really celebrating on days like this.

He looks not so thrilled, but he is, I promise.

 I have a knack for catching him with food in his mouth.

DIY two layer skirt Part 1

      I have not really made clothing before, so this was quite the adventure. I followed this tutorial, for measurements and such, but in my own typical fashion.... made some tweaks to hit my style a little better.

As you can see, I followed the steps up to the elastic waistband, then chose to do a thick outer band. cinching as I sewed it around. This project happened before my birthday surprise of a sewing machine, So I will be redoing the hems and elastic with it and that will come in a second post.

D.I.Y. Bow Tutorial:

     A couple people have asked about my Air Force ABU bow and where I got it. Answer: I made it! I used my fathers old ABU pants, but if you wanted you could find fabric instead. In this tutorial I used a different fabric but it is the same process for any fabric, even lace!

    Supplies: Fabric, Needle, Thread, Fabric scissors, and a barrette.

         1. Cut out two strips of fabric, one to go around the center of the bow (top) and one for the bow (bottom). You want the bigger piece to be double the height you want the bow, and as wide has you want it.

       2. Fold the bigger piece in half, inside out, and sew almost all the way around, leaving enough space to turn it right side out.

       3. Pull it right side out and finish closing it by folding the cut edges in and sewing as seen in the bottom left corner of the fabric.

     4. Pinch! Easy enough, unless your taking pictures of it.

        5. Wrap the smaller fabric around the center (optional: finish the edges of the center fabric by sewing the edged folded over). Push the needled through the whole bow to keep the creases and center fabric on, loop back through several times.

     6. You can attach to the barrette by sewing it in the center, or hot glue it.

   7. If your barrette has these little holes, sew through one layer of the bow and through the hole to attach, or, again, you can use hot glue.