Countdown

10 weeks until our wedding!!! Incredible how time flies. There is a website called "The Knot" that is THE central place to go as soon as you get engaged. It has everything imaginable needed to plan a wedding - dress trends, bridal party trends, favors, invitations, reception ideas, centerpieces, cakes, etc. You name it and it has it. Some of the things you can purchase and order directly from the site, other things are there for ideas and recommendations of venues and vendors in your area. It really is an amazing site. The thing most people go there for is to create your own webpage. The Knot has a tool to create your own wedding website with all kinds of details about you and your fiance and your wedding. Great resource for guests. Our website is http://samandcolleen.ourwedding.com Please visit!

Anyways, after realizing we are 10 weeks out until the big day, I logged into The Knot to browse the site and right there at the top of my page, next to our wedding countdown clock, is a button to click on and see what The Knot says is still left to do planning wise. So, according to the website general checklist, I have 93 items overdue and 189 yet to do before the big day. Talk about PANIC!! However, as I went through the checklist, I realized that we actually have most of the things covered already and the 189 things yet to do have some ridiculous suggestions. The funniest one I saw: assign a person to remind you to eat at your reception. Hmmm really??? I need someone to remind me to eat? That has never been a problem for me my entire life! Ha! What exactly would I be doing while all of our guests are seated eating dinner that I would "forget" to also sit down at our table and eat? Standing in the middle of the room daydreaming and oblivious to the delicious meal being served and the beautiful wedding cake beckoning to be eaten?? I think not! common sense tells me that when a plate of food is placed in front of me, I should pick up my fork and eat. Done. No need to assign someone to tell me to do that.

So, with 10 weeks to go, I ignored The Knot checklist and I think we are doing just fine being prepared :)

Valentine's Day

Yesterday was my last Valentine's Day being "single" and next year, I can shop for a card in the "For My Husband" section! Wohoo! Sam sent me these beautiful flowers at work. It brightened my whole day to get a surprise delivery in the afternoon right when the kids were full of sugar and sweets from their Valentine party. Excellent timing because I was about to pull my hair out!

Valentine's Day has always been a fun holiday and I still don't understand why people get so bitter about it if they are not in a relationship. I just learned that 12% of women send themselves flowers at work on Valentine's Day to look good in front of their co-workers! 12%!!!! That is so pathetic! Just because you do not have a boyfriend or girlfriend on Valentine's Day, doesn't mean it's a horrible holiday...how about sending a flower to your mom or dad to say thanks for raising you? Or how about taking a bouquet of flowers to a nursing home and giving a rose to each resident who probably lost their own Valentine years ago? Or even still, how about making cookies and taking them to a homeless shelter? I have no patience and time for people who wallow in their own self-pity, especially around Valentine's Day. Use the day as an opportunity to spread some love to others!

Time is flying!

Yesterday I moved out of my apartment and into my parent's house until the wedding and it dawned on me as I was moving that a new part of my life was just beginning. I was now in official wedding countdown mode because my single life was over ~ I will never again be signing an apartment lease for one, coming home from work to an empty place, grocery shopping for 1, or cooking for 1...I'm going from "me" to "we" and it thrills me! With each box I carried to my car, I had this exciting bubble welling up inside me at the thought of spending the rest of my life with Sam. I hate the marriage symbol of a "ball and chain" because if that is truly how a person feels getting married, he/she should NOT be walking down the aisle! When I think of my future with Sam, the thought of being "tied down" never crosses my mind. It's actually the opposite - I feel free to try anything my heart desires because I have someone to catch me if I fall and soar with me when I fly. I'm not in this life alone and it's an awesome feeling to have someone to share everything with. Marriage is like gaining a pair of wings; not a ball and chain.

Only 89 days until I marry my best friend, my soulmate, and my love. I feel like shouting it from every rooftop!

DIY Colleen

My new favorite website is Pinterest and it has taken over our new house! Ha! If you've never been to Pinterest, you have to check it out. Basically it's a site for sharing pictures of anything and everything via "bulletin boards" created by users. You can create theme boards of anything - recipes, crafts, favorite quotes, fashion, wedding, etc. - and every picture you post is linked to the website where you found the idea. I'm on it mainly for the DIY crafts because I love creating in my new craft room, which you can see by my pictures! Since Valentine's day is approaching, I thought our house needed some sprucing up ~ fabric framed heart, felt heart tree branches, garland for the mantle, and a table runner for the island. I found each of these crafts online just doing a standard Google search of Valentine craft ideas, and then when I found something I liked, I "pinned" to my Pinterest bulletin board to save the idea. Before Pinterest, I would save websites to my favorites folder or save pictures to my desktop, but now it's so much easier to put in on Pinterest and all my crafting projects are in one location sorted however I want them. Love it!