House Hunting Again

Were still trying to figure out where were going to live.  We have some big decisions to make over the next couple months.  We have been all over the place.  Do we want to buy my parent's house?  Do we want to build?  Do we want to buy a house or condo?  In trying to make a decision, were starting the house hunting process.  Tonight were meeting with our realtor to see what's out there.  She's showing us the following houses, so we'll see where we land.  If you know me, you know I like to have a plan.  I'm a planner and like to know at all times what is going to happen in the future or what I'm doing, so not knowing where were going to live is making me nuts.  Thankfully I have a laid back fiance that allows me to vent and blow off steam without getting upset. haha  So if you recognize any of these houses, we could possibly be your neighbors come September! :-)

Withdrawal has Kicked in!

I clearly love California based on how often I'm home.  I don't love it enough to actually live there but I love it because I love being able to spend time with my parents, hang out with our puppies, eat some great food, spend money shopping at some cute boutiques and just all around enjoy the consistent weather.  Not to mention, get a little work done here and there. haha

Well I've felt a slight depression coming on because I ALWAYS know when my next trip to California is going to be.  I go home for spring break every year and so I always have a March trip to look forward to.  In years past I have spent pretty much the entire month of March in California so as March quickly is coming upon us, it has saddened me that I have no spring break trip planned.  Kate leaves on the 4th and I have been finding myself really jealous of her getting to go.........UNTIL TONIGHT!

I'M GOING HOME!!! Woo hoo!  I found a flight on Southwest for $99 each eay which is the cheapest I think I've flown home in 10 years.  The best part is I only have a week to wait for the trip to happen because I leave a week from Tuesday.  I love being spontaneous! haha

So I've justified the cost to myself saying that I need to do the following things while I'm home:

• Meet with the florist
• Meet with the coordinator
• Meet with the people at Casa Romantica
• Figure out a spot for the rehearsal dinner
• Meet with the bakery for the cake
• Figure out how to hang lights in our backyard
• Meet with rental company to lay out the backyard
• Figure out a videographer
• Figure out the catering situation

See totally justified in going to California in March! haha

Road Trip

I always talk about how my cousin Tami is my sidekick.  Well she has agreed to the ultimate sidekick adventure by road tripping with me to California the week before the wedding.  She thinks it sounds like fun.  Not sure how 30 hours in a car sounds fun but she's a good sport! haha  With Whit and I sharing a lot of wedding stuff, most of the things I need in California are currently here and need to be transported to California.  We talked about just shipping all of it but there is a lot of glass to transport and I didn't want to pay an arm and leg for all the fragile shipping and run the risk of it getting broken between here and there.  So Tami said she'd go with me so we could have one last hoorah as me being a single lady. :-) 

Were going to be transporting the following things:

• Cafe lights
• 6 vases/apothecary jars
• Gifts for the bridesmaids
• Bags set
• Tablecloths
• Napkins
• Napkin Rings
• Candles
• Tealight holders
• Fish bowls for pool
• Tealights for pool
• Runners for tables
• Programs
• Pennants
• Ribbon
• Things for dessert table

So needless to say were going to have a lot of stuff to transport.  It should be a very interesting trip! haha

Were going to have to come up with lots of road games to play.  Tami, you're in charge of those.  I'll make the play list! haha



We may not be this smiley 25 hours in! haha



We are going to be sporting this flashy ride cross country.  Honk if you see us! haha



This is how I foresee us packed into the minivan with all that stuff. haha

Ceremony Music

So I know that I want island/beachy music for the ceremony but haven't fully landed on a lot.  I'm pretty sure I want the girls to walk into Somewhere over the Rainbow and I walk into I'm Yours by Jason Mraz, but not sure about before the ceremony.  Anyone have any beach/islandy songs they know of for pre-ceremony music?

Napkin Rings

Whit and I are sharing pink cloth napkins for our weddings so I wanted to have some kind of "napkin ring" to put around the napkins.  I didn't want to just tie ribbon around them because I didn't want them to look exactly like Whit's.  I found some cute ribbon that I'm going to use and have a few ideas of what to do, but here are some I found that I thought were cute.

Brian's Ring

Brian is pretty easy to please and even easier when it comes to his wedding band.  He can't wear the ring to work because he's out on the shop floor a lot and not allowed to have one on, so rather than taking it on and off all day, he'd just rather not wear one to work. I tell him it's really because he doesn't want to claim me. haha  JK  So when it comes to picking out his wedding band, he'd rather I spend less than more since he'll only be wearing it to church essentially.  We looked at some a while back and didn't want anything too exciting.  So I'm not sure where I'll get one or what I'll end up but these were some similar to what he liked.

Ceremony Decor

Because the ceremony site is so pretty already, I don't want to take away from the ambience, but I would like to have some decoration down the aisle at least.  I haven't fully decided on an idea yet, so I looked up other Casa Romantica wedding and that wasn't much help.  They must have had the same mindset I do having limited decoration.  So I looked up other outdoor ceremonies for some ideas.  I thought they were neat, but nothing is fully jumping out at me, so I'm not sure what I'll end up as of now.

We Have a Honeymoon Spot!

We found out this morning that were going to Marriott's Kauai Beach Club.  You may ask, how did you not know till this morning?  Well my parents have a timeshare and you have to bank your weeks into a bank called Interval International.  You can basically go anywhere in the world, but the week has to come free for the place and time you want.  So we had put in multiple requests for different places and found out this morning that Kauai came available.  I'm really excited because I've been to Maui and Kona with my family so it will be fun for both of us to experience a new place together.  Were actually not going on an official honeymoon till December because Brian has the week after Christmas off with CAT for shutdown, so were staying in California after the wedding for a few days which is yet to be determined where we'll stay but our official honeymoon will be at Christmas.  I'm really excited to go somewhere when it's freezing here. haha

Apparently the view from the nearest volcano.  Hope it's dormant! haha

A parasailing couple snapped this photo. :-)

I had to laugh at this picture.  Apparently your stay comes with a couple toddlers! haha

My room

Brian's room haha

Just in case Brian snores, he will be sleeping on this couch all week! haha

Hmm, what can I make with a microwave, a dishwasher, and a coffee maker? haha

I'm not sure what's on the sand next to that ice bucket but it looks like some monster snails, so I may not be too keen on this sunset date. haha

I think you can judge a hotel by its pool.  I'm pretty excited about this one.  I hope they serve drinks by the pool. :-)

What is that thing that is spraying water out of its mouth?  Almost looks like a small child! haha

I'm wondering how you get to the island in the middle to lay out. haha

Is it just me or does that little girl look terrified on that boogie board? I'm not going surfing. haha

I'd go but a wetsuit would not accentuate my curves.....aka fat! haha

This will be me and Brian.  I'll be wearing the sunvisor and long walking shorts while he wears an oversized polos and really tall athletic socks!  Oh and I'll be behind him giving him pointers on where to aim! haha

2nd Valentine's Day Together

Months ago Brian surprised me with tickets to the Jeff Dunham show for Valentine's weekend.  We were looking forward to it because we had never seen him in person but had both seen him on America's Got Talent.  The show didn't start till 8pm so we went to Peoria for dinner to one of our favorite restaurants, PV II's.  They have the most amazing lobster bisque and I'm a huge fan of their Ro DeBernardi.  It's a chicken breast that's been pounded out and then rolled up, browned and then wrapped in proscutto, then topped with mushroom cream sauce.  It's paired with another PV II favorite which is the spinach rottola.  It's flat sheets of pasta filled with rocotta cheese and spinach and then rolled up like a pinwheel and covered in what they call a pink sauce.  If you've never been, definitely worth trying out.  We topped off our meal with some chocolate cherry gelato that left us wanting more than the tiny scoops they gave us for $6. haha

I swear my hair looked cute when I walked out the door. What happened to it after that, who knows? haha

We decided to not really do Valentine's gifts this year since it's going to be an expensive year, so we did something small.

What's the key to a man's heart?  A $10 windshield cleaner and some raisinets.  I'm pretty sure he was more excited about these gifts than some of his Christmas gifts! haha  He put this item on our registry and was so excited to get it as a gift from someone. It's the little things that make him happy! haha

I got him the dark chocolate ones for Christmas so he was excited to get the milk chocolate so he could compare which he liked better. :-)

I told him the key to my heart was a cookie cake and some cadbury eggs. He listens so well! haha

We had great seats at the show.  CAT knows how to do it right! :-)

I had one drink and struggled to stay awake the whole night.  Didn't help that the show was like 3.5 hours long. haha

Naomi came as Brent's date.  I thought this was a cute picture of Brian and Naomi.