Our New Addition!

We have added another little girl to our zoo! She still doesn't have a name, but we are working on it.

51 Days & 62 Days

51 days until I am married! I can't wait!

I have promised myself that I will get as much as humanly possible done BEOFRE the big day. I want to be able to wake up the next morning and actually remember the day before. I don't want to be one of those brides that is so stressed out and rushing around so much that I don't take time to enjoy my day. I want to remember my wedding from my memory, not just the pictures.

I'm going to (hopefully) get up around 8 so that I have time to take a relaxing bath before having to jump into everything. Hopefully I will have time to enjoy breakfast with my parents too. I want to have time to sit around with the girls while we are getting ready and talk and have a good time. I'm getting the receiving line out of the way at the church so I can dance with my new husband and visit with friends and family at the reception, but still have time to stop and eat and enjoy my cake. I am determined not to be a bridezilla on my wedding day. I may be up until that day (I hope not), but not on that day. I want it to be a pleasant experience for everyone.

62 days until CHRISTMAS! I started on my Christmas cards tonight. Yes, I must be crazy. Not only is it October, but I should be working on wedding stuff, NOT addressing Christmas cards that won't be sent out for another month, almost 2. Oh well, I enjoy it. I love Christmas. I told Steven that as soon as Halloween is over, Christmas decorations go up! yay!

4 years

On October 11, 2007, Steven and I had been together for 4 years! To celebrate we went to the zoo.



AND - Steven surprised me with THREE dozen red and white roses! He's such a sweetie. I think I'll keep him.

Honeymoon in Music City!

Our honeymoon is booked! Yay! We're staying in town Friday night, and heading off to Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday!

I can't wait to see all the Christmas lights and decorations! We'll also be there in time to catch the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman!


www.hotelpreston.com

She's a Stinker!

Happy Halloween from Emerald the Skunk!

How time flies...

In 60 days I will be Mrs. Anderson. Wow, it seems like just last week we were wondering through jewelry stores looking at rings! It's so hard to believe it is actually October. Everything has gone by so fast this year.
The last several months have been rather stressful. I feel like we have been hit with every curve ball imagineable. I do feel a little better now that I have a few things accomplished, though.

Things Checked off the To Do List:
Dress alterations
Hair & make up appointments made
Shoes bought
New hair clip
Bridal portrait and frame
Groomsmen fitted - (minus one)
Thank you cards ordered
Flower girl / ring bearer gifts
Reception menu
Cake desins
Invitations sent - CHECK! Yay! Well, we still have 3 or 4 to send out, but for the most part they are done. That is the biggest relief ever!


And of course...the dreaded list of things that are STILL on the To Do List:

Order guestbook
Order Steven's cufflinks
Parents' gifts
Groomsmen gifts
Finish Bridesmaid gifts
"Something Borrowed"
"Something Old"
Design and print programs
Honeymoon Reservations (Yeah, we definitely need to get on that one! Eeek)
Aisle runner
Finish flowers
Finish aisle decorations
Finish slideshow (Almost done! yay!)
Rehearsal dinner reservations

Well, at least the list is getting shorter.

Guest list? What's that?

Well, we FINALLY have the reprinted info cards back for our invitations! Yay! Now we just have to assemble them, address, stamp, and mail them. I'm hoping to get a lot of them assembled tomorrow night while watching tv at Mom and Dad's.

I am still very stressed out though. I can feel (and see) the stress level rising every day. As I get more stressed, I forget and/or lose things. Then I stress about forgetting and losing things. Then I just do it more! Oh boy! And now I'm stressed out just thinking, or rather knowing, that I'm about to start losing and forgeting things. Not to mention my house is a complete disaster right now. That sure doesn't help me to keep up with my stuff.

Why can't we elope? :-)

Goodbye Mustang, Hello TrailBlazer!

Friday we went and picked up my new car. I got a silver, 2004 Chevy Trailblazer. I really wasn't excited about getting an SUV at first, as I really wanted another Mustang. However, after being 2 weeks without a car and not a lot of money, I knew it was a good deal and had to take it. Not that I didn't like it at all, I just really wanted a Mustang. However, now I am in love! I love having so much space! I love having a bigger storage area. I love having a newer, fancier cd player. I love having more than one cup holder! lol I also love that Steven will no longer complain about being uncomfortable when driving on long trips. Oh, and the shiny new license plate is nice too! ;-)

Bye Bye, Mustang!

Well, we said goodbye to my Mustang last weekend. Saturday night, a little before 12 am Sunday morning, Steven and I were hit going through the intersection of Highland and Stadium. The car is totalled. We don't have an official say so on that from the insurance company, but well, the pictures show that it's pretty obvious. The whole front end is missing. The motor should be on the passenger side of the car, but it's on the driver's side. Hmmm....yeah we got hammered. God was definitely with us though. We're both ok. I sprained my wrist and bruised my knees, but that's all.

Reasons to avoid doing business with the city of Jonesboro...

While standing in line at the bookstore today, trying to buy my textbooks like a good college student, I decided to call the mayor's office and ask if I could simply fax them the invoice for the price of the invitations and for the price of the reprints. I knew I wouldn't get out of there before 4:15 and would be working late tomorrow. Now that I'm back in school, I really don't have time to be arguing with them over something so stupid. However, no, that just wouldn't do. They insisted I bring ALL of the invitations in for inspection. An example of one wouldn't even work. They wanted to see all of them. To count them maybe? Because I'm sure I'm going to order 3 wedding invitations and tell them I ordered 200. That would just make sooo much sense, right? Who knows. The woman even asked me where they were. My reply? "Still at home on the dining room table!" I called my mom, she loaded them up into the car, and then we met up to go to City Hall. They acted like they weren't even sure the city would pay for it, "It may even have to go before the council."

One woman even had the audacity to say, "Well I've certainly never seen anyone else order invitations so early." Early?! What rock did she crawl out from under? We have less than four months to go and a RSVP date of November 13! That's less than 3 months away. We still have to reorder them, assemble and address them, and get them mailed out. She also suggested that we WAIT to reorder them because they "might be able to work something out." If they were going to do that, they should have a long time ago, before ticking me off maybe?

I am taking my reception to Trumann. I don't care what facility the city can come up with or what price they give me. I'm tired of dealing with them, and I said so today at City Hall. I'm pretty sure I made their "people to avoid dealing with list" today.

Steven's Theme Songs

If he could have a soundtrack for his life, I'm pretty sure these two would be included.

Cute Song

Can you tell I'm a Brad Paisley fan?

They just keep the pranks coming...

Brad Paisley's Ticks Featuring Taylor Tick, Kellie Tickler & Jack Ingram as "The Exerminator"

This is too funny!

My new toy!

I got my Pink KitchenAid mixer! Yay! I never thought I would be this excited about a cooking appliance. I told Steven I'm starting to feel old. :-)

The only thing I have made so far is a couple of batches of muffins. They were good though! Tomorrow I'm going to make a cake if I have time.

"Your marriage will be perfect if your wedding isn't."

That is what one of the ladies at church told me tonight, and boy I sure hope it's true! I'm about to pull out my hair.

*Rewind to April*

I booked the Huntington Building for our reception. Talked directly to the mayor and his secretary about it. A lot of good that did me.

*Fast Forward to Yesterday*

They called yesterday-exactly 4 months before my wedding-to inform us that they had sold the building, and it would be undergoing renovations at that time! Okay, do they really expect me that plans were made and approved yesterday to sell and renovate this building? I'm pretty sure they have known a little longer than that.

Our invitations came in two weeks ago. They were not cheap, and they have the reception info printed on them! Needless to say my family is not very happy. We have all been calling every place we can think of to find a replacement. We've even enlisted the help of several friends to call places too. The problem is, that place was pretty much a last choice for me. I'm having an even harder time finding anything available now.

I'm calling the mayor's office back tomorrow to ask for more suggestions. I fully intend to make this THEIR problem, not just mine.

Today we...

have done not much of anything. I took Emerald to the vet this morning. It was her first trip to the doctor, and I was pleasantly surprised with how well she did.


Mom and I went to Hobbly Lobby today. They had Christmas ornaments 40% off. We decided on some more of the wedding decorations and bought some pink and black ornaments. Maybe I will get pictures of those up soon.

For now, here's a shot of Emerald enjoying a car ride with Steven.

Tired of waiting...

Why did we have to have a December wedding? Oh yeah, I wanted winter and Steven wanted his birthday. I'm thinking we should have gone with our original idea of October. I'm tired of waiting. I just wish everything was finished. I still have two pages of a "to do" list for wedding stuff, and I only have 4 months and 7 days left. Aaaahhhh!

Make Guestbook
Finish Slideshow
Print rehearsal invitations
Book rehearsal dinner
Burn CDs
Design/Print cd cases/labels
Make table number cards
Design Programs
Print photos for decorations
Buy decorations for groom's cake
Decide on bridal portrait
Mail bridal preview cd's to FIL's
Finish BM gifts
Buy GM gifts
Buy parent gifts
Finish bouquets
Buy aisle decorations
FInd flowergirl dress pattern


I have to do all of this and more. AND I start back to school August 20. I'm going to lose my mind. I would like to apologize in advance for any Bridezilla behavior that may occur due to high stress levels.

Wedding Bells

Well, as everyone knows, I'm getting married Dec. 14. I have been have a ton of fun planning, but it kind of gets old to everyone else. I have been trying really hard not to bore all my friends with the details unless they ask. Well, last weekend that problem was solved. Ashley got engaged!!! Yay! Now I have a fellow Bridezilla to plan with!

Last week, we had a planning get together, so that I could share all the fascinating things in the piles of wedding magazines I have. Here are a few pictures...





I also wanted to share this picture. This is my mother in her wedding dress. I love this photo.

Memories

I love looking at pictures, especially old family photos. Here are some of the ones I have come across lately. A few are a little embarrassng, but I guess everyone has photos like that.


Halloween 1993. I was 6.


Whitney and I with our Aunt Lisa in February or March of 1988. This was around my 1st birthday.


Me and Pawpaw at the Grandparent Tea. My second grade class hosted a Grandparents' Night.



Whitney, Beth, and I on Big Mama's bed. I'm not really sure when these were taken, but they sure are cute.