Woo Hoo!

We ordered our wedding bands! Jeff's is a very simple, shiny, platinum band, and mine is a platinum band with diamonds on the top half of the ring. I didn't see the need to get diamonds all the way around when no one sees the other side of my hand. I've also been told that if you need to get the ring re-sized for any reason, they can't do it with diamonds all the way around. It was so fun to try on rings and see myself with engagement and wedding rings and Jeff with a wedding band! July needs to hurry up and get here! :)

Rock Band 2

Does anyone else have this game? We got it for Christmas and we love it! I'm pretty good on the drums, but scared to try the guitar! It look so hard! I also can't carry a tune, but it doesn't matter for this game, so I enjoy the singing also! :)

25 Random Things About Me

I've been tagged on Facebook by several people to do this, and I thought I'd post it here too!

Rules:
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. I am a blackbelt in karate

2. I am terrified of airplanes. I need to take anti anxiety medication before I will board one

3. I loooove Disney and Jeff and I are going to honeymoon there

4. I have known exactly what I want my wedding to be like for years

5. I get very nervous in crowded places

6. I don't sleep very well when Jeff isn't home

7. I love fondue

8. I don't read as much as I think I should

9. I twirl and play with my hair way too much

10. I am a very nervous driver

11. I have seen Elton John in concert 3 times, and plan on seeing several more concerts in the future

12. I am a bit obsessed with cleaning the house and once I get going, I can't stop

13. I am a very anxious person.

14. I'm in love with my new Kitchenaid mixer

15. I was obsessed with Sailor Moon in middle school and actually dressed up as her for super hero day with Juliet!

16. I wear a lot of black

17. I would rather someone else drive me places

18. I love 80's pop music

19. I dyed my hair blonde all through high school

20. I have always wanted to be a teacher

21. I never went to camp as a kid because I didn't want to

22. I worked as a camp counselor for 3 years and as a camp director for 1.

23. I am a very picky eater

24. I absolutely hate the winter

25. I got the exact engagement ring I've always wanted

I'm not tagging specific people since many of you have done this already, so whoever wants to do this, have fun! :)

My Bridal Shower Dress

I saw this dress while shopping at J.Crew with Shannon yesterday, but I wanted it in a bright blue, and they didn't have it. I checked the site, and they did, so here's the dress I will be wearing to my bridal shower! :D

Cute Gift Idea!

My friend Lauren got me these adorable glasses for my engagement party. I absolutely love them, and my favorite part is that they have a drink recipe at the bottom that fit in with the engagement theme! I ordered my bridesmaids each a shot glass from the same place to go along with all of their other goodies! Everything on the site looks adorable and I will definitely be buying more from them in the future!

Lolita Glasses

Engagement Length?

By the time we get married, Jeff and I will have been engaged 2 weeks shy of a year. I think that's a good amount of time to enjoy the engagement, plan any of the prenuptial festivities, and the actual wedding of course! I know some people who are trying to get weddings together in 6 months or less! I don't see what the huge rush is! I'd rather take a little longer and plan the exact wedding that I've always wanted! There's SO MANY details I didn't realize needed to be taken care of, and while wedding planning has been a blast, it's also been VERY overwhelming at times! I couldn't imagine planning the wedding, engagement party, bachelorette party, and bridal shower within a few months!

I also personally know people who are getting engaged within a few months of dating and rushing to get married within 6 months of their engagement or less! I don't get it! I mean, I knew Jeff was the one within a few months, and he knew as well, but we didn't jump into anything or rush our engagement. Obviously, to each their own and it really doesn't affect me at all, I just wonder what everyone else thinks?

How long were you engaged, or plan on being engaged before getting married? What do you think about having a really short engagement vs. a longer one (year or more?)

Engagement Party Pictures

I had some time, so here are some pictures!




My mom made very pretty centerpieces!


Our beautiful cake!


I have no idea why I made this face.


Or this one lol. The cake was delicious!


Our gift table. My mom set up a board with our picture on it so everyone could sign it! It was upright all night, this was near the end of the evening and it fell down a bit!


All the gifts in our living room. We got lots of wonderful things and had such an amazing night! I'm sad it's over!

I would post more pictures, but none of the people aside from Jeff know about this blog yet, and I don't want to put their pictures on here without their permission or knowledge.

Engagement Party

Out engagement party was amazing! We had such a good time and I was so overwhelmed with all the love and well wishes we received. My parents did an amazing job decorating, and the food was fantastic! It was so nice to see all of our friends and family and celebrate our love! A lot of my bridesmaids and Jeff's groomsmen got to meet, and they all got along great! We are going to have such a blast at the wedding! I will post a few pictures here in the next few days, but in the meantime, they're all on Facebook, so if you're friends with me, go take a look. If not, and you want to be friends, e-mail me! :)

Also, we went and decided on a tuxedo style, and colors for the ties and vests (silver for the groomsmen, ivory for Jeff. We wanted the guys in champagne, but the patterns were hideous, and we couldn't find a close enough match to my girl's dresses, so we nixed that idea. It's also nice that Jeff is going to be set apart a bit since he is the groom!

My MOH Rocks

Within literally a day, Shannon has gotten dates for my bridal shower and bachelorette party approved by me and settled with 6 other girls! That was NOT an easy feat! My shower is on May 2nd, which is the day before Jeff's birthday, and my bachelorette party is on June 13th, which is the day after the last day of school! Shannon is awesome and SO on top of the ball! I am so lucky to have such an amazing MOH! :)

Another Black Dress

Our postponed engagement party is this Saturday! I'm super excited, and no snow in the forecast! Thank goodness! It's going to be VERY cold, but I can handle that! I ordered a dress from Forever 21, and I love it! It's black, which makes Jeff mad, but I feel very confident and slim in black, so I went for what makes me feel good! I did consider getting it in purple, but I don't have season appropriate shoes to match well with it! Here's the dress:



It's soooo flattering, ties into a bow in the back, which I love, and it's actually long enough for me! I'm 5'8.5" with a long torso, so it's hard for me to find cute shorter dresses that prevent me from flashing my bottom at everyone all night haha!

We have Jeff's mom and sister coming in on Friday, and Jeff's bestman and one of the groomsmen coming in on Saturday afternoon! We're gonna have 4 house guests here! That's a lot for this place! I cannot wait to see all of our family and friends! I haven't seen some of my family in years! I will be sure to post pictures after the party! :)

Real Housewives

I liked last night's episode, mainly because there wasn't a lot of Vicki or Lynne's bratty daughters in it. I think Vicki has gotten really mean, and Lynne's daughters are spoiled rotten!

I knew Gretchen wasn't going to hook up with Tamra's son. That would have been so creepy and weird! After all the time she took caring for Jeff, I knew she wouldn't cheat on National TV! I'm very confused by Tamra and Gretchen's relationship. Tamra is obviously VERY jealous of Gretchen, and all this episode, she tried to find ways to show that Gretchen is jealous of her! She trash talks her, then has her come over for parties and acts like her friend! I don't get it, this is a weird "friendship" if you ask me.

The perfume thing was cool! I want to do it! I also thought Lynne's bracelets were pretty. Not necessarily my style, but I can see them selling well.

Not gonna lie, I laughed when Vicki fell in front of everyone! I was really embarrassed for her!

I have mixed feelings about the whole lunch conversation with Gretchen, Vicki, Lynne, and Jeanna. I can see where Vicki and Jeanna are coming from. It is very important to have your finances in order, especially if your partner is ill and you're not married. However, I don't think attacking Gretchen at lunch when they barely know her was the way to go! It was obvious how uncomfortable Gretchen was with the whole conversation, and they just kept on going and attacking her! Jeanna and especially Vicki are not close enough to Gretchen to be having this huge discussion with her, it's not their place. I also thought it was rude when Lynne had a different opinion and got her head bit off for it!

I think that covers everything! Does anyone else read their blogs at Bravotv.com? I do, and it seems like a lot of them try to backpedal or turn things around when they see how bad they looked on TV!

They're Here!

Our wedding invitations came today! I can't believe how quick the company was in getting those out! I'm thrilled with them and can't wait to show Jeff when he gets home tonight! :)

Inauguration

I'm very excited about the inauguration! I think Obama is going to be a great President! I am taking my 5th period writing class down to watch him get sworn in and all that! Should be fun and they're really looking forward to it!

The 30 Day Shred

I bought this DVD by Jillian Michaels because I heard such raves from other bloggers. I did level 1 and it completely kicked my butt, but I loved it! It kept me busy, I didn't have a chance to get bored or think about easing up. I think this is going to be the key for me to look awesome in my wedding dress! I don't necessarily want to drop a ton of weight, maybe 5 -10 pounds (10 might be a bit much honestly), but I'd love to tone up and slim my thighs and butt!

I'm also eating better. I don't want to say a diet, but definitely making better food choices and not eating as much! Wish me luck! :)

New Look and Weekend Recap!

I decided to change my blog layout! Do you guys like it? I love pink, black, and white, they're the 3 main colors I wear, and I love the bling on this layout, so I thought it would be perfect! :)

This weekend was relaxing, and it's not over yet! I love that I have tomorrow off so I can sleep in another day! Getting up at 6:00am kills me! 

On Friday, we went to our friend Amy's house to celebrate her husband Colin's birthday a bit early (his birthday is on the 19th.) We played some games, chatted, and had such a fun time!

On Saturday, my brothers came over and we went out for a pizza dinner and played Rock Band all night! It was my first time playing, and I loved it! I played the drums or sang! I have a terrible singing voice, so I can only imagine how much the neighbors on both sides of us enjoyed my performance! Haha! 

Today, Jeff and I were supposed to hang out with our friends Ben and Dara, but Dara called to tell me that Ben was hungover, so they cancelled and we played Rock Band! I also finished reading New Moon. I liked it, but not nearly as much as Twilight. I didn't really see much point in this book, but it was  a fast, easy read. I have the final 2 books of the series, and I will be starting Eclipse in the next couple days. Right now I am watching Platinum Weddings. These wedding are absolutely incredible! I don't think I'd be OK with spending that much money on one day even if I was super rich and could afford it! Jeff is watching the Ravens vs. Steelers game (go Steelers!?) and then we are going to watch Don't Mess With The Zohan. Hopefully it's funny! It snowed again today, and I think it's snowing right now. I am soo tired of snow! It always does it on the weekend and I don't get a day off when that happens haha!

Tomorrow we are planning on sleeping in, I need to work out, and going to Target so I can get 2 or 3lb weights to do my 30 Day Shred DVD that I've heard raves about! Gotta look good in that wedding dress haha! If I can convince Jeff, we will be going to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get curtains for our bedroom and bathroom. We have blinds, but curtains would look so much better! Keep your fingers crossed that I can convince him to go! I need him to measure everything and make sure we get the right lengths!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Congrats!

Go over to Magnolias, Marriage, and Manhattan and congratulate her on the birth of her beautiful son!

Prayer Request

I rarely ask this, but please pray for Kelly, Scott, and their baby girl Harper. Baby Harper is in critical condition, and they really need your prayers. I don't know them personally, but I love Kelly's blog, and I can see how much they were looking forward to their baby girl and they will be amazing parents. Prayers work, please take a minute and say a prayer for this family.

YAY!

A little early, but our wedding invitations have been ordered! Here's what we chose! I can't wait to see them in person! You can't see from that angle on the page too well, but the front has a champagne colored bow on it, and since that's one of my wedding colors, we thought it was perfect! It's gonna be a drag to hand tie all those bows tho! 

I thought I'd share the wording we used on them. I found it on the blog All That's Pink and Green and In-Between a looooong time ago before she went private, and I loved the way she worded her wedding invitation, so I stole it! Obviously the last names have been removed for the blog but are on the real invitation:

Because you have shared in our lives

By your friendship and love, we

Melissa Ann

And

Jeffrey Donald

Together with our parents

Invite you to share

The beginning of our new life together

When we exchange marriage vows

On Friday, July Third, Two Thousand Nine

At Five O’Clock in the afternoon

New Life Community Church

Sayville, New York

Reception to Follow

False Alarm!

My "missing diamond" was dirt. My ring is fine! Hahhaa oops! I'm so happy I didn't have to give it up! They cleaned it and now it's super sparkly! :D

A Sad Day

There's no getting out of it. Jeff is taking me to the jeweler today to get my engagement ring fixed. Months ago, I noticed one of the pave set diamonds near the back of the ring fell out, and that's unacceptable considering what Jeff spent on the ring. We finally have time to drop it off, and I don't need to show it to anyone till the engagement party on the 24th and I will have it back by then. I'm gonna miss if the few days it's gone! I've grown quite attached to it, but its well worth it to get it fixed!

New Date

My mother and I work fast!

We're going to attempt to have the engagement party on January 24th. If it snows I will freak out and I already told my mother to forget the whole thing if it snows again! I wish I could do it in the spring, but by then, we will have been engaged for almost a year, and I have a bridal shower at that time as well. Please pray for no more snow!

:(

Due to the BIG snow storm we're supposed to get on Saturday, our engagement party has been postponed. I'm really disappointed and upset, my mom is even more upset, but we can't control the weather. We're going to reschedule in a few weeks, but I was so looking forward to it and I'm a little bit sad now. This is why I would NEVER get married in the winter, and in the grand scheme of things, I'd rather something go wrong now rather than on the wedding day.

Thankfully, Jeff's mom and sister are still going to spend the weekend with us, so that will be nice. 

I Gave In

After hearing several raves from friends, I finally broke down and read Twilight. I loved it! It took me 2 days to read, I couldn't put it down! I ordered the other 3 books in the series, and now I want to see the movie lol.

Admit It

Who else is watching Rock of Love Tour Bus? I DVRed it and found it hysterical! I didn't think it could get any trashier than last season, but I was  REALLY wrong! That girl Nikki I think her name was with the huge boobs? What kind of drugs was she on? She seemed so out of it! EW and what about the girl who had another girl do a shot out of her lady business? I couldn't believe it and I'm embarrassed to even type what she did!

Now I am watching The Bachelor. He is hot and seems like a really nice guy and good dad. I did not watch The Bachelorette when he got dumped, but they showed a clip and it looked brutal. She was mean to do that to him.

I also enjoy all the Real Housewives shows. Nothing but classy, quality TV in this house...

The Best

I really have a wonderful maid of honor and bridesmaids! I've posted about how on the 3rd of each month, thy give me some sort of cute gift to mark off another month till the wedding. Last month the theme was "Naughty and Nice" and I got some cute stuff from Victoria's Secret from my girls! Today, (it's the 5th, but we weren't at work for Shannon to drop it off to me) I got one of those awesome counters that counts down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds will your wedding! It's so cute and I am so lucky to have them!

This is the clock. It's from Bed Bath and Beyond.

Also, there's a chance of snow on Saturday. Please pray that it doesn't snow, because if it does, our engagement party is ruined because we have a lot of people coming from out of town. 

Hooooly Crap!

My Wedding ticker has changed a bit since I am now a day under the 6 month mark! I can't believe it! Time is flying by!

Jeff and I wound up going to PA this weekend. We left after our delicious dinner at The Melting Pot, and got to PA around 11:00. We had a nice additional Christmas the following day with Jeff's Dad, stepmom, sister, stepbrother, and his wife. We got some great gifts and it was so nice to see everyone!

I have the Sunday blues BIG TIME! I've been off Sine December 19th, s it's very weird knowing I have work tomorrow. I am dreading waking up at 6:00am tomorrow!

Saturday is my and Jeff's engagement party! We are most likely having 2-4 house guests for the weekend, so lots of cleaning for me this week! I'm so excited to finally officially celebrate our engagement with our family and friends! Better late than never lol! We've noticed a few things off our registry have been purchased, and we got a gift in the mail already! It's fun seeing what has been taken care of so far!

Anyway, it's time for bed! I have to get up super early tomorrow and get back into the swing of teaching!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve! Jeff and I went to a small party with some friends, and today marks our 2 year anniversary of officially being a couple!

Wishing all of you a safe, happy 2009! :)