• Life,  Wedding

    What’s Up Wednesday: February

    I feel like lately my blogging has been basically just me writing about what is going on in my life and hasn’t been any real deep meaningful posts. I really love writing the deep and meaningful posts that could really help someone but I just can’t seem to get the words out about the things that God is teaching me lately. Hopefully sometime soon I will be able to sort through the mess in my head and give you guys a quality post 🙂 But for now here’s what I’ve been up to this past month:

    What we’re eating this week

    healthy shopping

    As I posted recently, Tommy and I have been trying to eat Paleo and have been doing way better than I thought we would do if I’m being honest. We still don’t eat this way quite as much as I wish we did but it’s also really difficult seeing as I still live at my moms and can’t exactly stock up on all the foods we need easily.

    But this picture above I’m really proud of – the past two weeks we have been meal planning and going shopping for all the ingredients on Sundays and this is the second weeks worth of food. I’m finding so much joy in meal planning and cooking these foods that I can’t wait to have my own kitchen to go even further with it.

    What I’m reminiscing about

    sunset 4.JPG

    Warmer days, friends. The weather is starting to warm up here in Jersey – which is awesome because it doesn’t normally warm up for another month. It’s not like spring warm yet but I can tell were just around the corner from it and let me tell you I am beyond ready for the warm weather! Spring means the wedding and shortly after SUMMER.

    What I’m loving

    Getting to read so many books at work seeing as there isn’t any actual work to be doing since I only have 3 more weeks here. I have really fallen in love with reading over the past two months and I’m really enjoying the time I have to just get deep into a good book. I have always read but I never realized how much I enjoyed it until recently. After I find myself a new job, I’m going to make sure it’s not something I let myself put on the back burner again.

    What we’ve been up to

    cake tasting tommycafe pierrot

    Cake tasting with this handsome guy! This turned out to be a cute little date and it was SO delicious! We chose chocolate mouse and cannoli filling for the wedding cake.

    What I’m dreading

    More interviews wah. 🙁 I’m in the process of searching for a new job because I’m being laid off in three weeks and while it’s kind of exciting, job interviews are not. I went on two and they weren’t quite as bad as I thought they would be but it’s still a little difficult for me seeing as I am definitely an introvert.Praying that I won’t have to go on too many more before I find the perfect match for me. Prays are definitely appreciated here! 🙂

    What I’m working on

    Hmm this is a tough one. I guess you could say I’m working on balancing things in my life better.  I am an all or nothing kind of girl so I tend to push myself a little too hard, get burnt out and then have to recharge and be basically non-productive for the next day or so. I am working on finding a balance though (maybe this might be a good blog post idea ;)).

    What I’m excited about

    apple picking

    The wedding being LESS THAN THREE MONTHS away! Time is flying by and I love it. I obviously am way excited to marry my best friend (I’m sure you guys have picked that up by now) but I’m also excited to see how all of our efforts and planning are going to come together. It’s way stressful so I’m super excited to see the finished product.

    PS does anyone have any advice when it comes to DJs versus making our own playlist for the wedding? Did anyone make their own playlist and if you did how did it turn out? Were people still interested in dancing or does it kill the mood? Also, who did the announcements? Help. I don’t know if I want to pay close to $1,000 for a DJ but I kind of feel like it’ll be tacky without one. Any advice?

    What I’m watching/reading

    I’m still unsure of how I did this, but I think I mentioned last What’s Up Wednesday that I convinced Tommy to watch Gossip Girl with me. We’ve been binge watching it lately and we’re at an insanely good part. I have been reading tons of books as mentioned before and I will dedicate a specific post to just those books at the end of the month so stay tuned for that if it’s something you’re interested in.

    What I’m doing this weekend

    nichole and me.JPG

    I get to see this awesome girl Friday night and I’m super excited. We made plans to meet up for dinner and it feels like a lifetime since I’ve really spent quality time with her. I feel like I keep saying that in between every time I spend time with her so maybe I should get better at making plans with friends. With the warmer weather upon us I think I’ll have more motivation.

    I’m not really sure what else I’ll do this weekend. Maybe if it’s warm enough I can do some hiking. That’d be awesome. I haven’t gone for a hike since the end of summer I think.

    What I’m looking forward to next month

    Finding a new job hopefully (fingers crossed). Being one month closer to the wedding. The weather warming up finally. Being able to be outside more often. Oh and Easter. Yes, yes, and yes.

    What else is new

    Honestly, I think that might be everything that has happened this past month. Not too much is going on besides trying to eat healthy, planning the wedding, job searching and being a homebody because of the cold.

    What’s Up with your Wednesday? Let’s be friends. 🙂

    I am linking up with Shay, Shaeffer, and Mel

  • Life,  Wedding

    Currently, February

    Eating

    I am most excited to answer this one – Tommy and I are doing a Paleo diet this week (and hopefully will stick to it afterwards). We went shopping for everything we needed on Sunday which was SO FUN and have been faithfully sticking to it so far this week.

    breakfast
    1 banana + 2 eggs w/ onions and broccoli + water + coffee

    salads

    I’m honestly having so much fun prepping these meals, way more fun than I’ve ever had cooking before. The first picture was my breakfast on the first day and these salads and healthy snacks I prepped on Sunday night after we got back from food shopping. I’m planning on doing just a post on our Paleo journey at the end of the week so stay tuned if this is something you are interested in!

    Watching

    Currently not too much. I’m still in the middle of Gossip Girl which I love but it’s starting to get very redundant honestly. Tommy and I actually started Friday Night Lights over again because that was one of our favs.

    Wearing

    The comfiest of comfy work clothes. Since most of the building was laid off at the end of December, there isn’t really anyone here to see what I’m wearing so I’ve been very relaxed and been dressing very comfortable.

    Also! Tommy was the sweetest thing ever and bought me a long jacket that I have been needing, wanting, and wishing for all winter (because I don’t really have any nice warm ones). He surprised me on Valentine’s Day and I absolutely love it. I can’t find the exact one but it looks a lot like this:

    jacket

    Planning

    Still planning the wedding obviously. I went for my first dress fitting last night! And on Saturday we get to go to the cake tasting. We also need to do some song research and finalize the guest list this month. This month has been a lot easier and laid back in terms of planning so it’s been nice.

    Reading

    I’m currently reading both of these and I’m seriously loving Barefoot. It’s such an interesting but sad story. It has me hooked and I can’t wait to see what happens. Changes That Heal is really good too but it’s a hard read. It helps you realize things you are doing wrong so it’s not a book you can just plow through.

    Loving

    As cheesy as it may sound, I’m just loving life right now. Life has been pretty good to me lately and I’m really trying to appreciate that. God seems to have everything under control and I’m loving seeing him lay out our next steps.

  • Wedding

    Wedding Wednesday: Tommy’s Ring

    Hi friends, just wanted to drop in today and share about the details of Tommy’s wedding ring. I actually found it on Pinterest and loved the idea. I ended up showing Tommy and he loved it even more.

    So the place we ordered it from is called Spexton. They custom make each ring, which to me is perfect because it makes it so special. The rings aren’t mass produced somewhere, making the chances of Tommy having the same ring as someone else very high.

    The customer service is really awesome too. They strongly advice you to order test rings before placing your order for the final ring because they want it to fit perfectly. They send you 3 test rings and help you find the correct fit and once you have that you can place the final order knowing that your ring will fit perfectly.

    Right now Tungsten is super popular for men’s wedding rings and while Tommy’s is black it’s made of Black Zirconium. The video explains why Black Zirconium is better to use than Tungsten because Tungsten isn’t originally black – it’s painted black which means that the paint and chip or be scratched off. Black Zirconium is just heated up which alters the nature of the metal and it changes to black, which will not scratch off. So to me that makes this a really quality ring.

    The ring from above is Tommy’s exact ring and I think it’s awesome and so unique. Tommy’s actually interested in metals because he is in training to become a welder and he thinks knowing the process of how his ring was made is really cool, which makes this all so much greater.

    So yeah, that’s the many details of Tommy’s ring (and no they didn’t pay me to post this I just love it that much). The only downfall is that it takes a month to come in once you place the final order but that’s okay because we still have 104 days until the wedding haha!

  • Life,  Wedding

    February Goals

    I haven’t posted goals since November and to be honest and real I didn’t actually work on the goals I posted in November really either, but I want to be more diligent about bettering myself and I want to commit to write goals each month and post them to keep myself accountable.

    Health/Fitness

    • start working out 2-3x’s per week
    • continue making healthy lunches
    • find more healthy recipes
    • drink lots of water

    Marriage/Wedding

    • Research songs for wedding
    • book the baker
    • continue premarital counseling
    • read another marriage book

    Blog

    • post at least 2x’s per week
    • comment on other blogs
    • write a guest post

    Money/Budget

    • make a budget for February
    • save at least 350$

     

    So there yah have it. I want to work more on my health because I can be super lazy when it comes to working out and eating healthy. I want to continue working on planning the wedding obviously. We decided we liked the idea of doing an ipod playlist rather than a DJ because then we get to pick the songs and save so much money too. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips when it comes to this? I also want to make sure I’m not just preparing for the wedding but for our marriage too. I usually set pretty unrealistic goals for myself and get really discouraged when I don’t meet them but I think I did a good job at setting realistic goals this month and I’m really excited to tackle them.

  • Life,  Wedding

    Wedding Wednesday?

    I know, I know it’s Thursday but whatev. After my sad but real post yesterday I thought I d come here and write about something much happier – the wedding! I think I’ve mentioned before I was not one of those girls that had been planning my day for as long as I can remember or anything like that. To be honest, the last wedding I’ve been to I was the flower girl and I was seven. So to say I didn’t even know how to plan a wedding would have been an understatement. I didn’t even know exactly what happened at a wedding!

    Thank God I found this awesome wedding planning checklist which saved me so much research and stress. I printed it out and made a cute little binder and it’s been really helping me know what to do next. So I just thought I’d drop by and share a little bit about what I’ve been planning, the general theme (rustic) of the wedding and what we’ve done vs what we’ve still yet to do.

    To start I thought it’d be a good idea to share a “mood board” I believe they’re called.

    The more I plan, the more excited I get. Those are actually the bridesmaid dresses that I chose, they’re going to alternate colors and I just love that idea. I’m just so excited for the day to be here and all the planning to be done. So far I’ve gotten probably not as much done as I should.

    Venue
    Caterer
    Photographer
    Dress
    Bridesmaid Dresses
    Groom’s Suit
    Groomsman Suits
    Cake
    Flowers
    Centerpieces

    To see a lot of the BIG things like the venue, photographer, and my dresses crossed off makes me feel better but there’s still so much to do! We basically have found a caterer, we just need to finalize it and I have done a lot of research for the cake, flowers, and centerpieces so I’m happy about that. I can’t wait to be able to check off some more things for sure though. It’s going to be here before we know it. 4 months and 1 day!

    This post was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be to write. I think I may just do it again sometime soon 😉