New life.

Ladies~ married life is great!

I just went through the last of the things that are left at my parents' house... including all my wedding planning books, lists, supplies, and left overs. Bittersweet is the word that comes to mind!

It was the perfect day, but so much time went into it that I feel like part of me is missing now! Crazy, huh??

Luckily, I have a lot of other STUFF going on in my life!

I absolutely LOVE being a wife! And I have the new title as step-mom as well! So much fun :)


Today's agenda:
-Our first Christmas tree
-Decorate OUR house
-Watch Christmas Vacation
-Go out for dinner!

p.s. here's more pictures.... because I just love our photography!!!







Ladies~ married life is great!

I just went through the last of the things that are left at my parents' house... including all my wedding planning books, lists, supplies, and left overs. Bittersweet is the word that comes to mind!

It was the perfect day, but so much time went into it that I feel like part of me is missing now! Crazy, huh??

Luckily, I have a lot of other STUFF going on in my life!

I absolutely LOVE being a wife! And I have the new title as step-mom as well! So much fun :)


Today's agenda:
-Our first Christmas tree
-Decorate OUR house
-Watch Christmas Vacation
-Go out for dinner!

p.s. here's more pictures.... because I just love our photography!!!

Ladies!!!! I'm a married woman!! (Without internet access)

:)

I spent an hour on the phone with DirecTV today just to find out that they don't service our area with internet (we're out in the boondocks!)

Anyway- here's a quick few AMAZING preview pictures for you!










Also!!!!! Our wedding preview video!!!!!

Jeff & Heidi Trailer from Jonathan Tirrell on Vimeo.

The Final Countdown

Hey ladies, guess what! I'm getting married in 2 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Here's my to-do list for the next two nights...

*Seating Chart (we're still having people fluctuating with their responses)
*Centerpieces (only did 1 so far... need 14)
*Design our program and print them (holy moly... that's a big task)
*Put together wedding favors (S'more Kits)
*Make parking/wedding signs
*Organize materials for guestbook area at reception
*Create a label for our card box
*Make signs for the bathroom bins
*Hair swirls (with bling and pearls)
*Finish up bridesmaids gifts (have to figure out something with jewelry... hmm)
*Put together groomsmen gifts (not sure why I volunteered to do this for Jeff)- haha
*Combine Itunes playlists (I have them split into slow, fast, line dance lists right now)- that way all our DJ has to do is push play!
*Wrap wire around the tops of mason jars to make them hangeable... and add pebbles to the bottom so our candles stay in place
*Table Number Displays- I already printed the pictures (they are amazing!!)
*Burlap aisle cones (this is just extra... and it probably won't get done)


Stuff that's done (hopefully after I type this it will be a longer list than above.

*Save the Dates
*Invitations
*Crossword Puzzle (designed and printed 100 copies)
*Cake Stands (3 made)
*Trail Mix Bar (all designed, all ingredients bought)
*Signs Painted
*Trail Mix Pouches purchased (burlap bags)
*My Mrs. undies (bedazzled)- (my "something blue")
*1/2 of the gifts for my bridesmaids
*All supplies purchased
*Twine balls made

Okay, that's disheartening... looks like there's a lot more that needs to be done than has already been completed. Yikes.

Tonight = nails done, pick up my dress, then spending time with my maid of honor to work on projects!

Tomorrow = work on projects early in the morning, set up reception site, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, work on projects with the ladies that spend the night with me...

Saturday = GET MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

14 days, WHAT?!?!?!?! (tons of picture updates!)

Okay- first off... where has all the time gone?!?! haha... Jeff and I were hanging out at OUR house last night (he lives there by himself for the next 14 days)- we were talking about how AMAZING it will be to not have to say goodbye. :) Can't wait!!

Other than that... in the past week I've have about 20 mental breakdowns. Money fell through with unemployment big time... we're about $4000 short. haha. No big deal. :P Just kidding- MAJOR DEAL! (Not dealing with it right now, though.) Life goes on. With debt. Yikes.

Bigger news: getting a lot of DIY projects done because here in central PA roads were underwater for about 3 days straight... which meant school was cancelled... which made me a happy bride!

Done in the last three days:
-GOT OUR MARRIAGE LICENSE!!!
-Purchased all the paper products for the reception! (LOVE THEM!!!)


-Thank you cards written and sent out-


-Trail mix bar completely designed-



-Trail mix bar ingredients purchased. (and little scoops for them)


-Paid final deposit on flowers.
-Went to beverage distributor about our keg of birch beer! (Ordering it next week.) Also bought tea, lemonade, and water!
-Bought the paper for our crossword puzzles (designing it this weekend)
-Wood cake stands glued.
-1 centerpiece completed (still needs tweaked a little)
-Dad surprised me an INCREDIBLE card box... I'm blown away!!!





-Dad sawed and drilled our candle holders.
-Signs are painted.




-Wow. I'm proud. :)

-Oh, and I practiced being a good wife last night and made a delicious dinner for my hubby-to-be. He did dishes and set the table!!! We make a great team. :)

Spinach and Chicken Carbonara Pizza

So, all in all- life is pretty darn amazing.

Amazing Awesomeness!!!

So... remember how I said I had no idea where I was going to find time to get major wedding DIY projects done?

Well, first off.... Hurricane Irene rolled through here last night (well, early this morning)... from about 1-6am it was pretty intense.

Which brings me to my next point... yesterday was my surprise bridal shower!!!

My maid of honor hand-delivered these directions to me with a beautiful dress and jewelry inside a bag to get ready. :) (oh, and a bandana- hehe)
Jeff drove me as I was blindfolded... so I wouldn't know where we were going. He pulled into random dirt roads and pulled 360s. I was so sick by the time the drive was over. hahaha...
So, the party was supposed to be out in my yard... which obviously was not a good place for it with the hurricane on it's way. :) So, my ingenious lovely ladies strategized with my parents and made plans to move it into our barn.

I only have this one mobile upload that one of my lovelies posted on facebook...


Anyway- at the party I explained my predicament about not having time... and wedding plans being stalled.

In comes Hurricane Irene.

Woke up at 6am this morning to a crashing noise outside my window. Without glasses on I saw branches waving right outside my window. Not a good sign... seeing that the tree that used to be in our yard was growing about 35 feet from our house.

So, my dad spent the afternoon cutting it down for firewood. And then I came into the picture and asked for varying sized chunks for centerpieces, cake stands, and stilts for the Trail Mix Bar baskets.

Hurricane Irene saves the day!!!!! :) haha

Life (a.k.a. eodnwoeh wq;h; j qwo ao a w;ofiaj;) !!!!!!

So, I'm really not sure how I'm supposed to do all of my wedding planning and devote myself to my new job as well. Currently, plans have been halted for about 3weeks while I've been preparing my classroom and going through a grueling training process! Working at a school for children with Emotional Disturbance is a lot of dang work!

Because I am not focused on wedding stuff right now, I'm going to make a to-do list of classroom prep stuff that needs done before my kiddos show up on Monday!

-Syllabus (figure out grading junk too)
-Make some signage for the classroom (general rules as well as more specific things like areas in the classroom they cannot go to without permission, etc.)
-Make large 5 pillars signs (Respect, Responsibility, Trust, Effort, Courage)
-Plan 1st day activity (possibly art related)
-Write up lesson plan to send to coordinator by Sunday night
-Cut out 81 #s for giant Sudoku board in back of room
-Plan first week's lessons... yikes.
-Organize papers from training based on subject... (IEPs, WFA, Student Roster, etc)
-Get a good night's sleep Sunday night

Holy moly.


Also, I'm getting married in 29 days.

So stressed. Oh, and we can start moving stuff into our house at any point now because we have the keys... but gosh, how am I supposed to find time or energy to do that?!?!?!?!?

p.s. I still absolutely love my job. It's definitely my dream job- I just have to figure out my time management skills so my wedding turns out as awesome as I originally envisioned it!

Life's Craziness.

So... this is me lately:

*I've accomplished nothing wedding-related since my last post (yikes).
*I started my new job (which is amazing by the way).
*I'm commuting a little over an hour each way right now (not so amazing).
*Jeff and I have been given (for free) a couch, some dressers, and quite possibly a bed. (yay!)
*I went camping again and made another sand sculpture!!


*I have been sucking at healthy eating... so I won't be losing the 7-10 lbs. of pudge I'd been hoping for before the wedding.
*Only 35 days to go!!!!
*Hanging out with my maid of honor and going to pick up her wedding dress today! (She gets married 1 month after me- craziness!!!)

Home Sweet Home!

Guess what, friends!!!!

We have a place to call home!

I feel spoiled, because I've lived out in the country my whole life- and when it came time for us to start the apartment search... I wasn't too excited about apartment living. Sharing walls, no privacy like I'm used to, and always having to hunt for a parking space. Well, in comes Dad to the rescue! There's a cute little house a mile from his job headquarters that just went up for rent.

Dad was trying to get out of the picture... unsuccessfully. :P

I called. We saw. They offered. We took it. We have a home! (A WHOLE HOUSE!!!!) (WITH A YARD AND 2 SHEDS!!!!!) - all within 24 hours!

It's out in the middle of farm country, with a lot of privacy, a cute little yard... and an amazing fishing creek right behind the house (down a 10ft. dropoff- so no worries about flooding!)

*Hard wood floors in most rooms
*New linoleum in kitchen (literally, installed 2 days ago!)
*Extra bonus room for my "creativity space" like scrapbooking and drawing!!
*Perfect space upstairs for Avery's room and play area
*Bonus room upstairs for our instruments (my drumset, his keyboard, and our guitars)
*House will be ready for move-in by September 1st! Perfect timing for Jeff since his rent is paid up for the month of August. Nice. Then I'll move in October 1st when we get back from the Honeymoon!!! <3

WOW!

And for an amazing price, might I add. :)

Dang, God is good!!!

Happenings

So, here's the latest.

Wedding stuff is now taking over every square inch of the spare room which is now coined "Heidi's closet." It houses all of my apartment stuff from college, my drum set, my adventurey things (backpack, tent, sleeping bag, caving gear, snowboard, etc)- and now everything wedding. :)


Also, I had my hair trial. This is NOT how my hair will look, but only my bridesmaids and my momma knows the finished product. It's nice. :)

Also, I laid out all of the baskets I've accquired for the Trail Mix bar (plus the fabric)- and realized it needed a little somethin' somethin'.

So, I'm going to add some height to it! Problem solved.

Also, I accomplished another DIY project. Twine Balls!!! (and I never want to do them again.) :)

Whew. That was a lot to update on!

One man's trash...

is another's TREASURE!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I was walking across the road to go inside the other afternoon something caught my eye out of my peripheral vision! Check. It. Out!


So, to some this might just seem like an overflowing garbage can of lawn junk.

But to me... I see saving $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ on centerpieces.

You see, intermingled with trimmed branches, dead flowers, and dried grass chunks.... is scraps from our Willow Tree. :)

here's what I salvaged :) I'm proud.

So, this will now be incorporated into the centerpieces somehow, and is safely stowed in my "wedding nook" out in the barn- along with wood I found on the side of the road, sticks I found at our reception site, and yard sale findings.


Tonight, I am working on making my hair spirals (because this Saturday is my hair trial!!!) and maybe making some twine balls. We'll see. I've been pretty sick for 2 days so I might end up just lazing around some more reading book 5 of Harry Potter (I'm on my 3rd round through the books.) I haven't read them since Book 7 came out though. :P

Eeney Meeney Miney Mo.

So, with 57 days left I should definitely be knocking things off my to-do list. Instead, I'm adding.

Rather, expanding. (this word makes me feel better about giving myself more work)


Tonight- Jeff and I are finalizing things on our Target Registry (I love target). We gave ourselves 2 1/2 hours a few months back to register and everything went great... but by the end of it we were just scanning stuff to get it over with. I've weeded out the ugly impulse things... and now tonight we have a specific list of items to find in the store. I like having a plan. :)

One tough thing is not knowing where we'll be living (or what kind of place we should plan for)... our plan is to start looking within 2 weeks of now for an apartment... but I have to share something that makes me laugh. hehehe....

We're also registered on amazon.com - not sure if you've ever experienced it, but they have the "Universal Registry" option... which means you can go onto any website online that sells things and click "Add to Registry" on your toolbar. So, as a joke... I decided to put it to the test. There's one house on realtor.com that really interests me........... so I added it to the registry.


Yep. There's a house on our wedding registry.


hahaha.... oh dear, I know we won't get it (duh) but it's just funny to look at. :)

Good U-turn :)

Isn't it awesome how life can just turn around in a matter of minutes?

I know I don't mention God on here much... but I just need to give Him a shout out. I believe that all good things come from Him (James 1:17). I've been praying and believing since I got the call a few weeks back telling me that I was no chosen for my dream job I had applied for. (1 Peter 5:7) Then I continued believing that I would be blessed when I got the letter stating that I was laid-off. I continued to talk to God through the process of dealing with unemployment being denied.

Well, let me tell you - God has turned my life around. Yet again. :) I got a call yesterday morning from the Director of HR at my old job telling me to appeal the denied claim. He sent me a letter to attach to the appeal to support me. And then this afternoon I got a call from the place I interviewed with last week.... and........ I got the job! I am now a special education teacher at VisionQuest!!!!!!!!!!!! :) I am so so so so so so happy and blessed!

Oh- and to clear up any confusion from the last post. I'm choosing not to wear a garter. But we are doing a bouquet toss. :)

AAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand- today was so successful.
I got about 20 things done on my to-do list and went into town to the dollar tree and got balloons for my twine balls. I should be doing them within the next few days: so excited!!!!

To toss or not to toss. That is the question.

So, Jeff and I were going a tad untraditional (which I realize is not all that uncommon nowadays) with our wedding plans. We weren't planning on having a flower girl or a ring bearer... simply because there will be no children at the wedding. Well, except for his 7 year old son- which we're going to install as a Jr. Groomsman... but now I'm thinking ring bearer (anyway- that's not the point of this post).

I will not be wearing a garter, and he will sure as heck not be sticking his hands or heaven forbid (as I've seen it done before) his face up my dress in front of all those people! (Keep in mind, our first kiss in almost 2 years will be taking place infront of EVERYONE that day). Anyway... point being- no garter/no garter toss.


I just figured since there would be no garter toss... there would be no flower toss either. But then my [single] lady friends said, "Whaaaaaaat??!?!"

And now, there will be a toss. :)

With that being said, I want to show off what my wonderful Bridesmaid, Teddy (codename) made for me with fake flowers we picked out at her store last week!!!!

(I'm in love with it.)
She texted this picture to me earlier today then surprised me with a visit in person tonight so I could marvel in its wonder in person!!! :)
Oh, and the updated version has a band of burlap and a twine bow on the hand held part of it.

isn't it gorgeous?!!?

Also, hope I didn't offend anyone with the garter pictures. That's just not our style. We're much more modest and censored. haha... like I said, not kissing until we're married.