Party time + Shopping!

Oh man--THREE DAYS LEFT!! I'm sitting up with Em right now (we're both on our laptops) and looking at pictures both old and new.

The girls had a surprise bachelorette party for me at Lindsay's house last night--we had so much fun! Chinese food, a stubborn pinata that wouldn't break, lots of fun games, Casablanca, great friends, and wedding favors made for a great night!

In addition to making more favors today, we took a load of stuff down to the condo . . . then we shopped! I discovered that Marissa owns most of our shirts and that I've been managing by sneaking (oops, I mean borrowing) into her clothes. Anyway, we found several very cute shirts and two super nice pairs of shorts. Yay!

After working hard tomorrow, Mom and I are getting pedicures courtesy of Gloria (I saved that gift card for a year!). I've never had a pedicure before, and I hear that they are wonderful. I can hardly wait! Three more days, oh my!!!

Only 9 Days Away!!

With only 9 days left til the wedding, we're all trying not to relax. Haha, everything is so busy right now! I can hardly wait until the the day comes and we can all enjoy the fruits of our labor.



We had a great 4th of July with family and friends. Kingsville parade kicked off our day and we watched it with my family, the Miner family, the Huies, the Spiegels, and Caleb Primos. The weather was great and everyone got lots of candy. Next we went to Miner's for a fantastic lunch and lots of fellowship. Our final part of the evening was spent in the pool with the girls . . . brrr!

Right now, Ris, Jess, and I are working on putting favors together. We just put a movie in to help the time pass by more swiftly. Liddle Boy Katt is wreaking havoc on the house and making us all laugh.

Eileen flies in tonight, and we have a fun day planned for tomorrow. I ordered a new camera (seeing how mine broke the day after the warranty expired and Kodak wouldn't fix it), and it's come in time for me to get pictures of all of these fun pre-wedding times together!

19 DAYS!!!!!

With just 19 days left until the wedding, things are getting a little hectic around here. For a little break, Patrick and I went to go see Darius Rucker and Rascal Flatts in concert on Saturday night with John and Kim. AWESOME!! Boy was it a fantastic concert! Now, however it is back to work.

I have just a few thank-you notes left to write . . . many details left to work out . . . but I feel like it's all coming together. Oh man, 19 days! It's so exciting!

Every time we head down to the Towson area, we bring another load of stuff down to Patrick. My clothes, however, still need to be packed, as do all of my knick-knacks and lamps and mirrors.

Emily will be up a week before the wedding. YAY! We have lots of wedding stuff to do together, but it will be done while spending quality time together. I love that girl so much! It's been eons since we've been together for any great length of time! Anybody have any good chick flicks for us to watch while she's here? Ris and I are hoping to watch a bunch of girly movies before the wedding . . . while working on favors and stuff.

Eileen is coming up soon, and we're planning to do something fun together. I can't wait!

Slideshow from the Shower

Thanks to Morgan for the AMAZING slideshow!

Showers of Blessings

So, life has been so busy lately! It is my honest opinion that long engagements should be BANNED . . . and seven months is definitely way too long to be engaged. I have wedding plans/details coming out my ears, oozing from my pores, and frying up my brain--I can't wait for it all to finally come together and be done! To make things more stressful, my computer is still acting up (the hard drive just crashed for the SECOND TIME). Honestly, I feel like I've spent more time on the phone with Dell in the past month than I have on the phone with Patrick. Depressing, right? However, God is giving me peace and enabling me to trust in Him through all of these "little things."

Mom and Marissa threw a second shower for me at Trinity. With the help of Mrs. Mickey, Mrs. Maria, and Kristen, we went early to set up and decorate. Everything looked really beautiful. Marissa made and decorated a delicious, GORGEOUS cake which totally wowed a lot of people (especially me . . .).

There were so many people there! Members from my mom's family, my dad's family, Patrick's family, the church women from Trinity, and some from New Covenant all came. It was really an overwhelming blessing to see that so many women and girls gathered to shower their love and support on Patrick and me as we prepare for our lives together.

We received so many wonderful gifts from so many people, and I am currently in the process of writing out a million thank-you cards. Literally. We are so thankful for everyone who came and for the generosity of all of the women and girls.

God has definitely blessed us thus far, and we pray that He will continue to bless and to guide us through the time until our wedding and the rest of our lives.

Shopping!!

One month and eight days---WOW! Time is flying by! Perhaps some of it is because we've had things to do EVERY WEEKEND, but our days are just never ending! Each and every day finds us with a loooong list of things that need to be done.

Today, I had an 8:30 AM (thanks Mom for the uber-early hour!) appointment with the oral surgeon just to make sure that I am healing properly (I am). After that, we went to Michael's to find and organize our thoughts. We went back later with McKenzie and Molly Edwards and Kristen Miner to make use of our coupons. It was so much fun!

Once we dropped them off, Mom and I went shopping for clothes! Mom bought a dress for the rehearsal. I was finally able to find some clothes for the honeymoon (I found several CUTE dresses), a dress for the rehearsal, and something for the church shower on Friday--I got SUCH bargains! Things are really starting to sink in now, and I'm getting really excited!

Bridal Shower!!

The Fulford's threw a beautiful shower for me out in Clarksville this past weekend. Mom, Kim, and Aunt Pat worked hard and everything was just lovely. The food was amazing, the decorations gorgeous, and the games fun.

I was able to meet many family friends, childhood friends of Patrick, and visit with family and women I had met before. To top it off, Eileen flew in for FOUR HOURS just for the shower. Kim took a lot of great pictures (some of which will be posted here) to capture memories from the day.

My wisdom teeth were pulled today, so my face is swollen. Thankfully the surgery was after the shower and not before!

It's getting closer!!

Wow, we had such a great time up in New England this past weekend with my family. Patrick and Uncle Terry bonded over early morning breakfast conversations (and conversations in the car, and around the house, and during marital counselling, and did I mention conversations?), and he bonded with Brett as they bunked together in the basement.

Interestingly, I saw a new side of P that was kind of scary: the PYRO side. During our visit, we sat around a fire pit twice. On the second night, Patrick realized that "Hey--it's FUN to make fire!" and began running around feverishly like a chicken with his head cut off to throw more pine needles and branches onto the ever-rising flames. Aunt Debbie had to tell him to calm down and wait twice because the fire was taller than he. The grin on his face while he ran back and forth was hysterical.

We visited briefly with the Ventura family on the way back, and we had an AWESOME trip!

Once we returned, we got the marriage license, and we got the wedding bands today. I'm working on arranging the ceremony music right now (gotta love Finale!). Everything is getting done little by little. Mom and I are planning to go out shopping for more wedding stuff today.

The response cards are coming in. It's exciting to go to the mailbox and see a bunch of little ivory envelopes waiting to be opened! I love getting mail! :-)

There's a shower out in Frederick on Saturday, and I'm looking forward to meeting a ton of people! It should be a lot of fun! On the same day, my cousin Gary Strickland is having his graduation party--we have a doctor in the family!! Congrats Gary!!!

Next weekend, I am going with the family down to Lynchburg for Nick's high school graduation party. I can't WAIT to see everyone--especially Emily!--and it's so exciting that another one of us has grown up! Congratulations Nick!

More Stuff Done!

Well, my first full, official day off saw many things accomplished.

All of the music for the wedding ceremony has been chosen and all but one piece has been ordered (I still need to find it). Because this is done, we can now make up/print the ceremony programs.

The rehearsal time is set.

We have decided to go with Basta Productions for our videography and I'll hopefully meet with Henry Basta some time in the next few weeks. Next week, hopefully we'll meet with Mr. Perskie and firm up our photography package.

Mom and I did another count of all of our supplies today and we plan to make another Michael's run tomorrow.

I am still looking for a piano, but I may have found a sofa today . . . we'll look at that tomorrow too.

I still have to pack for this weekend--we're driving up for marriage counselling in New Hampshire and we'll get to spend time with the fam!!

Wedding Trivia

Today is Dalmatian Day . . . there are 101 days left till the wedding. :-)

The bridesmaids dresses arrived in the mail yesterday--what an answer to prayer! The company said they should be in by May at some point, but we weren't 100% confident about when exactly that was going to be. Now we don't have to worry! Krista emailed me a picture of herself in the Jr. Bridesmaid dress, and she looks gorgeous (and boy is she excited!).

Patrick and I began the whole gift registry process last week. While we both liked the stuff at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I found Target to be a more relaxing place to register. At BBB, the sales woman didn't check on us periodically, didn't shadow us, she stuck with us like gum in a little girl's hair. For those of you who know me well, you understand that "hovering" makes me nervous--no standing over me while I practice, no reading over my shoulder . . . We still have a lot left to do with the registries because our schedules only allow for an hour here or there at stores.

Engagement Pictures

We went out to the boardwalk in Havre de Grace, MD, one of our favorite spots, with Marissa last week and took about a zillion engagement pictures. As I edit them, I may put some of them up here on the blog. Thankfully, I picked a jacket that at least looked alright for pictures, unlike Patrick's sweatshirt, and I was allowed to wear it in the photos. Believe me, it was COLD and windy out there on the water. We had a lot of fun, and kudos to Marissa for some great pictures!

Wedding Date and Location

The wedding is officially set for July 18, 2009, at half past two o'clock in the afternoon. The ceremony will be held at Trinity Reformed Baptist Church where we met. A reception will follow at four o'clock PM at Level Fire Company. Formal invitations will be mailed in May.

You can find Trinity at I-95 and Mountain Road (Exit 74, MD Rt. 152), just 10 minutes north of I-695. The street address is 2907 Mountain Road, Joppa, MD. The church building is located on the north side of Mountain Road just west of the I-95 interchange.

To reach the fire hall,
Make a left from the Trinity parking lot and get onto I-95 North. Drive about 15 miles to exit 89, toward Havre de Grace. Keep SLIGHT LEFT to take the MD-155 W ramp toward CHURCHVILLE. Turn LEFT onto MD-155/LEVEL RD. At the three way stop, turn right onto Hopewell Road, then make an immediate left onto Level Village Road. Follow until you see the fire company on the left.