This is my solemn vow.

Our wedding was everything we wanted and more. We had a perfect weekend with family and friends and because there are no words to describe how much fun we had and how special it was, I'm just going to post a few photos friends sent to us.

5 Things Friday

It's been a quiet blog lately so just thought I'd share some recent things...

1) You may remember the big furniture project we did last month - we did it again! Same type of furniture, same everything... except it is still in pieces in the sunroom waiting for a nice coat of poly before it's back home in the bedroom. The master bedroom in our house has an odd layout and we don't have much wall space. Instead of a chest and dresser, we are having to use two chests and plan to rehome our dressers. We started working on the second chest last weekend when the weather was perfect!

2) Wedding day is coming up! We [finally] picked up my dress Tuesday, shoes are still questionable, and the flower I ordered from Etsy arrived. I love it; it looks and feels real. I can't figure out what material it is, latex? Here's a sneak...

3) Can we talk about Neti Pots? Best thing ever. I'm not even kidding. I heard about these a couple years ago but refused to buy one. I even went so far as to carry one up to the check out but then promptly took it back to the aisle where I found it. Last year when I was sick for forever, I was so desperate, I bought one. It's amazing. Seriously, I love the thing. It took a little while and a lot of gumption but it works. I've been using it quite a bit this week. If you're sick or have allergies, BUY one!

4) Tulip has a driveway! Chandler used to go inside and take pictures but the door is locked now, yay! We got the driveway and sidewalk this week and we're hoping that the cabinets, floors, etc... will be next. Baseboards are in, walls are painted, and there are only 5 weeks to go!

5) It's been a somewhat frustrating week and I've decided this is the song of the week.
'No matter what kind of craziness is going on... God still has a plan and He's still in control.' - JJ Heller



JJ Heller, Your Hands (see her talk about the video via this link)

I have unanswered prayers
I have trouble I wish wasn't there
And I have asked a thousand ways
That You would take my pain away
That You would take my pain away

I am trying to understand
How to walk this weary land
Make straight the paths that crookedly lie
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands

When You walked upon the Earth
You healed the broken, lost, and hurt
I know You hate to see me cry
One day You will set all things right
Yea, one day You will set all things right

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands

Your hands
Your hands that shape the world
Are holding me, they hold me still
Your hands that shape the world
Are holding me, they hold me still

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave You when...

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave...
I never leave Your hands

Just a little wedding update...

A color tease...
I used to know exactly what colors I wanted: plum and raspberry; but when we decided May would be the month, the colors seemed a bit too deep summer/early fall. Every other combination I played with wasn't right... turquoise and orange, yellow and pink, green and blue... everything seemed ALL wrong for early Spring. Finally, someone asked me what colors I wore a lot. Easy: pink, peach, mango. So that settled it. What an easy way to make a decision... and perfect colors for early Spring! Official colors are light pink and peach. (My sister seems to have a hard time with this and says pink and orange, which could be true, only very light orange would be more correct.) We'll have splashes of green and white polka dot to mix up the color a little... Think vintage chic meets urban traveler. Make sense? I didn't think so... :) Nothing's new!

A couple weeks ago, our AWESOME photographer B-Dub Diddy came over to design our 'save the date' cards -- Nola was utterly and totally psyched to see her!

...she even brought fun toys!!! Check it:

We picked out some pictures, talked about fonts, listened to Twilight soundtrack, got distracted, talked about everything under the sun, and she peaced out right before Halloween festivities kicked off in full swing... Fast forward two weeks (three?) and our cards arrived in the mail. They are AWESOME!!! THANKS B-DUB DIDDY YO!!!!!

Otherwise, just doing some reading... having some dates with Beth Moore (we've been discussing Daniel).

Delivery!

Funny that the box that contained my wedding dress had "SINGLE" stamped on it. Hmmm... :D Seven months and some change to go! So far, planning is great and I'm not really understanding why people say it's so stressful. Choosing the date has been -by far- the worst part and I won't even go into it but many have told me I should see Bride Wars. (For the record, I don't think either of us have seen it! And by "either of us" I mean my friend-who-is-also-getting-married-on-that-day.)

So, my dress came - early! It was originally not supposed to arrive until mid-November and I was oh so excited when I got an email saying it had shipped!!! Oh so excited, except for the whole feeling like a giant buffalo part. That, not as exciting. But I'm told there are body shaping garments that squeeze you together and make you look a size or so smaller. We might be investigating those tiny torture pieces. I'm starting to wonder what kind of mirrors the stores have in them anyway...

Some weeks ago (and by some weeks I really mean last month), my sweet friends sent me a surprise you're-getting-married box! It was FILLED with the sweetest things!!! These girls... I really have no words for them. They put together the most fun box ever! I tried to take my time and slowly take out one thing at a time - they had several H's (for Chan's last name), a SUPER book that had really neat DIY ideas, two beautiful necklaces, one that someone made that had our names on it (LOVE IT!!!)... and a really cool planner for all of my lists with another H (and if I had to guess, I'd say they might have put that H on there too!) - I know another someone who is a little obsessed with initials. There were a few other things too and it totally made my day! Thanks again girls!!!

I would LOVE to post a picture of my dress, but Chandler pops in here from time to time and stalks me, so I have to refrain from too much dress talk. So far, he knows it's white and may or may not have straps. ;) He also knows it's long and I think that's enough 411 for him!

We had our engagement pictures taken a couple weeks ago and they were great!!! There were quite a few that I completely ruined... let's just say the "serious" face is not a good look for me. So much for any potential modeling career....

If I can, I'll post a couple of sneak pics - must ask our awesome B-Dub ...

Please help.

Without going into detail, I'm asking for your suggestions, expertise...

Girls, what do your husbands/boyfriends/partners do to make you feel:

...special
...important
...loved


????

Where I've been...

I just realized it's been over a week (ok, two weeks...) since I posted. Ah! See, I was behind this truck and well, somewhere in between the fresh corn and bright red apples, I decided to follow him and got lost.

...actually, Chandler had an interview in VA on Friday so he got into town at 1:45am Friday and we got up at 4am to drive to VA for the interview. It went well! We're hoping to hear something in the next few weeks. Prayers please!


We had a good time for the whirlwind trip. Did a lot of nothing... but we did pick out his wedding band so that is some good progress! Pictures to follow... we ordered two rings as we couldn't decide on one so we'll pick when we see them "in person." I'm just excited to start taking pictures of the bands together! Slightly bummed that he picked titanium, but only for aesthetic purposes of photos so I'll get over it. It's what he decided he liked best so I went with it. We went in looking for white gold or palladium and ended up ordering two titaniums. Not completely sure we'll end up with either but most likely we will. Hmm... actually. Maybe tomorrow I'll call and see if they might order us a regular palladium so we can see it. Not a bad idea.

"Say cheese... or kibble!"

A couple months ago Nola, Titan, and Roxy had a photo shoot with Brittany Wright. She's a local photog working on a book that features rescue dogs and she's been collecting stories and photos of dogs in our area. She was SO awesome and we got some great shots of the pups. Nola was super nervous and had her freak-out face on most of the time but towards the end of the afternoon she started to settle. If helped that B-dub brought a bag of kibble treats. I caught sly Belly with her head in the bag a few too many times!!!

Best picture of Roxy.... ever.

Belly's nervous smile, but a smile no less!

Brittany (we call her B-dub to differentiate between the Britts since they spell their names the same way and have the same last name initial) is still in need of rescue dogs for her book project. If you're local -- check out her site, she has a blog too!

If you're not local but are interested in having your dog featured in her book, still contact her! We think she's pretty awesome and D and I have already booked her for engagement pics.... we're hoping she'll be able to shoot the wedding next year too!

Oh! Be sure to ask her about her dog Scarlett, she might sing a song for you! (Tony! Toni! Tone! 'nuff said.)

Also be sure to check out MyleStone Gallery that she and her sister run -- they have some incredibly neat finds that are mostly local and/or handmade. I bought a bracelet and a soy candle when I was last there and feel the need to stop back by and check out the new stuff!

[Almost] Wordless Wednesday... Diamonds

I'm not actually participating in the WW blog carnival, but I am in love with this picture and am just a tiny bit obsessed with taking pictures of my new favorite piece of jewelry. I can't promise there won't be more.

While we're on topic, let's have a poll. Before I got this ring, I decided that when I did get it, I wouldn't take it off unless I was doing something super gross, or something that could harm the stones or metal. That being said, because I am a hydration fanatic, I use a lot of lotion. I realize that rings hate lotion so I've been using a brush to clean it after the rub down. I suppose I'll probably clean it every week or so just because I do keep it on all of the time.

Tell me... do you take your rings off? How often do you clean them at home (if you clean them at home)?

I know a lot of people take their rings off at night or when they shower. What makes you take your rings off? I'm curious.

(So much for the wordless post....)

Random Friday

If you invite me to your house, and we plan to eat, this is what I'm bringing. YUM....

Aside from sewing 20 or so bags this weekend, I plan to play with this baby! Scott let me borrow one of his monster pro cameras to take some pics of the pups...

...and so of course I had to play around with it tonight. The lighting was awful so 'scuse that, but I'm diggin' the twiga crown. I'm sure there will be LOTS of fun pictures tomorrow!!!

Britt is bringing Titan and Roxy and they're all going to be here for a sleepover tomorrow - it's going to be GOOD times!!!

How it happened...

D's flight was cancelled and he arrived a day late (no surprise there...). When he finally got here it was almost lunch time on Friday and the weather was beautiful! He suggested going to the beach, but I mentioned that we were doing that on Saturday... he went on and on about the weather and how great it was while I whined about how the day was half over and we wouldn't have long to hang out down there.... ultimately, I decided to toss the rules out and go. It took another hour to get everyone ready....

The plan was to walk to the pier then go get the towels and just enjoy the beach when most everyone else left around dinner time. Nola had other plans... there were SO many umbrellas, of which, she's [not surprisingly] terrified... and it was high tide, so that left very little sand to walk on... we decided to just get our stuff and stay put rather than walking.

We dug a few holes, chatted, shook off the towel, dug some more holes, shook off the towel...

...as we were watching the waves roll in we saw two tiny ghost crabs running around in front of us. When the water would get close, one would run inside his hole while the other one just crawled around trying to get away from it. D said something about how they needed their shells. I told him those crabs didn't have shells. He kept going on and on (and on and on) about how they needed shells... and I finally snapped that those weren't the type of crabs that had shells (!!!). Then he opened his hand to reveal a few shells he'd picked up and asked which one I thought they should have. Before I could further argue, he flipped one of shells and asked what I thought about it... underneath it, still in his hand, was my ring... Yada, yada, yada... goo, goo... I said yes!

I didn't really think this post through, but since so many people have asked for details, I thought I'd go ahead and post... We have quite a few ideas already ("we" meaning ME!) so I'm sure there will be lots more details to come!