Wedding Updates

So I cannot believe how time is flying but our wedding will be here in just over 6 months. I cannot believe it! When we first started planning last June it seemed so very far away but like everyone has said it will be here before we know it.
My dress finally came in and I went to try it on last week accompanied by my best friend, my grandma and my mom. It is even more beautiful than I remembered. It is slightly tight around the mid section however, so I may be needed to work out a little harder as the wedding gets closer =/.
My best friend and I went to look at wedding invitations a couple of weeks ago and I absolutely fell in love with a design from the paper store so I will be ordering those later this week. I am going to be calling upon the help of all of my friends to assembly them because it is going to be quite the process but luckily I am blessed with some wonderful women in my life.
Also we decided upon a florist =)! She came highly recommended by our incredible photographers @ Ford Family Photography, check them out here. Our florist had some wonderful ideas and after spending the morning with her my mother and I knew we couldn't go with anyone else.
Next we have to order the tuxes and begin our registires. So many exciting details =)!
Planning a wedding really could be a full time job!
Any suggestions, hints or tips?!?

Inspirations...

As I was running on the tredmill, my ipod began playing a very familar song and I felt a smile instantly begin to spread across my face. The song was "You Gotta Be" by Deseree. The song has special meaning to me because my mom used to play it for us every morning before we left for school, but as a listened to it tonight I realized how truly uplifting the words are.

Take a moment and listen to the song and let the music take your mind. What's your inspirational song?

Graduation

It’s hard to even believe but after 7 years of school I will be graduating with my Masters in Education/Elementary Teaching Credential. WOW! However, although my LAST day of class is this coming Tuesday I still have quite the hefty to do list before I can apply for my credential. I am posting it here as a reminder to myself of what I need to get done within the next week, my personal goal is to be finished by this coming Friday.

My To Do List:

1. Write a 700 – 1050 word paper on an Ethical Issue within my work setting

2. Attend class Tuesday and present our Mock Action Research Paper

3. Finish & Submit TPA 3

4. Finish & Submit TPA 4

5. Finish & Submit my log of observation hours, along with signatures, descriptions and demographics.

6. Obtain & Submit my CPR certification

SO much to do SO little time! But I can do it! Right?!? =/

Shopping...

Shopping is a wonderful and terrible hobby of mine, which I never ever want to give up. However, during my student teaching, continuing into now I do not have the money I used to have to spend on clothing. So I have been trying to only buy things that are on sale.
I have done this little juggle more than a few times =/. Maybe I should become a personal shopper, than I could shop all day long but with other peoples money? Although would it be as much fun if I weren't getting anything for me?
Picture found here.

Last week at Target, I found quite a few wonderful items on clearance:

This beautiful blue sweater was on clearance for $6.24, and I justified buying it because I can wear it to work too =)

This beautiful gray sweater was on clearance for $6.24 too. I couldn't believe it. I remember seeing it for full price which was $29.99 but I just couldn't justify spending that when my closet was already full. Guess that's the benefit of wearing an extra small, sometimes they still have some left on clearance =). This is the item I was the most excited about. I have been eying this dress since it first came out in the stores but it was $39.99 and like Brian enjoys reminding me I don't NEED anymore dresses. However, finding it on clearance for $9.98 I just had to have it!

Where do you find the best deals on clothing? Any helpful hints for deals on jeans?

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Sex and the City:
“Carrie: Honey, if it hurts so much, why are we going shopping?
Samantha: I have a broken toe, not a broken spirit.”

Save the Dates

FINALLY, almost all of our Save the Dates are in the mail. They were quite the process to get done. I spent hours on the phone with my mom and sister picking out the "perfect" picture and Brian came in and said no to everything we had picked out. So we started over again and ended up with the Save the Date we ordered. We only have a few left to send out because I am waiting on addresses from Brian. I can't believe the wedding is only a little over 6 months away...

P90X

I recently started a new workout regime called P90X. My future sister in law, Deeanna, mentioned a couple months back that she had bought the DVD's but with 3 kids under 3 (she is a saint of some sort, I don't know how she does it) she hasn't had much time to try them. However, the other day she called me and asked if I would want to do them with her Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 5:15 -6:15am. We started last week and let me tell you, it is a GREAT workout. I am still sore from last weeks leg workout. It also gives us some girl time every other morning to catch up on what's going on in our lives. Oh and a huge added bonus we motivate one another to get up and workout. Has anyone tried it? If you haven't you definitely should!

Projects

My, oh, my I am behind on my blogging. However, I have good reasons. Since last time I wrote a "real" blog, we have done SO many things:

1st, I finished student teaching. It was such a fantastic experience and I feel so lucky to have been placed at such a wonderful school. I still think about all my students everyday and I hope to be able to sub for them a couple times before school is out in June. These are my wonderful 3rd graders:

OH and on a side note, I finish my credential/Masters program January 26th =)! Yay!

We've also been doing ALOT of work around the house (and by we I mean Brian). First he decided it was time for the lineloum to go, so he tiled the laudry room and both guest bathrooms.

They turned out beautiful, so much pretier than the old linoleum. Would you believe me if I told you it was his first tile job?

After tiling those areas he moved onto our Master Bathroom/Closet area. He was only supposed to be tiling the floor, however in the process of tearing out the linoleum he found mold. So I came home to this:

Needless to say I was a little shocked (major understatement). I was in a state of panic, it was overwhelming and neither of us had any idea what we were doing. SO we went to Home Depot and bought a book, Tiling for Dummies, and we ended up with this:

I kinda LOVE it. Two shower heads and two cubby holes. It's perfect. The bathroom and closet floors also got retiled.

So as if that wasn't enough work. Brian decided that the wood floors we had been talking about doing also needed to go in before Christmas. Being that we were having Christmas Dinner for 20 people (more on this later), I no doubt panicked. However, they too turned out beautifully! We put them through the kitchen, family room and down both hallways.

Before:

After:

We still need to get a rug but I haven't decided one yet. Any suggestions?