AG; Year 5

Five years ago today, we ...

...got married.

 9.17.11

Four years ago, we ...

AG; Year Three

Three years ago today, we ...

...got married.

 9.17.11

Two years ago, we ...

AG: Year Two

Two years ago today, we ...

...got married.

9.17.11

One year ago, we ...

Big Sunday; A Wedding and Yoga Milestone

When I was 20, I joined the speech and debate team at my community college. You can laugh at the nerdiness. I'm cool with it. You'll see why as you read on.

During my second semester, an older girl who had done speech a few years earlier, rejoined the team to participate in some of the oral interp (acting) events. Her name was Jenny, and together with another girl, we were part of our teams Interpreters' Theatre, which meant we spent a lot of time together. I kind of latched onto her like a big sister. She was funny and we'd sing together and goof off in hotel rooms on tournament weekends.

It's been almost eight years since we met, and she's remained one of the few people from that team I've stayed in touch with. We had our communication droughts, but in the last two years we've been able to catch up and in some ways, its like having my speech big sister back.

Last Sunday, the time changed and my friend married the man of her dreams. I only met him for the first time that day, but I truly believe that. They are perfect together.

I felt so blessed to be able to be there and share that time with them. I might have gotten a little misty-eyed when she walked down the isle.

Solo Travel Weekend; Florida, Friends, & Fancy

That's right, I'm wearing a minimum of seven glow sticks (that you can see). I also have 3 or 4 bracelets on the other wrist and, for a good part of the night, I was wearing a necklace.

I told you I went to Florida all by my lonesome the first week of October.

More pictures have been surfacing, and I just thought I would share some of my favorites.

Not for the Motion Sick

My momma on ze boat

May 19th was my cousin Matt's wedding on a boat in Newport Harbor(?).

I was a little worried about this because the last handful of times I've been out on a boat, I gots a leettle beet nauseous, but I pulled one of my favorite - nautically appropriate - dresses out of the closet and Tim & I drove our little tushies down to Newport to set sail for Helen & Matt's nuptials.
I was assured by a number of folks that the boat would be big enough that I would not get sick.

The wedding was a lot of fun. My family is pretty wonderful. I wish I could spend more time with them, but so many of them are just far enough away. I did get a little wobbly when the boat went out towards the ocean, but mostly while we were in the harbor, I was feeling pretty good. :)

Here are some shots from our day in Newport Beach - of my amazing family, my cousin and his new wife, and some of their wedding details. :)

Wonderful parents, waiting for the ceremony to start

Big sister & bro-in-law. 

I don't know why Timmy made this face, but I like it. Also, they gave us champagne before
 the ceremony. Awesome. 

The bride and groom during the ceremony. I know this isn't the best quality, but I still
wanted to share it because I think Helen looks stunning. 

They had these cute little flag with pictures of all of us around the ceremony. It was
such a sweet way to make us all feel involved. 

I tried to get this shot while they were having their first dance, but there was a crowd
around the cake. So, I managed to get it during the bride's dance with her father. 

I snuck a few photos of their professional photo session. Of course
my camera kind of stinks, so it didn't come out great, but I still like
this one. :)

This was actually before we even got on the boat. I think it shows off my husband's
new "action star" look. He recently shaved his head and let his stubble go. I think
he looks like he belongs in an action movie.

Me and my momma on ze boat

Finally off the boat (after 4 hours) and ready to go party it up at Villa Nova!

More Wedding Photos

I already posted about our wedding photos a few months ago, but our photographers finally posted some on their blog and on fb. Tadaaa! You can go look if you like. Just follow the links. :)

Some of my favorite ceremony shots. 

Disc in Possession

I've been able to look at these for months, but I finally got our professional wedding photos on a disc in fancy super high resolution, so I decided to upload them and maybe do some sharing. I dunno. It's only been 6 months. :)

Check it out, 9-17, y'all!

Here are some of my favorites... 

You can see more here, if you like. :)

First Official Wedding Photo Ordered

I stole this from our photographer's proof page. Shhhhhh.
I think it's okay though and I'll tell you why...because I just ordered a print of it. Doesn't that make it okay?

Anyway, I am really excited because this is the first official wedding photo I've ordered to put up in our house. My grandma kinda beat me. She ordered this one (to the right) to put on her wall of wedding photos:

Back to my photo, I know you can't see our faces, but I think there is something really sweet and beautiful about it. Plus the wind makes my veil look purdy.

I even have a frame for it already. Thanks to Michelle & Jackson for buying us the only really fancy frame we now own as a wedding gift.

There are tons of really beautiful photos from our wedding day. I can't wait until we get them all on a disc so I can share all my favorites. :)

1 Week Into Real Life

As of this past Saturday, Tim and I have been married for 3 weeks. It's still kind of surreal. These last 3 weeks have gone by so fast.
Here are a handful of pictures from our wedding. I didn't think we looked any happier than the normal happy couple, but all I keep hearing is how incredibly happy we seemed and how affectionate we were, so hooray!

Sisters during pre-ceremony photos

I just like the face Timmy's making in this one

Getting by bouquet back before being introduced as husband and wife

After exiting the ceremony as husband and wife

Deedee thinks champagne and flowers are awesome

Dancing and kissing and stuff

The Tuesday after the wedding, we left for our honeymoon in the Canadian Rockies. It was basically awesome...except for Calgary, which was totally lame. It's possible that we didn't try hard enough to find awesome things to do, but we certainly did not find any.
We did so much hiking and adventuring around in Banff/Yoho. I'm trying to post some different pictures from the ones on facebook already.

Laughing Falls

Twin Falls

Lake Louise

Takakkaw Falls

Our lodge and its mountain

That's all for now. The real world calls. If you need me, I'll be here, thinking about my next vacation.

Wedding!

I have a most of today to relax before we set off on our honeymoon in the wee hours of tomorrow morning, but I just wanted to quickly share a few thoughts on the best weekend of my life.

I am so happy. It is the most wonderful thing to know that my best friend and person I love most in the world is mine forever - to look up and call him husband or to see that ring on his finger.

The weekend went by in a whirlwind, but everything was perfect. 
Our rehearsal dinner was so much fun. I'm sure the margaritas helped ;), but I never thought I would laugh so much. The restaurant set the perfect vibe, and the food and drinks were excellent.

The wedding itself was incredible. Everyone who was able to come out made it so special - all of our family and friends. I cannot believe how lucky we are so have such wonderful and loving people in our lives.

Everyone loved my dress and the flowers - though I doubt they would tell me otherwise. The band was a blast. Timmy danced with me on multiple occasions. I thought it would be a challenge to get him to stay on the dance floor with me, but he did so willingly - spinning me around and picking me up as we danced to songs I don't even remember.

I'm waiting impatiently to see everyone's pictures. :) Though I guess it will be easier to wait once I'm away from home and off on romantic adventures with my hubby. I am SO excited for this time with him to travel and relax, and just enjoy being around each other.

Hopefully I'll have some more pictures to share soon. For now, here's a little something my totally amazing big sister put together with the magic of instant pictures:

I am so happy to have had such an amazing wedding weekend, surrounded by all of the people I love, and so lucky to be married to my very best friend in the world.

Almost Married

This is most likely my last post before I'm officially a married woman. Kind of weird to think of myself as being married, but not weird to think of myself spending forever with Timmy, but after being engaged for a year and a half, and still having pretty much 27 years to decide how I feel about it, "Wife" and "Mrs." still seem so foreign to me - not like titles that will apply to me in 3 days.

It is finally starting to sink in though - in a good way. No cold feet here. I find myself thinking, "We're getting married this week. How freaking cool is that!?!"

We're still working out the most final of final details, but all the big stuff is done. The dress is at my parents' house. My shoes and jewelry are in a suitcase in my bedroom. The photographers and videographers are paid and know what time to be there. The table assignments are done, the place cards are being printed, and a special cake has been order so my cake topper doesn't have to sit on the table next to the cake.

I feel really good, and thinking about it makes me smile.

So, I know this was not a very long post, but being so near my wedding has shortened my attention span.

This is legally single Alyssa signing off for the last time. Latah.

Dress Fitting, Schmess Fitting

A few weeks ago, I had my first dress fitting. Woohoo! My dress looked great and the alterations lady thought it fit well enough so we shouldn't take anything in. BAH! My mom and I disagreed with the alterations lady. 

I am already a picky girl when it comes to how dresses fit me (as I would think many women are) and this is my WEDDING DRESS we're talking about here, so I'm gonna be ultra picky. So, I say to this dress, it would appear that I do have wedding dress size 8 hips and bust, but I have a size 6 waist, and dammit, I want my dress to fit like a glove, so take it in!

Yesterday was my second fitting. The dress fit perfectly in the bust and the waist, but was mysteriously tight in the hips. The lining kept bunching awkwardly. WTF? My butt did not get bigger in the last few weeks. I did not increase my ice cream intake or stop exercising, so there is no reason for my dress to be tight in the hips. The alterations lady told us either we could let it out a little or she could press it and "loosen up the fabric" or something. After much deliberation, we decided to have it let out a bit, but I'm kinda frustrated about it. I'm thinking she took it in too low and ended up making it tighter on the hips. 

Then as I was about to change back into my jeans, I noticed the bussel was uneven. It has three points where it buttons and the one on the left was noticeably lower than the one on the right. So, we asked her to fix it. 

Also kind of frustrating because we're not in there with a bunch of complicated alterations, so that just looks like laziness. 

My next and final dress fitting is Sept. 8 - my parents 32nd anniversary. My mom is coming with me and then spending the rest of the day celebrating with my dad. :)

It's the Final Countdoooown

There has been so much going on that I don't even know where to begin. This may end up a hodgepodge that makes no sense, but I'm hoping I can fit it into a nice, neat summary so I don't have to write a horrendously long blog post right now.

So, let's start with I tagged that this post would be about before I even started writing; the wedding. We're exactly one month out now. We sent out the invitations and rsvp's are slowing making their way back to us. We invited way too many people for the amount of space we have, but as long as we get a "normal" amount of regrets back, we should have enough space. On July 30th, we went for the menu tasting. The entrees we picked are fillet, halibut, and butternut squash ravioli. The rest of the food will be delicious too. It's this gigantic 3 course meal with 5 passed appetizers during the cocktail hour, plus soup and salad courses. I'm a little bummed that I won't be around to eat the delicious appetizers during cocktail hour because they are basically awesome.

On the 4th, my mom and I went out to meet a potential hair stylist. She is amazing. She totally blew us away. So easy to work with and she really knows hair and what looks good, not just fancy techniques and stuff. So, she's scheduled to come up to SB and do my hair as well as my mom's and future mother-in-law's.

Then a week ago Sunday, my mom and I went to Nordstrom to meet with a "beauty stylist" and learn more about makeup and the best techniques for bridal application. By the end of the 2 hours we spent there, I looked a little bit like an alien, but I had a plethora of makeup information and a nice little stash of new products to use when I do my own makeup for the wedding. I do not plan on making myself look like an alien, but I am going to use the tips and techniques she gave me to make myself look like a more dressed up "everyday" Alyssa.

During the week last week, I found out that my future mother-in-law would not be able to make it to my bridal shower, which happened this past Saturday.My future husband was very upset because there was a whole bunch of drama with setting the shower date to begin with because everyone was taking their kids to college or going out of town on any later weekends and after we get out of August, it's way to close to the wedding, so the shower date couldn't get bumped back a week or two.
Anyway, I stayed up way too late the night before my shower wrapping presents for bridesmaids and folding laundry and painting Buzz Lightyear, so I set myself (btw, just tried to spell that "M-Y-S-E-L-P-H") up for an exhausting Saturday.
The shower was beautiful - though slightly bittersweet since Tim's mom wasn't there. She doesn't have any daughters, so she doesn't get to do girly stuff like this and now she'd missed a chance, ya know? My aunts and the ladies of WWAR(family friend acronym) did an absolutely fantastic job. I was am so overwhelmed by the whole thing - and so happy for everyone who was able to make it out.

In the madness that has been the last couple of weeks, my house has felt the most neglect. The house does not have feelings, so I don't have to worry about hurting them by leaving it to last. Unfortunately it's progressed to a level of messyness that just looking at leaves me completely stressed out. Staring into any room in the house for too long sends me into a surreal state - fuzzyness clouds my periphery and frustration takes over. I just want to kick something, but instead I start picking things up - all the while getting upset that no one is helping me, which is ridiculous because I didn't even ask for help - and then the dishwasher breaks.

Sunday night, after filling the dishwasher to the brim (it probably should not have had that much in it), I pushed the start button and... nothing happened. No beep, no light, no 'hey hey hey, you put to much stuff", no struggle to get going, nada. I pushed buttons for a while to no avail and finally called Tim down to help. He pushed buttons, did some maneuvering to see if he could pull the dishwasher out, checked the detergent thing, made sure nothing was getting blocked, pushed some more buttons and said, "well, at least we have a brand new dishwasher in the garage"

The (lovely) new dishwasher came as part of a set from all my aunts and uncles on my mom's side as a totallyamazingandhaveImentionedIamcompletelyblownawaybythisincredible wedding present. The dishwasher, range, microwave/hood, and TOTALLY AMAZING fridge (separate and equally awesome wedding gift from my grandparents) arrived at our house last Saturday, the 6th. Because we knew they were coming, Tim and I got up early early in the morning and ran out to Home Depot to call dibs on the truck. Nobody was in town to help us, so I attempted to play the roll of someone significantly stronger than myself, and help Tim move the old fridge out of the house and onto the truck. I think I did a pretty good job considering I am not, in fact, very large. Anyhoo, our kitchen - though significantly larger than our previous kitchen - is not so very pretty, nor is it in very good shape. The formica countertops don't match. The one chunk of butcherblock countertop has been used as a cutting board, the cabinets are poorly painted and flimsy, one of the shelves in the pantry is broken. It needs some love.
We went ahead and had them swap out the fridge and the range on the 6th, but the other two require some more intensive installation, so our plan was to wait until our countertops are replaced and cabinets are repainted. The trouble with that...now that Tim's parents didn't come up for the shower this past weekend...we have no idea when fixing the kitchen is going to happen.
Before the shower I thought for sure our kitchen would be done long before we were married, but now that we're one month away and don't have a plan anymore, I'm kind of bummed. I got so excited about my new kitchen and now I walk in and see my pretty new fridge and range and wish that the rest of the kitchen was as shiny and new as they are. And now the dishwasher doesn't work, so I'll be hand-washing dishes for the foreseeable future.
I know I would be so much happier if we just had a plan.

That's all for now. I'm sure I have more to write about, but I don't need to write a book today, so this is where I'll stop.

Fitness Goals

As of today, I have just over 3 and a half months before the wedding. For the past three months, I have been really good about working out right around 6 days a week. Sometimes I slipped to 5 and sometimes I powered through 7, but for the most part I've been keeping up with 6 days...until this past weekend, which was disastrous for my fitness and completely pulled me out of my rhythm.
Tim hurt his back last week. No big deal. He just needed to rest to get back to a place where he felt comfortable lifting large amounts of weight.
This should not really have any impact on my workout schedule, right? Not so. Tim and I usually work out at the same time. He goes to the gym and I go to the dining room (where I have all my weights lined up, yoga mats out and even a blanket for when I do ab work - because hardwood floors and tail-bones don't get along)
Tim ended up in the living room. Not so bad. I still have the dining room. Too bad there is no wall to separate the two rooms. My peewee laptop speakers cannot compete with the Black Ops explosions and NCAA football commentator. So, my motivation is gone. I have not done a P90X workout since last Thursday.
I did manage to make it to Cardio Barre on Sunday and did some kettle bell work and swam some laps on Monday, but yesterday I was back to depressedly (not a real word) eating cupcakes on the couch and rereading Harry Potter 7.
The cupcakes are delicious and I'm happy to refresh my HP7 memory - because I forgot damn near everything - but I feel like in 3 days I completely cancelled out all of the work I've put in over the last 3 months.

So, I'm starting over. For reals this time. I'm going to continue to go to Cardio Barre once or twice a week, but I am also going to actually follow the P90X schedule - not say to myself "I think I've been doing this about a month, I think I'll work in some new discs" - and I'm going to write down what I'm able to do this time so that I "know what to do" next time.

Today will be disc 1 - Core Synergistics

Maybe I'll even take some "before" pictures this time around. Ha!

EDIT 6:43pm: Nevermind. No living room workout for me tonight. Tim and his injured back have taken it over. :( P90X will have to wait until tomorrow morning. Tonight I'm off to Cardio Barre

Achievements

I've been pretty busy the last couple weeks...hence the not particularly details blog posts and this wont probably wont be much different since I'm planning to get back to cleaning and laundry as soon as I finish this.

This week I:

* Made a tiny cake for my friend's belated birthday dinner
* Approved the invitation proofs for the wedding
* Reserved a photo booth for the wedding
* Set up a blog for my cakes and filled it with photos and blurbs about my baking experience

AND

*insurance shopped. (while this achievement is not quite completed yet, I think I know what direction we're headed)

This along with my regular work and work out schedule. Oh, and I made a facebook group for my mark. store. You should "like" it.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

I Wants It

Look at the pretty headband. 

In honor of the apocalypse

Lately I've been keeping myself pretty busy. I'm trying to get more involved in Mark. again and I'm really happy about it because a) I feel like Mark. is really stepping up their game. I've seen a huge quality improvement and they're really trying to appeal to a broader demographic instead of just teens and college students, b) I get awesome discounts on all this new higher quality stuff catered to my demographic, and c) it gives me an opportunity to get in touch with a really good friend of mine who I haven't spent much time with lately.
So, if anyone who reads this is interested in checking out some totally awesome makeup, clothing and accessories, let me know. I can get you a magalog and some free samples. :)

I've also been trying to dedicate myself more to my at home cake business. The last two weekends, I have had some wonderful opportunities to challenge myself and create cakes using at least one method I'd never used before.
Last weekend I made fresh whipped cream and iced the entire cake with it. It tasted like a giant strawberry shortcake and was one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. (Tim and I share the cake tops when I even out the tops of the cakes)
This weekend I was asked to make a cake that was half red and half white with red filling. The red filling was easy peasy, but I had a much harder time with making half the cake red than I thought I would. Plus I challenged myself into doing this with fondant, so I had to dye half of it red. It turned out pretty nicely, if I may say so.

And finally, today we finally had our hopefully last meeting with the woman who is doing our wedding invitations. We just had a 20 minute meeting today to go over exactly what we wanted on what kind of paper since at the end of our last meeting, we weren't sure what the company would actually be able to do. She's going to email my mom and I the proof sometime during the coming week so that I we can approve it and order the invitations. Tomorrow Tim and I have to go bug my parents to get the actual number of people we will be inviting so we can see how many invitations we'll need.
Not excited about that. There's too much drama in guest list making.

Supposedly The Rapture has happened. I guess not a lot of people were worthy or going straight to heaven since I haven't noticed anyone missing yet - nor have I noticed any fire and brimstone lurking about. I hope everyone has a pleasant post-apocalyptic weekend?

4 Months!

We're getting married in 4 months!

This makes me think I should be more focused on the little things.

Official Photographer Blog

Our photographers posted images from our engagement shoot on their blog this weekend. You can click here to see the rest of their post. :)