Five great things right now:
1. Gossip girl and a free Chickfila dinner (yay for Free Kids Meal coupons)
2. A memo from the Headmaster on a job well done
3. An official date on the calendar to officially go look at dresses
4 Freshly painted nails, with no smudges!
5. New fall boots, in the mail on their way to my feet
:)
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday!!
This morning when my alarm went off, I jumped out of bed. I am so. pyshed. that it is Monday! Why? Because this weekend is over!!
This weekend was my school's 50th Anniversary/New Building Dedication/Alumni Reunion. I worked for three days straight. I was really, really nervous about most if it, mainly the Alumni Reunion, because I was 100% solely in charge of it. If it ended up sucking, it all would have been back on me. But everything was fantastic. Even better than expected. It all went so smoothly and was really a lot of fun for everyone. I am just so relieved that it's all over now!
Along with a weekend of work I also ate complete crap for the past three days. Take a look:
Friday - First ever GSES Homecoming Football Game, complete with The Hamburger Man grilling up burgers for everyone.
Saturday - New building Dedication, Alumni Art Show and Carnival, with all you can eat FREE pizza (hello, three slices) hot dogs, chips, ice cream and snow cones
Saturday Night - My reunion party! I was silently crying two weeks ago when only 47 people had RSVP'ed. We ended up with over 200 there! And.. BBQ brisket, potato salad, rolls and pie. Yum.
Sunday Morning - Alumni Breakfast.. you know, sausage, bacon, croissants, cinnamon rolls, yum, yum, yum
Saturday afternoon you would think I would have crashed, but I forged on and went to meet Laura and her sister and mom to try on her bridesmaid dresses (adorable!) and then we all grabbed lunch at Corner Bakery and chatted for a while. Then it was off to meet my dad to go to an open house up at Ursuline, and then.... dinner at Uncle Julio's. By this point, I was beyond full, yet went ahead and filled up even more on chips, salsa and tacos.
I'm starting over in October. Something's gotta give here!
Wedding dress shopping.. next week!
This weekend was my school's 50th Anniversary/New Building Dedication/Alumni Reunion. I worked for three days straight. I was really, really nervous about most if it, mainly the Alumni Reunion, because I was 100% solely in charge of it. If it ended up sucking, it all would have been back on me. But everything was fantastic. Even better than expected. It all went so smoothly and was really a lot of fun for everyone. I am just so relieved that it's all over now!
Along with a weekend of work I also ate complete crap for the past three days. Take a look:
Friday - First ever GSES Homecoming Football Game, complete with The Hamburger Man grilling up burgers for everyone.
Saturday - New building Dedication, Alumni Art Show and Carnival, with all you can eat FREE pizza (hello, three slices) hot dogs, chips, ice cream and snow cones
Saturday Night - My reunion party! I was silently crying two weeks ago when only 47 people had RSVP'ed. We ended up with over 200 there! And.. BBQ brisket, potato salad, rolls and pie. Yum.
Sunday Morning - Alumni Breakfast.. you know, sausage, bacon, croissants, cinnamon rolls, yum, yum, yum
Saturday afternoon you would think I would have crashed, but I forged on and went to meet Laura and her sister and mom to try on her bridesmaid dresses (adorable!) and then we all grabbed lunch at Corner Bakery and chatted for a while. Then it was off to meet my dad to go to an open house up at Ursuline, and then.... dinner at Uncle Julio's. By this point, I was beyond full, yet went ahead and filled up even more on chips, salsa and tacos.
I'm starting over in October. Something's gotta give here!
Wedding dress shopping.. next week!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Fail.
I just made chocolate chip cookies, just so I could eat the cookie dough.
Some day, I really will start the wedding diet.
Some day, I really will start the wedding diet.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Getting it in Writing
Over Labor Day, we trekked up to Abilene, Kansas for Mark's extended family reunion. Less than a week later, we'd made the papers up there with quite the extensive write-up on the gathering. I sent this to my parents to show them that I was famous in the great state of KS and my dad replied saying that seeing the word "fiance" in front of my name made it suddenly very "real." Well yes Dad, this is indeed real.
As you'll notice a few lines below me, I'm not going to be the first Amanda Neuschafer out there - his cousin has a daughter in college who bears the same great name. Mark's two little cousins who were there asked my with wide eyes, "are you going to be my cousin too??" There were pretty adorable and just might be in the running for some flower girls.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Where Were We?
My mom called me yesterday to express that she is concerned that we've haven't really booked any vendors for the wedding yet. Well, we do have a pretty awesome photographer, a really creative florist, a guy who makes wedding cakes for $1.25 a slice (what, what!) and, of course, our fabulous WP. So what are we missing? Hmm. A caterer. A DJ. A "local band" my dad swears he can find for free. Rentals. Linens. Chairs. Silverware. Invitations. You know. Everything else. Oh and also, the dress. A pretty big one as well.
We are trying to find a time when my mom and I are both free to start checking some of these things off the list. This is proving to be pretty difficult for the entire month of October. Between the Texas/OSU football games we're going to and the Tech games my parents are going to, we've got nothing. So I think we are just both going to take off a random Monday or Tuesday, invite Mark's mom to come down and go look for dresses. Then I need to get the WP and me up to Muenster to meet with the florist to start deciding what and how many flowers we want. Next week we are finally meeting with that DJ, so that might get crossed off soon too.
Last week, Mark and I started our marriage preparation classes with St. Gabriel's in McKinney. It's Mark's church now and will be our church once we get married, so we opted to do all the prep work there, as opposed to driving back and forth to Sacred Heart for the next several months. Back when we first got engaged and were trying to pick a date, we had to go meet with Fr. Ken in person before he would even open his calendar to give us his open Saturdays next summer. So we ran up there one weekend to get the ball rolling. As many probably know, there's a lot of prep work required if you want to get married in a Catholic church. Depending on what parish you want to use, there are a series of things you must do before the wedding. Fr. Ken started right into us, telling us that in his experience of marrying hundreds of couples there are three factors that greatly increase your odds of staying married: 1. Both being at least 21 (check!), 2. Having dated for at least six months (umm hello, check x 5!), and 3. Participate in some sort (any sort) of marriage preparation, whether in the church or elsewhere (working on that check!). First up for us in the marriage prep category is meeting with a sponsor couple.
I was actually excited about starting to meet with a couple from Mark's church. I like meeting new people and was pumped to get this process started. So last week we braved the thunderstorms and drove over to the snazzy part of McK and met Mike and Denise, married 21 years and parents of two high school boys (not to mention their fabulous house on the golf course with the infinity edge pool and television as big as an entire wall in my apartment!). They were so nice and excited to meet Mark and me (and to hear some wedding details!) and were super easy to talk to right off the bat. As part of the initial meeting, Mark and I had to each take a "compatibility" test that included 156 statements that we were supposed to either agree with, disagree with or mark as undecided. Denise told us to be totally honest and not put down what we thought the other wanted us to say. Then they send off this test to some place that scores us and we spend the next five sessions together talking about things that will be strengths and weaknesses in our marriage. I'm pretty sure I know where the "red flags" are going to come up. Let's just say I know Mark agreed with the question about me using the "silent treatment" when I'm upset about something. Oh Lordy. But I am looking forward to going back over to their house next week. We're ready for the challenge!
Next up? Well, I'm working this entire weekend, but by noon on Sunday I'll be free again. I'm meeting another B2B to try on bridesmaid dresses that afternoon and then my parents are going to come up to Dallas to run some errands and grab dinner. In the meantime it's t-minus four days until my huge alumni reunion weekend at work... AHH!
We are trying to find a time when my mom and I are both free to start checking some of these things off the list. This is proving to be pretty difficult for the entire month of October. Between the Texas/OSU football games we're going to and the Tech games my parents are going to, we've got nothing. So I think we are just both going to take off a random Monday or Tuesday, invite Mark's mom to come down and go look for dresses. Then I need to get the WP and me up to Muenster to meet with the florist to start deciding what and how many flowers we want. Next week we are finally meeting with that DJ, so that might get crossed off soon too.
Last week, Mark and I started our marriage preparation classes with St. Gabriel's in McKinney. It's Mark's church now and will be our church once we get married, so we opted to do all the prep work there, as opposed to driving back and forth to Sacred Heart for the next several months. Back when we first got engaged and were trying to pick a date, we had to go meet with Fr. Ken in person before he would even open his calendar to give us his open Saturdays next summer. So we ran up there one weekend to get the ball rolling. As many probably know, there's a lot of prep work required if you want to get married in a Catholic church. Depending on what parish you want to use, there are a series of things you must do before the wedding. Fr. Ken started right into us, telling us that in his experience of marrying hundreds of couples there are three factors that greatly increase your odds of staying married: 1. Both being at least 21 (check!), 2. Having dated for at least six months (umm hello, check x 5!), and 3. Participate in some sort (any sort) of marriage preparation, whether in the church or elsewhere (working on that check!). First up for us in the marriage prep category is meeting with a sponsor couple.
I was actually excited about starting to meet with a couple from Mark's church. I like meeting new people and was pumped to get this process started. So last week we braved the thunderstorms and drove over to the snazzy part of McK and met Mike and Denise, married 21 years and parents of two high school boys (not to mention their fabulous house on the golf course with the infinity edge pool and television as big as an entire wall in my apartment!). They were so nice and excited to meet Mark and me (and to hear some wedding details!) and were super easy to talk to right off the bat. As part of the initial meeting, Mark and I had to each take a "compatibility" test that included 156 statements that we were supposed to either agree with, disagree with or mark as undecided. Denise told us to be totally honest and not put down what we thought the other wanted us to say. Then they send off this test to some place that scores us and we spend the next five sessions together talking about things that will be strengths and weaknesses in our marriage. I'm pretty sure I know where the "red flags" are going to come up. Let's just say I know Mark agreed with the question about me using the "silent treatment" when I'm upset about something. Oh Lordy. But I am looking forward to going back over to their house next week. We're ready for the challenge!
Next up? Well, I'm working this entire weekend, but by noon on Sunday I'll be free again. I'm meeting another B2B to try on bridesmaid dresses that afternoon and then my parents are going to come up to Dallas to run some errands and grab dinner. In the meantime it's t-minus four days until my huge alumni reunion weekend at work... AHH!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Rain = Sleepy
Oh Monday. You always come too quickly. I had a nice, lazy, rainy weekend and it was just what I needed. I babysat Friday night and since nothing was on TV, I browsed through their DVR list and ended up watching the pilot for Vampire Diaries on the CW. It was pretty fabulous. It was Gossip Girl meets Twilight meets True Blood. Lots of high school drama, some teen vampire crushes, and bloody attacks in the the forest. Pretty good mix! Vampires are so trendy right now, so I figured I'll stick with it a little longer. Oh and speaking of GG, how excited are we about the premiere tonight?!
Three hours later and $30 richer, I went to bed early Friday night. When I woke up Saturday morning I knew I needed to clean the apartment. We've been out of town for so many weekends that everything has gotten greatly neglected. I got on the ball and ended up filing away mail, dusting the ceiling fans, washing the bed skirt and scrubbing the bathtub -- all kinds of things I usually skip over. My mom called me three times that morning from the Muenster City Wide Garage Sale - she and my sister go tup at 7 AM to hit up the sales and called me hourly to report on all their good finds. We are stocking up on candles and class vases for the wedding and she apparently found a lot of loot. I need to get back up there soon to check it all out, and to meet with the florist.
Last week Mark and I met with Kristen, our fabulous WP/BFF, and the three of us worked out the dreaded budget. It's good to finally have some numbers though, so we can move forward with some sort of game plan. Next up on the list is hiring a DJ. Kristen pretty much already has us sold on a guy she knows, but we're going to meet with him next week to make sure he's what we're looking for and in our price range. My mom has really been on the ball lately - she's booked us with the cake guy in town and even got the piano player at church to put us on his calendar. Everyone keeps telling us to call them in the spring, but at least we know they've got us on their books!
Saturday night I went to a couples shower for a friend who's getting married in a few weeks. We watched football and sipped on champagne while the bride and groom opened heir gifts, then Mark and I snuck out early. Sunday morning I watched a lot of House Hunters and then met up with Christina for lunch at the Galleria. She talked me into her five must have items for fall, so we're hunting out the best deals on gray handbags and brown boots. I've been so good for the past few months and NOT SHOPPING, but I couldn't resist a good sale and a 30% off coupon from ATL. I went in for a shirt I knew they had marked down, but came out with an additional two sweaters and some little camis. I couldn't help myself! It had been too long. I'm back on my no shopping diet now though. And avoiding the malls...
I headed up to McKinney after lunch to go check out Mark's new u-verse and have pot roast for dinner (we love the crock pot!). I got there around 2:30 and by 3:00 the (brand new) cable was frozen and the internet was down. Six hours later it was still out, so I missed the MTV awards and Mark missed all the late day football. He called up AT&T and chewed them out pretty good, so they are apparently coming back over this evening to get it up and running again. You'd be surprised how dull a rainy evening can be with no cable or internet! We actually ended up watching Titanic on VHS.. Mark's idea! So it wasn't a total loss. And for someone who swears up and down he's only seen Titanic once in his entire life, he sure did know a lot of the lines by heart :)
The weekend came and went too fast, but we've once again got a pretty open schedule ahead of us this week. I love not traveling! We're home every weekend between now and mid-October. It's nice to know that things are going to slow down for a bit.
Three hours later and $30 richer, I went to bed early Friday night. When I woke up Saturday morning I knew I needed to clean the apartment. We've been out of town for so many weekends that everything has gotten greatly neglected. I got on the ball and ended up filing away mail, dusting the ceiling fans, washing the bed skirt and scrubbing the bathtub -- all kinds of things I usually skip over. My mom called me three times that morning from the Muenster City Wide Garage Sale - she and my sister go tup at 7 AM to hit up the sales and called me hourly to report on all their good finds. We are stocking up on candles and class vases for the wedding and she apparently found a lot of loot. I need to get back up there soon to check it all out, and to meet with the florist.
Last week Mark and I met with Kristen, our fabulous WP/BFF, and the three of us worked out the dreaded budget. It's good to finally have some numbers though, so we can move forward with some sort of game plan. Next up on the list is hiring a DJ. Kristen pretty much already has us sold on a guy she knows, but we're going to meet with him next week to make sure he's what we're looking for and in our price range. My mom has really been on the ball lately - she's booked us with the cake guy in town and even got the piano player at church to put us on his calendar. Everyone keeps telling us to call them in the spring, but at least we know they've got us on their books!
Saturday night I went to a couples shower for a friend who's getting married in a few weeks. We watched football and sipped on champagne while the bride and groom opened heir gifts, then Mark and I snuck out early. Sunday morning I watched a lot of House Hunters and then met up with Christina for lunch at the Galleria. She talked me into her five must have items for fall, so we're hunting out the best deals on gray handbags and brown boots. I've been so good for the past few months and NOT SHOPPING, but I couldn't resist a good sale and a 30% off coupon from ATL. I went in for a shirt I knew they had marked down, but came out with an additional two sweaters and some little camis. I couldn't help myself! It had been too long. I'm back on my no shopping diet now though. And avoiding the malls...
I headed up to McKinney after lunch to go check out Mark's new u-verse and have pot roast for dinner (we love the crock pot!). I got there around 2:30 and by 3:00 the (brand new) cable was frozen and the internet was down. Six hours later it was still out, so I missed the MTV awards and Mark missed all the late day football. He called up AT&T and chewed them out pretty good, so they are apparently coming back over this evening to get it up and running again. You'd be surprised how dull a rainy evening can be with no cable or internet! We actually ended up watching Titanic on VHS.. Mark's idea! So it wasn't a total loss. And for someone who swears up and down he's only seen Titanic once in his entire life, he sure did know a lot of the lines by heart :)
The weekend came and went too fast, but we've once again got a pretty open schedule ahead of us this week. I love not traveling! We're home every weekend between now and mid-October. It's nice to know that things are going to slow down for a bit.
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