the day i have been waiting for...

i feel like all i have blogged about here recently is wedding stuff. if anyone out there has planned a wedding you know that even if the bride is not actively doing wedding tasks, she is at least thinking about them. for me it is wedding and house... as most of you prob know, matt and i are in the process of completely re-doing the home he bought from his grandparents. we want to do it as cost effectively as possible, but we also want to be true to our own personality and style. i have recently learned to distress furniture so that has allowed for a good balance in order to incorporate both of these desires. i just finished 2 pieces and i will post pics of them soon:)- nontheless, these 2 things are on my mind quite often and therefore on this blog often as well.

now for the reason for this post- engagement pics are up!!!:) i know i have talked about cheyenne and her amazing ability as a photographer tons on here, but can i just say it one more time!?! this girl is amazing! since the moment i found her, every time she has a new post on the blog i get that feeling of anticipation in my stomach. i just love her work and ti was a surreal experience to actually be looking at myself and matt... crazy.

this is just a little teaser... click here to see the rest of the pics. and give cheyenne some love while you are at it:)

My Wedding Checklist

Planning a wedding.... sheesh. So fun but so time consuming and DETAIL oriented. Yesterday, those details almost overwhelmed me. A few people told me we should just elope and i almost agreed! (not really) I am so not a detail person and although i am a highly organized, the details make me feel like the time i was stuck on a rickety elevator in Cairo, Egypt b/t 2 random floors... ahhh!!

BUT- i feel like i have gotten a lot done and am pretty on target with the help of my sis, mom and amazing wedding planner:) i am starting to hit the lull where most of the big things are done and the rest can't really be decided on until a month or so before the wedding.... or am i? that is why i am soliciting the help of all my former, current or future (don't act like you haven't already planned your wedding!;) brides out there.

Take a look at my checklist and let me know what i am missing, way ahead on, or just what you think! oh, and the date is March 19th:)

Groom- check:)

Budget- check. (although i don't know how anyone sticks to it)

Dress- check. (awesome!!:)

His ring- check.

Wedding party- check.

Venue- check.

Caterer- check.

Photographer- check.

Website- check.

Accommodations- check.

Save the Dates and Invites- in the process.... (natalie, you should really have a blog)

Guest List- check./still progressing/the hardest thing ever.

DJ- check.

Videographer- seriously need to figure this one out. advice?

Engagement pics- double check:)

Alterations on dress- check.

Veil- uhh... need to get on that.

Bridemaids Dresses & shoes- check.

Bridesmaid gifts- check. love them!:)

Flowergirl & junior bridesmaids dresses- not yet.

Flowers- hopefully have it worked out???

Decor- check. (sigh of relief...)

All the hand made stuff i want to do- ....umm. i start next week. ha.

Registered- check. well almost

Ceremony plans- in the process.

Ceremony music- have the person- not the music.

Rehearsal dinner- nope. (as in haven't started)

ok so that is all i can thing of.... what can you think of, what am i leaving out, or where am i way ahead....??:)

engagement pic sneak peek!

Yesterday, our photographer, Cheyenne Schultz, posted a sneak peek of some of her recent sessions..... and guess who was apart of it?? US! i have been dying to see our engagement pics but i know they will not be out for a few more weeks. Now i am REALLY excited! i know the rest are just as amazing as this one!

ps. if you are a bride and looking for a photographer, i HIGHLY recommend cheyenne!

Bridesmaid weekend!- mission shoes.

a couple of weekends ago, i had a weekend that i looked forward to for a long time. i posted about it before it happened here. it was the weekend that my roommate in Lebanon- Leah, came to visit and also the weekend that Leah, my sis and i got to visit my college roommates, making it the first time i have had more than 2 bridesmaids together at one time. All of my bridesmaids live in various places all around the US and world so this was really special to me, if you can't already tell. I really wanted us to have something 'wedding' to do and since we had the bridesmaid's dresses all picked out and bought, we decided to find shoes! So we all set out to the mall including Karis (Heather's little girl), literally as if we were on a mission... I know the mall employee's could speak to our mission mentality as we would go in a store, each girl would take a corner so that the entire store was covered, and within seconds we knew if this was going to be a place where we would spend our time. It was hilarious and so fun! After going to about 10-15 stores (seriously), i think we were all burned out and i had come to terms with the fact that we may not find anything today. BUT, then we stopped at Belk (always the day-saver in my mind). We did our spread out routine, and Leah came to me asking if the shoe she was holding could work.... dun. dun. dun. Immediately, I LOVED IT, and everyone agreed it was just what we had been looking for! It was also helpful that the shoes were %50 off and totally in the price range we were looking for. So we asked the sales lady if she might have SEVEN various sizes of this clearance shoe.... haha! She had 2 of the sizes and then proceeded to call about 10 different belk stores from Wilmington to Missouri. About 30 minutes after she continuously called store after store, she successfully tracked down ALL the sizes we needed! This experience was becoming like a roller-coaster ride. So then she (knowing each of our names by now) proceeded to give us the phone numbers to each of the Belk's for us to call and make our personal order. This took another 30-45 min and got pretty complicated at times.... but alas, we have the shoes, and an unforgettable experience with some of my best friends in the world:)

Here are some of the girls getting ready for our mission:)

Beautiful Karis with my sis

Love this shot of the amy's

getting all the orders in:)

and the shoes!! love them.

my little cuties;)

i realized today that i have never blogged about the little guys i spend the majority of my time with. For those of you who don't know, I am a nanny by day (i dont know why i said "by day" as if i do something else by night... or maybe?? haha), for 2 little boys- Eagan and Cannon. They are absolutely adorable and such good boys... most of the time;) E will be 4 in December and C is almost a year a a half. It is hard to get good shots of them a lot of the time b/c i have to focus on shooting and actually taking care of them at the same time, but i thought i would share a few pics so many of you can put names and faces together:)

nannying is the last thing i thought i would do when i got back from overseas. I didn't actually know what i wanted to do. i still say at times that i have not quite figured how who i am (career wise) in america. Honestly, there have even been times that i have been embarrassed to tell people i am a nanny. I guess i just thought i would be in some sort of successful business career or have starting my own business by now, with a college degree under my belt and at the age of 27 (almost). But here i am, spending the day being a second mom to these 2 boys and if i am honest again... i absolutely love it. I love the family i work for, i love the perks of the job, and i LOVE the boys more than anything. There is also the benefit of having the time to work on my photography on the side.

it is interesting where we end up. not alway where we thought we would- i think that is the case most of the time. but as i am writing this and thinking about the boys and my job, as cannon yells, "ba ba ba" and grabs my fingers trying to type himself... i am thankful. Not just thankful that i have a job (b/c that i definitely something to be for thankful these days), but thankful that i have a job that i love going to everyday. Just more proof that God knows us much better than we know ourselves, and i'm thankful for that too...