the zesty baker: giveaway: monogrammed magnets

the zesty baker: giveaway: monogrammed magnets: "*Update: You have until tomorrow {Monday} at 5pm to enter!* So, the promised-post is here and comes with a special surprise... the zesty b..."

Confessions: Im addicted to spending money..eek

I have a problem. The problem with my problem: i've had this problem since I was a pre teen and I don't know if its curable. I love shopping and im not sure its an addiction I want to give up. At first it started with window shopping, then getting a little older and getting an allowance to get the small things I wanted, then getting a part time job in high school to be able to afford the pricier stuff I wanted, and now im a full fledged adult with a salary(scary). If it wasn't for the bills that I know have to be paid, I would spend my entire paycheck on fabulous trips, fine cuisine, and shoes and purses. Im addicted to shopping and im about to explode. Im not as bad as Rebecca Bloomwood in Confessions of a Shop A holic (great movie), but I do feel happy after some needed retail therapy. One thing that has helped me hold my urges is paying for my wedding. My fiance' and I have been saving money and sending out checks like crazy over the past few months to pay off vendors. I've avoided the mall totally, tj maxx, and only go to the food section of Target. I can't wait for the wedding to be over so that I can finally have my life back! I won't go crazy and go on out of control shopping sprees, but I will buy a few items i've wanted for a while. I know that if I went on the Suze Orman's "Can I afford it" segment she would turn me down on getting a new wadrobe. I really need some new clothes and shoes for work. Its about to be summer and I would really like some sun dresses, a new bathing suit, and some cute tank tops to wear. I would also love some new sandals. So here are a few items I would love to buy:

A black North Face denali. Why: because I don't have a black one. I love my brown and pink ones, but they don't go with everything! Black is a color I can wear with everything and even though its about to be warm, I still like carrying my North Face with me when I go to the movies.

A J. Crew sandalwood blazer ($128) Why: Because blazers go well with a pair of jeans or apart of a business suit. You can dress it up or dress it down and look good.

Lilly Pulitzer Mandy dress Why: Because its so cute and is bohemian chic. This dress is perfect for a weekend outing.

Tory Burch leopard ballet flats ($235). Why: Because they are cute! No other reason other than that.

Oh how I wish September would hurry up so I could buy some new cute clothes!!!

Going the extra mile

As a woman, I think its normal for us to have body image issues. We see girls on tv and in magazines and are told that we need to look that way. Not everyone is a size 0 and there are a lot of people who don't want to be. Getting married is a big step in my life. I have gone my whole life being average (not thin and not big), just average. I would be lying if I said I didn't want to look good on the one day of my life when hundreds of family and friends will be staring at me all day long in a form fitting wedding gown. I don't want to be super skinny, just fit.

Now that my wedding is six months away I am definitely taking this life changing plan into action. Getting fit isn't something short term for me, this is a permanent lifestyle change. I go to the gym every week, but I have been slacking lately and not going as often as I should. I am trying to tone a little and probably lose 30 pounds total (I've recently lost 10 pounds over the past 3 weeks!) I have kicked up my fitness goals into high gear and I have been going to the gym 5-6 times a week!! I don't have a problem going to the gym, but I do lose my motivation after a while and fall into tempation with sweets (I can't resist chips, cookies, and cake). Usually one of my coworkers brings in a treat and I can never say no. That has changed a lot for me. I started keeping a food journal on my phone (Myfitnesspal app on my iphone has been a great tool). I enter all my foods for the day with no exceptions and keep track of how many calories I have consumed. I go to the gym directly after work and usually do a fitness class or workout on my own. I try to switch up my routine every few weeks to prevent myself from falling off track.

I finally have my dress fitting 1 month before my wedding! I am super excited because I am hoping to be at my goal size by then. The one thing I am scared about is my dress not fitting at all to the point where I will have to get a new one. When I ordered my dress it was already two sizes too big. If I lose any more weight it may be too big. I figure I will cross that bridge when I get to it, but it crosses my mind frequently.

So now that I am this fitness journey along with planning my wedding I would definitely like to keep you all updated on my progress. I am not changing the wedding theme of my blog, but I am adding parts of my everyday life to it. I will be posting delicious healthy recipes, talking about my goals of going back to grad school, and exciting things that will occur before and after the wedding. I want to make this more personal and real so adding the trials and tribulations of an average 20 year old girl seems appropriate. I hope you guys stick around because I have lots of cool stuff coming soon!

Shoes..OMG..Shoes!

My dear fiance' is not the tallest guy in the world, nor is he the shortest, but it has been so hard to find shoes that don't make me feel like im a giant standing next to him. I found some shoes at DSW that I absolutely love, but they were too tall.

I returned the shoes above and ordered some shoes that I thought would be just right. Cute right?

But alas, when they finally arrived I hated them. I returned them and felt defeated. Im super picky about shoes and thought I would never find anything. I thought about wearing flats, which I may still do, but I haven't found any that I am too fond of. So...I started searching and searching for shoes that were cute, comfortable, not too tall, and me. Hard task for sure. Then I stumbled across the Converse website and saw that you could design custom made chuck taylors!! I was super excited and got to work on my wonderful design. I designed these shoes based on my wedding colors and even put my new last name on the back, awesome right? I'll be ordering these in the next week and I could not be happier. I love heels but being as clumsy as I am I barely wear them. I thought this was a perfect alternative and everyone I've shown them too loves them.

Hello there!!!

So I have been MIA for a while now!! I apologize to my loyal readers and my poor blog for abandoning since January, but i've had so much going on. I can finally share with you all the awesome things that have occured.

So I finished my invites!! They are being printed this weekend!! I am super excited. I have wanted to share the final product with you guys for a while and now I can. Sorry for the camera quality (taken with my iphone).

I got my rehearsal dinner dress from ModCloth and I absolutely love it!

Madlibs!! I absolutely love Madlibs and found this great idea to put them on the back of our menu card. Here is a draft of ours:

New Year Resolution- Getting fit for my dress (blah)

So my goal is to get totally toned and lose some weight by early April. I have to get my dress altered and while it is 2 sizes too big, I want to be really fit and in shape before I go for my first fitting. My goal is to work out at least 5 days a week! I have been doing well so far-i've went 3 times this week so far!! Two more days to go! Im dreading going back to Bodypump, but I did get in great shape and lost the most weight with that class. Its just so hard lifting weights for an entire hour!!! At least they have good music! :)

So I found this wonderful graphic designer to design my invitations...but I found the perfect invites by an etsy seller (inkedpaper), and they are a lot less than ones by the graphic designer. I feel bad telling her we no longer will be getting our invites by her, but when I saw these (below) I loved everything about them and they are going to look totally awesome in pink and navy!!

Happy New Year!!!

Today is the official start to a new year and I could not be happier. 2010 was a year of triumphs and defeats, but I am looking forward to what's ahead. Speaking of what's ahead: Im getting married this year!! FINALLY!! When we first started this process, we had 24 months to plan our wedding (that's 2 years)!!! Now I have less than 9 months til the big day! So, from now on I will take you all on my journey to the alter. I have a lot of DIY projects to work on, so you will see all my attempts at creating fabulous designs for my big day. From now on I will let you know what I plan on accomplishing each month, and what actually gets done. Work has slowed down for now, so I will be able to work a regular 40 hour week!! Im so looking forward to 2011!!



January to do list:

• Get Brandon's passport for the honeymoon


• Design our customized invitation
• Find wedding undergarments


• Call Olga to schedule my dress alterations


• Attend the Carolina Inn Bridal Fair


• Find my mom a birthday present

I have some real DIY stuff I probably will try to work on, but no rush..I have 8 months 2 weeks and 3 days!! LOL

Happy New Year!!

Happy Holidays!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! I know it has been such a long time, but I have been so busy with work!! Wedding planning is pretty much at a halt right now until after the holidays aka after January 1st! I can't believe my wedding is less than 9 months away!! We have a really long engagement (24 months) and to know that im so close its so exciting!! So I have to say that this Christmas has been absolutely the best yet!! I loved hanging out watching movies and seeing all the snow!!! My favorite gift I received was an apron from FI that had my nickname (Petrey) on it!! I feel like a real cook now!! :) After busy season ends I will definitely have a lot exciting things to post. Anywho, Merry Christmas and happy new year!!

A person I never knew

So my cousin from my father's side of the family posted some pictures on facebook of my paternal grandmother. I don't know this cousin at all, but he somehow knows I exist. I don't know much about my father, only what I heard of him at his funeral last year. I never knew anything about my paternal grandparents other than they died when my father was a child. Its so funny how learning about yourself, your past, and where you came from can make you feel. I am grateful to finally be able to see another side of me, who I am has been a question i've been asking my entire life, but have received no response. I've never seen a picture of my grandmother until now. I have never seen a picture of my father as a child until now. The few summers I spent at his house were usually full of silence. I didn't learn much about him other than he woke up at 4am every single day and would make himself coffee before heading to work. I definitely did not inherit the gene of waking up early, I am not a morning person at all. I don't know if we had anything in common, his favorite color, where he went to school, if he played any sports. The only picture I have of him is from his obituary. Since Facebook is now the greatest thing since slice bread I would like to thank the creators for creating a site that finally allows me to see this moment in time. Without it, I would never have seen this picture and would have always questioned, what my grandmother looked like..now I know.

Here is a picture of my grandmother, Dorothy Mae Cooper Gibson. This is the first time i've ever seen what she looked like.




Here is a pic of my father (first guy on the left) in 1963.

Bridal bling!!

So i've been thinking about the jewelry I want to wear on my wedding day and I found this awesome bracelet on etsy!! I love it so much and it just arrived in the mail today. I cannot wait to wear it with my dress. Now all I need to find is my earrings and necklace..or maybe just earrings..don't wanna over do it too much.

Etsy find

Here are some adorable Mr & Mrs wedding forks I found on etsy to buy for when we eat our first slice of cake. Cute right?

Monogram trial 2

So here is my second monogram that i've created. I really like this one. I like that I made the pink even pinker(if that's even a word). I really like this one the most..so far.

First attempt at our monogram

So here is my first attempt of our wedding monogram. I love that wedding monograms make your wedding that much more unique and special. I plan to use this throughout the wedding. I will probably create a new one, but I like this one for now. I made it in paint.net. It took me a few minutes to learn how to use it, but I think I did pretty well.

Must take photos

I am so inspired when I look at posts on Style Me Pretty. I get so many great ideas and I just hope my wedding looks half as fabulous and the ones featured on the site. So i've been thinking about photos I must take. Brandon and I are doing first look photos and I really cannot wait!! I have not seen a first look photo that I didn't love. I also saw this picture of the sky and I know this might seem weird, but I really want to see/remember what the sky looked like on my wedding day (was it cloudy, sunny, white fluffy clouds, dark scattered clouds..etc). So here are a few of my favs that ive found on different wedding blogs.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ME!!!

So i've been slacking on my posting lately. So much has happened, like the fact that I just turned 23! It feels the same as 22, but I had a wonderful birthday and it made me feel so blessed. So im finally at my 1 year mark..woohoo!! On my birthday next year, I will be on my honeymoon in St. Lucia. It feels so good to finally be less than a year away from my big day. I feel like i've got so much accomplished. I have:

• Wedding venue( Carolina Inn)


• Photographer (Michael Moss)


• Wedding planner (Tracy Adams)


• Florist (Lyn Graves from Fresh Affairs)


• Save the dates (Vistaprint)


• cake stand (Craigslist)


• DJ (Tyler Rhodes)

I have so many ideas going through my head, I just hope they all come together as planned. Here are some of my inspiration/ideas for my hair, bouquet, and cake that I have as of right now.

When I walk into my wedding I want drama!!!

So my wedding is a year away!! Im so excited to finally be this far along. We're having a two year engagement and at first I was just throwing out ideas, but now its time to really start planning. Ive been so busy at work I haven't had time to do much planning when I get home. I know I want a lot of lighting and a dramatic centerpieces. I want textured table linens and lots of candles. So when I talk about lighting this is what I want to see when I walk into the room. I don't want anyone to see blue walls..I want them to see color and texture!!

Here is a picture of my venue for the ceremony. Im having an evening reception so I want lots of candles like in this picture. It won't be fall yet so the trees will still be green and really nice.

Picture credits to: the knot and Kristine Dittner Photography

Why does the weekend go by so slow?

Saturday is my favorite day of the week. I love waking up whenever I want, lounging around in my pjs, and catching up on my favorite shows and movies. This weekend, Brandon had to work. He's in his second busy season for all of the people who filed an extention for their taxes. He said that he was going to work from 10am to 2pm, but he didn't get off work until 7pm. I went to hang out with my mom for a while and then we decided to go see a movie. Im a big Paul Walker fan, so when I heard about the movie Takers I had to see it. It was an awesome movie and im glad I got to spend time with my mom. Brandon tagged along as well and he thought it was awesome. After the movie, Brandon and I went back home and passed out. Before we knew it, it was Sunday. Today we decided to get up and go to the Gypsy Diner for brunch. I had the french toast and Brandon had chicken fingers..haha. Side note: Brandon and I are creating a kids menu for our wedding and Brandon would rather have that as his meal than what we're serving. He's a super picky eater so it should be interesting when we go for our tasting. Anywho, its been a lazy Sunday and we are not looking forward to going back to work on Monday. I feel the weekend went by super fast. Matter of fact, this year is going by super fast. We're almost at the 1 year mark for our wedding!

Engagement photos!!

So we finally got our photos back from our photographer and I am pleased. I wish it wasn't so hot so that I wasn't drenched for the last set of photos. Here are a couple of my favs.

Its official!!

So ive been getting so much inspiration from other bloggers and I definitely need to step my game up! I have no clue how to operate on this thing..yet!

Back to wedding planning, I recently finalized my wedding venue!! I am officially getting married at the Carolina Inn! My fiance' is not too happy to get married at a Carolina venue (we are Pirates..go ECU!). I love the venue so I don't care what school it is associated with. Isn't it to die for??

Peonies

I am totally obsessed with Peonies! They are such a beautiful flower. I know they aren't in season in September but I will have them at my wedding somehow!