"By With a Little Help from My Friends."

Title: The Beatles - "With a Little Help from My Friends"

Thank you all for all the support for prayers lately.  Since coming back to blogging, it's been a bit heavy around here.  & that's been a big part of my life, but there are also good and amazing things going on in my life.

Since I posted about wedding things, I created a little DIY project and asked my favorite ladies to stand beside me on our big day.  I thought about just asking them but I wanted to do something different and fun. 

Enter Pinterest with all the fun ideas.  So I adapted what I saw and made something of my own!

Enter the boxes.  

I had 6 lovely ladies to ask, plus a flower girl.  

Every girl had their own box with their initial on the tag.

 On the second tag, I put this little quote I found online:

On the day that I am to be a bride,

it would mean the world to me

to have you by my side.

All the girls found the same picture on the inside but each had their name and the "Will you be my bridesmaid/maid of honor/flower girl?"

& of course, a ring pop.  Because they deserved to have the question popped too!

As for how I made them, I bought the white boxes at a craft store and filled them with easter grass.  I bought the initial sticks and ribbon at the craft store as well.  I created the wording/tags/picture using Picmonkey & printed everything with my computer.

I am happy to say, after a lot of screaming and hugging and some tears, every girl agreed!

 I may be bias but my girls are BEAUTIFUL

And of course, my littlest love.

When she opened the box she yelled "YES!"

Even though she'll be 10, she wants nothing else than to still be a flower girl.

What this princess wants, she gets.

It was fun to see all their faces and I couldn't be more excited to have these loves in my life!

Have you asked your ladies/have you been asked any special ways?

"I just want to know today, know today, know today know that maybe I will be ok"

Title:  Ingrid Michaelson - "Be Ok"

Me? I'm a planner.  Not that I mind change so much.  With going to so many new and different schools in my life, I learned that change is essential.  And sometimes I can feel it in my soul if things get stagnant.  That I need change.  Something new.  Something to keep life exciting.

Things I don't handle well? Knowing change is coming but yet I don't know in what way.  I need to plan.  I'm a worrier.  If I don't know what to worry about, I can't start planning.  And if I can't start planning, my worrying can get out of control.  

That all being said, I'm dealing with big changes coming my way at the moment.  

Marrying my love in about 5 months.

Dealing with whatever is going on with my health.

Working on living a healthier lifestyle.

Moving over 600 miles from the only home I've ever know.

Talk about major changes right?

Talk about worrying.

And planning.

And worrying some more.

Stress.

Tears.

And more worrying.

You see, Vito missed math and decided he wanted to go back and pursue his education.  I support him whole heartedly. So the process began of taking the GREs, which he kicked ass, taking the subject test, which he did okay at, and applying to 18 different colleges.  

So began the waiting game.  Our lives were about to go through some major changes but we didn't know where or what that would mean.  Seeing as I stated before about needing to plan, you can already piece together how well that went.  Out of the 18 colleges, Vito was accepted to 6 of them but only 3 of them offered financial aid.  Those 3 were listed at my least favorite colleges on the list solely because they were so far away from home.  

I've lived here for 22 years.  My family and friends and work and church are all here.  The thought of moving far gives me anxiety.  So began listing the pros and cons.  There were lots of tears.  Lots of anger.  Even more prayers.  Eventually we came to a decision.  We will be heading down to Clemson SC this fall.

I won't pretend this is easy.  Or even a happy time for me yet.  I know in my heart this is what we need to do.  I support Vito with everything I have and I know this is what he needs.  But I am going to miss everyone and everything else in my life I will be leaving behind temporarily.  It's a 5 year program which feels like eternity on this side of things.  But I know once we are finished down there, it will feel like no time at all.

If y'all have some extra prayers, please send them our way.  I know there are good things coming our way, everything is just very overwhelming right now. 8)

Me vs My Body

Me to the blogging world: I'm coming back (again)!

My Body to me: Hahahahaha. So you think.

Warning: this is a long post that's not real exciting.

So much for posting on the regular huh? I made the last weekend post and I was ready to go.

And then the next day my body had something else in mind.

So let's rewind.  I've been having stomach issues for awhile now.  & I've just been sucking it up and dealing with it.  Slowly, it started to get worse so I brought it to my GP Doctor's attention.  

First possible diagnosis?

Lactose Intolerance.

I almost laughed in his face.  Me? Girl who could live on cheese and froyo alone? Nope, Doc. You can't be right.  And so I ignored it longer and it got worse.  So I thought I'd give it a try.  I gave up all dairy products. Which was my own form of hell. Do you know dairy is in about everything? Because it is.  I was told to give up all dairy for 2 weeks.  Then slowly reintroduce it back in to see which things bothered me and which did not.  Long story short, those 2 weeks were terrible.  I cried a lot.  I was hormonal.  Poor Vito deserved a medal for dealing with me.  I made it two weeks & slowly started reintegrating.  I thought it might have made a small difference but not really noticeable on a whole.

April 2nd was a Tuesday and I was hit again and I was miserable.  More miserable than ever.  Nauseous and in pain.  I hadn't eaten any dairy that day so I started to think this can't be right.  Went to the doctor on Thursday and told him all my symptoms.

Next possible diagnosis?

Gallstones.

Gallbladder problems run in my family so this made sense.  Scheduled an ultrasound for the next morning.  Made it to that & waited for results.  It was a long and miserable weekend.  Monday morning I received a call to say that my ultrasound was normal so they were sending me for blood work.

Me. Girl who is afraid of needles. Who has never had her blood drawn before.  Who doesn't even know her own blood type.

Cue freak out.  Thankfully for Vito again (Medal winner, I'm telling you.), he took off work to take me to get my blood drawn.  I survived and didn't have a full blown panic attack.  Luckily my nurse was quick and I apparently have big veins.  So my blood work came back normal as well.  By this point I'm overly frustrated and just want them to find out what's going on.  Back to the doctor I went.  Feeling worse and worse.  

Next possible diagnosis?

Stomach ulcer.

So now I have to wait until May 9th to do a stomach scope.  Which I'm terrified.  The thought of something going down my throat like that makes want to panic.  I hate needles & I'll be getting an IV.  & I haven't been put under since I was 6.  Right now I'm on meds to help keep me functioning.  They are terrible.  I have to take them 30-60 minutes before I eat and I have to take them on an empty stomach so I can't have eaten for at least 2-3 hours.  As someone who likes to snack, it has been a trial.  Thankfully they seem to be helping.  I have only had one major set back since starting them.  

I hope when they do the scope they can find something.  Because I am ready to do treatment, not just maintain.  Because of all this mess, my life has been otherwise boring.  We've spent a lot of nights and weekends in the house.  So I guess the bright side is we are saving money! Sad side is I'm missing a lot of fun things we had planned and we had to cancel.  Like our annual dateversary dinner at The Melting Pot.  Like a weekend away.  Like going to a registry event.  

So here's hoping my body stops acting like I'm 80 and I can get back to having fun and planning a wedding. 8)

This Weekend I . . .

April Fools day, one of my least favorite days of the entire year.

This girl is about as gullible as it gets.  So to make this day better, I decided to do a link up at Syndal's bloggy blog!

This Weekend I...

Enjoyed the last day of touring wineries on the wine trail we took part in.  We visited two wineries, did tours, and tasted a lot few wines.  

We really enjoy learning about wine and love drinking wine.  Plus it is fun to do something different and get out and about.  It was such a beautiful day, we enjoyed a glass outside at the one winery with this view.  I often do not appreciate the beauty of my state.

This weekend I...

Toured some of the Gettysburg Battles once we were done touring the wineries.  

We've done the entire tour before so we decided to stop at a few of our favorite locations and enjoy more of the beautiful weather.

First we stopped at Vito's favorite spot which is a giant tour that overlooks the Battlefields.  It has 10 flights of stairs and I must really love him for doing it.  Because here I am two days later and my calves still hurt every time I move.

Then we headed over to my favorite spot, Little Round Top, which is a big hill that overlooks a lot of the Battlefield.  It also had a ton of huge rocks for children (and Vito) to climb on. 

This Weekend I...

Watched the long awaited return of Doctor Who.

Then over the past few days since, have been theorizing with Vito and friends through tweets and emails and texts.

This show always leaves me with so many more questions than answers.

And I CAN NOT get enough of it!

This Weekend I... 

 

Had a busy day celebrating Easter

We enjoyed an uplifting church service with friends.

Celebrated how great is our God

Made delicious lemon bars that Vito's family devoured.

Spent lunch with my family and dinner at Vito's Grandparents.

We ate candy out of our Easter "Basket" (tupperware container) from my mommy.

 Took goofy pictures in bunny ears.

And received sweet notes from my Princess.  

Being an aunt is really the biggest blessing in my life.

My heart is bursting.

Overall, it was a busy and exhausting, but amazing weekend!

Now back to reality.

And how was your weekend?

"We Run Circles, No Direction Do I See"

Title: Blue October - "Kangaroo Cry"

My, oh my, where has time gone?

Hi Bloggers, it's me, Vanessa.

Do you remember me? 

I'm just that girl who blogs a few times and then goes on hiatus more often than she doesn't.

I love blogging. 

But when I am blogging, I feel like I am constantly running out of things to say.

And when I'm not blogging, I miss it terribly.

This little space on the internet is my safe haven.  

I always see posts of bloggers expressing how they feel they can't truly express themselves for this, that, or the other reason.

Me? I've never felt that here.  

& that's what I love most.

My life right now, for many reasons that I hope to slowly get into, is chaotic to say the least.

Everything is changing and the feeling of being overwhelmed is a constant.

Unfortunately I think a lot of the chaos has been hanging out in my head.

So I'm coming back to blogging, because I think I need it.

I need my little space to purge all my thoughts and feelings.

About life. About the small event happening in under 200 days (!!!). About a song I am really loving or a book I lived in temporarily but can't seem to get over. About happiness and sadness.

About me.

The girl with the out of control curls, who is often seen in plain clothes, who wears glasses but hates them so she often takes them off in pictures.

Here I am, making my umpteenth return.

I've miss y'all dearly.

"The Screams All Sounds The Same. Hey!"

Title: Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men

Do you know how many movies there are in the world?

Yeah, me neither but I can guess that number is PRETTY big.

With the constant releasing of new movies, it is hard to keep up.

And inevitably, movies slip through the cracks.

And sometimes, those movies are classics.

And people find out.

And have a heart attack because you are missing out.

And according to people in my life?

I have missed quite a few.

Example A

Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs.

Growing up, I was not allowed to watch any movies or TV shows that involved magic.

But that's a post for another time.

So basically when I was allowed, I had to catch up on all the amazing movies Disney had to offer.

Sadly, I've still missed this one.

Example B

Elf.

Y'all, Vito & I were having dinner with two couples from church.

This movie was brought up and I said how we hadn't seen it and all 4 of their mouths dropped open.

You would have thought we just told them the world was ending.

We promised we'd watch this over the Christmas season so they'll still be friends with us.

Example C

Wayne's World.
My sister yells at me all the time since this is her favorite movie.
And she just can't believe that I haven't seen it, since I'm related.
Thankfully her love wins out so she hasn't disowned me.
Yet.

Example D

You've Got Mail
I admitted on Twitter this morning that I haven't seen this movie.
Response?
LOTS OF SHOUTY CAPS.

So I get it.
I'm missing out on a lot and I promise to remedy this.
So don't disown me.
I'll get right with God asap.

Now do tell.
What movies haven't you seen that cause crazy reactions from people?

{Wedding Talk} Countdown: 11 Months

Today is November 12th, 2012.

Probably to most of you, it seems like just another dumb Monday. 

Mostly, I agree.

Dumb, stupid Mondays always ruin my inevitably too-short weekend.

But today? I looked at the date on my phone at work and it hit me out of no where.

11 more months.

11 more months until our big day.

After this realization, I was instantly hit with two polarizing emotions that can be shown with two different questions that entered my mind.

11 MORE FLIPPING MONTHS?!

& 

ONLY 11 MORE MONTHS?!

First I thought 11 more flipping months.  How is this possible?! 

I JUST WANT TO BE MARRIED NOOOOOOOOOW.  

My impatience shinning through, such a beautiful sight. Vito & I have been together for over 7.5 years at this point.  We started dating in high school so rushing our relationship? Nah.  We never hurried to be engaged (Obviously, because the amount of "about time" comments we received when we announced our engagement made that clear).  We didn't see the point.  I chose him, he chose me,  We knew in the end we'd be together so why rush to spend oodles of money we din't have on a wedding.  We'd get there eventually.  That is not to say we were not or are not flipping excited to be husband and wife.  We are ecstatic.  I am. And now I am feeling slightly impatient because I just want our wedding to be here. I want to be married now and see how beautiful our day will be and how everything will turn out and what everything will look like and to call Vito my husband and be surrounded by everyone we love at the same time and...

I am so overly excited, it is causing my impatience to bleed through.  

And then the flip side of the coin.

I only have 11 months to pull this shindig together? 

We don't have a DJ or know what we will feed people or even come to a final decision as to who will be in our bridal party and I haven't lost the magical 50 lbs in the last month like I was wishing to lose before dress shopping and... The list goes on here too.  Wedding planning is a joyous job, but good Lord it is overwhelming and time consuming for a couple on a budget.  And there are SO many things to plan I would have never thought of before hand.  And I only have 11 months left to do it all? Time to change into my superwoman gear. 

But even after these two outlooks that first popped into my mind, thinking of our wedding day makes me giggle like a little school girl.  Someone at church last week said "This time next year, you guys will be married!" And we both stood there with stupid grins on our faces.  Because our wedding will be here before we know it and everything will be planned for and even if things go wrong, we will be married at the end of the day, 11 months from now, and that is what is most important!

Am I the only one who experiences two very different emotions surrounding one event or idea?