"You pick me up and take me home again."

Title: 400 Lux - Lorde

Moving

card board boxes, disarray, chaos, packing, trucks, labeling…

Packing and moving have turned into things I have no desire to ever do again.  A few times, Vito & I said "We're moving once more (back north) and this is it. We'll never move again."

Maybe moving is not hell for everyone. Perhaps it's exciting with a promise of fresh beginnings.  Or perhaps you had an experience, like us, where the moving process was one big, terrible, no good time. Over & over again.

Let's start from the beginning, shall we? It's a very good place to start.

Friday

• Vito's car started having problems.  Our mechanic was already finished for the day.  The dealer could not fit him into the schedule. The car was nearly un-drivable. Thankfully we have a friends who works on cars and was able to fix his car. 
• We had plans to meet with friends for Vito to say goodbye and they were canceled at the last minute.
• We had a last date, which was dinner at one of our favorite restaurants and the service was terrible.  Vito's "medium rare" steak wasn't even pink on the inside and the manager asked him if he was sure he knew what he wanted.  I finished my entire meal before Vito even received his.  A complete mess.
• Went to pick up the moving truck at 6pm and it was not ready.  The person who rented it before us was 4 hours late bringing it back and still wasn't there. It took 1.5 hours to get a truck, which they gave us a different truck than the one we reserved.

Saturday

• I barely slept, less than 4 hours.
• It rained while we packed the truck up.
• The 10 hours drive turned into a 13.5 hour drive because of traffic
• We arrived at our house in Clemson at 1am to find that the rental property did not leave the house key under the mat, as promised.  Vito tried to break into the house but was unsuccessful.  So we checked into the last room available at a hotel at 1:30am. We had to sneak the cat in because they had a no animal rule.  Vito then had to run out and buy a pad lock and take it to the moving truck.  When he returned to the room after 2 and we found a huge bug on the wall.  I made vito flip over every piece of furniture in the room to make sure there were no more bugs in the room or I'd be sleeping in the car.

Sunday

• After 5 hours of broken sleep, we stayed awake at 8 and called the rental property number.  The guy couldn't help us and told us we had to wait for a call back, which could take up to 24 hours.  Mind you we had Vito's cousin and boyfriend driving 2.5 hours to come to Clemson to help us move in so we needed to know whether to stop them from making the drive.  Luckily someone called back within the hour and said the key was under the mat at the rental property building, not the house.
• Vito drove to the rental property building and searched every mat and none of them had keys under them.  So he had to wait 30 mins for someone to show up and give him the key.
• The couch wouldn't fit in the living room and the box spring wouldn't fit up the stairs.
• I saw my first live cockroach in the kitchen. (there have been none sighted since.)
• The internet was promised to be hooked up.  And then when we called, because it was not hooked up when we arrived, they said it would be another 2 weeks.

Monday

• This was the day I was to travel home.  Tuesday I had an appt for my stomach that took 6 weeks to get in and when I asked to reschedule, they said it would be another 6 weeks.  
• I tried to leave Sunday night but when I went to take a shower, the hot water heater was not turned on.  I desperately needed a shower from all the moving and to help keep myself awake. So instead I decided to lay down for 3 hours for a nap, would wake up for a shower, and leave.  This would have been a great plan if I had set my alarm for 12am instead of 12pm so I woke up at 6:00am with no way to make it to my 2pm appt.
• I left and drove my overly emotional self back 10 hours all by my lonesome.

It was the longest weekend ever and has convinced me that we are cursed with moving. Silver lining, we were reminded how blessed we are to be surrounded by helpful friends and family who woke up early or made long drives to move around our heavy stuff.

So that's our horrific moving story.  I hope to start some wedding recaps soon as I expect to receive our wedding pics this week! 

So moving: horrible or we just had a really bad experience?

And just like that...

I drop off the face of the earth.

But on the bright side, some things have happened since we last saw each other.

Let's look at some snippets.

May

I turned 26 & I got a penguin balloon animal. It was the highlight of my otherwise second worst birthday ever.

June

I ended up with food poisoning.  That was made worse by previously mentioned stomach problems. Which turned into dehydration and messed my body up so bad I spent my first night in the hospital since birth instead of at my bridal shower.

July

I was showered with love by many of my favorite ladies.

Vito & I also spent a week at the beach.  Which was our first vacation in 4 years.

August

We moved out of our first home.

I helped move Vito into Clemson (which was the absolute worst nightmare of a moving story ever.) & I moved in with my sister & niece.

September

Vito & I rendezvoused in Virginia for the weekend.  We ate, watched football, and slept.  It was nice.

October

We had the best day ever.

The good, the bad, the terrible, and the best  

All rolled into one post.

Let's do this again soon, shall we?

8)

"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?

Fill in the Blank Friday {8} & Giveaway Winner Announced!

Today I'm going old school and linking up with Lauren for Fill in the Blank Friday!

1.  Something I swore I'd never do, but have ended up doing anyway is move into a place without a dishwasher.  We had one for a brief time in the middle of my childhood.  A few years and it died.  My least favorite chore is washing dishes so I always swore when Vito & I moved into our own place, it would have a dishwasher.  But the place we live in? No dishwasher other than Vito's two hands.  Bless that man for doing the dishes.

2.  Something I've always wanted to do is travel to different countries and stay for a month or so to really experience the culture, not just visit on vacation.

3.  Something I have absolutely no desire to ever do is   bungee jump or sky dive. No way. No day  << I agree with Lauren.  I love heights and all but that feeling you get in your stomach when you are on a roller coaster? I HATE it.  So bungee jumping and sky diving? No thanks.

4. The best thing I ever did was go on my first date with Vito. The rest is history.

5. When it comes to trying new things, I am usually in need of some coaxing.  I'm a pretty big chicken when it comes to anything that takes any guts.  Or even eating strange foods.  I love the idea of new experiences but sometimes I just need talked into it!

6. One thing I've never done is lived alone.  I went straight from living at home with my mom to living with Vito.  I admire people who live on their own but I could never.  I have way too vivid of an imagination coupled with a fear of people breaking into my home.  I'd never sleep!

7.  My favorite thing to do is spend a day on the beach with a good book in my hand, sun on my face, and hear nothing but the sound of the waves.

As for the giveaway from Tiny Prints, we have a winner!

Instead of using a website, I went old school and wrote all the names on post its and pulled!  

The winner is Brittany from Boots & Pearls!  

If you aren't already following her, get on that.

Congrats Brittany!

Thanks for all you lovely ladies who entered! 

Happy Friday!!!

It is that time again: Christmas Cards & a Surprise!

Today I placed an order for work that had an 8-10 week lead time.

10 weeks puts us at January 2nd.  

I'll just let that sink in for a second.

My order isn't going to arrive until after the holidays.

This is about the time every year where I realize how close the holidays are and how the end of the year is sneaking up on me.

Halloween is next week. 

Thanksgiving about 4 weeks.  

Christmas less than 9 weeks.

I may not have Halloween candy for the trick or treaters or have my Black Friday game plan mapped out yet, but let me tell you, in between wedding planning, I certainly have started prepping for Christmas!

I've started a skeleton list of people to buy for, amounts allotted to each person, and started drafting ideas.

Some presents have already been bought.

And Christmas cards? 

Y'all, I have been looking at the different options for a month now.

I love sending out Christmas cards to my family, friends, and bloggy friends!

Last year, we ordered our Christmas Photo Cards through Tiny Prints.

And honestly, we could not have been happier with our cards.

They offer so many different and awesome designs and shapes of cards to choose from.

The quality of the finished card was flawless.

And the customer service has been great.
Fast responses, helpful, and always nice.
The way customer service should be!

I will be upfront with the problem we had with our Christmas cards.

There was just too many to choose from.  

Just look at some of these gems I found that I'm already in love with.

How cute is this ornament shaped card?

I adore this font.

I am loving the trifold design!

It was a long and intense process picking just the right card that we both loved.

But it was worth every moment and we are willing to subject ourselves to it again.  

I suggest you head over to Tiny Prints and check out the many different designs.  

I am certain you will find a whole bunch you will love too.

(I won't even tell you how many I already have favorited...)

While you are there, make sure to check out all the special offers they have going on right now.

Besides their website, you can find them all over social media!

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Instagram: Tiny Prints

Google +

Blog

Now, the REALLY exciting part!

Because Tiny Prints is so awesome, they are letting me host my very first giveaway!

One of you lovely followers will win $50.00 off your order.
(does not include shipping & cannot be combined with any other promos)

All you have to do is comment on this post and include two things:

tell me your favorite Christmas card design
and please include your email address.

Easy peasy!
The last day to enter the giveaway is November 1st.
***Giveaway is closed!***

This post is sponsored by Tiny Prints but all the opinions stated above are 100% my own.

"Cuz I Know That Time Has Numbered My Days"

Title: Mumford & Sons - Babel

My Weekend in Numbers

3

The number of pumpkin related items I ate at the pumpkin fest on Saturday.  3. ONLY 3! At an entire festival, I saw less than 10 pumpkin food options.  How is that even possible!? I'm still upset.  But the pumpkin funnel cake, pumpkin whoopie pie, and pumpkin bread helped.

2

 The number of pounds I've lost since last Monday.  

1

The number of albums I've had on repeat (since the beginning of last week). 

Mumford & Sons.

6

 The number of loads of laundry I washed and put away yesterday.

7

 The number of Fringe episodes I watched over the weekend.  That show has sucked me in & I'm only on the second season! 

153

  (Approximately) The number of tears I cried last night as Vito read 3 chapters of The Fault In Our Stars out loud.  We are getting close to the end. SOB.

1

 The number of times I cooked over the weekend.  Chili. Mmmmm.

54 

The High temperature yesterday.

17

  (Approximately)  The number of times I wished it were Summer yesterday.

1

 The number of books I finished over the weekend.  Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.  Such a powerful book.

3

 The number of days over the weekend I wore Halloween-themed socks.

1

 The number of pictures I took over the weekend.

5

 The number of days I am counting down until the next weekend!

How was your weekend?

"When In Doubt, Go To The Library."

Title: Quote from Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets

At the age of 25, one of my most favorite past times is reading.  I love to read books and get wrapped up in a different world.

Younger me? She would scoff at me now. I grew up not being a big reader.  I would rather play.  Barbie and Ken needed to head off to work.  And I needed to perform my next big concert to my stuffed animal audience.  Don't forget the multiple viewings of Shirley Temple movies.  I wanted to use my imagination and I didn't see how sitting still with a paperback book was going to let me use my sense of imagination that I had loved.  My mother? Now that woman reads and I never understood then.  She could (and still does!) devour an entire book in one sitting. 

As I grew older, I still didn't understand.  I was a teenager who was wrapped up in friends and boys and invariably spending the time I wasn't with said friends or boys, on the phone with said friends or said boys.  8 hours in school with these people was not enough time.  We needed to come home and spend the evening on the phone.  I still remember how excited I was when I was able to talk on the phone AND be on the internet, chatting on AIM.  It was revolutionary. (25 year old me laughs that my niece will never know a time where you had to dial up to the internet.)  Being wrapped up in this social world left no time for reading.  Hell, I couldn't sit down long enough to do readings for school.  I'd read a few books here and there.  I did enjoy them. But there were things I'd rather do. 

Things changed after I graduated high school.  

I had a boy that I loved who went away for school 1000 miles away.  

And my heart hurt.  

And I was lonely.

Long distance sucks.  

When I was home one day, I noticed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was playing on TV.  Up until this point, I had avoided it.  I remember in middle school when they banned the 4th grade teacher from reading the book to her class.  If it was banned, it must not be good right? So I watched the movie.  

And I was entranced in this other world.  

And I wanted to watch it again.  

And I needed more.

So I bought the first book.  

And I tore through it.

And the next,

And the next. 

... 

And I had gotten lost in a world that was beautiful and magical.

It was exactly what my lonely heart needed.

A place to escape and forget.

And then the unthinkable happened.  

HP7 was released on my niece's 4th birthday.  So after celebrations, I ran straight to the book store to pick up my reserved copy. I went home, plopped on the couch and I did not move until I was finished.  I tore through that entire book. 

In. One. Sitting.  

This was the first time, but I promise it was not the last.

 And I understood my mom a little more.  Reading could be so much more than I thought it would.  My imagination, which I once thought would be dulled by books, would actually make books that much more incredible.   

I may have been late to the fandom but Harry Potter changed my life.  

It filled the void I had in my life while Vito was away for nearly 10 months.  

And it made me realize that reading is, in fact, one of the greatest joys in life.  

So tell me your thoughts on reading.

Have you always loved it or did it take you awhile, like me, to realize what you were missing out on?
Also, unrelated but I redid my blog look. Thoughts?

{Wedding Talk} Finding The Perfect Venue - Check!

So far in the wedding venue world, I've told y'all about things we didn't want in a venue.

And venues we fell for but didn't work out for us.

So now? 

Let's get to the good part!

We set up a meeting to tour the beautiful barn venue that Sunday.

Now one thing you should probably know about me:  I am a worrier. And I get all kinds of nervous. Over everything. I mean, everything.  (My boss has suggested I get anxiety meds for the wedding week.) So something as big as touring a venue? I couldn't even eat lunch before hand, I had myself so anxious.  But don't worry, we stopped after church so Vito could chow down on some food.  Man has a stomach of steel.  I just kept having nervous thoughts.  What if the lady is mean? What if I don't ask the right questions? What if it isn't perfect? What if we never find a venue that we can afford? What if... What if...  Ridiculous right? I had spoken with the owner and she was very sweet on the phone.  I brought my wedding binder with a whole list of questions to ask. And if it didn't work, what could I do to fix that? Nothing.  (I can rationally point these things out now).

So we made it there on time.
And we met the owner.
And we toured the place.
She answered all the right questions.
And basically, the meeting went great.
All those worries for nothing.

A beautiful barn for a perfect reception.

A built in area for a faux-to-booth.

Fields around a beautiful lake.

Pretty places for pictures.

And many places to choose from for a ceremony site.

(Please excuse the poor quality pictures.  It is hard to take multiple pictures while paying attention and ooohing and aahhhhing.)

We get in the car and Vito looks at me and says "I think it is perfect, let's do it!"

Me: "Uhmm. Well it is perfect but let's think about it."

Another things you should know about me? 

I am indecisive.  Probably the most indecisive person you will find.  I was the girl who would find the perfect homecoming dress in store 1. But go to every single other store, JUST IN CASE there was a better dress.  There never was.  But I always feel like I need to see all my options before making a big decision.  And since a wedding venue is a pretty big decision, I thought I should think about it more.  JUST IN CASE.  (welcome to my ridiculous side, y'all.)

I had 3 reservations with the venue.

1. We really wanted a September wedding.  

And this venue was completely booked for September and the first weekend in October already.  Most than 15 months out y'all.  Wedding vendors are crazy.  So the second & third weekend in October were open.  

2. The barn does not have heating or AC.  

Though I feel, after talking to about 20 different people for their opinions, this shouldn't be a problem.  The average temp is low 70s.  By the time it starts dropping, we'll be drinking in the barn and dancing the night away.  There are 2 big doors that can be open or closed.  So it should be fine.

3.  The owner will be out of state the weekend of our wedding.

This had me worried. I would be working with her and yet she wouldn't be there.  She assured me another lady, who lives on the property would be there if we had questions or had any issues.

Things we loved?

1. The venue was exactly what we pictured.  And by we, I mean me and Vito thinks it works.

2. It was in our budget.

3. We get the venue from Thursday evening to Sunday.

4. We can bring in whatever vendors we want.

5. We can decorate and set up however we want.

6. It is close by.

7. It is just beautiful.

8. The owner was so sweet.  And she was very encouraging about coming to visit every weekend if I wanted.  Bringing whoever I want to show it off.  And encouraged coming on Saturday morning so I could see how other brides decide to decorate the place.

So as you can see the pros totally outweigh the cons.

But I was still thinking.

And then I received an email from the owner letting me know that there were 2 other brides, who toured the venue the same day as us, who wanted the second weekend in October.  She said she does it by whoever gives her a deposit first.  But she wanted to give me a heads up since we were the first to tour it (by a few hours).  I received this at work and, well, cue freak out.  

We had to decide and we had to decide now.  Vito was sold on it.  And after really thinking it over, I was too.  We had dinner plans with a group of friends that night but we wanted to get everything booked as soon as possible, just in case.  So in order to secure our date, Vito headed over after work to sign the contract while I went to my yearly spread 'em appt.  (Is it just me or do these appts really make it seem like a year flies by waaaaay too fast?)

So, after this incredibly long post, Vito & I have a date and a venue!

We are getting married!

12 October 2013

{Wedding Talk} Picking a Perfect Venue

Last month, I told y'all all about the things I didn't want in our wedding venue.  

Then became the fun times of looking at things we liked.

If you know us, you would know we like our wine.

We visit wineries often, attend wine festivals, and take part in the local wine trails.

You will never come to our house and find it wine-less.

So naturally the first places we started looking into were wineries.

Lots of extensive research on winery websites within a 1-1.5 hour radius of where we live.

We even did a tour of our favorite winery.

Which everyone in my family and our friends was convinced it was the perfect place.

Unfortunately, wineries are expensive.  I'm talking WAY expensive.

This was no exception for our favorite one.  

For about half of our budget, we could have the winery for 5 hours.

And just the grounds.  

No chairs, no tables. No tent. 

All would need rented.

Sadly, this seemed to be the norm for wineries around here.

So on to more research.

Then came the ideas of barns.  

If you've been on Pinterest, you know all the barn-inspired pictures that show up.

And they are stunning.

One day while google searching, I stumbled onto a blog mentioning she where was getting married.

And it sounded perfect.

It had a large barn for the reception.  

And lots of weeping willows around a lake.

Weeping Willows are our FAVORITE tree.

I tried to find a website or facebook page and there was nothing.

Only a few pictures on a photographer's blog.

Apparently from reading on the forums, the owners do not advertise and only go by word of mouth.

This sounds good right? 

Insert Vanessa getting her hopes up.

So I call and the lady was super nice and helpful.

The price? As much as the winery.

Insert Vanessa's hopes being crushed here.

So we sat down and tried to work it into the budget.

And we couldn't.  We tried and tried but it just wouldn't fit.

So I went back to researching more and more and still sticking with the barn idea. 

And I found one that is 30 mins from our house.

Another one where they don't advertise and I only found 10 pictures on The Knot, with no reviews.

Too good to be true? Was I going to have my hopes crushed again?

So I sucked it up and called the owner and she was wonderful.

AND it was only a smidge over our budget.

Naturally, we set up an appointment immediately to tour the venue that weekend.

But more on that in the next post. ;)

How many venues did you fall in love with but had to pass on them?