Test. 1, 2, 3. Test.

I am a self-proclaimed horrible blogger. What I mean by that is: in my head, I am a really great blogger.I think of topics and stories and pics to post, but in theory, I always forget (or think I don't have time) to sit down and write them out. Anyways I say that to say this (without being judged by all the veteran bloggers out there who are getting ready to say 'duh!') I just learned about the ability to schedule posts! Yay! What this means is that I really only need to get motivated about once a week, and just write multiple blogs at that time. This definately seem alot less intimidating. So here's to scheduled posting. And here's my t-t-test, test, 1, 2, 3. 

Golden!

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And yet another!

My 2013 New Year's Resolutions:

1. Blog 100x this year. 
2. Pay off my condo. 
3. Make a new recipe a week.
4. Save $10000.00
5. Collect an address book. And write a letter to everyone in the book.
6. Make six figures.

I marked off #5: Collect an address book, and write a letter to everyone in the book. I didn't technically finish this one like I thought I would. But these are my resolutions- so, i make the rules. Even as we speak (and by speak, I mean as I type), my hands are cramping and recovering from addressing save the dates. I have collected just around 190ish addresses from friends and family and am sending out save the dates (kinda like a letter). So as a bit of a reward to myself, I am marking this one compete. Collecting addresses- check. Sending a letter (save the date)- check. 

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Another Mission Accomplished!

My 2013 New Year's Resolutions:

1. Blog 100x this year. 
2. Pay off my condo. 
3. Make a new recipe a week.
4. Save $10000.00
5. Collect an address book. And write a letter to everyone in the book.
6. Make six figures.

       About three weeks ago, I paid off my condo. After 3 years of living in my humble abode, she's my little beut. Which is exciting for a variety of reasons- I don't have to worry about some one (doing owner-financing) is going to take all my money and run, #2, I can start looking for a home to start mine and the fiance's life off together in, and lastly rental income, baby!

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You're never too old for dress up!!

So I have been meaning to blog about the costumes that I have made in the past, so that I can begin to blog about the ones I am making in the present. And since I am working on this years Halloween costumes today, and we are only a few weeks out from Halloween, I thought it would be a prefect countdown of sorts to the Holiday, and maybe help a couple people who need last minute ideas. Today, I will go over a costume for Rawle's 80s theme sports birthday party.

This costume, doesn't take much creativity, I'll admit. For this costume, I used an old pair of grey tights that I already had. I then scoured thrift stores for the perfect ensemble. I was lucky and able to find a black leotard (if you're not so lucky, I will advise how to make your own leotard in a future post). I then found this amazing purple wolf sweatshirt. I cut of the collar, allowing the sweatshirt to fall off one should and the strap from the leotard to show. You can pick up the sweatbands for your head and wrist at any local sports store or walmart for pretty cheap, unless of course you have some already on hand. And not seen in the picture, I created some leg warmers out of a fleece bought at the thrift store with elastic at the top and bottom of the sleeve I had cut off.

Costume topped off with some bright make up and a side pony. You can never go wrong with a side pony!!

Keep on the lookout, they get much better from here.

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oh 25...

i now think 25 is the year you officially become an adult. 

25 is the first year, i started referring to early 30s as young. 

25 is the first year that i looked at myself in a swimsuit and saw cellulite. 

25 is the first year that I didn't freak out when I think about having a job long-term. 

25 is the first year (and hopefully only) that I got engaged. 

25 is the first year that I could confidently negotiate a salary on a new job, because I know my worth. 

25 is the first year that I am having to try (and try hard) to be in shape. 

But even though I am officially an adult, I feel as though it's a beautiful time in my life. To look at your life and be in a spot, where you are confident and thankful for who you are and what you have become. I am blessed with a gorgeous, gracious, understanding fiance. I have a dream job where I am valued, my opinion is heard, and there is opportunity to grow and adapt and change. I have the best friends and family that one could ask for. I have a condo that is almost paid off completely. May never a day go by that I am now thankful for what I have been given. 

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Selecting a date.

This may be the one thing that is just as terrible as everyone says.

Originally I had said that I would either get married in October (5 months from proposal) or April (11 months).

Things to consider when choosing a date:

-Is the day going to fall on any big gamedays, that the groom or men in your life are going to grumble (at least one time) that it is on that day? This may only be an Oklahoman thing where college football (which is played in the fall) dictates most people's schedules. 

-Doing the once over with everyone to see if they have any major travel plans or events that would cause them to not make it. Some people would disagree and say "pick the date", they'll make a way to be there if they want to. While I agree you can't accommodate everyone, there are certain people that you probably really really want to be at your special day. My mom and grandma both have major vacations scheduled for October, leaving only the 5th available (and yes- it wasnt a major gameday). However, my finance's grandmother could not make it. In my mom's defense, when planning the trip, she did check to see if I was going to get married then- i responded "of course not" considering I was yet to get engaged. 

-What season do you want to have your wedding in? Honestly, to me, the thought of a winter wedding mortified me. I do not like the cold, and the thought of trying to get things planned during the chaos of the holidays, easily wiped out the winter months.

-When do you want your anniversary to be? It may sound weird, but this one of my biggest influencing factors. My birthday and Christmas both fall in December. Valentine's day is February. And my fiance's birthday is in March. Because of this I wanted a celebration to be a few months after Christmas and my birthday. Which is why I had always been drawn to late spring versus October.

-Decide if having it sooner is going to stress you out. If having it sooner will stress you out, then its not worth it. If you are going to spend the rest of your life with them, what's 6 more months? Also, youre only engaged for this short period of time, so soak it up.

-Decide what day of the week you would like to get married on. When it came to a Sunday vs. Saturday, there were a few things that influenced this decision for me. If you are having your wedding on a Sunday, there are some things that may be less expensive (which you will see in future blog posts). Also, I work in the car industry, which is only closed on Sunday (statewide), this allows me to plan best for not only the wedding, but vacation time for a honeymoon as well, and all of my friends who also work in the car business will able to be off, when getting off for a Saturday would be nearly impossible. And in opposition to some recommendations by a couple of people, I am fully convinced that those friends who would stay late on a Saturday will be the same ones to stay late on a Sunday. And those who leave early "because its Sunday", would be the same ones to leave early on Saturday.

-May sure not to forget those floating holidays. It's easy to plan or not plan your wedding on big holidays- Christmas is always December 25th, Valentines- February 14th, the floating ones (as I like to call them) are a little tricky sometimes. For example: Mother's day, Easter, Labor Day. For us, we had are hearts set are April 20th, then realized that was when Easter fell next year, followed by the OKC Memorial Marathon the next week, which takes place downtown (where our wedding will also be), which finally pushed on date on into the first Sunday of May, which is the one before Mother's Day. 

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Planning my dream wedding.

I do not consider myself a wedding planning extraordinaire, nor do I consider myself any sort of wedding planner. I mean after all, this is my first, and hopefully, only wedding I have planned.

However, if I do say so myself, I am doing quite well at this thing.

I got engaged on April 28th, 2013, and we have set a date: May 4th, 2014. Which allows for basically right at a year. A little longer than I would have originally anticipated, but that picking the date thing, may be just as tricky as they say. We'll get into that one later.

Since we do have a little over a year, we have time to be patient about decisions, time to look at every single location we need to, time to scour stores for the perfect sale. I do realize there may be someone reading this that has shorter of a timeline, and for those, I'll do some of the dirty work for you. While this blog may have helpful tidbits for the masses, it will probably be most beneficial for those ladies in the oklahoma city market, so that is where I am located and where my dream wedding will be taking place.

And for those of you who normally read my blog (my mom and less than a handful of friends), sorry if there are no surprise factors, as they will almost all be talked about here. But then again, you guys are the ones helping me and that I am sharing with in my real life.

So not only do I hope one or two people find some of this info a tad helpful, I am also very excited to look back and reminisce on how exciting the planning was.

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