Ch-ch-ch Changes

I called Drew on my lunch break on Thursday afternoon. This is not an unusual occurrence. I like to have a mid-day chat with my hubby! It was then that he informed me that he would be moving to the weekend shift.

I think the world stood still for a moment.

Then, it started moving again. I was not impressed!! Drew will be working Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 6AM to 6PM.

He keeps trying to convince me that we'll still go out and do things. I am skeptical. Especially if he'll have to be up at 5AM to go to work. Grrrr.

And what makes me mad the most is that he starts next weekend. What's so bad about that, I hear you asking. My birthday is Friday and I requested Saturday off so we could have a weekend o' fun!! And now, my weekend o' fun will consist of Drew working.

Booooo!!!!! Have I mentioned that I'm not impressed with his place of employment at the moment?

I know, I know, it could be worse. At least he has a job. And for that, I'm grateful. Grateful, but not impressed.

Wednesday's Word

Yielding / adjective
1. not resisting; compliant
2. not stiff or rigid; easily bent or shaped

While he forcasts that lower yielding stocks are likely to bounce more when the markets recover, he says the emphasis on dividends is part of a longer-term trend driven by four key factors.
-- Annette Sampson, The Syndey Morning Herald, 2002-10-26

In fact, on June 29, 2006 - the day the Federal Reserve Board last voted to raise short-term interest rates - the yield on 10-year Treasury notes stood at 5.2 percent. Today, new 10-year notes are yielding less, at 5.02 percent.
-- Paul J. Lim, New York Times, 2007-07-01

Let's Decorate

I've been thinking a lot about how I'm going to decorate our new home. It's a little bit overwhelming considering I've never really done this before. I've never had free reign over what I'm going to do.

I received a catalog from Seventh Avenue in the mail the other day and I really like a lot of the stuff in there.

I really like these for the entry way.
This would be cute to place on the table in the dining room. Or, we have a space on top of some of the cupboards in the kitchen.

Of course, Drew will need some decor for his game room that will be down in the basement.

I thought that this would be a cute idea for around the door leading out to the garage.

I am absolutely in love with this piece!

If anybody was looking for some suggestions for a housewarming present, I hope I helped you out. Drew and I would love and appreciate any of the above!

Three Months

Today marks our three month anniversary.

Wanna know what we did today?

Shopped for appliances for our new house! Ya, we're that lame couple!!

Realization

Do you remember me talking about my love for mail? About how mail time is my favorite time of day? It still is.

But, I've also realized that email can be just as cool!

I received an email yesterday, and while I don't want to go into details just yet, there could be some pretty cool things happening in the future.

Step 4 - Inspection

I should probably clarify that we have ended up purchasing this house. We actually looked at a lot more than two house, contrary to what may be shown in my blog. There were some that I was not impressed with at all, so I didn't waste my time blogging about it.

Today, we have the inspection on our soon-to-be home! I'm really not too worried about it. From what I understand, the house was sold over the summer and it passed inspection then.

Drew will be taking some measurements while he's there so that we can go appliance shopping this weekend. We'll also start looking for and pricing flooring. I have already purchased a paint palette book from Sherwin Williams. I have probably looked through it everyday to try to choose colors. They all start to look the same after awhile.

Wednesday's Word

Qualitative / adjective

1. concerned with quality or qualities

Firstly, it was woefully underfunded. Secondly, by making testing the end-all-be-all of educational performance, we ignored the more qualitative dimensions of education, which help a child expand and become a whole person.
-- Rep. Dennis Kucinich, The Washington Post, 2007-10-18

Many agencies are abandoning the painstaking analysis of reams of statistical information - called quantitative research - in favor of one-on-one and group interviews, or qualitative research.
-- Randall Rothenburn, New York Times, 1969-04-06

Step 3 - Counteroffer

Drew and I received word that our offer was being countered. After hearing what the counteroffer was, Drew and I discussed it and then called his dad and discussed it with him. After some thinking (well, actually, not a lot at all), we decided to accept the counteroffer.

Drew and I are homeowners! Not officially yet, closing will be within four weeks, but close enough.

Woo hoo!!!!!

Pro Pics 10: Bouquet & Garter Toss

We did the bouquet and garter toss. I don't think I've ever been to a wedding where they didn't do one. But apparently, there is quite some controversy over the bouquet and garter toss.
The wind-up....

Notice how everybody's hand are up, except for the girl on the right. That's Tricia. We work together and I was sure to give her some shit about it. I can almost guarantee she was dragged out there against her will.

Something funny must have been said.

It might have had to do with the fact that it was a Cubs garter. You see, my Drew is a die hard Cubs fan and the other Drew is a die hard Cardinals fan.

Sarah caught the bouquet, which is pretty great considering she's getting married in a year and a half or so. Noah caught the garter and I think he's the designated garter catcher at all the family weddings.

Pro Pics 9: Toasts

The toasts were given as soon as we had been introduced in and sat down, right before we started dinner. Drew's best man went first. His toast was the perfect balance of serious insightfulness and jokes about the two of them growing up. Drew and Drew have been friends since the 7th grade. Of course, that will lead to some great stories.
The first story had to do with a "tussle" that the two had on a golf course. Drew, the best man, decked my Drew in the back of the legs with a club and my Drew promptly proceeded to "bloody his lip and then finish a great great round of golf".

The second story that Drew told had to do with my Drew's great ability to eat a McDonald's double cheeseburger in three or four bites, depending on how hungry he is. Not something I would necessarily brag about, but good for some great laughs and visuals.

Then it was my sister's turn. My sister is known for her incredible ability to say some incredibly stupid things. Things that are totally common sense for some people, just don't come quite as easily for her. She's a bright girl, just not the brightest. If that makes any sense. I can always depend on my sister for a good laugh. I cannot wait until the day when she gets married and I can be the one to give a toast to her and her new husband, God bless his soul!!

My sister is on the speech team at school so I didn't expect her to be as nervous as she was. I thought that she would have a speech full of thoughts about our relationship and that she would make me cry. Nope!! She sure did focus on Drew. I see where I rank in her life.

She did tell the story about one day when I was at home (and this was when I still lived at home) and she turned to me and asked me what Drew's last name was. I told her and then she says, "Tania Newlastname. That sounds good." In her speech she said, "And now you are Tania Newlastname and it still sounds good."

Step 2 - Offer

Drew and I submitted an offer for the house today. Our realtor said that he is going to fax the offer over tomorrow morning. The sellers have until 9 AM Tuesday morning to get back to us with a decision.

And I'm expected to wait patiently?!? Ya, right!!

Step 1 - Pre-approval

I've been a little MIA for the past week. I'm sorry. I just really haven't had anything too exciting to talk about and I've been kinda lazy about posting more wedding pictures. I'll get back to that. I still have the toasts, bouquet and garter toss, more reception, and detail pictures to post. Hopefully I'll be able to do some this weekend.

Drew and I met with an accountant and a lender last night and submitted an application for a pre-approval for a mortgage. Supposedly, we should hear something around noontime. According to the lender guy, we should be able to put an offer in today. I'm skeptical. As soon as we have the letter, we'll get that to Brad (our realtor) who can draw up an offer. I'm thinking that will happen this weekend. I'm super excited. But... I'm trying really hard not to get my hopes up that this house could be ours. There are still a lot of steps that need to be taken before Drew and I are homeowners. After the offer, the sellers need to accept or counter. (Hopefully they won't counter!) Then, we have to endure inspections. Then, closing. At best, I'm thinking that it will be a month before Drew and I have those keys in our hands. And that is if nothing goes wrong in the process.

Keys to our very first house. The house that we will grow into our home!

Is it bad that I'm already thinking how I'm going to decorate and what colors I'm going to paint the walls?

Wednesday's Word

Jettison / verb
1. to throw goods overboard to lighten a ship or aircraft in distress
2. the act of throwing goods overboard when a craft is in distress; also, the goods thrown overboard
3. (figurative) to throw away; discard

He guessed that Richardson decided to jettison the facial hair after his wife found it scratchy.
-- Liz Sidoti, Boston Globe, 208-12-03

But with economic anxiety sweeping the public, some banks have decided to jettison traditional ads touting products and instead market traits like stability and security.
-- Paul Donski, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2008-11-28

House 2

Drew and I went and looked at another house tonight. We originally wanted to look at this one two weeks ago when there was supposed to be an open house. When we got there however, no one was there. All is well though, we got into the house tonight.
Good sized living room.

Humongus kitchen! Huge! Gigantic!! It has more cupboard space than we will ever be able to fill up.

Large dining room.

Walk-out basement.

The house is very big. It has 4 bedrooms, but can only really be called three because the basement one does not have windows. It also has 2 1/2 bathrooms. The basement is gigantic. It has a 2 1/2 car attached garage. The yard is very big. I love it.

The only problems are that it does need some work. The flooring is bad in the kitchen and dining room. The carpet is very dirty in the living room, but nothing that a good cleaning couldn't fix. It needs to be painted, both inside and out.

Overall, I love it!

Wednesday's Word

If you remember reading my list for the 1001 day project, you may remember that one of my goals was to learn a new word every week and blog about it. I signed up for a Word of the Day email from dictionary.com and I plan on reporting to you each Wednesday's Word.

Today's word is:

Candor \ noun
1. honesty in giving one's view or opinion; frankness and sincerity
2. fairness; impartiality

What remains to be seen is whether the candor he offered in his early memoir will be greeted with a new-style acceptance by voters.
-- Lois Romano, The Washington Post, 2007-01-03

But we know that real leadership is about candor and judgment and the ability to rally Americans from all walks of life around a common purpose, a higher purpose.
-- The Guardian, 2008-01-27

Pro Pics 8: First Dance and Mother/Son Dance

Our first dance pictures are some of my most favorite pictures from our day. Well, who am I kidding? I love all of our pictures!! We danced to "I Could Not Ask For More" by Sara Evans. Edwin McCain sings this song also, but I prefer the version with a female voice for some reason. Probably because of some of the notes that she hits. Gorgeous!!

Honestly, this is probably my favorite shot of the day:

I love his hands on my back. I love the detailing on my dress. I love my veil. I LOVE seeing that ring on his hand!!! That right there, that is what we planned for 10 months for. Our marriage. The eternity of our lives together. That piece of metal on his hand is the outward symbol of the words that we spoke that day. I don't know about him, but every time I look at my wedding band, I think back to our wedding day and smile. I smile because it was the start of our lives together. The continuation on our journey to together.

Isn't he adorable? I remember thinking during our planning process about what we would talk about during our dance. I do remember that we talked; we actually talked for most of our dance, but I have no idea what we talked about!!

Drew and his mom danced to "What a Wonderful World" I told both of them that they had to pick a song. I didn't have to pick a father/daughter dance song, so I figured it was the least that Drew could do to contribute to the wedding planning. He sure didn't pick a song. So, the DJ did.

Pro Pics 7: Cake Cutting

I'm going to be showing you a lot of reception pictures. As if I haven't shown you enough pictures already, right? I figured that I'd start with the cake cutting because everybody always wants to see the cake as soon as they get to the reception.

Like most brides, I purchased a good number of bridal magazines throughout the course of our engagement. While I was looking through one of those magazines, I came across a cake from Martha Stewart. It wasn't your typical tiered wedding cake, and I LOVED that!!

Told you! Not typical and totally cute. And big bonus for me, my aunt agreed to do them. I can not express how thankful I am because she saved us loads of money!

In case you can't read it, the two small ones have a "D" and a "T" on them and the big one has a "W". And they are sort of set up to resemble Mickey Mouse. I originally wanted them tiered, with the small ones on stands and the big one on the table. My aunt had them set up on stands, but didn't really like the way it looked, so took them down. I'm ok with it. It's at this point of a wedding that you just kinda go with the flow.

We actually did the whole feeding each other thing twice so that Brad could get this photo in the mirror. I love it.

Are You Still With Me?

Happy 100th post to me!!!

How do you like my blog so far? Is there anything you'd like to see more of? Less of? Anything you want me to talk about more? Less? Do you have any questions for me? Anything you've been dying to know?

Yes, I'm calling for a roll call. Leave a comment, say hi, leave a suggestion, anything. Let me know you're here and reading. I want to know that you'll love to read another 100 posts and more.

Hello 2009!

We had a great time celebrating the beginning of a new year last night. Drew and I started the evening by going out to dinner with Adam and Nicole. We went to Chili's, so my night was already off to a great start. After dinner, we all came back to our place and spent the rest of the evening here. Nick also came over. We played Rummy Royal first. It's an older game, but it's fun. Cody and Angela showed up at about 11:40, just in time for us to finish the game and get ready for the countdown.

Right after the countdown, Angela turns to me and says, "Goodbye 2008, you sucked. Wasn't 2008 a sucky year?" Um, noooo!!!

My 2008 was pretty amazing. I graduated, planned our wedding, got married. That's a pretty good year, right?

After the countdown, we played Catch Phrase. Everybody hung out here until about 4:15 AM!!!! I could not believe that I was up and ready to go and it was so late.

I have no idea what we're doing today. I'm starving though, so the first step is breakfast. I'm off to wake the sleeping man. And get us some food.

Have a great 2009!