honeymoon in Barbados (part 1)

Hi friends!! I've missed you guys, but it has been a wonderful break. The mister and I have been back for almost two weeks now. I wish I could say that the house is back in order and all of our thank yous have been written, but honestly, I haven't felt like doing anything. So I haven't - ha. Aside from cooking again and sitting on my butt and watching lots of TV, of course. We've got three or four more weeks until we get our pro-pics back, but I think it's about time I clear the cobwebs from the ol' blog. First to talk about - the honeymoon!

Our honeymoon started at about 3:30 am after an hour long nap (literally). I hadn't even bothered to take my makeup off or the pins out of my hair.


We took the shuttle from Athens to Atlanta and hopped the 6:45 am flight to Miami. Then, from there, it was onto Barbados!

the most expensive mediocre sandwich I have ever eaten

We don't have any photos of our first day in Barbados - understandably so, since it was quite stressful. Instead of waiting for a certified taxi, like all the airport signs tell you to do, we followed some guy across the street (luckily he did have a taxi license, which he showed us). He was very nice, but it seemed like he said "me too!" to everything we said. For example:

Taxi guy: Are you on vacation?
Us: Our honeymoon - we just got married!
TG: Oh! So did I! In February! Where are you from?
Us: The US.
TG: Oh! My wife is American! Where in the US do you live?
Us: Outside of Atlanta.
TG: My wife lives in Atlanta! Where are your families from?
Us: Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
TG: No way! My wife was born in North Carolina!

It was certainly amusing. Despite his friendly nature, the entire ride I was worried that we were going to be kidnapped. So what if he showed us his license - it could be fake, right?? What can I say? I have an overactive imagination.

Fortunately, we did make it to the resort, unharmed. It was only a $23 taxi ride, but we didn't have any singles with us, so we paid him $30. The bellman chastised us for doing so, thinking that we were overcharged, but it turned out to be a good thing. We were greeted with some delicious rum punch while we waited for them to check us in and give us our keys. Within the first 5 minutes, I was eaten alive by mosquitoes. When we went over to our bags to get the bug spray out, the mister discovered that his backpack (with his laptop!) had never made it out of the taxi! By some miracle, we had written down the driver's name and phone number in case we wanted to go on a tour of the island later in the week. He was back with the bag within 30 minutes, and I'm sure our generous tip helped. Although, I was irked that when he came back he asked us to "take care of him" since he had to pass up on a job to bring our bag back. Um, sorry sir, but we already took care of you by giving you a generous tip.

Anywho, unfortunately the stress didn't end there. To make a long story short, we ended up switching rooms three times. The first didn't have a working phone or Internet. The second had a bedroom with a broken window that overlooked the noisy stairwell. Third time's a charm, though! We were finally upgraded to an ocean view suit and it was wonderful!

the pool bar with our suite circled in red

Once our room situation was cleared up (which wasn't until our second day there), we relaxed by the pool. Since I'm our official photo taker, these are all pics of the mister. Don't you worry, I was relaxing too. Just picture me in my bikini, spf 50, sunglasses, floppy straw hat, and a good book - sitting under the shade of a palm tree.

my very own cabana boy!

Next up is our Rum & History tour!

Did anyone else encounter a few minor glitches while honeymooning?

just a little sneak peak...

My MISTER (!) and I are now in Barbados - waiting for our third room change (but that's a long story). I don't have much to say about Saturday other than, it was absolutely perfect. I can't wait to see the pro pics and tell you all about it when we get back!!

this is it

Our day is finally here. Almost two years in the making! As I type this, I am sitting in bed in my parent's cottage on the wedding property. With the perfect view of my beautiful dress hanging on the closet door in front of me. These are my last few moments of silence and reflection before the hustle and bustle of the day begins. I am ready. Today I am ready to commit myself to my best friend, my complement, my one true love. Today. Tomorrow. And always.

See you all on the other side!

grieving

Hi friends. It's been awhile, and well, this week I come to you with a heavy heart. Last Friday (the 15th) I received a gut-wrenching phone call, while at work, from my dad. My grandmother (grammy) had passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack. It's only been a little over a week since then, but it feels like at least a month has gone by. The future mister and I flew to Pennsylvania to be with my family, and I can't even begin to explain how emotionally exhausting it was. We are all in shock and still mourning.

I had just received her and my grandfather's reply card. A week or two later, I watched as they buried her in the dress she bought to wear to our wedding. Light green (one of our colors!) with ivory embroidered flowers. Simply heartbreaking.

In this time of loss and sorrow, I am still grateful for many things. That I was able to make it home to be with my family and that my last memory of her was giving her a hug goodbye at my Pennsylvania shower.

(Aunt Jackie, Grammy and Aunt Debbie)

She will no longer be physically present on May 21, 2011, but I know that she still "wouldn't miss it for the world."

Needless to say, my posting might continue to be light in the weeks leading up to the wedding. I've got so much more to share with you and hope to get it up here eventually, but I just don't have it in me right now. Thank you so, so much for following along during my long wedding planning journey. I've learned a lot and gotten some great feedback, advice and support. It has been such a rewarding experience!

taking a break

After a busy few weeks chock full of wedding related tasks, the future mister and I took a much needed break. On Sunday we hit the road with some friends of ours and spent the afternoon in Atlanta watching the Braves and Phillies play! The icing on the cake, though, was a spectacular post-game concert by the Avett Brothers!!




It was so nice to just be able to get out of our apartment and have fun, especially with only 40 days to go! Did you or do you plan to take any "breaks" right before the wedding?

my Pennsylvania shower

Okay, now that invitations are out the door and I've had a few days to recuperate, I have finally been able to put a post together on my beautiful bridal shower held two weeks ago!

My mom and MOH chose a great local restaurant, the Apple Wood Grille. The last (and only) time I was there was after my confirmation in 8th grade - many, many years ago. And back then, it was called the House of Strawberries.

I loved the little trees MOH Ashley found - in the dollar section of Target no less! She used tiny clothes pins to attach some of our e-photos. All of the decorations were perfect!

The prizes for the games

cute jars filled with colored sugar and heart shaped measuring spoons were the favors

my cousin, Ashley's mom, MOH Ashley, my mom, me and BM Emily

After a delicious lunch of citrus chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, fettuccine alfredo and salad, we (or rather, I) played the "how well do you know your groom" game. I went in pretty confident - the future mister and I talk about everything! Well. I didn't realize how anxious I would feel trying to answer questions on the spot with 30 people staring at me! It was still fun, though. For every answer I got wrong, I had to chew a piece of gum. Out of 28 questions, I ended up with 12 pieces of gum. Ick. Funny enough, the questions that I got wrong were the ones that the future mister added to Emily's list - most of them history related (Who is his favorite Civil War general?, Who is his favorite Union soldier?). I read all of the future mister's papers and listen to him talk history all the time and I STILL got them wrong! Ack.

my very large wad of gum

After that, we moved on to opening up gifts. Most of the guests were very conscious of the fact that I flew in from Georgia, so I received a lot of gift cards and smaller gifts. The bigger gifts were shipped to our apartment. Everyone was so very generous!

Overall, it was a lovely day - I enjoyed catching up with friends and family and truly felt "showered" with love.

Has anyone else ever had to play the "how well do you know your groom" game? Hopefully you did better than me!

our little birds have left the nest

Or rather, I booted them out and celebrated once they were gone.



Now you know where I've been for the past few weeks! I've been having anxiety over the fact that these should have gone out weeks ago, but April 1 is still pretty reasonable - especially since our save the dates went out so long ago. Oh, and good thing we took that photo before I went in to the post office! For some reason, I thought the PO didn't close until 3 on Saturdays, so imagine my surprise when I walked in at 2 to see everything all locked up. I was not happy. The future mister saved the day when he went back in to check their hours for Monday and discovered that there was another post office open until 3! We were greeted by a very unhappy postal worker who gave us a hard time (about wanting stamps that added up to $0.81 and the fact that we had something bulky-a wax seal-in our envelopes), but we were able get everything stamped and shoved on their merry way right as she was closing up. What a huge weight off my shoulders!

If I ever again plan a huge party and want to make 130 invitations by hand, by myself, someone please remind me what a stupid idea it is. (They do look pretty, though!)

Keep your eyes out for the big reveal sometime next week!