Thursday, September 30, 2010

Goodbye September

So after my emotional breakdown Monday night in which I was afterward on Tuesday told by my mother that I'm such a perfectionist to my detriment and she certainly didn't raise me that way and I was being way over emotional and needed to "get over it girl" or I would never last the next year. And she'll love that this is in writing, but she's right. So I got over it... and.... BOOKED MY PHOTOGRAPHER!! :) The one I wanted - he's AMAZING. I will sacrifice in other areas if I have to...

I will be using G Studio from Birmingham for my wedding photography! {insert cheers and applause and twirls around the room}

Some of my favorites from his site are below. Ok, I just saved almost 20 and was going for more...so I had to cut it down. So...visit his site to see even more amazing photos. They look like paintings - I love them.

Oh...and I've noticed his watermark isn't on any of these photos, but here's my giant credit: all of the photos below in this post are from G Studio photography - don't you dare ruin my brand new relationship with my wedding photographer by stealing these photos and posting them elsewhere without credit! {insert stern face and wagging finger}












P.S. Thank you to all of you who posted such sweet and amazing comments on my last post - they definitely cheered me up and made me feel less like I was alone in the "wedding stupid" conundrum.

P.P.S. Thank you to those of you who recommended photographers in Charleston for my engagement photos - I actually really love one of them and will probably be contacting them soon for pricing. Another actually just photographed my ex-boyfriend's wedding - lol - and while we're friends now, I am just not sure I want to use the same photog for my engagement session. I'm just weird like that. :)

P.P.P.S. Do I need a blog signature? I'm pretty sure you know I'm writing my own posts..but I think some of y'alls' blog signatures are so cute, so I feel like maybe I need one. Thoughts? Talk amongst yourselves.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

And so it begins...

So...I had my first good cry about wedding planning tonight. Already. I'm not so sure I can handle this for another year.

(via)

Just as a preface, I'm wedding illiterate. I get that weddings cost a lot more money than most people think. I also get that planning a wedding is full of emotional highs and lows and lots of stress.

But I just don't know anything about weddings and wedding planning - I'm wedding stupid.

I found a local Birmingham photographer and fell in love with his photos. I wouldn't need him for engagement photos (will be doing those in Charleston - recs anyone?) or for a bridal session (not doing bridals). So he should be reasonably affordable... and the pricing I got back I thought was reasonable.

But without going into detail, I learn that his price is high. So if I do go with him, I'll have to sacrifice in other areas of the wedding.

I didn't cry as much about that (just some of my tears were reserved for this). I understand as someone who manages projects daily with budgets that you have to give on some things to gain on others.

But...

I cried out of frustration that I am just so wedding stupid. I have this Knot book gifted to me by my recently married sister that is supposed to lead my way in this wedding stuff - and it has this wonderful list of questions to ask the photographer before booking them - so I asked the list.

But what do you do if you don't even understand the questions you're asking? What do you do if you're so wedding stupid that you don't even know what to do with the answers he gives you?

And what do you do if the price you thought was just dandy - I mean, duh, all weddings are really expensive, so it made sense - is in fact on the pricey side?

And why do wedding photographers have to be so unreasonably expensive anyways? Can't I just hand all of my friends digital cameras and just have them take photos? And yes... that's the wedding stupid in me talking.

(via)

It is quite possible I may be an alcoholic before this year is over (if I'm not already) - because two glasses of wine and a reassuring call to the fiance was needed to help me calm down after my realization that I'm wedding stupid...and this is only one decision of many! Am I really cut out for this?

And I won't even get into how my mom who holds the wedding purse strings already doesn't like half of my ideas...leaving me feeling even more wedding stupid.

Boo... is this really the beginning of the nightmares you hear about planning your wedding? And will it all really be worth it in the end? And am I even more wedding stupid for getting so upset so early on in this crazy process?

[insert advice and encouraging comments below please]

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Anyone want to go for a run?

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

My go to shoe Web site...

Even though it's still in the 90's here in Charleston - I'm starting to eye the newest trends for Fall shoes... like these boots from Anthropologie that I've been loving for some time now... {drool}...

But I just can't fork out the money for these boots...so unfair they are so expensive. :*(

But I want to share a retail site with you I've been shopping for some time - GoJane.com. I love their shoes - they are super affordable and decent quality for the price. And each style comes in a variety of colors!

Here are some styles I've been eying. I originally balked at the whole bootie trend because I'm so short - but I've changed my mind and I'm really digging them now. I think some of these would be so cute with skirts and opaque tights.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Go Tigers...the Clemson ones!

Getting ready to make the long trek back to my home state for the Clemson vs. Auburn game. It will probably be a mini-high school reunion for me since half of my high school went to Auburn (the other half Univ. of Alabama).

I really hope we (Clemson) can pull this win off... I think regardless it's going to be a really exciting and close game... I'm so glad I've got tickets and I'm sure it will be worth the 12+ hours of driving to get there and back.

ESPN Game Day will be there - so there's a ton of hype built up around the game...

Auburn's colors are navy and orange. Clemson's colors are purple and orange. Auburn is having a 'Blue Out'. And I have a feeling most Clemson fans will be wearing purple more so than usual - including me.

This is what I'm wearing tomorrow - I actually have this dress (got on sale from Rue La La) and the flip flops. The rest is the best I could find to mimic what I'll be wearing.



Go (CLEMSON) Tigers!! :)

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Dear Monique Lhuillier...

...I love your wedding dresses. Love, love, love them.

But why are your ball gown style bridal dresses, with the most beautiful, amazing couture skirts, paired with a see-through bustier/corset top?

Why, why, why?? [grabbing and shaking the shoulders of an invisible Monique Lhuillier]




Sigh. I'm so in love with the bottoms of these dresses - but even with undergarments on, I just can't fathom having a top like that on my wedding day... and it probably wouldn't make my mother too happy either.

Ms. Lhuillier, you have a few months to fix these for me with more realistic tops. I'll be waiting. Feel free to contact me for my input.

And of course I'll take one for free since you feel so badly about this horrible mistake you've made. Thank you so much for offering.

Yours truly, Christy

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Let the wedding planning begin...

First of all - thanks for all the sweet comments on my last post!! :)

So tomorrow will officially mark two weeks of me being engaged... still hard to believe...

Believe it or not, I'm not one of those girls who had her entire wedding planned since she was five. Yeah, I've thought about it here and there - but never really thought it through.

So... we're hoping (fingers crossed)... to get married early December of next year. That is a year and 3 and a half months away. It seems so far away.

But....for some reason this girl who's never thought about her wedding has all of a sudden, in the past two weeks, can't stop reading wedding magazines, browsing wedding blogs, Google image searching for wedding keywords, etc. etc. etc. I think I send my mom and my sister at least two emails a day with "What about this?" or "What do you think about this?" or "Imagine this with this and this..and then maybe this? But oh, maybe this instead."

I don't know what's gotten into me...

So the general concept I tend to be leaning towards... Christmas (without being cheesy or too Christmas-y, sans red), cold weather/wintery, diamonds, candlelight and white Christmas lights, etc. etc. etc.

So here's the color scheme I'm thinking... navy and green with grey/silver accents...

What do you think?? I have so many ideas, my head is swimming...

Thursday, September 9, 2010

I have been M.I.A. lately...let me explain why...

.
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.................... I GOT ENGAGED! :)

Friday night my boyfriend surprised me in Clemson - I was in town for the game and he was supposed to be in Charlotte at the lake with some of our other friends. My close girlfriends and I had gotten to Clemson, freshened up, and headed to the Sloan St. Tap Room - which is a dive bar I worked at for 2.5 years while in grad school.

Little did I know that my boyfriend had gotten all of our friends together, his family and my family across the street at Tiger Town Tavern.

My girlfriends and I got to the Tap Room and were hanging out when all of a sudden a bunch of our friends walked in - well we were expecting to meet up with them anyways, so I wasn't really surprised to see them...just surprised they were ALL together, lol. They came in doing the Clemson cheer - so being the big Clemson fan I am, of course I joined them.

Then I see my boyfriend's brother walk in....and then his sister and her family...then my sister, holding a video camera...and then my parents (my family was supposed to be at the beach in NC). I start to realize that something is going on and I just feel tears streaming down my face because I know... at that moment I just knew.

Then out of nowhere my boyfriend comes running in and jumps up on the table - he gives a short and sweet speech and then leans down to me and proposes. And of course I say YES!!

You can watch the whole thing - courtesy of my sister - in the video below. It's hilarious because you see me doing the Clemson cheer and then I get really confused...then I throw my purse and beer down, because at that point... I know something is up! And cameras do really add about 10 pounds - geez...guess I'll need to start that wedding diet now!


So a lot of people probably go "huh?" when they hear that my boyfriend proposed to me in a bar... but it's not really just any bar, it's like my Clemson home. I spent so much time working there in grad school and made some lifelong friends with the locals who still to this day call me to check in on me or feed me at their tailgates. If I'm in Clemson for anything, I always stop by. So my boyfriend knew it would be a perfect place for me - because I love Clemson and I love that bar, lol.

Check out the bling - it's perfect! And by some miracle it fits perfectly (he didn't know my size!), so I think that's a sign it's meant to be. :) Green is my favorite color and emeralds are my favorite stone... so I really wanted them on my ring. I love it! I can't stop looking at it...

Then on Saturday, my parents arranged for us to meet up with Clemson's head coach, Dabo's parents (they go to church with my parents in B'ham) before the football game. We got to go behind the scenes in the West End Zone and saw Dabo's office, met and hung out with his wife Kathleen and met and took a photo with Dabo.


After Clemson we headed straight to Holden Beach, NC to meet up with my family for a few days at the beach and got home last night at midnight. So as you can imagine, blogging hasn't been on the top of my To Do list recently.

Tomorrow night is our four year anniversary - so we'll be celebrating with dinner and a movie.

So now I have a wedding to plan! Ahh...it's all very surreal and exciting! So I guess you'll probably start seeing a little bit of wedding stuff in my posts on here now... and I'll probably be asking for LOTS of opinions since I'm the most indecisive person ever! People have already started asking for a date and I'm like, "I've only been engaged for a week people!!" :)

Stay tuned....

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Things I have learned in the South

I got an email today from a friend with a list of "Things I have learned in the South.." I thought they were pretty funny and if you were born and raised in the South like I was, you'll find yourself nodding and chuckling at several of these. Some are definitely stereotypes, and others were very true and spot on.

And I was born and raised in Alabama...so you can imagine I was nodding my head at a lot of these...lol. :)

Things I Have Learned in the South


A possum is a flat animal that sleeps in the middle of the road.


There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 of them live in the South.

There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 of them live in the South, plus a couple no ones seen before.

If it grows, it'll stick ya. If it crawls, it'll bite cha.

Onced and Twiced are words.

It is not a shopping cart, it is a buggy!

Jaw-P? means Did yall go to the bathroom?

People actually grow and eat okra.

Fixinto is one word. It means Im fixing to do that.

There is no such thing as lunch. There is only dinner and then there is supper.

Iced tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it when you're two. We do like a little tea with our sugar.

Backwards and forwards means I know everything about you.

The word jeet is actually a phrase meaning Did you eat?

You don't have to wear a watch, because it doesn't matter what time it is, you work until you're done or it's too dark to see.

You don't PUSH buttons, you MASH em.

No, Jew? is a common response to the question, "Did you bring any beer?"

You measure distance in minutes.

You switch from heat to A/C in the same day.

All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect, or animal.

You carry jumper cables in your car - for your OWN car.

You only own five spices: salt, pepper, Tonys, Tabasco and ketchup.

The local papers cover national and international news on one page, but require 6 pages for local high school sports and motor sports, and gossip.

You think that the first day of deer season is a national holiday.

You find 100 degrees Fahrenheit a bit warm.

You know what a hizzy fit is.

Going to Wal-Mart is a favorite pastime known as goin Wal-Martin' or off to Wally World.

You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good chicken stew weather.

Fried catfish is the other white meat.

We don't need no dang Driver's Ed. If our mama says we can drive, we can drive dag-nabbit.

You understand these jokes and forward them to your Southern friends and those who just wish they were from the SOUTH.