THE Dress

As you know from before, I found a dress that I loved in a wedding magazine.

I tried it on and I knew it was the one. My Madre knew it was the one.

My friendoodle knew it was the one.

It was the one!

the back is the best part!

what a beautiful dress!

We decided to get a Muslin to avoid high costs of alterations.

A Muslin {if you don't know, I know that I didn't before the whole process} is basically a mock up of the dress. The seamstress takes your measurements and then has a dress made to fit you. After that you try on the Muslin and they make any other alterations needed and then they send the Muslin to the makers of the dresses and they make a dress to fit me.

My Muslin came in in July.

the muslin!

wow it was soo beautiful!

super excited!

bootylicious!

look at my mom!

it had to be taken in just a tad :-)

sooo pretty! I would be have been happy with this as my wedding gown! :-)

The Muslin went out and then in January the dress came in!

I made my plan to drive up with Sweeter for my first fitting.

I brought two lovely ladies from my bridal party, their Madre's, my Junior Bridesmaids and their Madre and of course my Madre!

I saw my dress and it was magnificent! 

It reaffirmed my thoughts and feelings that it was the right one for me!

I can't even describe in words how excited I am to walk down the isle to my Sweeter in it!

I asked my gals to bring their BM dresses so we could see the whole thing together.

It looks great, I am so excited!

seeing the dress for the first time

we were practicing bustles

how gorgeous!

my gals!

2 of my most favorite people in the whole world!

so pretty!!

trying it on with the hair

And with my spray tan...haha

Yesterday was our wedding day.

I cannot tell you all how Happy I am!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

We are driving back home on our holiday off!

What a surreal weekend!

I am ecstatic!

I cannot wait to show you all of the pictures from our special day!

Thank you all for listening/reading all about our wedding plans!

The First Picture

This is the first picture that Sweeter and I ever took together...

 

..not the best...

But that night was definitely unforgettable!

I got off of RA training and he told me to change into something warm and that we were in a rush.
I put on a sweatshirt and got my butt in gear.
We took the SFMuni to Embarcadero and started walking.
Trying to beat the clock we started running!
We ran 33 piers down the Embarcadero
(mind you, I still had no idea what we were doing)
To my excited surprise, he had booked a night time tour of Alcatraz!
We had talked about how much I wanted to go on the tour at night since I had done it during the day
This is on the cruise line on our way from pier 33.

We had a brilliantly fantastic time!
I can't wait for so many more adventures to come!
Happy Wedding day to my sweet sweet Sweeter!

HIking

Sweeter and I went for a hike this weekend. 

We hiked to a couple of beautiful waterfalls (not a lot of water, still beautiful!)

As you can see the hike was impromptu...we were not dressed for it...at all!

We had a blast!

I woke up the next day without a voice because I had such bad allergies!

We had such a great weekend!

Looking forward to the next 2 weeks!

Wednesday we have our last Salsa Dance class and Date Night!

Saturday we are driving to SF to see my best friend graduate from college!

Sunday I have another Bridal Shower and I get to see 3 of my Bridesmaids!

Next Wednesday, I fly up to SF to start all of the wedding festivities!

12 days!

Couple Wedding Shower

The last weekend of April, my mom threw Sweeter and I a Wedding shower.

We had a blast!

We played a few games, ate delicious food and spent time with people that mean a lot to my family!

Game #1

Sweeter got panties to enjoy

That was probably my favorite picture of the entire night!

The menu

Catered by my lovely mother

Drinks

Homemade Lemon Drops
Beer and wine

Heavy appetizers Menu
Sliders
Chicken and beef skewer with a peanut dipping sauce
Artichoke dip
Cheese platter
Veggie platter & dip
Mini fruit kabobs

Dessert
Coconut cupcakes

Everything was amazing!

Thanks Mom!

 When we arrived, we got pins on our shirts and were told not to cross our legs. 

If you caught someone crossing their legs, you took their pin and did your best to collect them all.

I lost pretty early on in the night :-)

The 2nd game:

Sweeter and I sat back to back and had one of each of our shoes in front of us.

My Mom and Dad read out questions and we had to pick up the shoe of who did it.

i.e. Who is a better cook - then each of us had to grab who's shoe that went to

The Line Game:

Since I had done this at the bridal shower that my Bridal Party threw for me, my mom decided to have Sweeter open the gifts and record what he was saying.

At the end, my mom read off what he would "say" on the night of our wedding.

We had a blast!

Thanks to all of my family and friends for making this whole process special and amazing!

The Passage- The Gospel

Sweeter and I will have Padre Juan read the verse Gospel during our wedding ceremony.

We have decided that we thought that Mark 10:6-9 would be the best verse for our ceremony.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

Jesus said:

“From the beginning of creation,

                God made them male and female.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother

                And be joined to his wife,

                And the two shall become one flesh.

So they are no longer two but one flesh.

Therefore what God has joined together,

                No human being must separate.”

The Gospel of the Lord

We felt that a lot of the Gospel's were a little over the top in regards to women being below men etc.

We felt that this was the best quote and was the most equal :-)

We are in May now...our Wedding Month!

This is so surreal!!

Wedding Countdown: 29 days!

Happy Belated Easter

Side Note:

We are exactly 30 days away from the wedding

WOOHOO!

Sweeter and I had a great Easter celebration!

It was lovely!

Sweeter woke up before I did and he surprised me...

I woke up to this note:

Sweeter knew how much I wanted to do an Easter Egg hunt and we didn't have the time to get any Easter Eggs.

So sweeter made paper eggs and taped them all over our apartment.

It was soo sweet!

After the Easter Egg Hunt, we walked downtown and we got some sweet treats and got some drinks at Starbucks and walked to the beach and sat and relaxed.

It was amazing!

Then we got ready and we spent the rest of the day with family!

It was lovely!!

I just watched Cougar Town and Bobby said something that I wanted to share with you all!

"You can't hear the world laughing at you if you are laughing harder"

-Bobby Cobb Cougar Town

Who knew that that show could be so profound!?

I really liked this quote!

Life is too short to take it too seriously :-)

Have a great day!

Wedding Fun!

Side Note:

I am going up North this weekend to celebrate my Bacheloretty Party with my Bridesmaids 

and Bridal Shower that they are throwing for me!

I am just so excited!

And I just can't hide it!

Also, I am doing my hair and makeup trial run on Saturday! 

Oh boy! 

I'm so excited!!

 

I saw this over on Liv's page a while back and I want to do it too!

Enjoy!

 

 A. Attending- We planned for 120, but someone (my madre) just added a bunch more people..so we will see!

 B. Bridesmaids- 4...3 from High School and 1 from College. I am one lucky gal to have these amazing women in my life!

 C. Catering- Yes... Scott's Seafood

D. Dress- Priscilla of Boston. I am not showing you until after the wedding! 

E. Engagement- You can read our proposal story here. We have been engaged 16 months

 F. Flowers- Stargazers and white roses will be the main focus.

G. Groomsmen- 4...we will be matching!

 H. Honeymoon- Switzerland and France

 I. Invitations-You can read about the invites here. I got all of my paper "stuff" for the wedding done at work. One of my bridesmaids/best friends drew the wedding bells and flowers! She is amazing! And I am soo happy with how they look!

J. Junior Bridesmaids & Groomsmen- {I changed this because I am not a June bride} I have 4 young kids in my life...my two little brothers and 2 little girls who are around my brother's ages. I wanted to incorporate them into our special day and so we decided to have a slightly older flower girl/ring bearer {hey, its my day and I can do it however I want!} and giving my older brother and the older girl the honor of being Junior Bridesmaid/Groomsman! 

 K. Keepsakes- {Is this like favors?} We are having these favors. I will be making a photo album for guests to sign with our engagement pictures in them. We got a blown up picture of one of our engagement photos that we have had mounted and will have guests sign that.  Hmmm, Sweeter has asked one of the guests to video our wedding, we are very excited about that!

 L. Ladies and Gentlemen {Bachelorette / Bachelor Parties}- I am going up North this weekend for my Bridal Shower and Bachelorette weekend! My friends are taking me on a surprise trip to Napa and other fun things that I don't know about! I am just so excited!!

M. Music- We are having a DJ. I think that with a DJ you have more of a Music selection. We are trying to decide between 2 songs for our first dance song. I will consult you all in another post :-)

 N. Something new- My wedding gown/shoes

O. Something old- I would like it to be unique..I'll get back to you on this to!

 P. Parson- Honestly, I am not sure what this means...ha!

 Q. Question popping- You can read our proposal story here.

 R. Reception- The Blackhawk Museum

 S. Service- Catholic Ceremony. Unfortunately, it won't be a full mass because we are getting married on a Sunday and we are not allowed to take communion after the last mass of the week. We will be going to the Saturday Evening Mass before the Rehearsal and I will take my communion then :-)

T. Time- 4:30 pm

 U.Uniqueness- We are naming all of the tables instead of giving them numbers. They are places that we have been together and there is a small story to go along with it!

V. Vows- Traditional Catholic Vows.

 W.Wedding Woes- I am worried that I will forget something/everything and I will be scrambling last minute! 

{Do any of you lovely ladies have any tips on {maybe} something you forgot until the last minute and wish you hadn't???}

X. X-Rated- I have a few tricks up my sleeve! In my invitation to my Bacheloretty Party, the guests to encouraged to bring me some lingerie! I am very excited for that! :-)

 Y. Your day- and my mom's {ha!} oh wait, did I just say that out loud?! ;-)

 Z."zzzz"- We won't be waking up too early, well I am sure that I will {I imagine that it is just like Christmas and you wake up super early because of excitement} With that, I hope to make sure that I get plenty of rest that entire week/weekend! It will be busy, and I sure don't want to be walking down the isle with big bags under my eyes!

Eek! 

Doing this made me soo excited!!

We are 52 days away! Wow, can you believe it?!

Our First Big Purchase

Sweeter and I have been nonstop on the hunt for a car since I totaled Shirley.

We went out looking last weekend and test drove a few cars and decided that we liked the Honda Civic LX Sedan. We want a 4door vehicle because they are a bit more spacious, even for a small car.

When we went last weekend, we didn't find anything that we liked that was in our price range.

So we decided to keep looking.

We did some searches online and found some independent sellers and dearlerships that seemed to have What we were looking for.

We found a great deal and we were excited about it. We didn't want to make any rash decisions so we decided to go to another dealership and check it out.

We got there and we found almost the exact car from the place before, only this one was certified and had a clean title (the other one had been in a small accident, but no major damages had occurred)

We walked into the dealership after test driving it and after some rough  negotiations, we filled out all the paperwork and they handed us the keys! We decided to leave it there over night so that they could detail it etc. Before we left I asked the, if they would put a big bow on the car so we could take a picture with it, since it was our first big purchase. Everyone there was so nice so they said that it was no problem.

The keys and the paperwork

We picked up the car and when we got there it was still looking beautiful, shiny and looked new! They out a big red bow on the car and made us, well mainly me, feel so special!! (Sweeter thought I was being silly, but I know that he was just as excited as I was deep down inside ;-))

ain't see a beauty?

love it!

and the bow!

the salesperson...he was happy :-)

Now...what to name the car!? I need to spend some more time with it to find a fitting name for it (I have been referring to it as a girl, so I think a girl name is in order)

On Sunday, we were driving her and Sweeter had his window rolled down. We were stopped at a stop light and a woman rolled her window down and asked us how much we paid for the car brand new...yeah she is in that good of condition! We both laughed! It was pretty funny!!

Yay!! I hope you all had a fun and productive weekend!!

The Passage- The New Testament

Back to the verses that Sweeter and I chose...

We decided to have one of my closest friends read a New Testament verse for the ceremony:

1 Corinthians 12:31-12:8a

A reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians

Brothers and sisters:

Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.

But I shall show you a still more excellent way.

If I speak in human and angelic tongues

But do not have love,

I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy

And comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;

If I have all faith so as to move mountains,

But do not have love, I am nothing.

If I give away everything I own,

And if I hand my body over so that I may boast

But do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.

It is not jealous, is not pompous,

It is not inflated, it is not rude,

It does not seek its own interests,

It is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing

But rejoices with the truth.

It bears all things, believes all things,

Hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

The word of the Lord.

I know that this verse is a little cliche....but  it is such a beautiful passage!

I know that the most popular part of the passage is the last part, and I think that it is beautiful, of course, but my favorite part of the verse is the first part!

Yay!

I cannot wait to hear this verse during our ceremony!

This is all so exciting!!

Kiss Me One Time

...Two Times!

Sweeter and I can get into these moods where we act very silly with each other.

I will tell him to kiss me one time and he does and he follows suit and demands two more:-) this can go on and on and on!

Something else that we do...well Sweeter does (and I think it is hilarious and I wish that in was as good at it as he is) is that when a popular song comes on, or one is stuck in his head, he changes the lyrics to be of something we are doing at that moment...or he changes the words to be all about me (well he says "Sweeter") and I almost fall on the floor laughing every time he does it! 

I love it!!

Something else that just makes me smile is...

A couple of weeks ago, we read the 5 love languages and we both really enjoyed the insight that came from the book. Yeah maybe we are making fun, but we do this thing now when we want something we say what love language it fills and say that that is our love language. For example, as I have said in the past, I am pretty small compared to him and he loves to just pick me up and toss me around or hold me. So whenever we are trying to do something, he will scoop me up and throw me on our bed and hold me really tint and say, "but Sweeter, I'm physical touch" (and of course he says it in the cutest voice you ever heard so you just can't resist.)

What is it with our men that just melts our hearts!? 

They are just way too charming for their own good;-)

I love our little games and silly things that we do together to mix things up a bit and the little quarks that makes our relationship unique and special.

Do you ladies have any fun things that you do ONLY with your man??

Now I have one more question for you all...

Do you and your honey kiss a lot? I posed this question to Sweeter the other say and now I pose it to you...baring all exceptions, (i.e. Your man is on deployment, or you are in a long distance relationship) how many times (on average) do you think that you and your honey Kiss per day?

less than 5 times per day, more than 50!?

What do you think?

and what do you think about kissing in public and PDA??

Just something to think about on this fine, fine Wednesday!

Enjoy your days and your reads and I hope you all enjoy your Hump Day!

The Shower

I am getting really excited for my Bridal Shower & Bachelorette Party!

In a couple of weeks I am having the party and shower that my Bridesmaids are throwing for me.

I am so super excited!!

It will be a fun filled weekend of Wine Tasting, great friends and my beautiful family!

I am just so excited!

No boys allowed! I am looking forward to the girl time!

Now some of Sweeter's Mom's friends want to throw Sweeter and I a shower and with that my Mom now wants to throw another shower! Oh my!

What's hard about all of this is that I don't live close to where these showers are located...but we are excited for these two other showers because they will be co-ed so Sweeter can be there too!

So how many showers did you all have?

What is typical?

I am so curious!

We are very excited because we are only 66 days away from the big day!

I hope you all have a great Thursday!!

Chicken in the Crock Pot

I made a very yummy dinner in our crock pot and I would like to share.

I have been very hesitant to using the Crock Pot because the first time I used it, I would say 5 years ago now , the meal was terrible!! And the second time, which was a couple of weeks ago, we pretty much used it just to keep the chili warm.

So, last night, we made chicken burritos. We buy the chicken from Costco, so it is already separated in 2 breasts per package. I transferred the chicken into a ziplock bag and poured McCormick taco seasoning into the bag and coated the chicken. Once the chicken was coated I browned the chicken for 4 minutes on each side, to really seal in the taco seasoning flavor.

After the chicken was browned, I put the chicken in the crock pot. I covered the chicken with a jar of Pace salsa. I then sprinkled some chili flakes and poured some Tapatio into the mix. I kind of mixed it all up making sure to keep the chicken covered.

I let the chicken cook for about 4 hours. 3 hours into the process, I cut up red and green bell peppers and some onions and just laid them on top of the mixture to steam them a bit and give them some of the chicken flavor.

Meanwhile, we made brown rice, and added onions, salt, garlic powder and pinto beans (we prefer black, but we didn't have any in the cabinet). We grated cheese and waited for the chicken to be done.

Like I said, I cooked it for about 4 hours on high heat. When I checked on line for a time to cook chicken it said that if you cook it on high, it would be done cooking in about 1.5 hours.

We made burritos and they were delicious! The chicken just fell apart! We shredded it with 2 forks, we didn't even need a knife! Oh my! We didn't add any more salsa to the burritos because there was a lot of sauce in the crock pot, so we just used that.

Oh my, I am now sad that I gave Sweeter all of the leftovers for lunch today ;-)

Ingredients 

(of course, you can substitute any of these ingredients):

2 Chicken Breast

1 Package of McCormick Taco Seasoning

1 12oz Jar of Pace Salsa (Medium)

Chili Flakes (to your desired heat preference)

Tapatio (to your desired heat preference)

1/2 of an Onion (thick slices)

Red and Green Bell Peppers (thick slices)

Brown Rice

Beans (of your choice)

1/3 Onion (Diced)

Salt

Garlic Powder

Tortillas

Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese

(Please forgive my lack of measurements...I learned to cook just by using the eye and tasting everything, so I don't really measure too much - and also, it is just one more thing to have to clean!)

Happy Thursday!

The Passage- The Old Testament

Sweeter and I have chosen the verses that we want to be read during our wedding ceremony.

We decided to chose a verse from the Old Testament and the New Testament and we have asked two people very close to us to read them.

For the Old Testament verse we decided to have Sweeter's cousin read Song of Songs: 2:8-10, 14, 16a; 8: 6-7a

 

A reading from the Song of Songs

Hark! My lover-here he comes

Springing across the mountains,

Leaping across the hills

My lover is like a gazelle

Or a young stag.

Here he stands behind our wall,

Gazing through the windows,

Peering through the lattices.

My lover speaks; he says to me,

“Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one, and come!

“O my dove in the clefts of the rock,

In the secret recesses of the cliff,

Let me see you,

Let me hear your voice,

For your voice is sweet,

And you are lovely.”

My lover belongs to me and I to him.

He says to me:

“Set me as a seal on your heart,

As a seal on your arm;

For stern as death is love,

Relentless as the nether-world is devotion;

Its flames are a blazing fire.

Deep waters cannot quench love,

Nor floods sweep it away.”

The word of the Lord.

We are very excited to have Sweeter's cousin read this during our ceremony!

It is a beautiful quote and we are getting so excited that time is going so quickly!

Yay!