Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Holiday happenings

I sent out all 600 wedding photos via Shutterfly to close friends and family yesterday. One of these friends replied "the wedding seems like yesterday but also ages ago." I couldn't agree more. After looking back through the photos and watching our video it does feel like a long time (only 6 mos.), but also like I was just starting the planning. Hard to believe at this time last year I was picking out my dress! A few of my fave photos below:








We celebrated Thanksgiving last week - it was nice to have some time off  (I find myself so much more productive during the week!). Truss' mom, mike and sister, Olivia came in town on Wednesday evening and we went to dinner, then Thursday we headed to my parents house late in the day for Thanksgiving dinner. My aunt Susy, cousin Jason and his two kids Georgia and Wilke were in town from LA. It was good to see all of them and catch up. Patrick, Court and Brett also came for their second Thanksgiving dinner - Patrick was, as usual, his cute, hysterical self. He's getting so big and he's so smart - already before the age of two he knows all letters, numbers and can name almost everyone in a room (if he's familiar with them). Genius baby has set the bar extremely high for our future kids. Here he is at Halloween and out to lunch - doesn't he just look smart??!



Thanksgiving food was great - all the fixings as usual: turkey, mashed potatos, green beans, cranberries, LaLa's rolls (family favorite from my Great Great Grandmother), stuffing, brussel sprouts - to die for! and of course, dessert, including Tippins french silk pie. Needless to say, I got my carb count for the year during that meal.
Pretty Dining Room Table

Now, on to Christmas! I came home on Sunday to a cleaned up yard and Christmas lights on the house - courtesy of Truss. He did a great job and I added some faux trees from Frontgate that my mom bought me last year. I'm pretty impressed - they do appear to look real from the street!


We'll decorate the inside of the house and get our tree this weekend. And, we're having our annual holiday party on 12/15. Typically this is held at Truss' house and considered an ugly sweater party. However, it's moved to PV now (our West side or 'summer home') I'd like to see this be a 6:30 cocktail party, yet Truss still wants it to start at 8:30. I tried convincing Truss, that people (including me) at our age don't like to wait until 8:30 to go out (what is this, college??). So, we've compromised and made the start time for 7:30. The flow at the PV house isn't as good as the KCMO house, so I'll be really interested to see how crowded it gets. Might have to shave down the guest list a little bit this year.

Speaking of house, we'll probably be here for a least a few more years and I've really want to make it 'my own' or, I guess 'our own' now (I'm still having a hard time with the words 'my' and 'ours'). I had planned on painting a few rooms after I moved in (the red office and the green guest room), but haven't gotten around to it. I recently received a pretty good estimate from Court's paint guy, but Truss is trying to convince me that it's easier and more cost effective if we do it ourselves. Two problems there - it probably won't get done anytime soon and I'd do a really crappy job painting these rooms! Take our office for example - I went out and purchased a great Benjamin Moore color I saw on Pinterest. I primed a section of the wall and painted a sample. The proof is below....after three coats of primer, you can still see the dark red through. I did a pretty shoddy job painting, and, like most rooms in the house, there is wallpaper underneath that's pretty visible. Truss says he can take down the wallpaper - I'm going to relinquish control and let him do it. The dark red paint is hideous, so the room can't really look any worse, right? Gotta love homeownership - next up, have foundation folks come look at some nasty cracks in the basement....that will be a blast.
The proof is in the paint...




Thursday, September 20, 2012

Sheesh!

I'm SO not good at keeping this blog updated. Things have been pretty busy since the last post - 7 whole months ago! I'm not going to backtrack seven months, mostly because it was a blur.

The big thing that happened over the course of that time included wedding preparations and the actual wedding! Truss and I were married June 16, 2012 - it was a great day and we had a lot of fun celebrating with family and friends! Wedding planning wasn't my cup of tea - the total opposite feeling than I thought I'd have. Lots of decisions, lots of attention and a lot of work, to be honest! Truss will happily agree with me on this one! However, along the wedding planning there were many fun moments and great excuses to hang out with friends!

We encountered such generosity from friends and family during that time. We had six or so showers which included a luncheon, cinco de mayo themed party, a stock the bar shower and a bachelorette party hosted by my sister in Austin. That was a blast and she did such a great job!

The wedding day flew by as expected, but I really remember most everything. We're expecting our video back in the next few months - that will help fill in a few fuzzy moments, I'm sure! We went to Costa Rica after the wedding and stayed for 8 relaxing days. It was gorgeous and we had a great time!

The other big thing that occurred a few weeks ago was me starting a new job. I was offered a job at KidsTLC, a nonprofit in Olathe. I am their new Development Director. It's an odd feeling to do something totally new after being at the same company for more than six years, however I was ready for a change. This new job will be challenging, but I'm ready for it and excited!

We are currently trying to sell Truss' house - it's been on the market since April. He had the entire home repainted, floors redone and there is a new A/C and heater - what more could you want?! There have been a ton of showings, but the slanted floors in the dining room are turning people off. It's an old house people!! We've dropped the price significantly and are just waiting for the right person to come along. Sooner than later, please...

That's it for now. I'll post wedding photos once we get them back.
B.



Tuesday, February 7, 2012

The list goes on and on...

My 'to-do' list for wedding stuff seemed simple enough. I mean, how much more can there be in these last four months - we've done the big stuff: booked the venue, band, photographer, got my dress, etc. We're almost done, right? Wrong. There are a ton of loose ends to tie up: wedding and reception music, hotel gift bags, rehearsal invites, getting my dress altered, finding shoes. These are my dream shoes...probably not going to happen!

Other fun things we've done : updated registry, I had my first shower (girls luncheon at Aixois) and we picked out wedding rings.

Last weekend was very interesting - we had our day-long, required "marriage preparation" class at St. Andrews. We really lucked out and only had it with one other couple and it lasted from 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. - totally bearable. It was more of a therapy session than anything - the other couple has some major family baggage or the bride at least made it seem that way. I would say we have a few family issues, but ours were pretty minor, compared to theirs!

We also met with the wedding coordinator a few weeks ago to map out everything down to the details - where do we want the cake, will the guys be dressed when they arrive at the club, who will sit in which pew - things like that. This wedding is starting to feel real!!

We have a few showers lined up and those will be fun to celebrate! Next up, the bachelorette party in Austin with the girls in my wedding party!