Life Lately From my iPhone

Today marks one month until our wedding!  People in my office think it's so funny that I can rattle of excatly how many days until the wedding.  :-)  It's a combnation of sheer excitement, knowing what all needs to be finished between now an then, and then taking a vacation that has me counting down the days.

Friday I took  half day off so we could go to our last tasting for the reception food.  Then Adam and I went to get his wedding band.  We decided he looks quite grown up with a ring on his finger!

{Getting a caffeiene fix and showing off our latest purchase}

Next we looked at a tux to rent.  They want you to pick a vest color from a two-inch square of fabric.  Ha.  Thankfully they offered to order a few options for AMP to try on, which meant another trip to Al's on Tuesday.  We finally got it figured out, and he will look quite handsome on our wedding day!

We also looked at a rental house on Friday and spent less than five minutes in there.  Yikes.  We need to be moved in somewhere by November 1, so we're kind of in that time of 30 to 60 day notices being up.  It would make me feel a lot better if I was able to picture where we're going to be next, but that's just part of the process.  I know it will work out.  Patience just has never been my strongsuit in these types of situations!

{Bachelor Pad--before}

I am really glad to know that we will live in Adam's apartment for the month of October.  To make it more "ours," he's really working hard to clean stuff out and make room for me.  He's always had a clean place, which I appreciate, so it's nothing gross or anything.  We took down the framed posters that I helped him hang last August. 

We spent a good chunk of Friday night trying to find studs in the wall and hanging these shelves up.  I watched a lot and helped when needed.  :-)  I've had them since college, and they've lived under my bed for two years.  I was really excited to have a place to hang them again! 

{After}

Saturday we met the Wharton boys up at church to ask them to be in our wedding and practice walking down the aisle.  They will be so great on the wedding day in front of a big group of people, but they were just all over the place on Saturday!  It didn't bother me at all, because I know it won't be perfect, but that'll be what's so cute!

We had our Couple's Shower on Saturday night, which was loads of fun. Adam and I felt so honored and loved.  I'll have to do a separate post on that because it was just so fabulous!

Yesterday, I lost my wallet.  {Turns out it had fallen out at home.}

I wear my hair in a pony tail to work about half the time these days {A sign that I'm too tired to fix it}

My room looks like clothes exploded,

and until yesterday when Adam cleaned it out, my car looked similar.  {Thanks, AMP!}

Thankfully I have a lot of help with wedding planning and with life in general, becuase I need it!  :-)



Weekend Nine: Adam comes to BSB

Baylor Summer Bunch weekend is jam-packed full of family, friends and fun.  It is always fun to catch up with these friends.  This year was a big deal for me, because I got to bring Adam.  I was super excited for him to be a part of the weekend...I pulled photos of all nine families from Facebook so he could see that he'd already met half of them.  (Clearly, very excited.) 

I was so excited that I didn't really put myself in his shoes until we walked in the door to my parent's lakehouse and all the moms turned and gave a high-pitched, "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"  I thought he might just turn around and leave--ha!  Everyone was excited to meet him, and Adam hung in there and met all 40-some-odd people. 

After the initial shock of meeting all these new faces, Adam settled in and learned all about the BSB from his buddy, Gerald.  We have three scrapbooks ('80s, '90s and '00s) with birth announcements, wedding photos, Baylor Homecomings, Christmas Cards and BSB trips.  (I know...we might be slightly over the top.)

Because of this crazy heat wave and lack of water in the lake, we spent a lot of time indoors.  Not everyone stays at our lakehouse (we rented a few more nearby), but it was the hub of all the activities, so it got quite loud sometimes.  At some point througout the weekend, most everyone had to go outside and collect their thoughts, I think.  It was just SO LOUD! 

We played games Friday and Saturday night.

We hung out and played with the new babies.

We boated.

We tubed.

We played more games...this was the "Minute to Win it" night.

This was everyone hanging out Saturday night in the den.  That's a lot of people.

More "Minute to win it" games.

We ate a lot of yummy food and all hung out and chatted.  Adam stayed until after dinner Saturday night before heading back home to go to work the next morning.  He was such a great sport!

Sunday mornings, we have a little singing and devotional time.  Troy played the guitar this year while the three Deily sisters sang.  They did great.  :-)

We also celebrate the high school and college graduates and pray for them as they "launch" a new chapter in their lives.  Scott was the youngest in the group, and he's starting at Baylor today!  The photo above is the first "launchees"--Lauren, Laura and Allison, and the last, Scott. 

Our parents have said once Scott was launched, the kids aren't invited, and they'll all go on a cruise instead.  We'll see how that plays out next summer!  :-) 

Then we pose for group photos.

The Dads.

The Moms.

The girls.

The boys.

And Laura and Allison with their newest additions, Emma and Madeleine!

Loving the bows.

Emma and Madeleiene.

Whew.  Just looking throuh these photos makes me tired again!  The fun part is that normally we see these friends again at Baylor Homecoming in November, but it was fun to say, "See you at the wedding!"  :-)

Weekend Eight: Take a deep breath

Friday, I got home from almost a week in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  Unfortunately, it was for work, and the view of the beach is pretty much all I saw of it until the last night we were there.  Fortunately, though, I did get to hang out a lot with Amanda, since we get to work together.

I think it's been since college that we've been able to spend that much time together at once.  It was really a treat!  {I have a few pics of us out at the beach, but they're trapped on my camera--I can't find the charger.  Boo.}

Claire was in Jamaica all week on a mission trip, and I didn't feel like going home to an empty apartment, so I came home and spent the night with my Aunt Laura.  We addressed wedding invitations (the first time) Friday night and Saturday morning.  She and I did get to catch up when she got home, though.  We spend a lot of time in these spots on the couch, talking and watching Gilmore Girls.  It was so nice to catch up, and hear all about her experiences in Jamaica with other teachers.  They gave a teacher conference all week to better equip Jamaican teachers with resources they're typically unable to receive.  

Saturday afternoon,  Adam and I finally got to hang out! He took me out for a steak dinner at the Yellow Rose Steak and Chop house, and we got to catch up in person.  He'd been in Colorado for his Bachelor Weekend with a buddy from home.  They hiked and camped and explored the mountains. Colorado was, of course, nice and cool, so I know he hated to come home to Texas in a massive heat wave.  

I don't have any photos of this weekend, and I honestly can't remember what I did, other than that.  I remember telling Adam that this was pretty much the last free weekend we had before the wedding, which was now exactly two months away! 

I know this wasn't a terribly exciting weekend post, but since I'm documenting the rest of them, I didn't feel like I could just skip it.  :-)  So stay tuned for the next weekend, which was the opposite of this: loud, busy and crazy!  But fun!

Weekend Seven: First Bridal Shower

Friday after work, I met Adam and his parents at Maggiano's for a rehearsal dinner tasting.  They'd driven all night from Iowa and arrived earlier that day.  It was a fun way to catch up and eat great food! 

We got to try a ton of food, and my "eating like a bird" habits really paid off.  :-)  {I usually only eat a very small amount of most things, but snack several times a day.}  By the time we got to dessert, I had just enough room left, and it was delicious!

Saturday, July 16 I had my first wedding shower!  Adam's parents drove down pretty much just for the tasting and my bridal shower.  It meant a lot to have Norene there, and I'm so glad she got to meet so many friends in my wedding party and other people that are so dear to me.

{Norene, Me and Mom}

{The decorations were over the top!}

{Beautiful flowers and peacock feathers...totally a "Shay" thing!}

Fabulously delcious desserts made by Chef Sarah.  She even added pansies...just a subtle touch of the official Tri Delta flower.  :-)  It sounds sooo cheesy to type, but it was a sweet gesture that I didn't want to forget!

{Chef Sarah, beautiful inside and out}

{Mattie is off to college at OSU this year!}

{Hostesses: Donna, Elaine, Amy, Teresa, Susan, Tammy,

Kathy, Mom, me and Sarah} 

They made me feel incredibly special, loved and honored. 

It's a bit strange to walk in to a house and have it be "all about Shay!"  (Not that I minded, haha!)  

{Delicious food}

{Cousin and Bridesmaid, Anna}

{Gentry and her mom, Terri!}

{Lauren and Kristin were so sweet to come.  Kristin's getting married the weekend after us!}

{Baylor Girls}

{Maid of Honor dutifully takes notes of all the gifts...on her iPad!  Everyone thought she was just so hip, and then she just emailed me the list the next day.  Amazing.}

{Mom cooing over this sweet baby, Emma.}

{Opening gifts!  It took me an hour and a half to open everything.  Fifteen minutes into the shower, Ms. Teresa came and found me and informed me that I needed to sit down and start opening gifts.  I literally sat there unwrapping for the next hour and a half!}

{My wedding party rated all the bows and were always thrilled when we had a big bow to include in my dress rehearsal bouquet!}

Adam's parents gave us an entire set of new pots and pans because they know we enjoy cooking together!

Wedding Party Love!

{Lyndsy, Gentry, Me, Sarah, Anna, SMoo and Katelyn}

{All of our many, many gifts}

I seriously felt so loved.  Not so much because of the gifts, but the notes people wrote and their genuine excitement and well wishes for us.  I cannot wait to see them all again on our wedding day.  What fun that will be! 

Saturday afternoon, Norene and I went to the Wedding Suite at Nordstroms and found a Mother of the Groom dress.  She looks beautiful!  And I think she had a lot of fun trying on dresses they brought to her, along with shoes and jewelry to accessorize.  If only we could do that every time we shopped!! 

It's official: invitations are mailed!

{Feeling a little relieved, excited and disbelieving about getting these into the mail!}



Of all the things we're doing for the wedding, the invitations proved to be the most challenging, I do believe. 

I finally decided on invitations after visiting 3 or 4 times...I really can't remember.  Then we had to get the type and spacing "just right."  We went back and forth with the printer about 4 times as well.  But designing invitations and programs are something I really enjoy doing, so it was kind of frustrating to me that I couldn't just do it myself and get it right!  :-)  But we did, eventually get it juuuuuuuust right.

Aunt Laura and I addressed all the invitations, and she did waay more than half.  We couldn't have done this without her. 

When Mom picked everything up from the store, she noticed the inner envelope wasn't lined.  They told us we'd have to insert them ourselves (what a pain), and they would be delivered in a few days.  Well, we went on our merry little way, addressing inner and outer envelopes (Adam wanted to know why we needed two, and then changed his mind.  I'm glad, because I'm not sure I could provide an explanation for this strange phenomenon.)

Mom went back to pick up the liners, and it turns out they misspoke, and they had, in fact, shipped envelopes with liners already included.  So Laura and I re-wrote all the inner envelopes, just in time for a stuffing party.  {The people at the paper store felt awful, and gave us several discounts to make up for this mistake!}

These sweet girls came over, and they had all the envelopes stuffed, stamped, sealed an alphabetized within an hour.  Often times I don't like to ask for help because I don't want to bother people, but I asked anyways, and they came right on over.  I was so grateful!  And we had a fun time catching up over brownies and sangria.  :-)

{Claire, SMoo, Mom, Anna, Sarah

Lyndsy and Me}

Then I went out of town, and we were still gathering some addresses and whatnot. It's been almost three weeks since the stuffing party, and we have now triple-checked the invitations three times to make sure we've not missed someone. 

Last night after dinner with my parents, Adam and I dropped the invitations off at the post office.  It was rather monumental!

Dad thought I looked rather June Cleaver-ish.  {Adam agreed.}  Thanks.  And he also kept referring to us as "the kids," as in, "Where are the kids?" or "Where are the kids' plates?"  I found this quite humorous. 

Finally,  we headed to the post office....

Very focused on getting the invitations in the mailbox.

Here we go!

This was most definitely a team effort, and I'm so thankful for all the helping hands we had along the way! 

Only 45 days to go!!!

Food for Thought

Desiring God's recent blog post about how to make God known at work really got me thinking. 

Graduating from a Christian high school and college, I'd been in a non-secular world for more than half my life.  One thing that was difficult for me to grasp as I decided on what kind of job I wanted was how to merge my personal faith with a mainstream job. 

This week we have several new faces around our office.  We don't know each other very well yet, but I'm hopeful we will soon enough.  I think these five things are a really good reminder of what I can strive for each day as I go into my office.

"I have in mind at least five things—five ways to make God known through your secular job and all of them are important. When one of them is missing, the witness to the truth of Christ suffers.

1. The excellence of the products or services you render in your job shows the excellence and greatness of God.

2. The standards of integrity you follow at your job show the integrity and holiness of God.

3. The love you show to people in your job shows the love of God.

4. The stewardship of the money you make from your job shows the value of God compared to other things.

5. The verbal testimony you give to the reality of Christ shows the doorway to all these things in your life and their possibility in the lives of others."

Excerpted from "Tentmakers" in Minneapolis. John Piper, 1988.

Monday Letters

  

{BSB Weekend and Bear Hunting Thrifting on Thursday}

Bloggy, you've been neglected, but I'm working on catching up.  Here we go...

Dear AMP, these last two weeks have been a whilrwind, and you've just rolled with the punches and been so much help.  I am so grateful for your muscles to haul things, your willingness to do just about anything, and your ablity to solve problems. 

BSB weekend, you were jam-packed with lots of fun times, getting to know babies with the sweetest chunky legs, playing games and spending time catching up with old friends.  Thanks for welcoming Adam into the fold.  

T-roy, lunch with you on Saturday was a good time.  I'm so glad you're home for a bit. 

Adam,  things finally calmed down this week and we were able to just hang out.  I loved this.  Thanks for taking care of the Bear when I feel like life is just a little crazy.  Looking forward to this weekend in Iowa.  Maybe some time we could go here on one of our adventures up that way.  I discovered it this morning here.  Doesn't it look fun?