-- Sneak Peek --

A long time ago I gushed over Amanda Heer's lovely brooch bouquet's that she makes at her own Fantasy Florals.  Well, low and behold I told my mom about it and I think she immediately shut me down.  But about a month ago she came to me again and said..."Lets make that brooch bouquet you wanted"
So...here we go. 

We've been bidding on ebay (against each other at times)... don't worry we got that one figured out fairly quickly.  We've been etsying and antiquing away and we've made it down to the final bits...

And here's a sneak peak of what it looks like now...

-- Fighting Over Flights --

This morning already (it's 7:17am) I've fought with Mike. 

I called him to tell him that the flights had gone down again and instead of him being happy, he freaked out and started telling me we had to book them!!!  Then he continued to watch the computer and saw them rise in price. 

Of course this was my fault.  Not sure how, but this is how it was.  Great way to start off the morning...while I'm at work...sitting at my desk...and I can't yell back...and I must be calm...and I have nothing to do with the increase in prices...and all I wanted to do was SCREAM!!!

MEN!!!

Is this how it gets when the days are dwindling down to the big day?!!  I feel like the fighting over dumb things becomes more and more.  Just wondered. 

-- Honeymooning --

A couple months back I was trying to decide where to go on our honeymoon. I was also trying to figure out how we were going to pay for it. I'll admit...while we do have a budget and have since day one, I think that I (myself) have gone way over and I think that I accidentally forgot to budget in there for the honeymoon.

So when I was looking at places to go, I was looking for cheap, all inclusive destinations. But I was also entering into contests and giveaways...you name it, I was entered into it.

Then last month while I was in Montana I got a random email that stated, "Dear Abigail, Congratulations! You have been selected as the grand prize winner of the Brides Honeymoon Giveaway." That was the basic jist of the letter. I didn't really believe it because who really wins these things, right?! But I called Mike, and asked him to look into it. He told me he couldn't find anything. So I emailed back, said we'd take it (pending verification) and asked for further clarification and what else was needed of us. We did in the mean time look up the woman whom the email was from and she was legitimately from Brides and Conde Nast so we figured it had to be something...

Well, yesterday my certificate came. We are going to Aruba! We are very excited because we get 4 nights/5 days, all breakfasts, 1 romantic dinner for 2 and a couple’s massage while we are there and we've added on 2 days at the moment, but we may change depending on if we can find good flights. But the hotel is amazing and we are very excited. We are really getting double what we are going to be spending. While we still have to spend some money, we are making out in the long run. We would have never stayed anywhere this nice!

Flights however are our downfall right now. They are very expensive. We had to wait on the certificate to make sure the rooms were available since there are black out dates that you cannot use the certificate on and the prices just keep on jumping. We'd like to fly out of Fort Wayne just because it's so much easier for us, but it seems to just get more and more expensive. So we may end up driving down to Indy the night after the wedding...or wee early hours to catch a 6, 7, or 8am flight so we can make it there by 1pm.

We'll see how this all ends up, but for now, some things are starting to come together...kinda! :)

-- Lets Celebrate Real Quick --

Yesterday was 100 posts!  I think that is an accomplishment!  Honestly I never thought I'd make it this far!  I still don't know if anyone is really out there reading it, but it's a nice release for me so here's to 100 more! 

I suspect that once the wedding happens, we'll take a different turn on Little Miss Martha, but until then...

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-- 3 Months To Go --

Wow...

I can't really believe that I'll be married in 3 months.  I would just like to get it over with!  Not in a bad sense, but in a "I"m just ready for all this planning to be over" sense. 

I enjoy looking at all the blogs and working on arrangements and centerpiece ideas and figuring out what goes with what, but the stress of it being my wedding and the random fights with the fiance and the random fights with the parentals and just all the extra random stressors that come into play are not very fun. 

There are some upsides to it though. 

1.  I'll be married. 

2.  I think we get a deduction of somesort on our taxes. 

3.  I think Mike can probably get a new job. 

4.  Kids will be in the not so distant future

5.  We get to have a great big party with some awesome food!  :) 

6.  We finally get to take a vacation.  

7.  Hopefully we get to take a vacation from here on out!  

8.  We can move on to finishing up our house!!!  

9.   We'll get to start making OUR memories as a family.  

10.  We love each other.  :)   

All these things sound good to me.  I think everything will work out ok.  I do need to get those invites out so I'm setting up the dining room table tonight when I get home as my little workspace and will hopefully be able to knock a chunk out of those. 

Other side notes:

- I transferred out of the Mini.  I might try for the one in Fort Wayne come this September. 

- We have decided on a honeymoon spot.  I'll blog about that tomorrow. 

- I think we are right on track with exception of a few minor things. 

YAY!!!

-- Wedding Map --

I think this is my wedding map!

Pretty exciting! I just used Mapquest.com, but hopefully I can get that to embed on the back of the enclosures for the invitations! If anyone knows of a better way to do this, PLEASE let me know!!!

I have a very large To-Do list this week so we will see how it goes!

-- Single Mom --

This week I'm playing a single working mom.  It's hard.  Actually, I'm just nannying for a family while their parents are out of town, but I'm still going to be working during the day and then watching them durning the evening and getting them off to school in the mornings before I go to work. 

The reason I am posting this is because my posts may be few and far between this week.  We shall see.  Yesterday I had to pick one up from play practice, take 2 to softball practice, and the other was home with pink-eye.  GREAT.  And then 1's softball practice was cancelled due to lightning but the others wasn't until 20 minutes later even though it was lightning the ENTIRE time!!!  Are you kidding me?!  I was wondering if it would have looked bad of me to tell the little girl to not hold the bat!?!  Seriously though!  Smarten up Coach! 

Ok...so maybe enjoy some previous posts.  My mom and I are thinking about trying to do a brooch bouquet for me like those from Amanda Heer.  Check them out.  They are gorgeous!  :)

Happy 80s this week!   Love the weather!

-- It's Decided! --

This is a totally random post for the day! 

But I think I've finally decided. 

...Ever Since I was a little girl... Every story starts like that, right?!  Well, mine doesn't start quite like that.  I'd say that mine starts ever since I really figured out that I could do WHATEVER I WANTED TO DO (which was about 18 or so...) I decided that I wanted to own my own business.  I always thought it would be a shoppe of somesort, but I figured it would be a little clothing store with sassy designer clothes like 8 Fifteen or Karisma (A sassy little boutique where I live).  I never really thought much of the outdoors or FLOWERS in general. 

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Now, I love them.  I love to arrange them at home, I love to plant them at home, and I love to have them at home.  I also find myself loving to look at all kinds of sites that do floral arrangements and/or have shops.  This made me think.  When I was a little girl, I never saw or went to a shop like Lily's in Wyoming or JL Designs in California or Eden Floral Boutique in Cincinnati. 

I can't wait to make my own bouquets and boutonniers.  It will be just great.  I hope they turn out as well as I'm planning! 

My shoppe would look like this all the time! 

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And I'd make bouquets and tablescapes inspired by these ones of JL Designs.

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We'll see how long it takes me!  Thanks to the great floral shops and floral designers out there for some great inspirations!  :)