Tuesday, January 31, 2012

jcp

Well tomorrow is an exciting day for jcp.  They are doing away with coupons and having sale prices year round.  They have been airing these annoying ads in the meantime, but they have honestly made me pretty psyched for tomorrow.  I don't work for jcp but those who know me know why jcp hold a special place in my heart :).
See the commercial:


New Tea

So my co worker Michelle introduced me to this fabulous new tea called Talbott Tea.  The have cool flavors like chocolate teas and lemon meringue.  Michelle let me taste the Lemon Meringue and it was very smooth and not bitter at all.  Today I bought Blissful Blueberry and Green Tea Heaven.  Tonight I am going to try the Blissful Blueberry and I am sure it is just as good as it sounds.


Next Bachelorette

abc confirmed that Emily Maynard will be the next Bachelorette.  Not sure how I feel about it since all the tabloid about her has not been the best.



Target Tuesday

Linking up with Fabulous But Evil for my favorites at Target.

Love this as a cover-up- Cover Up

Will get these one day- Cups



Love this- Phanatic

Valentine's Day Challenge-Best Date Ever

Justin and I have pretty much had 10 years so far of good and great dates.  If I had to pick a recent great date weekend I would choose Lake Geneva, WI this past Oct.  We went from Sunday Oct 30th to Tue Nov 1st and stayed at the Lazy Cloud Inn.  We ate at the Spretcher Restaurant one night and a nice independent Mexican place another night.  We had a nice room with a two person jacuzzi and fireplace.  It was cold outside so that was nice.  We had champagne and chocolate dipped strawberries.  We read these journals of other people that stayed in the room and also played the cork hiding game where we looked for corks and hid ours too.  Here are some pictures from that weekend.
 Apple Orchard Winery
 Chithulu by the tub
 Justin and the room
 Room Moonlight and Roses
 Phil trying to steal the room bear's pie
 Spretcher
 Lake Geneva
More of the room


Fabulous Valentines Challenge

Lots of people are linking up and doing this one so I thought I would join in on the fun.


Starting on Monday January 30th you can link up every day for the next 2 weeks after that (Mon-Fri, Mon-Fri)


Here are the topics and dates:


1. Loved This Date - Best Date Ever : Monday January 30th


2. Love Telling This Bad Date Story - Worst Date Ever: Tuesday January 31st


3. Love My Outfit - Valentine's Day Outfits: Wednesday February 1st


4. Love Weddings - Share your wedding photos, your friends or families, or your pinterest inspiration!: Thursday February 2nd


5. Love My Girlfriends: Friday February 3rd


6. Love to be Creative - recipes, crafts, gifts, etc: Monday February 6th


7. Love Blogging(why did you start, what posts are your favorite, why do you blog, anything:Tuesday February 7th


8. Love Myself(favorite feature, best quality, best personality trait anything)Wednesday February 8th


9. Love My Family(pictures, traditions, quirks) Thursday February 9th


10. Love My Vices(because we all have them) Friday February 10th

Friday, January 27, 2012

Shows!!

Time for an update on some of the normal and abnormal shows I have been watching:
 
Awesome artsy show on SYFY
Taxidermy show on Animal Planet
Cool new A&E show
Bachelor even though I know who he chooses :)
I'm going to the Jersey shore... Duh.
Can't get enough of New Jersey
Ink Master

Funny eCards I Love

Here are some of those eCards I love and find to be so funny!


Movies I Want to See

Here are some upcoming movies I want to see:





Weekend Planning

Linking up with My Happy House to make a list of things to do this weekend.
 *Friday*
~Working until 4pm then picking up the house a bit.
~ Heading to do errands after work- mall, Taco Bell, and Walmart.
~Play some games with Justin.
*Saturday*
~Do laundry and clean
~Dinner at Cracker Barrel
*Sunday*
~Relax
~Gym
~Make my version of Pasta and Prosciutto 

Sick

Being sick stinks!  I had the stomach flu earlier this month and now I have a cold.  I missed work most of yesterday but I am feeling a lot better today.  Justin was also sick with a cold earlier this month and is still coughing.  It has been such a warm winter that it seems the germs did not get a chance to die.  Here's hoping none one in this house gets sick again for awhile.

1. My favorite place i've ever traveled to is El Dorado Royale resort in Rivera Maya Mexico, it is my paradise.

2. Italy is somewhere I'd love to go someday.

3. I pass the time on a plane (or bus, or car ride or train) by  watching movies or talking with Justin. Sometimes we play trivia games. 
4. My three must-haves when I travel are Zune , food and Nook.

5. My favorite travel companion is my husband Justin .

6. The craziest thing that ever happened to me while traveling is probably when we woke up the morning of our flight to NJ to a brick thrown through Justin's car window.  Not cool.  We had to call the police and I was so scared we were going to miss our flight.  We got it resolved and made the flight.
7. The most exotic food I've ever tried while traveling is lobster cappicino in Mexico, yuck  .

8. If I could live anywhere else, I'd live in Long Island or Staten Island, NY or somewhere in New Jersey.

9. I have been to 26
states in the U.S.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Christmas Card 2011

We actually got 25 free cards this year from My Publisher and Shutterfly.  Here is my favorite one, the Shutterfly card.

Wedding ABCs

May 14, 2005

Wedding ABC's

Justin and I have been married for 6 1/2 years and I wanted to share our special day with you. So here are our Wedding ABC's.

Attending:
I'd say we had about 150-200 guests

Bridesmaids:
I had 4 bridesmaids.  My best friend Lauren from elementary school,  Bonnie my sorority sister from college, Crystal my good friend from college, and Alex my old neighbor from Tennessee

Catering:
Our food cake from a butcher in Peoria and our cake was designed by Justin's Aunt Lil and was made by her friend.  


We also had a cookie monster cookie which was our groom's cake.
Dress:
I loved my dress! I got it at House of Brides in Schaumburg.  It was the most expensive piece of the wedding.  My dress was made by Impressions and so were the bridesmaids dresses.



Engagement:
Justin proposed December 20th of 2003 and we were married May 14th 2005.


Flowers:
Our flowers were done by Leo's florist in Peoria.  Well my bouquet was done by them and we rented two fake flowers for the alter.  The grooms flowers and mothers flowers were done by them too.  My mother in law maid the brides maids flowers.
My bouquet

Bridesmaid's- Justin's mom got the flowers at Sam's

Groomsmen:
Justin had 4 groomsmen- Darien his bestman and childhood friend, Adam his high school friend, Joe his childhood friend, and Tate his friend from the college years.
We also had two ushers Jason and Joel

Honeymoon:
Our honeymoon was to our now favorite resort El Dorado Royale in Rivera Maya Mexico.  We stayed 6 days and 5 night, which we now learned is not long enough.  We booked through Suzi Davis travel in Peoria.  We went May 16-21.





Invitations:
Our invitations were very simple and classic, silver and white with a Chinese symbol.

Justice of the Peace:
I suppose this means the preacher. Our preacher was Justin's childhood pastor Phil Summers.

Keepsakes:
As a keepsake for us, we had guests sign a book and take pictures with a disposable camera.



Ladies Night:
We had my bachelorette night in downtown Chicago.  Bonnie, Crystal, and I took the train into the city and stayed at a hotel.  We went to Excalibur and ate at the new Rock and Roll McDonald's.


Music:
Our wedding music was pretty traditional. We could not have dancing out our reception so Justin made a cd of songs from Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts that played during the reception.


Newlyweds:
Justin's parents got us a cool room at the Day's in for our wedding night.  Who would have thought the Days Inn Mortin would have a room like this.


On the day after our wedding,
we went to my parents to open gifts.

Old, new, borrowed, blue:
My something old ?

My something new was my dress and jewelery




My something borrowed  I don't remember if I had anything borrowed.

My something blue was my garter.

Photography:
Our photography was done by a friend of Justin's, he did a great job for a good price.


Question popping:
Justin recreated our first date of dinner and a movie.  I kind of messed it up a bit and he asked me in the Olive Garden parking lot in Peoria.  Afterwards we went to see the Lord of the Rings the Return of the Kings.  It was such a special night!

Reception:
We had make your own sandwiches, lots of cake, and music.  No dancing or drinking was allowed. So we had a post reception, reception at one of our favorite bars Sully's.
Feeding cake, none got on the dress.
 
Garter time
 Dad and Grant at the after party

Shoes:
They were horrible and I think they came from Payless.  Before the reception I changed in to comfortable red flip flops


Trash the Dress:
Nope...it's still at mom and dads.  Al thought I would like more pictures in it one day, I just do not want to trash it.

Unique:
Having our post reception at Sully's and then going to Richard's to play pool.  We got to incorporate some of the places we loved while dating.


Vows:
We recited traditional vows.

Wedding Woes:
Since the wedding was in Peoria, having to coordinate everything when I came down to visit was rough at times.


X-rated:
Umm....no.....

Young kids:
We didn't have a flower girl or a ring bearer. There were also very few children invited to the wedding.


Zzzzz:

The party did not end until pretty late.  We almost fell asleep at the hotel before heading to Sully's after the wedding.  The next day we drove to Chicago to mom and dad's before heading on the Honeymoon on Monday.


Thank you for reading my Wedding ABC's. It's always fun to look back at our special day!