Recap

It's been a very busy couple of weeks for me lately! In early August, I had my last day at the newspaper. I worked with some of the most amazing people so it's sad to have left but luckily Marshall still works there so I still get to see them :)

We then left for Tennessee to see our families. I finally got to see my niece and nephew again (and Marshall got to meet Reagan for the first time!) Getting us to stand still for long enough to take a picture is tough but aren't we a smokin' hot family!?

Early morning wake up calls with the cutest babies ever!

While in Tennessee, we met with our cake maker to do some cake tasting. It was SO good! We had to resist the urge to eat all of the cake so that we could bring some back for the parentals to try. We decided on our cake and our flavors so now all we have to do is wait 10 months to eat it... LONGEST WAIT FOR A CAKE EVER. Especially when you know how good it will taste. Taste caking is like a teaser, which is why I think it should become a weekly event. Agree? 

After spending time with my family in Crossville, we headed south to see the Stephens' family in Sewanee. I just love being at their house. There's something about being in the mountains, secluded, on a lot of land and with dogs, cats and chickens! Sadly, no more goats :( We relaxed, played games and visited Grandma in Nashville. I even shot a gun for the first time ever! [Maybe we should rethink our wedding theme -- Redneck?] Picture will come soon as Marshall and myself have failed to upload to the computer!

After a week with our families, we had to head back to Texas. I definitely had mixed emotions. Sad to be leaving our family but happy to see my kitties. (Crazy cat lady). The first day back was my first day in the classroom. I was there for the majority of the day and left thinking I had accomplished so much. When I actually looked at my classroom, I felt like I accomplished nothing. Friday, I worked with my 3rd grade team to come up with lesson plans and Monday started our inservice training. So far, I am enjoying it but am so nervous for the first day with students. Meet the Teacher night is tomorrow so wish me luck as I embrace one of my biggest challenges yet!

More updates to come after the first day!!

Side note: Congratulations to my sister, Jen, on her engagement to Travis! So excited to have one of Marshall's best friends become part of our family!

Magician

I should be a magician because I have a pretty awesome disappearing act. Okay that joke was totally lame awesome! But seriously, it's been a while. Why, you ask? I'll tell you why. Because I didn't feel like blogging about my hair being pulled out and the tears coming down my face. Oh, and the yelling. Wedding planning is not a pretty sight. At least for this girl. We were thrown a wrench (luckily early in the planning) but it made us switch up everything.

Here's what went down:

June in a Tennessee valley = HOT. If it's going to be anything like this summer, the pictures wouldn't be pretty because we'd all be drenched in sweat. I'm pretty sure the guests wouldn't even want to move because they'd be cooking like eggs and bacon (ew, bacon.) We came to the conclusion that we needed to have an indoor/outdoor reception venue. 

Here's your challenge: Try and find a place with a big enough indoor facility to seat everyone in one room (~130 guests) but with enough mingling/dancing space outside, in the Sewanee community that fits our budget. GO.

Any luck? Yeah, me either.

We found lots of different options that at first look seemed perfect. Then it came to either price ($3,000 for a barn rental? Really? And all you're going to do is hose it down? AND I have to rent toilets? AND there's no AC in the barn? Yeah... uh no.)

So, finally we decided it was time to look outside of the Sewanee community and we found a place where my parents live AND we got a super amazing deal. Can't complain about that, right? Plus the Catholic church is within walking distance! I think we hit the jackpot here.

So now that I have less hair and rehydrated myself from all the water loss from crying, we can start back up with the planning.

The next step? CAKE tasting! My favorite! :)

Vegas Baby!

"How 'bout that ride in? I guess that's why they call it Sin City! heh"

[via]

A Las Vegas wedding has been the topic of discussion recently in the Mulcahy-Stephens household. While I'm hoping it is all in a joking manner, the thought is becoming more and more appealing.

That girl is one lucky lady! [via]

I mean, who wouldn't want to get married by Elvis? We can walk around in our wedding apparel taking pictures with all of the tourists instead of hiring a professional photographer (whoops, too late. She can follow us around and take the pictures.) Plus, if I continue to hang out in my wedding dress, I'm almost certain people will just hand me money to say congratulations. We can even stick with our baseball theme and invite Pete Rose!

We're bffl's

Plus, we can have three parties to celebrate - one in Texas, one in Tennessee, and one in Virginia. No one would have to travel far (apart from Cydnea who doesn't live in any of those states!) No need for a silly expensive tent or tables or anything! Brilliant!

Okay okay. The gig's up. If you know anything about me you know that I would never get married in Vegas. Even if it were something elegant at the Bellagio or Caesar's Palace. 

With that being said, it is officially one year, one month away from our Catholic church and [hopefully] backyard reception. Sorry, Vegas. Sorry, Dad. [Or really, sorry Dad's wallet.]

Walking in Memphis

I know, I know. It's been a while. I apologize, but there are reasons! I have been so busy the past few weeks that I haven't been able to blog. Here's what I've been up to:

• Two weekends ago, Marshall and I went to Memphis to visit his brother and his brother's girlfriend. 
• I had a job fair on Friday where I met a lot of potential school districts in the area
• Said job fair led me to have an interview the following Tuesday.
• Said interview led me to teach a lesson the next day.
• Said lesson got me a recommendation to be hired as a 3rd grade teacher pending board approval.
• Said recommendation got me board approval which in turn means I am officially a hired teacher!

There is probably no greater feeling than actually seeing your dreams come true right before your eyes. Except maybe seeing how happy your family and closest friends get seeing you fulfill your dreams. My mom started to cry after she found out. My dad cheered with excitement. My sister, Erin, sent me a congratulatory text and has been trying to Facetime me (again... so busy!) My other sister, Jen, made a Facebook status saying how proud she was of me. Marshall took me out to eat with some friends and bought me a congratulatory drink. My friends came to dinner just to celebrate (and continued to text each day to see how my interview, lesson and board approval went). My best friend Cydnea text me saying she can't believe she found out through Facebook and that her level of excitement was just as much as it was the day I got engaged. I think it's pretty safe to say that I have the best family and friends ever.

Now, back to Memphis. This was going to get it's own blog post but life (read: Getting a teaching job) got in the way. So, here's the abbreviated version:

We took turns driving the 6.5 hours it took to drive to Memphis. When I wasn't driving, this was what I was doing: [Video debut!]

Clearly, it's easy to see why he loves me.

After we got to Memphis and checked into our hotel, we met up with Marshall's brother, Tommy, and his girlfriend, Abby. [Unfortunately, I never got a picture of all of us.] We went out and saw the beauty of Beale Street.

My cell phone camera sucks. I apologize. [Seriously, I'm a good picture taker. It's my camera.]

Lots of people!

After a drink, we went back to the hotel and went to sleep and woke up early the next morning to take our own walking tour of the Mississippi. Because there was a concert, it was hard to see the actual river (we were up higher and there was a fence blocking you from seeing the concert without paying). We then had brunch, a nap, a few drinks and finally went down to the concert.

While watching Childish Gambino

At sunset we walked over to the Mississippi and just sat while listening to some music. It was beautiful!

Mississippi Bridge

After the concert, we walked around some and eventually called it a night. We had a lot of fun in Memphis and were happy to get the opportunity to see Tommy and Abby!

Update on the wedding front:

NOTHING. Hopefully, you read about our issues with rentals and saw that everything was super expensive. We have since decided to look at venues to see if we can do a cost comparison. I found one place I really like but really need to figure out costs before I go any further.

We are, however, planning our engagement pictures. Marshall and I have decided on an idea (I can't tell you! It's a surprise!) and we will probably take them in September when it's cooled off a bit.

We also realized it's mid-May and we're still chub-a-lubs so we started running again. SKINNY KIDS HERE WE COME! We shall be fit by September! And fitter come June 2013!

This post wasn't very funny so here:

What do you call a cow with no legs?

wait for it...

Ground beef! 

Surprise!

You guys may want to sit down for this. I mean really, it's something that is going to be a bit shocking to you. Sitting? Ok great. (Although, if you are on the computer while standing up, you are strange. Just saying...)

I finally made the phone calls that I had intended to make right after my parents were here. Yes. My parents were here in February. It is now the end of April. Regardless of how long it took me to get it done, it still got done, right!? Yay me!

But seriously... WHY ARE WEDDINGS SO EXPENSIVE?! People are just monopolizing on other peoples' happiness and excitement. Rude. In the words of Elle Woods from Legally Blonde, "I object!" [Yes I did just quote Legally Blonde and no you can not judge me because we all know you secretly love that movie as well. Just stop denying it.] The worst part is that since we are getting married in a small town, there aren't a lot of options for rentals. So unless I take some sheets out there like I was a kid making a fort, I'm going to have to pay the money. [The fort is looking more and more appealing.] Unless anyone wants to lend us one of these:

[from]

Or some of these:

[from]

Great, thanks :)

On a happier note, I received an e-mail saying that my dress has arrived! My friend Racheal and I are going to drive down to Houston on Sunday to go pick up my dress and veil. I am so excited to just put it on again! I ordered it a size larger than what I tried on at the store just in case of weight fluctuation [did I ever tell you I worry a lot?] You can always take something in but you can't take it out! The hardest part about it will be hiding it from Marshall. I have no doubt that Marshall will not peek but it's more me hiding it from him that will be the challenge.

Oh and by the way... 422 days until the wedding. Just in case you WEREN'T counting (I know, nonsense. Everyone is counting down the days.)

This and that

Few things on my mind:

1.) Filling out applications stink. Especially when you've already filled out all of them before and none of them are online applications. Needless to say, my hand hurts. A lot. *Oh the things we do for a teaching job* I'm in the process of applying to 12 different school districts/schools. One of them HAS to hire me, right? RIGHT?! Please say yes. There's only so much "I'm sorry your carrier sucks at life. I'll give you credit for the past two weeks you've missed" that I can handle. I NEED a teaching job.

I work hard for the [potential] money!

I can't help but think that I'm a better candidate than others simply because I am certified to teach in two states. Sometimes I just want to say to the other applicants, "Well, can YOU teach in someplace other than Texas? No? Oh, that's a shame. Because I can." Maybe that will instill some fear into them thus making their interview not go well and giving me another advantage. But alas, it doesn't work that way.

The applications themselves are pretty easy. The best part is that they all follow the same format or are the same application just with a different school district. The worst part is that they all follow the same format or are the same application just with a different school district. It gets so tedious to fill out the same stuff over and over and over again. But the end result is quite nice if all goes well!

2.) I have been reading my friend Katie's blog about makeup. If you know me at all, you know I've never been a huge girly girl. In high school, I only wore powdered foundation. It wasn't until college that I discovered eye liner (now, I feel naked without it.) So, I feel as if I'm moving up in life because I now wear makeup regularly. I would love to be able to experiment more with makeup but I have two dilemmas. One, makeup can be so expensive and it adds up quickly! Two, I enjoy sleep way too much in the morning to wake up earlier to do more makeup. See what I mean? It's definitely a dilemma. Until I solve my issues (well, this one at least) I will continue to read Katie's blog and live vicariously through her. (You should, too! Read it, not live vicariously through her. That's creepy especially if you don't know her.)

3.) Marshall and I became parents to two grown-up kitties yesterday. For the first time, we decided to let the cats outside by themselves. As soon as we opened the door, the cats ran out. We closed the door and ran to the window and watched them. Eventually, we moved outside and sat on the patio and watched them closer. I felt like a parent to a teenage daughter who just went out on her first date and I couldn't leave her alone. Although, it was quite a good feeling when you open the door and yell their names and they come running in as if they've missed you terribly (or that it started raining and it was dinner time.)

4.) Last, but not least, what this blog originally started with: wedding planning. I have been working on our guest list and much like teaching applications, it's a very tedious process. They have sheets to tell you who you should or shouldn't invite to your wedding. Who should be put on the A list or the B list. If it were up to me and money was not an object, everyone would be able to come. Then, with us getting married in Tennessee and living in Texas and being from Virginia, there is a lot of travel. If you invite 200 people, how many of them will be willing to travel? If you invite more thinking many will decline, what happens if more people decide to come? Any married or engaged friends have any insight? I'd greatly appreciate it.

Phew. Long blog. Now it's time to get into wedding shape (HA!) by playing Wii Zumba.

Headliners

Last week, I talked about our first softball game. Unfortunately, it got rained out so last night was our first official game. Marshall was pumped. He couldn't sit still at work or eat dinner! I, on the other hand, took the nervous approach. I couldn't stop shaking my leg or playing with my hair.

After two weekends of working on my batting skills, I was afraid it wasn't going to show. I kept in mind everything Marshall told me to do and hoped for the best. We put on our jerseys and headed to the field.

Play ball!

Since we were the home team, we were out in the field first. I was playing right field and on the second or third batter, someone hit a pop fly right to me. Marshall always told me to always keep the ball in front of you and never behind. My lack of depth perception kicked in and as soon as I thought I had it, I realized I was too far up. I did the one thing Marshall told me not to do while in the field. I let the ball go over my head and past me. Immediately, my eyes began watering. I had just lost two runs for our team with my error. At the end of the first half of the inning, Marshall came out to me and told me it was okay. My eyes were still watering but I decided there was nothing I could do about it now so I just carried on.

I had gotten into the swing of things by the second inning on the field but I had yet to bad so my nerves were still high. When I finally went up, I swung at the first pitch and hit the ball to shortstop. He grounded it and threw it to first before I could get to base. Even if it was an out, I was so happy my practicing paid off!

At the end of the games [we play two], I actually scored a run! In both games, I either hit the ball or it wasn't a good pitch. I never had a strike! I played right field and catcher with no [major] problems.

Nerves? What are they? I'm back to my 8-year-old badass self!


......sort of.

This ain't my first rodeo!

Actually, I lied. It is.

And OH MY GOODNESS was it fun! I can now say that I'm officially a Texan because I went to a rodeo. Oh, and I can say "This ain't my first rodeo" and not be lying. It's a win-win situation for me! A friend of mine even let me borrow her cowgirl boots so I definitely looked that part of a native Texan.

Thanks Amie and Mandy!

I was somewhat apprehensive about the rodeo simply because people told me they're really not that great. I guess if you grow up going to them, it's not as fun to go when you're an adult. Marshall gave me some good perspective about it by saying it's like Washington D.C. for me. Growing up, we went to D.C. every year for fields trips and family outings. When we had friends come from out of town that wanted to visit D.C., I usually dragged my feet because I thought it was boring. 

After getting our seats (luckily Marshall knew that you should sit closest to where the actions happens and not directly in the center like I had thought), we waited for the action to happen. They had a little "pre-show" action of something called "Mutton Busters." They had a sheep in the middle attached to a leash. Said sheep was not thrilled about being attached and continuously tossed around and plopped on the ground trying to get out. I was not happy to see that because I thought the sheep was hurting himself. Marshall assured me the sheep was fine. What happened next still makes me giggle. Little children, aged three to five, jumped on the back of these sheep holding on to extra fur while the sheep ran out of the gate frantically to the other sheep. Sometimes, the sheep would just stop once he got to his friends while the child still clung to him.

After that, the real show began. I saw the rodeo clown roll out a barrel towards the middle of the arena. Next thing I know, the clown is standing inside it! Oh yes, I laughed out loud to this. The first bull was let out of the gate and the rider did a great job and lasted his full eight seconds. Apparently, the point of bull riding isn't to see how long you last. You have to last the eight seconds in order to get a score and if you do, they judge you based on your form. Who knew!? The second bull came out with a fury. He knocked his rider off immediately and then came running after the clown in the barrel! The clown ducked down so fast and once he was hit, just rolled around until it was safe! Did I laugh? Oh yes. If I were him I would've peed my pants, though. Here's a video of the third bull who knocked the wind out of his rider after a few seconds.

We saw some barrel racing (the girl sport, apparently), steer tie down, team roping, bareback riding and so forth. Throughout the show, the rodeo clown provided the crowd with comedy acts. He dressed up as a fat rodeo queen and hit on other men, danced and flopped around. He was also dressed up as Nacogdoches Finest, the NPD, sporting a fake buttcrack and all. Oh yes, I was thoroughly entertained. [It doesn't take much, does it?]

I guess I'm officially a rodeo fan. I told Marshall we should just quit our jobs and travel with the rodeo. He didn't seem so keen on that idea...

Aren't we cute?

Beerleague + Softball - Beer = Today

I'm glad I don't get paid to blog. If I did, I'd probably be living in a cardboard box because I slack way too much. Although, if I did get paid, maybe that would be more motivation to write. Does anyone want to pay me? No? That's a shame.

While talking to one of my co-workers, who just so happens to be a blogging enthusiast, she mentioned that my blog shouldn't be focused on one topic [the wedding] if I wanted to continue blogging. Since we haven't done too many things with the wedding planning, it's hard to write on a blog entitled "Wedding Belles." So regardless of my blog being called Wedding Belles, I'm going to start blogging about other things as well. Sound good? Good. And if it doesn't? Well, stop reading.

-----------------------------------

Marshall somehow convinced me to join a beer league softball team with our paper and sister paper. [Minus the beer since we gave up alcohol for Lent so it's just a league] I haven't played softball since I was 8 and played for the LUYAA [Linganore Urbana Youth Athletic Association, represent!] teams. Considering it's a mere 15 years later, I've seem to have lost some of my mad skills. While my throwing arm may have been pretty badass when I was 8, it hasn't improved and is therefore not-so-badass-and-actually-pretty-pathetic. Want me to hit a homerun? HA. I had forgotten how painful the vibrations of the bat can be if you don't hit the sweet spot. Needless to say, the only cheer my teammates will be saying is the "We want a single, just a little single, S-I-N-G-L-E single, single, single!" and will not progress through doubles, triples and the homerun.

[And I just know that if my family is reading this post, which they better be, that they just sang the tune to that cheer and it is now probably stuck in their heads. You're welcome]

Our first game is tonight. Our second game is also tonight. Yup, two games, one night. The first one is at 7:15 and the second at 9:15 with each game being an hour long. Did I mention that the fields are 30 minutes away from our house and that I very much like to sleep and that my bedtime is 10? No bueno!

If our games don't get rained out [looks as if the rain has finally stopped but we're just waiting to see if the fields dry out] please pray that I at least hit the ball and don't strike out. And that I don't get smacked in the face with a ball. And that the ball doesn't really come in my direction so I can't mess up while in the outfield. And that I run fast and don't trip.

Maybe I'll miraculously get my 8-year-old-mad-skills back and be the MVP.

Yeah, I laughed at that too.

BFFMOH to the rescue!

BFFMOH is my internet lingo that I just made up because I'm super cool. Obviously (because it's not hard to figure out) my best friend forever maid of honor is what it stands for. Why is she to the rescue you ask? Because she fancied up this little website of mine! I'm sure you couldn't contain your "oohs" and "aahs" when you first visited this website so please direct said "oohs" and "aahs" towards her because I had nothing to do with it! So, thanks BFFMOHBEEFF for my pretty website design!

Exciting news on the wedding front! We have officially booked our church! We also changed the date of our wedding a bit because of the lovely weekend concert of Bonnaroo. Bonnaroo is an outdoor music festival held every year in June right near Marshall's hometown. It is usually held the second week (12, 13, 14 thereabouts) but this year it was moved up to the first weekend. Because we didn't want any conflicts, we decided to move our wedding to the end of June. So, now our wedding date is June 22, 2013! Hooray!

Back to the church. It's a little Catholic church near Marshall's house. Stone exterior. Purple double doors.  Rolling hills. Perfect. Just see for yourself:

[stolen from a Google search]

Apart from that, I've been slacking. I need to make some phone calls and figure out pricing but... obviously that has not been done yet. I know, I know, I'll get on it. I did get an e-mail saying that my veil has already come in and that I need to come pick it up. Exciting! However, the store is two and a half hours away so I'm going to ask if they can hold it until my dress comes in. Cross your fingers they will allow it!

Marshall and I have been working on getting in INSANE shape (ha, see what I did there?) The first day was tough. The second day was tough simply because I was so sore. But overall, I really like it. As sore as I am the next day, it's a rewarding feeling. My favorite part is the stretching (which just so happens to be Marshall's least favorite part because he's not flexible) I wouldn't care about not being flexible! It feels nice to stretch AND you get a bit of a rest! My sister ended up buying it too so now we can all be in perfect wedding shape! (stop laughing.)

Sooner or later, Marshall and I will be getting our engagement pictures done. Can't wait to get that done and show you what we have in mind!

[Here's a picture of my handsome nephew going all Risky Business on us to cheer you up on this slow-moving Tuesday]

He ain't got no pants!

Picture perfect skinny ... ish

The only new thing to report on the wedding front is that we officially booked our wedding photographer! I'm so excited to have our friend, Donna, be able to come out to Tennessee and shoot our wedding for us. She is such an amazing photographer and we are lucky to have her! Check our her website: Donna Quarles Photography

Amazing, right? Yeah. I'm so excited!

Other than that, nothing new to report. Marshall's parents are calling the church that we want to reserve it for our wedding date. The priest at that church is not who we want as our officiant though, so we would have to find another. (The one there is French and although I love accents, I really want to be able to understand what he's saying!)

Marshall and I are trying to get "wedding skinny" as I like to call it and recently ordered the Insanity workout. We are going to start it next Sunday. I'm probably going to die so if you don't see any posts from me after that, please call the police because my body will be on our living room floor. But seriously, I am excited to try this out but very nervous. It apparently kicks your ass but you've gotta work for what you want! Thankfully we have each other to motivate ourselves.

Speaking of being pretty, I just ordered a bunch of makeup. If you know me, you know that I'm so frugal that I don't buy much makeup. Therefore, I only use the basics--foundations, eyeliner and mascara. Well, I decided to get a little crazy and buy lots of different colored eyeliner and lipstick! I'm going to be a real girl! Now all I need is a brand new wardrobe to go with my new makeup. Marshall? Valentine's Day gift? ;)

Hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day with their honey or with a bottle of Jack! ;)

Field of Dreams

My mom is referring to our wedding as the "Field of Dreams." I have to say that I'm quite impressed with all of her creativity about this! With that being said, we have decided on the theme of our wedding. Drum roll please.... drrrrrrrrrrr (that's the keyboard drum roll sound in case you didn't know) Baseball! (Marshall love his Red Sox and our cat is even named after it.) Now, I'm not going to give anything away simply because you don't want everyone knowing exactly what's going on at the wedding before it happens! There's got to be some sort of surprise! But, after talking with my parents and Marshall last night, I couldn't sleep because I was so excited.

Fenway Park 

Fenway the cat.

I feel as if we got a lot accomplished this weekend while my parents and best friend (maid of honor) were here. Although nothing is set in stone, we have everything laid out so now it's not as much as a cluster as it was before. We now just need to go through and get all the details ironed out.

The best part of the weekend (apart from my best friend flying out to Texas from Oregon and my parents coming in)? We bought my wedding dress!!! Of course I'm not going to add pictures of the dress as I'm sure I have forbidden eyes as a reader of this blog. Therefore the only thing I can say is that it's beautiful and is definitely a "Shannon" dress... whatever that means. I hope you are picturing a dress with a high slit and a very busty top because that's definitely the dress!

Marshall and I have also decided on our invitations (well, the idea for the invitations) and have an idea for our save the dates. We will meet with our photographer next weekend and discuss what pictures we want and hopefully get that scheduled!

Unfortunately, without spilling all the beans, I feel like this is all I can share at the moment.  I've got to make a few phone calls in regards to pricing of certain things so I'm sure that's when the gray hairs will start poppin' up again. Yuck.

But we shouldn't worry about that. I'm just excited to have a grand slam of a wedding.

Yeah. I know you like that play on words.

No news is good news!

It's been a long time since I last posted. Partly because... I haven't done any wedding planning! Man, I'm a slacker. But I figured I'd fill you in on what's been going on in the life of the future Mrs. Stephens (Surprisingly, it's been quite adventurous).

As you all know (well that's pretty presumptuous but whatever,) Marshall and I moved to Nacogdoches, TX in June. We moved into this 900 sqft apartment that we had only seen online since it was kind of hard to make a trip to find an apartment. It wasn't bad but it definitely wasn't great. The layout made it feel small and cramped. The carpets were stained and gross. The walls were a dull gray color and the worst was that there was no good spot for the cat's litter box except the second bathroom which made it completely unusable and stunk up the house.

"Hello, welcome to our humble abode! Why yes, the air freshner that we use is cat shit! Isn't it lovely?"

Anyways, by the time January came around we were just fed up with it. We looked at the option of getting out of our lease (not an easy task considering there's no section for breaking the lease in our lease.) When I called, the manager was not so friendly. Those of you who know me know that I don't do well calling people to begin with but adding in a bitchy manager who doesn't want to accept the fact that I am not a college student but a working adult with a college degree did not do well with me. So, my knight in shining armour (or button up with a tie) went to the apartment office and worked his magic to get us off the lease. *My hero, he's just sooooo dreamy!*

So, the time came to start looking for a house to rent. The very first house we looked at was great. It was in a small, quiet neighborhood and it had somewhere around 1,500 sqft. It had lovely wood paneling on the walls (sarcasm, my friends) but other than that, it was great. Oh, except for the rent. $1,000/mo. Not really feasible here in Texas and trying to have a social life. So, we declined. The landlord then showed us a house in Garrison which is about 20 minutes outside of the city for $675/mo. We saw it and fell in love. We weighed the pros and cons (mostly being outside of the city) and decided to take it. Unfortunately (but fortunately) the landlord and his family ended up having to move into that house. They wanted to give their son the best education and attend the high school there and had to move into that house to prove residency. The landlord felt so bad that he gave us the first house (with the beautiful wood paneling) for the same price as the Garrison house.

[Look at that wood paneling. It's so purty! ;)]

So, in short, we have moved into a house inside city limits for the same price as a house outside city limits! We moved in last weekend and surprisingly enough, I don't mind the wood paneling! All the positives of the house definitely outweigh the wood paneling (and the fact that once there's furniture in the house it's not as bad!) The kitties LOVE being able to run and slide and we LOVE that the litter box is off to the side so our wonderful air freshner is only kept in a small area. We even have a large backyard with a patio. We immediately bought a grill. Because, I mean, that's obviously an important and valuable investment. I'll be sure to add more pictures of the new place when we get the whole house decorated!

Best investment yet!

On a completely irrevelvent note, I think I mentioned before that I was modeling in two Bridal Shows for a local dress shop. I had so much fun! It's always nice to put on a pretty dress (especially an expensive pretty dress!) Let me say that by no means am I a model, nor am I coordinated enough to not trip over my dress (fortunately, that did not happen but the train of one of the dresses did decide to wrap itself around me so in order to get out I had to take a giant step over... so graceful!) Regardless, I had a ton of fun and met some beautiful and sweet young women! The best perk is that I get 20% off my next purchase ("Shut up and buy it Daddy!")

One of the dresses I modeled. I use the word model very lightly.

My parents will be here in two weeks (along with my best friend who is flying out from Portland, Oregon EEEEE!) to go dress shopping. We are also meeting with our photographer where my dad will inevitably ask her how to cover up Cydnea's tattoos (or as he likes to say "how to FIX it!" Oh Daddy, you never cease to entertain...

Hopefully the next post will be a little more timely. But who knows... I don't own a watch.

Ew, that was a Daddy joke.

Happy New Year!

Well, Christmas has come and gone so now the wedding plans can be put into motion!

Marshall and I went to Tennessee for Christmas. We went to the Christmas Eve service at one of the prospective Catholic churches to have the wedding. As soon as we pulled up, I fell in love with it. It had a stone exterior. It was a smaller church, but could hold plenty of people. It was just stunning. We would have to ask another priest to do the wedding though. The one there is French... hard to understand. Luckily, Marshall's family knows some :)

Christmas Day we went out to the field next to Marshall's house and just looked at the land. Perfect for the wedding reception. There's view of mountains from practically any place you stand, there's electricity back there, plenty of land for parking and it's flat. Things are definitely coming together!

{Marshall and I checking out the field}

Mom and Dad are coming to Nacogdoches in late January, early February for wedding stuff (I think I've already mentioned this.) I am so excited for them to come visit and we can start getting down to business!

Just wanted to update you all about what's going on. Nothing too stressful since not much has really happened. Hopefully there's some more stress with the next post because stress makes me a funny Shannon (or so I like to think)

Oh... I'm learning how to knit (yes I've aged tremendously) Maybe I can knit some bridal accessories? Or bows for the kitties?? Marshall would kill me.