Wedding Dress Evolution

First of all, I'm sorry I haven't been posting much lately. Time has gotten away from me and I had to run home for a few days to take care of some things but now I'm back to boring hum-ho Alabama until May (hopefully!)

I think I should really just quit appologizing.

Today I want to show you the evolution of my wedding dress. It changed ALOT from the time I tried it on to the time I actually wore it at the wedding.

First, here is a picture of me the day I tried it on. As you can tell I was not really feeling it, I had found the dress online and thought it was great so I tried it on. But that bow really bugged me and the color was just not right. I knew it had great potential though. So I ordered it.



Next,here it is the day I picked it up in July. Once again not really feeling it but it could have been that 1. the bow was still there and 2. it fit horribly! That's me with my bridesmaid Aim (right dress wrong color). I do like the color I knew I wanted white from the very beginning. So we are on our way!



Getting closer...

I dont have a picture of it after I had it altered (it disappeared somewhere) but I had it actually fitted, bra cups put in, and the bow is gone WOOT!

And finally the last stage...

Even after having it altered and fitted I just couldnt keep the dress up comfortably so I had seen that you could have sleeves put on your dress at Davids and they were relatively inexpensive so I picked out some and my mom sewed them in.

So here is me in the dress the day of the wedding quite a difference dont ya think!?


Me with my bridesmaids

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J & I (this is a better view of the sleeves)

So there you have it ladies & gents the evolution of my wedding dress!

Did your dress take a drastic change before your wedding? Did you have more than one dress or anything that you didn't like that you changed? I'd love to hear about it!

Day #4 Household Goals

Welcome to the last day of goals week! Hopefully each of you has taken something away from this and maybe even set a goal for yourself! Or maybe even felt more motivated to achieve your previously set goals. I know it's hard to stay motivated all the time but as my husband says "you have to keep your eye on the prize." You can do this in many ways you can put a picture of something you are saving up to buy somewhere where you see it every day, or put a little reminder all over the house of what you are really working toward. Also, always try to encourage yourself and tell the ones you love to encourage you also, because if you know that those around you are wanting you to achieve your goal also you will be more likely to in the end!

So here are my household goals for 2009!

Keep in mind that I am a new wife that comes with a whole new list of wonderful things to achieve!

1. Learn to cook properly: I'm tired of cooking things from a box I want to be able to cook from scratch the way my grandmother does. Now there is nothing wrong with a meal from a box every once in awhile but it is certainly not healthy to have it often. So learning to cook from scratch will help me provide better more healthier meals for my husband and I.

2. Join FLYlady and stick to it: there are so many wonderful things about this program, she is like your own little motivator in your email inbox! Everytime you open it she is there cheering you on and encouraging you to get things done! How great is that?! She's not all about house cleaning anymore she now covers exercise and budgeting also.

3. Decorate my home simply and fugally: as I said in my post below that we are currently saving for a new house sometime in 2011. So I don't need to go out and buy a whole bunch of things that I think look good in our townhome right now, when they might not work for our new home. I tend to decorate in a neutral color pallate so hopefully anything that I do acquire can be carried over into the new house.

4. Create a budget: I think this should have gone on yesterday's post but owell, when we return home J will be deploying almost immediately so we are allotted a certain amount of money each month for certain things like living allowance for housing and subsistance (food)so since it will most likely only be me living in the house I'll only have to feed myself which shouldnt cost an arm and a leg (hopefully)so since we are saving to buy (or build) a new house I don't need to go and spend a lot of money on clothes or household stuff and crash our savings right into the ground like i've seen some women do when their husbands deploy (this is not the way to go ladies) I believe deployments are a great time to save save save! Not only for us National Guard families but for active duty families too! You see NG doesn't make a lot of money all the time, only when they are on active duty do they make a good amount. So we need to save our pennies to use for those times when the money isn't so good. But during deployments NG soldiers are making the same amount as their active duty counterparts. With active duty soldiers they are making a bit more than usual because of family seperation pay and hazardous duty pay. So save it don't blow it!

5. Keep a clean house that is always ready for company: much like I want to keep myself always ready for company or ready to go I want to keep my house in the same situation! No more rushing around to pick up all the crap laying around so my friends can come over for lunch or being embarassed when a friend stops by unexpectedly and there is a huge mess in the kitchen/living room.

Hope everyone has a good and prosperous New Year!

Day $3 Financial Goals

Welcome to day 3 of goals week! Today we're going to talk about financial goals (btw I apologize for mixing up my days this should have been yesterday's post but owell!)

I have 3 goals!

1. Start saving to pay off my school loans: I am about $8,000 in dept for school which I know isn't a lot compared to some folks but it's a good chunk of change. My plan is to save enough to pay it off in one lump sum when it comes due a year after I graduate. I want to pay for it with my own money because I don't believe it's fair to ask my husband to pay it off for me.



2. Save to buy one of these bad boys! Yup I've been drooling over this camera for years now, and now that I am taking a photography course and I'll actually know how to use a camera the correct way by the end of it, I want a nice camera. I don't want it for professional reasons, I want it just for personal reasons. Just because I love to take nice pictures.

3. Make better financial decisions in a rough economy! Next time I go grocery shopping or clothes shopping or any kind of shopping for that matter I plan to ask myself a few questions: 1. Do I REALLY need that new shirt or magazine, 2. Could I do without it? 3. Would I actually use or wear what I'm purchasing enough to makeup for the price?

I have these goals because in middle to late 2011 we plan on buying (or building) a new house so we need to save our $$$ for the mortgage, fixing up the town house so we can rent it out, and new furniture and decor!

What are your financial goals for 2009?

Say it isn't so!

Word is my beloved Old Navy may be closing doors sometime this year!

Article here: trust me it gets worse

Day #2 Educational Goals

Well today this is going to be short and simple because I have 2 goals as far as my education goes this year.

1. Get a 4.0 GPA for the spring semester.

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2. Get accepted into the radiography program and kick it's ass (meaning get all A's)

See easy peasy lemon squeezy.

How about you do you have any educational or work related goals?

Day # 1: Health & Beauty

Welcome to day one of goals week here at He + Me = We, today we're going to take a look at my goals as far as my health and outward appearance go.

1. Exercise more and get into a routine for exercising: this is because I am basically a couch potato right now, the most I do all day is clean and go to the grocery store. Most of my day is spent on a comfy couch or in a chair doing school work. And even though I may be a mere 90 pounds (I'm 5'1") I have began to see the changes in my body from when I was in high school and I really don't like it so in order to fix that I'm going to start exercising more (hopefully with a friend) and now that I have access to a free gym on post I wont be able to have the excuse of "it costs too much money".

2. Always look presentable no matter what you are doing that day: this comes from my friend Christena, no matter what at the drop of a hat she is ready to go anywhere and even when I just drop by her house she looks great even if she's been sitting around the house all day her hair is done she is wearing nicer clothes (not her pajamas) and she has shoes on and her makeup is done so she's ready to go no matter when or ready for company. I need to be like that, she says it makes you feel better about yourself when you know you look better and you aren't embarrassed when the post man shows up to the door unexpectedly with a package.

3. Floss every day: this needs no explanation it just needs to be done more often

4. Drink more water: once again I don't think this needs any explanation

5. Eat healthier well balanced meals: Lets face it I don't eat the best foods and to me the best foods are fried and greasy. I know subconsciously that it is bad for me but consciously I'm saying "oh it tastes so good" I need to eat more fruits, and veggies. I'm hoping to learn more about healthy eating by taking a nutrition class this semester.

6. Don't buy one more fashionable item of clothing before I develop a "basic wardrobe": OK I know you have all seen Tim Gunn's show on Bravo (even I who doesn't have TV has seen it before)well he has a list and just about every other fashion "pro" out there has their opinion of what every girl should have in their closet, 90% should be basics and only 10% should be fashionable. So I'm going to go through my clothes and get rid (donate) the old things and start adding new things and this will hopefully give me the gumption to get up every morning and put on some real clothes because I will actually love my clothes and the way my clothes look on me!

Well that's it for day one! What are some of your health and beauty goals for 2009 I'd love to hear them!

Goals Week 2009

Welcome everyone to the first annual goals week here on He + Me = We! The purpose of this week is going to be me discussing my personal goals for each facet of my life. Since getting married I have taken on a couple of new facets, not only as a wife but as a homemaker.

So as to not bore you with a REALLY long post about all my many goals for myself this year I am going to separate them into categories for each day.

Now, I don’t like to refer to my goals as “new years resolutions” because to me it seems resolutions are made to be broken. I really do want to keep these goals and achieve them! So that is exactly what I am going to do ACHIEVE them!

Without further ado here is a list of what you will see for the next 4 days here on He + Me = We

Day 1 (Tuesday): Health & Beauty
Day 2 (Wednesday): Financial
Day 3 (Thursday): Educational
Day 4 (Friday): Household

I hope you join me for the rest of the week & I encourage each and every one of you to share your goals with me, I love to hear from my readers!

“See” you all here tomorrow!

Monday

Monday will resume normal posting!

I'm working on some good posts and cannot wait to show off some of our professional pictures from our wedding (as soon as we get them!)

But I will be posting about all sorts of things come Monday! I start back to school for the semester Monday as well, but I have lots to talk about and plan on doing some designated post for our wedding and honeymoon so everyone can see all the fun!

I also plan to tell you my new years resolutions (albeit late, but better late than never don't ya think?) and my get organized 2009 plan!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

I'm Back & We're Married!

Hi everyone sorry it has been so long but I just now had some free time to write since getting back home to finish up wedding plans have the wedding and go on our honeymoon, the holidays, and move back down to Alabama for a few more months, then getting "enlisted" (haha) into the Army (which I finally got done today!) I hope everyone will come back! I promise I have TONS of good stuff coming!

But just to hold you over until I can get started on all that good stuff I promised here are a few pictures.

Favorite picture from our wedding so far (from our lovely friend Kathryn)



On our honeymoon (in Cozumel)



And me w/my new military ID (or what I like to call "the freedom card")