It's a small world

You know when things happen that are just a little too creepy? Like it's just too big of a coincidence? Yea, that happened to me today.

I was going through my Google Reader and saw that my photographer had posted on her blog. The post was on a wedding she had just photographed. And the bride was wearing my wedding dress! Seeee?!?!?! Freaky coincidence!

P.S. I'm not going to post the link on the off chance that D is actually reading my blog. I'm 99.9% certain he isn't - air traffic control stuff has taken over his brain. But if you're good at snooping around, you can probably figure out who my photographer is and google the name and....

We ordered our STDs!

This weekend I've been taking it easy. The past couple weeks and weekends have been non-stop and I just needed downtime. Yesterday I hit the beach with my friends - it was long overdue. The weather was absolutely gorgeous; not a single cloud in the sky. And I even managed to get a little tan!

Afterwards, instead of resting, I decided to conquer some wedding things. I had found a cute save the date (aka STD) and sent it to D. He really liked it, so I placed the order to create our own. Here's the sample...

They're scratch off save the dates! We're going to change the colors to reflect our color scheme and switch the layout a little bit. Our wedding date will be the part that is scratched off and then the top right part will be our names and location. I can't wait to see the proof!

And when we send the save the dates, we'll obviously need stamps. I refuse to use the bell stamp for anything wedding-related so here are a couple cute options.

My favorite is the mac and cheese one. I love it!! But as D pointed it out, it's not very wedding-y so we're going with the pic of us. Since our actual save the dates won't have our picture, it would be a cute idea to get a photo stamp.

And just a side note but I love the internet and customization. It amazes me the things you can do these days. I love 2010!

Off my butt

I just came back from 40 minutes of walking and running. It was more walking than running but nonetheless, it was something. Why my sudden urge to exercise? I'm tired. Of just sitting. All day at work I'm sitting in front of a computer (don't get me wrong, I actually really like what I do). And then I come home and whip out of my laptop and spend 2 or 3 hours paying bills or going through my Google Reader. I wish I lived somewhere outdoorsy instead of South Florida. I'd love to just hike through mountain trails instead of speed-walking through congested streets. A girl can dream.

But now I have to wake up. I've got 5 minutes until LOST and I can't miss that hottie, Richard Alpert's story. Good night!

Suit up

I had dinner with my in-laws today. Without D. It's not weird, my in-laws entertain me. Anyways. During dinner, we were, of course, talking wedding stuff. The topic of D's attire came up and I, of course, voiced my opinion. And they were, of course, a little hesitant. But that's because I'm special and I can't really explain what's going on in my head...most of the times. So I whipped out my trusty iPhone and googled "j crew mens suit." Enter, my vision. This is my #1 pick for D.

And if he wants a black suit, we could compromise with a modern gray suit.
Then they got it. I sent the pics to D and surprisingly he liked the tan option. That was totally a shocker. But he wants to see them in person and ya know, try them on. So that'll be sometime in June, when my redneck finally comes back home.

One more thing. My father-in-law actually asked me why Dustin wouldn't wear a tux with that penguin tail thingy. I. died. laughing. The end.

Dresses galore

I bought a dress today.

Actually I bought 3 dresses today.

One of which was a wedding dress. :)

It'll be ready June 11th. June 11th is my brother's 30th birthday, D's 3-year anniversary for his titanium hip, 3 years and 1 day for my car, and I'll (hopefully) not be here. D's last day in Oklahoma is June 9th and I'm hoping that on June 11th, I'll be riding in his truck making the drive back HOME. Home sweet home. I miss that white boy.

And my dress will just have to miss me a couple more days.

One more thing on shoes...

Seriously...how cool are these shoes?

Source

I'm not a fan of the patent but still.

W-Day Shoes

I was talking to my mom about random stuff and I just casually mentioned that I won't be wearing white shoes with my wedding gown. I really didn't think it would be a big deal. Frankly, if my family hasn't accepted the fact that I'm not a traditional bride, I don't know what's going on with them.

But yet, my mom, flipped a shit. Over the past few months, I've been reading wedding blogs and I've seen countless brides who have gone the non-white shoe route. It. Looks. ADORABLE. Please sit back and enjoy the following shoe porn.

See? Adorable!

Yo!

I'm back...finally. Long story short, Italy was good. Really cold but good. I'll give you one classic Italian pic...And there you go.

I want to get back into blogging. Work has been crazy, good, just crazy lots and I haven't had much free time. But I'm determined to get back into it.

Wedding-wise, right before I left for Italy, I finally booked my venue. It was really starting to get to me - I was stressing way too much over it. I was leaning towards Fisher Island but D and I both felt it was going to be too much over our budget and we're shooting for a house in the near future. And while we were contemplating it more, it was booked by someone else, which, frankly, I'm fine with. It just wasn't meant to be.

So I went with Red Fish Grill which is where D's mom got married five years ago. It's a restaurant in a old coral building in the middle of Matheson Hammocks Park. And it's right on the water, beautiful, and best of all, really affordable.

This is the restaurant at night. It's only open at night which is perfect for us because we're having a day wedding. Speaking of day weddings, the few times I've told strangers I'm having a day wedding on a Sunday, they always give me a weird look and ask me why. Frankly, I'm tired of explaining myself, but here are my main excuses...A. What's the point of having a wedding on the water if you can't enjoy the view because it's night time? B. $$$$ It's less expensive and C. I'm so not a night person. I don't need to be falling asleep.

So as of now, I have the photographer and venue booked. My mom just told me she really wants a videographer so I'm looking into that now. I found a great one online and some awesome packages. They even offer the packages in HD - which I'm hesitant to mention to D. He's a boy and we all know boys like to get all tech-y and go with the better things in life.

Us girls don't really care about HD.

Next up will be the wedding dress. I've decided to screw everyone's hatred towards my dress and just order it. So I made an appointment for this Saturday morning, right before the Florida Derby. The Derby? Yup, I'm going to the Derby! With my big hat and all. :)

The end!

Homemade sushi!

I'm forcing myself to write at least one post before I take off for Italy today. Sorry, I've been slacking lately.

This past Friday I hung out with my cousin and his girlfriend. She wanted to make sushi so that's what we spent the better part of the night doing. I like sushi. Well, actually, I like California rolls. I'm still a newbie when it comes to sushi - the thought of raw fish creeps me out.

Moving on. It was actually really, really easy to make. Sometime in the future, in my imaginary house, I'd love to have to a sushi party. I think people would get a kick out of it.

You basically start with either seaweed or some soy wrap that I tried. You rub some cooking oil on your hands so when you're spreading the rice, it's not sticking to you. Make sure when you're spreading the rice, you're thinking FEE, FA, FO because I look like I'm pounding down that rice in the below picture.

After you lay down a thin layer of rice, you start adding whatever you want. In my case, I had a veggie roll, so we laid down avocado, carrots, and cream cheese. We didn't have any fake crab - only raw tuna and raw salmon (not for me).Then you roll it. I'm not sure if we mastered the rolling process but it worked.
And then you cut the roll into little mini rolls. I'm not going to lie, my veggie one was pretty damn good.

My jam-packed weekend

Today I actually have time to stop and breathe. In jury duty. But whatever. I have my Mac to keep me company so I get to work on stuff that I've neglected...aka my blog.

Let's start with a recap of my weekend. I visited D in Oklahoma! I know it's only been a month, but it has been the longest month ever. We basically just hung out, watched movies, and visited some classic OKC sites.

Saturday night, we headed over to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. I know, not the most romantic place but it was actually really cool to see. I don't remember the OKC bombing but I've definitely heard about it. I think they did a really beautiful job with the memorial site. The bombing occurred at 9:02am on April 19, 1995. The site is surrounded at both ends by two large free-standing walls. One wall says 9:01am and the other wall says 9:03am. In between is the reflecting pool which is absolutely beautiful at sunset.

The stunning reflecting pool at sunset...

And the chairs. Basically each one of these chairs represent the victims of the bombing. The large ones represent adults and the small ones represent the children. Each one is cast individually so no two are alike. The chairs are laid out in order of which floor they were on. I know, depressing, but I think it's an simple yet respectful way to honor those people.

After we toured the memorial site, we headed over to Bricktown which is Miami's version of Coconut Grove and Sunset Place combined. But better. We hit up Outdoor World because I strangely love that place and then we ate at Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill. I had the Sweet Chili Meatloaf with Mashies....it was heaven.

And that was my weekend. Add 4 flights and a total of 12 hours of flight time and connecting time...I'm pooped. And I somehow managed to come back with a cold. I leave to Italy in 7 days. Go away cold, you're not wanted.