Stella&Dot: A New Beginning

Yesterday I decided to take a plunge into an unknown world, the world of independent sales. My good friend and future bridesmaid currently works for this fast growing, successful business. Her great sense of style and eye catching jewelry left a mark on me. I loved the look and I was curious about her career as a Stella & Dot Stylist. She was very informative and explained the inner workings of this successful, stay at home, do as you please career. Work as hard or a little as you please, it is up to you how much you make! I was instantly hooked and decided to sign up to become a Stella & Dot Stylist as well. So far it has been a wonderful opportunity. I will see how long it will last and if I can make it as a S&D Stylist. I hope I will be as successful as my wonderful sponsor and mentor! She has been so wonderful helping me out and I cannot wait to see where this new adventure will take me next!

Lucky Me

After spending a nice weekend in South Carolina to visit my family I was lucky enough to have my sister come up and stay with me for the weekend. I am so happy to have her here with me and to bond with her. I have missed having her in my life so it has been really nice being able to spend so much time with her lately. It is going to be tough to say goodbye when she leaves because I will not see her until Thanksgiving, but it was perfect.

Also on my arriving home from South Carolina, my sweet fiance surprised me with a wonderful birthday gift. I was not feeling well, so he was comforting me. He asked if we could go somewhere real quick before we went back to the house. Confused, I agreed without hesitation. He drove across the Severn towards the Naval Station. I asked where we were going and he replied with, "I need to pick something up from the NEX real quick before we head home." When parking the car I asked what we were here to get and he smirked at me with the reply, "Your birthday present." Excited, and anxious to see what he was getting me, I kind of skipped into the building. I walked towards the Vera Bradley section thinking he was going to buy me a bag and he laughed at me. At this point I was really confused. He said  he was getting off really easy if that is what I really wanted he would get it for me. So I said no, and kept following him. My excitement was growing by the minute. We walked past the shoes, which was my second thought of what I would get. He walked right past that and continued on. By this time I was really confused. I was wondering what was going on. He walked towards the electronics, and on the inside I was screaming! I was for sure thinking I was getting an iPad. Squealing with delight I ran to the counter, but Adam walked past the counter walking to another isle. I followed him when he stopped in front of the Macs. I was so confused. He told me to pick one while explaining the specs for both. I could not breathe and I was literally freaking out. I could not believe my baby was buying me a MacBook for my birthday! Such a wonderful, loving fiance. I am such a lucky, lucky girl! :)

Can I See Your ID?

21 at last. I have been waiting such a long time for this age. Today is such a milestone in my life. I am finally able to go out with my friends to bars! And drink legally! So exciting! I visited my first liquor store today called Total Wine and More! A cute wine and liquor store. It was like the Walmart of wine stores. They had everything that you could possibly imagine. Isles for chardonnay, red, white, dessert, pink, everything. They even had isles for beer! And a separate part of the store for liquor. It was so cute and I was so happy when I bought my first bottle of wine! Such a memorable moment!

The end of my vacation is near. Tomorrow I board the plane to return to Annapolis. I am sad to leave my family, but glad to get back to Adam and my puppy. The good news is my sister, Adam's mom, and grandmother will be up to visit on Friday. So I do not have to wait that long before I see my family. I am excited to go out in Annapolis with friends and family this coming weekend!

Over It

I am not ready for fall, but I am ready to move to Charleston. After a short, but sweet visit from my dad and two youngest brothers it made me miss home. And I feel like I am missing so much of their lives by not being close to home. It breaks my heart not being able to watch my brothers grow up. And it hurts to hear them say that they miss me and wish I could be there cheering them on. Only one more year until we move to Charleston... If not sooner. I cannot wait.

My two weeks was put in at Buffalo Wild Wings, while it was fun at first, I lost respect for management and half the staff that are employed there. It is time to move on with my life and to focus on school and wedding planning.

Speaking of wedding planning, I never knew how much went into planning a wedding. I haven't even booked a venue yet, let alone set a date! I have been compliling a notebook of pictures and articles for ideas for my dress, bridesmaid dresses, ceremony, reception, honeymoon, and much more. I look forward to receiving my bridal magazines each month so I can tear out new pictures and add them to my idea log. I also bought a bunch of colored pencils to sketch out any ideas that come to my head. If I had more time I would be devoting myself to wedding planning. And soon I will. I need to make a decision on how many bridesmaids I will have and how I will ask them! Keep checking back because I will soon be creating a wedding blog on my planning progress as well as any of my DIY projects. I am very excited for this next chapter of my life.

I am still shocked and cannot believe that Adam will be graduating this year. And I thank God everyday that I already know that he is going Subs. I cannot imagine not knowing the fate of my fiance and I until last minute. I guess I will experience some of that once Adam graduates from Nuke school and Prototype. I am hoping we get somewhere tropic, but great thing about the NAVY is... You are always on water. And anyone who knows me, knows that I love my ocean and bodies of water.

As for me I am jealous of all my friends who will be graduating next year (2013). I wish I could be graduating along side of them, but I gave up certain things to follow love. And look where it landed me. Not bad at all. I am happy, but part of me regrets leaving a well established nursing program to chase after love. But love is sacrifice, and sacrifice is love. And I have love.

I also cannot believe that Adam and I have been dating for four and a half  years. We have grown so much since those first few dates in high school. We have both matured and together grown. I am so glad I met him that day in English class. So much has happened in our lives and I am thankful for every thing that has happened along the way. It has truly shaped and guided us, as well as prepared us for a life and future together.

Sayoonara!

Changing of the Seasons

Temperatures a cooling down, and the leaves are beginning to change colors and fall towards the ground and slumber until winter. But my heart is not yet ready for the changing of the seasons. I am stuck in summer and quite in love with the warm weather, bright colors on clothes, and floral, summery scents. I do not want to give up my shorts, tank tops, and sundresses. And I cringe on the inside when I think about having to put away my rainbows until next spring. With the change of the seasons, my heart begins to sink to think about the "Dark Ages" in Annapolis. The lonely, dreary, dark months of winter. Where it will be cold and windy, and often snow almost daily. Just thinking about winter makes me depressed. The only thing I am looking forward to is wearing my Uggs, NorthFaces, hoodies, and sweats. Oh and my 21st birthday which is only a month and 1 day away.

This weekend is the first weekend I have off in a long time. I am excited to do nothing but plan my wedding and hang out with my fiance. I bought a sketch pad and colored pencils to design and sketch out details of my wedding. I am excited to embark upon this adventure and to create the picture, perfect wedding. A wedding that I will remember and look back on for the rest of my life.

The first dilemma I come to is the date. Adam and I cannot begin to set a date that will please us, our families, and allow the most of our family to join us in celebration. I am really set on keeping our original anniversary dating date. But in order to do that, I would have to wait another entire year before tying the knot with my high school sweetheart. The second dilemma is the weekend versus weekday argument. I want to do the wedding on a weekday in order to save money. Our families prefer weekend in order to make it to the wedding without taking much time off from work and so they can continue to party after the wedding. Dilemma? Quite. Solutions? None so far. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I also have my heart set on a certain venue for our ceremony and reception to go along with my theme. The only problem is the rehearsal dinner is required to be on a weeknight and there is a time limit constraint. The weeknight rehearsal dinner becomes an issue with the wedding party that is traveling from out of town to make it to the wedding. They might need to come early and pay for a hotel room longer than normal. There is a time limit constraint because the venue is at an aquarium. The aquarium does not close until 5:00pm and we have to be out by 11:00pm. Which only allows time for a 4 hour event. In my eyes, that is plenty of time for a ceremony and reception. My family does not party and would mostly be socializing. Adam's side of the family, however, loves to party. All. Night. Long. Which I can see it being an issue that I do not have the extra hours into the night for the partiers. Oh well. It is MY wedding! :)

I guess I have a lot to figure out since I am planning it all on my own! Tah-tah!

DYI Wedding Ideas

A few DIY Wedding Ideas:

Most of my family is spread out across the United States, It was really hard to

tell all of them at one time about our engagement. I bought a set of cards with envelopes

at our local Michael's and created an engagement annoucement.

I bought packs of stickers to go along with our nautical/under water theme. I also used

a caligraphy pen to write out our annoucement. Adam's mom took the picture.

I printed out a bunch of pictures and put everything together. Very simple and only cost me about $12 to put it all together.

A glimpse of my wedding notebook. I have complied a notebook of cut outs, articles, and ideas of what I like and want to include in my wedding. I bought a few planners to keep things organized and to write out my thoughts and ideas during the process of planning.

A Bride's Dream Come True

The number one question to newly engaged couples, or women, is "have you started planning yet?" My answer... Yes and no. Yes because I have so many ideas of what I want and how I want to do things. No because nothing has been set in stone yet. Why? I didn't want to start planning and get my heart set on something that was not affordable to my family, or to me and Adam. Last night my parents finally came up with a budget of what they could afford to give me my dream wedding. That number was not what I was expecting and brought me to tears when they told me they could contribute $10,000 to my wedding. To make my day special. I thought I would have to have a small and simple wedding because I was going to be paying for most of it, but it is so wonderful to know that I have that much to create the most perfect day ever!

This past week I started a new job working at the United States Naval Academy Midshipmen Store. I love it. So far, I have my weekends off and I have federal holidays off. The same schedule as my fiance makes it so much easier. On Tuesday night I fractured my wrist working at Buffalo Wild Wings. It has been rought especially because they won't let me off work. It is really hard to serve with a brace on. We will see how it works out so far.

I am off to start planning my wedding! Tah-tah!