Put a ring on it

While Jake was home, we went up to Shane Co. and picked out our rings. He spent less on mine than he expected, and I spent more on his than I expected, but that's alright with me, I told him to pick his favorite!

I went in knowing exactly what I wanted. I wanted it to match the band of my engagement ring. He went in knowing he wanted either Titanium or Tungsten. He picked the 6mm Titanium with a gold stripe in the middle. He calls it his "racing stripe!" What a goof!

Here they are:

Meet Ruby

Our beautiful new car!

Jake really wanted to get a new Dodge Challenger, and I really like the new Chevy Malibu, so we made a compromise. We decided to get an 09 Pontiac G8 GT.

Our car is a V-8 with 361 horsepower that goes 0-60 in 5.3 seconds. That makes Jake happy. It is also a roomy sedan that will not have to be traded in when we decide to have kids. And it's a beautiful dark metallic red! Which makes ME happy! And....we knocked 10,000 off the sticker price!

Look at this beauty!

Gone again :(

Jake is back in Italy. :( He was here for two weeks, but I feel like we were rushing everywhere trying to get as much done for the wedding as possible. We didn't really get time to just chill.

We did get a lot done though. Traveled to meet my extended family, had dinner with his family, gathered up childhood pictures for the clothesline gallery, engagement photo shoot (more on that later), met with the minister, had multiple dinners with friends, bought a car (more on that later also), played golf (he won), picked out the groomsmen's suits(more on that later also), bought the rings(more on that later also!), and finalized a lot of little details for the ceremony.

And now he's gone. The goodbye at the airport was tough, but not as bad as usual. This time, I was able to say, only three months! Three months seems like nothing when our goodbyes are usually for a year or more!

I think once I get to the end of the school year, the last month and a half before the wedding should fly by! This week will be a short week for Easter, then after Easter we will start MAP testing, then after MAP testing there will only be 19 days left of school! I know I will miss teaching and coaching at Bismarck, but with such an exciting summer coming up, I can't wait for school to be out!!

Well, with Jake being gone, I finally have time to post all the updates, so here goes...

Did you wear green today?

I wore my green today! No pinching here!

I finished up my pocketfolds tonight! 95 pocketfolds cut, scored, folded, and taped.


Now I can concentrate on finalizing my invite design and inserts.

On a side note, Walmart is selling big beautiful sunflowers, so of course I had to pick up a couple of bunches. Don't they look just great?

3 days until Jake is home, and 108 days until the wedding!

3 months and .... days!

A few days ago, we hit the 4 month mark. Which means I'm now in the "3 month territory." I can say, "three months and .... days!" Jake is coming for a visit later this month, and when he leaves, we will be in the "two month territory." It sounds so close when I say it that way!

I got the quote back from the caterer and it was AMAZING! Seriously! $300 total for enough food for 200 people and $100 for labor! It will be a buffet and doesn't include the meat, since Grandpa Jack is taking care of the fried fish, but doesn't that sound so incredibly cheap! Click here to see at all that it includes!

The warm weather today put me in a spring cleaning mood. I semi cleaned the kitchen, and DEEP cleaned the bathroom and the laundry room. I hadn't cleaned that laundry room since I moved in, a year and a half ago. It stayed surprisingly clean! I also washed my sheets and duvet cover, so now I can't wait to get in bed. I love that fresh bed smell!

I remember last summer, I helped a friend move, and I gave her such a hard time about how much junk she had accumulated. Well, in preparation for the move I will be making this summer, I've been going through my things trying to purge the things I won't want to keep. I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW MUCH JUNK I HAVE! Where did all of this STUFF come from? I feel bad giving my friend such a hard time about her junk! I've already sold $160 worth of books on half.com and have three big boxes of stuff to donate. I'm going through my clothes tonight, and hoping to donate at least 25% of it!

Well, I'm off to the closet! Wish me luck!

By the way, 118 days!

Checks on the to-do list!

I feel like I haven't done much for the wedding lately, so I was scared to look over my January-February to-do list today. But, to my pleasant surprise I actually did everything I needed to! I booked a photographer and a cake baker and I got a quote from the rental guy. And my mom is working on getting a quote from the caterer and locating fish fryers. And I got all of the cutting and scoring done for the pocketfolds!

My March-April to-do list is to tape the pocketfolds, print all of the inserts for the invitations and lots of things that I can't actually do until Jake is home for his little visit, like ordering rings, meeting with our minister, and the engagement photo shoot! He's only going to be home for 14 days, and of those 14 days, I will be working 10, 2 we will be on the other side of Missouri visiting my grandparents, and one of the other days we will be in Union, meeting with the minister, and doing e-pics. And I guess we will be using that one free day to go to the jeweler. Poor Jake, it won't be much of a vacation! I really tried to get him to come over Easter so I would at least have a few days off work, but boys just don't listen! Silly Jake!

124 days until the wedding, and 19 days until Jake is home!

Priceless Commercial Challenge

This is completely not wedding related, but I'm so proud of it, I have to show it off!

We are doing a "Priceless" themed commercial challenge at church. The challenge is to make a 30 second commercial based on the idea of the Mastercard "Priceless" commercials. The winning video will be shown during the service next weekend.

I came up with a cute idea and stayed after school today to work on it. I think it turned out great! I actually don't even care if it wins. I had so much fun making it and can't wait to show my family! Check it out!