Updates...finally!

Ok so the last 6 months where have I been??? I'll give a quick run-down, post some pics, and then try to give some updates on a more timely manner going forward:

1. October: My birthday, wedding planning and the Kimmet and Clouse Bridal Showers, both were a great time!

Unity Candle made my Tim's Aunt and Grandma

Mom and me after the Kimmet shower

Tea Party

Getting ready before the party!

Cleveland Indians and High Winds

So yesterday Tim and I traveled up to Cleveland to see the Indians play. It was a really nice day out, albeit a little hot but we had a good time. Our seats were great and they got better as the game progressed to the point where at the end of the game we were sitting directly behind the visitors’ dugout in the front row. Alas, the Indians did not fare well and the ending score was 3 to 13. Oh well, it was still a fun outing for the day.

As we were leaving the game a storm started rolling in and while there was no rain, it was VERY windy on the way home. Winds averaged 40 to 50 mph with gusts up to 75! It was a little bit of a challenge to keep the car within the dotted lines, but we succeeded. We stopped at one point to eat at Applebee’s, however before we got our food the electricity went out, so we had to leave early without having much to eat!

When we got home, it was definitely a sight to see. As we go close we noticed all traffic lights in the area were out and billboards and signs were all blown over and damaged. As we entered our neighborhood there were trees down and branches everywhere! We were happy to see that our home had been spared but the yard was a mess! I have included a few pictures to show several large trees and houses close by that did not fare so well. We currently don’t have electricity along with about 350,000 other people in Central Ohio. So hopefully it doesn’t take all week like they have predicted to come back on. Until then we will live by candlelight J (Tim does have the generator running to keep our refrigerator and freezer running and keep a lamp on in the house!)

Wedding Gift Registries

Hey, anyone that really wants to know, Tim and I have finally registered for the wedding. It was fun but not without a few mishaps along the way. Just one story about it. When we went to register for Kohl’s we spent about 2 hours there and when we finally went to upload everything we had scanned, nothing uploaded. Soooo, we had left, very frustrated with only 5 things on the registries. I eventually went online and signed up for a few things and spent another hour or so in the store, but that first time was a huge waste of time! I have included links to each of the registries below. Please let anyone know that asks. Thanks!

Bed Bath & Beyond
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/regGiftRegistry.asp?order_num=-1&wrn=%2D1488717903&

Crate & Barrel
http://www.crateandbarrel.com/Gift-Registry/Guest/ViewRegistry.aspx?grid=4227959

Kohl’s
http://www.kohls.com/upgrade/gift_registry/kohlsgrw_registry_view.jsp?ATR_KOHLSGR_JSP_EVENT_TYPE=0&giftRegistryID=1096533&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374752622846&bmForm=grw_search_registry&bmFormID=1221081360901&bmSubmit=OPEN&bmUID=1221081360901&bmHash=b1a1069a2b41fd8c2bef6e34558c3902ca1790b7

Wal-Mart
http://www.walmart.com/giftregistry/gr_detail.do?registryId=20982568001

Engagement Photos & Wine :)

Just wanted to let you all know that Tim and I got our engagement photos taken on Sunday. A classmate of ours, Laurie Bouillon, has started her own photography company and we decided to support her business and get our photos out of the way! So we went to the Tiffin Developmental Center and took a bunch of pictures outside. It turned out to be a pretty successful day and Laurie posted them on her website. Anyone that wants to check them out can go to http://www.lbportrait.com/ and click on "Galleries". From there you will see a link to Tim and Danielle where you will be able to view our photos. We haven't ordered any yet, so if anyone is interested in having any or has a favorite let me know!

Also quick note, I went to the annual Kimmet reunion this past weekend. Every year at the reunnion we have an auction of sorts where items are donated and then we bid against each other. There is a lot of fun competition and it helps to raise funds for the family. I decided to bid on a great item this year and after enduring a long bidding war with Kathy Spero, I finally won my prize. See picture below :)

Over the Last Month...

Ok, so over the last month a lot has happened (as usual) so I’ll just briefly go over what Tim and I have been up to.

Girls’ Day Out (Flower Girl Dress Shopping)
On July 18th Tanna and Emma came to Columbus (leaving the boys with Aunt Debbie for a day of swimming) to go flower girl dress shopping. I was very much looking forward to our day together and it turned out to be a very fun girls day. My mom and Aunt Sandy came along and we started out shopping at David’s Bridal. We picked out a few dresses for Emma to try on and of course she looked adorable in all of them. Emma went back for more and I think ended up trying on almost every flower girl dress they had. Her favorite part about trying the dresses on was the “mushroom effect”. She would fall to the ground and see how much the dress would poof up around her. We wound up stopping at one other dress shop and she was pretty much pooped at that point and when asked if she wanted to try on anymore dresses, she said no thank you. J We eventually made it to Easton and made a stop at Libby Lui’s where Emma got her first Hannah Montana t-shirt. My cousin Sarah met us there and we all ate a really yummy dinner at Brio. Overall it was a pretty long day that was a ton of fun. We’ll have to have more girls days real soon!

5 Year High School Class Reunion
Just days after my last post Tim and I had our 5-year class reunion. I had to help plan the event so with a lot of help from the other officers we pulled a great event together. A bunch of us got together on Saturday and went golfing which was a great time. I was on Tim’s team and we edged out the competition J. Later that evening we had dinner at Bubby’s and got to catch up with everyone. It really did turn out to be a lot of fun, and we ended the night sitting at J-Mack’s house passing around the homemade wine. A perfect ending to the reunion!

Wedding Planning/Updates
After the reunion I got right back to more wedding planning! I have been busy working on the invitations with A LOT of help from my family, especially Alicia who has done an awesome job in designing the invitations and my Dad who got the printer to work. My mom and I have also been working on decorations and flowers, so we have been over to Hobby Lobby and to Meadowbrook to get ideas for decorations. It was a big help going to Meadowbrook because it was set up for a wedding already by Special Occasions (our caterer) and Susie Tiell (our decorator). Tim was a good sport too and came along!

Vacation to North Carolina and 4th of July!

Tim and I both took some vacation time at the end of June and decided on a road trip to North Carolina. I know with gas prices this might seem a little crazy, but we got great gas mileage and the trip was a ton of fun. We left right after work on Friday afternoon and traveled until 2 am when we finally made it to the coast of North Carolina. We were meeting Chris and Sonya there so we could spend time at the beach on Saturday. I will admit that Tim did the majority of the driving on the way down there as I had a terrible time staying awake. No worries though I made sure to make up for it by driving my share the rest of the trip!

Our day at the beach on Saturday was eventful and relaxing. We all swam in the ocean a bit and laid out to soak up some rays. At one point there was some commotion and we realized that someone had been fishing and caught a shark! It happened to be a rather large shark (at least 2 ½ feet!) and kind of looked like a hammerhead. The man could not get the hook out of its mouth so Tim, of course saved the day. He ran and got some pliers out of the car and was able to remove the hook.

After we left the beach we drove back to Fayetteville and got to check out Chris & Sonya’s new apartment- Sonya of course had it decorated very cute. Once back we relaxed and played cornhole and just hung out. Of course we had to take frequent time-outs to apply aloe vera, as Tim, Chris, and I were all VERY sunburned…ouch!

On Monday, we left to head north and stop at the Schreiner’s in Advance, NC. We stayed until Tuesday and during our stay we got to visit the Childress Vineyards and Winery (including a wine tasting), play a lot of Nintendo Wii, eat some good food, and play a couple great games of Horse Thief. Not to brag, but yours truly did happen to win one of the games. :)

Overall we had a great trip and were able to relax and hang out the rest of the 4th of July week and weekend.

Tim playing the Wii (he was a pro!)

Tim playing "clean-up" games with the Schreiner kids

Pictures of the House!

Ok, so I know I have been MIA on the blogging for about 2 months, but I do have a few excuses, but they are just that, so I will not discuss here :) So, I'm going to move on and put a few posts up and I promise to try and keep more up to date throughout the rest of summer.

First I will post some pictures of the house. Since the last post we have been painting and working on the living room as well as some outdoor work on the flower beds and yard. We had a terrible time picking out paint. It took us quite a few weeks to agree on the paint colors and a lot of color swatches painted on the walls. Once we finally decided on the colors, we wound up changing our minds the morning we were going to paint over the primer in the living room. (I know, we could probably use a lesson in decisiveness :) ).

The other aspect of the living room is the TV. We purchased a 42” flat screen in November and since moving in to our house it has been sitting on the coffee table in front of the fireplace. After much thought and planning, Tim finally decided to make his own TV mount rather than purchasing one. He did a great job, and I’m happy to say that the TV looks awesome on the wall.

In addition to the pictures of the house, I went exploring around the lake in our neighborhood and took some great pictures. It’s really pretty beautiful and amazing that we living in Columbus but have such a beautiful area sculpted out.

I hope you enjoy the pictures and once again, sorry for the delay!