Oh Dear...(270)

I'm suffering from major senioritis. I have three weeks left of school and then I'll be done for at least a year! I can't seem to focus on anything, I love to skip class (even more than usual ;)) I have no motivation to do homework and I don't really care about my grades at all.

I'm also kind of stressing about the whole moving and transportation to the honeymoon and reception and getting back home. I know that I don't need to stress about that now, but I can't help it. I think I will be stressing about it until it gets done. At some point, I have to move all my stuff and my car out to Nebraska, and we come back for the honeymoon, and we have to get to Fresno for the reception somehow, then we have to get back home with whatever gifts we get at our California reception. My sister laughs at me cause I come up with a different way to do it every time. :P

I Bought My Shoes :) (271)

I have my dress fitting on Saturday, so obviously, I'm going to need my shoes by then so I can get the dress hemmed correctly. Well, I bought my shoes, but I had to get them through a special order because I have fat feet and Payless doesn't sell wide sizes in the store :/ I'm not quite sure how I feel about paying 40 bucks for a pair of shoes that I've neither seen nor tried on. Well, actually I am. I don't like it. They also couldn't guarantee that they would be there in time for the fitting. The sales lady said that they usually come in within 3 days, but it can take as many at 8. I have 5, so hopefully that will be enough. I can't wait to see them :) Here's what they're supposed to look like. I think I posted a picture of these same shoes earlier...

Flower Girl (272)

I've decided to have kids in my wedding. :) We're not sure about Quinny yet, he most likely won't come, but this little cutie will be my flower girl! :) Isn't she a doll!? I was a flower girl in her parent's wedding. I remember it pretty clearly and it was so much fun :) I can't wait to see her all dressed up :)

Kuchkovskiy Wedding! (273)

Today, two of my good friends, Nina Stankevich and Vitaliy Kuchkovskiy were married. It was such a beautiful wedding! I have to admit that I was taking notes the entire time. ;) I think that the most helpful thing for me was to see the order of service. I really want to have a worship service and communion, but I wasn't sure where to put it in the ceremony. They also had their reception in the gym at church (I'll be doing that as well for both receptions) so it was nice to see how they decorated it. It was very simple, but very elegant as well. I forgot that I was in a gym which is exactly what I'm going for. What a wonderful wedding! Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Kuchkovskiy!

Chairs (274)

The right chairs improve the look of a reception by at least 300%. Call me picky, but I really, really really want black bamboo chairs at both of my receptions instead of the ugly putty colored folding chairs.  Which chair would you rather sit in? Seems like an easy choice to me. I thought that they would be way out of our price range, but they average about $1.25 a piece. I think it's worth it. For sure.  

Good chair. 

    Icky chair. 

Happy Thanksgiving! (275)

Happy Thanksgiving, all! :) I spent this Thanksgiving with my immediate family and grandparents here in Fresno this year, and it was wonderful. This is my last Thanksgiving at "home," so it was good to spend it with my parents, siblings and grandparents. The food was fantastic and conversations were encouraging. I can't wait for next year when I'll get to spend it with my husband :D

More Yummy (276)

All this Thanksgiving talk is getting me thinking about foooooood :) Yum! I want some of these at the reception for sure.

Food Ideas... (277)

Mmm! Parfaits would be yummy :) 

Just Random (278)

Two things today.

First, I got a free Shutterfly album. I'm one of those lame people who had no idea what on earth Shutterfly is, but after speaking with some friends, I decided that this was an amazing thing. So, for just $3 shipping, I'm getting a cute little "Michael and Amanda" album. Adorable. :)

Second. When I count down the days till an event (mostly my wedding, obviously) I like to think back that number of days and think to myself "that wasn't too long ago..." and think that that's what I'll be saying about right now on my wedding day. That was horribly explained and probably didn't make any sense. I worked 15 hours today, give me a break. Anyway, 278 days ago, it was my brother's 12th birthday and in 278 days, I'll be getting married. I skipped Biology 278 days ago to make my brother a chocolate sheet cake. It was very memorable because I was supposed to spend 4 hours with Mr. Kumano learning about worms or whatever and ended up baking instead. After trying to explain this process of thinking to my brother, I realized how strange it really is...am I the only one who does this? Probably...

So Pretty! (279)

These pictures almost make me want an outdoor wedding. Almost. Then I think about the heat, humidity and mosquitoes and think that I made a good decision.


But still...it's just *so* pretty!  

This Song. (280)

I love it! Thank you Mrs. K and Madelyn for showing me this version, it's beautiful :)

Hair (282)

I have this much hair in my dreams. 

I'm trying to figure out a simple, yet elegant updo for the wedding. The thing is that my hair is so incredibly fine that I'm not sure it will look good in any of the styles that I like. Any suggestions? 

Frustrated (283)

I would consider my family to be pretty smart when it comes to spending and saving money. I was raised comfortably, but we always stretched our what we had as far as it would go, reused everything, wore hand-me-downs, always bought used when we could, and rarely bought things full price. I was taught to think long and hard about something before making a purchase, and I'm very thankful for that. Here's the thing. Now that I'm planning a pretty large event (two, actually) there's really no way around spending a ton of money. It makes me sick to spend this kind of money. And it's not even *my* money! The thing that I'm most frustrated about is the lack of information on how to save big bucks on a beautiful wedding. Sure, there are plenty of "Budget Wedding" articles, but, to be honest, they're pretty lame. Here's one list I found:

1. Trim your guest list.

This is actually a fantastic idea, but I've already cut as many people as I can. I think I need to become a hermit :P

2. Save on invitations - don't include the formal second envelope in the invitations and make your response card a post card.

Yeah, I came up with this I don't know how long ago.

3. Don't serve alcohol.

Considering that we're both going to be 20 and we don't necessarily want to drink alcohol even after that, it wasn't even in the original budget. Thank you again. :/

4. Shop second hand.

Way ahead of you there buddy.

I think I just need to be more creative, ask more questions, make more phone calls, and be PATIENT. Something I'm not the best at...

Slacker (284)

I am a slacker. I realize that it bothers me more than anyone else that I haven't posted in four days. Mainly because I promised myself to post daily. Oh well. I was busy with more important things like spending time with my wonderful fiance and building relationships with new and old people at Heartland Baptist.

I'm back in California now, and while I'm loving spending time with my family, I really miss Michael and my "family" in Nebraska. In a way, it's getting easier to do this long distance relationship. I know for sure that the long distance part of our relationship will be over in 284 days, (actually, sooner than that!) and so I'm focusing even more on spending time with my family here because along with getting married and being with Michael, I'll have to live 1600 miles away from my parents and siblings, not to mention my extended family with whom I'm pretty close with. But, it's still hard to be away from him. This time, we only have to spend 33 days apart, which is such a blessing! I didn't even cry very much when I left, because I know that I get to see him so soon. Also, since I won't be going back to school in the spring, I imagine that I will be spending more time out there. I'm in the process of convincing my parents to let me go out in February for Valentine's Day :) I think I have a pretty good chance of going if I pay for the ticket. So exciting :)

We saw it! (288)

:) We finally got to go see the church on Wednesday night! I love it :) Yeah, it has paneling, pink pews and blue carpet, but we can work around it. With my mom's creative eye, I'm sure it will look fantabulous when it's time :)

In other news, I've been able to spend some time with the new girls in the church and I'm getting so excited to move here and get to know them all better. I met Laura and Michelle on Wednesday night and we got together at Hannah's house yesterday and it was a blast! Then we went to Pastor Troy and Charity's for dinner and we got to talk to them :) It's exciting and so much fun! :) 

Church...again :P (290)

I went to see the church again yesterday, but couldn't get it. Again. So, tonight I think we're going to try and go over with some friends of ours who go to Awana there. This is a picture of the outside, but I can't wait to see the inside :) 

The Church (291)

I didn't post yesterday. Boo.

Maddie and I went to the church yesterday so that I could look inside, but, unfortunately, they weren't open. There were cars in the parking lot, so we figured someone would be there, but the doors were locked, and when we knocked and rang the doorbell no one answered. We even called them, but no answer. Boo. I still want to go look, but I think we'll have to make an appointment.

Happy Birthday! (293)

Happy birthday to my wonderful fiancé! He's 20 years old today and just as handsome as ever ;) He is getting pretty old though. It's 4:15 and he's taking a nap - and snoring pretty loud :P Happy birthday, Babe! :)

I'm Here! (294)

Well, I'm in Nebraska! The flight was terribly long (7 hours....but it felt like 700!) and Michael was waiting at the airport for me with chocolate :) We went to Qdoba last night for dinner (delicious!) and today we've just been hanging out :) We drove by the church - it was closed, so I couldn't see the inside, but the outside is nice :) We also looked around for apartments. We thought we knew which ones we were going to live in, but now Michael's office is moving, so it would be pretty far away. We'll see...I hope to actually look inside one while I'm here :)

:D (295)

In exactly 3 hours, I will be on a plane leaving to see my man!!! I'm so excited! I was up kind of late last night getting ready, but I don't really care - it's worth it :) I'm all packed up and ready to go! See you soon, Babe ;)

Excited! (296)

Today I'm busy packing so that I can go to Nebraska for the next 10 days to spend some time with Michael! I can't wait to be with him!  I'm *so* excited I can't even stand it! Not only do I get to see my man, I'll also be able to see the church and I feel like it'll be easier to plan when I'm actually there. :D I have two classes left today and I have no idea how on earth I'm going to focus on nutrition and math when I know that I'll be in his arms in 30 hours :D

Guest Book (297)

I've been looking around at tons of different websites for a unique yet practical guest book. There's a lot of cutesy stuff out there - post cards (but what do you do with all of them?) individual envelopes glued inside the guest book for each message (what a pain to take them all out to read and put them back in!) typewriter guestbook (but then only one person can sign at a time) origami paper to sign and then fold (then have a house filled with 300 origami figures?)  eh...you get the point. They seem like great ideas when I see the pictures, and they look great at the guest book table, but when I think through it, they just kind of flop.

Here's what I found today on Martha Stewart's website:

These are just cheap little notebooks with card stock covers. Each book has a question on the cover and the guests can pick one book (she had 12, but you can use however many you want) and answer the question. Then they all fit together nicely, it's easy to store and it's easy to read :) 

Photographer (298)

The search for a photographer continues. Here's my problem - my favorite photographer in the world lives here. In fact, he's a friend of mine from church. Mariano, if you're reading this, you need to know that I'm obsessed with your pictures. It's bad. I look at your blog several times a week just to stare in awe at your amazing pictures. I'm really thinking about just taking the "traditional" wedding pictures here in Fresno when we're out here for the reception. I really can't find anyone on the Nebraska end that I like as much as Mariano. But that still doesn't solve my problem, because I really do want to have some amazing pictures and possibly a highlight video of sort from the actually wedding. That's way harder to find than I thought possible. I've decided that after I get the photographer, we can get married. We have a church, I have a dress, all we need is someone to take our picture. Who needs programs, favors, table cloths and hors d'oeuvres? 

Flowers (299)

After checking prices for flowers (and just about having a heart attack!) I'm considering fake flowers for a lot of the arrangements. The ones pictured above are actually fake and I think they look fantastic! I've been browsing different craft stores like Michael's and Joann's and they have some really pretty flowers - I think with some help from a few of those handy dandy 40% off coupons and someone who actually has an eye for this kind of thing, these will work out marvelously :)