Spring Break = SO BUSY!!

Oh my gosh! Spring break has been SO busy, SO fun, and a little stressful at times. Overall, thanks to my amazing mother and incredible MOH/bridesmaids/friends, progress has been made!

Mom

MOH

Last week was CRAZY busy at school! I worked at Brandon Woods Sunday and Monday nights, and then I had parent-teacher conferences Tuesday and Wednesday nights! The week actually went by some-what quickly, and Thursday came before I was ready for it (we hadn't finished cleaning the house - ha!). Krista (MOH) arrived in KC on Thursday night, and I picked her up at the airport. We hung out that night and watched Intervention before calling it an early night (Krista was SO SO SO sick!!! Thankfully, it didn't last too long!). I slept more this night than I had in DAYS!!!

Most of Friday was the kind of day that I miss SO much from college! Basically, we didn't really do a whole lot, but I spent the ENTIRE day with people who make me laugh and smile: ) I worked out in the morning, and Krista finished up some work. Then, we went to Ingredient for lunch (YUM!), and ran some errands. We went to the post office, Target, the liquor store, and Old Navy, and then we had our nails painted: ) I NEVER paint my nails unless I am hanging out with Krista: ) I LOVE painted nails!! I still haven't gone for a pedicure, but I promise that I will before the wedding; ) Our errands didn't last too long, so we watched more Intervention (haha!) and ordered Jason's Deli. SJ and Steph reached my house at exactly the same time! It was like our own little reunion - SJ even had her grandma's sugar cookies with her! We drank some wine, put together favors, and laughed! SO fun!!!

Saturday was the shower and bachelorette party!! Krista and the bridesmaids did an AMAZING job putting it all together!!! I was blown away by all of the details! The invites were super cute, the food was delish, the house looked great, the favors were SO cute and thoughtful (LOVED the Nick and Lauren stickers on the kisses!), the cake was YUM-O, etc., etc., etc... It was amazing! Thank you to everyone who came and who contributed! I still have not shown Nick all of the generous gifts, but I know he will be equally excited and thankful: )

After the shower, we went back by the house and packed for Kansas City. We stayed at the Capital;s;sfj; - it was beautiful! Krista picked a suite for us, so we were able to all hang out and beautify together! The bridesmaids made me this awesome shirt:We had a "table of flare," way too much food (leftovers, a deli tray, AND pizza), and drinks (including street painters!). We walked to Power and Light, and spent the evening bouncing around. We settled in for the end of the night at Shark Bar - SO SO SO fun! My favorite parts were handing out flare, taking black and white pictures with only the green in color, laughing SO hard that my fake eyelashes fell off (HAHAHA!), dancing in glittery glasses with my bestest friends, and eating pizza for the second time in one day: )

Really, the entire night was amazing, and it was most definitely the most fun I have had in a LONG time! Look how happy I was...
HAHA! Thank you to everyone who planned, participated, listened to me worry about my hair/eyelashes/etc., danced, sang, ate, etc. The shower, b-party, and weekend were AWESOME! I love you guys SO much!

Sunday night I worked at Brandon Woods, and then Monday the wedding preparations began...

Monday:
- 10am met with the Eldridge about the rehearsal dinner
- showed the tuxes to mom
- worked on thank you notes

Tuesday:
- 9am meeting at Spring Hill Suites about the reception site
- 10am meeting at Maceli's about the reception food
- 11:30pm meeting at HyVee about the flowers

Wednesday:
- trip to KC
- Group USA (purchased my veil (free with $25 birthday gift certificate!), looked at a headband, looked at MOB dresses/jewelry!)
- JoAnn's (purchased my headband with a 40% off coupon)

- Hobby Lobby (purchased 50% off ribbon for invitations)
- Kinko's (picked up the printed invitations and cut background papers)

Thursday:
- met with the organist at church
- met with wedding coordinator at church
- tried kalamata olive bread from Wheatfields (for reception?)
- put together ten invites

We are officially DONE with meetings for now. I have about two weeks to finish up the invitations, so we'll work on them a few hours at a time. I have lots to discuss with Nick in order to make some final decisions, but I do feel like we are in good shape...so far!

honeymoon...YAY!!

Our honeymoon is OFFICIALLY BOOKED!!!

We decided to stick with Santa Barbara instead of heading to Monterey as well. We decided that the drive to Monterey is too far for a short trip.

Our flight wasn't too expensive, and we don't have crazy flight times! We do still need to rent a car, but I think we are going to try to use our credit card points rewards.

I nervously waited for confirmation details from the hotel and bed and breakfast...and we now have them!! SO excited!!!

The first two nights we are staying at the White Jasmine Inn. We will be staying in a room calls "The Craftsman" - with its very own jacuzzi on the deck! We will enjoy a full, hot, in-room breakfast both mornings!

We will stay three nights at the Pepper Tree Inn, and we are taking adantage of their "four days/three nights in paradise" package. It includes...

• Three-night accommodations for two
• A customized tour through Santa Barbara's wine country, which includes
• Tasting fees at four wineries
• Gourmet picnic lunch
• 19 oz. souvenir glass
• Bottled water
• Guided, educational tour by experienced wine guide
• Door-to-door pick up in a SUV or sedan
• Sunset Cruise for two
• $50 dinner credit at Chuck's Waterfront Grill or Chuck's Steakhouse
• Bottle of chardonnay from Santa Barbara Winery or sparkling cider in a souvenir wine jute tote
• Box of gourmet chocolates
• A certificate for two ice cream treats at McConnell's Creamery
• Staff picks of favorite local restaurants and points of interest
• La Cumbre Plaza Shopping & Dining Visitor Rewards Book

We have a king room with its own private balcony. The rooms look really nice!

SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited - and I do feel better that we can cross this off our list!!!

birds!

I took the video below a few weeks ago after Callie and I ran home through the craziness! Nobody is sure why the birds are coming, but it is estimated that there are over 100,000! Check out this article: Birds by the thousands fill trees.

Cute Cal after a 4 mile run...

Photos: ) and more...

This is a BUSY weekend, and I can't believe it is already Saturday afternoon! Last night Nick and I went to a 30th birthday party - so fun! Here we are before we left...
We had to leave the party early because I needed some sleep before the Shamrock Shuffle! I will post pictures of it as soon as I have them!

After the race, I went home and picked up Callie, and we went to the lake. We went to the dog park first. She was really shy - maybe because the weather hasn't been nice enough to go there for months! After the dog park, we walked up the hill to the bench. The grasses were burnt, so it looked completely different - SO cool!!

burning tree

Callie after she rolled in the soot!

lonely tree and burnt grass

Callie enjoying the lake!Callie and Mommy: )

Last weekend I went to Oklahoma to visit Malinda (and John!). We had a great time! Here we are at dinner (Cheddar's = YUM!)...

Updates...

I realized today that my blogging has really s l o w e d down: ( I have been busy...I just don't have too much to say right now - or much time to say it!

I keep telling Nick that I think we're making progress, but it feels like we're not making any because we can't ever get anything completely crossed off our to-do list! Hopefully we'll cross some things off in the next few weeks. We did meet with Peter at the church last night! We talked about the ceremony, and I think we are going to include a wine ceremony of some kind: ) I think it will make it more personal, it will tie into our theme, and it will allow us to share some of our relationship with others.

Mom and I went to Kohl's (30% off!) and Old Navy today. I was able to find an arb (ha!) to wear under my shower dresses and (hopefully) my wedding dress. I also found shoes and cardigans for my shower dresses. I am in love with my green shoes (on the left)...

I bought the ones on the right in hot pink - I can't wait to wear both pairs!!!

I have a few phone calls to make the next few days in order to make some more appointments for spring break. I am meeting with the caterer, the alterations lady, and the rehearsal dinner lady for sure, and I am hoping to make invites, meet with the flower lady, and meet with the reception lady. Mom and I also need to go to KC at some point to buy my veil. I still need to figure out hair and make up...AHHHHHHHH!!! Three months and two days...

Hmmm...I'm too tired to post pictures (from Oklahoma and of the invitation paper!) and video (of the crazy robins!), but I hope I can this weekend!