{Twenty Days}

The Next 20 Days
There are only {20} more days until I say "I DO!"
I came up with a little idea to give Kyle a little something each day until our wedding day. With a little help from {cem} we came up with a puzzle! This certain lyric from a song sticks in my head and it fit perfect with the concept of a "puzzle." When I think of Kyle this lyric pops in my head {the best part of me has always been you} so I went with it...
For the next twenty days Kyle gets a puzzle piece with a reason written on one side of why I love him so much and [obviously] why I'm marrying him. On the other side is a piece to a picture... but of course you need all the pieces of the puzzle to put the picture together. So along with Kyle, everyone must wait to see what the end result is of these pieces! He definitly smiled when he got his first piece!

Day 20

"You give me a feeling that the best is still ahead"

T.G.I.F

Happy Friday Ya'll :)
I hope everyone has had a great Friday so far! I'm super siked for the great weather this weekend {ready for summer time!} and a few fun festivities this weekend :) Tonight I am going with a group of friends to Taco Boy {yummy} and Theatre 99 to have a good little laugh... and Sunday I have my Bridal Shower :) I am excited that this is the last weekend in January and February is right around the corner, which means I'm Getting MARRIED!! :)

Have a safe weekend and enjoy the weather :)
Love, K

Little something to make you smile from my friend Ashley's blog... Pretty Neat!
Ashley's Blog :)

myth #3

Pre-Marital Counseling ISN'T  a bad thing!

For the most part I think every couple has in the back of their mind... Why do we need to have pre-martial counseling? Is there something wrong with us? Do people think we shouldn't get married? Are they going to tell us that we aren't right for each other or that we shouldn't get married? Okay.. So maybe not everyone thinks that way but I know me and Kyle did! Of course everyone has problems... but to start "counseling" before even being married totally freaked us out. Can I just say that this was the best decision we have made-to go a few weeks of pre-martial counseling! Our pastor, Curt, is marrying us from our Church and they require this counseling... and I TOTALLY understand why now :)

Kyle may kill me for blogging this but... it's definitly part of THE HONEST TRUTH of steps to getting married! Usually when you're in counseling you have "problems" or you feel like no one "understands" you or you feel like you have no one to talk to about whatever so you find a complete stranger to tell all your problems (good&bad) who won't judge you. I love pre-marital counseling... well, moments of it ;)

In our Pre-Marital Counseling it started out with taking a "Personality Test" it's about 200 questions that we answer without the other person around. We took the test then we sent it back in and had to set up an appointment with our counselor. So {imagine this} first session we sit down and start talking {on the couches next to each other.. like the movies} and she starts reading off what I "disagree" about and what I "agree" about and same for Kyle... That's where it started getting intense ;) [that's a NICE way to put it] I don't think any couple deals with "issues" or "problems" if they don't have to... You just kind of go on about your merry little lives and then when it POPS back up you deal with it. Well when someone is pretty much pulling every little thing you dislike about your other half out in the open and making you "express the way you feel" to your spouse... That isn't the most exciting hour! Now, I won't go on and on about what we had to talk about and what we had to be "honest" about {even though some of you are DYING to know;) } but I will say that half way through our counseling we both realized it was the best thing we decided to do so far! But I have to say... this "Personality Test" is definitly trickey! The questions that are asked are so twisted it's almost like a "trick" question to get you in trouble or something.... Throughout our counseling sessions there have been a few questions that Kyle and I both look at each other and wonder what in the hell we were thinking about when we answered those! The section of this Personality Test that really shocked me {I'm not sure about Kyle.. We'll get his opinion} was the "Differences in Personalities." I never realized how different he and I really are! For those of you who are dating, engaged, or married... look at which "love language" you are from  The Five Love Languages  because this is a really neat concept and it makes you realize alot about why your "spouse" is the way they are or why they expect certain "needs." Our Pastor and Counselor pointed out a really neat book that makes you open your eyes up a little bit more about your spouse and that one is called His Needs, Her Needs - Kyle is in the middle of reading this one :) So, my point to this "blog" is just because your church or your Pastor requires you to go through "Pre Martial Counseling" doesn't mean they think you aren't right for each other - it's definitly something that makes you a little bit stronger, a lot closer and you appreciate your spouse a little bit more ;)



Few thoughts from my dearest love, my Fiance!
Not only was he so kind to go to each session and deal with me being honest and not taking offense from anything I said - he actually likes to talk about what we both learned from that previous counseling session. Kyle has learned {his words} that the cause of so many things that he and I deal with are from the divorces/relationships of our parents and how much it has affected our lives and our relationship. We have to close the door to our past and open a new one for our life together :)

We have two more counseling sessions so I'll definitly add a little blog later down the road to sum up our experience with "Pre-Martial Counseling!"

Just feeling a little love towards my soon to be hubby:)



and a little musical note to add how much I love him :) Enjoy!

Goodnight All

You are the BEST thing

a very special BIRTHDAY :)

I am a day late blogging about this special lady... but my BEST turned 25 January 20th :)  So this is my very special shout out to my very special friend....
Happy Birthday, Cheserae!
She shares her birthday with her Mama (which I think is super special.. Happy Birthday Mrs. Julia!!)

Just a little note to say that there are few friends quite like you... You say things that I care about and you do things that matter. You make a difference to me! You make a difference to other people too... and I know for a fact that if you were not here... I wouldn't like the world quite as much as I do now :) Thanks for being the best friend a girl could ever ask for!

So here's to Cheserae... May this year be the best yet!! I love you!

Cheserae at age 19 :)

May 2006 :)

Summer 2007 :)

Summer 2010 :)

Fall 2010 :)

she's my giiiiirl :)

Cheserae's Graduation Party, Congrats girl ;)

"in the end, it's just us.." -2005

Cheserae & Her Boy, EP



my loves:)

The Martinelli's (One of the most amazing families I know!)

 

Little off Subject!

BACHELORETTE WEEKEND!

Can I just say that I got SPOILED this past weekend! For those who don't know... I had my Bachelorette Weekend and let's just say there were a few moments that were kind of like "The Hangover!" I have to give a huge shout out to my ladies who made it happen and every moment so much fun! I am very thankful for each and every one of you who came this weekend and made it a weekend I'll never forget... and I'm not going to lie, I still kinda felt sluggish today ;)  First off I have an amazing Mother who made alot of this weekend happen and my amazing sister in law who was just as much a huge help with this whole weekend.... and my ladies :)



The Hostess :)

(The Ladies)

We started off  Friday night with a lingerie shower and I got some pretty good stuff... A few little secrets that only the MR. can see ;) but I came out pretty good! We played a game where I answered questions about Kyle to see how well I knew him and whatever question I got wrong I had to take a shot... Let's just say I got pretty tipsy Friday night but that's because he didn't answer them correctly! ;) haha He doesn't even know his First Grade Teacher's name... He made that up! Friday night we were just silly and acted like girls :) It was an interesting night.... Sat am when I woke up I felt like I needed to put all the pieces together from the night before- like the Hangover ;) That morning we went to "Killin' Time" and the girls made me a platter (little thumb print crabs with their names) Pictures to come when I get to pick it up... I'm super excited to see it done!! We went to Wild Wings in Mt. P and had bottomless mimosas and I had a few shots (ouch) and a great hangover lunch... We relaxed and had a few naps (bahahahah those pictures make me laugh) and then it was ROUND TWO!!! I won't be posting pictures of the end results of Saturday night ;) but let's just say.. I think we all had an AWESOME time!!!!!! Thank you LADIES.... Love ya'll :)

Few more pictures to come.....

The PENIS!

                                                                 at Killin' Time

                                                          Hangover.Shots.Bottomless Mimosas. Not a good idea :)

                                                              and nap time begins... haha

PARTY BUS!!

(Light up Rings plus my BLING!)

My night out!!! :)

myth #2

You don't get to pick your "date" ... The Venue chooses it for you!
Picking your special day can work one of two ways-You pick it and don't get the Venue you've always dreamed of or the Venue picks your special day.
Our luck... our Venue, Cotton Dock at Boone Hall Plantation, picked for us :)

Who gets married in February? No offense brides who are getting married in February or have been married that month but February was NOT the month I wanted to get married. But, when you go and start looking at Venues you start falling in love and start imagining the most amazing, beautiful, spring day with a slight breeze, no rain, no overcast, and no chance of a "snow day.." (that's our luck in Charleston) and I pray that February 19 is not another chance of snow and ice storm :) Of course we could have picked another Venue to have this most amazing Spring wedding but once I looked at Boone Hall I absolutely fell in love! I've always wanted to get married in a little white church like in all the movies and country songs Little White Church :) 

Kinda like this one!

and I wanted to have a "Rustic" wedding theme so I could wear my cowboy boots and totally get away with it... and for those who will be attending my wedding, I guess you'll just have to wait and see if I follow through with that! Back to why we picked February 19th.. Once my Mom and lovely soon to be hubby went and checked out the Cotton Dock, Boone Hall (btw the cotton dock is pretty much a barn with a dock on the water) they knew why I loved it so much and luckily a wedding was going on so my Mom (who if you know her started coming up with so many neat ideas) knew it was "THE" right Venue :) So, the next day we make our way back and meet with the ladies who have the big binder of "The Available Dates" ... it was kind of intimidating! You're sitting there imagining that beautiful Spring day when she says "Well, we have February or December" and right away I laugh and say well December is way too soon (remember, this is in May!) and she says "Oh no no December of 2011..." I just froze. 2011!!??? So I let her tell me what dates are available.... and sure enough all the Saturdays for the year 2011 are taken... our choice was February 19, 2011 or December something (didn't even ask) but of course Fridays are the "newest" day to get married so there were a ton of Fridays available... but I just never ever imagined I would be getting married on a Friday, my luck the only available date would have been Friday the 13th ;) (you gotta find humor or you'll go nuts!) So, I went home and asked Kyle what he thought and he said well what's the date in February and I said the 19th :) He smiles and says well, Kady the 18th would be our 7 years of dating (yes, 7 years prior to 2.18.11 we started dating, but took a few breaks!) I thought it was super sweet but still a little cliche. Lonnng blog, short... We picked the date February 19, 2011 not because it was the day after our so called "7 years" but because it was the ONLY Saturday of 2011 until December! I am super happy with my date because not only will it not be BLISTERING hot and not everyones make up melting off their faces and all the guys won't be sweating to death but vendors aren't super busy so that's where you get to pick exactly who you want ;) and usually get a little bit of a better deal (price wise) because February isn't a busy wedding month.

So, Myth #2 ... Just because you can't pick the exact date with your "Dream Venue" you will have a better chance of settling for a different date to get all the amazing vendors for your special day :) and of course for those brides who did get to pick their exact date to their "dream venue" and still got all the amazing vendors... Kudos to you :)

it's official. i'm a blogger :)

One of my New Year Resolutions was to BLOG. At first I thought it was crazy to put "our" lives on display for everyone to see what is going on but then I decided I was going to write a book ;) about what really goes on behind closed doors when planning a wedding... But anyone who knows me knows I don't even read books (except of course Kardashian Konfidental ;)) so I decided to BLOG :) So here's the scoop... I'm getting married in 6 weeks and had I started this blog May 15, 2010 (we he popped the question, and I said yes) this blog would be FULL of so much information your head would spin. So, here I am 6 weeks before the BIG day and I'm going to let everyone in on a little bit of what has REALLY been going down with "Wedding Plans...." the who's what's when's where's why's how's (that's a big one) bridal party parents grandparents (my luck i only have one FABULOUS grandmother) what to wear what colors to pick what flowers to pick (seasonal,colors,texture-you'll understand one day,display...etc.) what jewelry to wear what shoes to wear what DRESS to wear (BRIDE!) tux/suit? tie/bowtie? what veil to wear what nail polish to wear on your toes/nails what bands to get with your ring what band to get for your groom (always get his opinion first because he'll be wearing it, not YOU) where to honeymoon whos the photographer who's the cater who's the cake maker what's your "DATE" and your VENUE! That's where you honestly start first... because our venue was booked up for a whole YEAR... That's nuts! So that's why (if you're wondering) why we picked February to get married. Anyways, I could go on for days about what all you have to do and get done from the time you say "YES" to the day you say "I DO!" Now, don't get me wrong I LOVE wedding planning and I LOVE who I'm marrying (that's pretty important, btw) but NO ONE ever told me the HONEST truth about what all will come with the planning :) So this is my BLOG to let every other bride in the world know.... the TRUTH, my truth that is!

                                                                        Me and my Mr :)

myth #1

Wedding dress shopping is nothing like "Say Yes to the Dress...."
and if you are a bride that says it is you must have really good luck and a great group of friends and family that agree with everything you try on ;)

So, about a week after Kyle and I got engaged of course my sister (who is my "MOH") jump the gun because we were so excited and made an appointment to go dress shopping! I've always had this idea in my head that it was going to be like "Say Yes to the Dress" and feel like I was shopping in Kleinfeld's... Well not so much! It was definitly one of the best days out of ALL the wedding planning I have done though. First, I thought I'd always wear this certain dress and of course when I found 3 of them I loved I tried them on and they looked awful.... AWFUL (Funny how that works out!) So, I let the ladies help me at the Bridal store (not putting names of places or people ;)) and they didn't have a clue what I liked or disliked.. They just want you to buy a dress (at this particular store) But I do have to say when my Mom started pulling dresses and throwing them in the dressing room (kinda like in a movie everyone is all excited telling me to try this one, no try this one, no get this one.. ) so it was a pretty neat moment. At the end of the day I DID in fact find "THE" Wedding Dress :) Thanks to my Mom.... <3 Lovely Mothers! Anywho.... the whole point of this "Myth" is I always thought I'd put on a dress and start tearing up and say "Yes Yes Yes this is it!" But in fact I didn't... I absolutely love my dress- I dream of it and definitly wish I could wear it around the house and out with friends or to work or just lay in it haha- but I did want that really neat moment of "Yes this is the dress" so Ladies.... Don't expect to have that moment as soon as you put one on and fall in love with it because it's okay if you dislike something or wish to add to your dress (it's possible!) and if you do, GREAT (More power to you!) but if you DON'T.. Don't be like me and start 2nd guessing yourself and thinking it really isn't the "dress" ... it's just that TV Shows aren't realistic :) So on a great note... After getting my dress altered and changing and adding a few things I definitly cried the moment I put my dress on and walked out of the dressing room and showed my mom... So maybe I did have my "Yes to the Dress" moment ;) AFTER the fact of course!

One more note... I always thought I'd wear WHITE but sure enough white didn't look the greatest on me (I am a little pale white girl from the south) so I went with IVORY and I'm so happy I did :) But I've always wanted to know the meaning behind "Bride in White" so I looked it up... Here's a little lesson.

Wearing WhiteThe bride wearing white has been a symbol of purity and virginity for years but there is also a myth behind this ritual. Wearing white is said to ward off any evil spirits that may be surrounding the bride on her big day.

also... any brides out there that are like me and wish to wear your dress around the house or out in public or just because you really love it and you spent all that money on a dress you'll only wear once... this is why you shouldn't. this seriously made me LAUGH! :)

Wearing Wedding AttireThe bride is said to be doomed if she wears her complete wedding outfit before the big day. The consequences of such an action can lead to heartbreak and tragedy.

My Sister and I on the day I found my dress :)

special birthday this week :)

My wonderful Mother turned 50 this past Wednesday... "FABULOUS FIFTY"
My step dad, Ty and myself threw my Mom a surprise party at her favorite restaurant Oscar's in Summerville... She had no idea and was sooo Surprised! :) Especially when my brother (who turned 29 the day before who lives in Georgetown, Happy Birthday Ryan! ) and my sister in law surprised her by showing up :)
Mom, you're an amazing woman and you deserve the BEST year yet... You do for everyone before yourself and I'm so thankful you're my Mom :) We Love you

 Mom walking into the restaurant

 Her "Fabulous" balloon

 The Birthday Queen :) (:

Me, Marguerite, Mom, Ty, Ryan and Kyle :)