the oklahoma state capitol

When Chase and I first started discussing locations for our wedding ceremony we were struggling to come up with a good place. Neither of us are active in churches and the ones we found that we liked were charging huge prices to use their chapels. After that we both decided that we didn't want to get married in a church anyways. There was a few weeks of wanting to get married outside and trying to figure out how that would work...too difficult. Then Chase remembered that a friend of his got married in the state capitol. How cool is that. Plus...its FREE! Bonus!

After going and taking a look at the space, looking at photos from his friends wedding ceremony plus the tie-in of my dad designing the dome (he was the chief architect on the dome project) we decided this was the perfect place to say our I Do's.

This past weekend my Mom and I made a trip to the capitol to really iron out the details of the space and how the ceremony was going to work. The place is absolutely beautiful...no need for decorations. Another bonus. We took a few pictures so I thought I would share.

I can't wait to get married in such a beautiful and historical place.  A great way to showcase where we came from and where we call home.

81 days and counting.

shopping for shoes...wedding shoes

The only thing I really know about the shoes is that they will be purple.  Since our main wedding color is a dark purple I thought it would be really fun to add a splash of color to my white attire by having purple shoes.  They will be hidden most of the time by my dress but will make for a few fun photos.

My shoe list:
1. Comfortable
2. Heel
3. Purple

Thats it!  I actually think I might have found a pair by Unforgettable Moments, part of Payless.  They are affordable, cute and they have 64 color choices to have them dyed.

I think these might fulfill my requirements. Starting to cross off the smaller things on my list.

85 days and counting...

couples shower

On Saturday Chase and I had our first official wedding event...a lovely couples shower put on by my maid of honor, Patti.

It was the perfect mix of a familiar location (my rents house), good food, and absolutely great company.

Plus presents!!

Its official now...no turning back. We are doing this thing.

A big thank you to all of our wonderful friends who came to celebrate and support us. We are so very lucky.

And now...a few party pics.


Patti our gracious host with us, the wedding couple.



Pies in a jar...cooked and ready for ice cream.  Patti made them.  Yum.



Busted!



The sweet message our friend Tim wrote us on his present.

countdown

While I was in Durham vacationing with Liz, the countdown on the wedding got serious.

We were out drinking wine and telling stories when it hit me...we are under 100 days until our wedding. I immediately downloaded an iPhone countdown app to confirm. 99 days it said. And a toast to the wedding. Then, we stayed out so late, it hit 98 days.

No turning back now...this is for real.

back home

Since I am still trying to get settled and organized and out of my vacation mode, this is going to be short and sweet.

I survived the plane rides. I had a fantastic time. I drank too much. I ate too much. I slept a lot. I saw the beach. I saw the set of One Tree Hill. I saw that guy that wears the sponsored t-shirts. I ran...once. I bought some stuff. I met some new people. I ate more. I drank more. I caught up with my friend Liz. and then caught up some more. It was the perfect vacation.

And here is the one photo that I will share, for now.

vacation

Today is my last day of work as I prepare to head out of the Big-D (Dallas, TX) to the Dirty-D (Durham, NC).

I have been excited to visit North Carolina since the first day my friend Liz mentioned she might be moving there.  After living vicariously through her life in the form of her flickr albums and tweets about all the delicious food and ongoings of her new town, the wait is almost over.

Here are a few of Liz's pics that have me all worked up on the inside and ready to spend four glorious work free days in Durham.










Vacation time, I am ready for you.

overnight stay

On my way home from the gym yesterday evening I noticed something running along the bushes as I was driving.  I took a closer look and it was the cutest little puppy.  I could see a collar from my car so I pulled over, jumped out and went over to the dog to check it out.

Turns out the only tag the dog had was a vaccination tag from the vet and the vet (who is in Reno, Nevada) was closed for the day.  So, what to do?  I loaded the pup into the back of my car and took him home.

At first we weren't sure how our dog Paisley would react so we kept the dog outside but once we put them together they made fast friends.

I had some extra company this morning as I worked from home.  The puppy was absolutely adorable.  Luckily when I called the vet today they had a name and cell phone number for his owner.  I called and the owner was delighted to find out about his dog.

Within the hour the owner came by to take his beloved dog home.  It was a nice unexpected visitor.  And Chase and I realized how much Paisley needs a brother or sister.

So the hunt for a second dog begins.

afraid to fly

In four short days I will be heading to Raleigh/Durham North Carolina to see my long lost friend Liz in her new element.  Liz made a huge life leap and moved to NC about 4 months ago from OKC.  I am jealous.  And I am super excited to hang out, catch up and have her show me around her new hood.

But...I have to get on a plane to get there AND I hate to fly.

I have flown dozens of times, and have lived to tell the story, but every time a flight nears I convince myself I am going to die.

As a child I had no problem flying, as a teenager it became more of a claustrophobic thing and as I hit my 20's it escalated to an intense fear that the flight was going to kill me.  Its weird, I have never had a scary plane ride, never had a family member or friend that was afraid to fly, it just happened.

But I know that to see the things in this world I want to see I must get on a plane.  So I book my flights based on the google images of the type of plane, I take some pills that make me less anxious and I have a drink on the plane to put me completely out of my misery.

North Carolina, here I come.

music splurge

Music is one of my favorite things in the world.  It can transform your mood, stir up memories from years back, make a car trip bearable and get a party started in no time.  It can also help the work day move along.

Yesterday, after listening to music on YouTube all day I decided it was time to make some purchases.  Luckily, I came across Amazon's mp3 store where you can download songs that directly feed into your iTunes library.  And the best part...the albums are half the price of the iTunes store.

So I made some purchases and updated my iPod...

Arcade Fire- The Suburbs

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros- Up from Below

Ben Folds- Way to Normal

Mumford & Sons- Sigh No More

I am really enjoying all of these albums so far...rocking out at work for sure!

wedding cakes

Some people get really into their wedding cakes and have these super elaborate multi-tiered Ace of Cakes kind of thing. They create a cake that gets more attention than the bride and groom. I am not one of those people. In fact, at first I could really care less about the cake. If it tasted good and we could shove it in each others face then it was perfect.

While I am still on that end of the spectrum I did get a tiny bit into the design of the cake. After seeing thousands of cakes over the last 8 months while reading all the wedding blogs I decided I wanted to make it a little bit special but still simple and most of all delicious.

Here are a few of my favorite wedding cakes that inspired my new found interest in our wedding cake and you will see a little bit of each in Chase and I's cake come wedding day.

I love the branches and the simple green ribbon

the simplicity of this cake is beautiful

the mix of square and round is perfect