I think if someone was willing to pay for it I would have a wedding every year. I would get to wear a big pretty dress and have everyone cheer for me when I came into the room. Who wouldn’t want that? But I can think of a few things that I may do differently. Let’s start with the wedding invitation cards. Although I agree that they set the tone for the wedding, I don’t think I would do the pocket style again. It was just too much work, and I don’t think anyone really noticed the effort that went into them. I think that’s a main point…a lot of people didn’t notice the little things I did…I probably wouldn’t pay for napkins with my name on them, and did anyone really care about the little jewels I glued onto each and every place card?

I planned the entire day to a T! I think that’s just my personality. I’d like to say that I would relax more if I did it again, but let’s face it. I wouldn’t. I put my all into every detail of my son’s first birthday party. It’s just my nature. The bottom line is that it was an amazing and perfect day. I loved taking some time to think about it again. With my little man taking up my entire life these days it’s nice to remember where our family began. We are just an old married couple….lol….with many more years ahead of us!

When planning another persons wedding one must realize that it isn’t YOUR wedding. I may have to bite my tongue a lot when it comes to this because me and my sister are so very different. I was all ball gowns, tiaras and pink…and she is more lace, simple and sophisticated black. But that is the joy of weddings isn’t it? That each of us gets the opportunity to do exactly what we want! We get one day that is truly ours to do with it exactly as we please.

I love proposal stories so with permission I am happy to share my sisters wonderful story! My sister (K) and her now fiance (JP) closed on their new house on Monday. It is a total fixer upper that will soon be a beautiful home. The house is set to go through major renovations in the near future, and most of the inside structures are being taken down. Monday morning JP went to the house, and inside a drop down ceiling he painted the words “WILL YOU MARRY ME”. He replaced the ceiling tiles and him and ”K” proceeded to go to the closing of the house. Everything went smoothly and they went to the house to celebrate with champagne. He told my sister that they were going to be taking down the ceiling tiles that day. He wanted her to help. She would do one room and he would do the other. So ”K” slowly began removing tiles. Soon enough she got to the area where he painted, and saw words. Her first reaction was that she found a secret message that was written years before. What a fun find! Then she read it more closely and read the words “will you marry me”. She mentioned later that it did not say her name, so she at first was a bit confused, but she soon called him into the room. He came in, got down on one knee and proposed to her.

It was such a special day for them both, and I was so happy and lucky to be a part of it. New homeowners and newly engaged! “JP” had the day all planned out. He came in person to ask my dad for “K”‘s hand in marriage, about a week before, and then made a plan with my parents, my brother and me to come down to celebrate with them. He planned a lunch with my family and his parents, and then a bit of a happy hour party with a group of their friends and family. It was a wonderful night of celebrating. It was so amazing to see my sister so happy. She deserves nothing but the best. Being engaged is such a magical time, and both their faces glowed the entire evening.  

They have so many big things ahead of them and I am so happy for them both. He is a wonderful man and makes my sister happy. We look forward to welcoming him to our family.

Congratulations “K” and “JP”!

Friday night was one of my best friends wedding. She was the most beautiful bride, and he was such a handsom groom.

She had the most beautiful day any bride could ask for. The weather called for 77 and sunny with 0% chance of precipitation. Who would ever believe that July 10th would have such weather? When in the summer is there EVER a 0% chance of rain?? I’ll tell you who gets this day? A woman who deserves it! She hoped and prayed for such weather and she got it. I did my best to be as good of a bridesmaid as she was for my wedding…hopefully I accomplished that.

As I am writing the first half of this post it is Saturday night and I am laying on the couch with a glass of wine with my dog. As sad as it may seem to some, I am so happy for this relaxing evening. My husband and I have been on the go for weeks. As I said earlier it’s a blessing in disguise to be so busy, but I gotta tell you, It was great to sit around my house all day today with my husband being lazy. We are very good at being lazy!

Sunday was another beautiful day here on Long Island. Days like this make me happy that we have a community pool across the street. My husband and I actually ventured out of our home to lounge by the pool for a bit. It’s amazing how easy it is for the two of us to get sucked into our couch. At least we are the same when it comes to that.

So there is the recap of our weekend. Next weekend I am so excited to leave for our family vacation to the Jersey Shore for the week, but more to come on that later.

 My husband has been my best friend since we began our relationship. We were friends first and I think that makes all the difference. Over the years we have had our ups and our downs, but through it all I have always known that he was the man I wanted to marry. The story of how we met isn’t a romantic one, or one that we were able to share on our wedding website. I had to tone it down a bit since it certainly wasn’t appropriate for the site. But I figure since this is my blog, that I can be open and honest…so here goes…As  I have mentioned we met in college. He was in a fraternity and I was in a sorority. We were introduced by friends at a bar. We said our hello’s and I proceeded to tap the top of his beer bottle. (If you don’t know what that does, if you tap one bottle on top of another bottle that is over half way full with beer the beer starts to foam and spill out over the top making the person holding that beer chug it so it doesn’t get all over them) In doing so, he had to chug his beer, and this added to a night of drinking made him have to leave the bar and get sick. Romantic I know! But at least I made my mark as someone he’d remember. Ahhh the memories.

Here’s some pictures of us in college:

Now we are all grown up! (ya right!) and much more mature, but these pictures remind me of the wonderful history my husband and I share. We’ve been able to experience so many firsts together, and it’s comforting to know that we have so many more firsts to come.

This coming weekend we decided to celebrate our anniversary in Newport Rhode Island at the Adele Turner Inn. It’s a bed and breakfast. I will be sure to post more on that next week when we return. I am looking forward to getting away for a nice romantic weekend with my man. We certainly deserve it!

I asked my dad if he would throw me another wedding this weekend so I could put on my dress and try to match our most wonderful day, but unfortunately he said NO! I guess we will have to make due  watching our wedding video on Sunday. It’s a perfect time to reminisce. So for anyone who is interested here is a great dance  montage video our videographer put together of our wedding. Watching it makes me smile!

Click here to view the embedded video.

I live a bit of a distance from my family. This is hard. I also live extremely close to my husbands family, and although it’s great to have family close by, I find myself jealous of the fact that we get to participate in their family traditions more than we get to celebrate with my family’s traditions. So far in our first year of marriage I think we accomplished our holiday schedule very well, and we both did a little give and take….but throughout this year, I don’t think we found any tradtions that were “OURS”.

I hear from others that once children are involved traditions will change and mold to be what’s best for you. This makes perfect sense, but how do we make it work for us as well as both of our families? I’m sure this is a problem most newlyweds face. Especially ones who are both close to their families. Maybe the idea is to think outside the box. Traditions don’t have to be only about holidays. So here are a few ideas that I have about what could be considered, or may be considered tradition in the future.

• Anniversaries: For the past 8 years my husband and I have always took time out to celebrate our anniversary. First we celebrated the anniversary of when we started dating. Then we celebrated the anniversary of the day we got engaged (which is Valentine’s day so he got off easy on that one) and now we look forward to celebrating our wedding anniversary. This year we are taking a small trip to Newport Rhode Island, and I hope that in the years to come we continue to celebrate our anniversary.
• Birthdays: Every year on each of our birthdays my husband and I take each other out to dinner. This is a day that we get to choose to eat wherever we want. Because I am the picky eater my husband normally gets jipped on where we go to out to eat…so on his birthday he always takes advantage and takes me out to his favorite restaurant which is in Manhattan. It’s called Shabu Tatsu and it’s Japanese food…I personally don’t like it, but hey it’s his birthday!

OK…so it’s not much but it’s something. A start! I guess we have years and years ahead of us to create our family traditions. It’s all just a part of the journey of marriage.

So what are some of your family traditions? Maybe I could steal some and make them ours!

My Wedding Schedule

Between January and September I have 5 weddings to attend. 4 of them being this summer, and my husband and/or I are in the wedding party (ok mainly my husband, I am only in 1, lol) in all but 2 of them. I think being a bridesmaid is a lot more involved than being a groomsman. Being a bridesmaid means you get the dress, the shoes, the hair done, the shower gift, and the bachelorette party. The good news is I absolutely LOVE weddings so I am so so excited to be part it! Being a groomsman means getting fitted for the tux about 3 months before the wedding…going to the bachelor party…throwing some gel in your hair after your shower…showing up at the altar and saying “dude, are you sure you want to do this?”. (I know that they say this because my husband was mic’d when his friends jokingly decided to say that to him!)

As it turns out it is only May and my weekends are pretty much completely booked for the entire summer. Most of those weekend activities include something for either me or my husband and the weddings we have. Not only are our plans busy with these weddings, but our cash flow is also impacted. I try to look on the bright side, at least we are getting hit all at once and can rebuild! My husband and I were pretty smart. We took the gifts that we got from our friends whose weddings were coming up and we put the money in a separate account. It was never really ours to begin with since we will be gifting it back to them!

I guess it’s something of a rite of passage….the time in my life where a lot  my friends are getting married and starting their new lives. I am very happy to a part of this special time for them! So for all the bride and grooms to be…Good Luck and try to enjoy your special day! It goes by way too fast!

What I am Thankful For

I figured I would share my happy things with you! Maybe my things can remind you of some of your happy things, and if there is anything that can brighten up our days then we should let it in! (These will be in no particular order.)

1. My husband: My husband is my best friend. We have been married almost a year and together for over 8 years, and over that time we’ve had our ups and downs, but through it all he has been my constant. He is always there for me, and he makes me smile. Without him I’d be lost
2. My Dog: Tinkerbell is 4 1/2 years old. I always knew I wanted a dog, but I never realized how much I NEEDED a dog. I always call her my savior because she was there for me during some down times. She is always happy when I come home, and she is always ready to be my friend. I would do anything for her and she knows it.
3. My family: I had the most wonderful childhood. When I look back on it I am left with only happy memories. Now, I am happy to say my family and I are so very close. Even though we are separated by some distance, I know they are always there. My mom is one of my best friends, and my dad is the best and most supportive dad a girl could ask for. It’s somewhat of a joke in our family but I speak to them both like 10 times a day. I love and respect them. My sister is also one of my best friends. She is always there when I need to talk, and I hope she knows I am there for her too. My brother is 6 years younger than me and is the most amazing person. He is kind and gentle, and I know that he would do anything for me. At this moment he is traveling Europe on his own…sometimes I think I live my life vicariously through him, since I know I could never do what he is doing.
4. Wine: Does it make me an alcoholic to say that wine makes me happy? I love sitting down during the evening and relaxing with my glass of wine. Sometimes my favorite thing to do is sit with my dog and my husband, watch our favorite shows, and indulge in a glass of wine.
5. Friendlys: I LOVE Friendlys! My husband calls it “just a bad diner”, but I call it Heaven! I crave the Grilled Cheese and French fries from Friendly’s, and if I am really fat that day I LOVE to eat their cyclones (which are now called Friendzee’s, but I will always call them cyclones). And if I am really fat I LOVE the Munchie Mania! They make the best cheese quesadillas!
6. My Home: I am a bit of a homebody. I am very happy being in my home…I love my old couch, I love that the house is new, I love my big bedroom, I love my closets and I love my bed.
7. TV: Yes I said it…TV makes me happy. I know it’s sad, but it’s true. I was going to put down a favorite show, but I realized that there are too many that I like! I wrote in a previous post about “Martooni Thursday“ and that says it all…I love my time at night to sit on my couch and watch my shows. Some people have hobbies or activities that they like to do…me? I enjoy my TV!
8. The Beach: Although it’s hard to fathom sitting at the beach right now since it’s been the longest winter ever, but I love the beach. Growing up my family always went to the beach for 1 week in the summer. Those are some of my best memories. Now, my family gets a beach house every summer in New Jersey for week. I look forward to going every year. The beach is one of the things I actually like about Long Island. Long Island is great for about 3 months…June, July and August. The beach is so close! I don’t get to go as much as I’d like…and maybe it’s just the idea of the beach that makes me happy…but I do love the beach.
9. My friends: I have some great friends. I should say my husband and I have great friends. I love that Evan and I share our group of friends. Over the years they have all molded together. I love when they stop by, and I love when we hang out and do things together. They are wonderful people, and I know that they will be in my life for years to come.
10. My Wedding: Yes I know, it happened almost a year ago, but the memories live on. I love to relive it by looking at pictures, or our video. It makes me smile every time!

So let’s share! What makes you happy? Let’s start the day off thinking of happy things!

Everyone has those material fetishes that make them happy. For some it is shoes, or others it is make up. For me, it is perfume! I revel in the joys of Sephora or other department stores with rows and rows of perfumes. Just walking around and spraying those perfumes on those little white sticks makes me smile.

My View on Perfume

Some people have a signature scent. When they walk past you and you smell them, or smell that scent elsewhere you just think of them. Not me. I have tons of scents that make me who I am. Each little bottle serves its purpose. I have sunny day perfumes, perfumes that I think go with the color brown (yes I know weird), perfumes for date night, and perfumes for weekdays and weekends.

Perfume for My Wedding Day

When I was getting married one of the big decisions I had to make was which scent would represent my wedding day. What smell would remind of that day years to come? What scent won? (mind you I tried scents for months) Hanae Mori! (I will link to all the perfumes mentions on the bottom of this post). The scent was light and clean. It wasn’t something that would be too strong and give me a headache, and it wasn’t something that others would find overwhelming when they hugged and congratulated me. In the end it was a perfect choice and it reminds me of that wonderful day every time I wear it!

Favorite Perfumes

Some of my favorites for daytime include: Angel, Angel violet, burberry, burberry weekend, Hanae Mori, Sarah Jessica Parker, Burberry Brit,

Some of my favorites for nighttime include:  Angel Alien, Gucci Rush, Oscar de la renta

Yes I have them all! I covet many others, but I tend to wait to receive them as a Christmas gift from “Santa” (my parents are very generous with Christmas gifts).

So what are your favorites?! As you can tell I am always ready to find any excuse to find a new scent. Also, what do you have a tendency to buy a lot of?

Roomba vacuum

 

Cuisinart Toaster

Cuisinart Griddle

wedding shower and I think it’s about time to evaluate the items that I use the most, and share this with others who may be in the process of registering, or even buying items for their household.

I will put these items in no particular order. I am linking the pictures to the bed bath and beyond website so you can see more information about them if you are interested. I am not necessarily recommending these “brands”, but they are the ones that I am currently using and they are working great.

Useful Wedding Registry Items:

1: The Cuisinart Compact 4 slice toaster Since starting Weight Watchers over a year ago I find myself eating toast for breakfast every day, therefore it seems that this item has proved to be very useful. I chose a toaster over a toaster oven because I feel like it toasts it better, not to mention the minimal counter space it uses up.

2: Cuisinart™ Griddler™ with Removable Plates This item’s usefulness has just come about. We live in a townhome in which we can’t grill, and therefore I never even attempted to buy any steaks. Once I gave it a try I realized what I was missing! It’s compact and fits in a cupboard and is very powerful. It grills up steaks in minutes and they are very tasty! I haven’t really tried the panini press yet, but I did just buy turkey and swiss and I think I will give that a try tomorrow! When I have a family I look forward to cooking pancakes for them on it

3: KitchenAid® 7-Quart Slow CookerI am a huge fan of the crock pot! If you can plan ahead a day in advance and have all the ingredients this little guy can make your life a lot easier! For example I

want a roast…So in the AM I put the roast in the crock pot with the potatoes and carrots and Voila! Dinner is ready when you get home from work! I personally want to get a smaller one so that I can cook things like appetizers and such. This big one is great for a family. There are tons of recipes to be used here!

4: Pizza Stone You might be like me and ask “what the heck is a pizza stone?!” Don’t worry, you wouldn’t be the only one. I had no idea what this wonderful little contraption was until my mom recommend I register for one. Wikipedia defines a pizza stone as…

A pizza stone is a flat stone or piece of ceramic or earthenware used to evenly distribute oven heat to pizzas or other baked goods, more or less mimicking the effects of cooking a pizza in a masonry oven. The thermal mass and porous nature of the stone used also helps absorb moisture, resulting in a crisp crust.

It really does just that. If you have frozen pizza you can cook it on the stone and it makes the crust all nice and crispy. I use it all the time to bake my cookies. It cooks them perfectly! It has many uses and this is why I find it a necessary staple for cooking/baking.

5: Towels/Guest Towels I don’t care if you have sets already I think it’s important to register for towels. I knew that I wanted a nice set of towels, but one of the greatest things I did was register for “Guest towels”. I have them on a shelf in the bathroom and when I have  house guests, they know where they are and are welcome to use them when they shower. I feel like it makes people comfortable to know that they are there, and that they have their own to use. It helps since my family is from out of town, so when they stay there is enough there for them to use.

6: AeroBed:This is one of the items on my registry that I did not get. I know this post is supposed to be about items that I got and have used, but I feel this is something that people don’t think about. Whether you have 1 bedroom or 5, it seems that people at some point in their lives will have houseguests that outnumber their rooms. This would make them comfortable, and wont’ take up too much space. It’s something I would like to get in the future.

7: iRobot® Roomba® Vacuum This I received from “Santa” at Christmas. It was an item that I did not get from my registry (due to it’s expensive price tag) but I feel like it is one of the items I was most excited to get! Others doubted that it would actually work like it is supposed to, but I can attest that “Rosie” (I named the Roomba) does her job extremely well. Mind you, it is not meant for the big jobs. Rosie works best as a maintenance girl. I run her pretty much daily and she makes the carpets look nice and freshly vacuumed. I love sitting upstairs working and knowing that someone/something else is doing the vacuuming.

8:  Shark Steam Mop This is great for my minimal uncarpeted areas. I have linoleum in my bathrooms and kitchen and a small patch of tile in front of my door. This works much better than the Swiffer Wet Jet or even a real mop. Since the mopping area is so small there is no need for the bucket and mess a real mop makes.

9:  Good China I am so happy that I chose to register for my good china. It was something I thought a lot about and was happy that I chose to go with a middle of the road set. It is not bone china, but that runs for almost $100/place setting on average. In my opinion that wasn’t a present I would receive at my shower due to the hefty price tag. That price is more of a wedding gift. I registered for Mikasa Cameo platinum set and my mom bought me most of the settings. This was more around the range of $40 a set and I thought it was a price that would allow me to get the whole 12 sets I wanted. I love dinner parties (as you can see in my previous posts) and I get excited to set a nice table. It is something I will always have and I can remember I got it for my wedding shower.

I’d love for you to share you favorite home items that you use. I am always open to new ideas.  These above items are just a few that stand out in my daily routine, and I hope some of you find this helpful.