Cake, Cake, CAAAKKKEEE!

So, I'm a little bit strung-out on sugar...STILL...from meeting with our cake lady today. Her name is Angela Bowden (Sugar Art by Angela) and she runs a cake business out of her home in South Port. She was SUPER nice and I know she's going to do a great job on our cakes.

She made a miniature white cake with butter cream icing and a miniature chocolate cake with butter cream icing. We got to test that out and it was DE-LISH!

She does all kinds of flavors, and I wasn't dead-set on any particular flavor. So, after trying the cake that she already had baked up...I just had to choose them. I hadn't planned on chocolate being incorporated into the wedding cake, but once I had hers...OH MY!

So, this is what we decided on:
It will be 4 tiers (each tier is double layered). The top tier, won't be used and will be what we freeze for the year later. The bottom layer is round, the next one is hexagon, the next round, and the top hexagon. The cake flavors will alternate with each tier. The top tier...will be chocolate, of course...because that's what I will want to taste again! Chocolate is one of my favorites! =D So, anyway--then between all the layers, we are going to have raspberry filling. After I told her I loved raspberry filling, she actually pulled some out that she had in her fridge from a wedding the weekend before. It was delicious as well! Then, to cover everything...the cake will be iced with an off-white/candle light white colored butter cream. There will be dots on two of the layers and a vine-ish looking design on the other two (alternating)...and our monogram on one side of the bottom hexagon layer. Each tier will also have satin eggplant colored ribbon around the bottoms. The very top will be topped with flowers that Kirby Holt (our flower man...from Blossoms in Chipley--AWESOME--I will have to tell about him in another post!) fix up for us. Think deep-deep purple calla lilies.

I don't know if you can imagine that in your head, but it is beautiful. I had a picture cut out of a magazine of the idea I had in mind, but I gave it to her for a reference...so, I can't show you. You will just have to wait and see at the wedding. =)




The grooms cake, I kind of want to keep to keep a surprise. I will say that the cake will be red velvet (both of our favorites) with cream cheese filling. The icing will probably be fondant (which I'm not a big fan of for taste) because of all the details it will have. That's all I'm saying.
=)



I will finish this post with two pictures--one is of my wedding band (obviously not on my finger...that's the salesman's finger) and a picture of a cake that helped me decide on the dots and hexagon part of the cake:


This picture does the ring NO justice. It's absolutely gorgeous...I LOVE it! It's hard to tell in the picture and they look darker than they really are...but those darker diamonds that look brown, are actually champagne diamonds.

The dots are going to be more like the ones on the top...not the really really tiny ones on the middle tier. I just love hexagon-shaped cakes.

Our Engagement Party...

So, my parents and Chop's parents threw an engagement party for us. My grandparent's and aunts helped with it a lot too. I don't think we can ever tell them enough how much we appreciated it. It turned out so great! They did such a good job of putting it together...it was casino themed. After a game similar to that on "Here Come The Newly Weds" and dinner, there were casino type games set up upstairs.

It seems like they were all working most of the time that we were there, but I hope they were all able to have fun too.

It really was wonderful! It was great to spend the evening with all of our friends and family that care about us the most.

The countdown is down to 4 months now...exciting!!

Here are some pictures from it:

=)

My future husband...I still haven't gotten used to saying that

With my cousins, Tiffany & Jonathan

With my mom and dad

With my future FIL and MIL

With my future BIL, SIL, and nephew/nieces

With my Aunt Cissy, Uncle Keith, and Brent

With my granny and poppa

The Couples Game

I forgot to mention in my last update that I had my appendix removed!

Some of you know about it and some of you don't, but here's a picture of it that the surgeon took with the camera they put in my belly during surgery. It's pretty nasty, so if you don't want to see it...don't scroll down.

Today is my first day back to work on the ambulance after getting off light-duty. Dang, it's good to be back!!!

Honeymoon...

This won't be a long post, but I haven't written in a while, so I'm going to give a quick update.

I found a woman to do my wedding memory/guest book. She is awesome and she is handmaking it. Here is a link to her site. She does them in the colors that you choose and she does a questionnaire in order for it to match the couples that she is doing them for:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7047147



Also, we finalized our plans for the honeymoon. We will be flying out the morning after the wedding...out of the airport in Fort Walton. We'll fly to Denver, Colorado and then drive to Steamboat, Colorado from there. We will stay in Steamboat all week long and be at the Wyndham Vacation Resort. The next Friday morning will be check-out day. After checking out, we will drive to Salt Lake City, Utah and stay for 2 whole days and 3 nights. Then, we'll wake up early that Monday morning and drive back to Denver (it's cheaper to fly out of that same airport and do a round-trip instead of fly out of the SLC airport) to catch our flight back home. We should be home around 10:30 that Monday night.

I'm so excited! We're going to have a good time.





And, here is a picture from a wedding we went to this past weekend. It was the wedding of one of the groomsmen in our wedding. It was also the 5 month mark out from our wedding too. =)


P.S. I've never worn that "maxi" dresses before...or even tried them on, because I didn't think I was tall enough or skinny enough to pull them off. But, I finally tried one on the other day when I was trying to find something to wear to the wedding and I loved it! They are comfortable...and you don't have to "suck in" all day! LOL!!

Bridesmaid Dresses and Reception Dress

These are the three bridesmaid dresses that I chose. I took Tiffany and Lindsey, my cousins, to David's Bridal in Tallahassee...with these in mind. They tried them on and they looked just as great as I had thought they would. They are made out of jersey knit, so they are a real heavy, but flowy material. Instead of making you look like you are in a potato sack and have no figure, it drapes around your curves that you DO have, without clinging to you and making you feel like it shows EVERYTHING. Maybe this way, my girls will not all be fretting and worrying about if they are having a day where they are bloated or just feeling frumpy. Also, this way...they can choose whichever neckline they want and makes them feel comfortable. =D I am also going to be telling them that if any of them want a shrug, or something to wear in case it's chilly, to let me know and I'll start looking for something like that too. We went ahead and put in Tiffany and Linds' sizes and now we just need to get everybody else's (or if they want to go try the three and see which neckline they like the best for themselves) and get them ordered. They look so good. I'm very excited about it.


The other day, I decided that I wanted to get a dress to wear to the reception. I am going to wear my wedding gown to do the dances in, and the cake cutting, and all the major things, but then I wanted to change into something that I wouldn't be as worried about spilling or people stepping on. Also, one that I can dance in! Obviously, I wasn't going to post my actual wedding dress, but this one looks so different from the picture I'm posting, to where I don't think it gives a real good idea of what it looks like anyway. LOL. Plus, I don't care if it's seen ahead of time. I'll probably even let Chop see this one before-hand. You can't tell from the picture, but it's a soft ivory color. The empire waist and shoulder straps have beading on them. The dress is made in mesh material that looks like tiny pleats all over. I don't know how to really describe what I mean, but it's very pretty...and comfortable! It looks a bit Grecian, to me. Well, the bridesmaid dresses do too, actually. I'm going to be getting my granny to cut it to where it's tea-length and she will also be putting some more embellishments on it to make it stand out just a LITTLE bit more. I got it from David's Bridal. Apparently, it's one of the wedding dresses they have there! I could see it being a good wedding gown for a beach wedding or something. Anyway, I'm really excited about it too. =D

Chop's Wedding Band...

8mm Tungsten Carbide comfort fit wedding band with 18 karat white gold inlay

This is the ring that Chop picked out yesterday. I put the deposit down and now we're just waiting for it to come in. I really like it! It looks good on him. From what we can tell, anyway. It wouldn't go all the way on his finger because nobody just carries around a size 15 ring. LOL.

We went to Maharaja's first because that's where he got my engagement ring from. I needed to get my ring cleaned and certified for its 6 month check-up, so we looked there while we were at it. To make a long story short, let's just say that the price of men's bands...(with no diamonds, he doesn't want them) was ridiculous. We looked at the same designer as we were looking at there, while we were at Reed's and their prices were MUCH better.

So, at least we have his ring out of the way now. Now, we just need to find mine at some point. We still have 6 months, so there is plenty of time.

I'm just glad that he's happy with his. =)







On another note, we had to take Uga back to where Chop bought him from, this time last year. He is deaf and he is very hard to teach or get onto when he's bad. He just doesn't understand when you discipline him because he can't hear your tone or anything to let him know you aren't pleased with him. Well, he's had a chewing and dragging problem ever since we've had him. He tore up ours and Chop's parents grill covers. He's knocked both grills over in the middle of the night, numerous times. We tried to wait and see if he would outgrow it like Rocko did. We even fixed him to see if that would calm him down. He also killed Chop's mom's outside cat several months ago. So, on top of all that...everybody was worried one day he would be sleeping and one of the kids (one of his nieces or his nephew) would walk up to him and startle him, since he couldn't hear them coming, and that he'd bite one of them. We still decided to wait and see if he would outgrow it. He'd even go for a while and be very good and not chew things. Well, there was finally the last straw yesterday morning.

He broke out of their pin, which was already boarded up and "rigged" a bunch of times to where it looked like Alcatraz or something. Then, he messed up several things on Chop's dad's VERY expensive 0-turn (I guess that's what they are called?) lawn mower...including ripping up the seat and gear shifter. It's one of the mowers that they use for the family lawn business that they do in their spare time while they aren't at their real jobs. So, his dad was not pleased at all and Chop ended up having to take him somewhere. Thank God he didn't drop him off on the side of the road, or else I would have been EXTREMELY upset with him. But, the man that he bought him from took him back and is going to keep him there. He was willing to give Chop back the little bit of money that he gave him to buy him, but Chop didn't take it and told him to not worry about it and to just take care of him.

I was very very upset about it at first and it took me a while to get over being upset. Mainly because he didn't tell me until I got to his house, that he had to do that. And also because I didn't get to say bye to him. But, after explaining himself to me and explaining how aggravated everybody was, I see where he is coming from. Everybody loved him, but he was just becoming more problematic than it was worth and he needed to go somewhere where he will maybe get along better with a fenced in area or something. He was costing everybody their nice things that he was eating up too. I miss him, but I still have my baby Rocko. I'm just worried that Rocko will be lonely because they were buds. Rocko always watched out for him and always made sure he was right behind him. I feel like Rocko had the instincts enough to know that Uga couldn't hear. So, we're trying to give Rocko some extra attention right now. And he still has Chelsea and Jason's dogs that he can play with, so maybe he will be okay after some time.

So, anyway...
We've had some pretty bad luck with animals lately. =(

They Came In...

The Save-The-Dates came in! Whew! Now, we just have to finish getting the rest of the addresses...and then address EACH AND EVERY postcard. Yikes! It's going to suck, but they look really nice! They turned out so good. I took a picture with my cell phone. They are really good quality...and thick. I was very impressed. I got them from Magnet Street.

I also realized that I never posted a picture of our new cat. We adopted her from the Alaqua Animal Reserve. Now, I usually HATE going to animal shelters. They make me sad and make me want to take every single animal home with me. This place looks more like exactly what it's called. A reserve. There are cats, dogs, horses, rabbits, ducks, chickens, etc...that all needed to be rescued or were malnourished or dropped off/stray. They take really good care of the animals there. We named or cat, Bodie. She is SO sweet. I donated some extra money after we paid the adoption fee, just because that's how much I loved the place. When I get some extra free time, I may even start volunteering there. The animals there were BEAUTIFUL! Here is a picture of her snuggling up to Chop. She does this every night. She gets as close to your face as possible and then wraps herself around your neck into a little ball and falls asleep. :) She's so sweet. She's not Bella, but we love her just the same. Also, her birthday is actually the same date that Bella died (obviously 2 years before that though), so I kind of think that it was meant to be that we picked Bodie out of all the other cats.







This weekend, on Saturday, I'm taking my cousin Tiffany (and hopefully Lindsey) to Tallahassee to look at bridesmaids dresses. I have a pretty good idea of the dresses I want everybody to wear, but I wanted to make sure they looked good on everyone before committing to them. They are all the same fabric and style...they just have 3 different necklines that they will be able to choose from. So, we will see what that ends up looking like.

Ordered S-T-D's and Logan Is Here...

I picked out the Save-The-Dates today, finally...and got them ordered. Here is what they look like! Obviously, this is the website version and not our actual S-T-D's...


We have been putting off getting some pictures done, so we could choose them for the S-T-D's, because I didn't want to bother Katie with doing them, since she was about to POP with Logan. So, finally, I just decided that I'd get my mom to take a few pictures with a digital camera and also a non-digital camera. I figured that if we took enough of them, we'd surely get a few out of the bunch that we could use. Sure, they aren't as good as they would have been if we had paid extra money to have them done professionally, but I think they are good enough for S-T-D's, anyway. We went to Chop's station and used the ambulance there to take the pictures in (and around). I think it's pretty obvious why we chose an ambulance, but not all of his extended family has met me...and not all of my extended family has met him. By putting our wedding website address on the S-T-D's will help explain it a little bit though, once they read the sections about ourselves, to see that we both work with different ambulance services.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the ones Mom took:

The very next day, Katie was scheduled to be induced at 5am. She and Seamus went in and were going to call us when she was about 5-6 cm. Next thing I know, it's 11am and he text messages me saying she is at 8.5!!! We rush out the door and he says that he would have let us know sooner, but that she went from about 5-8.5 in the span of an hour!

She is the PERFECT pregnant woman, that's for sure. She only pushed a few times, once it was time, and he was out...and PERFECT. She was smiling the whole time and didn't even break a sweat! Not to mention the fact that she did NOT look 9 months pregnant!

His older brother, Gavin, who just turned 3...was not able to make it. He was on his way to the hospital with Katie's sister and he got sick on the way up. They think he has a stomach virus of some sort, so he's going to have to wait until his new brother comes home before he can see him.

Seamus is Chop's best friend. They might as well be brothers...everybody thinks they are, anyway. They also work together. So, Katie and Chop have always been very close too! When Chop and I started dating, Katie and Seamus were there from the very first date (it was a double date), so they have become some of my very best friends and I love them very much. I love both of their families too...they are all such good people! Anyway, we look at Gavin as a nephew and now we have a new nephew to add to the mix!

Here are a few pictures from his birthday (including one picture from the night before of Gavin and I)...and his measurements:
Logan Joseph O'Neill
Born on April 10, 2009 at 12:56pm
6lbs 4oz
20" long

Well, I think that's about all the updating I have for now... =D
I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!!

Very long update...

Well, I haven't written anything on here in a while. I was planning on writing something earlier this past week, after the bridal faire that we went to, but we had a tragic accident happen Wednesday night that has just made me very sad and bitter for the past few days.

I don't feel like explaining what happened because I'm at work right now and don't want to start crying in front of the guys (The only person I feel "comfortable" crying around, is Chop. I don't even like crying in front of my family). But, to make a long story short, Chop and I lost our adopted baby, Bella, due to a VERY freak accident on Wednesday night. It was nothing we could have helped or that we would have thought to happen and be able to prevent. She was strictly an inside cat and we thought that nothing could happen to her with things being that way, as long as we took good care of her and loved her. Well, we were wrong and it was probably the only thing that could have possibly gone wrong to hurt her...and it did. Not only was that tragic enough, but we then had to watch her die while we couldn't do anything to make her better or hurt less.

We have both been very upset about it for the past few days and so I haven't felt like doing much of anything. We finally got out of the house last night, and I wasn't even able to manage getting through the whole night without tearing up several times. It may sound stupid to some people that we let something like a pet dying get to us so much, but she really was our baby. She was our first big responsibility that we had together (besides the dogs, but they are always outside and they walk around to his parent's house sometimes) and we were taking care of her so good and doing things that were best for her...and then she ended up dying. She wasn't like most cats where they like to be independent and be alone a lot of the time. She was always waiting at the door when we'd pull into the yard, she would stay right underneath us any time we walked to a different part of the house, and she'd lay around and be lazy with us on days that we were too. We could even put our head down next to her and she'd starting nudging her face up against our cheeks, as if she was giving us kisses. Chop didn't even want a cat to begin with. I had to beg him to let me get her...but, she was full grown, fixed, fat, and lazy and I was finally able to talk him into it. He ended up loving her and being just as attached as I was.

Anyway, that's enough about that...I just wanted to talk about how much I loved her for a minute. Then, I'll try to get onto actual wedding stuff. Here are a few pictures of our "Bella Button."

She loved on him every night when we'd go to bed. This was actually only a couple of weeks before she died on March 4, 2009. :'(

The day we brought her home, after getting her settled in...I was sooooo happy.

She was such a priss pot. Even if no one had told us she was a girl...we would have known that she was.

After giving him hugs and kisses, she would conk out on top of him...and then move over to me a few minutes later and sleep under my arm or on top of my legs.

Anyway, about the bridal faire...
It was freezing outside. I've been to two others and they were inside and it was so hot because of all the people running around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to get their papers signed before the prize drawings. I wore a short sleeved shirt and brought a jacket because it was cold outside, but figured that SURELY it would be inside, since it was one of the coldest days all winter (it was the day that it snowed as close to us as Dothan and Troy). Well, we pull up to Pier Park...and it's outside. The wind is CRAZY and it's freezing! Chop and his mom were going to meet us there, so they brought a couple of blankets and Chop's extra jackets so we could bundle up once we saw that it was outside. We went around to all of the vendors as fast as we could and signed everything in record speed. The idiots that were supposed to put up the siding on the tent were about 3 hours late...and then once they got there, they acted like they'd never done it before.

The whole thing was very unorganized. While most bridal faires seem to last about 3-4 hours...this one was over the span of 6 hours. They had the drawings split up where they did a few of them every hour or so...but, it was never exactly a specific amount of time between each drawing. So, basically, it made it where you felt like you had to sit there the whole time to see if your name was called because you had to be present to win. Well, we pulled up the Excursion as close as we could, where we could still hear the announcer and just decided we would get out and run up if we won something. Well, my name was called during the first drawing and it was finally something better than a picture frame! I won a free Groom's cake, as long as I use her for my Bride's cake. I went to her website and her cakes are awesome. She had the best tasting cake there, that's for sure. The best part was that it wasn't dry like a lot of cake ends up being. (cakesbytanis.com if you want to check out her cakes)

We also went to Dillard's and registered for our flatware and our casual dinnerware.
A few days later, Mom and I went to Bed, Bath, & Beyond and registered some more, picked out formal dinnerware (china) and Chop and I have to go back and finish when we both have time and have a day off together.

Then, today...I got a phone call from one of the vendors and it was to tell me that I won her drawing for a free engagement photography session. I went to her site and she is just starting in the wedding photography, but she's been traveling, taking pictures of objects and people from a distance. She doesn't have her wedding photography site up yet, but she sent me to her traveling photography site and she's pretty good. She's not GREAT, but she's good...and a lot better than somebody that had no clue what they were doing. She also seems to have a good eye. Her camera just doesn't seem to be of GREAT quality...plus she uses transparencies and not digital. So, I think that could be why. I don't know much about photography, but I am pretty sure that digital pictures turn out better usually. But, free is free is free, so I'm not complaining. I'm still very happy about it. She also wants us to come to Panama City instead of her coming to DeFuniak or Chipley. So that's going to keep us from being able to do pictures in the ambulance that Chop works on, for our save-the-dates. I think we still may try to get that to happen though if our friend Katie is still willing to take them for us before she pops (she is pregnant and due next month). She was going to do them for free because she just takes pictures for fun. She's not a professional, but she takes pictures of her son and niece and she's pretty dang good...and she has a good camera.

Anyway, I think that's about it.
I'm going to leave you with a picture of Chop and I while we were in Dillard's. He's smiling SUPER HUGE in the picture because I had just told him that he could "shoot" things since I got to "shoot" when we registered at Target. He ended up going nuts with it when I wasn't looking and registered for all sorts of RIDICULOUS things, that I ended up having to delete online once I got home. What a dork.