Four

Yep, you guessed it! Today marks four months since the wedding. Time is absolutely flying by! Can you believe we are in October already? Where has the time gone? I think I've posted my share of wedding photos so I'll spare you this time. However, I will direct you to the new pages I added to the top of the blog. If at any time you decide you'd like to look at our marvelous photos again just click on My favorite day and you can browse the photos whenever you'd like! I also added an "about me" tab of sorts for anyone that doesn't know me very well!

We received a sweet surprise to mark our four month "anniversary" today! Our fantastic cinematographers Artworks Wedding Cinema posted our "Engagement Film" on Facebook. Until I started shopping for a videographer I had never even seen or heard of an engagement film. It is basically the same thing as engagement photos but they capture you on film. When Artworks came to us about doing one for them we jumped on the chance! No one can resist the beauty of Jekyll Island! Chris and I are seriously awkward, ya'll but we had fun shooting the film! It shouldn't be much longer and we will have our much anticipated wedding film in our hands and I am so excited to see it. We struck gold with Artworks and highly recommend them! I hear they are booking faster than ever so jump on it!

Keep an eye our for our Wedding Film

Click below to watch our Engagement Film: 

Chris & Cari's Engagement Film  

PS, Although it's small, this is my fiftieth post! Hooray! I am enjoying blogging and hope anyone who is reading is too! Celebrate the small things, my friends! Until next time. :)

What to do with Wedding Cards?

Confession time, y'all. I am an enormous pack rat. I am pretty much a borderline hoarder at this point. Not the empty trash piled to your ceiling type; the stuff type. My family makes so much fun of me because of it. I have never really liked to throw anything away, but it has only gotten worse as I've gotten older. I am the most sentimental person you will ever meet, I guarantee it. A lot of it has to do with my grandmother - she kept everything and I am following right in her footsteps - especially anything that has to do with my grandparents since all of them have passed away. I am so afraid of getting rid of something I'll want later or need! Now that I'm a teacher (well, not literally at the moment) it's even worse! I'm always thinking to myself, will I be able to use that in Social Studies? A Science lab? You'd be amazed, right EDMS friends?

I've got a giant chest at my parents house full of middle school and high school memorabilia - cheerleading tags, notes, newspaper clippings, etc - that I can't stand to part with. I've also got a giant hat box full of anything and everything Chris and I could accumulate during our relationship  - that's 8 years worth of notes, ticket stubs, receipts, etc. I think it might have something to do with my love of history. I love learning about anything - seriously - but especially people and how they change over time. I love looking back at my grandparents dating photos, or hearing stories about my dad's childhood growing up on Black Rock. I can't wait to share my life with my children, and what better way to do that than though showing them things that meant so much to me at one point in my life? Do I need those BAR slips from my friends in Middle School? No way. But each one of them has a story attached to them that I can't wait to share. My version of "How I met your mother," I suppose...

Anyway, my hoarding tendencies only got a thousand times worse when we got engaged! I have saved every. little. thing. that has had anything to do with the engagement and wedding. I've got yet another box full of those things. I keep getting the box out to look through it and decided I wanted to do something more fun with some of my things.

If you're on Pinterest you've probably seen these things floating around for a while now and I finally decided to make my own. My first project was this "Wedding Card Book." This is all the cards we got at the showers and at the wedding. It's a pretty thick book so I had to use two large binder clips. I found the clips at Wal-Mart for less than $2.00 a pack in the office supplies section. The pack included four large clips and four small clips. All I did was use the hole punch and try to keep in centered so the cards were even. I stacked my cards from largest (in the back) to smallest (in the front) and used a pretty card for the front. Thanks to my sweet, sweet, friend Sarah Richards for this beautiful card! 

After that one I decided to make a few other ones! This next one is specifically our wedding paraphernalia. It includes: 

Wedding Invitation 

Guest accommodation card

Response card

Our three wedding shower invites

Engagement Party Invite

Rehearsal Dinner Invite

Guest responses (RSVP's, both yes and no)

This one is probably my favorite! If you registered at Gift Garden or Davis Brothers you know what these are - the cards on all the presents that say what the gift is and who it is from. Most of them have hand written notes from the giver. I kept every single one! I will cherish these forever! I love reading the sweet thoughts from the ladies at our church in their beautiful handwriting and the funny ones from my friends! This way I will never forget who gave me what gift. I put a tag from our gift bags at the wedding on the front for the "cover."

Lastly, I decided to put my post card collection on a small ring. I don't have many but my collection is growing. I decided to start this when I went to Italy last summer and it's so fun to look back at where I've been.

If you go anywhere interesting, send me a post card please!

I made one other one for miscellaneous cards but didn't take a picture of it. I only used the ones I had here in Dalton because the rest are in a box (shocker) at home. 

What do you think? Are cards worth keeping? I vote YES!

The Countdown

Today I'm beginning my official countdown! I am SO ready for all things fall! Who's with me? I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I haven't left the house in a few days. This has made my fall obsession even worse... Let me explain, by being a hermit I've been able to watch the weather outside without actually feeling it. I've had my kitchen spice, apple, and cinnamon candles burning while eating chili for dinner. Let me just say y'all, it's been wonderful. I am so ready for the hot to move out and the breezy cool weather to move in! There are so many special things we do during this time of year that it's no wonder it's our absolute favorite.

The first major thing on our countdown is our beach trip in September. We usually take our family beach trip in June/July but this year because of the wedding we assumed we wouldn't take another trip. We were in Jekyll for almost a week surrounding the wedding and thought that would suffice. Wrong. Seeing as everyone was more exhausted by the time they got home that didn't really go as planned. As the summer progressed we found ourselves longing for the salt and sand! So, in late July we booked a house in Myrtle Beach for the week of September 16th. ONE month y'all! Can't wait! I'm super pumped that it will be cooler and less crowded when we go! I'm sure this won't be the last you hear about it!

Less than three weeks after we get home from the beach Chris and I will be heading to Gatlinburg for our annual family trip. This will be my 8th time going with Chris's family and we look forward to it more than anything! It's bizarre that after all these years we will finally be married. We will spend a long weekend with the family in a cabin and I couldn't be more ready for that weekend to come! It really is the kickoff for our absolute most favorite time of year!

Almost two months later we will travel the mountain back to Gatlinburg for the Christmas parade the first weekend of December. My family has always made this trip and it's a really special time for me. This will be two years from when Chris proposed - SO crazy, right? My goodness, how time flies! Just thinking about Christmas time gets my blood pumping! If you know me, you know I am A+, #1, crazy, Christmas fanatic! By the way, it's 105 days until Thanksgiving - AKA the day I can officially begin decorating for Christmas!

Okay, now that I've made myself look sufficiently crazy I'm going to bed. Chris's parents are coming over tomorrow night to spend the weekend with us! We have some fun things planned so stay tuned for some pictures. Nighty, night y'all!

Oops

Here's what's sad... that after I posted my most recent post I had to go backwards and read all my previous posts in order to remember what I had already blogged about. That's what happens when you wait a thousand years in between posts. A couple of posts ago I posted some pictures of my then-fiance and myself that were our make-shift engagement pictures. After scheduling engagement pictures last fall and being canceled on ten minutes before our session, we let time slip up on us and never had pictures taken. Who needs em anyway, right? Well, after taking those pictures just for fun we decided why not have engagement pictures taken a month before the wedding? In twenty years will it really matter that we waited so long? Nope - and I am SO glad we did! I got in touch with a church friend and asked if she would take some pictures for us (very late notice due to my husband's crazy work schedule). We met her late one afternoon at the most beautiful location - an old "home place" north of Clarkesville near my parent's home. My dad and I have always loved this place and always joke that it would be our first purchase if we won the lottery - who cares if it's not for sale! We had a beautiful day, though very hot and muggy, and a beautiful time! The pictures turned out perfect and we love them! If you want someone super sweet, dependable, and so easy to be around, hit up Deven Stapleton!  

Backtracking

Basically, the last time I posted was just before my student teaching semester began. Now I post just as student teaching has come to an end. I cannot say I am surprised. This has been the busiest time of my life: teaching, class, wedding planning, my showers, friends' showers, etc. What was I thinking planning a wedding for three weeks after I graduate from UGA? I always have such high hopes for blogging but have failed yet again. And it's a shame too, seeing as I have had some interesting stories to share! Because my sweet fiancé surprised me with a new computer I only have photos from this weekend to post. Enjoy!

These are a few photos from one of my best friend's showers last weekend:

  

Maid of Honor, Bride, Matron (to-be) of Honor

Bridesmaids with the Bride

Since Chris and I didn't have Engagement Pictures we took some pictures with my camera to use in the newspaper announcement

My sister was snapping while my mom was instructing - I'll give it to her - I like this one!

We only got one pictures laying with Jasper because he escaped right after this was taken! He ran like a real wolf all over the property until we finally captured him!

This was right after we caught him - hence the wild tongue and sweaty faces!

Truly one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen

Old school prom pose

These make up for his escape!

Couldn't you just squeeze him to pieces?

Until next time - whenever that may be!

A walk down memory lane

I am always super sentimental during the Christmas season. There have been so many changes over the past year and even more to come in the next year that I can barely keep up! Christmas is busy enough plus we celebrate my fiance's birthday and our "anniversary." I can't wait to celebrate a real anniversary! Really, I just like any excuse to celebrate anything. Yesterday marked 7 years that Chris and I have been together - although my mother refuses to admit we were "going together" that young! Today is his 24th birthday. It is so crazy to believe I have been with him since he was 16! Because I'm such a sentimental sap (and picture freak) I thought I'd post a photo from each of the years. Sadly, I don't have the oldest photos since those were pre-digital camera :)

2004:

 Wow, we look so different!

 September 2005:

HCHS Homecoming

May 2006:

Chris's HCHS graduation

July 2007

July 4th in Helen

August 2008:

Braves game

October 2009:

Annual Gatlinburg trip

December 2010:

Our engagement weekend!

December 2011

Gatlinburg Christmas parade weekend

And today... Happy Birthday to my sweet fiance! Only 166 days until the big day!

I definitely noticed some trends while choosing photos to post... maybe my New Year's resolution will be not to be so predictable! Looking through all those old photos made my heart happy - I encourage you to spend some time and do the same. My next post will be dedicated to the crafts I've been working on over the break. Only 5 days until Christmas! Wahoo!

Four Months Later...

I must admit I completely forgot this blog even existed. Oopsy! So much has happened since I wrote my first post. Well... an entire semester has happened - ending today! Just two more finals and I am home free. I promise I am going to try to post more regularly - maybe this will be one of my many new years resolutions. Maybe I'll get in the habit of posting over Christmas break. My semester has been jam packed with classes, ridiculous middle schoolers, and a little bit of wedding planning. I have so many stories I could tell about my crazy kids but I will save those for another blog post. I know I will have plenty to tell when I am with them every day next semester.

For now here's a little bit about what's been on my mind this weekend. I spent the weekend in Gatlinburg with my sweet fiance for the Christmas Parade. It was a very special weekend for both of us as we celebrated our one year engagement and are officially under the six month mark for the wedding! It was also bittersweet for me because it was my last time staying in the Midtown Lodge. After 73 years they are closing their doors on December 31st. They are literally paving paradise and putting up a parking lot... It's so sad to me when any historic building is torn down, especially one that is so close to my heart. I can kind of understand those crazies who chain themselves to buildings... too bad it's December.

It's not much to look at it but it holds so many memories for my family. Those of you who have lost someone special know what it's like to feel their spirit in a certain place. This is one of those places for me. I could feel my grandparents with me here all weekend and it was so comforting because I miss them tremendously, especially now that Christmas is right about the corner. My grandmother passed away a little over a year ago and this month will mark the thirteenth year my grandfather has been dead. They were the best example of true love, marriage, and Godliness I could imagine. I didn't have them as long as I would have liked but I thank God for blessing my life with them.

 Have you ever seen anything so precious? Me neither.

And of course one to celebrate the holidays:

I inherited my crazy obsession with Christmas from them. My love of wrapping presents from Grandpa and my love of buying gifts from Meme. :) If your grandparents are still alive this Christmas do me a favor - appreciate them, listen to their stories, and tell them how much you love them. No matter how many times you do - it can never be enough!