T Minus 12 Days and I will be Mrs. Paige....

Barbara jumped my ass about no new blogs since the beginning of March so here we go... The last month has been shall we say, chaos? Went to Toronto for work and was sick most of the trip. I hung out as long as I could to consume mass quantities of free food and booze with my co-workers but when the sinuses are clogged and a constant dizzy feeling takes over you tend to not wear your party hat. Benedryl was my friend, and the only reason I was able to breathe and sleep through the night!

Upon returning from cold Canada, David had his bachelor party in Kanasas City and flew out 8 hours later. I throughly enjoyed this night on the couch watching chick flicks and cuddling with the dogs still recovering from my trip. David had a blast with all his boys back home. He sounded a little rough on the phone the next morning but that was to be expected! His flight was delayed getting in and we bith CRASHED as soon as he got home that Sunday night and started the weekly grind all over again.

The following weekend we headed down to Florida for our last pre-wedding planning trip. First I had a test run with my hairdresser to make sure we were on the same page for the do for day, next we chose the toasting flutes and got ready for our meeting portion of the day. We went to Angler's Beachside Bar and Grill for lunch where we had the DJ for the reception meet us to go over the expectations and timeline for the AWESOME party we are going to have. Angler's is also the site of our rehearsal dinner so we met with the meeting planner there, gave her our menu and looked at the space since David had never seen it. It overlooks the gulf and we have rented the entire top floor so it will be quite nice!

For the past two weekends we have been busting our asses cleaning, organizing, and getting the house ready for David's family who is using us as a stopping point enroute to Florida. Since most of his family has never been to our house I really wanted to make sure we are putting our best foot forward, not to mention i want his mother to know that I take good care of her youngest baby. We are both sore but the house has been scrubbed from top to bottom, back porch painted, dogs bathed, guest rooms ready and organization almost complete.

In 4 short days I will head down to Florida on my own for my Florida Bachelorette and Bridal shower weekend! My Maid of Honor, Ceremony Reader, 3 Bridesmaids, Mom, cousin and a handful of my long time girlfriends have rented a condo for the weekend where all of the festivites take place. I have my FINAL dress fitting on Saturday morning and I am so excited. I then return to Birmingham on Sunday just in time for David's sister, her husband and their 3 precious kids arrive (inculding our ring bearer!). Then a week from Wednesday we head to Florida for the biggest day of our lives!

In exactly 12 days my single days are going to be over and my life as Mrs. David Paige will begin! I am nervous, excited and still in total disbelief that he actually wants to spend the rest of his life with ME!!!!!!!!!!! And in 14 days, we will embark on our first adventure as husband and wife to JAMAICA. Bring on the pool bar and all inclusive resort because lord knows the stress of it all has set us up for desperate need for a vacation!

If there are no blogs posted for a couple of weeks, Barbara, I know you will understand since you are IN the wedding! Until next time.....CHEERS!

Stop..breathe... Everyone needs a break

Everyone's life is chaotic right? With me, its non stop. I am an events planner, which translates to evenings, weekends, early mornings....its never consistent. In fact, the only thing that is consistent is the lack there of. Lately, with everything David and I have had going on we often talk more via instant messenger and e-mail then we do in person. Sure we see each other every night after work. We pass each other at the gym as hes arriving and I'm leaving. We have dinner and I am usually passed out by 9:30 p.m. and up at 5 a.m. to start everything over. With the wedding and everything else, my stress level has been at its peak and I have become quite snippy. Of which poor David has felt the brunt of it.

Last week I recieved my bonus from year end 2008. I was praying for enough to cover the cost of the limo and by the grace of god it was enough to cover the limo, the dj and enough to give my amazing (and totally underappreciated by her other managers) administrative assistant a piece of the pie. Anyway, that was somewhat of an answer to our prayers. It lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders. Another "bonus" came about when I was given the option of working a HUGE group that was in house during the day and giving my supervisor the evening supervision. Daivd and I had already planned on going to Nashville on Sunday for the Lawn and Garden show only now we had the option to go up on Saturday night. We drove up after work on Saturday after David ran a 5k and I got off of work and had a room reserved at the Sheraton Nashville Downtown at a rediculously low price (aahh the perks of working for a hotel chain).

On the way up there Daivd drove (as always) and I entertained him..I sang badly, danced like someone mid seizure and we just had a lot of laughs. After checking into the hotel we went to dinner at the Blackstone Brewery. Food was good and so was the beer. Since David is into brewing his own beer i knew this would be a fun place for him....

Then we headed on down to Broadway in Nashville. This is where the famous Ryman Adutiorium, Tootsie's and a slwe of other bars and honkey tonks are.

THe next day we went to the Lawn and Garden show where I ALMOST had David convinced that this would be a great addition to our family....until David thought about it eating the Koi fish out of our pond. Sadly I left my Duckie in Nashville....

After the show we headed on home. My wonderful friend/co-worker Shannon, took care of Macy for us while we were gone. Rocko and Tucker are self sufficent. They will eat when they are hungry so we just fill the food bucket and they are good to go. The cat is somewhat the same way, except he is such a fat ass he probably eats all his food we set out at once and then slips into a food coma the rest of the time we are gone only waking to leave a human sized present in his litter box and cry from the minute we walk in the door until we replenish his bowl. Oh the drama queen.....

And even though he won't admit it... I know he missed her just as much as I did!

While it may have been a short trip and even though David is fighting a cold, I am coming down with one we had a good time. The first road trip not holiday or wedding realted in ages. No real agenda and no interruptions to reconnect after a stretch of chaos and busy schedules. Now it is Monday and the chaos is back to the norm. Work, trip to Toronto next week, David's bachelor party in Kansas City, the last pre-wedding planning trip to Florida and then in 46 days...the wedding!

I am just thankful we were able to stop, take a break, enjoy each other and breathe. Until next time... cheers!

No Bridezilla.....Or at least trying

There are times I want to laugh, times I want to scream and times I want to cry. Frustrations (on my part) have been running extremely high and I am beyond thankful for my AMAZING bridesmaids who are doing their part to make this day unforgettable. Thankful to Jamie my soloist, Hayley my reader, Willie my preacher, Scheaffer & Stephen my ushers, my family for catering to my crazy ass mood swings and for David to be my calming factor and the de-stressor of my LIFE!

There are a couple of major hurdles I have had to overcome and will continue to have to keep trying to overcome until the wedding day and beyond. One of which is LETTING GO! As a professional events planner, it is my job to pay attention to the details. I spent countless hours tying bows on bubbles, assembling, addressing and tracking invitations/responses, placing the custom labels on candy favors, working on the programs, scouring the Internet for the best deals on my candelabra centerpieces....you get the point.... The letting go portion comes in when the day of the wedding I have been the one directing the ceremony, the one making sure the centerpieces are arranged perfectly, the place cards and seating charts are all set and good to go... as the bride..I can't do that. I am laying my trust in a dear friend Neena (who is graciously missing the ceremony to ready the reception hall) and my cousin Kim who will be my ceremony director. In theory all of this is great! Will I actually be able to not have a melt down? We'll see....

The second hurdle is one of great pain. I am sensitive, anyone who knows me knows that. Our wedding guest list was limited to family and close friends. Emphasis on the word "close". I totally understand if some people cant make it, it is in Florida and given the economic status of the country if you have to pass on the mini vacation to Ft. Walton I totally understand. All of this comes to play with one particular friend that has totally broken my heart. On one hand I want to be so forgiving because she has endured such great pain over the last few months with her family that I know all to well but then on the other I just don't understand what I could have done that invitations go ignored and has not even acknowledged that the most exciting thing that could possibly happen in my life is happening. I want to share it with her, I wanted her to be a part of the day but never had the chance to even ask. The bachelorette invitations, text messages have all gone ignored....as well as the wedding invitation.

It cant be said that I haven't tried to reach out to her. I have tried to check on her never even mentioning my life, trying to remain focused on being a shoulder for her if she needed it. I'll admit that when I started dating David my world became consumed....because I fell totally butt crazy in love with him and as an events planner I work...all the time....and the times I wasn't working I was with him. Should I have devoted more time to my friends? Of course. She was fighting her own battles with family stuff and when things went from bad to worse I tried to keep tabs on her and how she was.....I truly did.

In years past I probably would've licked my wounds and walked away but this is someone with whom I had so much fun with, truly connected with and genuinely cared for and considered her to be one of my best friends. As much as I have tried to "let it go" it hurts. I want so badly to be able to share this huge milestone with her but am being forced to give up. If I did something to wrong her or anger her in any way I wish I knew, instead of just being shut out. Hurdle number two is just a big pain in the ass, trying to not be so sensitive, trying to understand that the biggest thing in my life is really not an impacting factor on anyone elses.

The countdown has begun, the cakes ordered, menus chosen, dress fitted, appointments made. In exactly 57 days I get to marry the greatest man to ever walk the face of the earth and I can't wait!!!!!! SO to those who will be there to celebrate with us and those who celebrate from afar, we thank you for your support. I will do my best to overcome my hurdles with a few less tears over the next 57 days and do all that I can to not become the bridezilla I have sworn to not be!

Cheers!

~The future Mrs. David Paige!!!! :)

Ahhh spring...

So while I totally love that the spring is coming with beer on the back porch nights ahead I sad to say that I will soon be losing my future hubby to the back yard and his amazing plants. If you were to come into my house today you would think that you were in the jungle with all of David's tropical plants that come inside to live during the winter months but soon, my house will be back to normal and I will lose my dear sweet David to the yard yet again...well, except for the whole wedding and honeymoon thing. (LOL).

I bring this up because it is truly amazing to me what this man can do in the yard. Why is it that no matter how hard I try I can barely keep a Peace Lily alive? Seriously..... I have learned so much from him and have grown to appreciate more of natures beautiful gifts.

Anyway, my amazing future husband has now started a website featuring his plants and what he has to offer to those like me....those with a black thumb! You can check it out here http://shadowscapesnursery.com.

And by the way, the dogs are not for sale :) Cheers!

Happy New Year Bitches!

Yes, it is New Years Eve and where am I? You guessed it, I am at work. Constantly reminding myself that "I love my job I love my job." It is almost 11 and I am sitting at my desk fighting the remaining ass hole germs that David and I both contracted while in Missouri over Christmas. Totally worth it, always good times in MO.

Any how, it has been quite some time since I last blogged and there is so much to say I just dont even know where to begin. First I should start by following up the last blog about David's big plans to take me to paint in the botanical gardens...where he PROPOSED!!! I still have to pinch myself to believe that it is real. Never in a million years did I think that I would ever find someone as amazing as he is and I never thought that someone as wonderful as him would willingly spend the rest of their lives with me. Every day I fall more in love with him and even though we have only been together a year, I do not remember what my life was like before him and I never want to know what it would be like with out him.

Being the events planner that I am the wedding is pretty much already done. It is going to be wonderful but all of that is really besides the point of the wedding, I get to marry my best friend! At the end of that day, after all the stress and chaos I will be Mrs. David Paige. Talk about a miracle!

I am certain there will be days when I want to strangle him and vice versa but I look forward to ALL of it! The good, the bad, and the ugly. As I was sitting here killing time I was reading some old blogs that seemed to consist of drunken stories that just make my entire body ache trying to understand how just a couple of years ago I did that almost EVERY weekend. My liver can not handle that anymore. I now embrace my fuzzy pants and evenings of home cooked meals with movies and football snuggled up on the couch. I will take that any day over a night of boozing it up for no good reason other than its friday.

In one of the blogs I read, it was at the end of 2006 beginning of 2007 and a lot of it was questioning where I would be in a year and what my life would be like. I sit here and remember exactly how I felt when writing that blog wondering if I would ever find the one and THANK YOU GOD he led me to David. Tested my patience, but has bestowed such an amazing gift upon me. It also talked about how much I had changed over that year or so and going back and reading the blogs from then until now I see how much I have changed yet again. I know that the evolvong and growing process is ever changing but it is kinda cool to see your own words and be able to reflect the changes directly.

Only this time I will say that I do not want to flip to the last page and see how it ends because right now, I am thankful for today, for the now. For the knowing that in 30 minutes I will leave work and be home in time to hopefully kiss my lovah (lol) at midnight and ring in the new year properly. This year I know I will change, I know my life will change only now I am not scared, I am beyond excited.

So happy new years to my tens of readers. All the best to you and yours! I will do my best to keep the updates coming over the next year as the future in store is so exciting!!!!
Cheers!

Fat

Ok, so I have been doing weight watchers for a couple of months and have proudly lost 15.2 lbs. That is more than 10% of my entire body from when I started. I am super proud but soooooo want a f'n quarter pounder! Here is my question though.... Is there weight watchers for cats because good god my cat is a FAT ASS! Granted, he is a Main Coon cat so he is naturally a big cat but holy fat rolls bat man....... Here is my Casper....

Love....

Seriously, I never in a billion years thought I would be this lucky..... Prepare yourselves because I am sure you will throw up in your mouths a little as I say that I fall more in love with him every day and thank god a billion times a day for bringing us together.

Those are the faces of one ridiculously happy couple!

Go vomit. :)