2nd Anniversary: Back in Time

My muscle man and I decided that for our anniversary, we wanted to do something a little special. But since the day fell during crazy busy times at work for both of us, our options were kind of limited. We couldn't take a day off or even a half day to enjoy ourselves, so we figured the next best thing would be to eliminate our hour long commute and stay in the city for an evening.

 But seeing as how we are very much not urban creatures, spending an evening in a swanky high rise just isn't my thing. We were lucky enough to find a bed and breakfast only a few blocks away from our work, and we thought that would be an absolutely perfect option!  (link) So I called and booked us a room for our honeymoon night, figuring we could at least get off work and relax for a few hours without having to deal with traffic!The room was super cute, there was this toile canopy over the iron bed, and there was even a TV tucked away in the armoire!

After we took a little tour of the house (gorgeous!) we headed off to find some dinner. There's several dozen awesome restaurants only a few blocks away in Birmingham's 5 points area, so we had several choices in front of us, ranging from fast food to 5 star gourmet... We chose a great little sushi bar and lucked up with early bird specials, haha we like food, but we're super cheap =P Then it was back to the hotel for some relaxing time! TV for my muscle man, and a nice bath for me!! 

 I was super excited when I booked our room that it had a restored clawfoot tub, so of course I couldn't resist a nice long soak! 

 And of course with it being our anniversary, I had to get a few shots with my muscle man!

 After our little one night stay, I think my muscle man and I are totally ready to sell our house and move downtown! haha well maybe not for real, but it was so nice to get off work and have so much time in the evening, not to mention waking up the next morning later than usual, enjoying a fabulous home cooked breakfast, and still making it to work on time! All in all, it was a perfect little anniversary escape for when our busy schedules didn't allow much else =D

1st Anniversary

Monday my muscle man and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. We had a great time together after a trying day at work we just figured simple and easy was the best way to celebrate!

I made a wonderful baked fish dish and scalloped potatoes =) Yes, I'm totally taking full advantage of finally having an oven after a year and a half of nothing, and we don't eat fresh fish at home very often despite the fact that both of us really like fish... I'm just too lazy to go grocery shopping, but since it was our anniversary I made a special trip.

We don't have a kitchen table yet, and the house is somewhat under construction (we're laying hardwood floors instead of the carpets that were there), so I thought our living room would make a fun and memorable backdrop for dinner photos. It's quite the memory at least, haha!! 

And of course, what anniversary would be complete without cake!! We were very well behaved at the wedding and didn't smash cake in each other's faces, but all bets were off for our anniversary!

 As for the cake? It tasted pretty good considering it's been frozen for a year!

Mrs. 2011- so that happened

  Wow so much happened in 2011! But the most important thing is the one I've yet to blog about!

Our wedding!

My muscle man and I tied the knot back in August, but I've been so busy since then and haven't had a moment to share with the internets the awesomeness! This one is probably my favorite shot of the day, but there are plenty more that are just as amazing!

 Here's some wonderful detail shots, I was slightly worried I wouldn't get an awesome 'hanging dress' shot as I forgot to go get a fancy hanger, but they made it work with the antique bed canopy! Genius!

Then of course there's the ones of my muscle man and I, he looks so dapper in a suit, and I love that he wanted to wear a bow tie!

 

The ceremony was so beautiful! It was a short ceremony, but very much meaningful and special for us, the preacher we got was the same man that married my muscle man's parents! We also did a special unity thing, where we both poured water into a purple liquid and turned it pink! 

Then there were more photos to be taken (we did a pre-wedding shoot too, which is when the more 'editorial' looking shots were taken, that was probably one of my favorite parts of the day, getting to see my muscle man for the first time in my dress, taking photos with just us and the photographers present, and getting to play in all the antique furniture too!) And then it was time for the reception! Most of the reception photos we got have pics of our guests, so they'll just stay in my personal scrapbook for now... but here's an awesome shot of our yummy cake!

 The 501st was super nice and crashed our reception! We had Vader and his royal guard, a couple of stormtroopers, and a jedi! It was awesome =D

Overall we had such a great day, it was more than worth all the planning and headaches and preparations, and we are so thankful to have been able to have such a wonderful celebration! =)

Married life really is a new start!

WOW who knew getting married would be the catalyst to an insanely busy 3 months! Not that I'm complaining by any means, but wow! The muscle man and I got back from our honeymoon (more on that in a later blog post!) and I had a couple of days to relax and try to get our house in some kind of working order (all the wedding decorations and gifts had been plopped down in our living room!) before starting a new full time position =D Yay for full time work, but it's an hour commute away due to traffic, so having time to myself is kinda out of the question. But on the plus side, my job is quite literally 3 blocks away from the muscle man's job, and we basically have the same hours, so we can carpool! And since he already carpooled with a co-worker, that's even more savings for us to put in the house fund!

But then we've had things to do every weekend since we got back it seems.... We've had numerous outings with the 501st, from the Star Wars Blu-Ray release to multiple Halloween engagements, we've been on road trips to South Carolina and Disney!(again, I'll have to make a whole post of that one), and of course there's been all those normal fall things like playing football (the muscle man, not me, I just watch =P) and watching college ball, and most importantly, spending quality time with my Mr.!


So when it comes to keeping up with a blog on any kind of regular basis, well that just hasn't been in the cards lately. But I'm kinda getting used to the 9-5 routine (that is nowhere near 9-5... with our travel time, we log 12 hour days from the time we leave the house to when we get back... Monday-Friday... *faint* and then there's dinner to be fixed, groceries to shop for at some point... in any case, I'm figuring out a good balance now I think...) so I think I can manage doing somewhat regular blog posts again. At least that's the hope! =D

But until I can get back on track, my deviantArt gallery is a great place to see my daily self-portraits... when I get the chance to update those that is!

Married!

Our wedding was so fantastic! We had the most amazing pre-wedding photoshoot in the museum above the reception area, and although it wound up being a little more chaotic than I had planned, it worked out wonderfully! =) The whole day was amazing, and quite a few people took advantage of the self-portrait studio we set up on the backyard area! The wind took over the backdrop, and my poor clicky (remote) was acting up so some of the shots wound up out of focus, but I'm still really glad we got some fun candids!

 

 

And me and the muscle man had some time to grab a few shots of our own, with the help of my 2 fabulous girls!

(oh and the other half of our wonderful photography team helped too, he fixed our backdrop for us while my awesomeness bridesmaid/photog choreographed the shot!! Andrew and Sam rock my socks so hard!)

Marriage Monday: A Shower Fit for Two

A wedding shower, you pervs!

Rather than having a traditional, ladies only bridal shower, when my cousin offered to throw me a party I suggested we could have a couples shower so that the muscle man could meet all the family, since my extended family rarely gets together for holidays any more. I was so excited to be able to get to see everyone, since I know a lot of them won't be able to make the 4 hour drive to Alabama for the wedding. (My family is from Mississippi, and for the most part aside from my brother, myself, and a few extended-extended relatives, have stayed there as well) And the muscle man's mom, granny, and a few family friends even drove over for it, I was super excited to have them there! Rounding out the party were my parent's friends, people they grew up with, worked with, and hang out with now, which was fun too because many of them I haven't seen in so long! (lots of 'I remember when you were this tall' type comments haha)

We were surrounded by loads of family, and that to me was the best part of the whole shower! I really hated birthday parties growing up because you were expected to open your gifts in front of everyone and show off this stuff people had bought you, I thought it was so self-centered! So the whole 'open your wedding gifts now' part of the shower, I totally could have done without... Nevertheless, I'm so overwhelmed with the wonderful things we received, and as I'm writing out these thank you notes I thought I'd post a few pics from the shower for the internets to see! My mom took over the camera work, I kept my camera out of sight for the event, it's way easier than having to explain to people what I'm doing and why I'm taking so many self-portraits haha! And we have loads of shots of me and the muscle man hanging out with everyone, but I do maintain some private parts of my life, so only silly pictures of me and the muscle man for this one =)

So yes, that's a bug zapper in the middle... And yeah, it was on our registry... Because we're white trash like that! ( and we live in a place where we seriously need one! So many bugs around here!) And I have to point out the knife block my brother got us (top right) because this thing is awesome! I don't often pimp products, but it's a Kapoosh Universal block, and you can put anything with a point in it, how awesome! As for the negligee(bottom left), the muscle man had to open that one after he got a little too curious when I was unwrapping it... That's the last time he'll ask 'what is that' when I'm opening a gift again, that's for sure! He was a great sport about it though =D

We got a couple of gifts we're definitely going to be using at the wedding, including the gorgeous 'disco ball' crystal bowl in the center row, and the bag in the photo beside it! It is so cute, and has 'mr.&mrs.'  on it, I hate to cut it up but I'm totally using it to decorate at the reception somewhere! And that little splash of red in the bottom corner, that's only a portion of the kitchen in a box one of my parent's friends gifted us! Not knocking my inherited dishware that I've had for years, but I'm so glad I have stuff of my own now! We're going to have an amazingly gorgeous house with all the wonderful things we got! New bedding, household items, kitchenwares... Again, we're both just so overwhelmed with how generous and thoughtful everyone was!

And I have to show off these hilariously wonderful shots, even though my muscle man is gonna kill me =P (he may or may not have needed a little liquid courage to relax around so many new people scrutinizing him haha, and we don't drink often... As for my face, yeah I have no excuse for that one... but it made me laugh when I saw both of us with such bizarre looks)