My Beautiful Bridesmaids

I have been friends with the same group of wonderful, fabulous, beautiful girls for what seems like a lifetime! I feel so lucky to have had the same solid group of friends from elementary school, middle school, and high school! My girlfriends know me better than I know myself sometimes. When Andy and I got engaged, I knew without a doubt that I wanted these girls standing up with me at the altar. I can not wait to celebrate with them throughout all the fun wedding and pre-wedding events!


Since my friends are so important to me and we are all so close, I wanted to formally ask them to be in my wedding in a special way. I scoured the internet for cute ideas. A lot of brides out there had been recommending a book called The Bridesmaid Guide by Kate Chenoweth. Since I am the first of our group to get married, most of my friends have no experience at being in a wedding party. I thought it would be cute to get each of my 5 bridesmaids a cute book of "to-do's" and a t-shirt for all our fun upcoming occasions! I found some really cute tank tops with rhinestone-studded bridesmaid written across the front. Each of my bridesmaids got a gift that included this:
For my maid of honor, I wanted to make sure and tailor her gift appropriately. So, I stuck with my theme and found a cute Maid of Honor book for her to reference and her own tank top with maid of honor written across the front. Here is what she received:
Here is a picture of all the girls' gift bags that I put together before asking them to be in our wedding party!

Last Friday, I met my roommate from college for drinks after work. She finally had the opportunity to see the ring in person and we got to gab about all things wedding :) I gave her a card that I had prepared and her gift bag, and she said yes! 1 bridesmaid was down... 4 bridesmaids and 1 maid of honor to go.

Following drinks, 3 of my best girlfriends came to meet me for dinner at Silverado, our favorite local restaurant. We have practically grown up at this restaurant so it was only fitting that this occasion be celebrated there! Upon their arrival, we ordered drinks and I presented them each with their gifts. They all said yes as well! 4 bridesmaids down, 1 more to go... plus my maid of honor! One of my other best friends came out to a local Hokie bar for the Virginia tech football game on Saturday, so I was able to ask her then. She said yes too! Boy was I glad to have all 5 of my bridesmaids agree to share in our big day :)

Colorful Colors

Help! I am just beginning the journey that is called wedding planning. And I am already stuck! I can't seem to settle on any one idea or concept. I want our wedding to be absolutely PERFECT... although I know perfection is not attainable. One of my first decisions that I want to settle is our color scheme for the big day. Andy and I have both decided that orange will be our dominant color, but I wanted to add in more colors for a bright, fun, festive summer affair. I have scoured the internet and wedding magazines for various schemes I like. Here are a few that I can't choose between. Let me know your thoughts on them!
I LOOOOVVVVEEEE the various shades for the bridesmaid dresses in this collage. In fact, I love them so much- here they are again!
The subtle shades of orange, pink, and bronze are breathtaking. And I LOVE the groomsmen's orange ties and corsages. But I also like a more bold scheme...
A lot of friends and family have chosen this floral scheme as their favorite for a summer wedding. If I were to use this as inspiration, I would include more orange aspects than the hot pink. Here's a similar scheme...
I love the bright flowers and colors included in the bouquets and on the wedding cake. I think the brightness on the tables and chairs is a little too much for me... But I do love the brightness this collage displays! Now to something totally different...
The celery green and soft orange are beautiful in this collage. I love the hue of the bridemaid dresses. Part of me thinks the green and orange scheme is serene and picturesque, while another part of me thinks it is too soft and dull for me and Andy.

See my dilemma?! If you happen to have a preference for one of these fabulous color schemes, pllllease let me know! I need all the help I can get! :)

Wedding Bells are Ringing!

Throughout the summer of 2009, I had been not-so-subtly hinting to Andy that I wanted to go wine tasting. I had never been and was dying to see what all the fun was about at a beautiful vineyard. Although Andy never got around to taking me wine tasting during the summer months, he more than made up for it. Andy decided to ask me if I wanted to go wine tasting one evening after work. Of course I jumped at the opportunity!

On an overcast Friday, Andy took me to Tarara Winery in Loudoun County, Virginia. Upon our arrival at the winery, we were greeted by a nice man named Dan. Dan told us that "first timers" usually take a walk around the vineyard grounds to see the beautiful landscape before wine tasting. I, not having a clue what a typical wine tasting experience included, went along and took a nice walk with Andy around a beautiful lake and took in the scenery. Right along the edge of the lake was a picnic set-up with cheese and crackers and a bottle of Merlot. We sat down and enjoyed the picnic. After an hour or so, we decided to head back to the main lodge for the real wine tasting experience. On the walk back, the sun all of a sudden appeared from behind the clouds for the first time that day. I wanted to take a picture of the beautiful lake and fall trees with the sun shining in the background and pulled out my camera (Let's face it, I wanted pictures of our wine tasting trip for the blog!). Andy of course said, "What are you going to take a picture of? There's nothing there" to which I responded, "It's pretty! Do you want to pose for the picture?". Andy of course said no, so I took the pretty picture of the lake and the sun anyway. As I turned around, Andy was down on one knee with the ring and, being so quick on his feet, asked if I wanted him to pose for me or PROpose to me before asking me to marry him. I of course got the word yes out before I started crying.

We then spent the next hour making the all important phone calls to friends and famy before returning to the lodge for a toast. Not such a bad first wine tasting experience. Let the wedding planning begin!

Hurricane Season Is OVER!

HOW 'BOUT DEM HOKIES?!

This past weekend, I traveled to my beloved Blacksburg, Virginia to watch my Virginia Tech Hokies take on the Miami Hurricanes in football. I was so looking forward to this trip because it had been over a year since I had been back to the 'burg. My former roommates at VT and I had been planning this trip for several months. We chose a great game, booked a hotel, bought our tickets, and got excited for our return as alum's!

My best friend Jenny and her boyfriend Kirk offered to drive me down eaaaaarly Saturday morning. We left NoVa at 5:30am and arrived in rainy Blacksburg around 9am. Plenty of time for tailgating and fun... even in the rain! We met up with our other two roommates from VT, Amy and Julie and their boyfriends. Several of our close friends at VT also came by the tailgate to visit. It was so great to see old friends and catch up in what we all called home for several years. I miss Blacksburg a lot. I wish I had really taken advantage of the short time I had there. But it is so nice to have great friends to go back with and visit.

Needless to say, the weather was not the most ideal for a day of tailgating and football. But we popped up our tent and enjoyed ourselves regardless. It was POURING throughout the duration of the game, but I have a feeling the Miami Hurricane fans were A LOT more wet and cold than we were :) The rain actually gave our football team a HUGE advantage, and with the rowdy Hokie crowd in full effect in ponchos, we pulled off a MAJOR upset! My #11 Hokies absolutely destroyed the #9 Miami Hurricanes. LET'S GO HOKIES!

I can't explain how great it was to be back with my Hokie family in my Hokie home for the weekend. I'm hoping I get another chance to get down there this year... but until then...

LET'S GO........... HOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Mikaela!

Just wanted to take a moment and wish one of my bestest friends a very happy 26th birthday! I have been lucky enough to know Mikaela since 7th grade. We met in middle school and became best friends throughout high school, college and the real-world. Mikaela is one of the sweetest girls I know, and she is ALWAYS down for a drink or two :) She is a fabbbbbulous special ed teacher in a local high school, loves her Boston College Eagles, and loves to have fun with her friends. Here's a few pictures of Mikaela and I throughout the years, including some shots from her birthday celebrations in downtown Washington D.C. Hope your 26th year is a great one Mik!

Virginia Tech vs Alabama ~ Chik-Fil-A Kickoff Classic

The college football season has officially made it's debut for the 2009 season. My best friend, and former freshman year of college roommate, Lindsay and I are die hard Hokie fans and are ALWAYS willing to travel the country to show our Hokie Pride. This year, Virginia Tech had the honor of playing Alabama in the official Chik-Fil-A Kickoff Classic in Atlanta, GA.

Lindsay and I flew out of Reagan National airport Friday night and arrived in Atlanta around 10:30pm. One of my best high school friends had a good family friend who lived in Atlanta and had offered to put us up for the weekend. Mary and her boyfriend picked us up from the airport and showed us to our home for the weekend. They were both so sweet to offer us a place to stay, a bed to sleep in, and a key to come and go as we please! We visited with them at their apartment and then headed to bed early to rest up for Saturday.

Saturday morning, we woke up early, showered and put on all the VT apparel we own. We headed out to find a Starbucks and some breakfast at the CNN building in downtown Atlanta. After breakfast, we headed to a bar called Ted's for some early tailgating. Here we are getting the day started.
After, we headed to find some fellow Hokie die hards at their tailgate. We spent most of the afternoon visiting with friends and anticipating the kickoff of our first game of the season! I was so glad that our friends were willing to make the trip right along with us to support our Hokies.
At about 5:30, we began to head towards the Georgia Dome to stop by and visit a few more friends before heading into the game. I was so excited to meet up with one of my former roommates from VT, Bethany. Bethany and her husband, Kawika, live in Florida so I rarely get the opportunity to see them. In fact, the last time I saw them was at their wedding last summer! It was so great to catch up and relive some college memories in Atlanta.
Finally, it was game time. We headed into the Georgia Dome to jump for Enter Sandman, lose our voices to support our defense, and cheer as loud as we could! It was a great game. Our Hokies gave it their all. Our defense left it all out on the field, shutting down Alabama's best receiver, getting the best of their QB, and forcing crucial turnovers. Our special teams returned a kick-off for a touchdown, and held their incredibly talented return man to very few yards. Unfortunately, as has been in the case in the past several years, our offense couldn't put together enough scoring drives and our Hokies came up short. Alabama won 34-24 :(

It was a great game by all. Alabama was the better team on this night and looks to have a great season ahead, so far living up to their #5 ranking in the country. Despite the loss, I am so proud to be Hokie and proud of the heart our boys played with on this night. No analysts, commentators, or other fans gave Virginia Tech any chance to win this game... but we fought hard and were in it every step of the game. It hurts to lose such an important game after such a great fight, but I am once again, SO proud to be a Hokie.

Here's to winning out the rest of the 2009 season in what I can only hope turns out to be a GREAT season for my Virginia Tech Hokies. Hoping to travel to a BIG BOWL GAME in January!

Kenny Chesney

One last hurrah for my cowboy boots! Last Saturday, August 29th, a fabulous group of friends and I traveled once again to Nissan Pavilion for our last country concert of the summer. It also happened to be my last outing before officially reporting back to school. We had a great time eating good food, having a few beverages, hanging out with good friends and listening to awesome music! I was so excited to see so many of my friends at this concert. I had friends from college come tailgate, friends from high school, and new friends from my new home in Centreville come hang out. It was a great blending of friends and a good time had by all. I am officially putting my cowboy boots away until next summer, but here's one last YEEEE HAW to wrap the summer up, Kenny-style...Andy and I

Julie, my college roommate, her boyfriend Steve, and Jeff

Highschool Friends- RJ & Paul

Singing along with Kenny Chesney!