Pssst, this is a secret!

We have indeed gotten our engagement pictures back, but I'm so swamped with homework and housework right now that I don't have time to share them. We just got back from a week in Michigan and I'm playing catchup.

However, I'm posting because I just bought something for Jordan that I want to squeal about!! I bought them for use in the wedding, but I know I won't be able to hold onto them for another 9 months, so I'm going to give them to him for Christmas.

They are Nintendo game cartridge cufflinks!!!! How perfect is that?!?!


I bought them from Etsy and cannot wait for them to arrive! I ordered one to be Tetris and the other Super Mario Brothers 3. I'll let you know what Jordan says when he gets them on Christmas morning!! :D

Approaching my last Holiday season as a single woman

Since Jordan and I are splitting the holidays between our families again this year, my family gets Thanksgiving and New Year's, and his family gets Christmas (meaning I'll be spending my birthday and Christmas away from home for the first time ever--I think I'm okay with that, though). But since I very rarely get to see my dad and stepmom, we've decided that we're flying to Michigan for our week-long Thanksgiving break. I'm actually quite excited about the prospect of maybe getting to play in a bit of snow this year (*sigh* It's been so long since I've been in real snow).

So my last Thanksgiving as a "Knoll" is just under two weeks away. Two days from now will be two years since Jordan proposed. It's been a heck of a long time. In less than one more year, we'll finally be married and neither of us has any idea where we'll be living or what we'll be doing, haha.

Anyway, since I've been in hiding for the past couple of months (AKA: desperately attempting to keep my head above the water that is my last year of college), lots of stuff has happened. I'll pick a few of the best things to share.

1. My bridal bouquet is just about completed! Here's a picture of what it looks like before they add the ribbon and pearls on the stems:


Just for reference, here's the picture I sent them of what I want on the stems:

The flowers are the "real touch" artificials in two shades of pink gerbera daisies and some stephanotis dispersed throughout. After shipping costs, I only paid $85! :) I ordered it through WedIdeas and they have been so wonderful and friendly!

2. Next, Jordan and I discovered that one of our friends is an amateur photographer looking to build his portfolio, and he asked us if we'd like to do an engagement session for free!! The day we were supposed to do it ended up being yucky and rainy, so we just did a quick "practice session" and got some pretty funny pictures out of it. About a week later, the sun was shining and it was gorgeous outside, so we met at the State Botanical Gardens of Georgia and spent a few hours traipsing around and posing for the camera. Hopefully our images will be ready to share soon, but here are a few from the practice session.

These are two he took so that I could use them for a UGA award I won:

And here's a funny one of me and Jordan...I was giving him "The Look". :P

I think it was really awesome of him to do that for us. :) His website is here, and if you know of anyone in north GA who needs a photographer, let me know and I'll get you in contact with him!

3. Finally, last but not least........................

WE GOT A KITTEN! Haha, that makes three kitties in our family. :) We've been thinking of a good name for her, and I say "Lucy," but Jordan isn't sure yet. I call her BooBoo. :)

And here are two of the haughtiest-looking pictures I could find of my other babies. ;)

My baby girl Nadia:

And my little man Dumbledore:

The end for now. :)

Not wedding related at all, but that's okay!

It's my blog and I can use it how I want to use it. :P

I'm just posting to say that it's ELECTION DAY and I voted for Barack Obama.

He's such a cutie. ;)

You're Invited

So I think I've finally made a decision about our wedding invitations. After hours of deliberating, moaning, complaining, and painstaking work/research on the interwebs, I may have possibly made a decision. I say "possibly" because there are still several things that might go wrong in the process and thus I may have to change my mind again.

In the end, after visiting http://www.paperandmore.com/ I fell in love with the idea of printing our bride and groom image on white linen cardstock and the text on translucent vellum, then attaching the two layers, either with a decorative brad or with simple vellum glue dots. Our response cards will then be printed on "Aqua" cardstock (read: akin to Tiffany Blue and David's Bridal "Pool"), and the two elements will be held together with a pretty ribbon of approximately the same color. The response cards will be accompanied by white envelopes, while the entire invitation package will arrive in a pearly/shiny "Aqua" envelope.

I designed the invitation elements using http://www.scrapblog.com/ because I liked their bride and groom image best, as well as the font called "Apricot." It's just whimsical enough while still retaining a slight bit of formality. Best of all, I can practice because PaperandMore sells samples of all of their products at about 50 cents a page! I ordered my samples, which arrived in three days, and I love the quality! I have enough of everything to print out two samples, so pretty soon I'll be going around to various places (such as Kinkos and Staples) to find out who will print on vellum and cardstock and how much they'll charge.


Here are the base images I'm working from:

This is a rough idea of what it might look like to have the text printed on vellum, which overlays the image on cardstock

And here's what the response cards might look like:

I have to admit, I'm pretty excited. This (and lack of funds) has been the most irritating part of this process so far. I'm just about sick of this invitation business and it will feel wonderful to have everything decided.

A Special Post

Today is a very special day. In exactly one year, at this time, I will be married to my wonderful Jordan! And tomorrow marks our fourth anniversary. Hopefully, a year from tomorrow, we will be on our way to Ireland and the best honeymoon I could ever imagine.

We have gone through a lot of stuff since he asked me out on a date four years ago. I was a senior in high school and he was a sophomore at UGA. Three months after we started dating, he told me he loved me and I said it back, meaning it with every ounce of my being. Five months after that, I left home for UGA, dealing with a lot of family issues. Jordan was always there for me when I would randomly burst into tears because of stress and high emotions.

A year after we started dating, we moved in together. Two months after that, we spent the most amazing week together in Jamaica for his brother's wedding. Within a week of returning, we almost broke up because of some very unfortunate issues. We spent the next year rebuilding our relationship from the bottom up, and he had to win back my trust after hurting me very badly. I also had to learn how to trust him again. From that point on, we were both very different people from what we had been when we started dating in 2004. We had reached the breaking point, but instead of giving up, we both showed a lot of maturity and strength and stuck with each other, even when we were both being our most annoying/frustrating selves.

One year after that, Jordan proposed to me in front of the UGA Chapel; he said he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me and asked me to marry him. I said yes, and we decided to wait until after we both would be graduated from college (me with a Bachelor's Degree and him with a Master's). So the date was set for September 20, 2009...one day shy of what would be our fifth anniversary.

Here we are, four years after he first asked me out, almost two years after the proposal, and exactly one year from the wedding. We are still growing together, and sometimes the process is painful, but we both try to keep in mind how very much we love each other. Things have been tough for us, especially lately. We're both dealing with the stress of finishing our respective degrees, finding the money to pay for both rent and this upcoming wedding, and still finding the time and energy to show our love for one another. It's definitely not always easy, but anyone who tells you that love is easy has never truly been in love. It takes effort. It takes work. But the final outcome is worth a lot more than what you'll ever have to put into it.

Have I had doubts? Of course. But it's overcoming the doubts that has strengthened our relationship more than anything else.

One year from today, our lives will become even more interconnected than they are now. And we'll be eating delicious food at Paula Deen's restaurant!! :D

Have some pictures:

A wedding party mosaic:

And a bridal mosaic:

I love contests

I have been entering wedding contests left and right, and so far I haven't won anything, but they're usually fun to enter anyway.

David's Bridal is having a "One Love" contest in which you basically make an inspiration board and tell the story of when/how you knew your fiance was your "One Love."

Of course I entered!

http://www.davidsbridal.com/onelove1.jsp?pbb_qsi=4693629&=PBB_DavidsBridalOneLove_336_PPIMEMAIL

If you have about an hour, enter! It takes a while to get used to the editor (very clunky and frustrating). Also, vote for mine please? :) If you enter, send me the link to yours and I'll vote for you too.

A new engagement ring!

Jordan is one of the sweetest people alive. We've had really tough times, and lately has been especially rough on us, but he always manages to make me feel loved. Today he took me to Kay Jewelers, traded in my original engagement ring, and got me a larger engagement ring, along with the matching wedding band. It is absolutely gorgeous and I cannot wait until it arrives next Friday! Here is a picture of the set:

Also, our anniversary is this month. We both had such an awful week that we went ahead and exchanged gifts. He got me the coolest thing ever! It's a set of three stacking rings with hearts, yet when they stack together, they form a four-leaf clover! Here it is:

He spoils me. :)