Not wedding related, but still pretty awesome!

I graduated this past Saturday, with a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics from the University of Georgia!!!! I managed to keep my 4.0 GPA the whole four years and completed my Honors Thesis capstone, so I was able to graduate as a First Honor Graduate, Summa Cum Laude, With Highest Honors...and it was one of the most fantastic, amazing, surreal experiences of my entire life thus far. I was one of 25 First Honor Grads (out of the 3,700-person senior class), and we got to walk with the Processional into Sanford Stadium. All I can say is wow.

Here are a couple of great pictures. :)




I am thrilled to be finished, but I'm also a tiny bit nervous. I've been in school for over 17 years... what to do with myself now?! First, I decided to check out a Kiswahili textbook from the library and I will be brushing up on those language skills. :)

Congratulations to the Class of 2009!! :D

Song choices

I must say that I have been putting off choosing songs for our ceremony for a LONG time because I am very indecisive when it comes to choosing music. I love so many different songs and I always feel guilty choosing one over another. However, in the past couple of days I have found, mostly serendipitously, several songs that I knew I wanted to include, and here is the result!

*Pre-ceremony, while the guests are arriving: Selections from Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings, and Heigh Ho Mozart!, two instrumental CDs that are just amazing. Here are beautiful instrumental versions of two of my favorite Disney songs, "Kiss the Girl" and "Beauty and the Beast".


*When the officiant and the mothers enter, I'd love to play Vivaldi's "Spring" as a way of announcing that exciting stuff's about to happen!


*The wedding party will enter to "Butterfly Waltz," which is so incredible that I get goosebumps everytime I hear it!


*I knew I wanted to use the "Bridal Chorus" from Wagner's Lohengrin for my walk down the aisle, but I have struggled to find a version that isn't too heavy or formal for our less-than-formal wedding, and I finally did!


*And finally, the recessional will be a bit of lighthearted fun, as Jordan and I exit to "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by the Beach Boys. :) (That video is pretty hilarious too.)

*For the reception, we will again play some instrumental music while our guests arrive and begin eating. We'll have the Disney selections thrown in there intermittently, but there is a ton more classical music that I'd love to include, such as Tchaikovsky and Chopin.

*Our first dance song is called "By the Way They Dance" by Jump Little Children, which was actually written as the first dance song for one of the band members. (Sorry for the ridiculous video, but it is almost impossible to find a good version of this song online!)

*For the cake cutting, we're using "Sugar Sugar" by The Archies...too cute! :D I'm a sucker for oldies!

And then the rest of the night will be filled with cheesy 80s music, as well as some of our favorite songs from the five years we've been together, including songs from the no-longer-together bands Honestly and Jump Little Children, and songs from soundtracks like Moulin Rouge and The Princess Bride! :)

Yay for another big decision made! :)

Hair Trial!

This past weekend I accomplished several wedding-related tasks while I was in Savannah visiting one of my bridesmaids! We went to a cake tasting and I ordered our wedding cake, which will be chocolate fudge cake with cream cheese filling and Italian buttercream icing. Yummy! Normally I don't like frosting, but hers was delicious. Michelle Still was so friendly and the cake was delicious! More on that, and the other things I was able to do, later. For now, I have pictures of my hair trial!

I met with my stylist, Jenny, at her Savannah salon and had a wonderful time chatting with her. She's super friendly, and she's also a red-head so she understands my natural aversion to heavy, dark makeup!! I showed her what I wanted my hair to look like, and she delivered! The pictures will do more than any words could:


And I left it in all afternoon in the Savannah heat and humidity and it never once started to look frizzy and gross! I'm very very happy at how this turned out and I cannot express how much I have enjoyed working with Jenny already! :)

Girls (Really Do) Just Wanna Have Fun

So many people use the phrase "Girls just wanna have fun" that's it become almost cliche, which is dreadfully unfortunate! Because truly, all I want for my bachelorette party is to have a ridiculous amount of fun with my favorite girls. I don't want a male stripper, I don't want to drink myself sick, and I surely don't want to sit around and watch chick-flicks. I was talking with one of my bridesmaids yesterday and I realized that my idea of a fun bachelorette party would be to do something definitely out-of-the-ordinary (at least when it comes to such parties), and something totally fun. And I had a flash of brilliance!

Here's my idea of the perfect bachelorette party:

1. Start out the afternoon by going roller skating! I'll wear a cheesy bride-to-be veil and maybe even get some rollerblades to decorate in pink, white, and black. We'll all act crazy and probably bust our butts a few times! Can you imagine the wonderful pictures? :D

2. From there, we'll all dress up in pretty clothes and go out for a nice (but not too fancy) dinner...my favorite would be something Italian!

3. Finally, we'll conclude the night with some bar-hopping (and I'll wear the veil again)! I'll drink girly drinks and we'll dance and laugh until we can hardly breathe. My favorite place to do that is 8Es Bar here in Athens because there's good music and plenty of fun to be had!

I am so excited for this idea that I even went made another Bridal Canvas and made a bachelorette-themed canvas! Check it out:

(A better version of the canvas, plus photo credits and a great cover of Cyndi Lauper's famous song can be found if you follow the link above!)

BridalCanvas.com

So this site is pretty nifty! It's a user-friendly and quick way to make beautiful inspiration boards and other similar stuff. Here's one I made in under ten minutes:



Check it out! :)

Our Honeymoon Registry is up and running!

I'm so excited!

http://www.atlastravelweb.com/registry.shtml

I made pink daisy cards through vistaprint.com to put into our shower invites...and it only cost $10 for 250 of them, even after shipping!

Here's a low-quality preview of the cards:


I'm hoping we'll get at least a few donations since we can't really afford the trip, haha.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This is my second favorite holiday, only slightly behind Christmas! But in the past I have never done anything except wear green to celebrate. This year, Jordan surprised me by getting us tickets to an Irish song and dance concert tonight! There will also be plenty of Irish specials in the form of alcoholic beverages! ;) I'll be sure to share some pictures, as I'm quite excited and my camera battery has been charging throughout the afternoon!

And to make this post slightly wedding-related, I have some great news! My invitations arrived, courtesy of this etsy seller, and they are a.m.a.z.i.n.g!!!!!! They are even more beautiful in person, and I can't wait to send them to people and get compliments on our great taste! ;)

To be sure, I'm dreaming of Ireland on this wonderful St. Patrick's Day, since we'll be visiting in just over six months!! :D