Who's up for a challenge?

Last year I ran across Crystal Wilkerson 2011 planner on Pinterest and I fell in love. It was late 2011 and I didn't have a chance to put it together so I stalked followed her on Facebook and watched and prayed for a 2012 planner. Sure enough, in late December she released the amazing 2012 planner and I bought it as soon as I got the email.

I went out to Staples, bought out all my supplies and put the planner together in hopes to be more organized this year. So far, I've used it here and there, not as much as I would like though, but I'm hoping to change that!

She's starting her first Thirty Day 2012 Planner Challenge in February and I'm excited to really put my planner to use! I'm always up for a good challenge and I'm always looking for a way to improve, I really can not wait!

When you buy her 2012 planner you also get "The Thirty Day Gratitude Challenge" for free; this includes 30 quotes with 30 journaling prompts. I have yet to print mine out and start using it, but I have enjoyed reading the quotes and leaning on them when I need a little pick-me-up! I'll probably use the quotes on my blog more then I will to journal, but either way, I love them.

I'm a sucker for a good planner and I love that I can customize this one to myself and make it about improving me. I hope she makes planners for years and years to come!

What inspires you?

I read a lot of blogs and through that I have networked with a lot of different people. A few of them have become great friends that I hope to actually meet someday but that's a whole different story. With all the blogs that I read, I have found that they are very similar, a few being giveaway blogs and the majority of them are women blogging about their daily life. All of the woman are so creative, so great with their words and almost all of them take amazing pictures.

Everyday I make time to check in on my reading list and catch up on blogs, and most the time I walk away feeling inspired or feel like I have learned something through them. Other days, I walk away feeling bad about myself. I want to be that creative, I want to learn to take pictures like that and I want to inspire everyone with my words. When I start to feel like that, I shut my computer and walk away and try to do something productive.

I dream of the day where I'll have hundreds of blog followers, and I blog about the project I just finished with amazing pictures, and I inspire someone to create something of their own.

I dream of the day where I'll blog about my family and post cute pictures of my children.

I dream of the day where I can share my knowledge about designing and coding blogs with my readers and I can post tutorials and they learn something from me.

As I walk away from the computer I realize that all these blogs inspire me to be creative and I've learned so much from them. They don't even know it but these woman have given me so many different ideas; from cooking/baking to home decor, to how to organize my life better.

Through them, I believe I'm a better person. I wish I could thank them.

What blogs inspire you to be a better person? Where do you get your creative ideas from?

Wordless Wednesday - Tea Time!

My favorite time of the day is tea time, iced tea or hot tea...I'll take it!

DIY Homemade Silhouette

For Christmas I wanted to add a little touch of DIY to some of my gifts. I searched all over the internet to find the perfect gift for certain people and as soon as I found this DIY tutorial, I knew who I was going to make it for.

I decided to make this project for my sister. It was super easy and really fun! The hardest part was finding an oval frame to put the picture in. I plan on remembering this project and using it for myself with my own kids or for future presents.

I found this tutorial over at The Anderson Crew.

Here is what you'll need:

Oval picture frame (8x10)
spray adhesive
cardstock or regular paper
black paint/paint brush
scissors
picture of the special person (5x7)

 1) Take a picture of person, print it out and cut - This took me a couple of tries, I had to make sure her pony tail was just right and wasn't touching her back, otherwise when I went to cut it out, it looked silly.

 

2) Paint the picture black and let dry - I went over mine a few times, I used regular paper, so it curled at first but after a couple of coats, it laid flat.

3) Once dry, spray the back of the picture with the adhesive spray, center onto white paper that came with frame and attach. (You don't have much time, so it's good to get an idea of where you want it before you press down)

4) Put your frame back together and you're done!

I love the way this project turned out and it didn't take me more then 20 minutes tops. I'm not sure if my sister has put it up yet or not, but I know she loved it when she opened the present.

Questions

The moment The Mr. got down on his knee, people were asking me all kinds of questions. It's really funny to me how soon after a proposal people expect you to know every detail of your wedding and they want to know why you decided what you did.

I decided to make a list of questions I've been asked the most, and then, of course, answer the question.

1. Have you picked a date?
• We have a tentative date, nothing is set in stone yet. Once we secure our location, we'll have an exact date but we are shooting for the end of May, early June of 2013
2. Why such a long engagement?
• Having a long engagement was something we had talked about before and I could not see planning a wedding in less than a year as much fun. We also really wanted to enjoy the planning process. 
3. What are your colors?
• Violet, Fuchsia and Avocado
4. Have you picked your bridal party?
• I have picked all of my girls but we are still waiting on The Mr. to pick his men.
5. Are you going to have a big wedding?
• As much as we would love to invite the whole world to our wedding, that just isn't doable, so we are planning on keeping our day intimate and elegant with close family and friends.
6. Where are you going for your honeymoon?
• We haven't decided. I'm leaving that up to The Mr. and he's thrown some ideas out there and all of them sound amazing! I can't wait for a vacation!
7. Will your wedding be in Washington?
• Yes, we plan on getting married in Washington. We toyed around with the idea of a destination wedding, but decided against it.
8. Have you found your dress?
• I have and it's beautiful! The Mr. and my father will not see it until the day of, at their request.
9. What kind of flowers do you want?
• I have no idea. :-)
10. When do you plan on having children?
• Whenever the good Lord blesses me with children.

I can not tell you how many times #10 has been asked. I always get a good giggle out of it, honestly, we aren't thinking about children right now. We must save and plan a wedding first and then....we'll see?

Feel free to ask questions in the comments if you have them, I'll answer them if I can! :-)

An Update

I have been slacking big time in the blog world. Since the start of the year, we have been busy and our schedules have been crazier then normal. I think things are finally slowing down and getting back to the norm, or maybe it's just the fact that we can't go anyway because of this crazy weather! Whatever it may be, things are good and life is great!

Since my last post, we found our venue for the wedding and I found my wedding dress! We aren't planning on getting married until 2013, but I couldn't wait to find a dress and when I put this one on, I knew it was the one!  My mom, my sister (Maid of Honor) and one of my bridesmaids went with me last Saturday to try on dresses, we had a great time and they all agreed that the dress I picked was the one! I don't plan on sharing pictures of it or letting people know what it looks like, only because I want to surprise people when I walk down the isle.

I have also started to watch what I'm eating again and I joined a gym. I'm really excited about the new gym; it's an all women's, 24 hour gym. They offer classes which include Zumba (I'm very excited about that!) and have personal trainers. Even though I know my dress fits me right now, I still want to lose some weight so my dress looks amazing on me and I'll feel great on my wedding day.

I am planning on putting some post together of the DIY projects I made as Christmas gifts. I think they turned out great! Those should be up in the next couple of days.

I have the weekend off and I'm looking forward to it! It's always nice to be able to spend time with The Mr., get some work done around the house and more then likely get some good R&R in.

I'll try to be better at posting, but remember, no news is normally good news, right?

Planning

I believe that planning has taken over our lives (or at least mine). I feel like I'm breathing, eating and sleeping wedding right now. I'm sure most of it has to do with excitement of it all but honestly, I'm a planner by nature and now all I want to do is plan.

We have a tentative date set, but we don't plan on sharing that until we know for sure. I have picked out my colors, picked my bridesmaids (they don't know who they are yet), looked at a few locations, talked to two photographers, talked to someone about save the dates and invites, and most importantly The Mr. and I have talked about the budget. Nothing is set in stone yet other then colors and the court, everything could change tomorrow or even later today.

On Sunday, my sister and I are going to a bridal show. I'm so excited! I hope to get a ton of ideas and meet a lot of vendors.

In the mean time, The Mr. and I have enjoyed some quality time with parents and have been enjoying the engagement. So far, for me, the best part is having people notice my ring and get excited about me being engaged. I interact with people all day long, so having customers notice has been fun!

I know I've said it before, but I still can't believe that I'm literally planning my wedding. Someone pinch me.

The Proposal

When I woke up on Saturday morning, I had no clue that by the time I went to bed my life was going to change and that I was going to be a bride-to-be!

It was a typical Saturday morning, The Mr.'s parents are in town still, so we hung out, had breakfast and just relaxed all morning. I had to work at 3pm, so eventually I got ready for and headed to work. We had planned to have a little get together at our place for New Year's Eve with my parents and Loryn and The Mr.'s parents. I was excited to have our families together for the first time and I could not wait to get off of work!

Fast forward a few hours: With it being New Year's Eve, work was really slow and we were able to get our tasks done rather fast, so we got out about 10 minutes early. Knowing that everyone was already at the house, I headed right home and didn't bother to call The Mr. (I almost always call on the way home!) When I walked in the door, I noticed he had a book in his hand and when I asked him about it he said that he had made a book for his parents and was going to give it to them at midnight. I thought it was a little weird, considering I didn't know anything about it, but I didn't want to bother him too much about it, so I just went with it. I got a little suspicious about the book but quickly my suspicions were nullified when I asked my mom if The Mr. had something up his sleeve. (Little did I know, he did!)

For the next few hours, we just hung out, watched the ball drop is 3 different timezones, enjoyed some delicious Chinese food and I had a few glasses of wine! As it got closer to midnight, we all sat around and got ready to watch the ball drop! We also all had a glass of 12 grapes; with The Mr.'s parents being here, they taught us that it's a tradition to eat 12 grapes at midnight, and for each grape you make a wish (one for each month). Once the ball dropped, we rang in the new year, and started to eat our grapes. I'm not sure how far into my grapes I got before I realized The Mr. had disappeared.

He came back into the room with the book and handed it to his mom, who then handed it to me. The cover had my favorite picture of us and was titled: Pablo & Abigail, Two Years in the Making. I was completely surprised and I'm pretty sure I immediately started crying. I flipped through the book and got to walk down memory lane of our relationship; there was also a letter he had written to me and few poems. While I was looking through the book, The Mr. had gotten down on one knee and as soon as I got to the last page, which had typography that had I love you and Will You Marry Me? written on it, he pulled out the box that had the ring in it. I was 100% completely surprised! I'm pretty sure I said "Yes" before I took my next breath! At first, he gave me the box so I could look at the ring, and then he put it on my finger. We had a good laugh when I pulled my hand back and said "Wait, did you ask my dad first?!" I should have known better though, of course he asked my dad and he did it all without me knowing!

We spent the next few hours letting people know, sitting around and talking and enjoying the moment. I am so glad both of our parents were there and that they both got to witness the moment. It was a perfect moment and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I still can't believe that I'm engaged, I still can't believe that I'm going to be planning a wedding and I still can't believe I have my dream ring on my hand. I find myself looking at it from time to time and I'm blown away.

There isn't anyone else in the world that I want to spend the rest of my life with. I love this man so much!

So here's to a new year and lot's of planning!

Happy New Year!

I figured I would start the year off right and blog! I hope everyone had a wonderful New Years Eve and that you are enjoying your New Years Day! I had a wonderful New Years Eve! I spent the evening with my family, The Mr.'s family and my new Fiancé. That's right friends, I'M ENGAGED!

The Mr. totally surprised me last night and asked me to spend the rest of his life with him. I, of course, said "YES!" I'll eventually write the proposal story, but it was very sweet and romantic and I wouldn't have had it any other way!

We are planning on having a long engagement and have not set a date yet, but I'll keep everyone updated!

Here are a few pictures from last night and today! Enjoy!

 

And yes, I already went out and got a wedding planning book! I'm so excited!