Just one week now!!

In just over one week, I am going to be tying the knot in a little Italian bistro here in my hometown. My fiance and I have been together for eight and a half years now. It's hard to believe ... time just flies by far too quickly. There are just a few little details left to manage, and then we'll be set to go for the big day!

When I initially set out to plan my wedding, I wanted everything to DIY. Of course, as time went on, I realized that I had to abandon a few of those ambitions, but the one thing that I held fast to was creating my own invitations, and I'm glad that I did! I created the invitations that I wanted, and for a fraction of the price! I didn't use any fancy programs, either, just MS Word 2010. Even then, I didn't use any advanced functions, so you could probably do the same in MS Word Starter, which is coming standard on most new computers now. If you're brave, you could even attempt in in Open Office!

All in all, the invitations took me about a week to create and perfect. I ran the wording by my bridesmaids and others whose input was important to me before I went ahead and printed them out. Find the perfect paper ended up being a pain as well, but I ended up finding an invitation suite at Target that worked out perfectly and that I was immensely happy with!

Without further adieu, I present the wedding invitations!

and the matching RSVP!

Planning the wedding has been an great experience. We had a very low budget, and so most of our wedding was done by our own hands. My bridesmaids were amazing every step of the way, and even though there have been a few bumps in the road (but, really, when are there not?), I wish such a smooth planning process on everyone! My wedding is next Sunday. At that point, I'll post more photos of our DIY projects. For now, though, we're keeping it under wraps!

Has It Really Been Five Days??

Has it really been five days since I posted last?? Goodness! Things have really gotten away from me with the move and the wedding.

We've got nearly everything in the living room packed now. The move still seems so far away, but I realize that it's just a month and a half away. The fiance and I got to see our new home last weekend, and we're quite excited to begin our new life there. We're hoping to take all of our boxes up the last weekend of July and then move our furniture the first weekend of August. Hopefully we'll be all in and settled the second weekend of August, so it's not the far off!

It's still hard to believe that I am leaving my hometown. I've been trying to leave since I graduated high school, but something always came up and the plans never panned out. Now that we're actually leaving, I'm experiencing a mix of excitement and nostalgia. We'll be leaving behind our family and friends and the only home that either of us has ever known. It's scary, but exciting. :)

Now back to packing! Despite my attempts at an organization system, the den still seems to look like a tornado has blown through it. Oh well. I guess that's just one of the hazards of moving!

Until next time.

xoxo,
Alex

Pinterest = DIY Dream!

In about two months, my fiance and I are going to be moving into our new place. It's a two-story rental townhouse with completely bare, completely white walls and beige carpeting. This means just one thing to me - endless decorating opportunities.

When I first started seeking out inspiration, a friend of mine turned me on to Pinterest. It's essentially a virtual version an idea bulletin board. There are bookmarks (pins) that you add to your different categories (boards) and that you can then share with others. If your pins are public, others can come to your boards for inspiration, and visa versa. You can add your own pins as you like, or you can just repin from other members to your heart's content. Check out my boards here to get a feel for the site, or, if you already have an account to follow me if you felt so inclined (hint hint ....).

Most of my pins are DIY or homemaking related, but the possibilities for the boards are endless, because they are chosen and organized by whoever is creating the board. Some pinners use them for fashion ideas, recipe boxes, and even wedding planning. The search engine is is great and lets you search by pins, boards or by people. If you find someone that has great taste, you can follow their boards and get updates whenever they've added new content.

And now, a few of my favorite DIY and home organization pins.

Magnetic strip to hold elusive hair pins, from Superwoman

The ultimate menu board from Once Upon a Chocolate Chip Pancake ... (there is a tutorial here, too!!)

A fantastic and simple wreath from The High Heeled Hostess

Until next time.

xoxo,
Alex

Oh, the places you'll go ...

Happy Wednesday, readers!!

May is winding down and June (and summer vacation!) are right around the corner. This summer will be a bittersweet one for me, because it will be the last one that I will be spending in my home town. I've been excited to get out of this place since I can remember, but, now that moving day is drawing near, I am starting to feel twinges of sadness for leaving the one home that I've ever known. But, excitement and adventure await my fiance and me in August when we get settled into our new home, begin new jobs, and I begin my MSW at UTSA.

There is still so much to do for the wedding and for the move, and I've been feeling rather overwhelmed by it all, these past few days especially. There are favors to be made, invitations to be given and programs to be printed, just to mention a few. So, when my sister-in-law invited me to her home a few days ago, I welcomed the distraction. It ended up being quite the fulfilling little adventure, too.

We took her dog, Molly, on a walk through a wooded area behind her apartment complex to a canal that I didn't even know existed. After much persuasion on her part, I shed my flip-flops and joined her and Molly down the dirt banks to the water's edge where we watched the sunset for a good while and just talked. It was so quiet and peaceful and removed from the city. It was hard to believe that bustling traffic of the university was only a few blocks away. I snapped a couple of photos, which I'll share with you here.

I have not felt so in tune with nature in a long time. It's an amazing feeling to just sit and meditate and just be. 

Until next time. 

xoxo, 

Alex

Memorial Day 2012: For All That You Do, Thank You

I would like to take a moment to recognize those serving in the armed forces, past and present, their families, and the sacrifices they have all made so that we can enjoy the comforts that we do today. Whether you agree with the various military occupations overseas, we can all sympathize with the worry one feels when their loved ones are in danger, the terrible ache of losing someone we care deeply about, or the pride we feel when those close to us have stood up for something they believe in.

Please take a few moments as you go about your day to think about those that are serving and their families, and send a few positive thoughts or a prayer their way.

Swap-Bot and the Resurrection of my Mailbox

I love getting mail when it isn't advertisements and bills, so when I came across Swap-Bot.com, I fell in love instantly. Swap-Bot is an online community of people that love receiving snail mail. Community members host a wide array of swaps, ranging from pen pals and letter writing to arts and crafts and Swap-Bot assigns partners and handles the details so that all you have to worry about is sending and receiving your little treasures!

There's a huge variety of swaps that members can participate in, from arts and crafts to dollar store grab bags to pen palling, and tons of stuff in between. Currently, I am participating in a recipe card scavenger hunt. The swap host provided a list of categories and participants find recipes that fit those categories, write/print them on recipe cards and send them to two partners.

I find this swap to be incredibly exciting for a few reasons. First, I love getting and trying new recipes. I'm forever trying to pick friends' brains after they've served a great meal. I will be getting a total of 20 new recipes out of the swap, and I'm just itching to see them and try them out. Second, his swap gave me an excuse to go out and peruse the dollar bins at Michael's for some recipe cards.

If there is one thing I love more than recipes, its the recipe cards they're written on. It's common now to just save recipes in an online recipe box and follow from a laptop or tablet or to just print the recipe out on regular printer paper. And why not? It's convenient and easy.  For me, though, there is something very fun about having recipes written out on cards. It takes just a few extra minutes of your time and it turns a small gesture into something more personal and interesting.

Until now, I haven't taken the time to assemble all of my recipes into a binder. I've got them all sitting in a box on top of the refrigerator. With this new influx of cards, I've decided that I'll take the opportunity to organize and assemble all of my cards into a nice binder. It'll be something nice to hand down to my own daughter someday. :)

Do you have any favorite recipes? Maybe you could share them ... hint hint.

Until next time.

xoxo,
Alex

Oh, the Joys of Moving

In just under ten weeks, my fiance and I will be moving from our hometown to San Antonio, about four hours away. We've lived at our current home for about a year and a half now. I started packing last week, and I have to say - it is amazing how much junk two people can accumulate in such a short period of time! When we moved from our apartment into our home, we thew like madmen, but it seems that everything we got rid of has found us again.

Needless to say, I am feeling overwhelmed and just shy of the freak out zone! Ten weeks may seem like a long time, but the calendar lies. Seeing those ten pretty little rows stacked on top of each other sends you into a false sense of security! It makes you feel like you have all the time in the world, when, in reality, the deadline is just sitting there, stalking you in the grass ... like a creepy person. Plus, my time is being divided between the move and my wedding day - July 15th. I am estimating that, with the planning that I have left to do, I will lose about a week and a half of packing time. So, that leaves me with 8 1/2 weeks.

In an effort to maintain my sanity, I sat down and started putting together an action plan for packing/moving. We have a lot of boxes that are still packed from our last move, so I've decided to inventory and repack those first. Then, I'll deal with the rooms in order of how much time we spend in there. I started with the den and worked my way back through the home office and to the bedroom. We will be doing the kitchen last. When all was said and done, this list looked like this:

Den
Estimated # of boxes:
Deadline:

Things to Move:

Boxes		Furniture
DVDs & VHS Tapes		Sofa
Xbox Console and Games		Loveseat
Wii Console and Games		Bookcase
PS2 Console and Games		Media Stands (4)
Books		Entertainment System stand
4 Wall Plaques		Coffee Table
3 Pictures Frames		Mini Fridge
Photo Album		Filing Cabinet
Arts & Crafts Rubbermaid

I created a general list like this for each room we are moving. The list is divided into two columns - boxes and furniture. I estimated how many boxes I would need for each room, and gave myself an deadline to complete the packing.

I also created a checklist for myself of any other important tasks that needed to be completed before our August 1st move-in date, such as contacting utility companies and designating a turn-on date, scheduling an install date for Verizon and gathering information about our new neighborhood, such as a doctor, a vet for Luna and, of course, any shopping in the area ;D

Until next time.

xoxo,
Alex