Thoughts after Coffee Cup # 2

It's 6:30am and I'm on my second cup of coffee, feeling pretty awake at this point. I woke up at 5:20am to see my future husband off to work this morning and you know what, it felt good. I am looking forward to taking care of him in a new way as we start combining our lives. With an endless list of honey-do's between now and June 16th (our wedding), moments like this recenter my focus and remind me why the crazy is worth the anxiety and stress.

I feel such a sense of peace making his morning coffee or packing his snack, especially when I beg him to let me cook up a breakfast sandwich at 5:30am while he groans with that look that says "Thank you, but my stomach isn't quite awake yet." I understand that the novelty of all my new wifely duties might wear off, but for now I am basking in the contentedness I get from taking care of my soon to be husband. I pray it never gets "old" and that I continue to enjoy the whole taking care of a household role. I have a feeling it runs in my genes to feel complete and satisfied with a life centered on taking care of my family....I know this because my mom was always so good at it. Of all the things I could say about my mom, she was born to care for a family and taught me how to create a home just as she did.

Aannnndddd, with 37 days left before the wedding, my wedding website checklist says I still have 60 of my 120 tasks left to complete. Two more things to get done this weekend, RINGS AND TUXES!

I'm a prisoner to my sweet tooth

My horrible sweet tooth has taken me prisoner and I can't curve the craving of the peanut butter and chocolate ice cream sitting in my freezer at work from the San Francisco Creamery. How I wish I could indulge right now. Instead I will (try) and focus my energy on the realization that I gotta keep motivated to be healthy and get my boot-ey to the gym 'cus there are less than 8 Mondays till my wedding day is here. Maybe someone should stop buying me ice cream during lunch...

What do you all do to curve the after lunch sweet tooth cravings?

mmmm doesn't that look tasty.....

 

Maybe just two bites will be okay??? It's not like anyone will know....

Invites and Champagne Tasting

I sure haven't blogged much lately, but no one really seems to mind. We have been very busy, Daniel has been busy with school and I've been making a lot of wedding plans lately. Yesterday we did a blind taste test of champagne to see which ones we wanted to serve at the reception. We categorized each type into (a) Toast only, (b) Toast and/or Drinking all Night, (c) Don't even serve for the Toast. My dad insisted that we not know which kind of champagne we are trying so we would give an unbiased judgement towards each. I must say, it was QUITE the experiment.

Surprisingly, we ALL loved one of the lower end Champagnes the best. Us girls were certain our favorite one must be super duper expensive, which of course made all the guys giggle because they knew all along that our "sophisticated champagne tasting palette" had chosen one of the cheapest options. Actually, one of our most favorite tastes was an Almond Champagne from Trader Joe's that costs around $6 a bottle, it was so yummy! So I guess the dads and Daniel win this round and prove their point that just because it costs more, does not mean it tastes better.

I also spent all of last weekend at my sister's house making our invitations. We have decided to hand make every single one, including sewing the outer lace envelopes, stamping and then embossing our names on each invitation as well as "rsvp" on the response cards, and embossing a lace stamp detailing along the edges of each invitation and inner cards. My sister designed a beautiful directions card as well, which will hopefully keep everyone from getting lost on their way up the mountain. I am pretty much impressed with our efforts and I can't wait to finish them all in a few weeks. I have to get them out by April 1st so I better get a move on collecting addresses, that is sort of scaring me at the moment.

Here are some pictures of our mock designs, in case you are curious:

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These are the stamps we had custom made (except for the lace stamp, that one we found online)

 

This is the basic idea of the invite. It's not the real deal because we had just ordered the stamps that day so unfortunately these were made with images of the stamps, using Photoshop. "Kaitlyn & Daniel" will be embossed in black, and the lace stamps in the corners will be embossed in bronze. 

 The lace envelopes are going to hold the invitation, response card, and directions card. This was the un-sewn version of the lace envelope, just to give you an idea what it may look like. 

My sister, Nina, made this card. I know the image quality kind of sucks because it's a picture of the computer screen, but you can really see how much work she put into it. I love it and think it is a great way to make sure no one gets lost (not to mention it's way cooler that a boring old google map)

Pretty awesome, huh? We think so, actually we are pretty darn proud of ourselves. 

Things I'm Learning Lately

We are full swing into wedding planning! Yes, I have the venue picked, the date picked, caterers to taste,  the cake maker (if that's the right word) chosen, my dress, some of the bridesmaid dresses, and my photographer! These last 4 weeks have been more productive than the previous 6 months, since Daniel has been home to help make decisions. His input has been very useful and his insight into what HE thinks I truly want from our wedding has been mostly accurate. It's relieving to know how well he understands pretty much everything about me, well most of the time it's relieving. There is just one small detail that I've run across lately that I don't like that he knows....how horrible I am at saving money.

I'm a shopper, there's no secret there. We can all blame either my God-mom or my own mother for that one, as they both had heavy influences on teaching me about Macy's Shoe Sales, how to get your mall-walk on, and the difference between Nordstrom and Target. I love shoes, and clothes, and getting my nails done, and lots of pretty new things.When he first proposed, the wedding seemed so far away that I just kept thinking, "Saving? Oh, I'll get around to that, right now I just need this new dress!" Now that we are less than 9 months away, it all feels much more real and the motivation is finally here to think realistically about our budget needs for this wedding and for our life together.

So, I am learning to save. I didn't think I had it in me, honestly. I have never been good at saving money but I am set to prove Daniel wrong about my spending habits! I have already saved a nice stash and it feels really refreshing to have some money to my name, "just in case" (for the wedding or whatever comes up.) I don't know why I never did this before, I guess I was too busy walking around DSW.

I think I'll keep the amount I have saved a secret from him for as long as possible so that one day I can say, "Look honey, I have $_______ saved!" And he'll be so proud of me and then we can take a fabulous honeymoon to celebrate.

Frozen Shrimp Wife Lessons

I am determined to be a good wife...let me clarify. I am determined to be a good wife that can COOK! Since Daniel has been gone for most of our engagement thus far (aka: wife training time) my dad has been enlisted to be my guinea pig. He eats whatever I make him and even pretends to like all of it. There was only one chicken dish in which he suggested that "salt can always be added later, sweetheart." So, I am cooking up new things, testing my skills, and being quite creative in the kitchen these days. I am excited to not just learn, but MASTER several key recipes before Daniel gets home so that I may impress him with my cooking ability.

The other night I got a little frisky and decided to throw a little wine in the pan where my chicken had been cooking for some time. I thought, hey, I hear people do this all the time, why can't I? Well, thankfully my dad's girlfriend came home just in time to witness me almost ruin my dinner by not having enough liquid. Had she not walked in when she did, I probably would have ended up drunk from all the wine I would have tried to use to get my chicken to finish cooking without burning. BUT, disaster was averted and I learned, on the fly, how to do a "red wine reduction" as she called it. And, might I say, it turned out AMAZING, moist and yummy and purple. I think even Daniel would have like this chicken since it wasn't dry or anything.

As I was scanning the shelves of the freezer tonight, I laid my eyes on a bag full of frozen shrimp. Inspired by the pre-cooked quality of those frozen shellfish, I jumped onto AllRecipes.com and typed in "shrimp" to see what might come up. Eenie, meanie, mineie, mo and I began pouring this liquid and that spice into a plastic baggie while my fishies defrosted under cold running water, in the sink. Now they are marinating in the fridge and I think this meal will be successfully complete with a side of Mexican rice from a recipe I also found on AllRecipes.com. I'll get back to you all on whether it turned out or not.

So, here I am, teaching myself to be a master chef, one that could challenge my other half's natural cooking ability. All I hope is that, with time, I will be able to make consistently delicious dinners for my husband-to-be, ones that he will be proud of me for (and maybe even invite other people to taste, if I'm that good).

We are Truly Blessed

So I cried a few wedding tears today. They were silent, and I think the only one that noticed was my sister Casie. But, tears of joy were deffinetly in my eyes and heart today when I first laid eyes on the venue that I (and Daniel through my brief explanation) really really really love. It was all because I saw the place I want to get married. I saw the grass I want to walk down the isle and look into the eyes of my future husband. I saw the tree I want to stand under when I promise him the rest of my life. I saw the vision of chairs filled by our family and friends all there to support our love and our future together. I saw our wedding, as perfect as I had ever imagined it could be. And so my eyes welled up with the realization that this very well could be the place we say "We Do" to loving eachother forever and for always.

Today was very special. Not only did my mom, sister, and Daniel's mom fall in love with my wedding dress, just as I had already, but we also got to dream about this wedding and what the vision for that day will look like. Among the many details and possibilities, one theme runs strong. Something I know Daniel would agree with me on. Our wedding is going to have a strong sense of family and of community. We want our wedding to reflect our love for all our many family members and friends we have been blessed to share this life with. We truly are fortunate to have so many amazing people in our lives that bring us more joy and laughter and excitement and love and strength than you ever realize.

We can't hardly wait for the wedding to be here. In case you were wondering, we will be busy in May every year, starting next spring. Celebrating our anniversary, that is. I Love You Daniel Allen Solnok. You are the one God made for me and the one I choose to love today, tomorrow, and every day that is to come. Miss you so much and counting down the days until I can give you another kiss.