Family & Friends Weekend

My goddaughter Hayden arrived last night and I can't wait to see her today...stupid work! Also, my lovely cousin Amanda will be here today. I love when the out-of-town family come to visit, it is so nice to have everyone in the same place.

Wednesday I got my STD magnets in the mail and they came out great!! I love them. In fact, I was so excited I stuck all 200 of them all over the fridge.

They are blurry but they say "Kevin bought the ring and Meagan said yes. There's going to be a wedding and we hope you'll be our guest!"

My family got a big kick out of that, but seriously, they are so stinkin' cute! Now if I could just get them out....maybe next week? I am soooo busy with Steph's wedding and things I don't know if that will happen. The little cards I made to put the magnets on are uber-boring and I want to dress them up a little, but I'd rather just get them out sooner, so we shall see. Also, I got the new address cards I made up, and it says "Kevin and Meagan Newlastname" and I was just like...whoa, I'm getting married.

Still not really looking forward to the wedding this weekend. I just always feel like an outsider with Kevin's friends. I know they have all been friends for a long time and I'm the new girl but still... At first I thought we were ok, but now I feel like I'm not so sure.

Last night was seriously an awful night. I was just so down about everything - I have a lot of big expenses this month and it is really draining my bank account, which makes me worried. I just get in these moods where I feel like I am always going to be making just what I need to get by and never be able to do nice things and afford to take vacations and it bums me out. Kevin tries to make me feel better, saying he worked a lot of OT and he can pay for things, but I don't want to take his $$. I want to be able to support myself. I want to be able to save, so we can do things. Ugh, stress. And the headache is back and stronger than ever.

The landlady is driving me CRAZY already. She has been going back and forth, pretty much with herself, about the paint and the cupboards and ugh! We picked out a pretty green called Herbal Garden as she said we could choose a color for the kitchen. I told her the name and the number so she could check it out at Home Depot and also said I would send her the sample I got. She said she checked it out and it was very pretty blah blah. Then two days later she tells me it will really brighten up the kitchen. The VERY NEXT day I get an email that the paint will make the kitchen look small and its dark and if we want it that color we would have to prime it back before we leave and she thought it was the lighter one on such and such a chart. I sent you the name and number!! Where was the confusion??? Crazy lady!!! And the cupboards are UGLY and she mentioned something about painting them white instead of varnishing them and I wanted them to do that. She said it would be extra work because they would have to be stripped and sanded, so if that is what we wanted, Kevin could do it on his own. I have told her approx 10 times that he would do it and still she says every email "Does Kevin want to paint?" AHHH I am pulling my hair out!

Well, anyhow, I am going to have a good weekend. Babies, visiting with cousins and snuggling with my bunny after the wedding. *sigh* it will be nice.

Enjoy it!

Visit from my Bunny

Last night, Kevin came to visit because I haven't seen him since JULY!! Holy cow, that was a long time! But we have both just been so busy, I had my 'maids up one weekend and then he has been working like a fiend, that it just worked out that way. I was so glad to see him. I hate living in different cities. I can't wait to move into the new apartment (even tho that won't be until after the wedding) and just be able to see each other every day and not have to plan out our weekends months in advance about if we'll be in Buffalo, Rochester, or Warsaw...exhausting!

So, we went out to dinner to Red Lobster. I am not a fan of shellfish but you can always get salmon which I love. Altho, I got the salmon in the bag and it said seasonal veggies, so I assumed broccoli or green beans, but it was peppers and onions - yuck! The salmon was good once I saved it from the offending veggies. Then we set off on our errands.

First stop was Home Depot. I hate the carpet in the living room of our apartment, its awful and purple-y blue and I was hoping to find a remnant of a neutral to cover most if not all of the room. No luck here, but it was ok. Next, we cruised on over to one the area hotels - we are trying to find someplace for our wedding guests to stay that is affordable and not a sh*thole, pardon my language. This is proving much easier said than done. I cannot believe how much people charge here for a hotel room - the southtowns are NOT a big tourist attraction, so you wouldn't think it would be so outrageous. We didn't go and look at a room, the guy behind the desk was taking too long but then the way to get home is to go through this skeevy part of town where they are doing a lot of contruction and I don't really want that to be the first impression of our wedding day that people get. Call me crazy, I know. Next we went to Lowes, again on the search for carpet - no luck again. Guess I will actually have to go to a carpet store. Finally we headed over to my favorite place on earth - Target!!! We saw a duvet cover to add to our registry, as well as a shelving unit to put in the bathroom. BEST of all, I found a slip cover for the couch (black) and coordinating pillows (front - cream with a black swirly design, back - black). It looks really nice and I hope it fits the couch... fingers crossed.

Tonight I am hanging out with my friend Kara. She just got a new car so she's driving haha. We are grabbing some dinner at Red Robin and then stopping at Joanns so I can pick up an aisle runner and some paint and brushes to make the handpainted aisle runner for my friend Steph's upcoming wedding (a week and a half!! ahh I'm super excited!!)

My perma-headache is back in full force. Its not debilitating or anything, just more of a dull ache. Just kind of getting on my nerves that it won't go away.

Tomorrow brings a Loooong day of work, but also the first of the OOT family comes in. I am so excited to see the little bebe (my goddaughter! :D) and hang out with my cousin Amanda. Yay for hanging out avec ma famille!

Enjoy it!

Busy Bee

Whew, I need a vacation from the weekend I just had! Busy busy busy!

Friday night I had to work until 11:15, which was not too bad. I had to get up super early on Saturday so we could go check out some furniture. My aunt's friend is downsizing and selling her house, so she needed it out. I was a little surprised when I walked in...I'm not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't this. I ended up taking the furniture, because we have nothing to put in the apartment, and it really was something I couldn't pass up.

For $500 I got:
A couch - is currently cream with green and mauve stripes, needs a slipcover
Two formal chairs - am selling to my mother, they are comfy but a little stiff and my mom LOVES them. She is planning on having my aunt help her re-upholster them and in exchange, my aunt is giving us two wingback chairs
Two side tables - want to get new hardware for these because it is currently gold
Two lamps - Words cannot describe the horror of these lamps. They have engraevd butterflies all over them. *barf* Even if I paint them, it will still be visible - I have some ideas up my sleeve on how to fix them
One wingback chair - is brown...maybe need slip cover. This is going in the second bedroom.
One kitchen table - Nice, but doesn't appear to be extremely sturdy.... hopefully Kevin won't be diving onto it anytime soon haha (also, has two leaves and expands to fit 8)
4 (i think) chairs for the table - The table is a pretty wood color but for some reason, she painted the chairs a cream color. Need to be stripped and stained

I would like to look into getting a remnant carpet for the living room as the one in the apartment is currently a purple-y blue color. I'm thinking beige.

After this, my mom, sister and I went to the fair! Yahoo, I love it there! I bought bbq sauce for Kevin, a necklace and anklet for myself and had a Philly cheesesteak for lunch! Also, some lady cured my headache in approx 1 minute and another cleaned my gorgey engagement ring and it super sparkly and even more beautiful (if that is possible).

We had to leave by 3, but we got stuck in the parking lot when the key wouldn't turn in my mom's ignition. Boy was my dad happy that he had to come and rescue us (dripping with sarcasm)

My mom and I ran some errands after the fair - I got a dry erase calendar for the new apartment, frames and miscellaneous supplies from Joanns to make my Photo card box, and got some ideas for the aisle runner I volunteered to make for my friend's wedding in 2 weeks.

Kevin is coming to visit me on Tuesday after work because we haven't seen each other in 2 weeks and its been completely sucks. I'm super excited to see him!! Also, I am looking forward to seeing my cousin Amanda this weekend, meeting my goddaughter Hayden and going to Kevin's friend's wedding on Saturday! Looks like another busy bee weekend haha

Enjoy it!

Aww I'm a God-momma

I've been working like a fiend this week, FT 40 hours at the regular job and 20.5 hours at Wegmans. Cra-zay! Seriously, I am so wiped and counting the minutes until I can be done with this week. Last night was a complete mess at Wegmans - the regular overnight lady is on vacation in CA and the guy who was supposed to be working didn't show up - in fact, when we called him, he told us he was an hour and a half away. Yahoo! Thanks a lot, since I was the ONLY cashier after 10pm. I got slammed! And then they even asked me "Have you ever worked an overnight? Could you stay?" and I just barely held myself back from laughing in the girl's face. Yes, I've only been working since 7:30 am, but let me stay here all night long and then go to my other job at 7:30 am again. Yahoo!

...crazy people...

Today Kevin got some bad news - apparently he has to work next weekend, which is particularly bad as he is IN he friend's wedding. He finishes work at 2:30 pm, would have to drive about an hour and be in the wedding, party, and be back at work by 2pm on Sunday. Hopefully he can work something out with the managers because he is sort of important here... Plus, if he isn't going to the wedding, I don't know that I really want to go either. His friends are a little iffy on me and that is not super fun. Oh well...

Today I got some super-exciting news!! My cousin Lesley, who just had a baby over Memorial Day weekend (little girl - Hayden Carlisle...don't ask) called and asked me to be her godmother! I am very excited and completely flattered that Lesley thought of me. Of course, she lives in Florida, so I still haven't seen the baby, but they will be coming in next Thursday so we can all meet her and also for the baptism (Sunday, the day after the wedding with the conflict). So now I have to think of a gift to get her...I am thinking about doing a bond, and I want something baptism-keepsake (maybe a Precious Moments figurine?) and a cute outfit. I think that should be good.

In addition to the Florida relatives coming up next weekend, one of my very dear cousins Amanda will be in town for the christening as well, from Philadelphia. We have seen her a lot more this year than we usually do (Easter, her brother's wedding, and 4th of July - not the best circumstances as it was a funeral) but at all these things we hardly get to say two words to each other. So hopefully we can spend some time together Friday and Sunday. We have a lot to catch up on!

Yesterday I got the first part of my orders from VistaPrint - address labels to use on our weddig invitations and RSVPs. They came out super cute and I am very excited! Also, Joann's finally has "print your own" invitations that have pockets, which I am also very happy about. They are all white so I am going to incorporate some color by adding a hunter green belly band. This will also eliminate the need for inner envelopes, because I am going to put a little cardstock square on the front and put the "joe and guest" on there. Yay for creativity!

Ooh, also my aunt has a friend who is selling her house and downsizing so I asked her to ley me know if she would be interested in selling some of her furniture (as Kevin and I have none). SO I heard back from my aunt that she will be selling her furniture, so hopefully I will be able to go and check it out on Saturday. My aunt's like "Oh, it will definitely be in good condition, but I don't know what its like so I don't know if it will be your taste" to which I replied, "if the price is right, it's my taste." We can't really afford to be picky at this point and as they say, "Beggars can't be choosers."

Other plans for this weekend include: going to the fair, making a bachelorette party sash for Steph, getting her a cute gift, working on my STDs (getting the envelopes all together) and potentially getting rid of junk in my room.

Enjoy it!

Boring week

After my fantastic weekend, I will be doing a whole lot of nothing. Correction - a whole lot of nothing fun. Just 60 hours of work this week.

I've been brainstorming some more about wedding things. I think it would be good to start the reception around 5 or 5:30, just so that people won't have as long of a gap from the ceremony to the reception and also so they aren't driving so late. I originally wanted it to be later, but in February, I am going to be worried about driving conditions.

Also, I am seriously considering forgeting about favors. The more I think about it, the more I think it is a waste of money and I don't really want to get stuck with all the leftovers of whatever it is, even if it is something edible. There will be plenty of details for everyone to enjoy, I don't really know that I need to put a packet of m&ms at each station so people know that I appreciate their coming to my wedding.

Last night I watched "Lars & the Real Girl" - I really liked it. I mean, it was so ridiculous with the doll and him carrying it around all the time, but so sweet that the whole town ended up playing into this pretend relationship. At some points, I was crying and then laughing at myself for crying over a doll.

Also, I have received *some* of the addresses from Kevin's mom, for his family (Kevin is no help with this lol!) but there are still quite a bit missing and I am hoping to start addressing my Save the Date envelopes this weekend - we shall see what we can do.

For my gifts for my bridesmaids, I am thinking about doing canvas totes with their names on them. Then I will put a pair of flip flops in each (labeled "Your dancing shoes"), and a couple of little things that they might need throughout the day - brush, gum/mint, water bottle, mirror, hairspray, lipgloss, tissues, etc. But then I would also like to put something personal in each one. So far I have an idea for Tracy - I would like to put a couple of old movies in there, since those are things we watch together - one with Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis - seriously, the classics. One of the other girls will probably be engaged by the time I am getting married, so maybe her present will be some wedding planning stuff. The rest I am stumped so far...but I will be thinking about it.

I had the craziest dream last night! I was very very pregnant and at a family party with Kevin. All of the sudden I started having contractions, not very bad though, and I was all calm. Then they just stopped and my aunts and mother were making me walk and walk and walk to get things moving again. On my walk, there was a man and I bought him bologna and in return he bought me a movie. It was all very strange. I didn't eat anything before bed, so I am not really sure where this came from, but.... at the very least it was amusing haha.


Enjoy it!

I have the BEST FRIENDS EVER

Oh.mi.gosh!! This weekend was AMAZING! Here's a little recap:

Friday night my friend Carolyn got in from Queensbury and we went out to dinner to Red Robin with my mom and sister. It was completely delicious! Then we went to the Chocolate Bar downtown and met up with Carolyn's friend, Maryanna (who had the custest haircut) and had yummy martinis. On the way home, we stopped at Wegmans and picked up some breakfast for the next morning and also some frozen limeade for margaritas the next night. Then we made a mix cd for the car trip and went to bed.

Saturday - I got up early to get ready for the day. Ran to get some donut holes for the trip, cut up apples, packed some waters. Cair came down and Tracy and Col showed up a little early, so I called to wake Kara up so she would be ready when we picked her up and we took off. We got up to Rochester way earlier than I thought we would, 8 minutes before the Alfred Angelo store opened so we took some funny pictures to document the day and then in we went. Our personal bridal consultant, Renee, came and helped us pick out dresses. We had two dressing rooms reserved and everyone grabbed a stack of tops and bottoms to try on. Of course, we had a great fashion show and took lots of pictures and laughed a lot. It ended up going a lot quicker than I thought it would, and we were out of there in just a little over an hour.
We headed over to Marketview Liquor, picked up some tequila and triple sec (more margarita supplies) and also the best bottle of wine I have ever seen - it was called Bitch! and had an awesome pink label. Then we went out to lunch at Pittsford Pub and met up with Dave, a friend from college. Then I got a call from the apartment lady, Denise, about the apartment I was supposed to go and check out, so we all headed over there. She had two apartment available, and even though I was pretty much determined to NOT like them, they were really nice for what we can afford. So I called and talked with Kevin and I ended up signing the lease, which means we have our VERY FIRST APARTMENT!! This really helps me a lot, because now I feel like I can pick the things on our registry better because I see the space I want them for. Also, we get to choose a color to paint the kitchen, which I think will make it a little more homey. My friends were really helpful with the ideas and also we got to look at out neighbor's apartment, full of furniture, which was great. Of course, we have NO furniture to put in it, but we will get there. My grandma has a table that she said we could have, and we have a mattress and a boxspring... piece by piece, right?
After that, we were all set in Rochester so we took off and headed back home, goals for the day accomplished. We dropped Kara back off so she could pick up Joe's car and came back to my house, where we parted ways - Colleen and Tracy back to their respective homes, and Cair and I to mine. Cair took a nap and I loaded all the pics for an earlier photo shoot onto my computer, finished designing my Save the Dates!! Which means - CHECK - I got those ordered and off the list. They should be here in about 2 weeks. YAHOO! Then I took a nap also, and woke up a little before it was time to head down to Colleen's, where we 5 girls were planning to have margaritas and smores! Little did I know that they had something else planned...

When I walked in, I was greeted by all my girlfriends and a surprise bachelorette party!! It was so great! Everyone was wearing leis and drinking daiquiris and they dressed my up in a funny hat and a "Bride to Be" necklace. Even my mom was there! We visited, ate, played games (including pin the junk on the hunk - what a riot!!), danced and drank!

This is my sister Emily and my friend's little sister Jen - nice faces guys!

My mother and Aunt Sandy

My mom, relishing her perfect placement at "Pin the Junk on the Hunk"

I had such a wonderful time!! I truly am so lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful friends. I got some great presents including a little sign to hang in our new apartment that says "all because two people fell in love" and best of all, a photo album full of all the great pictures we took that day! It was an amazing surprise!!!

Sunday - Cair and I got up pretty early, ordered breakfast pizza and had an old college friend over for breakfast. Then Carolyn left - she had a long drive home. I had a family party for my uncle's 85th birthday and so I spent the afternoon there. On the way home I stopped at Joann's to pick up some things for another friend's bachelorette party and also at my fave store ever invented - Target! I made up some invitations for the party and also addressed the envelopes, so those can go out tomorrow.

All in all, this weekend was fantastic, everything went so much better than I could have anticipated and I was so glad for the time I got to spend with my friends! Thank you ladies!!

Enjoy it!

Big Weekend! The beginning of many

So today was very busy at work, and went by pretty quickly, especially with the much appreciated breaks ala theknot discussion boards. Tonight I am busy busy busy. As a fantastic surprise, my mom has cleaned my room, febreezed and vacuumed in honor of my dear dear friend Carolyn coming to visit for the weekend. She is coming from Lake George area and is on her way as I type - yippee!

Before she gets here I must: declutter my room, help clean the rest of the house, puchase tequila, run to Wegmans, and drag the mattress she is sleeping on into my room - Slumber party!

Tonight we are supposed to *maybe* go out for a drink, and meet up with another girl from college, which should be nice. We might even head downtown to the Chocolate Bar.

Then the fun stuff begins - tomorrow all my bridesmaids (sans my cousin Tyler who has to work, and my sister, who already got her dress on Wednesday) will be trekking up to Rochester to the Alfred Angelo store in order to get their bridesmaid dresses. We are meeting at 8:20 am (we have to stop and pick someone up on the way) and then its road trip time. I am making a bridesmaid themed cd for the ride haha. After the dresses we are getting lunch ad stopping to look at an apartment for Kevin and I. Then we head back to Buffalo, chill by the pool for the rest of the afternoon and at night its a bonfire and margaritas at my dear friend Colleen's house. Potentially followed up by a little "Father of the Bride" or "27 Dresses"

Since we are having a margarita party, I got all the ladies margarita glasses as a little thank you for getting together and doing this for me. I am so excited to have all my friends in one place!


Hopefully this all goes off ok... Let you know in a couple days, I guess!

Enjoy it!