Busy Bee

I have been a busy little wedding bee this week! Everything that I mentioned in my last post has been taken care of.

We made our first payment to our photographer last week. She's fantastic, and very fast to respond!

This morning, after seeing a matinee, with my mom and sister, of Twilight, I took my card stock back to Swoozies to be printed. That took no time at all and they'll be done in 3 to 5 business days. While I was paying for the printing, I jokingly asked if they were hiring an assistant graphic designer. Guess what? The graphic design artist of the store said that she would be going on maternity leave in May and could use some help! She asked me to leave me phone number and name and said that she'd be calling me! Awesome, huh!

Rigo and I are very, very close to booking our honeymoon. We found a great deal! Airfare to Vegas and back, plus a four night stay at the Stratosphere hotel for only 850 dollars!
My Mom used to be a reservationist for Southwest, so she's going to look into it for us and let us know if there is anything else we can get at a good price. We should be booking it this week!

FULL SPEED AHEAD!

That's right folks! Rigo and I are FULL SPEED AHEAD on planning our wedding! So much has happened and is going to happen shortly. The wedding is only 4 months and 3 weeks away!

Last weekend, before my mom and I had to pick up a very special friend of mine from the airport, we ran to Hobby Lobby because they were having 50% off of their entire wedding supply. Mom bought us a BEAUTIFUL guest book and matching pen. It's stunning. I can't wait for everyone to see it. We also got place cards and invitation accents at a very reasonable price. We picked up a few other things that I can't really post about, but I will say that we were very productive :)

Yesterday, I contacted a photographer that my Mom found online. She is very reasonable, and her pictures look fantastic. As soon as I'm done posting, I'll be emailing her back to finish with the booking process. I was so worried about finding a photographer. Finding her was a huge stress reliever!

I have an "appointment" with my Mom to meet on Thursday to buy my bridesmaid's jewelry. I'm excited about that. She's awesome at helping me make decisions :)

Now that we know what time we want the wedding to start, Rigo and I can have our invitations printed. I bought the card stock a few weeks ago, but haven't been certain about a time, so we haven't had them printed. We're planning on sending them out in January, so we better get on the ball!

That's all for now. Buh-Bye!

Another Change

I'm the bride. Luckily, that means that I can make changes to my wedding whenever I want to. Hehe. Actually, the latest change was all Rigo's idea and I loved it!

We're making a change to the wedding party...again. I promise, this is the last wedding party change! Here it goes...

Bride:

Brittany Stevens - My Sister, and Maid of Honor

Jesse Stevens - My Brother

Sara Henk - My Best girl-friend of many many years

Christopher Pippin - My Best guy-friend of many years

Groom:

Bryan Stoner - Rigo's best friend, and Best man

Madie Hausinger - Rigo's best girl-friend

Matt Poole - Rigo's best guy-friend

Kayla Hurt - Rigo's best girl-friend

We were having problems because most of Rigo's best friend's are girls, and I wanted Chris and Jesse in the wedding, neither of which know Rigo very well. So. This is perfect. I love that it's not something that people do often in their weddings.

On another note, I need to get on the ball with invitations. Yikes! I have to send them out in about two months. I already purchased them, I just need to figure out the exact times so that I can take them to be printed.

Birthday, Babies and Weddings

Three major things.

1. Rigo's birthday! That's right, tomorrow is Rigo's 22nd birthday! His birthday cake turned out terrible, but we gave him his gifts and sang and everything. He seemed really happy. I got him this slick leather jacket. I think he liked it :) I also got him the new Gears of War game. He hasn't stopped playing it.

2. David James Pippin! David James Pippin was born on November 6th, 2008. He was 8 pounds even and 20 inches long. His proud parents are, of course, Tracy and Chris Pippin. They make such a beautiful family. Chris has been a long time friend of mine, and Tracy, his beautiful wife, and I have gotten a lot closer since they've been married. I was told that I am third in line for babysitting, and I cannot wait!!! When I held baby David in the hospital, he didn't cry! Babies always cry when I hold them. He's such an angel.

3. Erin Harper is now Erin Rose! Erin was married to her husband, Jeff Rose, on Saturday. I haven't seen a lot of pictures yet, but I have seen a few, and she looked BEAUTIFUL! Congratulations Erin!

Sew Cute!

I've been asked to help in the Apparel and Sewing class at work during one period to help out a few students that are falling behind. I've been helping all week, and I LOVE it! The woman teaching the class saw the apron that I started this summer, and told me that I did a wonderful job on the stitching. I've been having so much fun that I decided it was time to try my hand at my sewing machine again. I couldn't have had better timing!

JoAnn Fabric is having their Moonlight Madness special until Saturday, which means that all of their McCall patterns are 99 cents!!! I found 8 new patterns that I liked and didn't already have.

I bought:

PJs

Blouse

Tunic

Jacket

More PJs

Baby Accessories

Infant Clothing

More Baby Clothes

I know...I bet you're wondering why I bought the baby patterns. Well, my best friend, Chris, and his beautiful wife, Tracy, are due to have a baby boy in a few weeks. I am so excited for them! I decided that baby clothes and accessories would make both easy first sewing projects and cute gifts for the new baby. I'll be making diaper covers from the "Infant Clothing" link, and the jumper gown on the "More Baby Clothes."

I'm pretty excited. I know I should be working on sewing things like my veil, but that can wait, I suppose :)

Wonderful Weekend With Mom

That's right, my mom and I had an AWESOME weekend.

It started on Saturday. Mom picked me up early and we went to a craft show at a church nearby. We ran to a few garage sales, and then ate breakfast at IHOP. After that, I took her to get her hair cut at her favorite salon for her birthday. That's right! My beautiful mother has a birthday on Wednesday :) Her new haircut and color looks fantastic! That was an awesome day. While we were out talking, we realized that I wasn't doing anything on Sunday, and I needed wedding invitations :)

On Sunday...Mom picked me up early again. We walked around Portifino and talked while we waited for stores to open at noon. Around eleven, we drove to Market Street and walked around Borders Book Store.

When Swoozies opened, there was a crowd outside, and we part of it :)

Mom had never been in there. I love it. It's like a fun party and holiday store. They also have a HUGE selection of invitations and card stock. While the invitation sets in their binders were WAY expensive, the kind sales lady gave us a great idea. Long story short, mom and I bought all the card stock for the wedding and when we have all of the final details, we'll take it back to them for printing! I'm so excited!

After Swoozies, Mom and I ate lunch at Pot Belly Sandwich Works, where Brittany works.

Even after ALL of that, we weren't done! We decided to stop at JC Penney to look for some new work clothes. We each were able to find new pants and a few blouses. Get this...I went down a size! That's exciting :) We were done for the day, or so we thought!

We walked out of JC Penney towards the mall, and guess what we saw... A Wedding Show! They had cake vendors, photographers, makeup artists and even a fashion show! It was so cool that we happened upon such a neat show!

Wonderful weekend, I'd say :)

Since August!

Where has time gone?!?

I know...it's been FOREVER since I've posted. I'm not entirely sure where to start? A lot has happened. Unfortunately, my focus hasn't been entirely on the wedding, but I'm SO anxious to get back on my wedding track!

Since my last post, I have received another WONDERFUL gift from Rigo's family. I have gained a huge interest in cake baking and decorating. I absolutely LOVE doing it. Well, what does every baker need? A beautiful new MIXER! That's right. Rigo's parents surprised me with a brand new JC Penney Cooks Mixer! I love it.

I've started two new jobs since August, which is part of the reason the wedding planning has been so slow. I am now working with high school students at Klein High School. I love this job! Not only do I work with wonderful kids and teachers, but Rigo is the technician at the same school. Perfect! Rigo and I also accepted positions working for the new Woodforest Stadium. I run an instant replay camera down on the field, and Rigo runs the instant replay computer up in the press box.

Anywho, that's what we've been up to. I'll post separately about the more interesting things that have been happening. Thanks for reading!!!

Engagement Photos

Rigo and I took our engagement photos this morning. They turned out great! His dad is a semi-professional photographer and offered to do our pictures for us. We went to a location in the Woodlands, and two spots in the Portifino area. There are some that I absolutely love and a few that I'm not as crazy about. They are located at

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=4012400 the password is "rose".

I wish I could have hit the gym a few more times before the pictures, but whatta ya gonna do :)

Speaking of the gym, Rigo and I have signed up with a personal trainer through December. He's a really nice guy that knows a lot about vitamins and supplements and keeps are butts going at the gym. He has us on mostly weight training. I don't know if it's going to work the miracle I need, but I do know that I'm REALLY sore for a few days after going :)

My Girly-Girl Gifts

While this isn't completely wedding related, I had to share!

I've been making cakes for people in my family like crazy the past week. I found that I'm actually pretty good at decorating them. Rigo was so impressed that he took me to Michael's on Sunday and signed me up for the first of four of the Wilton Method Courses. I even talked my mom into taking them with me :)

Another exciting event...I was at Rigo's house Friday morning talking with his mom about how I was given a sewing machine, but it was broken and old. She called her mom in South Texas to see if she still used her sewing machine. Sure enough, her mom said that she didn't use it anymore and wouldn't mind sending it up, but the tension knob was broken. Well....we went to his house today after our personal trainer appointment and there was a BRAND NEW KENMORE SEWING MACHINE on the table for me. Apparently, his grandma didn't want to send me a broken sewing machine, so she went to Sears and bought me a new one.

Looks like I'm turning into a real girly-girl!

Birthday and Changes

Today saw Brittany's 17th birthday party. I made her a tye-died, Yellow Submarine cake and we had a few family members over for dinner. It was a LOT of fun. Jesse, Sissy and Che were able to drive down from Huntsville which was perfect timing.

Rigo asked his good friend Madie to be in the wedding party and I was able to ask Jesse to do the same. They both said yes, putting us at 3 attendents each. It makes me feel so much better to be able to have my both my brother and my sister with me at the alter and I'm sure that Rigo feels a ton better to have Madie in the wedding party too.

On another note, I think the guys agreed on a tux style that they won't mind. They were a little "concerned" about wearing purple, but everything seems to be settled.

Rigo's Dad is a professional photographer and has agreed to do our engagement photos this coming weekend. We haven't set a definite site yet, but we have a few places in mind. I thought that we should do a few at Oak Ridge High School, where we met, and a few some where pretty like a park or pond nearby.

First Steps

Rigo and I took our first steps towards losing weight today. Because we both work for Klein ISD, a gym down the street gave us a great deal! Our total registration fee, including first and last months dues, came to 50 dollars and our monthly payments are only 10dollars each.

I REALLY don't want to look like a puffy marshmallow on my wedding day so we're both going to be seeing personal trainers. We have our first session with our personal trainer on Tuesday and I am SIKED! He spoke with us today about our goals and said that they are definitely reachable in nine months.

Wish us luck!

Bridal Extravaganza!

Today saw my mom, my sister, Rigo, his parents, and myself at the Houston Bridal Extravaganza Show. It was amazing. Not only did we get to see and try all of the wonderful wedding related services being offered, but we also were able to get a few things done for the wedding. While Rigo's dad went around to all of the booths telling people that he and Mrs. Zavala had been dating for 30 years and finally decided to take the plunge, we spoke with hundreds of people about their services. I registered for lots of free stuff, like honeymoons and flowers.

We got a fantastic deal on all of the tuxes from Al's Formal Wear. They were a little upset that we planned to go to Men's Wearhouse, so they gave us a huge discount. Rigo's tux will be free, his best man, groomsman, and dad will get 30 off, and my step dad is getting 50 dollars off of his rentals. They also gave us two teddy bears :)

We arranged to have a jewelry party in September. The company's name escapes me, but I'll add it when I remember. There is no obligation to sell a certain amount of jewelry, and I automatically get a beautiful tennis bracelet to wear with my gown.

David's Bridal gave me a 50 dollar gift card that is good for two weeks. Obviously, I couldn't risk losing the gift card, so we stopped at David's Bridal on the way home. After a bit of running around inside, with the help of a wonderful sales associate, I found the dress. There's more! It was 150 cheaper than usual and they added my 50 dollar gift card to that! Putting on that dress made me realize that I AM A BRIDE! Can you believe it? I can't :) My mom took tons of pictures, but of course I can't post them or show anyone yet.

All Grown Up

Today, it really hit me. I was getting dressed and putting my on my makeup so that my mom and I could go out for the day. I always look in the mirror to make sure I look alright, only this time, I saw something new. I saw how grown up I've become. Since high school, life has flown by, and I haven't taken much time to really look at myself. I'm so excited about what is coming in my life and what I can't even see coming. I have such special relationships with all of those close to me. My mom and I have become so close, almost like sisters, over the past few years. My sister and I have also become a lot closer. Rigo and I have known each other for so long and over our seven years, we have truly grown together. My sister sees him as a brother and my mom wonders where he is if he isn't over when it's dinner time. I am so blessed to have the people that I do in my life and I hope that they never forget how much they mean to me.

Brittany returns from church camp tomorrow night, so she'll finally be able to help me with my Save the Dates!

Time for Mom, Fiancee and Bargains

I've spent the last few days trying to relax and enjoy my new engagement to Rigo. I've spent time at home, cleaning and listening to my music louder than usual. I've also been able to get a few things done that I've been meaning to do, such as my labels for the Bridal Show on Saturday, contact my wedding planner, and start kennel training my puppy.

My little sister, and Maid of Honor, has been away at Christian camp all week, so it's just been me and my mom at home. We've had time to get some shopping done as well as our nails. I haven't had my nails done since I was in high school and I'm still trying to get used to typing with them. It's been nice just hanging out with her instead of rushing off to work everyday.

Rigo hasn't had as much time to enjoy our engagement. Even though he's working 4 day weeks during the summer, he has to work at least 10 hours a day. By the time he gets home, he's too tired to do anything much more than check his email and chat for a few minutes. We stopped by the store and picked him up a model rocket kit to mess around with. Anything to help him relax.

I've been doing my best to buy wedding materials only when they're on sale or if I've checked around to be sure that I'm getting the BEST price. I've been coupon clipping and everything! Today, I bought an embossing heat tool for only 14 dollars!

This picture is a very early photo of Rigo and I. I believe it's from my freshman year of high school.

My Poor Mom

Last night, my mom and I had to drive to Tyler, Tx to pick up my little sister from the Drum Major Academy. On the way we stopped to see my brother, his fiancee and their little girl, Che-Ivey. I hadn't seen Che since she was born, so I was super excited. We only had about an hour to spend visiting, but it was definitely worth the effort! Che is getting so big and she looks just like Jesse when he was a baby! While we were there, we found out some fantastic news; Jesse and Natalie are getting married on St. Patrick's Day. That's right, March. For my poor mom, that means that her oldest will be married in March, her middle child will be married in April and her youngest will be graduating high school in May. I hope that she is blessed with the strength to handle everything and be able to enjoy all the exciting occasions without being burdened by stress. That's just like my siblings and I to put extra stress on Mom.

In other news, I got a call from my Dad last night. He said that he will make it to my wedding if he has to walk...from Michigan.

I think I'll spend today working on Save the Dates :)

Planning

Wedding plans have begun! Because it's summer, and I don't have work or school, it's a perfect time to start planning our wedding.

Mom found a beautiful location out in the country. Jones Pavilion is owned by a couple that understands how expensive weddings can be and aim to help alleviate some of the cost by offering fantastic packages. The package that I chose includes so much!

It covers food, which will be homemade grilled chicken and sides, a DJ that comes with great references, linens, centerpieces, decorations, the rehearsal, and the officiant. The best part is that they allow you to go to a baker, have a cake made and the cost is included in the package!

Hopefully I'll have the money for the deposit soon.

Our colors will be black, white, and royal purple. I've already started working on Save the Dates, but I haven't gotten the finished guest list from his side of the family. Hobby Lobby had everything I needed to make them on sale! I love when that happens.

Our bridal party will be rather small. My Maid of Honor is my sister, Brittany, and my best friend from high school, Sara, will be my Bridesmaid. Rigo's Bestman is his closest friend, Bryan, and his Groomsman is another good friend, Matt.

There is so much to get done!!!

Our Anniversary

Monday, July 7th, was our two year anniversary. I took Rigo on a picnic in Houston and bought him two tickets to a concert. He took me to my favorite museum, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and to dinner. We traveled back to our side of town where we decided to grab some ice cream at Chocolata in the Woodlands. We took our ice cream down to a new section of the Woodlands Waterway called Waterway Square. It has dancing fountains and fountains that 'dance' to music played every 15 minutes or so. Beautiful!

We watched the fountains for a while and played around in the dancing water, then when we were sitting at the top of the fountains, he pulled out the ring and asked me to marry him!!! I started bawling and the first thing out of my mouth was "Oh my God, that's so pretty!" Then I said yes, of course.

In the Beginning

Rigo and I met in high school just before my freshman year. We were both in the school band and I was in his math class that year. We started out as good friends and haven't looked back since. We've gone through hard times and good times as a couple and just as friends. We've gone to college together, worked together and lived together for a time. Now, seven years later, we're still inseparable.

This is our story.