390 to go!

Only 390 days until we say “I do!”

390 days. Seems far, but I know it’ll fly by. I fully intend to kick up my feet the last few months before the wedding and just wait for the day I get to play the ultimate game of dress up and do such an adult thing as get married!

Luckily, my typically procrastinating self has checked many things off the never-ending Wedding To-Do list already (thanks to my mom!)

I’ve:

· Found the gown! – The idea of wedding dress shopping to me was so daunting. Trying on a bunch of dresses with ludicrous price tags just did not sound like fun. I’m a one-and-done type of gal. I know what I want, so I don’t want to explore 50 different other options. I literally looked at maybe 3 dresses and almost bought one (which was not at all my ‘style’, but looked really nice to me) but since I had this other dress in the back of my mind, I held off. And thank goodness, because when I drove my ass down to the boonies of SoFla to a little shop and put that baby on it was TOTALLY game over. I’m not much of a crier, so I was worried I wouldn’t have the famous “Say Yes to the Dress” meltdown, but when I was in my dress, my insides just started shaking and that’s how I knew. That, and the fact that my mom, who NEVER cries, was teary-eyed. I can’t wait for it to come in so I can put it back on!

· Booked a photographer! – Photography is SO important to me. I take a million pictures of EVERYTHING, so on the most important day of my life, I could not accept anything less than the bomb dot com photos. I am in love with Vinny’s work at The League of Extraordinary Artists, so I’m excited that he’ll be capturing moments from our special day. I just hope Jordan is up for a zillion pictures! ;o)

· Booked musicians/DJ – We will be having Greek folk musicians playing during our reception, with a DJ, who is our friend, giving the bands a break every few hours to play dance music.

· Nearly finalized the guest list – We had a list set up right after we got engaged (I can’t believe it was almost a year ago already!) which had over 300 people on it. That might make some of your heads spin, but it’s almost normal for Greeks. Nia Vardalos didn’t call it My Big Fat Greek Wedding for nothing! We sat down one day this past week and shaved it down. I hate saying that and I really hope people’s feelings don’t get hurt, but at the end of the day, we really can’t invite everyone we know. And even so, nearly 300 people is a LOT!

· Been working on a caterer – Food is very important to us, and we want to have a good quality food to serve our guests.

· Decided on a theme…and I think on the translation of that theme for the reception ­– We want to do a Greek village-style reception. Very simple, family style. No frou-frou, flashy stuff…I know it’s very easy to get carried away on the “details” but I feel a lot of it is wasteful, and really doesn’t matter to us. I can’t stress this enough – Jordan and I are simple, simple, simple and it is more important for us to have a beautiful marriage than an opulent wedding that leaves us (or parents) in debt for months/years after the wedding day.

· Booked our date at the church/venue – Nothing more to say but…5/25/14!

· Been in contact with draping companies to drape the main room in the venue – we’ve decided to do our reception in the hall of the church we’ll be getting married at. It’s the only place we know of that can accommodate over 250 people and will let us stay past midnight, no charge. They are renovating the kitchen and small hall (attached to the big hall) and were intending to renovate the big hall as well, but I guess in a year’s time that’s not going to happen. BIG, HUGE BUMMER, but no use crying over crap I can’t control, so we have to drape. Cha-ching, cha-ching.

Still have to:

· Make up my darn mind on centerpieces…I have a pretty good idea, but I’m just trying to think of how to incorporate color – and book a florist

· Finalize our wedding colors…I keep going back and forth, back and forth…there are just TOO many nice color combinations and I don’t know where the colors can be incorporated. This is probably the most frustrating thing for me. I can’t decide and I feel like I can’t move forward…except I am moving forward. Hahaha.

· Decide on the cake design and flavors

· Book videographer

· Block hotel rooms

· Send save-the-dates (coming sooooon!)

· Figure out if I’m going to order invitations or DIY them – probably DIY, because I love arts and crafts.

· Get Jordan’s tux – he’s found a few he likes, we just have to go commit to one!

· Finalize the details for our blessing/reception part 2 in Greece the summer of 2014

· Formally ask my flower girls and ‘ring bearers’ to be my little kiddies

· Finalize a late-night ‘surprise’ at the reception

I feel like I’ve been able to get a lot done, and there are only a few loose ends to tie up. At 390 days to go, we’re making progress!

Sneaking a smooch at the photobooth wall my amazing future father-in-law built for me.

Meet Luna

I really need to get better about blogging regularly. I struggle, as probably most new bloggers do, with what to write about. I'll figure it out and get the hang of posting more frequently - just bear with me!

I've been M-I-A because...we had a big, fat, exciting change happen in our lives a couple weeks ago.

Meet Luna Lovegood (yes, that Luna), our rescued pup. We had been thinking of adopting a puppy for a while now, since I’d moved in and we had figured out our work schedules. During our search, we came across Good Karma, a network of foster homes, where they rescue dogs and cats from kill-shelters and foster them until they can adopt them out. We saw a picture of a mama and her three babies and we were obsessed. Here are the three girls (Luna’s two sisters and mama are still up for adoption, so if you live in South Florida, please consider! They’re the bomb dot com.)

Left: Mama - Right: Luna (center) with her sisters, Licorice & Brigitte Bardot

Luna stole our hearts with her unique ears and perfectly pathetic face. Within a week we had applied, had a home visit, and adopted her! And it’s been perfect. She goes comatose every few hours and sleeps through the night and is the apple of her daddy’s eye. We’re totally mush and have agreed that when we have babies one day, we’re going to have to quit our jobs because we’ll completely lose our shit and just sit there staring at the baby all day.

Luna joins my other dog, Argos (who my parents demanded I leave with them when I moved out) and Jordan’s family dogs, Guinness and Kahlua, which are also rescues.

Luna & my other pup, Argos, in the same spot in my car ;o)

Me & Guinness - Napping Jordan & Kahlua

Oh – and here are a few more things I’ve crossed off my “101 Things in 1001 Days” list: 

25. Try 3 new recipes a month - (3/3 - Beef Teriyaki in Crockpot, Herb-Marinated Grilled Shrimps, and Cauliflower Rice) - all new recipes for us, and the last 2 are SO good, they will be added as regulars to our weekly meal plan. If you want the recipes, leave me a comment and let me know. I'm more than happy to share!

39. Find a skincare regimen -This one is kind of completed - I'll post about my skincare regimen soon

77. Rescue a puppy & name him Sirius Black ;o) - Not quite a Sirius, but Luna is keeping in theme with our HP love!

93. Try 10 new restaurants - (4/10 - Shalizaar and Fog Harbor in SF, Bad Daddy's Burger Bar in Charlotte, Mylos Greek Restaurant) - Ok...this one is going to be too easy, we love eating!

Have you crossed anything off your bucket list recently? Do share!

MIA + Bloglovin'

I know I've been totally MIA for a couple weeks, but there have been some exciting happenings! Look for a post coming this week, where I'll update on a new family member, a few of my favorite products, and exciting wedding planning updates.

For now, I've made the switch, taking my teeny little newborn blog over to Bloglovin'. Click that little link at the top if you'd like to stay updated when I post (which my lazy ass needs to do more frequently, because who seriously starts a blog and then abandons it after 7 posts?!)