INSANITY

I AM GETTING MARRIED IN THREE MONTHS YOU GUYS. THIS IS CRAZY. 

Wow! Three months exactly. Late last summer it felt like it would take ages to get down to these last final months. I can't believe it's almost here!

Yesterday Justin's wonderful mama hosted a bridal party tea that included myself, my mom, my matron-of-honor Becky (Justin's sister) and my bridesmaids, Robin and Megan. Oh, and of course special appearances by my favorite flower girls in the whole world! We had cucumber sandwiches (yum!) which I had never before eaten and was very excited about. So English! So fancy and proper! Sitting around sipping tea and munching on dainty snacks discussing wedding plans was just what I needed.

For about the past month (literally, all of January), I've been feeling pretty under-the-weather. First I had a cold, then suffered from some weird freakish horrible lower back pain, then developed bronchitis, and now am trudging through pneumonia. It's been fun, really! It's also been difficult to stay in wedding mode and be excited and giddy like I have been. All I've wanted to do is just rest and mope and cough...lots and lots of coughing. Both Justin and I have been in the market for better jobs and I've been continuing to volunteer weekly at the SPCA. So, combine being sick and sore for a month, stressing about work etc. and planning my wedding...all of that adds up to one very over-capacitated brain! So as of today, at the three month mark, I am vowing to myself that things will only go up from here. 

xoxo,

Caitlin

Coming Along

Yesterday we had a little site meeting with our [new] caterer and someone from the tent rental company. For some reason it really made things feel especially real and near. As far as the [new] caterer goes, we got a call from our original one a few weeks ago with some bad news. They said they are unfortunately going out of business and unable to do our wedding. So we quickly found a new one, the lovely Palate Pleasers in Annapolis and secured the date. 
Every time I visit the farm, I get more and more excited. Slowly being able to visualize everything and getting plans set in stone feels so great. We got the tent location figured out, different from my original vision but it will be great. One thing I am a little concerned about is the rather long walk I will have down the aisle. From the doors I will be stepping out of, to the trees we will be standing in front of, it's a bit of a hike! I haven't got an exact measurement, but it's long. Okay so it may be a slightly awkward, drawn-out and dramatic aisle walk, but that's fine with me. Plus there are stairs, so I will be nervous about tripping, yeesh!


We're just about through having the invitations made, I can't wait for everyone to see them! I think they will really be a perfect precedent to the day and set the right tone. I hate to use the term "quirky" because that's become such an overused buzzword, but it's true! This ain't gonna be no prime rib and green beans wedding.


Does every bride think that their wedding is going to be so much better and more unique than anyone else's? Probably so. 


In other news, I've been doing a lot of thrifting for various-sized mason jars. The bookcase in our guest room is quickly filling up. I will (with the help of my bridesmaids, mom and Justin's mom) be doing my own flowers. As in not just making our own bouquets, but putting together all of the centerpieces. I'm SO excited! There are certainly many people who raise brows at the prospect of DIY'ing your own wedding flowers but it doesn't scare me! They are just flowers after all, they're already beautiful by themselves. I want to be as hands-on as I can with my wedding. It has to be special.


In other, other news, I picked up some freebie wedding magazines recently (I long got over the wedding magazine-buying hype first experienced immediately after becoming engaged). Most of these magazines contain some form of a "Wedding Day Checklist" listing in monthly order things that you should be doing (booking a caterer, having dress fittings, ordering invitations, etc). One magazine in particular had a pretty interesting checklist. I think it was actually an ad, but still, behold:

 Welp looks like I'm pretty far behind schedule. 


And on that note, I'll leave you to ponder the current state of our society's standard of beauty [hint: it's absurd].




xoxo,


Caitlin

The First Dress Fitting

Well today was my first dress fitting. It wasn't so bad! I was so excited and also nervous. What if the size they ordered was too small? It was fine! I will have two more fittings after today, and then it will be all done!

Two of my three bridesmaids came with my mom and I, along with Justin's mom and his two nieces, our flower girls. It was definitely a good girly time!

I took some pictures of my dress for you all to see! (enjoy my awkward hair in the following photos)

with my beautiful flower girls

2/3 of the bridal party, Megan & Robin! (and Mom, hi mama!)

What do you think?! Do you like it?!

Also, there was a free photo booth at the bridal shop, behold:

Real Quick

I have to post this little video that I just came across, I want to remember to watch it again (and again, and again), so much beauty in those 44 seconds! I found it on Bluebird Vintage which is fast becoming one of my favorite blogs ever. If I can say it without sounding creepy, I would like to live inside their world too.

James and Aubrey Sneep Peep from Geoff Boothby / Landshark on Vimeo.

A New Year's Eve Retrospective

This year I (in no particular order):

1. Got engaged to my best friend and soul mate.

2. Adopted our wonderful olde english bulldogge Grizzie from the SPCA.

3. Adopted our wonderful little grey kitty Moshi from BARCS.

4. Graduated from college with a BFA and cum laude honors.

5. Got a job at the most adorable cozy little elementary school working with great kids.

6. Started volunteering at the SPCA spending lots of time with amazing dogs and cats.

7. Saw my dad become successfully cancer-free!

8. Saw Rammstein in concert (for the second time!)

9. Turned 25.

In 2012 I will....

1. Get married to my best friend and soul mate (and get a snazzy new last name in the process!)

2. See Rammstein in concert for the THIRD time (and finally not have to drive five hours to see them).

3. Go on our honeymoon to Disneyworld, I've been dying to go to Disney for years now (haven't been since I was little)!

4. Finally move in with Justin.

And in 2012 I will hopefully...

Get my own photography business rolling, get a new camera and start photographing weddings.

2011 has been an incredible year when I think about it, it's nice to see everything written down in front of me. 2012 is going to be a life-changing year, I'm so excited for it to get here!

And now for the obligatory "year in pictures":

I learned how to knit (it's not a diaper)....and consequently forgot how to knit...

Adopted Moshi!

Saw Rammstein in New Jersey

Discovered that I enjoy documentary photography

Also discovered another new art form that I enjoy, collage

Graduated from college

Had an awesome 4th of July

Completed our family with Grizzie, our bulldog. Lola is an excellent big (little) sister.

Got engaged.

Hung out with a lot of great friends

Met so many amazing animals at the SPCA, this is Mason, one of my favorites.

Turned 25, which is a nice number to be.

See you in 2012!

xoxo,

Caitlin

A Christmas Retrospective

I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas! I've been saying since Justin and I got engaged that I couldn't WAIT for Christmas to come and go so that it could officially be full-out EXTREME WEDDING PLANNING MODE time. In just a little under two weeks we will officially be at the 4 month mark. Four months! This is insane! Because really, in my head, I think of it as 3 months, because the month of April is just going to be like one big giant exciting fun-fest. How am I going to sleep at night in April? How am I going to do ANYTHING in April?! Is it normal to be so unabashedly excited about one's wedding? Like, we're talking six year old-on-Christmas-morning-getting-Barbies-and-a-new-puppy excited. THAT'S VERY EXCITED. I AM USING LOTS OF CAPITAL LETTERS BECAUSE I AM SO EXCITED. This will be our last Christmas as an unmarried pair. My last Christmas as a Smith! Next Christmas I will be Mrs. Gore.


Last Christmas Justin and I were just finally figuring ourselves out. We've come a long way since then, and an even longer way since our first Christmas in 2006. We had only been dating for a month or so. We didn't spend Christmas day with one another because we just weren't at that stage yet. I remember Christmas shopping together and we just bought one another our gifts and gave them to each other right there (I guess we weren't serious enough for a formal gift exchange?). We were a little awkward, but that's okay! Justin bought me a black shiny purse and Scrabble...and I can't remember what I got him (oops). And now, here we are, so many years later, a few years older and much, much wiser (so glad I don't wear all of that horrible heavy black eyeliner any more). 


So, Justin, if you read this, Merry Christmas and I love you and I can't wait for everything that is to come!


Merry Christmas everyone and have a wonderful New Year!


xoxo,


Caitlin






[note- How many times can one use the word CHRISTMAS within two paragraphs?! This must be a record.]

Mrs G.

A checklist of things that I am excited about (in no particular order):

- My 25th birthday is coming up in a just a few days, the 18th. I'm not normally very excited about my birthday anymore but 25 seems like a nice age to be. Plus I'm going to see the Nutcracker which I have always wanted to do! Having a birthday so close to Christmas used to be fun when I was little, getting so many presents in the month of December! But now it's just kind of another day, sometimes things can get a little lost in all of the holiday hullaballoo. It will be nice to go do something special with all (most) of my loved ones.

- Earlier this week I got a little card in the mail from Betsy Robinson's Bridal Salon that my dress is in! It's finally time to make an appointment to go for my first fitting, something that I am excited about and also a little nervous for. I just hope it fits good!

- Justin and I got our first very own Christmas tree! It's so cute in all of its haphazard glory. We're waiting for the cats to knock it over but so far they've been very good boys. I can't wait until next Christmas when we will be a married couple!

- Finally getting started on wedding crafty things! I've been waiting till the new year to start doing all of that stuff, making little decorations and things. I can't wait!

Things that I am not exactly excited about per-say but looking forward to...

- My hair growing out. Is this a weird one? I've had some dreams recently that my hair is long again and then I wake up and it's still stuck at this awkward not-quite shoulder-length style. I want long wavy hair for my wedding, why is it growing so slow! Sometimes I think maybe I want to cut it all off again (like, ALL off), but I would probably regret it. Who knows though, I think a pixie cut would be cute with my dress.

I guess that's it for now, aside from the obvious things of being totally extremely excited about GETTING MARRIED and being MR. AND MRS. GORE. I just started a new job working with kids in an elementary school and right now of course they call me Ms. Smith. I've been thinking how cool it will be when I get to tell them all to call me Mrs. Gore. Or Mrs. G! Crazy.

xoxo,

Caitlin

a recent picture of us looking fancy for good measure