Moving - Chicago Part One

Today, today I put 3/4 of what I own, including my bed, into storage. For the past few months, I have been packing and boxing and raping all the things that I know I don't need, for at least, till the wedding. Yesterday, my parents and I threw all those boxes and furniture into a cargo van, and thus transported it into a lil storage unit, where a lock remains. Its a weird feeling.

Now you ask why am I doing this?

My parents have been relocated to San Louis Obisbo, California. They are to be moving by July of this year. So the condo we live in needs to be presented for people to come through and say, "Your house is beautiful. And has tons of spacious room. I want to buy your house!"

Its not normal for a family of 3, plus a medium/large dog, to be living in a condo of this size - We love it though, and are very sad to leave it - but for 3 adults to live in a place that usually just holds 1 or 2 individuals, and including all the stuff that accompanies us three - our house doesn't seem very spacious. So, since I am going to be leaving first out of the 3 of us, I have offered to pack my things and move them from the condo, in hopes to open up the condo and make it appear more appealing to the average joe.

My room has now turned into an office, where a blow up matterious comes out every evening and lays on the floor. Its very empty. Just my computer(s), clothes and camera is what I have at my reach. Its a very odd feeling. Today marked that things are changing - and all the things we've talked about and planned are actually coming into play. There are so many wonderful things about it - but still, I am sad about all the sad things that this means as well (no more being a lil girl in my parents house, no more Chicago condo...) Today was hard. Tears accompanied it. Its still beautiful though, and I am extremely excited for what it all brings. But I will miss it here. I will.

The Dress

Its been found. On a whim too. The first real little wedding boutique I went to. I made an appointment for it way back in September and made the appointment just for kicks as well - my mom and I had been looking at the normal generic places for dresses - and nothing real fancy or pricey. We had actually had a few picked out from like Bloomingdales, J.Crew and so forth. And one day, the lady from the boutique called, reminding me of the appointment. My mom and I went back and forth on if we should still go - but we said, "what the heck." So we did.... and were very surprised at what we found.
Its a place that is a few blocks from my house that my mom passed by one day. A cute little place: Vegas to Venice - they focus on destination weddings. And the designers that they carry do amazing work, and each dress was so beautiful. So we grabbed a few, but there was one, just as I walked into the place, that caught my eye. It was elegant, graceful and simple - I loved it. So of course, I tried it on first. It was beautiful. And beautiful on me. And so comfortable. And so light! I felt like I wasn't wearing anything but a t-shirt - so light in weight - completely different than any other dress I tried on (usually wedding dresses feel like their 5+ pounds). But I kept trying on the others - but nothing compared to that first one. So, my mom and I walked away from the boutique, discussing what to do next. The dress was much more than we were looking for - much more. So we said it was up to dad. That night, my parents and I headed back over to the boutique. I tried it on once more - and we signed the papers for it (that's weird that we have to sign papers). Pretty Awesome it was.

And because I want to post information on things - I want to let you know that Brian has asked not to see the dress till the wedding. So knowing that, here are links below if your interested in seeing the boutique and the designer's sight. Check them out, their pretty awesome. But I won't tell you what dress I have - thats going to be a surprise all around.

http://www.vegastovenice.com/home.html
http://www.lea-annbelter.com/

The Wedding

As we were walking down the mountain that August afternoon, just after Brian purposed, we discussed what we wanted for a wedding. Large or small, mountain's or ocean, and who we really want there. The answer to the later question included: our family (our parents, Raun and Amy, and grandparents). We wanted it to be a party and nothing huge and extravagant. We have a lot of people apart of our lives, but we wanted this union to be focused on our family. We have put a small list together of some close friends that we really want to be part of our family for those days in North Carolina. Friends that have been apart of our past and have done nothing more than encouraged and supported us individual and together. I have 30 family members, Brian has 7 family members. Its not going to be a large wedding at all. We also decided that we would get married at a spot that I had always thought would be a great place to get married - Out in North Carolina on Holden Beach Island. Its a sweet small residential Island - no tourists. Its beautiful there. We would make a vacation out of it, where it just so happens that there will be a wedding in the middle of it. I also thought it would be awesome to get married on a Tuesday - and for some amazing reason, it works to do it so on Tuesday instead on the traditional weekend. We want it to just be fun and relaxing - not high key like every other wedding. A chance for our families to bond without the stress that accompanies weddings. It will be beautiful, simple, and picturesque. All that we could ever want.

Part A

So here we go. A little overview on all thats going on:

We have been dating since December of 06.
Were engaged August 16th of 07
We're getting married June 24th of 08

Now there is a lot more going on, and a lot more dates we don't have yet. But this is the beginning on the new life we are so excited to lead. With huge adventures and decisions; tons of love and support from our families; tons of fun and excitement shared between us all; and all abound in love and commitment between Brian and I. This is our story - at least the second chapter of it all.