Fabulous January

Oh January, you couldn't figure out if you wanted to be winter or spring. One week you were making us shiver with 28 degree weather, and the next day I was sweating my tukis off in 60 degrees. Poor-identity crisis month.

But that didn't mean you weren't awesome. And here are some reasons why:

1. My new slouchy boots!!

I got these adorable babies for Christmas and I have been wearing the crap out of them. Love love love them!

2. Wedding checks!

JEGs and I finished up our registry this weekend, as well as had our taste testing on Sunday. Let me tell you- we will be eating good on our wedding. The food at Normandy Farms is outstanding. I seriously gained 3 pounds. We also picked out our rings , and I am 95% sure which invitation we are going to use. Next up: finalizing everything.

3. Jillian Michaels 30-day shred

In order to be super svelt for the big day, I purchased Jillian Michael's 30 day shred because my fellow JulyX Knotties RAVED about it. I'm not looking to lose 20 pounds like she claims, but I am looking to tone up. So far, I really like it. Now I just haveto stop eating everything in site.

4. The return of American Idol!

I love American Idol- especially the auditions. With Paula gone, it was interesting to see the dynamic with the new guest judges. I love Posh Spice and Shania Twain, but Kati Perry I could do without. Psst.. hey, Kara Dioguardi. If you want to meet Kati Perry at the bike racks after school, I totally have your pack. Seriously, let's beat the hoe down.

... and I cannot talk about American Idol without mentioning four very special words: Pants On the Ground

5. The League of Extrodinary Engaged Chicks.

That's right.. engagement rings are poppin' up left and right this year! Between me, Jamie, Justin and now Lauren, JEGs and I are going to have a very busy year! Hopefully we will be adding someone else to that list too.. [I'm lookin' at you, Manders!]

Well January, you are over and I am kickin' you to the curb. Sorry, you may be the first month, but you are a crappy month. Bring on February!

Always & Forever,

ME

Eatin' Good in the Neighborhood...

To round out Wedding Week here at Lizzie In Progress, I've decided to share one of my favorite wedding-related stories.

Before I worked at my current job, I worked at Applebee's for 8 years- and let me tell you, I saw a few things. I think my second year in, on a Saturday morning around 11:30 a party of 200 just showed up in cocktail dresses and suits. Twenty mintues later a bride and groom walk in. Evidentlly these two oh-so-classy people just got hitched, and invited their family and friends to Applebee's for the reception.

Now, for those who don't know, we don't have a lot of servers on a Saturday morning. There are three people to open the store, and the other 3 or so don't show up till noon. So we have 3 people to cater to this party of 200+. Don't get me wrong- I was a pretty kick ass server in my day, but at this point I am trying to get appetizers, drinks and meals for about 70 people. I am in hell.

The 12:00 servers come in, but by this time all they could do was help us run the food and wait on the other customers. Oh, that's right, we still had OTHER people trying to come in and enjoy a simple lunch on a Saturday afternoon.

So for the next three hours, this party of 200+ people have a full on reception in our Applebees- bouquet tossing and all.

When it was all said and done, they procceded to pay for it with $500 worth of $10 gift certificates- and this was before those fancy gift cards that you could just swipe through. The certificates had 10-digit numbers on each of them that had to be manually entered, one at a time. Talk about a PITA.

After showing up unannounced, hogging our restaurant for 3 hours, making a HUGE mess, and just generally being obnoxious, they only left a $35 for the three of us to split. That is about 8%. My manager was so furious, he chased them down in the parking lot and told them never to show their faces there again.

..and that, my friends, is classy folk.

Always & Forever,
ME

Paper Trail

I'm in a little bit of a wedding-planning limbo right now. Up next on my TODO list is to order my invites. However, I cannot order my invites until we have our taste-testing, and that is on Sunday. I also cannot start working on my escort cards, programs or table numbers until I know for sure what the invites look like.

It's a vicious circle, I tell ya.

In the meantime, let's look over some of the invites that I have been interested in. I was looking for something fun, classy, vintage and with a touch of whimsey. I know birds are a hot hot trend right now [it's the damask of 2007], but I have fallen head over heels for these love birds:

First up is the Bethany from Invitations by Ajalon.

I am so madly in love with this invite. It is everything I wanted: classy, vintage, whimsical, fun. Look how adorable that bird is!

Ugggh. I just die. Love love love them.

Don't love the price of $933 for invites and envelopes only-and that's not including the map card or RSVP card. So we can scratch that one off the list. :(

After I got over the heartache of not being able to order the Bethany, I stumbled upon this pretty little number called Spring Bird

It has the same whimsical, fun feel as the last one, but a much more reasonable price!

Also, in October, JEGs and I sat through a pots and pans demonstration and our reward was a 20% coupon for invitations! So that brings this little number into our price range!

Under the "Much More Affordable" category, we'll find Aqua Love Birds

A little more casual, but still has that fun feel that I was looking for. I think you can tell I'm not nearly as excited about these as I am the others, but they'll do.

Next week [after I stuff my face on Sunday] I will sit down with my mom and order invites.

Always & Forever,

ME

Band of Gold...

JEGs and I bought our wedding rings over the weekend.

Now it feels really official. And kinda weird.

I guess before I had been planning a wedding without really thinking of the consequences- yeah yeah, there was going to be a wedding in 17Osome days- but until we bought those rings it didn't really occur to me that it was going to be my wedding. To JEGs. I am going to be his wife, and he is going to be my hubs. Whoa.

I know it sounds like I am freaking out, but I promise you I am not about to jump ship-- I will be skipping walking down the aisle on July 17th. However the gravity of this situation is starting to sink in, and it still amazes me that I am getting married.

Anyway, you want to see the goods, right? Well I'm here to show you.

JEGs first. He picked out a simple Tungsten band.
He went with Tungsten because it is very durable, and he didn't want to totally wreck the band while he is wrenching on his cars. We looked at other designs, and even found a ring that kinda looked like a lugnut, but I didn't trust him that he wouldn't try to use it in a pinch. He's very McGuyver like that.

My band is white gold with a rope-like detail from Gabriel & CO.
I didn't go with diamonds because I always felt like diamonds should be for an anniversary. Also, I am so madly in love with my engagement ring, I feel like diamonds would take away from the ring.

My ring had to be ordered so I don't have a picture of the set together yet. It should be in sometime this week. Hopefully.

Sooo.. 173 days left. I've got a lot left to do!

Always & Forever,

the future Mrs. JEGs.

My New Purse!

I finally got my coveted mustard yellow bag!

I had asked for a specific Target bag for Christmas. However, I got it confused with another bag, and the bag I ended up recieving had the dementions of a queen sized bed. And I got two of them- one from Momma G, and one from my sister-in-law Bryn.

I ended up returning both of them, and my AMAZING Mommacita found this great Nine West bag from Ross for only $17.99- score!

*please pardon the blurry images. I've been using JEGs camera since mine died and I'm not used to the settings.

This bag is exactly what I was looking for, and much more appropriate for my small stature!

I love it so much!!

Always & Forever,

ME

Winter Essentials

Here it is my friends. The dead of winter.

Even thought the Philadelphia area is having a mild streak with temps flirting with 50 degrees- I know that Old Man Winter will be come 'round soon.

Therefore I am stocked with the 7 things that get me through this season:

1. Scarves- Not just for indoors life I've been experimenting with, but scarves to bundle up and keep my neck warm! Animal printed, striped, solid, plaid- you name, imma lovin' it.

2.Warm boots- Ok, I have a confession to make: I hate Uggs. They are so hideously ugly I don't understand how they are "fashionable". But they are damn warm and my feet are unnaturally cold all the time, so a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. I have a pair that I snagged from Wal*mart last January for $12 and those bad boys are still holding up. They keep my feet warm when it's 20 degrees, and I don't give a crap if I spill jet fuel on them.

3.Body lotion- and no, I'm not talking your pretty-fruity-Bath-and-Body-Works-giftbasket variety. I'm talking, lather this on my dry, cracked skin and do some magic! My skin get UBER dry this time of the year, especially on my hips love handles (who are we kidding) and right under my arms where the band of my bra lays. Sometimes it gets so bad, it is actually chapped. I've recently discovered Oil of Olay's Quench Moisturizing lotion and I luuurve it. I rub it on when I get out of the shower, and it soothes my skin for the whole day. The smell is boarder-line geriatric, but I can deal.

4.Gloves- I have a slight obsession with all things zebra-printed, and my gloves are no exception. These gloves were given to me for Christmas last year, and I believe they were purchased at Target. They are so warm and cozy, but also have a grip on the palm as well as the pointer and middle fingers so I can still open doors and grab things.

5. Tylenol Cold & Flu- with the winter chill comes the winter flu season. For some reason JEGs has been getting more sick this year then usual, so we have practically buying this stuff in bulk. I love the multi-formula pack of daytime and nighttime.

6.Burts Bees Chapstick- don't you hate it when you are sick and you can't breath through your nose and you get that nasty sick mouth feeling and your lips are all chapped? Yeah. Me too. Enter stage left- Burt's Bees!! Seriously, three swipes of this stick of awesomeness and 20 minutes later my lips are back to being kissable. I also use the pomegranate to leave a nice hint of color on my lips too. Oh yeah, and there is some antioxidents and some junk.

7.Boyfriend Blazer- I am offically addicted to this trend. Make a Facebook page, sign me up, I'm a fan. I can throw it on over a t-shirt for a casual look, pair with a sweater and tank for a layered-work look, or jazz it up with a sparkly scarf and heels for a night out. And if I ever need to be present for a litigation, I can toss on my black pants and have a power suit. Who rocks the house? I rock the house. All the way down.

...and the 8 most essential thing for winter?

a super sexy fiance to cuddle up with on a cold night.

Always & Forever,

ME

That's what JEGs said.

Monday night we had the news on while we were eating dinner.

Rick Williams [with his snazzy ties] was talking about a woman who was found in her basement in a pool of blood.

Without skipping a beat, JEGs says, "Who would go swimming in blood?"

I nearly spit my porkchop across the kitchen.


Always & Forever,
ME

A Moment of Silence

I would like a moment of silence please, for the passing of my camera.

Yeup. It's dead.

I was setting it up to take pictures for this post and it fell on the floor.

Let me edit that: my engagement ring snagged the wristlet and flung it from the contraption I had set up. This means it fell off of my make-case, hit the porcelain sink, hit the cabinet door that just happen to be ajar, and landed lens-first on the porcelain tiled floor.

I am so depressed.

What's the moral of this story? My engagement ring can bust up a camera. Hells yeah.

Always & Forever,
ME

Leggings + Jeans= Love

One of my fashion pet peeves is when your jeans get all messy and slouchy when you tuck them into your boots.

source

Argh, that just grinds my gears. And with two pairs of boots in constent rotation for the winter months, I was havin' none of this.

My friend Mandy had shown me a pair of leggings she bought a couple months back that looked like jeans. I was a little skeptical, but as I was browsing through Macy's yesterday I saw a pair. What the hell, I'll try them on.

I. love. them. Like luuurrrvvvvv them. These things are so comfortable and they tuck right into your boots!!

They look awesome with my new slouchy boots:

Sweater: Macy's
T-shirt: Old Navy
Boots: Steve Madden (Christmas present!)
Necklace: vintage Kohl's


As well as my old brown leather boots:

Sweater: H&M
Top: Forever 21
Tank: The Limited
Necklace: American Eagle
Boots: Daisy Fuentes for Kohl's (literally like 5 years ago)


Or if I'm feelin' a little sassier, I could rock these for a night out with some heels:


Top: H&M
Tank: The Limited
Clutch: yard sale find
Heels: Target

I was so excited when I got them I texted Mandy to tell her. And you'll never guess what she told me these things are called.

Wait for it... Wait for iiittt...

Jeggings.

!!!!!!

Serendipitous.

Always & Forever,
ME

A Heartfelt Farewell

Last Sunday I was having issues with my heart.

It began to beat a little harder, and not in it's normal sync. Afterwards I would get a rush of adrenaline throughout my body. I started referring to it as a "flutter" of my heart.

Although I was in close proximity to JEGs all day- who still makes my heart flutter- I felt that it was more then that. A quick trip to WebMD and I learned these are in fact called "palpitations".

Palpitations are exactly what I felt- an irregular heartbeat. As I looked into it more I learned one of those causes of said heart palpitations: caffiene.

Say it ain't so, say it ain't so!!!

I was never a huge coffee drinker, or even a caffiene drinker for that matter! I don't really like soda, and growing up, the only soda we had in the house was caffiene free. However, since I started working the crazy hours of this job, I had come to really enjoy my morning cup of coffee. Factor in the fact that JEGs and I just bought a brand spankin' new coffee pot, and I have become a daily coffee drinker.

source

I guess the switch from being caffiene free to practically injecting into my veins a daily drinker was a little much for the ole ticker.

Now don't get me wrong, I went to my family doctor and had an EKG done, and everything checked out OK. I'm even going to a cardiologist next week to double check. I mean, this is my heart we are talking about. I kinda need it.

So it seems for now I will be saving my daily cup of joe as the ole hangover remedy.

Farewell old friend. I'll miss you.

Always & Forever,

ME

Feelin' a Little Sassy

I am feelin' a little sassier today than normal...

Why? Because I had a Mary Kay consultant at Falconhead last week and she left a sample lipstick with me. I decided to try it out, and suddenly I was a new person.

Holy freckles, batman!

I don't really wear lipstick- I'm more of a chapstick/gloss kinda girl. With lipstick I feel like I am an adult. I feel like I need to either go to a business meeting in a power suit, or seduce a man in a Mexican dive bar.


One or the other. Probably not both.


How about you? Is there something that you put on that just makes you feel like a whole nother person??


A&F,
ME

Love Chain

Around my birthday I was on the search for the perfect keychain. If you remember, this was my sad state of affairs..

I had even gone on a couple dates, but I hadn't met anything I was ready to be serious with until I found this beauty...

Isn't she purdy?? I nabbed this sassy bauble at T.J. Maxx for only $5 (originally $25!). It is a heart with Swarovski crystals and pearls embedded in it. It sparkles. It shines. It's ginormous. I love it.

My relationship with this keychain started off quietly- I didn't want to reveal too much too soon. But I am elated to say that we've been happily together for about 4 months now! Ahh, bliss.

Well, this is where the plot thickens: JEGs and I were at Old Navy the other day, and I spied with my little eye the cutest little felt bird I have ever seen

I loooved the whimsy of the bird, and the homemade feel of the stitched felt!

But what would my love think of this? Would she be jealous? Would they get a long?

I checked the price- $1.40. Mine.

I am happy to report that both of these chains are now playing nicely, and there haven't been any fights- as of yet.


Love is a many splendored thing.

Always & Forever,
ME

Dashing Through the Weeks!

:::waves:::

Hi guys! I finally have a hot second to sit and blog about my holidays! It was two weeks of chaos holiday joy.

On Tuesday the 22, my friend Erin from Georgia was home and I was finally able to meet her adorable newborn baby girl, Ansley.

JEGs and Me, Erin with Ansley, Dustin, Connie and Joe, Kay, Justin, Jamie and Phil

On Wednesday my brother Andy was home from L.A. so my mom cooked a big dinner for the family. My cousin Tara also came home from Pittsburg, so after dinner I picked her up and met up with some old friends of mine and our favorite watering hole, Isaac's.

Christmas Eve was a full work day for me, and after work I had to grab a couple last minute gifts. JEGs and I headed over to Connie and Joe's for a little dinner with her family (because there is nothing more Christmas-y then hanging out with a bunch of Buddists ;), but packed it in early because we still had some gifts to wrap. This is was also about the same time I realized I hadn't sent out any of my Christmas cards. Awesome.

Christmas morning we woke up early (7 am. Seriously.) and JEGs and I exchanged gifts. We decided since we had the wedding this year that we were going to cap our spending at $25. JEGs bought me a new pair of slippers, nail polish remover, make-up sponges, a wine cork that says "liquid happiness", and extra hair ties. I'm telling you, this guy knows me too well. Nail polish remover?? Liquid gold in my book. I got JEGs a travel coffee mug, an ornament, Jack Daniels coffee (sooo good), and a couple other stocking stuffers.

We planned on being at his parents by 10am, so we quickly showered, changed and was on our way. Once we were there we exchanged gifts and munched on Momma G's famous Brunch Bread. Om nom nom.

Now here comes the best part of the day.

JEGs had been working on a gift for his mom for about two weeks, and it was sooo hard for me not to post about it. But since Momma G is a religious reader of le blog, I didn't want to spill the beans! Now, I can finally post about it:

Back in the day (the early 70s) Momma G was in a band called MARZ. Word on the street is they were kind of a big deal too. JEGs happened to stumble upon a bunch of reel to reel audio tapes they made, so he got the great idea to transfer it to CD for her. He went all out for this too- bought a reel to reel player off of Craigslist, pulled it apart, cleaned it, fixed it up, transfered the audio, cleaned up the sound, the whole works.

But he isn't done, yet.
Oh no.
In order to really surprise her, JEGs made a CD of random songs from the era, and one of the bands songs in there (he found the perfect keyboard solo at the beginning of a Jethro Tull song). On Christmas morning he asked her to pop in the CD and identify the song and artist.

..and I got it on video. Check it out- keeping in mind she hasn't heard these songs in over 30 years. And please pardon my cackling at the end.

I cried. I was so happy for her.

After a couple hours there, we headed out to my parents house for a delicious turkey dinner. My presents included slouchy boots, and adorable mustard yellow bag that is unfortuanly the size of a queen sized bed, socks (yippee), a beautiful silk scarf and a cute sweater.

(BR) Angie, Russ, Bridget, Andy. (MR) JEGS, Me, Gideon and Abigail, Bruce, Daddy-O with Skylar, Grandmom in chair (Sitting) Bryn, Owen, Tim, Mommacita

The next day, Saturday the 26th, I spend bridesmaid dress shopping because all of my bridesmaids were finally availible! We picked out a stunning dress that I love. Later in the evening we attended our traditional Nasty Santa party at Connie and Joe's.

...and I would love to tell you more about the gifts I recieved at that party, but my mother reads this, and I would like to keep it PG rated. But I will tell you that your girl LB here got drunk. Really drunk. And paid greatly for it the next morning.

Moving on...

The next couple of days I was on the night shift so my life consisted of waking up, eating breakfast, showering and going to work. I was lucky enough to find someone to work for me on New Years Eve, so JEGs and I headed out to the Dub C to celebrate the end of 09 with friends.

I was planning on hosting our first holiday dinner at Falconhead on New Years Day, but I found out the night before that I actually had to work that night ( helloooo 9 hours of OT). My family was able to rearrange their schedules and come up on Saturday night instead. Bless their souls. They were rewarded with an awesome ham dinner- which I can take no credit for. JEGs cooked the ham and family member brought side dishes and dessert.

Sunday JEGs and I relaxed and undecorated the apt. Now the place looks empty.

So that's my holiday run-down. We have Ukrainian Christmas to attend on Thursday where I plan on eating my weight in MumMum's homemade pierogies, and then we are D.O.N.E.

I have to admitt- as much as I love the holidays, I am ready to get back to normal life.

Hope everyone had a great season!!

Always & Forever,

ME

one. two. seventy-one

About 10 years ago this guy decided there was more to life then Bensalem had to offer...

So he picked up and moved to L.A.
He didn't know anyone, and he wasn't sure where to begin.
but he had a dream, and he wanted to make it happen.

Happy Birthday to the guy who had the balls to chase his dream.
We miss you so much, but my respect for your tenacity out weighs that by tons.

Happy 39th Birthday Andy.


Always & Forever,
Your lil sis.

...Just One More Thing

I am adding something to my 2010 ToDo List:

1. Get married
2. Be on time
3. 115= good stuff
4. Save that paper.
5. Figure out what makes me happy.

I say that last one with a slight edit: I am generally happy. I have reached a point in my life where I am happy with who I am as a person, I am learning what I look for in friendship, I am about to marry my best friend, I have a wonderful family, and I have a good job.

That last thing is what I would love to consentrate on. I do like my job- let me assure you that. But although it [kinda] pays the bills, garners 'oohs' and 'aahs' at cocktail parties, and the hours are pretty good, it's just a job to me- not a career. It doesn't fulfill me.

I want more, and I KNOW there is more out there for me.

These are the things I know about me:
I like to be the center of attention
I like to create
I like talking to people
I love getting dressed up
I really love spending the entire day in my jammies
I hate- nay, LOATHE- rush-hour traffic
...and sitting behind a desk is not an option.

I am still looking for that one thing that I am really good at; that one thing that is my passion. I feel like this is the year I should start exploring that side of my personality.

This is the year, I figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

Always & Forever,
ME

Resolutions

Happy New Year!!

As we are all recoving from our night of partying, or preparing for another fest (as I am), I wanted to take the time to share with you a few resolutions that I would like achieve this year.

1. Get married- Ok. So that's a gimme.

2. Be on time- Seriously. I am always 10- 15 mintues late for everything. I really want to resolve to work on my time management skills.

3. Weightloss- I know everyone says 'Oo, I'm gonna loss 20 pounds'. Well I don't quite want to get that far, but I would like be comfortably around 115 again by my birthday.

4. Start seriously saving for a house- yeah, Falconhead is great and all, but JEGs and I are looking to upgrade to Falconhead Cottage by April 2011. Nothing would make me happier then being able to have 15% for a down payment.

I will post every 3 months as an update on my progess for each of these goals. So keep an eye out for an update in March, June, September and December.

Always & Forever,

ME