Home Sweet Home

I just felt like I needed to stop by and let you know that I am leaving for France today :) 

I will back in 10 days! I hope you all have a wonderful and amazing Thanksgiving!!!! 

XOXO

Wedding Wednesday!!!

It's official - the very first Wedding Wednesday post is here!

I am really excited, yet a little overwhelmed about this new weekly post. Not because I am not sure what to talk about, but because I feel like there is SO much I want to say - and I am not sure where I should begin! 

First of all, we have set a date: Saturday, October 22nd 2011. We have a little less than a year to plan a beautiful wedding - and I can't wait to get started!

The first thing I wanted to share with you is our venue. Yes, we booked it 5 days after being engaged. Yes, I might have had it in mind for months, and just needed a ring to finally go see it. And yes, we fell in love with it even more when we saw it in person. 

For those of you who are familiar with Atlanta, the place is called Sandy Springs Heritage. It is this little park (or I like to call it little gem) hidden in the middle of a busy part of Atlanta. The park itself is not too big, and has a historic house, bricked areas, a covered deck, an area for a cocktail hour, and this gorgeous gazebo. 

We are planning on an outdoor wedding; however the venue has a lodge style room that we can use is somehow, Atlanta is hit by a tornado the day of our wedding. I did some research, and October is not only the most beautiful month in the south, it also has the least amount of rain. Let's keep our fingers crossed! 

I am confident that we are going to do something amazing with this place. I feel like we will basically have our own little park that we can set up any way we want - what more can we ask for. 

Fall has always been my favorite season, and my goal was to find an outdoorsy venue. I knew immediately after looking at pictures on the website that this was it. I didn't have that feeling of wanting to look at other venues "just in case" anymore, so I knew there was something special about this place. 

Our colors are a mix of Orange/Cream/Taupe/Bronze. I originally wanted Orange and Gray, but I feel like brownish tones will look a lot better with this place. 

So here were are - we have our venue booked. This is such a relief, especially before I leave for France! 

Music Tuesday

In the spirit of my leaving for France next week, I chose a French artist for your Music Tuesday.

You may have already heard of her, as she is actually Johnny Depp's long time companion/girlfriend. I have listened to her since I was little, and saw her evolve from her teenage year, to the beautiful and talented woman she is today.

 

She does modeling for Chanel, and she has starred in many French movies. Oh and did I mention she is pretty much married to Johnny Depp??! So yea...she is pretty much one of my idols!

The song is called Il y'a (There Is) - and she sings about the challenges and obstacles that we face through our lives and how we approach them. It is one of my favorites from her newer stuff. Enjoy!!!

I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING A GREAT WEEK SO FAR!!!!

27

This is true. I turned 27 years old yesterday, and all I know is that I am now officially closer to the big 30! 

I wanted a low key weekend with good friends, and family, and it was perfect. For one, I am still under the "I just got engaged and I am too excited to focus on anything else" spell - and two, I feel like the older I get, the more I enjoy intimate celebrations. 

I went to the last GSU home game on Saturday, followed by a nice dinner with friends. We ended the night at Betsy and David's apartment. It was a lot of fun, even though I had one too many shots! 

Sunday was my actual birthday. With the time change, we were up pretty early, and decided to stay in for breakfast. I watched too much 90210 on Soapnet, then Michael and I watched the Falcons win against Tampa Bay - woo!!! 

After the game, we headed over to my parent's house where we had a nice family dinner, and the traditional birthday cake. I got a new black purse (finally!), some clothes, and gift cards to go shopping - what else can a girl ask for?! (I will post pics soon). 

Haha obviously my dad was not ready for the pic!

All in all, it was a good birthday. I got to spend it with all the people I love. 

I hope you all had a GREAT weekend!!! Happy Monday!!!

Fill In The Blank Fridays Are Back!!!

 As promised, I am back, and so is your Friday Fill in the Blank. I missed it, and I missed all of you! 

Thank you SO much for ALL your sweet messages about our engagement, the ring (YES I am obsessed with it!), and all your sweet congratulations - they really warmed my heart! 

1.   My last haircut was  November 2009. Believe it or not, I was having a bad week, and Michael and I had a fight. My mom is a hairstylist, so I have never actually BEEN to the hairdresser - but I went over to my parent's house and said: just chop it all off! 

2.  My most daring hair moment was  Spring 2004, when I decided to try hair extensions. I loved it for the first couple of weeks, but after a while, the hair was just too heavy, and I got tired of it. I did LOVE the feeling of having long hair though.

3.  A hairstyle I'd never be brave enough to try is  anything shorter than a bob. I have curly hair, and although it's thin enough to straighten, the humidity in Atlanta would make it look like I have a permanent fro! 

4.  I've always dreamt of being a (blonde, brunette or red-head): honestly, I love being a Brunette. I wouldn't change my hair color because I have olive skin and Jewish genes...so anything lighter would look silly on me!

5.  My go-to hair do is  well if I'm trying to be comfy, I usually put it up in a messy bun, with a little poof on the front and hair clip. But usually if I go out or anything, I like it down.

6.  My biggest hair disaster was the one and only time I tried highlights. They came out yellow, and it was absolutely awful. I had to dye it twice over to even get the yellow to fade away - disaster!!!

7.  A hairstyle I am dying to try is  well, with my hair being SO thin, there isn't too much I can do with it. But if I could..I would definitely try the braided crown.

8.  My best hair day was  this one time when I actually straightened my hair THEN curled it. I've tired to re-do it since, and I have yet to accomplish the same result

9.  The worst hairstyle I ever had was before I learned how to straighten my hair, and had curly frizzy hair all throughout Junior high.

10.  My hair is  thin, curly, and there is not much I can do with it. It took me a long time to accept that, and manage accordingly. I dream of better hair EVERYDAY!!! 

Of Course!!!

As promised, here are more details about what was the most amazing moment of my life so far!

First of all, I was completely taken by surprise. Yes, we had talked about it, and yes, I may have said a few times that I couldn't wait to get engaged, and YES, I may have started looking at wedding blogs well before I knew I would get engaged. Still - I had no idea it was coming.

It was last Thursday, and Michael had decided the night before that we should go out to eat at Maggiano's so we could try their "buy one, get one free" entrees. I was actually pretty excited because I love Italian food, so I barely ate all day Thursday in the anticipation of some good pasta.

I came home after work as usual, and put on E! Right as Michael got home around 6pm, this show called "What's eating you?" came on, and I said I wanted to watch it for a few minutes. It was one of the most disturbing, most depressing shows you could ever watch - and here I was, watching this awful show while Michael sat there, more nervous that he had ever been in his life, secretly praying for me to change the channel.

Finally, I changed to ABC Family, where we caught the end of "My wife and kids." Now listen, we never watch this show, and I'm not even sure what made us watch the end, but we did. At the end, I sat closer to Michael to give him a kiss, and cuddle with him for a minute before going to change for our "dinner" reservations.

I actually caught the bouquet at our friend's wedding last June!

We kissed and cuddled for a few minutes, before Michael said: "Remember that wedding venue you mentioned before? We should go see it sometimes"; of course, I wanted to have a "smart" come back and responded with "yea...but we gotta get engaged for that!" (and yes, there is possibility that I had kind of a "yea right" snotty tone to it)

That is where my life changed. Michael answered with: "Well July, Will You Marry Me?"

There was a split second when I realized he had pulled out a ring, that he had proposed, and that I was completely speechless. I had no words and before I could finally say something, I busted into tears.

After two minutes and Michael saying: "you haven't even looked at the ring yet!"; I finally answered "Of Course I Will!!!!"

I can't describe how magical, and amazing the moment was; and how much it meant to me. It was perfect because it was perfect FOR us. I always hope for an intimate proposal, when it would just feel like the right moment, and he could not have done it any better way.

So here I am, newly engaged, overwhelmed with happiness, and looking forward to planning our wedding. We chose our date, and will be getting married on Saturday, October 22nd, 2011. YAY!!!!

I promise not to let this blog turn into a wedding blog, and will limit myself to one wedding related post a week! So be ready for some Wedding Wednesdays updates!

Thank You so much for all your sweet messages - they honestly made my day!

Psssst

I'm just stopping by for a "pre-post" because I wanted to share with you some BIG NEWS!!! 

I believe everything in life comes in full circle, and I feel like October was an overwhelming roller coaster of emotions. I also believe that with all good comes some bad, and vice versa. 

It has not been easy to accept, and deal with my cousin's illness, but seeing her so strong, and motivated to fight for her life has given me a whole new meaning of life. I have faith in her, and her will to fight this cancer, and stay with us as long as possible - and I just admire her for it.

This was the bad - the very sad, heartbreaking, even life changing news that we receive earlier in October. With all bad, you need some good, because that is the true balance of life, right? Good vs. Bad - Black/White - Life/Death. 

Well, last week, on Thursday, October 28th 2010 at exactly 6.28pm, the most amazing man asked me to be his wife, and I said YES!!! 

It is true ladies, I am engaged! This is the GOOD in my life right now. What makes me realize that even when you feel like everything is wrong - you still have to live your life, and embrace it, because it IS your life to live. And Michael showed me that. I feel so blessed, so lucky, and so thankful to have met such an amazing man. 

I am still on cloud nine, and I am just soaking it all in! I am trying to get my thoughts together so that I can start the planning, and figure out where to begin! But let me tell you - this is by far the coolest, most fun, most exciting, and simply the most amazing feeling I have ever gotten to experience - and it is only the beginning. 

Now I know...it won't be easy, and planning a wedding can get a little crazy. But I know Michael, and I know myself - we are good so good together because we just love living our lives without too many complications. I know we will stress, but I also know that we will always be able to bring each other back to reality! 

OK - I guess this is a little more than a "pre-post", but I don't have pictures yet, so I will make sure to post these later tonight! And of course, I will have to tell you HOW he proposed!

I hope you are all doing great, and that you had an amazing Halloween! 

Happy November lovelies !!!