The Shower

After re-reading my last post, I realize it sounds kind of depressing.

Which couldn't be farther from the truth.

It was just some random thoughts on my mind is all.

But because it seemed to have come across a tad bit that way, let me bring a happier note in and tell you about my amazing shower.

My bridal shower, that is . . .

I cannot believe how lucky I am to have such generous friends and family! A special thanks to these two:
for putting together such a beautiful shower! We were very spoiled in the end, and I had a great time! See for yourself . . .

Some Wedding Thoughts

Well, it's true . . . we have been in full wedding mode lately.

Afterall, according to our registry, there are only 42 days until our wedding.

That's not very many.

Because of this, this wedding has managed to seep its way into everything I do lately.

Don't get me wrong, I am having a blast planning everything. I absolutely love weddings, so I am in my prime at this point.

I am trying to live in the moment and enjoy everything, since this will be the one and only time I'll be able to plan my own wedding.

But I do have to honestly admit that I'm starting to become a tad bit stressed.

Everywhere I go my eye is looking out for something that could be used for the wedding.

Anything that is black or white screams out at me.

Not to mention thank goodness for Hobby Lobby (probably my new favorite store) for having half of the things we've been searching endlessly for.

I am becoming terrified I'm going to miss something fairly important. I'm not sure what it is yet, but I'm sure there will be something . . .

But I keep telling myself that at least we will be there, and dressed for that matter, so that's all that really matters . . .

. . . right?

So we are trecking along, trying to get everything done, and not forget anything in the process.

I truly appreciate everyone's help and kindness that have contributed everything.

And I do have to give a special thank you to my mom, who has been helping me a ton with everything. Without her, I definately would have fallen apart by this point.

So my goal is to continue to enjoy myself, and not get too caught up in everything.

Because in 42 days, I will be getting married, regardless of who is there or what happens.

Sneek Peak

I apologize for the lack in posts lately. I won't go into excuses why, but will just say that things have been busy around here lately.

So because I still do not have a ton of time to sit and write a big long blog about, well anything right now, I figured I would give you a sneak peek into the future of what is to come . . .

Do we see a common theme here?

Westin And His Challengers

*** Round 1: Westin vs. His Bones ***

Westin: 1
Bones: 0

*** Round 2: Westin vs. His Toys ***

Westin: 2
Toys: 0

*** Round 3: Westin vs. Our House ***

Westin:1
House: 0

*** Round 4: Westin vs. Joel ***

(Immediately after Round 3 . . .)

Westin: 0
Joel: 1

Guess you can't win them all . . .

We're Leavin' . . . On a Jet Plane . . .

. . . Yes, it's official . . .

On January 8th, 2011, we will be flying to San Diego and boarding this boat . . .

. . . then cruising all around Mexico for the next seven days . . .

. . . stopping in Cabo, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta along the way.

Many of you are probably a little confused by this, knowing that this was not the plan for our vacation. Well, let me explain . . .

You see, this honeymoon has been one of the bigger stresses of this wedding, believe it or not.

You would think that trying to decide which tropical location you want to spend a week in would be fairly simple. And especially since I actually really enjoy planning vacations, I expected this part of the puzzle to fit in fairly easily.

But, it became a little more difficult than expected.

Initially, we were actually going to go on a cruise. But, after hearing about all of the drug wars going on in Mexico, we became a little hesitant.

Afterall, our plan for this trip wasn't to be murdered.

So I began researching our options.

Maybe a ski lodge?

Or Hawaii?

Or perhaps we should go back to Florida again . . .

There were multiple options, and I was having a hard time finding something that sounded like it really fit.

It was then that my mom's good friend Debbie (you may remember from previous posts) suggested Jamaica. They had recently gotten back from an all-inclusive resort and loved it.

So I instantly researched it. The place was beautiful! I called Debbie and after a 45 minute conversation, I had it in my mind that we were going to Jamaica.

Although we were excited, we decided to wait on booking the trip. I honestly couldn't remember what days I had requested off of work, and we wanted to make sure this was really the trip we wanted.

Afterall, we are very indecisive, as you can tell.

So time went on. We were busy planning other parts of the wedding, and just living life in general. Yet, whenever anyone asked where we would be taking our honeymoon, the answer was always 'Jamaica.'

We even went and got our passports. We figured that wherever we ended up, if we needed them, we better apply now, because it takes quite a while to get them.

So jump forward to a few weeks ago. The topic came up again, and the fact that we really needed to get this booked if we were going to go anywhere was dwelling in the back of my head.

So again I researched how much this trip, including how much it was going to cost us.

And the result was quite a bit of money.

Now let me back up a little bit and say that I normally don't make all of my deciding factors come down to money.

Honestly, I try to not even think about the money as much as possible. Of course we make sure we have enough money, but if I can help it, I don't like to make decisions on whether we can do something or not based on the money factor. I would rather just make it work and move on.

Afterall, life's too short.

But this time it hit a little more. Especially when I discovered that it was definately enough money to buy multiple things that have been on our minds lately.

It was definately enough money to buy the new washer and dryer that I am hoping to get soon after the wedding.

I even found that we could even buy a very nice hot tub for this amount of money. (Not that we intend to buy a hot tub, but that simply plugged in even more what other uses this money could find.)

So the decision was on hold again. It was now up the money factor . . . something I wasn't particularly happy about, but it's the truth . . . and sometimes that's the way the ball rolls.

To make a long story short (as this is becoming qutie a long story) we began looking at other vacations again. I recently found a cruise to Mexico, ironically the idea we initially began with.

I talked myself into the fact that we most likely won't be murdered during the day light, and would be sleeping on a boat so nobody could follow us back to our room.

Turns out it was a really good deal. The cruise line looked nice, the excursions looked exciting, and it cut the price from what we would be paying to go to Jamaica in half.

So we booked it. The end result is that we will be going to Mexico, and I am very much looking forward to it.

Someday we will make it to Jamaica, but now is not the time.

So on January 8th, we will be leaving for our 7 days in what I hope is paradise, and will have a great time exploring Mexico!

Westin's First Casualty

I had a completly different blog planned for today. A blog all about our upcoming honeymoon, to be exact.

As I was sitting here typing, I could hear Westin chewing on one of his toys at my feet.

A simple concept, right?

So it was to my surprise when I stood up to find this:

Yes, he had finally done it. Not only was he chewing on his poor little blue puppy, but he had, in fact, torn the poor thing to shreds.

Stuffing was everywhere, and Westin sitting there staring at me, squeaker and all in his mouth.

Because of this, poor little blue puppy made his way to the garbage can. . .

I suppose it's about time to buy him some more toys. Maybe some without stuffing in them.

And don't worry, you will be able to read all about our upcoming trip . . . tomorrow.

A Picture A Day . . . Seventeen

Jen and I being . . . goofy.