Fatty Friday

I've been making a lot of excuses lately. For not working out. And I always told myself that once I moved back in with my parents (woof) I would start again.

This Saturday is the big move. And Monday, I start the 30 day shred. Hopefully it works...even if it does kill me.

Thankful Thursday

My great-grandfather Pop.

He's 100.

And he wears the same sunglasses as me.

Except his are hot pink :)

Happy Thursday!

Wedding Wednesday

My Bridal Party.

The women in my life who support, love and raise me up. Who listen to me bitch, listen to me cry and make me laugh. I couldn't be more blessed to have such a loving support group of friends and family.

 

Christy Bevilacqua. One of my best friends and Matron of Honor. We met through Ashley back in High School. She met her husband at my 18th birthday (you're welcome) and the rest they say, is history.

Susan Myers. One of my best friends and Maid of Honor. I met Susan in September of 2005. She chose me to be her big and she's filled the role of my little sister :)

 

Natalie Barnes.  One of my best friends. She moved back in across the street from me my Junior year of High School. She's my spooning partner for life (even if her husband and baby are with us).

 Wendy Beth Yanich. My cousin and friend. She's one of the most courageous people I know. I'm so glad that we've become closer over the past few years.

 Ashley Provost (Bissell by the time I get married). I met Ashley in July 1999. We were inseparable from then on. It's such a blessing to go through all our life changes over the past 12 years together.

 

Kim Beck. For all intents and purposes, my cousin and friend. Even though we're not blood related, we've always acted like we were. She's always been like a big sister to me and has provided me with my favorite little stinkers, my nephews :)

 Heather Rocco (will be Prindle by the time I get married). My future sister in law and friend. We have to stick together while reigning in the Prindle boys! We've become closer over the last few years and I'm thankful to have such a close relationship with my future sister in law.

Wedding Wednesday

The hardest decision and the one that keeps changing is the ceremony site.

Kenny's family is a member of a Catholic Church around here, but it's not the church I envision our wedding being in. Since Kenny was in charge of finding a church, naturally his mother took over. She found it difficult to find a church that would not only allow non-parishioners to get married there but also have the 3pm time slot. 

On Monday night, my future inlaws and I went to meet with Father Baez, who will be doing the ceremony for Kenny and I. We were a few minutes early so we decided to stop into the church and see what it looked like. Um, it is GORGEOUS. It's really big (holds up to 1,300 people), has a marble altar, gold, stained glass. It was everything I had envisioned. So during the meeting, I asked Father Baez if it would be possible to get married there. He said "Is that what you want?" And I said yes, so he said he could make it happen.

The only problem is that with confessions being at 3:30, we have to start the ceremony at 2:30. And with cocktail hour at 5, we're concerned about the downtime. Actually this is a big concern for my mom...but I have faith we'll find some way so that people aren't standing around with their thumbs up their noses before the cocktail hour.

So, here's our new church:

The Altar

The Outside

Happy Anniversary!

 My parents have been married for 33 years today.

Thanks Mom and Dad for showing me what a healthy, happy relationship can be. I can't wait to be with you through the next 33 years :)

Love you!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for my best friend Christy today. Last weekend she flew down with me and was my wingman as I supervised the moving men pack and move Kenny's stuff in Jacksonville.

Hanging out at the Jacksonville Landing - after all the work was done

And I'm sure Kenny is thankful for a fiancee who is willing to do his dirty work :)

Wedding Wednesday

So we have the date covered, June 9, 2012.

The ceremony will take place at St. Robert Bellarmine - the Catholic Church on George Mason's campus. We compromised...Kenny is Catholic, I'm Methodist. I was willing to give him the Catholic wedding as long as we didn't have a Mass. And he was completely fine and agreed with me.

The Church

Our reception is being held at the Westfields Marriott. In the Fairfax Ballroom. It was only the 3rd venue I saw, but I immediately fell in love with it. Making decisions for my everyday life is hard but apparently when it comes to wedding stuff...I'm all about it.

From top left - The Hotel as you drive up, the Courtyard (where we will take pictures) and the main Lobby

So we have a place to actually get married and a place to party. Check and Check.

Miss Avery Marie

One of my best friends, Natalie, had a baby girl on May 7th. Her husband, Troy, is in the Air Force and had to go to Ohio for some training stuff. So, being baby obsessed and wanting to snuggle, I offered to drive up to Deleware to stay with Natalie.

I am very blessed with a job and a boss that allows me to work from home. So I drove up to Deleware after dropping Kenny off at the airport on Monday night. I stayed there until Thursday afternoon (when Troy got home). 

I got lots of baby snuggles and tried to take my mind of the fact that Kenny was deploying that week.

But look at that face, how can that sweet thing not make you smile?! It was awesome to see Natalie in action. From other new moms I've been around, I've seen them be pretty neurotic about germs and holding the baby. Natalie is NOT like that in the slightest. She just told me "Kristen, she's not going to break...it's fine." And put me to work helping her with everything. Well, minus the feeding part since I'm not really equipped to help with that.

It was definitely good practice. Since the room they were staying in only had 1 bed, I slept in the room with Natalie and Avery (and on the pull-out for the night Troy was there). I got up when Avery wanted changed and fed at 4:30 and then again at 7:30. It was definitely exhausting for this girl (who needs AT LEAST 8 hours of sleep to function properly). But calming in a way that in total, there was about 8 hours of sleep...just interrupted.

I look SO tired!

But it's really hard to feel the exhaustion when this face is just that cute...

Loved my time with Miss Avery. And I can't wait to watch and help her grow up as her Aunt Kristen!

Fatty Friday

To be honest, I haven't and won't be doing well for the next couple of days. I've been travelling A LOT. Aunt Flo is about to be in town which results in me wanting to eat ALWAYS. So, I'm being a fatty for the next couple of days. I'm trying not to beat myself up about it. I'll get back on track soon...I promise.

Maybe that's something I need to learn, how to keep on track and stop making excuses in times like these. That will be my goal over the next year. How to live my life but still be healthy.

Wedding Wednesday

Our date for the wedding is June 9, 2012. 

A couple of factors that went into making this decision:

- Kenny left for deployment last Friday, and will be back in December. I knew I didn't want a winter wedding. Also, I've planned 2 parties that have been cancelled due to FEET of snow. I'm not trying to take that risk with my wedding. 

- Kenny's brother, Charlie and his fiance Heather got engaged in June 2010. I felt it was only fair that they get married before us. They're date is April 27th. So I needed something after that.

- I didn't want to get married to close after theirs, to give people a break from travelling. 

- So June 2, 2012 was the target date. Unfortunately, our reception venue didn't have it open. But they did have June 9.

So, mark June 9, 2012 on the calendar :)