For Le Madeleine :)

Darick and I visited another venue option this weekend. It was GORG. The coordinator was soo helpful and he even gave me some bride magazines! LOVE!
I was flipping through the pages of one mag, and came across this picture and instantly thought of Madeleine!




If you haven't already been to her page...GO NOW- www.whatabigtodo.blogspot.com
She actually can make these Parisian macaroons herself and I am soo impressed by her efforts and success in creating the perfect macaroon! She has posting from her first failing attempt to her absolutely perfecting all steps to be successful in constructing these delectable little creations!
One of these days, I'll try to make them myself, but I'll wait until Mads has some free time to show me. Thought of you Mads! Happy Monday!!

Myrick, Suzy & Wii!

Our dear friends Myrick & Suzy invited us over for dinner to celebrate our engagement! They made the MOST delicious dinner! Penne rustica with a tomato, basil, and mozarella salad, and WINE of course! It was such a treat. As Myrick was making dinner, we all played Wii and as you can see in the following video, I get into it...LOL...I wasn't aware that I was being videotaped at the time! But it was soo funny to watch after wards!!




It was SUCH a good time! Thank you so much! We LOVE you!

A tree for Stephanie!

I love nature!
....the beauty of nature that is! I'm not the MOST outdoorsie kind of girl, although sometimes I like to pretend to be.
Regardless, I love the change in seasons, the different flowers that are blooming and I LLOOVVEE mature trees that almost tell a story of the years that it took for them to tower over us.

I ran across this picture, and I think its magnificent! It reminds me of Stephanie Walker...LOL... she appreciates the majesticness of trees and I thought of her when I stumbled upon this photo. So this one is for your Steph!! XOXO :)



stumbleupon.com/photoopcentral.netsipv

Only The Beginning!

This past weekend, my fantastic friends put together an engagement party for Darick & I. It was so precious. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped in the coordination and who drove from near and far to show your love and support! It means so much to us, you have NO idea!

We had such a blast and although we didn't get to talk to each and every person individually for as much time as I would have liked... I am so happy that you all came to celebrate with us!

We met at Joe’s Crab Shack almost 6 years ago, on the very same patio where we had our engagement celebration on! How cool is that? It was so wonderful to see how many people took time out of their busy weekend to come and hang out for a little, and the weather was PERFECT. I may have even gotten a few more freckles. :)Teehee


We met right here!!


Darick and are were sooo thrilled to see all of our amazing friends all together in one place and ALL getting along wonderfully!! It made us look forward to our wedding THAT much more. He wouldn’t stop talking about how excited he is! I thought that was just priceless!
For all of you who couldn’t make it, we missed you! And we hope to see you very soon! Again, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU all for celebrating with us!! We had a BLAST!

Oh Dear!

HOLY MOLY!
I'm getting married! What the hell?!
This past weekend, Darick and I went to the first of many venues we will be visiting in the next 10,000 weeks. LOL
I need some SERIOUS opinions, because I usaully have NO PROBLEM making decisions, but this one has been harder than I expected...

OKay, so here's the deal...
I've always imagined and planned to have my wedding in surburban maryland in the fall at a rustic manison or historic manor. But guess what? Those rustic mansions and historic manors are SMALL. I have a guest list that is nearing 220+. I know, I know, I could cut down the guest list, but that wouldn't be any fun! We visited the Ceresville Mansion this past Saturday in Frederick, and it was beautiful, but their capacity is 200...and 200 people in their ballroom(and most mansion ballrooms) is pushing it!

The bottom line is that I'm waivering on changing my vision in order to be closer to an airport for the MANY traveling from out of state guests, and ALSO close to a NICE hotel for them, so they wouldn't have to worry about driving far that night.I don't want to sound like a snob, but the closest hotel was the comfort inn, and I cannot imagine putting that on my wedding invitation as the accomidations...

We have been looking into hotels that will have the service standard, but also can create a little wonderland in their ballrooms, and not some bare, impersonal space. I want guests to walk into our reception and forget that they are at a hotel, or where ever it may be. I know that my standards are high, and I know that I'm going to have to give up some things, but the most important thing for me is having a fabulous party with my family and friends...to have a once-in-a-lifetime memory of our wedding day. Isn't that every bride's dream?

I guess what I'm asking is....
Should I give up the suburban country feel for convenience? I'm sure I can turn a ballroom into a little purple wonderland...I'm just not sure if I want to. BUT I also want all my bridesmaids to stay with me the night before in a fabulous suit. Wouldn't it be convenient if my freakin wedding was in the same hotel? And wouldn't it be easier for everyone to get ready in the suite, instead of meeting there?
I also don't want my family to have to all rent cars to drive somewhere far from BWI or Regan. Since we are keeping our options open to hotels now... we're looking in D.C. and Arlington. Which is uber close to airports....and did I mention GORGEOUS HOTELS!

I'm just pondering all of the options. Let me know what you think! This will be the first of many times I consult my fellow bloggers!! THANK you!! xoxo


Modern & Chic......




OR

Rustic & Romantic....

A little Inspiration...

I've been in the process of creating a "inspiration" notebook with different clip outs from magazines and color swatches... These are some colors I am playing around with...
I LLOOVVEE the dark purples....I see them, and I die. GORG.







I am really sorry that I don't have the exact wedsites that I got each pic from, but here are a couple...
(Laura Novak Photography, Estillo Weddings, Cover Girl.)(cosmobride.com)(makemyday.net)

We're Engaged!!

I am THRILLED to announce to the world that Darick & I got ENGAGED this past weekend!!! Even as I write this, it sounds so weird...LOL... I'm engaged...engaged to be MARRIED! So bizarre, yet, so euphoric.

Darick and I met about 5 1/2 years ago. He was bartending at Joe's Crab Shack, and I was a cocktail waitress. I remember the first encounter I had with him, and thinking he was so bizarre.. LOL in a good way. I had never met anyone like him. He was witty, and out spoken, and funny! I remember thinking he was really old. Haha he was 25 when we met, and I was just 19... WEIRD!! We worked together for a while, and I started to think he was cute. We hung out many times in group settings as friends and then he asked me on a date. If you call washing our cars together a date. HAHA so cute! I thought it was sooooo cool that I was hanging out with this "older" guy. I thought we were just having a good time together. I didn't think I would fall in love. BUT life has ALWAYS had its way of surprising me, and about a month into our courtship, he asked me to be his girlfriend :)
We have the BEST time together. We would take long walks, go on mini holidays to DC, eat at fabulous restaurants, climb mountains, go to the beach, baseball games, the zoo, the aquarium...anything that was either delish or adventerous! We LOVE to eat good food and do things we haven't done before. It has always been so much fun begin Darick's girlfriend. He's so entertaining. I could just listen to him all day and laugh, but he's a mover and a shaker. Never satisfied to sit still, he would always have us on the move doing new things. It has been such a blast!

Well... VERY LOONNNGGG STORY short, here we are, 5 years and 4 months later and the setting is Bonefish Grill...

I worked Friday night and was SO looking forward to getting out of there for the weekend. It didn't click with me then, but Darick had asked me what I time I was going to get off work, and to call if I was going to be any later than normal...little did I know he was being a sneaky devil.

Most of you think that Darick proposed to me in NY, but actually he proposed to me Friday night.... or should I say EARLY saturday morning.

I left work with my friends Myrick and Suzy...we were walking out to our cars and I opened up my door to LOTS AND LOTS of roses all over the inside of my car. I was like "WHATS GOING ON????" Neither Myrick or Suzy had an answer for me, they just thought it was so sweet, which of course, it was! Darick had been in Florida for the previous few days "visiting family". <--- I will address this later.
I thought he just missed me and he was being a sweetheart and treating me to some beautiful flowers. I got in the car and started to read the first note on my drivers seat. It described how we met and how much fun we've had together through all the years of our relationship. I started to read the next card about some of the struggles that we have had as a couple, and how we worked through them and how they have made us so much stronger as a team. They were so heart-felt and sweet.
I tried to call him, and he didn't answer. To be honest, I thought he had fallen asleep (not unsual)...
I pulled into my parking spot, and gathered my things...and the many roses that were in my car... I took a few steps towards the house when I noticed a rose on the ground...and then another one right after that... and another after that one. I looked down the sidewalk to see that there were roses lining my path all the way to the front step of our house. (Mind you, we live in a town house, and my spot in up the hill a little bit.) I picked up each rose until I got to another punch of roses on the front step with another note. By this time, I AM TREMBLING. SO NERVOUS. I read the note, and my eyes start to tear up because inevitably, I think I know what's going on at this point. I opened the front door and low and behold...MORE ROSES. I make my way to our room which is pitch dark except for a dozen or so candles. There are MORE flowers all of the bed, and floor, and there stands Darick...all dressed up at 1:00am with one more rose in his hand. I was like "What are you doing crazzzy boy?? How much money did you spend on roses??" LOL. He explained that if I took all the roses in the room and added them up, they would equal 64, representing the 64 months that we have been boyfriend and girlfriend. It was important to remember that each month of our relationship we have learned something new about eachother and it makes it easier to know where you are going and where you want to be, if you already know where you have been. He grabbed me and held me very close, just saying how much he missed me and how much I meant to him. To be honest, I don't really remember what he said exactly but it was along the lines of "I know that I've always told you that we would spend the rest of our lives together, but I could say that all day long, and now I want to show you..." He pulled a ring out of his pocket and placed it before me as he got down on one knee... and he asked me to be his wife for forever. :) :)
AhhhH!! First thing that came out of my mouth??........ "SHUUUTT UP!!" (I'm classy, I know...) immediatly following that I said "Duh! OF COURSE!" and we hugged and kisses for like 10 mins straight. IT WAS SO PRECIOUS! He then pulled at his collar exclaiming "Where the heck is your wine key?! I've been trying to open up this bottle of wine for hours!" We shared a bottle of wine and talked about our love and relationship and when we both knew that were were the one for each other. I am over the freakin' moon! <3

Remember how I said he was "visiting family" in Florida? Well, turns out when he went down to "visit family", he didn't just visit his family, he drove about 150 miles from where his family was to pay a visit to my Father....who has been at his Florida house since he retired last year. He went to ask my Father for his blessing and permission. OMG are you kidding? SOOOO traditional. LOVE IT. He is really one of the most respectful people I have ever come in contact with. I love that about him.

We talked about how he initially wanted to propose in NYC in the middle of Times Square and that he thought about it for a long time, but he wanted it to be just between the two of us. We are such personal people, and I can so appreciate that he wanted it to be an intimate, memorable moment that just the two of us shared together, at our home, instead of making a big ol' scene. It was just PERFECT. He is such a romantic!

I am soooo thrilled to be marrying Darick. He is the sweetest, most thoughtful and hysterical guy a girl could ask for, and I am so lucky! I am going to marry my best friend. We are so excited to plan our big day!







For anyone who hasn't already seen it, please make your way to the FABULOUS blog of Madeleine for her amazing take on different themes for the wedding! I freakin LOVE HER for putting this together, so creative and so thoughtful!!! XOXO Mads!!
Since I don't know how to put in a fancy hyperlink.....
copy & paste this--------> www.whatabigtodo.blogspot.com


Believe it or not, I will be posting much more now that I have the most exciting topic of all!! YAY!

I only had the one picture of my ring from my camera phone,I have not been able to locate my memory card adapter to upload the new ones... so sorry for not having any new pics, but I will make it up to you when I find the adapter!! Thanks for reading and all of the well wishes! We are SO happy! XOXOXO