Me & Michael
Michael, Me, Katy & Kyle
Mom, Me & Dad
Me & Katy
Walking the stage
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Graduation
I know it's better late than never but I graduated on Saturday, December 10th, 2011. I am so excited to finally be done with my master's degree and school in general!!! Here are a few pics of my graduation ceremony. Thank you to all my family that spent the day with me and everyone that sent cards and called me. With all the wedding preparations it was nice to take a day to celebrate graduating and have a delicious dinner at Pappadeaux :).
Me & Michael
Michael, Me, Katy & Kyle
Mom, Me & Dad
Me & Katy
Walking the stage
Me & Michael
Michael, Me, Katy & Kyle
Mom, Me & Dad
Me & Katy
Walking the stage
Monday, December 5, 2011
Bachelorette Party :)
My Bachelorette party was on Saturday but I haven't felt human until now (Monday night). Katy, My sister and MOH, threw an awesome party. She had me go over to her apartment to get ready and had fruity drinks ready for me when I got there. We drank and sang along to an awesome 90's playlist while we got ready and were altogether very embarrassing. Everyone met at the Forum (shopping center) to get onto the party bus Katy rented for the evening and I was shocked when we pulled up and there were two half naked guys waiting for us outside the bus!!! One was handing out boas and the other was handing out shot glass necklaces and whistles. We all posed for a group picture before we left.
We started the night at a place called Dick's Last Resort. For those of you not familiar with the concept of this particular establishment it is a little different. Their main goal in life is to provide terrible service, insult you, make crude jokes and generally piss you off. Which made it the perfect destination for our drunken troupe. Our waiter, who we dubbed "Big Sexy", was awesome. He kept our drinks full, danced with us and made terrible dirty jokes and was overall awesome.
Our next and final stop was a country & western bar called Midnight Rodeo. The dance floor was in the shape of a giant circle and had a bar in the middle. After a few times out on the dance floor I realized that I was a little too intoxicated for the twirling involved with two-stepping. We danced, drank and laughed the night away until our dutiful DD's came to get us.
There are several parts of the story I have left out intentionally that are better explained with pictures and some I think all of us would like to keep to ourselves. I speak for everyone when I say we had an amazing night and I think we're all just a little bit closer now :).
We started the night at a place called Dick's Last Resort. For those of you not familiar with the concept of this particular establishment it is a little different. Their main goal in life is to provide terrible service, insult you, make crude jokes and generally piss you off. Which made it the perfect destination for our drunken troupe. Our waiter, who we dubbed "Big Sexy", was awesome. He kept our drinks full, danced with us and made terrible dirty jokes and was overall awesome.
Our next and final stop was a country & western bar called Midnight Rodeo. The dance floor was in the shape of a giant circle and had a bar in the middle. After a few times out on the dance floor I realized that I was a little too intoxicated for the twirling involved with two-stepping. We danced, drank and laughed the night away until our dutiful DD's came to get us.
There are several parts of the story I have left out intentionally that are better explained with pictures and some I think all of us would like to keep to ourselves. I speak for everyone when I say we had an amazing night and I think we're all just a little bit closer now :).
Monday, November 28, 2011
18 DAYS!!!
I just got back from a very relaxing visit to see Michael in Florida over Thanksgiving break. I was able to skip the one class I had last week and we got to spend 10 whole days together :). We drove up to see Michael's family in Savannah and spent Thanksgiving with them and got to see our friends Brandie and Kyle, who we haven't seen in over a year. It was so nice to get away from the chaos that has been the past few months of wedding planning and school... well, we almost got away. Michael and I did sit down and finally hashed out what our first dance song is going to be and he chose the song that we will exit the ceremony to (hint: he spent a while listening to the theme music from several action movies). It actually sounds kinda perfect :). Overall we have all the major songs picked out.
I came back into town today and had my first final tonight. I have one more take-home final due Thursday and a group presentation due Wednesday and then I am done. Thank God!! Graduation is on the 10th of December and I will be sure to post pics.
Since we're on the subject of pictures, my bachelorette party is on December 3rd and I am sure there will be many embarrassing pictures to choose from. In the interest of being a good sport I will go through them and post any with a PG rating or less. I should warn you that my sister, Kaitlyn, is planning this party so there may not be any pics that make the cut. She already picked out my uber-scandalous that consists of a leather mini skirt and a sequined top and high heels... I was told I couldn't wear a jacket and that if I got cold I "wasn't drinking enough". This ought to be interesting. Michael's bachelor party is the same night in Richmond Hill and I will let you know how he does as well.
After this week I'm going to be in super planning mode for the wedding! I am so excited for the big day! I'll update as more details get finalized.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
What song should I walk down the aisle to?
I am having a REALLY hard time deciding what music to play for key moments of the wedding. My Dad requested "I loved her first" by Heartland for our Father-Daughter dance and I want to play "Another one bites the dust" by Queen for the garter toss but I need help with the rest. Here are a few of the songs I am considering for the processional and/or my entrance, please let me know what you think and feel free to suggest any other songs as well. Thanks!!!
Monday, October 31, 2011
All this wedding and no Priest...
I have been dealing with a very interesting problem... I haven't been able to find anyone to marry us!!! I come from a VERY Catholic family and Michael's family is Baptist so we discussed which church we would get married in and he graciously agreed to get married in the Catholic church. This turned out to be easier said than done. I called every church in the downtown San Antonio area and NONE of them were available. They either wouldn't do a wedding ceremony during Advent (Christmas season), or they wouldn't marry a couple outside their parish, or they were booked... for the next year! I was beginning to freak out a little. We discussed our other options and decided to find a Justice of the Peace to perform our ceremony.
If only that was the end of the story. I began asking several of my professors, many of whom have been in the public administration field for many years, which Judges they would recommend. The last thing I wanted was someone who would go off on a long and bitter diatribe about marriage or worse...tell jokes. I thought I was in luck when my ethics professor, who is also an attorney, told me about this phenomenal Judge who had done his nephew's wedding. I got his number and was given the run around by his office for several weeks before I finally gave up and began the search again.
It was only after I found Judge Monica Lisa Caballero that the other Judge finally called me back....well, his assistant called me back. I told him I would be happy to schedule a meeting to discuss how we wanted the ceremony to go and was told "he doesn't do that". Well silly me for thinking I should have a say in MY wedding ceremony.
Thankfully we already had an appointment with Judge Caballero while Michael was visiting and I was so thrilled to find out that she was incredibly down to earth and completely understood our predicament. She is willing to work in as many traditions into the ceremony as we'd like and she even had a few really great suggestions for us.
Finally figuring this out has been a HUGE relief. I was beginning to think we were just going to be throwing a really great party :)
If only that was the end of the story. I began asking several of my professors, many of whom have been in the public administration field for many years, which Judges they would recommend. The last thing I wanted was someone who would go off on a long and bitter diatribe about marriage or worse...tell jokes. I thought I was in luck when my ethics professor, who is also an attorney, told me about this phenomenal Judge who had done his nephew's wedding. I got his number and was given the run around by his office for several weeks before I finally gave up and began the search again.
It was only after I found Judge Monica Lisa Caballero that the other Judge finally called me back....well, his assistant called me back. I told him I would be happy to schedule a meeting to discuss how we wanted the ceremony to go and was told "he doesn't do that". Well silly me for thinking I should have a say in MY wedding ceremony.
Thankfully we already had an appointment with Judge Caballero while Michael was visiting and I was so thrilled to find out that she was incredibly down to earth and completely understood our predicament. She is willing to work in as many traditions into the ceremony as we'd like and she even had a few really great suggestions for us.
Finally figuring this out has been a HUGE relief. I was beginning to think we were just going to be throwing a really great party :)
Friday, October 21, 2011
Bridal Shower
My bridal shower was on October 15th and it was a great success! I owe a HUGE thank you to Katy, my Mom and Nina for putting together an amazing shower.
There was a slight hiccup in the bridal shower plans when it was announced that comprehensive exams (comps) were going to be on the same day. St. Mary's University MPA program does not have a thesis, instead they have comprehensive exams that are meant to test your knowledge of the ENTIRE degree curriculum before you graduate. Comps were emailed out at 1:00pm on Friday, October 14th and we had until Saturday, October 15th at 6:00pm to send back our answers. The schedule for this was announced after Katy sent out the invitations and I reassured her that I would make it work. Somehow I pulled it off and was able to stay up most of the night before the shower and get the test done.
I was worried about being too tired to have fun at the shower but as soon as I got to the Stillwell house, where the shower was held, I got my second wind and had a great time.
The Stillwell House on Fort Sam Houston
I was greeted by this amazing food as soon as I walked in the door that Mom and Nina spent the whole night before cooking for me. They made sure to get all my favorites. :)
I'm not sure who's idea it was to have a cupcake tree but I'm pretty sure it was one of my favorite parts of the day, especially the chocolate & peanut butter one.
My Aunt Laurie also made me some of the coolest elephant shaped cupcakes I've ever seen. I will try and find a picture of them and post it. They were so creative and I thought it was really sweet of her to make my favorite animal into cupcakes for me.
Of course the majority of the bridal shower was spent opening presents, which I LOVE to do, and I got some amazing gifts. I got a lot of really cute things for my future kitchen that I can't wait to use. I have got to learn how to cook so I don't put it all to shame. :) There were a few "scandalous" gifts but, in the interest of keeping the blog G-rated, I'll spare you the details. Let's just say they came from a the people I would least expect (Gran & Aunt Christi) and they made me blush so bad it took everyone several minutes to stop laughing at me.
My junior bridesmaids were amazing about helping me get through all the gifts and they made sure all the wrappings were picked up and handed me gifts and really kept things rolling. Kaitlyn almost couldn't keep up with writing everything down, they were moving so fast.
Ava, my flower girl, was in charge of getting my bows off my gifts and putting them together for my "rehearsal bouquet". Did you know that the superstition is that how ever many bows you break when putting that thing together is supposed to be how many kids you'll have? Yeah, neither did I. I broke four. I still haven't figured out how to tell Michael.
The party wrapped up with Kaitlyn leading us in a few bridal shower games. Her bridal charades was a huge hit, especially when she acted out diving to catch the bouquet. She worked so hard on the shower and I am so proud of her for pulling everything together. She really made it everything I hoped it would be.
Katy. Me & Ava
Me & Gran
Me & Grandma
Me & Katy
Just Me :)
There was a slight hiccup in the bridal shower plans when it was announced that comprehensive exams (comps) were going to be on the same day. St. Mary's University MPA program does not have a thesis, instead they have comprehensive exams that are meant to test your knowledge of the ENTIRE degree curriculum before you graduate. Comps were emailed out at 1:00pm on Friday, October 14th and we had until Saturday, October 15th at 6:00pm to send back our answers. The schedule for this was announced after Katy sent out the invitations and I reassured her that I would make it work. Somehow I pulled it off and was able to stay up most of the night before the shower and get the test done.
I was worried about being too tired to have fun at the shower but as soon as I got to the Stillwell house, where the shower was held, I got my second wind and had a great time.
I was greeted by this amazing food as soon as I walked in the door that Mom and Nina spent the whole night before cooking for me. They made sure to get all my favorites. :)
I'm not sure who's idea it was to have a cupcake tree but I'm pretty sure it was one of my favorite parts of the day, especially the chocolate & peanut butter one.
Of course the majority of the bridal shower was spent opening presents, which I LOVE to do, and I got some amazing gifts. I got a lot of really cute things for my future kitchen that I can't wait to use. I have got to learn how to cook so I don't put it all to shame. :) There were a few "scandalous" gifts but, in the interest of keeping the blog G-rated, I'll spare you the details. Let's just say they came from a the people I would least expect (Gran & Aunt Christi) and they made me blush so bad it took everyone several minutes to stop laughing at me.
My junior bridesmaids were amazing about helping me get through all the gifts and they made sure all the wrappings were picked up and handed me gifts and really kept things rolling. Kaitlyn almost couldn't keep up with writing everything down, they were moving so fast.
Ava, my flower girl, was in charge of getting my bows off my gifts and putting them together for my "rehearsal bouquet". Did you know that the superstition is that how ever many bows you break when putting that thing together is supposed to be how many kids you'll have? Yeah, neither did I. I broke four. I still haven't figured out how to tell Michael.
The party wrapped up with Kaitlyn leading us in a few bridal shower games. Her bridal charades was a huge hit, especially when she acted out diving to catch the bouquet. She worked so hard on the shower and I am so proud of her for pulling everything together. She really made it everything I hoped it would be.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
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