Growing Together

5 weeks ago we started PreMarital Classes (5 of 6 weeks completed!)
I have to say I have really enjoyed the process and sort of wish we could continue longer. They suggest we can join a small group for couples, specifically newly engaged or newly married but our church is just about an hour drive from school and with gas prices soo high its just hard.

Anyway so we have decided to commit to ourselves to grow spiritually and together. March 21 we celebrated our 5 year anniversary. As a gift to each other, we purchased a NIV Couples Bible that has devotionals for the whole year. Our goal is to go through the entire Bible in a year and finish within a week of the wedding. It was funny because just as we decided to do this, one of the pastors challenged everyone to do three things, read the bible together, pray together, and worship together. It was cool that we had literally just started when we told us this. At least we know we're on the right page!

It's funny to think how much we've learned. I feel like every week we went to my house after and I would sit and talk with mom about what we learned and discussed. I think Scott and I have also grown closer to and have started to talk about a lot of things that we hadn't really considered. We've finally gotten on the right page for budgeting for one thing!

What I really got out of the classes thus far is the time spent and importance of the relationship... about pushing each other up not bringing each other down, about placing our relationship above all others. We've met some other couples our age and have made some friends that hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch with afterwards as well!

A Little Bling

Everything is sort of moving in high motion, prior to when its supposed to happen but at opportune moments..

When Scott purchased my rings last year, he bought the set - an engagement ring and the band. It left me the opportunity to find something that would match him. I looked around at Shane Co, Jared, and most recently D Geller and Sons. D Geller turned out to be more upsetting than anything else. We specifically mentioned we were just looking through rings but the attendant helping us was doing everything possible to try to get us to buy before leaving. We did see a few rings but the one I had originally wanted to see they did not have in store stock. It was a Scott Kay Cobalt Comfort. They pretty much had every other Scott Kay minus the one I wanted to see! Anyway, we tried to leave and she even had the manager come over to give us a "great deal" trying to get us to buy the ring they didn't even have in stock.. like really? That large of an investment.. its like buying a car before test driving or purchasing a home without visiting it. Regardless we left.

During Spring Break in March we, Scott and I, stopped by Shane Co by chance - we actually stopped by LifeWay and Shane Co happened to be next door...
Anyway, so we walk in and I asked to see several of various styles they had. he must have tried about 70% of what they had available. He put on the styles we originally liked, I asked him to try on a few two tones, and asked if they had rings with a curved line similar to the ring my dad has. Well just when we had found this really pretty two tone, I saw one with diamonds on it. Scott and I really didn't care for a crazy guys ring. The ring is supposed to be simple and elegant like mine. I asked the guy to see the ring just to see a different style. Well as soon as Scott put it on, I was in love. The swirl on the ring matched the curve from mine! We were soo excited! We didn't think we would find something similar!

A Place to Change

Recently we've made a lot of changes, the most important thing being the venue. 550 Trackside has unfortunately raised their prices within the last few months. Budgeting wise we are trying to determine if the location is still feasible... We've been able to locate just a handful of other locations that could serve as a backup or perhaps the location of either the ceremony or reception to perhaps cut the cost.

Anyway so we, mom, Carlos, my aunt, Scott, and dad are sitting in my family room talking about venues and all things possible wedding. Out of no where my mom asks me if I would get dressed at home. I was sort of caught of guard not knowing what she was asking. I told her that the venues typically had a dressing room for the bride/bridesmaids. She cut me off saying she wanted me to get dressed there. I wasn't sure what to think. My mind was racing around venues, catering and the big picture items; I hadn't even thought of anything in relation to day of..
Well she explained that in Puerto Rico it was customary to get dressed in your mothers home. I wondered why she hadn't brought that up earlier when I asked about Puerto Rican traditions...

I told her that it depended on the venue because I really liked the full size mirrors that many places had in the dressing room. Looking at mom you could tell she was concocting some evil plan. She told me she would get a mirror! I said well if there is a mirror then yes.

The next weekend I come home and mom has a surprise for me. She has decided to completely redecorate my room! Along with a big mirror, she wants to place a nice white carpet, repaint my dresser, and repaint the room itself to colors that match the wedding colors. I was actually really excited even taking two days out of my schedule to essentially wipe out my room donating bags of clothes and old items to a local church owned organization! Though the project is on hold to start this summer, mom will get her wish and I will have an awesome, tall mirror to take my wedding dress photos with.

Cake Topper

So many weeks and quite a few bridal shows later, quite a bit has happened.
Carlos introduced me to a fine China brand I apparently should have heard of before, Lenox! After figuring out what it was I think he was right! We traveled to a local outlet mall to learn of the Lenox store where everything is half off all year round!

The store itself is roughly a 35 mile, 30 min drive from home its out of the way, and with these gas prices not the first choice for shopping. Well I ended up making like 4 different trips up there purchasing various items. In late January I bought our toasting flutes. If you are familiar with the Opal Innocence collection, I think I've fallen in love... A trip later on and I discovered my dining set - the one I will acquire when Scott and I find a home.

The first trip in March was during Spring Break. Originally the plan was that Scott and I would cut the cake with a saber, this was planned when we were still going to use the military uniform. However with circumstances that have changed, we decided to use a regular cake cutter and server. I looked on the Lenox website to find the matching set for the toasting flutes to discover a ridiculously high price. When we finally arrived at the store, I had one thing in mind was to purchase the set. The had three left in stock and just under half price from online! I was so excited!!

Finally the true tale of why I wrote this blog.. When we first got engaged I found a Precious Moments figurine of a girl and a soldier. It was adorable, however one thing continues to bug me about Precious Moments... the vast majority are blond. I know the cake topper doesn't need to be exact but I want it to sort of exemplify us. I purchased the figuring regardless but I was still on the look out. I looked into monograms, photos, classic wedding toppers, even looking into love birds etc but nothing really seem to fit us.
On the last trip to the Lenox Store, Carlos and I looked around the figurines in the front display area. There were several cases of Disney figurines, Cinderella, Mickey, Princess Aurora, Lady and the Tramp, etc. Then I saw it, the top shelf of the center case held Beauty and the Beast. Belle was and still is my favorite Disney Princess. The very top corner sat a figurine of Belle dancing with the Beast in the form of a Prince. It was beautiful with a gold dress and him with a blue jacket. It was perfect, perfect colors and exactly what I could have imagined. Though we are not royal by any means it sort of shows how we feel for each other - like a princess in his arms where the most important thing in the world is each other.

Well I left the store, empty handed.. Mom told me she thought it was pretty though not really matching to the rest of the theme of the wedding. Carlos said I was crazy for not buying it, and Scott had no idea what I was talking about when I sent him a picture text message asking if I should buy it. The picture I ended up sending him turned out, that he thought I wanted to purchase the actual beast in the front of the picture not the dancing couple in the back! I love Beauty and the Beast but for our wedding day I would never consider getting Scott as a beast!
I went home upset thinking I would find something better. I will tell you, every night that week I looked online, for every cake topper imaginable through every website you could find. Nothing.

Thursday came along and I was talking to Scott. I pulled up the Lenox website and showed him a picture of it. We both knew it was the one. I couldn't think of anything more perfect. I went back that Friday and I finally came home with the topper of my dreams.