Sorry for the delay...

I keep on meaning to put the pictures up for part three of the bachelorette party from Saturday, but I've been busy with painting my kitchen and writing thank you notes for the gifts I received at the bridal shower two weeks ago. Hopefully I'll get the pictures up by Sunday...

Bachelorette Party Part 2: Tic Tock Room

After Taki we went to the Tic Tock Room. We all had a Buttery Nipple shot along with our Martinis. I had a Dirty Martini-I mostly just wanted the olives with blue cheese in them. We all mostly sat and drank our martinis and talk.

Next it was off to the Dirty Iguana...

Bachelorette Party Part 1: Taki

Yesterday I went out with some awesome friends and had my Bachelorette Party. A great time was had by all! We went to three places, therefore my blogging about the Bachelorette Party will be given in three parts.

My sister Karen, my cousin Christina and I met Beth, Renee, Sarah, Stephanie, Mary and Josie at Taki in Macon for some Japanese food. This is where I got all decked out in my Bachelorette gear. Sarah and Renee brought these cool "tickets" were I could find some guys in violation of things and write them tickets (more on this in part 3). They also brought some straws that were in the shape of a certain part of the male anatomy. I also had this cool light up button that said "Bride to Be". Karen got me a big diamond ring and a veil. I don't think that anyone could miss that I was the bride to be. We all had some delicious Japanese food. I had some sushi and some vegetables and drank two Mojitos. I love me some Mojitos!

Here are some pictures from Taki:

Sarah, Renee and Beth

Stephanie and Mary

Christina and I

Karen and Josie

The ladies on one side of the table

The ladies on the other side of the table

Wedding Shower

On Saturday my wonderful sister Karen and my awesome cousin Christina threw me a Wedding Shower. It was a lot of fun and I had a great time hanging out with family and friends. Here are some pictures:

The food which was totally delicious!

Renee, Debbie, Stephanie and Beth

Noel and Mary

Loidy and Maria

Opening many presents (which took me about an hour)

Christine, Kayla and Christina

Erika

My lollipop ring

There were many presents. I think that I took about an hour opening them up. It took me so long because I open presents slowly-I don't like to tear the paper. I think that by the end I started tearing the paper. This week I will start writing thank you notes to everybody.

Next Saturday I will be having my bachelorette party. I'll post pictures from that too.

School's Out!!!

Well, most of my stress is finally gone! Last Friday was the last day of school for students and yesterday was the last day of school for teachers. Thus is the end of an era-the Ludwig era. Next school year the Gallagher era begins. I felt a little weird yesterday taking down the letters on my classroom door that spell out Ludwig. I've used them for the past 5 years of the 8 years that I have been teaching. When I turned in my key to my room, I had to write my last name on them and I didn't know what to do. I just wrote Ludwig on them since I'm not quite Gallagher yet.

Some of the students were nice the last few days of school. Some of them drove me crazy, which was expected. Out of all my classes, I'd have to say that I am really going to miss my 4th period. I actually got all teary-eyed before the bell rang. The class that I am least going to miss is my 2nd period. I'm not going to miss the whiny kids that sat close to my bulletin board and the rude ones that sat in the back of the room. I had a few good nice students in that class-I'll miss them.

Now that school is out, I'll be concentrating on the wedding. Last Sunday we bought out rings. We got a great deal on them since Friedman's jeweler's have gone out of business and they had a huge sale. Let's just say we spent under $130 for both rings. Today we are going to get the marriage license. Saturday is my wedding shower. It will be nice to be with family and friends that day.

This month I hope to stay a little relaxed and keep the stress away.

Planning, Planning and More Planning

It has been awhile since I last posted. I'll be honest-I've been too lazy to write. I get home and I sit down at the computer to write something and then I decide that I really don't want to. I have so much going on right now.

Wedding plans are going well. Nathan and I registered at Target on Saturday. We spent quite a bit of time walking around the store and trying to figure out what we needed. Since we each have our own places, it's hard to pick things out at the store. We mostly looked at the list that Target gives you and we decided on things that we don't have or things that we have but would like to replace (mostly because they were hand me downs). Nathan had a fun time scanning the things that we wanted. We still have to add a few more things to the registry. Our scanner was running out of battery power and we still needed to go to my parent's house and it was getting late.

While at my parent's house, Karen helped me with the wedding invitations. We ended up translating my parent's old wedding invitation (since it is in Spanish). The wording is not the whole traditional "so and so would like to invite you to yadda yadda" type of thing. We liked the one that my parents had because it sounded more personal. Karen picked out the perfect font to go with the invitations. She also printed them out for us and made some in Spanish for my family in Spain. I started putting the invitations together, but it got late, so I had to stop.

On Sunday I went to church and then went home to work on more wedding things. I mostly put more invitations together. I still have a few more to do, so that's what I'll be doing when I get home from school. I should be finished with them today. The next invitation-related thing that needs to be done is printing out the reception cards. Karen is also going to make a little flier with the directions to the church and hotel information (for out of town guests) that will go in with the invitations.

Last week I also bought half of the favor boxes. Michael's was offering a 50% discount for teachers last week. The 100 count favor boxes are $19.99, but I was able to buy them for $10.00. I have to go back and buy another 100 count box. Michael's had two coupons in the newspaper on Sunday, so I'll be using those. Some of my wonderful friends have also been saving theirs and giving them to me.

I still have quite a bit of wedding planning to go. Among the things that I have to do are:

• Pay the caterer the deposit (I'm waiting on my Economic Stimulus Check for that).
• Decide what flowers I want for the bridesmaids and myself. I looked around Michael's and I have a few ideas. Micheal's also have some nice bouquets that are already made. I decided not to go with the Pomander.
• On the 17th my bridesmaids and myself have our alteration appointments. I have still have to buy some shoes before I go to that appointment.
• I still have to find a photographer. I would love to find one that is affordable since most of the money seems to be going to the caterer.
• Start making room in my house for Nathan. I have already gotten rid of some of my Bath and Body works stuff that I really wasn't using (my sister Erika was happy). Next to go will be some purses and shoes.
• Speaking of getting rid of things, I also have to go through my clothes. I have now lost a total of 27 pounds and some of my clothes are big on me.
• On the subject of losing weight, I have to continue going to the gym. I found that's it's easier for me to go after school. I've been walking for about 30 minutes and then I've been lifting weights-mostly concentrating on my arms. I was thinking about starting to ride my bike again, but I'm afraid that I'll fall and get hurt. I don't need any scars or injuries right now.
• Find decorations for the reception. I got some great ideas on how to add some color to the Parish Activity Center when the church had Casino Night there.
• Before I can send out the invitations, I have to finalize the guest list. I need to get Nathan to get some addresses from his side of the list.
• I also still have to get the cake topper, the cake cutter and server, and the champagne glasses (and get them engraved).
• Buy the rings!

That's about all that I can think of. Nathan has put himself in charge of the Honeymoon. He has already informed me that I do not have to worry about it. I wonder what he is planning.

I can't believe that the wedding is almost two months away. It looks like these next few months I'm going to be quite busy. Thank God I have June off!

I Found "The One"

Today was one of the days that I have been waiting for since I was little. When I lived in Spain and would go walking around Madrid with my grandmother I would always look at the wedding dress displays of the store windows and wish that I could try one on. Today I did that.

I went to David's Bridal with Karen, Christina and my mom. Erika met us there since she was driving from Atlanta. First I let them try on the bridesmaid dresses. The dresses looked great on all of them. They didn't have Erika's size, so she had to try on one that was big on her. She ended up being measured, so they were able to order her one.

After the girls tried on their dresses, it was my turn to try on mine. The ladies at David's Bridal had me look through their catalog and fold the pages where there was a dress I liked. There was one that I liked, but it cost more than I wanted, but Karen and Christina told me to try it on anyways because it may be the dress that looks the best. After I made my choices, the lady who helped us (her name was Vanessa and she was great) brought some of the dresses that I had chosen. I got teary-eyed when I saw them. I couldn't believe that I was about to try on wedding dresses. I really didn't like the first dress that I tried on. It was uncomfortable and I felt like I was about to flash someone. It was also too big because after I tried it on I realized that I have gone down a dress size (did I mention that I have lost a total of 22 pounds so far).

The next dress was the one that Karen and Christina told me to try on when I was looking through the catalog. I tried it on and went out and stood on the "little stage" (I don't know what it is called) and looked at myself in the mirror and I knew that it was the one. The lady who was helping us put a tiara and a veil on me to get the full effect and I definitely knew that it was the one. I was told that I it looked like I was glowing with happiness. It took me a little while to take the dress off-mostly because I didn't want to. I tried on several other dresses, but I really wasn't into them because I knew that I had already found the one.

I ordered the dress, the slip and the veil and it should all be in on May 15. Karen, Christina and Erika also ordered theirs. Mary will be ordering hers tomorrow. The bridesmaid dresses should also be in on the same date. We all made appointments for May 17 for alterations. I can't wait to put the dress back on!

I would put a picture of it, but the one on the website doesn't really show much of it. Here is a description of it though:

Organza A-line with cap sleeves, side draping, and beaded embroidery. Chapel train. Available in White/Blue, Ivory/Blue, Solid White & Solid Ivory.

My dress is White/Blue. The embroidery is little flowers in light blue, which you can barely tell-we all thought that they were white at first.

If you really want to see it, go to the David's Bridal website and search for Style 9V9302.

(Hopefully a certain person will not find this blog and look at the dress.) :)

Not only did I buy my wedding dress today, but I also bought invitations. Before we went to David's Bridal, we all went to Michael's. I wanted to go ahead and buy the invitations so that I can start working on them (that's one of the main things I have to do this month). Here is what they look like:




We also had some flower and favor ideas. We also saw some things that would be great for decorations for the reception.

Today was very productive. When I finally came home I logged onto the Knot and checked quite a bit of stuff off of my wedding checklist. I can't wait to check off more!