Moved In

August 20, 2007Well, I am moved in to my apartment in Murfreesboro. Now I just need to unpack and get settled. 

Home

August 16, 2007

So, I arrived back at my house last night. Today has been spent playing The Sims 2 a lot and making a few phone calls.

 

I received a phone call from the Goodlark Education Foundation in Dickson. They are offering me a $1,000 scholarship for this fall to help me finish my degree. I am estatic! God has provided back all the lottery money I am not receiving and more! It's been amazing to see what has come in. 

 

I also received a phone call from my good friend Shannon today. It turns out that because of financial reasons, she's not going to be able to be in my wedding in May. She has a good reason though. Shannon is going to Slovakia for one year to be a missionary with Campus Crusade for Christ. She can not afford to come back in May... it's completely understandable and I'm perfectly ok with it. I'm just sad she won't be there to see my big day and be a part of it.

 

Aside from that, I'm pleased to say that Gray and I have finalized (minus a few details) our guest list! It was a lot of work but we've managed to do it. Next week we'll begin the exhausting fun of mailing out save-the-dates. I'm excited because now I can start looking for invitations and deciding how I'm going to do my invitations. I know, I have 8 months to go, but I'm determined to be stress free about the wedding and the best way I know to do that is to get things done early.

 

Speaking of wedding... Gray and I got an email from Carnival the other day. The cruise we were going to take to the Bahamas was cancelled because the ship needed to be repaired. So we've re-booked another Bahamian cruise that's a day shorter with them. We'll be staying our first night at the Brentwood Hilton Suites Hotel before flying to Florida and boarding the cruise ship Sensation at Port Canaveral. At this point we're trying to decide if we'd like to stay in Orlando at the Walt Disney World resort a night or two. I'm really up for that because I love Disney and would love to go back, I miss it. Right now we're not too sure what are options are. Gray has family in Orlando that can get us into the parks for free and possibly a reduced hotel room rate. We're going to ask them if they would be willing to help us out with that before we plan the rest of the honeymoon. I'm so thankful that the cruise is almost paid for and that our first night is taken care of. So much stress off my shoulders!

 

Well, I am off to enjoy the rest of my night. Tomorrow Gray and I are going to Murfreesboro. We need to put some stuff in our storage unit and I need to go and fill out payroll for my job.

Stress from student loans and wedding guest lists

August 09, 2007

So, my parents and I had decided that I would take a small student loan out for this last semester. We accepted the loan via pipeline over a week ago. Today we took action into our own hands.

Apparently I was supposed to fill out an application and then I'd get my prom. note to sign. Thanks MTSU for letting me know this.

 

I've now taken care of this and signed the prom. note online. I'm only going in debt about $3,000 but since my mom is not working, it was neccessary. Between the loan, scholarship money and our last bit of college savings, I have enough money for tuition, books, food for this semester and my apartment's rent for the entire 12-month lease. This is great becaus e we'll be able to pay for the year up front and get almost a month's worth of rent for free. Great savings and it's one less thing to worry about later.

 

Aside from all of that, today I decided was going to be the day I made a list of everyone I'm inviting to my wedding. This way I know how many invitations I'll need... etc. We're not completely done, but we have around 150 written down with Gray's family still needing to contribute some more.

 

blah to planning 

Cake Topper and Favors

August 07, 2007

This entry is long over due because I started working on it over a week ago.

 

While we were in Sweden, Gray and I came across these rubber ducks. I had a rubber ducky bathroom theme in high school and so I started collecting rubber ducks. Well, Gray saw this when we first started dating and told me I'd have a collection by the time we got married. I now probably have 15-20 and we couldn't resist adding these two to the collection. These will probably be used on the wedding cake as toppers. Notice my rubber ducky bathrobe in the background. ;) 

 

photo from becsaboo When I set out to do favors for the wedding, I knew immediately I wanted something that would save money and be practical. We chose from the beginning to use the bubbles as favors.
photo from becsabooSo I watched and found a great sale and managed to buy all the bubbles for our wedding for under $25. Then I took ribbon that is in our colors (pink and green) and wrapped it around. The finishing touch were favor tags that I printed off myself. 


photo from becsaboo
It's nothing too original but it's a start to helping the wedding be cost effective. Since our budget got a lot tighter over the past few months, I'm trying a lot of diy ideas out. I would like to even make my veil myself if possible. So, we'll see what happens. 

 

Thoughts of the Future

August 06, 2007

So I woke up today to the sound of my mother stating I had mail. It was a letter from the lady who gives me a private scholarship. We had called her office to ask if I could get the scholarhsip one more semester. She agreed so the letter was the usual letter sent to me about the money.

 

It seems like my time at home has gone by very slowly but also very fast. I leave Friday to go to Memphis for a week and when I get back I have a few short days at home and then it's off to Murfreesboro for the year! I'm definitely excited for the new changes.

 

I'm going to be living at University Gables with three of my best friends until I get married.

 

The time at home has been good but I've been going crazy with boredom. 

 

It feels like there is no time to get anything accomplished, although I know there is.

 

My room is pretty much packed up. That feels strange. I've been trying to leave some things because I feel I won't need them, like my stereo system. We'll see I guess.

 

This past weekend was wonderful because I got to get out of the house and see some good friends. Friday night, Gray and I went to see Bourne: Ultimatium. It was a good, but dizzying movie. Saturday we drove to Hickory Hollow Mall to hang with Kelsey, picked up Shannon and visited Jenny and Alice at home before catching dinner with Shannon. It's hard to believe that Jenny and Shannon are going to be gone for a year and Kelsey will be away in another state. Crazy.  I'm learning that it's not goodbye forever though, just for now.

 

Well, I am off to enjoy the relaxation time I have.