Birthday Weekend

Well guess what everyone! I'm a year older because this past Sunday was my Birthday!

Unfortunately, I had to work on the actual day of my birthday. So it was sortof an on and off weekend-long celebration. Want a recap?

Friday night was Casino Night at our University and it was a BLAST! Last time we went, Mishka was the lucky one--he made a killing at blackjack. But this time, birthday weekend magic made Lady Luck. I could read that blackjack table like a book and even playing the wheels couldn't break my streak. And at the end of the night, when we had blown through all our chips, we were also lucky enough to be at a table with a dealer who was more than willing to replenish our chips and then-some. Just because. That, and the fact that I got to dress up fancy, do my hair and make-up, and it began to snow as we walked back home made it an absolutely perfect evening.

Saturday night was a shop and dine, or as I like to say it's Dinner Date take 2. We loved our "Fun with Fajitas" dinner date so we decided to do another one for my birthday. We cooked some beautiful, delicious food even though we had a bit of an oven mishap. In short: my oven is broken. So how do you bake food with a broken oven? This was the question we had to solve. And we did, and ended up with an amazing dinner (along with some leftovers I'll be enjoying shortly). I love cooking with Mishka because cooking is something I really love, and I think the whole experience is very romantic.

And on Sunday I got breakfast in bed. Mishka knows how to spoil a birthday girl :)!

And that's it so far, though there will be another birthday related date coming up this weekend. But I'll explain that in a later post ;).

Dress Envy? Not Me! Part 2

So, now that you've seen me in these other wedding dresses, I can admit that I was a little worried I would fall in love with a different dress than the one I bought. Luckily, that didn't happen. In fact, it was the exact opposite. Everything about my 2nd wedding dress visit convinced me I had made the right choice.

The first thing it did was reaffirm my choice of style. Over the years, I've heard a lot of people hating on the style of dress I chose, and I'll admit that even I had preconceived notions against it going into dress shopping. Perhaps, that's why I was apprehensive about loving my dress at first.

But, after trying on my 2nd (technically 3rd) round of dresses, I realized that my dress makes me feel like a princess. And, deep down, I want to feel like a bit of a princess on my wedding day. I don't mean that in a conceited "it's all about me, and I'm basically royalty" way. I mean that I want a bit of sparkle, a bit of glamor. I want to pamper myself and wear something totally over-the-top gorgeous. If not on my wedding day, then when else?

So my second trip out dress shopping was successful, even if I didn't find a dress I'd be willing to purchase. It made me even more certain that I'm going to look beautiful in my dress, that it's going to fit me perfectly, and most importantly: that it's going to make Mishka's jaw drop!

Dress Envy? Not me! Part 1

I have a confession to make: I tried on dresses after I bought my wedding dress. I had several reasons for doing this:

1. I knew my sister K felt left out that she hadn't been there during my initial dress trying on session. She had mentioned several times that she would have come if she knew it was going to be my only trip. So I thought it would be nice to have a second trip with her included.

2. I had really enjoyed trying on wedding dresses because it was one of the first times I really felt like a bride. Putting on those white dresses had a much more profound affect than I realized. And, since I was going to a place where I could take pictures, I was happy I would be able to have those memories of dress trying on.

3. Don't judge, but I wanted to have some wedding dress pictures that I could show Mishka. I wanted to give him a hint of what it will look like when I'm walking down the aisle. I asked him ahead of time if he'd be willing to see me in dresses that were not like my wedding dress and he said he would.

Without further ado, here's a few of my favorite shots (and Mishka's picks):

This was my favorite dress. I think it looked fantastic on and was also extremely comfortable. Mishka loved it to, but I'm not sure it was his favorite.

This was my favorite dress, but I'm not sure it looked as great on me as the other one. We referred to it as the "belle" dress because we thought it looked like the white version of the dress Belle wore in Beauty and the Beast. This was one of Mishka's front runners. He liked the poofy ballroom dresses a lot more than he thought he would :).

This was my mom's pick. I am wearing a size 16 which is nowhere near right for me, but when the woman used the clips (which was long after this picture was taken) the dress looked MUCH better than it does here. This was not one of Mishka's favorites, but I think he would have liked it if he had seen it clipped right.

This is another one of Mishka's favorites. He loved the floral ruffled skirt, though we both acknowledged it made me look a bit hippy.

And I hated this dress but Mishka LOVES this picture (not dress, the picture with me talking and gesturing). Can't imagine why...

Our [First] Engagement Shoot: Part 2 - Snow Play

So for the second installment of our engagement shoot Mishka and I just played around in the snow sans the snowballs this time. It was a LOT of fun and got some great pictures. There are a few more posed pictures in this batch than in the last one, but I don't think that takes away from the relaxed feel of our poses. My sister K really is a fantastic photographer :). She definitely brought out the best in us.

I don't know if we'll use any of these pictures for our Save the Dates or anything like that. We definitely could use the wintery pictures since our wedding will, in fact, be during the winter. Who knows? You'll have to stay tuned to find out :).

Our [First] Engagement Shoot: Part 1 - The Battle

Does "first" mean that there is going to be a second? I'm not sure about that. My future SIL said her friend offered to do one for us, and said friend did an amazing job for my future SIL and her husband. But we'll have to see how the reset of this year plays out.

As for this engagement shoot. I wasn't sure what to expect. My sister is an aspiring photographer who just got her first quality camera. Shortly after we got engaged, I asked her if she would do Mishka and me the favor of shooting an Engagement Session for us. She has an eye for photography, color, and detail that I've yet to see matched in an amateur. I swear some of the pictures she took during our family vacation to Turkey and Greece could have come straight out of a magazine they were so artistic.

When my sister and I discussed possible locations, we both agreed immediately that we wanted to go somewhere outside and the Reservation only a few miles from my house seemed like the perfect place. After all the snow of this January, I couldn't wait to get out with Mishka and do some wintery engagement poses together.

When I originally thought about an engagement shoot, I thought of a lot of romantic posed shots together. What actually happened is that Mishka and I ran around having fun in the snow and, with a few posed exceptions, my sister K just stood in the background capturing all the fun. She would make a suggestion here or there, but her style is more to mold and capture natural moments, rather than have 200 shots of Mishka and I looking at the camera or kissing.

I think the pictures turned out great, but you guys can decide for yourselves. Here's the first installment where Mishka and I have a snowball battle.

I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am with how they turned out! Stay tuned for tomorrow's second and final installment of our first engagement shoot!

Before the Post-Wedding Chop comes...

The pre-wedding hair growing!

Since I want my hair down and curled/wavy I want to have lots of length for the stylist to play with. Particularly, since depending on the type of curl, my hair could be shortened quite a bit.

All this basically means I'm not cutting my hair anymore before the wedding. I'll of course be doing a hair trial where my hair will be styled. And I may also get my hair trimmed a bit to keep my bangs and whisps healthy and well shaped. But there are no inches coming off my head for many months to come.

So don't be surprised if I pop in with occasional updates on how long my hair is getting because it is going to be QUITE long come next December.

To give you an idea, this is what my hair looks like now(ish):

And these are a few pictures of what my hair looked like when I had it really long a few years ago:

My hair will probably be getting even longer than that in 11 months, but this should give you an idea of how I'll look.

I'm excited, but also a little nervous. I've always been a "short hair girl". It's only recently that I've started experimenting with different hair lengths. So how will I feel about SUPER long hair? I don't know. It's possible I will hate it. It's possible I'll be dying for a haircut just a few months or weeks before the wedding. Will I cave? We'll see...

But right now, I'm happy with my hair and think it's still attractive on my head. Let's hope that continues...

Absence Makes the Heart...

You know the rest.

It's rare that while we're up in Boston that we're apart for a full 24 hours. Mishka has to go back to his home town for medical reasons and so it could be a week or more before I see him again. It's not hard when I'm at home too because I have my family to laugh with. But this week will mark the first time that I've really lived alone for any extended period of time.

I know a week isn't really all that "extended". But I come from a family of six and since Mishka and I have been dating there was never a day we didn't spend tons of time together. It will be a bit of an adjustment. I'm sure there will be many times over the course of our marriage where one of us will have to be alone, so I'm considering this practice.

And one of my little plans for how to pass the alone time is: set up a few special treats for our reunion. I'm an avid chef so I think I'll plan a special menu for our week back. Want to get a little preview?

I've been waiting to make these forever:

They are Healthy and Crunchy chicken cones with Mango coleslaw. It just looks so delicious, and Mishka is also very excited for them which is a plus. Sometimes it takes some convincing to get Mishka to try new things, but this is not one of them :).

As a snack we may also try a bit of:

Spinach and Artichoke dip. Mishka, though not a fan of artichokes, tried some Spinach and Artichoke dip at my house during my family's "mini christmas" celebration. He loved it and has asked a few times whether I have a recipe for it. Seeing as I have several I thought I'd try this one from "Healthy and Delicious" since we're trying to treat our bodies well in this new year.

You're not going to believe this next one:

What is that you ask? BUTTERBEER!!! A recipe straight out of Harry Potter. Don't worry, it's not alcoholic. Since Mishka recently got us a copy of the new Harry Potter movie, I thought it would be an awesome treat to enjoy two foamy, creamy mugs of butter beer while watching the latest Harry Potter installment.

Then there's these:

They are cheddar chipotle scones and I thought they would pair perfectly with another recipe I've been dying to try: Tomato and Raviolli soup. There's nothing like a grilled cheese with tomato soup, but sometimes it's nice to take a break from the ordinary.

And finally, though I don't have a picture, there's a mac & cheese recipe that I know Mishka will love. It's cheesey, baked, and loaded with savory herbs and bread crumbs.

Mishka, if you're reading this, I hope your mouth is watering and I can't wait until next week when we can start making our way through this list! Bon Appetit! I miss you :).

Flowers... really haven't thought about you yet

I was going through a wedding planning manual I received for Christmas and I discovered something. According to their to-do list, I should be booking my florist around the same time I book a photographer, venue, ceremony location, and band/dj. I've done all of the above, but I haven't even begun to think about florists and flowers in general.

And I don't intend to be booking my florist anytime soon. Since our wedding will be around Christmas, the church and reception venue will have their own holiday decorations up so necessary floral accents will be minimal (read: one at most). I'm also planning to make my own, non-floral centerpieces. So the only thing we'll really need are bouquets/corsages, and boutineers. So we're not planning to look into any florists until the summer, since our order will be relatively small.

But since I haven't given much thought to what my bouquet will look like I thought I would look up some inspiration photos for winter wedding bouquets can look like. Get ready for some flower porn!

You'll notice there are a lot of different color combinations and flower choices (even some non floral elements thrown in for color contrast). I'm not sure what I like best yet, but as I said I have plenty of time to decide. I just need to make sure I don't forget to think about flowers!