.i throw my hands up in the air sometimes.

Thank-you notes are not my friend. I’m still working on them. I don’t even think I’m half-way done. Right now I’m starting to feel kind of guilty for not having them finished and sent out yet. Although, I did read somewhere–in some magazine or on some wedding website–that proper thank-you note etiquette is to have them out within 2 months of the wedding date. So I guess I’m doing just fine, according to that guideline. Hopefully all of our guests think that’s appropriate… I hate worrying that someone might think I’m being rude. Right now our couch is covered in thank-you note paraphernalia, and I’m not putting it away until we’re finished. Otherwise it’ll be out-of-sight, out-of-mind. No good.

Tomorrow I have to work a double, which I’m not really excited about. Although my morning shift is just running the register, no waiting tables. Gotta make that rent money! And money for bills. Yuck. I am nervous to see what the first few months are like with rent and utilities on top of all of my other bills. It’s been awhile since I had rent to pay! Kevin never has. Lucky bum!

So for the past week I’ve had two songs constantly stuck in my head… “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz and “I Like It” by Enrique Iglesias. I don’t know what it is about those songs, but they just make me want to dance around and make a sweet video montage of me and my friends having a good time with those songs as the background music. Does that make sense? HaHa. I just love ‘em!

Mr. & Mrs. !

I’m married! I’m a wife!

That sounds so weird. I told Kevin that I think it will really hit me when a stranger asks me about my boyfriend or something, and I have to say, “Oh no, that’s my husband.” Or when a dude at a bar hits on me, and I’ll say, “That’s very flattering, but I’m married. See that guy over there? That’s my husband.” HaHa! So fun! I love it.

Well I wanted to write down some details about the big day so I don’t forget anything I want to remember.

First of all, I wasn’t nervous at all until all of my girls left our getting-ready area, and I was just standing there waiting to get the “okay come on over” call. That’s when I got a few little butterflies in my belly. Nothing major, though. Then Dad was sent over to get me, and when we were walking over to the ceremony site I expressed to him how hot it was, and he said, “Yeah I know. My nuts are stickin’ to my leg.” And I laughed. I called it, I knew he was going to say something like that to make me laugh.

When I walked down the path to the ceremony site I will admit that I got a little choked up seeing everyone, and seeing Kevin standing up there. But I kind of had to look down a little to make sure I didn’t trip on the grass, so it was okay. That made the tears keep back.

Kevin’s vows were light years better than mine, in my opinion. Plus, a little chipmunk decided to interrupt his by attacking our officiant (his oldest brother)! He scurried on over to us, and I noticed him between Christopher’s feet, then he jumped up onto his leg! I died laughing. Like, bent over with my hands to my face laughing.

I kept trying to not look right at Kevin when he was reading his vows, which he mentioned that he noticed. But I was trying to not make him cry! I knew if I was staring right into his eyes the whole time he would have been a blubbering mess. He did get choked up for a hot second, and there were tears. Which was obviously adorable.

We got our pictures at the gardens, and then moved on to the limo bus. We had a great time on the bus, obviously! All day I just kept thanking my lucky stars that we had such a great group with us. Our wedding party was phenomenal–we are incredibly lucky/blessed!

The reception was practically perfect for us. I did wish I had more time to really chit-chat with everyone, because I know there were quite a few people we didn’t get a chance to talk to. But it was beautiful (we had an amazing florist!), and from what I hear everyone had a fantastic time. The food was great, the music was awesome… we just had a ton of fun.

All of the planning I did, all of the stress Kevin had from money worries, it was all well worth it. Am I itching to ever do it again? Not a chance. But, it turned out to be a great day, and all of the hard work paid off. I got to marry the man of my dreams, the sun was shining (except a little bit before the reception I guess it rained where the banquet center is, and I hear a little rain on your wedding day is good luck! not that I think we need it.   HaHa.), we had no drama to deal with personally, and we all had fun. Success!

I Can See the Finish Line

Wedding plans are moving along nicely still… getting to the finish line… already! Gah!

I honestly can’t believe that 3 months have gone by. I’ve been engaged for 3 months… crazy talk. Pure crazy talk. I mean, it’s only 3 months, but it seems to have gone by more quickly than a regular, unengaged 3 months would have gone by. HaHa. That’s what having a constant to-do list with at least seven items on it will do, I suppose.

We (potentially) have a place to live. Big “yay” on that one! Not that living with his parents is awful–quite the contrary. They’re great, and I love having his mom around to “girl talk” with all the time… oh yeah, and we’ve been paying for zilch! Kind of a super huge bonus. But, I’m ready to go back to paying stupid bills, and stupid rent, and having everything be mine… in my own space. You just always kind of feel like an intruder if you’re not paying the bills, you know?

So, place to live. Check. Wedding plans in order. Check. Life figured out. Well no not really, but where’s the fun in that? I think we’re too impulsive to ever have life figured out completely. It’s more like a general outline.

Love & Marriage

I feel like I’m pretty good at planning a wedding! HaHa. So far so good, anyway. We’ve got all of the big stuff other than… I guess just decorations! We know what we want to do, we just haven’t purchased everything we need yet. But that’s something we do still have time for.

It really is crazy to think about all of the time, effort, and cash that goes into planning a wedding. It’s one day! Granted, it’s a very important day… but it’s still just a day. I feel like quite often people worry more about having this big, fabulous wedding than making sure they’ll have a long, fabulous marriage. All of those shows on television where the flowers alone cost $100,000… or the bride has a $40,000 custom-made wedding gown… and then barely a year later they’re already divorced… what a waste.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m having TONS of fun planning the wedding… and I’m very very excited for the celebration and to just have fun with everyone… but I’m not so concerned with the party that I forgot what I’m really excited for… that I get to spend the rest of my life with a fantastic man (the best, in my book) who I love to pieces! In this day and age of frequent divorce you kind of don’t want to jinx yourself by saying that you’ll be together forever without a doubt… which is really sad, but it’s true. But I just can’t help but to feel like we’ve got the magic formula. I guess I’m a little bit biased, huh?

I feel like so often, people are spoiled… or told too often that they should be happy all the time… so when they come upon a bump in the road in the marriage… or they’re having one of those periods of less-than-enthusiam for their significant other they act impulsively thinking, “This is no fun!” Which granted, we all deserve to be happy… if you’re legit miserable all the time in your marriage & can’t stand the sight of your husband/wife, you should probably end the marriage… but it seems to me that people take the easy way out. They get to that point where you realize that the other person isn’t perfect, not at all, and they want perfection. So they end the relationship thinking they will find perfection in someone else… they meet someone new, get all excited, probably marry them impulsively too… and then realize that just like the last person, they aren’t perfect. And so often it seems that people just don’t want to put the effort forth. Or maybe just one person tries… jumping through hoops to fix the problem… but if only one person is doing it, it’s basically pointless.

I’m not saying I would never get a divorce… I’m definitely not opposed to divorce being an option. Both of my parents went through divorces, and they both had good reason to. Because if you try, and it’s just not working out… or if you’re in an abusive relationship… or if something changes the dynamic of the relationship and you just can’t get it back to being right… or if maybe you were a bit too young/immature & got married too early… you shouldn’t have to be stuck there for the rest of your life. I’m just saying that it seems that a lot of people take the easy way out… or they just don’t take love, marriage & that kind of a relationship very seriously.

I suppose I simply feel very lucky. Kevin and I both have our faults individually, and we certainly have our faults as a couple… but at the base of our relationship is intense love, respect & admiration and a willingness, determination even, to put the required time and effort into the relationship.

Goin’ to the chapel…

Sorry Facebook peeps… I know you already saw this when I posted it Sunday, but everything I post to my actual blog automatically posts to Facebook again. So just ignore!

Okay so I’m not actually going to the chapel for but…

I get to marry Kevi!!!! <3

Okay so this is how it went down… LoL.

I had the weekend off & we decided to go to home to see my family. We haven’t been there in a little while so it was no weird thing when he suggested it. Today (Sunday) we were on our way from my hometown to a nearby town to go get pizza with my family — Mom, Dad, & Jarred — and Jarred was in the car with us while Mom & Dad were in front. We stopped at a gas station so the boys could get something to drink. While I was in the car Mom called me to say that my best friend’s mom had called her to ask if we were still in the area. She said that Rhonda (bff’s mom) had said that their neighbor out at their lake cabin had called to say that a suspicious person was wandering around the cabin, and Rhonda wondered if we could stop by & check it out, make sure no doors were busted into or windows were broken.

So I tell Jarred & Kevin that we have a mission. They got all excited & were saying how they felt like spies or mercenaries or something… LoL. Then my bff calls me & says, “Your mom called me… is something up?” I figured out that she wasn’t with her parents so I assumed she didn’t know what was going on, so I told her & she thanked me for filling her in & we hung up. Tee hee.

We get to the cabin (remember, it’s a beauuuutiful sunny day) and Jarred goes around the house one way while Kevin & I go the other. I’m all serious, checking the door knobs, telling Kevin to check out the glass to make sure no windows are busted or messed with. I say we should go down by the lake to the boat house to check that. While we’re down there Kevin says, “You know, I was thinking… we’ve been through a lot… ” I say, “What, you mean like when we broke up?” “Yeah that… but not just that… driving 2 hours to see each other for those first 3 years & everything… but you know what sticks out the most?” We had moved up to the yard right next to the boathouse… I ask what stuck out the most… he says, “How we met.” I say, “Yeah, right here!” (On July 3rd, almost 5 years ago, my bff & I had been sitting in deck chairs at that spot in the yard when I waved him over from his bff’s cabin & he introduced himself to me.) “That’s why I picked this spot.” “What…?” He gets down on one knee and pulls the ring out & says, “Jashana Cheree, will you be my wife?” I tell him to shut up & giddily ask him if he’s serious (while I pull off my promise ring & eagerly give him my finger!) and he obviously says yes, he is serious. So I obviously say yes, I will most definitely marry him & be his wife.

So…. basically, couldn’t be more perfect!!!! And surprisingly, I was totally oblivious to the whole thing until he said that’s why he chose that spot. I legit thought we were going to find a robber at the cabin. HaHa!

So that’s how he did it, for everyone who is curious! (I really didn’t want to type all of that out 18 times to everyone individually! HaHa.) Now, wish us luck planning a wedding in like, 4 months. !!!! We want to get married this summer because we plan on moving out of state early next year & we’d like to have the big shindig before we move away, obviously. Also, this summer July 10 is on a Saturday… and that will be our 5 year dating anniversary! And, my dad’s bday! That’s just a fun little bonus.