honeymoon: days 2-7 (long awaited, I know)

I know you all have been sitting on the edge of your seats awaiting our next post about the honeymoon...  Well let's just say we have been really busy!! Rod started his new job at UAB and has been working 7 days a week since, we are swamped at Fravert Services (my job) and basically we come home from work, walk to the dogs, eat dinner and go to sleep and repeat. Wooo...  This past weekend gave me time to catch up on a lot of things, including this blog! So here it goes:

Honeymoon: Day Two, August 20, 2012

We had to wake up around 9:30 am to make it to our transportation company's meeting at 10am. The guide was so funny!! He told us about Mama Juana, a "special" Dominican Republic drink. (Just Google it, I won't go into detail about the history of it here) He also told us about all of the different tours we could take! We chose the Truck Safari. It seemed like it would be a trip where we'd get to see more of the country and learn a little about the natives and their culture.

We then grabbed a delicious coffee (they just don't do coffee in America like they do in Central America and the Caribbean) and headed back to get ready for a beach day!

We relaxed by the beach and pool all day. It was so nice. We kayaked for a while on the ocean and put on my awesome goggles and got to see an area of coral reef! It was beautiful. We met 2 couples while we were out there, they were from Utah and were pretty cool. It seemed like a lot of people at the resort came in their own groups so it was nice to meet people for a change. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool and then headed back to get ready for our steakhouse dinner.

The waiter didn't understand what "Cabernet" was, haha, but after I said "vino rojo" he brought us a decent red wine for me and "vino blanco" for Rod. I was surprised at a lot of the Spanish that came back to me on this trip. Mrs. Dawn Hager (Beck) would be proud! I ordered a ribeye that was HUGE and Rod had a sirloin. The sauces we got with the steaks added a lot. They were amazing! Rod tried the cheesecake for dessert and I had an apple pie. Both were great!

We walked around some to some of the over-priced souvenir shops on the resort and then played on an oversized set of checkers!! It was a perfect day of total relaxation!

Honeymoon: Day Three, August 21,2012

Truck Safari day!!! We met in the lobby at 8 am and hopped in the back of a large pickup truck that was covered and had padded benches on either side. We met people from Canada (who were originally from Egypt!), people from New Jersey as well as Colorado and Iowa! Our guide "Eddie Murphy" (or Sweet Eddie) was awesome!! Our driver's name was "Scissor"... haha

We rode all throughout the gorgous Dominican Republic countryside. Mountains began to appear in the distance! Our first stop was at a horse ranch where we each got on a horse and got to ride along the beautiful deserted beaches! Rod's horse was the fastest!! He actually galloped way ahead. I thought at the time that Rod wanted him to do that, but apparently he just wouldn't stop. Finally there was another tour group up ahead that caused Rod's horse to stop. Scary!! We got back to the ranch soon after this. There was dogs and cats everywhere. There was a dog chewing on a chicken foot!!! NASTY! Our next stop was after another long ride up into the countryside in the mountains. Eddie talked about how a new political party had just been elected. He talked about how they are trying to keep the kids in school until 8th grade and to prevent them from turning into beggars. He told us not to give any money to the kids. He talked about Haiti which is connected to the Dominican Republic and how Haiti is a lot worse off than them. Haiti cut down all of their tress and have no regulations so there are mudslides and deaths. There was a hurrican in 2004 that killed over 1000 Haitians and only like 70 Dominican Republicans because they have regulations on how many trees can be cut down. He talked about how architects and engineers will hire like 20 Haitians and 10 Dominican Republicans to work on constructions because the Haitians cost like $3/ day and the Dominicans cost like $12/ day!! Crazy... Everyone is so happy though, on so much less. It's such a lesson to learn!!
We learned about the different types of pal trees. One has very strong wood that a lot of people use in building houses and one is called the Silver Palm. This is what the city Puerto Plata got it' name from. Christopher Columbus thought he saw tons of silver on the land in the distance. It ended up, however, that it was just the underside of the palm leaf reflecting in the sun.

He talked about the aboriginal people and how when the Spaniards tried to colonize the area they introduced all kinds of new diseases so the "doctors" at the time combined herbs until they came up with Mama Juana. It contains 8 different ingredients and you mix it with sweet red wine, honey, and rum. He told us of theses trees with spikes on the bark that the aboriginals used as torture for the Spaniards.

We arrived at the natives house made of the strong palm tree wood. Here we learned about the cocoa and coffee making process. He described the process of the cocoa plant and how when the shell turns red it is ripe and you  have to crack it open and remove the cocoa beans, dry them, roast them, and then grind them either with a mortar and pestel or with a hand crank grinding machine. The process is similar with coffee. We walked through the family's house which was basically two rooms, a separate kitchen and outhouse. There were two beds in one room with one dresser and just a few outfits and shoes hanging up. They had a propane tank which Eddie said was rare. They had just a couple of lights which often have black outs so they have to rely on gas. We tried a delcious hot cocoa drink along with some STRONG coffee! We also had some amazing fresh fruit and Mama Juana!! It was good, didn't seem "magical" or anything though, haha. We bought some of the vanilla extract as well as a couple things of coffee to take back with us!

 We then rode back down the mountain into a rain forest area where we had a traditional Dominican lunch. Rice, beans, pinto beans, beef, chicken and random, Spaghetti!! We ate and watched a man roll cigars! We both tried one and got to take one for later! A shop was set up next to it selling paintings and wooden figures. Rod liked this elephant but the guy wanted $200 for it!! he gave me a wooden figure that means happiness as a gift. Rod found a smaller elephant and we got the guy down from $80 to $20! We then walked down to play in the river. We didn't wear our suits so we just walked around on the rocks while the others swam. Our last stop on the trip before we headed back was at the famous Catholic church "Basilica de Higuey".  This is a very important monument to Dominicans. We made one last surprise stop to a beautiful public beach where we just viewed it from the distance and we also stopped at a convenient store to buy some Brugal Rum. It is much cheaper than what they were selling it at the resort. It's rum made in the Dominican Republic and it is very good!

This tour really made me have a passion for helping this country. It also renewed my love for Spanish as I had to use it several times! We learned so many interesting facts about the country and got to see a lot of different parts of the country! 

That evening, once we were freshened up, we headed over to our reservation at the Japanese restaurant. We enjoyed some Sushi (it was no Kyoto from Decatur, but that's really hard to beat. The hibachi was delicious!! Our chef formed the fried rice into a heart and made it "beat" with the spatula.. He was funny. We walked around the resort after this, but then headed back and crashed because of the long, eventful day!

Honeymoon: Day Four, August 22, 2012

We slept in!!! It was awesome, and then we laid out at the beach and played in the HUGE waves. They had gotten a lot bigger and stronger since Monday because of Tropical Storm Issaac. He tried so hard to rain on our parade! The kayaks were put away because of this :(
We still swam around in the water and enjoyed a couple more of the Elegance Club's private pools. Just a pretty relaxing day all around! It was great! 
Rod's tooth began to hurt that afternoon. He had just been to the dentist just before the wedding and they didn't find anything wrong, but he was in so much pain!! The rest of the evening was spent together in the room watching old Friends episodes. It seems lame, but it was so nice to just have down time together where we had NO responsibilities at all. We did go down every so often to check flights because several people on Delta's flights were just totally cancelled up until September 5th!!! We were ok with our US Airways, but we still prayed for the next couple of days that we would get to head home on Saturday, especially with the pain that Rod was in!

Honeymoon: Day Five & Six, August 23-24, 2012

Rod was in even WORSE pain! I ran around all morning trying to talk to the pharmacist in to finding medicine "mas fuerte" than tylenol! She didn't have anything. She kept telling me to give him that. All she spoke was Spanish. I know it's their country, but you would think in a resort you would have a pharmacy that could speak at least a little English just in case there was an emergency! 
Anyways, I found the doctor on site and he was VERY helpful. He sent me to another pharmacy on the other side of the resort. She also didn't speak English, but had set aside "Oxaforte" which helped his pain a lot more than the tylenol did, but not much more. I felt so bad for him! However, Friday night we were able to  make it to the Circus Show at the resort. It was so much fun!! They did all kinds of cool tricks, poses, trapeze stunts, etc. It was great!
We didn't really miss much on Thursday because the weather was so bad, so we were thankful for that!! It would have been a lot harder if it was sunny outside! Friday I did go swim in the pool for a little while. Once again, it sounds uneventful, but it was fun taking care of my husband and it felt so good to be able to do that and share that with him. I can't wait for many more years of caring for him!!

Honeymoon: Day Seven, August 25, 2012

Today was the trip home! We walked around to a few shops while we waited on the bus. I attempted to weigh our bags on a scale in the resort gym... It was about 5 lbs under at the time...
Well, we load up the van about 1 pm and rode 30 minutes to the airport. We met a couple who was from Birmingham but lived in South Carolina now. They were nice! Kept talking about football to us..haha. The husband was an Alabama fan and the wife a South Carolina fan, so they were pretty interesting. They invited us to their tailgate if we ever made it over to Columbia. 

So we get unloaded and get up to the baggage check, and the lady tells us we cannot carry-on straighteners, wood, and a couple of other things, so we had to put those in our checked bag. This means, that that 5lbs under quickly turned into 5lbs over! So we had to remove clothes and other supportive items that were keeping our bottles of rum and other breakables from breaking and had to put those in our carry-ons! UGH! So we got to worry about rum and vanilla being splattered all over our suitcase if it broke on the trip home. Gotta love airports and flying...
As we are boarding our plane, which we have to do so outside, a bee KEPT chasing me. I had just sprayed on Marc Jacobs Daisy perfume in one of the duty free shops, and I guess it really does smell like a freakin' daisy, because this bee would NOT leave me alone. I have never been stung before, and I believe it is due to me frantically running around waving my arms every time one gets near. I did this and got several funny looks from passengers. I even frantically handed my coffee to an airport employee thinking that would get the bee away from me... Nope.. Well, finally we boarded the plane and the bee was gone, thank God, right along with mine (and probably Rod's) dignity. haha
Our pilot made it to Charlotte very quickly!! We experienced some rough patches of turbulence (probably the worst I've ever been in) but we landed safely in the US and it felt good! We then had a decent layover, but a quick flight back to Huntsville where Rod's dad picked us up!

And that's it!! We had a great, relaxing week. A perfect week spent together. And hey, since Rod was in pain most of the trip that just gives us a good reason to go on another trip soon!! But that week was a perfect end to a chapter in our lives but also a perfect beginning to a new chapter of being married and growing, caring, and supporting each other no matter what, and I can't wait for the many more memories to come!

xoxo-L

thank you

As we wrap up our thank you cards we want to reiterate on our blog how thankful we are for everyone that pitched in, helped plan, support, and celebrate with us! Our day was perfect and we wouldn't have wanted it any other way!

A HUGE thanks goes out to our parents. So many things happened because of you guys and they wouldn't have happened otherwise. The time, effort, money and sweat that went in to making our wedding happen meant so much to Rod and I. 

From the flowers, fixing up the Camaro, building the arbor, enduring allergies to cut and drill sycamore branches, to an absolutely PERFECT rehearsal dinner we would like to thank the Blacks, the best in-laws a girl could ask for!! I am truly thankful to have such an awesome second family that has been there for Rod and me through so much. We thank y'all for all of the support, advice, sushi ;), and time that you have invested into our lives. We love y'all!!

From the moss covered letter "Bs", just as I imagined the pine tree slice centerpieces, burlap table runners, travel time, and moral support we want to thank the Meagher's! Rod and I are truly thankful for all of the time you guys invested in our special day. The look and the feel of the wedding was complete with the items you guys helped make. We love y'all and are so thankful for you guys and all of the support you guys offer to us each and every day. 

I would like to especially thank Rod's groomsmen for getting up early on Saturday (after a late night Friday) to help set up all of the awesome decorations. You guys made my dream come true and everything looked absolutely amazing and I am so thankful for you guys. Rod and I both are thankful for all of the time, effort, traveling and patience you put into our special day. I know Rod had an amazing Bachelor party and is so thankful for each and every one of your friendships. We love y'all too!! :)

My bridesmaids... you guys are awesome! Rod and I are so thankful for all that you guys invested in our special day, from traveling to planning showers and the bachelorette party, everything was so perfect. I am so thankful for each and every one of you! I'm sure Rod is too for you guys keeping me sane a lot of times :-). We thank y'all for being such great friends and for being so helpful and supportive. We love y'all!!!

Andy Grant, our officiant. We thank you a ton! You came out after a stressful week at work and did such a great job and we are so honored that you were able to marry us. It meant a lot to me as you being a close co-worker for the last 3 years. We are so glad that you were able to share that moment with us and we will treasure it forever. Thank you!!

Now, last but CERTAINLY not least, probably one of the biggest thank you's goes out to Sheila Nobles, Rod's aunt and our day-of coordinator. You were perfect!! You made the day go without a hitch and we definitely could not have done any of it without you. You implemented all of my dreams and ideas perfectly and kept everything running so smoothly. We are SO thankful and can't even put into words how much we appreciate the stress and time you put into our day. A big thanks goes out to Eric and the girls as well because I know they were running around helping a ton too! You guys are awesome and we love y'all so much!!!

honeymoon: day one

We got to our hotel at The Westin after the wedding at Bridge Street Town Center in Huntsville. The room was perfect and we couldn't be more thankful to Steve and Danielle, Giselle, Lauren Ploetze, Lauren McCaul, Danica and Jackson, Jenn and Nick who pitched in to give us that stay at The Westin!! We loved it! The view was perfect and the stay was definitely NOT long enough, because we had to get up at 4:15 am to make our 6:10 am flight! Booo

We made it through security and everything ok. The guard made Rod throw away the can of bug spray he had in the carry-on. We think he didn't realize it was less than 2 oz..but oh well. We then had breakfast and waited on our plane! We landed safely in Charlotte, NC and then walked through the huge airport to our connecting flight. Rod began to feel a little sick, but we got some Dramamine. While Rod slept, I just read a magazine, listened to music and reminisced of the wedding day. Our friend Cherish took an awesome photo that Rod and I saw just before taking off of my dad walking me down the aisle and then Rod and I walking back down the aisle. I swear I stared at it the entire flight pretty much. Haha

We arrived at the Punta Cana airport around 1pm. It was made out of a thatch roof with huge ceiling fans. There were locals right outside of customs playing some music, caribbean of course! 
Customs was easy, we paid $40 to enter, got our bags, and then got bombarded by guys wanting to help us with our bags. We continued walking, however, checked in with our tour company "Prieto Tours". They were so nice and we boarded a bus and waiting about 10-15 minutes and then we were on our way! The bus driver would honk his horn at everything!! (it was mostly to let people know he was there) The roads were all paved which surprised me after visiting Belize a couple of years ago. He drove so close to several guys on dirt bikes. Some of these dirt bikes had 3-4 people on them!! No one really followed traffic laws at all.

We soon (about 30 minute drive) arrived at Majestic Elegance Resort, our resort! The entrance had beautiful flowers and manicured bushes everywhere. It was so pretty! The resort was huge. The lobby has these huge eccentric metal chandeliers with ornate woodwork and decorations all around. 

We had to check our bags and then were introduced to Dario, our butler! He walked us around and showed us everything. We went into a private check in where he put these nice brown braceletes on us that said Majestic on them. These were so we could enter private pool areas, certain rooftop bars, and the elegance club lobby. He had us wait in the Elegance Club lobby because they were fixing something "with the computer" with our room. We really think it was because they were decorating our room for us! We also got an upgrade with our room. It came with a rooftop area with a jacuzzi tub outside! Dario walked us up to our room and on the door was a honyemooner's banner. The room had a huge king sized bed, a seating area with champagne. There was a fully stocked fridge with beers, waters, Dominican chocolate and sodas along with different kinds of liquor on the server. 

Rod and I let everything soak in and then we walked to the Sea & See restaurant which sets on the beach and had gorgeous views. We ate a snack and came back to the room to find fruit and a letter addressed to Mr. & Mrs. Black!! It said we were going to be provided with a bridal breakfast and romantic dinner on the day we choose. 

That night we ordered room service spaghetti and went to sleep early. That getting up at 4am was no fun!!

6 days

SIX days until I am Mrs. Rod Black!!! SIX days at this time we will be in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic! Things have been a little crazy lately, so Rod and I are definitely ready for some relaxation time. We cannot wait for the wedding to be here and celebrate with everyone we love!!

See you all so soon!!!

a little reminder

There's a little something that we still need

It's really simple, just your RSVP

Just click the link, it's postage free,

You don't even have to leave your seat!

The wedding is almost 2 weeks away and we have to know who all is coming so that everyone will get to enjoy our caterer's AMAZING food!!

Click the link below for an easy RSVP form!

R.S.V.P.

We love you all and can't wait to see everyone!

-L & R

happy birthday, 'merica!!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!!!

The video above is from 4th of July in 2010. I ran the Peachtree Roadrace that morning and we went to a Braves game that night! Rod and I are so thankful for the freedoms that we have in this country. We encourage everyone to keep America in your prayers and get out and be involved and vote!!! Do not take your freedoms for granted. There are soldiers every day fighting to keep our freedom so the least we can do is get involved and support our country and never forget what we were founded on. Thanks to everyone who is fighting or has fought for The United States of America!

Awkward pic..haha but it was one of the only ones of the whole group!

 

    

    A lot has been going on in the past month! June 22-24 Kristina, Brittany and I rode down together to meet my sister, Summer, Louisa and Rochelle in Orange Beach, AL for my bachelorette party! We had a blast! They threw me an awesome lingerie shower, we had a great meal (I had oysters) at Shaggy's of Orange Beach and ended the night at Florabama and Waffle House! The next day was a full day of relaxing on the beach. Tropical Storm Debbie was trying to roll in, but she only provided huge waves for us that day, and extra strong sun rays, as all of us were burnt in different places. That evening we walked around the wharf where we discovered a lot of the places have closed down, we then went and listened to some awful kareoke at Live Bait until the back opened up and we danced away to "Hip Kitty"... (80s cover band).

My sister planned it perfectly and I cannot thank her enough along with all of my bridesmaids who chipped in and helped out. It was perfect, I had a great weekend and it meant a lot to me that all of you celebrated with me!!

      The next weekend was a shower for Rod and I in my hometown, Albany, GA. It was so great to see everyone from growing up. It made me feel old because some girls I babysat when they were 5 were there and are getting their licenses now!!! Holy Cow...

Anyways, the shower was thrown by my mom's longtime friend- Rachel Dorough, my sister, childhood friend- Diane Dorough, and my Godmother- Ann Anderson. It was a clock themed shower! The invitations were designed by Katie's mentor in Auburn, Anna with Viv-Vah-Chey Designs. We loved every  minute of it! The food was great the decorations were great and the fellowship was great! Rod and I appreciate the love and support shown for our upcoming marriage! It means so much to us. I wish we could spend more time with our Albany friends and family. We love and miss you all so much! 


xoxo-L

On the way back home I decided to join the pups in the back!

butterfly kisses

This post is in honor of my Padre's birthday!! I am so thankful for my dad and the impact he has had on my life. He always has insightful words to say and I will never forget a lot of the sayings and wisdom he has instilled in me over the years.

I will never forget as a kid he would tell me to pursue whatever I had a passion and a talent for and I truly believe that has gotten me to where I am today. He has always encouraged me to put in my all into everything I do, and I have seen that in him in the way he handles his forestry business and the way he serves in church and Kairos prison ministry. He has shown me characteristics that I desired in a future mate (and have truly found), as someone who took such awesome care of my mom and grandpa when they were sick, who works so hard to provide even when times were tough, and who leads our family in prayer and sets a Christ-like example. I truly respect him as a man and as a daddy and I love him so much!!

The picture below is from our unforgettable trip to Belize in the summer of 2010. I can't believe it has been two years now. That trip was breathtaking and will stay in my memory forever. I had such a great time hiking, touring, and relaxing with my daddy on this trip. The waterfalls were breathtaking, the Mayan ruins were phenomenal, and the history I learned of the Mountain Pine Ridge was awesome! I met some great people like Peter and Melina and George who were so kind and giving. It was such a great time and I'm so glad I got to spend it with my dad!

I love you daddy, Happy Birthday and I'll even go ahead and throw in a Happy Father's day too!! Thank you for always making me feel like your little princess. I'm so thankful for you! We will see you June 30th weekend when we are in Albany for our shower and we can celebrate then!!

xoxo,
Daudre'

double digits

This engaged couple right here is now in the countdown phase of double digits!!! Perfect timing because wedding festivities are just beginning! I have a wonderful bridal shower being thrown by my lovely bridesmaids in Madison this Saturday! I am so thankful for such sweet friends and I don't know how to thank them enough! I am so happy that they get to share this time with me because each and every one of them is quite special to my heart.

I also get to try on my dress in my size for the very first time! Everything is starting to feel so real and it's awesome! Summer sent a picture of herself in her bridesmaids dress and heels for our wedding and I couldn't stop smiling and almost teared up. I'm really worried I'm going to be a sobbing mess the day of!!! I get teary eyed at Say Yes to the Dress episodes... WHAT THE HECK AM I GOING TO DO THE DAY OF?! hahaha

Anyways, so to celebrate this double digit countdown, I will share exactly where Rod and I were 99 days after we met.  (yes, I counted, and reminisced)

Rod had been on a trip to Ole Miss for a cross country meet that he had to work as a Graduate Assistant at the University of Alabama. Oddly enough it was the day Auburn played Ole Miss at Auburn ("heart attack Auburn"pulled out a win).  I was in Nashville working my very first conference. I remember this weekend like it was  yesterday and it was the sweetest thing ever! He rode on a van (or bus?) back from Ole Miss and then hopped in a car and surprised me in Nashville!

Throughout our relationship we relied on "iChat" to see each other since we were miles apart. Well, Alyssa, my boss at the time, and I were going to go grab a bite to eat and see if we could get in to the Avett Brothers concert. Well Rod kept being like "hold on I'm almost back to the house and I want to see you on iChat because I'm going to bed early" or something like that (didn't click with me). So, I wait, and he gets on iChat with his computer camera facing my hotel room door number! I was ecstatic. It was perfect and I was so excited to see him! We then all grabbed a bite to eat and tried (and failed) to get into the Avett Brothers concert, but it was still a great night!

Oh, did I mention it's Mother's day this Sunday ANNDDD my birthday was a month away from yesterday??!?! Yeah, so definitely a crazy awesome week to be so thankful for and excited about!

-L

long distance pros, right?

So... It's been a while. There hasn't been a whole lot going on except getting used to the new job and long distance away from the future husband to be. But the whole first two years of dating we were between 140-600 miles apart, right?! Sooo this should be a piece of cake, right?! No. Way. It sucks. I loved knowing Rod was in the same city and we could grab dinner together, cook for each other, walk the dogs together, etc. Now, nothing. I've had the dogs the past week so that has helped keep me company, but I miss that boy! I also miss my Huntsville girls a lot. I was able to go up this past Thursday for a little get together they had planned for Elizabeth Davis and myself (the two brides in the group). It was so much fun and so great to catch up a little with everyone! It was way too short though.

Anyways, we are getting close to the 100 day mark!! I CANNOT believe it. I don't really know where April went and May is going right along with it. However, exciting news, my dress was supposed to ship this past Friday, so I am hoping it is in by this weekend so my family can come to my first fitting! My bridesmaids are throwing me a bridal shower this Saturday in Madison! I cannot wait to see everyone all together! It's going to be so perfect. I'm also starting on the invitations and will post a preview soon! Woo hoo! It's all coming together. :-)

-L

Booked. Paid. Honeymoon.

So, this is my first casual blog post ever. Bear with me. After about two weeks of searching ALL over the caribbean for a honeymoon spot, and within our budget, we finally found the perfect resort. Affordable. Beautiful (as you can see below). And All-Inclusive.

We will be heading to the Punta Cana district of the Dominican Republic and staying at the Majestic Elegance from August 19-25. Now we just have to wait 131 days. Oh, and we leave at 6:10 a.m. on the 19th... so those of you that know me, that shouldn't be any problem at all.


Who would have thought booking a honeymoon could be so tedious? We decided not to go through a travel agency and do this on our own, which may or may not have made a difference in the time spent searching. Knowing us, and our inability to make decisions (mostly mine), it wouldn't have mattered. But I feel 100% confident we found the right place for us.


We are staying in the "Adults Only" section of the resort, or known as the "Elegance Club". I know, right? High class. We actually just wanted it to be as intimate as possible for both of us, and the pricing really wasn't much of a difference. Plus, we get four extra bars, a private beach area, 24-hour room service, butler service (again, I know, right?). The list goes on.

In addition, the lagoon-style pool (above) ... it's 400 meters long. FOUR. HUNDRED. METERS. That's equal to a quarter-mile for those of you calculating at home. And I'm swimming the whole thing. Maybe. Probably not.


Well, I don't want this thing to get super long but as you can tell, I'm really excited about it. I haven't been to the caribbean since a family cruise when I was maybe 15 years old, and I'm really just looking forward to spending a week alone with the love of my life, free of interruption. I hope she is too. Because it's going to be the trip of a lifetime!


Finally, one more photo. This is a photo (below) of the room we reserved. You can see there is a jacuzzi over in the back right corner there as well. Of course, because we're on our honeymoon, the resort is supposed to be upgrading our room for free, based on availability, so this could very well not be the room we stay in.

-R (because Landra signs with "L" for some reason)

shake it up!

So it's been a while... I know. Wedding planning was put on the back burner for a couple of weeks for a pretty darn good reason too!


March 9th a recruiter contacted me about a design position in Birmingham. He had found my information on Linkedin and thought I would be a great fit for the company! A little more talking, an "up all night" weekend of preparing my portfolio and I had an interview! I met with the company two different times and got very excited about the opportunity.


Rod and I talked, prayed over the opportunity, I was offered the job last Monday, March 26th, and I accepted the next day. I will be doing creative design, proposals, and production drawings for various projects. The company is Fravert Services and they do tons of signage and wayfinding signage for hospitals and sports parks as well as some churches and commercial businesses all over the U.S.! Rod and I are excited about this new opportunity and a new place to begin our lives together. You can check out their pretty cool portfolio here


Now, can we ask for some prayers for Rod a job in Birmingham?!


I start April 16th and my last day at SCS is tomorrow! I am super sad about leaving all of my great, encouraging, fun co-workers, but I am also excited about this new adventure!


Wedding planning is back on starting this weekend! I'm headed home for a few days to spend Easter with the family and help them out, as well as make the centerpieces for the wedding with my "Padre'"!!! They are going to be so great!


-L

save the date!

         Save the dates are being sent out today!!! I'm so excited (and partially relieved)! I can't wait for our guest to get them and I hope they enjoy them! We worked hard cutting out the magnets, applying the graphics ( I had some awesome help from Chris and Elizabeth in our graphics department at work!), cutting out the address labels, and applying them to the envelopes. I've checked over the addresses about 6 times... Hopefully they will all get to the right place! I've posted some pictures below. My next project will involve some green moss and the letter "B" as well as some burlap as our door accents at the wedding!!

Results of DIY Save the Dates and Invitations...

magnetic glimpse

Here is a quick glimpse of our Save the Dates! Rod's one request was that they be magnetic. I can't wait to get them all cut out, applied to the magnets, and sent to you guys!! That's they one downfall to saving money on them... I will be spending my weekend at work using the cutting mat. Good thing I like doing stuff like that :)! So excited about them!

boy with a registry gun...

This past weekend we accomplished 2 things! We registered at Belk and we got our edited engagement photos back! Woo hoo!!


We both had tons of fun registering. Rod got a little carried away with the registry gun, however. He decided to scan a wine cooler (because we are huge wine connoisseurs???). He also accidentally typed in 41 food processors and when she printed out our final sheet we somehow had 83 on there?! Yeah... And this was just Belk!!! Rod thought it would only take about 30 minutes and that we could knockout all 3 of our stores in one day. (HA!) We definitely spent 3 hours just in Belk. This was our first stop so hopefully the next two will go much quicker!!! 


Our engagement photos are in!! You can view them here on my Flikr page! We have all the rights but if you want any printed just let me know and I'll email you the form you need just in case anyone asks! 


We are already under the 200 day mark! August 18th will be here before we know it! Ahhh so excited!


-L

rain rain go away

    Tomorrow is our engagement photo shoot! We are super excited about it! We are meeting with our photographer, Jason Qualls, in Birmingham Saturday afternoon. I don't know what all he has in store for our shoot, but I've started on a couple things to help with designing the save the dates!!

    I grabbed some scrap vinyl from work and a scrap cedar board, stained the board, and cut out our date in a cute font in the vinyl!! I am going to tie some twine around the ends for us to hold it with.


    The picture to the right here is some scrap magnet material for our Save the Dates!! I'm thankful for a job that I can use something that would be trash and recycle it for my wedding. Makes me feel a little "green" plus it's saving us money too! Yay! 


Pray it doesn't rain too bad tomorrow. It's 60% thunderstorms. I know we could take some cute pictures in the rain as well as inside, but it'd be nice to not have to deal with the rain.

say yes to the dress!

    My mom and sister visited this past weekend! We spent the weekend discussing wedding details, of course, but it was also a good time just to hang out and catch up. The main reason for the trip was for me to model the dress I had chosen!! I had about 2-3 that I liked, but I kept staring at the picture of this one and smiling. I put it on again on Saturday and confirmed that it is definitely my dress!!! It'll take about 12 weeks for it to come in so now it's just sit and wait. Rod's mom and sister joined us as well. They were all supportive and loved the dress too! I can't wait!!! 
   

    We spent the rest of Saturday watching Rod's UAH Women's Basketball game (they won-making this year's Lady Chargers have the best starting record in school history!) We then headed home to watch Courtney Porter make it into the top 13 of Miss America!!! 

    Rod and I are getting engagement photos taken this Saturday! Rod is sad we are missing the Alabama National Championship Celebration... but with both of our schedules this was the only weekend we could do it. Gotta get those Save the Dates out soon!!!

-L

bridal fair

Rod and I checked out the Modern Bride bridal show this past Sunday! We got to see a lot of different vendors from around the Huntsville area. It was great, because we got to confirm that our caterer, Becky Hartley, is by far the best!!! Her food and cakes and even punch were to die for! 


We also got to meet a couple different DJ/Bands as well. This one guy had a photo booth set up. He was already booked for our date, but we took the opportunity to take a fun photo!

This weekend my mom and sister are coming up to see the dresses I've picked out so far! I am 100% set on one particular dress, but I already made an additional appointment so I'll show them the others as well I guess! I cannot wait!!! All these decisions are flying by so quickly, but I'm glad that I've been able to easily decide on things. It's so much fun!! 

Rod and I booked our photographer as well, Jason Qualls! Rod has been amazed by his work for a couple years now, and I immediately fell in love with his talent too! We are taking engagement photos January 21st!! Woo hoo!!!! :)

Last night, by the way, the Alabama Crimson Tide won the BCS National Championship! We had a few people over and enjoyed watching the Tide shutout the LSU Tigers 21-0! That's 3 BCS titles in a row for the state of Alabama! Now next weekend we are praying for my freshman suitemate and dear friend, Courtney Porter. She is competing as Miss Alabama in Miss America this Saturday night!! It'd be great to bring that title home to Alabama as well!

War Tide and Roll Eagle, y'all! ;)

-L