The fiance's bachelor party is this weekend.
This entire weekend.
I trust him 100% but come on, I'm a chick and I'm afraid that his sharp drunk tongue is going to get him into trouble.
See, it's not the girls that I worry about, it's the other guys.
He's never been in a fight before, but 10 guys in a hotel room could get a little bit rowdy.
Wish me luck :)
In other news, 50 days! I promise to be more entertaining in the future.
No, no I'm not clinically depressed.
I would know.
I'm a psychologist.
In essence, I'm just having a bad run of it this summer.
Last week, we threw hundreds of dollars into a broken H.V.A.C. unit.
Of course we had a warranty, but warranties don't cover duct work modification.
Whatevs.
This week, our evil Volkswagen Jetta cost me my cheery disposition.
If you've been reading for a year, you'd know that last year, my Volkswagen had approximately 35,000 miles on it and the transmission died.
Normal?
No.
If you've been reading for a month, you'd know that we recently traded in my fiance's car.
Why? Because it was old and we had a perfectly good Jetta.
A Jetta with only 52,000 miles on it.
A Jetta with a new transmission.
Apparently, it was also a Jetta with a $4,000 engine problem.
Apparently, it was a Jetta with a warranty that would have covered said problem for 5 years or 60,000 miles.
Said Jetta only had 52,000 miles, but said Jetta turned five in July 2009.
I called, I pleaded, I asked why they wouldn't stand behind their cars. I told them that there was no way on gods green earth that a car engine should blow up at 52,000 miles.
The Volkswagen USA workers response--
"Things break sometimes."
Oh, you mean like your face?
(I didn't say that, just thought it)
He did offer me a consolation prize. A 750 dollar voucher for the purchase of a new Volkswagen. I told him I'd rather roll around in pig lard and poke my own eyes out then to EVER drive a Volkswagen again.
His response, "Have a nice day."
Why couldn't this have happened 3 weeks ago when I still had a warranty?
I have no idea what we're going to do. We are certainly not going to put $4000 into this hunk of junk. It's barely worth $4000 in perfect condition.
We will be taking a ridiculously large hit though.
I owe $6,000 on my loan and we'll be lucky if we get 50 cents for a car with no engine.
We tried to cancel our honeymoon to absorb some of the hit we'll be taking, but the airline tickets are nonrefundable.
I may need to start a save Ashley website. =]
Whenever something good happens in life, at least 2 things happen to shit right on it.
Sorry, I know I should be more positive after my fabulously special weekend but I can't help it.
Our invitations went out last Monday/Tuesday. This is it, it's really happening. =]
We've already received at least 20 R.S.V.P. cards back!
Being the Martha Stewart wannabe that I am, I took the Semi-Homemade DIY route with my invitations. The invitations themselves were from Michaels and we spent all of 60 bucks (after major coupons) for 120 invitations. I did splurge a little more and spent about 20 bucks on extra outside envelopes.
It was a bit more labor intensive then buying them from a stationer-- we had to glue every piece together, print every word, and tie every bow, but we've received many compliments already and I think they came out wonderfully. I even added my own personal touch by doing all of the addressing myself the old fashioned way-- with pen and paper.
The addressing was tough, because calligrapher I am not. It took approximately 3 full epsiodes of So you Think you can Dance to finish up, but we did it and I'm so proud of our work!
My Bridal Shower was this past weekend and I had a fabulous time! The events started on Friday night when my best friend (Alex) from High School drove all the way down to Maryland from Connecticut to spend the day with me.
On Saturday, Alex and I woke up early and headed down to my mom's house. My sister, and maid of honor, hosted my shower and she did a fabulous job. The event was a ladies luncheon and each of my bridesmaids provided an light lunch entree for the event. The decor was hysterical and as you can see below, they tried their best to dress me up.
The garter lasted all of five minutes.
Several of my friends could not make it to my shower, but we still had at least 30 people there! It was mostly my mom's friends, my soon to be husband's mom's friends, and my family rounded out the guest list.
Don't fret though, all of my bridesmaids were in attendance and my friend "true blue" (a.k.a. Kristin) came down as well.
Here's Mari, Noelle, Me, Alli, Alex and Kristin!
And here's a picture of me and the bridal party- including John's two sisters who were not in the previous picture.
I was blessed with some amazing gifts and I had the best time. Seriously, I wish we could get married everyday because what's not to love about a little ladies only time and some great food?
I wanted to include a picture of the shoes, since you ladies all weighed in on my options. Unfortunately, I forgot to get my toes in every picture. You can kind of see the shoes in this picture with my sister and cousins.
One of the highlights of the day-- this cake! My Bridesmaid and future sister-in-law Erin designed it for me. Do they know my interests or what?
Okay all you married ladies (and soon to be married)....
What in the world did you gift your parents at your rehearsal dinner?
This wedding stuff is hard work.
Let me just tell you that I am blessed to have some of the most phenomenal people in my life. I had a fabulous birthday and this one will go down in the record books.
How did my day go?
1. I took the day off of work (things are already looking good).
2. I wake up to find that the entire house was decorated by the fiance before he left for work at 5am (Seriously, am I a lucky girl or what)? There were balloons everywhere, banners, multicolored paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling fans etc. He's seriously amazing.
3. After living without A.C. for the week-- it was fixed that morning.
4. My friends Kristin and Mari met me for lunch and treated me to a phenomenal Greek salad. Mari made cake and I was able to enjoy a midday treat.
2. My friends Kristin and Noelle hit up the pool with me for 3 blissful hours of sun.
3. After the pool-- Alli met Kristin and I for manicures and pedicures (I wanted to get both since my bridal shower is tomorrow)!
4. After the spa, I found the fiance at home, took a quick shower, and headed to happy hour for a drink.
5. After happy hour I spent the evening with 1 hot fiance, 20 wings, 26 steamed shrimp (Baltimore style), a pitcher of beer, and the first Steelers game of the season (PERFECT TIMING).
I had a fabulously special day! I wish everyday was a birthday. Thanks for all of the birthday wishes!
28 (gasp) years ago (at this exact moment-- 12:17am) I was born.
I love birthdays and on the agenda for today-- lunch, the pool, manicure/pedicures and dinner with the fiance.
The present that tops them all-- a new freakin' car!!!! Thanks to those democrats and the fiance, I'm riding around in a new Honda CRV!
Just like this picture here, except that mine is red!
Although my honey is due for a new car, he let me have one instead. Only one of the million reasons that I love him.
Are you guys wanting kids and if so how many?
Yes we want kids! How many is negotiable. Back in the day, when I was much younger (a.k.a. stupid and in my early twenties), I wanted at least 5 kids. Call me Mrs. Duggar, but I was down with kids. Lots of them. Now that my brains have further developed with age I think I'd be just fine with a perfectly respectable three. Now that I've found my baby-daddy, I pray that we're able to procreate without problem. Stay tuned-- but don't expect it to be too soon. I need to enjoy being a newlywed first.
WELL... I didn't get many questions, but I got a few, so of course I need to answer them.
Starting, now!
Why did you start blogging? and What does fiance think of your blogging? Does he read?
Well, I'm not really sure why I started blogging. Mostly because I like talking about myself and I was super sick and bored one weekend. When you quarantine yourself at home, you need to find creative ways to interact with others.
The fiance does know about my blogging and he tunes in a few times a week. To be honest, although he reads my blog, he rarely comments and never brings it up at home. In other words, I have on idea what he thinks.
my question is hows the new place goin u guys all settled in nicely? i loved what u did with ur dinning room! And the Hutch is super cute!
The new place is fabulous and we both love owning a home so far. We haven't done too much to the house in recent months (besides the dining room overhaul), but we're taking our time. Luckily, the house doesn't need a ton of work which is part of the reason why we bought it.
Our current house related gripe-- the faulty HVAC system. It's currently 105 outside and it's hotter than H.E.L.L.O. up in here.
Any good plans for the weekend??
Well, this past weekend was a busy, yet relaxing one. On Friday I watched The Uninvited with the fiance and went out for Mexican. On Saturday we woke up, met with our priest regarding the ceremony, bought a car (ehhh!), and dropped off my engagement ring so that the jeweler can match up the diamonds in my wedding band. On Sunday we headed to the pool for several hours and then hit up a matinee showing of The Hangover.
My question: what's it like living on the east coast? I want to move there so bad, but have only visited DC for 3 days.
Of course I'm totally biased, but I love love love living on the east coast. I've actually lived in 14 states, and all but three were situated on the Eastern Seaboard. Unfortunately, the three that weren't on the East coast were land locked, so I have no idea what it's like to live on the West Coast.
What do I love about the D.C. area?-- you're in the center of everything. You're never more than an hour away from water or an hour away from at least 1 (sometimes two) major cities, and the crabs are to die for. Oh, the weather doesn't suck either (except for today).
question: if you had a life do-over, what is one major thing you would change?
Please forgive me if you are from Massachusetts, but if I had a do-over I would have left Boston at least 3 years earlier than I did (I lived there for 7 years during college and grad school). In my opinion it was cold, dreary, full of Birkenstocks and wool socks, and I just didn't enjoy living there at all. In my experience it's hard to make friends in Massachusetts and my time there may have held me back a bit.
Do you have a burning question? Ask away......
We have a heat advisory in effect for tomorrow.
Temperatures could reach 105 degrees and our AC broke for the second time this summer on Wednesday (luckily we have a warranty).
The repairman had to order a part and lord knows when he'll be by to install it.
I can leave the house to go to work tomorrow, but I'm worried about my kitties!
I've been busy getting ready to get married.
and
I'm afraid that no one likes my shoes.
Lets play a game: Ask me anything... I'll answer.
In case you were wondering what shoes I decided to go with...
I picked these beauties! 
It's BIRTHDAY MONTH!
We're back from the beach.
No, I cannot believe that it's already August.
Yes, I am in serious denial about the fact that my birthday is in 9 days.
August is going to be a crazy month.
