I'm INSPIRED

J's away at work, so I get to play.

Such a lovely couple

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I'll leave you with this beauty of a shot...

Eh hmm!

Why didn't someone tell me that planning a wedding in 7 months would make me so busy that I can't remember if I took my vitamins or not? Did I lock the door? Did I turn the hair iron off? Oh, wait. I do those every day...

Sorry I've been absent - I've missed blogging and visiting, but haven't really had the time. *boo!* And when I do have the time, I'm just not inspired. Blah. However, I've got some big items done on my checklist this weekend:

Friday: booked photographer - love them! A sweet older British guy and his wife that have been doing photography for many years together. They have a really interesting style that I've been looking for. Artsy, yet professional. Casual and modern, yet with the usual old fashioned shots.

I've been told which plantation home is the most beautiful for bridal shots and have to book them next: Greenwood Plantation. The shots my photographer took at this place were breathtaking! Wish I had them to share.

Most girls grow up dreaming about their wedding and such - I was never the type. So, this has been a whirlwind for me and I'm surprised at the detail and amount of planning involved.

I'm also surprised at how overwhelmed I've become in the romance of it all, thinking about my bridal shoot in my dress on such a romantic spot... and the wedding day! I've already got butterflies thinking about walking up the aisle to my Babers. How his face will look, if I'll burst into tears, if he'll like my dress.

Saturday: Catered a graduation party for 100 guests. What a rush! Halfway through cooking up crawfish fettucini and spinach and artichoke dip in my teeny kitchen I say "Uh oh. Don't think this is enough." Thank goodness for Babers! Off to the store he went without a fuss to pick up more supplies. And HE was the one to offer. I'm so lucky. Thanks again FIANCE. :) *giggle* Oh and the woman I catered for said I got rave reviews on my dishes, so I'm tres tres pleased and can't wait for another gig!

Sunday: All about the fun. We went riding on the river all day for the first time this summer and had a great time. Good company, sunshine and being lazy in the water. That's about all we could ask for that day. Then Babers treated us to a little Louisiana Pizza Kitchen for dinner. Mmm. I could eat their chicken caesar salads every week. I know, I know, its a pizza place. Details, details.

Monday: Booked my caterer! Again, extremely pleased with who we are going with. Mini crawfish pies, jambalaya, mini muffulettas, brisket - I'll stop here or else I'll get hungry again.

So yeah, booked a couple of majors for the wedding in one weekend. Very proud of me and Mom! Now I can relax a bit and work on the creative stuff. :)

Also, J has been doing mucho research on honeymoon spots. I can't even begin to tell you how pumped up I am for our honeymoon! J and I have so much fun together, we could entertain ourselves in a wall with no windows. Give us beautiful beaches, jacuzzis in our suite, hammocks on our balcony - we may never come back. We're thinking Cancun, somewhere fun, beautiful and relaxing.

My favorite part in planning this wedding is researching - I'm overwhelmed but also very inspired by all the beautiful imagery and creative ideas I'm finding in magazines and on the web. All I really want to do is cut and paste, cut and paste, and make an altered art book for my future daughter. I think I will.

I'm ate up with it, aren't I? *snort* J tells me that every time I look down at my beautiful ring, which is probably way too often.

I'll do a photo post later. Off to visit everyone in between filing. Haven't seen you guys in a while...

Sunshine & Polka Dots

Move over Babers, I've got a new love.

See this cutie? It's MINE. All MINE!! Muwahahaha!!

Usually swim suit shopping is a very depressing, damaging experience for me. Not enough material here, too much there, strings aren't enough to bolster the puppies, etc., etc. Ladies, you KNOW where I'm coming from.

I'm writing a contract in which Jason must go swim suit shopping with me every year from now on. He must sign it in blood. Apparantly, he's a good luck charm. This swim suit was found in the very first store we went in and was only the third swim suit I tried on. THIRD. That never happens.

Now I'm excited about summer. Now I'm ready to go swimming and riding on the river.

The last few days here have been a little scary in terms of the weather. Thursday morning my boss actually called me at 8 am to tell me not to come in to work until noon because of the severe thunderstorms we had the night before and going on that morning.

Finally, today is beeaatiful and guess what? Babers has to work. *sigh* Guess one can't have to much of the good. Maybe Someone is smacking me around for gloating so much about how wonderful life has been lately. *cutting eyes*

On another note, I'm feeling ever so slightly guilty for not doing Thursday Thirteen two weeks in a row. My life is so unpredictable now with Jason here. I may just have to quit. Ugh, I'm a quitter. I hate that.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend! I'm getting off of here so I can go try on my swimmie suit again...

Mushy Baber Goooo

I think the only reason I just titled this post what I did is because I just read an email from my best girl friend. We sign off like this often:

Smoochie Woochie,

Lola

or

Smooooochie Wooooo!!

Jill

It's tarded, really, but we're just like that. We have also recently started this thing where we email each other really uncomfortable, sick things like "I miss you so much, I've made a hair doll of you to sleep with at night" etc., etc. What's wrong with us?

So, my boyfri---screeech!!! My fiance just basically told me that I needed to update my blog, pronto. What does that say, really? When your fiance would rather you upload a new post instead of snuggle on the couch with him? Someone is sick with it, that's all I gotta say...









































Two days after Baber proposed to me, he took me out to a lovely seafood restaurant. Before we hopped in the car, I tucked my 2 year anniversary card into my purse for him, giving him the stink eye. He looked back at me and made a comment about not having a card for me. Well, I technically couldn't be mad at the man, after all, he JUST purchased a rather large diamond for my left ring finger.

I smiled, shrugged it off. But yeah, had to throw another jab in there a little later, cuz that's how I am sometimes.

Boy, did he get my goat.

What DOES that saying mean anyway???? Ouff, get back on track missy.

So we get to the restaurant. "Table for two, Jason," he tells the hostess. She states that it will be just five minutes, so Jason leads me to the bar. Well, I can't let anything go.

"She didn't give us a buzzy thing."

"What?" Jason says, looking over my shoulder.

"A buzzy thing. She said there's a wait of five minutes, will she just yell JASON! PARTY OF TWO! ??" I turn to see what he's looking at.

"Do you want a beer or glass of wine??" He says hurridly. I decline and we sit on a bench. Before we can even get comfy, the hostess is walking up to us.

"Ready?" She leads us through to the back of the restaurant. As we're passing a large table of women, one says "Man, you're really making our husbands look bad!!!" And then I see it.

Straight ahead, on the table in the corner is a beautiful arrangement of fiften white roses.

Okay, to be honest, my first reaction was "Oh, how beautiful. Wait, is that on every table?"

*stare*

And then I was all "Awww Baber!!!" *sniff sniff* *kiss kiss* Let's just say the man was quite pleased with himself. :) And he should be damn it! He impressed me more in that weekend than ever, made me cry, squeal, laugh and sigh in one sitting. Love him. And stuff.

Oh, and uh, don't you know the words that came out of his mouth? Yeah, you do.

"See? I DID get you a card." That man is something else. :)

All in all, another fabulous anniversary. Great conversation along with a delicious meal. We both had Mahi Mahi, cajun smashed red potatoes and steamed green beans. I had my glass of vino, he tugged on a beer. Had a great time. We always do though.

It's Starting

I was going to post about my romantic anniversary date with J, but thought I'd give you guys a break from the mushy mushy with a post in between. Now you can't say I don't care about you peeps. Pfft.

This week has been crazy, wonderful, NUTS. Sunday J proposed, Monday we went to get my ring sized, Tuesday was our anniversary and he took me out to dinner. Last night I put together last minute Mother's Day gifts. I'll post photos after Sunday! Tonight we have some shopping to do, Saturday we have a one year baby birthday party to go to in BFE and we are going to check out a possible wedding/reception location later in the evening. Then that night I'm cooking crawfish fettucini to bring to my to-be MIL for Sunday night dinner. Sunday is Mother's Day and we're having a crawfish boil at my brother's home and then off to J's parents that evening.

Ahhhhhhhh!!! Its starting. It used to be just me and Babers was miles away. Note: I am not complaining people. Its just, I can see the past... my mother in her sassy suits, perfectly coiffed hair and flawless makeup... getting three kids ready in the morning, packing lunches, calling her mother on one ear and putting an earring in the other. Homework? Tie your shoes! No, Jill gets the front seat today, Jenny put your seat belt on. Off to school and work. After it was grocery, stop touching that Jill. Grab that cereal for me Joey. Cooking dinner while juggling another night of triple the homework and still having time to clean the dishes, have evening chats with her parents on the phone, give her hubby some affection and get the kids washed up and into bed.

For the last year it was just me. Me and J on the weekend, of course, but it felt like playtime. We'll do the laundry later, let's go riding/to the movies/out to dinner/to see a band! Now he's home and he's asked me to be his forever, and ohmygod, its starting! And I can't wait.

Wait. Is this still considered mushy? I had good intentions, really... ;)

So much to post and not enough time. How do you guys do it? I'll be back! Have a great weekend!!

We're Engaged!!

I just wanted to pop in real quick and tell everyone the wonderful, amazing, exciting news. J popped the question Sunday night and I've been in a blissful fog every since.

No, that's not my exact ring, but its close. Mine is way more beautiful. :) Sadly, J and I had to have it sent off to be sized for my bitty finger. I was in agony and close to depression (as was J) walking away from the jewelry store last night. I promise to show real photos when its safe on my finger again. Girls, he done good. Real good. Its absolutely breath taking.

I'm beaming now, as I have been since Sunday and I think J is in La La Land as well. We keep finding reasons to use the words "fiancee/fiance". Good morning, Fiancee. Did have a good day at work, Fiance? I think I've fallen in love with him all over again.

No one ever shares how you feel in that moment when your love proposes... I've heard horror stories and really unique proposals, but no one tells you that you experience so many emotions in one second. I gasped, then sobbed my eyes out - not cute girlie tears, mind you, big hiccuping sobs - then laughed like crazy and smiled and almost forgot to say yes. It was the most romantic moment of my life. *sigh*

I love him, I love him, I love him.

I've got a mad, crazy week so I won't be here much. Very last minute custom Jillry orders for proms, swim suit shopping and tonight is our 2 year anniversary!

See you guys soon. xoxo - Jill