Thanksgiving

I know I promised pictures of my wedding DIY things yesterday, but somehow time got away from me, and I ended up not getting to it.  I guess I'm going to have to apologize though, because instead I'm going to share some pictures of the things I'm most thankful for this year...

Nick, Daddy, and Jim working on the house

Yesterday was the first day Jim hasn't worked on the house in weeks, and we went shopping for things he needed before our wedding. One of the interesting things about shopping for clothes for Jim is he is so tall that very few stores carry his size in stock.  Usually the only place we can find his size in jeans is at JCPenney.  Gosh he looks good in jeans...he looks good out of them too, but this is a rated PG blog!

Warm Pie

Anyway, Thanksgiving has been rather unusual this year. Last Sunday, we had Thanksgiving dinner with my mom's side of the family. Then my brother had to work today and so did Jim's sister, so Jim and I spent today being lazy. Tomorrow we will celebrate Thanksgiving with my side of the family. It looks as though we won't be spending time with Jim's family... So, as I said, it has been an unusual Thanksgiving Day, but it's always nice to spend time with Jim--my favorite thing to do.

That Jim served our country and wants to marry me

Of course it seems whenever we spend time with other people, the conversation always comes around to our wedding.  Sunday was no different.  Several people asked about why we chose Savannah, and I guess that's a reasonable question since we don't know anyone there. Well, it's very simple, we thought it sounded like an interesting place to go, and it is one of the most romantic cities in the U.S.

My Mom

Another thing came up on Sunday. Mom asked if we were having someone video the ceremony. Well, we had talked about it, but then kind of forgot about the idea. After all, how often do you watch a video of your wedding.  I can't imagine that it gets watched very often. However, since Mom asked about it, we had to see what we could do. I wasn't sure how easy it would be to find a videographer ten days before the wedding ceremony, especially when there was a holiday.

Sara

Well, fortunately, we have hired an absolutely wonderful photographer, Jamie Weaver of Dream Weaver Photos. She was able to recommend a videographer, who I think is going work out perfectly. Jamie has been so incredibly helpful in so many ways, and she is so funny!

My family

Soooo anyway... Thanksgiving has been very quiet here. Jim watched the Lions lose, we watched a few movies together, and now I have spent some time with all of you.  It's been a lovely day, and tomorrow we get to spend another lovely day with our family.

Jim and Me

I know this year, I have so much to be thankful for, and I hope you do too.

Eight Days and Counting...

Our wedding is in eight days!!!  All the plans are in place, and I'm eagerly looking forward to our special day. I have been working on so many little and some big details, and enjoying every minute of it.

Let me share some of the things we have planned...

Of course, everyone eagerly anticipates what dress the bride will wear. Well, I'm wearing the most beautiful dress.  I've done some modifications to my dress. I changed the neckline, and I added some lace that will allow me to carry the train more easily. It has a bustle, but for pictures, I'm not going to want to bustle it, because I'll want it down and looking beautiful.

My Dress

Then there are the accessories. I had so much fun searching for and making my accessories.  I found the necklace and earrings I'm going to wear at an estate sale this summer.  Of course, I had no idea what I had purchased; I only knew they were pretty.  It wasn't until I started researching them that I found out that they were vintage signed Lisner pieces.  Of course, finding out that bit of information led me to wanting to find out more about vintage jewelry. And I found out a set consisting of two matching pieces is a demi-parare, three matching pieces a parare, and four is a grande parare. Do you know what I want???  I bet you can guess.  It took a while, but I found a bracelet and a brooch to go with my beautiful set.

My jewelry

Sorry the picture is a bit blurry. I'm having a little difficulty getting a good picture of it.

After the jewelry came the search for the perfect pair of shoes! Anyone who knows me knows I love shoes!!!  The latest trend for brides is to wear colored shoes. At first I thought I wanted a beautiful pair of Tiffany blue shoes that I found, and who knows, maybe at some point I might get them, because I still reeeeeeaaaallly want them! But then I found the most beautiful pink shoes I've ever seen. Yes, they were expensive; yes, they are designer; and no, they were not easy to find!  Oh, I found them online, or rather I found lots of pictures of them, but I couldn't find any stores that had them in stock. It turns out that Badgley Mischka had stopped making them in pink, and they were nearly impossible to find.  This is the part that makes it fun. I search and search, and finally success!  These are my beautiful shoes!

My shoes with my necklace, earrings, and hair piece.

Okay, so I have the dress, I have the jewelry, and I have the shoes. What else could I possible need?  Well, a vintage clutch of course!!!

My clutch.

Well, there's a few details...   I'll share my DIY projects tomorrow and possibly some of the details I've been working on for Jim too.

Cannot wait!!!!!

It's gone!!!!

Our Little House Before

So you've read about the many renovations going on at our little house.  Well one thing that I've been waiting to see go is gone!  The awning!  It's gone! It's gone!  Here are the before and after pictures.

Our Little House without the awning

It already looks soooooo much better.  And the nice thing is that awning is now longer obstructing the view from the living room!

There's still a lot to do, but it's coming along.  Can't wait until it's finished and I can show you the real "after" picture.

The Sound of Silence....ahhhhhhh

For three weeks now, there has been the sound of hammers, saws, drills, and whatever other possible noisy construction tools there are.  But today, I have been basking in the lovely sound of silence. Of course, it will all resume tomorrow, and they aren't even close to being finished yet.

Right before construction started.

You may be wondering what has been happening... Well, it all started with Jim deciding that he wants to make the house nice for me--his bride-to-be!  We talked about different things we'd like to have done, and then decided which ones would be the best ones to do. Of course, once Jim found out there were tax benefits to making the house more energy-efficient, that nailed it--we we're doing a LOT of things to the house.

The work begins...

So what are we doing? We're adding a small porch to the front of the house.  Just that little roof has added so much character to our little house! I know I'm going to love it once the porch is built. I can imagine having a rocking chair out there and an antique milk jug. It will look so inviting!

Porch roof...

With the new roof comes new shingles...and let me tell you, we needed them! Whoever roofed the house before didn't do it according to code. We were actually very fortunate that it was at least done well enough that it didn't leak. Of course, perhaps the code used to be different, but the roof couldn't have been more than 15 years old. Anyway, we selected a nice old timber color for the shingles, and it looks 100 percent better!  And it's going to look fantastic with our new siding.

Putting on the roof

Jim hired some people to do the roof, but he helped a lot. He's been very active in the renovations, and he's doing a fantastic job. He's so particular about how things need to be done. Plus, he has a builder's license, so he is well aware of how things should be done.

Dad and Jim working together

Now he and my dad are working together on the project. My dad loves this kind of stuff. He built their house all by himself except for some help with the foundation and the roof trusses. The two of them are kind of like peas in a pod.  They talk about everything and seem to agree on all of it. They think of things and get frustrated with things at the same time.  The worst part is they gang up on me!!!!  And I couldn't be happier about it.

My future husband and my dad like each other.