Peace out, 2010! Hello 2011!

Well, 2010 has been a great year! Interesting, but great! In February, Jim proposed to me in front of a huge auditorium filled with people at his graduation (and I said yes!). Later in the spring, I got rid of 2 more of my 4 debts in collections, now I'm down to 1! Something also happened to Jim that was in his favor, but we fear that if I gloat, we will be jinxed, but those of you that know us well know what I'm talking about. That was a huge sigh of relief and a big help for us. In August, Alyssa started kindergarten (the BIG school, as she calls it).  In October, we bought our first home, along with our beautiful dining set that I'm madly in love with. I also gained another cat during that time. In November, I bought a different car (not completely thrilled over it, but it's an improvement over my damaged Jetta :( ). Later on, we find out the Kyle (who just started violin a couple months back) is being drafted into the advanced class. Also in November, I was offered a promotion at work. :) 


Some of the bummer things are: my back is still all jacked up from my accident, and I have developed constant tinnitus, which drives me INSANE! My parents are getting divorced, which is a good thing, but a bummer thing as well. I think it's harder dealing with it as an adult, but what do I know..?! Jim hasn't been able to find another job, but we're lucky we have jobs, and the one he's currently at isn't bad, it's just that he could have a nursing job right now instead, had there been any to apply for. His job pays well for what he does and he's lucky to have it (and he's good at what he does). My computer went suicidal and I lost all my pictures and all of the wedding stuff we'd worked so hard on. Yeah, that was a MAJOR bummer. 


I'd say it's been a good year. :) Much better than the couple of years before (aside from my graduating and us meeting). 2011 should be good, considering we're getting married in the middle of it! :)
 

Santa came!

Yes, Santa brings the animals presents too! 

That fat dude ate a ton of cookies! 

Christmas Cookies for Santa!

Look at how stiff this stuff is! 

The mixer was about to start smoking! 

I think Santa will like them. They're too cream cheesy for me, but they're pretty! 

The BLING!

Well....I've obviously had my ring for a while...and I have this posted in my planning bio, but I figured I might as well post in on here too. Hey, a girl's gotta show off her ice, right? :) 
I absolutely LOVE my ring! I had a little part in picking it out...I had picked out a couple that I liked and Jim got the one he said, "Made me glow." hehe It's a Princess Plus, and they are no longer available. They are really one-of-a-kind, no two are exactly alike. It has a diamond inside on the left side, to be placed on "the vein that leads straight to your heart." It is always sparkly and brilliant, even when it's not it's cleanest. This was my first attempt at working on getting a crisp, clear picture with my camera (which is smarter than I am). Of course, the pictures do not do this ring justice....it shines CONSTANTLY. <3

Holy 5 MONTHS, Batman!

Unbelievable! Time is going by WAY too fast! I did FINALLY get the guestbook done today...well...it's been done for a few days now, but I had to find a frame for the sign, and after printing it FIVE times, it finally fits without cutting off any words. All I need to find are some cute pens! I love how it turned out! :) 

Showing how a card will fit inside when a guests places it there. :)

The Fiskars blades are committing suicide!

Well, between all the cutting for the invitations and the guestbook...I've went through 3 blades...2 brand spankin' new! ARGH! They're not the cheapest thing in the world, and for some reason, Wal-Mart no longer carries them! At least not the one I just went to....so I guess I'll have to wait until I can get to Michael's to get more, but here's what I've got so far. 120 RSVPS are done...not sure on the rest...I had to toss a couple of the smallest ones as I cut words off by mistake. OOPS! I will need more paper, but I'm not even sure how many invitations to make right now. SIGH So tired of cutting....anyone else think that the Fiskars paper cutter cuts at a slight angle?! 

My Vista Print cherry has been popped!

Okay okay, so I didn't care for what they had to offer, and I didn't care if things were free and all I had to pay was shipping...until I saw that I could get a stamp and save myself from writing our return address ten THOUSAND times! ha ha I Also got Alyssa a cute tote that says Flower Girl with her name and date (she's a bag lady already anyway!), a hat for Owen, our Ring Bearer, although I'm certain it will be WAY too big...lol, and a t-shirt for me to wear after the wedding, that say's Mrs. Jacobs est. 5.21.11. <3!!!

I'm a little surprised I didn't see this box of goodies on our porch last night before I left for work. SOOOO thankful we live in a good 'hood now....it would have been long gone if we were back in our old neighborhood! I wonder how long it was out there for. ha ha 

Oh, and never put a rubber stamp together after coming off a night shift...dingbat here put it on upside down. ha At least it was free. It's nighty night time for me! 

Guest book is ALMOST done...

Apologies for the crappy pic...I couldn't turn the light on any brighter and all I had was my wonderful POS Blackberry for a camera. So, when Jim and I went to Archiver's the other day, I had 2 coupons for other cardstock as well as the kind for the invitations, which I wasn't going to use. It was buy 5, get 5 free...but it was the cheap cardstock. Then I thought, I can use that for the guestbook cards! We found a vanilla creme color we liked, and figured 20 would make enough! The first few I cut were too small for the envelopes..I didn't like how they set in them, so I increased the size just a hair. My poor fiscars is SO tired....I've went through 2 blades just on this! Eek! 

Productive weekend...somewhat...

So...I got 4 different coupons for Archiver's that expired this week, so I ran out there and bought some more cardstock for the invitations...though I'm positive I'll need way more, and I also got a bunch of cardstock to make the cards for the guestbook. We went to Wal-Mart and got more black cardstock, page protectors, and double-sided tape as well. Hopefully I'll get that book done this weekend, but I'm not sure how I will have it set up for people to use. 


We also made a payment on my wedding band, and Jim reminded me that I need to take my e-ring in for inspection this month. WHEW! What would I do without him?! 


We attempted to ballroom dance in our living room with my beautiful wedges on, however, I couldn't tolerate the twirling. eek! Not sure what we're gonna do now! I'm starting to panic about the whole dancing thing...the most dancing I've done is show choir. haha Can't I just whip out my clarinet or something? Ugh! 


Oh, and we got the styrofoam that can be formed for the wine love letter box....hopefully we can get back to that thing here soon and finish it...we're not even close! Haven't even touched it since we began looking at houses last summer! eek!
 

The dress is in!

However, I will not be trying it on very soon.... Hopefully I will be able to go check it out next month. I keep reading this horror stories, and since it takes so long to order these damn things, I NEED to go see! AAAHHHHHH

Shedding For the Wedding! lol

Jim asked me to make him a black forest cake for his birthday. Well...after working all night, coming home and sleeping for three hours, then making this cake for about 5 hours....it is complete. I apologize for the cheezy smiley face on it...I went to toss the LITTLE BIT of extra frosting, and Jim's chin began to quiver, so I used it all up instead. It was actually really freaking good! Messy as hell, but good! 

It's all over my hands! 

Showing off the 3 layers of chocolate cake, cherries, and frosting. mmm