Wedding thoughts....

Well, Matt and I have been engaged for 2 and a half months now....where the heck did the time go?! It is going to be October tomorrow, and in a year we will be 27 days away from our wedding. Our wedding has kind of taken a back seat to both of our jobs. I am taking on my first official year of teaching, and he is working hard and traveling once a month for his TV show. Needless to say, we have not sat down and thought about a lot of details for the wedding. Luckily for me (and Matt) I am a control freak, and know exactly what I want for our wedding. I pretty much have it all planned out in my head. Thanks to my mom we already have our venue booked, the DJ booked, our photographer (family friend who is AWESOME, Lizzie Kimball...go look her up!) and the first appointment for trying on wedding dresses! We will be doing that next weekend! I am so beyond excited. I have not really been able to think about it because my thoughts are literally consumed by teaching, my kids, and trying to be the "perfect" teacher. I have also come to realize, that being slightly OCD and a perfectionist doesn't really go well with the teaching profession. I mean it makes it great for keeping things organized and knowing what I need to do next, but with kids its so unpredictable. Things change on a moments notice, and the lesson you wanted to present may not be what they need at the time. Very stressful for a girl who thinks she has everything figured out ;)

Ok back to the wedding. There I go again talking about my job. I don't think there is really anything else I talk about these days. I am at the school for 10 hours everyday. It is literally my life.

I think I know what I want for my wedding dress, but I am not 100% sure. I am just excited to try things on and see what looks best on my body type. I definitely want a lot of pretty beading on the top part, and I want a flowing princessy type thing on the bottom. I just don't want to over do it. I really just want our wedding to be simple but classy. The colors are going to be a darker teal, black, and white. The bridesmaids will be wearing short black cocktail type dresses and yes they will all be in the same dress. I like the idea of letting them pick whatever they want as long as it is black, but once again my OCD comes into play and I just want to keep it traditional and have them all in the same dress. The teal is going to be in the ribbon around the flowers that we all hold, and the flowers are going to be bright orange, red, and yellow. Traditional fall colors. I think I am also going to go with gerber daisy's or however you spell that word. Like I said, simple.
The black and white comes into play at the reception. The tables are going to be covered with long black linens that go to the ground, and the overlay is going to be the white and black damask print. The napkins will also be black with a teal napkin ring. I also want to put some teal into the centerpieces. I have no idea what kind of centerpieces yet, but I know I want something with candles, and the letter 'B' for Barton. :)
I really am excited and can't wait until it gets closer and the year turns to 2012. I think it will feel a lot more real then.
We are also going to go to Flagstaff on my school's Fall Break for our engagement photos. We plan on taking pictures in the aspens, downtown Flag, and on NAU's north campus where the old buildings are. Sadie will be a part of the pictures, and so will the beautiful fall colors. Our photographer is awesome. She is getting married in Flag next August, so she knows a lot about the scenery and where to take beautiful pictures. I can't wait to see what she comes up with. She did an amazing job on the pictures she took of us in San Diego, so I know these will be great!
As for now, I am busy preparing for my first round of conferences and report cards. The grading period officially ends next Friday. I plan on having all of my report cards done so that I can enjoy my break and focus on the conference part. The conferences are the week after Fall Break. I wish they would have done everything before so that I could really relax, but nope they don't think about us teachers in the big offices ;)
Happy Fall everyone!

Fall, Blogs, and Coffee Creamer

Ok, there are 3 things that I am obsessed with right now. Fall, blogs, and coffee creamer. Yes, coffee creamer. I love all of the flavors they are coming out with. Right now we have french vanilla (classic, its always in our fridge) hazelnut, white chocolate caramel latte, and caramel machiatto. Not really feeling the hazelnut or caramel machiatto, but the white chocolate caramel latte is my favorite!! I love to go to the store and buy new creamers to try. I also am truly obsessed with my Keurig coffee maker. Matt doesnt drink coffee so its perfect because I dont waste a whole pot of coffee. I am super excited that they are coming out with all of their fall coffees, and cant wait to try a pumpkin spice one with the K-Cups. I am also really excited that Dunkin Donuts decided to jump on the K-cup bandwagon. I LOVE their coffee! Now I am just waiting for Starbucks to do the same thing....I know....Starbucks and Dunkin?! Total rivals, but I dont care, I love coffee and they both have totally different flavors.

Another obsession is FALL. I love fall, and anything to do with fall. I was trying to hold out and not bust out my fall stuff until the end of September, but I couldnt do it. I had to do it today. I already started burning the fall candles, but its not the same when the fall decor is not out. I cleaned, and decorated! Ive got my fall leaves on my cabinets, and all of my pumpkin stuff out...I am holding out on putting our fall wreath on our door because I dont want people to think I am a crazy holiday lady...(I still have our patriotic summery one on there). I totally miss the Flagstaff days where the mornings were really brisk and chilly, and the days were just perfect. I miss the leaves changing. I miss the smell of the prescribed burns. I miss seeing pine needles everywhere. I just miss having a changing season. I also hate feeling grumpy with the weather man because he tells me its going to be 110 for ten days in a row. Thank goodness that is changing. Sad when we think 99 degrees is a relief and "feels good". I guess I am a true Arizonan. I cant wait to do fall crafts with my kiddos, and make fall bulletin boards. I cant wait to put all of my fall work on the shelves and teach about the season. I cant wait until it actually gets cold enough to put a light jacket on....yes light jacket is about as heavy as we get down here....I just want it to do something different other than be sunny and hot! My poor students are trying to graph the weather for the month of September, and our graph will probably just be sunny. Lame. Cant really teach greater than or less than or any graphing activities with that. A girl can dream about someday moving back to Flagstaff or a place just like it. :)

Blogs. When did they actually become so popular?? I love reading blogs. I get so many ideas, and its fun to read about what everyone is doing. I started my blog to keep my family updated about my cancer and my health. It has turned into something fun, and it feels good to write about things. I dont know if anyone actually reads my blog, but I will keep doing it. It makes me feel good, and its fun to look back on it years from now. I actually read my first blog about my cancer, and it brought back a lot of memories I havent thought about it a while. So if you do read this, thanks. Hope it keeps you as entertained as I am when I read everyone else's blogs.

For now, I am done writing. Ill be back. I promise :)