OVER!

So the wedding is officially OVER and it was incredibly.

We are off today to our honeymoon, the wonderful New York City!

Here's our plan:

Monday evening: relax and then head to the Man of Steel movie premiere! WOO!

Tuesday: the media museum in Queens and then seeing the Mets play the Cards! Go Cardinals!

Wednesday: off to Staten Island to visit my family and Nucci's South (my cousin's restaurant).

Thursday: CHICAGO on Broadway!

Friday: Dinner at Balthazar and SHOPPING for a fancy purse for me. SO EXCITED.

Mixed in the middle will be plenty of New York pizza, Italian ices, pretzels from carts, Central Park, Museum Mile, a piano bar in Chelsea, a jazz bar in Brooklyn, running on the Upper West Side and eating bagels with cream cheese and lox.

I can't WAIT.

Final Wedding Update

As you read this, I'll be at the resort, still glowing from the aftermath of my spa treatments from this morning (massage, facial, hand treatment, exfoliation, hydrating mud wrap, and foot massage) and getting ready to rehearse the plans for the BIG DAY... tomorrow!

I just can't believe it's here. The big day. Our wedding day. I've lost weight, Josh has lost weight, we've spent time tanning (I even got a spray tan... I'll update on that later!). We whitened our teeth. We saved SO MUCH MONEY. We bought vases and invitations and presents and rehearsal dinner outfits. We bought a dress, a tux, shoes, jewelry, WEDDING RINGS. We have spent the last year getting ready to be married and tomorrow... it happens.

Sometimes people say they aren't ready. Sometimes people rushed into it and need more time. Sometimes, couples have NO IDEA what they are getting into or what kind of relationship they will have when they come out the other end.

I do. I know exactly who I am marrying and exactly what will happen. Tomorrow, I will walk down the aisle and keep my eyes on my best friend. I will say "I do" with a full, happy heart and I will probably cry, but only because I am so happy and I never knew I could find someone who makes me feel like that. I will dance and dance and dance with my favorite people around me on what will be the best day of my life so far. I will kiss my husband, my life partner, the future father of my children, my partner in crime and in life.

I will get married, and I am SO so ready to be his wife.

Bachelorette Party

May 18 was our Bachelor/Bachelorette party and it was INCREDIBLE.

We went to dinner with our favorite people: John, Blairre, Adriana, Chris, Val, Carolina, Jeremy, Aaron, Vanessa, Thomas, Jess and Kylie.

Then we went back to our hospitality suite at the Hotel Encanto (DO NOT ever rent a room from them for an event, they were AWFUL to deal with!), which was beautiful but as I said, really really unprofessional to work with. Awful.

We played games and talked about high school/college and our friendships, and then played the card game Crimes Against Humanity, which is like Apples to Apples but NOT politically correct.

It was so SO so much fun.

Then we went downstairs to dance and dance and dance at Azul, where Josh and I made friends with a guy who had a private table, and he really liked us. Like, he kept buying us drinks and offered to have our entire party over to his house with his friends to keep partying. We were like, no thanks! Lol :o) but he was really nice.

What I remember about that night was this: my friends all gave up a Saturday night to spend celebrating US. Valerie went above and beyond planning the day with my sister, buying drinks and a tiara for me and a "Groom to Be" hat for Josh. Jess and Kylie took time away from law school finals to plan this out. Adriana and Vanessa and Blairre took an entire night away from their adorable children to come out with us. Thomas bought us wine and beer and drinks. We are so blessed to have such wonderful people around us.

As you read this, I'll be spending time with some of these wonderful people at the resort where we will be married, and celebrating the birthday of my dear friend and the reader at our wedding, Kaitlyn.

Life is so good.

Bad Blogger

So.

I know I've been MIA but I have a super good excuse...

I'm getting married on Saturday.

SATURDAY! SO CRAZY!

But so exciting.

We leave tomorrow for Scottsdale, actually, but I am in the process of pre-writing some posts to keep your interest since I've been gone so long.

Plus, I want to be able to look back and remember these things.

Stay tuned. Next time I actually post, it will be to recap our wedding and I'll be a WIFE!

Crazy.

Hasta luego!

Wedding Update

So it's been a while since I mentioned the wedding on this blog, but it is coming up SO SOON. I can't BELIEVE today is already the first of April. In just two months, I will be getting married to my love and my best friend! I'm SO EXCITED!

Well, let me take that back a little. I am not excited to plan. I actually do NOT like wedding planning. There are so so so many details to think of and coordinate and confirm. And with the addition of Pinterest ideas, I feel like there is always something I could be doing to make the wedding bigger or better. But I keep reminding myself that this is a party for us, a celebration of this new life we are choosing together and a celebration of the commitment we are making, and that if all else fails, as long as I end up married, it was a success. Plus, people won't remember the centerpieces. Hopefully. Lol! :o)

I got a lot done already... we just need to fine-tune everything. We need to finish the favors, figure out bouquets/centerpieces, and then I need to figure out what kind of hairdo I want (although this should be easy... Fiance's fabulous aunt is doing my hair so that will be super helpful and we are doing a hair trial soon) and then book someone to do my makeup that day. Other than that... most everything else is figured out!

Two months to go! :o)

Happy Easter!

Even though the day is almost over, let me take this moment to say HAPPY EASTER to you and yours!

My day was wonderful. We started out with a leisurely morning, making guacamole and taking our time getting ready before we headed over to my parents' for some of my dad's famous slow-grilled chicken. It's SO GOOD and such a staple of my childhood: just smelling it reminds me of summer. That, paired with my mom's pasta salad, my guacamole and my grandma's deviled eggs, made a perfect Easter lunch.

We had a great time with my parents (especially Shadow, who got enough scraps of chicken to last him a long time), and then pretty soon after, we headed over to Fiance's grandparents' house for (what else?) more food! Shadow got MORE scraps, too, so he has had a pretty great day. :o)

I hope your day was as filled with family and friends as mine was! :o)

Dystopian

It's a good era for dystopian novels... Hunger Games. Divergent. Matched. Delirium. I am also happy to admit that I've read them all... here are my reviews!

Hunger Games: FIVE STARS. I LOVE the Hunger Games. It's my favorite series right now. Can't wait for the next movie to come out!

Divergent: Three and a half stars. I really liked this book... at first. It went so fast and I started falling in love with Four. Then... the ending happened. Like, really fast. There was a big war-thing and it happened so quickly that I didn't get to really experience the losses, etc. It made me EH about getting the next one. I'm sure I'll read it... eventually.

Matched: Three stars. Pretty good, but more forgettable. I don't think about the characters after I stop reading them, like I normally do when I fall in love with the characters.

Delirium. FOUR STARS. I LOOOOVED the first book of this series... the last one was a big fat fail of a conclusion for me. Overall, a great story, well created and well laid out for the reader. But the ending! THE ENDING HAS TO WRAP EVERYTHING UP. Re: Hunger Games.

There you have it. My dystopian novel review.