We bought a house...

April 10th 2016- We went out with our realtor to look at another 5 or 6 houses. It was our 3rd time out searching. One of the properties we wanted to see was having an open house that day but they let us squeeze in early to have a look around. It was the first house we went to that i could actually Invision us in. There were 3 bedrooms "A master bedroom, a guest room, and you could have your office with room for your treadmill!", 2 1/2 bathrooms (growing up with 6 people in a house with 1 bathroom... extra bathrooms were a must on my list of necessities), no basement "After all the flooded basements we've seen this year that's actually a relief.", a garage "We could fit both our cars in here when it snows!", a sunroom "This is where we will smoke my hookah.", a covered deck "Perfect for eating crabs!", a pool "I can have [my nephews] over to swim!", plenty of room in the kitchen, "We should host thanksgiving this year!", and it is on a cul de sac "No through traffic!".

As we left the house our realtor said something to the effect of "They're going to get lots of lookers on this place."

My heart sank into my stomach. As we drove on to the next viewing I told my fiance' "There was pixie dust falling from the sky in the back yard." 

I don't remember any of the other houses we looked at that day. And I stopped looking online for possible candidates. I begged Austin "Can we at least make an offer? It's perfect. I couldn't live with myself if we didn't at least try." He said we could and on April 15th we made our offer.

April 16th- My 25th birthday. I was out poppin' tags with my sister and my cousin. I got a phone call saying they had counter offered (what we were expecting) and we accepted and Austin went ahead and signed the contract. Best birthday present ever.

We made it through all the inspections without any serious issues and were able to get the loan we wanted.

May 31st- We did a final walkthrough of the house. Our situation is a little different because the owners are renting back for a month. So we haven't gotten to see it empty yet. But the house is very well taken care of and still no serious issues. Then we all met at the title company's office and within an hour, we were officially home owners!

June 22- We move in

Us with our awesome realtor who found the house and made it all happen.

 Our home.

Thanks for reading.

Fast Forward

A lot of people are asking why we are having a "long engagement". I think 14 months is pretty average. Some people wait years whereas others only wait a couple months. But whatever the "norm" is, to me... it totally is starting to feel like forever!

We have been engaged for a little over 6 months at this point and still have a little over 7 months to go. I keep randomly freaking out and trying to get things done. All I want to really do is curl up in a ball and take a 7 month long nap until my wedding day. I CANNOT wait to get married! I'm so excited but it's an angry excited because even though everyone (including myself) is telling me that it will be here in no time, it does not feel like no time.

But here is why I am so glad we don't actually have the option to self induce comas for unnecessary reasons.

If I had slept through last week, I would have missed:

My Mommom's 80th birthday, her 80th birthday party, and helping her and my Poppop set up their first smartphone (Lord help us all).

Spending the day with my Maid of Honor and my Goddaughter/flower girl. We did some wedding planning, shopping, and had an amazing lunch at a new restaurant that turned out to be an amazing eating experience.

Going Easter dress shopping with my big sister. Then sharing a sushi lunch. And walking around Goodwill looking at the always interesting and sometimes straight up nasty array of items.

Having lunch with my future brother who lives out of town, my fiance', and my cousin and her boyfriend who I usually only get to see on holidays.

House hunting for the very first time. we picked out a few different houses to go look at and our realtor was so nice. We had an awesome time and even though we aren't quite ready to buy a house yet, it got me really excited that the time is coming when we will be able to settle down in a place we can call our own.

Buying a house and planning a wedding means saving money. So my fiance' and I have been cutting way back on eating out. So after we looked at houses we went out, just the two of us, and were able to sit down and have a nice meal while we discussed the places we had just looked at.

This is going to sound SUPER corny, but our time is like a canvas. How can we appreciate a painting without actually taking the moments to paint it?

Our wedding day is going to be amazing. Because it is something we will have waited for (patiently or impatiently) for what seems like a lifetime.

Bridal Shows

I've been wanting to go to a bridal show since I got engaged. I bought tickets to one in VA months ago by accident and no one had time to make the trip to go with me so I never went. One of my bride's magazines had a coupon code for 2 free tickets to The Great Bridal Expo in Cockysville, so I printed them out and asked my sister/one of my maids of honor to go with me. Luckily her husband didn't mind watching the kids for her the second time this week (THANKS ROB!) so we went out, just the two of us, for the first time in forever.

We were so giddy, I felt like I was 17 again, going out with my big sister. The best part of the expo was that I already have almost everything you need to pull off a successful wedding. So we got to relax, have a glass of sangria, and look around without feeling any pressure to commit to anything.

We filled out some cards at different booths to try to win free stuff. Got some free stuff, plastic necklaces, pictures from a photo booth, jelly. And then there was a fashion show. The host was HILARIOUS. I told my sister that I wanted him to follow me around all day to make me laugh. The fashion show was cool. Even though I also have my dress and the bridesmaid's dresses picked out, I fell in love with these 8ft veils some of the girls were wearing. So I'm going to look into those.

Like I've said before. I'm all about experiencing everything there is to experience in this wedding planning process. Especially the fun stuff! So I would definitely encourage you to go to one of these things. Even if your wedding is already planned.

We also took a TON of stickers on our way out the door labeled "I'm the Mom, Bride, Groom, Wedding Entourage..." Like... A ton. I'm also all about documenting everything. They'll look good in my scrapbook.

Suit Shopping

Yesterday we went suit shopping. I was excited to cross another thing off my list but I was also excited to have a personal fashion show from my man. We decided before we even got to the store that we wanted suits, not tuxedos. We also had a coupon for Mens Wearhouse for 50% off suits for the wedding party (WIN).

We walked in the store and the woman that came to help us was so awkward. I was immediately uncomfortable. She sat us down at her desk and said very unenthusiastically "First off, congratulations." I could tell she wasn't actually excited for us because she never even asked to see my ring. Everyone in the wedding business asks to see the ring. It's like an unspoken rule. And you all know how much I like to show off my ring. So anyways, then she says "Oh, I see you brought your scrapbook." I said "Oh, yeah, my wedding planner. You never know when you're going to need that information." She kind of mumbled and seemed permanently nervous. I told her we knew we wanted to buy suits. She sighed and her eyes traveled around the room searching for... help? I don't know. Fortunately she helps with rentals. So she went and found someone else to help us. I was so relieved. The man she introduced to us, Charles, was much more lively and confident and knew how to provide good customer service.

He took us over to the suits and I told him right off the bat that we had a coupon, and also that my brother who is in the wedding is 6'7". Between those two things that narrowed our options down to two suits. I didn't really LOVE either of them at first. And the one I thought I liked more Austin didn't like. The more I looked at it though I realized it was almost tan, and we didn't want that. So he tried the other one on. Thankfully, he looked awesome in it. I was still kind of sad that I didn't get to see a bunch of different options, but it really made our job easier.

We saw the colorful vests so I pulled out my handy dandy wedding planner where I had a color sheet with the exact colors of the bridesmaids dresses. The colorful vests were a renting option only, so one of the women in charge of rentals came over (thankfully not the same one that greeted us). They all let me lay out some of the vests on the jacket we had decided on and mismatched ties and what-not. I was having fun, but in the end we settled on grey vests. Which looked classiest.

When it was time to go I didn't want Austin to change back into his clothes. He looked so handsome. We were filling out paperwork and when Charles saw my last name he said "Appel... Appel... Are you related to a music teacher?" I said "Yeah! That's my Uncle!" Then we talked about him for a while and Charles said "I've been helping dress that man for 15 years." I got a good laugh out of that because literally all my uncle wears are suits.

We were probably there for an hour and a half. Not bad, I thought. Then we had a delicious lunch at Outback to end our day out.

All in all it was a fun day.

And I can't wait until the next time I see him in his suit again when I'm walking down the aisle towards him to become his permanent Best Friend Forever.

Will You Be My Bridesmaid?

I wanted to think of an original way to ask my bridesmaids to be in my wedding, but I didn't have a lot of extra money to buy them fancy gifts. I've really been trying to work my personality and interests into every aspect of this wedding. So I scoured Pinterest for cute ideas. I couldn't find anything that I really liked that I hadn't already seen before.

I knew I wanted to incorporate Harry Potter. So I started with quotes. I wrote down some of my favorites and some of the more popular ones when it hit me. "Duh... The wand chooses the wizard!" I knew exactly what to do.

So now I was searching all over Etsy for wands. Yes I could have made my own, but I was planning a wedding... I didn't have time for that! So I found this awesome shop (MadDragonStudio) that sold 10 wands for $100. At $10 a wand, that's a really good deal. The shop owner even took special requests so I asked her to add a little purple to them because they were my wedding colors. She obliged and the wands were so adorable! She even packaged them really cute!

Next I found a Harry Potter font online and printed out slips of paper that said "The wand chooses the wizard... And the bride chooses the bridesmaids... Will you be my bridesmaid?"

I wanted to find boxes to put them all in but I am very inpatient and was just way to excited. So I wrapped one in paper and tied it with twine and drove straight over to my sisters house and gave her hers. Then she and I went to Joann Fabrics to look for boxes but what did we find instead? OWLS. Adorable decorative owls. BETTER IDEA! I let my sister pick out which one she wanted and we bought enough for all the maids.

Then we wrapped all the wands in paper and twine with the note inside and tied them to the owls feet. It was so exciting and I felt very proud of myself. Unfortunately I had just made my trip to Pennsylvania to visit my cousins and ask them to be in the wedding with a promise of an official request to come (impatient, remember?). So I packed theirs up in a box and mailed it. My sister and I joked that to make the owls more realistic we should spring load them so they "fly out" when the box was opened but alas... The amazing things we could do if we had more money. Anyways... I think they were well received none the less.

Worth The Wait

There has been something on my mind for a while now that I want to share with you all.

You know how you can complain about your family but the second someone else does you're just like "Oh no... I'm sorry... You shut your face."

Well for the past year I have been hinting (if you can call it that) and teasing Austin relentlessly about getting married and how it's about time for him to propose and "Oh we're on a ferris wheel and you forgot the ring again." kind of jokes. But when other people say "It's about time." or "Took him long enough." well... I'm sorry. Shut your face.

I grew up in a family where my grandmom was married at 16, my mom at 19, and my sister at 20. So when Austin and I started dating I just assumed one or two years in you get married. It's the next step. That's just what you do. And I was a real brat about it. I would get seriously upset and offended when Austin would say "We're not ready yet." thinking he didn't take us seriously.

I cannot tell you how thankful I am that he was wise enough to know, we really truly were not ready. If we had gotten married years ago... It would have been a disaster. This goes for both of us but mostly me I think. We were selfish, still a little rebellious and angry at the world, emotional, and very, VERY, immature.

I have confidence that we are 100% ready for marriage at this point in our lives. We have both grown up and matured a lot. We have been through unspeakable situations together and come out stronger and wiser. I used to just leave when we would get in fights. Now we rarely even argue because we already know each other so well, and we respect and value each others opinions. Not to say I think we won't ever fight after we're married because of course we will. But we know how to handle each other and talk to each other. And most importantly, we know how to forgive each other.

Another reason I'm glad we waited over four years. I know people have waited longer than us, been farther apart than us, or just had it worse than us. But that doesn't mean that it hasn't seemed like I've waited an eternity for this. I thought we would never get married. If you've seen our proposal pictures than you know by the look on my face that I had no idea it was coming. It took me a week to stop shaking with excitement and for my heart to stop racing. For this reason, I will never take my marriage for granted. I will never think we got married just because "it's what people do" or "it's the next step." Marriage is a privilege and a gift that I will never stop being grateful for. I could not appreciate my fiance' and everything he does for me more if I tried.

And one more reason... You never stop learning. Sometimes I still forget he hates coconut even after all these years. We've been close friends for almost 7 years now. And hanging out with the same group of friends even longer. He just told me a story this past weekend that I had never heard before. I'm stilling learning new things about him all the time. I am comforted in the fact that I know who my fiance' is... I know this mans heart and he knows mine. But there are still mysteries to be uncovered and adventures to be had.

I don't have a sliver of doubt in my mind or a nervous bone in my body.

Where as if we had gotten married when I and the world thought we should have years ago. We would be damaged and hurt, and maybe never even learned to love each other the way we do now. So next time I say to my man "It sure took you long enough!" that's just my pride speaking. Because he was right, and I was wrong, and I'm more than ready to admit that. 

Engagement Photos

So those of you who have heard "our proposal" story know that Austin hired a photographer to document the whole thing. Because he is truly just so awesome. I was so so grateful that he did too because I just HAVE to have pictures of EVERYTHING. And I didn't really know what was going on so it was really cool to look back on it all later. However... our nerves were so wacky and we were both just so ... so.... hmmm... a word doesn't yet exist to describe how we felt in that moment... but even though I love our pictures from that night, all I really wanted to do while she was taking them was collapse in bed and take time to calm down and comprehend that this was all really happening. Instead we were surrounded by thousands of people we didn't know, a photographer (who was very sweet) but we also didn't know, and it was all just overwhelming and uncomfortable.

Here are a few of the better shots from that night.

Photo credit Petronella Photography

"Um YEAH!" is what I meant to say...

"What? I'm not about to throw up. It's all good."

"If we get hit by a car right now...."

"TAKE THREE!"

Those are the best of us out of the 50 that she gave us. We didn't look so hot in most of them. Also, I love the dress that I'm wearing but it isn't exactly "family appropriate" in my opinion. I didn't want to send a save the date to my grandparents like "Hey Grandma! I'm getting married! Try not to look directly into my boobs." Sorry I know I know... But you see what I'm saying? I thought I was just having a night out in NYC with my boyfriend when I got dressed that night and wasn't happy about my decision later. But how could I have known? Aaaaaanywaaays... all of this to say....

I asked a very dear friend of mine who is going to be a famous photographer because she takes truly amazing photos if she would take our engagement photos, part 2.

I had my hair dyed a new color because it was turning a nasty shade of green and my sister/maid of honor curled my hair the morning of and made it look real pretty. I got my ring cleaned and spent extra time on my lipstick (thankfully because she got pretty close up a couple times).

The weather literally could not have been more perfect. Cool with a warm breeze and sunshine. We went to Jerusalem Mills Historic Village which is close to my neighborhood and is kind of the "go to" place when you need pictures taken. So I picked up my balloons (I decided I needed balloons and I'm so glad I did) and we all met up for what turned out to be an absolute blast. 

I seriously can't even tell you how happy it made me to have that time dedicated to smiling with my man. I don't think any of our smiles were fake because we were just so genuinely happy. I would strongly urge every couple to do this every few years at least. I hope we do. We walked around, held hands, kissed, sat side by side or back to back, the balloons were a lot of fun too. Forget dinner and a movie. Grab a photographer you are really comfortable with and your man (or woman) and go for a walk. There was a lot of giggling on my part because I was just so giddy. And not just because we are engaged. There is something about staring deeply into the eyes of the person you love and being held close... I just kept thinking "How am I so lucky to have you?" I think it's really important to remember daily how important your "special someone" is to you. It was almost like "Oh, hi. Remember how in love we are?" Does that sound crazy? Well... I don't really care.

I want to share them ALL! But here are just a few of my favorites. (Gotta save some for Save The Dates.)

Photo credit Cora Hopper Donelson

Making us laugh.

 "I don't know what to do with my hands..."

This is without a doubt, my favorite picture of my ring. The leaf is perfect, and the diamonds against the wood is just amazing... I've stared at this one too long already and I've only had these pictures for 2 days.

Cora was amazing. She photographed EVERYTHING that popped into my head. Even if it seemed like it wouldn't work or if it was hard to get a good angle on something. She worked so hard and I am so happy with every single picture we got back.