Wednesday, September 30, 2009

New Name by Andrea

It's official.... I have a new last name. I went to the social security office (which smelled like alcoholics and stale cigarette smoke) and applied for a new card, then went to the DMV to get a new drivers license. I reeeeeally hoped they wouldn't make me take a new picture...my old one was pretty cute. I begged and pleaded, but apparently when you change your name, they assume your face changes too. So I guess I look "married" now. My hair was horrible, but my lovely Mexican suntan made the picture much nicer than I expected. Then I went to the bank to change my name in the system, and I kept forgetting how to sign my new last name. The banker told me that after 20+ years of marriage, her maiden signature still pops up on occasion and makes her wonder where the heck that came from. It's just something that takes some getting used to, and my fingers will need to be re-trained.

Speaking of new names.... since Andre and I have pretty much the same first name, and we both have wedding couple photos as our profile pictures, I realize that our Facebook accounts were almost identical. So I tried adding my middle initial to help distinguish the two, but some folks still were confused. So now I have my full first, middle and last name posted on Facebook. Good thing I like my middle name...because if it was Bertha or something ugly like that (my sincerest apologies to anyone named Bertha who might be reading this), I would just have to let our Facebook friends guess which Dre they're leaving messages for. It makes social networking more challenging and interesting, I think.

El Sol de Mexico by Andrea

Picture: Wedding band tans
Hola Amigos y Familia! We are back from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, tanned and happy. I'm not going to go into detail about all the honeymoon activities (I'm making Dre write that blog since he's been noticeably absent from all the engagement blogs LOL). But we had an AWESOME time! We decided that honeymoons are not just a nice little vacation for the newlyweds....no, the honeymoon is a mandatory requirement in order for the bride and groom to recover their sanity and apologize to each other for any mean streaks or otherwise unloving behavior during the wedding planning process. We NEEDED this vacation. It was a chance for us to talk about the ceremony and the reception...our thoughts, our feelings, what we think went well, and what we think could have been done better.

The overall conclusion was that we really wish we could go back and attend our own wedding as guests. We've been hearing all the buzz about how much fun everyone had, and that they really enjoyed the day....so we're kinda jealous that we couldn't just sit back and watch the show :)

But thanks to everyone for posting so many pictures on Facebook!! We didn't have our camera the whole day, so the paparazzi really came in handy. We are so blessed to have such an incredible support network...we both really felt the love in the room :)Andrea

Other people's weddings by Kelly

A week from Friday Jake and I will be going to my friend's wedding. I am super excited for it. It will only be my 2nd friend wedding that I am going to. I don't have a clue what is going on with work, I hope I can get out early enough to go to the actual wedding. I hate hate hate when people just go to the reception. It seems like they just want free food and drinks. I mean obviously if you have a legit reason, it's OK to just go to one. But if you are perfectly capable of going to the wedding, go. Although honestly, I don't have a clue who was at my wedding and who wasn't. Not a clue. I like watching people get married. It's nice. I usually cry at other people's weddings. I definitely didn't cry at my own. Whoops.

I also can't wait to wedding dress shop. OK, I can't wait to buy a new dress to wear to the wedding. I already have a wedding dress that I don't know what to do with. I was thinking about making it a habit to just wear it out on Saturday nights. Then I can pretend it is my wedding day all over again.

Unfortunately I work most Saturdays so customers might think my boss is a jerk for making me work on my wedding day. And repeat customers will wonder why I have so many husbands. Kelly

Monday, September 28, 2009

Relaxed by Kelly

That was perfect. Just spent two days at my aunt Laurie's house in Iowa. I can't get over how relaxed I am there. I walked in the door and instantly felt great. We didn't do anything too crazy. Ate dinner and then hung out and talked. Me, my mom, and my cousin went to garage and estate sales on Friday. I found my dream couch. Unfortunately you can't fit two leather couches inside of our corvette (or minivan). So my dream couches remain in Iowa.

Now I am back home. Actually I am back at work. We are having a fashion show here today. Only a few hours until a model "accidentally" is injured and I have to take her place. I am every modeling agents dream....short, chubby, and refuse to wear shoes other than converse and nikes. Kelly

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Forks by Kelly


I think I have managed to do a pretty good job of convincing people that I am almost 28. I have a decent job, seem grown up enough. Unfortunately I am actually a 13 year old. I have a disgusting Twilight obsession. It keeps getting worse. It was really bad when I first read the books. I happened to be at Jake's place at the time in Tacoma. So I begged him to take me to Forks (where it takes place). Forks is only 3 hours away. No big deal. But he didn't. The obsession calmed down a bit.

Until about a month ago. I decided to read all of the books again. Then we went to Tacoma to surprise everyone a few weeks ago. One morning I woke up and asked Jake what we were doing. He looked at me like I was an idiot and said "going to Forks."

So off we went. The two of us plus his brother Troy and his girlfriend Ashlee. Troys girlfriend, not Jake's girlfriend. It was quite a long drive. When we were about a mile away a truck sent a boulder into Troys windshield. That wasn't cool.

I won't bore you with the details on how I geeked it out all day. But it was amazing. We went to Port Angeles, Forks, and La Push. La Push is a ridiculously nice beach. it was supposed to be about a 2 mile walk to the beach but we learned if you take some weird off the path trail (which was a tsunami evacuation route) it only took about 7 minutes.

So Jake is by far the best husband ever. He put up with that crap for an entire day. We left about 9am and got home about 10:30pm. He wasted an entire day of his vacation just to let me be the worlds biggest (almost) 28 year old nerd.

Did you notice all of the 28 year old business? 50 shopping days left til my bday! I like shoes. Size 8 in converse, 8.5 in Nikes. Neon. As neon as they come. Kelly

Iowa and birthday by Kelly


I have two days off in a row tomorrow and Friday. Am I going to spend the time hanging with my hubby? No way. He has to work anyway. I am going to one of my favorite places ever. Bettendorf, Iowa. Totally not kidding. I love it there. It's so relaxing. I feel like it gives me an excuse to go shopping and waste a ton of money. It'll be great.

Yesterday was Haylie the dog's 5th birthday. I forgot to wish her happy birthday. I bet she's so mad. Jake asked if he could buy her the new Halo game. I told him he better since the day before I had bought her 7 magazine subscriptions and 4 pairs of jeans. He's decided to just buy her a telescope.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

I Need a Vacation by Kelly


I need a vacation. I can't get it out of my brain. I want to take a second honeymoon. You can do that at 6 months right? Normally people take vacations every 6 months...that's what I've heard. Heard...made up...same thing.

Hopefully in February we are going to Italy for one of my bridesmaids' wedding. Our original plan was to go to Italy, France, and London. If we are going to go on that long of a flight...might as well make it worth it. That gets insanely expensive though. But yesterday I decided I just want to go to Italy. then head off to somewhere tropical. Work won't let me take off for 2 big trips. So I'll just take one extra long trip. Actually work won't be happy with me taking off any time but that's ok. I will make it happen.

I just want to lay on a beach somewhere. Maybe I will make Jake move with me. To some lovely all inclusive place. Maybe we can own a place. OK good, new life goal.

Also congrats Drea and Dre!! Now hopefully we can all do karaoke soon. Kelly

Monday, September 21, 2009

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Waterworks by Andrea

So Wednesday officially starts my vacation....and the last week or so at work has been way more stressful than usual, so I'm more than ready to be gone for 2 weeks.

On 9/9/09 in the middle of another crazy day at the office, I got an unexpected delivery. Dre sent me a gorgeous bouquet of colorful mixed flowers with a note that said "To my wife to be. This is to make the rest of your days at work a little more enjoyable." I cried. And then my coworker asked how I would make it through the wedding if a bouquet of flowers makes me cry.

Honestly, I think I'll be crying a lot on the big day....too much happy emotion flowing at once. Good thing I'm investing in some quality waterproof mascara. Andrea

Monday, September 14, 2009

My Brain Is Mush by Andrea

For some reason I can't seem to be able to retain information anymore. If its not written down, chances are, I'll forget completely within the hour. And sometimes even if it is written down, I'll forget where I put the Post-It note. I don't think I've ever been this stressed for this length of time...and I've never had so many things on my to-do list at one time. Even besides all the wedding stuff, I've got several major projects that I'm working on at the office, and one of my coworkers is out on vacation so I'm picking up her project list too. Far too much for one brain to hold. I wonder if stress causes permanent memory loss?? I'm really hoping this is all temporary and that perhaps this is just my mind's defense mechanism preventing it from exploding from the information overload. Honestly, I'm surprised I remembered to blog about it....Andrea

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

What we're looking forward to by Andrea

“What is the one thing you are most looking forward to?”

I’ve been thinking about that a lot over the last few weeks. There’s so much to do, and plan, and consider for wedding day…I really just want to be done with all this logistical stuff and get to the party. But the wedding is day one of the rest of our lives together, and I can honestly say that I’m mostly looking forward to just being with my husband. Dinner for two by candlelight, watching movies, grocery shopping together, watching HGTV and Food Network on Saturday mornings, going to Mass on Sundays, playing video games together (or me watching Dre play video games)...you know, all the stuff we already do, but as an official little family of two.

When I asked Dre, he told me the number one thing he’s looking forward to is me having his last name. His grandma actually told me that same thing last week; that Dre is excited about the last name. Their family is pretty small, and with various marriages and remarriages and whatnot, there are very few people left with the family name.

So eventually when we’re ready to add to our little family of two, we’ll be starting our own branch of the family tree and carrying on the last name. Now that’s really something to look forward to and get excited about! Andrea

Bridal Shower by Andrea


My friends are awesome. Last Sunday, Parian and Steph planned and hosted the most beautifully fabulous bridal shower a girl could ask for. We had good wine, good food, and good…no, GREAT company. The only questionable element was the “hideously fantastic” veil they forced me to wear. It had a giant cardboard diamond ring perched on the top of a fuzzy silver headband, with that obnoxious fishnet stuff flowing down the back….(wait, it gets worse) to which my crafty little friends attached several fall-colored maple leaves to enhance the theme of the wedding. Yikes and a half.

But despite the insanely ugly headgear (which will become the new tradition at all future bridal showers), the shower was a true blessing. I literally felt the “shower” of love from all the wonderful women who love me and are part of my support system. Four of Dre’s co-workers came, and even though I’m sure they like me, their presence on Sunday was really a testament to their affection for and support of Dre.

Overall, I really don’t have words to describe the love I felt… I just hope I don’t cry again on the wedding day! :) Andrea