Christmas!!!!

So, I have been politely (albeit sternly) informed that it is my turn and responsibility to post on the site. At least I get the easy topic of telling you all how our Christmas was.

We started our morning nice and early at Lauren's house. Lauren and I got up and exchanged our gifts to each other first. She got me some awesome guitar equipment that I really wanted and am VERY excited about. She also got me a CD, a sock monkey, some trail mix, and some awesome christmas ornaments. She also got me the Office season 3 and a really hard to find Muppets/Sesame Street/Fraggle Rock christmas movie that I watched when I was a kid. She did a great job!

I got her some scarves, a purse and wallet, some shoes, Aveda hairspray (so she'll stop "borrowing" her mom's), some lip gloss stuff, and the big thing was a bunch of paints and new really nice paint brushes and some blank canvases. She is an awesome artist and I'm excited for her to get back to painting and paint some cool things for our apartment once we move in!!

So after that we gave her parents their presents and got some nice things from them. Then we headed over to my mom's house for christmas morning. The kids were all ready and waiting in the living room for us when we got there so they could start opening their presents. Katie and her boyfriend Dustin were there too which was really nice. It felt like a great family christmas, it just would have been a little better if Chris would have been able to be there. So we opened all our gifts and then had mom's traditional HUGE christmas brunch. Sausage, bacon, hash browns, egg casserole, raspberry bars, cinnamon rolls, fruit salad.... needless to say, I ate waaaaay too much. It was totally worth it.

After brunch we watched the christmas movie that Lauren had got me and then after a quick stop at the Bradford's to drop off a present, we packed up and headed back over to Lauren's. Her sister and brother-in-law were over with the kids and we had a very nice christmas dinner. Judy made one of the biggest turkey's that I had ever seen. There is TONS of it left in fridge which is good for me because that means turkey sandwiches and turkey soup for a nice while :)

After that we watched some basketball for a few hours, including a nail-biter Cleveland Cavs game (which they won) and then settled our brains for a nice christmas sleep.

So... that was the very first christmas "Tim and Lauren"-style. The first of many to come. 

I can't wait.

-Tim

3 days till Christmas!

Tim and I are SO excited to celebrate Christmas together! I can't wait for all the holiday festivities to begin in a few days :) Tim can't wait to watch Charlie Brown Christmas (which I still haven't seen) and has been talking about it for a few months now.

Last week we visited with some friends who just had a baby - so cute! - and watched the Nightmare Before Christmas (I'm trying to get all holiday movie viewings in to make up for last year.) We also just saw Wall*E for the first time and LOVED it. We watched it 3 times in 48 hours!

I also recently had to deal with another flat tire - my second this year. I think it was due in part to the fact that I bent the rim on the same wheel, last time I had a flat. So Timmy came to the rescue and changed it for me, and then I discovered that you could order a new tire rim online, which I did. I don't know why I find that odd, but....it just is.

This weekend we were supposed to be in Canada for my first wedding shower, but unfortunately they were calling for snow storms. So instead we drove up to Fort Erie where we met a few family members and had lunch at Kelsey's. In true form I ordered a Sonoma Valley Chicken Salad - hold the chicken - and a side order of pickles. SO good. About 7 hours driving time for a 2 hour lunch! Tim and I had it fairly easy though since we just sat in the back and slept or watched Arrested Development. We also received the world's best salad spinner from my parents and some other great gifts...not to mention the chance to see the family...so I suppose it was all worth it in the end!

Today two of my bridesmaids confirmed they have their plane tickets for the wedding! I am SO excited because they are two of my oldest, dearest friends from England, and we haven't seen each other since I moved back to the States two years ago. I am trying to think of some fun activities we can do while they're here - though Cleveland in February doesn't exactly lend itself to many entertaining possibilities.

Just over two months before the big day!! It feels like it's never going to get here!

I can't wait!

lauren.

Festive Weekend

This weekend was full of Christmas activities - some better than others!

The first was a Christmas concert we took Tim's family to at a local church. There'd been a lot of buzz surrounding the concert and it seems to be known as one of the best Christmas shows in our area. 

We hated it. 

It was hands down the worst Christmas concert I've ever been to and in some ways one of the worst Church events either of us have witnessed. We felt so bad that Tim's family had to endure the same painful experience - on so many levels. Bahhhhhhhhhh what a waste of time and money. That said - a lot of people there looked like they were having a blast (though we can't understand it) - so perhaps it's just us.

Next on the agenda was the Ugly Sweater Party at our friends Ashley and Jason's. Tim and I had gone out earlier in the day to find some hideous sweaters at the Salvation army. And for less than $10 we got the lovely outfits you see above. While Tim's, in some contexts, might be considered old school vintage, mine was just downright ugly. It was straight out of the eighties - complete with shoulder pads! - and the definition of tacky with little plastic jewels sewn on and the added touch of angora detailing on one arm. It even smelled like outdated perfume....which is actually pretty gross. Needless to say, whenever I put it on I did my best to not allow the fabric to touch my face. Unwashed, used clothing creeps me out.

This coming weekend we are headed to Canada again for the first of the wedding showers!! We can't wait. It'll be good to see our family and friends again before the holidays.

10 more days till Christmas!

love lauren.

Wedding Stuff.

Things are (somewhat) in full swing in the way of getting things prepared for the big day.

I stopped over Tim's mom's today to check out the invitations she's designing : amazing. They couldn't more perfect and completely in line with what I'd envisioned. The incredible thing is that I really didn't give her any ideas for what I wanted - just the three colors we are incorporating into the wedding. I was so thrilled with them I almost started to cry, but gave her a great big hug instead. I keep telling her she should start her own business. The woman is a creative genius.

I also picked the processional song for my bridesmaids and myself - it's going to be a surprise for Tim - I'm pretty certain he'll like it. It holds significant meaning for me, and I think its beautiful to begin with, but I played it for some ladies at work and they gave me the thumbs up as well. Of course, I may come across something even better before February 28, but I feel pretty confident that the song I have in mind is the keeper.

The other major thing that I keep hemming and hawing over is chair covers. It sounds trivial but those things really make the room a dazzler. Naturally they're one of those most expensive aspects of the event, hence my apprehension. But I've ok'ed it with my incredibly generous parents a few times, so....we're going to go with it. My only consolation for the expense is knowing that I cut out a lot of typical wedding expenses by calling on friends instead of paid professionals to get things taken care of including the cake, the d-jaying of the music, and the photographer (Emily, I know they'll turn out awesome!)

Thanks to all of you who have helped me along so far - you've made my job as a bride so much more relaxing!!! I can't wait to see it all come together on February 28th. 

It's going to be beautiful!

lauren.

Couch!

We bought our couch! We are very excited about it. It's a nice buttery cream color with awesome throw pillows, and most importantly - very comfy! We spent a little bit more than we had planned, but because much of our apartment will be furnished with hand-me-down stuff we felt ok about splurging on this one item.

I recently started reading the Twilight saga. I admit at first I was very skeptical, especially considering the mayhem that surrounds the movie and how obsessed young girls have become with wanting to actually be vampires. But then a friend of mine started talking them up, and my interested was piqued and well....now I'm almost done with the second book and loving it.

Tim's reading them too now :D

New Site

So... sadly our other (awesome!) site came to a premature end due to unforeseen circumstances, so we've had to relocate to blogger which admittedly is not as glamorous as our Mac one, but it'll do the job.

BTW - please please please comment, we'd love to hear from those of you that are following our journey :)

I realized we had been lagging on posting entries anyhow...so I think we're due to update everyone on what's new...in bullet point form:

• A few weekends ago we visited my sister and her family in Ontario which was lots of fun. We ate lots of good food, got up early to watch Bob the Builder with my nephew Joel, went shopping at a great antique store, and spent quality time with my Nan and aunt.
• We spent Thanksgiving with Tim's family at his mom's house, and enjoyed a lovely dinner. The next day we returned to help her with the Christmas decorating which was lots of fun. We got to watch Muppet's Christmas Carol, which is one of our holiday favorites!
• We went to see Eric Hutchinson at the Beachland Ballroom - an artist we discovered at a Missy Higgins concert. It was a great night, and his opening acts were awesome. We especially liked Meaghan Smith - a rather new artist, with a 40s feel to her mellow sounds.
• We went for our wedding meal tasting at the 100th Bomb Group - the amazing place we'll be having our wedding reception. The food couldn't have been more delicious and we are so excited for our guests to be just as thrilled as we were.

Well that pretty much sums up the past two weeks. We will both try to get back to posting more regular entries.

Tomorrow (or Monday) we are going to buy a couch for our apartment that we are super excited about. Less than 90 days before we get to enjoy it in our new life together!

love.

lauren.