A Unique Wedding Gift

So for those who know me, you know a lot of changes have been going on right now around this household. We got married in October, had a phenomenal honeymoon, found out we were expecting right before Christmas, had our house hit by a tornado, went on a fabulous babymoon and had a dear cousin murdered. Crazy ups and down right?!? Well in the midst of preparing for the baby we enlisted the help of some talented girls and friends of Henry to re-vamp our office to double as an office/guest bedroom before baby Coraline arrives. While going through all the stuff to determine what needs to be kept and what has been held onto for so long and REALLY needs to be trash I found a unique wedding gift that brought tears to my eyes.

My sister gave me this heartfelt gift the day of our wedding. Whether it was her idea or someone else's I have no idea, but all I can say is this was the best idea ever. She sent out a message/email/text to everyone close to us and asked them to write a letter to me. She then compiled all the letters and put them into a hard bound book with an engagement photo on the front of the book.

Reading these letters only reminded me why I love not only Henry, but my friends and family so very much. Their kind, heartfelt words mean the world to me, especially in such a hard time right now with the murder of my cousin being only a week old, our house still in disarray from the tornado, and Henry working out of town. I attached just a few of the letters below.

To those who wrote the letters listed below, I hope you do not mind me sharing such personal letters. If it bothers you or you wish to keep them private, please do not hesitate to let me know and I will gladly take them down. 

I love you all more than words will ever express!

The first page of the book

Mother-in-law

Henry's Aunt

Sister-in-law Part 1

Sister-in-law Part 2

Bridesmaid Lauryn

Bridesmaid Danni Part 1

Bridesmaid Danni Part 2

Bridesmaid Riki

Maid of Honor, Seester Stefanie

Guess who folded this nifty letter?

The best of them all! The sweetest letter from my husband that literally made me cry.
I am truly blessed to be married to such a wonderful, loving guy. 

My sister included this in the back once she was finished at the rehearsal dinner. It was an amazing speech that had almost everyone in tears, including each other. Especially the part about Henry including us as a package deal and not trying to keep us apart. I don't think anyone can comprehend the meaning of this to myself and my sister, and Henry just did it naturally.

Maid of Honor Speech Part 1

Maid of Honor Speech Part 2

Expanding Your Baby Registry To New Levels

Expanding your baby registry to new levels? What could this mean? 

It means something pretty freakin' fabulous if you ask me! Thanks to a friend of a friend (Taylor from Pink Heels Pink Truck's friend Lauren from Our Hiding Place) I learned how to expand our Amazon Baby Registry - Yes Amazon - to websites like Etsy, Aggieland Outfitters, and various other websites! For die-hard Aggies like myself this is TOO COOL! Because all those cute Aggie gifts I thought I couldn't register for because they were in Aggieland and no registries are offered at those stores, have now been made available!! All thanks to Amazon's button that is similar to the Pinterest "Pin It" button.

Let me explain.

Add items to your Registry or Wish List from any website using that link. It will add a little button with the Amazon symbol right next to your forward and backward browser buttons. Now while browsing various websites where maybe you want only one item, or where they don't offer a registry, you can add this to your Amazon wish list, baby registry or even wedding registry! 

Pretty fan-freakin-tastic isn't it? 

To Be Or Not To Be....That Is A Very Good Question.

Please be mindful of any comments you decide to leave, it took a lot to post this and open up.

The random quotes are quotes I have found and love. All can be found here: Pinterest: Words of Wisdom

As most of you know, I am pregnant! Henry and I are learned we are expecting our first child just a few short months following our wedding we planned for 2 1/2 years.

During our wedding planning process I learned a lot about myself, Henry, our personal styles and who in our life was really willing to go the extra mile, and who just wanted to be present when there was a crowd to save-face. 

I had friends and family willing to do whatever they could whether they lived down the street or hours away. People driving hours to be there for me just for a day, people skyping with me to see what they could do to help and people doing something as simple as texting me and asking if I was ok. Wedding planning was stressful people! LOL I definitely learned, no matter how much time you have, something will go wrong. It's inevitable. You just have to grit your teeth and laugh it off. 

Then there were other friends and family members that claimed they would do this or that, wanted to help this way or that way, but when it came down to it, they were no where to be found. BUT the day of the wedding they were there showing their pearly whites and acting like they had been there for me the entire process. 

Now that I am pregnant I find some of the same people, doing the same thing. 

To be or not to be a part of my life, that is the question. 

How many chances do you give someone?

 How long do you go on pretending you don't care? 

How long do you pretend their snide comments don't bother you?

How long do you allow them to pretend to the world they are your best "friend" and would do anything for you, when in fact behind closed doors they do nothing?

Going to college was a real eye-opener for me. I got to meet a lot of new people, and see how other people lived their lives. How different relationships functioned. I learned that some of the relationships I had thought were normal, were actually extremely dysfunctional, such as my boyfriend of 5 years at the time. Holy Guacamole was that the most dysfunctional relationship ever, but before going to college, I thought it was the bees-knees. Sad really.

Talking with my amazing sister-in-law today at lunch made me realize a lot. I love her much like my own little sister because both ladies are real. They don't pretend to be someone they are not. They are honest, truthful even when the truth hurts, real, smart, funny, dependable and so much more than a girl could dream of asking for from two women. I know I can talk to either girl, tell them the truth, even when it may be negative towards them and they listen with open ears and hearts. I don't ever have to feel like I am walking on glass when talking to them and same for them with me. The only other girls in my life that are this way would be my best friends Danni, Taylor and Riki. Another great thing about all these ladies and we all know, you don't say something behind someones back if you would be ashamed if they found out, or wouldn't say it to their face. It's a way a lot of women should be, but sadly in our society a lot of women gossip and honestly don't know how to be REAL.

I realized I am exerting a lot of wonderful energy on things that don't deserve energy at all. I am pregnant for petes sake and could be using all this productive energy on the future nursery, shopping, scrapbooking, re-organzing my craft room, taking day trips, surprising the Hubby with a new garage work-station, and oh, did I mention shopping? I am GREAT at shopping. HA! 

There are always going to be people in your life who love you and tolerate you through good and bad. 

Kind of like wedding vows. 

People who not only expect respect, but give it to.

No one is perfect.

People fuck up. Pardon my french.

At the end of the day it is up to you who you allow in your life. 

You choose who to give your time and energy too.

No one can force you to do anything you truly don't want to do.

"Sister is probably the most competitive relationship within the family, but once the sisters are grown, it becomes the strong relationship." Margaret Mead

Wedding Eve Bash

Henry and I opted for a less traditional Rehearsal Dinner.

Most rehearsal dinner's are for intimate family members and the wedding party.

We invited extended family who were already in town for our out-of-town wedding, wedding party members and their families, and friends in general. We held it at a local bar - the bar where Henry first saw me to be correct - Daisy Dukes. It was a country bar, so the natural decor and setting was perfect for our theme and required no extra decorations. They had a large screen and projector for a slideshow at no extra charge, bars to provide alcohol, djs to play music, and are owned by the same people who own La Bodega, our favorite restaurant, so catering was rolled into the package. It was simple and easy. 

We decided to hold toasts at the rehearsal instead of the day of the wedding due to social anxieties and knowing that our group likes to get rowdy and drink....which could result in a speech only few would understand anyway. It was a great idea I feel because it was more intimate and didn't waste time at the wedding. Although I am sure those at the wedding who weren't at the rehearsal were a little baffled on why we didn't hold an official toast. 

Uncle Billy and Uncle Warren

Uncle Mark and Cousin Matthew, Usher, girlfriend, Kaitlin

Aunt Shiela and Cousin Laura

Cousin's Shaye and Aimee, Niece Wheezy 

Fabulous friends, Lorenzo and Leslie! You will be seeing much more of them in the blogs to come.

Henry had taken the guys to a Rangers game earlier in the year for their groomsmen gifts, so the bridesmaid and flower girls opened their gifts at the rehearsal dinner. Each bridesmaid was gifted a different Coach wristlet. Each wristlet then had a mini-survival kit tucked inside: Disposable toothbrush, disposable floss/toothpick, nail file, tissues and compact hair brush/mirror.

All the girls reading their Thank You cards.

Sister/Maid of Honor, Stefanie, and Cousin, Megan

Longest friend, Airika

College Best Friends, Danni and Lauryn

All the girls from left to right: Airika, Megan, Audrey (sister-in-law), Danni, Lauryn, Stefanie

The flower girls received little fairytale princess dress-up packages. Each package had a veil with a tiara, a wand and a ring - so they could dress up with the bride-to-be. 

Baby cousin, Shaye 

Niece, Ariana, also known as "Wheezy"

My bridesmaid, Danni, put together a wonderful heartfelt slideshow compiled of numerous photos which she had broken down into "chapters" - Meet Heather, Meet Henry, Meet their friends and Family, Heather and Henry as a couple. It had almost everyone in tears and laughing. 

Lovely friend, Leslie

Hubby and myself laughing at photos on the slideshow

In-laws - I am suppose to state for the record they both were crying.

Kenny 

Fabulous, life-saving, in-law Aunt Terri!

Uncle Mark and Aunt Marilyn

Everyone enjoying the slideshow

The toasts were amazing. It was funny because as we mentioned time for speeches my sister and Casey kind of danced around each other trying to pick who would go first. Finally my sister said, "Fine, Ill go first!" and walks up to the front to claim the microphone. She then proceeds to whip out a long, pre-typed speech. I was cracking up! My favorite part was how she said she loved Henry for accepting us a package deal, he never tried to separate us as sisters, allowed her to tag along on outings and allowed her to help on the most important things, picking out my ring and the proposal - and made her feel loved on all occasions. I had never thought of that before, but it was true. Henry treated my sister like she was his sister too, and it made my heart smile hearing what wonderful things my sister had to say about my future hubby and how she adored him as a brother too. 

My sister, Stefanie, giving her speech.

This is where the great part of him accepting her as my sister came in - the water works are in full flow.

Love my little sister - and our 2nd cousin decides to jump in on the hugs. <3

Casey apparently was not aware we were giving a speech that night, so he had to wing it. LOL But he did a phenomenal job. I honestly did not expect such a well delivered speech. He had everyone bursting into laughter when he said He knew Henry and I were serious because Henry refused to bring me around any of them for the first few months.
 SO TRUE!
Henry said he was afraid his friends would scare me off - he was right. Had I not been so in love with Henry, his rowdy friends probably would have been too much to handle up front. I had never met so many guys who could party and drink so much! And I drank and partied a lot, I had just turned 21 when I met Henry, so the partying had just begun.
His friends were another breed. 

Someone recorded Casey's speech, I need to find them.

Good 'ole Casey steps up to the plate.

 
 

 

After it was all done, most people stayed out and partied. Henry went back to his friend Justin and Lacey's house, where I proceeded to my hotel room with my bridesmaids and about 10 bottles of wine.

Henry and his Niece, Alanna

All teary eyed with my Great Uncle Joe all the way from Cali and my Mom.

Greatest Father-in-law in the world!

Mom and Sister

Our fabulous photographer, Michelle, followed us to the hotel room to capture us goofing off and jumping on the bed. However our goofing off was cut short due to the room next door pounding at the wall every time we started laughing. Damn fun suckers! It was like 10 pm on a Friday! Sheesh.

 

It was a great Wedding Eve Bash before the Big Day!