Few More Days

So I wanted to drop in and update just a bit before it's full time wedding mania.  Like has been so wild the last few weeks, it's so hard to even recall all the little "emergencies" we've taken care of.  I am moving out this week, which seems to add a whole new level of it all.  I seriously love my MOH who has been doing ALL my laundry this week to help me pack... she seriously takes this title to the next level.

And you know with each new change comes a whole range of emotions, too.  In some ways, this day couldn't come soon enough, I feel like I have wanted to be married to Cal for ages now.  But then there's other things that freak me out... like how little kids may call me MRS. Craft and how I feel like my friendships may change in some ways.  But then sitting in our apartment on our couch talking to Cal makes me realize how much I NEED this in my life.  Generally, I'm just overall pumped.  I can't wait to get this wedding on!

Anyways, just stopping by... until next time!

With Love,
Cathy Huntington (... for 11 more days)

We Found our Home

So as many as you know, Cal recently moved into our apartment.  It was a fun yet stressful process deciding where we want to live for the next year.  Some places we loved, but it just fell through, and some places, well, we couldn't wait to get out of there, lol.  But we ended up finding a large house in Hilton with two other tenants, and we are on the second and third floor.  It's a fun quirky little place and it fits us perfectly.  I wanted to document this huge change in out lives, so here are some photographs on our first few days there.  I'll have to admit it's a little weird moving into a new place with big empty rooms and different smells, but it gets better with each new thing that's ours.

So I will try to upload some photos in color and not so.. dramatic, haha to show what it what it looks like :)  Still so hard to believe that it's ours!

With Love,

Wedding Tips: Invitations and Stationary

Hey there! So I have decided to post some wedding tips that I have learned along this journey of planning a very DIY wedding.  I may not spill all of my secrets until after the wedding but I figured to post some as I go so I don't forget all of them. And since I am right in the middle of ordering invitations and stationary items, I figured it would be good to talk about that.

Now I am designing my invitations, which is obviously a cheaper option, but if you are not comfortable with that, there are plenty of cheaper options. This site talks about some great free templates online, but there are also some downloadable templates on Etsy like this for low prices.  Once you have that all set, all you need is to find the best and cheapest place to print them.  Now my automatic place to look is at Vistaprint.com, which has been great for many things which I will talk more about later, but that really wasn't the best option.  Actually the best place I found which my sister-in-law actually showed me is www.printrunner.com.  This place is the bomb.com! They do all types of printing, postcards, stickers, and all types of sizes for great, fair prices!  And they are great to work with, my SIL said that apparently with  the template she uploaded some of the design would be cut off, and they contacted her as soon as they caught it.  BUT also by being in school I was able to contact my colleges' printing services and they are willing to do it for a very reasonable price also.  So, whichever way you choose to do it, think outside the box!  With doing it myself, it looks like I am able to have the invitations (including RSVP cards and envelopes) for less than 60 cents each! SO worth it to me :)

Oh so back to vistaprint- the best deal there for sure is the 250 business cards for free.  Need an insert to say where you are registered of the location of the reception?  Use a business card! They have some decent designs, and its the perfect size for someone to fit into their purse or wallet.  They also make adorable small stickers that you can custom design for putting on favors.  This place has literally been a life saver!

Are there any other options that you explored! Would love to know!!

With Love,

Twenty Fourteen.

So I must admit that I am surprised that I haven't been blogging this much over Christmas.  I thought I would be full of little Christmas DIYs and gifts... but honestly I spiraled from my insane semester into a Downtown Abbey Coma.  And I'm ok with that.
Christmas was wonderful, had about a week full (I mean full) of seeing family and friends.  Cal and I got a bunch of appliances and things for the apartment which will help a ton for when he moves out. The new year has come and we are now in full time wedding planning mode: playing hard ball with vendors, meeting with the DJ, and figuring out which champagne glasses we really want to use.  With Cal and I pretty distracted with all that, it's pretty easy to forget to slow each down and be with each other... which is why we are doing all this, so we can be with each other forever!  So we've decided that and sit-down get-to-know-each-other date was in order. Pronto.
I love how Cal can remind me to slow down and enjoy life just by a simple smile, or giving long hugs right when I walk in the door.  And man could I use the reminders, too.  I am planning a wedding, my wedding with the man of my dreams, and I want to soak up every moment.  So although there may not be too many DIYs here in the near future (I pretty much have a DIY wedding on my hands here), I want to blog more.  To enjoy more.  To cherish more.
Bring it on 2014, you are gonna be the most exciting year of my life.

Ice-skating on New Years! ...goofiest picture ever.

With love,

The Good Life

So I know it's been a while.  Life has been... busy, to say the least. (I actually should be writing a paper on climate change right now... why would I ever want to put that off??) This has been an insane semester for me... 20 credits and 3 studio classes for me and a full time (big boy) banking job for Cal.  We get to see each other most evenings while I'm buried in my home work and he's calling venues and caterers (he's the best fiance ever).  But you know what? I love it.

Sometimes Cal and I get too caught up in whats ahead.  How AWESOME will it be to go home together instead of parting separate ways at the end of each night.  How amazing will it be to wake up next to each other.  How we can cook oriental foods together and watch New Girl or do whatever we want because we won't be distracted with boat loads of work.  The good life. But then we have to remind each other how awesome our life is now too.  There is only this point in our life once.  We are only going to be engaged for a short time, and then we'll be married till we're old and gray (which will be awesome in it's own way).  This is such a special time in our life and so was dating.  It was when we became friends, when there wasn't the other stresses of marriage.  And I know that being in school is awesome, too.  I have done so many projects that I just love and enjoyed, and I have loved collaborating and working with other people.  I need to stop wanting to rushing it along and wishing for whats ahead.  I want to love every single minute of this life.  And also not be too naive about the future.  I know that marriage will not be a "... and they all lived happily ever after.." and will present it's own challenges, but I know God has given us the tools to face those challenges.  So here's to a non-idealized future and a messy but perfect present.

The Good Life.

With Love,

Wedding Inspiration

    So Cal and I have a lot of planning to do as far as wedding planning.  There are so many little details to cover! But I honestly love it.  At first it was really overwhelming for us, cause we didn't even know where to start.  So I did what I do best - went on pinterest for a little inspiration, hehe. :)  Cal and I want our wedding to be a bit more personal so were incorporating a lot of DIYs, which I love.  So once I got adequate inspiration from pinterest, I made a collage of all the items I am looking for and made a spreadsheet for friends and family to keep their eyes open for at garage sales and goodwill, etc.  It has been great so far, and it's overwhelming how great and how good people are at finding these things for us!  We are so so thankful. It helps me a bunch too, being a very visual person.

Here is our inspiration!

Who knows if it is actually going to turn out like this, but it's great for me to use this as a guide.  Like other collages I've made, I did this at www.picmonkey.com. Love that program!

Also, if you have any ideas or more inspiration, I would LOVE to check it out!!

Happy Friday!

With love,
Cath

And I am going to marry that man.

Sometimes, he just blows me away.  It doesn't always hit me at first, sometimes it's in the drive home at night when I really think about how loving and selfless  and all around awesome he really is.  And it's in so many ways.

It's in the way he will volunteer to do something even though it scares him half to death because he feels God told him to do it... and then he ends up nailing it.

It's in the way he will not only give a homeless man money at McDonalds, but will talk with him about his journey and his past.

It's in the way he will use his day off to look for internships for me online.

It's the way he loves to play trivia in the car on long car rides.

It's in the way that all he requests for his birthday is that I watch the Star Wars Saga with him.

It's in the way people come up to me and tell me what a blessing he is.

..... and I am going to marry that man.

 

Happy birthday to the best man on the planet.

With -MUCH- Love,

Engagement Story

So as many of you probably already know, Cal and I are engaged!! Here is our engagement story:

So Cal and I have been talking and planning on getting married for a long time... as in around 2 years.  So with this long of time to plan and wish for getting engaged and getting hitched, it would be hard to not see this coming.. but somehow Cal managed to surprise me - big time.  It was around a week before the July holiday weekend when I suggested that we go on a picnic to the beach rather than going to the parade which we always do on the Fourth.  He agreed, and we loosely made plans for our excursion.  The weather threatened to rain out our fun, but it thankfully held off and we made some wraps and snacks and headed out toward the beach.  Now he was super chill and on the fly about the whole thing, so I had nooo clue at all.  I seriously said during lunch "Yano, I wish we could talk more about this whole engagement thing, I hate not being able to talk really at all about it. Like I almost thought you were going to do it today, but there is NO way, since your not nervous or making sure everything is going along to plan."  Literally. But he still gave no hints!

We then went to another beach that we had both been to together, and had fun memories there in the past.  We laughed and talked and looked out over the water.  A little while later, when we were both quietly taking in the view, he said he had a gift for me.  He described the gift, saying it was like me, unique and different on the outside, but once you really get to know it and look deeper into it, you see really how beautiful it is.  I still had no clue. I laughed and said maybe I should see the gift so I could understand it better.  He smiled and said I had to wait a little bit.  He then pulled out a little book out of his pocket and said it was a flip book and he wanted me to flip through it.  I saw that he drew a ring and a heart on the cover, and I started to sit up a little straighter and my heart started to beat a little faster.  As I flipped through it spelled out: "Will you marry me?" As I was reading this he got on one knee and said "Cathy, will you marry me?" At this point I am freaking out.  I am taking in the book, the gorgeous ring in front of me, and the love of my life asking me to be with him to the day we die.  I gasp and smile and eventually say yes, which he said felt like eternity.. which was probably a few seconds. We laughed and giggled and hugged and he placed the ring on my finger. We laughed and talked and had to pinch each other to see if it all was really real. It was a sweet moment of happiness that I will never forget.

It kind of blows my mind how faithful God has been to our prayers.  It somewhat seems like it has been a long time coming, yet I am nervously excited for this short time in our lives while we are engaged.  God has given me the man of my dreams, the man knows how to take me at my worst and encourages me to be my best. I am so blessed.

This cutiepatootie reenacted it for me :)

Thank you for all the love and support, the encouragement has blown us away!  We truly appreciate it.

With love
Cath and Cal