Not Laboring on Labor day (aka: a much needed break)

So here we are officially on the other side of labor day weekend. I guess that means were not allowed to wear white anymore right? This summer definitely flew by and I can believe its September already! This year is zooming past. And this Saturday marks the 9th months to go mark in the wedding countdown! we're in single digits, that's big time!

I was lucky enough to have Mr. Coastie down with me for 6 whole days over the last week, it was such a nice break and I loved having him here. My roommate also loved it seeing as he took out the trash and cleaned our kitchen while we were at school, not to mention they watched 5 episodes of Star wars over the last 3 days (mean while i studied cause Star wars doesnt really float my boat). In anycase we had a blast, he got to meet all my friends down here and we went to the beach and went to Myakka state park and stalked some awesome alligators and had a really amazing date night at a restaurant right on the ocean. It was such a good get away from the stress and hectic life that I've had over the last few days. here a few shots from the weekend.

Mr. Coastie Left this morning and I was incredibly sad as usual, but its time to get back to life after a great break. And awaiting for me when I arrived home from school was this baby:

In my opinion, nothing can cheer a girl up quite like her very first brand new stethoscope arriving in the mail. :)

And now its time to get back to the grind, ive got this many notecards to learn tonight:

So much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it.

There never seems to be enough time in the day. Im starting to think the calendar and the clock are my enemies. Its amazing how hours can fly by when you've got your head in the books. But regardless there is so much to do my planner looks a little likea disaster with scribbles on every page but things are moving along.

I'm officially halfway through the crash course of anatomy, we're on week 5, which is actually week 6 because there was a week 0, long story. but we've had 2 of four exams and I'm happy to report I got an A on my second exam to go along with my first exam and I have an over all in anatomy right now, which is pretty awesome, I'm pretty proud of myself, I've definitely been working my butt off for that grade, I'm definitely ready for anatomy to be over so I can have my life back.

Luckily i have had a little bit more time to start talking about wedding stuff again, Mr. Coastie and I are hoping to get our engagement pictures done in October, which im VERY excited about, i cant wait for that and we'll be getting save the dates out around Christmas time so that will be my big project over the Christmas break is to get those ready,  Ive got the save the date designed so all i have to do is add in the picture, i may tweak it a little bit, not completely sure yet. We've got catering in the works (thanks mom and dad!) and Mr. Coastie has contacted a DJ were going to meet with in October, so ill be sure to report how that goes.  and when im bored in class I google Places in Dominican Republic and day dream about the tropical paradise were going to for our honeymoon.

This week Mr. Coastie is visiting for the first time since he moved me in, Im pretty excited, I keep reminding myself that I have to continue to study for a week and not get distracted, but we'll see how well that goes. We have big plans to go to Siesta Key and to go see snooty (who is apparently the oldest manatee in captivity) and not to mention watch some gator football which starts this weekend (YAY!). In any case Im beyond excited for Wednesday to roll around! maybe we'll get some wedding planning done while he is here!

Thats about it for now i suppose, back to the grind!

a little of this a little of that

first of all i just realized it was August 17th.  This means i just realized were are less than 10 months away from the big day, which also set me into a minor freak out mode. I feel behind on wedding planning, i have quite a bit of tunnel vision right now on School.

School is going awesome, im kicking some major butt in my anatomy class (which is the only thing we've had exams for and pretty much is running our lives). My best friends are cadavers and professors and books, which is sort of sad. we had our first test last monday and I did awesome, the class avg was an 84 and I came in well over that so im very happy that the hard work and lack of a life or anything besides anatomy in my brain has paid off. I had my first advisor meeting today ( we have to have them monthly) and it was really fun, He basically told me i was doing awesome and he wasnt worried about me at all and to keep on keepin on, so that was nice to hear one fof the professors say i was doing really too. We've got another exam this monday which has about the double the material and is worth double the percentage of our grades so ive definitely been focusing on that.

my blog may end up becoming "how to plan a wedding when you have no time to plan a wedding"  In any case, my parents have talked to a good friend of ours who will be doing the catering and we're going to get a great deal so thats really helpful budget wise. Ive set Mr. Coastie up to call our DJ this week and try to work out some deal with him and Im in talks with our photographer to get organized and get our Engagement pictures done in october. so things are moving along, i just feel like i havent focused on it wedding stuff and I'd love to but every moment of my time seems to be occupied, I guess this means i need to learn better time management!  anyways thats it for now, i promise i will have wedding updates in the near future!

"If you're overwhelmed now, just wait"

hello all! i must apologize for my lack of posts lately,especilly wedding related posts, wedding planning has gone on the back burner quite a bit for the last week or so. Luckily mom and dad doctor are working hard at getting some things done for me while im up to my ears in trying to survive the first few weeks of medical school.

its thursday of our first week and im already exhausted and have been working my butt off every night. as tiring as it is i must admit that i love it. this is what ive been waiting for. This week has been only orientation (ew) and anatomy. anatomy has already hit us like a brick wall, full force. Today Ill meet my first cadaver, im pretty stoked. Next week we start clinical exam, PBL and OPP. which basically means we'll be in full swing. Im adjusting well so far, i dont have time to not adjust. Ive met some awesome people and im really glad that Ive been able to find a niche and some good friends so quickly, I need them and they need me, i guess were all sort of in the same boat here.

in wedding related news Mr. Coastie and I are trying to solidfy some honeymoon plans, we definitely know we're going to the Dominican Republic but we're trying to pick a place and a resort, so thats definitely fun getting to look at all these tropical destinations dreaming of being there instead of n a lecture hall is a nice little day dream.  Its definitely been hard being away from each other again but on the bright side Mr. Coastie recieved an award at his station and was given 3 days off that dont count towards his leave! so In the beginning of September he gets t come spend a week with me, ill be study probably 7/8 of the time hes here but im VERY excited!

Thats my update for now, i should probably get back to paying attention to orientation to clinical exam....

change of scenery

Welp the big move is officially over. Over the lat week Mr. Coastie and I have had a grand tour of Florida from Tampa to Daytona to Tallahassee to Pensacola and Im finally settled in to my home for the next few years. I spent 3 hours hanging curtains this morning, yes three hours, this is what happens when your fiance lives 7 hours away. im forced to do these thing alone and I have no idea what im doing!

My official first day of medical school is one week from tomorrow (eek!) Im  excited, and scared to say the least. This week and next Im spending learning the area and meeting people, its been fun so far. Im happy to be here and excited for everything but very sad to be away from Mr. Coastie. our countdown to when we see each other again is 4 weeks. it seems forever away right now.

most wedding planning has sort of been put on a hold for a couple weeks due to the move and the school starting thing, I need to get back into it soon. BUT remember my post about Lauren Brown photography she has sent me 2 cds with about 200 pictures from that day on it ( shes also posted a couple on her blog so go check em out!) anyways this was fun to get in my mailbox

a quick update

Hello, Hello. Just wanted to pop in and give a quick update on things. The big move to SoFla to start medical school is one week from today (eek!) all my furniture and everything I own with exception to my matress which is sweetly sitting on the floor in my bedroom at my parent's house and a few suitcases are packed and in the garage. Monday its up to me and Mr. Coastie to load it all into a U-Haul and and head down south. Wedding planning is going to be put on a bit of a hold for about a month ago while i get settled in and get my head on straight.

In other news, mommy bridesmaid and wolverine groomsman welcomed their baby girl into the world this past week. So Congrats to them, she is certainly very precious in all her photos! 

In wedding news this week I'm having a meeting with my ring bearer/jr bridesmaid's mom/faux wedding planner to write out an entire calendar for the next year with precise dates and timelines for everything. you know I love my organization! ha ha its nice to have people around who want to help out especially since at the moment none of my bridesmaids are in tallahassee! she doesnt know it yet but MOH seminole is going to become really good friends with my calendar and my planner ( ha ha I love you!). One of my mothers friends has decided to throw me a "bridal tea" not exactly sure what that is but apparently its a very upper class affair and its going to be on daddy's farm (aka a plantation in GA, apparently this is a southern tradition i know nothing about) and this is already in the works even though it wont be till April. The wedding still seems far away but I know this next year is going to fly by!

This weekend Mr. Coastie and I volunteered to be guinea pigs for a friend of ours Lauren Brown photography . She is getting into photography and does an awesome job at it we offered to let her do a little photoshoot with us.Aside from being a million degrees outside it was super fun and im excited to see all the results! Im a girl who LOVES pictures so I jumped at the chance and the sneak peaks look great! check out her blog and see some of her work (shameless plug for my friend ha ha)!

Be our Guest (and sign our guest book!)

When I think about guestbooks at weddings I think about some cousin of the bride standing there watching the line of people sign their names with a pen that took the bride and groom 2 weeks to pick out. I guess I never really "got" guest books, I mean I already know who is here do I really need your names written down all in one place? apparently so.

Lately there is a trend of doing "alternative guest books" as opposed to the traditional just sign your name ordeal. I must admit these things have really brought me around to this whole guest book thing. As I was doing my perusing on weddingbee I came across Miss Eggplant's alternative guestbook post with these:

These are actually from the guestbookstore.com you can buy them online to save some time. Naturally I saw these and fell in love, I had this image of Mr. Coastie and I sitting down after the wedding and reading everyone's cards seeing what funny, sweet and inspiring things they wrote to us. It seems way more personal and not to mention more fun than the traditional sign your name book dont ya think?

Obviously I decided not to buy these, its sort of an expense that I can cut by making them myself, after all I know my way around Microsoft word pretty well. So after much fighting with autoformatting and fonts and lines I made a mock up of our cards and here they are:

Front

 

back ( for some reason this kept uploading sideways and i didnt feel like messing with it so just turn your head)

anywho, I think they turned out pretty well, I'm printing them on cardstock, they will be place on a table with crayons for people to use to fill them out and after the wedding we'll have them bound into a book!