long breaks are always too short

Welp, here we are on the flip side of a "long break" funny how my entire week off seemed like just a day off. regardless of how short it may have seemed thanksgiving was still a much needed rest. I've got 3 weeks straight of finals and then I will have officially made it through my first semester of medical school. crazy. I remember back in august when I felt like this semester would never end, when I was scared and confused and overwhelmed at the idea of being in medical school. and now? I'm in a groove. Ive figured out how this all works and am settled into a routine and a way of life that is incredibly difficult and taxing but I love it none the less. Some days all I wonder if I'm crazy for doing this but most days I know this is where I belong. The next three weeks will definitely be crazy I've got 3 exams a practical and an OSCE so lets cross our fingers i come through unscathed! and then its Christmas break! I've got lots on the agenda for the break as far as wedding planning goes. Bridesmaid dresses, tuxes, registry, booking hotel, several craft trips to michaels and making/addressing save the dates. so I'll definitely be busy!

over thanksgiving I had a meeting with a florist to discuss flowers and centerpieces etc. for the wedding. I should be getting a mock up/ proposal and quote in a week or so and will be deciding if I'll be using her. Most likely I'll end up making my own centerpieces to save money but i figured if she is doing our bouquets and bouts i might as well see what she comes up with for the centerpieces as well! as far as bouquets are concerned Im still looking at things like this:

I spent the rest f the break studying, bummer, i know. we had our thanksgiving dinner on friday so that Mr. Coastie could be in attendance since he was on duty on thanksgiving day. So even though it was a day late it was just as yummy!

Saturday we tried to go to the FSU/UF game but couldn't get tickets so we just spent some time tailgating with  Seminole MOH and Brother Groomsman which was tons of fun, until of course my gator boys lost. terribly. oh well you can't win em all!

And last but not least, just before break my roommate and I got our appartment into the christmas spirit, we decided that since we don't have a fireplace, we improvised and made one (reason number 400 the chalk board wall is amazing!)

note the flames (drawn by me) and the stockings (real) pinned to the mantle (fake, drawn by the roomie) oh and of course our immaculately decorated Christmas tree!

commence holiday season :)

We're complete!

as you all (may or may not) know I have introduced to you all but one of my bridal party members. up until now I had been saving one spot. I started a new phase in my life not long after I got engaged and I knew that I would most likely meet someone in this new place that I wanted to share my day with so I decided to save one bridesmaid spot.  I am happy to announce that the bridal party is officially complete!

I decided a few weeks ago who I wanted to ask to be a part of the wedding. She has become a very close friend and certainly the best friend that I have here in South Florida. With alot of people around me in this new setting turning out to be not the person i thought they were she has remained true and there for me through it all. we've suffered through exams and nights out and gossip and even emergency room visits together. So while we havent known each other for that long I feel very blessed to have her in my life and am very excited for her to be a part of Mr. Coastie and I's big day. 

so over an oh so fancy dinner at friendy's I popped the question: will you be my bridesmaid. and after some ridiculously loud screams that warrented funny looks from our waiter (who later congratulated me on my wedding and her on her "new position as a bridesmaid" ) she said yes. and of course she immediately went home and look up yellow heels and emailed me a list of websites.clearly shes going to be a great bridesmaid.

so without further ado I introduce to you Dr. Bridesmaid:

Sneak peak!

our photographer just sent me the sneak peak of a few of our engagement pictures!! eek im VERY excited, we should get them all back in about 2 more weeks but check feel free to check these few out

Our photos were done by Linsey at Lindsey Lou photography . she is GREAT and I cant wait to see the rest of them :)

Coming soon!

Im so excited I can barely contain it! Our Engagement pictures are done!! We havent seen any of them yet and should be getting a preview by the end of this week and all of them in 3 weeks. Im so very excited to see them. We had ALOT of fun shooting them. the first half were taken at Railroad square art park which is a nifty little place in Tallahassee that has tons of colorful backdrops. the second half we went for something fun and headed out to a playground for a few fun shots. Im so excited to see how they turned out and can't wait to get our save the dates made and sent out. ill post a link as soon as the preview comes out!

decorating the aisle

as of now my decorations for the wedding consist of a folder on my computer of pictures and ideas, I havent quite materialized everything but I was taking a studied break and searching some of my favorite websites and started thinking about aisle decorations. Let's be honest the aisle is one of the focal points of the ceremony so its got to look perfect. I originally had this in mind:

Something like this is still up in the air but i came across this the other day and fell in love:

(imagine with yellow lanterns and black ribbons) what do you think? the paper lanterns would be easier to manage than the floral aisle liners and it would add more color Im thinking it might just be what im looking for.

freedom, maybe....

As you could have guessed I've  made it past anatomy!  we are a couple weeks post anatomy but there has been some major adjusting going on in my time management since I have some relative freedom these days. In anycase I came out of anatomy with an Amazing grade so it seems like all my hard work is paying off and i feel a little like this:

Moving on the rest of school is going good, the new schedule is pretty amazing and im definitely getting in the groove of this whole med school thing, which is good since ill be doing it for the next 3 years. My roommate and I tend to live off of things like this:(all the essentials a good student needs, wine candy, coffee and meatonin)

Last weekend I got a chance spur of the moment to go home which was a nice surprise. Mr Coastie brought me a few surprises :)

 and Mr. Coastie and I headed out to the FSU game (ewwww FSU, but he wanted to go so i was forced to make a sacrifice and watch the team I hate play football, but its football so I cant really turn it down)

Things on the wedding front are moving along Ive started a draft of the programs which ill be posting once i get the template done, we have our hotels narrowed down and are going to be booking our blocks soon so all of our guests can get their reservations made. Im currently on the search for some perfect engagement picture outfits i need a hirt for our casual pictures and a dress for the fancy ones, i haven't seemed to find anything that is perfect yet, but I've stil got a couple weeks so fingers crossed :)

Meetings and Delays

were officially one week away from the 8 month mark. wow. cant even believe it. good news wedding planning is slowly creeping back to the forefront of things on my to-do list.  I was fortunate enough to get a chance to go home this weekend and get some wedding things done. We had originally planned to have our engagement pictures taken on saturday but our photographer had to reschedule b/c her camera broke (well really one of the lenses) its sort f a long story but we decided it would be best to move it back. good news is this gives me an extra month to find something cute to wear since in the rush of my hell week of exams i didn't have time to go shopping. the bad news is we scheduled the day of a good friend's wedding Nov. 6th so that day will definitely be a little hectic with pictures in the morning and wedding in the afternoon. But part of being in different towns with crazy schedules means when we come home there isn't a lot of down time. anyways Lindsey Miller of lindsey lou photography is doing our photos and our wedding so check her out! I can't wait to have our engagement shoot done!

we also met with our wedding DJ this weekend. I'm very excited to work with him he seems like he knows pretty much everything there is to know and he runs all the timing and everything with no need for a coordinator, he doesn't advertise he is strictly word of mouth so I am very excited to work with him. during the meeting as he was discussing songs and timing of things my mom started crying, it was pretty hysterical that dots and lines on paper and a description of walking down the aisle made her cry, we're going to have a problem when the wedding ACTUALLY is here!

and we've finally got a list compiled of hotel options to block off rooms for the out of town guests and will hopefully be making the final decision soon, so that's one more thing to check off the list!

and lastly, remember back in the day when i said there is a single bridesmaid spot that I have yet to reveal? that will be coming in a post that is right around the corner :)

The most fabulous news of all is that I am one week until the end of anatomy, a mere 7 days until the final and I get my life back! well, sort of. Wish me luck!