DONE!!!

I am so glad to have just finished up my BSU course for this semester. 8 down and only 2 to go until I graduate!! It has been a really busy semester so I am glad to have almost a full month before I begin my next class. What will I be up to???

• Wedding-- lots to do including register for gifts, shop for wedding bands, gather ideas for centerpieces, figure out flowers, work on planning our honeymoon, finalize detials for bridesmaid dresses
• Christmas shopping-- LOTS of this to do still!
• Read a good book-- I just started Shopahalic Ties the Knot and am looking for a second book to read over break
• Catch up on any Reality TV marathons that might be on
• Anything else that includes relaxation

4 schools days left until break!! OBVIOUSLY I am excited! :)

Wedding Wednesday!

We have had spent a lot of time and energy working on wedding stuff lately. Here are just a few details. First.... the most exciting part was getting our engagement photos back!!!!! As you can tell in the picture we had so much fun getting them done.
The above picture was taken about two seconds after the photographer asked for a serious face..... not gonna happen with this girl!!! Below is one of my favorite pictures from the session.

All of them turned out really well. I included a link to a slideshow in Saturday's post. Feel free to check them out if you have not already seen them.

We have also spent a great deal of time getting a save the date put together so hopefully we can send those out soon. There are so many great websites out there to help customize save the dateswith our own gorgeous pictures.

The honeymoon planning is also in its preliminary stage. We have narrowed down to a few locations that we like. I think my the time July 24th comes around we will both be ready for a relaxing vacation.

We also had our first pre-marital counseling meeting. We enjoyed getting to know our pastor and talking with her about her philosophies on marriage and life. We also are getting married in a church that we had never been to before so we got to see the sanctuary for the first time. It is a beautiful church and I think it will be perfect!

It is all starting to come together. There are still lots of decisions to be made but I feel really good about the progress.

Partini

I have never been much of a Black Friday shopper but last Friday I made it out for a little shopping. Here is the best purchase I made.........
Walmart had some great deals on games that I wanted to buy for my classroom. While in the game aisle I saw that Partini was on sale for only $10!!!! I have had my eye on the game for a long time and it was such a great deal that I had to get it!

We got together with some friends last night to play and it was so fun! It is a mix of catch phrase, cranium, and loaded questions. This would be a great gift idea of those game lovers out there!

Engagement Photos Slideshow

We received our engagement photo slideshow today!!! Follow the link to see the slideshow. We are very happy with how the photos turned out! :)

http://kmpss.com/slideshows/shannon&brandoneng/

Details Details Details!!!

We are beginning to get to the finer details in wedding planning. We have been looking at flowers, centerpieces, and cake designs. This weekend we will be going to Heavenly Sweets in Noblesville to design our cake. We visited once before and loved all of the cake and filling options. The cake flavor is one thing that Brandon and I will absolutely not compromise on. Luckily we don't have to!! I get to have my piece of chocolate cake (which if you know me well..... is VERY important) and Brandon gets to have white cake. Earlier in the week I spent some time on theknot.com. It is a great site but can be overwhelming. After hours of research and narrowing down, we found a cake that is similar to what we want for our own.

Greek and Roman Day

Greek and Roman Day is my favorite day of the school year!!! I think it is better than field day... better than the day right before Winter Break... better than the last day of school!! We have been studying the geography, history, and culture of the Ancient Greeks and Ancient Romans since September. We capped off our studies by celebrating the contributions that the Greek and Romans made to our culture today. Here we are getting in the mood for the day by dressing up in togas! SO FUN!!!!!

Wedding Wednesday

Well sorry that it has been a few Wednesdays since I last posted. I have been working feverishly on my action research project for that last few weeks. I have it in the near final stages and am just waiting on feedback from my group members. It has been such a freeing feeling. I don't feel that I have to make every moment in the evening count. I feel like I have had time to relax, work out, enjoy time with friends. All of this I have been able to do without my project hanging over my head. It will be nice to have close to two months without a ton of homework to do. Then back to the grind from January until July.

The end of October and the beginning of November were busy months for us for wedding planning.... another reason for not posting in a while. We hired a DJ and photographer for the day. As part of our photography package we had an engagement photoshoot. The shoot was the weekend before last. We took pictures in downtown Zionsville and at Coxhall gardens. I had a lot of fun and I hope that the pictures are good too. I will make sure to put some up when we get them back. We also tested cakes... which was a lot of fun. We are in the final stages of getting that together. Bridesmaid dresses are just about finalized too.

All in all, I am enjoying the wedding planning process more than I thought I would. It has been stressful at times, especially when I already have such a full plate. Luckily many of my girlfriends have already planned their own weddings so they have been a great help too!