A weekend in the south

Last Saturday, I flew out with my dad and my brother Chris to visit my grandparents at their new home in Charlotte, North Carolina. As an added bonus, I got to see my uncles (my dad's brothers), aunts and the kids!

The plane had two seats per row hence Chris sitting behind us. Originally it was only going to be my dad & I but at the last minute, Chris decided to join us. My grandma was thrilled. Also, thanks to flying a whole lot in 2012, I was able to redeem my True Blue points and fly free! ....with the exception of a $5 tax fee, lol.

That morning, it was raining and visibility was practically 0%. I think it took 45 minutes to actually take off because the runway was backed up. Then, when we were trying to land, we had to circle around the sky a few times because the runway at CLT was also backed up! We landed shortly after noon. Getting home only took an hour and a half!! It was like night and day. (Ironically enough, flying home was at night.) But getting back to the flight to Charlotte....I am sad to report I actually had to use the barf bag for the first time ever on a flight. The turbulence just sent my stomach into a bad state. My lovely dad did a favor and covered me with his sweater, haha. I should note I had been out drinking for a friend's 30th the night before and had only 3 hours of sleep, hence the stomach problems. Never again do I recommend doing that a night before a flight! I ended up going to bed at 9:30 our first night, which is extremely rare for me, lol.

The visit itself was nothing short of wonderful. I am so happy for my grandparents. They went from a tiny apartment in Jackson Heights, Queens to this gorgeous house in NC.

This was the adorable guest room I slept in.

The first day, we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse which did not disappoint. Afterwards, we went back to the house to relax and called it an early night. The second day, Sunday, I got to visit both my uncle Mark's house (he had just moved there a few months ago) as well as my uncle Scott's house, who has lived there for many years now. My little cousin Sierra gave me the grand tour of the house. She and Christopher, her older brother (who will be 10 this year! Time flies!) are such great kids. I managed to get a quick picture of Sierra in her room.

Mark and I share a love of Starbucks so of course we made a trip to the nearest one with baby Brandon as well as MB's mama, my aunt Lyn.

It was an extremely sunny day, haha. Isn't he the cutest?

I mean...seriously!!

In this last one, he saw his own reflection and made this face! I could eat him up!

Later that evening, I was able to spend more time with the kids at our grandparents house, just hanging out. Sierra & I had a blast with the bubbles in the yard.

The backyard space is huge!

We flew back to NYC Monday evening so that we could have the majority of the day with them. I am so happy to see my grandparents are doing well. They have a beautiful home in a beautiful city, their family nearby and the bonus is their other grandchildren around them so it's just a good thing. There is a big age gap between me and my siblings with Christopher, Sierra and Brandon but it just means the kids can enjoy Grandma & Grandpa now the way I got to enjoy them growing up. :-)

This is definitely my favorite picture of the trip: my grandparents & their boys. All that's missing is my aunt, Chrissy!

L-R: Grandma, Uncle Scott, Grandpa, my dad and my uncle Mark

Hard to believe it's already mid January...so much stuff to do before the month is over and on the 25th, we hit 9 more months to go...wow!

Bridesmaid dress hunt

On Monday, I got the itch to be productive, wedding wise, and told myself the hunt for a bridesmaid dress must begin. I had looked online here and there but nothing compares to seeing it in person. My mom and sister joined me at Macy's in Herald Square. The vibe of the bridal salon there compared to one in Manhasset, where I got my wedding dress, was completely different. It's not that the Manhattan location didn't have a nice staff. They just seemed tired and like they didn't want to be there. Nonetheless, they were nice enough to take me without an appointment! We went with the notion of "just looking" but then I did actually see a dress I liked! So the lady was able to take care of us before her appointment arrived.

I didn't have her try on many, since like I said, we didn't have an appointment. She put on different colors. Here was one. If I were having a spring or summer wedding, I would have absolutely gone with a shade like that!

In this one she's holding the dress I wanted her to try on, lol.

All the different shades.

             

          

 Bill Levkoff 496 in navy blue

At first Robyn was not digging the navy blue on her. We were both not expecting to try anything on, so she didn't come with her hair done or makeup on (not that she needs it to look pretty but you know how girls are!) so I convinced her that navy blue did look good on her. 

Isn't she nuts? I thought she looked great! She didn't have the sleeves up for the picture. I thought maybe to make her stand out as maid-of-honor she could add something sparkly around her waist or something. The other colors provided for this dress don't really fit the color scheme. I'm going for a fall look, think blues, orange, white, gold. I would put her in gold but the only color close to that is canary yellow. Too bright! Unless I change the color scheme and add purple (as an accent color) to the blue. The options are endless, really!

Robyn had asked me, why this brand? I heard many good things about Bill Levkoff's line and had seen enough to know I liked it. Plus, if this story isn't endorsement enough, I don't know what is!

I saw these pictures in October of Danielle Fishel's wedding (ya know, Topanga from Boy Meets World) and the dresses looked gorgeous. I had saved them to my phone for inspiration and Gina (one of my bridesmaids) sent me a link to those pictures shortly after! Great minds think alike! When Danielle posted a link to her pictures, I asked where these dresses were from.

And she actually responded! And was very sweet, too.

The best part of our time spent at Macy's was that they had my dress in the store! So I got to try it on again, which was much appreciated since I was starting to forget what it looked like on me! As an added bonus, they let me take pictures in it, which I couldn't do in Manhasset. I really appreciate that because now I have a visual. As an added bonus, my mom got me the headpiece to wear the day of! (Thanks mom <3) It's pretty and sparkly and that's good enough for me! It should come in by next month. This will be good to have so I can take with me to a hair trial. Speaking of hair, this is the one thing that I am clueless about. As of today, I don't have a set person or set style in mind. I would love to use the woman who does my highlights but it's not just me getting my hair done and I don't think she does weddings in that capacity. I did find one girl based in Astoria whose work looks really nice so I will contact her. At least I know she won't have to travel far! 

So far, January is starting off on the right foot! Not only in terms of checking things off the to-do list but also because right before the New Year, Jonathan started a new job! A friend of his from grade school (who just so happened to witness Jonathan proposing the night of! Small world right?!) hooked him up. The company is based in the Empire State Building so his commute hasn't changed much; he used to work in Rockefeller Center. Not only that but from my house in Woodside, when walking to the train, you can see the Empire State Building, so it's like I get to "see" him, if I'm in the area while he's at work. This job couldn't have better timing! Thank the good Lord. Too bad nothing opened up in California! ;)

Happy New Year!

I love New Year's Eve. The excitement of the countdown is hard to beat, for me anyhow, between the anticipation of the new year and the leaving behind of the previous one. I've always enjoyed it but the excitement of this countdown was tenfold because this is our wedding year! Yeah!

Jonathan and I rang in the new year at the McKeever household in downtown Manhattan with Kim's sister Lauren present, as well as my brother Chris and Tiffany. We missed having my sister there but her boyfriend had gotten them tickets to the party at Resorts Casino. Next year, we will be all together, I hope. Kim and Vinnie were great hosts, and Kim made many delicious snacks. Thanks, Mcs!

I was really into it, huh?

Christmas this year was very nice. Our first one engaged and last one unmarried. Next Christmas, we will be married two months to the day. So weird! Anyway, on to Christmas itself. Jonathan and I spent Eve together for the first time since 2009! I hadn't even realized that until he pointed it out. He came with me to Farmingdale, where we go every Eve. My cousins, from my mother's side, host it every year. It's always fun but this year Jonathan brought along his Elf and Santa costumes. Bernie took over the role of Santa to Jonathan's elf and I have to say, it was a hit! I know Jonathan enjoyed keeping the tradition alive and it will definitely be sticking around in the years that we attend. We even crashed the next door neighbor's Christmas Eve in the costumes! They loved it too, and that family took tons of pictures with "Santa" and "Elf". Success!

 My mom's family is really tall, hence the Santa pants not fitting Bernie. Hysterical! It's like a tropical Santa!

I know myself, Ayla and Eliza loved having Jonathan with us on Eve! :)

For Christmas Day, we spent it at Jonathan's house and some family came over for a delicious meal cooked by his parents. It wasn't as busy as other years with the passing of Jonathan's Uncle Dom and Rob and Jean not being able to come in, but it was still very enjoyable of course.

How cute is this child? Her Christmas outfit killed me! I never thought about dressing my future daughters in bows until Victoria came around, lol.

And Johnny with one of his many gifts :)

Later that night, even though we were pooped by that point, we headed over to my parents' house to see them for a bit. By the time we got there, everything had winded down but the girls were still up so they got to open our gifts to them!

This photo isn't Christmas night but it's just to show one of their gifts. They both love Elmo (though now Ayla has gotten into Mickey and all things Disney, yay! Proud cousin right here, lol) and they both sleep on their own so I figured a personalized pillow case would be fun.

But on Christmas they enjoyed their fake food and fairy costumes!

The 26th was also nice and felt like an extended Christmas because Jonathan's aunt Rosemary came over as well as his cousin Alexis and her husband, Gaetano. But while it was good to see them, it was also very sad as we really felt the loss of Uncle Dom that night. It was surreal to be celebrating Christmas without him. Even though it's been many months since he's passed, it is still hard to believe he is no longer here. I am glad I got to know him these past few years. He will have a front row seat to the wedding, that's for sure.

Speaking of the wedding, now that the holiday season is over, it's time to start getting into the wedding planning craze again. We allowed ourselves to take a break after the save the dates were mailed out but there's still plenty left to do. The two things we have to do this month is: register for pre-cana and book our flights to Hawaii. 

We were thrown a curve ball last month when we learned that the pastor of Saint Sebastian's, Monsignor Hardiman, was leaving! I didn't know until now that a priest can only be pastor for twelve years at a certain parish. I was sad to hear that regardless of the fact that he was supposed to marry us. But the funny part about that is, the new pastor is Father Kevin, the priest I first had in mind! (He was also a priest at St. Sebastian's many years ago.) He is young, only a couple of years older than us, and married two friends of ours years ago, who also had their reception at Chateau Briand! Since Father Kevin doesn't start until the first of February, I have to wait to talk to him. My fingers are crossed no one else has him saying their wedding the same day.

Christmas Ornaments!

Every time I pass this tree, I always have to stop and take a look at my favorite ornaments. I don't know if it's the fondness for it or the slight OCD, lol, but either way, I figured I'd share some of my favorites.

We got this one on our Disney trip the week (and a half) after we got engaged. When we buying it, a woman next to us said "Oh is that your engagement date? That's my wedding anniversary!" How funny.

 I love this one of two lobsters singing Christmas carols. We picked this one up on our trip to Maine last   winter while celebrating our 4th dating anniversary.

I got this one to save for next year. Just came today! I couldn't help myself! It's from PersonalizationMall.com. If you love personalized stuff, this site is like crack.

This one I picked up earlier this week at one of those ornament booths at the mall (Roosevelt Field). I can't be trusted around anything that is personalized. 

The inspiration for it came from this picture we took during our summer Disney vacation this past year: 

This one we made after our Disney World trip in 2012. The frame of the ornament depicts the symbols representing each of the four parks: the Sorcerer's hat with Mickey ears for Hollywood Studios, the castle for Magic Kingdom, the globe for Epcot and the Tree for Animal Kingdom. In the picture, we are standing in front of the Days of Christmas store in Downtown Disney. Needless to say, this definitely made the list of favorites!!

Need I say more!

One of my favorite ornaments, of Jonathan's, that he'll definitely be taking with him next year!

We have so many saved in a bin for our first official (married) Christmas together. Just another thing to look forward to!

Happy Birthday Victoria!

Today, this sweetie pie turned 2! 

iPhoto shows you the pictures taken in the last 12 months, which of course means that the first pictures shown today are from her 1st birthday. Crazy how she's grown since then. (Yeah I know, that's what babies do...they grow, lol)

And here she was on her day of birth:

Over the weekend we had celebrated by going to Bounce U, this place in Brooklyn that had all these blow up bouncy contraptions for the kids to run around in. The afternoon ends in a room with pizza and cake. It reminds me a little of Discovery Zone from back in the day. (Anyone remember that place?!) This particular Bounce U was connected to an Asian supermarket. We had never been there before and didn't realize there was a separate entrance to get in. Jonathan, his parents and I literally walked all around the supermarket before figuring it out. Priceless!! We couldn't stop laughing at our mistake.  Here are some pictures from the party.

Victoria is, for those that are not familiar (I'm not actually sure who reads this!) the daughter of Jonathan's sister a.k.a one of our cutie flower girls :)

Natali & Goran's Wedding - November 23, 2013

Natali and Goran's wedding day was one long party. In similar fashion to a Big Fat Greek Wedding, as the movie goes, this was One Big Macedonian Wedding! (Though technically speaking I don't think the Macedonians and Greeks are friendly but I don't know how else to describe it!)

Some backstory: This girl and I became best buddies in the 3rd grade...aka the 1992-1993 school year. Holy moly. Talk about feeling old. Right before the 7th grade I believe, her family moved to New Jersey. This was definitely sad but it also gave me another great friendship. Natali, myself and another girl named Tiffany always hung together in the 6th grade and after Natali moved, Tiffany and I became close. Flash forward 15 years later, Tiffany is what my mom calls our adopted sister, haha :)

Well the point of that story is to show how good things come from seemingly bad moments. (One friend leaving and gaining a new one.) Even though Natali and her family left, we did get to see them sporadically over the years. But it was always understood: we would be in each other lives forever in some way. The wedding was also fun because I got to see people that I hadn't seen in the longest, like her uncle and Godmother. Some of them remembered me, which was very cool.

I had to be at her parent's home in New Jersey between 10:30 and 11AM, but since Natali herself was running behind at the hair salon, we had more time to get there. I was late for my 9AM hair appointment but the girl managed to do a great job and had me out of there by 10:15. I think she did a great job!

Jonathan and I arrived at 11:30 and quickly began to get into our outfits. The outside of the house was nicely decorated. 

The house was filled to the brim with people. It was great! 

Though I didn't know any of the other bridesmaids, except for her cousin and Godmother, they were all very nice. The reason I hadn't met the majority of them before was because the day of the bridal shower landed on the day of Michele and Joe's wedding! (October 5th) I had already RSVPed long before the bridal shower date was revealed. I was so bummed and attempted to do both in one day but time wise, it wouldn't have worked out.

One of the things I got a kick out of, was that both bride and groom got ready in the same house! I think because they were married in June civilly but whatever the reason, it made for a unique start to the wedding! 

So out the house we went, all the while people clapped and the musicians continued to play music.

We took ourselves to the church, as the (very large) family rode in the limo. They were only a 10 minute drive from St. Nikolas Macedonian Church. 

Natali looked beautiful! And the ceremony itself was very interesting. I am used to Catholic rituals but love observing other faiths. For starters, the wedding party stood the entire time. The entire ceremony was sung. A large white shawl was wrapped around the bride and groom, with a crown put on their heads and they had to walk around it a couple of times. That is a poor description of what actually went on but after the entire ceremony was done, we headed to The Brownstone for the reception. 

I didn't find out until later that The Brownstone is made popular thanks to Real Housewives of NJ. One of the housewives husbands owns the place apparently. 

I didn't take any pictures once I got in, though my mom did. Here are some of my favorites from her camera. (Canon Rebel T3i)

It was fun to be in a wedding party together. It was our first and as far as I can imagine, our last!

This next picture shows you how massive the wedding party was!

I've always wondered what our height difference looked like standing next to each other like this. Not gonna lie, it gives me a good chuckle! :) (FYI: I love it, but it does look amusing.)

Just beautiful.

Cheers in the bridal suite! Jonathan clearly got a head start...haha

I am just seeing these photos for the first time as I upload. I ADORE this one!

My mom took this as we were leaving the bridal suite to head to the cocktail hour. Priceless! (For those unfamiliar with these faces, that would be my lovely sister in the front looking like a movie star, Tiffany laughing at me haha, and my brother drinking way in the back.)

Jonathan and I did this whole thing for our entrance where he tossed the flowers to me. I'm guessing this was pre-toss!

First dance. A joyful one at that!

What a great shot my mom got!

Why yes, that's a pig with hundreds of dollars in it.

And yes, people are clapping and dancing around it.

The cake cutting! Natali had changed into a different dress by this point.

And then into this, for the last dress change of the night. And yes that is money on the floor, lol.

All in all a great night, and so crazy to think, the last wedding until our own.