final wedding of the season

sunday we went to our last of 4 weddings for the season. (i know i skipped blogging about one, i was in it and i am waiting for pictures before i blog about it) it was for our friends sarah and david. we like to hang out with them as a couple, they are super fun. sarah is one of my sai sisters (all of the weddings we went to were for one of my sai sisters). sarah and david met in the usc marching band in the trombone section, they both play trombone. matt knows them well from the trombone section, since he was the ga in charge of low brass for the past 2 years.

there wedding was beautiful! i can honestly say that all of the weddings we went to this summer were so nice and beautiful and really enjoyable, for me and matt (and that's saying something). it was at a home in lexington, sc that has been converted for uses such as weddings. the wedding was outside. although it was under a covered patio, it was still miserably hot. but it was worth the sweat to see beautiful sarah and david say their i do's. the reception was inside, although it wasn't much cooler because there were so many people! they had a lot of people to there to support them. we are very very happy for this wonderful couple!

they had a trombone on the top of their cake, which matt loved. he said "yet another love story brought together by the trombone". i don't know of any others but, that's matt for you. he (and pretty much all trombone players) loves the trombone, a bit too much.

us and the beautiful and happy couple. we love them!

dr. porkchop and mr. bacon

this is dr. porkchop. he is our super sweet and adorable puppy boy. he loves his daddy, follows him everywhere. he is the quiet one of our pair and loves to nap right next to you. he never cries or makes demands like his sister does. he is just the sweetest little dog you have ever known.

this is mr. bacon. he is evil and possessed. he only transforms into this horrible character when katie's dog, sophie (also in the picture), comes around. mr. bacon will ALWAYS be found wherever sophie is, no exception. rarely has his tongue in his mouth (this picture captures one of those rare moments) and rarely has his "turtle" in its "shell" (if you know what i mean...).  he is constantly humping sophie, or the air if she manages to escape his grasps. he doesn't eat. he doesn't sleep. he doesn't go to the bathroom unless you pick her up. before he met sophie, he weighed 4lbs 10oz. 3 weeks after he met sophie he has lost 1/2 a pound and now weighs only 4lbs 2oz. he is a terror.

so how do we keep dr. porkchop around and eliminate his horrible other side? well, we got him fixed on tuesday. the vet said it would take 2-4 weeks for all of the testosterone to completely leave his body so we shouldn't expect immediate results. let me tell you- we haven't seen immediate results! sophie was at our house when i brought him home and he went straight to her and mounted. so far, nothing has changed, but i do have hope! the vet said since he is so small (and he will be a year old next week- he's full grown) he has an overload of testosterone and truly cannot handle it. so our hope is high but for now, mr. bacon is still making frequent appearances.

happy birthday katie

my sister turned 22 this past tuesday. we had a little get together at our house with some friends from usc to celebrate. we served hot dogs with all the toppings and potato chips i made a yummy cake from martha stewart. katie loves cannolis and this cake is held together with cannoli filling, so i knew she would love it.

the yummy cake! it contains 8 dozen cookies- you can only eat a very small piece.

this particular group of friends is one we often have game nights with so that's what did that night too! we played a fun game that katie got for christmas called "what's yours like?" we had a really great time and i am very glad we got to celebrate her birthday with her. i hope we always leave close enough to each other to celebrate events together. hopefully she will get a job in the upstate!!

me, the birthday girl, and her puppy, sophie

family book shower

the first saturday in june we had a family baby shower in charlotte at my grandmother's house. everyone was supposed to bring their favorite children's book as their gift- and that's exactly what everyone did! it was super! matt's parents also sent books as did my grandmother, aunt, and uncle on my dads side who all live in orlando. later that week we got a box of books from my moms youngest brother and his family! so this baby now has quite a nice start of a book collection.

the books collected! plus the super awesome book ends my dad bought for evan at a "tag" sale in NY.

i love how i have lots of cousins in charlotte and we are able to get together for fun events. we will be moving about 2 1/2 hours from charlotte soon and hopefully, we will still be able to come back for those family events often!

a tale of 2 weddings- 6/11/11

matt and i received 7 wedding invitations for this month- yes- this MONTH. 1 for last saturday, which we could not attend due to cchs graduation, 4 for yesterday, and we attended 2 of them, 1 for next saturday, which i am in that wedding, and 1 for the last sunday in june, which we will be attending. 4 out 7 isnt too bad and we send a gift to everyone so we still do our part to celebrate with them all!

yesterday we went to 2 completely different yet completely perfect weddings! each one completely and totally represented the couple, especially the brides!

the first one was a 2pm in lancaster sc and was for our friends megan and doug. megan is one of my sai sisters and was katies roommate and doug and i are the same age and went through usc together. there wedding was small and simple and perfect. it was exactly what i expected from megan! she looked so amazing (though she is always so adorable). the reception was cake and ice cream with diet and regular coke in glass bottles and pitchers of lemonade and water- loved it! it was short sweet and fun. here are some photos from wedding number 1.

 megan and doug lighting the unity candle

their beautiful cake 

ice cream bar!! 

this is all it takes to make this boy happy 

 cheers!

they were roomies their junior year 

 me with the radiant bride!

us at wedding 1

then we drove 50 minutes to rock hill. we did some coupon shopping in between (saved 52% at target and 65% at bi-lo). then we went to the chapel for caroline and pauls 6pm wedding. caroline is another one of my sai sisters and paul and i were in the horn studio together. their wedding was beautiful! 2 of my best friends from college were bridesmaids and everyone looked stunning. carolines dress was unreal. this wedding was not small nor simple but was still so perfect! the ceremony was short and sweet (as was megan and dougs) and then we went to a reception hall on winthrops campus. the hall itself was amazing and the way they had decorated made it even more so. there was no detail left out here. monogramed seat covers, huge beautiful floral centerpieces, tons of beautiful and delicious food, an open bar (not that we partook in that), a dance band, you get it- the works. it was a really fun reception but he had to bail early to get back to columbia. here are some pictures from wedding number 2.

the reception hall 

the cake- it matched her dress 

these were on all of the chairs 

 the decor and the centerpiece on our table

me and 2 of my bfs from freshman year! 

me and 2 loves. 

me and the bride- beautiful caroline

 us at wedding number 2

we had such a wonderful time at both weddings- really! so now 2 down and 2 to go for june!

getting better and better!

everytime i coupon, i seem to save more!! not only does is make me super happy but it really impresses matt, which also makes me super happy.

last night i went just to harris teeter. i only bought things that i had a coupon for and they we on sale.

i got $43 worth of groceries including 5 64oz juices, 48load laundry detergent, raspberries, 2 boxes of pasta, a thing of soup, and 2 bozes of raisin bran crunch

i only paid $10!! yay!! that's a 76% savings (when you do the exact numbers).

that's my best to date. matt says the next goal is 80%. we'll see...