I have neglected this blog so much. I often think about posting because I want to document our lives. Each time I think of something worth sharing my hands get full with these bouncing boys of mine and the moment passes. As I begin to plan my youngest son's 2nd birthday party, I have visited so many blogs with amazing ideas that I just couldn't let the moment pass my by again. I don't really have anything interesting to say, but typing this out is a start to making updating this blog a habit.

It's been a long time...

Hello Again... It's been so long since I shared anything here. I was a bit surprised to see that I even remembered the password. Lately, I have been visiting tons of blogs checking out all sorts of recipes, decor ideas and the daily ongoings of random people and their offspring. Since I'm on materity leave (yay! more about that in a few) I have tons of "time" on my hands to update. Anyone that has been on maternity leave before knows just how much of an oxymoron, for lack of a better word, that is. A few days after my last post, I found out I was pregnant. A beautiful surprise to say the least. I gave birth to a baby boy in November of 2010. Who would of thought we would need a baby sitter for our first anniversary? I always wanted my children close in age and I'm blessed enough to have gotten that wish. Which leads me to my current maternity leave. I recently gave birth to my second son this past August. When it came to having children I had a slight wish list. Sounds crazy, I know, but I can honestly say the list is complete. I wanted boys....CHECK.... I wanted them pretty close in age(less than two years apart)....CHECK... and I wanted them by the time I reached my 30th birthday...CHECK (my bithday is in November). Actually typing that makes me feel a little vain considering all that some women go through to conceive.. and reading a few recent blogs has made me realize this even more. Having been diagnosed with PCOS a few years ago,I thought it would be so hard for me to get pregnant. In fact, I tried to prepare myself, as much as anyone can, for that time. But I had NO problems getting pregnant. My first pregnancy was a surprise, a welcomed one, but a surprise nonetheless. This may be too much info but, I breastfeed for well over a year and didn't get a period for 11months (oct). I was pregnant with my second soon after that one cycle. In fact, I think I may have been misdiagnosed, but that's a whole other story. We also purchased a house this past May and I have been trying my best to make this house a home. I guess that's as much of a general update as I have for now. I plan to update the numerous projets I have planned. The plethora of before and after pictures on random blogs has truly inspired me. And as I plan my son's 2nd birthday party I will have lots of DIYish elements.(perhaps not nearly as creative as the random blogs)

Weddings Galore

My husband and two of his friends (coincedentally) all decided to get married around the same time. We went first in January. The other two weddings were this month, one on the 6th and the other on the 20th. They were all in each others weddings. I'm sure they had a great time with all the bachelor parties, rehersal dinner, and receptions.

Each wedding was beautiful and with the exception of our wedding they were each a long time coming. Both of the March couples were together 8+ years, I even think one couple is almost 15 years.

I'm looking forward to hanging with other married couples.

Chef Mr. Nolagee

I am so glad I have a husband that actually likes to cook. Today he made jambalaya, steaks. On Wednesday, he smothered pork chops with rice and peas. My contribution was a Mrs. Smith Apple Pie.

Everytime I decide to cook, I come home and its already done. I wanna cook too. I guess I will cook something on Sunday... if he doesn't beat me to it.

The Honeymoon's Over

We went on a cruise for our honeymoon. We were both cruise virgins. It was extremely cold the first night and the ship had no heat. The second day warmed up and we had a blast. There really is so much to do.

We are back now and finally settling in to married life. I'll keep you posted.

Inspiration to Reality: The Cake

Here is a picture of my inspiration cake...


And here is my actual cake!... Thanks Royal Cakery.

The wedding is over and as much as I complained about it not being "my wedding"... it absolutely was. I had a blast. People keep telling me how much fun they had and I am so happy about that. The day did go by so fast but I loved every second of it. I wasn't nervous or anxious, which really surprised me.

Second Thoughts ... All Around!

Well, not in the most important sense in reference to a wedding. I'm still marrying my dear FI, but...

After viewing all these wedding blogs I feel like such a sucker. I orginally wanted a small wedding (read: imitiate family only). But since we both have pretty big families the small wedding seemed much less feasible when we started creating the list. I also wanted a somewhat summer/spring outdoor wedding. But that would have meant getting married NOW!... I got engaged in December.

As of this moment I would like to have a Small Summer Garden Sunday Brunch Wedding with three bridesmaids. I would like a tea length wedding dress. My color pallete would be a light orange and grey.

Instead, I am have a large (200+) wedding at a ballroom complete with chandeliers, 10 bridesmaids, New Year's Day, black and white wedding. I have let other people's idea of what my wedding should be like take over. And it's too late to change it!

The Story Behind The Name

In case you were wondering why I titled this blog The Long Road to Heaven...

I was super bored one day, which is pretty normal, so I decided to tease FI. Whatever can drive a person crazy I did. Finally after about 30 minutes or so he let out this very loud sigh, shook his head, and said "Its gonna be a long road to heaven".

He didn't crack a smile, but I laughed so hard.

I also took it as a good sign. He didn't say he didn't know how much of it he could take, or he couldn't take anymore, move into another room, or even do/say something to get me back... even though he may not have even meant to, he just let me know that he wasn't going anywhere.

Check 1 2, Check 3

The combination of yesterday's post and a trip to theknot.com's message boards really put things into perspective for me. There's actually brides in the world that are on top of this whole planning process. I am six months out and have VERY little done, meanwhile some brides are 1 year + even 2 years or so out and have their venues, photographers, florist, bakers, etc.

It really made me wonder is it just me?

No...seriously. I know I procrastinate in a lot of areas but this is ridiculous. It even makes me wonder how honest my fellow knotties are being. Not to say this are lying, but are all these contracts in place, deposits paid, or is it more of wishful thinking. As the saying goes, "every little girl dreams of what her wedding day will be like." Uhh... not me. If that IS true then I'm a lifetime behind.

Anyway, I finally made a few calls and today I booked... contract in place/deposit paid... a secondline band and a photographer.

So for the time being the hard part is done.

6 Months To Go!

Today, I received an email from TheKnot.com with a friendly reminder that I have six months left until my wedding day. While it was nice to get a update it sent me into total panic mode... well not total because its not really like me to panic, but it did light a little fire under me. So, I decided to create a blog to document my planning process. I'm sure it will serve as more of a reminder to me of all the things I need to get done.

So far I have the ever so coveted check next to ...
Venue

Yes, thats all folks!