rings

Sorry, we are really bad at keeping this up to date. Things are really getting crazy now! A couple weekends ago, we went to Augusta for the last time before we go for the wedding. One of my favorite things we did that weekend was pick up our rings! I also picked up Ryan's wedding present. Here's what they look like:




I just love the difference in size of our rings, haha. Ryan says it's a secret what we've inscribed inside our rings "for now" so maybe some day I can tell you what they say. Also funny - when I tried my ring on at the store, I couldn't get it off, because it was so thin it was hard to get a grip on it! Later back at the house, Ryan did a shaking test where he vigorously shook his hand/arm to see if he could throw his ring off his finger. Don't ask me when in his life he will ever shake his arm that hard...but he seems to think that could really happen.

Hey guess what? We exchange rings in just 9 days!

Other good news

Ok, so maybe my next blog won't be post honeymoon, and actually 2 minutes later.

Anyways, I got a great wedding present that I wanted to share with everyone. On 8/13/09, 5 months and 2 days after I got laid off (thanks economy), I got a job offer. I accepted the next day, and will be starting a position with The Hanover Insurance Group on 9/14/09. It couldn't have happened at a more perfect time, considering how much everything costs these days, weddings, honeymoons, everything else.

I'm very thankful to have a job right now though. Hanover is a great company, and I'm excited to be working for them shortly. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers...and help during the past 5 months. Unemployment is not easy, and now I know that.

Bachelor Party

Sorry, no pictures... haha. I had a very nice bachelor party on 8/14/09. My brother put everything together, and was helped out by the rest of the guys. Matt Duckworth, Danny Karnik, Jon Straub and Matt Ward showed up, with Ryan Russell and Jonathan Ferro being just a little too far away (Vegas and LA) to make the trip.

The night started at one of my favorite places in Atlanta, Turner Field. Though it was my... 15th? 20th? Braves game of the season, it was a lot of fun. We had club level all you can eat seats, so good times were had. I do despise those Phillies though.

After that, we went out and had some fun in the VA Highlands here in town. Overall it was a nice night, good times shared with good friends. Now I'm looking forward to next week, when all of my friends are back together, but this time in an awesome golf cottage in SC. Not to mention the excitement of this wedding coming up.

Who knows, maybe the next blog you'll see from me will be the post-honeymoon blog!

bachelorette dinner

Last weekend, two of my bridesmaids threw me a shower. It was so much fun! Unfortunately, I don't have any of the pictures yet, but hopefully Meg will send me some soon and I will recap it for y'all then.

After the shower, we went to Eclipse Di Luna for dinner. I love tapas and sharing good food with good friends. It was really a great time hanging out with my favorite girls! Again, I don't have any pictures, but Lauren managed to sneak one on her iPhone of my awesome headgear. She bought it in Disneyland in LA and brought it back just for the bachelorette and the rehearsal on 8/29. Check it out:

bad hair day

Now our posts are getting all out of order, but that's ok. Back when I had the shower in Augusta, I also had my hair consultation.

Here's how it went:

Here's what Ryan thought about it:


Haha. Ok, in all seriousness, my hair won't be all that crazy for the wedding day. That's just all the prep work to make it humongously awesome. Now here's the quandary...we did a half up with lots of curls and an updo that looked cool too. But of course, only one hairdo can win. Any thoughts on which hairstyle I should go with? I'll keep the winner a surprise for 8/29 :)

Support a great chairty...

So good news on the registry front. If you purchase gifts for our wedding through weddingchannel.com, up to 3% of the money from the purchases will go to a charity of our choosing. The charity will get more money as more gifts are purchased for us through WeddingChannel.com. The actual donation is based on a percent of the registry products purchased through WeddingChannel.com (excluding taxes and shipping) up to 3%. Six months after the wedding, the charity will receive a check for all the donations generated through WeddingChannel.com. Since wedding gifts are often purchased after the wedding, they wait six months to give the charity the chance to reach the highest donation percentage possible.


We chose The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as our charity, because leukemia has hit close to home for both of us. Corrie had a young cousin, Sean, pass away due to leukemia. I have had two friends pass away, Jonathan Shirlock and Sara Keene. They were both in college at Georgia Tech when diagnosed and fought long hard battles. We miss them all.

On the same note, another great charity dealing with Leukemia is the Shirlock Foundation, at this link. The Shirlock Foundation's mission is to ease the financial burden faced by families of college students who have been diagnosed with Leukemia.

So, if you want to purchase gifts from either registry, please go through weddingchannel.com to get to the Macy's or Bed Bath & Beyond sites. Every donation to charity helps!

guess now it's official

bonus points for you if you can guess what song the subject line came from :)

Today, we took one step closer to be officially married on 8/29 - the marriage license!


Now, I don't know about you, but my political leanings favor a government that makes the most of my tax money, not wastefully spends it etc. Can I tell you that getting the license was a pretty inefficient and silly process? First we got the form. Then we had to fill it out, but oh no, we couldn't sit anywhere we pleased, we had to sit at a certain counter, even though the closer tables had marriage license signs on them. Hmmm. I wanted to say "you know, my tax money probably paid for part of this table that you won't let me sit at, even though there is NO ONE else around." Then we presented not 2 forms of ID, but just one. Our drivers licenses. I guess GA doesn't really question who you are. The clerk took her time and then we had to go to yet another counter to pay and then come back to the original counter. Whew. I really wanted to say something about this convoluted process but I saved my rant til after we got outside. And I saved my rant for tonight so I could share it with all of you. Did anyone else have a similar experience? Or is this just a Fulton County anomaly?

Another funny note - free group weddings on Fridays at the courthouse. I almost want to go just to witness it!

Anyway, there it is. The license. It expires in a year so no worries about that! Haha. And we actually paid for it with a monetary gift from one of the ladies at my church back home. So thank you Mrs. Rooks :) And it was discounted because of our premarital counseling. Yay! Dr. Jon gets to sign the license on 8/29 and then we send that back off to the govt and then get our real marriage certificate. Yippee!!