Dear Santa...

Here is my list of wishes this Christmas:

 Puma Sneakers

Found at Nordstrom

University of Arizona Hoodie

Found at Victorias Secret

Gold Karma Necklace

Found at Dogeared

Martha Stewart's Cookies and Cupcakes Cookbooks

Found at Amazon

Le Creuset Teakettle in Kiwi

Found at Williams-Sonoma

Scoopneck Corsage Tee

Found at JCrew

V-neck Sweater

Found at JCrew

and if you're feeling super giving...hint, hint...Mr. G...

Marc by Marc Jacobs Tote Bag

Found at Nordstrom

And while I was searching for my wish list, I found this...oh how I wish it would have been available about 6 months ago!  I LOOVE this dress...if only I were still a bride : (

I'm sure I'll find 100 more things I have to have over the next 3 weeks, but my birthday is just around the corner...

Everything's sweeter with dessert!

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone!  Mr. G and I had a great day yesterday with his family.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to spend the holiday with my family this year, but such is life when you're married I suppose.  We had volunteered to host here, but Mr. G's grandfather is 93 and can't travel very well anymore, so we all packed up and headed to his house yesterday.  My favorite part was the 8 pies!  Yum!

Today I spent the day preparing for dinner tomorrow night with 6 of our friends.  I'm so excited, it'll be the first time we use our china!  I'm making chicken parmesan, fresh pesto pasta and these individual lemon raspberry trifles for dessert.  I made pound cake, lemon sauce, and raspberry sauce today.  Tomorrow I'll make the whipped cream and put everything together in our stemless wine glasses!

I tried to take a pictures of my table all set, but something is wrong with the memory card in my camera and it's not working! :(

long time gone

Well friends...I've been away for awhile and I apologize, but I've been trying to figure out what to share with you on a daily basis and I just can't seem to remember my posting duties, especially during such a crazy time at school!  Anyways, I jsut finished a week of parent-teacher conferences and let me tell you...I AM WORN OUT!  Friends, if you are a teacher you have some sort of idea just how exhausting it is to meet with 30 sets of parents in 4 days, but if you aren't...I envy you!  But hey, now I get to look forward to a week of vacation!  The light at the end of the tunnel :)

Mr. G. also finished up high school football season with his team.  They are a new high school and this was the first year they played at the varsity level.  They have no seniors at the school yet (next year will be the first for that) so all in all, they did very well considering they are a very young team.  Life is returning to "normal" for us...whatever that is!  To me "normal" means that I get to see my husband for more than 2 hours a day...yay!

I'm working on my updates and I am trying to post more often!  I had some fun taking photos of my rings tonight...enjoy!

I looove this one below...I laid my wedding dress down and placed my ring on top!

I used the tips in a post on weddingbeePro found here!  Obviously they were still a bit dark, but I plan to take some more tomorrow during the day.

Apple pie and Macaroons

Seriously...the most random combination but oh sooo good!  I have been on a baking spree for the last couple weekends.  A month or so ago, I made this amazing Apple Crisp Pie from the Williams-Sonoma website.  YUM!  Mr. G loved it!  So when he announced that he was making dinner for me last night, I asked if he wanted me to make some dessert...of course was the answer and so I made the pie again.  Today it looks something like this...

Yep...that's right...half eaten!

Now, on Wednesday I ventured to San Francisco with my 30 fifth graders and 19 of their parents along with 4 other classes of students from my school.  (I'm getting to the macaroons I swear!)  It was quite the journey as the Bay Bridge was closed the previous night due to an accident during construction.  Anyways, while we were at the De Young Musuem for the King Tut exhibit, we had the most amazing chocolate dipped macaroon ever.  I swore to myself that I was going to make them this weekend and try to recreate the coconuty goodness!  Well...I tried and they aren't terrible, but they aren't quite right.  The recipe called for 2 extra large egg whites and all I had were large eggs, so I put in about 2 1/2 large egg whites and I think they separated a little too much.  Guess that means I'll have to make them again to get it right?

Still waiting for their chocolate bath :)

Chicken Quesadilla Pie for dinner tonight...mmm!

3 months tomorrow...

So tomorrow will be the 3 month mark post-wedding and I'm thinking it's about time that I move on from wedding posts. I've recapped all of the events by now and have shown more pictures than you probably cared to see. I plan to do one last wedding related post and then *sadly* it'll be time to move on to other life happenings!

So I'm wondering...is there anything else you're dying to see or hear about from my wedding?

Wedding Recap: Bridesmaid Gifts

I debated almost the entire length of my engagement about what I was going to get to thank the fabulous girls that stood next to me on my wedding day.  I started early and just kept finding small things that I added to their bag of loot!  My advice is to start early and buy things over time.  That way you aren't spending all the money at once and it's more manageable to spend a bit more because you're doing it over time...at least that's how I rationalized it!

If you remember from a previous post, I also paid for the girls to get manicures and pedicures the day before the wedding...we had a great time getting pampered together! 

Part 1:

cute fabric covered rings from etsy seller brookerpie

each girl got a different design

i didn't anticipate them weraing them with their dresses but they did!

Part 2:

green crystal earrings also from etsy, but the seller is no longer around

this is one of the only pictures i have :(

Part 3:

my mom made each of the girls a small jewelry pouch in their favorite color

and i put their earrings and rings inside

here is the picture of mine...most of theirs were purple!

Part 4:

i got each girl a different necklace from dogeared

each fit her favorite color or something about her personality

Part 5:

personalized coffee tumblers also from etsy

each got a different color with their first initial

Part 6:

everything was packaged in the infamous LLBean Boat and Tote bag!

each girl got their favorite color and their first name embroidered on the outside

of course...i had to buy one for myself too!

Overall, I spent more than what is probably average for bridesmaid gifts.  My feeling was that these girls are my sisters and my best friends and I should treat them like queens.  They spent money on their dresses, shoes, getting their hair done, my shower, gifts for me and I felt I needed to show them how appreciative I was of their love and support.  And of course, it's just fun to buy presents!

Love you girls!

Wedding Recap: Reception Part 2

{Sorry for being MIA for almost 2 weeks!}

After dinner we were able to mingle for a little while before the music began and we really started dancing.  The weather was fabulous, not to hot, not too cold...until...the sun went down.  The breeze came up and without the warmth of the sun...it was chilly!  I don't remember being cold, but I do know that many of our guests began to leave because of the cool breeze and we hadn't even cut the cake yet!  About 9:15 we began toasts, cut the cake and followed with the garter and bouquet tosses.  Of course we danced the night away until about 11:30 after that! 

Maid of Honor's speech about eating oreos when we were 7

and getting sick because we ate so many...too funny!

Best Man's speech about sitting through rainy football games...

I'm sure there will be many more!

Cake:  lemon poppyseed w/lemon buttercream, chocolate w/strawberry buttercream and vanilla buttermilk w/strawberry buttercream...makes my mouth water just typing this!

First dance to Brad Paisley's "Then"

Garter "removal"

Mr. G put the garter around to football to throw...it was a huge success, the guys loved it!

My bouquet toss

Immediately following the bouquet toss while all the ladies were still out there, my DJ played a song (Martina McBride's "This One's for the Girls) just for us girls to dance to...soo much fun!

A few pictures from the cigar bar that was set up after dinner and cake

Last song of the night "Time of My Life"

(from Dirty Dancing...pretty much my favorite movie of all time!)

And finally...me *gently* urging my new husband to get into the limo and leave with me...haha

I still have a few recaps left so stay tuned for those!

Wedding Recap: Reception Part 1

Right after the ceremony, we took all of our formal shots with our families. These were not a priority of our's but our families did want formal shots...so we obliged...

Immediately after that, we headed into the house with our bridal party to line up and "rehearse" our introduction "dances". I say that with quotes because there was nothing formal planned, but each couple did something different and cute and it made for a great start to the reception. We were introduced to "Hot for Teacher" and took our seats for only a moment before heading off for a few sunset shots and then straight to the buffet line to get our yummy food!

formal shot of the entire bridal party

our introduction

i think this one may be my favorite of all the shots of us!

mr. & mrs. signs...too bad we're in the wrong seats!

Fall has arrived!

This weekend has been the beginning (finally!) of fall like weather.  Mr. G's football team won last night as I sat with my blanket over me, and today, I made one of our favorite comfort foods for dinner! 

Chicken Pot Pies...yum!

{Thanks Kel for the cute little ramekins :)}

Wedding Recap: Ceremony

There aren't many words to describe the feelings I was having before and during our ceremony. I remember lining up, all the girls in front of me and me at the end of the line with my dad. He seemed to be freaking out more than me and I kept assuring HIM that it was going to be OK! I finally told him that I was fine and I needed him to be fine and to get me down the aisle!

"Me and You" by Kenny Chesney came over the speakers and we stepped outside of the house and down the stairs. This first one is one of my favorite pictures out of allllll 700 of them!

Then I started crying...here I am trying to breathe!

Smiling at my love...

Vows

Prayer just after exchanging rings

Love my flowergirl in this picture...look at her with her hand over her mouth! So precious!

We did it!