One cook in the kitchen isn't nearly as fun...

As many of you probably know, Jeff and I really love to cook together and experiment with different recipes.  Now that we are hundreds of miles apart, sometimes it is tough to cook alone.  I decided I needed a break from reading and studying and wanted to make myself cheesy potatoes.  I must say, it was much harder and lonely cooking in the kitchen without Jeff there to lend me a hand or for me to land a hand to!  Can't wait until we can cook together all the time!

Even though I was cooking alone, the cheesy potatoes turned out pretty well.  Here are some pictures of the yummy dish...

Dress Shopping!

July 30 . . . Lindsay, the Maid of Honor, made the trip from Baltimore to Morgantown to spend the weekend dress shopping with me!  I was so excited to have her join me!  I refused to go shopping until she could be there with me.  I knew that she would give me her honest opinion and not sugar coat things trying to make me happy!  My mom and I went to a shop on Friday before Lindsay arrived in town but didn't have any luck.  Once Lindsay arrived, we enjoyed some wine and bride magazines before falling asleep!  We had a blast catching up!  We got up super early Saturday and headed to Fairmont for the first shop.  Unfortunately, I didn't have any luck at the store.  While we were there, I saw a photo of a dress that I had recently found in a magazine, but unfortunately, the store didn't have the dress in stock.  I was determined to find that dress somewhere and try it on.  After leaving Fairmont, Lindsay and I dropped my mom off at home so she could go to a banquet for my brother and we picked up Kristin and headed to Pittsburgh to continue our dress adventure.  We had appointments at two dress shops - and to be honest, I couldn't have imagined the fun we had.  Between Lindsay stuffing fake boobs in my dress and the fashion show Lindsay and Kristin put on in the various bridesmaid dresses, I had a smile on my face all day - except when we were rushed out of one store (despite our appointment not being over).

As we headed to the last stop of the day, I told Kristin and Lindsay I wasn't expecting much because I had never had much luck with this particular store, but I was open to trying out every option!  We walked in and were greeted by a wonderful sales lady, Elaine, who was amazing!  I showed her several dresses in the catalog that I wanted to try on and she informed me that I showed her the same dress 3 or 4 times throughout the catalog without even realizing because the dress was pictured from different angles.  She said she would pull all the ones I pointed out, but had a feeling she knew which one I would pick.  After trying on a few dresses, I put a dress on with Lindsay's help.  Prior to this dress, before I walked out of the fitting room, Lindsay would give me her opinion.  This time, she wouldn't even look at me - I have to say I was a little irritated with her at that point because I wanted to know what it looked like before I walked out and potentially looked like a complete dork!  I walked out, and it seemed like the world stopped... like everyone in the store stopped and turned to look at me... like I was the only one tying on dresses.  I looked over and I could swear Lindsay had a tear in her eye - a tear of happiness and Kristin was all smiles.  That's when I knew I found my dress!  I felt so amazing in that dress and it wasn't at all what I thought I would end up falling in love with.

Lindsay and Kristin tried on a ton of bridesmaid dresses to help me get an idea of what style/color dress I wanted for the special day.  Here are some photos of the girls in their dresses being goofy...

After some lovely fashion shows of bridesmaid dresses and wedding dresses, before heading home, we headed to Primanti Brothers for some amazing food!

Since my parents weren't with me, I didn't want to make the final decision without them.  I really wanted my mom and my dad to see it and get their opinion so my parents and I drove back to Pittsburgh on the next day and ended up buying the dress!!!!  The dress has come in and is being safely stored at my parents house!

Want to know which dress I picked out?  Guess you will have to come to the wedding to find out!!!  :-)

Moving Weekend - July 2010

So this posting is very, very late, but this blog is about what Jeff and I are up to together, so it is only fitting to include it.  I am really trying to get into a habit of updating weekly from now on, but we will see how that goes!

The last weekend in July, Jeff and I jumped in the car and headed to Charlotte to move my belongings from one apartment to my new apartment in Uptown Charlotte!  It was a very, very busy weekend and went by very quickly.  The move went smoothly, with the exception of the rain as we moved the last load.

Here are some pictures from the day after the move . . . I will post some pictures of what it looks like now that we are 'moved in' in the next week . . .

Bedroom...

Bathroom

Desk in bedroom

Closet (yes, my dresser is in my closet...)

Living room... Looks completely different now...

Kitchen (also looks pretty different)

View from our balcony . . . Love the Queen City!

Entrance to the complex . . . taken from our balcony

On the way home, Jeff and I noticed that my little blue was going to reach 60,000.  For a 2004, that mileage isn't too terrible . . . Here are some photos from the exciting moment . . .

Wait for it . . . 

Wait for it . . . 

THERE IT IS!! I know it is a little blurry, but it was the best we could do.  We hit 60K in the tunnel between West Virginia and Virginia.  It was pretty cool . . . we get excited over some of the craziest things . . . haha!

As an end to our weekend of moving together, as we were driving home, we noticed this beautiful sunset.  Jeff took the picture as we were driving home.  It doesn't get much prettier than that!

Wedding Planning Update!

Well it is official!!!  

Jeff and I will be married on 

 July 16, 2011 

We have secured the church for the wedding and we have booked the reception venue!!  YAYYY!!!  

Now that we have that out of the way, we have lots more things on our "wedding to-do list" to begin checking off!  Stay tuned for more details!!! :-)

For everyone's enjoyment, here are some pictures of us from around the time that we met... 

So competitive... Good thing it wasn't Monopoly we were playing, or it would have been even more competitive!

Here is one from the first time I ever met Jeff's parents and his brother and sister-in-law!  I also met two of the nephews for the first time!

Yummy dinner!

When Jeff and I celebrated my brother's 18th birthday at Olive Garden with my family, Jeff ordered an eggplant parmigiana and became inspired.  He was determined that he could recreate the dish.  After work one day, I headed over to Jeff's apartment to spend some time with him and I walked in and found him busy cooking in the kitchen.  Don't let me fool you... this is not unusual... I am VERY, VERY lucky.  Jeff loves to cook (or at least seems to).  We love cooking together and trying new recipes!  He is an amazing and talented cook!  Sorry ladies, he is all mine! ;-)

He was very successful in recreating the Olive Garden dish!  The meal was absolutely delicious!!  Here are some pictures of the amazing food he made!

Pittsburgh weekend!

Jeff and I headed to Pittsburgh on Friday, July 16 to visit Julie Klein and Dave Battiste!  Julie was my big sister from our sorority days.  She also just won a free wedding in Hilton Head, SC!!  You can read more about their awesome wedding here!  Julie asked me to come visit her in PGH because we haven't been able to get together in what seems like forever.  Jeff and I didn't have any plans so we decided to make plans with them and visit!  We originally planned to go to a Pirates game, but we weren't sure how the weather was going to behave, so instead we decided to head to the South Side and have some dinner and drinks.  We got to meets lots of Dave and Julie's PGH friends too!  We had such an awesome evening and can't wait to plan our next trip to visit them!!  Before we headed home on Saturday, I went with Julie to help her find a wedding dress and to try on some bridesmaid dresses.  Luckily, we found dresses for everyone and they will look beautiful at her November beach wedding!

Here are some pictures from Friday night...

Me, Dave & Julie

LiL & BiG

The lovely couple at the bar where they first met!

All the girls from the evening...

<3

The entire group... The way everyone posed is kind of funny... there was an extra guy who jumped in the picture and posed with a girl who is married (on the left in grey)... I ended up posed with the girl's husband (guy in the light blue shirt) which left poor Jeff looking like a loner in the back... haha!  Such a fun night!

After trying on dresses with Julie, Jeff and I headed to Morgantown so we could have dinner with my family to celebrate my brother's actual birthday.  Even though we celebrated his birthday at the beach, Saturday was his real birthday.  We had a delicious dinner at Olive Garden and Jeff got inspired from his meal and left with an idea of something to make for us for dinner... :)

Saturday night after ice cream cake for Nick's birthday, Jeff and I headed downtown to hang out with Ben & Brittany who we haven't seen in ages!  We were so happy to get to see them and spend some time catching up!  Ben recently got a job in Uniontown so we haven't been seeing as much of them as we used to!  We are so excited that they are back in Morgantown most weekends so we can catch up with them more!! :)

On Sunday Jeff and I left town early and headed back to Pittsburgh to spend the day at the PGH Zoo with Jeff's brother, sister, their spouses, all the nephews and friends of theirs with their children.  Most people thought we were crazy for volunteering to spend the day at the zoo with 6 littles ones, but we loved every minute of it!  We don't get to see the boys as often as we would like, so any chance we get to see them is a treat!  We had an awesome time walking around, even though it was super hot, and got to see lots of different animals.  The boys were all well behaved!  We got through the entire zoo and had to head home, but were really glad that we made the trip to see everyone!  Here are some pictures from the day...

All of the little ones!

Funny boys!

The whole group!

Another picture of the boys...

And last, but not least, Jeff playing at the ice sculpture! :)

Whew! What a fun filled, super busy weekend we had!  It was worth every minute of it though!  We got to see so many people that are special to us!  It was a blast!  Can't wait to see everyone again soon!!!

Goodbye NY... Hello WV!

Jeff is now a West Virginia driver!!  Jeff sent his NY plates back to his dad after he got his new WV plates and was a little sad to let go of his NY plates...