Time To Get Organized

As promised, I'm blogging during The Bachelor!! (can you believe Brad just told Emily that he loves her?!)  Before our Monday night tradition started, I decided it was time to get the wedding room organized.  I have piles of invitations, save-the-dates, programs, etc. that I've collected from friends' weddings.  Add that to the piles of magazine pictures, brochures and random wedding paraphernalia that I've collected over the years = one big mess.  So I'd like to introduce you to...

Yup, the nerd in me created a binder to put all of my wedding papers!

I need a safe place to keep the important papers:

As well as the inspirational pictures:

I'm so excited about my binder!

So you may ask, "Natalie, why did you decide that now is the time to get organized?"  Good question, blog-reading friend.  There are a few reasons.  Mostly, I really needed to do it anyway.  Secondly, the wedding room is kind of cluttered and I'm not a fan of clutter.  Lastly, it's easier to get organized before you have to pack.  PACK?!  Yup, I said it.  The wedding room is moving.  About 10 miles south, to be exact.  Offer placed on Friday, accepted today, closing date set for March 29th!!!

Here's your sneak peek at our pretty new foreclosure!

It needs a bit of work and A LOT of landscaping but we love it!!  And if anyone wants to come help with the landscaping this summer, we can take a dip in the neighborhood pool when we're done... after we sip a marg on the porch, of course!

YAY!!!  Needless to say, we're going to be very busy for the next few months but I'm soooo excited!!!


PS. The wedding is six months from today.  SIX months.  Whoa!

Change Is a'Comin

...and not just because I've recently decided to look for a different pair of wedding shoes (yes, it's true. Badgley just isn't as comfortable as I thought). Stay tuned for an official announcement tomorrow regarding something much more exciting than my shoes!!

I will be blogging during The Bachelor so I thought I'd put my prediction out now:

Winner: Emily
Runner-up: Chantel

I know, I know. There are only 3 girls left so this isn't much of a bold statement but this season has been hard to predict! Those guys at ABC have good editing skillz.

Wedding update: we have received two amazingly cute Save The Dates in the past couple of weeks that are now decorating our fridge. I love seeing everyone's different styles and am really getting excited for wedding season of 2011! Shout-out to my fellow bride-friends: Ashley, Kari, Lindsey, Melissa, and Katie!

{Recipe} Best Darn Chocolate Chip Cookies Everrr

This is my absolute favorite chocolate chip cookies recipe! Don't be afraid to substitute the chocolate chips for m&m's, cinnamon chips or whatever floats your boat. And don't over-bake!

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup softened butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 package (12 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Combine flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. Combine brown sugar, granulated sugar, softened butter, and vanilla; beat until creamy. Add eggs and beat. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop mixture by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes.

Enjoy!! If you make them, let me know how they turn out. We didn't make any cookies this weekend because we're enjoying our girl scout cookies instead!

Happy Sunday!

Let's Go Pick Out Our Gifts

Oy vey, I'm such a blogging failure.  Life has been busy lately but I promise to not let it interfere with my blogging from now on!  Here's a quick post but more to come soon...

Our most recent wedding adventure involved a nice, little trip to C&B for what they call "registering."  Not only are we picking out gifts for others to buy us, but C&B hosts a party for us while we're doing this!  What is our world coming to?  We showed up at 9am on a Sunday morning and had two hours to browse the store before it opened to the public.  There was live music, drinks, fruit, cupcakes and plenty of helpful C&B employees to guide us through the store.

Going in, I was excited and the groom could not have cared less.  By the end, I was exhausted and the groom was scanning every random item he could find every time I turned my back.  No, Pugsley does not need a fancy dog bowl and placemat but I let the donut pans stay on the list!  It was completely overwhelming and not the fun, exciting time that I was expecting.  We've already changed our dishes once and changed all of our pots and pans after doing more research at home (a.k.a. calling FOB).  Thank goodness for the online aspect of the registry that allows us to login and adjust the items.  We still have one more place to register (goal: this weekend) and will be much more prepared this time around.

In other news, my dear friend Melissa suggested that I start adding some recipes to the blog.  Seems fitting that the first one should be a cookie recipe, right?!  Stay tuned, dear readers, because the best chocolate chip cookie recipe you'll ever see is coming your way!

Shout-out to DIZ who kindly reminded me that it's been too long since my last blog post...

Coming February 14th

I got a very exciting email last week that I cannot believe I forgot to share with everyone!  Please prepare yourselves because this is about to be the best Valentine's Day everrrr.  Forgot the chocolate, flowers die anyway, who needs a fancy dinner and does anyone really like jewelry?!  (okay, maybe that was a little much...) Coming this Valentine's Day 2011, Anthropologie is debuting... their wedding line!  Rumor has it that this new line - called BHDLN - will have wedding gowns, bridesmaid dresses, shoes and accessories.  You can get a sneak peek here.  Warning: your eyes will be burned with the beauty!  Warning #2: there is music so keep your computer on mute if you're at work :)

In other exciting news, I got a THIRD delivery last week.  My fellow brides, have you met my new friend eBay?  I discovered these little beauties during my daily browse of wedding blogs.  One of the brides happily answered another reader's question about where in the world she found those awesome, vintage-looking frames.  I had to do some digging but I, too, found them available on eBay for a ridiculously cheap price (I can't tell you how much because I plan on selling them after the wedding for more!).  The frames arrived last week and I think they'll be perfect as our table numbers.

Sneak Peek: 

WHOOOHOOO!!

In other exciting news, it's currently -9 outside.