Catching Up

Alright, I have been terrible at blogging again. ATT U-verse is apparently the worst company on the planet so we do not have internet. It turns out all the wiring in our house for TV and internet was cut before we moved in... annoying. We have decided not to worry about it too much, because we are going through the process of pre-qualifying for a loan to buy a house, which we are super excited about! Essentially, we have been told that we we are pre-qualified, we just have to get the ducks lined up to get our letter. We had already been looking at houses when my parents were out here, but now that we know we have pre-qualified we have been looking even more.

There are a lot of neighborhoods here that we love and a lot of great options out there, so it takes a lot to narrow down the options. We are super picky and have very specific needs since we will have my family with us, so that helps but still, its a big decision. We haven't found a house that is 100% perfect yet, but we have one in mind that we love, and several others that look great. It has really intensified my obsession with pinterest.

We have been working a ton but also got to go to San Fransisco, Carmel and Monterey with M&D and the girls. They offered to take us on a trip for our wedding gift if we preferred that, which we were super excited for. We had a really great time there. The entire time I was thinking how I could easily retire to the NorCal coast. It is so cool, cozy and foggy all the time, and the coastline is gorgeous. The best part was getting to spend time with them again, though, because it felt so normal after living near them for a while. It also worked out well that Olympic gymnastics were on at the time since Kyla was there. I also got to try fried artichoke hearts on the way back, which was pretty fantastic.

Connor arrived here on Wednesday and will be living with us. He seems to be settling in really well and is having a good time. It'll also be great to have someone around to hang out with Kaos while we are at work during the day. Due to the lack of internet and time, I haven't been posting any pictures lately. I will go to Starbucks one of these days and do that, but until then here is a picture of Kaos and the CI bbq:

 so cuteeeeeeee

Wedding Details

So I had originally planned on blogging about little parts of the wedding after it was over, but since AT&T U-Verse is the worst company ever, we still don't have internet... one month later. So now that I'm borrowing the internet from one of our unaware neighbors, I wanted to put up some quick pics!

One of the hardest decisions for us was the cake. There are so many options out there that are gorgeous and I just didn't know how we would pick. Then, I found a cute cake on Pinterest one day and went to the blog that posted it. One of the cakes on the rest of the blog was just perfect, Zach and I immediately knew we wanted it:

Susan Lines Photography

We did three flavors: Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Butter Cream and Raspberry Preserves for the base, White Cake with White Chocolate Mousse and Raspberry Preserves in the middle, and then Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting on top.

It was DELICIOUS. People had seconds and it was demolished pretty quickly. Fortunately, the place we got the cake from gives you a top portion of your cake at your 1 year anniversary, so we weren't trying to save it. The original cake we found online had different flowers on it, but I was quite happy with how the Baby's Breath looked on there.

Another part of the wedding I was excited about was the shirts we had made for our bridal party. Working for a t-shirt company, you would think it was an easy decision, but it took us a while to get there. I think the most daunting part was coming up with a good design, since we have seen so many. I learned a lot doing the shirts, though, because I really got to feel what our customers go through with their orders. I checked the status of my order every single day, and agonized over every detail. In the end, I think they came out great and I have heard from the girls that they have been wearing the shirts a lot. They are super comfy, so I wear mine constantly too :)

Susan Lines Photography

Susan Lines Photography

The guest book was another fun decision. There are so many options out there that SO many people have done, and I found most of them tacky (sorry..) or just not appropriate for us. I wanted one that actually represented us as a couple, and something we would use. Eventually I came up with what I thought was very original, but it turns out other people have done it too :( We had people sign a slice of a birch tree trunk that we will eventually display on a wall as a decoration, or on a table somewhere.

Alright well Zach is awake now and it's his BIRTHDAY! so I better get off the computer pay attention to him :) More to come on other details, the move, living in Reno and his birthday present!

Reno

By now we are definitely getting very settled in. We left the Wednesday after the wedding, and got here Friday night. That night was tough because it was freezing with howling winds when we got here, and we had to go straight to Walmart to get an inflatable mattress to sleep on. I hate Walmart, but it is so much worse on a weekend night. We saw some terrifying people there - not the best start. So glad we knew enough about Reno from our first trip to not panic. Plus, we had already been in our house that we're renting here and we LOVE it, so we knew we'd be okay.

That weekend was entirely spent shopping. We started work Monday, but all of our spare time was spent in furniture stores, grocery stores, etc. It was ridiculous. We bought a lot of furniture that we love though. We were in such a rush because my parents and Connor got here 2 Fridays after we did for a 10 day visit. They are stuff here right now, and we have had SO much fun. There is just so much to do out here. I will eventually blog about the wedding, the drive out here, our house, my parents trip... all that. Right now we don't really have internet (ATT U-Verse sucks), but once we do I will be back up and running!

Rental House

Zach and I have found the house we will rent in Reno! We are so excited. It will be the first place we live as a married couple, and our first real home of our own (because the apartment in LA.. well that doesn't really count. We got super lucky finding this place, since we are looking from across the country and have a largish dog and 2 cats. Most of the CI people will be in apartments, so I'm looking forward to having a place that we can have BBQ's. Here are some cute little pics:

Love it!!!

Marble counter top island, looking into the backyard

Doggy area

Flowers! They also have a veggie garden area

My Bridal Shower

So a couple weekends ago Kristen through my bridal shower and it was amazing. I hate being the center of attention, so I was fairly nervous about the whole thing, but it ended up going really well. It was such an awesome group of people and Kristen did SUCH a good job planning it. Here are some pics:

If you hear someone say one of these words, you get to take their ribbon. Everyone starts with 3, and the person with the most in the end, wins. I lost first.

Got some great pieces of advice from this! The little strips of paper were so cute.

Yogurt parfait bar. Loved it.

All of the foooooood. And childhood pictures hanging.

Red velvet. To die for.

I love paper pom poms!

Pink lemonade cupcakes in a jar.

Me losing the game :(

Kristen had a quiz to see how well people knew me. I hardly knew the answers to some of them, and I gave the answers!

"The Bride's Favorite" 

My wonderful Maid of Honor

"The Men" stopped by at the end - my Mom and my Grandparents

Exciting Weekend Ahead

Alright, well it has been super crazy lately so I haven't been able to do any blog posts. This had a super busy week, but this weekend will be very fun! My grandparents will arrive tomorrow and my aunt Dana Saturday for my bridal shower. Kristen has been so awesome planning this bridal shower, and it's just a reminder of what a great and caring friend she is. I am very fortunate to have her helping me with everything. She is a very busy person too, yet she makes time to go on flower appointments and go shopping for decorations for the wedding. Last Sunday she came with Zach, my Mom and I to the appointment and shopping trip and then out to lunch and we just had a ton of fun. She fits into our family perfectly. Except for the fact that she didn't see Austin Powers until like 3 weeks ago. That's an issue.

Anyways, I am so so excited for the bridal shower and having my family in town. I will make sure to post pictures :) Then, on Sunday, Zach and I have a cake tasting which should also be fabulous. We will also get to do plenty of packing that night because we fly to Reno bright and early Monday morning to visit for a week. I feel like such an adult logging travel hours and driving a rental car on a corporate account.. so foreign to me. But, we have some great apartment buildings to check out, and have even found a few houses that we would love to rent if they're still available in June. 

I have been looking forward to this weekend for a long time, but at the same time I have been trying very hard not to wish time away or be anxious for anything. I want to enjoy every single day I still have here. Every now and then I think we are so crazy to move to Reno, because we have such a great and perfect life here. Why leave that? But... it looks like life will be pretty great in Reno, too. 

Two Months From Today

I will have been living and working in Reno for a week. I bet you were expecting something about the wedding, but at this point moving to Reno and planning this wedding have turned into one beast. I feel like the craziest bride ever because I have done hardly any planning because I'm just too overwhelmed with how much there is to do. So, not only to help myself figure it out, but also to give you a window into my crazy world, I figured I would lay out my schedule and then list what we have left to do. I will leave out the fact that Zach and I work 5 days a week, and are on an overtime schedule right now...

This weekend: Zach and I both work Saturday (extra OT for me).

Sunday we are hoping to schedule cake tastings

Next weekend: My bridal shower is on Saturday, so we will have family in the entire weekend.

Monday Zach and I will fly to Reno to visit for the entire week to make sure we like it.

May 5th/6th weekend we will still be in Reno finding an apartment building hopefully.

May 12 and 13th we will have to fit some wedding planning in, but its also Mothers Day. Have to make that good since I won't be seeing my Mom as much anymore! :(

May 19th Zach and I work.

Next weekend is Memorial Day weekend. If we don't have things planned by then we are in TROUBLE.

Weekend after that is the wedding. Not a lot of time.

So, the wedding is June 3rd... and we have to be in Reno working on June 11th. So we will have the week after the wedding to move, unpack and get ready. In case people aren't a nervous, emotional wreck on their wedding already... it'll be the last weekend I am living on the east coast with my friends and family.

What are we thinking??? I don't know. Why am I still sitting here just watching TV when I have so much to do?? Also don't know.

Things left to do: My shoes, Zach's shoes, bridesmaids and groomsmen get to pick their clothing, pick music, get more decorations, figure out flowers and arrangements, figure out our wedding vows, cake tastings and selection, figure out the rehearsal dinner... and it goes on but I can't think about it right now.

Okay, vent session over.

Cross Country Road Trip, Take 2

There are about 300 things I have been meaning to blog about because I have had a great couple of weeks, but the whole concept of moving to Reno has overtaken that. Those blogs will come eventually (maybe) but tonight will be the basic plans we have for our road trip out to Reno. The hope is that we will be able to go at a time that my parents can come. Kristen is also hopefully coming, so we will have a fun group and lots of drivers! 

Day 1: Drive to Chicago

We may leave a night early and sleep somewhere outside Chicago to spend more time there. Chicago is a destination I have always wanted to go to (unlike most other stops along the way) so we want to make sure we get to see a few sights. Millennium Park looks incredible, I certainly want to touch one of the great lakes, and there are some great parks that have a lot of history from the World's Fair way back in the day.

source

source

Day 2: Drive to Omaha

We probably won't get to Omaha until late in the night, because Chicago will take a lot of time. If we get there in time for dinner, we will certainly go to the Old Market area. It is on the National Registry of Historic Places (or whatever) and seems to have great restaurants. I am actually super excited to go to Omaha (something I never thought I'd say..). 

source

Day 3: Drive to Laramie

After Omaha there is Medicine Bow National Forest. Looks AMAZING. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of anything in Laramie, so we will take our time exploring this part for a few hours. We won't mind getting into Laramie later at night and just waking up and leaving the next morning. There were so many impressive pictures of this forest, it was hard to choose.

source

Day 4: Drive to Salt Lake City

I found out when we drove to California that I loved Utah (another sentence I never thought I would say). Salt Lake City has always seemed amazing to me. I am not Mormon/religious (but I do love Sister Wives) but it seems like an interesting city.

source

Thanks for the collage, Wikipedia...

source

Day 5: Arrive in Reno

I could probably write about 50 things that have us excited about Reno. I probably will one day. I considered putting up a picture of Lake Tahoe, because we can't wait to be close to that, but I wanted to do something actually within Reno. Before this whole thing started I didn't know a single thing about Reno. I probably thought it was some little town in the middle of the desert, but I'm not really sure what I thought because... well, I didn't think about it. I have found out that it is actually in the mountains, filled with ski resorts and golf courses. It has the Truckee River downtown, which people apparently kayak on a lot. It has great views and is a fairly short drive to a lot more than just Tahoe. We're suppperrr excited (and still scared).

source

This is the Truckee River and a waterfront park where people watch the kayakers, or at least that's what google is telling me.

We're Moving to Reno?

Well, it isn't 100% yet, but Zach and I are most likely moving to Reno this summer. As most of you know, our company opened an office in Reno and we've been hoping to go eventually since we heard. We didn't initially plan on moving for at least a year, but for many reasons it appears that we will probably going in June, or July at the latest. I haven't wrapped my head around it entirely, but it's starting to sink in (more and more as I write this, actually..). We have yet to visit Reno, that will probably happen in May, but we would have to hate it for us to not go, and I can't imagine that happening. I think the main thing that will shock me is that its a much smaller city, and I've never lived in a small city. 

How do I distract myself from the scary part and remind myself of the awesome part? Planning the trip out there. Hmm, seems like California all over again. So far, the drive out there seems amazing. Shockingly, going all the way up to Chicago is actually the fastest route. I've always wanted to go to Chicago, so we plan on taking a few hours to explore. We will also end up going through Iowa City, Des Moines, Omaha, Nebraska, Wyoming and Salt Lake City (!) before getting to Reno. There are a few great places to stop on the way, including a town called Little America, and another called Wells. I'm sure Wells is pretty great. Even though by the time we go I'll technically be a Boyd (that just started sinking in as well). So far I'm super excited for Millennium Park in Chicago, the Old Market area of Omaha, Medicine Bow National Forest and Salt Lake City. 

I'm super excited for the road trip part, because we had SO much fun on the road trip out to California. So, here are a few pics from that trip:

New Orleans

BBQ in Austin, Texas

Missions in San Antonio

Sedona, AZ - one of our fave stops

Bryce Canyon, UT

Zion

Finding Flowers

I'm sure everyone agrees that flowers can make a huge impact on a wedding. That makes them a huge part of wedding planning (especially since they aren't cheap). I have found a bunch of ideas I love, so I can use these as inspiration. We don't really have a lot of areas that need decorating at our location, so I don't know how many flowers I'll be able to incorporate, but I'm loving these ideas nonetheless.

Baby's breath is super affordable so you can use a ton of it and still get a great look:

source

source

source

I have also been loving pink flowers lately, and anything that looks super soft:

source

This entire arrangement reminds me of Villa Blanca - a crazy gorgeous restaurant in Bev. Hills owned by Lisa from RHBH

source

source

And then pink flowers mixed with blue, LOVE it!

source

source

source

I also visited Longwood Gardens this weekend, so I'll be posting more flower pics very soon, I'm sure!