Now It Hits Me

Today, I finally felt like I was engaged.

I went dress shopping with my mom.

Surprisingly, it was a lot easier than she or I thought it would be. We had imagined it taking months to find the dress, searching at several stores, thousands of dollars, and countless tears.

It was none of the above. The first place we went was a store near Greenville called 'The Dress'. It's a Bridal Consignment store that carries dresses worn and consigned by the brides, and sample dresses from designer dress boutiques that they've consigned to make room for stuff for the new season.

It took about 3 hours, 14 dresses, and getting up close and personal with the attendant helping. If you're not familiar with wedding dress shopping, the store has an attendant who helps you into the gowns and makes sure it looks right before you come out. Since wedding dresses are really poofy, she usually will open the dress on the ground and you step in. Think about when you're trying on clothes in a dressing room. You're usually just in your underwear. YEAH. Hanging out with my attendant in my panties made us quite close. I almost feel like she deserves an invite to my wedding now.

But after several (read 14) dresses, the store owner brings out one that she picked specifically for me. Before it was even zipped up, I knew it was the dress. It had all of the features I had put on my dress wishlist: the correct neckline, proper waist, colour, hem and train length, material, everything. My mom came in to see and she started crying. Which of course caused me to start crying. After getting her a tissue, and me spending time traipsing around the store in the dress, we knew it was The One. It was PERFECT.

Obviously I will show no pictures of it until AFTER Matt sees me walk down the aisle in it, but I am uploading the pictures of the dresses we didn't go with.

But it is true. I now officially feel engaged. My dress is hanging in one of my closets and I am strongly resisting the urge to put it on and lounge around my house in it. I can tell it's going to take great restraint!

Next on my list: start working out and toning up. I think my arms are going to be the biggest focus because they're really the only body part you see in a wedding dress. Who knew the dresses would be so figure flattering?!

My Cousin's Wedding

This past weekend, I brought Matt up to Pennsylvania to meet my family, and to see my beautiful cousin Stephanie get married. After a long drive through 5 states and a detour for a wine and whiskey tasting, we made it to PA!

My cousin got married on Friday 14 October, and it was a lovely Catholic ceremony. It was so funny to see Matt with the standing and sitting and standing and sitting and standing and sitting that a Catholic ceremony has. After the ceremony, we went to the reception.

Oh. My. Gosh! It was absolutely gorgeous! They had 314 people so it was HUGE! The food was delicious, the drinks kept coming, and the DJ was good. It was so nice to have it as a whole family affair: me and matt, my parents, and my grandparents had all come up for the trip. One of the funniest parts was my Grandfather (who though Mike's Hard Lemonade was just regular lemonade, bless his heart) had me polka with him during the bride's dance. He was so happy and having so much fun I didn't have the heart to tell him "Grandpa! Only people dancing with the bride are to be out on the dance floor!"

One cool thing they had was an ipad photo booth. So after a few beers (mom), glasses of wine (me), glasses of bourbon (matt) and glasses of moonshine (my father, obviously) we took our turns in the photo booth.

What you are about to see is a proper insight into my family at celebrations. We always make sure we have a good time. We always rejoice in the happiness of our family members. Most importantly, we ALWAYS know the good value of an open bar.

After the wedding was over and we had all recovered, I took Matt into Pittsburgh just so he could say "The farthest North I've ever been is Pittsburgh!" Afterwards, we went to my cousin's house for a post-wedding afternoon and so I could grill her and ask questions for my own upcoming nuptials. We've already found my 'something borrowed', but it will be a surprise until the wedding day for all of you!

It was a wonderful weekend, and so great to see my family. Being raised so far away from them isn't something I think about often, but it does allow me to fully enjoy them when I do get to see them. I also am always reminded of how pretty their part of Pennsylvania is: rolling hills, huge fields growing corn and wheat, and beautiful mountains in the distance.

Luckily, we will be back in not too long for my cousin Derrick's own wedding. I guess its that time where all of us are hitting the same age and getting married at the same time. Which means it is a fun time indeed. :)

Favourites on Friday - Television Edition

hello! Continuing with my Favourites on Friday blog series, this week I am going to talk about TV shows that I have grown to really love.

Now for those of you who don't know me, I don't pay for cable. I travel so much for work and think it's ridiculous to pay $100  for cable when I watch it for free in hotels. Therefore, Hulu is one of my favourite websites to go and watch tv shows I don't get to watch in real time. I even upgraded to Hulu+. Yeah, I like it that much.

Since I use Hulu to introduce me to new shows as well, I'm going to break down some that you may or may not have heard of or watched.

1. Misfits.

This is a British show about 5 juvenile delinquents who acquire powers in a freak ice storm. The show chronicles them finding their powers and protecting themselves from outsiders who want to take advantage/steal powers/capture them. The way they speak is quite vulgar, but its your typical British humor. This was a great find and now one of my favourite tv shows. I can't wait for Season 3 to come back on Hulu! Bonus: the actor who plays Nathan is also Kai from the Nicholas Cage 'Season of The Witch' movie! While he plays a completely different type of character, its nice to see him doing work transatlantic.   

2. The Lying Game.

Found on ABC Family, The Lying Game is based off a teen book with the same name. Great clothes, an interesting plot line, and pretty girls with handsome boys keep me interested in this show. Did I mention the clothes? Sutton/Emma's character dresses with the perfect amount of sexy and class that I totally want to copy.

From Lying Game Fan Blog

3. Ringer.
Can be found on the CW. This is a grown up version of the Lying Game (with a lot more sex, murder, and questions). Also like the Lying Game, the main character plays both roles of the twin sisters. This show pulls me in, and I love the fashions that Sarah Michelle Gellar wears.

From TVoverMind Blog

4. How I Met Your Mother
A CBS show, Ted, Barney, Marshall, Lily, and Robin now feel like friends I can't wait to hear from. The style of the show makes you forget that it's about how Ted meets his wife, and more about what the group of friends go through together. With quick conversation and a plot that pulls you in, it's a nice quick show to catch up on when I've got some free time.

5. Royal Pains.
This show is a USA network show that features an entertaining cast, beautiful backdrop, and makes me feel like I'm learning medical stuff while I watch it. The characters are relate able, and the plot lines are constantly keeping me intrigued. What's going to happen with Divya being financially cut off? Will Jill actually leave the Hamptons? What is going to happen with Hank's history at the Brooklyn hospital? Will Paige's father ever let her marry Evan? This show keeps me hanging on to find out the answers.

Divya and Paige's clothes are also another great thing. I love to see what they'll wear next!

Paige makes hunting outfits fashionable

6. Revenge.
This is a show about a girl who takes revenge on the people who used her father as their scapegoat and effectively ruined her life. After her father gets taken away by the Fed's and his 'friends' all testify against him for a crime he didn't commit, he works towards forgiveness. His daughter works towards revenge. After receiving an inheritance that her father leaves for her giving her more money than she could ever spend, she goes back to the Hamptons as a new person to seek vengeance.

Better Than Cable

So, as you've read, I bought a house. I love my house and I love my neighborhood, but some parts around it are still, we'll say 'rough'. It's an old neighborhood that is going through a revitalization movement, but we still have a few instances of people selling pot on the corner and cops being called for domestic disputes.

Anytime the cops come to the neighborhood, its always like watching an episode of COPS being filmed. I LOVE IT.

Today was a particularly good episode of real life. I was sitting in my living room when I hear a THUD. I look around to see what my cats have knocked over. They're both sleeping. Hmmm, must have been something outside. So I go outside, just like the rest of the neighbors.

TURNS OUT THE COPS WERE DOING A STING ON A HOUSE A FEW BLOCKS OVER. It was an older green house. There were several cop cars. They used a battering ram to open the doors, smoke bombs, had to tranquilize the dog. I milled around with the neighbors (hey, what better time to meet them then when we are all curious about what's going down at the green house!) and found out the scoop.

Apparently, the guy that lives there is manufacturing some sort of drug. I wasn't informed of which drug, but all I could think about were those episodes I watched about drug manufacturing on Nat Geo. While we were hanging with the neighbors, a large woman missing vital teeth came up to find out what was going on. Since none of the neighbors seemed to recognize her, the neighbors were suddenly suspicious. Turns out the man accused of manufacturing the drugs is her baby daddy. She was on her way to his house. After seeing the cops there, she did a 180 and hightailed it, while calling said baby daddy to warn him not to come home.

After the 18 cops came out of the house with bags full of what CSI has taught me to interpret as 'evidence', the neighbors returned to their own yards. After that, I ate dinner with the guys next door and told them the eventful evening that they missed.

All in all, quite an entertaining evening. I don't think I'll ever get cable.

"YES!"

So it finally happened. Randal Matthew Stewart has asked me to be his wife. Obviously, my answer was YES!
So the story of our proposal:

To begin, Matt planned the whole weekend as a surprise. The only thing he told me was that we were going to the mountains. Immediately, I was excited. I love the mountains and there is nowhere else I would have rather gone, especially when the weather is like it is now: crisp, chilly, and the leaves starting to change. I love being in the crisp mountain air wrapped in a warm sweater and sitting around a fire.

Barn on the inn's property. Relevant to my love of the mountains.

Anyways, so we go up on Friday night and stay at a the Key Falls Inn in Pisgah Forest, NC. It's an old farmhouse that was constructed in 1890-something and is situated on 35 acres at the base of the blue ridge mountains. We were both so excited because the place Matt found had a room named the Stewart room. Obviously, that's what room he booked for our weekend, but I had no idea I would become the future Mrs. Stewart there!

Our lovely B&B

Matt planned out an amazing day of activities on Saturday that showed how well he really knew me. It was all things that I love to do, and he somehow managed to squeeze them all into one awesome day.

I made a mistake in time and accidentally made us an hour early for our first activity. To pass some time, we pulled over at a random mall in Asheville to pass the time. We wandered into an antiques store called Heirlooms and I saw it: my church pew. I have been looking for an old long church pew to go on my front porch, but since I had a certain one imagined in my mind, it was getting difficult to find. All the ones I'd seen before were too short, needed a lot of work, or had padding on them. I wanted an old oak or pine one to sit on my front porch and watch the neighborhood and our garden. As we were walking around the store it shouted out to me: I'M OVER HERE! After making arrangements to come pick it up the next day, we realized that I had gotten us behind schedule for our super secret activity #1!

Matt & Emily like each other. The horses, not so much.

Since Matt didn't want us to be late, he drove like a super speed racer to get us there on time. You can imagine my glee when we pulled up at a horse ranch!!!! Super secret activity #1 was a 2 hr horseback ride through a farm nestled in the mountains. We saddled up, mounted, and got on our way. My horse apparently wasn't a fan of anyone (although he took a strong liking to me when I shared my apple with him), but the horse that seemed to really bug him was Matt's. Whenever Matt and his horse were in front of me and mine, mine would bite his on his rear end. Matt always got a little surprise jolt because his horse would jump in fright, and once his horse bucked and tried to kick mine in the face. The look on Matt's face was hilarious and had me laughing sooooo hard! While riding, we got to see sheep grazing with a sheepdog watching over them. I got so excited because I love anything relating to farms. I also got to see cows grazing with their calves.

literally, we rode through sheep

One really great thing we got to do during our ride was stop off and spend a few minutes exploring a 200 year old Garnet mine. I have a love of gemstones and am a sucker for those 'mine for gems' places, so it was a pleasure to see a real gem mine where some of the stones I like could have come out of.

Matt in the old garnet mine

After our super secret activity #1, Matt took me to activity #2: a tour & tasting at the Pisgah Brewing Co. Whenever Matt & I go to a new place, we always try to find a local brewery or vineyard to go try out and taste something that we don't get at home and that isn't mass produced. The Pisgah Brewing Co. is one of only a few truly organic brewery's in the nation, and I loved seeing what they do to make their beers different from others.

Pisgah Brewing Co.

Activity #3 of our amazing day was dinner at the Pisgah Inn. The Pisgah Inn is a hotel and restaurant at the highest peak of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and overlooks the mountains. They didn't take reservations, but we got there early enough to where Matt got us a table overlooking the Blue Ridge mountains at sunset. It was an amazingly clear night, so we could see for miles out over the trees changing colours.

Blue Ridge Mountains

After a full days worth of activities, we stopped at the grocery to get some wine to drink by the fire that evening. Matt kept making fun of me because I picked out a $4 wine, and encouraging me to pick a more expensive one. After insisting that my $4 bottle would be just as good, we checked out and headed back to the B&B.

Self-timer in The Stewart Room

Once we got to the B&B, I started playing with the Inn's cat Simon on the front porch. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Matt reach for something out of his pocket and start to go down on his knee. I drop everything I am carrying and began crying tears of joy as Matt asked me those journey-starting words: "Will you marry me?" Laughing and crying, I immediately jump into his arms and say yes! After a few seconds, he goes "So would you like to put on the ring?" I was so excited that I had completely forgotten to take the ring from the box!

Where Matt proposed with Simon

The ring was a perfect fit and the perfect type of ring for me: conventional with a little something extra. It's got 3 stones, all round cut, with a circle of diamonds around each stone. My favourite part is that the center stone is Tanzanite, a stone that I've been in love with for the past year. It's got a rich colour and can range from purple to blue. It seems fitting that I got a ring that was more than just white, but with a little flair included.

Afterwards, we drank wine around the firepit curled up under a blanket and chatting with another couple staying at the Inn for their 11th wedding anniversary. When they found out we had gotten engaged roughly 10 minutes before, the woman started freaking out excitedly. Apparently, her husband had told her after breakfast that morning that he 'had a feeling that boy would propose to that girl today. I just knew it.'

It was a magical weekend that showed me just how well Matt knows me, and I am so excited that I will get to spend the rest of my life with him. I will say though, it will definitely take some getting used to hearing the future Mrs. Matthew Stewart. :)

Future Mr. & Mrs. Stewart

Favourites on Friday - Web Edition

I've decided to start doing a recurring blog post about my favourite things at the moment.

Dropbox and how it works

1. Dropbox. This is an awesome cloud-based application that you can install on multiple devices and access the documents from any of them (or from their website). I have it installed on my desktop Mac, my Dell laptop, my Ipad2 and share it with people I want to. It's so useful for transferring my pictures across computers, sending big work files to different locations, and just a great way to stay organized (I don't keep having to go 'oh no! that is on my other computer!) Interested in getting it for your own computer? Click this.

2. Pinterest. This has become a new way to keep track of cute things and link it back to things I want to buy. Basically, it works by 'pinning' an item onto a 'board'. It hyperlinks back to the original picture so you can go back to where you found it. It also lets you see what others Pin so you can get cute ideas! My Pinterest is here, so feel free to follow me, and I'll follow you back! I love getting new ideas!

3. Etsy. Its a unique online shopping website that features original items handcrafted by individuals. Its a great way to get unique stuff at affordable prices to decorate your home. Some things from the site I'm in love with:

By OldNewAgain

 

 

By ShinerInternational

by SimpleHomeLife

I fully plan on buying soooo many things for my new house once I find places for them and buy those pesky things needed to make my house function (apparently, a house without insulation is quite cold. I'm finding this out the hard way. Next thing on my shopping list.)

4. RentTheRunway. This is an awesome way to get designer clothes that we all DIE for, yet don't have the budgets for. You can rent designer dresses for any occasion and at a FRACTION of the retail cost. This would be an awesome way to grab something new and amazing to wear for a date, a wedding, a class reunion, or any occasion where you want something that hasn't been in your closet for a while, or to get something that you know you'll only want to wear once. I definitely want to use this site to get a dress for the Junior Leagues Oscar Night America gala in February! With dresses like the ones below, it is easy to find any occasion to wear one of these dresses.

GRYPHON

PORTS 1961

Yigal Azrouël

What websites do you love to spend your time on and go to for inspiration in every day life?

Georgetown, SC

It's been a while since my last blog update. Between work, vacation, and dealing with owning a home, I haven't gotten the chance to do what I really enjoy: take pictures and notes about where I've been so that I know where to go back.

Tonight in downtown Georgetown, I was reminded of it. While the town was dead at 7pm, I still strolled on Front St, taking in the unique shoppes that grace it's row. Its one of those downtowns that pops in your mind when you think of a downtown (or at least when I think of one) where there are no chain places, inviting looking stores and restaurants you can't help but want to explore.

A restaurant that stood out to me was Buzz's Roost. I couldn't quite tell where the entrance was, so I walked down a planked outdoor hallway until I found the bar sitting open-aired between two storefronts. They advertised an upstairs patio dining area, so I climbed up and got to enjoy a Fat Tire while watching the sun set on the paper and steel mills that are on the water way. I enjoyed a (in my mind) healthy meal od seared ahi tuna and a delicious house salad and just enjoyed the quiet of the night being interrupted by the clangs from the steel mill.

After dinner, I strolled down Front St and the waterside harbor walking path and took in the smell of the water (fishy) and the lights and sounds from the restaurants who kept their doors and windows open, despite an unusually cold night for south Carolina in October. I heard a splash and was delighted with the opportunity to watch a crane catch, subdue, and eat a pretty large fish. Once again, I was taken in by the grace of the bird and the quick way he moved the fish into position to devour.

As I type, I'm sitting on the dock at the marina listening to the cars drive over the bridge to get to Pawley's Island. I enjoy the quiet of the night and the smell of the cool air. My job is a lonely one, as is anyone's who is on the road as much as I am without a companion. But nights like this don't feel lonely. I find it refreshing to go to a new place and just, be.

I wish I had more time to spend here, as I'd love to go and peruse through the small stores, but work calls. It will certainly be a lovely place to return to as a day trip.