TWO WEEKS?!?!

My blogging has been so sad lately. Everyone told me that the last few weeks of your engagement FLY by, but really I had no idea. It feels like just yesterday I was telling Christopher "only 50 days to go!" and now we're down to just over 11 days. Holy crap.

Days have been filled with trying to get sub plans written for the days I'll be off for our "minimoon" to Virginia Beach, creating seating arrangements and running errands. Mama was here again this weekend and I feel like we got a good amount accomplished. Joey came over today and helped me put together 30 guest bags so we only have about 10 more to go. Obviously the person who came up with the idea of out-of-town bags only invited two friends that didn't live locally. We have mason jar bows to tie and seating cards to write out and programs to finalize and print. WHEW. It's exhausting getting married.

I am very pleased to say that my Uncle Paul has agreed to say the blessing before our reception dinner. Unfortunately, our priest won't be able to make the ceremony so we had to find someone to stand in. I've always been close to Paul and everyone says Christopher is "LP" (Little Paul) so we found it quite fitting.

Oh, and as if we didn't have enough going on already, the owner of our house has decided to put it on the market. So we have a lovely lock box on the front door and strangers trampsing through our home. Beautiful.

I can not WAIT until next week. EEEEEP. Four more days of work and then LA comes and Morgan comes and my family comes and I get married. WOOHOO!! Pray for beautiful weather. We're getting close to the 10-day outlook obsession. ;-)

Wedding Day Information

We have had many people ask about local accommodations, activities, and directions. I set up a website with all this information about a year ago and have been continuously updating it as more plans get finalized. The web address was on the save the date, but it seems it was a little too inconspicuous. So here you go!!

www.weddingwire.com/chrisandkristi

The site has directions to the church, information regarding parking, directions from the church to the reception hall and the location of the hotels in which we have blocked rooms. It also lists the members of our bridal party and registry information. If you are planning to stay the weekend, there is a link to the local Charlottesville tourism site. Enjoy! I hope it's helpful!

The Mr. and Mrs. Have a House!

Three very exciting things occurred this week.

1. We received our very first wedding gift/piece of mail addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Hartwell. Christopher was more concerned with opening the envelope than squealing about the outside address but I LOVED it. It was sort of weird. I'm sure it will be REALLY odd when something comes to "Kristi Hartwell." That's not my name!! :-P Thanks Aunt Sheila for the GENEROUS gift!

2. We were approved for our mortgage!! When we bought our house (back in January), we weren't preapproved. Since you get a lot of builder incentives by using a specific mortgage broker, we had to wait WEEKS and WEEKS to get a response. Unfortunately it wasn't the quick response we had hoped for, but it is here nonetheless! Finally I can post a few photos of the model house so everyone has an IDEA of what ours will look like in June when it's finished. :-D

3. MY DAD CAME TO VISIT! :-D

Mama is coming tomorrow to help with more wedding-related stuff. Can't believe its approaching so quickly...

APPROVED!

WE GOT APPROVED FOR OUR MORTGAGE!! WE HAVE OUR HOUSE! :-D

(Well, after it's built anyway).

Baby Grey

Went over to Suzie's for a few hours today to check in on her and little Greyson. He is the most adorable baby; I can't get over it. I just stared at him for hours. I also tried to steal him a few times but Suz is sort of attached and I think she'd notice.

Here are a few shots of Mr. Handsome.

Updates on Life

As we get within mere weeks of the wedding, life continues to become more and more hectic. Not only are we planning a wedding, but it is my first year of teaching, and we're in the process of hopefully building a house. So a few updates on the Minsterman-Hartwell front.

The House:

I am trying VERY hard not to jinx this whole house thing. We HAVE signed a contract to build a townhouse in Charlottesville. We are IMPATIENTLY waiting on the mortgage company to approve the loan. Although money is very cheap right now, it is not easy to get. Because of my school debt and some other factors we're hitting a big line of red tape. Hopefully we should know this week.

In the meantime, they have started to move dirt around on our plot of "land." I say land slightly sarcastically because you don't get a whole lot with a townhouse. We are an end-unit so we will have a small side yard and about 15 feet behind the house before you hit a retaining wall. The townhouse will be MUCH bigger than our current house and we will have a garage - woohoo!

Bulldozers have become a very exciting sight.
It means we're getting ready to start construction!

Lovely Virginia red clay.
Why can't we have regular dirt like everyone else?

The Wedding:

RSVPs have been pouring in, although they have slowed down the past few days. I'm hoping they will pick up again so we have a better idea of the number of people actually attending this blessed event.

My focus this week has been on flowers. Christopher willingly made appointments for us to visit two additional florists today to see if we can get to a comfortable price without sacrificing my "vision." First we visited two guys in a studio downtown called Floral Images. I LOVED THEM. They were great and really worked with what I want. Plus, the man we were working with was able to understand how in the world galvanized pails and mason jars would look cute on a table. (Christopher is very concerned). We should have an idea of who we're working with next week but we will have hydrangea EVERYWHERE. I am slightly obsessed with it and it's such a pretty, full, southern flower. :-D

Last night I went to locate the galvanized pails. We realized it will be SO much cheaper for us to purchase them and then let the florists do the arranging. So where does every bride do her centerpiece shopping?

The cattle feed aisle of Tractor Supply.

I continue to reassure Christopher that it will all be beautiful and wonderful and look great but I can see where he's starting to have concerns. ;-)

Friday I dropped my gown off to be altered. As mentioned last week it is fits pretty perfectly (meaning I can't breathe TOO well), so it only needed hemmed and to have a bustle put in. Christopher ordered his wedding band and I'll order mine this week. It seems as though everything is coming together but it sure doesn't feel that way.

34 days and counting...

HE IS HERE!

A quick note that Suzie's baby boy, Greyson Oliver, arrived very early this morning (around 12:50 am). He is healthy and although Mom is EXHAUSTED from 23 hours of labor, everyone is thrilled and doing well. :-)

They plan to get home from the hospital on Friday.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD BABY GREYSON!