we made it: one year!

I can't believe it's been a year since our wedding week. At this time last year, my best friend from Florida was in Erie, helping me with whatever I needed. I had just picked up my dress, my family, friends and I were going crazy with last minute details. I was back living with my parents. My niece could barely sit up on her own, now she's a full-fledged walking toddler.

If you're a more recent follower, you can catch up on my wedding using the "my wedding" labels, though that will take you back a year of planning! I didn't put too many of our pictures up after we got them back, so here are a few favorites in honor of this special week:

Ah - my family :)

We took almost all of the bride + bridesmaid pictures at my aunt + uncle's house before the wedding. They recently sold their house, so I'm even more honored to have so many gorgeous pictures on their beautiful property.

Where Josh and I attend church together. One Sunday a month, we are on stage helping to lead worship to this beautiful church. I have gone here all of my life. Though the building is new (built in 2007), the people are the church, and we were so blessed to have so many family, friends and church family there with us.

This bridal party was the best. I mean, look at all those gorgeous girls! And all those super cool dudes!

Our pictures were done by my long-time, very good friend and at one point, mentor, Danielle Hartland. She did an amazing job and I couldn't be more pleased with everything she did for us.

Kimberly of Make Way for Cupcakes did our gorgeous and delicious cupcakes. They turned out exactly how I had envisioned and my family was happily stuffing our faces with leftover cuppies for days after the wedding.

Our first dance song was written by my cousin Paul, who Josh was friends with in high school. It was so awesome having so many family and friends doing things for our wedding day.

Tell me about your wedding experiences! What was the best part of your day or a friend's wedding you attended? Other than walking down the aisle to meet my hubby and say our vows, our off-site picture time and reception were both a blast. I can't really pick - I loved the whole day!!

If you're interested in viewing more pics (my gosh, there are so many pics), look me up on Facebook - I have three albums!!

more engagement pics!

if you aren't a friend of mine on facebook (shame on you!), then you wouldn't have seen some of the other awesome engagement pics taken by my sister (puremotif.com). here are some more favorites:

less than 3 months till the big day!! can't wait!

engagement photo teasers

my amazing sister photographed josh and i for our engagement pics on Friday. i've been house/kitty sitting at my aunt & uncle's and thought they had some great garden spots for awesome pics.

she's shown me four to keep me shut up until she's finished the rest. my sister is SO TALENTED. if only we could've cloned her so she could've done the wedding pics too...haha, just kidding. i'm so blessed to have my very good friend Danielle doing our wedding pics, and i'm SO excited for those as well!!

so, here they are, and some observations i came across while checking out the pics...

we're fun and we love each other. i mean, you probably knew that second part...



we're goofy. and it's hard for us to take serious pictures without busting out laughing. also, it's hard for us to not create our own fun poses while Rachel tells us to do something serious.



um, we're super cool. i mean, hello? look at how cool we are.



josh is amazingly photogenic and so so handsome, and i look way skinny in this pic.

stay tuned for more pics at the end of this week, hopefully!

cohabitation woes*

*phrase coined by Michelle via twitter (though i'm sure someone else has said it before...)


Michelle had posted that her and her fiance just got their apartment and we tweeted a little back and forth about decorating, buying furniture and fiance's-not-letting-us-buy-new-furniture. Josh seems okay with the idea of me buying some new chairs for our dining area (he has some hand-me-downs thanks to awesome Missy, but i'd like 4 chairs, preferably matching). i'm planning an Ikea trip in May (with one cousin and visiting our Pittsburgh cousins, as i like to call them), and hoping to get some fun stuff for the apartment (while on a very very very strict-in-fact-negatively-non-existent budget). anyway, here's some chairs i'm looking at, in order of least to most expensive:

($9.99)

($14.99)

($19.99 - i really don't like this one, i'm not sure why i'm putting it as an option...)

($29.99 favorite, but technically over the amount Josh told me to work with. also, it stacks, love that. these are also kind of like knock-offs of Knoll's SPRITE chair, which i adore, but could never afford.)

($39.99 love it. but [probably] too much. but also stacks.)

so, thoughts? should i go with makeshift and un-matching pieces or should we look for a set? i really love the way dining areas look a little mismatched! our kitchen/dining area has wood cabinets with cream counter-top. flooring is cream and orange 70's tile. pretty standard for a townhouse, nothing fancy. i registered us for some red/orange/white/cream placements and table runner. plates we registered for are white and red.

here's another option: table & chairs for $79.99!

valentine's day foods

like i posted last week, i made dinner for Josh and i for valentine's day. i made my famous homemade lasagna (ok, it's not famous, but my mom likes it!) and some ooey gooey delicious brownies thanks to Robin's recipe at Big Red Kitchen.

excuse my pictures, i seem to be losing talent in the photography area :( i better start taking more pics! actually, i should have photographed the cut brownies and used my fancy flash (as i got it a year ago on v-day!). but, alas, i did not. so here you are.

i've only made lasagna two times, but i've used the same basic recipe for each. my sauce is based off of my Gramma's sauce (her parents were both 100% Italian and she was famous in the family for her sauce and meatballs) and some other recipes i've found online. i like to make a meat sauce for lasagna and i've used ground turkey both times. i definitely like it, though i'll have to try ground beef next time to see which i prefer. i also used fresh basil and parsley this time, which was really great in the sauce. i don't like buying a bunch of fresh herbs for one dish, so i usually use the flakes, but i figured the occasion was special enough for it :). also, this time i used a big can of tomoato puree, a big can of crushed tomatoes and some chicken stock and water (last time i used a small can of each and some tomato paste. DEF like the puree & crushed cans better). i follow Gramma's tradition and added about a tablespoon of sugar and a bag of (i used 1/4 bag) Italian blend cheeses (that's right - right to the sauce). i let the whole thing simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour; not like you have to, but i definitely had the time.

the "brownies" were an awesome ending to the meal, with lots of gooey caramel and soft chocolate chips. the batter was a little dry (um, i lost some of the liquid in the microwave when it was melting...), and this caused them to crumble a lot after they were baked. when i make them again, i'll make sure to moisten the batter a little more.

we had a great valentine's day together, hanging around, eating and playing mario kart. we exchanged cards, didn't really do gifts (we each bought something at best buy last month and we called that our vday present! plus, i cooked, so that was part of my gift to him as well).

hope you all had a great valentine's day and a great week. i'm SO glad it's friday. i've been exhausted all week! tomorrow i get to meet up with my bridesmaids and they'll be trying on and purchasing their dresses for the wedding!! yay!!

v-day plans

i'm excited for valentine's day this year. josh and i already "gave" each other our presents (ok, really, we both bought things for ourselves at Best Buy and pretended like we gave them to each other. much easier). i'm staying at my aunt and uncle's* so i have access to there gigantic and amazing kitchen and their formal-ish dining room. i'm planning on lasagna for josh and i, plus i need to make some fancy Italian dessert and get some fancy yummy wine to go with it all. my guess is we'll watch a movie and eat all night, and that's fine with me!

writing that note about my "aunt and uncle" makes me really want to share the story of how my parents met. it is pretty amazing and i really think it could be made into a movie (although i'm sure it would get some embellishments...)

photo taken by josh for me during his trip to NY last year

*not really my aunt and uncle. mum's cousin and her husband. see post here.

dreams of flying

the other night Josh and i started talking about weird dreams we've had. he's told me that there have been times in his dreams where he has realized something isn't right, figured out he was in a dream and taken advantage of it. like flying. and killing criminals. and teleporting.

this idea totally freaks me out.

i've definitely had one of those dreams where you KNOW something isn't right (um, had a dream the other day my roomie was presenting a not-even-close-to-completion interior designy-type project to my boss. roomie is an amazing girl with a communications degree. however, as far as i can recall, he project in the dream was turning out AWESOME). so yes, i knew there was something wrong here. but i couldn't make myself realize it was a dream and take advantage of that.

seriously though! being in control of your subconscious? that's nuts. Josh has told me i can train myself to do this. just make a habit of looking at something (i think it needs to be the same type of thing), then looking away, then looking back. when you look back in a dream, it's usually not the same as it was before, which will trigger you to understand something is wrong, therefore a dream.

have you ever had a dream where you took control? what did you do? i would probably try to fly, that sounds cool. or spend lots of time underwater without the need to breathe. that'd be sweet.

this one time...

so, this one time i met this cute and talented boy at my good friend Katie & Mike's halloween party. i had no idea that, almost two years later, he would be kneeling in front of me asking me to marry him.

josh and i, wait, correction - I - have been talking about getting married a lot recently. it happens when you are surrounded by friends' weddings and a sister immersed in weddings (photography). josh had told me many times, "the more you talk about it, the longer i'm going to wait to do it." alllll part of the plan i suppose...

my best friend alicia and i spoke yesterday afternoon and she asked me, "you think he's the one?" and i replied, "i've never been more sure of anything in my life."

josh and i planned on having a "fancy dinner" Wednesday evening earlier in the week (he said i could dress up and he'd wear pajamas ;) ). i had this *hope* that josh would propose that night, but really, i told myself it wasn't going to happen, and i knew very well it wasn't.

when i picked josh up for dinner, he was in such a good mood, even allowing me to keep the Romolo chocolate bar i had sorta stolen from him from Rock Erie Awards on Sunday night. i was hungry and excited to eat at the Bel Aire hotel's restaurant (Victor's) where we had actually gone on our first "real date" for Valentine's Day in 2008. i also had just come from church (skit practice) and talked 50 miles a minute on our way to the restaurant. i continued talking as i got out of the car...as we made our way to the restaurant...until josh stopped.

i thought i had missed the door, so i stopped, and he pulled me back to him by my purse. he looked at me and kissed me. then he looked at me and said, "you know that i love you." and when he said THAT, i knew. i knew it was happening, yet i was still shocked and in disbelief. he looked at me, got down on one knee, and asked me that question i had been so excited to hear, "will you marry me?"

then he said, "i have a ring..." and pulled out that beautiful little black box that had inside it an amazing, perfect, princess-cut diamond on a clean, crisp silver band. i of course said yes at this point, and we hugged, smiled, i laughed a lot (no, i didn't cry! amazing, isn't it?? too shocked and giddy i think). i asked him to put the ring on me, we talked a little outside, then went into the restaurant.

and of course their kitchen had already closed.

we decided to go to joe roots which is next door.

yeah, they weren't open, either.

i decided to take us to Applebee's instead - which seemed fitting as it was the first place we ever went to dinner and the place where he met with my dad a week earlier.

we spent the rest of the night together, on the phone with my parents and his gram, then visiting my sis & bri and skyping with my parents, then visiting my aunt & cousin.


so, there you have it :)

Josh - i love you. i'm so excited. and i'm still in shock. :)



rachel was nice enough to snap some quick pics. hopefully i'll get some more from her later with her super lens showing the amazing-ness of my ring!!!

labor day weekend

this week is awesome because we had Monday off for labor day, and Friday off for preparations for Nicole's wedding Saturday!

Josh and I spent Sunday & Monday with our good friends and newlyweds Mike and Katie. Josh and I went to the Omnimax theater at the Carnegie Science Center before getting to Mike & Katie's house. first, however, we got lost in the ghetto of Pittsburgh (both my google maps and mapquest directions had the wrong address. yeah, that was awesome). then my phone decided to be an idiot and be really crappy with it's GPS abilities. we eventually made it to the science center, $10 later for parking with 5 minutes to spare before the movie. the movie was fun, though i'm always scared i'm going to fall into the screen with Imax/Omnimax movies.

we went to The Melting Pot for dinner Sunday night. I was SO excited to go there! and it was pretty much every bit as awesome as i could have imagined. we all decided we could eat there every day. i mean, if we didn't have to pay of course.

kt & mikey j


oh my josh! and me


cheese fondue in action!


awesome dippers for chocolate fondue


awesome.

we had so much fun with our lovely friends :)
thank you for opening up your house to us (and for cooking us awesome french toast breakfast!)

"funk"

i've been in a major funk lately. i'm not sure when it started, but for the past couple months i've just felt very unsatisfied when it comes to my career and hobbies. i feel like i should be doing MORE with the skills that i have, even if that doesn't reach to "career" (at the moment) and is fulfilled through "hobbies." i need to do more that involves interior design, but i don't know how. blah, anyway, that's what's been going on with me lately.

yesterday night i was able to fandangle my way into singing at church on one of my off weeks (i'm not able to sing on my normal 4th and 5th weeks...so...). also, Josh is playing electric guitar, so that was another reason i wanted to get on this week. this is the first time we've been in the same worship band at church, so i'm pretty excited. also, Bri moved Josh to be in a different spot...placing him right next to me. during our sound check i think i got a little giddy, messed up some words, and maybe frustrated Brian a little...but i think i got over it pretty quick. i love watching Josh play because he's SO TALENTED! i'm really looking forward to Sunday.

my parents have had some friends from England and their two kids staying with them all week. tonight we're having a little get together at my parent's house with some family and friends that know the family.

but really, i'm just glad it's FRIDAY! co-worker Bethany is off today, hopefully i won't be too bored or lonely without her!

tomorrow: kayaking with some of my skank's: KC and Stace!

mid-month mess-up

ah, bethany coined that lovely phrase. we're on day 15 of Making the Cut and both of us failed pretty miserably this weekend. i mean, it could have been worse, but...

time to get back on track for this week. i suffered (suffered is NOT the correct term. indulged is probably better) the weekend due to a wedding, birthdays, memorial day fun, and spending most of my time at Josh's, leaving the option for cooking unavailable. but, i had a great weekend, got some sun yesterday, hung out with family most of the weekend, and had a lot of fun.

yesterday i made a "picnic" for Josh and i which we ate at the beach. we were going to fly a kite, but both of us didn't feel like going to buy one, though when we hit the beach and felt the wind i think we were both a little bummed we didn't get one. we both got a little sun, which is awesome, then hung out with bri & rach for the rest of the day, indoors, playing video games (and eating more unhealthy food *sad face*). Josh was there keeping me accountable to my diet, or try to, but i wasn't very responsive.

fun spot by the pretty grass and soft, warm sand

look at that cute boy!


chicken salad croissants, pasta salad, and fruit salad!
a day of salads, but not the healthiest of salads...


windy. i love us!

oh! and i forgot to mention one of the best parts of the weekend. Saturday night Josh offered to drive us around the Peninsula, and on our way back out we stopped at Waldameer. it was pretty busy due to the holiday and impending fireworks, but we rode the Tilt-a-Whirl and the Scrambler (there were no lines on the rides though!), and it was seriously so much fun. we were laughing so hard, i loved it! :)

day 1 preview

today is day 1 of Making the Cut, aka 30-day-diet, aka amy can't have any sugar and has to...wait, WORK OUT!? i'm going to try to make a point of photographing each meal, then posting it the next day. we'll see how that goes.



also check out this awesome pic Rach took of Josh & I at Presque Isle beach on Sunday night. she has a wedding there on Friday and wanted some dummies (we kept getting offended she was calling us dumb) to try out where to best take pictures. i love it! there's more pics to come.



rachel's blog

busy weekend

lots of things are going on and being celebrated this weekend. also, this is the weekend before the big "fitness and eating healthy" 30 days begins, so of course i'm going to be eating way too much.

yesterday was my beautiful cousin (who could pass as my younger sister) Bekah's 18th birthday!!! rach and i celebrated with her at Marketplace Grill, downtown Erie, Under the Clock (for dessert), and after dropping off rachel, Bekah and i went to the dock and to visit our gramma. rach also brought her rented lens to practice for a wedding today, and bekah and i were willing subjects to be photographed. there are some awesome pics to be seen!!

me, bekah, and rachel. probably around 1993-94

me and bekah after a dundie's volleyball game

tonight all the SKANK's are being reunited for an evening of food, fun, and wine. it's been a while since we've all been together, so i'm looking forward to seeing them all!

tomorrow is Mother's Day, of course. i pretty much have the best mom ever. she's nuts, silly, funny, loving, supportive, encouraging, always willing to help, always there to listen, and just over-all awesome.

rach, mum, and me...under a tree...probably 1986-87. back in my blond days...

i'm singing with my sister & her hubs, and her hubs is preaching! i'm definitely excited for that, as we are also doing worship a little differently (we have no drummer, so we are going all acoustic - which we haven't done in a while [or ever] in the new building). we have brunch plans tomorrow, Monday is my grandpa's birthday so we are celebrating that as well...

....and JOSH COMES HOME tomorrow!!!!!