My first racing experience

We finally got James' back up car together, which is now officially my car!! Since we both have the week off of work, we have been spending a lot of time getting the car together. I was skeptical it would run, as the motor has only been used 1 time in the last 10 years, but James assured me it would be just fine. After several issues we had to solve, we got he motor running last night. Then today, we got everything finalized and ran the car.

We took it to the flat road by the model homes in our subdivision and I got my first taste of being behind the wheel. Was I fast, no. Heck, I never even made it out of second gear, but I learned how to start and stop, which is more complicated than it sounds, and how to shift. I don't even know how to drive a manuel street car, so this was an experience for me.

How to upshift and how not to downshift

I'm excited to say both the car and I survived the day and are looking forward to another excursion soon!

Christmas

So Christmas was stretched over an entire week for us this year! We started the celebration on Monday December 21 with us opening our gifts from each other. James did great with his gifts, giving me a Fossil watch that I really wanted, a beautiful cream colored coat for work and a coach purse. I could really tell he put a lot of thought into what he got me. James got several gifts, including a Steelers Jersey which he had been wanting for over a year. It was so nice to celebrate our first Christmas together as a married couple.

Rocking the new Jersey

The festivities continued on Tuesday evening by opening the presents mom and dad sent us. We opened them via skype, so it was as close to being together as we could get. It was hard for me to not be home for Christmas, but really nice to be able to see mom and dad on skype. I must do that more often. James got Super Mario Bros. for Wii, which I am now addicted to!! I'm not very good and stuck in the second world, but it is tons of fun.

Rockin the Super Mario Bros

Then on Wednesday after I got off work, we headed up to Virginia to see the Phipps'. Janet and I spent all day Christmas eve baking 3 kinds of chocolate chip cookies, 2 packages of sugar cookies, 2 kinds of brownies and lemon bars. It was cookie madness but reminded me of all the fun we had growing up baking cookies for the neighbors. A little last minute shopping also took place on Christmas Eve : )

Janet cutting the fruitcake, I tried it but it's not for me!!

Christmas day was entirely different than a Montgomery family Christmas. We rolled out of bed about 8, and ate breakfast like normal. Once breakfast was over and the dishes done, we headed to the living room to open presents. I was completely overwhelmed as everyone opened presents at one time and I was trying to watch everyone! haha. Christmas afternoon was lots of fun surrounding the Wii. We got James' parents to play Wii, including golf, bowling and Mario Kart. Finally I had a chance to win ; )

Back from France

I am now back from France and once again focused on the wedding. I have never been so excited to be home and sleep in my own bed. After having been gone from James for 2 weeks, I appreciate him even more and I cannot wait to be his wife in 5 short weeks!! I love having him there for me whenever I need a hug. Below are some pictures from a day trip we took into Marseille, France.
And a sample of why I am so grateful to be eating American food again. For those with "mature" tastes, these foods may look good, but they weren't appetizing for me.I know what you are thinking, it's a salad, how bad can it be. I'm not sure what they put on it, but it was EXTREMELY strong and made the salad impossible to eat. And I don't know about you, but cheese wrapped in cucumber is not my cup of tea. And the duck below, no thanks.

Shower

Thanks to everyone who came to the shower. It was great to see so many people that I don't get to see regularly and to realize how many people are excited for me and James. A big thanks to Lisa, Beth, mom and Heidi for organizing/throwing the shower. As many of you know, Heidi flew in from Tulsa and completely surprised me at the airport when I flew in. That was awesome. It was great to spend a couple of days surrounded by family and friends.

And if you haven't heard the bird story, please do ask. It was perhaps the highlight of the weekend ;)

James and I also bought ourselves a wedding present yesterday. An Infiniti G35 coupe.

We figured we would enjoy a sports car while we were young and buy something practical later.

2 months and counting!!

Today marks only 2 more months until the wedding. Both James and I are very excited for what that day will mark for the rest of our lives.

Everything is done for the wedding!! All the vendors have been booked and the honeymoon booked. We will be going to Cancun for a week of relaxation : ) Also, we picked out the tuxes yesterday at Men's Warehouse. See the link below for a preview of the tuxes.

http://www.menswearhouse.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10051&storeId=10601&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=10732&top=10651&partNumber=8854BGCLO&swatchRequest=Y


We also picked a location for our rehearsal dinner. It will be at Firebirds restaurant at the Northlake mall.

Other things going on include the bridal shower at home in California this weekend and my trip to France September 12-26. It will be hard to be away from James for 2 weeks, but I'm looking forward to visiting a new country and learning new things for my job. Mom come's to visit the first weekend in October to help me with final vendor appointments before the big day.

The wedding is just around the corner, so I hope you are as excited as we are!

Wedding Dress!!

Just to let everyone know, the wedding dress arrived this week! Right size, right dress, I'm pretty impressed :) I will be going with Kari to get it altered sometime in the next month or so.

Also, we have our second cake appointment on Wednesday and will be able to pick a baker by the end of the week!

Mostly we are focused on the new rental house. We get the keys on Monday, so we have been packing James' stuff up like crazy. We are so excited to have a place to settle in for a few years when we are married.

dresses and invitations

As most of you know, I flew home for the holiday weekend to go wedding dress shopping. The trip was an absolute success!! The bridesmaids dresses are clover and can be seen below.

I also bought my wedding dress, but the only thing I'm going to tell everyone is that it is white ; ) I look forward to showing it off at the wedding.

Our invitations also came in today. This is a sample of the invitation.
We recently registered at both Target and Sears and had a lot of fun playing with the scanning gun : )

November 2, 2009

Today we booked the ceremony and reception locations for our wedding. Our wedding is Monday November 2, 2009 at 6 PM. The ceremony will be held at Historic St. Mary's Chapel in Downtown Charlotte.

The reception will follow at the Birkdale Golf Club in Huntersville.

We are very excited to have finalized a date and location. We look forward to celebrating our big day with all of you!

Close to decision

We have narrowed are venue selections down and should be making a selection on the location soon. We also have asked our pastor to officiate the ceremony and he said he was honored to accept. Once the location is finalized, we will let everyone know what the date is.

Here is a great picture of the ring and wedding band!! I'm one lucky girl :)

Looking for a venue

We are considering some dates in March and April 2010 for our wedding. We will be looking at some venues this weekend in hopes of setting the date soon. The locations we are going to see very from country clubs to an old fireman's school. Hopefully my mom will be flying in to help make the selections.

The decisions made so far include the colors (green and pink) and the number of attendants (5 each). Other than that, we are waiting on the location to plan things such as photographer, cake, DJ, etc.

Wedding planning is officially underway!!

We are Engaged!

James and I wanted to announce our engagement to everyone! He proposed in the living room of his apartment today. I was sleeping and he couldn't wait to propose. He woke me up with a hug and as soon as I opened my eyes, he opened the ring box and asked me to be his wife. He will tell you I forgot to say yes until after he put the ring on my finger and I hugged him.

We are both very excited and can't wait to begin planning the wedding! We will try to keep the blog updated so everyone knows what is going on with the wedding planning.