Invitations

Today Chris and I spent a lovely afternoon (if you ask me...a slightly torturous one if you ask him...) shopping for our wedding invitations. We finally found almost all the material and made a sample card. They are really beautiful! We are so excited to send them to you all so that you can be a part of our special day!
It was a bittersweet day. One the one hand we had so much fun picking out the invitation stuff and spending time with our friends, Dave and Laura. However, on the other hand, we realized how little time we have left before we have states between us. I leave soon to go to the Bahamas for my final spring term class of my undergraduate career. Upon returning, we will spend a few (nerve-racking) days together for my graduation, when our parents meet for the first time. Then it is off to Illinois for me to find a job and work on preparing our house. Chris will be staying here to finish packing and getting ready for his job to transition to Illinois. While we will try to spend as many weekends together working on the house as possible, we know that it will be long and hard. In other words we are counting the days till our wedding. 110 to go in case you were wondering!

New Adventures

So Chris and I have so much going for us in our new lives together. We are moving to a new city (or just a city in general!), getting married, getting a dog and following our dreams. We also just bought a......HOUSE! We found the perfect house in Urbana, near the vet school and in an amazing neighborhood. It is a three bedroom one bathroom house with an amazing kitchen, fenced in backyard, a freestanding fireplace and really open floor plan. We are so excited! We close on the house at the end of May and I plan to live there this summer while Chris and I paint and add some finishing touches! Here are some pictures!

Engagement Pictures!

Future Plans

Chris and I went house shopping over the weekend. Wow what an experiences. We fell in love with an amazing house that was located 25 minutes from the vet school. We decided that we couldn't do that because if I ever had any night plans or meetings I wouldn't come home for dinner. We realize we need to maximize our chances of seeing each other and take advantage of every opportunity available. The next two house we looked at where awful for different reasons. The first was just a horrible house and the second was in an intimidating neighborhood. We then found the house of our dreams. It is a little small but 3 bedrooms and 1 bath. We love it! The kitchen is gorgeous and has all new stainless steel appliances. The bedrooms are decent sized and there is a dinning room, living room and family room. It is located only a few minutes from the vet school and is really close to a dog park! We are planning to make an offer soon!

Wedding Details

I accomplished a lot of wedding details today. Chris and I officially have a honeymoon. We are spending a romantic week in the lovely Lighthouse Cove Resort in Pompano Beach, Florida! We are so excited. We hope to go snorkeling, shopping, hiking, spend time on the beach, visit the near by butterfly gardens, and spend one day in Orlando. Of course we have to go to Sea World to see the dolphins!
For the wedding though we now have a caterer, a florist, a D.J., a bakery, and a photographer! The cake is going to be chocolate and almond vanilla with a raspberry butter cream frosting! The decorations will similar to the one above but not blue. It also will have the bride and groom sitting on the second tier with their legs dangling over the edge. I'm so excited! Also we are thinking about about different menu options. Our favorite so far is the Caribbean Zest which has mango pepper chicken and some kind of salmon! The D.J. seems really cool and will play some sweet tunes! Chris and I also are getting our engagement photo's taken on campus (where we met) in April. Campus will be beautiful and hopefully we can take some pictures near one of the waterfalls on campus!
So the point of this blog is I got a lot accomplished today! Also if you haven't gotten a save the date, you should get one soon because I sent out the second batch today and hope to send out the last ones tomorrow!

Plans!

Everything seems to be coming together...slowly but surely. The chapel is booked, the honeymoon is being planned, the dress is here, the bridesmaid's dresses are picked. The Save the Dates went out. Chris and I have met with both the preacher and the priest! We still have so many little details but I finally feel like there could potentially be a wedding!!!!
This weekend for Valentine's Day we are going to celebrate by registering for our presents! We are excited about that. OH and we have a wedding website! Check it out at http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/ElizabethTepper&ChristopherBeesley.
We also have started looking at houses in both Ames and Champaign. Hopefully soon we will know where we are going to be!!

A New Year!

Each new year always surprises me. This year I was ready to greet it, looking forward to all it had in store. Then it got uber busy. As a first year I thought I knew stress...hell as a Junior I thought I truly understood stressed out. Yikes, I was wrong! The first few weeks of this year have kept me on my toes!
Through the stress, Chris keeps reminding me what the end of this school year has planned for us. I keep imagining how things are going to change and the new situations that will arise. Funny thing is I'm excited even for the disagreements, compromises and uncertainty that lies ahead. I'm excited to not have the biggest test of my life, live in more than one room (dorm rooms were a bad invention), have a kitchen, a pet, get married to the love of my life and see if what they say about make up sex is true.
I've never been a huge fan of change. I'm surprised at how excited I am for my world to be turned upside-down. I have concluded that change doesn't scare me as much when I am confident in the man by my side. Through thick and thin, I know he and I can figure it out. Every night I continue to thank God for creating someone as understanding, sweet and thoughtful as Chris. He continues to inspire me to be better, kiss away all my worries and out do himself with understanding and amazingly cute gestures.
Sorry this got mushy towards the end. Chris is working in Iowa this week which seems kind of backwards- I know. But I miss him.