Got it!

A fabulous guest for our wedding got us the bedding we registered for!  It was on clearance, and we weren't sure someone would be able to find it, so we are pumped!  Thanks, whoever you are!

In only 3 short days...

I will be sunning myself on the beautiful beach in Siesta Key, FL.  My wonderful uncle has a condo there that my grandparents use for about 6 weeks each winter.  Our whole extended family takes turns going to visit them, and my time has almost arrived!

Siesta Key is one of my all time favorite places in the entire world.  I love hanging out with my grandparents, whether in Indiana or Florida, but who can argue with 80 degree days, clear skies, sand that looks like powdered sugar (seriously, I showed my kids a picture of the beach at school and one of them asked why it was all SNOWY), and a small beach town feel?  My family has been going since before I was born, so I feel so at home there too.  It's AMAZING and I'm so pumped!

Here is a gorgeous picture of RIGHT outside of the condo. 

Two of my best friends, Ashlie and Katie, are coming with me!  I only wish the Tortoise could come.  He got the original invite, but wasn't sure the timing would be ok with work.  Of course, now that the time has come, it would have worked out.  Bummer, but I still get to spend the week in sunny paradise!  Gotta love Spring Break!

Some of my favorites...

Here are some of my favorites from the engagement shoot with Ashlie.  She is seriously so awesome, it was hard to pick the ones I like the most!  Remember, if you're interested in pics, check out avophotography.wordpress.com

                          The Tortoise is such a cutie ;).

Oh, Mama.

Here is a link to some new engagment pics we got taken.  We loved ours from our photographer, but I am so lucky to have an awesome friend that is so talented as a photographer.  She has recently started doing professional pics, and came to Chicago to do some pictures for us.  Holy Moly, I am in LOVE with them.  Click below to check them out:

http://avophotography.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/amy-and-roger-engagement/

They're seriously awesome.  If you want good, affordable pics of families, couples, or kids, Ashlie is the way to go!  She is so great to work with, and she gives you a CD with all of your picture files, so you can do what you want with them.  You don't have to spend extra money with her on prints or things like that, they are yours to keep!  I can't tell you enough how wonderful she is to work with!

Guilty Pleasures...

So... I might have gotten online and checked out our registries. 

I might have browsed through some items.

I MIGHT have clicked add to registry.

How fun and easy are online registries?

Ha!  While I definitely did get on our registries and add some items I might enjoy to have around the apartment, The Tortoise and I decided TOGETHER (I promise) that we added all of the important decorative decisions together, so what would be the harm in looking through and finding a few things we would like for ourselves?  I, being the Happy Hare, jumped right on this opportunity.  He, in Tortoise-like fashion, has taken his time and hasn't added anything yet. 

So, if you see quite a few items that are clearly ALL for me...

just forgive me for my little guilty add-ons!

Some of these items include (but are definitely not limited to):

Cute new luggage

Wii Fit software (how lucky am I that my future husband already owns a Wii?)

Wii Fit accessories

Cookbooks

Engagement Pic of the Day:

Registering

The Tortoise and I went to register yesterday at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  They were so great to work with, and we had so much fun.  It really was a great time deciding on what would fill our future apartment.  I can totally visualize where everything will go, how we will hang things on the wall, and exactly what it will look like.  Oh wait, we haven't even started looking for apartments yet!  Ha!  I swear I can still picture it...

We got a lot of the basics put on the registry, and are so excited about it.  While I did catch myself at one point saying, "This is all boy stuff!  You will live with a GIRL, remember?"  I think we did a great job compromising on things and finding stuff we both really, really like.  Luckily, my taste for decorating is really not "girly" in the traditional sense at all.

It was a blast, to say the least.  Here are some of my favorite registry items.  It might be a favorite because it's a big, essential item that will really mold the way our apartment looks, or because it is a totally fun and silly item, but these really stuck out in my mind:

Colorwave Dishes in 2 colors for mix and match possibilities

Our Bedding Choice (it's on clearance, so we're REALLY hoping someone snatches it up fast before it's gone... wink,wink)  (Maybe that's rude to say that... but I'm an impulsive Hare, remember?)

The Bright Green, White, and Black towels for the bathroom.  These are the colors we are decorating the bathroom with.  (Roger liked black and white, I needed a bit of color.  Gotta love the compromising.)

                     

Yummy smelling Candles (the Wood Wick ones are so cool.  You can hear the wick crackling like a campfire)

Super cute wine and champagne glasses

And one of the super silly items.  Ice cube trays that produce little shot glass shapped ice cubes!  Funny!

We had a blast!

Unbelievable Excitement!

I am feeling extra Hare-like these days.  This is because I have SO much to be excited about right now.  I seriously sometimes have trouble knowing where to focus my excitement energy.  I'll get really excited about one thing, and then remember something else, and literally have to tell myself to chill out a bit!  The beautiful spring weather really have me in a wonderful mood.  Did someone increase my dosage of Vitamin C or something?

Anyways, here is a list of all the things that are, literally, making me jump (or hop?) for joy and say "I'm seriously so excited" about 47 times a day:

1) Registering with Roger this weekend. 

2) Getting a massage and having a girls night on Saturday with two of my best friends.

3) Engagement pictures in Chicago next weekend.  (Check out Ashlie's photography blog by clicking here)

3) Going to Florida in 2 weeks.   Two of my best friends and I are staying with my grandparents in Siesta Key, which is quite possibly my favorite place in the universe. 

4) Apartment Hunting

5) Showers/Bachelorette Parties on June 12th and July 30th.

6) A potential trip to Vegas in June with my best friends.

7) A Jamaican Honeymoon with my best friend of ALL TIME.

8) And of course, the thing that gets me really, really, really, totally, uncontrollably, obnoxiously excited?

The Wedding! 

(bet you didn't see that coming...)

Honestly, this has the makings to be the best spring/summer I have ever had in my life. 

Have I said I'm excited?

Engagement pic of the day (I'm in a silly mood):

Another, very loud, drum roll please...

Roger and I decided on our honeymoon location!  Holy Moly, am I excited!!!!  We will be staying for six wonderful nights in the Sandals- Monetgo Bay Resort in Jamaica!  I am BEYOND excited!  Check it out!

Sandals-Montego Bay Resort

For those of you that don't feel like feasting your eyes on our amazing vacation spot... I am going to make you anyways!  Here are some amazing pictures!

Come to Mama!

Slow cooking...

I had a fantastic weekend.  I got to see Roger, as well as a few other friends that I have not seen in far too long.  I'll start at the beginning:

On Friday, I braved crazy traffic and made it into the city after about 2 hours (the trip is normally around an hour, or an hour and fifteen minutes).  Once I got there, Roger and I decided that we would go get some groceries so we could make food instead of spending extra money on going out to dinner.  After me being difficult (I was, in fact, exhibiting Tortoise-like behavior) about what I wanted to eat, we decided to attempt steaming crab legs.  To make a long story short, dinner was delicious, but took a VERY long time to make!  We went to the grocery store around 7 o'clock.  Here is a picture montage of how our dinner played out:

Starting to steam the crab legs, notice the shrimp cooking because we couldn't wait and had to have it as an appetizer!

A very happy, but very hungry couple!

The actual time after the table was set.  Yes, dinner at 10 o'clock.  Yes, 3 hours after we started.

Totally worth it!  A delicious meal!  Even though it took forever, we had a great time figuring it out together!

(pardon the poor photo quality... all I had was my cell phone!)

Weekend In Chicago

I am so excited because I am heading to Chicago tonight to see the Tortoise!  As we are still a "weekends-only" couple, I really look forward to Friday nights! 

This weekend should be especially fun, because we are heading downtown on Saturday to go to the St. Patrick's Day Parade, check out the green river, and maybe enjoy a couple of green beverages!  I know St. Patrick's Day isn't until Wednesday, but as a "weekends-only" couple, we better celebrate now!

Also, I wanted to give a little shout-out to Matilda Jane clothing.  I am a little bummed because a friend from work is having a Matilda Jane Trunkshow this weekend, and as I will be hanging out with leprechauns, I won't be able to make it. 

Why would a 23 year old mother of ZERO be interested in a Matilda Jane Trunkshow (which is normally a little kids line of clothing) you ask? Because their adult clothes are AWESOME! Here is a look at the dress I want to buy as a possible shower/rehersal dinner dress! 

So cute!  You should check it out!

Drum Roll Please...

Here is a sneak peak at a bouquet similar to what mine will look like at the wedding....

We have also decided on a DJ, a harpist for the ceremony, and are slowing sending out our "save the dates."  We are on a roll!!  Here is a peek at what our Save the Dates look like:

Our Wedding Vendors

So far, the Tortoise and I have been making good progress with wedding plans.  Often, though, I do throw a TON of questions at him at one time, and he has to respond with, "Can I just think about it for a little bit?"  Pardon a girl for having a little enthusiasm!

The Tortoise is really awesome to have around for wedding planning.  He is totally involved with everything, and we make each decision together.  It's been great... and here's what we have so far!

Cake:  www.belavibakery.com

Photographer:  www.forever-image.com

Florist: www.michaelangelosevents.com

Enjoy checking out our awesome vendors... more to come!

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog!  We are a recently engaged couple from the Northwest Indiana/Chicago area.  We have been together for 6 and 1/2 years, since high school.  We are so excited to be planning our wedding, but more excited to planning our future together in Chicago (for the time being).  In true Hare fashion, I am simply focused on registering, apartment hunting, and buying fun art for the walls of our apartment that is yet to exist.  The Tortoise is being very practical, as usual, and is reminding me of what a huge adjustment living together will be for us.  Here is a little background:

While we have been dating for a long time, and essentially grew up together, we have never lived together.  We are good at distance.  We have done distance.  Distance has made our relationship stronger.  But how will we handle constant togetherness?  That is yet to be seen, and blogged about! 

I (The Hare) am currently living in Northwest Indiana after graduating college in May and receiving my first teaching job last August in our home town.  I LOVE my job.  I LOVE my 4th graders.  I LOVE what I do.  You will hear many references to teaching, I am sure.  The Tortoise is living in Lakeview in Chicago.  He works in a Western suburb, and has already adjusted to an hour long commute, each way, each day.  He and I have spent the last year seeing each other only on weekends, as our jobs have taken us two different places.  Before that, though, we spent 4 wonderful years at IU (Go Hoosiers!) together.  We loved college, and both of us miss it quite often.

We are SO looking forward to the days of "weekends-only" being over.  I cannot wait until I get to see him everyday, and we don't feel like we need to soak up every single minute we have together (although, that sounds kind of sweet).  Still, it is going to be a BIG adjustment to combine all of our stuff, agree on all of our new stuff, and set up a whole apartment.  While we enjoy being together, as the blog title suggests, we are polar opposites in many ways.  Still, one of our biggest strengths is the willingness to compromise and communicate.  To add a little more of a twist, I will also, more than likely, be commuting each day to Northwest Indiana for my teaching job.  I just love it too much to give it up. 

Our lives are going to be changing for sure, and I know it will be very interesting.   I am starting this blog so our families can catch up with what we are doing (since we are both pitiful at returning phone calls in a timely manner), and also so we can remember all the little funny and amazing things that happen to us as we are planning the wedding and spending our first year as a married couple.  Our differing personalities are bound to make it interesting... but I wouldn't have it any other way.

STAY TUNED!