Tuesday

Pretty Pink Parasols









So I just adore these paper parasols.. I think they are so fun and tropical. Since Hawaii has that asian influence all over the islands I think that the parasols represnt that so well and the bright colors just add to the tropical feel. Well yesterday I got an email that they were on sale!! So I ordered three pink and three turqouise. I ordered them primarily because I think they make such a great photo prop and I can just see us girls skipping down the beach with our pink parasols.. similar to the pic up top. My sisters are so funny and when you get the three of us togeather- no matter how old we are we still play and laugh and pink parasols just say fun to me. My favorite pics of us are when we went to go get pics done for my mom in a local park.. we are so serious in certain ones but there are plenty where we are all making faces and laughing and playing.. and that is just us!! I love my sisters..
The girls will have bouquets for the wedding so I am not sure if I want them to carry the parasols down the aisle and then close them when we get down there or use them to line the aisle and just as a prop for photos. Another suggestion is giving a certain color say all the pink to the mothers and grandmothers to hold during the ceremony and then the girls will hold the turqouise. I am just not positive yet on parasol position during the ceremony other than I LOVE THEM!! We are placing palm fans on the seats for heat but these might also be a great addition to keep the sun off the ladies. Hope you like them and if you have any suggestions for them please leave them.


Thursday

March Madness..




So this month has been so busy.. and we only have 3 more months until the wedding.. breathe breathe..FREAKING OUT!!




But we have done so much..


First things first..


On Home Front-




Due to our winter being harsh for South Texas (we had snow and ice this year) we lost 5 out of our 17 palms around the pool. Our three huge mexican fan palms that are as tall as the house survived (just some brown palms that we cut back). I also lost 6 Hibiscus bushes which is such a lose to me.. I loved them and they bloomed all year and were as tall as the fence- but they dont like ice. I also lost my bougnvilla plants and bird of paradise. So Nate and I spent one whole weekend putting down new mulch (5 whole yards of mulch) and pulling up all the dead in the back yard. Lucky for me the umbrella plant store was having a plant sale.. so I went and picked up two new tall palms which are thriving, 2 new queen palms.. they are shorter and fluffy looking.. and 3 new pink bougnvilla plants. We put them all in the ground and I think they are all happy. Just now our banana plants are coming up as well as the giant elephant ears- summer is around the corner!!! I also ordered cold hardy new hibiscus plants (bite that ice) and got a great variety in color- two different hot pinks (you know I love pink) a white with a pink stripe, bright red, yellow and purple. I also ordered the twisted tree hibiscus in a blue with pink center. So I have to plant all those this week and hope they sprout up as tall as the ones we had from two years ago. When they come they are maybe 12 inches tall and look like little bushes.. but the ones we put in that died were the same size and a year later were 3 ft tall. I am not sure if we lost our oleanders yet.. they still have some green to them but all the leaves have browned from the frost. I really hope they come back because they bloom beautiful pink flowers that remind me of plumeria blooms.




We are having my bridal shower at the house in May so I am hoping everything comes back to life soon- I am not used to browning of any type of my plants even in the winter.. but these freezes did one over on us this year.




Nate went to Vegas and Mesquite Nevada for spring break for his bachelor party. I asked him what he was most excited about expecting the answer to be strippers..gambling..all things veags.. and the real answer was THE GOLF. The boys are golfing everyday- so he is in heaven.




As you all heard my lil sister Michelle is moving back home from Germany.. so the plans are stewing for summer. I can't wait to go pick her up from the airport on April 28th. We have been IMing every day and it is so exciting to be able to plan things.. this morning she asked if she could borrow a dress when she gets home.. and it is like well yeah that is possible now without sending it across the ocean. So I am super excited!!!




On the wedding front-

I ordered the Hawaiian Postcards that we are going to use as a guestbook for the guests in Hawaii and those should be here anyday now. We also recieved our Maui and Oahu maps with all the details of the islands that we need to make copies of for the guests.


The biggest thing I am excited about is I ordered a custom veil this week. When I went dress shopping with my mom and sisters we bought a veil that is fingertip length.. it is pretty but it just isnt what I envisioned.. I love the look of the cathedral lenght veils. So I got on etsy and was looking for a veil that I could personalize and wouldnt break a leg and I found a vendor. She custom makes all veils.. there are pics of one she did above. I am getting just a cursive scripted E for our last name with jewels on it and then some squiqqlies around the e in silver and crystals. It should be simple but beautiful and it is personalized. I think it would be something I could pass on to my daughter if I wanted. I wanted it simple so it wouldnt compete too much with my dress. I just adore pics of the bride with the groom and the veil is just blowing in the wind..so romantic and dramatic..
The second thing is that I paid the deposit to Missy for photography for the AHR. Missy is one of my childhood friends who now lives in DFW area and has her own photography business. She is wonderful.. you should check out her blog www.cherishedmemoriesbymj.blogspot.com you will love her pics. She does everything from babies to wedding and everytime she suprises me with her talent. Thankfully she is traveling all the way down to Katy to take our pics for the AHR. I can't wait to see the pics she takes I know they will be spectacular!!
On top of all that I was able to finally address all the Hawaii Invitations and postmark them and get them ready for mailing. I got them out Monday and guests are recieving them now. Thank goodness that is done. Also my AHR invites by Crawford Designs is done so they should be coming in the mail any day now.. not looking forward to that posting and stuffing process. I also finally compiled all addresses for the bridal shower so hopefully we will get those out before too long too.
Ok if you made it thru this post- go get yourself a glass of wine.. because I am even tired..


And here is the Veil customed .. this was taken the day of the wedding..  E for Embley. I hope that I will be able to pass it on later to my daughter or daughter in law. It was beautiful blowing in the trade winds in hawaii.

Tuesday

Bridesmaids Gifts









So I know I am not suppose to post pics of the gifts because my sisters might see them.. but the reality is my sisters probably never get on either of my sites.. But I am so excited to give them their gifts.. since they are breakable and would be bulky to pack I wont be toting them all the way to Hawaii. I am going to give them their gifts at my bridal shower on May 1.
Side Note- if you didnt know my sister from Germany will be flying in for the summer April 28th so she will be here for my bridal shower!! This is big news!! She has been living in Germany for the past year and wasnt going to be home till the wedding. But she has decided to come home to houston for the summer and then finish her degree at UT. I was estatic when she told me.. it was suppose to be a suprise..but who cares I am so happy!! She might also be staying with Nate & I part of the summer- which both Nate & I are thrilled!

Anyhow, I always get the magazine exclusively weddings and they were having great sales and I would get 15% off so I got online and started looking and there was so much stuff that I loved that I couldnt buy it all.
I ended up buying the striped beach bag (pic above)..I thought the beach bag would be great because they can use it in Hawaii (it also matches the invitations with the stripes) and I think they could reuse them later for things like overnite stays, school books..etc. I bought both my sisters and my mom the pink bag with their name written in turqouise (hello has to match the wedding). I then also purchased the matching pink makeup bag because one ever girl needs a great makeup bag and two they can use them in Hawaii to put their cell in and hotel key if they are going to the beach. I also did their intial in turqouise to match the bags perfectly!
The other gift I got that doesnt really go with the theme..but hey I like them and love animal print.. wish they had cheetah print- is the giraffe koozie. I got it with thier intial in hott pink.. and even though it doesnt go with the theme we will never fight over whose wine coolers is whose when floating in my pool this summer :). Plus every college girl needs their own personal koozie.
Lastly I had to buy the flipflop wine glasses. I love wine.. I am kind a vino whore (as you all know- bad day equals wine.. but a good day equals wine too)! Other than shoes and nate there is nothing I love more than a great bottle of wine! So the wine glass was kind of something that had to be done. The flip flop one just fit sooo well with Hawaii and I think they can use them at the bridal shower ( I bought myself one and my mom too). Also even if they never use them again it will remind them of me.. I know I will be using mine again..lol!
But I tried to get gifts that they could reuse..not just a necklace to wear the day of (which I did buy their jewels for the day) but I wanted something that they could use and was fun. I hope they love them as much as I do!

(UPDATE) I couldn't help but posting some pics from the Bridal Shower with our glasses, but also some from Hawaii..Enjoy.



 Hanuma Bay in Hawaii
 Diamond Head- Mom, Brigitte, Me, Michelle- Day before the wedding hiking!
 Flipflop wine glasses
 The bag I got my mom and sisters with their names.. obviously this is mine in good use in Maui.


Monday

It's A Hotdog!!




Well my soon to be sister-in-law is preggo with their second child. Yeah I am an Aunt again!! She is due July 23rd.. a couple days before our AHR. I am so thrilled that they are having another baby- I mean their first Tessa is like so adorable and I could write about her all day long- but I wont. I wish we lived closer so I could revel in my aunthood more (my sisters are younger so I wont be an aunt on my side forever) and I love shopping especially for little girls so I wish Tessa (Julie & Kevin too) was closer!! I even tried to bargain with Julie to have babies for me since hers are so adorable (and well behaved might I add)!! I mean the added plus of her carrying the child for 9mths with the bonus of them being super adorable- I mean who wouldnt want Julie's babies..lol! (Pics above are of my beautiful niece Tessa Jane and Nate)




WELL we found out at thanksgiving she was preggo because she wanted us to know she wouldnt be able to come to Hawaii for the wedding- we were sad but another baby makes up for it!! So I have had to wait since turkey day to find out what they were having and today we heard the big news.. I hope I am not posting this before she does.. I am just so thrilled!! Julie & Kevin will be welcoming a HOTDOG to the family- a boy!!! One Boy and One Girl- perfect count! Of course Julie loves to make us all sweat about the name and is not releasing the name just the intials..which is driving me bonkers!! But I am so excited so I had to share with my internet friends and family!

Friday

My AHR Flower


So I have a different dress for the At Home Reception (AHR) and it is a more modern fun dress to go with my turqouise/pink heels.. I know I am a shoe whore! I love love shoes so I had to have the perfect pair for the reception since I am not wearing heels in the sand. Sand+heels=nightmare. Well since my dress is a short dress I wanted something fun for my hair..and not a veil. So I found an etsy maker who makes bird cage veils and flower feather fascinators for your hair. She personalized my flower feathe fascinator with turqouise feathers and bling (duh to match the shoes).. Sneak peek below! I love it!!!










Wednesday

All Things Paper!!















I dont know how well you can see the pics (taken on my cell)- but let me start from the top!
The first pic is our Photoshare Card with instructions for guests to add photos to snapfish so we all can see after the wedding.
The next couple pics are of the brochure we made for the guests to go inside their OOT bags. It has information like the timeline for the day of the wedding, things to do, a map of the islands and directions with a map to the wedding site and also our contact info.
Lastly are my bridal shower invitations!! They are Hawaiian themed.. the back is orange with hibiscus flower print on them. We are having it at my house around the pool so hopefully it wont be too hott yet! I just love them!
They say:
A Bridal Shower Hawaiian styledoesn’t it sound great?In honor ofTRICIA BUCKHOLTZit’s time to celebrate!!!Wear your favorite Hawaiian shirtor grass skirt if you dareit’s sure to be blastso we hope to see you there!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Two o’clock in the afternoon
My Address...

RSVP to The Mother of the Bride
Judie Haubrich at ********
Bride & Groom are registered at Bed, Bath & Beyond and Macys.
Well I just wanted to share..

Monday

E Pics and Video

I was just on the computer and put in our names to come to the blog and the old link to our engagement pics came up..

http://web.me.com/isanchez7/Site_2/Photos.html

And here is the link to the video with our Jack Johnson Song!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxW-vwXEgwE

Our really good friend Issac, who also is a teacher with Nate has a photography business (Abbey Ray Photography) and took our pics as an wedding present to us. It was such a great weekend. Our friends Mark & Alex also went with us to Surfside. We rented our friend Lindsay's (also a teacher) beach house and we all went down to Surfside and enjoyed the weekend. After the pics, we grilled, sat on the porch and enjoyed the ocean rolling in. How I miss those summer days!!

But getting our pictures done by a good friend was just awesome. It was a great experience and Issac made it that way. He knew what would look good and totally worked with us. I truely treasure the pics now. I mean these were taken last summer- so of course we both have changed a little bit- I have lost some weight and am growing my hair out for the wedding- and well Nate has been hitting the gym hard. But these pics are such a great treasure to us! I love watching the video he made us. I just wanted to share because I went down memory lane again.

Thanks Ladies

Thanks to my fellow Knotties for helping me figure out the blog signature!! Yall are awesome!