One year ago today...

One year ago today, Eric asked me to be his wife! He was home for a week and it was just any typical work evening. I got off of work at 5 and headed over to his parents house. Nobody was home so Eric and I decided to go shopping. He said where do you want to go. So I was like "I have a gift card at Bed Bath and Beyond we can go there" so we proceeded to go outside to the car. As we stood outside trying to pick a vehicle to get in (his or mine) I finally just unlocked my car door and sat in the passenger side because I didn't want to drive. He was being weird about driving and I couldn't figure out why. Because normally he just automatically gets in the drivers seat. Well after a few minutes of us bickering back and forth about driving and what not. He finally came over to my side of the door and took my hand and said "we will just take my truck if I'm driving" I said "can you just make a decision already!" haha. Then as we are going to his truck (which was right next to my car) we got in between the vehicles and as we got around my car he got down on one knee and held up the ring in his hand and said "I Love you and I'm never leaving" then asks me to marry him. My initial response well of course was SHOCKED and I believe I kept saying over and over again "Are you serious?" "Are you sure?" I did finally say "YES" but I was just in complete shock. After all the excitement of being engaged Eric said "well what do you want to do now, do you still want to go to bed bath and beyond?" hahaha! I was like "no we must call everyone" HAHAHA :)

My dad was the first to know because Eric had actually called him and asked his permission first :) Aww so cute and traditional...loved it!

My mom's reaction was a bit funny. We went to my house so I could tell my mom and sister in person. Of COURSE neither of them were home! I had the biggest news EVER and they weren't home to tell! I had called all my friends and Kathryn came over and she was jumping up down with excitement :) :) She got to witness us telling my mom!

Well here is what happened. I had called her and asked her where she was and she (not knowing anything of course) was like "I'm at the grocery store, do you need or want anything?" you know being the typical mama that she was just making sure I had everything I wanted. I said "no, just wondering when you are going to be home" she said "after I leave the store" so me, Eric and Kathryn waited patiently in the living room for her to come home. About 20 minutes after the phone conversation she walks in the door. I said I'll wait until she puts the grocery's away. Well she puts the dog outside then starts to put the grocery's away. I'm trying to draw her into the living room by asking her about her day and what not thinking she would walk into the living room to have the conversation with us. Well another 20 minutes go by and she has not walked into the living room yet. I finally just said "will you come in here and talk to us!" she was like "I have no time I have to finish putting the grocery's away, take a shower,get in my pajamas and make me something to eat!" So I really and truly had to force her to come sit with us haha! I said "well I think you need to come in here and sit down" she was like "why whats the matter?" I said "nothing its just something you want to sit for" So she FINALLY comes into the living room and sits on the couch we are ALL smiling! I hold out my hand and say "look" she looks at my hand and is like "is this for real?" and she was shocked as well she was like "oh my gosh are you serious this isn't a joke right?" hahaha! She of course started to tear up and gave us all hugs! It was soo funny!

In 24 days I will marry my high school sweet-heart. I have loved him since 9th grade and will continue to love him the rest of my life. Its the best feeling in the world to be committed to one person for the rest of my life and I look forward to that commitment. We will start a new chapter in our life together.

It's JUNE!

So it is JUNE already! I can now start saying I'm getting MARRIED this MONTH:)

There are so many things going on this month too. Not only are we getting married, but Eric's younger brother Aaron is graduating from ECHS this coming Friday! My friend Andrea's little girl is turning 1 this month. Today marks my last official 2 weeks working (until I find a job in VA--pray for me on that!).

Eric and I will be meeting with our Reverend this coming Saturday in Wilmington, I can't wait!

I have lots of planning to still do! Meet with the florist to talk more detail about the flowers and what I want, go to a fabric store and pick out fabric for my quilt guest book, finish buying the rest of my bridesmaids gifts, go to a linen store to find fabric for the tables at the reception, talk to our DJ about the music, finalize what music I want played at the ceremony, talk with my step-sister Allison about the wedding programs etc and LOTS more! I love planning the wedding of my dreams to the man of my dreams it makes it all worth while. All the stress that goes into a wedding becomes a blurr the moment you say "I Do".

I went to a wedding this past weekend--Kalah Pridgen and Patrick Piner--it was beautiful. Kalah was a beautiful bride, the ceremony was perfect. Going to their wedding made me just get even more excited about my wedding coming up.

I just want to thank all my friends and family who have helped me through the planning of our wedding. I couldn't of done ANY of this if it weren't for family and friends. Thank you and I love you all!

Soon-to-be
Chelsea Faye Lawrence :) :)

ONE MONTH TO GO!

So today is the ONE MONTH MARK :) I can't believe how fast this year has gone by! June 3, 2008 was one of the best days of my life--the day he asked me to be his wife :) After I take his name a month from today we will begin a new chapter in our life together. This is something all girls have dreamed about since they were little. I'm so glad my dream is coming true June 27, 2009. Eric is my best friend and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him.

"I guarantee there’ll be tough times; I guarantee that at some point, one, or both of us is gonna wanna get out of this thing; But I also guarantee, that if I don’t ask you to be mine, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life... because I know in my heart, that you’re the only one for me."
from the movie "Runaway Bride"

Matt Nathanson--Wedding Dress

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKqDaA1InEE

So we lie here in the dark
All the wrong things on fire
Sickness and in health
Just to be with you
Just to be with you

In your wedding dress
To have and to hold
Even at my best
I want to let go

And you hold me in your arms
And all that I can feel
Is my future in your hands
With all that I can feel
Is how long ever after is
Its all that I can do
To be with you
Just to be with you

In your wedding dress
To have and to hold
Even at my best
I want to let go

And I lost you
Thought I lost you (I gave you away)
Thought I'd lost you
Jealous of the moon for how it moves the waves

In your wedding dress
To have and to hold
Even at my best
I want to let go

And I want to be somebody else now
And I want to thicken my skin
And I want to wish it all
Just wish it all
Away again


So I know I'm being really cheesy right now, but I have a right to be :)

Soon-to-be
Chelsea Faye Lawrence! :)

Getting Close!

So I now have 1 month and 1 week left until the WEDDING! WOW has time just flown by! I just got my proofs back today for my Bridal Portraits I took last Wednesday! I LOVE THEM! They are different and unique just what I was going for :)

Last Wednesday a lot of stuff happened! The day is almost a big blurr to me but the day started off with me waking up at 7:15 and getting dressed and going to Curves by 7:30 or a little after. I go to my tanning appointment and then I get home a little before 9 (sister is asleep still). I go to the bank and then come back home again. I get a shower and get dressed. I have to be to my alterations lady (Carol West) by 11:30. I left my house a little before 11:30. I'm coming up to the end of Leonda Drive that meets Lenoxville and I see Fire Trucks, Ambulances, Police Cars you name it and it was there! I saw a man laying in the backyard and I was thinking to myself surely all these people aren't here for that one man. I assumed he either had a heart attack, fell from the balcony or something to that nature. Then I pull up a little more and I notice all these people standing in front of the apartments. I had to do a double-take on what I THOUGHT I just saw! So what I couldn't believe but was really there was a car THROUGH the apartment building! All I could see of the car was barely the back end of the trunk that's IT! I was just completely shocked! So I go to my alterations person pick up my wedding dress (which by the way she had to cut 6 inches off the front so I could stand and the dress actually be the right size haha). Leave there around 12 and get back to the accident scene and they had pulled out the car by this point and it was a JAGUAR! Dear lord talk about a bad day!

So in case you guys didn't see the article in the paper about this accident below is what the paper said about it. Luckily there were no major injuries, except to the house and car!

BEAUFORT — Police report a town resident experienced a seizure and drove his Jaguar through the wall of a residence at 1703 Lennoxville Road in Beaufort around 11 a.m. Wednesday.While investigating, officers report they discovered marijuana in the apartment.Two people in the vehicle were transported to Carteret General Hospital. No one was in the residence at the time of the wreck.

James Todd Whitaker, 37, driver of the vehicle, had turned off of Lennoxville Road, into the driveway of Villager Apartments when he experienced a seizure and drove straight into the wall of Unit 2. Authorities estimated the vehicle was traveling 35 mph on impact. According to Chief of Police Steve Lewis, his officers along with Beaufort Fire Department and Beaufort Rescue Squad responded to the scene after a call came in that a car had crashed through the wall of an apartment. “When officers arrived they found a 2005 Jaguar had crashed through the front of the apartment unit,” Chief Lewis said. “ Officers observed two occupants, the driver and his mother, Arlene Whitaker, 62, inside the vehicle as they approached the front of the building.”The chief said officers had to enter through the rear of the apartment to check on the occupants of the vehicle and to see if anyone was inside the residence at the time of the crash.The 2005 Jaguar, registered to Mr. Whitaker, sustained an estimated $20,000 in damages. The apartment unit, owned by William Mac Hines, sustained an estimated $30,000 in damages. Chief Lewis said while officers were investigating the wreck they discovered a plastic baggie containing 14 grams of marijuana on the kitchen countertop and a glass pipe. “The owner of the apartment unit does not live at the condo, but leases it to someone else,” Chief Lewis added. “An investigation continues and charges are expected.” Officer Anthony Ginther investigated the crash with assistance of Sgt. David Myers and Officer Jonathon Moore.

Ok so now back to my day :)

I had my hair and make-up appointment that afternoon and Bridal Portraits starting at 5 p.m. Now I did not do the typical Bridal Portraits, don't get me wrong beach pictures are very nice but I'm not much on sticking with traditional pictures :)

So me, my sister and Amber met my photographer at the Coast Guard Station in Atlantic Beach. We had already called a few weeks ago to get the ok from the Station to allow us to take pictures on their boat, of course they said YES :)

We get there and get to the boats and they asked me which boat I wanted to get my pictures taken on and of course I said the 110 ft boat because its the prettiest. Below is a picture of the boat (obviously not the exact boat). So it was a lot of fun being able to get my picture on the Coast Guard Boat. It was Staten Island, NY's boat that we actually used. The guy that was helping us out during the session was really great and I'm sorry I didn't get his name, but I do plan on getting one of my pictures printed for the station and sending a thank-you note along with it and mailing it to them. He even took off the tarp that was covering the big huge gun so I could take my picture with that on the front of the boat!

It was just a really neat experience and even the guy said he'd never heard of anyone else doing that for their portraits. Which I thought there would of been someone else's Coastie Wife who would of thought of this, but I guess not :)

The second (and last) site for our session was in HARLOW yes I said HARLOW :) When I told Lorraine (the photographer) I wanted somewhere different she definitely gave me different haha. She told me about this place that was off the road in a field with a big red barn with white trim! It was BEAUTIFUL! It wasn't until the day of the portraits that I realized it was in Harlow haha. But we got some great shots of me in front of the barn and leaning up against the barn. The weather held up perfectly for the entire thing :) I was very pleased with everything. Although while we were out there the mosquitoes showed up instantly and so did Lady Bugs, Grasshoppers and Bees haha. All in all it was a very GREAT session! I can't wait to show everyone the pictures, but not until the day of the wedding of course :) :) Below is a picture of a barn--its not the barn but its close enough just so you can get an idea :)

Gold Cup 2009

Gold Cup 5-2-09

This past weekend Eric and I drove to The Plains, VA to visit with our buddy Brandon Pennington and experience GOLD CUP! We have heard so much about Gold Cup from Brandon and he invited us to go so we took him up on the offer.

Gold Cup is a Horse Race in VA that has been going on every year for 84 years. Its basically one big tailgating party with a horse race in the background. The gates open at 10 a.m. and we got there at like 10:01 and the gates close at 7 p.m. I believe we left around 6:30. We were very tired from being outside all day long, but it was a lot of fun and a great experience. After all the horse races were over at Gold Cup they put the Kentucky Derby on the big screen which was fun to watch as well. I wish I was a betting type person because that Kentucky Derby was such a great race! 50:1 all I can say is whoever bet on that horse made out GREAT!

Please enjoy the pictures :)

*~Wedding Stuff~*

This past weekend Amber and her fiance Patrick put together my bridal bouquet and my toss bouquet. It of course turned out BEAUTIFUL! I fell in LOVE with these flower colors and arrangement. I have opted for fake flowers for my bouquet, that way I will have the same one for my bridal portraits and on the actual wedding day. I can't thank Amber and Patrick enough!!!



The flowers came from Michael's in Morehead it is a mixture between confetti roses, and hydrangeas. The two big yellow roses (that look and honestly feel real) came from House of Silk in Morehead!

Look at the detail on how they tied the ribbon, so awesome! If I had attempted to this myself good lord it would of just looked like tangled knots!

So below are pictures of the bouquet and then a project I am doing for the wedding. As some of you know I have been trying so hard to figure out some kind of paper to wrap around the vases to diffuse the look of the glass and candle light. We have tried rice paper that we dyed with water color and food color. That process would work its just a long process. Then on a random thought I decided to try tissue paper because we could get those in lots of different colors. But when we wet it to put to the vases it was a little difficult to deal with (it kept tearing real easily). So I kind of stopped for a while on that project. At my Bridal Shower a couple weekends ago someone suggested (I don't know who it was) to my mom that we try food color in the water to give it that different look. Which I LOVED that idea. My mom suggested it to Amber and she said that they did that at a friends wedding and it worked out great. It doesn't kill the flowers or anything. So last night I was trying different colors for the water, they were all to harsh looking. I wanted more a pastel shade for the water. Then I remembered we had bought some water colors for the project of dying rice paper. I loved those colors, they were a perfect match! I'm also planning on going back to Michael's to see if I can find a pale pink color to have a third color. Also I tested these 2 flowers (real) in the water over night to see how it did in the water that had the paint color in it. They survived :) :)

So now you will notice I had two votive candles in the picture as well. My grandma came over on Saturday morning with a suggestion for the vases as well. She brought this stuff called "Gallery Glass Window Color" which is sort of like a glue that you can put on glass (windows, mirrors, vases etc). So I practiced on one of the votive with the gold color. Which obviously (or I hope anyway) that you see the one on the left is covered with the Glass Window Color and the one on the right is the original votive with nothing on it. I really loved the gold color on the glass, especially when the candle was lit and the lights were dimmed. It was very romantic looking :)

So then I tried the White Pearl on the square vase (but only on one side). I didn't wait long enough before I started touching it which is why its not as smooth (if you want to call it smooth) but it will take some practice to do this just the right way. The good thing about this Glass Window Color stuff is it just peels off whenever you don't want it on there anymore. You can also make stencils and put them on the vases. My mom suggested that we do our initial "L" on some of the vases just to have something different on there. Which is a cute idea. Also once the stuff is dry on the vase you can get a sponge and paint over it with whatever color you wanted. So if you guys ever want a fun little project to try this is something worth trying!

*These are the glass window colors I used*

All these vases, votive, paints, glass window colors, and most of the flowers were all purchased at Michael's in Morehead :) In case anyone was wanting to know.

Please put some feedback and tell me what you think about this stuff.

Thanks,
~BRIDE~

P.S. Today marks the TWO MONTH MARK until the WEDDING! :)

Lunch Date :)

This afternoon I had a lunch date with Karli and Ashlyn. We went over to the park near my work and played in the sand and went down slides. It was a lot of fun. Ashlyn even made friends with a little 3 year old boy, who she grew very interested in haha :) She would tell him to "sit down" until he finally caved and sat right next to her. That's when Ashlyn was feeling very bold and decided to put her arm around him, he didn't care for that too much and got up and started jumping and growling HAHA :) It was SOOO cute!!

Here are a few pictures from today.