Halloween, Princesses, and a Wedding

It's been a pretty crazy month around the Kramer household. It all started with Halloween, which was a blast. Kristi dressed up like Princess Ariel and we met up with her bestie Caitlyn and her family to go trick-or-treating around their neighborhood. It was a blast getting some mommy time along with the experience. Kristi and her girlfriends looked so adorable in their costumes. 

All the girls were incredibly excited and had a great time. 

Next on the list was Kristi's birthday gift from the Wilt family. They bought her a ticket to go see Disney Princesses on Ice at the beginning of November. She spent most of the weekend with them and had a blast! 

Next up was my sister's wedding. That was a crazy busy couple of days. We spent most of the Thursday before decorating the church. It honestly didn't take nearly as long as I thought. We had a lot of help which was nice. The wedding itself was spectacularly gorgeous! She looked like a princess! Here's a couple of shots:

Rehearsal

Servers I decorated

Table decorations

Head table

Banister in front of the head table (These looked awesome when lit.)

First dance waltz

The beautiful bride

Pretty, pretty flower girl <3

We spent Thanksgiving with Andy's family, specifically at his sister's house. We had a lot of amazing food including perfectly cooked turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn, crescent rolls, and stuffing. I took just a little of everything and was so stuffed I couldn't even finish it. Surprisingly, I didn't take a single picture the whole time we were there (I know... What's wrong with me?!)! We drove Kris to her father that evening and afterwards, had some awesome desserts. Even though we ate much earlier this year than normal, most of the desserts didn't even get touched. We had pumpkin pie (which I'm now realizing I didn't get any of), pumpkin roll, and ice cream. I made orange cranberry cookies (click on the link and it'll take you to the recipe) and 2 different kinds of sugar cookies. I wasn't very impressed with the first sugar cookie recipe. I don't know if they just didn't turn out right because I used Splenda instead of "real" sugar or if my taste buds are just off, which is totally possible since I'm pregnant. Even though they didn't turn out the way I thought, the orange cranberry cookies came out perfectly! I again substituted Splenda for sugar and the Splenda-blended brown sugar. The recipe called for a glaze on top but I liked them so much without it so I decided not to put it on. That just means less calories and carbs right? ;-) Even though cookies aren't the healthiest snack foods, I do try to make them "healthier". 

We went Black Friday shopping and found some really great deals. We went out around 7 to hit Toys R' Us first. We found a fantastic deal on a crib and changing table set. The set was on sale for less than the cost of the crib itself! We just got the call today that it's ready to pick up. I'm so excited to pick it up and set it up in Trinity's room. Now, I just have to get started making the crib set. The other thing I wanted to look for was the Leapster Leappad. I know they weren't running a sale on it, but I wanted to see if it was available. Since it's still pretty new, they've been unavailable every time I've tried to purchase one. TRU was sold out but I'm actually happy about it. I didn't realize that VTech had their own type of tablet. The VTech Innotab actually seems better than the Leappad and it didn't cost as much. The only issue with the Innotab is that there is only one game out right now that is rated ages 7-9. All others are 4-6 or 5-7. Kristi has a Leapster 2 right now and the games don't go past age 7. She's unfortunately beat most of the ones she owns and doesn't want any new ones. I thought the Innotab would be a great system for her since I can't see paying the price for an actual tablet. I guess that was a long winded way of saying we got it for her for Christmas and hopes she likes it. We also picked up some more Squinkies and small craft stuff as stocking stuffers. With that, we got Kristi completely finished. :-)

With all that over, not much else has been going on. I completed two scarves for our church's Christmas Bazaar. I'm making a batch of the orange cranberry cookies for that as well. I'm excited to see what families have donated to the bazaar this year. After that, it's mostly just getting ready for the holidays. We got the tree up last weekend and finished most of the decorating around the house yesterday. The only thing I need to finish is the lights outside. I found out that the one strand of icicle lights I bought last year are already out. I tried changing the fuses but no luck. I want to pick up a couple more strands of lights for outside and possibly some of the windows. The last thing I have to do is make the new bows for the wreaths and swags that hang outside. We found a great deal on ribbon at AC Moore on Black Friday. I got the bow maker machine from my mom this past weekend so now I just have to figure out how to use it and what size to make the bows. I'm just hoping that we purchased enough ribbon. I honestly don't know if we can get that ribbon again because we had purchased the last two rolls. Anyway...

Well that's about it so until next time... much love and many blessings!

♥Courtney♥

Myself & a family member (Day 26)

Okay... So yes, I'm falling behind again, but that's okay. Next installment of the photo challenge:

Bentzel & Slimmer families (my future in-laws)

Mom & niece

Sister

Mom, dad, & future brother-in-law

I know it's supposed to be one photo but I just don't have a photo of everyone. :-)

I get these feelings at times that blogging can be such a chore. But they're usually only fleeting moments. I really do enjoy blogging, especially about what's going on with my goals and such. I really think it helps me not only recount what's going on in a particular day/season in my life but also just put my thoughts and feelings on paper. I have a horrible memory so this is something I can look back on and be like, "Oh yeah! I totally forgot about that!" Anyway...

 Goals

Business: I've been doing pretty good on this front with TSFL. I've made a lot more prospecting calls as well as talking to people about it on my everyday journeys. It's getting much easier to talk to people about it and I love the feeling I get knowing I've helped someone. I've been making an effort to stay connected with the support calls and meetings each week. They're really helping me stay focused and revving me up. The tasting I held on the 19th was exciting and disappointing at the same time. I had a really great time and was definitely appreciative of my business coach coming along for the ride! It definitely gave me more confidence in myself as a health coach. I guess I get these concepts in my head of how I think things are supposed to go so when they don't go that way, it freaks me out. This has definitely been a difficult journey for me, not so much the business aspects of it but getting my confidence under me. I am wholeheartedly one of those people who need to know everything about my subject before trying to teach or help others. I hate being asked a question(s) and not know the answer(s). It's one of the qualities that make me such a great trainer (and possess a certain lack of modesty.. LoL!). Just this week, when speaking with my coach, I realized that I really don't need to know everything. It's really okay not to know everything because I have an amazing support system in this business. If I don't know the answer--which let's face it, I won't always know the answer no matter how much I study--I have an array of people who will and/or can point my client to where they need to go to find the answer. Another reason I feel I need to know everything is because I love teaching. It's been a passion since middle school. But again, I realized during that same call that teaching is not my job. My job is to point my clients in the right direction and let them take ownership of their journey. This week so far has been amazing with realizations and I am so excited to see what the future has in store with this!


Weight loss: I honestly have nothing to report here. My weigh in yesterday was definitely not anywhere close to being correct and I'm 99.9% sure it's because I drank a TON of soda on Sunday, and a lot of that within a few hours before going to bed. Yeah, learned my lesson on that one. Needless to say, I'll be laying off the soda, especially right before bed.

Room of the day: Pretty much the same. Getting done, for the most part. I at least get the rooms cleaned, just not always dusted.

Quiet time: I have to really get back on track with this. I'm disappointed in myself for not sticking with it and it's not that I don't want to, I just always seem to have a mountain of crap that gets in the way. I know I need to start going to bed earlier than midnight or 1 a.m. everyday. That will definitely help with me snoozing until I have to get Kris out of bed.

So what's been going on with me... Alot. We've been pretty busy, frustrated, annoyed, happy, sad, and a myriad of other emotions. Kristi and I have been solidly working on our wedding favors. We've got 39 of 67 completed (well as completed as can be). We picked up the centerpiece hurricane's over the weekend. I was really excited about that because they're gorgeous and perfect and only $1.50 a piece! Score! I'm totally stoked. We also picked up the pillar and taper candles for the unity set I'll be making/decorating. When I first started looking, I couldn't believe the price of unity candle sets! Craziness! I'll be able to make it perfectly what we want for a quarter of the cost. I love being crafty :-)

I am officially graduating with my degree on July 16th. I seriously felt like the day would never come. I have about 5 weeks of class and will be completely finished. All I have to do yet is order my cap and gown!

Well that's about all I have for now so until next time, much love and many blessings!

♥Courtney♥

Date Day

Friday and Saturday were both pretty eventful days. Friday morning, after Kris got off to school, Andy and I headed over to the jewelers to pick up my engagement ring.

I'm totally enamored with it. LoL! I can't stop looking at it! (And I'm sure you see why!) It was well worth the wait. :-) It's honestly a lot heavier than I thought it'd be. Now, I just have to find someone who can make a LOTR band small enough (like 5mm or under at a size 4).

So I told you all about the wedding dress fiasco in my last post. Well, I just had to get out of the house after getting my ring so I took a trip down to J&B Bridals in downtown Chambersburg. I first stopped at Sheetz to grab my low-fat mint latte and some grapes to snack on (yum!). I got to the bridal store with the sole intention of only looking, not trying anything on. I told the consultant about my fiasco with RomanticGowns.com and she was literally as horrified as I was. She took me to the secret upstairs room with all the discounted, discontinued dresses (they're all marked down under $500...Score!). She pulled about six gowns out so I could take note/stock. I told her I liked all of them so she really recommended me trying them on so I reluctantly did. Here's the pictures of the first 3 dresses (sorry about the quality--they were taken with my phone):

This was one of the first dresses I saw and fell in love with.

I really liked the champagne contrasting.

That detail is what I fell in love with...Gorgeous!

My favorite after trying it on... Dress #2

This dress had the most beautiful detailing.

Favorites: The dip in the back and the faux buttons

I liked the simplicity of this dress... #3

Favorites: The pleating and crystal beads = Gorgeous!!

The simplicity of the train allows for a cathedral length veil.

I loved all three of these dresses. It was a pretty tough decision until I put on the last dress. As soon as I saw it on, I knew it was THE ONE. Pictures will have to come at a later date though since he's not allowed to see it until I walk down the isle. Well, after I fell in love I got worried that the dress was going to be out of my price range. I asked the consultant to check on it for me (they didn't have the sale price on the tag because it had literally just been taken upstairs). She came back and told me that it was a little higher than I wanted, but she talked to the owner and told him what had happened and he said that if I could pay for it in full today, he'd give it to me for the same price as the other dresses. I was like score!!! It's mine!!! I completely believe that it was totally God. On a side note: I'm totally going to talk to Casey about taking a picture of Andy's face when he first sees me :-) He's totally going to cry! LoL! So the rest of Friday was pretty uneventful. I took Kris over to her dad's. Just a note to self: I have seriously got to stop drinking so much water when in the car for long periods of time. I swear, if Jay had been any later I would've totally peed myself. Lucky Kris, she can just sit on the side of the car and go! Oh to be a kid again...Then again, maybe not!

Since we knew Kris would be with her dad this past weekend, Andy and I decided to do our Valentine's Day Saturday. He had a meeting at work from 8:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. so I picked up my dress from the bridal shop and took it over to his mom's. Everyone wanted to see the dress and ring, so I got to walk the runway. I felt like a total dork!  Anyway... After Andy got off work, we had a really great discussion with Shari then we braved the windy and cold to walk around downtown a little. We were going to have dinner at the little bistro on Main Street but it didn't open until 4:00 p.m. so we decided on Cafe d'Italia instead. It's a really cute, small Italian restaurant that sits in the corner of the square. We got to sit in the front, where the windows look out onto the square. It was really romantic. So I ordered calamari (I love it but hardly ever order it because it's fried) and bruchetta and was totally stoked about it. She brought the bruchetta out with Andy's lasagna and then brought the calamari. I took one look and about narfed! There were calamari rings around the rim of the plate but the whole inside of the plate had fried squid tentacles!!! I seriously couldn't believe my eyes!! I have NEVER in the 10 years I've been ordering calamari ever had an experience like that! I asked if it was possible to only get the rings so she took it back and asked. Of course, I heard all the kitchen guys laughing (as was Andy). Needless to say, I won't be ordering that again! LoL! I got a salad instead so maybe that was God's way of telling me not to eat the fried food. After dinner, we went into the lighting place to get ideas for lighting in the dining room and kitchen. Then, we hit the mother load of all book stores. This store has over 9,000 books and even has historical books for sale. It was amazing! Every time I turned around, there was an entryway to another portion of the store. Each room has multiple sofas and/or chairs that invite you to cozy up with a book. There's even a room with a fireplace! It's uh-mazing!

Sunday was pretty uneventful. We picked Kris up, ate at Bob Evan's, and braved the snow driving home. We made it all in one piece. Today's been pretty uneventful as well except that Kris has been sick. She was running a pretty high fever earlier but it's thankfully gone down now. We've been having a pj-movie-watching day. Well that's about all I have time for today. Until next time, much love and many blessings!

♥Courtney♥

Weddings and Parties

Yesterday was just an all around AWESOME day! It started off with my sister Sarah, Kristi, and I going shopping for wedding stuff. We started at Chambersburg Mall to look for dresses for both weddings. We found an adorable yellow, blue, and red plaid dress for Kris for Sarah's wedding at Burlington Coat Factory (I seriously forgot how much I LOVE that place). And the bonus--It was on sale for uber cheap!! It's a cotton dress so it'll definitely be good for Sarah's summer wedding at the beach. We also found Kris and Kate's dresses for my wedding. By finding those dresses, I finally settled on colors. I was originally going to do pink and green and more of a pastel palette. But, as I was looking for flowers a few weeks ago, I found this beautiful bouquet that had a dark but bright pink and a brighter orange that was gorgeous so I've been keeping the orange-and-pink combination in the back of my head. Well, after finding these dresses, I totally decided to go for it. They're bright and fun and totally my personality. I unfortunately don't have a picture but as soon as I pick them up, I'll take one. They have orange satin with a pink sheer overlay. The bust area is pleated and there are three flowers underneath. The bottom has a matching satin trim. They are seriously g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s. The other really awesome thing about them is that they are dressy enough for our wedding but casual enough to be worn again which is something I totally wanted. And, here's the best part about it--they're only $25! Score!! Anyway... So the flowers I chose are an orange tiger lily with pink center, green gerbera daisy, and small white flower (don't know the name) with very light pink tips. They look great together and really tie in all the colors I wanted to include.

Of course the bouquets will be bigger but I like the simplicity of just these three in a single vase sitting on top of a mirror as centerpieces. We're not having a traditional reception so I don't feel the decorations should be traditional. :-) Sarah found all the flowers for her wedding and she had a great idea of using her and the bridesmaids bouquets as part of the centerpieces. That'll definitely save money in the long run! All the flowers were found at Michael's and most were 40% off. I totally love a steal!

Moving on to business... Not much has gotten done this week. I was uber swamped with school work and getting the rec room ready for our SB party. However, I'll be cracking down this week by checking out some lead options as well as mailing out my letters. I'll also be finalizing the date of my tasting for TSFL and contacting my business coaches to help with that. I'm really getting excited about these businesses! I definitely have to give props to my friend (and wedding photographer/fellow knitter). She has been starting her own business this year and blogs about her progress. It really inspires me to stay on track with my own, so thanks a bunch Casey!!

School has been interesting to say the least. I have a 95% in management and I'm really enjoying the class. I find the reading fascinating and informative so I'm not having any problems with it. I am, however, having some major issues with international business. So much so, that I actually called my academic counselor and professor to see what my options are for retaking it at a later date (but not so late that it would push back graduation). My professor gave me some tips to help with studying. I've honestly, in my entire school career, never had this amount of trouble with a course--not even AP US History. So this is definitely a new experience. I have until the end of this week to decide if I'm going to drop the course. I'm going to see how the assignments go this week and take it from there. IDK... I really wish I didn't need this class in order to graduate. Such is life...

Yesterday we our SB party and although the Steelers didn't win, we all had a really great time. We had about 12 people who came to hang. I made some really awesome, super healthy food, if I do say so myself. My friend Mel gave me a recipe for buffalo chicken dip (I love spicy food)! You can get the recipe for Frank's Redhot Buffalo Chicken Dip here. Here were my modifications for making it healthier: substitute fat-free cream cheese, fat-free ranch, fat-free mozzarella cheese, and grilled chicken breast. Our WalMart didn't have the Frank's hot sauce so I substituted Texas Pete's original hot sauce. I served it with celery and reduced-fat wheat thins. The other dip I created came from Alison Sweeney's website (for those of you who don't know her, she's Sami on Days and the host of The Biggest Loser. If you don't know who that is, well I can't help you!). Click here for the recipe. The one I made was the yogurt and seasoning dip. I couldn't find fat-free greek yogurt, so I just used regular fat-free yogurt. I didn't measure the seasonings but did it to taste. I served this with celery, carrots, and potato chips brought by the guests. I'm a Hellavugood French Onion dip fan but I have to say, I would take the dip I made over theirs any day! I was really surprised at the taste.

I guess that's enough for one day... Until next time, much love and many blessings!

♥Courtney♥

P.S. If you want to find out my latest project, check out On My Needles!