Monday

 our old kitty at home :)

 at my parents house

 coconut chip at the Creamery

sister and going over notes downtown before the flower meeting

 sisters dress and flower meeting

 the farm!

Monday was probably the least chaotic day of this upcoming week. We: dropped off my dress to be steamed, picked up my sister from the airport (then got Penn State Creamery ice cream), met with the florist and wedding planner, and headed out to the farm to talk through things. Not too too much going on but it was still a long, stressful day. There is more going on today and a lot of people arriving! Wednesday we set up the farm, which I am really looking forward to.

En Route

Killeen airport

Arkansas

Tennessee

Day one: Kyle had to sign out at Fort Hood before we could leave, and then he dropped off his motorcycle at the airport as he is flying back next Sunday and I am driving back Sunday/Monday (the Army is to blame for this ridiculousness). So our road trip started at the airport, as they do. Fort Hood is in the opposite direction of where we need to go, though, so that, plus the fact that Kyle had to stop back at the house (forgetting his phone charger- classic travel faux pas), made us only really leave about 2 hours after we left the house the first time. Dumb. But anyway! Day one was quite nice. Easy. We're taking a different route than last time since it is summer and also there aren't tornadoes this time. We went through Dallas, Texarkana, Little Rock, Memphis, and stopped about an hour away from Nashville (where we had such a tasty southern dinner). We both felt sickness creeping into both of us (uh oh), so we mixed up a nice airborne cocktail while on the road.

 rainy TN morning

 we thought this thing was crazy.  but tried it anyway. not too bad. 

 Ohio (not that interesting)

 "you know you're in PA when..."

Day two. Smooth sailing pretty much. We had a rainy start in Tennessee, drove through Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia ever so briefly, and into PA. My favorite places were Tennessee and Kentucky as usual. We arrived in State College by about 7:30pm, so that was nice. My head was feeling pretty sick yesterday, but I think the Airborne has helped this sickness from becoming a full-on cold, and hopefully it won't get much worse. I slept better last night that I have in two or three weeks, so that helps I imagine. I'm excited but also nervous, waking up Monday when everything is really getting going. Today we're taking in my dress to the shop to be cared for, meeting with the florist and heading over to the farm with the planner to check it out. A ton of people arrive tomorrow!

S.

Bye Texas!

First off, a few photos from around here in the last week or so.

 wedding planning at the laundromat, random pet cemetary by the laundromat, working on the program, cleaning cat hair off of my suitcase everything.

 turkey meatballs, D napping on Kyle's messy dresser, what to pack what to pack, kitty stuff ready to go to the Pet Resort

picture from my aunt of my cousin in her jr. bridesmaid attire! little babes in a nest! wet motorcycle

packing and kittens

And now...

I will certainly still be posting, because I am an addict and I seriously enjoy documenting this process, but I may not be around as much. You can follow me on instagram or twitter @mrssmcp, though if you like! I had to drop off the cats yesterday as we're leaving before places open, and I've been so sad ever since. I may have slept four hours. We have two days on the road to get up there, and then things really get started. :)

S.

What I'd Wear to Our Wedding

I don't know why, but I thought it'd be fun to think about what I would wear to our wedding...were I a guest, and not the one in the sparkly ivory dress. But then it wouldn't be our wedding? I don't know, don't think about it too much. I think I just wanted to put a nice outfit together from an imaginary closet. :) We have no dress code or anything, just summery, fun, relaxed dressy I suppose (if anyone were to ask). Just look nice and be comfortable! If you want to wear a crazy hat a la the royal wedding, I will not stop you from doing so.

Option 1 dress {Ruche} cardigan {Anthropologie} shoes {Madewell} earrings {Stella & Dot}

Option 2 dress {eShakti} earrings {J. Crew} shoes {Madewell} bag {Bloom}

And some nail options... Essie {Ole Caliente} I have this on now! Essie {Sexy Divide} Essie {Case Study}

One week to go! :) 

-Mrs. M

Baby Birds

The lawn folks cut back a bunch of trees and bushes around our house earlier today, and afterwards I went out to see what all they had cut, and I found this exposed nest. I took a picture of it from the side, and then held my phone up to get a shot of the top of the nest, and was surprised to find two little babies in the picture (I am short)! It seems I woke them up and they started squawking at me.

 the cats love that window for bird watching

I wanted to leave them alone but I watched them from inside, and discovered that they are cardinal chicks, and mom (light brown) and pop (bright red) were not far away. I grabbed my actual nice camera tried to get some interaction pictures at a distance, but the parents didn't want to go close while I was out there. I watched them for a while and watched some more from inside. Through all of this I learned I should really use my camera more. It takes good pictures, especially outside. The iphone is just so darn convenient, and the camera on it is really good for a phone.  I also learned our neighbors have Dish network. I hope the birdies do alright! I'll keep an eye out for them but we leave early Saturday morning. Remind me to tell you the story about my siblings and I, freshly moved from CA to PA, trying to save a near-dead opossum by our house one morning before the school bus came to pick us up (what do we do? Go get dad! Stall the bus!). We did not know how rampant road kill was in PA, nor how little people care about opossums, and have since been desensitized. 

 {above} Cardinal mom {below} Cardinal pop

 I also noticed three other large nests in the tree in our front yard...

 Mom cardinal feeds some tasty grub (taken from inside)

 Hux wonders what I am doing at his bird watching post.

Dad cardinal visits

S.

Thursday Thoughts (10)

{one} I was cleaning the stove yesterday and the cats were not helping out.

{two} I just want it to be next week already. I'm all anxious and haven't been sleeping well this week because I want to just be doing wedding things, but I don't have much more I can do from here. I finally got started on my vows, though! It's more of a letter I guess. I'm not sure how these things are supposed to go so I just started writing. I do what I want! I was writing mine on my notepad that friends gave me after I got married (which inspired this blog title), and they also got some for Kyle, but I think stationary with wedding moose is not most appealing to an Army man, but I suggested he write his on his notepad, because that would be super cute to have our vows on our matching married paper. Dork.

I've filled the front and back of my page so far!

{three} I feel so bad about leaving the cats while we go up to PA for the wedding. Even though they are staying at a nice pet resort. I hope they still love me. :(

{four} When Kyle and I moved here, we could not find ice cube trays, so we had to order them from Amazon. Dumb, right? We were in Wal Mart the other day and came upon an endless supply of ice cube trays for the Everyday Low Price of $1.93. Sigh. People use ice in the winter, too! It's Texas, it doesn't ever get that cold!

{five} I am recently in love with these little Finnish birds by Sanna Annukka . They are sielulintu which means "soul bird," believed to protect a person's vulnerable soul when they are asleep and dreaming. It is a symbol of good luck, happiness, and protection. I kind of have a thing for Finnish birds. I was given a cool bird necklace by one of my host families, and when talking about potential tattoo ideas for me, Kyle and I have tossed around the idea. I certainly would love one of these wooden birds for my home, and possibly as tattoo inspiration...ja minä rakastan Suomi paljon.

{six} Whaddaya think of the new header and button, made by the lovely Joelle? It's just what I wanted- something simple but that would add a little fun to the page. Thanks Joelle! If anyone wants to swap buttons, let me know! :)

{seven} Kyle doesn't much like texting, so it should say something about how much we love Liam Neeson that I received this text this morning.

{eight} Wedding is a week from tomorrow. eeeeeeeeeeeeee so excited. Accuweather forecast for the 15th in State College used to show scattered rain, and today it says 78 and bright sunshine. So we will see. I think my ideal (keeping in mind it is summer, because my ideal would be fall and cool weather) would be 70 and sunny, but I think, no I know, I'd even take some rain over blistering heat and humidity. I hate it that much, and umbrellas can be so cute in pictures. I played the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz as a child, I do not want to relive the "I'm melting!!" scene on my wedding day. Also I wouldn't want my skin to be green.

{nine} Bloggy friends- anybody interested in doing a (probably wedding related) guest post/feature next week while I am in the midst of wedding week? Kendall will be telling us all about her May 20th wedding, and I'd love to hear about your wedding experiences too!

-Mrs. M