500 Days to the Wedding

500 days! It's amazing how fast time flies. We've been engaged for about 10 months now, & we're about a year & a half away from tying the knot. I'm starting to get back into planning mode. I feel like it comes & goes. For a few weeks, I'll be doing a million wedding things. Then for 3 months, I won't even pick up a bridal magazine or log onto theknot.com once. Tonight I went with my mom & my Maid of Honor to pick out my dress. We went to David's Bridal, & I honestly didn't think I'd find my dress on the first night, but I think I did. The first dress I walked out in immediately brought my mother & J to tears, which I think was mostly due to the fact that it means I'm getting married & had little to do with the fact that it was an especially flattering dress. I tried on quite a few & still can't get over how heavy & uncomfortable some dresses are or how much a bride will spend on a dress. It's absolutely insane. I found a dress that I think is the one. Everyone says, you just know. They said that about buying a house, too. When I walked into this house, I was not convinced whatsoever the first time but the second time - I was in love. I wasn't 100% on the dress when I first tried it on, but I think that's because the dress was in champagne, & I just don't like champagne-colored wedding dresses. I have said for years that I wanted a white dress so champagne doesn't do it for me. However, the dress has to be special ordered in white... so I special ordered it, & when it comes in, in about 12 weeks, I'll go try it on again... Then, I think that I'll feel like it's The One. :) I'm just excited to have one less thing to worry about.

On top of the dress, I'm meeting with a caterer on Saturday, a cake bakery on Monday & Wednesday, & taking the bridesmaids to look at dresses on Monday night. It's going to be a busy week but I'm in the excited stage again, & I can't wait!

Valentines Weekend Tradition

Valentines weekend is one of my favorite weekends of the year. I'll admit it; I'm a sucker for Valentine's Day. I don't care how commercialized it is. I also love it, though, because it's our anniversary. We go away every year around this time. We take turns planning it and this year was my turn. It's a nice tradition because it gives us something to look forward to every year. Last year, Matt and I went up to North Conway & stayed at Adventure Suites. It was really exciting because before we left, we checked out open houses & found our house! We had just put in an offer before we left for our night away so we had been waiting by the phone to hear the news. When we found out that they had counter-offered, we were so disappointed... but it all worked out!

This year, we headed up to spend the weekend at Steele Hill Resorts in Sanbornton, New Hampshire, right near Gunstock Mountain. It was great because we got to spend two nights instead of the usual one, & we got to go on a sleigh ride at Gunstock because my college roommate Meredith is running them this year. We had such a nice time. I can't wait to see where we end up next year!
In honor of our anniversary, I contemplated making a list of the reasons I love Matt, but I don't think I could list them all or put them all into words. I can say, however, that I am lucky enough to be engaged to my best friend. I love you, Matt - Happy Anniversary!

Great Teaching Moments, Take Two

Student 1: Miss Clifford! M****** said a bad word!
Student 1: He said prostitution!

Student 2: It's not a bad word; it's a career.

Oh, how I love these kids [sometimes]!