Checklist

Now I'm on Summer Break and let me tell you, it's beautiful. I enjoy it so much. So far this month that we've been off, I've gone to Destin (just before the oil got there-don't get me started on it, it's tragic, just tragic), booked a cake maker (our cakes are going to be delicious and beautiful!), visited with cousins (asked them to be the flower girl and greeters--Finn and Ty are going to be the best and Pearl will be the sweetest flower girl ever!), came down to see my honey (he's working nights, but it allowed me to get some wedding organizing done), and dealt with grown-up problems like my refridgerator breaking and losing all my food in there. That was horrible!

Next Tuesday, I meet with someone to talk about DJ-ing and the possibility of some uplighting, etc. I'm really excited about it. Micah and I are ready to have lots of fun at the reception and dance with all our guests. We decided on a first dance song and we've been practicing our dance moves. =)

We've begun our pre-martial classes that are required by my church. We meet for a total of 6 times and we take a FOCUS assessment. It's not a test, but rather a tool for us to see areas that we are really compatible and areas that we are not so compatible. Then, we spend that time talking with the deacon who will marry us and go over things so we see each other's views.

In a week, we go over invitations and catering. Yum!!!! Everyone knows that this girl is all about some food.

On another note, Save-the-Dates are going out next week, Micah and I had a wonderful date nght last Saturday, and I just adore my sweet, sweet Bonnie Blue. =)

Wedding Projects

Okay, folks!!!! Here are some wedding project posts. I'm so excited about doing stuff like this. I totally get my creative from my Momma. I am so happy when I'm thinking about doing stuff and then actually seeing it come to fruition. One of the projects that I've been working on (and still working on) are these little packets of tissues that are called "Tears of Joy" packets. These are for the guests at the wedding and the tears that they shed in complete joy at the sight of these two people getting married and the obvious love they have each for other!!!! Well, maybe they won't be doing that, but it's a fun project for me to do. =)

I first saw these packets on Bee and Patrick's website, which you can find here. I also purchased a monogram design from Invitations by Emily and I knew that I wanted to use on anything I could. Soooooooooooooooooooo, I purchased some glassine envelopes, got my travel-size kleenexes, then figured out how I could use the monogram, and created the bad boys seen at the top of this post.

How cool are those 'Tears of Joy' packets?!?! The stickers on the top are one of the coolest that I thought of! I sized the monogram down to 30% and then arranged 12 of them on white cardstock, printed them off, ran them through the Xyron sticker maker (coolest thing ever!), and then cut them into neat squares, and then peeled them off and stuck them on. How's that for easy? Plus, they fit with our color scheme and it was a project that I could do right now.

Wedding Website

For real?!? It's been almost a month since I last blogged. What's my deal?!? Obviously, I'm one of those people that forgets about things if they are not right in front of them, so I'm going to make some reminders to update this blog on a regular basis.

Right now we have a lot going on! Micah and I are working on wedding plans--finalizing guest lists, deciding decor, etc., I'm finishing up my 8th year of teaching (yikes!), I'm cleaning out/organizing/redecorating the house, and I'm also reorganizing/cleaning out/decorating my classrooms at school. Whew! Just typing that whole list makes me tired!

Micah and I decided in the last few weeks that when we get married, we are going to live in Conway. Those of you who know Micah, know that he lives in El Dorado, which is 2 1/2 hours south of Conway. Well, we had been going back and forth and weighing the pros and cons of moving to El Dorado or moving to Conway. Unbeknownst to me, Micah came up with a plan that will involve him commuting (is that possible so far away?) from El Dorado to Conway. We will live in my house that I've had for about 6 years and we will be based, as a family (I love being able to write that!), out of Conway. The way his schedule works allows him to be off for a few days and then back on. He came up with this plan and is wiling to try it out. I'm going to let him, even though my heart stops every time I think about him driving so much. So, out of my immense love for him, I'm cleaning out the house and redecorating it so we can 'move' into a new house. I am living there now (duh! It's my house!), but he is not going to be living there until January, so I'm doing what I can to make sure that it's a bit different, more special, and feels like 'us'. (I realize that the house will be totally special even if I didn't do anything to change it because Micah will be getting to spend everyday with me and my fabulousness that just is! =))

This summer I'm really working on my school classrooms so this next school is a breeze to plan! I know that I'm going to spazz out sometimes (all the time?!?) with work and wedding planning, but I know that if I'm proactive with deciding things and doing what I can ahead of time, it's all going to be good. Plus, in the end I'm really just happy about being Mrs. Micah Fullerton. That will be totally awesome! All the other stressful, not fun things will fade away and the most important thing we will have is our love for each other and the committment we make in front of our friends and family.

I'll be back soon (I really promise!) with some projects I've been working on and checking off my lists!

Wedding Date!!!!!!!

I am pleased to announce that after 4 months of engagement, Micah and I have an official, in the books, honest-to-goodness wedding date!!!!!!!

It's so great to have it be official, but it's also a little scary! Now we have a countdown and it's 290 days away. It sounds so far, but I know that it is going to go by so quickly. I'm thankful for the summer break I have coming up and I hope to get a lot of things decided by then and I'll be totally thankful for Christmas break right before the wedding. That way I won't have to take off any days from work, except for the couple of days before the wedding! Yea!!!

The wonderful, great, amazing date is..........January 29, 2011. Mark it down!

Spring Break

Me on top of Yellow Rock

I have lived for this week all school year and as soon as it is done, I'll live for the next one. Spring Break is something that one can never get tired of of. I love it! It's a great week to relax, have fun, and recharge your batteries as you hold on to your britches for the rest of the school year.

Micah gets a week of vacation from his job and he arranged it so it was the same weekend as my Spring Break! Is he smart or what? We took a trip up to Devil's Den State Park and spent 4 days up there, hanging out, building fires, and hiking. Yes, you read that correctly, I said hiking.

For those of you who know me, you know I am a girly girl. I may do some things that will surprise you, but for the most part, I'm a girly girl who doesn't camp or do outdoorsy stuff. Now, let me just say that we didn't camp out in the woods; we stayed in a cabin, which for me is camping. Some of you might say that that is not camping, but it was out in the woods, I didn't have everything from home, so for me that was camping. I would like to say that I have told Micah that I would consider an overnight camping trip. For me, that's huge!

We had a blast up there. We hiked four different trails and bought some hiking sticks. We are already planning our next hiking adventure. If you are considering visiting one of the State Parks, I highly recommend it. It is just a blast!

**I promise I'm going to add pictures of Micah and I, but blogger is not letting me add anymore. =(

Where has the time gone?

I'm such a bad blogger!!!! So sorry!!!!

Since I've last blogged, a lot has been going on.

First off, we had 3 snow days! I know some of ya'll are thinking--"3 days---that's nothing!"---but, down here in the South, that's quite a bit. The funny thing was, no one was expecting it!!!! I woke up Monday, February 7, and turned on the T.V. (like I do every morning) and then heard the newscasters say something about checking for school cancellations. I was like, "School Cancellations?!? Jennifer's confused? Jennifer didn't know we had a chance of snow!" At this point Jennifer's Momma is hanging her head in shame that her very own daughter was not up-to-date on the latest weather happenings. (FYI---my Momma is the QUEEN of all things weather.) Totally kidding on the shame because NO ONE was prepared for this snow--even the forecasters! So, when I started hearing some of the school closings that were close to my school, I started thinking that maybe I would get a snow day this year. I started watching the closings at the bottom of the screen with an intensity that would have won an eye-staring contest. Then, I saw it!!! I actually screamed. I couldn't believe it! Then, I jumped out of bed and headed to the window and looked out. I saw the biggest snow that I have seen since I've lived in this town for the last 12 years! It was unbelievable. So, at that point I did what any normal, teacher person would do. I called my aunt, who is also a teacher, and talked with her about what she was going to do on this glorious snow day. Then, I called my fiance, who had just finished working graveyards. And then, (reference to one of my favorite movies!!) I ate some breakfast and promptly went back to bed. All of this happened before 6:15 a.m.

Well, that fantastically awesome snow day turned into TWO snow days. Then, a THIRD snow day!!!! That's right. THREE SNOW DAYS!!!! Crazniness. So crazy, that they took away our day off on President's Day so we don't have to go so long in the summer, which is great, but I would have loved that day off. =)

I also won not ONE, but TWO contests from different wedding blogs! I got some free stickers from Uprinting--contest hosted by Joy. Then I won some awesome postcards from Vistaprint----contest hosted by BP Wedding. We are going to use the stickers for various wedding projects and the postcards for our Save-the-Dates! SO EXCITED!!!!!

I picked up my wedding dress, fell in love with it all over again, and had a trial run of the trial hair run. Did that last part make sense? I went in to get my hair done by my fabulous friend, Shawna, and I was talking to her about how I wanted my hair done on my wedding day. When we got done, she fixed it so I could get an idea of how it would all look. It was so great and it wasn't anything that we really worked on. We were just kind of halfway going through it. The funny thing is that I had to go to karate afterwards, so I clipped it up and went through my 1 hour+ class. Then, after class, took the clip out and guess what....my hair still looked beautiful! Uhm, that hairstyle....definitely a keeper!

Last, but not least, I test for my BROWN BELT!!!!!! So exciting. This is a test that I should have done back in August. That's right. You read correctly. August. Of 2009. It's February. Of 2010. Somehow, when it came time for me to test, I just didn't. I totally freaked out. I became my worst critic and just did not think that it would work for me and I couldn't do it, so I didn't even try. So not the right thing to do! I mean, come on! I'm a teacher! I'm supposed to set the example.

Here's where I became the student and let my students help teach me something:

I can't let fear control me. I can't let the unknown terrify me. I have to trust my instructors, trust my friends, and most importantly, trust myself. For me, this was a HUGE test to past and belt to earn. It represented so much more than just another karate belt. It was a reminder to myself that I am strong and I can deal with any challenge that is presented to me. This is a great thing for me to think about as Micah and I head into this new and exciting chapter in our lives. There is so much ahead that is unknown for us. Unknown wedding date, unknown place of living, unknown, unknown, unknown.

BUT, this is known....Micah and I love each other. Apart we are the strong people our parents have raised us to be. However, together we make the unknown less scary because, despite the fact that it's unknown, we get to face it together. That's what I have to remember each and every day. And I do. I do.

A Whole New World

I've discovered a whole new world out there. It's the world of wedding websites. I mean, seriously, you should google it and see how many sites you get of these things. It's crazy! Crazy, but I'm LOVING it!

So, here is a list of my some of my current web finds. I know there are tons more that I haven't found. If you have some great ones, leave a comment. I'm so new to all this still and sometimes get a bit overwhelmed by the wealth of information out there.


Must Love Weddings...One of my oldest friends, Kate, runs this with her Mom, sister, and several others. It's great! I loved looking through the old posts and seeing what other people have done, talking things over, posting up things I'm thinking about. Side note--I am trying not to be 'wedding talk' to everyone, everywhere, all the time. I love that whenever I want to think some choices out or narrow them down, I can go here and everyone loves to talk about it, all the time. That way, when Micah and I talk about it, I don't have to drive him nuts with 50,000 different choices. I've already done the crazy narrow down process and then we get to make the final decisions. Ps. I can't look at this in the evening. If I do, then I stay up half the night reading things and then getting new ideas. I have to give myself a cut-off time. However, most of the time I ignore it because I like this site so much. =)

Weddingbee...I found this site off of a Top Ten Wedding Websites article in the final issue of Modern Bride. I didn't know sites like this existed. It combines blogging (I love looking into other peoples lives and see what they are thinking about and doing), weddings, forums, and DIY projects. LOVE IT! I've gotten some decoration stuff off of the classified section and I've found some of the Bees (the bloggers) 'other' blogs. I did notice of the members that commented on some things that I liked and followed her profile to her blog. Yes, that's right, it's my next favorite site on this list.


Bee and Patrick...So, I first click on this and I'm like, oh yeah, she's a pretty girl with dark hair. I just love me some dark hair! =) Then, I start reading through her posts and I'm like, "Oh, I like that. Look at that. I've got to do that. That's a great idea. Etc. Etc. Etc." So, I totally read through every post to 'catch' up on everything. Then I study her projects. Yep, totally doing the "Tears of Joy" packets. Don't know how many people will actually use them, but I'm SO doing them. (Once they are done this weekend, I'll post pics up) She is also doing a great contest, so scoot on over there and check it out. It's for 100 (yes! 100!) free cards from VistaPrint. You could use them for invitations, save the dates, thank you's! So exciting. You have until February 13th, so get going and comment to enter! Check here.

Wedding Planning with Joy...This is Miss Poodle from Wedding Bee. Loved her giant letters that she is working on. Check them out. When I started reading the post, I thought, "Letters--I'm thinking about using that too. They ARE really cute. Wow! She is going to make her own." Then I saw the size and heard how she was doing it and I was like, "She is not playing around. She just leapt to another level of creativity!" I mean, for real, look at them! They are going to be so cool!
She is also doing an awesome contest for some rockin' stickers from Uprinting. 250 stickers, baby! Those of you who aren't planning weddings don't realize the need, the want, the desire to have stickers for some wedding project. But, there is that need, want, and desire. Check it out and enter here. You have until February 5th.

OnceWed...The person who recommend this site to me said that you can search for photos, projects, etc. based on colors or styles. I love it. Every wedding I've seen on here is very chic, yet personable, and to-die-for. LOVE IT. Seriously.

My Coin Purse...I found this one off of Weddingbee. I loved Mrs. Green Tea's stuff and just love that I found the other blog. I mean, really, it's all awesome stuff. Loved her wedding pics, the colors, everything.

DIY Bride...Okay, this one is a bit self-explanatory, but it speaks to me. If I had all the time in the world, I would do every DIY aspect I could. For real. I would make and create EVERYTHING. Unfortunately, this is the real world and that just won't happen. But, I can check out ideas, etc. here.

Paper Source...So, I know that this post isn't exactly wedding specific, but since I've been thinking about STD's (Save the Dates---I'm learning all the lingo), invitations, hostess gifts, rehearsal dinner, OOT bags (Out of Town bags) and more, I've found myself drawn to the beauty and abundance that is known as Paper Source. It's a good thing that I haven't found one in a 500 mile radius to me. It would be so hard to resist. There is one up in Kansas City, MI. Seriously, that's like the closest one to me. Whenever I go up with my family to go shopping there, I stop by at least once a day that we are there on our trip. Sometimes twice a day. So wonderful.

Let me know what your favorites are. I love new recommendations and it's something so easy to access and feed this growing addiction of wedding anything.

Spazz Out Time

First, I'd like to acknowledge that my last post looks like I posted it on Wednesday, January 13 before my birthday and yet I talked about how 'last Friday was so awesome' (meaning my birthday). I'm sure you read it and thought, "that's was a bit weird" and it's what I get for not finishing the post when I originally start it. So, next time, when I start a post, I will finish it!

So, with that out of the way, onto the topic that is on my mind all the time. I've heard other brides say, "Once you get engaged, wedding is all you'll think and all you'll study until your wedding." I was like, sure you think that, you're stressed out, not me...I'll be fine. Uhm, they were right. Like, really right. Totally right.

Now don't get worried that I'm spazzing out (by the way, my new favorite phrase). I'm not really. Well, not all the time. Just kidding. But, seriously.

The thing that I've realized in my short time of planning (right now I've got 1 month under my belt) is that there is a lot of information. Tons of it. I've got a subscription to a Bridal magazine and I've realized that there is a lot of information that is just presented in several different ways. That's not a bad thing, it just means that you hear it many, many times. My very Momma has given me some of the best advice---once you find what you like or decide on something, stop looking at things that deal with it. (That's not verbatim, but the main gist of it--she definitely said it more eloquently) For instance, I've found my dress. It was the 2nd one I tried on. I was done. D-O-N-E, done. We ordered, purchased it, and now I'm waiting to go pick it up. (By the way, it came in a couple of months early and I get to make an appointment to pick it up---so very excited!!!!) So, I stopped looking at dresses. I haven't been to other dress stores, trying on other ones, etc. I didn't have to waste time or brain power worrying about it. (PS. I've realized this is like the 2nd time or 3rd time I've written about the dress, but it's awesome. A story worth telling. Again.)

So, right now I'm just thinking about the different stuff we need to decide about, but for the most part, things are already picked. I know the where the ceremony will happen, where the reception will be, what music will be played (that was so hard--just kidding!), and things like that. It's the little things that I mull about and waffle back and forth about. But, every time I start to spazz out, I hear my very Momma's voice in my head and I calm down and I realize it's not that hard. I already found the hardest part.

I've found my love.

The one that is for me.

The one that makes me smile when I think about him.

The one that gets me.


I found my Micah.

30 looks good

2010 has turned about to be a great year so far! One of my most favorite days in the year occurred this last Friday. It was, of course, MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! It is a well celebrated event by almost everyone and it usually is celebrated for the whole month of January. And why not, I ask?!? It is in the middle, so it is only right to have a pre-celebration leading up to the blessed event and then you need the after-party to bring you back to your regular, everyday life......., so it is celebrated the whole month.


I had a great day on Friday. I have some the sweetest and most wonderful students EVER! I was givcn homemade cards, hugs, and homemade, chocolate chip, coconut cookies. TO DIE FOR!!!!! Micah Cabe came up here and we went to the homecoming game and then out to eat at Marketplace. We used a fabulous gift card that was given to us to celebrate our engagement by some of my dearest and longest friends. Thanks Jess, Mark, Charlie, Angela, and Gary!!!!! We loved it! Then, I got my fabulous birthday gifts from the wonderful Micah. It started with a sweet, sweet, sweet card. Then, I got UP on Blu-ray. I was super excited until I realized that it was a blu-ray disc and I was like, "Uhm, I can't watch it because I don't have a blu-ray player." Micah corrected me and showed me something inside my T.V. cabinent. Oh, yeah....it was a PS3!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it and then, he told me that I could also use it to play.........ROCKBAND 2!!!!!! Does he know me well or what?!? I've been bugging him for months and months to get Rockband or Guitar Hero, so I could play a game on his PS3 or Wii and he would tell me that it wasn't somethine we should get right now. Well, now I know why!


My Mom and Daddy got me a Cricut. It's one of those personal cutting machines for scrapbooking and cardmaking. It is fabulous! If you like to be crafty....I highly recommend you get it. I got the Cricut Create, which cuts letters or images up to 5 inches tall, but is so little and lightweight, you can take with you anywhere. It will be traveling with me up to Fayetteville this weekend so I can show my Momma all it's capabilities. My only regret is I haven't gotten one before now. Yes, I did just write that sentence....I'm a crafty-making dork and I like it! =)


Alex's gift was a Christmas/Birthday gift.... a beautiful Kate Spade bag. It debuted on my birthday and everyone loved it. Sissy treated me to fabulous treats at one of my favorite craft stores......Michael's. This weekend I get to see Mary Margaret and we will celebrate my birthday this weekend with her precious Miley. By the way, check out Mary Margaret's blog. It has the BEST post ever.


Onto other lifechanging things, I've been working and checking things off the to-do lists for the wedding. We haven't been able to set a date yet because we both have busy schedules and we have to figure out where we want to live as a family, but we are still trying to pick out things so that when we do finalize a date, BOOM, we have things decided and it's just a matter of getting invitations out, vendors finalized, etc.


One of the biggest things that we got done, was the fact that I found a dress!!!!! It is beautiful, to-die-for, everything I ever wanted dress. I went down to Low's in Brinkley with my Mom and Sissy. We had an appointment on Monday, December 28th. We went in and met with our consultant, Debbie. She was great. I told her right off the bat that I really liked her and that we were going to get along great.....and we did. We went into a room and just started looking at dresses. We pulled about 3 or 4 dresses to start out with. The first dress I tried on was a strapless dress. I had said that I didn't want a strapless because I don't look that great in strapless. Everything that I have tends to not stay in place in a strapless or reveals more than I wnat to reveal. Yet, here I was trying on a strapless dress. Well, we got it on and it only affirmed what I already felt. There are some girls who are gorgeous in strapless.....I was not one of them that day. So, I'm standing on the pedestal and we all agree that there are parts of this dress we like and parts we do not like. So, my Mom looks over to one of the dress racks in the room we are in and sees a dress. She points it out to me and I totally wanted to try it on. We go into the dressing room and I ignore the other dresses we had already pulled and tried this one on. So, it was too big, but the Debbie, our consultant, clipped it tighter and it was perfect! Mom and Sissy cried, I cried. It was great! We ended up picking out the veil and headpiece. We were down and walked out of there before the appointment time had official ended. We were totally awesome. =)


I've already found my shoes, so now I'm looking for something borrowed and something old. It's great to be able to check some things off the wedding checklists.


Sorry this was such a long post and I promise I'll do better at keeping things up-to-date on wedding plans and life!