A conversation between my mom and I on Skype:

Mom: Have you updated your blog?
Me: No
Mom: Oh, well you really should, that last one is getting really boring.
Me: Yeaaaaaa, I'm awesome.

Yes, I know. It's been a bit crazy. As expected and like I have mentioned, things are getting a LOT busier now that the wedding is nearly a month away. However, I know that is no excuse to withhold all the juicy details from all of you. :)

In technology news, Wendy, my mom and I hold many, many skype wedding meetings. It's kind of amazing, that there technology. So, when I am not at work, this is my life right now:

As you can see, the topic of discussion at that time was ties. I think the groomsmen already know this, but we are getting them their ties as a gift. And, it's not easy. We already have Jared's tie (I seriously type the word Tai every time I try to type the word tie. Obsessed much?) Actually, you can take a quick peak at it below.



It's hard to find a tie to match this, keep in line with the color scheme and also rock my socks off. But, I think I have some pretty good contenders. Who knew selecting a tie (did it again, TAI), would be so difficult?

I saw this painting on the blog Down and Out Chic while perusing my blogs today, and it so perfectly illustrated how I have felt the past week. It was just so perfect, I wanted to share. I think it would actually be an awesome painting to own...in our bedroom...as a reminder to not let life get you to this point.

Sorry it has taken me about a week to post this, but I was waiting on some photos from someone, and then I got really tired/overhwhelmed/cranky at the end of the week. I must say that so far wedding planning has been a cake walk. I have enjoyed mostly all of it, and giving ourselves the time to really think about what we wanted was crucial. Now we are getting down to the wire, though, and life in general is just a smidge crazy.

Anywho, back to the Pittsburgh shower. I wanted to actually show some of the PEOPLE, since I am sure they all wanted to make an appearance on this here lovely blog. Sure.

First of all, that would be my awesome, talented mother who put the shower together and the best dad in entire the world (aka Ned Flanders, aka Gene!). 

On my dad's side, his sister (my Aunt Lorraine or Al as I call her), her daughter/my cousin Lauren and my Grandma all came. Lauren is in the wedding party, and we were pretty much BFF's growing up.


On my mom's side, we have Linda (my mom's cousin on the left), my great Aunt Garnetta  (in the chair), my Aunt Daneen (in the turquoise shirt, who is married to my mom's brother), and my grandma. Don't we all kind of sort of look alike? We all also apparently really like the color aqua.


My mom's best friend, Rennie, came too! She is just the sweetest, and I am so excited for her to come down to Maryland for the wedding.


And then we have some of the best friends a girl could ask for: Elizabeth (matron of honor), Kathleen (bridesmaid), me (duh), Lauren (cousin and bridesmaid), and Hannah (college friend).


And of course, we can't forget my wonderful future-mother-in-law pictured here with my mama. I am such a blessed girl.


As I mentioned before, everything has just been so wonderful and I sure have been showered with lots of gifts and love. The only real party left is the wedding!!

Since I am a very bad blogger/fiance/normal young lady, I totally forgot to bring my camera to Pittsburgh for the shower (which was a total dream by the way)! Luckily, both my mom, Kathleen and E took pictures for me. However, the only ones I have so far are my mom's (wink wink nudge nudge).

Let me just tell you, my mom is very talented. She has been working on putting this shower together for a while now, and it DEFINITELY showed. No detail was overlooked, and she just knows my style so well. She also gives me style that I do not have.

From the little glass birds she had created to match the colors of our wedding...


....to the adorable ribbon-adorned bird cage to hold the cards.


She has a real talent for party planning and decorating. Seriously, it's amazing. Like I mentioned before, the shower was at the Johnston House for tea. Because so often tea requires sugar, she had little yellow flowered sugar cubes created.


My mom had my neighbor who is a baker at The Ultimate Pastry Shop in Sewickley make adorable little yellow and white cupcakes, and she got little boxes to put them in. And, of course they were stamped with the awesome bird stamp she had created for us.


You can actually see the stamp on the adorable yellow bags my mom gave to everyone to carry their goodies.


As if that wasn't enough, my mom also got everyone a cute little yellow globe (pictured on the table below) with a little light inside of it as a "thank you for coming" gift. I thought they were beautiful, and they complimented the tables so nicely. Of course, the little lanterns that she tied ribbon around weren't too shabby either. 


As you can see, everything was just so beautiful, and I cannot thank my mom enough for putting all of this together for me. I never EVER thought that during the wedding process I would have such wonderful memories of the journey there. But, I am so blessed. This has all been so incredibly amazing, I kind of never want it to end.


There are a lot more picture and stories I would like to share, but those are going to have to wait until someone sends me their photos. :)

Hopefully, I am not getting showered in the literal sense. But, I AM getting showered by my Pittsburgh/Cleveland friends and family. I have been unbelievably lucky in the party department. First, I had a shower here in Baltimore, which was amazing. Then, I had my wonderful bachelorette party weekend in Florida. And now, I am having a shower in Pittsburgh at a place I loved since I can remember.

I was always my moms shopping buddy when I was little (and then I progressed to being a professional shopper of my own of course). She took me to all sorts of cute shops, boutiques and arsty festivals. But one place that always stuck out in my mind was the Johnston House. It is a fine furnishings store that also has a tea room. It's beautifully nestled in an old house, and I just loved the charm of it. I remember trying to peak into the tea rooms and wanting to be able to "tea" with my friends. And now, I am finally going to experience it.

Tonight, I am hopping in my car with Wendy and Kathleen and heading to Pittsburgh to see my friends and family. Tomorrow morning we will be heading over to the Johnston House for the shower and tea, and I am so excited. It will be so nice to hang out with the family, see my some of my friends and finally get to TEA!

Have a great weekend!

I don't think it's any secret that Jared bought a 52-passenger school bus last year. However, he still seems to take a step back and blush when I just come out and say that he did it. Sure, it's not the most common purchase, but hey, we all have our likes. Many people ask us why he bought it and the short story is that he got in trouble on a bus when he was little, had to sit in the front and became obsessed with the mechanics and architecture of it. It led him to industrial design and an initial desire to design buses, trucks and cars.

While he didn't end up doing that as his daily profession, he does a lot of this on the side and continues (obviously) to be very obsessed with school buses. If you are in the car with him, he can tell you the make, model, year AND number of any bus on the road (EVEN when it's on the opposed site 500 ft away). It's crazy. He is also the only almost 30 year old drawing unreal sketches of cars and buses on the place mats at restaurants. Our favorite sushi waitress knows to bring him extra paper.

That said, the bus has become a part of us. It's always the funny story we tell - "Oh yea, we have a bus. It's at Jared's grandparents...in a garage...that Jared built." "Yea, Jared went and picked up his friend Maryn on the side of the road in his bus...and all the cars stopped."

So it seems only natural to have it be a part of our wedding. While it may or may not make an appearance in it's real form, it will definitely be making a debut on our wedding cake. Yes, you read that right. Granted, our cake is NOT going to be a school bus, but it will be sitting pretty on the top. Check it out!


That would be, me, Jared, the infamous bus and Sir Tai Poochie. Jared is obsessed with his bus, and I am obsessed with my dog. It just works. :)

I debated whether or not to reveal this, but I feared most people may miss this anyway. After all, sometimes the intricate details of the cake often go overlooked (at least by me they do). I couldn't believe how well Tai turned out either - he's so cute! The coloring and facial expression is just perfect.


So, yea, that is our wedding cake topper. I never said our wedding would be traditional, but it definitely screams "Ashley and Jared."

You better believe if I wasn't getting married in May where it's likely that my feet would get very hot, I would be rocking yellow cowboy boots under my dress. I definitely considered it because I love the look, but I just know I will get too hot. Regardless, I love these babies.