Wedding Day Perfection!

After a 2 month hiatus, I'm back!

The week leading up to the wedding was cold, windy & rainy here in Northern, NY. My ever-so-calm nerves gave way to a few (or a lot) of bride-zilla moments. I'm glad that I am only getting married once-boy was I a crab! Special thanks goes out to my new hubbz who took the brunt of my crabbiness and took it in a stride.

I woke up the morning of the wedding, loaded up the pups and took them to the kennel. As I dropped them off and pulled away, I cried like a baby!...I blame it on lack of sleep. I quickly recovered as I realized that this is my wedding day and the weather was beautiful! Sunny and about 65 degrees!

I made it up to Mom and Dads by 10 am and with the help of my mom and sisters, began taking all the goods out to the reception tent. Hunter was such a great help, he loaded up the trailer on his little 4 wheeler many times and was driving back and forth bringing all the supplies.

The lovely and talented Natalie Hickey came to the house and did all of our hair. I have seriously never seen more beautiful wedding hair on anyone-she is amazing! As Nat was doing our hair, Chris from Static Moments was taking lots of great pics! Once we were all set and ready to go...we began taking the photos ( we decided to take the pics before the wedding, a decision that turned out to be a great plan). We did some shots at Mom & Dad's and then traveled to the 3rd bridge to do the rest. Once that was done, we headed to the ceremony.

I began walked down the aisle, and I LOST IT! It hit me like a ton of bricks. I was FINE all day, not a hint of wedding tears, and I even kissed Double J right before he walked up to the alter. It was very overwhelming (in a good way) to have everyone that loves and supports us all in one place to witness me marrying the man I love. I proceeded to cry and laugh, and laugh and cry throughout the ceremony. It was a hoot to say the least.

Off to the reception we went, and since we took the photos before the ceremony, there was no lag time between the events. Everything "they" say about your wedding day is true- it goes by super quick, and you don't get to eat! We danced the night away, and couldn't have imagined a better wedding reception. The tent was beautiful, and I felt blessed all night long. Thank you to everyone who made our day so special!

Hey!...Out of town-ers!

If you are coming from out of town, and staying one of the local hotels/Motels/B&B's, please do us a favor and let us know where you are staying and when you will be arriving.

You can leave a comment on this blog or e-mail me directly at kyliehancock@hotmail.com

Thanks!

My Bridal Shower

A BIG thank you goes out to my sisters, Aimee & Stacy for hosting a fab bridal shower for me this past weekend. Although I am sure to be a bit biased, I think it was fun and a good time was had by all. We played a great game where the guests were broken up into teams and given 5 minutes to create a wedding dress out of toilet paper using their youngest team member as the bride. This was HILARIOUS (especially since Aunt Carol gave Nanner nipple rings!)

I had no idea how overwhelming a bridal shower is when you are the bride! Now, don't get me wrong, I love attention as much as the next girl (when it is self induced), but I constantly found myself worrying whether or not people would come, and then once they came, I was worried that I didn't talk to them enough, and then of course, opening gifts in front of everyone is nerve wracking!

At the end of the day, I was exhausted, but found myself grinning ear to ear just thinking how lucky I am to have a great pool of family and friends!

Here is a photo of the lovely TP brides!

Hey Mr. Postman!

It's official, the GORGEOUS wedding invitations are in the mail!

A special thanks to Jess at Tulaloo for her amazing creativity, and all around super-hero-ness, in creating our invitations. She is a superhero in non-invitation ways as well!

Can't wait to get those little green envelopes back in the mail!

59 days and counting!

Psychic/Medium

Tonight, a friend from work, Melanie, had a psychic party. Willie is actually a medium, as he channels people that have passed away more than he can see into the future. There were about 15 of us there, and when people who have passed would "come forward" to Willie, he would focus on the person it was meant for.

Tonight, My grandpa Mundy came through. Among other things, Gramp said that JJ is a swell fella who was either trained well by me, or trained well before I got him. Gramps also told Willie that I am turning into my mother (something I have been coming to realize for some time now), and that I am a "fertile Myrtle".

This is my take on what I heard tonight- JJ rocks, I'm going to have lots of babies, and I'm going to be a great mom, like my momma!

Thanks Willie!

Wedding Band Shopping

I have been pestering Double J for a while now to go wedding ring shopping with me. It's not that he doesn't want to go ( I hope! ), he is just a busy fella, and likes to tinker and do yard work on the weekends.

The other day we were talking about what kind of rings we might get. I told him that I would be fine with a plain band. JJ says, "I'd really like for you to have diamonds in your wedding band." What a good guy. I tell him that, they are more expensive, and that we should get a plain band for now..and then he can get me some more bling for an anniversary or when we have our first baby. Again, he smiles, and says that he would like it if I had diamonds. Needless to say, he didn't have to twist my arm.

We went to the jewelery store today- Double J picked a snazzy two-tone band, and I got a "pretzel" band. Now..if you would have shown me this ring in a catalog, I never would have picked it, but when I saw it on my hand next to my engagement ring, I knew I loved it!

Thanks for being so wonderful Double J!

Bridal Shower

So...my sisters, the maid and matron of honor, are in the midst of planning my bridal shower. They know I don't need, nor do I want a big to-do, so we decided on a cozy little get together at my favorite watering hole-Keddy's.

Hope you can come!

Sick on the couch

It's no surprise to anyone that knows me that when I am sick, I am a HUGE baby. Thank god I don't get sick a lot because I'd be calling my mom all the time asking her to come take care of me!

I started feeling sick on Sunday, but chalked it up to lots of wine and beer on Saturday night! The true sickness set in and I ended up coming home early from work on Tuesday, stayed home all day yesterday, and came home early today too.

I probably don't tell him this enough, but Double J is an amazing man. He came home on Tuesday night with a 3 pack of tissues (the GOOD ones!), Gatorade G2 (because he knows I'm watching my weight!), and a huge bag of Halls cough drops. What a good man...he knows my sickness routine and knows what I need when I'm sick on the couch. I am certain that my mother appreciates this as well, because now I won't be calling her whining.

Sometimes it takes actual events for us to realize how wonderful our own loved ones are, even when they are just as wonderful every single day.

I marry this wonderful man in just 4 short months and I can't wait to begin my life with him.

Registering...

So...theknot.com said that we should have been registered for our wedding gifts by the end of April...whoops...apparently we are a tad late.

Double J and I registered from the comfort of our new couch tonight.

Thanks to the wonderful Internet, registering was not only fun, but very low stress!

The hubs and I both lived alone for a while before we decided to live together in sin...so we have just about everything we need. Because of this..we did not feel the desire to ask for things just for the sake of the wedding.

After searching online for a bit, I found a great website- honeyfund. Honeyfund is a place where you can register for your honeymoon, by breaking it down to affordable bits of your expenses!

For those guests who are less Internet savvy, we did register at target as well.

Now...we can check the registering off my to-do list at theknot.com

Roller Skates...Lots of Love

So..yesterday, we took a bunch of kids from work to the zoo, and then had a BBQ lunch and fun at the park.

Just as all the kids and staff went into the zoo, I went out to my car to take all the food up to the grill.

As I was walking out...I pass this cute old couple...a nice lady in a huge sun hat, and about 10-15 feet behind her is her hubby, hunched over, with a cane, and has a camera around his neck, she smiles and me, nods her head and then looks at him with a smirk on her face and says, "Well geez Charles, I should get you a pair of roller skates and then I could just pull you on behind me." He found it amusing, as did I.

This got me thinking...these people have probably been together since they were 18 years old, probably a good 50-55 years, and they are still so much in love that even though he can barely walk, and is probably just about that far behind her on a daily basis, he goes with her to the zoo to enjoy a beautiful sunny day.

It definitely puts things into perspective. I think we all do things for the people that we love, some things that we probably wouldn't do on our own....but we do it..because we love them..and want to spend time with them no matter what we are doing.

I am thankful every day for my fantastic family, my amazing friends and my fabulous fiance. I hope to be this lucky and this happy forever!

Time to BRAG-Tulaloo

I always like to brag about my super talented friends. All of my friends are talented in very very different ways, and I love them all so very much.

I'd like to take a moment to thank one of the very best- Jessica Creter. Besides being one of my best friends she is also an amazing artist. Jessica is from Tulaloo (a great little stationary studio!) and has created the most amazing wedding invitations for my wedding. I could not have done it better myself. I actually had chills when I opened the sample and could not stop smiling all day. Check out her website at www.tulaloo.com and then check out her etsy shop and you will notice my fantastic woodland invitations. (it's even more exciting to see the initiations for sale!!)

I know there are people out there who are checking out my blog frequently...so please, pass along the website address to your friends and give Jess all the business she can handle!

Thanks Jess!

Just because

So...This is going to sappy so get your tissues ready!

I've known since day one with Double J that he is a great guy and absolutely not like most men. He is kind, sensitive, funny, caring, smart, loving..and many more things that I won't bother you with at this point. I secretly told my friends after dating him only 2 weeks that he would be the man I would marry. I've dated enough jerks to know that I wasn't going to let this guy go.

Last night..he got home from work...we ate dinner, cleaned up (he helped), then we chilled on the couch and watched a movie (my choice) and after that..we went to bed. I know this sounds like a typical night to some of you (those of you without children). I got into bed...and just looked at him and realized how lucky I am that he loves me just as much as I love him.

I just watched a video on you tube of two otters floating around the water holding hands and when the one otter started floating away...the other otter swam up to her and grabbed her hand and pulled her in close, I couldn't help but think that I could picture double J and I floating around a pool holding hands just like those two otters and if I ever start floating away, he will be there to pull me back in!

Love you Double J!

The Honeymoon!

I know that with just under 7 months to go until the big day, I'm probably a little silly to be excited about the honeymoon-but the eternal planner in me has been searching and researching honeymoon destinations for a while now.

If we had an unlimited budget we would have chosen Turtle Island in Fiji...It's this magical place where the movie The Blue Lagoon was filmed, all inclusive super exotic, just plain amazing island that I long to visit. At just over two grand a day, it was slightly (ok HUGE-ly) out of our reach.

After much internet time logged-we decided on the Breezes Resort in Runaway Bay, Jamaica. Many reasons can be listed for why we chose this, but the one that is on the top of the list
-All Inclusive (including drinks!)

It's actually one hell of a deal. We will be there Sunday-Sunday and with flight and the all inclusive-ness of the resort, it was affordable for us.

We booked it last night and ended up getting a free room upgrade because they were running a special (I think it helped that we are coming on our honeymoon)

All we have to do is get our passports, get hitched and pack a swimsuit and we will be ready to go!

Save the Dates!

My mom told me it was too early to send out my save the date cards (it's the first weekend of March right now..and my wedding is the first weekend of October- 7 months from now!)- I kindly reminded her that it is never really too early to send out save the dates!





Double J and I knew that we wanted our save the dates to be magnets...partly because we liked them, but mostly because they are practical! Plus..who doesn't want a pic of us on their fridge!



After scouring the internet for literally MINUTES...I found Totally Magnets-every sort of magnet you can imagine. The part that I liked the most is that I could design my own save the date magnet. If you aren't inclined to do that...they do have ones that you simply insert your photo into. Krista at totally magnets was great....I called her with questions and she was on the ball. They send you a digital print of your design before they go to press just to doubly make sure you are happy with the product. They were pretty in-expensive if I do say so myself. 150 magnets + shipping was only about $130.00-sweet.



I sent out a bunch yesterday- not all of them - still waiting on Double J to get me some addresses!



Hope you like!

Tuxedo's

I really wanted Double J to wear a snazzy suit for the wedding...he was not into it-at all. So we decided on the traditional tux-minus the bow tie.

A local place, Nelson's, had a February special-Ring Bearer & Groom's tux free, and free shoes for the entire wedding party. So, last week, I went to Nelson's and picked out great tux's for the wedding. They ended up being Ralph Lauren ones. We also decided on the regular windsor tie.

My dress is not crazy formal so I didn't think the tux's should be.

They even had ties to match my bridesmaids dresses.

All in all...30 minutes...and I was done.

Check that puppy off the list.

the photos...

If there is one thing that I have learned while planning our wedding-it's that I have a TON of talented and amazing friends and family.

When we got engaged, I already knew most of what I wanted for the wedding

One thing that I had no idea about was who we would have be our photographer.

I googled the crap out of photographers from this area and found that all of them had one or both of two big problems

#1. they are too expensive.

-or-

#2. they are not very good.

I ended up remembering that my soon-t0-be new cousin Chris (he is marrying my cousin Jen this summer) has just started his own photography business. I quickly sent a text to my cousin Jen and she sent me Chris' website address.

After looking at the site, two things became apparent to me...

#1 I liked what he has done

#2 I could afford him!

The best part of it all is that he is family, he will be there with his camera anyhow, so why not give him some business.

Please check out his website at http://www.staticmoments.com/ and if you have an event please consider him to capture your memories.

Chris and Jen drove all the way from Rome, NY last weekend to take our engagement photos (all part of the wedding package!) and I think they turned out fantastic!

Here are a few of my favorites!

no more steps...just details

so...I have a big family...

My Dad is one of 5 kids.

That makes me one of 15 Hancock cousins...and many of them have children of their own.

On my Mom's side, she is one of 3 kids.

There are 10 Mundy cousins...and again...many of them have children.

My family- there are 5 of us...and everyone but me has kids too!


JJ's family is not nearly as big since his mom is an only child and his dad just has 2 sisters.


I bring this up to merely point out the fact that I have a huge family.

I also consider myself very fortunate that I have many many close friends.

When deciding who to have in the wedding on my side, it was a not simple decision.

How could I choose between all of my best friends...How would I pick between, Kimmer, Nanner, Treesh, Toni, Pica, Erin, Sarah Ann, Janner, Dunbar, Rossi, Jacy & Zuba. NO WAY!

So...I'll admit it...I took the easy way out- I have 2 sisters, one married, one single...perfect...I'll have a maid and matron of honor! The other bridesmaid is JJ's sister Melinda.

It was very important to me to have all of my close friends at the wedding as well as everyone from this huge family of mine that I love so much. JJ and I had spoke about what we would do if we had to cut the list due to out budget constraints. The only thing we could figure out is that we wouldn't cut a single person that we wanted to share our day with.

I had the idea of having a dessert reception.

At first JJ was not into it at all, but after I told him how wonderful it would be to not have to cut anyone from the list, and we could eat sweets all night-he seemed more agreeable!

So...a dessert reception it is...
Cake, Chocolate Fondue Fountain, Cookies, Cheese, Fruit...and anything else I can think of.

---and as luck would have it, I was reading Martha Stewarts Wedding Magazine (I heart her, don't hate me), and dessert receptions are the new "it" idea!

Step #5- The Reception Venue

I have had the great pleasure of being an attendant in many many weddings over the years.
(I'm not kidding..think 27 dresses here!)

In addition to being in many weddings, I have also had the great experience of working behind the scenes for the past five years at The Farmhouse Kitchen- a fantastic catering company in Sackets Harbor, NY.

I have seen everything from the quaint little backyard wedding, to the full out-put a second mortgage on the river house, hire a crazy wedding planner, I don't care how much it costs-weddings.

I consider my self very fortunate to live in the wonderful place we call Northern NY. We are 1/2 hour from Canada, 1/2 hour from Lake Ontario, 1/2 hour from the St. Lawrence River and 1/2 hour from the beautiful Adirondack Mountains. While the winters up here tend to last a while, I believe, the spring, summer and fall more than make up for it.

JJ and I have decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather (and pray that it doesn't snow) and we have opted for an "under the big tent" wedding reception at the home of my parents. This option excited me to no end-I am the eternal planner and with this blank canvas, I can do whatever I want within the limits of what my folks will let me!

There is a party rental place in Watertown. Oddly enough, it's called Party Rentals. They have the big tent that we are going to rent. They bring it days before and won't pick it up till a few days after, which gives plenty of time for a lower-stress set up. We are also getting our tables, chairs, linens, and dance floor from them. (We will also get some heaters, should mother nature decide to challenge us!)

Martha Stewarts (I heart her..don't hate me) website has a great program where you can put in the size of the tent, and then it creates a graph paper sort of chart where you can place tables, and guests and the DJ...it's quite wonderful.

A big thanks to my folks who have been awesome in going with the flow with my wedding planning, they have been on-board with everything I want to do, and I even think my dad is getting excited-he's not much for emotion!

Step #4-The Church

Like most couples, JJ and I spoke about how we would like our wedding to pan out even before we got engaged. I think it's a great idea to talk about it, that way you know that you are on the same page...and what better way to start a life together..than on the same page!

JJ's mom is sick, she had a stroke 9 years ago, and has been in a nursing home ever since. I haven't met her. I'm very sad that I will never meet and get to know the woman that helped mold such a wonderful man, the man I love. I'm also very shameful to admit that I'm terrified to meet her in the state she is in now. I'm afraid that I'll break down, and even worse...I'm afraid that I'll see JJ break down and not know what to say. He often talks about her, and even as I write this-I'm tearing up.

Even before we got engaged, we knew we would get married at the church that Lloyd and Isabelle Schell got married at all those years ago. To me, it didn't matter where it was, how big it was, or what denomination it was-It was where I would become the next Mrs. Schell. (I'm really sobbing now...I'm such a dork!)

I found the number to the church online, and for days, I called and called. Why doesn't this church have an answering machine??? We knew we couldn't set the date until we booked the church-and if the church wasn't available on our preferred date-we would change the date. It was that important.

My sister ended up knowing someone who went to the church, and gave me a contact number. I called this sweet woman who gave me the number to the Pastor. I was quick to call Pastor Duthie, and arranged to meet him after church the following Sunday.

October 3rd, 2009...Rutland Congregational Church

My Talented Friends-Tulaloo

My friend Jess over at Tulaloo (a fab little stationary studio) sent me these great links to help in my wedding planning....I thought I'd pass them along!

Thanks JLWWLLD!

http://snippetandink.blogspot.com
http://www.thebridescafe.com
http://blog.thehandcraftedwedding.com/handcrafted_wedding
http://ritzybee.typepad.com/my_weblog

Step #3 The Dress

So...I wasn't actually planning on my wedding dress being one of the first things that I could cross of my wedding to-do list..it just sort of happened.

My sisters Aimee & Stacy (Maid and Matron of Honors) are busy mommas and have very little free time, so when Stacy called me up on January 7th, and said that she wanted to go to Syracuse on Saturday the 10th, and maybe we could go wedding dress shopping...and Aimee is also free that weekend...I jumped at the chance.

Stacy called me back like 3 minutes later to say that she booked me an appointment at David's Bridal at 10 on Saturday (wow she is efficient...must run in the family.)

We called mom and she was in too.

Being the planner that I am...I went to the David's Bridal web-site about a million and a half times between Wednesday and Saturday. David's has a nice selection of dresses for those of us that are lacking in the skinny department! I picked out some ones that I liked from the website...and noted their order number. Then...I found this little link on the bottom that allows actual brides..not the model posing as a bride...to post photos of them wearing the gowns. I found this to be EXTREMELY helpful! (Who would have thought that a real person wearing a dress would look very different from a model wearing that same dress???? go-figure!) Needless to say...my favorite dresses were not the same as before.

Saturday morning (bright and early), we all pile into Stacy's SUV- Mom, Me, Stace, Aim and baby Mattingly who is my flower girl. We make the snowy trek down Route 81 to Syracuse in search of a gown.

A special thanks to my honey for buying me a Tom-Tom for my birthday, we got there with time to spare.

I should preface this by saying that I had no idea what to expect while trying on wedding gowns, I am not a real girly girl, and the idea of shopping for hours actually makes me ill...So I went into this thinking that I was just going to try some on..get sick of it..and look another time.

I sign in with the nice lady at the desk..and she assigns me Jackson (the wedding assistance from HEAVEN) She was so great...she (very discreetly) asked me what size I thought I needed and pointed me to that direction. She asked me to pick out a few to try on for now, and stated that I could try on any and all that I wanted. I picked out a few, with the help of Aimee (Mom and Stacy were in the bathroom with Matti...she had an "up the back-er"..I know the Mommy's out there know what I mean!) and took them to the changing room. Jackson appeared with headpieces, veils, slips & bras...everything a bride to be could want. Jackson would play with Matti, while Aim & Stace were helping me in or out of a dress...she was just wonderful, and her manager (didn't catch her name) was fantastic as well. At the end of the day..I try on a hand full of dresses, about a dozen in all and ended up falling in love with the very first one that I tried on! So..just to be sure, I put it back on, with the slip and veil..and a head thingy.
I gave the final the a-o-k to Jackson, and tell her that this is the one I want...she says "I think you need a smaller size." God love her!

-my best advice to a bride who is shopping for her wedding dress....take your sisters:) and your mother, and enjoy it...it is supposed to be fun, and it's true what they say, you will know it when you put it on!-

Step #2- The Engagement

So...I have to tell you the pre-lude in order to get the full effect!

We were driving towards town on New Years Eve...on the way to Target to buy new heels since Daisy (my cute doggie) ate my favorite ones!

On the way..my sister Stacy, and my friends Buffy and Erin all call..and at some point in all the conversations...they all say...ohhh..I bet you are going to get engaged.

My reply was..."you guys are going to feel bad when I come back crying because you all got my hopes up."

After I hang up with the last one...JJ (full knowing that he is planning to propose later) says...You know..it's kind of annoying that all your friends and family think that every time we go away we are going to get engaged...I (get pissed) and reply that ..why wouldn't they think he was going to propose since he dropped a load of money on the room, and planned this great new years get away. He tells me that he just wanted to do something nice for new years...Then I proceeded to storm away from him into Target and cry about how much is sucks being the girl in the relationship because you have to wait for the man to decide that its time to get married. (20 minutes go by..and we are fine)

Cut to later...

We get to the hotel (Fallsview Hilton- Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada)...beautiful jacuzzi suite...overlooking the falls....we go to the Watermark restaurant for a nice dinner...Picture it...me in a dress and heels... after dinner we go back to the room and I change into something other than a dress and heels...jeans and sweatshirt....he keeps his tie and jacket on..(odd...yes)...we walk down to the falls area...there is food, a concert..lots of lights for the new years celebrating....we see that there are fireworks at 9pm and at midnight...its like 8:45 now so we go to find a nice spot near the falls to see the show... 9pm..the fireworks start....nice show....he is standing behind me...and asks..."So..we have been together 8 months tomorrow, are you still glad you sent me that e-mail? I reply "Honey..you always ask me that on our anniversary, and I always tell you that I wouldn't change a thing...and I'll always say that" Right as I say that, he slips the ring into my view and says, "How would you like to spend the rest of your life with me? Kylie will you marry me?"....I immediately start crying...and sobbing...and then I hit him...."Why did you let me yell at you earlier!!!"...he laughs...and says...."Well...are you going to say yes? I said "Yes, of course!" So..after that...we took a beautiful horse-drawn carriage ride along the falls...then we went up to our room...sat in the bubbly jacuzzi for a while...and then got out just in time to see the midnight fireworks from our room. What a beautiful day!

Step #1- find a groom

So, one day, I was home sick from work-not the really really sick kind of sick, but sick enough where you could justify it to yourself to stay home.

I wake up, let the dogs out, fed them, and got right back into bed. I turned on the television to my favorite morning news show, the Today Show on NBC. While watching I see a preview for an interview coming up later in the show "stay tuned as we talk to the inventor of new, free internet dating site that everyone is raving about"

Now, you should know, that I have tried the online dating thing before, but you may notice in previous posts, I don't mention any of them-that's because none of them turned in to anything. For one reason or another, it didn't happen.

Matt Lauer talks to this guy who started a free dating site from his computer in his bedroom, and manages it's day to day operations from that same, small, one bedroom apartment. The site is run completely from sponsors (hence why it is free).

I go to my laptop and go to Plenty of Fish. Now, most of the sites that claim to be free, are not free at all, they may have a free sign up, or free searches, but you can't actually talk to anyone unless you pay. Plenty of Fish is not like that at all. You sign in, create a profile, and start looking. The one thing I really liked about POF is that you could see who was looking at your profile, and it would put the most recent first....so you knew if someone was checking you out. I was on POF for a few months, with no connections.

One day in April 2008, I log on and see that someone new had looked at my profile, so I decided to check him out. He was from a town close to me, and I noticed something familiar...He was wearing a Cornell Cooperative Extension shirt. Only those who work for CCE know that shirt..that red shirt..and that logo as well as we do - but he didn't send me a message- the nerve!

So..being the assertive gal I am, I sent him a message.

He replies to my message with his e-mail address and we begin exchanging e-mails. His first

e-mail came to me the day I was leaving to go to Alfred for Hot Dog Day. I had typed an e-mail from work, but the computers went down just as I was leaving and I didn't know till I got back that the e-mail never went through. (He still picks on me saying I snubbed his first e-mail). We exchange e-mails and Instant Message for a week or so and find out that we know a lot of the same people, and that we had even been at a few of the same trainings during our time at CCE. He used to get up early in the morning (when he didn't have to) to chat with me on AIM, and I would always check my e-mail a million times a day to see if he sent me something.

On May 1st, 2008, he sent me a text message saying that he was in town, and asked if I could get away from work for a while and meet him for ice cream. I jumped at the chance!. I leave work and drive about a mile down the road to The Cowlick. The first thing I noticed about him was that he was wearing his Cornell Sweatshirt(he has his MAT from Cornell), and had a great smile. We say hello, and get some ice cream (he paid!) We ended up talking for a few hours and later on that night, he asked me to be his girlfriend. We haven't been apart since!

The Prelude

Anyone who knows me, knows that I was the perpetually single girl.

My first boyfriend ever was in the 6th grade, (Hi Pete!), and I remember the first time he kissed me, after he walked me to my bus, I felt like I was going to get in trouble....I was in the 6th grade for christ sakes...what am I doing kissing a boy!!

Never dated really anyone for a while after the bus debauchery! High school, I was busy playing sports and joining clubs...and for my junior and senior proms, I went with great friends both years (Hi Jeremy & Eric!).

College was soooooo much fun...I loved college, loved my friends, loved the town...loved it all. I had a brief boyfriend during the summer between sophomore and junior year (we met while working at a summer camp) that lasted for a bit into fall semester of junior year, but eventually faded out when the jerk didn't call for like a week...so that was that..buh-bye!

Cut to newly graduated Kylie with a great job working for Cornell, and living in her very first apartment. (woo hoo for me!)

I date:
Stephen (cheated on me when he went out with his friends one night)
Joey (found out later he was married!)
Todd (lied to me about his age)

The comes Anthony, we dated for two years, he also cheated and ended bad!

After leaving Anthony, I was single for 3 years . Unlike a lot of people, I was ok being single, I'm not like most women who need to have a boyfriend. Don't' get me wrong...I'd love to have one, but I'd rather be single and happy, than in the wrong relationship.

The one thing that I always had going for me, was my confidence, and none of those old boyfriends could take that from me.

"Love many, trust few, always paddle your own canoe" -Aunt Kathryn

Everyone else is!

So....I figured that since I spend a lot of my down time (both at work and at home) online, looking at the blogs that my friends (Jess & Jacy) have created, I should start one.

This all really started because a great friend recently told me that I should write a book about efficient (and very cost effective) wedding planning. I imagine that this dear friend thinks this since I've been engaged about 24 days at this point and I'm just about done with everything.

My plan is to post the different stages of planning my wedding, in hopes that your comments and ideas can help me nail down the details that I have yet to solidify!

Talk to you soon!