Wedding ABCs

Me and Danny celebrated our first wedding anniversary on March 13. I still love talking about our wedding and looking at pictures! I'm stealing this idea from fellow blogger Simply Sunshine and Daisys. I thought it was a great way to share more details of our wedding...and give me an excuse to share more wedding pictures!

Attending: 70. It was the perfect size wedding. Enough people to have a great party..but we could still mingle with every person in the room!

Bridesmaids: 4. My sister was maid-of-honor. My three bridesmaids were my closest friends, Ashley, Veronica and Lindsey.

  

Catering: Our food was amazing! Our cocktail hour was cheese and mimosas. The reception was brunch...complete with waffle bar. And man-oh-man did I eat!

Dress: My dress was gorgeous. I wanted short, ivory and sleeves. I bought long, white and strapless...and it was perfect!

Engagement: We dated for about 5 months before Danny proposed. We were engaged for 5 months. So yes, we knew each other less than a year! We also had engagement pictures taken...love them!

Flowers: We had roses. Just for me and the girls, we didn't have them on the cake or on the tables.

Groomsmen: Just one. The Marines made that super impossible for us.

Honeymoon: We went on our honeymoon a year after we were married....to DISNEY!

  
Invitations: They were simple and featured a bride and a Marine!

Justice of the Peace: She was great...and free! One of the many perks of my hubby being a Marine!

Keepsakes: Our guestbook was awesome. Our guests had to draw, make predictions, and give us advice. It was one of my favorite wedding things!

Ladies Night: My bachelorette party was so much fun! We got dressed up, put on wigs...and went bowling!

Music: We had two awesome DJs who also surprised us with a videographer! They played awesome music, had some awesome games lined up...and bought drinks for the bride and groom. If we ever had another party I would hire the exact same DJs!

Newlyweds: How long are you considered "newlyweds?" I think we are still in our honeymoon phase!

Old, new, borrowed, blue: We didn't do any of this...I'm not exactly a superstitious person!

Photography: We had two photographers...who flew up from North Carolina! Anna May and Michele Quick..they took some awesome photos...it's hard to choose a favorite!

Question popping: We don't have a super cool proposal story. 

Reception: Held at a local hotel...and it was amazing!

Shoe game: This was a "how well do they know each other" game. We each held two shoes, stood back-to-back and answered a series of questions. The best one: who's the best driver? We both threw Danny's shoe into the air...our guests laughed hysterically!

Trash the Dress: Yep, I did that!

Unique: We had a very early wedding...the first brunch wedding the hotel has ever done. I think they loved it almost as much as I did! I also think our colors were unique...aqua and red!

Vows: We wrote our own...and I heard a ton of people crying while we read them to each other!

Wedding Woes: Just one: Will the groom be able to attend! The USMC didn't approve leave until last minute..and Danny didn't make it to Massachusetts until the day before the wedding!

X-rated: I've seen some pretty raunchy pictures of guys taking off the garter belt...but ours was just funny. Danny said "jeez it's hot under here!" and I couldn't stop laughing!

Young Kids: We had no kids at our wedding. I'm not a huge fan of kids so this was a pretty easy decision to make for the wedding!

Zzzzzz: We were up early the morning of the wedding...so we passed out super early after a hard day of partying!

Boston Tourist

I've always loved Boston. And by Boston I mean Fenway Park, bars in Fanueil Hall, and seeing live performances in the Theater District. But today I actually did the most touristy thing in Boston - The Freedom Trail! Two and a half miles of history!

Our first stop was the Charlestown Navy Yard. We explored the USS Constitution, Museum and USS Cassin Young.

Navy or Marines?

After Betty got her Navy fix...I spotted a sign that said "Marine Barracks." Of course I needed a picture! After I snapped a quick picture a man asked me if I had an interested in the barracks...I told him my husband is a Marine..and he offered to give us a mini-tour. I found out that it is actually the oldest Marine barracks in the country!

After a quick lunch we jumped back on the Freedom Trail. Our next stop - The North End! We saw Copp's Hill Burying Ground, Old North Church, Paul Revere statue, and shared a huge canoli at Mike's Pastry! The most touching thing we saw was the Memorial Garden...there was a blank dog tag for every person lost in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

Next was the part of Boston I'm really familiar with - Fanueil Hall. All my favorite bars are here! We went to Union Oyster House, saw the Holocaust Memorial and took super touristy pictures with Ben Franklin (and yes, I paid him to pose with me!)

Our next stops were Old City Hall, King's Chapel Burying Ground, Sam Adams and John Hancock's graves, State House and Boston Common!

The tour ended 2.5 miles away from where we started....so we had to walk all the way back to meet the train! Needless to say my feet are killing me! The weather has been so crappy, I can't stop sneezing and sniffling...but I had so much fun in the city today...so it was totally worth it!

The "About Me" Post

 

I like to do this every once in a while when I notice I've gained a bunch of new friends. Let's face it...no one is going to start from the beginning to read everything about me! (Actually I did get an e-mail saying that a reader did...that's dedication!) So, in order to catch everyone up and make sure we are all on the same page....here's some stuff about lil ol' me! And some seriously photo-overload!

I'm Nicole. I'm 25.

I'm from Massachusetts.

I graduated from FSC with a degree in History in 2008.

In June 2009 I randomly moved to Carrboro, NC to live with a friend.

Shortly after that I met Danny.

Five months later I moved out of my house and in with Danny's parents.

Me and Danny got married on March 13, 2010.

Hubby is a Marine.

We live in Jacksonville, NC. And I love it.

We travel alot and love one-tank-trips!

We have a shepherd-mix puppy, Miley.

Danny has a 6 year old son, so that makes me a step-mom! The term makes me oddly uncomfortable for some reason.

I love traveling!

I've been to England, France, and Ireland.

St. Thomas, Aruba and Jamaica.

Disney atleast 8 times!

And every state that touches the Atlantic Ocean. 

I love food. I haven't met one that I don't like.

I love beer, wine and margaritas.

I also like cover bands...and pretending that I know how to dance!

I have amazing friends all over the country...mostly thanks to this blog!

I have met fourteen girls because of our blogs! I bet you're wondering who? Well, I'll tell ya!

Click the pictures to go visit their blogs!

Katie from Like Sunshine After Rain

Breanna from Forever Yours, Semper Fi

Reina from Semper Gumby...the Return of Sunshine, Amber from Goodnight Moon and Jordan from Southern Hospitality

Allie from My Marine and Me

Carmen from We See the Same Stars

Mrs. P and Ari from A Little Pink in a World of Camo

Jennifer from Colwells in Carolina

Jacque from Life Along the Way

Bonnie (and her kiddos!) from The "Sometimes Single" Mom

I don't have pictures to prove it but I've also met Lauren from Young But Not (Completely) Dumb, Anna from Showtimes and Dog Tags and Mrs. Gambizzle from Life as a Sailor's Girl (but that's okay because we're spending two weeks in Boston together soon!)

What else do you want to know?

I'm a lefty.

I once broke my sisters collarbone..while practicing a NSYNC dance move.

My first concert was NSYNC, the last concert I went to was Paul McCartney.

I've seen Kenny Chesney 16 times. And met him once....in Best Buy.

I've literally bumped into David Copperfield in NYC.

And I've dined next to Maya Angelou at the Mesa Grill.

I sell Avon. Just like everyone else in Jacksonville.

I have seven tattoos and want more!

And currently....I'm craving Chinese food.

Want to know more?

ASK!

Sunday School

When I was in college, a church down the street from me had the best sign one day. Ever since then I love driving past churches just to see what their signs say. And down south they have some pretty clever ones!

These are all signs that I have seen, but not my actual pictures. Apparently other people love church signs too because there are a bunch of websites dedicated to them!

A Piece of Mom's House

Growing up, Mom always changed her mantle for the seasons. Honestly, she hasn't done it in so long that I can't even remember what she actually put up there! For the past few years her mantle has been dedicated to our family members in the military. This is one of my favorite parts of the house. I just had to share it with everyone!

Free Christmas Cards From Shutterfly

I was starting to get jealous when everyone else was getting free Christmas cards from Shutterfly. I should have noticed that it said for all bloggers! So, I'm jumping at the chance to get Christmas cards from Shutterfly! If Christmas cards are not your thing, how about New Years cards!?

I've used Shutterfly in the past for projects, including our wedding album! And I've even been thinking about wall calendars for Christmas presents! The quality of their pictures is what impresses me the most, they warn you if they know the pictures will come out blurry. I don't know about you, but I don't want to waste money on pictures that don't look right!

These are a few of the cards I'm considering. I'm really hoping our professional picture from the ball is perfect enough to add to it!

I've even been considering getting more professional pictures done for the Christmas cards. I think I have an obsession with pictures!

Bloggers if you want to get in on the 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly sign up here!

Halloween with the Colwells!

Last night me and Danny dressed in our finest and headed to a Halloween party at Jennifer and Dustin's house. Jennifer 110% outdid herself. She made an amazing Apple Pie in a Jar, Halloween bars, pumpkin cheesecake, mummy-dogs, and a taco dip.

Jennifer even had a costume contest. And can you imagine I won for sexiest costume? And Danny swears he didn't vote for me. It makes sense though, voting took place after tequila and everclear shots. Jesus won for best costume, funniest costume went to the Mexican, and scariest costume went to the "gay guy." And I'm pretty sure he wasn't in a costume!

Costume parties with couples are always fun. I love seeing what everyone comes up with! Here are the costumed-couples!

The Mexican (aka Mike) came prepared with tequila...and shot glasses. When that was gone, the everclear came out. Let's just say...boys will be boys! By the end of the night Jesus turned the Roman into a devote follower, plans for poker nights were being made, and they were begging to go to the Waffle House.

The party was over when the boys started bargaining with us..."If you don't bring us to the Waffle House we're going to do MORE shots." Carmen and Mike brought me and Danny home, and my night was over when Danny passed out on the couch...and I claimed the bed for myself...complete with no dog!

We had such a fun night with friends and can't wait for the next time we all get together. Jennifer and Dustin, thanks so much for having us over!