Time well spent!!

 Enjoyed an awesome, much needed evening at Courtney's house last night. I attempted, for the first time, lasagna and made extra to take over there for dinner. Alli & Adam came over too....which was perfect because we FINALLY got to give Collin his last baby gift:

Courtney's an Ohio State fan and her husband, Bill, is a Michigan fan. If you didn't know....they are HUGE rivals!!! Alli and I made a fleece blanket with Ohio State on 1 side and Michigan on the other. We're pretty proud of it!

  We ended up grilling out for dinner instead of eating lasagna, since I did have it for dinner the night before and leftovers for lunch! Got to catch up with the girls for a while till Alli & Adam headed home. I stayed longer....well because I really had nothing else to do AND because I don't get to see those babies very often (oh and Court!). It was a great way to start the week!!!! : )

St. Lucia here we come!!!

 Yes, that's right!! 4 months to go and the honeymoon is booked!!!

 Yeah, we're staying at a Sandals....which we both said we'd NEVER do. But after looking into it, we discovered some things we didn't know before....like NO KIDS ALLOWED!!! It's All Inclusive, which we wanted, and because there's actually 3 resorts on the island, we can enjoy everything at all 3 of them free of charge. (There's even a golf course at the 1 we're staying at....Nate is happy!) We've been looking at St. Lucia since January and finally "bit the bullet" and booked it....and we are so glad we did! Now it's time to go clothes shopping!!!!!!! :)

HAPPY EASTER!!

 It's always a little weird not being home for holidays. Today was no exception. Nate and I went to church this morning followed by breakfast at a pancake house....yum!! We came back to Nate's apartment and both surprised each other with Easter baskets!!! That wasn't my only Easter goodies....Thank you Mom, Grandma, and In-Laws!!!
 That's about all the excitement for today. It's now 4:00 and we're already taken a 3 hour nap today. Hey, we must have needed it.....
 Going to try and talk Nate into making some yarn balls today......well, maybe AFTER the basketball games that are on.....

April showers BETTER bring May flowers.....

 Had a little scare last night. The storm that hit the Springfield area yesterday, hit Indy last night about 9:30. First, it rained and stormed all day yesterday!! I had volleyball last night and walking in to the Y it was surprisingly warm, not cool like after most rain storms. After volleyball, I headed home. I called home on the way to talk to Seth, since he broke his phone!! I pulled into my parking lot and was still talking to him, so I just sat in my car door open, car off, enjoying the nice weather.  As I'm talking to him, 2 kids walked up to my car and asked to use my phone (as I'm on it, mind you). I looked at the kid who asked and said in a some what apologetic way (why I don't know, maybe because it was late at night and I didn't want to get robbed......again!).....No. About that same time, Seth, on the other end of the phone says, "No what?". I waited a second till the guys walked far enough away as to where they couldn't hear me and told Seth what happened. I guess he couldn't believe, after my apartment already got broken into, that I was still living there. (I mean I can't really either, but it is what it is) Anyway, he said something to the effect that I needed to go inside and in order to do that and carry all my stuff inside, I got off the phone with him.
 Poor Quincey didn't get a very long time outside late last night (which is fine) because the same kids started walking back towards the apartments so we went (quickly) back inside. After watching a little TV and getting ready for bed, I headed towards the only place I think about all day: My pillow! Not 10 minutes after I had been laying there, the tornado sirens went off. I got up to look outside, surprised that it wasn't even raining. Right about the time I was turning around to call Nate, he was calling me! See, I don't have Internet or cable or anyway really to look at the weather so of course he's my only access to the outside world....literally. The sirens only stayed on for a couple minutes...in fact we were still on the phone when both of ours turned off. At that moment I think that's the first time I was ever scared for a tornado. When I was little, when most people were heading to their basements, we headed outside!! Silly, I know......I guess since we knew if we ever NEEDED to go to the basement, we could. But I'm living in an apartment....on the second floor. Where the heck would I go?!?!? I thought about packing up Quincey and heading to Nate's, but I didn't want to get caught driving in it either! So I stuck it out. Got off the phone with Nate and laid back down. About 10 minutes after that the wind started blowing really bad!!! In a fit of panic (maybe that my window would blow in and shatter all over my bed??) I called Nate back. He said that our warning was only for a thunder storm and not to worry, but if I wanted to come over I could. No, no....I'm a big girl. I grew up in the country. Storms don't scare me. THEN the rain started. AND the thunder.....and the lighting almost so often you'd thought I'd left the bedroom light on. Well, needless to say....Quincey slept with me last night. And I did in fact survive!

April

UPDATES:

It's been a month....I know. In that time.....Jake, Katie and Maris came up for a visit!! It was way too short, but so fun to have family here!!

My friend, Courtney, had her 2nd baby!! Collin Edward Arbour was born on March 23!!! Nate and I got to meet him the next day. Just perfect in every way!

First weekend in April, Nate and I made the trip home to watch Seth play at Busch Stadium again this year. 2nd year = just as fun!! And the weather could not have been any more perfect!!! I think it got up into the 80's!!! After the game the whole fam walked to Hooters to help Nate cheer on Kentucky as they played in the NCAA Final Four game. It was a good time, until Kentucky lost. Not so fun after that. ( OH, Seth's team won there game too!!)

The next weekend Mom, Maris and Chaela were up here for volleyball! (Maris coaches Chaela's club team) I took off early on Friday to watch her games that night. Got up early the next morning to eat breakfast at the hotel with the fam and did a little shopping with mom and Nate before the games started again that afternoon. They had 1 last game Sunday morning then Mom, Chaela and I went to find Chaela a bridesmaids dress!!! And we had great success!!!!!! Mom and Chaela headed back to my apartment to take a short nap while Nate and I picked out tuxes for the wedding. Over all it was a GREAT weekend.....just wish Maris could have spent a little more time with us.

I've been playing volleyball on Tuesday nights at one of the YMCAs. I totally look forward to Tuesday nights now! Even though some of the games have been "less than challenging", it's still great to get to touch a ball with people who are just having fun! (And we haven't lost a game yet!!!) Playoffs start in 2 weeks.....I'm getting mentally focused NOW!!! :)

Won't be coming home for Easter this year. First the plan was that Nate was going to be at Ohio State for a track meet (not running just yet)....I don't trust my car to make it home anymore so I was just going to go to church with Alli & Adam. Then he bought tickets to the Bulls/Pacers Playoff game and it turns out the game is going to be Saturday. So, now he's NOT going to the meet, going to the game Saturday, and we'll go to church Sunday. Sure will miss Easter breakfast.....and my basket. :(

We will be home for Dru/Katie's b-day and Mother's Day though. Already have most of those gifts out of the way and am feeling proud!!!

Less than 5 months till the wedding!!!!! The flowers are coming along....slowly. I am glad I started as early as I did though. Nate's even helping with most of the cutting which helps a lot.  Alli & I made a few green yarn balls that we'll be using too....and they turned out great. (Well, minus one of them!) Hope to get some more of those done this coming weekend. Last weekend I got a whole table of flowers done. Yeah, they take some time. Up next....Making invites! Stay tuned Illinois ladies. We're going to need your help!!! Do I hear assembly line?!?!

Happy Birthday to one special lady!!!!

  Today is the birthday of one of the most amazing women I have ever known.....MY MOM!!!! : )

Happy Birthday, Momma!!!!!

Jake's Wedding - 2010

Christmas Eve - 2010

Senior Softball - 2010

Radio Spot!!!!

 So, our radio spot has official aired here in Indy!!! On Sunday, Nate and I were driving and heard the last like 4 seconds of one of them. I guess there's more than 1 because the one we heard is not the same as the one on the website. Oh yeah....here's the link:

http://www.reisnichols.com/marketing/real_customers

 I hope they send us a copy of all of them, if there really is more than 1, so we can pass them onto you all!!! It's pretty exciting...even though it took a while! Hope you guys enjoy....I'll keep you posted on everything! :)

Happy (1 day late) Birthday, Grandma!!!

I did it again....missed my Grandma's Birthday yesterday. Wish I had a good excuse.......anyway......

HAPPY 84th BIRTHDAY, GRANDMA!!!!!

We're kinda famous!

 I can't believe I forgot to put this in the last blog....THIS was the whole reason why I was blogging today. Anyway.....Big News!!! I don't if I mentioned it when I first started blogging, but Nate and I did a radio spot for our jewelery store, Reis Nichols, like 6 months ago. Well, they said they would call and let us listen to it before they put it on the radio. Cool right?!? Well so much time has gone by that I just assumed they didn't really get anything "good" from what we said...really from what Nate said since they wanted to know mostly about the ring shopping experience, etc. (There was 1 other couple with us doing it too and what I REALLY thought was that that guy ruined it for all of us because he was a little boring in my opinion) WELL......the lady called Nate the other and said either they started on it or were working on it or something to that effect AND would we like to be like "featured" on their website....picture, blurb, and all!!! DO WE?!?!?!? OF COURSE!!!!!!!!! So I'm not really sure where we go from here (Nate does all the talking with the store!) but we got a little list of questions about us. (How we met, wedding details, ring details, etc.) So as soon as we figure all that stuff out.....probably another 6 months.....I will put a link on here for you guys!!! Pretty exciting huh?!?! :) :) :)

"I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they are always locking three." ~Elayne Boosler

 Dress Update:
  Last weekend Nate's parent's came up for his birthday. Since a trip up here for mom, Maris, and Chaela wasn't working out do to sports, I made an appt. Saturday afternoon to try on MY DRESS for the first time and I took Nate's mom with me!! I had always planned and even told her I wanted to take her dress shopping WITH me (since she only has boys), but the 1st time my mom and Chaela came up here to go shopping was the time I found my dress. Everything happened pretty fast. So, I thought this was a perfect chance for just her and I to spend a little time together...and by "little" I mean it really only took like 15 minutes! Good news: She loved the dress!!!!! And I still love it too!!!! Alterations on it will be coming about June/July and until then, it will be safely stored at the store.

 Nate and I went for a jog on Tuesday.....that's right, Nate's jogging!!!! I know, it scared me a little bit too. We weren't gone that long, but it was long enough to get my out of shape heart pumping! I guess he thought we were racing (I think it's in his blood!), because later in the night he says to me "I was only going half speed and still beat you." FYI: We were NOT racing.

 Heading home this weekend and I can't wait! Saturday morning Nate and I have our 1st meeting with our pastor. I told Nate I felt like we should study! (I'll let you guys know how that goes.) Then Saturday afternoon Maris, Amanda, Kim, and I are going to look at bridesmaid dresses!! I went with Alli once already up here in Indy and really enjoyed not being the one changing 100 times! Chaela has her first track meet so she won't be able to join us this time either. But....still very much looking forward to it!!! Saturday night we're heading over to Grandma's for her and Tyler's Birthday dinner. Since we started condensing these dinners, each one of them means a little more to me!!

 I don't have any new pictures to share right now (hopefully I'll have some after this weekend!), so I'll leave you with a "little" To Do List to made up yesterday.....that we NEED to get started on!!

1. Passport
2. Wedding bands...aka rings
3. Tux/Suit
4. Bridesmaid Dresses
5. Honeymoon
6. Invites
7. Transportation
8. Wedding shoes 
9. Bridal party gifts

P.S. If any of you or someone you know has old buttons you don't need and want to donate them to a good cause, we need lots of them for the fabric flowers we're making for the centerpieces. Let me know!!!!!! Thank you!!!

Greys

Tans

and Whites

Happy 'Golden' Birthday, Nathanael!!!!!

 It's Nate's 25th Birthday today and becuase of that I'm posting this blog....and some pictures of the man in my life. (No, not Quincey....well maybe 1)

HAPPY  BIRTHDAY  THANAEL!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

  

   

The night we got engaged!

Halloween 2008

The year I surprised him in Myrtle Beach for Spring Break!

Engagement pic

(Exposure Photography)

Nate and Q....with a strange haircut.

(The dog, not Nate!)

Oh, why not 1 more......

Quincey won a nice little gift basket at

"Bring your dog to the Park" night!!

(A little muddy if you can't tell by Q's discolor!)

 Looking forward to celebrating many more birthday's together...all 3 of us!!!!! :)



Joshua Radin Concert tonight!

 Well, Joshua Radin concert tonight!!!!! Nate got us tickets for 1 of my Christmas presents and I haven't lost them....HOORAY!!! This will be our 2nd time seeing him. If you all recall, we got to meet him after the last concert and Nate asked him if he'd sing at the wedding. He said he was pretty busy, but email and Facebook him. ha ha ha ha....It was a very sweet let-down!! Something tells me Nate will try to sneak another try in tonight! ;)

 Had a pretty low key weekend. Well, Friday night we went out with Alli & Adam and Nate's friend, LaVera. We tried a new pizza place downtown (YUM!) and then headed out for the night. I will say one thing: I sure do miss the NO SMOKING law in Illinois!!! Watched all the NBA All-Star festivities on Saturday and Sunday and even got some more flower patterns cut for the centerpieces. Of course that's the easy part....the hard part is putting them together and making them look good! Don't worry, I'm sure most of you reading this will have a chance to help with these god-forsaken things!! No, they really are fun. Trust me! (insert blank face here)

THE DRESS IS HERE!!!!!!!

 Ok, I don't actually have it.....but the store called Tuesday and left me a message that IT WAS IN!!!!! I immediately text mom, Maris, and Nate!!!! Now we just have to find a time for them to come up here so Maris can see it for the first time!! I so wish I could post pictures of it....but "you-know-who" knows about my blog so I can't. If you haven't seen it yet, leave me your e-mail address and I'll pass along a pic....unless you REALLY want to be surprised at the wedding! ;)

I guess this is really happening....... : )

Oh, here's what I can PROMISE my dress will NOT look like:

Not this......



Not these......

Nothing like this......

And FOR SURE NOT THIS!!!!!

Check this out..........

Kim ~ We solved the problem!!!!!! ha ha ha ha

Low-key V-day

 This past Monday was Nate and I's 9th Valentine's Day together! That's almost 10! So you can understand our somewhat "whatever" feel towards the day. Also, every gift reason we have comes within a 3 month spand for us. Christmas, anniversary, both birthdays, Valentines' Day...everything! So we kept it kind of low-key this year. Saturday night I did make dinner (something other than pasta!). And Sunday night we made "Valentine's Breakfast"...for dinner.

Breakfast dinner again.......

 Last week Katie W. had to come up to Indy for work, so Wednesday night the 3 of us went out to dinner, after Katie and I did a little shopping of course. Mom sent our V-day goodie bag up with her...hey, beats paying for postage! In addition to getting the heart pancake mold she gave us Steak N Shake giftcards too!! (and of course candy!) So, guess where Nate and I went to eat for Valentine's Day?? You guessed it!! Oh and guess what coupons we got in the paper on Sunday?? You guessed it again!! (This game's too easy, huh?!) After Nate got home from "practice" he came and picked me up and we went to Steak N Shake with our coupons and giftcards! We got 2 whole meals plus 2 milkshakes, a free Coca-Cola glass for spending $15, AND a bottle of their seasoning for less than $20! We even had 12 cents left over! He headed home after stuffing ourselves and I had a card and some candy waiting for Nate (well, I had to get him SOMETHING!). Of course he acted like he didn't get me ANYTHING!!!! And then he surprised me with an Under Armor shirt I'd been eyeing at Dick's the last couple times we went in there!!!! All in all......a great night with my Valentine!!! :)

One normal picture

 

The self timer went off too early...I was picking up Q's bone

My other Valentine!

Again....and those flowers on the mantel are the start of the centerpieces

for the reception!!!

New Wedding Website

Ok, post over load I know.....but you've missed me. I'm just trying to make it up to you guys! (And can you tell it's slow at work today?!?!)

Well, I posted a while back that we made a wedding website on The Knot. However, I was a little bummed about the layout of it, but in my excitement I just used The Knot anyway.

Here's a link to the NEW & IMPROVED WEDDING WEBSITE:
http://www.projectwedding.com/ourwedding/nateandblythe/

Now, we're still working on it....but I wanted at least my family and closest friends to see it. I LOVE that we can put a picture with each person in the wedding. That way people will have a better idea of who everyone is. And there's a section called "Wedding Map" that is just COOL! I'll let you guys see for your self.

Grandma ~ Thanks for signing the Guest Book on the old website, but we're going to need a new one on here too!! ;)

Keep checking back to see all the updates!!!

HERE COMES THE BABY!!!!!!!!!!!

 No....not from me!!!!!!

My cousin, Kim, is PREGNANT!!! She had her 1st doctor's appt. today and it's offical!!!!

She is 8 weeks along....and I heard through the grapevine that her due date is Septmeber 27th. The wedding is Septmeber 17th. She's in the wedding. Welp, we decided that we'll order that dress big, find her some comfy flat shoes, and send her to strut that baby belly down the aisle!! The ONLY negative to this....I may be on our honeymoon when that baby decides to grace us with his/her presents. :(  Thank goodness for camera phones!!! :)

Congrats Kim & Matt.....considering our youngest "baby" is 14, it's about time we get that 'baby smell' back in this family!! ;)

Kim & I

Can you ever forgive me?!?

 I realize it's been almost 3 months since I've posted anything up here and for that I am sorry. I have no excuse. I am planning a wedding, but trust me that's not been taking up my time. Let me try to fill you peeps in on what I HAVE been doing.....

Thanksgiving and Christmas came and went and after moving away from home, I really do understand why they call it "the most wonderful time of the year"!!

Nate and I decided to host our 1st Annual Holiday Party!! I think we had the most fun decorating and setting up!! Last year when Maris and I lived in the townhouse was the 1st year I bought decorations for Christmas. I came out of that season with 1 Rubbermaid tub of stuff. I now have 3. What can I say, Nate and I like Christmas time! :)



Waiting on our guests to arrive!

Holiday Party!

Nate and I celebrated our 8 year Anniversary on December 21st with dinner and drinks in downtown Indy. (And yes, we realize that will be the last year we will be officially celebrating the 21st.) :(



Anniversary Night! (the boot made an appearance)

New Year's this year was spent once again at Jake & Katie's...along with Amanda, Matt, Maris, Nate, and Murphy dog!! We did a sushi theme this year. (I swear Maris was a sushi chef in her past life!) We played a new game called "Things". We listened to some crap performers and then watched the ball drop. Fun time had by all.



New Year's Eve Family Photo!

What can we say......

On January 13th Nate and I's friends, Jessica and Jose, had their baby boy! He was suppose to be born on my birthday (January 17th) but decided to be a little show off and come early! That's ok by me because my birthday "celebration" runs roughly from January 10th-24th....so he was still a lovely b-day present!



Nate made it down to Lexington, KY for track the weekend after Joseph was born.

Turned yet another year older and wiser on the 17th. Nate took me out to eat, proceeded by flowers, and followed by cake!

Birthday Night!

Jan/Feb Birthday dinner on my dad's side

@ Jake and Katie's!

We've made it to a couple Pacer's games this year which are always something cheap and fun to do. Heading to another one on Feb. 23rd and this time Nate got GOOD seats!!

One of my Christmas gifts was tickets to see Joshua Radin again here in Indy! That concert is next week as well!! I have fallen in love with his music so much that we're pretty sure one of his songs is going to be our "1st Dance" song!! (If you haven't heard his music, you should look him up!!)

Update on Nate: He is out of his boot!! He's been able to wear regular shoes since the New Year. However, when he's just sitting at work, he wears tennis shoes because most of his dress shoes still rub his scar area. He's now able to do squats with out any weight and the elliptical, among a few other things that make me grimace to think about. It's just an area you don't think about using until someone you know tears theirs....and then it's hard to think of him doing these movements and stretching it out. But he seems to be fine! He claims he'll be jogging soon....so anyone who still wanted to race him "while he is down": Your time is running out! :)


*There was a day in between Thanksgiving and Christmas that made me realize family is the single most important thing in my life. (I always knew this, God just sometimes likes to point it out to me again.) And even though talking or calling everyone I love sometimes slips my mind, I hope everyone knows I think about you guys EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Now, I leave you with some pictures for your viewing pleasure: (Mainly for those who DON'T have Facebook.....)







Our Christmas night

New Year's Eve

Christmas Eve

During the ice storm here in Indy, I was out scrapping my car when the guy next to me doing the

same says, "My wife's not going to very happy". This is what he was referring too. He was pounding

on his back window in an attempt to free his car. Note to self......

My mom sent us a heart shaped pancake mold for Valentine's Day, so I made breakfast dinner!!

(There was no way I was getting up early to make these!!)