Valentine's Day = Six Months to go!

As tomorrow is Valentine's Day, that means that we have only 6 months left 'til our big day! Holy moly!  I can't believe it's coming up so fast. 

This past weekend we crossed off a big item off our wedding to do list and sent out our save the dates.  We sent out two different versions, a virtual save the date through email (since mostly everyone checks their email now days) and a traditional save the date card through snail mail.  We ended up sending half our guest list one and half to the other, which turned our great since we saved money on postage. 

In case you were curious, here is our traditional save the date:

I love those chubby love birdies! 

Our virtual save the date is by far our favorite.  My best friend made it for us as a surprise and I literally wanted to cry since I was so touched by it.  I completely had no idea he was going to do this for us.  Here's the story of what happened...

One day while I was at work he starts messaging me asking me for pictures of Dan and I and said it was for a project he was working on.  I was like...okay that's weird but whatever, I'll send you pictures when I get home and I asked how many he needed.  He said 20-25 pictures, of course I agreed and sent him pictures that night.  The next day, he messages me to tell me that his project is finished and if I want to see it.  He then sends me this...

S&D Virtual Save the Date

I was still at work when I watched it and couldn't believe he made this for us.  Of course, being that Dan and I both LOVED it we had to use it.  Since I'm so not computer savy, he and Dan worked together and this is a sample of the email we sent out:

http://www.libbywedding.com/savethedate.html

A BIG thank you to my best friend Brian who made both save the dates.  He's the same guy I wrote about in this post...Groomsmaid. He also designed our invites (sorry, you'll have to wait a couple of months to see those).  I owe him big!  On another note, he's actually getting married in less than a month.  I am also throwing him his bachelor party...this is the first and only bachelor party that I will plan and attend.  This will be a very non-traditional bachelor party though, sorry but no stripers. It's not happening.  Anyway, I'll blog about this more after this weekend.



Mini Honeymoon

Gosh, I've been seriously slacking on this whole blog thing.  My new goal will to post as least once a week, but we'll see how that goes...

Anyway, I've super excited that we booked our mini honeymoon to Lanai! We decided to do a short but sweet trip for a three nights the week after our wedding so we can have some alone time and enjoy being married.  We're calling this our "mini" honeymoon since we plan to go on a "real" honeymoon sometime in 2013 (hopefully in January) to Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.  I can't wait till we start planning that trip.  It's only been three months since we came back from our "pre-wedding moon/last big trip before we move to Hawaii" and I'm getting that travel bug again. 

While in Lanai, we'll be staying at the Four Seasons in Manele Bay.  Th resort looks sooo pretty!

source



As for wedding updates, we are getting our save the dates printed soon so we can send those out in the next couple of weeks.  I was planning on sending them in January but being at it's the 27th I guess that's not happening. 

For our save the dates and invites, I ordered a return address stamp from the wedding cafe and I'm really excited to use it. (sorry don't mind my poor attempt to white out our address)

Last week I also received this in the mail last week...

I wanted this ever since we got engaged and now it's mine! I am one happy girl. :)

groomsmaid?

In a couple of months, I'll be in my first wedding (well okay, I was in weddings before as a flower girl but that doesn't really count) not a bridesmaid but a groomsmaid. My best friend Brian is getting married and I am lucky enough to be in his wedding party.

Brian and I have been friends since I was in college but we are totally not sure how we met or how we became friends. Over the past 10 years or so, we have been there for each other through messy break-ups and heart breaks. I was there when Brian starting dating Wendy and he was there when I started dating Dan, and now we are both planning weddings! Crazy huh? We have that type of friendship that even though there are times where we don't talk for months and when we do finally catch up we pick up where we left off without missing a beat.  I love that about us.

I'm so excited to see him get married and be right there. I'm also really lucky to say that Brian designed our save the dates and wedding invitations which I absoluately love. He is also a DJ! So if anyone needs invitations or a DJ for wedding or any type party, I can refer you. :)

Super old pictures of us that I found...circa 2004-2005

World's Best Island

According to Yahoo! Santorini, Greece is the world's best island.  Santorini was so beautiful and a must see if you travel to any of the greek islands.  It's a small island so rather than renting a car we rented an ATV, which Dan loved since he was the one who drove us around.

This leg of our trip was very relaxing.  We walk aimlessly around Fira, visited the little shops and local wineries, laid out on the beach, and enjoyed what the island had to offer.  We also went on a semi private  catamaran cruise which was amazing! There was two other couples and two crew men and we sailed for about 4 hours.  We got to swim in the hot springs of the caldera and eat a home-made meal made on the boat. 

Our last day on the island it rained so our ferry to Mykonos got cancelled.  Since it was raining we didn't mind saying on Santorini and just lounged round.  By this point I was ready to head back to Seattle.  I have to say three weeks of traveling is probably my max.

Having drinks and watching the sunset

Red Beach

Our transportation around the island

Doesn't this look like a postcard?

The views were AMAZING!

Donkeys...our other method of transportation.

Relaxing on the cruise

Our three weeks in Europe was a trip of a lifetime!  I can't wait for our next adventure. :)

A day in Athens

Our first stop in Greece was Athens.  I was quite nervous about flying into Athens since we heard about all the strikes and riots in Athens.  Despite the news, we  both agreed were going to make the most of our week there since we might not ever have the chance to go back to Greece.  Greece was #1 on my travel bucket list so I was very excited to start this leg of our trip.

The day we flew to Athens there was a public transit strike so no metro and no buses.  Thank goodness for taxis!  We made it to our hotel which I booked through Jetsetter.  If you aren't a member of jetsetter and plan to travel abroad, I would highly recommend joining.  We booked a four star hotel Acropolis for $100! 

We only had one full day in Athens which was perfect.  Our favorite was seeing the Parthenon.

Greek salads taste so much better there.

Cool little bar in Athens, they served really yummy drinks!

Simply impressive



Walking through the streets in Athens.

For some reason, Dan and I both thought Greece was nice and sunny all year long.  Uhhh no, not at all.  We were lucky that it didn't rain while we were there but it was cold.  If I were to go again I would go in late May or early September which is right before or after the high peak tourist season. 

Our next and last stop of our three week adventure...Santorini. 



Barcelona!

It's been over a month since we moved and I realized that I didn't finish blogging about our Europe trip.  Our last stop in Spain was Barcelona, if you go to Spain you must stop there.

Highlights of Barcelona: Sagrada Familia, bike tour through the city, taking a cooking class, and one of Dan's favorite stops Camp Nou the home of Barcelona FC.

I have to say Sagrada Familia which designed by Gaudi was probably my favorite.  It was so impressive!  The architecture was amazing and its one of the must see churches in Europe.  If you don't believe me, just look at these pictures...

The church started construction in 1882 and it is still not finished.  Apparently, the goal is to finish it by 2026 which would be the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death but some are skeptical.  If it is ever finished, I'm definitely going to see it again. To read more about it here's the website: http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/sf-eng/?lang=0

Here are other pictures from our stay in Barcelona:

Bike Tour - we did one in Paris in 2010 and loved it so we decided to do another one in Barcelona.  It's a great way to see the whole city.

Casa Mila - Another work of Gaudi's

Cooking class - we learned how to cook a traditional Spanish meal and it was all you can drink wine!

Camp Nou - Dan read every sign and display in the museum.  Every soccer fan would love this place.  It's pretty impressive that this stadium was built just for Barcelona FC.

Park Guell

Two weeks in Spain was amazing, but the last week of our trip was my favorite.  Next stop..GREECE!

The new kid in class...

After not working for four months, I finally went back to work on November 16th.  In my very first post nine months ago, I shared the news about accepting my new job offer and I can't believe how fast time has gone by.  I feel like I'm the new kid in class but I've been adjusting well and I even made new friends, hehe.  Everyone I'm working with is really nice, which is a plus.  It's been a little rough having to get up early everyday again but I'm happy to get a pay check again.  I started feeling guilty that I haven't work for so long.

As for wedding planning, we're started up again after taking break for the last few months.  I'll save that for another post though. :)