I’m back!
It must be the week to write in your blog because ALL week my Facebook news feed as been blowing up with new blogging entries! All these blogs have reminded me that I need to update my blog! So here is an update letting you all know that very soon I will have lots of blog entries coming! June was crazy fully of excitement and I can’t wait to share. :)
- Joy MCWILLIAMS :)
One more day till JUNE!
It feels like a good night to write. I”m not sure why, but it just does. I’m not really sure how long or short this post will be because I have no idea what I’m going to write about, but here it goes…
Okay here is the first thing that came to mind, and something that I’ve really been thinking about today… I consider myself to be very blessed and to have an incredible life, however there are those days when it feels like life just keeps kicking you in the butt. Those days where nothing is going right, and it feels as if someone were repeatedly throwing something at you. On those days I find myself asking, “What ever did I do so bad in my life that I deserve this? God, I try so hard and give everything I have everyday, why is this happening and why can’t something good happen to me?!” And today I realized something, I have already been beyond blessed with the most amazing person in my life. He makes anything bad that happens to me completely disappear. It finally clicked today that God truly has blessed me even more than I deserve. I could be blessed in SO many other areas of my life, but God chose to give me a soul mate, a best friend, and a love that I can’t explain. And I know He chose this blessing to give me instead of anything else and I couldn’t be happier :).
Now that the wedding is only a month away there’s lots to be done! Here are a few things that have been & are going on right now…
I finally got our invitations out! It took me long enough, and I do apologize! I love checking my email everyday because I always have RSVPs! I have to say a HUGE thank you to my mom & Chase’s mom because they helped me with them, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them. I love that our parents are so supportive of us :).
My dress is supposed to be all done with alterations & ready on Monday! I can’t wait to put it on all finished. I must say thought that I am a little nervous. I’m sure all brides are so it makes me feel a little better. Its just that its the most important dress I’ll ever wear and I want it to be perfect! ahhhh Monday please hurry here! <That’s something I’ll probably never say again because I’m not a fan of Mondays lol
This last month I have soo much going on! This weekend is my lingerie shower ;). I am so excited & can’t wait for a night with my favorite girls! Then the next weekend I am taking my bridal portraits! The weekend after is my bachelorette party/weekend getaway in a lovely beach house :). The weeekend after that is my bridal shower, and thennnnnn THE BIG DAY will finally be here!!!! I can not believe this is all finally happening! As excited as I am about all of these events, the thing that I am most excited about is going home and finally feeling completely at HOME. Finally going home to him. No more phone calls till we fall asleep. No more days where we don’t get to see each other. No more days where I have to wake up alone. Yes to new days with my husband :)
77.
My, Oh my… It has been a little while since I last wrote! Time has flown! Since the beginning of the year, I have been working on small but important details. Things like the order of the ceremony & reception, music at the ceremony & reception, FOOD, deciding on a cake, buying flowers, center pieces, shoes, jewelry, pictures!, Chase’s ring. shower guest lists, a place to live, INVITATIONS, & our HONEYMOON have been just a few of the things on my mind. :) I’m sorry if I’m all over the place, but here are a few things that have been going on.
First of all, I have a few AMAZING people throwing me showers! The first shower Chase & I will be having is actually NEXT SATURDAY!! Dennis & Vicki Collins is an amazing couple who told us when we first got engaged that they wanted to throw us a couples shower. We were so excited! I can’t believe that here we are months later, and we are getting a shower thrown for us! Its amazing because all we have to do is show up & feel loved :). We are extremely grateful for the love that the whole Collins family has had for us through our relationship, and can’t wait for next Saturday!
The next shower I will be having is being given by my soon-to-be great Aunt Debbie. She told me a few months ago that she wanted to throw my bridal shower & of course I felt so loved :). It is such an amazing feeling to be loved & accepted into another family. The whole McWilliams & Gibb families welcomed me in a long time ago & I can’t wait to finally say they are truly my family. My bridal shower is still being planned so I don’t know much about it. All I really know is that growing up when I used to go to bridal showers with my mom & sisters, I remember thinking how exciting it must be to get married & have a shower thrown for you! lol I also remember imagining my bridal shower! lol
My maid of honor Julie Callaway is throwing my last shower, & that’s my lingerie shower ;). Of course only my bridesmaids & closest friends will be attending this shower! I totally can’t wait for a night with my closest girlfriends & some cute gifts ;). <—— I can be excited about this because I”M GOING TO BE MARRIED! ;)
And that’s all about my showers!
My wedding dress has been sitting in my closet since January, and I am so excited because on Tuesday I am going to get it fitted! Tonight I went with my “Best Bridesmaid” Lauren to go shopping for the things I’ll need to wear under my dress! Thank you Lauren for helping me :). I have also had my shoes for a little while now. They are absolutely adorable :). I can’t wait to show off all 5 inches of them… If you see me at the reception barefoot, it probably has something to do with them being 5 inches high. I’m 5 foot 2 inches and I am sorry but I do not want to feel short on my wedding day!
I told Chase the other day that I am starting to get SUPER excited about our honeymoon! We decided to go to DISNEYWORLD in Florida! Neither of us have ever been so we can’t wait! The other night we made our dinner reservations, and let me tell you, I am beyonddddd thrilled about having dinner with Cinderella in her castle! AHHHHHHHHHHH I seriously can’t wait :). Plus we’re going to the Italian restaurant inspired by Lady & the Tramp, which was my favorite movie for foreverrr! Its seriously going to be the most amazing week of my life.. I just know it! Chase is just as excited about Disney, but probably for other reasons like the big lights parade we are going to see on July 4th, room service, and the restaurant I let him pick out (yes he let me choose all the restaurants & everything-he’s amazing!). More than anything, we are both excited about spending a week together- work, school, friends, family, & reality will be on hold! Just him & me :).
Anyway enough about wedding! I used to blog about other things before I got engaged soo here I go!….
Besides planning the wedding, I have been staying busy with the little boys! The twins will be two in June, and they keep me on my toes all day long! If they aren’t throwing their shoes everywhere, they are throwing all the wipes out of the container, or climbing the oven/stove, or taking off their pants, or opening doors that they shouldn’t. OR you get the picture :). Although I am exhausted by the end of everyday, I LOVE my job! These boys & their big sister make my world go round. They can be screaming all day or grumpy and one of them will come give me a hug and it makes everything better :).
Another little one who I can not live without is my nephew Cash. He turned ONE on March 15! I can’t believe my little Cashew nut has gotten so big! I don’t even know how to explain how much I love & adore this child. I think about him all the time! He & his mommy really need to move back home because I need them more than they know!!
Now I am going to brag on Chase for a little bit, then call it a night! Chase has been working his little booty off! He is such a hard worker & he does such amazing work. He is so talented, and I am SO proud of him for using his talent for Christ! I love going to church each week, and seeing his work for all to see :). He’s also been getting A LOT of wedding jobs. He always does such a good job on the weddings too. If you need a videographer for ANYTHING, Chase is your guy :).
Okay, it is time for me to get some sleep! GOOD NIGHT ALL :)
Countdown starts now!
I blinked and it was already 2012! Just 6 months to my wedding!! So much to do in so little time. Normally 6 months to me seems like a good amount of time for anything, but some how it seems SO close to the wedding. With the holidays and mine & Chase’s best friends wedding in December, the last couple of months have flown by. December 16, 2011 Chase was a best man for our best friends Sam & Stephany! I got to stand in the wedding as well :). Everything turned out so great! Stephany looked absolutely gorgeous, all the bridesmaids were beautiful, the food was delicious, cake was so pretty, and the dancing was fabulous :). OH AND the best man speech was just adorable :). Chase did good. It was such a great day & I’m so glad I got to experience the most important day of Sam & Steph’s life with them!
Last week I FINALLY finished MOST of our save the dates! And I mailed them out :). If you’re extra special you’ll get one by hand and not in the mail lol. If you haven’t gotten one yet its either because I haven’t seen you yet OR unfortunately you may not be able to come :(. Chase & I spent LOTS of time working on our guest list, and I mean LOTS of time… Because of money we had to cut our guest list a lot. I am very sorry to all of our friends who we weren’t able to invite, but we had to do what we had to do!
I’m so happy to say that MY DRESS CAME IN!!!! Yes my wedding dress is in my closet RIGHT NOW! I can’t even believe it! All pretty & perfect stuff waiting to be worn :). And I also have another dress sitting in my closet… one of the bridesmaid dresses! I’m super glad that I have found the bridesmaid dresses because that was starting to get a little stressful. I absolutely love the dresses that my girls have chosen and am excited to see all of them standing up there with me on my wedding day.
Now that the wedding is in 5 months & 12 days, Chase & I have started doing a bunch of the little things like booking our caterer, shopping for suits, deciding where our HONEYMOON will be, and I am starting to look for wedding shoes!! I bought 2 pairs of shoes thinking they would look good with my dress only to find out that they don’t quite match :/. So the search continues!
Anyway theres a little bit of an update of whats been going on with me & Chase :).
The icing on an already very sweet cake!
So let me just start by say that God is so good! I don’t even know why I doubt him at times, BUT I NEVER SHOULD!!! I’ll get back to one of the reasons why God is so good in just a minute, but first I am going to talk about CAKES!
Just like every other girl, I imagined and started thinking about my wedding before I was even engaged. I found a wedding cake & I was just certain that it was going to be THE CAKE I chose. After we got engaged I started looking at cakes again. Not thinking I would change my mind, I started finding some absolutely GORGEOUS cakes! That being said, I am now not sure what cake I like best :). These are my top choices though! I KNOW, I KNOW that they’re pretty much all a very different style/theme. Some of them I don’t like everything, and obviously will change to my style. Okay now on to my God is so good! He has been providing for this wedding like no other! I got a call from my mom the other day. She said that one of her friends from high school had seen our engagement pictures and wanted to make our wedding cake!!! I was of course shocked! She doesn’t even know us, and yet is wanting to give us this amazing gift! I still can’t believe God is blessing us like this :). HE IS SO GOOD :)
Here is my top choice as of right now
This is my second choice
This is the cake I found before we were engaged lol
I love this one because its very elegant & traditional
I wouldn’t ever do this but I just think its a fun cake
very pretty & girly but not for my wedding
also very elegant & traditional
so pretty & danty! Still considering something like this
Pictures!
A few weeks ago Chase & I took our engagement pictures. Our good friend Chris Cerna (Chris Cerna Photography, chriscerna.com) took our pics! We did an awesome job!! We went downtown and started the shoot on top of a roof! It was a little scary if you looked down, but it made for a really cool place to take some pictures! We went around to a couple of other places like this really cool white, blue, and green wall. We took Dempsey so he could be in a few pics as well :). We ended the shoot by going back up to the roof. By then it was dark so Chris set up some lights, and I must say those were pretty funny to take! Thanks SOOO MUCH to Chris Cerna for doing our pictures & getting them back to us SO FAST! You’re the best Chris!
Chase&Joy+1
YES we are adding to our little family!! NO I am NOT pregnant! We got a dog!! Or maybe I should I got a dog… since I will be the one taking care of him for the next 8 1/2 months. So here’s the little story about a little dog…
About a year ago my mom called me and told me about a lady who had a yorkie and how she was giving him away because she traveled too much with her job and it wasn’t good for the dog. I wanted to take the dog, but I had just moved to my new home/job and I still had my dog Bluebell who needed a place to stay so I did not take the dog. Just recently my dog Blubell went to stay with a friend who lived out in the middle of no where on a farm. She only lasted a day there and went missing the next day :(. I’ve felt so awful about it. This weekend my mom called me again and said that the lady from a year ago had kept the dog, but was now really looking for a home for him. I immediately got so excited because I have always wanted a yorkie, and thought this would be a great time to get one so I told Chase about it! I promised him I would take care of the dog & begged him to let me have the little thing :). After I sent 24 text messages of emoji icons (praying hands, crying smiley faces, hearts, etc.), Chase said YES! :) Yesterday afternoon Lauren & I went to pick of my llittle yorkie! He was running around and jumping when I walked in the door, like he has known me forever :). I brought him home to meet the boys & Sophia, and they all loved each other. Throughout the day we were all trying to think of a good name to call him because I just didn’t like his original name :/. Last night I finally decided on Dempsey! Its hard to tell what he thinks of it because he’s always following me and jumping up into my lap any chance he gets. He is completely potty trained and well behaved. I’m already in love with him because he’s just so sweet. You’d never know that we only met yesterday :). He has made me miss Bluebell SO MUCH though :(. I’ll never forget getting my first puppy that Christmas eve & falling in love with her. I’m so happy I now have Dempsey, who could NEVER replace Bluebell but will bring more love to my heart! I’m so excited for Chase to meet him tonight <3
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure
That quote is SO true! This weekend Chase & I had the privilege of visiting his Memaw & Pawpaw. A few weeks ago they had let us know that they would be getting new couches, and were getting rid of their old ones along with a few other things for a home. Of course Chase & I GLADLY excepted the gift of a couch & loveseat :). The couches are a peacock blue velvet with some very thin plaided navy stripes. We were really excited because we probably wont need to slip cover them because they are in such good condition and are really cute! We also got a hope chest, some frames, very antique looking lamps, and some other smaller things to go around the house. I love that everything we got is a little old and antique but with a new coat of paint or new lamp shade or whatever we want, it’ll be new & our own! We are SOO blessed to already have couches for our new home! I remember thinking to myself one day that there was no way we were going to be able to afford to buy couches and that we’d probably be couch-less a few months after we’re married and how no one would be able to come visit because there would be no where to sit… that will NOT be the case though because WE GOT OUR COUCHES!!! Now we don’t have a kitchen table YET, so we may have to eat dinner on our couches, but I’m totally fine with that because I’m just to excited and grateful for them! Thanks so much to Memaw & Pawpaw for their generosity! Also thanks to Chase’s parents & my new parents for helping us pack up everything Sunday afternoon and keeping it storage for us for the next 8 1/2 months! WE LOVE YOU GUYS :)
Here is the trailer FULLL of all of our stuff :)
I chose THE ONE <3
Dress shopping, dress shopping, dress shopping, OH MY! I must say I can’t decide whether I’m sad or happy that the dress shopping will now come to a stop… Probably relieved more than anything! I finally found my dress & couldn’t be happier with my choice :). I had my first dress shopping experience very soon after Chase & I got engaged. I knew EXACTLY what I wanted- what I’ve ALWAYS wanted. I found it & tried it on… It was amazing, beautiful, & my DREAM DRESS, BUT I decided since this was my only time to ever try on wedding dresses I would try on a different style. That is when the tears came… I felt a completely different amazing & beautiful in this style. I FELT LIKE A BRIDE! I could actually see myself walking down the aisle to Chase. I wasn’t sure THAT was the dress though so I continued to look at another store. I went back to my first store and decided to go with the dress I had always wanted. The very next day I started having second thoughts. I didn’t want to choose a dress just because it had always been what I wanted, and now was not what I thought I wanted. I gave it a few weeks and decided to not try on anything for a while. One day one of my bridesmaids Madalyn asked me if I would go with her to try on a dress that she found online that she loved. I said YES of course! We got to the shop RIGHT BEFORE they closed. Madalyn quickly tried on the dress she loved, and I saw this one dress… It was BEAUTIFUL! So I grabbed it and said, “Hey I think I’ll try this on!” It was way too big for me but as soon as I put it on I said, “WOW”. I couldn’t even say anything else. I walked out of the dressing room and Madalyn just looked at me with her jaw dropped. This dress just had the WOW factor :). I only had about 2 minutes in the dress because they were closing so when I left I really wasn’t sure what I thought about it. I knew that I LOVED it, but wasn’t sure if it was IT. Two days later I went with my sisters and 2 friends to do more dress shopping. We went to two places, and at each place they had this one dress that was out of my budget on a mannequin that was just GORGEOUS! I didn’t try it on because it was too expensive. I took them to see the dress I found with Madalyn. I knew I loved it & said it was going to be the dress! A few days later I started thinking about the more expensive one- wishing I had just tried it on so I could stop thinking about it. I didn’t want to tell anyone because I knew everyone would think I was crazy for going back and forth. Most people can’t decide what dress they want because they don’t like anything, my problem on the other hand was that I LOVED just about everything lol. Saturday I went back with my sister Kristy and Madalyn I tried the more expensive dress on just to see, and thank goodness (although it was seriously AMAZING) it just wasn’t MY DRESS. I then put on the one I found with Madalyn and knew RIGHT THEN that this was MY DRESS. I LOVE IT- I feel amazing, beautiful, fun, romantic, grown up, sexy, elegant, sophisticated & fantastic all at the same time when I’m in it :). I also just LOVE LOVE LOVE my veil :) Its all so perfect, and its so crazy to think that in 8 months 20 days 4 hours 17 minutes and 45 seconds I’m going to be walking down the aisle to Chase looking straight at me :).
The countdown has started :)