Just in time

29 years ago my mom walked down the aisle in a gorgeous Priscilla of Boston wedding gown and married my Dad, and in 46 days I plan on making a similar walk down an aisle in my own Priscilla of Boston wedding dress.

I was so excited when the bridal salon I purchased my dress from, Ava Clara Couture Bridal called to tell me my dress had finally arrived TODAY. I can't wait to go into the salon next week for my very first dress fitting since purchasing the dress several months ago.

It is with sadness that I also found out today that designer Priscilla of Boston, our designer, announced that after 65 years in business they have decided to retire the brand. I had always thought about preserving my wedding gown - the thought came into play when making the decision to purchase the dress that I ended up choosing. Now that I am having a little girl (although I would never push the idea of wearing my gown on her), and with the news that this very important designer will no longer be creating wedding gowns it is abundantly apparent that this is something that I am definitely going to do. I am more excited to wear my dress now then ever! And hope that one day my little girl might want to walk down the aisle in a Priscilla of Boston dress as well.

No more regular t-shirts

It's official. The belly has officially crossed into the "I can no longer wear t-shirts that I used to wear pre-pregnancy" anymore. I've got that white-trash belly shirt look going on where the belly peaks out between the pant line and the end of the T. Note: I have seen this on several occasions during monthly visits to my doctors office, it is ALWAYS unacceptable in public. I only rock the look when we're relaxing at home - Sean doesn't seem to mind Hell, he probably doesn't even notice. He has been pestering me about pictures of the growing bump though, to document this journey, so I will post some soon.

Wednesday I will be 6 months pregnant, so I guess this is what comes with the territory.

On another note, wedding invites went out last week, pre "Hurricane Irene". Hope everyone got a dry invite. :) This means we are getting oh so close to our wedding day. Still so much to do.

Paint love, crib love, BABY LOVE!

I imagine it will only be moments, if it hasn't happened already, that anyone that reads this is going to be over hearing about how in love with Baby S. I already am. I can't help myself. I bet every soon to be mommy would agree that the morning/all day sickness, weight gain which makes none of your clothes fit, and sudden acne outbreaks suck suck suck... but picturing the moment you get to sqeeze + kiss your little one makes up for it all. For me... the decorating is making up for it all. It's my salvation from the craziness that is currently my life. I can throw on some yoga pants and a t-shirt, grab the laptop, and shop Etsy until my heart is content. Every day on my way home from work I call Sean and it's like Christmas... more packages have arrived. Yesterday it was Baby S.'s crib! Yay! Sean has been such an amazing helper. He finished painting her room already and moved almost everything out of it into the spare room (which is currently a disaster of mostly my stuff that needs to be gone through b/c he already went through his junk) Now we get to set up the crib and I will get to start the decorating madness! Yay!

Nursery love

I am having the greatest time planning for the Baby's nursery. Ever since I found out we are having a girl my main focus has been getting things to fill this magical baby room. I'd venture to say I am mildly obsessed with making this the perfect room for my little girl. For now we are keeping the details under wraps, but here is a sneak peak at one of the many treasures I have picked up!

Long time, no write. No surprise

As expected, I was as bad at blogging as I promised myself I wouldn't be. Can you make a mid-year resolution? Mine would be to be better at writing here. Small notes, updating photos, etc. I initially tried to look at this as a way to keep track of my life then my life got so unexpectedly crazy I forgot this was supposed to be the forum to keep everything together. So a few quick updates...

1. I'm getting married! October 16, 2011 is the "big day"! I initially loved everything that had to do with planning our perfect wedding until real life took over and I realized you couldn't just quit your job to plan your wedding. So lucky for me, I was introduced to the second love of my life, Jill Brown, my fabulous wedding planner who has helped make my life a million times easier. Plus she makes delicious cupcakes! So obviously, we were a match made in delicious dessert heaven from the word go.

2. We recently found out we are adding a baby girl to our family, also due to make her appearance in 2011. Seriously? Could our lives be any crazier right now? So I immediately switched from wedding planning mode to baby EVERYTHING! (insert Jill here) - we still have a wedding to plan. oops! I am so in love with this baby girl already. I am in the process of bankrupting us on Etsy with things to decorate her nursery, hair bows, etc. At first we had talked about not finding out the gender. It was definitely more me than Sean. I wanted to be surprised, but Sean was convinced we needed to find out. So from the moment we decided to find out I have been obsessed with it. And obsessed with everything girly! Ask anyone who knew and they will tell you all I wanted was a little girl. Everyone responds with the politically correct answer "all you want is a healthy baby", and I would always add "GIRL" at the end, a healthy baby girl! lol. Well I got my wish, and in December we will get to love on her and spoil her like crazy! Sean is nervous for our bank account already! :)

So between working full time, planning a wedding, and fitting in baby doc appointments, our life is nuts. I can't believe I'm going to be a mommy! love!

And the extension continues...

Although I haven't been quick to update everyone, what started as a two day delay has turned into a few additional days. From Monday... to Wednesday... to Friday. So right now I am holding onto Friday (3/25) as the day he leaves Afghanistan. Every day when Sean calls I hold my breath for a moment in the hopes that there will not be another delay. I can usually tell by the trepidation in his voice... I think he hates telling me there are more delays just as much as I hate hearing that there are. Mind you, he was supposed to leave on March 18th, but that date was changed so long ago I can't even remember what is was like to think that was the day he was leaving. So for now... we wait. Let's just hope he is home before we leave for vacation on 4/13. :)

UGH! Really...2 more days???

So today we found out that Sean's team has been extended 2 additional days in Afghanistan. So that means that not only will this not be my last weekend sleeping alone, it means that instead of crossing a day off on my countdown, we have added 2. UGH! In ordinary circumstances a mere 48 hours wouldn't be this devastating, but right now it was just enough to send me into a complete emotional meltdown. Reason # 6,052 why I love Sean so much would be that during my selfish bout of hysteria, I mean lets face it he is the one that is stuck out there in the desert two additional days, he did everything he could to calm me down and get me back to the reality that it really is only 48 more hours. So I did what any girl would do, grabbed dinner with the BFF and indulged in some serious retail therapy. Under normal circumstances this night would have also included some/ a lot of vino. Due to the fact that we are no longer rock stars and our old asses couldn't stomach the thought of drinking after last nights festivities we stuffed our faces and headed to Skinny Dip for dessert. :) Our shopping trip did come through with some amazing finds, including a phenomenal vintage boutique in Town Center which I am sure will consume numerous paychecks in the near future and this amazing nautical inspired bag that will be perfect for lugging sunscreen and the iPad to the beach this summer!

So as much as the additional 2 days suck, I'll survive! Thank gosh for this amazing summer weather preview we are having, it will definitely help make this next week (or so) go by faster!

One week to go

So I'm sure everyone that could potentially come across my blog has already been immersed into the day to day countdown I have been keeping until Sean comes home. Today marks one week from the day he will leave Afghanistan. It has been a long and life changing 6 months. Which brings me to the name of my blog, With Love From Afghanistan, I have a love/hate relationship with this war-ridden country. Many of you probably don't know that 6 months ago I was ready to let the best man to ever come into my life walk right out and never look back. Lucky for us, Afghanistan happened and Sean deployed for 6 months. Although I'd have to say 6 months apart has been overkill, without the separation I'm not sure we'd be where we are today. I can't imagine spending one more day without this man in my life. If soul mates do exist then I now know that there is no one more perfect in this world for me than him. This is going to be the best year of my life, I can just feel it, so I thought it an appropriate time to start a blog. So welcome to my life, the ups, the downs and all the craziness in-between.

Izzy licking the batter off the side of the bowl

Izzy and Lola enjoying pumpkin muffins

In an effort to be more health conscious and limit my dessert intake, Izzy (my 2 year old genius of a niece/goddaughter) and I decided to make homemade pumpkin muffins. She had a blast and probably reduced the amount of muffins we made by half bc she ate so much batter before we could even cook them! Who knew a 2 year old would be such a fan of low fat pumpkin muffins? She even shared them with Lola. She kept putting batter on her face and having "Lola beanie" as she calls her, lick it off. Perfect ending to a pretty hectic Monday.

"If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don't, they never were." -Kahlil Gibran