We’re Moving…

So, it was inevitable…Charlie is finally finished with his PhD…and we are moving to State College, PA where Charlie will join the faculty at Penn State University.  Penn State has a great Econ program and Charlie is very excited to be joining such a great school with a great staff.  Now, we just need a place to live! 

We went up to State College this weekend to visit and check out some housing options (If you have any suggestions/connections, please let us know!) and explore the town a little.  As always, we had to check out some of the food and entertainment! 

In between some presentations that Charlie attended for his new job and some home/apartment visits, we walked around campus a bit and stopped in the Palmer Museum of Art.  It is a very nice museum, quaint, with about 6 or 7 rooms/sections.  They had a little bit of everything from Chinese porcelain, to Italian Renaissance, to Judy Chicago.  It was free and a very nice break in the day.  Next, we walked to Berkey Creamery.  This creamery/ice cream shop is located on campus and is run through the Ag school.  The serving sizes are huge and the ice cream is delicious!  I can absolutely see why there was a line  out the door.  Of course, we stopped by the Nittany Lion Shrine and took a photo with the school’s mascot.  The statue is right outside of Charlie’s new office so I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of him! For dinner, we checked out the somewhat new Happy Valley Brew Pub.  I didn’t have the highest hopes for food in State College (mainly because we are so spoiled in Charlottesville), but the food was delicious and the atmosphere in the restaurant was great! I have a feeling we will be visiting this place quite a bit when we live here.  Apparently, the owner of the Happy Valley Brew Pub owns 2 other restaurants in the area that are also good so we’ll be sure to visit them soon! 

On Monday, we continued our house/apartment hunting, but stopped off at Zola for lunch.  Supposedly, this is the place to eat in State College, but we were not very impressed.  The food was very under flavored and Charlie’s burger was very overcooked.  I’m sure we will give it another try, but the brew pub is in the lead for sure! We also stopped by Meyers Dairy for an afternoon snack.  Their ice cream is delicious and I’m very excited to try some of their fresh milk (available for pick up in glass bottles!) once we move here (or visit again).  The last update is on a fun beer – Otto’s Apricot Wheat beer.  It was delicious! The apricot flavor was actually very refreshing, light, and not at all overpowering.   

We have one more day left to explore (and hopefully find a place to live) and I’m sure there will be plenty more adventures come fall!

beyond words

everything was beautiful…especially the company.  thank you. (photo courtesy of the parsons – a little sneak peek!)

we’re ready!!!

the big day is almost here! i finished up my last day of work before the wedding today, the programs are at the printers, the bags are packed, and we’re picking up my moh in 45 minutes!

charlie and i have been engaged for 28 months.  no joke.  that’s a long time.  and it’s amazing to think about what we’ve been up to together in those 28 months.  not considering what we’ve been up to for the past almost 7 years.  i couldn’t help it and tried on my wedding band today and it hit me.  charlie is going to be my husband and i am going to be his wife.  how awesome and totally amazing.

i will leave you all with a little note from pastor beth that brought me to tears today:

Stay strong in what is good…laugh a lot…taste each
other’s tears…and remember to fall back on a cushion of grace on those
days you are too exhausted to go on!  Remember, I and others who love you
will be around to support you in the years to come.

i am beyond thankful…

getting down to it

charlie and i made it through the reception table assignments… phew!  escort cards are in the works.  next come the programs!

bachelorette party

this past weekend was so so so lovely.  my lovely maid of honor, sister, and friends put together a long beach weekend of festivities.  it was so nice to catch up with everyone, enjoy the sun, and dance the night away with girls that mean so much to me.  one of charlie’s groomsmen even made an appearance. 

rehearsal dinner invitations

the past couple of nights have been spent crafting rehearsal dinner invitations.  i invested in a gocco printer with the intention of making all of the paper goods for the wedding, but just couldn’t help it when i saw all of the beautiful invitation suites at rockpaperscissors.  i couldn’t be more thrilled with our wedding invitations, but knew that i needed to do something with the gocco.

we also tried using fabric as a wallpaper on the backs of the invitations.  i had seen some awesome examples of this online, and decided to try it out.

some key learning points –

1.  make sure your template for the gocco screen is small enough and the image is far enough away from the edge so the ink gets everywhere you need it to.

2.  when ironing the fabric to the paper, you need to use a damp towel.  this kinks the paper so press  between books (or something else) until it is completely dry

3.  iron the fabric to the paper before printing the front of the card.  this wasn’t a huge thing but the moisture on the paper blurred some of the lines and print a little bit.

i hope everyone enjoys the project (and chartreuse envelopes) when they open their mailboxes!

wedding weekend

we were back up to northern virginia this weekend for my 2nd dress fitting and to get our wedding bands engraved.  the dress is ready to go and hanging in my momma’s closet (can’t have the groom peaking at it) and the wedding bands should be ready by next weekend.  we also went on a treasure hunt at my parent’s house and came away with some goodies needed for the big day.

i’m not counting, but…

i was looking at theknot.com for some ceremony program advice and noticed this:

50 days – really?!

i really love this picture

showered

this weekend was lovely! i made the trip up to philadelphia for my bridal shower organized by sister, caroline (thank you!!!).  i really didn’t know what to expect – i didn’t know who would be there, what fun games we would play (madlibs – pretty funny), or what delicious food we would have.

all of charlie and my female family members were invited (that’s a lot of women!).  while not everyone could make it, i was so overwhelmed by the love and support that our families give us.  i realized as i looked around the table on saturday that we each have such loving and healthy relationships with our families.  we are so lucky to have such support systems and know that if we ever needed anything, we would have people to lean on.  it really is an amazing realization and feeling.

so, i want to say thank you (i’m in thank you note writing mode).  thank you to all of our friends and families, near and far, that have supported each of us – whether individually or as a couple or both – and loved us.  it doesn’t go unnoticed or unappreciated.  we are so thankful and so lucky.  thank you.