Wamp

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Holiday Decorating

We've all seen it ... walking through the store in the middle of August and BAM Christmas stuff is already out. Did we skip Halloween and Fall??? What is going on here?

It seems like every year the stores put out holiday stuff sooner and sooner. I am convinced it is a week earlier each year and we just haven't caught on yet! I have NEVER been a fan of this, sometimes it REALLY bothers me that I refuse to even look at the holiday sections in stores .. I like to give each holiday their time, so I created:

My Holiday Decorating Policy - Wamp Designs

I came up with this years ago when I first moved out into my own apartment and started decorating for the holidays. I like to give myself guidelines .. and if those guidelines have dates .. even better! {I know some of you are thinking I am crazy right now but it really helps when you have a game plan ... for anything}

Now I know that these are just the holidays at the end of the year ... but lets face it ... those are usually the most important and the ones your decorate for. If your putting shamrocks up in March ... More power to ya! But that's not in my game plan ... for now. So when it gets towards the end of the year ... this is what I follow:

Halloween {not fall - I'm talking ghosts, goblins and jack-o-lanterns} go up ... October 1st

Thanksgiving {here is the fall stuff pumpkins, scarecrows, hay} go up ... November 1st

Christmas {in all its glory} go up ... December 1st

And of course as the new decorations go up the others come down and Christmas stays till after the new year.

I'm not going to lie, sometimes I get the urge to "pre-decorate" but I never give in {or at least haven't yet} Its just not fair to the holiday that gets the shortened timeline.

So October 1st has come and gone and where is my post about Halloween decorations?!?!

Well to be honest ... I was a little busy with the whole wedding thing and I will say that we don't go all out for Halloween ... in fact ... sometimes we don't decorate for it a all! {like this year} However when we have a family with small children I vow to do more with that holiday. For the time being though .. Mike actually really dislikes Halloween so we keep it low key.

If your like me though and are looking for a few subtle touches to your home to show some Halloween Spirit check out some of the prints I have in the shop. A fun framed print could be just enough for your home or office {hey .. I used to decorate my cubicle ;) }

Halloween Decor - Wamp Designs Etsy Shop

{Click Here To Download}

Happy Holidays!

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Creating A Marriage

Now that the wedding is over I had to switch up a few things { ^^ notice the header ^^ }

A lot of times we can get caught up in everything wedding that we loose focus of the real reason we are doing all this. Moving forward from September 26th I am finished creating a wedding, I am ...

Now what does that entail? Well to be honest I'll be figuring that out as I go along but I plan to share with you {like I do all my creations} everything that I find, is part of creating a marriage.

What I'd like to share today is what Mike and I did to help get us off on the right foot - Premarital Counseling. While this was something that our pastor required we found it not only helpful but fun too. We used the book "Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts" by Drs. Les & Leslie Parrott, along with the books we had a Workbook For Men and Workbook For Women.

The idea was that each week we would read one or two chapters and fill out the exercises in our workbooks {separately} - then we would sit down and go over our answers. This usually sparked conversation that we might otherwise would not have had if we weren't prompted to. We would than go and sit down with our pastor and discuss with him what we talked about.

Full Disclaimer - Mike and I have been together for 6 years and have lived together for 3 of those. There were some exercises in the book that were a little redundant for us having already worked out some of the tweaks that come along with living together and sharing some life responsibilities.

That being said there were some exercises that really opened our eyes to things about each other that we didn't know after 6 years or that we thought we knew but didn't fully understand.

It covers:

Your personal rules as an individual
Dividing home and life duties
Having realistic expectations of your partner
Addressing your self image
Defining your love
Your sex life
Cultivating Intimacy
Listening to your self-talk
Avoiding the blame game
How well do you communicate
Daily Temperature Reading
Couple's Inventory
Your top ten needs
Identifying Your Hot Topics
Money
Mind Reading
Your spiritual journey

I really believe going through this brought us closer and strengthened our bond. It forced us to talk about uncomfortable things, come to resolutions to fights that could have broken out if we did not confront it, and learn more about each other.

I would highly recommend this book and workbooks to anyone that is engaged to be married, I would also recommend this book to people who are already married. I felt it really helped us.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

#Becomingtherichards

It is officially done, the wedding I have been planning for a year an a half has come and went. I must say it was the perfect two days {yes I am counting Friday as part of my wedding too} if I could go back and do it over again .... I wouldn't change a thing! I am truly blessed to be able to say that.

Of course I plan to go into detail about the entire event however I have decided to wait until I get my pictures from my photographer to do that ... I feel its the only way to really show you how amazing it was. In the meantime - I don't want to leave you hanging so I will share with you what I am calling

#BecomingTheRichards

We {like many weddings now-a-days} decided to come up with a hashtag so all our guests that shared pictures on Social Media could use it and it would be easy for us to find. Below are pictures that are directly from that hashtag. In no particular order.

{Grandma Sweeney and I getting down on the dance floor}

{ Mike and I's First Dance - Lets Stay Together }

{ Mr. and Mrs. Richard }

{ Table 10 - Our Fantasy Football Group Text was filled with these gems }

{ My girls getting ready! Brandy, Laura, and Courtney }

{ Girls @ Dinner - Brandy, Laura, Katie }

{ The Other End - Courtney, Marie, Me, Mike, Mark }

{ Jason, Chelsea, and Dan - I love the background though, that is my younger brother Logan who was so emotional the entire day - so sweet }

{ Me, Mike, Talia, and Fulgenzi }

{ Mr. and Mrs. Richard with Mr. and Mrs. Olsen - these two got married Wednesday of that week on a cruise, docked Saturday morning and still came to celebrate with us! }

{ The Guys - Mike looks like he taking some DEEP breaths }

{ The traditional Patron shot before any major festivities }

{ You May Kiss The Bride }

{ Love that Sarah shared this ... Our Fan Programs }

{ The Best Maid Of Honor any Bride could ask for }

{My Favorite <3 }

{ My Mother-In-Law and Sisters-In-Law }

{ Such a sweet moment between brothers }

{ My Dad walking me down the aisle }

{ Mike Singing To Me - All Of You by John Legend }

{ These are the beautiful significant others of Mikes boys - The first ladies of Hillside }

{ Kisses }

{ Photobooth Fun }

{ Sharp Looking Groomsmen }

{ Mike's Friend from Michigan - so happy they could be with us on our special day}

Our Photographer { Alisa Sue Photography } did share one sneak peak that I of course love. She does an amazing job with her photos and on top of that she is so much fun. She makes you feel comfortable, jokes around with you and you can tell she really loves what she does and it shows in her work. If you are in the Sarasota area I HIGHLY recommend her.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Bridal Shower: Part Two

Up next for part two of my Bridal Shower ... I want to talk about the people! The very important ladies that took time out of their lives to celebrate with me!