Happy One Year Blog!!

Can you believe my blog is one year old today!!! HOLY COW!! Check out the first post here.

I talked about our ski trip to Lake Tahoe in my first post so I thought it was appropriate to do a quick post about our ski trip here in NC that we took after the wedding.

First off - can I say that there is no better time to go skiing then during the week! There was NO ONE up there and we had no wait times for lifts. We skiied from 12pm to 4pm and the conditions were AWESOME! No ice, no rocks, just powered and groomed trails.

And.. I even did a black diamond. Granted - black diamond here in NC is nothing like one in CO or Utah but hey..what can I say?

I do have to give kudos to my friend Casey for helping me get this blog started. College friend and friend now.

Heading to Hot Springs in 4 hours. CIAO for now!!

Joy, Happiness and Excitement!!

Quick Post today kids and I'll be back in the blogging world full-time next week and I will be commenting, etc.

We got back from the mountains last night where it was one snow-bound place! We had to shovel a path into our cabin! Brad was thrilled.. LOL! More on that later.

For now a few wedding pictures that people have posted on Facebook. My friend Kara took most of these and I had to laugh when I saw them because I have my mouth open in half of them because I was so darn elated, exicted, happy, all of the ABOVE!!

Seriously, here's a few pictures that show just how excited I was. Granted, I had a few glasses of champagne but by no means was this excitment just from a buzz..

Ready..??
After our first kiss. You can still see the red lipstick on Brad's face..haha!

Entrance to our reception. I was STOKED! We walked into Black Eyed Peas 'I Have a Feeling'. Funny thing.. the BEP played in Uptown Charlotte the night of our wedding.

First dance.. Uncle Kracker 'Smile' - I think I'm still smiling!

2nd line - 'When the Saint's Go Marching In!' Everyone got into it. It was Awesome! I literally danced the entire night. My feet were still throbbing the next day!

On another side note.. Check out the card cage, that's our program inside too.. and pictures I had up at the rehearsal dinner. Brad's Mom brought them over and set them up at the cocktail reception.

Just love old pictures.

Well, again.. we head to Hot Springs tomorrow night! More to come kids!

Moms-Thank YOU!!

Pictures are coming in and I just loved this one my cousin Alayna-who still needs to get a blog-took.

I am taking this opportunity to say THANK YOU to both Moms!!!!! Oh My Goodness what they both did!!

As you will see in the next few weeks of photos...so awesome!! Love you both TONS!!!!!!!

Bridal Pictures - Finally!

As you may notice I have a new header and will get a new look and blog address in the next few weeks to reflect my new 'married' status.

For now I wanted to share my bridal pictures which I have been sitting on for months due to Brad not seeing the dress. I did share with a few of you blogging friends but now here they are.

Click here -- my photographer's blog -- to check them out. My photographer is awesome and can't wait to see the wedding pictures!

BTW - it rained overnight and all this morning up here. I'm suspecting we will do a half day on the lifts today as we are still tired and it's wet.

We're up here for a few days then we get to do the whole wedding celebration over again in Hot Springs, Arkansas this weekend where my extended family is throwing us a church/non-booze reception there. WHEW!...almost done! Then for all of you interested we're taking our real honeymoon in June to the Bay Area and Sonoma!
CIAO for now!

Dee is Married!!

Well, it's official! I'm now Mrs. Stephens!! What a totally AMAZING weekend. I don't think I've ever had so much fun and been so excited in my life!

Friends, family.. having everyone meet and have a fabulous time together. So much to tell but that will come later.

Thought I would leave you with the above picture for now. We're in the mountains and are relaxing by the fire and looking at the snow on the ground.
Skiing tomorrow.
Thanks for all your support blogging peeps!

I'm Most Excited About.....

Well, this will be the last post until next week kiddos! I'll try and post a bit when we're snow skiing.

People keep asking me 'Are you excited? nervous?' Hmm...a bit of both but I'm more excited than anything.

I've thought a lot about what I'm most excited about? Yes, of course getting married and becoming Mrs. Stephens.
Aside from that though I think I'm most excited to see old friends. Some friends I haven't seen in Y.E.A.R.S!!

If you ask any of my friends they will tell you that Dee is VERY good about keeping in touch with people. Yes, the phone is my friend.

For instance.. my friend Christina on the far left in this picture. I worked with her in Reno and kept in touch with her when I moved to Vegas. She moved home to Los Angeles and I have continued to keep in touch with her.
I'm going to be honest though - I was shocked when her and the hubs said they were coming to the wedding.
They have 2 little ones and I haven't seen her in 6-years!! She and hubs get here tonight!!

Then - of course there's Jodee. I saw her about a year ago.. we chat all the time. She gets here tomorrow morning. Can't WAIT!!!

Of course Ms. Kathleen - can't wait to see her as well. She's probably my friend I saw most recently!

Then there's this crew. From LtoR. Dawn is coming in from NOLA, Beth from SF, Cindy from Charleston and Christina from San Diego! Can't wait to see these girls as well!

And.. last but not least. Alicia(aka Turbo) and Rebekah. Friends from college and friends for life. Haven't seen either of them in over a year!! They both get here tomorrow from Tampa and Atlanta.

Of course there are others I'm excited seeing as well but there's only some much room in one post.

More to come!!!

Dee

The Countdown is On - Wedding Preps

I will not be posting too much longer this week but thought I would give you a glimpse of what my President's Day weekend consisted of. Oh.. BTW - Happy Fat Tuesday!

Anyhoo -- I got a TON done.
* mani and pedi
* worked out and tanned all days
* found something fun to wear on wedding night
* got signs printed out for reception(to advertise our Krispy Kreme favors)
* packed up all the wedding gear into two ginormous duffle bags.
* and our hotel welcome gift bags!

My friend Karen came over and helped me pull them together. As I've said before 75% of everyone coming to the wedding is traveling from out of town. We have 50-rooms booked in our block at the hotel -not including us! That's a recipe for shenanigans!

That means? 50-gift bags. Here's a few of the finished ones.

I used white bags and donned with red and pink(our wedding colors).

We put these mongrammed stickers I ordered from Etsy on the front of each of them. Sorry for the blur.

I added a welcome letter to the handles. A lot of those coming have never been to Charlotte before!

I also included an agenda, and tons of snacks, green teas, water, Tylenol, etc..

My niece is now a vegan so we made her a 'special' bag with fruit, nuts, etc.

Talk about a sense of accomplishment! Now I have to take them over there tomorrow afternoon.

In other wedding news.. I got my last gift from Beth on the wedding countdown.
Check out the fun tote bag with my new initials!

The back says honeymoon! LOVES it!!

I'm working today and tomorrow then it's PARTY TIME! Our first guests arrive tomorrow night from Los Angeles. We're actually cooking dinner for them and they will stay the night with us before we all head to the hotel Thursday.

That means - I have to clean and finish packing tonight! More to come kids!!! Can't believe the week is here!!

Crazy Winter - Must Stop!

Okay - seriously...This wacky weather has to stop. I'm getting married in 8-days and people have to be able to get here!!

I'm saying this as I look over at the TV on my desk and see that the Weather Channel says it will start snowing here in Charlotte around 3pm. GREAT! lol

I mean for-reals people. It's snowing in Baton Rouge! The 3rd-snow storm for that area in the past 14-months!

I lived in Baton Rouge most of my life and only saw it snow one time!

And.. don't get me started on Virginia and DC. Check out this picture from one of my soon to be in-laws street in SW Virginia. Insanity!

And.. yes, DC. A friend's house in Alexandria, VA. Craziness.

50% of the people coming to the wedding live in the DC area! Please stop Mother Nature!! Stop now!!

Mardi Gras Mambo!

As most of you know I spent most of my life in South Louisiana except for a few high school years in Arkansas.

Baton Rouge to be exact. While BR isn't any NOLA during Mardi Gras people still get into it as they do in most Louisiana cities and towns.

Mardi Gras rally ramps up this weekend with the big parades starting on Saturday night. Ahh.. my best memories are from college but a few from younger years too.

Here's a look back as I just ran onto a few pictures and items recently.
Check me out here. I was 5-years old here - this was our Brownie(Girl Scout)parade. You can tell my parents aren't originally from La. because I should have had some cool costume to wear but instead just an old t-shirt.

Random.. but this is my most recent Mardi Gras/Louisiana item I received. Someone gave it to me for our bar shower but because everything was thrown into the trunk I'm not totally certain who gave it? Maybe my SIL? That's what it appeared?? It's a garter adorned with a fleur de lis and Mardi Gras colors..
I just LOVES it! Especially since we're getting married the week of MG!

Now onto the item that resulted in this post. When I was at my parents house last month we found a bunch of my old things from Jr. High and High School.

Well, here's one of them. A shirt from my 9th grade year. My friend Aimee's Maw Maw hand painted me, her and another friend, these shirts to wear to school. Remember those days when it was cool to match?
Can't believe my Mom saved this but oh how cool!

She even painted our names on the back! My Mom insists that I keep it for fun and to wear around the house this weekend. LOL!

The even cooler part? After seeing this shirt it had me thinking about that friend Aimee. Haven't talked her since high school.

It prompted me to find her on Facebook and guess what? Her Maw Maw is still alive and well! I couldn't resist telling her about the shirt.

Well, Happy Thursday!

Celebrity Likes and Dislikes

This post may offend some but have to put it out there. I use to be totally celebrity crazed! I even interviewed at E! news right out of college and got a freelance offer but didn't take it because my Mom totally flipped out at the idea of me moving out to Los Angeles without full-time work. Maybe it was because I was going to leave a full-time job at TV station to do it?

Anyway - moving on. I'm not as celebrity-crazed anymore. Maybe it's age or the fact that I work in bank TV now?

So today's topic: celebrities that I don't like and celebrities that I do like.
Thought of this post after I saw this particular celebrity on GMA this morning. Lady GaGa.

Not sure what it is - but she gets on my last nerve! I know many of you like her but I don't even like her music. Yeh - the duo with Elton at the Grammys was cool but I'm just not impressed and am VERY tired of hearing about her.

The next celebrity on my dislike list?
Bono. arghhhh..can he be anymore LIBERAL??????!!! Seriously, I'm so freaking tired of hearing about all the good he does. I could go on and on about him and wait for it....I'm not a big fan of U2 either.

Now for the celebrities I truly adore.
This celebrity is and has been top on my list for quite some time.
Drew Barrymore. I totally, for sure would die to meet her! (Funny story - I did see her driving down Melrose Avenue back in 1995 when I spent the summer in Los Angeles. She didn't see me though.LOL)

Miss Drew has transformed herself into quite a woman.

Yeh..yeh.. she had a rocky childhood hanging in clubs and snorting white stuff but she has done a turn around. Actress, producer, model. BTW - love this look she was rocking at the Oscars last year.

2nd on my adore list. Wynonna Judd.
She's had her issues too. Several bad marriages, struggles with weight, etc.

BUT.. she's always been honest and has not tried to be someone she's not. I so love her music. It inspires me....
I've seen her 2x's in concert. Once with her Mom and once with her as a solo artist.

Wynonna.. YOU ROCK!!
What celebs do you like or dislike?

11 Days and Counting

Can you believe that we have only 11-days until we get married!? WOW! Times flies! I have to say the past 6-months have been hectic but awesome!

Let's see:
*planned nearly the whole wedding in 2-weeks thanks to Mom coming to Charlotte.
*we traveled to the family meet and greet/shower in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
*rented my condo out.
* moved into Brad's(now our)place.
*Brad's bachelor party in DC.
* My bachelorette party in the wine country.
* Stock the bar shower.

Of course there are a lot of other things in the middle such as two family deaths, but that's the quick rundown.

Last night I couldn't sleep and I had all sorts of lists running through my head. Hope this stops between now and next week?

I got another package in the mail from Beth yesterday as the countdown continues.
In it -- this Bride hat! Remember my Mom got one back on MLK weekend that said Mother of the Bride.


Then - she sent my Mother this as a gift. How nice is that?

And.. she even had a little something for Dad. Now he will match me and Mom!

A few questions for you now because I know many have offered suggestions in the past.

* Facial - I want to get one this weekend before the wedding that will reduce wrinkles and make me look refreshed. I drink tons of water so I'm not to bad of dehydration. Ideas of what type?

* Rehearsal dinner attire - I have borrowed 2 dresses from my Mom. One being more of a church type dress(cute but conservative) and one more sexy and cocktail like. What do you think? I'm thinking 'sexy'.

Believe Dat!!

Well, they did it! The Super Saints are SuperBowl Champs!! WOOT-WOOT!!

What a game! I can only imagine what the next few weeks will be like in NOLA with Mardi Gras and a SuperBowl celebration!!

While we didn't go to any SuperBowl parties last night I did go to a Saints pre-party Saturday night!
Actually, it was the Charlotte LSU Alumni's annual Mardi Gras party that turned into a Saints party.

As you can see - people came decked out in Saints geart. Don't you just love this scarf!?

Hints of Saints all over the bar/restaurant.

The guy who decorated the place made all the decorations! There must have been 15 of these umbrellas all over the restaurant.

Fabulous raffle prizes too!

Such as this picture signed by the legendary Billy Cannon! For all you non-LSU sports people - Billy Cannon's story was turned into that movie 'Everybody's All American' starring Dennis Quaid.

The guy who decorated also brought Mardi Gras cups for all of us to be served our drinks in!

Yes, Fox news even came to film the party per my request. Yep, I got to be the spokesperson on the air too. TV Star! haha!

Nearly everyone in the restaurant was with our group.

Me and Kathleen. Met her the first year I moved here and started hanging out with the LSU alum.

Funny story - but she actually went to high school and played in the LSU band with a guy I used to work with at my station in Baton Rouge.(Also - note to self - wear a black bra next time)

Tons of food(that I didn't eat due to wedding). These are boudin balls. What are they? Click here to find out.

A lil' bit of gumbo. Yih-eeee!

Even the kids got in on the food and fun!

This is the guy that continues to make this group happen. Bryan Mac and his wife. The greatest part. Bryan went to LSU and his wife went to Virginia Tech. Just like Brad and I!

Well, that's a wrap! Happy Monday! SuperBowl Monday! Yih-eee!