The best part about getting married....

THE GIFTS!

Yeah, seriously....you get such nice stuff all for getting married to the person you love. I am still shocked at how much you end up with when it is all said and done. Of course it doesn't come close to what you spend on the wedding but it is fun to recoup some of the expenses and get to splurge.

Jared and I spend a good bit of our first few vacation days trying to decide what we wanted to spend the cash on. Naturally we got alot of other stuff like dishes, pots and pans, gift cards, etc. But the cash is the real fun part cause you can use it for ANYTHING. There were several things we wanted to spend the money on in terms of our house but we decided to spend the money more on ourselves than anything else. We bought two BIG items and the money is pretty well gone. But I'm excited about both of them. The first purchase was a piece of furniture for our living room. ALL the furniture we own is stuff that has been given to us, stuff we found, or stuff family sold to us for basically nothing. Jared and I really wanted two of those big seat and a half recliners. We both really love the size of them and decided that would be a nice thing to spend some money on. Well, they aren't all that easy to find and for the most part are very expensive. Lucky for us we found this.



It's basically two seat and a half recliners connected by a console. I am in LOVE with it! So wonderful to sit in comfort and watch movies and TV. AND it didn't totally blow all of our money. We almost didn't get it into the house though! Actually, we ended up messing up a little bit of the leather on the console because it was such a tight squeeze through the front door, but who cares really. It's in and we love it.

The other thing we got, which I cannot wait to start using is a camera. We got a Canon XS digital SLR. I have always had an interest in photography but don't know anything about it. Jared and I figured what a good thing to buy to start capturing our lives from here on out. Thus far we haven't used it much but I am going to a Halloween party this weekend and can't wait to start to play with it. This is what it looks like.



Yup, so I'm excited. We were able to get an additional lens for the camera as well so I hope to start learning to take some beautiful pictures. One thing I like is that there are automatic functions of the camera so until I get better with all the settings I can use the auto features and should still get some really good quality shots. I thought this would be fun to have for my blog as well. I love seeing all the beautiful pictures on so many blogger pages so I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to shoot my own pretty shots. And FYI, the picture of the chairs is not from the camera, it's an iphone pic...thus the crappy quality.

THE BIG DAY

Well I figured it was time to update the blog. The big wedding day was over a week ago but I want to re-cap some of my most favorite things of the day. I made a vow last week to stay off the computer during my vacation since so much of the rest of my life is spent sitting in front of it.

Anyway, the wedding went off without a hitch. I still cannot believe how perfect the day turned out. During the planning it is so hard to tell if everything will come together in the end or not. I felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants until things started falling into order.

I met my lovely bridesmaids early in the morning for coffee and bagels. I was getting so nervous but the time with them helped put my soul at ease. We headed to the salon where one by one we got our hair beautiful...okay well not all of us. My sister-in-law has a short inverted bob cut (if you know who Kate from John and Kate plus 8 is then you know the hairstyle I speak of). Anyway, the stylist decided to curl the longer sections of hair and pulled the middle of the top up. She seriously looked like Ben Franklin...it was horrific! Luckily my stylist agreed to fix what this other woman had totally destroyed and she ended up looking fantastic.

From the salon I headed to pick up my lovely dress and then went to the church. We completed most of our pictures before the wedding so we had to be there quite early to get things moving. The girls one by one started getting dressed in the beautiful dresses they had chosen.

Then it was my turn. I FINALLY felt like a bride. My dress was so beautiful and for the first day of my entire life I actually FELT beautiful. I wish I could recapture that feeling and have it again and again and again. It was magical to feel like that. After dressing, my photographer set up what is still one of my favorite parts of the day. She placed my groom in the sanctuary of the church all alone with his back to the door. I walked in from behind him so he could have the first look at me. What a special moment it was! He turned around and had the biggest smile I ever remember seeing on his face. His eyes glowed with pure joy and he said, "wow". I will NEVER forget how I felt in that moment. Never forget how he smelled, how I wasn't aware of the photographers or anything else but him. I just loved having that time for him to take it all in and time for me to enjoy his excitement. We took a few minutes alone to talk and for him to look over my beautiful gown.

The photo's went off without a hitch. I can't wait to see them all. After we finished most of our photographs I had about an hour before the ceremony started. I retreated to the dressing room with my bridesmaids to wait for everyone to come and be seated. This is when my nerves REALLY kicked into high gear. The hour went quickly thank goodness and before I knew it I was being called to come meet up with my Dad. I got to the end of a long hallway where he was standing and I nearly started to cry. It hit me very fast that I was about to get married. My father grabbed my hand and told me I couldn't cry. He made me laugh and I composed myself. From where we stood behind two closed doors I couldn't tell much of what was going on. There was a small crack in the door so my Dad looked and told me what was going on. I was so thankful for that little crack. Eventually my father walked to me, grabbed my arm and we headed through the door. I knew it was time. I heard my music start, Canon in D. Such a beautiful song! We waited and then began the long walk to my future husband. I took time to look around at the friends and family looking back at me but then my eyes fixed on Jerry. I could tell he was nervous but his eyes were so alive and bright. I smiled at him and he smiled back. I never stopped looking at him.

The ceremony was very special. An old minister from Jerry's childhood was kind enough to fill in as our current pastor had to be out of town. He did such a wonderful job for us and I am really greatful for the personal touches he added. One of my matron's of honor put a slide show together of family pictures starting with baby pictures and ending with recent pictures of Jerry and I. It added such a special touch for the ceremony and I heard nothing but wonderful compliments from my family. I can't stress enough how beautiful everything was. It was exactly what I wanted my wedding day to be. It ended up being worth every ounce of stress I had gone through.

After the ceremony, Jerry and I finished family photo's and packed up to go to the reception. I had the best night ever. The food was terrific and the decorations amazing. We ate, drank, danced, laughed...had the best time. My friends and family are so special and amazing, they really made our wedding what it was.

Here are some photo's I stole from friends/family. When I get the professional prints I'm sure I'll post them too but for now here is a glimpse. Goose also posted some on her blog so check it out.

Me and the hubby and our first dance






My beautiful dress


My amazing and gorgeous husband


Dancing with Goose!

Our beautiful flowers


The cake, the cake cutting, and the end result of the cake madness






The amazing centerpieces done by our florist


The happy couple


And on a side note. I've decided since I've posted all these adorable pictures of us, I can no longer see using "fake" names. You all might as well know my real name as this blog is about my real life. Bamboo is the pet name that my now husband uses for me. My real name is Becki...not Becky or Beckie, but B-E-C-K-I. Unique, yes but that's why I love it. Jerry is not Jerry as I said from the start. Jerry is a name I call him from an inside joke, which started with an old neighbor. Jerry is Jared. Becki and Jared. There you have it!

The last days

I am blogging today as I realize the next few days will be quite hectic and I figure I am unlikely to have time to post. If I do, oh well...consider it a bonus! Hopefully there will be no more ranting about the wedding as my attitude changed and I have promised myself not to let anymore of the small details drag me down.

This is my last day of work for the week. As of 6pm tonight I will be on an 11 day off stretch of vacation. Do you know what that means? Yup, I'm getting married soon! Through all the ups and downs of this ordeal I can honestly say I am really really happy about this major event. We had some tough spots, and times where I wasn't sure if I would make it through. Looking back from this moment all I can say is it all happened for a reason. Perhaps this will allow Jerry and I to appreciate this day more than we would have otherwise. The final plans are in place and we are ever so slowly creeping forward to that moment every girl dreams of.

This Saturday, with my father by my side, I will walk down the isle and marry the man I love more than I can ever explain. He is not perfect, neither am I, yet I think we can really make this love last forever with a little bit of patience and work over the years to come.

Last night Jerry and I cuddled up in our big bed and talked about what was going to happen this weekend. I can hear the excitement in his voice and it makes me happy. I speak of how much I can't wait to see all these plans put together, to finally see the vision I've held in my head this last year come to life. Then I ask what he looks forward to the most? His response, "getting to see you". My heart swells with joy and love!

Everything feels so right in these last days. It may not end up being the exact wedding I've always wanted but I do think in the end it will still be a beautiful day, which will reflect my style and our love. I feel really blessed to have some wonderful people to share this with. Goose has been my best friend since we were in high school. What is that...14 years! Wow, yup now I feel old. Anyway, she along with two awesome sisters-in-law, and two nieces get to stand by me as I speak my vows to Jerry. There is nothing quite like the feeling of having 100% support from those special people in your life. Though the MIL and I do not really get along, I feel good knowing there will be people there who want to see us happy.

Once the ceremony is over there will be eating, drinking, dancing, laughing, etc. I hope it makes for one wonderful party. I look forward to the "fun" stuff at the reception. Dancing with my new husband for the first time. Watching friends and family enjoy the night. I do plan on posting pictures on my blog of the event and have given Goose approval to do the same, so over the next week check back and I'll try to get things up as quickly as possible.

At this point my one major concern is the weather. Fall hit pretty quickly here, as you may remember from my previous post. This week we have had a good bit of rain and the temps are cool. I pray for the rain to stop but I'm sure the lower temps will be with us. The outdoor photo's might not be alot of fun, but since they are what I want most...I guess we will all just have to suck it up and get through it. At least there will be warmth to get back into once we are done.

So that's it...the last days are here! For those of you out there in blogger world who are or have been married. I'd love to hear any last words of advice you can pass along. Good, bad, ugly...I'm happy to hear them all!

If I were to die...?

Last night Jerry and I were out and about doing some grocery shopping, which by the way is the one chore I hate more than any other. Such a production to make a list, drive to the store, sort through all the isles, pick out each individual thing, read labels, see new items and decide you want to try, go check out, wait in line, take everything out of the cart and put it onto the conveyor and realize your cart is now full of more things that weren't on your list than were on there, put all this new junk back into your cart, move to the bagging line, place each item into 8 bazillion bags, put them BACK into the cart again, get them into your car, drive home, deal with getting them all back out and finally trying to find a place to fit all of it in your fridge. Phew yes that was a long run-on sentence but you get the point. I HATE this production. I would rather deal with eating out, crappy food, than to have to go to the store. Thank God Jerry doesn't mind doing this job on his own most of the time. But, I digress.

Anyway, while on our way home we started talking about loving one another for eternity. Did you read that right ETERNITY! Number one, is this even possible? Number two, lets suppose it is possible. What happens when one of us dies? I mean, people lose spouses all the time and some younger than others. I always hear people encourage the person left in this world to carry on, move on, love another, remarry, etc and usually they say, "your dead spouse would 'want' you to move on and love again". How do you KNOW that's what the wishes of the dead would be? I mean, is this a conversation we should have with our loved ones? If I die please re-marry or if I die I would no longer love you if you did re-marry? How does that work really? Yes this is a totally random thought but Jerry was quite intrigued with it. In fact, its a conversation he says we "need" to have.

What are your thoughts on this? I mean say I died tomorrow, I wouldn't want him to feel like he has to spent the REST of his life mourning me and I would want him to move on and enjoy life without me. But what about a situation where we have been married for 40 years? I would be 70 years old. At that point I dunno. I suppose plenty of 70 year old people still have alot of life left, yet I can't imagine even wanting to be with anyone else when I just spent the last 40 years with the one I love. So any thoughts on this?

Reality TV....you dig?

Since I work from home, one big perk of my day is that during my lunch time I can sit and watch pretty much whatever TV I choose. And I am here to admit I am a HUGE reality TV whore! It is my main guilty pleasure. For the most part Jerry thinks I'm totally bonkers for this fixation I have with reality shows; however, as time goes on I am finding him more and more involved with the previously "stupid" shows. Some of my favorites are the ones you find on MTV/VH1 (Rock of Love, I love New York, I love Antonio, Real Chance of Love, etc). I also like good prime time reality TV too (Biggest Loser, Survivor, etc.) They are always filled with drama, competition, and insanity and I just love it. I get so into these shows I will yell at the television and ponder on the story line even when I'm not watching it.

I'm interested to know if anyone else has this same love? Who thinks I'm completely insane? What TV do you watch? Reality TV....that's me!

The rain can't hold me down.

Good Monday morning everyone. We are having another rainy day; however, I feel like I need to rave about my lovely weekend. As most of you know I work a 4 day work week so Fridays are a bonus day off for me. This Friday I had the run-through for my wedding hair. I also got my eyebrows waxed and new highlights. I spent a good portion of my afternoon at the salon and lucky for me, I just adore my stylist. She is young and fun and we have so much to talk about so it was basically an afternoon chatting with girls. Other stylists at the salon were asking about the wedding and my stylist just got engaged so we were talking about her plans. Just an all together fun day.

Once I was finished, I drove home to show Jerry my new color (he loves me as a blond and I had brighter color added) and of course my hair was all styled with my pretty tiara and lots of curls for the wedding. I swear he fell in love all over again. I've spent the last year growing my hair out as that was his request for the wedding. He loves my hair longer so I figured that was the least I could do. I sorta missed having the longer hair too since I had spent the previous year or two with REALLY short hair. I walked in the door and he was playing pool and just stopped dead in his shot and his eyes glowed. I don't remember feeling that good about myself since college! A slow smile came to his face.. He walked toward me, scooped me into his arms and proclaimed how beautiful I looked. I felt amazing and didn't want that moment to end. I hope he will be doubly amazed at how I look on Saturday in my big beautiful dress. I can't wait to watch his eyes when he looks at me that day.

Another awesome and relaxing weekend was had. We had alot to get done this weekend, all those last minute wedding details, but we did them together and enjoyed this last weekend together before the rush of the big day. I really needed it and apparently so did he. I can't really tell you the last time we were both this relaxed and happy. I guess it is a good reminder as to why we are going through all the nonsense. Sadly the weekend ended and we are back at work; however, we are only 5 short days away from the big event! Even better is I am 3 short days away from 11 days of VACATION!

I think these last couple of weekends have helped me get very excited. I can't hardly sit still cause my mind races and wonders what will come of Saturday. I lay down and night and pray for it to be the best day of my life. I pray that everything I hope to get out of the day will be and hope that nothing stands in our way. I know it cannot be perfect. Something will more than likely go wrong and I am prepared for that. I just ask God for the grace to get through it and take it in stride. I am as ready as I can possibly be for this day and feeling very blessed to have someone to give my life and love to.

Feed your soul

Yesterday I stumbled onto a blog, which caught my attention in a big way. Click here to view This is the blog of a woman, Stephanie, who went through a very traumatic life event last year. She was in a plane crash along with her husband. They survived the crash, but the pilot did not. Both ended up badly burned. Stephanie spent 3 months in a coma while the burns on 80% of her body were treated. Then came the long road of therapy, surgeries, recovery, etc.

I can't help but find them inspirational. Reading her blog reminded me just how much I take for granted every day. I think it is very easy to forget how fragile we are in this world and how one day can change our lives forever. This woman no longer looks like she once did, neither does her husband, yet their life is full and bright. I just find their spirit amazing.

Jerry's father was badly burned back in 1998. He was helping start Jerry's very old car at the time. Jerry's brother was helping as Jerry was out running around with friends. The car backfired and blew up in his face. He suffered burns on his face, neck, chest and arms. This was
a long before I knew any of them but his story has touched me as well. The scars are still there and though I don't notice them as much anymore from time to time I do and am reminded of the suffering it caused not only for him but for the entire family. Jerry has talked to me several times about this ordeal and how painful it was to watch someone so close to him suffer so deeply. He thought he was going to lose his dad in those first days, but he felt like at times watching him suffer was worse than if they had lost him. Looking back now, I know Jerry is thankful his Dad did what he needed to do to survive. It makes me think...and I really think you must be in touch with an inner spirituality to find strength to make it through these situations. My own spirituality is something I am still discovering and stories like these really make me step back and ponder for awhile.

After reading her story and thinking about Jerry's father's I feel very blessed with what I have. I wonder if I could survive an ordeal like theirs or if I would find it easier to let go. I suppose this is something you wouldn't find out until that moment but I like to think if I feed my spirit enough everyday, that I could get through anything. Any thoughts?