Goodbye 2011!!

Wow, I can't believe 2011 is about over. This year was THE biggest one of my life to date and I couldn't be more thankful for the memories it has blessed me with. To say goodbye to 2011 I'd like to link up with Brooke @ Silver Lining to recap some of the biggest events that made this year SO great!

~ Graduation!! Both Sean and I graduated this year!! He got his AAS degree in HVAC, and I got my Bachelors degree is Business Administration!! This was such a huge accomplishment for us! It was definitely hard to go to school full time and work, so graduation was such a life changing event for us!!

~ We landed awesome jobs!! The same exact week in May 2011 Sean and I both started new full time jobs!! He is working at Caterpillar as an assembly mechanic which he loves! What guy wouldn't love building heavy machinery? I started a job at Medtronic which I also love! It is so interactive, and I get to meet people from all over the world!! What a blessing!!

~ In June we adopted our little angel Remi!! This was totally God's timing. We both didn't think it was a good idea to adopt a pup until we moved out, which was about a month out at the time. Sean had called a rescue to see if they were going to have pups around the time we were ready, he had that whole week off so we though it was the perfect time to get a doggy and have it adjust! The owner of the rescue told us they would have pups, but he began telling us about this sweet heart they had named Dixie. He said she was 4 1/2 months old and at this age they begin to get overlooked because everyone wants puppies. We had to tell him no, we were living with Sean's parents and couldn't get the dog. Sean's mom had overheard this conversation and said get we could adopt her! We couldn't believe it, but we still thought it wasn't the best idea to adopt her and move her twice in a month. We kept thinking about her, and finally decided that this opportunity wouldn't have presented itself to us if it wasn't meant to be. That night we met Dixie and fell in love with her! We renamed her Remi, and the rest is history...she has been a blessing from God to us, and has  added so much joy and fun to our lives!! 

~ In July we moved out!! This was both our first time living outside of our parents house and together! It was so exciting, and our family was incredibly supportive and helpful! We love our home, and have already made so many memories here!

~ September 17th was the biggest, most amazing day of my life! Being married to Sean is more incredible than I could have ever expected!! I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with my best friend!

Not only has this year held so many big milestones for us, but it has blessed us with so many memories that we will have forever!! I am sad to see 2011 go, but I am VERY excited to see what 2012 has in store for us!! I hope everyone has a safe and fun New Years! Bless you all!!

Don't forget to go link up with Brooke and recap 2011!!

Jamie Leigh

I am MRS.GRADY

Well my wedding has come and gone so quickly....but it was SOOOOOOOOOOO perfect. It literally was more than I could have ever dreamed of. I will share more on the actual wedding day once I get some pictures from our photographer, Ria over at Life as a Wife! She is amazing at what she does, so I cannot wait to see her work! For now here is a sneak peak from my aunt's photos. 

Lets rewind a little now to my bachelorette party! My ladies and I dressed as 80's girls and went up north to a casino for some gambling and dancing....we actually ended up dancing most the night and had SUCH and amazing night. 

We both have today and tomorrow off work to just be newlyweds and to relax. We plan on going shopping and spending some of our gift money, going to dinner, finding a home for all our new gifts, and just RELAXING! A honeymoon will be in store for Feb or March hopefully! 

Hope all is well for you! Miss you all!

Jamie Leigh

Time Out!

HEY!!! I am finally taking a TIME OUT to blog! I have so badly missed it, and reading about all you're sweet lives as well. So let's take some time to catch up!!
How have you been? I have been insanley busy! Between working 50 hours a week, taking care of Remi, who is such a handful, and planning a wedding things have been nuts to say the least. We are now down to 3 weeks and 4 days until I Do....OH my goodness, where has time gone! 
The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of fun events, including both my bridal showers. I had one up north in Duluth with my family, and a second one with the friends and family that live close by. Here are some pictures from my showers! 

I want to give a HUGE thank you to my sweet aunt Cindy, and sister Jessie, Jaclyn, and friend Ashley for planning and hosting my showers! They were SO much fun!!

So now what is to come in these next few weeks before the big day....I have an 80's themed bach-ette party to look forward to as well as hopefully sneaking in a weekend for the MN State Fair which is my favorite!

Hopefully I will be back blogging in not to long! Miss you all!!

Jamie Leigh

Update on Life!

Let me start by saying I have SoOoOoOoO missed blogging! My life has been extremely busy lately..full of big changes. Lately my time has been consumed by: 

- Our baby girl Remi

- Wedding planning. We're down to 2 months & 3 weeks

- Packing for the big move

- Grad parties

Remi has been growing and adjusting to her new home quickly. She is the biggest angel, and every day Sean and I feel so blessed we were chosen to give her a home. It is truly like having a baby...exhausting but SO fun! I will post some pics of her very soon! 

The wedding is also coming VERY quickly! Mostly everything is finished, now I have to work on getting the invites out ASAP! I also have some big news......A few weeks ago I found a different dress! I decided to look one last time just to see if there was anything that caught my eye even more than my original..and am I happy I did! I found the PERFECT dress...its absolutely beautiful and I cannot wait to walk down the isle in it!

Packing packing packing...eww! I do NOT like packing at all! We are moving to a gorgeous town home this upcoming weekend, but we can actually start moving smaller things as soon as Tuesday. This is very bitter sweet for me. I am excited to start a whole new life of my own with Sean and Remi, however I am going to miss my family so so much. I can honestly say I had the best childhood a child could ask for, and there are so many memories in my home. It has been hard boxing up my room.....I will take pictures of our new place as soon as it is put together! 

Grad parties have been all over the past couple weeks! The biggest being my little sister Jaclyn and one of my best friend Ashleys! I love celebrating with friends and family during special events like this! 

Miss you all! Hope everything is going well!'

Jamie Leigh

Photo Weekend Recap

This was a incredible weekend. It was just the little weekend getaway we needed before we BOTH start new jobs this week! Saturday bright and early we headed up to Duluth MN, my hometown and such a beautiful city!
When we first got into town we went shopping...EXCITING news, I found and ordered my wedding band! I got an amazing deal as well because we got it at the jeweler my grandma has been going to for forever! We also went and helped my aunt pick out a dress for the wedding!

Saturday night we went to the most delicious restaurant ever, Pickwick! Sean ordered their famous pepper cheeseburger, and I got the walleye....we got the perfect table with a view of Lake Superior! Date nights are the best!

After our dinner settled we HAD to go to the ice cream shop and get my all time favorite flavor black licorice. I know I know, it sounds gross, and I myself HATE black licorice..but this is the best and the only place that has it...what a treat!

Sunday we enjoyed sleeping in and the sun! Sean and my little sister Jodell played some baseball with a broom stick and pinecone...how creative!

Today I will be enjoying one of my final afternoons off before I start my new job on Thursday. I hope you all had a great weekend!
Jamie Leigh

Wedding Update!

I truly can't believe the wedding is only about 4 months away! I am getting more and more excited every single day! I just can't wait to marry my best friend :)
So a little update on our wedding planning progress...it is definitely coming along!! 
We of course got the bridesmaids dresses ordered and just picked them up last week! I was thrilled when I finally got to see the dress in the wedding color..it is so rich and beautiful! 

We also got these super fun flower hair pieces for the girls, aren't they great?

 Next, we crossed off the tuxes from our to do list. The boys of course picked out the most expensive one, but it will definitely be worth it. Here are the colors...the groomsmen will be in the red vest with the black tie, and Sean will be in the black vest with red tie. Everyone will have black collared shirts as well....we weren't feeling the white!

We also got Sean's wedding band ordered. He picked out a tungsten one which we both loved. Because of his job and how he is always working with his hands we needed something that was basically indestructible! Tungsten was the best option....it pretty much looks like this

As for my band, I had a couple ordered in from a catalog for me to view. They should be in this week! 

My friend Nicole also played with my hair and we figured out the way I will be wearing it finally! I can't post a picture of this though ;-)

Next on the to do list:

• Final marriage class to plan the ceremony
• Invites and programs
• Shoe/jewelry shopping
• Register
• Plan showers/grooms dinner
• Finalize centerpieces
• Party favors

There are still many other little things that need to get done, but these are my top priority as of right now!

I can honestly say that I have enjoyed every minute of the planning process so far. My family, friends, and especially my bridesmaids have made it so much fun! 

As always, leave me some advice :) 

Jamie Leigh

A Wonderful Weekend

This weekend was sure wonderful! It was busy, full of fun, and everything I had hoped for! 
Friday was GREAT! After work we met up with some friends to watch the Twins game and let loose a little. We celebrated our new jobs, and talked a lot about the wedding :) Wish I had some pics, but I forgot my camera.
Saturday the weather was unexpectedly beautiful! Sean had to work for part of the day, so my sisters, my mom and one of my bridesmaids worked on the wedding to do list a bit! We found a couple AMAZING hotel suites for the bridal party to stay in the night before the wedding! Can't wait! Saturday night my sisters, my mom, and I went to see a movie. We saw Something Borrowed with Kate Hudson. She is one of my favorites, and the movie was really cute! That night we had a bonfire with some friends! So happy it is finally bonfire weather!

Sunday we spent celebrating our incredible mom! We grilled, hung out, and opened gifts. 

Stop by tomorrow for a wedding update! 
Share with me a highlight from your weekend :)

Jamie Leigh

4 Months & 2 Weeks

Where does the time go? It feels like yesterday that Sean and I were celebrating our engagement and I was waiting so patiently to get my ring back that needed to be sized.

We have had a long engagement so I of course felt like I had all the time in the world to plan and make our wedding the wedding of our dreams.....well now we are down to 4 months and 2 weeks! No more procrastinating here! I am feeling a little stressed and overwhelmed with things right now. The payments/expenses, and everything that still needs to be done and arranged. On top of it all our lives are so busy and we are in the middle of some big changes and waiting for some big changes to come which complicates everything and adds anxiety to the mix! 

Booking the honeymoon, ordering the wedding bands, booking the videographer, make final payments = a LOT of money! I also recently found out one of my bridesmaids will be moving to Pennsylvania for the summer which makes me sad! Thankfully I have all my other girls to rely on!

Any advice for me during this stressful time....my mind keeps racing about everything that needs to get done and be paid for, I need to take a deep breath and relax!

I hope you all have a happy Tuesday!

Jamie Leigh

Incredible Weekend recap/ BIG week ahead

Hi friends, I hope you all had a relaxing, fun, wonderful weekend! I sure did! Let's start with a recap, then I have some news to share! So a little warning, this will be a long post!

Saturday my ladies came over in the morning for some caribou coffee, donuts, and to chit chat before we headed out to pick brides maids dresses! I LOVE you guys!

When we got to the bridal shop, the girls all went and picked out a couple styles and started to play dress up :-)

They tried on these...

And these....

But the one they all agreed on and LOVED is this dress!!

And this one for Jodell, my junior bridesmaid. She will be getting it hemmed shorter to match the other dresses!

The dress is so classy, elegant, comfortable, PERFECT! It is exactly what I was picturing my girls in! They also found some GREAT shoes and a flower for their hair!

They got the shoes in black, and the dress color is the apple red in the first picture as well as the flower!

I already had my wedding dress, I had bought it about a year ago because it was getting discontinued and I absolutely loved it....I decided I wanted to try on a couple of the new styles just for the experience and to make sure I still loved my dress! I tried on a couple very pretty dresses, but when I came out in mine everyone gasped....I knew it was STILL the one! So I said YES to the DRESS for the second time and couldn't be happier!

Afterwards we headed to Noodles for some delicious pasta and to chat more about the wedding! I honestly have the best bridesmaids ever! We all have been friends for a long long time, we are like sisters!

So now to the news of the week...This is a week of some big things including an interview and some surgery...both of which I am very VERY nervous for!

I'll post more on the interview once I have some news, it is tomorrow! Send me some luck, this would be a great opportunity!

Thursday I have to get my wisdom teeth out....all four of them......all four of them which are impacted! AWW I am a wimp, and not good with pain, needles, blood, etc. Today I had my consultation for the surgery, and it was very scary....I had to go over all the things that could possible happen which included my jaw breaking because they are impacted, permanent numbness/tingling in my bottom lip because the bottom ones are close to a vital nerve, and sinus issues because the top ones are up in the sinus area. UGH! I know they do this all the time, but hearing these things made me very uneasy...and because they are impacted it isn't just getting teeth pulled, it's surgery...

If I am MIA in blogging world this week, this is why!

Have a great week! 

Jamie Leigh