BRIGHTER THEN SUNSHINE

Holy bright & holy funky right??? This is the futon we got from Target for our artsy fartsy sitting room!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I am soooooooo in love w/ this piece of furniture!!! It's super wild! We were a lil hesitant at first but realized we can totally pull it off w/ Steve's vase collection & our super fun art photos! It will be delivered next week, just in time for our house guests to try it out!

RANDOM

* Check it out! Our engagement photographer Stacey made new business cards! She chose one of our photos for it! (deformed heart, black nail polish & all) We are famous! ;)

* My niece lil miss Madeline sent this phone pic & another to Steve & I last night! We miss her sooo much! She is so freakin adorable! We sent a pic of Steve & Kippy back to her...

* HELP! How can I cover our front door window in a decorative non tacky way? If it was rectangular/square it would be easier...not sure how or if I can put up some sort of fabric! I don't like having our windows bare. This is what it looks like at night while lounging in the family room watching TV. You can't see if anyone is on the other side looking in! Holy scary! What to do??? Any suggestions?

* My mom & Grandparents went to a wedding in Ohio over the July 4th holiday weekend...My Dad was supposed to go but something came up w/ the online summer school math class he's teaching. I just love these 2 photos that my mom sent me...totally had to share.

Betsy & Fred...my WONDERFUL LOVING ADORABLE Grandparents...I want my life to end up like there's (& my parents' of course) if you didn't know. But most people are aware of this.

POOR JESSICA

It's sad to say but I think the rumors are true... Poor girl...and right before her 29th birthday...awe. :(

MARRIAGE LICENSE

Another step closer... on Friday, Steve & I headed out to Providence to get our marriage license at City Hall. It was such an exciting yet very simple process. Who knew how easy it would be for such an important task! We walked in, handed in our filled out paper work, wrote our $25 check & headed out the door about 10 mins later. We must have beaten the crowd bc when we turned around the line was out the door! Afterwards we decided to stop inside the mall so if I could find my Jack & Jill engagement party sundress since its only 2 weekends away!!! I opted for a "sunflower" yellow spaghetti strap styled dress from Forever 21. Love it! Very casual & cute...PLUS it totally goes w/ our wedding colors/flowers! YAY! I’m just gonna pair it w/ a pair of flip flops or flat sandals. I totally can't wait to wear it! Anywhooooo...here are a few quick shots I took w/ my camera phone.
PS: Of course Steve just haaad to stop at the Dell's lemonade stand! ;)

NEW COMPUTER DESK

THIS is what we just got for our sitting room! Steve just picked it up from Staples a lil bit ago. Love the sleek modern look. It will go perfectly in the extra space located on the top floor. We have 2 guest rooms up there & 1 large open room that you walk into when you get to the top of the stairs. This room is going to include our desktop computer (our laptop will be in the family room), a pull out couch (which we will be purchasing sometime soon) & all of our artsy fartsy vases, photos & knic knacs!

2 MONTHS AND COUNTING

2 more months to go till Steven & I will be walking down that Providence church aisle & then heading off to Playa Del Carmen in Mexico!!!!! Ahhhhh!!! I am so incredibly PUMPED!!!....I can't believe our big day is right around the corner! We are super excited! All of our plans are coming along very well; it’s just the "small stuff" that's left to be taken care of. I honestly can't wait to exchange vows & spend the rest of my life w/ my lover. He truly is my perfect match.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

Happy 4th of July weekend everyone AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE HOKE!!! Tonight since we still have a lot to do in the house, we were are going to lay low to decorate & hang more pictures…all while squeezing in a mini date night by checking out the “new” Chinese/Sushi restaurant down the road in Plainfield. Mmmm! I sooo can’t wait. I’ve been craving this alllll day!.....Tomorrow here is our plan…Breakfast & parade @ Matt & Nichole’s house, cookout & birthday party @ Michelle & Josh’s house for their son Alexander, party @ Rick Deojay’s dad’s house! And as far as Sunday…hopefully it’s nice enough to tan a bit on the back deck…I may check out the closest mall to take care of some wedding errands…bridesmaid jewelry & gifts, jean shorts-just for fun, Jack & Jill sundress, rehearsal dress & a few more items! All while the boys (possibly) go get fitted for their tuxes! Another busy couple of days. No surprise, I know! ;)

A PENNY, NICKLE, DIME & QUARTER A DAY

Yep! You guessed it, we just turned in our change jar again to good ole' Coinstar! Steve has off work today & is currently taking care of things around the house & grocery shopping. He called me after turning in our change to have me guess how much we made over the last 6 months. I guessed $70, $5 shorter then what we made the last time we did this...Buzzzzz. I was wrong! We ended up making $120!!! Woo! Hoo! It's almost like FREE money! ;)...Every 6 months we try to fill up our change jar w/ ALL of our change. We don't spend any of it; we make sure we empty it ALL into our jar almost every day. It definitely pays off. This money is going towards our honeymoon attire fund! Yesssss. You should totally start doing this, I highly recommend it.

DC: HILA & BOBBY'S WEDDING

Us w/ Mr. & Mrs. DeLong! :) CONGRATS!!!
Elegant, Black & White, Romantic, Damask, Classy, Floral, Candlelit….just a few words to describe Hila & Bobby’s DC wedding @ the City Club of Washington two weekends ago. Their ceremony & reception was nothing less then beautiful! It was such a wonderful event to attend with my family. The 6 of us had a blast (minus me cutting my lip on a broken beer bottle!) & walked away with a wonderful memory! Thank you Hila & Bobby for including us in your special day! Hope you had a BLAST on your honeymoon in Australia!!!

PS: Our something borrowed might have to be the Hora Dance aka the Royal Chair Lift Dance! ;) HA! Sooo fun.
Stephanie & Justin...the newly married couple!

Steven & Me

Future brothers...Steve & Lou

Future brother & sister...Steve & Ashley Rock out!!! Lou & Me

My sister Ashley & her hubby Louis...Awww! They were both in the wedding!

Piggy back action shot! Steve & Amanda

My parents... :)

Girlies! Me, Amanda & Stephanie

My parents (Linda & Roy) walking down the street in DC...too cute!

Poses w/ my buddy Justin! Oh how I miss him.

Husband & Wife! Hila & Bobby! YAY!

Craziness...Me, Steven, Justin & Amanda

FAMILY! This one's gettin' framed!

Hila & Bobby's ceremony...

Ash & Me...late night.

Miss Amanda & Me

Yesss! Such a cool Jewish tradition! I had only seen it in movies! ;)

Ash & Lou walkin' down the aisle...

DONT'T BE AFRAID

Lately I have noticed that my blog viewing #'s have been going up & up at a rapid pace! Because of that I am very, very, very curious to know who is reading my blog out there these days! Come forward! I won't bite, I swear! I know that I have friends & family from home and friends from RI & CT that read it on a daily/weekly basis...but I still wonder if there are other "followers" out there besides the 16 that I know of! I also wonder if my followers have a blog of there own! Tell me, tell me! :) I dare you to come forward, this is only out of pure curiosity. It will make me happy to know there are people out there that enjoy my random & pointless entries! Leave me a post to let me know who you are! Don't be afraid! Please make my day a lil more interesting! HA!

Hugs! :)

~Shannon~

MORE RANDOM...NATALIE & TRACY TOO

When I went home to VA/WV/DC for a whirlwind trip me, Steve & my family met up w/ super awesome friend & one of my Maid of Honor's Natalie & her super awesome cousin Tracy @ Silver Diner in Reston! Even though we only got to see them for about an hour it was still really nice to see the two of them!

Natalie & Me AKA Beast & Baby Beast
Tracy, Natalie & Me...stripes are sooo in. Right Tracy? ;)

Tracy, Natalie & Me

Ashley & Louis: Thank you sooooo much for the slippers you gave me @ Christmas! They are coming in very handy @ our new house! As much as I love our hardwood floors, my feet are sore almost every night from all the work we are doing around the crib getting settled. These are saving the day. :)

MMMMM...Mr. Justin Timberlake is lookin' mighty fine these days...

Awe! Steve & his Mom Cyndi during her visit to RI & CT a few weeks ago!

When Steve's mom visited we all met up & ate dinner on the dock at this cute little place in CT. Can't remember the name of it but check out the beautiful view...

RANDOMNESS

I love sharing a few random posts here and there...Here you go! :)

1. Rain rain go away...I'm sooo over this! I hear the weather is similar in VA though...Guess I'm not missing much. This is what it looks like outside of my office building. So not pretty. Emily-You know the "June Gloom" that you learned about now that you are living in Cali? Well I'm thinking we are going through the same thing out this way.
2. Words can't describe how meaningful this TIME magazine cover is.

3. This is what my drive looks like to & from work each day. CT-RI & RI-CT. Peaceful.

4. Here is a sneak peak of the 1st set of curtains we put up in our family room! We got them from Target! They are a black & tan damask/floral pattern! We plan to get the rug that matches! And then add in a few animal prints to funk it up!

5. HBO is in the house! They passed around more toys to us COX employees yesterday!

6. Awww! How cute is this photo of my niece lil Madeline & her mom Jessica! Maddy just had surgery the other day to have her tonsils removed. From what I hear she was a trooper! I just had to post this picture. Too cute! They look like twins! Imagine that. ;)