241 days!

Wedding plans are going to be kicked into high gear in the next couple of months and I'm already getting nervous about the stress that will come with it! I would like to have my dress on order before the end of October; luckily I have found what I think could be "the one" at Eighth Avenue Villager in Quincy! It is a Maggie Sotero dress but I can't post any pictures of the specific dress otherwise everyone will yell at me again. When I was looking at dresses in St. Louis I texted Jonathan a picture of one I really liked and everyone about had a cow. So I've learned my lesson - Jonathan no longer gets to see my potential dresses for The Big Day. I can, however, post pictures of my bridesmaids dresses. I haven't decided on the specific designer yet but here is an idea of what I'm looking for from David's Bridal. Black, short, strapless, with pockets - all the girls will look gorgeous in them!

Engagement pictures: what the heck am I supposed to do with them? I'm actually thinking about using them as our Christmas cards/save the dates. We haven't had our pictures taken yet but that needs to happen next month as well. Do you think if we combined our Christmas cards and save the date cards that they would get lost in the shuffle of everyone else's greeting cards? hmmm so much to worry about!

St. Louis, here I come!

The Gateway to the West Best Years of My Life :)
I'm officially all moved into the home of my dreams... now I'm just waiting for the man of my dreams to get back from Afghanistan. With any luck he will be here late Wednesday night!! I'm trying not to get my hopes up though because it's not for sure he can get that earlier flight, he's not scheduled to be home until Thursday at 5:30! We are SO ready to start our new adventure in St. Louis together. Luckily we only live about 25 minutes from downtown so Jonathan's daily commute won't be bad and we have everything we need within about 2 minutes from the house so it's the perfect location! Plus it's only about an hour and 40 minutes from Quincy! St. Peters, MO will be our home for at least the next several years, I hope!

"Only a Plane Ride Away"

I have been blessed beyond words to have met all of my wonderful friends at Hannibal-LaGrange College. If it weren't for that decision to go to school in Hannibal, I never would have these beautiful girls in my life. I never would've met my fiance or the rest of my dear friends from there. The 10 of us pictured below all spent part of our college days all living in the same dorm, Memorial. Most of us even lived on the same hall for the majority of our Junior and Senior years. I can't believe all of the memories we've shared since those first days of meeting each other. Somehow, by the grace of God, we have managed to remain close. Although it's not an easy feat to get us ALL together at the same time (this is the first time in years), we all made the commitment to be together for Erin as she leaves the Midwest for a new adventure out in Arizona. I really hope all 10 of you girls will also be at my wedding next May! Kari and Kylanne are both IN my wedding and I couldn't be more happy!

Pictured, left to right: Ky, Me, Kari, Amanda, Breah, Erin, Megan, Ashley, Meghan, Licie.

Erin, I'm so excited for you to start your life in Arizona! I know you'll be so happy there and make great new friends. Hopefully I will be able to see you before our wedding, but if not, you know we will for sure keep in touch like we always have :) Love you!!

"It's good to know that the ones you love will always be in your heart. And if you're very lucky, only a plane ride away." ~Sex and the City~

13 days!!!

Oh my goodness.... less than two weeks until my honey is home!

We're really cookin'!

The kitchen is all coming together! I couldn't be more thrilled....

This is the before picture:

Champion Flooring came and sanded, stained, and poly-urethaned the floor; they were professional, fast, and courteous to the customer (me). A far stretch from the joke they call Stanley Steemer.The finished product... beautiful!!
My uncle Jeff and Marc worked hard and got the cabinets up in only 2 days! They are so beautiful!

Working on the new island

All the cabinets are in!

Only the Good Die Young

"You might have heard I run with a dangerous crowd
We ain't too pretty we ain't too proud
We might be laughing a bit too loud
Aw but that never hurt no one."

RIP Timmy... for the past few days I've cried tears for you, your family, and your fellow JH Concrete employees - who are your second family. I'm sure you made St. Peter smile with your "What's up doggg!" at the pearly gates. You will be missed!

I always have such morbid thoughts leading up to and after attending a funeral. I start to mentally plan out my own funeral and even think about who all would come in case of my untimely death. I suppose the only thing I would really care about would be giving my family and friends whatever closure they needed. I think today gave our JH boys some closure; they were able to say their goodbyes to their buddy together. Hugs, tears, words of reassurance... this all helps bring everyone together to get through these hard times.

Wicked!

Saturday afternoon, after a morning of working on the kitchen, I went to see Wicked at the Fabulous Fox Theater in downtown St. Louis. I wish I could go back and watch it again right now! Unfortunately this was its last weekend playing at the Fox so I'll have to wait until Jonathan and I make it to Broadway some day ;) Annette, Marc, Sarah and I went to the show after having a fabulous lunch at Triumph Grill (I can't wait to go back!). Sarah was facinated that they had PBR on tap, and I was dying to try everything on the menu, so it looks like we will have to have a Sister-In-Law date sometime soon! The show was amazing - the sets were beautiful and the story was so cool. I've read the book a couple of times but forgot lots of the storyline so it was a great refresher. I can't wait for Jonathan to get back so we can start our lives together in St. Louis. There are just tons of fun things to do around town! This weekend, his two little cousins are having a joint birthday party in St. Louis at the Magic House (I think). Hopefully I'll be able to partake in the festivities!

Only 36 more days...

Jonathan will finally be home after his six month stint in Afghanistan in only 36 days. August 5, I get to pick him up from the airport and his time officially begins back home in St. Louis! He's taking three weeks off of work when he gets back. We had hoped to do a vacation of some sort, but with the kitchen remodel and stuff, it's just a bad time. Although, isn't is always a "bad time" to take a vacation? There are never enough days in the year for a break, or enough money in the bank, etc. I plan on making time/money for a vacation for us asap though. I don't even want to have to wait as long as May, when we will be going on our honeymoon (YAY!). After six months apart, it's only fair to get some alone time away, right? I want to be able to take a picture on top of a mountain like Jonathan and Matt did in Afghanistan (this picture). Although, I think I'd rather be on top of a mountain/volcano in Hawaii. I didn't mean for this to turn into a blog about wanting to go on vacation... I guess I'm just ready to spend some time with my finance... without the stresses of day to day life haha

Dear Mr. Stanley Steemer,

Seven weeks ago we had you over to our home to give us a quote on your dustless sanding, staining, and refinishing of our kitchen and foyer hardwood. You were so nice and helpful and excited to help us in our kitchen remodel.
Fast forward to our scheduled appointment last Tuesday. You called the day before and said you wouldn't be able to come until Thursday since your truck was in the shop. No problem.
On Wednesday, after working 9-5 and then being a leader at Vacation Bible School from 5:30-8:40, I drove myself (exhausted) to our house 2 hours away so that I could be there to meet you bright and early on Thursday at 8AM.
At 9:15 I called your office and got hung up on by your extremely rude front desk girl when all I wanted was to know when you would be at my house!
9:45 I finally got a call back from Charlie, your floor manager. He said the truck wasn't fixed yet. So I took a half day off work for no reason. Great. Don't worry though, "I will be there first thing Monday morning, without fail," says Charlie. Okay, this sucks, but whatever I can deal with it.
Saturday morning... get a call from Charlie again. Truck won't be fixed until who knows when. Maybe August. I feel like I'm getting lied to at this point, right?? They also cashed our check for $536.00 on Friday, before even showing up for any of the work!
Floor refinishing - cancelled. Now I'm looking for someone in the St. Louis area who can actually get the job done. UGH

Sincerely,

A disgruntled "Mrs. Bailey" (as they liked to call me because they couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that I'm Meghan Holtschlag and we are engaged, not married yet!!)

Our Wedding Website

I have created our Wedding Website, where family and friends can go to check out important information about our wedding! Plus it's cute and fun!

www.theknot.com/ourwedding/MeghanHoltschlag&JonathanBailey

Mom will be in town tomorrow!! I'm so excited, we are going to have so much fun. I'm glad she's flying this time so that she doesn't have to spend so much time driving alone. Friday we are going to go looking at wedding dresses. Hopefully I can get a better idea of what I want after this weekend!

New Kitchen

We have been working very hard deciding everything we are going to do for our kitchen remodel. Below you can see the door style for our new cabinets (oak, arched panels), the stain on our cabinets (chocolate with a mocha glaze), our Quartz counter tops (in a blue/grey/white color), and an example of the stone back splash we purchased on clearance (I can't find the exact stone because it's not on the website anymore). Seeing it all together makes me very excited and I can't wait to see what the finished product looks like!

On one hand it's great that we are able to do this while we aren't living in the house, but on the other hand it's going to be a lot of decision making on my own without having Jonathan in town. Luckily I will have the expertise of Marc and Annette to help guide through this stressful, expensive project. Marc is a great builder/carpenter and I know it will all turn out beautiful. I just wish Jonathan were here with us! To finish the remodel we are doing some heavy duty work. We have to replace the kitchen window to accommodate for our new cabinet design, install a pocket door leading to our laundry room to give us some more floor space, knock out our current pantry to make room for the new built in pantry, refinish the floors, install new lighting throughout the kitchen and dining room, paint the ceiling and two walls, and buy a new microwave and dishwasher. PHEW! I'm sure there's even more that I'm just not thinking of right now... it's just so overwhelming. Remodeling is like a second full time job! Too bad I can't devote as much time as I would like to... work is starting to pick up again and I need to be here throughout the week. I'll definitely be devoting all of my summer weekends to this huge project though. Poor Adam is going to have to live without a kitchen for at least a couple of months!

GO CUBS GO!!!!

I have no reservations about moving to good ol' St. Louis in a few months... well, almost no reservations. No worries about missing my family and friends (it's only an hour and a half away), or of taking care of our own house, or of our relationship when we have to become roommates. The scariest part of moving to St. Louis is knowing that I'm going to be in the complete minority for the first time in my life... that's right... a Cubs fan in Cardinals territory.

Jonathan wouldn't even let me wear my blue Cubbies tank top to our neighborhood meeting last Fall (yes, it turned into a fight... "you can't tell me what to do" is my favorite attitude to have with him sometimes!) While we're on this subject, we were supposed to go to the Cubs/Cards game that day and all I had packed was my favorite summer Cubs gear - and it was HIS fault we didn't go to the game... if my selective memory serves me right ;) Luckily I have spied a big Chicago Cubs flag flying proudly on the porch of one of our neighbors so maybe I should go introduce myself to people who obviously appreciate the finer things in life!

We've got a whole summer ahead of us, so being five games back isn't really too big of a deal... but come on Cubbies, let's do some work!!!! I don't have any tickets yet or even plans for that matter, but Wrigley is already calling my name again. I need to try to get to at least a couple more games because... THIS IS OUR YEAR... we've been waiting a long 102 years for this season... I'm keeping the faith!

Is it Wednesday yet??

I always give 100% at work:
13% Monday
22% Tuesday
26% Wednesday
35% Thursday
4% Friday

This week I only have to give 35% total... because I'm taking off Wed-Fri... Hello six day weekend!! Unfortunately I had to take off for a big reason that I'm not happy about. I have to say goodbye to Jonathan this week. Another 2-3 months without him are looming on the horizon. We are both dreading Saturday; poor Jonathan has two days of travel to get back to his base in Afghanistan.

We had a fabulous weekend together. Friday night we went over to Joe's house to celebrate my beautiful, best friend Alexis' 24th birthday then got up early Saturday morning to go golfing with my dad, his step-dad Marc, and his step-sis Sarah. It was a nice bonding experience for us all and Dad and Marc finally got to meet (they really hit it off). I've never played 18 holes of golf before and decided that I absolutely love the sport and want to get better at it! I even made Jonathan take me to the driving range on Sunday to try and get my swing down. After our golf outing, Jonathan and I made the drive over to Columbia, MO for his little cousin's high school graduation party. The weather was sunny and warm and it was a perfect day for dinner at the park. Daniel and Wendy even brought a washers set so we stayed entertained for hours visiting with family and playing games. It was a long day with a lot of driving after we finally made it back to St. Louis at 10:30PM. Sunday morning I got up and made Jonathan his favorite breakfast and after a little fight about how I'm not "careful" while I cook (he freaks out when I spill stuff), we had another fabulous day with beautiful weather to enjoy!

353 days left...

Wedding planning isn't too stressful when you start 15 months ahead of the big day - May 7, 2011. In the first month I got our church booked (Blessed Sacrament) and our reception hall booked (The Oakley Lindsay Center). I made it my goal to have the colors and theme decided by May, and I think I have! Black and white will be the main theme with hints of greens thrown in throughout. This bouquet is almost exactly what I'm thinking for myself and a smaller version for my bridesmaids; the only thing I'll change is a little less of the green roses and more white roses. The girls will wear black, cocktail type dresses and the guys will wear traditional black suits. Classy, right?? I think the kegs of Bud Light and our crazy wedding party will help show how maybe UNclassy we really are, and I like it that way.

Trying to play catch-up

For the first time in five days I am not worried about the next thing to do on the list. Unfortunately I am back at work this week, but it's good to be back in the mix. I took off work for three days last week and I feel totally out of the loop. We have been busy since the moment Jonathan got home. How wonderful to have my future hubby by my side for a few weeks!

Jonathan's flights were delayed/cancelled all day on Wednesday, so instead of getting in at 9:45am, he didn't get to STL until 6:45pm. It was a drag to wait around for him all day, but praise the Lord he still got home on Wednesday and didn't get stuck out of the country for an extra day or two. When I first laid eyes on him at the airport I was shocked; my fiance has changed a lot in three short months! Twenty pounds lighter with a big burly beard (maybe he was trying to fit in with his Afghany associates?), he looked different, but once his arms wrapped around me in that airport I couldn't help but cry tears of joy to have my boy back!

His mom, grandma, aunt, and uncle came to visit the next day for lunch. We showed his aunt and uncle the house (they live in NY and had never seen it before), went to a yummy lunch at Olive Garden, and then stopped by the flower/produce stand to check out what they had out! They all headed back to Hannibal and Jonathan and I just hung out at the house for the rest of the day. Friday I finally got to show Jonathan the kitchen design I've been working on for the past couple of months at Lowe's. We ordered our new kitchen and will begin demolition and installation in about a month! Scary and exciting for sure. I was so thrilled that Jonathan loved the colors and layout as much as I did. Can't wait to see the finished product! Saturday we came back to Hannibal and hung out with his dad and Barbara. We went to Barbara's nephew's graduation party at Spirit Knob Winery in Ursa, IL. He played in his band, Highway 99, and we drank some wine and did a little dancing. It was so much fun! Yesterday (Sunday) we went to Gran Rio for lunch with his mom, Marc, and Sarah. Then we all went to see Iron Man 2 at the movie theater. It was really good!

Obviously I was more concerned with Jonathan getting to spend time with HIS family on his leave, but I have been most excited about him finally getting to meet his new baby niece Mia for the first time! It was the first time I had ever seen Jonathan hold a baby and let me just say, it was precious. She smiled at him so big and just melted his heart. I can't wait to have babies of our own! I just can't get over her funny expressions... it's hard to believe she's only three months old! What a doll. We ate some dinner and hung out with my dad, Kim, Jason, Courtney, Mia, Grandma, and Grandpa until about 9:00 last night! We were exhausted from another FULL day and couldn't wait to get to sleep. It's been a whirlwind since he's gotten home! For the first time since he got back, he's not with me (I'm at work) and that makes me super sad. He's in Hannibal hanging out with his dad while I'm at the office missing him. Too bad it's not "Bring Your Fiance To Work Day." 5:00 cannot come soon enough today!!

T-minus 2 Days!!

WEDNESDAY MORNING I'M PICKING JONATHAN

UP FROM THE ST. LOUIS AIRPORT!!!!

I wish he didn't have to go back on the 29th, but we will definitely make the most out of his time here. He's my other half and I haven't felt whole since he left! Can't wait to greet him at the airport with a big HUG AND KISS!

Mother's Day

It's easy to think about how much I love and respect my mom but sometimes I do forget a little bit and let life get in the way of my family relationships. Yesterday, Mother's Day, I was on the road for a couple hours and so had lots of time to think about how blessed I truly am.

First of all, my mom is an amazing person. When my dad was still trying to grow up, she had to be our family's rock. She had to make sure there was food on the table. She had to make sure my sister and I were taken care of. She had to make the important decisions for our family's future. Although I may never have understood it at the time, I am eternally grateful to her for stepping up and being the mom she had to be. Nobody's perfect, but she has always tried to do right by us girls.

(on our trip to Surfside Beach, TX - Summer '07)

14 years ago, my dad married Kim. She was already a great mother to my stepbrother, Jason, and immediately loved Kellie and I like we were her own. Over the years we have definitely had some ups and downs, but one thing I can always count on is that she will always be in my corner. When Dad tries to pressure me into anything, she is right there to back me up. When we talk about Jonathan, she says how excited she is for us to start our lives together. She even said she will come to our house in St. Louis to help us out with our future kids! She is without a doubt, my second Mom. I can only hope that Kellie will come around someday to see how great it is to have so much family in your life. Maybe when she becomes a mother herself (September) she will see the importance of having all the help you can get!

When it comes to my grandmothers, I could go on and on and on, but I'll try to be brief. Grandma Betty was a saint (seriously), Nanny has such a funny sense of humor and I think she really let me be me when I was little, Grammy embraces my quirks and makes me laugh all the time, Granny was an amazing woman who I will NEVER forget, Grandma Calvert adored all her children/grandchildren/great-grandchildren so much - I truly think it's who she lived for, Ada - I miss you all the time and am so thankful for all the memories we have together, you have really helped make me into the woman I am today, and Grandma Proske - you have embraced Kellie and I as your own grandchildren and I love you so much for that!

When I get married next year, I'll officially have two MORE moms! Annette and Barbara have been so sweet to me since the first day they met me and I couldn't ever ask for better Mother-In-Laws.

I hope that all my family and friends out there who have children had a fantastic Mother's Day!! If you have a mother or grandmother or just a special woman in your life, I hope you take the time to thank God for them everyday!

Gifts from South-Central Asia

Jonathan found this really cool painting at the Bazaar today. He said it's about 6' long and 18" high. It's hand painted on a woman's burqa and very fragile, so when he gets back on Wednesday then he's going to give it to me to have framed. I think it would be really cool to hang over our stairs or maybe to put above the guest bed. Can't wait to see what other treasures he brings home from Afghanistan!

TGIF!!

The jewelry party was a success! Andrea booked three more parties for the summer so it looks like I'll be buying a lot more jewelry in the next few months. I'm so excited to see all the free stuff I got from hosting the party last night.
Barb and I, once again, stayed up way too late on a weeknight, so I am very tired and ready for the weekend to officially start. I play volleyball at 6:00 tonight and then I'm hitting the road, heading to our house in St. Peters! The lawn definitely will need mowed tomorrow... I think I'm going to try to hire that out though. I wish my mom lived here to help me with all the yard stuff, I want to get all the flowers and plants in order around the house. The people who lived there before us did a great job with the greenery all over, but there just aren't any flowers, and I LOVE flowers! My goals for tomorrow include getting the yard mowed and weed-eated, getting all the weeds out from around the house, cleaning the living room blinds, and doing all of the floors in the house. We will see what actually gets done haha! OH and I also want to do some wedding planning... because in exactly one year from today we are getting married!!!! So exciting!


Side note:
I'm probably not supposed to put this on the internet, but I think an official "Skin Head" just put in a job application. He had a bald head with strange symbols tattooed on the back of it, a blonde goatee, blue contacts in (they were definitely contacts), and when he spoke he sounded high as a kite. Normally I try not to judge a book by its cover but in this case I couldn't help it. Maybe next time he applies for a job somewhere he should put on a real shirt (instead of one with the sleeves ripped out all the way) and not say such weird things. He got lost trying to leave and I had to point him to his girlfriend's car. So strange. Oh well, TGIF!!!

Lia Sophia Party!

Tomorrow I'm hosting a Lia Sophia jewelry party, with my cousin Andrea as our advisor. Hopefully more than three people will come; since I live in such a tiny apartment, I'm borrowing my cousin Justin's house for the party. I don't know what I'm more excited about, the jewelry or the snacks and wine! Check out the jewelry Andrea is selling at http://www.liasophia.com/ and let me know if you find anything you want to order!

I did my appetizer grocery shopping last night and bought some delicious Brie that I'm going to spread onto Melba Toast, topped with thinly sliced apples and pears... YUMMY! Also, I got the stuff to make my low-cal baked jalapeno poppers. I've never made them before but they sound heavenly! We're also stocked up on wine for tomorrow night - White Zin, Reisling, and Lambrusco.

If Friends Were Flowers, I'd Pick You

It always makes me laugh when people ask how the five of us girls came to be so close in the past year, because it's such a random way to find a great group of girls. Let's see... I started playing sand volleyball with Lauren four years ago. Alexis and I went to college together at HLG and became instant best friends. Alexis and Barb work together everyday in the same accounting department. LeeAnn used to date Alexis' roommate from last year who happens to also be one of my very best friends. PHEW! That's a lot to explain but it's so funny how life brings you to these places with such great people. Just last night we all got to get together to help Lauren celebrate her 23rd Birthday, and then Barb and I stayed up into the wee-hours of the night just talking and gossiping on the back stoop! Gotta love those heart-to-hearts. Did I mention all of us (except for Barb who lives right down the block) live in the same building?? It's like we're in college again! Well, I just wanted to give a shout out to my Quincy girls who have helped keep me super busy while Jonathan has been gone! Can't wait to see what kind of trouble we can get into this summer :)

From left to right... Alexis, Barb, Lauren, Meghan, LeeAnn

Wrigley Field 4-17-10

First Official Post!

The past year has been a whirlwind, with emotions ranging from despair to utter happiness. Right now I'm in a beautiful place in my life and am looking forward to a bright future with the love of my life, my family, and my best friends. While trying to enjoy my last summer in Quincy, IL, I'm anxiously awaiting the return of my fiance. Jonathan is working very long days in Afghanistan for another 3-4 months. He bought a house last August in St. Peters, MO and I couldn't be more excited to move in and really make it OUR home. The wedding will be May 7, 2011 and then I will be a full time city girl... if you can really count living in the suburbs of St. Louis as the "city." I'm not really sure what the theme of this blog will be except to chronicle my story as we embark on this adventure called life, plus any other tidbits I find on the way! Even though my mom's probably the only one who will ever read it...