Velvet with an Update

These were taken when we first got there and the sun was still bright. I love how it changes my hair color! 

 He doesn't like to smile in photos. lol Anyone else have this problem with their s/o?

So I know the above photo has mine and my aunt's vehicles in it, but I just like this photo.

This was in the end when we were running out of daylight, but I like that they are kind of dark. 

Hi guys! So I know that it has been super long since I've posted anything and I apolgize so very much. Long story short--wedding planning! It took over everything! Between working, researching, meeting, cleaning, cooking, etc. it just left me not enough time. I was already getting between 4-5 hours of sleep so blogging took a back burner for awhile. I am happy to say that all our vendors are booked! I think that was the hard part. I don't have a wedding planner so I was researching all the vendors that we needed and then narrowed it down to about 3-4. Then we had to go meet with them and because we live far away from almost every vendor, it was a lot of late nights after work and a lot of our weekends. 

We haven't really run into any issues besides my dress place. I will talk about that after the wedding is over. I feel like I didn't get to enjoy this Christmas as I usually do or at least until this very weekend because of all the rushing around. I did mail out our save the dates this month. Look for my instagram post this week on a sneak peak of them! We are still slowly fixing the house up. We got a new washer and painted the laundry room! Yay! lol I think the next thing we are doing is ripping up the carpet and putting down floors. I'm definitely excited about that--I can't stand carpet. Anyone else feel the same?

So the photos above were taken because I originally wanted to do a Christmas card this year dressed up because I really loved this green velvet dress from Lulus. When I saw it, I had to have it! I've been looking for a velvet dress in green (my fave color) for such a long time, but green was actually hard to find before this year. Either no one had anything in that color or it sold out quick. Then this fall/winter it was like green was everywhere! I am loving it! Lulus acutally has a lot of different style green velvet dresses to choose from. I would definitely go check it out. And if green is not your color, they have others to choose from like navy and burgundy. 

So we took these photos and in more than half of them (my aunt took at least 200) my wonderful loving fiance did not smile in them! Ugh! lol He does not like to smile in photos even though he has no reason not to (i.e. his teeth are fine). There were so many photos that I loved but couldn't use. Anyway, time got away from me and we ended up not doing a card this year but at least I have these pictures to look back on. 

I'm definitely excited about 2018. Anyone else ready to start a new year? Lots of exciting things will be happening this year. If anyone has any questions about anything, please let me know! Would love to hear from you!

Dress ~ Lulus 

Photos were taken at The Old Field Vineyards 

Happy New Year!!

xoxo

Michelle 

Carlisle 2017 & Life Update

Uncle's truck

Apparently my self-tanner did not work as much as I thought it did! Please ignore my pale legs! 

I am a huge fan of Def Leppard-I have seen them 3 times so far!

That is my uncle's name on the plate

Hi guys! It's been awhile since my last post. So much has been going on. I feel like I have hardly been home-just enough to eat dinner and sleep and then wake up and go to work and do it all again. Nate and I were away twice in August. The first vacay was for four days in Carlisle, PA for the Carlisle All-Truck Nationals. These pictures on today's post are from there. If you have read prior posts, you will know that I love trucks and cars and that my uncle has several tractor-trailer trucks.  I know that not all girls are into that, but it's what makes me...me and I love it. The show starts on a Friday and goes until Sunday. People bring their pickups and tractor-trailers. Some are working trucks and others are for show. My uncle has at least one truck he brings to the show each year. If you are into this sort of thing, it's a lot of fun. You walk around (a lot) and see all the different trucks. We hang out and BBQ with friends. It's definitely an all day thing. This year they had a pet adoption in one of the buildings and they were all so adorable. One almost came home with us but we want to rip out the carpet in our house first and put wood floors down. Last year they had more vendors for girls than this year but the seeing the dogs made up for it! Ha! I don't think we will be going next year just because our wedding would be the week after and it would be too hectic. I guess the following year we will try to go! 

Then our second vacay was for three days up in Portland, Maine. Nate's birthday was July 28 but I took him in August to the Lobster Boat races. He's always wanted to go so I thought it would be a great gift for his 30th birthday! We stayed in a cute B&B and enjoyed walking around to all the little shops and restaurants in Portland. 

The rest of August was busy with a bridal expo and lots of appointments meeting with vendors and I am happy to say we booked a venue! Our date is August 11, 2018. Now comes the fun part meeting with all the other vendors! This month we were suppose to go to Disney with my mom from September 10 through the 17th. As you all know Hurricane Irma hit so we had to cancel our trip. Hope everyone was stayed safe down there! Instead Nate and I are going to another truck show this weekend in NJ. Then my mom and I are going into the city (NYC) Monday-Wednesday. I'm so excited! We will be seeing a play or two. My mom wants to see Aladdin (she saw it once and loved it!) and I want to see Phantom of the Opera. Has anyone seen any of these? What are your thoughts? Also, any good places to eat? We are staying at the Wyndham located on 45th Street and 3rd Avenue.

Graphic Tee ~ Forever 21 

Shorts ~ Express 

Please let me know any questions or thoughts!

Thanks for reading!!

~Michelle 

Engaged!!!

Hi guys!! So I am engaged!!! (Technically since July 23!) If you saw my Instagram first, you read that I would share the details here on why I am announcing it now. First, I'll tell you the story on how it came about. I knew that we would get engaged before October, I just didn't know when. We had gone ring shopping over late winter/early spring so he knew what I had wanted. (Yes, I am that picky and particular about things...lol....that I wanted to pick out my ring and then he could get it or something very similar when the time came).

 Now, a week before July 23 which was a Sunday btw--we were still discussing the ring and that he was looking at different places to find it. He had said that we had to go to MA on that Sunday (July 23) to deliver a boat part for his dad (his dad is a commercial fisherman and this is not unusual as we have done it before). So I was like okay, no big deal. 

The day before that I had a graduation party to attend so on Thursday night I was painting my toes and he goes "why don't you get your nails done". Just FYI--it's not often I get my nails done. Usually just for my birthday, Christmas, and special events. So that kinda tipped my off right there but I didn't say anything and was still a little confused as we had just talked about him not even finding the ring yet. I definitely suspected something would happen that Sunday or even the following weekend which was his birthday. 

So on that Sunday before we got on the ferry, we had to stop by his parents house to pick up the boat part from his mom. That particular day the weather was actually a little cool out for July (I was wearing a sweater). Also, my allergies were horrible and I was battling inflammation of my eyes and had to wear my glasses--no contacts were allowed--so I was a little miserable that day. 

Once we were in Fairhaven, MA we decided to stop at the Fort Phoenix State Reservation. Again, this wasn't out of the ordinary either as we had gone here in January. This place is located at the Fairhaven-New Bedford harbor. The fort is in the era of the American Revolutionary War. The view is amazing when you walk all the way out to the end which we couldn't do in January because it was way too cold and windy so we took the opportunity to do it now while it was nice. 

So we walked out there and he was standing there for a while (turns out because he was waiting for people to stop walking near us) and then he proposed! He had told me that he called my dad (he lives in NC) and asked him and also went and saw my step-dad and asked him as well. It was totally unnecessary but he did it anyway and they were both really happy that he did that. He said my dad was almost crying! And FYI--there was no boat part in that box we picked up! Ha! 

Now for the reasons why I am announcing now. Well, that day I definitely didn't want pictures taken with my glasses on and nose all red from allergies so we were going to wait to take photos. Then my ring was too big (they wouldn't size it even though he knew what my size is--they said I had to come in). I wanted to wear it that day so I just kept my hand in a fist all day so it wouldn't fall off! 

The next day after work, we went to get it sized. They have to send it out so it would take about a week. I was suppose to pick it up on Wednesday August 2 but it missed the shipment and we were leaving to go away the next day and wouldn't be back until Sunday night. Let's just say my fiance and I were a little upset but what can you do. So I picked it up on Monday August 7. Then because we both work during the week and don't get home until late, we would need to have our pictures done on the weekend (plus he needed to get a hair cut lol).  Friday we had plans to go to Southampton and watch a movie in the park and Saturday's weather was not good so we took the above photos on Sunday with my uncle's girlfriend. We just wanted a couple photos of us at the beach. We didn't want to spend a crazy amount of money on professionally done engagement photos. We would rather put that money towards the wedding. So finally it is all out there now! 

We picked out the venue and date--August 11, 2018! I'm thinking about doing some posts on wedding planning as I go along--what do you guys think? What would you like to see?

Thank you all for reading!!

xoxo

~Michelle 

Montauk

Hi guys! So I'm guessing you are wondering why I've been MIA. I apolgize it's been awhile. This is the longest I've gone since I started blogging. So if you are not aware already, I wear contacts basically everday and my glasses only once in awhile. I've been having some eye problems in the last year but a few weeks ago it was the worst that it's been. My eyes were very inflamed. They were sensitive to light and it was hard to read, watch TV, and go on the computer. For those who don't know, I work full time as a credit analyst and I'm on the computer all day long. In addition, I love reading books and magazines and then I'm also working on my blog. It's pretty safe to say that I strain my eyes a lot. I went to the doctor and had to be put on special drops and wear my glasses for 2 weeks (no contacts). Has anyone else had these problems? I would love to hear your comments if you have. In that time, I decided to give my eyes a break and not blog. I also didn't read as much. I can finally start to wear my contacts again on Friday--yay!! Now that you are up to date, let's move on to today's post!

Montauk! I think everyone has heard of this town at least once in their life or have at least been. I'm pretty embarrased to admit that I have lived on Long Island my whole life and this was my first time going to Montauk (at age 34 btw). Even though it is on the South Fork and I live on the North Fork, it's not that far away. I live in Greenport right now and I can take the ferry over to Shelter Island and from there take another ferry over to Sag Harbor (these ferries are about a 10 min ride) and then it's about a half hour drive. If I drove all the way around, it would take more than an hour, especially in the summer traffic.

So I wish I could say that my boyfriend and I had a whole day or weekend planned out for Montauk and I could give you a whole list of places to try out of restaurants and shops, but that is not the case in this story. Summer is the busy season for my boyfriend who owns a seafood store in Greenport. He mostly works seven days a week so we don't do too much together until night time. In addition to having the store, he also does farmers markets and he had planned on doing the one in Montauk this summer. He wanted to go check on the location of where it would be held so we thought we could go over and spend a little time over there.

Montauk Point Lighthouse was one of the places we wanted to go to. We went all the way to the top and the view as you can see was gorgeous! It was a little scary walking up though because the spiral stairs are open meaning you can see below all the way down as you go up and I have such a fear that I was going to fall through! Then on top of that the railing on one side is a rope and the stairs are so narrow and you have to give people coming down the right of way. So when they come down you have to move over to your right side which there is no wall. Holy crap--I still get shivers thinking about it. I was holding onto my boyfriend for dear life and he had to keep my calm so that I wouldn't get a panic attack (yes, I get them sometimes--that will be a whole other post to get into!). But once we made it to the top, I was fine and the view made it worth it! BTW--going down the stairs was a lot easier! You can't see in my pictures, but there was a wedding ceremony going on outside the lighthouse so I was able to watch for a bit. What a beautiful place to have it at!

We also went to Gosmans to have lunch and go to a couple stores. You can see from the pictures, it's like this little town where they have a bunch of shops and restaurants. It's very cute. We went into some stores to get things for our house and we wanted everything! We said we would have to come back at a later time to get more stuff. We ate at Gosmans Restaurant (there are other Gosmans places to eat at--see the link). To be honest, we didn't think the food was that good and it was expensive for what we got which was fried calamari and burgers. The calamari wasn't that cripsy and very chewy. The burgers were not cooked to how we ordered them and the fries tasted like fish. The place is definitely beautiful and I think a good time to hang out at, but not to eat. I think you are basically paying for the name.

Has anyone else been to Montauk? What places have you gone to and suggest? Leave me a comment!

As for what I am wearing--the top is from Morning Lavender but has sold out. So sorry! I've linked similar styles here, here, and here.


Thanks so much for reading!

~Michelle