Johnny Depp makes an odd Willy Wonka

Ladies and Gentleman...

[or, as my father would proclaim:]

"Ladies and Germs"

[Some] of our engagement pictures have arrived!

The cold noses, frozen finger tips and excessive amount of time spent on blow-drying my hair [okay, so maybe it was just a normal amount of time but we all know how much I detest showering...who's counting!?] paid off! Our photographer has delivered us a perfectly bundled package of classic/not-so-classic, just-artsy-enough, at sunset, killer back drops combined with an even more killer eye for the usually unusual and picture-esuqe-- this concoction of adjectives thus describes our engagement photos. Now, we've been provided with 25 edits and will receive a second disk that holds the full array of un-edits to do with as we wish. Since our initial for-fun photos illuminate brightness and summer-time I think it's pretty awesome and time-line-ish that our actual engagements depict an appropriate at-dusk, fall time theme. We thought we would share a few for kicks and giggles.. . .

.. . ..we can't exactly tie ACTUAL knots with our fingers..so this is the most accurate portrayal of "tangled" that we could get.

.. . .just standing under a weeping willow..staring [adoringly]

.. .Pondering @ Grant Park

. .I kind of threw out the whole "to be or not to be" train of thought..it's all relative...and not as much fun as clumsily destroying a perfectly good bow-tie for the sake of a kiss...

<--ENGAGED. Like, Duh!

.. .please note that my dress was a size too big and caused a bulge in the belly. Also, this is Zach's favorite

And, of course...you remember [or maybe you don't] our previous introductory blog-photo that looked like something out of a J Crew add..minus that my eyes were still debating on whether or not they wanted to open...

. .okay, so that concludes YOUR sneak preview. I left my absolute favorites out of the mix as to not prematurely expose them. Oh, and, the new-new blog title photo is also an example of engagement madness...I love that the Krogg Street bridge backdrop adorns an "EVERYTHING LASTS FOREVER" banner. Kind of fitting, eh?

In an abbreviated update: 

• we survived "Snowpocalypse 2011," unscathed. We occupied ourselves with working out, and sledding at all hours of the night [thought: why is it that all of the havoc we wreak happens AFTER the sun sets. Are we fang-less vampires? Or hairless Werewolves? Food for thought.] and lots of movies. I've got some photos and blurbs to post concerning such topics-- in due time. 
• Some butt hole bought our discounted Crate and Barrel couch a mere 12 hours after we'd decided that it was THE couch. We should have been less concerned about the road conditions and more concerned about someone snatching up our goods. Ya snooze Ya lose. That being said: after A LOT of pouting and a decent amount of disappointment--we're on the hunt again! 
• I've lost over 10 pounds since this time last year [seriously] and only have 8 more to lose before I'm at my wedding goal weight. I'm going to continue gorging myself on Chick Fil A for about another month or so-- I figure, I'll start getting obsessively serious once the New Years Resolution-ers realize that they're out of steam. Of course, I'm still running like a mad-woman. Speaking of, my room mate and I are running a half marathon in Tennessee at the end of April. 

Stay tuned.. .we've got a potential snow boarding trip in the works, invitations just waiting to be designed and ordered [our goal is to get that done this week...procrastinate much?] and a wedding to attend.. .after I work a sickening amount of over-time in order to bring my case load up to date after 3 snow days. Thanks Mother Nature! 

Until next time...

Z+M

Comp Day[s], Mini-Road Trips and Fishies.. *

I think I'm starting to get the hang of this whole "big girl job" thing. It feels good [sometimes] to be out of my pull-ups and into fancy-meant to be pressed [but aren't because I woke up too late]-slacks. Mainly because I've experienced the beauty of comp-days and being salaried. I can't stay away from biochemistry forever but until I'm fit to make my return, it's fun to dabble in that of the totally unrelated. I took this past Friday off with the intention of ordering wedding invitations and wreaking some havoc with my fine fiancee... .we were going to get so much done and have the satisfaction of knocking numerous tasks off of our forever growing to-do list....in theory. What actually happened was breakfast at Chick-Fil-A, unsuccessfully lurking around A Paper Affair for an embarrassingly small amount of time before bolting for Chattanooga. As in Tennessee. As in the Tennessee Aquarium. Our main motivation for our great escape from Georgia was to feast our hungry eyes on Tahitian Wave featuring Kelly Slater via IMAX. We arrived roughly an hour prior to show time which enabled us to hang with those with gills and fins for a while...we were more entertained with petting rays, pestering penguins and climbing man-made rock walls than we were with the actual fish.. .. .... .

Tahitian Wave immediately had us both lusting for salt water, the tangible concept of an endless summer and natural Kelly Slater-esque surf abilities. I think we are both way too much of weenies to attempt to conquer any form of a Tahitian wave so we'll stick to dreaming and watching delicious documentaries. Speaking of delicious, we may or may not have shamelessly [over] indulged in some Buffalo Wild Wings....if you haven't tried the Asian Zing sauce.. I recommend it. 

Next: Pre-Registering-Window-Shopping at Lenox! We decided that before we are armed with the magical beepy scanny device, we should take mental inventory of a few stores to ensure that.. . 

A) we pick the stores most fitting to us and 

B) we don't prematurely go beepy scanny device happy and register for a sleuth of things we don't need or that don't go together.

While innocently exploring Crate and Barrel we found our future couch--upholstered in buttery dark brown leather and constructed with the concept of rejuvenating naps in mind. The best part of our soon-to-be-seating is that it is not only 50% off it's original price of $2,700 but it is an additional few hundred dollars off for the floor sample. It's 88 inches in length and is deep and glorious. We would have taken 'er home by now but on account of the snow and icy road conditions, Crate and Barrel has been closed. Mark my words-- if they open their doors tomorrow, you can bet your lucky stars that Zach and I will be anxiously waiting with check book in hand... 

I'm incredibly anxious to get moved into our new home so I can start decorating and see how everything will look all set-up and what not. And of course, share some personal photos rather than click and drag internet thumbnails. It will be interesting to see how our new baby fits in our living room considering that the measurements of said new baby just barely made the cut. We really wanted a nice leather piece for our main living room-- leather is just timeless to me, it can work in virtually any set-up and under any version of decor. So, while it will presently serve as our main living room couch-- it could down the road be great seating in an office or a secondary living area. Next up we'll be in the market for some nice chairs and an accommodating end table to top off the living room seating. We've found a great mirror that we love at Pottery Barn [also severely discounted but it has yet to be purchased. Do we need it?] and have some other minor wall ornamentation but we don't want to take away from the focal point[s] of our living room....which incidentally also serves as our entrance hall-- we have a killer fireplace above which we will hang our TV. Here's the thing-- the painful reality: Zach and I like nice stuff.. Who doesn't? Unfortunately, nice stuff=$$$. But because I am my mother's daughter and am very conscious of what's a reasonable price and what's a ridiculous one and also my father's daughter who like him, believes in spending a little more on excellent quality-- well... it's a pretty good balance so far. We'll see how many boxes of Ramen noodles I go through to promote plans for furnishing and remodeling our soon-to-be-home.

Enough with the house stuff, right? 

We're going on day 3 of being snowed in [with the exception of a few runs to the gym and to RedBox.. I have a new appreciation for German engineering with all wheel drive]. More to come on that later.. .until then, I'm going to snuggle with my husband-to-be and watch movies until our eyes are red and strained, after which we'll attempt to make the most enormous of snowmen-- in the dark.

Until next time....

Z+M

I'm drunk on sugar

T'Was the night before Christmas. . .and all 

through [Stacye + Bob's] house. Not a creature was stirring [except for a Maxine, 2 doggies and 2 kitties]. Not even a mouse. Mainly because I would have already found something to squish it with.. . 

Zachery just

departed for Atlanta after a day of consuming unnatural, excessive, diabetic coma inducing sized portions of fudge. 

Our personal poisons: Me-- Butterfinger Fudge and Peanut Butter Fudge. Zach-- Rocky Road Fudge, Chocolate/Walnut Fudge and Toffee Chip Fudge. He argues that he's bringing one piece to his dad but I only half way believe him

We spent the day bouncing around in small-mountain-town-esque stores and well, eating. Next time we'll come equipped with hike-worthy shoes. It's hard to believe that a little over a year ago Zach and I were going on our first date. I think just experienced a temporary lapse in woman-li-ness....how could I forget that we exchanged gifts!? Zach has once again made it impossible for me to "one-up" him. First I get a killer ring-- now he's presented me with a gorgeous designer wallet, a new edition version of my signature scent [Chanel/Chance] and 2 really amazing Nike pull-overs [featured on me in the photo above, and also in the post concerning the 5k I ran in reindeer antlers and knee high socks]. I don't care how tacky it is to broadcast my new digs via the internet. I'm stoked. In exchange, I gave Zach some Bose Noise Canceling headphones, a snow boarding trip, a handful of Michael Kors ties and his favorite socks. Needless to say, we're both lucky that our significant other has such fantastic taste! Even more needless to say-- I think both my brown-eyed boy and I are ready to hit the snow [since we can't hit the surf]. On a semi-related note: I've pinky promised Zach that I will FINALLY purchase a new long-board over New Years weekend. I think the reality of this pinky promise is that Zach wants HIS board back-- I've been holding it hostage for.... months.

I suppose that I'd better focus my attention on the 24-hour "A Christmas Story" marathon and dive into some more wedding research... . before the sugar high dissipates. .. .Speaking of Christmas. ..There's a 60% chance that I'll have a white one up here..  .which would soil my plans of driving into Atlanta for the morning/afternoon.. .however, it would give me ample time to concoct/take the most extravagant bubble bath EVER. 


In lieu of revealing some tid-bits of wedding research that I have yet to conduct.. .here are some photos of my last Christmas here in my North Georgia sanctuary.. . 

 

As per usual: Love & Hugs

Z+M

Where's the money tree?!

It’s Officially Winter. Which means—

the cold? It ain’t goin’ no where. 

Zach and I thought that in celebration of the ACTUAL arrival of winter and accompanying chilling temperatures—we would take our engagement pictures! 


Sunday afternoon we met with our photographer [founder of Sharif Hassan Photography/The Bowtie] around 4 to so that the symphony of shutters could begin. First and foremost—let me tell you about our photographer.. . 

His name is “Beefy"

okay, so maybe on his birth certificate it says “Sharif Hassan” but who pays attention to the fine print, anyway!? Beefy sports the most impressive handle bar mustache in all of the land. He lives in Atlanta and shoots everything from pin-up girls to extreme sports and outdoors to engagements and weddings. He probably dedicates about 50% of his time to his amazing photography and 50% to waxing his mustache. Either way, I HIGHLY recommend him. He did a ton of research to help us find some good spots to shoot and was totally easy to work with. He’s goofy, laid back but incredibly talented and professional. I don’t know how many of you have actually experienced having your engagement pictures taken—or even portraits but I will let you into this little gem of knowledge: no matter how much you love each other or how comfortable you are in front of a camera.. .it’s unavoidably awkward. 

Feast your eyes on our photographer and his mustache.... .

We hit up Grant Park first to skip in the leaves and kiss under weeping willows before moving onto the bridge on Estoria and then the infamous Krogg Street Bridge where “Everything Lasts Forever,” we ended the shoot on some seemingly abandoned train tracks between East Atlanta and Grant Park—there were rows of stationary choo-choo trains covered in graffiti. It was pretty dark by that time but I’m hopeful that at least some of the later shots turned out. It’ll be a few weeks before we’re able to broadcast a sneak peek but we’re incredibly anxious/excited to see the end result(s)—which we will send out with our invitations.

Oh, invitations. We should get on picking those out… . .

After our engagement pictures were finished and our noses, fingers and toes were sufficiently frozen we headed to our friend’s house to make gingerb.. er, graham cracker houses. Zach and I teamed up and decided that we would put his architectural genius to use by constructing an impressive double wide trailer .complete with obnoxious colored “Christmas lights” and even more obnoxious lawn ornaments. 

[Glorified Trailer Trash... ]

Although it feels like we haven’t done much else aside from emptying our pockets on behalf of this time of year [spending ample amount of time in the home-goods section in Anthropologie has been the demise of my bank account]—it’s nice to have festive time together. And seeing friends has been awesome as well. Between edible house building, tacky Christmas sweater parties, cut-throat games of scategory and traditional holiday parties with some of my wonderful friends.. .we’re feeling festive. Slightly cheesy. But festive none-the-less.

[Us Plotting to Win Scategories]

Followed by:

[The crew of newly-weds and soon-to-be-weds at Clark and Monique's Tacky sweater game night]

Followed by:

My French friend Shelley, My professional ballerina/personal shopper friend Liz and I at Liz and Jeremy's Christmas party]

In other news, I’ve eaten the equivalent of my body weight in peanut butter fudge today. I’m incredibly anxious to hit the gym after work. Then I’ll probably just eat some more. I was so excited to get back into a size 2 and now it seems as if my new goal is to compete for the highest weight against a small elephant. I've arrived at my vineyard sanctuary to indulge in some heavy duty relaxation and more heavy duty wedding research. And running on mountain roads. But we’ve already covered that in a previous post—no one is supposed to tell my mother, remember? I’ll probably reveal wedding color possibilities and expose our [my] possible ideas for décor this.. . .Oh, and flowers. I need to pick those.

I wish someone would tell me: Does this wedding "to-do" list EVER end!?

Back to the Anthropologie stuff: Zach has forbidden me from decorating our entire house in such a way. Mainly because this style CAN be over-done.. .and in large doses it could transform a space into the likes of a fashionable grandmother-type's home. So, I'm sticking with accents here and there rather than following a stuffy color scheme-- okay so I'm sure our "grown up" dish ware will have some sort of consistent theme. Back to the here and now: Our kitchen is modest in size and the paint color will likely remain the same champagne-ish-dark-ivory that it currently is... .I'm hoping that we can eventually install a backsplash of subway tiles. Like I said...accents.


Item # 1: Fancy Paisley Spoon Rest. Which my sister-in-law to be also owns but if some thing is cute enough, I will shamelessly play copy-cat.

Item # 2: Un-designated Containers. They're cute. They were $4. And they can look killer displayed with or with out a purpose.. . 

Item # 3: Measuring Cups. These are pretty self-explanatory. And adorable. Hello Fashion. Meet Function. 

Item # 4: These are supposed to be candle votives. But that ain't happenin'. Okay so. FIRST of all. I did NOT buy purple. I bought a really killer bright turquoise and a bright-ish yet mustard-ish yellow-- they just weren't featured on the website. And they will serve as toothbrush holders in our bathrooms. 

Until Next Time

Z+M

A Million Miles A Minute

I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed.. . .but.. . .it's cold. And cold means... 

HoLiDaYs!! 

.. . and lots of road races.

After bandit running the Thanksgiving Day half-marathon,joining LA Fitness [which has become my second.. .err, third home], and the impressive amount of food I've consumed over the past few weeks: has anyone ever eaten at Ria's Blue Bird Cafe? It's down off of Memorial across from Oakland Cemetary-- best pancakes ever, and I know a thing or 5 about good pancakes. Oh! And my dear friend Monique Hilton introduced me to the Nutella + Burnt Marshmallow milkshake at Flip. Oh! And lots of holiday cookies. I could go-on with the Oh-ing but I'm not sure if I want to verbally regurgitate all of the sinfully delicious [fattening] things I've consumed in the past I-don't-know-how-long. The moral of the story is that I'm really addicted to running. My room mate and side kick Jenna Kimble, and our good friends Lina Weathers [new to road races] and Brady Alles [road race virgin] decided that we were going to participate in the Jingle Jog.. .which was this morning. Our attire consisted of knee-high white + red striped socks, reindeer antlers and of course, jingling bells on our shoes... . *Pause for photo interruption*

[our socks are pretty epic and the bells on our shoes kept us annoyingly aware of our pace as well as how many joggers surrounded us]

[From Left: Brandy Alles, Lina Weathers, Yours Truly and Jenna Kimble

I'd give our attire a thumbs up. However, there was a group of high school dudes who dressed in brown, adorned reindeer names on their shirts, and ran holding reigns that pulled a "sleigh," in which sat a very young, thin and beardless Santa Clause. I think they win in both creativity, impracticality and narcissism-- either way, it was impressive]

[After finishing in relatively awesome time, collecting our t-shirts and catching our breaths.. I decided to ambush Lina, who ROCKED at her run]

We returned home with frozen noses and fingers but with a sense of satisfaction and anticipation for the next road race-- which will take place January 29, 2011.

In Zach and Maxine news: we've sent out most of our "Save the Dates"-- we were still waiting on a few addresses [in my defense, said addresses were my dear fiancee's responsibility to acquire] and are eager to move onto creating the rest of our "paper stuff." The wedding madness has taken a back seat to the holidays and chaos that is every day existence. Zachery will finally be able to catch his breath after this coming weeks finals at which time we'll do our professional engagement pictures and finalize invitation verbiage and design. Oh, and spend some quality time together. In the mean time, we're doing things like Christmas shopping, yawning and bleeding the days together. 

In 175 days we will be husband + wife. I'm looking forward to being able to do things like: DECORATE our house-- right now it's full of boys who are too busy and sleep deprived on account of their respective educations and careers to worry about the aesthetics of the house: ENTER MAXINE. I can't wait to throw in some feminine [but not too girly] touches, organization and style. We're so blessed to have such an amazing [future] home-- we're in a debt of gratitude to The McClure's for all they're doing on the "home front." I'm constantly reminded how lucky Zach and I are to each have such great sets of parents. Back to the things I'm looking forward to being able to do....GROCERY SHOP/COOK-- it's hard living in two separate places and not having an abundance of time we can spend together to warrant grocery shopping [for 2] and having a constant supply of things that make cooking possible oh, and utensils...kind of important. And of course.. the most important and most exciting thing will be when both Zach and I will be referring to the same place when we say "HOME." Also, I'm REALLY* looking forward to registering for our "wish list" of wedding gifts. I'm trying to slowly accumulate things here and there-- the next BIG* purchase I intend on making is either going to be a fancy T.V. or a living room set. Of course, we WELCOME hand-me-downs and I already have some things waiting for me [us] in storage.. .but IF possible and IF affordable, new stuff is great too. We recently embarked on a Christmas shopping mission and made out by only buying a few things for ourselves [I HAD to invest in these adorable latte bowls from Anthropologie and some vintage gift tags... .

<-- I mean, seriously. They were $5/each. I got 2 in this color and I let Zach pick a color as well. Of course, he kept in manly + went with a gray. Which actually is a killer color combination. I am an advocate of Anthropologie's home goods.

Adorable? Yes. 

Unique? Yes. 

Classic Vintage with a Contemporary Twist? Yes. Overpriced? Absolutely. 

.. .but who cares!? I'm piece by piece collecting things from my beloved and favorite store to place around our home. It's all about the details. 

As for our actual Christmas festivities: I am going to take a 3 day hiatus from life and spend Christmas Eve through the 26th housesitting at the most beautiful place in the world. We're talking ACTUAL* rest, people-- all of the bubble baths I can handle, love from the sweetest puppy around and probably an [un]healthy abundance of reading. And of course running. I love running on those mountain roads... .although, they're wind-y and don't have "shoulders" let alone sidewalks. Don't tell my mother. I'll pop into town on Christmas morning to visit with The Tis family and to watch the little boys tear through wrapping paper [if you know me at all, you know how close to my heart these people are]. My momma bear is working on Christmas but of course Zach and I will make a pit-stop by Chateau De Dounis to see Georgie [aka Scrooge], Joseph and Grandpa Victor either before and/or after making our way to McClure-ville. We'll schedule a Dounis Christmas re-do on a day where my mother is free from Grady's grasp.

Nothing REALLY* exciting has come to fruition in the past few weeks. Or maybe the have and we're just holding out? We can't spill ALL* of the beans or else no one will have to come to the wedding to know what it looks like! And we would like to maintain our guest list as well as our element of surprise.

I'm counting seconds until Zach is done with finals so we can wreak havoc all over Atlanta. I admit that watching him suffer through finals is making me miss being in school...I anticipate returning.

We'll leave you with this "gem." Zach had a full-on beard and decided, after numerous itch attacks and feeling like an animal had taken up residence on his face-- he shaved...only...he shaved a really offensive and really hilarious mustache....which I made him shave off.. ..

Anyway. We love you ALL*

Until next time.

Z+M

Oh Hai Blog. We Meet Again

After addressing 100+/- envelopes for our "Save the Date" cards.. . .licking 100+/- envelopes.. . .creating a wedding website and of course enduring the frustrating and seemingly endless process of collecting addresses.

I.Am.Spent.

...and it's only just begun.

Uh-Oh.

And, I'm pretty sure that my taste buds are forever tainted.. ..

The Ugly Truth I've learning through this process is that: Wedding Guest Lists are impossible. Deciding who makes the proverbial cut and who doesn't is exhausting and emotionally draining... . but we have to draw a line in the sand at some point. The Beautiful Truth: we've fabricated a list of the people who we love to share in celebrating the beginning of our Happily Ever After.

A new post complete with pictures and a legitimate, [as usual] long-winded update is in the making and will probably go public tomorrow. Somewhere in between, all of the licking, excessive running, long hours at work, Zach's life-consuming homework, the sudden presence of winter and my impressively filthy car... I've not made the time to update. But don't give up on us just yet. With the holidays at our fingertips and being seconds away from freedom [from Georgia Tech's death-grip]-- we are feeling more motivated to giving our blog the TLC it needs to be brought up-to-date.

Stay Tuned. Please?

Re: Wedding Website: www.theknot/ourwedding/MaxineDounis&ZachMcClure

We included the link to our blog [aka: here] on some of our "Save the Dates" so that our guests, specifically those who are traveling, can access the details about the monumentally epic day that will be June 4, 2011 as well as additional information about our sketchy, glamorous town--A T L A N T A.

Tomorrow. I promise. Just get comfortable on the edge of your seats until then and I promise-- I PROMISE that your curiosity will be satiated. I'm not sure that I completely understand the concept of patience but I'm hoping that you do :)

Tomorrow!

I promise!

Z+M



. .. Regurgitating 21 days in less than 1 hour.. .

Fact: I've been a slacker.

I always wanted a time machine. Or a rocket ship. Or both. So, let's put our imagination hats on and rewind to roughly 21 days ago... . I can't promise that my brain won't turn to a forgetful ball of unorganized mush, and let's face it, I've never been terrific at timelines but cheers to doing to my best. Shall we? Oh, and, forgive my typos... or don't.. . .I'm aware that they exist however, I don't have the time or desire to correct them :)

As of three weeks ago we were finally* able to close the chapter on Zach's 26th birthday (He's not a woman therefore I can shamelessly display his age on the internet). I knew that I had to do something incredible considering that for my birthday-- although, lil' Bonky argues that it wasn't FOR or ON my birthday-- I got a sparkly ring, a sweet and very unexpected proposal and a fiancee. I admit to being annoyingly competitive but even my ruthlessness could not conjure a birthday scenario that would top August 20/21. White flag in hand, I flew his best friend and brother from another mother down, well.. . over from Utah. Christian Tyler Smith. Walking into Zach's house that Friday night to greet Christian I realized what I was up against--- two equally indecisive, quiet yet incredibly quick tongued men who were [no joke] wearing almost the exact same outfit. From the Shirt to the jeans to the shoes. Now the sad part about this adorable matching pair of men was that this was not a situation where their mothers dressed them alike so that they could easily identify one another should they be separated at the zoo.. . .this was the presentation of two men in their mid-twenties who coincidentally matched in both attire and mannerisms. That Friday night we ventured to OK Cafe to indulge in the clogging of arteries and the exchanging of romantic stories. Later we found ourselves at Atlantic Station fighting to get into the gangster-esque movie, The Town. After Zach and I realized that we had purchased the last 2 tickets to The Town we opted for Wall Street and all passed out on our own respective couches back at Zach's long before the sun rose. Saturday the boys went and whacked golf balls while I went on a sweaty 6 mile run before heading to Bobby Cox's last weekend at the head of Brave's County. No, I am not wearing a wig. I am temporarily dabbling with the dark side.. .I will be back to my dizzy blond self come June 4, 2011 but as result of very dead, continuously splitting ends and a curious fiancee I am temporarily giving my follicles a rest. With our "standing room only" tickets and overpriced foot long hotdogs in tow we managed to steal some rich people's seats and eventually make it down to the field... .by way of walking on the unstable seats. Someone might have fallen through the chairs whilst attempting this trick. That someone may or may not have been me. Oh, and again.. . .they matched.

Much to our dismay Christian realized on Sunday morning that he had conveniently missed his flight. I do not imply sarcasm when I say "conveniently," I mean to imply that because Christian missed his flight we were able to act as gluttons and devour some sinfully delicious Waffle House. Judge us. I really couldn't care less. A few hours and few hundred dollars later, Christian was on his way back to Utah. Although a county lies between the two, I am convinced that they are probably wearing coordinating outfits without knowing it at this very second. In addition to a meddlesome weekend of out-of-town-best-friend-debauchery, I included a homemade scrapbook which details some of our monumental adventures through photographs, receipts and hand written personal accounts by yours truly after a nice dinner at Rathbun's aaaaaannnnnddddddd a new iPhone 4. Needless to say, we'll be exchanging pocket lint and smiles for Christmas. 

The following weekend I got to experience a little girl time with my long-time buddy Stevie Lynn.. . whose last name I am still unable to correctly pronounce. After she had experienced a rather trying week between work and personal life and I had.. .well, I had just had a regular week but who's counting!? We decided that the most effective way to cheer her up would be to go apple picking in North-ish Georgia. We started out towards Hillcrest Orchards and after a lot of traffic, about 6,000 calls to Zach begging for directions and so much [good] conversation that I'm sure both of our mouths were dry-- we arrived!!! We meandered through most-ly picked through trees and stared in awe of the ground which seemed to be generously decorated with all of the GOOD apples-- which was mildly frustrating as they have this ridiculous rule of NO PICKING APPLES UP OFF OF THE GROUND. I'm sure they also have a rule demanding that no one climb the trees in the orchard, which I took pride in breaking: Okay, so maybe they don't have a rule because they assume it to be common sense-- their mistake. After grazing the orchards, devouring homemade ice cream and spending ample time "sight seeing" [THAT many brands of hill billy all in one place at one time-- how could we not take advantage at such a rare opportunity!?] we pressed onward toward the petting zoo where I decided that I NEED a baby goat. I don't NEED a baby anything and they seem to poop whenever wherever they want, and in unimaginable amounts.. ..which, I admittedly admire. Also, I caught a chicken. I chased that sucker around for a good 5 minutes when finally I was able to corner the little feather ball and defeated, it allowed me to handle it.

Zach was in fact the ONLY one who caught a fish. Figures.
I'm marrying THAT guy.
The one who's good at everything.

[We're almost caught up. Promise.] LAST weekend we took a McClure family trip to Big Canoe, GA to experience some chicken foot, day hikes, canoeing, fishing, MORE Hillcrest Orchards, home made pancakes and "Things." 

In preparation for a hike, Zach thought he would maximize his resting time by opting to travel by piggy back.

Note: Lots of hopeless apples.

Bonky & Baby Chicken.

This is my idea of leisurely canoeing.

That's what we've been up to. And now we've successfully returned to our chaotic, exhaustingly busy respective schedules. In Wedding News:we have booked our caterer! Soiree Catering will be supplying us with delicious-esque food on our special day. We didn't want anything too fancy but we didn't want to be too casual. We actually investigated the idea of BBQ but decided that we'd be more comfortable having a catering company recommended by our venue. Although it's costing us an arm and a leg-- we would rather to it in an organized fashion where we, nor our wedding party or family will have to worry about the flow and decor of things. Soiree is providing us with our linens, dish ware, foods [we're keeping the post-meal coffee per request from my parents.. . "the old people will like it."] and of course they make sure the buffet stays stocked and the food stays warm. Our contact at Soiree [who I absolutely adore] is incredibly willing to work with us and has given us the green light to alter our menu at any time, as many times as we want until we're 100% happy with our presentation. Right now we're featuring cream cheese hummus on pita points and wild mushroom tartlets as hours d'oeuvers. . .I'm not even a huge fan of mushrooms & these babies blew me away. I know, I know, I'm crazy for not loving them. But they have the same texture as snot!!! Entrees: a Greek-y chicken in a creamy lemon-garlic sauce, shaved sirloin marinated in red pepper and feta goodness, a basil mushroom asparagus prosciutto pasta, of course some sort of bread, some fancy green bean spread [I'm not crazy about the green beans but Larry has assured us that this is their most popular side dish and most people request it, even in formal dinners]. Coffee to follow and then of course we'll shove cake in each other's faces. I'm sure I'll collect opinions of a few before setting the menu in stone but we thought it was all delicious and since we're having a more casual meal there's no need to be fancy and exotic [okay really.. .we have a big guest list and don't want to spend the money on feeding everyone fancy and exotic food.. .which kind of kills me because I'm such a foodie]. Needless to say, our budget has evaporated and I'm currently having a staring contest with the figures in my savings account.. . I'm sincerely hoping that it blinks first. I think we're both ready to be married NOW our engagement didn't seem so terribly long when we set our date but it's starting to feel like forever. I think Zach's regretting talking me out of eloping and keeping the cash :) We've come up with a concept we both agree on for our invitations now we just have to actually go and design them.. .oh, and placing the order is kind of important. We might have found our perfect honey moon destination but we're keeping that under wraps as to not jinx it. So... . .check list run down.. .

DONE                             

1)venue

2)caterer + linens

3)photographer

4)Oh, yeah.. .I got a dress [which I didn't take out of our wedding budget]

5)favors

The jury is still out on the bridal party and official colors... . I don't really like matchy-matchy sometimes so we'll see how this works out.

TO DO

1)save the dates [we're still on the fence about this but since we'll have a lot of family traveling we want to give them the most trendy warning we can. . .]

2)invitations [we need to actually place the order and figure out the verbage AND do our pictures]

3)cake [we're thinking a variety of gourmet cupcakes and a cookie cake for the grooms cake]

4)DJ

5)decor..  .which will ALL* be DIY projects.

6)gradually purchase the booze. Summerour doesn't hold a liquor license so we'll be providing beer, wine and possibly a signature cocktail. Believe it or not, this is saving us THOUSANDS 

7) guest book. [I have some ideas.]

Thank you Mommy and Daddy Warbucks [Dounis]. You are incredibly appreciated for making all of this possible.

Zach has been locked up in studio for the past 3 nights [with the exception of a little tummy ache last night] and will not taste freedom until Monday at which point the cycle starts again. My cousins Mandy + Michelle are flying out from Colorado + Los Angeles here in the next few weeks which will give Zach and I some great opportunities to hang out with my parents, aunts and uncles and cousins. We're lucky, loved, in-love and have nothing but gratitude to those who are unconditionally supportive of us [i.e. our families and friends.]

I'm off to long board while Zach slaves at work and in school today. Also, I would like new jeans.

Z&M