Kevin Gets His Wings!

On Wednesday night I flew down to Pensacola, Fl... for Kevin's winging!

It was such an awesome experience.  The Navy really did a fantastic job of making the entire experience special for the winger and their family. Here is a very brief overview of what exactly happened:

Thursday:  We went on a tour of the Naval Air Station that Kevin has been training out of called Whiting Field.  It was so cool to have Kevin show us where he has been spending all of his time for the past 6 months.  We were able to check out the classrooms, the really cool equipment (night vision goggles!), the helicopters he trained on, and (my personal fav) the flight simulators! After touring around we attended the
"Soft Wing Patch" ceremony.  This was where the guys (and gals!) received the wings they wear on their everyday attire - their flight suit!
Here are a few pictures from that day:

Friday: The day began with a Catholic mass for those students who wanted to attend.  This was followed by all of the students attending a "Blessing of the Wings". It was such a nice ceremony - and Kevin will surely make fun of me for this - but I got a little choked up. 
Afterward, there was the official winging ceremony.  This was the event where Kevin actually got his wings. I had the honor of actually pinning them on... which was not an easy task! Those things are pretty hard to pin on - especially on stage in front of a ton of people! It was so great though - and those gold wings looked incredible on Kevin's uniform. There was an after party later which was so much fun.
Overall the experience was wonderful.  I am so incredibly proud of Kevin and all of his accomplishments and just happy I was able to share in his big day!
Here is one more picture of us with my mom... I'm hoping to have more soon.

Table Centers

Since I won't be able to make it to the Pottery Barn class this Sunday (nothing to do with sleeping in - just going to my family's cabin upstate!) I began cruising around one of my favorite wedding blogs, Once Wed.
One trend for a table center that I have been noticing a lot lately is doing several small vases of flowers... and in some cases even using antique jars.
I'm sure you would be able to find some awesome antique vases and jars on Etsy. Who knows?... it could end up looking incredible... or be a total pain in the butt and just not worth it. Either way, these pictures are still awesome:

Pottery Barn

I recently found out that Pottery Barn offers classes in their stores. They mainly revolve around home design but this Sunday there is a class for Wedding Decor! I signed up for it... but unfortunately it's at 10am. I'm determined to make it there because I'm sure I'll get some great decoration tips. I'll be sure to let you know if a) i wake up in time to get there and b) if I get any great tips.

CONGRATS!!!

I just wanted to say Congratulations to Kevin for finishing his last flight of flight school last night!
I'm so proud of him and all of the hard work it took to get here. Way to go!!!!

(The picture below is of Kevin landing on the back of a ship)

Windex

This post makes me think of the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but anyways...

I have obviously been wearing my engagement ring religiously but it looks like it could use a good cleaning... I believe this is mainly due to two things:

1.  the subways (i blame as much stuff as possible on the subways - all ailments, lateness, etc... I mean c'mon! they are so dirty and unpleasant!!!)
2. my incessant moisturising (i blame my mom for that one)

 I mentioned this to my sister and she told me to let my ring sit in Windex.  That's right... Windex! I mean, I guess it makes sense.  Apparently, it contains the same cleaning power as all other jewelery cleaners but you don't have to reuse the same container of cleaner. She got this advice from the jeweler that both of our men bought our rings from. Just let it sit in a little cup of Windex for 15 minutes and it looks like new again.
I think I know what I'll be picking up at the store tomorrow...

Holy Moly

While Kevin was visiting Memorial Day weekend... I thought it would be nice to try to accomplish a few wedding things together. The main - and most important - task was reserving the Church.
We weren't sure if Holy Cross would allow us to get married there because we aren't parishioners - luckily, Kevin's grandfather was able to talk them into it. So, we got the Church we were hoping for!
Which brings me to my story... we thought we just had to make a quick stop to pick up a few papers and finalize everything. Boyyyy was I wrong!
When we met with the lady who works in the rectory (who was practically dressed in an American Flag for the holiday weekend)... I should have known that we were in for a much longer meeting when she told us to take a seat and then brought it in piles of papers and brochures for us to go through- together! That part was not bad... in fact, we learned a lot about having a Catholic ceremony, the steps leading up to our wedding (pre cana, etc.), and most importantly our marriage to each other.
The second hour was the part Kevin and I were really not prepared for - our individual interviews!!! We were separated from each other and then literally had to swear on the Bible before we had to start answering questions.
Now, the interview was not difficult or anything because we have obviously spoken about all of the important things that she asked us questions about - but there were a few that really caught me off guard... questions along the lines of "Are you related by blood OR adoption?" (seriously!?)
Anyway, two hours later we walked out of the parish office starving and laughing over the whole experience. 

There are several steps that we need to take before we can have a Catholic ceremony and I'm sure they will lead to some funny posts - which I will be sure to fill you all in on!

Enjoy pictures of the Church!

SUMMER.... NYC style

Completely non-wedding related... but I had to share - my awesome roommate Ali sent me (for the 2nd year in a row) the Vanity Fair Summer Guide for NYC. I loooove this! The release of this list lets me know summer is officially here!