Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Almost There!




The last day before all the wedding stuff really starts to happen! Lots of fun!!



How did we get here??? This is soooo amazing!!!






Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Today's Magic number is.....

I am getting married in 4 (COUNT THEM!!!) 4 days!!!!

Monday, October 29, 2007

5 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!






Yes!!! 5 more days and I will be off on my lovely honeymoon



with my HUSBAND!!!!!!!!!!






Sunday, October 28, 2007

Now..10 was fine..but 6 days!!! YIKES!!!

6 littly tiny days until THE BIG DAY!


Saturday, October 27, 2007

Lucky number 7!






7 More days until....Da Dum Da Da! Da Dum Da Da!!!!!!!!!!!




Friday, October 26, 2007

I cannot believe it!!!

Only 8 more days until I am Mrs. Kyle Hall!!!!!!!!!!!!



Thursday, October 25, 2007

The countdown has officially begun!


Nine days!!!!!!!!!!
Only nine more days!!!!!!!!!



Monday, October 22, 2007

The 12 days of Chistmas..ur..of our wedding

(Please try to hum the tune in your head while reading)

On the 12th day of our wedding my fiance' said to me, "We still need the two palm trees"
On the 11th day of our wedding my fiance' said to me, "Just 12 more days till we go to Hawaii"
On the 10th day of our wedding my fiance' said to me, "What more is left to do but get married!"
On the 9th day of our wedding my fiance' said to me, "You and your lists are driving me crazy"
On the 8th day of our wedding my fiance' said to me, "I think on Saturday we should go to Disney"
On the 7th day of our wedding my fiance' said to me, "When can I see what you got at your Bachelorette Party?"
On the 6th day of our wedding my fiance' said to me, "Why didn't we elope to Maui?"
On the 5th day of our wedding my fiance' said to me, "I CANT WAIT TO WEAR MY WEDDING RING!!!"
On the 4th day of our wedding my fiance' said to me, "We are almost a family"
On the 3rd day of our wedding my fiance' said to me, "OKay, now I am getting cold feet!"
On the 2nd day of our wedding my fiance' said to me, "I know we will be so happy!"
On the THE DAY of our wedding my fiance' said to me, "Leslie, Will you marry me?"

Okay, that was super fun to write but it took my whole lunch hour inbetween phone calls and such so I dont have time to write anymore. Hope you thought that was funny!

12 days!!!!!!!!!!

Yikes!!

Wahoo!!

-L

Friday, October 19, 2007

Jane Austen.....on marriage

Today's blog is a conglomeration of quotations by my favorite author, Jane Austen and her take on marriage. In case you are not aware, Jane Austen is the author of Pride and Prejudice as well as Emma and Sense and Sensibility among others.

"I pay very little regard...to what any young person says on the subject of marriage. If they profess a disinclination for it, I only set it down that they have not yet seen the right person."

Jane Austen(1775 - 1817), Mansfield Park


"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. "

"Next to being married, a girl likes to be crossed in love a little now and then. "

"It is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage. A man always imagines a woman to be ready for anybody who asks her. "

"No man is offended by another man's admiration of the woman he loves; it is the woman only who can make it a torment. "

"A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment. "

"Husbands and wives generally understand when opposition will be vain. "

"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid. " ( I just like this one)

"To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love. "

I hope you enjoyed Jane Austen's thoughts on marriage and various other things.
I did not know what to write today and that entertained me. Have a great weekend!

P.S. 15 days!!!!!!!

-L

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

17 days till THE BIG DAY

Well, friends it is getting closer than close! I cannot believe that our family will be here next weekend! I mean...WOW!! I have two and a half weeks left to be Leslie Whitten! I have had 24 years and I never truly appreciated my beloved name.... (sigh)

I never imagined I would marry a firefighter from South Dakota. Or anyone from South Dakota for that matter. I have to say that these days before the wedding are interesting. So many emotions and even some cold little feet, stress of the event...but mainly, this completely in awe kind of excitement! Last night we were deciding on our first dance song for the reception and we were dancing to various selections and trying to imagine the evening when we would be in our wedding clothes in front of all our family being Mrs. and Mr. Hall. Wow.....

Well, that is all I got today. Just shock that it is so close and awe that it is actually here and happening!

Shock and Awe!

The Bride to Be!

Monday, October 08, 2007

26 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay.... so its a little early for a real countdown day by day but can you believe it?
We can't! Family will be here in 3 weeks...we walk down the aisle in 4 weeks..and then Hawaii!!!
We are so excited for everything! As we order last minute items, and meet with vendors, it just gets closer and closer!
This weekend Kyle and I went to the island to finalize our Rehearsal Dinner plans with our restaurant. That went fairly well. Then we mosied over the BeachHouse to make sure it was still standing...it was and there were two wedding about to happen and then.....downpour!!
We walked across the street for some of the best ice cream on the island and sat outside watching the rain pour down over the beautiful archway one couple had prepared. We looked at each other and bust out laughing! So far we have seen a wedding there in a Tropical Depression and now just a rainstorm...we aren't superstitious but we both knocked on wood and crossed our fingers that our day is all sunshine and happiness.
So, some of you are probably wondering what kind of behind the scenes drama is really going on this close to the wedding and I have to tell ya that "It's all GOOD!" to quote my pastor from yesterday's sermon. The sermon was on prayer and he told a funny anecdote about the early nineties saying "It's all good" and how we should find the joy in all situations and trust Christ completely and later on that day as Kyle and I were once again talking about this family drama or that little detail, I just said, "Hey, It's all good! Lets not let anymore of this bring us down on any level and lets just celebrate because this should be the most exciting time of our lives!" So that is our new theme, when we get a call about something going wrong or so in so is not coming or so in so wasnt invited but wants to come, etc.... It is all good.

Lots of love and happy Monday!

-L

Friday, October 05, 2007

Going to the Chapel.....

"speak in a summer tone, pause in the afterglow, tenderly whisper my name, tell me once again, Why I am your bride so I can fly... pause in your busy day, look extra long my way, wink at me across the room, kiss me longer, touch my arm when I am by your side, So I can fly... oh how the little things strengthen my tiny wings, help me to take on the world, when you love me there's nothing I wouldn't try, I might even fly..."

My friend Amy has this on her blog and I love reading it. They are lyrics from a Sarah Groves song, "Fly". Amy was my childhood best friend and yesterday she got married! So this is a little shout out to the Happy Couple all the way in Carlos Paz, Argentina!! Congrats Amy and Claudio!!

It's pretty funny that we are getting married a month apart...


Speaking of my own wedding....yesterday was officially 30 days from the BIG DAY! On Tuesday we marched down to the courthouse and got our marriage license. It was very simple and took us about 10 minutes..but it seemed like the biggest thing ever!! So, we have the official documents!
And now we are wrapping up final details....
Rose petals, organze bags, palm trees, programs..... THE NORM.
We have finally got responses from invitations - less than half came via the mail in our prestamped envelopes but, we hunted them all down and I can finally invite my co-workers.

Everything else is going well. We are just taking things one day at a time and checking them off as we go!! So this weekend will be a busy one!

Hope everyone has a happy and safe weekend!

-L

Monday, October 01, 2007

Take NCIDQ test......CHECK!

I thought I would share a few photos of my test taking adventure in Orlando this past weekend. The following two are of the hotel the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort where the exam was held. A view of the insanely big resort - yes it took me a while to find the place I was supposed to be!
This is a picture of a ballroom at the hotel. They quartered a similar room off and that is where we took our exam. Not exactly the testing facility I had imagined.
The following pictures are of the hotel where I stayed.
It was an amazing hotel - I wish I had been enjoying strictly as a vacation - but it was a cozy place to be when I came back after a day of testing to relax and prepare for the next day.

My Hotel - The Renaissance Seaworld Resort
The hotel atrium at night
The sushi bar in the atrium "MIST" - which I ate at YUM!!!!!!!!!
My room!



“What a wonderful God we have—he is…the source of every mercy, and the one who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us.”
2 Corinthians 1: 3, 4


What a weekend! Thursday night as I drove to Orlando all I could think of was this test and how I was going to do and if I would pass and also..how excited I would be when it was Saturday evening and the test was finished. My nerves were okay on Thursday night and I managed to sleep okay. My hotel was pretty amazing so I was jazzed about that (I love hotels!) - I took a practice run to the place I was taking the test (another hotel a wee bit out of my price range) and was relieved to make it in about 5 minutes. I went to sleep excited about getting it done with and also about the Starbucks I had located right downstairs!

The next day I woke up on time (thanks to three alarms placed all over the room in order to force me awake an out of bed) I got ready and went downstairs for some coffee. Sadly my nerves did not deal well with my coffee and blueferry muffin so I stared at them until it was time to leave. I was a wreck. But, once at the test location I found what would soon be acknowledged by my fellow test takers as unbelievable parking- by unbelievable I mean that I was directed to employee parking which is free as opposed to what the other people had found which was 18 dollars a day. Now the testing site was completely amazing. I probably walked a 1/2 mile through the facility (literally) before I found the testing site. Once there I was relieved to see familiar faces from my test workshop 2 months before. Also very comforting were the similar feelings and anxiety had by all. Friday's session was 2 different sections of the test- one in the morning and one in the afternoon- both 150 multiple choice questions - 3 1/2 hour time limit. And I needed it! Thankfully there were great dining facilities on site so we all grabbed lunch after section one and shared our worries and predictions of our future pertaining to the passing of the test we just took. Next we went back to the ballroom that had been quartered off to serve as our testing room. Nothing cozier to take a test in than a room with 30 ft ceilings and a 30 degree room temperature. Basically 50 women and two men freezing while trying to take the most important test of our professional careers.


After Friday's test I headed to the nearby GAP outlet to hunt down some warmer clothing for the next testing day. I thought I was over the nerves but found myself feeling anxious again later that evening. Saturday i woke up, avoided coffee and food all together and headed back to the hotel for the test. Once there and settled into my table I had plenty of time to lay our all my supplies and feel somewhat relaxed. This is where my quote from Corinthians at the top of the page comes in - I am so amazed by the peace that God gave me during this experience - I was nervous before the test - but once I was there a calmness and readiness came over me. I realized afterward just how much the studying and taking of this test affected me physically and mentally. I was an exhausted emotional mess! Looking back I am so thankful for that peace during the actual testing times - because outside of that room I didnt have a confident bone in my body.


So as I said Saturday was an actual design charette where we were given a problem and had 4 hours to find a solution, sketch it and draft it onto the appropriate plans. I felt prepared but I was definitely ovewhelmed a few times during the test. I finished in the last few minutes of the alotted time but was able to double check my work. The second portion was 3 hours and it ended around 5:30. I could have run jumping and skipping down the halls when I walked out of that exam. It was finished and now on the agenda...A Wedding! 5 week count down starting Saturday.


As far as my feeling on my success on the test - I must tell you that I have absolutely no idea what to expect. It was very challenging but I know that I did my very best. Should I find out in January that I passed- I will be elated, but I have no confidence in passing the whole exam. This is something that many people take several times. Thankfully if I pass one section and not others I do not have to repeat the sections that I passed. It is in the grading juror's hand now and I am putting it out of my mind pass or fail until then. Now, all I have to do is this little wedding thing..


Oh my! It is sooo close! Continued prayers would be appreciated!


Lots of Love and thank you for your thoughts and prayers the last two months as I prepared for the exam!





-L