Bug Bites

My legs are covered in bug bites. I am not sure if it's because of all the excitement over the weekend that I didn't notice them on Sunday... but now as the dust settles, I cannot stop scratching!!! I think I counted 11 bug bites in total on my feet, ankle, and calves. Anyone have suggestions on how to make them stop itching? I am using this Benadryl cream, but it doesn't work :(

How is the week starting out for you? Yesterday was the fastest Monday I have had in a while. I had a half day with my students and then the teachers stayed until 3 to have a chance to clean their classrooms and pack up. The same will go for today and then tomorrow is my last day of school :) It will be bittersweet. I love that summer is starting for me, but I will miss my kids to no end!

My stomach hurt when I woke up yesterday so I didn't eat breakfast. But since my lunch time is 10:45 a.m. I wasn't worried because I knew I would be eating soon. Once lunch time rolled around, I had a piece of leftover broccoli pizza.

After spending the day boxing up my classroom I ran to Hallmark to buy thank you cards to send out to everyone who came to the party on Saturday. I love Hallmark, they have some of the cutest knick knack items in that store. I stopped at the Starbucks next door and got a vivanno to help me plow through the afternoon.

Then I unpacked and cleaned the apartment! I think so much clearer when my apartment is clean!

We leave for Italy on Friday, so when Derek got home from work we headed to my moms to do laundry for the trip. Unfortunately, we don't have a washer & dryer in our apartment and it is a huge hassle. In our next place it is a must!

At my moms I used some leftovers to make a yummy dinner. I used the left over vegetables to make a refreshing salad with carrot ginger dressing. Then I reheated some Cuban slow-roasted pork and put it on  whole wheat ciabatta bread to make a delicious sandwich.

Dessert was an orange :P

Question: I plan to go to Best Buy after work today and invest in a new camera. Does anyone have any recommendations for a point and shoot? With the blog and my upcoming trip to Italy, my current camera is just not cutting it. Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated :)

Our Engagement Party Recap

This weekend flew by, but we enjoyed every second of it. The engagement party was a huge success and it was so nice to have all of our families come together for the first time. Everyone got along extremely well and I couldn't believe how fast it flew by! It was like a dream. Now I know what people mean when they tell you to make sure you enjoy the moment... because the moment is exactly just that... one moment. I felt bad I couldn't get around to everyone to talk to them because everyone wanted a piece of me or a picture with me & Derek. It was NUTS!!!! I guess that's what happens when your not used to being the center of attention. :P

All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better day with  better family, friends, and fiance! It was a day I will never ever forget in my life.

Here is a photo recap.

DECOR

The colors were a hot green and orange to match the invitations. We did this party very bright and modern (It is the opposite of the actual wedding which will be very vintage and muted).

The beautiful collage that my youngest sister surprised Derek and I with. 

Below are my homemade centerpieces. I saw a picture of centerpieces made with fruit in the vase online and thought to myself, "I can make something like that!". So I decided to save some money and do it myself. I cut up oranges into slices and filled the centerpiece vases with them. Then put one green hydranga in each, and finally, poked in one orange lily. I loved how they came out!!!

My parents backyard was the perfect setting for the party. We had great weather too which I was very thankful for.

FOOD

 Now I must admit, the day of the party I was sooo nervous I did not eat much at all! But no worries, I spent Sunday making up for it eating leftovers all day as I helped clean my mom's house up! 

My family is a mix of cultures. My mom is Italian and Brazilian and my Dad is Cuban. Derek's parents are Italian and Ukrainian. For the food, we decided to incorporate the mix of cultures. We had two places cater the food, an Italian/American caterer and my uncle's Cuban restaurant. Everyone raved about the food and how the mix was such a fun add in to the party. 

 Asparagus and tomato quiche and sausage and mushroom quiche. Delicious & light! 

 Grilled vegetable skewers and pesto dip. 

 Chicken and beef empanadas. 

 Jonah crab claws. 

For dinner we had Cuban pork, rice & beans, sweet plantains, crab cakes, chicken parm, penne vodka, meatballs. fillet mignon, mixed green salad, tomato & mozz salad, and bread :) 

Dessert was my favorite part. We got the cake made to match the invitation exactly, it was adorable! Inside it was vanilla cake with two layers of filling, a dark chocolate layer and a hazelnut layer.

Our favors were a big hit too. Everyone loved reading the lyrics and trying to figure out which one could be our wedding song :P

PICTURES 

 Me & my Godmother

Derek & I 

 Calling up our wedding party... 

With my maid-of-honors (My sisters) 

Our wedding party... below making my bridesmaids read a "Bridesmaid Contract" I created .... it was so funny.

 With my mom... 

At night the Cuban side took over and the salsa dancing started :) 

And that's all folks.... by the end of the night we all felt like this..... 

Have a Happy Monday! Be back later to normal blogging ;)

Today's The Day

Today's the day of our engagement party. I can't believe it's here! I am so fortunate to have all of these friends and family who love us to be a part of such a special day. I am nervous because Derek and I have to do a little speech but I am sure we will be fine. I will do a full party recap after because we are having some great eats I know some of you will enjoy!

Like I said, I took yesterday off to spend the day with one of my sisters and get ready for the party today. I woke up and had two Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Waffles with some TJ's organic maple syrup.

Then I was off with my sister... we got some relaxing pedicures and the went on the hunt for a dress for me to wear to the party. This took FOOOORRRREVVVER. I was being so picky because I wanted it to be perfect. I guess the problem was I didn't know if I wanted to go fun and colorful or pretty and romantic. Most of my guest are wearing fun and colorful dresses so I went the alternate route. I can't wait to show you my dress. I bought it from Anthropologie, which you will learn is another obsession of mine :)

Since we were runing around I didn't eat a substantial lunch. This hurt me because around 3 o'clock I crashed. I had a horrible headache and all I wanted to do was sleep. All I ate in the middle of the day was a few dried apricots and some pita chips with salsa.

I was in the worst mood from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m. I met Derek around 8 p.m. and the minute he saw me and my sad face he knew I needed a good meal. He could tell I had a long day. We were actually scheduled to go to a birthday party at night, but when he saw me he said, "Forget the party, tomorrow is an important day for us... let's relax and get you some good food." I couldn't ask for a better fiance. He knows me sooo well. And he knows when I go to long without food, I become... well... HANGRY! He took me to my favorite Thai place in Ridgewood, NJ called Taste of Thai.

We started with Ka-Nom-Jeep (pork dumplings)

And veggie spring rolls

For my main course I had Mixed Vegetable Pad-See-Ew. This is just mixed vegetables and wide rice noodles in some kind of brown sauce. It was delicious! I loved that the vegetables still had a crunch to them. That really was a nice contrast to the soft noodles. I cleaned my plate in five minutes... guess the lack of food all day caught up to me.

As soon as I finished this meal I felt 1 Billion times better! All I needed was my fiance to put the smile back on my face! All a girl needs is to be fed!!!!

We came home and passed out shortly after this!

Well I am off to my moms now to help set up for the party- All the fun stuff starts now!!!! I have a hair appointment at twelve and the caterer comes with the food at 2! So excited.

Thank you to all of you who have commented wishing me luck today, I really appreciate the support :)

I also want to say congratulations to Heather & Mark over at Hangry Pants on their engagement!  I have been a long time reader of their blog and I could not be happier for them! My advice is to enjoy this time because it flies by!!!!


Since today is the day of our engagement party, I thought I would share some photos of Derek and I through the years.

<3