Identity Crisis & Wedding Planning Updates

So, I knew long ago that when I got married, without a doubt I would take my husbands name. When I met Dave and found out his name was Copeland I was pleasantly surprised because that is a really nice last name. I'm really excited and honored about changing my name, however at the same time I can't help but feel a little sad about losing Jimenez. I love the last name Jimenez because it's mine and my parent's last name and it embodies the Mexican heritage that I come from. I've been throwing around the idea of hyphenating to Jimenez-Copeland, but that seems really silly and I always give people the eye slant when I hear a hyphenation. I know, I don't mean to judge, but it just happens. Plus, Dave does not want to hyphenate our children's last names once we are blessed with children, so then I realize there would not be a point in my hyphenated last name. I've also thrown around the possibility of dropping my middle name and putting Jimenez in it's place, but I really like Marie as my middle name.

In the end, I know I will simply change my name to Copeland and drop Jimenez. I'm I am really so excited about it, I just need to learn a new signature! Also, I hear legally changing my name can be a pain in the rear, but it will be so very worth it. Amanda M. Copeland, has a nice ring to it, no one will ever suspect the mexican lady whom it belongs to.

We are going to look at rings this weekend and I'm pumped! I found a ring that I feel in love with at the Zales Outlet in RR, that was really reasonably priced for the quality. I love the vintage look of any wedding ring and because my engagement ring is a solitaire I feel like I have so many options. I think I may want a solitaire ring enhancer, or a wrap, but I'm worried that on days I just want to wear my wedding ring, I won't have that option & will need to get another ring. Hmmmm, so that may work in my favor. I also am pretty sure that D and I have picked out his ring, but he needs to be sized so that I can order it. Everything is becoming so real as the time is flying by. I know that I complain a bunch about the things that must be done, but occassionally I step back and try and enjoy even the stresses of planning. Many years later, I hope that I will look back and remember this time of planning our wedding and starting our lives together fondly.

Oh, something else that is WAY cool, is that my dress has gotten altered and is ready to go for my bridal portraits on December 5th!!! The portraits are going to be taken in Austin around 3 in the afternoon in hopes of getting some nice twilight pictures as the sun goes down. Dreamy, I know. I hope that we can take some at the capitol and then also on S. Congress there are some really neat buildings and a cool Welcome to Austin mural. My veil is my next big focus. I will be wearing my mom's veil that she wore for her wedding almost 30 years ago. It was exactly what I wanted before I even so it in person. I had seen lots of pictures of the veil, but it looked SO eighties. However, when I saw it at my parents house several months ago, I loved it. It needs some restorations and some serious TLC on the lace, but my grandma seems pretty confident that it will be wedding ready for me. I'm really looking forward to wearing it and then to keep it in our family in hopes that one day I can pass it down.

Oh, also! All out-of-state wedding invitations have been mailed....Yay!

Exciting Halloween

This blog may be a little premature, but I just can't help being really excited for our first Halloween in a house together!!! And then Thanksgiving, and Christmas and New Years, OH MY! Then of course...dun dun dadunnnn, The Wedding.

I've mostly all of a sudden gotten really excited about Halloween because this means that we will be able to stay at home and pass out candy to all of the kids in our neighborhood! Yay! Also, Halloween is on a Saturday night this year so we should hopefully get a steady traffic flow of kids. Dave suggested we even dress Thor up as Frankenstein. How funny would that be. He may scare kids away though, so more than likely he will stay in the backyard.

This weekend Dave is going to College Station for the OSU v. A&M game. Go Cowboys! My parents are going to come down on Saturday to keep me company and hit up some stores. I am hoping to get my Halloween decorations this week. I'm only looking a couple of things because however ever much I want to go all out for the holidays this year, any extra ounce of money we have for extras is going for wedding related items. Things I'm looking for:

1) 2 good sized pumpkins for carving. I want to carve one and one for Dave.


2) A fun door decoration, or possibly even a scary door cover. Ohhhhhhhh.

3) A candy bowl


4) Halloween candy, however, I'm pretty sure that if I can hold off and wait till the Saturday morning of Halloween I will be able to start getting the discounted candy.


5) Ideas and recipes for a Halloween themed appetizers, dinner & dessert. I may try and have a couple that we are friends with over if they are not working/going out. If not it will just be a fun dinner for Dave and I.
I think when the weather really starts to change I get excited about the holidays. This morning was cooler than normal, even though last night when I went to bed it was 89 degrees out still!

I'm also more excited about the holidays this year because our wedding is shortly after and this is our last holidays as single people and this transition to a married couple has been exciting in general. So hopefully I do not go overboard with the Halloween stuff and still have energy and money left for Thanksgiving and for Christmas!

Working around the house Saturday

Saturday started out with an awesome 5 mile jog with Dave & Thor at 6:30a.m. Then we got ready, and headed out to the grocery store for the upcoming weeks meals and really stuck to our list and bought almost ever single item with a coupon or the item was on sale. Yeaaa. With the combo loco deals and all additional coupons we saved $24.75. By far the most we have saved on any single grocery trip. That made me happy. We then came home and had a late breakfast around 11am which consisted of any and all leftovers we had in the fridge.

Prior to heading out to the store when I was doing an inventory of our fridge & freezer to see what we needed to buy I realized that my frozen rotten banana stash was getting out of hand, I had about 6 rotten bananas stashed in the freezer. Time to make banana bread, found a recipe and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the only ingredients I was missing was sour cream, cinnamon, and walnuts. Yay. So I made banana-walnut-raisin bread from scratch and it came out really good! Dave even liked it and he is the biggest critic. Success.

Dave worked on replacing airvent things and hanging up our last picture frame. He also worked on putting up our "nightstands".

We just have not been able to find nightstands that we want so Dave suggested doing these shelves for now and eventually getting real nightstands. I'm happy with them so far. We need a bed post next. All in due time.

Thor & Hardin were very helpful today too, they stayed out of the way :o).

High & Low

Something that I heard on the radio this morning jogged a childhood memory of mine was the show was playing the game High-Low.

Many people know this game, you tell your daily "high" thing of the day and your daily "low" thing of the day. My mom use to ask us ours quite regularly growing up. I think this is such a great game for families and even couples to play with each other daily, if possible. For us it really helped open up to talking about our day and also helped reflect on it a little bit.

I'm going to try and make a bigger effort to initiating this game with Dave so that it will hopefully continue on once we start a family. So anyways, yeah, play High-Low with your loved ones.

Kinnidi Marie

Kinnidi Marie is my first cousin. She is the youngest child of four (2 boys and 2 girls) to my Uncle Ed & Aunt Misty (who aren't much older than Dave & I ). Uncle Ed is my mom's youngest brother by more than a decade. Ed & Misty started having babies right around the time I came back to Texas for college, and I was lucky enough to be at the hospital each time a baby was born, with the exception of Kinnidi. Sad, I know! Well anyways, she is named after me! Same middle names, on purpose, because that was my middle name. She is a precious doll baby. Kin just turned 1 a little over a month ago, but has been walking for about the past 2 months.

I was able to spend some time with Ed's family this weekend because the other kids, Alec, Adan & Kelsi had a Jr. Mavs football game in my neck of the woods! (Kelsi cheers for Adans team, Aleck plays two age groups above Adan). Anyways, we had a really good time on Saturday hanging out at the fields and getting some sun!

Sarah, Kini & I hanging out on the track in between games. Sarah is really really blossoming & coming into her own. She's gorgeous! Dad needs a bigger and better shot-gun.

I tend to smoother babies! They are just too cuddly.

Kinnidi was dancing to the "get crunk" music the sound guy kept playing.

Following the games, my folks, Dave & I, and all of Eds clan went up to Round Rock for Mighty Fine Burgers. I LOVE MIGHTY FINE BURGERS. Without the risk of sounding too annoying, they make their burgers are made from fresh 100% pure beef. You can watch their assembly line behind this massive glass window hand-forming each and every burger. The meet is all-natural and the beef is strictly vegetarian fed. The french fries are fried in trans-fat free peanut oil. So, needless to say, after you eat a burger and fries here that gross greasy feeling that happens after you eat McDonald's never happens.

They also have this awesome hand-washer machine. You just stick both hand in these two hole things and hold them there for 12 seconds while your hands get washed. It's very spa like, but in the middle of their restaurant. Dave and I washed our hands and then proudly wore our Clean Hands stickers the rest of the evening.

Being Knocked Up.

MUST WATCH THIS VIDEO!!!! Pregnant Women Are Smug. Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to save and embed it into this post. Promise it is not spam.

Very funny.

It is a reminder to me of how I don't ever want to act once I am blessed enough to be pregnant.

"Live it, Love it, Suck It." - Quote from an aunt of mine whom shall remain anonymous. She now has children, and they may be devastated to know that there was a time before them in which their mother was kick ass.

my boys

Thor is not allowed into Dave's office. We have been trying to train him to stay out. Thor likes to be a rebel and lay right in the door way....

Looks like he is waiting for his chance to get in a little bit further.

These next two pictures were taken when I was home the other day. Hardin & Thor really do love each other. The entire day no matter where they were napping they wouldn't be further than an arms length away from one another.

OOPS! Hardin caught me snapping pictures!