{Almost} Ready To Launch...

I've been working really hard on my new business website!

I hope to launch it in the next day or so!

Stay tuned for the ALL NEW upcoming:

www.KaylaRichards.com

Here is a sneak:

Now What?

Today was my last day of student teaching.
Now where will life take me?

It's kind of an uneasy feeling not having any idea what the next few months will bring - will we have to move for a job for me? Will I be subbing in the town we live in? Lots of questions. It's a kind of scary but still an exciting time!

I had a great last couple of days. The kids' last day was yesterday and today was a teacher in service. Here is a cute basket full of teacher goodies I received that all the teachers in the building contributed to:


It's full of books, reward certificates, stamps, bulletin board stuff, and more! Such a cute idea! I love it! It was such a surprise to receive!

My teacher I've been working with also got me a some cute gifts. Our first graders loved the Magic Tree House series, so she got me the first 15 books and had each of the kids write a message to me in one of the books. SUCH a cute idea! She also got me a 2009 graduation picture frame and put a picture of the kids and I in it. The frame had a photo mat in it, so the kids signed all around the mat. I loved it!

I was so lucky to work with such giving and nice people! I do not have ONE complaint about my student teaching experience! I learned so much about teaching and got many great ideas. I was SO SO lucky! Now I just need a classroom of my own ... I'm trying to stay optimistic about the job market!

Here is the little gift I made for each student for the end of the year. Inside the baggie was a picture of me with the kids, a pencil, some candy, and stickers:


Wedding News....
Yesterday at Day 39, I didn't do anything related to the wedding. I guess if you count emailing Christy about photography it counts! But, I didn't do anything too productive!

Today is Day 38. Here are some things I am going to accomplish this evening:

• Get the DJ sheet out
• Get the church stuff out
• Begin designing and printing the note paper for our "Wishes" station
  

At {40} Days To Go...

It was a candy buffet day.

I've been getting nervous that our blue + orange candy buffet won't look "good" once it's all set up. Will the colors look too clashy? Do we have a big enough variety of candies? Etc, Etc, Etc...

I went shopping with Katelyn today after school/work and tried finding better candies for the table. Not very much luck. I turned Bridezilla and started freaking out too much about the candy! How can a bunch of sugar really be this big of a deal? It's amazing how something that can seem so small can turn into such a big deal while wedding planning!

I ended up just ordering some cute taffy (see above) and various flavors of old fashioned orange sticks. I think I am officially DONE with buying the candy! Yay! (Except for the cotton candy, if we decide to do that, which we will purchase the week of the wedding)

Then I went over to my mom's house and put the candy we had (the wrapped stuff anyway) into their designated glass containers. I was surprised how nice everything actually looked.

Some candies that will be on our candy buffet:

• Saltwater Taffy
• Old Fashioned Candy Sticks
• Aqua + White Rock Candy
• Pillow Dinner Mints, in both aqua and orange
• Sangria White Chocolates (white + orange drizzle)
• Almond + Chocolate + Coconut candies (which we'll wrap in aqua foils)
• Various lollipops (aqua + orange, of course!)
• Vanilla Tootsie Rolls in the aqua wrappers
• Assorted Hershey's Miniatures, wrapped in various aqua + orange scrapbook papers
• Cookies 'n' Cream Kisses (because they are in the aqua wrapper)
• and more!

Oh - today I also poked holes thru the adornments and stuck the twistie thru so they are ready to go when guests want to close their baggies!

What will day {39} bring tomorrow!?

150 Adornments Designed, Printed, & Cut ... CHECK!

Today I designed the adornments that will be attached to the clear bags for our candy buffet. Now I have to punch a mini hole thru the flower centers and put a twistie tie in them ... our guests will fill their baggies with their favorite blue and orange candies from our buffet, and then use their cute "twistie tie with tag" to secure their loot!

FUN!

Other wedding items that got done today:

--->Final bridesmaid dress was picked up from David's

--->5 more centerpiece hurricane vases were purchased

--->Bought a plain white tank for the morning of the wedding day ... which I will embellish with "BRIDE" in sparkley rhinestones

I had quite the week with wedding stuff. First, we had issues with our tux place. Then, the salon called and cancelled our hair appointments. Which .... leaves a bride, who only has about a month to go, to think .... OH. MY. GOD. WHAT. ARE. WE. GOING. TO. DO. NOW!? Luckily, my sister in law Shannon is amazing, and she found us a new salon. The new salon is way better. I'm actually kind of happy it turned out this way in the end. GO SHANNON! Wooo!

Other wedding to-do's I am going to tackle next:

---> Buy more sand for centerpieces

---> Print programs

---> Print Table Numbers (actually, they are table names)

---> Begin seating chart

---> Begin printing place cards

---> Cardbox

---> and more!

41 days to go!

Spent the Morning Scrapping...

I wish I had more time to scrap!

I had forgotten how fun it can be.

Maybe after all the madness is over this summer!

:-)

Journaling:

"Dec 31, 2008 - A night full of non-sense and drama ... but it led us into 2009 - which will be a great year!"

Journaling:

"Burgs is my photo friend. We do lots of photo shoots of her, and she has even helped me with a wedding. It's always a great time! 4/2009"

Journaling:

"One of the prettiest little babies I've ever seen! Miss Joelee is way too cute for her own good! March '09"

Journaling:

"Dad celebrating his birthday at his work. February 2009"

Journaling:

"April 2009 For Chris's 26th birthday, I got him the boots he wanted for his dirtbike. We also went to the Blew Inn for sesame chicken and I got him a rhubarb pie."

What's New?

Long time, no blogging!

Things have pretty much been the same around here:

Had a great Memorial Day with a group of friends - including my friend's daugher's Jaelynn and Joelee, who are getting SO big:

Chris with Joelee. I can't wait til I have a photo like this someday, but with our OWN baby:

I think I mentioned it before, but I graduated from college on May 15th. We went for dinner for my mom's birthday, and my sister in law and my brother surprised me with this freakin' awesome Coach clutch for a graduation gift - I was NOT expecting anything at all! Isn't it just the cutest? I LOVE it!! Thanks if you're reading!

Shot my first wedding for the season two weekends ago. I had a lot of fun and it inspired me to purchase a different wedding gown! I felt mine was too plain and I didn't feel "gorgeous" in it - my new one - watch out! I feel pretty darn sexy in it! No sneak peeks! I'll post some photos for you on July 19th! ;-)

Here are some photos from the wedding I shot:

Our own wedding plans are going smoothly. We are kind of in that "waiting" period ... just waiting for response cards and for the day to get here!

There are preceisely 46 more days to go!

And 49 days until we hit the beach in Mexico!

Finally .... I finish my 5 1/2 month long first grade student teaching placement in 6 more days. It went so fast. I've been applying for jobs, but no bites so far. Wish me luck in the hunt!

Scraps

Had a chance to scrap last night for the first time in what seems like forever.

I was feeling very simple while creating:

Life on the Patio

We've been enjoying the warmer weather by spending more time out on our patio. My dad gave us his grill and patio set, so it's been nice to cook and eat dinner outside. (Less dishes for me - woo hoo!) Just took a few snapshots of "our little patio life."

We got new, nicer chair pads for the shower from my Aunt Christy - the new pads are REALLY thick, cushy, and GREEN :-) ... obviously this photo was taken before the shower.

Pineapple Sage Salvia plant ... its named such because if you rub the leaves, they smell just like pineapples. You can use them to make teas, and I'll have to try that. It's supposed to flower out more when fall comes around.

These leaves remind me of watermelons:

My "sentimental" flower pot - our wedding colors. The orange is SPOT ON, but the blue (another Salvia variety) is the closest to "our" blue (which is really pool/ocean/aqua). Still really pretty though! Ignore all the weeds in the grass - LOL.

Let's take a break from all the plants ;-) ... how do you like that flame?

My "baby" flowers. The greens shot up fast, but now they've stayed this way for a couple weeks. It probably needs to get warmer before the buds can fully develop. We shall see.

I love these....so pretty.

My cosmo plants are HUGE. They're probably over three feet tall with big flowersl like this all over. LOVE IT!

Bridal Shower & Bachelorette Party Recap

I think I had the best bridal shower ever :-) Thanks to the amazing planning of my sister in law Shannon and my maid of honor Alanna (and to all the other people who I know were involved too!) Alanna even flew in from her new summer home in Philly for the event! It was the best day ever! Truly!

So it started out with me not knowing where the shower would be held (city or location). Even after the invites went out, I didn't get to find out until the day before the shower! It ended up being at Alanna's dad's house in Stoughton. They were orginally going to have the shower down by the amazing pool area and have a fire going down there, but sadly, it ended up being rainy and yucky that day - so they had it inside instead - which was still totally pretty and fun!

As you can see, they planned a Mexican theme (for our honeymoon!). It was SO cute! Like my sombrero?! Ole! It had a cute "Bride to Be" button on it too!

Then onto the yummy food and CUTE decorations! I loved all those tissue paper puffs everywhere! Even in the bathroom! The girls made margaritas for everyone (over 30 guests in all, I think( ... so pretty all sitting out on the tables! The date is wrong on some of these photos, so ignore!

My aunt Christy, me, and Jacque:

The favors were SO CUTE and SO THOUGHTFUL! You all know about my obession with coffee, which Chris now shares, thanks to me .... the favors were little baggies of coffee beans and on the tag, it read: "Kayla and Chris....the PERFECT blend."

WAY TOO CUTE!

My brother wasn't at the shower ... but he did come afterwards to help take all the gifts back to our town ... WOW, I am SO LUCKY to have received such amazing gifts. I cannot thank everyone enough!

My girls: Alanna, me, Burgs

Another photo of me for your viewing pleasure:

Onto the bachelorette party....which was also a surprise! Again, the original plan did not turn out last minute but the 2nd plan was just as fun! (Shannon and Alanna had planned a party cruise for the evening out on Lake Mendota in Madison, but the place called Friday afternoon ... and cancelled on them). We ended up going for dinner at Porta Bella's in Madison, and then onto State Street Comedy Club for some laughs and embaressment! Read on!

First, I forgot my clothes. So I had to go shopping at the mall and scramble to find something last minute ... I think I did well ... even though Alanna was probably SUPER annoyed with me .... as it look like two hours for me to finally find something.

The pre-party events were at the hotel ... complete with dirty questions and naughty gifts for me! Woo hoo! My sash says Sexy Little Bride ... there was a veil too that went with the cute set Shannon got me, but it wouldn't say in my hair.

Now onto dinner... isn't this the cutest place?

Jacque, Kate, Shannonn, me, and Alanna. My mom was with us too, she took the photo.

Some cute shots around Porta Bellas:

I loved this staircase:

Now we are at the Comedy Club ... seated at the front table, of course.

So yeah, front row means attention, of course. Oh boy. So they knew we were celebrating something since I had the sash on, so one of the comedians asked about my wedding, etc. Then that lead into talking about certain body parts .... which turned into him coming up to my mom and stripper dancing by her. So funny, yet so embaressing, lol!

Such a great night! Thanks to EVERYONE!

One Portfolio Exhibition To Go ...

I have to get up at 4:00 tomorrow morning so I can drive to my college town and be in an all too familiar college classroom for my final School of Education Portfolio Exhibition, to start sharply at 7:30 am. My portfolio has been a work in progress for the last 5 years of my life ... and if I can say so ... I will be glad to have my presentation over and done with ... because then, officially, I will become a college graduate!

Wooo hooo!

Graduation is on Saturday, but I am not walking the stage. Just send me my diploma in the mail, thank you very much. I only lived in my college down on the weekdays, as I came home nearly every weekend - so I don't have a strong emotional tie with being there for graduation.

But honestly ... can I get a wooo hooo!? I still have til the middle of June before student teaching is over, but the college part, totally done now!

5 years was enough!

Stay tuned for an upcoming post about my bridal shower and bachelorette party from this past weekend!

66 more til our wedding day!

Jac's Question:

Jac: The couch set was from Slumberland Furniture