Thanksgiving in Houston

I am so glad I can finally officially say that is the holiday season, my most favorite part of the year :) Well I got it all started off great with a long visit to my sister and brother in law's house in Houston, we left wednesday morning and came home early sunday! We all drove over to my grandparents house in Beaumont to have a fabulous thanksgiving day with all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and whoever else ha we always have SO many people there on thanksgiving. The food was really spectaculor this year, so much fried turkey with all the fixings, not mention the very large table of desserts there were to pick off of all day long, YES I thoroughly enjoyed it haha!

The day after thanksgiving (Black Friday) all the ladies enjoyed a wonderful day of shopping at the woodlands mall in houston, I didn't really get any crazy amount of Christmas shopping done, but did buy a few items, most importantly my wedding shoes that I LOVE!! We draw names in our family and got the name I drew all finished up so I have that out of the way. Don't let that fool you I still plenty of shopping to do before I am officially done for the holidays, but I have about half of it done, which gives me some sort of relief. Then Saturday my mom, dad, sister, brother in law, and brother all went out to visit my dad's oldest brother and all of his family that we never really get to see very often. They are such a fun part of our family, I just love being around them, they also have some awesome dogs! We hung out with them for the afternoon and then we all went to dinner later then we headed back to my sister's house, then left early sunday morning to come back to Abilene. But all in all it was a great thanksgiving break with my family, can't wait for more fun holiday times with them over Christmas. But here are a few pictures taken on thanksgiving day at my grandparents by my wonderful cousin Maggie, sorry I just had to borrow them thanks mags!





sweet Elise playing on the piano while we did all the Fall birthdays

Amelia, Elijah, & Julie (the american girl doll) Amelia got Julie for her birthday, she is the 70s decade American girl, she and all her accessories are ADORABLE

great picture of Maggie & Autumn, Autumn & Bubba are getting married just a couple of months after Jake & I on May 1st, so exciting there are going to be two big weddings this spring :)

me and sweet Ben, loved getting to spend some time with this little guy, who will soon have a precious brother, can't wait to meet little Jack.

And I thought I would save the best for the last, it was a fun rival day in my family on thanksgiving since we are full of A&M fans and UT fans it made for an interesting thanksgiving evening as we all watched the game together. Wait refresh my memory on who won again Jenna? Oh thats right always the texas fight, GO UT!!!

oh how LONG it has been!!

So what else can I say but its been too long, but that I promise I have a good excuse for not keeping up with this blog as if anyone reads this, but oddly enough I thoroughly enjoy writing about our lives on this blog. The last time you heard from me was probably just about a month ago, and actually so much has happened, we have been so crazy busy with just life in general plus a few other things. Lately we have gotten so much done with the wedding and it actually feels like that "March 20, 2010" day is not so far off in the distance as it has felt in the past six months or so. Yes, we still do have ALOT to get done but it is coming along slowly but surely, and I really can honestly say that I have never enjoyed anything more in my entire life, aside from Jake & my blessed job, it really is a TRUE love of mine! I have felt in last few months that I have finally found through so much searching what I truly want to pursue as my career, being a professional wedding & event planner. And most likely after Christmas is over I am going to start my online school to get my certification as a professional wedding & event planner and be a part of the National Bridal Cosultants. Needless to say it feels very good to know what it is I want to do when I am not taking care of my sweet babies, which I still love & adore more than my life sometimes.


But here are some of the things that we have been up to in the last month:

-Jake trading in his Explorer for a 2008 Chrysler Aspen, which WE LOVE
-Celebrating my 23rd birthday last month (can't believe how old i'm getting)
-Painting our bathroom in the new house
-Purchasing a new couch for the new place
-Took our amazing engagement pictures that I LOVE
-Going to DFW to do some shopping & relaxing
-Picking out tuxedos for Jake & his groomsmen
-Going to Lindy & Mitch's sweet wedding shower
-and working, working, & more working....


Other than all that fun stuff we have just been trying to make it to Thanksgiving. It has been really weird for the both of us to think about how this Thanksgiving & Christmas is our true last holidays with just us with our families. It really is such a strange feeling to think about how forever as long as we are alive our holidays will never be what they have been for the last 23 years. It is an exciting feeling, but also a sad one in many way...I guess it's just bittersweet. We are getting ready to embark on such a journey that will change every aspect of our lives that I know all the new traditions in holidays will be so much fun, I guess it's just such a surreal feeling! But this year for Thanksgiving I will be leaving early next Wednesday morning before Thanksgiving Day to go to Houston to be with my family, which I am completely beyond excited about! I will be spending probably 3 or 4 days down in Houston, and I'm definitely hoping for some good girl shopping trips with all the ladies in my family. When I return I will go for my first wedding dress fitting that next weekend in Waco with my mom and I'm hoping my sister will get to meet me up there, but not crossing my fingers! Jake is staying here in Abilene with his family because working a retail job as a full time sales representative on black friday isn't the best medicine for making 6 hour road trips for the holidays. He is getting ready to start working some insane holiday hours starting the day after Thanksgiving of course, but is still selling in the top spots in all Sprint stores in this district, which is so amazing to me, YAY JAKE!!!


But here are a few pictures of our new vehicle that we adore, hope you enjoy! Sorry I didn't have any other interesting pictures from all the time that I have been gone. I promise for more pictures next time. I promise it won't be an entire month till you hear from me.

our weekend away & whatever else...

Last weekend Jake & I went away for the weekend with my family at the ranch in Harper, Texas. It was a great weekend mainly just full of relaxing, eating yummy food, watching good football, enjoying family time, and everything the ranch has to offer. It happened to be Jake's first trip to the ranch and first to shoot at clay pigeons, it was really fun to see him do that. But all in all it was quite a good weekend since all day before we left Friday we had been working so hard trying to get all the big stuff moved into our new apartment that Jake just moved into. We got back just in time on Sunday afternoon to get lots of work done at the new apartment, I am having so much fun arranging and starting to decorate the new place.





In other news, we both have been working SO much lately, which is great for the wallet, but have just been so tired and overworked, more Jake than me since his job is much much more stressful than mine. But we are having alot of fun right now putting our new place together, luckily we have most of all the stuff we need, except a few pieces of furniture. We still need a couch, nightstand, dresser, maybe a a couple chairs, and possibly a coffee table, but we have a good while to shop and buy the stuff we still need. We have been very fortunate to have been given stuff and to find such good deals on the things we have bought. My wonderful boss gave us their queen size bed, mattress, boxspring, headboard, & footboard which we love and I actually have alot of stuff we are going to use right now from my old apartment. We are also really excited about getting to paint our bedroom and bathroom/laundry room area, we are narrowing it down to our favorite colors so that we can start painting soon.


In other news, we recently mailed our save the date cards which was really exciting for me, I loved how they turned out! And I am almost officially done shopping for all my wedding stuff, I have the dress, undergarment thing, jewelry (which I LOVE), not wearing a veil so don't need to buy that, the only thing that is left to buy is my shoes which I will most likely be buying over the Thanksgiving holidays. I go for my first dress fitting very soon, probably the second weekend in November. I'm getting kinda nervous, but I haven't gained any weight since I have been on birth control so I have just been eating good and trying to walk on the treadmill while at work when Elizabeth is sleeping or walk on the track at night.


Thats pretty much it for now, Jake & I are just trying to avoid the flu and all the other nasty germs floating around everywhere. We had a pretty good scare, Jake thought he might have the flu, went to get tested and ended up being some sort of viral infection, and got a steroid shot and some antibiotics. I have been stuck with just an annoying cold ever since we got back from the ranch last weekend & I'm trying SO SO hard to make it go away! You will hear from me later this week, hope everyone has a great week, I know I will!! :)

I have so much to say

Warning! This may be a long post, but only because of how busy life has been lately I mean there really is just so much to say right now, hope you enjoy!


Ok, so usually I'm one to save the biggest & best news for last, but its gonna be first because I'm so excited about it! After so much apartment/house hunting for something that really was going to be good for Jake & I in our "newlywed" stage we have finally found the perfect little place and are so happy God worked it out the way He did. First of all Jake & I have been trying to decide when he should move out of his house with his mom and brother, it was either now or around the holidays. Naturally I was pushing for now because I felt it made the most sense financially and thankfully I was right :) It has kinda been a debate for Jake & I lately of how much we wanted to spend on a house or apartment because if we spend towards the higher end of our budget we have less room for fun stuff like furniture for the new place and just fun stuff in general. So I basically voted to spend less on a house and have more wiggle room for the fun stuff. Well last night out of the blue Jake finds out from his friend Chase that his small house is up for rent and since Chase & his wife are moving to Lubbock he wanted to know if we were interested in living there since they are newlyweds also (Chase & Jordan got married this summer). I mean talk about PERFECT timing it was almost to good to be true, but anyways I go over to the little house to take a look with Chase while he finishes moving their stuff out. Needless to say I was SO surprised at how super nice it was from the way the outside looks and just what the typical acu apartment/house looks like, I LOVE it!!! It feels so weird to know that we have a permanent residence after we are married, now on to the fun stuff like shopping for the perfect things for the house, oh so so exciting!!



So thats the big news, now on to everything else in life. I know it has been forever like always, but it wouldn't be me if I didn't wait FOREVER to update this thing. Well last weekend I went with Jake and his mom to Fort Worth for the weekend to just get away for the night and it was great to be somewhere besides Abilene, not to mention all the cute stuff I was able to purchase! We did a good amount of shopping, not anything like the amount of shopping I tend to do or what I'm used to, but some shopping or no shopping, I will definitely take what I am offered! I got alot of cute clothes, some adorable shoes to wear in Lindy's wedding, some much needed new jeans that actually don't have any huge holes in them haha, several cute tops to wear now and on our honeymoon, some fall stuff, and my much needed wedding day "suck in suit" as I like to call it haha. It was a fun weekend all around shopping spending time with Jake since we have both been working alot lately and not to mention we got to eat at PF Changs so amazing to my tummy, hands down the best Lo Mein I will ever eat I'm pretty sure!



Here are a few quick, recent pictures of my lovely job it's still as great as ever and sweet baby Elizabeth gets cuter everytime I see her which is basically everyday! Honestly I swear up and down that when the weekend rolls around if I don't see them all weekend come Monday morning she has already changed into an even cuter baby girl if thats even possible, I just love it thats all there is to it! She is doing alot better with sleeping less during the day and more at night, we are still working on it, small steps Elizabeth. She is hanging out awake more and just enjoying life therefore I have been able to get a few more good pictures of her awake with those pretty blue eyes. But she must love the camera because when I'm around she sees it most everyday. She is growing and growing already a month as of five days ago, SO crazy!! More sweet pics to come :)

sweet Elizabeth confused as to what I'm doing!

precious big sister Maggie holding baby E

Now some good juicy wedding/honeymoon news since I haven't talked about any of that in quite awhile it seems like. Well as some of you might know Jake & I originally had been planning a California honeymoon basically all up and down the coast including San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County areas, and whatever else, but recently we decided that it was probably going to end up being much more expensive when it actually came down to it when you figure renting a car, gas driving to and from all those places, airfare to CA and back, spending money, food, hotels, etcc.....So we started discussing our other options we might be interested in, we looked into all inclusive resort type places, such as Sandals, Beaches in Mexico, Jamaica,& Carribean islands, but for what we wanted to spend on our honeymoon we couldn't have stayed for long at any of those kind of places. So we started talking about CRUISES and looking into that and found out it was basically right up our alley. We get to see all the cool islands we wanted to, get to go somewhere warm, sunny, and beachy, get to stay for awhile which is something we both wanted, so basically decided for the price and what is included the cruise was the absolute best option for us! So there you have it we have officially booked our honeymoon, we leave March 21, 2010 from the Port of Galveston on a Carnival Cruise line to Montego Bay, Jamaica, The Grand Cayman Islands, & Cozumel, Mexico with fun days at sea all in between for a full 7 nights, 8 days long and we CANNOT wait!!!! I have already purchased quite a few items that I bought with the full intention of wearing on the cruise and I love it, shopping for vacation clothing is so much fun especially such a big one like this!

On the wedding front, not too much going on right now, getting ready to address & mail our super cute save the date cards, be looking in the mail for your card very soon! I have decided on what I am doing for my bridesmaids for their jewelry on wedding day and am so pleased with my decision. I have not purchased my shoes or jewelry quite yet, I am being very indecisive and fickle when it comes to jewelry. Shoes on the other hand I really know which ones I want I just have not purchased them yet, they are so glamorous and I love them, they are silver, strap around the ankle, some beautiful peep toe detail, and are the perfect heighth, not to mention how incredibly comfortable they are! I finally officially decided not to wear a veil, I know for all you super traditional brides out there, its such a shock, but its just not me, it limits the way I can wear my hair SO much, I can't for the life of me find THE veil I want and like, most the ones I found hide and take away from all the gorgeous details of my dress, and ITS JUST NOT ME! But I have chosen the way I will be wearing my hair on the big day and I love it, just trying to get it as long and healthy as possibly before wedding time. The nerves finally set in a few weeks ago when I made the awful, dreaded trip to the gynocologist to get put on the birth control pill. It was not bad at all really, but am just TERRIFIED of gaining weight and not being able to fit into my perfect dress come November when it comes time for my first dress fitting. I am eating healthy for the most part, no junk food, candy, crappy snacks of any kind, no dessert, and am trying to walk/run on the treadmill at work when baby E is taking naps. Not sure exactly how long the birth control pill is supposed to actually take to kick in, but so far I have not noticed ANY difference or change in my body or anything. Hopefully it will come because I really don't want to have to switch pills and start all over again. And we are getting ready for our much anticipated engagement pictures which were supposed to be last Thursday but the stinkin' weather did not cooperate, it rained mostly all morning, the ground was then wet and muddy, so it was a no go. We ended up having to reschedule them and our new date is actually my birthday, October 22nd in case any of you have forgotten. So we are looking forward to finally having that done, I just LOVE LOVE photography so much. And lastly we finally registered and had so so much doing it, sorry no pictures to show for it, I didn't even think to take pictures until after we were all basically done. But just so everyone knows we are registered at Dillards, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, and Kohls. We loved the stuff we picked out and can't wait for all the fun to begin!

Until next time, love is all you need :)

lots of stuff

Lots of stuff to catch up on first our labor day weekend, pretty uneventful, but fun & relaxing. Saturday basically started off our holiday weekend by Josh (my future brother in law) birthday party and kinda a kickoff to the start of college football. Jake & all the guys had Josh a party consisting of basically eating tons of yummy football party food, drinking margaritas, playing video games, and watching football all day. Then sunday we went to an interesting church service that left me feeling a little confused and like I should study more up on the topic of the message, which was about Israel being the chosen nation/people. Then we went to a bday lunch at Lytle, Land, & Cattle for Josh with the family and a few friends. Monday pretty much consisted of Jake working, I ran a bunch of errands with my mom doing some wedding stuff, then doing dinner that night with Jake's dad. All in all it was a fun & relaxing weekend and good to have more than just one day of time off together!


This week has been pretty good, I have enjoyed my time with sweet Elizabeth during the day & actually have really really missed going to do stuff with the big girls- Maggie & Claire. Hopefully we will be able to go to the zoo one afternoon soon, I guess I just miss our time together we got to spend together all this summer! But Jake did get to come see Elizabeth for the first time, which was so sweet to watch him holding her, he was so surprised at how little she was though! This was Maggie & Claire's first week back to preschool and they are having so much fun, it's so cute to watch! Once I get their first day of school picture I will definitely share it because it is so so adorable.


But in other news he did find out this week that he needs to be out of his house by November, which officially means we get to start looking for our first place, I'm so so excited about it!! He will be moving out sometime in October or beginning of November and I will then move out in March when we get married. So if you are in Abilene and know of any nice apartments or houses for rent on either north or south side please let me know and that would be so so great!


But I guess it's already this weekend, we don't really have too much on our agenda, except working, we are both working friday & saturday, but not sunday, but I think we both know what we'll be doing in our spare time. Thanks to the GREATEST fiance we now have the amazing Guitar Hero 5 to play on PS3 haha the only game I will play on that game system & I LOVE it!!

But I think that is all for now, sorry this post has no pictures, I just haven't had my camera with me this week to take any cute pictures, more to come I promise! Anyways I hope everyone enjoys their weekend! Next post all wedding and honeymoon stuff, its going to be so exciting!!!

my new love

Well the sweetest little baby girl is finally here....Elizabeth Markham Trammell arrived last tuesday August 25th and I'm pretty sure she could not be more loved by everyone! I love my job more than I already did before, if that is even possible at all. In the last week I have really thought about how extremely lucky and blessed I am to have this job, really the only thing that would be better is to have my own little babies, but I will definitely settle for these adorable little girls for now, which will make Jake happy for sure haha! Its really weird how God knew just EXACTLY He was doing when he created babies in His own image because there is just something about a newborn baby that I (along with so so many others) just CANNOT resist....it really just melts my heart in two! And yes whoever is reading this I have loved babies like this since I was 6 years old and my cousin Alexandrah was born, I will never forget drawing and coloring all kinds of pictures for her while my aunt was still pregnant with her. She will always hold such a special place in my heart, I think I was probably the only 6 year old that honestly wanted to be responsible for a little baby, she was definitely my very first babysitting experiment!

But since then there have been oh so many more little babies I have had to the opportunity to babysit and love on and have never gotten tired of it. I have been keeping the Trammell girls for two years now and can really admit there has not been one day where I have dreaded going to work, NOT ONE, I never get tired of them, even when Claire's screams get too loud, or when Maggie is moody or whiney, I really just don't think there is a way for me to get tired of them! When Elizabeth was born I kept them for about 2-3 days straight, spent the night with them and everything and had so much fun with them, I think I loved it just as much as they did!

Well I really just cannot tell you how excited for this year I am now, I mean planning and wedding/getting married, and getting to keep the most precious little baby everyday I really just don't think life could get much better than this! Alright I know it can and will get better but for now I am so so happy and content that it might just kill me. I only wish that everyone could be this happy and satisfied with their life always. I really just thank God so much for blessing me like this because I don't deserve it, but Thank you so much anyways.

But for now that is all, I promise to try for all my posts not to be all about Elizabeth, just remember some will so don't be alarmed haha. Next post recent honeymoon plans and recent wedding stuff.

Love to all,

Jillie :)

life lately

There is nothing lately too terribly exciting to tell, no recent pictures or anything. We did have a really great weekend, we had my aunt monica, cousins hannah & rachel in town. Rachel was here moving into her new house for her junior year at ACU and we were all helping her get moved in and decorate her room, it all turned out ADORABLE! But it was so good to have some family in town for a few days, we had a great time talking about all our wedding plans, all the girls even tried on their bridesmaids dresses and loved it, despite some negative self image problems to say the least. But like I said the wedding is not until March 20 so everyone has plenty of time to look the way they want to, haha including me, which is a really good I have 7 months till the BIG day because I have ALOT of work to do till then!


Also this weekend my best friend, Lindy, who is also our florist for the wedding came to town this weekend and was able to come talk to us about our flowers, arrangements, reception table centerpieces, boutinners, and everything else. We are so happy she is getting to do our flowers for the big day, we have no doubt at all that she will do a FABULOUS job, and it will be great business for her career as a florist. It's just all so exciting when we get together because she is getting married in January 3rd and we are in March, we are just getting so pumped about moving & decorating our new places, all our showers, parties, and everything involved in wedding process! I just cannot explain how much I LOVE doing this, I have never had so much fun doing anything haha :)


But on another front, there is still no baby Elizabeth, she really has decided to take forever getting here. I think she will make her arrival this week or weekend at least thats what I am hoping for, I am so excited to meet her and I know her two sweet sisters can't wait! I am so excited for this fall to spend most everyday with that sweet little baby. Another exciting thing happening, Jake & I are about to start looking for a place to rent for him to move into in late September or October, then I will move in March. I'm so excited to find us our first place and decorate it, we both CANNOT wait! So hopefully we will be able to find something we love :)

But for now thats really about it, you should hear from me soon, until then enjoy your Wednesday!!

catching up on life

Yeah well once again its been awhile, and I know I need to get better at blogging on here more often or I guess its pretty pointless, so I'll try! But while I was away this sweet little Claire turned 2 years old...I cannot believe it!!! When I first started working for the Trammells in the fall of 2007, Claire was about 4 weeks old when I started keeping her, this picture below was taken around January of 2008. Needless to say I cannot believe how fast she has grown, it really is amazing. I feel so lucky to be a part of both her & Maggie's lives on a daily basis and am so excited to add another little baby girl to the mix!





The weekend after Claire's birthday my mom & I were able to go down to Houston one last time before school starts and everyone gets back into the rountine of everything. We left around lunch time on Friday after picking some really cute baby gifts for my cousin who is having twins in October, her baby shower was on Saturday afternoon. I just love buying baby gifts, I cannot wait to buy for the next little baby cousin (a.k.a tiny little daisy) and will be so excited when I finally get to buy for a future niece or nephew (jenna & matt?) haha, no rush I just LOVE babies! I loved what we ended up getting for the twin babies and can't wait to see what they look like! My mom, sister, and I had alot while we were down in Houston we got to eat breakfast with some other cousins, its always a treat to see little Ben, I'm pretty sure he could not be cuter if he tried! We also got to do a little bit of shopping mainly trying to look for some shoes for the wedding for me and for the bridesmaids. And I'm pretty sure I found THE SHOE I just have not found it at the price I want yet haha, they were so glamorous and beautiful not to mention comfortable, but lets just wait and see if they come down any from $80! I also loved getting to go to Escalante's Mexican restaurant in Houston, so so yummy! Then we got up early Sunday morning, went to church with my sister and brother in law at First Colony, then hit the road back to Abilene!


The last exciting thing I have to share about is Jake's BIG purchase this past weekend while I was gone in Houston! We have been talking about starting to buy furniture and other big essentials for our first home, which we have decided he is probably going to move into hopefully sometime in October. But the first BIG exciting thing for our house after we get married is the 42" LG Plasma HD tv, which we both LOVE! It kind of does add another thing to put on the buying list but I think its probably most definitely worth it, we will just have to buy something to put the tv on once we get into our own place, but I'm pretty sure we can handle that!

There is not alot of news on the wedding front, just kinda waiting around for time to pass, we will be sending out save the date cards sometime in September, be ready for those, they are SUPER CUTE, we love them so much haha! Right now we are working on getting everyones updated addresses and starting to get together all our pictures for the slide show so we won't be doing that last minute. But thats about it right now as far the wedding plans go...

And I'm still awaiting little baby Elizabeth Trammell to arrive, hopefully sometime this week or next, thats my prediction anyway! Maggie is so excited it is really all she has been talking about this last week or so, I myself cannot wait either another sweet baby girl to hold and love and add to the joy of my job! I will tell you this she is definitely going to have plenty of attention, but a little attention would never hurt anyone haha! Well thats it for now maybe next time I'll have so more exciting news...:)

its been awhile...

So I have decided I needed to better motivate myself to update this blog since I enjoy writing so much and reading others blogs, haha even though i'm not sure if anyone even reads this thing! Oh well I don't do it for other people, although I love to hear from everyone else out there!

Anyways the last few weeks have been pretty eventful for me, I enjoyed going down to celebrate with all my family in Beaumont/Houston for my nana's big 70th Birthday bash. We were able to go down a couple days before to stay and hang out with my sister and brother in law down in Houston so that was fun. My mom, sister, & I went bridesmaid dress shopping in Houston and got to try on my beloved wedding dress for my sister who had not seen it yet, which was really fun! We were also in charge of distracting nana on the day of her surprise bday party, and went to do more bridesmaid dress shopping but in Beaumont this time, still didn't find anything promising. But got to try on my wedding once again, but this time for my nana and thankfully she loved it! Then we came back to Abilene to bring my cousin, Alexandrah to her first year at Kadesh Life Camp at ACU. My sister actually ended up coming up to see us in Abilene this past week to help us with some graphics stuff on the computer for our save the dates cards and thank goodness she did! Actually with her coming up last week we got so much done, finished the CUTEST save the date cards ever, found & purchased THE bridesmaids dresses, worked on some music stuff, and really just had some really fun mom/sister time together! I'm so glad she got to come, thanks so much for spending a week up here helping me with wedding stuff Jenna, love you so much!

Other than that, Jake has been in Lubbock for almost two weeks and home for the weekend, but starts his fabulous new job this coming monday! I have missed him so much this week and last, neither one of us are used to being away from each other, so needless to say we will both be so excited when he comes home on Friday! While he has been gone I have been spending alot of time with my parents, working, and after much delay have started my beauty & health regime to fit into the dress in march haha! So far all I am doing to help myself along this healthy path is cut out all unhealthy sweets, (a.k.a. blue bell ice cream) cutting starches at dinner to a very small amount, trying my hardest to drink 6-8 glasses of water a day, eating as much fruit & veggies as I can, and have been walking nightly with my mom! Let me know of any advice towards this process any of you have out there, trust me I could use anything I can get, especially since I am about to get on birth control and have heard alot out there about significant weight gain while on the pill, which is really kinda starting to freak me out, but we'll see what it does to my body!

Now that summer is coming down to a fast end, not much else is going on with me, besides my little Claire is turning 2 in a few weeks, still awaiting on baby girl trammell #3 to come, and probably a few other wedding things to do before school starts for everyone but me here in a few weeks (haha). My mom and I will be going down to Houston for the last time of the summer for one of my cousin's baby showers, she is having twins (boy & girl) in later fall, and can't wait to see all of my family on my dad's side since we hardly ever get to see them!

Well this post has been long enough for now, hope to see you before too long! :)

So since the last time I posted so much has happened, but at the same time it hasn't been all that exciting, just same ole' same ole'. But the main exciting things that have been going are:

1. finding THE wedding dress

2. Jake getting an awesome new job

3. and completely changing the wedding plans (for the good)

With the whole dress thing I did get the chance to get to stay with mom at a very nice hotel while she was at a week long conference for school in dallas, texas. I got to lay by the pool and have room service delivered. The most exciting part of the trip was getting to go wedding dress shopping at night when she was done with school, I loved doing that! But after trying on a total of like 40-50 wedding dress I finally found the ONE!!! And yes it does feel as great as everyone always says it does when you finally find your dress! I have not ordered it yet, we are actually leaving tomorrow to head down to waco on our way to houston to get fitted and order the dress at the same place my sister got her wedding dress at because we found it for a great price there! I can't wait to try it on again!

But another big thing that has happened since you last heard from me on here is that Jake got an awesome new job working as one of the lead sales consultants at Sprint. It is such a good job for him to have right with us getting married in almost 7 months. It comes with great benefits, like all the insurance and the greatest part to me is we both will have free phone plans, so as long as he is working there we won't have a single cell phone bill to pay. He leaves this coming monday for a 2 week training period in Lubbock, unfortunately not the greatest place on earth, but oh well! When he comes back from his 2 week training he will go straight to working at his new job! I'm so proud of him!! :)

And now for all the wedding planning updates, since finding the wedding dress, that completely changed everything obviously for the better, but i'm so glad it happened the way it has! So now that I have found the dress the wedding plans, theme of the wedding, and all the decorations are much more modern than they were before the dress was found! For instance, I have kinda narrowed it down to two different kinds of flowers for my bouquet and the bridesmaids bouquet, all depending on how each flower holds up. And for all the centerpieces on all the tables at the reception I have narrowed it down to using belles of ireland with another flower for the tall arrangements. Then for the smaller ones on the tables using reindeer moss in vases with a flower on top of it. I have seen this done and it is a really cool, modern look that you don't usually see alot of. Another thing that has changed because of finding the dress is the wedding cake, the one I found after having all these changes since the dress, is absolutely beautiful. My mom is actually going to do a test one since she will be the one doing the cakes! More research is still going on and there are still plenty of decisions to be made. If you have seen any cute, creative ideas for save the dates let me know since we are also changing those, we are trying to figure what we are going to do for that!

Anyways thats probably it for now, hopefully I'll be better about posting more frequently. :)

there is finally a date

mark it on the calendar MARCH 20TH 2010, wedding day!!! Yes there is finally a set date, its a saturday, the big event will be held in downtown Abilene at the Elks Art Center and we are so excited about all of it! So far we are well on our way with all the wedding planning stuff,we have our invitations, save the date cards, have our colors picked, have our wedding party picked, obviously the location and date picked out, and are busy looking at caterers and I will hopefully going dress shopping in Houston with my mom and sister next month, which is just so so exciting to me! But being engaged and planning this wedding is really the most fun process I have gone through in a long time, I love the wedding planning and honestly don't ever get tired of it, which doesn't really surprise me at all haha! By far the most exciting part of this all is thinking about the future, we are really so excited for married life and everything that goes along with it! Another really great part of being engaged and wedding planning is that my best friend of about eight years just got engaged not too long ago and so its really fun planning, sharing, and talking about everything together! Lindy and mitch are actually going to be getting married two months before Jake & I, so needless to say once fall/winter come we will be two very busy people, but its going to be so so exciting, hopefully being in each others weddings!

But besides all the wedding stuff, Jake & I are just trying to enjoy our summer, it has been pretty good so far, nothing big, just working, laying out a little bit, not nearly as often as I would like, but really just hanging out. I have really been enjoying all the fun things I have been doing with Maggie & Claire and it's so great to call that my job, can't wait for baby #3 to get here! I did go down to Beaumont to help my grandparents, aunts, & cousins all move in their house after all the repairs and remodels are finished, the house was being fixed after damage from Hurricane Ike hit last year. But the house looks absolutely fantastic and it was so good to see all of my family and be down there, I love it down there! And the only other plans we have for the rest of the summer is doing something for the 4th of July hopefully, going dress shopping next month with my mom and sister, and I'll hopefully be going to visit Lindy down in Austin in july or august.

Oh also wanted to say thank you so much to my sister for her special post on her blog, it really meant so much to me, actually made me cry when I read it and looked at the pictures on it! You are so sweet and i'm so excited about doing all this wedding stuff with you, i love you so much! If you want to see her special post, you can see it at her blog, www.mjmanges.com

But I guess thats about it for now, i'll be better about updating this thing, sorry about that! More wedding updates to come. Have a great day :)

almost there!!!

YES the countdown is officially on as of today, I now have 3 more days of work at the stinky daycare left. I am so over it, although I will greatly miss alot of the kids and coworkers at this place, I am so VERY excited about what I will be doing instead of working in the daycare! I love the Trammells so much and enjoy being with Maggie & Claire ALOT more...so very excited about what this summer is going to hold for both me and Jake!

Jake is going to be transferring to an online school program to finish his Psychology degree and will be doing summer classes and still working at the restaurant. He is going to be visiting some of his family and friends in Orlando, Florida this summer, which will be so much fun for him! We will be doing alot of wedding planning towards the end of summer, which will be really fun!

I start my full time nanny job with the Trammells this coming monday 5/18 and cannot wait. I already have a couple of things planned for the summer though and just know summer 09' is gonna be a great one! The thursday & friday of May I'll be going to a great concert with my dad in Gruene, Texas at the famous Gruene Dance Hall to see Brandi Carlile and think its gonna be so good! Then in June I'll be going down to Beaumont to help all my family move back into their big house after all the hurricane repairs are finished and hopefully going dress shopping at some point in June, and obviously beyond excited about that one!!! For July I don't really have too many plans yet, August nothing yet, but baby girl trammell is due end of august or beginning september so I'll be sticking around Abilene for that one, so excited for another baby!

I guess thats about it for now...no big recent wedding changes or news, more to come very soon for sure! Happy Summer to everyone reading this!

more later....jge

oh my I hope the food is good!

ok, so since we have picked the location, sorta have found the flowers I want, we started looking at caterers a couple of weeks ago. Oh my was I surprised at how EXPENSIVE food is for wedding receptions, its basically just ridiculous. But we are trying to look at all our options and figure out what the best deal is going to be, so thats where we are at right now in the wedding planning process. The first caterer we looked at was a lady in Abilene, June Sheppard, she has her own business her in Abilene and does everything from the food, beverages, dishes, linens, flower arrangements, flower bouquets, decorations at the wedding ceremony & reception. The only thing that she does not do are the wedding cakes, but with my family thats not a problem. We have already decided that my mom and one of my aunts will be doing both of the wedding cakes, which is a big relief on stress and finances. But anyways...the first caterer we looked at, her estimate for everything was $2800, which is a little over our budget of $2500. The second catering company we looked at was TopCat Catering, which is a company here in Abilene affiliated with Alleycats restaurant, which was far far past our budget. Although I was very impressed with their food selection and presentation their estimate for everything was about $4500, and I think the numbers tell it all! So today I went on to my next catering option, which was another very nice restaurant here in downtown Abilene, Cypress Street Station, and who were actually reasonably. I gave them all our information of wedding/reception location, estimated guests number, time of wedding, type of food we are looking at, beverages, dishes and linens options, and was told for the number of people and the type of food we are wanting that $2500 was a good price range. The caterer there will be emailing a ballpark estimate and a list of good options as far as food goes, so I look forward to that email.


So right now our next goals are to pick a date, reserve the Elks Art Center for the wedding/reception, choose a caterer. Once we have those things done we can do all the little things whenever we want. I know we will be going dress shopping sometime this summer with me, my mom, my sister, and maybe one of my cousins, and best friend. Jake and I have started looking and listening to alot of music that we want to have at the reception and some of the ceremony music. We have also been discussing our options for who will marrying us, which is actually one of the hardest parts of it I think.

But for now I think thats pretty much it, once we have the set date picked, ALOT more can be done, such as things with the wedding party, working on save the date cards. We have already purchased the invitations and the stuff we are using to put together the save the date cards. We are doing really well as far as time and money go so far I think. I know photography and catering will be our most expensive parts of the wedding. But other than that we have really saved on alot, but everything is just the way we want it right now at least. More later as things progress. Keep checking back,

flowerssss and more flowerssssssss

So right now with the all the wedding planning, I am really trying my hardest to just keep all my options open and not to just have one thing in my head and only want that...if that makes any sense? But anyways...at the moment I am really enjoying researching and discovering all the AMAZING flower option there are out there and I really want ya'lls input on everything...so PLEASE let me know what you are thinking of everything. But here are some pictures of most of the flowers I like the most, the main ones I am considering for reception centerpieces, decorations, bridal and bridesmaids bouquets, and so on. Let me know what ya think :)




So here is the ivory/white ranunculus

and here's the classic white mini calla lilies

really loving this one for some reason...just like the way its shaped or something...this is the jeanne moreau garden rose (way different than just the normal red rose you see everyday)

have LOVED this flower the day since I got engaged and started looking at wedding stuff...I like so much because of the good black/white contrast it gives, I just think it would really make a statement in an arrangement or bouquet....this is white anemone, with black center

love the way these look, of course its an orchid...called white vanda orchid

i know this is dark, but I just can totally see it in an arrangement against the green and black, I just think it would really make thing pop! its actually a dark dark burgundy/black, but its a dahlia, I really love these flowers!

This is the beautiful mini green cymbidium orchids...YES very expensive, but I love em'

interesting, yes I know, but you know I love interesting and different looking things...I love the bright green and this is ranunculus also.

this is the pale green garden rose...very pretty :)

first BIG wedding decision

So we have finally found a location for the wedding/reception and are so thrilled about it! Last weekend we looked at several different wedding ceremony/reception venues, but finally decided that this place, here in the pictures was perfect for what we want! So see for yourself in the pictures below. Let me know what you think, so please leave me comments :)




The place in the pictures we have choosen is called The Elks Art Center, its in downtown Abilene, right behind the Grace Museum (if you are familiar with Abilene). Like I said both the wedding ceremony & reception will be taking place here because its SO convenient, very large (as you can see), and accomodating.

I just absolutely love the black framed windows all around the room, there is a total of 6 big, black windows. We want to start the ceremony at like 8ish so the sun is setting and its getting dark, which I think will be SO elegant!

The grand ballroom here in these pictures is on the 3rd floor of this building and looks out over downtown Abilene, it has such a contemporary, metropolitan feel to it that I really just love. And the size is really great for the dancing we will be doing at the reception, also for all the tables & chairs, and several different food tables. It was also at such a great price especially for how perfect it is :)

And here is the outside of the building, I think its so cute! So keep in mind North 1st & Cedar in downtown Abilene for late march wedding next spring! Get ready for a fun time! Don't forget I really wanna know all your thoughts about it, so don't be afraid to leave a comment :)

exciting, thoughtful last few days

So not alot has been going on lately...but at the same time some exciting stuff has happened, weird I know. Along the lines of the wedding...my mom purchased our first box of invitations, I love them...so that was pretty exciting. And we are also going to look at a couple of different wedding/reception locations here in Abilene on good friday since its a holiday and we are off work...so I cannot wait for that! We are really hoping that we can find and decide on a location and definite wedding date in the next week or so...but we will see!

Anyways on a non-wedding note, we visited a new church on sunday and both actually loved it, I had actually been there several times, but we are pretty sure we want stick to going here! I am really hoping for both of us to meet some new people and really get involved, I really feel like that is what we both really need right now.

On a completely other, exciting note...Jake and I have been thinking seriously about some decisions involving our education. For me, I was supposed to be starting Esthiology school at the end of April here in Abilene, and have recently realized that it is not going to be the right choice for me. For the last couple of weeks I have really just not felt a peace about the program, like it was not what I really want to do, I did not feel like it was going to make me happy in the long run, which is the reason I have decided against it. Instead I came upon an amazing program/opportunity I know for a fact that I would love, that I have always dreamed of. This opportunity would be doing an online program through an event/wedding planning company to get my certification as an International Wedding Planning Professional, in other words to open my open wedding planning business. I feel completely at ease with this decision, i'm very excited about it, and really think that I could very much succeed at this! Let me know if any of you reading this have any pointers or comments about this idea/plan, I would love to hear any and all of them! For jake...he is considering after he finishes up this semester at ACU, then finishing up his degree through an online college, one that has the same accreditation as ACU does, just in case you were wondering. But, this would allow him to finish his Bachelors degree in Psychology faster, it is much cheaper than ACU or any other private or state school, and will not have to worry about taking a bunch of stupid classes, such as Bible, P.E., health, and all the other nonsense they force you to take. This school also has a masters degree in psychology, which is also something Jake is considering, it would really benefit him to do this so that he can do school anytime he is free, it will allow him to work more, which is obviously a huge benefit.

Anyways...that is about all that is going on with us right now...we are just really excited about this weekend, not only do we get to go look at wedding locations, but its also a four day weekend, which is just so AMAZING in itself! Hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend and wonderful Easter weekend! Happy Easter! :)

some wedding change of plans

so over the weekend we had some BIG change of plans as far as wedding plans go. We pretty much have officially decided to get married here in Abilene instead of in Beaumont like we had originally planned. We have just realized how harder it would have been to plan a wedding out of town, with going out of town so much during the planning phase and with work and school it was just going to seem impossible since its seven hours away. So we decided that we want to do everything here in Abilene and are so excited at some of the different location options we are looking at and just how much easier the whole process is going to be with everything being right here. And one of the other main reasons we have decided not to do everything in Beaumont is because the location we had our heart set on we have realized after counting even just immediate family on my side, not even close friends or extended family just on my side we are already up to 120 on my side and the location in Beaumont, my aunt's beautiful house to do it outdoors is just not big enough that it really would only hold up to like 75-80 people which is obviously way under what even my family is haha.

Anyways here a few pictures of the location options we are looking at right now...I want your feedback on what you think would be the best most beautiful location for our wedding :)

here is the website to the location we are leaning most towards www.erinshire.com

one of the others we are going to look is the windsor hotel in downtown abilene that I have not yet found the official website yet, sorry :(

Anyways let me know what you think...I would love to hear your opinion on everything :)

Until then we will update as things change

Change of plans

So nothing really super spectacular has been happening so far, I can still hear the wedding bells ringing...but they are much more in the distance than I had ever hoped for...but I know thats for the best! Well so Jake & I recently decided to wait until spring of 2o1o to do the big wedding, we both really think its a much better plan and really feel happy about that decision. I guess the main reason we decided this is because he won't be graduating from his undergrade at ACU till May 2010 or summer and just felt like it was a smarter plan for us and lets just be honest I did not want a winter wedding AT ALL! I know everyone is probably laughing at me because I am looking in all the wedding magazines I can find and doing all sorts of planning in my head and such, but to tell the truth I don't care that its a year away because I have been waiting to plan this day since I was about six years old :)


Other than the few wedding changes...I need ya'lls help, anyone & everyone who actually read this I want your help coming up with a new name for this blog instead of "double j life" neither I nor jake care for that one too much. Just comment on this post and give me your suggestions if you please.

Sorry this is such an uneventful post, but sometimes those happen. Please help me with the name. Until another time....

so the story begins...

not the best picture of the ring...but its still beautiful and I LOVE it!!!!

my best friend Lindy...right after the proposal

after Jake asked me...me still shocked

Jake & I after we were ENGAGED!

the amazing arrangement the best florist in Austin made me, especially for our engagement

so it finally happened!!! I'm writing this post a little late, but yes the day I have been dreaming of for quite some time actually happened about two weeks ago, Jake & I got ENGAGED :)

I was of course completely overwhelmed with shock, so surprised, but so excited at the same time since I was under the impression this day was not going to be happening for a least another year or so, well apparently that was a bunch of bull ha!

I'm sure everyone wants the story and the details...but most importantly it was absolutely PERFECT like I had always pictured it in my head. So here it goes..the weekend of Febuary 21st-23rd we went to Austin to visit my best friend, Lindy that moved there a couple of months ago to be a full time florist. We had such a great weekend doing all the fun Austin things and all along Jake & I had been planning to go on a special date on Sunday night, keep in mind Jake was doing all the planning for this date night all along, which is not unusual at all, he is always planning fun surprise date nights for us, so I of course didn't think anything of it. And at about 4 or so Lindy & I went on a coffee date and would meet Jake at this special "date location" at like 6:30. And at about 6 we leave and are on our way to the location which just happened to be Mt. Bonnell in Austin, which if you are not familiar with it, it's an awesome cliff type hill place that is gorgeous that you can climb and take pictures and has a spectacular view over Towne Lake and these amazing milliondollar homes. So I get there, Lindy drops me off, me thinking that she is leaving, so I head up and look for Jake at the top of the hill and there he waits with a beautiful flower arrangement made by the talented florist lindy. And so after awhile of talking he tells me he has some present for me thats a surprise, which again is not unusal for Jake, so I close my eyes and open and he has made me an really cool black and white scrapbook of pictures and things from the very beginning of us dating till up to about now, and on the last page he tells me there is a special picture to go there and he has one last surprise to show me, so I close my eyes and then open and the page is turned and says "Jillian will you be my wife?" and has open a ring box with my perfect most beautiful engagement ring!!!!

Well oh my gosh I never even said yes to him because I was so so overwhelmed and shocked, I mean granted the answer was automatic, but still. Well then I turn around and out pops stalker lindy out of the bushes with her camera, so apparently she had been there the whole time and basically followed me up mt. bonnell...which did I mention I was totally oblivious to!?

So then we proceed to freaking out about what is really happening and taking pictures and having random people come up and clap and scream congratulations, which I loved ha! And then we leave and the all the massive amounts of calls to be made begins...my parents first, which Jake had talked to in depth about all of this about 2 weeks before all this was going to happen. Then my sister, Jake's sister, my aunt, cousins, Jake's mom, friends and the list goes on....

Well needless to say I was and still am so overwhelmed with happiness that I could probably just burst into a bubble!!! We are both just so super excited for everything to come in the next year that we cannot even keep it to ourselves! But here is a few pictures of my beloved ring & a few from the special weekend, ENJOY!