So much to say!

I know I disappeared for a little, but I'm back! Things have been crazy and will be until the end of the year, so I'll keep you as updated as I possibly can.

I'm not going to post a lot tonight, but will highlight last week and will write more when I can.

Since my last post (the hair cut) I...

• ...Went with Matt to O'Fallon, IL to buy his new 50" TV and sound system (what joy!). But I have to admit, I love watching TV over here now, it's like a movie theatre!
• ...Had another practice with my band - if I haven't mentioned in a previous post, I'm in a band. It's for my work holiday party and we are actually really good. Surprising, huh?
• ...Asked another one of my best friends from high school, Danielle to be a bridesmaid and got to hang out with her and her adorable husband this past weekend.
• ...Went to Kansas City for Thanksgiving and had a great time hanging out with family. Matt and I asked my three little cousins to be ring bearers and flower girl in our wedding.
• ...Bought a wedding dress!
• ...Had a second Thanksgiving at Matt's parents house with the Telken crew. It was nice to see everyone, it had been awhile! Plus, I had time to ask Lynn, Matt's sister, to be a bridesmaid; Darla, Matt's sister-in-law, to be a greeter/candle lighter and Matt's niece and nephews to, you got it, be more of our ring bearers and flower girl. We are going to have six of the little one's involved if you're keeping count. Our reception is going to be 21 and up, so they can't come...it's nice to involve them in the ceremony.
• ...Went to a couples shower for our friends Mike and Heather, getting married in March.
• ...Took our engagement pictures.

So much going on! I'll post more soon - along with pictures. But not of my dress, that is something I will not share. :-)

I want this dress!

Too bad it's $1,500! This is a Zac Posen silk dress...and I'm officially in love.

That is all.

My New Haircut

What do you think?

A look from the side...


Check out the "hidden" red pieces


I'm digging my short new do!


Girls, I love Chris! She is the owner of En Vogue and the most amazing hair stylist. If you ever need a reasonable cut/color, she's your gal!

What do you think?

My Ring

Is being sized...and I miss it! Hopefully I'll get it back soon.

Lisa and Tom Dolan

To add to the wedding party, Matt and I asked Lisa and Tom on Halloween. I didn't post pictures but here they are!

We gave them a tour of the new house and let them find this on our chalk board (which will most likely be taken down soon).

It's hard to think how sweet this is with our costumes on. But you get the idea!

Tequila Time in Cabo San Lucas!

Cabo was an absolutely amazing trip. To summarize seven days into a post is going to be hard, but you'll at least see some great pictures of friends and even better scenery pictures.

Matt and I went down a day earlier than the other couples in order to be back in town for Leslie and Christian's wedding (next blog post). We met Tara and Derek at Sunset Beach, where we were staying the night, and had some dinner and much-needed drinks. To add to the fun, we asked T & D to be in our wedding during dinner! Tara and I, of course, cried, but it was such a great atmosphere to share with good friends.



After dinner, we went to see the chapel where Tara initially wanted Matt to propose. It would have been gorgeous, but I'm happy he did it at home. We couldn't resist messing around for a few minutes.



The next day, we woke up early, went grocery shopping and headed up to the villa to set up for the other two couples to arrive. Look at this view from our room! We walked right out to the infinity pool.



Once everyone arrived, we obviously had to take a dip. The weather was perfect, upper-80's and no humidity. Here is everyone but Mark, who took the picture.



I couldn't resist taking a picture of my ring with the fabulous view.



Our second night, and first night out, consisted of hitting up Slim's - the smallest bar in the world - and Mi Casa. Balloon hats were in full effect!





Tammie and Ryan celebrated their one-year anniversary on 11/10 (happy anniversary, again!), so the rest of us hit up Barometro for some drinks. If you haven't been here, it's crazy. The swanky atmosphere on the dock is one thing, but they have a giant screen that they play Cirque de Sole on, with techno music. It's entrancing and really, really strange. But fun!



For the nicest dinner of our trip, we made the long trip to Palmilla to eat and then hung out at Agua Bar. It was chilly that night, but Matt and I made time to hang out alone for awhile and listen to the waves hitting the shore. It was an amazing night.



We had to hit up Niki Beach (I think that's how you spell it) before we left Cabo. This is actually right next to wear Lauren stayed on her honeymoon. I finally got to get in the ocean too. The beach at are villa is too dangerous to get in the water, so this was our chance! Well, this isn't a beach picture, but the pool was just as cool.



The view of our villa from down below...



The sunset was perfect our last night. Check out the lighthouse!



We had to get one last group shot before Matt and I headed back to St. Louis. Sorry for the yellow eyes, I need a new camera.



The girls! Allyson, me, Tara and Tammie. What style we have!



Bye bye Cabo! Hello wedding planning!

Next post - Leslie and Christian are married!

Until then,

Stevie

My First Award!

While I sit in my humongous hotel room in Chicago, all by my lonesome, I had to pass along an award that I just received from my good friend Lauren. She is so sweet because I am not as good as keeping up with my blog as she is...thus she gives me shout outs quite often - which I appreciate very much!

The award is called the Kreativ Blogger award! I don't know how creative I am right now, but this definitely makes me want to put more effort into writing as much as possible! Thank you LC!


Now, before I pass on the award to four other blogger friends, I am supposed to say six things that I am thankful for. So here goes...

1. My wonderful fiance (still so weird to call him that) Matthew Telken. AKA Gus, Red Bear, Big Tree, etc. We are getting married October 24, 2009 and I am counting down the days! Every morning I wake up with a smile on my face because I know, before long, I will wake up to Matt everyday. He makes me laugh, he makes me love, he makes me happy. I am so blessed to have such an amazing guy to stand next to from here on out.
2. My family. My dad, mom, sister and pup (Cooper). My dad is my hero. I am "daddy's little girl" in everyway. We talk about everything! My mom is my best friend. I can count on her for anything I need, no matter what time of day or night, she will always be there for me. And what a blessing in disguise with this wedding planning - she is on her game! Jenny, my sister is such an inspiration. She is hilarious to be around and we have grown exstremely close since she graduated from college and moved back home. I can't forget Cooper! He is my rockstar (Goldendoodle) and I miss him so much! I love going home to visit him, sorry everyone, but it's the truth! I can't wait to get one of my own with Matt next year.
3. My friends. I won't drag this one on. I just want to say that I am so lucky to have friends from many moons ago and friends from just a few years ago. I am surrounded by beatiful people inside and out and I thank my lucky stars each day that I am able to go through life with a support system that is so full of love.
4. My job. I have been in PR at Weber Shandwick for almost 2 1/2 years and I love every minute of it! Right now I'm in Chicago and I'll be waking up at 3 a.m. tomorrow to do a satellite media tour with Frank Abagnale for our uni-ball client. You know Frank. His life story was rewritten with Leo DiCaprio as the lead character - Catch me if you Can! It's insane how my days are never the same. That's what is so great about it!
5. Saint Louis. I love this city! It's so big, yet so small. The popular question of "where do you go to high school?" will never get old. There are great bars, great restaraunts and great memories here! I will never leave.
6. My life. There have been some ups and downs, but I made it through and I am who I am because of numbers 1-5. I thank God for my health, family, friends, Matt and anyone who has touched me in some way throughout my life. I thank God for my dad being cancer free and for Matt's parents being cancer free. Like Lauren says, "live, laugh, love"...that's what I'm doing!

OK...now to the award ceremony! Here are the blogs that I am awarding the "Kreativ Award" to:

Everything and Nothing at All: This is my friend Lorie's blog. She is the funniest person I know, no doubt. I give her this award because of her creativity. She doesn't blog a lot, but when she does you will laugh until your cheeks hurt. Love you, Lomers!

Nine Months in the Lou: I work with Carrie who has been blogging about her pregnancy. Now that she has had Ryan Christopher, she is deciding whether to switch blog titles, since this one will no longer make sense. Carrie's journey was wonderful and I'm so happy she was able to share it with everyone. Check out her pictures - Ryan is a gorgeous baby!

LiveLaughLove: Wies, I'm not sure if you are supposed to get an award twice, but I LOVE reading your blog! You are so good about updating constantly and I'm better at reading your blog than writing in mine. Thanks for being a wonderful friend!

TJ and Karen's Blog: Karen was one of my first followers and I love reading up on her blog when I can. Her wedding pictures are absolutely gorgeous!! Check her out when you have some time.

Congrats you lucky winners! Lorie, write in your blog, you are long overdue!

When I get home from Chicago, expect a blog on Cabo and Leslie/Christian's wedding.

Talk soon,

Stevie

Cabo, here I come!

I'm heading to Cabo with Matt and three of our closest couple friends tomorrow morning through next Friday. It will be a great week of relaxing, drinking and getting tan!

Check out where we're staying! http://web.mac.com/gjdj74/iWeb/Montecristo/Villa.html

Amazing, beautiful...I can't wait to take pictures while I'm there. Get ready for some pretty large posts when we get back.

Have a wonderful week and I'll blog soon!

Umbrella drink,
Stevie

Maid of Honor

I asked my younger sister, Jenny, to be my maid of honor tonight. We went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and I had them write the question on the cheesecake plate. It was adorable.



Especially since she had no idea what was going on. The first two questions that went through her mind when the plate came were:

1. Is this the cheesecake we ordered?
2. Why is the waitress still standing here?

It was hilarious! Here she is looking really confused...

Once she figured it out, she said yes immediately.



I also gave her a card so she could actually have a memory of our special dinner.





Love this girl!

So happy to have an amazing sister to share this special time with.

Whirlwind...

This past week has been an absolute whirlwind! It's been exactly one week since Matt and I got engaged and I'm trying to enjoy every minute of it without starting to plan too much. That's kind of hard when you're so excited to get details in order for such a special day!

So last Thursday night, Matt and his friends moved everything into the house. I wasn't much help since I just sat around chatting with all the girls and my family, who stopped by to see the house and the ring, of course!

I took the day off on Friday to get more stuff done with Matt. We got my new platinum band, which is SO much nicer than my initial white gold one. Then Matt and I went couch shopping and he bought this! Isn't it beautiful!? It gets delivered when we are in Cabo next week, so we'll come home to a somewhat decorated living room.

Then Friday night we celebrated Halloween with Lisa and Tom are good friends. We went to El Scorcho for dinner and hit up Jive and Wail after. It was a great night!

In the midst of a crazy weekend, Matt and I did start planning our wedding. We have the church and reception site and are now working through photographer's and florists. THEN, when we get back from Cabo (we leave Friday, can't wait), I'll start dress shopping.

I'm also working on a Web site, but will keep you posted as to when it is up.

All for now, I'll post before Cabo! Now I'm going to watch the votes come in - hope you voted today!!