Alexa Loves.

omg, katelin and matt are married.

MARRIED.

this truly makes me happy because out of all my internet friends (yes, katelin is my long time internet friend) there isn't a more genuine/happy/deserving lady. and i'm so full of excitement for her and matt at the start of their new married life together - yay!

but let's not get ahead of ourselves as i almost forgot to introduce myself - i'm alexa and i write the blog cleveland's a plum :)

so before she went and got all married on us katelin asked some blog friends to share a current love list - any love list so i thought long and hard about what i should share with you guys until i finally came up with the following...

alexa's top 10 love songs

10. love song - the cure

9. i'm going down - mary j blige

8. (it's a tie!) trouble AND you are the best thing - both by ray lamontagne

7. ain't no mountain high enough - marvin gaye and tammi terrell

6. alone - heart

5. she's got a way about her - billy joel

4. never tear us apart - INXS

3. you're the one - the black keys

2. something - the beatles

1. maybe i'm amazed - paul mccartney

umm, that was a lot harder than i thought and i know i'm missing MANY wonderful songs - i'm positive i could have made this a top 100 list, easy.

i.e. honorable mentions go to waste by phish, crazy in love by beyonce, i will follow you into the dark by death cab for cutie and then came you by dionne warwick and the spinners.

so what am i missing? what would you add to the list?

Ali Loves.

Hey girls (and maybe a guy or too? Bueller?)! This is Ali, from The Way I See It, taking over le blog de Katelin for today while she is either a) drinking lots of vino in Italy b) seeing the sights in Italy c) smooching her husband in Italy or d) all of the above...in Italy. And truth be told, I couldn't be more excited to be here today. You see, Katelin holds a very special place in my heart, as her blog was one of the first blogs I'd ever read and to top it off, she welcomed me right into her group of amazing friends with open arms. And then there was that time we met for the first time in person over Dawson's Creek...but there's no time for that.

Okay, enough with the banter. Today, in honor of Katelin and Matt's nuptials, I'm listing off a few things I'm in lurve with (aside from Katelin, of course; sorry Matt).

1. Coffee
2. Joseph Gordon-Levitt

3. Good, truthful quotes that start with (my lucky number) 13 -- double whammy!

4. Turquoise anything (but especially cupcakes)
5. Breakfast

6. Quality alone time

7. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (peanut butter + chocolate = most genius combo ever)

8. Traveling

9. Sleeping (preferably with my dogs)

10. Reading (nerd alert, but I must speak the truth!)
Hope you're all having a wonderful day! And thank you, my dear Katelin, for letting me visit! Have a glass of wine for me, and feel free to bring back an Italian man in your suitcase...

Jen Loves.

Ciao, amici!

My name is Jen from Freckle on the Nose of Life's Complexion. Katelin's my BFF. IRL.

She used to be my best single friend. Then she was my best engaged friend, and now she's my best married friend!

She's Mrs. Matt! And at this very moment they are celebrating their matrimony in Italy, wink wink, nod nod.

If I didn't love Kate and Matt so much I'd be pretty jealous, yes sir. Instead, I'm thrilled! And a little jealous. But jealousy's not pretty, so let's talk about music instead.

My taste in music is pretty boring. I like my music the way I like my reading material: not too deep or intellectual. I don't like to look for symbolism or hidden meaning, just give it to me straight. I guess I can add lazy and shallow to my taste in music, eh?

Katelin has pretty great taste in music, so how are we friends?

(Because we have almost everything else in common including a love for Dexter Morgan, jumping on beds as an expression of happiness, and dinner selections - we live on opposite coasts and unknowingly had the same salad for dinner last week! Plus we're both corny enough to get excited over twin salads.)

Long story short, the name of the game this week is loooove, so here are some lyrical snippets from my top 10 favorite love songs.

You make the coffee I'll make the bed

I'll fix your lunch and you'll fix mine

Now tell me the truth do these old shoes look funny

Honey, it's almost nine

Now you be careful gotta go, I love you

Have a beautiful day

And kiss the happiest girl in the whole USA

- Happiest Girl In The Whole USA (Donna Fargo)

He's my sunshine in the morning

He's my fireworks at the end of the day

He's the warmest chord I ever heard

Play that warm chord, play and stay, baby

- My Old Man (Joni Mitchell)

The moment I wake up

Before I put on my makeup

I say a little prayer for you

- I Say A Little Prayer (Aretha Franklin)

All I want is you, will you be my bride

Take me by the hand and stand by my side

All I want is you, will you stay with me

Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea

- All I Want Is You (Barry Louis Polisar)

I can hear her heartbeat for a thousand miles

And the heavens open every time she smiles

And when I come to her, that's where I belong

Yet I'm running to her like a river's song

- Crazy Love (Van Morrison)

And you can tell everybody this is your song

It may be quite simple but now that it's done

I hope you don't mind

I hope you don't mind that I put down in words

How wonderful life is while you're in the world

- Your Song (Elton John)

Some day, when I'm awfully low

When the world is cold

I will feel a glow just thinking of you

And the way you look tonight

- The Way You Look Tonight (Tony Bennett)

We'll have a little girl, a little boy

A little Benji we call Leroy

But know one needs to know right now

- No One Needs To Know (Shania Twain)

If tomorrow never comes

Will she know how much I loved her

Did I try in every way to show her every day

That she's my only one

If my time on earth were through

She must face this world without me

Is the love I gave her in the past

Gonna be enough to last

If tomorrow never comes

- If Tomorrow Never Comes (Garth Brooks)

I don't want clever conversation

I never want to work that hard

I just want someone that I can talk to

I want you just the way you are

- Just The Way You Are (Billy Joel)

Congratulations to my BFF and her hubster! Happy honeymoon!

(Do you miss Kate already? Me too.)

I posted a couple pics (stolen from our lovely friend Liz) on my blog, but I will leave the detailed recapping to Kate. Suffice it to say Katelin and Matt have always been a fun couple and their wedding did NOT disappoint. It was an absolute blast!

Salute, y'all!

I'm officially a Mrs.!

Well we did it! Matt and I are MARRIED!!

Saturday was one of the best days of my life and I couldn't have asked for a better wedding. It was amazing for so many of our favorite people to be in one place and all having a great time. Clearly I'm not going to post about the whole wedding now (I gotta have something to share for when I get back!) but I wanted to share a little teaser to hold you over:

me and my dad

dancing our way down the aisle.

enjoying a bit of the cocktail hour with my

HUSBAND!!

adore this picture.

Anyhoo thank you all so much for all of the love I've gotten this past week (and hell this past year!), the tweets and emails all made the day so much better and I adore you all so so much.

And don't forget to check out my fabulous guest bloggers as they share a little something something about loooooove and I'll see you in two weeks full of Italian food and wine and all sorts of stories and pictures to share!

Heart you all!!

happy monday!

I'm getting MARRIED!

Can you believe it's finally here? I'm freaking getting MARRIED TOMORROW!!!!

I mean yes it's nuts and I still can't fully comprehend it all and just wow. I mean really tomorrow I'll actually be....

wearing one of these...

well maybe not thaaaat one.

and one of these...

and a little bit of this...

and doing some of this...

and MARRYING this handsome man...

oh how I love him

and our silliness.

Thank you so much for all the kind words and tweets and emails and texts you all are truly the best and I'm so glad you've been there for so much of this journey (and tolerated my non-stop wedding chatter!).

So the next time you hear from me I'll be a married woman! Crazypants!!!


hope you all have a fabulous weekend!!



happy #katelinsweddingweek almost #katelinsweddingday! :)

A letter to myself.

Dear Katelin a year ago,

So I have a few things to tell you that'll make your life a lot better.

and a picture to show you from your engagement

because you just love it and you loved the whole session

and it gives you endless pictures to use of you and your loooove.

One. I know you want to lose weight and be all fabulous and skinny and super toned arms and a crazy awesome back but I'm just going to tell you now, it's not going to happen. It's okay though, you still look good and you look like yourself and that's all that matters. Oh! And you don't have back rolls on your dress so that is definitely a huge plus.

Oh and speaking of that dress, you find it in December and only try on about five and you love it every time you put it on and you feel classy and elegant and awesome.

Two. I know you said you wanted to have EVERYTHING done way before the wedding so you could relax the week before. But if you know yourself you know that's just not happening. You are pretty ahead of the game and have a lot of things done but ultimately some things get saved til last and you start to stress a little but not too much. However despite the procrastination Matt steps in to save the day, so do family and friends and all sorts of everyone and you are truly blessed.

Three. Diet? What diet. Back to the whole weight loss thing, you eat cheese like it's no one's business and drink wine like it's going out of style (okay maybe not that much but you definitely don't cut back) and that's OKAY. Just because you're getting married doesn't mean you have to change yourself, everyone already likes you for who you are and Matt is marrying you for that reason and that is all that really matters.

Four. Although you might not agree on everything, appreciate your mom. She is so helpful and involved and clearly only wants the best and you should probably thank her every day. Same goes for Kourtney, thank her now and every day for being so helpful and being the stand-in-bride with Matt and being crafty and just being so awesome.

Five. You are marrying your best friend. Don't ever forget that. The planning may get a little nuts and you may squabble a wee bit but don't forget the end result, you'll be walking down the aisle and Matt will be your husband and that's the best outcome of all.


So Katelin, you've got a year until your wedding enjoy every minute of it and don't feel too bad about talking about it endlessly on the blog, your freaders will understand.

Love,
Katelin getting married

happy wednesday!