New Blog!

Hey everyone.

Go check out the new blog where both Mathew and I will be posting...more than likely I will be doing the majority of the posting but maybe we will all be surprised. Thanks! :)

http://candaceandmathew.blogspot.com/

Married Life

I obviously disappeared from my blog for quite some time. I'm planning to change the blog address and name and such but until I get life under control and have time to do that...I'm still here. Well, I'm married now! Yay! I am officially Candace Williams and it's awesome. The wedding day went extremely well. Everything turned out incredible for the reception and it was just a fantastic day. Our honeymoon was needless to say...awesome! It was not easy to come home and get back to reality.

We moved into our apartment in Rexburg and we love it. It took us forever to finally get everything put away. Tender moment #1: no one gave us silverware and I gave all mine to D.I. so our first breakfast in our apartment was eaten with an ice cream scoop. We took turns eating our cereal with the scoop and made sure we got silverware that day. That same day we took a car full of gifts and a wallet full of gift cards and went shopping! In no time, we spent all of our gift cards and our car was full to the top of stuff to take back home with us.

We both started school a few days later and it was sooo hard to get motivated to do homework. I had absolutely zero desire to do it. I do however love my classes, they are awesome. I'm sure no one really cares about my classes so let me just talk about some other tender moments that have happened since we've been married.

Tender moment #2: I was buried in homework on Monday night...like majorly buried. Mathew was kind enough to make dinner for us AND do the dishes afterward. He wouldn't even let me near the dishes. I was extremely grateful.

Tender moment #3: Wednesday night I was again buried in homework. One of my assignments for my pattern making class was to trace and cut out a ton of slopers (sorry I'm too lazy to explain what these are). Mathew and I put in a movie and he traced and traced and traced and then cut and cut and cut. He pretty much spent the entire movie tracing and cutting for me. Love him.

Tender moment #4: Mathew didn't have class Thursday. I did. I had an hour+ break during classes and Mathew came and picked me up from class for lunch. I got in the car and he had packed a picnic basket full of food for lunch. It was adorable. He wouldn't tell me what was in it. I was so excited to park the car and watch him open up the basket and reveal all of the goodies. It was probably the cutest thing ever.

Tender moment #5: Friday night we were planning to go restaurant hopping. We started at Sonic for drinks and right after we ordered them, we decided to just go to Chili's (my favorite) for the whole meal: appetizers, main course, and even dessert. Well Mathew got hooooked on his Sonic drink, he'd never had one before, and the whole next day he was wishing the Sonic in Rexburg hadn't closed. Later, we went bowling with his brother and wife and then went to their house in Rigby for a movie. We were close enough to Idaho Falls that Mathew just couldn't resist driving the rest of the way to get a Sonic drink. We made it 5 minutes before they closed and we were both super excited. I'm considering this a tender moment because I thought it was hilarious that he was willing to drive to Idaho Falls just for a drink.

That's all the tender moments I have for now. I'll try to have the new blog up and running...someday.

Done!

I am officially finished with Shabby Apple...well my internship that is. I'm going to continue working for them from home. Score! With the completion of my internship came...free dresses! Yay! Here are the two I finally decided on. If only I was a cool fashion blogger and posted myself in the dresses. :)

and

I know I thought this dress was too simple but I tried it on and I looooove it. It is so cute on. It's probably my new favorite dress. I also purchased a damaged dress for $20. Woo-hoo. It only has a ripped seam (totally fixable) and I thought it was really fun. Here it is:

I know it's kind of different but it's super fun to wear. Speaking of damaged dresses, if anyone is in Utah on April 11, there is a damaged dress sale. Dresses for $20 and $40...not too shabby. Oh how nerdy, I just punned...oh well.

So with the internship over, I can now count on one hand how many days are left until the wedding. Things are going well with planning. Everything is coming together. I go through the temple tomorrow night and I'm very nervous/excited. Well it's late and I'm super tired. I know I had more to blog about but I can't remember anything right now. Bedtime for moi.

Last Things

So the wedding is next week. Ahhh :) Here is a little update on the "last" things I have experienced (or will) this week.

1. Last shift at JCPenney....rejoice
2. Last shuttle ride
3. Last week at Shabby Apple
4. Last time parking at the airport
5. Last Sunday in a single's branch

Okay so that's not very many. When I started writing this I thought for sure I'd have this clever list of things...too tired. Anyways, wedding planning is going well. My wonderful mother is doing mostly everything so I don't have a mental breakdown with everything going on. I'm very looking forward to next week when I can just chill with Mathew (when he's not doing finals) and put the final touches on things. Yay!

Wooooaah

Oh my goodness. The wedding is two weeks from tomorrow. I can't believe it. The first two months of our engagement was torture. The second two months have flown! I only have one more week at Shabby Apple and I'm kind of sad about it. I'm going to continue working for them (hopefully) from Rexburg so I'm happy about that. I'm going to miss all of the people, not necessarily the weekly commute, but the people: yes.

Speaking of Shabby Apple...they are launching a line of skirts next week and they are SO cute! I tried them all on today for fit purposes and oh my, I want all of them. And maybe I will actually be able to afford them. :)

That's all I have to say for today. Bye!

Dark Circles

Here's another help me post. I have terrible dark circles under my eyes. Kinda like these:

Only worse if you can believe it. I have no idea how to make them go away. I'm sure sleep could do the trick but seeing as that's not really an option for me...is there anything else? I'd even take just a good product to cover them up. I know nothing about makeup. Help!

Sucked In

I just got sucked into a craft blog for over an hour. I contacted her the very first week of my internship but didn't really take time to look through her posts. Holy freak, I wish I had her creativity. I am officially inspired. If only I had time to make her wonderful creations. If you go to her blog...beware. It's addicting.

http://www.rufflesandstuff.com/

So I've been wanting to blog for a few days but just haven't known what to write about. I feel like my life is not very blog worthy...especially after reading so many awesome blogs on a daily basis. One of my biggest concerns as of late is what two dresses I'm going to pick at the end of my internship. I know sooo important right? Maybe my readers (if you care) can help? I'm totally loving this dress...

Champs Elysees

Like loving it. I'm fairly positive it's going to be one that I pick. Maybe it's partly because it's from the Paris line? :)

Also love this one...

Gondola

But I don't know if it's really me?

Next is this...

l'Artiste

HUGE fan of this dress but the medium is too big on top but the small is too small on bottom. Ugh.

I like this dress...

North Shore

But I don't know if it's fancy enough, ya know? I want to get the biggest bang for my buck...well obviously not buck but hopefully you'll know what I mean.

Obviously I love the French line...

Pont Neuf

Too much?

Last but not least...

Sierra Nevada

Loved this dress when I first started, it was the first Shabby dress I tried on and I fell in love. We sold out of my size for a while but some have been returned. 

Seriously...opinions? I'm dying. I get to pick two. If you have any suggestions from the site, please let me know. And let's be honest, I'll be really sad if I come back and there have been zero comments. :(

Days?

Wow, so when did the countdown get to days...no month? Thank goodness time is starting to fly. Well, thank goodness for me and Mathew, maybe not so much for my mom. Did you all enjoy Mathew's little post below? We were extremely bored so I told him to write something, just like he mentioned.

Anyways, I just wanted to stop by and say how psyched I am and give a big thank you to all of you who are so excited for us :) It's nice to have some loving support. That's all for today.

Oh and p.s. some of you may have seen my post titled "Disappointed" and some may have noticed that now it's gone. I realized I was having kind of a bad day. I hope I didn't offend anyone...just pretend none of it was ever said if you read it. :)

hey

oh hey this is mathew, just thought i would write  a blog for candace, but most of you will figure it out that candace told me to.  just want to say that im excited for the wedding.   it is going to be awesome with all the cool decorating ideas that candace thought of.  i cant wait.  ok this is goodbye for now. bye.

Almost One Month

Helloooo. I'm back to talk about my life some more.

It's been a busy week...but also an amazing week. I had the week OFF from Shabby Apple! Now I don't mean for that to sound like I dislike working there, I actually am loving it now that I'm in a groove. My excitement comes from my week off of going to Utah. Hallelujah. It was a very very very very very much needed break. My intern coordinator went to Hawaii (jealous) so she had me do my work from home. It was glorious...did I already mention that? So while at home, I had to stay super motivated to do all of my blogging. I was really good Monday-Wednesday and did all my usual hours and it was actually really fun! I was worried I was going to die trying to do so many hours of straight blogging but being able to do it in the comfort of my home and taking breaks whenever I wanted was so awesome! I was so much more productive than usual and it was just great.

So coming home for a week and a half meant I also got to bring my car home. Pay for 7+ days in expensive airport parking? No thank you. It's been great to have my little Stella back home with me. I miss her when she's left all alone in the big city. This also meant that I didn't have to ride the shuttle! Yay! On that note, I don't have to ride the shuttle again until March 23! Shout. for. joy. I actually only have to ride the shuttle three more times. Oh my goodness, I don't know if anyone can understand how absolutely incredible that feels. I thought this crazy schedule would never end but I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. (Also, if you look at the calendar on your phone...well at least mine and Mathew's phones...you can see April 9 on it...just a little fyi)

My Utah family is throwing me my first bridal shower on March 17. I am soooo excited! I'm so psyched to play with family and friends. Then my Idaho family is throwing me one on March 26. Crazy! It's still pretty surreal to me that this is all happening.

Oh so here is the wedding planning part of the post. Excited? Hopefully. Okay actually there really is nothing to get excited about. We bought a lamp for the guest book table. Yaaaaaay. That's the only planning update. I kind of avoided planning this week because I just wanted a break!

I just know there was something else I was going to post about. Daaaaaangit. Oh well...as soon as I remember I'll just write yet another post!

In case you are wondering, here is a little wedding countdown for you. There are four more trips to Utah, four more Sundays, eight more shifts at JCPenney (most likely), two more holidays, and three, yes *three* more shuttle rides until the wedding. Which equals....34 days....or 33 days if you're like Mathew and just round down once 9 p.m. hits. :)

And no I do not think about all those things I listed everyday...really I just did that for fun for today's post. I only think about the actual days left...and sometimes trips to Utah...but that's really it. Okay I'm done talking. Goodnight.

P.S.

If you'd like an announcement, please Facebook, email me, comment, or text me your address :) They're gonna be cute and you're not gonna want to miss crepes :)

Cyr Photography

Okay, I just have to take a post and brag about my photographer for a second. She is the absolute best! She was willing to endure below freezing weather to take our engagement pictures. On top of that, she got some incredible shots. She is so creative and does beautiful editing. She also designed the most rockin announcement EVER. We loooove them! She also helped get us an amazing deal to print them. We were having such a hard time knowing what to do because printing announcements is expensive and it's risky to go through other companies because you don't know their quality at all. So basically, Cyr Photography is the best and I am so happy we booked them. One of our best decisions with the wedding planning. I can't wait to see what she does with my bridals (March 15) and the wedding! Ahh, one month and one week. I'm dying. :)

Engagement Pictures

Just an update......drum roll.....we got our engagement pictures back!!!! Yay! I'm having sooooo much fun looking at them and I have no idea how we will ever decide what to put on the announcements....but yay! I'll post some as soon as I can!

Proooocrastination as always

I decided I feel better about writing about my life on my blog than Facebook. I suddenly feel very goofy posting statuses and such. But my blog doesn't feel quite as weird, I guess because I know that those who are reading it actually want to hear about my life instead of just getting forced into reading it on their home page. Then again maybe not...I don't really know.

Okay the point of this post? I don't know. I'm back to my old habits of avoiding homework. I have a very important paper due on Friday for my internship and I just don't want to do it anymore. Bleh. I forgot how much I hate writing papers.

So sidenote: I made the Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies and they were ahhhmazing. I ate one cookie and felt like I had just eaten an entire meal. Seriously. They were that big. I gave the entire batch to Mathew (minus like one cookie) so I wouldn't be faced with the temptation.

In other news, please note that the blog countdown now says ONE month and ____ days. Mathew and I are pretty psyched about that. :)

In other other news, we got an apartment. Yay! And it was the one we wanted.

Oh also, Valentine's Day was excellent. I have pictures...on my camera...not on my computer...so I'll tell more about the date later. Let's just say it was the first positive Valentine's and I loved it. :)

Finally, life is good.

Bye!

Wedding

Hello friends. Since I had a few people tell me they like the wedding planning posts, I decided it's time for another one! So, since my last post, we have done a few more things. Mathew and I went to Hart's and got him fitted for his tuxedo. He looks amazing in it. And his vest is awesome, I love it. We bought the fabric to make Ethan and Eddie's (cutest nephews ever) vests and bow ties. We also bought little Lily (cutest niece ever) a dress. I'm not totally committed to it but it's an option just in case. We also got all the bridesmaids scarves for their little outfits and I picked out a design for their headbands too. Ah I'm so excited for the bridesmaids' outfits. I want one. My daddy ordered his awesome crepe maker for the crepe bar so please come if you want an incredible crepe. :) Good thing I have to stand in line because otherwise I'd probably eat like ten crepes. We have purchased other things but they aren't very exciting so I will leave them out.

Last, I have another blog link. I'm thinking I want to make these for the reception. Yes? We'll see how difficult they are.

Tired of Blog references?

Hey so are you tired of all my blog references? Well I'm going to keep posting them so I hope you are enjoying them! Here is quite the recipe I ran across in my search for giveaway-worthy blogs. I don't even want to THINK about the calorie count in just one of these cookies. I would definitely love to make these someday and I'm sure Mathew would love them.

Deliciousness

Seriously go look at them.

If you ever want to just die over food, look for recipe blogs. If you need some references, I now have a giant list of them. Oh man, I can't wait to have my own apartment to try all of these out in.

Crazy Life

I will try to keep this post less wedding-y but like I said before, it's consuming my life. So here's an update on what else I've been doing for the past little while. I started my internship two weeks ago and it's been a major adventure. I leave Idaho Falls on the blessed Salt Lake Express every Wednesday morning at 5:40 a.m. (yuck) and as soon as I get to the SLC airport I jump in my car and head to Murray, UT and then I work in the Shabby Apple warehouse wrapping dresses and shipping them out all over the country. It's so crazy how many states they sell to. Then the other two days I'm in Utah, I blog...and blog...and blog...and blog. All the time. That's basically my entire job is to try to find blogs to contact for Shabby Apple. So if you have any really great blog addresses that are hidden treasures, I would so love to know about them! Anyways so Friday nights I drop my car off at the airport and jump on the shuttle at 6 p.m. and get home at 10 p.m. It is not the most glamorous thing but it seems to be working okay.

For the most part, I really like being in Utah and having a new experience. I do not, however, like being so far away from Mathew. I know we have been doing distance our entire relationship but it is surprisingly different not being able to just hop in the car if I feel like it and go see him. I really look forward to the weekends now more than ever.

So when I'm back in Idaho Falls, I work at JCPenney and shop/plan for the wedding (forgive the mention of the "w" word) Life is so crazy right now. I was hoping with everything going on that time would go by fast...but it's not. All of you married people, how on earth did you manage to not go crazy waiting for the wedding to come? I'd love some tips.

Okay enough wedding talk...promise...I actually have nothing else to say so...

The End

Question of the Day

How on earth do people get soooo many followers on their blogs? Like thousands? and thousands? I was all excited about my 30+ followers. The blog world is so much bigger than I realized.

Getting Things Done!

Oh boy, so who knew planning a wedding was so difficult? Especially when the big day is the same as a ton of other brides. You have to book in advance like mad! I have made some progress.

Photographer:

here

I am SO excited! We take engagements on February 1. I can't wait!

Decorator:

here

She is so great. She totally gets my vision. A little insight to the reception: French theme. Refreshments will consist of crepes with nutella, fresh fruit, french bread and cheese, yogurt, and other deliciousness. We are going to hang parasols from the ceiling and have similar decor to the wedding: 

here

I won't give anything else away. You'll just have to come and see for yourself. But trust me, it's gonna be fun!

Shoes:

(change of plans...the other ones I posted about were the complete wrong color when I finally got them here...and they weren't really Converse so I wasn't very happy.)

these

They are kids sizes so I'm crossing my fingers they will fit.

Wedding Cake Maker:

here

She is incredible! I am insanely indecisive on what I want my cake to look like but I know she will make it look fabulous.

Awesome website

Okay so I am at my first day of my Shabby Apple internship and I am looking for different types of blogs and websites and such. I came across this website and thought I'd share it :) I hope you enjoy it!

http://tackyweddings.com/

2010 Recap

Once again, I'm going to copy everyone else in the blogosphere and write a recap of 2010. It sure was a good year.

January

The JCPenney salon started the Biggest Loser challenge and asked me to join in. I committed to changing my eating habits and working out everyday. This month was a HUGE breakthrough for me. I also did P90X for the first time and became addicted to it. January was really the kick-off to an amazing year full of new goals and commitments. For the full story of my life change, go here. Now the sad part of January 2010. My incredible cousin Derek was killed. This was the most tragic event to hit our family. It was completely unexpected and no one could understand why it happened. I still miss him and my heart aches for those that were even closer to him. Derek you are very loved and missed. 

February

February was a busy month. I continued with all my daily work outs and healthy eating. I totally surprised myself at my resistance to bad foods. I still remember visiting Angela and her roommate made these tiny chocolate chip cookies and I only let myself eat one. One tiny little cookie and I was still upset with myself. Man, I wish I had that kind of resistance again. Sometime in February I hit the -10 pound mark and could fit into a smaller size. I also put in a petition at BYU-Idaho to change my major from Business to Family and Consumer Science Education. I got so excited for the classes I would be able to take. The Biggest Loser officially ended and I came in second or third I believe. 

March
I had the absolutely incredible experience to go to Europe for my first (and possibly only) time in my life. I could hardly believe I was actually on my way when we were sitting on the plane in SLC. I loved experiencing the different culture but it was pretty frustrating at times only being able to understand about 10 words. For a full recap of the trip, which I'm sure no one will read because it's enormous, go here and here. I also found out in this month that my petition got denied and I would not be able to change my major. Turns out it was a huge blessing. I would have had to stay at school for an extra two...three...maybe even four semesters. Oh I almost forgot, my freaking adorable niece Lily was born right before we left for Europe. 

April
  I moved into a new apartment in Rexburg for the first time. I spent my first two years in the same complex and I don't know what I was thinking. I loved my new apartment and was so psyched to finally have my own room. I started IBC and right from the first day of class I was insanely busy. We went to Badger Creek and did crazy stunts to build our team unity. I had so much fun and I had the greatest team ever. Also in April, we got our FHE groups which means...I met my future husband this month. :)

May
IBC continued to take over my life. I was in charge of scheduling people to work the booth, taking care of our company email and phone. I communicated with the different departments and helped out with the marketing. I was also trying to keep up with the homework from the IBC classes as well as my other classes. That's about it for May.
 
June
June was a good month. I went wakeboarding for the first time in years and had a blast. I was actually able to get up for the first time. The ward talent show was also in June and we put together a great ribbon dancing routine. I loved my FHE brothers. I was so in awe at their willingness to get up in front of the ward in swimsuits and dance around with ribbons. They were the best. I also got a book signed by David Archuleta and went to yet another one of his concerts in Rexburg.
 
July
 My birth month! I turned twenty, woohoo. The semester finished and IBC was finally over. I thought it would never end. Our team did really well. My team voted me the Unsung Hero and I was super excited. For the last outing with the FHE bros, we went to the ice caves and I was terrified but had a lot of fun in the end. Thankfully the strong boys were there to keep the girls safe. 

August
Mathew and I had kind of our first date. I don't count it but he does. :) We went to the Potato Museum, Rupe's and floated the river. It was a very fun day. At the end of the month, the long-awaited Mockingjay came out and I got very little sleep until I finished it. Generally, not a ton happened in August.
 
September
School started again. I was so excited to start my classes. They were all marketing classes and I was ready for business classes that I was actually interested in. We met our client, Idahoan Potatoes, and started doing research for them. It felt cool to do research for a real company. 

STOP: 

If you've been bored from this point on: or skipped ahead looking for something interesting to read: start here. This is where my year got exciting (at least for me).
 
October
Oh October, what a great month. Mathew took me skimboarding and I curled my hair for the occasion. Then I invited him to a dance party in the Civil Defense Caves where he held my hand a few times. Then on October 14 we officially started dating. I went to Blackfoot to ride around in his truck with him at work, then we had dinner and watched a movie (Ninja Turtles) and he held my hand for real for the first time. Later that night, he kissed me. Then a couple weeks later he said I love you...then a couple days later we started talking about getting married. I know: holy fast. But when it feels right, why wait? :) So that's how October ended: beginning the subject of marriage.
 
November
Mathew and I went ring shopping a lot in November. I would find rings I loved at every store but nothing made me think "this is MY ring." Finally, we made it to Ingram's. I kept saying I wanted to go there but it was hard to get there during their hours because he worked all the time. Well, I found my ring there but he tricked me into thinking he didn't like it so I was freaking out and trying to really make sure he knew I loved it more than any others. I should have known he was just tricking me. Shout out for Ingrams: GO THERE. They are awesome! Anyways so other highlights of November: Thanksgiving: awesome. Mathew came and spent it with my family and fit right in. Black Friday: not awesome. I worked from 3:15 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Loooooong day. November finished with preparation for finals and the await of the proposal. :)
 
December
What another great month. On December 7, Mathew majorly surprised me with the proposal. I'm sure you all have seen it but in case you want a reminder you can find it here. With the proposal, I could finally really start planning the wedding and of course share the news with friends and family. December also brought finals: yuck, and Christmas: yay! I was SO anxious to give Mathew his present. Before Christmas and right after finals, Mathew and I went to SLC with my good friend Becky to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. It was amazing! After Christmas, Mathew and I took a trip to Logan to go to Angela's wedding! She looked beautiful and it was so great to see her again, it's been sooooo long. Oh yeah, I also bought my wedding dress in December: a good finale to the month AND the year :)

Well, I hope you all had a fabulous year. I can't wait to see what 2011 brings!