Jamaica!

Time for the honeymoon!

As soon as we left the reception, Kevin and I got all of our luggage ready to go to the airport.  With a flight leaving at 8:30am (EST), we decided we needed to grab some food and hit the road around 2:30am (CST).  With limited restaurant options at that hour, we decided on Waffle House for our first meal as a married couple.  As soon as we were done, we hit the road to ATL.  Staying awake was the biggest challenge, because neither of us had gotten much sleep the night before. When we finally arrived at the airport, we took a huge sigh of relief and eagerly anticipated the departure of our flight that would be taking us to an amazing week in paradise!

Upon arrival around 11am, we decided we should catch up on some sleep, so we ordered room service and then passed out until 4pm.  Later we made our first walk around the resort to check things out.  For dinner that night, we went to the restaurant at the pool that overlooks the ocean.  The food was fantastic, and I got a real kick out of them calling us Mr. and Mrs. Finnen!

Our first full day at the resort we spent at the beach soaking in the beautiful scenery and wonderful sunshine. In fact, we both soaked up a little too much of the sunshine.  Kevin's legs and my back both fell victim to the dangerous combo of steady cool breeze masking the hot sun. Fun fact, when you don't think about your packing, and put your sunscreen in you carry on, TSA likes to keep it.  =/ (We got to drop $40 on sunscreen in Jamaica...woooo.)

We meet a nice couple from Montgomery on the beach the first day.  It's such a small world.  I'm not sure if it was Kevin's croakies, my monogrammed floppy hat, or the way we said "hey y'all" that gave us away, but as we were laying on the beach they both turned around and asked us if we're from Alabama.  Amazing that we can go all the way to a beach in Jamaica and be sitting right behind another couple from Alabama.

Kevin and I spent the next 3 days lounging under umbrellas, swimming in the ocean, reading our books, eating the most fabulous food, and soaking up every second that we could spend together.  On Thursday, we had set up shop on the beach, and A-Money (aka: Andrew the entertainment guy) made his way over to get us to sign up for a catamaran cruise.  The boat was leaving at 2pm and would get back at 5pm.  The trip included:  snorkeling, free drinks, reggae dance lessons, a foot massage, and a trip to Margaritaville (with a 110ft water slide).  Who wouldn't want to go on a trip like that.  As we were going to sign up, a couple who had prepaid with a credit card was trying to cancel.  Unfortunately, there was a 24 hour cancellation policy.  Since we were planning to pay cash, Kevin offered for us to just pay them and we could use their pass to get on the boat.  The guy at the desk said that would work just fine, and the other couple was very grateful.

As the time for our little cruise approached, so did the storm clouds.  Over the mountains to the south was total blackness with the occasional streak of lightening.  We were assured that if the trip was rained out, all passengers would be refunded.  At the thought of a cancellation/refund situation, Kevin and I began to wonder how we would ever get our money back since our pass was on Ed's credit card.  The boat's crew were optimistic that we would miss the rain and should continue on with the trip, so everyone loaded up and took a seat.  Timing couldn't have been more perfect, because as we began to sail off, the rain started sailing in and surrounded us.  After an extended trip trying to avoid the rain that had entrapped us, we finally approached Margaritaville soaking wet!  Everyone went into the restaurant for 30-40 minutes and then the crew made the executive decision to head back to the resort (stillllll raining).  Once we all safely returned, we went to line up for our refunds.  As the guy at the desk saw us walk up, he did a head drop, palm of hand to forehead.  That's right, we're gonna be complicated.  He attempted to call Ed, with no success.  After that, he looked at us, pulled money out of his own pocket and paid us the cash back.  We were amazed at how smooth that went and thanked him so much.

As the night came to a close, it started to set in that it was our last night at the resort.  When morning came, we went to the beach one last time, and then caught a flight back to Atlanta.  Before the wedding, I had asked Kevin if he thought we would be too tired to stay in Atlanta that Friday night and go to a Braves game (of course he said we could definitely make it work).  So as soon as we passed through customs, we were on our way to Turner Field to watch the Bravos!  It was the perfect end to the most amazing first week as Mr. and Mrs. Finnen.

We had an amazing time on our honeymoon and can't wait to get a chance to head back to celebrate many, many anniversaries!  I've included some of the pictures we took of the resort, so check them out below!

Click here to view these pictures larger

Mr. and Mrs. Finnen

July 28, 2012 was the most amazing day of my life, because it was the day I stood before God and family and friends, and declared to them all that Kevin Finnen was to be my husband!  This day set in motion the rest of my life that I will live as Becky Finnen with my best friend always by my side.

My best friend

After our March 15th engagement, the planning was well underway with my wedding coordinator, Shalon Steed (What a Whirl Weddings & Events).  Shalon was definitely the best investment that we (or my dad) made for my wedding.  I met with Shalon to explain my dream wedding to her, and gave her creative liberties to make it happen.  She was so reliable, easy to communicate with, and is one of the biggest reasons that I had the most perfect wedding.  It was easy to be a calm bride when I knew I could completely trust her judgement and reliability to see to all plans.  She organized all of my vendors and took care of 99% of the communication with them, alleviating that burden from my family and me.  She and her staff were so amazing and we couldn't have pulled off the wedding without them!

The only glitch in the entire weekend was the total failure of my iPod at the most inconvenient time (well, that and maybe the speeding ticket I got on the way to Gadsden on Friday-my first one ever).  Our playlist had been set up on my ipod for the ceremony music to be played on a Bose stereo.  However, it disagreed with the 96 degree heat it was in all day and decided to take a permanent nap 30 minutes prior to showtime.  Luckily for us, the groomsmen of the year managed to download all the songs to his iPhone for us to use during the ceremony! Brett Crump was a total wedding music saver that day!

The setting of our wedding was the first decision that Kevin and I made.  J&D Farms is located in Southside, AL just outside Gadsden, and is more beautiful than I could have ever imagined for my wedding venue.  Our ceremony was positioned in the orchard, facing a beautiful summer sunset over the mountains.  After the ceremony, we moved over to the barn for the reception, where everyone danced the night away to the jams played by our DJ, Michael (Feel the Beat Entertainment).  We had dance offs, dance tunnels, dance circles, and a dancing ring bearer and flower girl that stole the show.  Everyone who attended had a great time and made the reception the best part of the night!

DANCE TUNNEL

So in love with this man!

I managed to spend all of dad's money.  

I would also like to thank my other vendors who did such a fabulous job and made a great contribution to our wedding:  Images Hair Salon (Thanks Caiti, my hair was perfect!), Morgan House Catering (the potato bar was my fav!), Southern House of Flowers (LOVED my flowers), and photography was also done by Danny at J&D Farms.

By the end of the reception, Kevin and I both felt so blessed to not only have found each other, but to have the love and support of so many amazing friends and family members.  We set out after the reception to get ready to fly to JAMAICA!  

Our wedding was such a wonderful experience and I could not have asked for a better day! I'd like to give a shout out to my lovely bridesmaids:  Bridgett Cox, Stephanie Wilbanks, Jordan Jones, Emily Doucette, Tara Clark, Allison Zackaroff, Trina Holmsted, and Kelli Phillips.  A BIG THANKS to my mom and dad who have always given me the world, and to Kevin's parents who are the absolute best in-laws a girl could ask for (I love them like my own parents and always will)!  Also, thank you to everyone who traveled the distance to attend the kickoff of our marriage(hope you had a good time)!  

I will update the blog later this week with the stories (and pictures) from our honeymoon in Jamaica.

Forever and EVER, Amen!

On October 1, 2011, I met the man that I will spend the rest of my life with.  After watching our respective team's football games that evening, we were both out with friends to celebrate our victories, and that's when this beautiful, wonderful man caught my eye.  Once a little time had passed, I took it upon myself to go introduce myself to him.  To say the least, I knew there was something special about him at that very moment and knew I wanted to get to know him more.

For the next two weeks, we talked on the phone (excessively) every night.  Finally, I was able to go see him in person (first time since the night we met).  As he asked me to be his girlfriend on October 17th, I knew that it would only be a matter of time before he asked me another question.

When you're in the "dating" phase of your life, ladies who have found their one and only tend to tell you that "when you know, you know".  Naturally all of those still "dating" would love to believe in that, but can't seem to grasp how realistic that may be.  Well, I'm here to tell you that "when you know, you know" and it's not something you can ever understand until you experience it yourself.  I am so happy to be with Kevin and the Lord has blessed us in so many ways thus far, and continues to bless us daily!

On March 15, 2012, Kevin and I went for a walk at the park and at the end of the walk we went out on a pier over the pond in the middle of the track.  Kevin asked me if I was ready to stop walking and just go home.  I replied, "Yes." After this he looked at me and said, "Well, while you're in the mood to say yes, , will you marry me?" Even though we had been talking about getting married already and making plans to do so, I was completely caught off guard.  Obviously I said, "YES!" (To make things even better, I had gotten a job offer that morning.  Pretty good day for me.)

We are now making plans to get married on July 28, 2012 and I could not be any happier to spend the rest of my life with my best friend!  Life is so crazy how you get from one point to another, and I thank God daily that I have chosen the path that led me to Kevin.  This is more perfect that I could have ever even imagined!

New Year....New Plan!

     In the spirit of the new year, I have decided to update my blog more often; however, this is not my resolution.  The second half of 2011 got so crazy that blogging didn't quite make the cut on the priority list.  The reason this isn't my resolution is because I rarely follow through past March.  It turns out I'm not the only one with this problem, here are some fun statistics I found on how many people stick to their resolutions:

"The following shows how many of these resolutions are maintained as time goes on:
- past the first week: 75%
- past 2 weeks: 71%
- after one month: 64%
- after 6 months: 46%" (http://proactivechange.com/resolutions/statistics.htm).


Being a fan of setting goals, I feel as though I should find a successful way to set a resolution.  After thinking about what I would like to make my resolution for 2012, I have come to the conclusion that I will have a different goal for each month this year!  This should help me focus on 12 different things throughout the year, and hopefully I will stick them all out.  Most of these goals I will set throughout the year as the new month approaches, but some I may set in advance.


For January, my goal is to pay off my credit card! It seems that every time I get that thing paid off, I turn right around and use it again....this is an endless battle that I will work to correct in 2012!  My plan to accomplish this is to cut out unnecessary spending (such as eating fast food, manicures and pedicures, and that shopping addiction of mine).  The reason for this is because according to Pete the Planner, I'm in the "Survivin'" stage.  I'm in a pretty good place to correct this all by the end of 2012, so it's time to get started now!


Each month I hope to track my progress and blog about my struggles and success!  Wish me LUCK! 


2012 Goals
- January:  Pay off credit card
- February:  Don't eat out!