:: the latest ::

ciao! halo!

while we're still finalizing the deets, we've decided to honeymoon in italy and croatia! woo hoo! i have such an itch to travel... so this will be the perfect trip for The Johnsons:)

hmm, what else? i've been pulling bits and pieces of floral inspiration over the past few months and here are a few little bits i'm loving. p.s. the middle one shows the button-type flower i like, not the wilted rabbit's ear leaf.





bachelorette party is booked! the bridal party will be heading to viva las vegas for some sun and fun. i'm not nearly as much fun as i used to be, but hopeful i can channel some "college abbey" for the weekend {yes, mom, we'll be careful}. in preparation i'll be watching "the hangover" on repeat. hopeful i come back with all my teeth:)



eric and i are taking a midwest road trip starting this friday - hitting up kansas city, springfield, omaha, york, hastings and sioux city. we'll get to do lots of fun wedding stuff, including our first shower! lu and larry's friends are throwing us a couples shower in springfield on may day - can.not.wait. we'll also be getting engagement photos taken, picking out our wedding bands and meeting with the pastor. also, it's my mom's retirement dinner and grammy's 85th birthday - whatta week!!

{bridesmaids dresses, bootcamp and booze decor}

greetings one and all. i'll keep this brief because i don't want to BORE anyone with the truly tiny details of our wedding day...

here are three things that have been accomplished in the last two weeks that make me happy:

1. bridesmaids dresses have been chosen and ordered. hurray. they are a light, slate grey {aged driftwood} in a variety of styles. i've always liked the saying, "to each their own" and i'm hopeful each of the lovely ladies will make their dress their own.

2. bootcamp city, i'm the out-of-shape mayor. gross. i went to a "trial" bridal bootcamp class last night and realized two things. first, i totally fell off the wagon after the marathon {bad idea}. second, i'm the farthest thing from "wedding-ready". working out starts yesterday. it's official.

3. my mild obsession with wedding blogs has led me down a path of piecing together the small details of our day. is it odd that i'm as excited about these grey striped straws as i am about the tbd signature cocktail we'll be sipping on???

six months to the wedding. can.not.wait.


here's a peak at one of the styles... jessie may or may not be wearing this one, you'll just have to wait + see.



how much more fun could we have sipping summery cocktails?

duh da da-da {to the tune of 'Here Comes the Bride'}

drumroll, please... i found a dress!!! hurray. i spent a lovely saturday afternoon in kansas city hopping from dress shop to dress shop and found "the one":)

my mom drove down from nebraska + eric's mom and sister drove up from springfield. SO fun! plus, my bridesmaids in the area came along for the afternoon appointments! Such a fun, tiring day; but I'm beyond excited i found a pretty white gown to make me look all ladylike.

here's a pic of the crew after i decided {with the help of everyone, including phoning jessie in north dakota} that this was it!

sorry for the bad crop-job, didn't want to disclose any of the dress!

The year of "The Johnson's"

As the clock struck midnight and the New Year's ball dropped in Times Square, it hit me. 2011 will be a year of change...

New passport photo :: Finally. Now, I won't be confused for a dude at customs.



New last name :: Johnson. No longer will I be subjected to mispronunciation after mispronunciation.

New family :: The Johnsons for me + the Kochs for Eric. We cannot wait to grow into one BIG, happy family.

New adventures :: Honeymoon. While Eric + I love to travel, we've yet to be out of the country together! Pretty excited to hit-up Europa (or somewhere exotic) with my new hubby.

New reason to shop :: Wedding. Hurray, cannot wait to find the perfect pieces to make our day "so us."

New status on Southwest Airlines :: With so many trips to Nebraska, KC and other fun places in the works; I will undoubtedly be looking at A-List Membership and "A" seating for the coming year. Boo yah.

New found appreciation for family + friends :: Lots of emotions will be headed my way. While I am usually fairly composed, I have a feeling there will be lots of happy times and a few bittersweet coming my way as the year unfolds... for that, I know I will appreciate my loved ones more and more.

...for all of these changes I am blessed:) Cannot wait to cherish each day in the coming year (note, when I begin to complain about something non-wedding-related this year, remind me how excited I should be about each day, please:)

"Something Old"... as in friends

My job requires me to be organized. A list person, if you will. Therefore I look at all of my wedding to-do's as fun things I get to check-off as our big day nears.

So, when I hear the saying, "Something old, something new. Something borrowed, something blue." I get excited... why, you ask? Because I've got one box checked already...I recently asked my fabulous bridesmaids, and oldest friends, to be a part of our super special day.

I wanted to try to do something personal, crafty and thrifty. I was only able to check two of the boxes, noting afterward that Paper Source will NEVER be economical. :) I hand-crafted mini paper dolls with the name (and hair style) of each bridesmaid. I included a personal note to each, asking them to be a part of our wedding party. This was a way to ask each one, but at the same time introduce them all.

Each has said YES and I'm so excited + honored. I attempted to get a bit Martha, so please excuse the hairstyles (especially Conn's fiery red 'do).

I've listed each below incase the photos are too hard to recognize. Love you all. YAY.

-Jessica (Koch) Staehr :: Maid of Honor + SOB (sister of the bride... ha, that acronym just made me laugh out loud)
-Whitney Johnson :: SOG (sister of the groom)
-Meghan (Malone) Duff :: BFF from childhood, she'll serve as the "go-to" for all things York-related and any incriminating info on me from high school (you won't find much, I was the president of Y.A.A.D.)
-Sally (Crabb) Nielsen :: fabulous friend through thick and thin from K-State, lives in Kansas City
-Lindsey (Runge) Wasinger :: loving friend and new mama from K-State, lives in Wichita, KS
-Leah (Dutton) Wilson :: crafty friend and new mama from K-State, lives in Lawrence, KS
-Katie Conn :: pint-sized + fun friend from K-State, lives in Austin
-Lizzy Horsley :: artsy + true friend from K-State, lives in Kansas City
-Bonny (Martens) Greenlee :: oldest K-State friend, lives in Germany

abbey + eric frolick around chi.

while our wedding photographer will do an engagement shoot with eric + i in omaha, we felt it necessary to snap a few shots in our neck of the woods. so, my art director from work (lovely, talented jenae) was kind enough to lend us her talent and a sunday afternoon to travel around with us.

here are a few early faves! if only i washed my hair everyday:) seriously!

photog. check.

after dedicating much web surfing, midday phone calls - we've decided to use minorwhite studios out of omaha as our wedding photographer. they were a recommendation from a dear friend and someone with a trained, trusted eye + we couldn't be more excited to meet with them and get this picture-perfect party started!

http://www.minorwhitestudios.com/nite/

viva nebraska!

whoever said home is where the heart is was right - after thinking long and hard about where eric and i want to share our special day, york felt like the perfect setting. i mean, if nothing else it has a hot air balloon water tower (if you haven't seen this phenomenon yet, buckle in).

we set the date for saturday, august 13, 2011. ceremony to be held at the first united methodist church and reception to follow at the country club. we're hoping for a small, but fabulous group of family and friends to gather + help us celebrate being "The Johnson's"!!

the engagement

the day of our engagement was one of the happiest, best ever. for two people who love to travel, we couldn't have had a better trip to the boston area... seriously, so much to do and see:) our itinerary each day was a bit redic (not like type a abbey would have an itinerary or anything).

We decided to take the train (just a short 1 hr trip) to Providence for the day on Saturday. I wanted to see Brown's campus because that's where Serena VanDerWoodsen ("S" from GG) was accepted + a number of other sites, so we set out walking around the town. It was warm, but beautiful outside! We cruised around campus, then to Thayer Street - it's like a little hippie village with lots of shops and restaurants near Brown. Afterward we grabbed lunch downtown at an old pub that had been there for 100+ years, walked up to Federal Hill (the Italian part of town) where I proceeded to stop into every Italian bakery along the way... buying both a cupcake and a canoli. I am disgusting.

After so much walking, we were both in-need of a drink so we went to the local brewery and sat outside! We got a couple tall, cold drinks + I also sampled some local cider (Woodchuck-esque), which was delicious! We had dinner reservations at Gracie's and heard such good things, we were excited to try it! Again, we walked down to the restaurant (common theme to our whole trip... WALKING) and sat at the bar while they fixed up our table. We ordered so much good food and more drinks along the way! All-in-all a fabulous night!!

Then, we walked back to the hotel because it was nearly 11p (ET) and we were both beat. I got inside and immediately started taking off my heels... Eric nonchalantly said he had a small bday gift he'd forgotten to give me, but it wasn't wrapped so I had to close my eyes. {At this point you'd think I would be expecting it... but I wasn't. I was literally thinking, "Hmm... hope it's not a cupcake or anything to eat because I'm SO full} When he said to open, I did + he was in front of me down on one knee!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! This is where I semi blacked-out... and where he started telling me all sorts of wonderful things that I'd always imagined: wants to spend the rest of his life with me, loves me so much, best thing that's ever happened to him, more nice stuff and I started crying immediately. Not a sob, but a cute happy cry with big tears (trying to be as descriptive as possible). Then I said YES!!! And then, (this is the best part) he attempted to put the ring on my finger. But, I'd been eating so much seafood that my fingers looked like sausages... so it wouldn't slip on:) Ha! So, I cracked up + so did he! Then, after I shoved the ring on my own finger; we hugged + laughed and smiled + proceeded to take awkward pictures of ourselves to capture this magical moment.

We had two more days in Boston + it was so fun traveling with my fiance:) (which I've accidentally been spelling finance, ironically makes sense because Eric is such a numbers nerd-like accountant!). So excited!! Let the planning begin!