This week we bid farewell to Sunny MOH and her husband, Groomsman S, as they embarked on their journey to Thailand. For the past few years, Sunny MOH and her hubby have been working with organizations in Jacksonville helping refugees from Burma (and many other countries) become acclimated to a life in America. Before coming to the States, many of the refugees had never rode in cars before, worked jobs, let alone had a place to call their ‘own.’ Our friends were deeply impacted by these refugees and wanted to help those still suffering in Southeast Asia. Thus began their long (and arduous) preparations for their move to Thailand. They spent many months saving $$$, selling all their belongings, receiving tons of vaccinations, till finally, they were off the ‘grid’ completely (no car, apartment, job, etc).

As of now, their plans are to live in Thailand for about 2 or so years, teaching English, learning about the culture, and helping others (among many, many other things, which you can catch on their blog). They are both amazing individuals – so giving and selfless. They are a true inspiration to Mr. Knight and I.

Us with SunnyMOH and Groomsman S at our Wedding. :-)
photo by Starks Photography

Bidding farewell to our friends this past Sunday. They left for their 44 hour journey to Thailand on Tuesday.
photo taken on Mr. Knight’s iPhone

Since our Expat friends will be spending so long abroad, Mr. Knight and I (okay… well mostly I) put together a blog for Sunny MOH and Groomsman S so they would have a place to talk about their journey, their experiences, and their work. Also, having a blog makes it easy for them to keep all their family and friends up-to-date on what they are doing and expose their loved ones to the beautiful culture of Southeast Asia.

Sunny MOH and Groomsman S’s blog:
Our Adventures in Southeast Asia

Groomsman S has been really good at writing everyday. If you ever wondered what it was like to live in Thailand (or Asia in general), or would just like something refreshing and new to read, I highly recommend heading over to their blog. Be sure to show them some sweet gator love♥!

]]> http://gatorbride.com/sending-sunnymoh-off-to-thailand/feed/ 3 http://gatorbride.com/happy-birthday-mr-knight/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://gatorbride.com/happy-birthday-mr-knight/#comments Thu, 05 Aug 2010 03:00:30 +0000 Mrs Gator http://gatorbride.com/?p=4788 I’d like to wish a super fun happy birthday holla to my husband, Mr. Knight!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET PEA!!!

Love that squish-nah face. BWAAH just want to kiss him all over his face!

I’m so incredibly happy and honored to be your wife. You are an amazing man and I feel lucky to have been blessed with such a wonderful person as my best friend, and partner in life. You give awesome eskimo kisses, make delicious dinners with random ingredients, can bring a smile to my face during one of my ‘bad’ days, you always put family first (love him for this, so many people don’t!), make me paper ‘love’ cranes and leave them for me, look so cute snuggling with Gator Kitty, have so many plans for the future, motivate me to always do my best in anything I do, bring me a glass of water before bed (so sweet), surprise me with flowers for no reason, love me unconditionally and so much more.

I could write a book, for that matter – several books, on how amazing Mr. Knight is and all the super-wonderful-awesome-ness he is.

I love you Mr. Knight! Happy Birthday Youngin’!
I robbed the cradle… by only a few months. I’m the ‘older’ women in his life. lols.

*photo by Starks Photography

Uncanny, right? Between the squinty eyes, side burns, similar hair cut, pink lips and cheek mole, I couldn’t stop looking at Seth Rogen in the movie because he just looked SO MUCH like Mr. Knight.
Figures the FIRST wedding picture I show on the blog is for a celebrity look-alike comparison. Go me.
Seth Rogen via Google; Mr. Knight via Starks Photography

When we first started dating (well when we first started liking each other) I used to think Mr. Knight looked like high school jock Princess Mia liked for a split second in The Princess Diaires.

Must have been the surfer (see bowl haircut) and the tan skin that got me thinking this.
Erik Von Detten, typical teen heartthrob, via IMDB; Mr. Knight circa 2002

I never knew what celebrity I looked like, I have gotten a few Pams from The Office but that is about it. I always thought it was funny how everyone on Facebook, during doppelgänger week, would change their profile picture to some HOTT celebrity and be like “oh sometimes people say I look like this person, I don’t see the resemblance” and act all coy. Whateves.

I’m sure Mr. Knight isn’t going to be all pleased with me writing a post about his celebrity look-alike’s but, our wedding photos appear to be lost in the mail. There has been no sign of them and it has been 2 weeks since our photographers first tried to send them to us (did I mention we live 2 hours away from our photographers?). The Starks have been awesome to share some of our wedding pictures on their blog for us (and so I keep my sanity). I can’t wait to get the CD and spend a whole day going over and over and over them, memorizing every single one and organizing them for an album, blog posts, and frames. So excited!

Till then…

What celebrity do people usually say you look like? Whose your celebrity doppelgänger?

Blurb’s Blog to Book Example
I just HAD to use the baby blog example, right?

So it begins, the search for the perfect place to export my blog to, layout the book, and print the book from. I have used Lulu in the past on my graduate portfolio for architecture school and on my thesis book for graduate school, and have loved the quality and clarity of the images/text/etc. Top notch stuff, and for a great price (double score!). Downside – they don’t currently (to my knowledge and google searching) have an easy way of converting all your blog posts into a book format. I would have to export them all myself (the old cut and paste method) in InDesign and design the book myself. Can we say “I don’t have time for this?”

Another book printing site that I’m sure y’all recognize is Blurb. They have a no-stress, easy way of converting your blog to book. They even export all your entries from your blog into their ‘booksmart’ program. Although Blurb has been known to have poor color representation, I may have to check them out considering they are the ‘easier’ publisher to go with. I really like some of the layouts I have seen on their example Blog books, but I’m unsure if mine will look as nice. {pondering}

So far, I have checked out Blog2Print. You can just type in your blog address and it will automatically formulate a proof of the book for you, without even creating an account. Fun to do on a whim.

Preview Gator Bride Blog book by Blog2Print

It was super easy and doesn’t look too terrible, but still not my cup of tea. And you have to use ‘stock’ covers for the book. Not my thing. I’m all about the customization. :-)

Either way, I will keep y’all posted with what I discover! I’m excited to get started with this, and plan to print the book once I finish all my recaps and DIY project. Then it will be time to cross-over. What do I mean by “cross-over” you might ask? You will just have to wait to find out!

Do y’all have any plans for your blog after you finish blogging about your wedding/baby/etc? I’m still working on what to do over here on Gator Bride. I love blogging wedding stuff so much, I may just have to keep on doing it! :-)

{heart} Mrs Gator

PS- And for those who haven’t seen it yet, I just opened my Etsy shop, Gator Bride Designs {hooray}! I’m super excited about it and have been having too much fun helping other Bride’s with digital stationary. I love hearing about their colors/themes/ideas. I even just completed my first ‘truly’ custom invitation, a housewarming invite (in postcard form, how fun!) for a dear twitter friend. Look out for a blog post coming up soon about my little ol’ shop. :-)

Brandon and his Sister, KK, at our wedding. Aren’t they adorable? Serious cuteness overload!
photo by Brandon and KK’s Momma

We were completely shocked and heart broken when we found out. Finding out was like being hit by a ton of bricks. It is strange how life could change in an instant, with one diagnoses. If was just a few weeks ago that he was healthy, dressed all snazzy in his suit and looking forward to that Nintendo DS game he was promised if he walked his sister down the aisle at our wedding.

The Husband and I are able to get updates on how Brandon is doing via Facebook from his Momma. Facebook has become an excellent tool for Brandon’s Momma to let our family and friends know how he is doing (without having to make the same phone call over and over again). She even posts pictures of him every few days. It is wonderful to get to see his face and send him happy thoughts and messages via his Momma’s Facebook. :-)

Please pray for Brandon and his family. Please keep them in your thoughts, prayers, and send good vibes their way. ♥

We love you Brandon. We think about you all the time and are always so happy to hear when you are doing well through your chemo treatments, having a bit of fun at an arcade (that was sweet enough to clean the machines for him before he got there) or feeling perky. You are an incredibly brave little boy.  Sending love, kisses, strength, happiness, and prayers. Love, K & K

Knight Dad showing Mr. Knight how to build a planter (circa 1991). Um… don’t you just love Mr. Knight’s Gator Sneakers? What a cute little Gator he is. :-)

Gator Dad reminiscing about his time at UF. Love him so much♥♥♥
Taken in The Swamp after my Masters Graduation.

Today, make sure to take a moment to thank all those amazing Dads out there that have worked so hard to shape you into the bright, intelligent young person you are today. :-)

Happy Father’s Day!

Love,
Mrs Gator and Mr. Knight

]]> http://gatorbride.com/happy-fathers-day-to-our-daddies/feed/ 3 http://gatorbride.com/eating-your-cake-11-months-early/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://gatorbride.com/eating-your-cake-11-months-early/#comments Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:48:04 +0000 Mrs Gator http://gatorbride.com/?p=4383 We were bad Newlyweds. Very, very bad! Why, you might ask?

We ate the top of our cake… 11 months early.

The tradition is that you save (by freezing) the top of your wedding cake, so that you can have a slice of it together on your 1 year Wedding Anniversary. When Mr. Knight and I got home from our honeymoon, we couldn’t wait to dig into our Wedding cake. At our Wedding we barely got to eat any of it’s deliciousness, so we were eager to finally get our slice of ‘tropical carrot cake’ heaven. Plus, we were given advice from our baker to eat the cake now, not later, as the whole freezing process is no bueno for the cake.

We followed the thawing directions given to us by our baker, and then slowly started to unwrap this baby for some sweet dessert after dinner one night. Okay, so maybe we were back from our honeymoon for all of 2 days when we decided it was time to eat our cake. :-)

Here I am, examining the cake and thinking about how yummy it is. I’m wearing my new shirt from Paia, Maui store Alice in Hulaland (super cute shop in hippie town).

Cutting the cake a 2nd time. We already had plates ready to eat up the scrumptiousness we were expecting.

Looks super yummy, right? But was it yummy? Not really. :-(

Our Consensus: Don’t wait to eat your cake, because after freezing the cake, it will taste nasty whether it was frozen for a year or 1 month. We were pretty depressed at the lack of yumminess.

We vow to order a small cake from the same baker in our beloved ‘tropical carrot cake’ on our 1 year anniversary (in 11 months). I placed the icky 1 month old cake back in our fridge, as Mr. Knight swore he would ‘snack’ on it over the course of the week. He didn’t touch it once. So in the trash it went, along with a tear or two.

Do you all plan to wait a year to devour your cake? Or are you planning to eat it when you return from your honeymoon?

First off, if you don’t know who John Brantley is and your a Gator fan… I can’t talk to you. Okay? Good, glad we cleared that up!

This past weekend Gator Bridesmaid and I went to the Florida Football Women’s Clinic at UF. I first saw the clinic blogged by Hannah of A Very Gator Wedding, and I just had to do it. Working out like a Gator Football player? Yes! Pictures with Urban Meyer? Yes! Tour the Football locker room and smell Gator football player sweat? YES!!!!

Gator Bridesmaid and I had a fabulous time with the 600 other women there, supporting the American Cancer Society, getting up close and personal with Gator Football coaches, and showing gator spirit!

Gator Bridesmaid and I, all fresh faced and perky, waiting in line for a picture with Urban Meyer. ♥him

Learning how Gators get ready for Game Day!

Gator Bridesmaid and I with the Gator head in the new Football complex (which so happens to be off the charts AWESOME). You see those double doors behind us? Those lead right through the tunnel and into the stadium… how cool is that?

In the boy’s locker room after 2-3 hours (the day was a blur) in the HOT sun on the practice field doing drills. Which explains the ultra sweaty-ness displayed in this picture.

Best picture ever. All the Gator boys shirtless. You’ll want to click this picture to make it larger. Gator Bridesmaid and I were seriously considering having a canvas printed with this image. Gator Bridesmaid took this picture while one of the football players (I think?) was watching us… super awkward, but so worth it!

And what’s a post about us in the Gator Boy’s locker room, without a picture of the two of us invading Brantley’s personal space? We were good girls and didn’t touch any of his stuff. Other women start posing with his tie and beaded necklace. Out of control.

Later that evening Gator Bridesmaid, Mr. Knight and I had dinner at The Swamp. Yum Yums. We seriously had an overall awesome Gator filled weekend. The Women’s football clinic got us all excited for football season!

So what else has Mrs. Gator been up to? Well, I started my big girl job (hooray!), have been busy setting up my desk area for my design shop, working on my Etsy shop (stay tuned for a big reveal!), designing wedding products for Brides who contact me (love doing this!), and lovin Mr. Knight. :-) It’s been VERY busy around here.

What’s up next? If I can wrestle our rehearsal dinner pictures from Mr. Knight’s computer, then we’ll get started with some Gator/Knight Wedding recaps (woo-hoo), starting with a Bridal Luncheon for my ladies!

♥ Mrs. Gator

Gator Dad and Knight Dad looking swanky at our wedding.
photo by Gator Dad’s best friend, Sam of Sam Dobrow Photography

And with that being said, we received a pretty amazing Wedding gift from Knight Dad, when we returned home to Gainesville. For days/weeks/years Mr. Knight and I have wanted to have a nice front planter, complete with plants (we used to have just dirt), pavers, and pretty-ness, outside the front of our condo. We have envied our neighbors who always have nicely trimmed and manicured plants.

Here’s what our front porch planter used to look like, pre-Wedding gift from Knight Dad:

Yeah… we have dirt… that’s it. A paver or two, a gardenia bush on the fritz, and…. dirt.

This was taken one weekend when Mr. Knight and I were ‘trying’ to make it look nicer. We bought a gardenia bush and some roses… still couldn’t mask the ugly dirt, icky wood border (which we swore to tackle later this summer), and all around ugly-ness. That would be our neighbor’s (in the building next to us) cute little dog, coming over to say hello to Gator Kitty. :-)

And here is our competition… our next door neighbor:

Our next door neighbor has owned her condo for 10 years, so she has had plenty of time to beautify and maintain her planter. Okay, so we have ALOT of competition. You like those nice orange flowers on her doorstep?  Yeah… they are faux flowers that look awesome all the time. I am too chicken to put faux flower on our porch. One day I may give in.

But, when we got home from our honeymoon, we were greeted by a wonderful Wedding gift by Knight Dad that put us many BIG steps in the direction of having a beautiful front entryway:

Apparently, Knight Dad drove to Gainesville the Sunday before we returned from our honeymoon and did all of this for us. He put a ton of work into this, and we are ever so grateful. We were in COMPLETE shock when we pulled up, we had no idea. We just got out of our truck and just stared blankly at our front entryway. We had no idea who had done it and just couldn’t believe what we were seeing. Knight Dad did what we had been wanting to do for months/years but didn’t have the finances/time/energy to do. Now I just have to nurse our roses (in pots on our front doorstep) back to health/life and we will have a beautiful front entry way. :-)

This is by far the most unique Wedding gift I have ever seen/received, and one of the best, for us. We couldn’t be happier. I get to see Knight Dad’s Wedding gift every time I pull up to our little condo. I love it. Plus, he has provided the stepping stone for us to add more character and beauty to our front entryway (which I’m excited to start this summer!). Knight Dad has even said he would give us a plumeria plant to grow. A little taste/smell of Maui? I like! He didn’t just stop at our front entry way, he even added some much needed love to our back porch:

Knight Dad made us a wind chime, with a custom cut ‘K’ for our names, along with planting some pretty flowers for us to enjoy while hanging out on our porch. Can you say, awesome?!

This summer we are thinking of adding a nice big bougainvillea to our front entry plantar (since I killed our baby bougainvillea), and some beautiful angel palms to our back porch area (great shade and wonderful to look at). Seriously excited about the transformation of our cute little condo landscaping. :-)

What is the most unique/unexpected gift you have ever received?

]]> http://gatorbride.com/our-most-surprising-wedding-gift/feed/ 4 http://gatorbride.com/mama-knight-redeems-her-christmas-present/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://gatorbride.com/mama-knight-redeems-her-christmas-present/#comments Sat, 29 May 2010 21:21:05 +0000 Mrs Gator http://gatorbride.com/?p=4187 We’re back, and boy does it feel AMAZING! I can’t say enough how wonderful it feels to be home. They always say, it’s nice to go, and it’s nice to come home.

The past day or so has been spent organizing, unpacking and relaxing. The husband (oh how I love calling him mah husband) and I have been exhausted. And I have to admit, I have been avoiding answering e-mails as along as possible. I’ve enjoyed my break from the Internet, however little of a break I actually took. But now it’s time to get back to business. :-)

But first, before I start recapping the most amazing week/day/moment of my life, I’d like to start with this adorable photo shoot our wedding photographers, the wonderful Ben and Amy of Starks Photography, did of Mama Knight and her husband, Western Cowboy (father of Western Sistah, who you met in my Bridal Shower post). Mr. Knight and I gifted them with a gift certificate towards a photo session with the Stark’s and they finally had the chance to use it, before they move back out West (we’re gonna miss them) {sad face}. Check out these sweet pics the Starks grabbed:

So cute!

All the photos were taken near their home in Palm Coast, Florida. They live near the intercostal waterway, which provided some pretty amazing backdrops for their shoot.

All photos by the amazingly talented Ben and Amy of Starks Photography

When Mr. Knight and I came home to Gainesville, we were greeted by a pretty awesome wedding gift that left us completely shocked and stunned for about 10 minutes, as we just stared with our mouths wide open (trying to figure out how/what happened). Stay tuned to find out what our amazing wedding gift from Knight Dad was that left us shocked and suddenly giddy, like two kids on Christmas morning.

:-)

♥y’all
Mrs. Gator

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