My Camera Found It's Home

Guess what day it is?? Guess what that means??

Yep, you guessed it. Another Wednesday. And another productive wedding day. I also got my camera back so I can finally post some pictures. As you may remember, I had my first shower on the 7th. This shower was co-hosted by my sister (MOH) and my aunt (the one who is doing our cake). This is the only picture that I have from the day. Hopefully I can track someone down who has more. Anyways, here's me and my sister.
My aunt also made our card box and surprised me with it at the shower. How freakin' adorable is this??
She told me to pass it on to whomever is getting married after me, and that person should then pass it on to the next person. I said that we should put our names and wedding dates on the bottom as a way to track who and when. Then we can really see what a small world this is, right?

I took our red cover paper to the printer today to get our monogram printed on the front. I am quite pleased with how they turned out. (It's got that shiny spot because the flash was on.)
After getting the monogram printed, I came home and worked on the insides of the program. I have to add a bunch of things and now I've got to fix all the spacing. Gah, and I thought I was done with them! Haha!!

Paradise, Here We Come!!

Or at least I think so.

It's my understanding that the honeymoon has been booked and airline tickets have been bought. We leave on Monday, October 27 and return on Monday, November 3.

Ahhh, 7 nights and 8 days in paradise. I hope it's paradise anyways. You see, the honeymoon has been kept a secret from me. I did voice some requests though. I wanted a warm climate where I could put my bikini on and lay out by the pool or the ocean and sip on a fruity drink. And I really, really, really want to swim with the dolphins. That has been such a dream of mine for a long time. I will be a happy camper as long as these criteria are filled.

I hope to get it out of Drew where we're going though. I need to pack all the proper clothes. How can a girl do that if she doesn't know where she's going? I'll keep you all posted.

39 days!!!

FYI

6 weeks!!!




Just saying.....

Centerpieces: Resolved!

Wednesday again. That means that it was my day off. I, of course, spent the day doing wedding stuff and cleaning. I won a gift certificate from Rockford Rentals at a bridal expo so I decided that I wanted to try and rent some of the glassware for the centerpieces. I mean, what am I going to do with it after the wedding besides have it sit around and bother me. I'm sure I'd eventually sell it, but getting to that point would probably take some time. I was a little disappointed in what they had to offer. For being a rental place, they sure didn't have as much as I thought that they would for centerpiece type glassware. And when I made a mention about probably having to buy some stuff, I asked the guy if he bought stuff from people and he said no. Are you kidding me? I betcha that he'd probably be able to rent a lot of that kind of stuff. If you were a bride and getting married, would you rather rent or buy that stuff?

I eventually decided to go with a 60 oz brandy glass, like this one:

Except that the one that I rented has a taller stem, probably somewhere around 4 or 5 inches. The good news is that I have finally decided what I am going to do for the centerpieces. (See, I told you I would do it.) I'm going to get silver fabric, cut in maybe two foot (?) squares, and lay those on the table. Then, I will place a square mirror on top of that. The brandy glasses will then go on top of the mirror. In the brandy glass, I plan on putting clear stones at the bottom with a light, then filling half to three-quarters of the way with water. I will then float a rose. The rose will be a red rose with white petals mixed in, like the picture below.
My sister (MOH) will also be having some of these two-toned roses in her bouquet to set her aside from the rest of the bridal party. I will then be placing three or four votive candles around the brandy glass. Red rose petals will also be scattered on the table. Whew, centerpieces complete!! HUUUUUUGE check!!!

After Rockford Rentals, I went to our florist, Deb, at Event Floral. When I showed her the two-toned rose idea, she loved it. I couldn't believe how excited she was about it. That is where we decided to do the red rose with white petal bloom floating in the brandy glass. I paid our remaining balance, and she is going to start putting together my bouquets. We went with silk, especially since we're doing that two-toned idea. She said she would probably have them ready in three weeks or so. I'm excited!!

Then, I came home and wrote thank you notes for my first shower. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be and it probably only took me about 45 minutes.

Drew and I had a meeting tonight at the Cathedral with the woman who is going to canter for our ceremony. I'm pretty pleased with the choices that we decided to go with. My concerns, and there are two, are that she will not be at the rehearsal, and that we won't meet with her until the day of the ceremony. We also won't be meeting with the guy who will be playing the organ/piano for us. Ya, that frightens me a little bit.

Upcoming projects:

~ Programs

~ Bathroom baskets

~ Groomsmen and parent gifts

45 days!!

Things You Need to Know About the Bank

I work at a Bank and I've been there for a little over a year. I hate my job. Well, maybe not the job so much as some other aspects of it. Anyways, I've decided to compile a list of things you need to know about the bank. So, without further ado:

Things You Need to Know About the Bank

1. It is only necessary to push the "call teller" button once. Just because we don't answer immediately does not mean that we didn't hear you. Believe it or not, but there may be somebody else who needed our help that was there before you. Pushing the button three or four times in a row will not help your case either. In fact you will most definitely piss me off. If the bank was a fast food place, this is the point where your food would get spit into.

2. After I introduce myself, it is not necessary to explain to me that you are making a deposit, withdrawing, making a payment, or cashing a check. Most of the time, the transaction speaks for itself. If I have a question about it, I will ask you. I don't want to screw up your stuff as much as you don't want me to. That would require me to go back, reverse what I just did, and redo it. Generally then requiring me to fill out new slips for you.

3. Please don't make origami shapes from your slips, checks, and money. I am not amused by the number of times that you can fold paper. I am not amused at how small you folded that paper to fit inside that big tube. I am not amused that you managed to fold your transaction to fit perfectly around your ID.

4. Do NOT roll your eyes when I ask for your ID!! You should be grateful that I'm asking and not just giving YOUR money to random people. You also can't have the balance on an account that doesn't have your name on it. I can't tell you how overdrawn they are. Would you like me giving that information to other people who aren't on your account?

5. It's not my fault that you are overdrawn. Learn how to add and subtract. And keeping a check register is a great starting point too. Some guy told me that he only wrote one or two checks a month and he didn't understand how he was overdrawn. When I asked him if he kept a register, he told me no because he only writes one or two checks a month. I wanted to find the closest wall to bang my head into. Strike that - his head!!

6. The window lane is for business customers. Do you really think it's fair to make the people who should be there wait for your slow ass? You also should not come to the window if you aren't ready. I can send a slip through the tube the same way I can send it out the window.

7. Contrary to what you might think, I am a bright girl and a nice girl. Please recognize that.

All of your lives will be much better if you keep these simple tips in mind the next time you decide to take a trip to the bank.

Let the Melt Downs Begin!!

Yesterday was 50 days.

Today is 49 days.

For some reason, I woke up this morning and I am starting to melt down. I don't know why 49 seems like such a smaller number than 50. It's really not. It's only a few hours difference. But I really have begun to go into panic mode.

We really don't have too much left to do. RSVPs are slowly trickling in. There's still 19 days left for those. Hopefully, the next 19 days have a huge influx of RSVPs, otherwise there will be a lot of people that I will be calling. I really don't want to do that. Please, please, send in your RSVP. It already has a stamp; I took care of the hard part.

Once those come in, we can finally decide on centerpieces. Meaning, we can finally decide on the number of centerpieces. I still have no idea what to do. Don't ask, it's a sore subject. Haha!! I really just need to decide on something. Ok, within the next two weeks, I will have the centerpieces resolved. I promise!

I have my bridal shower for my side of the family and my friends tomorrow. I am so excited. I'm excited for everyone to get together and have fun. And I'm excited for good food. My uncle is making lasagna!!! I'm so glad I don't have to diet for the wedding.

Babe, Can We Have One Too??

Since we live in an apartment, we have upstairs neighbors. Well, side neighbors too, but we spend a good amount of time with our upstairs neighbors. They are Josh and Angie and they are lots of fun. Josh works at the animal shelter here. He told us over the weekend that he might be bringing a kitten home. I found out that he did indeed bring a kitten home and this is the cute little thing that I walked into. Josh said she's about 2 or 3 weeks old.

Drew's hand is only slightly smaller than she is. How adorable!!!

I am so-o in love with her. I couldn't believe how playful she was. She's got super sharp claws though. They have another older cat and she was very unhappy about the new kitten. She would hiss and puff herself up and the kitten would pay no attention to her. I thought it was quite cute.

The Legal Piece of Paper

It's official!!! Drew and I can legally get married!!!

We went and got our marriage license today. It wasn't too bad. The biggest hold up was Drew not knowing how his dad put his name on his birth certificate. Apparently, everything has to match up, and if it doesn't, we'd have to get an affidavit every time we travel. I think the lady was exaggerating a bit. But Drew didn't know how his dad's name was on the birth certificate. So we had to call and try to find out. But, we did it! We got the piece of paper and now we can get married.

I told Drew on our way back home that I think that getting our marriage license was the last thing that we had to do to get married. All of the rest of the stuff is just details because we want to.

I also received an email last night letting me know that our guestbook was shipped. According to the tracking info, it should arrive on Monday. I'm crossing my fingers for a speedier delivery.

Summer's Official Goodbye

Since Drew has been working the crazy hours that he has been, and the weather was absolutely beautiful this past weekend, I could not resist the chance to spend some time outside with the girls. Angela, Rachel, and I went to Pearl Lake. It was perfect outside, maybe just a tad warm, but I'll take it! Here's some pictures from the day:
Seriously, could I be any more freckled??

Yes, I have a drink in my hand. For those of you that know me, that is a pretty big deal. The fact that I had that drink in my hand before noon is even more of a big deal. I couldn't resist though. I was at the beach and I wanted something fruity to sip on. And I really am tanner in real life. As long as I'm not next to anybody who has any color. Surprisingly, I didn't burn. The sun hates my skin. Boo!!

I had my first fitting tonight for my wedding dress. I have had doubts about my dress. Especially when I see other dresses that are gorgeous. But then I put my dress on and know that I made the right choice. I love it so much!! I can't wait to actually wear it!!

And just because he's so cute, he's a picture of Simon. Have I mentioned how much I love him?

To Have and To Hold Stuff

I decided that I was going to make totes for all of my girls. They are going to be getting their jewelry as their gift and I also ordered each of them a pair of flip flops from Old Navy to wear at the reception. I thought that this would be a cute way to give them their gifts. Plus, they can use their bags for the wedding to put important stuff in that needs to come with them while we travel from my place, to the Cathedral, to the reception.

Aren't they cute? I used some kind of paint that didn't really work when I first stamped the letters on. So, I went back to Michael's and bought actual fabric paint and brushed it on. Obviously, you can see that they've turned out pretty cute. I'm thinking about doing another coat. And perhaps doing something more to add a little more flair. I don't want to over do it though because I want the girls to be able to use them again.

My shoes have come in that I'm going to be wearing for the wedding. Aren't they adorable?

56 Days!!

He Works Hard for the Money

Drew picked up a "part time" job working on some big airplanes and, he has been working some crazy hours. He's been working at Job A from 7 AM until 3:30 PM, and then he goes and works at Job B until late, most of the time until 9 or 10 PM. Yesterday, he worked from 6:30 AM until 3 AM. Ya, that's about 20 hours right there!! Today, he worked at Job A from 7 AM to 3 PM, came home and slept until 8:30 PM, ate dinner, and is now back at Job B from 11 PM until 7 AM when he goes back to Job A to work from 7 AM until 3:30 PM. Confused? Tired?? Cuz I sure am!!

I have been so-o lonely lately. I keep telling myself that it's only for a little bit. And that it's really good experience for Drew. And that the paycheck will be very worth it; which will be nice considering our upcoming wedding and honeymoon. Thanks goodness for all the wedding projects. They are keeping me very busy at the moment.

Anybody want to come play with me though?

Engagement Photos

Drew and I took some engagement photos last Sunday at Klehm Arboretum. Our friend, Anna, took these photos for us and I am so pleased with how they turned out. I plan on making our guestbook with these photos. We got a code for a free book from Picaboo by registering at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. That will be my project tomorrow, so I'll let you know how that goes. In the meantime, here are a few of my favorites:





Yep, there are definitely some cute ones. I can't wait to play with them and make our guestbook.

Today also is the 2 month mark!!! Can you believe it? Because I can't. I can't believe that in 2 months, I will be a married woman. Eeeek!!!

They Like Us, They Really Like Us

Drew and I have the best family and friends ever!!

Remember how I put the invitations in the mail on Wednesday? I always work on Saturday mornings and I was kind of excited to come home because I thought that maybe, just maybe, there might be an RSVP in the mailbox. Imagine my excitement when I opened the mailbox and there were 7!!!! Can you believe it? 7!!!!!! I even squealed when I opened the box!!

And... everybody said yes!!!

This Is Only A Test

My aunt has graciously accepted the task of baking the cake for our wedding. I found our cake in a bridal magazine that I bought and it's something from Martha Stewart. She baked us a test cake and followed the recipe exactly. It's called Moist Chocolate Cherry Stout Cake with Dark Chocolate Glaze.
Drew and I cut up and tried a piece last night after dinner. It was definitely different. You have to like cherries in order to like this cake. There are dried cherries in and if you don't like cherries, you won't like the cake. Drew and I both think that it would be better if the cherries were just left out of it.

Now that she's baked a test cake, she's going to try some variations on the recipe. The recipe calls for a dense cake, since it has a glazing on the top, so I don't think that we could just use a recipe from a box and make any flavor we wanted. I don't know though, she's more of the expert than I am. I'd honestly be happy with buying a box of Duncan Hines spice cake mix and vanilla frosting. We also want to try to tie in our color scheme more. I'm not too crazy about all the brown and chocolate colors, especially since we aren't using any of those colors. I'm sure there will be more pictures to come.

64 days!!

You're (Officially) Invited!

I dropped off the invitations at the post office yesterday. I can't tell you how excited that made me. It makes the wedding feel very real and very close. People here in town have already received them today. Ahhh, that is so exciting!

It's hard to believe that in 65 short days this will all be over. It's sort of bittersweet. It can't come fast enough, but yet I just want to scream out for it to slow down.

And my aunt baked a test cake last night and I think that she's going to drop it off tonight. Yum!!

It'll Get Better Before You're Married!

Drew and I went to Klehm Arboretum on Sunday to take some engagement pictures. I had never been there before and it was beautiful. Anna, a friend of a friend, took the pictures for us. We expect to have some back by the end of this week.

After the pictures, Drew and I went to the Winnebago County Fair. Josh was driving (Do they call it that?) in the demolition derby and Drew was pretty stoked about seeing it. I had never been to one, so I was excited to experience it. Ya, there was one word that I would use to describe it, and one word only. REDNECK!!! Only men would think of an activity where you get in a junky car and run into other junky cars. Josh did great though, and actually finished 2nd. And he would have held out for a lot longer, except that he broke his drive shaft (?).

After the derby, we came home. And I have had an intense headache since Sunday afternoon. It lasted all night Sunday and I finally decided to take something about an hour before I went to bed. I figured that it would help and once I woke up in the morning I'd feel better. Wrong! My headache lasted all day yesterday too. I took non-aspirin pain reliever twice yesterday and nothing put even a dent in it. I woke up this morning and still had this blasted headache. So, I caved and took some Extra Strength Excederin. Ok, that helped. But now it's 11:30 AM and my headache has come back with a vengeance. Seriously, maybe this is dramatic, but AM I DYING?? I've had this nasty headache for almost 2 whole days now. I don't have time to be sick. Nor do I have the patience right now.

Not For the Feint of Heart

*****WARNING*****

The following post contains graphic material that may be unsuitable for younger readers.

Parental guidance may be suggested!

Have any of you been wondering what exactly Drew's finger looks like? Well if you have, today is your lucky day. I took Drew back to the doctor so that they could clean his finger for him. After taking the wraps off, this is what I was shown:

Gross, huh? At the moment, he has no fingernail. The nurse had to cut the entire thing off. And we're not quite sure if it will grow back. I don't think that he's going to have feeling in the tip of that finger anymore. Only time will tell.

You're (Almost) Invited

Tonight, Drew, Debbie, my mom, my sister, and I began the process of addressing and stuffing the invitations. I had the (very) high hopes of addressing all of them tonight. I'd say that at this point, we're about 3/4 of the way finished. I would love to be able to put them in the mail this weekend. I won't be horribly upset if that doesn't happen. But, they will be in the mail by Monday, at the latest.

Drew is doing ok. I plan on taking him to the doctor tomorrow so that they can scrub his finger. I don't feel confident doing that. I'll either throw up or pass out. Wish us all luck with that one!!

74 days!!

At Least it Happened Today...

Drew sliced the tip of his little finger off at work today! Apparently, it goes from about half way down his nail to the tip. Luckily, the nurse at the clinic, was able to sew it back on. She warned him though, that if it became infected, they might have to amputate it. I think she called it an open laceration fracture. While she was sewing his finger back on, she pushed some of the tissue aside and tapped on Drew's bone for him. Gross!!!
My poor baby!! But the best part of it all, when I talked to him on the phone about it, he told me that at least it wasn't his left hand. I was slightly puzzled and he goes on to tell me that we take ring pictures the day of the wedding. What a guy to try and reassure me like that. I love him!!

We'rrrre Grilling

Drew has been moved back over to line service for a little bit because they needed some help. This has actually been kind of good because he has Wednesdays and Saturdays off. (Except that from now until he goes back to maintenance, he'll have Wednesdays and Sundays off, which is even more exciting because then we'll have all the same days off.) He was working yesterday and he called me and wanted to see if I wanted to cook out because of friend of his, that he works with, wanted to grill out. I said sure and he said that he'd call me back in a little bit. He calls back about ten minutes later and lets me know that we might be having about 20 people over. Ok!! Great!!

So we had a spur of the moment cook out yesterday. Angela's boyfriend, Cody, Drew's work buddy, Nick, Jared and his beautiful new wife, Amber, and his little girl, Alex, our neighbors, Josh and Angie, and Adam, Nicole, Austin, and Brayden came over.

I love having people over. I love hosting parties. I even baked brownies. And I would have made banana bread had I had a mixer. (Drew broke our other one and I can't bring myself to buy one.)

Poor Simon spent the whole time hiding under the bed, running out really quick to see what was going on, then hiding back underneath the bed. Poor thing has slept the entire morning. I think he's been traumatized. I think combining the amount of people, plus two younger kids who really wanted to play with him, scared him a little bit.

And we now have more beer in our fridge than I'd care to store in there!

To Post or Not To Post

I've been debating about blogging about my experience on Thursday with Drew's wedding present. I started to post yesterday and got about 3/4 of the way through the day and then my mom called so I went to talk to her and walked away from the computer, and Drew wandered over to try to take a peek at what I was doing. I have no idea if he reads this blog or not. And I would hate for him to come on here in his desperation to find out what his wedding present is and find out. Let's just say, that Thursday was amazing. I've received some teasers and they are fantastic. I can't wait to see the rest of it.

I promise that I'll post about the day after I give Drew his wedding present. I think that I'm going to give it to him after the rehearsal dinner before we part ways. Brad, our photographer, is going to be at the rehearsal, so I can let him know that I'm going to be giving Drew his present and he can take some pictures. I can't wait to see Drew's face.

How will I sleep tonight?

Drew's wedding present is tomorrow. Right now, the plan is to get up, get ready, go to the mall and shine up the ring, get the nails done, get hair did, drive to Chicago, take great pictures! Breathe, breathe... I know that the pictures will be so fun and will turn out amazing.

They've Arrived!

David's Bridal called me yesterday and all of the bridesmaid dresses have finally come in. I ran there after work and picked up my sister's and Angela's. Angela stopped over after work and, of course, I made her try it on so I could take pictures.

With flash:

Without flash:

Anytime something like this happens, something wedding related gets accomplished, I get so excited. I'm happy that all of the dresses are in because now we can start alterations. I want to put my dress back on again!

My pictures are tomorrow. I don't know how I'm going to get through today. Or sleep tonight for that matter. I am so excited!!!

Tick, Tick, Tick

A friend of mine, Melissa, got married on June 7th. About a week before the wedding I asked her how she was holding up. She told me that she was so excited. She said that she wanted to speed the time up and slow it down all at the same time. I totally understand what she's talking about. Drew and I are 82 days away. 82 days seems like forever when I think about how excited I am to be marrying Drew. But, when I think about how much stuff we have left to do, 82 days is so little.

The invitations need to be out 3 weeks from today. We haven't started addressing them at all. And we still need some addresses for Drew's side of the family. Hopefully, next week we can all get together and get them knocked out.

A huge check is that some invites have gone out for one of my bridal showers. I am so excited. It makes it feel real. I have done so much planning, I'm ready to get to some fun!!

(Ir)rational Fears?

I've always known that the photographer would be one of the most important vendors that I booked for the wedding. After our wedding day, the only thing that we have left for our memories are the photos. I know that the day is going to fly by. I hope that by looking at our photos, we are able to relive our day for years to come.

I've been looking at a lot of photographers websites and blogs and I definitely notice one thing that is common in almost all of the photos. The church never seems to have a lot of people. I've always wanted a church full of people there to witness Drew and I become husband and wife. I would hate to have those doors open up and see nothing but empty pews. I know that they only thing that I'm going to be focused on is Drew and walking down the aisle to meet him and join our lives together. But, I want a church full of people. I want people crammed into pews! My fear is that hardly anyone will come to the ceremony and everybody will come to the reception. Am I being crazy??