Hello UPDATE Already!!!

Whooo Wheeee! The month of July has just flown by! This being my month off of work, the days zip by and I want them back. My life has been consumed by wedding planning. August 8, is just one short week away! I need this week to slooooow dowwwwn!

Everything is pretty much done. My floor is littered with paper flower pom poms, candy boxes and programs. This is a real life DIY wedding! It has been a really BIG labor of love, but I've had some wonderful people helping me. I can't wait to see it all come together next Sunday!

Next week is all looking up, except the fact that I have to go back to work! PUKE! But i knew this was coming, and I only am working half of the week... but still! I would much rather be at home.

I am really looking forward to next Friday. Not only is it my Bachelorette party, but all my favorite peeps are coming into town. Including 2 of my Bridesmaids. I'm so excited to FINALLY have everyone here!
Saturday night is the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Which will be held in my backyard! Some may think I'm crazy to have a party at my house the night before my wedding, but I love my backyard and wouldn't have it any other way.
Sunday is the big busy day! WOAH!
I hope you all have had a great summer.
I'll be posting again when I am a MRS.
Cheers!

Closer and Closer

Wedding planning... oh JOY! I'm at the point where I can finally take a breather and just enjoy the time right now. I have been a bad friend... not returning phone calls, not answering emails. I get stressed out and crabby about wedding invitations and silly wedding to-dos. Tomorrow is my last day of work for 5 glorious weeks! I need these days off. I come home from work and there is always something going on at night! ALWAYS! T and I made a pact to not add so much to the month of July. To just enjoy the last month as a "dating" couple before we are a "married" couple. T has to work on selling his house, I need to work on my house getting ready for out of town guests and a rehearsal dinner in my backyard. So if we are absent in July... it's just because we decided we need some us time. On a great note, our pre-marriage counselor says we make a great couple. I mean we already new that, but it's nice to hear it from a professional. :)

The invitations are in the mail!!!! There is no turning back now... 225 invites arriving in mailboxes from Minnesota to Michigan to Texas to Massachusetts to Florida to Canada to Germany to Australia! OOOFTA! I am pleased as punch on how they turned out... despite the fact that I broke every etiquette rule on the addressing the envelopes. Ask me if I care?

I am realizing more and more that when it comes to a wedding, that it's okay to break a few rules. It's a special day about two people who love and care about each other deeply and those that love and care about them. So who cares if I used labels instead of hand writing each envelope!

So 45 days until the big day! I have my dress, my shoes and my big pink flower I will be rockin' in my hair.

Wedding Shoes!

Par Avion

I am now in the summer months of my job. Meaning no kids, no teachers. But that also means the piles of overdue notices I have to get out. Because God forbid that i didn't get these out and some kid can't register for the their parking permit next year because "We didn't know lil' Bobby had an overdue book!". ugh.
So while am addressing and stuffing some 300 envelopes, it reminds me that when I go home I have to do the same thing!!
The wedding invites are done! I decided to create my own and I found $14 packs of 50 blank invites at Walmart. We started printing the first batch last night and they look beautiful, simple and chic. I also saved a lot of moola! Invites were one of the things I didn't want to spend a lot of money on. Yes, i know they set the mood for the wedding, but they also get thrown away. So i feel like I accomplished both agendas.
I am also realizing that planning a wedding is all about the little details. It is easy to find a venue and a photographer, but what about all the decorations, wedding favors, brides maids jewelry and gifts? I am getting there, with 53 days left, it's all about the little things.

Oh... and amidst all this wedding planning and overdue notice sending, we got a dog! I insisted that we wait until after the wedding but I knew that Tim really wanted a dog now. So we picked up Laeza from my mom. My mom raises and breeds Bichon Frises and Shitzu. Laeza is a 4 year old Bichon and she is sweet and cuddly. Our family is slowly growing. But just by animals for now.

I FINALLY got it!

I haven't been doing much baking lately. But now that I got this awesome gift at my first bridal shower, I will be doing a lot more baking!! Excited is an understatement!!!

Days...

The days are speeding by! I can't believe its already JUNE! Things have been so busy, but all of it has been wonderful!

Last Tuesday I met with my musicians for the wedding. It works out great because they are my friends so we just had a nice happy hour over Chicken Artichoke Quesadillas! I am fortunate to work at a job with orchestra teachers and choir directors. I get a viola player and a singer for my wedding!
On Wednesday, Tim, my mom and I went over to our venue site. It's on a farm that is located on a park district. The three of us were giddy with anticipation for the big wedding day. I was envisioning where i would put all the decorations and what the big day would look like! I can't wait!
Thursday we went to Nye's Polonaise Bar for dinner and photo booth photo sessions with my cousins and family. My big bellied cousin Erin and her boyfriend Carsten met up with us to say goodbye, as she was heading to Germany the next day. And just months away from having her baby girl! The next time we see her she will be a MOM! woah!
Friday, my home girl Shannon and her boyfriend Nate came in from Michigan for the weekend. We made a party of it and invited over a couple of our close friends. Then it turned into a slumber party! It was wonderful to see her again! I miss her so much!
Saturday, Tim and I went to Sex and The City 2. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was just different this time around. I liked the first movie, but this one was pretty cheesy at times. Overall though it was fun to see the girls back in action.
Saturday night we had 2 BBQs. A birthday party for our oldest cousin Chris. He is 40 and Fabulous! And a BBQ for one of Tim's friends who just finished her Masters.
Sunday night we went to see The Dollhouse at the Guthrie Theatre. Courtesy of Kelly and her cool job. It was a good play, kept my attention and very interesting premise.
Tim, Kelly, Kyle and I then went over to Kindee for Thai Happy Hour. The restaurant kindly stayed open for us and we ate yummy apps and played a card game. We then proceeded to shut the place down! Kelly said, You know you are getting old when instead of shutting bars down at 2am you are shutting Thai restaurants down!
Monday was my leisure day. With Tim out with friends, I decided to enjoy some outdoor hammock weather. I piled magazines and books and Nintendo DS into the hammock and had a most lovely time. How can you go wrong?
I hope you all had a great Memorial Weekend!

The End.

I have a million things to say about the finale of LOST. Of course there was tons of questions left unanswered and of course the sideways world was confusing, but overall I really liked the show. I can't count how many times I started to cry. Whenever a couple would realize where they used to be and now they are back together that was a tear jerker. Six years worth of longing, love, heartbreaks, break-ups, split-aparts, reunions where enough to bring this girl to tears. No matter what, I will always love this show and I am happy everyone was together in the end.

This summer, amidst wedding planning and DIY wedding decorations, I plan on watching the whole series from beginning to end. Maybe I'll catch some new insights along the way. Or maybe there will just be more unanswered questions?

I love Lost.

One step at a time

Well hello! I am have been absent from the blog world for awhile. Life is moving at rapid speed and I have hardly anytime to catch my breath. I'm not even that busy making wedding plans. I'm actually pretty relaxed about the whole thing. We did set a date, August 8, 2010. Yes, that means THIS summer. But I'm okay with that. I have my venue set, photographer, still deciding on the catering situation and I am going to look at bridesmaid dresses tomorrow.(Kelly, Rachel & Shannon, I promise to dress you in something fun, chic, sassy, cool and inexpensive) Everything is falling into place. It's strange planning for a wedding. All these big decisions to make for one day. I don't want to cut corners but I think some things are just ridiculously expensive and I don't want to pay full price. Is that bad? Like I'm really content with making my own bridal bouquets. I've read\watched a tutorial and know of friends who made theirs and it looks simple enough. We have also decided to print our own invitations too. T and I really like the ones at Target and decided to give it a whirl. We might even break the rules and use two different looking invites and so who knows what one might find in the mail?
The wedding theme is very Country\Shabby Chic. Mason Jars filled with flowers on all the tables, candle votives in jars, vintage linens on the main tables. Simple. I am having an outdoor wedding with the reception in a barn pavilion. I just want it to be the most fun and relaxed wedding day for me, T and my guests. And at the end of the day as long as T and I are married, nothing else matters.
I love tips, so if any one has any words of advice about the big day feel free to share.

P.S. What I am most excited about is that I am almost caught up on LOST. I am going to watch last nights episode tonight. Seriously, how can it almost be over??? Sunday will be amazing.