gifts

so I have mentioned before how people seem to come out of the woodwork to help and support us in any way. Well here's another story. A family friend who I haven't seen in a while texted me out of the blue last week and asked if I had any plans for friday. I said no and he responded with "early wedding gift. how about staples center 7:30?". Immediately Fiance and I knew what was going on. See this friend is the ultimate bachelor-type guy, knows all the best restaurants and bars, goes to live sporting events all the time, etc. He also has season tickets to the Los Angeles Lakers. Fiance LOVES basketball. so free NBA basketball tickets, win right? let's take it up a notch. the Lakers happened to be playing the Sacramento Kings on Friday. Our hometown, Fiance's favorite team. He's a die-hard loyal fan, even though they've...struggled for the past 5 or so years. The chance to watch the Lakers play the Kings is the ultimate experience.

So Friday night I raced home from work, changed and then we were off to downtown LA. Lakers fans are kind of intense, making it difficult to be fans of the opposing team, we knew it would be best to keep a low profile. Well early on that became hard as the Kings (2nd worst team in the league I believe) started absolutely killing it. They were ahead of the Lakers (reigning back to back champions) by as much as 20 points nearly the whole game. And then, the Kings won. The Kings beat the Lakers. and we got to watch it live. I think this may be Fiance's favorite wedding present of all time.

So about wedding gifts. I love our registries, I need everything on our registries. But I really don't mind if people gift us other things, especially as they have all been very personal and thoughful. People will give in ways that they are most comfortable. Whether its basketball tickets or kitchen gadgets or simply lovely cards with meaningful handwritten words. And I love all of it, I'm grateful for each and every person whether they paid money for their gift or not. I just want them to be there, at least in thoughts and prayers if not in person as well.

the final countdown

one month guys. that's it.

and all I have on my mind is trying to decide what I'm going to wear to the rehearsal dinner and a craving for In N Out Burger tonight.

what up WIC? can I say suck it on in the internet? k cool.

My life these days involves being super excited about our New York honeymoon, good conversations and laughs with Fiance, and arriving at a point where I can leave work at work - even with 3 weeks straight of 12 hour days. Letting go my dears, living life. It's lovely.

lovely lavender

For the reception we're planning on serving beer and wine (and possibly prosecco for tasting!). BUT if we had the resources for a signature cocktail, I think I'd go for the Lavender Honey Cream I found on Coco + Kelley.

{via coco + kelley}

"Lavender Honey Cream
1.5 oz. Square One Botanical Vodka
1 oz. heavy cream
1 oz. egg white (pasteurized - or leave out, but it will change the consistency a bit)
1 oz. lavender honey simple syrup
lavender blossoms for garnish

First let’s make the simple syrup by combining 1/4 cup lavender honey with 1/4 cup boiling water. Stir gently until honey is dissolved. Let cool and store in a squeeze bottle.

For the cocktail - Add all of the ingredients to a cocktail shaker & fill with ice. Shake gently for 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a few lavender blossoms. Serves 1."

It would fit in quite nicely, and it sounds so delicious!

dress up

So this past weekend I picked up my dress from alterations! All I had done was hemming and a bustle but I swear this time it fit better than I remember! I (tried) to do my hair just like Shawnie is going to for the big day and I brought part of my veil to try on with the dress. Eeek! I felt so bride-y and pretty. And COMFORTABLE. I love love love my dress. I bought it a year ago and I'm still absolutely in love. It's totally me, fits like a dream right off the rack and I don't see myself having any problems wearing it all day long. Also, the seamstress is a genius with bustling. She made the most beautiful, easy and lightweight bustle for my dress. There will be no chance of having it fall out.

I can't wait!!

girly time

so this past week was once again madness at work. But I absolutely have to recap my wonderfully lovely bridal shower from last weekend!

My dear cousin/maid of honor totally outdid herself. It was beautiful, laid back and simple. My aunt and uncle rented out a clubhouse in their neighborhood so we had tons of space to lounge and mingle. Where do I start?! My cousin had one of our engagement photos printed in black and white and matted so the girls could sign it. We started with drinks as the girls arrived, delicious strawberry margaritas with lime slices, pink lemonades from trader joes and lots of agua. After everyone met we grabbed some food and ate outside. It must have been 80 degrees! (welcome to southern california!) She had the party catered by Wood Ranch, super yummy barbecue restaurant. We had BBQ chicken breasts, garlic dinner rolls and 2 delicious salads, one caeser and one had walnuts, avocado and feta with a vinaigrette dressing. The tables were decorated with adorable arrangements. She found the most gorgeous and realistic looking silk flowers in shades of purple and hid little artificial diamond rings.

{stolen from cousin's blog}

For dessert we had to-die-for red velvet cupcakes, french macarons (from trader joe's!!) and ring pops! hehe!

After eating we meandered back into the living room area to open presents! All the ladies were so generous and thoughtful. Lots of items of the registry, which are much needed! And lots of cookbooks! I suppose people know pretty well by now that I love to cook! (And eat!) One of my bridesmaids purchased a recipe box off my registry but then added some of her own personal favorite recipes to get me started. So sweet! Another of my bridesmaids, you remember miss shawnie sherie, gave me the most beautiful gift. A watercolor fashion illustration she drew of me in my dress with my veil (that she is fixing up for me). She had it framed and matted, it is so amazing! I'll post it after the wedding since fiance reads this and he's not allowed to see my dress yet. But here's a link to an example of an illustration she has done for another bride.

It was such a lovely day. The guests consisted of cousins, aunts, grandma, bridesmaids and dear friends. Surprisingly most of my closest girlfriends have never met each other! Yet everyone got along so well. It was so relaxing just getting to see all my favorite people and chat and catch up and giggle. This wedding is beginning to feel very very real (4 more weeks!!) Bridal shower #2 is coming up in 2 weeks, thrown by my mother up in northern california. I can't wait to see more friends and family!

RSVP

The RSVP cards are slowly trickling in and today is Bridal Shower #1!

I'm so excited but also nervous. Me + center of attention...not my forte. I feel so awkward. I'm usually the motherly one in my groups of friends, taking care of everyone else, I'd rather be doing all the behind the scenes stuff. I guess it'll be practice for the wedding. I'll give you the scoop when I get back!

checkity check check

Invitations are officially out of my hands. Mailed those off Monday afternoon and by Tuesday afternoon people were starting to receive them! I've been getting some compliments on my DIY attempt. I'll try to take some pictures this weekend when I'll actually be around when there's sunlight. I'm still working pretty much sunrise to sunset with minimal lunch breaks.

Also this weekend is my (1st) bridal shower! I'm just so excited to see my girls and family. I was having a bit of an outfit crisis though. 2 bridal showers, bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner, and then the honeymoon in NYC. I'm a devout fashion addict. Luckily I have a bad habit of buying dresses on a whim. So I went through my wardrobe and realized I pretty much had all the events covered.

The past couple weeks have been rough relationship-wise. It seems like for the past few years, Fiance has worked early morning shifts. Then pretty much right after we moved in together he got switched to closing shift which means he doesn't get home until around 10 pm, and I have to wake up at 5 am and I'm one of those who needs lots and lots of sleep, so I usually am already in bed by 10. So we haven't really seen much of each other lately. He's been working at least one day of the weekend also. We're about 6.5 weeks away from the wedding and I feel like we haven't had any time to grow our relationship. stupid work.

us

So on the 7 hour drive back from visiting our families on christmas, Fiance and I solidified our wedding ceremony music choices. The final decision was while a particular song was playing and I looked over and caught tears streaming down his face. I'm keeping it a secret, but I'll tell you this much, there won't be a dry eye in the house. And this is before anyone begins speaking. Which I'm thinking I might have some trouble with. I'm going to need industrial strength make up.

all around the world...

So the guest list for this wedding has been very...fluid. It's been a lot of phone calls/emails with our parents, post-its with addresses all over my life. It started with our immediate families and closest friends, people we talk to on a regular basis (not just facebook birthday greetings once a year). I'm just glad it's not terrible etiquette that some people will be getting invites but never got save-the-dates. And it's not like we have an A list/B list. More that I'm scatterbrained, my parents forgot to mention someone, (or fiance still hasn't gotten his friend's addresses for me...haha) and we've made some new very close friends over the past couple months.

I finally just got everyone & their addresses into a little address book, because that is just so much easier for me to look at than any word document or spreadsheet. Technically we have 147 people including spouses, (or long-term established significant others - we're kinda playing this one by ear) and children. However, in my family, it is customary to include the extended relatives (i.e. my parents' aunts & uncles, cousins, second cousins...) in all invites, announcements, and christmas card lists. Though no one ever actually shows up to anything and they are spread out all over the US, though particularly in the midwest and east coast. There's about 40 of these family members so that cuts the list down.

I'm understanding why so many people are doing the e-vite thing these days. Not only it is simpler and less paper, it's just so much easier to get ahold of people in this day and age electronically. I've already had to update about 20 addresses just since sending out the save-the-dates! I have a lot of retired relatives that spend summer in one place and winter in another. And I have a lot of young 20s and/or still in college friends who bounce around between different living arrangements often. Which brings me to 2 more reasons why the actual guest list will diminish. 1) Many of my friends are 20-somethings and/or in college and can't afford to travel to the wedding. and 2) Some of my friends are way too awesome and keep traveling all over the world so a) I can't keep track of them and/or b) they will be out of country for the wedding. I know for a fact one friend will be in Peru and another will be in Uganda.

My feelings totally aren't hurt by anyone not being able to make it. I know they all love me and they are leading crazy awesome lives. They will be there for me in other ways and I will be there for them too. A Wedding is not the be-all, end-all friendship determinator.

Even if every single other person were to show up. Say all those 2nd cousins decided that February in Iowa on the farm is pretty darn cold and an excuse to go to California sounds like a pretty good idea. It wouldn't be a big deal. The more the merrier as far as I'm concerned. I know that can't be the case for all weddings out there. But for us, we're serving hors d'ouevres and dessert buffet, not a sit-down meal. The venue is my future parents-in-law's house which is plenty big enough to hold extra people. We have some flexibility.

brown paper, white paper, stick it together with the tape, the tape of love*

I spent all day today printing our invitations, envelopes and cutting RSVP cards with a paper cutter. I may be a bit biased but I think they've turned out beautifully! It's amazing what a decent printer and MS Word can really do. I did invest in some quality paper from Paper Source. I purchased our save-the-date from them and was impressed with the quality and pricing. Fiance and I went into one of their stores a few weeks back, which was quite lovely, and stocked up on a few different shades of paper and envelopes for our whole ensemble. I downloaded a few free fun and unique fonts from this website and designed everything myself. I'll take some photos at some point. The hardest part of all of this was getting my new-to-me printer set up and working properly. Everything else was a piece of cake, and quite a bit cheaper than anything I've seen online. DIY success!

My first bridal shower is in less than 2 weeks and I've noticed a few items have started disappearing off our registry! So excited!

Next task: Start printing up Thank You cards. I have procrastinated on pretty much everything...but I need to be on the ball with those

*p.s. I couldn't resist the flight of the conchords "cello tape" reference... =)

wish list

I read a lot of foodie/cooking blogs. I love food if you haven't already noticed. One of the ladies posted a genius guide to registering for those who love to cook. It is very helpful, and I have definitely added a few items that she recommended! For the love of all that is sweet and/or bacon flavored, go check out her stuff. You'll be hungry.

coming up roses

Happy New Year!
I just got back from watching the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena! It was something I've always wanted to do, and I live so close now I just had to be there. So fun!

It's going to be a great year, if for no other reason than it's the year I marry Fiance!

I went and had my dress fitted yesterday! I still love it just as much as I did when I bought it one year ago. It actually fits really well, I just need a few inches taken off the bottom, because I'm short stuff. And I'm having a bustle done, the seamstress made a really gorgeous one, I can't wait until it's done! Invites ARE happening this weekend, finally got the printer hooked up (of course now it needs ink...). My first bridal shower is in 2 weeks! I'm so excited to see all my girls and celebrate. I don't mean to sound greedy but I especially can't wait to get new kitchen stuff. Currently we have ONE tiny pot. just 1. we have 4 skillets in various sizes, but in all the hand-me-down kitchen stuff we received there ended up being just one pot. It makes cooking multiple things very difficult.

Here's to a fantastic new year. And now it's time for my nap...