Never Gonna Let You Down

So music was a big part of our day. Husband spent a lot of time piecing together this playlist. With minor help from me.

Ceremony:

Dylan played while the bridesmaids and groomsman came down the aisle, along with our moms (mine escorted by my little brother, husband escorted his). I came down the aisle to "Us" by Regina Spektor. So epic, so happy and beautiful. it was perfect. And "You Are the Best Thing" was the perfect exit from the ceremony music. The horn section kills me every time, so upbeat!

{yeah I discovered the song from 500 Days of Summer and maybe I included this video because the only celeb I've ever been told I looked like was Zooey. I'll take it!}

Here's the Reception. Sweet Thing was our first dance. It's the song that was playing when Husband proposed. I danced to Ballerina with my dad, I did ballet for 14 years, and it's a very sweet song.

Our playlist was very eclectic but I trusted Husband with it. It was very representative of our taste in music and iconic songs from our relationship. We didn't even make it through the whole playlist, the reception ended up lasting about 4ish hours. People began to leave on their own, so that by the time the majority of the guests had left and it was just family and wedding party essentially, we changed and left for the honeymoon around 6:30. (Ceremony had started at 1 and Husband and I arrived at the Reception by 2:30 - food was already there for guests, hors d'ouevres meant they didn't have to wait for us). The timing of the day worked out really well for us.

Also, see the 2nd to last song? "Righteously" by Lucinda Williams? Yeah that ACTUALLY is "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley. Yes Husband Rick Rolled me at our wedding (He renamed it since it's my iTunes account so I wouldn't notice). Right before the father-daughter dance. And it was hilarious. Husband spends a lot of time on online message boards and is well versed in rick rolling. The majority of our guests had no idea what was going on including my dad. But it was funny nonetheless. Oh Husband! (he also has a rick roll app on his phone! I love that boy! =D)

dressy time!

oops sorry, I promised and didn't deliver. but husband time > blog time.

Dress time!

Ok so remember miss multi-talented bridesmaid Shawntel? Here's the gift she gave me at my bridal shower:

That's ME! (click to zoom) She hand drew and watercolored this illustration of me in my dress with my hair and veil all done. I'm so in love with it!

So I told my girls grey/silver knee-length-ish dresses. Go! It was cold so tights/cardis were recommended. It worked out so well! Their dresses were each so unique to the girl and yet looked so cohesive and well together. Check out these beautiful ladies!

Miss A (2nd from the left in the above and below) MADE her dress! (she literally finished the night before and the zipper was being finicky so we ended up sewing her into the dress right before the ceremony!)

And a peek at me! For some reason, of all the photos our friends and family took, it was hard to find a good full-length shot.

Me with Mama. Let me tell you, I ADORED this dress. It was soooooo comfortable. I ended going really retro/vintage with my whole look slightly by accident, but it felt so me! This dress is ivory beaded lace over a "champagne" colored satin (surprisingly lightweight). A fitted trumpet style (showed off my curves!). It had a v-neck, cap sleeves, deep V in the back and a thin beaded empire waist. Everyone was dying to know where I got it and everyone was incredulous when I said david's bridal, commenting that the dress was so unique looking and intricate and so me. mission accomplished.

This is also a good shot of my bouquet, my florist was AMAZING. the sweetest lady ever and her designs were so wonderful. My bouquet had anemones, juniper berry (for delicious smell and lovely purple color), dusty miller, rosemary (also delicious smelling!) and seasonal greenery. I loved it!

Here you can see a little detail on my bouquet, my great-grandmother's cameo brooch. I wore my grandma's strand of pearls. and the headpiece was from my grandmother's wedding as well, 55 years old and in such wonderful condition! The fingertip length & blusher veils were from my mom's wedding which she wore with the headpiece also, except she wore it with the points flipped up like a crown. Shawntel just touched up the veil portion and detached them from the head piece and sewed on a comb. She embroidered me and husband's names and our wedding date onto the comb in blue as a special little touch!

A little peek at the reception, here's me introducing cousin for her tearjerker speech. Also, good full-length shot of the dress.

Me and husband dancing! You can see veil #2 here, just a simple birdcage style netting over the headpiece. Loved it. (Handsome Husband. what. up. p.s. he printed a picture of mad men's don draper and took it to a barber for his haircut/style. tee hee)

Yay! Hope you enjoyed. ceremony/reception decor next? and the sneak peeks from our photographer are trickling in. so exciteddd!

sunrise

One thing I am so glad I did is spend the night before the wedding with my bridesmaids. After dinner we went to a local dive for some drinks and girl time. Then 3 of the 6 crashed in my hotel room, cousin/maid of honor was in the room next door. For a group of 6 girls that had never met before the wedding festivities, they all got along swimmingly. It wasn't awkward, just super fun and comfortable. The 4 of us ended up staying up until about 1:30 am talking and giggling and/or laughing hysterically over things like this. seriously there were tears and snorts. much needed release.

While I didn't get a ton of sleep, I slept well. I awoke ready to go at 6:30 am. I looked out the window to see blue skies, not a cloud in sight. We took our time getting ready, while Shawntel started to do my hair and makeup. We brought up some breakfast (eggs, sausage & potatoes - and yes I DID eat) from the hotel lobby (props to the hampton inn, YUM breakfast, also the building was LEED certified!). The rest of girls came up and we all leisurely got ready. My wonderful photographer came up to start recording the day. It was such a relaxed morning. There were mimosas and french macarons that I picked up from a fabulous little shop in downtown sacramento earlier in the weekend. We actually were completely ready to go well before we needed to head to the church.

Miss Shawntel - my bridesmaid/hair stylist/makeup artist/veil maker :)

{all photos by shawntel}

We headed to the church about an hour before the ceremony, we made sure to avoid the boys as we went into the bridal room at the back of the church to put on my church and get prepared. Put on my dress, had our bouquets delivered, had one of the bridesmaids run over and present Husband with his wedding gift (I'm waiting for a good photo before I reveal), saw my parents for the first time that day (they had been putting the finishing touches on the reception site). Once I had my dress and veil and bouquet...this was the point where I started feeling nervous...

time to get married!

(I got a little link happy in this one. also: dress reveal tomorrow!)

pre-party

Okay. I'm ready. I was cool as a cucumber throughout the whole wedding planning process. I knew what was important to me and I absolutely didn't care about the rest. It wasn't until the day before the wedding when I started feeling worried and guilty, for the most ridiculous reasons.

You see, this winter has been one of the craziest and most unpredictable I've ever seen in California. As soon as the 10-day forecast began to include our wedding date it read rain. rain rain crazy thunderstorm showers rain. All along I totally knew that this was a possibility and though to myself "so what, I love rain! we could take fun umbrella pictures! it'll be so cozy!" So we had the rentals delivered and tent set up thursday before the wedding. Thursday night was an out-of-control rain/wind storm. When we arrived at Husband's (!) parent's house Friday morning to start setting up, we discovered that the tent had shifted about a foot away from the house (despite the multiple 55 gallon drums full of water that it was staked off to), away from the overhang and the wind had pushed the rain in and the entire ground (and all of the tables) were soaked. It was freezing cold and wet still. We had rented a heater, but it only had 10 hours worth of propane that needed to last through the end of the day saturday so we didn't want to exhaust that one. We pulled the tables into the garage and wiped them down. We brought out a space heater and a professional grade steamer to begin steaming the giant round table cloths that we had purchased...thinking that maybe we should have started doing that sooner. And then we blew the circuit in the garage. twice if I'm not mistaken. meanwhile the bulk flowers were brought in and were beginning to be arranged, linen napkins were being folded, vases and centerpieces assembled. A few of my bridesmaids showed up to help, which was wonderful.

No one was letting me do anything, which was fine because I had started freaking out that all of my guests would be soaked and frozen the following day. I drove to Sacramento to pick up my aunt and cousin at the airport, where it was sunny, and got a text from my parents that it had begun to hail and then snow. perfect.

I get back to the reception set up chaos to find out from Husband that one of his best friends and one of our supplemental photographers, who lives in colorado, told him the night before, after avoiding Husband's calls for about a week, that he "couldn't afford the trip". Which is totally understandable in and of itself, but c'mon dude, you JUST figured out you couldn't make it?? a little notice would've been nice. Also his bachelor party the night before ended in a bit of drama... So husband is pissed. yay wedding...

Out of the whole day I had maybe folded one napkin and moved one candle. People kept telling me to eat and not help. All the while my family members are freaking out, being impatient, snapping at each other. (we don't do well under pressure and time constraints...)  So I decided to go to the hotel to check in for the night. My mind was still freaking out so I decided to just hang out at the hotel until the rehearsal dinner. So I call one of my bridesmaids at the reception site to tell her I wouldn't be coming back, and she tells me "actually I'm at an urgent care right now, I started feeling dizzy and having shortness of breath and I've been sick on and off for a few months now and I just really needed to get checked out." turns out the poor thing had bronchitis! so I told her to skip the rehearsal and she could take her antibiotics and pass out in my hotel room and we'd see how she was feeling in the morning.

By this time I'm not doing so well. I text Husband to tell him about bridesmaid, turns out he's in the hotel too, hanging out in his friends room. So he comes up and we just sat and he told me that everything will be alright (that is totally his catchphrase). It completely calmed me down. And it reaffirmed that he's the one I'm supposed to be married to.

The rest of the evening zoomed by. The rehearsal went well, Husband's film school directorial training totally came out as he began ordering people about. Lots of laughing and it was so fun to finally get all of our family and wedding party into the same room. (fun fact, this was the first time my parents met Husband's dad and step mom, even though they live approximately 5 miles away from eachother and we've been dating for 5 years. weird huh?). Dinner was delish, pretty sure I don't have a single photo, but we ordered approximately 12 large chicago style pizzas and had lots of leftovers!

Next up: Bridesmaid bonding!

titles

I still don't really know where to start. This whole marriage thing is so surreal still. The wedding happened. It was wonderful, I felt very present and yet it felt like it went by quickly at the same time. Maybe the enormity hasn't hit me yet. And I don't think it has to do with us living together prior, because really that doesn't define a marriage, that defines roommates. I started thinking about an analogy from my old pastor and I think it summarizes how I'm feeling very well:

There are certain titles we hold throughout life that we don't necessarily "earn". It's a title we gain and then must grow into. Our goal is to live to the full potential of that title. And it's a title, it doesn't define us, but becomes a part of who we are. Marriage is one of those situations. The minute you say your vows you become a husband or wife. That doesn't mean you have any clue what that truly means. No matter how much marriage preparation you've done, how many books you've read or how much advice you've received. Because you must grow into that role of husband/wife, and it will take the rest of your life to do so. And that looks different in every single relationship.

To further the analogy, having kids is similar (moreso with the first child). Once a child is born you become a mother or father. Not that you have any idea what that truly means, but you now have that title.

So maybe I'm grasping that it's going to take a lifetime to grow into this role of wife. Because I'm not sure I feel like I can fully call myself that with only 2 weeks experience. Does that make any sense? Nonetheless, I love being a wife and I love my husband.

reservations

{photo by family member}

So I'm back. and married (!). Getting back into the daily grind isn't too bad except for the millions of emails and blog posts in google reader. We have quite a few photos posted to facebook of the wedding and our photographer said she'd probably be able to have hers to us in another week.

The whole day was so surreal, I don't know how to describe it yet without simply going into the play-by-play. It was so comfortable, relaxed, and fun, joyful and loving. We had hiccups of course, but does anyone even want to hear about those parts? It didn't phase me at all. We've been trying to call each other husband and wife as much as possible because it's fun and so weird to hear.

Marriage is awesome.

perspective

In August, Fiance's stepfather, Dennis, was diagnosed with Stage 4 liver & colon cancer. This man was the picture of health, ate super healthy, exercised all the time, everything about him was in excellent shape, except that he had cancer. Fiance's entire family was incredibly optimistic right out the gate. They have excellent senses of humor and just treated it like something that happened and they would move on. They said to move forward with the wedding, and they are planning a trip to europe in march/april. For me? I was absolutely terrified. Everyone I've ever known who has had cancer, friends and family, haven't survived. In my mind, cancer = death. I literally would just force myself not to think about it, I wouldn't believe it.

And so Dennis went through chemo like a champ, didn't even lose his hair. After Thanksgiving he had surgery where 70% of his liver was removed. While very thin, he was in excellent spirits when we saw him at Christmas. Then he began chemo again in January, this round wasn't going as well and was attacking too much of his healthy cells so they decided to do surgery #2 early. The first week of February he had his surgery in San Francisco and so Fiance's mom wasn't able to make it to my bridal shower. He was supposed to be in the hospital for a week and ended up leaving 2 days early. I just saw him yesterday after coming home to begin wedding preparations and he is doing well. Still recovering, still thin, but still the same Dennis, teasing everyone and playing guitar.

So for me, planning for the past 6 months or so can be reduced down to a simple thought:
As long as Fiance and I are married by the end of the day and Dennis is there to celebrate with us, I don't care about anything else.

There's been a quite a few ideas and projects that have fallen by the wayside and honestly I just don't care. (sorry programs...and out of town bags...) I just want our families together. Even though Dennis can't really stay for the whole reception because that is far too many germs for his low immune system, he'll be at the ceremony. I will have photos of him. and I am so blessed and thankful for that.

status update

We have our luggage.
We have our wedding bands.
Fiance is driving up home on Sunday.
I'm flying up Tuesday night.
We have an appt to pick up our marriage license on Wednesday.
I've been listening to our super awesome spectacular wedding playlist compiled by Fiance.

Now I'm on my way to get my hair done at drybar with my cousin/maid-of-honor then on to my super fun bachelorette party!

mirrors

This time next week I'll be heading to our wedding rehearsal. It's getting more and more surreal.

So I thought I'd touch on some of those beauty issues that I slammed the WIC about in the beginning.

I got a couple facials and invested in some quality skin products. Because I've had less than stellar skin since the minute I turned 13 and, now that I can afford to, it's time I really started taking steps toward improving that. Not only did the facials help my skin a bit, but they're just ridiculously relaxing.

I'm using teeth whitening strips. Because I've never really had white teeth.  Because I've been meaning to whiten my teeth for years now. And $30 Aquafresh strips are worth it to me. Also, they totally work. Especially if you accidentally fall asleep and leave them in for 4 hours instead of 45 minutes. (yeah totally pulled a Ross) My gums were just totally destroyed for a few days...all better now though!

I've been making the effort to eat healthy, lots of veggies and no fast food. But since this all about honesty and stuff, I'll be up front. I'm in the worst shape of my life. Partially because I've been spending 12 hours a day sitting in front of a computer. I've started to enjoy running, but it's dark when I leave in the morning and dark when I get home and I don't have a gym membership. Plus I'm just plain exhausted. So the whole exercising thing has been difficult for me. (my dress still fits though).

BUT.  I'm just so gosh darn happy. I'm so excited about the wedding, I'm so in love with Fiance, I adore my job (despite working all the time). Llife has been so wonderful. Yes, there's little hiccups, yes Fiance and I have had fights within the last month. But looking at the grand scheme of things, life is good.

So. advice for the week before the wedding. Just do stuff that makes you happy. Enjoy everything. Listen to some Billy Joel, buy a dress that makes you feel super pretty, get dressed up for dinner and a movie with the girls, snuggle with Fiance...well at least these all worked for me.

showering

Bridal shower #2 was so wonderful, and...intimate. We clocked in at 8 ladies total and not just because my mom unknowingly scheduled it for super bowl sunday at 1 pm. there was an unfortunate abundance of illness and family emergencies. But nonetheless I still had such a good time.

Mama reserved a room at the Olde Spaghetti Factory. yum yum yum. this place is delish and adorable. Recommendation: Spaghetti with browned butter and mizithra cheese and the pesto ranch for your starter salad. Also the spumoni ice cream (strawberry/chocolate/pistachio). The lighting is very moody, so some of the photos turned out kind of funky, but we were still able to get some good ones. ready for some up close and personal time with little me?

First up: the dessert/gift table

{mini red velvet cupcakes and assorted cookies and homemade lemon bars to the right}

{gorge floral arrangement by ms. suzy, my wedding planner extraordinaire. a sneak peak of the wedding flower decor}

{lavender of course. somehow became the mascot of this wedding. but they're so pretty and smell DIVINE}

{one of those amazing flameless candles, this one is actually made of real wax. to debut at the wedding as well}

{time for some bubbly!}

{Spumanti - Italian sparkling wine}

{mama made the shower kitchen themed and sent out recipe cards in the invites for friends and family to add to my recipe collection}

{little me super psyched about getting our beautiful toasting flutes. the stems are filled with mini pearls!}

{yummy crate and barrel boxes. no wrapping needed. I maybe registered here solely for the boxes? oh also because they have cool stuff inside the boxes...}

{the "ambience" at the good olde sketti factory}

=D

{that book from my mom? it's called p*rn for women. it has photos and captions of men offering to do household chores and bringing breakfast in bed and providing shopping advice. so silly.}

{thanks mama!!! this is a full set of silver plated antique silverware in a velvet lined wooden box. time for dinner parties!!}

Fun, simple, girly. I can't wait for the wedding!!

toasty warm feets

people's generosity continues to amaze me.

today my coworkers threw me a surprise wedding BBQ for lunch. they kept it a secret for a couple weeks. Not only was there hot dogs, burgers (with ALL the fixings you can imagine), baked beans, homemade potato salad, a giant cake, and ice cream...they also pooled together to get a gift off our registry. and not just any gift, but the kitchenaid stand mixer! I'm so excited to play with it! It was such a wonderful surprise, my work is awesome. and the bridal shower paper plates and napkins were a nice touch on a construction site ;D

bridal shower #2 post coming soon. I swear. last week was...rough. I literally flew back from my parents monday morning and drove straight to work. the rest of the week snowballed after that. but the weekend turned around. we took one of our bffs out to a birthday drinks and dinner friday night. Sunday we celebrated valentine's day with lunch at a cute little retro diner and a movie. and one last shopping trip for my rehearsal dinner dress.

Saturday, when fiance went to work I did a little shopping for my trousseau... I'm just going to say it was way fun, slightly awkward and majorly confidence boosting - if all those adjectives can make sense together.



less than 2 weeks away a-peoples! (bonus points for guessing the movie reference there)
still soooo soo excited!

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.

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.

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... =)

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...

yessssssssss

Ok. It's official. We know where we're doing for our honeymoon:
NEW YORK CITY!
I'm a little bit more than excited. Fiance's been and loved it but I have not yet and I've been dying to go. it's going to be amazing.

Yes I understand it will be cold (first week of March). but we both love cold weather. it'll be romantic to be all bundled up and wander. The hotel is in Manhattan, 2 blocks from Central Park. All the rooms have city views.

I've been trying not to go overboard with the plans for that week. Siteseeing is not the goal of a honeymoon, am I right? ;) The nice thing is, NYC is a place we will definitely visit again, so there's no need to cram a bunch of things in. So we spent some time the other night prioritizing what is important to us and what we love experiencing together:
Food, obviously. I've got a running list of restaurant and cafe recommendations from friends.
A Knicks game at Madison Square Garden for my sports obssessed Fiance.
The Empire State Building and the Flatiron Building for the Engineering nerd in me.
Phantom of the Opera. Because we love getting dressed up and it's the only musical that Fiance accepts.
Coney Island. Because we have to get a Nathan's Hot Dog (among other reasons).
Rockefeller Plaza, because we love 30 Rock.
Times Square because its awesome.

I'm so excited to get to spend this time with Fiance in an amazing city! We're typically homebodies and not the go-go-go type, so we're always in somewhat of a relaxed state. A low-key honeymoon getaway was never really something we considered, we've always been looking at something more urban since that is out-of-the-box for us.