Happy Birthday Bella!

Today is my friend Bella's birthday! I just wanted to wish her a Happy 26th Birthday!

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Bella!
Happy Birthday to you!

She is a wonderful friend. I'm so glad I have her in my life. She has been a godsend. She is such a great listener, and has been so helpful with wedding planning...even with all the wedding planning she has had to do. It's been so much fun planning our weddings together. I feel so lucky to share such a special time with her.

Her wedding is coming up so soon! January 31! She is pretty busy getting all the last minute details done. I can't wait for her wedding, it's going to be such a beautiful day.

Happy Birthday Bella!

Problem Solved.

I dropped the stained bridesmaid dress off at the dry cleaner's yesterday morning. And picked it up without any stains! Our dry cleaner is awesome!

Check it out.

Before:

After:



Note to Self: Leave the dresses in the closet.

I've been tagged!

I was tagged by my blogger friend Krista over at Canadian Bride...

1. Link to the person that tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Here are 6 random things about me:

1. I leave every drawer in the house open. I will grab a shirt and forget to close it. I've done this ever since I was a little. Mike HATES it. He will try to get up to pee in the middle of the night and bang his leg on one of my drawers... I'm glad he loves me!

2. I'm an extremely picky eater. I won't eat Chinese, pork, BBQ, seafood...the list could go on and on.

3. I've never been on an airplane. Or left the Mid-west. I live in Illinois, and I've only traveled to WI., MI., IN. and recently IA. (I'm damn excited for our Californian honeymoon!)

4. I'm a hairstylist. I went to school-got my cosmetologist license......loved it. But I needed a place where I could receive good benefits and make more money. So, now I work in Accounts Payable for an School District. The ladies I work with are my family...I love all of them. (Kinda like a salon...without all the unnecessary drama) I still do hair-but for friends and family only. I'm hoping one day I will get back into the salon-I do miss it a lot!

5. I was always a size 7/8 until I turned 18. From 18-19 yrs. old I went from a size 7/8 to a size 22. (I know...you're probably thinking WHAAATT??!!) I developed Insulin Resistance (or Metabolic X)-apparently it runs in my family. But from 20-21 I dropped from a size 22 to a size 9/10. It only took me a year to loose that 100lbs. It took a lot of hard work-and the medicine helped too. I met Mike when I was 21, now I'm 26. My weight has gone up and down-but at the moment it's going waaayy down. I'm almost back into my 9/10's...and hopefully by the wedding I'll be in my 7/8's!

6. I'm daddy's little girl. My parents got divorced when I was only 2 years old. And I grew up with my Dad-and my Dad and I have nothing in common...but I look just like my mother...and sometimes I act just like her. But nonetheless...I'm daddy's little girl. And always will be.

Ok I'm going to tag the following....(I'm going to try not to duplicate!)

Blabber And Blunder
Project Subrosa
An Atlanta Bride
NYC Newlywed
Our Little Haus
That Wife

Picked up the girl's dresses..

I came home last night and was lucky enough to be carrying in hand our bridesmaid dresses! I was so excited!!


No you don't understand. I was really excited.

(Mike looks thrilled, right?!)

I tried on Bella's (MOH) dress. And had a bandaid (with Neosporin in it).

Something horrible happened.

I can't believe I did this.



Is it noticeable? I swear it seems more noticeable in pictures. Maybe because I've been hyperventilating since it happened....I'm delusional now.

The dry cleaner told me if I spot clean it-it will leave spots. And if I have it dry cleaned it might fade-and they can't guarentee the spot will come out.

WTF.

What do I do now? I'm going to call a few different dry cleaner's in my area. (Does anyone know of a good dry cleaner in the Northern Chicago suburbs?????)

I feel horrible. It's not my dress. Bella paid good money (almost $200) for this dress. I want this spot(s) to come out!!!!

I could buy her a new dress and have it rushed delivered.

To me-I wouldn't care if she wore it like that. I don't think it's too terribly bad. But I feel so horrible.

I'm going to make it my mission to fix it.

I'm open to any and all suggestions.



Why me. I have the worst luck.

I'm back up and running!

Woo hoo!

Modem was delivered. There is peace in my house now.

Let me start by showing you one of my favorite Christmas decorations.

It's my Nativity Scene. My Grandpa made it for me when I moved out. It's a little small, but-to me-it's perfect.



Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus came from my Uncle Danny. He passed about 16 years ago..but we remember him daily. He was a very important part of all of our lives. He was a wonderful man. And always made sure we ate our fruit! I can still hear him now.. "Here-eat a banana!"

Love you Uncle Danny. I miss you.

My modem is broken :(

Sorry for the lack of posts. My modem went to modem heaven. (I'm sneaking in a post at work!!) I should have my modem on my doorstep when I get home.

I have lots of things to tell you about..

I bought a tree too big for my house.

I finally decorated.

I picked up my girl's bridesmaid dresses. And some how got neosporin on my MOH's... (Still haven't found a cure.)

I've been really crabby lately with no computer.

I'm crossing my fingers that it comes today.

RSVP's -Help!

While we were at The Country Squire planning our reception with our wonderful wedding coordinator. He told us that he wants us to have a name card for each person. And for each person should have a red dot for beef and a yellow dot for chicken. This way it won't look tacky when the waiter comes to the table asking who wants what. I couldn't agree more. However, I'm having a problem with the RSVP wording. I don't want it to look tacky!

Here is where I need your help.

We look for forward to celebrating with you!
Kindly respond by April ? 2009
_Regrets _Accepts
M_____________
Please indicate name(s) for your choice of entrée
_____Filet Mignon _____ Chicken Imperial
_____Chicken tenders (10/under)


We look forward to celebrating with you!
Kindly respond by April ? 2009
Please indicate an entrée choice for each guest attending
Filet Mignon
Name(s)_________________
Chicken Imperial
Name(s)_________________
Chicken tenders (12/under)
Name(s)_________________
Unable to attend
Name(s)_________________


The favor of your reply is
requested by April ? 2009
M_______________
__ Accepts __ Regrets
Please intial your entrée choice below:
__ Filet Mignon
__ Chicken Imperial
__ Chicken fingers (12/under)


Please indicate 1, 2 or 3 for the one you like the best. Or if you have another suggestion please share!

Also, for the children's plate...should I omit Chicken fingers and just write 12 under? Chicken tenders just seems tacky to me. (Or am I just over thinking it?!)

I hate having to put the menu choices down. But our caterers are perfectionists, and want to be able to take each guest his/her food without having to ask "who had chicken" etc. I think they have this vision of the food magically appearing in front of everyone without the guests even having to think about it. Which is great..but now I'm stuck figuring out how to word our response card without looking tacky!

Please help!

Early presents-daily!!

It all started last Friday when I picked up my dress from Brides by Demetrios. I can't put in to words how much I love my dress. It's going to be an agonizing 3 months before my first fitting. I just might have to go visit her and try her on a few times in between...

On Thursday, Mike and I headed over to The Country Squire-where our reception will be-to finalize our menu. Pick out our FABULOUS cake. Pick out our linens. Got our seating plans. Planned a 'kid's room'. Oh how very exciting is was to talk about it and plan this all out! I'm working on an ispiriation board..and hopefully it will be at the bottom of this post!

Yesterday, I received a phone call from Demetrios (again) telling me my bridesmaid dresses are in! Yipppeee!! They previously told me they might not be here until April and well let just say I wasn't too happy about that. So, them coming early is such a wonderful surprise! We have 2 weeks to pick them up. I just can't wait to see them in person! The suspense is killing me!

And over the last a couple days I've picked out our cake topper. Thanks to all of you-my blogger friends!!! Thank you for all the comments! I truly appreciate it! It's helped tremendously!

Everything feels like it's coming into place now. For last few months, I've sort of been taking a 'break' from planning because there wasn't much to do. It was a nice little break. But now it feels like we are FULL STEAM AHEAD! And it's just the best thrilling feeling in the world! It;s all so exciting..and I'm taking everything in day by day. I will never forget all these wonderful memories.

I'm so happy I've joined this wonderful blogosphere...it's truly a blessing to meet such wonderful and beautiful brides!

Here is a little preview of what our wedding will look like.... (I'm a newbie at making these collages..)

Sources: top; Tying the knot, Country Squire, American Wedding, After-Six, Bridal People
Bottom; Country Squire, unknown, Bridal People, Country Squire, The knot

PS: Does anyone know where those shoes are from!?? I lost the source and it's driving me crazy! I really want to purchase them!

Still Dreaming..

Thank you so much for all the cake topper feedback! It's greatly appreciated!

I am not one for monograms because I think they are too modern for me. However, they are lovely. And I have grown out of the children figurines...I agree-they are a bit weird. And I'm still on the fence with the doves.

Here are few more I came up with. I'm going to choose between these 4. The top right seems very vintage to me. Simple yet elegant. And the price of $11.90 isn't too shabby either! And the bottom left is very romantic and the bottom is a keepsake holder. I'm still not sure about the doves, but they are very sweet-they make me smile. And the top right might be a little too much for me-but it looks vintage..doesn't it?

Sources: top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right

Which one do you like the best?

Think vintage...

Dreaming of the perfect Cake topper

I've been having such a hard time choosing the perfect cake topper. They either look cheesy or too modern. I'm a traditional kind of girl who is envisioning a vintage wedding. But the cake topper industry is making it so hard on me.

Here are a few I kind of like..

Sources: Wedding Collectables, Rexcraft, That's my topper

I am lost in the cake topper world. Which one is your favorite?