Making the List, and Checking it Twice

The shower invitation are out and the RSVPs are starting to come in. So now, I've been given the green light to start getting the wedding invitations out. However, my guest list is getting looked over one more time before the ink hits the paper.

Sam's grandma and aunt are writing the names and addresses on the invitation because they both are calligraphers. With that said, they need the guest list to be very detailed with all the names of everyone we are inviting. That sounds like it would be an easy enough job, but it's taking a lot longer then I originally thought. Making sure everyone's name is spelling right, making sure I have to most current addresses, and making sure we didn't forget to invite anyone.

I hope these invites will do done in the next week or so. Wish me luck!

Family Time and More Family Time

Being away from the blog for a full week seems like a really long time. If you missed me, I apologize for being gone but my real life has just been pretty busy these last 7 days.

Here what you missed...

Thursday: I worked both of my jobs. Got to love the double life.

Friday: I went to two floral appointments for the wedding.

Currently, I'm still on the hunt to find the right price for my flowers. The two florists I meet on Friday, for similar arrangements- one quoted me $900ish and the other $685. May I add, these where just on the flowers for myself, my girls, the guys, and the key family members. If I want centerpieces for the reception, that will be at least additional $1,000. Needless to say, my search continues. I have another appointment set for Sunday, so we'll see how that goes.

Saturday: My soon-to-be brother in-law's 8th grade graduation party.

It's strange because when I first started dating Sam, his brother Jimmy was only 4 years old. I can't believe he'll be in high school in a month from now.

It was nice to see Sam's whole family and neighbors. Almost everyone who was at the party will be invited to the wedding, so now I maybe able to place some more faces and names together when the wedding comes around.

Sunday: My mom's family reunion- in Michigan.

I really do enjoy going to my mom's family reunion. This year was no different. I got to visit with cousins and enjoy good country food.

When I say country... I mean it. Look at the view we got while we had our lunch.

I would hate to be those guys bailing hay in the 90+ degree heat.

Also my mom, my sister and I went and spent some time with my grandma from my dad's side of the family. If you drive 3 hours to Michigan and 3 hours home, you better believe we try to squeeze in as much as we can into that one day.

Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday: Work and work related stuff.

Got to love job hunting... not. Job searching can easily become a second (or in my case third) job. However, I'm trying not to stress out too much. Things have a way of working themselves out. (Or at least I'm trying to tell myself that.)

Question: Does your family have "Family Reunions"?

- I think that maybe also be a "country" thing. I don't know many other families that have them. Heck, our family reunion even elects a "President" and a "Secretary",  then they holds a "business" meeting. In the meeting they mostly talk about births, deaths, and marriages; but they still make sure that they keep records of all that information.

Friends Honeymoon

Sam and I have been together for almost 10 years and we have been luck enough to have gone on many vacations together. With that said, we have decided to invite some of our friends with us to our honeymoon. I know that may seem kind of crazy but hear me out...

Last year Sam and I went on a cruise with his family. They took us on the cruise as a graduation present, and that also happened to be the same vacation that we got engaged! While we were on the cruise, we kept talking about how much fun a cruise would be if we had friends with us.

We knew we wanted to do a cruise with friends, but planning a big group vacation can be difficult. Getting everyone schedules organized, getting everyone to agree on a place, and getting everyone to agree on a price/budget; doing all of this would take a lot of time, energy, and conversations to have all of it work out.

Sam and I knew we were going to have a honeymoon, but we really didn't have any place we wanted to go in mind. The idea of going on another cruise got brought up and we both liked the idea. However, as we realized last year, it would be a lot more fun if we had people come with... so the "Friends Honeymoon" trip was born.

Being that it is our honeymoon, we did all the plan and picking out what cruise we are going on. We did ask around to make sure people would be available and wanting to go, but past that we really just picked what we wanted. So we'll be going on a 5 night cruise to the "Western Caribbean".

There was a few things that sold us on this cruise; one being that it's on a really cool ship and the other being interesting ports-of-call. Sam and I went to Cozumel, Mexico last year on our cruise and it will be a fun place to explore with friends. Also we are already planning for our day in Belize to go on a shore excursions, which includes tubing through caves and waterfall lagoons.

What is great about this trip is that it's our honeymoon, so either our friends will make it work and come, or they won't. (But I know many of them will be coming.) We set up the trip through a travel agent so the collecting of money and other planning details can go through her. It's always nice when the stress of a trip can be put on someone else (who knows what they're doing). All I know is that, Sam and I have our deposit in and our room picked out; so we'll be going on our honeymoon no matter what.

If you ask me what the best part of our honeymoon is... its not immediately after the wedding. I never understood leaving right away to go on a honeymoon. There is so much stress when it comes to planning a wedding, that planning a big vacation at the same time just seems silly to me. Plus, we'll be getting married in October but we'll leave for the honeymoon during the winter. It will be so nice to go on a vacation and leave Chicago during the coldest time of the year.

I'm very excited about the "Friends Honeymoon" and it should be a great time.

Question: Would you prefer to go on your honeymoon right after the wedding? Or give yourself a buffer and go on a honeymoon a few months later?

Wedding Workout / Weight Loss

For the past few weeks Sam and I have started to getting into the habit of going to the gym a few times a week. Being that the wedding will be here before I know it; I'm finally trying to buckle down because it never hurts to lose a few pound before the big day. So off to the gym I went today.

Sam has set a goal to try lose 40 pounds before the wedding. Sam is a bigger guy all around, so if he works out really hard for the next 3 1/2 month, he may be able to make that goal.

As for me, I'm not sure if I really want to set a goal. If I lose a few pounds great, but if I don't I don't want to bet myself up about it. However, I realize that working out isn't just about losing weight, it's about giving myself a healthier body. So I happily went to the gym.

Before going into the gym... no one wants to see an after picture. It wouldn't be pretty.

However, even though I don't real want to set a weight loss goal (well not yet at least), I do want to try to be accountable for keeping up with my new gym routine. I plan on using the scale at my regular gym to keep track of any weight loss. So here the number that no girl ever wants to admit...

My weight today: 180.2 pounds

For as long as I can remember, my lowest weight was 140 pounds. I achieved this during my freshman year of college. I wanted to look hot for my boyfriend who was away at college. I guess it didn't matter too much because he's still with me even though I'm not as thin as I used to be.

Before that, I always weight around 150 pounds. I remember being that weight from 8th grade to senior year of high school (which means I was a cubby 8th grader and thin out as I grew taller in high school).

Once I went away to college is when I put on the extra pounds. Mac-cheese isn't the best food for ones waist line. Or pizza, or booze, or working at a banquet hall where you can eat all the time.

However, if I had to set a goal, I would be happy to be back at 150 pounds. I don't need to be model thin to be happy, I just want to feel healthier.  Do I think I can reach that goal by the wedding? No, but that's ok. My dress fits great right now, so anything I do lose will cause me to make an alteration to the dress.

When I did lose the 10 pound freshman year of college it took around 6 months to lose that weight. I didn't change my diet, just added exercise. So if I start watching what I eat more closely, I hope I can lose 10 pounds faster then I did before... but we'll see what happens.

Question: Do you think it's better to set a weight loss goal? Or is it better to just workout and see where the number falls?

Beautiful Weekend

Here in Chicago we have been blessed with another beautiful weather weekend! With the nice weather, I try to take full advantage of it while it's here.

You have to love a beautiful Friday, where you can be pool side and enjoy a nice cool glass of wine.

I love that one of my best friends has a nice pool that I can enjoy on a weekend like this. ( BTW- a glass door works great a mirror on a bright a sunny afternoon.)

Got to make sure I wear my strapless bathing suit top all summer because I really don't want to have tan lines in my wedding pictures. (You always have to think ahead on these types of things.)

I wasn't the only one who likes this weather... meet Pete!

My friend is dog sitting for the next few days, and Pete is one pool loving dog. To bad for him, he wasn't allow to join us. So he just sat on the side moping.

Sorry Pete. I don't make the rules- it's not my pool.

Yesterday (Saturday), I enjoyed spending the day with the soon-to-be in-law's extended family. It was one of Sam's little cousin's birthday yesterday, so I enjoyed some good food and a lot of wedding conversation. I can't believe it's only a few months away.

And there was that birthday cake... it was so good.

Note to self... get one of these cakes. I love me some strawberries and whip cream frosting.  SO TASTY!

Today, I'm having a nice lazy Sunday. I went to my mom's, did some laundry, and went to lunch with my mom and friend Cathy. Nothing too exciting, but that's the way to wined a weekend if you ask me.

I hope everyone has a great week! 

Wedding Shower Invites!

The shower invites are in! 

I'm excited because now I can send out my wedding invitations too! My soon-to-be mom in-law is asking her mom and aunt to address the invites; and she thought the shower ones needed to go out first. So once those are addressed, the wedding invites will be up next! So I hope to have them out by the end of the month. (You never want to rush your soon-to-be grandma and great aunt.)

I have to say Sam's mom did good on picking these invites. I really do like these a lot; especially when you compare them to what she originally got for the shower.

Ok before you think I'm just being mean- I'm all about DIY projects; HOWEVER my wedding colors are purple, black, and silver - not pink. After seeing a wedding almost every weekend for 8 years, I have grown to hate pink. If I ever have a girl, I'm going to keep the pink to a minimum.

The reason why Sam's mom even ordered the new invites is because she was having a lot of issues getting the invitations to print correctly on the house printer. I've seen this type of invitation before, and they work best if you print on clear labels and stick the labels on the invite. I told his mom this but she had already went ahead and order the purple ones. Oh well. :)

I do feel bad because she spent money on two sets of invitations. She even got "Thank You" notes to match the pink invites. (If anyone wants some pink wedding shower invites and thank you note- let me know. I bet I can get you a great deal!) However, I think she had a good old time at the "Wilton Tent Sale" where she found them at. Look at all the goodies she got for the wedding!

She picked up the flower girl basket, the aisle runner, and a 100 little tubs of bubbles! Plus some other small things, the pink invites & thank you notes, and rose pedals (?- those won't get used either) Thanks to his mom there are a few more things I can check off my list!


Question: How soon do you think you need to send out wedding/ show invitations? (I maybe on the late side but I pretty sure everyone who I want to come already knows the date.)

Holiday Weekend Recap

Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend. I have to say my was pretty uneventful, but it was nice.

What the 4th of July be without fireworks!

"Big" fireworks are outlawed in Illinois; however when you live close to the boarder of Indiana, they somehow make their way into many people's backyards. These were no exception to that rule!

I went with my friend Jen to her cousin's place to watch them shoot off their $1000+ stock of fireworks. I have to say, it was nice to have your own personal fireworks display.

This is my favorite picture! I was surprised how well the pictures turned out, but I did make sure I used my "Firework" setting.

I have to say I've had some great 4th of July's. You may remember my post about my first year after graduate school - where I enjoyed a float trip with my friends over the 4th of July.

Also one of my favorite things I ever got, I got on the 4th of July-

My Sam Cat!

This little guy is 13 years old. He getting old and sickly, but he'll always be "my" first pet. We have always had family pets, but this little guy is mine. And he's a big old mama's boy!

I hope everyone had a good holiday weekend!

Questions: What's your favorite holiday? Did you do anything special for the 4th?