knitting

Here's what I knitted for the boys from Christmas. A few "sock" poppets and a couple viking hats.
:)

Saturday

A few of my favorite pictures from my favorite day, (well almost, I think the day Steve proposed is my favorite day).

Friday

Friday, November 12 was the rehearsal dinner. Anna, Krista, Ann-Marie, and I started the day with manicures and lunch with Amy and Jack.

We stopped at Costco to pick-up dessert for dinner and flowers. We headed to church to build our own bouquets for the wedding.

The day of course ended with rehearsing for Saturday.

picture...

Just a couple of pictures while I catch up on everything.
:)

Married...

whee! I've been married for more than one week now and it can definitely only get better. I was sick Monday and Tuesday. Steve got sick Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I got sick Saturday, however Steve was better. Sunday was a different story... I was better, Steve was worse. Today we are both just trying to get through the day.

8 days.

8 days. 8 days. 8 days. WOW!

I can't believe it. It's coming so fast. I have a seating chart. It's not perfect but I think I have a seat for everyone. I need to print it out and compare it to my list. A little hard to do on my small computer screen. I just have a few details to finish for the reception. A few things for the kids coming. I need to print out the program for the ceremony. It's pretty much done just need to get to a printer. (If anyone wants to give me a new computer and printer, I would gladly take them.) Lastly I want to write a couple of lists to make sure that everything gets packed. I won't be home Friday or Saturday night. We are putting a last couple touches on our "get-away" plan. :)
whee! I can't wait.
I am on weather watch. Not that is makes that much of a difference but it would be nice to have a few outside pictures that day. It will be dark after the ceremony but that's ok.
According to weather.com, right now it will be - 51 degrees with a 30% chance for showers. That's not what I ordered but chances are it will change.

Cake Testing...

We went cake testing to two difference bakeries. We had two very different experiences. The first bakery had great cake but we took the cake home and to choose the decorations will work with the catering lady at the hotel. The second place was more what you think about when you think cake taste testing. We walked into a small conference room with a variety of sample cakes placed around the room. The lady assigned to us walked us through pictures as we picked and talked about how we would like the cake to look. Then brought out two plates. WOW! this is cake tasting. yum!

The first three rows are mousses for the middle of the cakes, then comes three jams and two custards, finally followed by the fruit/butter cream choices, white butter cream, chocolate butter cream, mocha butter cream, hazelnut butter cream, cream cheese butter cream, and lemon butter cream.

From the top of the plate is banana cake, devils food cake, chocolate chiffon. Directly below that is vanilla chiffon, yellow cake, and almond pound cake. The last row is carrot cake without raisins and red velvet.

We had a great time taking a little cake and a little bit of various middles. Oh the options we came up with were amazing. Steve's favorite was carrot cake with cream cheese butter cream. My favorite was a toss up between banana cake with white butter cream and devils food with raspberry jam and mocha butter cream. So we went with devils food and strawberry butter cream. :)

weather outlook

Past Weather for November 13
Here's a look at past weather in your area for the past three years.
Year Weather Hi/Lo (°F) Rain (in.) Details:

2009 Cloudy - Cloudy 56/39 - 0.00
2008 Cloudy/Wind - Cloudy/Wind 54/44 - 0.10
2007 Mostly Cloudy - Mostly Cloudy 60/37 - 0.00

16 days...

Things are really coming together well. It's great. I don't think I'm forgetting something but I feel like there should be something I'm forgetting so then I get a bit worried.
Table setting is the next big thing. There's needs to be 10 people per table, maybe a few with 8 plus a spot for the DJ and photographer.
I tried on my dress last week. It's a big snug... OK it's a bit tight. I guess I don't need to breath on my wedding day. ;) A wonderful neighbor is helping with the bustle. I'm still deciding about nylons or not. Still thinking about earrings. Discussed emergency kit and snacks with Mrs. Frisk last night. I also let her in on the "get away" secret. It's slowly not so much a secret because we've told a few people and it's becoming more and more but we can't do it without help. I'm so excited about it.
Steve and I met with the Priest on Tuesday. I think it will be a challenge to keep the service short and on schedule. We didn't leave a lot of breathing room for the wedding party with pictures after the service and getting to appetizers. We'll have some snacks at the church if people get hungry. No one will pass out from hunger. Always a good thing. :)
Rehearsal dinner is done. Sunday morning brunch sounds like it's coming together. Honeymoon plan is ready to spring into action. Whee! We've also gotten a few wedding presents already and have opened and enjoyed a few of them. *sigh* it's so much fun. Like Christmas coming early.
:) side note - only 58 days until Christmas... 16 days for Steve and me.

30 days...

Yesterday was one month. How fitting that I had my hairstyle tested. It was fun. I was warned that this was a "quick" test and the stylist only put "light" hairspray in my hair. you get the idea.
:)
I like the curls.

44 days

44 days
44 days
44 days

holy cow! what a week.
It started last week on Monday when everything I touched fell apart. Steve's computer died - at my hand, well not really but i turned it on to discover it was on it's last leg. My load of laundry was off balanced, the first time I've done that in Steve's washer. It didn't help that once i got the load finished I put it in the dryer and forgot to turn on the dryer. It kind of went downhill from there. Tuesday was slightly better. Wednesday (the day we were leaving for Stormy Lake) I tried to print some nice labels for the invitations. First I battled my parent's computer to finally win and get the addresses all ready on to print them. The printing begins and we discovered i bought the wrong labels. Then I couldn't find the right labels. After coming back from a long weekend at Stormy Lake, Steve and I sat down to stuff the invitation to discover we were 20 invitations short. We have the right number of envelopes and response cards but not invitations. Groan! First thing Tuesday morning I was trying to contact the company. They are not on early starting company. By 11:00 everything was resolved and apologized for with a promise that the 20 short invitations will be in the mail Wednesday. whew! This morning I was watching the news and saw a short clip about an increase in stamp prices. They said the announcement will be tomorrow but nothing about when the increase would take effect. Groan! Fortunately Ann-Marie did some quick Internet searching and we believe the new price goes into effect Jan. 2, 2011. whew! This is more stress than I want.
On another note we met with Paula, North Park's wedding coordinator, on Tuesday. She was full of helpful knowledge. I think Steve walked out rather overwhelmed. There were several small details he didn't even think about and they were swimming through his head. I did make a decision on the flowers and decorations for the church. Simple flowers and candles. I think the church will glow. Tuesday I also managed to fine the right labels for the right computer and got the labels printed.

Did I mention in the middle of the week last week I started thinking I should pick up yoga?

weather

According to Weather.com here's what the day could look like...

My Wedding

Location:	Chicago, IL (60625)
Date:	November 13, 2010 (61 days to go!)
Time:	4:30 PM
Sunset:	4:31 PM
Moon Phase:	First Quarter Typical Weather for November 13 Here are average weather conditions for the day of your wedding: Average High Temp:50°F Record High Temp:66°F (2007) Average Low Temp: 33°F Record Low Temp: 6°F (1986)

64 days...

wow! time is really flying by. Next week is a really busy week.

Monday meeting with Pastor Judy.
Tuesday meeting with Paula the wedding coordinator.
Wednesday taste testing at the reception hall.
Thursday meeting with Sharon the wonderful organist.
Friday - SLEEP!
Saturday cake testing in the morning and 4 year old birthday party in the afternoon. OK that's not wedding related but it's adding to the busyness of the week.

I'm still working on flowers. I have a couple of fun ideas for the decorations in the church. Simple but hopefully striking. Boutonnieres and corsages should be decided today or next week. Jewelry is in the works by two talented people. whee!

88 Miles An Hour...

88 days until the wedding.

So much is going on and yet so we are waiting for so much. Waiting for invitations. Collecting addresses. Next Monday we have an appointment with our Photographer. so excited. hopefully he will be just what we want. Mid-September bring our food tasting at the North Shore Holiday Inn on Touhy. Yeah! time to eat. Next week, we'll schedule our cake tasting too. YUM! this is definitely the best part. I guess that also means putting in extra time at the gym.

Other than thinking about food, I have flowers on my mind. Not only for the bouquets but also the boutonnieres, church, and the tables for the reception. The nice things about the reception is the flowers are included. I just have to tell them what I want. I talked last week with the lady at the Holiday Inn. She gave me an idea about centerpieces, colors, candles, vases. So many decisions. Here are a few of my inspirations:

144 days and counting

Ok. here's the bridesmaid dress. i didn't post it a couple weeks ago when they came in.
:)

145 days and counting....

Ok yesterday was 145 but yesterday we bought my wedding band. woowho!
:)

how exciting! we were at the AT&T store since my phone wasn't working, again. Steve said oh look there's a Jared's, want to stop? so we did. I tired on several but kept coming back to one about the same width as my engagement ring with 5 diamond chips in it. SO beautiful! Steve says if you like it let's buy it. yeah! It had to be re-sized to 7 3/4 . how weird. i have always been sized at 9 but she checked this size of my engagement ring and it's also a 7 3/4 and once it's over my knuckle it's the perfect fit... go figure. Steve tired on more rings than I did but didn't find "the one" for him. We'll keep looking.

150

150 days from today is our wedding.
:)

We signed a contract with the DJ. We're still waiting for the list from my mom. She was supposed to send it before they left for the lake... too late. We need to order the invitations soon. In the mean time we'll work on the wording for the invitation and start to plan an order for the ceremony, well the whole day.

169 days and counting...

The dresses are in. Got a message from David's Bridal saying the bridesmaids gown are in. Back out to Schaumburg.
:)

180 days...

Steve had Friday off. After running a few errands and changing the locks of the condo on me, he drove over to Tag's Bakery in Evanston. this is one of the bakery choices that the Skokie Holiday Inn works with for the wedding cakes. Steve walks in, while he's checking out the selection a lady comes up behind the counter and asks if he needs some help. Steve explains a little bit why he is there and the lady says, "oh i wish i knew you were coming. i literally would have baked you a cake."



Steve explained that he wasn't there for a cake testing, just checking out the selection and using it as an excuse to buy some sweets. He spends about 30 minutes chatting with the lady, who turns out to be one of the owners. Steve picks out a few things for us to taste and gets the phone number to arrange a cake testing for us in the next couple of weeks. This really is the best part so far. it's probably good that we only have two bakery to choose from, other wise I might not fit into my dress in six months. These were wonderful options that Steve picked out. Our favorite were the two totally chocolate looking ones. the most plain one, just covered in chocolate frosting had yellow cake and a smooth white layer. The other one with the piece of chocolate on top with the swirls and jimmies on the side had three smooth chocolate mouse type layers with chocolate cake. Steve had a much better, warmer experience at Tag's Bakery than I did at Rolf's Patisserie.

I went to Rolf's a few weeks ago at lunch time. First of all it was located next to the dreaded car dealership. That should have been the first clue. Next I walked into a very plain store, this is not a cute cafe bakery where you go to meet and eat goodies. This is a place where you call to order your cakes and goodies to be picked up. I was greeted by the only person in the place. I walked around for a minute checking out the selection. When i came upon the fun looking cakes, I asked what each of them contained. The lady spoke so quickly, I choose by looks since I didn't catch her fast explanation of each one. They were as yummy as they looked but were not cakes at all. We still enjoyed tasting them but I was turned off by the appearance and the reviews of the bakery. The cakes were good but the cake tasting experiences were not good, very cold and rushed.

I think it won't be hard to choose between the two for our wedding cake.

6

6 months to go. WOW! the time is really flying by.

200

200 days from today is our wedding. How fitting that I received a message that my dress is in. Yeah! how exciting. :) All of the big items are done.
Saturday Ann-Marie and I had a productive day of bridesmaid dress shopping. The nice thing about David's Bridal is they have every dress in every size. So you find a dress you like the style and fit, then pick a color. Most dresses come in as many as 40 colors but they don't have every color in every style. Ann-Marie and I grabbed a bunch of dresses in her size of various styles and headed to the fitting rooms. Ann-Marie tried on dresses, I asked questions, I took pictures, we looked at colors. I brought some flowers in colors that I want for my bouquet for inspiration. After trying on a few dresses another group of bridesmaids moved in to the area. They had a dress in the color I wanted. So Ann-Marie hung the dress over her head for a picture.

This is the color I want with the flowers.

This is the dress style that Ann-Marie and Anna will wear. I like the straps in the back.

I like how it comes with a wrap. Nice for November. It was interesting as Ann-Marie tried on dresses. She said I think I like the longer ones better. Me too! Another good point for a November wedding.
Now the little details and ordering the invitations will happen over the summer.