Yea…WOW! I’m getting married tomorrow. It didn’t start to feel real till yesterday afternoon when I finished up wedding things. I woke up this morning at 5am with a nervous tummy ache as it is all feeling real today. Ryan’s family are all probably leaving Binghamton right now to drive up here for tonight’s rehearsal and rehearsal dinner at 6pm. I think that’s what’s making it feel like it’s happening. Knowing my family and his family are on their way today for our wedding. Crazy!!

I’m feeling so nervous right now. Not about the marriage..I have no doubts about that. I’m actually nervous about the details going as planned and worried I’m going to be a big cry baby and over emotional tomorrow and really don’t want to be! I am excited and can’t wait though. It has rained all week but it looks like the weather is going to break for tomorrow and be partly sunny and 74 which is perfect when you are wearing a tux and a huge heavy ballgown. Our city of Rochester turned 175 years old this year so they will also be doing a huge fireworks show tomorrow night at 10pm only a couple blocks from the hotel and we are supposed to be able to view them on the patio of our reception area..SO cool!

It has been a crazy year with an extremely hectic past week or two and an overwhelming current week. On top of finalizing all the wedding details I also had to put my 8 year old ferret to sleep on Sunday(6/28) because of her Insulinoma. I miss her like crazy! It was one of the hardest things (if not the hardest) I’ve ever had to do in my life…but I didn’t want her to suffer from the cancer and knew me saying goodbye to her wa sthe best thing for her. She fell asleep while I rubbed her little head. I love her so much..she’ll forever be in my heart. On Tuesday I saw the most beautiful huge rainbow appear over our house where it looked like the end disappeared in our backyard…I hope it was her rainbow bridge.

Well I’m signing off…I have to finish some odds and ends here at the house and then get ready for rehearsal! Next time I blog I’ll be a Mrs <3

Whoa..I can’t believe it’s only 20 days away. I’ve been planning the whole thing myself for almost a year and a half now and it is SO hard to believe that in just over 2 weeks I’ll be walking down the aisle. It doesn’t feel real yet! I’m having more and more moments lately (especially this month!) where something reminds me it’s almost here and I get overly emotional and teary just because everything is so hectic and starting to feel real. It still kind of just feels like we are just planning a huge party. I don’t think it’ll really hit me till rehearsal or I’m riding to the ceremony in the limo with my bridesmaids (probably a crying mess at that point..but GOOD crying!)

It’s mostly down to the little details now and making the final vendor payments over the next week or two. I just need to do paper details like menus, programs, table numbers place cards and favor tags (which sounds like a lot but since I do them for a living it shouldn’t be too long, especially since most are already designed). Then I just have to finish ringbearer pillows, flowergirl baskets, our toasting flutes and trim my veil. I’ve had two dress fittings and I love my dress more and more each time I go back and it fits me better. She even had to take the waist in more since I’ve managed to somehow get a little skinnier! 😀

This weekend we splurged a little and did some honeymoon shopping 🙂 We are going to the Outer banks North Carolina area for our honeymoon in mid July and we rented a house on the beach for a week. It will be my first time seeing the ocean and I am so excited! I got two new pairs of shorts, a snorkeling kit, body board, water shoes, a sandcastle kit for my first ever sand castle (SO dorky, I know) and ordered the cutest halter bikini from Pac Sun online today…. (Hmmn..I was going to post a pic but apparently it must be sold out now! Will post one when it gets here if I have a free minute or two!)

On another note, we had Applebees for dinner tonight and my stomach is not very happy. I shouldn’t have had all 3 cheeseburger sliders, fries and a queso dip and chips appetizer. I’m burping grossness. Ugh.

I also had a very hectic weekend because my maltese dog Zoe had issues Friday with her anal gland again and is on antibiotics with butt compresses twice a day and blue butt cleanser that makes her bum look like a smurf. She is just today finally returning to normal so I’m glad she is feeling better! She loved hanging out with us outside today playing with her new squishy frisbee while we gardened and played catch in the backyard together. We planted a bunch of perennials and some more veggies in our veggie garden…YUM!

That’s about it for now…I have a busy week ahead but will try to post again once more before I’m a Mrs! (BTW- The Haunting of Molly Hartley movie is awful. So stupid. Don’t waste your time renting it!)

Ugh..I think I’m reaching the point where I am just ready to walk down the aisle, enjoy the day and go back to normal. Don’t get me wrong – I’m extremely excited about getting married and our wedding…I just think I took too much on and am honestly just tired of all things wedding (and I still have a million and a half things I still need to do!). I’m actually scheduling final vendor appointments by e-mail as I type this blog..started my dress fittings last night and meet with my florist for a final time on Monday! I also still have to…

• Write vows
• Print and cut the menus
• Design, print and cut the ceremony programs
• Design, print and cut place cards and table numbers
• Finish sewing and stuffing the ringbearer pillows
• Sew my veil
• Decorate the baskets I bought for the flower girls
• Plan the ceremony
• Figure out favors
• Figure out must take photos and a must play/do-not play list
• Etch and embellish toasting glasses
• Buy groomsman gifts
• Make my hydrangea hair pins
• Tie ribbons on bubbles
• 1,000,456 final vendor meetings and dress fittings
• + a bunch of things I’m sure I’m forgetting!

People are making me mad by flaking out on even coming to the wedding too. Sure, it’s a holiday weekend and it’s in Rochester…but half (if not more!) of the declines I’m getting are from family who initially said they were “so excited” to come and they “couldn’t wait”, and they knew then when and where it was! I guess you see people’s true colors in situations like this. I was raised to know while sometimes you may not be ultra excited to dress up and drive out to whoevers shower or wedding..you do it if they are family. It’s just the adult thing to do. -Especially- if they have gone to all of your things. I have people declining with not even the etiquette to leave a little note to say sorry..and I’ve been to a few of their bridal showers, weddings AND baby showers. It’s unbelievably rude. To make a long story short we’ve invited over 175 people and are going to be lucky if 60 come. To meet the minimum cost we have to upgrade the hell out of everything (we don’t save money if we have less people..we HAVE to spend a certain amount regardless)..So we are probably goign to have a 5 hour open bar with top of the line liquors, a chocolate fountain AND an italian desserts table..on top of the 4 course dinner and wedding cake. Yep. People who come will be shown one hell of a party..the ones who don’t can suck my ass if they want me at their communions, weddings and showers in the future.

It probably doesn’t help that the most successful part of my business and work is wedding stationery items (place cards, table numbers, favor tags and thank you cards). I spent all afternoon cutting out 400 favor tags for one girl! I live and breathe and work all things wedding right now.

My shower is Sunday and I’m excited for that (amidst being peeved about people, urgh). My mom has been working so hard on it and is so excited too. She’s having it at her house and I’m looking forward to seeing some friends I haven’t seen in a longgg time. I’m hoping I don’t go all cry baby that day. I’m an extremely sensitive, cry at the drop of a hat kind of person as it is..but now with feeling stressed and burned out lately and the big day only a month and ahalf away (almost 50 days!) I am realllly emotional. Lots of waterproof makeup for me I guess.

Once the weddings over we have our honeymoon in Outerbanks NC where we rented our own house on the beach for a week..so I’m very excited to see the ocean for the first time and finally just relax for the first time in awhile. Then I can return to normal life (still continuing my design/wedding business of course) and maybe at the end of the year start trying to have a family?:)

BTW – Random Lilly Fact (or RLF): I have a water bottle I carry around on weekdays in attempt to get the daily amount of water I’m supposed to have every day to help me look skinny for the wedding. When I fill my bottle I prefer to fill it in the upstairs bathroom. It just tastes better than the water in the kitchen. thend.

I hate my yearly gyno appointment. I mean..let’s face it, no matter what it’s always awkward and uncomfy. I can’t keep getting my seasonale prescrip without my yearly pap though so I deal. Anyways, this morning was my yearly appointment and somehow it managed to be even more awkward than usual!

So I’m stripped nude in a little paper gown and sitting on the exam table waiting for my doctor come in and I hear the beeping of a large truck backing up. Ok..there’s window there, parking lot underneath. It must be a delivery truck, garbage truck…right? No big deal. WRONG. It’s three grubby looking dudes on a lift truck and parking right below my exam window!!! They are setting up to go up on the lift right outside my exam room and the blinds aren’t closed..and I don’t see any way of closing them!  There was no way I was going to stay on that exam table with my booty hanging out of the back of my gown so I hopped down and sat on my pile of clothes on another chair in the room to wait for my doctor. When she came in I explained and she had no idea what they were doing, apoligized and closed the blinds…Hopped back on the table n the lift goes up n he guys are standing right outside my window now! Thankfully she basically said screw this and said she was moving me to another room with NO windows cause it was uncomfy and weird.

I don’t know if a gyno visit will ever be  so very awkward.. I really, really..hope not. theend.

Sorry I haven’t been around much! Things have been getting more and more hectic lately as we get closer to the wedding, especially with my design business finally really taking off. I had my biggest week yet last week with sales (and my busiest too, obviously!), so I haven’t had much time to just sit down and blog till now.

Nothing is really to new here since I have been so busy with working..(When you work from home you also never leave work!). My mom is coming out to visit tomorrow and we plan on taking the wedding invites out to the post office and also running to the mall to pick up a couple gifties for Ry’s b-day next week. I can’t believe the wedding invites leave my hands tomorrow..crazy! Am so excited 😀 Mom sent the shower invites out last week and actually got the first rsvp (yes!) today..weee! Time is flying by super fast…I think today is 88 days until the wedding! I remember it feeling like it was a long time to go when I got engaged 1/1/08 and now I’m in the very last couple months. Things are only going to get more hectic with vendor meetings and the like but I couldn’t be happier! I also have a baby shower for my friend Jessi in the beginning of May and I am super excited to see friends I haven’t seen since high school. Crazy to know my friends are getting married and having babies when it feels like we just accepted our high school diplomas! Now I’ll be married in a couple months and maybe start planning for babies of my own in the next year!

I go into Buffalo for Easter this year for dinner at my mom’s. If I don’t get a chance to blog before then (and I probably won’t!) I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter if you celebrate 🙂

I’ll leave u with some zoe hair cut pics..(Zoe won’t let anyone cut her furs but me..so she gets “mommy cuts”)

Before:

After:

Another Friday Five!

It’s the “stranded on a desert island” question! You can only take one thing from each category. What is it and why are you taking it?

1. A food that can be planted and regrown. – Potatoes, definitely potatoes!
2. A person you haven’t seen in a long time.  – Childhood friend Allison..it has been forever!
3. A book you (were) read as a child. – Shel Silverstein where the sidewalk ends
4. A celebrity. – Jolie.. because I love her. <3
5. The entire episode run of a television show (it’s a very nice desert island). – Buffy the Vampire Slayer..Love the series plus there are tons of seasons to watch! 😀

——-

Well there’s the Friday Five! I’ve been slacking lately because I’ve been swamped with work and wedding stuff (almost done putting together my diy invites!). I’ll be so glad when the invites leave my hands in a few weeks and I can stalk my mailbox for rsvps. It’s such a huge diy project it will be great when I can check them off my list!

I’m heading out to Buffalo tonight to have a fish fry dinner at the place my mom waitresses so I am pretty excited to visit my family. I am going to try and spend some time with my dad if he isn’t busy before heading to dinner..and I -think- my brother might be joining us for dinner. He is so busy with school it will be nice to sit down with him too for a bit! He just got accepted into UB’s  pre-physical therapy program and I’m so proud of him..He’s actually considering furthering his education now beyond being a physial therapist and maybe going to med school..crazy! My little bro a doctor of some time..Where does time go?

Well, I neeeed to get going so I can fit in my run and a bath this morning so my hair is dry before tonight for visiting.. I air dry my hair because I just don’t really like hair dryers so my hair takes hours to dry, especially since I have grown my hair long for the wedding and it’s almost halfway down my back now..(I need a trim!).. xoxoxoxo

I can’t believe my wedding is exactly 4 months from today! It seems like I was just announcing getting engaged over a year ago and now I’m starting to close in on the final stretch. Things are just now starting to get hectic as I begin gathering everyones names and addresses for the invites that go out next month. I am making each invite myself (pocketfold with inserts, see my flickr gallery in the right sidebar for a rough!), so I really need to buckle down and start printing and cutting out all the parts for assembly. I also have a bunch of diy projects I planned to do and need to get started on – painting an aisle runner, making ring bearer pillows, customizing champagne flutes, menus, ceremony programs, tying ribbons on bubbles (bubbles ordered today!!), table numbers..place cards.. I could probably go on a lot longer but I’m sure I’ve bored you enough with the details!

Stress has subsided a bit so I have allowed myself to start enjoying the planning. Getting excited about sending out my invites and stalking the mailbox for RSVPs..and excited to see all my friends and family at my upcoming bridal showers. I can’t believe it’s all happening so fast! It still has’t quite hit me yet…I don’t think it will till I’m putting my dress on the morning of!

We had our food tasting at our venue a week and a half ago and it was ammmaaazing. The food was so delicious! I am so happy our guests will be fed such yummy dishes and will no doubt leave our reception happy and full. We got to try a few different dishes and sides and decided on 4 options for the guests – a beef option, a chicken option, a fish option and a veggie option. The beef is a prime rib which is basically the default beef choice so we didn’t get to try it but I’m sure it will be good! We did however get to try our chicken and fish choices and both were fantastic! We decided on a Parmesan Encrusted Chicken with a Cranberry Orange Sauce, which may sound a little different but it is ina  good way! Probably the best chicken I’ve ever had out to eat..ever. The fish we decided on is a baked salmon with a champagne lobster cream sauce which was also really delicious! In the past when I had salmon I wasn’t a fan – I just wasn’t feeling it. I did however love the salmon at our tasting! Between the dinner and cake..as amazingly tasty as they were at the tastings..I think everyone will be very happy! 😀

Well I’m off to bed! I’ve been very busy lately with my wedding planning stuff and working..I’m exhausted! *snore*

Sea World recently started a new blog all about dolphins called Dolphin Bubbles..It’s a really cute, informative blog where you can interact with others and learn all about them. There’s a really cool video they captured and share on the blog of a dolphin blowing underwater bubbles..It’s really beautiful and impressive! I’m dying to go to Sea World and experience the dolphins there in person…Hopefully someday! Check out their Dolphin Bubbles blog here…. 🙂

The blog reminds me of when I went to Marine Land both with Ry and his parents and then just Ry and I and I got to feed a Beluga Whale and then an Orca. It’s so amazing to be up close with these huge animals, and the ones I interacted with were total sweethearts! Here are some old school shots (2004) of me feeding their orca Hedstrom…

Hopefully I’ll get to feed a dolphin someday too…and visit Sea World!

Isn’t it funny how you can be in the most random place, smell something familiar and have it trigger a flashback of childhood and times long gone? Or how a smell will immediately think of one thing, good or bad..just because of how you were brought up?

I can’t help but think about how special it is, how our brains work..to lock in these smells to memory to trigger things special (or not so special..) to you. Why am I on this topic? I don’t know really..I have lit a lilac candle in our den the past few days and each night I blow it out as to not burn the house down while we sleep. I’ll leave to do a few of my night time to do’s and come back into the den to smell the scent of a candle blown out and can’t help but immediately think of childhood and blowing out the candles on my birthday cake. Each year around thanksgiving I’d have a birthday party where all my friends from school would come celebrate with me, usually at Major Magic’s, Chuckie Cheese or the local bowling alley. Each party my parents let me pick out a double layer half sheet cake with buttercream frosting (usually chocolate cake with strawberry filling!). It was always decorated with little scenes and figurines of what I liked at the time..Winnie the Pooh, Barbie..you know what I mean 🙂 I was always so excited blowing out those candles on my special cake..and each time I smell the smell of a candle gone out I can’t help but feel a little warm and tingly inside, no matter what my mood is at the time.

This has happened before too with smells that just randomly come out of nowhere at remind me of someone I love who has passed on. I remember in 02 or 03 I was in Quality Market food shopping on main Street in Williamsville and happened upon a spot in the store that succinctly smelled like my Aunt Lynne had just been standing there. She passed away when I was 13..I was locked in that spot in the middle of the freezer section just taking it in for a moment, while it was there..remembering how when I smelt that specific smell in the past she was there with me. This has happened on and off again over the years..Whenever I smell someone smoking a pipe I’m immediately taken back to sitting with my Great Grandpa Charlie who always sat at the kitchen table with a pipe, smoking and telling us stories of his childhood in Germany. Another time more recently (probably about 3 years ago) I went into Atlanta Mills Bread Company and immediately thought of my grandpa Joe who died in 2004. He was in the coffee business, supplying commercial coffee makers and coffee to local businesses and his house always had this specific coffee aroma whenever we visited. Well that smell seems to be locked in the doorway of Atlanta Mills..at least whenever I visited there in Buffalo.

I wish there was a way of bottling up these scents. When you’re having a hard day it’d be nice to sit down and reminisce about the people I loved so very much and feel like they are in the room with me…

I wonder what other smells will become locked into my memories as I continue on in life..I can’t wait to find out 🙂

So how about you? Are there certain smells that make you warm and tingly? Smells that remind you of a loved one? Don’t be shy..comment away! I’d love to hear.. 🙂

So I’m having a stressful week and I’m exhausted..It led to my diet basically going out the window (along with the exercise!). Yesterday I ate my leftover baked mac and cheese for lunch and had a can of soup for dinner..Ok well, that’s not bad I guess..I was too stressed and overwhelmed to have much of an appetite! Today I didn’t feel up to working out (went back to bed instead!), had burnt toast and peanut butter for breakfast…bulk candy gummies and sour cream cheddar chips for lunch. Then, Ry made me one of his delicious omelettes with cheese and bacon for dinner. I made him put in the 2% cheddar at least? To top it off I ate two of my chocolates from a box of chocolates I got from Ry for V-day..Ok I guess it wasn’t that bad with my stress fasting yesterday, but I always feel guilty when I miss a workout. I hope everything that has been bothering me this week clears itself up within the next couple weeks so I can get back on track for the wedding.

Our wedding tasting and one of the main big wedding planning meetings with our venue is Saturday, I just hope I feel emotionally up to going and enjoying it! Cross your fingers for me!