I think there are some ice chips in hell

This morning and the lovely time of 9am (UGH!) my mom, MY DAD, and I met up at Lake View Pavilion for our final details meeting. And believe it or not, it went AMAZING! Everyone was agreeable. There was no yelling. It was a lot of "What would you like?" "oh that sounds good." "What ever you think is best." I think my parents were invaded by Pod People. ;)

The gift that brought me to tears.

My Godmother made me a memory quilt. She got pictures of Shawn and I when we were little, with important family members, and then pictures of us together. She also put our wedding and shower invitiations on it. All the buttons and bows are from outfits of mine when I was little (even one of my school uniforms). Some buttons are from old clothes of my grandmother (Nonna) who passed away.

I cried and cried and cried when I opened it.

Sorry it's so shiny. I really hate not having my good camera anymore.

We are Blessed

Today everyone surprised me and what I thought was Shawn's Dad's retirement party was actually my bridal shower. They almost pulled it off completely but I saw some of my girls heading into the restaurant. Not wanting to spoil it for my mom and my bridesmaids, Shawn and I held back and then went back to his truck for my jacket. What I didn't know was that everyone could see us through the front window of the restaurant (Beijing Duck in Braintree). When we headed back to the truck everyone thought we were leaving. LOL!!!!

We are trying blessed by how many people came to celebrate with us. And a bonus to that is that they wiped our registry clean!

Here are some pictures from our wonderful day.

My Craft Girls

Our cake with bling! (Wait until you see the wedding one!!)

Towel Cake made by Auntie Nancie

Gorgeous favor bags (with votive candles inside) made by my bridesmaid, Melissa

Me and my bridesmaids

What we were doing last thursday

I finally have pictures to post in my blog!

Here is a little sneak peak of what Shawn and I were doing last thursday (3/15). If you want to see them all let me know and I'll sent you the link. :)

I'm not overly thrilled with them but there are a couple I can use. I knew going into this that I was getting a REALLY good deal so I didn't expect fine art. There are a lot of pictures that I know we took but they must have been horrible b/c she didn't send them to me. I'm going to have to do some photo editing on these...big time!

First Gift!!!

Last night I was brushing Bazzill's teeth and Shawn yells, "What did you buy at Bed, Bath, and Beyond?" So I yell back, "I have no idea what bag you are looking at." Then he tells me that it's not a bag but that a box was just delivered to us. OMG!! I dropped Bazzill and ran to the front room. "Our first gift!!!!!!" I think Shawn was a little afraid at how loud I was yelling. He asked if we should wait to open it. HA!!! He's a funny guy sometimes. ;)
I opened it and finally found the card inside. It was from my cousin Jimmy and his family. They said that they were sorry that they couldn't be there. Hmmm, couldn't be where? The wedding invitations haven't gone out yet. ;) of course Murphy's Law, they bought us the breakfast griddle that Shawn registered for. Lucky duck! LOL!!!

YAY!!!!

My dress came in last week and I got to visit it and try it on Saturday. I was really nervous b/c I told them to order it I size smaller than what I was measuring at in November.
So we all held our breath as I put it on.....

It's too big!!!!!!! I can't believe it! I'm hoping it's even bigger when I go for my fittings in April. it means I lost over 2 inches in my waist since November.

It made it glaringly obvious that I have to work on my arms though. YUCKO!!!! Oh well, I can always get a shawl.
After the dress shop, my mom and I went to Natick/Framingham for some retail therapy. I got a couple of cute dresses for the events I have coming up and to take on the cruise.
I got the cutest pair of red sandals too. I can't find a picture of them. I guess I'll have to take my own later.

I take it all back

My future in laws came through. They called the travel agent and paid for the remaining balance on our honeymoon. I was really surprised. The deposit was still ours. So it ended up that we paid a third and they paid two thirds. Regardless, I am VERY grateful.
They didn't do it out of love or anything like that. They did it b/c the settlement they received was bigger than that thought but we are happy just the same. ;)
I guess I should get rid of the voo doo dolls in their image, huh? Nahhhhh! I bet they will come in handy again.

Too good to be true

I know I shouldn't trust them but I did and of course I'm paying for it. Well, we are paying for it. When Shawn's parents said they would pay for the remainder of the honeymoon I thought they meant it. In the scheme of things, what's remaining isn't all that much. We've already paid almost a 3rd of the total with the deposit.

I came home last night and Shawn told me that they called and said it was too much for them and that they could only give us XX amount. A difference of about $700. That's fine but don't tell someone TWO YEARS prior (in front of my whole family) that you are going to pay for our "Honeymoon". No! What you really meant was that you were going to pay TOWARDS our honeymoon.

Ok, so some would say, "Michelle, cut them a little slack. Shawn's dad isn't working now and is only getting disability payments." And I would totally agree with them if not for a few things.

1. They have known about this for 2.5 years. We didn't spring it on them nor did we ask for the $. They announced that they were doing this at our engagement party. 2.5 years is plenty of time to save this amount. We could have if we had know what was going to happen.

2. We saved them over $500 by convincing them to have the rehearsal dinner at their house. They were less than 24 hours away from putting a deposit on the function room. So they already had about $1000 budgeted for that.

3. And this is a good one - The are going on a cruise themselves in April. All 3 of them. Which I don't begrudge them. It's their money they should do what they want with it...just don't promise it to other people and then say, "Nah, changed my mind."

For what they are offering to give us we could have gone on a honeymoon to Cape Cod. LOL!!! Thank god we decided against the Mediteranean cruise. ;)

As I promised - here is the sweatshirt I had made. Really rethinking this b/c I don't want the same name as my MIL. (just kidding)

Ciao!

Crazy Good Weekend!

I can't believe how much stuff I got done this weekend!

-Received my cake topper in the mail - GORGEOUS (see below)

-Bought gifts for my readers

-added to my BM gifts

-finalized what FI is getting his GM's

-my mom FINALLY got her outfit for the wedding

-got my tiara

-brought my sweatshirt in to be embroidered only to be called an hour later that is was DONE!! Huge rave for Embroidme in Weymouth. (picture to come later)

-FIL's finalized the rehearsal dinner (with some persuasion from us). It's going to be in their gorgeous backyard, catered by our favorite restaurant in Quincy - Gennaro's.

- and the biggest one - FIL's said that they would pay for the remainder of our HM!!!! I thought I was going to faint. :) They promised this to us 2 years ago but never said anything when we told them we booked the cruise. This frees up so much money for us. I'm so excited I'm floating!!!

Ciao!

Do you forgive me?

I've been gone for a very long time. Christmas, New Years, My birthday etc. I'm a very bad blogger. I'm blogging today not b/c I have anything really profound to say but b/c I promised a few people I would start blogging again.

One thing did happen today (besides the cute card that Shawn spent all afternoon making me). I got my cake topper in the mail. it's GORGEOUS!!! Should I show you? What if you are going to my wedding? Then you won't be surprised? oh well, it will look much better that day anyway with the spotlight one it. I might as well post a crappy picture of it now.

In real life it's VERY sparkly and a light light pink. I LOVE IT!!!!

Ok, off to spend some time with my man on our last single Valentine's Day. Hope you have a great one!

Ciao

apparently I'm only funny in my own head

Back story - I've been on loan to another dept for 6 months and I'm due to return the second week of Jan to my original dept.

We got an email that one of the ladies in my dept (my real dept) rearranged all the mailboxes in alpha order. It was a big praise email. So I thought I'd be funny and reply that she will have to change them all again in May.
This started a big thing b/c people thought I wasn't coming back to the dept until May.
Hello people?!?! I'm getting married and my name will change! You ask me every day how the plans are going. This is not a new thing.

Oy!

What is wrong with people?!?!

Ginny called me last night b/c she had a question for me.

Apparently, my dad was at the mall shopping and saw someone that knows both my mom and dad. Dad was telling this person (Ginny wouldn't tell me who it was) how excited he was about the wedding and how his only job was to look pretty, be at the church, and walk me down the aisle. To which this person says to him, "I heard her mom is walking her down the aisle." He was crushed!

Who does that to a person?? Even if it was true, obviously my dad didn't know, why would you say it to him? For the record, I want both my parents to walk me down the aisle. I hadn't mentioned it to Dad yet b/c I didn't think he would think it was a bad thing (and neither did Ginny) I just haven't had a chance to talk to him face to face when it hasn't been a holiday. I didn't want to bring up wedding stuff when we were celebrating other things. It's not all about me. :)

I think I know who started the rumor. I hope I can get Dad to tell me who told him. Mom is LIVID.

People are a$$holes!

Holiday Craft Party

It was AMAZING! I am in total awe of these women. They completely and utterly amaze me. I can't believe I know these talented women, never mind the fact that they are my FRIENDS! This was honestly the best holiday party I've ever been to. And, I love every gift I received. I don't think I've ever said that before. There's always one gift a party that you receive that you look at with a crooked head and say something like, "oh, um, thanks so much. You REALLY shouldn't have." Not one of those in this bunch!

~Here are some pics. ~


Joy made us all gorgeous lighted table top trees/centerpieces.



Danielle made us delicious banana bread and muddy buddies (not pictured - currently being eaten by Shawn)

Marianne made us CD's with all kinds of holiday music. She asked us on the sly what our favorite holiday songs were and included them all. There are some great favorites and also some I've never heard before which is cool. (CD is in my car) She also handmade us all soap. I can't wait to use it!

Sharon found out our favorite colors and crocheted us beaded bracelets!

Tricia crocheted us pins/ornaments in the shape of a basket with objects of our craft inside. Mine has Scrapbook stuff.

Erin made us each a different thing and she made me a felted bag. I am SO excited to have a felted bag!

We are all already thinking of what we can make next year. I'm not sure this year can be topped though. ;)

Ciao!

Great morning!!!

I went for my WW weigh in this morning. I wasn't very optimistic.
I had gained last time and that was BEFORE the Thanksgiving treats.

I lost 4lbs!!!

So that makes up for my gain last time and a little more.

What I was working on

Sorry to keep you in suspense. Here are the rest of the pictures for what I was working on the other day. It's a Christmas planner. I like it yet I don't. I find that it's not very durable. The paper is pealing already and I've only used it a couple of times. The problem is putting it in and taking it out of my purse all the time. I might have to Mod Podge it.

The other thing I don't like is there there are no pockets. I'm going to make some or see if Sara Binders has some. I want to keep receipts in them.

A little peek...

of what I was up to tonight.

6 Months?!?!?!?!

Today marks exactly 6 months until the wedding.

I will not freak out.
I will not freak out.
I will not freak out.
I will not freak out.
I will not freak out.


I have all the big things done. It's the little detail things that are going to drive me crazy.
What's left:

invitations
finalizing florist
tuxes
Limo
shoes
Honeymoon (the cruise we want to take has dropped $300! Woo Hoo!)
Gifts for everyone
hair trial
cake testing
Mom's outfit
Finalize guest list

I'm sure there are more things but I'll just stress myself out to think about them. ;)


Ciao!
losing weight to fit into my dress

The right direction...

The scale that is. It's finally moving in the right direction. After a few weeks of .6 losses and .4 gains I had a great weigh-in this morning. I'm down 1.2!! It's not huge but I so needed it for my self esteem. Last week was really bad. The gain itself wasn't bad (.4) but what it did to my psyche was horrendous.
I know that all this working out and counting points is worth it b/c my pants are all too big now. But not seeing the scale move is a hard thing. Yeah, yeah, losing inches maybe not pounds blah blah blah. ;) To help me out in that area I had Shawn take my measurements last week and I will take new ones every couple of weeks to make sure I'm seeing progress there. I have to anyway b/c the seamstress said I had to lose and inch and a half off my waist in order to fit into the dress I ordered.

oh, and I hurt all over. I took a cardio kickboxing class last night and it cardio kicked my ASS. Unfortunately, I think I have to take it every week now b/c it was an amazing workout. Damn you, energetic Cardio Kickboxing Girl!!!



So it's a slow race but at least I running forward now. ;)


Ciao!

I have a dress!!!!!!!

I can't believe it! I actually bought my wedding dress. I LOVE it!!!! I never thought I'd pick a strapless. I really didn't think my mom would "let" me. She thinks I'm too big. Well, we realized that sometimes less is more. ;) I love the fact that it's modern yet timeless. I don't think (or hope) that someone is going to look at my dress and say, "Oh, you got married in 2007." It gives me a Cinderella feeling.
Now I have a lot of work to do. They let me order it in a size lower than what I measured at. Basically, I have to lose an inch and a half in my waist. The saleslady didn't have a problem with me ordering it smaller b/c I told her I was on Weight Watchers. She's also on WW. She was so cute. HAVE TO STAY ON PLAN!!!!

The best part of today was when my mom was writing out the check and she asked the saleswoman what day it was. October 28th. Well, that's my Nonna's birthday. I looked at my mom and my eyes welled up. I said, "How awesome is that?!?!?" My mom didn't think I'd remember. The saleslady thought we were nuts. LOL!!!
I feel really badly that my grandmother can't share this with us. But this makes us feel like maybe she is.

I'm trying to stay positive

I was down .6 this week at weigh in. This is after skipping last week, eating A LOT of junk (including Hooters wings and fries), and I have my period.
It's just really depressing when the people sitting around you lose 3.6, 4.8, 5.2.

I'm going to stay really strict this week and see how it goes. I was even going to cheat and have a steak and cheese sub tonight. I'm still going to have it but I'm going to work the rest of my daily points around it.

Tonight is the meeting with the florist. She was Andrea's florist too and we loved her flowers. I hope it goes well.


Ciao!