Better Late than Never!

As I mentioned a month ago, I loved Jane's "home tour" and was inspired to do the same. Since this may be my last Christmas in this house, I wanted a way to remember every detail. So, I took tons of pictures and . . . somehow deleted ALL the pictures on our camera, including all the pictures from Christmas eve. Sigh. Luckily, I still had the Xmas decor up and it all worked out.

So, here is my little home tour (take 2!)

Celebrity Shoot-Out

I stayed home sick today and thought I'd catch up on a little blogging . . . over the weekend, we attended the 2nd annual Grand Kids Foundation Celebrity Shoot-Out. This is the education-based organization that Curtis Granderson started to help inner-city students in Michigan. Brook helped set the Foundation up. Friday night, we attended "An Evening with Curtis Granderson" at Andiamo's in Novi. Tickets included a wonderful dinner and improv show at Second City. Seriously, it was such a blast! We made some new friends, enjoyed a few cocktails and just relaxed. (Too bad I didn't bring my camera!)

The next day was the big game, which took place in Lake Orion. Luckily, one of my good friends (Val) from college, lives in Wixom, which was only 10 minutes from Andiamo. So, we stayed with Val, her husband TJ and son Ryan, which saved us hotel expense. Being around Val and TJ is like being around family, they just make you feel so at home. It was great to spend the weekend with them and catch up. And their 1 year-old son is so adorable!

We braved some awful weather and made it safely to Lake Orion for the game. The celebrity line-up included Kid Rock, Miss America, Lloyd Carr and Braylon Edwards to name a few. It was a very intimate affair, as they played in a high school gym, and they took a lot of time to sign autographs for the kids and pose for pictures. Again, I can't express how fun and relaxing this was for us! And it was for such a great cause. We would love to get a group of people together to go next year; so, if you are interested, please let us know.

Oh, I did end up with a souvenir from the weekend - a bum rear! I fell down a flight of steps at Val and TJ's on Saturday! Ugh. It was 7:30 in the morning and I woke up to use the bathroom and was going to go back to bed. Well, after going down the stairs on my rear, on my way to the bathroom, I (shockingly) was unable to go back to sleep. I think I seriously bruised my tail bone and sitting is not exactly very comfortable right now! I hope it gets better soon.

Here are some pics of us relaxing at Val and TJ's:

Now THIS I Can Do!

Over the last year, I have enjoyed getting to know my cousin's wife, Jill. At a family wedding last year, we found out that we work only a few miles from each other and have been meeting for lunch once a month. She is a wonderful woman and I really look forward to our lunches.

It just so happens that she is also a Creative Memories consultant. She had mentioned a few months ago that she would like to give us all the materials to preserve our memories from our wedding. When I hear "scrapbook" or anything that resembles the word, I get kinda nervous. I know how I am. I see other people's scrapbooks, like what Jane has done or my future sister-in-law, April, and I get great ideas, set some lofty goals and . . . don't finish it. For example, I thought it would be cool to make a scrapbook to have at our wedding for our guests to view. I bought the materials probably 6 months ago. I even finished a few pages. Guess where it is now? Under my bed, waiting to be finished.

Anyway, Jill came over tonight to show me what Creative Memories had to offer. We went through many of the traditional scrapbooks. I was thinking, 'OK, I can do this.' Then, she showed me (Drumroll, please!) this. It is called a Picfolio. Basically, it is like a normal photo album, but spruced up . . . each page has 5 slots for pictures, spots to journal or just accents. Now, this is my type of scrapbook! I am so excited to be able to preserve our memories using the Picfolio. What a great gift - thanks, Jill!

In Full Gear

Now that 2009 is upon us, we are in full wedding gear now and I am having a blast!

FLOWERS
Saturday, my mom and I picked out the flowers at Karmays. They did the flowers for my sister's wedding and did a great job. Since the main color of the wedding is Pool and we are doing a beach-themed reception, I decided to do pink and ivory (my dress is ivory) flowers, with a touch of blue. And since each bridesmaid picked her own dress (the one shown above is the one my sister - Hannah - chose) each bridesmaid is going to carry a different kind of flower, then my bouquet is a mixture of all of those! It somewhat represents the different personalities of the women and how each of them plays a different and important role in my life. So, the bridesmaids have blue hydrangeas, ivory roses and each has a different kind of pink flower. I tried to be very intentional when choosing the different flowers for each woman in the wedding and put a lot of thought into what each would like. I am excited to see how they all turn out! Brook, being a wonderful groom-to-be, showed up for about 10 minutes to give his "OK" on the boutonnieres. He thought my mom and I could handle the rest! :) After 3 hours, we had all the flowers for the CHURCH figured out, including wreathes for the doors, garland for the communion rails and a few other arrangements. Who knew picking out flowers took so long?

I went to Michaels last night, to pick up wedding bubbles and ended up spending most of my evening there. The store has a tropical flower section and I found a beautiful array of brightly colored orchids. So, half of the tables at the reception will have flowers in tower vases, with sand and shells at the base. The others will be . . . something that we haven't quite figured out yet! :) My mom found these cute candles that we are going to use. She also bought 3 HUGE (8'x12') beach-themed murals. They are so beautiful and I wish I could find them on-line, so I could show you!

CHURCH
Unless something crazy happens, the wedding ceremony is going to be at St. Mary's, in Jackson. It is a very pretty church, with a European cathedral feel. We are blessed to have so many Catholic churches in the area that opened their doors to us after the fire, even though we were not parishioners there.

OTHER EVENTS IN THE NEAR FUTURE
- We are meeting with the person making our cake on the 20th and our videographer on the 24th.

- Brook's mom and Aunt Vicki are throwing a shower for the Bisonet / Bildner side also on the 24th. The theme of the shower is a surprise and I can't wait to see what they have planned! One of my friends got married a few years ago and at her shower, she said, "I can't believe people buy us gifts just b/c we love each other." At the time, I admit to thinking it was a corny statement. Now, that I am getting married, I totally agree! It is humbling and almost makes me cry to think about how much people care for us.

- Besides the wedding planning, my family has a lot of exciting events in the next month . . . Hannah's 17th birthday is Monday, which is also the same day my brother graduates from college. I am so proud of him for completing his degree - 2 kids, a full-time job and night and weekend classes! I can't even imagine! And in early February, Veronica's and Jaime's babies are due. I can't wait to meet my nieces!

New Dress

Today, Brook and I went to David's Bridal so I could get another wedding dress. Why another dress, you ask? Wellllll, we are going to Italy on our honeymoon annndddd received a letter last week stating that we have tickets for a Papal Audience. You see, if newlyweds come to the Vatican within 2 months of their wedding, in their wedding attire and marriage certificate in hand, they receive a special blessing from the Holy Father. So, we wil be meeting Pope Benedict on Wednesday, April 29th (as long as he is in Rome)! I didn't want to lug my rather large wedding gown to Italy, so . . . Here is the new, much smaller, dress I purchased today. Luckily, David's Bridal was running their $99 gown sale; so, I got the gown for $99! It was funny to watch the faces of the people around me, since Brook was there. They were looking at me, whispering to each other. I heard one say, "The groom isn't supposed to see you." LOL. I wanted to tell them, "Don't worry, he hasn't seen my "real" dress yet." :)

Needless to say, we are SOOO excited about our honeymoon! This is a dream come true for me! We fly into Rome and then will be traveling to Assisi, Venice, Siena and . . . haven't decided yet over 10 days. We have had a lot of fun planning our trip. I am trying to figure out the public transportation over there. If you remember, from my Chicago blog, the unknown of mass transit makes me nervous. Haha. Thanks to the Rick Steves books, I am trying to become an expert before we get there. Brook, being the more relaxed person in this relationship, doesn't seem too worried. I am trying to learn from him. :)