Van the Man!

I just found out a couple days ago that Van Morrison is going to be playing in Hollywood, CA on April 21. He is one of my favorite singers! I just bought tickets for Mike and I to go! I'm soooooo excited! He doesn't play in the states that much. Sweeeet!

WooHoo!

So, I finally decided on my dress! I'm so happy that's over with now. It's been weighing on me since I started searching 2 months ago. It's one that I found when shopping with my mom and sister in Kansas City last month. Mom, Nicki, Kathy, Kate...it's the one I emailed you recently! Now I have to focus on the bridemaids dresses. If you are interested in seeing the dress, let me know, I'll email you the picture. Just don't show Mike!

Condo Update

Well, we finally got the call to set up our walk throughs for the condo. This place requires 2 walk throughs which I've never heard of before. Our first one is set in April and our final one is set for May 10! We'll get to move in 2-3 weeks after that day. We might be spending our vacation moving.
I think we are a little excited to move. We went by the condo last week when Mike's mom was in town so that she could see the place. Almost everybody there knows us, because we are always stopping by requesting to see our unit.

It's Mike's Birthday

Happy Birthday Mike!!
If you get a chance, give this birthday boy a birthday message. He's thinking he needs a new look for 29!

The Ideas

For those of you interested, mostly the women, I set up an album that has pictures of ideas that I have for the wedding. Photos include bouquets, decorations, more pictures of the Ranch, etc. I usually get a lot of ideas from women on The Knot. A website that I spend at least 2 hours a day on, sometimes more. I'm so addicted to looking at other bios, but that's how I come up with the wonderful ideas like this one shown here. If interested, click on 'Photo Album' link and look for the album 'Wedding Planning,' there's a picture of the wedding cake on the front page.
photo from FutureMrs.R. bio on The Knot

The Ringbearer and Flowergirl

The Ringbearer is Owen. He's my Godson. He is also the son of my maid of honor, Nicki. He'll be almost 2 for the wedding. The Flowergirl is Audrey. She is the daughter of one of my good friends from pharmacy school, Tim. She'll be 4 for the wedding. They are so cute that I had to post their pictures. We will be sure to have our videographer capture their walk down the aisle.

The Location

Here are some pictures from the Circle S Ranch.


The Country Inn - where we and family will be staying for the weekend.


This is the view from where the ceremony will take place.


This is part of the gravel path that leads down to the ceremony site.


The end of the path. Right past the stone pillars are 2-3 stairs that lead down to the site.
This probably the way the bridal party will walk down the aisle.


This is the site of the ceremony. Where I'm standing to take this picture is where we will have our "altar."
The stones are where those stairs are that I will be walking down.

The Cake

I found this cake online before I really had a theme or idea of what I wanted to do for our wedding. This cake became the center around everything I've done so far. My Save The Dates and Invitaions are decorated with fall leaves. A lot of the decorations at the reception will also include fall leaves and pumpkins. Instead of rose petals on the aisle at the ceremony, there will be leaves. They will be real if they still look nice, but most likely they will be silk or fabric leaves. Instead of my flower girl dropping petals, she'll be dropping leaves.
My color scheme is based on these colors also. Rust (or cinnamon), gold, ivory, orange, and yellow.
My cake will actually include square cakes with 3 tiers, not round like this cake. I'm hoping our "cake designer" can get the leaves to look this real. I'm a little worried about that as she said she would order the leaf molds and airbrush the leaves. I'm hoping she'll show me a sample beforehand. We ordered each tier to be a different flavor: white, marble, and almond.

The Honeymoon - Can't Wait!!

We are so excited! We just finished booking our honeymoon. We are going to Hawaii for 2 weeks. We are leaving to come back home after the wedding to repack our bags and leave for Hawaii Monday morning. We are spending our first week on Maui. We are staying at a condo that Mike's grandmother has as a time share in Kahului, Maui. Then, we'll fly to Oahu. We are staying at a beach house on the North Shore owned by Mike's uncle.
We ended up using credit card miles to pay for our flights, so we are going on a "free" honeymoon! We'll be broke after the wedding, so we had to find a way to have an inexpensive honeymoon. Its turning out pretty awesome so far!

Severe Weather Alert for Us!

...A MAJOR LATE WINTER STORM TAKING AIM AT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA...
A LARGE...COLD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL BE DEVELOPING OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST THIS WEEKEND. A STRONG POLAR JET STREAM WILL DEVELOP OVER THE EAST PACIFIC AS THE STORM DEEPENS...SENDING COLD AND UNSTABLE AIR INTO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BEGINNING ON FRIDAY... AND CONTINUING THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT.
It is supposed to rain all weekend and highs will only reach the low 50s and lows will be in the low 40s! Get out your parkas San Diegans, winter is showing it's face this weekend.
Funny how when I hear a winter weather watch, I'm thinking 5 feet of snow is on the way!

A Bridesmaid

Brittney is my younger sister and one of my bridesmaids. She doesn't like to wear dresses and isn't "girly", but she is willing to wear a dress for me for my wedding. I thought I was going to have to twist her arm, but she is not fussing what so ever about it!

Weekend of Vendor Shopping

We just got back from a weekend of vendor shopping in Kansas City. The agenda included finding a photographer, baker, and of course, THE dress. Saturday was a long day. We had a cake testing at Hyvee at 830am! Kerry was a very nice lady and the cake tasted very good. We are probably going with her for our cake. We met with 2 photographers. Mark was a nice guy and we loved his work. He seemed a little quiet though. The next appointment was with 2 photographers that work together. Maggie does the more traditional pictures and Jason does more candid (photojournalism) shots. I don't know, Maggie just rubbed me the wrong way. I'm sure she was asking normal questions, but I felt uncomfortable with some questions and they way she responded to my answers. One in particular was when I told her we wouldn't be seeing each other before the wedding. I guess some people take pictures before the ceremony and some photographers prefer this way. When I told her I didn't want to take the excitement away from Mike seeing me come down the aisle, she just rolled her eyes and said we'd come back to that later. Right then I decided I couldn't see myself enjoying her following me around all day. We decided to make some more appointments next time we go back to KC. We had another cake testing this morning with Julie. She was very nice and her cakes and ideas were very interesting. We just decided she was a little out of our budget.
I also went dress shopping with my mom and sister. I may have found the dress I will wear, but I think I still want to look around a little more to make sure.
So, what did we accomplish this weekend? Finding a baker!
Hopefully our next trip back in April will be more successful....

Surprise!

BIG NEWS!!! Theresa and I are discovering the joy of bringing new life into the world. That’s right…our plant sprouted a new leaf!!! I know it’s probably not the best timing with everything we have going on right now but honestly, we couldn’t be more excited. I think it looks like Theresa but she thinks it looks more like the original plant. Anyway, we haven’t settled on a name yet but we’re leaning towards “Leafy”. I’ll try to provide new pictures as he/she continues to grow but until then, wish us luck with the newest member of our growing family.