Double Secret Surprise Time!

In a couple weeks my mom is turning 60.  Crazy, huh?!  And get this, my sis is turning 40 this December!  Where does the time go?  Anyways, my dad wanted to throw a surprise party for my mom.  But when he approached the topic with my sister and I, we practically simultaneously said "Hell, no!".  Well, it was two separate phone calls that he made, so it wasn't simultaneous...but it would have been if we were together!  See, while my dad or my sis would love to have a surprise party thrown for them, they're the social types, my mom and I are the exact opposite.  The thought of a surprise party makes us crawl in our skin a little...okay, a lot.  Ugh, just thinking about the idea of a surprise party is making my stomach do somersaults!  Anyway, needing an alternate plan, my sister and I put our heads together...a dangerous thing.  But in this case, an awesome one!  And what we came up with might be the most perfect (for my mom) secret surprise EVER!  And, as with most surprises, it all starts with lies...

A couple weeks ago I planted the seed that Antoine will be out of town this weekend, visiting his best friend in L.A. (Lie #1).  So I said I was thinking about coming up for the weekend with the Cheese-man (Lie #2) and visiting, using a chance to visit my grandparents as my main reason for coming (Half-lie #1 - I will be visiting my grandparents but obviously mom's bday surprise is the main reason I'm coming).  What mom won't find out until I park my car in their driveway tonight is that instead of bringing Cheese, I'll have my sister in tow (Surprise #1)!  And instead of spending the weekend laying around not doing anything, my sis and I plan to kidnap my mom and take her to Cleveland for a girls weekend (Surprise #2)!  We've booked a hotel for Saturday night, thanks to Antoine's generous donation of hotel reward points (Surprise #3)!  And on Saturday, after we have breakfast with my grandparents, we're meeting up with my hlp, Amanda (Surprise #4) and going to David's Bridal so I can try on wedding dresses (Surprise #5 - a biggie, since that's one of the wedding related things that matters most to my mom...and one wedding thing that doesn't exactly thrill me)!  Oh, yeah, and my sis and I did my wedding flower dry-run last night, so we'll be taking my mom a bouquet (Surprise #6)!  Here's a sneak peak of the bouquet we're giving her...

I gotta say, the dry run went very smoothly and didn't take long at all!  And, as I expected, it consisted mostly of a lot of sister chit-chat!  I'm really looking forward to doing the actual flower arranging the day of with my sis, mom and Amanda!

Ok, where was I?  Oh!  We're taking mom to to Melt Bar and Grilled (Surprise #7 - what what!!).  And we're taking her on a little birthday shopping spree (Surprise #8) and to Lucky's Cafe for breakfast on Sunday (Surprise #9)!  Her head might literally exploded from all the awesome surprise-fun this weekend!

It should be a blast!  Hope you all have a great weekend, even if it's not filled with double secret birthday surprise shenanigans!

Weekend in Instagram

This past weekend was one of those where you don't do much because for most of it the weather is miserable, but you still have a great time doing relatively nothing.  Yeah, that was this weekend.  On Friday, I got out of work almost 2 hours early thanks to some leftover comp time.  So Antoine and I picked up a pizza from Dewey's and headed to Ault Park for a picnic.  Not only was the pizza awesome (I've been on a Ryan's Inferno kick lately...if you've never had it, I highly recommend it.  It's not really spicy, just really flavorful.  Also, we get it without the celery.) but the walk around the gardens was lovely.  Since we didn't have Cheese with us we were able to actually walk around the gardens (stupid no dogs allowed rule!).  Everything was starting to bloom, and even though there was a storm on the way the weather at that moment was gorgeous!

So, what's so special about the rose garden at Ault Park?  Well, that's where Antoine and I are getting married...in just a little over a year! 

 Right here, to be exact.

Tons of flowers were in bloom and it smelled amazing in the rose garden.

The rest of Friday night was pretty relaxed.  We went window shopping and ran some errands.  I know it sounds lame, but Friday night is the best time to go grocery shopping since no one is there.  

Saturday started off very slow.  Just a lot of laying around, not doing much.  But then we met up with my sis and brother-in-law downtown to take a cheese making class.  More specifics on that later.  All I'll say for right now is it was pretty fun and it was BYOB, so even if I hadn't learned how to make cheese I walked out of the class in a fantastically drunk mood!  After the class, A and I made a run to Party Source for supplies to make minty drinks (mint juleps and mojitos), because obviously I needed more alcohol in me, at 5 o'clock on a Saturday night, when I hadn't really eaten much that day.

 Then, while running to the Post Office, I proceeded to have a giggle fit and take a horrific amount of picture of me giggling...

 When we got home Antoine made turkey burgers and sweet potato fries and I whipped us up some drinks.  A raspberry mojito for me (above) and a mint julep with Maker's Mark (below) for Antoine.

 Please note: this is the same raspberry mojito, I only had one!  I do have some self-control.

 While eating dinner, the Cheese-man put on his usual beggar-face.  I caved and shared some watermelon with him.

On Sunday pretty much the only thing I did, besides watch season one and two of Portlandia for the second time, was attempt to do galaxy nails based on this tutorial I had found.  Not the best ever, but fairly decent for a first attempt.  I'll definitely give it another try sometime in the future, maybe try out so different colors.

Flowers on the Brain!

For some reason I've always known that I wanted to do my own flowers for my wedding.  It's no secret that I love flowers.  I love taking pictures of them; I love smelly them and admiring them.  I'm not so great at growing them, but luckily there's these things called wholesale flower superstores online that will ship you what you need, when you need it.  All you need are a couple of friends and family members and a moderate amount of supplies and BOOM...wedding flowers.  In reading A Practical Wedding, I've come to realize that DIY or DIT (do-it-together) isn't for everyone, and no one should attempt to DIY their whole wedding or even most of their wedding.  But instead you should DIT the aspects that seem like they'd be fun and you'd enjoy them, instead of the things that stress you out just thinking about.  And for me, DIT flowers seem like a fun activity for my bridesmaids, my mom, and I to do the day before the wedding.  I can totally picture us all hanging out in my sister's basement, with hot tea and snacks working on bouquets and small centerpieces.  Just thinking about it gives me the warm fuzzies.

And it's not surprising, that like most aspects of our future wedding (which is over a year away), I've (we've) got this ALL figured out.  I know the wholesale online flower mart that I plan to use, Blooms by the Box (an APW sponsor).  And I've pretty much settled on the flowers I want, and it's within our budget.

Purple lisianthus, lavender Cool Water roses, mini green hydrangeas, green hypericum, pink waxflowers, white peonies, light pink ranunculus, cream lisianthus, and purple larkspur (probably just for centerpieces).

And, at least for right now, I'm kind of liking the idea of wrapping the bouquets with twine or something kind of natural looking.  I don't really care for satin ribbon...it looks too formal to me.

For the centerpieces we've been collecting an assortment of small/medium sized glass jars from wherever we can find them (old mason jars, old peanut butter jars, etc).  We're planning on trying out this tutorial that uses Krylon Looking Glass spray paint to create faux mercury glass.  I think the purple/pink/green/white palette of the flowers will look very pretty against the silvery faux mercury glass.  Most of our tables at our reception will be two to four seaters, so small centerpieces that people can talk over are ideal.

So, that's the plan.  Any wise words or suggestions from people out there who've done their own flowers would be much appreciated!  Is there anything you wish you would have known before you started?  Things that I've learned through reading APW and Bloom by the Box's DIY Wedding Flowers e-book include:  1.) we will be doing all of this arranging the day before the wedding not the day of, 2.) I plan on asking our reception venue if we can store the centerpieces there the night before (actually, I'm going to see if they'll let us assemble the centerpieces upstairs the day before...after we've done the bouquets at home or at my sister's), 3.) Flower prep takes time, especially with wholesale flowers; different flowers needs different types of attention when you're unpacking them (that's why I opted out of tulips, because they can be temperamental), 4.) I do intend to do a dry run before the wedding.

Wedding Talk

It's been almost two and a half months since Antoine and I got engaged and there hasn't been nearly enough wedding talk on here.  Don't get me wrong, I have no intention of subjecting you delightful folks to inspiration boards and various other forms of wedding porn.  Because, that's just not my thing.  Weirdly enough, I went through a spurt way before we got engaged when that shit was my drug of choice.  But then, all of sudden I cooled the f#@k down and now I really could care less about that stuff.  Since I've been engaged I haven't bought a single wedding magazine, mainly because I'm not a magazine person.  But also because...meh.  And I really have no intention of ever buying one.  And as far as blogs go, I only read one wedding related blog and that's A Practical Wedding.  The most grounded and significant wedding/marriage blog EVER!  Or at least in my opinion. It talks about the important stuff, the stuff that goes beyond wedding favors and matching bridemaid's dresses.  You know, things like emotional connections, commitment, and not losing your sense of sense.  It's the shit, you should check it out.

When A and I got engaged we always thought we'd like a long engagement, for several reasons.  A long engagement gives you time to save up money and, for me in particular, save up vacation time for the honeymoon!  It gives you time to plan and decide on things without being in such a hurry.  My sister and brother-in-law had a long engagement, about as long as ours.  Michelle always told me she liked the extra time to plan, that she felt like she didn't have to rush.  I thought, "Sweet! That makes perfect sense!"  Only thing I forgot, my sister and I are totally different.  She's known to be indecisive.  Actually, her inability to make decisions is quite legendary.  Me, on the other hand, I like to make decisions at the drop of a hat.  I tend to go with my gut, and I tend not to second guess those gut reactions.  That's something Antoine and I have done throughout our relationship, even with the big decisions, and they've all worked out.  So, what's my point.  We're only 2 1/2 months into our 1 1/2 year long engagement...and we've pretty much got everything figured out.  And no, I'm not exaggerating...

Photographer:  CHECK!  One of my high school friends, who lives and shoots in Cleveland, has a agreed to photograph our wedding and do our engagement shots.  And it won't cost us nearly as much as most wedding photographers our there.  And bonus, I know her, she's super nice and talented, and will make us relative shy people feel super comfortable!

Guest list:  CHECK!  There was a some brief arguing about this, but we came to a good compromise and ended up with a nice, balanced guest list of about 50 people...the smallest we could get without seriously offending my parents and without leaving out some important people to us.  50 guests will keep it fairly intimate and hopefully not make me too uncomfortable...I have socially awkward tendencies when I'm in front of a group of 5 or more.

Ceremony:  All figured out!  We know exactly where we want to get hitched, it's within our budget, and since we've still got over a year to go it shouldn't be difficult to reserve!  More on that later...

Reception:  We've decided to have our reception at Arnold's Bar and Grill downtown.  Lucky for us, our date was free and everything sounds perfect.  As far as wedding receptions go, it's going to be relative inexpensive, cozy and laid back, just how we want it!  Since they've written us in their books and we're planning a meeting in October to discuss specifics, I think that might count as a CHECK!

Music for the ceremony:  CHECK!  My wonderfully talented cousin and her equally talented boyfriend have agreed to perform a couple of our favorite songs, songs that mean something to us as a couple, at the ceremony.  It won't be your traditional wedding processional, but that's what we like about it!  And we like that family is involved.

Invitations:  We found the perfect invites on Etsy, and what do you know, they are just the right price!   Another big decision made!  One that we happened to make one weekend afternoon, just after we got engaged.

Bridesmaids/Groomsmen:  CHECK!  This was obvious to us when we first got engaged.  We knew we didn't want a ton of people in our wedding party, just the select few that are super important to us and have meant something to our relationship.  For me, I knew without thinking, I wanted my best friend in the world, my hlp Amanda, and my dear sis standing up next to me on that important day!  And for Antoine, he knew he want his best bud Cory and his brother.  Easy as pie.

Bridesmaids dresses:  I've been in a wedding before, I've worn the traditional bridesmaid dress from David's Bridal...and then, after the wedding, I've donated it to Good Will because I obviously was never going to wear it again.  That's the nature of most bridemaids dresses...and it's not cool.  So I knew from the beginning that I wanted my bridesmaids to pick out their own dresses, dresses that didn't match each other and weren't from some bridal store.  Dresses that hopefully wouldn't cost them anywhere near $100 or more.  And most importantly, I wanted them to wear a dress that they would actually wear again...and not as some zombie bridesmaid Halloween costume!  I gave them a couple guidelines, knee length with a slightly vintagey feel, and gave them a color palate to work with...the rest is up to them. 

Officiant:  We've got a little idea in our heads that we think will be pretty perfect, but more on that later...

Cake:  Sure, wedding cakes are pretty, but that's about all they're good for...to look at!  I've never eaten a piece of wedding cake and said afterwards, "Oh my, that was absolutely delicious!" And I'm not a huge fan of cake, in general.  Antoine and I thought, "Who says we need to have a traditional wedding cake!?  We could care less about the whole cutting the cake and feeding each other thing!"  So, we decided to to change it up and go with something we know is delicious, something locally produced by people who know their stuff, and something that has warm fuzzy relationship memories tied to it.  When we thought about all these things two places popped into our heads...Dojo and Abby Girl Cupcakes.  These are our two favorite places to get a sweet treat in Cincinnati.  We're going to have a couple Dojo gelato cakes and a variety of our favorite Abby Girl Cupcakes.  The cupcakes will double as our favors, since we'll have single cupcake containers and enough for everyone to take one home!  So, yeah, that's pretty much another CHECK right there!

Flowers:  I've always kind of wanted to do my own flowers, for some reason.  I love flowers and I like being crafty, so the idea of sitting around with my bridesmaids and my mom the day before the wedding, putting together bouquets and tiny centerpieces sounds awesome to me.  After some research, I've decided to go with Blooms by the Box, and narrowed down the colors (lavendars, light greens, light pinks, creams and little pops of purple...think Larkspur) and a basic idea of the types.  So, I guess that's a CHECK!

Dress:  Umm, CHECK!  (Shh, don't tell my mom...I've promised to go dress shopping with her, because it's one of those things that's important to her.)  So, I've always had my eye on this one J. Crew dress, since forever, or at least the last couple of years.  So, when it went on sale just after we got engaged and had an additional limited-time extra discount on top of that and free shipping I jumped on it.  I had never tried it on before (or anything J. Crew for that matter), I totally guessed on the size, but I got it and I'm kind of in love with it!  It's going to need some alterations, mainly in the hem, but that's no big deal.  So, yeah, that's done!  And it only cost me $250...which is pretty cheap, as far as wedding dresses go.

Registry:  CHECK!  I get the point of registries, I do.  They make sense, some of the time.  But you gotta admit, they've become something of a wedding beast monster!  I mean, really, do you think someone is going to buy you that $600 flat screen tv?  Really!?  And for Antoine and I, who already have a house full of pretty much everything we need (a lot of it fairly new), it seems a little like a waste.  So, what we've opted to do is a relatively minimal Amazon registry with some of those things that we do need for the house (all of our selections being ones that offer free shipping or Super Saver shipping), and we also created a Honeymoon registry.   We opted to go with a homegrown honeymoon registry through my lovely sister, the travel agent, instead of one of those online honeymoon registries that charge fees to either the bride and groom or their guests.  And speaking of honeymoons...

Honeymoon:  CHECK!  It's pretty much planned.  Down to where we're are staying every night of the trip.  We'll be spending a little less than three weeks exploring all the awesomeness of the West Coast, from Seattle to L.A.  It is going to be magically, deliciously spectacular!!  I'm so excited!

To say things are coming along nicely might be a bit of an understatement.  And I know that things will not always go as smoothly as they have so far, I'm not a complete fool!  But so far, things are pretty peachy!  And I'm really digging the progress we've made!

One Month

It's officially been one month since Antoine proposed and I said "yes" and "but I'm sick and in my pajamas!"  I'm finally getting used to wearing a ring.  In fact, I would totally miss it now if I weren't wearing it.  Plus, it's pretty.  I still haven't quite mastered the use of "fiance" instead of "boyfriend"!  I usually have to correct myself mid-sentence.  But I assume that's par for the course.

As far as planning goes, it's been very laid back so far.  In the beginning I wanted to hold off beginning to plan right away, you know, so we could just bask in the fact that we're engaged!  And then when the planning began it was, for the most part, pretty fluid and easy.  We've already nailed down a fantastic photographer, a high school friend of mine.  We're pretty sure where we want to have the ceremony and where we want to have the reception.  What kind of cake(s) we'll be having.  We've found our invitations.  We have a pretty good idea of what our guest list will look like.  And I've got a good idea of what we're doing for flowers.  We've got our attendants...all four of them!  And they seemed to pleased as punch to celebrate our special day with us.  Oh, and we've set a date...May 26th, 2013.  So, we've got a year and four months to figure out the rest.  I'd say we're looking pretty good so far.

In the meantime, I just finished reading this fantastic book called A Practical Wedding that I'd suggest to any bride-to-be, or any woman who sees herself as a potential bride-to-be in the future.  There's also a pretty awesome blog to accompany it that goes by the same name.  It keeps you sane, tells you to ignore all that wedding porn and focus on the stuff that matters.  I dig it.

I'll keep you updated on the progress as we go along, hopefully the planning continues on this mellow yet exciting trajectory.  Fingers crossed.