D-Day

The next 24 hrs may go down in history as the hardest day of my life.  Please pray for my strength to get through.

The Bagette

Every year my hometown has a women's golf tournament called "The Bagette".  My mom has been golfing in this tournament since the first one (about 18 years).  About 4 years ago she needed someone to fill in for the 4th spot on her team so I did it.  And no, I did not do it because I like to golf, or am remotely good at golfing.  (I've only golfed 4 times in my life with this year being the 5th)  I did it because it sounded like so much fun to spend the day with a bunch of fabulous woman having the time of our lives.  And that is exactly what we do....have the time of our lives!

Here is a look back at our Bagette days....(for some reason I don't have any pictures from 2009)

The Bagette is tomorrow and I can't wait!!!

In my opinion, it's disturbing

For the record....this is MY opinion.  I do not expect everyone/anyone to feel the same way as me!


I was reading a story today about a family of a newborn baby who are asking for donations of breastmilk after his mother died unexpectedly one week after giving birth.  Although my heart is broken for this new dad and sweet baby who will never know his mother, I just can't get past the fact that this father will be giving his baby breastmilk that came from complete strangers.

There are no laws or guidelines against doing this which seems utterly ridiculous to me.  How do you have any idea what your baby will be ingesting?  Who know's what kind of diseases or substances could be unknowingly/unintentionally passed on to this baby.

If a stranger on the street walked up to you and offered you their breastmilk for your baby, would you take it and give it to them?  Without knowing anything about them, their habits, their health, etc.

I think it is very kind of so many mothers to want to help, but I have to say, that for myself, I would never consider giving unscreened breastmilk to my baby.  Not that I have a baby...or have ever had a baby, but just sayin!

And as I stated above...This is MY opinion!!  And maybe if I were a mother I would feel differently?  I don't know.

blah

That's exactly how I feel lately....blahhh!!  I don't know what it is, but I can't seem to get out of this funk lately.

I am not happy with life right now and so I just try to get through each day the best I can.  I know it won't always be like this, but I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I feel like I don't have that "get away" place I so desperately need right now.  I am miserable at home, miserable at work and even miserable on my commute between home and work.

Calgon take me away!!!

A "NEW" ME....

Since the wedding I've been feeling very "blah" about myself.  I've gained about 7-8 lbs, my crows feet around my eyes seem to be getting worse, I've lost all signs of a once golden brown tan.  I never take the time to do my hair anymore and the closest thing to makeup that has touched my face the past couple of months has been vaseline and/or lip balm.

I decided that maybe a change in my hairstyle was just what I needed to give myself that extra boost of confidence.  It would make me excited and want to take the time to "get ready".

Unfortunately, the exact opposite has happened.  Not one person who has seen my new hairstyle (in real life, not in pictures) seems to like it.  I think my self confidence is worse now than it was before making the change.

Here is a picture of the husband and I a couple weeks ago.  I had recently gotten bangs cut thinking that a small change like that would do the trick.

My "bob" style cut I have had for years with added bangs

Here is the photo (from iPhone) just after leaving the salon

"NEW" Look

And this one was taken yesterday in my car (via iPhone)

Wow...my glasses never seemed SO big before...LOL

What do you think of the new "do"?  I'm trying to like it since it is SO easy to get ready, but I just don't think it's "me".  Looks like I'm officially growing my hair back out....

Life

Life has taken over....Let's just say so much has happened in the past couple weeks that there are days I can barely form words to speak.

To make a long story short, my husband is having some medical problems and it's scaring the living daylights out of me!!  I always knew in the back of my mind that there would come a day that my husbands spinal cord injury would cause him some issues.  I was thinking more like 30 years down the road, not less than 2 months after getting hitched!

The main problem at this point is that there are SO many different things going on, that the doctors can't pinpoint a diagnosis to fit all the symptoms.  Seriously people...it's been over 2 weeks of hospital visits and trips to the ER.  Can't someone please tell us what is going on?  The cat scan of his brain didn't show anything disturbing, we are meeting with a neurologist tomorrow, and driving to University of Michigan hospital on Monday to meet with some specialists and have an MRI done.

As much as I "don't" want them to find anything wrong, it would actually be nice at this point if they "did" find something wrong.  Then we would have some answers and be able to move forward.  At this point we are at a stand-still and in the meantime, my husband is not getting any better.  There are days where he is actually getting worse.

Please send your prayers our way because we could surely use them!

People are so Rude!!!

The image below is our DIY Photo Wall from our wedding.

I was contacted immediately after our wedding by a wedding planner about purchasing this from me.  Of course I agreed!  She also wants an inventory of all my other wedding items I'm willing to sell...Awesome!

I was recently approached by the wife of someone my husband and I know about renting it for a family reunion.  Since I haven't technically sold it yet, I didn't see the harm in letting someone else enjoy it.  Oh, if only I had known then what I know now!!

Yesterday was the family reunion so they came to my house to pick it up.  I helped them load it in the trailer and gave them specific directions that it needed to be laid flat in the trailer because it's top-heavy.  I even went as far as lending them a sheet to lay down in the trailer so the fabric wouldn't get dirty.

6 hrs later they pull up in front of my house with the photo wall basically in pieces!!  They tried to stand it upright in the trailer and the wind caught it and it flew out onto the pavement face down.  The legs on one side were broken off, one of the frames came right off, and the large antique frame in the center is broken into dozens of pieces and chipped all over.

I understand that accidents happen, but I specifically told them to LAY IT FLAT IN THE TRAILER!!!!  It's not so much that its broke, as I think I can probably come up with a way to fix it, but the fact that they were laughing about it!  They literally just kept laughing as if it was the funniest thing that's ever happened to them.  It's not so funny if you ask me!

And not that I would have taken any money from them, but maybe if they had OFFERED to give me some money to repair the damage I wouldn't be this pissed.

PEOPLE ARE SO RUDE!!!

Now I'm stuck with the following dilemma:  Do I put more $$ into the board to fix it in order to sell it to wedding planner?  I'm just not sure I will get my money back out of it.  Or, do I not sell it and just keep it for myself?  But, where am I going to store it?  It's huge.  Or, do I sell it damaged and consider it a loss either way?

Hurry, Hurry

I can't wait for this work day to be over with....the past couple weeks have been sooooo long!!  And then the weekends go by sooooo fast!

We've got  a lot on our plate for this weekend, but I'm still looking forward to time away from the office.

Tonight I'm hanging out with one of my best friends Lindsey...I love "girl" time!

BFF Lindsey singing me a song at my wedding

Have a great one!!

Life is Like a Roller Coaster

There has been an update in my earlier post.  My stepson will no longer be coming to live with us.  I can't get into the details here, but know that we are all crushed and heartbroken!  The past couple days have definitely been a roller coaster of emotions.

But, as my sister told me this morning "everything happens for a reason and if he is meant to live with us then it will happen".

Things are about to change.....

The husband and I made a HUGE family decision last night.  My 15 year old stepson is going to live with us full time.  This is something we've been throwing around for well over a year now, but the time just never seemed right.  Finally, all the pieces are falling into place.  This is going to require him starting off Highschool in a different school, but he is more than ready for a change and we (as parents) are more than ready to get him into a different environment.

I'm looking forward to this and know in my heart that this is the best thing for him.  Not to mention, this is a dream come true for my husband.

Summer Projects

We had a huge list of home improvements we wanted to accomplish this summer, but here it is almost the middle of August and very few items have been crossed off.

I don't think we anticipated the amount of time we would spend at my parents house getting ready for the wedding.  Our house definitely took a backseat on our priority list as we were prepping for the wedding.  But, as soon as the "I Do's" were said, we jumped right in.

In the last few weeks we have pulled out all of our landscaping from the front of our house.  And I use the term "landscaping" lightly as we pretty much just had a bunch of dead evergreens, a couple bushes and a lot of over-grown ivy plants.  So far we have been able to lay down mulch and have purchased a few plants that still need to be planted into the ground.  It may not be a finished product yet, but the changes are remarkable already.

The original "landscaping"

(not sure why this is sideways)  After we removed the "Landscaping"

We also cut down 5-6 trees from the backyard opening up our back corner.  We aren't sure what the previous owners used this corner for, but it was nothing but dirt, weeds, and a lot of buried garbage.  This was not a simple project as this area is almost 50 ft long by 30 ft wide.  It's a BIG area that needed a lot of work.  We managed to use the rest of the leftover mulch from the wedding in this area and oh, what a difference.  I also moved some of our hanging plants back there to add a little color.  It's not a finished product, but boy does it sure look better than when we started. (sorry I don't have any "before" pictures, but you should consider yourself lucky that you will never have that image stuck in your head)

Corner in the backyard

And finally, we decided that the front of the house needed a pop of color. We decided to paint our green shutters BLUE! We love it and the change is just what we were looking for. (see the green shutters in photo above)

Green Shutters have now become BLUE!!

Picture Overload

The wedding day was nothing short of amazing!  I've never smiled so hard in one day in my whole life.  I couldn't help myself.

I felt stunning and gorgeous, but most importantly I felt loved.  The entire wedding party radiated from the joy and excitement of the day.

I was on a high that lasted the entire weekend.  It was a dream come true to see all of our family and friends in one place.

It was a perfect wedding!  Literally, the best day of my life.  And to be honest, I wasn't shooting for perfection...it just happened that way!

I was making big, life-altering promises to the man I love and I was surrounded by the most important people in my life.

I danced like a mad woman and laughed and screamed with joy!

I'm so glad that that everybody came...I'm so glad that we didn't take on anymore DIY projects...I'm so glad I have such amazing women in my life...I'm so glad we composed our own ceremony and vows...

I'M SO GLAD WE DIDN'T ELOPE!!!

If I had known the wedding would be so amazing and that marriage would be this good, I would have had a MUCH shorter engagement.

To watch our families intertwine to a degree that they appeared as one made my heart melt.

Pro Pics

I received the link from our photographer to see ALL the pics she took of our wedding.  It took me about an hour to look at them all because of the sheer volume of pictures.  Well, that and I couldn't stop crying so I had to keep pausing the slideshow.  One word.....BEAUTIFUL!!

I can't wait to get the disc from her so I can start posting my favs. 

Warning:  I have a lot of favs!!

18 Days of Marriage

(I'm taking a small break in my wedding recaps while I patiently wait for our professional pictures to arrive.)

We've officially been married for 18 days.  In these 2-1/2 weeks as husband and wife I've learned a few things.

• Marriage is WAY better than I ever hoped and dreamed it would be.  The fact that every day you wake up and choose to love this person 'till death do us part' is an unbelievable feeling.

• Marriage is about growing together as much as it is about growing as an individual

• Marriage is about compromise.  I knew when I married Don that he would always be late, he's got a "truckers mouth" and he whole-heartedly believes that ketchup makes any food taste better.   I, on the other hand, will always arrive early, I will not touch raw meat, and I'm a sucker for bad reality television.  You find ways to make each others quirks work instead of trying to change each other into who you want them to be.  We knew who we married and love each other anyways.

• Getting a surprise text in the middle of the day from your husband is lovely.  It's great to know that someone is thinking about you, especially when it's your other half.

• And lastly....If you are a bride who chose to take your husband's name, it will take longer than 18 days before you get used to the change.  I see my new name show up on emails, mail, etc. and for a brief second I still wonder who this person is!

Wedding Recap - Rehearsal Dinner

As I stated in my first wedding recap, I loved the rehearsal dinner just as much as I loved the actual wedding.  I don't know if I've ever been so happy or smiled so much. 

The rehearsal dinner was a casual affair.  My fiance (errrr....husband) bought all the men Detroit Tiger shirts to wear and we served ballpark foods.  We had hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, pretzels, cheese and crackers and cookies.

The rehearsal itself went off without a hitch so we quickly headed straight for the food/drinks.  I can still hear all the laughter emulating throughout the tent from our family and friends.  I will never forget the moment that I stepped back and "took it all in".  I've never been in one place with so much love in the air.

Don and I smiled the night away as we drank, talked and toasted with our loved ones.

Everyone knows that the Rehearsal Dinner is where the real party starts....so here are some pictures from ours

Leaving the hotel heading to Rehearsal

Holding my "leaf" bouquet since we forgot to use the bouquet we made at the bridal shower

Matron of Honor - my sister Rachel with her "leaf" bouquet

Mom and Dad practicing the walk down the aisle

Dad shaking Don's hand and cracking a joke of some sort, I'm sure!

Nephew and Brother in Law cooking the food

Bridal Party

Bride & Groom

Detroit Tigers

It was a perfect, warm summer evening.  I had a great time and I know that all of our family and friends did too!

Happy Birthday Will

Happy "8th" Birthday to my nephew Will.  I love you!!

Wedding Recap #1

It's so funny because I've been following wedding blogs for almost 2 years now and after each bride got married I read their posts explaining how difficult they found it to start their wedding recaps.  I never quite understood why they were having a problem.  Start with the beginning and move forward...seemed pretty simple at the time.

And yet, here I am 13 days after my wedding and I don't have a clue how to begin putting into words the sheer magnitude of what took place and how I felt (and still feel).  So my apologies if my wedding recaps seem a little scattered, out of order, and filled with a ton of pictures.  I will also apologize right now for the sheer amount of posts that will soon follow.  There are SO many things I want to talk about (and so many pictures to post).

So, as I patiently wait for our professional pictures to come back, I will start with the days leading up to the wedding and will then move onto our rehearsal.

Our wedding took place outdoors at my mom and step dad's house so I spent nearly every waking hour in the weeks leading up to the wedding working in their yard.  And when I wasn't spreading mulch or laying down flooring under the tents I was finishing centerpieces and the other gazillion little details that needed to be done.

Besides all the "physical" work and the sore muscles I encountered, I would honestly say that the most difficult part of the entire process was when I finally had to open myself up to the idea that I needed help from family and friends in order to pull off this shindig.    It was terrifying planning this huge party by myself, but for some reason in my mind I found it "more" terrifying to have to ask for help in doing it.  And to my surprise, the moments in the days before the wedding where I recognized and accepted this as a necessity, will remain some of the most important and most memorable moments of the whole wedding process.

On the Friday before the wedding, my family, wedding party and close friends pulled together as a team.  We had people hanging paper lanterns, stringing lights, ironing the linens, setting up centerpieces, folding napkins, putting final touches on our photo wall, pulling weeds and blowing leaves, and so much more!  It was such beautiful chaos and it brings tears just thinking about it.

Centerpieces waiting to be distributed

200+ Paper lanterns

Brother in Law working on the photo wall

Grandma ironing the table linens

Best Friend Kevin blowing leaves off the "wedding aisle"

Bride to be with Mother in Law hanging Lanterns

As soon as everyone arrived and we started setting up and I could really see things coming together, it was as if someone waved a magic wand over me and all the pre-wedding anxiety was gone.  I absolutely, without a doubt, loved this day just as much as my actual wedding day.  Totally AMAZING!!!

New Look

My "free" background that I was using for this blog was going to expire after tomorrow, so today I tried messing around with other backgrounds.  After the first 15 minutes I had so royally screwed up my page that I was almost ready to delete the whole blog.  But, I couldn't figure out how to back it up first so that option failed.

Somehow I have gotten it back to "semi" normal, but there are still a few things I can't figure out.

• How do I change the font color of my Post Titles?  When I had the damask background my Titles were in Red, but now they are sort of an orange color and I don't know how to change it.
• How do I change the color of my HTML links?  It used to be that if I clicked on a link in a post or if I clicked on one of the 'blogs I follow" it would turn red to let me know what I had already looked at it.  Now they are turning like a grey color and I can't even see it.

I've tried googling these things for answers, but I can't even follow the instructions given.  I'm being instructed to click on my "dashboard" and then click on "layout" but I don't even have a button called "layout".  This is all so ridiculous!!

Ugh....I hate technology!  I'm surprised I've actually been able to figure out half the things I do on this blog!!

I'm Back...

Oh blog...how I've missed you!! So much has happened since my last post.

I spent 2 very busy weeks preparing my parents house for my wedding/rehearsal, I got married, went on my honeymoon and now trying to survive being back to reality.

I have many posts to come, but first I need to catch up at the office! Today is my first day back since July 6.

Mulch, Mulch and More Mulch

We've had to make some necessary changes to our wedding location (my parents house) over the last week due to the weather. It has rained more in the past 3 weeks than I remember getting all last summer combined. And as a result of the rain, the area where the reception is being held continues to flood causing major problems.

Instead of worrying about adding landscaping that is going to wash away or blow away in the next storm we just decided to have mulch brought in. My fiance is good friends with a family who owns their own mill and they produce and color the mulch to your specifications. We had them come over and measure how much mulch we would need to order and when he said 30 yards I had no idea what that meant.

I had no idea until the truck pulled up this morning and I saw him unloading this.....

I'm not even sure the pictures do it justice....let's just say THAT'S A LOT OF MULCH!!