Paparazzi meeting

We have a meeting scheduled for this Sunday to meet a potential photographer. He was highly recommended (thank you to the recommender -- you know who you are), is reasonably priced, and I love his work...but! no other details until after the meeting. I don't want to jinx anything. Sadly my dad is not thrilled about this meeting because it's at 12:30pm. In Fredericksburg. And the Skins play at 1:00pm. I promised my dad we could go to lunch somewhere after the meeting with lots of TV's so that he could watch the game. He agreed to the plan. What a good Dad. :) Fingers crossed for a good photog. meeting...and another Skins win!

Wedding Slideshow

It pays to have blog stalkers. Or amazing friends and bridesmaids. My fabulous bridesmaid/best friend of over a decade, Sara Ross, admitted to following my blog last Friday. She said (and I quote) " i've become a daily watcher of your blog :) and i saw the note about the slide show...feel free to say no, but...I'd be happy to help." So now Sara is in charge of the slideshow, which totally rocks, and it is a HUGE weight off our shoulders. Not to mention she works in TV, so this is like second nature to her, and I am completely confident that she is going to make the most amazing slideshow, ever. How lucky am I?! Thank you, Sara, you are my hero! I love you forever...but you already knew that. :)

my slideshow aficionado!

Save the date update

Todd received a call from the magnet company that we purchased our save-the-date magnets from and, apparently, the picture we sent in...that took us 2 hours to decide on...out of the 9 billion pictures we have taken together...was too blurry and too dark. Which means we get to start the picture selection process over from the beginning. And if you know me, you know how horribly picky I am about pictures of myself. Oh well...maybe going through all the pictures again will help with the slideshow we want to make for the cocktail hour. Sheesh...there is SO much to do!! I need a nap! :)

Bonding experience

Today rounded out week 3 of boot camp. Thank goodness for my awesome MOH, Lori, because without her, I would never get my lazy buns to the gym.

This morning we walked over to the Energy Club bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and more than thrilled that it wasn't raining. At exactly 6:00am on the dot, a total of 5 people had shown up for week 3. That's 5...out of 15. So, the 5 of us jogged up to the basketball courts next to the weenie beenie (yes, you read that correctly!) and started a normal Thursday morning boot camp strength training rotation. (To their credit, 2 more people showed up so we ended up with a class of 7. But, that's still less than 50%.)

At the end of class, Ryan (trainer/instructor) had us all do partner stretches. As per the usual, just like anything in the past 10+ years of our lives that has required a partner, Lori and I naturally gravitated towards each other to be partners. The first two stretches were pretty normal, but the third stretch required one person to lay on their back, pull their knees up to their chest, and their partner would push on their feet, thus stretching the gluteal muscles (I know, I sound so work-out savvy). When it was my turn to lay on the ground and receive the stretch, I couldn't help but cracking up as I looked up at Lori. I said"so now we know what it would be like if I was giving birth and you were delivering the baby!" Yep...it was quite the bonding experience. Reason # 93,243,908,234 why Lori is my MOH.

P.S. we're only referring to her as MOH from now on because she's married so she can't be "maid of honor" but we decided that "matron of honor" just sounds to old. I love you, Lor :)

Lori, me and our moms - Lor's Bridal Shower, November 2007

Shout out to mis padres!

Just wanted to give a quick shout-out to the best parents in the whole world!

Not only are they paying for Todd and I to have the wedding of our dreams, but they are a true inspiration of love, devotion, and lasting marriage.

From matching plaid pants, a la their high school sweetheart days...to true best friends and companions after over 30 years of marriage.

Thank you, Mom & Dad. You are truly amazing, and we are forever grateful for all that you have done, and still do...not just for us...but for all of those who are important in your lives.

I love you!

Xoxo,

Sweet Melissa

Sore Chicken Wings

Que? What was that? Yeah, my chicken wings are sore.

Lori (MOH) and I have been doing boot camp twice a week from 6:00am-7:00am (oh yeah, love THAT wake-up call!) at our gym, The Energy Club. We just started week 3 yesterday and while most of yesterday's work out was 200 meter sprints, we did a little strength training of push-ups and pull-ups (not my forte). Today the part of my arms where shoulder and armpit meet, which I call my chicken wings, are incredibly sore. Good thing...since I signed up for boot camp to get my arse in gear to get in shape for the wedding. I don't feel as though I've seen any results yet, but if my chicken wings are sore and my ability to walk up and down stairs has been hindered by aching thighs, then it must be working, right?

Cheers to having small buns at a big wedding! At least, that's my plan...

Save-the-Date!

Last night my adorable kitchen-manager-fiance took Stef and I out to dinner at one of his GAR affiliates (Carlyle here in Shirlington...walking distance from my work and apartment). After dinner, with our pants unbuttoned due to the gluttony we par-took in, we all traipsed back to my apartment where Stef demanded we finally work on (and complete) our save-the-date's.

We had decided a while ago that we wanted to do magnets because frankly, they are less likely to be lost, thrown away, or misplaced. They can just be thrown on the refrigerator door and stared at day-in and day-out until the date being saved finally arrives.

We thought we would start by picking out a picture of ourselves and then pick out the magnet layout. Well...I recently uploaded all of the pictures on my digital camera to my computer and seeing as I NEVER delete pictures off my camera, I had about, oh, 6 or 7 months worth of pictures to upload. Needless to say, as we started going through the pictures, we were distracted by shots we either hadn't seen before, or hadn't seen in a loooong while. Todd came across all of his pictures from his trip to Cooperstown with the boys this past spring, and his men-only road trip from last October. He was completely enthralled with the pictures, and I'm pretty sure if he had time, would have started emailing them to his buddies... We both were getting severely off track from the save-the-dates. Fortunately Stef was there to get us both on track. Every time Todd opened another picture that did not have both of us in it, Stef in her i'm-not-cranky-yet-but-your-serious-A.D.D.-is-getting-me-there voice would ask "oh, is that going on your save the dates?" And we'd (kind of) get back to the task at hand. (PS: a big apology goes out to Stef for missing 90210 because of this adventure. We'll just watch it on DVR next week.)

Thank goodness for this girl!

Finally after almost 2 hours of working on a project that could have literally taken 15 minutes, we found a magnet lay-out that we loved, sent in a picture that was NOT in the group of 5 we had originally decided on, and Todd sent in the payment.

I should be receiving a proof via email in 1-2 days and the actual magnets should arrive in 2-3 weeks. I can't wait to see them! But, no sneak-peeks until they arrive. Just know that when you receive your magnet, you won't be surprised. And no, it does not have a big Michigan block M on it...much to Todd's chagrin...

My Save-The-Date Guru and adorable kitchen-manager-fiance/ultimate stud muffin. :)