A new project of sorts...

Yeah, yeah yeah. I've been gone. I won't make any excuses buuuuuut... I'm working on a new project.

I'll fill in the details and update on everything else we have been up to soon. :)

She is COMPLETE!

The last few weeks at DSIFQ can be summed up by 1 word: FENCE!

I promised Brian that he could write the recap post of building the thing because it was all him and his dad. The worked soooo hard, and it paid off bigtime. While they were doing that, I was taming the rest of the yard. We had weeds galore, and lots of trimming that had to happen. It rained a lot while we were on vacation, so when we got home, I had a lot to catch up on! And along with that I had to get the house back in tip-top shape before we start another busy school year.

Without breaking my promise, I'll leave you with a teaser before/after-ish of the fabulous transformation of our yard!

When we moved in.

Down with the old!

And Up with the New!

And no yard transformation is complete without a great group of people to share it with!

Our informal deadline for the fence was this past weekend... so we could celebrate Brian's birthday in style with the whole family! (And the dogs, obviously)

We're baaaack!

So we're back from the most amazing trip! We had a blast, and it's taken us a while to pick up the reigns again of regular life. I think in prepping for this I let some things slip through the cracks... I'm going to post a recap soon, but I'm just not ready yet.

Last weekend we went up north for an impromptu family reunion. It was great! I got to see my Aunt Laurie and Cousins Ciara and Christian for the first time in YEARS. Christian had no idea who I was... the last time I saw him he was about 2! We had a fabulous day out by the fire, it was so wonderful getting to see family and catch up in the most beautiful place on earth.

(We're the two on the far left)

I love you guys!

And the Awesomest Person Award Goes To....

I would like to take this opportunity to thank someone for impressing the hell out of me. My dear hubby, has begun a glorious transformation from apartment-dwelling gamer nerd, to functioning homeowner handyman gamer nerd! In the last couple weeks he has:

1. Fixed the broken Garbage Disposal
2. Identified the problem with our dryer (a dryer is supposed to DRY right?) located a replacement part and fixed it HIMSELF.
3. Found us a massive deal for our car insurance (I'll take that 50 extra dollars a month back THANK YOU!) saving us a boatload of money.

Wow. I'm so amazed, I've gotta step-up my grown-up game next to this guy!

A little Up-North is good for the soul!

So we trekked on up to my grandparent's house in Leelenau County this past weekend. I've been going there my whole life, and I never get tired of it. There's something about those clean woods, fox kits, and the waves that really does wonders for your state of mind. Also, seeing my totally amazing grandparents isn't too bad either! We spent lots of time around the fire, grandpa playing taps at sunset, and played games. Thanks G+G for a wonderful weekend at Windsong!

 

The backyard. See Lake Michigan out there?

Thinking thinking thinking...

So there's most definitely been a mini posting hiatus around here again, I forgot how many obligations we have this time of year! So many birthdays and events, and dinners this month... but there has been progress!

It's mostly been of the 'talking and decision making' variety. And it mostly involves a short wall designed to encompass a plot of land behind a domestic domicile.

But there has also been speculation as to what orbital sander I want... I've gotta redo those darn nightstands *grumble*.

I'm hoping to go pick one out tomorrow night, I can't go to the HD tonight because
MY SUPER-AWESOME DAD TURNS 50 TODAY!!!

Happy Birthday Dad! I <3 you!

Wedding Recap 4: The Reception

Well, I'd been holding out for our professional pictures before posting the wedding recap finale, but I still don't have them. So I guess you'll just have to put up with one more wedding post when they DO come in! For now, I'll take you through our reception.

After taking lots of glorious pictures around Ann Arbor we headed into the Michigan Union.

The Union is a gorgeous Art Deco style building (which worked great for our 20's/30's vintage look!) right in the heart of Ann Arbor. Those big windows on the second floor nearest the camera are where we were going to party the night away! We were in the Pendleton Room, which is a stunning little number that seats about 100. I personally like it better then the main ballroom as it's got great details and a fireplace at one end.

We decked it out in copper and cobalt blue, with accents of gold and orange. You could see the blue ceiling floods from the street which just added to the anticipation! But once you got inside, this is what you saw:

Well, that's what you saw if you were my awesome friend Samara and got there before the room filled with people! I'm glad she got this picture, because we didn't arrive until later.

Our short centerpieces. There were tall ones on some tables as well. Also check out my DIY table numbers!

While we were taking pictures our guests enjoyed drinks and hors d'oeuvres (shrimp tempura, bruchetta, and california rolls to name a few) and listened to Ron Newman play some gorgeous piano. Then we made our entrance! After the DJ announced us and our party into the room we went straight into our first dance. I thought it ended up running very smoothly, and I love our song (Call Off the Search by Katie Melua). I didn't even trip on myself!

I love this photo of my parents watching our first dance.

After that came dinner. London broil, asparagus, garlic russet potatoes... crap, I'm making myself hungry. So as dinner was finishing the party started! We did the father/daughter and mother/son dances. And we also included an anniversary dance:

"Anyone who's been married less then a day, less then a day go sit down..."

We did all the cheesy stuff, cut the cake, threw the bouquet, all of it. In the midst of the dancing my mom noticed some people who hadn't been there before... crashers! My dad grabbed one by the scruff of the neck and threw him out the door! His friends followed meekly behind... There was a big cheer and the party continued on. I actually think that's quite the compliment that people would want to crash our party!

Shortly after that, we must have been partying too hard because suddenly the music stopped! Instantly our friend Rick ran over to the (now vacant) piano and started playing chopsticks! It was hilarious, and the music came back on shortly thereafter. Apparently in their anger at getting tossed, our crashers got into the electric box outside and flipped the power off!

After the reception started winding down some of our friends accompanied us to Bar Louie, which is a really nice bar/lounge up the street a ways. We had a few more drinks and I chowed down in a most un-ladylike fashion on some french fries. There was actually a bachelorette party there and she came over and got a picture with me in my dress.

Then Brian and I went back to our beautiful hotel room and had some of the great champagne and strawberries my Grandparents ordered for us and PASSED OUT. Truly, we could not have hoped for a more amazing and perfect day. It's been almost 2 months now and I can't think of it without grinning like an idiot. I think our friends and family had fun too, and I'm so grateful that we were able to start our marriage off on such a happy note!

Wedding Recap 3: The Ceremony

I swear we're almost done with these... I have some fun stuff we did to our bathroom last week to post once I find my camera cord! For now though, lets continue the wedding recap before I forget everything that happened.

When Betty motioned for the girls to come upstairs I was so nervous! But we walked up the steps and got in line and I could see through the mullioned glass that everyone was seated in the church and it looked beautiful. I saw a few people sneak in late too at this point. But this is when everything became ok, I just wasn't nervous anymore! It's go time!

Here are some pictures of the gorgeous church taken by my oh-so-talented friend Samara:

Inside, and then outside:

The ceremony was short, sweet, and beautiful. And nothing went wrong. I'm sure we didn't step at all the right points, but I doubt you could tell.  Here is my dad walking me down the aisle:

The minister (who we LOVE btw) did a great piece. It was about your 'marriage box'. You can only get out of marriage what you put into it. It stuck with out guests as well because several people told me at the reception how much they liked that message. We lit our beautiful unity candle, and suddenly after only 20 or so short minutes he was pronouncing us married and I got to kiss my new husband!

Back out we go:

Then our parents and us stood near the door and had our receiving line. Brian and I laughed about it later because we both got skipped by a few people. Then we went back up to the alter to sign the license and take our family photos. Our photographer was the amazing Amanda Williams, and she is a goddess! She was so efficient! After those pictures we went to take our more fun/artsy shots with our wedding party while everyone else headed off to the cocktail hour.

We don't have our professional shots back yet, but she did send us a couple sneak peaks from the after-ceremony pictures! Midway through we had to take a time-out to take off my cathedral veil and bustle up my giant dress! Neither were easy tasks...

(I made my bolero, you like?)

I'm really excited to get the rest back. After that it was up to the reception, which we could see through the windows of the Michigan Union, was going to be awesome!

Wedding Prep Weekend Extravaganza!

So this weekend was crammed full of wedding prep! On Friday night my maid of honor came out and took me for mani-pedis! It was super super nice, even if we did almost get 'shanked' on our way out! It wasn't in the nicest part of town...

The next morning I had my second dress fitting, it went really well. The bustle is awesome and she's taking it in just a smidge more, so I'll have 1 more fitting before I'm all done.

After lunch my mom and I went to the salon for hair and makeup tests. They totally NAILED the look I was going for, I was thrilled. My mom still isn't satisfied with hers, so we're still figuring that out. Before we left they took my hair down and styled it down so that it would look fab and not ruin the surprise for my bachelorette party!

We had an absolute ball. We had a limo and went to dinner, a chocolate party, wine tasting and VIP'd at a club! I will never forget how awesome that was, I seriously have some of the best friends on the planet! The next day we went to breakfast, and then I went home to celebrate some family birthdays with surf 'n turf!

What a weekend, now it's back to regular life!

Happy Autumn Everyone!

So Labor Day has come and gone, and you know what that means? I can put up the fall stuff and nobody can give me a hard time about it! Such a wonderful time of year... I've already put up our fall wreath on the front door!

We did use every moment of the long weekend, let me break it down for you (because I know you're soooo excited about it)

Friday: Took an hour long walk around the neighborhood, then came back and made Noodle Meat Stuff (yuuuummm) and watched a movie.

Saturday: Brian had to work, so our friend Sanjeev and I went downtown and watched the opening football weekend craziness! I also went to the antique and thrift store downtown and found a few treasures that I will detail in a subsequent post. Then we came back home to watch the Wolverines thrash UConn. Fun was had by all.

Sunday: My family joined us at Brian's family's lake house! It was great to get everybody together, and we got to play around on the water, even though it was cold.

Monday: I geeked it up at the Michigan Renaissance Festival! I wore this dress:

It's my favorite :) And yup I made it cause I'm a huge dork. It rained and got very muddy, so hopefully I can fix that...

And last night my family got together for Brian's 25th birthday! He didn't know the entire horde would be there, so it was a very fun surprise.

So now hopefully life will return to normal (and I can get back on the healthy-eating bandwagon, yikes!) and I can keep moving on the piles of projects we have lying around!

Ahhh refreshing weekends are refreshing!

I know what you're thinking. The title to this post is soooo like, deep and stuff. Say what you want but it's true! Brian had to work every day this weekend but we still had a really really nice time. We made it a point to relax and just enjoy ourselves. This is practically the first time this summer we've done this, what with moving and the wedding it's been pretty nuts. Here follows what most would consider a boring play-by-play of said weekend:

~~~~~~

Friday night we relaxed at home with a pizza and "Hot Tub Time Machine" (review: amusing, but definitely not for everybody). Saturday while Brian was at work I went to the zoo with some friends (yaaaay animals!) and went to the mall. I dunno about anybody else but buying jeans sucks, and being successful at buying jeans is just about the best thing ever. Then we went to dinner with said same friends at Vinology.

Vinology Review:
This is a very 'cool' restaurant. Good times were had. HOWEVER, it's very very pricey. I think it would be the perfect place to stop in for a few drinks while out on the town, but we were there for dinner. And the menu of this place is so far up it's own ass that you can't tell what you're ordering through all the snob! I ended up just getting a dessert. So, fun, but probably won't be back soon.

Yesterday Brian worked while I worked on addressing more invitations. Then we went to the lake! It was just us and Matt (Brian's older brother) so it was super low key. I made burgers and corn on the cob. Then we tried some wake boarding. The guys were great of course. Me? yeah I was so good I'll be competing next weekend sucked. Granted it was my very first time trying this but I couldn't even stand up. Then I couldn't even get the board off my feet were so suctioned into the boots. It was embarrassing, but Brian assured me this is fairly normal for a first try. I'm determined to give it another go next time. For now, just imagine that this picture I found on the internet is me looking all cool:

It's Thursday?

I don't really have much to say today besides

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOTALLY AWESOME SISTER!!!

She's sixteen today, so everybody watch out and stay off the roads ;-) I'm going up to my parents tonight for dinner in celebration. Fun will be had. Oh, and that message is pink because she loves pink, I think her whole world is pink.

And since I'm here I thought I'd share a picture of my prison cell:

And those piles aren't NEARLY as organized as they were that first night. I am almost done though, hopefully I'll get my life back soon. Also, it's amusing and annoying how my handwriting sometimes is great, and other times these envelopes look like they were addressed by a drunk 5 year old.

Wait, what weekend?

We had a jam-packed weekend this time around! We were social Friday night, but then Saturday-Sunday Brian worked and I pounded away on wedding stuff pretty much the whole time!

It also included a fabulous trip home to my parents. My mom and I worked on wedding details for about 4 hours! It was tiring but awesome. It always feels good to get that much done. Then we had a nice dinner on the deck of pretty much all my favorite things: flank steak, baked potatoes, french cut green beans with almonds... yum. It all ended rather abruptly though when the dog ralphed under the table...

Here's a picture of said adorable ralpher:

Aww, isn't she an adorable 80 pounds of white fluff? BTW she's fine, she just ate something she shouldn't have.