Tuesday, November 30, 2010

one month away?!

**I just realized that blogger deleted the last two readings (or I did, oops) so I readded them - make sure to check 'em out!**

we're officially one month away from the big [wedding!] day and I'm happy to say I feel like we have it under control...


we've booked and paid for the band, dj and photographer. we've picked out our rentals (linens, flatware, china, etc), set the menu, ordered the alcohol and have started putting together the centerpieces... CRAZY!


Also, we've gotten the majority of RSVPS (only missing 30) and pretty much everyone has their travel and lodging booked and planned! Thank you friends for being on top of it...


So, I figured I'd start sharing some of the wedding planning details with all of you over the next few weeks (which will also remind me what I haven't gotten done yet, oops). This past weekend DJ and I finally sat down and went over the ceremony script - his brothers are officiating the ceremony - since we're already married, it's more just for the sentiment and to share the moment again with family and friends.  We went with a pretty straightforward non-secular ceremony with the only religous aspect the breaking of the glass (DJ's mom got us a beautiful glass piece to break which we'll put in a mezuzah she also got us)... we also have some of our close friends doing readings so we also sat down and went through a LOT of readings to find three that we think fit us and what we were looking for...


Here they are --


Reading #1: Can’t Help Falling in Love
written by George Weiss, Hugo Peretti, and Luigi Creatore

Wise men say only fools rush in
but I can't help falling in love with you
Shall I stay, would it be a sin
If I can't help falling in love with you
Like a river flows surely to the sea
Darling so it goes
some things are meant to be
take my hand, take my whole life too
for I can't help falling in love with you
for I can't help falling in love with you

Reading #2: Benediction of the Apaches
“Now you will feel no rain,
For each of you will be shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
For each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no more loneliness for you.
For each of you will be companion to the other.
Now you are two bodies,
But there is only one Life before you.
Go now to your dwelling place,
To enter into the days of your togetherness.
And may your days be good and long upon the earth”

Reading #3: Falling In Love Is Like Owning A Dog by Taylor Mali
First of all, it's a big responsibility,
So think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you're walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love
ain't no one going to mess with you.
Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable.
Who knows what love could do in its own defense?

On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.

Love doesn't like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.
Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.
Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.
Sometimes you just want to get love fixed.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper
and swat love on the nose,
not so much to cause pain,
just to let love know Don't you ever do that again!

Sometimes love just wants to go for a nice long walk.
Because love loves exercise.
It runs you around the block and leaves you panting.
It pulls you in several different directions at once,
or winds around and around you
until you're all wound up and can't move.
But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People who have nothing in common but love
stop and talk to each other on the street.

Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.

that last one is my favorite, it's a little longer so we're having one person read the first half and another the second... I think the three together create a good balance of what we're looking for out of the ceremony and hopefully it will make for a memorable and touching ceremony. It was definitely interesting finding three that appealed to both of us and that we hadn't just heard at a wedding (I love the velveteen rabbit reading my friends lindsey and phil did and the blessing of the hands that was done at danny's brothers wedding).

what was your favorite reading at a wedding?

Monday, November 29, 2010

shutterfly holiday cards? yes please!

just another reason I love shutterfly... they're doing a great blogger promotion where you can get 50 free holiday cards...?! come on, who doesn't like free photo holiday cards? AND they have a GREAT Christmas Card and Holiday Card Collection! (not to mention ornaments and calendars too.... oh I could do some damage Christmas shopping)

I try and do holiday cards every year - and have done photocards the past few years with my student staff... that was really fun because I sent a card to each of their families to tell them what a great job their kids was doing and how much I appreciated them... I think it was cool for their families to see their family at school....

BUT this year will be especially exciting [for many reasons including] because it will be the first year that DJ and I do a joint holiday card... DJ [aka scrooge] wants it to be just of Oliver, but he doesn't know what he's talking about I want some pictures of us too... that's why I'm loving all the choices at shutterfly - we can do a multiple photo card... I'm torn on which one I want to do -- help!

here are some of my fav's from the shutterfly website --





what are your thoughts? traditional? funky? fun? all of the above?
 
also, I need to go through our pictures and decide which ones we want to include, I definitely want to have one of these two from our (first) wedding day:


and this one (aka DJ's fav pic of Ollie)....
 
and lastly maybe a picture of the three of us.... now I just need to find one (or wrangle the boys together to take one this week).... WISH ME LUCK! :)

also - bloggers, want to get 50 free holiday cards of your own - visit this link to fill out the form! http://bit.ly/sfly2010

wedding invites

I've been meaning to share these for awhile - our wedding invitations! I love them - DJ did an amazing job designing them and I couldn't have asked for anything better!

Invite:

 RSVP card:
we also had a small card with our wedding website on there with the same design (but black with a pink heart) so our guests could find out all the must know information for the wedding.

I saw the wording in a photobook for the invite awhile back and knew I wanted something along those lines.... I'm not going to lie DJ and I have very different tastes so it took awhile to get to these invitations but in the end he did a great job of combining our styles...

As far as the RSVP goes, I told him he could have a little fun [however I promptly NIXED the idea of "fo shizzile and fo nizzle" - I'm not that fun].

We used these stamps on the majority of them, so fun and I think just fit the NYE wedding so well...


well, what do you think?? :)

oh christmas tree....

I'm super sad the weekend is over.... 4.5 day weekends make me happy... luckily I have a four day work week this week and am heading to NC on Friday so we have something to look forward to!

This weekend was tons of fun and on Friday we put up our Christmas tree! DJ and I went to Ward's and picked up a wreath and tree and headed home to drink some wine and decorate our lovely tree....

the tree with only the white lights...

our lovely bike menorah that my amazing mother-in-law got us!

decorated tree!


our new "ollie" ornament!



isn't she a beaut? hope your holiday decorating is going well!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

turkey trot!

guess who got her hungover husband up at 8:00am 
on thanksgiving to go for a run? 
that would be this gal!

we headed over to The Annual Great Barrington Turkey Trot with Jenny and Will where we had some running fun with our Crossfit buds... Will and Danny ran the 10K... Jenny and I ran the 2 miler....






I felt pretty good - I met my two goals (less than a 10 minute mile and to run the whole time) - I ran it in 19 minutes (9:30 pace) and came in 77th out of 158, not amazing - but considering I haven't run in months I'm proud of myself! My overachiever husband (who was still drunk) ran the 10K in 44:30 (7:10 pace) and came in 38th out of 183! Isn't he amazing?!


Did you trot before turkey too?

I am thankful for....

A few days late but.... I am so thankful for so many things in my life - my mother, my amazing friends, my health, my education, my sweet puppy..... and of course, my soulmate, my husband, my danny j....

It's crazy to sit where I sit right now and think where I was a year ago - flooded with emotions for one of my closest friends... feeling a love that I had never experienced and a level of comfort with another person that I know will never be matched... 

a year ago this very weekend these amazing memories were made....





I remember I was supposed to fly out Saturday morning and we called the airline and changed my flight to Monday so we could have three more days together... we made plans for me to come back for Christmas and New Years and went out and got Trey (pictured last) our little Charlie Brown Christmas Tree... so special, he was our first baby! 

with that.... thank you danny for turning my world upside down a year ago, thank you for your patience, your willingness to compromise, your smile, your ability to make me laugh (even when I'm trying to be mad at you), thank you for making me try new things, for challenging me, for being the liberal hippie that you are, for reading my mind, being my soulmate, cooking me dinner, buying me plants (that I ultimately kill), writing me love notes... thank you for being the best husband in the world and my bestest friend.

I love you as much as you love reading the news and flannel shirts. 
Clearly, that's a lot.

88 my love.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

black friday deals/tips.....

few things...

I'm crazy about black friday.
I'm EVEN MORE crazy about cyber monday.
If you are too... here are some deals for you --

  1. Follow @amazondeals on twitter to get real time updates of their "Gold Box Deals" - these are AMAZING!
  2. If you're a student you can receive a year FREE of amazon prime (NO CATCH) - seriously, click here, I'm so pissed I don't have an @edu email anymore to take advantage of this, please take advantage for me if you do have one!
  3. If you're a mom (or primary caregiver), you can receive UP TO a year free of amazon prime (three months and then a month for every $25 you spend on "baby/children" supplies from amazon.
  4. www.black-friday.net - you're welcome.
  5. Last, but certainly not least - if you have an iPhone, download the "TGI Black Friday" app - it's free, you're welcome again. Even if you don't have an iPhone, you can still look at the ads on the site so definitely go there!
Also, if there's a store you know you want to hit up or that you're definitely shopping at visit their webpage, a few seem to have a form where you can signup to receive their black/friday cyber monday deals (target, bath & body works for sure). 

I think we're doing "berkshire" themed local gifts for the immediate family that is coming up to visit so I feel good about that... but I don't know, I can't lie -I love a good deal so I'm definitely feeding the corporate greed this year too. When you're on a budget, you have to do what you have to do!

Lastly, just for fun....


What are you buying/making/crafting for people this year for the holidays??
I need ideas! :)

black wednesday.

happy black wednesday - or as I know it, "my husband's favorite day of the year"

yup. black wednesday: the night before thanksgiving, aka one of the biggest drinking days of the year. madness in every town, unofficial high school reunions galore.... we'll be spending it in downtown GB (love that we live walking distance from the bars) where I'm sure to run into 1-3 of DJ's old "flames" - let the making people uncomfortable fun begin! haha - seriously though, I'm excited for a four day weekend with my love, christmas shopping & decorating, college football and sleeping in. oh yeah, thanksgiving dinner is somewhere in there too... as I'm trying to lose a few lbs it's just kinda making me anxious... oh well. I'll try and stay strong (yeah right). I think I might dress up like these dogs to make the day a little more festive...


on a completely different note... it's crazy to think a year ago on this day I had just flown into town to see Danny.... I can't even put into words what that day was like or how I knew that my gut was right all along - he was and is my soulmate.

{"us" - one year ago}

happy happy {early} thanksgiving!

Monday, November 22, 2010

boston bruins and more fun...

here's another quick (belated) recap of our weekend in Boston... on Saturday, after seeing some classy ladies while we walked around Boston, we did a little shopping and basically just walked around. We went to The Salty Dog (we love basement bars) and had a few beers and watched college football.

We went home and then got freshened up and headed to the Flat Iron Tapas Bar for some tapas and drinks. I had quite possibly the BEST drink ever [made with apple and pear puree... pictured below] and shared some yummy tapas [coconut crusted shrimp, kobe sliders and calamari] - YUM.

then we went to The Penalty Box for a beer before the game...

then we were off to TD Garden... for the game - which was SO much fun!





after the game we headed back to the penalty box for the SC vs FL game... as you can tell by this amazing picture - SC won. It was unreal.... almost as unreal as the bar turning off the celtics game to turn on SEC football for me [what can I say, I'm a charmer].... seriously though, I'm so excited for December 3rd to watch SC compete vs Auburn.... even better we'll be in Wilmington and can watch with friends!

lastly, this picture sums up my husband quite well.... oh I love my hippie.

happy monday donkey [or elephant] fans!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Boston Trip - Sam Adams Brewery....

Happy Thursday! So happy to be back in the States, can you believe it's a week until Thanksgiving... it's almost DJ and I's one year anniversary (of sorts) - it's crazy to think where I was this time last year... having a fashion show for my friends trying to decide what to pack for my trip to visit Danny.... craazy. Anyways, this time of year is also bittersweet because I'm constantly thinking of and missing my dad. I think about him everyday but the holidays just make it that much harder and make me miss him even more...
OKAY, time to change gears... onto Boston! On the second day of our trip to Boston we drank lots of coffee and ate some great food (more on that later) and we also went over on a Sam Adams Brewery Tour...

we met Bob Cannon the Head Brewer!

and after the tour... we had some yummy samples including Sam Adam's Boston Brick Red - this was definitely the beer of choice for the trip, next time you're in Boston definitely try one!

From the Sam Adam's description of Brick Red:
"With a name inspired by the historic red brick at the Samuel Adams Boston Brewery, Samuel Adams Boston Brick Red has a rich, deep red color and distinctive caramel flavor from pale and caramel malts.  The sweetness of the malt is pleasantly balanced by a pronounced hop bitterness.  Samuel Adams Boston Brick Red is currently available on draft at select bars and restaurants in the Boston area."

Danny likes it.... 


then we saw Ollie's cousin...

tried to take a picture with him but just ended up looking far away from each other and awkward...

yay Sam Adams!

then we took a "party trolley" to Doyle's (the first bar to sell Sam Adams) - the party bus was quite interesting complete with as DJ put it "someone's dad" playing Britney Spears and encouraging drunk college girls to dance on the poles.... awesome. Oh yeah, it also had hydrolics... clearly we're amused..
 F.J. Doyle & Co. - the first place to sell Sam Adams, also where the girls are dancing on the bar in Mystic River, craazy!
All in all - I definitely recommend the Sam Adam's Tour (it's free with an optional [do it] $2 donation], you learn a lot, get free beer and definitely take the party shuttle - it's worth it!

More on Boston later, I'm off to clean the house while taking a conference call from London - if that isn't multi-tasking I don't know what is!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Boston Night 1/Mumford & Sons

Boston was such a great time... here are some pictures of our first night there...

first, we met Greg up at Landsdowne Pub for a beer [or three]....


they had Guinness reps there and were having a "perfect pour" contest - here's mine after DJ stole a sip... they told me to stick around that I was in the TOP 3 [!!!] but we had to go to the contest, alas... I'll never know... 

our relationship summed up in two pictures:


oh, my lovie lovie...

outside the venue before the show

MUMFORD & SONS!!



the concert was amazing and I have a new celebrity crush on Country Winston [cuuute] - feel free to watch the encore here. Seriously, it was a great show and it was one of the biggest venues they had played in [HOB Boston] and you could tell they were super excited and still coming to grips with the fact they had "made it" - so fun! More on the trip soon, traveling back to the states from Canada today! See you on the other side of the border....

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