Crazy Weekend, Part 1

So here we are! 9 weeks til the wedding! 61 days, by my count. EXCITING!

This weekend was a lot about the wedding and a lot of crazy goings on, so here comes my tale!

Saturday morning, I got up bright and early! I actually got up only one hour later than I normally would, so it wasn't exactly sleeping in. I had my very first dress fitting that day! I had to get everything together and get out of the house at a decent time. I picked up Caitlyn (best friend, maid of honor), and she and I made a road trip to Edina, Minnesota. My mom was supposed to come too, but wasn't feeling well.

We managed to make it MOST of the way to Edina without any problems. The biggest challenge was actually GETTING to Edina. We took a wrong fork somewhere, so we had to turn around. Then we were going the wrong way on the correct road, so we had to turn around. If we hadn't taken the wrong fork and then the wrong turn, we would have gotten there exactly on time. As it was, we were a half hour late.

FYI, big city driving is NOT my forte.

So we did the dress fitting and I got to wear my amazing dress! I love my dress and I totally made the right decision when picking it out. I squee'd so much, I thought Caitlyn might smack me. But being totally happy with my wedding dress is a good thing, so she didn't complain. The fitting went a bit long (ironically, because we need to lengthen the dress) but it went really well. Caitlyn took lots of pictures of the dress for reference, especially for my mom who couldn't be there.

After a phone call to my mom, we decided to join Kevin for dinner at one of our favorite places to eat, John Hardy's. However, if we left right from the fitting and went to Rochester, it would be a rather early meal. So instead, Caitlyn and I took a detour. We went to the Mall Of America.

Oh yes. Yes we did.

I successfully got us to the mall, but when we got there, police were detouring traffic. The parking lot directly in front of the mall was closed off, and also the route to one of the bigger parking garages. We followed the traffic and wound up on the first floor of another parking garage. I realize that I could see one of the skyways, so I went towards it and got us an AMAZING parking spot, less than 10 cars from the door.

Caitlyn had never been to the Mall of America before. I have been there many times, but it seems to change a lot. We happened to come in right above the Sea Life exhibit that Kevin and I have gone to a few times. So I was pretty familiar with that area. We didn't want to spend a lot of time at the mall, and I had in mind a few (3) stores to go to. I looked at the map, planned a route, and away we went to the first floor!

After a few minutes in the mall, Caitlyn remembered that MoA has Legoland. That immediately got her attention! I made a quick detour into The Disney Store, and she headed to Legoland, right near it. Disney Store was packed (as was the entire mall, I have never seen it so busy!), so I skimmed it and headed to Legoland to meet back up with Caitlyn. She had found a display of bunnies eating carrots made out of Legos. That was awesome. She loved the sculptures made of Legos and I promised her that we would head out via the second floor, so she could see them from a better vantage point.

Next stop was Brookstone. I have never been to The Sharper Image (that I recall) but Brookstone is basically that. Tons of electronic toys, goodies, and expensive things that are so fun to play with but no one actually needs. Who needs a fan that goes under your sheets to cool them? Or a keyboard made of rubber so you can roll it up? Or a massage chair...wait, no, I can see the point of that one. So we spent a little bit of time in Brookstone, playing with gadgets and gizmos that no one really needs, and then we headed on to my final surprise for Caitlyn.

Just when we were almost to my surprise store, Caitlyn saw these shirts and ties that light up when they hear noise, and got totally enthralled. I had to pull her away to get her to our main destination. We went to the Mike and Ike's store. Also known as...The Peeps Store.

Oh my word, this store had EVERYTHING peeps. Hats, shirts, socks, boxers, mugs, keychains and pens, plus stuffed peeps of varying sizes and shapes. Peep calendars, peep chocolate candy, and above all else, a wide assortment of sugar covered marshmallow fluff in the shape of little birds and bunnies.

On a side note, Caitlyn loves peeps. LOVES. They are her favorite candy by far. This was like her mecca. This was coming home to the mother ship. This was Peep Mania.

We took many amusing pictures of Caitlyn looking like she was nomming a $150 stuffed peep that would totally serve as a pillow. She geeked out in every corner of the store (as I knew she would) and when we finally left and went to the second floor, we discovered that the top of the store had a gigantic peep, which we then had to take more pictures of. We even took a picture that looked like Caitlyn was eating the gigantic peep.

Stay tuned for a major break-down, in part 2.

Around the World in (less than) 80 days!

Well, we survived the Christmas season! We temporarily set aside wedding planning, and focused on Christmas. Kevin and I celebrated Christmas four times this year! First with his immediate family in Michigan, then Kevin's dad's family in Michigan, then MY immediate family in La Crescent, then in Milwaukee with MY dad's family. Plus I got to see my friend Ryan (an usher) and my friend Jessica (a bridesmaid), and Caitlyn, Lee, and Savannah (maid of honor, assistant to the flower girl, flower girl), AND I went to the movies and saw Les Miserables!

If you're tired after just reading that, try adding in Christmas shopping, two airplane rides, a couple of doctors visits for pleurisy, an oil change, and getting my passport.

Needless to say, it was QUITE interesting around here for a few weeks.

There were a million small things that just made me smile.

Christi and Mike's bunny Cricket stayed with my mom and dad while they (and we) were in Michigan. Clover and Cricket managed not to fight, due mostly to Cricket's new and improved bunny castle complete with babygate-like walls. Cricket the amazing 3-legged bunny is something like 13 years old now and still kicking (so to speak), as well as still a bit feisty. I don't know what 13 is in bunny years, but read that as a REALLY OLD BUNNY. Clover missed me while I was in Michigan and made sure to show me so when we got home, but after the obligatory ignoring me, she couldn't get enough attention from me! So sweet. I missed her too, but playing with Cindy's kitty and a couple dogs helped...

Mike and Kevin set up wireless for my parents. That's right, my parents finally have wifi. A secure network and everything. Somewhere, there's a joke. Something like "How long does it take two computer engineers to set up wifi?" And the answer is half the evening. In the end, something quite simple was not quite right and was seemingly easily fixed. It just needed to be thought of. I am quite proud of both of them for being very patient and working together well to set everything up. My parents have been considering wifi since...last Christmas, at least. Push came to shove, though. Push being a free wireless adapter, and shove being my mom getting her very first laptop. Yay!

Kevin surprised me (a tiny bit early) with diamond earrings for Christmas. He is such a sweetie! He also got me an external harddrive to back up my slightly old PC. It goes really well with my new monitor and ram from last year. :-D He manages to mix the easy stuff (anything electronic) with the romantic (DIAMOND EARRINGS!) very well. Double kudos to him!

Ok, ok, enough about Christmas (which was amazing). You're here to read about a wedding. There will be a wedding in LESS THAN 80 DAYS! 79, to be exact. According to the famous novel, you can go around the world in 80 days, so surely we can finish all the details for the wedding in that amount of time!

We have our entire bridal party picked out now (ushers were the last bit), we have special music picked out, and we're ironing out the little details. Appetizers, for example. Also, food for the bridal party while getting ready. Hair appointments. The bridesmaids are getting their fittings done. Also, my dress came in.

My dress came in.

WOOOOT. I can't wait to put it on again. Exciting! Soon, soon, soon. I need to make appointments to get MY fittings done.

I need to figure out my jewelry for the wedding. I need to find a dress for Savannah. I'm sure there are a dozen more details that are slipping my mind right now. Soon soon soon, I get married!