Dress Me: Wedding Reception (the winner!)

My wedding reception dresses came in the mail today. I carefully tried on each one and easily decided which one I'm going to wear next Friday. The black ones wins by a long shot.

It fits good, is cute and comfortable. Perfect for the party.

The long sleeve sweater dress was a close second. It's cute too, but not as form fitting. I might bust it out if God dumps 12 inches of snow on the ground between now and then. Otherwise, black wins.

I'll keep the turtleneck sweater dresses and wear it to work and church (it was too all-business for my wedding reception). Pretty impressive buy all together -- 3 dresses for $90!

OK friends ... so the big question, what should I wear with the dress? It's short sleeve so should I wear a pashmina with it? I have a green one. What shoes should I wear? A cute, fun heel or boots and tights? Do you like the necklace the model is wearing? I have one similar to that ...

HELP!

EWLW

Yesterday was the 3rd Annual Eat Well, Live Well event at work. We started this event three years ago to showcase our health & wellness and sustainability programs on campus. Often times, we have relationships with vendors and farmers on the 'back side' ... where as, customers only see the food displayed before them for purchase. This event helps connect the grower / provider to the consumer.

I remember the first EWLW event and how much work it was. I remember how tired my feet were at the end of the day and how overwhelmed I felt as we threw the whole thing together in 3 weeks. At the start of school (the busiest time of the year).

Yesterday, I couldn't help but laugh to myself as the event wrapped without the smallest bump in the road. Legs were still tired, but I wasn't exhausted. Funny how 3 years under your belt at a job + the opening of a football stadium (and 15 hour work days) will change your perspective on a situation.

I'll post some photos of the event as soon as I get them back from my intern photographer. I would estimate we had 4,000+ students, staff and faculty attend which in my book = success.

Sunday Funday

I had a great weekend!
It was the first Saturday/Sunday I've had as of late with no Gopher home game. It was so nice to recharge with a little 'me' time. And it truly did me some good. (I did do a little work Saturday morning but it was only to complete my mileage expense report...$450 collected was well worth it).

First, Andi and I got up and went to church. The "fit people of Minneapolis" were out in full force again today (Women's Marathon on the Minnehaha Parkway) which almost prevented us from making it to church again. Luckily, we were on to this trend and went the long way around. Made it to church on time! Glad we went too...today's sermon was about finding a way to serve. Of the long list of activities to volunteer: the nursery where I feel I'll fit in just fine. What's better than holding little babies for a few hours a day?

Next, Andi and I went for a walk at Theodore Worth Park with Andi's mom. We took Chloe along too. We also went to the famous Cherry and the Spoon sculpture in Minneapolis. I'd never been there before and it was neat to see it close up.

Janie, Chloe & I

Andi, Chloe & I

Janie and & in the flower garden

Andi & I near another sculpture

Ever read celebrity gossip magazines where they called out star 'bump watches?' And the star is always quoted later as saying "no baby, only cheeseburgers." Yea, I totally get that. For all you bump watchers out there ... it's just the newlywed 9.

Tonight, Andi made an awesome dinner for the two of us. Bleu Cheese Flank Steak, boiled potatoes and marshmellow squash. Yum! See why it's gonna be hard to lose the 9???

How gourmet is this?!

Tonight we're settling in to watch some good TV. The season premiere of Desperate Housewives and Mad Men is on tonight. Happy weekend!

Doggie Bathtime

Nothing more adorable than a baby in the bathtub, right?

I snapped this photo of Chloe getting a bath today. Isn't she cute? This photo just melts my heart.

Chloe absoultely LOVES bath time. She soakes up all the one-on-one attention she gets while I bathe her, blow dry and brush her hair. Afterwards, she gets a special treat (a Dingo dog bone).

Newlywed 9

I have the look of content about me.

I'm a married girl now and therefore it seems perfectly fine to eat a bowl of ice cream every night with my hunny. Why not? I'm feeling all warm and cozy in my new marriage. Unfortunately, my new place in life has graced me with a few extra pounds. No one ever told me about the "newlywed 9!"

Probably time to start working out again...

And maybe lay off the fast food and rice krispie treats at work...

Man! It's so much more fun to eat whatever you want!

I have the day all to myself tomorrow. Think Chloe and I will go on a nice long walk to start workin on my fitness.

Dress Me: Wedding Reception

Like to play dress up?
I stink at it.

And...my wedding reception party is coming up in 2 weeks. Yikes! I don't know what I'm going to wear yet, so today I ordered a couple of dresses online. Let me know what you think. (Remember ... I live in Minnesota ... and it could very well be snowing ... or raining ... or blustery on October 10. That's why I think I need to wear more of a fall-ish dress)

Option 1
Black (my favorite)!
Short sleeve ... which could be risky if it's super cold outside

Shoes ... Should I do a cute, fun heel?
Option 2
Short-sleeve sweater dress
I like this one, but I hope it's not too "worky"

Option 3
I like this sweater dress too ... and feel like the bust line makes it look more sexy.
Boots with these?
Andi is wearing slacks (or jeans) and a sweater. He wants to wear jeans ... I'm not sure if he should. And because it'll be mid-October, the leaves outside will be gorgeous (!) so I thought fall outfits might be more fitting for our photography. We are planning to take photos prior to the reception near downtown St Paul.

So ladies ... Think one of these dresses will do?

God & Money

In our pre-marital counseling classes this summer, our pastor recommended Andi and I enroll in the Crown Financial Bible Study taking place at church this fall. A few weeks ago, we saw the announcement in the church bulletin and decided to sign up. It's a 10 week class meeting every Wednesday where we read and complete exercises in the Crown Financial Workbook. Crown Financial teaches the successful combination of God’s wisdom along with practical principles to implement in your daily life.

Enrolling in the class is something we both felt strongly about. But, at the same time, were hesitant about committing because life is so busy right now. Between both our jobs and especially Andi starting his own business, time is limited. But then again, there's never time for anything unless you schedule it into the calendar and make it a priority. And if our faith and marital foundation isn't important - what is?

So, we had our first Crown class tonight at church. It was a little uncomfortable at the beginning- we didn't complete the pre-work for the class because the materials we ordered online hadn't arrived yet. We were suppose to read a book, memorize a bible verse and complete the homework for week 1. The instructor said he wasn't sure we could even proceed with the class tonight because Andi and I weren't prepared (how bad would we have felt!). Luckily we were able to wing it.

Once we got into the class, I really started to enjoy it. I quickly realized life is bigger than work and daily responsibilities. How easy it is to be selfish and consumed with schedules and work projects when none of that really matters in the end. Is it more important to be cracked out after work, stressed about all the things you have complete? Or, is faith and family more important?

In case you're wondering, Crown doesn't directly teach you how to set a budget or manage your money. We're not meeting with financial advisors who analyze our finances and tell us where to spend our money. It's looking at the bigger picture. Money isn't everything; God is the basis of all. Be smart in the way spend. Be a servant to God in all you do.

Here was tonight's bible verse which I think is completely fitting for the framework of the class:
"Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?" Luke 16:11

I'm glad we made this bible group a priority. I'll let you know how it goes!

Wedding Reception Countdown

We're t-3 weeks to our wedding reception on October 10. Tonight we went to check out the space at 526 Gallery (where we're hosting the party), measure and finalize planning.

The space we've rented - 526 Gallery - is a full service salon, spa and art gallery. We love the space and appreciate how flexible the gallery owner is in allowing us to plan our event. We plan to display our photos in the gallery using video and printed images.

Here's what we're thinking:

Photographic wedding images and text on the outside windows of the Gallery

Inside the gallery. We're using the table in the back for desserts and keeping the artwork / displays to add visual appeal

The hallway leading to the gallery. We're planning to keep the artwork and add photos of our wedding down the sides

Most important part?
The BAR (an old antique 'beauty bar'). We've hired 2 bartenders to serve beer and wine

We stopped by Solo Vino, the wine store we're purchasing our bottles from after visiting the gallery to purchase our wine. Seven cases is a lot of wine, but they're letting us use their wine glasses for FREE!

Wedding Video!

Check out our wedding video!

The boys started their day with wakeboarding at Lake Minnetonka while the girls went to the salon. Wedding reception at Noerenberg Gardens in Wayzata, MN followed by dinner at Northcoast Restaurant.

What a magical day!

http://vimeo.com/6660466

The Best of Intentions

Almost only counts in horse shoes and hand granades...

Inspired by a recent post on my cousin Jen's blog, I've set a goal for myself to attend church a minimum of two times per month. Two out of four (or sometimes five) weekends a month doesn't sound like a real challenge but with busy work schedules, traveling and jammed-packed social calendars ... it's a real challenge for us.

September update: zero times.

This morning we woke up, showered and left our house in plenty of time to make it to the service. We attend First Free Church in South Minneapolis, a 10 minute drive from our house across the Mississippi River. The quickest route from point A to point B? Via the scenic Minnehaha Parkway. And, it never fails ... there's always some sort of organized sporting event in this area on Sunday mornings. Damn you physically fit people!

Today's event was some sort of bike race and all the streets along the parkway were barracaded. We drove around in circles for 40 minutes (40 minutes!) trying to get to the other side of the parkway. I've never seen so many dead-end streets and curvy streets that lead to nowhere.

By this point, church had already started and we STILL hadn't found our way there. So we decided to go to Bed, Bath & Beyond instead to return a few duplicate wedding gifts and use some the BB&B gift cards we've received for showers/wedding gifts. After BB&B, we went to the Mall of America to pick out outfits for the upcoming wedding reception. No luck, but I did find some work pants at The Limited. Apparently, The Limited is 'going green' with their new shopping bags (which I fully applaude) but are poorly manufacturered. The bag's paper handle ripped off half way to the car. How annoying is that?!

All that excitment was enough for one day. We're laying low and watching movies now. Sorry God we didn't make it to church today ... we really tried.

Wake Me Up When September Ends

I hate the month of September.

It's a busy time at work for me with the start-up of the fall semester at University of Minnesota. Complicating this fact- the inaugral year of the TCF Bank Stadium where ARAMARK provides concessions and premium services for 50,000 Gopher football fans. Throw in a second part-time job and it's safe to say I'm exhausted.

Andi's busy this fall too as he's starting his own advertising agency. Yesterday, he landed a big piece of business (which is super exciting, so proud of him!) but also means he'll be working overtime to get the project complete in the next few weeks.

Why is this important? Heather + stress + Andi + stress = cranky couple.

Last night I came home from a 10 hour work day and plopped on the couch to finally catch up with my husband. As he's excitedly telling me about the new piece of business he'd sold earlier in the day, we start to bicker about where he'll office to complete this massive project by the deadline. Does this really matter to me? No. But I was tired. And he was tired. Enter small petty argument.

I hate when my work/life balance is off-kilter. No time for cleaning house or personal stuff like painting my toenails. No time to walk the dog or spend quality time with my husband.

No time to catch each other up on what's happening in our lives, so when we actually do sit down to talk we're too tired to listen to the whole story and jump to conclusions which leads to hurt feelings.

While I worked at the TCF Bank Stadium today, Andi went to the St. Paul Farmer's Market with his sister and picked up this lovely bouquet of flowers for our house. I bet they were for me...

And now we're celebrating our Saturday night by drinking martinis. Because that's the only logical thing to do when you've been up since 3:30AM working. Wake me up when September ends...

Baby Boom

Last winter there was a baby boom at my office. In a four month stretch, five girls I worked with at the time were pregnant. Baby arrivals in October, December, January and May. At the time, it seemed like I was on the ONLY one able to have a baby ... not having a baby at work. I remember sitting in one of our weekly meetings and looking down the table. Baby bump, baby bump, baby bump, (ME - no baby bump), baby bump. Yep, that's a lot of babies!

The baby boom came and went ... and now those babies are as old as a year now. How fast time flies! And now, without so much as a warning, it seems like EVERYONE I know is pregnant again. I won't call out all these girlies on my blog ... but let's just say I can count on my hands AND toes how many ladies I know expecting a baby these days.

And congrats to you all, I couldn't be happier ... and more envious. I can't wait to be a mom someday and seeing all my gals expecting little ones stirs up all those feelings for me. I know my time will come...and I should enjoy being a newlywed. And I am. My time will come. My time will come. My time will come ...

In 6-9 months from now, all these new little ones will be entering the world. What could be better than that?

Wedding Photos!

Hooray! Our wedding photos have arrived! Over 1000 photos total ... I uploaded a few here. Check 'em out!