A christmas to remember

I recieved 1 rose for every month until Brandon and I are married.. so sweet.



It was a great christmas, here is a photo of our little christmas tree.



And a photo of Oliver posing like a photo.


And a family picture with Brandon's family-


I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Fun Bridesmaid dresses.

Call me crazy but I have been more obsessed lately with BM dresses, than finding my own dream dress.

A lot of the inspiration for BM dresses has come from my friends who have recently bought their own dresses for holiday parties which in turn would have been perfect for my bridesmaids to wear in my wedding!

Im sure the girls would love this silver Nicole Miller.

Or the blue one..

This cute silver and black ABS by Allen Schwartz

This teal number is from Macy's, Im not sure who designed it..love the color though.

And this limited edition Target dress I bought it the day after I saw it on Alysha-39.99!
I wish they could all grab this perfect holiday dress for next year.It is everything I love, pocketed! belted! sparkley! strapless! cheap! Im really just hoping that Target makes dresses for 2009 as cute as they did this year!!

Jewel Toned Ideas...

I have decided to do Jewel tones as my wedding colors. I'm picturing very bright teals, purples, oranges, pink etc. I haven't been able to find much inspiration with a broad multicolor theme but today I was blessed with this eye candy.

These photos were sent to me from Tifany at Gourmet Invitations, out of the Detroit area. She is doing our wedding invitations and possibly a seating chart.
She did my friend Mandy and Nathan's wedding. http://gourmetinvitations.blogspot.com/2008/04/more-crazy-damask.html

We still have a lot of time, and a ton of decisions to make. I'm getting excited that I can soon say our wedding is a YEAR away.




Incorporating feathers into my centerpieces.



I love the ribbon around the bouquet- so bold!



Another funky feather centerpiece! I also love the lighting..



Another view of this couple's table. I am fairly certain that we will have round tables, but I love the little centerpieces and the different colored items at each table.


Check out more photo's from this wedding at http://www.weddingbeepro.com/2008/12/18/suthi-sanjay-111608/

The sweetest description...

I just read this on Brandon's myspace profile. It brought tears to my eyes, hearing his version of our life.. I'll quote it for you.

"It is hard to believe but it has almost been 1 year since we bought our house. It is also tough to believe that it has almost been 2 years since I said "You better not come home with a puppy...I won't be mad if you do though.." On Sweetest Day 2008, Les and I took a train to Chicago to spend the day, we walked down Navy Pier then grabbed some lunch at Geno's East. I had never really had Chicago style pizza, so I was pretty excited to try it. Im not sure if it was because I was really nervous or if maybe I was really trying to impress her with my eating skills, but at lunch that day I demonstrated a Top 5 performance in the "Most Pizza Ever Eaten by a Human" category. Pretty good stuff I'd say. After lunch we walked around a bit more, I had brought the camera so I was taking pictures, Les was doing some shopping. In the past few months talks of marriage had started to freely work their way into the conversations on both ends, but nothing too serious. Until that day. Resting on a bench at the base of the Hancock Building, with little girls clutching their American Girl dolls and toursits from all over racing by, we had a pretty serious talk about marriage. Neither of us really remember what was said, but there were no "down on one knee" tricks and no scoreboard antics. What we do know, is that somewhere during that conversation I did ask her to marry me and we came out of that talk ready to marry one another. It was really perfect for us and At that point in time nothing else mattered but her and I. Oh and the ring. Let me know if you would like to hear more of this story. "

I think this is the best description of our life the past 3 years.. Really neat things have happened and I cant wait for many more!
Love you BT!

Thankful!

Happy Thanksgiving! It's the night before turkey day and I just got a good wedding idea. Im now thinking that for my NYE wedding we will do fondue at each table..
I have to talk to the radisson and see if they will be able to honor that request instead of a chef prepared meal.
I picture platters of beef, chicken, cheese, maybe shrimp.. a basket of bread and each person at the table with their own fondue sticks.
My family LOVES fondue, and we love to serve it. What would be amazing was if the chef could make Grandma's pizza fondue reciepe for the night. We usually have it on NYE anyway..
Maybe Im dreaming, but it would be so festive and fun, such great conversation for everyone because I know alot of people are not familiar with eating fondue!
It is a nice way to incorporate my family's holiday tradition into my wedding.

Dec 11th we have a meeting with the Radisson... I'll keep everyone updated..

Winter Inspiration

This snowy weather is really making me dream of next year and our NYE wedding. I still have not narrowed down colors, but I have different thoughts on all of the pictures I have saved.

The words to Auld Lang Syne left on every place setting.

A for sure idea.. A feather Bouquet, an idea given to me from Daisy which I am just in love with.

Pine cones and fondant- I'm not too hot on Fondant, it is pretty but it doesn't taste that good. But the pine cones will be incorporated in the theme.

The willow centerpieces. Notice the candle's hanging pendulum like. I just love the wintery feel of the pussy willow branch.

Both of these pictures are from Pottery Barn. I love the colors throughout the vases, which makes me feel like I can have as many rich colors as I would like on my NYE wedding..

And this purple bouquet. It is not about the flowers or the shape of the bouquet. I just love the contrast that comes when using a deep purple like that. I certainly am not a purple person, but rich purple like this makes me feel festive.

Happy Birthday Oliver!

He used to wear his skull scarf all the time as a little pup.

1st snow......

It's our baby's birthday week.

Oliver was born on Nov 27th 2006. We are so happy to have him everyday and can't believe how much we could love something like him. He is a big boy now, and he is the best 25 dollars that we have ever spent!

A little trip down memory lane because we can still see his same expressions as a big 113lb puppy!


1st toy--puppy teeth ruined that quick!
So many more pictures to reminisce about, but I just wanted to wish Oli happy Birthday!

Date Set!

We have confirmed our wedding date: December 31st 2009! That is it, no changing our minds now. New Years Eve dream come true..
Ahh this is so fun.

Now for idea's. Still working on my inspiration board!

I'll keep everyone updated.

Election Day!

I am always so excited to vote. I vote in every election, I even try to vote in the little township ones and Im not going to miss one now that Im a home owner!

This election has been so intriguing. Although John McCain did not have my vote in the primary's. I now am proud to be a McCain supporter. It always feels that at my age, I am voting for the underdog. It was like that in 04 when I was so into GW Bush. I had voted for him in 2000 and I couldnt stand that people werent going to give him 4 more years. My closest friends were all liberal and loving "cool guy" John Kerry.

It wasnt so much that feeling this time. I really felt like everyone followed the election and Im pretty sure everyone I know voted! That is huge because its usually just a few of us young ones at the polls.

Yes, although Barack is the biggest celebrity in the world. (and I love my celebrities). Listening to him speak after he had won the election did make me tear up. I love that this election was true democracy. And a tough race for my underdog candidate.

As for the barrier that kept women out of the political spot light you have to love the female stars of this campaign-

Sarah Palin and Michelle Obama. And of course Meghan McCain, who feels like my best friend and reminds me that being a daddy's girl at any age is totally fabulous.

Check out Meghans blog@- http://www.mcccainblogette.com/

I am excited for change!

So.. whats in a date?

2 days into our engagement, I have realized I am not prepared. The question of the week is going to be when is the big day. Here are our thoughts..
1)Labor day lake wedding (9-5-09) or someday that weekend
2)Halloween wedding (10-31-09)
3)New years eve wedding (12-31-09)

My friends know that a nYe wedding is my DREAM.. ever since college and those years of being bored in northern michigan during New Years celebrations.

Its funny how many text's I have recieved wondering if that is really the big day.
It makes me dream of hearing auld lang syne-dancing with my love and all of our friends and family.


How does one decide??

We are planning a wedding

Brandon and I decided to get married. We knew we were but we just had to find a ring and decide how to tell everyone.. and get permission from my pops. Well, here we were in chicago, in Tiffany & co and we found the ring. Brandon had picked it out and awaited my approval. It was enough of a surprise to me (because I hate surprise's)

The proposal was just perfect for us, we made the decision to get married. I will spare the details.

And Oliver is excited to have legitimate parents!

My friend Sheela

Yesterday I found out that my friend from high school passed away. I have known her many years, and was so pleased to recently re-connect with her after college. I keep hoping that this is just a dream and I'll wake up and it isn't true.

To view her memorial life story -
http://www.lifestorynet.com/memories/38169/

Northern Michigan

Oliver on vacation...

We have returned from our trip to Lake Michigan, we visited Ludington & Traverse City. It was so amazing, the water so beautiful.

We camped (!) at the state park, which was so fun. We both love camping. We left Oliver at home, but we were so regretting that when we arrived. Both cities are so dog friendly. The state parks of course are welcoming to pets on leash's, but to our surprise so was Traverse City downtown. Dog's everywhere, which made us so lonely for Oliver we vowed to bring him next year..

And... Its time to start decorating the house. We ran into the most perfect art shop in downtown TC.

www.artandsoultc.com

In about 2-3 weeks our new pieces of art of our living room should arrive. Im already drooling over frames.

Quite A Catch

Brandon can fish... He caught this prize Pike at Coldbrook county park in Comstock. Nice huh? He is very proud, this pic was taken with his camera phone. He is loving fishing this summer, which means lots of lake time for me.. Never a complaint there!!

2404 Cumberland

January 25th 2008- 9am

Brandon and I arrive at the title company to sign our lives away and receive the keys to our new house! Today was memorable in many ways 1) the temperature was 22* outside, everything was frozen solid. 2) we weren't really sure how we were going to swing it, but we were moving in... the same day.

Our cars were packed and the keys in our hand, we ventured over to our new home. Not only is it our ours now, after many many houses and struggles, and (addendum's to our offer) we really have a place to just be together.