Gifts for Aunts

My mom has three sisters, and all of them were involved some way or another in the planning and execution of my bridal shower.

So to show my appreciation, I gave them each a gift... a box of truffles and a stack of personalized correspondence cards.


The truffles came from a local chocolate company, and the cards were Goccoed by yours truly.

The Gocco-ing may or may not have been so I could practice for our upcoming invitations. And I was excited to put to use one of the other inks that came with it.


It's a vintage typewriter, and their names in typewriter fonts, then tied with bakers twine. I presented them to my aunts at the end of the shower, after everyone had left.

Thanks, aunts!

Showering Me with Love

This past weekend, Ryan and I went back to Illinois for some planning and marriage counseling... but mainly for my bridal shower.

Yay!

It was Saturday afternoon at my aunt's house. I was surrounded by 25 of my family and friends, and way too many gifts!


After everyone said hello and got a drink (mimosas? yes, please!), we started with a couple games. I was so relieved that neither of them was that game where you make a toilet paper dress. Why? I dunno. It's just not my thing.

First, everyone was given a piece of paper with a bunch of trivia questions about Ryan and I. It was rather impressive what detailed tidbits were included. Some peoples' answers were rather funny. For "what is one thing Kelly and Ryan have in common?", one of my friends replied, "bacon".

Funny, but true.


The person who got the highest number of questions right won, and received a prize. That was my friend Rachel, from high school...


After that, we played a "Price is Right" style game where we had to guess the cost of a number of household items. The person who got each price closest won a prize. I did horribly.


After games, it was time to eat! They had a delicious spread of sandwiches, wraps, fruit spears, veggies, chips and salsa, and more...


Immediately following lunch, my aunts passed around dessert. I went straight for the mini cheesecake...


After we were done stuffing our faces, and I was satisfactorily full, it was time to open gifts.


We received so many wonderful things. A glass food storage set...


An apron from Anthropologie...


An IKEA umbrella (an homage to where Ryan proposed)...


And a Simpons figurine of Homer holding Marge (The Simpsons is our favorite show)...


That last one was from Ryan's mom. I definitely want to find a place to display it at our wedding!

Meanwhile, my lovely cousin, Alaina, was hard at work making a bouquet out of all the ribbons...


I think it's usually a job for the bridesmaids, but I only had one there (my MOH, Colleen, who sat next to me and took notes). But Alaina did a wonderful job!


There was a large debate over whether it was a bouquet or a hat. I've never heard of a ribbon hat before. It doesn't even make any sense (at least you can use the ribbon bouquet again!). But they made me put it on my head for a photo op anyway...


On their way out, guests could help themselves to a bag of 2 cookies...


One cookie was a heart with Ryan and I's new monogram in it, and the other was a big white wedding dress...


I had such an amazing time, and it was really great that so many of my friends made the trip out to attend the shower! Ryan and I had quite the time trying to unpack all the gifts and find room for everything (the hardest was our kitchen!).

I'm usually the photographer at family events, but it was really nice to have my younger cousin, Julie, take over for the afternoon. I got so many great photos, and didn't have to stress about it.

Overall: Bridal Shower = success.

Printing, Emailing, and Burning Calories

Oh, so much happening!

Invitations

First... invitation printing has officially begun... and it's exhausting! I thought all those other brides who complained about it were just being wusses.

I can't show specifics yet on which design we chose, but here are some action shots...


I kid you not... I broke our coffee table on the first day of printing because I pressed down too hard on my Gocco! We both heard a loud "crack" sound, but didn't know what it was. Then, a couple hours later, I noticed it: a giant crack on the side of our coffee table! Oh well... thank goodness it's a cheap table.

There are cards everywhere in our house. Every inch of every surface has cards drying on it. And that's just the RSVP cards!

Bridal Shower

Shower planning is in full swing (or so I hear). My aunts put a Google Doc online with all the RSVP responses so everyone could see.

But I'm totally baffled.

It must be a generational thing... because only one of my friends has RSVPed to the shower! And it's not like it's hard... they can do it via email! All my relatives and moms' friends were very prompt... and I just had to send a reminder email to 10 of my besties.

Sigh.

Weight Loss

I hit 15 pounds lost today at my Weight Watchers meeting. I'm halfway to my goal, and only 2 pounds away from the coveted 10% mark! Here are some before-and-after photos...




I've been taking photos in a bathing suit too... but I'm saving those until the very end.

Happy Thursday, everyone. It's almost the weekend! (And half marathon training starts Saturday).