grab your umbrella.

ella.

ella.

(that is for you, jen weber...)

hello hello!

i must say my first bridal shower was almost like a flashback to my 5th birthday party at pawnee park. how often in our adulthood do we get a party with fabulous food, games & all eyes on you as you open present after beautiful present??! oh and wine. but i didn't know what i was missing in preschool....

i must thank aunt tricia, aunt nita (who flew in from colorado!) and aunt nancy for throwing me a lovely bridal shower --- my very first one!

here are my hostesses with the absolute mostesses (i know -- ginormous fail on the rhyme.)

the day was filled with gold & ivory & lace & incredible homemade party favors.

my fabulous matron of honor made the trip to join my new minnesota family in celebrating! isn't she just cute as a button?!

it was such a wonderful turnout! it's so humbling to see all of these new friends and family members come to wish us their best. to share in my excitement & not make fun of me for the smile that seems to be permanently planted on my face AND to saunter up to that bridal pictionary board like we were on the game show network. for the record...team bride won with a clutch point at the end. sorry joel.

after the shower, many of my guests stayed to help assemble the invites --- even uncle jim pried the corner embosser puncher thing away from me before i injured myself. i realized then that i could never be a scrapbooker.... i wish to thank ALL of you for helping to get those beauties in the mail! you should have seen the assembly line we had going -- and the contraptions that aunt tricia owns to make all of these masterpieces...and we're not talking pinking shears, folks. there was a sticky tape gun thingie that blew my mind.

joel's cousins stacey and anna (also our photographers) captured pictures throughout the afternoon & made this slideshow... i am so grateful for them to capture all of these moments since my phone has now become my camera. that's right, i honestly couldn't tell you where my real camera is right now. probably in harv's tummy.

speaking of harvey...he squeezed in a little snuggle time with his buddy ethan during the road trip. mind you, ethan & harvey get along just like brothers ----- constantly pestering one another.

after ethan woke up...
"hey ethan! you & harvey were cuddling! it was SO cute! i took a picture; do you want to see?"

no thank you.

sigh.

another memorable weekend in the books......my goodness we're creeping up to april 13th quite quickly, aren't we? :)

invites went in the mail on saturday! my parents stuffed the freshly assembled invites into the envelopes that aunt tricia individually embossed --- yes, she thought of embossing the envelopes --- i adore her. my mom has spent the past few weeks carefully addressing each one in her dainty & oh-so-perfect penmanship. i had her write out a cursive alphabet (upper AND lower case) on a piece of paper for me this past weekend. i am going to start practicing. and i'm not kidding. put that lost art right up there with letter-writing.

i hope all of the invites reach our loved ones unscathed. my mom meticulously packed them in two boxes, and we toted them to the post office here in des moines. we gingerly handed them over to the attendant, and she measured and weighed them, assuring us the sixty five cent stamp was ample postage for each item. we were quite pleased with ourselves & smiled at each other. and just at that moment, out of the corner of our eyes, we saw that same postal woman worker HEAVE the box on its side, its contents avalanching into the 'OUTGOING' bin. i thought my mom was going to have a heart attack. so yes...please tell us they made them to you in utterly perfect condition. ;)

and forgive us for the unconventional rsvp --- how can we buy more stamps from the woman that all but used her ugly black boot to ensure they all fit in that blasted bin.

no bridezilla here. :)

**ting ting**

....that's the sound i heard on the bathroom floor right after my alarm went off far too early yet again.

what was it?!!?

my wish!!!

i must briefly interrupt this story & wish everyone a belated happy heart day! i started off my morning with an adorable card from my adorable parents & ended it with ethan rushing to the door after work: "sarah! sarah! we've got a surprise for you!!"

and we were only supposed to exchange cards... thank you, my valentine(s)! :)

carrying on....at the beginning of august, i ordered personalized wish bracelets for all my bridesmaids & two personal attendants from an etsy shop.

aaaand one for the bride, of course. ;)

i had no idea how long these little buggers would last --- i have never personally worn one. a couple of the girls' fell off fairly quickly, but mine just hung on. it literally became a part of my wrist. me & my little black string excitedly boasting "bride". my little bracelet loved to come with me everywhere. i was starting to fret that, perhaps, she wanted to walk right down the aisle with me.

a few weeks ago, my dear friend jen (also a personal attendant) and i were instant messaging back & forth at work about some very important topic -- probably the headline on people.com for the day -- when all of a sudden she interjected:

"OMG!"

what?

"IT'S GONE"

what's gone?

"my wish bracelet! it's gone!!"

oh that's so fun!

"no! i don't know where it is!!!!"

i don't get it

"i don't know when i lost it!!"

umm...that's okay? now your wish can come true!!

"no! i want to find it!"

but...it's supposed to fall off...

at this point, i think she had left her desk & started retracing her steps for the day. :)

then i began to get paranoid over my charm...would i be able to find it and keep it forever? even though i was setting an imaginary deadline in my mind of when i'd start fumbling with the bracelet (i had even started wearing my big heavy watches over the top of it --- nothing. my little string had wits of steel), i began to more regularly check if she was still along for the ride. i mean -- my wrist would probably feel totally naked without her, right?!?

so i must say, i was happy that she didn't go quietly...i scooped her right up...it's faded out letters and all.

here's hoping she keeps her promise. :)

by the way --- jen found hers on her kitchen floor tucked under one of her cupboards.

and a word to the wise for any future wish bracelet wearers...don't cut your strings too close to the knot, even if they get so straggly you can barely stand it. silly notion or not, that little charm made me smile every time i glanced at it. a little reminder of the day i get to marry my valentine. my one.

coming up this weekend:

the too-cute-for words and TOTALLY handmade invite courtesy of Aunt Tricia...i'm so excited!!

no julia roberts here!

fret not, friends! my two month haitus was not the result of a 'runaway bride' tragedy. although, these lace lanterns HAVE become the bane of my bridal existence. but i shall save that rant for later in this entry...

hello!

it's been a while! grab a seat. grab a coffee. a lot of boxes have been checked on the endless to do list.

my darling german cousin posted on my timeline (which i'm still getting used to --- thanks mark z-something-long-last-name for shaking up my my facebook comfort zone) just yesterday: "11 weeks!" first of all -- YAY for trans-continental wedding visits! second of all -- OMG IS IT REALLY THAT CLOSE ALREADY??

okay....yes, it is saturday night. yes, i am blogging. no, i am not depressed by this fact in the slightest. this has been the first free weekend of 2012! cheers! my darling & i have had the most lovely weekend so far! we had our first popcorn and wine night of the year & watched 'moneyball' last night. the verdict is still out as to whether this is considered a 'joel movie' or a 'sarah movie'. it is CLEARLY not black & white, it is all about sports & nerdy math stuff & it is SOOOO a 'joel movie'. period. regardless of the fact that i totally enjoyed it.... :)

so what in the world have we been up to? holy moses...where to begin...

christmastime.

i had the engelbert christmas in omaha a couple weeks before christmas, but we actually spent the holiday in minnesota with joel's family (since i had my way for thanksgiving).

dad & sweet little lizzie --- she seriously hearts grandpa gerry:

one of my most fave presents was from my super incredible friend jen weber. i mean, seriously, how is this not the most fun thing ever??!!

my parents picked out a sweet sweatshirt for mister ethan robert:
annnnd harvey helped me bake. don't be fooled; he's not as angelic as he looks, & i don't think he was lurking all day just to critique my frosting skills.

before i knew it, december was gone-zo & we were already mid-january. this is when joel & i went to nebraska for a weekend of appointments. well....i had appointments. joel helped my dad change oil in my car & became immersed in ger-isms. i'd say he had the better end of the deal.

mom & i started with a floral appointment. first of all ---- flowers are stupidly expensive. and i don't normally call pretty things stupid. i have been utterly amazed throughout this process how MUCH things cost! holy cow! take heed, future brides....what you think REALLY matters....doesn't. nobody is going to notice the excess shallac'd oak in the schuyler ballroom after drink number whatever ---- so give up your dream of the complete elegant "coverage" and save yourself mucho mulah on hanging linens. okay, fine. that MIGHT have been what i had to pep talk to myself & will never pertain to anyone else in this world...but mind you, this was a breakthrough!

back to the flowers. after meeting with a local, small-shop, florist, we all came up with a plan that we think will knock your socks off. i am veering far off the beaten peony path & going with a brand new approach. get excited, guests. or at least pray (for my sake) that it's not a complete disaster. :)

off to meet with the decorator. again. reality check. "no, sarah, you may not use the parachute idea you saw on pintrest. do you have any idea how low that ceiling in the oak ballroom is??!"

(pout with head hung low)

apparently not

(pout)

needless to say, we're throwing many a chip into the lace lantern basket. oh lace lanterns and the little brat in the pintrest picture....why must you torment me so?

roxanne (joel's mom) and i spent NINE hours last weekend doing balloon after balloon after 12th balloon. a snapshot of them drying (as i crossed my fingers).

prior to starting...oh...the 9th balloon, i decided i needed to also start this:

there is STILL so.much.lace.left. (which will ultimately come in handy because i will beat myself to the punch & let you know that only approximately half of the above jerks actually turned out. and yes, i did call the balloon/lace/glue concoctions jerks. because they are. and i'm not kidding.

HOWEVER, roxanne & her "astro-physicist" (verbatim) yoga friend have discovered the trick. you poke those suckers with a hole the size of a pin prick & wait for them to deflate. even if it takes two days. you wait. and they will turn out. now that i know this, perhaps the final 7 or so won't be too bad. note to my guests: even if you hate these lanterns, please tell me they are the most fabulous things you've ever seen. thank you in advance. :)

i think that's enough wedding talk for one day. no worries ---- PLENTY more to come. in parting, my mom came over to des moines for a few bridal fairs. we decided to sample the photo booth. if i had an endless budget, i would love to have one of these beauties at the reception. i'm keeping this strip forever.