Unity Sand

This is our Unity Sand vase.

I would like to get some sand from Grave's Lake where my grandparent's have had their camper for as long as I can remember. I spent a lot of time there growing up & wish it was easier for me to get up there nowadays. My grandma and I would play Yahtzee or walk the circle while Papa was out fishing. And at 10pm one gentleman would play Taps on his trumpet. Oh and I loved waking up to the sound of the loons on the water.

Another place we thought about getting sand was from Park Point in Duluth. Joe and I both grew up next to Lake Superior and of course the beach is full of sand. Haha. The sand at Grave's Lake is a little lighter in color than the sand found on Park Point so you'd be able to see the two color intertwined together.

I'm headed home for my cousin Cody's Grad party tonight and Joe made it safely to Alaska yesterday. He said he is surrounded by mountains. Lucky dog. Happy Weekend Everyone!

44 DAYS

I completely spaced out blogging yesterday. Maybe it's because I don't know what to post about at the moment or because lately I've been so busy. Who knows. My weekdays have become insanely filled with something going on every day. Things started picking up last week and will continue through next Friday. Take a look at this week for example: Monday I had dinner with my girlfriends, Tuesday I had to start my Health Assessment with the U of M, last night Joe & I went to Sadie's soccer game, this morning I had to drop Joe & our roommate John off at the airport at 5am so they could catch a flight to Alaska & tomorrow I head home for the weekend since Joe is gone. Ay Ay Ay!

And....I already miss Joe.

It's going to be a long weekend until Monday morning at 6am when I pick him back up!

Yesterday we receieved 600 of our napkins. Hoping the last 150 come soon. We also have been sending out invites here and there as we get a "no" or two since the first batch was sent out. The last six invites were sent out on Tuesday so I can officially say we're done with the invites. Haha. I've been playing around with our Wine/Beer Menu & programs on Photoshop. I am so excited about these:) I think people will be surprised with our programs as well. They're a little...um...untraditional but still are traditional at the same time if that makes sense.

On to the next thing....

Salud!

Can I just say even though it's really 100 degrees outside right now I'm feeling a little chilled? Yep. The AC is pumping hard in our office I get this constant flow of air right by my desk making it a little unbearable at times. Days like these make me so excited to hopefully become a school nurse one day so I can have the summers off and actually enjoy them! Guess only time will tell.

Yesterday I started working on our drink menus for each of the dinner tables. Joe and I have made five different types of wine and Joe made nine different brews so we want our guests to know what we've been working on since September. 



Joe filling the tub with water so the labels are easier to peel off.



Two carboys filled with beer! Well, almost beer.



We seriously need more space at the house when Joe is in the process of making his beer. Not only does he take up the whole kitchen (I won't even try to make dinner/be in the kitchen when he first starts each batch) but we have beer related items all over the house. From the carboys to the millions of bottles we around for bottling. Each batch makes around 40-50 bottles, so times that by nine batches and we really look like a bunch of drunks. Good thing we still have a roommate who likes beer because I do not help Joe with the emptying of bottles. (Don't worry, we've had to buy new bottles and Joe got a bunch from a coworker so he's not a drunk either:)

So back to the drink menu. I've been playing around a little bit in Photoshop and think we're going to take a normal 8 1/2 x 11 and fold it like a book. On one side we'll have the beers and on the other side the wine. I even used Photoshop to spruce up a picture of a milk can to throw on there. (Joe and I took home a very rusty one from his Grandparent's farm on Sunday!). It's simple but I love it.

We'll have to head to the Paper Depot again where we got all our paper for the invites and pick out something for the drink menus as well as some for our programs but it's just another little detail I am loving:)

Table Runners

Hello 90 degree Monday. Wish I could be bathing in your warmth but once again I am at work. (I must have a job. I must have a job. I must have a job.) This past weekend Joe and I made the trek home. Saturday my Mom, Sadie and I ran a few errands. We picked up some goodies for our dessert table and found Sadie a few grad picture outfits. I even picked up a few summery things for the honeymoon:)

After my Mom and I spent about two hours cutting fabric for the table runners. A half hour into our drive on Friday I realized I forgot my camera so I only have a few pictures of some of the fabric. But before I show you those, let me back up since this project has taken a couple weeks so far to get to even this point.

I wanted to do something to our dinner tables to give the room a bit more color. We're having white table cloths, white napkins, mason jars with white candles, white Christmas lights....you see where I'm going with this? I love white and all but we needed something else for that "pop" of color. I've seen a few weddings use table runners and thought it might be the way to go. I've also gone back and forth on only having one pattern for all the tables or if I should mix it up a bit (second guessing myself yet again!). Let me tell you, finding enough fabric for 39 tables is hard enough finding them in all sorts of patterns so we have lots of styles. The first fabric stop I made a few weekends ago was with Kelly and we ventured into Hancock Fabrics. They had a sale going on so I was able to get all but one fabric at 50% off. I purchased five different patterns each at 2 2/3 yards which would give me three runners for five tables.

Then last Tuesday, I went to a fabric warehouse in Brooklyn Park called SR Harris. It's a 30,000 sq. foot building filled with everything fabric related. Literally, shelves were filled with fabric up to the ceiling. They had cotton, silk, polyester, leather and I could go on and on. Jill, my coworker went with me and thank goodness she did because she knew her way around the store, what would be good for runners and also has a good eye for what works and what doesn't. I couldn't find a true navy without action figures or musical instruments on it surprisingly but I managed to get seven different patterns of all shades of blue consisting of polka dots, flowers, stripes and many more patterns. Plus, everything was 50% off again!! Gotta love a sale!

My Mom and I got them ready to hand off to my Grandma who is going to use her sewing magic and hem up the sides for me a bit. I will warn you, I am not the straightest of cutters so if you see them, the edges may be a little wonky. Oh well:)

Sunday before we left Joe and I had our first pre-marital counseling session! It was a little different than I expected because our Pastor did most of the talking and we didn't really have to share our thoughts too much. We took a personality test, well a small portion of one and confirmed once again how opposite Joe and I truly are. He's a thinker and I'm a feeler. No big surprise there. We are meeting up with him again next week in Hinckley since he had to reschedule from our other weekend in June. I'm thinking we'll have to do more of the talking next time.

50 smackaroos!

We're down to 50 days. 50 more days of spelling "Micke" and hearing "M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E" from Joe's grandpa. 50 more days of being engaged, having a 'fiance' (which I really can't stand saying because it makes me sound stuck up or something) to saying I'm married and 'my husband'. Oh I love saying that. Husband. Maybe I'll call Joe that from now on instead of his actual name. "Husband! What's for dinner?" or "Husband! Can you get me a glass of water as long as you're up?" Hmmm....

Last night I had my volunteer orientation at the U of M Fairview Hospital. I have a few more hoops to jump through before I actually get on a unit but I'm on my way! When I got home, Joe and I went on a little picnic. June 2nd marks our "half anniversary" (lame I know:). He asked me to be his girlfriend on December 2, 2008 so every June we celebrate by having a picnic down by the river over looking the buildings of downtown St. Paul. I don't have a picture of us from there but here's an idea of where we are...

Yep. Right under that huge tree. This picture was taken this past spring when the Mississippi flooded. And just so you know, Joe doesn't remember these dates - June or December. He told me he'll only worry about remembering July 23rd because that's the "real one" ha. June 2nd is my doing but it's fun to have an excuse to grab some Subway and head on down and have a picnic.

Where we came from...

I've had the fun job of scanning in our old pictures for the slide show while Joe gets to do the dirty work and actually make it:) There are some I would personally like to bury deep in the pile (braces, high water pants, wearing my Elmo shirt in my teen years when it really should have been burned back in the 4th grade) but it all makes us into who we are. Shall we take a stroll down memory lane with a few of my favorites?

Joseph Thomas



Sarah Marie 

I said just a few. The good stuff will be shown during the slide show:) Believe me, you won't be disappointed and I even promise a few laughs. Really, these pictures are that good! Yesterday I ordered 750 yellow napkins for the dessert table. Instead of having to get biodegradable bowls or little cups for people to fill up with cookies, cheesecakes and M&M's we went for the cheaper solution. I'm not too worried about it and honestly don't have a better idea. If people need more than two handfuls of goodies they can unfold the napkin and make it bigger. And I don't even know if the yellow napkins will match the yellow fabric I picked out! Gasp!! I think I'm beginning to not fret the little things! Oh glorious day!!!

Twine Party!

I can officially say, "I'm getting married next month". Holy macaroni. I've been counting down since March of 2010 and now that it's almost here is hard to grasp that it's going to happen. And soon! Honestly, I'm at the point where I'm ready to be done with wedding planning and I've actually felt this way for the past few months. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Joe and I are having a day to celebrate with family and friends and I would do it all over again but it takes up so much of your time and money. I just want it to be July 23rd so we can actually become husband and wife, go on our honeymoon and start the married life.

Ok...enough with the pity party I'm having with myself because of all this planning needs to be done in order to marry my best friend, enjoy a super fun day and then leave on a ten day trip. Did I mention I'll be away from my desk at work for a full two weeks!?!?! OK, I guess the next 52 days aren't really that bad if I get to do all that...:)

Joe and I have been getting a lot done for the big day. As you read in yesterday's post we had a busy Saturday but the fun didn't stop there! No sirree! Sunday our friends Chad & Kelly came over for a bonfire that night but before we got outside, Kelly and I had a little "Twine Party". What is this you ask? Let me explain. Awhile ago I shared this picture with you...

I was on the fence of whether or not I should put the twine (or whatever it is, I really can't tell) around the neck of the mason jars and Kelly said..."Do it". So I did. On Saturday I originally picked up some hemp used for making necklaces because it was similar to what was in the picture was showing and I wasn't finding anything else I liked. (There I go again, being indecisive and all.) Anyway, I picked up Micheal's stock of hemp they had on the shelf and told Joe, "I'm going to get Kelly's opinion before we actually do it." He probably gave me an eye roll or five. 

Then Sunday afternoon we went to Menard's to get grass seed and look at some table saws for Joe. As we were making our way to their Garden Center, I spied with my little eyes this

It's called Sisal. I picked myself up two 525' rolls of this for $4.98! Way cheaper than Michael's so I'll be returning the hemp. And I'll probably be able to return one of the sisal rolls so this project will cost me a grand total of $2.49. Booya. I'm still not 100% sure this is what is used in the picture I had but I like the rustic look of it. So as you can probably guess, I had the perfect ingredients for a Twine, er Sisal Party - me, Kelly, sisal and a ton of mason jars. Kelly even had the great idea of putting the candles in the jars while we wrapped them with sisal so I crossed two things off my list! Props to you, Kelly!!

I have about five more dozen jars to do but it didn't take us much time at all. It also gave us a chance to catch up me a chance to talk Kelly's ear off and I'm pretty sure the boys were jealous of our Twine Party.