Does It Feel Real Yet?

It all began on March 6th. It was a beautiful, warm and sunny day. Some might say it was the perfect weather condition to have a special event. I woke up and all I had were butterflies. I could not figure it out for the life of me except that they needed to disappear fast. I spent a large portion of my morning hanging out with one of my bridesmaids and getting ready. However, the butterflies were still there. I went to lunch with a few of my close gals and had a wonderful time catching up with them. Afterwards it was time for us to head to my first bridal shower, we all drove to my aunt's home where my nerves took over all of my emotions. Still could not figure out why they were there. I arrived with a warm welcome from my mum's friends, both of my aunts, Bryan's family and some of my gals. We played games and laughed. Oh the laughing. Naturally, I embarrassed myself but I had just the best time! We ate some delicious food my aunts and mum made along with desert. My heart was full of bubbles at this point, but the nerves, yes, they still were there!

It came time to open presents. I loved every item Bryan and I received for our new life together. It meant so much to me to be surrounded by all the wonderful people in Bryan and I's life. We truly are blessed, I thought. I read each card. There was one card that caught my attention, and it allowed me to solve the mystery of my nerves and butterflies. In the card, it said, Does it feel real yet? That was the answer. You see, until that day, pieces of it felt real. The registering, finding a place to call home and making decisions about our future. However, on March 6th, I realized I am actually getting married. Not just, Oh I think we are going to get married. Bryan and I have dreamt for this day for a long time. Six years of being together can do that to you! However, when people were asking me questions about Bryan and I together, I was opening gifts we would place in our home together and my mum and best friend had sparkles in their eyes because they knew in their hearts I was marrying the most perfect guy for me, it made it all feel very real. My nerves are gone now and are replaced with pure excitement because a little over three months from now, I am going to be marrying a man who is my whole world, my best friend!

Enjoy some of the shots taken at my bridal shower by my good friend, Stacy!

(I know this post was long overdue, but I am glad I got these pictures up finally!)

Girls Weekend.

I wish I was still at the Lake. For the three days I was there, I forgot about everything that has been going on in our lives. The calm voice of the Lake, the laughter heard from every woman there, and the cute faces of the girls that I couldn't get enough of. What a great weekend it was. For the first time, Bryan's mom's side of the family decided to have our first annual "Girls Weekend." I cannot express how much fun it was to get away and spend some time with all the wonderful gals. There were aunts, nieces, granddaughters, daughter-in-laws, a future daughter-in-law, and mothers. Most of what I will always remember from this weekend is the laughter. It makes me smile every time when I think of how much we laughed that weekend. I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard that tears were strolling down my face. I've said it once, and I will say it again, but I am one lucky gal to get to marry into one heck of a family! Enjoy the pictures. Much love.

Blog Makeover.

Wow, I need to get back in the swing of writing here more!

In other news, I am sure you have recognized a little blog makeover. I really like the black background and colors. I hope you all noticed that pictures (oh the fabulous pictures) were added as well. I know what you are wondering, and you are correct. We got our engagement pictures in yesterday, and we love them! Kelly Manno is pretty spectacular, and I highly suggest her to any of our friends and families. I don't know if there was a picture I disliked even slightly. She captured Bryan and I's personalities not to mention our style very well. She basically rocks! If you have a Facebook account, they are posted on my profile. Check it out!

I have pictures and a recap to post sometime this week of the first annual "Girls Weekend" with Bryan's mom's side of the family. 14 gals + yummy food + delicious drinks + one lake side house = a blast. Stay tuned. Love.

Congrats Jordan and Annie!

I was not kidding when I said I had a lot to blog about! This past weekend was...how do I put it... simply amazing! It was a weekend devoted to spending time with both of our families. This post is dedicated to Bryan's cousin, Annie and her new hubby, Jordan. Now, I must start off by saying Bryan and I had tickets to the Coldplay concert in St. Louis-we LOVE Coldplay! After we bought the tickets, we found out about Annie's wedding causing us to sell them to a friend. I will say the wedding was worth every minute of being in attendance to the concert. (It might help that we saw them already once this year.) Their wedding was beautiful last Friday afternoon, but in my opinion, you can never go wrong with an outdoor wedding! I remember the whole night being an absolute blast. I told Bryan when we were getting ready to go how much I adored his family. There is never a boring moment b/c everyone is always doing something to make you laugh or just having fun! The celebration did not stop at the reception. It continued on at the Himmel household, which only got better as the night progressed! Opening presents Saturday morning was a great time as well. I, for one, will say Annie was glowing with happiness, and it made my heart bubble with happiness! You might notice a tequila bottle in one of the pictures. Let's just say that little bottle made for some of the best entertainment the night before! Another plus to their wedding was I got to use my camera. I definitely learned some things, but I am pretty pleased with how the pictures turned out for the most part! After the wedding, we made a stop at little Izzy's first birthday party at a park in Troy! I don't have words to describe how cute this little girl is. Take my word for it when I say she just is. Love.

The Fray.

Gorgeous outdoor theatre-check. My best friend-check. Three amazing bands-check check check. Last Wednesday, Bryan and I went to see a band I have long awaited to see-The Fray at the Starlight Theatre (check out picture below). What I did not know until recently was Jack's Mannequin was one of the opening bands. Needless to say, it was one amazing concert. I think it might tie in second place with Brad Paisley's concert (Coldplay still remains number one and always will I believe). What I loved about this concert was how the lead singer interacted with the crowd. He told us about all those days when he was younger how he had to wake up at 4 in the morning to open a coffee shop and work late hours. He continued to tell the crowd how grateful he was for their fans to allow them to do something they love. The encore gave me goosebumps and made me tear up (surprise surprise) when he was talking about the world right now and how hard life is for some people with the economy and wars going on. While they played "Happiness" as their final encore song, it made me realize how lucky I am to be surrounded by such wonderful friends and family not to mention one heck of a future hubby! Shout out to my amazing fiance: Thank you, B, for the awesome tickets and for a wonderful date night! I love you.

Main Street St. Charles.

Oh do I have some catching up to do on here. On my last post, I mentioned I would comment on the new Harry Potter movie that came out. I know there were many that loved the movie. However, as an avid reader of all the books, I was not as impressed with the sixth movie. Please do not get me wrong. I thought it was good, but not as good as some of the past Harry Potter movies. I know there was a lot that happened in the sixth book, and to cram it all in one movie that was long to begin with, would have been hard. However, I wish they would have included some of the major details they did not include in this movie. On the flip side, I thought this one was hilarious. Martha and I sat by one another, and I think at one part of the movie (when Harry is a little happy), we could not stop laughing. I'm pretty sure we embarrassed Ryan and Bryan. I am hoping that splitting the seventh movie will avoid leaving out some of the important details.

Moving on, the engagement pictures were awesome; we were blessed with weather that is not heard of in the middle of July-70s and partly sunny! I know what you are thinking..."Whhhhaaaaattt." We were thinking the same. Bryan and I had so much fun with Kelly. Exciting news with Kelly: she is pregnant with her third child! I think it must be baby booming time because there are over a handful of people I know who recently got pregnant that are due in January and February of 2010. Anyways, I want to take a moment to tell everyone if you ever need a photographer, look into Kelly Manno! Bryan and I felt like we were on an adventure with her going all over St. Charles. She has an eye for this stuff because she would bring us to the neatest and most fun spots to take pictures. We will hopefully get those back in the next month or so, so be on the look out for them. I know we both are very excited to see them!

Afterwards, we decided to ventured around Main Street since we never get a chance to enjoy that part of town. Not to mention, it gave me a chance to take my new camera out and play with it. It was so much fun. We had breakfast in this cute coffee shop and some ice-cream later on. I love places that look like Main Street. We ventured into some of the antique shops and found some neat things. I would love to live in that part of town.

Here were some of the pictures I took. Love.

Cannot Sit Still.

The title of my post pretty much sums up how I feel today. Why you ask? Many reasons. The first of which is getting to see Harry Potter tonight with Bryan and our roommates, Martha and Ryan. I did not want to fight the crowds at the movie theaters yesterday, so we opted to wait a day. I do not think it will be any better, which is why you will find me in line waiting, so we can get some good seats and enjoy the AWESOME movie I have long awaited for. A review will be awaiting soon afterwards.


The second reason mainly has to do with the amazing weekend that awaits us! We are heading...you guessed it...to good ol' St. Louis. What might you ask excites us about this weekend's visit from any other? First up, we have our engagement pictures with our AMAZING photographer, Kelly Manno, in Main Street St. Charles. (Check out the link on the right under "Blog Love" to see her blog full of more wonderful images.) So far, the weather is going to be perfect for our engagement pictures-mostly sunny with a high in the 70s. WHAT?! In the middle of July. My thoughts exact! Hey, I am not complaining. We have a meeting with Father Don that afternoon, so instead of driving around all over town and back to Main Street, Bryan and I decided to spend the remainder of the morning walking around Main Street and grabbing a bite to eat. If you have never been, Main Street is full of cute little shops, cobble stone walking paths, and this cute, old town feeling that I love! (Check out the picture from Skyscraper Forum to see what I mean.) After our meeting, we plan on heading to Troy for the annual, best, most favorite time (excluding all holidays) of the year for Bryan and I-Lincoln County Fair! Not only are we possibly going to be blessed with lovely weather, but Blake Shelton is going to be the main performer. Who is excited? This gal. After a fun-filled Saturday, I hope to spend part of Sunday morning relaxing on Bryan's mom and stepdad's sunroom reading "Gracious Living in a New World" by Alexandra Stoddard (I am going to meet this woman once in my lifetime-she is an unbelievable and inspires me in more ways than one!) and sketching! Life is fabulous. Have a wonderful weekend! Love.

Stumbled Upon.

Disclaimer: This is not wedding related.

Now that we have that past us, I would like to share some new blogs I stumbled upon. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a drive for creativity. I love everything art related-food (yes, i am considering it an art-related topic), photography, jewelry design, scrapbooking, graphic and interior design, and the list goes on. Anyone who knows me, also knows that I have about ten different ambitions I intend on doing in my lifetime. If you ask me, I am very much right-brained. As for the first blog, I am in LOVE, LOVE with: This Young House. A 27 year old couple restored an amazing old house into something that I just do not have words to describe. If you have some time, take a look around their website. I was basically drooling while going through their house tour. (Still trying to find a word to describe what I think but am stumped.) Not only is this house in VA (I want to live there SO bad!), but it sits on a size of land that Bryan and I are determined to find when we build our first house together! It even looks a little like the house we dream about. (We did happen to find our dream home on our way to the Irish bar in Weston over the weekend. Hopefully, next time we go by it, we can snap a few photos!) I promise you, if you hop on over to this site, you will not be disappointed! (A glimpse of the adorable house below. It is breathtaking inside.)















The next two blogs are so fun! The first one is Absolutely Beautiful Things. Being a gal who loves vintage and modern, this interior designer in Australia combines both styles to create masterpieces. Do hop on over and check out her fun finds. The second blog is about possibly my most favorite interest: food. This woman is a genius. Joy the Baker has the most delicious things on her site to make! Bryan and I tried one of her recipes out this weekend. Some delicious herb oven-baked potato fries! I cannot even begin to tell you how YUMMY this easy, blissful food was to make! I could have eaten the whole pan. Who am I kidding, I would have eaten the whole pan if I didn't have to share with Bryan.

I hope you all enjoyed some of my new finds today! Pictures from our awesome Fourth of July weekend will be following shortly this week. Stay tuned. Love.

Happy Fourth of July!

Three day weekend. Say that again with me. Three day weekend. I love saying those words. They are simply bliss. Next say with me: beer, BBQ, fireworks, pool, no work, and summertime. Yes, all these words are the epitome of summer and 4th of July. This is one of Bryan and I's favorite holidays. Especially Bryan. Why you ask? Oh no reason except it is the one time in a year he can buy a TON of fireworks and electrical tape to create his infamous "Sparkler Bombs." Note to friends and family: please keep at least 10 feet distance from these "Sparkler Bombs." I got the chance to watch my lovely, I mean manly, handsome (now) fiance become overly excited about these creations of his (more so than when he watches his car shows) last summer at his uncle's 4th of July party. Pictures will coming soon from our KC fun-filled weekend!

I hope everyone has a safe, fun, and Happy Fourth of July weekend! Don't forget to sport some red, white, and blue for the awesome country we live in! Love.

Exciting!

Happy Thursday or shall I say One-Day-Until-The-Weekend! This weekend will be my one weekend at home, and I cannot be more excited. (Although, Bryan will be in StL with all his pledge brothers celebrating the last night of one his pledge brothers being a bachelor, so I will miss him dearly.) This weekend is extra special b/c it's my roommate's birthday! Sounds like we are going to have a good time.

Since I blogged last, a lot has happened. First of all, my kick butt fiance sent me a lovely surprise last Friday. I blogged about this last Thursday, but Friday was one year until our wedding-exactly. Much to my surprise, with packing and moving to a new building, I literally forgot about Friday even though I blogged about it Thursday. (This does not happen often.) However, Bryan came over to my apartment for some dinner before heading to StL, and kept asking me about a surprise at work. All who know me, know I watch Friends (TV show) to a sick level, which in translation is ALL the time. I was so focused on the episode when Joey finds out about Monica and Chandler that I wasn't listening to Bryan. Poor guy. After the show was done, he continued to ask about a surprise. I kept thinking surprise at work was another word for layoffs. Don't ask. I kept saying no. He looked a little disappointed. I asked why. He told me he had sent me lilies at work since it was one year exact until our wedding day. (OH MY GOSH. Sweetest man ever.) Now you can all imagine how I am feeling and thinking. I felt happy, floored, shocked, and almost in tears (it doesn't take a lot ladies and gentlemen). However, I was thinking, how did I let that slip my mind today of all days! I told him how that day was my last day at that building since I was going to the new building Monday. We tried to go after we ate dinner to see if they got delivered. They never did. On Monday, I got them, with the SWEETEST card. Seriously, how did I get so lucky?! Anyways, here they are below. I love them, and they smell like bliss at my desk!






















Onto the weekend. Emily and CJ got married! Congrats!!! Their wedding was gorgeous being at the Larimore Plantation in StL. The details were quite lovely. The wedding party was stunning! The company was wonderful! Emily made a breathtaking bride and CJ just looked like the happiest man to be marrying the breathtaking bride. So cute. She was teary-eyed the whole ceremony, which shows you how much it meant to her. Even though I was sitting in the back, I could see CJ just smiling and reassuring her it's ok. Too cute. Actually, it was my favorite part of the whole wedding. Their parents were just beaming with happiness as well! I loved both their moms. They were NOT afraid to start showing their moves with all of us girls. My other favorite part was watching Bryan dance like a stud even though he is in the process of his knee healing (he is doing awesome by the way!). I love LOVE going to weddings with him. He makes his own fun, never is afraid of what others think or of a good time, and just dances the night away! I just could not stop smiling the whole night. Too fun. Now for the pictures!






























































We only have ONE reception and ONE more wedding left this summer. We have ONE more after this summer in October of some VERY special friends of ours. It is extra special because it is Bryan's best friend from home, Zach. He is the best man, and I am one of the bridesmaids. I can't wait for their wedding! We actually get to see them over the 4th of July weekend; we're heading to the lake for that weekend, which is going to a nice change from KC and StL. Plus, who doesn't love three day weekends!

Last but not least, I had to blog about this. For last night's date night, Bryan and I went to see the movie Up! Yes, it is a kid movie. However, I can't remember the last time I have laughed so much at a kid movie. It was cute, witty, hilarious, sweet, sad, and an all around WONDERFUL movie. I highly recommend it to anyone especially if you have kids or are a kid deep down inside (like Bryan and I!). I want to see it again. I should get going as I have blogged a book today. Hope everyone is staying cool in the HOT HOT HOT Midwest weather this week!