WWTK Q&A - Holiday Style!

1. What is your favorite holiday?
Thanksgiving and Christmas are a close tie, but I think Christmas wins by a nose. I love the snow, the music, the tree, and just the spirit of the season. It's lovely. Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite meal of the entire year which makes it a very close second.


2. Do you have any fun holiday traditions? What are they?
We always spend Christmas Eve with my parents. First we read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible, then we each get to open one present. I'm all for starting new traditions though! I've been trying to buy the kids a new ornament for the tree each year. So far none of my traditions are very exciting.


3. When do you start Christmas shopping?
January? There's no set time, we just buy stuff as we find it on sale and stuff it in the closet or attic. That way the kids get a bunch of cool stuff and we've spread the expense out over the course of the year.


4. What is your favorite holiday food?
Stuffing! I freaking love stuffing!


5. Share a favorite childhood holiday memory.

My mind is totally blanking on this, soooo last year was my favorite Christmas so far. Viv was just a few months old, but old enough to appreciate her presents. Logan had asked for 3 specific toys (from 3 different Santas) and he got SOOOO excited when he opened them. Kyle bought me the camera I wanted but then packaged it up like russian dolls complete with a brick tossed in to make it heavier and throw me off. It was just a great Christmas and I loved experiencing it with my little family. I'm sure this year will be even better!


6. Have you ever actually tried fruitcake??

No. I'm afraid.

Wedding A-Z - Part 2

MUSIC
A lovely friend and INCREDIBLY talented musician agreed to perform during our ceremony. She sang "Here Comes the Sun" while everyone took their places, "Sea of Love" (as performed by Cat Power) when I walked down the aisle, and "I'm Yours" while we greeted our guests as husband and wife.

Kyle and I put together a playlist on the ipod of all of our favorite songs to play at the reception.

We did our first dance to "Fade Into You" by Mazzy Star. I found this song on his ipod while we were on our 2nd date. It had always been one of my favorite songs but few people I knew had ever heard of it. It was one of the earliest things we bonded over so there was never any doubt that it would be our first dance song.

NEWLYWEDS

OCEAN
We decided to get married on the beach because it holds so many precious memories for us and because it's where we feel most at home (as long as bikinis aren't involved). We briefly considered a destination wedding but settled on a local beach so that all of our important guests would be able to attend.


PHOTOGRAPHY
Our photographers, Gina & Tony were INCREDIBLE! (They're also a really, really, really cute couple!) All of the pictures on this and the previous post were taken by them. I honestly can't say enough good things about their work. If it wouldn't make me seem totally narcissistic, I'd have our pictures plastered all over the house. Hell, I'd give them away as Christmas gifts. They're just gorgeous. I can look at them over and over and over. Tony and Gina were an absolute dream to work with. They totally understood our vision and they kept us laughing the entire time. They even rocked the house when we pulled out Rock Band at our reception! Hands down, best wedding photographers EVER. If you live in the Chicago area and need a photographer for any reason, I highly suggest that you look them up!

Gina & Tony Photographers

QUIET MOMENTS

RINGS

SOMETHING OLD . . . NEW . . . BORROWED . . . BLUE
Something Old - My "bridesmaid" Shannon let me borrow a family heirloom handkerchief. I returned the favor last year at her wedding by lending her a handkerchief that once belonged to my grandmother.
Something New - Kyle surprised me with beautiful blue topaz earrings the morning of our wedding day. He presented them in a silver jewelry box engraved with "I Only See You" which is the title of one of our favorite songs by Benton Paul.
Something Borrowed - I can't remember, but I think I counted the handkerchief as my "something borrowed" as well.
Something Blue - Our guests - all of the most important people in our lives - were my "something blue" since everyone came dressed in our color, as requested.


TRAVELING IN STYLE
Our officiant drove us girls to the ceremony site in his gorgeous motor-home. It was way better than a limo because it had a bathroom and when I get nervous, I pee. Frequently.


UNIQUE
I happen to think we made a lot of unique choices but the most meaningful for me was including Logan in the vows. It was important to us that he feel like it was just as much his day as it was ours - even though he was so young that the significance was completely lost on him. It was a really special moment for us

as it was the beginning of us as a family.

For something fun AND unique, we played Rock Band at the reception. Our photographers even joined in and kicked all of our asses!

VOWS
I pieced our entire ceremony together myself from little bits I found here and there. The end product was so very special to us. I'd like to have excerpts framed to include in a photo wall I'm planning for our living room.

"These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and vibrant with love, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as he promises to love you all the days of his life.
These are the hands that will work along side yours, as together you build your future, as you laugh and cry, as you share your innermost secrets and dreams.
These are the hands you will place with expectant joy against your stomach, until he too, feels his child stir within you.
These are the hands that look so large and strong, yet will be so gentle as he holds your baby for the first time.
These are the hands that will work long hours for you and your new family
These are that hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, for a lifetime of happiness.
These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes: tears of sorrow and tears of joy
These are the hands that will comfort you in illness, and hold you when fear or grief wrack your mind.
These are the hands that will tenderly lift your chin and brush your cheek as they raise your face to look into his eyes: eyes that are filled completely with his overwhelming love and desire for you. "

WALKING DOWN THE AISLE

Since Logan was the only special man in my life before Kyle came along, I thought it only fitting that he walk me down the aisle. Unfortunately, this involved a reeeeeeally long walk across the sand before we even made it to the ceremony spot. He wasn't even 2 yet so he walked as much as his little legs could handle then I just carried him the rest of the way. We sang the alphabet over and over the whole way there to keep him happy and focused. It's such a wonderful memory for me, it was one of my favorite moments of the whole day.

X-RATED

YOU MAY NOW KISS THE BRIDE!

Zzzzzz . . . THE END.

I really love looking at our wedding photos. Thanks for celebrating with me!

Three. Trois. Drei. Tre. Tres. San. 3.

It has been 3 years since my wedding day. In reflection, it seems like just yesterday I was walking down the aisle and yet it feels as though Kyle and I have already spent a lifetime together. It's hard to remember a time before him. He has brought so much happiness, stability, and calm into my life, I honestly don't know where I'd be if he hadn't come along when he did. I know I can always count on him to make sure I have clean jeans or dark clothes to wear (because he never washes whites or brights), to say "I told you so" when my crazy schemes don't work out, and to always, always, always try to blame his farts on one of the kids. He's a predictable guy, that husband of mine, and I love him for it. He's everything that I'm not.

I spotted this Wedding A-Z post over on The Juice is Worth the Squeeze (their wedding was SERIOUSLY AMAZING - go check it out) a few weeks ago and thought it would be a great way to celebrate here on the blog. You have to understand, of course, that very little about our engagement and wedding was traditional, so I've had to change up the categories a bit as many of the original headings just don't apply to our wedding. So for now, here are A-L with the rest to follow tomorrow, enjoy!

ATTENDING

We kept it very small and intimate with only about 30 of our very closest friends and immediate family. We also asked everyone to wear blue. Weird, I know, but everyone cooperated without so much as a grumble (to our faces, anyway) and it looked AMAZING in the group pictures. Besides, these are the people who mean the very most to us and we wanted to to feel as if they were all members of the bridal party. Mission accomplished!

BRIDESMAIDS

This is one of the major areas where we broke from tradition, I had 5 bridesmaids but none of them walked down the aisle or even stood up at the front with me. They stood in the audience - for lack of a better word - with everyone else. Basically, our bridesmaids and groomsmen were the only friends we invited to the wedding so they got the title with none of the hassle. My "Maid of Honor" was Lauren, my best friend/roommate from college. "Bridesmaids" were Kati - my oldest friend and the best wedding planning helper EVER, Ashley - another friend from middle school, and Shannon - an amazing new friend.

CAKE

We went with cupcakes to stick with our laid back vibe, but also had a small cake to cut for pictures. To surprise my husband, I asked the baker to make a strawberry cake, since that's his favorite. He was so surprised  when we finally cut into it and it was BRIGHT PINK. For the cupcakes, we just went with a plain white cake with light blue frosting and decorated with white chocolate shells and starfish. They were beautiful. And delicious!

DRESS

Finding THE dress was a bit of a fiasco. I initially bought a white maxi dress at the BCBG outlet while Kyle and I were visiting my BFF/Maid of Honor in Atlantic City. Kyle even paid for it (as he still reminds me). A few weeks later, I just wasn't happy with it. It's a pretty dress, but it just wasn't "bridal" enough. So, I took to the internets to find THE dress. Luck of all lucks, I found this STUNNING and PERFECT Nicole Miller gown on ebay for something like $40, but it was not to be. I got an email a week later that when the dress had been retreived from the warehouse, it was damaged beyond repair. I was CRUSHED! Honestly, I still dream about that dress. I checked out a few local bridal shops, but everything they had was too dressy for a casual beach wedding, so I headed back to the internets and found a lovely dress in a casual white jersey fabric. It was beautiful even if it wasn't THE dress. (The best picture I have of it is the above shot of my bridesmaids peaking out from behind me.)

ENGAGEMENT PICTURES

Believe it or not, I found our photographers on Craigslist. We were working on a really tight budget but I still wanted amazing pictures. I didn't know where else to look so I headed to Craiglist where I found Gina and Tony. It turns out, Gina and I went to elementary school together. Considering the school was pre-k thru 8th grade and still only housed well under 100 people, it's pretty odd that we would run into each other again. It was fate. They are AMAZING photographers with the exact style that I was looking for. We did our engagement pictures on the beach on a rainy day at the end of May. Luckily the storm cleared literally MOMENTS before we pulled into the parking lot and the hazy sky made for perfect lighting. We even frolicked in the freezing ass ocean! The pictures were totally worth the hypothermia.

FOOD

We kept the reception very casual, more like a family get-together, really. Our guests all brought covered dishes and we ordered some bbq from the best bbq place EVER. The food was amazing - all our favorite things were present - unfortunately, I was too excited and busy talking to everyone to finish my plate but we ate the leftovers for days after, so that was fine.

GROOMSMEN

Kyle's "Groomsmen" - Dwayne, Tony, and Dave - have been his best friends forever. They've been raising hell together since Elementary School or something like that. They took Kyle out to play paintball and eat crabs for his bachelor party.

HONEYMOON

We rented a beautiful home in Fenwick Island for our wedding reception and spent the following week there for our honeymoon. We were a short drive from all the Delaware and Maryland beaches and spent a whole lot of time soaking up the sun, strolling on the boardwalk, and doing cheesy beach tourist things like mini golf and lazer tag. I also had "Mrs. Lynch" airbrushed onto a tank top - easily one of the highlights of my week. It was so relaxing and amazing. AND, we celebrated my birthday during our honeymoon. Best. Birthday. Ever. Given the chance, I wouldn't change a thing. We're thinking about renting the house again for our 5th anniversary.

Celebrating a righteous mini golf victory!

INVITATIONS

Our wedding happened exactly 5 months after our first date so there wasn't really a whole lot of time for invitations. We made a lot of phone calls and sent out a link to our wedding page for more details. It turns out our wedding page still exists. Check it out HERE if you feel so inclined.

JEWELRY

I wanted to give my bridesmaids charm bracelets but couldn't find any that I liked so I made them. I also made myself one as well as a matching necklace. I was really happy with how all the jewelry turned out and the girls loved their bracelets!

KEEPSAKES

We did a photo guestbook instead of the traditional. My amazing "bridesmaid" Kati made sure that everyone got their picture taken with my mom's old polaroid, then stuck the pictures in a scrabook where they could each write us a message next to their picture. Some people wrote us really beautiful notes and the book means so much to me. We gave out champagne flutes with blue stems as our favors. They were a great find at the Dollar Tree and I made these tags to tie onto them to fancy them up a bit.

LADIES NIGHT

For my bachelorette party, we loaded up a car full of girls and headed to Atlantic City to meet up with my "Maid of Honor" Lauren. We stayed at Lauren's Aunt's house in Ventnor because it was super close to everything and free. We started the night out at a GREAT Italian restuarant where we were seated next to a bachelor party. I sent the bachelor a beer and he sent us back a bottle of wine. They ended up following us to a club after dinner and paid for all of our drinks for the rest of the nice and were just generally a whole lot of fun! They really MADE the night.

Come on back tomorrow for M-Z!

August: The Month of Milestones

August has been a rough month for me as a mommy. First, Vivienne turned 1 and it's been terribly traumatic for me. I know it shouldn't be, but since we're so back and forth on whether or not she'll be our last baby, her birthday means I have to accept that I may never have another teeny tiny baby who will nap in my arms. Those are some of my favorite memories with her and now that she's too big and busy to snooze with mommy, I miss that time so much! There are still rare moments when she snuggles in close and lays her head on my chest, and those moments make me certain that she won't be our last. Of course, an hour later when she screams at me and smacks a spoonfull of green bean puree out of my hand and onto my couch, and I have second thoughts all over again. I feel like we should give it a few years before we decide either way just so we have a better idea of what sort of diva behavior we're going to have to deal with from her.

Logan started preschool last week. I'm still coming to terms with the idea that I have a child old enough to go to school. Sure, it's just preschool, but there are teachers and lessons and I have to pack his lunch! It's serious. He was REALLY excited (and a little nervous) on his first day and hammed it up for the camera for the first time in a while. He's been doing pretty well at school so far. He really enjoys it, but he's still having some of the same issues we have at home with his behavior and aggression. Aggression really isn't the word I want, but it's closest to what's going on. He is so hyper and gets so excited and he just doesn't know what to do with it all, so sometimes it comes out as aggressive behavior. It happens with Viv at home. He gets so excited and wants to play with her so badly, he'll grab her arm and shake it up and down a little too hard. He's never hurt her but she's dramatic and if he so much as looks at her when she's in a bad mood, she screams bloody murder (I'm not at all exaggerating), so you can imagine the fuss she makes if he touches her against her will. At school he's been in trouble for throwing things and not listening. I think it all goes back to the same core problem, which is his boundless energy. Hopefully we can work with the teacher to come up with a solution that works for everyone. I'm extremely grateful that they still seem to adore him despite his behavioral issues. I didn't feel like that was happening at his daycare. His provider just seemed irritated and impatient with him all the time. At least at preschool I know that they see all of his amazing qualities and they want to work with us to harness all that extra energy into something more productive. The teacher got a kick out of him the first day when he told her "those kids don't have very good manners" because he was the only one who said "thank you" when she handed out their papers. He's such a smart little guy and says really unexpected grown-up things all the time and I love that they appreciate all of his amazing qualities. I'm feeling really positive about his school and his teacher and I think he's going to have an awesome experience!

He wanted pictures with each of us. Mommy was first. . .

. . . then Daddy and Viv. I can't believe I got EVERYONE smiling!

Logan and his teacher, Miss Tammy.

Still to come later this week will be pictures from Viv's Enchanted Snow White party!

 

Hope all my East Coast readers made it through the hurricane unscathed!

 

We Want to Know Q&A

One of the best parts of my Wednesday is reading We Want to Know with Mamarazzi and Alicia aka Queso, but I've never participated . . . until today.  I haven't posted in a while (I know this because my mom reminds me constantly), so this week I figured I'd join in the fun. Heck, I might even jump on this train permantly. Why not, right? All aboard . . .

1. What is the best advice someone has ever given you?

When I was younger and would go to my mom for relationship advice, she would always tell me something to the effect of "You have to decide what you can live with and what you can't." In other words, no one is going to be perfectly, exactly what you want them to be. You just have to decide if the particular characteristic or habit that's upsetting you is something trivial that you can just learn to ignore or is it a deal breaker? It's pretty basic advice but it helped me make some tough decisions and it's wisdom that I've passed on to nearly all of my friends at some point in time.

2. What is your greatest accomplishment?

My family, without a doubt. Several years ago when it was just me and my little guy, I had moments of complete panic, afraid that no man would ever come along and want to love us. I was fortunate, however. Before long I met my husband and 5 months later we were married. Suddenly, I had my soul mate, Logan had a father, and I could focus all of my efforts on being the best mother and wife I could be. There are always challenges, but I feel good knowing that we take them on as a team. Since our Princess Baby joined the clan, the dynamic has changed, but as always, we take it all in stride. Together. I'm so proud of the parents that we have become. We certainly aren't perfect, but we give it our all and every day we strive to do better, to BE better for them.

3. Who do you admire?

My mom would be the obvious choice, or even my grandmother, but for the sake of being less cliche . . . I've always admired certain skills and characteristics in others and if you look at my group of friends you'll see that I tend to surround myself with people who embody all of those traits that I so desperately wish to possess but probably never will. I admire people who are totally confident and secure in who they are and don't care what others think, because being happy with yourself is more important than being popular. I admire people who literally "dance as if no one's watching". I admire people who are strong and outspoken and refuse to back down when they know they're right. I admire people who are just so likeable and charismatic that everyone loves them and wants to be around them. I admire those parents who are totally laid-back and calm and don't freak out when their kids do ridiculous things or act like heathens in public.

I could probably write an entire post about the amazing people in my life and the qualities I admire most in them . . . maybe I will. But I'll stop here for now.

4. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?

Wow. I could go with any of the qualities I just listed above, but I think the most important thing for me is that I wish I had some sort of direction in life. At 26, I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. Obviously, being a mom and a wife is a dream come true, but I want more. I want to do something with my life, something I enjoy, I just don't know what that is yet. In college, I went through 3 different majors in 3 years and still wasn't satisfied that I was on the right path. I decided to take a year off to stop wasting money while I decided what I wanted to do with my life, and here I am 6 years later no closer to having it all figured out.

5. How do you want to be remembered?

I made my husband promise to outlive me, so mostly I hope that he'll join me soon because I'll be lonely (but not too soon, I want him to live a full, happy life with or without me). I want my kids to remember me as being fun and silly, but also being a ferocious mama bear whenever they needed me. Though it may not be until they become parents themselves, I hope that one day they'll appreciate all of my rules and understand that I just wanted to help them become the best people they could be. I hope that they'll always know that I love them for who they are - NO MATTER WHAT- and I hope that they always feel like their mom supported them in everything. I hope that they remember me as always having time for them and making that a priority over everything else. Our home may be noisy and chaotic and usually a total mess, but it's full of love, laughter, and fun and that trumps being clean any day.

Happy Birthday Vivienne!

No matter how big you get, you will always be our tiny little princess!

We love you so much!!!