It Has Been Awhile....

Since I have posted!

I have been out of control, crazy busy. I have no communication with the outside world during the week and on the weekends all I want to do is SLEEP and lounge around. I miss chatting with my sisters and my weekly visits to my brother and sisters house and visiting and playing with the kids. I miss hanging out with my parents at night and watching TV (when I get home all I do is go upstairs to bed) I miss doing things with my friends and I miss spending time with my fiance! I am missing out on a lot but it will be worth it.
Why am I so busy you ask? Well...I have been student teaching and it takes up a LOT of my time. Along with student teaching I am working and going to seminars for school every once in awhile.

Needless to say, I have time for nothing other than student teaching and work. I have not done much wedding planning except we did book a DJ, but wedding planning has come to a slow halt and I am sure it will pick back up in January! The big stuff is done so I am not too worried.
I am sorry to those 4 people who actually read my blog about not posting but its just been to crazy around here. I am counting down the days till Dec. 11th when I am done student teaching and Dec. 19th when I graduate with my masters and teaching certificate! :)

Another reason I have not posted is because I do not want to give too much away about the wedding. I have talked a lot about what we are going to do and from here on out I want things to be surprise to my guests!

So farewell for now, I will post when I can but check back around the holidays!! :)
Happy Halloween
Happy Thanksgiving
Merry Christmas
Happy New Year
and have great days!
(That should cover everything I will be missing while I am not posting!)

8 Years and Counting!!

**February 13th, 2009**

So this post has been a long time coming and I haven't had time to work on it yet. Me and Mark celebrated our 8 year anniversary on February 13th, 2009. It was an especially special anniversary because we are now engaged.

I have had some of the best times of my life with Mark, we have been through a lot, but in the end we have come out of everything together, if not stronger. I love him like crazy and I cannot wait until I am married to him. One thing that Mark does every year of our anniversary is get me an engraved frame with our names, the date of our anniversary, and how many years it is. So far I have 8! They are so fun to look at because we have both changed so much over the years and its fun to look back on. So I scanned all of our yearly pics that our in my frames today and here they are! So Mark...thanks for 8 great years and here's to MANY MANY MORE!!

I love you!

1st Year Anniversary

This one is priceless! We both look so young and you can see it. This was our first year. Mark "made" me dinner (later I found out he picked it up at Buca Di Beppo, where he was working at the time) and we dined on lemon chicken and had raspberry cheesecake for dessert (too bad I don't like cheesecake, but I tried it anyway!) We also sipped on sparkling grape juice while eating at a fold table in his room listening to water sounds on his stereo. Afterwards we went downtown to see Blue Man Group and then we went to Baskin Robbins on our way home....it was fun and special, and I am actually surprised by my great memory!!

2nd Year Anniversary

I love this picture...this is our 2nd year anniversary and I think this is one of my favorites out of the eight. April took this picture while we were on our way to tabbagon(not sure about the spelling but it is where you sled down on those sleds). Once again we both look so young! Actually to be honest, I don't remember what we did for our 2nd year anniversary!!

3rd Year Anniversary

This is our 3rd year picture. It was taken when me and Mark went to Ixtapa Mexico for Spring Break our sophomore year of college. It was a fun time spent hanging out by the pool and going on a scary snorkeling trip! I think that we saved our money up to take this trip for our anniversary so once again I cannot remember exactly what we did on Feb. 13th but I know we saved for this trip...and it was very nice! This is also the year me and Mark took a "break" (geez, I hate that word, and breaks are stupid!) I'm grateful it didn't last too long and we both learned about ourselves during this and I definitely think it made us stronger!

4th Year Anniversary

This is our fourth year picture. I think that for our fourth year we went out to eat at Biaggi's where Mark had worked. This was the first time I had ever been there and Mark worked there for awhile! It was my first and only time I ever went there and it was AWESOME! They had awesome bread pudding!!

5th Year Anniversary

This was our 5th year and it was the year I graduated college. I went home and Mark stayed down at school. This was hard but we got through it. Once again I cannot remember what we did for this anniversary (Sorry Mark!)

6th Year Anniversary

This is one of my favorite pictures of Mark and I. This was taken when I visited Mark in Arizona where he was doing his internship for school. It was so fun to visit him! It was hard for him to be gone for the 4 months, I was on my own, but thankfully we got through everything and once again came out stronger! :) This anniversary we went to this place in Arizona where there are only like 8 tables and the chef cooks the food fresh and there are 6 courses, and the menu changes every day. It was so fun and great to have this new dining experience. Arizona was awesome!

7th Year Anniversary

Here is another one of my favorite pictures! I love it, Mark looks so happy in it! We were out for Mark's sisters, Stephanie's 21st birthday downtown. And for some reason I cannot think of what we did for our anniversary. How come I can remember our first year but not our 7th year?!?! (Mark help me out with these!)

8th Year Anniversary

I am not a fan of this picture, but it was taken on our actual anniversary. We went to Francesca's in Frankfort. I was soooooo good. One of my favorite restaurants.



I love this picture. It was just taken in Florida a couple weeks ago by April.


I am so happy to be able to say that I have 8 awesome picture frames of Mark and I over the years that have so many memories behind them. This year will be full of wedding planning and before we hit our 10 year anniversary we will be married and we will have to start all over again! :(



Thanks for the memories Mark, LOVE YOU! They went by sooo fast!

Remembrance

So while I am super excited for the wedding next July there is a part of me that gets sad thinking about it because there are people that aren't going to be there that I really wanted to be there. Two of them are my grandpas who I love and miss terribly and I know they would be so proud of me and happy to know I am marrying a guy like Mark. I cry everytime I think of them not being there. Second is Uncle Lee. While I did not know him that well and he passed when I was younger, I still remember him and how he liked to always hang out with the kids and buy us shirts from all the great places he visited. There is also my sister-in-law Carrie. It just plain sucks that she won't be there. She won't be there for me and Mark, she won't be there to see Kelsey all dressed up in a junior bridesmaid dress, and she won't be there for Dan.

Since unfortunately four people that I love won't be there I want to be able to remember them somehow. I thought about pictures with candles at the ceremony, but we don't know if it will be a church or not and I am sure that in a nice garden they won't be letting me light any candles. So instead, I think I have decided on this project that I found on weddingbee.com.

They are bouquet charms. I would make them myself from glass scrabble tile and a picture of the loved one I want to remember. You could make them easier by just buying memorial charms that are little picture frames but they are expensive and we do have tight budget so I plan on making them on my own. Here is an idea of what they would look like: (and no, I have no idea who the person is on this tile...its from a weddingbee's blog!)




I think it is a great idea, its small but I will be holding my flowers so that means I will be holding them too and they will be there for me on my big day :) So no matter what, Grandpa Pultz, Grandpa Demski, Uncle Lee and Carrie will be there!



Oh, and I just purchased a kit for 14.00 and will be able to make all of the charms with it!!

DONE-ZO!

So yesturday I finished my last class I need to take to get my teacher certification and my master's degree...I'm done and it feels OH SO GOOD! All I have left now is student teaching in the fall.
This summer will be filled with work and babysitting but I am looking forward to it being full of fun too! Hopefully I will also be able to update the blog a little bit more and catch up on wedding planning! We still need a place to have a ceremony!!

Ceremony Sites

Okay...back to some wedding posts. I've been slacking off lately, as I said in the earlier post, but I hope to get back to a normal life.

So, for our wedding ceremony we want something simple. We want it short and sweet! We are having some troubles finding a place to have the ceremony. We were going to get married in a church but the prices are ridiculous. You would think that all you would have to do is give a donation, but NOOOOOO lots of fees are involved and the grand total of the churches we have looked into comes to about 700-1000 dollars. I think that is just insane.

We are looking into getting married at the Birdhaven Greenhouse in Joliet. It will be July so flowers will be in full bloom and we would have the ceremony in the gardens outside. I think it would be beautiful....what do you think?

The only problem is...what if it rains?! We would have to move the wedding inside the greenhouse which is something I really do not want to do. What would you do? Take the risk or find something new?

Arms of an Angel

Gone...but never forgotten...

Carrie Ann Demski

8-1-1976 to 3-19-2009

In the arms of the Angel far away from here

From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear

You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie

In the arms of the Angel; may you find some comfort here

You're in the arms of the Angel; may you find some comfort here

Its been awhile since I have posted. There has been a lot going on with school and with the family. Once again our family has proven strong and has banded together in order to try and pull each other together to keep each other strong. Carrie's passing was horrible and has taken a toll on everyone, especially Dan and Kelsey. No one will ever understand what they are going through and the obstacles they will endure, but to know their family will always be there for them will bring them hope. She is in heaven now watching down on her sweet little girl Kelsey. I just hope that while she is there she says hi to my Grandpa Pultz and Grandpa Demski for me.

The Belvedere Chateau

This is where Mark and I's reception will be held. It is on 103rd and Roberts Road. It is so beautiful. We were both blown away by the outside as well as the inside. It has three banquet rooms and we will have our reception in the Garden Room. This room is perfect. It even has a private entrance (You can see the entrance to our room in the picture below). The other rooms you use the main entrance and lobby. Ours has its own entrance and own lobby along with our own restrooms and bridal suite. I like this because then we don't have to see other weddings that night. Now that we have a reception location I can start to work on my first project, our save the dates!

Date Change!!

So...Mark and I booked a reception hall and I couldn't be more excited!! But they were booked already for every Saturday in 2010!!! We were so in LoVe with it that we couldn't pass it up so we changed our date to.....

Friday July 16th, 2010! :)

PhOtOgRaPhY!!

Okay so this post comes from PURE JOY! I have been really wanting our wedding to be photographed by Beth Laurren Photography. I came across her blog from a friends facebook page because she had her as her wedding photographer. I immediately fell in LoVe with her style. She is a photojournalist and really captures beautiful photos full of meaning and vibrant colors! I found her way back the first weekend me and Mark got engaged. I did not even e-mail her about prices because I had looked at some other photojournalist prices and just figured hers would be just TOO expensive for us.

For some reason today I was looking at her blog and decided to e-mail her because I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask! Turns out, I think Mark and I will be able to afford her for our pictures!! She is so nice and willing to work with our budget so I am really getting excited! Nothing is set in stone yet but I hope it will be soon!!

I am just soooo ExCiTeD about this!! It has made my day!
Here is her blog if you would like to look at her work....her photos are stunning!

http://www.bethlaurrenphotography.blogspot.com/

Centerpieces

Here is an idea for our centerpieces. For the flowers though it would just be gerber daisies....just an idea

Table Runners

I am not sure if that is what they are even called! Once again I came across a bio on theknot.com and I found a picture of a table runner a bride used at her reception. These are our two colors, but we might be changing our colors up a bit...hmmm....I bet you wonder what color or colors they are!?! Well, I am not telling just yet!

But here is the picture of the idea I have for making a white table not so white....

The Fiori

In English that is FLOWERS!! I just wanted to make the title sound cool :)

*Right now I am in LOVE with Gerber Daisies...they are my favorite flowers and I love the vibrant colors

*As of right now this is what I want for my bridesmaids...maybe the multi colored ones or maybe just the bright pink...it would be a small bouquet and I would probably make them myself with the help of others hopefully! :)

*Maybe the girls could have the bright pink bouquet with lime green ribbon around the stems and I could have a pink and white bouquet of Gerber Daisies....

*They are just show big and colorful...how do you not sMiLe when you see them?!

My Brain Is On Overdrive...

So my brain is on OvErDrIvE....I think I am dreaming about wedding planning now...I was telling Mark today that I seem to always be thinking of random ideas and thoughts about the wedding...I like to randomly throw ideas out when we aren't even in a conversation about the wedding...

Here is my new idea: The Guestbook

*I got this idea from a fellow knottie on www.theknot.com. She bought the guestbook and then she put the different colored envelopes on each of the pages and each person took a little piece of cardstock and wrote down a message to the bride and groom and then put their message in one of the envelopes with their names on the outside of the envelopes....

*We could use envelopes that are the colors in our wedding...

*LoVe this idea...

In My Dreams...

So the New Year has begun and Mark and I are searching for a place to have the wedding reception.

My #1 choice:
My Parent's Backyard!
...that choice was quickly crossed out since my parents might be putting the house up again for sale this spring..but just imagine:
*Me walking down our deck stairs in my mom's wedding dress, getting married in the backyard
*Floating candles in the pool, and laterns hanging from the trees
*A large white tent with sides that holds 200 ppl and has a dance floor
*Some bags and horseshoes for anyone who wanted to layback and relax
*Just a nice informal reception in the backyard at the house I lived at since I was born...PERFECT! :)

I guess that will just have to stay put in my imagination while Mark and I continue the hunt for the perfect reception venue that doesn't break the bank! Its StReSsFuL....but I am taking it day by day...

Hand Crafted Flower Bouquets

Okay so of course I am doing my daily run through of theknot.com and weddingbee.com and I came across this girl who just became a wedding bee pro (not sure what that means yet, but I am sure I will figure it out in the next year and a half) Anyways, this girl is totally unique...I love it! She did a crazy wedding...she wore a dress that was handmade and it was pink and black polkadots and short and puffy, it was totally cute. What I liked the most about her wedding was her handmade flower bouquets.

She makes them out of buttons and felt. They are super cute. I am definitally thinking about doing this for the wedding...either seeing how much they are for her to make them or attempting to get some information on how to make these myself. Tell me what you think....I know its different but its cute!

This first one is the corsages for the men...she also made them for the mother of the bride and mother of the groom:

The second and third are pictures of bouquets she made for two brides:

So......what do you think?!?!

The New Year = Wedding Planning Begins!

It is now 2009 and Mark and I are officially going to start to plan the wedding! Although I have started looking and planning a couple things here and there nothing is set in stone. I only have ideas of what I want.

First up...A Date!
July 17th, 2010

Our next step is booking a place for the reception. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I want it to be someplace fun but I am also worried that they are all going to be too expensive. I am excited to look at the places and get an idea of what we want.

Although we are not getting married for a year and a half we want to plan the wedding this year and then have the last 6 months to relax and hopefully pay off the wedding!

My New Years Resolutions:
**To get healthy and lose some weight of course...this is every
year! :)
**To plan a wedding
**To enjoy life and try to not be SO stressed out all the time!