let them eat cake

Cake tasting starts this afternoon.  YUM.  Well I don't love cake but I won't mind eating some :)  Details to follow...

"I could make that"

I'm famous for saying this, and famous for definitely NOT being able to make it.  Well, that's not entirely true...I'm fairly adept at craft projects.  Maybe not for my age but I could still get an A for effort.  So where does a girl with a love for making it myself find someone to make it for me?  Etsy of course!  If you haven't gone on this site, please check it out. 

I found someone to craft together flowery headbands for the flower girls and I'm probably going to get a veil from the site as well.  The headbands are cute, I don't think they look too homemade, especially from the distance, HAHA!  I mean who is going to plop their nose in the flower girl's hair? I will inspect them again from home.  I think they might be OK.  Wait, oh man. Why am I just now thinking of this?!!?  I will pretend I made them.  Oh yes, yes I will.  That way no one can say anything except how crafty I am.  Noice.  Done and done.  So on April 10 if you want to see my handiwork plop your nose into the head of a flower girl.

Banned from the wedding: Jersey Shore tan

We are going to have a frank and open talk about tans.  I love them.  I look good with one.  I don't want any body parts removed or cut-off though.  Therefore I'm anti-tanning booth.  I've gone to them, it's so cozy and warm (and smelly) but they have music and you get a few minutes of honest to goodness alone/quiet/reflection time.  However the dangers outweigh and the last handful of times I've gone tanning I can hear my Grandpa Neal telling me how awful it is.  And then I picture the shot glass sized mass he had on his shoulder.  Ew.  So now I go to Florida for natural vitamin D during the cold, grey Michigan winters or hold out until June.  And I wear a higher SPF than I did in my tanorexic days.

So then how did this OOPS occur?!  My wedding is in April.  And from October 15-May 31 I make Casper look tan.  Hmmm....what to do?!  Spray tan!  That's the ticket.  In early March I am going to go do a practice run to see how this all works out.  And then I might do it again just to be certain we're all set on the proper shade: "sun-kissed" or "blazin' Brazilian!?"  I have to be careful not to get scary orange though...

Brooke Hogan example of said scary orange:

Here's the issue:  how do I, a former tanorexic, tell everyone to keep the Jersey Shore tan at the beach!?  By photo montage of course! Children, no one is this color naturally.  Stay away from tanning booths!  Look too tan lady now and at her wedding:

Here's a properly bronzed couple for the end of summer, perhaps a little tan for April still:

FOOOOOOOODDDDD

Score!

Mark, myself,  my parents and Mark's mom & stepdad all went to Vince's for dinner last night.  This place is amazing plus very special to my Shine family and I'm so happy to say it's the official site of our rehearsal dinner.  The food is stellar (if you like to eat baby animals I hear the veal is superb) and it's a ten-minute drive from the church.  It's a good Detroiter experience for anyone that hasn't been there before. 

Last night I had the spinach fettuccine noodles and arriabata sauce. MMMM, so happy I stopped myself and saved some for lunch today.  Topped it off with a delicious dark chocolate and raspberry frozen dessert.  Mark went with pizza; the rest of the meals consisted of two veal marsalas, a spaghetti & meatballs and baked mostaccioli.  And Morettis.  Yum.

Various dating of the ups

I feel organized!  Go us :)

Mark booked us a room for the wedding night and we will also use it to get ready before the wedding.  Who exactly gets to use it is up in the air.  I vote me because I'm the girl.  Sounds totally fair to me.

I also met with our florist (aka Mark's mom) and went over what sort of flowers I like and the look and feel.  I am 100% confident they will be great!!

Invite proofs will arrive this week, then hopefully we have the actual invites by the end of this month. Then time to address and mail.

What else, what else?!?!

Did I tell you about the honeymoon...?  If not, the hotel is amazing, breath-taking and I want to go right now!  Belize.  We're staying here, I almost can't believe how awesome it is!!  Mark spends many moments looking on You Tube for videos people have posted of their vacation to that hotel.  And it looks like we will find that perfect mix of beach/pool time and adventure.

In case you were of the myth that Belize was an island, see below.  The heart is where we are staying, Ambergeis Caye, a Belizean island east of the mainland and south of Mexico, or is it actually an isthmus?

Mark and Sara as Avatars

We went to the movies!! It's seriously been about 6 months since we have gone to the actual movie theater on a date.  So basically Avatar IS as good as everyone says. 

Here I am as an Avatar:

And here's Mark:

**Note the only movie Avatar site I found was McDonald's Europe.  Fortunately my vast and extensive knowledge of German allowed me to figure this out...or all websites are basically the same...either way.

Shine Shower :)

Saturday, January 2 I had my first bridal shower and it was AWESOME!  It's very weird to be the one on the chair opening presents, I quite enjoyed it but I've learned I need to hold and pose with the gifts so my pictures don't all look like this:

Or this:

In all seriousness, everyone was beyond generous!  By the looks of it the entire shower cleared out Crate & Barrel!  It was fun to look at them all again with Mark later that day.

Thanks to DeDe, Sue, Sharon, Peggy & Kim for hosting a beautiful day.  And thanks to my awesome cousins for helping.  Kudos to the rest of the family for traipsing to Grosse Pointe twice in seven days!