Waiting for my mom and baby sister Brooke to arrive to pick me up. Every year, we take a girls trip to Alabama when it's move-in weekend for Brookie at Spring Hill in Mobile. She's a senior now, so this will be our last girls trip! Kelly is 8 months pregnant, so she can't go with us this year unfortunately.
Have a great weekend everyone! I'll be shopping at my favorite outlet mall and laying out on the beach in Gulf Shores!
~Ali
EDIT: Posting up some pics that were taken that weekend at LuLu's, enjoy!
Here is my journal entry that I typed up from Mykonos, Greece describing our rehearsal dinner night:
Day of the rehearsal dinner.I bought a hot pink Chinese wedding dress to wear to the rehearsal tonight.Hopefully one day, a daughter of mine can wear the same dress during her wedding events as well.Rehearsal started at St. Anselm at 6:45PM.I finally met Deacon Steve, and we went through the ceremony two times.It was very interesting how they had the wedding party processional into the church.St. Anselm is a circular church, so there was no “main aisle”.We started from the back of the church, and the girls walked around the altar on the right, and the boys on the left, and they met in the middle right before taking the places at the altar.I was still a little confused how things were going to go down at the real ceremony, but I figured Fr. Spezia would lead us and we would figure it out.Deacon Steve showed us the house the girls and I could get ready in, and yes, we had an entire house to get ready at.By “getting ready” I really mean just throwing on our shoes and dresses, for we were doing hair/makeup at The Hyatt.
We left the church and headed to the rehearsal dinner.I was really pumped about our dinner, we hosted it at Table Three, which was not far from our house at all.They have an awesome patio, and that’s where we made the reservation for.Lucky for us, it didn’t rain at all this evening.It was a little humid, and we could have done without that, but otherwise, it was a perfect night.The food was delicious, I was disappointed that they forgot to have the tempura green beans waiting on the tables when we arrived, but I made sure that we still got those!And it’s a good thing I did, b/c they were a huge hit!I also had to remind them to set out the aioli dipping sauce, but oh well.Keith and I also exchanged our wedding gifts this night as well.So originally, I contemplated getting him a NICE watch….like a Tag Huer or something.But my receptionist salary just didn’t really allow for that.I also thought about a Burberry watch, but was told I would only being paying for the brand name, not the watch quality.So I settled on Burberry cufflinks.Now when Keith had to take his suit back to Nordstrom to get the pants hemmed (b/c they completely did NOT do that before giving him the suit back), I had to try to non-chalantly try to talk him out of the Hugo Boss dress shirt he was picking out.You see, it didn’t have French cuffs, so he wouldn’t be able to wear the Burberry cufflinks on our wedding day!So after he purchased the damn shirt, we went to look at watches.I wanted to know what styles he liked, and there happened to be a Burberry watch there that he loved.So I decided the cuff links would get returned, and I would go back and purchase that watch.He would have no idea, as I had told him I already bought his gift.So this day before getting ready for the rehearsal, I took the S2k and went and bought the watch.We decided to open the gifts at rehearsal and not the wedding day, b/c we wanted to see each other’s reactions as we opened the presents.I was so excited to watch him open the watch!He loved it, and I even had 2 links removed so it would fit him better.When I opened my gift, I unwrapped it to find an iPad.I was excited of course, it was a nice gift.But not necessarily something I would have deemed a wedding present, lol. So I laughed and opened the box to look at it.When I took the lid off, I found a white David Yurman bag inside!!!He had gotten me my something blue!!!It was a gorgeous, light blue topaz ring with the smaller diamonds/crystals around it…like my fake green DY ring I used to wear every day.The night was perfect.Everyone had a good time.I hated our waitress though, I was the freakin bride, and she was rude to me!She came around asking if anyone had ordered a white cosmo, as my pink tinkle (martini) was almost out, I told her no, but that I would take it.Her response was rudely that everyone told her they would take it.I’m the bride!!!If I want the extra, give it to me!Anyway….
After the rehearsal, a group of us went to The Corner for some drinks.It was Keith and me, Jenn and Mark, Marco, Chris Toth, and John.I had some ice picks, and two gummy bear shots.What a great night!!!We got kicked out at 1:45AM, which was much later than most people would have, but Mark and Jenn are good friends with the bartender, he he!!!!
Congrats to my beautiful cousin Nikki and her brand new hubby Alex! What a beautiful wedding on Saturday! The weekend started out with Keith and I headed to Ste. Genevieve on Friday afternoon. Keith was their photographer, and I was doing makeup. I did Nikki's trial makeup run on Friday afternoon, then we headed to the Weingarten for their rehearsal dinner. Keith had to drive back to Alton, IL for a family photoshoot, he's always so busy!
We had a delicious dinner + drinks at the rehearsal, my fillet mignon was excellent! Afterwards, Keith met me back at the Microtel in Ste. Gen, but he hadn't eaten dinner yet. Lucky for him, the Huddle House was right next door! I got him fed, and then we went to sleep to prepare for the big day ahead.
Saturday morning came early. I met Nikki at my grandpa's house at 8AM. We started her makeup and the day began. It was such a hot and humid day!!! The ceremony was at 1PM at the Ste. Gen church. After the ceremony, we jumped in our car and followed the party bus to The Stable, where I had suggested bar pics of the bridal party. Keith got some great shots, but the plan was to head over to the Lemp Brewery for more wedding party shots. Unfortunately, the on/off rain kept us at the The Stable, but great pictures were still captured!
The reception was on The Hyatt's 18th floor. We were worried about the rain again, as the outdoor terrace is why that venue is so amazing. Luckily, the rain held off the rest of the night....they even had fireworks! It was a beautiful wedding, and I'm so happy for my cousin. They are off to Jamaica today to start their honeymoon.
Back to my normal life, I stayed the night at my mom's house on Saturday due to our a/c being out at our house. When I finally got home on Sunday it was 91 degrees inside our house, so pretty much miserable. I even gave Rusty and Phibee cold baths to help cool them down! We headed over to my mom's for dinner Sunday night, and I brought the doggies over there so they wouldn't have to suffer. After a nice family dinner, we headed home to our miserably hot house.
The a/c guy came by at 8AM today, turns out, we need a whole new heating/cooling unit. We were quoted $4,000.00! How impeccable the timing of things in my life are...of course that would happen while I'm unemployed! Looks like we might have to use our wedding money for the new unit, which isn't nearly as exciting as hard wood floors. Damn, I hate home ownership sometimes! On a positive note, I finished painting the guest bedroom today! And WalMart sells Shakespears pizza, so it's in the oven baking for my lunch right now...yum!!!
Here's a bit of what's to come soon! Just wanted to share a pic with everyone of Little Venice in Mykonos, Greece! (word of warning, don't eat there, it's a tourist trap! Food is over priced and not tasty).
Getting ready for my first interview since I was laid off back in July (on my one month wedding anniversary!). Interviewing at Nordstrom for the cosmetic department, and hopefully the MAC counter. Not sure how excited I am about this one, I'm a Monday- Friday kind of girl, with my makeup business on some weekends. I just don't want it to interfere with my own makeup business. I'm sure the pay can't be that great either, but the discount probably rocks! Best I can do is go interview today and see what they say...so wish me luck!
First of all, thank you for checking out my blog! As a kid, I used to always journal, and it was usually in just a notebook or something cheap. With today's technology, I realized that I can still journal like I used to, but share it with the rest of the world too! So I'm gonna give this blogging thing a try, please bear with me as I get used to all the tools I can use!
When Keith and I were in Greece on our honeymoon, I began typing journal entries so I would remember all the details of the days leading up to, and including, our wedding. I'll have to find those on his computer, and I'll start my next blog post from there! Check back soon for my updates!
