Halloween Love

So I am officially the world's worst blogger. It has been TWO weeks since I last posted and so many wedding-related things have happened in that time. Last weekend was my bridal shower and quite possibly the most fun weekend I have had in years. I got to spend three days straight with Morgan and celebrate my approaching nuptials with thirty of my favorite women. Just today Christopher and I ordered the save the date cards (even though we still have some minor changes to make). He designed them himself... with a lot of guidance from me. I say that only to alert people to the fact that if he were designing on his own terms, they would never have been pink. :-)

Today is Halloween and Christopher is finally feeling a little bit like himself again. He was really ill all week and I worried that I had somehow brought the swine flu home from work and transferred it to him. (I, luckily, have been vaccinated). All his friends were dressing up for the holiday and he told them that he would not be joining in the festivities. He was really excited when I told him that I had made a Super Mario costume a few years ago with my friend Rick and never got the chance to wear it. He got all dressed up in one of my Maryland t-shirts, overalls, a wig, painter's cap (complete with an "M" I fashioned out of cardstock scraps), white gloves, and a super sweet mustache. Robin and I dressed up as well and went out for dinner. I pulled out my Snow White costume from a few years back (the last time I did Locks for Love) and Robin wore her Peter Pan costume from school yesterday. :-) Here are some shots from the night...

My Mario.

In action in the front yard.

Loving that 'stache.

Peter Pan minus her Tink Barbie.

Dinner.

I wonder about us sometimes...

With Dolores from the Golden Girls.

Nothing screams Halloween like an old lady and a video game hero.

Love From Afar

My bridal shower is a week from today. Gifts have been arriving in the mail from my wonderful and loving friends who were invited but unable to attend. This one I never expected.

Yes, it is a registry item. I fell in love with this set of dishes from Pottery Barn called "Emma." They are very "Kristi" as many people have told me. When I got home from work yesterday (field trip was canceled because of weather), I found a box from PB sitting inside the door. (Christopher knows better than to open anything). I thought to myself, "this must be from one of my aunts." Then I saw the shipping label note:

For always being so sweet to me. I am so happy you are getting married. I love you! Love, Rosie.

A SUGAR BOWL for being SWEET. How adorable. Rosie is my old roommate Stephanye's dog. I could not believe that Stephanye got online, looked at the registry, and ordered me something a month after moving to ISRAEL. She is such a good friend and both Christopher and I miss her so much. The house just isn't the same without her, Regev, and Rosie.

A wonderful surprise from a generally wonderful person (and puppy!). Thank you, Steph. Both Christopher and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it and it means so much coming from you...

Save the dates are being ordered tomorrow. Woohoo! Christopher designed them and INSISTS they be printed professionally (oh, the woes of marrying a graphic designer). And I am counting down until next Saturday when all the ladies I love will be in one place. :-)

Man, I Love Kindergarten...

Man, that is one FINE looking five-year-old. How many apples do YOU have up on top?

Friday is our field trip to Carter's Mountain Orchard. I have a funny feeling that Miss Minsterman will have one too many apples up on top! :-)

CONGRATS JENNY!!

Earlier I posted that our pastry chef, Jenny Peterson, was voted the top personal trainer by the residents of Charlottesville. I was working off my 2008 data at the time. Hot off the press, the 2009 Best of C'ville Awards list Jenny AGAIN as Charlottesville's number one trainer. Congrats, Jenny! Hope you don't work off ALL that key lime cake!!

Presents and Cakes

Here it is, ladies and gentlemen - our very first wedding gift, courtesy of my Aunt Nancy.

Probably not the best photo of the actual SERVING WARE, but I had to capture the packaging for my dad. Although we always joke that Daddy is a "cardboard box salesman" - he really works for a transportation packaging company that specializes in corrugated materials. This box had more corrugated pieces than I have ever seen in my life. It was so well packaged that a nuclear bomb couldn't have damaged it.

ANYHOW - the gift itself was three pieces of serving ware from our Pottery Barn registry. It is all SO beautiful and I was so excited as I started to tear open the package. My Aunt Nancy was overly generous to purchase us THREE pieces, but let's face it - I'm not complaining. After years of using unbreakable Corelle (well, unbreakable by all except my mother - long story), I'm terrified to actually use "grown up" dishes. I'm sure I will soon get over that fear as I begin to load my dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets onto this beautiful dish.

This week we finalized a baker for the wedding cake. We chose a woman named Jenny Peterson who owns the company Paradox Pastry. "Paradox" comes from the fact that Jenny is not only a pastry chef, but also the top-rated personal trainer in Charlottesville. We knew immediately when we pulled up to the house that Jenny would be a great fit. There was West Virginia University stuff EVERYWHERE. She had a huge WVU sign hanging on her door, one on her car, and she was sporting a sweatshirt as well. Oh boy, I thought, Daddy would love her. Later we found out that she was also cousins with my aunt's best friends. The world is a very small place.

Jenny will be constructing some type of key lime cake for us. I'm really excited to see what she comes up with for the actual cake and filling. It will be a monstrous three-tiered creation that will serve around 175 people. The design is very "Kristi" as well as the key-lime flavor (key lime pie is my favorite dessert). I wanted a springy, light, citrusy tasting cake for our April wedding. Plus, I'm not really a chocolate and raspberry filling kind of girl. Jenny is an extremely talented artist - you can check out some of her fabulous work at her website: www.paradoxpastry.com. Here are a few of my FAVORITES...

We won't be using fondant, but come on. GORGEOUS simplicity.

Little too rugged for my taste, but perfect for a southern, country wedding.

Told you she was an ARTIST. That bunny is handcrafted and edible.
(I would never eat something that darn cute)

This is Ashlawn. COME ON, SERIOUSLY!?!?
I would totally gobble this up - I don't care if it's a president's house or not!

Speaking of our April wedding, yesterday marked the SIX MONTH countdown to the big day. WOOHOO! I am super excited and honestly, the day can not come soon enough. My bridal shower is TWO weeks from today and it will be so great to see all my friends and family. We will be having a full weekend celebration in Virginia! Hooray! I'm even trying to take a personal day the Friday before so that I can go pick Morgan up at the airport in DC on Friday morning and spend all day hanging out with her and catching up. And let me tell you, boy do I need a day off work!!! Kindergarten is hard! This week I pulled a muscle in my back and have been in excrutiating pain for days. But, as I've said before, teaching 18 little kids makes me want to wait longer to have our own. (I think that secretly makes Christopher VERY happy!) :-)

Mamas and Registries

Friday afternoon, my mama came to visit me! She stayed the entire weekend and we got SO SO much wedding stuff done. (Well, it at least felt that way!) It was so exciting to take a full two days away from work and focus solely on the wedding.

Mama came to see my classroom on Friday and meet my kids. They were in awe that 1. I had a mother, 2. She was there, live, in person, 3. She does not live with me, and 4. Her name is Mrs. Minsterman (in five-year-old language that is exactly the same as Miss Minsterman). She read them my FAVORITE book from when I was their age -- But No Elephants. Unfortunately, recess got a little behind and she didn't have time to read it to all of them, but they were super excited to see her nonetheless. One even off erred to let her ride on his motorcycle (we don't have an obsession at ALL).

Friday night involved chilling out on the couch, eating pasta and watching NCIS. My all-time favorite past time with my mother. Hehe. Saturday, both Christopher and I overslept until ONE O'CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON. Whoops! So I quickly got ready and mama and I shipped off to Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Even though the wedding is still months away, the bridal shower is in a mere three weeks. HOW EXCITING! The girls and I decided that October would be a good time for a shower because it breaks up a very long engagement. Plus, we have a lot of people traveling from Pittsburgh and no one wants to do that in February. I have taken off from work Friday so I can go pick Morgan up at the airport and hang at Julie's with her all day while they set up for the party. Lots of people are coming in on Saturday for food, drinks, and cake. I love cake. I can not wait to see all my friends and family!!

Back to Bed Bath and Beyond. Christopher and I aren't really big on "registering" for gifts. We have both lived on our own for so long that we have everything we really need. But then I realized that it wouldn't hurt to have a set of matching sheets that actually FIT the beds we own -not some hodgepodge set from college. So off we went in search of "marriage materials." I had a lot of fun with the scanner and it was great to have my mom here to help me figure out some things that I will probably need in the future. It's very exciting.

After a long day of shooting the scanner gun (seriously, I need to be able to register at J.Crew - that would be AWESOME), we ran a few more errands and then headed home for dinner. Joey and Suzie came over and we had Pizza Bella (yum!) and talked about some wedding details. I really wish Suz could be a bridesmaid, but for those of you who don't know, she is due to have her first baby about 3 weeks before the wedding so I figure she may have more important things on her mind around early April. :-) We also got to watch a DVD of mama and daddy's wedding! Mama finally got it taken from 8 mm and put onto DVD. Unfortunately everyone's heads are chopped off (either a loopy uncle with the camera or something went wrong with the conversion). It was still SO fun to watch my grandparents dancing.. It makes me sad to think that they aren't alive to see me get married, but I know they're keeping an eye on us. :)

Today we had an appointment with a great pastry chef who will most likely be making our wedding cake. More on that another day when I don't have a week's worth of school planning to do!! :) Great weekend, thanks MAMA!