Invitation Creation

Well, another week of wedding planning has passed, and I have worked hard to complete all our homemade invitations, with great help from my mom, sisters, and Mailboxes Etc's awesome card stock paper cutter! Here is a snapshot of the supplies:

• Heavy weight chocolate card stock
• Light weight ivory card stock
• Light weight fall colored card stock
• Leaf hole punch
• Firefly ribbon
• Double-sided tape
• Regular tape
• Scrapbooking adhesive
• Scissors
• Stencil
• Envelopes
• Ruler
• Printable mailing labels
• Exacto knife

Here is a preview of the creation process: 

Taking over the kitchen table

The beginnings

Looks like fall!

Now, I had been warned by many people to avoid making anything ala Martha Stewart when I could buy it for less hassle and stress. I was bound and determined to make my own invites, however. I know that I have scrapbook experience, and I could do it with the help of my family. We succeeded, but not without a few snafus.
              First, the hole puncher seen above in the picture was great, but some of the colored card stock we bought was too thick to punch through easily, so we had to experiment. Amanda would step on the puncher, but often it would then stick in the pressed-in position and the paper and the leaf cutout would get caught.
             After dealing with that issue, we realized that the envelopes were the wrong size. Oops, I ordered the largest size available in the color I had chosen, and it wasn't until we got them in the mail that we realized we had the wrong ones! Apparently, OTHER colors came in the right size, but the color I had chosen maxed out at A7 (2 sizes too small) and I didn't even read the size when ordering. Luckily we could return them and ordered new ones.
             There were a few other minor "oops" moments (breaking off the tip of the Exacto knife...) but we survived, no cuts, no major set backs, and ready to send out invitations as soon as we compile an updated and accurate address list.

Wednesday Wedding Review!

I am very excited to share some of the awesome details of my good friend Jill's wedding on April 21. First, the wedding was held in the beautiful chapel of the University of St. Thomas, where so many friends from my high school attended college, so I was quite familiar with the area. The reception was located in a historic country club on Lake Minnetonka, where we were fortunate enough to stay the night (due to the college friends being procrastinators, we got rooms there instead of the reserved hotel!) 

Jill and Justin

We all knew the Jill's wedding would be epic, as she kept mum on the details throughout the past year of planning. In college she was notorious for her intricate scrap books in the sorority, and when we saw the invitations, we knew that she had put her skills to the test.

Then, we arrived at the reception to rapidly enjoy as many cocktails as we could during the 1 hour "pregame", complete with drink holder in our friends' baby stroller :). Only when the doors opened to the dining hall did we take in the entire picture. See the following pictures for all the details:

The card box- AMAZING!

The appetizer- spinach dip love!

The homemade (wrapped) candy bar

Centerpieces and glittered table numbers

The Guest Tree

Delta Gamma Love

2011 Review

Of all the years of my life, each one seems to get progressively better. 2011 was an amazing year. I have so many wonderful people in my life, as shown by the tremendous support I've received for my wedding, my blog, and all of life's other activities. I cannot wait to see what 2012 will bring. Here are my top 11 memories of 2011 (in no particular order).

1. Our 2-week fall road trip through Colorado in October. Seeing the beautiful colors that covered the state instilled a sense of awe at Mother Nature and renewed (like it was ever gone) my love for the mountains and fall colors. I got to see Aspen and hike the Maroon Bells, go to Crested Butte for the first time and stay in my first hostel, and visit Palisade and the Colorado National Monument.

2. Experiencing the births of many of our friends' first children. It has been amazing to watch (from afar) the little ones grow and learn.

3. Camping trips with two great groups of people, my coworkers and our annual camping trip friends, and getting to tour Tonto Natural Bridge and enjoy all of Payson's natural beauty, namely tall trees and the Rim.

4. Getting 8 ski days in last winter, with the best snow Colorado had seen for years. I skied Winter Park, Copper, and Steamboat with family and friends.

5. Running in the City Search Challenge in Phoenix, a sort of "Amazing Race" for the locals. It was more work than I anticipated, but a memorable and fun experience. 

6. Getting to go to Chicago not once, but twice, for 2 conferences for work. Common Core left some things to be desired, but NCTE (National Council for Teachers of English) was well worth my time.

7. On that note, getting ENGAGED in Chicago on June 26/27 and feeling more loved than ever before while enjoying each minute of our engagement thus far.

8. Christmas with both families, 3 in 24 hours to be exact, and making it work out so that we could be with everyone and see their faces while they opened all the gifts. 

9. Wedding planning, when it was not too stressful, meeting our photographer and planner and getting excited about the final product (our wedding) with everyone's creative input.

10. Sedona, AZ engagement photo session, from climbing in the freezing cold Oak Creek to get that "perfect shot" to changing outside the Chapel on the Rock to get pictures in my favorite outfit before the sun set altogether.

11. Going to Tucson for Kyle's birthday in January and touring the Mission San Xavier, Colossal Cave, and horseback riding through the desert.

Of course, there were many more memorable nights with friends and family, too many to count, and I have realized how lucky we really are to have the life we have. Aside from the events mentioned, successfully reaching over 5000 views on my blog has made me feel even more blessed and has been more rewarding than I ever imagined. Continue on! See you in 2012.

Maroon Bells October 2011

Kyle lounging with Maroon Bells

Fall Color!

My first family bar outing (the youngest is finally 21) in Denver October 2011

"The Bean"- Chicago, IL

City Search Challenge Starting Line

Christmas #3 in Minnesota

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

9 Months!!

Holy cow! We've been engaged for over six months, and have only nine to go until our wedding day! We celebrate the occasion today with half of each family, flying from Minnesota to Colorado this evening. We just took a 2-hour walk in the unseasonably warm MN winter weather, and it was then that I realized the date. I am so excited!!! Cheers! [holding up my hot chocolate and Baileys mug]

At my Master's graduation from ASU (limited pictures since I'm not on my own computer!)

Marry Christmas to All!

Pun intended.

Hope you and yours have a fabulous holiday. We are splitting this Christmas between 2 families in 2 states once again. Started Christmas Eve with the future father-in-law, moving into Christmas morning with the future mother-in-law, then onto a 4-hour plane ride for Christmas with my family in Minnesota. It may feel like a lot of work and stress right now, but it is all worth it to continue all the family traditions on both sides of the family while we still have the luxury of doing so.

Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo- one of our many holiday traditions.