Last Birthday With My Last Name!

This Saturday, February 26th, was my 25th Birthday! It was a wonderful, wonderful day :-) I have to admit, I have been exhausted from waking up for bootcamp so early, so I was out cold at 10 pm - haha! I can't remember the last birthday I didn't stay up until midnight for - this is how I know I'm getting old!!!

My fiance knows how much I love celebrating my Birthday at midnight though - and he surprised me at 12:00 on the dot by waking me up to "Happy Birthday", wine, ice cream, a candle, and flowers and lots of kisses :-) Very sweet! It made for am amazing memory!

Because I went to bed so early, I woke up on my own pretty early. 7 AM! Patrick had everything bought to make me breakfast...his signature "Cowboy Breakfast", which consists of "Pigs in a Blanket" (mini turkey smokies wrapped in a croissant) and a breakfast burrito - it was very yummy!

I was then given my birthday gift...

Our monkey "Eiggam" presented it - lol - inside was a note saying "Let's go shopping for new sunglasses" So off we went to the mall in search of a pair of fashionable polarized sunglasses - which are not easy to find! We searched Macys, Burberry, Ilori, Nordstrom....we ended up going with these babies...

Love them! They make me pretty happy!!! One of my favorite lines from my favorite movie, Serendipity, "At least my knockoff says "Prada" yours says "Prado!" HAHA! These babies don't say "Prado" and they certainly aren't knockoffs - they are the real deal 8-) I kinda feel like a movie star in them!!!

Also in our shopping excursion I splurged on a fun hat for the Honeymoon :-) 

After the mall we were off to meet our florist. We got to see all the flowers I initially picked out - which was a good thing because what I initially chose wasn't exactly what I wanted and envisioned so we made some minor adjustments. Below is a preview of our flower pallet :-)

I got a special package in the mail on my Birthday - the bridal clutch I ordered from Etsy.com...I'm in love!!! I will show it because most people attending the wedding will never see it - I don't feel like I'm quite giving anything away by sharing it :-) It is so special to me though and will be a keepsake forever!!!

Before our dinner out Patrick surprised me with an appetizer...

Bacon wrapped scallops...SO GOOD! We then went to my favorite restaurant, Nakama, for some hibachi style dinner :-) BTW - If you haven't already checked it out, check out OpenTable.com when making reservations...We called and they told us they were booked but one reservation was open on the site...plus you get points that add up to gift certificates!!

We wrapped the day with a little down-time catching up on our DVR andddd polished off the ice cream from midnight - haha! If you haven't tried Cherry Garcia by Ben & Jerry I highly suggest it - you're definitely missing out!!!

Today the celebration continued but first we met with our priest for our final meeting before the wedding. You know, it's only 20 days away now!!!! Eeeek!

After the meeting we headed to my sisters house to celebrate mine and my niece Lulu's Birthdays...Lulu's birthday is the 28th :-) Fun times getting to blow out the candles with my Goddaughter :-)

I just love Birthdays - they are so much fun! I may get older but they never get old - haha! Thanks to everyone who showed me some Birthday love...I loved reading all the messages :-)

Next weekend is my Bachelorette party so it should make for a pretty good blog post ;-)
Until then...

XOXO

Showered With Love!

My Bridal Shower took place this weekend and the one word that comes to mind is "WOW!" What a beautiful and perfect day!!! To kickstart it, the sun was shining on a February day...it made me wonder if I was in Pittsburgh - haha! Last February was completely snow-covered and I'm not just talking a dusting...we were completely covered, pretty much buried the entire month! So seeing the sun shining and the snow melting is a very different thing to see - and I liked it! The shower was at Donato's in Fox Chapel and as always the food was wonderful. It's always a good thing when your guests come up to you to tell you how good all the food was and that happened a few times which I loved to hear.

There were about 55 of my closest friends and family members that came out for the day. Some came farther then others...my friend and Bridesmaid, Hope came out just for the day from Las Vegas, Nevada! Another friend from college, Christa, was in from Rhode Island! Patrick's mom, Linda, came in from their home in San Antonio, Texas and his Grandparents drove down from upstate New York! Another Bridesmaid, Colleen, traveled down from Erie for the day! My friend Jessica, who I worked with at WPXI, now lives in Cleveland Ohio and she sent her sister to the restaurant to deliver my gift - so, so sweet! So many little moments and acts of kindness didn't go unnoticed!!!

I even had guests who weren't feeling their best but still came out for the day which meant more to me then they'll ever know!!! My friend and Bridesmaid, Kim, had spent time in the hospital this past week and was there with a smile and helping hands! My Godmother, Lois, recently broke her leg in three places and came in a wheelchair and a smile. I know how hard it is for her to get around so seeing her there meant the world to me!!! Also, my "Aunt" Peg is a full-time care-giver for her husband who recently suffered a stroke - she found the time to sneak out for a bit. And my Aunt Rose and cousins were there despite the fact that their 9 year-old granddaughter/niece had surgery just a few days prior. All of this meant more to me then any gift ever could!!! But gifts I did get...and this picture doesn't even begin to showcase the magnitude of gifts!!!

By the end of the shower I'm 100% positive guests were sick of seeing me open gifts - lol!!! There were so many! We got a ton of stuff off of our registries and we got a handful of surprises. So, so nice! It took us 4 vehicles to get everything home!!!! Then it took us all night to organize - haha! We are now finally organized 4 days later...Thank goodness we now have a clean basement to store some of the stuff that will be traveling to Tennessee with us in a few short months (God willing there is an NFL season and Patrick is still with the Titans :-)

During the shower my mom passed out an advice book and I had SO much fun reading through it at the end of the day! We got some great advice and a lot of laughs too...some of my favorites are...

"If you're going to fight - fight naked."
HAHAHA! Personal fav!

"Always remember that every day is a date and every night is a sleepover."
Made me grin!

"Don't be afraid to make breakfast for dinner."

"Never go to bed angry. Laughter is the best medicine. Always tickle."
Patrick's favorite...thanks...lol

"Always take a vacation!" YEAH!

"Say I love you every day! And cook together - it's so much more fun!"

"Hold hands - you're never too old for that."
So true!

"To assume is to make an "ass" out of "u" and "me" - Remember that in general men don't take subtle hints so explain yourself and talk about your feelings"

"Never go to bed mad - you'll sleep so much better if you make up :-)"

"Always remember the love you feel today."

"Remember how blessed you are!!"


WELL SAID! Those are some of the best pieces of advice! Love it!! :-)

We passed out recipe cards in the invitations and we got about 30 back...so many great recipes! I guess this means I have to learn how to cook....LOL! Just Kidding! I do want to take a cooking class to help sand out my rough edges...but I'm not completely clueless!!!

I had some really creative guests!!! My mom's friend, Moira, gave me a fabulous bath-basket and a basket full of candles. I initially thought they were to "set the mood" but actually each color had a meaning. There are candles to burn the first night in our house as husband and wife, ones to burn after our first fight, when we have our first child and eventually a pair of silver ones on our 25th wedding anniversary! So, so sweet - and such a unique idea!

My mother orchestrated two unique gifts...one was a poem where I was given food and cleaning and food the other was a poem giving me pieces of lingerie that I will use throughout the years...starting with a one-piece cozy footed pajama that I will be wearing on our 50th wedding anniversary - haha!

All the way down to a box containing what I will be wearing on my wedding night...which had nothing in it - hahahaha! Clever ;-)

(Sorry - no model picture included there haha! But below is the picture of me opening the box of nothing)

Now starts the thank you note writing...my hand may fall off given the fact that I am so thankful for everything we were showered with!!! We have such awesome people in our lives that love us so much - we are blessed for sure! I'll wrap the shower portion with a Smilebox slideshow of pictures :-)

This free slideshow design made with Smilebox

In the process I have to keep up on the wedding plans though because we don't have very much time left and if I don't, well, things will fall apart. Together we...

•  Completed our Texas invitations :-)

• I ordered our fabulous cake accessories :-D 

No Picture here but hint: It's FABULOUS!!!!

• Completed our Pre-Cana classes

• Selected our music at the Cathedral - yay!

• Anddd have completed our entire shopping list for those involved in the wedding :-) Wrapping too!

We still have a ways to go though as now we are getting into final meetings with all the vendors helping us with our wedding. I'll be meeting with our florist, videograpger and DJ by weeks end. Andddd I have my trial runs for hair and makeup this weekend! It's getting real! :-)

I'll keep you posted as usual on all the latest happenings - but not too posted as there will be surprises come March 19th ;-)

Bye for now!

XOXO

< 1 Month To Go!!!!

WOW! Where is time slipping away to?! In less than one month my "Becoming Bailey" days will be over and I will have Become Bailey :-) Crazy to think how fast the time is going!!! As I look at the days I also look at how much I still have to do - lol! It's enough to drive a woman crazy ! I'm sure it will all get completed in time with the grace of God and the help of family and friends.

While I've been busy as a bee and up to my knees in wedding planning, my fiance has been in the basement...I didn't send him there, he went willingly lol. He's been taking lessons from my dad on how to be a handy man. Together the two spent two weekenda hauling out 5 trucks of garbage! Currently Patrick is painting one of the storage areas with a waterproof paint. Before he started painting he had to use a wire brush to sand the wall down...

I have to share: the more Patrick and my dad are around each other the more I realize the old saying "You'll marry a man like your father" is true. Gosh! It's something else! Even my mother noticed it lol!!! 

So we've both been busy for sure, but we of course took some time off from our tasks to celebrate Valentines Day :-) After boot camp I made my love breakfast...domesticated right?!?!

Haha! In my defense I only had 10 minutes to get the goods on the table as Patrick had an early morning PT appointment.

Later Patrick surprised me with a dozen rolls of paper towels lol but behind it were a dozen orange roses. I asked why the orange and he said "Because you're my pumpkin" Awww!

WOW! Cleaning with roses!!! Now that is a Valentine's Day treat! Don't be fooled though...he most certainly did not clean!!!

Patrick was on dinner duty and cooked up some delicious scallops and steak...my man can cook!!! It was so good! We capped it off with some vino and burnt almond torte cake.

Wedding wise we are doing pretty good. The returns are so much fun to get! 154 guests have returned yes and 21 have declined...we're waiting on 123 more...so if you're one of the 123 snap at it ;-) haha!

We met with our sweet photographer and she showered us with a sweet sweet gift...you're going to have to wait for the wedding pictures to see it though :-D We also met with our baker and got to sample out our exact cake...it's pretty scrumptious! (If "anonymous" is reading, we decided on the raspberry filling so eat your heart out!!!) We also have been getting lots of packages sent our way from sweet friends - all holding wonderful generous gifts! When registering for things at the store it's so much fun to imagine having all the greatest gadgets and most beautiful serve ware (and Patrick had fun shooting the gun lol) but I tried not to get my hopes up when doing so because who is to say we'd get any of it?! When I open the boxes and see these gifts that I wanted so badly...gosh, you can't even imagine my excitement!! So a big thank you to everyone who has been so generous to us, we are so appreciative! Patrick was especially excited to get the Vita-Mix Blender he "had" to have, an early wedding present from one of his friends traveling in from Texas!

Speaking of gifts...we recently got to shower our niece Lulu with her own gifts :-) Lulu is so into the wedding - at times I think she might steal my fiance away as she has a little crush on her Uncle Patrick - haha! So we got her her very own wedding gown, veil, bouquet and ring...Happy Birthday Lulu!! 

 

Up next is the bridal shower blog so stay tuned as it will go up shortly after this one :-) I was a bit delayed in getting this one up...

Stressful *BUT* Successful

I've had one of the most stressful weeks of my wedding planning thus far. It seemed as though if anything could go wrong it did. Sometimes I felt like if I didn't laugh I'd cry...oh who am I kidding, I shed a few tears -lol! It was beyond stressful, but ultimately very successful. I crossed so many things off my wedding to do list and I found myself feel a little better with every check I got to mark on my list. I also learned a few valuable lessons along the way.

So to jumpstart the stress I missed out on an entire weekend of wedding planning last weekend because I was in San Diego, California for the DJO Global National Sales Meeting. So I bet you see California and think good time right?! Well it wasn't all bad. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL, and the weather was perfect!

Not a bad view right?! On the flip side, I was up early every day and had no time to do anything wedding related. One day I didn't even have time to talk to my fiance as we worked right through lunch. Anyhow, I was pretty jetlag from traveling across the country on 3 hours of sleep and pretty much never recovered the entire trip. As you can imagine the lack of sleep traveled into this week and had me in a pretty rotten mood from the start. I've recovered now and am so looking forward to this next week!

Tacking onto the stress...the bridesmaids dresses came in - lol! First, the salon we got them at, Ribbon's Bridal, is about 45 minutes out of the city in Beaver, PA. I was working in that area and picked up three of the dresses, one for Hope, who lives in Vegas, and the others for my sisters. Unfortunately my sister Katie's dress didn't fit. Katie, you are MOH-tastic and I love you! You've been a huge trooper and we will get it all taken care of :-) Like she said, if you don't laugh, you'll cry! Which is pretty right on - lol! Patrick actually taught me the best lesson though...on the verge of freaking out he said "Maggie, don't lose sight of what this day is really about. It's about me and you! We will be there and that is what makes it perfect." So true - Thank goodness I have him in my life to remind me of this!!! He then reminded me that no wedding is perfect and everyone ends up having a story of something that went wrong that ends up being the staple story of the entire wedding. LOL! Again, true! It really is a fact that couples don't really talk about how "perfect" their day was but rather the funny quirks that made it their own. I won't lie, I'm a control-freak, and I want everything to be as perfect as can be in every aspect of my life - but I promised him in that moment that as long as he lets me continue to *try* to make things perfect, I will try to find light and laughter out of the imperfections. It was a good lesson to learn, and I needed it. Patrick, if you're reading, I love you so much, thanks for putting up with me when I'm crazy, and thanks for helping me find my way again :-)

Patrick and I made sure to match up the bridesmaids dresses to the guys tux's...they look sharp together! I can say with great confidence, we are going to have one stylish bridal party!! :-)

The To-Do list is shrinking which makes me breath so much easier :-) One of the biggest things I got 95% accomplished is the Rehearsal Dinner invitations. After the Kinko's shower invitation fiasco (they ruined 3 boxes of invitations!!! 3 boxes!!!) I tried out Staples and I was super happy with their work. They did the printing and I did all the stuffing, tying and addressing...

The other 5% of unfinished business is my fault...blame it on the bad week! I accidentally picked up the Laser tags instead of the Ink Jet...ugh! I would!!! These babies will be out of my hair this week though which will be lovely! Then it will be onto getting the Texas reception invitations completed. Patrick and I came up with a super clever idea for them...I can't wait to share once they are complete :-)

This week we also got Patrick's wedding ring! Funny story...he wanted to order it online because it was cheaper then getting it through our jeweler. I said no, as I was worried about the authenticity. Well, Patrick did what he wanted and just ordered it online. It looks pretty good! I told him he's going to have to wear it for a day on his right hand to make sure it doesn't turn his finger green! LOL!! He told me my ring should be in this week...woohoo!!

I also picked up my veil this week! It turned out beautifully but it is currently being reconstructed to be attached to my headpiece. I took it to the seamstress on Saturday. I also dropped off my dress to have it bustled...get this, it has 19 points so I'm going to have some busy bridesmaids :-) The bustle makes the dress have an entirely different look though which is pretty cool! It still amazes me though that my dress needed not one other alteration! It doesn't need taken in or hemmed...it's like it was made to be my dress! I'm quite happy nothing else needed done...alterations are not cheap!!! But it is so worth it to go to someone who is a little more expensive if you know her work and trust it :-)

Other wedding related news, I have my Bridal Shower dress AND my Rehearsal Dinner dress! I found one while in California and the other here in Pittsburgh. Both are beautiful...I can't wait to wear them! The shower is in 2 weeks and I've been really good at not peaking at the registry - haha! We have gotten a couple of wonderful gifts sent to us in the mail, and it's been so much fun getting to open them together!! A very special thank you goes out to my Godmother, Lois, who informed me that she ordered me a special "sparkly" gift that will be a part of my wedding day garbe! I wanted it SO badly, but would never spend the money on it...sorry to keep you in suspense but I can't bring myself to share the secret yet.

Earlier in this post I mentioned that I was taught a few lessons this week...I want to leave this post with a powerful video from American Idol...it made me think real hard, and it also made me thank God for the blessings in my life. Watch it and let it knock you down to where you need to be and thank God for the blessings in your own life!!!

Have a great week ya'll despite the Steeler's Super Bowl loss...look at it as a way of preserving fingers for our children :-)