Showered with Love!

This past week has been a busy one in wedding development!  I had two amazing wedding/bridal showers and feel overwhelmed with excitement about the big day (only 49 days away now!) and love from my family and friends who really came out to celebrate this exciting time in our lives!

This is from my dad's card - me as a diva

Last weekend was a shower in Cool, where my mom lives.  It was mostly moms of my girlfriends and my mom's really close friends.  A VERY fun day.  Emily, my head maid, was in charge of the games, so we enjoyed bridal pictionary, toilet paper veil making, and a quiz about my groom to be.  I did pretty well on the quiz, I must say.  Though there were a few questionable answers on Mike's part.  We had three groups making different styles of veils (see evidence below).  It was a tough call, especially since I was told I would be wearing the winner's design to the rehearsal.  But, ultimately, the choice was made :)  My mom arranged for us to have lots of yummy food from the deli where she works, and she ordered some pretty amazing cupcakes for us to enjoy as well.  This was a kitchen themed shower, and so we received lots of goodies for our kitchen, which was really exciting.  We have already enjoyed beverages out of our new glasses and are planning ways to use our beautiful serving trays!  Very fun!
Last night was another shower, with a very different theme: linens and lingerie.  Very racy and lots of fun.  I felt like I was in a gourmet restuarant - Emily made so many delicious snacks for us, including salmon with creme fresche (OMG), proschiutto wrapped cantaloupe, fruit salad, honey and blue cheese topped bread....and then some pretty amazing bellinis with fresh fruit.  I was in heaven!  Overall, I feel very celebrated and I have still have another shower to go, which is being thrown by Mike's Mom, Sandy.  I just got the invitation for that in the mail!
I am including some (okay, LOTS of) pictures of the two events!  Lots of fun, and lots of love!  Thanks Emmy for making sure everything was documented so well.

Red Velvet....enough said...

(from the back) Key Lime, Cookies & Cream, Mint, Double Chocolate...

The final veil products

My mom had these awesome aprons made for us!

Gail and Kelly trying to strategize in the veil game

Emily had to run out to the car, so she naturally grabbed her fur coat...

The Table - it looked so awesome!  Our wedding colors, too!

One of my many new aprons - this one has cupcakes AND is in the new Sex and the City movie!!!

My Mother in Law (to be) and Grandma Takaki

Mandro mommies!

Bridal Pictionary!





San Jose Shower

Lemon and Chocolate Caramel!!!

Bellinis?  Yes, please!

OMG.  That is what these are called.

Toasting in some of our new flutes!

The Waiting Game...

We are waiting with bated breath on about 50% of our RSVPs!!  If you haven't sent yours in, please do, so that we can start on the next steps!!!  Can't wait to hear from you!

Uh oh...

Mike and I on a champagne cruise on Sunday :)

So, for those of you who know me well, you know that I tend to get very ill when I am really excited about something.  This illness comes in many forms (vomiting, stomach ache, headache, etc.).  It's really rather unpleasant.  But, it's been that way since I was a kid.

The first time I remember being really excited about something was when I was like 5, and it was Easter.  My dad and I were still going to church, and we had a tradition of going to Coffee & for breakfast right after.  I was extra excited this day because I knew I was coming home to a basket filled with goodies.  I had my regular french toast order, but started to feel really nauseaus half way through.  I couldn't stop thinking about the Easter basket.  My dad had to run a few errands, and I told him I didn't feel good.  But, I was dramatic as a child, so he thought I was exaggerating.  Go figure.  After about 30 minutes of errands, we were finally on our way home.  I remember counting in my head so that I could concentrate and not get sick in the car.  When we got home, I RAN inside, and got sick.  But, soon after, I got my easter basket, replete with chocolate goodness (always good right after tossing your cookies), and a Barbie ice cream maker!  I felt fine afterward, but the anticipation was what got me all worked up.  And it's been the same for 22 years now.

Why am I blogging about getting sick as a five year old?  Well, because we are at the under 60 day mark, and I must be excited because I have not felt good for the last 3 days...  My mom's bridal shower is this weekend, and I know I am really looking forward to it.  As I have mentioned before, I am so excited to see all of my mom's friends, and my friend's moms.  It's going to be a really fun day, PLUS she got cupcakes for the occasion!  Truly - nothing could be better.

BUT, I don't feel good.  At all.  I am having to teach, but have severe heartburn, acid tummy, and a loss of appetite.  I had to force myself to go to the gym last night thinking it would make me feel better.  Nope.  I didn't run or anything, just weights, but I was doubled over between sets.  Can you imagine what I will feel like the day of and before the actual wedding?  YIKES - is all I can say.

Is it normal?  Nope.  Do I want to be at work with 120 15-17 year olds?  Absolutely not!  But, I am really excited about the next 59 days, and after that, the rest of my life!

And the list goes on!

We had a 2 hour marathon check-in session with our wedding coordinator, Marcia, on Saturday.  At first, I couldn't imagine what we could possibly have to talk about for two whole hours.  I mean, we are ahead of the game, just the little details to go at this point.
Boy, were we WRONG!
First of all, thank God for Marcia.  She is a veteran, and I honestly don't know how we would be doing this without her.  She isn't helping us plan anything, but just serving as a day of coordinator, telling people where to go and when, and who everybody is.  She had lists and lists of questions, to dos and items to bring with us both on the wedding day and rehearsal.  She got everybody's names, and wanted to know who they were walking with and what song was the cue.  She gave us a timeline for the entire day, and even scheduled potty and snack breaks for Mike and I.  Wrote down which type of drink we wanted right after the ceremony, and where I would "hide away" on the property while Mike got his pictures done.  Seriously.  We left this meeting with our heads spinning 100 miles an hour.  I went home, sent about 15 emails to all of our vendors to request information for Marcia, and then we went to paper source to brainstorm about how to format our table names and escort cards.  I really enjoy that type of thing and so I am looking forward to doing those - especially since we had a lightbulb moment and thought of a cute way to format them!
We are at the two month mark/61 days out.  I feel like it was just yesterday that I was in disbelief at the proposal itself - something I waited almost 5 years for!  Then, amazement that we were at under 100 days - and now, we are a mere two months away.  I have to force myself to SLOW DOWN and remember this time.  Even though I am anxious to be married and start that journey together, I know that this is a time that will not be happening again, so I need to open my eyes, keep my head up, look around and enjoy it.
My mom is having a shower for me this weekend, and how's this for hilarious?  Emily, Brittney and I all bought the SAME DRESS - Emily and I same exact color - Brittney same print.  All in different cities on different days.  Luckily we figured it out before showing up at my mom's place.

And They're Back!

We got four of our RSVP cards back yesterday!  All of them were yes responses!  Very exciting!

Then, I came home today and saw two stuck into our door, which means our super talented mail man (who i already have "supreme faith " in) read the addresses incorrectly and our neighbors were kind enough to walk them over!  Yikes...Do you see why I don't trust the postal system?

Isn't he the cutest?

That's Amore

Hooray!  Big to do checked off the list today, thanks to the future in laws, Jack and Sandy!  We have booked our rehearsal dinner site at Bucca De Beppo!  I'm pretty sure it's everywhere, but for those who don't know, it's a super fun and casual family style Italian restuarant.  We have a very festive room to ourselves to celebrate, and I'm really excited!
People are starting to get their invites for the wedding yesterday and today, and Mike and I have bets about who is going to show up first in our mail box! Check back soon to see the winner!! :)