Davey Jr.

So we are not married yet (only 10 days away) and once we are we won't plan on having kids for at least a few years, BUT Dave has already announced that if we have a boy it will be, David Jr.

This does not please me. At all.

Just to be clear, I have nothing against other people being juniors. I know plenty of them. And I think it's cool when it's a unique family name or when it's a long standing tradition like "the III" or even more. But I feel like I am way too creative to name my child the same thing as I call my husband. I really just don't want to spend 18 years of our life having people call the house asking for "Dave" and I say, "Big Dave or Little Dave?" Imagine the confusion!

Am I being selfish here? I feel like since this fictional-for-now baby will be living in my future-womb, I should have at least 50% say in this, if not 51%. I'm fine with David as a middle name, but he is pretty dead set on a Jr. So what's a girl to do?

In the meantime, check out what our fictional Junior looks like:

I made him using this ! Check it out.

Does Dale Earnhardt, Jr. play for the Cards?

With the wedding only 11 days away, we have been getting more and more packages at our door full of wedding gifts and goodies. 

Today's delivery was quite interesting. We had registered for a STL Cardinals Grill Cover to proudly display on our deck over our grill all winter, just to spite all the surrounding Cubs fans:

So when I saw on the packing slip that someone had purchased it for us, I was so excited... just in time for the brisk Chicago weather that is upon us. So imagine my surprise when I open the box to find this:

Ummmm, what? For those of you that know me... so really none of you (lol), you would know that I am in no way, shape or form a Nascar fan. I have never so much as seen 1 minute of a race in my life. Is this some kind of cruel joke? It shipped from a 3rd party vendor in Chicago too, so I can just imagine the stock room kid that thought it would be REALLY funny to send me THIS instead of my Cardinals gear. Probably some guy like this:

But anyway, I called the dreaded TARGET.com, clinching my teeth in regards to the horror stories I heard about their return policy, but i was pleasantly surprised. No, the man on the other end did not speak English as a first language, or even a 2nd or 3rd language, but he was very helpful and even congratulated me on my wedding!

Now let's just see if the real Cardinals grill cover ever arrives and then I will really sing his praises.

Buh-bye Dale!

Sixteen

Sixteen has always been my lucky/favorite number. I'm not sure why, I just always picked it as a uniform number in sports growing up and then it stuck. Dave has adopted my lucky number over the years and today, 16 days before our wedding, he sent me flowers to work. Calla Lillies, my fave! Very sweet and thoughtful of him, I just wish I would have taken a photo!

So now, 16 days away from our wedding, I find myself at least 16 pounds heavier than I wanted to be...lol, but also 16 times more excited for the big day to come. 

This inspired me to catch up on my blog and think of 16 things I have discovered during the wedding planning process so far...

16. Men will never understand the need for chair covers.

15. That even in a bad economy, people are spending more on weddings than ever before... Maybe I need to find a way to go into the wedding business!

14. Common courtesy is not very common (in regards to many things, like RSVPing to an invite on time for example)

13. The web is an invaluable tool in the research process, but don't let it replace personal contact with vendors.

12. Opinions are like...let's say eyeballs, everyone has got 'em! Luckily, I learned that you really only have to listen to the ones of those who are paying ;-)

11. Hiring a Day Of Coordinator probably would have been a good idea, but it's too late now.

10.  When you begin planning, make a list of what you THINK things will cost, then double or triple it and you have your ACTUAL cost.

9. I love researching for the best deal around, but sometimes I think you get what you pay for... in my case I found this out when it came to an affordable but completely inflexible DJ.

8. Showers are AWKWARD! I thought since I was outgoing, I wouldn't mind being the center of attention but I did. I was sweating profusely at each shower as I opened gifts and found the experience surprisingly unsettling.

7. Let someone else in on the details of the wedding BEFORE it's only two weeks away. I'm a control freak so I did it all, but now as it is closer I find it hard to get everyone up to speed that will need to help me on the actual day.

6.  That my photographer was still my best investment hands down! I still love my e-pics and can't wait for Jon Koch to document our wedding day. Every time I see his recent work I get giddy.

5. I'm happy I'm in a place where I can help contribute to my own wedding. I'd hate to see my parents go broke and I also love that I can have all the extras I'd otherwise have to cut out.

4. I never should have impulse bought 325 sets of glass photo coasters off of theknot.com as soon as I got engaged. Now I have to figure out a way to stuff 300+ favors and carry the HEAVY boxes to the reception. If I had it to do over again I'd donate to a charity in the name of my guests.

3. My fiance Dave has very few opinions about the wedding, so when he had one I listened! (He is adamant that my hair is "up", so you bet it will be)

2. My dad is a sentimental schmuck and he has already teared up multiple times in these months before the wedding. I better wear waterproof mascara the day of!

1. I love my fiance more than anything in the world and cannot wait to finally call him HUSBAND!

Wow! I know I need to post soon, hopefully tonight. Sorry for the lack of entries :-(

Oouch...

My arms hurt today from the last two days of Bridal Bootcamp :-( I'd type more but my arms need a rest right now.

Where there's smoke...

...there's a new computer power cord! I have been MIA lately because late last week my computer cord started SMOKING! Yes, smoking. Leaving my computer battery to drain until I could finally take time to set up an appointment at the apple Genius Bar to have my laptop looked at. One quick appointment and $79.99 later for a new cord and I am now newly acquainted with the world wide web.

I felt cut off from society for the last few days and I was unable to blog about all the fabulous things that occured this weekend and week.

But let's catch up. To add to my workplace celebrities sightings, we got a text message tip on Monday that three stars were making their way to our floor. Not the lobby, but literally coming to the spillover Obama HQ office next door. So we not-so-stealthily head down the hall to "go to the restroom", when down walks:

Queen Latifah


Alicia Keys (GORGEOUS in person and SO tiny!)


And, Jennifer Hudson (the day it was announced that she is newly engaged to a random reality star by the way)


I guess, they are doing some sort of a promotion for the Obama campaign, but of course I cannot know for sure. It made for an exciting trip the the restroom though!

Aside from not being able to talk about the celebs swarming my building at work, I also haven't been able to update about the wedding which is less than 8 weeks away.

This weekend, Dave and I completed our pre-cana class in middle of the monsoon-like rains and we actually really enjoyed it. 

Also, our RSVP's have been pouring in. Count: 100+ yes, 1 no. uh oh. Should I stress? Well as of today I officially live in the most stressful city in America, according to Forbes , so I guess wedding-stress or no wedding-stress, I'm doomed ;-) 

 

My Word Vomit and Run-in with Biden

Ok, so I work in a building downtown that is the HQ of the Obama/Biden campaign. I have been excited about prospect of bumping into Obama for a while now and imagined myself reaching out to shake is hand or starting up some intelligent political conversation as we wait for the elevator. (i know, i know this will never happen, but can't a girl dream?).

Sure, we have seen his motorcade outside the lobby as we go down in the afternoons for lunch, but I have never had a sighting yet as I'm sure they are very stealth during this high-traffic time in our building.

But tonight came as a surprise. My 2 coworkers/coworker-outers and I were on our way downstairs returning from our Bridal Bootcamp class after work around 7:15 and suddenly we see the big parade of black SUV's pull up outside the lobby. Suddenly Senator Joe Biden steps out of the car. We try to casually hangout, but since we were the only ones there building security told us to keep walking. Well, on our way out the side door, in walks Biden! Well first secret service guys that told us to stand back and then Joe Biden and then more secret service guys.

We literally almost bumped into him, so instead of saying something intelligent, I say (reminder: I am sweaty in my workout gear at the point), "Hi, Joe!"... Yep. Not "Hello Senator Biden" or "Nice to meet you Mr. Biden, sir." But, "Hi Joe!" Like a 16 year-old girl who just ran into the Jonas Brothers! I'm a dork.

FLASHBACK:
This reminds me of the time when I saw former Project Runway star, Mykael Knight...

...getting out of a cab in Chicago and I scream, "Hi, Mykael!"... like he knew who I was or something. He shyly looked at me and gave a slight wave, but you could tell he was totally caught off gaurd that ANYONE even recognized him. Worse though in that situation, is the fact that no one else probably knew who he was and totally thought I was getting blown off by some random guy.

But I digress...let's get back to Biden.

To make matters worse, Joe Biden is actually a very attractive and statuesque man up close. Then after my word vomit, he looks right at me and my two friends and says, "Hello, ladies." SWOON!

ok so maybe he doesn't think I'm an idiot just because I did not address him properly, hey he's a man that looks out for the everyday people, right?

At this point I should either shake his hand or shut up. Well I did neither and instead blurted out, "I'm voting for you!". OMG. Now I really sound like a 16 year-old school girl, well actually more like an 18 year-old school girl, because otherwise I wouldn't even be able to vote. He smiled and continued on.

All in all it was an eventful evening as I left work. My legs were shaking for the next ten minutes as I walked to the train to go home. It think it was partially the squats from bootcamp, and partially me being politically star struck.

But what can we learn from this situation? Well probably nothing. I'd like to think of this as my dress rehersal, or dry run if you will, for when I finally "bump" into Obama. But odds are, if that ever does happen, I'm like to blurt out, "Hi Barack!" like we are lifelong friends. Who knows, maybe he'll appreciate that though :-)