Love, Laughter & Wine

 Friday night was the start to the weekend and I couldn't have been more exhausted and stressed. So what does my future hubs do? He makes me an ice cream sandwich cake and gets Frozen for us to watch. Yes, this man opted to watch a Disney movie with me AND made me a cake. Best future hubs EVER.

Although my weekends are jam packed with wedding events and planning, I'm loving it. ESPECIALLY when I get to see all of my favorite people in one day. Saturday was my second bridal shower that two of my aunts hosted for me at an amazing French restaurant, L'Eiffel Bistrot & Creperie. All of my bridesmaids were there and while I wanted to just talk to everyone, I HAD to rush on over to my family who traveled from Minnesota. I rarely get to see them so it was basically like Christmas all over again. Crap, if it snows again don't blame me for saying that...

I had way too much wine (of course) and the food was to die for. I'm a salmon snob.

After the food, we ordered dessert...nothing could have prepared me for it either. I wish I could have grown a second stomach for it...I could only eat a third of it! Helloooo long distance run tomorrow.

 Wine AND this dessert...I didn't even know what to do with myself. It's times like these where you just forget about logging anything into MyFitnessPal.

 

 During lunch and dessert, there were a couple of games, one of which I definitely got a kick out of. Out of a whole list of Facebook statuses, everyone had to guess which status was posted by me or Josh. 

After dessert and chatting with my favorites, it was gift time. I must say, everyone outdid themselves. I am so blessed to have the most thoughtful friends and family. One of my bridesmaids painted this for me! Stunned.

 

Once again, everyone insisted on playing the ribbon game and counted how many I broke...luckily there was only one that I couldn't untie and had to cut....dang it!! You can see how excited I am about this whole situation. 

Bags are good...that means, no ribbons. I swear, my fam and friends want Josh and me to be the next Duggar family.

Oh and might I add that Josh and I are now stockholders in Starbucks and BP now? Josh might be screwed with his stocks in BP since they're spilling oil all over the damn place, but Starbucks?! Hellloooo retirement! Go ahead entire high school population, get your matching Starbucks fraps! I'll no longer eye-roll at you. You're helping a girl out.

After all of the gifts were unwrapped and set aside, I could hug and thank the hell out of everyone. I love my bridesmaids more than anything and this is actually the first time they could all get together at once! #bigbridalpartyproblems.

The best thing about all of these ladies is that they are all unique and awesome in their own way. I met each one at a special time in my life and I can't wait until I say "I do" with them beside me! I can never get enough time with my family from out-of-town too.

My cousin also had these amazing shirts made. If you don't already know, I'm obsessed with pandas (who isn't?) Team Emily for the win.

The back of each shirt is unique too with their role in the wedding and relation to me. I'm in love with these shirts and I'll be wearing it for the next 32 days. It goes well with a blazer right?...Yes, that's what I thought. Totally will.

After the bridal shower epicness, I went over to my Aunt's place where we had quality family time. Oh man it doesn't get any better than this. We celebrated my aunt's and my grandmother's birthday as well which meant more cake...and spiced rum on the side. Damnit, let's add on another mile to that run in the morning.

Team Emily- with some missing of course.

 After I said goodbye to my Minne-SO-ta fam, I headed home, unloaded everything and hit that pillow so hard. On Sunday, I definitely kept my promise to myself and hit that pavement hard early in the morning. It was glorious. The sun was shining, it was warm and holy shit...it felt like SPRING. After my run, I worked my behind off until it was time to meet Josh and his fam to celebrate his mom's birthday at Kyoto...one of the best Japanese restaurants EVER. It's the type of place where they cook right in front of you and try to flip things into your mouth...in which the food always just ends up hitting me in the face....After that seven-mile run earlier, my body was screaming for protein. Hellloooo shrimp dinner.

 

Josh's parents are also wine aficionados, so we shared a bottle of "Kung Fu Girl" wine...it's a type of Riesling and I just had to try it. Definitely a fan.

It was the perfect end to an amazing weekend. 32 days until this guy is stuck with me forever!

 

Also, the Mindy Project comes back on this week...and I feel like it's the most underrated show EVER. Does anyone else watch it??? I'm obsessed and can't wait to see it!!!

 

Showered with Love

On Saturday, my future mother-in-law threw me an amazing bridal shower! I'm seriously so blessed to be marrying into such a loving and caring family. After getting some work done in the morning, I got my hair done and slipped into my dress and glittery rose gold flats that I'm totally in love with.

The shower was Paris-themed (my favorite place ever) and I was obsessing over everything that she made down to the Eiffel Tower cookies! Oh and that's a cupcake cake next to the cupcake display. Say whhaattt??? Amazing.

The cupcakes were infused with strawberries and they were absolutely delicious and flippin' adorable. 

And did I mention that she also made a specialty drink?? Josh and coined it "Wodka" since it was a mix of pink moscato and vodka. Holy crap, it's amazing and exactly right up this bride's alley. The boys stayed downstairs in the basement for the most part and Josh made an appearance a couple of times. I obviously just loved the wodka a little too much. Who needs a glass?

This bridal shower was for Josh's side of the family and it was great spending so much time with all of the ladies and totally indulging in my favorite veggie pizza that Josh's mom makes. To die for. She is SO very thoughtful.

I'm personally not a fan of playing games, but they organized two that were really fun! One was a quiz about me that each guest had to fill out to see how well they knew the bride. It was a lot of fun and of course my sister won that game. After the winner was announced though, we called Josh up to answer the questions to see how many he got right. It was confirmed that he definitely knows his bride! 

Next, it was time to open the mountain of gifts! I don't know about anyone else, but I always feel uncomfortable opening presents in front of a lot of people. I never want anyone to think that I like another present over what they got me because of my reaction. At this point, I felt a little less anxious though. Thank you, Wodka! Everyone was SO very generous and I never knew I would be so excited over a cocktail mixer and shiny new ice bucket. #Signsyourgettingold. Josh's cousin got us this beautiful personalized frame and coaster set that I'm obsessing over.

Josh and I were beyond spoiled! Well...mainly me since I don't know when he'd use the Kurig (hell to the yes). Josh's mom put together the most adorable honeymoon tote for us and another gift set adorned with Paris things of course. I'm not obsessed...what are you talking about? 

Now for the hilarious part. So to preface what is about to happen, while Josh and I were registering for things, he came across this frog bathset meant for kids. I was like, wait what? That's ridiculous. He fricken loved this thing and he absolutely insisted that we add this frog towel/ bathset to the registry. I relented...now fast forward, Josh's mom calls Josh upstairs to help unwrap the last gift....and yep, you guessed it. It was the damn frog bathset. He was elated.

 After we all had a good laugh, it was dessert time! Cathy busted out a chocolate fountain with strawberries, pineapple, preztels etc. HEAVEN. The take home cookies were also adorable! 

I'll say it again, I am SO lucky to have such an amazing mother-in-law. I also only ended up breaking THREE ribbons while unwrapping the gifts. MUAHAHA. Apparently breaking any ribbons represents how many kids you will have. I can deal with three...but that is my fricken MAX. I absolutely can't wait until I get to see my family from Minnesota for my bridal shower part two next weekend! All of my bridesmaids will be there as well. I can't wait! There's nothing better than surrounding oneself with your favorite people.

39 DAYS. To quote Ke$ha...tick tock on the clock!!!

This bridal shower definitely left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. With my bride anxiety taking over a lot lately with the planning, it's time like these that make me feel SO good about the wedding day and ensures me that whatever happens it'll all work out perfectly! One step closer to tying the knot!

Also, the invitations are all sent out! No turning back now!!!

 

Spice Up Your Life

It is the start of a new work week...hooray...*yawn. Before this week is reported on, I shall recap this past weekend's events since it was packed full of family wonderfulness. Saturday was my cousin's fabulous bridal shower so I finally got to rock that new dress I bought (also one of my cousin's colors for the wedding).

My mom hosted the venue at this amazing restaurant where we reserved a private room. The food was AMAZING and I'm pretty sure I gained 10lbs post lunch. We played a bunch of really cute games that my aunt came up with including matching up famous couples (Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson were included....oops!) My cousin is also a pastry chef so there was also a game where we needed to guess the price of some baking products...I had no idea...it's a rare occasion when my ass is in the kitchen to actually bake something....if I am, it's to snag a bottle off of the wine rack or to throw some stuff in a pan and pray that it turns out somewhat edible. The third game we played was really cute. There was a list of candy on one the right and wedding terms on the left to match the candy up with. For instance, airheads were the bridesmaids and the groomsmen matched with the three musketeers. 

After we handed out the prizes for those who won the games, it was time for the bride to open up the gifts! Since my cousin and her fiancee already live together, they had this awesome idea of having more of a honeymoon shower where they suggested things we could get them for their honeymoon. They're stopping at various places on the West Coast so they made a website so people could actually get them certificates for a rental car for a day, things to do on their trip like going on a winery tour, etc. The last gift was of course my Aunt Heidi's (my cousin's daughter). She started to unwrap the box and BAM all of us ladies saw that signature teal color. Tiffany & Co. for the win. My cousin always wears these keys around her neck and just loves keys in general so my aunt had this necklace personally made for my cousin that was made up of three keys on a necklace. SO PRETTY. We gasped, we applauded and my cousin was speechless.

After the bridal shower I got to spend some quality time with the bride-to-be and my other cousins and aunt from out-of-town. The weather was gorgeous and called for margaritas and enjoying them poolside....so we did. After that, (since I obviously hadn't consumed enough calories that day) we got Lou Malnati's deep dish pizza. Go big or go home right? At least it was veggie? :p

Since I was recently outed by my lovely fiancee that yes I have a problem with shopping, I've been keeping the addiction at bay by focusing on running and mentally preparing myself to run for 13.1 miles. Luckily I was due for my long distance run the following morning of my calorie fest. I ran seven miles which didn't seem too bad (I swear by my personally-crafted playlists). There's nothing like still feeling that alfredo sauce sloshing around your stomach though when you're running in humid weather and only halfway through the run...

After my run I retreated downstairs which is my cool-down haven. However, this is Apollo and Luigi's lair during the summer as well so I had the pleasure of having their fluffs stick to my sweaty bod as soon as I collapsed on the couch....awesome.

The weekend came to a close with going to a family birthday party for Josh's cousins and watching Hoarders/ the closing ceremony for the Olympics. I don't know about you, but I instantly regressed to my childhood and freaked the hell out when I found out that The Spice Girls were reuniting and going to perform. Oh.My.God. It was perfect and everything I would have hoped for. Josh was a trooper and watched it with me while I pretended like I wasn't 24 going on 12. Now if only Nsync could reunite....