Wednesday Wonder: It's Getting Real

 

The invitations are here and being sent out. I'm really happy with how they turned out as I used a site where I could kind of design them a bit myself. It sure makes it all feel real and like it's right around the corner! (insert my palpitating heart here) The invitations are folded and open up vertically. 💌

I love the vintage feel to them. And the colors fit perfectly with my bouquet of sunflowers and some navy flowers thrown in. I know it's more "modern" to do a website and use technology more. But our wedding is going to be very small. Very us. And I love the romance of paper things that I can keep and hold on to forever. 🌻💛

FRONT

MIDDLE

BACK

😊💕

Love sharing all of these details with you, my blogland besties. If I could - you'd all be there too. Just know you're in my heart and will be there that way. Curious though, what would you pick for dinner? Lol

PS: dessert includes a small white almond wedding cake and buttercream frosting with sunflowers on it. And chocolate mini cupcakes with peanut butter frosting (Matt's favorite flavors), cookie butter cake pops (my favorite, especially for Fall), and chocolate covered strawberries. 

😋

Happy Homemaker Monday

 

Hello Friends

Happy Monday! 

It's finally warming up a bit here in the northwoods. It feels like such a welcome gift after how cold it had been lately. 

We had a lovely weekend here. We worked on clearing more things out of Matt's house to get it ready to rent. Matt and I went to Saturday evening mass. Then my bestie Mrs. C. came over to have Chinese food and watch the Packers with us. Mr. C had to work at an event for volleyball (he coaches his daughter's team and helps run a local program) It was such a fun and exciting game to watch! We unfortunately couldn't pull off the win - but we had a phenomenal season for being such a young team. 

Then Sunday we went and watched The C's daughter play in a volleyball tourney, and came home to watch the other playoff football and how's about those Chiefs, Jean?  Pretty impressive and fun to watch We did our usuals getting things done around the house, I read lots on my kindle (on to my 2nd book of the year - I'm on fire! Lol) and did more of my exercising as I'm getting more into a regular routine. 💪🏻

Today the sun is shining - it looks to be a more mild week ahead and I'm ready to dive into it all. I hope you are too. :) 

        

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

60 calorie activia yogurt, coffee

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Annie's hockey games, a meeting at her school to be on the committee for senior night again this year, dinner with my Mom one night, errands & some groceries, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT:  

Doing the blogaversary drawing tomorrow. Please go to my post about it and enter if you haven't! First name drawn will get this:

2nd name drawn will get this:

I will draw the names and post tomorrow. Don't need to be a blogger to enter! And you don't need to be in the U.S. Please go join so I can have chance to thank you for being a reader and friend and supporter. 💚

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

I finally took down the rest of Christmas and just left up some of the greenery, snowmen, deer etc. And put out some of my Valentine's decorations. 💕

CURRENTLY READING

I decided I wanted to read another Beth Moran novel so I'm reading Christmas Every Day

ON THE TV TODAY:

The Crown (almost done), Jeopardy, Gilmore Girls episodes, Miss Scarlet and the Duke, All Creatures Great and Small, Shark Tank, Matt & I are watching Fool Me Once on Netflix and it's a fun murder mystery series we're both enjoying so far

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY -  leftover tacos

TUESDAY - whole grain pasta with marinara and Italian chicken meatballs, roasted broccoi with lemon & parm

WEDNESDAY -  not sure yet for rest of the week (groceries) ?

THURSDAY - ?

FRIDAY - maybe out for dinner 

  

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

work more on clean/organize my kitchen, read, watch a movie or fun series

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

FROM THE CAMERA:

We had fun indulging in Chinese food dinner and reese's pb chip brownies when we cheered on the Pack! 

But these are the low cal treats I'm usually eating these days: chocolate rice cake with a little melted marshmallow, chocolate drizzle & a few butterscotch chips - total about 100 calories

Speaking of treats...I thought you might get a kick out of the wedding cake topper I ordered for us. They will be customizing the hair to be more like our colors - but you gotta love the Packers touches!! 😍 Lol I'm doing sunflowers as a main theme to our wedding - so fits the colors well too - golden yellow with some greenery. 😉💚💛

❤️❤️❤️

I loved how this chickadee hung out forever in the middle of the birdseed wreath. Made himself right at home & was so cute! And I especially loved when Bubba thinks he's a stealth hunter by hiding behind the curtain panel when there are a bunch of birds in the window. 😁 

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  Prayers for the recent shooting in Iowa. For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace. For His Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere.  For Matt's Mom to be fully healed from her cancer, and that her treatments continue to go well. Extra love to her for her birthday today too! And for his Dad also dealing with some health issues right now 🙏 

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I wish you a lovely week ahead! I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Happy Homemaker Monday (and a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT)

Hello my dear Friends! 

Sorry I'm getting to this post late today, but I've been busy with friends popping in and talking to relatives on the phone because this last weekend was a big one:

I said YES!! 💍 💝 

We were in Green Bay over the weekend - visiting family, but we also went to the Packers game with our friends the C's and Matt proposed at Lambeau field. It was absolutely amazing!! We've talked about getting married one day, and I knew a proposal might come in the near future...but I never expected it there. When we would talk about it I would say don't worry about doing anything elaborate and teased him not to do anything public! So I was in total shock and I will share all in more detail (& a million pics) below. I thank God He brought this amazing man into my life and I look forward to forever with him. 

♥️ ♥️ ♥️ 

*A little side note: I had mentioned in a post the other day that I want to work on making my blog private. I haven't looked into it a lot yet, but I think all you will need to do to continue following me normally is just ask permission to the blog. I apologize if it causes any inconvenience, and I thank you for your understanding. I treasure the time here with you friends! And I'll have lots to share with the future plans and want you all in the loop! Lol 🤗 💕 

        

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

fruit, pumpkin spice biscotti, coffee

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

getting together with friends for Halloween, errands, groceries later in the week, hockey parent meeting, Annie's has hockey practices, getting together with my Mom, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT:  

so many of the very obvious things - wedding planning talk has already begun 💕 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

The lights are on as it's early evening and cloudy and gray out - so it's feeling cozy. We're supposed to get some snow flurries this evening already. Winter is definitely in the air.

CURRENTLY READING

A Slice of Summer by Melissa McClone - because the second book is an autumn one after this one

ON THE TV TODAY:

  Big Brother, Dancing with the Stars, Survivor, Shark Tank, Jeopardy, Better Call Saul, The Morning Show, Great British Baking Show, Gilmore Girls episodes, movies taped

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY -  sausage and veggie sheet pan we didn't make last week

TUESDAY -  at Mr. C's relatives for a Halloween party (they're serving chili and fixings - I'm planning to bring caramel apple salad and to try to make my friend Billie Jo's spider web munch dessert)

WEDNESDAY -  pork chop pinwheels filled with wild rice stuffing, cheddar mashed potatoes, veggie side

THURSDAY - pasties with beef, rutabaga and potato, salads

FRIDAY -  clean out fridge/freezer or out for dinner

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

read, go for fun chilly walks as now we have to bundle up well! do wedding planning, hang with friends

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

Pro tip: Get engaged to your best friend and be the happiest girl around.

 😉 💕 

FROM THE CAMERA:

Here is the tale of the weekend and I have lots of photos because you know I do that anyways. Lol But I have pics Matt took too. But I will try to keep it as condensed as possible. 

I don't have pics from Friday night -but that night just Matt and I got to Green Bay and went to my Aunt's house for dinner. My other Aunt was there too and my special Uncle Don. We had a wonderful dinner and dessert and sang happy birthday to Matt (as it was his birthday that day). And we visited until late. Such a great night. Then we went to lunch on Saturday with my Cousin Dave and his wife Micki and had a great time catching up with them. It was so fun! The whole weekend was so fun and I wish I could do it all over again. 😊 

Getting into town and can see Lambeau off in the distance

Our hotel even had a funky football mural. Lol Green Bay has such a small town feel for being a bigger city, because everyone is sort of team focused. It's pretty cute unless you're Mr. C who is a Vikings fan. Lol 

Then by late afternoon Saturday our friends the C's rolled into town and we hung out with them. Then we went to restaurant my Aunt had recommended and I had made reservations the week prior. It was such a neat old school supper club. It has been in the same family over 100 years. The atmosphere is just cool and the food was amazing! 

Even though it was located outside of green bay and I made reservations over a week ago it was pretty booked up - but they had their earliest reservation available. So we were the first ones there (along with the C's of course) but about 15 minutes after this pic was taken the place was almost full. 

They had all the supper club kinds of things: a tray of veggies, soft homemade dinner rolls and little garlic toasts and little dishes of ham salad, liver pate, and cheese you could eat on the toasts or with the veggies. We had delish cocktails too! 

I had the lobster ravioli, a side of broccoli and a salad with cranberry vinaigrette and Matt had the wedge salad, NY strip with a side of potato. So good 😋  

Just a neat vibe to all the different dining areas they had in the building and even an old phone booth with a working phone! ;) 

We had all driven in one car and after dinner we drove around my Aunt's neighborhood to show the C's the amazing homes there. My aunt lives in a gated kind of estates community and a lot of Packer players live around her. Some of the homes there are unbelievable! It was dark by then so I didn't get pics - but we had such fun trying to guess which players lived in which homes. Lol Then after that we went to the casino. Mrs. C won money playing slots and Matt and I won money playing blackjack! Mr. C played blackjack too, but sadly didn't win. I think it's cuz he's a Vikes fan. 😉 

Then Sunday was game day! It was the noon game so we got going early. Mrs. C had a former colleague that lived down there and told us to park by her house as she was only a few blocks from the stadium. I loved the cute big spider on her roof. Lol 

The C's in front of us - don't let Mrs. C's light lavender coat fool you. She's a packer fan through and through and her hat was a gray packers one with a matching packers scarf. Go Pack Go! 

A former colleague of Matt's that had lived in GB before said he was going to be there and they tailgate and we should stop by. So the four of us wen to visit with him and his wife and they were so nice. 

We took fun pics along the way back by the stadium. Then before we went in Matt said we should take one in the front of the stadium to truly document the occasion. Little did I know he had tipped off Mrs. C that morning by text what he was going to do so she could film it. 🙈 

I felt like an abominable snow person all day because I had so many layers on (we all did). It was only in the 30's outside. So I had on long underwear, extra pants and like 3 layers under my winter coat. Feeling so attractive. Lol I never thought for one second I was about to get engaged! 

So we had decided we were going to do a picture under the Vince Lombardi statue and when we got there Matt turned to me and started to read some amazing things he had written down in his phone and had tears in his eyes. And I turned to look and Mrs. C was filming and I knew this was it and I immediately started crying and put my blanket up by my face. Lol These are screen shots I took from some of the video. I feel so badly I kept the blanket up by my face but I kept trying to hide my ugly cry. 😂 

And I of course I said yes! And then we pulled ourselves together and we went to hug Mr & Mrs C who were also so choked up and so happy for us. 💗 

Then we went in for the game. And even though the Pack didn't play great it was a very fun game. We had cool people sitting around us and it was fun watching Mr. C be so pleased with himself and we all gave him lots of crap. Ha! We had great seats - 50 rows up behind the Pack bench.

Then it was over all too soon and it was time to head back home. It was a lovely drive. Lots of very WI farms and the sunset was gorgeous. And then the full moon came out. We even drove through a little stretch of snow! 

On the drive we were talking about plans and called his folks and talked to them on speaker phone and I had a lot of texting and talking to family before I made it official on social media. And everyone was over the moon for us. My parents and step parents and most of all my kids. Which moved me so much. They adore Matt and are so very happy for us. It's all just a dream and I feel beyond blessed!! 😃 

And because I know many of you will ask - here's the ring. It's a carat & 1/2 halo diamond ring with yellow gold. And once we're married it will have the diamond wedding band underneath too (like lower pic). I just love that it's kind of vintage looking - almost art deco style and it's just so sparkly and perfect!! 

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflict in the Ukraine and Israel and of all parts of the world living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For all of the families of the victims in the Maine shooting. For my Uncle 

Don having some health issues. For anyone sick, suffering, in pain or fear... that God bring them comfort and peace. For His Light and Love to cast out the dark everywhere. 🙏 

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I hope you have a great week ahead! I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.