John N had a saying that I am pretty sure he stole from somewhere. The saying was: The key is to be like the duck, smooth and unruffled on top but paddling furiously underneath. That is what I am trying to be right now. My tummy is just bouncing off the wall, I am alternately excited, crabby, anxious, happy, sad, giddy… and on down the line!

Frank is absolutely, hands down, the most awesome guy in the world and I am soooo lucky! I cannot wait to marry him!

Only FOUR days to go… I can hardly stand it!!!

Frank and I had quite a busy weekend!

Friday: Our couch was delivered and it is SOOOO cute! We both just love it and it is nice to sit on something aside from the lawn chairs! Then my friend Erin and I went out and ran errands all day long–happy errands! We went to Victoria’s Secret and bought some things we definitely *needed*–hee hee!! Who doesn’t need stuff from Victoria’s Secret?? I’m just sayin’… After our shopping, we saw Freaky Friday, a very cute movie that our significant others are probably very glad we didn’t make them see.

Then we went to dinner at Fridays. I had developed a huge tummy ache (probably anxiety related) and I was sure I wouldn’t be able to eat anything at Fridays… but lo and behold… I scarfed down some dinner! YUM! After that, we went back to the apartment to watch Just Married. Frank started out watching the movie with us, but then suffered some of his own pre-marital anxiety and decided to organize the office instead. hee hee–poor guy!

Saturday: Kristin R came up and we went all about town. We went to my house to see my wedding dress and then to a restaurant in Naperville for lunch and then to Fox Valley mall to pick up a few items for the wedding. After that, Kristin went home and I made Frank some dinner and enjoyed some alone time. That was fab. Then Jeff and Dustin came over to play. I gave them some cookies and milk and the guys amused themselves in the back with some golf clubs (this was very dangerous because Frank has never golfed before and I worry about him!) After play time, we saw the movie American Wedding. This was a very big movie weekend for me–I haven’t seen that many movies in an entire month!

Sunday: Frank and I trekked down to my dad’s side of the family for a wedding shower for us. Frank hung out with Uncle Mark, Cousin Roger, Dad and a few other relatives while the girls played games and opened presents and had snacks–good times! While we were finishing up with the shower, the men-folk drove to Toluca to get some Mona’s (a great Italian restaurant!). They brought back large trays of ravioli, spaghetti, fried chicken and breads–soooo yummy!! We ate and ate and ate! SOOOO GOOD!

Monday: I went to the airport to take care of a few things and then I had another shower at my mom’s friend Mary B’s house. Mary had such a great shower put together with lots of finger foods, cute decorations and fun trivia games. We opened gifts and chatted the afternoon away. I suppose after that weekend it was no wonder that I needed a serious nap!!!

So here we are on Tuesday and I am just SOOOO tired!! EEEK!

Only 17 days to go!

Whew–What a weekend!

Friday Frank and I went to the DuPage County Seat to get our marriage license. The first question they asked (even before they asked us what our names are!) was “Are you related?” WHAT!??!?! Of course not!! EEEEK! Ew ew ew. Frank was so stunned by the question, he couldn’t even come up with a witty comeback. Shocking. So after we did that (we are now fully licensed, woohoo!), Frank went to work and I went shopping for food for Frank’s apartment and then I went home and ran some errands. Later in the afternoon I went for my FINAL fitting at Volle’s. I put on my princess dress and it fit PERFECTLY! OH MY GOSH!! It was awesome. I love my dress. It is beautiful! Mom and I put it in the car (very carefully!) and it is now hanging in the basement, waiting for the big day!

Friday night Frank and I had Jamie and Craig over to Frank’s new pad (soon to be mine!). Frank put together some yummy appetizers and we chatted before going to Fridays for dinner. We had a great time! Craig FINALLY asked Frank to stand up in their wedding and Frank said, “Yes” without much deliberation 😉 They also asked me to do a reading in their ceremony–woohoo!!!

Saturday I was up bright and early, in search of the elusive Crate and Barrel. I had a few things I wanted to return and I figured it would be oh-so-easy to find a C&B in Naperville. WRONG. The only C&Bs in Naperville are outlets or furniture stores–not places I could return things to from regular C&Bs. Oh well. Frank and I left for Champaign early in the afternoon for his friend Eric O’s wedding. His bride was stunning in a Maggie Sotero dress. The ceremony was beautiful and both the bride and groom were in tears as they exchanged their vows. After the ceremony, we went to Hawthorne Suites Hotel for the reception. They had lovely quiches and mini-quesadillas–YUM! Dinner was also very good and dessert was tiramisu–YUMYUMYUM! I was quite full! Once dinner was finished, the dance floor was opened up so that we could all “cut a rug.” After we had done some serious dancing, the bride and groom did the traditional bouquet and garter toss. I declined going on the dance floor for the bouquet–I mean, I’m getting married in less than 25 days!!! But Frank decided to have his last hurrah as a single man, and hopped out on the dance floor. The other guys were quite upset that Frank took a front position because of his height, so he wound up in the back of the pack. No matter–Frank STILL caught the garter! That’s my guy!!!! It turns out that Eric, the groom, caught that same garter at his friend’s wedding in June, so we decided to keep the tradition alive and we are using the same garter in our wedding–rah!!!

Sunday afternoon Frank and I had a dance lesson as well as a bridal shower at my friend Erin B’s house in Chicago. The shower was AWESOME!! They had amazing food, it was good to see sorority sisters and the dessert was fabulous! She served tiramisu cake and a chocolate mousse cake and everyone had to try both–YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM! So good! After that, Frank and I were pretty exhausted.

So that was our weekend! Only 25 days until the BIG DAY!!!

Here goes the recap:

Friday–I left work and went home to do the lovely task of writing thank you notes. Don’t get me wrong–I appreciate everyone’s thoughtful gifts, but these thank you notes take a lot out of ya! I wrote and wrote until about 11 p.m. before crashing. Soooo sleepy!

Saturday–I had my first dress fitting since the dress was too short. THE DRESS IS PERFECT!!!! YAY!!! I was soooo happy, you have no idea. I felt beautiful, like a princess, in my dress!! I love it I love it I love it!! 😀 After that, I went down to Naperville to do a few things around the apartment before going to see Uptown Girls with Kim, Kate and Dorothy. The movie was very sweet. Due to my overly emotional nature these days (hormonal and otherwise), I was near tears through the whole thing. Eeeek! After the movie we chatted for a while and then the girls left. Frank came home from work shortly after that and we went to the River Walk in downtown Naperville. We had a delicious dinner at the Front Street Cantina and explored some of my favorite shops such as The Gap.

Sunday–I met up with Frank at work and we had a little barbeque with the guys from work. I grilled up some hamburgers and we had a lovely time. Frank’s second flight of the day canceled and we decided to use that time to do some furniture shopping. At Carson’s Home Gallery we found an awesome couch and chair that we both loved. At Target we found a TV stand and then at Circuit City we found a receiver for Frank’s speakers. All in all, a good shopping day! We went back to the apartment and manly-man Frank set up the TV stand while I put together dinner (home-run Inn Pizzas… yum!) After dinner, Frank’s friend and former co-worker Jeff A stopped over. He pledges to be our “Kramer”–staying at our house, answering our phone and eating our food. Delightful! Frank and Jeff left to go do guy stuff (ie. drink at a bar) and I stayed around for a little bit before going home. Yesterday was my dad’s birthday and today is my mom’s so on my way home, I picked up a delicious birthday cake for both of them and we sang happy birthday. YAY!

That’s all for now! Only 32 days to go until the BIG day! 😀 YAY!!!