Gotta have a theme!

I haven't been doing too much wedding planning because besides booking the ceremony and reception sites, there isn't much to do a year in advance. I have been talking with photographers, but that's about it. I am, however, doing lots of research on decorations and invitations. If you didn't know, I like being crafting and making things.

I think I like the idea of a wine theme wedding. I like the idea of a theme...otherwise all my decor will be quite random. Anywa, we are not having our reception at a winery or vineyard, but the place does have Venetian decor...and Venetian is from Venice, Venice is in Italy, and Italy has a lot of wine! Ha ha! I've been thinking about centerpieces lately, so I've been saving wine bottles just in case. (Guess we won't be drinking boxed wine for a while!) I could use the regular hurricane lamp with a candle the place provides, but it doesn't hurt to think of an alternative.

Here is an idea I came across for wine bottle centerpieces...I'd have to find a way to cut the bottle, but research has already began on that. Or I could just put flowers in a non-cut bottle...but I'd be afraid it would be too tall.

These are sold on a website, but if I wanted at least 10 of them, I don't want to pay $38 a piece and I think they will be fun to make anyway.

A few other ideas I have are to use wine bottles and put Christmas lights in them. I've seen this done a few times. I'd have to get battery operated Christmas lights though.

I still have a lot of time left. I will probably wait till the last minute anyway. Can I be a DIY bride...we'll see won't we...

Pop Art Beth

I just got a new computer and had them install paint shop pro. Its not as good as photoshop, but its about 1/1000000 of the price so it works for now. Tonight I found a tutorial online on how to create pop art. I thought it was neat and decided to find a picture. I feel pretty vain that I did one of myself, but I didn't want to put anyone else's picture up because it might embarrass them. I don't mind embarrassing myself.

Our Shimmy becomes a Denney

Kim and Ty's big day is finally here! Lets start it off by meeting at 7:30 and getting prettied up! Yay!

We went to the salon and Kim and the seven bridesmaids got hair and makeup done. It was a nice morning...we had plenty of munchies and lots of girl talk. Kim was super calm and looked beautiful with her hair up and make up on. She looked like a princess chillin out in her sweatshirt.

Once hair and makeup was done we went back to the hotel, but couldn't do too much. I had a lot of hairspray in, but not enough to go hang out on the beach! So I hung out in the hotel room chattin with Mike and it was finally time to put my dress on. I really liked it so was quite excited to wear it...Thank you Kim for not getting us BoPeep dresses like the one Rachel wore on Friends!

We got to the church and before long it was time for me to lead us all down the aisle. It was so great getting to stand up there with Kim and her friends. It was such a nice ceremony because Ty's grandpa performed it and he was able to add such personal touches. I was doing great and not even tearing up until Ty's grandpa started talking about how great the two are and how he's so happy Ty met Kim and how wonderful she was. I kept thinking, I think that too. They are both so great...so Luke and Lorelai. :)

After the ceremony, a few pics were taken and then it was time to board the trolley...only problem...its raining. So, Mr. Trolley guy has his umbrella so we were able to stay dry. We had enough hairspray to withstand a hurricane, but better safe than sorry.

On the trolley, we had to just wait and see what happened with the rain and enjoyed the ride...the Denny boys opened a few bottles of champagne and we drank to the newlyweds!

The rain luckily stopped and we were able to take pictures on the beach. It was gorgeous out, but pretty bright. I don't have any pictures from that, but will get them from Kim someday.

We got to the reception and had dinner, drinks...normal stuff...then the fun began...the dancing!!! I love to dance, by the way!


Kim and Ty started out with their first dance. They had everyone blow bubbles during the dance instead of after the ceremony and it was so magical!





After their sappy moment...the rest of us hit the dance floor. We stopped a few times to pose for pictures. Here are the Boeing geeks at the party...Nate, Kim, me, and Jenn.

I really enjoyed meeting Kim's friends...they are so much fun...here is a picture of me with Lara and Laura. I couldn't believe I was nervous I wouldn't have as much fun as I did because I wouldn't know anyone else in the bridal party! All the Illinois girls knew how to have fun!


Nate was all about dancing, so he and Kim showed us all how it was done!

Then of course was the normal bouquet and garter toss...guess who caught the garter?

The engaged guy! Not fair! Of course when I saw it was a San Diego Chargers garter, I lost it! I'm not a big fan because I'm not a Marty Shottenheimer fan after he left the KC Chiefs! Then after a while of whining about it, I remembered they fired him. Okay, so maybe I don't have to burn that thing!

After doing the electric slide, boot scoot, and bringing sexy back, we finally went to bed. It was such a long day and I knew we had to get up early the next day and drive home. All 12 hours of it! It was worth it though. Mike and I had a fantastic time marrying off our very own Kimmy Shimmy...who is now Kimmy Denny! Thanks for the great weekend! Hope our wedding is just as fun!

Day Before the Wedding

Friday morning I did not get up at 9:30 with everyone else to get nails done...thank goodness. We slept in because after the night before, I could not get out of bed!

Instead of a manicure I had to make a CVS run to get IB Profin...yeah, you can guess what that was for... allergy medicine and some other stuff we forgot. Can't go on vacation without leaving something at home!

I then met all the ladies for a luncheon at a cute restaurant in Fort Walton. Everyone was in a good mood, but you could tell who went out the night before by who got the champagne martinis and who got water or sweet tea!

It was a nice lunch...filled with fresh seafood meals. One meal was a bit too fresh from the sea...a whole fried soft shell crab on a sandwich. Hmm, when I usually eat a type of animal, I don't want to see it in its true form. I prefer to think its not from a animal that has been animated by Disney or something. So that was sent back and something less telling of what it was was ordered. I would've done the same thing!

Left: Lara, Kristen and I hanging at the beach before the rehearsal. Below: I am making Mike pose even though he'd rather be swimming in the water!

We were only able to hang out at the beach for less than an hour before we had to be to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Things went smooth , but I had learned that it is supposedly bad luck for the bride to rehearse at the rehearsal so we had to have a stand in. Good job Ellie!

Dinner was great at an Italian restaurant in town. I got the steak, but I wish I would've just ordered just the dessert plate. Yum! Dinner was filled with speeches and a few happy tears. Every speech began with, "We though Ty was crazy for moving all the way out to California to work at a base when we have Eglin Air Force Base, right here in town..." But they all ended with, "But we knew why he did it when we all met Kim." All together now...Ahhh!

After dinner we went to a bar called Helen Back (say it out loud to yourself and you will understand the name is not just a person's unfortunate name) with Lara (as in Lara Croft), Laura (as in normal Laura ;) ) and their beau's. We met up with the other Boeing people (Nate & Heather and Jenn & Mike) and had a few drinks.

While at the bar, we found a new game. Someone decided to attach a metal ring to a string on the ceiling and a hook on the wall. The point of the game was to swing the ring and get it on the hook. I'd fit in great down there because I'm easily entertained by stuff like that.

Off to bed...tomorrow is the big day!
(Didn't take too many pictures that day because I had to save battery for the big day!)

Off to Florida!

I know it has again been a while since I have posted. Last week was crazy because we were getting ready to head to Florida for Kim and Ty's wedding and there was so much to do! We met my parents in Columbia so they could take Rou home and watch him while we were gone. He really likes Grandma and Grandpa in KC because they have the big back yard he gets to run in until he can't stand up anymore. We got home late that night and had to pack up still and get to bed early so we could leave no later than 8am...so we left Wednesday morning at 8:15.

We arrived in Florida at our hotel at noon on Thursday...stopped overnight near Montgomery. Not too bad of a drive but everyone thought we were crazy...oh well.

It was sooo beautiful down there! We stayed on Fort Walton Beach which is in between Destin and Pensacola. Our hotel was right on the beach! We ate next to our hotel in an outdoor restaurant that overlooked the ocean...I fell in love with it out there! Not a big fan of going in the ocean, but I sure do like to look at it!

Once we got all settled and had some beach time, we went to Ty's family's house in Niceville...geez who could live up to the name Niceville? Well, it really is an appropriate name after meeting Ty's family... ahhhhh! We all hung out and ate burgers and met each other. I was the bridesmaid who knew no one but Kim and Ty, but clicked pretty well with everyone else. They are all so nice...maybe it was just because of the town we were in...hmmmm?

After we ate it was off to embarrass...oh wait, I mean celebrate Kim and her marriage. We took her on her bachelorette party! Now, of course what happens in Florida stays in Florida, or something like that...but we really didn't get too crazy! We got her shots and had guys buy her drinks, but that was about it. We did run into a bachelor party that was going to bar to bar on a pontoon boat...drunk guys driving around a pontoon boat at night...hmmm?

During the evening, Kim had to perform dares on these little cards Lara bought. They were a hoot! They ranged from have a guy buy you a drink to go break dance...we improvised on some of them, but Kim was a good sport about it. She humored us in her sash and veil!

About 2am we rolled back to the hotel and I went to my room to find that I was alone...Mike and the other guys went out for a last minute bachelor party and still weren't home...hmmm? I was hoping they didn't get a pontoon boat like that other bachelor party did! Oh well, I was too sleepy to care at that time...sent him a text and went to bed! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Time to Say Goodbye to Gilmore

While at the Cards game last Friday night I remember seeing a little TV screen as we were looking for our seats. It didn't have baseball on it, there was some writing on it. Green background, wait, that's a CW (TV channel) logo. Does that say "Gilmore Girls"? It says final episode...May 15th, what? Is this a joke? Gilmore Girls final episode? NO!!!

Yes its true...the CW has cancelled Gilmore Girls and will air its series finale next Tuesday! This is a sad day for me and my Gilmore fanatic friends (and closet fanatic friend...don't worry Chad, I won't mention your name). I started watching the show in college. I thought it looked cute so I gave it a shot. After laughing for an hour, I was hooked. The witty banter, the obvious connection between Luke and Lorelai, Rory's boyfriends...Dean, Jess, Logan, breaking up Deans marriage, all the quirky Stars Hallow locals...Sookie, Kirk, Miss Patty. Dosey's Market, Luke's Diner, the festivals...the Friday night dinners at Emily and Richards. Oh the memories.

After I was hooked, I told Tracee and got her hooked! And then I met Kim in St. Louis and we probably wouldn't be as close of friends if it wasn't for our shared addiction to that show. (Probably an exaggeration, but ya know what I mean.)

The show has been on for 7 seasons, but the past season has not been its strongest. They got new writers who took the quick talking banter too far and added more drama than usual. Why did she marry Chris?!?! I think it is time for the show to be put to rest, but I am worried the series finale will be a let down. What if they only planned for it to be a season finale and it leaves questions unanswered? Rory only has two shows to get proposed to and to kick Logan to the curb...how will they do it? (I'm not a big Rory-Logan fan) I guess I will just have to watch and see what happens. In the mean time I better go buy the rest of the season DVDs so I can fill the void I will be missing on Tuesday nights. (Or, I guess Kim and I can now attend Taco Tuesday without having to leave by 6:30 :) )

Goodbye Gilmore...its been real.

Take me out to the Ball Game!

Hmmm, its been a while since I've written in my blog. Sorry, blog, but my life is somewhat boring right now. This past week has been mostly work, come home, eat dinner, go to sleep. Not something anyone wants to read about.

One thing to note is that we went to the Cardinals game on Friday night against the Astros with some friends, Matt and Beth. It was the first one I've been to this year.


We had great seats on the third base line (Thanks, Matt's Dad!). We were under an overhang, so no foul balls. Oh well. It was a nice night...it had rained most of the day, so I thought it was going to rain during the game too, but we were lucky.

After the seventh inning stretch we went to the Party Porch. It was only up one level from our seats. Its basically a bar that anyone can go to and you can still watch the game on the field or on TV. And they served beer even after last call (that's why we after the seventh inning).

Even better than an extended time for drinking... the Cards actually won! They have been in a pretty bad drought lately. They've been struggling and it didn't help when one of the pitchers, Josh Hancock, was killed in a car wreck a few weeks ago. They had a memorial tribute to Hancock on Friday, but we missed it. Saw part of it on TV and it looked very nice. Seems like a lot of the players will really miss him. I just hope people learn from Hancock's mistakes by not drinking and driving instead of making them again.