A week from now, we’ll be married.
And I’m pretty sure we’ll be comfortably, safely, happily, exactly where we are at this moment–relaxing together on the sofa, maybe watching a little SportsCenter, maybe noshing on a bit of gelato.
The honeymoon will come later, in June. But a week from tonight, it’ll be just us again. Only married.
Let the countdown begin. 🙂
This blog post had the potential to end up reading like a to-do list. While I thrive (especially right now) on lists, they aren’t exactly page-turning material for readers (unless, of course, you also thrive on lists).
Instead, I’m taking a break, taking a breath, and trying to figure out how to make the most of the next month. Thanks to a few trusted friends and colleagues, I’ve been given some fabulous advice on how to not allow the next 30 days to fly by in an instant, and I’ve even gotten a bit of advice for our wedding day to help remember the important moments, to fully appreciate each person there and those who were part of our journeys there. Now, if I could only add this advice to that to-do list I have going….
Kidding.
The cool part is, we have great events (which double as built-in distractions) to help keep things in perspective for the next month. I’m more than happy that my hours learning how to run a sewing machine, painting stuff, and reviewing spreadsheets will be broken up by a lot of other great stuff in April. We have DuneCross in just over a week (tell your friends!); Easter visits with family; Chicago and New York work trips for me; 14th, 10th, 10th, and 6th birthdays for four super cool kids; a 20-something birthday for a fabulous cousin; a 70-something birthday for a great Papa; and a baby shower for a dear friend (yay!), all coming up. I wouldn’t change a single minute of any of it…and I know the sweet reward of our wedding weekend will be worth every minute spent working on it–and every minute spent enjoying all the other great stuff happening in our lives, too.
I think I have a pretty good reason for a long blogging hiatus. It’s been in the 70s and 80s (and sunny), almost daily, since March 11. Now, weather in Michigan is notoriously unpredictable (the old joke, “If you don’t like the weather in Michigan….just wait” is actually pretty accurate), but we can pretty much always assume that March is awful. Not this year. So, as a result, we’ve been outside cycling, running, dog walking, and just enjoying the fact that the windows are open in the house.
I was also sort of overwhelmed with gratitude and love for a whole bunch of ladies who put together a fantastic weekend for me recently. It was my bachelorette/shower weekend, and it was amazing beyond words (I’m still really unsure how to capture how special they all made me feel, and how generous they all were). I can’t thank everyone by name, but I can recognize a few who went above and beyond:
Katie & Amber: Thank you for hosting the best little bachelorette house party a girl could ask for. You thought of EVERY SINGLE THING, and it was a party exactly perfect for me. I loved every little moment.
Jane, Nancy, and Beth: You took the idea of a bridal shower brunch and made it absolutely fabulous. The place (thanks, Beth!), the food, the advice book, all the little touches…I loved it all. Thank you so much.
But really–everyone took time from their weekend to hang out with me, and Cliff and I were showered with some really cool gifts to get us started too. (I should mention, Cliff had a great night out with the guys, getting their hands on some Founder’s KBS and eating gourmet pizza slices while the ladies were tasting wine and enjoying a Mediterranean feast)
Here are a few favorite photos from the weekend. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.
Whether you’re visiting our little corner of cyberspace for the first time or the umpteenth, hi!
This homepage is set up in blog format, with some posts written (not often enough) over the last few months, mostly for entertainment value.
Up along the top are the links for those joining us for our wedding in May–with pretty much all of the information you’ll need to find your way to Saugatuck and enjoy your time here. If there’s anything we’ve inadvertently left out, send a quick email and we’ll take care of it (after all, if you’re wondering something, other people probably are too). 🙂
Love,
Cliff & Nic
I’m levelheaded. I’m practical. I’m fiercely loyal. But I’ve also got a few quirks* that have come to light over the last 2.5 years with Cliff. Luckily for me, it appears he loves me in spite of because of them. A few of the things I didn’t realize were so central to my being until we got serious:
A while back I came to a realization that the ways in which I show and expect to receive symbols of love have, ahem, matured right along with me. I’m happy to share that I now realize that appreciating whom each of us is, at the core, is pretty much the best way to be in love. Ever.
Now get that pile of papers/bike helmet/laptop cord off my kitchen island.
*Yes, this post is about MY quirks. I’m not stupid enough to blog publicly about HIS quirks**.
**Except for maybe his need to eat no-bake cookie dough out of a bowl by the spoonful***.
***Or, that it MAKES ME CRAZY that he walks straight past the coat closet and hangs his coat on the kitchen chairs.
For most of my life (and much to my mother’s dismay, “…but, you came home from the hospital on Valentine’s Day!“), I’ve been a Valentine’s Day hater. It never had anything to do with whether I was single or not, and in retrospect, I’m really not sure why this (and Halloween too) has always been on the “meh” side of things when it comes to holidays. Maybe it’s the commercialism (the ‘buying stuff’ side of Christmas is really starting to get to my core too), maybe it’s the societal proclamation that if you’re single on February 14 you’ve got to be either really sad about it or in the National Singles Awareness Day camp, or maybe it’s just because I look hideous in pink.
The day has had its ups, though, too. For most of my adult life, my dad has sent me flowers on Valentine’s Day, and really…that’s irreplaceable and ridiculously sweet (thanks, Dad!). On February 14, 2007,  I got to be all giddy-screaming on the phone with my best friend because she’d been proposed to the night before. And in elementary school, much like my cousin Anna did this week, I used to spend hours filling out my class trading valentine day cards, decorating my kleenex ‘mailbox,’ and organizing everything for the class party.
These days, for Cliff and me, Valentine’s Day gets a nod, maybe a sweet card and a small gesture (this year, I got him Pop Tarts he never gets to eat since I started doing most of the grocery shopping; he brought home a date movie for us) and we have pretty much promised each other we’ll NEVER attempt to go out to eat on February 14 (turkey burgers and homemade soup last night for us).
To be continued…
Even for a small party, there are already countless people who have gone above-and-beyond to make this time special for us. Planning parties, selecting flowers, cruising Pinterest boards, buying clothes, saving wine bottles, being excited (or pretending to be!)….you know who you are.
Thank you.
xo
us
I knew the minute I posted one shot from our engagement session, that Jenn would immediately post more shots from our “Lake Effect Engagement.”
These 30 shots are super fab…I can’t wait to see the rest.
Jenn Anibal–I knew when we were both 20 minutes early for our coffee meeting and laughed together for an hour that you were the best woman for the job.
Can you tell that photography was, like, my favorite thing about planning this soiree?
It seems odd that our engagement photos (the rest are coming soon, I swear!) were taken during a blizzard. Today, it’s 51 degrees. Weirdest. Winter. Ever. (Insert grumbling about the fact that I’ve only been able to use my brand-new snowshoes twice this winter)
I’ve only seen this one photo of us so far (but, admittedly, hundreds of others of her work) and I can say unequivocally that finding Jenn Anibal to be our photographer is one of the greatest strokes of luck/lots of online research we’ve had in this entire process. You are going to LOVE having her at our celebration–and we are going to LOVE all the fabulous photos she captures of you, and all of us, on that day.
So, I was never really someone who was big on “hobbies.” I don’t collect anything, I haven’t played a musical instrument since 8th grade, and I don’t speak more than about 30 words in Spanish.
Putting together a celebration, however, has opened a whole new world of stuff to do that I never thought I’d enjoy. I’m trying to decide which of these newfound hobbies I may hang on to after our wedding day has come and gone:
Up next: Dance Lessons (thanks, Groupon!). Not necessary (because we are both awesome dancers already, tee hee), but a fun little diversion in the dreary weather and a good excuse for me to break in my fabulous new shoes.
homeiswhereiamwithyou 