Time To Move On

With everything in life, change always comes. And now it's time for this blog to change. To come to a close.

Tonight after spending some precious family time together, my daughter left our family home and went with her husband to their home. The first night back from their honeymoon and it's as it should be. It's as the Lord designed life to be. We are closing a chapter but beginning a new one!

So I won't be posting any new stories here. But that doesn't mean I've decided to stop blogging...I'm just going to be blogging somewhere new. And when I figure out where that is, I hope you'll visit once in a while!

Thanks for sharing with me the craziness of a daughter's wedding...maybe someday I'll have The Grandma Chronicles to share!

It's Giveaway Time!

*********** Comments Are Closed***********

Confession time...the happy couple stole an idea for their wedding reception from another happy couple's wedding reception. There, it's done. Out in the open.

Ok...well now I feel really bad.

Alright, technically it was the bride and me, not the groom who stole the idea. Truthfully, the groom wasn't even in the same state when we perpetrated the crime.

That's better. I guess.

Here's what happened. The bride, myself and the father of the bride traveled out of town to the wedding of the daughter of two of our closest friends. We had a wonderful time (except the three and a half hours I spent crying in the backseat after the bride hurt my feeling...earlier that morning the comment had been made, "I bet Mrs. Dana never asked Melanie to put green glitter candles on her tables."...just hateful I tell you).

Anyway, the bride, the groom, the wedding, everything was just beautiful. And then, as we headed to our table, we saw them. They were sitting neatly tucked within our napkin, just waiting for us. They were classic. They were retro. They were just about perfect.

They were monogrammed matchbooks.

They were missing piece to the table setting we had been searching for all those long autumn weeks. And then suddenly, as quick as walking into a room, the puzzle was complete. We should have monogrammed matchbooks at the happy couple's reception too!

When we returned, the bride showed the groom the matchbooks we brought home and he thought it was a wonderful idea (I guess that makes him an accomplice after all, ha!) so we set out to order them. The happy couple decided to change it up a bit and split the order. Half matchsticks (in the slide out box) and the other half matchbooks. We decided we would get 150 of each for (you guessed it) a total of 300.

The happy couple ordered 150 matchboxes that evening and the next day I was going to order the matchbooks. The price the happy couple quoted me was decent so I thought the matchbooks might be even a little cheaper. But when I got to the checkout it was way over what the happy couple had paid for the matchboxes! But being in the midst of monogrammed matchbook mania, I hesitated but a moment and then clicked the Place Order button. And then promptly forgot about them.

10 days later as the happy couple and I were standing in the garage, looking at who-knows-what now, Ted stopped by for his daily visit. Ted is our UPS guy. We've become very close. Last week, he and his wife asked me to be in the delivery room with them when their first baby is born.

Ted had stopped by to deliver the matches. In a really, really, really big box. Really big.

Now the happy couple's order was perfect. 150 matchboxes. My order? Notsomuch. And here's where the giveaway comes in...you get to guess just how many matchbooks I actually ordered.

Here's how you play:

Leave (just one!) comment with your guess of (A, B, C or D) and when times up, I'll put all the correct guesses in a bowl and pick a winner!

Whatcha playing for?

(1) One $25 VISA gift card

so here we go.......how many matchbooks did I really order?

A. 350

B. 550

C. 850

D. 1150

Comments will be closed Saturday, January 15, 2012
at 11:00 p.m. Eastern

Hey There!

We're less than 3 months away from the big day. The bride's shower is soon. I have nothing to wear. We don't have enough cream colored flowers.

And I think I may have ordered 1500 monogrammed matchbooks instead of 150.

Just a few things that crossed my mind this afternoon.

Things are starting to pick up again after a few weeks of quiet. We are back into our routine of ordering, shopping, choosing and fussing. Discussions about the color of the invitations, bubbles or birdseed, and groom's cakes have been occurring in between deliveries from Ted (Ted is our UPS guy. We've grown very close, so close in fact that the father of the bride and I have considered putting him in our will)

Lots of important decisions have been made in the last month also...things like...

Favors or no favors? (hence the matchbooks...but it wasn't an easy decision, it took 3 people and a day and a half to figure out how to order them)

Serve cocoa along with coffee? (just coffee)

Cream ribbon or green ribbon for the bouquets? (ummm, I forget)

Ziti or elbow macaroni? (ziti, the groom's Italian, I'd never hear the end of it)

All these important decisions plus a-bazillion more have be made the past month and I'll be filling you in on all the details. Lucky you! So stay tuned...

The Father Of The Bride

It's the father of the bride's birthday today so in his honor, I wanted a post all about him. And the wedding plans. And how the two (the father of the bride and the wedding plans) have managed to co-exist these past few months with little to no conflict.

He is the Switzerland of wedding planning.

The father of the bride has smartly stayed along the sidelines during the planning of the happy couple's wedding.  And no one in their right mind would blame him. I mean, who would want to be in the middle of a heated discussion about gold, green, glittery candles? Or heaven forbid, to be asked to be on the committee that decides if Italian Green Beans will make it onto the menu? He has wisely said, "no thanks, I'll pass!"

Now that's not to say he hasn't stepped in a few times to mediate a tense negotiation or to quell an uprising, such as the infamous would-be mutiny I had on my hands a few weeks ago (you can read all about that dark time here, at Ahoy Mateys).

The funny thing is, when we planned our wedding 26 or so years ago, he seemed to be a little more involved, especially since we paid for our wedding and were responsible for all the decisions.

He went with me to the florist to pick out the flowers. He went with me to the caterers to pick out the food. He went with me to the bakery to pick out the cake.

Then again I could be imagining it (young love will do that to you).

But one thing I am positive of today is my thankfulness and love for the father of the bride. He is the anchor of our family, leading us, guiding us, protecting us and most importantly, he lives his life for all to see as a true man of God, and as a follower and believer of Jesus Christ.

So on this day, as our family celebrates the father of the bride's birthday, and reflects on his mighty contribution to our family, the sidelines may be the wisest place to be...smart guy.