This past weekend, Saturday March 5th to be specific, my wonderful maids-of-honor hosted a bridal shower for yours truly at the Rec Center in the neighborhood I grew up in. My Mom and Mrs. Coleman were kind enough to assist with all of the preparation and decorating. I can't think of a better one word summation for the day than blessed. (Prepare yourself for another outburst of sap.)
At each juncture of this marital journey I've felt incredibly humbled by the people in my life. I am overwhelmingly in awe of the fact that so many people have gone out of their way for both Ryan and I from the very start of all of this. From a last minute ring swap so that Ryan didn't propose ring-less to secret meetings at the Chocolate Bar (although I don't think either of you regrets those dates, Jen & Julie). From secretly having life size cardboard cut outs made to making sure that the most special moment of my life was captured on film (and ducking even though there was no way I would see you anyway Mom). From indulging my crazy and trying on bridesmaid dresses a full 10 months before the wedding to cross-country flights and long road trips to avoid missing any moment of celebration. The amount of effort, time and care that has gone into all of the events that have already taken place (our engagement celebration, our negative one year annivesary celebration and the shower) and all that are coming up (the bachelorette party and the big shindig) truly sheds a new light on the term heart-warming. I think it's a true testament to the kindness and character that I've been fortunate enough to be surrounded by. To each of you reading this (and those that don't), who've sacrificed one moment of your time helping make my engagement period special- thank you. That is truly what little girls dream of and I've been way more fortunate than I deserve. So thank you. (P.S. To those of you who witnessed my blubbering at the shower, this is really what my speech should have said.)
Anywho- so back to the shower. It was fantastic. Jen and Julie planned the details to perfection. They planned a Martin word scramble. In case you were ever curious, decoding "sheen" and "short" from scrambled letters is FAR more intuitive than "luther king jr." They were also brave enough to let a room dominated by accountants try and estimate how many M&M's were in a bowl (do you see what they did there?) Lastly, they treated everyone to a game where I had to guess Ryan's answers to questions. Anyone who knows Ryan knows that asking his answers to questions to be read aloud is risky business. I'm sure that his mother and aunt were particularly proud to learn that his stripper name of choice would be Big Daddy Long legs and that he pinpointed his oldest pair of underwear as approximately 10 years old. We'll go ahead and attribute that to his sentimentality as opposed to his laziness and fear of spending money. Tina Fey, you don't know what you are missing.
Of course, I was showered with way too many of my favorite registry items. Ryan and I can now successfully make soup. You can come over and actually sit at the island (rather than our super classy card/kitchen table). You can enjoy some fondue or I can make you some cupcakes. I can serve you wine out of some wine glasses (so you won't realize that my first few cupcake ventures may not be amazing). You can have a FRESHLY GROUND cup of coffee. You can eat off of some non-SOLO plates. I can measure things. You can admire our new vases or maybe some candlesticks. Basically we can FINALLY have people over**. I am so excited!
Thank you all again- to everyone that planned, everyone that came, and everyone that was just there in spirit. There really aren't words to accurately express how much it all means to me, so thank you.
** I would still make sure I'm there if you plan to drop by. When I'm not Ryan may still be sitting on the couch in his underwear. His 10 year old underwear, no less. :c)
At each juncture of this marital journey I've felt incredibly humbled by the people in my life. I am overwhelmingly in awe of the fact that so many people have gone out of their way for both Ryan and I from the very start of all of this. From a last minute ring swap so that Ryan didn't propose ring-less to secret meetings at the Chocolate Bar (although I don't think either of you regrets those dates, Jen & Julie). From secretly having life size cardboard cut outs made to making sure that the most special moment of my life was captured on film (and ducking even though there was no way I would see you anyway Mom). From indulging my crazy and trying on bridesmaid dresses a full 10 months before the wedding to cross-country flights and long road trips to avoid missing any moment of celebration. The amount of effort, time and care that has gone into all of the events that have already taken place (our engagement celebration, our negative one year annivesary celebration and the shower) and all that are coming up (the bachelorette party and the big shindig) truly sheds a new light on the term heart-warming. I think it's a true testament to the kindness and character that I've been fortunate enough to be surrounded by. To each of you reading this (and those that don't), who've sacrificed one moment of your time helping make my engagement period special- thank you. That is truly what little girls dream of and I've been way more fortunate than I deserve. So thank you. (P.S. To those of you who witnessed my blubbering at the shower, this is really what my speech should have said.)
Anywho- so back to the shower. It was fantastic. Jen and Julie planned the details to perfection. They planned a Martin word scramble. In case you were ever curious, decoding "sheen" and "short" from scrambled letters is FAR more intuitive than "luther king jr." They were also brave enough to let a room dominated by accountants try and estimate how many M&M's were in a bowl (do you see what they did there?) Lastly, they treated everyone to a game where I had to guess Ryan's answers to questions. Anyone who knows Ryan knows that asking his answers to questions to be read aloud is risky business. I'm sure that his mother and aunt were particularly proud to learn that his stripper name of choice would be Big Daddy Long legs and that he pinpointed his oldest pair of underwear as approximately 10 years old. We'll go ahead and attribute that to his sentimentality as opposed to his laziness and fear of spending money. Tina Fey, you don't know what you are missing.
Of course, I was showered with way too many of my favorite registry items. Ryan and I can now successfully make soup. You can come over and actually sit at the island (rather than our super classy card/kitchen table). You can enjoy some fondue or I can make you some cupcakes. I can serve you wine out of some wine glasses (so you won't realize that my first few cupcake ventures may not be amazing). You can have a FRESHLY GROUND cup of coffee. You can eat off of some non-SOLO plates. I can measure things. You can admire our new vases or maybe some candlesticks. Basically we can FINALLY have people over**. I am so excited!
Thank you all again- to everyone that planned, everyone that came, and everyone that was just there in spirit. There really aren't words to accurately express how much it all means to me, so thank you.
** I would still make sure I'm there if you plan to drop by. When I'm not Ryan may still be sitting on the couch in his underwear. His 10 year old underwear, no less. :c)
Julie used to throw frogs against the walls of this rec center when we were little. Ohhh, memories.
M is for mmmmmm. Or Martin. It's really in the eye of the beholder.
Ryan's dinner for the last week.
Delicious punch in the making
Notice my furrowed brow and intensive thought pose. Clearly I was determining what fast food restaurant Ryan would pick to eat at for the rest of his life.
Oh hey.
Tiffany is good at wrapping presents.
Inspiration to learn to cook.
I need to learn to use these...
...but I'm much better at these. :c)
Please note our classy trash can in the lower right hand sector of your screen.
