The case of the Insomniac BRIDE!

Those who know me, know I have two extremes:

1) Fall asleep in the middle of anything.

2) Have Sever insomnia.

Tonight, or rather, this morning, I am wide awake with insomnia. It must be all this wedding excitement!

It has been a busy week-and-a-half...We've assembled our centerpieces, had a final dress fitting, finished the baking, alphabetized the name cards, wrote as many thank-you cards as possible, cleaned like a banshee, etc.; every moment has pretty much been focussed on our wedding this coming Sunday.

Even with the wedding focus, things still seem to be relaxed. I have many things to get done, but I'm not feeling bad if I don't accomplish everything on my daily to-do list.

I have been experiencing Bride-nesia, this strange phenomenon where if it's not written down on paper, I will most likely never remember it! For example, I almost forgot I have a dentist appointment on Wednesday. What kind of bride would I be if I missed my dentist appointment?! (Only kidding...)

And so, this Bride needs to try to go to sleep now and cure this case of bride-nesia...

Celebrating our "Singlehood" on the Good Town of Minneapolis!

Last night was what Alia refers to as the "10-hour Bachelorette party that resulted in permanent marker on everyone!"

We started at Laya's for some pizza and *AMAZING* chocolate cheesecake that Peter baked! We also played some games of the "Bachelorette Party" persuasion, and then I was decorated with bride-to-be flair including an adorable tiara, a "bachelorette" sash, a purple-feathered bride pin, and a permanent marker in which to get people to sign my sash, or me when the sash ran out of room.

 

The bridal entourage then owned Hennenin Ave. as we paraded down to Calhoun Square getting lots of "Congratulations!" shouted our way, and landed at The Independent. And of course, we had to get this obligatory elevator picture in memory of getting stuck in the good old Mort elevator in college with 905735 million people:

And the Independent, I went to to the ladies room with Laya, which is actually a "unisex" bathroom, where a girl named Erin got really excited and said "Are you getting married!" She tried on my "Bachelorette" sash, and then proceeded to introduce me to all her friends who gave me about 10 million hugs after writing all over my sash and on me with my permanent marker...lol.

After The Independent, we unanimously decided dancing was in order. 

So the bridal entourage flagged a few taxis and header for the 508 Club. Our Taxi driver, as my kids would say, was "BEAST". His name was Abdi, and he was rockin' out to some badass music, and when we passed his other taxi-driver friends would shout out the window "You are driving the WRONG TAXI my friend! I've got the Pretty Ladies in THIS Taxi!" He was by FAR the best taxi of the evening.

En-route to the 508 Club, communications with the Groom's entourage were taking place, and on the corner of Riverfront and 5th Street, we met up with Scott's groomsmen and friends. 

While we were waiting on the corner, just as the bachelor's were crossing the street, a very inebriated man stopped dead in the middle of the road, and loudly announced to me from the street "I'm sorry. I'm sorry such a beautiful woman is about to be taken off the market!" (I pretty much stood out like a sore thumb because I had so much damn "flair" on me!)

The wait to get into the 508 Club was a bit long, but luckily one of the groomsmen knew the bouncer, so we got let right in. 

After some dancing, we decided to flag a taxi, and head back to uptown. We were HUNGRY, and decided we would get some fresh grub at the Uptown Diner --which opens late! Laya called for a taxi van so all of us could ride in one vehicle. We waited for an hour, and eventually crammed into Taxi Van. While we waited, we took pictures with the drummers, and Scott and I received marriage advice from some interesting folk (as you can see in the videos...one below, others in another post!)

      

We eventually made it to the Uptown Diner, and by the time we were eating it was right around 4am! While we waited, Scott added to the Bridal graffiti:

 

At this point, were all exhausted, and after eating, we said goodnight to each other and to the evening of fun as we made our ways home where slumber ensued.

First official day off!

Well, this morning has been great! I slept in, and actually feel somewhat rested for the first time in many, many months. I had forgotten what this feeling felt like!

Today is also my first "official" day that I don't have to work. After having a wedding this past weekend (Scott was a Groomsman!), I haven't really had a chance to help my mom with wedding stuff. (She has done the majority of the work so far...she's a good mom!) 

I am teaching lessons all day on Wednesday, and I'm in a wedding on Thursday and Friday via my violin and the "Crazy Trio" :-) , but other than that, I actually have some free time today and tomorrow to focus on wedding stuff.

This week there is a lot on the agenda as we are drawing near to our special day (so exciting!!) I am going to get my dress fitted/altered (I'm about 1 & 1/2 feet too short...lol), I need to figure out my hair for the veil so my mom can finish it, I need to edit the music for my 11 students that are playing in my wedding, I need to compose our programs, I need to write about 303058205820 million thank-you cards, call anyone who hasn't RSVP'd yet, make the favors, finish making the slideshow (FYI, Scott is ADORABLE as a little guy!), figure out centerpieces (we may donate food instead of books because STEP is having a shortage right now), and get to Michael's sometime this week. I'd also really like to get a workout in...I've been on a running role! (4-6 miles on the elliptical, Baby!)

My sister helped me go through our very large boxes of photos over the weekend while I was between the other wedding, so now we can start putting the pictures into the slideshow that will be running at the wedding. My sister is really quite a trooper because she's not only working right now, but she's also taking college summer classes. And not only has she been a great help, but she is also playing in the wedding this coming Thursday and Friday too!

I am feeling so excited about this wedding (as if you couldn't tell by this post..haha!) Next week is the first rehearsal with my students to hear what they will sound like in the sanctuary. The only time I have ever heard musicians in our sanctuary was for Simchat Torah, so this is an extremely special thing. 

What a blessed girl I am to have such wonderful students play music for us in the place that is most holy to me! 

So, I suppose I should get on to editing that music so I can mail the final copies to my students when the Post Office opens!

And real quick, here are a few pictures from this weekend's wedding:

Here's the boys all dressed up after we figured out the cuff-links and button covers! At least we'll know how to use them for our wedding!

At the reception, telling old college tales...Scott is laughing so hard he has his face in his hands, and Mike's mom is totally a good sport about slightly inappropriate college tales!

And two of us after figuring out my camera! Scott's eyes even in black and white show up so nicely!

School's Out...Pictures, Practice Bouquets, and Thank-You Cards!

I can't believe school's over! I got enough done today that I won't have to go in until next Wednesday when I teach private lessons. So until then, it's wedding mode!

This morning Scott came with me to work, and got to hear the rehearsal with the four girls playing the quartet before the wedding! I also copied, edited, and organized about 4953058 million folders for the wedding. I need to finish editing Erev She Shoshanim before I can mail the music out to the 11 students who are playing for the wedding.

Tonight, was many wedding things! First, my mom and I experimented with flowers for the wedding. We really aren't having a ton of flowers because they are extremely expensive, and we really can't afford them. However, things such as the corsages/boutonnières for the groomsmen, parent's of the bride/groom, and musicians will all receive a hand-made corsage such as the one's below:

As for my bouquet, we are also going to make that, too. When I originally priced flowers, a purple wedding bouquet over a holiday weekend would have cost about $300! Instead, I spent about $30 on practice materials, 1/10 of the store bought/designer cost, and created both my own bouquet, as well as all the corsages and boutonnière. I really liked the purple Cala lilies and the small, white roses  that we found. I am hoping we will find those the weekend of the wedding! The orange-pink roses I don't really like. If they were plain white roses, I think it would look a lot better. Here's the "pretend" example that I came up with:

And a close-up of a purple Cala-Lily:

Now I know what I need to do for the wedding, and how many flowers/ribbon/etc. I'll need to buy to make everything.

After making flowers, my sister and I began looking through the GIANT box of pictures that my parents took while we were growing up. We will be making a little movie to show at the wedding, and Scott and I are each picking out our favorite childhood pictures. There is one more GIANT box that I need to go through, and then I can finish picking out pictures. I am glad both our parents took pictures of us growing up!

Wow, almost 3 weeks to go! While I am extremely excited, I'm still feeling relaxed...I hope this feeling of relaxation is here to stay!

Swans!

One of my students happens to be extremely artistic with paper. Today, he gave me this pair of *BEAUTIFUL* handmade paper swans as a wedding gift that took him 2 weeks (!!) to make!

When I showed them to Scott, he spent about a good minute just saying "Wow! How did he do that?!"

Besides the fact that I am completely in awe at the hundreds of tiny little papers that make up each swan, I am also absolutely touched that a student put in so much effort to make such a beautiful gift!

Here's a close-up of the papers:

We plan on placing the swans at our table for the reception at our wedding!

I was a sucker for this countdown!

It really is getting close!