I have the best mom in the world.

So every time her birthday comes around, I try to make sure she knows she's loved (so does the rest of my family :D).

My sister and I for the past couple of years have made dinner, and this year was no exception. We had delicious chili and honey cornmeal muffins that my sister made; and for dessert, my mom asked for chocolate cheesecake:

 Have I ever mentioned the joy I get by baking for other people? I swear, one day, I will either work in or own a bakery.

 Have I also ever mentioned that my nephew is absolutely adorable???

 Have I also ever mentioned that my sister and I are very much alike??? We bought the exact same card for my mom, at separate times, at completely separate stores haha!

My mom just got back from a trip to Texas with a few of her siblings to celebrate one of her sister's 50th wedding anniversaries. I talked to her a few days ago, and she said her stomach hurt from laughing so much. I'm SO glad she got the opportunity to go. I don't think her and my dad have been apart for more than a couple nights in probably 20 years!

T minus 134 days until our wedding!!!

Yikes!!! Bikes!!! (What movie is that from??? ;D)

I can't believe we're getting married in less than five months!
I figured I'd give a bit of a wedding update, seeing as I really haven't written much about our wedding yet :)

• Date? Check

              Saturday, October 11, 2014

• Location? Check

We decided on this gorgeous pavilion that is at a local state park for our ceremony and reception. We only spent $220 for TWO DAYS, 8am-10pm…it's worth getting married at a park if you're trying to save money :)

• Dress? Check!

           No picture though, you're going to have to wait until the wedding like everyone else to see it :)

• Caterer? Check (today)!

        We just finalized the plans for our caterer. One of my best friends (and bridesmaids) Heather's husband Josiah is currently in the process of opening his very own food truck, and he said he would LOVE to cater our reception! So not only is he going to pastor our wedding, but he'll also be catering it :) I'm so excited! We're planning on having pulled pork sandwiches, hot dogs with apple chutney, cole slaw, corn on the cob…etc…I think it'll be really different and fun :)

That's it for now-I'll keep writing in here as things progress :)

Did I say YES to the dress?

Last month, my matron of honor (my sister), bridesmaids, my mom, and I went to Grand Rapids to David's Bridal to try on wedding dresses :)

 I did end up finding my dress on this trip, but it wasn't until a SECOND trip to David's Bridal that I actually confirmed I wanted it. I then looked on tradesy, where I ended up getting the $799 dress for only $328 :)

Here were some contenders:

This first dress was the dress I went to David's Bridal expecting to purchase, but it just didn't fit me right. I don't know, something about the bust area or something looked a little funny. So, no go for that one...

 This one was okaaaaayyyyyy….but I didn't really care for the added fabric on top. Made me feel kind of stupid wearing it?

 I don't remember what was wrong with this one, but I'm glad I didn't buy it. Let me tell you though, it sure is hard trying to "see" yourself in your dress when the dress you're trying on is 3 sizes too big...

 This was another no, as you can tell by my face haha :) It also was too big, so I couldn't really get the feel for the dress.

 Yeah, no. I just didn't like this dress.

 I liked the back of this dress, but the front was too plain. And the neckline looked awful on me.

I don't know who the heck would wear this dress with those little "tassels" on the sleeves??? Besides being huge, other than the tassels, this was an okaaayyyyy dress.

 This dress reminded me of The Great Gatsby. I would love wearing it somewhere where absolutely no one knows me---it was a bit too low for me, but it was fun to try on :)

This was the one poofy dress I tried on. It was cute, but I'm not a poofy dress kind of girl.

 This dress was my second favorite. I was THIS CLOSE to purchasing it; however, the feel of the dress (maybe the shape of it?) reminded me of a dress I could wear all the time. I was looking for my wedding dress, something unique. Something that really made me feel like a bride. I do still love this dress though. It was so comfortable and cute. And it had leaves on it :)

 I didn't really get a "feeling" of being a bride towards anything until they put this blusher veil on me. That did it. I started crying. So just so you know, I will be wearing a blusher veil on my wedding day.

After dress shopping, we went to the Olive Garden, where I, like always, had the chicken gnocchi soup with salad and breadsticks. Actually, all of us had some sort of soup with salad and breadsticks. It was pure heaven. We then went to the World Market and did a bit of shopping before heading home. It was such a great day.

sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters...

I went over to my sister's for a movie night, oh, about three months ago, and never blogged about it :) We watched "I Don't Know How She Does It", which is a super good movie, and I highly recommend it.

Micah entertained us for a while until he went to bed. Isn't he the cutest?!

We then decided to try out the new Biore charcoal self-warming masks. I don't think they did anything, but the self-heating thing was pretty cool. 

It's super nice having my sister live literally three minutes away. We've recently started scheduling every other Thursday night as movie night. Rebecca, myself, and another friend of ours rotates between who hosts the movie night, makes the treats, and chooses the movie. It's just a nice way to make sure we get out of the house and hang out with friends. And I don't know about you, but I need my girl time.

In the past couple of days, I've had some extra time for reading, which NEVER happens :) Tim bought me Mindy's book for Christmas. I've loved Mindy since she was in/wrote episodes of "The Office", and her book was written exactly like how she talks. It was hilarious. Tim also (jokingly) grabbed "sand in My Bra" at a library book sale and said I should get it, not realizing that I actually did want to read it haha! So thanks to him, I was able to read both of them :) "Sand in my bra" is a compilation of 25 or so stories by different women that have traveled. They're quite funny stories, and it just confirmed to me that I need to do a ton of traveling in my life. So I have have my own funny stories :)

 I made ham and potato soup this week-this is the BEST recipe ever. It's so great. And it tastes even better as leftovers :)

I went to Goodwill after work today---isn't that cat picture kinda creepy? Don't worry, I didn't buy it. I did purchase all the books on the right though, for like $4 :)

I ended my day with "You've Got Mail". This will definitely be a movie that never goes out of "style". It's a classic. So cute.

Tomorrow Tim and I are taking a trip up to Traverse City for some shopping :) I'm excited to not only get some new work clothes (fingers crossed!) and possibly some wedding decor, but also to eat some fantastic food! Hope you enjoy your day tomorrow :)