Showers of Happiness

I just got home from my third of four bridal showers. Can you believe I will have had four bridal showers by the time we get married? I've been overwhelmed by the creativity, generosity and kindness I've experienced at each shower (and I know the fourth will be just as beautiful). Many more emotions have been making an appearance in my life, but the emotion that completely overpowers all of the others is love. Love on the grandest of scales.

The most recent shower, the one this morning, was hosted by my cousins and aunt on my dad's side of the family. Originally, I thought we might combine Dad's side with Mom's side, which of course everyone would have been comfortable doing. In the end, it worked out so they each hosted separate events. For the other Lynch cousins, my dad's sisters have been the ones to organize and host bridal and baby showers. However, in the past 6 years, two of my dad's three sisters have died and the third sister lives in Florida. My cousins didn't want me to miss out on the honor of having a shower so they planned, organized, and executed an amazingly beautiful day. I suspected I'd feel an overwhelming sense of love and gratitude for this one, but had no idea the depth of emotion I'd have for those girls and their generosity toward me.

Shower #3 -- Lynch / Stanton Families -- June 22

             

Shower #1 -- Sauber / Wallin Families -- April 28

My first bridal shower was hosted by my future sisters-in-law. The detail that went into planning that shower was unbelievable! The invitations matched the labels on the food, which matched the favors we each took home. The food was delicious and the decorations were stunning.

                      

But, again, the most amazing part of that day was the overwhelming sense of love and acceptance I felt from my new family-to-be ... and the sense of gratitude and love I felt toward each one of them.

Shower #2 -- Girlfriends -- May 4

The next shower was hosted by my girlfriends. When I asked them to be bridesmaids in our wedding, one of the first things they did was pull out their calendars to find a date when they could honor me as a new bride-to-be. Their invitations were beautiful, the food again was tasty (I especially loved the yogurt parfaits, mimosas, and cupcake wedding dress!), the setting was perfect, the games were tasteful and the favors were adorable.

At one point, I looked at my girls interacting with one another and felt an overwhelming sense of appreciation for their love, support, and fun they bring to my life.

Bachelorette Party -- June 8

Let's talk for a second about my bachelorette party. Another event that left me oozing with love and gratitude. What a perfect way to celebrate the end of one chapter and the beginning of another!! Several of us started at Julie's house for sangria, appetizers and a challenging game having to do with matching the underwear to the person who bought them. (The first time through, I guessed wrong on every single one. Fail. The next time through, however, I got them each right. Win.)

We were picked up by a driver and taken to Salut for a long-lasting, delicious dinner complete with plenty of wine, baked brie and pommes frites (hand cut fries with bearnaise sauce). Yum. From there, we walked to beaujo's wine bar and bistro for some more red wine and scintillating conversation about corn and ethanol (subject change, please). :)

The night ended with a ride back to Julie's where we snacked on more hummus and drank a just liiiiittle more wine. I think we were pretty entertaining by the time Rob picked me up.

Next weekend is the Korum family shower. I'm already overflowing with joy and love just thinking about it!

Shower #4 -- Korum Family -- June 29

In addition to appreciating the hostesses of each of these events, I'm thankful for people's presence at the showers and parties, not to mention the beautiful presents they share.

What a gift. To be overwhelmed by the love of and for such wonderful people.

Showered in love,
Jill

Say Cheese!

Next task: we need a photographer -- someone who could take both engagement and wedding day photos.

Having no idea where to begin, I emailed the StO extra asking the community for recommendations on reputable photographers in the area. One woman, Tricia, was recommended several times and after seeing her name, I remembered that she did a beautiful job with Erica's Christmas photos. I sent her a message and she quickly responded to say that she was booked for August 3, but she gave recommendations of four other people/companies to try, including Krissy and Lauren B. I emailed all four women. One of them wrote back saying she, too, was booked but listed a few more options, including Lauren B. She must be good.

On Good Friday, I met with Krissy at Caribou in Northfield. She was great!! I honestly felt like we were old friends (turns out we know several of the same people), or maybe even distant cousins (we have similar features -- long brown hair, brown eyes, freckles -- live in the country, have "spouses" who recently left their full time jobs to work for themselves, etc). Right away she asked how Rob and I met and how he proposed. I appreciated the fact that she was so interested in our "story." After an hour of conversation about our wedding and reception plans, people we know in common and her photography business, we parted ways. I left feeling confident that Krissy could very well be our photographer and that she would do a wonderful job. What a relief.

Mom and I met at Bridal Accents so she could see my wedding dress (she hadn't seen it in person yet). She asked me to warn her when I was coming out of the dressing room so she could close her eyes for the full affect. Mom didn't shed tears the other times we went dress shopping, but this time she was speechless. I took that as a good sign. While we were there we committed to renting tuxes from Bridal Accents -- we just squeaked in for the March special which includes free shoe rental with all tuxes. And, of course, because we're renting 10+ tuxes, Rob's will be free. We had lunch at Jo Jo's Rise and Wine and I then headed for my hair cut appointment where Shannon and I talked all about wedding day hair, make up, etc. She cleared her schedule for the morning of Aug 3 and recommended a couple other girls who could do my bridesmaids' hair if they so desire.

I didn't have to work the Monday after Easter, so I met with Lauren B (Laurie) at Caribou in Minneapolis. She was great too!! We talked for an hour and a half -- she showed me a few of her albums, talked about her style and philosophy, and asked about our relationship. If it's possible, I felt even more confident about her ability. She's a full time photographer who has won several awards, including one recently where she beat several leaders in the industry. Said the only time she's bossy is when she's telling people what to do for photos. For some reason, I expected her prices to be higher than Krissy's, but when it came down to it, they're comparable. As Laurie said, it's tough to compare photographers because they're not apple-to-apple comparisons.

How will we decide? Of course I felt a connection with each of them because they're friendly, talented and have an interest in our wedding day. :)

That night, Rob and I sat on the living room floor with each photographer's pricing information. Next, he wanted to look through each website to get a sense of their work. After reviewing all information and wedding photos, Rob thought about it for a couple minutes and then said, "I think we should go with Lauren B." That simple.

Honestly, I was relieved. As we looked through all the information, I was leaning toward Lauren B because of the quality of her photos. But I felt a sense of responsibility / loyalty toward Krissy because she's local and we have small personal connections. Rob didn't meet either of them, which, thankfully, made the decision less personal for him.

We emailed Laurie the next night (in time to get the "booking gift" she offered) and told her the good news -- we want her to be our photographer!!

Smiling,

Jill

Always a Bridesmaid

The next item on our wedding checklist: Bridesmaids Dresses.

I've been a bridesmaid in 7 weddings -- the process of selecting a bridesmaids dress fits generally into three categories:

1. The bride picks a color and the bridesmaid buys the dress of her choice.
2. The bride brings as many bridesmaids with her and they select the dresses together.
3. The bride does research (in store and online), chooses the dress and the bridesmaids have no choice.

Each option has its advantages. And certainly disadvantages. As a bridesmaid, each category caused some anxiety. Choosing a black dress seemed like it would be easy -- but there were almost too many choices! Shopping together was fun, but if the dress I liked wasn't selected, I was disappointed. Not to mention the fact that the bride knows everyone's opinion, causing her potential anxiety. And, finally, even though sometimes it's nice just to be told what to wear, it can be frustrating as a bridesmaid not to have a say in the matter -- normally, you spend over $100 on the dress and have to wear it for many hours and you're featured in many photos.

I chose option 3. Although, I did bring one friend because I never would have been able to pick a dress completely on my own. Julie and I headed for the wedding shoppe where we tried on over 20 dresses, narrowed our selection and committed to THE dress over the course of 90 minutes. Impressive! The dress is strapless, has pleats and pockets and, based on my experience wearing 2 similar dresses in friends' weddings, I think the style is flattering and comfortable. And the price was right! When envisioning colors for the wedding, I kept thinking cranberry or raspberry, but that night I was struck by a beautiful, shimmery blue option -- caspian. Julie and I almost left the shop with the intention to make a decision by morning -- caspian or fruit punch -- but before long I realized I wouldn't like the other colors any better the next day. We went with the blue.

Each of the girls is going to look beautiful!!

The Bride,
Jill

A Long Time Coming

With a somewhat limited amount of time before our wedding, the request to host a bridal shower came almost immediately after getting engaged. You know what this means. We get to register!!

I can't tell you how many times I've thought about buying new dishes, picking a new color for the bathroom, or investing in some decent pots and pans and stopped myself because "Someday I'll put that on a wedding registry." Well, friends, that someday is finally here.

Earlier this month, Rob and I headed up to Crate & Barrel to start the registration process. Little did we know we'd be there for over 3 hours! Honestly, if Rob knew we'd spend that much time, he may never have left the house. That said, we were both patient, made good decisions and had a good time. We started by making a big loop around the store to get a lay of the land. We were overwhelmed. Where to begin? At the Good Earth for a peanut butter and protein smoothie.

After our snack, we started by looking at the dishes, but quickly realized there were way too many to choose from and we weren't quite ready to make that big decision. So we moved on to the flatware. Surprisingly easy. Here's the very first thing we scanned into our registry:

After making a third pass through the store, we ended back at the dishes to take one more look at them before heading home. We had it narrowed down to two sets -- one that was very plain and simple, the other that had just a little bit more color. As we went back and forth between the two sets, Rob finally made the decision for us. He liked the one with more color better, the other one was too plain.

As we waited for the computer to load our items, I had a "moment" and realized that I was finally creating a wedding registry. I was just about to exclaim this fact, and then it hit me. I hadn't been waiting to register for so long. I was tearful when I hugged Rob and told him I'd been waiting for him for a long long time.

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The next Friday night, we attended a "sip and scan" event at Macy's. (I still can't believe Rob agreed to go, especially after spending 3.5 hours at Crate & Barrel less than a week before!!) They had music, mocktails, hors d'oeuvres and one sales person per couple. We tried the same tactic as the week before, but it didn't have the same positive result this time around. Finally, we made our way to the bathroom towels, picked some rugs and started throwing different color towels on the rugs to make sure they matched. Success. On to bedding. After a few laps around that department... more success! By this point, we were tired after making so many little decisions and hungry because it was almost 9pm, so we headed back to the area where they were handing out food. They had put it away. Ask Rob how I felt about that. Not happy.

We did what we could with our remaining time and low patience, checked out with our salesperson and headed to find dinner. Ciao Bella was on the way home, so we swung in there in the hopes that our favorite wait staff, Brittany, was working. No such luck. In fact, when we asked if she was working that night, our waitress said she no longer worked there. Sad day. She's working at a very nice restaurant in St. Paul. Not sure we'll follow her to another restaurant. If it wasn't considered stalking the first time we followed her, there's no question it would be creepy the second time around.

Happy,
Jill

The Search for the Perfect Wedding Dress Begins

About a week after getting engaged, Mom and I decided it was time to shop for the perfect wedding dress.  We started one Saturday at Brides of France on 50th and France in Edina. While the shop wasn't exactly what I had envisioned as the full bridal experience (it was more boutiquey and smaller than I'd expected), we had a great time. This particular shop only carried two designers and the prices were no less than $2000 each. Much like looking at engagement rings, I quickly discovered that I liked a certain style that I was less attracted to in the magazines. I must have tried on 10 dresses, but the ones I liked best were strapless, sweetheart cut, fitted dresses with a bit of rouching and some flare at the bottom. While I loved a couple of the dresses that day, I knew I wanted to keep shopping.

We made an appointment at the Wedding Shoppe and Bridal Accents Couture (in Burnsville) for the next week.

Our time at the Wedding Shoppe was great! Danielle was incredibly helpful and the prices of the wedding dresses were very reasonable. There was one dress that stood out from the rest -- another one similar to the style mentioned above with a little more flare and bling than the others. And the price was right. I was very close to buying it that night (you get 10% off if you buy it your first time at the Wedding Shoppe), but wanted a couple more people's opinions so we set up another appointment for the next week and we headed home.

The next night I met Julie at the bridal shop in Burnsville. Wow!! Talk about your quintessential bridal dress shopping experience. The store was huge, we were the only two people there, the carpet was plush, they gave us slippers to wear, the fitting rooms were big and there were fluffy robes. What more could you ask for??

I tried on many more dresses -- some that were big and poofy, others that were fitted and one that was lacy. But there was one that quickly rose above all the rest. This could be the one. I kept it on longer than the rest. And I felt more beautiful and comfortable than in any of the others. But I had to be sure. So I tried on more. We narrowed it down to three dresses. The second place dress was almost as great as the one I fell in love with, but when I put on my favorite .... there was no question. This was the one.

I bought my wedding dress!!

Can't wait to put it on again,
Jill

We're Engaged!!

Even though I know it's silly to get worked up about Valentine's Day, I love the holiday! It's a great opportunity to share your feelings with loved ones, make construction paper hearts, wear pink or red (I opted for pink), and enjoy sugary sweets (unless it's Lent and you've given up sweets -- whoops). Since Valentine's Day was on a Thursday, Rob and I planned on having a very romantic (not really) leftover dinner that night and had reservations at Chianti Grill Friday night.

The thought certainly crossed my mind that Rob might propose one of those nights, but I wasn't entirely convinced because he's not overly romantic (certainly acknowledges the important events -- birthdays, holidays, Valentine's Day). I was even less convinced as we ate our leftover crockpot dinner because he was so calm! After dinner, we decided to open gifts and watch a romantic comedy, so we moved to the living room where his heart covered, pink gift was wrapped. (I told you, I like cheesing it up on VDay.) He opened his gift -- a certificate for a massage -- and gave me my card. As I started to open the card, he said that he promised there was more to the card than the last time he gave just a card. For my birthday last summer, the card included a picture of two people in a hot air balloon. My gift was a hot air balloon ride!! But the weather was bad that night so it had to be cancelled. We have yet to take the hot air balloon ride, so I haven't gotten that birthday gift yet. :)

Back to the card. On the front was "I Heart You," which was appropriate because for the first year of our relationship, that's how we said, "I Love You." As I opened the card, Rob got down on one knee, pulled a ring out of his pocket and said, "Jill Lynch, will you marry me?" The words were also written in the card.

Even though I thought it might happen that night, in that moment I was surprised. After many kisses and exclamations, I said, "Yes!!!!" 

Needless to say, we never got around to watching that movie. Instead, we enjoyed our new engagement and decided not to tell anyone until we could tell our immediate family in person the next day/night.

Since we wanted to tell family in person, I didn't tell anyone at work the next day. What a huge secret to keep!! Especially when one friend came up to me that morning, looked at my left hand and said, "No ring?? I thought for sure it was going to happen last night." I responded with a shrug and said, "Ask Rob....." I maaaaay have brought the ring to work, kept it safely in its box in my purse and peeked at it several times throughout the day. Can you blame me??

We knew that Dad and Monica were going to the George Strait concert that night, so I texted Dad and asked: if someone wanted to see them before the concert where and when could that happen. It didn't take him long to figure out what I wanted, he said they could swing by work during the day. After many texts and conversations, I acknowledged that we were speaking in code, that we both knew what was going on and that I wanted Rob to be there when we saw them. So they changed their afternoon plans, stayed in Northfield for an early dinner and stopped by our place on their way to the cities. Monica brought 4 bridal magazines and cried out of happiness for us. Dad told her she had to stop crying because he was on the verge of tears too.

I had emailed Mom during the day to see what their weekend plans included. They went up to their farm Friday afternoon and wouldn't be back until Saturday night. We weren't going to drive all the way to Taylors Falls, so on our way to Rob's parents' house we called her. She was thrilled!!

Next we went to Peter and Jackie's. They, too, were excited!! At one point in our time with them, Jackie said, "Finally." :) After that we headed to Steve and Carrie's place. Rob had shown Steve the ring on Wednesday night, so they knew the proposal was coming but they were still excited. By the time we left their place, I was starving (oh yeah, we cancelled our dinner reservations so we could make the rounds to family) so we headed for Lakeville. I called Andy and asked if they'd be interested in joining us for a late dinner at Babe's. They had just left there, it was sort of late and he had to work the next morning so he said he'd talk to Malinda and get back to us. Of course we would have gone to their house if they didn't want to meet, but he called back a few minutes later and said they'd join us for a little bit.

When we finally told them we were engaged (tried to hide the ring under the table) Andy said, "We couldn't smell that from a mile away." Half an hour earlier, as they ate dinner at Babe's, they decided the proposal must not have happened. They expected to get a call on Valentine's Night, and when Andy got a text late in the evening, he thought for sure it was from me. Not from me. As they were out Friday night, they figured it hadn't happen because there was no do-you-want-to-meet-for-dinner call. Until about 8:15pm...when I called and said, "do you want to meet for dinner?" :) Hugs all around.

On our way home, we called Liz who was in Chicago for the weekend. Rob left her a message asking her to call him back. When she saw that he called, she told her friends that Rob and Jill must have gotten engaged because Rob never calls.

Love and happiness all around!! The perfect Valentine's Weekend.

Even though we both knew it was coming, there's something so exciting about being engaged. Just last night I was tearful about the fact that I get to spend the rest of my life with Rob -- he's my rock.

LOVE,

Jill

Welcome to 2013

New Years Eve day was a relatively uneventful day. So uneventful, in fact, that I felt a little lame about it. I could have had the exact same day living in Burnsville and felt pretty good about it, but living with Rob... I worry I've been found out. Sometimes I'm boring. And I like to be at home with nothing to do. In weeks/months to come, I'll be longing for a day like yesterday... but yesterday I felt insecure about my lack of a social life. I got over it, but Rob's patience and reassurance certainly helped me feel better.

Our New Years plans involved hanging out at the Hardman's with friends. A perfect way to ring in 2013. We left Elko around 1:00am and took the dirt roads back to Webster, at which point we came upon a Volvo that had recently gone in the ditch. The car was running, lights were still on, people were in the car. We pulled over to the side of the road and before Rob and I could discuss how to help these folks, a young guy was walking around the back of my car and up to my window. It was a little creepy. By the time I rolled down my window the guy and his friend started telling us how they had gone into the ditch, but that they weren't driving because they were drunk, and their "sober driver" got out of the car and started walking back to the house from where they had come, left them there to get out of the ditch. Oh really? These guys were in the middle of nowhere and it was zero degrees out... I highly doubt a friend left them and started walking anywhere. Rob and I were perplexed as to how to help these two yahoos. We asked where they'd been -- they looked at each other and said, "Lakeville.... Prior Lake...." We asked who's house was nearby they looked confused again and said, "Was it Abby...?" Clearly they were hammered. Rob was hesitant to help them out, he pointed out that the best place for them was in the ditch because they obviously should not be driving. Of course they said that if we helped them out of the ditch, they'd sit there and wait. Right.

We ended up calling the Rice County non emergency police number and reported the incident. Rob talked to whoever answered the phone, explained what happened, where we were (corner of Canby and 35th -- sounds much more metropolitan than it actually is), and what was going on with the guys in the car. We swung around to get their license plate and eventually drove away. I could see one of the guys in the middle of the road with his arms in the air, probably lamenting the fact that we were leaving them in the middle of nowhere.

Out of curiosity, we drove around for a few minutes and ended back at the Volvo... far away enough so they couldn't see us but we could see the taillights of their car. While we were on the side of the road, another car came up behind us (turned on their signal to pass us!!) and stopped by the Volvo. Within a few minutes a truck drove past us and also stopped at the Volvo. At this point, we were confident the guys weren't going to freeze in the ditch so we headed home. By the time we got to Canby, two Rice County deputies pulled up with lights flashing to "help" the guys.

I wonder how many DWIs were given at the corner of Canby and 35th last night.....

Happy New Year,
Jill