So here is a list of what is going on lately:
-I officially won $5 on the mega millions. Unfortunately the jackpot was at $333 million. And someone did win it.

-My dress is at the alterations place. Unfortunately because of the type of material and the fact that there is 3 layers to it, the alterations cost more than the dress itself. I spent $69 on the dress, I think she said alterations would be about $70. That is for the back to be taken in a bit and for it to be shortened by about 6 inches.

-We have our marriage license. We applied online on Sunday, then picked it up on Wednesday. It was funny because the website said to bring your birth certificate and Social Security card, and they never asked for either, they just wanted our drivers license. We decided to apply online when we found out our only option is to get our license downtown. With the amout of construction, traffic, their hours, etc. There was no way I was going twice if I didn't have to. They are only open M-F from 8 am -5 pm. So I figured I was going to have to miss some work. I work M-F 8:30-5:30. So Wednesday our plan was to be there by 8 am waiting for them. And, even though we got turned around in a construction detour, then wandered around the parking ramp trying to figure out where to go, we were there right when they opened so we didn't have to wait in line. I was at work by 8:35.

-I decided not to do ceremony programs, and then changed my mind when I came up with a fairly simple fan program design. I only have about 15 more to print, but my color ink is running out. It's a simple program, just has wedding party info on it. Except I forgot to put who the wedding party is in relation to us. Like Bridesmaid- Allison- sister of the bride. I put that Allison is a bridesmaid, but did not put that she is my sister. But, oh well- too many of them are done now.

-Due to financial concerns I canceled my hair and makeup trial. I was going to have it done Sept. 5 then Scott and I were going to go out to dinner as a late bday thing, but thats not going to happen. We've just decided that he is going to work as much as possible and we are not going to go out to eat. Unfortunately, when I had my hair done back in July (i think) I got it done too early. My highlights are growing out, so I am still going in to have my highlights re-done.

-We had a meeting with our photog to figure out a schedule for the day of. It went well and now we have a good idea of how the day will flow.

- Also due to financial crap we have omitted the sand ceremony. We hadn't bought any of the supplies for it yet and just decided that we weren't going to. We still want to do it, but will just do it on our own.

-Scott finally has his entire oufit purchased, and I am almost done except I want to find a cute pair of earrings to wear, and I need to get a silk flower for my hair. Hopefully I can find those today.

-When Dad and Holly came up a couple weeks ago we went to the beach that we are getting married at and saw 2 other weddings. One had about 90 people there and chairs for each one of them. This was a significant surprise to us as we were informed by our planner that they do not allow chairs to be set up. I talked to a park worker and she said that they aren't supposed to be set up for longer than 30 min. but that because we are having it when the park is not charging, we shouldn't have a problem. So, we are renting 30 chairs. Certainly not enough for everyone, but enough for immediate family, grandmas, and a couple random extras.

-We have decided that we ARE going to go to Chicago for a few days. We have to. We just need to get away for a few days. So we are getting on the train Sunday at 7:30 am, will be in Chicago (fingers crossed we don't have the delays we had last time) at 10:30 Chicago time. Then we are leaving Tuesday, I believe the train leaves at 5:20 pm, then we'd be back in Michigan at about 10:20 pm Michigan time. Then back to work we go on Wednesday. It suck it's going to be such a short honeymoon, but unfortunately neither of us has a job that is going to let us afford a better honeymoon right now. I must say, I'm super jealous of you right now Allison.

Anyhoo, here is the hotel we are looking at staying at. It looks really nice and is $109 per night for a 2 room suite, with a complimentary cooked to order breakfast every morning, a kitchenette in every room, a managers reception every night, and it's walking distance from Navy Pier and Magnificant Mile. We'll probably go to Navy Pier, and will walk Magnificent Mile, just so I can take a picture of the disgustingly expensive stores that I'll never shop at :) I mean we are talking: Tiffany and Co., Louis Vuitton, Saks, Armani, Cartier, Burberry, Chanel, Gucci etc, etc, etc. I might go in the American Girl store, just to check it out. I do plan on sending my Samantha doll in someday to have her cleaned up and restored, so she'll look like brand new. I'll admit, I haven't taken the best care of her. although for the last 2 years or so she has been sitting on my dresser.

Other plans are to go to Shedd Aquarium, of course. And to go to the Sears Tower (NOT going to call it the Willis Tower, don't care who bought it) we need to see The Ledge. I'm STOKED to see that, they are brand new this year. Scott, not so much.... he said he won't walk out there. We also want to go on one of the river tours, but thats not set in stone. If we decide to spend $ elsewhere it will be the first to drop from the list, although we don't have too much else planned. I know the days will go by quick, and we'll want to just chill in the hotel room too.

-The tomato plants produced quite a few tomatoes and is starting to get toward the end. There are a handful of green tomatoes left on each plant. The red peppers are doing well, I think there are 5 of them, except I keep forgetting to tie a stick around the stems and they keep breaking due to the weight of the peppers. The green pepper plant I'm pretty sure is done. I think we got 2, maybe 3 peppers off of it and no more are growing. Looks like we will get 2 more cucumbers, then that will be done too.

-Grand Valley is back to school soon, so we have some new neighbors.... this might be a bad thing, stay tuned to later updates. More than likely it will probably confirm my wanting to get out of this damn apartment and get a house. GVs first football game is tonight, in Texas. Then they are away again Sept. 5. Then Sept. 12 is the first home game. We have decided that we will go. We received an invitation to the alumni tailgater, so that should be fun.

I think thats about it.

Mackinaw pictures!

Scott and I went up to Mackinaw City last weekend for his cousins wedding. Luckily for us, it's only about a 3 1/2 hour drive. Wasn't too bad. They were getting married at a campground there and we arrived shortly before the ceremony began. It was a bit chaotic, and the day before and that morning the weather was crap, but it cleared up a few hours before the ceremony and stayed nice the rest of the day. That night we spent the night in a cabin with Scott's sister and her boyfriend. I think I slept 2 hours. It sucked. But whatever.

The next morning we headed out. We stopped by a park so I can take pictures of the bridge. I love taking pictures, so beware- there are about a zillion pictures of the bridge. We stopped in Petoskey on the way home too because it is beautiful there. A lot of very scenic places to stop. We ended up stopping somewhere too, no clue what town, but there were people selling fresh picked cherries all over up there so I bought some from a fruit stand on the side of the road. They are delicious!


View of the bridge from the spot where the ceremony was.


Very cool looking clouds right before the wedding.


The happy couple. Scott's cousin Todd and his wife Samantha


This is from Day 2 on our way home. This is from the park where we stopped so I could take pictures of the bridge. It was cool because it was one of those places we just sort of stumbled upon and it turned out to be awesome cause I got to take so many pictures. We were able to get WAY closer to the bridge than we did when we came up last year.


It was pretty foggy and drizzly in the morning. You couldn't even see the top of the bridge. But it did eventually start to clear up.






This is a light house. I took the picture for Scott. It's historically significant. I just don't know why. Something about soldiers used it as a look out or something.


This was a house we saw from the road right next to the park entrance. HUGE! I had Scott walk through the muddy sand to take this picture. Look at all the windows! This is from the back, but from the front it looked like a castle.








Underneath the Mackinaw City part of the bridge. There was an information center there where you could read historical stuff about the bridge. Then Colonial Michlimackinac is there too, but we didn't have the money to go.


So Scott just posed outside with a cannon.


These are from Petoskey. It is Little Traverse Bay. The water there is sooooo blue. My boss and his wife goes to Grand Traverse Bay every other week or so and they say these bodies of water are like the last un-polluted parts of Lake Michigan. The water in the lake here is bluer than anywhere I've seen.










We loved how hilly it was, looking at everything from the tops of the trees. I told Scott I only saw it like that in one other place and that was on the way to visit Steph in KY. Actually on the way up north our ears both popped at the same time at one point in the drive, I remember that happening when we came up last year too. I know that happened to Dad and I when we were driving to KY.


We passed by Boyne Mountain. It's a ski resort, then it has a HUGE indoor water park called Avalanche Bay. We decided to drive through real quick and take some pictures. When we saw the signs pointing in the direction of the spa, I sooo wanted to stop. Scott really wants to go to the water park, so I told him it might be a vacation desitation in the future. I think it would be cool to go up there in the winter and watch the skiers, hit the spa and go to the water park.






Had to take some flower pictures.






Then one last picture. This picture was right after I got my ears pierced, I was trying to get a picture of my ears. Obviously I couldn't use this picture for that because 1.) you can't see my ears and....







2.) It looks to me like Scott isn't very interested in the earrings. After I saw the picture I asked him what he was doing. He said he was looking at my ear. Thought it would make for a better picture. To me it looks like he is looking at my chest. lol Yeah, I thought it was a funny picture.

Well it's about f'ing time!!!!

Pictures!!!



This picture is from the weekend I got my hair done. I don't remember which it was, but we packed up some food and hung out at the beach.


Big tanker ship


This was on July 3. We both had the day off so we decided to pack up some food and head to the beach that we are getting married at. I have a county pass now so we just drive right in. It was a little chilly when we first got there at about 4 ish, but then when the wind died down it was warm and nice. There was hardly anyone there.


Waves! :)


Super crappy picture, but this is of the famous Grand Haven Musical Fountain. It was ok. It's about a 12-15 min show, but there was a 5-6 min period when there was a huge barge going by so we couldn't see anything.


This is 4th of July. Scott worked til 2 or 3, then we went downtown and were down there until like 1 am.


This is the water balloon fight we went to at Rosa Parks circle. It was like a Revolutionary War style fight. Half wore red, half wore blue.


And the fight begins. You can see it really well if you click on the picture.


Afterwards everyone sang the National Anthem.


The JW Mariott. This was new, 2 years ago I think. It's supposedly REAL nice inside and it's right downtown on the Grand River. We were talking about getting a room there, near the top floor, for our 1 year anniversary.


flowers

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This is out in front of the Gerald R Ford Museum. There is a really cool fountain. It was hot, so I stuck my feet in.






The Museum.


This is where President Ford is buried.


Scott with a football man sculpture.

All firework pictures look the same, so I'm not going to bother posting any.

Moving on....


Our VERY 1st cucumber!!! :) We were proud little parents, until we ate him.


Here are the Early Girls.


And the early girl plant.


Cherry tomatoes


And the cherry tomato plant.
The tomatoes are doing fairly well. None are turning red yet, but there are quite a few cherry tomatoes, and a bunch of flowers still blooming. There aren't a ton of the early girls, but I just trimmed some stems on the plant in hopes that more tomatoes will grow. However, my tomato plant may have a disease. See the pictures below. Click to see them closely. They have wart type bumps on the main big stem.


Tomato plant disease?


The unsuccessful red pepper plant. See, here is the problem. The plant looks good, except some black spots. Flowers grow and we might get a tiny pepper, then the pepper disappears and the flower shrivels up and dies. No clue whats happening.


Baby pepper. I doubt he will thrive, he'll probably disappear soon too....


Unsuccessful green pepper plant. Exactly 0 peppers growing on this one. There are a few flowers, but the same situation is happening with this one that is happening with the green pepper plant.


And my proud and joy. My bush cucumber plant. It's doing so well. After I took this picture I trimmed some of the big giant leaves, so the nutrients will go to the cucumbers. I picked one. Then there are 3 that we'll probably pick sometime next week. Then a whole lot of tiny ones.





And that is all. Currently we are attempting to complete the invitations so we can get them mailed out next week. Tomorrow we are going to a Whitecaps baseball game, Saturday the highlight of the day will be going to the farmers market bright and early. Then next Saturday, the 25th we are going to Scott's cousin's wedding up in Mackinaw City. It's at a campground up there. Plan is to either stay at someones cabin that night or skip out early and drive back. Not spending $ on a hotel, buying gas will be bad enough.

Adios.