A relaxing Valentine's Day

So yesterday marked the 5-year anniversary of our engagement. I know it's kind of a strange thing to actually acknowledge, but I didn't realize it was 5 years until a few weeks ago. I just can't believe how fast time flies! Jim brought me flowers, some type of pink lily, a card and chocolates. I was really only expecting a card, so that was sweet. And I know the whole chocolates thing sounds cheesy, but that's how he proposed. He put the ring inside the box where a chocolate had been.



We stayed in and I made him his favorite, lasagna, just like I did 5 years ago. I also tried my hand at Tiramisu and WOW! The BEST dessert I've accomplished to date! And that was our evening...nice and relaxing. I hope everyone else had a nice Valentine's Day, whether you went all out or stayed in and hung out at home.

Good weekend so far

So yesterday I went to get my haircut before going out to celebrate our anniversary with my boy.

This is what it looked like before:


And how it looks now:


I realize it's nothing crazy different, but I really wanted to keep the length. I had a bunch of layers put it and it looks so much better now and is much lighter (in weight, not color...lol). I love it!

Then we got ready to go out to dinner.


Jim ended up making reservations at


The inside was really nice and simple


and the food was fantastic! We both started off with a glass of Grand Traverse Riesling. Then I had the tomato mozzarella chop salad and Jim had the baked five onion soup. Both delicious. Then the main dish...I of course had the filet and Jim had filet Marianne which was a 10 oz. filet cut into two 5 oz. portions and covered with a peppercorn sauce. The filets were SO TENDER! I love a good filet. We had grilled asparagus with a balsamic glaze and loaded mashed potatoes for out sides. Before we ate I was planning on dessert, but by the end of dinner I was stuffed and had to pass. Oh well. It was a great evening!

Happy Anniversary To Us!

Well we made it...three years. Actually yesterday was our anniversary but I didn't have time to post anything yesterday.

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MANY PICTURES TO FOLLOW

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October 21, 2005 - it was a beautiful fall day. No rain in the forecast, high 60's / low 70's was the temperature, it was a perfect day. Me and my girls headed over to the salon around 10:00 a.m. We all had our hair done and I had my makeup done...

Then it was back to my parents house to get ready...

Now...about 8 months prior to the wedding my mother-in-law (MIL) offered to make me a purse for the wedding. I didn't really think it was necessary but she insisted. Fine, I agreed. So about 2:00 on the day of the wedding - we're ready to head to the church - I have my mom call my MIL to ask where the purse is so I could get some pictures with it. It isn't ready! It isn't ready? Okay, whatever...on to the church we go for more pre-ceremony pics...

...the girls preparing

So I told EVERYONE (well the families anyway) to be at the church no later than 3:00 so we could take some of the family pics before the 4:00 ceremony. So it's 3:15 - no inlaws, 3:30 - no inlaws, 3:45 - no inlaws, 4:00 - NO INLAWS! WTH?? I finally call them at like 4:10 and they're on their way. Uh, okay. My dad was all ready to start without them, but the moms pretty much started off the ceremony with the lighting of the candles so we had to wait. She finally shows up and I'm angry and nervous at the same time. (I didn't really get nervous all day until right before I had to walk down the aisle). So we finally got started at 4:20. And I guess a lot of people thought I had gotten cold feet. Um, no...we had been together for 7 years at that point, I wasn't just all of a sudden going to bail...

So the ceremony finishes and it's time for some more pics...

Then we went and took some more pictures at Jim's boss's house. He has a beautiful piece of land with a creek running in the back and an awesome red barn. We were so grateful that he let us use it as a backdrop for our pictures...

So then it was finally onto the reception!

Our DJ was awesome! We're BIG fans of hard rock / metal, so near the end of the reception when only the die hard friends & family were left, our DJ busted out some Kid Rock, Pantera, Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, etc. It was fan-freakin'-tastic!!

Some details from the day...

Oh and in case you were wondering, I never got an apology from my MIL so I don't really know why she was late that day. I'm guessing it's because of the purse (which only made it into one random picture by the way) but I'll never really know. And I'm not big into chit-chatting with her, so you won't seeing me trying to find out about it that's for sure!

Here's the link to our wedding album as well. Enjoy!