Thanks, and Catching Up.

A huge thank you to everyone who made our wedding a success, and those who continue to support us in our journey as newlyweds. It was a magical affair that would have never turned out half so lovely, half so fun, or half so warm had not each and every person who came and sent loving thoughts our way participated. Adam and I are so blessed to have so many loving friend and family.

Shortly, I will be posting pictures from the church and the reception here for everyone to see. We got some incredible shots of the church, decorated for their 125th Jubilee Celebration. (No, we didn't plan it that way, nor were the stellar decorations and incredible job by the cleaning crew just for us. We are just incredibly, miraculously blessed in every way to have timed things perfectly.)

As many of you know, Adam and I are sailing through our seventh month of pregnancy, and everyone is doing very well! We have taken some time out from the "real world" by cutting back on being the workaholics that we are to enjoy being newlyweds, to soak in these last few months where we are just two, and to prep for Baby B's arrival.

Here are some things going on in the Blazucki Household to prep for Baby B. We welcome any and all suggestions to help us make an easier transtition (#BabyBMakes3, #BlazuckiLove)

1. I am only working one job for the most part. Having spent the last 6 years of my life working from 2-4 jobs at a time and going to school, I have been restricted to one job (and the occasional extra shift) by Adam. Adam has also cut back from working 6-7 days a week, with fewer 12 hour days. We have never been more caught up in sleep!

2. We are spending a lot of time and money remodeling the house. We recently had laminate wood floors put in, a new kitchen stove, and a new furnace in order to make chores and daily living easier.

3. We have taken a lot of baby preparation classes and read a lot of books about babies! None of which make any one completely prepared, but it sure does help give us an idea what to expect.

4. We have started nesting. Just last week we washed 36 cloth diapers, bought 14 new ones, started cleaning out the "nursery" and threw away a bunch of useless stuff to make room for Baby B's neccessities.

5. The Grandparents are going crazy. Both Grandmothers have been buying up all of the cutest outfits at Carter's, Kohl's, and just about any where. Sorry if they beat you out for that onesie sale. They are just a little... enthusiastic!

Thank you all again for everything, and we hope to keep everyone posted as time draws near for Baby B to join us!

Updates!

I owe you all a few updates, and it has been on my list of things to do. If you saw the list you would understand why updating here has taken a while!

First thing's first: The invites are out, and we (by "we" I mean the counsel of Louise and her mother) would like the response cards back by October 14th. Which I just realized is Sunday. Which means if you get them postmarked by Saturday, we should be good. Mother Dearest keeps threatening that i will have to call everyone on Tuesday if i don't have all of the responses and let's face it, that just ain't going to happen.

Some of you got information about the rehearsal dinner and brunch. The rehearsal dinner will be Thursday night at the Church. the rehearsal is scheduled for 7 p.m., so dinner will start at 7:45 p.m. (ish). Brunch will be at Annie's house (the return address on the invite) from about 10 a.m. til whenever. It is an open house, but the Bride and Groom might be napping if you come past 1. I have a feeling that night before will be long and full of partying.

There are several surprises and exciting things planned for the reception, and we took personalization to the max. I hope that you all can make it and join in the fun. We are looking forward to dancing/drinking/galavanting and taking pictures with each and every person on out guest list!

Some Logistics:

The Country Inn and Suites is the closest hotel to the reception venue. You could potentially walk back to your room from there. Click here for information about that particular hotel.  There are many hotels in and around White Marsh that are lovely as well.

If you wanted to be close to the church, I would suggest the Admiral Fells Inn or something near Harbor East, but they are really pricey.However, if this weekend is a vacation for you, those are lovely spots to see Baltimore and be able to walk everywhere fun like Canton and Fells Point.

The wedding ceremony will begin at 2:30 p.m. Many people have asked whether or not we will be having a Catholic Mass, and we decided not to for a few reasons. It is long. It is boring for non-Catholics. Non-Catholics might feel weird when we Catholics are Eucaristing it up. We will be taking pictures in the church from the end of the ceremony for up to a half an hour after that. If you have an interest in getting a picture with the bride and groom at the alter and you are not immediate family, we need to know ASAP. We can accommodate you, but the photographer needs the shot list soon. Email me, Louise, by clicking here.

The reception will be held at the VFW Post 6506 (click for directions). Our DJ is Living Legend Johnny Dark and it will be a wild time!

We have, after much thought, registered at Target. You can access our registry here.

Again, we are astounded and touched by the generosity of our friends and family. Thank you all for everything. This love story has truly been built by many hands.

A little lesson on loss.

Adam and I have been preparing for the wedding in a number of different ways. From finishing our Catholic Initiation with our RCIA classes, to running errand in order to find the right shoes, to paying for the invitations, to making a million decisions about what to food and liquor to serve to what shade of ecru tablecloths to buy we feel like we have done it all. I am sure you married ones out there are grinning and saying "I told you so," and that's fine. One thing I don't think we had planned on, and that is a little unique to our situation is our weight loss.

In January, Adam and I decided to join a gym. I don't know why. I don't think we went into it planning on anything other than three days a week we would do some cardio, so light weights and call it a day. In February, I decided to join a Center for Medical Weight Loss. I saw the coupon for their program in my doctor's office. I thought about all of the times I had tried to lose the weight and failed. I thought about the last wedding I was in and the insult the groomsman I was paired up with had for me. I couldn't bear the thought of being "Pretty, for a big girl," on my wedding day. Something clicked, and I knew I needed a change.

After seeing my success with the doctor, Adam joined her program in March and we have been battling the bulge as a united front ever since. It has been, and will continue to be, a life changing choice that we are happy to be going through together. We have lost a total of 136 pounds between us, and still have 80 pounds to go until we reach any kind of goal. Needless to say, the only way some of you will recognize us is by the outfits on the day of!

In summary, weddings take a lot of prep, and they should! Adam and I are preparing to spend our lives together as healthier, happier, more energetic people and I can't wait!

An Update for the Masses.

Here's what's new: The Save The Dates are out and turned out great! The wedding dress is ordered, beautiful, and about 12 inches too big. And I am shrinking every day. Insert freak out now. We have set a time for the rehearsal, bought some presents for the bridal party, signed a contract for the flowers and invites... and it feels so real! Adam and I are trying to keep the stress level down and keep reminding each other that the important part is that we are married at the end of the day. Everything else is fluff. Any suggestions on where to find an inexpensive wedding dress to have just in case all alterations/schemes fail, you may send them my way ASAP. KTHANKS!

A New Post for a New Year

A lot of you have been asking how wedding planning is going, so I thought I would write a mass blog to blast everyone and share! Quel quiant!

We are imersed in RCIA classes at St. Casimir's. This particular part of our journey to the alter has been an immense blessing. Adam and I are learning a lot about our faith, we are getting on the same page about our beliefs and our personal preferences, and we are really connecting on a different level. It is a great tool to go together and get to know what we expect not only from eachother, but from our spiritual life.

Additionally, we have started signing papers and filling out questionaires to have our marriage approved by the Archdiocese of Baltimore. I never thought I would be getting married in a Catholic Church, but I have to say they have it down. They ask all the right questions to help you make more informed choices about your partner and what kind of life you expect to have together.

We signed the agreement for the hall rental and just have to pay it off. my dress hsould be coming in soon and I am sooooooo excited! As soon as it comes in, I can make more decisions about decor and the exact shades I would like my bridesmaids in.

We haven't signed any contracts for the caterer, but we know who we don't want. Big Bad Wolf took themselves out of the running by being incredibly disorganized, and Red Hot and Blue is just not the quality that they used to be. I fell in love with Beefalo Bob's (www.beefalobobs.com Who knows why my hyperlink button isn't working!?) thanks to their great customer service with 101.9's BSO night(1019litefm.radio.com).

The giving nature of our families and friends has truly astouded us and touched our hearts. So many people are making this dream a beautiful reality. My brother is donating the bar, three people have lent me their veils to try on with my dress, an annonymous family member has helped pay for my wedding dress, my mom is donating the floral arrangements (and a million other things,) a photographer friend is giving us an incredible discount, my incredibly talented friend Charles Dowd donated our custom avatars (cdowd.com/avatars)for our Save The Dates, and another family friend just today offered to do the videography. Thank you, thank you to everyone. It is such an incredible feeling to be so loved!

And I swear, I am sending out the Save The Dates. Eventually!

The Details So Far.

Since no one bothered to tell us wedding planning was so arduous, we are knee deep in it with only one way out- onwards and upwards!

Things on the agenda for the next year of planning:

Sign the Hall Rental Agreement
Finish RCIA Classes, so that we are officially considered Catholics
Begin and Finish Pre Canna Classes, so we are officially deemed fit to marry in a Catholic Church.
Pick out bridesmaids 2 & 3's dresses
Finish the Guest List
Make the Save The Dates (and mail them for that matter!)
Buy all the Decor piece by piece from Arts and Crafts stores (using weekly coupons too, mind you!)
Make a Logarithm related to the number of people coming multiplied by the amount of food per person, multiplied again by the cost of each dish, then find the tangent of the amount of alcohol needed
Buy the products determined by the extensive logarithm
Figure out if, after everything, we can afford wedding rings!

And then all that's left is to get married! That shouldn't be too bad!

I probably should have started with what we have already accomplished:

I found the dress at Elegant Touch Bridal in Perry Hall. Thank you to Gerri and everyone there for helping me with my dress, The Juniors and MOH dresses, and my mom's dress. You Rock!

We found the tuxedos at Horton's House in Highlandtown. My dad thinks he is wearing a "Pimp Hat." We shall see, but be prepared for other stellar costumes for the guys!

We are (almost) all set to sign the contract for the big hall at the VFW, Post 6506. Thanks to Connie, Jesse, Pam, Mark, and my entire VFW and Auxiliary Family for helping to make this as pain free as possible.

I am working on rates for local hotels for those of you out of town, but they aren't posting them for next November yet. Stay tuned, and let me know if you would like me to look into a specific chain, or an area outside of the immediate vicinity of the VFW Hall.

Keep checking in, more info to come!

How We Met

Because I know you are all wondering how a Dreamy Romantic and a Disorganized Damsel meet in this big bad city, here's the skinny.

I had decided to start attending CCBC in order to get a real career path nailed down. In my first semester, I had this crazy idea that I didn't want to waste all my time on any given day in school, so i set up my schedule (without consulting a counselor) to include some morning, and evening and a weekend class. The evening class was Speech 101, required of anyone attending CCBC for any reason. I had a very colorful teacher who made the three hour long class a breeze. And that's where I made a few new friends.

Of the class, one gentleman, two ladies and myself decided to catch an adult beverage at a local bar after class one evening toward the end of the semester. The gentleman, here after referred to as MBL, invited Adam to join our merry party.

When Adam showed up, I sized him up. He was just tall enough and had sparkling white teeth; His voice was deep and he was wearing a crisp new baseball cap. He also had on a jacket with his name on it. Let me school you; when someone shows up in a work jacket with their name on it, it means they:

Have a job.
Are good at their job.
Have been at their job long enough to get personalized clothing.

All of the above were in Adam's favor. After a fun night of socializing we all parted ways. As Adam was walking me to my car, which was thankfully close to his car, I waited for him to ask for my number. And waited. And drew out the conversation. And dropped a few hints. And waited. Nothing.

At the next class, I realized I was not the only one interested in learning more about the Mysterious Mechanic. Another girl and I asked MBL if he would be so kind as to ask Adam if he were interested in talking to one of us.

MBL went to Adam and asked his opinion. Shocked, Adam asked why he didn't just give me his number right away. What a terrible wing man. MBL returned the next class and handed me Adam's number on a scrap of paper.

I texted. Nothing. I waited. Nothing. Then, after three days of waiting, I decided to call. Nothing. Literally, the number didn't exist. Was I really being dissed? I thought we were grown ups and he didn't have the decency to just say no thanks!? Really! The Nerve. I emailed MBL with a tempered similar response. he emailed back all apologies and said that Adam was standing right there. He replied with his number and we set up our first date.

Dead Freddy's in Parkville, quel romantic.