Wedding of Alysen & Ryan

This past week, I went home to help my sister
get ready for her wedding.
Here's what my week looked like...
{Warning: this is a long post with tons of pictures!}


The Bride & Groom




Wedding Preparation




Some of the decorations boxed up & ready to go


The favors filled with chocolate




Wedding dress & veil waiting for the big day



Vases ready to be filled with flowers


Getting our nails done





Decorating the Reception Hall


These full boxes & empty tables...

...became this






Decorating at the Church



Pew decorations


Unity Candle








Remembrance Table






The bride & the decorator (aka Aunt Sheila)


Rehearsal












Rehearsal Dinner
(Sorry, I didn't get any pictures of Ryan's family)


Parents of the bride


Sisters-in-law




Sisters


Wedding Day!


Even our dog Lola got into the spirit

Getting Ready at Home





Getting ready at the church




Running off nervous energy






The Gorgeous Flowers




Picture Time






Makeup Touch-ups




Keeping Cool & Killing Time







Reception






Congratulations, Ryan & Alysen!

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy,
it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes,
always perseveres. Love never fails.
I Corinthians 13:4-8a

The View From Here - Thursday

Today, this...



turned into this




24 hours until the big celebration!

The View From Here - Wednesday

Toes all pretty for the wedding day!

The View From Here - Tuesday

More projects worked on today for my sister's wedding...







And all are finished!

The View From Here - Monday

With a wedding happening in 5 days, there is so much to do...

Several of the projects I'm working on today

Summer Concert

One of my favorite places to go in Chicago is Millennium Park.

It's a great place to people watch, or to find a spot of grass to call your own (if only for a few hours), to bring an iced coffee & settle in with a great book.

And during the summer, there are free concerts all the time. Who doesn't like music & who doesn't love that it's free?!?

Last night was one of the first concerts of the summer and the group playing was She & Him. The lead singer is Zooey Deschenel, the actress from the movie Elf. Indie music isn't usually my favorite genre, but I listened to a few of their songs & really like it. So I decided to go. After all, the weather was great & it was free!

The concert was to start at 6:30. I got there at 5:00 with some food, a blanket & a book to pass the time. I thought an hour and a half would be ample time to find a great spot and settle in. Instead, this is what I found...



Needless to say, I didn't find a spot. This was a huge crowd! Like movies in Grant Park size crowd. It only got worse from this point on. Apparently, She & Him is a pretty popular group! Thankfully, I found a spot along the wall with a great view of the stage and stationed myself there for the next 3 hours.



While I waited for the music to start, I had prime view for people watching. And I came to one conclusion: I am definitely not following the fashion trends of this summer, and I'm actually ok with that. It looked like a Forever 21 store exploded on the crowd. There is some pretty scary & weird stuff out there.

Is this a sign I'm getting old?

And in case you're interested to hear She & Him, here's a link to a video. They gave a great concert. In fact, I downloaded one of their albums today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ3cTwI9bIw

Fun Weekend (aka The One With All The Pictures)

I had a full weekend.

My sister is getting married in a few weeks and my mom & I threw her a bridal shower.

Here are some pictures of the day.

As the co-hostess, I unfortunately didn't have a chance to take many pics of everyone enjoying themselves, but trust me when I say there were lots of smiles, laughter & celebration!

Me with the beautiful bride-to-be



I made the bouquet & pom poms out of tissue paper.
They took me forever & I won't be doing that again any time soon!



Here's the table of food.
What says "shower" more than flowers & a punch bowl?



The rest of the house all dressed up!




Backyard all nice & spiffy...



Even the dog was anticipating everyone's arrival...



I found a recipe for these cute cake bites and, of course, had to make them...



And then every guest got to take one home...



Opening gifts...



With my mom & sister



After the shower, we had our final dress fittings (sorry, those pictures are kept under wraps until the wedding day!)

On Sunday, went to the beach with my parents, brother & sister-in-law



And then on Monday, to the Memorial Day Parade...



What this day is all about...



And then the rains came...



But there's nothing like a hometown parade



Now that the weekend is over, back to reality...