We are here!

We are officially residents of san francisco. On that note I am thinking about going private, with everything going on it just seems like the right move to make. I will let you all know for sure once I make a decision. Until then though I am off to unpack more!

Almost there!

We finally reached California today. We ended up making yesterday a really long day and didn't get to the hotel until about 11pm. Tomorrow morning we are going to get up early and drive the last few hours into San Francisco. Here are a few pictures from the last couple days of our journey.

 Pony Express original station

 Monument to Lincoln in Wyoming

 Salt flats in Nevada

 

welcome sign in Nevada

 California

I'm off to relax a bit before the final day tomorrow!

One day down, two to go

We just finished up our first day of driving. We ended up taking off at 8am this morning, stopped at JP's for one last cup of coffee and continued on our way. We made it through 3 states and will hopefully make it to salt Lake City tomorrow. On the way through Illinois we ended up driving about 30 minutes with a group of hundreds of bikers. It was their freedom ride 2008 which was supporting the troops and P.O.W. and M.I.A. It was really neat to see all of the support they got throughout the ride, people were on every overpass with flags and signs. From Illinois we headed through Iowa. Iowa was long and mostly corn fields but it was crazy to see how much destruction was everywhere from the floods.  We were lucky enough to be able to cross over the Mississippi and there were multiple sections of I-80 that up to about a week ago had been under water. While in Iowa we got to stop at the worlds largest truck stop. Unfortunately it was just that, a large truck stop. It did have a theater which was neat, but we didn't have enough time to stop and see a movie. I will update with pictures as soon as we get to Utah but for now I am off to get some rest so I will be ready for our long day tomorrow. 

2 more days

we got our apartment all packed up last night. It took 4 people and 9 hours but we finally got it all in. We ended up getting rid of a lot of stuff and donating even more. We are now back at my parents house tying up loose ends, finishing a little laundry, and spending time with friends and family. Tomorrow night we have a small goodbye party at the local brewery and the next morning we will be taking off bright and early. I will try to post as much as I can from the road but it will all depend on where I can get internet connection from. I'll leave you now with a shot of the moving truck. It is definitely packed full!

 

As I mentioned yesterday, I found a bakery to make our wedding cake! We are going with Barb of Sweet Cakes Design. It was the first "official" cake tasting D and I have done but I have tried quite a few other places between bridal shows and just hopping in for a cupcake. Her style matches what I had been envisioning and when I told her what I wanted for the look and feel of the cake she got it immediately! (trust me, this was a HUGE selling point!). She was also a sweetheart and her buttercream frosting was amazing. I am really picky about frosting and usually end up scrapping it all off so the fact that hers was light, stays in place with heat, and not sugary sealed the deal!

If any of you are getting married in the Western Michigan area I highly recommend taking a look at Barb.

I don't know if i had mentioned before but I also found a dress I LOVED while in San Francisco. It was in a small shop that sold all designer dress at discount prices (from trunk shows, store models, etc). Unfortunately the shop was closed but I managed to snag a picture of it from outside the front window. I contacted the shop in hopes they could help me out with who the designer was but they never got back to me. Imagine my surprise when I came across the very dress while flipping through Brides Magazine today. The designer: Vera Wang... go figure haha. I usually can pick out the most expensive thing in a store and that definitely was the case this time. A girl can dream though can't she??

Once I can find a picture of it online I will post it.

One of those days.

Maybe it is because it is Friday the 13th, or maybe it is all this heat and humidity we have been having here but these last two days have been a roller coaster ride.

Most already know that D and I are moving to San Francisco here in just over a week. With that being said these past few weeks have been filled with packing, cleaning, and driving all over the state to see friends and family before we leave. One thing we decided about moving to San Francisco was that we would get rid of our cars. D's was in worse shape than mine so we decided to sell his first. We got a ton of hits on it and the car was about a day away from a sale going through.... and then it died. Perfect timing, no?? We lowered the price drastically in order to "just get rid of it" and we ended up selling it the next day.

About 5 days ago I finally put my car on the market. She was my first car and I have had her for about six years now. She has been through a lot but she always manages to make it through. Like D's car, mine also had a ton of hits on it. We got offered almost the full amount we were asking for it and we were thrilled. Last night we drove back across the state to go visit a friend, do a cake tasting, and get the title from my parents so I could sell it today. About three miles from our place at 11:30pm my car died.. Perfect timing ,no?? We got her towed back here and now she sits, waiting to get hauled back to my parents house to they can figure out what is wrong with her and then sell her. Needless to say I had to call the buyer up and explain what had happened with pretty much ended that sale.

It was not a good day..............

yet another thing to go wrong yesterday was the cake tasting. Well, not the cake tasting itself but the drive there. The place we were going to had previously been operated out of the owners house and because of that all of the directories I looked at to get the address still had her house address listed as the business site. We got all the way over there and fortunately enough, D had his iphone on him so we were able to look up her phone number, get the real address and finally make it to our appointment 25minutes late.

At least the cake was amazing and we ended up booking her on the spot! At least one thing good came out of that day.

Hopefully you all had better day than we did!!

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I've been tagged by Emily at Vineyard Vogue.

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
I was 12 years old and half way through my 6th grade year. I was busy swimming competitively, running track, and playing volleyball and basketball. I also had a huge crush on a basketball player at our school.

2. What are 5 things on your to do list today?
1) Prime and paint the bathroom
2) pack up my closet :(
3) prime and paint the dining room and living room
4) Research places to stop along our long I-80W trip to San Francisco (any advice or knowledge would be greatly appreciated!)
5) hopefully eat something other than vitaminwater

3. Snacks you enjoy?
veggies and hummus, any type of fruit, and chocolate

4. Places you've lived?
My parents house, the dorms at school, the village on Campus, Howell, and San Francisco (and soon San Francisco again!)

5. What are 5 things you would do if you were a billionaire?
1) Buy a house
2) Start my own business
3) Travel!!
4) Build/ remodel my parents house
5) donate to my favorite charities (Ronald McDonald House and Make a Wish Foundation)
6.) Invest in retirement funds, stocks, etc. (yep I gave myself a 6th one!)

I tag: With this ring i thee obsess and Pearl Events

and of course, a pretty image to end it all.

Inspirational Images

This is my first day posting with my new macbook pro. I am absolutely in love with it! It is already making the wedding searching and researching so much easier. Here are a few images I have found over the past day that i am absolutely in love with.

Update:

I just map quested our trip across the country. It is going to be sooooo long. If anyone knows of any neat/interesting stops along the way let me know! We will be traveling primarily I-80W and I-280W. We are hoping to break up the trip by stopping at cool local dinners/dives, large balls of yarn, etc. ( you get the idea haha). Thanks in advance for any help you all may have!

I was tagged by Jessica of Tying the Knot to share a little bit about my fiance so here goes;

1.) He is always making up little songs and rhymes for everything. He will probably hate that I am sharing this but they are always so funny and cute.
2.) He always has to have a project going.
3.) He went to private school in Boston and is a total prep
4.) He is the king of Othello... I tied him the very first time I played but haven't come close to beating him since
5.) and obviously, he is my best friend & totally "gets" me which is just one of the many reasons I love him.


I tag: the preppy wedding, tie the knot, and anyone else who wants to play!

A lot has been happening since the last time I wrote. Most of that is packing and running around the state trying to see everyone before I leave. Last night I got to go to AA to see Vineyard vogue. We got a pedicure which I was in dire need of and dinner at C.P.K. It was so good to see her again before I leave. It is going to be really hard not being close enough to just hop in my car and go visit and especially hard not being able to have her come with me to do all of the bride/moh planning.

Today I am heading back across the state once more. My brother is graduating form high school so I will be heading home to see him, my family, and friends for the weekend. It is so weird to think that both my brother and I have graduated and are now moving on to new and exciting things. B will be heading to GRCC in the fall to pursue his interest in digital media productions. From what I have seen of his work from high school I know he will do amazing things in the future. Good Luck B!

Another great thing I get to do today is get my new laptop. My old dell died about 3 months ago now and I have been waiting for this day for a while. I cannot wait to finally have so I can start using for wedding planning and everything else.
This will soon be my newest addition :)
Next thursday D and I have our first appointment for cake tasting. It is with Sweet Cakes Design.

She has a variety of cake designs but there are a few that we both love.

(a cake she did for a recent wedding)
(some of the cupcakes she has done)



We know we want very simple probably with a ribbon around the base of each layer. Right now we are pretty sure we are only going to do a small two tiered cake with cupcakes. I want the small cake to cut into and then the top tier to save for our first anniversary. For the cupcakes I DO NOT want any cupcake stands. For whatever reason I think they are hideous (sorry if any of you are using them, its just a personal opinion), so instead I want to start collecting really neat cake stands and using those at different heights to display the cupcakes.

Have a great weekend!!