Wedding Excitement

My daughter’s wedding is one week from today and in just a few days we will be on a flight to Michigan for all the pre wedding festivities. We still need to put together the hotel welcome bags, get manicures and pedicures and pick up my husband’s tux.  There will be a family pre wedding dinner with the groom’s family. The next night is the church wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner at a fun polish restaurant in Detroit. Finally, a welcome party at the lovely hotel bar.   Then of course, wedding day and all the excitement that brings. I am looking forward to so much.

1.  Seeing Melissa in her wedding gown.

2.  Seeing my husband walk her down the aisle.

3. Seeing my granddaughter as flower girl for her auntie.

4. Finally wearing my mother of the bride dress.

5.  Seeing the wedding vows given by our friend and former parish priest at a beautiful historic church in Detroit.

6. Seeing the lakefront venue, the flowers and the table settings.  

7.  Dancing the night away with friends and family.

8. Feeling all the love for the bride and groom and our family.

And, I can’t wait to share it with all of you.

4th of July Weekend

 

I have always loved 4th of July weekend, because it has always been a lovely extension of my birthday at the end of June.  I also love all things patriotic; the flags, the songs, the fireworks and really anything red, white and blue.  I grew up in small town America and that kind of upbringing sticks with you.  A small town 4th of July parade will show you the best of America.

For our 4th, we golfed and then went to fireworks on Venice Beach.  There were a lot of people, but also, so easy to get to with free parking everywhere, unlike many beach towns. It really has a small town feel in our little beach community.  We reminisced a bit about fireworks we have attended over the years.   Being on the beach and watching the fireworks burst over the gulf is special, but we also loved the fireworks at our country club with our girls and their friends running around, Greenfield Village (Dearborn, Michigan) with the Detroit Symphony playing along and even one time watching from the bridge over the Mississippi River, when we lived in Memphis.

This is our 7th year and counting of fireworks on the beach.  We do love Florida life.

Happy Sunday.  Wedding day is 12 days away!

P.S.  Megan sent this photo and can’t wait to see this cutie girl so soon!

Weekend in Chicago

 

We flew to Chicago this past Friday for the wedding of our friend’s daughter and it was an all around lovely and fun weekend.  I had not been to Chicago in several years after regular visits when I lived in Michigan and I had forgotten how much I loved it there.

We stayed at The Warwick Allerton Hotel, right on Michigan Avenue in the heart of the Magnificent Mile and the location was perfect.  The first night’s welcome party was at a beautiful spot, right on the Chicago River and it was so fun to see all the boats passing by from the terrace at RPM Events.  

We found a great spot for breakfast on the wedding day, then walked Michigan Avenue before taking the highly recommended Architectural Tour.  You travel by boat on the river, getting a unique perspective of the buildings, plus all the history.  Don’t let the news reports scare you away from Chicago - it is a beautiful, clean city worth visiting.

The wedding was an elevator ride away from our room in a historical rooftop ballroom and we had a great time dancing the night away.  Luckily we did not have an early flight on Sunday, so I could leisurely walk to Starbucks in the morning and even find a great place for brunch in the Northwestern University Hospital neighborhood.  

I loved this quick weekend trip to Chicago and hope to get back soon.  And, the whole night of the wedding, I was thinking about Melissa’s wedding in a few short weeks.  I am getting excited for sure.

Happy Wednesday!