For many months my brother meticulously planned his proposal to his girlfriend. They live in Las Vegas and he knew from the get-go that he wanted to take her on a helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon, pop the question and then, when they came back to the house, there would be a surprise party waiting for them. There were a lot of moving parts to this equation most of which involved coordinating the surprise party guests’ arrival from out of town. Needless to say, it all went off without a hitch! I’m thrilled that the cat is finally out of the bag because 1. we can celebrate!, 2. I don’t have to keep this plan a secret anymore (I was so worried someone would slip up at our wedding just 2 weeks ago!) and 3. we have another wedding in the family!! Felicitazioni, Dave and Keath!

I’m now officially a Mrs.!! Wow, what a whirlwind, amazing wedding weekend! I’m still digesting it all! Since it isn’t quite time for us to take off on our honeymoon, we’re taking a “minimoon” — a.k.a. few days to relax and catch our breath! This is our view (pictured above) from El Encanto — nestled in the hills of Santa Barbara. Not only is the view stunning but the food is spectacular and the spa is magnificent too! Couple all of that with a glass of wine and my new husband by my side… è perfetto!

We are officially in the final countdown! We leave for our wedding exactly one week from today (eek!). You may have noticed, my blogging schedule has been a bit spotty as of late. The days are flying by and it feels like for every two things I cross off my “to do” list, three more appear! As I shift my focus to wedding related projects (like the little sneak peek pictured above!) please rest assured that there will be plenty of posts in the future to fill you in on everything that has been keeping me busy… all in due time.

My niece created the CD art (above). I think we might have a budding graphic designer on our hands! 

At my bridal shower in Philadelphia, my sister-in-laws contacted the guests before the party and found out their wedding first dance songs then compiled a CD to give out as favors. While Jason and I have already selected our first song (hint: it’s not in the list below!), it was so fun to see the variety of songs and even more fun to see who picked them! We’ve been listening to the CD while doing wedding-related things like selecting songs for our band to play (which we are doing right now!).

Here’s the song list from this compilation:
“No Other Love” —Perry Como
“Harbor Lights” —The Platters
“Dance Only With Me” —Blossom Dearie
“The Twelfth of Never” —Johnny Mathis
“Sunrise, Sunset” —Perry Como
“First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” —Roberta Flack
“It Had to Be You” —Frank Sinatra
“Our Love is Here to Stay” —Ella Fitzgerald
“L-O-V-E” —Natalie Cole
“Fly Me to the Moon” —Frank Sinatra
“You’re All I need to Get By” —Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
“That’s How Strong My Love Is” —Otis Redding
“I’ll Make Love to You” —Boys II Men
“You’re the Best Thing” —Style Council
“Loving Cup” —The Rolling Stones

This isn’t just any ol’ scavenger hunt — it’s a Bachelorette Party Scavenger Hunt! It all started with my dear friend Jenn’s bachelorette weekend Miami. In the midst of planning, the other bridesmaid and I were brainstorming ideas and thought it might be fun to have a game that we played throughout the weekend. We weren’t interested in the stereotypical bachelorette games. We wanted to think outside the box. When I mentioned that I participated in a scavenger hunt in Los Angeles and thought it could be fun with a “bachelorette” twist, we immediately started brainstorming! Once our list was complete, I designed a 2-sided card (pictured above) including our ideas and some empty lines that could be filled in as we were inspired over the course of the weekend. We handed these out as we toasted Jenn and, well, the rest is history! At the end of the weekend, the score was tallied and one lucky winner went home with a prize — a tank top with a line from a song by these guys!

This weekend I’m off to my own bachelorette party in New Orleans — JazzFest, Po-boys and beignets, here we come! Laissez les bon temps rouler!