2009 in Retrospect

I saw on Kathy's Blog that she posted her memories of 2009 month by month. And also on Jamie's Blog, she posted her top 10. My memory is horrible! In fact, I can't even remember what we did for my birthday this past year - more than likely, I spent it at Rookies! So, while I would like to go month by month, I'll just post some of the things that I do remember from last year.

January - My birth month...and grandmas 95th birthday. Wait...now I remember what I did on my birthday. We had a huge party at Yacovelli's for me and grandma! How could I forget that? It was a good time. All my favorite family members were there and quite a few of my friends. In this month I also finished the Twilight saga. I really enjoyed reading these books and it made me realize how much I had missed reading. It got me back in the swing of things. Since them I've read the vampire diaries series and now I'm starting the House of Night Series. Val gave me the book to borrow and told me they were good. I still need to get up on the Sookie Stackhouse books...or maybe switch to some books that don't involve vampires. January was also the very first time I scrapbooked. I didn't think I would like it at first, but turns out, I do! Thanks Rachel!

February - as I remember it was a pretty uneventful month, with the exception of Tony going back to work after being laid off since November. At the beginning of the month, we had Kevin & Laura in town, Tony's navy buddy, and we went to a blues game with them, proceeded to Sundeckers after till close, then to Lumiere Casino, then took a cab to white castle. If no one has ever experiences Whities in the City on Broadway at 3 AM, they definitely should! Superbowl, Tony and I spent at home together. We made snacks and pizza and watched the game in our PJs from the couch. We skipped Mardi Gras this year. I'm sick of freezing my tail off outside on a wet street just to get drunk. I think we actually went to Rookies that night...imagine that...

March - this is always an eventful month for us. St. Patty's Day aka Val's Birthday Celebration! This year my sis-in-law and I went down Friday night to Maggie's for Val's birthday. After getting into a fight with the manager, we left and went to Sybergs where Val and I proceeded to sing karaoke. Did you know I could rap? I didn't either, but apparently I'm not that bad...remember...we were down in the city. The next day, we followed normal tradition and went down for the parade then proceeded back to Maggie's parking lot to dance on our coolers. Its like a freakin' reunion down there every year. Such a good time.

April - started the year of never ending weddings, first with Tony's friend Tim, and then with Jimmy and Michelle Hellyer. It was also when Tony was laid off again from Accord Electric. Aside from that April was pretty uneventful to my recollection.

May - had some great memories! This is the month that Tony and I got engaged. May 18th to be exact. And of course, that's one of the only things I remembered from that month. We also had Courtney and Zac's wedding reception at the beginning of the month!

June - Joey and Emily Schoenlau's wedding - we had a good time! It was beautiful. The rest of the next couple of months were filled with wedding planning! We also lost an icon - once of my favorites growing up. Michael Jackson...RIP

July - Garrett and Al's 1 year anniversary! More wedding planning

August - We celebrated Tony's 30th birthday and also my new brother in law Jason's birthday...and Heathers engagement to Jeremy! I also went to Nickelback that month! It was great!

September - Mike and Shanarah William's Wedding. Again, another great time! Other than that, pretty uneventful month other than wedding plans. Another of my favorites gone! Patrick Swayze - RIP...nobody puts baby in the corner! I love that movie!!!

October - Pricilla and Mark Liese's wedding. Blast! Danced all night, then proceeded back to Rookies afterwards. Also Halloween - we had a block party this year complete with a bonfire and trick-or-treaters. It was a good time. Grandma and Aunt Joan came over to hand out candy. Grandma had a good time as usual seeing all the kids dressed up. I'm glad she came again this year.

November - The month I waited all year for. My wedding day! We had such a good time. I wouldn't have changed any thing at all! Everyone was great! And our Honeymoon to Punta Cana. Could have been better, but it will be definitely unforgettable!

December - the usual, with Holidays and New Years Eve. This year we spent New Year's at Blue Sky in Winghaven. It was a good night. IT you happened to be in the car with us on the ride home, you would definitely know how good of a night it was. LOL

Well I don't think I did too bad! Maybe I'll start blogging more now that I have a little more time on my hands. We'll see...no promises of course!

Letting it all Out

I know it has been ages since I've blogged about anything. I've had too much going on with my wedding, the holidays, and now the death of my favorite person in the world, my Grandma. I thought I would use this to vent some of my frustrations, feelings, and pain that I've been feeling in the last week.

Bertha Lillian Geiger-Bunch-Bosqui January 22, 1914 - January 6, 2010

I was extremely close to my grandma. She was an extraordinary lady; she had a huge heart, and while she didn't always spoil with monetary items, she spoiled me with love...lots of it. She was there for almost every important event on my life's journey into adulthood. She never missed a play, a band recital, a birthday, Christmas, graduation, and of course, what means the most to me right now, she was there to see me walk down the aisle on my wedding day. (And she partied with us till the very end of the night, she was one of the last to leave)

I have so many memories with grandma, there are too many to just pick a single one. They were all wonderful.

Grandma had a stroke on Sunday, January 3 in the morning. She was awake and talking afterwards, but paralyzed on the left side of her body. They kept her overnight and through Monday. She seemed to be doing much better, until Monday evening, she possibly had another stroke. Tony, Garrett, and I were there Monday night. I sat at her bedside and told her how much I loved her, I cried, and I thought of all those memories. Then she went to sleep. She never woke back up. Hospice moved her home on Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday night, we went and said our goodbyes. I know she could hear us, but just couldn't respond. She took her final breath on Wednesday morning around 11:30.

The days to follow were filled with funeral preparations, lots of family gatherings, and a lot of tears...mostly mine, I think.

I buried my grandmother yesterday. We had a beautiful visitation in the afternoon. Grandma wore her favorite purple dress. She looked so peaceful, and it almost looked as though she was smiling. Mom did her hair for the viewing and did such a great job. She looked just like she did when she was alive. In the casket I put hush puppy with her (its a very long story...long story short, grandma gave me this when I was a little girl and it was something very special between her and I). Around his neck I tied her favorite flower - a single gardenia. We buried her with a picture of Aunt Joan, and picture of her and Garrett and I from our weddings. They placed those in her hands.

Grandma had 5 children, 10 grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.

I can't explain why I feel so much pain. My heart aches like it never has before. I believe that you can prepare for the expected, but you can never prepare yourself enough to endure the loss of someone so close.

Since I was little till now, Grandma has always sat in her rocking chair with her eyes closed as if she were sleeping, rocking and humming tunes from I'm assuming around the 40's era. Sometimes she would just start belting them out. This would have to be my most significant memories of grandma...something that didn't change from year to year, something that stayed constant until the last few weeks. I'm sure grandma is rocking in her chair right now, humming or maybe even singing, with no pain or suffering. That's the way I want to remember her, she was always happy when she was singing.

Bosqui, Bertha L. entered into rest on Wednesday, January 6, 2010. Born Jan. 22, 1914 to Mathias and Ada Geiger. Beloved mother of Donald (Joyce) Bunch, Elaine (Ron) Hensley, Joan Bunch, Frank (Susie) Bosqui and Cheryl (late Cliff) Woomer; cherished grandmother of Don Jr., Mary, Susan, Daniel, Teri, Julie, Tamra, Deandra, Garrett and Clifford; dear great-grandmother of Thomas, Kristen, Angela, Nicole, Ashley, Staci, Diana, Allison, Benjamin and Adam. She was preceded in death by her first husband Frank Bunch, second husband Daniel Bosqui and granddaughter Diana. Our dear aunt, great-aunt, and friend of many. Services: Visitation will be held Tue., Jan. 12 from 1:00 p.m. until the time of service at 3:00 p.m. at FOREVER BELLERIVE Funeral Chapel (740 N. Mason Rd. Creve Coeur, MO 63141). Interment Forever Bellerive Mausoleum. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the American Diabetes Association (10820 Sunset Office Dr., Suite 220, St. Louis, MO 63127).

Wedding Updates

So Friday will be the official 3 month mark till the wedding. Although I have most everything completed except for some "craft" items and things I cannot do till the week or two before, I still don't like waiting till the last minute. I feel relaxed still and not to stressed.

Friday, I went with Allison, my sister-in-law to pick up her bridesmaid dress (which I love the dresses by the way!). While she was trying on her dress the lady at the shop noted that it looks like I lost quite a bit of weight since I was fitted for my dress. I disagreed. She wanted me to try on the display dress again to compare that size, which was a 14, to the size that we ordered - an 18. At the time I ordered my dress, my measurements were in-between an 18 and 20, so we opted to order the smaller size. (Side note - there is no way I would ever wear an 18...I had to order it that big to fit the ta-tas in. However - I couldn't even begin to zip the size 14 display). So, I went ahead and tried on the 14 again and much to my surprise, it zipped all the way up...until it reached the girls. I couldn't believe it! In 3 months I had dropped 2 dress sizes! My secret? Nothing secret at all really, I don't exercise, I don't diet...all I did was stop drinking soda and cut some the sweets out that I typically eat in a day. It was all pretty simple really.

Passing Time

So, its been quite a while since I wrote anything on my blog. Usually its because I'm either busy, or feel I have nothing beneficial to write about. Today I'm using this to pass some time until I get off work. I know not too many people read my blog postings, but for those that do, I'll try to keep from boring you as much as possible.

It is currently 134 days from my wedding. Most everything is done. Just some small stuff left to do. Nothing really to stress about - except for one little aspect - which I really do not care to discuss publicly. All in all, I'm very happy about the way that everything is coming together and Tony couldn't be happier that he doesn't have bridezilla on his hands. I guess the fact that I'm going for very simple - which means that I'm pretty simple to please when it comes to the small details. Our biggest task left is deciding on where to go for our honeymoon. We had originally wanted to go to Jamaica, but then dad offered to let us use his timeshare and the resort in Jamaica was not available during our time frame. But I have found some pretty good deals in Cozumel, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas - if we leave the Saturday after our wedding...which I'm ok with, but Tony wants to go right away. To save $1,000, I really don't understand what the issue is. Guess I'm just frugal with my money.

Speaking of wedding....I've attempted in the last few weeks/months to drop a few lbs. I have a gym membership that I use maybe once a week on Saturday. That is not cutting it. Tony and I have a been bike riding, weather permitting about 5.5 miles per day and that doesn't seem to be helping - I've dropped a little, but not enough. I've been reading a lot of posts about this 30 day shred and have decided to give it a try. I ordered the DVD to try through my blockbuster subscription and it should be here Monday. As much as I am looking forward to this, I'm really not. I hate excising. I don't like to sweat and I don't like feeling like I'm going to vomit after I'm done. I'd try running, but that is just so ineffective for me. I come home with two black eyes and chest pain....and I'm not talking pains in my chest from my heart or lungs. My extremities bounce to much for me to run.

In another effort to ditch some of my weight, I've quit drinking soda as much as possible. I wish quitting smoking was as easy for me as that was.

Win 4 Free Pairs of Crocs!

Ok, so I know that CROCs are not the most stylish shoes to wear, but when you are on the go and looking for comfy shoes, these take the cake. I LOVE my CROCS, I own several pair...some fuzzy ones for winter, some for float trips, some for around the yard, some for just bummin around. But now they have flip-flops, mary janes, heels, and my favorites - Ballet slippers.



So, go to Frugal Mommy of 2 Girls blog and enter to win 4 pairs of crocs for yourself...or if your feeling generous, you can share them with your family.

Bridesmaid Dresses

These are the dresses that the girls will be wearing. 3 will wear the first dress (which is in the right colors) then the other 3 will wear the second (which will be in the same colors as picture #1).

Wedding Day: November 21, 2009

As I'm sure most who follow my blog know, Tony and I got engaged last Monday. Since then, we have been EXTREMELY busy planning this shindig which will take place this November 21, 2009. Yes, we know that is soon, but this way I'm only stressed for less than 5 months...not an entire year. I work much better under pressure anyway. We have already managed to secure the reception hall, order my dress, book the photographer, book the DJ, and put down payments on a couple of churches to hold the date until we decide on one. I'll try to post some pics of things as they come along. So, far here are the vendors we are using...

Reception: Yacovelli's
Photographer: Kris Bueltmann Photography
DJ: Goodtimes Entertainment / Tim Bussen
Dress Designer: Casablanca

Anyone know from past experience, etc. where you can get a good deal on invitations? More to come!