Bring on the canned ravioli, we're coming to Santa Cruz for one last hurrah before we throw vows at each other!

Hi,
Dear wedding party members and friends of the greater bay area. We are coming to Santa Cruz!
I am flying into the bay area for work on Tuesday the 9th of june and staying up there until Thursday June 11th. I will need to sleep on someones floor in Santa Cruz on that Thursday night and then I will be working at my old Santa Cruz store on Friday the 12th. Michael will fly in on Friday afternoon and we will be all yours fri night, sat & sun. We fly home on Monday from San Jose around noon. So lets make plans to: fight, drink, eat, eat, lay down, fight, and once again, show Michael the underbelly our my home town! Please let me know of any ideas you guys have for activities. I definitely want to take him to Loch Lomond one day for fishing and a sun burn and also get him drunk as an H-peep at the beach one day. Lyd and Sarah may be planning some version of a bridal shower which will probably involve costumes and sword tricks. We should also go to the flea market and shop for more wedding accoutrement. I CANT WAIT!!!
IT IS ON!
-Melissa cent

Whats new pussy cat....

1. We had a pork chop with Scooter & Leann and Michael showed them everything in our house.

2. I am working on ANOTHER wedding site for the out of town guests because I think this one will be tough to navigate. This one is our little wedding party exclusive for me to cuss and stuff. The other one is more "aunt/uncle oriented". It will just say like where to stay and where to eat pizza and where to go if you want to eat hot dogs. I will post it when we get it set up.

3. We are going to Santa Cruz in June!! There is rumor of a costume party which I am excited about.

4. Our wedding shower in Appleton is this weekend and I have no Idea what to wear. Michael and I talk about what were going to wear a lot. It is like we think we are models.

5. I am having a really hard time deciding on what to do with the centerpieces for the reception, it is kind of driving me out of my mind. Let me know if you have any ideas. I am somewhat leaning towards baby's breath and carnations.

Other than all that, things are still remarkably calm on the mid-western front. I will talk to you all soon,
Love
Melis

Ding Ding Ding, Alert!

Believe it or not, we have a wedding coming up! about 120 days until were all raising our glasses to glorious matrimony!
Things are going great for us, really busy as usual. Lydia and Mike bought their flights out for the wedding so we know for sure at least 2 people will be attending. Michael and i are looking forward to our wedding shower which Erin & Shannon and Mommy Hurley are planning for us at the end of may. Also, were excited about having din-din with Scooter and Leann this next weekend. This is starting to sound like a Christmas family report letter. Anyways, We are really getting pumped up for the wedding and hope you are all starting to plan your trip out. Rememeber to call the Hotel I blocked off and resererve yourselves some rooms. Also, I have bee mentioning to people that flights are really cheap on southwest right now if you are flying in. Hope you are all doing great, I will post something exciting soon!
Melissa

I need feedback!

Hey peeps,
I have a few questions:
1. Did you get our email about the hotel stuff?
2. Whatduyouthink? will you be booking a room, do you need me to pair you up with other rowdy wedding party folks? do you have questions? whats the word?
3. Michael and I will be staying at the Days Inn on Fri and Sat so we can be chummy with you all.

Hope you are all doing really good. Michael and I are damn good. Little old April is turning out to be a busy month. Besides the wedding planning going on we have friends from Germany wisitting our willage next week, I am going to cali for 3 days, Ma and Pa Hurley are coming to visit on easter...(any other Hurleys want to come with? we may go to Club Lucky) and of course we are working like mayan slaves.
Anyways, miss you all, talk to you soon!
MP

Ryan Hurley...come on down!!!

Ryan is now a contributor. Get ready. He is in college so get ready for some fancy scholar stuff...

Bridesmaids Unite!

Hello all,

I've highjacked the blog again, this time to make space for bridesmaid-related chatter. As you should know, Melissa sent out an email a few days ago with details about the ridiculously cute dress we get to buy. (I think we should have reunions every year and all wear the dresses, martini stains and all.) If you haven't checked it out yet, be sure to do so. I can say from experience that the picture doesn't come close to capturing its beauty. 

Jim Hjelm

Style # 5753

Color: Black

http://www.jlmcouture.com/Jim-Hjelm/Bridesmaid/Additional/Style-5753

In addition, we need to get gold shoes. I was pretty excited and couldn't wait. I found some really sweet dancin' shoes at shoesteal.com for $39.99. This is a little pricey but I'm planning on wearing them everyday. Take a look:

http://www.shoesteal.com/Shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?p=EC1072001&pg=5054729

Post here as you find yours!

xoxo,

Lydia

After several days of recovery, We are ready to report on the party.....

Every night since the engagement party, either Michael or I have looked at the other one and said: That was a really great party (I usually say "awesome" instead of great, but whatever)! We feel like we hit the jackpot of engagement parties. There were several components to the magic that made the night so spectacular but the most important was definitely the "cast and crew". The costumes were off the hook outrageous and the fact that people bought us food, booze, and gifts reinstated our faith in how classy our friends are. Not to mention the fact that 3 of them flew over 2000 miles for us, 4 drove all the way from Wisconsin and a bunch more stormed the border up from Indiana. It was especially heartwarming to see how almost immediately my best friends had their arms around Michael's best friends necks and were almost claiming ownership over his people, similarly Michael's best friends and family lovingly embraced the Cali crew and I overheard many Wisco-Cali heart-to-hearts happening. What can we say, it was a bit of a love fest.

Michael and I are a little solitary down here in Chicago, and being away from friends and family is rough. As you all have seen, Michael and I are excessively in love so we make due on one another's company but we both miss our friends and family a lot everyday. This party was the best illustration of the fact that nothing changes, friends remain ridiculously loyal no matter how far time or travel takes you from them. Jello shots helped too.

The glory of the engagement party also indicated something that Derick mentioned in a recent post: The wedding weekend is going to be better than any TV show you have ever seen. The wedding itself, the bachelor/ette activities on the Friday and everything in between should most likely be the best weekend any of us have had in a long time. I cant wait to be reunited with you all for more mayhem and glory.

Thanks again to all of you who made it to be with us, and for those of you who missed it, we missed you a lot but have to make you eat 8 jello shots and do an extra hard Karaoke song at the bachelor/ette party in September!! That way you can catch up on the "I don't remember doing that?" factor that you may have missed out on at the engagement party.

P.s. Giant pink panties for 4.99, what a rip off!!!

Love
Melissa & Michael