Wedding :: Bridal Shower Rochester

Last Saturday I was so lucky to have my first bridal shower hosted by my cousin and my Mom at the amazingly beautiful Meadow Brook Hall & Gardens in Rochester, Michigan.

Naturally teal was the color - it is my favorite!

We received so many amazing gifts from everyone and are super thankful. I'm already in love with our new Calphalon pans, white dishes and even the grippy oven mits.

Sunroom at Meadow Brook Hall & Gardens

My amazing bridesmaids: Megan [MOH] , Bridget, Me & Jenna

Joe's Mom, Me & My Mom

Aren't they so sweet! 

The day was so fun - but it flew by insanely fast. It was a huge reminder to me to really, really enjoy everything that we have left until the wedding - our second shower, bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner and our wedding!

It will go too fast!

Wedding Update:: Papers

It's a chilly, yet sunny morning here in Northern Michigan and thankfully it is off on a productive start! I've been working early this morning to get actual work done before I head off to a fun day of 3 wedding meetings & lunch with a friend in Harbor Springs.

Joe and I were lucky enough to get the large aspects of our wedding booked fairly early AND painlessly for the most part - only leaving the ever so important details. I do have to admit that I was a bit naive to the efforts I would be putting into the details. Silly me mentally compared planning our wedding to my old corporate event planning process and; they. are. not. the. same!

One large detail currently in process are our formal invitations.

I'm so excited about these, you better believe I will be getting them framed! We are so lucky to be working with such a talented designer [& friend] - Erin of Erin Waineo Design and Simple&Me Custom Invitations.

Erin did a great job with our save the dates by keeping the future invitations in mind with the design elements. She selected fonts that could remain consistent on the invitations, used colors that could be "dressed up" and  honored my request for having an almost "logo" that could be utilized across a variety of printing.

As I developed ideas for the formal invitations, these are the elements I hoped to include::

grey & white colors

letterpress printing

enclosure ribbon

cards for extra events [rehearsal dinner, girls yoga, etc.]

Can't wait to share the final product!!

inspiration images via Pinterest

Wedding Update :: Dresses:Tasting:Music:Supplies

A wedding update is so unbelievably overdue!! 

We are down to 163 days until September 14th!! And, we are both so crazy excited!!

Joe and I have been working through so much planning and so many decisions - fairly smoothly, that it has been absent from my mind to blog about the details. But, for future memory - here are the details::

Dresses :: Two huge updates in regards to dresses! My dress, ordered in August, finally came in and is too big! Not clear how that occurred as I'm fairly sure I have lost nothing.. secretly thinking that the stylist ordered a size up to be safe.. either way, great news. Can't wait for alterations and to wear it on our big day! The second being that after such a fun weekend visiting the girls in Chicago, they've selected a dress too! 

Bridget & Jenna at House of Bride's Chicago

Music :: We decided to forgo the standard DJ and were lucky enough to book an extremely talented local band! This seems to be one of the things Joe is most excited about for the wedding. He's such an avid music lover and we are both so excited to have a more lively, classy tone for the evening. We found the band on an unexpected night out in Traverse City before we were even engaged!

meeting with the leader of the band

Tasting :: We spent my birthday afternoon tasting appetizers and entrees for the big day. The food - from Mission Table, is amazing!! The appetizers were such tasty, small bites, I'm really hoping I get to taste a few that day! The food was a large deciding factor for Joe and I in our choice of location. We wanted to feature well prepared, local eats that aren't run-of-the-mill-banquet-food. And, we got our wish!!

Supplies :: My Mom and I were able to spend an evening shopping together while I was downstate recently for work. And, after visiting Ikea, Home Goods & Hobby Lobby we are fairly set in terms of decor supplies. Early on in our planning I elected to try to keep things as clean, fresh & consistent as I could aesthetically. If you know me personally, you are aware of my absolute love of all things white. I'm also a big believer in letting the beauty of the interior and exterior space of a location speak for itself. The addition of details, flowers & candles is all our space requires and I can't stand having to wait to see how all the planning & hard work comes together!!

**apologies for the crazy formatting & text issues.. Blogger would not give me a break on this post! 

Loving :: Fresh Spring

bright lululemon for spring via Pinterest

fresh tulips via Pinterest

Bright sun!

Longer days!

I can feel spring coming soon - real spring that is.. not snowy & 40's. These brighter, longer days have me craving the freshness of a real spring. I can't wait for brighter nail colors, flowers peeking out from the dirt, open windows, a good cleaning at home and the promise of an amazing summer on its way!

fresh flowers via Pinterest

peeking color on cool spring days via Pinterest

Showing Up

Life lately has been - hectic, to say the least. As defined by Merriam-Webster:

hectic :: characterized by activity, excitement, or confusion

This hectic makes it easy to get caught up in emails, travel schedules, reports, clients, wedding planning, grad school, packing and, future plans. My life lately is often hectic enough with showing up to these roles that it can provide the chance to not show up in my more important roles as fiance, daughter, granddaughter or friend.

And, while my tendency is to want to be perfect at all of these things - I can't. But.. I sure can show up!

I can show up during my work time by doing my best.

I can show up during every moment I'm lucky enough to spend with Joe.

I'm lucky enough to get the choice to show up to everything I do & it doesn't have to be perfect.

This gold foil print from Emily Ley's amazing shop went on sale today and I had to snag it. This is so important to remember everyday - showing up with grace, doesn't require perfection!
And, I for one - need the reminder.

Loving :: Mirrored Frames

We were fortunate enough to work with my extremely talented friend Stephanie from Stephanie N. Baker Photography for our engagement pictures. Absolutely LOVE them & Joe does too!

Stephanie made us feel so comfortable during the pictures. We both usually try not to be on the receiving end of the camera if we can help it - but, I was so glad to know that he's not dreading pictures at our wedding! So happy. If you are in Northern Michigan, I very highly suggest working with Stephanie!

photo credit :: Stephanie N. Baker Photography

photo credit :: Stephanie N. Baker Photography

Now that our save the dates are out [more on those in a future post], it's time to select our favorite engagement photos for print.. and with that came a heightened obsession for me of mirrored photo frames! I've been admiring West Elm's collections online and recently saw the beauties in the North Avenue store in Chicago. They're amazing. 

photo via West Elm

photo via West Elm

These mirrored frames will be the perfect upgrade from our current [and lovely] white IKEA photo frames. Can't wait to see the engagement prints and new frames all put together!

BluePrint Cleanse

BluePrint Cleanse.. do it. That's really all this blog post needs to say, but - I will elaborate!

So what is it? BluePrint Cleanse is a NYC based juice cleanse, here are founders Zoe & Erica's words:

"Blueprint Cleanse is the very first line of juice cleanses to offer varying levels of intensity depending on one’s dietary habits and history. It’s a user-friendly system of cleansing set up to be practical for all nutritional lifestyles, from the most austere of raw food acolytes to the burger-and-red-wine crowd looking to periodically offset the damages of their indulgence."

I found BPC on Tumblr blogs I followed at the end of 2009 in my early blogging days. It peaked my interest and I started cruising the website to see how I could get started too. Unfortunately for me in 2009, they did not seem to be shipping outside of the NYC area. I would check back periodically, but was always halted due to the cost commitment.

I was never good at sticking to things like this!

So, I didn't see committing to the cost foreseeing my own failure. That in itself, is an entirely different issue! After getting engaged, I checked back curious about the bridal program. But, it wasn't until a crazy work/travel schedule in February, "bad" food, lack of activity and feeling like my body was a mess did I go for it. My rationalization, was that BPC now shipped to middle-of-nowhere areas [for a fee] & now offered one day - as opposed to the traditional three. Those two very specific factors were enough to make me hit the purchase button online!

via my instagram @kristinkitson

Before my BPC arrived at our door via FedEx, I had explained to Joe what I was doing, how I might be out of it for the day and to please be encouraging. Naturally he was always is - lucky me!! My selected cleanse was called "renovation" the beginner stage - 6 juices.

via BluePrint Cleanse

The day was challenging, but I felt amazing! The instructions tell you how to space out when you drink each numbered juice. All are unique, except for 1 & 3 which were both green juice. I'd say my favorite we're; 2, 4 & 6. And, I would most certainly do it again.. I am interested in trying three days potentially before our wedding. I feel like BPC offered a fantastic, healthy way to hit my personal "reset" button!