My Grandma-Love!

Another person at the wedding that I got to help pick out her wedding look was my grandma, or grandma-love, as I call her.  She is one of my BFFs, so she needs to look fabulous. (Which is easy for her!)

Just a wee girl at my Aunt's wedding.

personal photo

This is definitely my favorite picture of us. I know it looks like we are all happy to be smooshed together, but apparently I was a holy terror in my younger years, and her and I never really got along.  

I know.. me? A terror?  No way!  At least we came to our senses about 10 years ago, and I quit being such a little jerk, and now, like I said, she is my best friend!

I wasn't sure where to start looking for her. I know I wanted her to be comfortable. So nothing too restricting, or that would make her get hot easily.  I liked dresses like these:

image via belk.com

last two images via davidsbridal.com

My mom, who has been my main person to throw ideas to, thought they were all too "young" for her. I think maybe it was because of the length of a lot of them. I told my grandma about it and she said "It can be short, I have nice legs!"  Makes me giggle thinking about it. She's funny.

I was really struggling with where to find her something that wasn't super expensive, that was in her size, that wasn't going to make her uncomfortable and that wasn't too young looking. I started stopping at every store I passed, just to see if they had fancier dresses. I checked ebay and even made a post in the weddingbee classifieds to see if I could find something for her.

At one point I found a pant suit that was in our colors, but my mom nixed that too because it was too casual for the wedding. I tried to find it on the Belk website, but they don't even have it anymore. I DID see it at the next store I went to, for a lot cheaper than Belk was selling it too! That store was Burlington.

This is actually where I found the dress we bought for my grandma. They had a lot of their spring dresses out, and I knew I wanted her to wear purple, (her favorite color!), so I figured this was the best time to go and find her something.  Here is what I found. Sorry they are bad cell phone pictures.

this is actually a light purple in person.

This is silver.

This is silver.

I sent these to my mom and we talked about Which one grandma would like, and be comfortable in. We all agreed that the first one would be the best choice! Lance even called it while we were still in the store!

It is a light material, matches our colors, and its not too short. Perfect!  I bought it that day. Now it's sitting in my closet waiting to go home with me in June. I'm very excited to see how she likes it!

Another family member taken care of as far as wedding attire goes, only a few more to go!

Did you help pick out dresses for the ladies in your family too? Was it difficult, or were you lucky and found what you were looking for right away?

Pure Michigan Honeymoon - Part Two

On to the best part of our honeymoon plans - the details!! I will lay it out in a day by day basis. Lot's of pictures in this post. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the scenery!

Day One - Mackinaw Island

via http://www.bbyc.com/mackinac-island/ 

I rode my bike around the whole island once!

Once we get into Mackinaw City (a 3 hour drive from my home town) you board a ferry boat to get on to the island. There are no cars allowed on the island. Just horses and bikes.

via sheplersferry.com

Once on the island, we will check into our hotel, and have the remainder of the afternoon to explore the island, hopefully on horseback!

Day Two- St. Ignace, Paradise & Newberry

First we are going to stop in St. Ignace to climb this- Castle Rock.  It won't take that long. No- you don't climb the face of the rock, there are stairs with a very pretty view from the top!

via http://hunts-upguide.com/st__ignace_castle_rock.html

Then it is onto Paradise, where we will spend the afternoon at Tahquamenon Falls.

both pictures via http://www.gowaterfalling.com/waterfalls/tahquamenon.shtml

Once evening comes, we will head back to the car and drive the short distance to Newberry. Which was the closest place I could find a hotel for us to stay the night and get some dinner.

Day Three - Munising (and surrounding area), and Marquette

There is a waterfall, in a state park, that has no city name. It is outside of Munising. We are going here to see the Laughing Whitefish Falls.

image via lakesuperiorphoto.com

After that, we will head into Munising for a pictured rocks cruise, along the Pictured Rocks National Lake shore. The following four pictures are from munising.org.

Bridal Veil Falls (how appropriate!)

Chapel Rock and Indian Head

Miners Castle

After the cruise is over, we are going to drive the 45 minutes to Marquette, check into our hotel and have some dinner.

Day Four - Marquette

Yes, I dedicated a whole day just to being in Marquette. I couldn't help myself.   We will be covering a lot of ground in Marquette. Literally.

First we will go to Presque Isle. Which is a park north of Marquette on Lake Superior.  I THINK you can get to Little Presque Isle from here, by walking when the tide is low through the water. I doubt we will do that part though- Lake Superior is cold even in summer!

via flicker- via a yahoo search

From there we are off to Sugar Loaf Mountain

one of the trails up. Image via flickr - via yahoo search

You can see Superior Dome from the top!

Image via flickr.com

After that I'd like to try and find Morgan Falls and Alder Falls. Which, if I understand correctly, aren't the easiest to come by.  No signs really, and the locals don't help much either. (So I've heard!)  Sounds like a good way to get lost... or a good way to have some adventure!!   (both pictures via flickr- via yahoo)

Morgan Falls

Alder Falls

Depending on what time it is when we get back, I would also like to go to Presque Isle Park. Not to be confused with Presque Isle! This is actually a place that is right in Marquette. About 3 minutes from the main part of town.

via http://www.city-data.com/picfilesv/picv5474.php

After all of that, we will need to have a nice relaxing dinner and go to bed! Another long day is up next!

Day Five - Ishpeming, Eagle River and Copper Harbor

Not too far outside of Marquette is Ishpeming. Once there we will visit the Black River Falls

image via flicker- via yahoo

Somewhere after Ishpeming, but before you pass through Houghton, there are the Canyon River Falls. Another place that has no city, but it awesome to visit.  You can walk forever following the river back into the woods. I think the longest time I have ever spent just walking along the river is an hour and a half or so. You DO end up going off the regular path (tisk tisk I know!) but its so beautiful.

both photos via gowaterfalling.com

After that we will get back on the road and head to Eagle River to the Eagle River Falls.

image via gowaterfalling.com

After that we will go up to Copper Harbor, which is the furthest north you can get in Michigan. We are going to go up the Brockway Mountain Drive. Where we will have views like this:

image via mlive.com

I also found a little hotel (back down the mountain) that overlooks the water and we will be staying there for the night.

Day Six - Houghton, Greenland, Bruce Crossing, Iron Mountain

After we leave Copper Harbor we are heading for Greenland. We will stop quick in Houghton to grab some breakfast on the way.   Once we get to Greenland we are going to go on a copper mine tour.

image via adventureminetours.com

Then we will go to Bruce Crossing, to see O Kun de Kun Falls and Agate Falls! (via gowaterfalling.com)

O Kun de Kun Falls

Agate Falls

Once back into town, we will grab some dinner and drive to Iron Mountain, where we are really only going to stay the night. Nothing else really planned here.

Day Seven - Escanaba, Manistique, and another no city pretty location

Escanaba is just a stop along the way to have some breakfast. Once we get to Manistique we will go to the Kitch iti kipi springs. It's basically a glass bottom boat. You pull yourself across the water by rope.

both images via flickr- via yahoo

Then we basically drive back towards St. Ignace following the lower half of the UP. We will stop at the cut river bridge, because it is beautiful-

Take the stairs down to this beautiful spot!

via flickr - via yahoo search

Once we get to St. Ignace and get back over the Mackinaw Bridge, we are going to stay overnight in Mackinaw City. They have a lot of cute shops and places to walk around- Like Alice's. It's a long running tradition that started with my grandma.  I can't go through Mackinaw City without stopping at Alice's!

person photo

Day Eight - Grayling and Back Home

Technically day eight isn't much of anything. We will leave Mackinaw City, making a stop in Grayling to have breakfast.  Why wait until then for breakfast you may ask? Another tradition with my grandma. Her family owns the Grayling restaurant. (Her picture is on the wall!) I love their breakfast, and we always make sure to stop there. So even though she's not going with us. Lance and I have to stop.

via graylingrestaurant.com

After that we are going home. Or well, we are going back to my moms house. We are celebrating Little Buddha's first birthday this day too!  Which is very exciting as well, that I will actually be home for it!

Well, thats our trip! Did you make it through all 8 days with me?!  I'm kind of tired just writing it out! A lot of the pictures you will have to imagine pretty fall colors in them instead of green. It's pretty either way though!

What do you think? Did I do good planning?  To my Michigan Bees- did I miss anything important?

Pure Michigan Honeymoon- Part One

As much as I don't want to admit it, after being out of Michigan for so long, I kind of miss the seasons. (Maybe not winter so much!)  I do try and get home twice a year, once in the summer and then for Christmas. There is one channel down here that ALWAYS plays the "pure michigan" commercials. It gives me goosebumps and sometimes I have tears in my eyes.

Damn you Tim Allen for making me miss home!!

video via YouTube

You're probably wondering: "what does this have to do with your honeymoon Kari?" Well, the one season I love, I always miss. Fall! So when we decided to have our wedding in end of September, one of the things that came to mind was to have a honeymoon somewhere in the Upper Peninsula (UP). So I can take pictures like this!

above three pictures from michigan.org

Look at all those colors!  I see these pictures and can practically smell the breeze. I can hear the leaves rustling. I'm getting goosebumps right now just writing it out!

I personally love Marquette. It's the only other place, besides where I grew up, that feels like home the minute I can see the dome across the lake.  The thing is though, there really isn't enough to do for a whole week in Marquette alone. I got an idea... but I wasn't sure if Lance would go for it when I told him about it.

I said "Lets do a fall colors driving tour of the UP."  You know what? He agreed!

Key of when the colors arrive!

via michigan.org

Once I get an idea in my mind, I run with it. I plan it out until I can't plan anymore. I make spreadsheets and itineraries and have weird color coding systems that nobody understands but me.  Ask Lance, he'll tell you. It's very common for him to say to me "did you make a spreadsheet for it?" 

proof of my spreadsheet, and example of me color coding something.

Lance gave me a budget of $2000.  I'm sure thats quite small compared to some honeymoon expenses, but we are paying for the wedding ourselves. That includes the rehearsal, travel expenses from Louisiana, honeymoon and our rings. So we didn't have much to put towards the honeymoon.  Regardless, I'm a planner, so with enough digging through websites and such, I have planned us a honeymoon chuck full of fun and adventure!

I have everything planned out by the day, I know how long it takes to get from one city to the next, which is why you see the "arrival time" column.  I know how much gas it will cost for the whole trip based on the car we are going to rent. I have looked at hotel prices in each city.  Everything is in the spreadsheet.  I also like to round up, or add on to the cost just to make sure we are covered.

I know not all of this is set in stone because gas prices change, hotel rates change, traffic changes.. you name it. Something will not go as planned, and that is OKAY! We are still going to have fun!

Here is what our trip looks like.

screen shot of our trip, via mapquest.com

Look at all the pretty purple dots! Oh yeah! Those are all of our stops. Including the the circle I had to add in Microsoft Paint. Thats right over Mackinaw Island. Apparently, you can't mapquest islands.

In order to figure out how much gas would cost, I used the website http://www.gasbuddy.com/.

Then you click on ther "Trip Cost Calculator" option, right there at the top. When you do, you get this page:

Just enter in your cars information and where you are going, and click "fuel my trip." In my personal experience with using gas buddy to check how much fuel will cost for a trip its has been very accurate.

Remember though, gas prices change often so the number you can can go up or down slightly.  Case in point - the last time I checked it said round trip from Slidell, LA to Saginaw, MI was around $275. When I looked this time it said $281. 

Is it different? Yes. Will it break the bank adding $6? No.

Next up- 16 cities in 8 days!  I will tell you the nitty gritty details of where we are going, and what we are looking forward to seeing!

How did you plan your honeymoon?  Did you stay in state, or did you travel pretty far? How did you budget everything out?

Dressing my Little Buddha

I knew from the start that I didn't want the traditional all white/ivory flower girl dress.  I wanted some color!

I started searching online first using the search phrase: "pink flower girl dresses".  Obviously that pulled up about a million results, so I just started clicking through the links to see if anything caught my eye.  My absolute favorite dress I found is this one:

from mygirldress.com

Unfortunately this dress is not available anymore. The site I found it on though, http://www.mygirldress.com/, is such an awesome site.  Inexpensive, very pretty dresses, in so many different colors! It was quite the find. 

Here are some more of my favorites from their website:

My sister is so laid back about what little buddha was wearing to the wedding, she didn't mind as long as it fit. Which could be a problem in itself, because we all know babies are growers, and little buddha is no exception. 

stolen from my mommas facebook.

I commented "um, I think its time for some bigger pants!"

I kept sending Kristine pictures of dresses, and she told me which she liked better than others. I went to JC Penny and Sears to look at their dresses around Easter, so all of the light pink dresses were out. As I was looking at these dresses in person, and seeing the material and how they felt I came to the conclusion that I don't really want little buddha in a puffy, tuuley (word?!) dress. 

She will be a week shy of a year old at the wedding. Kristine is carrying her down the aisle. Chances are she is going to be wiggley and doing whatever she pleases, and I want her (and Kristine!) to be comfortable that day.  I decided that I would go with something a little more casual.

Lance and I were walking through Burlington (Coat Factory) one day, and I remembered that they have a baby department. So we took a walk over- they have TONS of dresses by the way! I found one I liked, and texted a picture of it to Kristine.  She liked it too!  It had pink, it wont get all bunchy while she is being carried down the aisle, AND (!) it has bling!!  Win!

All of the above pictures taken by me

Did I mention there is no ichy material underneath? When I first saw the dress is was only $22. When I went back to purchase it, it was on sale for $14! I saw some ruffle butt tights that we so beyond cute that would match really good too.  I didn't buy them, but they are stored away in my mind for when the time comes. 

Little buddha is running, in sizes, about 3(ish) months over how old she really is. We figured, if she will be about a year at the wedding, a size 18 month should work out okay. If it doesn't fit when we get to about a month out, I will just find her something different.

Yay! 

Where did you find your flowergirl dress from? Are you going original white/ivory, or are you going with some color?