100 Days and Counting!

And oh yeah.. 100 days until we're Mr. and Mrs. Daniel McNamara. One Hundred!

Wedding Map

so i just sat here for over 2 hours making this map...
http://www.weddingmapper.com/baileys_harbor/wi/visit/0q537j
yeah.. it isnt a whole lot- but you wouldnt believe how much time it takes to look up addresses and fix things i put in the wrong place and all that junk. i'll be adding more stuff to it- but i was getting sick of it.. so i am done for tonight. but yeah.. there it is. and updated our wedding website too.. you guys are slacking on the guest book messages- here.. go to http://www.kamrathtomcnamara.ourweddingday.com/ and leave a guestbook message. or on here. or something. i need to know if we're doing anything wrong with planning and everything! we've been watching a lot of wedding shows on tv.. i get some good ideas. and dan is glad i am not like the wives to be on "Bridezillas" haha. =) but i think we're doing pretty good with all the planning. invites are all addressed, we just have to get everything ready that we need to send out in them before we can send them, ya know? we have everyone we need except a DJ- but i dont find that it will be too hard to get that settled and done with. we basically need to pick out flowers and choose the cake style we want, then get decide on buying decorations and favors and all those little things.. well- as i think about it.. over a million little things.. but after that- we're ready to party! =)

Invitations

Not looking forward to addressing all these invites! but i did buy a cool pen to write on them with.. and dan and i went to Michaels Craft Store yesterday and found some corner punch out things that we can use to make out invitations look nicer. now that i look back in all the invitation catalogs i have.. do not go to Ace printing that i mentioned in one of my last notes.. they are way over priced. we could have gotten some really fancy ones for about half what we payed.. we could have even bought matching thank you notes and place cards for the reception tables and it still wouldnt have been what we payed. i thought there was that saying that went "you get what you pay for" and i payed a lot more.. and i am not happy with the way they look. they are ugly.. and nothing like dan and i thought they would turn out to be. so now we have to go and buy all these extra crafty things to make them better. but oh well- what better way to have invitations that express "us" than to create them ourselves? ha. what a pain. so now my saying is.. if you want something done right, you should just do it yourself.. now we're talking. which is much like most of the chores around the house go.. haha.. but i think dan does a bad job at them all so that he wont have to do them again. smart.
our car is currently being repaired at Pinkey's. we get it back either tomorrow, or if they run late- monday, as they arent open on the weekends. i hope we get it tomorrow. i need to get to the craft store again soon. sooner the better- then we get out these invitations, and i dont have to worry again!
we're starting to look at DJ's.. mostly out of Green Bay. we found a few that seemed decent.. just waiting to get call backs from most. one guy called us back about 5 minutes after i checked availability for our wedding date on his website. i didnt answer or call back, just because i wanna see what price ranges i can get. he seemed pretty decent though. when he was leaving me a message, he even knocked down the price quote his website gave me. more on all that later!

Back from Door Co.

we went up to door county the past couple days to check out other hotels near Maxwelton for the wedding. (we found out that they only have 22 rooms.. and they are basically all booked already with my family and the wedding party.) there are only a couple right in Baileys Harbor.. one only looked like it had 6 rooms... so we'll throw in a couple in Fish Creek.. and possibly Egg Harbor. so yeah.. and we went and talked to Joe at maxwelton braes.. and their computers were down so i couldnt ask about rooms or see what was booked.. or what we needed to book and all that. ugh. i'll call sometime this week. but we got the best outta going up to door county- it's all about food!! our dinner on sunday, and my favorite meal in the world, was two 10 oz. rare prime steaks with steak butter and pasta from the Summertime (where we worked last summer).. lunch on Monday was a pizza at Diggers Grill.. which has new ownership this year- Brit and Sarah. brit worked in milwaukee for RC Schmidt and i worked with him at Turner Hall. he's a hell of a nice guy. and his wife will be doing our cake for the wedding! she makes incredible cakes. you can go to Diggers and order any of her homemade desserts.. awesome. i really wanted some red velvet cake, as i have never had it before, but we filled up on our Rustico pizza. it was far too fantastic to not finish. their burgers there looked amazing as well.. but when we smelled that woodfire cooking those pizzas- we couldnt resist ordering one. after that we went out on the cold Lake Michigan with Nick and his girlfriend.. cruised around for a bit. then later for dinner - of course.. you guessed it... we went to the C&C for taco night. i didnt eat any.. but i sat and watched dan make a mess of the table =) hung out with the amigos.. had some beers. we had fun. we meant to wake up early and get some Sausage, Biscuits and Gravy from the Summertime, but we slept late.. so instead went to Bayside for some Smilen Bob's chili. another of Dan's favorites. i always order fries.. i never eat them. anywhere i go- Wendy's, Cottonwood, Culvers, The Dogg Haus, Skyline, Bella's Fat Cat, Tracks... i order french fries. i dont eat them. ever. i dont get it? and as i am deciding on what to order, i know i wont eat them, but i go ahead with em anyways. it's a mystery.
on our way up to Cheesewood, we stopped in Appleton so Dan could meet baby Brooklynn.. he held her and burped her, and was grossed out by diaper changing. and we forgot to take more pictures of her. bummer. there's always next time though!

Buhlud

I think this is one of the funniest videos ever!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9yAkBSrMk0

i laugh so hard! and i love to laugh. laughing's my favorite.

you know what i love?

the Golden Girls! =)

Dress.. Check - Finally!

my mother dear went and ordered my dress yesterday! YAY!!! =) from the get go looking in magazines and online.. i had my heart set on THE one. i went to The Brides in Appleton, and tried it on, and was sure i wanted it. i liked the girl that helped me out.. but my mom and sisters thought she was too fake and pushy- overly nice for the sale. so we went to another store the the next day so i could be sure i wanted the dress.. i tried the dress on again with 5 others. loved the first one and another one which my mom picked out and fell in love with. but my mom and sister agreed that the one i liked was very "me" ... i thought so too.. but i really loved the dress that my mom picked out. it made me feel fancy. since i didnt choose that dress- i suppose i can show you a picture of it!
anyways- Linda at The Bridal Event in Appleton ( http://www.thebridalevent.net/ ) is getting my sale. she was so friendly- and offered ideas for us to save money on the dress and what other brides have done and so on and so forth. so i thought about which dress i liked most for a few days. i looked at them online a bunch.. but stumbled across another one i wanted to try on.. so a couple days ago- i set up an appointment at a shop here in milwaukee near miller park. i couldnt find anyone to go with me.. so i went by myself. dan drove me though =) haha. well- i hated that dress. or maybe the woman at the dress shop just really freaked me out. so- dont go dress shoping at The Bridal Sweet located at 9000 Greenfield Ave. in West Allis. it was the least accomodating shop i've been to. it only has one woman working at a time.. they dont have strapless bras for you to use.. (not like i would have changed into one there anyways.. i was so uncomfortable around her that i left my shirt on! that didnt seem to be weird to her. i guess many girls dont take off their shirts when she works. but she did find it stupid of me to leave my jeans on.. i am like- hello.. it is a dress.. it is poofy. i've left pants on at every other store i've gone to...) she also didnt help me into the dress.. didnt clip the back tighter so it appeared to fit.. didnt answer any questions or make small talk.. then when i told her i was done- after like 30 seconds of being in the dress.. (i wanted the hell outta there!)- she just kinda looked at me like i was some kind of diesase. i had to get out of the dress on my own as well. the only thing she did for me was give me a hand held mirror. yeah. thanks? so.. i immediately called my mom and had her order dress number one. =) i'm happy. plus, i think dan will like it =)

in other news.. we got a call back from the invitation shop. they're ready for us to pick up =) that ended up being really fast. we ordered them on my birthday.. and it is exactly two weeks since then. great job Ace Printing!! ( http://weddingcentre-wi.com/ace_printing.htm )

Bridesmaids dresses- check! Flowergirl dress- check!

i've crossed everyone elses dresses off the list.. still on mine. i tried on one gown yesterday- loved it.. only thing is- i am having second thoughts about it. i dont know if it is because the size they had in it was a 16.. (i'm a 6) and it was just way too heavy.. i know what it looked like.. the lady at the shop clipped it on pretty fit, and i loved it! but i just dont know if it is too much material and all that. i cant give away too many details.. i'll spoil it for my fiance... i think i am gonna go back today and try a couple more out.. otherwise i might go somewhere in milwaukee and see if they have my size to try on. i gotta figure it out fast though so that i can get in a rush order for it. oh yay =) and geez.. i had no idea veils and shoes were so expensive too! well- thats enough about that for now. you'll see the final outcome Sept. 6th.. =) here's the bridesmaids dresses...

i am extremely tired. my sisters and i all slept on the floor in my sister marcies living room. jorie hogged all the covers.. shea kept pulling them her way- i was in the middle with no burrito.. just a flat mesa top of blanket. then- i had the wiener dog Ozzy crawling around my feet and not moving when i nudged him, so i couldnt ever stretch. i didnt fall asleep until after 2:30. then at 5 i heard a thud- and woke to see summer looking all confused. i think she woke up from the thunderstorm and tried to sleep on the couch where my mom was.. but rolled off. she then announced to everyone she wanted to sleep by kate.. (yeah thats right shea... favorite aunt, =) haha) then took over my whole space, kicked her feet out straight but diagonal into my back and slapped her hand to my face. haha.. it was cute- but i am so tired! i never fell back asleep. even after i crawled into her bite sized bunk bed. . i guess there is always tonight to get back on my sleep schedule of 10+ hours a night.. plus- i'll have dan's snoring to lullaby me to sleep..
and baby brooklynn is adorable.. just so you know =) and oh.. the other adorable and very smart little girl in the picture on the left is summer.. she'll be our flower girl =)