Front Row Here I Come!

I can't believe that I forgot to blog about this on Saturday when it happened. It might have something to do with the fact that I was functioning with less than 5 hours of sleep..anyway...

The pre-sale for the February 12th John Mayer concert started Saturday morning at 10:00am. We were out late the night before so I set 2 alarms, and made Matt set 2 alarms to ensure that I would be up by 9:45am for the pre-sale. I got up with the alarm(s) and got my ticketmaster account all prepped and ready to go. Pre-sale code in hand, credit card within reach and my finger on the trigger (well, mouse button). I hit refresh continuously from 9:59 on since all clocks are not created equal.

Clock hits 10:00am and I refresh...nothing....refresh again....nothing....refresh a third time...TA DA!! Ok, frantically select the quantity of tickets, price point (most expensive of course, I'm looking for front row please), and enter my pre-sale code. "SUBMIT" ... tick tock tick tock as the system looks for tickets for me. And then it happened...

ROW 1

I got butterflies. Like I had won the lottery. Of course, since I got a side section row 1 and not the center section row 1 I had to open a new window and try again to see if the center section came up. I did, it didn't...and since the timer was winding down on my window to confirm the ticket selection I clicked "confirm" and those bad boys were mine...all mine!

I've seen John Mayer from the front row before. And it is by far the best way to see him. Literally, within feet of one of the most amazing guitar players of all time. And most definitely my favorite guitar player of present. February is just a few short months away and when it gets here...I will be one of "those girls" singing along and looking starry-eyed up at him as if we've got history together. I can't wait.

Here is what John looks like from the front row...definitely worth the price of admission if you ask me :-)

It's beginning to look a little bit like Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful, food/family/fun filled, and relaxing Thanksgiving holiday. We sure did! Well, we're working on the relaxing part today but it's been a great weekend overall.

So, the Mr. and I finally got around to putting up some of our Christmas decorations today. We had planned to do it on Friday, which turned into Saturday...which turned into Sunday. Better late than never right?! We had a busier weekend than expected but, we finally got to it today. I just love this time of year; the music, the crowds (yep, the crowds), the pretty lights, and the whole holiday spirit! It always puts me in a good mood.

Today we put up our tree! It's a small one but we don't have a ton of room now that we have "real" furniture in the living room. We also put up stockings (including one for Snick), a few knick knacks, and we put lights up on top of the cupboards in the kitchen for a little 'ambiance'. We still want to put lights up in the picture window, and I need to get my fabric wreath out of storage to hang on the door. So, we're not done yet, but we're getting there. It's definitely starting to look like Christmas around here!

(our little helper elf)

Congratulations to the new Mr. & Mrs!

Last night I attended my first "knottie" wedding. Taryn (of Mr. Jones & Me) and Brian tied the knot yesterday at the Bavarian Inn Lodge in Frankenmuth. They couldn't have asked for a more perfect November day for their wedding. The sun was shining, the bride was stunning, the groom was handsome, and the food.....well it was Frankenmuth...the food was AMAZING! Taryn DIY'd a lot of items for her wedding (programs, table numbers, and the most kick ass favors that I have ever seen! Check out her blog for pics). Thank you Taryn and Brian for inviting me to your special day. I had a wonderful time and I'm so glad that I got to share it with you. I wish Matt would have been able to meet you both last night as well but...that just gives us reason to get together another time, right?! ;)

Florist Meeting Update

Time of arrival at The Parsonage: 5:30pm
Time of departure from The Parsonage: 8:22pm

Yes, that’s just shy of 3 hours! I spent 3 hours talking about flowers…who’d have guessed that was even possible?! Let me just say that my meeting with Liz last night was one of the most enjoyable vendor meetings that I have had so far in the planning process. I still have decisions to make and some shopping around to do but it’s going to be hard to find someone that is as client friendly and creative as she is. And she came in under my budget!! Even with the bouquet of my dreams from yesterday’s post. I’m super excited about flowers now, thanks Liz!

First Florist Appointment!

I’m meeting Liz from The Parsonage tonight to discuss flowers for the wedding. I’m excited, but nervous. I’m nervous because I know that I have champagne taste on a beer budget. My (current) favorite bouquet inspiration is this:

(photo courtesy of theknot.com)

See those? Those are orange calla lilies, and green cymbidium orchids…and those are expensive. I know that going in but I have no idea just how expensive they’re going to be. Making my expensive taste in flowers worse is the fact that even though I don’t plan on doing floral centerpieces or other decorations, I will have 1 bridal bouquet, 5 bridesmaid bouquets, 2 (something’s) for flower girls, 10 (yes 10) boutonnieres, and 3 corsages. Um, yeah…

So, we’ll see what kind of sticker shock I encounter when I meet with Liz this afternoon. Everyone that has worked with her loves her and says that she is really great about working with your budget and suggesting alternatives when necessary. I might just put her to the test tonight when I show her what I want, and what I want to spend.

Who's that girl? Part 1 (because this could get long)

So, it might help to give you a little background on who I am. My name is Kim. Good enough??

Ok fine…you want more…. I can tell. Well, I currently live with my fiancé’, Matt, and (my involuntarily adopted) cat (whom I love to pieces), Snick.

Matt is an engineer (in every sense of the word, lol, love you honey) and we are getting married on October 1, 2010. I am super excited about the wedding and having a ton of fun planning and finding ideas. My newest addiction is The Knot. The girls on the Detroit board are amazing and I love them (even the ones I haven’t gotten to meet IRL). They keep me busy during the day and always give me something to laugh about.

I am a retired figure skater (I say retired because in my opinion, when you do anything for 14 years and then stop, you earn the title of “retiree”). I really miss it, and I miss the body that came with it too. Damn! Anyway, thanks to Facebook I’ve gotten back in touch with a lot of my old skating friends so it’s nice to see where people’s life paths take them after the makeup and skates are removed.

My family rocks. My parents are divorced but I am close with both of them. Probably closer than when they were married. Although that probably has more to do with the fact that I’m now a grown up, and mature, and can relate to my parents as people as opposed to the mean Mom & Dad that gave me a curfew and didn’t buy me a car for my 16th birthday. I am the youngest of 3 kids, and the only girl (insert evil grin here). Needless to say, even though I didn’t get that car at 16, I was spoiled rotten. I have 2 older brothers, 2 great sister-in-law’s (is that proper grammar?), 4 nephews and 1 niece. Love em all!

More to come…

Rookie Post

Alright, here it is…blog post #1. I've decided to give this blog thing a try. I figured with all of the thoughts, ideas, rants, raves, and pure random useless information that I have swirling around in this head of mine that maybe it would be fun to share some of it with others…maybe, maybe not, but hey it’s worth a shot right?

So, here at “**Live & Unfiltered**” (thanks to my friend Lynn for the title idea-she doesn’t know I’m using it but it’s one of her favorite phrases) you’ll get to read about well, anything and everything. Wedding planning, daily happenings, my unsolicited opinion on a variety of topics, photos, recipes, etc. I’ll try not to get out of hand…but follow at your own risk :)

Enjoy!!