Nate & Rachel's Wedding

Last weekend Grant and I were in the tourist capital of the Midwest...Indianapolis, IN. The last few times I've been to Indy have been for work, so it was nice to make a stop for fun! Grant arrived in Indy on Wednesday, I came on Friday after my work meeting in South Beach and a night with friends in Chicago. I drove my rental car directly to the rehearsal dinner. When I arrived everyone was still rehearsing. I watched and took a few photos. When they were done we all had dinner together and heard stories about the bride and groom. Grant grew up with Nate and was a groomsman in the wedding. Nate is a wonderful man. I have enjoyed visiting him either in Fort Myers, Indianapolis or Pasadena, CA. Grant and I were able to meet Rachel one evening when we were all in Fort Myers. Rachel is a perfect match for Nate. Grant and I could not be happier for them! After the rehearsal dinner we all headed to Nate's house. It was a fun time! Nate has been renting out the house while he's been living in California, but lately there haven't been any rentors. The house was nearly empty! After a while Grant and I headed to our hotel for the night. Saturday was the BIG day. Grant and I headed to the wedding site (an amazing estate just west of Indianapolis - a house with 12+ garages, an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, indoor basketball court, 2 grand pianos, amazing landscaping and a bird that said "hello" when you walked by!). We helped set up for the big day. I made the centerpieces while Grant helped with other odds and ends. It was HOT! Luckily I planned ahead and brought everything I needed to shower and get ready for the wedding. I found a free shower and got ready after all of the centerpieces were completed. The wedding was beautiful. The ceremony was a tear-jerker. The vows were personal and from the heart. The music was perfect. The Rachel (who was stunning) and Nate were blissfully happy. Grant and I enjoyed every moment of the weekend. It was so nice to spend time with some of Grant's friends from all over the country. The night went by too quickly! The next morning we headed to the airport with Grant's friend Richard and said goodbye to Indy. I've included a few photos, for more photos check out our flickr.com page (www.flickr.com/photos/razaccardi)

My birthday!

On Thursday I left South Beach and headed to the midwest for a wedding and to see my friends and celebrate. Despite my flight being delayed 2.5 hours, my friends waited for me to have dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Carnivale. We went out to celebrate my 27th birthday, but there was much more to celebrate. Marin is now Dr. Marin Arnolds and Renee is soon to be Mrs. Renee! So it turned out to be a great time to celebrate a birthday, graduation and engagement...Jordan was just along for the ride! ;)








Dinner was great! Marin gave me a much needed new makeup bag and some great eye shadow and Jordan gave me a fabulous hair dryer and a cookie cake from my most favorite bakery, Kirschbaum's in Western Springs. After a dinner Marin, Jordan and I headed to the newest hotspot downtown, Roof. It was South Beach recreated in downtown Chicago. Very cool.





















On Friday morning I headed to see my Great Aunt Dorothy who has been battling stage 4 colon cancer since April of last year. I knew that this visit would probably be my last. It was bittersweet. I have been so blessed to have the opportunity to spend quality time with Do on each and every visit I make to Chicago. Since my grandparents on my mom's side passed away when I was young, Do has been like a grandma to me. I grew up with her taking me to church each Sunday, having her at all of my birthday parties, sleeping over at her house, etc. She is an amazing woman. In the past two weeks Do has gotten progressively sicker. Her kidneys and liver have started to shut down and she's gotten very weak. However, her mind is still in tack. I sat down next to her and laid my head on her shoulder while I held her hand. I noticed that her fingernails look as opaque and strong as mine - I must have gotten them from her side of the family. I talked to her about that and some memories of times we've spent together. She pinched me and told me "that's for nothing." I did it back to her and said the same thing, "that's for nothing." She looked at me and smiled and said "you just wait til I do something." I am sure that God is preparing her an amazing place in Heaven and I know she'll fit right in up there!


Friday afternoon I made the trip down to Lizton, Indiana for Nate & Rachel's rehearsal dinner. I met up with Grant there and we celebrated the wonderful love that is evident in Nate & Rachel's relationship. It was a joy to see them so blissfully happy! I'll post more about the wonderful wedding weekend and Grant's experience at Nate's bachelor party that week (which included sky diving!).

South Beach

Last week I was in Miami for work. We stayed at the South Beach Marriott. When I checked into my room a went straight for the balcony. If I leaned out and looked East I could see the water. The ocean in Miami is so much more clear than it is up here in Jacksonville. The only negative was that I had no time to enjoy the beach, pool and all that South Beach has to offer! On Monday afternoon I walked down Ocean Drive with my friend Stephanie. That evening I got in a quick work out and then went to dinner with Rick and Mike from my work. We went to Sushi Samba on Lincoln Road. The food was good and the people watching was even better! After dinner we headed to the Delano hotel, my favorite on the strip. It was as beautiful as ever! Maybe one day I'll be able to stay there!

Tuesday we had a day full of meetings in the conference room at the hotel. Our area director and another manager joined our group. I liked spending some extra time with our director and getting to know the other manager as well. That afternoon we went to a local homeless shelter and helped serve dinner. We got there around 5P and had to wait for about 90 minutes before our services were needed. They gave us very stylish hairnets, plastic disposable aprons and plastic disposable gloves. My job was to fill peoples' glasses with "iced tea." The liquid was called iced tea, but I am still not quite sure what it was...The rule was that each person only got one glass of iced tea and the rest of their refills were supposed to be water. I ended up being a horrible iced tea girl because I just couldn't tell the people no when they asked for refills of iced tea, so I quickly switched my pitcher of tea for water. The shelter was not air conditioned...it was really hot!

After dinner service was done we all carpooled to 8 Oz. for dinner. It was the longest dinner ever! The service was horrible, but the company was nice. I enjoyed talking to my teammates from across the state and to my boss and his boss. We got back to the hotel around 10:30p. I went to my room and called Grant and went to bed. Wednesday was another day filled with meetings. We got out a little early. It looked like it was going to rain, so instead of heading to the beach I headed to the gym. After my workout we all went to dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse. It was definitely meat overload! I think it's a once a year type of restaurant as it was good, but I definitely couldn't go again any time soon. After dinner we all hung out at the hotel bar outside by the pools overlooking the beach. Thursday was our last day in South Beach and the day that included my workshop. I gave the team a workshop on business acumen and tracking. My goal was to do something that the individual teams could bring back and use to better understand their business and drive sales. I hope that I did that for at least one of the 6 teams in our district!

Michelle (my work partner) and I were recognized for having top sales in our district and I was voted MVP by my peers for the meeting! I was so excited! At the end of the meeting Chuck and I dashed out of the hotel as quickly as possible to get to the airport and fly out. We arrrived at the Miami airport at 3:05...my flight was at 3:45...I was nervous I'd miss it! Luckily I made it to my gate in time for boarding. Once on the plane we waited at the gate for about an hour while they fixed some "nonserious mechanical issue." Good thing I skipped all of the security lines and ran through the entire terminal to get to the gate in time. Once the mechanical issue was addressed we taxied out to the runway, where we sat for awhile until the pilot told us that there was bad weather in central Florida, so we were grounded until the weather passed. All in all, the flight left 2.5 hours late. Everyone on the plane was starving.

They announced that there were several food options available for purchase on the flight...$3 bags of chips $4 bags of nuts $10 sanwiches...I would have taken any of it, but by the time they got to my row for drink and food orders they were sold out of every food item! I got a glass of OJ to hold me over until we landed. Next time I'm bringing a snack!

I really liked South Beach, though. It was the first time I'd been to South Beach since college. I definitely want to go back with Grant and maybe Penelope!

Visit from my Partner!

So we all know that Grant is my partner for life. Some of you know I've have a different type of partner ... a floor partner. In college I was an RA in the best residence hall at the University of Florida, Broward Hall (Jennings is a very close second!). Most of the floors in Broward Hall have a girls side and a guys side connected by a lounge. I was an RA in Broward Hall for 4 semesters. The RA on the male side of my floor was, Brett, my floor partner. When I first became an RA I didn't know what to expect. I was excited, but nervous. Brett had already been an RA on that floor for a semester (I started in January after his previous floor partner graduated in December). I let Brett take the lead until I got the hang of it all. Brett and I grew to be great floor partners and great friends. He is one of those guys who will always be there for you, will fly across the country to be at your wedding (even if he only has 24 hours to do it all in), answer his phone at all hours if you need something (just don't ask him to kill a roach!), help you move futons across campus. To sum it all up, he is someone I can count on and he is a great friend who is like family to me.

Just before Grant and my wedding Brett started dating a girl. They were a very new couple at the time of our wedding, so she didn't make the trip to Chicago for the celebration. After that summer she moved to Washington, DC to attend college at Catholic University. Her visits to Florida mostly involved quality time with her family and with Brett, so I had yet to meet her until this month...I know...its really horrible. I only met her because of Brett's persistence (not that I didn't want to meet her, but Brett made it happen). Brett called me on Friday to see what my plans were for the weekend. I called him back and let him know that I was in town, and that it was one of my only free weekends out of the past 8 weeks! So, Brett and Danielle made the drive from Gainesville to Jacksonville that evening after Brett had been at work since 6A!

We met at PF Changs for dinner. I really enjoyed getting to know Danielle, although I felt as if I already knew her, in part because of my conversations with Brett and in part because she reminded me a lot of myself in her motivation, drive and determination. Danielle was so sweet. She is intelligent, beautiful, caring, driven, talented, well-spoken, motivated...I could go on. She is a great catch and a wonderful compliment to Brett. Brett is one of the most loyal, thoughtful, considerate and caring men I've met. Dinner was wonderful! Brett and Dani stayed the night in our guest suite. I LOVE having visitors and Dani and Brett were no exception. Penelope loves it too!

On Sunday we all went to the beach where I learned that Brett is an amazing Bocci Ball player...in part because unbeknownst to me he was a shot putter in high school. If I had know that I would have picked a different beach activity! We had a great time at the beach and then hit up the Sandwich Man for lunch. After lunch we showered and headed to the Clubhouse at TPC Sawgrass.

I was so glad that Brett and Dani visited! I hope this was the first of many visits! They are a wonderful couple and great friends!

Baby Salch!

Last week was crazy, so I have a few posts that will catch you up!

Starting at the beginning with the birth of Baby Conner William Salch! Conner was born on June 11. Here are the photos from our visit to meet Conner and congratulate the proud parents, Andrea & Jeff.

The weekend and week ahead

Happy Saturday everyone! Last week was a crazy one! I was super busy with work Monday and Tuesday, then on Thursday my Grandma passed away and I spent the evening welcoming baby Conner into the world. Now it is finally the weekend!

Grant and I are dog-sitting this weekend for my family while they are driving up to Chicago for the funeral. Penelope enjoys having Lucy sleep over! They are so cute together. Penelope is playing all weekend while Grant is putting gutters up on our house and I am cleaning, working, and packing for my work meeting in Miami and trip to the Midwest to see some amazing friends, fabulous family and celebrate Nate and Rachel's wedding. All the while my thoughts and prayers will remain with my family and all who knew and loved my Grandma.

I'll post some photos of the gutters and the grass that Grant planted last weekend! :)

Here and Gone

Some things in life renew your faith in God. This morning I got a text from my friend Andrea that her water broke and she and Jeff were on their way to the hospital to give birth to their first baby! About 30 minutes later my last grandparent passed away in Chicago. As one life enters this world, one leaves. The circle of life begins for one and ends for another.

My Grandma lived a great life. She died at 90 years old after having a heart attack. For the past few years she'd been living in an assisted living facility. I remember going to her house every year on Christmas Day. I remember the big dark wood chairs with red velvet seats that she had in her dining room. I remember the fireplace mantle covered in family photos and the kitchen drawer always stocked with red licorice. I remember her crisp blue eyes and her always present smile. I remember how she always called me her Number One Grandchild (I was the first of her 12 grandchildren). I remember how she fell for my husband. Grant and I stayed with her for a few days during one of our many trips to Chicago. My Grandma showed Grant the big, old, wooden swinging door between her kitchen and the dining room. She showed him how it wasn't swinging anymore. Grant took it upon himself to take the door off it's hinges and fix it in the basement, then put it back into place. My Grandma was so happy to have it working that she called my Aunt Margie to come over just to show it to her.

My Grandma is in a better place now. Hopefully reuniting with her husband and many other friends and looking down at us smiling. We all knew that she was getting sick, but when you hear the words that she has passed away it leaves a hole in your heart and it hurts, even though you've tried to ready yourself for that very feeling, that very moment. I can only imagine how it must feel to lose someone when you aren't ready, when you aren't expecting it to happen, when they haven't lived 90 years. I hope that I never have to experience that feeling.

After I spent some time with my Dad this morning to make sure he was 'ok.' I went to work. I went to one Mental Health Center and then headed to Baptist Hospital. While I was walking around the hospital I noticed people in a prayer room, probably praying for sick loved ones. On my way to the Labor & Delivery floor I saw new moms and dads joyously walking out of the hospital with healthy newborn babies. I arrived to the Labor & Delivery floor after checking out the Psych Unit for work. I saw that the door was locked. I heard a nurse buzz in saying that she was there for Andrea! I stopped her for a second before she went in. I asked if Conner had been born yet. He hadn't. I told her to tell Andrea that I stopped by and was praying for a quick delivery and a healthy baby. I went down the elevator to head back to my car when I ran into Andrea's husband Jeff. He was on his way back to Andrea after grabbing a quick bite to eat. He looked excited/nervous all at the same time. We talked about how Andrea was doing. He said that the baby might come in about an hour. I left as he went back up to Andrea's room.

Later in the afternoon while I was with one of our mutual friends we got a picture text from Andrea. She had a perfect, beautiful baby boy! We're going to make a visit tonight to formally welcome Conner to the group!

A lot happened on 6/11/09. God definitely didn't take a vacation day today!

Exhausted

I feel like I've been going nonstop for the past week or so. Work's been crazy! I had a dinner program last night, then a breakfast, lunch and dinner today!! On top of that I have a meeting that I need to prepare for in Miami on Monday, then I'm going to Nate & Rachel's wedding in Indianapolis on the 20th. It will be really nice to have a long weekend come the 4th of July!

Erin's Wedding, MOH duties

6/5/09 6:30PM Erin Townsend married Billy Perry

Erin had a beautiful wedding. She looked radiant. Her and Billy both glowed with love for one another. We all had an amazing time celebrating with the fabulous couple! I was the matron of honor for Erin. Matron...wow that sounds old! In fact, it's been just over three years since Grant and I got married. This was the fifth wedding I've been in. It all started when I was a flower girl in my Aunt Linda and Uncle Dave's wedding. I was able to return the favor by having their youngest daughter as the flower girl in my wedding! It was definitely special for me to have her stand up for me after I stood up for her parents. :) I was the bride in my own wedding and then a bridesmaid for my friend Mandy and for my friend Marin. After being in all of these weddings I've realized what it's all about...making the day and all that leads up to it as perfect as possible for the Bride. For Erin, that meant helping in any way possible leading up to the big day. Her family threw her a shower in Lake City. I went and helped her by taking notes while she opened her gifts including what each gift was and who gave it. It was fun seeing her open her gifts and meeting some of her family members that I hadn't met yet. The bridesmaids and I organized a great bachelorette party and surprise lingerie shower. We had about 12 girls total. The bachelorette party was really fun to plan and we all had a great time celebrating Erin's last night as a single woman! The day was planned with Erin in mind. Something fun and stressfree just as Erin would want it! People could come and go as they please as we had several events planned including laying out at the beach, happy hour and gifts at our suite on the beach, dinner at Bonefish (a restaurant selected by the Bride) and a night out on the town including a fun Bar Golf game that everyone could participate in. At the Bride's request we met up with the Groom and his bachelor party at the last bar of the night. Carol found a great veil for Erin and I brought a garter and Bachelorette sash that lit up! However after a few minutes with the lights blinking the battery died! I think everyone had a blast! After the Bachelorette Party it seemed like the weeks leading up to the wedding passed like days. I tried to make sure Erin was doing well and was there for any last minute details. These included picking up some sparklers for the reception and working with Nekita to get Erin a Gator garter for the garter toss. All the while the bridesmaids and I had been working on a photobook for the bride. I wanted to add some of Erin's favorite photos of the couple, so I emailed her and asked her for high resolution photos of her and Billy. I told her that I'd print them off and use them to decorate the rehearsal dinner tables. Little did she know that I really wanted them for the album! Each bridesmaid sent in photos and a personal note to the Bride. I included photos of the couple, the shower and bachelorette party. Erin's wedding theme was starfish. It worked out really well because snapfish.com had a starfish background that I was able to use for some of the pages.

It was the day of the rehearsal. I got to the hotel and met up with the bridesmaids, Erin's family and the bride. I made sure to remember the bouquet that I made for Erin with all of the bows from the gifts from the showers. We all drove to the wedding site and practiced inside since it was raining outside. After practicing a few times we proceeded to dinner at Billy's parents' neighborhood's clubhouse. I brought the photos and put them up around the room for a nice personal touch. We ate, Erin and Billy said a few words and gave gifts to the bridal party and we gave Erin and Billy the photo book. It was a fun night.

After dinner we all went back to the hotel to spend the night before the wedding with the Bride. It was nice spending some quality time with all of the girls the night before the big day! I brought a few things for Erin including some hair clips, a bracelet and two pennies...one from Erin's birth year and one from Billys. The thought was that Erin needed something old (the pennies), new (the dress, shoes), borrowed (bracelet/hair clips), blue (the Gator garter that Nekita brought from Gainesville). Erin also had a ring from her grandmother that was both old and blue, so she was all set!

The day of the wedding we got up and had breakfast at the hotel. We relaxed for a bit before heading to the salon for hair/nails/makeup. I made sure to call earlier in the week and order some lunch for all of the girls, Erin's mom and the photographer. Panera was perfect! When it was delivered I checked with the Bride to see what her sandwich/cookie preference was and made her a plate and set it aside to make sure she'd have her lunch. The salon owner had a variety of beverages and was nice enough to make a special diet coke run for us! We all got our services done and looked amazing. Erin's make up included Loyalty lipstick, which seemed like a perfect match of cosmetics and marriage!

The night before the wedding Billy gave me Erin's wedding day gift and Erin gave me his ring. At every move I made sure I had those two items! While at the salon Erin opened her gift from Billy. it was a beautiful natural white and tahitian pearl necklace and bracelet. Billy wrote a card that brought tears to Erin's eyes as she read it. Later she told me how he selected the jewelry and the special meaning of the pearls and the colors and natural beauty of the set, matching the natural beauty of Erin and of their relationship. So cute! Billy did a great job!

We left for the wedding site. On the way the bridesmaids and I made a diet coke stop for Erin, knowing that she loves fountain diet coke! I was told when she first asked me to be her MOH that one of my main duties would be to have diet coke on hand for her at all times. I think she told me this as a joke, but I wanted to make sure she had some in case she needed it!

At the wedding site we quickly started steaming all of the dresses with my steamer. We even steamed Erin's dress. We all got dressed and got Erin dressed. She looked amazing in her dress!! Erin and I took a quick minute to check out the reception room. It was beautiful. The bride then got her bridal portraits done outside on the beach. The weather was perfect! Not too hot, not too cold, not raining, but not too sunny. I think the photos are going to turn out amazing.

When it got close to Billy's arrival we retreated back into our room. Billy got to the wedding location and the photographer went to get a few photos of Billy opening the gift from Erin. Although I was not there, the photographer told me that it was a very touching moment - I cannot wait to see the pics! Billy then went outside.

Erin and Billy were going to take some photos of the two of them before the ceremony. I went outside and said hi to the Groom and asked him to look out to the beach as we got Erin to come down and see him. Erin walked out from the building towards Billy. It was so cute. He turned around as she approached him and their eyes met. What a moment!! They spent a few minutes talking, crying, hugging and enjoying each others company before going to the beach to take some photos.

Once they were done it was time to round up the bridal party and family for some formal photos. We were running about 15 minutes behind schedule, so it was important to get everyone ready to take the photos. The group photos were all taken and we went back inside while the guests arrived.

While we were at the salon the hair stylist showed me how to put Erin's veil in her hair...now it was the time to do it! Luckily the final touch went in easily.

We got some photos of just the girls while we were waiting for the clock to strike 6:30P.

It seemed to come so quickly! Before we knew it we were lining up to go down the aisle. The ceremony was perfect. The vows were personal and beautiful. Erin and Billy we so happy!

After the ceremony I spent a few minutes bustling the dress. It was an intricate bustle that we had practiced during a couple fittings. It was beautiful. We took some wedding party photos on the beach and then proceeded to the reception.

They announced each bridesmaid/groomsman pair. Then it was time for me and the Best Man. The DJ announced "and now for the first time in public..." and everyone was like, "no wait there is still two more members of the bridal party!" He realized that and announced me and David and then announced for the first time in public Mr. and Mrs. Billy Perry.

They danced their first dance as we all watched. They did a great job! As they danced I began to get nervous. I knew I had to give a toast, but wasn't sure when.

We all got our dinner and ate. Then the dancing began. We had a great time dancing. =) I asked the DJ to tell me when he was planning on doing the garter toss because Erin's garter wasn't on her yet since her dress didn't have a full skirt we wanted to wait to put it on. He said that he thought they didn't want a garter toss (it was a last minute addition). I got with Erin and she told the DJ that they had decided to do the garter toss after all. He said that they'd do it after the toasts and cutting the cake.

Next up were the toasts. David went first. He made a nice toast to Erin and Billy. Then it was my turn. I was a little nervous, and glad that I had brought note cards. I made a little joke to break the ice saying that the Best Man stole my toast, but I luckily brought a back up. I gave my toast. I think it went well. =) It was personal and hopefully special for Erin. I got some laughs from around the room and from the couple.

After the toasts Erin and Billy cut their cake.

After the cutting of the cake, me and the bridesmaids rounded up the sparklers and lighters for Erin and Billy's departure.

Erin and Billy had the reception room to themselves for their last dance. It was really a special moment. The DJ had put on their song and left the room along with the rest of the guests as Erin and Billy danced. We got all the sparklers passed out and lit them. It was kind of difficult with our lighters and with the wind, but we made it happen. I hope the photos turned out well despite the smoke!

Erin and Billy went down the stairs into his truck. I said my last goodbye to the couple as they drove off! The bridesmaids and I along with Erin's family stayed behind to help clean up and gather all of our stuff. It was a successful wedding and a really fun night. Now I am entirely jealous that Erin and Billy are on their honeymoon in the Keys while I am here...blogging and getting ready for another work week!

In summary, everyone had a great time, but most of all Erin had a great time through all of it from the showers to the bachelorette party to the rehearsal dinner and the wedding day. She's like a sister to me and I am looking forward to seeing the professional photos from the BIG day and catching up with her upon her return from the Keys!