It was so great that Halloween fell on a Friday this year...it made the weekend feel extra long!

After handing out treats to the kids at the door, we got ready and met up with our friends at Lux.
Yes, once you do your double take, that IS a hand coming out of Bob's face! GREAT costume Bob! Everyone loved it and tons of people were pointing and getting their picture taken with him...he was really happy.
:)





Our friend Mike was George Jetson; his all time favorite cartoon...and his wife Tracy was a bunny..very cute.





Our other friends Karel, was a fly fisherman...detailed down to the fishing map in his pocket, and his wife Erin a sexy witch!













Our friend Jim went as his scary self, ;)
and I went as a Geisha again...I know...I'll change that up next year.



Hooray for Halloween!
:)

The next night, we were invited to a party at a fellow photographers house, Heather McKay Photography

Thanks Heather ~ great time!


I didn't feel like dressing up as the Geisha again, and wanted to be simple...so I preteneded to be a bachelorette again ... yay for Boas!



We met up with Erin and Karel before that party for sushi!



They had us try the soft shell crab which was amazing! mmm japanese.
:)
Happy Halloween everyone!

As most of you already know, Bob and I were incredibly lucky to be able to honeymoon in Cozumel, Mexico just a few weeks ago! My mom and Peter gave us a week of their timeshare to go anywhere we wanted to go and we chose here:
Cozumel Palace resort

We left the Sunday morning after our Wedding at 5am to catch a plane leaving at 7:30am We were in Mexico by 3pm and at the hotel shortly after dinner due to some mishaps...not worth mentioning.

We had the most amazing time throughout the week enjoying the all inclusive, the view, the excursions, the warmth, lots of swimming, and just being together without having to do anything at all...no more to do lists, or worrying about this or that...just relaxation, friendship and love.

We were completely pampered by our hotel in so many ways, and we will never forget it.

*****[To see most of the pictures, click on the 'Photos' link up in the top right corner of this page. There's a slide show. ] *****

To sum up where some of the pictures were taken; all the dinner shots were taken at our resort and some of the other resorts that are within the 'Palace' chain..all inclusive means you can get that at ANY of the resorts and there were a bunch of them!

We visited theTulum Ruins ,
the zip lines through the jungle at

Selvatica

Chan ka naab where we went scuba diving,and snorkeling ... this was our favorite day! AMAZING!

And one night we walked '5th Avenue' which was a really really really long street of shops right off the ferry dock that we took back and forth to the island of Cozumel. I loved that street...so much going on, so much to see...everything Mexican ...colorful and fun!
Playa Del Carmen

We enjoyed a couples body scrub at the Adventura Palace

one day too ... you'll see pictures of us in robes...and some ferry pictures, outside our resort, snorkeling, playing uno when it rained (October is the rainy season), and then there's the frowny faces we made when we were getting on the ferry for the last time not to return as we headed back to the airport to come home...

Lots more stories, but have to get back to work...hopefully the pictures will speak for themselves.
Enjoy!

For those of you who keep checking in to see Wedding photos...you're not alone. I haven't seen them yet either, but to give you an update, I wouldn't expect to see them until at least another month. I am a Wedding photographer too, and though the Wedding was a few weeks ago, unfortunately, we don't always get to the editing until a few weeks AFTER the event...and then it's a few weeks worth of editing until they're actually posted online.

I promise as soon as she gets in touch with me about them and has them online...I will put the link in here so that you can go see them too.

The photographers website is:
Mary Corcoran Photography

If you click on her 'blog' section I'm sure she'll have some posted as a preview at some point too. Hang in there!

I'll have honeymoon pictures posted just as soon as I can too. We had an amazing time in Cozumel Mexico!!
:)

Oh my gosh, I'm SO sorry it's taken me this long to post this entry. This entry follows the last by one day...the Sunday following my Bachelorette party, Anna (Bob's mom) and my bridesmaids threw me another Bridal shower locally in Rochester at Mario's Via Abruzzi for the Sunday brunch.
Though most of us woke up with hangovers from the previous night out on the town, we managed to make it to brunch and celebrate again! I am SO amazingly fortunate and blessed with family and friends...wow. When I walked into the room, everyone was there waiting for me with smiles and cheers and there were balloons everywhere too! What a sight. We all made our way to the buffet and I visited with everyone who was there thanking them so much for coming. Those that weren't local were 2 of my bridesmaids, my mom, and all the Canadian relatives on Bob's side. The brunch was AMAZING. For anyone that lives in Rochester, you MUST go to the brunch on Sunday at Marios...you will not even believe it.

This first picture is from the Friday before everything started...my mom came to town and brought a bunch of sunflowers for me! She knows how much I love them and that we're having them on the tables at the Wedding and it was SO nice of her to give them to me...my mom has done SO much for our Wedding ... we would not be having such an amazing celebration if it were not for all her help, thoughtfulness, and love as we made all the preparations for the Big day. Thank you mom! I love you!



I can't believe Anna threw this party for me! I am so blessed to be welcomed into such an amazing family ...one that has always treated me as one of their own from the very beginning. I love them all and am honored to soon become a Mongiovi. She got me the most beautiful corsage for the event ... a bright pink gerber daisy. Unfortunately, when I hugged someone, it fell apart, so I ended up putting it in my hair which was just as fun. Thank you so much Anna for everything you did to help me celebrate this incredible time in Bob's and my life. I love you SO much!



Here's everyone at the shower ~ wow right!
:)



These are my amazing bridesmaids... I have the most incredible friends and have truly enjoyed everything we have done together as we count down to the big day!



Bob was at the shower with Anna's boyfriend Ralph...she had extra seats reserved for two last minute cancellations so they got to join us. I was really happy he was there to share everything with ... I can't believe we're getting married and I can't wait to call him my husband!
:)
I'm SO lucky...I love him so much.



This is me with my maid of honor, Mickie ... Look at all those balloons! I can't believe they did that ... I LOVE balloons and they gave me a whole room full of them!



Thank you everyone for giving me this amazing Bridal shower...I was so happy to spend time with all of you and Bob and I truly thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your incredible generosity and well wishes.
Thank you Thank you Thank you!

Oh my gosh, where to begin ... Ok, so before all the weekend festivities; which included the best Bachelorette party ever; followed by an overwhelmingly special Bridal shower... my mom visited early in the week to get fitted for her beautiful dress for the Wedding, as well as tackling some Wedding errands together. I had such a great time visiting with her ... it's been so much more exciting making all the plans with her by my side for help and guidance. Later that first evening, we were invited over to Anna's (Bob's mom) for a special Birthday dinner in honor of her son Sam, and daughter Lillian. My mom had the opportunity to meet most of Anna's family over our traditional pizza, cake, wine, and espresso. The Obama speech was on that night so everyone piled into the living room to watch and make commentary.
:)
Group shot!



(I have so much to do right now, so I'm going to make this short and will try to come back later to fill in more details)
The next day we did more errands together and later that night, Mickie and Carrie arrived from Albany and mom made home made fetticini alfredo with lots and lots and lots of romano cheese ...SO good! We popped open some champagne to ring in the beginning of the weekend festivities!


p.s. The sunflowers were a gift from my mom ... so thoughtful and greatly appreciated...don't they make you happy just looking at them?


The next day we all headed to the Bridal shop to get fitted for our dresses. (I'm not putting mine on here so it's a surprise for Bob), but the girls tried theirs on too and they looked so pretty in the espresso ~ I'm so excited!



(by the way ... when I first saw Mickie and Carrie, they gave me one of those song cards to start off the day! It played Girls just wanna have fun when you opened it!



After the fitting, we were off to Geneseo for the hair trials. Mickie's and Carries and mom's came out AMAZING! Sue didn't get her hair done that day...so sweet that she came just to hang with us and to be a part of everything ~ Thank you Sue !! It was so much fun being at the salon together.








We even had cupcakes! They were special delivered by our baker to help us decide on the flavor for our cake. mmm so good!




We left our hair done up and headed home to get ready for the big night out ... so much anticipation! I knew the girls had been planning all the details for a long time and was so excited just knowing that we were going out celebrating together...
As I was walking out to the lobby of our hotel, a LIMO pulled up outside and it was for US !!! NO WAY! I never even thought we'd have a limo ... it was so much fun! They even prepped with a home made music CD including i.e. girls just wanna have fun as well as having plenty o cocktails readily available. Just amazing. Becky came that day all the way from Albany too (she's Mickie's sister and I just adore her) ... she was travelling while we were getting our hair done in Geneseo and made it to Rochester in time for dinner and all the festivities!

Our first stop was for dinner ~ Hibatchi at Plum Garden!! YUM!
:)

Thank you everyone for sharing Japanese food with me for this special dinner ~ I truly appreciate the thought behind the surprise! So tasty!
After dinner, we headed back to the limo and during the ride I was given a bright pink boa !!!

I LOVED it! It was so much fun to wear all night - so festive ... and it blinked too ! Flashing lights!!
:) Thanks guys! ( I always wear a tiara when I go out so that was already part of my outfit .... LOL nojuskidding)
It was perfect timing; our next stop was MARGES on the lake! I was hoping we'd go there! I love showing it to people for the first time ... it's such a treasure here in Rochester.














Throughout the night, we all had playing cards that said something directing us to do something ... they were called "That Guy" ... meaning to find "that guy" described on the card. i.e. "Find a guy to give you a buck" ... though most were more creative and inappropriate than that.
;)


Marges was so much fun; I didn't want to go! The next place we went was near the beach too...I live near there, but have never gone inside... just so happens it was kareoke (sp?) night!!! We had so much fun trying to pick out a song before we even began singing!








We gave up at one point and just went with "Wake me up before you go go" - Wham.



Not the best pick, but fun just the same. That book has EVERYTHING in it ... overwhelming after browsing through it for a while trying to pick something everyone likes...
We got some REALLY interesting pictures at this place while finding "That guy" for the rest of our cards...just inappropriate enough not to make the blog...
;)
We headed back out to the limo after a while ... I was on a roll from singing so I played "Thriller" from our mix CD and sang at the top of my lungs...sorry guys...I get carried away with that song sometimes!!
:o)
I kept getting gifts in the limo too as we were driving places! ahem! unmentionables!

Next stop ~ a Drag show!!! For the sake of everyone's privacy, or maybe a certain someone's privacy ... LOL ..and you know who you are ... I'm going to leave certain ones off the blog, but before the show, they played great dance music and the boa made it even more fun!














Can you tell how much fun we had ?? Can you tell how lucky I am to have the best friends ever? And my mom ~ she stayed out with us the entire night ... dancing up a storm the whole time!! I was so happy she was with us and all my friends watched out for her and made sure she was doing ok. I can't thank my friends and my mom enough for everything they've done in preparation for our Wedding. Bob and I are truly just overwhelmed with gratitude...bursting!

Ok, I think they get it.
:)
Our next and final stop was to Vinyl ... 80's dance club!
The girls were STILL trying to use up all their "that guy" playing cards...so funny.. they found a lot of them there.
;)
Dancing was fun...though they weren't playing that much 80's music ... and we had just danced a lot at the last place...so we kinda wandered around here and there and out on the deck...looking for 'that guy'...lol.
At this point, the pictures taken were fewer and fewer.
Only two more
:(




As we were leaving, and waiting for the limo ... someone wanted pizza...I think it was mom! So some of us stayed waiting for the limo, the others went off looking for the 'street meat' van ... this picture perfectly encapsulates the end of the best bachelorette party ever

Yup, those are my girlfriends and I love 'em.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU everyone for all the thought and preparation that went into a night like this...everything was perfect down to the last detail. I treasure you all and know how very lucky I am to have you in my life. Mom, thank you so much for celebrating with us too! I loved having you there to celebrate along with my friends! 33 days!
Shower pix coming soon!