I had the opportunity to work with an event planner at Irene’s Catering Service in Milwaukee regarding the type of wedding I was envisioning. I sent Karen a bunch of photos of long branches, square vases, black/white patterns, crystals and candlelight (which I found my simply doing a search on Google images). At the end of the week she invited me to their show room to look at a mock-up of the wedding table.

I was speechless.

This was exactly what I wanted: elegant yet simple. (Sorry, I will upload a photo of the actual table soon, as I have forgotten my camera at home)

Now that we are able to check that task off our seemingly never-ending list of wedding chores, I’m slowly but surely beginning to breathe again. Which is good, because this week fellow reporter Tracy and I are in charge of putting the paper out. Let me tell you, Brian and Maryangela make it look so easy, but it really isn’t.

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As I near the date to when we will finally become man and wife, I am increasingly becoming more and more aware of a ticking inside of my head. Most times I can ignore it, even forget about it entirely, but there are just some days where this ticking just gets louder and louder.

 Yes, it’s an alarm clock.

 Growing up, I myself was brought up to believe that it was the man who felt the “suffocations” of marriage (that’s the wrong word, but I can’t think of anything else at the moment). I guess that’s why I was so surprised at how much I’ve begun to enjoy my nights alone the one night a week or so that I just sit at home and “veg.” Does this make me a bad person?

 It’s not that I’m falling out of love with Matt (because actually the opposite is happening nearly every day), nor is it that what I’ve discovered about him as our relationship progressed has disappointed me (again, the opposite of that statement is the truth). The fact is, for the first time in my life I’m starting to come close to being tied to a person I’ve loved nearly all my life (although I never knew it until I met him), and I’m starting to understand exactly what that means.

 My life is about to change. For the better, sometimes for the worse, but definitely change is coming. Now comes a whole new part of my life that I’ve never had to even think about before: buying a house, having a child, shopping for groceries (I hate shopping for groceries), putting money into the joint account each month not for fun things but practical things…the longer my day goes, so does that list.

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So yesterday night I got a phone call from my 6-year-old niece "Baby," a bubbly, bright but often crazy little girl whom I just love. I missed the phone call by mere seconds, so I listened to the message she left me on my voice mail. In-between the ramblings that are often associated with that age group, I swear I heard her say that she was inviting me to come with her, her little brother and parents to Florida for vacation.

Without thinking about the fact that her mind is still very young, I called her back, very excited, and asked her again what she had called me about.

After a couple of minutes of rambunctious talk, it turned out she didn’t leave a message asking me to go to Florida with them. Rather, she had called to ask me to come bike riding with them at the park that day.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a thoughtful invitation, but be that as it may, I was kind of let down after I talked with her. First of all, because (1) it was so short notice that I couldn’t do it anyway, (2) I don’t own a bike, and (3) I was looking forward to visiting Disney World.  

Do I even need to ask you? If I’m looking to 6-year-olds to somehow score me a vacation, I think that means I really need one.

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Before Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki was installed as Milwaukee's archbishop Jan. 4, his high-profile tenant in the archdiocese's Cousins Center, the Milwaukee Bucks, were not an NBA playoff contender. Since then, they have gone 25-13 and are headed for post-season play. Some teams improve with a change in owners, general managers and/or coaches; the Bucks got better when they got a new landlord at their practice facility. The Boilers are wearing on me: Do I think Purdue can beat Duke Friday night? Sure. Do I think they will? All I know is that my T-shirt wardrobe consists of a lot of Purdue wear and I'd like to go through it before this tournament is over.
Problem or prescription? Does H.R. 3590 cause or cure blah, or is it the endless debate surrounding it that is the cause/cure?

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My new in-laws, that's who!

Matt got the phone call yesterday with the news we've been waiting to hear for the past year: my soon-to-be mother- and father-in-law will be arriving in Milwaukee April 15. While they are only planning on staying with us for a week, their visit is sure to be a whirl-wind of activity as we pack in museum visits, souvenir shopping, lengthy dinners and introductions to my side of the family.

With all the planning that is sure to be within the next couple of weeks, I ask myself: how will I fit in time to learn about my new family?

There are questions we all ask our significant other's family when we meet them for the first time, as well as those other, more extensive questions we tend to ask as our relationship deepens with them. How I'm going to somehow fit all these questions together in one visit is actually kind of blowing my mind right now. Recall how easy going I am when I talk about my future in-laws? Yeah, fooled you, huh?

More news to come, I'm sure. In the meantime, I'm getting ready for trips to the Milwaukee County Zoo and dinners at Twisted Fork!

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Sorry that it has been more than a month since I have written. All those Lutz toe-loops and twizzels during the Olympic figure skating competition made my head spin for days afterward.

However, I was once again so inspired by the bobsled competition, particularly because of the gold medal win for the U.S. four-man team, that I am considering renewing my quadrennial call for the Vatican to enter a bobsled team in the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia.
The Holy See takes sports seriously, given the Pontifical Council for the Laity has had a Church and Sport division since 2004.

It's probably too late for them to consider entering racewalkers in the 2012 London games, but c'mon, there have to be a couple of people in Vatican City who could handle a bobsled, right? The possibilities for international evangelization would be tremendous as their sleds, Spiritus and Dominus, speed along the track. Hey, if you don't like those, you're welcome to suggest other names for the Vatican's sleds.

Sports and religion in one bracket: There is a possibility -- albeit a slim one -- for an all-Catholic school Final Four in the NCAA men's tournament. Eight Catholic schools received bids on Sunday: Georgetown in the Midwest; Marquette in the East; Gonzaga and Xavier in the West; and Siena, Notre Dame, Villanova and St. Mary's of California in the South. How can you not cheer for Siena when their nickname is the Saints? But I'm torn, since those Saints face "my" Purdue Boilermakers in the first round. 

I want the Catholic schools to do well. My hope is that if I attended one of them, and that school goes deep into the tourney and gets an even bigger share of that TV money, that will be one less call and/or mailing I receive from that institution's development office asking me for money.

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And thank you Lord, they all agree to wear it!!!

After hours of Internet shopping and visiting bridal store after bridal store, we have finally chosen the perfect bridesmaid dress for my friends and sisters to wear, designed by Watters.

Now the next thing I have to do is find the accessories I need to make each girl stand out in a unique way. I'm planning on doing this by finding them a special broach to wear on the bodice of the dress, and a simple diamond letter of their first name initial to add to their bouquet, like so: 

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Have you ever gotten the feeling that God was trying to tell you something?

I received an e-mail yesterday called "Love One Another" from Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki. A weekly electronic "homily," he chose this week to share his thoughts on what people should be concentrating on during the "Season of Mercy." His number one recommendation? Confession. Instantly my heart dropped.

Let me confess something to all of you: I haven't been to confession in almost five years.

When it comes down to it, there really isn't a huge reason why I've been avoiding it. I kept telling myself that I couldn't this week because of school, work, family responsibilities, baby-sitting, etc ... you know, all those things that I just CAN'T drop.

Recently, I've been thinking about the sacrament of reconciliation a lot, and I think I've finally come up with a good analogy for it, based on my own experiences. Funny enough, it has to do with caring for your teeth.

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Matt and I finally took the FOCCUS “test” yesterday, and boy, all I can is, it’s a doozy.

The long questionnaire was filled with all those burning questions that many of us may have been too afraid to ask our significant other. From financial responsibilities to raising your children in the Catholic faith, it touched all aspects of life. Below are some that stood out to me:  

“You are happy with the domestic roles that you and your fiancé have chosen” (agree). “Marriage is the only way you will be truly happy in your life” (disagree). “I have had homosexual tendencies towards members of the same sex, and I’m afraid it will ruin my future marriage” (disagree…wow, what a question).   

After taking the time to review the questions that we had to agree/disagree with, I have come to the conclusion that talking about these things is WAY SO IMPORTANT before you get married. Soon we will be meeting with the FOCCUS couple to learn the results.

One thing I do want to discuss with the couple that we will be meeting with is how they got about making their new house or apartment their "home." Now that Matt is in the new place, and I've got some of my things in too, I expected that I would feel comfortable being there. However, I'm just not. It's cold, I can't get the Bravo channel, and sometimes I just want to lay in bed and read (my bed!). Most of the time I just can't wait to get back to my parent's house (yes, I'm 27 and still living with my parents. You got a problem with that?) and just relax there.

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No shortage of brats and blueberries during Sunday's Super Bowl meal, but it was an ample helping of Brees that made for a great celebration. I'll leave it to the so-called analysts to second guess the coaches and to provide a litany of what various players should have done. It's just fun when the team for which one is cheering wins.

Speaking of the MVP QB -- and pardon my Boilermaker bias, but pro sports definitely needs the classiness and humility of Drew Brees. His "aw shucks" approach appears genuine, and his name isn't in any police report. Is this the making of a true sports hero? We can only hope.

Lack of $tewardship: Stewardship obviously isn't a corporate concept. Why else would so many companies have invested $2.5 million for each of their Super Bowl commercials, and then provide uninspiring material? Like most of the ads that aired during the game, the mother and son Tebow ad left me with a "What's the big deal?" reaction. Worst example of lack of stewardship was the $2.5 million of our tax money that paid for the U.S. census spot.

So, are you ready for baseball season? OK, Lent first, then baseball season.

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