Well, we are at 46 days left! All the response cards today got 46 points!
The score is:
Lizzie 3072
vs.
Doug 2894
Score difference:178 (divided by 45 points = 4 Response cards!)
THIS IS STILL A CLOSE GAME.
Today I texted people who have not sent in their RSVP yet and I expect a rush of RSVP’s soon. We shall see. TO BE FAIR – I contacted everyone on both teams :). I do not want to be called a cheater.
I found out 3 people did not even get the invite so I am glad I texted/annoyed people!
Love and Hugs, Lizzie
So now that you have seen all the birthday signs and cards, the Hammond birthday and my little game night, I will tell you about my actual birthday.
I had a brilliant plan to celebrate my birthday by taking engagement photos with Doug. I was so excited about this plan I told him I wanted to take family photos EVERY YEAR on my birthday. I was so in love with the idea of a birthday photo shoot every birthday for the rest of my life, until it actually happened…
Doug and I both worked that day. I went into hair and makeup that afternoon (by myself – mistake number 1) and had my parents come in town to help with our photo shoot (not a mistake at all). We arrived in City Park to meet our awesome photographer – Collin Richie and fabulous videographer – Chris Serio of Bridefilm right on time.
We picked a site for the “scene” I wanted to create and put my wonderful family to work:
They even decorated a little birthday celebration for me:
While they set the scene, Doug, Chris, Collin and I jumped in my car and headed to the post office in Lakeview to officially mail the wedding invitations and start the draft competition. When we got there we found out that Lakeview had a freak electricity outage and the post office was closed (epic fail #1) with a sign on the door that said “Closed. Technical Difficult” (no lie).
We proceeded to take some photos in and out of the post office until one of the nice ladies asked if I was mailing wedding invitations. I told her I was and she actually offered to take them even though they had no electricity. They all had to he hand metered so I guess it gave them something to do while they sat in the dark :).
After our almost epic fail at the post office, we headed back to take the photos. My family had done a wonderful job setting the mysterious scene I will not tell you about.
After the “scene” was photographed, my family packed up and headed to my house. Doug and I stayed until it was dark to finish with photos. When we got home we only had to wait a few minutes until my dad arrived with my birthday dinner: Bud’s Broiler! Thanks Dad! It was a fabulous birthday dinner.
Once it was all said and done, it was a fun day. Once we started taking photos, I did have fun, but it was not fun prior to photos. There was a lot of (self induced) stress and rushing around. I have officially decided not to take family photos every year on my birthday. That was actually a terrible idea, but I do plan on having photos each year NOT on my birthday.
The cool part is that I got to spend my actual birthday with my family and in City Park on a beautiful day:
That is the official and last birthday post. I think.
Love and Hugs, Lizzie
As of 3.15.2012 at 11:41 pm, I am in the lead!
I have 2584 vs Doug’s 2305.
I am ahead by 279!
I am still missing my #6 and #11 draft picks! COME ON 
Love and Hugs, Lizzie
My family has a birthday tradition… (actually started by my college roommates Cynthia and Catherine) we draw pictures and write notes on scratch or colored paper and tape them up all over the house. These signs range from sweet and caring to dirty and inappropriate.
Here are a few I have decided to share from this past year:
From Ashley:
This sign actually happened on Sunday!
This is an odd sign from my mom. I asked her why I was holding worms that low and she said they were just in my hands….uhhh :) She is right that I do love my worms :)
Sweet one from Mom:
Sweet one from Dad:
Odd one from dad: lol
The best sign of the birthday! Doug loves this sign. If you do now know why, you are behind on the blog. :)
Here are some of my awesome cards that came in the mail! Thank you Courtney, Kenny and Riley; Janessa and Matthew; Mr. David and Mrs. Gay; Sarah; Becky (yes, such a girlie card and envelope!); Mom and Dad; and…
Cynthia and Brockstar! They gave me a HUGE card…see below!
Janessa also sent me a little care package. YOU ROCK J!
I was feeling the birthday love all through Wednesday even though my bday was actually on Tuesday. :)
I hope you enjoyed our little family tradition. I, as I say always, have such awesome friends and an amazing family.
Love and Hugs, Lizzie
The first official birthday event happened after the invitation stuffing party. My favorite birthday surprise, Brandon, came over and a small group of us played Cranium.
It was Lizzie, Brandon and Sarah vs. Doug, Ashley and Lori. (Ashley, Doug and Lori whipped our butts, but it was still fun 
)
The next day, Sunday, we headed to Hammond to have Family day for my birthday. We had a fantastic lunch (cooked by Mom and Ashley) and opened presents!
Mom had a box that said “You will always have one at home. Now you can start a new family tradition with your family! Love, always, Mom and Dad”
They had ordered us Easter baskets with our names on them! They are so awesome!
And they had a plastic bin with groceries!
My parents are the best!
I taught the chickens how to go up and down the ladder!
(I tried to attach the video 4 times, but it does not want to be published. I will show it later!)
Then we went and worked on the “worm area”, laid tile, tilled the garden and played with the chickens more!
It was a fabulous birthday!
Thank you Mom, Dad, Ashley, Alex and Doug for making my Family day birthday awesome!
Love and Hugs, Lizzie
Before we could begin the actual stuffing process, I had to address all the outer and inner envelopes (actually pockefolds). We had planned to use a printer, but now that it is all said and done, I am glad I actually hand addressed all the invites. It made it a bit more personal (or I hope everyone feels that way.)
On Saturday, March 3, a team of seven descended upon my house to start working on the invitations…Once people started arriving, I put them to work. :)
Step 1: Mom numbered all the Response Cards. She did a great job! I gave her some very tedious projects, which she is always amazing at.
(I have the best mom ever! She was actually scheduled not to be here to help, but she surprised me and came to help! Yay! Best birthday surprise!)
Step 2: Place the invitation in the pocketfold. In a war between the high tech glue gun and a team of brains (Sarah and Cynthia), Cynthia and Sarah prevailed and showed that gun who was boss. Here is some of the epic fighting:
After the fighting was over, they stuck every single invite in the pocketfolds!
Step 3: Stuff the Response Card, Details Card and Draft Card in the addressed pocketfolds that match the RSVP number. I put Ashley and Courtney to work on this. Courtney made sure the numbers matched as Ashley stuffed the pocketfolds. A perfect team for this project!
Step 4: Place the bellyband around the invite with a glue dot. Mom mainly did this job with some help from Sarah.
Step 5: Match and stuff the outer envelope with the pocketfold AND put the RSVP envelope inside the bellyband. Courtney and I mainly did this project. I was very careful to make sure all the names matched (and as far as I know we only messed up two…haha. We actually forgot to include the RSVP card in two envelopes = Sorry Stephen and Andi AND Gary and Claudia!!) I like how the only job I had was the one that had two errors (that we know of….).
Step 6: Seal the envelopes – LICK THEM ALL. Lori and I sealed all the envelopes and we both still appear to be alive…because we used a glue stick :) I did not get any photos of Lori working. Sorry girl!
Step 7: WAX SEALS! Sarah and Cynthia were the right women for this job. They had just finished sticking all the invites when it was time for the wax seals. Cynthia was very excited while Sarah was not. (Sarah has a funny/terrible wax seal story that you should ask her about sometime, but she was excited that Cynthia wanted to do it and she could assist!) They worked together as the best wax seal team ever made. Check out the results!
Step 8: Apply stamps to be mailed! Courtney and Ashley were my girls here again. They stamped them all!
THE END! What a process, right?
Here are a few shots of the working girls:
Thank you all so much for coming to help! I could not have done it without you all! You are the best friends and family any girl could ask for. I love you all!
I do want to give a special shout out to our chef for the day! The entire time we were stuffing, stamping, sealing and sticking wedding invitations, Doug was making Gumbo! We all got to eat his yummy gumbo once we were done. Thank you Doug! (Check out his huge, new gumbo pot!)
P.S. he only tried to kill us once when he was cooking the boudin…the spice aerosolized and we all started coughing. :) Typical!!
Love and Hugs, Lizzie
