I’m Getting Married!

As I write this, I am sitting in front of my computer for the last time as Shell Fruscione. Tomorrow {Sunday} night, I will walk down the aisle & marry my high school sweetheart, and from then on I will be Shell Feis. It’s been a long time coming {8 & a half years} & we may not have done everything traditionally, but I couldn’t be more happy. I love this man with every inch of my soul & while I’ve known I was going to spend the rest of my life with him since the moment I met him, I can’t wait to officially make that promise to him.

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I will be taking a hiatus from here this week since we will be going on a two-day “staycation” honeymoon {and then I will just be taking a few days to wind down from all of the excitement}. While I’m away, I have several great wedding, marriage and honeymoon themed guest posts for you to enjoy from some great bloggers so make sure you stick around to check them out!

I can’t wait to share all the wedding details next week! Until then, what is your best advice for newlyweds?

I’d Like to Thank the Academy… {Chocolate Giveaway!} #MerciAwards

The Oscars may be over, but just like every year, everyone’s still talking about them. Every entertainment TV show, magazine & blog is still dissecting the dresses, the winners, and of course- the speeches! I was sad that Lincoln didn’t win Best Picture but I was thrilled when Daniel Day-Lewis won Best Actor, and I have to say he gave one awesome speech! The whole speech isn’t online {not that I could find at least} but check out a clip of the highlights:

Watching all of the speeches always makes me think about who I would thank if I were to win an award. There are so many people that I am grateful to have in my life, but here are just a few people I’d thank:

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My Parents & Brother: For being just a phone call away & always having an open door when Shane & I randomly drop in.

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Justin’s Parents: For accepting me into their family years ago, back when we were still in high school & no one expected us to actually stay together due to our age. They welcomed me as one of their own back then & I’m so excited to officially join their family in three weeks.

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Justin: For growing up with me & making me the person I am today, for loving me forever & always and being my other half.

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My sorority sisters: For helping me to realize my potential.

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Iffy: For knowing everything about me since I was 12 & being my best friend anyway.

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My sister: For always being “my person”.

Like I said, this is just a short list & if I had the time I could thank each person individually and at least a dozens things that each person has done that I am thankful for. But suffice it to say that I am surrounded by some pretty amazing people- and my life is made whole by all of them.

Enter to win Merci Chocolates!

Win It: Merci Fine Chocolates wants to encourage you to take a moment to say Thank You by sending one lucky reader a prize pack! Included you’ll find Merci chocolates {which are ridiculously smooth & delicious, with several delicious flavors in each box}, popcorn containers for watching the next awards show speeches, four champagne glasses for a beautiful toast, & a list of tips for meaningful thank yous & toasts!

Good luck!

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Letters to My Son: Three & a Half

Dear Shane,

This last month has been full of ups & downs for you. Despite your history of just about never getting sick, you’ve spent the last two weeks alternating between perfectly healthy & feverish, sometimes within hours. &Just before that started, we took a trip to Disneyland, which you were thrilled about, despite only wanting to go on a handful of different rides.

Lately, you’ve been amazing me daily with the new things you say- not the words themselves, as those have been flowing for a long time, but in the way that you use them. “I do want to do that, after all!”, “That is a great idea!” and “That’s not how that works,” have become common phrases and they crack me up every time I hear them. You just seem like such a big kid now, I can’t get over it most days!

Since you turned 3 & a half this month, I thought I’d share with you your favorites at this age. {This was inspired by Christa at LittleBGCG} I hope to remember to update it every six months so that when you are old enough to read this, you can see what mattered most to you at this age!

Disneyland Carousel

1. What is your favorite color? Green

2. What is your favorite toy? Rabbit Game & Monkey Game & Doggie Game

3. What is your favorite fruit? Apples

4. What is your favorite TV show? Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Blue chips {Dorito’s Cooler Ranch, which you’re almost never allowed to have, but were given this week to get you to eat something since you’re sick.}

6. What is your favorite outfit?  Peter Pan Costume {You wore this once. On Halloween. &I had to bribe you to get you into it.}

7. What is your favorite game? Hungry Hippos

8. What is your favorite snack? Fruit snacks

9. What is your favorite animal? Monkeys

10. What is your favorite song? I Love to Eat Apples & Bananas

11. What is your favorite book? Dinosaur Train

12. Who is your best friend? Caroline

13. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play

14. What is your favorite drink? Chocolate Milk

15. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween

16. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Mr. Ducky and Sitting Bear and Patches {Sitting Bear has been renamed as “Tootie Bear” in the day and a half since I asked you these questions.}

17. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  Waffles

18. What do you want to be when you grow up? You & Daddy

Buddy, you have no idea how much love I have for you. I’m so proud of you every day as I watch you grow, learn, and figure out who you are. I can’t wait to see you in your little tuxedo when Daddy & I get married this month, and I hope you’ll save a dance for me!

Love,

Mommy


Ps. For the next letter in the circle, check out A Mom’s Impression!

Top 12 Moments of 2012

Last year was such an amazing year. I recently took the time to look through some of the photos I took of our little family last year & in doing so I realized just how much we actually did! In the hopes of keeping this post from getting too ridiculously long, I’ve decided to just showcase one moment from each month of 2012.

January

Last January, Shane, his Nomi {Justin’s mom} & I went to see Disney On Ice: Toy Story 3. I wasn’t sure how he’d do {he was about 28 months old at the time} but he really surprised me by being completely captivated the whole time. He still talks about the show sometimes, a full year later.

February

In February, this photo happened. Shane & I are lucky enough to have an amazing group of friends that we’ve known since he was a tiny tot. We see them almost every week, so the fact that they were hanging out in the photo above isn’t the memorable part- it’s the whole holding hands thing. Totally cute. Also, I’m pretty sure each one of these kids has grown half a foot this year.

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In March, we took Shane to the theater for the first time when we went to see The Lorax. He did great & only got antsy toward the end, but quickly started paying attention again. He didn’t do as well the next month with Chimpanzee, despite his huge love of monkeys, but I think that was because it wasn’t animated. He did really good when we went to see Wreck-It Ralph at the drive-in in November, though!

April

In April, Shane got to take a ride on Thomas the Train. He only vaguely knew who Thomas was at that point, but after riding on him, Shane became totally obsessed with Thomas, who is still a major fixture in our lives.

May

In May, Shane had his very first flight when we all flew out to Nebraska on Justin’s birthday weekend to celebrate his grandma’s {Justin’s grandma/Shane’s great-grandma} 90th birthday!

June

June was a month full of park visits & dirty faces, frozen yogurt &swimming. Nothing huge happened this month, although it was the first full month that I was home with Shane again full-time after quitting my job in mid-May.

July

In July, my sister & her kids came to visit.While they were here, Shane went to Disneyland for the very first time! It’s a 4 hour drive from here, but it’s a lot closer than my sister usually is in Wisconsin.

August

I have a ton of pictures that I could have used from August that don’t include Shane squinting his eyes, including photos of him unwrapping his birthday gifts. But this photo was taken the day before his birthday, just minutes before Justin proposed to me, right on that beach.

September

In September, we learned that Shane is terrified of Chuck E Cheese when we tried to take him to a birthday party there. He climbed up me to my head &screamed like crazy until I got him outside, and then I tried to erase the pain a tiny bit with some froyo.

October

In October, we went to the pumpkin patch where I took this adorable photo of my boys!

November

In November, our Elf on the Shelf brought Shane a special North Pole Breakfast. Our elf got Shane like 7 different types of cookies &donuts & cinnamon rolls, but Shane put nothing but fudge covered Oreos on his plate. {Don’t worry, he only ate like 2 of them.}

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December of course brought Christmas along with it, and with that came so many amazing memories. This picture shows his excitement over his gifts, but there was so much more behind it. From his newfound Christmas carol obsession to driving through Glittering Lights to making cookies, this really was a magical holiday season for us.

2012 was a year to remember, and 2013 is already set to beat it with our upcoming wedding {&subsequent honeymoon}!

If you have special moments that you want to remember, YesVideo can help. Whether it’s old memories from your own childhood or recent photos or video, YesVideo can help you make a DVD full of memories that will last a lifetime.

What was your favorite memory of 2012?

Note: This post was created in connection with my appointment as an Ambassador for YesVideo. Visit www.facebook.com/yesvideo to join the conversation.

Check Your Headlights & Win a $500 Shopping Spree! #GoDaddyCares

1 in 8 women are diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives. I don’t know about you, but that number scares me. Especially because I have had a relative who had breast cancer.

aunt grandma graduateMy great-aunt, Justin, me & my grandma at my high school graduation

When I was just around three years old {Shane’s current age}, my grandmother was diagnosed with not one but two types of breast cancer. When she had originally gone in for a small lump, they found that while it was cancerous, it wasn’t spreading. It was a carcinoma in situ, an early form of cancer that if left untreated for a long time CAN spread, but may not. Unfortunately, when they found that one, they also found a second type- and this one was spreading. Fast.

My Grandmother had a radical mastectomy, where they removed her breast, underlying chest tissue and lymph nodes. With some amazing luck, they managed to get all of the cancer out and she didn’t have to undergo chemotherapy or radiation. She did, however, have to take a pill every day for the rest of her life. That said, she lived for almost twenty years after that, and it never came back. {Pneumonia took her at age 86.}

sister grandmaMe, my grandma & my sister {ignore the eyeliner.. I was in high school.}

I’m sure my story sounds familiar to most of you- since 1 in 8 women are diagnosed, that means almost all of us know someone who was. Whether it was your grandmother, your aunt, your mom, your friend, or even you, breast cancer has very likely touched your life. &If it hasn’t yet, sadly, it probably will.

Since having a relative with breast cancer puts me at an even higher risk for breast cancer {and even MORE so since my grandmother had it in both breasts}, I need to start being very consistent about doing a self-exam every month. I have only done it a few times in the past because I wasn’t really sure I was doing it right. If you aren’t doing self-exams yet either, I challenge you to start with me! Pick a day that you’ll check every month- something easy to remember. I am going to start checking on the days when I have my asthma medication refilled since that is every 30 days. If you don’t know where to start, check out the handy graphic below for some tips. Hopefully it encourages some of you to start doing self-exams!

Breast Self Exam Tips

I love October because it’s Breast Cancer Awareness month, and lots of companies take a moment to remind us all of how important it is for us to catch this horrible disease early. Go Daddy is one of those wonderful awareness raising companies- they have their race car driver, Danica Patrick, driving a hot pink car this month instead of her usual neon green one! They’re also offering a great deal on domains, websites and more if you use the code "STRENGTH". In addition, they want to encourage you to "check your headlights" by offering up a shopping spree to someone who is taking an active role in their health!

Go Daddy would love to know your tip for reminding yourself to check your headlights and is giving away a $500 shopping spree to one lucky person who also registers for their newsletter!

How to enter:

1) Leave a comment below, sharing how you remind yourself to check your headlights
2) When the contact form appears, complete three short fields to be entered to win the shopping spree
3) That’s it! Don’t forget Go Daddy is giving 20% off domains, websites & more with code STRENGTH

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Go Daddy. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules.

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