Happy Birthday Howard!

Yesterday was Mother's Day and it's always a great day to share with your mom how much she means to you and if you're a mom to be told you are special, but yesterday was more than that for me. Yesterday was my Grandpa Johnson's 100th birthday. This is a milestone more and more people are meeting, but this was a first for our family. Over the past six months I have been helping my grandpa more and in this time asking him to share stories with me. It's sad that I just thought of asking him for these stories, but I'm so glad I did and I'm so glad he's able to remember!

My Grandpa, Howard Johnson, was born in Sparta, WI just down the road from his future wife, Florence. He lost his mother when he was seven and finished school after the eighth grade. He worked several jobs in the Sparta aread, but moved to Janesville, WI when he was 18 because there were better jobs in Janesville and several of his friends and relatives had already moved there. Florence followed soon after and they were married after a short time. Howard and his older brother, Harry, got jobs at General Motors and were part of the sit down strike in 1937. He had already been at GM for 10 years. After 20 years at GM he left to buy a dairy farm. He and Florence loved the work of the farm. They truly worked together as farmers, with Florence handling the finances and Howard working the land and caring for the animals (although he will give her credit in helping with everything).

After 30 years of farming they decided to retire and buy a small home only a few miles from their farm. I believe this was so they could keep an eye on the new owners. Even today my grandpa drives by every week wondering what's going to become of his old farm. Howard and Florence had three children who gave them 8 grandchildren and countless great-grandchildren and even some great-great grandchildren. In retirement Howard and Florence traveled the country in their motor home seeing all but two states and visiting countless relatives and friends. They even occasionally took along their grandchildren:)!

My Grandpa lost the love of his life seven years ago after a long battle with Alzheimer's. They were married for 72 years! Grandma lived for years in a nursing home with Grandpa at her side nearly every day. Even in her confusion his love made her happy and being with her made him happy. Seeing their dedication to each other through such tough times has shown me what being married is really about.

Today my grandpa still lives in that small home out in the country. He is visited daily by friends and family. He still drives. His drivers license is good till he's 108. He cares for himself, but always loves when someone sends over a home cooked meal. He still shops at grandma's favorite store, Woodman's and follows his Cubs on the radio waiting for a World Series win. Yesterday my family joined him at church and I was blessed to see the love his church has for him. This is yet another reminder to me to be a part of a congregation that shows its love for each other like his does.

I hope you too have someone to look up to and remind you of what's important. Go today and find a parent, aunt, uncle, grandparent and have them share with you about "the good old days." Write down these stories and share them with the next generation!

Laura

Bridal Show 2008 Recap

What a busy, fantastic weekend! Laura and I had the opportunity to meet so many amazing women at the Wedding Planner & Guide Bridal Show. I am confident that Premiere Couture brings something different to Madison's bridal landscape and we were happy to meet the brides who were looking for that difference. We received a lot of positive feedback on the designs in our booth and on the runway, but I think my favorite comment was made to Laura, it went something like this: "I'm a strange bride because I'm not really very excited about wedding dress shopping, but your store is the one store that I can get excited about shopping at." What an awesome compliment!

Another pleasure that we have during the show is getting a chance to rub elbows with other wedding professionals. It's a once or twice a year thing that we enjoy. We always look forward to chatting with our very favorite photographers from Front Room! You all need to stop by our store and see the absolutely beautiful photo art book they gave us featuring one of our brides and models, Erin, in a "trash the dress" (Front Room prefers to call it "Art of The Dress" and we concur) photo session that they shot at dawn in September in Lake Michigan. Some of the photos already occupy coveted space in our "gallery" but the book is a wonderful way to enjoy even more of their artistry.

We also loved chatting with our neighbors, Coliseum Bar. It's nice to have such friendly people next to you at show since we're standing in each other's company for thirteen hours! Other standouts were the gals at the Kalahari Resort, Beauty Blossoms, Bellezza Studio and Captured Moments as well as Paul Toepfer and his wife. We hope they all had a successful show!
Photos aren't allowed during the show so I snapped these during set up. The designers represented are as follows (from left to right): Caroline DeVillo, Badgley Mischka, Justina McCaffrey, Vera Wang, Amy Kuschel, Lynn Lugo, Janet Nelson Kumar, Badgley Mischka and LeaAnn Belter. Luke was along for the whole weekend with his Aunt Toni on baby patrol. Thank you Toni!!!!
A little different angle so you can better see the new Badgley Mishka bridesmaid dress that got so much attention this weekend. To view a larger image, just click on either photo.

Merry Christmas!!

Laura and I want to wish you all a very merry Christmas! This is a very special time of year for us and our families as we are continually awed by the sacrifice Christ made in becoming a human in order to open the way for us to know his love and forgiveness.

May your lives be blessed this Christmas!!

**please note that Premiere Couture will be closed to enjoy time with our families until Thursday, December 27, when normal business hours will resume.

Lea Ann Belter Trunk Show

The Lea Ann Belter collection has arrived for the trunk show today and tomorrow and Laura and I find it very intriguing. She uses unique embellishments, beautiful draping, light silk fabrics and lace to create designs that you will find delightfully different and worth braving the weather for. Laura snapped a few pictures that I've posted here. Stop in this weekend and help us decide which dresses are worthy of our permanent collection.

Christina Garcia - Sara Gabriel - Accessories Galore!!!

This weekend is the long anticipated Christina Garcia trunk show. Truth be told, the main purpose of the trunk show is for Laura and me to choose our stock pieces for 2008 since we were unable to view Christina's collection in New York. We are both excited by this unique opportunity to have your input when making our choices. Even if you have already made your accessory choices - jewelry, headpiece, veil - stop in and look at the collection and give us your opinion.

Some of you know that we are eagerly anticipating the arrival of designs from our newest designer, Sara Gabriel. Most of our order should be here on Friday!! We can't wait to show you her unique interpretation of bridal accessory art.

Between Christina Garcia and Sara Gabriel, Premiere Couture will have the most beautiful, hip and stylish accessory collection in Wisconsin. Come in and see for yourself if you have any doubts.

Thanksgiving Greetings; Lynn Lugo Trunk Show Update and Previw

I hope everyone had a joyous Thanksgiving filled with gratitude and appreciation for this great nation in which we are so fortunate to live. I believe I can speak for both Laura and me in saying that we are grateful for God who gives meaning to our lives and our families and friends that fill them with love. We would also like to thank all of our customers, our new employee Katey and fellow professionals for enriching our lives at Premiere Couture.

Friday brings about our highly anticipated Lynn Lugo trunk show. While we hope UPS will deliver a box which contained about half (70) of the designs we expect (they failed to do so on Wednesday) the dresses we have already received are worth your visit. We snapped a few shots of some of the new arrivals to give you a preview but hope to have you join us to enjoy them personally.

Happy post-Thanksgiving shopping!!

Tip Off With Bo

Laura and I just returned from an evening of fashion and basketball - the UW Badger Booster fund raiser - Tip Off With Bo. We were both excited when we were approached months ago to provide fashions for the runway show and it was really neat to see it all come together at this good-natured event. I tried taking some photos of the runway show but was generally unsuccessful - below is my best effort. However, Laura snapped a picture of all of the models - wives of support staff - and you can see that everyone looked amazing! We had several Lynn Lugos and two Badgley Mischkas on stage and they were very well received, but the real show stopper was "Citrine" by Janet Nelson Kumar. It didn't hurt that "Citrine" was paired with a $50,000 necklace from the Diamond Center.

The silent auction is always a big hit during this event and we can't wait to find out who the successful bidder was on the Lynn Lugo dress we donated to their silent auction.

As a final note, I just want to thank Laura for all of her effort tonight as I basically acted only as chauffeur - your continuing commitment to make us the best bridal boutique is totally appreciated.