Calling all pictures

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday. Hard to believe that the holiday season is already over. All that hard work and it's over in the blink of an eye.

So now that I am looking towards the near/ distant future I am concentrating on all the things I still need to get some for the reunion.

One of which is collecting pictures please start sending them along as soon as possible. I would like to start working on getting the photo books put together and ordered before I do anything else.

Thanks.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas Family!

I hope you all are having a wonderful day filled with lots of laughter and love from family and friends. I hope you are enjoying every minute of it.

Now that Christmas is here, its becoming crunch time for the reunion. It's crazyyyy to me but it's really only 8 months away! And that is way closer than it sounds. I have a lot to accomplish and get done... Invitations, Guest Book, Decorations, etc...

For those of you who havent gotten the save the date cards yet, you will! I haven't sent them all out yet.

Hope you got all that you asked "Santa" for.

Lots of Love,
Merry Christmas,

Alyssa

Long Over Due post...

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for my delay in posting on here. As you can imagine things have gotten rather crazy around here with the holidays. I also have found a lot of you on Facebook, and I know you have joined my group on there to stay up to date with updates and what not. (Which makes it a little easier because that way I at least know who is looking at my stuff). If you are not a member of my group on there and would like to join... just look up: Drakulic Reunion and request to join and I will add you! I find it so weird that its only 7 months away. Which to you may seem really far off but to me it doesnt seem that far away at all!

I hope you and your families all have a very healthy and happy holiday season.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! To you all, I will be in touch.

XOXO

Family Directory

So I am thinking of doing a "Family Book" to hand out at the reunion-- I wont go too much into detail but I am going to be putting family information in there- addresses phone numbers etc so that you will all be able to stay in touch after the reunion. If there is anyone who wants their information in there that has not given it to me yet, be sure to email me: drakulic_reunion@aol.com that way I can be sure to include you. I dont have a lot of email addresses for you all so be sure and get those to me as well as phone numbers. All I really have is mailing addresses.

As far as the rest of the reunion goes.. I just wanted to let you know I am still accepting pictures for the photo books so be sure and get those to me ASAP. Remember you WILL get those back if you send me actual pictures. I'm just going to be scanning them into my computer. I really need pics as so far I dont have any! I have had a few people tell me they will be sending me some, I am just anxiously awaiting them.

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!!

Much Love,
Alyssa

We are family...

So many people post today and all month long what they are thankful for. People are thankful for many things as we should be. Though, I feel we should be thankful all year long and not just because it's a holiday. You know?!

I however can say I am very thankful for my family. Every single one of you. I love being part of a big family. I can't imagine being a part of a small family. I love having many cousins and aunts and uncles. I am so close with my cousins we are like siblings rather than cousins. I also love the fact that I am part Serbian. Mostly because it's different and unique and not many people know what it is when you tell them.

I hope you are all enjoying this day with your family. And may we remember those whom we have lost and wish we had with us here today.

Happy thanksgiving
Love,
Alyssa

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope you all have a happy and safe holiday with your families.

I just wanted to share that I have been getting feedback here and there from people on the reunion and it is so nice to hear. I am so happy to know that so many people are taking the time to read my blog. Or if you're not reading my blog that you are reading my posts on the reunion group on Facebook. It just makes me happy to know that this many people are as excited about this reunion as I am.

I have a feeling we are going to have a huge turn out for this reunion. And I hope we do. It will be so nice to be able to get the family all together in one location. I know my Grandma is really looking forward to it, as am I. It's going to be a lot of fun. I am looking forward to meeting each and everyone of you. And for those I already know I'm looking forward to being able to reconnect with one another.

My Grandma told me the other night that she thinks I should go into Event planning/coordinating as my profession. I've thought about it before as it is a love of mine. I'm currently taking event and wedding planning courses to get my certification. I signed up for the class as something fun to do but I really do enjoy it.

My parents surprise 25th anniversary party 2 years ago was the first event I planned and it was a great success. I had people telling me that I presented myself as if I had been doing this for years. I guess everyone sees the potential in me. I guess I just want to get some more events under my belt first before I go into anything professionally. This will be my next big event, and after this Im working on my best friends 30th birthday. It's not for 3 years but it's fun to think about. Right? She wants to do a cocktail party on the beach at one of those nice beach houses you can rent. She lives in Fl and I'm all about it! Then I've got friends getting engaged who want bachelorette parties and bridal showers and baby showers etc.. So I definitely have plenty of fun opportunities coming my way ;)

Anyways to make a long story short i do love event planning and I hope you all will have a wonderful time at the reunion.

Have a wonderful holiday!!!

It's now 1am and I'm calling it a night.

Alyssa

Family Generations

This is something I happened to find the other day when I was looking on Pinterest (as usual). I came across some family photo ideas and this one was another that seemed like such a cool idea. I wish I could figure out how to do it. I will have to give this one some thought.

Also... I am so sorry if you have emailed me and I havent returned it- I am just now realizing some of the emails got sent to the spam folder and I am just now seeing them a month later. My apologies. I am trying the best I can to get back to all of you. It means so much to me that you would be reading my blog and looking to contact me! I love hearing from you.

For those of you who do want to contact me and forgot my email address its: drakulic_reunion@aol.com feel free to send a note or any pictures or questions my way.

I look forward to hearing from you all. And safe travels this holiday if any of you will be traveling out of town.

Alyssa

Facebook group for Reunion

If any of you have Facebook I've created a family reunion group on there as well. Mostly, because I wasn't sure who all is reading this blog though I hope it's all of you! If you're interested in joining my group search: Drakulic Family Reunion and it should take you right to it. You'll just need to request to join and I can add you!

Getting Organized

In order to keep myself sane with all this reunion stuff I have to stay somewhat organized. I am not a girl who is usually organized in any way shape or form, and you'd think with being a teacher I'd be better at that. But, my friend from work, Stacy, sells Thirty One products, and I decided to try them out. I got custom bags made just for my reunion stuff, and I love it. It's really helping me to keep everything in order. I've pictured them below:

Its hard to tell but its says "Drakulic Reunion" on the bag on the left. Its perfect for fitting file folders for what I need.

You're the Inspiration

As I'm sitting here this evening all cozy on the couch watching 7th Heaven reruns I was feeling inspired, or well motivated. I love this show and all that it's about but the episode I happened to be watching was about family. So as I said, it inspired me. I ended up watching the show and browsing pinterest. And as I'm sitting there browsing I came up with an idea of something I wanted to do. I am going to be having a card box on one of the tables with some slips of paper and pens. I'd like everyone to write down a favorite family memory and place it in the box. This will be something that my Grandma can look back on later and will bring a smile to her face. I know we all have wonderful family memories to share.

Photo Opps.

I don't know if any of you guys use Pinterest, but I'm addicted to it. I find so many of my ideas for my event planning on it as well as ideas for my classroom. I have been searching around on there for some family reunion things that I wanted to incorportate into ours. One of the things I found I am going to picture below:

 

I think this is such a cute pose for a picture, I love how they are all holding the letters and its just such a cute photo all around. I'm thinking of doing something similar for the reunon, to see what I can come up with. I'll have my camera with me that day, trying to get some good photos. I'll post them on a photo sharing site, probably shutterfly, I'll make a family one for us to use. And then you guys can order photo prints and etc from it. That way everyone can be sure to get the pictures that they wanted. I am also hoping other family will have their cameras as well as pictures to share with everyone!!

 

 

I found a few other good ideas that I'd like to try to incorporate into the reunion we will see how that goes.  I'm spending today doing some more planning on it, and looking at decor for it, so we will see what I come up with. I'll post anything worth sharing.

 

Have a great rest of your weekend everyone!!

 

Love,

Alyssa

I'm thankful for...

Since it is this time of the year, and everyone is talking about what they are thankful for, I thought I'd do so as well.. granted I'm thankful for this all year round, but I just thought this was an appropriate time to share it.

I am thankful for all of them ^^^ thats right my big giant family. I love them all so much and my life wouldnt be what it is today without everyone one of those people. This picture is a few years old as it was taken at my parent's 25th surprise Anniversary Party I threw for them. But it remains one of my favorites and I thought I would share it with you. This is my Dad's side of the family and my moms.

Left to Right: Michael Mochan, Me, Jeffrey Mochan, Sharon Mochan, Michael Mochan, Daniel Mochan, Barbara Mochan, Matthew Mochan, Ericka Mochan, Helen Mochan, Alexa Mochan, Neil Penz (Mom's brother in law), Bobbi Penz (Mom's sister), Ruth Miller (Mom's Mom), Emily Penz (Moms neice) and last but certainly not least, Melanie Mochan.

We're all so very close, and do so much together, I am very thankful to have them in my life. And I am very thankful to have all you in my life as well.

May you all have a joyus and healthy Holiday season!!

~Alyssa

"We know you'd be here today, if Heaven wasn't so far away"

This title of the blog came from a quote that I found when searching on the web the other day. "We know you'd be here today, if heaven wasn't so far away". That line really spoke to me. Mostly because of the recent (and I say recent by meaning over the summer), the passing of my Great Aunt Onnie (Anne). She would have loved nothing more than to see all of her family getting together this summer for a family reunion. She had been wanting to do one of those for years my Grandma told me. And now, she will be there with us looking down upon us and sharing in our special day with us.

I am actually going to have a dedicated table set aside for some memory items I'm going to be putting out along with this quote for people to look at. Anything you'd like to contribute, please let me know. I'd love to have some great pictures from back in the day or maybe a favorite item of theirs that you wanted to display for people to look at.

I feel its important that we not only cherish the moments we have with our loved ones at the reunion, but we remember the cherished moments we had with those who have passed away and are looking down upon us from heaven.

Holiday Cheer

Can you believe Halloween is already over, and we're moving on to Thanksgiving and then my favorite time of the year.. CHRISTMAS!!! I love the holidays. But after Christmas is over, its getting us a few months closer to reunion time, and that really excites me.

Speaking of the Holidays.. I love to do a lot of online shopping, as a matter of fact its one of my favorite ways to shop. Over the last few years I've become really into Etsy.com its a great site and its all people who handmake all of their items. Being that I make and sell some of my own items, I love supporting others who do the same. Well, the other day I was browsing on the site and I came across a really creative wedding guest book someone had made. Now, since I'm not getting married, that part had no use for me, but I did message her to see if she could create that for the reunion. As it turns out, she can! I was super excited, I have it on hold for me so I can order it. After the reunion I'll be giving it to my Grandma so she can have it as a little keepsake for herself. I wont be showing it to you all, I'm keeping it a surprise until the day of the reunion. :)

I always love signing on here and seeing how many page views I'm up to, It goes up by like 10 everyday. I just wish blogspot would tell me who is viewing the page rather than how many people are. Because then I would at least know how many of you are actually getting my information!! Hopefully most of you are.

I also on Etsy.com found someone to create and design the Reunion invitations for me, which I'm really excited about. I actually had a vision in mind for them, and without discussing it with anyone found out last night that my Grandma had the same idea, so that is definitely going to be what I'm going with. Again, a total surprise for you all (you'll see those in May).

Hope you all are having a wonderful night.

Love,
Alyssa

Hurricane Sandy

I am not sure where all of you are located in the direction Hurricane Sandy but I just wanted to extend my well wishes to you all. I hope you are all staying safe and out of harms way during this storm and that you are all doing well.

Much Love!!!

Alyssa

Cover Charge for Reunion... Say what?!

Just letting everyone know, incase you weren't aware of this before... there are a few things I'd like to point out.

*There is a $5 charge per person for the reunion- please be respectful of this, as I dont think that is too much to ask!! However, this includes children, so if you are a family of 4 you would be paying $20 in total. You may write out a check to me personally: Alyssa Mochan or I will accept cash that you can send in the mail as long as you conceal it properly. This money will be going towards the paper products, coffee and pop as well as the overall deposit for the hall.

*This place holds a specific number of people, meaning I will NEED everyone to send back their RSVP card with their money. You will get these in May when I send out the invitations. I will also be including the directions as well as hotel information for everyone who is coming from out of town and doesnt know the area well.

*You also will need to let me know as it gets closer what your family will be bringing for the dish to pass so we dont end up with multiples of the same items!!

Thanks everyone. I'll try to continue to update this daily. If you have facebook feel free to click on my badge to the right and friend request me!!

Have a great night!
~Alyssa

Family Memories

I wanted to share some pictures with you all that I had that were taking over the summer. Sadly this was at my Aunt Onnie's funeral luncheon, but I thought you might like to see what our side of the Drakulic family looks like these days. As pictures continue to come in I will continue to share them on here. These are just some that I had from my own personal collection.

This is my family above, minus my sister Alexa because she had left before this picture was taken that day. I am on the far left, and then my brother Daniel, sister Ericka, Dad Jeff and Mom Sharon. I know most of you may have seen me at the funeral home but not have known who I was. Or, perhaps we've never met, which brings us back to the reason we are having this reunion, so everyone can unite with one another and have a nice laid back day catching up on old times and creating new memories.

Andrea and Greg

Georgie and Darlene and son George

 

Diane, Sammy, Eleanor, Lauren, Lucas

 

Eleanor and her Boys! *from left to right* Gary, Sammy, George, Greg

 

Michael, Nargess, Matthew *Top Row*

Michael and Barbara *Bottom Photo*

 

Melanie, Sharon, and my Grandma Helen

 

 

As I said, I'll update more as I get them. But I hope you enjoy these pictures. Hope everyone is doing well. Much love,

Alyssa

Sneak peek

I got my first batch of the save the dates! I love them!! I can't wait to share them with you all. Below is a sneak peek so you can see what they look like. I'd love some feedback. Now I'm going to start designing the invitations!

Tiny Prints, Big Impressions... custom save the date!

So as you can see in the logo above, I have come across a new company through Shutterfly called "Tiny Prints" I am in love with their site. They are all about custom stationary, invitations, announcements and more. I just place my first order with them on Friday for 10 of my custom Save the Date cards I have created. I am waiting for them to come in the mail, so I can see what they look like and if any changes need to be made. If not, I am ordering the rest of them this Friday, and by November they will be on their way to you! I can't wait to hear what you think of them. But please keep in mind this is just the save the date cards, the actual invitations will be coming later!!!

XOXO,
Alyssa

F.A.M.I.L.Y.

I was thinking today, I think the best part of a family reunion, especially ours is going to be meeting all of your family members that perhaps you never knew existed. At least I know for me that was the case. When I sat down with my Grandma (Helen) this summer in her kitchen and started discussing starting to plan this reunion, she made me a list of people to add to the guest list. People I didnt even know of let alone knew I was related to. I guess it just goes to show you the true importance of FAMILY. As the months of July and August went by I began contacting more and more relatives, and talking to people through Facebook and Email that I had never spoken to before, and even met a few cousins who are my age. That was a really nice experience for me, granted meeting you all in person will be even better. I am really looking forward to spending time with you all and getting to put a face to a name. I truly appreciate all of you who have helped me in any aspect of this reunion, and I hope that you all or at least most of you all will be able to make an appearance that day to come and spend some time with us. Eat some good food, have a drink or two, and sit around and BS with us all. :)

Love to you all ---

ps. Thanks to everyone who has been reading my blog, it wont tell me who is reading it but it does show me the amount of page views that I get each day, and it truly amazes me and puts a smile on my face to know that you are all actually taking the time to read my thoughts each day.

Save the Dates

Just letting everyone know I am working on finishing the save the date invites to order. They will either be going out November or December. I haven't decided yet, be on the lookout for yours. :) I am  going to be labeling it with the category your family is assigned to for the dish to pass, and you will be able to come up with some ideas of what you'd like to bring and let me know.

I'm also going to be looking up hotel information for everyone and posting it on here as well as including it with the Invitations for all the out of town family who will be coming in for this.

Be sure to start sending me pictures when you can, so that I can start working on some photo books. Thanks!

Capturing Memories

Hey everyone,

So I had mentioned before how I was going to be creating photo books to put out on the tables for everyone to look through, and I still am doing this. However, I am looking for people to send me some family stories or favorite memories that I can add into it as well. I think that would be a nice way to cherish memories and share them with everyone. If you could please email those to me that would be great!

:)

Do you Remember... ?

My gram was telling me that the last Drakulic Reunion was held sometime in the 70's at her (current) house in the backyard. I obviously wasnt around then, but any of you that were or had relatives that were, do you happen to have any pictures from it? I'd love to be able to display a "then and now" type of deal at this reunion. I'm just curious to see what is out there. Thanks in advance for your help.

Love,
Alyssa

Let's Dance

I am putting out a request for any Serbian music anyone has, feel free to send it my way. I'm going to be loading it onto my mp3 player and playing it through the speaker system. We have a designated dance floor area for anyone who wishes to dance some Kolas. :)

You can send me burned CDs of music, or email songs to me. As before, please email me to get my mailing address if you need it!

Thanks!

Picture the world through the eyes of an Ancestor

One love of mine is photography. I love playing with the settings on my camera, taking pictures, capturing the moment and sharing that moment for generations to come. Pictures play such an important part in family memories, especially for those members who have passed away. It's one great way we have to remember them and the special times we shared.

I am collecting pictures for the reunion, so start digging up your box of photos, if you're anything like me, you have tons of photo prints just stored in a box waiting to be framed. I know a lot of pictures this day and age are digital, which helps out in this case. You can email pictures to me: drakulic_reunion@aol.com or you can send me the actual photo hard copies in the mail. Im not posting my mailing address on here since this is a public blog for all of you to access, as well as anyone who may come across it. But get in touch with me via email, and I'll get my address to you. Any hard copies of pictures I get, are going to be labeled in an envelope with who sent them to me. I'm going to simply scan them into my computer and return them to you at the reunion.

There's 2 pictures I really want and am on a mission to find, the rest are up to you whatever you'd like to send. I want a family picture of my Grandma and all her siblings, and I'd also like a family picture of Duckie and her family. I am going to be displaying these after blowing them up onto a bulletin board. I'm also going to be taking whatever pictures people send me and put them into some photo books for people to look through and enjoy. 

So start digging through those good ol family photos :)

-Alyssa 

Dish to Pass

Okay, so as I mentioned before this is a Dish to Pass event. I have tried to make it easy by assigning each family a catergory and then from there you can tell me what you would like to bring by either emailing me or posting it in the comments. I will be keeping track of it all making sure we dont have too many people bringing the same thing. I went to Greg very frustrated because I couldnt figure out how to make this work and stay organized without me going crazy, haha. Greg suggested we do it as a "Restaurant Menu" ... having the same categories that you'd see in there. So that's exactly what we've done. This is done by last name, so please look for the family in which you belong to or are related to so that you can find yours. **No more than 2 people may bring the same thing so that we can get a variety** If I missed anyone, please let me know in the comments!!

When reading just make note of what your family is in charge of, again you have time to let me know!

*Appetizers*: Davic, Janic, Bielich, Blazevich, Popovich, Malich,

*Main Course*: Mochan, Slepsky, Zak, Walker, Kovacevic, McAnally, and Samardzija

*Casseroles*: Cheripka, Gossic, Vracar

*Side Dishes*: Drakulic

*Salads (potato, mac salad, garden salad etc..)*: Kobylanski, Ayers

*Desserts*: Lukacs, Macchione, Hill, Bucholz

*Pop, Water Coffee* Will all come outta the budget

Location, Location, Location!

Some of you are probably wondering where the Reunion is going to be held, it's going to be at the Pitcarin Gun Club on Sunday July 21st 2013. From 4-10 pm.

The Gun Club is at:
505 Mosside Blvd
North Versailles, PA 15137

::::some things you need to know:::::

*It is going to be a dish to pass event, I have assigned each family a "category" which you will then tell me what you are bringing. This way we keep it organized and won't get 12 of the same dishes. My cousin Greg and I thought this was the easiest way to do this.

*This event is also a Bring your own Bottle, so you will be responsible for bringing your own alcohol. There is a small bar there to store it, but you must provide it.

*Lastly, each family will be charged $5 per person to attend the reunion. This will help to cover the costs of the rental fee, the paper goods and etc.. I really don't think that's too much to ask. If we have any money left over we'll be doing a 50/50 raffle! The money will be mailed to me with the RSVP card from your invitation. This won't go out until May.

*There will be Save the Date cards sent out to those who don't have email or aren't subscribed to this.

***more info to come***

This is a sample of some of the Decor for the reunion, the theme being none other than Serbian of course. This is going to be the centerpieces that are going on the table. I fell in love with these when I found them. I mean how cute, mini Serbian flags!! Tell me what you think.

My Big Fat Serbian Reunion 2013

Incase you haven't already heard, there is a Drakulic Family Reunion Scheduled for July 2013...

....With that being said, let me take a minute to introduce myself for those of you in the family who may not know me or remember me. I'm Alyssa Mochan, Jeff Mochan's oldest Daughter and Helen Mochan's Granddaughter. And, I am the one organizing and hosting this Reunion for you all! I am very excited for it, and I hope that you are too!

I made this blog for a few reasons, one of which is to keep you updated on the events of the reunion, the when, where, etc.. and I also thought this would be an easier way to reach you all then having to send letters in the mail, track down addresses and what not. All your family information in one simple place!

If you sign up to follow this blog, you'll get an email (to whatever email address you use to sign up) each time an update is posted. This way you can follow along and you wont miss out on anything too important.

If you don't want to follow along with the blog, but you need to contact me, shoot me an email at: Drakulic_reunion@aol.com that way I can keep all the family reunion emails together, and wont lose track of your stuff.

I will be in touch, make sure you sign up so you can follow me!

With Love,
Alyssa