Wedding Re-Cap Part 1

Ok here goes....

The blur begins about two weeks before the actual *big day*. Burnt out on work, and always the procrastinator, I decided to take the two weeks BEFORE my wedding day off from my "real" job in order to devote all of my time and energy to my new "job"... a.k.a. wedding planner extraordinaire. I pretty much gave myself 14 days to finish all the stuff I had been putting off for my entire 13 month engagement. In those brief, and unbelievably hectic two weeks I:

• Hired 2 limos for the day of the wedding
• Wrote my vows, the opening prayer for our ceremony, and an outline for the rest of our ceremony
• Scheduled hair stylists for my 8 bridesmaids
• Made the decision to do my own make-up (which led to me having to stalk every MAC counter I came across asking for tips)
• Selected ceremony music
• Made a "must-play" list for the reception
• Picked out a design for and ordered the cake
• Selected all the flowers I wanted
• Made the decision to just get the D*mn Chiavari Chairs
• Bought outfits for the welcome BBQ, the rehearsal dinner, and the farewell brunch
• Rented ceremony chairs, chair sashes, and table number stands - from three DIFFERENT rental companies
• Made out of town guest welcome bags
• Made 150 escort cards, 16 table numbers, and half a dozen other cutesy little signs
• Switched freakin hotels!
• Planned the entire rehearsal dinner
• Ordered presents for my bridesmaids, the groomsmen, and our parents
• Ordered flip-flops for my guests so their heels wouldn't sink into the grass (a HUGE hit, by the way)
• Put together what I can only describe as the worlds most awesome bathroom basket ever
• Ordered a fancy engraved silver cup/chalice thing that Kyle and I used for the wine blending portion of our ceremony (which by the way, was ALSO a last minute decision) and had it shipped to my house on the DAY BEFORE THE WEDDING! (UPS and Fed-Ex saved my butt about a million times during these two weeks!)
• Ordered 7 different sashes to potentially wear with my wedding dress (p.s. I didn't end up wearing any of them)
• Bought all the wine for the rehearsal dinner
• Made a Card Box
• Sized and re-dipped my wedding ring and engagement ring
• Finalized the linen rental
• Cleaned my house top to bottom
• And probably about a million other things that I'm forgetting now!

It was absolutely NUTS. In fact, if I had it to do all over again, that is one of the only things I would change. I would not procrastinate NEARLY as much. Oh well. I was up until midnight the night before the big day, still putting last minute stuff together, but everything that I wanted to get done, got done. I was so pleased. :)

I absolutely COULD NOT have done it without my bridesmaids. They were rock stars! On the Friday before the wedding, my sis helped make my out of town gift bags and my escort cards. She also fed me - which was VERY important, b/c about 4 days before the wedding I simply stopped eating because I was so busy/stressed. Seriously, it was all she could do to get a PB&J sandwich down my throat! Lucia and Alina went to the flower market for me, picked up flowers, and made 5 GORGEOUS flower arrangements for the reception - while I was out running errands. They also picked my dress up at the cleaners and checked into my hotel room for me! And Alina gave me a necklace to wear as my "something borrowed". (Seriously, 20 hours before I walked down the aisle, I had NO IDEA what my something borrowed would be - sheesh!) Emily and Sophie broke into my apartment in the middle of the night to retrieve my "something old" (my Dad's pocketknife) and my "something blue" (a Go Blue! Michigan garter) - I had forgotten to pack them before I left for the hotel. Sara glued card stock together for my table numbers - but only after warning that she wasn't especially crafty and that I shouldn't expect them to be perfect. (They totally were!) Kim lent me her sister to assist in my make-up dry-run (yes, the night before the wedding was when I did my first dry-run of my wedding make-up.) And Erica, magically, wonderfully, miracle of all miracles, fit into her bridesmaid dress with absolutely no alterations necessary, which I attribute to her fervent prayers. (Erica's dress was lost in the mail and we had to order her a new one at the last minute... it arrived to my house a few days before the wedding and so Erica, Kyle's sister who lives in Boston, never had a chance to try it, let alone get it altered! Each of my other 7 bridesmaids needed to have their dress EXTENSIVELY altered. My sister had to take it to her tailor TWO TIMES! Erica arrived at my house, tried the dress on for the first time, and it fit like a glove. It was an absolute miracle and I absolutely believe that Someone was smiling down on us.)

On the day of the wedding these 8 amazing women dressed me, buttoned allllllll my buttons (it took FOREVER!), fed me, drove back to the hotel for me to pick up my computer (my vows were on it, and I had forgotten to bring it with me!), copied my vows from my computer to a piece of paper for me to read from during the ceremony, helped me pee, cleaned split (Red!) wine off my wedding dress, helped me switch from heals into flip flops, and just were pretty much at my beckon call all day long. Seriously amazing. I love them all and am eternally grateful.

:)

Ok, part 2 to follow... stay tuned.

OMG! Do You SEE That Little Ticker Thing???

It says 3 days until I tie the knot. THREE DAYS!!!!!!!!

GAH!!!!!

I am 82 and a half hours away from being a MARRIED WOMAN! From having IN-LAWS! From having to check a WHOLE OTHER BOX on my taxes!!!

My wedding day has never, ever, been this close before! (It's true, think about it!) ;)

I'm off to shop for a dress for the rehearsal dinner and then to pick up a million things from Target and Jo-Anns.

I'm getting married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Thirteen

Thirteen is the number of pairs of white heels that I bought online this week. (!!!) Who knew it would be so tough to find shoes that no one is even gonna freakin see!? Ugh. Thank goodnees for free shipping both ways... it's sort of like having the mall come to me! But it's also sort of like having my living room taken over by a zillion cardboard boxes. Why has no one started a shoe company that sells nothing but cute, cheap, COMFORTABLE, white satin shoes??? I'm telling you, they'd make a fortune!

In other news - my bachelorette party is this weekend in LA! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!

96

Is it just me, or does 96 days sound infinitely shorter than 100 days????

96 days!!! Gahhhhhhhhhh!!!

I emailed a dance studio today... Kyle and I are going to take dance lessons so we don't step on each other during our first dance! Weeeee! Also my wedding invitations came in the mail on Friday (so fast!!) and I picked up a calligraphy book from the library today. My apartment is about to become a giant arts and craft center as I start to take on my various wedding related DIY projects. And CAKE! We've started talking to bakers abouts flavors, and filling, and frostings. YUM!

So, uh, yeah... did I mention? WEDDING!!!! In 96 days!!!!!! :D

Never Trust A Bug

Yesterday, as I was shutting the lights off in the bathroom, running late for work as usual, I came a across a rather large spider crawling on the wall near the light switch. Normally, in a situation such as this, I drop whatever it is I'm doing, run flailing to the kitchen, grab a cup, run flailing back to the spider (the flailing is key, mind you), scoop/will the creepy crawly into the cup, and then take him outside and gently deposit him on a bush or on the ground... and sometimes, if he's especially icky (or if it's cold out), I just just fling him as far as I can from my front door.

But yesterday, running late, I stopped, looked the spider, pointed my finger in his general direction, and said, "Hey Buddy! Normally I'd fling you but today I'm running late. You look like an upstanding spider, maybe we can work out a deal. I'll let you stay if you promise to eat those darn ants that keep infiltrating my bathroom. WHAT COULD THEY POSSIBLY WANT IN THE BATHROOM!? You're a pretty big spider, I bet you can also keep the other smaller, riff-raff spiders away. Keep it a one spider bathroom, you know? You don't bother me, I won't bother you. Each of us will let the other go about their business. But I don't want to be running into you like this on my wall next to my light switch. You stay outta sight. You hear me? Oh and I can't make any promises about the cats... if they catch you they'll eat you, and that's between you and them. But I promise that if you stay outta my way, I won't fling you, Deal?"

And he shook his creepy crawly fangs at me and I THOUGHT we had an understanding.

Boy was I wrong.

This morning... standing in the bathroom, brushing my teeth, wearing nothing but my undies, I felt a tickle on the small of my back. I assumed a hair had fallen from my head and was just sort of dancing there on its way down. But then it tickled again. I wonder what that is, I thought as I spit toothpaste into the sink and then turned to catch a glimpse of my back in the mirror.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Apparently, what *I* thought was an understanding, *Mr Spider* thought was a date! And I think he was headed for 2nd base.

In a bold move, I brushed him off me, WITH MY BARE HAND (ick!) And I continued to shriek. Kyle came in to make sure I wasn't dying, and I, still shrieking, showed him the beast that dared to set his grimy spider-feet on me. I then ran flailing off to the kitchen.

Kyle calmly called after me, "Sweetie, don't forget you're naked... and we have neighbors... and windows... and you're screaming, loudly."

EEK! I crouched down and then scuttled back to the bathroom, cup in hand.

With puppy dog eyes I asked, "Kyle, will you fling him outside for me? He broke his promise, but I'm too naked to do anything about it."

Pre-Wedding Diet... Or Something

With the wedding day approaching at what appears to be the speed of light, I've decided to take DRASTIC measures... I'm going on a diet. (Gasp.)

Anyone who knows me knows I don't *do* the whole diet thing. (Thank goodness I love vegetables... because if I had to eat them solely because some *diet* said I had to, they would NEVER get eaten. Sometimes I'm kind of a rebel.)

Anyway, to ensure success, I'm implementing some special diet tools. You know, like telling my friends about it so they can cheer me on, and posting my goal weight on the fridge, oh and having four teeth pulled so I can't eat anything. You know, the usual stuff. I'm gonna be SO SKINNY. Woo-hoo!!

...

Ok, so maybe I'm NOT having my teeth pulled in order to lose weight. Maybe there is no diet. Maybe I'm just finally having my wisdom teeth taken out (tomorrow!!!) and I'm TERRIFIED about it and I'm trying to convince myself that it'll be awesome instead of horrifying because I'll no doubt be all svelte and stuff after living on soup for a week and who cares! about the blood and the pain and the swelling and the gauze and the GIANT HOLES IN MY MOUTH! You know, kinda how you convince yourself that having the flu rocks because at least you fit into your skinny jeans for a few days afterwards?

Getting teeth pulled rocks too, right?

My dentist gave me a Valium to take right before the surgery... I think I might just take it now.

The Countdown Begins

I went to the gym today... in a full blown panic. I'm getting married in six months. SIX.FREAKIN.MONTHS.

Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

And can I also add ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhgggggggggggggggg.

When did it go from being FOREVER away (a.k.a. 13.5 months) to being like tomorrow (a.k.a. 6 months). Do you have any idea how fast 6 months can go by? Whoosh! (About that fast.)

Things I can cross off the Giganto-list-of-stuff-I've-decided-I-HAVE-to-do-in-order-to-not-die-on-my-wedding-day (overly dramatic Courtney is being overly dramatic):

• Save the data cards - check (I made them myself... I LOVE the way they turned out: Front / Back. They doubled as our Christmas cards.)
• Ceremony/Reception Location - check
• Select and Order Dress - check
• Book Photographer - check
• Find Hairstylist - check (just using my regular gal, I heart her, and this gives her incentive to not cut my hair too short prior to the wedding)
• Select Bridesmaid's dresses - check (Aren't they pretty!? They'll be cranberry colored)
• Select wedding colors - Cranberry, light pink, and bronze/taupe - check (unless I change my mind... again)

Things still looming:

• FINALIZE GUEST LIST!!! (p.s. this is the hardest thing on the planet to do! We ended up only sending save the date cards to like half our guest list b/c the darn thing is in such a state of constant flux and our venue has strict capacity limits which we're currently well above.)
• Order Bridesmaid dresses
• Select and book Caterer - this is eating at my soul
• Select and order veil
• Take engagement photos
• Find shoes
• Find "something borrowed"
• Figure out Honeymoon - we've tentatively dedided on Malaysia (it's got beaches, cool outdoorsy stuff, relatively affordable place tickets, it's not on the uber-strong Euro, it takes less than 30 hours to get there, and it won't be winter or monsoon or hurricane season, which is more than I can say for pretty much the rest of the planet)
• BOOK HONEYMOON BEFORE PLANE TICKETS GET ANY MORE EXPENSIVE!
• Figure out hotel accommodations for guests - EVERYONE keeps asking me about this!!!
• Figure out transportation to and from the wedding
• Find and book a florist
• Find and book a make-up person
• Figure out what I'm gonna do for Bridesmaids' hair and make-up
• Design and order/make Invitations
• Design and order/make Programs and Menus and any other paper stuff I might need
• Figure out chairs for ceremony
• Figure out decor for reception (This one item alone could take me all 6 months!)
• Buy wedding bands
• Find wedding present for Kyle
• Get marriage licence
• Get Kyle's dad certified to marry us (this will probably happen day of)
• Create/buy guest book
• Put together welcome baskets for out of town guests
• Firm and tone my flabby butt so I can wear a bikini on the honeymoon
• Find way to erase wrinkles from my forehead
• Find way to stop creating new wrinkles!
• Grow out my hair (think if I concentrate REALLY hard I can get it to grown an inch an month?)

Note that it took me 7.5 months to complete the stuff on the first list... how on earth am I going to finish all the stuff on my "still looming" list in just 6 months???

PLUS I have 8 other weddings to go to this summer. Yep. Including my own wedding I've got 9 weddings in 4.5 months. You do the math.

So yes, I believe the full blown panic was in order. Tomorrow I plan to do 900 sit-ups.

I BOUGHT A DRESS! (Again... And Then Again)

Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I'm so excited I could throw up. Literally. In fact, I almost did. This morning. Have I mentioned how stressful it is to plan a wedding??

ANYway.

I BOUGHT A DRESS!!!!! YES!

In fact I bought two dresses... in about 18 hours. Which brings my total number of wedding dress purchases up to three. Gah!

Who has two thumbs and buys THREE different wedding dresses?? This girl. [Points both thumbs at self]

Luckily there's that 24 hour return policy that the Bridal Galleria in San Francisco is SO AWESOME for having. I heart them, seriously. And I pity them. Well, mostly I pity Anne, my sales lady, who has now spent a grand total of five and a half hours watching me change in and out of fluffy white things. Oh, and fret. Yes, there was much fretting on my part and Anne was very patient. We love her.

So yesterday I went to Bridal Galleria to try on the Marisa 729 dress, which they told me they had. I got there at 11 am and, much to my dismay, they DID NOT have the 729 dress. (mrrrr) They did, however, have a similar dress (yay!) , which I didn't like as much (again with the mrrrrr.) And then the worst thing EVER happened. They told me that the 729 dress had been DISCONTINUED!!! I felt like someone stabbed me in the chest. Apparently it was discontinued JUST LAST WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And a call went out to the bridal salons to pull it from their rack. JUST LAST WEEK!!! I tried the freakin thing on on Saturday for crying out loud! And now, 8 days later, they're telling me it's discontinued!?!?!? Kill me. Anne told me that since it was JUST BARELY discontinued, they could probably still order it. But I'd have to act fast. Like order it right.then.and.there fast. (Which p.s. I really didn't want to do because I'd already found the 729 dress for $1000 less from a salon in Louisiana!)

So I had to weigh my options: Spend $1000 more and be sure to get the dress, or risk ordering it the next day, from a salon in Louisiana that I've never been to, to save a grand. Ugh.

And then I found another dress...

It just so happens that the salon was having a trunk show with one of my favorite designers, Lazaro, at the same time that all this fretting over the 729 dress was going on. And he was THERE! And he is AWESOME. As I was trying other dresses on (because, hey, while I'm there I might as well try on 15 more dresses) he picked out a dress from his (very large) collection specifically for ME! It was beautiful. Very luxurious. I thought FOR SURE I could never afford it. But it turned out to actually be in my budget!! (Hooray!) I wasn't a huge fan of the color, but Lazaro told me he could make it from a different color fabric, JUST FOR ME! I felt very special. So, after 3 and a half agonizing hours, [Do stick with the Marisa 729? Do I buy it here? Do I wait till tomorrow? Do I buy the Lazaro???] I bought the Lazaro dress. (And Lazaro sketched a picture of it for me and signed it and everything!!! Very cool.)

So anyway, then I went home and looked at pictures of me in the dress and decided that you couldn't see ME at all. It was all dress. A beautiful dress. But *I* want to be the star of the show, not my dress. I wanted the Marisa 729. But now the SF store was closed and the Louisiana store was closed and I had a dress that I didn't want. Enter fits of panic and nausea.

I could barely sleep last night.

This morning, on my way to work, I called the Louisiana store the MINUTE it opened. I told them I wanted to order the 729 dress. The man on the other end of the line told me it had been discontinued [heart sinks... eyes well up with tears] but that he'd call the designer really quick and see if he'd still make it. Sixty (horrible) seconds later, the nice Louisiana man came back on line and told me that I could order the dress [clouds part... angles sing.]

I told him the size (10), the color (white silk satin with white lace), and that I wanted 3 inches added to the length and a modified neckline (inverted scoop... like a bump instead of a dip). He took down my visa number and told me I'd have my dress in 5 months.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

I then called and canceled my (second) dress from Bridal Galleria. I'm pretty sure they hate me.

So now I have (one) dress that I love. And I saved $1000. Which put the dress WELL within my budget. And I bought it from a part of the country that could probably use the influx of cash (the salon is right in the heart of New Orleans) and the dress is made in America! I could not be happier.

The first dress I bought can be seen HERE and HERE.

The second dress I bought can be seen HERE and HERE.

The third (and final) dress I bought can sort of be seen HERE and HERE. (Remember, the dress will be a bit longer, with a different neckline, in a different color.)

Much better pictures of the dress I bought can be seen on this lovely lady's website. (Note: she changed the back and left the scoop in front... so my dress will be a bit different... but I think this gives the best idea of what it will look like.)

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Also, no, I'm not finished with my paper yet...

Can You Believe I'm STILL Not Done With My Paper??!!

I have officially grounded myself. My fiance and friends are all in Lake Tahoe right now... and I am sitting at home, alone, with no one but my cats and this damn paper to keep me occupied.

I HATE this paper.

And it's not even for school. It's for stupid work. And I don't even get paid to write it. I have to write it on my own time! FIFTEEN PAGES!!! Gah.....

I've actually considered quitting my job just so I don't have to write the thing. This is pathetic.

So I'm grounded. No leaving the house until the paper is finished!!! I PROMISED my boss it would be done by Monday... MUST FINISH PAPER!

But must first take a 5 minute break from my blogging moratorium... I miss my blog SOOOO MUCH!!!!!

(*Pouts and wishes her paper were finished*)

So, in other (less boring) news... The Dress!!! (*gasp*) Ummmm... I haven't found it yet. (Booo) But I'm getting closer... I can feel it. I have definitely gone from being SO EXCITED about trying stuff on to being SO OVER this whole process. I just want to be done already. All this shopping, and internet surfing, and magazine reading, and trying stuff on(ing) is so freakin time consuming!

I've started going to the bridal salons solo... because it's just a bit more efficient that way, and because I feel so bad about dragging my friends along, AGAIN, and because it's MUCH easier to convince the saleslady to let you take pictures when you are alone. "But... all of my girlfriends and family live FAR... I have NO ONE to shop with... PLEEEEEEEEASE let me take just one picture so I can at least send it to my mother." [Insert puppy dog eyes here] So yeah, it's been a lot of me in white puffy things all by my lonesome, lately.

I've also started perusing craigslist and ebay [insert panic here] to find my dress. I actually found something I might really like... only problem? It's in New York. Ugh. Luckily I have a bestest friend in New York!!! (YAY!) So, tomorrow, I'm sending her off to try on the dress for me. (Is that weird?) I've also sent her a list of 80 million questions to ask and things to look for. She thinks I'm a bit crazy, but loves me enough to play along. Her boyfriend has given her strict instructions to not get any ideas. :) The dress she is trying on can be found here. What do you think???

Speaking of getting your thoughts and opinions... Wanna see the dresses I've tried on so far??? (Well, at least the ones I've tried on and managed to get pics of...)

Click Here! Note: if you are Kyle... DO NOT CLICK THERE! Seriously.

These pics are set to private on Flickr... but by following that link, you'll have access to the private photos in my "The Search for the Dress" set. Enjoy!!!

I Bought A Dress!

... and then I promptly returned it the very next day. Because, for the price of the dress, I could have put a nice down payment on a snazzy new car, or bought 15 cameras, or two large screen Hi-Def televisions, or roughly 1,142 lattes. Quick, do the math, I'll wait.

Yeah. That much. For a DRESS! That I'll wear ONE TIME. Seriously.

The dress can be seen Here (Except I was going to replace the beads and sparkles with the lace from this dress.)

(Note: click on "View Alternate Images" at the upper right to see what the dress actually looks like - hard to tell from the glamor shot of the model - you can't even see like half the dress!!)

The dress was GORGEOUS, and fit like a dream! (And I think the fabric was nicer that what they show in the "view alternate images" photo, because, really, it was way more luxurious looking in person.) But, you know, my options were

Dress OR Cake and Flowers and Invitations and DJ.

So, no contest really. Sigh. It sure was purty, though.

Oh well, the search continues.

Wedding Dress Shopping Take 1

First this:

Comment from my mom on my last post:
Next time I get to go too.....that is part of getting to be mother of the bride - I get to go the bridal shop and cry as I watch you become a vision of loveliness over and over again.

Response:
Dear Mom,

Are you on crack? What is all this about “next time I get to go too”. This is ME we’re talking about here… you HATE shopping with me. Remember in high school, when I *finally* got my own room, and I got to upgrade from a twin sized bed to a full sized bed, which meant that I got to buy a new bedspread. Do you remember the nineteen stores I dragged you to in search of the *perfect* one. Do you remember shopping for hours on end, in store after store, patiently standing by as I hemmed and hawed over scores of choices that were nice but weren’t quite right. Do you remember me liking the border on this bedspread but liking the lace detail on that bedspread and if only the yellow were sunnier on this one or maybe the blue richer on that one, and oh! look at this one over here! It’s absolutely perfect on one side, but, oh, the back side makes me want to vomit, and you know, this one might work but I’d have to find just the right throw pillows to really pull it off… Do you remember being exhausted, and at your wits end, and finally breaking down and begging me to JUST PICK ONE ALREADY!!!! Remember???? And that was just for a freakin bedspread! Don’t make me remind you of the time you decided to help me pick out a new pair of jeans! Gah!

I am not fun to shop with. I am picky. Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiicky. And I plan to bring it to a whole new level with this white fluffy number. I foresee the process taking 6 months. And seriously mom, you do not want to subject yourself to 6 months of crowded bridal boutiques – they’re hot and noisy and sales women run every which way carrying 20 pound dresses wrapped in plastic while frazzled brides shout after them, “Lace! I need more lace!!” After an hour and a half yesterday even *I* had had about all I could handle. You’ll be sitting on a little bench outside the dressing room while I’m naked inside being dressed by a strange sales woman desperate to extol the virtues of the new taffeta numbers they just received. Every 15 minutes or so, I’ll emerge, listing off the things that aren’t quite right about gown, you’ll take one look at the price tag and say, “Oh Courtney! That’s too expensive, I can make this for you.” And then I’ll say, “Yes, Mom, I understand that you are very very talented in the dress making department, but do I really need to bring up the fiasco that was you making my prom dress, and the dark dark day that you *gasp* hemmed it too short and I all but committed suicide so horrified and forlorn I was that the dress would never be perfect? Do I!?!?”

I love you too much to do that to you. Trust me on this one. When I’ve narrowed it down to my top 35 choices, and I've given up on finding a dress that is both backless and very supportive, modern and traditional, made of rich heavy silk satin that is suprising light and easy to wear, with buttons AND a lace-up back, painstakingly detailed while remaining simple and unfussy, with straps that magically disappear whenever I need to lift my arms to hug someone, one that slices and dices and juliennes potatoes, all while making me look as if I've lost 15 pounds, then you can come. OK? Let me run around the block a few thousand times to wear myself out a bit before you start tagging along. I think we’ll all be happier.

Love always,
Your beautiful first born daughter, who you love unconditionally, even though sometimes she's a bit crazy

:)


Then this:

:( No pictures. Booo. Not that I found anything that I would even consider walking down the aisle in, but still, pictures would have been fun. I took exactly one (of my girlfriends patiently wiating for me outside the dressing room) before being reminded of their stirct no photo policy.


Patient ladies

I think they're afraid that you'll find a dress you like, snap a picture, and then go buy it cheaper someplace else. Which is probably what I'll do, so I can't say that I blame them. But still. I MUST find a way to take some sneaky pictures. Because, HELLO, the way the dress looks in picutres is sorta the most important thing. It could weigh 400 pounds and be held up with a thousand tiny daggers digging into my torso, if it makes me look good in my wedding photos, I'm buying the thing.

So anyway, the hunt continues. I'll keep you all posted. (Even you, Mom.)

Hey Look It's My House

First of all, let me just say that I am SOOOOO not cut out for contributing a post a day every day for thirty straight days in a row. This might actually kill me. Please pardon the mess if my head explodes.

Right. Now that that's out of the way... Hey look! It's my house!

But first, some disclaimers...

1. These pics were taken at night... which didn't make for the best lighting. I'm sorry.
2. These pictures DO NOT do justice to my house - I swear. My place feels all warm and cozy when you’re in it... but these photos don't give that impression at all. It just looks so blah.
3. And cluttered! It really doesn't feel cluttered in real life. But it looks so "AGH! Look at all the clutter" in these pics... I would have removed all the clutter and re-taken the shots, but it was 11:30 last night, and I was tired, and you know there's the whole gotta post everyday thing, so I'm stuck with these. Please forgive.
4. Do I really have to do this??
5. Please realize that I am about to share with the whole internet something that some of my closest friends have never even seen - my home. It's a very personal place for me, and I sort of have issues with letting people see it. But I'm working on getting over that - this seemed like a pretty good way to start...

So let's get to it. Shall we?


Our wine rack and hallway mirror... this is basically what you see when you walk in the front door (well actually you see a plain wall and then have to immediately turn right... and THEN you see the wine rack, but the plain wall is pretty boring, so I spared you all.)

Things that eat at my soul about this picture: (1) the bottle of wine in the lower left... would it have killed me to move it prior to taking the picture? Gah. It just looks so out of place sitting on the floor all alone. (2) Also, WHY DOES THE MIRROR LOOK DIRTY - I JUST CLEANED IT!?!?!?

Ok moving right along.


Here's our spare room. We can't even call it a "guest room" because it's too small for a bed... an inflated air mattress JUST BARELY fits. Kyle and I sleep in here when the in-laws are in town, all nice and cozy, wedged between the armoire (tall thing you can barely see on the left side of the pic) and the bookcase (not shown because I'm lazy). This room is just off the hallway shown in picture 1. (In fact, scroll back you, you can almost see the door on the left side.)

Things that eat at my soul about this picture: (1) there is totally something sticking out of the bottom drawer. Just barely. I didn't even notice it until just now. But GAH! If I had photo shop I would SO edit it out. (2) My curtains - SO WRINKLED!!!!! These didn't get ironed with the rest because I figured you couldn't really tell with the dark blue color, and because no one ever goes in this room. But BOY do curtain wrinkles show up in pictures! Yikes!!! (p.s. I will totally be ironing these when I get home tonight!) (3) The picture I have yet to hang sitting tucked between the dresser and the wall beneath the window. Again, would it have KILLED me to move it for the photograph!?!? Ugh. (4) Also, the light wood frame on the hung on the wall is totally crooked!! This actually astonishes me because I use scotch tape or Velcro on the back of all picture frames to ensure that they hang straight. (Crooked pictures eat my whole soul in one bite. Chomp!) I really can't even look at this picture any more for fear that the crookedness will make my eyes start to bleed.

Moving right along.


My kitchen... mostly I love the corner...

So here's a bigger picture of it:


Isn't it cute? My violet in the corner? She's growing flowers. This makes my heart sing! And the dragonfly painting and little kitty salt and pepper shakers? Gifts from my mommy. Warm fuzzies. I like this picture. Nothing eats at my soul here. Except, scroll back up and look at big empty space above the stove, this is where I'd like to cut a hole in the wall. Or maybe hang a nice spice rack. I could go either way. But the naked wall definitely eats at my soul.


Here's our little kitchen table and part of super cluttered fridge. (Yikes, it looks terrible! Remind me to organize those magnets and stuff when I get home tonight.) During the day these windows look out onto our neighbors garden. Very pretty.

Things that eat at my soul about this picture: (1) It's a pretty boring picture. Sorry. (2) I really should have removed that cord from the plug in the wall, so ugly. (3) Look how sloppily the windows are painted!!!!! It's like whoever did them didn't even TRY to keep the paint off the glass. If I could reach these windows from the outside (where all the ugly paint is) I would be spend a whole day happily razor blading the stuff off... but alas... we're on the second floor (house is directly above the garage) and we don't have a ladder. So I just have to deal with it. Ugh. If all my hair is grey by the time I get married, you'll know why.

Here we have our kitchen shelves. Nothing special to the casual observer. But there are actually all sorts of good things going on in this picture. (1) On the left you can see our back door. It leads downstairs into our garage and our storage room and our little sliver of outdoor space where I keep all my plants. I HEART our garage and storage room and little sliver of outdoor space and could not imagine living without them. The door is ugly, but all that it represents is beautiful. (2) The red and white apron that you can almost see hanging on the right side of the shelves... my mom made this for me for Christmas last year. I cannot wear it enough. (3) The jars! Filled with pastas, and rice, and sugar, and salt and flour. I LOVE them!!! (4) Our cookbooks! I love them too, and cannot wait to try every recipe in each and every one of them. (5) Our Wok! Hung on the wall! (Because really, is there EVER enough room in your kitchen cabinets to keep a wok that you use maybe once or twice a month?) Well, there might be room your kitchen, but not in ours! So darn it, we hung it on the wall. I quite like it. (6) The shelves themselves (hey, that rhymes!) Kyle and I bought this piece unfinished at Ikea and spent a whole weekend sanding it, finishing and sealing it, and then putting it together. It's not perfect, but it was defintiely built with love. :)

Ok, moving right along.

And now, we get to my favorite room! (Which we actually skipped on the way to the kitched because I wanted to save it for last.)

Again, it really doesn't look this cluttered in real life... and it looks much homier... and the curtains match the pillows and don't look all shiny. I swear. And that lamp that's sorta stuck in the middle of no where next to the couch, um, yeah, that totally doesn't belong there. But it was awkward to move, and plugged in behind the couch, so I left it. Please pretend it is not there.

The things that I do like are the watercolor of SF hung above the couch (so pretty!), my book shelf (it's snazzier in person) and the two little festive pumpkins I bought (next to the plant, sitting on the shelf that Kyle and I may or may not have glued in place using Liquid Nails in a moment of desperation because, darn it, we just could not get the thing to hang level with screws alone! a few hours before his parents arrived.)

And here's the other side of the room:


Yes, I see the ratty scratching post in the lower right hand corner. It's ugly, I know, but it keeps my couches in one piece. This is a functional house, people, not exactly Better Homes and Gardens material.

Things of note in this pic: The red photo album and the white binder on the book shelf? Filled with wedding stuff!!!!! :) As I run of things to post about this month, I'm sure you'll be given a peak.

Anyway, so that's mostly it. Whew! I didn't take pics of the bathroom or of my bedroom because... well... because I was lazy and tired. Maybe for tomorrow.

The End.


Our kitty, Yertle, not scratching the couch. Good Kitty.

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Note: all those places in this post where I refer to it as "MY" house... please scratch those and make it "mine and Kyle's" house. I'm still getting used to this whole living together thing.

Why Yes I Am Flipping Out, Thanks For Asking

Hits a smidge close to home...

Kyle's parents are coming to visit in exactly 83 hours. And they are STAYING WITH US. In our house! With all of the yet to be completely unpacked and put away crap EVERYWHERE. For a WHOLE WEEKEND!!! This is not ok. This is not ok at all.

I know they don't care if our house is messy. I know they love me no matter what. Blah blah blah. My brain gets that (mostly)... I just can't seem to make the rest of me get it too.

I do not like house guests.

Mostly because I'm insecure.

Which I hate admitting.

But hating it doesn't make it any less true.

So there I said it. I'm insecure.

Yuck.

I don't like the thought of people seeing my stuff. My personal, private, stuff... you know like the living room couch... and the coffee table. VERY intimate stuff! I don't like them seeing it and judging it and picturing it again later and judging more. (I'm starting to perspire a bit just thinking about it. Ugh.)

And now Kyle's parents are coming. And they will be LIVING with my stuff for 3 whole days! What if they don't like my sheets? I should buy new sheets. And maybe a new comforter. And probably a whole new bedroom set. And paint. We should definitely paint before they get here (in 82 hours and 46 minutes) so that the walls match the new sheets. It is VERY important that the walls and sheets be coordinated!!

And what if they open a drawer in the kitchen. My silverware - it doesn't all match! What if we're sitting at dinner (which we are TOTALLY ordering in, because the stress of cooking might actually send me over the edge) and they realize that the knives are from a totally different set than the spoons. Then what will we do?!?!?!

My girlfriends were amazing enough to come over last night (which, p.s. was crazy difficult for me to let happen - because hello! My house? It's a disaster. Remember? And I am not comfortable with other people knowing about my disaster. Gah!) But over they came. And I took a few deep breaths (Actually I hyperventilated for several minutes before they got there, but it was a soothing, calming, hyperventilation, I swear) and it was ok. They stepped over the piles of unfolded laundry, pushed aside the dirty dishes in the sink, helped me go through and THROW AWAY! box after box of toiletries. (I'm slightly addicted to buying new shampoo, and lotion, and face stuff, and random creams, and gels, and products that I don't even know the use for.) They even ironed my curtains! (Yes, when future in-laws stay with me the curtains get ironed, darn it!) It was shockingly, amazingly, wonderfully ok. (Note: This is a *big* deal for me!)

But still... the in-laws. They are coming. And while I may have survived letting my girlfriends see my scuffed baseboards and my desperately needing to be swept entryway, I am NO WHERE close to being ok with Kyle's mom and dad knowing that I'm not secretly the long lost daughter of Martha Stewart.

It's Gonna Be A Long Year

While flipping through a wedding magazine the other day, I saw a really pretty pink and green bouquet for a pink and green themed wedding. I was suddenly sad.

"Kyle," I said, holding up the glossy page filled with hydrangeas and peonies and moss colored ribbon, "look how pretty this pink and green bouquet is."

"It's lovely," he replied and then went back to reading his own book.

*dramatic sigh*... "I'm never gonna get to have a pink and green wedding," I whimpered.

"What??" He looked up again, concerned at my dramatic sigh and whimper (I've trained him well) "What's wrong? We can have a pink and green wedding if you want one, sweetie."

"But then I'll never get to have my 'various shades of red' wedding! And what about the plum and burnt orange wedding that I've been dreaming of on the side?! It makes me so sad that I can't have them ALL."

"Interesting... Do I really have a whole year of this to look forward to?"

"Yes!" I grinned, "Aren't you excited!"

A Year From Today

A year from today... from THIS VERY DAY... I will walk down the aisle and promise to love my best friend for the rest of my life. I will likely also squeal with my girlfriends, and cry to my mother, and fret over some details, and take some wonderful pictures, and scream at a vendor or four, and drink some fancy champagne, and panic about the weather, and potchke EVERY last little thing. But, mostly, a year from today, I will make the most honest, real, wonderful promise that I can make. I can hardly wait!


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Updated: GAH! I just realized that 2008 is a leap year... which means I have a whole EXTRA day to wait. Booooo.
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