it's the little things...

Nothing can start off a week like a biopsy. Well, except maybe a biopsy combined with bad news at work. Biopsies? Not a barrel of laughs but not as terrible as one would imagine. (Which I find is the worst thing...what one imagines.) I got to the doctor's office and decided to skip the vicodin. The Fiance seemed surprised when I told him I really can get a grip on my anxiety and calm myself down physically so that part wasn't a big deal. So you get to lie down on a massage-type table but instead of hanging your head through the hole, you hang your boob. Awesome. I think it's better that you can't see what's going on down there. I got more details from the technician when we were done. They deaden your skin and actual boob (which burns a little, I won't lie). And then they basically jam a straw through your skin and suck out specimens. But, you know, instead of an actual straw it's a big, fancy, expensive machine. I had about 6 taken out and they ...

I marked two things off the list yesterday. "Attend final dress fitting" and "Pick up dress." The only item I need for my attire is the veil--it's been ordered but allegedly won't be in until MAY! Sheesh, I hope that's an overestimate. Great shoes from DSW, borrowed bustier, jewelry from etsy, and 2 hair accessories made by me. I can't tell you how good it felt to have the bridal shop ladies want a second look at those (especially since I made two for a little more than 1/10th the cost of one you can buy at their store). I don't think I really wrote much about the dress shopping experience. It took one trip to one store to find it. While many people have told me that I needed to be open-minded with dresses, that they ended up picking something they never would have expected, I knew that wouldn't be the case for me. I had particulars in mind regarding color, fabric, shape, straps vs. no straps. I tried on maybe 6-8 dresses that met ...

The vacation is definitely over. But before I complain about real life, a quick recap... Costa Rica really was great. Definitely recommend it to anyone but even more to folks who are in the middle of wedding planning and medical testing. It makes for a nice break. We were very fortunate to have this opportunity to go. The Fiance's folks were staying down there for a month so we just stayed with them in their condo. When you add in frequent flyer miles, it makes for a reasonably inexpensive vacation. We stayed from the 12th-18th and pretty much just hung out for the first four days we were there. Spent some time on the beach, at the pool, on the balcony (soaking up the view and sunsets), wandering along the one street in town. We ate some great local food. We crossed the estuary at low tide to make it to the adjacent undeveloped beach, grabbed lunch, and took a water taxi back. We took naps. We hunted for seashells. The Fiance body boarded. I read. On Monday we took a d...

Has anyone been to Ireland? Any tips on what to or not to do there? I'm pretty sure I'll take thousands of pictures if it really does look like this.

Ahh, back from vacation. I don't think I've ever wanted to work less... It was a really good trip--right amount of relaxation and sightseeing. I'll have to write more about it later but I thought I'd post some pictures.

Even though it's a short work and wedding-planning week, I still got some things marked off the list. Yesterday, I ordered my veil. That means I have every piece of attire and accessory needed for the big day. I go in for my second (and hopefully last) fitting on the 25th. I can't wait! We have someone to marry us. For sure. And he's ok with us writing our own vows. He also mentioned readings for the ceremony which got me to thinking that I hadn't been thinking about them. I've found a few I like. I received the order for part of our favors. They look good! I sent out the engagement announcement for the newspaper. I forgot to mention that I reserved our chairs for the ceremony last week. I've finished my hair pieces and maybe have finished revamping the garters. I may come up with some fabulous additional idea later, though. I bought paper for the programs and for those cute little paper flowers I showed you before. Yea for Hobby Lobby sales! And while I was the...

You know those pictures they put on posters? Or on computer wallpapers? The ones you look at longingly and wish you were there instead of wherever you happen to be? We're going to be there from Thursday until next Wednesday. You know, if I get all my work done in time and pack and stuff. Look out, Costa Rica! (photos from here )

I feel like there should be one but this isn't it. I feel like there should be something thought-provoking (at least to me). But, again, this isn't it. Maybe you'll get something fabulous like that after I'm back from vacation... The weather this weekend was fabulous. Lately, we've had a series of those rare days where you can drive with the top down and open all the windows without running the heat or air conditioning. Where you can do yard work without feeling like you're going to die. It was awesome. The Fiance mowed the yard (and ditch!) and I cleaned the house and planted some vegetables. We're going to try our hands at some gardening. I also started some seeds last weekend and most of them are springing up now. It's so exciting to do that. There's so much visible progress in the little seedlings in just one day. Other than that, we mostly just rested and did a few low-key things. It was a good weekend. My across-the-street neighbor ...

I've been in Austin the last two days. In addition to listening to great music on the radio, I've enjoyed it because the weather is nice and the trees look like this (and the flowers smell like grape Kool-Aid): (photo from here )

I woke up this morning having to potty about 45 minutes before the alarm was set to go off. (Did I mention that last week I suddenly had a terrible UTI and had to go to Urgent Care in California? Yeah, that was fun. Better now.) So, I couldn't fall back to sleep until about 10 minutes before the alarm went off. Sigh... So I guess I've been up since about 4am. It was a productive day at a site I'm very behind at... I break for lunch and can't find a parking place. Park in a tow away and thankfully didn't get towed. I leave the site to head to the hotel and traffic is terrible. The GPS gives poor directions. She might as well say, "You have to turn in 0.2 miles but I'm not going to tell you which direction in hopes that you're in the wrong lane and have absolutely no way of making it over all those lanes in all this traffic." It took almost an hour to make it not enough miles to justify that length of time. I get to the hotel just now and it's a...

I look at a lot of wedding websites these days. And read many wedding blogs. All these people post all these ideas (which I love because I steal them and put my own spin on them). But I think, "Will anything be a surprise the day of the wedding? Do the guests even need to attend or will they feel like they've been there, done that before the day even arrives?" That's why I'm not spilling all the beans ahead of time. Here's a little glimpse, though. I made these for all my ladies. It makes bridesmaid duties official and also gave all the girls everyone else's contact info. Apparently this has already come in handy at least once. This was back at the very beginning when we still thought the wedding would be in the fall. We finally ordered Save the Date magnets once it appeared that we had a venue and the odds of me having cancer were decreased. The left side has our names and city of the wedding. Sorry about the terrible photograph...perhaps we need to regis...