ninety-nine percent sure

The DJ contract is getting e-mailed over today. Woohoo!

The Fiance and I finally like the same wedding invitation. Woohoo!

I don't want to be too free with the ideas on the blog before the wedding because I would like some things to be a surprise. However, I think I have a grasp on a few details that I was really torn about so that's good, too. Vague, I know. One is wedding site decor and the other has to do with reception place settings. Believe me, there will be so many pictures after the wedding I may post about nothing else until our first anniversary.

In other exciting news, The Brother and SIL may be back in their house NEXT WEEK! (Six months post-Ike for those of you keeping score.) They may be sitting and sleeping on their newly re-carpeted floors but they'll be there.

narrowing down

According to the site I'm using to help plan the wedding, we have 164 days until the big day. There are 124 To Do items. Let me tell you...early on I thought about keeping a list of how many decisions a person has to make in order to plan a wedding. Good heavens, people. I think there have been hundreds already. That 124 is a ginormous under estimation.

My main goals right now are:

1. Pick a photographer. I've done some narrowing down but need to do more. At least two of my favorites are still available for our date. Other than the groom and the dress, I think this may be the most important decision for me. It's one thing that you keep forever. And photography is one of my hobbies so I think I'm more picky. I want the photography to blow me away.
2. Book the rentals. We need to reserve chairs. And maybe tablecloths. I'm pretty sure about the specifics...
3. Decide on an invitation that we both like. My SIL told me that when planning their wedding, The Brother didn't really care one way or another regarding many decisions. But then he'd suddenly have an opinion on something she never expected him to care about. Apparently The Fiance has opinions about invites. Who knew? This is also a big decision for me because I love paper. So many people have told me they expected me to make our invitations but there are so many fantastic ones out there that I don't think I could improve upon them. And I have so many other DIY projects rolling around in my head. Invitations have proven difficult because there are so many ways we could go (and believe me, I've looked at hundreds of them). But finally tonight I think I've narrowed it down. I just need to see what The Fiance thinks of them...

So things are moving right along. I think my biggest problem right now is that I have too many ideas in my head. It's the same problem I have regarding interior decorating. Just like I need multiple homes, perhaps I need several weddings. I know, bite my tongue.

progress!

My goodness it was a busy weekend! The Fiance and I worked so hard we were both sore and felt like old people. Ok, I'm probably worse off than he is because he's so fit already. Here's what we got done:

• Bought boots for The Fiance's rodeo duties and a pair for myself at Goodwill. $17 total, baby!
• Bought wedding shoes for me!
• Mowed the yard
• Cleaned up/repaired the mower
• Hung a garden hose holder
• Hung an outdoor thermometer
• Trained some vines on the porch railings
• Planted a few new plants
• Cut some flowers for a pretty yellow and pink arrangement
• Hung the new bird feeder
• Swept the porch
• Weeded two of the beds and re-mulched! One of the beds is completely bare and we're going to turn it into a little garden for veggies and fruits. Seriously the most exciting thing in awhile (how sad is that?).
• Prepped and addressed about 65% of the Save the Dates.
• Narrowed down and finalized the guest list. I'm going to apologize right now for the fact that I can't invite everyone to the wedding. I have a huge family. And a huge number of pseudo-adopted family. And then there's The Fiance's list. I'd invite all of you if I could but I promise there will be lots pictures and probably more details than a person wants to read about.

Considering that I didn't realize until this morning that I go out-of-town today instead of tomorrow, I'll try to post some pictures on Friday. You may not realize how exciting the yard progress is but you can at least appreciate that it looks like spring (especially if you're still seeing nothing but snow where you are)!

one down, one to go (again)

Mammograms? Not as bad as people would lead you to believe. I had some very nice ladies mash my boobies and then do an ultrasound. Turns out that those lumps are just cysts. Non-threatening cysts. The bad thing about that is if there are changes in the girls, I won't know if it's just another normal cyst or something to concern me. I may be getting them smooshed more often than I'd like.

Also? There's microcalcification. This is often nothing to worry about as well. However, if there is an area with multiple microcalcifications, it could mean they're clumping around abnormal cells. In a nutshell? The right boobie is off the hook but the left boobie gets to be stabbed for a biopsy. I schedule this tomorrow.

mish mash

My birthday was good. I had a stranger ask if I was over 18 that day so that's nice. And it was drawn out, which I don't mind. The Fiance and I observed it the day before its actual occurrence due to schedules. We had some quality time and dressed up a little bit and dined out (fondue!) and opened presents. On Valentine's Day we went here because I don't remember ever going before. And on Sunday, I was finally surprised on my birthday with an informal little party with some of my favorite people. The evening was finished off with some Guitar Hero. Good birthday all around.

+++++++

The wedding planning continues. We have actual contracts signed and deposits down on the two locations. That means we have a legitimate date. I've ordered Save the Dates and those should be in by the end of the week. My dress came in and I had my first fitting on Sunday. It should be ready in about a month. Now we just need to pin down the rest of the big vendors and I'll be able to rest easy. It's all the little, DIY stuff that I'm looking forward to...

I realized last night that I'm probably dragging my feet a little bit because I still have one more doctor appointment before I'm declared healthy. I go to have the "northern girl bits" checked out on Thursday. While I've done a pretty good job ignoring it until the appointment approaches, I guess it's been in the back of my mind. It gets pushed a bit more to the forefront when I hear about my SIL's good friend who is battling breast cancer (double mastectomy, chemo, upcoming radiation...and she's 30). I know everything could be fine. I could finally just be a girl happily planning her long-awaited wedding instead of a girl wondering if people would feel bad enough about the cancer bride to give deposits back.

Quick update: We now have a caterer and the DJ we want is available. Progress!

32

It's my birthday. Yesterday was my birthday observed (with The Fiance). More thoughts later...work doesn't stop for birthdays. Sadly.

i'm feeling

Tired. I shouldn't. I got some rest yesterday. I didn't wake up terribly early. I'm blaming the dreary weather. It can't help but lure you into napping.

Freaked out. Dude, that wedding countdown thing is less than 6 months. Yep, I'm freaked out. It doesn't seem like I'm far enough along in planning. I keep thinking of more things to do...it does not seem like the list is getting shorter.

Busy. It feels like there's so much going on that I'm like, "My birthday? Whatever. Valentine's Day? Whatever." Yeah, that's happening this week. I feel ill-prepared. I've always looked forward to my birthday well in advance but not this year. And it's not even because I'm having some sort of aging crisis. I'm just busy.

I'm also apathetic about work and feel like I could be working in the yard or painting the Ugly Bathroom or anything but responding to e-mails and harassing people...

very good day

I can't tell you all the reasons why but it is one of the best days in a long time. What I can tell you is that my wedding dress is in (almost a full month early!).

It's a lovely, sunny day.

I had a flat tire last night and was lucky enough to have The Brother to change it. I also didn't have this happen while driving 70mph or far from home or have a blow out. Because let me tell you, that tire was in bad shape. So was its partner because my car was really out of alignment. While some would look negatively at this unexpected expense, I'm just glad I had the money to fix it and that nothing worse happened.

I had good leftovers for lunch.

I've made a few wedding purchases over the last few days and have gotten many more ideas about things.

You wanted to know wedding colors... I want most of the affair to be pretty neutral. The girls' dresses will be like a mocha color (photo courtesy of Alfred Angelo):

Note: that is not the dress...just looking at the color. But the flowers and some of the reception decorations will be really fun pops of color. Now, when I tell people this they never have a very good look on their face but I think it's going to be fantastic. You just have to trust me. We're going with this (photo courtesy of theknot.com):

Yep, orange and green (but some of the flowers will be apple green as well). Repeat after me, "It's going to be fantastic." It is, you know.

a little weekend recap

I started things off with a productive Friday (which has been like pulling teeth around here lately). I got to help someone out at work, get some office things done, had lunch with The Fiance, and worked a bit on The Ugly Bathroom. Then The Brother spent the night so that he could rest up before his big certification exam. Why are all certification exams the same? You have to pick the alleged best answer from a group of terrible ones, you leave without any good sense of how you did, and then you don't find out for at least a month.

On Saturday I was forced to clean the house and I did a little rearranging in the office. We took advantage of the fantastic weather and The Fiance ran while I walked briskly along some of the nearby trails. I remembered how much I love those trails and wondered why I don't venture down there more often. We got a little window shopping in and got ready for the most super awesome engagement party ever.

Three of my lovely bridesmaids hosted the cocktail party. The food and beverages were great (including a chocolate fountain), the flowers were pretty, there was a real live musician playing the guitar, and there were cute little napkins with our names on them. Everything, of course, was in wedding colors. And then you add almost all of my favorite people and that makes for a great time. Thank you, nice ladies.

Our relatively late night (man, we're old) meant sleeping in followed by a good brunch. It was a pretty mellow Sunday with some errands thrown in. Why does it never seem like the weekends are long enough? And why are Mondays so hard?