Today marks the official 5-month countdown until the wedding! I don't know whether 5 months is that much more important than 6 months or 4 months, but it feels like one big, long homestretch now that it's (just about) 2009.
I didn't get as much done over my 10-day vacation as I would have liked, though it's not surprising since I was out of town and/or busy pretty much the whole time.
A few of my next to-dos are:
(1) get back to working out regularly again
(2) finish designing and order the invitations
(3) think about wedding hairstyles, cake styles, favors, bridesmaid gifts, etc.
(4) come up with a plan for flowers & ceremony decorations
We've started our pre-marital counseling (just 1 session so far) and we're looking forward to the rest of it... it's so good to have that to help us focus on preparing for our marriage, when it's so easy for me to just plan the wedding.
We're also thinking about all kinds of home improvement projects and what we can or should afford... painting, upgrading the kitchen, upfitting the bathrooms, putting in more security like kickproof doors and tempered glass (after increased break-ins in the area, including my neighbors across the sidewalk).
And finally, less than 7 weeks until Hillary's due to have my first niece! I can't wait :).
12.30.2008
12.25.2008
Christmas-ish
Holy cow - I do not know where all of December has gone! Sorry for the lack of post in the last 3+ weeks! This has been a very strange month and season for me - it's hard to even put into words how it feels. I've been feeling a lot less festive than in previous years, mostly for the obvious reason of not having mom here. So the Christmas season just hasn't had its normal appeal, and I can barely remember what it's supposed to feel like and be like. I thought I'd have these vivid memories and more acute pains of loss at this time of year - and I certainly have missed mom a lot - but it's more of a dull emptiness than I expected it to be. Just the feeling that things don't matter and there's no reason to do anything special. The fun is taken out of gifts and surprises and parties and baking and everything.
Plus, Christmas just seemed like a minor deal this year, since the real things I'm looking forward to will happen in the coming months - my new niece and my new marriage :). I'm just focused on those things I guess.
But nevertheless we did have a little Christmas celebration today. Hillary, Allen & dad came over to my house around 11:30 this morning and we had some sad pancakes with thin batter (my bad). We weren't really doing gifts this year, but dad did give us gift cards to Harris Teeter, me a couple shirts and Hillary a check for her windshield replacement. Then Hillary gave me the luggage she got as a Harris Teeter giveaway and I gave her a couple baby outfits I've picked up at random times on sale. We watched some of the Christmas Story movie and later made some potatoes to take to my aunt's house for dinner.
Christmas dinner was dampened by the fact that my uncle spent the entire afternoon & evening at the emergency room with his dad who had fallen and needed stitches in his ear. But the rest of us had a subdued dinner and gift-giving and that was that. Tomorrow we'll go to Hickory to see my dad's sister and her family.
I do have some pictures and a video though to make this post worth something :)...
These are my wonderful Christmas presents from Wade and the Tapps. Wade got me (us) the 42" flatscreen, and his parents bought us the TV stand and graduated shelf. All together it makes the house look so much sleeker - and I finally, for the first time in my life, don't have the smallest TV of everybody I know!
I joined the Tapps and their good family friends in Kiawah for the first half of this week, which was fun and relaxing. (They stayed there for Christmas, but I came back Christmas Eve.)
Paisley had her first experience with the beach and had a blast! What's not to love about running free on a wide open beach with 3 other dogs and tons of new things to explore?
In typical fashion, she had to chew on all the new things she saw - including dead horseshoe crabs - gross.
She's not a fan of water, but she did ok with the ocean. She was scared of the tide, but it was hilarious to watch as she tried to escape it when it came toward her.
Here's me and Whitney (Wade's sister).
This is the Tapps' dog Duke who is quite a character - we all love him and his crazy antics.
Duke and Paisley are two peas in a pod, just running and chasing each other - they had so much fun.
Some more running.
Here's Wade probably trying to get them to fetch a piece of driftwood in the ocean.
Aww, so cute.
One more of us.
I had a little video of Paisley being scared of the ocean but it's not wanting to upload, so I'll try again later.
12.01.2008
Engagement pictures!
Our engagement pictures are finally ready!
Click this link to see them: http://bellaloren.zenfolio.com/p92703892/slideshow
The password is Bella.
11.29.2008
Thanksgiving Old & New
We had our first big holiday without mom this week... I don't know what I expected, but it went very well under the circumstances. There was a big piece missing, and the day of preparations was not as full and lively as it was with her, but I believe it's a testament to how well she prepared us for life, and how much of her lives on in us, that we can still carry on and be a family and do a big Thanksgiving dinner like she would have.
It was fun to reminisce with pictures from last year's October Thanksgiving that we had when we didn't know if mom would live until the real Thanksgiving. She walked us through and taught us how to do the turkey, from removing the innards, to rinsing and patting dry, to making the stuffing and getting it in the turkey, to pinning all the flaps and putting it in the oven.
Here she was teaching us to dry the inside with paper towels before stuffing it.
This is my favorite - me, Hillary and my aunt Laurie all learning how to do this from the pro!
This year, through a collective effort of Hillary, dad and me, we pulled off a pretty good turkey if I do say so myself. We all collaborated to make the sides as well - I made sweet potato casserole, Hillary made potato rolls and tore the bread for the stuffing, dad hosted and bought peas and sauerkraut, and my aunt Laurie made apple pie and cranberry relish :).
Us with our turkey :)
Golden brown coming out of the oven (even if it was a touch overcooked!)
Ally and Paisley enjoyed their Thanksgiving bones from my dad in the yard all day!
11.25.2008
Wedding dress shopping
In my last post, I said I got my dress at David's Bridal for $99... well, I did get that dress... and then I had buyer's remorse and ended up getting a different dress at The Wedding Mall for $399! I'm much happier with that one though, and a friend is going to help me sell the other one on Ebay, I hope :).
These are some pictures of the first store I went to... Don't worry, none of these are THE dress, and I cropped my face out of most of them so Wade's not getting the whole picture before the big day. These are all $2,000-$4,000 dresses so that was definitely not happening!
This one was my favorite at this store, but again, $3,000 was not in the budget for a dress!
Also pretty
Really heavy at the bottom of this dress, even if it doesn't look like it
I did like the waist detail on this one
Very lightweight (dupioni silk)
11.10.2008
Wedding updates
I am so THANKFUL for various things that have been going well and falling into place recently for the wedding. The first couple weeks I was stressing out about lots of details that were frustrating and not coming together, but God has been so gracious lately and given me a bunch of incredible blessings:
(1) Wade has been the cutest fiance ever :). He's willingly come with me to meet with vendors, participated in wedding discussions, gotten excited with me, and even separate from wedding planning, he tells me he loves me constantly and is so excited for our life together.
(2) We were able to change our date to May 30 with no problem. There were several conflicts for June 13 with people in the wedding party, and most of the other dates around ours had conflicts as well. But the church and country club were still open May 30, and we're able to do an earlier wedding & lunch reception to get it within an affordable range with our guest list.
(3) I got my dress! And it was only $99! On my third outing to look at dresses, I went with my aunt to David's Bridal and found a dress I really liked. I didn't buy it right then because I had one more appointment set up at another store, but the next day, the sales guy called to say he found out the dress was on sale for $99! And the size in the store really fit me and shouldn't need any alterations except adding the loops for the bustle, so I just went and picked it up this weekend - done!
(4) I've been going back and forth on what to do for the cake. The club charges $1 per person "cake cutting fee" if you bring in a cake from another vendor. The club's social director told me their cakes start at $2 per person, so I was going to just go with that because I'd never be able to find a cake for less than that from another vendor. Then the pastry chef told me the cakes start at $4 per person, and I was back at square one because that would not fit in the budget. But today I learned that we get a $2/person credit towards the cake because of our reception, so it'll work out for the club to do the cake after all!
(5) I really like our photographers. I found them on the internet, but then found out that they've done the weddings for multiple people that Wade and I know. They're a husband and wife team and really fun. We did engagement pictures this weekend with all the beautiful fall leaves around, and it was a blast. I can't wait to see the pictures in 2 weeks!
The next things to do, I think, are finding a good DJ, florist, and looking for honeymoon spots. DJ recommendations are very welcome, because I definitely don't want somebody that's obnoxious or weird. And if anyone has a good place in Mexico for a honeymoon, let me know - we think that's where we want to go.
(1) Wade has been the cutest fiance ever :). He's willingly come with me to meet with vendors, participated in wedding discussions, gotten excited with me, and even separate from wedding planning, he tells me he loves me constantly and is so excited for our life together.
(2) We were able to change our date to May 30 with no problem. There were several conflicts for June 13 with people in the wedding party, and most of the other dates around ours had conflicts as well. But the church and country club were still open May 30, and we're able to do an earlier wedding & lunch reception to get it within an affordable range with our guest list.
(3) I got my dress! And it was only $99! On my third outing to look at dresses, I went with my aunt to David's Bridal and found a dress I really liked. I didn't buy it right then because I had one more appointment set up at another store, but the next day, the sales guy called to say he found out the dress was on sale for $99! And the size in the store really fit me and shouldn't need any alterations except adding the loops for the bustle, so I just went and picked it up this weekend - done!
(4) I've been going back and forth on what to do for the cake. The club charges $1 per person "cake cutting fee" if you bring in a cake from another vendor. The club's social director told me their cakes start at $2 per person, so I was going to just go with that because I'd never be able to find a cake for less than that from another vendor. Then the pastry chef told me the cakes start at $4 per person, and I was back at square one because that would not fit in the budget. But today I learned that we get a $2/person credit towards the cake because of our reception, so it'll work out for the club to do the cake after all!
(5) I really like our photographers. I found them on the internet, but then found out that they've done the weddings for multiple people that Wade and I know. They're a husband and wife team and really fun. We did engagement pictures this weekend with all the beautiful fall leaves around, and it was a blast. I can't wait to see the pictures in 2 weeks!
The next things to do, I think, are finding a good DJ, florist, and looking for honeymoon spots. DJ recommendations are very welcome, because I definitely don't want somebody that's obnoxious or weird. And if anyone has a good place in Mexico for a honeymoon, let me know - we think that's where we want to go.
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