This week is all wedding, all the time...
Except that I'm baking this morning, because my procrastination patterns are that predictable. I can't even tell you how many finals-week-cookies I baked in college. Now it's the last week before the wedding, and I've refined my justification techniques (if not my procrastination style): I'm making M the muffins he's been craving.
Aww. So sweet. And sooooooo not running the errands I'm supposed to get done today.
After that I'm off to meet someone for lunch, and then on to those aforementioned errands. :) In my defense, I enrolled for next year's benefits, turned in my mileage totals, and answered a couple emergency emails this morning, so it's not been all fun, games and baking.
If you need me, call the cell. I'll be busy, but around.
Showing posts with label Wedding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wedding. Show all posts
Monday, November 02, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Maybe
So I woke up this morning, answered some emails, drank some coffee and ... realized that I feel all fluttery and unable to sit still. At ten days and counting, I think I may be actually excited about the wedding.
Or I've had too much coffee.
Or I'm just really glad that tomorrow's my last day in the field for awhile.
But maybe I'm excited about the wedding. Or terrified. But I'm voting for excited.
So I woke up this morning, answered some emails, drank some coffee and ... realized that I feel all fluttery and unable to sit still. At ten days and counting, I think I may be actually excited about the wedding.
Or I've had too much coffee.
Or I'm just really glad that tomorrow's my last day in the field for awhile.
But maybe I'm excited about the wedding. Or terrified. But I'm voting for excited.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
RSVP
Today's our RSVP date. In theory, by this evening (or the weekend, allowing for some USPS lag) we should know how many guests will be attending the wedding. I have some undecided cousins out there, and at least one friend did not RSVP... despite making it otherwise known they'd be attending. It looks like we'll be around 80-85 people, which is small enough to make M relax a little and large enough to include most of our immediate family.
It's getting exciting again. I enjoy watching things come together. In reflection, as much as we've needed to spread wedding planning out over a year or more... it's been agonizing to be in a hurry-up-and-wait project for so long. Just five weeks and a couple days to go!
Yay! ^_^
Today's our RSVP date. In theory, by this evening (or the weekend, allowing for some USPS lag) we should know how many guests will be attending the wedding. I have some undecided cousins out there, and at least one friend did not RSVP... despite making it otherwise known they'd be attending. It looks like we'll be around 80-85 people, which is small enough to make M relax a little and large enough to include most of our immediate family.
It's getting exciting again. I enjoy watching things come together. In reflection, as much as we've needed to spread wedding planning out over a year or more... it's been agonizing to be in a hurry-up-and-wait project for so long. Just five weeks and a couple days to go!
Yay! ^_^
Monday, September 07, 2009
Delegate, delegate, delegate
Mom is making our binding cloth, and looking for an appropriate altar cloth. Pam is making our favor cards. Two big artsy projects that I don't have time for are handed off to capable people with more free time than me. Yay.
Next weekend we need to find whatever other incidentals are necessary for the ceremony, and finish whatever notes I owe Katie. And there's music to sort out, too.
The weekend after that is probably our wedding shower, and then I have my dress fitting the following weekend. Mid-week after that is our RSVP date, so then I can start talking real numbers with all of our vendors and finish paying for things.
I'm guessing there's another dress fitting in there somewhere, and a weekend retreat (very small bachelorette party highly focused on relaxing and not coordinating a bazillion people), and all of a sudden we'll be in the last weekends of our single lives!
I know there's a slew of intervening weekdays, but with my travel schedule I can't capitalize on them as fully as some brides-to-be. There's also two Sabbats and two full moons left, and work keeps dangling the prospect/threat of international travel out there to keep my stress levels high and all of my senses hyper-acute.
Most of the time I feel like I have a lot of it under control... but every once in awhile I get panicky and feel completely overwhelmed. Usually when other people try to help, and in the process attempt to enforce their priorities and personal interests. Then I get stressed and uncertain. But when I step back, look at the spreadsheets, and remember that I've got 90% of it sorted, 5% isn't important and the other 5% probably won't work out the way I planned anyway... we're okay.
3/4 of the wedding is already paid for. The remainder we have set aside in savings. Our vendors (well, the ones I get to talk to directly), are on task and very clear on communicating what they need from me and when they need it. Most of our guests see no need to invoke the drama llama, which is better than it could have been... given that we have two sets of divorced parents, each with their own new SO, who are all coming to the wedding.
Now that I have my top to-dos done, or delegated, it's time to make a new to-do list. Exactly two months and counting... and then I'll need a new gigantic project to take up all my free time.
Mom is making our binding cloth, and looking for an appropriate altar cloth. Pam is making our favor cards. Two big artsy projects that I don't have time for are handed off to capable people with more free time than me. Yay.
Next weekend we need to find whatever other incidentals are necessary for the ceremony, and finish whatever notes I owe Katie. And there's music to sort out, too.
The weekend after that is probably our wedding shower, and then I have my dress fitting the following weekend. Mid-week after that is our RSVP date, so then I can start talking real numbers with all of our vendors and finish paying for things.
I'm guessing there's another dress fitting in there somewhere, and a weekend retreat (very small bachelorette party highly focused on relaxing and not coordinating a bazillion people), and all of a sudden we'll be in the last weekends of our single lives!
I know there's a slew of intervening weekdays, but with my travel schedule I can't capitalize on them as fully as some brides-to-be. There's also two Sabbats and two full moons left, and work keeps dangling the prospect/threat of international travel out there to keep my stress levels high and all of my senses hyper-acute.
Most of the time I feel like I have a lot of it under control... but every once in awhile I get panicky and feel completely overwhelmed. Usually when other people try to help, and in the process attempt to enforce their priorities and personal interests. Then I get stressed and uncertain. But when I step back, look at the spreadsheets, and remember that I've got 90% of it sorted, 5% isn't important and the other 5% probably won't work out the way I planned anyway... we're okay.
3/4 of the wedding is already paid for. The remainder we have set aside in savings. Our vendors (well, the ones I get to talk to directly), are on task and very clear on communicating what they need from me and when they need it. Most of our guests see no need to invoke the drama llama, which is better than it could have been... given that we have two sets of divorced parents, each with their own new SO, who are all coming to the wedding.
Now that I have my top to-dos done, or delegated, it's time to make a new to-do list. Exactly two months and counting... and then I'll need a new gigantic project to take up all my free time.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Busy
Today we went to see my mom, dropped off her CDs and Jess's dress, and spent some time talking about some of the many things left to sort out about the wedding.
I'm noticing a trend in the people who have offered to help us with the wedding. I'm pretty sure that everyone, myself included, has vastly underestimated how busy they will be. On the day of... in the month prior... oh, it's a systemic problem with a group of A-type over-achievers.
My calendar looks like a solid block of crazy from here until the wedding, and that's without the normal things like grocery shopping and laundry blocked in. Add clothes shopping for our honeymoon, getting both cars' oil changed, and whatever else may come up and we're approaching overbooked.
RSVPs keep rolling in, but we've had enough regrets come in that we're back to our original estimate on headcount. We'll likely dip a little under that number when everyone's accounted for, but for now we're clear of a run-in with the fire marshall!
Today we went to see my mom, dropped off her CDs and Jess's dress, and spent some time talking about some of the many things left to sort out about the wedding.
I'm noticing a trend in the people who have offered to help us with the wedding. I'm pretty sure that everyone, myself included, has vastly underestimated how busy they will be. On the day of... in the month prior... oh, it's a systemic problem with a group of A-type over-achievers.
My calendar looks like a solid block of crazy from here until the wedding, and that's without the normal things like grocery shopping and laundry blocked in. Add clothes shopping for our honeymoon, getting both cars' oil changed, and whatever else may come up and we're approaching overbooked.
RSVPs keep rolling in, but we've had enough regrets come in that we're back to our original estimate on headcount. We'll likely dip a little under that number when everyone's accounted for, but for now we're clear of a run-in with the fire marshall!
Monday, August 24, 2009
10
There are ten more weekends between now and our wedding (not including the wedding). Ten weekends, in which to have people come visit, make favors, get my dress altered (find shoes so I can get my dress altered), have the traditional gatherings and parties, pay down the remaining costs, etc etc etc etc. Twenty-one non-working days (because of Labor Day).
Excuse me while I quietly freak out.
Also, a certain sub-section of my family has decided to be epically asinine about our wedding. Too bad there's no punitive invitation-retraction etiquette. M's family, on the other hand, is collectively excited and supportive and coming from all over the place to visit. (The majority of my family is awesome, too, but the stark contrast between the Crazies and Everbody Else is almost painful.)
I may have over-estimated the value of being generous in including my (obnoxious) extended family, and M may have under-estimated how willing his relatives are to travel great distances and hang out in the mountains to visit with one another, eat cake, and, you know, see us get married.
Most of the wedding ceremony is written, and now I have to go find/make stuff for the ceremony. RSVP cards are rolling in, and some of our favorite (non-obnoxious) people have decided to come. All in all the good certainly outweighs the bad.
AND... M started school today. More or less. Except that his car decided it needed a new distributor on his way to school, so he picked up his Trig assignments and will sort English out on Wednesday.
Never a dull day in our world. Then again, I am home on a week night so it certainly could have been worse.
Ten weekends. Crazy. But that also means ten weeks until I'm on three weeks of vacation. Awesome. And another til I'm married. Double awesome. And if work asks me to come back from my honeymoon early to deal with the next million dollar system I think I may dig deep down to my inner two-year-old and have a tantrum with HR worthy of an extra early bedtime.
Oh yeah. Ten weeks and I maybe kinda might have to go to Europe between now and my wedding. HAHAYOU'RESOFUNNYSALESGUY, No.
Kthnx bai.
><
There are ten more weekends between now and our wedding (not including the wedding). Ten weekends, in which to have people come visit, make favors, get my dress altered (find shoes so I can get my dress altered), have the traditional gatherings and parties, pay down the remaining costs, etc etc etc etc. Twenty-one non-working days (because of Labor Day).
Excuse me while I quietly freak out.
Also, a certain sub-section of my family has decided to be epically asinine about our wedding. Too bad there's no punitive invitation-retraction etiquette. M's family, on the other hand, is collectively excited and supportive and coming from all over the place to visit. (The majority of my family is awesome, too, but the stark contrast between the Crazies and Everbody Else is almost painful.)
I may have over-estimated the value of being generous in including my (obnoxious) extended family, and M may have under-estimated how willing his relatives are to travel great distances and hang out in the mountains to visit with one another, eat cake, and, you know, see us get married.
Most of the wedding ceremony is written, and now I have to go find/make stuff for the ceremony. RSVP cards are rolling in, and some of our favorite (non-obnoxious) people have decided to come. All in all the good certainly outweighs the bad.
AND... M started school today. More or less. Except that his car decided it needed a new distributor on his way to school, so he picked up his Trig assignments and will sort English out on Wednesday.
Never a dull day in our world. Then again, I am home on a week night so it certainly could have been worse.
Ten weekends. Crazy. But that also means ten weeks until I'm on three weeks of vacation. Awesome. And another til I'm married. Double awesome. And if work asks me to come back from my honeymoon early to deal with the next million dollar system I think I may dig deep down to my inner two-year-old and have a tantrum with HR worthy of an extra early bedtime.
Oh yeah. Ten weeks and I maybe kinda might have to go to Europe between now and my wedding. HAHAYOU'RESOFUNNYSALESGUY, No.
Kthnx bai.
><
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
3 months out
In three months I will be married, have a new last name, be on the first sizeable vacation I've taken in two years, be the primary wage-earner for my new family, and hopefully will have adjusted to at least one of these big changes.
All of the little details of wedding planning are starting to come due -- alterations, making favors, writing the ceremony, planning programs, RSVPs and table assignments, arrangments for out of town guests -- and I've finally come to a point where I can start identifying things I need/want help with. I think I need to make new lists, and trying to keep focused as the number of weekends before our wedding dwindles. I also need to stop adding new tasks that I don't have time for, just because it sounds like a good idea (or is sentimental enough to get me to commit without thinking).
I am very glad that I got my time off request approved so far in advance, because I doubt anyone would sign it now.
In three months I will be married, have a new last name, be on the first sizeable vacation I've taken in two years, be the primary wage-earner for my new family, and hopefully will have adjusted to at least one of these big changes.
All of the little details of wedding planning are starting to come due -- alterations, making favors, writing the ceremony, planning programs, RSVPs and table assignments, arrangments for out of town guests -- and I've finally come to a point where I can start identifying things I need/want help with. I think I need to make new lists, and trying to keep focused as the number of weekends before our wedding dwindles. I also need to stop adding new tasks that I don't have time for, just because it sounds like a good idea (or is sentimental enough to get me to commit without thinking).
I am very glad that I got my time off request approved so far in advance, because I doubt anyone would sign it now.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Registering: Round 1
Wow. Perhaps the most exhausting and stressful thing M and I have done yet for the wedding is registering. Some traditional gifts were easy -- we like this china pattern and have this many seats at a formal table, done -- and some simple things were excruciating -- we spent 10 min discussing the relative merits of one sheet color over another. Then there's the worry that we're putting frivolous or silly things down that may seem overly-material or unnecessary, and the sticker shock at vacuum cleaners. (Seriously?! That's more than my Cuisinart. There's something wrong here.) We tried to register for stuff we'd use, and use for a long time, without needlessly duplicating items we already have.
I've heard my cousin say that registering was the most fun she had in wedding planning. She must be CRAZY! I hate making a wishlist for gifts. If there's something I really desperately want, I'll save up and get it for myself. We've had to actually hold off on getting things we wanted this year, so that we could put them on our registry instead. Weirdness.
We'll take a look at the list tomorrow, and make adjustments as needed. We also want to register for some specialty stuff at another store, so we have another trip out into retail land to make. Maybe not this weekend, though. M will kill me if I drag him into another housewares store.
We also handed off the guest list and most of our invites to my amazing mother, who offered to address and mail all of them for us. This is a HUGE deal, even though we're having a relatively small wedding. I'm taking care of the friends list, which is less than 20% of the overall list, and she's taking on the rest of it.
Wow. Perhaps the most exhausting and stressful thing M and I have done yet for the wedding is registering. Some traditional gifts were easy -- we like this china pattern and have this many seats at a formal table, done -- and some simple things were excruciating -- we spent 10 min discussing the relative merits of one sheet color over another. Then there's the worry that we're putting frivolous or silly things down that may seem overly-material or unnecessary, and the sticker shock at vacuum cleaners. (Seriously?! That's more than my Cuisinart. There's something wrong here.) We tried to register for stuff we'd use, and use for a long time, without needlessly duplicating items we already have.
I've heard my cousin say that registering was the most fun she had in wedding planning. She must be CRAZY! I hate making a wishlist for gifts. If there's something I really desperately want, I'll save up and get it for myself. We've had to actually hold off on getting things we wanted this year, so that we could put them on our registry instead. Weirdness.
We'll take a look at the list tomorrow, and make adjustments as needed. We also want to register for some specialty stuff at another store, so we have another trip out into retail land to make. Maybe not this weekend, though. M will kill me if I drag him into another housewares store.
We also handed off the guest list and most of our invites to my amazing mother, who offered to address and mail all of them for us. This is a HUGE deal, even though we're having a relatively small wedding. I'm taking care of the friends list, which is less than 20% of the overall list, and she's taking on the rest of it.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Something for (next to) nothing
M and I booked our travel arrangements for our honeymoon yesterday. We're making the most of our Hilton, Marriott and Hertz points. We'll be spending 8 nights in Waikoloa and paying nothing for our hotel expect room taxes and parking fees. We'll have a rental car for the whole trip, and pay for one or two days of it. We weren't able to turn out air miles into free tickets, so we're paying for our flights. Our base travel expenses (not counting food, activities, or gas for the rental, or shopping) come out to about $1500 -- hugely cheaper than paying for all of this out of pocket.
Truth be told, we'd have a far simpler vacation if we had to pay for our hotels and the entire car rental. We're finally seeing an upside to the tremendous strain that all this travel puts on our relationship, and it's nice to have a snazzy vacation to look forward to when all the wedding planning is done. Especially one that's indulgent without breaking the bank.
That's one more thing off the to-do lists! Woo!
M and I booked our travel arrangements for our honeymoon yesterday. We're making the most of our Hilton, Marriott and Hertz points. We'll be spending 8 nights in Waikoloa and paying nothing for our hotel expect room taxes and parking fees. We'll have a rental car for the whole trip, and pay for one or two days of it. We weren't able to turn out air miles into free tickets, so we're paying for our flights. Our base travel expenses (not counting food, activities, or gas for the rental, or shopping) come out to about $1500 -- hugely cheaper than paying for all of this out of pocket.
Truth be told, we'd have a far simpler vacation if we had to pay for our hotels and the entire car rental. We're finally seeing an upside to the tremendous strain that all this travel puts on our relationship, and it's nice to have a snazzy vacation to look forward to when all the wedding planning is done. Especially one that's indulgent without breaking the bank.
That's one more thing off the to-do lists! Woo!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Scare Tactics
When I ordered my dress in late February, the store tried their best to make it sound like ordering eight-and-a-half months before the wedding was just about right to have everything fitted and delivered in time.
My dress is sitting at the shop, waiting for me to get back to San Diego and claim it. It's been less than a month, and February's only 28 days.
All of the bridesmaids dresses are in already, too.
So much for a 4-5 month lead time. All the same, it's paid for in full so I don't have to worry about it as an upcoming expense anymore (just alterations, which can be pricey too).
Less about foolishly manipulative salespeople, more about the details many people are bugging me about:
We ordered our rings, and have admitted to each other that we're going to have a really hard time waiting until November to wear them. Our wedding bands are very different, but I'm excited to see them both. I love the style M chose, especially because he's really happy with it.
We think we've found our florist, if she can rescue her design pages off her recently-crashed MacBook. We've found a time to take our engagement photos, so we can make and send out save the dates, which will probably go out about 6 months before the wedding (maybe five and half). I feel moderately organized, but we still have to get our invitations, find an officiant, work on our ceremony and vows, and figure out the legal, financial, and relationship counseling we'll need to blend things as smoothly as possible.
Planning a wedding still feels surreal to me. It also takes a lot of time away from other projects... like working on the house! Next year should be so much quieter--no wedding to plan and M will already be back in classes, so that big adjustment will be past as well.
PS: Say encouraging things to M. He's working on getting ready to enroll for Fall classes. :) I am very proud of him!
When I ordered my dress in late February, the store tried their best to make it sound like ordering eight-and-a-half months before the wedding was just about right to have everything fitted and delivered in time.
My dress is sitting at the shop, waiting for me to get back to San Diego and claim it. It's been less than a month, and February's only 28 days.
All of the bridesmaids dresses are in already, too.
So much for a 4-5 month lead time. All the same, it's paid for in full so I don't have to worry about it as an upcoming expense anymore (just alterations, which can be pricey too).
Less about foolishly manipulative salespeople, more about the details many people are bugging me about:
We ordered our rings, and have admitted to each other that we're going to have a really hard time waiting until November to wear them. Our wedding bands are very different, but I'm excited to see them both. I love the style M chose, especially because he's really happy with it.
We think we've found our florist, if she can rescue her design pages off her recently-crashed MacBook. We've found a time to take our engagement photos, so we can make and send out save the dates, which will probably go out about 6 months before the wedding (maybe five and half). I feel moderately organized, but we still have to get our invitations, find an officiant, work on our ceremony and vows, and figure out the legal, financial, and relationship counseling we'll need to blend things as smoothly as possible.
Planning a wedding still feels surreal to me. It also takes a lot of time away from other projects... like working on the house! Next year should be so much quieter--no wedding to plan and M will already be back in classes, so that big adjustment will be past as well.
PS: Say encouraging things to M. He's working on getting ready to enroll for Fall classes. :) I am very proud of him!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Progress!
Yesterday we squared away lodging logistics for our bridal party, selected and ordered formal wear including my dress and M's tux, and had some bonding time with our bridal party. Everyone got along swimmingly, and I was impressed that we got out of the Bridal boutique in two hours flat. Have I mentioned yet that my bridesmaids and Maid of Honor are awesome?
Meanwhile, the groomsmen and Best Man somehow got M to make a decision about formal wear. They were done early, and secured a pair of tables for us at a nearby coffee house.
Cooking for lots went well, too. We had nine people around the table last night for a big, family style meal. M took a portion over to our elderly neighbor, Bob. It felt really good to have our giant table filled with friends and food and laughter. The recently de-boxed living room handles a crowd fairly well, but needs more seating (which we knew). In the quiet, unstructured time, we're introducing Im & Jess to Leverage.
Yesterday we squared away lodging logistics for our bridal party, selected and ordered formal wear including my dress and M's tux, and had some bonding time with our bridal party. Everyone got along swimmingly, and I was impressed that we got out of the Bridal boutique in two hours flat. Have I mentioned yet that my bridesmaids and Maid of Honor are awesome?
Meanwhile, the groomsmen and Best Man somehow got M to make a decision about formal wear. They were done early, and secured a pair of tables for us at a nearby coffee house.
Cooking for lots went well, too. We had nine people around the table last night for a big, family style meal. M took a portion over to our elderly neighbor, Bob. It felt really good to have our giant table filled with friends and food and laughter. The recently de-boxed living room handles a crowd fairly well, but needs more seating (which we knew). In the quiet, unstructured time, we're introducing Im & Jess to Leverage.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Let them eat cake
Revised, shorter version...
M and I went cake tasting, and found ourselves in the sticky situation of trying to incorporate all the delicious flavors we tried into our future cake! One of the ones I really wanted to try wasn't available today, so we're having it made up as a birthday cake for me (Yay!) this coming July.
Long story short, the local bakery near our venue is amazing. We had a nice afternoon of driving up to the mountains, hanging out in town, and chatting with the lively, bon vivant baker and tasting his wares.
We priced out our cake, put down a deposit, and have been gleefully tap-dancing all evening over finding an awesome baker whose quote came in at roughly half of our allotted budget. Yippee!
Revised, shorter version...
M and I went cake tasting, and found ourselves in the sticky situation of trying to incorporate all the delicious flavors we tried into our future cake! One of the ones I really wanted to try wasn't available today, so we're having it made up as a birthday cake for me (Yay!) this coming July.
Long story short, the local bakery near our venue is amazing. We had a nice afternoon of driving up to the mountains, hanging out in town, and chatting with the lively, bon vivant baker and tasting his wares.
We priced out our cake, put down a deposit, and have been gleefully tap-dancing all evening over finding an awesome baker whose quote came in at roughly half of our allotted budget. Yippee!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Found a penny in the parking lot
Heads up.
I'm pretending it's an omen
Of good things to come.
We had another busy weekend: bought our new mattress, reserved the photographer for the wedding, and had dim sum with Mom for New Year. Next weekend we'll take delivery of the bed, and trek up to Julian to taste cakes. The following weekend, I'll try to get the last of the boxes in the guest and living rooms sorted while M travels to Hawaii for work. Then we'll have guests, and the great furniture swap, on our long weekend. And finally we'll have the whole wedding party together four weekends from now to try and nail down some details and enjoy each other's company.
Then we've only got a florist and officiant to find, our rings to design, the engagement photos to shoot, invitations, and a million other little things to sort out for the wedding.
Meanwhile, the list of things to do around the house grows. And I will be heading back out into the field soon, meaning my travel schedule will get thrown into the mix once more.
We finally got around to returning the extra shower curtain, but immediately spent that store credit on new sheets for the bigger bed. I did get the paperwork in the office more or less sorted, and shoved anything marked "Important Tax Document" into a manilla folder for easy identification when I sit down and tackle my 2008 returns. Not that I'll be seeing anything from CA but an I Owe You.
I <3 the state budget crisis. With bricks.
M intermittently makes fun of me for my excel sheets, graphs and file folders, but it's the only way to keep track of what goes on in our very busy lives. I've made the 2009 versions of our budget, savings, and utilities spreadsheets so we can get a snapshot of how our costs vary month-to-month, keep track of our wedding budget, expenses and outstanding payments, and try to plan for becoming a single-income family this fall. You'd want graphs, too, if you were juggling all of this!
One year ago this weekend we saw the house for the first time, and kissed our free time goodbye. What a year it's been! One more busy year like this, and then I'm ready for quieter times and rediscovering my social life.
Heads up.
I'm pretending it's an omen
Of good things to come.
We had another busy weekend: bought our new mattress, reserved the photographer for the wedding, and had dim sum with Mom for New Year. Next weekend we'll take delivery of the bed, and trek up to Julian to taste cakes. The following weekend, I'll try to get the last of the boxes in the guest and living rooms sorted while M travels to Hawaii for work. Then we'll have guests, and the great furniture swap, on our long weekend. And finally we'll have the whole wedding party together four weekends from now to try and nail down some details and enjoy each other's company.
Then we've only got a florist and officiant to find, our rings to design, the engagement photos to shoot, invitations, and a million other little things to sort out for the wedding.
Meanwhile, the list of things to do around the house grows. And I will be heading back out into the field soon, meaning my travel schedule will get thrown into the mix once more.
We finally got around to returning the extra shower curtain, but immediately spent that store credit on new sheets for the bigger bed. I did get the paperwork in the office more or less sorted, and shoved anything marked "Important Tax Document" into a manilla folder for easy identification when I sit down and tackle my 2008 returns. Not that I'll be seeing anything from CA but an I Owe You.
I <3 the state budget crisis. With bricks.
M intermittently makes fun of me for my excel sheets, graphs and file folders, but it's the only way to keep track of what goes on in our very busy lives. I've made the 2009 versions of our budget, savings, and utilities spreadsheets so we can get a snapshot of how our costs vary month-to-month, keep track of our wedding budget, expenses and outstanding payments, and try to plan for becoming a single-income family this fall. You'd want graphs, too, if you were juggling all of this!
One year ago this weekend we saw the house for the first time, and kissed our free time goodbye. What a year it's been! One more busy year like this, and then I'm ready for quieter times and rediscovering my social life.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Thinking green
M and I are passively protective of the environment. We have a high efficiency, low water use clothes washer -- it saves us money and does better by the environment than a top loader. We trend toward electronics with Energy Star symbols, when we get the choice, and try not to leave the lights on when we leave the room. We recycle, thanks to our Big Blue Bin, and make noises about starting a compost pile when we get the yard a bit more organized. The new door is energy efficient, but all our windows aren't (we've not gotten that far in renovating, yet).
We're clearly not Eco-Warriors, by anyone's standards. All this being said, we're bouncing around an idea for wedding favors that may seem down right tree-hugging liberal. I'm not really fond of giving people things with my wedding date or name or monogram to treasure (read: dispose of at their next garage sale), so I've been thinking about consumable favors (edibles are common) or charitable ones (nothing to resell at a later date, complimentary warm fuzzy feelings instead).
Our idea is to make a donation to The Arbor Day Foundation to have a tree planted for each of our guests. Right now, the National Forest Service is planting trees in Plumas National Forest here in California.
If you were one of our guests, would you feel gypped out of some Jordan Almonds or happy with your tree?
M and I are passively protective of the environment. We have a high efficiency, low water use clothes washer -- it saves us money and does better by the environment than a top loader. We trend toward electronics with Energy Star symbols, when we get the choice, and try not to leave the lights on when we leave the room. We recycle, thanks to our Big Blue Bin, and make noises about starting a compost pile when we get the yard a bit more organized. The new door is energy efficient, but all our windows aren't (we've not gotten that far in renovating, yet).
We're clearly not Eco-Warriors, by anyone's standards. All this being said, we're bouncing around an idea for wedding favors that may seem down right tree-hugging liberal. I'm not really fond of giving people things with my wedding date or name or monogram to treasure (read: dispose of at their next garage sale), so I've been thinking about consumable favors (edibles are common) or charitable ones (nothing to resell at a later date, complimentary warm fuzzy feelings instead).
Our idea is to make a donation to The Arbor Day Foundation to have a tree planted for each of our guests. Right now, the National Forest Service is planting trees in Plumas National Forest here in California.
If you were one of our guests, would you feel gypped out of some Jordan Almonds or happy with your tree?
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
I'm collecting consonants
If I add M's last name to my collection, I'll have yet another. And since I've gotten into the habit of initialing official paperwork with all of my initials, the string of unutterable sounds will continue unmarred by a vowel's presence. Nothing against vowels, really, they're just outnumbered in all but my first name.
Every so many months, I revisit the thought of name changes and willfully reformatting my legal identity. I've tied a lot of importance to my names, for better or worse, and I feel somewhat attached to them. Even the middle name I never use, and don't particularly like, is useful. Anything that comes to me with it spelled out in full is suspect, and if it's not a formal document I probably didn't request it. Growing up, it was my unique identifier in our family. My dad, brother and sister had the same set of initials. I had the same first init-last name as everyone, but I got my own middle initial.
I am particuarly opposed to hyphenating my names. My last name is a suffix in English, so it's difficult for my ears (and eyes!) to see it run together with another name either pre- or post- appended.
My current favorite is MyFirst MyMiddle MyLast HisLast, but only for very formal things.
At work, and on most legal documents (that don't require that middle initial), I could be MyFirst MyLast HisLast. It'd be fairly easy to figure out who I was, and no great leap of logic to link my degree and prior employment to my new name.
Socially, I could be MyFirst HisLast. If we someday have kids, the whole family could have one surname (so simple!).
And I'd still have my litmus test of a middle initial/name for weeding out junkmail and separating out very important things.
M's last name is not a familial name, but even that may actually remove a layer of confusion from the collection of family names we have. My parents have different last names, his parents have different last names, most of the step-parents (or parental SOs) have their own last names... Why wouldn't we, as a family, from a child's perspective, have our own last name too?
I tried reading up about name changes after marriage from a legal and cultural perspective. In California, there's ready information about how to take your husband's name, or how to have him take yours. It's easy to find what to do if you create a new last name for yourselves, or hyphenate and both take that concatenation. I was very surprised though at the number of commentators on social sites that are bitterly opposed to a woman doing anything but taking her husband's surname. At first it caught me off-guard, and then it made me a little angry.
Our families may be the statistical norm now -- divorced, remarried, confusing -- but they're not the culturally perceived norm, or norm of what people think "should" be. Either way, M and I are screwed for picking a traditionally accepted surname. M's not going to choose one of his family names over another, and him taking mine makes those traditionalists even more upset than me keeping mine (which can be almost excused for professional reasons).
So rather than try to make any sense of the traditional nomenclature rules, I think I'll keep collecting consonants. At least I'll be getting one I really like -- K. :)
If I add M's last name to my collection, I'll have yet another. And since I've gotten into the habit of initialing official paperwork with all of my initials, the string of unutterable sounds will continue unmarred by a vowel's presence. Nothing against vowels, really, they're just outnumbered in all but my first name.
Every so many months, I revisit the thought of name changes and willfully reformatting my legal identity. I've tied a lot of importance to my names, for better or worse, and I feel somewhat attached to them. Even the middle name I never use, and don't particularly like, is useful. Anything that comes to me with it spelled out in full is suspect, and if it's not a formal document I probably didn't request it. Growing up, it was my unique identifier in our family. My dad, brother and sister had the same set of initials. I had the same first init-last name as everyone, but I got my own middle initial.
I am particuarly opposed to hyphenating my names. My last name is a suffix in English, so it's difficult for my ears (and eyes!) to see it run together with another name either pre- or post- appended.
My current favorite is MyFirst MyMiddle MyLast HisLast, but only for very formal things.
At work, and on most legal documents (that don't require that middle initial), I could be MyFirst MyLast HisLast. It'd be fairly easy to figure out who I was, and no great leap of logic to link my degree and prior employment to my new name.
Socially, I could be MyFirst HisLast. If we someday have kids, the whole family could have one surname (so simple!).
And I'd still have my litmus test of a middle initial/name for weeding out junkmail and separating out very important things.
M's last name is not a familial name, but even that may actually remove a layer of confusion from the collection of family names we have. My parents have different last names, his parents have different last names, most of the step-parents (or parental SOs) have their own last names... Why wouldn't we, as a family, from a child's perspective, have our own last name too?
I tried reading up about name changes after marriage from a legal and cultural perspective. In California, there's ready information about how to take your husband's name, or how to have him take yours. It's easy to find what to do if you create a new last name for yourselves, or hyphenate and both take that concatenation. I was very surprised though at the number of commentators on social sites that are bitterly opposed to a woman doing anything but taking her husband's surname. At first it caught me off-guard, and then it made me a little angry.
Our families may be the statistical norm now -- divorced, remarried, confusing -- but they're not the culturally perceived norm, or norm of what people think "should" be. Either way, M and I are screwed for picking a traditionally accepted surname. M's not going to choose one of his family names over another, and him taking mine makes those traditionalists even more upset than me keeping mine (which can be almost excused for professional reasons).
So rather than try to make any sense of the traditional nomenclature rules, I think I'll keep collecting consonants. At least I'll be getting one I really like -- K. :)
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Dresses
Or gowns, I suppose. Either way, it's a mostly foreign topic for me and M. We decided that he'd come looking at wedding dresses with me, so we could both get past the shock -- it's a whole lot of dress. M's used to seeing me in jeans and a tee shirt, or slacks and polos. I think I've worn a dress twice, maybe thrice, in the past year and a half.
Much to our surprise, there were a couple dresses we both liked. And while there were a couple we really didn't like, it wasn't because they were awful as much as it was that they simply weren't me (or us). One made me feel like a cupcake... so I guess those pick-up-skirts just aren't me.
So I'm going to keep looking even though I've found something I quite like. It's possible we'll find something similar for less, or learn that this is pretty much the right price and right dress. For the moment, I'm glad to have the initial anxiety sorted. There will be something that looks decent on me, and something that doesn't make M's face contort or twitch. ^^
Or gowns, I suppose. Either way, it's a mostly foreign topic for me and M. We decided that he'd come looking at wedding dresses with me, so we could both get past the shock -- it's a whole lot of dress. M's used to seeing me in jeans and a tee shirt, or slacks and polos. I think I've worn a dress twice, maybe thrice, in the past year and a half.
Much to our surprise, there were a couple dresses we both liked. And while there were a couple we really didn't like, it wasn't because they were awful as much as it was that they simply weren't me (or us). One made me feel like a cupcake... so I guess those pick-up-skirts just aren't me.
So I'm going to keep looking even though I've found something I quite like. It's possible we'll find something similar for less, or learn that this is pretty much the right price and right dress. For the moment, I'm glad to have the initial anxiety sorted. There will be something that looks decent on me, and something that doesn't make M's face contort or twitch. ^^
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The List
Rev 1.0
Having gone through many internal revisions, the Guest List has been distributed to the Parental Consortium for comment and changes. Having more office time than me, M sent his sections out last week. Mine went out this morning.
We would prefer the list to be about twenty names shorter, but there's only so much pruning and rationalizing we can do. The Clan(s) are large, but not everyone will come. If everyone on the list makes the parental cut, and actually shows, we'll be at 108 -- two people under the max seating for the dining room.
I briefly considered taking our target number, lessing out the must have friends, and dividing that number of invites between the clans. But that immediately brought to mind the recent cap and trade model proposed for limiting corporate carbon footprints, and I didn't really want our families to get to know each other by bartering seats at our ceremony & reception.
Instead we started asking questions of each other and our families, and put together the all inclusive list of family members. We expect my family to do some pruning, rearranging and substituting of names, and that some of M's may not come.
Rev 1.0
Having gone through many internal revisions, the Guest List has been distributed to the Parental Consortium for comment and changes. Having more office time than me, M sent his sections out last week. Mine went out this morning.
We would prefer the list to be about twenty names shorter, but there's only so much pruning and rationalizing we can do. The Clan(s) are large, but not everyone will come. If everyone on the list makes the parental cut, and actually shows, we'll be at 108 -- two people under the max seating for the dining room.
I briefly considered taking our target number, lessing out the must have friends, and dividing that number of invites between the clans. But that immediately brought to mind the recent cap and trade model proposed for limiting corporate carbon footprints, and I didn't really want our families to get to know each other by bartering seats at our ceremony & reception.
Instead we started asking questions of each other and our families, and put together the all inclusive list of family members. We expect my family to do some pruning, rearranging and substituting of names, and that some of M's may not come.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
-1st Anniversary
M and I celebrated our -1st Anniversary this year. One year from this weekend, we'll be getting married. Rather than trying to count forward from when we started dating, we chose to back calculate from when we'll get married.
We gathered up a few things from home -- candles, a small pitcher to use as a vase -- and picked a small bouquet of flowers on the way up to decorate our cabin with. When we checked in, we spent some time going through the lodge's seasonal decorations with Hannah, the owner. They've got some stuff we can use for the wedding, and she seemed really excited to help us start pulling everything together.
After dinner in town, we wound back out the moonlit mountain road to the lodge. Some of the other guests were belly up the bar, so I ordered a Newcastle and M had a glass of water and we were social. All of the lodge staff are helpful, gregarious, and genuinely nice people. Night settles in early up there, so we retreated to our cabin around eight.
The next morning, we had brunch at the lodge. It was our first chance to sample their chef's cooking... and we were impressed. We also picked out our menu for the wedding, re-confirmed the occupancy for the dining room, and picked a wine to go with dinner. We didn't get over to the bakery to talk cakes, but we'll do that another weekend. We've pretty much finalized our guest list at 108, with a handful of people we don't expect to show.
Last night and this morning brought blustery, rainy weather. By the end of brunch, it was hailing. The hail gathered in drifts along the roads, looking almost like mostly-melted snow. All the tree trunks were black from the wet, making the autumnal green-yellows stand out all the more against the grey sky.
Not many couples get to celebrate their -1st anniversary! We're weird like that, and it suits us just fine.
M and I celebrated our -1st Anniversary this year. One year from this weekend, we'll be getting married. Rather than trying to count forward from when we started dating, we chose to back calculate from when we'll get married.
We gathered up a few things from home -- candles, a small pitcher to use as a vase -- and picked a small bouquet of flowers on the way up to decorate our cabin with. When we checked in, we spent some time going through the lodge's seasonal decorations with Hannah, the owner. They've got some stuff we can use for the wedding, and she seemed really excited to help us start pulling everything together.
After dinner in town, we wound back out the moonlit mountain road to the lodge. Some of the other guests were belly up the bar, so I ordered a Newcastle and M had a glass of water and we were social. All of the lodge staff are helpful, gregarious, and genuinely nice people. Night settles in early up there, so we retreated to our cabin around eight.
The next morning, we had brunch at the lodge. It was our first chance to sample their chef's cooking... and we were impressed. We also picked out our menu for the wedding, re-confirmed the occupancy for the dining room, and picked a wine to go with dinner. We didn't get over to the bakery to talk cakes, but we'll do that another weekend. We've pretty much finalized our guest list at 108, with a handful of people we don't expect to show.
Last night and this morning brought blustery, rainy weather. By the end of brunch, it was hailing. The hail gathered in drifts along the roads, looking almost like mostly-melted snow. All the tree trunks were black from the wet, making the autumnal green-yellows stand out all the more against the grey sky.
Not many couples get to celebrate their -1st anniversary! We're weird like that, and it suits us just fine.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
The rest of the story
Last weekend, M and I went out to the mountains to get away from work, the house, and just spend some time together. We stopped at Dudley's and got sandwiches, then ate lunch out at a viewpoint/trailhead on the Laguna ridge. We hiked a bit down the trail, listened to the wind roar, and stayed there for quite awhile.
And that's where he asked me to marry him. And I said yes.
So we are officially engaged now. And our parents know (so the rest of our families will know shortly). We wanted a week to ourselves, so we didn't rush to the phones and tell everyone Sunday evening. Life is keeping us busy, so getting the word out will go slowly (except for you net-savvy friends and family who read this on occasion.)
The End. Have a good Sunday.
~K
Last weekend, M and I went out to the mountains to get away from work, the house, and just spend some time together. We stopped at Dudley's and got sandwiches, then ate lunch out at a viewpoint/trailhead on the Laguna ridge. We hiked a bit down the trail, listened to the wind roar, and stayed there for quite awhile.
And that's where he asked me to marry him. And I said yes.
So we are officially engaged now. And our parents know (so the rest of our families will know shortly). We wanted a week to ourselves, so we didn't rush to the phones and tell everyone Sunday evening. Life is keeping us busy, so getting the word out will go slowly (except for you net-savvy friends and family who read this on occasion.)
The End. Have a good Sunday.
~K
Monday, September 29, 2008
AFK
Some days it seems like the only things that M and I do that don't require a computer are eat and sleep. The work instruments are driven by computers of varying capacities, we keep in touch with our friends and family by email and forums or blogs, we kick back online with friends who live too far away to see on a regular basis... and that's pretty much our week day routine. So it's nice every once in awhile to get away.
Sunday, we went up to the Laguna Mountains and hung out outside. We stopped at Dudley's Bakery to grab sandwiches and then found a lookout with a short trail to hike down and listened to the wind roar through the trees. We talked about what we'd need to prepare if we wanted to spend one weekend-day a month hiking in our local mountains, made a list, and will hopefully check those things off before we journey eastward again.
I'll tell you the rest of the story next week. ^_^ I have to get back to work now.
Some days it seems like the only things that M and I do that don't require a computer are eat and sleep. The work instruments are driven by computers of varying capacities, we keep in touch with our friends and family by email and forums or blogs, we kick back online with friends who live too far away to see on a regular basis... and that's pretty much our week day routine. So it's nice every once in awhile to get away.
Sunday, we went up to the Laguna Mountains and hung out outside. We stopped at Dudley's Bakery to grab sandwiches and then found a lookout with a short trail to hike down and listened to the wind roar through the trees. We talked about what we'd need to prepare if we wanted to spend one weekend-day a month hiking in our local mountains, made a list, and will hopefully check those things off before we journey eastward again.
I'll tell you the rest of the story next week. ^_^ I have to get back to work now.