In a week we'll be at the rehearsal dinner, and hopefully we will be nothing but cool, calm, and collected. Since the closing didn't happen today (bummer!), we'll be closing & moving next week. Hopefully it'll happen Wednesday or earlier, and hopefully all the last few little pieces fall into place before then. Matt just left to head to the Cape so he can pack up the U-Haul truck with all of his stuff and his parents are going to bring it down here on Tuesday (assuming we close Wednesday). I'm so excited... just thinking about how long Matt's stuff has been sitting in a storage unit and the fact that now he's getting ready to put it all into our new home... it's so exciting. I can't wait for the wedding and the move and the honeymoon. As stressed out as we both are, this is the most magical and exciting time of our lives.
I'm not going to worry about the crazy amount of money that a wedding costs. I'm not going to talk about the nit-picky details that have bugged me. I'm not going to talk about the meltdowns, the anxiety, the nerves... because right this second, I feel nothing but excited. I'm sure I've got a few more freak-out moments ahead of me over the next week, but right now... I'm in love with the most amazing guy in the world and that's all that matters at the end of the day. No matter what, we get to walk away from all of this married. And that means we win :)
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Single digits...
Today is the 9 day mark... and I cannot believe it. So much is happening right now... Last weekend I was on the Cape for a Hanson concert with my friends and we got to meet Hanson thanks to my amazing soon-to-be father in law. It was fabulous! We were bumbling idiots, but it was a lifelong dream fulfilled, that's for sure.
Also that weekend was Matt's bachelor party on the Cape (which was planned AFTER I had already purchased my concert tickets, I'd like to point out). Seems like they had a good time, but if you ask me, being covered in paintball bruises doesn't sound very exciting.
This week has been madness. My bedroom is like a miniature storage unit, filled with boxes and bags. It's a total mess and it's driving me insane. Our closing was supposed to happen tomorrow, but that's a little bit on the fence at the moment. If it's not tomorrow, it will be before the wedding, that's for sure.
The other evening a bunch of my lovely, amazing friends came over and helped make the escort "cards" (they're so not cards at all) and the table numbers. I can't really express 1. how lucky I am to have such smart and talented friends and 2. how much I appreciate their help. I was really anxious before that, and then once we got everything done, I felt a whole lot better. Thank you guys!
I've been going back and forth between being totally anxious and nervous, to being calm. It's bizarre. My anxiety comes from the fact that there will be all these EYES looking at me all day and that makes me uncomfortable, but the calm comes from Matt. We're going to have such a great life together, I can feel it.
We've been practicing our rumba for the wedding! My darling friend Sara Mouch has been giving us lessons and if we practice enough, I think we'll be all set for the wedding. We just want to be able to do something other than sway, so she's given us some basic steps we can play around with. We NEED to practice, though. No excuses.
This entry is totally disjointed and scattered, but that's just a direct reflection of my brain lately. I'm trying to keep it all together, but my head is in 500 different places... it's totally overwhelming. But on the bright side-- only 9 more days of this and then we'll be homeowners and newlyweds and we'll be on our phone-free honeymoon! Cannot wait :)
Also that weekend was Matt's bachelor party on the Cape (which was planned AFTER I had already purchased my concert tickets, I'd like to point out). Seems like they had a good time, but if you ask me, being covered in paintball bruises doesn't sound very exciting.
This week has been madness. My bedroom is like a miniature storage unit, filled with boxes and bags. It's a total mess and it's driving me insane. Our closing was supposed to happen tomorrow, but that's a little bit on the fence at the moment. If it's not tomorrow, it will be before the wedding, that's for sure.
The other evening a bunch of my lovely, amazing friends came over and helped make the escort "cards" (they're so not cards at all) and the table numbers. I can't really express 1. how lucky I am to have such smart and talented friends and 2. how much I appreciate their help. I was really anxious before that, and then once we got everything done, I felt a whole lot better. Thank you guys!
I've been going back and forth between being totally anxious and nervous, to being calm. It's bizarre. My anxiety comes from the fact that there will be all these EYES looking at me all day and that makes me uncomfortable, but the calm comes from Matt. We're going to have such a great life together, I can feel it.
We've been practicing our rumba for the wedding! My darling friend Sara Mouch has been giving us lessons and if we practice enough, I think we'll be all set for the wedding. We just want to be able to do something other than sway, so she's given us some basic steps we can play around with. We NEED to practice, though. No excuses.
This entry is totally disjointed and scattered, but that's just a direct reflection of my brain lately. I'm trying to keep it all together, but my head is in 500 different places... it's totally overwhelming. But on the bright side-- only 9 more days of this and then we'll be homeowners and newlyweds and we'll be on our phone-free honeymoon! Cannot wait :)
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Countertops... and stuff
So yesterday was interesting. It started with me being frustrated that our counter tops weren't in yet at the house (and should have been in on Monday.... or weeks earlier), and that our wedding bands STILL weren't done at the engraver's (I dropped them off on June 24 and was told they would take 1-3 days... then everyone went on vacation, didn't tell me--the CUSTOMER WHO IS GETTING MARRIED--and caused me to panic and stress that I'd never see the rings again. Stupid.). The day ended with a phone call from our house flipper/builder guy saying that the counter tops had gone in finally, and then another phone call from the jeweler saying the rings were ready. FINALLY!
It's all very nice, but I'm getting annoyed with all the hurry-up-and-waiting happening around us by people who are being paid to complete certain jobs. I mean, the ring thing is just ridiculous. They should have called me back after my 5 messages over the course of 4 weeks and told me what was up. I would have held onto the rings and waited until after they got back from vacation if I had known. Less stress. And the house.... whatever. It's getting there. By early next week we can go see the appliances (which really should have gone in earlier..... but hey. Whatever). And then we close next Friday. And get married the following weekend. Yikesssss.
In other news, my godmother came by yesterday and had a little gift for me. She got me this beautiful little nightgown/robe set. It's silky and pale pink and lacy. I wanted to put it on and recline on a chaise lounge around eating grapes and reading smutty romance novels, that's how lovely it is! She also had something else for me, though. It was a small gold box and when she started to explain the story behind it, she got really emotional and so did my mom, but I had to stay strong-- I was wearing mascara, and it wasn't waterproof. Anyway, she gave me a small, oval Portuguese Our Lady of Fatima medal/pendant that was her mother's. When her mother died, she saved 5 of them for the 5 girls in the family, 2 of whom were her actual granddaughters and 3 of us who were not, but were like granddaughters. Her mother was wonderful-- both of her parents were. They had huge, huge hearts and loved all the kids like their own family. So my godmother saved them to pass them along to us all so that it would be like her parents are at our weddings, since she knows how badly they would have wanted to be there. There are number of people who are going to be missed at this wedding, including them and my grandfather, Matt's grandfather, his great aunt Kathleen, my great aunt Alice and great uncle Mark. But it's also a chance to celebrate life and the people who are still here. I put the pendant on a chain and wore it yesterday to my dress fitting, where my lovely seamstress Doreen spotted it and, since she's half Portuguese herself, stopped and gasped and said, "Oh my God, I haven't seen one of those in years," and started to tell me about being a child and how they had so many of those and they had a Fatima ring that was still in the family. Seeing it brought back a lot of memories for her, and she decided before I left that she would go online and try to buy one for herself.
It was a gift to remember my godmother's parents and to celebrate my own Portuguese heritage, and what it did also was spark memories in someone else, memories she probably hadn't thought of in years. That's pretty cool.
Mixed in with all the stress and headaches of planning a wedding are moments of real beauty, and those are the things I cling to because I know they make it all worth it.
It's all very nice, but I'm getting annoyed with all the hurry-up-and-waiting happening around us by people who are being paid to complete certain jobs. I mean, the ring thing is just ridiculous. They should have called me back after my 5 messages over the course of 4 weeks and told me what was up. I would have held onto the rings and waited until after they got back from vacation if I had known. Less stress. And the house.... whatever. It's getting there. By early next week we can go see the appliances (which really should have gone in earlier..... but hey. Whatever). And then we close next Friday. And get married the following weekend. Yikesssss.
In other news, my godmother came by yesterday and had a little gift for me. She got me this beautiful little nightgown/robe set. It's silky and pale pink and lacy. I wanted to put it on and recline on a chaise lounge around eating grapes and reading smutty romance novels, that's how lovely it is! She also had something else for me, though. It was a small gold box and when she started to explain the story behind it, she got really emotional and so did my mom, but I had to stay strong-- I was wearing mascara, and it wasn't waterproof. Anyway, she gave me a small, oval Portuguese Our Lady of Fatima medal/pendant that was her mother's. When her mother died, she saved 5 of them for the 5 girls in the family, 2 of whom were her actual granddaughters and 3 of us who were not, but were like granddaughters. Her mother was wonderful-- both of her parents were. They had huge, huge hearts and loved all the kids like their own family. So my godmother saved them to pass them along to us all so that it would be like her parents are at our weddings, since she knows how badly they would have wanted to be there. There are number of people who are going to be missed at this wedding, including them and my grandfather, Matt's grandfather, his great aunt Kathleen, my great aunt Alice and great uncle Mark. But it's also a chance to celebrate life and the people who are still here. I put the pendant on a chain and wore it yesterday to my dress fitting, where my lovely seamstress Doreen spotted it and, since she's half Portuguese herself, stopped and gasped and said, "Oh my God, I haven't seen one of those in years," and started to tell me about being a child and how they had so many of those and they had a Fatima ring that was still in the family. Seeing it brought back a lot of memories for her, and she decided before I left that she would go online and try to buy one for herself.
It was a gift to remember my godmother's parents and to celebrate my own Portuguese heritage, and what it did also was spark memories in someone else, memories she probably hadn't thought of in years. That's pretty cool.
Mixed in with all the stress and headaches of planning a wedding are moments of real beauty, and those are the things I cling to because I know they make it all worth it.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Weddings & Colitis
So without a doubt one of the biggest obstacles for me is my Ulcerative Colitis, which was diagnosed last spring, but was without a doubt active for a few years prior to that. I take all my medicine religiously (9 pills a day & a nightly suppository, which sounds worse than it really is). I try to watch what I eat (no dairy unless I have Lactaid pills on hand, limited raw veggies, hardly anything fried or really fatty). I attempt to keep my stress level low (yoga, exercise, writing, breathing exercises). But at the end of the day, I'm still battling with this stupid auto-immune disease and it's far from being in remission. I had an awful flare right on Easter mixed with a stomach bug and ugh... it was just awful.
The thing is, there's no way to avoid stress when you're in the wedding planning process. At least for me, anyway. I was doing really well for a while being cool as a cucumber, but now that we're a mere 18 days from the wedding, I can feel the stress mounting. And my stomach (like most people's) responds to stress. I've been doing some research and trying to figure out a way to get my stomach under control at least for the wedding day. I mean, when you're in a big gown you can't exactly run to the bathroom (believe me, this thought alone makes me anxious).
I think all I can do is embrace the stress, be honest with everyone around me (my stomach often hurts and forces me to run to the bathroom, that's just the way it is), and try to control what I eat and how I react to things around me. I'm tempted to ask my doctor for Prednisone, but I don't know if I really want to take that again. I was on it for 20 days after my Easter flare and I had no reactions aside from some intense knee pain, but it didn't last long. If nothing else, I'll be overloading my system with Immodiums the day of the wedding and basically shutting down my stomach. Unpleasant, but that's the reality of Colitis. It can be debilitating, embarrassing, painful, awkward, depressing. It's a crappy disease... LITERALLY!
People don't really talk about poop, but guess what. Even blushing brides do it!
The thing is, there's no way to avoid stress when you're in the wedding planning process. At least for me, anyway. I was doing really well for a while being cool as a cucumber, but now that we're a mere 18 days from the wedding, I can feel the stress mounting. And my stomach (like most people's) responds to stress. I've been doing some research and trying to figure out a way to get my stomach under control at least for the wedding day. I mean, when you're in a big gown you can't exactly run to the bathroom (believe me, this thought alone makes me anxious).
I think all I can do is embrace the stress, be honest with everyone around me (my stomach often hurts and forces me to run to the bathroom, that's just the way it is), and try to control what I eat and how I react to things around me. I'm tempted to ask my doctor for Prednisone, but I don't know if I really want to take that again. I was on it for 20 days after my Easter flare and I had no reactions aside from some intense knee pain, but it didn't last long. If nothing else, I'll be overloading my system with Immodiums the day of the wedding and basically shutting down my stomach. Unpleasant, but that's the reality of Colitis. It can be debilitating, embarrassing, painful, awkward, depressing. It's a crappy disease... LITERALLY!
People don't really talk about poop, but guess what. Even blushing brides do it!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Arts & Craft Seating Arrangement
Last night I busted out some small, arrow-shaped post-it notes, 15 index cards, and a sharpie pen and went to work arranging tables. Each guest's name was put on a stickie, and from there I arranged the names on index cards, or "tables." It was 95% easy, with maybe 5% being tricky. I had to employ my rusty problem solving skills from elementary school and figure out how to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Our final head count is 145, which is 5 people over the technical maximum (though they can add another table), and quite a bit over the expected amount. I wasn't planning to break 130 when we started, and then the guest list took on a life of its own and I was at its mercy. But all that is over now, and my tables are arranged (somehow I got it all to work out really well) and numbered according to the room chart the Crowne Plaza gave me. All this with 19 days to go. This morning I spent about 3 and a half hours filling in the food list for everyone, deciding where to put each table, and working on an insanely long to-do list. I started this at 7 am and looked up to realize it's almost 11:00! Wedding planning has turned into a part time job that inhales my time.
Here's what my arts and craft table arrangement project looks like. As soon as I get some poster board, I'm tacking these tables down like they will set up in the Crowne:
And that to-do list, I don't even want to talk about it! I just want to get things done. I was going to go work in Middletown today, but I'm anxious about the list and we're supposed to get some severe thunderstorms later, so I'm going to stay closer to home, do some writing for my thesis (since my first packet of work is due to my professor August 2), and knock a couple things off the list.
My mom sat down and in less than 15 minutes put together part of the escort "card" arrangement. I thought it would be a bigger project, but this part was really simple. The real work will come when we start working on the butterflies...
In other news, supposedly our counter tops are going in today at the house, so we'll probably take a ride later on and check it out. I'm not holding my breath, but I would like to be surprised when I walk in there. We were expecting to see those counter tops last month...but, you know. Such is the home buying process, I suppose. Ups and downs, right?
I feel discombobulated today and the guys are here working on the siding on the house right outside my bedroom window so I'm being assaulted by banging and cigarette smoke and loud sawing noises. Time to get going since I can't think straight anymore and it's not even noon yet...
Here's what my arts and craft table arrangement project looks like. As soon as I get some poster board, I'm tacking these tables down like they will set up in the Crowne:
And that to-do list, I don't even want to talk about it! I just want to get things done. I was going to go work in Middletown today, but I'm anxious about the list and we're supposed to get some severe thunderstorms later, so I'm going to stay closer to home, do some writing for my thesis (since my first packet of work is due to my professor August 2), and knock a couple things off the list.
My mom sat down and in less than 15 minutes put together part of the escort "card" arrangement. I thought it would be a bigger project, but this part was really simple. The real work will come when we start working on the butterflies...
In other news, supposedly our counter tops are going in today at the house, so we'll probably take a ride later on and check it out. I'm not holding my breath, but I would like to be surprised when I walk in there. We were expecting to see those counter tops last month...but, you know. Such is the home buying process, I suppose. Ups and downs, right?
I feel discombobulated today and the guys are here working on the siding on the house right outside my bedroom window so I'm being assaulted by banging and cigarette smoke and loud sawing noises. Time to get going since I can't think straight anymore and it's not even noon yet...
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Bachelorette Party!!
What a day yesterday. In the morning, Lisa, my mom, and I went to a meeting with Sandy the florist at Dave's Baskets to see a mock-up of the centerpieces for the reception. All I can say is that Sandy is amazing at what she does. She put together a mock up of the tall centerpieces, which we will have 5 of at the reception. They're in tall, square vases and inside there are branches twisting up to the top with daisies wired to them. On top is a separate arrangement which perches on the vases. It's made up of daisies, yellow roses, blue/yellow hydrangeas, and these cool curvy, skinny branches which twist out of the arrangement. It looked incredible! It was better than I had even imagined in my head. I really want to take flower arranging classes someday because I'm fascinated by the whole process.
Lauren was working, so we chatted with her for a little while and then mom, Lis & I left to hit some craft stores for supplies to make the genius escort card idea. We've adapted the idea a little, so it won't be exactly like this, but it will have a very summer-in-a-country-garden type feel. We're going to order the butterflies online today and once they come in, we can start putting the whole thing together... I think it'll end up being really pretty and whimsical. In fact, I know it will.
We then took a ride and showed Lisa the house (holy cow, they put the vinyl lattice on the stairs! Progress!! haha). We met the guy who lives across the street, Bob, and his dog Peanut. He was so friendly and welcomed me to the area and said it's a great place to raise a family and we would love it there. He also offered his tools to us if we need them, which was really kind of him. It's nice having good neighbors! It seems like most people are nice in that area, which is great.
Later on yesterday was my BACHELORETTE PARTYYY! I love my friends so much. They're way too good to me, seriously. My sweet, wonderful sister-in-law had us all over her house beforehand for hors d'oeuvres (crazy lady, slaving over a hot oven on a 90 degree day!) that she made herself. We sat outside on her deck with the nice bay breeze coming through and chatted, had some drinks and ate some snacks. It's was so nice to have everyone around and for us to all be hanging out like that. Then they gave me gifts (totally unnecessary but so sweet and so appreciated), which were awesome, along with a Bride-To-Be sash and a pink boa. Then the limo arrived and we took a picture and our awesome limo driver Robert took us down to Newport. It was the most beautiful night to be on the island-- it was a quintessential New England summer evening if you ask me. Of course Newport was crawling with tourists (and at least two other Bachelorette parties, none of which were dressed as beautifully as my pretty ladies)... I thanked them profusely for not forcing me to wear Mari Gras beads with plastic shot glasses on them around my neck. Again, my friends are classy gals.
Robert dropped us off at Asterisk, a very hip bar and restaurant. It was neat-- it's a converted mechanic garage and they kept the two garage doors on the front, which they kept up, making the whole front of the restaurant open to the outdoors. It was great having the breeze coming in like that. Our table was waiting for us and we had some drinks and took pictures and chatted while we waited for dinner (which took a while because they only had 2 chefs, but it was well worth the wait). Dinner was great and my margarita was FABULOUS. I sampled some the drinks around me, and those were good too. Great bartender at this place. So we spent the night there, enjoying each other's company and the good food and drinks all around. Robert came back to get us around 10:30 or 11:00. We had just gotten in the limo and the doors were still open when some middle aged woman came running up to the limo, stuck her head inside, pointed and said, "IS THAT A FEATHER BOA??" You'd think she was asking if it was a block of solid gold, or something! Just to further prove how absolutely in-sync we are, SaraKopp and I said, in unison: "Of course it is! It's a bachelorette party!" It was too funny, we didn't miss a beat and we said it exactly at the same moment. It was awesome. After the semi-drunk-boa-infatuated woman left, we rode back to Lisa's house where we hung out for a while longer. It was almost 2am when I got home, but it was worth being up late-- I had the most fantastic time with my friends. I can't thank them enough (especially you, Lisa) for all the planning and coordinating and I'm sure the expenses of it all. I feel so lucky right now to have friends who are like family, and who would plan something like this for me! LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!
In 20 days we'll party again, only this time at the wedding, and I really cannot wait :)
Lauren was working, so we chatted with her for a little while and then mom, Lis & I left to hit some craft stores for supplies to make the genius escort card idea. We've adapted the idea a little, so it won't be exactly like this, but it will have a very summer-in-a-country-garden type feel. We're going to order the butterflies online today and once they come in, we can start putting the whole thing together... I think it'll end up being really pretty and whimsical. In fact, I know it will.
We then took a ride and showed Lisa the house (holy cow, they put the vinyl lattice on the stairs! Progress!! haha). We met the guy who lives across the street, Bob, and his dog Peanut. He was so friendly and welcomed me to the area and said it's a great place to raise a family and we would love it there. He also offered his tools to us if we need them, which was really kind of him. It's nice having good neighbors! It seems like most people are nice in that area, which is great.
Later on yesterday was my BACHELORETTE PARTYYY! I love my friends so much. They're way too good to me, seriously. My sweet, wonderful sister-in-law had us all over her house beforehand for hors d'oeuvres (crazy lady, slaving over a hot oven on a 90 degree day!) that she made herself. We sat outside on her deck with the nice bay breeze coming through and chatted, had some drinks and ate some snacks. It's was so nice to have everyone around and for us to all be hanging out like that. Then they gave me gifts (totally unnecessary but so sweet and so appreciated), which were awesome, along with a Bride-To-Be sash and a pink boa. Then the limo arrived and we took a picture and our awesome limo driver Robert took us down to Newport. It was the most beautiful night to be on the island-- it was a quintessential New England summer evening if you ask me. Of course Newport was crawling with tourists (and at least two other Bachelorette parties, none of which were dressed as beautifully as my pretty ladies)... I thanked them profusely for not forcing me to wear Mari Gras beads with plastic shot glasses on them around my neck. Again, my friends are classy gals.
Robert dropped us off at Asterisk, a very hip bar and restaurant. It was neat-- it's a converted mechanic garage and they kept the two garage doors on the front, which they kept up, making the whole front of the restaurant open to the outdoors. It was great having the breeze coming in like that. Our table was waiting for us and we had some drinks and took pictures and chatted while we waited for dinner (which took a while because they only had 2 chefs, but it was well worth the wait). Dinner was great and my margarita was FABULOUS. I sampled some the drinks around me, and those were good too. Great bartender at this place. So we spent the night there, enjoying each other's company and the good food and drinks all around. Robert came back to get us around 10:30 or 11:00. We had just gotten in the limo and the doors were still open when some middle aged woman came running up to the limo, stuck her head inside, pointed and said, "IS THAT A FEATHER BOA??" You'd think she was asking if it was a block of solid gold, or something! Just to further prove how absolutely in-sync we are, SaraKopp and I said, in unison: "Of course it is! It's a bachelorette party!" It was too funny, we didn't miss a beat and we said it exactly at the same moment. It was awesome. After the semi-drunk-boa-infatuated woman left, we rode back to Lisa's house where we hung out for a while longer. It was almost 2am when I got home, but it was worth being up late-- I had the most fantastic time with my friends. I can't thank them enough (especially you, Lisa) for all the planning and coordinating and I'm sure the expenses of it all. I feel so lucky right now to have friends who are like family, and who would plan something like this for me! LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!
In 20 days we'll party again, only this time at the wedding, and I really cannot wait :)
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Escort Cards
So we've pretty much heard from everyone on our guest list, minus two families who we're still waiting to hear back from. That means it's time to start thinking about tables arrangements and escort cards! I'm actually really excited about this part of the process for two reasons: it means we're near the end (WAHOOO) and we get to be extra creative if we want to (and I want to).
I didn't really have an idea of what we were going to do for escort cards, but this morning I got my daily email from marthastewartweddings.com and it featured ADORABLE 3 dimensional heart shaped escort cards. I thought that maybe I might do that for my cards until my mom and I started flipping through the gallery and saw some of the other DIY ideas. (By the way, all brides, whether or not you're crafty, should check out Martha Stewart's wedding website. It's full of unique ideas and I find it a little bit more user-friendly than theknot.com sometimes.
Anyway, we flipped through and my mom found the cutest one. Instead of cards, the picture has fake butterflies on pins sticking into a bed of wheat grass. Attached to each pin is a small little banner that says the name and table of the guest. My mom had the idea of adding fake daisies and hydrangeas to the bed of wheat grass so it looks like a whole slew of butterflies fluttering over a garden (see the inspiration here...). I LOVE this idea because it's so whimsical and romantic and summery. We also thought that we could add a few butterflies to the table arrangements and a couple to the cake just to carry the theme throughout since this is the first time we're thinking of incorporating butterflies into the theme. We spent a while online this morning trolling some websites for artificial butterflies that look real. My requirements: not glitter, realistic colors, romantic, romantic, romantic. That's not hard, right? It actually isn't. There are tons of websites that sell butterflies in bulk. I have a meeting with my florist on Saturday so I'm going to bring my mom and run these ideas by Sandy and see what thoughts she has. I like this because it feels like the final touch, the last thread pulling the light, romantic summer wedding together.
With 23 days to go (oh my God, really??), I need to hustle. It's been hard, actually. For the past week and a half since I got back from my residency, I've been so tired everyday. I would wake up tired, go to bed tired, go through the day tired. It was definitely the heat, and today it's much cooler and there's no humidity (yet), so I just feel better. I also have turned to coffee, which is bad for me because I'm really sensitive to caffeine and since I have Ulcerative Colitis, coffee can be really bad. But, I need it to function. Last night I had a cup at 7p.m. so I could work on my thesis (hey, I got 7 pages of a short story accomplished), but I was up all night watching Ghost Hunters until I fell asleep finally. It's ok, though. As long as the coffee perks me up and doesn't upset my stomach, I'm going to keep drinking it to get me through the next few weeks of thesis writing and wedding planning.
ALSO! The work on our house is FINALLY happening! By next week, it should be all set. The seller gave us the lock box code so we could pop in and watch the progress, which I think I will definitely do because I need to SEE it or else I won't believe it. It's allllll happening! This is awesome.
Well, I'm off to peruse artificial butterflies, bring my car to a tire place (there's a NAIL in my back tire.. I have horrible luck with tires lately), do some writing, run some errands.... and breathe of course :)
I didn't really have an idea of what we were going to do for escort cards, but this morning I got my daily email from marthastewartweddings.com and it featured ADORABLE 3 dimensional heart shaped escort cards. I thought that maybe I might do that for my cards until my mom and I started flipping through the gallery and saw some of the other DIY ideas. (By the way, all brides, whether or not you're crafty, should check out Martha Stewart's wedding website. It's full of unique ideas and I find it a little bit more user-friendly than theknot.com sometimes.
Anyway, we flipped through and my mom found the cutest one. Instead of cards, the picture has fake butterflies on pins sticking into a bed of wheat grass. Attached to each pin is a small little banner that says the name and table of the guest. My mom had the idea of adding fake daisies and hydrangeas to the bed of wheat grass so it looks like a whole slew of butterflies fluttering over a garden (see the inspiration here...). I LOVE this idea because it's so whimsical and romantic and summery. We also thought that we could add a few butterflies to the table arrangements and a couple to the cake just to carry the theme throughout since this is the first time we're thinking of incorporating butterflies into the theme. We spent a while online this morning trolling some websites for artificial butterflies that look real. My requirements: not glitter, realistic colors, romantic, romantic, romantic. That's not hard, right? It actually isn't. There are tons of websites that sell butterflies in bulk. I have a meeting with my florist on Saturday so I'm going to bring my mom and run these ideas by Sandy and see what thoughts she has. I like this because it feels like the final touch, the last thread pulling the light, romantic summer wedding together.
With 23 days to go (oh my God, really??), I need to hustle. It's been hard, actually. For the past week and a half since I got back from my residency, I've been so tired everyday. I would wake up tired, go to bed tired, go through the day tired. It was definitely the heat, and today it's much cooler and there's no humidity (yet), so I just feel better. I also have turned to coffee, which is bad for me because I'm really sensitive to caffeine and since I have Ulcerative Colitis, coffee can be really bad. But, I need it to function. Last night I had a cup at 7p.m. so I could work on my thesis (hey, I got 7 pages of a short story accomplished), but I was up all night watching Ghost Hunters until I fell asleep finally. It's ok, though. As long as the coffee perks me up and doesn't upset my stomach, I'm going to keep drinking it to get me through the next few weeks of thesis writing and wedding planning.
ALSO! The work on our house is FINALLY happening! By next week, it should be all set. The seller gave us the lock box code so we could pop in and watch the progress, which I think I will definitely do because I need to SEE it or else I won't believe it. It's allllll happening! This is awesome.
Well, I'm off to peruse artificial butterflies, bring my car to a tire place (there's a NAIL in my back tire.. I have horrible luck with tires lately), do some writing, run some errands.... and breathe of course :)
Monday, July 12, 2010
Hot hot hot
I'm really hoping that it's not this hot and humid next month for the wedding. It's been SO GROSS for over a week. I was kind of rolling with it until tonight when it hit me like a ton of bricks. My head was aching and my stomach was anything but happy. And no matter how much sleep I get, I wake up tired. The humidity is just draining my energy and I'm over it! If it was really hot, but dry, I'd be in heaven. Like everyone always says, "it's not the heat, it's the humidity." So true.
I went with my mom and grandmother to HomeGoods at TJmaxx yesterday and my mom bought Matt and me a mail box with handpainted blue hydrangeas on it. It's so cute! I can't wait to put it up at the house. Actually, I can't wait to get inside the house, period! I started looking at www.visitmaine.com last night to get ideas for our honeymoon. We're only going to Bar Harbor 6 hours away, but I'm excited to get there. At the same time, though, we're going to come home at the end of the week to our house full of boxes, and I'm sure we'll be dying to unpack and set up shop. I know one thing for sure-- August is going to be awesome.
Our appraisal on the house was today and apparently it went well, which is good. I'm trying to be patient with our seller but he's taking his dear, sweet time doing things on the house that he's been saying he'll do for over a month now. As long as he gets on it and we close on time, all will be right with the world.
Oh! Also! One of my bridesmaids and bestest friends since forever, Sara Mouch, got home last week from 9 months in Spain! She came over last night to grab her bridesmaid dress and it looked AMAZING on her. Again, I love the cornflower blue so much! She's also going to be giving Matt and I (and my dad too, I believe) some dancing lessons. Last September before she left, she gave us some Rumba lessons, but we were really bad students and didn't practice enough. So she's going to try and help us get back on track. Hope it works!
Well, it's time for an ice cold shower for me. I feel totally icky.
I went with my mom and grandmother to HomeGoods at TJmaxx yesterday and my mom bought Matt and me a mail box with handpainted blue hydrangeas on it. It's so cute! I can't wait to put it up at the house. Actually, I can't wait to get inside the house, period! I started looking at www.visitmaine.com last night to get ideas for our honeymoon. We're only going to Bar Harbor 6 hours away, but I'm excited to get there. At the same time, though, we're going to come home at the end of the week to our house full of boxes, and I'm sure we'll be dying to unpack and set up shop. I know one thing for sure-- August is going to be awesome.
Our appraisal on the house was today and apparently it went well, which is good. I'm trying to be patient with our seller but he's taking his dear, sweet time doing things on the house that he's been saying he'll do for over a month now. As long as he gets on it and we close on time, all will be right with the world.
Oh! Also! One of my bridesmaids and bestest friends since forever, Sara Mouch, got home last week from 9 months in Spain! She came over last night to grab her bridesmaid dress and it looked AMAZING on her. Again, I love the cornflower blue so much! She's also going to be giving Matt and I (and my dad too, I believe) some dancing lessons. Last September before she left, she gave us some Rumba lessons, but we were really bad students and didn't practice enough. So she's going to try and help us get back on track. Hope it works!
Well, it's time for an ice cold shower for me. I feel totally icky.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
The other side of stress?
I think-- maybe, possibly-- that I've gotten myself on the other side of this wedding stress, believe it or not. I don't know how or why, but all of a sudden I don't care anymore about the guest list and head count (which has been my #1 stress for months). I also don't care anymore about the to-do list. I just feel like it'll get done. It has to, there's no choice really.
I'll be honest, I don't know if I'm just mellowing out finally OR if it's just too hot for me to be bothered by the wedding stuff. Or... more likely, I've started working on my thesis and it's distracting me from wedding stress because I'm refocusing on something that's stressful, yes, but also really fun.
Not that planning my wedding hasn't been fun. It's been great. But let's be real-- I'm ready to get this show on the road and go on our honeymoon. We could both use a vacation!
So on Tuesday, the day that was jam packed with STUFF TO DO... I dropped our contract off at the Crowne, went to the library to escape the heat and write for a while, and then I was going to go to my dress fitting, but my stomach was really bothering me. I rescheduled it and headed home, but first decided to swing by the mailbox on Hopkins Hill Road, a mile from my parents' house, to drop our trolley payment and the mortgage thing in the mail. I was driving a rental car because my brother's car is in the shop, and he's not 21 yet so he can't drive a rental, so he had my car and I took the rental. Being unfamiliar with this vehicle, of course I SLAMMED INTO THE CURB at the mailbox and SHREDDED the tired. Go Kristin. In the 8 years I've been driving, I've never popped a tire. I've bumped curbs before, but this was that one magical time. I blew that sucker up like it was a balloon instead of a tire.
I cried. I didn't feel good and all I wanted to do was go home, and it just figured that I was close enough to walk home, but knew I couldn't because I had too much stuff and it was way too hot out. No one was answering their cell or the house phone at my parents' house. I called Matt at work and just sobbed, totally incoherent, totally at my wit's end, really warm, colitis-tummied, tired, unhappy, tire popper. But then my mom came down and waited for AAA while I went home. All's well now, but damn... I was unhappy.
But now I don't care! Yesterday was 1 month and I was all set to be a bundle of nerves, and instead, I didn't really get worked up. I ran more errands (like booking the Ivy Garden finally), did some writing, tried to stay cool. Got more response cards. Lots of yes's. Whatever. Just gonna roll with it.
With less than a month to go, I'm going to try to hold onto this feeling of unstress. I'm really not sure how long it'll last or if there's another meltdown in my future (especially that last week when we close on the house, too), but for now I'm calm. For now, this wedding thing is enjoyable.
I'll be honest, I don't know if I'm just mellowing out finally OR if it's just too hot for me to be bothered by the wedding stuff. Or... more likely, I've started working on my thesis and it's distracting me from wedding stress because I'm refocusing on something that's stressful, yes, but also really fun.
Not that planning my wedding hasn't been fun. It's been great. But let's be real-- I'm ready to get this show on the road and go on our honeymoon. We could both use a vacation!
So on Tuesday, the day that was jam packed with STUFF TO DO... I dropped our contract off at the Crowne, went to the library to escape the heat and write for a while, and then I was going to go to my dress fitting, but my stomach was really bothering me. I rescheduled it and headed home, but first decided to swing by the mailbox on Hopkins Hill Road, a mile from my parents' house, to drop our trolley payment and the mortgage thing in the mail. I was driving a rental car because my brother's car is in the shop, and he's not 21 yet so he can't drive a rental, so he had my car and I took the rental. Being unfamiliar with this vehicle, of course I SLAMMED INTO THE CURB at the mailbox and SHREDDED the tired. Go Kristin. In the 8 years I've been driving, I've never popped a tire. I've bumped curbs before, but this was that one magical time. I blew that sucker up like it was a balloon instead of a tire.
I cried. I didn't feel good and all I wanted to do was go home, and it just figured that I was close enough to walk home, but knew I couldn't because I had too much stuff and it was way too hot out. No one was answering their cell or the house phone at my parents' house. I called Matt at work and just sobbed, totally incoherent, totally at my wit's end, really warm, colitis-tummied, tired, unhappy, tire popper. But then my mom came down and waited for AAA while I went home. All's well now, but damn... I was unhappy.
But now I don't care! Yesterday was 1 month and I was all set to be a bundle of nerves, and instead, I didn't really get worked up. I ran more errands (like booking the Ivy Garden finally), did some writing, tried to stay cool. Got more response cards. Lots of yes's. Whatever. Just gonna roll with it.
With less than a month to go, I'm going to try to hold onto this feeling of unstress. I'm really not sure how long it'll last or if there's another meltdown in my future (especially that last week when we close on the house, too), but for now I'm calm. For now, this wedding thing is enjoyable.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
One month!
Well, tomorrow is really the one month mark, but this is close enough. I can't believe how close the wedding is. And our house closing! Yesterday Matt and I went to the beach (huge mistake on a Federal Holiday during a heat wave) and we were talking about how everything feels like a long time coming. In this weird, surreal way, it's like we've been running in place for a while with our eyes on the finish line. Matt related it to this area on his college campus where they used to have to run a few miles-- the last stretch was all uphill, except for the portion right before the finish line where the slope went down and you could sprint to the end.
Perfect analogy, in my opinion. July is going to be a lot of uphillness. I just got back from my last residency in Cambridge (what a rollercoaster that was in itself... in a good way for the most part), so now I'm going to be sweating out my thesis, wrapping up my list of wedding-to-do's, and making sure this house stuff goes properly (closing, furniture buying, making sure we have everything in to the loan officer). Last night the two of us went over everything and I felt sick to my stomach... there's not much you can do about it when life gives you a feast like this, but it doesn't stop me from feeling anxious. We have an insane amount of stuff going on. But to be honest, if I had anyone else by my side through all of this, I would have melted down ages ago. Matt keeps me calm, he reasons out our finances with me so that it doesn't look nearly as scary as it is, and he always looks on the bright side. He knows what to talk about when I start to panic so that I'll be thinking more positive thoughts. And beyond that, he makes me laugh and it all seems ok. That's one way to know you're with the right person-- if they make you feel better during times of stress, you can count yourself lucky. I count myself very lucky.
In other news, our closing is now July 30th instead of the 12th (I can't remember if I already said this... everything's a blur haha). So that gives us about a week between closing and the wedding, but it's ok. At first I was freaked out about the thought of those things happening in an 8 day stretch, but really... whatever.Why not close right before the wedding? We'll deal with unpacking when we get back from Bar Harbor (which, by the way, is all I can think about because a vacation sounds so good right now).
I have my to-do list sitting next to me and fluttering under the breeze given off from my ceiling fan. Today is going to be 98 and humid, so my plan is to shower (I'm skipping my workout today... it doesn't seem safe) and then run my errands (post office to mail our mortgage commitment and our trolley itinerary and balance, Crowne Plaza to give them our food contract, Ivy Garden to put a deposit on a room for the rehearsal dinner) before I hole up in the Warwick Library for most of the day to start my thesis (and enjoy their excessive AC). I have a dress fitting at 4, which I keep semi-forgetting about. It's on my list, though, thank goodness. I need to make some phone calls and send some emails and apply for a job online, so that about rounds out my day. Insane? Yes. Very. But what can you do?
Wedding-- 32 days
House-- 24 days
:)
Perfect analogy, in my opinion. July is going to be a lot of uphillness. I just got back from my last residency in Cambridge (what a rollercoaster that was in itself... in a good way for the most part), so now I'm going to be sweating out my thesis, wrapping up my list of wedding-to-do's, and making sure this house stuff goes properly (closing, furniture buying, making sure we have everything in to the loan officer). Last night the two of us went over everything and I felt sick to my stomach... there's not much you can do about it when life gives you a feast like this, but it doesn't stop me from feeling anxious. We have an insane amount of stuff going on. But to be honest, if I had anyone else by my side through all of this, I would have melted down ages ago. Matt keeps me calm, he reasons out our finances with me so that it doesn't look nearly as scary as it is, and he always looks on the bright side. He knows what to talk about when I start to panic so that I'll be thinking more positive thoughts. And beyond that, he makes me laugh and it all seems ok. That's one way to know you're with the right person-- if they make you feel better during times of stress, you can count yourself lucky. I count myself very lucky.
In other news, our closing is now July 30th instead of the 12th (I can't remember if I already said this... everything's a blur haha). So that gives us about a week between closing and the wedding, but it's ok. At first I was freaked out about the thought of those things happening in an 8 day stretch, but really... whatever.Why not close right before the wedding? We'll deal with unpacking when we get back from Bar Harbor (which, by the way, is all I can think about because a vacation sounds so good right now).
I have my to-do list sitting next to me and fluttering under the breeze given off from my ceiling fan. Today is going to be 98 and humid, so my plan is to shower (I'm skipping my workout today... it doesn't seem safe) and then run my errands (post office to mail our mortgage commitment and our trolley itinerary and balance, Crowne Plaza to give them our food contract, Ivy Garden to put a deposit on a room for the rehearsal dinner) before I hole up in the Warwick Library for most of the day to start my thesis (and enjoy their excessive AC). I have a dress fitting at 4, which I keep semi-forgetting about. It's on my list, though, thank goodness. I need to make some phone calls and send some emails and apply for a job online, so that about rounds out my day. Insane? Yes. Very. But what can you do?
Wedding-- 32 days
House-- 24 days
:)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)