Day 576 - Bottom done gone falled out!

As that number of days until our wedding gets smaller and smaller so does my brain! You hand me something, I'll lose it within a minute and where we find it will make very little sense. Our best man got to witness this foolishness first hand this weekend when he handed me his iphone for a moment. I was sitting on the sofa with it and stood up, I remembered specifically putting it on the coffee table and then going to the bathroom to help him with my daughter.
In the bathroom I used both hands to open the cupboard looking for a thermometer to take her temperature. Because of this when we later went looking for the iphone we knew it couldn't have been in my hands when I left the living room. We looked everywhere, even my bedroom. I had gotten up and went straight to the bathroom, he was here... he can verify that when we found it on my computer desk behind the dining room table his reaction was, "when were you over here?!" and my answer was, "I wasn't!!!" I swear, I have gremlins running around my house right now, that's my only explanation to where things are turning up lately.

I have tried to keep myself completely distracted and our kitchen counters have never seen this much attention. Between our abstaining and my flighty mind I have all this pent up energy to use and I have been bleaching the crazy out of my counters, stove, walls, you name it. That's not to say the house doesn't have the usual amount of chaos but it's super sanitized where it's clean and neat. I just keep looking at that number of days remaining and feeling as though I have just enough time to finish all necessary wedding tasks and that if I waste a single moment I will have to forgo something :(
This worries me so much that I use my distractions as best I can.

However, when the day comes to an end and I sit down to say goodnight to the world I always come back to that same beautiful fact. In 5 weeks I will marry (yes I'm saying it again) my best friend!

Years ago we made a video to tell the story of how we ended up together and now here we are taking that next big leap. I laugh sometimes when I think of how much life has changed in the past few years. I laugh and say, "Had someone told us we'd end up here 8 years ago....we'd have rolled our eyes."
Anyway, the video of our story has always been a pretty good summation of our union and to this day the blooper reel makes me snicker. We had so much fun making the video even though it took far longer than we expected and two different days. Now I make videos in a very different way and am currently completing our wedding video for the day of the wedding. Fun times. I can not wait to walk down the aisle towards David. To see him for the first time that day and then of course take out some of this pent up...erm... I'll end this entry here ;)

<3 your ..um... forgetful...um...what is it... oh yeah, hippie bride! 

Day 310 - 63% accounted for

Oh, so very addictive. Every day that I can't afford to put money into my wedding I instead input time. Time spent logging in to see if anyone new has RSVP'd.
63% of my guests have RSVPd, there are still more to mail out and we already know that Krista is waiting until May to RSVP .... maybe I shall serve the food in order of RSVP received ;)

I kid... I swear... or do I? :p

Day 307 - PARTY IN THE HIZOUSE!

I am so completely excited for tomorrow. It will be the first real celebration of our engagement since the brunch the morning after with friends! So excited am I that I have been blasting the sunshine pop and hippie tunes while preparing! Only the engagement part of the century!! or year...whateves!

And what's even better is it lands on Hug a Vegetarian day this year! So hip hip horray for this veg bride-to-be :)

I'm going to go sing now.

 ♥ ☮ ♫"Hello lamppost, What cha knowing? I've come to watch your flowers growing. Ain't cha got no rhymes for me? Doot-in' doo-doo, Feelin' groovy." ☮♫ ♥

Day 301 - Addicted to RSVPs

I think I have reached a point where I might actually need clinical help! I log in as soon as I awake and squeal with excitement the moment I see that little rsvp check next to another guest.

However, a downside to this is that other guests who know they should be getting invites and have not yet received them are starting to question our friendship. David and I must hurry and finish up some more envelopes for the mail before we are disowned.

WEEEE WEDDING WEDDING WEDDING

I'm getting married! Yup, yup I am! *dances* 

Day 300 - Addicted to RSVPs!

Ever since I sent out my wedding invitations I find myself logging in first thing in the morning to see if anyone has RSVP'd.

I can see how this wedding stuff can be completely addicting. I have a small guest list of 50-60 people and everyday I get so excited by new RSVP's. I also smile when they sign my guestbook in addition to rsvping.
So when I woke up this morning to fresh RSVP alerts! I declared aloud, "EXCELLENT!" I love non-procrastinators :) ♥ 312 ♥

Day 297 - Stress melts away

On days like today, when work and work related stressers are piling up around me. When I am completely overwhelmed by those around me and stuff I need to get done but don't have time to do. I simply turn on my wedding playlist, close my eyes and remind myself that in 316 days I will marry my best friend and love of my life.

Within moments nothing else matters ... until I snap back to reality and realize I must wait 316 days! Drat!

With 315 days to go I have removed the password from most pages on our wedding website and it is up and operational. Although, for security reasons, some pages will remain password protected.

Once the deadline passes for RSVPs the whole page will become password protected again and the RSVP tab will be removed.

You know you're emotionally drained when a simple guestbook comment from your best man on your wedding website can bring tears to your eyes. ♥

Some days it feels a million years away, others it feels like it's around the corner. ♥ I wish it were tomorrow! I would marry David today, yesterday and everyday! ♥ 

Day 85 - Hippie Bride for sure

Today my bridesmaid, Jenny, and I went in to start up my registry. If I had a registry at this location before a certain date I'd get a set of flutes for free. $15 value. So why not. I was supposed to go in to the other to get a free $25 gift card for their store but we didn't make it in before they were closed. But there is always next year.

While we were talking to the registry representative he looked at me and said, "Flowerchild/hippie?" I opened my eyes and said, "yeah. that's what I'm going for." he said, "I'm getting that vibe from you." I laughed but later said to my friend, "really? how?" It's not like I was standing their in a tunic with daisies in my hair or anything. I was dressed quite conservatively with my long hair pulled into a ponytail. I guess I just scream hippie. Maybe it was different things I was talking about. I don't think I mentioned the environment or animal rights. But there must have been something in my tone that screamed, "I'm a hippie and proud of it!"

Then Jenny and I ran around the store scanning anything and everything that I would want. We treated it like a shopping spree with infinite possibilities. If I was allowed to load a truck up with anything and not have to pay a cent what would I take. I'll take one of these *beep* and two of these *beep* *beep* and if these didn't work out I would just bring them back *beep*.

Day 26 - Literature in the making

Today my dear friend Jenny surprised me with a wedding planning book. So excited was I to crack that baby open that I have stayed up WELL into the night writing out the silliest details. Making sure every question that I can answer has been answered.
Let's see, Name of bride? well I think I know that. Name of groom? Oh that one is easy. Date of wedding? Where was the proposal? Who will be the bridesmaids? Done, done and done. Wow, makes you feel so productive even if it is just stuff you already knew.
For all other details that I'm not prepared to commit to in ink I have added paper with jotted ideas. I'm so excited to fill this book with inspiration but I'm not prepared to rip up my bridal magazines.
So for now I'll fill out a paper with a guest list for every event. Three different colors, one for those invites that are mandatory, the people I have to invite whether I like it or not. One color for the bridal party those vip. Lastly one color for those people we'd like to invite but aren't necessary and so might have to be filtered through later. Oh look, I've created a rainbow, a bridal rainbow of chaos! Only I will know why Mary Jo is written in blue while Mary Ellen is in red. Hopefully I can remember tomorrow morning. 

Day 7 - A Rolling Ring Gathers No Moss!

WHOA! What a productive day. It seems the moment I knew my colors would work I moved on. Almost like it was a big speed bump and once past I could just fly! Today started conversation with a friend who would be honored to marry us. What followed was a message to the photographer, conversations with the DJ and planning the venue. Even planning the events of the day so they would work. It is all coming together and we still have so many months to go! 604 days to be precise!

So what did we figure out today? Well to start, it's sounding very reasonable to have our friend marry us which is super exciting. That will make the day that much more personal. The venue is still a bit of a juggle but I feel when we actually go check places out it'll be more final. We may even have our ceremony and reception at one place and simply have it set up while we have our photos taken and then return for the reception. That would make sense right?! Would certainly cost less ;)

I then tracked down the photographer and assuming he does work in my city we have our photographer for a lovely $1200-$1500 (I giggle because Single Ladies - Beyonce just came on my track. The song he was singing all month) My only question and concern for the photographer is does he also do videography? I assume not... but one should never assume. Really though, how can you expect him to be taking photographs of you walking down the aisle if he's manning a video camera? So who will we get to do that?! *STRESSER* I really desire a video of my wedding day, the wedding and our first dance. Some other bits but those are the most important videos I want. We plan on having a special dance for our first dance (it's a surprise) so a videographer is a MUST! :) But I'll figure it out. 604 days left ;)

I sent my old DJ a message and he has expressed he is available to me within our budget. I then asked if he'd mind doing the ceremony as well. We have special songs selected that are not standard piano played songs. He hasn't objected so that'll be grand :)

The colors seemed to be my writers block and now the book is just flying! Honestly, if it weren't for our financial situation we could EASILY send out wedding invitations for this summer. But I want to do this right as it's the only wedding I'm ever going to have! :)

Feel the excitement people!

The only additional things my bombarded fiancée and I have discussed are things like:

• Photographer sharing - I would like the photographer be there when the girls and I are getting ready. Yet I also want photographic memories of his day. The solution? Simple, assuming we are still living in this building I will get ready with the girls in our apartment and he will use another tenants apartment. We are fortunate enough to have a very tight knit community in this building and I am sure the tenants would be more than thrilled to share their dwelling for the day. That way the photographer could simply run back and forth between us which would be no different than going to a room down the hall in a big house! :) We'd have the maid of honors and the best men ensuring that neither bride nor groom exited at the same time. As much as we will likely spend the night together the night before the wedding we will not be seeing each other all dressed up before the wedding.
  
• Soundtrack - Music means a lot to us and it's something we're being very selective of. We have unique entrance music for the wedding party as well as mine. Our exit music and then the entrance to the reception. All of it is planned out :)
  
• Goofy is the new Happy - Just that he's loving how goofy happy I am and I'm loving how quietly full of smiles he's been.
  
• The Groom will not wear pink - "Honey what about this wedding is important to you?" D- "You're happiness. As long as you don't make me look like a complete Jack ass!" I later tested this and with a very serious tone I said, "Honey, I was thinking a Yellow Tux with pink stripes and then a hot pink vest." D - "Excuse me?!" Me - "Yes, I figure if we had a lemon yellow tux with vertical powder pink stripes and then a hot pink vest - " D - "I am not wearing pink!" Me - "Just making sure you'd draw a line! *smiles* Oh by the way, you're wearing a wine colored vest." 

Well I wasn't planning on posting today but it was too productive not to talk about. Now to lose 50lbs in a year! *stress* Hippie Bride

Day 5 - Conversations with "The man"

Ever since we became engaged I've noticed he seems happier. That isn't what you would necessarily expect in these situations, yet he has been smiling every day this week. This is also a little unusual because usually he is down in the dumps this time of year. I'm not complaining, in fact if anything I am touched. If he has become happier based on his being engaged to me I'm flattered!

That's where the surprise ends, lighter spirit or not he's still a man and doesn't care about color samples, wedding party lists, guest lists, dates, venues. As long as I'm happy and don't put him in a ridiculous suit in front of a lot of people he's happy.


Me - "Honey, what do you think of these two colors?" *holding up toenail color next to fingernail color*
Him - *grunts* "they're fine." *returns to what he was doing*
Me - "I'm serious.
Him - "I know you are."
Me - "I like the wine color with the light pink. But what would the men wear?
Him - *shrugs*
Me - "Well, obviously they'd wear the dark one...but then they would all be wearing the same. I don't want to put them in the light pink. What could we do to distinguish the best men from the ushers? Cause you are getting 2 best men you know cause I can't pick between my two maid of honors! It's absolutely not happening!"
Him - *laughing* "I really don't care, whatever makes you happy."
Me - "I'm going to continue to ask you these questions. I don't expect you to get giddy over napkins, calligraphy or invitation samples but I'm going to continue to ask you."
Him - *laughs* "I figured as much."

Me - "So who do you want to be your best man?"
Him - *shrugs*
Me - *makes a few obvious suggestions*
Him - *shrugs*
Me - "Well you have to pick your own best men! I'm not picking your best men, they're yours to abuse! Oh and who do you want to marry us?"
Him - *confused* "Who?!"
Me - "Yeah, it's more personal and would save us money if we had a friend marry us. It's not that hard to become an officiant as far as I know and if we had say Jer marry us I'm sure he wouldn't charge us hundreds of dollars for his services."
Him - "True"
Me - "Then it'd be personal, affordable and non-denominational. Besides, some officiants want you to get married at a specific spot and take couples counseling."
Him - *eye roll*
Me - "So rather than have a stranger marry us I think it'd be sweet to have a friend do it. Any ideas?"
Him - *shrugs*
Me - "I'm going to go do laundry now..."
Him - "k."

Me - "What do you think, assuming it didn't cost too much and it was completely possible, if we got married *insert secret location here*?"
Him - *shows genuine interest* "That would be cool."
Me - "The only thing is that's a public place and I don't know if you can rent it out and if you could how many thousands of dollars would it be. And then it's outside too so if it were to rain we'd have to have tents rented.
Him - *no interest* "true."
Me - "But that's only a couple hundred dollars."
Him - *not listening, just nodding* "It's possible."
Me - "Are you listening any more?"
Him - "Sounds fine."

Poor man, what was he thinking?!

On the positive side for him he's considered a complete romantic at work now, I think that's grand that he's finally recognized for his roots ;)

Well, aside from glancing at colors and trying to wiggle a few wedding party names out of him I've done little towards my wedding today. Oh I lie, I had him take a few photos of me with my ring and the flowers he gave me the day he proposed.

 

Tomorrow is another day, until then, goodnight.

Day 3 - A return to chores

So after a 3 day absence from real life and thus my chores I went into the kitchen today and did all my dishes. Not that there were many, we are a small family. Yet still catching up to my chores with my daughter around and tending to my job as well, it's a full days work. I still have yet to wash the floor since Friday and I think I forgot some laundry in the Dryer on Saturday. *yawn*

Aside from my return to chores there was the forced realization of just how much the phones have been ringing this week...and how much time I've been on them. All three of my phones died spontaneously tonight! GAH!

Another self-realization was that I shouldn't headbang with my daughter no matter how excited I am to be engaged or how cute Willow Smith is. My neck...it kills me right now! I'll leave the hair whipping to my daughter from now on!!!

Lastly I need sleep, I'm getting wedding color inspiration from everything now. Earlier today, while my fiancée was rubbing my sore, whiplashed neck, I saw my painted finger nails and toenails next to each other. My toes have a dark pink wine color and the fingers are a lighter shade of pink. I bragged my flexibility as I lifted my foot over my head and asked him, "Honey, what do you think of these for the wedding colors." Bless him he didn't mock or tease, mostly because he could never lift his foot like that, he simply grunted, "I ah na" and made with the lotion for my shoulders.

I didn't expect to get quite this excited about the prospect of a wedding but now that we've put a title to everything it just seems more real.

I have drawn one conclusion and am glad to be arriving at a level of cynicism I'm more accustomed to. I found myself a little lip-curl when someone said, "So you finally got him to ask the question!" I resent that phrasing. I didn't hold his hand behind his back and demand he propose with my knee pushed into his ribs. When I told him this he laughed and said he obviously didn't get that comment but he would get the, "Finally making an honest woman out of her eh?" Since when were we foul? I didn't realize we stunk of single-life and cheap sex! I thought we were living a pretty wholesome life. Guess I was wrong.

On a serious note I know these people mean well but it's similar to the statement to the pregnant woman who is 2 weeks late, "The baby will come when it wants to." What are they trying to say? My baby doesn't want to meet me?! Thanks! Sometimes "congratulations" is a better turned phrase. ;)

Off to bed 10 minutes early tonight, that is if I can convince myself to stay off the knot shop. 

Later, your hippie bride

Day 2 - continued glee

It seems the phone doesn't stop ringing lately. Everyone wants to know, how did he ask? What did you say? Were you surprised? When did he ask? Where did he ask? What does the ring look like? When are you getting married?

I don't mind answering and in fact I go over the details at night by myself. But the big thing is the wedding seems that much more real now. We've been planning this wedding since 2007 and now I can talk about it and not sound like the crazy desperate spinster who is in denial. The ring on my finger removes all doubt. I'm getting married.

I didn't work out too many new  details today, spoke to more people and just walked around glancing at my hand and thinking, "wow...it's really real..." I'm more than excited to marry my best friend and wish now that I'd been a little more spinstery and had more planning done for I would love if  I could have this wedding in 3 months!

I did find time to make some foolish video to announce our engagement. I also learned that throwing rice does not make birds blow up. I'm relatively disappointed in myself for not having already snope verified that one years ago. *facepalm* The productive part of the day was spent decorating our tree together.

Alas, today I am thinking colors. I'm torn between deep pinks, reds, blues, whites... everything looks so nice. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't want to move forward with any one thing until I tackle another. I don't like the idea of unfinished business. I need to decide on my colors before I move forward because decorations depend on my theme.

I know I want to be non-traditional, non-denominational and something that is close to home for us. There will be a lot of "kal Ho Naa Ho" integrated into the wedding. I won't reveal too much in this blog as far as these things are concerned because some things are intended to be a secret until the day. But I think anyone who knows us knows how much the movie "Kal Ho Naa Ho" means to us and the music. Songs from Kal Ho Naa Ho and Dil Se Re always take us back to when we first started dating. I've listened to Kal Ho Naa Ho every night since we became engaged. Just makes me feel that little extra burst of love that I felt when we were younger. The suspense, the anticipation, the unknownn.  All those feelings come back and I just can't wait for those next steps down the aisle. But one thing I know is I don't want to wish away this moment now. Too often we are so anxious for the next step we forget to embrace today. I've always avoided that in the past and I will continue to do so. I'm going to enjoy being engaged because I'm only going to be engaged once.

I'll live life to the fullest, kal ho na ho {tomorrow may not be}


Here it is 12:39 am and once again I'm up late unable to sleep. The house is quiet and so I must plan my tomorrow. Good night, your hippie bride.

Day 1 - The silly behavior

Hello,
We have finished day one of my engagement. I have been planning the actual wedding for almost 4 years now. You'd think the engagement would change very little in my behavior as it's such common place for me now......You'd be wrong!

I spent today basking in the glow of my ring and adding every possible wedding related thing to my facebook. Okay, so they were already added, but I updated them to "engaged" and posted the updates to my wall. Juvenile? Most definitely! I couldn't help it, I've been imaging this moment from my childhood. The excitement was bound to surface.

But, to give myself some credit I was slightly practical. I spent about 15 minutes confirming my guest list, the one I'd started in 2007, to ensure I was still friends with the people on it. I then went through it with a fine toothed comb to remove any of those "obligatory invites" that I really didn't like. If they are offended they are not there than they aren't really that happy for me... I'm the bride, I'm allowed to be selective.

After finalizing my guest list I made the seating plan. I used the data base at the knot shop to do this. It creates an image for you and you can ensure Grandma Sue doesn't sit near her ex husband Grampa Joe because the two of them would just stir up drama. You also want to sit the cranky Miss Finster with the cynical Mrs. Dupis, this way they won't depress anyone else with their complaints about the dry food. You put the chipper Ms. Doyle next to the young folk and make sure to keep Cousin Frank away from the gift table, he's a bit of a kleptomaniac!

I was impressed with how easy it was to put my relatives far away from the relatives they hated and separate tables and move friends near friends. Then I matched up friends who only know me and no one else with people I felt they would most mesh with. Once it was done I had a picture in front of me that made it all so much more real. When my fiancée realized what I was doing he made a slightly nervous face. I believe he realizes that his life has changed the moment he put a ring on my finger.

For instance he doesn't share the bed with me anymore. Not because he snores, but because I'm staying up until 1am updating social utilities that I don't use anymore. Such as Myspace and Orkut. I even went as far as to log into old e-mails and confirm they said I was engaged. Yup, I'm basking. Basking in the sparkly glow... I'm also falling asleep at the keyboard. *faint*

That's all for now, your hippie bride, Bwings