Status: HITCHED!

Stories and more photos to come....

Computer Planning

I never thought I'd be spending so much time in front of the computer while doing this wedding planning business. I thought I'd be out shopping, and running errands, and carrying my little notebook around with me, but no... I am on the computer probably more then I'm physically doing anything.

Between my lists (OHHH MY LISTS), and email communications, and IM'ing with my friends working through details and keeping me with perspective and calm, I hardly have time for the running of the errands. I mean I have shopped plenty! But I'll spend about 6-10 hours on the computer around the physical errands and such.

I am on the phone quite a bit, usually ironing things out after I send a particularly snippy email to a family member (or ALL of my family members). And just this week I'm working through the details a lot with my friends that are helping us this weekend, but still, most communications is via email or IM.

Such a different world these days.

An Exellent way to check things off the list

Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending the day with my good friend Liz. She is VERY good at the wedding planning ideas, and has done the flowers for a number of weddings, including her own. Miss Liz was going to do the flowers for my wedding as well, but along came a spider that sat down beside her, and BAM... she'd due to have a baby ANY DAY NOW!

So Liz has been sharing with me her wisdom, she painted a very cute blue band around MANY terra cotta pots we are using as favors/table decorations, and we even went through her storage tubs of wedding flower doing stuff. Hopefully she'll get to come with me to the FlowerMart tomorrow to pick of the LOADS of flowers I'm picking up tomorrow, but alas, we'll see what the Doctor says today.

Since Liz is on Maternity leave, and I've taken this week off for wedding planning fun, we decided to have a day together since that won't happen much in the next year. We were still able to check off some much needed items off my lists, AND we got to spend a great day together. She didn't get her usual maternity leave mid-day nap, but we did get the toes done, a trip to Costco in, AND we had a yummy breakfast and later, ice cream sundaes.

It was quite the lovely day!

(I tried to get a photo of my very cute toes with there little special wedding day design on them, but I decided that feet are hard to photograph. Especially my funny lookin' toes. or "Tingers" as some call them. Rather long, and the big toes are shorter then the rest. Well I thought they were lookin' pretty cute until the camera got a hold of them. FYI - close up of toes... not cute! So I have spared you all the sight. I'm going to go exfoliate my feet and moisturize my cuticles now.)

Did you remember the milk?

Wooooo Weeee!
This was gonna be a totally busy weekend, but I continued on the procrastination train a little bit longer.

BUT... I did get some very important things done.

LISTS!
LOTS AND LOTS OF LISTS.

Since we are doing the whole low budget, laid-back kinda thing, and we just so happen to be also taking photos before the festivities, so we have no time to help in the set-up of the site. Luckily, I have a VERY lovely crew of friends who are helping us out by giving us their whole day to do the dirty work, so everyone can come and have a great time. FRIENDS ARE PRICELESS!

So these friends get their own list. A very long list. They get a packout list, and a todo list, and I therefore have a shopping list to get everything for said packout list. I will then put together everything in that packout list, and have everything labeled and packed up in clear tubs, of course in like dutied categories.

Example: Everything for the cake table - in this lovely tub here, Extras for the "comfort trailer" - why they are all over there in that tub.

I spent a few years as a caterer, so I learned the goodness of the list, and the organized tubs.

I also of course have a list of things to do around the house, you know like put away all of the shower gifts I received and Eric decided he must spread them ALL OUT so he can see them all, and then of course try the kitchen gadgets. Plus we'd like to shampoo the carpets so the in-laws don't have to see all of the cat puke stains. I mean, the stains will still be there and will re-appear within a week, but at least they don't have to KNOW they are there.

Yes, yes, I realize my list of wedding specific things is about oh....50-60 long, and that's after checking off what I did today, and likely the carpet shampooing isn't going to seem quite so important come Thursday when the in-laws fly into town, but you know... I still want it on there just in case I have a few spare hours to blow.

To help me wrangle my todo lists, I have employed the help of a very helpful tool.
Remember the Milk dot com
I had seen a co-worker of mine use it to track those little things I usually put on post-it notes, which then end up scattered about my desk and inevitably lost right when I need it.

Remember the Milk has a mobile version so I can enter tasks and check my lists on my phone, and a handy dandy reminder system as well, so I get IM's, text messages on my phone, and/or emails with all the things that are due that day. Another great plug-in is the component that lives on my iGoogle page (just above my Google Reader where I check in on all of your lovely blogs when I have a moment). The web app is currently in BETA, and it has some usability issues, but having a tool that allows me to dump my brain, organize it a tad, and then allows me to re-organize it after I've had to sleep and can think more clearly, and then let's me print out my checklists by priority and day the task is due... I'm loving it!

Long live the list!

What was it?!?!?!

Don't you hate it when you think of something you need to do, and it seemed important and something that shouldn't be left out at the time, but you thought... 'I'll take care of it later.'

And then you forget, but you still remember that there was something you should add to your mental or physical list of things to do.

Yea, that's how I feel right now as I sit here trying to make that list.

Sitting Here Thinking... Not Doing (or Sleeping)

So today yesterday was my last day of work for three whole weeks.
Oh sure, you'd think I'd be thrilled and run out of that office as fast I could, right?
Well, instead I continued to work until rather late into the night. I fused about with some troubling findings for a long time before I gave in that I wasn't going to resolve it without some help, so I finally wrote down what I was dealing with and pawned it off to my lead for him to deal with. That was around 10pm I think.

Then I kinda putzed about, making sure statuses were documented, and cups were washed (no one wants to come back from vacation to a dirty tea cup!). I chatted online with some friends, one whom I was supposed to be at her house at 9pm, and then finally wrote my "Out of Office" email and packed up to head home.

I'm pretty sure part of my procrastination to come home was the realization that once I left, I would be 100% focused on the Wedding. No more work stuff to distract me. For the last few months I could always wait until tomorrow to do something, or the next week, or wait for a few months to pass. But now? It's here.

It's not that I'm nervous about getting married (although the whole "Mrs." thing is kinda making me feel all old and grown up, which is scary), but I am more apprehensive about actually having to finish this journey called wedding planning. Totally excited about the actual day, but for some reason, this particular week holds more apprehension.

Have I bitten off more then I can handle?
I mean, this is not your normal wedding. It is VERY do it yourselfy! And thankfully I have a number of friends who have volunteered to do lots of the "doing". But still... I am not as organized as I like to be on a project of any size, and I can no longer put anything off.

Sure I know it will be a beautiful day no matter what, and that the most important thing at the end of the day is that I have married my best friend, that stuff I get. I know things will happen, items will be forgotten, and since all of the essentials have been taken care there really isn't much left to actually do (besides cleaning this pig sty as the in-laws and Eric's friends have NEVER been here!). I know I will forget some tasks and about 50% will be de-prioritized and simply fall off the radar.

But right now I just need a list. Not an overly obsessive list, but at least something for me to start prioritizing and checking things off. Something to get these tasks out of my head so I can get some perspective and some sleep. What's the use of all of those painful skin creams, bootcamp squats, and denying myself pasta, if I don't get the sleep I need to keep me healthy and eyes de-puffed!?

Flowers ordered.... CHECK!

This morning I spent some time trying to pick out just WHICH white rose I wanted to use to add to the arsenal of other white flowers I'm using for our cake and other floral type decorations. Thankfully I had gone to the San Francisco FlowerMart with my good friend Liz a few months ago, and she shared her wisdom on which vendors she has used, and which flowers she thought would hold up best that day.

I met a few of the rose specialist vendors, and decided who I was going to use. William Sakai, of Sakai Brother Roses, was a great help, even though I only got to talk to him via voice mail tag. With his help, I settled on ordering domestic Akito Roses (that's one in the picture up there). They will join forces with white freesia, stock, daisies, Fuji mums, Hydrangeas, lisianthus, dendrobium orchids, and some token blue hydrangeas.

All of my flowers are now ordered, and will be ready for me to pick up next Wednesday when I get to fill my call up to the BRIM with all of the pretty pretty flowers. (someone remind me to take an extra Claritin that day!)

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

Yadda Yadda Yadda, Wedding, blah blah blah...

So being the non-girly girl I am who wears very little make-up, if any, I have gone a little overboard on how I'm going to look on the day of my wedding.

I have been getting facials. I have been buying expensive products. I have even scheduled to have eyelash extensions so I can cry without the mascara running down my face.

The most stupid move I made was to try to lighten the spots I have on my left cheek (I drive a lot and have more sun damage on that side then the right), and to lessen the frequency of millia popping up. My millia tend to stick around for at least 6 months, so if I could stop them from forming and could even speed up the healing of those I already have, I thought it would be great to do this before the wedding!

SO DUMB!
Now I have a rash everywhere I put these new products (mainly AHA creams) I bought to reduce the stupid little white bumps and the barely noticable brown spots (well I see them, but most people wouldn't say they were any big deal). I'm assuming that the rash is due to the creams, but it could also be a combination of some planning stress and the creams.

So now I'm itchy, and my previously pretty smooth skin is all bumpy and it's spreading. BRILLIANT!

Do I sound Bridezilla'ish now? I'm starting to feel it. Stupid vanity!

I miss blogging!

Eee Gads!
It's been a long time!

I actually started this post 2 weeks ago, but didn't get beyond those 2 lines up there, before my attention was pulled back to work or some other more pressing matter.

I had originally thought I would get to blog all about the wedding planning process. I'd post photos of events and write about all of the fun wedding goodness (and some of the bad), but no.... I have had no time! I don't really have time for this one, but sometimes a girl just has to put her foot down and do a little nonessential writing to ease her mind and to help her process her thoughts.

I have continued to take pictures for the blog, and keep having thoughts through the day of ... I should write about that for the blog! But alas.... no writing as been done, and the pictures haven't gotten out of my camera.

For those that don't know, I'm getting married next weekend. Less then 2 weeks away.
Am I nervous about getting married? not at all.
About the logistics of the day? TOTALLY!
About what it will be like going from a 3 letter last name to a 7 letter, oddly spelled and pronounced last name? FREAKED OUT!
About the fact that I still don't have everything hammered down and smoothed out? I'm dealing.

But in the end I am thrilled to be marrying my best friend and partner, and very much looking forward to starting down a path that is new, scary, thrilling and full of twists and turns, but knowing that I have someone to hold my hand all the way through is the best part of all.