Blog Update

I think I'm going to move my blog to wordpress, so here is the new link for future updates and whatnot and you can still follow along there as well!

http://andwontonmakesthree.wordpress.com/

Chocolate for the win!

Lindt - you've done it again.  Oh sweet, yum...

No longer a Miss

Ah, married life. OKay, so it really doesn't feel all that different from pre-married life. I look at it as a plus, though. Because we've lived together so long, we're already used to each other's quirks and possibly annoying habits - we won't have that potential stressor in our first year of marriage because we already know we live well together. We know we won't fight over new things because we don't really fight anyway... sure there are aggravations and stress, but usually it's regarding a situation and not the other person, so in my case, I just need a little space and then I'm fine. When all is said and done we really have a very healthy relationship, I'd say. :)

Being "official" does feel good, though. I love that I'm a wife now and it's a title/label that I'm very happy to have. Every night before bed we take our rings off and place them in a heart-shaped ring-holder and they fit snuggly together, as we do. I can't tell you what a thrill it is to see a ring on Josh's finger - just as exciting as when he first put a ring on mine. I remember the words in our ceremony* and that's what I think when I look down at my hand and his.

Okay, enough mushy stuff. We won't have pictures for a few weeks yet, but I'll be posting some as soon as we do, or most likely creating a slideshow. We did get some pictures from my mom (yay) and I think a few people are starting to come out of the woodwork with their pictures from the day. Now I just have to pester more people to share theirs with us. :p



*"As you look at your wedding band, remember the great gift that you have been given and all that you have in one another. Remember that you have someone to share this life with."

Interesting....

I write like
Chuck Palahniuk

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Found thanks to English Muse

100th Post!

It's my 100th post and just a few more days until the Big Day!  We were crafting and running errands like mad this weekend, but we got most everything done. We just have a few more big projects to finish up like the centerpieces, our "canopy" and... actually that might be it.  Oh, and my favorite part - setting up candy for the candy buffet! We got over 40 pounds of various candies thanks to Costco for some amazing deals. I love a good deal.

Shall We Dance?

You know, Josh and I picked out our first dance surprisingly quickly considering neither of us are big dancers. As to deciding who leads while we dance... well that might be another issue. :p  Perhaps some more practicing is in order. With all the skimming through MP3s, though, on trying to find good songs, I couldn't help but think of 'The King and I' and how I still think it would be fantastically fun to recreate the scene where Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner fly around the huge ballroom floor to 'Shall We Dance'.

10 Days to Go!

Everyone think SUNSHINE!  It's been raining every weekend and the forecast doesn't look good for the 10th. :(  Come on Minnesota weather - cooperate for once, would ya?

16 Days!

You know, I knew we were forgetting something with all of this wedding planning business. Apparently you need this piece of paper called a marriage license. Whoops! We somehow completely forgot about this, so we'll be going to get one tonight.

I'm not looking forward to all of the paperwork in our future. The week after we get married I've got bust my buns to change my name and get new documentation as quickly as possible - the rush? Well, apparently when you buy a house, they want you to have everything as updated and current and correct as possible, so I've gotten 3 emails this week reminding me that I need to get it done right away before closing. Duly noted.

Holy crap... my name is going to change. It was weird filling out my "new" name on the wedding application in the section that says "Names of Parties After Marriage" - it did fill me with giddy, girlish excitement at the same time, though.

18 Days!!

I'm so excited to become a Mrs.!!

On that note, I'm going to leave you with romantic, sappy poetry. :)

SONNET LXIX

~ By Pablo Neruda

Maybe nothingness is to be without your presence,

without you moving, slicing the noon

like a blue flower, without you walking

later through the fog and the cobbles,

without the light you carry in your hand,

golden, which maybe others will not see,

which maybe no one knew was growing

like the red beginnings of a rose.

In short, without your presence: without your coming

suddenly, incitingly, to know my life,

gust of a rosebush, wheat of wind:

since then I am because you are,

since then you are, I am, we are,

and through love I will be, you will be, we’ll be.

 

The Invitation

~by Oriah

It doesn’t interest me

what you do for a living.

I want to know

what you ache for

and if you dare to dream

of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me

how old you are.

I want to know

if you will risk

looking like a fool

for love

for your dream

for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me

what planets are

squaring your moon…

I want to know

if you have touched

the center of your own sorrow

if you have been opened

by life’s betrayals

or have become shriveled and closed

from fear of further pain.

I want to know

if you can sit with pain

mine or your own

without moving to hide it

or fade it

or fix it.

I want to know

if you can be with joy

mine or your own

if you can dance with wildness

and let the ecstasy fill you

to the tips of your fingers and toes

without cautioning us

to be careful

to be realistic

to remember the limitations

of being human.

 

It doesn’t interest me

if the story you are telling me

is true.

I want to know if you can

disappoint another

to be true to yourself.

If you can bear

the accusation of betrayal

and not betray your own soul.

If you can be faithless

and therefore trustworthy.

 

I want to know if you can see Beauty

even when it is not pretty

every day.

And if you can source your own life

from its presence.

I want to know

if you can live with failure

yours and mine

and still stand at the edge of the lake

and shout to the silver of the full moon,

“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me

to know where you live

or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up

after the night of grief and despair

weary and bruised to the bone

and do what needs to be done

to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me

who you know

or how you came to be here.

I want to know if you will stand

in the center of the fire

with me

and not shrink back.

 

It doesn’t interest me

where or what or with whom

you have studied.

I want to know

what sustains you

from the inside

when all else falls away.

I want to know

if you can be alone

with yourself

and if you truly like

the company you keep

in the empty moments.

Tornado what?!?

Tornado Watch for Carver County, MN

until 9 pm CDT, Thu., Jun. 17, 2010

This is what happens when you work in a cubicle... you have no windows and therefore are surprised when you go to weather.com and see the above warning.

Camping Pics!

Finally I get around to posting camping pictures!  It's only taken how long?  We really ended up with an amazing campsite right on the lake, and the dragonflies!  You should have seen how many there were - there were always around 50 at any given time, except for the really hot part of the day, so no mosquitos!  Hooray!

We have returned!

Well, the lovebirds are on their honeymoon and it's back to the daily grind - it's always so hard to get back to work after a vacation. The wedding was wonderful and it was so nice to see family and friends and see my little brother get married to a wonderful girl. Hooray for having a younger sister! :D

The trip went fairly smoothly all things considered, though there were a tense few hours when I thought I had destroyed my phone. I had left it in my back pocket when I had gone to the restroom and as I heard the "plop" and "splash" I wanted to smack my forehead. I pulled it out of the toilet as quickly as possible and proceeded to try and dry it out and take it apart, but the prognosis didn't look good, even after an hour of drying out. However, after sitting for a good 6 hours or so, it started working again! The screen has a little discoloration and gets wonky now and again, but I'll take it!

 

Pictures to come soon of the wedding and fun!

Road Trip!

We're off to Colorado in just a few hours and I'm so excited - not only for a road trip, but to see my little brother get married. I'm behind on all of my various picture posts, and I'm bound to end up with a ton of pictures after this trip. My camera bag is packed to the brim with every option for every photo opportunity and my new tripod and wireless remote are ready for action as well! Now, time just needs to fast forward and the clouds need to part so we can get going!

So pretty

I have my eyes on these flower bowls... I have for a while actually, but then suddenly could never find them in an actual store, so I was super excited to see them on Amazon. I'm imagining them in our new red kitchen. :)

Lovely Quote on Love, Marriage

Love is a temporary madness; it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of eternal passion. That is just being in love, which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two.

- Louis de Bernieres

 

I would say our roots are definitely entwined.

Ahh technology

Josh's alarm clock finally bit the dust last week (actually, just the snooze button stopped working from being pressed repeatedly most mornings), so Josh got a new alarm clock. It's modern and compact and as I gazed over at my old super clunky massive CD alarm clock, I became jealous and coveted his new fancy clock. Being the sweetie that he is, he brought me home an equally awesome clock that is compact, modern, round, and talks! I've discovered one flaw, however. The husky female voice has a thing against hearing anything above a tenor. My soprano voice - oh no, unacceptable. Case in point:

Me: Set alarm
Silence
Me: Set alarm
Clock: What would you like the alarm to sound like?
Me: Buzzer
Clock: Could you repeat that?
Me: BUZZER
Clock: What time would you like to set the alarm?
Me: 5:45 a.m.
Silence
Me: 5:45 a.m.
Clock: Alarm is set to 9:45 a.m.
Me: Sigh.

She practically fawns all over Josh when he talks to her, though. No repeats necessary.

Also, we've discovered that you must talk directly into the microphone on the new clock. We were laying in bed, the alarm went off, and both of us tried yelling "Snooze" several times before I finally leaned my head directly in front of her and told her to shut it. Now, I just speak in a lower and slower voice and all is well, unless Josh starts laughing at me and then I have to start all over. Thankfully, the clock also has buttons, but the creators of the clock decided to make setting it as difficult as possible unless you use voice commands, so there you go. Hooray modern technology!

This was so needed!

I absolutely needed this laugh today, and completely forgot about this site until MSN featured it today.

Awkward Family Photos

Update!!

Update!! Apparently there is a lot of interest in the place we want, but they came back with a counter-offer and are pretty much holding the place for us until we accept or not (and we ARE) so we should be homeowners soon if everything else goes as smoothly!!!

Another busy few days have passed, and we could have potentially big news in the works. We've talked a lot about moving back to Colorado and we've weighed the pros and cons about moving right now, and depending on what happens in the next few weeks, we may be staying in Minnesota for a bit longer. Moving to Colorado won't be cheap, and then we have to worry about jobs. I admit we're both worried we could end up in the same situation we were in when we got to Minnesota. We didn't get jobs right away and go behind on bills and maxed out our credit cards... not a good situation. If we stay in Minnesota a while longer, we could potentially save up some more money. We're more established here, so hopefully keeping (in Josh's case finding) permanent work won't be as difficult. We also in the past 5 days were looking at houses and we found a great place well within our price range of purchasing. It's a new construction townhome out in the country in a smaller subdivision that probably won't expand too much for a few years - we'd actually be the first ones to move into the subdivision, I believe, and it's bright and peaceful and perfect for a starter-home. It seemed like too good of a deal to pass up on, so as of last night, we've made an offer and now we just wait and see. If it's meant to be, they'll accept, and if they don't, we'll think on it a bit more. Our one concern could potentially be the HOA - neither of us are fond of them, and we're waiting to get their rules and regulations to look over to make sure we're okay with them. We'd love a house, and we've seen a few in our price range - and they're fixer-uppers, which we're okay with, but a lot of them just need so much work, and this place - we wouldn't even have to change the paint colors because we actually like them.

So, there's that. 

Wedding planning continues and tomorrow we'll be talking cake!  Our inspiration:

Seen here

Finally saw the barn!

We've been so busy lately, and I imagine it will only get worse as we get closer to July. We did, however, finally get out to the barn, and we're both really happy with our choice. Josh was uncertain at first when he heard the word "barn," but he likes it as much as I do. I have one concern, though. When we arrived, the parking lot was full, and it's not a very big parking lot. The reason, we quickly discovered, is because there is a baseball field right nearby, which I had no idea shared a parking lot with the barn, and was literally right across the path. So, while we were looking around and opening up the barn, very curious people just started wandering in and around. I'm crossing my fingers that no ball games will be happening the day of our wedding, but if it does happen, I guess we need to be prepared. First off, I'm going to make signs to put everywhere saying that the area has been reserved for our wedding and hopefully people will respect that. As for parking - I don't think we can reserve the lot, unfortunately, so finding enough spots for everyone could be tricky. At least we'll be there that morning to set up and maybe we can ask people to park somewhere else, but whether they'll cooperate or not... who knows. At least we're finding out now rather than later that it could be a potential issue.

Backpacking Kitty

This is just too cool.  A French couple who are backpacking around the world found a kitten in Louisiana who then joined them! 

Backpacking Kitty

Less than 3 months...

Boy I've gotten bad about updating... and taking pictures, and doing a lot of things. :p My dress is has begun the process of alteration, however! After a semi-stressful, long drive through traffic into the city (sort of) I arrived and with pins flashing, Louise managed to put my mind completely at ease. I feel like such a princess and I'm so excited to have it finished. You see, I was worried when the dress first arrived. For starters, I couldn't tie the back myself, so I couldn't get a clear picture of the fit, and then there was the bust. Perhaps my measurements were misread?  All I know was there was too much padding and my small figure did NOT fill it out so it looked like I had attempted to stuff a box of lumpy tissues down the front. Getting rid of a an inch or two of fabric and the padding should fix things, though, so I'm excited! I go back for another fitting in May and then the actual sewing begins.

As for other things - the paper for the invitations is here so we'll have to start on that soon! I may have also figured out what I want to do for centerpieces, but I have to run the idea by Josh first to see what he thinks and crunch a few numbers. I thought of the perfect way to tie in the oriental elements with the lighting elements I also wanted to use! Flowers are pretty much decided on as well for the most part and I'm actually relieved that part is being taken care of by someone else. :p At first I didn't want to "delegate" at all, but now that's one huge thing to not have to worry about and Kim and Mike know so much more about flowers than I do.

Check!

Gown Alteration Appointment - Check
Invitation Paper Samples Ordered - Check
Order Official Document for Officiant - Check

You know, the only thing on my mind lately has been weddings. I even dream about weddings - some very bizarre dreams at that. In one dream I was insisting on wearing a poodle skirt (sans poodle at the very least) with matching shoes and my mom would not hear of it and we were arguing over this horrible wedding ensemble, which I would never wear anyway, but it was the principle of the matter, darn it! It's my wedding and I'm doing what I want and if that means wearing a poodle skirt rather than a dress, so be it. :p
I did, however, only now think about one very important thing. I might die of heat in my dress. I wasn't exactly thinking outside wedding when I was choosing my dress and I have no idea if our venue is air-conditioned or not. One can only hope, otherwise we're going to need to bring fans, I think. I'll only get to dress up like this once, though, so I want to do it up and hopefully with enough clinical strength antipersperent and expensive makeup - I'll hold up. ;)

Hooray, the next set of Penguin Classics is out including Alice's Adventures in Wonderland!  I'm considering purchasing them as a wedding expense and using them as part of the decor... our theme is pretty random as it is. :p

Wedding Fail #1

Well, my first wedding fail is done and over with, so lets hope there aren't too many more. Apparently I'm more scatter-brained than I realized and did a pretty big boo-boo as a result. I was looking over the flight itenerary I booked for our photographer and realized I had booked his flight for the wrong month!! I booked his flight for June rather than July. None of us caught it either. I looked at the thing several times before confirming and apparently I had Daniel & Crystal's wedding dates in mind rather than my own, so I just didn't catch it and nothing looked wrong. So... I now have to call and get it fixed, and the flights available are crap, more expensive, and it'll cost us $150 just to change the tickets. Sigh. I really hope I can manage to not make any more costly mistakes in the next few months.

Oh my.... yay!

Okay, these are simply too fabulous!! Now if only my pocketbook could justify purchasing them at that price....

Mad Men Barbies

Squish

It was one of those mornings where I was kind of rushing around... flustered somewhat after it took me another 10 mintues to try and put my eyes in my head. I'm amazed I haven't torn or lost them yet, to be honest. Yesterday morning I was attempting to put a contact in when I dropped it and the thing fell on Uzi's back, which actually probably saved the thing and made it super easy to find. Thankfully he stood still and I managed to grab it.

Anyway, I was rushing around this morning and hastily making myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (yes, I'm 6) and Josh was by the sink and he looked over at me and smiled and kind of chuckled, so I asked him, "What?" and he said he had a "Heather moment." Hmm? He said watching me make my sandwich made him imagine us in the future when we have kids. I'll most likely be rushing around still, only with a row of bread lined up. :p It sent me off to work with a smile. I often have those moments where I'll be watching him and imagine our future family (hence the "Heather moment"). Ah, bliss.

On another note - hooray wedding dress! It is here, and currently hiding in our closet in a garbage bag. :p Yeah, yeah, I forgot to buy a garment bag, so one is on the way. Ha ha.

March Already!?

After several years, I have finally decided to give contact lenses a go. It's day 3 and things are still a bit odd - a litte blurry and I feel like I have something in my eye - oh wait, I do have something in my eye! I think I'm progressing - it only took 10 minutes to get the little buggers in this morning. I also found a much better technique when it comes to taking them out than what I was shown. I tried the way everyone told me until I literally couldn't force myself to keep my eyes open and they were bright red, and then I tried this other method, and out they popped! Thank you handy dandy pamphlet! Considering that up until a week ago it would take at least two people to get eye drops into my eye, I'd say this huge progress. I was getting tired of glasses (getting smudged, glares, fogging up in cold weather) and I don't want to wear glasses when we get married, so I'm determined to make the contact lenses work. I'm nearsighted, but without glasses, I could barely read the E at the top of eye chart, so I require aid when driving, and if I just want to be able to see people, which is kind of nice to be able to do. :p So hooray and here's to sticking foreign objects in one's eye!

Other than that this weekend, we did some wedding shopping and picked up some items for the reception. Thank you, Ikea! Aside from a mini panic attack due to getting completely turned around in major crowds, I think it went quite well. I definitely don't like the layout of the store, though. Oh well, it ended up being a good trip, and I'm sure we'll be back. Even though some things are really cheaply made, they do have a lot of what seem to be high quality items as well. Sadly, when we move we will no longer be in close distance to one. Yay roadtrip! Now if we only had a vehicle with more trunk space... :p

Ellingson Car Museum

Okay, well that last link I had listed didn't work, so here's the link to my website instead with pictures from our trip to the Ellingson Car Museum.

Ellingson Car Museum

Pictures!

Finally pictures of our new rental!

New Surroundings

Unpacking Complete!

Well, I think we've officially unpacked and are having a few people over for dinner on Friday night in celebration. We'll most likely have a larger gathering a different weekend once I get even more in order. I still have a few piles here and there to work on, but it's definitely all coming together and as soon as my new camera arrives I shall be taking pictures of our new space for the next 6 months. :p I admit that I'm eager to grow some roots, so let's hope that our next move in 6 months (if all works out) will be a good opportunity to settle. I admit I feel like my biological clock has started ticking quite loudly, though it's a frightening prospect at the same time. I have worries and sometimes feel selfish because I wonder about what happens to our relationship when there's no longer just two of us, but three.

Anyhoo... pictures to come and new adventures and for once I'll start blogging regularly again for those who do stop by and read. ;)

6 months to go!

Yikes! We're getting married in 6 months! It has really started to hit me over the past few days. There is so much to do and I've only got the dress ordered - then come the alterations. I think I need to start making some phone calls and make sure we have our venues in order and someone to officiate and all that other crazy stuff. Ack!