354 Days - The Dress is Here!

I got my dress! It's lovely. I don't know how much detail I should go into. Technically, it is supposed to be a surprise, right?! I found it at Saks Fifth Avenue (on sale!) It's ivory, it is simple but has very sweet details, and it is not strapless- per Sam's request. I think that is as far as I can go without giving too much away. A lot will need to be done to get it ready for our big day. It will need to be shortened by at least seven or eight inches (Lets not kid ourselves. Probably a foot.) and taken in at the bust. I will deal with it all in good time. So now it resides in my closet. Sam has promised not to look. . . I am slightly suspicious, though. It might take a trip to a friend's house for safe keeping from prying eyes.

I also made a decision about my bridesmaids' dresses. In an effort to be more focused on the meaning of our wedding day and not get too caught up in details, I decided that the ladies will wear whatever dress they like as long as it is in the same color family. I don't care about the fabric or texture or about the girls being matchy matchy. Personally, I don't like the idea of my girls looking like cookie cutter images of each other. They are all beautiful ladies with unique personalities and I think their dresses can be a reflection of who they are. Also, they will be more comfortable on the big day in a dress that they pick out themselves. Plus, I think it will look pretty in pictures.

One Year!!! - Wishing it was sooner.

Why did I ever stress about making decisions for the wedding?! (I am sure several people are having "I told you so" moments right about now.) I mean besides the fact that people were asking what our plans are for the wedding, the persistent questioning only lasted for a month or two. The questioning did make the first two months a little crazy though. Next September 17th seems like a lifetime away now.

We chose our date for several reasons, but now we feel like if we could, we would get married sooner. Tomorrow even. . . Obviously we wouldn't do that to our friends and family, but I hope you can see what we are thinking. When Sam asked me to marry him, that was it! To me, our lifetime commitment to each other was made at that moment. Now after five months of being engaged and to have to wait a year longer to be recognized as legally married seems silly.

Where are we in the process you might ask? This week I will email our priest and try to book the church. I am trying to be content with looking at blogs for inspiration and reading up on ways to save money, but there is only so much you can look at before your head spins.

This weekend will be a welcome reprieve from wedding planning. I am going to Philly for my sister's bachelorette party! :-)

366 Days - Getting excited. . .

We are now less then thirty days away from my sister's wedding! This can mean only one thing. I've got lots to do!!

1) Toast - not toasted. Lately, I have been taking notes on my toast to the bride and groom. I have been looking at pictures and reminiscing. Thankfully, the internet is full of wonderful resources, as well. These are things I shouldn't do. Thank you, internet lady:

2) Shoes! I have to go get shoes. I tried to do this last weekend but got seriously sidetracked with shoes I may want to wear next September. MUST FOCUS.

3) Wedding gift - I am debating whether or not I should get something from their registry or if I should get her something special. Its not everyday your twin sister gets married. I should mark the occasion with something awesome. Maybe a new Barbie house for their new place. . .

To be continued!

367 Days - Des Colores

This is what we were thinking. . .

Credits: Martha Stewart Weddings (2), Project Wedding (2), Snippet & Ink (2), Lisa Rigby (2), Rachel Munn (2), Carla Ten Eyck Photography (2)

370 Days - so cute!

Tee hee!

376 Days - Other things

We do other things besides moving. Just a heads up.

Today, we spent the afternoon with Andrew, Marisa and Mia, our favorite friends that live in our neighborhood. Andrew and Sam watched the Georgia game and the Michigan game and Marisa, Meemers and I went to walk around the mall. We looked at wedding invites, jewelry for my sister's wedding, and continued the search for green recycled glass. (We found some, but I have come to the conclusion that mile long lines and I don't mix well. So we made a hasty bee-line exit.)

Marisa and I also discussed what kind of flowers we might do for the wedding and whether we would go the do-it-yourself route and order wholesale or whether we would let a florist take care of it. If we did go DIY, I thought it might be something fun for me and my bridesmaids to do the night before the wedding. I'd get all the supplies and the flowers and they would each make their own bouquet and put together centerpieces. Less expensive than a florist? Probably. Stressful? Also, probably. The florist, on the other hand, would take the stress out of the flowers. Of course it all comes down to price and if it is going to cost an arm and a leg, I am not interested.

I also went for my second run this morning in preparation for the DC AIDS Walk/5K. . . sort of. It was 90 degrees around the time we went to run, so we went to the gym and I climbed on the elliptical machine and "ran" for 25 minutes. Sam and I are running in the 5K on October 3rd. (I know what you are thinking. "A 5K? Big whoop, Rach." but for your information. I am not a runner. We ran this last year and it was a painful day.) I started running this week to start conditioning for the 5K and I am using my sister's October 10th wedding as added motivation. I am hoping this will start some sort of trend where I stay in shape and exercise on a regular basis. My desk job cannot be good for my bottom.

376 Days - We're surrounded. . .

. . . by boxes. The move yesterday went without a hitch. Thank goodness! Although, I wish I had taken a picture of this place to give you an idea of everything we moved. For only living in a one bedroom apartment, we certainly have a lot of stuff.

We couldn't walk into the kitchen yesterday without climbing over our dining room table, several rows of boxes, rubbermaid bins stacked three high, as well as our all our dining chairs. It was a mess that we chose not to look at until this morning. Today, we unpacked a large portion of the boxes, but there are still a lot of our belongings that we don't know what to do with that are scattered. Oh well for now. The majority of it is behind the sofa. So if we sit on the sofa and only face forward, we can avoid the whole mess entirely.

PS - Here's the last look at the old place before we said goodbye. . .

380 days - I need to vent.

I am going to preface this post to let you know this has nothing to do with our wedding planning and everything to do with how much I hate moving and this new apartment.

Ahem. . .

Right now I wish I had a bat because I would smash every window in this apartment this very instant. We are officially living in the new place although all of our furniture, with exception to two camping chairs, our TV, bed and a pink chair, is still residing at the old apartment. We have no organization for clothes- they are within two different suitcases, two different bins and three different spacebags, so we spend 20 minutes every morning wondering where his pants are and where my blouses are. For those of you that know me, you know I love/need to be organized. Waiting for a dresser until Friday is testing me.

Other things that irritate me about the new place:

1. Our toilet screeches every time we flush the toilet. It could wake the dead it is so loud.
2. Our stove-top wouldn't light until today - not that we can cook anything on top of it because ALL of our pots and pans are at the old place, which I still need to pack.
3. Our oven decided to fill our entire apartment with smoke - baking is now out of the picture, as well.
4. We did our first load of dishes in the dishwasher last night. Fifteen minutes after I went to bed, Sam said I needed to go into the kitchen. . . to see the HUGE puddle of water taking over our floor!!!

I have been trying to think of ways to calm myself down. Breaking all of the windows doesn't seem to be an option. Weird, I know. I can't drink because I need to be up early tomorrow to get to work for 7. I want to scream, but our neighbors that play video games until 1 am may call the police. . . I have to do laundry. I wish I could pay someone to do our laundry.

. . . I just got back from switching our laundry over and a couple in the laundry room offered me the use of their pre-paid laundry card. Confused, I asked them why they would want to let me use their card. They said they were moving and they needed to return their card to the building, which is why they needed to use the rest of the money on their card - the building gives tenants the cards when they move in and they expect them to be returned when tenants move out. This makes sense to me. BUT. . . when I asked the couple where they were moving to, they said "down the hall." They said they had $27 on their laundry card and had to wash everything they own, even the clean stuff, because despite the fact that they are moving within the building, they still need to return their old card. Conclusions - nice neighbors. Ridiculous building.

I miss the Brandywine.