Well, I did it

Last night after work, I took a few last pictures of my beautiful wedding dress - my most favorite thing I've ever worn - zipped the garment bag and drove to David's Bridal (cheapest shipping I found) to have my dress shipped off to the Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation. I took Dan with me because I wasn't sure if I'd get emotional, and I'm glad I did, because I did. As much as I know that donating my dress to a worthy cause was the absolute right thing for me to do, I got teary leaving the store, and leaving my dress behind. Dan grabbed me in a big hug and told me how proud he was of my generosity, and that meant so much to me, because I think he's one of the most generous and selfless people I know. I still get a little lump in my throat thinking about it. The overwhelming support here and on Facebook and the Twitter have been wonderful - thank you for that. It also made me feel good that the consultant at David's Bridal took the organization's info so they could have it on hand for other potential donors.

As much as I like to believe I'm not a sentimental person - and really, I'm usually not - that dress symbolized an amazing day in our lives. I felt beautiful in it, and I had one of the best days of my life wearing it. However, I love knowing that now someone else may have the chance to feel the exact same way about it. Not to mention, the proceeds from its sale will grant final wishes to those battling the fight of their lives. Hopefully someday, no one will have to fight that battle.

In case you're wondering, I decided against having a piece removed from the train. I called a few cleaners and tailors yesterday and it would have been quite pricey for me just to have a 3" strip of fabric. And I decided not to wait until next week because I wanted to just get it done. Like ripping off a band-aid.

Even if you're not wanting to donate your dress, I urge you to check out Making Memories and the Pink Envelope Project. There are a number of ways to contribute, and I truly think that breast cancer awareness and research are worthy of our time and attention.

Wedding recap: Details and DIY

As I said, I had a lot of fun playing with the details of our wedding, and I love how everything came together. Here are some of the fun details of our wedding:

My purple shoes from Chinese Laundry and garter from Etsy seller Creative Bridal Solutions. The seller custom ordered the motorycle charm for me and added it to the garter.

Our champagne glasses from One Haute Hostess. She also made the candy scoops that went on our centerpieces. You can't actually see the scoop in this picture, but they were on the table to get the jordan almonds out of the over sized wine glass.

We collected and saved wine bottles from the time we got engaged. We made sure the labels were distinct and could be read from a distance. The table names were the name on the label. Our head table was Wild Horse, the Pinot Noir the night we got engaged.

I made the giant monogram letters from paper mache-ish letters I bought from Joann Fabrics. The topper on the cake was my parents'. We also used their cake knife.

Our birdcage cardholder that I customized by adding ribbon and a DIY sign. Easy peasy. Bonus: it now doubles as decoration in our home.

I also made our favors. The adults got rock candy in our colors with "You Rock! Thanks for celebrating with us" tags. I made cookies for the kids - wedding cakes and big green hearts. Kids also got a little scavenger hunt that I titled "I Spy With My Little Wedding Eye."



Lastly, my jewelry and handbag. I ordered the earrings and hair combs from White Aisle and my bracelet was my grandmother's. The blue handbag was made by my grandmother for a family friend for her wedding in 1968. The friend sent the handbag to me as a shower gift.






Unique weddings are all about personal touches. They don't have to be expensive or flashy. They just have to be meaningful.

Peanut Butter and Guava

Last week, a girl in another department approached me to make a birthday cake for one of their people, a girl who is actually a work buddy of mine. I was very excited to do it and started looking for recipes for the birthday girl's request: a peanut butter chocolate cake. I found a recipe for a chocolate cake with a peanut butter cream cheese frosting and a chocolate peanut butter ganache topping. I know, I said I wasn't ever doing ganache again after the wedding cake, but it just sounded way too good.

I opted for boxed cake, since I'm lazy like that and no one is picky anyway. I made the PB frosting and iced the cake Thursday night. For some reason (okay, it was because I fell asleep on the couch and ran out of time) I did the ganache Friday morning. Even though I know how to make ganache by boiling the cream and pouring it over the chocolate, stupid me decided to follow the recipe's instructions to melt the chocolate first and then add the cream. Of course, I burned the chocolate, and then of course, I had only bought one package so I had to rush to the store to get more. When will I learn to buy extra? In the end, the ganache came out great, the cake was delicious, and my coworker was very happy with her birthday treat. I don't have a picture here at work, but this is what the cake looked like on the recipe website. Mine was entirely covered in ganache because the cake crumbed into the PB cream cheese frosting. I'll post some of the actual cake when I get home later and final download the 200 pictures that have been sitting on my camera.


On Saturday, Dan had to work a job pretty much all day and I made myself a nice little to-do list that I got about 1/4 of the way through before I gave up and watched a Keeping Up With the Kardashians marathon. I did make cookies for our friend's daughter's 1st birthday cake next week. I know, that seems confusing, but I want to do a 2-tier cake with cookie pops coming out the top. I'm super excited about it and hope it turns out the way it looks in my head.

Yesterday, Dan and I took it easy were lazy until my parents and sister came up. Megan was flying out of Phoenix, so my parents came up early so we could spend time together. Megan wanted to go look at bridesmaids dresses so we met at David's Bridal. She's chosen a bright corally pink color called Guava. I'm so happy that I found my dress! I had seen it in the catalogue but we didn't find it in the store until after I'd tried on quite a few others and had gotten back into my own clothes. I absolutely loved it on - it's got a satin skirt and a pleated chiffon bodice with a flower detail. Unfortunately, I can't post a pic here, but here's a link to the dress. Super cute, right? The other bridesmaids will choose from other satin Guava gowns and we'll all look just fab.

How was your weekend?

Seriously?!

People are requesting cookies! My cookies! I can't believe it. People have stopped by my cubicle asking if I have any with me today. That answer is - unfortunately - 'no.' I woke up to a facebook post on my wall requesting that I make more pretty cookies. Another girl told me they were the best sugar cookies she's ever had. I'm so proud, it's ridiculous. I just wanted to have a fun hobby, but it's really cool that others are getting some enjoyment out of it too. So I guess I'll need to do some baking this weekend. I'm thinking something Fall related. I plan to do Halloween cookies when the time comes, but I don't want to do those too early. Or maybe since I need to apparently make a lot, I'll do something simple so I can crank out more.

I'm quite excited about my very last tiny wedding detail. I'd been looking for a locket of some sort in which to put a picture of Paisley for my bouquet. It's been on my list for awhile. Since she won't be at the wedding but is a part of our little "family" I wanted to have her represented somewhere. I found a woman on etsy who makes bouquet charms for an outstanding price. Not only does she make the charm by hand, but she includes the pictures that buyers send in. And then she ships directly to the florist if you so choose. All that and for far far less (I'm truly amazed at the price) than for what I could find a locket for. Plus, I don't have to do the pictures myself or worry about getting it done and sent to my florist on time. Seriously, it's a screaming deal. So it'll be tied into my bouquet ribbon like this:



The remainder of what needs to be done in preparation of Mr. Kingston's Big Ol' Birthday Party (aka the wedding) could be wrapped up this weekend if need be. That's a really awesome feeling. It would be really nice if all I had to do that week was pack my overnight bags and drop stuff off with the wedding coordinator. I'm off on Friday, so I should have a really good productive day. We plan to get our license (very exciting!) and I plan to print programs (try #2) and place cards and that's just about all she wrote. Oh, and we need a bottle of wine for our ceremony - that could be tough. The thing has to survive for 10 years and preferably not taste horrible by then.

Wedding planning on a budget

As we wind down with the wedding planning, there are a lot of things to fit in. Some of these things have taken me by surprise, and I get to figure out how to work them into the budget. Luckily, in many areas of our wedding, I've managed to save from the original budget through either cutting things out or being a good shopper. I'm not usually a bargain hunter or coupon clipper, but I admit I've been surprised by what a little value shopping can save.

Although there are a huge number of budget wedding blogs out there, I'm going to talk about how I've trimmed our budget. Many of the blogs I've found, though helpful, focus on a lot of DIY (do it yourself). Some of the blogs I've read are even anti-wedding industry. I'm neither a DIY fanatic (though thank you, Salt for calling me the queen) nor anti-industry, so I thought I'd share my ideas on how to plan a wedding that a) doesn't leave me creating every last detail by hand and b) doesn't leave me wanting to fire bomb every wedding vendor for jacking up prices by 600% when they hear the W word.

Date and Time: You can save a lot of money on any wedding by being savvy about the time of the year, day of the week, and time of the day you choose to get married. For instance, the traditional spring/summer wedding season is going to see higher rates than January, when people are winding down from holidays. Fall is also a less popular (though it's gaining popularity) time to get married. Choosing the "off season" can save a ton because venues just want to make some money. The day of the week can also result in huge savings. Saturdays are most popular, follwed by Friday and Sunday. If you're flexible, you can get a steal for getting married during the week. One venue here in Phoenix charges $28K for its all inclusive Saturday package. The exact same package on a Thursday? $4,500. Shocking. We also saved by choosing to go with a morning wedding with a lunch reception. It saved us about $18 a head in food costs. We didn't intentionally go into our planning with a lunch reception in mind, it just worked out that way. But in the end, it was a blessing and we were able to apply our budget in other areas. We also saved on linens because we got chair covers thrown in for free as a perk, saving us roughly $300.

Bridal shows: They're annoying and crowded and somewhat obnoxious if you're not into the whole big pretty princess day, but there are a lot of deals to be had. You can win honeymoons, limo services, even wedding gowns. I received a gift card off the price of my dress. If every little bit helps, bridal shows are a great place to collect bargains. I also was told about my linens vendor at the bridal show. She wasn't exhibiting, but she was recommended in a conversation with another vendor. She's been in the industry for a while but just starting out and drumming up new business. Her prices are pretty standard, but she was much more friendly and easy to work with than the 6 other vendors I called and I feel that adds a lot to the value I'm getting from her.

Craigslist is your friend: By searching for DJ's on craiglist, I saved us about $1,200 on DJ services. Our DJ is just a regular guy - I think he works in accounting - with a family and a love for music. A few years ago he figured he might as well make some money with his hobby and invested in equipment. We liked him immediately when we met because he was down to earth and got what we were going for. One thing we did not want for our wedding was some wild emcee who would make our wedding obnoxious and steal the show for the ridiculous price of $1,500 (the average cost of a wedding DJ in Phoenix for 5 hours). We got Chris for $400 for 6 hours. I've also heard of brides finding budding photographers on craigslist. All it takes is a couple great reviews and raving fans, and some of them are now booked solid for the rest of the year. They just needed to be discovered. Craigslist is your friend.

Flowers: I'm not a super flowery girl, so this option may not be for every bride: I cut out flowers EVERYWHERE. Pretty much anyway. We have bouquets for me and my girls, corsages for our moms and grandmas, of course. But no boutonnieres for the guys. As we don't have a flower girl, we don't have to buy petals. At our reception, we have flowers only in the centerpieces and on the cake. No large arrangements anywhere. This cut the floral budget way back. The nature of our florist's business also helped. Amanda at Butterfly Petals works out of her home, meaning there's no overhead. She was recommended by coworkers, and is one of the most raved about florists on the Knot Phoenix board. She's a great example of local word-of-mouth business.

Something Old: Using what the vendor has for centerpieces, linens, etc. can save a ton. Our venue included all of our linens, including chair covers. All we had to order was table runners and chair ties. We wouldn't have even had to do that if we'd chosen a color they had on hand (mustard yellow, maroon, forest green or navy). We are using the mirrors the venue supplies in the centerpieces, and then bottles from our wine bottle collection. Again, essentially cost-free. Though they weren't what we wanted to use, the venue would have also given us the option to use large hurricane vases, which many brides fill with apples, lemons or limes, ornaments, pine cones, etc. to create a low cost centerpiece, depending on the season or theme.

Visaprint: This is one of my favorite wedding finds. If you go to their site and register your email address, you'll get a coupon in about 2 days. I used mine for my save-the-dates. My FREE save-the-dates. That's right. I got them for free (can you tell I'm proud?), I just had to pay for shipping. Then they send you more coupons, which I used for my map/directions inserts, favor tags, wedding website insert, and accomodation info. All of it was free.

DIY and Etsy: Of course, most everything you make yourself is going to cost less. There are a lot of DIY blogs and instructions out there if you know where to look. But sometimes you just don't know how to make it or the cost of materials would make it more than you want to spend. That's where Etsy comes in. I love Etsy. It's a homemade crafts site. You can browse sellers to find what you want pre-made, work to build a custom order with a seller whose designs you love, or you can try their alchemy option which lets you describe what you want and then sellers bid on your job. Etsy is where I found my candy scoops and my garters. They were both custom orders and many sellers don't charge extra for custom work. It's a great option if you want something homemade but don't have the know-how.

Friends in low places: Low in terms of budget that is. Many of us, if we thought about it, know someone who is good at something. Whether it be baking, photography, or music, those close to us and who are willing to help can offer savings. We're using a friend who is a photographer to shoot our wedding. My college friend is marrying us, saving us officiant fees (though of course we'll give him something for his service). Many brides know someone willing to bake their cake or make their reception food, often as a gift or at a discounted rate.

So there they are, my biggest budget savers. They're what have helped us and our generous parents keep our wedding cost well below half the cost of the average wedding.

I Spy With My Little Wedding Eye

I was very productive last night, and it feels great! I didn't have boot camp, so I stopped in to Michael's and got some supplies to get some projects done. I'd gotten a coupon for 50% of my print-at-home coupons, so I picked those up. I'd already had most of the wording done, but had to reformat for the template. I'll take the program paper to Kinko's on Friday so I don't have to wear out my printer and use all my ink printing them. Haven't decided yet, but I may or may not add a ribbon for some color. A couple months ago when I received a baby shower invitation for our groomsman's girlfriend's baby, the hostesses had embellished the invite with a cute ribbon. Not a bow, just a ribbon. But I liked the simple look. So we'll see.

I also dressed up the bird cage I'd bought for greeting cards. It was miraculously transformed from this...



to this...



The photo is dark, but both the ribbon and the wording are in that magic shade of purple I love so much. I also made "Mr." and "Mrs." signs for our chairs. I just used print-your-own postcards and then backed them scrapbooking-style with lime cardstock, just like the "Cards" sign. Not sure yet exactly how we'll get them attached to the chairs (probably just drape them over the chair with a loop of ribbon).



And lastly, I came up with an idea the other day that I'm just really excited about for some reason. Because you know, I don't have enough on my to-do list. Anyway, the kids at the wedding will likely be served lunch right as the buffet is opened. By the time they're done eating, they'll have about 30 minutes until things (formal dances) get started. So I thought a sort of scavenger hunt/I spy might be cute to get them excited and in the wedding "spirit." It's nothing fancy and if they're not interested, fine. But it's something to do should they be bored. So here it is, I Spy With My Little Wedding Eye:



Some of the items are very weddingy, others are specific to our wedding, like the big green letter K and the black Converse shoes. If I were 7 and had to sit at a table for 30 more minutes and was given just a little something fun to do (with a possible prize for the first to find them all), I'd be stoked.

So that was my night. Not bad considering I was tired. But something about the one month mark got me really motivated. I spent Tuesday evening rolling out, cutting, and freezing my dough for the kids' favor cookies. I'm so hoping they turn out cute. Bridget at Bake at 350 gave me some great tips on freezing the finished product so that I don't have to stress about decorating cookies 2 days before the wedding.

Lastly, I just want to say Happy Birthday to my Aunt Linda! I hope you have a wonderful day! Can't wait to see you in 28 days (but who's counting?)!!

I'm cookie crazy

Mr. Kingston surprised me today with a new set of cute cookie cutters and encouraged me to make some more (I think he was afraid we'd run out). So I made dogs, dog bones, ice cream cones, airplanes, and flowers. It was definitely better the second time around - more efficient, that's for sure. I'm still not super great at getting the consistency of my flood icing right, the yellow was a bit runny. Oh well, they still came out cute.



The ice cream cones are my favorite.



Also, good news! Kristi it back home with her baby and feeling much better.

As far as a wedding related update goes, the RSVP deadline was yesterday, and I've got responses for all but 16 guests. However, most of them are family that we don't expect to come. So not too bad. My next project is the programs. After that, I should just about have everything all together. The only thing we can't get married without is our marriage license, and as soon as he can get a couple hours off of work to go to the courthouse, we'll be all set. Very exciting, and hard to believe how close we are. I feel like I say it all the time, but it's so true.

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaack!!

This past five days was absolutely awesome. I had my dress fitting on Friday, and it went really well. If I slim down about 5 pounds in the next 51 (!!) days, it'll be just perfect. I had a great dinner with my bridesmaid/high school friend on Friday night and then a good night's sleep before my truly busy weekend.

Saturday started off with my bridal shower. Mija did an absolutely amazing job planning it. We played a "how well do you know the bride?" game followed by a dice game. Last, we played bridal bingo. Everyone seemed to have a great time. Then it was time to cut the cake, which was absolutely incredible. Mija's friend made it for me and she did an unbelievable job.

We got a lot of awesome gifts off our registry - from 8 of our place settings to lawn games to our silverware. We also got quite a few of the wine related gifts we registered for. I also got some personal and meaningful gifts: lingerie, wine glasses my grandmother received over 50 years ago, and a little handbag for my something blue. It was so wonderful to see everyone and I was so glad everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Here's a nice pic of Mija, me, and our momma.

After the shower, we rested up, took naps, and got ready for round 2: the bachelorette party. Mija had a veil and tiara for me along with a fabulous surprise: a very special shirt to wear.

We played a couple of games before heading out on the town. We went to one of my favorite Tucson bars, Maloney's to get started. I did pretty well at my job as a candy salesman and made $11. Then we decided to head over to another fine Tucson establishment, the Meet Rack. It's owned by a former porn star who calls himself God. He gave my entourage a tour of his bar (including the famous "back room"), gifted me with a signed bottle of champagne, and bought one of my lifesavers. After a drink and a stop at Nico's for a late night snack, we headed home.

The next day had us all feeling sad. It was Mija's moving day. Though we were all sad and my parents had moments of teary eyes all morning, I don't think we all really lost it until Mija said goodbye to the dog. It was heartbreaking to watch her say goodbye to my parents, and it dawned on me that we wouldn't all be together again until my wedding in 8 weeks. I know the time will fly, but I don't know that the rest of my family does. After the last hugs, Mija followed me to Phoenix and we dropped off my car before driving 7 hours to Utah.

On Monday, we drove the entire rest of the way to Seattle. It was an extremely long day. It took an hour to get through Boise, and we had a dead battery less than two hours from our destination, but we made it! Mija and Bing's home is wonderful: a 3 story condo with a small yard and 2 car garage, complete with a "man cave." I sincerely hope Mija enjoys her new home - it certainly has everything they love close by: a lake for kayaking, trails for walking and biking, professional sports, great shopping and dining. Who wouldn't love it? We spent Tuesday at Pike Place Market and catching up on our sleep. We took a walk and picked blackberries for Bing before picking him up from work and heading to the airport. The goodbye between us was far easier than that with my parents. It's obvious Mija feels at home with Bing, and I'm so happy for her in that sense.

Exhausted, I felt comforted knowing that I had my own home and my own fiance to return to. When I landed in Phoenix, Mr. Kingston was waiting for me in the terminal (rather than the curb) as always and greeted me with a huge hug. After 5 days away, 2 parties, 25 hours in a car, 3 different beds, 87 pictures, and 2996 miles round trip, I was finally home.

Cute stuff...

...I find it. I'm the best at finding cute stuff. Or at least I'm feeling like the best at it right now. Last night, I was working my web-surfing magic, and found these adorable candy scoops for the centerpieces:

The girl who makes them agreed to make one with purple beads for each table, along with champagne glasses for toasting. Considering the fact that my plan was to just tie a purple ribbon around plain scoops and call it a day, this is a brilliant deal for only $1 more per scoop.

I also found the rest of my jewelry: earrings and a bracelet. Don't know if I posted about the earrings before, but here they are. I'd been waiting for them to be in stock and finally got them!

I had debated a necklace, but decided that with the detailing on my dress, it might be a it much. Since I don't normally wear much jewelry and a bracelet and earrings is already more than I wear on an average day, I think I'm all set. So that concludes the shopping for me!

It's been a long week, luckily I'm off tomorrow. Boot camp on Monday and Tuesday was brutal, and I have no doubt today will be too. I'm amazed I wasn't very sore. I've decided to sign up for another 4 week session. I don't feel like I'm seeing physical results just yet, but it's only been 3 weeks and it's all part of a plan to jump start a healthier life style. I've also kept up with my kickboxing and healthy eating (for the most part - I have to still live, right?) and am feeling better than I have in a while. The water and exercise are doing great things for my skin and over-all well being.

We've started getting RSVP's and its so sweet that many people have written nice little notes on them - saying they can't wait to come or that they're excited to see us. I hadn't thought about saving them before, but now I'm thinking I'm going to have to. For someone who's not sentimental about many things, I'm sure going a big gooey one over little pieces of card stock.

Tomorrow is Mr. Kingston's big test for his journeyman's license, and I hope he does really well. I know that most of his days are so busy, and there's not a lot of time or energy left to study. I know that it's weighing heavily on his mind today. Please send good thoughts his way!

Tucson weekend

Mr. Kingston and I had a very nice time in Tucson this weekend. I went to kickboxing (which I missed so much!) on Saturday morning and we left around 1pm. We sat around and caught up with my aunt for a bit. I had gotten a weekend assignment for boot camp to get as many people as possible to exercise with me, and Mija was the only volunteer. So we did a game called "Hit the Deck." Alternating draws from a deck of cards, we did 15 repetitions of an exercise depending on the suit drawn. It took us about a half hour, but we got through all but 6 cards. Here we are doing lying leg lifts:

Paisley even wanted to get in on the action:

Oh, speaking of Paisley, she found something disgusting smelling to roll in. Ugh. So she got a bath from Mr. Kingston and my dad. She actually required another one (and a new collar), but this is the only one with photographic evidence:

After our workout, Mr. Kingston and I went swimming and played fetch with my parents' dog, Emmy. We had a great dinner of shish-ke-bobs and shrimp, followed by delicious dessert.

Last night, I also had my first really bad wedding dream, the one that made me feel like a bridezilla. In it, I started walking down the aisle when I realized that my bouquet was a shriveled shrub of mint green and lavender berries and my dad wasn't with me. Even though Mr. Kingston was at the end of the aisle, and our guests were there, I turned around to find my dad, who was wearing his regular clothes. After screaming at him that he was late and needed to change (atrocious, I know), I called the florist. When I cried that my bouquet was wrong, she said she didn't feel like doing it. Oy. So maybe I jinxed myself saying I hadn't had any really bad ones.

Today, we had a great breakfast, complete with my mom's grandma's pancakes. We went bowling before heading back to Phoenix. Mr. Kingston has his test for his journeyman's license this Friday, so it was important to get study time in. All in all a great weekend, very relaxing, and I'm so glad that my aunt liked Mr. Kingston. But then, what's not to love?

JJ's ladies!

Hurray, the weekend is finally almost here! It seems to have been a long week. Boot camp this week went well. Last night I got through 3 cycles of the main exercise set for the first time. The cycle set was actually the second set of exercises. The first was a partner set of three (actually 6 because we each do one) exercises with 15 pound medicine balls. Yikes. And the third set was 8 sets of 20 second intervals of jumping jacks (or JJ's as our instructor calls them) and squats. By the third round of Boot Camp Man saying "Ready and... JJ's ladies!" I thought I was going to fall over. And then of course I started laughing because my coworker cracked up - we've been sending each other "JJ's ladies!" IM's at work and now we laugh every time we hear either him or each other say it. So at least the night ended with some humor.

The invitations have started to arrive to our guests, and I'm so happy that the consensus has been that they came out very nice. They're not what I think of as a traditional invitation on white card stock with a formal font or silver border or hearts or ribbon, so a part of me was anxious to hear the response. As I said, I'm very excited to start getting RSVPs and doing the final planning. A few of my plans are in limbo until we know our final numbers, so receiving RSVPs will allow me to get a lot of those things done.

Tomorrow after kickboxing, we'll be off to Tucson! My aunt arrived in the wee hours of the morning, and I'm excited to see her tomorrow. Not sure what the weekend plans are, but I'm content to just be with family and maybe get some eegee's. And as a bonus, Paisley will get all worn out playing with the parents' dog and will hopefully take a day or two of laziness to recuperate. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

And they're off!

Go little invitations, go out into the world and tell our friends and family to come to our wedding. Yep, got the invitations out during my lunch break today. I'm apparently in a giddy-goofy mood because of it. I'm so excited to start getting RSVPs!

Boot camp last night was tough! The girls I work with who also do it said it was a rough workout. I kept up pretty well, but I went downhill the last 5 minutes. Luckily, I only have a little bit of soreness in my legs. Hopefully I can say the same tomorrow.

I'm already thinking about the weekend. My aunt (mom's sister) flies out from New York on Thursday, and Mr. Kingston and I will be spending the weekend in Tucson with my family. I honestly don't remember the last time I was down there - they've been coming up here lately. it should be a fun weekend, and I know my aunt is excited about meeting Mr. Kingston. I'm also looking forward to spending time with my sister since we're down to less than 3 weeks until the Big Move.

On a fun note, the dreams have started. Or, really I should say have been coming more frequently. For some reason, I usually can't find the programs or the unity candle, which is weird because we're not using one. In one, my make up artist gave me a hideous makeup job with bright green eye shadow. I'm curious to see the sorts of things I dream about in these last couple of months, since it's so interesting to me that we dream about the things we don't realize we're stressing over. I really feel like there's nothing that could happen that would ruin the day, but we'll see what my sub-conscious manages to come up with.

It's finally Friday!

Oh man has this been a long week. I've been really busy at work, wrapping up projects that were put on hold for quarter close. Paisley has been getting up in the middle of the night, leaving me feeling exhausted. Hopefully this weekend will be somewhat relaxing. We need to try to pack some stuff up and start with cleaning for the move next weekend. My final exam for my class will be available Monday morning, so this is the calm before the storm as far as school goes. I also start fitness bootcamp on Monday, so I want to be sure to get in one last kickboxing class on Saturday. If I have time, there's a wedding-related art project I'm hoping to get to. We'll see.

As far as planning goes, I finally worked out a timeline for the reception. I had no idea I'd ever care about the order of reception events. But everyone else needs to know the order of business, so it was a necessary evil. We're also working on our music list - figuring out how to mesh our taste for hard rock, punk, and metal with what's appropriate for a wedding and that meets with our guests' liking. We're thankful that we found a DJ that "gets" us and we're confident that he'll find a happy medium between keeping our guests on the dance floor and throwing in a few for us.

Yummy yum yum!

Mr. Kingston and I went to the hotel for our reception food tasting this afternoon. The food was delicious. I'm so excited that our wedding food will be so tasty. We also got a lot of questions answered by the new coordinator. We got to see the room set up for a wedding which was a relief for me. It had been so long since I'd seen it, it was literally a tiny white box with hideous carpet in my head. After seeing it again, I'm really excited about the set-up and I'm confident with the choices we've made concerning decor. I think it'll be a nice intimate lay-out. The bride today had a really cute kids' table set up that I might try to figure out how to implement.

My hair combs came in the mail yesterday and they're absolutely gorgeous. I had no idea how sparkly they'd be based on the picture on the website I got them from. They're just beautiful. I'm getting more excited every day and as more of the little things come together. Mr. Kingston's ring arrived today, but I missed picking it up at the apartment complex office. I can't wait to see it tomorrow.

So now I'm chained to my laptop, writing a paper on the tax consequences of owning a home. Fuuuuun.

Let the count-down begin!

We have reached the 3 Month mark!! It's amazing to me how fast the time has flown by. It's going to be very strange for me to say, "I'm getting married in 2 months and so-many days." I'm sure it'll feel even more surreal this time next month.

Not much new going on. Still waiting to hear our move-in date for the new apartment. Mr. Kingston's ring should be here today or tomorrow, along with some other exciting stuff I ordered. We're doing our buffet entree tasting at the wedding venue on Saturday, along with a walk through. I'm hoping to get a bunch of questions about set-up and logistics answered. I have a paper due for school on Monday, and then I only have 11 days left in this term. It'll be nice to have a 3 week break from studying and papers.

We staged a behavior intervention for Paisley. She started out as a timid puppy, but is now known to be a bold, aggressive little barker. Since we intend to get another puggle after the wedding, we want to try to train these bad behaviors out of her so she doesn't pass them on. In speaking with trainers, it was suggested that we re-establish dominance so she doesn't feel she has to defend us constantly. It's been three days, and she's been doing really well. She's been much more obedient, and has barked at someone only once on her trips outside. Even then, she calmed down immediately when I gave her a firm "quiet." She's also been sitting and staying on her bed while we eat instead of standing at our feet begging. Dinnertime is much more enjoyable now. I hope this is the beginning to a positive change for all of us.

Check, check, check

I got so much done today! Mr. Kingston went to Parker, Arizona - about 3 hours away - to do security for his friend's niece's quincenera (huge 15th birthday party in hispanic culture), so I had the whole day to myself. I got a bunch of wedding stuff done. The invitations were stuffed - they only need our return address, which I won't know until at least Tuesday. I also got some project stuff to do for the wedding decor, ribbon for various accents, and the undergarments for my dress. I also wrote the program and made my massive to-do list. I think I'll feel better when I can start checking these little things off. It's a lot, but totally manageable.

With shower invitations out, wedding invitations a week from being ready to go, and do-it-yourself projects filling up the to-do list, we're really getting close. I know 3 months doesn't sound very close, but it seems like yesterday that we were 9 months from the Big Day, so I know it'll go fast.

Showers and stresses

My sister informed me yesterday that my shower invitations went out. This got me very excited - we're getting close! And to this point, I'm surprised about what it entails, which is a feat in itself - I don't deal well with surprises, but this is a fun one. My mom also emailed me this morning - 92 days to go! It's amazing - we were well over 200 when we got engaged. I thought I had the big day on my mind before? It's even worse now, but in a good way.

We're both so excited, and things are getting checked off the to-do list left and right. I finally ordered my linens. This was my biggest annoyance because I've never had to care about linens before. But I found a very helpful vendor who gave me a lot of great ideas. I also ordered the photo book to be used as a guest book. I made it with our engagement photos using snapfish. I can't wait to see it in person.

I've got a lot of biggies on my plate - invitations have to go out in just a few weeks, so they have to get stuffed an addressed. I have to order and assemble the favors, find my jewelry, and schedule my fittings. Mr. Kingston doesn't have a ring yet, so I have to get him to pick one. Not to mention, I have to finish out my summer school term. While I have no doubt the last three months of our engagement will be fun, I'm starting to see where the stress comes in.

Since I started planning, I've kept in mind that as long as we have a minister, a marriage license, the two of us, and our families, we would be married at the end of the day. The rest is just icing on the cake. But now, I'm starting to worry that everything I've planned isn't good enough. Are my centerpieces cheesy? Do I need decor for the ballroom? Should I have done flowers for the aisle? And the big one: what am I forgetting? We have a walk-through with the coordinator at the wedding venue next weekend, and I hope it'll help me relax. I only saw the place once, so it doesn't surprise me that I'm a little anxious about how the room will look. I know that no matter what, everything will be alright, but the novice planner in me is starting to show her nerves.

Oooh la la

I had my hair and makeup trial this morning with the stylist who is doing it for the wedding. Allison was awesome - I was hoping we'd hit it off, as I'd be sitting in a chair getting made up for two hours both today and on my wedding day. She's definitely a really cool person. She's an artist in many senses: mural, makeup, cake decorating. When she told me she does cakes, I got so excited. I think if I were to ever take a leap and leave tax to do something different, I'd want to be a cake artist. So it was definitely a fun two hours and she did an awesome job. I gave her basics of what I didn't want and told her to go for it - she did exactly what I was trying to find pictures of before I decided to go with the flow. It's a bummer I'm by myself all day with no where to show it off. Now the search is on for the perfect piece of hair jewelry to make it really awesome!

Wedding planning fun

Even before we were engaged, we were thinking about picking a wedding date. I wanted to get married on a Friday. Neither of us wanted to get married in the summer in Phoenix, Arizona. Looking at the calendar, Mr. Kingston's birthday fell on a Friday this year. We first said "I love you" on his birthday, and it seemed fitting. He didn't mind "giving up" his birthday, and so the date was set. We were on the same page with each other and our parents with wanting an intimate affair: meaning family and our closest friends. We wanted our wedding to reflect us. We worked to plan a wedding that would be fun yet still elegant in our own way.

Within a month, we'd chosen our ceremony and reception venue, cake baker, florist, and DJ - all the "big" ones as far as I was concerned. We had a friend who was willing to do our photography along with our engagement photos. I went shopping for my wedding gown in March. I'd already found it online, trying it on was just a formality. I absolutely love it. We bought Mr. Kingston, his groomsmen, and my dad suits rather than renting tuxes. Invitations and everything that goes in them were ordered and received by June. The only thing I've changed my mind on is centerpieces, but I think I've got it nailed down. As of today, I don't have much left to do. It's a really good feeling to have so much out of the way. Hopefully, what I have left - the invitation stuffing/addressing/mailing, favor assembly, and detail stuff - will be fun and stuff that we can do together. I know Mr. Kingston is excited to do our reception entree tasting in July. We both look forward to celebrating with family and friends who've been here to support us.

I'm really excited about a lot of our details. We're using wine bottles that we've drank together on our Thursday night wine evenings in our centerpieces. I'm super stoked about my purple shoes and purple motorcycle garter. I think our favors are fun and cute, and our flowers are fresh and unexpected. Our music has been carefully selected and is meaningful to us. Our ceremony has been handwritten to reflect us and our values. Not only that, it's being performed by my dear college friend, whom we'll call Rev Drew. My parents have given us their cake server to use to cut our cake, and that's incredibly special to me.

We also have a great wedding party. My sister, Mija, is my maid of honor. Our relationship continues to get stronger as we grow older, and I love and respect her very much. My bridesmaids, Nerd and Toe, have been dear friends for quite some time and are very special people in my life. Mr. Kingston has his brother, DJ, as best man as well as his friend, Holmes, as his groomsman. They're all supportive and loving people who mean a lot to us and we're honored to have them at our side on our big day.

So now, we're all caught up. From here on out, I'll be mostly sharing our adventures as we count down to October 16th and hunt for a home. After that, who knows where life will take us, but we'll be working at adjusting to married life and planning an anniversary trip to Ireland.