RSVP

We finally got our invitations sent out last week, after much stress and hair pulling (me doing my own, not anyone else's), and I swear it felt like I gave birth.  I know that sounds like a scary analogy, but for months these invitations have been like my children. 

I spent weeks making decisions about them.  While it didn't take long to pick them out, deciding on details like what color, what wording, which map, etc. was total agony.  Then when I did finally pick them out, they showed up in about 8,000 pieces.  Matt's first words when we got them were, we spent how much and we still have to put them together ourselves?  (Stupid men.) 

So after all of the decision making came all of the manual labor.  Hours went into putting them all together (all 8,000 pieces) and making sure the response cards were stamped and ready to go.  (Can't forget stamps, big no no.) 

Then came the waiting.  We had someone address the envelopes for us and the waiting game became almost unbearable.  Days went by, then weeks with my beautiful invitations just taunting me from the table.  I was terrified that someone would spill on them or one of the dogs would get to them, so then they went into the guest bedroom.  This made me sad too because then I didn't get to see them (trust me, if you spent the time/money I did on these bad boys you would want them constantly around you as well.  See, they are like kids.)

Finally last week the envelopes were in, we got them all stuffed and stamped and out they went.  Besides a few forgotten boyfriends/guests I think they went out without a problem. 

I got home from work yesterday and on the table with the mail were the two most beautiful envelopes I had ever seen.... two responses!  They were both yes, so that made it even better!  I have no idea why I got so excited, but it was awesome.  I can't wait to get more! 

Oh my god I get married in like 40 something days.  Has it really gone by this fast?  Am I really getting my dress fitted this week?  Did I seriously buy my shoes last weekend?  Are those my bridesmaids gifts in the mail?  Where has the time gone.  Hopefully I still have some hair left by wedding time, and I haven't pulled it all out because of stress!!

I Had a Panic Attack, So I Watched Television

As of yesterday we are under the two months mark.  This may still sound like a long time, but for someone who has already been engaged for fourteen months less than two is like a minute and a half.  I am starting to freak out.  Who are we kidding?  I did that a long time ago....

More wedding updates:
1. Matt and I started our marriage prep classes on Sunday.  Four weeks for two hours every Sunday.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this class.  We do two sections of the book a night.  We start with a small video (which is the only part I don't like because the videos are from the early 90s and are super boring) then fill out questions in our book that pertain to the video.  After we have answered all of the questions, we talk about our answers together.

Matt and I have been dating for over three years so I like to think that we know each other pretty well.  After looking over these questions, it is almost scary how well we know each other.  They were still super interesting though.  They were for the most part things that we would never have discussed on our own.  The second section last night was about baggage and how our personal baggage from the way we were raised can be brought into the marriage and can affect it.  For one question, there were about 30 charactaristics listed out and we had to check off all of the ones that attracted us to our partner.  Then of the check marks, we had to circle the ones that we might be worried about in the future.  (Basically, things that we found cute in the beginning but might eventually cause problems.)  Very insightful.

2. Number two wedding shower is this weekend in Iowa and I am super, super stoked!  Getting more stuff is only one of the reasons why I can't wait!  We are also going to the Iowa state fair and I cannot wait to see some cows made out of things!  Also, I checked my registry again (see previous post as to why I am a crazy stalker) and our family must really like us because there are some really good things are on there.  Makes me really excited to get a kitchen full of brand new stuff!

Now on to the television part...

Bachelor Pad started on Monday and good lord it was awesome.  I made the mistake of venturing over to realitysteve.com so I read some spoilers (by some I mean I pretty much know everything that happens) and it was still totally awesome. 

Crazy Michelle from Jake's season was back and she did not disappoint.  When she locked Tenley in the bathroom saying things like, "you should have never started a rumor about me" I was nearly crying I was laughing so hard.  I only wish she could have stayed longer.  And when Jesse Kovacs was making fun of Elizabeth to Dave, "why didn't you ask me about my date yet?" "Because you were only gone for four hours", Kristen and I were both dying. 

This show is like an updated version of the Real World/Road Rules challenges on MTV, only with people that are slightly less annoying but bring a whole lot more crazy to the table.  The geniuses at ABC also realized what the slower individuals at MTV have yet to figure out: the challenges are secondary to what people really want to see, which is drinking and a whole lot of bootie.  The "challenge" of this week's episode was a giant game of Twister.  It took up all of three minutes, and the other one hour and fifty-seven minutes could be devoted to drinking and fake romance in the making.

Real Housewives of New Jersey was also on, but not much to say other than let's pick it up ladies.  I was not very interested and frankly started getting bored towards the end.  Who takes that many small kids on a cruise around Europe?  Apparently we now know.

Television Update

Unfortunately for me, and Matt and Kristen, I came down with a serious case of hives last night so I didn't really get much good television watching in.  It was the weirdest thing. 

I came home from work totally fine.  Sat down on the couch to watch some tube with Kristen (typical evening activities) and my stomach started to itch.  I figured I attained another mosquito bite and didn't think twice about it.  And then my whole stomach started itching, along with my back, and my arms, and a little bit on my legs.  Hives had taken over my entire mid-section and I was not having it.  I tried taking an oatmeal bath with some Aveeno stuff I happened to have and it did not seem to do a whole lot. 

So I swallowed a bunch of Benedryl and decided to sleep it off in an allergy coma.  When I woke up this morning, nada.  Nothing.  Not even a tiny bit itchy.  The whole thing was very strange....

The one show I did manage to watch last night before being knocked out was Big Brother.  Dear lord I don't even know what to think about this show anymore.  Rachel has become the newest addition to the punching list (someone that if any of us run into them in real life, we have to punch them.)  She gets worse every week!  And did anyone else scream out an exaggerated nooooo when Brendon told her that he loved her last week??  And finally, when they won the movie last night, Brendon talks about how excited he is to take his girl out to a movie.  Am I crazy?  Are these people obnoxious about their three week old romance??

My new pick to win: Enzo.  Love that crazy bastard.  I used to think that it was weird that he named himself Meow Meow, but I recently realized that I absolutely love that he did that.  Him and Lane's reaction to the cat fight last night was priceless.  Love them both.  Final Two!!

I've Got Another Confession To Make...

My name is Stephanie, and I am a registry stalker.

It started out simple enough.  Matt and I started our first registry about nine months ago last November.  A little early, but I am incredibly picky and change my mind about every ten seconds.  I wanted time to pick what I loved, then pick something else, then pick something else, and finally go back to what I originally loved.  I needed time, space and options.  I gave myself all three.

And then my first shower arrived.  All of my friends came, my family was there, there was food, there was booze, what more could you want?  It started a new crazy in me that I had no idea was there.  For months when I checked the registry it was to tweak it.  Delete what was no longer in season, what I no longer liked, what I felt I no longer needed, and what I couldn't wait any longer for and had already bought myself.

But then June arrived and there were things on there that we no longer needed because someone else had bought them!  I was getting presents!  (Correction: we were getting presents.  Hard to remember sometimes.)  People were actually buying what I had asked them to.  (Again, what we had asked them to.)  I loved it. 

You would think that it would make the shower boring knowing what I was getting ahead of time, but you would be wrong.  The reasoning is two-fold:
1. I hide my stalking from my future husband.  He has no idea that I check it regularly so in the hopes of hiding this from him, I did not tell him that I already knew everything that we were getting.  This caused him to be very surprised and excited about each thing we opened.  While excited, I was not exactly surprised.  So Matt covered the surprise aspect I was missing.

2. Knowing everything ahead of time, but not who bought what, created a whole new element to gift opening.  It was fun to figure out who picked out which gift for us.

Up until this month I thought this was normal and did not think twice about it.  By my stalking has reached almost unreasonable levels.  I check it everyday now.  And I'm still making changes. 

Every once in awhile, I get on there and that beautiful number under the already has column goes up one.  And I rejoice.  The fact that I won't get to use these gifts for another couple of months doesn't matter to me.  The fact that someone has already bought us the beautiful stainless steel Cuisinart blender that we picked out has gotten me through the last hour at work.  I can imagine what it will be like to be needing a little blender and to be able to pull that beautiful piece of art out of the cabinet.  And I will rejoice then too.  For now, the thought of my future kitchen is enough to get me through.  I don't need the real thing.  Yet.

One final reason I need to be a stalker (or, one more justification for doing it):
I was looking at our Crate and Barrel registry today and realized that almost ten different things we had picked out are no longer available.  These include, but are not limited to the beautiful paisley placemats that I was so excited to convince Matt to put on the registry.  In all seriousness, I teared up when I realized that they are no longer available on-line or in any store near anyone I know well enough to call up like a crazy person and ask them to go pick up for me.  They're gone.  I am devastated. 

And had I not been stalking, the wedding might have come and gone with those placemats still on the registry, tricking anyone who dare attempt to buy them for us.  You are welcome.

Wedding Update - For Real Yo

This is what is happening this week in Wedding Land:

1. I Now Pronounce You...
     Last week we went and applied for a marriage license and yesterday Matt went and picked it up so we are well on our way to being legal.  I was a little surprised that it cost eighty big ones, but I guess I've never gotten any other license (besides driver's) so maybe they all cost that much. 

My other, more likely, theory is that the state of Kansas has wisely figured out a way to take more money from it's residents by increasing the price of a marriage license.  Some wise-guy probably figured out that weddings are increasing exponentially (at least among my friends, so I can only assume that this trend resonates everywhere) so why not jack up the price?  Most people aren't going to do a whole lot about it because by the time you go apply for one, most likely you already have the venue picked out and if its in the state of Kansas you don't have a whole lot of options.  Or, maybe it's just Johnson County that is doing this because we all know everything in Johnson County is more expensive. 

Or I just need to shut up about it and be excited about the fact that we are one step closer to being married!

2. You're Invited
     Invitations are glue dotted, folded, stuffed and ready to go once we get the addressed envelopes back.  And get postage.  And take them to the post office.  Okay, so they're not quite ready, but if you have any idea how much time it takes to put together an invite with backgrounds and inserts and tabs (oh my!) you will know that the fact that they are almost ready to go is a huge accomplishment.

Really, they've been done for like two weeks but I've been bacheloretting it up in Vegas and working overtime for extra cash money (both in Vegas and at my job) so I haven't had a chance to share any of this glorious news.  And I do have some sweet pics from Vegas but as Time Warner has so very nicely left us without internet for the past week, I have not been able to add any.

3. Hairspray
     I finalized hair plans with Susan so I think we will all be getting our hair did up real nice.  Cindy reccomended her because she did their hair, so I'm not worried at all about having a stranger do everyone's hair.  Okay, really I am but I am seriously at the point of not caring anymore.  I jumped off of the cliff of giving a damn about two months ago and three miles back.  I'm now in the wonderful field of flowers and who cares?  What kind of shoes should the bridesmaids wear?  Who cares!  Ask me another question, I can't wait to shout who cares at you!


* Disclaimer:  Although I feel like who gives a damn right now, I will probably care next week or next month or at some point before the wedding.  So take my who cares with a grain of salt, smile at me, and then give me some time to think about it. 

I realized the other day I am getting so stressed (only ten weeks away!) that I am just a boiling pot of emotion, with happiness, sadness, and craziness all simmering at the surface waiting to erupt on an unsuspecting bystander.  And to add insult to some serious injury, Matt decides that he really wants to move before the wedding!  Perfect, one more thing to worry about.  I had agreed a couple of months ago, but the closer I get to D Day the more I think he is insane and I must have been drinking the Kool-Aid that day.

Wedding Update

My sister makes fun of me that I started this to track wedding plans and have something to look back on when we are married and the stress of a wedding is gone, and laugh at how silly and frantic I was, and then I don't write about our wedding.  At all. 

I tend to assume that most people don't want to hear about other people's wedding plans.  When my old roommate got married, she used to tell me over and over again that she didn't want to overwhelm me with her wedding plans so she never talked about it.  I used to literally pry information out of her to help.

I guess I should take a step back and let out what I consider to be a dirty little secret.  Not much of a secret because most people know this, but still fairly dirty because I am not exactly proud of this piece of information.  I love weddings.  I love everything about them.  I love monogrammed matchbooks, wedding dresses, guest books, ring bearer tuxes, shoes, hairstyles, gift registries, flower girl dresses, favor boxes, and millions of other things associated with weddings. 

Television shows about weddings are always in style.  My new favorite is Say Yes to the Dress on TLC.  Love it.  They had a clip show on a couple of weeks ago that was the ten most memorable brides.  I can't even begin to describe how hilarious and at points heartbreaking that episode was.

Even though most of the time my mind can be clouded with a hazy cloud of wedding paraphernalia, I am not so eager to talk about it that I will just start throwing out all of my plans and ideas to any passerby.  And then I realized that by not just throwing it out there I am missing out on an opportunity to document what it is like the days leading up to our wedding.

So here it is.  Stop reading if you don't want to hear about my plans, all three people that are reading this.  Go watch Big Brother.  It's decent this season, but I'm definitely missing Jeff and Jordan.

Where to start, where to start

So I haven't written much lately.  Partly because I'm boring, and partly because most of the time I think if I can get through the day without screaming at someone or losing my mind I am coming out on top.  Wedding planning is stressful!  In order to take my mind off of that for five seconds, here are some of the things that have been going on in the last month (in no particular order):

Father's Day was fun this year.  There was croquet, there was ice cream cake, and most importantly there was Toy Story 3!

This was when I found out we were going to see Toy Story 3!  (Not really, but I was very excited.  And in 3D!)

Then came Bo's birthday extravaganza weekend!  Well, she likes to think of it as an extravaganza.  First there was dinner at Applebee's with plenty of singing involved.

Aren't they cute??  

Then came her trip to see the man, the myth, the Michael Buble.  I happened to be downtown for Suzanne's bachelorette party, so the Thibaults graced us with their presence for some after concert drinks and general merriment.

Bo felt the need to keep flashing to everyone how old she was turning.

Her finger is cut off, she's actually 25 now (although you would never guess it....)

We had tons of fun that night with good friends, and hope to do it again sometime!  (Maybe not too soon, I definitely paid for it the next day).  Exhibit A:

Nativity Reunion!!