so necessary.

So, this will be my third post of the night. I'll make this one wedding-centric. I don't have my Spanish class tomorrow morning, so I am taking time I would be studying and instead blogging. Oh yeahhhh.

• We're going to have awesome cakes. Think Lumberjack Club for Aaron's groom's cake.
• I am so excited about our wedding photographer.
  
• I am getting my shoes tomorrow!
• If it is warm, our ceremony will be outside. If it is cold, our ceremony will be inside. This makes technical decisions like flowers, aisle runners, etc. very difficult. I still hope the wedding is outside.
• Our meeting last weekend with our pastor was really fun. We went over a lot of the answers to the inventories we took. Yes, I was in heaven. I need to look into a job where that's all I do. Anyone have suggestions?
• We are getting wedding gifts. This is crazy. Like x1000. I'm so thankful for the people who are giving their time and energy to honor us on this most important day in our lives. And I am vowing to not check our registries any more until the wedding. We'll see how that goes :)
  
• I am really excited to dance at our wedding, and I hope a lot of our friends and family dance at the wedding. I would LOVE to see several generations across the dance floor. I am excited for our DJ, too.
• Flowers are a tough thing for me right now. Flowers are my favorite thing ever. But I am having such a tough time justifying whether it's worth the [insane] costs. But my mom continually shares her wisdom and great ideas with me (see previous post) and I am really thankful she is helping me.
• I got to see my wedding dress, my mom's dress, and my sister's bridesmaid dress hanging on hangers next to each other when I was home last weekend. It made me insanely happy.
• I've been throwing around putting together a profile for Wedding Bee. Jamanda, you are probably the only person who will appreciate this bullet point :)
• Finally, something I have neglected to post: my bridesmaid and best friend Laura and musician at my and Aaron's wedding Wes are engaged. After lots of years and love and learning and growing pains. I am so happy for Wes and Laura, as they've been my friends since long before any of us thought about weddings. And they are a blessing in my life. I can't wait to celebrate their day. And oh. my. gosh. Wes' proposal. Holy mocha, people. It was fabulous. and i wasn't even there. I just saw the pictures. LOVE THEM.
  

Vampires: just what I wanted

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Why do I want to watch a show about vampires? I have no idea. Maybe it's because I'm too awake to fall asleep and, after a bout with flu last week, I'm nervous to get back to classes because of all I'm sure I've missed. [Insert dramatic sigh here.] This newfound desire to watch True Blood is partially thanks to my friend MD, with whom I share an affinity for amazing reality shows (namely Flipping Out with Jeff Lewis) and chain restaurants (Hyannis' TGIFridays' macaroni and cheese and Boston's Cheesecake Factory thankyouverymuch). Don't worry, instead of actually watching the show, I'm going to blog about wanting to watch it. That's how I do.

Trying to decide on weddin' shoes. Our colors are green, gold and dark brown, and I would love to have something gold and fabulous, like these J. Crew heels. (Realistically priced, of course.)

It irritates me that so much of what I am writing about lately is buying things. I don't like that as a motif in my life, and I know that when marriage sets in, I will be much more well-served if I have practiced a lifestyle of un-thinking buying beforehand. My fiance is NOT a spender. And I shouldn't be, but I love things. I inherited it from my mother. However, I have not yet cultivated her prowess for frugality. Starting tomorrow? (I say tomorrow only because it's 45 minutes away and I have no intention of purchasing anything at this time.)

Also, for college students who are getting married, it's a LOT different to read these "how-to" marriage books. Specifically the budgeting chapters. Why? Because they depend so much on constructing a budget around the fixed income that most people (employed, of course) recieve. I do not fall in to that category, unless you count my student position at the U. A's a grad student putting in 13 hour days, 7 days a week, so it will fall on my shoulders to be the breadwinner until he finishes his MFA in 2011. Terrified much? You bet I am. We know we will implement a budget, but the hypotheticals leave us paralyzed. "Practicing" budgeting seems like an exercise in futility until we know what our situation will be when we are really married. *Also scary, the fact that neither of us can guarantee I will have a job when I move down south. This, understandably, was my parents' greatest concern in our decision to get married... And it's a prayer, every night, that there will be something to cover our bills for me. I'm trusting (because I have no other choice). So keep us in your prayers.

...So I guess I want to watch shows about vampires because they take my mind away from the fact that in ninety days I'm going to need a job capable of sustaining myself and a very hungry boy. I want vampires. I need God.

Kanye West will be at my wedding.

Facebook said so. See?

i love brown.

finalizing invitations!
yes!

extreme makeover: helpless blogger edition

I'm making the jump to designing my own blog background. It's not perfect (obs) but I think it'll be one of those things I'll enjoy doing at 3 a.m. when I can't sleep.

Stay tuned...fun updates to come! :)

Also, I'd like to introduce you the amazing Barbara Tidwell and her husband Thomas, who are doing the flowers for our wedding. I think "doing the flowers" is a bit of an understatement (maybe understatement of the year?) These designers are fabulous, and I can't wait to see what they do for our December wedding: LaTeeDa has some of their fabulous work on their blog. You can also check out our venue, the Villa, where it will hopefully be 60 degrees in December and we'll be able to plan our wedding outdoors.

And, finally, for some shameless self-promotion: sign the guestbook here. Aaron just loves reading all of the fun comments people leave. It's the highlight of his week. Really, he loves it. I'm cool with it, too.

Wedding band.

I've been mulling over what will be engraved on Aaron's wedding band since before we were engaged. Yeah, I know... BUT today, I decided. It's perfectly perfect for us. And you, dear friends, will find out what it is in approximately six months :)

dress part 2

back to the dress story.

i tried on several dresses (gowns, my mom kept saying, gowns) and i didn't love any of them. i asked the kind lady assisting us if they carried any of a certain line i loved from magazines, and she said that the did. she told me she'd be back with a dress she thought i would like based on things i already told her... when she walked back in to the dressing area, i LOVED the dress she  held. it was one i'd seen somewhere (magazine? online?) and fell in love with, never actually expecting to cross paths with it.

i'm not a bead girl, at all, and i was thrilled to see that this dress had barely any while still maintaining femininity and grace. i tried it on. it fit like a glove. !!!!!! no way. nooooo way. if you know me, you know i'm short and giving it a valiant effort to get in to better shape, so when this dress looked good (dang good, if i can say that!) on me how i was RIGHT THEN, i knew it was special. 

special. yes.

the one? 

it took about 10 other dresses and a night to decide.

my advice to brides-to-be? bring a camera with you and snap pictures of you in different dresses. you'd be amazed what you like, what you love, and what you hate when you see pictures. for me, loving "the dress" didn't really set in until yesterday. but now, i keep looking at it from the pictures we took and online and a little sad i won't be able to try it on before i leave for destin (it's being stored where we purchased it). 

i thought about posting a picture (not of me in the dress, just of the dress) but decided that i didn't want to. it's special to me that only me, my mom and my sister (my MOH) have seen me in it. but maybe, maybe, as time draws closer, i'll cave.

also, i thought i'd talk a bit about the veil. beadwork=veil to me, until i was standing there, in the dress, on that stage, and had a veil on. my future MIL and SIL both told me that having a veil really "made" the bridal experience bridal, and now I can attest to that fact. LOVE the veil. 

so yes. I probably forgot some information, but that's about all the blog world needs to know :) 

...that, and i'm looking for a pair of killer gold heels to go with the dress.

no ugly white shoes for this girl!

tyler, tx

I'm back in Tyler until Sunday. Summer school today begins (Women in Pop Culture). I have about 30 items on my checklist before leaving Sunday evening for Destin, Florida with my F and his family...

I'm hoping it will warm up outside so I can swim. Not likely as of yet.

Boring post, but whatevs. I woke up at 7:45(?!?!) this morning in my comfy bed at home and had no problem waking up. I think it's psychological...when I'm at school, it's impossible for me to wake up, on my own, before 8:30 a.m.

Busy day ahead. Dress shopping, florists, photographers, etc.