Still Alive

OK. It's been a bit since either of us have actually posted anything on this blog. We trust that our individual blogs have kept you informed of our continued existence and assured our distant readers that life is good.

After spending a week together with my family in Kansas. We came back and our schedules continued to work out that we could spend time together everyday for several weeks. When the weekend earlier this month came that we wouldn't see each other for three days, I "complained" about it to my mom. She wasn't very sympathetic to my plight.

Today looks to be another one of those rare days when we won't see each other. After work, he's picking up Jer and I'm having a library staff meeting. After that, he and Jer are attending a new home group our church is starting while I'm going home to clean for the arrival of my sister. After that, he'll be taking Jer home to go to bed and I'll be heading to the airport to pick up my sister.

On the upside, tomorrow, we are all planning on attending the annual pig roast that's held in my front yard (literally). Lots of friends! Lots of good food!

I've been feeling better the last week or so about wedding planning, but I'll leave the details of that update for my count-down post in a week or so.

The house hunting is at a slow point. By one manner or another, all of the houses we've considered buying have been eliminated from consideration, at least for the time being. There don't seem to be many houses being put up for sale, at least in our price range.

Without houses on the market to look at and the wedding getting closer, it seems like a natural time to start looking at rental places a bit more seriously--an option we expected to start considering within the next month anyway.

We also have started pre-marital counseling. We had the second of seven meetings at the beginning of the week. As assigned, we'd answered some questions and exchanged our answers before the meeting. The questions were largely focused on general family history. When we got to our meeting and Pastor asked "What did you learn new about the other person." I almost felt like I'd missed something, cause I couldn't really say that I had "learned" anything. But then they reminded us that we are coming into this after a full year of dating and a total of nearly six years of friendship--time we've had for exchanging stories, anecdotes, and tales that many couples who are beginning pre-marital counseling have not had.

And when Pastor asked each of us we are still planning to get married, we both said, "Yes."

4 Months and Counting

Wed, August 30: 4 months to the wedding.
Fri, September 1: 120 days to the wedding.
Sat, Sept 9: 16 weeks to the wedding.

Well, more items have been crossed off the list in the last month than in the month before.
Done:

• my dress
• bridesmaids dresses
• tuxes (thanks, Jesse!)
• rings
• guest book (thanks, Mom!)
• color scheme (determined by bridesmaid dresses)
• slippers/shoes for me, bridesmaids, and Mom

In Progress:

• Musicians for ceremony (Looks like we'll get a cello quartet! :)
• food (getting ideas formed, need to arrange more help)
• cake (this has been on the bottom of the list, not much has happened here)
• photographer (have about 3 names and am working on talking to each)
• videographer (have a couple of names, need to decide if we can afford)
• flowers (been watching for pics, need to pull them together and talk with florist)
• guest list (I have most of the info in my possession, need to get it into a manageable list)
• sign interpreter (Jesse is following up on possiblible names.)
• hair dresser (Need to decide if we want one and find one.)
• honeymoon (Narrowing down ideas, still rather vague.)
• housing (to rent or to buy, that is the question....and where in N. VA?)

Then there is various detail stuff:

• veil & tiara (Mom's working on veil. I need to decide on tiara.)
• jewelry for me/bridesmaids (Looked at a couple of possibilities.)
• ring pillow (Mom's working on it.)
• Decorations for reception (We've got so many ideas, it's coordinating them to work together.)
• Ceremony order & wording (Borrowed a couple of books, including the pastor's for ideas)
• And so much more!.....order invitations, create ceremony programs, create & address announcements, bridal showers, marriage license, and all the resultant thank you notes!

Time to quit thinking about everything that needs done and go back to working on the next item on the list!

Labor Day Weekend

I got to spend the weekend with my "sweetie" (as SS puts it--and I agree)...and his family!

We headed up in the rain Friday after work. We headed first for Katie (his sister) and Ryan's home. We hadn't seen them since the wedding. Her due date is Aug 30, so we were hoping we'd get to see their little one this trip....it was not to be. We did get to spend the evening with them...and a good bit of Saturday, before heading on up to Jesse's parents'.

Saturday evening through Monday afternoon, we spent time with his parents, brother, and sister. It was relaxing. We visited, watch a few shows, sang hymns, went to church, helped them prepare for their next big craft show, and other pieces of things. We heard from Katie several times through the weekend, but never the call saying the baby was really on its way.

It was Monday evening when we made it back into the area, still hoping to hear from Katie about the baby.

From the "1,000 Places to See Before You Die Calendar"

The Las Vegas Strip
Where Megawatt Crass Marries Nouveau Class
Nevada, U.S.A.

The 3 1/2 mile stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard known as the Strip is the world capital of glitter, festooned with pleasure palaces, quick-hitch wedding chapels, and cheap, all-you-can-eat prime rib buffets--and, of course, it's alive with gambling, anytime, any kind, and everywhere. This is where Bugsy Siegel laid down the law and the Rat Pack laid down the style; where Howard Hughes hid out and where Elvis made his last stand; but, maybe sadly, maybe not, all that is changing. In an attempt to promote itself as a cultural and haute dining destination, Vegas is hell-bent on attaining bourgeois respectability, trading in its seedy Sin City image in favor of a luxury future that's more about indulgence than naughtiness. That said, visitors will still find their fill of female impersonators and splashy dinner shows galore.

Tuesday, August 29, I responded to a radio ad on a whim. Now we are booked for a stay in Las Vegas immediately after the new year.